June 14, 2014

Help with Depression on Free Audio & Video

Depression is disease that millions suffer with on a daily basis. This list of audio and video resources is designed to help those living with depression find helpful coping strategies and for those that want to learn how to help a loved one. In this selection, you’ll find lectures tackling the “Rise of Mental Illness in America” and how modern psychology has shifted its treatment of depression. You’ll also find resources to help you combat the disease, such as guided meditations to help relieve anxiety, and therapeutic lifestyle suggestions that can help alter your mood. Whether you are dealing with depression yourself, or want to be there for someone in your life, this list is here to give you fresh hope:

1. The New Psychology of Depression

From Oxford University comes this 3-hour series covering “The New Psychology of Depression”. Dr. Danny Penman and Professor Mark Williams (co-authors of the book Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World) discuss the global health problem of depression and the current methods for treating it including medication and therapy. They then discuss Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) which Professor Williams co-developed. They describe what MBCT is and the success that it has had in preventing relapse of depression in the many studies that have been conducted throughout the world. Anyone who has experienced depression or knows someone who has should listen to this great series on the latest information about treating depression. Note: To play the podcasts click the Download File links.

2. The Soul in Depression

Listen to this podcast from American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith program covering the topic of depression. Nearly ten million Americans are diagnosed with clinical depression, and if you have experienced depression or know someone who has then this audio program is a helpful resource covering the spiritual side of depression. In this podcast host Krista Tippett interviews author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression Andrew Solomon, Quaker author & activist Parker Palmer, and poet Anita Barrows about their experiences with depression. Each author discusses some of the life-affirming, spiritual qualities that can come from someone who has survived a bout of depression. This podcast is available on MP3 download and streaming audio from the Speaking of Faith website.

3. Dr. Aaron Beck on Cognitive Behavior Therapy

In the mid-1960s, Dr. Aaron Beck developed Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) as a way to treat psychopathological conditions such as depression and anxiety. Since then cognitive therapy has become the most popular and commonly used form of psychotherapy for depression treatment. Dr. Beck is now 90 years old and he recently did a 2-hour interview with his daughter Dr. Judith S. Beck about his life and career, and how he went from having no interest in psychiatry to creating Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Along with explaining his discoveries with cognitive therapy and telling many interesting stories along the way, Dr. Beck also looks to the future of CBT and ways that it has been shown to be effective with treating anxiety, phobias, eating disorders, suicidal thinking, and schizophrenia. Watch this in-depth interview with one of the giants of psychotherapy, Dr. Aaron Beck.

4. Relieve Anxiety and Depression: Seven Guided Meditations

Sounds True is offering Seven Free Guided Meditations to help with Relieving Anxiety and Depression. The different meditations are given by leading mindfulness teachers such as James Gordon, MD, Erin Olivo, PhD, MPH, Mark Hyman, MD, Daniel J. Siegel, MD, Rick Hanson, PhD, Tara Brach, PhD, and Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. James Gordon leads a “Soft Belly Meditation”, Erin Olivo guides you on a full “Body Scan”, Mark Hyman introduces you to “Guided Relaxation Visualization”, along with four other quality meditations. Each meditation is split up into a separate MP3 file and all the meditations put together last about an hour.

5. Stephen Ilardi: Therapeutic Lifestyle Change for Depression

Dr. Stephen Ilardi is the author of The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs. In this entertaining talk from Kansas University, Professor Ilardi lays out his 6-Step Program for Therapeutic Lifestyle Change. Drawing from research that modern day hunter-gatherer groups have almost no incidence of depression, Dr. Ilardi compared their lifestyle to our modern day lifestyle and came up with some major differences that have led to today’s epidemic of depression. He guides us through his program that involves goal-oriented exercise, fish oil supplementation, plenty of natural sunlight, ample sleep, social connections, and participation in meaningful tasks that leave little time for negative thoughts. Along the way Dr. Ilardi answers many questions regarding his program. It’s a great watch for anyone interested in beating depression and anxiety, preventing depression, or just wanting to live a healthier emotional lifestyle. This 1 Hr. 45 Min. talk is available on streaming video through YouTube.

6. Robert Whitaker: Rise of Mental Illness in America

Journalist and author Robert Whitaker takes time to talk about his book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America in this talk delivered at the Harvard Book Store. Whitaker shows how mental illness has been rising in America in the past 50 years despite the development of numerous psychiatric drugs to treat various mental illnesses. While Whitaker acknowledges that using these drugs selectively can be effective in the short term, he presents studies that suggest that many of these psychiatric drugs are not effective in curing mental illness in the long term. Going against the status quo of what psychiatry practices today, Whitaker shakes up many commonly held assumptions about treating mental illness and suggests ways of treatment that are more selective in regards to prescribing drugs and that have also proven to be more effective. His talk is available on streaming video from the Forum Network through YouTube.

7. Sherwin B. Nuland on Electroshock Therapy

In this TED talk American surgeon, author, and Yale professor Sherwin B. Nuland talks about the history of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for treatment of severe major depression and other mental illnesses. He then proceeds to tell about his own recovery from major depression through electroshock therapy back in the 1970s. After his first marriage failed he fell into a deep depression until he could no longer function. When no other treatments worked the doctors attempted electroshock therapy which led to a remarkable recovery.

June 6, 2014

Get Free Nutrition Education with 10 Audio & Video Resources

Get nutrition education with 10 free audio & video resources showcasing teachers and lecturers dedicated to helping others live well. Selected from LearnOutLoud’s Free Resource of the Day Emails, you’ll find lectures that examine diet and nutrition from multiple angles, including weightloss plans, helpful tips on what to eat, healing exercises, and healthy living habit guides. Lecturers and topics include Jamie Oliver on how to teach children about food, the bitter truth about sugar, fast food & animal rights, and much more. Click below to get the skinny on food, diet, and optimal nutrition:

1. Sugar: The Bitter Truth

In this popular video from YouTube EDU, Professor Robert H. Lustig attempts to explain the American obesity epidemic as being due to the rise of sugar and fructose consumption over the past 30 years. He examines the history of high-fructose corn syrup and how it has made its way into drinks like soda, fruit juice, and sports drinks, along with many foods. He goes into a detailed biochemistry explanation of how fructose is converted into fat, and why he feels fructose is a poison with many of the same effects of alcohol. Lustig links these findings to the childhood obesity epidemic since children are drinking more and more high-fructose corn syrup beverages. He closes by advocating the elimination of sugar beverages, the increase of fiber in the diet, and more exercise. Caution: After watching this video you might never drink soda again. Enjoy!

2. Inside Out Weight Loss Podcast

Listen to this podcast from Personal Life Media hosted by leading diet and weight-loss coach Renee Stephens. Renee features over 200 podcasts on her feed and she encourages listeners to start with the first podcast which covers her personal story of how she overcame compulsive overeating along with the methods of weight loss she’ll be using in the podcast. Instead of focusing on a diet plan or what you should or shouldn’t be eating or doing, Renee focuses on transforming the mind so that you can in turn transform your body. Using techniques such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Hypnotherapy, and Positive Psychology, Renee teaches listeners how to lose weight from the “inside out”. She does multi-part podcasts on How to Eat, Exercise Motivation, Intent-ful Eating, Fixing a “Broken” Metabolism, and much more. Enjoy this epic podcast on weight loss.

3. Dr. Dean Ornish on Healing

In this talk from the TED conference, holistic healing physician Dr. Dean Ornish prescribes easy and effective ways that you can prevent heart disease and other illnesses through changes in lifestyle and diet. He also points to the numerous ways in which diet and exercise can actually help to treat existing illnesses including cancer. Dr. Ornish addresses carbohydrates and fats and their relation to the obesity epidemic in America, along with ways people can lose weight and still be healthy. This talk is full of great pointers for improving your health.

4. Healthy Living Radio Podcast

Browse over 400 podcasts covering just about every imaginable aspect of health! This podcast from the Cooper Aerobics Center and Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas features over 400 healthy living podcasts going to back to 2005. Many of them feature Dr. Ken Cooper, also known as the “father of aerobics”, who introduced the world to the concept of aerobics with his 1968 book Aerobics. Since that time he’s authored dozens of books and created the Cooper Aerobics Center and Cooper Institute for health and wellness research. This podcast features numerous members of the Cooper Institute including Dr. Cooper, Dr. Tedd Mitchell, Dr. Abram Eisenstein, and Dr. Nina Radford talking about a wide variety of topics including cancer prevention, vitamins, exercise, weight loss, heart disease, depression, and many, many more health topics. They also interview a lot of experts on health. For example on Oct. 8, 2007 they interviewed Dr. John J. Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. And on Feb. 27, 2006 they interviewed Dr. Daniel G. Amen on brain health. Dr. Amen authored the bestselling book Making a Good Brain Great.

5. Authors@Google: Marion Nestle on What to Eat

Nutritionist and author Marion Nestle looks at food from the angle of politics and business in the United States in this talk delivered at Google. She briefly discusses her book Food Politics which looks at how the food industry was deregulated in the 1980s which led to the production of more food and greater portions and eventually to the obesity epidemic we have today. She also discusses her latest book What to Eat where she examines the marketing tactics of the food business from how grocery stores are laid out to how junk food is marketed to kids. She offers signs of hope for healthier eating in America in the movements for organic food, locally grown fresh food, and other grassroots movements related to food. This talk includes slides and is available on streaming video from YouTube.

6. American RadioWorks presents Fast Food and Animal Rights McDonald’s New Farm

In this insightful audio documentary, American Radioworks examines how McDonald’s, the world’s leading food provider has presided over a sea change in how animals are treated in the fast food industry. Here we listen to how the Animal Rights Group PETA forced McDonalds and similar companies to recognize the inhumane practices that were being utilized to provide the average Big Mac. Though farmers admit the changes imposed have been expensive, this is a telling example of how one major international company has used it’s worldwide clout to bring about positive change. This title is free to stream from American RadioWorks.

7. Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize Wish: Teach Every Child About Food

Chef Jamie Oliver gets serious of food education in this impassioned TED Talk that confronts the preventable obesity epidemic. He shows that diet-related disease is the leading cause of death in America and that 10% of our national health care costs goes towards treating these diseases. He then discusses childhood obesity and his campaign to reform school lunches along with his call for all children to be educated about food so that we can prevent the growing obesity crisis. This talk is available on streaming video and video download from TED.com.

8. The Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food

Today we’re featuring this Yale University course that relates both to the health of humanity and our environment. In this course Yale Professor Kelly Brownell, who is also the Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, takes on the issue of food in the modern world in a comprehensive way. Through 23 lectures, including a number of special guest lectures, a variety of topics on food are covered such as how our diet has changed, the psychology of eating, obesity, the food industry, modern agriculture, food marketing, and much, much more. Professor Kelly Brownell offers a glimpse into food today and ways we can all make a difference in creating a healthier eating environment and a healthier planet. This talk is available on audio download and streaming video.

9. The Skinny on Obesity

Watch this great new series from UCTV Prime called “The Skinny on Obesity”. This 7-episode series (lasting one hour total) features Dr. Robert Lustig and two of his UCSF colleagues who look at the obesity epidemic and what has been driving it in the last 30 years. Dr. Lustig’s previous UCTV video Sugar: The Bitter Truth went viral and has received over 2.5 million views to date. In this new series Lustig’s message is presented in an even clearer and more powerful way with the help of animations and documentary footage. He presents the science of obesity, debunking the idea that “a calorie is a calorie” and showing how the massive increase in fructose and sugar into our daily diets has led to a skyrocketing obesity epidemic which contributes to our most common diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. These short videos explain how sugar consumption and obesity have now become a major public health concern in the same way that drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol are through their unavoidability, toxicity, abuse, and negative impact on society. A must-watch from UCTV!

10. Resolving the Health Care Crisis

Dr. T. Colin Campbell is a professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University who led a massive study of nutrition in rural China in the 1980s. He published his findings in the now bestselling book The China Study and he was featured prominently in the popular 2011 documentary Forks Over Knives. In this 20-minute TEDx talk, Dr. T. Colin Campbell summarizes many of his findings from his over 40 years of experience at the forefront of nutrition research. He prescribes changes in nutrition instead of prescription drugs for resolving our current health care crisis. Through a plant-based diet that cuts out excess sugar, fat, and salt, along with cutting out excessive consumption of animal protein and dairy products, Dr. Campbell argues that we can prevent and cure many of the diseases that haunt consumers of the Western affluent diet. This talk is available on streaming video along with a visual slide show that Dr. Campbell presents.

June 6, 2014

What is Mindfulness?: 15 Talks on Mindfulness

LearnOutLoud.com answers the question, “What is Mindfulness?” in this collection of 15 talks on Mindfulness and Meditation. Over the years, we’ve given special attention to teachers and thinkers dedicated to making Mindfulness a part of every day life. From these resources, we’ve showcased guided meditations, dharma talks, conscious living lectures and other methods to help you change your mind, so you can change your brain. Speakers, teachers and lecturers featured here include Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Dan Siegel, Sharon Salzberg and more. Learn about healing power of mindfulness and find guides to help you achieve a sustained, authentic happiness by clicking any of the links below:

1. Jon Kabat-Zinn: Coming to Our Senses

For decades now Jon Kabat-Zinn has been teaching mindfulness meditation as a technique to help people cope with stress, anxiety, pain and illness. Along with his teaching, he’s also written the classic Wherever You Go, There You Are and most recently Coming to Our Senses. In this lecture from UCTV, Kabat-Zinn speaks about reintroducing you to yourself, and developing an awareness of this moment in a fast-paced, technologically advanced world. This video lecture is available to stream through YouTube.

2. Mindfulness as a Foundation for Health

Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh recently led a 3-hour workshop on mindfulness at the Googleplex and this entire workshop can be viewed on YouTube. After about an hour of music and introductions, Thich Nhat Hanh gives a talk and answers questions for two hours. He provides many insights of how people can incorporate mindfulness into their daily lives from walking to eating to washing the dishes. Listen to the wisdom of 85-year-old monk Thich Nhat Hanh and his message of mindfulness and peace.

3. The Science of Mindfulness

One thing you might want to think about doing in the new year is starting a daily mindfulness practice. Long recognized for its benefits to well-being in many wisdom traditions, mindfulness is now being looked at by neuroscientists with the research-based conclusion that it can reduce stress and produce many other healthful outcomes. In this 45-minute program from Sounds True, five of their top mindfulness experts weigh in on the benefits of mindfulness in regards to the brain and neuroscience. Included in this program is the teacher who brought mindfulness meditation into the mainstream of medicine and society, Mr. Jon Kabat-Zinn with an excerpt from his Sounds True program Mindfulness for Beginners. Also on the program you’ll hear Dr. Daniel Siegel, Dr. Tara Brach, Dr. Rick Hanson, and Dr. Kelly McGonigal. Learn about the science of mindfulness with this excellent introduction on MP3 audio download from Sounds True.

4. Ceaseless Society: Is 24/7 Good for Us?

In this lecture from MIT, author & meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn shares his perspectives on a society that is busy all the time. He provides insights into how we can regard time from the perspective of mindfulness, and suggests that in our effort to be technologically connected to everyone, we often lose connection to our true self. This lecture is available on streaming video.

5. Jack Kornfield’s Dharma Talks

Listen to dharma talks by Buddhist meditation teacher Jack Kornfield offered through DharmaSeed.org. On the Dharma Seed website you can stream and download any of the 50 talks and we also feature the latest to stream and download on our page. In recent talks Kornfield discusses lovingkindness, the importance of joy in spiritual practice, and the freedom from attachment. He tells many wise stories throughout the talks. They’re all available on streaming audio and MP3 download from DharmaSeed.org.

6. Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation

In this hour-long talk delivered at Google, author and brain researcher Dr. Daniel Siegel explains his definition of the what the mind is. He takes us on a quick overview of the functions of the brain, from the spinal cord all the way up to the prefrontal cortex where he argues that the uniqueness of humans stems from. From his research and experience Siegel lays out nine integral functions of this part of the brain including reflective awareness, empathy, morality, and more. He then talks about his discovery of mindfulness and how the practice of mindfulness cultivates all these functions of the middle prefrontal brain. Dr. Siegel expresses his hope that along with reading, writing, and arithmetic, the 4th “R” of reflection would be taught in education to help cultivate mindfulness and healthy brain function. This talk is available from Google and can be watched on YouTube.

7. Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn

Watch this popular talk with Jon Kabat-Zinn author of Full Catastrophe Living and many other books on the benefits of mindfulness. In this talk at Google Kabat-Zinn discusses what mindfulness meditation is and then he leads the group on a mindfulness meditation practice where he provides guidance into the practice. After the meditation is over he fields questions about the experience and covers things such as the issue of falling asleep and much more. This talk is 1 Hr. 15 Min. and is available on streaming video through YouTube.

8. Health at Google: Sharon Salzberg on Real Happiness

In this talk Sharon Salzberg looks at meditation not as a religious practice but as a skill that can be learned much like any other skill. She tells many stories from her over 20 years of teaching meditation and creating the Insight Meditation Society. And she looks at studies on meditation which often conclude that meditation is a skill of the mind. She talks about lovingkindness meditation which focuses on friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, love, and sympathy. This 50-minute Google Talk is available on streaming video from the YouTube.

9. Goldie Hawn and Dan Siegel at TEDMED 2009

The TEDMED conference brings together leading thinkers in the areas of medical technology and the healthcare industry to participate in a conversation as it relates to personal and public health. Much like the popular TED conference, TEDMED features brief presentations from speakers in diverse fields addressing some aspect of health and medicine. In this talk actress Goldie Hawn introduces her Hawn Foundation, which she founded to teach children the practice of mindful awareness and to educate them about their brains. Dr. Dan Siegel joins her half way through the talk to discuss the scientific reasoning behind bringing these practices into schools. His findings at the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA have demonstrated that mindful awareness practices can be more effective than prescription drugs when it comes to confronting many difficulties kids are facing in school. While these practices of reflection have previously been confined to religious traditions, Dr. Siegel feels that due to the scientific evidence backing their effectiveness they should now be incorporated into education along with reading, writing, and arithmetic.

10. Change your Mind, Change your Brain: The Inner Conditions for Authentic Happiness

French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard talks about his interesting life in which he left his career as a scientist after getting a Ph.D. degree in molecular genetics and he went to practice Tibetan Buddhism in the Himalayas. He talks about the Tibetan Buddhist practices for achieving happiness. Since his 35 years of practicing as a Buddhist monk he has returned to the science of the mind and the brain to study happiness and presents many of the recent scientific findings. This hour-long Google Talk is available on streaming video from YouTube.

11. Health at Google: Dr. Daniel Siegel on Taking Time In

Dr. Dan Siegel spoke at Google recently on mindfulness and the importance of “taking time in”. Dr. Siegel is the director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He talks about some of his latest finding in neuroscience and mindfulness. He leads the group on a 30-minute wheel of awareness meditation which guides you into awareness of all parts of your body. This talk is available on streaming video through YouTube.

12. The Meditation Experience

Sounds True is currently offering a free self-guided course entitled The Meditation Experience: Eight Pathways to Open the Heart and Mind. This eight session course features readings and guided audio & video meditations to teach you various methods of meditation. The course is taught by excellent meditation teachers including Shinzen Young, Jack Kornfield, Mark Thornton, Arjuna Ardagh, Rick Jarow, Anodea Judith, Kim Eng, Reggie Ray, and Lama Surya Das. It requires you to register on SoundsTrue.com as you will go through the stages of the course on their site. The audio & video meditations are available to stream and download.

13. Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain

Filmmaker David Lynch shares his passion for Transcendental Meditation (or TM for short) in this lecture released on downloadable audio from WGBH in Boston. In a style uniquely his own, Lynch explains how the creativity displayed in his work over the years has been a direct product of TM; arguing that expanded consciousness necessarily leads to expanded creative insight. It is his impassioned belief that if more people used these meditation techniques, the effect would rub off on everyone else and consequently much of the world’s turmoil would cease. This talk is available on streaming audio & video and MP3 download from the WGBH Forum Network.

14. The Healing Power of Mindfulness

Pioneering mindfulness researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn delivered this recent 2-hour talk at Dartmouth College. In the talk he describes mindfulness and its many applications to mind/body medicine. He leads the audience on a brief guided mindfulness exercise in the middle of the talk. At the end he answers questions and gives some inspiring words on how to kick start mindfulness programs in schools, hospitals, and political offices! Take time out of your busy life to learn about another mode of being with Jon Kabat-Zinn.

15. Transform Your Mind, Change Your Brain

In this lecture provided by Google Talks, Dr. Richard J. Davidson details recent scientific research on how neuroscience is beginning to learn a great deal about how the brain works with meditational practice. Davidson says research shows that the brain is designed to change in response to experience and that it is clear that the intentional deployment of specific meditation strategies can transform our cognitive and emotional health. After “coming out of the mindfulness closet” and revealing to his colleagues that he had an interest in Eastern spiritual practice, Davidson has effectively devoted his career to merging cutting-edge neurology with contemplative traditions.

June 5, 2014

Free Personal Finance Tips on Audio & Video

Stressed over your personal finances? Seeking out new and novel ways to acquire wealth? In this list of audio and video resources, we showcase free personal finance tips from expert advisers in the field. In the last few years, we’ve made it a priority to find the best financial help available on the web and featured these resources in many of our Free Resource of the Day Emails. From these emails we’ve chosen excerpts from Oprah’s Money Channel, no-nonsense coaching from Suze Orman, and up to the minute money and life counseling from Dave Ramsey. We also throw in all kinds of Quick and Dirty Tips, Wealth building strategies from the Rich Dad team and other resources designed to help you stretch your dollar, maximize the money you have and ultimately find life-long abundance. Click below to get started:

1. Ramit Sethi on I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Ramit Sethi’s “I will Teach You to Be Rich” blog has garnered a huge following thanks to the author’s quick wit and easy to follow strategies designed to help readers with their financial security. In this lecture, he lays what to automate so you can optimize how you spend, focusing on credit, bank accounts, investment accounts and how to cultivate a habit of conscious spending. Making a distinction between being “rich” and having lots of money, Sethi’s approach says you must reduce your choices, focus on the big financial goals you need to hit and then get on with living your life.

2. Robert Kiyosaki – Getting Rich in 60 Minutes

Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has used what he learned from the differing examples of his two fathers to forge his own path towards wealth and prosperity. In this 60 minute lecture, he lays out the basic ways people stay poor, and teaches how to readjust the way you think about money so that you will know how to better use it. Here you will learn about how to become financially literate, how to make money work for you (as opposed to the other way around), and how to cultivate habits that will foster financial security (as opposed to job security). Learn more about how to play by the rules of the rich in this fascinating seminar.

3. Dave Ramsey Show Podcast

Why stress out over money? With the Dave Ramsey Show Podcast, financial adviser Dave Ramsey offers call-in listeners the chance to discuss their money issues. Topics Ramsey takes on include tips for staying debt-free in college, how to keep your marriage together during a financial crisis, and how to transition after losing a job or suffering a similar cash flow setback. Ramsey helps everyone he talks to with a faith-based, friendly demeanor that tackles not just your money questions, but your emotional health as well.

4. Suze Orman at Google

Bestselling author and financial advisor Suze Orman spoke at Google last year delivering a lot of great financial advice with candor and wit. She starts the talk by telling her rags to riches story from living in a van in Berkeley, California and working as a waitress to learning about finance and becoming a top employee at Merrill Lynch. Orman’s advice focuses on the current state of the economy and what to do and not to do when it comes to credit cards, real estate, retirement plans, and a lot of other big personal finance issues. Watch this one hour talk of Suze Orman at Google.

5. Money Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a Richer Life Podcast

Money Girl Laura Adams provides some great finance & investment tips on this excellent addition to the Quick and Dirty Tips series of podcasts. She gets straight to the point in clear language regarding the money topics she is covering. In recent podcasts she gives basic tips on optimizing your credit score, getting the best mortgage, starting out in investing, and a whole lot more in over 60 podcasts on the feed. It’s a great way to get clear overview of the often confusing world of personal finance & investing.

6. Millionaire Upgrade

Download this free audio book of wealth advice by Richard Parkes Cordock. Drawing off some of the ideas of Napoleon Hill’s Think & Grow Rich and inspired by the true story of a flight with Sir Richard Branson, Millionaire Upgrade tells the story of man who gets on a plane and sits next to a self-made millionaire who lets him in on the secrets of his business success. The book contains entrepreneurship advice for anyone looking for something more than being a standard employee at a job they aren’t passionate about. It’s narrative structure provides for very enjoyable listening with key lessons emphasized along the way. This audio book is available on MP3 audio download from the Millionaire MBA website.

7. Oprah.com’s Money Channel Podcast

Listen to or watch Oprah.com’s Money Channel Podcast. In this podcast Oprah Winfrey chats with financial expert Suze Orman about a financial action plan. The podcast was recorded last year but the same advice still applies for the most part. During the webcast listeners call in and ask Orman questions and she provides a lot of sound financial advice in this one hour and 30 minute podcast. She provides tough answers regarding credit cards, personal expenses, and more for surviving in these challenging financial times. Learn about personal finance in this podcast from Oprah.com.

8. Extra Tips for The Freeway Guide to Maximizing Your Money

In this downloadable offering from the The Freeway Guides, financial expert Peter Bielagus gives tips to maximize your money. He covers ways to improve your credit score, to pick your financial advisor, to choose the right loan for a home. and how to get the most out of applying for financial aid. This title is available on MP3 download directly through LearnOutLoud.com.

June 4, 2014

Learn Marketing Ideas from Top Marketing Thinkers

We’re excited to share this great list of marketing ideas from the world’s top marketing thinkers. With new and innovative marketing techniques developing at a rapid pace, LearnOutLoud has kept subscribers constantly updated with our Free Resource of the Day Emails. From this wide base of resources, we’ve carefully chosen the best, including several items from irreverent marketing guru Seth Godin, life advice from hotel-magnate Chip Conley, and the latest tips from the authors of the best-selling book Made to Stick. We also delve into resources that explore how marketing has become more and more about forming direct relationships between the customer and the business owner. Need to find new ways to sell more effectively to your customer base? Look no further:

1. Seth Godin on Standing Out

Seth Godin feels that days of status quo marketing through the television industrial complex are coming to an end. People are too busy to pay attention to the nonstop advertising of average products for average people. What grabs people’s attention is something remarkable, or rather something worth making a remark about. And their remarks spread the ideas or products to the world and make it a success. Learn about the cutting edge of spreading ideas with this talk by Seth Godin. This talk is available on streaming video and MP3 download from the TED.com website.

2. Marketing by Sharing

Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of web-based tools company 37signals and the author of the recent book Rework. He gave this talk at the Chicago Convergence conference about how companies need to stop hiding their secrets to success and start sharing the expertise knowledge they have about their field of business. He uses the example of chefs on television who give away all their recipes and cooking secrets, and who then become enormously successful. And he gives other examples of companies that have shared their knowledge to help market themselves instead of keeping their trade secrets behind closed doors. This talk is available on streaming video from YouTube.

3. Made to Stick

Check out this talk from the co-author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die delivered at the Books Inc. bookstore. Author Chip Heath talks about his extensive research into why certain things have stuck with the public as common collective knowledge. He discusses John F. Kennedy’s popular goal to put a man on the moon in 10 years, along with a few common falsehoods that have stuck such as “we only use 10% of our brains” and “the Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure you can see from outer space”. This lecture is available on streaming video from FORA.tv.

4. Relationships for Revenue Growth

Master networker and Never Eat Alone author Keith Ferrazzi delivers a talk at the “YES WE CAN” Avon Global Summit on the power of building great relationships in business. While many people have casual business associates, Ferrazzi demands that the business relationships we build need to go deeper and that we need to seek to enable others to contribute. When many people in the business world today don’t have time to focus on networking and relationship building, Ferrazzi tries to show how connecting to business associates on a personal level can open doors which we’d never thought existed, and he provides many examples of this in action. His talk gets a great response from the ladies of Avon. It’s available on streaming video from YouTube on the “keithferrazzi” channel and if you enjoyed it there are a number of other hour long talks which he delivered available on his YouTube channel.

5. All Marketers are Liars – Seth Godin speaks at Google

Seth Godin is one of the most popular business authors of our era with best-selling books like All Marketers are Liars and Permission Marketing. Seth recently gave a presentation at the Good Experience Live (GEL) conference on the subject of things that are “broken. It’s both entertaining and eye-opening to get Seth’s perspective on what’s wrong with the state of the world. Enjoy this video presentation courtesy of Google Video.

6. Chip Conley: Measuring What Makes Life Worthwhile

While businesses are obsessed with measuring the metrics of the tangible elements of their business, hotelier and author of Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow Chip Conley makes a strong case for businesses to measure the intangibles of business such as the feelings of customers or whether the employees find their work meaningful. After studying the “hierarchy of needs” developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow, Conley realized that there was a lot more to his business than making sure his customer’s basic needs were met. He set out to measure and improve the metrics of intangible benefits to his customers and employees, and his hotel business boomed to become the second largest group of boutique hotels in the world. This TED talk is available on MP3 audio download and streaming video.

7. Brendon Burchard Video Presentations

Brendon Burchard is the founder of Experts Academy which teaches people how to share their expertise and get their message out there, and earn money while doing so. He has authored Life’s Golden Ticket and his latest bestselling book that just came out is The Millionaire Messenger: Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice. On his website BrendonBurchard.com, Brendon offers a lot of free video presentations and he currently includes a free 12-minute walk through of a chapter from his book which contains 10 steps on how to become a Millionaire Messenger. In other videos he shares inspiring stories including talking about the near fatal car accident he was in when he was 19 years old that turned his life around. Brendon Burchard has worked closely with personal growth guru Tony Robbins, and he’s got a very dynamic way of presenting his advice. Watch some of his videos today!

8. Rory Sutherland: Life Lessons from an Ad Man

Ad man Rory Sutherland takes a look at his profession and shows how advertising makes regular things valuable and that this perceived value is often just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value. He makes many telling jokes about this matter such as why don’t we sell placebos as medication if they’re actually shown to work in the perception of the ailing person. Throughout the talk he makes his point that advertising can often do a better job at spreading an idea or a product than rational problem solving.

9. Johanna Blakley: Lessons from Fashion’s Free Culture

Johanna Blakley delivers an eye-opening talk on copyrights in the world of fashion. Because the courts have deemed garments as too utilitarian to be copyrighted, the fashion industry has a complete lack of copyrights when it comes to their designs. They do have trademarks over their brands, but when it comes to the design anyone can copy it. This has led to the fashion imitations we are familiar with, but Blakley points out this hasn’t really hurt the industry because the customers who are buying the fakes are not the same as the customers who buy the real thing. If anything Blakley feels this has spawned creativity in fashion as designers are able to mix and match with any designs throughout history and they increasingly try to make designs that can’t easily be copied. Blakley points to other industries where items can’t be copyrighted and she feels that the struggling industries of movies, books, and music might need to update their ideas on copyright in this new digital age.

June 3, 2014

Successful Business Leaders Give Free Advice on Audio & Video

In this list of audio and video resources, successful business leaders give free advice on how to get ahead in your career and keep your business thriving. Over several years, we’ve put a premium on showcasing business leadership resources as a part of our Free Audio & Video Resource of the Day Emails. With this list, you’ll learn from luminaries such as Andrew Carnegie, Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Cheryl Sandberg and more on what it takes to forge your own path in the business world. This list also features resources that help you stay on top of the ever-changing trends that can make or break even the most successful enterprises. Click below to get started:

1. JimCollins.com Lecture Hall

Listen to over 50 MP3 downloads and watch over 20 short videos in the JimCollins.com Lecture Hall. Jim Collins (author of Good to Great) provides succinct advice for leadership both in business and in the social sectors in this series of MP3 downloads and videos. Everyone can benefit from these lecture snippets which include great ideas such as how to make a “Stop Doing” list and how to evolve into a “Level 5” leader. They are also now categorized to help you find the audio & video you’re looking for. Enjoy these free audio & video resources from JimCollins.com.

2. Jack Welch on Winning

After his hugely successful 20-year career as chairman and CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch published a few books to share his leadership and management ideas. In this hour-long interview offered on C-SPAN, Jack shares the wisdom from his book Winning. With his candor and wit, Jack provides tips on hiring and firing, the importance of human resources, and much more. Get great leadership advice from Jack Welch, straight from the gut! Note: The audio volume on this video interview is a little bit low so you may want to use headphones.

3. Sheryl Sandberg on Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Sheryl Sandberg has served as the chief operating officer of Facebook since 2008, and she now has a bestselling book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. In this hour-long interview Chicago Tribune vice president Joycelyn Winnecke interviews Sandberg about her book and about the role of women in leadership positions. Sandberg informs us of the statistic that only 5% of Fortune 500 companies are run by women and why she feels it is a problem that so few women are in leadership roles. She tries to bring out into the open many of the double standards and unmentioned issues surrounding female leadership, such as the frequent dislike of women as they get more successful and the reference to leading women as “bossy”. This is talk is available on streaming video through YouTube.

4. Ken Blanchard: Lead Like Jesus

Management expert Ken Blanchard has authored over 35 books including the bestseller The One Minute Manager. In this recent talk from Biola University, Blanchard teaches leadership lessons from the Bible and Jesus Christ. He talks about the importance of all leadership to shift from self-serving to serving others. He provides many examples of this type of leadership in action such as the customer service expertise and values of Southwest Airlines. Blanchard’s lessons can applied in almost any area of leadership including business, church leadership, sports coaching, and the family. This 1 hour and 20 minute talk is available on streaming video from YouTube.

5. The EntreLeadership Podcast

Dave Ramsey is a bestselling financial author and radio host, and his team runs one of the most popular business podcasts on iTunes, The EntreLeadership Podcast. The podcast is hosted by Chris LoCurto, who conducts excellent interviews with today’s top business authors and leaders. At the beginning of each episode you’ll hear a lesson from Dave Ramsey himself. After the lesson LoCurto conducts an interview, and currently on the feed you can listen to interviews with leadership experts like John C. Maxwell, Robin Robins, Patrick Lencioni, Stephen M.R. Covey, Jim Collins, Tony Dungy, Tony Hseih, and, of course, Dave Ramsey. In a recent episode they feature the “Best of 2012” with podcast interview excerpts from the best interviews they conducted in 2012.

6. The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

Librivox is offering a free audio book download of The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. In this unabridged audio book, the great Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie tells his life story from his humble beginnings in a cottage in Scotland to his rise to vastly expand the American steel industry and his late life as a philanthropist. Hear this “rags to riches” story from the man who lived it. This audio book is available as a free download through Librivox.org.

7. Leadership Styles & Ethics

Revisit some of his leadership wisdom with this free video interview and call-in show from C-SPAN taped back in 1989. In this 40-minute interview with Stephen R. Covey, he discusses his book Principle-Centered Leadership and how leaders in business and government must apply principles in order to be effective. He articulately answers questions from the interviewer and from callers across the United States, often addressing the leadership qualities of past American presidents and other political leaders. This interview provides excellent insight into the leadership ideas of Stephen R. Covey.

8. Leading at Google: Tony Hsieh on Delivering Happiness

Tony Hsieh is the CEO of the online shoe retailer Zappos.com and the author of the recent book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.. He spoke at Google on his book and the ways he has made Zappos one of the top rated places to work in the U.S. along with delivering some of the best customer service of any company. From their unconventional hiring methods to developing their unique corporate culture, Tony Hsieh shows how he grew Zappos to become an online retail giant that was bought in 2009 by Amazon.com for $1.2 billion. Hsieh also gives insights into his studies of the science of happiness and how he applied his findings to his business. Whether you’re a business leader or a regular employee, learn how you can create happiness in the workplace and deliver happiness to your customers. This Google Talk is available on streaming video from YouTube.

9. Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Podcast

Since 2005 a group at Stanford University has been podcasting talks from some of the most successful people in business and technology. The speaker generally gives an overview of their experiences as an entrepreneur along with advice for anyone looking to start a business. On this podcast you’ll hear from such thought leaders as former AOL CEO Steve Case, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, sustainability architect & co-author of Cradle to Cradle William McDonough, Former CEO of HP Carly Fiorina, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and people from Google, Yahoo, and dozens of other companies you’re probably familiar with. They have all their podcasts up on the feed going back five years. Learn from these successful business & technology thought leaders.

10. The Business of America: Masters of Enterprise – Lecture 1

Download Lecture 1 of this Modern Scholar course entitled Masters of Enterprise: American Business History and the People Who Made It taught by award-winning professor and historian H.W. Brands. In this first lecture called “The Business of America” Professor Brands gives a brief overview of the course and then proceeds to cover 200 years of American business history in 20 minutes from 1776 to the 20th century. He covers the importance of business in colonial times and its influence on the American Revolution. He then examines the 19th century which brought in industrialization and finance as important factors along with the central issue of slavery and its relation to business. And in the 20th century he briefly covers how businesses shifted their focus to the consumers who would buy all of the products that industrial capitalism was producing. This free lecture is available as an MP3 download or on streaming audio through LearnOutLoud.com.

11. A Conversation with Richard Branson

Entrepreneur, adventurer, political activist and all around firebrand Richard Branson sits down to talk about his plans for the future in this interview hosted by Bob Schieffer at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Starting with the formation of his company Virgin, Branson talks about how his uncompromising attitude and complete willingness to risk big has led to a worldwide reputation for innovation. He also gives a tantalizing glimpse at his latest venture, Virgin Galactic, the first large scale attempt to make private space travel a reality. This talk is available on streaming video from FORA.tv.

12. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

Listen to former Microsoft employee and the founder and CEO of Room to Read tell his inspirational story of his decision to leave a lucrative job to go build libraries around the developing world. In this talk delivered at Cody’s Books, Wood tells about a visit he made to a sparse library in Nepal where he was asked to bring back books. Wood then set out to build a library there and has since grown his Room to Read organization to build over 5,000 libraries in Asia and Africa. This talk is available on streaming video through FORA.tv.

June 3, 2014

10 Free Resources for Career Development

LearnOutLoud’s collection of 10 Free Resources for Career Development showcases audio & video from teachers and leaders that are dedicated to helping others find their life calling. We’ve searched diligently for many years to bring you the best career advice we can find on the web, and here you’ll find audio & video tips on how to sharpen your Professional Edge, learn methods to optimize (and reduce) your workload from Tim Ferriss and even get spiritual guidance on how to find work that is aligned with your deepest goals. We also delve into how professional culture is changing in the modern world, how stress can be managed, and how the recent economic crisis has affected who can work where and why. Whether you are just entering the job market, yearn for a career change or want advice on how to adjust your work methods, this selection should have something to help you on your way:

1. 25 Life Purpose Lessons from Sounds True

Sounds True has launched a wonderful new section of their site that features 25 Life Purpose Lessons to help you grow in your passions, your career, and your wealth in the coming year. With 5-15 minute audio lessons from Sounds True’s best business & wealth teachers such as Rick Jarow, Mark Albion, John Mackey, Fred Kofman, and Vicki Robin, these 25 life lessons will propel you into 2010 with vision & motivation. They’ve thoughtfully divided these lessons up into three sections. Enjoy these 25 lessons from Sounds True! Please Note: These lessons are streaming audio only and not downloadable.

2. Take Control of Your Career and Your Life with Marcus Buckingham Podcast

Listen to or watch this podcasted class offered by Oprah.com, featuring bestselling author Marcus Buckingham. This eight-step course explores finding fulfillment in your career. Marcus Buckingham guides 29 students that are seeking personal success in their business and life. Throughout the course Marcus teaches you how to leverage your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. This podcast is available on audio & video download (for some reason the streaming doesn’t seem to be working too well). Enjoy the course!

3. Alain de Botton on the Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

Philosophical writer Alain de Botton discusses his latest work The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. For writing the book he surveyed ten different jobs and came up with many interesting observations about working in today’s society. For instance he found that much of the time at work people aren’t actually working, but that they are still working long hours. He also found that highly specialized work forces often perform the best, but when it comes to the individual they tend to lack a sense of meaning. Watch Alain de Botton make many more of these observations on this streaming video from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation available on FORA.tv.

4. Sue Morem’s Professional Edge Podcast

In this podcast, author Sue Morem points listeners to ways they can achieve success and satisfaction in their professional careers. On the feed she features her video podcast series The Job Seeker, as well as other podcasts on professional topics and interviews with career experts such as Sonia Choquette, author of How To Trust Your Vibes at Work. Start your work week with some professional advice from career expert Sue Morem.

5. Authors@Google: Marci Alboher & Tim Ferriss

Work Less & Do More! In this @Google Talk Author Tim Ferriss discusses his bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Also featured on the talk is Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success. Both authors discuss the ways in which individuals can stop being overloaded with work and start doing the things they’re really passionate about. Ferriss tells his story about how he went from working 70 hour weeks to traveling the world and becoming a world champion kickboxer and tango dancer all while keeping his job and learning to delegate his workload. Alboher talks about how she went from being an overworked lawyer to becoming a part time lawyer and part time writer while living in different parts of the world. They give tips about how they accomplished their multifaceted lives and encourage listeners to not delay pursuing their passions until retirement.

6. Jason Fried: Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work

37signals co-founder and Rework author Jason Fried makes some provocative suggestions regarding why work doesn’t get done in the workplace. He suggests that interruptions are the key component contributing to the lack work accomplished in the workplace and that managers and meetings are to blame. He relates the stage of work to the stages of sleep and in order to get the best work done one needs to go through these stages without interruption. This talk was delivered at the TEDxMidwest Conference and is available on streaming video and MP3 audio download.

7. Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet

Most of us face certain dilemmas in our jobs between living according to our own principles of doing good and complying to the need to make a good living. Maybe you may want to do good with your work and benefit others, but you also have to live up to the needs of a company or organization that has to make money. This talk, with co-authors Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, William Damon, and Howard Gardner, addresses such work-related dilemmas which they confronted in their book Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet. They specifically look at two professions and the ethics associated with the work. They discuss journalists & journalistic ethics, and they talk about bioethics and geneticists. Through analyzing these professions they are able to come to some interesting conclusions about the interplay between doing good work and making money, and other dilemmas faced in the workplace. Maybe thinking about this can give you a better understanding about doing good work this year in your occupation.

8. Sir Ken Robinson on The Element

After a witty intro, Sir Ken Robinson talks about paradigm shifts in the modern world and how the education system is failing to meet the imaginative demands of life in the 21st century. The idea of going to school and college in order to get a steady, well-paying job which you will hold for the rest of your life is now rarely the case, and the new skills needed in the 21st century, don’t necessarily match the narrow focus of any degree. When a majority of people don’t particular enjoy their jobs after they’ve been educated, Robinson feels that the education system is failing to help people find their passion and develop their skills towards meeting their passion in life. He presents ideas on how individuals can educate themselves in order to find not only what they are good at, but what they love to do. Because if people are doing what they love, then they’ll never have to work another day in their life.

9. The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class

Check out this popular lecture from YouTube EDU featuring distinguished law scholar Elizabeth Warren. Delivered six months before the peak of the financial crisis, professor Warren sets out to explain why maintaining a middle class living is a much riskier proposition than it was 40 years ago despite the fact that women have entered the work force. She goes through the hard data of what Americans are spending their money on and sees financial debt, housing costs, and health care as major factors which have led to this age of financial anxiety for middle class families. This lecture is available on streaming video from UCTV through YouTube.

10. Barbara Ehrenreich: Bait and Switch

In this talk given at Books Inc., author Barbara Ehrenreich discusses her book Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream which examines the difficulty of middle-aged professionals trying to get white-collar jobs in corporate America. In her bestselling 2001 book Nickel and Dimed she went undercover to expose the hardships of the working poor. In Bait and Switch she goes undercover in the corporate world to explore white-collar unemployment. In this talk Ehrenreich uses her characteristic wit to describe the many curious ways that corporations have used to justify their layoffs and to blame middle class workers for their own unemployment. Towards the end she mentions her non-profit group United Professionals which she formed in 2006 to organize activism amongst white-collar workers who are unemployed. This talk is available on streaming video and MP3 audio download from FORA.tv.

May 21, 2014

6 Tim Ferriss Talks on the 4 Hour Work Week, 4 Hour Body, and 4 Hour Chef

Tim Ferriss is the author of such bestsellers as The 4-Hour Work Week and The 4-Hour Body. He is also the author of the The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life. Watch these 6 talks to transform your life with the ideas of Tim Ferriss.

Tim Ferriss on The 4-Hour Chef

Ferriss recently delivered this talk at Google, covering The 4-Hour Chef and how he applied his path of accelerated learning to the art of cooking. With visual accompaniments, he briefly outlines his main points to learning quickly. He talks about how he simplified learning how to cook, and succeeded by not attempting to learn everything at once. This process also saved him a lot of money in expensive cooking tools. Ferriss finishes the talk by answering questions about diet and nutrition and much more.

4-Hour Everything: How Tim Ferriss Tracks His Life’s Data

This is a 25-minute talk he gave at the WIRED Health Conference last October, and it is the #1 most viewed video of 2012 on the outstanding video site FORA.tv. In the talk Ferriss reveals the data that he tracks in regards to his workouts, what he eats, and a whole lot more. While he acknowledges that some of the stuff he tracks might seem obsessive or absurd to outsiders, he is confident that technology (such as apps on smart phones) is making it a whole lot easier for people to track data corresponding to their health and well-being. And he feels that tracking isn’t limited to scientific data, but can be applied to certain intangibles such as your emotions. This talk will surely get you thinking about what data you should be tracking as you strive for better physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health in 2013!

Tim Ferriss: Accelerated Learning in Accelerated Times

Watch this recent talk from Tim Ferriss, who is the bestselling author of The 4-Hour Work Week and The 4-Hour Body. Through his ongoing learning experiments, Ferriss has developed a method for learning things quickly. He encourages people to disregard conventional knowledge when it comes to learning just about anything as most conventional learning strategies are slow and ineffective. He describes the rapid methods he used to learn languages and to accomplish some of the physical feats he accomplished in his book The 4-Hour Body. He closes the talk with giving people the best behavioral techniques for carrying out his methods until your goals are accomplished. It’s great condensed knowledge from accelerated learner Tim Ferriss. This talk was delivered at the Long Now Foundation and is available on streaming video from FORA.tv.

Tim Ferriss: The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek

Tim Ferriss presents some of the findings in his latest book The 4-Hour Body in which he used himself as a guinea pig to find out the fastest way to the best results when it comes to the human body. He talks about his diet & nutrition as well as his fitness best practices. He also covers how he dealt with insomnia and the impact of cell phone use on male sperm count (which generates a lot of questions in the Q&A). Ferriss also addresses some of the skeptics when it came to his first bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek. This talk is available on streaming video from FORA.tv.

Feel Like the Incredible Hulk with Tim Ferriss

4-Hour Work Week author Tim Ferriss teaches how he tackled his fears and learned to swim, speak the Japanese language, and become a championship tango dancer. By learning as much as he could about the things he feared and trying out as many different methods as he could to conquer them he succeeded. This brief talk was delivered at The Entertainment Gathering and is available on streaming video from FORA.tv.

Authors@Google: Marci Alboher & Tim Ferriss

In this @Google Talk Author Tim Ferriss discusses his bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Also featured on the talk is Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success. Both authors discuss the ways in which individuals can stop being overloaded with work and start doing the things they’re really passionate about.

Ferriss tells his story about how he went from working 70 hour weeks to traveling the world and becoming a world champion kickboxer and tango dancer all while keeping his job and learning to delegate his workload. Alboher talks about how she went from being an overworked lawyer to becoming a part time lawyer and part time writer while living in different parts of the world. They give tips about how they accomplished their multifaceted lives and encourage listeners to not delay pursuing their passions until retirement.

May 19, 2014

Free Guided Meditations on MP3 from UCLA

Free Guided Meditations from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center

Listen to and download free guided meditations offered on MP3 from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. These eight introductory guided meditations are led by Diana Winston who is the Director of Mindfulness Education at the Mindful Awareness Research Center. Try out breathing meditations, body scan meditations, and loving-kindness meditations.

And if you want to download many more guided meditations check out:

Free Meditation Podcasts at the Hammer Museum

These 30-minute guided meditation sessions are conducted weekly at UCLA’s Hammer Museum. Download over 60 of these sessions on MP3. The guided meditations cover a wide variety of meditation topics from working with equanimity, gratitude, joy, pain, and much more. They are also lead by Diana Winston.

And if you are new to mindfulness meditation or would like to watch an introduction to it, then check out this video by Diana Winston:

Introduction to Mindful Awareness

Enjoy these free mindfulness resources from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.

February 12, 2014

5 Free Relationship Advice Resources

With Valentine’s Day coming up, many people are turning their hearts and minds towards that special someone. For many, this time is not only a celebration of love, but it also gives us a chance to ponder how we might further cultivate romance in our lives. We’ve decided it was a great time to collect some of our favorite videos, audiobooks and podcasts centered around the search for lasting love. Whether you are still trying to find your soul mate, need some pointers on how to communicate with your partner, want to energize your intimacy, or pine for a commitment that will last, these selections can guide you along the path to true romantic fulfillment.

1) John Gray Relationship Advice Videos

Bestselling “Mars and Venus” author John Gray presents a series of short relationship advice videos on his YouTube channel. Each segment takes on a specific topic and dissects what the basic emotional underpinnings are that might be causing trouble. Whether you are looking for advice with unrequited love, feel bored in a current relationship, or are facing a communication problem that has stopped you from growing with your significant other, Gray’s videos provide a warm outlet for guidance. In all John Gray has over 140 videos currently to choose from, all lasting about 5 to 10 minutes.

2) Understanding Conversations Between Women and Men

In this lecture linguistics professor and bestselling author Deborah Tannen describes many of the basic differences between in communication between men and women. She starts with an example she discovered when examining the conversations of kids and teenagers. Girls tended to talk to each other face to face while boys generally sat at angles or parallel and looked around the room while they talked to each other. She mentions many other general patterns of behavior in the communication habits of men and women and hopes that by becoming more aware of these differences we can become more understanding in our communication with the opposite sex.

3) This is Your Brain on Love

Helen Fisher, one of the world’s leading experts on romantic love, identifies four broad personality types, each governed by different chemical systems in the brain. Love is no longer blind, thanks to pioneering scientific research, based on her unique study of 40,000 men and women. Fisher explains each type, shows you how to identify your own type, and helps you use nature’s chemistry to find and keep your life partner.

4) The Love Language Minute Podcast with Dr. Gary Chapman

Noted relationship counselor Gary Chapman hosts these short daily insights based on his bestselling book The Five Love Languages. Each episode is under a minute and touches on the various barriers people face in the way they communicate their feelings with one another. Framed within a spiritual perspective, these podcasts offer valuable tips on how to speak more freely and love more fully.

5) Deepening Intimacy: A Free Course from Sounds True

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Sounds True has launched a new FREE video event series entitled “Deepening Intimacy: Essential Insights for the Most Important Relationship of Your Life”. This 16-part series features Sounds True founder Tami Simon speaking with relationship experts like John Gray, Harville Hendrix, and many more. In the first interview which lasts about 50 minutes, Tami interviews Harville Hendrix and his wife Helen Hunt as they discuss ways to keep a relationship vital. Their emphasis is on bringing zero negativity to a marriage and the ways they worked with negativity in their own relationship. Join in on watching this 16-part video series to help you enhance your intimate relationships.