Why can’t we ever have enough? Armand DiMele traces greed from Wall Street scandals to everyday wanting, arguing that insatiability is driven by competition, relative status, and the brain chemistry of the hunt rather than the reward. Callers share their own struggles with desire, money, and contentment.
Can a Buddhist mindset survive inside a financial newsroom? Former Bloomberg News anchor Carmen Roberts joins Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. to explore how insatiable desire drives both personal unhappiness and Wall Street excess, and how compassion and higher consciousness can redirect that drive.
The ancient concept of acedia, a toxic blend of restlessness and boredom distinct from depression, gets a modern examination. Poet and author Kathleen Norris draws on monastic wisdom and her own memoir to show how acedia quietly drains connection to others, community, and meaning.
What makes someone beautiful, and why does the standard keep shifting? Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW are joined by health and beauty researcher Deborah Chase, who traces beauty ideals from ancient Greece to Twiggy, explains the science behind symmetry and skin care, and challenges the commercial beauty industry’s grip on how we see ourselves.
Estrogen makes drugs feel better, and progesterone can counteract that effect. Emily Anthes, Science Journalist and Author, joins Armand to explain why female addicts are biologically distinct from male addicts, why teenage girls now use drugs as often as boys, and how hormone-based treatments might one day help women quit.
Low self-esteem is not just a feeling but a social reflex rooted in ranking and linking, the two drives governing all social animals. Dr. Elaine Aron, author of “The Undervalued Self,” joins Armand DiMele to explain how shame, jealousy, and couples’ arguments trace back to ancient hierarchical instincts and unresolved emotional trauma.
More options should mean more happiness, but psychologist Barry Schwartz argues the opposite: abundant choice produces paralysis, regret, and rising expectations that guarantee disappointment. Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. discuss how committing to a path, rather than endlessly searching for a better one, may be the actual route to fulfillment.
Physical clutter carries emotional weight, and clearing it can unlock broader change in how we live. Barbara Tako, author of ‘Clutter Clearing Choices’, walks through practical methods like the four-box sort and the one-in-one-out rule, while Armand and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW explore how clutter connects to guilt, relationships, and self-worth.
Depression may not be a malfunction but a feature. Armand DiMele draws on Darwin, Aristotle, and evolutionary psychologists to argue that rumination and low mood serve real purposes: protecting us from greater pain, spurring creative insight, and forcing honest self-examination. Callers share how accepting depression freed them.
Unresolved childhood patterns drive adult behavior, and Gestalt therapy offers tools to name them. Armand DiMele walks through core Gestalt concepts including retroflection, deflection, confluence, and projection, showing how each keeps people stuck in the same drama. The episode opens with a heartfelt reflection on the Haiti earthquake.
