We're trying something new today friends!

We're taking a solo exploration into the inner fabric off my own mind! A frightening prospect indeed. 

On our very first "Self-Selection," I'm ranting and rambling about the greatest mystery of life...consciousness! What is it? Where does it come from? And what does the nature of it mean for how we live our day-to-day lives? We're covering all that and more on this very exciting (and much shorter) episode! Please enjoy.

On this episode of Self-Assembly, we speak with Adam Flaherty, co-host of the podcast Modern Dadhood. We had an excellent conversation about all the ups and downs of being a parent and how the experience can forever alter your own sense of self.

Listen and subscribe to Modern Dadhood! https://www.moderndadhood.com/

Grant Hill joins us to talk about the wild adventure he went on while producing his latest project, an investigative podcast called Serum. It's a truly mind-blowing journey about divine intervention, goat's blood, and a cure for AIDS. Come join us and see how deep the rabbit hole goes (no shame about my Matrix reference.) 

Check out Serum here: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1113054734/serum

Follow Grant! Twitter: https://twitter.com/grant_m_hill & Substack: https://localtrance.substack.com/p/serumsickness

Local Trance Media: https://localtrance.fm/

For our final conversation on death, my fiancée and partner for the past 8 years joins Self-Assembly.

Like so many others, 2020 was a rough year for us. But for Shannon and her family, it was permanently life-altering. She lost two integral members of her family in a matter of weeks to Covid-19 and it was a moment that forced her examine her own humanity and how she wants to live.

Dr. Victoria Tucker is a palliative care nurse and nursing historian. She's helped countless people and their families navigate the journey of death and has learned an immense amount about living because of it. We talk about the roll a palliative care team can play in one's healthcare experience and why a holistic understanding of health is so important. 

Rosie Cima is a singer/songwriter and a journalist. Some years ago she lost a friend who was very close to her in a tragic accident and it became a transformational moment for her. Suddenly the notion of how fragile life can be became all too real. In this episode we dissect her song Waxwing and talk about how the knowledge of death can influence your knowledge of life.

You can find her band Rosie Cima And What She Dreamed at: https://www.rosiecimaandwhatshedreamed.com/

Losing someone in your family is never easy. Losing your mother at 12-years-old is unimaginable.

Despite experiencing such a dark, traumatic moment at such a young age, this episode's guest, Travis Boyd emerged with a spirit so large and bright that it almost has its own orbit. We talk about the process of loss, grief, and how the power of faith can usher you through life's most challenging moments.

Travis is now a reverend and you can support him and his church, Canaan Baptist Church of Christ at https://www.canaanbaptistcoc.com/.

Aging can be frightening. In many ways, it marks a pivotal moment in our lives where the independence we once enjoyed and likely took for granted, suddenly dwindles. It can be challenging to maintain a sense of purpose when your body simply can't take you through life in the ways it used to.

For our first conversation in our series on death, we talk to CJ Kelliher. He's one of my best friends and also runs an assisted living facility in New Hampshire. His grandmother spent decades working in the long-term care space and is a major inspiration for how he runs the facility today. 

He has a very unique, very detailed understanding of the process of aging and has made it his mission in life to help his residents age with grace and dignity. We talk about how he does this and all the various challenges that we all have to face when our loved ones begin to age.