Depression-Free After 40

Lead Like an Elite Warrior: A Navy SEAL Commander on Winning the War Inside Your Mind

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0700

Fear will always speak. You decide which voice you feed.

Many of us are tough on the outside and tired on the inside.

What if your hardest battle is the one inside your own mind?

In this episode, retired Navy SEAL top Commander Mark Divine shows us how to train the mind the way we train the body.

We talk about why strength is not the absence of fear or feeling.

It is a trained mind and an open heart, and anyone can build both, one breath and one small win at a time.

Mark shares how he walked away from a secure career as a CPA to become a leading SEAL.

He explains the “two wolves” inside each of us, one of fear and one of courage, and his four steps for feeding the right one.

He walks us through his signature breathing practice for staying calm whether you are under fire, in a boardroom, or at the kitchen table.

He also talks openly about spending years shutting down his emotions as a SEAL, and what it took to face his own shadow.

This conversation is for anyone fighting a battle no one else can see.

Strength is not a mask. It is a practice. Share this episode with someone fighting a battle no one else can see, and follow Depression-Free After 40 so you never miss an episode.

ABOUT MARK DEVINE:

Mark Divine is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL Commander who served 20 years and finished as the top-ranked trainee in his BUD/S class. Before the SEALs, he was a CPA with an MBA from NYU Stern, until Zen meditation and martial arts changed the direction of his life.

He founded SEALFIT, Unbeatable Mind and the Courage Foundation, which raises awareness of veteran suicide. He holds a PhD and hosts The Mark Divine Show.

His books include Unbeatable Mind, The Way of the SEAL, 8 Weeks to SEALFIT, Kokoro Yoga, Staring Down the Wolf and his latest, Uncommon.

Watch the Podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE:

2:30 — Childhood trauma and the search to fill the inner hole

6:30 — Zen training and studying the mind

9:50 — Breakdown as the path to breakthrough

10:57 — Dharma and the cost of being misaligned

13:14 — Flow state: 100% alignment in SEAL training

15:22 — The limits of emotional control and buried childhood wounds

23:47 — If you're not training, the world is training you

29:08 — Pain versus suffering: you are not this body

33:23 — The Big Four of mental toughness

37:37 — Feeding the courage wolf and starving fear

CONTACT MARK DIVINE:

Website: https://markdivine.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdivine

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markdivineofficial

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markdivineofficial

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@markdivineofficial

Podcast, The Mark Divine Show: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Newsletter: https://markdivine.com/newsletter

Unbeatable Mind community: https://unbeatablemind.com/join-unbeatable-mind-community

Books: https://markdivine.com/books-by-markdivine

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Why Are You Here: Are You Successful at a Life You Don’t Want?

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00:00 -0700

Let's talk about the “question” most of us spend our whole lives avoiding.

Not what do you do. Not how did you get here.

But why are you here?

Today's guest built an entire career, and a movement, around that one question.

Gerry Visca started out as an architect, learning how ideas take shape in physical space. He later became a Creative Director, leading more than a thousand marketing campaigns and winning three international branding awards.

Then he became an author, a Book Architect, and the founder of a global movement called WHYTIME, all built around one idea: that purpose, not performance, is what actually lasts.

He is an international award-winning author of more than twenty-five books, a speaker who has inspired audiences across eleven countries, and the person more than two hundred fifty authors have trusted to help turn their ideas into finished books.

In this episode, we go past the standard advice to “find your passion.”

What does it actually mean to know your WHY? How do you build a career, a company, or a life around it? And what is lost when we never bother to ask?

This isn't about chasing inspiration for its own sake.

It's about building something that means something.

Watch the Podcast on YouTube Here.

TIMELINE:

0:55 — Carl Jung: "Who are you?"

2:48 — The one question that matters: "Why am I here?"

5:55 — The Why Equation: Passion + Purpose = Outcome

7:51 — Steve Jobs and Oprah as models of passion and purpose

9:54 — "I exist to…" — defining your reason for being

10:45 — The psychological cost of success without feeling alive

12:34 — "The Life I Didn't Notice" — transformational storytelling

19:52 — Men vs. women: inside-out vs. outside-in

28:10 — Book architecture — designing books as emotional experiences

31:40 — Living your why ignites innovation

CONTACT GERRY VISCA:

Website: https://www.gerryvisca.com/

Book (The Quiet House): https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-House-Mr-Gerry-Visca/dp/1067556613

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerry-visca-b53509338/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gerryvisca/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GerryVisca

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gerry.visca/

Email: gerryvisca@gmail.com

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Beautiful Skin, Hidden Scars: What Your Mirror Can’t Show You.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00:00 -0700

What if looking good has become a cover for not feeling good?

We spend so much time caring for what people can see. Our skin. Our face. Our appearance. But sometimes the real story is underneath.

In this deeply personal conversation, with Dr. Keira Barr, dual-board-certified dermatologist, bestselling author of The Skin Whisperer, and expert in skin care, stress, and emotional wellbeing, we go beneath the skin.

Keira brings her own story of facial birthmarks, childhood teasing, and melanoma to a conversation about what it really means to be seen.

We explore what our skin may be telling us, why looking better doesn’t always make us feel better, the hidden cost of beauty and perfection culture, and the surprising connection between emotional boundaries and skin health.

We also examine how caring for our appearance can become compulsive checking.

How stress, anxiety, and depression intersect with skin conditions, and how we can learn to trust our bodies again.

Because flawless skin is not the goal.

Living fully is.

If you have ever looked in the mirror and felt that what you see doesn’t tell the whole story, this conversation is for you. Listen in

TIMELINE:

0:30 — Psycho-dermatology and skin as storyteller

4:22 — Skin as a living boundary wired to the nervous system

10:10 — Skin's own stress response machinery

12:31 — Internal feelings and skin sensing safety

13:30 — Touch as the first sense developed in utero

16:00 — Observable skin shifts reflecting inner emotional states

18:00 — Dr. Barr's personal journey to mind-body dermatology

23:30 — Curiosity over criticism — skin as dashboard dial

25:00 — Gut-skin-brain axis and the stress-inflammation loop

34:03 — Skin as relational organ and healing through touch

CONTACT KEIRA BARR, MD:

Dr. Barr Website

Instagram

Bestselling Book

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Are You a Serial Fixer: How to Care Deeply Without Losing Yourself?

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00:00 -0700

YOU KNOW THIS PERSON.

When something goes wrong, everyone calls them.

A relationship is falling apart. A colleague is overwhelmed. A child is struggling. A friend is in crisis.

They listen. They step in. They solve.

And eventually, they become the one who is exhausted.

My guest, psychotherapist and author Leah Marone, calls this person the Serial Fixer.

In this episode, we explore the hidden cost of being the person everyone depends on, and why the most caring, capable, high-performing people can be especially vulnerable to burnout.

We unpack the difference between helping and fixing, how over-functioning shows up in families, relationships, and workplaces, and why taking responsibility for other people's problems can slowly make you disappear from your own life.

Leah introduces her powerful Support, Don't Solve™ framework and her idea of “empathy with edges”, a different way to be there for people without carrying what belongs to them.

We also challenge the self-care industry and explore what real self-care looks like when you're accustomed to putting everyone else first.

Because boundaries aren't about caring less.

They're about caring without losing yourself.

And sometimes the most loving thing you can do is stop fixing what was never yours to fix to begin with.

TIMELINE:

2:43 – What is a Serial Fixer

4:58 – Why We Serial Fix

6:58 – Fixing in the Workplace

8:40 – The Exhaustion of Being Steps Ahead

9:46 – From Athlete to Clinician

11:48 – Toxic Positivity & People-Pleasing

14:14 – Control Disguised as Compassion

20:03 – Curiosity Over Shame

23:10 – Support, Don't Solve

33:12 – Resentment in Relationships

See the Podcast on YouTube.

CONTACT LEAH MARONE:

All links (LinkedIn / TikTok / YouTube / Substack)

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Feel It to Heal It IT: From Grief to Gratitude and a Joyful Living.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00:00 -0700

Beginning A New Life.

At 26, Dr. Peggy DeLong lost her fiancé to cancer. Six weeks later, her father died suddenly of a heart attack.

Two devastating losses. One after another.

But that grief would eventually shape her life's work as she became a leading psychologist.

In this deeply human conversation, psychologist and author Dr. Peggy DeLong, known as “The Gratitude Psychologist,” shares what happens when we stop running from painful emotions and finally allow ourselves to feel them.

We explore why we cannot heal what we don't feel, and why labeling emotions as “negative” can actually distance us from what they are trying to tell us.

Peggy challenges another popular idea: that happiness is simply a choice. We talk about what real healing asks of us when we are grieving, numb, exhausted, or afraid that if we surrender to our pain, we may never climb back out.

The conversation moves from grief to gratitude, exploring nature and awe as sources of healing, how to practice gratitude without slipping into toxic positivity, and Peggy's practical Prioritize, Plan, Practice, Prosper framework for bringing more meaning and joy into everyday life.

We also take the conversation into the workplace, examining burnout, emotional wellbeing, and why the joy of people inside an organization may matter far more to performance than leaders realize.

Ultimately, this is a conversation about something bigger than gratitude…Life!

TIMELINE:

1:06 — Feel it to heal it: the necessity of allowing yourself to feel emotional pain

1:36 — Personal loss: fiancé's death and choosing to face grief head-on

3:50 — Discovering the power of gratitude through a cup of hazelnut coffee

6:46 — The danger of masking pain: emotional numbing and losing access to joy

8:56 — Ambiguous and disenfranchised grief: losses society doesn't acknowledge

11:52 — Healing methods: journaling, bereavement groups, and grief walks

13:59 — Healed by the mountains: nature's capacity to contain grief

16:33 — How to reach out to and support someone who is grieving

21:14 — Grief in the workplace: supporting colleagues within corporate boundaries

26:33 — The neuroscience of gratitude: reticular activating system, serotonin, and dopamine

Watch the Podcast on YouTube.

CONTACT DR. PEGGY DeLONG:

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Boost Your Brain: The Crash That Finally Made Her Listen.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00:00 -0700

She spent years mistaking exhaustion for failure, until a bicycle accident forced her to meet the brain that had been protecting her all along.

This episode challenges a familiar internal narrative, the voice that tells a woman "I'm not enough," and reframes it not as truth.

It could be echoes of physical trauma, exhaustion, hormonal shifts, and private stress that the brain has been absorbing all along.

The conversation asks what happens when we stop treating that voice as a verdict on our character and start treating it as a signal from a brain that's been working hard to protect us.

Jocelyn Pepe is the founder of Leni Health & TrU and the author of Claim Your Brain: Your Practical Guide to TrU Mental Health.

She holds graduate degrees in psychology and the neuroscience of mental health, speaks and researches women's brain health, and created the Cognitive Resilience Method for Women.

The discussion traces the early, often-missed signs that Jocelyn's brain and body were under strain long before anything visibly broke, and how she habitually interpreted that strain as personal failure rather than a legitimate signal.

It examines the "invisible load" of raising three children while working and achieving, and what a competent exterior can hide from others and from oneself.

We learn what "claiming your brain" means in practice, and a broader critique of workplaces that treat women's mental health as a matter of individual resilience rather than one shaped by biology, life stage, and caregiving demands.

Watch the podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE:

1:52 — What brain health means and how lifestyle factors impact women's aging

2:23 — From a traumatic cycling accident and the journey into brain health

3:32 — Post-injury symptoms: brain fog, headaches, vertigo, exhaustion, and disconnection

5:59 — Rebuilding after trauma: social support, children as motivation, and resilience

7:48 — Shifting from external validation to internal listening (inside-out vs. outside-in)

11:30 — Living in alignment: boundaries, courage to say no, and finding purpose

17:05 — Shifting the "I'm not enough" internal narrative to self-acceptance

19:45 — The power of doing: action over mirror affirmations

22:30 — Women's brain health: underfunded research, hormones, and perimenopause

25:43 — Women's health in the business world: flexibility, peak performance, and bio-individuality

CONTACT JOCELYN PEPE:

Website

Instagram

Book

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Dr. Mehran Website

Hear My Message | Therapy & Testimonials

Podcasts | Blogs | YouTube

Bestselling Book

Rethinking Ketamine: Evidence, Hope, and Hype.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00:00 -0700

Let's cut through the hype and stigma and learn what ketamine is, how it works, and who it may help.

For someone who has lived with depression for a long time, hope can begin to feel very far away, especially when the usual treatments haven't helped.

Ketamine may offer some people better results and hope.

For people living with persistent depression, ketamine has become a source of intense interest, uncertainty, and debate.

Is it a meaningful clinical option, an overhyped promise, or something more complicated?

My podcast guest is Nico Grundmann, MD, a board-certified emergency medicine physician who left the ER to focus on a different kind of crisis: the emotional pain that seems hard to treat.

He is the co-founder and CEO of Ember Health, a physician-led IV ketamine practice that, according to his guide, has delivered more than 40,000 infusions across five New York City locations since 2018.

In this episode, we move beyond the headlines. What is ketamine? How is it being used in mental health care? Who might be considered for treatment, and who might not? What can patients expect, what risks and unanswered questions matter, and how can someone identify responsible medical care?

This is not an endorsement or a miracle-cure story. It is a fact-based conversation about evidence, safety, uncertainty, and what hope can look like when familiar options have fallen short.

**Disclaimer. This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not medical or mental health advice and should not replace care from a qualified professional. If you have concerns about your health or well-being, please speak with your doctor or mental health provider.**

TIMELINE:

3:22 — What is ketamine?

3:42 — Ketamine as a battlefield anesthetic

5:30 — From ER doctor to depression treatment

7:50 — Clinic’s early outcomes

9:05 — Depression's hidden prevalence and healthcare gaps

12:41 — Measurement-based care and collaborative model

17:06 — How ketamine works: three distinct effects

23:00 — Who benefits from ketamine treatment

28:27 — What patients experience during a ketamine infusion

38:00 — Ketamine safety, misuse, and Matthew Perry’s public case

Watch the Podcast on YouTube.

CONTACT NICO GRUNDMANN:

Ember Health: https://emberhealth.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicogrundmann/

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

TOUCH: The Body’s Forgotten Language of Healing.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:00:00 -0700

What if the body remembers what the mind tries to forget?

What if touch is medicine, not just contact? Let’s explore the path back to wholeness.

Somatic Trauma Therapist Barbara Collier on Why the Path to Wholeness Runs Through the Body, Not Around It.

For more than 30 years, Barbara Collier has studied what touch can heal that words cannot.

A Licensed Professional Counselor, certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and Embodied Psychosexual Practitioner™, she was among the first therapists in Arizona to bring touch into psychotherapy, introducing a massage table into her office.

She is the co-founder of Equinimity Tucson, a longtime collaborator of Dr. Peter Levine, and a trauma survivor whose own trauma recovery shapes her clinical work.

In this podcast, we talk about what happens in the nervous system the moment safe touch occurs, and why so many of us are severed from our own bodies in the first place.

We examine why talk therapy alone often can’t heal a traumatized body, where grief actually lives in the body, and how she knows the difference between touch that heals and touch that re-traumatizes.

Barbara also shares what a horse can teach a nervous system that a human often can’t.

What we learned is that healing isn’t only something we talk our way into. It’s something we feel our way back to.

TIMELINE:

0:30 – Touch as a primary human need

3:20 – Non-verbal communication: the body's language

6:00 – Barbara's path into touch-based therapy

8:50 – Presence as touch & ethics of touch in psychotherapy

11:10 – Somatic experiencing & the business executive case study

17:00 – The original wound: separation from nature

19:30 – CEO loneliness and the autonomy-connection paradox

24:10 – Touch, trauma, and sexual abuse healing

26:30 –The massage table practice & the anesthesiologist case

31:30 – Grief in the body and touch in daily relationships

Watch the Podcast on YouTube.

CONTACT BARBARA COLLIER, LPC:

Website: https://www.barbaracollier.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/headhearthandsjourneyinc/

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Always Camera Ready: How She Helps the City Wake Up.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:00:00 -0700

She's interviewed thousands. Now she's the one being asked.

What does it take to be the voice a whole city wakes up to?

What does it take to be warm and steady before the sun comes up, every single day, for forty years?

We hear from the anchorwoman who has spent four decades telling Cincinnati's stories, and who is finally telling her own.

Sheila Gray hosts Good Morning Cincinnati on WKRC Local. She's a member of the Ohio University Broadcasting Hall of Fame, a magna cum laude Scripps journalism grad, and a community fixture through Pink Ribbon Girls, the YWCA Career Women of Achievement, and as a Key to the City.

In this conversation, we talk about what it actually takes to be publicly cheerful on privately hard days.

Sheila reflects on what her mentor saw in her before she saw it in herself, and what thousands of interviews with accomplished people have taught her about who they really are once the camera stops rolling.

We get into what her reporting reveals about the quiet challenges families don't talk about enough, what separates a story that truly connects people from one that simply informs, and what she's noticed people rarely say out loud, even when their lives are public.

We also talk about what Cincinnati still understands about belonging that bigger, faster cities have forgotten, why the people who hold everything together for everyone else are so often the ones nobody checks on, and what local television still knows about trust that national news and social media have lost.

After four decades of telling everyone else's stories, it turns out the best one Sheila had was her own.

Watch the podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE:

1:21 — Career origins: from West Virginia reporter to Cincinnati morning anchor

2:25 — "Sheila energy": bringing warmth and consistency to work every day

4:04 — Building trust and storytelling with genuine care

7:45 — Losing her father young and how grief shaped her values

10:06 — Choosing kindness over bitterness through hard times

11:06 — How celebrities and public figures behave on camera vs. off camera

15:15 — Balancing facts with human connection in interviews

24:39 — My mentor on finding the human story

30:02 — How news consumption and media trust are evolving

37:34 — Cincinnati culture and identity (Skyline Chili, goetta, community spirit)

CONTACT SHEILA GRAY:

Facebook

Instagram

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Holding it Together: A Psychiatrist on Why You Could Always Be Composed and Quietly Breaking.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:00:00 -0700

What if being normal is a myth?

What if there is a quiet cost of always being normal?

Let’s look behind the composure.

We hear from the psychiatrist who studies why the strong ones often struggle quietly.

For nearly 30 years, Dr. Peter Zafirides, MD has sat across from people who seem to have it all together, hearing the things they never say out loud.

Dr. Zafirides is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Ohio State's College of Medicine and co-founder of Central Ohio Behavioral Medicine in Columbus, Ohio, where he has spent nearly three decades treating depression, anxiety, and trauma.

A seven-time Best Doctors in America honoree and recipient of the Compassionate Doctor Award, he built his career around one uncomfortable question: what if being normal is a myth, and there's a quiet cost to always holding it together?

In this conversation, we talk about why the people everyone else depends on are often the least likely to admit they're struggling.

Someone can be lonely while surrounded by others every day, and why closure is something we create rather than something we receive.

Dr. Zafirides breaks down the two layers of suffering, the loss itself and the fight against it, and explains how anxiety and depression can quietly become someone's lifestyle without them ever noticing.

We also get into what the body knows before the mind admits it, and what nearly 1,000 lectures and thousands of patient hours have taught him about when people finally reach out for help.

What we learned is that strength was never about carrying it alone.

It's about knowing when to put it down.

If you're the one everyone else leans on, consider this your sign to lean on someone too.

Watch the podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE:

3:54 — Living "normal" while secretly battling anxiety and depression

6:03 — The tipping point: when suppressed struggles start to "break down" relationships, work, or health

7:58 — "Death by resiliency," the cost of always pushing through

8:14 — When it's time to see a clinician

9:42 — How medication helps (and its limits)

11:30 — Healing as a complex interplay of biology, psychology, and human connection

15:59 — The power of simply asking "Are you happy?"

24:59 — Loneliness as an epidemic, even in a room full of people

28:22 — Understanding closure: pain vs. the suffering we add through interpretation

37:06 — The two layers of suffering explained

CONTACT DR. PETER ZAFIRIDES, MD:

Website

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

How to Listen to Depression. Often It's The Most Honest Voice in the Room.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

Let's Learn to Listen to Depression.

Depression is never the enemy. It’s often the most honest voice in the room, asking to be heard.

ABOUT DR. LARA HONOS-WEBB

PhD clinical psychologist and author of seven books, including Listening to Depression and The Gift of ADHD

Listening to Depression was named one of the best therapy books of 2006 by Health Magazine

Longtime Psychology Today contributor; completed her postdoctoral fellowship at UC San Francisco

Known for finding the gift inside the diagnosis; depression as a wake-up call, ADHD as a strength

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb is a clinical psychologist licensed in California. Honos-Webb completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, and has been an assistant professor for graduate students. She has published 26 scholarly articles. Her website is www.addisagift.com

She is the author of six books: Tools to Help Teens Improve Focus, Stay Organized, and Reach Their Goals (2020), Brain Hacks, The Gift of ADHD, The Gift of ADHD Activity Book, The Gift of Adult ADD, The ADHD Workbook for Teens, and Listening to Depression.

Dr. Honos-Webb shared that “Depression is a signal that something new has to come into your life.”

There are 4 Ps that accelerate depression healing: The Permission Principle, the Pleasure Principle, the Presence Principle, and the Power Principle.

Watch the podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE:

0:06 — Welcome & Introduction

0:35 — Depression Has Wisdom, Not Just Symptoms

2:53 — Disclaimers & Session Purpose

7:21 — The Hero's Journey of Healing

10:32 — Depression as Self-Communication

15:45 — The Four Ps: Presence, Pleasure, Permission, Power

26:32 — Discovering Your Strengths

34:01 — Purpose and Enthusiasm Over Prestige

43:36 — Momentum: M&M for the Soul

CONTACT DR. LARA HONOS-WEBB:

Website
LinkedIn
Instagram

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

Bestselling Book: You Are Not Depressed. You Are Un-Finished.

How to Become a Calm and Trusted Leader.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

Calm Leaders Build Stronger Teams.

Why you cannot build a healthy culture from a reactive emotional state, and how leaders trade reaction for regulation.

Every leader knows the moment.

The meeting turns tense. The email lands wrong. The pressure spikes, and before you’ve chosen anything, your body has already chosen for you: flooded, controlling, defensive, or shut down.

Julia LeFevre calls it what it is: you cannot build a healthy culture from a reactive state.

Julia is the founder of Brave Restoration, a relational trust specialist, and a Certified NeuroChange Professional Coach with 25+ years in education and leadership.

She helps executives regulate their nervous systems so decisions come from the prefrontal cortex rather than self-protection, rebuilding trust, accountability, and real connection.

In this podcast, we explore what regulated leadership actually takes, not as a personality trait, but as a trainable capacity.

What is happening in a leader’s brain under threat?

How do you repair a trust rupture you caused?

And what has to be full before a leader has anything real to give?

Watch the podcast on YouTube.

About Julia LeFevre:

Founder of Brave Restoration; relational trust specialist and human-first leadership coach.

Certified NeuroChange Professional Coach with master’s degrees in Organizational Leadership and Education, and 25+ years in education and leadership.

Creator of the CORE 4 framework — Connection, Definition, Integration, Collaboration — and the six-week Regulated Leader Cohort for executives facing imposter syndrome, anxiety, and burnout.

Known for the maxim: “Regulated leadership is not personality. It is capacity.”

TIMELINE:

0:30 — Why leaders become reactive/anxious and lose team trust

2:17 — Real-life test of capacity: the 29-hour travel ordeal

4:53 — History of neuroscience research on brain flexibility (1980s–2000s)

7:30 — Brainstem, limbic system & the "bottom-up" brain model

9:01 — The 5th core human need: relational belonging

10:43 — Defining "capacity": staying regulated under relational threat

11:38 — Case study: the table-pounding, micromanaging boss

17:18 — The "fire pit" metaphor: expressing emotion instead of suppressing it

20:31 — Team exercise: releasing tension in a high-tech product team

23:06 — Reframing "dysregulation" as lack of psychological safety

26:35 — Capacity as a muscle: atrophy vs. growth through discomfort

29:36 — You can't fake regulation: showing up vs. what you say

32:12 — Julia's personal story: anxiety, burnout, and neurochange development work

35:43 — The turning point: "I don't need you to change those things"

37:54 — Separating performance from relational connection at work

40:02 — The Core Four Framework explained: Connection, Integration, Collaboration

43:03 — Building your "fire pit": finding brave people to journey with

CONTACT JULIA LeFevre:

Link to the nervous system audit: https://lp.braverestoration.org/executivecapacity-audit

Website: www.braverestoration.org

Email: julia@braverestoration.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaklefevre/

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

Fly Free Forever: After the Fire, Love Still Remains.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

From Heartbreak to Living a Fuller Life

What heartbreak, caregiving, grief, and hope teach us about becoming fully alive again.

Every life has a before and an after.

For Jenny Brandemuehl, the after began with a devastating plane crash that left her husband, Mark, with life-threatening burns over most of his body,

and placed Jenny in the unchosen role of caregiver, advocate, witness, and eventually widow.

Jenny is a seasoned technology executive turned memoirist, speaker, and advocate.

Her memoir, Forever Fly Free, tells the story of trauma, fierce love, grief, intuition, community, and the stubborn miracle of hope.

In this podcast, we talk about what happens after heartbreak - not as a slogan, but as a lived human journey.

How do we stay open after loss?

How do we trust life again?

And how do we discover that healing is not a straight line, but a slow return to the heart?

Watch the podcast on YouTube.

About Jenny Brandemuehl:

Former technology executive with leadership roles at Hewlett Packard, Gap Inc., JDS Uniphase, and Chegg.

Author of Forever Fly Free, a memoir about trauma, love, caregiving, grief, miracles, and hope.

Advocate for burn survivors and families, including work with the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors.

Bay Area resident and passionate supporter of women leaders.

TIMELINE:

1:02 – Introduction: Jenny Brandemuehl and her book "Forever Fly Free"

1:12 – The accident: Mark's plane crash and emergency landing

2:48 – Before Jenny: life as executives, avid skiers, empty nesters

4:26 – The after Jenny: crisis mode at the Arizona Burn Center

5:39 – Love as an energy: the story of nurse Crystal Anne and David

10:16 – Becoming an "emotional athlete" while caring for Mark

16:23 – The two phases of loss: amputation and Mark's death

19:35 – The miraculous rescue by Thomas Honeycutt

26:16 – Shifting from left-brain to whole-being (head, heart, body)

41:48 – Hope, perspective, and advice for those facing hardship

CONTACT JENNY BRANDEMUEHL:

https://www.foreverflyfree.com/

Jenny's Brandemuehl's Substack

Jenny Brandemuehl LinkedIn

Jenny Brandemuehl Facebook

Jenny Brandemuehl's Instagram

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Confidence Is Your Currency: Learn How to Own the Room.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

Every leader reaches a moment when looking successful and feeling successful are two very different things.

In this episode, Dr. Ardeshir Mehran speaks with Tara LaFon Gooch, Forbes-featured CEO, TEDx speaker, bestselling author, brand strategist, and host of the globally ranked GRASP Confidence Podcast. Tara has built her work around one bold idea: confidence is not just a feeling. It is currency. It shapes how we enter rooms, tell our story, claim our voice, and create opportunities that match our deeper calling.

Tara’s story began in rural Maryland, as the youngest of five children raised by a single mother. Today, she helps entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, and thought leaders turn their expertise into influence, visibility, and legacy.

Her message is clear: your story is not a liability. It is your greatest strategic asset.

When you learn to lead with clarity, conviction, and purpose, your brand becomes more than polish. It becomes presence, power, and impact.

In this conversation, we explore the difference between performed confidence and owned confidence, why high achievers often hide a quiet confidence gap, and how personal branding becomes a path to self-ownership.

Tara also shares the heart of her GRASP framework, the role of gratitude and faith in confidence, and what she would say to anyone who knows they are meant for more but cannot yet see the full path.

This is a conversation about owning your brand, owning the room, and owning the life you were created to live.

Watch The Episode on YouTube

0:09: You're not depressed, just unfinished: the show's premise

4:01: Leaving corporate: depression, misalignment & the leap to entrepreneurship

8:59: Looking successful vs. feeling successful

12:40: Happy home life as the ultimate wealth

16:07: The GRASP Model: five dimensions of confidence

23:27: Grateful for visualizations as if they're already here

27:31: Your brand walks into the room before you do

32:21: AI cannot replace lived experience or original thought

35:23: The forgiveness book: 27 years of silence & a letter that arrived too late

38:23: Forgiveness is reclaiming the parts of yourself you abandoned to survive

CONTACT TARA LAFON GOOCH

Tara LaFon Gooch Website

TEDx

Instagram

YouTube Channel

GRASP Confidence Podcast

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

An Opera Singer Shares How to Reclaim Your Personal Power, Style, and Presence.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

There is a moment many high achievers quietly know: the life they built works, on paper, but something essential no longer fits.

Not a crisis. Not failure. Something more unsettling: success without a sense of self.

I'm speaking with Adria Firestone, The Reinvention Architect™, about what it means to rebuild from the inside out, reclaim your voice, and design a life that reflects who you are becoming, not who you used to be. Learn about voice as the foundation of your identity.

A conversation about reinvention, presence, performance, and how leaders can reclaim their authority, not by starting over, but by returning to their essence.

Adria Firestone, The Reinvention Architect™, keynote speaker, voice and presence expert, best-selling author of You Are the Artist of Your Life.

She is an international opera and musical theater performer, Carbonell Award winner, Woman of the Year at the Spoleto Festival, and university educator with 20+ years of teaching voice, presence, and performance.

Adria helps women and leaders reclaim their voice, identity, and authority through the Reinvention Architecture™ framework.

View the Podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE:

0:00 — Introduction — "You're Not Depressed, Just Unfinished"

0:30 — Meet Adria Firestone — Opera Singer, Professor & Reinvention Coach

3:59 — The Duality: Life Looked Fabulous But Felt Empty

4:32 — Escaping to the Stage — Running Away to the Circus at Age 10

15:42 — Safe on Stage, Unsafe at Home — Roots of People-Pleasing

19:40 — Hearing the Voice: "This Is Your Last Carmen"

20:16 — Walking Off Stage Into the Unknown — What Comes After Identity?

22:18 — Following the Breadcrumbs — How Life Guides You Without a Script

23:31 — Hiding in Caregiving — Trading One Role for Another

25:04 — Coming Home to Yourself — When All the Hiding Places Are Gone

29:46 — Reinvention Architecture: The 4 A's — Accept, Ask, Act, Allow

41:13 — The SHINE Framework — Seen, Heard, Included, Nurtured, Empowered

42:58 — Invisible People in Organizations — The Real Engagement Crisis

46:24 — Contact Adria Firestone and Learn More About Her

CONTACT ADRIA FIRESTONE:

Website: https://adriafirestone.com/speaker-coaching-2/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriafirestone/

Book: You Are the Artist of Your Life on Amazon

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

When Success Starves: And What You Can Do About It.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

What happens when the life you worked so hard to build no longer feels like you?

In this episode, we hear from Loredana Regep, MD, a physician, former global biotech leader, integrative health coach, Positive Intelligence coach, and creator of The Elevation Method™, about the quiet moment when achievement no longer nourishes the soul.

Together, they explore the difference between ambition that expands you and ambition that empties you, the inner voices that keep high achievers performing old scripts, and the courage it takes to stop being the actor in someone else’s story and become the writer of your own.

This is a conversation about reinvention, whole-person health, conscious leadership, and the life still waiting to be lived — not after collapse, but after truth.

Key themes include:

The "two transparent sheets" metaphor for the widening gap between the life you planned and the life you want

The danger of mistaking burnout for overwork when the real issue is misalignment

The difference between expanding ambition (values-driven) and hollow ambition (status-driven)

The role of positive intelligence (PQ) and the "sage vs. saboteur" framework in shifting from fear-based performance to love-based living

The courage required to let a successful life evolve into a truer one.

Watch the podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE

6:03 Opportunities that no longer held joy; instinct to return to medicine

7:26 The signal grew louder until it could no longer be ignored

7:45 Where did the signals come from? An inner calling to help people directly

10:49 Many people channel the calling into systemic change within their organizations

11:45 Burnout reframed, not overwork, but misalignment of who you are and what you do

12:34 "Living by somebody else's script" — deciding to become the writer of your own life

14:07 High achievers apply more discipline when they feel pain — it doesn't work

15:14 "I don't think I'm going to make it to retirement" — a pivotal realization

15:52 What does life look like for those who are doing better on "God's scale"?

16:33 Past the failure feeling: being in the lead of your own life for the first time

17:09 When life gains meaning and purpose; colors become brighter

18:13 Research on post-retirement depression; living a life of intention

18:22 Celebration of life; a clean house, cooking, smiling at strangers

19:37 Ambition that expands vs. ambition that empties

21:03 Hollow ambition: short-lived joy, external status, identity tied entirely to achievement

21:43 The "wilderness" after achievement — addiction and distraction as coping mechanisms

23:32 Loneliness on the path — who understands? Confiding only in husband, then one leader in Canada

24:49 A clarity moment: "I'm simply becoming something different"

25:07 Feeling crazy, feeling like something is wrong with you

25:23 Advice to listeners — the "younger Loredana" message: acknowledge, explore, reach out, you are not alone

27:07 Spiritual journey as a companion — 30 years of inner work as a guide through lost moments

29:02 What is PQ (Positive Intelligence)? Saboteurs vs. the Sage

29:43 The inner critic as origin of imposter syndrome

30:43 Career fueled by fear of not being good enough → learning to perform from love

31:19 The "I'm not good enough" narrative — guilt vs. shame; messages learned early in life

CONTACT LOREDANA REGEP, MD

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loredanaregep/

Website: loredanaregep.com

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

Healthy Not Guilty. It's Your Health Routine Not Working for You.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

High-achieving women are some of the most disciplined people on the planet, at work, for their families, in every area except one: themselves.

I’m speaking with Ariel Hoffman, a Los Angeles-based Master Trainer and holistic wellness coach who has spent nearly two decades asking a different question, not “why can’t you stick to it?” but “why is the system not working for you?” This is a conversation about energy, consistency, and what sustainable strength actually looks like in a real, busy life.

A practical, science-backed conversation about why high-achieving women keep losing their energy, falling off their routines, and starting over, and the real system-level shifts that create lasting strength, consistent habits, and a body that actually works with your life.

Ariel Hoffman is a Certified National Academy of Sports Medicine Trainer, Certified Health Coach, Certified Primal Health Coach, Pre & Post Natal Specialist, and founder of Ariel Hoffman Wellness.

With nearly two decades of experience transforming high-achieving women, executives, and working mothers, Ariel brings a hybrid of nutrition coaching, customized fitness, and sustainable lifestyle strategy — rooted in the science of how real bodies actually work.

Episode Timeline

3:52 Key observations about professional women

5:47 What clients really want, body fixes vs. feelings

6:56 The transformation sequence: feel → see → sustain

9:37 Why high-performing women lose their energy

12:44 The "Yes for everyone else" trap

13:36 Why habits fall apart — misalignment explained

14:41 Building a baseline vs. chasing the perfect week

17:54 Understanding your own energy — what depletes vs. fuels you

18:56 Cyclical energy, hormones, cortisol

19:54 Tips for listening to your body

20:46 Motivation is a myth — implementation is everything

24:26 Design for the hard week, not the perfect week

25:39 Energy crashes & brain fog, nutrition science

27:06 The three levers: nutrition, movement, lifestyle

27:48 Managing indulgences, the replace vs. restrict method

29:39 Substitution over restriction (kids, screens, habits)

30:24 Women over 40, body changes & what actually works

33:28 Stopping the fight with your body

34:14 Ariel's approach: gentle but deliberate

CONTACT ARIELLE HOFFMAN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-hoffman-59229860/

WEBSITE: https://www.wellxariel.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wellxarielhoffman/

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

Gut-Honest: Your Gut Knows Before Your Mind Does.

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0700

What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You!

Dr. Susan Payrovi is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is an anesthesiologist, until multiple sclerosis ended her surgical career and sent her on a very different kind of medical education.

Now, triple board-certified and trained in functional and integrative medicine, she's traded symptom management for something more interesting: finding out why you got sick in the first place.

In this episode, Dr. Payrovi breaks down the science your doctor probably didn't have time to explain, including the gut-brain axis.

You learn how your microbiome runs your immune system, hormones, and mood, and why what you eat, how you sleep, and even your dog may be shaping your health more than any prescription.

She explains leaky gut in plain English and walks through her "inside-out" approach to chronic disease, including her own diagnosis with multiple sclerosis (MS). She shares surprisingly doable practices, more fermented foods, less ultra-processed everything, and actually respecting your circadian rhythm.

If you've ever felt like you were just managing your illness rather than understanding it, this podcast is for you.

Timeline

1:32 — Dr. Payrovi's Background & MS Diagnosis

3:22 — Journey into Integrative Medicine

8:18 — Holistic vs. Conventional Medicine

15:28 — The Gut-Brain Connection

17:05 — What Is a "Gut Feeling"?

20:39 — Gut Health in Daily Life

23:43 — Leaky Gut Explained

29:23 — Food Allergies & Rising Gut Issues

30:59 — Gut Health & Emotional Wellbeing

33:36 — Practical Tips for Gut Health

35:28 — Where to Find Dr. Payrovi

CONTACT SUSAN PAYROVI, MD

Website: https://www.drsusanpayrovi.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsusanpayrovi/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsusanpayrovi/

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

Illness to Strength: You Are More Powerful Than You Realize.

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0700

Let's Meet Renee Excelbert, PhD

So many people are trained to dismiss fear, outrun pain, dismiss illness, and “stay strong” when life is asking them to listen. But the body keeps the score. It also holds the wisdom.

I’m speaking with Dr. Renee Exelbert about what happens when adversity interrupts our identity, and how movement, mindset, and the mind-body connection can help us rise again, not as the old self, but as a more powerful and truthful one.

The body as a source of truth. A conversation about adversity, illness, identity, movement, visualization, and how entrepreneurs can build resilience without simply “powering through.”

Renee is a licensed psychologist, certified elite personal trainer, body-building competitor, two-time breast cancer survivor, author of Chemo Muscles, founder of The Metamorphosis Center, and creator of Visual Emotional Kinetics, keynoter, and TEDx speaker, blending positive thought, visualization, and movement to reclaim strength and performance.

TIMELINE:

7:10 The moment of diagnosis; being blamed by her doctor in the same breath as the news

11:00 The power of human touch; havening, self-massage, and the science of physical connection

15:20 Body betrayal & reconnection; trauma, assault, and reclaiming physical connectedness

17:00 Identity in crisis; perfectionism dismantled by mastectomy and cancer

18:20 Writing Chemo Muscles Book; a seven-year journey from shame to radical openness

20:50 Vulnerability as strength; how sharing her story became her greatest gift

23:19 Bodybuilding origin; using exercise and nutrition science to reclaim control

26:40 Getting on stage; the transformation process, not the competition day, is the point

28:40 Current health; living with ongoing monitoring while maintaining strength and positivity

30:20 Family & marriage; how daughters and husband witnessed and were shaped by her resilience

33:10 Host's reflection on his own book and sharing vulnerability with his son

35:50 Evolving as a clinician; more body-attuned, present, and boundary-flexible since illness

37:10 Faith, prayer & gratitude; spiritual practice, presence, and what she prays for

CONTACT DR. RENEE EXCELBERT:

Website: https://drexelbert.com/

TEDx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCP4e6UFRms

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-exelbert-ph-d-59137b89/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.renee.exelbert/

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN:

Stop Fighting Your Depression: What Depression Tells You.

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0700

I want to start by asking you something.

And I want you to really sit with it.

Have you ever woken up in the morning and felt... heavy?

Not tired. Not sick. Just heavy.

Like something invisible is pressing down on your chest. Like you're moving through life, but you're not really there.

Like everyone else seems to know why they're here, and you're the only one who missed the memo.

You go through the motions. You show up. Maybe you even smile. But inside — inside there's this quiet, persistent voice that says: Is this it? Is this all there is?

If that sounds familiar, I want you to know something.

You are not broken.

You are not weak.

And you are absolutely not alone.

Welcome to this podcast series.

I'm Dr. Ardeshir Mehran, psychologist, depression, anxiety, trauma expert and someone who has sat with many of people in their darkest moments.

And today, I want to talk to you about something that might completely change the way you see yourself.

I want to talk about depression. But not in the way you've heard before.

Thank You for Listening.

Timeline

Big Idea: "Depression is deprivation. Depression is data." Shift the question from "What's wrong with me? to " What's missing?"

7 Emotional Rights introduced — Elemental needs, present throughout human history, that we are born to experience

Right 1. I Belong: Deep connection; 50% of CEOs report loneliness; we're trained to achieve, not connect

Right 2. I Am Complete: Freedom from past shame, trauma, regret; being present and whole right now

Right 3. I Am Boundless: Physical aliveness; moving, breathing, full-body presence; what no medication can replicate

Right 4. I Matter: Being seen, included, respected; invisibility as emotional violence

Right 5. I Make: Engagement and meaning in work; 2/3 of Americans disengaged; disengagement → depression; here's why

Right 6. I Am: Speaking your truth without apology; silencing your real voice causes inner death

Right 7. I Soar: Life direction, calling, legacy; Maya Angelou quote: "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you"

The Transformation: Living the 7 rights doesn't cure depression; it ignites fuel. You wake up pissed, restless, alive

Closing message: "You are not depressed, you are unfinished." Depression as proof you care and have been tolerating a life not right for you

Call to action: Ask a different question, be honest with yourself, don't wait for perfect circumstances

CONTACT DR. ARDESHIR MEHRAN

Decoding Depression: Is Your Brain Lying to You?

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 22:00:00 -0700

What Depression Really Is, and What It Isn't

Let's talk about the voice in your head that says it's your fault.

That you should be stronger. That something is wrong with you. That you just need to try harder.

What if that voice is the depression talking?

Today's guest, a leading expert, has spent years treating depression and taking apart the myths around it.

Diane McIntosh, MD, is a Vancouver psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. She earned a pharmacy degree, went on to medical school and a pediatric residency, then trained in adult psychiatry at Dalhousie University.

She is the founder and CEO of RAPIDS Health, Chief Neuroscience Officer at TELUS, co-founder of SwitchRx, and founder of PsychedUp CME, an education program for clinicians. She hosts three podcasts and is often heard on burnout, sleep, loneliness, and trauma.

She is the author of This Is Depression: A Comprehensive, Compassionate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Understand Depression. The book is a kind, evidence-based guide for anyone who has depression or loves someone who does. She also co-wrote You Belong Here.

In this episode, we go past "just think positive."

What is depression, really? Why does it feel so convincing? And why do so many people wait until they're at their lowest before they ask for help?

This isn't about toughing it out.

It's about understanding your mind, so you can start to heal.

Depression is an illness, not a verdict. It can be understood, treated and resolved.

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear that it's not their fault, and follow Dr. Ardeshir Mehran's Podcast.

Watch the Podcast on YouTube.

TIMELINE:

2:48 — How depression distorts thinking

5:06 — Genetic and environmental causes of depression

8:34 — Gender differences in expressing emotions

10:19 — Finding the right therapist