Just a couple of weeks ago Whitney Hess and I recorded the fourth episode of Designing Yourself. I can't quite believe that we're about to record our fifth hour of discussion - it's been an amazing run so far! I spoke a little about how the whole thing came to be, as did Whitney, but I'd like to talk about the episodes themselves and what they mean to me.

Because both of us love podcasts, we wanted to make episodes that were like listening in on two friends having a really good conversation. We set a topic beforehand, but as listeners will attest, we're quite willing to explore other related topics within an episode.

Everything started with episode 1, The Hamster Wheel. We spoke about how something gets started and if it's a conscious choice or not. Then we got into a favorite topic of mine: separation of the self. We talked about how we've split our online writing across a number of different places, and how we both feel about that.

Too Much Future , our 2nd episode, is all about fear. Before the whole series began, this was the topic I was most excited to talk about with Whitney. I was surprised when she said she loved fear (and still kind of am!) but came to a place of understanding. We talked a lot about being scared and what that means, and how just being in the future doesn't really do much in the now. Fun stuff.

Episode 3, Getting to Know You, is about self-awareness. Anytime I get to talk about mirror work, I'm happy. So we did! We also discussed emotional intelligence, Synecdoche New York , and how our bodies affect the way we feel. All of it came together into a lovely chat about unifying mind, body, and spirit.

We walked into Good Enough, episode 4, with the topic of balance in mind, but neither of us had a really solid idea of where it would go! The discussion was great: we talked about the way that both of us want things to be black and white but, in reality, everything is in that grey area. We discussed to do lists and how those can run our lives, along with how we can make peace with not being balanced... which in and of itself, is balance.

I'm very proud to be creating this with Whitney, and could not ask for a better co-host. Her work and career has been inspirational to me and having the opportunity to share these things with her is an honor.

If you haven't listened to the show, give it a try. Let either one of us know what you think.

And thank you, all of you, for being a part of this journey.