Need A Lift? with Tim Shriver

Comedians, screenwriters, and best friends, Matt Ritter and Aaron Karo are “champions of friendship.” Every year on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, they gather with seven other friends at a steakhouse in Brooklyn to vote on who had the best year. The winner takes home a “man of the year” trophy, a tradition that has sustained their friendship for almost 40 years. As a response to a survey which found that 49% of Americans reported having three or fewer friends and 12% reported having zero close friends, they launched the Man of the Year podcast in late 2022. They’re on a mission to show men why true contentment is a byproduct of healthy relationships and how deep connections have the power to shift the trajectory of your life. On the show, they provide “Friend-Ed” (friend education), offering men advice on everything from the art of the “boy’s night,” how to support a grieving friend, and how to tell your friend “I love you.” “One tip we give to our listeners is to start with thank you. We say, ‘Thanks is a gateway emotion.’ So you start with “thank you”…make your way up to “I love you.”” Aaron Karo says. In this episode, they model their friendship-expertise in real time, offering Tim advice on a recent friend-breakup of his own, and they make a case for why friendship might be the antidote to America's “loneliness epidemic.” “I consider our deep friendship sort of an extension of family… We share values, we share goals and community,” Matt Ritter says.***Matt Ritter and Aaron Karo are comedians, screenwriters, and best friends for almost 40 years. They co-host the “Man of the Year" podcast where they help listeners make new friends, reconnect with old ones, and build lifelong social fitness. You can check out the show on Youtube or wherever you listen to podcasts.***Our theme music was written by Andy Ogden and produced by Tim Lauer, Andy Ogden and Julian Raymond. All other music that you hear in this episode is courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a college student majoring in psychology, Dr. Rheeda Walker quickly discovered her calling after recognizing Black people were largely absent in her field. “People who looked like me didn't seem to be represented in the psychology texts. Not in the theories, not in the stories, not in the hypotheses, not in anything,” she says. Today, as a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Walker focuses on suicidal ideation and the prevention of suicide and the urgency it has in Black mental health.In 2016, she noticed a troubling pattern. Research showed that the suicide rate among 5 to 11 year old Black children exceeded the rate of white kids at the same age. Additionally, while suicide rates for white children declined, they'd actually increased for Black children. When these statistics only worsened through repeated studies, Dr. Walker knew that she had to act. In 2020, she wrote a book called “The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health” arguing that “in this era of discrimination, invisibility, and psychological warfare, Black people need so much more than mental health or well-being. They need an impermeable web of protection for [their minds].” Dr. Walker calls this "psychological fortitude” and she believes it goes beyond serving individuals. “It's about healing the community…then we're able to not just heal ourselves, but maybe be a model for a larger society,” Dr. Walker says.***Dr. Rheeda Walker is a licensed clinical psychologist, psychology professor at Wayne State University, and author of several books including “The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health.” You can find more of her work on her website rheedawalkerphd.com. ***Our theme music was written by Andy Ogden and produced by Tim Lauer, Andy Ogden and Julian Raymond. All other music that you hear in this episode is courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1986, after two marriages, three children and a successful career, Byron Katie found herself in a downward spiral. She was so depressed she could barely leave the house and her family walked on eggshells around her. After years of feeling hopeless and isolated, she enrolled in a halfway house to get some help. And one day while she was there, she had an epiphany: our thoughts are so powerful they can create a painful reality that doesn’t actually exist. This breakthrough provided the foundation for “The Work” or self-inquiry, a simple four-step technique. Byron Katie models this practice, guiding Tim from anxious thoughts about the future into the beautiful reality of the present. “A fearful mind is a dangerous mind,” Byron Katie says, “so when I question what I was believing, then it shifts my world.” She says that practicing the work “leaves you freer to do important things in the world” by helping you live with an open mind ready to “love the world without conditions.” ***Byron Katie is a self-taught practitioner, speaker, and bestselling author of “Loving What Is.” You can visit her website thework.com to find her book, her podcast, and upcoming events.***Our theme music was written by Andy Ogden and produced by Tim Lauer, Andy Ogden and Julian Raymond. All other music that you hear in this episode is courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve all been wounded (some more than others) and “we’re all in need of recovery,” Killian Noe says. After four decades of working with people healing from all kinds of addictions, she has found that the most powerful support we can offer is a caring community where people can show up fully as themselves, without judgment. In 2003 in Seattle, Killian co-founded Recovery Cafe, a community center that provides everything from meals to barista training to medical care to people in recovery. Guided by the truth that every human being is precious and worthy of love, the cafes appoint “ministers of presence” whose focus isn’t to fix the person in front of them but to sit with them and listen to their story. Killian talks with Tim about how presence shows up in her own life, guiding him through what she calls “a practice of return to unconditional love,” an exercise that helps her deal with shame, anger, and pain. “At any point in the day, [I can] return to that place of unconditional love… where my true identity lies,” Killian says. ***Killian Noe is the founding director of Recovery Cafe. Before starting Recovery Café in 2004 with Ruby Takushi, Killian co-founded Samaritan Inns, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. which provides transitional and longer-term drug- and alcohol-free, community-oriented housing for people recovering from homelessness, addiction, and other mental health challenges. She has written about Samaritan Inns in Finding Our Way Home and about Recovery Café in Descent Into Love. Learn how to bring a Recovery Cafe to your town or city at recoverycafenetwork.org. Killian’s team will provide the training, support and all of the community you need. ***Our theme music was written by Andy Ogden and produced by Tim Lauer, Andy Ogden and Julian Raymond. All other music that you hear in this episode is courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.