How to Improve Any Moment

The title of this article is a bit misleading, because every moment is already perfect and doesn’t need to be improved. But our experience of the moment can be fraught with difficulty, and we have the power to create a new experience in each moment. The problems we face stem from our narrative about the moment: we are constantly interpreting things in a certain way, so that we don’t even notice that we have this interpretation or narrative.

Patrick’s Journey, Harassing People, & Peaceful Parenting University (51m) – Episode 439

Episode 439 welcomes Patrick Smith to the podcast to chat with Skyler on the following topics: growing up in the Dallas area, his Corvette and run-ins with cops; training to be a voluntary police officer in order to keep the cops off his back, and learning on ride-alongs that cops mostly just harass peaceful people all day long; studying the American founding fathers to answer the question of authority; delving deeper into Judge Napolitano and (old) Stefan Molyneux; his Not Governor campaign; creating Peaceful Parenting University; why communism even at the home/family level doesn’t work; why child dependency on their parents creates a positive obligation; spanking as a protective use of force; Walter Block’s evictionism theory of abortion; his search for practical peaceful parenting tools; was homeschooled for a year as a youth and always wanted that for his own kids; how he “unschooled” himself after hours as a youth; his unique experiences of raising separate sets of kids both traditionally and peacefully; responding to tantrums; how authoritarian parenting creates the expectation of authoritarianism; and more.

Shepard Returns, Consequences, Positive and Negative (56m) – Episode 436

Episode 436 welcomes back Shepard the Voluntaryist to chat with Skyler on the following topics: his ongoing radio show and podcast; an exploration of positive and negative consequences; human interference in natural consequences; intended and unintended consequences in politics and economics; what people going along with monopolistic government means for the idea of people going along with competitive government (free society); never letting a crisis go to waste as a voluntaryism popularizer; the consequences of immortality and “The Good Place” television show; the negative consequences of world peace and the positive consequences of world conflict; and more.

Walter Williams: American Contempt for Liberty (56m)

This episode features a discussion with economics professor Walter Williams from 2015. Throughout history, personal liberty, free markets, and peaceable, voluntary exchanges have been roundly denounced by tyrants and often greeted with suspicion by the general public. Unfortunately, argues Dr. Williams, Americans have increasingly accepted the tyrannical ideas of reduced private property rights and reduced rights to profits, and have become enamored with restrictions on personal liberty and control by government.

Walter Williams, Rest in Peace (1936-2020)

Dr. Walter Williams passed away last night, December 1st, 2020. I’ve mentioned him a plethora of times, along with Dr. Thomas Sowell, as the two springboards that got me into economics, liberty, and ultimately voluntaryism, peaceful parenting, and radical unschooling. Dr. Williams was the first, however, to get me thinking about economics and liberty. He will hold a special place in my heart, and I’m honored to have sat at his feet and learned so much from him. He will be missed. Please take a moment today to watch this telling documentary about him and his work.

ARK3 Returns, Trauma and Rage, PTSD, & Violent Parenting (1h3m) – Episode 428

Episode 428 welcomes back Alex R. Knight III to chat with Skyler on the following topics: finally making the connection between his former alcoholism and trauma he experienced in childhood and adolescence; accepting failure as okay, and not as shameful; post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by both of them; family disfunction and divorce; the roots of authoritarianism in violent (physically and psychologically/emotionally) parenting; laws against spanking; the effects of prolonged brain exposure to stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline; stress in infancy, such as “cry-it-out”; evolutionary reasons why kids protest bedtime; Skyler’s family bedroom; and more.