Show Notes for Episode A046

In Episode A046 of Authbition, I recorded from the quiet engineering quad at NC State University during a Saturday morning bike ride on Mother’s Day weekend.

This episode started as a test of a new microphone system. It became a reflection on listener feedback, the future of Authbition, and why I’m returning to one of the original roots of the show: reading my own essays out loud.

The essay I share in this episode is called “The Biggest Criminal of Your Mind Is in Your Pocket.” It’s about cognitive offloading, GPS, smartphones, AI, memory, brain health, and the slow erosion of skills we may not realize we’re losing until they’re gone.

👉 Listen or watch here:
YouTube | Spotify | Apple | Amazon

🎟️ Backstage Pass

I didn’t plan to record this episode from NC State.

I was out on a longer bike ride and thought I might stop somewhere in nature, maybe out near Umstead Park. But when I rode through Centennial Campus, the engineering quad was completely quiet.

No students. No crowd. No noise.

Just a beautiful spring morning, graduation weekend, Mother’s Day weekend, and a place where I once spent 12 years of my life as a professor.

So I stopped.

I sat down.

I tested the mic.

And I recorded the opening to this episode.

I’ve been getting helpful feedback from listeners lately. Three pieces have stayed with me:

• One, take a little more time to properly open the show.
• Two, read more of my own essays again.
• Three, think about monetizing Authbition.

This episode responds to the first two. The third will come when the time is right. I’m not interested in simply turning on ads. Authbition is not just a podcast to me. It’s becoming a movement, a brand, and eventually a team.

🗣️ The Podcast

This episode is a little different.

There’s no guest. There’s no Whole Mind Game. There’s no two-hour conversation.

Instead, I take listeners behind the scenes of how one of my essays came to life.

The week before recording, Abby and I were camping in our Airstream near George Washington National Forest. I woke up early, as I often do in the woods, and wrote an essay about cognitive offloading.

The subject is serious.

The tone is a little sharp.

I wanted it to be funny, but I also worried it might come across as judgmental. That’s not who I want to be. I practice nonjudgment, but that doesn’t mean I always get it right.

So before submitting the essay, I read it out loud to Abby and asked her whether I should hit submit.

Her answer gave me the confidence to “Hit the submit button.” Later that day, it was accepted into Ai-Ai-OH and published.

Read it here:

The Biggest Criminal of Your Mind Is in Your Pocket

🧠 The Essay

“The Biggest Criminal of Your Mind Is in Your Pocket” begins with a memory from 1991, when Stevens Tech replaced mechanical drawing with computer-aided design.

At the time, I was angry.

I didn’t want school to teach me software. I wanted to learn the underlying skill. I wanted to learn how to draw, visualize, and think mechanically before handing that work to a machine.

Decades later, I see that moment differently.

It wasn’t just about CAD.

It was an early experience of cognitive offloading.

The essay moves from CAD to calculators, GPS, smartphones, and AI. The question is not whether these tools are useful. They are.

The question is whether we’re using them after building the human capability, or before our brains ever get the chance to grow.

That distinction matters.

A tool can scale a skill.

But if the tool replaces the skill before the skill exists, something human may be lost.

🧭 The Tension

The tension in this episode is not technology versus no technology.

That’s too easy.

The real tension is:

Useful Technology <> Human Capability

I don’t want to reject modern tools. I use them every day. I’m using them to build Authbition. I used technology to record this episode from a bike ride.

But I also don’t want to surrender my mind to convenience.

GPS can help me get somewhere faster. It can also keep me from building the map in my mind. Calculators can save time. They can also keep me from practicing number sense.

AI can support creativity.

It can also become a substitute for struggle, memory, discernment, and original thought.

The best of the best is not rejecting technology.

The best of the best is using powerful tools without giving away the mind that makes those tools meaningful.

🔍 Why This Episode Matters

This episode is about more than phones.

It’s about the hidden cost of convenience.

The body still needs movement.
The mind still needs friction.
Memory still needs use.
Creativity still needs practice.
Navigation still needs attention.

I can see when my body gets weaker. I can look in the mirror and notice my belly, my arms, my posture, my stiffness.

The brain is different. I don’t see cognitive atrophy in the mirror. That makes it easier to ignore. So I’m trying to practice while I still can.

Turn off GPS sometimes.
Calculate the tip in my head.
Remember a phone number.
Draw by hand.
Play guitar.
Walk without a plan.
Get lost in the woods.

Not because technology is bad.

Because my brain is worth training.

🙏 Thanks for Listening

This episode also includes a small Mother’s Day reflection.

I lost my mom six years ago. I miss her. And I’ve also been lucky to have many women in my life who offered motherly care in different ways — feeding me, welcoming me, guiding me, and making room for me at the table.

So happy Mother’s Day to mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, surrogate mothers, dog and cat mothers, motherly figures, and Mother Nature herself.

Thank you for listening, reading, watching, and offering feedback.

I want Authbition to become something meaningful. Not just a show. Not just a game. Something that can do real good in the world.

👉 Press play:
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Keep up with all of the Authbition podcasts here:

List: Authbition Show Notes | Curated by Andrew J. DiMeo, Sr., Ph.D. | Medium

Thank you for reading and listening.

Health, happiness, kindness, respect
for every being and all things.

— Andrew

I Took My Brain for a Bike Ride was originally published in Authbition on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Show Notes for Episode A045 with Joanna Gaertner

In Episode A045 of Authbition, I sat down with Joanna Gaertner — ICF credentialed life coach, founder of Yoga Off Mat, and lead at Homebody Yoga in Raleigh, North Carolina.

We explored how fear can sometimes guide us, how trust can sometimes free us, and how growth often requires both. This conversation moved through coaching, yoga, mentorship, personal transitions, and the inner awareness needed to move through life with more courage and clarity.

👉 Listen or watch here:
YouTube | Spotify | Apple | Amazon

🎟️ Backstage Pass

Yesterday we had our monthly dinner with some dear friends. The theme was Spanish tapas meets the North Carolina Farmers Market. At one point in the night, I was asked, “Andrew, what are you writing about these days?”

My answer: “Fear and Trust.”

I went on to tell them a story about how I got stuck between a Mama Bear and her cubs while deep in the woods of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom mountain biking trails. That story happened almost a year ago, but it’s resurfaced recently as I’ve been taking a deep dive into the themes of fear and trust.

I’ve been writing about it so much lately; I made a list.

While recording this podcast, Joanna was kind enough to indulge me in taking on this paradox to play The Whole Mind Game.

🗣️ The Podcast

Joanna shared her journey from upstate New York to Raleigh, making a bold move with limited resources and trusting herself before she had all the answers.

We talked about how coaching entered her life unexpectedly, and how she became drawn to the power of helping people uncover their own wisdom rather than being told what to do.

She also shared how yoga has shaped her life for years — not only as a physical practice, but as a mindset. Through her business, Yoga Off Mat, Joanna blends the principles of yoga with coaching to help people live with more awareness, steadiness, and alignment.

We also explored mentorship, modern isolation, and why so many people today are hungry for guidance, connection, and spaces where they can grow honestly.

🌿 Find Joanna Gaertner

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannagaertner/
Homebody Yoga (Raleigh): https://homebodync.com/

🧠 The Whole Mind Game

We played The Whole Mind Game with the tension between Fear and Trust.

At first glance, fear feels like something to eliminate. But as we explored it, fear revealed strengths: safety, awareness, preparation, learning, and energy.

Trust revealed its own gifts: connection, integrity, courage, creativity, embodiment, and authenticity.

Then came the deeper challenge:

What is the best of both?

The phrase that emerged was:

Creative Awareness

Awareness sharp enough to notice reality.
Creativity open enough to respond wisely.

We also highlighted Curiosity and Wonder as close companions to that idea.

On the shadow side, we found that both fear and trust can collapse into similar places when distorted: isolation, ignorance, maladaptation, and judgment.

🔍 Why This Episode Matters

Many people believe growth means choosing one side.

Be fearless.
Trust completely.

This episode is a reminder that maturity often means holding tensions instead of escaping them. Fear may contain useful information. Trust may require discernment. Awareness may be the doorway to both.

Joanna brought a grounded and thoughtful presence to this conversation, especially around how yoga and coaching can move beyond performance and become ways of living.

👉 Press play:
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🙏 Thanks for Listening

Thanks to Joanna Gaertner for sharing her story, perspective, and thoughtful energy.

And thanks to everyone following along with Authbition as this show continues to grow into what it’s becoming.

Keep up with all of the Authbition podcasts here:

List: Authbition Show Notes | Curated by Andrew J. DiMeo, Sr., Ph.D. | Medium

Thank you for reading and listening.

Health, happiness, kindness, respect
for every being and all things.

— Andrew

Fear, Trust, and Creative Awareness was originally published in Authbition on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Show Notes for Episode A044 with Stefanie Morejon

This week on Authbition, I sit down with Stefanie Morejon to play The Whole Mind Game.

How do we go after what we want without strangling it?

How do we let go without checking out?

What unfolds is a thoughtful conversation about movement, trust, control, openness, timing, and the art of not gripping life so tightly that we miss it.

👉 Listen or watch here:
YouTube | Spotify | Apple | Amazon

Origin Story

My body was drenched and supported by four blocks. Hot yoga was winding down. It’s that part of the class where the hard part is over, and savasana isn’t far away.

We were in half pigeon pose. This is an extra difficult one for me. As we move into it, I carefully place the four yoga blocks in various positions to support my body. One goes longways between my right heel and left quad. Another one elevates my right hip. I use the other two to raise my forehead off the mat.

And then, once I’m all situated in that position, I surrender.

It’s in these moments that magic happens. My body begins to melt into the pose. Slowly, over the course of minutes, I rearrange the blocks from high to low settings, removing one, then the other, until my head finally reaches the floor.

Then my inner dialogue interrupted the luxuriating.

“In order to achieve my goals, I need to surrender.”

“How do I pursue my goals and surrender?”

“I’m here. I’m in the studio. I’m on the mat. I’m in position to surrender.”

“Oh. This is a Whole Mind Game.”

🗣️ The Podcast

This conversation begins in a simple, human place: stories of travel, creativity, life transitions, and the kinds of moments that make me feel both inspired and uncertain at the same time.

But pretty quickly, Stefanie and I shift gears and jump into the game.

Pursue and Surrender
These options show up everywhere for me.

In work.
In love.
In healing.
In art.
In becoming.

What I appreciated most about this conversation with Stefanie is that neither of us rushed to a clean answer.

We stayed with the tension long enough to let it teach us something.

🧠 The Whole Mind Game

Together, Stefanie and I explore the best and worst of both sides of the word pair:

Pursue

At its best, pursuit can bring:

• clarity
• fire
• ambition
• momentum
• commitment

At its worst, it can become:

• force
• grasping
• tunnel vision
• restlessness
• attachment

Surrender

At its best, surrender can bring:

• peace
• trust
• flexibility
• openness
• flow

At its worst, it can become:

• passivity
• drift
• avoidance
• resignation
• detachment disguised as wisdom

That’s where this conversation gets especially rich.

Because the goal of The Whole Mind Game isn’t to choose one over the other. It’s to brainstorm new ways of living out the best of both.

What if we can move toward what matters
without trying to overpower life?

What if we can let go
without losing sight of our goals and desires?

These are much more interesting questions than “Which one is right?”

🔍 Why This Episode Matters

I think a lot of suffering comes from believing life only gives us two choices to the hardest questions.

“Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash just popped into my head.

The lyrics are A Whole Mind Game:
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double

It’s this or that. And with this attitude, both feel like wrong choices.

But what if there’s a whole world of opportunity hidden in these seemingly constrained choices?

Pursue and surrender are such a great example because of how clearly they are in opposition.

Yet, what Stefanie and I uncover this week is a new position that unlocks potential.

This episode is a reminder for me that there are many ways:

To pursue with intention.
To surrender with trust.

Answers aren’t always found by picking a side.

Sometimes they’re the seeds of innovation when held together.

Join us in this conversation.

👉 Press play:
YouTube | Spotify | Apple | Amazon

🙏 Thanks for Listening

Thanks to Stefanie Morejon for bringing such a thoughtful presence to this conversation.

And thanks to everyone following along with Authbition as this show continues to grow into what it’s becoming.

Keep up with all of the Authbition podcasts here:

List: Authbition Show Notes | Curated by Andrew J. DiMeo, Sr., Ph.D. | Medium

Thank you for reading and listening.

Health, happiness, kindness, respect
for every being and all things.

— Andrew

The Whole Mind Game: Pursue and Surrender was originally published in Authbition on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.