Imagine an unpredictable audio porch where Joel slings stories, facilitates conversations, and conjures up experiments to help you make friends with people, possibilities, and ideas. One day he's teaching you how to bring people together or think differently about everyday life to restore some faith in humanity. And then he's exploring lovely ways to redefine the status quo or decode one of life's mysteries so you can focus on what's most important.
Surprise Me, Joel is like a curiosity club for doers and thoughtful dreamers. Expect long thoughts, short sparks, and strange delights. Oh, and a healthy dose of practices you can run in your street, car seat, or spreadsheet.
Living with Balance and Planning to Die Well with Apryl Schlueter - SMJ 009
Joel and Apryl Schlueter talk about retiring without guilt, the strange comfort of thinking about death often, and why Joel's sunbathing habit got the police involved. It's a warm, funny, and unscripted conversation about designing a life and an ending you're proud of.
22 Jul 2026
The Gifts of Your Weirdness with Warren Talbot - SMJ 008
Two friends separated by an ocean compare personal rituals and the uncomfortable work of becoming who you're meant to be. From barefoot grocery runs to naked fun runs in Spain, Joel and Warren Talbot explore why embracing your inner weirdo might be one of your most generous acts.
22 May 2026
Surrendering to the Slog After a Psychedelic Journey with Justin Baker - SMJ 007
What happens when your first psilocybin experience delivers pure joy – Beach Jesus moments, cosmic amplification with a lifelong friend, sun worship by Lake Superior – and then drops you into days of unexplained heaviness? Joel and his integration guide, Justin Baker, trace the path from post-journey fog through a guided session with Trish Blain that recovered something primordial and profound.
22 May 2026
The Tripod That Reconnects You to Source with Justin Baker - SMJ 006
What is consciousness? How does intuition work – and can it be trained? What are the three disconnections quietly pulling modern humans apart from themselves, each other, and the natural world? Dr. Justin Baker joins Joel for a wide-ranging, grounded, and genuinely illuminating conversation about expanding awareness and coming back to what makes us whole.
14 May 2026
When Craft Paper Dreams Become Real Life with Emilie Wapnick - SMJ 005
Joel and Emilie Wapnick – champions of multipotentialites everywhere – wander through a conversation about trusting your intuition, designing an intentional life with a partner, and the tricky art of parenting without pushing too hard. From island life and quests sketched on craft paper to the fear of being discredited for believing in astrology or quantum biology, they explore what it means to show up fully – as a parent, a neighbor, a weirdo, and a friend.
22 Apr 2026
Belonging, Honesty, and the Art of Radical Peopling with Becca Campbell - SMJ 004
Joel and Becca Campbell get into the deep end fast and swim without the backpack. They explore how building a life around your brain's actual design – not a borrowed one – unlocks honesty, evolving relationships, and joy in the smallest things. The goo in the meat sack has never been more relatable.
8 Apr 2026
Bring It In: How to Give a Great Hug - SMJ 003
What if the handshake is a dominance ritual and the hug is the antidote? Joel breaks down the energetics, mechanics, and cultural context of giving truly great hugs in 15 surprisingly nuanced tips. From the five-second rule to the one last squeeze, this episode might just change how you wrap your arms around the world.
6 Apr 2026
Rocks, Frogs, and the Flexible Mind with Ryan Nicodemus - SMJ 002
What if there are no objective truths, no real rules, and the most radical thing you can do is just stay open? Ryan Nicodemus joins Joel for a deeply personal conversation to explore forgiveness, the concept of formlessness, why everyone is doing the best they can, fear versus love, and why emotions – unlike apples – multiply when you give them away.
3 Mar 2026
Be Beautifully Boring with Charlie Gilkey - SMJ 001
You're about to Learn:
What happens when a "Do Epic Shit" yields to "Be Beautifully Boring."
What thriving can look like in life’s liminal seasons.
What to do about creative constipation and its relationship to seasonal productivity.
Why ordinary, un-Instagrammable moments can be the most beautiful.
How to hold both gratitude and global chaos at the same time … without denying either.
How good of a Snarf impression I can do.
26 Feb 2026
Lighting the Fuse - SMJ 000
Imagine an unpredictable audio porch where I sling stories, facilitate connections, and whip up experiments to help you make friends with people, possibilities, and ideas. That's the lovely promise with Surprise Me, Joel.
I'll teach you nifty stuff like how to bring people together, think differently about everyday life … and probably restore some faith in humanity in the process. We'll get unconventional so you can focus on what's most important and have useful things like abundant gratitude.
Consider the show a curiosity club for doers and dreamers. Expect short sparks, long thoughts, and strange delights. Oh, and a healthy dose of practices you can run in your street, car seat, or spreadsheet.
Explore more and subscribe at joelzaslofsky.com/smj (https://joelzaslofsky.com/smj).
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