Brene Brown & Cheryl Strayed’s Favorite Books, How Birds Help Us Beat the Blues, and More.

As highly sensitive people who process everything deeply, it can feel easy to get overwhelmed by the negative. Here’s a roundup of podcasts that give me booster shots of positivity.

Interesting, insightful, and nourishing podcasts for highly sensitive people.

My most recent & favorite discovery is 3 Books with Neil Pasricha, The New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome. In each episode, he “uncovers & discusses the three most formative books from one of the world’s most inspiring people.” It features guests like Brene Brown, Judy Blume, and Cheryl Strayed. I LOVED Cheryl Strayed’s episode. This podcast is so fun, insightful and will add a ton of books to your reading list, and Neil is an awesome (pun intended!), engaging host.

I have also been listening to The Good News Podcast, which features short (5-10 minute long) episodes with titles like Birds Help to Beat the Blues, Paris’ Extraordinary Garden, and Three American Treasures. Then, there is NPR’s Life Kit, which has episodes like Carrying on A Family Recipe, in Your Own Way, Here’s How Tech Experts Recommend Organizing Your Photos, and How to Make a Good Playlist. This one also has more serious episodes on coping with anxiety, managing emotions, and more.

There is also NPR’s How I Built This with Guy Raz, in which he dives into the stories behind some of the world’s best known companies. This has interviews with people behind such diverse ideas & businesses like Patreon, Jazzercise, Teach for America, the iconic Powell’s Books and more.

For a more local flavor, I have also dipped into KQED’s Bay Curious podcast, which focuses on the San Francisco Bay Area and has interesting episodes like The Story Behind the Golden Gate Bridge’s New Howl.

These are some of the nourishing podcasts that have made me a little happier in the last few months. You might also enjoy another list I made with more nourishing podcasts for giving a lift to your deep-thinking, sensitive self.

I hope you take good care of yourself in this sometimes exhausting time!

With love,

Ritu

Ritu Kaushal is the author of the book The Empath’s Journey, which combines personal stories with practical tools to help highly sensitive people channel their deep sensitivity. Sign up for Ritu’s newsletter for two free chapters of The Empath’s Journey.

You can find The Empath’s Journey here.