Radical Joy with James Bullard
by James E. Bullard
James Bullard is a dynamic storyteller, acclaimed performer, and visionary creator dedicated to inspiring individuals and organizations through his writing, public speaking, and the transformative podcast Radical Joy. Leveraging the power of right-brain thinking and innovative problem-solving, James empowers others to unlock their full potential and reimagine what’s possible. With a commanding stage presence and a unique ability to connect deeply with audiences, he masterfully blends humor, vulnerability, and actionable insights to spark meaningful change. As a published author, his work resonates with readers seeking clarity and motivation, while Radical Joy amplifies voices that challenge, inspire, and ignite curiosity. A passionate advocate for bold living, James uses the art of storytelling to cultivate joy and guide others toward their most authentic and empowered selves. CLW Studios is a joy-centered company that encourages setting self love as a goal. O
Episodes
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Big Goals, Great Pie & Getting In My Own Way
What if the thing getting in your way is something you actually love? I had every intention of being productive. Then someone suggested a movie, dessert got involved, and suddenly I had a very convincing case for doing absolutely anything else. Funny how that works. Before I blame my social...
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Full Wattage: Spirits & Sunglasses with Bianca Pierre-Louis
What if the scariest part of letting your light shine is finding out who isn’t cheering? In this Halloween special, I welcome back our resident paranormal investigator and family nurse practitioner Bianca Pierre-Louis. In this annual event our conversation starts with shadowy appearances and…
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Widening the Lens & Breaking the Old Patterns with Kamini Wood
What if the thing you keep trying to “fix” about yourself was once the very thing that helped you feel safe? No judgment required. No muscling through. And nobody has to win for a conversation to matter. When survival starts looking like personality — people pleasing, perfectionism, and the...
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Find Your Fit — When What You Love No Longer Fits
What if you’re still trying to make something fit because you remember how good it once felt? “A great big bowl of oatmeal” — a beige clearance sweater raises an awkward question about the things James keeps trying to make work. The siren song of the red tag — something can be easy to bring home...
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The Other Side of the Mirror — The Questions We’re Still Allowed to Ask
What if the feeling you’re most certain about still has another side worth looking at? Some tender territory. A little discomfort. Room to feel more than one thing. The other side of a gut punch — a conversation between friends opens a question about loss that James can’t quite put down. Two...
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ICYMI - You Can’t Step in the Same River Twice — Coming Home to a Different You
What if coming home feels different because you’ve finally given yourself room to grow? Back in Sydney, James Bullard follows a familiar meal into bigger questions about belonging, change, and how much of ourselves we hold back to keep home comfortable. You can love where you came from. You can…
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Success, Reconsidered: The Unexpected Way Forward with Robbie Samuels
What if the thing you’re working so hard to create isn’t the finish line—but the beginning of a much bigger conversation? In this episode of Radical Joy, James sits down with author, speaker, and entrepreneurial book strategist Robbie Samuels to talk reinvention, meaningful metrics, waking up the...
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Showing Up — Even When You’d Rather Chew Bumblebees
What if the hardest part of showing up isn’t the thing itself—but getting past the gravity that keeps you from starting? Getting past your own gravity — why starting can burn more fuel than the thing itself. The bumblebee level of resistance — when almost anything sounds better than doing the…
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Put Yourself in Your Place — Feel Silly. Do the Thing
What if “knowing your place” had less to do with shrinking yourself—and everything to do with choosing where you get to grow? Aspirational excellence — what if you aimed just a little higher than comfortable? Find a smarter room — being outmatched might be exactly where the learning starts. The...
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Making Your Own Bread — When the World Hands You the Middle of the Sandwich
What if the part of getting better nobody warns you about is how ridiculous, exposed, and occasionally downright terrible it can feel while you’re doing it? An honest conversation about the uncomfortable reality of learning something new. Sometimes growth looks less like a breakthrough and more...
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Memory Monday: We Are Not Lemmings!
So much of our lives are about what we do, not who we are. Today James takes a magnifying glass to what makes each of us unforgettable, breaking the mold and changing the direction of the crowd. How do you make your mark on the world? We want to hear your story! As we are working on finishing up...
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What We Choose to Grow with Dr. Kim Nugent — When Possibility Finds You Anyway
What if there’s more to the story than the moment, we decided was enough? Today with our Guest Dr. Kim Nugent we are talking about all kinds of things and it is a doozy! The story after the sentence — where curiosity usually disappears. “They’re coming home” — and who they’ll be when they do....
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Finding Wonder in the Ordinary
What if the moments that change us aren’t the extraordinary ones… but the ordinary ones we’ve stopped noticing? Maybe the world hasn’t become less beautiful… we’ve just become harder to surprise? This week is an invitation to look up, slow down, and remember that awe isn’t reserved for...
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Dead Man Talking with Frank King — When Nothing Left to Lose Becomes a Way Back
Before we begin—this episode includes honest conversation about depression, suicidal ideation, and lived experience with mental health struggles. Please take care of yourself as you listen, and pause if you need. What if the moment you believed you had nothing left… was the exact moment…
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Little Clouds — Finding the Sun Between Them
What if the thing threatening your joy isn’t the cloud… but the way you’ve been staring at it? A small story about one frustrating morning… and the surprising places little clouds can lead us. Some days begin beautifully, until something small drifts in. Maybe that’s where the real practice…
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Beyond the Labels — Controlling What You Can with Tori DaCosta
What if… the labels you’ve carried for years were never meant to define you—and the freedom you’ve been looking for begins by focusing on what you can actually control? This conversation with Tori De Costa is about identity, resilience, and what happens when you stop living the life you inherited...
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Lessons & Blessings - The Beauty of the Detour
What if life’s biggest interruptions aren’t asking you to be positive… but simply to stay curious? This week, we’re talking about one small question that’s been quietly changing the way I move through unexpected moments: Is this a lesson… or is it a blessing? Because sometimes life follows the...
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Breaking the Spell — Choosing Truth Over Fear with Peggy Sharr
What if the truth was never missing… just buried under everything you were taught to fear? A conversation about growing up as the daughter of a religious cult leader, the moment the spell broke, and what it takes to come back to yourself—this episode includes themes of control, spiritual abuse…
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What Happens After the Quiet — Learning to Choose Clarity Over Assumption
What if the conflict you’re avoiding is, actually, the conversation that could set you free? Somewhere between hurt feelings, radio silence, awkward hugs, and overthinking every interaction… this became a conversation about clarity. The quiet can feel peaceful at first. Then confusing. Then...
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Where Ease Meets Ambition with Alessandra Wall
What if ease isn’t the opposite of ambition… but the place it’s been trying to meet you all along? A conversation about success that doesn’t just look good on paper… but actually feels good to live inside. The kind that feels different the moment you step into it—not performative, not polished…...
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Open and Awed — Remembering How to Stay Soft in a Loud World
What if the things keeping you afloat aren’t the big breakthroughs… but the tiny moments you’ve stopped noticing? Somewhere between overwhelm, loneliness, sunsets, self-care, and tiny dopamine fixes… this became a conversation about staying open anyway. Some days, surviving looks a lot less...
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Knowing What You Want — The Shape of an Exceptional Life
What if the life you keep saying you want… stays just out of reach because you’ve never actually sat down and decided what it looks like? This one starts the way a lot of these do—mid-workout, a little tired, a little honest. And this question shows up: What do you want? Not what you’re avoiding....
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Opposites Day — When Half the Story Isn’t the Truth
What if the things you’ve always heard… were only ever half the sentence? This one’s a little more unfiltered. A little more honest. Still a soft place to land. 🌗 That phrase you grew up with — “blood is thicker than water”… until you hear the rest and everything tilts. 🔥 The people who choose...
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A Life You Don’t Wait For with Mike Chisholm
What if the life you keep thinking about… isn’t something you wait for—but something you walk toward? This one feels like sitting across from someone who just gets it. No performance. No pretending. Just a real conversation about going for it… before you feel ready. 🌊 “Why not just go for it?”…
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The Messy Way Forward — When Grace Isn’t How You Grow
What if growth was never meant to feel graceful… just honest? A solo reflection on what it means to keep going when it’s messy, frustrating, and nothing like you thought it would look. Take a breath. You don’t have to be good at this yet. You don’t have to make it pretty. 🥊 “I am not good at...
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The Point of No Return with Risa August — Between Breakdown and Becoming
What if the moment everything stopped working… was actually the moment you stopped going back? This one feels a little closer to the chest. Like something you don’t usually say out loud. The part where life interrupts you… and you realize there isn’t a way back to who you were. 🌿 A diagnosis…
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Whimsy as a Lifeline — the quiet rebellion of letting small things matter
What if the smallest, silliest parts of your day… are actually the ones keeping you here? This one’s a quiet conversation about whimsy— not as escape, but as something that might actually help you stay. Hey… you don’t have to have it all figured out. You’re allowed to enjoy things. Even now. What...
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Connection Isn’t Loud — It’s Felt, in the Quiet Spaces
What if connection doesn't arrive with fireworks… But in the pause where no one reaches for their phone. We’re not disconnected because no one's there, we've just forgotten how to be. You don't have to be impressive. No big gestures. Just stay. The questions we ask. The attention we give. The...
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Rip What You Sew — The Courage to Rip the Stitches of a Life That No Longer Fits
What if the best life advice you heard all week… came while you were lying flat on the floor, sweating through a brutal workout? Because that’s exactly where this one found me. Flat on my back. Trying to breathe again. And somewhere between “reap what you sow” and the puddle of sweat on the gym...
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Hospitality, Locked Doors, and Knowing the Difference — When Wisdom Costs Something
What if the advice you give so easily becomes heavier the moment you’re the one who has to carry it? What if the distance that makes you wise is the very thing you have to give up? This episode is a clear-eyed, compassionate reflection on distance and discernment—and on what happens when wisdom...
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Can You Give Me a Spot — Learning Who Holds the Bar
What if asking for help isn’t weakness—but precision? This episode is a meditation on trust, weight, and the quiet art of not lifting alone. You don’t need to know the gym or the choreography. You just need to recognize the edge. No fixing here. No stolen gains. Just enough support to keep going....
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You Don’t Have to Carry Everything — Learning Which Stone Is Yours
What if the work isn’t reacting to every splash… but choosing, with care, the one stone you’re meant to throw? A gentle pause to notice what you’re holding—and decide what actually belongs to you. No alarms. No moral quizzes. Just room to breathe and choose what’s yours to carry. In this episode,...
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A Wider Road Than Last Year — Learning to Listen While We’re Still Moving
What if the point isn’t to go faster… but to notice what changes when the path itself starts to feel different? This episode is a reflection on discernment, reciprocity, and learning how to stay open without abandoning yourself. A gentle place to land. No gold stars required. You’re allowed to...
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Care, Boundaries, and What Belongs Near You — Tending the Temple and the Garden
What if tending your life wasn’t about fixing what’s broken… but noticing what’s already doing its best to grow? In this episode, we talk about care, friendship, boundaries, and the quiet art of paying attention to what actually feeds you—without turning it into a moral exam. We’re not here to...
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Standing on the Same Ground — When Praise Doesn’t Create Distance
A solo reflection on praise, power, and standing on equal ground What if the way we offer admiration is quietly telling a story we never meant to tell? This is a reflection on compliments, cultural friction, and the moment it clicked that equality sometimes sounds like restraint. You’re not…
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Let Your Gifts Open Doors — Don’t Keep Them Wrapped
A solo reflection on courage, abundance, and choosing to shine anyway What if the very thing you’ve been told to tone down is the thing meant to carry you forward? This is a conversation about gifts, doors, courage, and the quiet pressure to stay small in a world that claims to love equality but...
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Don’t Save It — Use the Good China on a Tuesday
What if the special thing you’re waiting for… is today? This solo episode is a loving, irreverent nudge to stop preserving your life for later and start using it now—messy, ordinary, sparkly, imperfect days included. No pearl-clutching required. Some side-eye encouraged. Bring your favorite...
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Staying Soft Without Falling Apart with Jonathan Gregg — Death in Three Steps
What if the bravest thing we could do right now is slow down before our thoughts decide everything is already on fire? A conversation that wanders on purpose — through parenting, anger, softness, and the quiet work of catching yourself before you spiral. A few laughs. A few realizations. You can...
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Fifty Revolutions Around the Sun — Letting Change Knock First
What if your birthday didn’t ask you to celebrate louder… but to listen closer? This solo birthday episode is a quiet reckoning with turning fifty—choosing simplicity without apology, making peace with change, and learning to meet what’s next with curiosity instead of resistance. No fixing...
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Still Standing Isn’t the Same with Jocelyn Thompson — When the Show Doesn’t Have to Go On
What if the bravest thing you could do wasn’t pushing through… but calling the pause before everything breaks? A conversation about theater, care, and the quiet power of choosing people over performance. Take a breath. You’re allowed to sit down here. Nothing needs to be proven. 🌿 The conductor...
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Golden Birthday Giveaway!!!
Season Four, birthday energy, and a little Radical Joy magic coming your way ✨ Share this episode, tag @radicaljoypodcast, and every post gives you another chance to win. Winner drawn January 23—let’s make it fun. 🎉 Become a supporter of this podcast:...
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Care in the Cracks — The Quiet Work of Showing Up with Mike Brown
Don't forget to tag @radicaljoypodcast and share for entry to win the GOLDEN Birthday Prize. You don't want to miss this! Every share is an entry winner will be announced January 26th. What if the most important work isn’t happening under the lights — but in the quiet decisions no one claps for?…
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Let’s Go! Season Four—Rooted and Rising One Step at a Time
What if this year isn’t about pushing harder—but about paying attention, choosing better, and letting yourself be supported for once? Season Four of Radical Joy opens with a real, unpolished, heart-forward conversation about growth, boundaries, community, and the quiet moments that change...
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Loving Loud, Arizona Tea, Ultimatums, and Parenting as a Team Sport w/ Mike Brown & Jocelyn Thompson
Ever wonder what it looks like when parenting is actually a team sport? Mike Brown and Jocelyn Thompson don’t just co-parent—they co-everything. From Shakespeare to shipping breast milk across the country, this episode is full of heart, humor, and real talk about raising kids, loving loud, and...
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Radical Joy: Finding Time to Tarry
Ever feel like you're doing all the things — and still not getting better? What if the missing piece isn’t more effort... but making space to slow down?In this episode, we talk about the lost art of tarrying — and why pressing pause might be exactly what your growth needs. 🌀 Tarry, don’t hustle…
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Choosing Connection in a World That Divides
Feel like the world’s on fire and love isn’t enough? This episode gets real about fear, connection, and the messy work of choosing joy anyway. What it's about: Two old friends get vulnerable about what it actually takes to lead with love—even when everything around you says don’t bother. You’ll...
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Don’t Be Stingy with the Good Stuff
Ever seen something beautiful on someone… and said nothing? This episode is your nudge (and permission) to speak the compliment, even if it’s awkward, weird, or wildly unexpected. 😏 What if your throwaway “nice shoes” is actually a life raft in disguise? 🔥 The neon-orange pedicure that turned…
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Take a Break Before You Break: Why Rest Is Your Holiday Superpower
Feeling fried, frazzled, or full-on fed up—even before the holidays hit? You might just need a break (and no, that’s not laziness—it’s strategy). This week on Radical Joy, James unpacks the sacred (and sometimes scandalous) art of stepping away—from workouts, language apps, news cycles, and...
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Hot Takes & Humble Truths: Nik Walker’s Rules for Rest, Realness, & Radical Joy
Ever felt like you had to earn your right to rest or be heard or that asking for help is harder than hitting a Broadway high note? This week on Radical Joy, we’re rolling out the red carpet for Nik Walker—a dynamo of stage, screen, and sincere self-reflection. From Hamilton to handling hard...
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From Heavy to Holy Sh*t: Your Joy Gets to Be Loud
Are you stuck in self-doubt, playing small while secretly craving something wildly more freeing? This week on Radical Joy, James invites us to try on something better—emotionally, mentally, even sartorially—by shedding the heavy sweaters of self-sabotage and donning the wings of self-trust. ✨ Top...
About this show
James Bullard is a dynamic storyteller, acclaimed performer, and visionary creator dedicated to inspiring individuals and organizations through his writing, public speaking, and the transformative podcast Radical Joy. Leveraging the power of right-brain thinking and innovative problem-solving, James empowers others to unlock their full potential and reimagine what’s possible. With a commanding stage presence and a unique ability to connect deeply with audiences, he masterfully blends humor, vulnerability, and actionable insights to spark meaningful change. As a published author, his work resonates with readers seeking clarity and motivation, while Radical Joy amplifies voices that challenge, inspire, and ignite curiosity. A passionate advocate for bold living, James uses the art of storytelling to cultivate joy and guide others toward their most authentic and empowered selves.
CLW Studios is a joy-centered company that encourages setting self love as a goal. O
Hosted by
James E. Bullard