Episodes
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I Must Confess: The Countercultural Practice of Confession
In this episode of The Upstream Podcast, I sit down with my good friend Father Lucas to discuss the countercultural practice of confession. Father Lucas shares his journey from studying music at Hofstra to rediscovering his Catholic faith and eventually becoming a priest. Together, we explore…
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The Cost of Staying ft. Crash
What if the biggest risk isn’t leaving… but staying? S?E? The Cost of Staying — ft. Crash Staying in the job that drains you. The relationship that asks you to abandon yourself. The familiar life that feels safe—but no longer feels true. In this episode of The Upstream Podcast, my friend Crash…
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Hear and Do...NOW!
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” Goethe There’s a chasm between where we are and where we want to be—whether in our health, mindset, spirituality, or relationships. Most people believe that if they just had the motivation, they’d have everything they...
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Sight Beyond Sight: Having a vision without vision
‘Without a vision, the people perish.’ We can’t hit target if we don’t aim at it. And we cannot aim at it, if we cannot see it. So what then? We can be aimless, and aimless we will carry on. But as the proverb says, if we have no aim, no vision, we wither: mentally, emotionally, professionally,...
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Born from Ashes: The Journey of Fatherhood
When a man embarks on the journey of fatherhood, his life undergoes a stark transformation. Suddenly, he finds himself entrusted with the profound responsibility of nurturing a co-created with his beloved and the divine Creator. How he embraces and enacts his role as a father profoundly…
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What is a Man?
We won’t go into the dictionary’s definition. That would be too easy, and quite frankly, it doesn’t reach the depths or heights that would satisfy this inquiry. In this episode of "What is a Man," we delve into the landscape of what it is to be a man through the lens of a discussion with my…
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Is Fitness Killing You?
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"... is this true? I can't recall anyone ever questioning this statement, especially when it comes to fitness. We all know the general benefits of exercise and fitness, but how much exercise should we be engaged in, and what kind? ... At what kind of...
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Walking the Tightrope of Vulnerability
With so much focus on people, particularly men to be "vulnerable," within the last few years, it became evident to me that there wasn't enough guidance on how to actually be vulnerable. Even more lacking is the insight on who we should or shouldn't be vulnerable with and how much should we reveal...
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Hard to Kill: A Crash Course
Physical fitness is important, not just for our bodies, but for our minds. But what happens when you have all the fitness in the world, but you are unable to defend yourself and/or others in a physical confrontation? Strength, and even instinct, will most likely not be enough against a would-be...
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Survival of the Fit-ish
We've all heard the phrase, "Survival of the fittest." I believe the great poets Mobb Deep emphasized that only the strong survive. While this may be true, it is intense. In today's modern world, we are provided conveniences that centuries ago, human beings couldn't even fathom. Surviving in a...
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Lesser Men Have Done Greater Things: Keep Going
"Lesser men have done greater things...." The first time I heard this quote, it was like a lightswitch went off in my brain that I didn't even know it was there. The man who shared this quote with me, Shaun Puluse, took the time to sit down and speak further about the context of this quote in his...
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Authentic Masculinity Vs. Counterfeit Masculinity
One of the strange challenges of our current times is the idea of masculinity. The "culture," which is always shifting, seems to have deemed any facet of what masculinity is as "toxic." Be not mistaken! There is no such thing as "toxic masculinity." What some may call "toxic masculinity," is not...
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It’s Sowing Season: Planting seeds now to reap a harvest later
Everything we do and don’t do has a consequence, for better, or for worse. Whether it’s our relationships, health, finances, or spiritual life, everything is always changing and how we carry on (or don’t) effects these domains. If we find we are in a space in life that we did not intend to be in,...
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Everyone (Toxic) Must Go...Respectfully
Vibes. We feel them. Good and bad… we could be wrong about them. But over the long term, if we are honest with ourselves, one can not deny whether or not the people whom we spend time with are building us up, or painfully tearing us apart. So what do we do? Especially when it’s a friend since...
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Life is a Marathon: The Unfathomable Gifts of Discipline
‘Only the disciplined ones are free.’ -Eliud Kipchoge Ugggh…. Who wants to hear about discipline? That word has been dragged around the proverbial social media/high performance/self-improvement space for far too long. What comes to mind for most are the dirty synonyms of pain, torture, and...
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Don‘t Hide Your Fire: Faith, Family, and Fitness II
‘The best way out is always through.’ -Robert Frost No one wants hardship. No one wants trials. No one wants pain or suffering. No one wants to feel the harsh reality of desolation. But no matter who we are, ‘the rain falls on the just and the unjust.’ No matter how ‘good’ we are… or ‘bad,’ ……
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Why Bands (and sometimes friends) Break Up
Nothing worse than a beloved band, whose music holds a special place in our lives, breaks up. The chemistry between the members formulates a certain unidentifiable "something" that just can't be replicated. But as fate would have it, it is a fact of life: Bands break up...and sometimes....so do...
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Exercise to Exorcise: Faith, Fitness, and Friends/Family
What does it mean to 'exorcise' something? It means to drive out or expel. Well, exercise is a concrete and tangible way to 'exorcise' the risk of illness, but also the mental demons of anxiety and stress. The triple threat is truly fitness, faith, and friend/family for my guest Rodrigo Agreda, 2...
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TRUST: In self, others, and the process.
Trust. What does that word mean? How does it apply to our relationships, our means of income, our goals and aspirations? How much of this intangible resource do we give away? How much of it do we hold back and from who or what? And when the trash hits the fan and we lose faith in the act of...
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Winning isn't everything. Honoring is.
'It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.’ -Aeschylus This whole project was birthed out of one seed of honor. About a year ago, Matt Pana of @likewisepodcast asked me to be on his podcast. I had no idea why he would want to speak to me or what we...
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Back on my feet: Rebuilding in the wake of depression and suicide
Did you know that one in 6 men will encounter a clinically significant depressive episode in their life? Think of your closes 6 friends...well, 6 friends, you’re pretty lucky (joke to break the seriousness of this topic), but that is a staggering number. Even if not ‘clinically significant,’ as…
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Dying to Live: One man's true story of an unlikely survival from COVID
"There's nothing certain in life except for DEATH and TAXES." Death.. we don't like to think about it. Matter of fact, how often do we take a step back behind the veil and think about the "matrix," that we're in so-to-speak. Have you ever asked yourself why you are here? How did you get here?…
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This is the wAAy - Part lI
Join us as we close out this segment on the spiritual awakening that the program of Alcoholics Anonymous can provide one who has tried everything else to maintain sobriety from alcohol and drugs. This program can provide the willing participant to regain control of their life, not just over...
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This is the wAAy - Part l
See what I did there? ‘w-AA-y.’ Thats because this episode is all about how the program of Alcoholics Anonymous would be massively helpful to anyone, and not just those who are working towards their recovery from illicit substances or alcohol. I’ve had the honor and privilege to work along side...
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Are you in a RelationSHIP? Or a RelationSHIT?
Ahhhhh relationships.... such a complex and personalized topic. But what is the point of relationship? We were never meant as human beings to live life alone. It is in our DNA. The human race would not be here to this day otherwise. Culture is constantly changing, but the truth remains that some...
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Two Men Working in Mental Health Working on Their Own Mental Health: Part II (Salman)
Listen as the tables are now turned and Angel plays host as we journey through this writer's experience into working through mental health issues never before lived.
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Two Men Working in Mental Health Working on Their Own Mental Health: Part I (Angel)
Mental health.... just those words alone bring about stigma. It’s not sexy. It’s not commonly spoken about with even our closest associates. It’s a scary thought that one can descend off into the lower side of the mental health spectrum, but the reality is we all have a certain level of…
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Life is a Contact Sport
We’ve heard it said before that it’s not what you know but who you know. As human beings, we are meant to be in communion with one another, like it or not. We were not created to be isolated creatures. And within the depth of our being is a yearning to be good to our fellow humans, and ideally,...
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You're Dead to Me: The Effects of Cancel Culture
You may or may not be aware of the undercurrent of, "Cancel Culture." It is sweeping away whole careers, movements, companies, cultural icons, even history; so much has been "cancelled," without any chance for redemption. This plays out with an even more furious pace given the usage of social…
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Plug in. Power Up. Give Back.
Do you have power in your life? What is power anyway? And if you don't have power, how can you acquire it? Join me and my guest John Troche, Substance Recovery Specialist and Interventionist as we explore the concept of power and how possession, or lack there of it, can make or break our lives.…
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Kill Your Giants
All of us have either had a giant to face, are currently facing a giant, or will have to face a giant in our lives. The ‘giant’ of a new endeavor: a marriage, a new job... the ‘giant,’ of a conflict that you would rather not deal with... maybe with a friend, co-worker, a boss... maybe in your...
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Anti-Social Social Media
Listen in on one man's journey as he enters into the desert of a social media detox. A REAL detox. Isn't it ironic that we're speaking about distancing oneself from social media, yet social media is the channel that this message is being delivered? Maybe, but we are not advocating a detox...
About this show
A podcast born to leave behind a legacy for the next generation through the wisdom cultivated in the upstream.
Hosted by
@salman.likethefish
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