Send us a text A quiet virus today can become a devastating diagnosis decades from now. We dig into the uncomfortable math behind hepatitis B: why a universal birth dose prevents chronic infection and, by extension, a significant share of future liver cancer. The science is clear—infants who contract Hep B are far more likely to become chronically infected, and transmission often happens in ordinary settings through trivial blood contact. Waiting to vaccinate until school age sounds reasonabl...

Send us a text Fear is faster than facts—and when politics supercharge that fear, public health pays the price. Michelle, a former physician, takes you from the birth of vaccination under Edward Jenner to the modern machine that turns doubt into identity. We break down how a single fraudulent Lancet paper by Andrew Wakefield seeded decades of mistrust, why media amplification and algorithmic outrage kept the myth alive, and how anti‑vax sentiment migrated from wellness enclaves to right‑wing ...

Send us a text Fear thrives when labels replace facts—so we pulled the receipts. We dig into how “Antifa” turned from a historical stance against fascism into a modern political boogeyman, and we test that narrative against hard data from ACLED, CSIS, the ADL, and public law‑enforcement findings. The picture that emerges is clearer than the headlines: most 2020 protests were peaceful, incidents of violence were limited and often context‑driven, and the dominant share of ideologically motivate...

Send us a text The temperature around migration is high, but the data tells a calmer, sharper story: Australia’s aging population and deep labor shortages mean skilled newcomers are not a luxury—they’re the reason emergency rooms stay open, bridges get built, and classrooms don’t go dark. We dig into how the 1,500 people arriving each day are selected to fill critical gaps in healthcare, construction, aged care, education, and tech, and why this intake is modeled to support growth, not strain...

Send us a text Fear makes big promises. It says if we exile the people we hate, we’ll be safer. Law says something else: take responsibility, manage the risk, and hold your ground. We follow the Australian women once labeled “ISIS brides” from social media grooming and coerced border crossings to the fall of the caliphate, years in Kurdish-run detention camps, and finally the quiet flights home—where intelligence vetting, child welfare assessments, control orders, and countering violent extre...

Send us a text The scroll through X got ugly fast—slurs, threats, and sweeping claims about “dangerous immigrants” that would’ve been unthinkable to say out loud not long ago. Instead of trading more heat for heat, we hit pause and went looking for the facts: how Australia’s humanitarian program actually works, who gets through our vetting, what changed after boat turnbacks and offshore processing, and what the research really says about refugees and crime. We break down the two main pathway...

Send us a text The outrage machine wants you angry and certain. I wanted peace—especially at home. After a long winter of doomscrolling U.S. politics from Australia, I realized my left-leaning convictions were colliding with my partner’s right-leaning worldview, and our love was absorbing the shock. So we slowed down. We stripped our arguments to claims and evidence, named the fears hidden under the rhetoric, and practiced conceding fair points without surrendering our values. You’ll hear th...

Send us a text Spiritual connections with animals have become one of the most unexpected and profound aspects of my recovery journey. As someone who's always had dogs, I never anticipated how becoming more spiritually aware would transform my relationships with all kinds of creatures—from rescue pets to wildlife. When I moved in with my partner, I inherited two new family members: Bella, a kelpie-dachshund mix with boundless energy, and Daisy, an elderly but nimble tabby cat. Having suffered...

Send us a text There's a stark difference between true love and narcissistic supply – something I discovered through brutal personal experience. After hitting rock bottom as an addict without support, I welcomed what seemed like a miraculous rescue when a stranger offered shelter and connection. What followed was a masterclass in narcissistic relationship patterns that nearly destroyed me. The relationship began with intense love bombing – declarations of devotion, promises of protection, an...

Send us a text There's a strange disconnect that happens when you look back at a version of yourself you barely recognize. Opening my old escort Twitter account recently was like unlocking a time capsule to someone I used to be—a medical specialist who lost everything to addiction and found herself selling her body to survive. My descent didn't happen overnight. After losing my medical career to substance abuse, I initially turned to online work with my face concealed. But as financial despe...

Send us a text "You're just sitting there obsessing over what's happening with your fat cells. It's fucking wild." These raw words capture the mental torment of anorexia nervosa—a reality I knew intimately as both patient and physician. My relationship with food began as an obese child enduring bullying and humiliation. By fifteen, amid my parents' divorce, I found control through extreme calorie restriction. I dropped weight dramatically, earning praise until crossing that invisible line wh...

Send us a text Recovery isn't just about staying clean—it's about rebuilding a life that collapsed beneath you. After decimating my life as a renal medicine specialist through addiction, I found myself at ground zero, wondering how to become functional again. While a fortunate insurance payout provided temporary financial security, the question loomed: what next? Society pushes us toward relentless productivity and clear career trajectories. For 18 months, I remained paralyzed by indecision,...

Send us a text Ever wondered why some people seem trapped in endless cycles of bad luck while others effortlessly attract good fortune? In this deeply personal episode, Michelle opens up about her transformative journey from addiction recovery to discovering the power of energy work and karmic patterns. Michelle reveals how merely getting clean wasn't enough to change her life trajectory - she continued experiencing disasters and unhappiness until she addressed the underlying energetic patte...

Send us a text What happens when the drugs you once craved become your worst nightmare? Michelle's powerful account of recovery from methamphetamine and cocaine addiction reveals the profound identity shift that true sobriety demands. Unlike typical recovery stories focused on willpower and daily resistance, Michelle describes a spiritual transformation that changed her relationship with substances entirely. Through vivid recollections of drug-induced paranoia, near-death experiences, and th...

Send us a text When hatred becomes normalized in our society, we all lose. From vicious online commentary to political division, from racism to the stigmatization of vulnerable populations, the rising tide of hate threatens to undermine our shared humanity and collective potential. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Michelle delves into the psychology behind hatred and why it ultimately destroys the hater more than the hated. She explores how hatred originates within us, revealing our own...

Send us a text What if you could stop your emotions from hijacking your life? Michelle takes us on a raw, honest journey through her struggle with emotional dysregulation and the life-changing skills she's developed to break free from destructive patterns. Michelle shares how she once had no concept that emotions could be controlled. When anger or distress hit, she'd let those feelings completely unravel, desperately seeking validation and often engaging in behaviors she'd later regret. Thro...

Send us a text Relationships shatter under the weight of addiction. I know this firsthand—I burned every bridge with family, friends, and partners during my darkest days of substance abuse. The heartbreaking isolation that followed became a turning point in my recovery journey. Remember the famous Rat Park study? When rats lived in enriched environments with social connections, they rarely chose drug-laced water. Alone in cages, they consumed it until death. Humans aren't so different. We're...

Send us a text What does it really mean when recovery programs describe addiction as a "spiritual malady"? In this deeply personal episode, I share my journey from nihilistic atheism to spiritual awakening—a transformation that ultimately saved my life. As a teenager, I rejected religion as fairy tales and embraced the belief that humans were merely a "happy accident of chaos." This worldview conveniently supported my addiction, allowing me to justify selfish behaviors and remain oblivious t...

Send us a text Every morning, I wake up and have to pinch myself. Is this beautiful home by the beach, these loving relationships, this second chance at motherhood—is it all real? The contrast to where I was just a few years ago seems impossible. My journey from kidney specialist to homeless addict selling my body for drugs nearly killed me—literally. With staph sepsis ravaging my body and my family waiting for the call that I had died, I hit a devastating bottom few survive. But that devast...

Welcome to StoneWaterZen Talks.Keizan Roshi discusses Case 14 from The Gateless Gate. This talk was recorded in January 2025 at the StoneWater Zen Centre in Liverpool.For more information about StoneWater Zen, our weekly schedule (in person and on zoom) and retreats, please visit our website https://www.stonewaterzen.org/If you find these talks valuable please consider supporting StoneWater Zen by donating. To donate simply use the link belowhttps://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_bu...