Life and How to Live It with Dr Rocco

The Wonderful World of Reading

Life and How to Live It Podcast with Dr. Rocco Episode: Reading for Pleasure — One of Life's Greatest Gifts In this episode, I'm diving deep into one of my all-time favorite topics: reading for pleasure. I consider reading to be one of life's truly great pleasures, and whether you're a devoted bookworm or someone who hasn't picked one up in years, I genuinely believe there's something in this episode for you. I walk through my personal reading journey, explore the many gifts that reading gives us, and share a curated list of book recommendations spanning fiction and nonfiction. My Reading Journey I've loved reading since I was a young boy — books, magazines, comic books, even the back of the cereal box at breakfast. I was a sponge, and I've pretty much stayed that way my whole life. I was that odd high school kid who actually enjoyed the assigned reading in English class, and when I went on to study pre-med at the University of Virginia, I was fortunate to take some truly memorable English and History courses. In particular, a class on William Faulkner and Southern Gothic literature, and another on the plays of Shakespeare, taught me something I never forgot: there is incredible pleasure to be found in reading something that is genuinely challenging. Shakespeare's language can feel like a barrier, but once you get comfortable with it, the language is the thing — that's where the joy lives. After college, medical school and residency consumed most of my reading time with textbooks and journal articles. But as my career progressed, I picked it back up. The real turning point came during a visit to my parents. I'd forgotten to bring anything to read, so I browsed the bookshelf in my old bedroom and pulled out The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway — a book I'd read at 16. Reading it again at around 35, I was stunned. As a teenager, I saw a group of friends drinking in Paris and going to bullfights in Spain. As an adult, I understood the profound loneliness and woundedness of Jake Barnes — a man left impotent by a war injury, in love with Lady Brett Ashley, unable to ever consummate that love. I saw the Lost Generation, the searching for meaning, the diversion and the despair. I had not gotten any of that at 16. That experience changed everything. I asked myself: what else did I miss? And so I made a decision to read the classics — all of them. If I hadn't read it, I read it. If I had already read it, I reread it. Highlights from the Classics * The Epic of Gilgamesh – Written approximately 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, this is the story of King Gilgamesh, his friendship with Enkidu, and his desperate quest to find a cure for death after losing his beloved companion. What struck me most was the visceral realization that we as human beings have not changed very much. The things that caused Gilgamesh grief and anxiety are the very same things that haunt us today. * The Iliad – One of my favorite books of all time. There is a scene where Andromache pleads with her husband Hector not to go to the front of the next day's battle, knowing he will die and that she has already lost her entire family to this war. I literally teared up reading it. This could have been a modern wife speaking to her husband before he leaves for combat. The universality of the human soul leaps off every page. * The ancient Greek philosophers and the Bible – Taken together, these form the very roots of Western civilization and the way we think today. * The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione – Written in 16th century Italy, this book outlines the qualities of the ideal gentleman: well-read, athletic, humorous, able to dance and dress well. Reading it, I felt like I was reading about James Bond. What fascinated me was seeing just how old these ideas really are. * Don Quixote by Cervantes – Written in the early 1600s, around the same time as Shakespeare, this hilarious buddy story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is widely considered the first novel ever written. * Moby Dick by Herman Melville – A deep dive into the whaling industry, yes, but more importantly a profound study of obsession and how hubris can bring tragedy crashing down on everyone around you. * The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – An incredible story centered on revenge — that powerful, dangerous desire to get back at those who have wronged you. * War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – Nearly 1,200 pages and close to 600 characters. A slog at times, but an extraordinary cognitive and emotional experience. The characters became more alive to me than many people I know in real life, and I still think about them regularly, years after finishing it. * One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez – The masterpiece of magical realism. Set in the fictional Colombian town of Macondo, this novel weaves a dream. While you're in it, you are in a dream-like state. Truly an extraordinary reading experience. What Does Reading Give Us? * Pleasure – Sometimes it takes 20, 50, even 100 pages to sync up with an author's voice and way of thinking. Push through that initial barrier — the pleasure is waiting on the other side. * Anticipation – Once you're hooked, you think about the book during the day, and you feel that little flutter of excitement when you pass it on your bedside table. * Escapism – Whether it's sci-fi, fantasy, or a novel set in a completely different culture, reading transports us out of ourselves and into another world entirely. * Knowledge – Nonfiction is built for learning, but great fiction authors like Umberto Eco pack their novels with rich history and cultural insight too. * Vocabulary – Your vocabulary will genuinely grow, especially if you read the classics. * Cognitive exercise – Keeping track of characters, storylines, and timelines is a real workout for the brain. * Empathy – Fiction places you inside the heart, mind, and soul of another person in a way that real life simply cannot. I truly believe that being a reader of fiction made me a better doctor — it helped me understand what makes people tick. * An expanded worldview – You learn about different places, cultures, and human experiences, and that makes you a better citizen of this country and of the world. Nonfiction as Your Own Curriculum I love nonfiction for the freedom it gives you to build your own learning path. Say you get curious about life for women in the Old West — you don't have to wait for a documentary. Just start reading. And the bibliography at the back of any good nonfiction book will send you down rabbit holes you never expected. My Book Recommendations Novels: * Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry (1985) — Two friends lead a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The characters are unforgettable. My wife considers this one of her all-time favorites too. * This Is Happiness – Niall Williams (2019) — The story of the last town in Ireland to get electricity in the 1950s. Endearing, beautiful, and deeply touching. * A Soldier of the Great War – Mark Helprin (1991) — One of my all-time favorites. An Italian soldier reflects on his life and his time in World War I. It's about love, loss, war, meaning, and the afterlife. Absolutely stunning. * Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison (1977) — A journey from North to South as Milkman Dead searches for his family's history. Themes of slavery, family secrets, and identity. Incredibly beautiful. Short Stories: * Table for Two – Amor Towles (2024) — My favorite recent short story collection. Fun, surprising, and completely engaging. * The Pacific – Mark Helprin (2004) — Another excellent collection from one of my favorite writers. * Flannery O'Connor — Pick up any of her collections. You're in for a wonderful time. * Anton Chekhov — One of the great masters of the European short story. A note on short stories: If you don't read much fiction, short stories are the perfect entry point. You can read one in a single evening, and reading before bed — rather than scrolling on your phone — is a great way to calm your nervous system and sleep better. Nonfiction: * The Power Broker – Robert Caro (1974) — A biography of Robert Moses and essential reading for understanding how New York City became what it is today. I listened to this on audiobook and got everything I needed from it. * The Wide Wide Sea – Hampton Sides (2025) — The story of Captain Cook's third voyage: discovering Hawaii, returning to Tahiti, searching for the Northwest Passage. Written like a novel but completely true. * Brunelleschi's Dome – Ross King — The story of how the great dome of Florence's cathedral was built in the 1400s, full of artistic rivalry and architectural genius. Fascinating. One More Thing Based on recent data, the top countries for reading by per capita books read per year are the United States, India, and the United Kingdom, with China, Italy, and France also ranking highly. Within the US, the top reading states are Vermont, New Hampshire, and Minnesota — which just goes to show that those long, cold winter nights are perfect for curling up with a good book. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595932/support] Feel free to visit my website https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast [https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast]

Flow State

LIFE AND HOW TO LIVE IT — SHOW NOTES Episode 14: Flow States — How to Get in the Zone Have you ever looked up from something you were doing and realized that an hour and a half had passed when it only felt like five or ten minutes? Or been so absorbed in a physical activity that your body seemed to move on its own, without any conscious effort? If so, you've been in a flow state — and in this episode, I break down exactly what that is, how it works in your brain, and how you can access it more often in your daily life. What Is a Flow State? Flow is a mental state of intense focus, full immersion, and enjoyment in an activity. The term was coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s, after he studied people across different cultures who described losing their sense of time, losing their self-awareness, and feeling like they were performing at a peak level. You might also know this feeling as being "in the zone," "locked in," or "in the groove." For a flow state to happen, a few conditions need to be in place: * The activity must be personally meaningful to you. I can get into flow playing chess — someone who doesn't enjoy chess never will, no matter how skilled they are. I personally don't enjoy gardening, so flow doesn't happen for me there, even though it's a perfect flow activity for many people. * Your skill level must match the challenge. If the task is too easy for your skill level, you'll get bored. If it's too hard, you'll get frustrated. Flow happens in that sweet spot — the "just right" challenge. I also believe there are at least two distinct types of flow. One involves high technical skill, decision-making, and focus — like playing chess or rock climbing. The other is more like going on autopilot during a repetitive, rhythmic activity — like a runner experiencing a "runner's high." Both are real, and both are valuable. The Neuroscience of Flow As a physician, I'm always curious about what's actually happening under the hood. The neuroscience of flow isn't fully understood yet, but here's the current thinking as of 2026: Two key brain systems: * The Dopamine Reward System — Dopamine drives motivation and provides a sense of reward. When an activity is meaningful to you, the dopamine system gets you started and keeps rewarding you for doing it. * The Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrine System — This system is involved in attention, motivation, and — crucially — task persistence. It keeps you doing the thing. If a task becomes too boring or too difficult, norepinephrine drops and you disengage. In flow, both of these systems are likely working together: one gets you in, the other keeps you there. Three neural networks: * The Default Mode Network — This is where your brain goes when you're not focused on anything. It's responsible for self-talk, rumination, and self-awareness. You know the voice: "How am I doing? What do people think of me? What do I need to do today?" Some people call this the "monkey brain." In flow, this network is down-regulated — which is why you lose that constant sense of yourself. * The Central Executive Network — This is the focused, task-oriented part of your brain. In flow, this network is highly active. * The Salience Network — Think of this as the conductor. It sits above the other two networks and modulates them — turning up the central executive, turning down the default mode, and vice versa. It also appears to take periodic "snapshots" called global emotional moments — quick internal check-ins covering things like your heart rate, discomfort, and sense of time. The theory is that during flow, these snapshots become less frequent, which is why time seems to disappear. So putting it all together: a meaningful activity engages your dopamine system, the norepinephrine system keeps you at it, your central executive network locks in your focus, your default mode quiets down (so you lose that nagging self-awareness), and your sense of time fades as the salience network takes fewer snapshots. That is flow. Why Flow Is Good for You Flow doesn't just feel great — it's genuinely good for your health. When you enter a flow state, your parasympathetic nervous system becomes relatively more active, and your sympathetic nervous system (the "fight or flight" system) calms down. This means: * Lower blood pressure * Decreased cortisol levels * A more relaxed overall physiological state Many of us spend a lot of our modern lives stuck in sympathetic overdrive — stressed, overstimulated, always "on." Flow is one of the best natural antidotes to that. How to Get Into Flow: Hobbies That Work I truly believe hobbies are the best gateway to flow. And I think people experienced flow far more naturally a hundred or two hundred years ago, before constant digital distractions. The phone ringing, a text notification, someone walking in — these can yank you right out of a flow state, and it's hard to get back. So when you're pursuing a flow-inducing hobby, put the phone away and protect that space. The best flow hobbies share a few qualities: * Something you genuinely enjoy * Clear goals with immediate feedback * A good balance of skill and challenge Physical/outdoor flow activities: * Rock climbing — You're staring at a wall with no distractions, constantly making micro-decisions about your next handhold or foothold, with immediate feedback on every move. It's one of the purest flow experiences I can think of. * Hiking — Especially solo, on a trail with roots and rocks that demand your attention. You're focused on footing, terrain, the sounds around you, and moving through nature — a natural soother of the human soul. * Skiing, surfing, fishing * Running, swimming, cycling — These repetitive rhythmic activities may work differently neurologically, actually quieting both the central executive and default mode networks together, putting the brain in a calmer state overall. Creative flow activities: * Cooking, gardening — Weeding, for example: a clear goal (get those weeds out), immediate feedback (you can see the result right away), and an enjoyable, focused task. * Sewing, quilting — My wife is a perfect example. I've learned not to interrupt her mid-project. She's in a trance, and she is not happy when I break her out of it. * Drawing, painting, woodworking, playing a musical instrument Mental/strategy flow activities: * Chess, video games, creative writing — Inherently challenging and technical. Chess is my personal go-to. Dr. Rocko's Recs 📖 Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan (2009) This is a short, wonderful book — barely a book in the traditional sense. It's 64 practical rules for eating, laid out one per page, with a brief explanation for each. Michael Pollan is a well-known food writer and New York Times contributor who has done extensive research on the relationship between food and health. He distills everything into three overarching principles: "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not a lot." A few of my favorite rules: * Rule #2: "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." If she'd look at it and not know what it was, it's probably not real food. * Rule #20: "It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car." That one speaks for itself. * Rule #50: "The banquet is in the first bite." The first bite gives you the most pleasure — every bite after that is a diminishing return. Stop before you're completely full. The best of the meal is already behind you. Highly recommend this one. Quick read, genuinely useful. One More Thing Did you know that the oldest known human drawing is a 73,000-year-old hashtag-like pattern drawn in ochre, discovered in a cave in South Africa? We have been creative beings — making art and leaving our mark — for at least 73,000 years. We are part of a long and beautiful tradition. Remember, Life is not a dress rehearsal. Until next time. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595932/support] Feel free to visit my website https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast [https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast]

Believe in Serendipity

Life and How to Live It with Dr. Rocco FROM ICE CREAM TO ELECTRIC LADY A conversation with John Storyk, legendary acoustic designer I've been wanting to share this conversation for a long time. John Storyk is a Princeton-trained architect, a lifelong blues musician, and the man who — at just 22 years old — designed Electric Lady Studios for Jimi Hendrix. But more than any single achievement, what I find fascinating about John is the through-line of his entire life: serendipity, a tuned antenna, and the willingness to say yes before he knew how. John grew up on Long Island, the son of an international commodities trader who believed deeply in world travel. A teenage summer in Mexico — walking into the Mayan ruins at Tulum, falling in love for the first time, discovering Greenwich Village through a girl whose father was a New York Times editor — set the whole thing in motion. By the time he graduated from Princeton in 1968, he was as serious about playing saxophone and blues piano as he was about architecture. He moved to Greenwich Village with his college sweetheart, played in a band, and assumed life would sort itself out. Then came the ice cream shop. One hot August evening, he picked up a local paper while waiting in line and spotted an odd want ad: carpenters needed, no pay, experimental nightclub. A dime in a rotary phone later, he was redesigning the entire concept. That club — Cerebrum — landed on the cover of Life Magazine and ran for nine months before the mafia shut it down. But word had gotten around. Jimi Hendrix's manager tracked John down with a simple offer: come design a club for Jimi on 8th Street. Midway through, producer Eddie Kramer convinced everyone to build a recording studio instead. John had never been inside a studio in his life. So he created his own internship from scratch, doing all the drafting for a seasoned acoustician for free, in exchange for learning everything he could. A year and a half later, Electric Lady Studios opened. It is still there. Still booked solid. One of the finest rooms in the world. We go deep into what followed: Stevie Wonder moving into Electric Lady almost the day after Jimi died, a lifelong friendship with Eddie Kramer, and a roster of commissions that reads like a who's who — Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, U2, J. Cole, and many more. We talk about the moment John heard Leon Russell playing Beethoven in his pajamas at 6am and quietly decided he would never be that good — and quit the band. We talk about meeting his wife Beth at a Thanksgiving party in Saugerties, and how she helped him turn a haphazard one-man operation into WSDG, now a 60-person global acoustic consulting firm with offices across four continents, built almost entirely through a student intern pipeline. And we talk about where John is right now — navigating succession, stepping away from the CEO role, trusting the team he spent decades building, and the unexpected peace that's slowly come with letting go. In this episode * Growing up with a globalist father and a summer in Mexico that changed everything * Cerebrum: the strangest nightclub in 1960s New York, and why the mafia closed it * Designing Electric Lady Studios at 22, having never set foot in a recording studio * Stevie Wonder, Leon Russell, Eddie Kramer, and a career's worth of stories * Building WSDG into a global firm through an intern pipeline he never planned * Succession, ego, and the slow art of letting go "The background noise of life is always there. There's always opportunities every single second. You need to keep your antenna up." — John Storyk John's billboard "Follow your dreams. Follow your heart. Believe in your intuition. And believe in serendipity." — John Storyk Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595932/support] Feel free to visit my website https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast [https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast]

Life Lessons from Our Parents

Life and How to Live It Podcast Episode: Lessons from Our Parents — A Mother's Day & Father's Day Tribute Host: Dr. Rocco | Co-Host: Pete Logiudice Episode Overview In this special episode, released around Mother's Day 2026, my co-host Pete Logiudice and I take a step back from our usual format to do something a little more personal. With Father's Day just around the corner, we decided to dedicate this episode to our own parents — the lessons they taught us about life, how to live it, and how to be good parents ourselves. This one comes straight from the heart. Pete's Story: Albert and Donna Logiudice Pete shares warm memories of growing up in the New York City area with his Irish-Italian family. A few highlights from his story: * Parenting as a united front. Pete's parents, Albert and Donna, were always aligned. What mattered to one, mattered to the other — and their children were always the priority. * Quality time over quantity. Even though his dad worked constantly, he always made time for catch in the backyard, ball games, and family day trips. * Two families, one big table. Pete paints a vivid picture of alternating Sundays — one week with the Italian family in Eastchester (pasta, meat, baseball on TV), the next with the Irish side of the family in the Bronx. Different food, same love. * A mother's calm. Pete's mom had a gift for putting things in perspective. No matter how big the problem felt, a call to mom left you feeling like everything was going to be okay — even if nothing had actually changed yet. * Parenting with respect and empathy. These are the values Pete credits to his parents, and the same ones he and his wife Michelle have worked to pass on to their four kids.   My Story: Alfredo and Tomasina Chiappini My parents' story is one I never get tired of telling — it's a testament to courage, resilience, and the immigrant spirit. * Born in wartime Italy. My parents were born in a small town between Rome and Naples in the late 1930s. Their early childhood was spent in the middle of World War II — with battles literally happening in their backyard. At one point, German soldiers occupied their town and the entire village had to flee and live on a mountainside. * A MacGyver mentality. That kind of upbringing shapes you. My dad could take anything and turn it into something useful. He never wasted a thing. * Coming to America. My father arrived in the United States in 1961, in his early 20s, with about $10 in his pocket. He came alone — driven partly by the loss of his mother at age 13 and tension with his stepfather. He had a cousin here who helped sponsor him, and he arrived with a job as a mechanic waiting. * My mother's journey. My mom came a few years later with her parents and siblings. Though my parents knew of each other in Italy — their families both worked in the traveling markets there, his selling fabrics, hers selling shoes — they didn't become a couple until they reconnected at a gathering in America. * Building something from nothing. My mom worked as a seamstress. My dad worked in mechanics and construction. Together, they saved aggressively and my father had the vision to invest in real estate — buying multifamily homes, collecting rent, and flipping houses before it was even a popular concept. Lessons I Learned from My Parents Here are the core values my parents instilled in me that I've tried to carry forward: * Courage. Taking leaps of faith and backing them up with hard work. * Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595932/support] Feel free to visit my website https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast [https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast]

Personal Transformation

Dr. Claudia Wheeler shared her inspiring 10-year journey from being overweight and inactive to becoming a competitive athlete, losing 85 pounds and completely transforming her relationship with fitness and nutrition. The episode provides actionable strategies for sustainable weight loss, exercise adoption, and lifestyle change, emphasizing that mindset shifts are essential for long-term success. Guest Background Dr. Claudia Wheeler: Board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation Current role: Owner and medical director of Derma Zenith Medical Spa and Wellness, Warwick, Rhode Island Personal mission: Optimizing function of body, mind, and spirit for patients and herself Transformation Journey Initial Phase Weight Loss Starting point: Age 38. Over 200 pounds with knee pain; realized she wouldn't take her own medical advice about exercise Catalyst: Wanted to be an active mom and guide her daughter toward healthy habits Method: Weight Watchers with accountability partner Kate, meeting every Saturday at 6 AM 2 Result: Lost 85 pounds and has kept it off for more than 10 years. Exercise Evolution March: 3 months in: Joined YMCA, started with treadmill and elliptical in comfort zone May: Hired personal trainer Progressive training: Learned squats, deadlifts, bench press, tire flips, box jumps, and running drills Mindset shift: Transitioned from weight loss goals to performance goals running 5K, strength achievements Current activities: CrossFit 4 years and HYROX competition training HIROX Competition Achievement Event: Boston 2025 HIROX competition as male-female pair Components: 8 kilometers running plus 8 workout stations including ski erg, row, burpee broad jumps, weighted lunges, sled push/pull 250-350 pounds, and 100 wall balls with 14-pound ball Training: 3 months intensive preparation after 10 years of consistent exercise Key Mindset Strategies Mental Mantras "Are you choosing health or are you choosing disease right now, Claudia?" Used during food decisions "Would you feed this to your baby?" Applied when considering daughter's future habits "If my trainer, John says let's do it, it means he thinks you can do it" Built trust in trainer's judgment Identity Transformation Imposter syndrome parallel: Took approximately 10 years to internalize identity as "athlete" Professional authenticity: Now advises patients from place of lived experience rather than theory Practical Tools and Recommendations Nutrition Management Food scale: Digital scale $10 on Amazon for measuring portions and tracking macros Macronutrients education: Understanding that all food is carbohydrate, protein, or fat with specific calorie values Cooking at home: Knowing exact ingredients enables better weight control than eating out Chronometer app: Free app for tracking macros; paid version provides micronutrient analysis for targeted supplementation Exercise Approach Personal trainer value: Provides accountability, customized programming, and belief in client's abilities Post-rehab transition: Trainer helps bridge gap after physical therapy discharge Injury workarounds: During rotator cuff surgery recovery, continued walking and single-arm exercises to maintain momentum. Did not let injury be an excuse for stopping exercise altogether Behavioral Strategies Accountability partners: Weekly Weight Watchers meetings with friend Kate created mutual commitment Environmental control: Eliminated trigger foods from house and donated old clothes to prevent backsliding Data tracking: Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595932/support] Feel free to visit my website https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast [https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast]