After the tragic mass shooting deaths of 19 elementary school kids and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022, America is, once again, doing some soul searching. We have had over 200 mass shootings thus far in 2022, and there's no end in sight. America is too great of a country to do nothing about gun violence. While there are no simple answers, we can do more than thoughts and prayers. The key to growth, change, and improvement rests in our ability to be flexible, reasonable, and skillful as we approach this complicated problem with open minds.

In this episode of The Reasonably Good Life, I interview licensed psychologist and ordained Zen Buddhist priest Dr. David Zuniga. Dr. Zuniga's a good friend of mine, and we've have many wonderful conversations in the past, so I thought it would be fun to interview him for the podcast. We cover Buddhism's influence on modern psychotherapy, human nature and interconnectedness, why we suffer, the myth of the self, and mindfulness and its connection to psychotherapy and well-being.

In this episode, I am interviewed by Karly Fritsch, who is in a master's program at St. Bonaventure University in New York - on her way to becoming a licensed professional counselor. We discuss a range of topics such as some of the challenges of being a therapist, treatment efficacy of different therapy models, ethical problems that therapists face, serving clients who have diverse needs and backgrounds, and getting feedback from clients on treatment progress. It was a lively and enjoyable discussion, and I hope you listeners enjoy it!