For Shivam, a good day starts the night before. He has a detailed relationship with the hours between waking up and walking out the door; one that's a spiritual practice, physical ritual, and conscious boundary-setting. The routine isn't about discipline for its own sake. It's about protecting that early, vulnerable window before the world gets loud and the day starts making demands on you.

Shivam’s evening gets equal attention. Gratitude, reflection in careful doses, and reframing questions help him turn rough days into positive learning experiences. He and Eric focus on Kintsugi (the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery) as the episode's quiet thesis. Pieced back together with the right kind of attention, unfortunate events might end up more valuable than smooth ones ever were.

Shivam Patel is a senior at the University of Illinois studying information science. He is passionate about design, dance, agentic workflows, and the examined life.

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Host: Eric Benson → ericbenson.re-nourish.org

Listen & Subscribe: re-nourish.org/podcast

Music by: John Opferkuch

Follow us on Instagram: @RenourishDesign

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Bhagavad Gita
• Barbara Fredrickson – Positivity (TED Talk & Book)
• Andy Elliott Official – YouTube
• Kintsugi – Japanese Broken Pottery Art

Elizabeth brings a Stoic lens to the question — rooted in Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and the simple but profound idea: “did today feel like me?” Elizabeth and Eric dig into how aligning actions with intentions (not just outputs) defines a meaningful day, why being disciplined can become its own trap, and how writing down three small wins each night retrains your brain toward gratitude over achievement.

They also tackle whether "what makes a good day" is even a fair question when so much of the world is struggling — and land somewhere honest and hopeful.

About Elizabeth Azide Marketer by day, philosopher always. Elizabeth writes at thephilosophyofeverything.com — where practical Stoicism meets everyday life.

Host: Eric Benson → ericbenson.re-nourish.org

Listen & Subscribe: re-nourish.org/podcast

Music by: John Opferkuch

Follow us on Instagram: @RenourishDesign

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• The Time Ferris Show with Michael Phelps & Grant Hackett
• Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
• The Tim Ferris Show with Ryan Holiday
• Jocko Willink

What Makes a Good Day skips the productivity hacks and morning routine worship. Instead, I ask: are you living by your own values, or reacting to everyone else's expectations? Through conversations with creative practitioners who've figured a few things out, alongside insights from Stoic philosophy and contemporary psychology, we explore how small, intentional choices compound into lives that feel genuinely meaningful and joyous.

What Makes a Good Day is your weekly reset—a space to step back from the chaos and honestly assess how to make each day live up to the life you want to live.

Join me. Let's figure out what we're actually doing here.