#491: Curiosity Is the Antidote to Division: Monica Guzman

The Mark Groves Podcast

Mark Groves

Relationships, Society & Culture

4.9 • 5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode Mark sits down with author and journalist Monica Guzman for a deeply necessary conversation about curiosity, fear, and what it will actually take to heal our fractured culture. Together they unpack why difference feels so threatening in the body and how fear shuts out curiosity. They explore how media, identity, and belonging quietly radicalize us, why talking about people instead of with them keeps us divided, and how simple human contact can dismantle stereotypes faster than any argument. This episode is a powerful invitation to examine your own assumptions, build the skills to stay present across difference, and reclaim conversation as a radical, humanizing act in a world addicted to outrage. Mónica Guzmán is author of “I Never Thought of it That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times”; founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity; advisor at Braver Angels; and host of A Braver Way podcast. Mónica serves on the Board of Directors for the The Viewpoints Project. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Wheaton College, and completed study and research fellowships at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, and the University of Florida. A Mexican immigrant, Latina, and dual US/Mexico citizen, she lives in Seattle with her husband and two kids and is the proud liberal daughter of conservative parents. —Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moniguzman/ —Website: moniguzman.com —This episode is sponsored by: Institute for Integrative Nutrition: Certified Health Coach Training: Use code MARKGROVES20 for 20% off ALL courses from IIN & Chopra at http://bit.ly/MARKIIN —How are your Nervous System + Attachment Style connected? https://markgroves.com/connectthedots - Subscribe to Mark’s Substack to receive his weekly reflections and insights straight from his heart to your inbox. https://markgroves.substack.com/ —Contact us at podcast@markgroves.com for sponsor product support, questions, comments, or just to say hello! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Transcript

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0:00.0	Changing your relationship with your phone is actually easier than you think.
0:03.9	And I know that because I've done it.
0:06.2	As most of you know, I left Instagram in 2025, which was supposed to be forever, but it turned
0:11.1	out to just be six months.
0:13.1	And the reason I left was so that I could understand on a much deeper level what was
0:16.9	happening in my body, you know, with my attention and my mind and my phone. And during that time,
0:23.5	I went deep into the research, the psychology, the neuroscience, the nervous system regulation
0:27.7	aspects of it. And I started to ask the real questions I had. Why did my phone create resentment?
0:34.7	Why did I feel powerless in relationship to my phone and social media?
0:39.1	And why did I feel anxious even when I wasn't using it? And why did just using it less never
0:44.9	actually work? There was something deeper that I need to understand. And what I found surprised me.
0:50.5	It turns out that there are very real biological and psychological reasons our relationship
0:54.7	with our phones feel so charged. And it goes beyond just dopamine loops or willpower. And here's
1:01.4	the most important part. Once you understand what's really happening, changing your relationship
1:06.1	with your phone stops feeling like fight. It actually becomes pretty practical and it feels very grounded.
1:12.0	Now, on January 4th, I'm going to be teaching you everything I've learned. I'm running a live
1:15.8	workshop on how to reclaim your attention and rebuild a healthy relationship with social media
1:20.7	and your smartphone without having to give it up and without swimming in shame. I'm going to be
1:25.4	sharing the most profound insights I gained during that six-month break,
1:28.9	things I've never shared before, along with simple tools that you could just apply immediately
1:33.3	once you're done the workshop.
1:34.9	Tools that will work with your nervous system, not against it.
	...

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