In today's episode, I'm going to have a conversation with a gentleman named Bruce Filer.

Bruce is a lot of things.

He's written over 15 books, including some New York Times bestsellers.

He's a public speaker who has given TED talks with millions of views.

He has degrees from Yale and Cambridge,

as well as multiple James Beard awards for his writing at Gourmet Magazine. He has walked around

25,000 miles through the Middle East, retracing the stories of the Bible. And he has a new book

out called A Time to Gather, How Rit the world and how it can save us.

But the reason I initially wanted to talk to Bruce is because back in 2013, he wrote a book

called The Secrets of Happy Families.

It's a fascinating book, and if you like this podcast, I think you'd enjoy reading it.

Bruce explores a lot of different topics in the book, but he spends a decent amount of time

looking at the way family stories function in a family. Why do we tell family stories? What do they say about us? Which stories

do we choose to tell? And what is the impact of a story on a family, adults and kids alike?

In his writing, Bruce encounters and discovers some interesting answers to these questions.

So I wanted to have him on to share some of that knowledge and wisdom with us.

Bruce Filer, thank you for coming on the show.

Thank you, Lloyd.

Thank you for inviting me.

You write about family, about ritual, about religion.

You write about big life transitions and being a dad. You're drawn to these big

questions about life and how to live it. But in your own words, how do you categorize your

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