Go With the FLOE: How Polar Bears Stay Steady When Life Keeps Shifting Beneath Them

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Episode 66

Guest: Daniel J. Cox, Award-Winning Wildlife Photographer and Director of The Arctic Documentary Project for Polar Bears International

What if resilience during the holidays and shifting seasons isn’t about just holding everything together? How much better would it be to meet each moment and each challenge with calm and ease?

In this episode of Resilience Gone Wild, host Jessica Morgenthal returns to one of her most beloved animals — the polar bear — to explore a resilience mindset that feels especially grounding this time of year. As many of us move through holidays, shifting routines, emotional complexity, and the turning of the year, the polar bear offers a powerful model for meeting change with steadiness rather than strain.

Through immersive storytelling and a deeply thoughtful conversation with legendary wildlife photographer Daniel J. Cox, we explore how polar bears adapt to a world that never stops moving — and what their wisdom can teach us about living with more presence, patience, and trust.

This episode introduces the FLOE Mindset:
 Flexibility
 Letting go
 Observation
 Energy conservation

A resilience tool inspired directly by how polar bears survive and thrive on constantly shifting ice. FLOE is both a metaphor and an acronym — a reminder that life keeps moving beneath us, and we can move with it.

Episode Overview

The episode opens on the Arctic ice, where Jessica revisits the story of a polar bear mother navigating a landscape that is always in motion. Her calm, strategic adaptability becomes the foundation for the FLOE Mindset — a way of meeting uncertainty that feels especially meaningful during the holiday season and the transition into a new year.

Jessica then welcomes wildlife photographer Daniel J. Cox, whose decades of documenting polar bears and Arctic ecosystems have shaped how millions of people understand these animals. Through Dan’s stories, we explore the discipline of waiting, the humility of stepping out of the frame, the ethics of witnessing, and the awe that emerges when we stop pushing and start paying attention.

The episode closes with a reflection on practicing FLOE in daily life — slowing down, conserving energy, making small adjustments, and choosing gentler transitions. It also includes a call to support the conservation efforts that allow polar bears to survive the rapidly changing Arctic.

What You’ll Learn

• The FLOE Mindset: Flexibility, Letting Go, Observation, Energy Conservation
 • Why polar bears are masters of calm, strategic adaptation
 • How patience and presence guide both resilience and wildlife photography
 • Why attention determines what we protect
 • How to soften seasonal transitions and holiday pressures with practical micro-adaptations
 • How awe strengthens clarity, steadiness, and connection
 • What polar bears reveal about navigating a world where conditions can change overnight
 • Why protecting polar bears is a crucial part of protecting resilience in nature

Episode Highlights

[00:00] Intro: shifting seasons, the holidays, and returning to a favorite resilience story
 [02:00] The polar bear as a master of adaptation
 [06:50] Stillness, waiting, and energy conservation in the den
 [08:30] Introducing Daniel J. Cox — awe, patience, and presence
 [10:00] The Arctic in real time: warming, loss of ice, and what Dan is witnessing
 [13:00] Seeing through an animal’s eyes: humility and respect
 [16:45] Dan’s origin story: the deer, the challenge, and the first spark
 [20:00] Ethical storytelling: why disappearing from the narrative matters
 [22:40] Why animals always lose when humans push too far
 [33:00] Sea ice, seals, and the entire Arctic food system
 [45:40] Inside the den: what most people never see
 [56:42] Dan’s closing wisdom: stay, watch, witness
 [58:00] Jessica’s FLOE reflections for holidays, transitions, and new beginnings