Be Mythical

This week's show is a very different show to the norm, this week, we’ve got Jonathan Wilkinson, the co-founder of Primal Happiness on to tell you about his story. Next week he’ll be interviewing me - we thought it was long overdue for you the listener to get to know us both a little better first.

It’s just the start of monthly Lian & Jonathan shows on a range of topics. This is all part of big changes afoot, there’s lots more cool things to come - I'll be telling you more about that at the end of the show.

Unless you’re part of one of our programs you’re unlikely to be familiar with Jonathan - who’s actually the other half of Primal Happiness. He's actually the man behind the voice you just heard during the podcast intro at the beginning of the show.

Jonathan's story is actually relevant to almost everyone living in today's modern world and acts as a cautionary tale of what can happen to us and our children if we continue living the kind of disconnected lives that are considered normal today.

Whilst there's some pretty grim parts to Jonathan's story, I'll let you know in advance that it does have a happy ending. If you're anything like me you'll like to know going in that there's a happy ending!

I really think it’s a must listen show for everyone who is interested in understanding more about the little known challenges of living in today’s modern world and how to live a happy and fulfilling life.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • We typically think of trauma as an input of a traumatic event but there are so many people in the western world that are been brought up deeply traumatised by a lack of something, by a disconnection to something. There's been a normalisation of the 'trauma of lack'. 
  • Almost all dis-ease be it mental or physical has disconnection at its root cause. Health is actually natural and normal!
  • Jonathan recognised how he was lacking connection to several of the Primal Fundamentals - which is true for most of us living in this crazy modern world. We can remedy this disconnection and adapt... when we understand how. And that's where The Primal State Formula comes in!
Direct download: Jono_Podcast_2_mixdown.mp3
Category:Interview -- posted at: 7:29am EDT

This week's show is with Michael McCaffrey. He began the invaluable practice of meditation and contemplation in 2010. He now speaks publicly on the many benefits of meditation as well as the misunderstandings and misconceptions that act as a block to developing a practice. He also offers meditation in workspaces and runs retreats in the UK.

As I said on last week's show, meditation is something that I'm on a real personal journey with at the moment - I used to meditate years ago in the hope of calming my mind, and now when I have a calm mind much of the time, I'm interested in discovering whether I can still benefit from meditation and if so, how. I'm inviting you along for the ride with me.

In this week's show, I certainly got what I wanted... Michael shared his incredibly inspiring journey of going from crack addiction to becoming a meditation teacher - and he shares the insights and obstacles he experienced along the way.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • Addiction to something (not just drugs) is almost always a way of escaping some kind of suffering. It's not a choice. Instead of demonising sufferers, how can we offer some support and understanding?
  • When we make the regular practice of sitting and noticing the thoughts - without distraction - we allow ourselves the powerful recognition of what's really going on for us.
  • From that recognition of our true self, we can move from searching for escape to an acceptance of what's going on in the moment.
Direct download: Michael_McCaffrey_mixdown.mp3
Category:Interview -- posted at: 1:14pm EDT

This week's show is with Alex Mill, a Zen Life Coach, facilitator, leadership trainer and public speaker. He spent nearly 14 years training in a Zen monastery and is now offering his years of experience to transform people’s lives and businesses through mindfulness, meditation and compassionate self-awareness practices.

In this week's show Alex agreed to me throwing questions at him about all things meditation. This is something that I'm on a real personal journey with at the moment - I used to meditate years ago in the hope of calming my mind, and now when I have a calm mind much of the time, I'm interested in discovering whether I can still benefit from meditation and if so, how. I'm inviting you along for the ride with me.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • The benefits of meditation are typically that you're more in the present, more focused, less lost in thought, more able to direct your attention. I loved what Alex said: we are either here or not here.
  • Meditation gives the regular practice of noticing that your thoughts are not you and giving you access to the space of insights, peace and connection.
  • Take time for yourself to remove the barriers to meditating: just take 5 minutes to sit and focus on the breath.
Direct download: Alex_Mill_mixdown.mp3
Category:Interview -- posted at: 11:23am EDT

This week's show is with Victoria Kate. Victoria is the founder of Free2bme, the training for teachers and parents in mental health wellbeing for young people. Victoria is qualified as a Mind Calm trainer, NLP and Reiki Master and using her personal experience and expertise Victoria delivers self-development courses and one to ones for clients worldwide.

Victoria is a single mum, writer and lover of life. She lives by the sea with her 10 year old son and enjoys watching sunsets, eating chocolate and travelling this wonderful world. She is writing a book based on rebuilding yourself after a relationship breakdown, how to thrive single parenting (including travelling with them) and then on to meeting Mr Right! She provides compelling insight, along with other single parents, that one of the most challenging lifestyles can help you wake up and find great peace, serenity and joy in your life.

She also happens to be one of my very best and oldest friends!

In this show we’re talking about what happens after a painful relationship break-up: life afterwards. We explored all kinds of aspects including making conscious choices, forgiveness and letting go, authenticity, human vs spirit, life as a single parent, and creating a whole-hearted relationship with your ex.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • There's a time for grief and pain - allow yourself that time before you move forward into acceptance.
  • The importance of spirituality - allowing the space for intuition and connecting to your higher self and something bigger than yourself. From there acceptance comes which is the foundation for making conscious choices - large and small.
  • Holding a vision of what'd love life to look and feel like is what allows us to create a life that's in alignment with that vision.
Direct download: Victoria_Kate_mixdown.mp3
Category:Interview -- posted at: 11:02am EDT

This week's show is with Jaclyn Costello. Nothing is more satisfying to Jaclyn than helping people make breakthroughs to understand themselves more deeply. This is the heart of her role as a Spiritual Development Coach at GrowWithSoul.com. Jaclyn's background in spiritual guidance evolved over years of personal work, immersion in sacred, shamanic ceremonies, and one-on-one mentorships with respected teachers & guides. Jaclyn is also an Assistant Professor in the Honors College at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As well, she is a writer of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Her work has been published in a variety of literary journals & magazines; she just finished her first novel.

In this show we’re talking about the juicy topic of intuition. What it is, how we can listen to it, how we can get more of it showing up in our lives, and what we can do with what it tells us! In other words, how we can live our most congruent, aligned, and heart-centred lives.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • We all have intuition and it's like a muscle that the more we use it, the stronger it gets. Find ways to get space for intuition into your life.
  • It's a choice: Check out or check in. Nearly everything in life is a choice and we have such creative power when we're aware of the choices we're making.
  • Sometimes our intuition tells us something we really don't like and are scared to act upon. It's helpful to remember that that tension is what something new can be created from.
Direct download: Jaclyn_Costello_mixdown.mp3
Category:Interview -- posted at: 1:09pm EDT

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