The Perfectly Imperfect Journey

Time to Celebrate

What started as a little seedling of an idea while walking down the beach in San Diego has now blossomed into our 20th episode!  Both of us deeply believe that reflection is an important part of being on a perfectly imperfect journey. And reflection is the core of this episode. We’ve taken some time to pause and reflect on what we’ve learned, how we’ve grown and how lucky we feel to have been joined by such amazing guests.  Please join us as we take a look at the journey of our podcast (thus far!) and consider some of the truly remarkable moments we’ve had with our guests.  Stay tuned all the way to the end to laugh with us and hear some of our favorite blooper moments.

We are also SUPER excited to announce the launch of our brand new podcast website: flowingeastandwest.com.  Please take a peek and download the infographic highlighting words of wisdom our guests would whisper to their younger selves. We’ve also made it printable so you can keep their wise words close at hand. We hope you enjoy it!

An Emotional Journey with David Richman

One would think riding your bike 5000 miles across the country would be all about the physical experience, but in the case of David Richman, the true poignancy of his story is the emotional journey he took.  David interviewed 15 people about their experiences with cancer - either as a survivor, a caregiver or a practitioner.  He then rode his bike across the U.S. to meet with many of them while he explored his own experience of his sister’s battle with cancer and wrote about all of this in his fantastic book, Cycle of Lives.  David’s book and the stories he shared with us is an exploration of physical, mental and emotional strength and he offers simple practices for building capabilities in each area.  Join us as we explore David’s personal journey, on and off the bike.  

Trigger warning: Suicide is mentioned in this episode between 25:32 and 26:32. 

 

Bio:

David is an author, public speaker, philanthropist, and endurance athlete whose mission is to form more meaningful human connections through storytelling. In his first book, Winning in the Middle of the Pack, he discussed how to get more out of ourselves than ever imagined. With Cycle of Lives, David shares the interconnected stories of people overcoming trauma and delves deeply into their emotional journeys with cancer.

He continues to do Ironman triathlons and a wide range of endurance athletic events, having recently completed a solo 4,700-mile bike ride. He is married, lives in Southern Nevada, and has twins who are in college.

David’s website: https://david-richman.com/

Cycle of Lives book page: https://david-richman.com/cycle-of-lives/

Untether Your Voice with Cara Jones

Cara Jones was born into a family who belonged to the Unification Church, popularly known as the Moonies.  Her family didn’t just belong to the Monies - they were very senior in the church's hierarchy and her memberships in both the church and her family were inextricably linked.  She grew up as a very active member of the Moonies and ultimately found herself standing in the Olympic Stadium in Seoul Korea, along with thousands of similarly dressed brides and grooms, marrying a man she barely knew. Although she had been a big believer in the church teachings, something didn’t feel quite right to her, even as she loudly proclaimed her commitment to the church and the man she had just married.  

Join us for this episode as we explore Cara’s journey out of the church as she navigated the path to finding her own voice and forging a new relationship with her parents.  

 

Tell the truth or be haunted by an unlived life.  ~ Cara Jones

 

BIO:

Cara Jones is a story coach, writer and former Emmy Award Winning journalist. She is the founder of film production company Storytellers for Good and director of the film Blessed Child (which premiered at DOC NYC in 2019 ). The film is a personal journey documentary about leaving her family's faith, one that is famous for arranged marriages and mass weddings. The 7 year journey of making the film inspires her current work as a coach helping entrepreneurs untether their voices through the telling of their personal stories. Cara is also a MOTH story slam winner and her writing has been featured in the Washington Post, HuffPo and the Boston Globe.

 

Show notes

Cara’s website:   http://cara-jones.com/ 

Blessed Child film: https://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Child-Cara-Jones/dp/B08CGL6Q5J

Friendship

When we figured out we could finally be in the same place at the same time, after 2 years of not being able to connect in person, we decided to ditch the virtual world and record an episode together, in real life.  And what better topic to discuss than Friendship. 

We discuss our own friendship, include the voices of some of our other friends, and some advice from a friendship expert, Shasta Nelson.  

This is a bit of a different episode for us as we didn’t have our fancy recording equipment, and we also decided to do it while hiking (at an altitude of 8,000 feet!).  There are some giggles, a bit of huffing and puffing (luckily we were able to edit out the attack of the mosquitos!)  and a lot of love for each other and this topic.  Just like everything else with this podcast, it is perfectly imperfect.  We hope you enjoy it.  If you do, please make sure to rate us and consider sharing with your friends. 

 

The only way to have a friend is to be one. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

Notes:

 

We reference Shasta Nelson a few times throughout the podcast.  You can find more about her work, and her great books here:

https://www.shastanelson.com/ 

 

If you are looking to make new friends, one of the best ways we know to meet people is:

https://www.meetup.com/ 

You can also look for interesting groups on:

• Facebook
• NextDoor
• Friender

 

As mentioned, some of the traditional dating sites have a “friends” mode”

• Tinder Social
• Bumble BFF

Feet First with Ali Ingersoll

Ali Ingersoll had a somewhat charmed upbringing, attending boarding school abroad, going on amazing adventures and taking advantage of every opportunity that showed up.  Then a life-changing accident happened when Ali took a head-first dive into shallow water.  Feet First not only describes Ali’s plea for anyone jumping into shallow water, but also how she has lived her life, both before and after the accident.  While she is now restricted to a wheelchair, Ali continues to live life to the fullest  - wait until you hear her dating stories (sorry, guys, she is now happily married!) - we were both laughing hysterically.  This in no way means Ali hasn’t had ups and downs - indeed, she speaks very candidly about her challenges and dark days. However, in her toughest moments, she has developed an incredible resilience and a “radical acceptance” that we cannot help being inspired by.  

Ali reminded us of this quote which we think perfectly sums up how she lives her life: 

 

Disasters lead to the best stories - Ali Ingersoll

 

Ali Ingersoll is a day trader, consultant, disability advocate, writer, blogger, editor, and public speaker. She started her advocacy mission after being repeatedly denied medically necessary equipment by insurance companies over the last 10 years since becoming a C6 quadriplegic and full-time wheelchair user after a shallow water diving accident.

Ali’s passion lies in coaching people with disabilities on how to improve their quality of life by teaching them to self-advocate in order to live a life of independence, dignity, and grace.

Ali has a firm philosophy of paying it forward by giving back to the community through outreach, working together, and building each other up. She believes it’s important to band together as one in order to affect the greatest change on the national stage and in local communities.”

Links:

www.quirkyquad.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-ingersoll/

More Intentional with Mary Lin McBride

This week Mary Lin McBride, a mindfulness practitioner and teacher, joins us to talk about the power of meditation and how to be more intentional in your life.  Earlier in her career, Mary Lin found herself moving from city to city as her husband’s career would dictate.  While she enjoyed her work as a fundraiser, it was a serendipitous moment standing in front of a yoga studio that propelled Mary Lin to explore mindfulness and to start taking more intentional steps towards her own passions, and ultimately a completely different career.  Mary Lin takes us through a brief meditation practice during our discussion (and you are invited to join along with us!) and debunks some of the myths around what meditation is.  Being intentional is now her way of living, indeed she left us with this beautiful advice:

 

Don’t be a supporting actress in your own life

   ~Mary Lin

After 20 years as a nonprofit fundraiser, Mary Lin founded Mindful Resolution, a firm dedicated to bringing mindfulness skills to community organizations and workplaces. She trained to teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is also a yoga instructor. She trusts in the grace that arises when approaching “the full catastrophe” of life with intention, gratitude, and a good deal of humor.

Article that Mary Lin mentions that highlights some of the many benefits of mindfulness, including information on the steep increase in mindfulness research studies that have appeared in journals since 1980: http://www.lifeinthebalancemindfulness.com/mindfulness-research.html

Mary Lin’s website: https://www.mindfulresolution.com/

Link to Mary Lin’s 8/10 - 8/15 mindfulness retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center: https://www.shambhalamountain.org/program/sb821-sitting-in-beauty-a-mindfulness-retreat-2/

Heart’s Journey with Bridgette Corridan

Join us this week as we welcome musician Bridgette Corridan to the podcast. While Bridgette has many titles in her life: recruiter, mom, wife, athlete, spiritual seeker, friend, sister etc, in our discussion we focused on Bridgette’s perfectly imperfect journey from fear to freedom as she releases her music into the world. Bridgette shares how she believes it is through tapping into her heart and listening for the wisdom that gave her the confidence to step into the spotlight of her life.

Listen all the way to the end to hear some of Bridgette’s beautiful music.

Bridgette Bio

 

Bridgette Corridan is an Inspirational Speaker, Mission Coach and Vocal Artist. She engages audiences through an authentic journey that opens them up and gives them the tools for heightened self-awareness.

 

For years, Bridgette’s story was focused on being the best. The best student, athlete, daughter, sister, employee – you name it, she would try to be the best at it.  External validation was the foundation for her sense of self. 

 

It was in the challenges of becoming a mom, that led her to start a mindfulness practice that supported her as she dove into deconstructing and rebuilding her self-awareness. She started a coaching practice where she inspired her clients to own their stories, create their personal missions and lean into the lives that light them up.  Through mindfulness, she was able to hear the music that lived inside of her and has released 2 albums since 2015 (https://bridgettecorridan.com/).

After 20 years in the corporate world building cultures in fast-growth organizations, Bridgette now marries this experience to her mindfulness practice and shares that with her audiences.  Whether speaking or singing, she aims to deeply and vulnerably connect with people.

The Privilege of a Lifetime

Carl Jung said: “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are”  and that’s what we’re talking about in today's episode.  Authenticity is a somewhat overused word today, but that doesn’t mean we are overachieving in being our authentic selves.  There’s so much that can get in our way - the suit and floppy tie dress code during Sherry’s early career, the imposter syndrome Anne experienced in her mid career, our own limiting beliefs, or those put on us by others- that we often end up playing small in this game called life.  Join us as we explore what it means to live an authentic life, how to start adding more authenticity in your life, and why it’s important to be mindful about the choices we make in our quests to be more authentic.

From Brene Brown’s work: (authenticity is)  “a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real.”

Just keep going with Nichelle Tramble Spellman

Nichelle Tramble Spellman joins us this week and shares her journey from being an aspiring writer as early as grade school, to published novelist,  to Hollywood writer, producer and showrunner. Join us as Nichelle shares her thoughts on the importance of lifelong friends, listening to mom and how being true to yourself is the key to success.   We hope you love this interview as much as we do.  Nichelle tells some fantastic stories  - we were laughing so hard during parts of the interview, we had to pause to catch our breath!

Nichelle Tramble Spellman is Showrunner/Executive Producer of the Apple drama series, Truth Be Told, starring Octavia Spencer and Kate Hudson. Nichelle won a NAACP Image Award for Best Writing in a Dramatic Series for the pilot episode of TRUTH BE TOLD called "Monster". Previous to that she spent three seasons on the critically-acclaimed CBS drama THE GOOD WIFE, FX's JUSTIFIED, and she recently served as a Consulting Producer on SNOWFALL Season Four. Nichelle is also the author of the novels THE DYING GROUND and THE LAST KING  published by Random House/Ballantine.

Freeing Ourselves from the Prisons of Our Own Making and the Enneagram with Susan Olesek

In this episode, we speak with Susan Olesek, Founder of the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP). Early in her journey of learning the Enneagram, Susan was invited into a prison in Texas to work with a group of incarcerated individuals. She was both inspired and blown away by the power of the work and the life-changing impact of the participants. She knew she’d found her purpose and she EPP was created to bring the Enneagram teachings into more prisons.  Susan shares how the Enneagram provides an opportunity to be more honest and kind with ourselves and to learn how to get out of our own way. We all come into the world with a divine spark, and a beautiful innocence that can get twisted and, at times, shut down.  The Enneagram highlights some of our unconscious habits and patterns and invites us to choose, with more consciousness, how we show up in the world.  Ultimately, the Enneagram “frees us from the prisons of our own making” and facilitates falling a bit more in love with ourselves.  Please join us to hear about Susan’s amazing journey - from the nonprofit she built to finding freedom from the prison of her own making. 

 

“Your definition of who you are is your prison. You can set yourself free at any time.” Cheri Huber

 

Susan Olesek is an unapologetic “Idealist” and the founder of the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP), a paradigm-shifting model of how to bring self-awareness education to those incarcerated, now scaling across the globe from California’s San Quentin State Prison to Belgium. Born outside of Boston and schooled in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and England, Susan is a “Human Potentialist” - a social entrepreneur in pursuit of what’s possible for people. She runs a consulting practice teaching the Enneagram to Fortune-500 leaders, but her heart is dedicated to helping all people - on both sides of the bars - to realize the “prison of our own making.” She lives in California with her three children, and Rick Olesek, her husband and Executive Director of EPP.

 

Links:

Enneagram Prison Project: https://enneagramprisonproject.org/

Susan’s website:  https://susanolesek.com/

One of the books Susan references, the Wisdom of the Enneagram:  https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Enneagram-Psychological-Spiritual-Personality/dp/0553378201

Our favorite tool to determine your type:  https://integrative9.com/enneagram/