Exploring the creativity of the human spirit with just five simple questions. Those questions give us a window to explore the journey and life story of people that look like they have it sorted.
Episodes
Thursday Mar 19, 2020
Thursday Mar 19, 2020
This recording was made in December 2019 so my cough was seasonal and we had no idea of what was to come.
What would it be like growing up if you did see the bogeyman in the closet, or hands reaching out from under the bed? On today's show is Jennifer main and she has been empathic from a very early age, what does that mean?
The Gift With a Price
It means she was super sensitive to the world around her; she could see and feel and hear stuff that others could not. That might sound like a fantastic superpower. But like all gifts, it came with a price, as a child getting love and emotional support was hard. Hugging people was painful, she could feel their pain and emotional baggage. Adults carry so many emotions; it is very confusing to a young child.
Jeniffer was born in North Carolina; her family have strong Christian beliefs. It is the Bible belt; there was no place or space to talk about things that might be considered ungodly.
She learned to rationalise these images and thoughts as part of an overactive and creative imagination. That started her journey to understand these images, feelings and experiences. She says her whole life has been a study of humanity beginning with herself.
The Empathic Initiator
Jennifer went on to study phycology, she worked in addiction and with special needs. Presently she is the Empathic Initiator a transformational guide and speaker.
She is a catalyst for change, her mission is to inspire individuals to recognise unique potential and calling, to embrace purpose, and to live an aligned and authentic existence.
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Jeniffer Main
Monday Feb 24, 2020
Monday Feb 24, 2020
Fiona English exploring spirituality in the 21st Century and reverse podcasting. It is an unusual show in that I am being reverse podcasted, is that even a verb?
Fiona is a positive psychologist and she is exploring spirituality. Where do you sit with community religion and spirituality?
Over the last 20 years, organised religion in the UK and to some extent in Ireland has taken a backseat. Church going membership is still there in the older population. However, churches are not the centre of a community as they were.
Service attendance in the Uk is at an all-time low. People still attend for the significant events, Christmas weddings and funerals. But they are not part of the church community.
I think the loss of community is a big factor in societies problems. No amount of social media is going to replace people coming together for a shared purpose that is not related to political or sport.
Between 50 60 and well into the 70 the majority of the UK population attended a church, on balance it was expected.
I am pleased that pressure to conform has passed, but it has left a vacuum where people choose to mix and communicate in silos. That has lead to the divided society we see today.
My Church Community,
As a child, my family and I went to church, and like most, refreshments were available after the service. People would connect and arrange events and social opportunities. It bolted the community together. My father was there on occasions for the community, not for my mother's faith.
So fast forward 40 + years and the service has no relevance for me. I like the buildings and find the architecture interesting but that's it.
That is my background of where I sit when Fiona approached floated the idea of a reverse podcast. I am always up for a good conversation and how could a refuse.
Exploring Spirituality with Fiona English
Fiona is a coach and business consultant with experience in global investment markets. However, She left the industry to develop a coaching business around positive psychology. It was a calling as, she researches, speaks and writes about Positive Psychology, the science behind what makes individuals and communities flourish.
It is her mission to expand perceptions of spirituality; she believes that we are individually empowered to understand and prioritise our spiritual wellbeing in life. That there is a universality to the experience of spirituality, and it remains a personal path.
If the last two year has taught me anything, I have to agree every is a personal path.
I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Monday Feb 03, 2020
This podcast is called grititude because it's about being thankful for the bits in life that don't go so well. Why would you want to be thankful for the tough bits? Well, a lot of that is about growth because unless we experience a challenge or resistance there is no reason or opportunity to grow and change.
So check out the podcast it's just 5 Minutes of your Life.
In this programme I mention
Simon Tyler https://www.simontyler.com/simple-notes/note165/grititude
Check out Turbo Coaching https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/turbo-coaching/
Wednesday Jan 29, 2020
Wednesday Jan 29, 2020
Children, they have no fear of failure.
Once children get beyond the baby stage, they start to explore; we begin to see their unstoppable determination to engage in the world around them.
From floundering unconscious movement to gaining control of their limbs, babies learn to crawl and eventually walk and run. There may be cries of frustration, but there is no fear of failure.
Adulthood Brings Change
Fast forward to adulthood, and for many, it is a different picture.
Somewhere along the way, we learn to say “I can’t” or “I tried that and failed”. I am not doing that it might fail and it will hurt, people will laugh… Fill the blank
So where does that determination go? How do we get caught so severely in fear of failure? So much so that we would rather endure discomfort than step out and take a risk. More importantly, what does it take to find the get-up-and-go to overcome that fear?
I was said somewhere that Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark so he invented the light bulb. It was challenging, and there were many setbacks
I have not failed. I’ve just found 2,000 ways that won’t work.
We all experience fear of Failure
Fear of failure is a huge issue in the worlds of business and personal development. That is why I was delighted to meet and interview my guest.
Miha Matlievski – the Fail Coach
He went from running four successful businesses and having a personal net worth of $15M, to being $5M in debt, literally overnight and eventually reaching the point where he was ready to take his own life. It took courage and resilience for Miha to climb back from feeling like a failure to learning from his experiences and empowering others to develop a healthy relationship with failing.
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Miha Miha Matlievski The Fail Coach.
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
In today's short cast we are looking at gratitude
Every single personal development practice or actually religion come to think about it has some aspect of giving thanks.
In today's programme, we explore the idea of giving thanks and how beneficial it is to record and express gratitude
we look at a process that my family we used throughout advent, and how it made the festive season a little more than just present day. It is something we will definitely repeat next
On this show, we explore the idea of creating a process around gratitude and why that process works so well
This a short just 10 minutes worth your time. Would love to hear your feedback by Email or on Facebook
All the best
Paul
Wednesday Dec 18, 2019
Wednesday Dec 18, 2019
Yvette Owo Business Fun and Fulfilment
What was life like for you growing up?
In conversation with my guest this week, I reminded of my teenage years.
My parents came from simple beginnings. My mother was from the East End of London. For my American friends that would have been a very impoverished area during the war, it was heavily bombed.
My grandfather was a piano tuner but did many things, not all of them legal.
My father was born in Leeds in the midlands of the UK, and his father was a Barber. Both of my parents did not understand the commercial world. Dad did a technical job for local government and Mum did a range of jobs around childcare. Commercialism was neither something important or relevant.
I can remember buying a bicycle from one of mothers friends. It was not right a lousy choice, far too big. So I looked to sell it just weeks after I had bought it. But I wasn't allowed to sell it for any more than I had paid for it.
At the time, I was pissed about it, but they were adamant that it was not fair on the family from whom I had bought it. It's funny how these memories get triggered. I forgot about that story, and it must have been more than 40 years ago.
Yvette Owo is my guest on today's programme had no such resistance to commercialism in her family. When she was ten years old during her summer break, she started five businesses. She was creating ideas and things that she could sell. Yes, she did have a lemonade stand, but she found the return investment wasn't good enough.
What is fascinating about Yvette Owo is that she is goal-oriented, setting goals works for her. She is diligent in her process and creating clear plans to achieves them.
Business for her is a pleasure, so while working fulltime, she built a brand around personal finance and was looking to go full time when disaster struck. She was hit by a car and life changed.
After getting hit by a car, she developed a debilitating disease; she learned the hard way the value of financial & time freedom.
This is her story
Thursday Nov 28, 2019
Wednesday Nov 20, 2019
Wednesday Nov 20, 2019
Life is always about stories; that is a foundation of this podcast; it was my desire to discover more about other peoples lives that lead me here.
Stories are the core of everything when you consider how much of your life is set around a narrative. Think of the news that is all about people or events in the world. When we catch up with friends, it is all about what is going in their life.
Look at politics that is people looking to lead through the narrative of a positive shared vision.
So why are stories so important to us?
In the blockbuster movies, it is the character progression that keeps it interesting. There is the mission or quest with the potential for success and the failure ever-present.
Now that is a subject for a podcast short because we are all on the mission. Onwards to my guest.
Dominica Roszko
My guest on today's programme was born in Poland and the seeds to her journey were planted when she was very young. Her grandma was a natural herbalist she had a big store cupboard full of things that would help or sooth pain or illness. The story is interesting as you will see how it travels in a circle as Dominica return to her routes.
Dominica came from an entrepreneurial family. it was natural for her to follow that career path.
It was a business journey that ended with a successful marketing business, but it nearly killed her — suffering from burnout and severe adrenal fatigue. She overcame this chronic illness with a vegan diet.
Today fully recovered and joins me on the programme as a qualified nutritionist, herbalist and vegan chef.
She's been running a plant-based nutrition practice for 5 years, where she works mainly with people interested in reducing their meat and dairy consumption.
Dominica is sharing her experience through regular workshops, courses and talks in the UK and Europe, where she teaches nutrition, herbal medicine and plant-based cooking and food preparation to the general public, chefs, restaurant managers and other companies.
All of that energy and passion that when into marketing other peoples projects, is now focused on her business and her passion.
She is an author and regular contributor to newspapers, magazines, online publications.
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Dominica Roszko
Sunday Oct 20, 2019
Sunday Oct 20, 2019
"I’m creating resilient kids because education is broken,”
These are the words of my guest Ashley Costello. She has worked in the field of Psychotherapy for over 20 years. It was a TEDx talk last year that brought Ashley to my attention education and children were a big part of my life for a few years..
My son went to a Steiner School and I became very involved, became a trustee and was the chair for a few years. I got to see the inside of education from both sides of the plate. Steiner education with all of its faults is a model for how education could be.
When my son moved into mainstream education I could really see the gap between the two worlds and felt the pain of both.
Hearing Ashley in her TEDx talk spoke to my desire for change.
On the programme, you will hear how Ashley’s interest in psychology stemmed from her A level studies. It was the possibility of helping people that called out to her.
I just knew it was about people and that is where my passion lead.
During her gap year, she went travelling in South America. We are taking serious travel as this was before mobile phones and sat-nav. It was the synchronicity of a missed phone call that set her life on a path.
It led to a course on counselling and eventually into her passion that is physiotherapy. She was one of the youngest people in training and subsequently in practice. She put her ability to excel in the field of therapy while so young was her travel experience.
Today Ashey is about supporting children in education she specialises in children and adolescents mental health.
As said I discovered Ashley when her TEDx talk “Is Education broken?” came up on my facebook feed.
She received so much feedback from that event that it encouraged her to start a new project “The resilient kid”.
It is a programme that looks to fill a gap for parents, teachers, heads, educationalists and everyone who feels as passionate about giving children the tools for a positive future.
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Ashley Costello
If you would like to get in touch with Ashley you will find her on Linkedin and facebook
Saturday Sep 07, 2019
Saturday Sep 07, 2019
On the show today is Ebonie Allard, it was lively because Ebonie is a misfit and a Maven with an amazing life story. Before she was 7 she has lived is a house truck on a commune, she went to a Steiner school. She is a podcast host, artists and a business coach.
her big mission is to help 100,000 Misfits know that they belong, live fully rounded, three-dimensional lives that are successful, FUN and self-governed.
This brings me nicely to that topic of self-development. The one clear message that comes through all of my guests is the drive for progression. This can come from two directions for some it will be the maintenance of what is, getting comfortable and starting to settle. This was me..
The other side is the madness of overwhelm, where a monster is created and the head can take no more. This was Ebonie
Both directions lead to dissatisfaction with life and a loss of purpose. It is my belief that we end up in these places because we are not taught how to avoid them.
Earlier this year I started with a project called Change Your World Every Day. The main feature of the project is daily coaching delivered at 7 am every weekday morning. Staring the day with positive input is a powerful anchor, the group is encouraged to contribute, give feedback and hold each other accountable.
It has been amazing to watch the participants grow and support others in their growth. If you are looking for something to support your journey I urge you to find something with daily support it makes such a difference.
On the subject of Change Your Worlds the normal price is £29.99 month but using the link below will get you 3 months for the price of 2. Check it out here and use the link below to claim the deal.
As you may have guessed from my description of Ebonie is a woman who has always moved fast and taken risks. She has lived in France, New Zealand Ireland and in various location in the UK, thought out all of these she has never had a proper job.
From selling homemade cards when she was 14, working in the film industry, starting one of the first virtual assistant companies to her current work as a coach, author and artist - she’s experienced huge successes, massive failures & everything in between. She's been self-employed, a freelancer, a business owner and an entrepreneur & shares that growth isn't linear.
For Ebonie, it is all about shifting consciousness so that we wake up and see life as it is. I hope you enjoy the conversation with Ebonie Allard.
Https://www.EbonieAllard.com Https://www.Misfit2maven.com Https://www.AdultingwithEbonie.com
Tuesday Aug 13, 2019
Tuesday Aug 13, 2019
My guest on the programme today is Jennifer Herndon, who went from a death-row attorney to Entrepreneur. Her career started straight from law school, as a criminal defence lawyer. She had a successful career for over 25 years, a significant part of that was defending people on death row.
Jennifer has always been passionate about helping people. In the legal world that was people who are termed indigent. A simple word that seems so lovely and yet it covers its true meaning. Which is people who are poor, destitute, penniless, or impoverished, the legal profession likes to sanitise words and the people in society that might be called less desirable.
These people cannot help themselves, and Jenniffer was there to support them, particularly those facing the ultimate penalty. She passionately believes the death penalty is morally wrong, and she fought for her clients for many years.
Her highest satisfaction, from her time as a defence lawyer, was being instrumental in a change of US law, how does it get better than that?
The legal career was about changing life and death decisions, and sadly, for many of her clients, those cards were not in their favour. Jennifer, she did not win those arguments; you will hear some of that story.
It is the kind of work that takes its toll, and while Jennifer never lost the passion for representing people. She began to feel part of the system, part of the process of execution. She was getting burnt out and looking to change. It came in that she as fired.
She moved out of the law into online marketing. Like all of us, she fell into all of the traps before she found her way.
We discuss the easy button as if it exists?
How to ride the storm
The show is her journey out of the laws and into a new life. Jennifer is a single mother of one and five adopted children some with unique needs, and she has created a life that works for and her family
Jennifer's gift is helping people the challenge was making it pay, and this is her story.
Wednesday Aug 07, 2019
Wednesday Aug 07, 2019
Who Are Your 5 people
This podcast is a short and about role models
There is a saying which seems to roll around the business and coaching world that your salary or your capacity for success is a combination of the 5 people that you associate with most.
Now there is some truth in this, what it seems to indicate is the people you associate with are most, will determine how you're going to end up or have you going to act and your level of success.
But I want to explore the idea that we can expand beyond the real world.
This podcast is just 9 minutes and explores the idea of role models, I'll be interested in your feedback.
Tuesday Jul 23, 2019
Tuesday Jul 23, 2019
I was very excited this week to have on the show Arthie Moore. She is a facilitator and leadership coach. But as with all of my guests she is so much more. I met Artie when she was the lead coach in a daily coaching group. ( change your World every day) She was delivering 30minute slots daily for 2 weeks.
She covered her take on life and communication techniques. It was clear to me in these daily live broadcasts that she has a passion and commitment to leadership skills and the empowerment of all.
I should say Arthie lives in South Africa and of Indian descent and while she has always faced issues of race, she has never let it fazes her. She can walk into any situation and expect the best and manage the room and achieve it. You cannot help but like her.
What was fascinating about this conversation is we explored how she grew up in a tight race-driven society. You did not cross the boundary of colour. This was in South Africa in the apartheid years.
The change happened when Nelson Mandella was elected president and Arthie turned 18. She was one of the first of a generation that went to a mixed-race University.
This podcast is not about race and diversity. It is about those experiences, the crucible that turned Arthie into the powerhouse that she is.
As the director of 2 international companies, she keynotes on communication and Motivational Speaker. She is an International Facilitator of the Celebrating Humanity Programmes, on Transformational Teambuilding, Diversity Training, Leadership Training and Team Conflict Resolution Strategies.
She has delivered these programmes across Africa, South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, the wider worlds USA, London and Hong Kong.
As you will hear on the show, she has a clarity of purpose, that is about inspiration and empowerment. It is about positively impacting the World, using the African principles of Leadership.
The most amazing part for me is that she started her journey at just 19 years old.
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did
Saturday Jul 13, 2019
Saturday Jul 13, 2019
Welcome To Life Passion and Business. In our last programme with Zoe Cohen, we got to the unusual position where I recognise this show was going to run well beyond its regular length. I decided to split the program into two because the conversation is Zoe was rolling so well I did not want to break it. We spoke for one and a half hours, and this is part 2
To recap on part 1, I stopped at the point where Zoe had been arrested.
Zoe started her career Oxford University where she went to study life sciences; she went to work in the Health Service where she became the youngest executive director of a health trust in the NHS, at the age of 27.
She went on to serve in various companies at board level for over 9 years when she started a coaching practice which running for over ten years. It was the publication of the IPCC report that caused a shift in mindset.
It led to her involvement with Extinction rebellion, and she was arrested while demonstrating early this year, and she's currently awaiting the outcome of that process.
We have the career journey we are now looking at her success model.
I think Zoe is an example of how we are going to have to shift mindset in how we live on this planet. I appreciate that many be uncomfortable for some people. But the weather is changing; however, you look at it.
Zoe and people like her say we need to look at this and do something about it if we can.
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Zoe Cohen.
Monday Jul 08, 2019
Monday Jul 08, 2019
So welcome to the programme. My interview today is with Zoe Cohen; she is a management consultant and executive coach.
Zoe had the traditional success model education and career, was accepted into an Oxford University to study human sciences, and that lead her into the health profession.
Her career started in the health service in the UK and became the youngest board member of a health trust, going on to serve at board level in various companies for over nine years.
She started a management and coaching consultancy in 2009 and has been in that industry for over 10 years.
I invited her on to the show because she has had a significant change of mindset and shifted her focus; Zoe is now an active member of the Extinction Rebellion.
While it was a shift of thinking it was more of a return to her roots. As you will hear on the interview her the choice of university degree and the study of human sciences was one of those pivotal points. She could have been just as happy studying ecology and may have followed that career path.
The big shift for Zoe was the IPCC report last November and the growing realisation in what we are doing to the planet is unsustainable. And not enough was happening fast enough.
I wanted to explore Zoe's transition. Professional people like Zoe are changing their views on activism; they are standing up for what they see as wrong and demanding action, even if that means coming into conflict with the state.
Zoe was a management consultant and coach; now she is actively involved with Extinction rebellion; in fact, she was arrested in London during the last protests.
Our conversation flows and is funny sad dark and hopeful. Now I recognise that this podcast may be awkward for some people to hear. So I apologise in advance, Zoe Cohen passionately believes that humanity is on a trajectory towards extinction unless we do something. That something must be big and must be quick, time is running out.
There is more to this conversation that climate change
If you followed this podcast for any length of time, you would know my story, and how have struggled over the years in my relationship with consumption based businesses and the world of marketing. I stepped back from mainstream marketing 15 years ago, and I now choose to work with companies or people that are making a difference in the world.
Our current level of consumption is pushing this planet to the edge, and what's becoming increasingly clear, is we have to start making positive changes in lifestyle there is just not enough stuff to keep this up and we are sinking in stuff we are making.
As an example, there is a large manufacturing plant called Grangemouth in Scotland owned by INEOS they produce polyethylene, which is the primary material for plastic bags.
This one plant produce 1000KG every minute, that is over 1440 tonnes of plastic for bags every day. They are planning to put another plant next to it, which would do the same.
When you think of plastic bags, how many of them get recycled, how many of them end up buried in the ground. how many of them end up in the sea, killing fish and getting into the food chain.
That is just one material, one item. How many plastic things are there around you now, this moment. Where will they go when you have finished with them? Toothbrushes, pens, mobile phone cases, bags, suitcases presentation cases, the list goes on.
Where does it all go? That is the question that I have been asking for quite a while. There are options, it is possible to change it is called the circular economy, but it won't happen unless we are determined to make it happen.
Zoe Cohen is one of many people leading the change and demanding that our politicians start to face these difficult issues because of business, as usual, is not going to cut it any more.
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Zoe Cohen
This podcast is long because as we got into a big conversation, so it has been split, this is part 1 and part 2 will be out in a few days.