Better Place Project with Steve Norris

Ashton Whitmoyer-Ober, better known as Anneagram Ashton is an author, public speaker, Community Psychologist, and certified Enneagram educator.  Ashton helps people strengthen their relationships and become the best versions of themselves through the framework of the Enneagram.

Enneagram Ashton was created after Ashton discovered how impactful the Enneagram can be in understanding yourself and others. As someone who loves to help others (aka an undeniable Enneagram 2), Ashton considers it a privilege to share this amazing tool with others.

For a long time, Ashton thought that success needed to be something tangible. The amount of followers she had. How many books she wrote. How many businesses she had, etc. etc. etc. But now she knows that success to her is seeing lives, relationships, and businesses changed because of the Enneagram.

Ashton has written three books (all available on her website):
"The Enneagram Made Simple: A No-Nonsense Guide to Using the Enneagram for Growth and Awareness," "The Enneagram for Relationships: Transform Your Connections with Friends, Family, Colleagues, and in Love," and "The Two of Us: A Three-Year Couple's Journey."

Website:
https://enneagramashton.com/
Instagram: @Enneagramashton

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Lucas Salame had an awakening experience from being faced with a life or death choice: To keep following the path of a drug addict or pull himself out of the darkness.  After a series of personal challenges, including being placed on over eight psychiatric medications and attempting suicide due to the side effects, coupled with fighting the stigma of being labeled bipolar, Lucas finally committed himself to a life of inner work by addressing his internal wounds through deep contemplation, prioritizing his health and well-being, as well as through sharing his experiences with his followers worldwide.  Today, Lucas is no longer using drugs to escape.  Instead he is channeling his energy into what he believes is his true life purpose; being a voice and creating a community for people who have experienced mental health issues and the difficulties that come with that.

Lucas is dedicated to providing an abundance of resources to assist those on the healing path through his show, The New Age Sage Podcast, and his expansive archive of written content.

Lucas holds a BS in Political Science from Brown University.

To learn more about Lucas Salame:
https://new-age-sage.com/
Instagram: @Lucas__Salame

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Welcome to the final chapter in this series, part 5, Culturia, which brings us right up to the arrival of humanity on planet earth.  Dr. Blundell walks us through how creatures began to move…and how “Simply moving from one spot to another offered a whole new way of seeing the world.”

 We chat about what happened upon the arrival of Neanderthals and homosapians, and how the earth Earth has endowed us with our capacity to do art precisely so that we may feel our intrinsic belonging, and connection to the planet, ourselves and each other.

 Religeions, Emerge, new ideas form.  Science and technology were born, along with commer, creating the industrial revolution.

 But what lessons have we lost along the way?  What ideas will we bring with us into the future?  And more importantly, can we save our future.  Can we save ourselves from ourselves?

How did we get here? And where do we go from here? In this five-part series, Ecologist and founder of Oika, Dr. Rich Blundell takes us on a journey of the cosmos.  But this is way more than a history lesson about the universe.  This is about you, and me and everyone and everything around us, how it all came to be, and how we all are connected. 

Nature has intelligence; A magnificent, sublime, complex intelligence that science is just now beginning to understand.  What would it be like if we felt that intelligence inside of us?  In this series, you will discover how to tap into, and feel that innate intelligence that is already inside of you right now.  Once humankind begins to understand this, to know this, to feel this, we will be living in a very different, much more beautiful world.  So join us on this journey.  It just might change your life.

Prior to listening to this episode, please watch the following 2 videos:
Culturia:
https://vimeo.com/richblundell/culturia

Where to Earthlings?
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7295405/video/232044799

To learn more about Dr. Blundell, please visit:
www.Oika.com

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

This week we bring you Part 4 of History of the Cosmos: Animalia, where things are really starting to happen here on earth after millions of years of being frozen solid.  We talk more about this cool little lipid membrane that, as Dr. Blundell says, “will be an essential element of all life on our planet.  It lets the world flow into us and out of us in the relationships that sustain us.”

Plants begin to evolve, animals arrive, we talk about the connection between the salt in the oceans and the salt in your tears, and after listening to this episode, you may never look at your vision the same way.

 Now, for those of you out there who, like me, or not science nerds, please  don’t worry about, or trip on the science, just kind of let it wash over you and take in the overall message here, because it’s a very powerful one that can truly make a positive and beautiful difference in your life.

How did we get here? And where do we go from here? In this five-part series, Ecologist and founder of Oika, Dr. Rich Blundell takes us on a journey of the cosmos.  But this is way more than a history lesson about the universe.  This is about you, and me and everyone and everything around us, how it all came to be, and how we all are connected. 

Nature has intelligence; A magnificent, sublime, complex intelligence that science is just now beginning to understand.  What would it be like if we felt that intelligence inside of us?  In this series, you will discover how to tap into, and feel that innate intelligence that is already inside of you right now.  Once humankind begins to understand this, to know this, to feel this, we will be living in a very different, much more beautiful world.  So join us on this journey.  It just might change your life.

To get the most out of this episode, please first watch this short 9-minute film:
Animalia: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7295405/video/483691027

To learn more about Dr. Rich Blundell and Oika, please visit:
https://oika.com

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

How did we get here? And where do we go from here? In this five-part series, Ecologist and founder of Oika, Dr. Rich Blundell takes us on a journey of the cosmos.  But this is way more than a history lesson about the universe.  This is about you, and me and everyone and everything around us, how it all came to be, and how we all are connected. 

Nature has intelligence; A magnificent, sublime, complex intelligence that science is just now beginning to understand.  What would it be like if we felt that intelligence inside of us?  In this series, you will discover how to tap into, and feel that innate intelligence that is already inside of you right now.  Once humankind begins to understand this, to know this, to feel this, we will be living in a very different, much more beautiful world.  So join us on this journey.  It just might change your life.

In this week's Part 3 Episode, Earthea, we pick up where we left off last week in Part 2, 4 and ½ billion years ago when our planet earth was created.  Earth was a harsh place back then, frozen for millions of years, but eventually, oceans and clouds started to form, and new patterns start to emerge.

Dr. Blundell breaks down the importance of Fractals: The mathematical discovery that highlights or perhaps even proves that we are all connected.

 We chat about the 3 core concepts of OIKA and how they are connected, and what all this has to do with humanity right now, what we can learn from the cosmos, and how we really should be examining how we interact with nature.

Before listening, please watch the below short 10-minute films:
Fractals: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7295405/video/432639406
Earthea: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7295405/video/479026498

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

How did we get here? And where do we go from here? In this five-part series, Ecologist and founder of Oika, Dr. Rich Blundell takes us on a journey of the cosmos.  But this is way more than a history lesson about the universe.  This is about you, and me and everyone and everything around us, how it all came to be, and how we all are connected. 

 Nature has intelligence; A magnificent, sublime, complex intelligence that science is just now beginning to understand.  What would it be like if we felt that intelligence inside of us?  In this series, you will discover how to tap into, and feel that innate intelligence that is already inside of you right now.  Once humankind begins to understand this, to know this, to feel this, we will be living in a very different, much more beautiful world.  So join us on this journey.  It just might change your life.

In this episode, Celestia, we continue to follow ecological intelligence along the path of ontological continuity.  But now, across celestial scales.  We discuss Emergence, which is, as Dr. Blundell says, is “The unseen force of nature that invents new things.  From stars to butterflies, from orcas to orchestras to the ideas in your head.” 

Steve and Rich also wax philosophical about the sheer beauty and awe of the chaotic but organized universe and discuss "The Golf Ball Experiment" and Mathematician John Conway's Game of Life, which helps explain how new life emerges.

 Prior to listening to this episode, please watch the following two short videos:
Celestia: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7295405/video/474775410

Emergence: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7295405/video/430783955

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

How did we get here? And where do we go from here? In this five-part series, Ecologist and founder of Oika, Dr. Rich Blundell takes us on a journey of the cosmos.  But this is way more than a history lesson about the universe.  This is about you, and me and everyone and everything around us, how it all came to be, and how we all are connected. 

 You see, nature has intelligence; A magnificent, sublime, complex intelligence that science is just now beginning to understand.  What would it be like if we felt that intelligence inside of us?  In this series, you will discover how to tap into, and feel that innate intelligence that is already inside of you right now.  Once humankind begins to understand this, to know this, to feel this, we will be living in a very different, much more beautiful world.  So join us on this journey.  It just might change your life.

In this week’s  Part 1, which covers from the Big Bang through the first 380,000 years, we discuss what Dr. Blundell calls the Primordia era, going all the way to the Big Bang.  In this episode, we trace the origins of ecological intelligence to its source; the primordial light of the cosmos, or at least get as close as the science will allow us.  We’re going to learn how the whole of nature, including us, is an expression of relationships.  We’ll discover how ecological intelligence is the creative force of nature and if we choose to participate, it will amplify our own creativity as well.

 As we’ve explored space, we’ve discovered that there IS an intelligence out there.  and now we’re going to begin to understand it, because it’s an intelligence that’s also within us.”

Primordia Video (Watch before listening to this episode:
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7295405/video/471941087

To learn more about Dr. Rich Blundell, please visit:
https://oika.com/

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Encore Presentation of my Interview with Daniel Mate from November of 2022:  After reading his game-changing book "The Myth of Normal," it was such an honor to have Co-Writer Daniel Maté on the show to do a deep dive on trauma, sickness and health and the mind/body connection.
 
Daniel and I chat about how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?
 
This is one of my favorite conversations that I've ever had on the show.  It may just change how you look at western medicine.
 
Daniel Maté is a composer, lyricist, and playwright for musical theatre based in BC and New York. 

He received the prestigious Edward Kleban Prize for Most Promising Lyricist in American Musical Theatre, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Grant, and the ASCAP Foundation’s Cole Porter Award for Excellence in Music and Lyrics.  He has presented his work at the historic Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and New York’s Lincoln Center, and was an invited participant in the inaugural Johnny Mercer Writers Colony. 

Outside of music and theatre, Daniel runs the world’s only “mental chiropractic” service, Take A Walk With Daniel and he Co-Authored the brand new Internationally Bestselling book “The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture” with his father, Dr. Gabor Mate. 

Website: https://www.walkwithdaniel.com/
https://www.danielmate.com/
Instagram: @Danielbmate
Twitter: @Danielbmate

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

In this episode, we delve into the inspiring journey of Vash Tomanec, who went from being an Uber Eats driver to achieving 7-figure success. Vash, the founder of Mindtrepreneur, shares his experiences and insights on mastering mindset for entrepreneurial success.

Vash Tomanec embarked on his transformational journey with Mindtrepreneur, a venture aimed at helping 1 million entrepreneurs achieve fulfillment and joy in their lives by mastering their mindset. He reveals that just three years ago, he was delivering food on his bike for Uber Eats, and now he is on a mission to empower others to achieve their dreams.

During the episode, Vash opens up about his childhood and the challenges he faced along the way. He also highlights a pivotal moment in his life, a 7-day meditation retreat in complete darkness, which profoundly impacted his mindset.

Vash talks about his extensive meditation practice, having completed an astonishing 5,000 meditation sessions. He explains the benefits of meditation and how it has contributed to his personal growth and success.

Vash also explores the topic of breathwork and how he discovered its transformative power. As a somatic breathwork practitioner, he shares the impact breathwork has had on his life and how it can positively influence others.

Vash also unveils his 4-step framework for achieving any goal, which he used to build three 7-figure companies within just two years, all before turning 26. The framework emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision, understanding your why, creating a plan of action, and aligning your identity with your goal

Vash Tomanec is a 25-year-old serial entrepreneur who has built three successful seven-figure businesses. With his latest venture, Mindtrepreneur, Vash is on a mission to help 1 million entrepreneurs transform their business and live more fulfilled and joyous life by mastering their mindset. He does it through 1-1 and group coaching, various online programs, in-person masterminds hosted 4x per year.

Vash is known for his inspiring, present, loving, and driven nature. He is obsessed with helping people level up and live their most fulfilling lives, and he loves mastering subjects rather than just dabbling in them. His frameworks and principles have helped over 1,000 people from 60+ countries. He is skilled at using the power of the subconscious mind to achieve his goals faster and live a better, more fulfilled life.

In addition to his dedication to personal growth and helping others, Vash is also passionate about biohacking and finding ways to stay productive and disciplined. He spends a lot of time researching and experimenting with different techniques and strategies to optimize his health and performance.

Vash’s passion for meditation, personal growth, and the science of happiness has also led him to share the stage with renowned expert Dr. Joe Dispenza in 2022.

To stay in touch with Vash:
https://mindtrepreneur.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vash_tomanec/
LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaclav-tomanec/

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

In this episode, we explore the profound impact of seasonal changes on the human psyche and discuss strategies to alleviate the effects on mood and promote well-being. We begin by understanding how seasonal variations influence our biological clock, hormonal balance, and neurotransmitter activity, directly affecting our mood. The reduction in daylight hours during winter disrupts the natural production of serotonin, leading to feelings of lethargy, sadness, and a decrease in overall well-being. 

We also explore how changes in daily routines and activities, such as limited outdoor time and colder temperatures, can contribute to a sense of isolation and exacerbate mood changes.  Steve shares a personal experience of going through a "funk" that he attributes to the weather and changing seasons, highlighting the phenomenon of June gloom in Southern California. We learn how the tilt of the Earth and its movement around the sun bring about the seasons, and the Steve reflects on an episode from a documentary series that highlights the impact of seasons on various species.

Delving deeper into the effects of seasonal changes on humans, we discover that there is evidence for seasonal variations in physiological functions and even complex behaviors. The episode touches on circadian and infradian rhythms regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, as well as the Belgian study that found changes in brain activity and cognitive performance across seasons.

The discussion turns to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or Major Depressive Disorder, which affects millions of adults. We explore various ways to combat the mood changes associated with seasonal transitions, including light therapy, outdoor exposure, exercise, mindfulness, self-care practices, learning new skills, and seeking support from professionals when necessary.

Steve shares insights from a personal course he is undertaking on Jose Silva's teachings, emphasizing the power of gratitude journaling and focusing on the magic witnessed each day. The episode concludes with a quote from Gandhi, encouraging lifelong learning and living each day to the fullest.

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]