Create Magic At Work®

What if the greatest shift in how you lead, work, and live isn't about learning another skill, but about changing the way your brain experiences the world?

Amy sits down with Dr. Dawson Church, award-winning science writer, researcher, and author of Spiritual Intelligence, to explore the growing body of neuroscience revealing that emotional regulation, attention, compassion, and presence are not fixed personality traits. They are trainable capacities that reshape the brain over time.

For years, spirituality has often been dismissed as something personal, abstract, or impossible to measure. Dawson challenges that assumption by sharing the research behind the four neural circuits that support spiritual intelligence and why strengthening them can transform everything from workplace performance to relationships and overall wellbeing. Together, Amy and Dawson also unpack why traditional meditation doesn't work for everyone, how evidence-based practices like EFT tapping and Eco Meditation accelerate change, and why cultivating inner awareness may be one of the most practical leadership skills available today.

If you've ever wondered whether there's a science behind feeling calmer under pressure, responding with greater compassion, or unlocking more creativity without pushing harder, this conversation offers a compelling new perspective on what becomes possible when we intentionally train the brain that shapes every experience of our lives.

Download your free copy of Dr. Dawson Church’s The EFT Mini-Manual and bonus EcoMeditation at https://dawsongift.com/

Moments That Create Momentum:

1. The Brain You Practice Becomes the Life You Experience: Discover why spiritual intelligence isn't a personality trait you're born with, but a set of neural pathways you can intentionally strengthen.
2. The Four Circuits Behind Calm Under Pressure: Explore how emotional regulation, attention, compassion, and self-awareness shape the way you lead, respond, and connect long before a stressful moment arrives.
3. Why Meditation Doesn't Work for Everyone: Learn why quieting your mind isn't the goal, and how science-backed practices can make inner transformation more accessible.
4. Performance Begins Long Before Productivity: Understand why your greatest breakthroughs may come from changing your internal state instead of pushing yourself to work harder.
5. Training the Brain for Something Bigger Than Success: See how developing spiritual intelligence can shift not only how you perform at work, but how you experience your relationships, purpose, and everyday life.

About the Guest:

Dr. Dawson Church is an award-winning science writer, researcher, and bestselling author whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and human potential. Through more than 100 published clinical studies and collaborations with researchers from institutions including Harvard Medical School, Duke, Emory, and Columbia, his research has examined how meditation, emotional regulation, and self-transcendent experiences can reshape the brain and improve wellbeing. He is the author of The Genie in Your Genes, Mind to Matter, Bliss Brain, and Spiritual Intelligence.

Beyond his research and writing, Dawson is the founder of the National Institute for Integrative Healthcare and the Veterans Stress Solution, a nonprofit initiative that has provided free PTSD treatment to more than 22,000 veterans and their family members. He also developed EcoMeditation, an evidence-based practice designed to make meditation accessible to beginners, and continues to share research-backed approaches that help people reduce stress, cultivate resilience, and unlock their full potential.

https://dawsonchurch.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dawsonchurch

https://www.youtube.com/@EftuniverseEFT

https://twitter.com/EFTUniverse

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawson-church-68b4a8/

https://www.instagram.com/theeftuniverse/

About Amy:

Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work.

She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality.

Connect with Amy:

https://createmagicatwork.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work

https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427

https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Today’s reflection explores how transformation begins when we loosen our grip on certainty and create space for change. By releasing the need to control every outcome, we become more open to the choices and possibilities that support meaningful growth.

Bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck: https://createmagicatwork.net/shop/ols/products/the-edgewalker-card-deck

Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal: https://a.co/d/06N0Hypc

We like to believe that compassion comes naturally. Yet when someone we work with experiences unimaginable loss, many of us freeze. We worry about saying the wrong thing, crossing a boundary, or making an already painful situation worse. So we say less, do less, and hope time will somehow fill the silence.

Amy's conversation with Matthew Efird challenges that instinct with extraordinary honesty. After losing his son, Noah, to a terminal trisomy 13 diagnosis, Matthew discovered that the moments which stayed with him weren't defined by perfect words. They were shaped by people who showed up, quietly lifted burdens he couldn't carry alone, and created space for his family to grieve without asking them to manage everyone else's needs. What emerged from that experience is not just a personal story. It is a practical philosophy for building workplaces where empathy becomes something people experience, not something leaders simply talk about.

Rather than treating grief as something that belongs outside the office, this conversation invites us to rethink what leadership looks like when life inevitably interrupts work. It explores how simple acts of generosity can transform culture, why the strongest leaders resist the urge to fix what cannot be fixed, and how organizations earn lasting trust by helping people feel seen when they need it most.

Moments That Create Momentum:

1. The Permission Trap: Why asking, "How can I help?" often shifts the emotional burden back onto the person who is already carrying more than they can hold.
2. The Empathy Gap: Matthew reveals why leaders don't fail because they don't care. They fail because discomfort convinces them that silence is safer than showing up.
3. The Culture Stress Test: Anyone can talk about values during business as usual. The true culture of an organization is revealed by how it responds when someone's life falls apart.
4. The Invisible Load: The smallest daily responsibilities become overwhelming during grief. Matthew explains why removing one burden often matters more than offering a hundred comforting words.
5. The Time Investment Principle: After holding his son through his final breath, Matthew stopped measuring time by productivity and started measuring it by presence, changing the way he leads both work and life.

About the Guest:

Matthew Efird is a grieving father, a husband, and a leader who has learned that true strength is not found in self-sufficiency but in a desperate need for a Savior. An honors graduate of The University of Georgia, Matthew and his high school sweetheart, Hannah, live in Jackson County, where they manage Mosquito Joe and Lighting Pros. Matthew is the host of the Pillars of Purpose Podcast, where he explores living a life of purpose in faith, family, and business.

Following the Trisomy 13 diagnosis and passing of their second son, Noah, Matthew felt an intense calling to share their raw journey. He is the bestselling author of Even Though, We Will. He travels the country speaking to audiences and consulting with businesses on the transformational impact of Emphathetic Leadership within an organization.

He and his wife are the founders of Even Though, We Will, an organization dedicated to providing “Arks” of practical support and care packages to families navigating the devastating waters of a terminal diagnosis. Matthew is the proud father of four amazing boys: three who fill his home with wild joy and one who awaits him in the presence of their Savior.

https://eventhoughwewill.com

https://matthewefird.com

About Amy:

Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work.

She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality.

Connect with Amy:

https://createmagicatwork.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work

https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427

https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Today’s Edgewalker card explores how intuition often speaks quietly beneath logic, inviting us to trust the inner knowing that keeps calling us toward a future we cannot fully explain yet.

Bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck: https://createmagicatwork.net/shop/ols/products/the-edgewalker-card-deck

Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal: https://a.co/d/06N0Hypc

Today’s reflection explores how expansion often begins the moment you stop minimizing the gifts that come naturally to you and allow your unique strengths to create new possibilities.

Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck. You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience

What if creativity isn't something you’re born with or you’re not — but rather your birthright, your natural state, and your most fundamental relationship to the world?

In this first installment of The Spark Sessions: Resourcing for Creativity—a special monthly bonus mini-series—Amy welcomes listeners into an exciting new creativity chapter of the Create Magic at Work podcast. In this introductory episode, Amy sits down with your host for the series — creativity coach, songwriter, and Muzi founder Rachel Efron. Together, they explore the vision behind the sessions and the creative journey that lies ahead. They discuss why creativity is more essential to our wellbeing than we've been taught to believe, how people become disconnected from their creative nature, and what’s possible when we finally learn to tend to our creative health. Rachel offers a glimpse into the philosophy, tools, and practices, that will guide her future episodes, supporting listeners to understand creativity not as something reserved for the select few, but rather as a universal and vital part of being fully alive.

Sparks of Insight:

• Why some of the most common beliefs about creativity might be limiting your potential.
• A surprising insight on what might be standing between you and the projects you long to get off the ground.
• An introduction to the five creative resources that will be a game changer for your creativity.
• A fresh way of thinking about rest that challenges conventional ideas about productivity and recovery.
• A preview of the practical Missions, Spark readings, and creative insights listeners will encounter throughout the series.

Ready to discover your unique creative landscape?

Download the Muzi app at http://itunes.apple.com/app/id6739667782 to take the Creativity Assessment, and uncover your Spark profile. Then email your Spark to Rachel at [email protected] for a chance at a Spark Reading on air, where Rachel will offer personalized insight into what your creativity most needs from you right now.

About Rachel:

Rachel Efron is an Oakland-based songwriter, producer, and creativity coach. She's released four full-length albums of original songs, plus written for such legends as Narada Michael Walden and Journey. Rachel is a premier songwriting coach for songwriters across the world, and has over fifteen years experience helping artists, leaders, and teams find their voice.

In 2022, Rachel turned her methods into a comprehensive framework and groundbreaking app, Muzi, to help everyone —artists and non-artists alike—access greater creativity in their lives.

email: [email protected]

website: https://www.rachelefron.com/creativity

Download the Muzi app at http://itunes.apple.com/app/id6739667782

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

What happens when walking into a room means absorbing every ounce of tension, distress, and unsaid emotion inside it?

Many of us are taught that great leadership requires carrying the emotional weight of our teams. We step in to smooth things over, fix conflicts that aren't ours to solve, and mistake constant rescue missions for true connection. The result isn't better leadership, it is exhaustion.

In this episode, Amy sits down with global emotional intelligence and empathy expert Dr. Melissa Robinson-Winemiller to map out a clear blueprint for protecting your energy without shutting out your humanity. Drawing from her raw pivot point out of a toxic workplace environment and later experiencing those same broken patterns in other work spaces, Dr. Melissa shares the definitive distinction between reading a room and taking responsibility for it.

This conversation is a radical reframe on human connection. You will discover how to stand in your own power, deploy data-backed perspective-taking, and implement the boundaries necessary to stop treating everyone else's distress as your circus to fix.

Moments That Create Momentum:

1. The "Not My Circus" Rule: Why walking into a room and feeling everyone else's tension isn't a gift, it’s a boundary failure that is secretly draining you.
2. The Revenue Shield: The deeply unsettling reason why elite organizations intentionally protect toxic high-performers and narcissists.
3. The Empathy Illusion: Dr. Melissa shares why empathy is passive, and how jumping straight into "fixing" things actually triggers misplaced, destructive compassion.
4. The Danger of Being "Nice": Why standard corporate manners are often just a mask for insincerity, and the reason true kindness requires telling the ugly truth.
5. The Self-Rescue Mandate: Why launching into service for others before mastering self-empathy is a fast track to destroying your own career.

About the Guest:

As professional musician, Dr. Melissa Robinson-Winemiller worked with major talent such as Ray Charles, David Ogden Stiers, and Mannheim Steamroller. But cold and toxic leadership eventually robbed her of a career that was 30+ years in the making. However, that incident inspired Dr. Melissa to transform leadership as we know it by redefining the one element that most leaders miss: empathy. Today, she’s an international bestselling author, Editor’s Pick TEDx speaker, EQ and empathy coach, and leading voice on emotional intelligence and empathy. She’s known for blending lived experience, academic depth, and a sharp, data-driven approach that not only makes sense but demystifies how empathy translates to better productivity, innovation, and profit. Her mission is to invite everyone to approach empathy as a strategic skill for every human-centric action, not only for others but also for ourselves, and to step up in the way the future of leadership demands.

https://eqviaempathy.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-melissa-a-robinson-winemiller-author-speaker-trainer

https://www.instagram.com/empathyqueen.eq

https://www.youtube.com/@TheEmpathicLeader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaoXSEWeILo&t=63s

https://geni.us/TheEmpathicLeader

About Amy:

Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work.

She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality.

Connect with Amy:

https://createmagicatwork.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work

https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427

https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Bending the Light explores the timeless wisdom of the Indian spiritual tradition through a modern lens. Hosted by Vish Chatterji, a former engineer turned "karma mechanic," this podcast blends karma, dharma, meditation, Ayurveda, Vedic philosophy, and Jyotish with practical insights for everyday life. Through stories, conversations, and bite-sized spiritual teachings, you'll discover how ancient wisdom can help you navigate life's challenges, understand the forces shaping your path, and bring more clarity, purpose, and light into your world.

Today’s Edgewalker card explores how constant multitasking can become a quiet form of disconnection from the work, relationships, and inner priorities that matter most to us.

Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck. You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience

What if the biggest barrier to your company's growth isn't a lack of good ideas, but how you setup the room before innovation even begins?

Amy sits down with Michael Brian Lee, founder of the Innotivity Institute, to decode the high-stakes reality of modern corporate survival. In an era where 80% of a company’s value is driven entirely by intellectual property and average business lifespans have plummeted to just five years, innovation is no longer a luxury, it is a mandatory action.

As quantum leaders, we often demand innovative solutions from our teams without realizing we are skipping the energetic prep work required to get them. Michael breaks down Innotivity, the ultimate cycle of adapting who you are being, shifting your identity, and then taking action to drive measurable business results.

Together, they unpack the exact 3-step checklist leaders must complete before a brainstorming meeting ever starts. If you are ready to stop forcing stagnant ideas into the world and start orchestrating true innovation that ripple outward to your team and beyond, this episode is your blueprint.

• The Brutal Math of Modern Business Survival: Discover why collapsing business lifespans mean your current innovation strategy is already outdated.
• Innovation is the Action: Understand why trying to innovate with old, default thinking is a recipe for failure, and why implementation requires an identity shift first.
• The 3-Step Pre-Brainstorm Checklist: A breakdown of Safe Space, Integrity, and Identity—the foundational SQ pillars required before your team steps into the room.
• Solving the Wrong Problem with Integrity: How rushing to a quick answer causes organizations to waste massive energy executing the wrong questions.
• The Live Innovation Experiment: Watch quantum leadership in real-time as Michael pushes Amy through a mind-bending exercise to expand past default, logical boundaries into pure potential.

About the Guest:

Michael Brian Lee excels as a transformational coach, trainer, teacher, speaker, writer, and an expert in the mindsets of Creativity, Innovation, and Adaptability.

With over two decades of experience in the film and TV industry across the US, Europe, and Africa, Michael is a seasoned creative professional. His TV productions have earned him 5 South African Film & TV Awards (SAFTAs), showcasing his exceptional talent.

Founding both the Innotivity Institute and the Academy of Television and Screen Arts in Johannesburg, Michael demonstrates his commitment to fostering creativity and excellence.

He has taken the TEDx stage twice, delivering impactful speeches that have reshaped the perspectives of his audiences. His keynotes and workshops are widely recognized for dismantling barriers and empowering individuals to effectively change their mindsets and achieve their goals.

https://www.michaelbrianlee.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelleecreativity

Book - World Innovator’s Cup: History’s Greatest Minds Take the Field - https://worldinnovatorscup.com/

About Amy:

Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work.

She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality.

Connect with Amy:

https://createmagicatwork.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work

https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427

https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.