This episode is dedicated to the women and people in Iran who are fighting for their rights and for their freedom.

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This episode was co-created with community. My hope, and our hope, is that by listening to these learnings and visions for our collective future, you will feel less alone, meaningfully connected and more courageous as we cross the threshold and enter a new cycle of life.

Thank you to the brave and wise individuals who shared their time, presence and profound insights during numerous 1:1 conversations and a community circle held on December 29, 2021.

Muriel Alexander
Darius Bashar
Vanessa Demello
Prassan Patel
Jordan Lindo
Aasttha Khajuria
Saira Hussain
Caroline Macfarlane
Steve Ballantyne
Tendisai Cromwell
Ryan Van Der Hout
Or Har-Gil
And others who preferred not to be identified.

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In this episode, I am sharing a conversation with my dear friend, co-creator and teacher, Adil Dhalla (he/him). 

Adil is the Director of Community for Reset, a social enterprise that has been making pop-up playgrounds since 2015. He has previously held senior leadership positions at two of the largest social enterprises in Canada and is the Chair of the StopGap Foundation’s board. 

Adil’s mission is to study and teach love, so naturally, in this conversation, we talk about what it means to love ourselves and to love others. Adil shares insights on the role of community, play and vulnerability in transforming isolation, and how we can collectively move towards justice, joy and freedom.

Adil openly shares his fears, his hopes and his healing journey, particularly as it relates to men. 

This episode was recorded in late 2020 and references the political and social climate of that moment in our collective history.

Website: www.adildhalla.com

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In this episode I share a reading of an essay I wrote in early 2020, which feels more relevant today than it did at the time that I wrote it.

Whether you are experiencing your own grief, or grieving as a response to the horrific injustice in the world, I hope this reading can support you in your process.

"I didn’t understand what grief was until I understood that grief is not sadness. It’s not the melancholy that fills the air on a gloomy winter day. It’s not the experience of missing a friend who lives across the ocean. It’s not the disconnection you feel after an unresolved argument with a loved one. Grief is much deeper than that."

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In this episode I am in conversation with my dear friend Nadine Araksi Silverthorne (she/her). Nadine is a writer and master storytelling coach, who has spent the past two decades of her career creating click-worthy content for some of Canada’s biggest brands.

After navigating her youngest child’s rare disease and subsequent hospitalization in 2013, followed by the breakup of her marriage in 2017, Nadine found solace in the communities and friendships she had cultivated over the years. Her current focus is on mental and physical well-being and self care.

In this conversation, Nadine and I talk about the intricacies of love, marriage, family and divorce. Nadine openly shares the details of her own self-love journey, filled with insights and wisdom for anyone who has found themselves longing for clarity, courage and alignment in their life and in their relationships.

A curious, creative, people-person, Nadine has a passion for storytelling on any platform. She spends her days leading teams to greatness through a collaborative, compassionate and transparent approach to leadership. She dreams of writing the truest sentence possible to convey an experience and retiring in Spain with a future Corgi dog someday. An active community volunteer, Nadine wants imagination to win out over cynicism and strives to always walk the talk.

Website: https://www.kickstartology.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadinearaksi/
https://www.instagram.com/kickstartology/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kickstart.community.women (request to join!)

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Audio journeys are designed to activate your spirit. To connect you deeply to yourself, to others and to everything that exists within the universe. 

You can experience this journey while sitting in a meditative position, laying down or, if available to you, while walking or moving your body.  

Subscribe to become a part of the Growing Wise community. You will have opportunities to participate in experiences, workshops and live podcast recordings facilitated by Negin. 

In this episode, I am sharing a conversation with Laura Sniderman about how we can create more meaningful connections in our lives. 

Laura shares personal experiences, academic insights and her learnings from years of community building. Together we unpack what it really means to be vulnerable with friends, family and strangers. And how we can create a sense of belonging by leaning into and out of community.

"As humans, we all have an array of feelings and emotions, and as a global society, we need to learn how to embrace those feelings and those thoughts, collectively, so that we are not meeting each other on the premise of superficial things, such as interests or pictures, but rather we are meeting each other on the foundations of mutual vulnerability, generosity and reciprocity—and a desire for consistency, for ongoing connection, not just one-off interactions or a like or a comment."

Laura Whitney Sniderman - Founder & CEO of Kinnd

Laura launched Kinnd 10 months ago at the onset of COVID as a response to the growing epidemic of loneliness. Kinnd is a digital friend-making platform that is de-swipifying and re-humanizing the experience of making a friend online. Currently, Kinnd is a Facebook Group, soon to be app, that now has over 8500 members from 100 countries around the world. Laura has a Masters in Clinical and Counseling Psychology from Columbia University and is a 2X Founder having previously run an International Women's retreat company for 6 years.

Subscribe to become a part of the Growing Wise community. You will have opportunities to participate in experiences, workshops and live podcast recordings facilitated by Negin. . 

In this episode, I am reading an essay about the meaning of life, and how we can examine our current reality, to imagine and create others.

"We question our existence because as far as we know, our lives on the physical plane are temporary. We question whether we truly matter because we don’t know how to reconcile suffering, aloneness, non-attachment and death. As long as we value permanence, longevity and legacy, as long as we reject the temporary nature of all things, including our own lives, our own impact, we will have a difficult time believing that our individual existence matters, or we will want it to matter so much that we end up causing tremendous harm."

Subscribe to become a part of the Growing Wise community. You will have opportunities to participate in experiences, workshops and live podcast recordings facilitated by Negin. 

In this episode Or Har-Gil open-heartedly shares the journey of embracing her identity and becoming more fully herself—which was catalyzed by her falling in love with a woman, while being married to her husband of 10 years. 

Together we explore the importance of expressing our truths, how suppressed emotions can manifest in the body, and the practice of creating space for different and fuller versions of ourselves, and our loved ones, to emerge. 

Or Har-Gil is an Art Therapist, workshop facilitator, and rising Kohenet (Hebrew Priestess in training) who helps people connect to their intuition, creativity, and inner magic. She is Jewish, queer, and of mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardi/Mizrahi heritage. 

Learn more at www.orhargil.com

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What Does it Really Mean to Trust Ourselves and Each Other?

I've asked myself this question many times. In this episode I share my insights and perspectives on how we can approach redefining trust, and deepening the trust we have in ourselves and each other, knowing that life will not unfold as we want or imagine.

What if trust meant that, sometimes whatever we’re standing on, won’t feel solid, and that is part of the process of cultivating trust?

I share with you a new definition for trust, how to restore ruptured trust, and how I have been able to feel more centred and at peace when I trust that everything in life is happening for me and not to me.
 
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