The Next Chapter with Charlie

Show Notes 

My very special guest today is author, professor, world traveller, and impressive observer of life, Dr. Robin Moriarty. With a most fascinating bio Robin Moriarty, is a highly regarded thought leader for businesses and non-profit organizations. She has lived on four continents and traveled to 60+ countries. As adjunct professor at Duke University, Dr. Moriarty taught cross-cultural leadership to future global leaders. She regularly shares her observations.

Her new book is titled What Game Are You Playing? A Framework for Redefining Success and Achieving What Matters Most and it comes out September 2019. I am really forward to reading it.

Dr. Moriarty talks frequently about being gutsy. She writes that gutsy is not about being reckless with yourself or others. It’s about defining your own version of success and gaining the confidence and courage to go after what YOU want rather than pursuing what OTHERS expect of you 

For more information on Dr. Robin Moriarty you can visit www.gutsy.world

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Our guest is Jonathan Fischer, a certified hypnotherapist, NLP Trainer and Master Practitioner, having worked in these fields working for more than 15 years now. He is the primary content creator for Mindifi Hypnosis Apps, with millions of downloads world-wide."  

Jonathan was on the show a couple months back and during that time he and I got together to hypnotize me and allow me to experience the process of diving into the suggestibility of the unconscious.

"His coaching and speaking company is called Mythic Heart Inc., a reference to his own heart history, and, his passion for the ideas of Joseph Campbell, the world renowned exert on comparative mythologies. Through his hypno-coaching and speaking, Jonathan draws upon his training and his life experiences to help people, as Campbell might put it, 'to live their bliss, and make their life a truly heroic heroes’ journey." 

Find out more about Jonathan at https://mythicheart.com

To make an appointment call 323-741-2788

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes  

In our show today we are privileged to have our regular insightful guest Terry Hershey: prolific author, renowned public speaker, landscape architect, an mentor to several people on the Art of Slowing Down to take in the pleasure of life.

Today’s topic affects every single listener and is perhaps the systemic root of most of our personal limitations. I want to talk about our daily experience of FEAR, and how it impacts the choices we make. 

In addition to bringing on severe anxiety, fear is also the source of low self-esteem, anger, resistance to new ideas, reluctance to experiment, and a general acceptance of the status quo. 

I am coming to believe that Fear is one of the most influential psychological determinates of how we feel and behave.

So let’s get into it with Terry Hershey. 

For more information on Terry Hershey you can visit www.terryhershey.com

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

[PLEASE NOTE: The quality of sound on my guest’s phone is not so good, but I encourage you to listen anyway. This is most certainly one of my best shows. We’ll do another with Mark in studio.)

My guest, Mark Samuel, is CEO of IMPAQ Consulting and has been recognized as one of today’s leading Thought Leaders on the Power of Personal and Corporate Accountability. Our entire conversation today will be about the unparalleled advantages of taking accountability seriously.

Now I can guess what you are thinking: Accountability, Ugh!! I’m outta here. But hang in, this conversation with Mark Samuel will be extremely valuable.

Mark and I go back 30 years to the beginnings of my days as a corporate consultant. Mark was my teacher, mentor and friend as I began my trek as a corporate consultant. I have probably learned more from Mark than anyone else about how to manage corporate and personal relationships. He taught to facilitate critical strategic planning sessions with both high level executives and mid management groups.

Mark is the author of several books but I want to highlight two: First, is “The Power of Personal Accountability,” and the other is his latest best selling business book titled “B State” which offers an entirely new process of management, in which accountability plays a major role.

So let’s dive deep into the every so fun subject of accountability. You’ll be so surprised by the life-changing results of becoming a personally accountable person.

You can find Mark at Linkedin.com/in/markssamuel/

Instagram.com/markssamuel_/

Twitter.com/markssamuel

Also purchase Mark’s books on Amazon: The Power of Personal Accountability and B State.

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

Today Producer Paul and I plan to have a conversation on what seems a deep and yet pervasive onslaught of apathy both culturally and individually we are experiencing today.

Apathy is a strange bird. Psychology Today calls it the “emotionless emotion.” Jimmy Buffet, said it best, “I’ve been wondering if what I am feeling is ignorance or apathy. Hell, I don’t know and I don’t care.”

In Psychology Today I read, “Paradoxically, what makes the feeling of apathy unique is that it’s essentially the feeling of not feeling. And doubtless, it’s something that at some point in your existence you’ve encountered. We all have. For whenever you feel that something vital is missing from your life, yet lack the motivation or drive to pursue it, you’re afflicted with this curiously “emotionless” emotion.” 

So at the heart of apathy, is a feeling that “something vital is missing from your life.” You feel you have nothing worthy of your effort to pursue. There is no anticipation of hope, and without hope life becomes almost pointless. In Victor Frankl’s brilliant book documenting his psychological state in a Nazi concentration camp he clearly stared that it was only HOPE that kept people going.

All of the drivers of meaning and fulfillment have dissipated to a point of a profound disinterest in all that motivated you in the past: a cause, your job, your most meaningful relationships, your worthiness in pursuing something essential in your own estimation.

In my observation apathy occurs in two conditions: First is what Paul is most intrigued with and that is an a culture of apathy regarding politics and religion and the second is what I am calling personal apathy and that is when you get a case of the “I just don’t give a shit.”

Let’s deal with the second one first.

Personally, for a few weeks now, I have been in the doldrums of a bit of apathy. Activities that once inspired me I find rather unexciting. As a very passionate person this feeing is rather disconcerting. “I just don’t care about what I desire to care about: I no longer paint, I spend less time writing, and even my volunteer commitments have suffered. I still do what is required but I am not currently satisfied by it.

My feeling is that I just want to quit everything. But, obviously, that is not the solution because somewhere deep inside I still love all these activities. 

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes  

Are you ready for yet another conversation about things we are not supposed to talk about? We’ve done religion and politics, now I want to learn about dying and how we can best prepare for the inevitable.

My guest today is an expert on the subject and, no, he is not a mortician. My special guest is Keith Page, a funeral celebrant who works closely with families in the midst of a death. Keith’s focus is to prepare people of all ages of how to manage the entire process of dying.

Let me read a piece Keith gave me before the show:

“Death is a vast mystery but there are two things we can say about it: it is absolutely certain that we will die, but what is uncertain is when or how we will die. The only sure thing we have, then, is this uncertainty about the hour of our death - which we use as an excuse to postpone facing death directly. 

Instead of dealing with it as a normal part of life, death is treated as an unexpected emergency; something that happens when the medical community fails. We always die of something - as though if it weren’t for that disease or accident we could have lived on.

Very often those who take time to plan arrangements with death also end up having made new arrangements with life. After they know they are going to die, people often live and die well. We’ve all heard stories of what happens when people find out they have a limited time to live. Many finally start living well. They simplify their lives, spend time with those they love, slow down and get around to doing many things they had put off.” 

So that’s our topic for the day.

Taken from 'Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’ by Sogyal Rinpoche and ‘From Beginning to End - the Rituals of Our Lives’ by Robert Fulghum. 

You can contact Keith Page at [email protected]

Also check out www.deathcafe.com

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes

Today my special guest is Mindset Coach Peter Ashworth.

Peter is a 30-year veteran of creating companies and organizations. He is highly inspired every day to help others. He is currently the CEO and Founder of Live Possible | Fearless Life, an organization that helps people live their greatest potential.

Did you know that Anxiety Disorders affect the lives of one in five people in North America? Peter Ashworth’s Fearless Life program is a new, science-based, guided approach to killing anxiety. Fearless Life incorporates the amazing new breakthrough science of neuroplasticity, which will be the focus of our discussion today.

So… let’s get Peter on the mic so he can explain to us the wonders of neuroplasticity, and how it impacts your personal life design and strategies you might use to create your Next Chapter.

 You can contact Peter Ashworth at [email protected]

 For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

I’m looking forward to this show because we are planning to discuss the two most taboo subjects in the US, and those are religion and politics. Well I’m not so sure we will actually talk about religion or politics but about why we say we can’t talk about them.

Terry Hershey is with me today and Terry is quite passionate about both politics and religion. Yet, he is fully aware of the deep-seated issues around both topics. As a public speaker he faces this issue every time he stands up on a podium. When he speaks to a religious audience he must be careful to speak in THEIR religious language or risk being sacrificed on the altar of heresy. When he speaks to the public at large he must be ever so cautious not to offend someone that does not agree with the politics he is so deeply passionate about. And he is most passionate about both religion and politics. 

So… let’s just jump right into the topic. 

For more information on Terry Hershey you can visit www.terryhershey.com

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

My special guest today is Wendy Newman who has been involved in the study of dating and relationships for a couple of decades. She has written a really good book on the subject titled 121 First Dates. Yikes! Yes, Wendy went on 120 first dates before she found the man with whom she can share an awesome life.

Wendy Newman is a media-celebrated author, speaker, and a dating, sex and relationship expert who’s led hundreds of workshops, and has helped over 50,000 women internationally. She helps women to understand men, dating, sex, and partnership of all kinds. Since 2002, Wendy has interviewed thousands of men on relationships, love, dating, sex, and the opposite sex. She’s conducted polls, had one-on-one discussions, and hosted over hundred male speaker panels for these topics.

Wendy is a compassionate fellow dater who navigated her way through 120 first dates before meeting her partner, Dave, lucky #121. They live in San Francisco.

Her book, 121 First Dates is a really fun and ultra informing read. It is part juicy tell-all and part anti-rules dating guide. It’s been optioned for a Hollywood film. 

Enough with the introduction, let’s get to now Wendy Newman and her expert insights into dating and what women and men need to know about each other, before, during and after dating.

Wendy Newman welcome to The Next Chapter with Charlie. The first thing I want to tell everyone is that your book is quite simply a very fine read. You are an excellent writer and your content is just so comprehensive. I can’t wait to chat about it. 

You discover more about Wendy Newman at wendyspeaks.com

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life

Show Notes 

On today’s podcast I plan to be perhaps be just a bit controversial by challenging one of our society’s prime objectives—personal growth. In truth, this may be a follow up to the show we did with my son on the tension between personal improvement and personal contentment.

My question, I guess, is this: does there ever come a time in life when you are done growing? Do you ever get to “arrive” and be done with this exhausting effort “to be the best you, you can be?”

I can put the blame on my thoughts on author Neil Gaimen who wrote this in his poem After Silence:

And somebody has to say that we never need to grow forever. That we, like the trees, can reach our full growth, and mature, in wisdom and in time, that we can be enough of us… Who’ll whisper it: We’re done. We grew. Enough.

Neil Gaimen struck on chord that has been ringing in my ears for some time now: that our obsession with “growth” comes from an almost unhealthy dissatisfaction with ourselves. 

Why do I have to be the best Charlie I can be? Why can’t I be, just Charlie?

I heard an interview with B.B. King when he said to up and coming blues guitarists: “Quit trying to be the best one, just try to be a good one.”

For more with Charlie Hedges please visit www.thenextchapter.life