The Unplug Podcast: Activated Living for Truth Seekers and Critical Thinkers in a Collapsing World

The sedentary cultural mindset of today is hurting us – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Collectively, we spend more time on our heinies than we do on our feet. In our cars, at our desks, in front of the computer, and the tv. We sit from sunup until sundown. We sleep, we wake up…and we sit all over again. Sleep, eat, sit, repeat.

“More than one-half of an average person’s day is spent being sedentary — sitting, watching television or working at a computer,” says Dr. David Alter, senior scientist at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto. According to a recent study by Dr. Alter, people who sit too much have an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and shorter life spans. The bottom line? Humans were meant to move. It’s really that simple.

Not only does movement help us feel better physically, it enhances self-esteem and self-awareness, it reduces anxiety and depression, it enhances the mind-body connection (which tunes us into intuition), and it facilitates learning on a deeper, more experiential level. The body is intimately involved in our emotions, inspiration, intuitive hits, and our inner truth. Despite what we’ve been taught by culture, mind and body are not separate. The body is our true brain. Movement instigates a higher level of critical thought.

Think about it. When you contrast sedentary thought processes with those that arrive when you’re out hiking, dancing, running, kayaking, or whatever feeds your soul, how do they compare? Often our greatest inspiration, creativity, and problem-solving occurs through movement. Movement connects head with heart; body with soul.

This week I speak with a man who is passionate about movement. By breaking down paradigms that trap us in limiting beliefs, Ryan Grant empowers us to move.

Ryan is a former professional triathlete, competitive runner (who runs a sub 30 minute 10K), adventure racer, and ultra expedition runner. He’s also the co-owner (with his sister, Cassandra) of SoleFit Inc., an Ottawa, Ontario based business that is passionate about inspiring activity – whether it’s through high-level sport, or just getting out for daily walks.

Ryan recently completed a 21 day epic adventure running across the Patagonia desert in support of the Impossible2Possible Foundation. Along with Impossible2Possible founder, Ray Zahab and Stephano Gregoretti, the trio set out to inspire, educate, and empower the global community of youth to reach beyond their perceived limits. By using adventure to inspire interactive learning about remote parts of the world, other cultures, and also to show that there are no limits to what we can do when we set our minds to something, hearts and minds are opened, and positive change happens.

Ryan is a gifted athlete with a massive heart. Do not let his athletic prowess intimidate however. Ryan’s accomplishments are not for show. They’re for the simple reason that he just loves to move. This is what he inspires in all of us. It makes no difference if it’s lawn bowling, walking the dog, running, or triathlon. Ryan is passionate about inspiring a culture that reclaims its birthright to move.

This week’s conversation explores so many great topics including:

• The importance of movement.

• What would it be like if age didn’t matter?

• The stigma of age.

• Leveraging our passions for health and wellness.

• How willpower is finite, but passion burns indefinitely.

• The difference between health and performance.

• Learning to listen to body wisdom.

• Why we strive to fill every moment with “busy”.

• How mindful practices such as meditation and grounding bring us more into balance.

• Saying yes to the adventure of life.

Ryan’s ultimate message for everyone is this: move, don’t accept status quo,

According to the American Heritage dictionary, boundaries are defined as an “indicated border or limit.”

When we think of personal boundaries, we often reference the imaginary borders that indicate where we begin and another person ends. When our boundaries are solid, we’re rooted in our authentic Selves. When our boundaries are healthy, we have well developed identities that are distinct from others – the way it should be. We’re no longer dependant on the beliefs, opinions and judgements of others to define our personal worth.

Without healthy boundaries, we find ourselves enmeshed in the emotional lives of others. Yuck!

But there’s so much more to boundaries than meets the eye. The word “boundary” implies something that exists outside of ourselves. True boundaries aren’t defined externally however. They exist within. If we take this even further, they’re not really “boundaries at all; they’re the voice of our intuition, or authentic self. When we experience a boundary violation, it’s because we’ve derailed from our inner truth.

Our culture conditions us to dishonor ourselves. As a result, we’re overworked, exhausted, frustrated, anxious, depressed, resentful, and, in many cases, abused. By not honoring our internal truths, we not only compromise ourselves, we separate from the essence of who we authentically are.

As we set clear boundaries based on what lives within, we discover a clearer sense of our spiritual presence in the world. We’re also keenly aware of boundary violations. When we’re plugged in to our authentic self, our inner strength carries us through life and boundary creation is no longer a necessity

This week’s conversation is a powerful exploration of boundaries…and so much more. This week I speak with the force of nature known as Louise LeBrun. Louise is gifted in her ability to demolish old paradigms with her simple, yet profound wisdom.

This week, we explore:

• What is a boundary?

• Who we are influences what we know.

• Paying attention to our inner cues.

• How we often violate ourselves when we don’t honor our truth.

• Awakening to internal referencing (and how this will change the world).

• How we become adept at silencing the screams inside ourselves so that we only hear the commands of the external world.

• When we live externally references lives, we are less likely to have solid boundaries.

• When someone ignores a boundary, that is their response (and it requires no more engagement).

• Permission to change your mind!

• Be yourself and tell the truth – the secret to an authentic life!

• What is a nomimalization?

• How our lives are intended to be fluid.

Louise LeBrun consistently alters my world in ways that create expansion. I’m confident that this week’s conversation will do the same for you.

SHOW NOTES:

• WEL-Systems website.

• New Paradigm – New World! Louise’s game-changing multi-media e-book on iTunes. Get it!

• Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis by Alanna Mitchell.

Are you inspired by this podcast? If so, here’s how you can fan the flame for the message:

1. Support the show!

Support the paradigm-altering Unplug movement on Patreon. Every little bit makes a difference!

2. Subscribe & Review the Show on iTunes:

Here’s a simple 5-step process t...

Can you imagine a world where human beings evolved beyond meat? I certainly can. And so can this week’s Unplug podcast guest. Ethan Brown is the founder and CEO of the paradigm altering company, Beyond Meat.

Ethan’s vision for a better world is inspired by the calling in his heart to render the meat industry obsolete. How? By creating something better. Something more delicious, more health giving, and entirely cruelty free. Beyond Meat is changing the face of food at a time in our planetary history where radical transformation is our only option. Unless you live with your head in the drought-created sand dunes, or flood inspired mud pits of the world, you know what I mean.

Outside Magazine journalist, Rowan Jacobsen writes in an article about Beyond Meat, “I dumped meat a few weeks ago, and it was not an easy breakup. Some of my most treasured moments have involved a deck, a beer, and a cheeseburger. But the more I learned, the more I understood that the relationship wasn’t good for either of us. I knew that with every burger I consumed, I was helping to suck America’s rivers dry, munching on a fecal casserole seasoned liberally with E. coli, passively condoning an orgy of torture that would make Hannibal Lecter blanch, and accelerating global warming as surely as if I’d plowed my Hummer into a solar installation. We all needed to kick the meat habit, starting with me.”

Climate change is altering the face of the world and it’s waking us up to a new reality. It ain’t pretty. As Naomi Klein writes in the cover sleeve of her recent book, This Changes Everything, “Climate change is a civilizational wake-up call, a powerful message delivered in the language of fires, floods, storms, and droughts. Confronting it is no longer about changing the light bulbs. It’s about changing the world – before the world changes so drastically that no one is safe. Either we leap – or we sink.”

This week, we leap…far into a new reality. The only hurdle – the biggest hurdle – the human mind. But Ethan has it covered. His products are so innovative – and delicious – that even the toughest meat eater cocks his head in disbelief.

Beyond Meat’s blend of soy and pea protein isolates, fiber, and a few other ingredients has more protein than beef. More omegas than salmon. Ample calcium, vitamin B, and antioxidants. In their southern California headquarters, the scientists at Beyond Meat have created plant-protein-based meat alternatives that deliver the texture, taste, and juiciness of animal flesh without the cruelty and environmental degradation. It’s a win for all involved – the animals, the planet, and humanity.

Beyond Meat has the backing of big guns like Bill Gates and Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone. That alone, speaks volumes.

In this week’s conversation, Ethan and I speak about:

• Following your calling (and how it never leaves).

• The number one inefficiency with meat creation, is the animal itself.

• Aligning the parts within ourselves to live more consciously an congruently with truth.

• The changing face of food in desperate times.

• The power of transparency.

• The biggest obstacle to change is cultural conditioning.

• How culture conditions us to shut down our internal truth.

• Changing the world through food.

Sometimes it’s necessary to live a bad situation to its fullest before we’re ready to step into transformation. Our altered climate is no longer a future worry. It’s here now. We’ve remorselessly consumed everything good, true, and beautiful and the results speak for themselves. It’s ugly.

We all know it’s going to take a miracle to turn things around on this planet. But we can never let our current reality define our future reality. Our minds doubt that things will ever be much different from what we see and know.

The past several decades have seen rapid transformation in many areas of modern life. From the internet to social media to crowdfunding, nearly every sector in the western world uses new technologies to innovate, create, and communicate in ways that were previously unimaginable. The merits and drawbacks are arguable, but the accelerated momentum is undeniable.

There is one sector, however, that remains virtually unchanged.

Created in the mid-nineteenth century, the factory-model of education prevails to this day. Conformity, compliance and competition supplant creativity, curiosity, and collaboration. It is a stark reminder of an antiquated model designed to perpetuate the hypnotic trance that defines the consumptive paradigm of separation.

With its rigid bell schedules and age-based grade levels, the factory-model of education was designed to produce assembly line workers for repetitive tasks without the need for problem solving, analysis, creativity, or critical thought. By monotonously teaching the same curriculum at the same pace year after year, compliant thought is ensured.

The Dalai Lama recently said that, “Education is in crisis the world over. There is unprecedented literacy, yet this universal education does not seem to have fostered goodness, but only mental restlessness and discontent instead.”

With few opportunities for engaging conversations and creative problem solving, students are unable to make important connections that lead them to self discovery, goodness, and truth.

Critical thought is one of the greatest assets in a conscious, awakening mind. In a cultural paradigm that promotes sameness, critical thought challenges the status quo and inspires authentic expression, compassion, creativity, and truth.

It is in our biological nature to think, yet much of our thinking is externally sourced. The blind acceptance of the status quo ensures mindless choices, behaviours, and actions that perpetuate the consumptive patterns responsible for alarming planetary destruction. A mental realm devoid of critical thought is judgmental, uninformed, biased, and outright distorted.

When we deaden critical thought, we deaden wisdom. When we deaden creativity, we deaden the soul. When we run on knowledge alone, we destroy the earth. Author Thomas Berry states that, “Most of the destruction of the planet is being accomplished by people with PhDs.” Mahatma Gandhi’s greatest fear for his country after its freedom was realized was, “The cold hearts of the educated citizens.”

What is critical thought? The basic definition implies the ability to make one’s own decisions along with the willingness to continually challenge one’s own thinking. It also implies the non-acceptance of beliefs, opinions, facts, and statements as valid without first considering a more expansive worldview directed by internal truth. Critical thought is self-directed, self-monitored, and self-corrective. It inspires, enlightens, and empowers.

Critical thinking unites head with heart.

The cultivation of critical thought inspires compassion. Compassion elevates consciousness. Compassion in action transforms the world.

Enter unschooling, an innovative educational philosophy that eliminates the institutionalized, “one size fits all” approach of the factory model of education. Peter Gray, psychology professor at Boston College and author of Free To Learn, states that “children come into this world burning to learn, equipped with the curiosity, playfulness, and sociability to direct their own education. Yet we have squelched such instincts in a school model originally developed to indoctrinate, not to promote intellectual growth.”

Unschooling accommodates a child’s natural passion for learning by nurturing curiosity, creativity, and critical thought. In a world where self-confidence has reached all-time lows, unschooling fosters self-expression, self-esteem,

Dr. Radhika Rajagopal (Radica Raj) is a woman with a hunger for expansion. Inspired by the words of veterinarian/author James Herriot, Radica knew at an early age that she’d discovered her calling.

Growing up in India, her passion for helping animals led her to study veterinary medicine in Canada where she graduated with the traditional Western knowledge typically found in the veterinary clinics of today. After practicing for a few years, she found herself disillusioned with the routine procedures and lack of challenges found in a typical general practice.

She shook things up by embarking on a career transition that led her into veterinary emergency medicine and critical care. With the ongoing challenges and continual adrenalin rush, she was inspired to start her own emergency facility while living in the bustling metropolis of Toronto.

As the owner of two clinics (a general practice and the critical care clinic), she was pushed to work long hours and night shifts to accommodate the steady flow of animals in need. While this transition provided the challenges she craved, she became increasingly frustrated with the limitations of Western medicine to provide quality of life solutions for terminally ill patients and animals suffering from osteo-arthritis and paralysis. Frustration often precedes growth and it was this frustration that led Radica on yet another journey into the expansive world of holistic medicine. Radica’s life changed when she said yes to this path. She connected to the healer within and embraced the fullness of her calling.

She’s since completed her post-graduate diploma in Veterinary Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine with the Chi Institute in Florida. This fueled her hunger for more and she continues to expand her healing repertoire. She now offers chiropractic, prolotherapy, and platelet rich plasma therapy…and I suspect that there will be more to come. More importantly however, Radica leads with her heart. Her kindness and compassion are a breath of fresh air in a commoditized profession that often chooses profit over prevention. Radica cares. When I’m in her presence, I feel safe. But the bigger testament to her gift for healing is the ease displayed by the animals in her care. The love in her heart is palpable by all. There’s nothing more inspiring than being in the presence of someone who truly loves what they do – someone who is fulfilling a calling rather than just doing d job. This is Dr Radica Raj, integrative veterinarian, healer, and passionate lover of all life.

This week we discuss:

• The importance of creating safety for healthy relationships – regardless of species.

• The multi-sensory art of integrative medicine.

• The power of example to facilitate change.

• The exciting possibilities of prolotherapy and platelet rich plasma therapy for tissue repair.

• What are stem cells and why stem cell therapy is so exciting.

• How health care should be about prevention, support, and facilitating the body’s natural healing mechanisms.

• The body’s innate capacity to heal itself.

• A frank discussion about the danger of vaccines and how they suppress the body’s innate intelligence.

• The importance of a natural diet for optimal health.

• Balancing diagnostics with intuition.

• Navigating burnout and knowing when to slow down.

• The power of belief to heal.

Dr. Radica Raj is creating a paradigm shift in veterinary medicine, not through exclusion, but by opening herself to the endless possibilities for healing body, mind, and soul. Enjoy this inspirational show.

SHOW NOTES:

• Phoenix Rising Veterinary Care website.

• Marlene Smith, “Life Lessons Learned f...

As a critical thinking, soul-expressed status quo crusher, I see the world through a more expansive lens; the lens of the heart. Where society sees one thing, I see many others. I believe in accountability, which means that I’m willing to say things that many are unwilling to hear. It’s often easier to remain a victim to circumstances than it is to own it. But that’s a cop out from life and I refuse to accept anything less than the admission that we can all be and do so much better.

The purpose of this post is to redefine mental illness/depression and tell it like it is. Depression is the mind’s response to a short-circuit from the soul; a cry from the heart to wake up! Depression is a psychosomatic response to a closed heart and the subsequent separation from who we authentically are.

In a world where humanity has strayed so far from its core essence, it’s not surprising that depression, anxiety, and addiction are commonplace. The paradigm that we call “reality” is not set up for life, truth, presence, authenticity, integrity, compassion, and love. This world is not designed to nurture the essence of who we are. As a result, our inner disconnect manifests mental ailments such as depression and anxiety. These afflictions may be considered “normal”, but normal is not natural.

In the past 10 years, the use of anti-depressants has doubled. The farther we stray from the truth of who we are, the greater the likelihood of experiencing depression (herein called, spiritual disconnect). We live in a spiritually vacant paradigm and the repercussions are ugly. The more we conform to a culture gone sideways, the greater the likelihood of spiritual disconnect. The more we believe the dysfunctional thought loops in our heads, the greater the likelihood of spiritual disconnect. The more unworthy we believe we are, the greater the likelihood of spiritual disconnect. The more time we spend spinning our wheels “doing”, the greater the likelihood of spiritual disconnect. The more time we spend in fear, the greater the likelihood of spiritual disconnect. The less time we spend honoring our souls, the greater the likelihood of spiritual disconnect.

Spiritual disconnect is a powerful invitation to turn inward and rediscover the truth of who we are.

I believe that we are all born connected and whole. But we’re taught to disconnect and separate. When life brings us pain and discomfort, we don’t know how to cope. Heartbreak happens. Death happens. Money struggles happen. Stress happens. Life happens. It can often feel impossible to remain present and connected when life presents us with so much pain. Sometimes it’s easier to just check out, but this comes at great expense. We are not our pain, yet so many of us identify with just that…unconscious victims to our own emotional immaturity.

On a deep spiritual level we all know that we are so much more than who we’ve been conditioned to be. We all know that we’re meant to live more, give more, be more, and love more. But in a world where we don’t feel safe expressing who we authentically are, many of us separate from our true selves in order to shield our hearts from the judgement we so deeply fear. This separation leads to a loss of direction, vitality, meaning, purpose, identity, compassion, and love. Culturally, we’ve normalized unhappiness by medicating it rather than owning it. We’re not taught to be emotionally mature beings. We’re taught to judge, label, and suppress our emotions while attaching to the fictitious stories we create in our heads. We’re taught to think and not feel – a dangerous recipe for depression/spiritual disconnect.

When we ignore our emotions, we ignore our souls.

A quote by George Brown in the book, The Noonday Demon says it all, “Depression is a response to past loss, and anxiety is a response to future loss.” Depression and anxiety are the soul’s direct responses to an u...

As a passionate advocate for living each day from a higher sense of calling, I’m always eager when I meet like-minded souls. Most people just exist, doing what it takes to get through each monochrome day. Yawn. This is not why we were birthed into this world.

What does it take to awaken the dormant potential within? For many people, a tragic circumstance is often the catalyst for change; when the comfort zone is smashed to reveal the possibility of so much more. The conditioning of the prevailing culture of ignorance loosens it’s grip on the psyche exposing expansive depths for endless possibility.

We’re not meant to blindly accept what we’ve been told. We’re meant to choose. Does it feel right or not? Does it bring us closer to love and truth or not? Does it bring us closer to life-affirming behaviors and actions or not? Life is a choice – moment by moment, day by day. Who we are is who we choose to be. Until we intimately know this, we are unconscious hostages to the conditioning that perpetuates the consumptive, destructive nature of status quo.

How do we consciously grow as human beings and how do we intelligently guide this process?

Enter Steve Pavlina, author, speaker, and creator of one of the most popular personal development websites in the world. With over 700 thought-provoking posts, Steve has risen to the top by freely sharing his plethora of wisdom, his paradigm-altering world view, and his willingness to care. This recipe of generosity has attracted more than two million readers to his site. Steve’s tagline is to “live life consciously”, and it is obvious that he does not hold back.

Steve’s life began conservatively – the humdrum existence that entraps us all. Once freed from the limitations and expectations of his family structure, the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. In 1991, Steve was arrested for grand felony theft. It was a pivotal moment in a jail cell that sparked his internal revolution.

Steve’s life has been tumultuous. Is there anyone who cannot relate? From jail cell to bankrupt business owner and everything between, Steve is proof positive that anyone can change, that anyone can be better, and that anyone can awaken the dormant potential within.

As he states on his website, “Personal development is hard work. It takes time, consistency, and patience.” I’d like to add that it also takes the willingness to accept that you are worth it. Personal development is alignment with truth and love.

In this week’s conversation, we delve into the essence of topics such as:

• How to become a conscious participant in growth.

• Choosing what kind of person you want to be.

• What is intelligent fearlessness?

• The scarcity mindset and the abundance mindset.

• How asking ourselves powerful questions empowers our growth.

• How failure can lead us to great personal expansion.

• The transformative power of embodied gratitude.

• Daring to care!

• How a greater sense of purpose serves the collective consciousness while creating flow and alignment.

• When we serve a higher calling, we no longer need motivation. It is internally driven with ease.

• Redefining goal setting.

• If our values and choices are not aligned, we don’t value ourselves.

• How vegan is the way to love, unity, and wholeness.

• How our hearts radiate an elevated level of thought.

Personal development is the willingness to say yes to what lives in the soul. It’s the willingness to embrace a higher calling that serves the collective good of Planet Earth. Personal development is saying yes to life, love, courage, and truth. All we are is always changing. Do we shrink or expand. Therein lies the ultimate life choice.

SHOW NOTES:

• Steve’s inspirational

Let’s face it, we live in an insensitive world. We’re taught to think but not feel, speak but not act, and hear but not listen. Factory farming, climate change, war, poverty, climate change, poisoned oceans, and decimated rainforests are some of the dire consequences of an insensitive world.

I believe that we are all born sensitive. We are all born to love and to care. But our natural tendencies are counterproductive in the status quo world that awaits – ready to swallow us whole. In order to perpetuate the consumptive profit machine, our natural sensitivities must be eliminated. And so it goes, indoctrination into the beliefs, institutions, systems, and workflow that ensures our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual slavery.

But for some of us, our natural sensitivities prevail through it all. We are highly sensitive people. This sensitivity is cause for celebration in a world crying out for love.

The concept of the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) was discovered by psychotherapist Elaine N. Aron who authored the book, The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You. According to Aron, HSPs comprise 15-20% the population. I would surmise that there are far more of us as we wake up to the irreversible problems on this planet.

HSPs are easily overwhelmed by stimuli, are extremely perceptive and intuitive, are agitated by strong smells and loud noises, are sensitive to sugar, caffeine, drugs, alcohol, and pharmaceuticals, are overwhelmed in crowds, have rich internal lives, are highly compassionate and creative, have a deep love for animals and nature, and need ample alone and quiet time to maintain their sanity and equilibrium.

An HSP himself, Carl Jung observed that our innate sensitivity, “teaches the other possibility: the interior life which is so wanting in our civilization.” With such deep compassion and empathy, HSPs are visionaries who see the world in a more expansive way – noticing what most others miss. Many HSPs are healers, intuitive’s, artists, therapists, writers, philosophers and spiritual seekers.

Sadly, in an insensitive culture, many HSPs grew up with little understanding or appreciation for the loving, compassionate, and intuitive gifts they bring to the world. Fortunately, this is slowly changing. With yoga and meditation as mainstream pursuits, many people are rediscovering their kind, sensitive selves.

This week’s Unplug podcast guest, Danielle MacKinnon, is a sensitive woman who understands the challenge of embracing sensitivity in an insensitive world. As she writes on her website:

For as long as she could remember, Danielle MacKinnon felt different. She could walk into a room and “feel” negativity, she could sense when someone was secretly upset and she could even tell what animals were thinking. Unfortunately, growing up in a small Midwest town with a family that was afraid to draw attention to themselves, she was not in an environment that supported these differences. And like so many others, instead of exploring her differences, she tried to become as “normal” as possible.

Years later, with her BA in English and MBA in Entrepreneurship and Marketing in hand, Danielle lived a highly successful life in corporate America. However, something always seemed “off.” No matter how well she did, how successfully she managed her projects or how much praise she received, she still never felt completely satisfied with herself or with what she was doing with her life. It took the illness of her family pet to bring her the insight she needed to finally embrace her passion. To a chorus of disbelief from her family and friends, she walked away from the corporate life and opted to create her own version of “normal”…which was using her intuitive abilities to assist others.

Compassion is the ability to put ourselves into the shoes, paws, wings, or hoofs of another. Compassion means “to feel with”. With the exception of sociopaths, compassion is an innate emotion that we all experience. Compassion is frequently identified as the most important core human quality.

We are all born compassionate. The seed of compassion resides permanently in our hearts as a reminder that we are all connected. Compassion is the greatest expression of love.

As we move through life conditioned by parents, teachers, authority figures, and culture, compassion is squelched, fragmented, and compartmentalized. We’re taught to hear but not listen; speak but not act; think but not feel. We’re taught to conform, consume, comply. We label, we fear, we judge…we separate.

This is not who we are.

The human heart has the capacity to hold an enormous amount of love and compassion. By our very nature, we are compassionate. Anything less that that is the lie we’ve bought into to separate us from life. The reason we do what we do to those we perceive as other is because we’re asleep at the wheel.

But we are not separate. We’re autonomous expressions of a greater whole in an interconnected world. We have the choice to live the lie or not. We’re the ones who created it. We’re the ones who can un-create it. Just as we’ve chosen ignorance, so too can we choose truth. The most important thing that we can do in our lifetime is to dare to care about the sacredness of life for all living beings.

This week’s Unplug podcast conversation is all about daring to care in an uncaring world by putting compassion into action.

Ashley Fruno has dedicated her life to being a voice for the voiceless. Her commitment to the creation of a better world for animals is steadfast. Her commitment to truth unwavering.

For the past eight years, Ashley has worked as a senior campaigner for PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) Asia-Pacific office in Manila, Philippines. She’s no stranger to the plight of animals. From educating people about the benefits of a compassionate vegan lifestyle to rescuing animals in the aftermath of environmental disaster, Ashley has been there. In 28 years of life, Ashley’s been witness to both the worst and best in humanity. Her heart remains strong and pure throughout. This is the transformative power of compassion.

There is so much more to Ashley Fruno than her work with PETA however. This week’s conversation explores passion, courage, compassion, love and purpose. It touches the very essence of what it means to be a human being with a calling that makes the world a better place.

This week we speak about:

• Love them or hate them, how PETA doesn’t exist to make friends. They exist to make people think in a more compassionate way.

• How we should never hesitate to give back to the world to make it better.

• Inspiring compassion through the power of example.

• The single most effective choice we can make to help animals is to choose vegan.

• The power of the word NO.

• The importance of focusing on small victories for greater change.

• Remaining grounded in sanity through ruthless self care.

• How relationships with dogs make us better people.

• How we have the ability to make the world a better place with every choice we make in every day of life.

• How living in fear of judgment perpetuates the destruction of our world.

I love powerful quotes and I found the perfect quote that epitomizes Ashley as follows:

“Say how you feel, leave the job you hate, find your passion, love with every ounce of your bones, stand up for the things that matter, don’t settle, don’t apologize for who you are. Be brave.”

Enjoy this week’s show with Ashley Fruno,

The death of Jessie, my canine soul-mate, has had a profound effect on me. Saying goodbye is never easy, but losing someone we have a deep connection with affects the heart in indescribable ways.

Soul-mates appear in various “body-suits” with various labels. They may wear the label of partner, mother, father, friend, dog, cat, budgie, guinea pig; it really makes no difference. When two souls connect, labels are meaningless.

For 13 years, my life revolved around Jessie. This was a choice I made that enhanced my life beyond words. I’ve had many relationships with many different beings – non-human and human alike. Every relationship is different. When we say goodbye to a soul-mate relationship though, the impact is devastating. It hurts more. The grief is deeper – more intense, more debilitating.

When Jessie left, I was demolished. I felt incomplete without her. My heart was halved. The pain was unbearable.

Every death gives me a greater appreciation for the beauty and frailty of life – but only after the acute grieving ends. In the beginning phases of grief, there is so much confusion and pain. It was this confusion and pain that led me on a search for comfort.

Kim Sheridan is the author of Animals and the Afterlife: True Stories of Our Best Friends’ Journey Beyond Death. Kim’s book was exactly the comfort I needed to not only ease my pain, but to also expand my worldview in significant ways.

On her website it states:

Kim Sheridan grew up with animals as her constant companions. Each time she faced the death of a beloved animal, along with the pain came the same questions, to which she could find no answers. Then, mysterious things began to happen which she could not explain.

Unable to dismiss these mysterious events, Kim embarked upon what became an incredible journey to uncover the truth. Along with her own experiences, she compiled the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people from around the world. She discovered overwhelming evidence that forever erased her own doubts of an afterlife for animals.

Kim’s journey is one from open-minded child to grieving skeptic, and ultimately, to comforted believer. It’s through the courage of her journey that we may all become comforted believers.

This week’s Unplug podcast conversation dives into uncharted waters and crushes status quo in profound ways. This week, we expand the paradigm well beyond the limitations of our 5 physical senses.

Our paradigm-altering conversation includes topics such as:

• What is Earth, Health, Compassion?

• The power of grief to inspire a higher calling.

• How we are more open to afterlife experiences when our logical minds are quiet.

• How the logical mind blocks truth.

• The importance of supportive community during times of grief.

• The problems with unexpressed grief and how it manifests physically if continually suppressed.

• The importance of safe space to feel, heal, and be real.

• The illusory hierarchy of grief.

• How guilt complicates grief.

• What is the afterlife and how do we know we’re experiencing it?

• What are afterdeath visitations?

• How the intellect interferes with afterdeath visitations.

• Trusting that there is so much more beyond our perceptual senses.

• The necessity for acknowledging our emotions and how our emotions are intertwined with our intuition.

Jessie’s departure opened up a new realm of possibility for me. It’s often in the depth of our deepest pain that we open to possibilities we may not normally consider.

I invite you to open your mind and heart to animals and the afterlife – a moving testament to love – the powerful force that never dies.