This episode is a table of contents for Season Three to Date.

The links for the similar episodes for Season One and Season Two are as follows

Season One: An Update, A conclusion and a Plan (7min) 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2271523/episodes/14302181

Season Two: Season Two Wrap-up (6min)

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2271523/episodes/15331397

If you would like to connect with Unabridged You, you can do so through these links:

Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you 

We open this episode with our guest's thoughtful words — a reminder that pain is never just physical, and never just medical: 

Laura is a pain clinician and educator who approaches pain through a whole-person lens. In this conversation, she gently expands the way we think about pain, inviting us to step beyond the usual medical framework and consider pain as a deeply human experience — one shaped by our stories, identities, relationships, and the world we live in.
 
In this episode, we explore: 

• Why understanding pain requires more than a medical model
• The emotional, social, and existential layers of the pain experience
• How chronic and persistent pain shape — and are shaped by — identity
• How curiosity and conversation can move our understanding forward

This is an episode for anyone living with pain, supporting someone through it, or simply curious about a more humane, connected way of understanding the complexity of pain.

If you would like to connect with Laura, you can find here through these links:

website: laurarathbone.com 

Instagram: instagram.com/laura.painspecialist 

If you would like to connect with Unabridged You, you can do so through these links:

Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you 

In this powerful follow-up episode, Alicia returns to share her personal story — a story marked by dark chapters, deep resilience, and a fierce commitment to choosing joy. Building on the themes introduced in the previous conversation, Alicia opens up about navigating neurodivergence, assault, life-threatening illness, unsafe relationships, and the complexities of becoming a mum.

Through it all, she has shaped a life grounded in purpose, cultural connection, and the desire to uplift others.

Alicia speaks beautifully about finding strength through her Māori culture, the Kaupapa Māori approach to walking alongside someone in their healing, and her relationship with matakite — intuition, insight, and seeing beyond what is immediately visible. Her story is a reminder that even the heaviest chapters can become sources of wisdom, and that joy is not something we wait for; it’s something we harness.

This episode holds space for:

• The realities of surviving trauma and reclaiming your narrative
  
  
• How cultural knowledge, connection, and community can anchor healing
  
  
• The power of standing in your story rather than shrinking from it
  
  
• What it means to transform lived experience into a source of guidance and support for others
  
  
• Choosing joy as an act of resistance, grounding, and self-determination

Alicia’s resilience is deeply felt, and her insights carry both heart and hope. If her story resonates with you — or you know someone who might draw strength from it — please share this episode. 

Connect with Alicia 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-durbin-a4873a300?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app 

Tiktok: @wahinemaoriandherkuri

Previous episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2271523/episodes/18162525

Listen and Follow Unabridged You:   

Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you 

Twenty-five years after their last conversation, Julie reconnects with an old classmate, whose story of reconnecting to her a Māori cultural roots and understandings of matakite offers a powerful lens on identity and belonging.

In this episode, they explore what it means to search for your place after growing up in a world shaped by The Machine — the social, religious, and colonial pressures that often silenced identity and intuition. Together, they reflect on how rediscovering cultural roots, listening to ancestral wisdom, and embracing spiritual gifts can become acts of self-liberation.

This is the first part of a deeply personal conversation about remembering who we are, standing in our stories, and finding the courage to live unabridged.

This heartfelt conversation explores themes of cultural identity, healing, intuition, resilience, and personal transformation — all core to the journey of becoming unabridged.

In this episode:

• The journey of reconnecting with Māori culture and ancestry
• Understanding matakite and spiritual sensitivity
• How colonial systems shape identity and belonging
• What it means to live authentically and unabridged

Connect with Alicia 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-durbin-a4873a300?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app 

Listen and Follow Unabridged You:   

Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to step away from the noise of daily life and experience a silent retreat? To remove all distractions and responsibilities and simply be with yourself? 

Earlier this year, I attended an 8-day Vipassana meditation retreat — a profound journey into silence and self-observation. In this episode of Unabridged You, I’m joined by our teacher, mentor, and guide Martin Pack, who shares his story, experience, and expertise in the practice of Vipassana. 

Together, we explore the mechanics of Vipassana, the deeper meaning of mindfulness versus awareness, and what happens when we consciously face the tension between boredom and distraction. This is a thoughtful, grounded conversation that invites you to consider your own relationship with silence — and what you might discover there. 

✨ Connect with Martin:
Website: risingfalling.org 

Email: [email protected] 

Listen and Follow Unabridged You:   

Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you 

In the previous episode we spoke with Edward about Resilience, Parenting, Happiness and Values.  We shared a formula for happiness:  When what you personally feel, think, say and do are in harmony.  All the ideas discussed here were more directed toward the individual and their growth.

In this episode, Edward joins us again, and we take the conversation from that focus on the individual to more of a focus on the community.  We talk about the Global Happiness Scale and ideas around how once a person takes the time to consciously figure out their current purpose (with the idea that this is not a fixed destination) it can contribute positively to their communities.  

A key takeaway from this episode is that this journey in life is not about figuring out the meaning of life, but how you want to give meaning to your life.

If you’d like to connect with Edward, you can find them at: 

https://www.positivecontribution.nl/ and https://thepurposecompany.nl/

Follow Unabridged You:   

Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you  

And if you — or someone you know — would like to share your own story of becoming unabridged, email me at [email protected] 

What if we treated Resilience like a muscle and realised it is something we need to help our kids strengthen?

In this episode, Edward Haarmans, a coach, consultant, keynote speaker and parent among many other roles, joins me to share their story of understanding resilience from the perspective of a parent. Together we explore the ideas of Resilience, Happiness and Values and how they help us make meaning in the world. 

You will hear reflections on the mechanics of parenting from the perspective of wanting to grow humans who are well-balanced individuals, while at the same time recognizing that we adults are constantly evolving in our thoughts and understandings, values and meanings of concepts such as happiness as well.  

This episode can help support your children's growth but your own as well.

If you’d like to connect with Edward, you can find them at: 

https://www.positivecontribution.nl/ and https://thepurposecompany.nl/

Follow Unabridged You:   

Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you  

 And if you — or someone you know — would like to share your own story of becoming unabridged, email me at [email protected] 

What does it mean to look for the answer?

When I turned 42, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the year it would all click — the age where everything made sense. After all, 42 is famously “the answer to life, the universe, and everything” in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

But as I reflect back, I found something very different. Not one neat answer, but many small lessons, questions, and surprises.

In this solo episode, I share 

• the five lessons I took (learned, re-learned or had emphasised while being 42 
• why the search for the answer might be too rigid — and what happens when we let our answers evolve, just as we do

Instead of one destination, life keeps offering us shifting questions and ongoing becoming. Maybe that’s the real answer after all.

I’d love to hear from you: was there an age, season, or moment that felt like it might hold the answer? Looking back, what did it teach you? Share your reflections at [email protected] 

Follow Unabridged You:   Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you 

What does it take to turn rock bottom into a turning point?
For Melanie Wert, online personal trainer and life coach, the answer was realizing that no one else could make lasting changes for her — she had to do it herself. 

In this conversation, Melanie shares her story of transformation and how she now helps others bring together physical and mental health to support growth. She talks about: 

• What hitting rock bottom taught her about resilience
• The role of mindset in creating change that lasts
• How she built a worldwide community that breaks down barriers and holds each other accountable to healthier living

If you’ve ever struggled with motivation, or wondered how to truly align body and mind, you’ll find Melanie’s journey both relatable and inspiring.
 
🔗 Connect with Mel: https://www.instagram.com/unstoppablecoachmel
🎧 Follow Unabridged You:   Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you

Do you have your own story of becoming unabridged? I’d love to hear from you — reach out at [email protected]
 

In this episode, Elsa joins us via zoom from France. 

Else begins by sharing her story about how this chapter of her life, where she is becoming unabridged, starts with the death of her father.  We go on to have an 'emotionally naked' conversation and talk about all sorts from death to conversations with strangers, Gestalt therapy to philosophies on living and so much more!  

If you would like to connect with Elsa you can find her here: www.coffeewithstrangers.net 

or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coffeewithstrangers_islife

If you would like to follow along with Unabridged You can find those details here:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnabridgedYou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unabridged_you
Website: https://unabridgedyou.buzzsprout.com/ 

If you have any questions or are interested to be a guest, you can contact me via DM or email at: [email protected]