Billy Lahr, one of the hosts of the popular Mindful Midlife Crises podcasts, joins me in this funny and light-hearted yet serious episode where we discuss such topics as his recent midlife crises world tour involving paddleboarding, geomancy, and “pizza dough as a metaphor for living outside your comfort zone”. (PS I am totally stealing that pizza dough metaphor Billy 😉 He has some great insights ranging from “why would I end my vacation and go back to Minneapolis in winter? What was I thinking?” to “you need people in your life that add bumps.” and “sometimes you just gotta say ‘F it'”. Words of wisdom indeed. Billy is funny and uniquely straightforward with his struggles to be mindful and real, even as an out-of-place tourist in a foreign country as he discovers ways to connect with “now” wherever he is, and it’s a really fun ride.
When I first met Keith, it was like I had found a kindred spirit. He’s been practicing mindfulness for a long while and came about his wisdom through the heat of adversity, the way most real wisdom is forged. Keith has put his commitment and focus into helping business professionals be better people, and thereby, better at business. And because what he’s learned is very practical and applicable to our lives, he wrote the book, The Mindfulness Experience, providing a roadmap to becoming more mindful in a way that is effective, practical, and accessible. That is no small task. In this episode, you’ll hear Keith talk about his journey and some of the lessons he’s learned along the way. “Change your story, change your life.”
Keith W Fiveson is a sixty-five-year-old Army Veteran, early internet pioneer, turned yogi, executive life coach. He has studied life in all its challenges. For the past thirty years, his mission has been to help individuals and organizations become more conscious, awake, and alive to life and all its opportunities. His recent book, “The Mindfulness Experience 8 Strategies to Live Life Now“ distills the wisdom of the ages into a pragmatic plan to live in the present. Anyone can be a survivor, but to be a thriver you need to build a life of presence, to be aware of every sacred moment of truth, so you can overcome challenges and adversity. Keith has had cancer twice, a heart condition, a broken home, challenging relationships, and a childhood family life that was dysfunctional and abusive.
Keith has traveled extensively, working, and studying, in over forty-five countries worldwide. He is a certified life coach, Thai yoga therapist, and meditation teacher. He has practiced and studied Eastern and Western mindfulness/meditation for over twenty-five years. He started to cultivate his practice over thirty years ago, using his army training to balance a very hectic corporate career. He has extensive experience in the corporate world, working under extreme pressure and stress with incredible people and companies.
Keith is an alumnus of Price Waterhouse Coopers and the founder of IT Enabled Services Alliance, Inc., a global consulting firm. He has held executive positions at British Telecom, AT&T, and MCI Telecommunications, later to become Verizon Business. Back in the early days of the internet, he helped develop cloud-based solutions for Best Buy, CUNA, Apple, McGraw-Hill, Time Warner, Autism Speaks, General Electric, Citibank, and Merrill Lynch, among others.
He lives in Port Washington, NY, and he works actively in several communities. He coaches several high-functioning executives and individuals who wish to live their best life now, with balance, in an unbalanced world.
This episode is my heartfelt effort to ring a particular bell. The one that rings when something important and urgent and needs your attention. A call to action. This week, it has come into high-resolution focus for me that mindful communications has the capacity to recast your life into a much more satisfying, connected, engaged, resilient, and calmer moment-to-moment life. And more. To live a life connected to the beauty and presence between us and the vast common ground of human experience. It has the power to build bridges made of the fabric of presence where none other can be built. What would your life be like, what would the world be like if we could all be more mindful and somewhat skillful in connecting authentically and communicating about what matters to us? To be heard, be seen, and have the capacity to be present for others. How would that change the choices we make as individuals and as a society? This is the promise of mindfulness plus communication skills. But even with that kind of potential, how much effort goes into learning how to use this instrument? The instrument of our brains, our neurology, our voice, our hearts. How and we tune and play that instrument to create something other than cacophony? If we can’t communicate well how can hope to address the big issues of our time such as racial issues, intensity about political differences, and poverty – much less manage a pandemic. Pretty much zero goes into these skills on a day-to-day basis in our culture. If we are going to thrive, and some might argue, survive, personally and culturally. That has to change.
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“Everyone’s life is an autobiography…make yours worth reading”
Sam is not an actual monk, but his clients often treat him as a sage and in this interview, he relates a story about himself as a “difficult Monk” since he doesn’t tell his clients the answers to life questions, but rather, helps them explore who they are.
In this conversation, you’ll hear how he has managed mindfully to transform himself from a person who is focused on achieving success to someone who inspires others through his storytelling, guidance, and insights into human nature. That transformation occurred, “the moment I stopped thinking about what I’m doing, and focused on who I am.” And that my friends, is the Langauge of Mindfulness.
Sam Thiara is a professional who has created a personal journey as a speaker, storyteller, writer, educator, mentor, coach, entrepreneur, problem solver, and community activator.
His goal is to engage individuals in their personal and professional development, work with teams and organizations on alignment and the 45+ non-profits that he has worked with over the years. Presently, he teaches at the Beedie School of business, at Simon Fraser University and is also the Founder and Chief Motivating Officer at Ignite the Dream Coaching and Consulting, a platform that engages his audience to define their path. A key element is transformational practices where he has become an expert in career coaching (15-40 year old’s) with over 5,000 conversations to date and supporting teams and organizations. He has authored two books, one on storytelling and the other a travel memoir about his journey to India to find his ancestral roots with a faded photograph. He has also spoken at two different TEDx conferences.
Interested in learning more about how you can be more resilient and live from a place of “embodied authority” in your life? Schedule a free session with Brett to explore working together. It’s affordable and the results are guaranteed.
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/languageofmindfulness/message
In this episode of The Langage of Mindfulness podcast, you’ll hear the story of how Mindful Life, Mindful Work Inc., (MLMW) evolved to be a successful organization helping companies to learn and adopt mindfulness. Jonathan tells how he got started on a path to mindfulness and how that grew into a practice of teaching mindfulness to individuals, then evolved to organizations. We discuss the challenges encountered along the way, how he goes about determining what a company needs, and his personal approach to growing his practice and organization.
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