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Nestled in the redwood forests of Sonoma County, California, Bohemian Grove is a 2,700-acre private campground owned by the Bohemian Club, an elite, all-male social club founded in San Francisco in 1872. Every July, it hosts a two-week encampment that draws some of the world's most influential men—think presidents, CEOs, military leaders, and artists. The retreat is shrouded in secrecy, fueling both fascination and wild speculation.
Every July, brave runners from Western Canada and around the world descend upon Crowsnest Pass, Alberta for Sinister 7, one of several popular events within the Sinister Sports umbrella. Sin 7 boasts a 50k, 50M, and 100M ultramarathon, as well as a 7-person 100M relay. Each race takes runners through “the most rugged, remote and beautiful terrain in Alberta's stunning Rocky Mountains.”This interview features two prairie girls who made the trip west for 2024's race. Brandy Adolphe, a 3:15 marathoner and past Inspired Soles guest, was making her ultramarathon debut in the 50k. And Cat Brown, even though no stranger to the 50M distance, was tackling this daunting course for the first time…with a known ankle injury! Despite facing some challenges on the day, both ladies finished with huge smiles on their faces. And they even managed to make this hilly, grueling event sound … fun!If you've been thinking of adding Sin 7 to your 2025 bucket list, this chat may help to make up your mind. Connect with Brandy & Cat on Instagram:Brandy: @brandyadolphe3Cat: @therunningkatResources we discussed in the episode:Brandy's first interview on Inspired SolesSinister 7 UltraConnect with Carolyn:Email me with guest ideas: inspiredsolescast@gmail.comInspired Soles InstagramYou can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to inspiredsolescast@gmail.com.
Every July, dozens of fungi experts and novices descend on the Town of Hiles in Forest County.The town of around 450 people has been dubbed the Mushroom Capital of Wisconsin by the Wisconsin Mycological Society because of the diversity of mushrooms that can be found in the area.For WXPR's We Live Up Here, Katie Thoresen tagged along on this year's Hiles Mushroom Foray to learn more about what makes this area so unique.
Every July 28th, the World Health Organization, WHO, celebrates World Hepatitis Day, to raise public awareness about the disease, which affects the liver and causes liver cancer and cirrhosis. Hepatitis is said to be among the leading causes of death among infectious diseases. How can individuals effectively protect themselves from contracting this disease, given its devastating impact, causing the loss of thousands of lives worldwide? Join us on today's episode of Nigeria Daily as we delve into essential preventive measures and expert advice to prevent one from contracting it.
Every July, Alegre enters numbers into a spreadsheet that she's been keeping for over 20 years. She calls it her Family Fiscal Year-End. It's how she tracks the "big picture" financial numbers that affect her family. It lets them know how they are doing on saving for retirement and paying off debt. It's also taught her how to have a long-term vision for her finances because it can be difficult to see the upward trajectory on a daily basis, but over the years, the ups and downs have a way of smoothing out into a consistent, upward trajectory that's exciting. We also talk about the run-up to the new school year which is about a month away, and how we are helping our kiddos prepare. Resources mentioned in this podcast: Sign-up for our mailing list and get our 1-page Stop Parental Burnout Cheat Sheet available at TinyURL.com/BYWDStopBurnout (This is the audio only portion of our weekly Thursday 9:30am PT/ 12:30pm ET weekly live stream. Subscribe to our Google calendar for reminders tinyURL.com/BYWDcalendar) -------------------------------------- You can watch our live chats on FB, IG, or YouTube. Our website: BYWDreams.com Our paperbacks: TinyURL.com/BYWDbooks Our annual life-design course: BYWDreams.mailerpage.com/hpop --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/harnessthepowerofplanning/support
In this episode of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, host Andrea Samadi revisits a profound interview with Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, the author of the best-selling book "Blue Mind." Dr. Nichols delves into the fascinating connection between our brains and water, inspired by his extensive research and personal experiences. Andrea reflects on Dr. Nichols' groundbreaking work, which explores how being near, in, on, or underwater can enhance our happiness, health, and overall well-being. This episode covers the origins of the Blue Mind theory, its scientific backing, and practical ways to apply it in daily life to combat stress, anxiety, and burnout. As we honor Dr. Nichols' legacy, Andrea encourages listeners to practice Blue Mind, understand their personal connection to water, and extend this healing practice to others. Tune in to discover how the magical and mysterious connection to water can transform our lives. On today's episode #338 we will revisit a previous interview #297[i] from last summer to remember the author of the best-selling book, Blue Mind, Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, who made such an impact on the world with his Blue Mind Movement, and is no longer with us today. While this is a difficult episode to write, I know it's an important one as I could use the tips I know we are going to cover myself at the moment. I'm also sure there are others in the world who could benefit from revisiting the surprising science that shows how being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier more connected and better at what you do. I could have left this episode until a later date, even closed to World Blue Mind Day coming up July 23rd (later this month) as I stared at a blank document and the words just wouldn't come out. Then when I finally did start writing, last month, the document was erased, so it just must not have been the right words. Or maybe this episode was meant to be written near the ocean as I'm sitting next to the Gulf of Mexico, while writing this. Or maybe even written from the point of view, of being under the water, looking around, and up, to “see” what can be felt deeply with this mysterious brain/mind connection. Before sitting down to write this episode, I noticed sea turtles swimming around in the ocean, up close to us, and everyone mentioned how rare this was. I just kept thinking of Dr. Nichols telling me (in our interview this time last year) that he studied sea turtles for 30 years, and remembered him mentioning that he was hoping someone else more qualified (like Dr. Oliver Sachs) would write the book he wanted to write, connecting the deep mysterious ocean with the intricacies of our brain. While revisiting our interview, I wondered: What else could we learn from Dr. Nichols that we might have missed the first time? You know when you read a good book twice you always see something new. This is because you've changed since the first time, and you bring new experiences with you. I wonder what doors this second look would open for all of us? How can I improve my own Blue Mind Practice? Dr. Nichols mentioned that even if we are doing ok, practicing Blue Mind could still help us, but for those people who are in Red Mind (feeling anxious) this practice could save your life. It's another tool to add to our tool kit to prevent us from reaching Grey Mind (or Burn out). How can revisiting this episode help others close to me (starting with my own family) helping them to practice Blue Mind in our daily lives? Also not being afraid of the hardest science in the room (our emotions) and keep talking openly about our feelings, and to not be afraid to reach out to others if we feel Red Mind or anxious thoughts. How can we highlight Dr. Nichols' work so that we ALL can do what he suggests we do, by finding “our water, pay attention to how it feels and then take someone else with you” to experience the deep mysteries felt with this Blue Mind that's backed by science. Knowing our first interview was an important one, I watched the YouTube[ii] version for the third time this week, writing more notes on top of previous notes, to see if I could dig deeper into the meaning of the words of wisdom covered in our first interview. Let's go back and revisit this important interview with marine biologist and author, Dr. Wallace J Nichols, to see if we can take our own practice of Blue Mind, to the next level. We opened up our interview when I recalled standing next to the bluest water I have ever seen in Turks and Caicos, last summer, 2023, just prior to our interview. I remember our bags were packed, and we were just leaving our hotel to return home, when I was introduced to Dr. Nichols, (via email) after experiencing some of the most “magical” memories that our family has ever felt, near the water. Dr. Nichols recalls those turquoise waters, saying he “knew them well” and we would return home as a family, not knowing we would ALL need Dr. Nichols' Blue Mind Theory later this summer ourselves. It's all easy to see these things looking backwards, but the dots had not connected forward yet, like Steve Jobs' famous Stanford Commencement Speech.[iii] I knew this was an important interview. For myself, as well as for others. INTRO: We open up this interview with my introduction about Dr. Nichols, and how the foreword to his book, Blue Mind, was written by Celine Cousteau, one of the daughters of the great Jacques Cousteau who wrestles with explaining the “awe and wonder” of our oceans and waterways. She says “should we leave it, or dive in and explain it?” Jacques Cousteau would dive in, so she decides to do the same and says “it's about reconnecting our sense of self and soul with our waterways and oceans. It's about finding creativity, clarity, and confidence in our deep Blue Minds.” (Celine Cousteau) Next, I ask Dr. Nichols to share some of the meaning behind Celine Cousteau's words in the Foreword, and he shared that she connected her background in psychology to her words. Then I ask Dr. Nichols about how he made the brain/water connection and I loved his answer. He was hoping that someone else would publish Blue Mind. He searched all over the place for this book, Your Brain on Water, and pitched this book idea to Dr. Oliver Sachs, and he was told over and over again, that this is your book to write. I understood why he kept looking for this book, from my point of view. I'm a former teacher, from Toronto, trying to make sense of how our brain impacts our future results, specifically as it relates to learning. I remember writing the idea of this podcast down, connecting Neuroscience to Social and Emotional Learning and almost hid this idea from others in the beginning. I'm not a neuroscientist, or anything –ist. But there was a time when I was told, just like Dr. Nichols, “you need to make the neuroscience/education connection” (and was handed a ton of books to read). I remember thinking “this is too hard for me” but I did it anyway. I was determined to learn more about our brain and learning, and paid people smarter than me to explain the concepts I couldn't grasp. Slowly but surely, I began to understand how our brain learns something new. Which is why I was so impressed when Dr. Nichols “wrote the book” anyway, connecting the nervous system (that we are still making deeper discoveries with) to largely unexplored bodies of water, like the ocean. He connected top neuroscientists, to those who understood the mysteries within the depths of the ocean. He says himself that it took him some time, explaining to me that he's a marine biologist, who studied sea turtles for 30 years, and I understood what he was saying. He noted “I'm not a neuropsychologist, I just came in the side door.” He did the work needed to “put this theory together, because he knew he had to do this. What he created continues to gain momentum over the years. He started a movement, The Blue Mind Movement, with this book that he knew he had to write, and proved that we ALL can make the brain/water connection to become happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what we do. Q1: I was amazed at the research held in the pages of this book. I had to ask how he did it, and the answer just blew me away. Dr. Nichols talked about how they held Blue Mind Summits where they would connect the leading experts in neuroscience, (like neuroscientist Howard Fields) to those who used these principles in their lives around water, like pioneering top wave surfer, (Jeff Clark) or those who used this magical connection to water to overcome addiction. They were asked one question that they each would answer from their specific point of view. Like making the connection with dopamine (in our brain) and surfing, something that had never been done before. This is where true learning begins, almost like connecting peanut butter to chocolate to create the Reece's Peanut Butter Cup. Even though Dr. Nichols mentioned that no one would fund this idea, he just knew it had to be done, and he did it. He mentions Dr. Dan Siegel[iv] often in Blue Mind, and looked for anyone we knew the science to help make this brain on water connection. Sometimes I forget what questions I ask on interviews. The questions just come out of me and if you know me, I'm like this in real life. I remember someone saying that meeting me for the first time was like a job interview. I'm so curious, and I will just ask you so many questions, you'd leave our conversation wondering “why so many questions?!” I forgot that I mentioned my fascination with surfing at the north shore of Hawaii to Dr. Nichols until I re-watched our interview. Hollywood really does Blue Mind well, with all the movies, bringing water to life, and television has mastered this topic. Until this weekend, I had no idea that the American animated tv series Spongebob was created by a marine scientist educator an animator, and was the highest rated Nickelodeon Series, and the most profitable, generating over $13B in merchandising revenue.[v] So why did Hollywood[vi] film and television producers see something that didn't reach those who protect our oceans? This is what motivated Dr. Nichols to keep talking to those who could help him to make this brain/water connection. Since writing Blue Mind, Dr. Nichols' mentioned there were hundreds more organizations dedicated to saving our oceans, but more work needs to be done here. I do feel a responsibility to continue to spread Dr. Nichols' work, and keep his Blue Mind Theory in the forefront of our minds. And by question 2, I was already asking Dr. Nichols “why am I mesmerized by the ocean?” and sharing how I felt a connection to the Billabong Pipe Masters section of the North shore in Hawaii. He looked at me with deep understanding, and it was here that I knew he understood what I was feeling, as I was starting to understand his Blue Mind Theory. I just couldn't put it into words. There is something magical about being around water, and I've felt it for years. Q2: I asked Dr. Wallace “Why are many people fascinated with the ocean and the “secrets it holds?” and he reassured me this was common, and he hears this all the time. I thought that if I felt this way, how many others listening also feel this fascination? When he said that “many people feel this way” and that “we are not alone” I felt my emotions coming through. Finally, someone telling me what I feel around water is common. I felt understood at a whole new level. He said “maybe everyone feels this connection” and it might not always be the ocean. It can be a puddle, or even frozen water! Now Dr. Nichols is catching my attention, and I can't look away. As he listed all the sources of Blue Mind, my awareness is expanding. I had no idea there were so many ways to connect to water, and his words and calm voice were transporting me to what he called “virtual water.” Now that we know what Blue Mind is, (it's a feeling of fascination that we might all feel around water) how do we apply it and make use of it in our lives to become happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what we do? Dr. Nichols directs us to STEP 1 of this process where he says that we must first of all understand our own Blue Mind. I know that I am more creative around water. I know my kids have always loved swimming in the ocean, or swimming pools. What about you? How do you feel around water? Have you ever stood mesmerized looking at water, or ice, or fog, and wondered what was capturing your attention? I hope that you feel some sort of reassurance that this is something Dr. Nichols would hear all the time. Now what's next? What do we DO with this Blue Mind Theory? STEP 2: Mindfully practice Blue Mind in your life. When you are in what Dr. Nichols calls RED MIND (anxious or super stressed) go to the water, get in the water, float on the water, sit by the water, read your book by the water. Practice this evidence-based method that can help transform you to a better place and make this a part of your “emotional tool-kit.” Dr. Nichols had a goal to make this common knowledge to transform well-being and wellness, while also transforming our ability to protect these waters. Q2B: Then it happened, and I no longer am afraid to “feel” deep emotions. It happens ALL the time when I'm connecting with others at the heart level, during interviews, (or in life) and I know Dr. Nichols could see it, let alone “feel” it. My eyes started to tear up, and I had to ask “Why do some of us feel so emotional around the water?” I knew he understood what I was trying to ask him. I loved his answer. He said “when we are in the water, we're vulnerable. Our armor fades away. We access connection, curiosity, compassion, to each other, ourselves and to the water.” He reminded me that “It's a place for reflection. Deep reflection. Deep thought.” I love when I feel comfortable enough to be my whole self with someone else. It's an incredible place to be. No need to pretend, or hide, or be someone I'm not. Just exist and be 100% myself. This is how I feel around water, and this inspires my writing, deeper thoughts, and a desire to connect and learn. Dr. Nichols reminds us that “water soothes the soul” and this is written in the King James version of the Bible, Psalms 23, written 3,000 years ago. Having a bad day, (he says) get down to the water, it will soothe your soul. This is a deeply ancient concept and Dr. Nichols explains the scientific connection to “why” this happens, in his book. His research goes deep into the water/brain connection. We make some of our best memories on the water, near the water, with the people we care about. This is true! In your mind, think about the photos you take. How many photos do you have of those you love, that have water associated with them? It doesn't need to be the deep blue ocean. It was be frozen water (ice) or even fog. We have our deepest thoughts around water. I know this is true for me! It doesn't have to be the bluest ocean. Sometimes, on rare cooler days while hiking in the mountains, we can see fog, and it always stops me in my tracks. I never thought of this as Blue Mind until reflecting on Dr. Nichols' words. We have our nostalgia around water. We learn a lot. We reflect a lot. Our world is simplified around water. Our brain shifts to a different place. A place that Dr. Nichols refers to as Blue Mind. All of this opens us up to emotions. Sad things. Happy things. We grieve at the water. Many of us cry in the shower but don't forget that “water soothes the soul” (Psalms 23). Q3: I wondered what Dr. Nichols discovered when he measured his brain in the water, and his response showed me how far technology has come. They went from their prototype cap, with wires, to now where he said we can measure our brain waves without wires while surfing, kayaking, floating or swimming. I still would like to try this. If you want to do your own research, go to Google Scholar and type “blue mind, blue health or blue space” into the search bar, to learn more. Q4: Dr. Nichols explains what happens to our brain while swimming, vs floating, when we are still. He shares that Dr. Feinstein would say our brains can go into delta waves (much deeper than theta) when we are floating). Standing by a lake will give us this “meditative” state, but most people who have not done this before, might not stay there for 2 hours. Or they might think that mediation is boring. To overcome this, Dr. Nichols suggest, that you can put a fishing pole in their hand, and they might stick around the lake just a bit longer than usual. Q5: How do we use BLUE MIND to become more self-aware? Dr. Nichols explains that when we are in a crisis of any kind RED MIND (feel anxious, urgency) our thinking narrows and we might feel panic which is useful at times, (it can help us) but it can also (when it's triggered all the time) lead us to GREY MIND and will eventually burn us out. So we must learn to rest, relax, breathe to gain perspective. Learn to pause to see things from a new angle. Take a more compassionate approach and you might appreciate the opponent better or learn to understand yourself better. This helps with problem solving and thinking. IMAGINATION: When you can't get to the water, think about water with your own imagination. We don't need to go to that turquoise water on the other side of the world. Blue scription is doing blue mind wherever you are. I explained to Dr. Nichols during our interview that we had left the deep blue ocean. When we returned home, I completely forgot about ALL of the types of water we have available to us in Arizona, where we say we are land locked. Dr. Nichols opened up my mind, and uncovered a way for anyone to find water. He would begin with… WILD WATERS: Start with wild waters A river, lakes, oceans DOMESTIC WATER: Pool tub spa showers Put a candle in bathroom URBAN WATER: Fountains to sit or walk by VIRTUAL WATER: Poetry songs recordings of water apps Make your own recording of videos, of water to replay later. Reminding us that we ALL have an abundance of water, even those of us who think we are land locked. Q7: When I asked Dr. Nichols about our emotions, or why many people prefer to leave them out of the conversation, he reminds me that “our emotions are the hardest science in the room.” The Science of Emotion is rigorous and complex. He's now fully aware that the science backs up our emotional side, and knows when this side is ignored, is usually from people who just are not aware of the vast amounts of science behind our emotions. His answer made me feel more comfortable with the fact I know I can “feel” deeply, and to not be afraid of this. I will just keep learning, to understand this difficult science, and am grateful I had this once in this lifetime opportunity to sit down and speak with Dr. Nichols, who opened my awareness up to a whole new level. Q8: When I asked Dr. Nichols about what has impacted him the most over the years with his study, it was all about helping others. I know his work and Blue Mind Theory can save someone's life, if you are struggling with a RED mind yourself, (to find peace) and once you've gone from RED MIND to BLUE MIND yourself, reach your hand out help others to get through their day. Dr. Nichols reminds us that we ALL know someone who is sitting on their couch not sure what the point is, and urges us to go find them and get them to water (of some sort) wherever it is. Take them fishing, he says. Go find your water Practice blue mind ourselves first, and then take someone else with you Reminding us that water gives us peace of mind and heart. At the end of this interview, I felt a deep connection to Dr. Nichols, so much so, that when I stopped recording, I couldn't stop the tears. I felt his heart, and years of work with his Blue Mind Theory, and was moved to such a deep level. He understood what I was feeling, and I didn't need to explain why I was crying. I'm sure it wasn't the first time that he felt that someone “really connect” with his work. Looking back now, I'm just grateful that I let him see the true authentic me. Not one that is guarded, or afraid. I had no armor on, was vulnerable just like while floating in water, and Dr. Nichols' BLUE MIND THEORY message came through loud and clear. REVIEW AND CONCLUSION: To review and conclude this review of our interview EP297 with Dr. Nichols last summer, I remind us to revisit Blue Mind Theory, no just this month, but every month, making it a part of our emotional tool kit. Every July 23rd is World Blue Mind Day, and I am committed to sharing Dr. Nichols' work with new reflections each year. I ask you, the listener, how do you connect to Dr. Nichols' BLUE MIND THEORY? When you feel RED MIND, what strategies do you have to move you back to peace and calm of BLUE MIND? Have you tried using the water for this? I encourage everyone to read Blue Mind, and keep looking at the science. Keep practicing Blue Mind Theory. STEP 1: Understand your BLUE MIND (what is YOUR Connection to being on near or in water)? STEP 2: Practice BLUE MIND and finally, grab someone's hand, and take them with you to water (where ever that might be). Dr. Wallace suggested fishing. I love swimming. What's your favorite way to practice Blue Mind Theory? For those of you who feel a deep connection to Dr. Nichols's work, like me, I wanted to let you know that there is a verified Go Fund Me Page to help Dr. Nichols' Foundation continue to raise funds to continue to raise awareness around the world. The Dr. Wallace J Nichols memorial fund was established to continue the work of one of the world's most important environmentalists and change makers. https://www.gofundme.com/f/nichols-memorial-fund I'll close out this episode with a reminder from Dr. Nichols book to keep learning and perfecting whatever Blue Mind is to you, with his final thoughts in our interview. Q8: Hear from Dr. Nichols himself about what's impacted him the most about the mystery within the ocean. While I can't ever call up Dr. Nichols, and ask him for another interview, which is the sad part of this episode, I do believe that his legacy is an important one, and I will continue to reference and practice his Blue Mind Theory in my own life, as well as make connections back to his work in the future, so his work continues forward, helping others around the World, to find peace with this surprising science that shows how being near. In, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what you do. REFERENCES: [i]Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Interview with Andrea Samadi and Dr. Wallace J Nichols “Blue Mind” EP #297 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/author-scientist-and-activistdrwallace-jnichols-on-blue-mind-the-surprising-science-that-shows-how-beingnear-inonor-underwatercanmakeyourhappier-h/ [ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast YouTube Interview with Andrea Samadi and Dr. Wallace J Nichols “Blue Mind” EP #297 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwx1jrHj33c&feature=youtu.be [iii] Steve Jobs 2005 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc [iv]Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Interview with Andrea Samadi and Dr. Dan Siegel EP #28 on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/ [v] Sponge BobTV Series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpongeBob_SquarePants [vi] Chasing Mavericks 2012 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1629757/
Today is the most popular day for outdoor barbecues, and we want you to be safe. Every July 4th, thousands end up in the emergency room, many from lighting the grill the wrong way. Ann Mercogliano has some safety tips. And this Independence Day police expect their phones to be ringing off the hook because fireworks can sound a lot like gunshots. And if you're scared, your animals are terrified. In fact, some are literally being scared to death. Plus, a man trapped in a burning SUV is praising the good Samaritans who risked their lives to save him. Despite the fireball and explosions, one by one they joined in and rescued the man. Les Trent reports, they've been named America's newest highway heroes. And woman was up for a VP position with a giant tech company. She says she had all the skills required and was a perfect fit, but says she didn't get the job because she wasn't wearing makeup. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
It's Austen Chat's one-year anniversary! Encouraging more people to read Jane Austen and gain a deeper understanding of her works and life is at the heart of JASNA's mission; to celebrate our podcast birthday, we welcome not one but three guests to talk about reading Austen and the online event they organize each year called Jane Austen July. Our guests today are Katie Lumsden, host of the YouTube channel Books and Things, Marissa Schwartz, host of Blatantly Bookish, and Claudia Falcone, host of Spinster's Library. These BookTubers are dedicated Janeites, which is why, for the past six years, they have been spearheading a month-long reading challenge all about Jane Austen. Every July, thousands of readers across the internet join them to read Jane Austen and Austen-related books, watch Austen adaptations, and discuss their experiences. For a transcript, show notes, and guest bio: https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep13Visit our website: www.jasna.orgFollow us on Instagram and FacebookEmail: podcast@jasna.org
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. Justin Smulison interviews RIMS Director Of Publications Morgan O'Rourke and RIMS Risk Management Magazine Senior Editor Hilary Tuttle about RIMS Risk Management Magazine, including its recent Azbee awards for design, changes to its format, and the second quarterly issue. Hilary and Morgan share insight into supply chain, pirates, geopolitical conflict, heat domes, a forecasted active hurricane season, elections in many nations, AI gender bias, and what they expect to see for the rest of 2024. Listen for guidance on preparing your risk management strategy for the second half of 2024. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:15] About this episode of RIMScast, coming to you from RIMS Headquarters in New York. I will be joined by two of my favorite guests, Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management Magazine. [:38] First, let's talk about RIMS Virtual Workshops. The full calendar of virtual workshops is at RIMS.org/VirtualWorkshops. On July 9th and 10th, our good friend Chris Hansen will lead the two-day session Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the U.S. [:57] On July 23rd and 24th, we have Claims Management. Other dates for the Fall and Winter are available on the Virtual Workshops full calendar at RIMS.org/VirtualWorkshops. [1:10] Let's talk about prep courses for the RIMS-CRMP. RIMS will co-host the next two-day RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep session on July 18th and 19th with Parima. RIMS will host its own RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep on July 30th and 31st and on August 7th and 8th, a RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep along with Utah Valley University. [1:31] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep course will be hosted along with George Mason University on December 3rd through 5th, 2024. Links to these courses can be found on the Certification Page of RIMS.org and in this episode's show notes. [1:46] Registration is open for the 48th Annual Florida RIMS Educational Conference. It will be held from July 30th through August 3rd, 2024 in Naples, Florida. The link is in this episode's show notes. All RIMS Regional Conferences information can be found on the events page of RIMS.org. [2:07] Registration opened for the RIMS Canada Conference 2024, which will be held on October 6th through 9th in Vancouver. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca to register! [2:23] Every July, we like to kick off the Summer with a Mid-Year Risk Report from our friends in the RIMS Publications Department, RIMS Publications Director and Editor-in-Chief of Risk Management Magazine, Morgan O'Rourke, and the magazine's Senior Editor, Hilary Tuttle. [2:45] I thought it would be fun to hear what's shaking the landscape in risk management. Morgan and Hilary are the best in risk management reporting. We'll talk about risk management trends, some of their favorite topics to cover, and even some of the accolades that the magazine and website have won. [3:08] Hilary Tuttle and Morgan O'Rourke, welcome back to RIMScast! [3:26] RIMS Risk Management Magazine has won three design awards this year from the American Society of Business Publication Editors, known as the Azbee Awards. Congratulations to our friend, Art Director, Andrew Bass. [4:20] RIMS Risk Management Magazine is digital-first, publishing new articles weekly, sometimes a couple a week. It has quarterly digital-only issues and newsletters. The issues look like the former print edition but use technology in new ways to publish content. They are seeking contributions of articles from risk professionals. Contact them if you have a risk article to write! [6:27] The Q2 issue of RIMS Risk Management Magazine addresses the impact of AI on insurance underwriting. It covers geopolitical issues for the rest of the year. AI and geopolitics are dominant issues now. It also contains guidance on things like document retention policies for litigation and the uses of parametric insurance to address earthquake risk. [8:05] The issue presents news on the growing copyright infringement claims from the use of social media content and information on third-party risk management issues. [8:21] Russ Banham wrote an article in this issue about supply chains. Hilary also recently wrote content about shipping. There is a record low of ship losses but a notable increase in threats to shipping. Geopolitics, including the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and conflict in the Red Sea are driving the threats. The majority of cargo ships are being rerouted around Africa. [9:51] This rerouting affects supply chains greatly. It also affects the environment. By the end of 2023, after about two months of conflict, emissions were up 14%. Ships add 10 days of sailing time to go around Africa. The emergency infrastructure is strained for the route around Africa when ships that are built to stay in coastal waters are rerouted. [10:34] Somali pirates are back. International regulations on patrolling for piracy expired. Patrolling has been redirected to the Red Sea for the conflict there. Ships navigating the Horn of Africa cross through Somali waters. These factors provide opportunities to the pirates. Since December there have been several boardings. [12:38] “Ghost ships,” a fleet of unregistered ships, are shipping oil from Russia to countries that are still doing business with Russia. These are older boats that are poorly maintained that can't be insured and are likely to leak, break, or catch on fire in port. The costs are borne by local governments and property owners wherever the ship docks. [15:01] Hilary brings up the Captain Phillips movie, where the Somali pirates kept mentioning insurance payouts. [15:26] It's RIMS plug time! Webinars! Servpro will make their RIMS Webinars debut on August 8th with more details to be announced shortly. Register at RIMS.org/Webinars. Webinars are complimentary for RIMS members! [15:50] The RIMS ERM Conference 2024 will be held on November 18th and 19th in Boston, Massachusetts. The agenda will be announced soon, as will a call for submissions for the ERM Award of Distinction. I'll have that link up soon on an upcoming episode. [16:09] Review your organization's ERM program, and if you feel it was successful and you have the numbers and the data to back it up, compile that information and get ready to submit your ERM program for the ERM Award of Distinction. [16:24] The Spencer Educational Foundation's goal to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals is achieved, in part, through a collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the United States and Canada. [16:40] The Spencer Educational Foundation's Risk Manager on Campus Program brings a practicing risk manager to a university to present and engage with students about the risk profession and the insurance industry for about one to three days. There is a grant program with an application deadline of June 30th. The link is in this episode's show notes. [17:06] Check out the sample application at that link. Risk Manager on Campus Grant Awardees are typically notified at the end of September. Apply by June 30th, 2024. On September 12th, 2024 we look forward to seeing you at the Spencer Funding Their Future Gala at The Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. [17:31] Our recent guest from Episode 293, Lilian Vanvieldt-Gray, will be the honoree. Lilian is the Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Alliant Insurance Services. She will be honored for her valuable contributions to supporting the future of risk management and insurance. [17:55] That was a great episode, so after you finish this one, go back and listen to Episode 293! [18:01] Let's return to my interview with Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of the Azbee Award-winning RIMS Risk Management Magazine. [18:30] July is the start of severe weather seasons across the globe. The forecasts are terrible. The East Coast is facing a heat dome. It becomes an issue for businesses of protecting their workers. In a recent survey, 65% of small business owners said they plan heat safety measures to protect employees; 35% of small business owners have no plan for such measures. [19:24] There are some severe consequences if you have employees working outside without any consideration for their safety. OSHA has raised extreme heat safety as an enforcement priority. If you are in the 35% not planning or employee safety in the heat, reconsider your plan. [19:53] The Workers Compensation Research Institute recently did a study that found that the probability of work-related accidents increases by five to six percent over 90 degrees. The effect is strongest in the South. This relates to heat stroke but also to extreme heat's effects on cognitive function, reflexes, and reaction time. There is an increase in incidents like falling. [20:39] There is also a correlation between excessive heat and more significant injuries like traumatic injuries, dislocations, lacerations, and more. Some claims are a lot bigger. [21:27] Morgan notes some recommendations employers can follow for providing and enforcing planned breaks, water, and shade. They should have a thought-out process and strategy. If an employer sees obvious effects, they must get employees immediately out of harm's way into a colder place. If someone is confused or vomiting, get them medical attention immediately. [22:38] It's helpful to educate the workforce to know what symptoms to look out for in themselves and others, especially heat stroke symptoms that may not be obvious. This is a great mitigation option. [22:59] Employers can use technology to monitor people's temperature and the temperature of the environment where they work. This includes wearables. [23:31] Mitigation protocols apply both to extreme cold and extreme heat. Both can cause great harm. A sports drink is not all that is needed. [23:48] There is a new hurricane season outlook and infographic with the 2024 forecast on the Risk Management Magazine website. Hilary reviewed 10 detailed meteorological research studies and all of them predicted an above-average active season. [24:21] Some called it a hyperactive or supercharged storm season. People are expecting quite a lot of storms and worse storms, with a higher risk of making landfall this year. There are a lot of cautions out there. We've had 14 straight months of record-high ocean surface temperatures, and storms that form above warmer, deeper water tend to be worse. [25:00] Not only are the ocean surface temperatures above average, they are above average in a way mimicking the temperatures of the worst earlier hurricane seasons. Ocean temperatures are already as high as normal September ocean temperatures. About 95% of hurricanes happen in September and October in a normal year. [25:52] The second factor is we are shifting from El Niño to La Niña conditions. In La Niña conditions, the wind shear that would typically break up storms doesn't occur so storms are more severe. Justin notes even the water at the beach is warmer this year, from taking his family to the beach. Be prepared for hurricanes. [28:26] Hilary discusses gender-based bias in AI large language models. The models mimic human traits. Large language models are trained on human writings so they have the biases that humans have. It can pick resumes that match the employees you already have, which may be predominantly white men. At Amazon, AI systematically disadvantaged women applicants. [30:06] Scientists haven't figured out all of the reasons large language models make the choices they make. Even the use of pronouns in questionnaires changes how the answers are valued. Male-pronoun questionnaires valued achievement while female-pronoun questionnaires valued security. AI disadvantages the use of non-binary pronouns or statements on gender identity. [31:08] June is Pride Month. Is technology the next frontier of where we need to be conscious of inherent bias and how we actively fight that in the workplace? Look at technology with a grain of salt. If scientists can't tell why bias is in AI, don't assume you know why it's in there. Watch for it. [32:24] The year 2024 will have the most people voting in elections around the world ever. New leadership will come up with new standards. Change or uncertainty will lead to volatility. A rise in populist nationalism is happening in many countries, involving different trade dynamics. You should already have started to prepare for changes if you have international operations. [35:23] Morgan hopes that all the things we are preparing for this year don't happen. Risk managers hope none of the measures they put in place have to be enacted. The status quo is success but be prepared. Morgan says that from 2020 until now has just been tiring! [36:45] Hilary hopes for more interesting data breaches; she's tired of exposed S3 buckets, failures of basic MFA implementation, and people making dumb mistakes. She gets very excited about hefty SEC fines over cyber failures. She supports businesses learning one way or another. She says there has been a 12-fold increase in cyber disclosures in the first quarter of SEC filing. [38:08] Seeing progress there and seeing large fines translate into better risk management is exciting. Businesses are following the regulations. [39:12] Justin congratulates Morgan and Hilary on the Azbee wins. Any listener who wants to read more can go to RMMagazine.com. The special digital edition is for members only. It's another value of RIMS.org/membership. [39:50] Special thanks, again, to Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management Magazine, for extending the dialog beyond the pages of RIMS Risk Management Magazine, which is now available at RMMagazine.com. Be sure to check out the Q2 issue. Members have the benefit of that fantastic page-flipping edition. [40:13] It's Plug Time! The RIMS App is available to RIMS members exclusively. Go to the App Store and download the RIMS App with all sorts of RIMS resources and coverage. It's different from the RIMS Events App. Everyone loves the RIMS App! [40:46] You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in our show notes. RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [41:28] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [41:45] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [42:01] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org. [42:21] Thank you for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe! Mentioned in this Episode: “Addressing Supply Chain Challenges Amid Rising Geopolitical Tensions” RISKWORLD 2025 will be in Chicago! May 4‒7 RIMS DEI Council Spencer Educational Foundation — Grants Page — Apply Through July 30. RIMS Canada Conference 2024 — Oct. 6‒9 | Registration is open! RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops — Next Workshop with PARIMA July 18‒19, 2024! RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center NEW FOR MEMBERS! RIMS Mobile App Florida RIMS Annual Conference — July 30‒Aug. 3, 2024!Contribute to RIMS Risk Management Magazine Spencer Educational Foundation — Funding Their Future Gala 2024 RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars Upcoming Virtual Workshops: See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops Related RIMScast Episodes: “On Risk Appetite and Tolerance” “Live Again from RISKWORLD 2024!” “Climate Disclosures with Jana Utter” “Supply and Bike Chains with Emily Buckley” “Kicking off the new year with RIMS CEO Gary LaBranche” “2023 Risk Year In Review with Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle” “Navigating Shipping Risks in 2022 with Capt. Rahul Khanna” “Cybersecurity Reporting Updates with Hilary Tuttle of Risk Management Magazine” Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: “Harnessing the Power of Data and Analytics for Effective Risk Management” | Sponsored by Marsh (New!) “Accident Prevention — The Winning Formula For Construction and Insurance” | Sponsored by Otoos “Platinum Protection: Underwriting and Risk Engineering's Role in Protecting Commercial Properties” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Elevating RMIS — The Archer Way” | Sponsored by Archer “Alliant's P&C Outlook For 2024” | Sponsored by Alliant “Why Subrogation is the New Arbitration” | Sponsored by Fleet Response “Cyclone Season: Proactive Preparation for Loss Minimization” | Sponsored by Prudent Insurance Brokers Ltd. “Subrogation and the Competitive Advantage” | Sponsored by Fleet Response “Cyberrisk Outlook 2023” | Sponsored by Alliant “Chemical Industry: How To Succeed Amid Emerging Risks and a Challenging Market” | Sponsored by TÜV SÜD “Insuring the Future of the Environment” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Insights into the Gig Economy and its Contractors” | Sponsored by Zurich “The Importance of Disaster Planning Relationships” | Sponsored by ServiceMaster RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RIMS-CRMP Stories — New interviews featuring RIMS Risk Management Honor Roll Inductee Mrunal Pandit! RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model® RIMS Events App Apple | Google Play Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information. Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org. Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. About our guests: Morgan O'Rourke, RIMS Director Of Publications Hilary Tuttle, RIMS Risk Management Magazine Senior Editor Tweetables (Edited For Social Media Use): RIMS Risk Management Magazine is primarily digital-first, publishing new articles on a weekly basis, sometimes a couple a week. We are also doing quarterly digital-only issues. — Hilary Tuttle A recent survey said that of small business owners, 65% said they are going to add heat safety measures to protect their employees; that means there are 35% that are not doing that and there are some pretty severe consequences of heat injuries through neglect. — Morgan O'Rourke Scientists can't entirely figure out all of the reasons that some of these large language models make the biased choices they make. — Hilary Tuttle I would hope that all the things we are preparing for this year don't happen; that hurricane season is not terrible, and the election season doesn't create all sorts of instability. Risk managers hope none of the measures they put in place have to be enacted. — Morgan O'Rourke
Longtime baseball fans know this is the day each year that former star Bobby Bonilla gets more than a million bucks from the New York Mets, as part of the strangest salary deal the sport's ever seen. Plus: today in 1997, Len Libby's Chocolates in Maine unveiled an icon, Lenny the chocolate moose. What is Bobby Bonilla Day? Explaining why the former Met gets paid $1.19M every July 1 (ESPN) Lenny the Moose (Len Libby) Back our show on Patreon for just $1 a month, or $1.19M if you'd prefer --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support
Hillside Festival. Have you heard of it? Every July, the population of Guelph decreases, and the population of the island in Guelph Lake radically increases. They're all drawn there for an annual celebration of music and community that's still going strong after 40 years, and this is despite changing musical tastes, changing economic concerns, and even a global pandemic. So what's the secret to their ongoing success? Hillside is the little festival that could and by it's fourth year it was too big for Riverside Park and moved to Guelph Lake. Soon the big names were coming to Hillside, it attracted Arcade Fire, Metric, and k-os on their way to international stardom, and it was prescient in other ways outside the musical. It was one of the first festivals to encourage the use of reusable cups and other green measures that are now just generally proforma. Perhaps, it's Hillside's iconoclastic status that has allowed it to - if not thrive - then definitely survive in the face of numerous existential threats to the cultural sector post-pandemic. This is much to the relief of Kate Johnston who is managing her first Hillside as the executive director, picking up the baton from Marie Zimmerman who led Hillside through both the best of times and the worst of times. Johnston joins us to talk about what last minute preparations for Hillside, what's special about this year's festival and what she's looking forward to as Hillside's top organizer. We will also talk about the challenges in the arts sector right now, how they're managing with financial and volunteer support, and how Hillside continues to balance its Guelphiness with its tourist appeal. Also, how does Johnston wants to leave her mark on Hillside? So let's face the music on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast! The Hillside Festival takes place July 19, 20 and 21 at the island on Guelph Lake, and you can get the full line-up and ticket information at their website. If you like the in-person, you can also buy tickets at the Bookshelf downtown. You can also follow the festival and get updates on special media @HillsideFestivalGuelph on Facebook and YouTube, @HillsideFestival on Instagram and TikTok, and @HillsideFest on Twitter. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify. Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.
Every July 24, roughly 1 in 5 convenience stores—and a growing list of supplier partners—celebrate the heroes in their communities. The event, 24/7 Day, draws enormous media coverage and brand awareness for participating companies. Hosted by: Jeff Lenard About our Guest: Stephanie Sikorski, NACS VP Marketing, and Executive Director, NACS Foundation Stephanie leads the development of integrated marketing campaigns and executes strategies to effectively grow NACS global brand and advance convenience and fuel retailing. She also oversees the NACS Foundation, which created 24/7 Day.
Hey Vancouver Islanders! This week we're sharing an episode from another island: Montreal. Enjoy this exploration from our CBC local podcast friends, "Good Question Montreal." Every July 1, many Montrealers find themselves on the move, not just with their tables, chairs, couches and beds, but with their fridges and stoves too. Apartments here are often rented without appliances included, which does not seem to be a common practice elsewhere in Canada. We'll explore some of the reasons this might be, and what this says about Montreal's unique (but changing) rental culture.
Every July 1, many Montrealers find themselves on the move, not just with their tables, chairs, couches and beds, but with their fridges and stoves too. Apartments here are often rented without appliances included, which does not seem to be a common practice elsewhere in Canada. We'll explore some of the reasons this might be, and what this says about Montreal's unique (but changing) rental culture.
Listen, Watch or Read. The Choice is yours.Ancient Celtic Druids base their holidays on the wheel of the year.The Celtic year was divided into 2 halves the light and the dark. Within The halves, there would be 4 fire festivals. Samhain was the name of the fire festival that marked the beginning of the dark half of the year.During Samhain, it is said that the world of the gods and goddesses is made visible, and spirits from the otherworld return to earth. To keep these spirits happy the Celts would put offerings and sacrifices outside of the town for their enjoyment.The people would wear skins and costumes of animals to confuse the spirits from knowing who was who in case they had a beef with someone.Bonfires would be made and the shamanic druid priests would give psychic readings to the people.Often during this time monsters and demonic spirits would come by and kidnap and kill people.Phere was Phookah which is a shape-shifting creature typically rabbit-like or horse-like.There was Lady Gyn who was a headless woman who chased people around with her trusty demonic black pig.The Dullahan which you might recognize better as the headless horseman would carry his head and ride a black horse with deep red eyes. If you saw him that was a death omen.Then There was the faery host which was a group of hunter fairy spirits who kidnapped people.Generally, people feared the spirits, and for good reason. But as time went on people became enthralled with spirits, the occult, Gnosticism, Wicca, and so on.In the Middle Ages Dumb supper came about where people would leave all the doors and windows open for the spirits to come in and take part in the feast, children would play games to entertain the spirits and the family would update the invisible visitors on how life wasMumming came out of that, which was caroling door to door on Samhain to entertain the spirits who were participating in dumb supper. In return, cakes would be given to those carolers.Put it all together and you can see where we get our modern secular "holiday" Halloween.I got a great show for you today I'll tell you about the Druids of California, I'll give you the stories of Dyer Lane and its true history, We'll look into the Esoteric Fraternity up in Applegate and check in on the Bohemian Grove near San Francisco and then we'll travel all the way up to Seattle for a mass murder story. Plus some other stuff. Sit back relax and get ready to learn.Every time I have driven around or through Placerville there's a strange pillar in the middle of the street with what looks to be a flame on the top.One day while driving by, I noticed on the plaque that it says Druids of California.I don't know about you but I had never heard of a druid but it sounded kinda weird. I didn't think much about it after that but then I heard a preacher mention druids one day and I remembered that pillar. I still never looked into it, I didn't care all that much. Just a passing curiosity, you know. I bet at least one of you has been curious if you have seen it, and those that haven't are at least slightly intrigued now that I mentioned it.So, I spent a few hours researching all I could for you, and here's the story.The pillar is a memorial to a guy who is the man who successfully brought druidism to the state of California. His name was Frederick Sieg. A German who immigrated to the States and lived in St. Louis where he was introduced to the ideas of druidism.He eventually caught gold fever and moved to California, he slaved away as a miner for a little bit until he settled over in Hangtown "Placerville".In Placerville, he made it his mission to bring The United Ancient Druid Order to fruition in California. Two others had tried, once in Sacramento and once in San Francisco but there wasn't much interest, and Sacramento in particular had a big fire that spread the potential members in all directions.Frederick did well and got a whole, 2 people on board and soon more until there was enough demand that he made 2 more "groves" which is the druid's name for their meeting place, One in Coloma and another in San Francisco.Now, The pillar monument was installed back in 1926, thirty-eight years after Frederick's death.On the Pillar, there is a druidic emblem which in their words "shows a flaming pyre surmounted by a crossed spear and a long-handled sickle. Oaks, Mistletoe, Daffodil, and the all-seeing eye in the triangle.So that answers what the heck that thing is, but it begs the question...What is a druid?Well, that depends on 10 billion different things. Druidism isn't like other religions where they all believe the same general thing with some differences within denominations based on theology. Druids are like snowflakes, no two are alike,There are even differences in whether it's a religious druid or a social druid.But generally speaking, Druids are a secret society like the Freemasons. They have very similar rituals and beliefs and can be religious or more social, based on the grouping.The kind that the pillar in Placerville memorializes is more of the social club type. They are like the Rotary Club in a way from what I was able to figure out.But there are very different kinds of druids. Historically they were cannibalistic mass murderers, in fact, The Burning Man over in Nevada kind of takes after a practice the druids would do. Druids would build a massive cage in the form of a man out of wicker and fill it with people to sacrifice and would light them all on fire. They would grab as many criminals as they could but if they needed to throw innocent people in there to fill it up, they would.Modern religious Druidism is essentially New Age and Wiccan most are pantheists meaning they believe their gods and goddesses are in everything. Many believe in reincarnation similar to the Hindu but in particular they believe souls are not unique and that once a person dies they are reborn in the other world and then when they die in the other world they are born in this world. whether that be as a human or some kind of animal.For example, they have records of a guy named Tuan Mac Coriall who they say lived 100 years a man, 300 a deer, 300 a boar, 300 a bird, and 300 a salmon... but other records show he lived 100 years a man, 20 a hog, 30 a stag, 100 an eagle and 30 a fish.Simply put, Druidism in terms of ancient times was a pagan religion, very shamanic and secretive, it takes about 12 to 15 years to become a druid and they have hardly any verifiable history. Druids were written about in literature in medieval times both in a positive light and a negative light.historically, Julius Caesar is quoted as saying that the druids were in charge of public and private sacrifices they refused to pay taxes and were pacifists.The Druids say they built the Stonehenge but there's no telling if that's true or not.But let's go back to that pillar.These druids from what I could tell, have nothing to do with the religious type.1781 in London a social club for men formed and was called The Ancient Druidic Order. They operated secretly as the other clubs of those days did. As time went on, The organization split in two creating The United Ancient Druidic Order in 1833. This offshoot then made its way to Boston and then to St. Louis where Frederick Sieg became a member.The religious Druids claim Merlin as one of theirs. as you could figure.The social club kind of druid from England has its own celebrity, Sir Winston Churchill.Now you know what that pillar is, who it memorializes, The History and distinction of which kind of Druids. But one thing I should point out is that just because there is a distinction doesn't mean a person can't be a member of both. Late at night, it is said you can find druids gathering at the pillar.Some of you guys send me things to check out, read, and add to my enormous list of people and topics to cover in future podcasts. I do this show on my downtime which there isn't much of which is why I don't post episodes often or keep a schedule. Well, Back when I was doing the episode on E. Clampus Vitus I was messaged about a group called The Esoteric Fraternity, I added it to my list and chose it for one of the stories for this episode.So... What the heck is The Esoteric Fraternity?Some would say it was and is some kind of new-age Christian science sex cult. Members of course would argue so let's dive on in.There was once a man named Hiram Erastus Butler. He was in the Union army during the Civil War building roads and bridges not for the cause of the North. He was stationed at a hospital where he met a gal and they got married. As soon as she bore him two children he went to get some milk at the store and must have forgotten that he had 2 kids and a wife because they never saw him again.He worked at a sawmill for a little while until he lost 3 of his fingers, one for each of the people he deserted I guess.After this, he went into the woods for 14 years. some records say only 40 days so I'm not sure which. Either way, he appeared in Boston Announcing that he was a prophet of Occult Wisdom and he was now calling himself the Adhy Apaka The Hellenic EthnomedonHe was a student of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and also Pascal Beverly Randolf who taught sex magick rituals for a higher consciousness and spiritual knowledge, which is also what inspired famed occultist Aleister Crowley.Mr. Butler eventually came to the conclusion that semen retention and celibacy were the way to a heightened consciousness and immortality. Which is interesting because his group initiated women often, which the initiation… well let's say wasn't very celibate.The Boston Herald reported in 1889 this...The full secrets of the "inner circle," as the grade which students reached after a course of study was termed, will probably never be told to the public, and if all that is said about this "ring" is true, a description could not be printed in any newspaper. One married lady of social prominence in this city studied at the "college," believing its theories of occultism to be thoroughly trustworthy. After a course of investigation, she was believed to be worthy of introduction to the inner circle and was told to prepare herself for initiation. She claims that she was compelled to submit to indignities on the part of persons connected with the college, both by physical and psychological power, being told that such work was necessary to free her soul from the bondage of evil passions. The lady finally became so disgusted that she resigned from the college and its inner circle and devoted herself to her home; but a short time afterward her husband's suspicions were aroused in a startling manner, and his discoveries led her into a confession. The husband was almost heartbroken at the statement of his wife's unfaithfulness, and his first thought was to shoot the professor [Butler, who is calling himself Professor Hiram Butler]. Friends however advised him not to do so, as justification would be hard to prove before a jury, and it was thought that the offender could be reached through the court. Two papers were then made out against him; one on a criminal charge of adultery, and the other on a civil suit for alienating the affections of the wife [but the suits were, ultimately, not brought]....One young woman has said that after being prayed over for three or four days she was told to be ready to receive a visit from the Master Om in the astral body, he having journeyed from the Himalaya mountains especially to purify her. She was instructed to perfume her body with scented oils, and wrap herself in a long winding sheet, then pray unceasingly for delivery from passion. Perhaps the first night, she was told, the master would not appear, but on the second a man of extremely venerable appearance would enter her room, and after he should converse and pray with her she was to give herself up to the spirit....It is now reported that Prof. Hiram Erastus Butler has left Boston for parts unknownThe Parts unknown was the Bay area. He was found running some store in Oakland And the story still followed him.The local Newspaper published this piece."a professional hypnotizer who was run out of Boston last year," and a man possessing "an occult influence over weak-minded young men and women, [who] is using his magic powers, under the guise of a species of theosophy, to secure funds with which he promises to build an esoteric college in the Santa Cruz mountains. How well he is succeeding no one knows, but Butler declares he has at least 500 converts in San Francisco."Famous mystic, Helena Blavatsky said he was no better than a cheap pseudo-spiritual hustler then went on to accuse him of siring astral plane children, whatever the heck that means.In truth Mr. Butler only had around 12 or so in his circle, He and his group bought a bunch of land over in Applegate, CA to build their self-sufficient monastic community commune.There they built themselves a nice big 18-room 4-story house, a fruit business, and The Esoteric Publishing Company.They put out a bunch of books and a magazine.One of the books, Solar Biology was the most popular and is where we get modern astrology from. Those horoscopes you hear people talking about, what sign they are, and why a particular sign is why they are annoying is based on this guy's book.He believed that he was a reincarnation of someone and was one of the chosen to be of The Order of Melchizedek. That 144,000 just like him would bring about the Kingdom of God.Though he believed or claimed to believe that being celibate would grant immortality and higher consciousness he died at the age of 75.I grew up in Antelope, California. If you even know where that is then you'll know the road I'm about to talk about. For those who don't know. Antelope is a suburb near Sacramento. The road is known for being creepy, weird things happening, and being dangerous at night. It's off the beaten path, unkempt, and covered in graffiti.This road has many rumors spread about it. Some may be true, some may not. As a Christian, I try to stay away from demonic places and things. But I know many people enjoy entertaining spirits. Back in High School a friend of mine with some of their friends on Homecoming night drove down this road and pulled out a Ouija board. They did some kind of whatever and soon one of the girls started screaming. She unzipped the back of her dress to reveal her back all of a sudden had a bunch of deep scratches some of which were bleeding.I have no proof that actually is true. they told me about it and I never forgot. But the Scratching is very interesting because that is a commonly reported event that happens there. I'll talk about that in a minute.The road I speak of is Dyer Lane.Rumor or truth? You decide.Back in 1932, there were about 6 witches in the area who would gather out in the field near the road and do spells or whatever. A group of boys followed them and were watching for a chance to pounce. They got two of the witches and raped them, the other witches ran away to get the cops and as they did cursed the boys. One boy after raping, strangled his victim. The other threw a rock at her head and killed her. Within 3 weeks one of the boys was hit by a truck and killed. 4 months later another of the boys was mugged and stabbed to death in LA. The third boy drowned in the river, the 4th died when skiing and hitting a tree on the way down.Then there's the story of the police car.It is said that on the road at night, you'll see a cop pull up behind you and flash his lights. You pull over and it suddenly vanishes.Another story is that back in 1854 the KKK in the area would use the fields near Dyer Lane to burn the crosses and hang people. They say at night you might see the white hoods in the field in a circle, and a man hanging from a tree.Then there's the Farmer on the tractor who appears then vanishes seconds laterThen we get back to the scratching I mentioned before. Back in 1967, There was a Satanic cult who would go out in the field near Dyer Lane. They wanted to summon a demon they worshiped who is called Amdusias.They kidnapped a girl named Lin who was the sister of one of the members and they sacrificed her while chanting something to summon Amdusias. The demon appeared and soon a bunch of the members died of weird causes, one was found with a slit throat on a park bench. But From then on if you heard chanting late at night out on Dyer Lane you might just get some deep scratches from what seemed to be a three-clawed creature.In 1969 a hitchhiker guy was out near Dyer Lane camping. All of a sudden he heard chanting and he started screaming and had some kind of seizure. People who heard the screams came to see what was going on and he lay there convulsing on the road screaming "The Chanting! The Chanting!" and then died.Believe what you want. I think the cult story may be true but the rest probably not. but here's the absolute truth of this road.Back in 1854, there was a man named John Dyer and his wife named Julia Dyer they had just come to California from Missouri. They started a ranch and lived the pioneer rancher life until they died. Their son took over the ranch and then sold it to Mr. Riolo which might ring a bell for those that know Cook - Riolo RoadThat's all that is for sure true. The rest is up to you.Real quick I wanted to mention something that was brought to my attention by one of you guys and this is not sponsored. In Auburn there's a post office known as Station A, It has been recognized as the oldest operating post office on this side of the Mississippi. Mail started to be delivered to to Auburn in 1849, a post office was created in 1853 which moved to this building in the late 1870s. Then back in September 2023 it closed up for good. The family who runs the Key shop and more in Rio Linda just bought it and have been fighting the Post office to keep the historical parts intact, from what I hear, they won the right to keep the 1870s installed PO boxes but they had to get rid of the sign out front. They are doing a soft opening today The Day I post this podcast October 31st, 2023 So if you are in need of a PO box in the Auburn area consider supporting this family-owned business. Get a cool PO box. not the ugly modernist one the government-run post office would give you.The Key Shop and More at Station A.1583 Lincoln Way in Old Town AuburnI'm going to keep this story short because you can go down all kinds of conspiratorial rabbit holes and this is a history show. As you know, there are all kinds of secret societies. One you may have heard of, kind of made famous by Alex Jones back in 2000 when he snuck in and made a documentary about it. I'm talking about the Bohemian Grove.Let's stick with the historical facts though.Over in Monte Rio California about 75 miles north of San Francisco is a campground that stretches around 2,700 acres. Every July there's a 2-week campout where the two thousand-plus members and their guests meet up and hang out.Back in the day when it started, it was simply a going away party for a stage actor who was heading to New York in 1878 but the hundred or so artists and actors enjoyed it so much they made it a yearly deal, soon some businessmen came along and financed it and bought the property in the woods. which is when it exploded into a secret society where top executives of companies and pre, present, and past presidents would come and get drunk and do weird stuff.Basically, it's a “burning man” or a frat party for the rich, and since it's secret and no cameras or phones are allowed there's hardly any evidence to haunt them in the future.Rich powerful men in drag wouldn't exactly be good press you know.Some big deals and projects came from the connections made there, like Reagan promising Nixon to not challenge him in the Primary and then the Manhattan Project which was thought up out there. Walt Disney was a guest one year and parts of Snow White was inspired by his experiences there.Now the creepy part is the big shabang on the first Saturday, there is the Cremation of Care ceremony. which, well, Simply put is a reenactment of child sacrifice to a god like Moloch. Their Idol is a 30-foot Owl which they burn the child-sized effigy to and the members all cheer.Other than that, all kinds of little plays, speeches, and so on are made. Like I said before, It seems to me, to be a Burning man for the Rich and Powerful who don't want photo or video footage of what they do when drunk at night. Connections are made, deals are drawn but officially the motto is Weaving Spiders Come Not Here, meaning no business deals.Either way, It's a secret what goes on behind the scenes. The deals that were made and what has come out from these campouts. The Patron Saint for them is a man named John of Nepomuk who was executed by a Bohemian monarch when he refused to tell the secrets of the Queen.As some of you know, back in 2020 I left California. So this last story is local for me here in the Seattle, Washington area.Quacks have been around forever; past, present, and future we will always have quacks. As individuals, we all make the right decision to not follow these people but just as there are quacks, there are ducklings that follow the quack wholeheartedly even when it hurts them.So here's the story of an evil sadistic woman named Linda Hazzard.There was a lady who was living somewhere in Minnesota married with two kids where she got the idea to become a sort of dietitian in Minneapolis so she abandoned them. She set up a practice without a license and had a patient come in for treatment. her treatment was a cure-all for any kind of disease imaginable. A fast.Which, fasting isn't bad for you, religious fasting has been practiced forever. But you can overdo it, which is what Dr. Hazzard promoted. Her first victim arrived at the coroner and he deemed the cause of death to be starvation, tried to have Dr. Hazzard prosecuted but couldn't legally for some reason. She and her newfound husband fled to Washington State where she set up shop yet again.Her first Washington Patient was a lady named Daisey Maud Haglund who had stomach cancer and thought Dr. Hazzard could heal it. Instead, Mrs. Haglund Starved to death within a few weeks leaving behind her husband and 3-year-old son Ivar.Who, by the way, is THE Ivar of Ivar's Fish and Chips, here in Seattle.After that, more and more people flocked to have the miracle cure treatment by Dr. Hazzard. and sure enough most of those who signed up for it, died.Not only that, She would perform the autopsies and deem the cause of death other things like liver cirrhosis or whatever.But there's more, these people for some reason would sign away their estate, give power of attorney and rights to their bodies after death to Dr. Hazzard!The famous victims of this quack were two hypochondriac British sisters Dorothea and Claire. They were all into alternative medicine and though had nothing wrong with them chose to put their lives in the hands of Dr. Linda Hazzard.The sisters came from British Columbia to Seattle and met with Dr. Hazzard who put them up in an apartment near downtown in the Capital Hill neighborhood.They were put on 2 cups of tomato broth a day diet, daily hours long enemas in a bathtub which would have a canvas support for when they would faint. and would be given long "massages" beatings including on the forehead where Dr. Hazzard would scream "Eliminate! Eliminate!"Within 2 months they were both around 70 pounds and one of them supposedly wrote a letter to their childhood nanny who was in Australia at the time the letter made absolutely no sense so she traveled across the globe to Seattle to find out what was going on. By the time she got there, Claire had died and Dorothea was 50 pounds and deemed insane, essentially a zombie.Here's a before and after of her. (group pic - The one on the left is her)While checking on Dorothea she saw other zombified people hobbling around begging for food and to be rescued.Apparently some of these inmates, I mean patients would walk down the road and beg the neighbors and they wouldn't help because they were afraid of Dr. Hazzard.You see, Hazzard was a very scary lady and was really into the occult so people said she was hypnotizing these people to starve themselves to death and more so. sign away all their rights and estates to Hazzard!The nanny tried to take Dorothea away but was denied. She went and got the girl's uncle who was forced to pay 1,000 dollars. and was not able to retrieve what was signed away.After she was rescued they went and got the British Vice Consul and they set out to get Hazzard convicted, as they did their research for the case... they discovered a whole lot more deaths that can be linked back to Hazzard. At least 12 are proven but who knows the true number, probably north of 40 including one suicide.Hazzard was arrested in 1911, during the trial Mr. Haglund, the Father of Ivar, and husband of Daisey who was the first Washington death came to support Dr. Hazzard during the trial and even admitted to taking little Ivar to Hazzard 3 times a week for treatments after Daisey died...Convicted in 1912, she was sent to do hard labor in Walla Walla, Washington but Luckily for her, The frickin Governor of Washington pardoned her and told her to flee to New Zealand, which she did.And guess what she did in New Zealand?Starve more people, got found out, and returned to Washington in 1920What happened in Washington you think?You guessed it, she opened a sanitarium in a small secluded town called Olalla across the sound from Seattle and operated it for 15 years killing who knows how many more people because she had an incinerator on site. Until the place burned down.3 years after it burned down, she got sick in her 70s and starved herself to death.I really like to read old newspapers and I use them quite a bit in my research so I wanted to read you some of the headlines I found working on this episode.Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you are new, be sure to subscribe. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rickymortensen.substack.com
Organized and Fabulous Mom - Organization made easy for overwhelmed moms Simplified and Fabulous Mom
Hey Mama, I know how messy it can be when you have a house full of kiddos. Every July us mamas start getting really frustrated with our kids because there is never a moment that everything is put away when they are all home all the time! Top 3 places to start on when you are ready to make a change are Clothes, Toys, and The Kitchen. In this episode, I share my go to way to get kids excited and involved with purging toys. How early can kids start helping to cleanup or declutter? Well, that depends on the child, but I start mine as soon as they could put toys in the basket! If they can make a mess, they can help clean it up! Obviously, they need training on how to do these things, and most importantly, we have to set them up for success! Set your kids up for success by making it easy! HUGS, Jennifer WEBSITE: www.thesosmom.com EMAIL: hello@thesosmom.com FB GROUP: www.facebook.com/groups/thesosmomshow
e129 world listening day - what does world listening day mean to you?(bell and breath)Every July 18th is World Listening Day. It's also composer and acoustic ecologist R. Murray Schafer's birthday. Rest in peace Murray. Now World Listening Day 2023 proposes three very interesting listening prompts and I'll try to answer their questions in today's episode.Question 1What can we learn from the listening practices of all living beings?What can we learn from the listening practices of all living beings?It's a very good question and I would start by questioning who is the ‘we' in this context. I would also question the assumption that other living beings have listening practices as we know them. ‘We'.This being said, this prompt made me think of a story told to me by composer Robert Normandeau in 1991 for my Marche sonore 1 radio program that I did for Radio-Canada. I quote it in episode 19 reality and I'll play it back for you now. (e19 reality)· It's a bit like taking a frog, which is a cold-blooded animal, and putting it in a jar of water and heating the water, little by little. The frog will get used to the temperature rising and rising, and it will not notice that the temperature has risen and one day the temperature will be too hot for it and it will die. Therefore, our civilization, in terms of sound, looks a bit like that, that is to say we get used to it, we get used to it, we get used to it and at some point, we are going to have punctured eardrums.Now the early 1990's were a time of great environmental awakening and action, in particular the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. There was a sense that this was our last chance to change directions, to undo some of the wrongs of pollution. Ironically, things got much worse after 1992.Sadly, this window is now closed and we find ourselves in very hot water not feeling or responding to the heat, the smoke and other signals we are receiving and so we're slowly boiling to death…(Bell)Question 2How can we deterritorialize listening practices?How can we deterritorialize listening practices?Dererrirorialize. De… terror. Deterritorialize. It's a hard word to say.The notion of territory makes me think of stolen lands by colonial settlers, like myself, living in indigenous lands, unceded lands, such as the Algonquin-Anishinaabe nation, otherwise known as Ottawa.One form of deterritorialization is the land back movement.According to journalist and Canada Council for the Arts chair Jesse Wente (also see e107 harm) land back is :about the decision-making power. It's about self-determination for our Peoples here that should include some access to the territories and resources in a more equitable fashion, and for us to have control over how that actually looks.What does land back sound like? Just last week I published an episode about decolonized listening 128 revisited. Here's an an excerpt from that episode : On June 23, 2023 I had the pleasure, and the privilege, of attending ‘Listening to Lhq'a:lets' (I hope I'm pronouncing that right), otherwise known as the city of Vancouver, at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Learning at the University of British Coumbia, which is situated l on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Musqueam Nation. A group of artists, all women, spoke about their week-long residency, organized by indigenous sound scholar and UBC professor Dr. Dylan Robinson. They shared a wide range of sensory engagements through listening to Lhq'a:lets: how our bodies listen through the haptics of vibration, about hearing and feeling the voices of our non-human relations, about how we can perceive the built environment with new perspectives – the air, waterways and earth that surround us. They spoke about their encounters with the trans-mountain pipeline, their dialogues with animals and birds, their encounters with haunting vibrations and their thoughts about the past, present and future sounds of this region. What they did not talk about was themselves, their accomplishments or the type of technology they used to extract and manipulate the sounds. None of that. There was also no reverence for say R. Murray Schafer or the World Soundscape Project, nor any nostalgia about the good old days when, say, the term ‘soundscape' was invented. There was no disrespect either. They were listening from a different position. So I heard stories, poems, anecdotes, images, silences and prophecies… It was uplifting. (simplesoundscapes e03 bones) (Bell) Question 3When should we listen more?When should we listen more?I guess it depends on what kind of listening, doesn't it? More listening with a colonial lens or colonial education is not helpful. Perhaps we could listen more to ourselves through listening to other living beings? Maybe we could listen more to the land and give back?Warm thanks to my colleagues at the World Listening Days for your thoughtful prompts and ongoing commitment to listening, by everyone, everywhere.What does world listening day mean to you?*For more information on World Listening Day and to participate, this year or next, see https://worldlisteningday.org/I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this episode. (including all the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation and infrastructure that make this podcast possible).My gesture of reciprocity for this episode is to World Listening Day 2023. *END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODESHere is a link for more information on season 5. Please note that, in parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and it's francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I publish a Substack newsletter called ‘a calm presence' which are 'short, practical essays for those frightened by the ecological crisis'. To subscribe (free of charge) see https://acalmpresence.substack.com. You'll also find a podcast version of each a calm presence posting on Substack or one your favorite podcast player.Also. please note that a complete transcript of conscient podcast and balado conscient episodes from season 1 to 4 is available on the web version of this site (not available on podcast apps) here: https://conscient-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes.Your feedback is always welcome at claude@conscient.ca and/or on conscient podcast social media: Facebook, X, Instagram or Linkedin. I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. Claude SchryerLatest update on April 2, 2024
Every July, individuals around the world raise awareness for uterine fibroids, which affect an estimated 26M women of reproductive age in the United States alone. The Eudaimonia Center is dedicated to raising awareness about the effects of uterine fibroids on women's livelihoods and promoting a bonafide, whole-person approach to health, wellness, and healing with a uterine fibroid diagnosis. As an estrogen dominant condition, hormone imbalances derived from the foods you ingest to the products you put on your hair and body can negatively affect symptoms by exacerbating fibroid growth and proliferation. About Our Guest:Feven graduated in 2021 with her Bachelors of Social Work. She worked with a diverse population during her internship and post-graduation until the end of her second trimester. She became a full-time mom and entrepreneur in 2022 and currently runs a holistic body care brand, Luma Natural.Resources Mentioned:Traditional Chinese Medicine (Herbal Therapy)Vaginal SteamingRaindrop TechniqueAcupunctureConnect with Feven:WebsiteInstagramYouTubeTikTokThe hashtag for the podcast is #nourishyourflourish. You can also find our practice on the following social media outlets:Facebook: The Eudaimonia CenterInstagram: theeudaimoniacenterTwitter: eu_daimonismFor more reproductive medicine and women's health information and other valuable resources, make sure to visit our website.Have a question, comment, guest suggestion, or want to share your story? Email us at info@laurenawhite.com.Support the show
Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com joined 3HL to talk about the life and career of Steve McNair and more You can listen to 3HL and 104.5 The Zone no matter where you are in the world. Just subscribe to our channel by clicking on the links below 104.5 The Zone App Apple Store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/104-5-the-zone/id383299700?mt=8 Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airkast.WGFXFM 3HL on Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3hl/id1103395659 3HL on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O2pLdz4xu1GGc1ueCG9UD?si=475f849bc5274c78 3HL on Stitcher https://listen.stitcher.com/yvap/?af_dp=stitcher://show/424124&af_web_dp=https://www.stitcher.com/show/424124&deep_link_value=stitcher://show/424124 3HL on Podchaser https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/3hl-503331 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com joined 3HL to talk about the life and career of Steve McNair and more You can listen to 3HL and 104.5 The Zone no matter where you are in the world. Just subscribe to our channel by clicking on the links below 104.5 The Zone App Apple Store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/104-5-the-zone/id383299700?mt=8 Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airkast.WGFXFM 3HL on Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3hl/id1103395659 3HL on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O2pLdz4xu1GGc1ueCG9UD?si=475f849bc5274c78 3HL on Stitcher https://listen.stitcher.com/yvap/?af_dp=stitcher://show/424124&af_web_dp=https://www.stitcher.com/show/424124&deep_link_value=stitcher://show/424124 3HL on Podchaser https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/3hl-503331 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
July is here and that means it is time to have some fun. Every July we break out of our routines, let go, and focus on play. This year we have a special guest to join us and guide us as we play. Kara Latta is the Chief Fun Officer at The Playful Warrior and today we chat about the positive impact that play has on our mental and physical health. We'll learn about the neuroscience behind incorporating play into our daily routine and you'll discover how you can incorporate fun into your life each day. Make sure to stick around until the end of the episode to hear how you can join all of us at Lindywell for a play-filled workshop. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... What Kara does at The Playful Warrior [1:22] What inspired Kara to create The Playful Warrior [6:04] What your inner child really is [10:30] Roadblocks to play [13:00] How she got back into play [16:39] What playful resilience is [17:58] Play rewires your brain [24:44] How to navigate play through the hard seasons of life [30:48] What play looks like in Kara's daily life [32:17] How community is an important part of play [35:51] What to expect in the live workshop on Sunday, July 16 [38:50] Resources & People Mentioned Register here for our FREE play workshop with Kara Latta on July 16 at 4 pm PDT Connect with Kara Latta The Playful Warrior @ThePlayfulWarrior on Instagram Follow Lindywell On Facebook On Instagram Subscribe to The Balanced Life
Every July we focus on the oceans and participate in the Plastic Free July. Please join us at this link HERE to join our "All Creatures Podcast" team and learn about ways you can reduce your own plastic consumption. It really helps our oceans and all the creatures that inhabit it. We have another great interview coming your way next week on sharks with a focus on the Great White Shark. Look for that and enjoy this oldie but goodie episode on Great White Sharks. By far the most iconic fish, the Great White Shark, was made a legend by the movie Jaws. Yet, it was a play on the strongest human emotion, fear, that made this creature on of the most infamous of modern time. This week we jump into it with Great Whites and put to rest their fearsome reputation. This largest predatory fish has some incredible history and physiology, and this episode is not one to miss. Another thank you to all our Patreon supporters. We now are hosting monthly Zoom meetings with them, answering questions and getting ideas on which species they want covered. You too can join for one cup of "good" coffee a month. With your pledge you can support your favorite podcast on Patreon and give back to conservation. With the funds we receive each month, we are have been sending money to conservation organizations monthly. We now send a check to every organization we cover, as we feel they all are deserving of our support. Thank you so much for your support and for supporting animal conservation. Please considering supporting us at Patreon HERE. We also want to thank you to all our listeners. We are giving back to every conservation organization we cover and you make that possible. We are committed to donating large portions of our revenue (at minimum 25%) to every organization we cover each week. Thank you for helping us to grow, and for helping to conserve our wildlife. Please contact us at advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast You can also visit our website HERE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Every July, American Buzzkillers get inundated with chain emails, Facebook posts, and Tweets that spread more myths about the Declaration of Independence. No matter how many times they've been disproved, they seem to crop up every year. John Hancock signed his name so large that “King George can read it without his spectacles.” And “The Price They Paid” -- the undying email myth about what happened to the signers of the Declaration. We explain these, and a lot more!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5455565/advertisement
Every July 4th weekend we host a Live Q & A where people can text in their questions about faith, Jesus, and Christianity in place of a typical sermon.
Every July 1, the people of Canada celebrate their national holiday of Canada Day. The day dates back over 150 years, and despite what many people think, the day isn't exactly Canadian Independence Day. Also, for most of the time the day has been celebrated, it wasn't even called Canada Day, which can provide an insight as to what the day was originally celebrating. Learn more about Canada Day, its origins, and how it is celebrated on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Expedition Unknown Find out the truth behind popular, bizarre legends. Expedition Unknown, a podcast from Discovery, chronicles the adventures of Josh Gates as he investigates unsolved iconic stories across the globe. With direct audio from the hit TV show, you'll hear Gates explore stories like the disappearance of Amelia Earhart in the South Pacific and the location of Captain Morgan's treasure in Panama. These authentic, roughshod journeys help Gates separate fact from fiction and learn the truth behind these compelling stories. InsideTracker provides a personal health analysis and data-driven wellness guide to help you add years to your life—and life to your years. Choose a plan that best fits your needs to get your comprehensive biomarker analysis, customized Action Plan, and customer-exclusive healthspan resources. For a limited time, Everything Everywhere Daily listeners can get 20% off InsideTracker's new Ultimate Plan. Visit InsideTracker.com/eed. Subscribe to the podcast! https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Every July we focus on "Plastic Free July" to support our oceans and all the creatures that inhabit it. We ask that you join us and join the All Creatures Podcast team at https://plasticfree.ecochallenge.org/ . or click this link here >>>>>>> LINK Join us to help and learn more how you can make an impact on conserving our oceans. To get started we are thrilled to be interviewing Dr. Yannis Papastamatiou who is a shark scientist featured in this year's Shark Fest on National Geographic. Yannis has also been featured on National Geographic in When Sharks Attack 360 and Sharkcano: Hawaii. He is an Associate Professor at Florida International University (FIU) in the Department of Biological Sciences. He earned his B.S. in Oceanography from University of Southampton, M.S. from California State University, and Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii. Credited in countless publications and on networks like National Geographic and BBC, he has made big strides in the shark research community. You can learn more about National Geographic's Shark Fest by visiting the website>>>>>> HERE Please contact us at advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast You can also visit our website HERE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
STRA Episode 17: How to Deal With Slow Season [00:00:00] [00:00:05] Hey everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. We are John n Wendy Williams with the Short-term Rental Authority, your authority on all things short-term rental related to help make you the best operator ever. And today we are going to be talking about how to deal with slow season. Yeah. [00:00:27] I wanna feel like a a, the majority of us are probably dealing with slow season right now. Being the time of year it is. And being in the northern hemisphere, right? Yes. But his chili, hence the Christmas sweater. Yes. Which is hilarious, by the way. So if you're listening to this on the audio and you wanna see Wendy's, well, Christmas sweater, go check it out on YouTube. [00:00:48] It's over there and you can see it. See it in, all of it's, it's fabulous. So, , there's that. . But yeah, so slow season. How do we deal with slow season? How do we deal with slow season? Well, so I think it would be important to talk about maybe what is slow season and. , if you are just getting started, how do you know when your slow season is? [00:01:18] Right? So in this business it's rare that, well, it just never happens. You're not gonna make the same amount every month. It's not like long-term rentals. It's much more like a seasonal type business. And we say seasonal, we don't mean. Winter, spring, summer, and fall , right? We mean January, February, March, April, may, you have 12 seasons. [00:01:40] Actually, it's seasonal by month. Every month is a little different. And for us, just as an example in, in the Charlotte market, June, July, August are our best month. So it's, it's summer. People are traveling, especially the customer type. We serve families with children and pet. [00:02:00] There's a lot more of those during the summer and then September for us, it kind of drops off a cliff a little bit, mainly because people go back to school. [00:02:10] Right. That wasn't true during Covid, by the way. That's true. That's there was no school. That's true. So September wasn't actually a slow season for us. Yeah, during that time, but during normal times. September, it falls off October. It's not that great. November, it picks up a little bit because we have, you know, the Thanksgiving holiday and some holiday stuff going on in December. [00:02:29] We have some holiday stuff going on, so it's a little better, but then again in January it drops off and in fact, January is probably our worst month every year. I would say that's true. For similar reasons. Everybody's now back from winter break and they've gone back to work and gone back to school and the holidays are over and they've spent all their money. [00:02:47] Right? , so that's January. And then, you know, gradually as spring approaches, it gets a little better. And then we have this great summer, right? So we know what's coming because we've been in the market for a while. We know it's coming. Every January is gonna be the way it is. Every July is gonna be the way it is. [00:03:04] And so we've had to adapt and deal with it. And this is just the story of how we've been able to do it. And by the way, it's not, it's, those aren't always the same months as you were alluding to. So we have people that we've coached then, for example, Phoenix, Arizona. Where it's exactly the opposite. [00:03:22] Their slow season is summer because it's a thousand degrees there. Right. As hot as Hades. Right. And their, their high season is actually more winter. Right. Because that's where people go to escape from winter . Right, right. So they have like a snowbird season and all that. Right. So it, and depending on your market, your, your months might be reversed from us, might be different whatever. [00:03:44] But it's important to realize where you currently. And what you're anticipating coming up in the next 12 months. Right? So how do you, how do you predict that if you are going into a new market? That would be a, a good question. Like you, [00:04:00] you, or either you're just getting started, right? So one of those, one of the ways you can do it, frankly, is talk to other operators in your area. [00:04:07] And and they'll be able to tell you. Okay. Yeah, because we could tell you that here in Charlotte, July is a great month. J January is not right. That's, that's a very valid way of doing it. If you want to use more of like a data tool, that's something that an air DNA is good for. So we've talked about air DNA before in, in some depth and how it can be useful and it can be not useful depending on how you. [00:04:34] but that is the, one of the things that I find it to be pretty accurate on is at least the trend. So you can see, oh yes, July's a high month, January's a low month, and you can kind of see that trend graph and you can get an idea of, okay, here's my high season, here's my low season probably for what I'm doing in any particular area. [00:04:55] And that's in the seasonality tab. If you're on air dna. It's actually right at the top. Is it? There's no tab for it. It's, it's right at the top and it'll say, it'll have some generic statistics about your area, and one of those is a graph that shows you not only high and low resume, but high and low occupancy for the year. [00:05:15] And that's even if you're not using the free version. So you just put your zip code in and it'll tell you for that zip code, here's the, OR city. You could put Charlotte in and it'll tell you for that city or town what the trend is. So that's. You can get that free. Yes. So that is free data information. [00:05:34] Yeah. And then you have to, if you want the actual numbers, you have to pay for it. But as we've discussed before, the actual numbers aren't usually correct anyway. So, and if you're just looking for the seasonality, you don't need to pay for it. So that's, that's a data driven way to go say, okay, what's high season? [00:05:52] What flow season? So you wouldn't go to the seasonality tab, I don't think there is a seasonality tab. Oh. There used to be, didn't [00:06:00] there? There is, yeah. I mean, I just went over it with the, with one of our students. Oh, I don't know. I never, I never go to that tab. Really? Oh, I go there all the time. Oh, okay. [00:06:10] Yeah. Well, it's right at the top. You don't need to, oh, I didn't know that. I always play the seasonality tab. . Okay, well, perhaps, maybe there's a tab and I just haven't done it. Right. But there you go. But that, that is a data driven way to go figure. Just realize that the actual number it gives you, you take that with a grain of salt, right? [00:06:30] But you can see the trend, right? That, but that's really what you're looking for is. If I, if I know that in advance, then I can prepare myself. Right. So what are, what are some of the ways that you can prepare yourself for that that you know is coming your, the winter is coming, right? , right? What's that? [00:06:53] Maybe game it Throne for show. Thank you. Yeah, it's. Not Game of Throne. Is it? Game of Thrones? It is Game of Thrones. Yeah. Winter is coming. Winter is coming. Ugh. It was the best show ever. But anyway. So how do you prepare yourself If you know that winter is coming, what do you do about it? So, well, first of all, knowledge is power, right? [00:07:14] So even knowing that you are ahead of the game I think a another way to prepare yourself for that would be to get your money in order. And the way that we get our money in order is by using a money management system called Profit First. Mm-hmm. . And it's based on a book called Profit First. Profit First to Buy Michael Michael Witz. [00:07:43] And there's a. And because nobody can spell his last name. That's Macit is his last name. Oh, macit. Yes. Yes. But if you go to mike motorbike.com. Mike motorbike.com That's right. You can, you can find his information there as well. Yeah. So it's a, it's a great book and it's a, it's a good system. [00:08:00] Yeah. So, so the, the Profit first system is, It's kind of like the envelope system. [00:08:08] If you follow, what's his name? Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey. But it's for your business. So you allocate a certain percentage of all your money that comes in, right? So all your money that comes in from all the different OTAs, you got Airbnb, vrbo, and drug bookings, or wherever your money comes from. All goes into the centralized account and then you divvy it out. [00:08:34] A certain percentage goes in this account, a certain percentage goes in this account, a certain percentage goes in this account. So you, you have some money divvied up into all the, the different accounts, if you will. So mm-hmm. . So it's really a, it's a cash flow management system and it's designed to, basically work with human behavior. [00:08:58] Cuz what we tend to do is when we, when we need to spend on something, we go to our checking account, we look at it and say, is there money in there? ? If the answer is yes, we buy the thing and if there's not, we don't buy the thing, right? The problem is, if you only have the one account, there's money in there that should be allocated for other. [00:09:18] and just because it's in there doesn't mean that it's available for spending on this new thing. Right? So the whole idea is your, each account has a purpose. So there's one account that's just for the things that are involved with the unit. Meaning it could be your mortgage, your rent it's your utilities, it's your insurance. [00:09:36] It's, it's all those things. And we actually call that our unit support, unit support account. Yep. Because that's really what it is. And if you read the book, that's, they're gonna call it your op opex account op Short for Operating Expenses. Yes. So it's, it's the count where most things come out of. [00:09:52] Right? And the key to figuring out, well, okay, what percentage do I put in that account is to start to [00:10:00] look at your business, not on a month to month basis, but start looking at it on a yearly basis. Right. So you need to look at, on a 12 month basis, on average, how much of income do I spend on keeping the units running right? [00:10:17] And that's gonna come up to a percentage on a yearly basis, and it's probably gonna be somewhere around 70%, somewhere around there. Meaning if you bring in 10 grand, you're probably spending seven to keep the unit up and running. On an average basis. Right. But what that means is in July, you actually are putting more money in that account than you need to. [00:10:41] At least for us, because that's our high season, because our income's higher, but our expenses stay about the same. Mm-hmm. . But then in January what happens is that extra money is there because on average is an average, and it means we actually solved a January's cashflow problem back in July. . Right. So that's actually the key where you get, where I see people get stuck and they say, oh, please help is this time of year they say, Hey, I've got no money. [00:11:10] I've got no bookings. Right? What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? Well, and it's hard to fix that problem now because it actually needed to be fixed for five months ago. Yep. Right? And so it's that cash management system and looking at your business on an annual. and coming and coming up with those percentages accurately, that will help you actually survive slow season. [00:11:37] So slow season for us isn't that big a deal because, well, we prepared for it back in July. Right, right. And that's just having a system in place of bank accounts and each account having a purpose. Right. Well, I mean that that helps you. The, the sooner you get started, the sooner that will be helpful. Yes, that's true. [00:11:59] Right. [00:12:00] So, so when should you start doing that? Immediately. Yesterday? Yes. I mean, even if you are going through a, a rough patch, a slow season, then you know, you still should go ahead and, and start that, that managing your money that way because it will help. And the, in the next low season. Right. So Right. [00:12:25] And there's a lot to say about that. That's not meant to be a whole get started ASAP explaining how to do that. No, but that's not, there's a more to it, but Profit first is the, maybe we should do a whole nother podcast. We probably should. That's a really good idea. Yeah. Cause we could talk about that for an hour. [00:12:39] I think so, for sure. Yeah. Excellent. So that's one way that you. You know, navigate through the, through the slow season. And I, I think that another way to to help you through that is not just managing your money, but also managing your calendar as well. Mm-hmm. and you are the master at calendar management. [00:13:07] So, and, and what I mean by that, A lot of times the, the way that we get through those January and February months is by getting longer bookings. Right. And that seems like a, oh, we'll just go get longer bookings. Right. Well, how do I do that? Right. Right. That comes to the question, you know, because you're the master at Yeah. [00:13:34] It's partially canor management and it's partially again, knowing your financials. So this is one of those things when. What you really need to know is what does a night cost you? Oh man, this is a golden nugget. So what we were talking about earlier is, hey, you know, my expenses are this. Well, if you take those expenses, meaning everything that it costs to have that unit, if nobody even stays there, [00:14:00] meaning you still gotta pay rent, right? [00:14:01] You still gotta pay mortgage, you still gotta pay utilities, you still gotta pay insurance. You still got software you're paying for probably. Netflix, YouTube, you know, whatever you pay on a monthly basis. So it doesn't include cleaning because that only occurs if somebody stays and that's passed through expense anyway, but includes all those things. [00:14:20] And then what you do is as a very rough thing you can do is divide that by 30. Cause that's how many average days there are in a month, right? So say I had. A place that you know, my rent's 1500 and I've got another, you know, $300, $400 worth of expenses. Let's just call it $500 worth of expenses. So I can make the, the math easy. [00:14:42] That would be $2,000. So 1500 in rent, another 500 in expenses, $2,000 that I would take and divide by 30. And now I know, okay, this place costs me x amount of dollars per day or per. . Right? And that's important to know because when I go to price, what I in high season is easy because you're just gonna get it booked anyway. [00:15:06] In slow season. What I really need to know is how low can I go and how, how, how much of a discount can I give? How, how much can I mark this place down? And that, that's actually the most important number. Because the first rule is don't lose money . That's what, so if I know what a night costs me, then I also know what it costs me if it's vacant. [00:15:27] And I also know what I'm making if I sell it. And I'm even willing to sell it at cost to avoid losing the, so say it costs me $50 a night to have the place, I'd rather sell it for 50, then not sell it at all. Right. And that's one of those things that happens in slow season cuz you were alluding to calendar management. [00:15:46] Okay. Yeah, I'm getting some bookings, but it's only the weekends. So I'm getting Friday and Saturday booked. This is a very common thing. Oh man. But I can't seem to sell Monday through Thursday, and even though you're making money on Friday and Saturday, you're [00:16:00] losing it all by these days sitting vacant. [00:16:03] So what you really need to do is figure out a way to, okay, how can I take this money that I'm making on the weekend and defend it by at least selling the other days at. and that's the, the mindset that you need to have coming in. And and what'll get in the way of that is ego and pride because you'll say, well, my place should rent for, well, it's not right. [00:16:26] Everybody else in the market is getting, but they're not . Right? So you got an, how low can I go is a really important number to know. Yeah. So that when the bookings that you do get that are profitable, you can actually. . And then the other thing that I do is I simply prevent people from booking weekends a certain number of days out. [00:16:48] So if you can figure out what your average lead time is. Ooh, this is another good nugget. Say so. So say somebody. When you get bookings, typically they come within say, 10 days this time of year. So people are booking, this is very common. It's empty. They book kind of last minute. , you know, you don't sell it for a lot because it was last minute, right? [00:17:11] So what we do, what I do with the calendar then is, okay, within 10 days is our metric. So within 10 days, I start allowing people to book one and two nights stays, meaning they can book a weekend, but anything beyond 10 days, they have to book at least three nights. And what that does is it keeps my weekends open. [00:17:31] So that that last minute person that's booking that actually wants a week or two or a month can book it because my calendar's open. Yes. Because I didn't sell a weekend a month ago. Right. For, you know, something and now I'm scrambling, scrambling to try to sell the rest of these empty days that are hard to sell. [00:17:54] Right, right. So that's how you get longer bookings being, knowing how low you can. [00:18:00] and then having, having the calendar available so that they can actually book it. And we get quite a few of those. We got a couple yesterday. Yep, we sure did. That will take us through December, January and February. So you can do that by using a tool? [00:18:14] Yeah. So we use a tool that's Price Labs. We talked about price slab before, and that's just an example of, you know, there's a difference between having price labs. Knowing how to use it to your advantage. So it's an expert tool that you then need to use expertly, and that's not all of it. There's some other things I do in there, but that's, that's the basics of it. [00:18:35] If you just did those two things, if you knew how low you could go and got there for the days that were harder to sell, and if you did a little calendar management so that you avoided those weekends being booked so far in advance, then you then now you've got a. You've got a shot at not losing money. [00:18:55] Not losing money, and actually being profitable during slow season. It's never gonna be as good as high season. But remember, I'm looking at this from a 12 month perspective, and what I'm really doing is trying to at, at the very least, defend the profit that we made in July. because I overall will be profitable for the year. [00:19:16] Right? Because we, because this is a revenue business. It's a revenue business, right? Yeah. So, and, and that's a really great mindset to have is okay, well, not so much what is my, my occupancy rate and my, my average daily rate? It's, it's those two things combined , it's, it's all of that combined. in a a 12 month period. [00:19:43] Right. So just like when I was talking about, okay, I've got a weekend booked, I'm willing to sell the rest of the week at cost just to defend my profit on the weekend. Mm-hmm. , you can expand that out in your mind to, okay, I got July booked. Right. I'm willing to give January [00:20:00] away at cost. so that I'd keep the profit from July. [00:20:03] That's a really great analogy. Right. So I'm just looking at it on a bigger scale, right? Yeah, yeah. But well, that's huge. I mean, and combine that with your profit First money management system, right? And all of a sudden now it's. Kind of becomes more stress free. Right. Well, you know, another thing to think about in, in the, in the low season is, is your listing. [00:20:29] And it's, oh, that's a good point. It's really easy for most people to get booked in in the high season, whatever your high season is. Yeah. Everybody's book, regardless of, of are you the best listing out there. But in the low season, That's where it really becomes apparent with an important to make sure that number one, you have really great design and if you need help with that, please let me know because I can help you to, to have really great design and then to have really great photography. [00:21:06] Cell phone pictures will not do it right, so you have to have good pictures, but then you have to have. Something for the photographer to take a picture of . Right, right. I mean, it can't just be like your secondhand stuff and thrown together. It needs to look professionally designed with professional photos and really. [00:21:35] Speaking to that customer. We've said this over and over and over again, is who is your target customer? Speak to them. Have your title. That is something that they value, right? Fully fenced in backyard, pet friendly, whatever close to the airport. Gig wifi. [00:22:00] Gig wifi. I mean, desk workspace is whatever your customer wants. [00:22:03] Whatever. I mean, whatever your customer, whatever speaks to your customer, have that in your title and make sure that you showcase those things in your pictures, especially. The first five pictures, those are so important. So yeah, we talked a lot about that in the last episode, but oh my gosh. So go back and listen to the listing review and, and we'll, we'll, yeah, we'll tell you all of those little details that, that you need to be, but it, in the slow season, it will become even more apparent if you don't have those things. [00:22:38] Have you thought about why I think. because people there, there aren't as many people traveling to your area in the slow season. And those people are, the people that are traveling are pickier. Well, they can be pickier, right? Because they can be. Yes. The the, it's a supply and demand. Yes, it is the supply. [00:23:04] So demand goes down, but supply stays the same. Correct. Which means that there's less people book. And they're gonna book all the best places first. Yes. And you need to be one of those best places. Right. Which means pictures, design and pricing. Those three things. Target customer and target customer. Yes. [00:23:22] Yeah. I mean, I, we, we cannot preach on it too much. Yeah. Because there are so many people out there that aren't doing that. And then they come to us saying, why am I not getting booked? And I'm like, my very first question is, who are you serving? I don't know. everybody. No. Who designed this? I did. I did. [00:23:43] Right. Who took the pictures? I did with my cell phone. I did. Right. And, and that actually ends up becoming the problem. Yep. Right? Yep. We see it all the time. So, so those are, are some really great tips and to help you navigate [00:24:00] the, the slow season. Number one. Do the, the. Go to Air DNA and that is free data to figure out and identify when slow season is. [00:24:11] When the slow season is right. And then do, start your profit of first money management, cash flow management system right now. Do that right now. Think about how low you can go so that you can, you know, sell those nights at cost if you have to. And then manage your calendar, like John was talking about. [00:24:33] Mm-hmm. , did I forget something? Marketing. Marketing. Just the last part. We talking about market. The, the pictures, the marketing. You know, this is the time that you need to be good at it. and you don't have to be good at it during high season. Right, right. And then you get, you, you realize what you're doing wrong when slow season comes wrong, [00:24:50] Right. So true. So avoid that if at all possible. And if you're you're currently in that situation, fix it. And if you need help with that, give us a call. That's what we do. Yeah, we do. We, we offer coaching. We do, you know, listing reviews. We will help you with your pricing. You know, we do design and, and set up and design whatever you need to help make you the best operator ever. [00:25:15] There you go. Here at the short term rental authority, , right? And if you need advice on Christmas sweater, you can ask Wendy. She has really great test taste in them. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's a lama. I know. It is. And it even has a. It has a tail on the back. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I think it's fabulous. [00:25:35] I love ugly Christmas sweaters. Plus, they're so comfy, . They are. They are. Well, we hope you found some value in this episode and you also like. Ugly Christmas sweaters. If you do, we really, really, really want to see pictures of those in our Facebook group. So go ahead and post those in the Facebook group and become a member of our Facebook group, a short term loan authority. [00:25:57] We are doing a a [00:26:00] cash flow 1 0 1 board game tomorrow night. If you are local, please come and see us and come play the Cash 1 0 1 board game with us. Yeah, we do that the last Thursday, or last Wednesday. Wednesday of the month. Yes. Last Wednesday. Every month of every month. Yes. Because by the time you hear this episode, we'll have already done this weeks [00:26:17] Sorry, but last Wednesday of every month in Charlotte there's a meetup group for it. It's called Charlotte Cash Flow 1 0 1. It's called Cash 1 0 1. Cash 1 0 1 Meetup. Yes. And that's on meetup.com. All right, cool. Check us out. So come check us out and we'll see you again next time. Onto the next. Onto the next. [00:26:36]
Every July, NC REALTORS® rolls out changes and improvements to its forms and contracts. In this session (recorded live July 11, 2022) with NC REALTORS® General Counsel, Will Martin will provide a brief overview of the 2022 form changes. To download a copy of the presentation material, visit https://www.ncrealtors.org/071122MobileMondays
Every July the “Music (ed) Matters” podcast usually takes a break, but this summer we are doing a series of replays to celebrate the book, “The Business of Choir” recently released by Alex Gartner and your host, Dr. Emily Williams Burch. In this replay from the Pre-Release Book Tour, you'll hear from choral leadership author, Dr. Ramona M. Wis as she gives tangible examples and evidence to rejuvenate us as leaders. We talk about the way people are led, the importance of mindfulness, management versus leadership, and a slew of quotes to empower each of us no matter where we are in our professional (and personal) journey.Want to hear more about the book Alex and Emmy are writing? Check out Episodes 74 and 110! Order your copy of “The Business of Choir”: https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/the-business-of-choir-book-g10713. Learn more about Dr. Wis https://www.ramonawis.com/about or find her book https://www.ramonawis.com/publications. Read more about her choirs here: https://www.northcentralcollege.edu/choirs-and-choruses Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ONqukEKv9YU Join us over at Patreon.com/MusicEdMatters for monthly meet-ups, monthly bonus episodes, special content, and more!Support the companies that make The Music (ed) Matters Podcast possible: —Kaleidoscope Adventures - find your adventure today, kaleidoscopeadventures.com/. Including the June 2023 Festival and PD Weekend in Myrtle Beach with Alex & Emmy and their choirs!— The Kinnison Choral Company - check out their quality resources - or get your tracks made today - at KinnisonChoralCo.com. **Show music originally written by Mr. Todd Monsell**Show photography provided by Dr. Dan Biggerstaff
Every July the “Music (ed) Matters” podcast usually takes a break, but this summer we are doing a series of replays to celebrate the book, “The Business of Choir” recently released by Alex Gartner and your host, Dr. Emily Williams Burch. In this replay from the Pre-Release Book Tour, you'll hear from Chorus America CEO Catherine Dehoney who talks with us about the importance of data and intentionality to justify the worth of choral singing. What type of data do we need to know and understand, where do we find it, and how do we identify the links necessary to tell our choral stories? Want to hear more about the book Alex and Emmy are writing? Check out Episodes 74 and 110! Order your copy of “The Business of Choir”: https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/the-business-of-choir-book-g10713. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4tYKqrJ4hEA Find out more about Chorus America at ChorusAmerica.org Join us over at Patreon.com/MusicEdMatters for monthly meet-ups, monthly bonus episodes, special content, and more!Support the companies that make The Music (ed) Matters Podcast possible: —Kaleidoscope Adventures - find your adventure today, kaleidoscopeadventures.com/. Including the June 2023 Festival and PD Weekend in Myrtle Beach with Alex & Emmy and their choirs!— The Kinnison Choral Company - check out their quality resources - or get your tracks made today - at KinnisonChoralCo.com. **Show music originally written by Mr. Todd Monsell**Show photography provided by Dr. Dan Biggerstaff
Every July the “Music (ed) Matters” podcast usually takes a break, but this summer we are doing a series of replays to celebrate the book, “The Business of Choir” recently released by Alex Gartner and your host, Dr. Emily Williams Burch. In this replay from the Pre-Release Book Tour, you'll hear from Coty Raven Morris who talks to us about the importance of building an intentional culture within your choir or classroom. In this episode, we unpack the different types of people involved in our music-making and how to compassionately and authentically empower them - spoiler, it deals with the heart! Want to hear more about the book Alex and Emmy are writing? Check out Episodes 74 and 110! Order your copy of “The Business of Choir”: https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/the-business-of-choir-book-g10713. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3qH_jBnNo8Y Find out more about Coty @CotyRaven. Join us over at Patreon.com/MusicEdMatters for monthly meet-ups, monthly bonus episodes, special content, and more!Support the companies that make The Music (ed) Matters Podcast possible: —Kaleidoscope Adventures - find your adventure today, kaleidoscopeadventures.com/. Including the June 2023 Festival and PD Weekend in Myrtle Beach with Alex & Emmy and their choirs!— The Kinnison Choral Company - check out their quality resources - or get your tracks made today - at KinnisonChoralCo.com. **Show music originally written by Mr. Todd Monsell**Show photography provided by Dr. Dan Biggerstaff
Every July the “Music (ed) Matters” podcast usually takes a break, but this summer we are doing a series of replays to celebrate the book, “The Business of Choir” recently released by Alex Gartner and your host, Dr. Emily Williams Burch. In this replay from the Pre-Release Book Tour you'll hear from Dr. G. Phillip Shoultz, III who talks to us about the inherent value of choral singing and the power of communication. What is the value of choir and how do we communicate that with our singers, audiences, and communities? Want to hear more about the book Alex and Emmy are writing? Check out Episodes 74 and 110! Order your copy of “The Business of Choir”: https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/the-business-of-choir-book-g10713. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J5Ah_D08CPY Find out more Dr. Shoultz and VocalEssence at https://www.vocalessence.org/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1aInLvSc6No Join us over at Patreon.com/MusicEdMatters for monthly meet-ups, monthly bonus episodes, special content and more!Support the companies that make The Music (ed) Matters Podcast possible: —Kaleidoscope Adventures - find your adventure today, kaleidoscopeadventures.com/. Including the June 2023 Festival and PD Weekend in Myrtle Beach with Alex & Emmy and their choirs!— The Kinnison Choral Company - check out their quality resources - or get your tracks made today - at KinnisonChoralCo.com. **Show music originally written by Mr. Todd Monsell**Show photography provided by Dr. Dan Biggerstaff
Every July, American Buzzkillers get inundated with chain emails, Facebook posts, and Tweets that spread more myths about the Declaration of Independence. No matter how many times they've been disproved, they seem to crop up every year. John Hancock signed his name so large that “King George can read it without his spectacles.” And “The Price They Paid” -- the undying email myth about what happened to the signers of the Declaration. We explain these, and a lot more!
Every July 1st, Bobby Bonilla gets paid by the New York Mets even though he hasn't played for them since 1999. Henry discusses this but first, he takes a call on Rudy Goebert and wonders why Hammer isn't high on Bryn Forbes joining the Wolves.
The New York Mets and their fans have been sports punchline fodder for decades. Case in point: Bobby Bonilla Day. Every July 1, this player who's been retired for many years gets paid more than a million dollars. And it's seen as the epitome of Mets dysfunction. But Mets fans are a resilient (if occasionally delusional?) bunch, and keep coming back for heartbreak. Author Devin Gordon refers to the team as the “Best Worst Team in Sports” in his book, “So Many Ways To Lose,” and he shares his research into the highs and lows of the Mets, their passionate fans and unique legacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Every July the same conversation begins amongst beer lovers and beer makers. It's a conversation with extreme prejudice on each side of the argument. It's a discussion that probably will never see an end. It's seasonal creep. The guys discuss the practice of earlier and earlier seasonal releases along with their own experiences with it on today's episode. This episode is brought to you by Liquid Death. Follow United We Drink on their social media channels. Twitter Instagram Facebook
Every July, nearly 20,000 cyclists from around the world swarm the roads of Iowa for one week to ride across the state. It's hot. It's humid. And it's not as flat as one may think. Iowa resident Caleb Smith shares his personal journey of RAGBRAI, complete with a buffet of midwestern charm: homemade pies, barn parties, sunsets over fields of corn. But he doesn't ride a bike, he inline skates.
I spent so much time jabbering about my conversion to a desert rat and monsoon believer that I left out some fun stuff. Native bees that buzz pollinate flowers are Bombus species., Centris spp., and Anthophora spp. And yes, you really can hang out by the flowers and see and hear this happening! Oh, and look at how the petals of a senna flower create a cup; sonicated exploding pollen ricochets off the petals…there is no way a bee is leaving without pollen attached to it. The featured senna is Senna wislizeni and the specific epithet is in honor of Friedrich Wislizen, a German born American physician, botanist, plant collector…yet another pesky immigrant! His name shows up in a few other species as well and what little I read about him it sounds like he was a wonderful and deserving fellow. So the senna can be called Wislizinus' senna…quite a mouthful…or simply, woody senna, because it is. Sennas are in the Fabaceae and there are eight native species found in Arizona. Woody senna is found in Cochise County and into Sonora from 4,000' to 5,000' on slopes and mesas. The cloudless sulphur butterfly is Phoebis sennae. Phoebe is the goddess of the moon and sennae refers to the host plants. Cloudless sulphurs are common and beautiful. Checkout the caterpillar in the photo below. The photos of the flowers and caterpillar are mine and taken of some plants that I planted years ago along our drive. Every July and August they bloom and remind me of my monsoon belief system.
YOU - The Master Entrepreneur - A Guide to True Greatness with Stan Hustad
Every July in a number of western states of the USA there is a time of celebration in many towns, communities and many organizations and fellowships come together. This year July 24th is the 17th annual celebration of National Day of the Cowboy. And it is a wonderful time and it brings back lots of stories, a great deal of American history and perhaps even more important, it reminds us of the code of the west and perhaps how we need Western tradition to perhaps even save Western Civilization. I have invited two friends to tell you the story. So stay tuned for 25 minutes of learning good things that you never knew, fun things to learn and perhaps a lesson or two about life and business in the Cowboy Way.
153: 3 Reasons to Set New Goals For Your Design Business Every July Here we are, midway through the year. And the question becomes, are you on track to meet your goals? I believe that July is a great time to renew your energy and also to renew your goals with a goal setting session. Listen in as we chat about the 3 reasons to set new goals in July. Topics Mentioned: New information Monitoring Energize your team Goal setting Key Thoughts: When we are creating strategic plans and doing our best to manage to them over time, what we really uncover is that the closer we get to the end point we are measuring to – the more we know. Michele (1:38) Review the prior goal setting exercise you did. Regardless of whether you did it in November of the past year or January or March of this year. Pull it out and look at it. Michele (2:35) New information brings new decisions. Hopefully if you have been monitoring to the goals you set before, you can see the changes that are now coming about with intentionality. Michele (4:29) When we set goals at the beginning of the year, and then never look at them until December they can almost become meaningless to the team. By doing quarterly check-ins and opening up our goal setting in July for any necessary revisions, we are indicating to our team that we are serious about creating a roadmap for our success. Michele (7:56) Contact Michele: Email: Team@ScarletThreadConsulting.com Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com LinkedIn: Michele Williams References and Resources: AIM Masterclass - Watch now 7 Figure Case Study - Download here 5 Reasons Successful Interior Designers Use a Strategic Plan - EP 129 with Michele Williams How to Easily Create a Strategic Plan for Your Design Firm - EP 131 with Michele Williams Reasons to Take Your Design Business on Vacation - EP 142 with Michele Williams Ways to Make Your Interior Design Business More Fun- EP 149 with Michele Williams
Tomorrow is Bobby Bonilla Day. Hi, I'm Bette Hochberger, CPA, CGMA. Today's business quickie is going to be a bit different because tomorrow is Bobby Bonilla Day. Bobby Bonilla is a former player in Major League Baseball who played in the major leagues from 1986 to 2001. This day is celebrated by the sports and financial world! Why? Because the Mets pay Bonilla $1,193,248.20 every July 1 from 2011 until 2035. https://bettehochberger.com/quickies/... Bobby Bonilla was a Mets All-Star player, the new manager changing the team in 2000 releases him because Bonilla was at the end of his career. Bobby had been hurt, and it was now starting to show in his performance. They owe him $5.9 million on contract. They want to use the money from Bonilla's contract to pay other players, so they negotiate with his agent a deferred money contract based on an 8% interest rate of money 10-year deferral. A great day for the finance world but a terrible day for the Mets. Every July 1st, the Mets write a check to Bonilla 1.2 million until the year 2035. But the mythos is that the total payout (1.2M for 25 years) is $30 Million for a 6 Million dollar debt. And since the Mets pay him $1.2 Million every July 1st, the sports world and financial world celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day. The sports world mainly uses it to poke fun at the Mets but we financial people really like recognizing the magic that is compound interest. We also like to look to this as a lesson, and really hope the Mets hired a new financial advisor. Guess where Bobby "Bo" decided to retire? That's right, Bobby Bonilla is retired in Florida, keeping New York from taxing his earnings. So, it looks like Bobby wasn't only good at baseball but great at finance and tax planning also. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bettehochbergercpa/support
Improve your English conversation, vocabulary, grammar, and speaking with free audio lessons
Everyone loves a good party! Every July 4th in the United States, Americans celebrate their Independence Day national holiday with fireworks, family gatherings, and good food. Hear what hosts Andrew and Kassy have to say about Canadian and American national holiday festivities in this episode of Simplified Speech. Simplified Speech is a series in which native English speakers discuss topics using easy English for everyone to follow along. In this episode, you will hear interesting expressions like shenanigans, foreign concept, and to kick up a fuss. Fun facts There is a very popular action movie called National Treasure starring Nicolas Cage, in which a secret map is written on the back of the American Declaration of Independence. While the movie is not historically accurate, you might enjoy the action scenes! Expressions included in the study guide New on the block Shenanigans Foreign concept Inclusive To kick up a fuss To face [one's] history Copyright: Culips.com For more information about this episode, visit culips.com. Music Credit: Something Elated by Broke For Free, Step On by Jahzzar Photo Credit: Stephanie McCabe (Unsplash.com)
Improve your English conversation, vocabulary, grammar, and speaking with free audio lessons
Everyone loves a good party! Every July 4th in the United States, Americans celebrate their Independence Day national holiday with fireworks, family gatherings, and good food. Hear what hosts Andrew and Kassy have to say about Canadian and American national holiday festivities in this episode of Simplified Speech. Simplified Speech is a series in whichRead More The post Simplified Speech #123 – Independence Day in the USA first appeared on Culips English Podcast.
We all inherently know that community is important and that it's part of the Christian experience. But staying plugged in and committed can get difficult. Many things pull at our time, attention, emotions, and all these things add up. Every July, we take the church back to the basics of building community through our cell groups. This is an important part of our Christian experience and expression, and a mid-year re-emphasis is important to make sure that we don't lose track of those things that are crucial.
We all inherently know that community is important and that it's part of the Christian experience. But staying plugged in and committed can get difficult. Many things pull at our time, attention, emotions, and all these things add up. Every July, we take the church back to the basics of building community through our cell groups. This is an important part of our Christian experience and expression, and a mid-year re-emphasis is important to make sure that we don't lose track of those things that are crucial.
We all inherently know that community is important and that it's part of the Christian experience. But staying plugged in and committed can get difficult. Many things pull at our time, attention, emotions, and all these things add up. Every July, we take the church back to the basics of building community through our cell groups. This is an important part of our Christian experience and expression, and a mid-year re-emphasis is important to make sure that we don't lose track of those things that are crucial.
Kristi Wells and Brittany Dunn of Safe House Project - Child Sex Trafficking Every single day we receive information about the world that is deeply disturbing. And for me, there are simply few rivals to deeply disturbing than the reality of child sex trafficking. And I'll confess, I only like to read the articles or watch the news clips where children are rescued. I tend to ignore the reports about statistics because I feel helpless to make a difference. And to be further honest, I overlook the fact that when a child is rescued, the work to freedom has only begun I mean, who am I anyway? One person can't possibly make a difference in such an incredible underground network of evil. But all that has changed after having the opportunity to speak with the founders of Safe House Project, Kristi Wells and Brittany Dunn. Safe House Project, or SHP, is an anti-sex trafficking organization with the aggressive goal to eradicate child sex trafficking in America by 2030. I'm over here whining about being only one person, but Kristi and Brittany are busy uniting communities, corporations, and individuals to end domestic sex trafficking. With regard to people like you and I who want to show our support, Brittany and Kristi simplify the process because they find great value in the gifts and talents of others. As a matter of fact, they rely on people to show up with their unique experiences, backgrounds, and knowledge, believing that the skill set they already have in place is what will equip them to help not only slow the evil of child sex trafficking, but to end it. Every July 30 is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and Safe House Project takes part in the march to bring awareness to the trafficking of children. If your heart is moved to stand up for the innocent lives in this way, join the march in a location nearest you. You don't have to raise money for this march, but I'll be making a personal donation. For my local listeners here in the southeastern part of Virginia, the City of Norfolk has authorized a march in support of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Join me on July 30th in Town Point Park, closest to Nauticus from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Norfolk Mayor, Kenneth Alexander has taken an aggressive stance, even challenging other local mayors to eradicate human trafficking in their cities by 2025. Let's join together across the nation in a unified march for the lives of our most precious ones, literally, our future. It's a new day because individual people like you and I can indeed make a difference, and Safe House Project equips us to do just that. Listen in to discover the beauty, the heart and the mission behind Safe House Project. My time with Kristi and Brittany was limited so stop by their website to discover all the ways they make it easy to come along side them. (SafeHouseProject.org). There you'll find a variety of ways you can make a difference for children. How exciting to think that people like you and I can make a difference and be a part of bringing the aggressive goal (of eradicating child sex trafficking in America by 2030) into reality! Lived Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/f784c04666a84ddea98b793b87c4e22e/edit_v2 Connect with Safe House Project, Kristi and Brittany: Website: https://www.safehouseproject.org/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/SafeHousePrjct IG: https://www.instagram.com/safehouseproject/
We all inherently know that community is important and that it's part of the Christian experience. But staying plugged in and committed can get difficult. Many things pull at our time, attention, emotions, and all these things add up. Every July, we take the church back to the basics of building community through our cell groups. This is an important part of our Christian experience and expression, and a mid-year re-emphasis is important to make sure that we don't lose track of those things that are crucial.
Every July, American Buzzkillers get inundated with chain emails, Facebook posts, and Tweets that spread more myths about the Declaration of Independence. No matter how many times they've been disproved, the seem to crop up every year. John Hancock signing his name so large that “King George can read it without his spectacles.” And “The Price They Paid” -- the undying email myth about what happened to the signers of the Declaration. We explain these, and a lot more!
We've been saying that we want to take Bobby Bonilla Day back for a while now, but this was our first opportunity to do it and it looks like the Mets beat us to it! We've been saying for YEARS that every team defers money and that it's a normal thing to do to remain competitive in baseball, but thanks to that hack Rovell, the Mets have become synonymous with awful contracts. Every July 1st, without fail, Mets fans have had to endure this black stain and blasphemy on our reputation, but NO MORE. The Mets partnering with Bobby Bo on an Air BnB suite in the stadium and a wink, wink, commercial giving a little nod to his infamous poker game is truly a sign that the tides have turned. The contract used to be a beacon of the poorly run and quite literally, poor owners of the city's second franchise. Now it's just ashtray money for Uncle Stevie and something that fans can laugh off, knowing that it will never be truly consequential ever again. KFC breaks down some of the worst deferred contracts that aren't Bonilla based, provides the history that led to it, what resulted for the team from having done it and sets the record straight once and for all that it was actually one of the better moves that were made at the time. We also discuss the giving Robbie Cano the Bobby Bo treatment, breakdown the beatdown by the Braves and look ahead to deGrom's start (back when we were optimistic and hadn't had our hearts ripped out by Lugo/Guillorme yet) The Mets remain 2 games up in the NL East, but for how much longer is anyone's guess. We gotta believe that heading into the Bronx will give this team the wake up call that they desperately need, but this could be a long haul to the all-star break.
Every July the disability community celebrates the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Don't Burn The Day will take this month as an opportunity to profile many of the men and women that helped to open the door for many of us. We are starting the series by looking at the life of Mr Justin Dart Jr and his take no for an answer attitude. We hope you enjoy this series over the coming weeks.
Something we aim to deliver here on the SuperFeast podcast is a sense of health sovereignty and empowerment through diverse conversations. We hope to bring you inspiring individuals, their stories, and valuable knowledge that empowers your mental/physical/spiritual wellbeing. With all of us feeling the ripple effects of these unprecedented times, there has never been a better time to talk about mental health practices to keep us healthy as a society and better equipped to deal with stress. We hope you all tune in for today's podcast as Mason sits down with mental health-focused naturopath Monica Shepherd (The Organic Naturopath), facilitator of The Connected Brain course, for a conversation around mental health and adaptogens. Monica unpacks the healing nature of these powerful herbs and their ability to improve neuroplasticity, behavioural disorders, and all facets of mental health. An empowering conversation, shedding light on a subject that sometimes feels a bit heavy to pick up, Monica reminds us that not only are our brains designed to survive in life, but also to thrive. That’s an incredible reality to realise- the odds are in our favour. Thanks for bringing this positive energy and reminding us what adaptogens are doing for our HPA, our general health, and our capacity to thrive. -Mason Taylor Mason and Monica discuss: Addiction healing. Balancing the HPA axis. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Healing trauma through adaptogens. Adaptogens for children with trauma & anxiety. What happens in the body when we experience trauma. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitation technique). Adaptogens for mental illness. Amygdala balance through adaptogens. How adaptogens enhance brain neuroplasticity. Adaptogens for the liver and lymphatic system. Who is Monica Shepherd? Monica Shepherd known as The Organic Naturopath is a trained naturopath and nutritionist who specialises in all things mental health and is currently undertaking a Masters in Mental Health. Her goal as a practitioner is to be both practical and balanced in her approach, whilst striving to undercover solutions to a pandemic of disconnection and mental health symptoms through a combination of science and traditional knowledge. Resources: Monica's website ( The Organic Naturopath) Instagram (The Organic Naturopath) SuperFeast Adaptogens Ashwagandha - Your New Best Friend To Beat Stress Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or check us out on Stitcher, CastBox, iHeart RADIO:)! Plus we're on Spotify! Check Out The Transcript Here: Mason: (00:02) All right. We're on, Monica. Thank you so much for joining me. Monica Shepherd: (00:06) Thank you for having me. Mason: (00:10) How long have you been up in the Northern Rivers since you've moved up from Victoria? Monica Shepherd: (00:14) Just before Christmas, so it's still new, but it feels like forever. Mason: (00:20) Next time we're going to get you in. If you're in the Northern Rivers, have to come into the podcast chamber. Monica Shepherd: (00:28) I'm looking forward to this chamber. Wow, I love that word. Mason: (00:33) It's a little dank at the moment, but I think this year we'll actually work on it. Not dank, just daggy, is probably the better word. You're not missing much, other than for us to be face-to-face, but that is okay. I'm still excited that you're out of Victoria and in the Rainbow Region. Monica Shepherd: (00:54) Yes. Me too. Mason: (00:55) Thanks so much for reaching out. I really want to hear about your master's that you're doing around mental health. Of course, you're a naturopath, you come with that angle. You're already dealing with a whole variety of mental health issues in-clinic from a naturopathic standpoint, but can you just tell me what made you go in this direction of your master's? I'm so stoked that you reached out because it's been so long since I've really made the connection around adaptogens, medicinal mushrooms and mental health issues and them being included in the process of reducing symptomatology, at least. I'm really excited to hear all about it. Monica Shepherd: (01:38) Well, I mean, look, the research, as we know, is always evolving, so you've probably come at a good time to get excited about it again. But for me, personally, when I was doing my training as a naturopath, I was sitting in with a naturopath who had also trained as a psychologist and I was seeing some remarkable cases. So we were dealing with everything from children with severe ADHD, people with uncontrolled schizophrenia, people whose mental health disorders and issues, were just really impacting on their quality of life, and a lot of the time they had gone down a lot of routes and they were already doing all the right things, per se. So they were already seeing their psychologist or counsellor, they were already learning all those skills and their techniques, but their biochemistry just still wasn't quite correct. Obviously we're working with all your traditional things that you work with as a natural health practitioner. We'll really zone in on their diet, we'll help them with their nutritional deficiencies. But then what really got me excited is seeing how adaptogens can really help with their brain neuroplasticity. Monica Shepherd: (02:53) As we know, a child's brain is able to adapt and change more quickly, but that doesn't mean that an adult's brain is not able to be tuned in on as well. I guess the difference is, as an adult, we're not deleting those connections in the brain or we're not adding to them, we're fine-tuning what's there, and that's where things like adaptogens can be really exciting. And as you probably know in your research as well, when we're helping someone on that basic level with their stress, then we're going to be helping with that response in the brain. And so, the things that I tend to see clinically and that I've had personal experience with, are things like post-traumatic stress disorder. So when someone has experienced trauma and that can be acute trauma, as we know. So for example, when you have a car accident, we're hoping that's a one-off experience and a one-off traumatic experience and it's not going to be something that's ongoing. But then you can get chronic trauma, so like domestic violence, for example, would be an example of trauma that was ongoing and didn't just happen once usually. Monica Shepherd: (04:06) And so, well, is really interesting and what you know is that we're looking at, okay, so in post-traumatic stress disorder, how do these memories develop and how does this actually affect the body? Because physical and emotional pain are very different. I could see somebody who's broke their ankle playing sport, and as long as that event wasn't particularly emotionally traumatic for them, as soon as the ankle's healed, they're straight back playing their sport again and they're probably not going to have much feeling of anxiousness or low mood, et cetera, going forward. But you give someone an experience where it's emotionally traumatic, and then we are going to see some long-term side effects. We're going to see some anxiety related symptoms, simple things like being more nervous socially or finger twitching or issues sleeping, et cetera. So if we want to deal with that kind of trauma, we really need to understand what happens in the body when we experience this trauma, and what happens with emotional pain versus physical pain. The research shows a lot about the Amygdala, and we're looking at, okay, so here is our fight or flight response, but here is our ability to process fear, but also to process bliss. Monica Shepherd: (05:36) So it really fascinates me. We literally have this part in our brain that is here for us, not to just survive in life, but to thrive in life. And if we can get this working and functioning really well, we are literally tapping into our biochemistry of bliss and our ability to process fearful experiences and emotions more effectively, and our ability as well, with what kind of memories are we going to develop around our trauma that we have experienced. So, as we know, long-term memory takes time to develop, so ideally, how we would want to help somebody with adaptogens in trauma is, they would already be taking them, because you don't know when acute trauma is going to happen. But with long-term trauma, I've really seen that the panacea here is patience and persistence. So patience and persistence and daily taking those adaptogens over time. And then we're getting that amygdala really balanced and we're helping not just with those anxiety-related symptoms that someone is experiencing, but we're helping with the memories that have been formed. It's such a fascinating and exciting area of research that's coming around. And clinically, it's really rewarding seeing how it can just support people. Mason: (07:05) This is literally branching off from where I've left it in my understanding and saw adaptogens being used clinically for the amygdala. I like your pronunciation. Amygdala. Monica Shepherd: (07:23) Oh, yeah. I'm glad you're a fan. Mason: (07:24) It feels like a mandala kind of vibe about it. Monica Shepherd: (07:28) Actually, that's the perfect description. Mason: (07:32) Little almond-shaped mandala. Monica Shepherd: (07:35) A little mandala in your brain, yeah. Mason: (07:38) So, okay, you've said several things that I want to unpack. So the healing process you've associated and so now I'm assuming it's this healing process and allowing the amygdala to not get bogged down in repeating, say like an overly fearful or whatever other emotion, is a fearful emotion around the experience or the trauma and it goes through processing that so it can move back into, say more of a blissful state. And to have that, you then require a certain amount of neuroplasticity within your nervous system and your brain. The more neuroplasticity you have or the more plastic you are before going into a trauma, the better equipped you're going to be, psychologically and physiologically, to move through that process. Is that right? Monica Shepherd: (08:32) Yeah, that is right. I guess there's two things to that as well, and the first thing is when we want to influence the brain, we definitely want to influence the nervous system as well as the adrenal, so when we're controlling the amount of cortisol that's being released and how balanced that is and what state our nervous system is, that's going to affect that brain response as well. So as we know, adaptogens are particularly useful, because the same way we can develop a mental habit, we can also develop a physical habit of being stuck in high cortisol or being stuck in a wired nervous system, and that will influence the brain's ability to bounce back, so to speak. And you're absolutely right when you say it's more ideal to already be taking adaptogens, because right after a trauma, that long-term memory hasn't been developed yet, so how long that trauma is going to last or how they're going to look back at it in say, three years, five years, 10 years, we can influence that so much when we interact with the brain right close to the trauma. Mason: (09:47) I mean, already, I feel like I'm becoming more plastic. I don't know if you quickly want to explain neuroplasticity, because I just realised there's a lot of people that may not be on top of this topic. I mean, I remember I first heard about it after my mom had an aneurysm, which I'll explain that's where my understanding came from and I read Norman Doidge's book, The Brain That Changes Itself, and I was like, ew, plastic, I don't even want to know that word. But I just want to explain that to people. Monica Shepherd: (10:18) It is a weird word and term when you think about it and I'd probably name it something different if it was me and myself, to give people a clearer understanding, but I think even the title of that book explains it really well. The Brain That Can Change Itself, right? And so, essentially, if we want to keep it really simple, that's exactly what neuroplasticity is. It's the ability of our brain to change itself and so we have this understanding that, as a child, the brain is obviously learning and it's really prime to learn and is able to be really adaptable and change. I guess a good example would be language learning. So we know, for example, children are much more prime to pick up second and third languages more so than an adult to the point where, if a child learns a second or a third language, they're less likely to have an accent in either of those languages. They're more likely to have a native accent, where an adult still absolutely has the ability to learn as many different languages as they want, but they're much more likely to have their native accent in all those other languages that they learn. Monica Shepherd: (11:28) So we can see that there is a difference, but the exciting thing is that even after 25, so we're saying the average brain by 25 years old is pretty set, there are still ways we can influence those synapses. So there's connections that happen in the brain. And we can definitely fine-tune them and as we're talking about, well I want to call it the mandala in your brain now, you can absolutely influence the mandala in your brain. So we've been talking a lot about adaptogens which have really good research, and we know even, one of the research, for example of Buddhist monks or of people who are more socially connected, that that also influenced this changes in the brain, because the exciting thing is, we are built for bliss, we are built for social connection and we're physically, actually, built for this, and our brain is physically built to overcome these traumatic experiences that we experience and more than that, to have really deep connection. Mason: (12:35) But what's interesting, just to get a little bit understanding that process. If there's neuroplasticity, which I always associate it with healing from traumatic brain injury, like brain injury or stroke or aneurysm in my mom's case, which was quite effective. They were like, she's going to be a vegetable, and she can still now laugh and still improve neurologically, even though it's nine years later and that's why lion's mane and a lot of the other adaptogens came into my range in the beginning in SuperFeast, because that was like, just wanted to pump mom full of them as well as everything else, utilising all these techniques. And so, it's associated with brain healing or kind of mental performance, right? So retention of information, languages, so on and so forth, so I had this, for me it had this intellectual potentiation association as well as the brain healing. I'm not good in any of those directions. I'm not a practitioner and I'm not a biohacker, one of those entrepreneurs that needs to be optimal all the time, even though I do in my own way. But just associating it here with having yourself being plastic within, able to create these synapses and these new pathways is going to, ultimately, do what we'll talk about in tonic herbalism and long-term adaptogen use, is make it easier to be yourself and flourish when you get to later life like 80 and 90. Mason: (14:17) It's like, yeah, good, strong body and have a strong output, but if you're just stuck in projecting particular stories you have about the way life is or stuck in a particular trauma or fear or whatever it is, you're going, more likely, to be dysfunctional when you get into your older age and eventually get bogged down. I don't think people realise how hard it is, as you go along, if you stop going through this process, and this is what I want to get to, you were saying you get to give the bliss, but you have to go back through that trauma, so you're going to need to be able to have the capacity to... I don't know if it's reliving that fear through the amygdala or how it works when your body is functioning correctly, how that moves from fear to bliss as far as you understand. What are we actually supporting here with the adaptogens? Does the HPA axis kind of come in there as well a little bit? Monica Shepherd: (15:20) Yeah, definitely the HPA axis comes in there as well, and I could see somebody who might have an anxiety-related disorder that they've had for a decade, for example. And the other interesting thing as well is that we know that anxiety-related disorders can lead into addiction as well, and so there's a really good example when you're meeting someone. It may be just a simple addiction. Well, what we would consider simple, like smoking cigarettes, for example, nicotine, and they could've had that addiction for 10 or 20 years. So being able to change that physically and emotionally is huge. So you're right in that with the emotional aspects, we do need to go back and feel that and that's where you get all those therapies like the EMDR for example, the Eye Movement Desensitation technique. Mason: (16:13) That's an old Daoist technique, I believe. Monica Shepherd: (16:14) Yeah. Look, I've used it myself, personally, and I found it really helpful and I've seen it really help for the clients as well, but you are right, they do need to, to some degree, go back and feel that trauma, but you're kind of just having a bird's-eye view, so you're not reliving it, you're just going back to heal it physically in the brain. But where adaptogens come in is that, with the HPA axis, like I was saying before, you will get an imbalanced cortisol habit. So, for example, instead of, as we know, cortisol rises in the morning, it's at it's peak usually mid-morning and then at night it is lowering again for sleep. Monica Shepherd: (16:55) When somebody's had these anxiety-related disorders, in a lot of cases, a lot of people I see, it's more than a decade, it's more than 10 years, so I consider that quite significant and quite chronic as far as the habits are set in the body. Without adaptogens, even with all these techniques, I find it very difficult to get their cortisol doing what it's meant to be doing again and getting back to their own body's cycle and rhythm. So they could be having really high cortisol at night, for example, and then we've got somebody who's not resting easily, not falling asleep easily and certainly not in line with nature and the way their body would like to be. It's really fascinating, but I do find, without adaptogens, it's going to be really difficult to change that axis. Mason: (17:49) I mean, just hearing that, if you can't get the axis back in line, essentially it's going to be like pushing a boulder up a hill to take that, I mean, from say like a feared state, where you're living that same rooted in, lack of a better word, the negative experience where that can then lead to a mental disorder if not dealt with or treated versus being able to slowly go through that process, and I assume 10 years, that's going to be a longer process, there's going to be more of a bundle like a fishing wire that's all... Monica Shepherd: (18:23) Absolutely. Well we're going to see as well, if someone's had their HPA axis imbalanced that long, then it's very likely that it'll affect their thyroid or it's going to affect their hormones, and so we'll get all these secondary complications that have been switched on and developed by the immune system from having that high cortisol which has led to inflammation et cetera, but we always want to go right back to the root cause. But you're right. It does take time and in chronic trauma, you definitely do want to be using adaptogens consistently, daily, as a daily habit, and you want to be doing that for a considerable amount of time. And that becomes the panacea, that becomes the cure, unfortunately is being really consistent, being really simple with your habits and that's where the magic comes over time. But I think you touched on a really important thing as well where you're saying, what happens if we don't try and balance that HPA axis? We could have somebody who's in therapy for 20 or 30 years and they're doing all those right techniques, they're doing that great talk therapy, but their biochemistry is still just not right, and so they're still going to struggle with some symptoms. Mason: (19:43) You just saying that and acknowledging that and saying that the panacea is in that consistency and almost like there's a simplicity of that. We keep on coming back to it here, I think because we've been going hard for so long and I've been so extreme in the health realm for so long, and I like that extreme. But there's a chop wood, carry water energy and I talk a lot about extremism and especially when you're trying to heal. And you bring up again, if you're not doing very consistently well with diet, with exercise, hydration, not flogging yourself so that you go to the point of exhaustion and then needing to come back and then you're going and looking for, whether it's extreme therapies. Around here a lot of people going for deep-dive plant medicine ceremonies, long-term meditation retreats, and these things are so good, but then there's going to be nothing. And as you said, kind of I feel, it's what I see, you see that looping. Mason: (20:46) If you don't have that foundation, you know you just have to get the basics done really well and it seems like bullshit when you have this blown-out-of-your-skull healing experience on whatever, some plant medicine, which is bloody amazing and I was there years and years ago. Nothing compares. It works to an extent, especially the first times and in therapy as well, but if you're not getting those basics right, you don't have a foundation to build upon and you just keep on looping and looping and looping in the long run. Monica Shepherd: (21:18) Absolutely. I mean, the brain likes consistency and if we go into psychology as well, so does the ego, where the ego doesn't like too much change, and it likes what we're doing most of the time and even when we go into our gut microbiome. The gut microbiome is based on what we're doing most of the time. So they've even shown some studies that if your diet was consistent five to six days a week but you had one day where you were eating a bit differently, as long as you went back to that the next day, because you're mostly eating a certain way, it's not going to make a huge difference. What does make a difference is what we do consistently, all the time. And exactly, if we're having these big experiences where we're using these plant medicines, that's great, but how are we going to ground that into our everyday experience. And that's the thing with addiction healing as well, is these people have actually developed consistent habits a lot of the time, they're just not necessarily favourable ones. So how do we develop addictions or habits that are favourable and it does come down to what we're doing all the time. Monica Shepherd: (22:34) So whether it's you're having your adaptogens in the morning or at night and you're kind of doing that consistently, it doesn't mean you can't sometimes have these bigger experiences or that things don't come up and you need to change things a little bit, but we're giving ourselves a foundation and a protective barrier so to speak, and that's really important because, like you were saying before, we don't really ever know when acute trauma is going to happen to us and we know that stress and slight trauma are actually really important for the human experience of learning and growing, so we don't necessarily want to avoid those either. We don't want to avoid all stress or we'll never learn. For example, you've got positive stress like when you're stressed before an exam or you're stressed because you care about your family, they're really good stressors to have. We don't want to get rid of those, but how are we going to prime our bodies so that we are still going to be blissful, we are still going to make good decisions? It's absolutely the foundation. Yep. And I love that you have come back to the simplicity. Monica Shepherd: (23:45) And you probably understand a lot more as well, Mason, about how these mushrooms are in the forest as well, and I think when you understand that whole system and how everything is interconnected and how everything works, it gives us a really good idea of how these plants then connect with us as well. Mason: (24:07) Yeah. I'd love to talk about that. I was just going to ask, when we talk about adaptogens, I know, clinically, there's a certain element of... But it's like with herbalism, this is one of my favourite quotes [inaudible 00:24:21] people go like, "Oh my gosh, there's thousands and thousands of herbs you talk about, which one should I take?" And then he's like, "Any of them." It's such a good entry, and everyone wants to complicate it. And with adaptogens, I know a lot of practitioners are like, you just take any. And sometimes I'm kind of like that. I refer to them a lot as tonic herbs from the Daoist tradition, but the same deal with adaptogens. You've generally got a lot of rope. It's kind of hard to go wrong with them, which is nice. I'm sure, as a practitioner, when you're looking at the intricacy of panels, you might be a little bit more sensitive than I am, but nonetheless, they're not very aggressive herbs and they were generally going to be regulating the body in a direction you want, say bar someone's got hyperthyroidism and take ashwagandha. Mason: (25:15) I'm curious. I'll jump into the mushrooms because there's something there you've just reminded me of. But I'm curious what's in your arsenal, are you working with panels, are you working with the person, are you kind of looking at whether someone needs to come down or get regulated up a little bit more and that determines what adaptogens you use? Or do you find they're literally just generally regulating the body no matter what? Monica Shepherd: (25:42) Yeah. They're great questions. So I think, firstly, you've touched on how safe they are, and I think that that's such a good thing to touch on quickly. I mean, withania for example, even breastfeeding mothers can take it, and there was a study that showed that it actually supported a baby's weight being at a really healthy range. So I thought that was really exciting. And then of course we've got reishi as well, which has got such positive results of when pregnant mothers consume reishi as well as how it affects their children's behaviour long-term. So as far as safety, I think that that's the great thing about adaptogens, is that they're generally really safe, regardless of what stage of your life you're in or what you're experiencing and children right to adults right to elderly can often take adaptogens as well. So that kind of makes it really available for everybody, but then as far as choosing what is ideal for somebody that I see, I'm going to consider all those personal factors as well. So I'm going to consider, where are they in their life cycle, what is it that they're trying to achieve that they really need? Monica Shepherd: (26:57) So I might see somebody who is wanting more focus because they're learning, they're studying, they've got a lot going on, or maybe they've got a lot of circumstantial stress, so they've got these circumstances in their life that are stressful and they're not going to resolve any time soon. So they're being really wise and they're being really proactive and going, "Okay, what can I take?" So someone like that, then you know yeah, so I'm definitely looking at things like lion's mane, I'm definitely looking at ashwagandha, which is so beautiful at keeping us really balanced. But then there's such scope and adaptogens can be used for so many different conditions. So I'm going as well, yes, what's going on with their thyroid, is that a big goal right now? What's going on with their immune system? There's so much auto-immune disorders right now. And generally, I don't tend to use one herb by itself. So I tend to find that in combination we're getting that really beautiful personalised blend, but everything I do is always personalised. It does make it a bit difficult because we like to have, hey, there's this one condition and here's this one pill, but here we go for adaptogens going, ah, you can take it for 20 different things. Or you can take 20 different adaptogens and they're all going to be really useful, so how do you choose? Monica Shepherd: (28:27) And I do think it becomes that combination of size and that combination of intuition as well, and I find people are generally pretty intuitive, so I like to give them a choice and I go, okay this is what I'm thinking. I think that you should be using a combination of this and that, and they'll go, yeah, that feels really good to me. And that's what works beautifully. Mason: (28:53) What about for you personally? Have you got any favourites? I'm always fascinated. You're doing a master's, you've got a scientific brain and you have to be deep. You have to be thyroid deep into science. But you've obviously got an intuitive connection. And you talk about these adaptogens being just so good across the board or in general when you go back to the basics. It's the same as the Daoist principle. You get them in your lifestyle and you have a little bit daily and you keep yourself regulatory. I look at the population and look what you're saying around cortisol level, HPA axis, homeostasis, so that then we can process just being alive and just how effective these adaptogens are and they just go far out. They're here man. They're considered the herbs, the messengers from heaven. This is what they're called in Daoism. They're astrologically, they're celestial, connected to that immortal plane and they've come down and just helped not guide us, but work with us so that we can guide ourselves. And that's the more esoteric. They're just here with a mission with a vengeance, just trying to help us steady this ship. Bit of a ramble. Monica Shepherd: (30:21) No, I love that. That was a good ramble. I like that. I'm definitely going to be saying to people from now on, "Would you like some of these messengers from heaven?" And seeing their reaction. How can you say no to that? Mason: (30:36) Which heaven are you talking about? More of the immortal plane. Monica Shepherd: (30:43) But at the moment I've been seeing a lot of children who, due to stress or trauma or anxiety-related disorders, are struggling to learn because we know that trauma affects our learning. And so one of the things for these children at the moment that's been really helpful, is a lot of them are having a little bit of lion's mane in their smoothie in the morning or in a bit of peppermint tea. You've probably got better combinations than me, but I've just found that most children will have some lion's mane in a bit of peppermint tea. Mason: (31:12) Whatever works is the combo with kids. Whatever bloody works. Monica Shepherd: (31:18) And then they're having some reishi at night before they go to sleep with some warm milk of some description and that's really supporting them. For adults, though, I can never go past anything with rehmannia and schizandra. They're still among my favourite herbs because we're supporting kidneys, we're supporting the liver detoxification pathways and then we're supporting energy levels as well. And so many people are coming off coffee, which is exciting. Although at least reducing their coffee from a ridiculous amount, like four coffees a day and they're trying to cut back. Then they're getting into the cordyceps, they're getting into the chaga and they're getting really good results. So I think that that's really practical and that's really exciting and that's a really good way that mushrooms can support the everyday person as well, because how many people are addicted to coffee? It's a huge amount. So practical and simple. Mason: (32:24) Mushrooms and coffee. Every July. Or every winter in the Southern hemisphere. Let's just say we're really launching in America so we're like, "How do we deal with being a seasonally-driven company right now?" and education in two hemispheres, but that's a good challenge. You need to be adaptable. You need neuro adaptability, not plasticity. Neuro Adaptability. We always do a 30 Days of Jing. We just get off the coffee or reduce the coffee as a community. It's kind of like a create-your-own-adventure. We don't really mind if someone's like, "I can't get off coffee." It's like, cool, just bring in the Jing kidney. Monica Shepherd: (33:00) I love those herbs. Mason: (33:09) It ground the whole HPA axis, I find. I think people sometimes... And I relate to this. It's why the Jing herbs work so well, the kidney herbs work so well for me. You mentioned cordyceps, schizandra is a beautiful Jing herb as well, goji's in there as well. But they ground the whole process. I had an indigenous mate. I think I've told this story on the podcast. But we were talking about trauma and he didn't know the word amygdala, but he talked about this little part in your brain that was like a projector and it kept on projecting up the memory of the battle or the trauma and you just keep on reliving it and you just pulled called up. And he was like, so at that point, we need foods and herbs to kind of take you down and ground you. And I was like, that's the first step. I was like, yeah, that's the Jing herbs and you need to not be going and doing extreme healing therapies at that point, that continue to blast you up and out excessively. But he said the second part is when you go walkabout after a battle and you can't stop reliving it or after a death you can't stop reliving it. Mason: (34:23) And he's like, you need to go walkabout. And he was saying the projector, which I'm kind of seeing as a stick amygdala just projecting up that memory, he's like, when you're walking along, whether you go walkabout by yourself in the city consistently, that's just what you do, go for a walk every day or when you're in the bush, you just go for days, weeks or months. As long as it takes. But you go and you look at the horizon with a soft gaze. And the way it works is, when you're in the city, you're so distracted that it just keeps on looping because it still seems like that's really important for survival, but when you go walking long-term, there's this relationship we have with nature that, whether you're looking at waves or the treeline slowly moving, your systems knows, as it's gazing at it, that you don't need to remember that wave breaking in order to survive. And so there's a symbiotic relationship where it almost plucks out this projection and you get to get the experience that this isn't real and get pulled out by the trees moving. And slowly but surely, it's a healing modality, but it's like taking adaptogens regularly. It's like the ultimate adaptogen for mental health. Mason: (35:35) I kind of saw from his perspective is he just constantly walk and continues to work with you to make sure you subconsciously know that that's not real anymore, that's an interpretation, so that you can then, in your life, go and deal with the trauma. What you're saying is really kind of crystallising that a lot for me, I guess, in terms of [crosstalk 00:35:55]. Monica Shepherd: (35:54) That's really beautiful. And you're right. I mean, we've learned that these therapies like being in nature, that meditation et cetera, can change the amygdala. Well, the question is, a lot of people can't even do those things to begin with. When they're so wired up, the idea of having to sit in meditation or to walk in nature would be a bit confronting for them. I think that we can really support these people with adaptogens as well so that they're more likely to be able to consistently do these therapies, that the research is consistently showing does make a difference. I mean, like we were saying before, our understanding of the brain is always evolving and there's always new research and for as much as we know, there's still so little we don't know. But the exciting thing is that science is proving what we already know through traditional knowledge at the moment and that's exciting. It's going, okay, we already knew this, but now we have a study to show us that what we knew was actually valid. Mason: (37:06) I appreciate it. I used to roll my eyes at that, but I appreciate the fact. That institution, that's what it's based on, that's its foundation, that's its religion. Not speculating. And sometimes that bites them in the ass and makes them very slow, but a lot of the time correlation doesn't mean causation, and that plays out a lot of the time. So I get it. It's interesting. So you're talking about adaptogens. With SuperFeast we're not here to treat anything, but we work with a lot of practitioners, we have a lot of practitioners on because they come in a lot of the time, either like yourself or a practitioner. At that point you can hit specific doses and specific herbs, but even just to step back and if you're just getting hydrated and moving and stuff so when you're dealing with these mental health issues, they can creep up on any of us. With the research backing and with the validation. You doing your master's on it, that's incredible. And I know more research coming out, it's interesting to see that, I saw on your website, there's alcoholism you've mentioned, there's addictions, which I think is incredible. I've always thought people dealing with addiction should be taking tonic adaptogens. Mason: (38:26) And you've got Asperger's, schizophrenia, severe depressive disorder. It's really exciting, I'm sure it is for you as well, to see that this is possibly the way of the future and we're going to see adaptogens used in treatment and then just creating a platform that people can get a handle on these mental disorders. Monica Shepherd: (38:49) Absolutely. You're absolutely right. It can happen to anybody. I mean, we know that there are things like genetic influence and we know that environmental and life factors can influence that on well. But depressive disorders, for example, anxiety disorders, can happen to absolutely anybody at any stage of their life, even somebody who's never experienced that before, because we know the biggest risk factor for developing a depressive disorder is long-term stress. And how many people do we see who are experiencing long-term stress? And they're not able to adapt and like I was saying before, I can meet people and I've been there myself, but sometimes we have circumstantial stress. So it's not something that we can control. The only thing that we can control are all those little things, like are we still going to stay hydrated, are we still going to keep control of our diet, are we still going to exercise, can we take adaptogens so that physically I can get through this long period of circumstantial stress and I'm less likely to develop a depressive disorder? And the science is there that that is the number one biggest risk factor. So, essentially, as simple as it sounds, if we want to be preventing mental illness, which is so common, we need to really be dealing with our stress, as a society, much better. Mason: (40:13) You practise iridology as well, right? Monica Shepherd: (40:17) Yeah. I have been doing iridology. It gets really fascinating. And there's different fields of iridology too, so you'll get different styles, you'll get your more [crosstalk 00:40:28]. Mason: (40:31) German or American. Monica Shepherd: (40:31) Yeah, German or American. Pretty much. And the German is very much like, your iris doesn't change, this is just your constitution and who you are. And the American style is much more, you can detox, et cetera and your iris will change. And kind of what I've seen over doing iridology in time, is that the truth tends to be somewhere in the middle of that. So the truth is that it does change, but the iris is slow-changing, it's not quite as rapid as what we'd see in these people doing extreme detoxes, for the average person. Mason: (41:03) I'm curious what you see. You get those bands that tell you the nervous system's wound up, so on and so forth. Reading the iris is what iridology is, for those of you who don't know. Very interesting. Again, I like it when practitioners like yourself are so rooted in the science and these techniques, which I'd say I definitely know works and are effective and have been a fan of it, just a hobbyist in that field, something that's such quackery. A lot of practitioners are like, it's such bullshit. And in the real Western medical world, it always makes my heart sing when I see the bridge being made in someone that's like, yeah, I'm in your world and then this is valid. But I guess that's the part of it with the scientific, in the science, that they'll throw the baby out of the bathwater because it's an adaptable system. It's a system that chops and changes and moves. Anyway, I love that you're into it. Monica Shepherd: (42:12) Thank you. I definitely think, and I found over time, that we shouldn't limit ourselves. If we're having those really black and white beliefs when it comes to health or certain health systems, whether that's, like you said, some of the scientific approach of throwing all the babies out of the bathwater. Mason: (42:30) The babies. Monica Shepherd: (42:32) All the babies. How could they? We're limiting ourselves. We're limiting our ability to help people get well. It should just be, really, about what works and what's going to find people solutions, so we don't want to limit ourselves in any way. Iridology, what's really interesting is that, basically, straight up you're going to see what is somebody's physical genetic weakness. So for some people it might be their lymphatic system, for some people it might be hey, this nervous system is going to be something that I'm going to have to pay attention to nourishing in my lifetime. Some people it might be their digestive system. But that's really valuable information. It's going, okay, what am I going to need to focus more on in this lifetime to keep myself really well and well-functioning? And iridology does give that. The other interesting thing is that if you break an arm or you have surgery or you have some major illness, that will show up in the iris as well. So the iris is almost like a history map, so it's giving you history of major health things that have happened to you in your lifetime, but often from both of your parents and your grandparents as well. Monica Shepherd: (43:55) It'll be interesting, because I might find someone who's doing iridology, especially when I've done whole families and I've done siblings, one sibling I can see clearly they've inherited more from dad's side of the family health-wise, and the other sibling has been more from mom's side. And that's not really based on how they look, like one might look like one parent or a grandparent or et cetera, but what have they physically inherited and what attributes do they need to be mindful of? So they're going to be almost their superpowers, but their weaknesses as well. So iridology for me, the American view would be, we keep looking at it, we keep detoxing it and it will change. In my experience, it can change a little bit. Like if I see somebody's got a lot of liver congestion, that can change in time, and the other thing as well is, it's not just the iris that we look at, though. We look at the sclera as well, so the white part of the eye, and that changes much more quickly than the iris so that we can see some liver signs in the sclera and if somebody was really working on their liver, we can see that sclera really clear up within three to six months and look remarkably different. Mason: (45:05) With the usage of adaptogens, across the board, do you see a general change in your patients, you can say there's this aspect of the iris or the physiology always shifts, or is it always individual? I'm assuming it's probably somewhere between that. Monica Shepherd: (45:23) It's somewhere in between that. I mean, if someone comes to me and they've got a lot of nervous system signs and they've got a lot of, what we call, cramp rings, spasm rings, they've got different names. With adaptogens I might see that shift from being, say, four rings in someone's iris to three or two over time, or not be so thick lines [inaudible 00:45:43]. But in some individuals, they may not have had any of those nervous rings to start with. It may be for them that we're focusing on the adaptogens that are more for the immune system and so we're seeing some lymphatic clearance. It'll take time, like I'm talking three to six months of continual, habitual supplementation with the adaptogens, and decent doses as well. Monica Shepherd: (46:09) I mean, if we want to talk about, in science, I'm not going to tell somebody to take an eighth of a Panadol and expect that to get rid of their pain, so I'm not going to tell somebody, hey, take one dropper of your adaptogen or an eighth of a teaspoon daily and expect to see any results. Some people are very sensitive, but even so, it is going to want a decent dose as well and you're going to need to do it, with the iris it does take many months before you'd see a change. But it is very exciting when you do. Because of that reason, because we know it is so slow-changing, when you do see that change in the iris, it's pretty exciting. Mason: (46:53) I mean, it is somewhat representing. It's either going to be extreme congestion and stagnation, then it's exciting just moving because that almost becomes your new constitution if you're not careful, right? You're probably just like, okay, cool, I've got a real hard, congested liver or I've just got lymph that just won't move and I just deal with this sticky, viscousy substance. That's me now. Monica Shepherd: (47:21) Unfortunately, I would say that most of the population could definitely be supporting their liver and their lymphatic systems much more than what they are. And if we're talking about wanting to prevent chronic disease before it develops, in the same way that we're talking how can we support ourselves with stress and support ourselves so that we're limiting the emotional and physical reaction to traumatic events, then we really want to be proactive. Everybody should be doing some support for their liver and their lymphatic system. That should just go without saying, absolutely. Otherwise, other people are walking around with liver stagnation and a congested lymphatic system. That's very common. Mason: (48:10) You don't want that as the constitution when you get [crosstalk 00:48:10]. Monica Shepherd: (48:10) No. Mason: (48:15) What's your fave little liver tips? I know it's probably different for everyone. Just curious. I know it's one of those things you ask and a lot of the time we all know the really simple ones even, because I'm sure everyone could do with a reminder. Monica Shepherd: (48:35) I love being simple and practical because, in my experience, people always go and I know I myself have been always going from wanting the extreme types of healing and then I've missed all the basics that I'm not doing and hoping it's something really crazy out there that I need to be doing. Liver, you can't go wrong with doing some kind of liver detox once a year where you're ideally not having any alcohol, your caffeine. Your sugar is a big one. So people will sometimes say to me, "I'm not consuming much alcohol, so my liver should be great." I'm like, no, but you know you are having all your simple carbohydrates, and essentially that's what alcohol is. It's sugar as well. I can see the other way around when someone's like, "I don't eat much sweets", but they're essentially drinking their sweets by the amount of alcohol that they're drinking. We want to bring it back so that we're limiting those sweets for a little while, but especially in Western societies as we are so obsessed with sweets and we're not getting much bitter foods in. So having that break and having those lemon juices in water, bitter dandelion teas, those bitter foods for a while. As simple as it is, that's really supportive for the liver. Monica Shepherd: (49:50) And you do, I find in most circumstances, want to be taking some herbs that would go to support the liver pathways as well. Increasing those nutrients that the liver needs, so all your activated B vitamins and making sure you're getting good quality protein. Mason: (50:07) How do you get the Bs in? Do you in the beginning supplement a complex and then move to dietary, or what's your approach? Monica Shepherd: (50:15) For most people it would be starting a supplementary activated Bs and then focusing more on dietary in the long run. So your whole seeds, for example, your buckwheat, your quinoa, your pumpkin seeds, your avocados. Those kinds of foods that are going to really support you with high levels of B vitamins long term. If you're wanting to really support the liver short term, often diet is extremely beneficial and helpful, but it just takes time. So supplementation can be really important, along with the herbs as well, and along with protein. The liver really does need protein to help it detoxify in its different pathways. So not just when it identifies all the toxins that are in the body, but then when it's able to make them water-soluble and less toxic in the body and be excreted, we really do need protein. I find, across the board, all people of all different diets and lifestyles, generally are not eating enough protein when they first see me. So whether they're vegan or vegetarian, they're not having their legumes. If I meet someone who's a meat-eater, they're still, a lot of the time, eating a lot of processed carbohydrates and not enough good quality protein, and that's really going to cause issues with your liver and digestion over time. Mason: (51:42) And lymph, are you focusing on a combo of herbs and movement practises? Which way do you swing? Monica Shepherd: (51:52) Look, I mean, I definitely love the movement practises for your lymph and that's why it is important to do some movement as many times as you can. It doesn't have to be a long period of exercise, all movement for lymph is just so important. I love teaching people your simple lymphatic massages and tips that they can do for themselves as well, because that's just exciting because you can see, even with your face lymphatic massages, even with your breasts for example, for women, you can see how the lymph is moved within that five minutes of massage and those simple techniques. It kind of gives them something rewarding because you can see the results quite quickly. But for most people, they will need some support nutritionally as well. So it could be your bioflavonoids for example, your certain vitamin Cs can be really important, but then your herbs as well, most definitely. Mason: (52:51) What are your fave lymph herbs? We got asked. It's good to kind of clear why everyone's focused on their lymphs, but for some reason, lately especially, everyone's just like, "What do I take for my lymphatic system?" Monica Shepherd: (53:06) Okay. Something I'm really liking at the moment is red root. That is really important, and especially because I'm seeing quite severe auto-immune issues. Everything from scleroderma, where the skin tightens and the immune system is tightening all the tissues and that can have a really bad prognosis in the long run, so I'm like okay, this person does need some work on their lymphatic system so that we're getting that drainage system of the body completely clear. So red root is a favourite. You said it, ones like calendula, your high-potency echinacea. I'm definitely a snob in that. Unfortunately, with a herb like echinacea, there's such a big difference in what's available on the market and how it's processed, so there's only a couple of brands that I'll use. So they can be really important. Sometimes red clover as well, if it's fitting someone's full symptom profile, would also be something that I'd add in as well. Monica Shepherd: (54:07) But, I mean, as you know, most of your herbs that people associate with the immune system are going to have some action on the lymphatic system and there's a really big range. Astragalus as well. So a nice mix like that, with all those combinations of herbs, can be really beautiful. But with the lymphatic system, that would be one area where I tend to go quite slow with people, because I've made that mistake as an early practitioner and being super keen and being like, okay, I want to fix this person in the shortest amount of time. And I could be dealing with someone who's got a lot of swelling and I'm going to give them these really high doses of lymphatic herbs, and of course it makes the swelling quite more severe to start with, and they're not particularly happy with me. So I do tend to go a bit slower with the lymphatic herbs. Mason: (54:56) Then it's like, what do you do? Do you do Winston Churchill as they say? When you're going through hell, keep going. Monica Shepherd: (55:04) It becomes a personal decision that we kind of have to work out. Some people would have a more Winston Churchill, and some people are definitely not. Mason: (55:15) We used to have that with the mushrooms a lot. It hasn't really happened as much. I think maybe because we put a message out around how to go slow and steady. But when I was at the markets, especially. was a bit more of a Wild West time of taking medicinal mushrooms and adaptogens and everyone was like megadosing all the time. But people with arthritis would come back with this massive swell-up and then they're like, it's worse. And I'm like, well, it's not. Monica Shepherd: (55:41) It's a healing crisis. Mason: (55:44) Yeah, it's a big adverse reaction. It's a big healing crisis. But it always amazed me because it's hard to have faith, I felt. I'm talking to people just having these as a lifestyle thing and I know what it is, but I'm not a practitioner. I do kind of have faith that you're not under my care, so I can't tell you what to do. But sometimes it's a hard one for them, especially. I'm like, well look, that's a healing reaction, but just in case there's something auto-immune as well, I'm going to tell you to go. For people to then go, you know what, I'm trusting my body. It's hard to get to that point, especially if you're under a practitioner and it's going to get much worse before it gets better. I think it's an interesting insight for people to remember just to keep a big chunk of that faith in your body. You're going through something, you're going to get through it, it's going to be okay. But especially, in that instance, going back, I'm glad I was conservative because I'm sure there are instances where immune markers are going up when they're already auto-immune, and you want to be onto that. Mason: (56:53) For some reason, even though I was in the Wild West and on the frontier with all this kind of stuff as well, I was always conservative, to an extent, for some reason. Not with myself, but with what I told everyone. This has been so awesome. How far are you through your master's? Monica Shepherd: (57:12) I'm quite at the beginning, to be honest. So it is only two years full-time. I feel really blessed, to be honest, that they accepted a naturopath in the first place to do this degree and I still remind myself, hey, I'm really honoured that they accepted me. And there was a bit of work getting into it as well, because usually you'd have someone with your more traditional medical training who does this course. What we've been looking at so far are all the factors that stop somebody getting better when they have a mental illness, and that can be as simple as looking at what stops somebody seeking help and that is a big topic. And why are people who have mental health disorders less likely to seek help, and when they do seek help, they're less likely to continue to seek help, to continue to keep getting help. We can talk about things like stigma, and stigma is as simple as we don't talk a lot about mental health. We see it as something that's still a bit shush and quiet, even in this day and era, and we still don't associate it as, trauma is an experience of life, biochemistry is something that's physically happening in the body and there are all these simple ways that we can do to support it. Monica Shepherd: (58:41) We're also looking at what happens. Do we treat people with mental health disorders differently? And in the medical system we definitely still do. It might be as simple as studies are showing over and over again that medical practitioners are likely to change their tone of voice to someone who they're talking to who's come in for help with a mental health disorder. And that's just not appropriate. You're not going to belittle someone who's got cancer and start talking to them like they're a child, but we would do that to somebody who's come in seeking support for depression, for example. Mason: (59:17) Is that because there's a stigma around. I'm trying to think of a way to say it without it sounding offensive. That that's a simpler mind that can't keep itself happy? Monica Shepherd: (59:33) Yeah. It's a simple person, but that's not the case at all. We find that you can have really educated people who are still going to get depression because, like I was saying before, the biggest risk factor is long-term stress. You can have stress from someone who's got low socio-economic stress, and poverty is pretty stressful. I think we can all agree. But you can have somebody who is a CEO of a big company. That's going to be pretty stressful as well, and that's going to give them a big predisposition to depression. Does any of this mean that they've got a simple mind? No. It's definitely not that case at all. And the other thing that we're finding consistently with the research is that people don't feel like they can give clear lifestyle advice to friends and family or to patients in a medical setting of someone who is coming in for mental health disorder. So they don't feel like they can say to them, hey, let's go for a walk, for example. As you were talking before, we know that simple exercise makes a big difference to our mood. They don't feel like it's their place or that they can confidently say that, when actually the research is going, you really should. Monica Shepherd: (01:00:43) You should be saying to your friend, "Let's go for a walk." We should be saying, even if your friend doesn't like it, hey, you should reduce your caffeine or smoking or have you considered looking at that? They're less likely to say that. They think it's not their place. Actually the research is going, it's all our place to say something and help these people and we can feel confident knowing that simple lifestyle factors do make a big difference in mental health disorders. Mason: (01:01:09) Yeah, that interpretation of the Hippocratic Oath not doing harm is thankfully changing for the better. And not just the GP. Because it's almost like I can't talk to you about anything. I just got to get you on antidepressants, for example, and then I'm kind of covered. Then I'm fine. I've always got a sore spot with that, partly my mom's responsibility and go full pelt with antidepressants, but at the same time, it's massively irresponsible, as her GP, he was just like, well I'm just getting you on antidepressants. And there was no kind of plan, there was no other conversations around integrating other specialists. And fine, that was an institutional doctor that isn't talking about this quackery like walking, helping depression. That led to decades and decades of addiction to the drug, naturally. And the fact that there's still defence of that as the sole way to treat, I would argue that that is indeed creating a lot of harm in patients. So it's nice to see, albeit slowly, that the narrative's changing. Monica Shepherd: (01:02:29) It needs to change because it's not quackery. The science is there. The science is overwhelmingly in support of exercise and supportive meditation, which seems like this crazy thing that hippies do, essentially, but actually it's something that everybody can be doing. And the science is really starting to back up with adaptogens as well. But unfortunately, we are going to have some medical practitioners who are going to stick to their narrative. Their brains are not as plastic as we'd like for them to be right now. Mason: (01:03:04) That surgical grey, plastic hardness. Monica Shepherd: (01:03:07) Yes. And then we're going to see exactly that, and I see that a lot, where I see people who've been on the same medication for many years, and it's not reviewed, it's not changed, they're not encouraged to go and do some other techniques and they're not encouraged to slowly come off their medication in time. It's mind-boggling. It really is. Mason: (01:03:30) Yeah. It is mind-boggling. We can go down that route, but we know it's just a fact. Monica Shepherd: (01:03:39) Yes, it is. Yep. Mason: (01:03:41) Probably the same thing, like the fact that we just went through a pandemic and not one opportunity to look at what metabolic factors or whatever it is, mental health factors are going to keep us as a population healthy when everyone was inside and had time to do these things, there wasn't a mass education process and review of the science. There was just, stick to what works. And, mostly, they're just like, suck it up and keep battling. Actually, we're seeing it now, it's coming out in the wash and it does not work like that. Monica Shepherd: (01:04:15) No. It's been interesting seeing what the world's going through at the moment and even seeing our level of freedom of speech being really questioned at the moment as well, is what's happened with the pandemic. There's this whole thing about facts and it's a whole another topic that we could go into for a long period of time as well. But it comes back to the big question of, we should all really be able to educate ourselves. There's been this shift that's happening where we're kind of going, okay, why are we not given this information when we know the research is there that vitamin D can be just as effective as the flu vaccine, for example. So why are we not being told this? Why are we not being told that, hey, adaptogens could really support you right now? Monica Shepherd: (01:05:13) And unfortunately we're still in the period of time where we have to empower ourselves, we have to educate ourselves and remember, this is my body, this is my health and I do get to make my own decision right now. And I see podcasts like this as being a fantastic example, because we're having a conversation with two people as well, as opposed to just being preached to in the media where it's very one way, you can't respond and that's kind of how we train the brain to be washed over time, is when you don't get to form your own opinion, you don't get to have an interactive conversation. You just get told a narrative. But we're seeing podcasts like this, we're seeing great conversations happen, we're seeing people more willing to educate themselves and more willing to seek help from both traditional knowledge as well, and that's exciting. I'm grateful that we get to be a part of it. Mason: (01:06:12) It is exciting. It is very exciting. And you coming on and bringing up this conversation around adaptogens again, I guess reminds everyone how blessed we are to be able to get access to these incredible herbs. And then from there, we all can remember, all right, yes, the kids can get onto these. We've got such a stressful world, why aren't we getting the kids or our grandparents or our workplace onto these herbs which we know 100% how across the population this is going to help fortifiers get the cortisol down, get us processing these things that make us getting into chronic states of mental illness. It's going to put the odds in our favour, ideally. It's been so good talking to you. Monica Shepherd: (01:07:01) It works in our favour. Thank you. I like that. The odds are in our favour today. Let's go. Mason: (01:07:07) That as a reality is incredible to realise. The odds are in your favour. So good. Thanks for bringing this positive energy and reminding us how the messengers from heaven, what they're doing for our HPA and our general health and our capacity to thrive and be hyperplastic. Monica Shepherd: (01:07:26) You're so welcome. Thank you for having me. This has been lots of fun. Mason: (01:07:30) Best place for people to tune in is theorganicnaturopath.com, is that right? Monica Shepherd: (01:07:37) Yep, that is. Mason: (01:07:39) Your Instagram, it's theorganicnaturopath as well, isn't it? Monica Shepherd: (01:07:43) It is. Yep. Mason: (01:07:45) Beautiful, everyone. Are yo
Every July 14th, the people of France gather together in celebration of freedom and liberty. Commonly known as Bastille Day, July 14th is a day in commemoration of when La Bastille in Paris was stormed and the prisoners inside were freed. The storming of the Bastille is seen as the single most pivotal and symbolic moment of the revolution, during which the tide had finally turned. Although this image of the events of the revolution is simple and straight-forward, it is far from the truth. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aptpod/support
Every July we have a fun Sunday we call “Student Takeover", where our students lead out and share all God has done through our annual student camp. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, our students weren’t able to be a part of camp this year, however, we still want hear from them as we continue our series “What if?” … asking the question, “What if we release the next generation into their calling?” Join our former student pastor (and now Digital campus pastor) Shane Spangler, along with our new student pastor Travis Shaheen along with some of our students as they lead us and challenge us in how we serve, equip, entrust and empower the generations to come. They aren’t the future of the church … at Declaration we believe they ARE the church!
Every July on the Eight One Sixty, we do a deep dive into a month-long series of shows, and we're doing it again this year. Chris has been sitting down with four different musicians (via Zoom) who have been telling us about the concerts that changed their lives! This week Chris sits down with Isaac Flynn of the band Hembree. This is the third week in a series of shows where people are sharing with us five concerts that changed their life and telling us the stories behind those shows. Isaac has picked some good ones! Tune in for music from Wilco, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Cowboy Indian Bear and perhaps the highlight of the show — music from his parents John and Jami Flynn. He’ll tell us about their concert at Worlds of Fun back in 1996. If you missed the previous two shows, we had a great time with Amy Farrand of Amy Farrand and The Like and Marty Hilliard of EBONY TUSKS, as they shared with us the concerts that changed their lives. Next week we’ll welcome Addie Sartino of The Greeting Committee to the series.
Every July on the Eight One Sixty, we do a deep dive into a month-long series of shows, and we're doing it again this year. Over the next four weeks, Chris will sit down with four different musicians (via Zoom) and they'll tell us about the concerts that changed their lives! This week we’re joined by an amazing human, and longtime KC area musician, Marty Hillard. He’s been in a lot of projects over the years, and is currently blowing minds with EBONY TUSKS. Marty joins us to talk about the concerts that changed his life, as part 2 of our month-long series. He’s got quite the list to share and he picked out the music that we’ll play too: Feb. 4, 2003 — Coldplay at Memorial Hall Sept. 12, 2003 — The Appleseed Cast at The Bottleneck Dec. 6, 2011 — White Rabbits at recordBar Aug. 21, 2017 — Downtown Boys at The White Schoolhouse Nov. 16, 2018 — Young Fathers at Showbox Presents in Seattle
The Rotoworld crew lets you know which fantasy football players they're targeting in July.
Every July all the way since last July we spend the month paying tribute to our 90s Action Movie Mount Rushmore. What that means is we watch a Van Damme, a Seagal, a Stallone, and a Schwarzenegger all in a row, and then at the end of the month we cry a lot about the current state of action movies. First up is a JCVD tear-jerker called LIONHEART (1990) where he plays a time traveling caveman who has to get into Gladiator fights in order to pay his deadbeat niece’s bills. Better grab some tissues, because this one gets sappy.
Every July on the Eight One Sixty, we do a deep dive into a month-long series of shows, and we're doing it again this year. Over the next four weeks, Chris will sit down with four different musicians (via Zoom) and they'll tell us about the concerts that changed their lives! This week, we caught up with longtime KC musician Amy Farrand of Amy Farrand and The Like and so many different bands over the years. She was recently quarantined in Italy for several months and has just returned home to KC. We’ll hear a little about her time in Italy, and then we’ll jump into her list of five concerts that changed her life. She’s picked a song from each act to spin on the show. Here are the dates of the shows from her list: July 6, 1984 at Arrowhead Stadium Sept. 13, 1991 at Sandstone Aug. 4, 2006 at The Orpheum Theatre (Memphis) Nov. 9, 2009 at Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland June 7, 2018 at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Over the next few weeks we’ll sit down with Marty Hilliard of EBONY TUSKS, Addie Sartino of The Greeting Committee and Isaac Flynn of Hembree and ask them the same question we asked Amy — what concerts changed your life?
Every July 4th we celebrate the United States and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But amongst the celebrating we tend to forget the risk the 56 signers of the declaration were taking. If captured, they faced a punishment that was considered worse than death. Treason was the worst imaginable crime so the punishment needed to be the worst imaginable death.
Every July, eyes from around the world turn towards France, to watch one of the worlds biggest and most inspiring sporting events, Le Tour de France. For the first time since 1947, the Tour will not take place this July, so Breakfast with Boz will be sharing stories of how the Tour has and still does inspire so many of us to get on our bike and ride. Vive le Tour!!
Chris has more new music from Kansas City musicians on this week's episode of the Eight One Sixty! Despite all the changes to our lives that COVID has thrown at us, great music continues to come out and we’re happy to celebrate it! We’ll hear brand new offerings from They Call Me Sauce, X.WILSON, We The People (featuring Eddie Moore, Zach B. Morrow and Jason Emmond), Black Light Animals, Brandon Phillips and The Condition, Logan Richardson and Kadesh Flow, Howard Iceberg & the Titanics and My Brothers & Sisters playing their treatment of a powerful song from Rage Against The Machine. We’ve got hip hop, jazz, indie pop, folk, rock and electronica for you on today’s show, all conveniently shoved into one hour of programming. Also at the end of the show, we’ll introduce our upcoming July series of shows. Every July here on the show we do a themed month of shows. We’ve had bloggers, podcasters, promoters and more. This year our theme is Concerts That Changed My Life! We’ll sit down (via Zoom) with Addie of The Greeting Committee, Marty of EBONY TUSKS, Amy of Amy Farrand and The Like and Isaac of Hembree. They’ll share stories and music from the concerts that changed their lives with us. Make sure you tune in every Tuesday in July at 6 p.m.
Every July, some of the richest and most powerful men in the world gather at a 2,700 acre campground in Monte Rio, Calif., for two weeks of heavy drinking, super-secret talks, druid worship (the group insists they are simply “revering the Redwoods”), and other rituals. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/buddyspod/support
Becoming a motivational speaker is easy especially if you are an expert on something. The difficult part of being a motivational speaker is the marketing side of it. How do you get more people to join your events, attend your classes, or invest in your services? Today's episode is going to cover everything you need to know about marketing yourself as a motivational speaker, so don't miss a second of it! Welcome back. In this video, I'm going to show you how to market yourself as a motivational speaker. There's really a secret that is kind of untapped on YouTube. If you have an expertise, YouTube is the place to market yourself and I'm going to show you how to do that. So, I'm going to talk to you about a few things in this video. I'm going to actually introduce the National Speakers Association if you haven't learned about that group. I'm going to share why I'm a part of it. So, then I'm really going to dive into the power of YouTube and show you what's possible. Because you can really leverage YouTube to market yourself as a speaker. So, I'm going to show you an example of somebody who's been a past president in the National Speakers Association. He's currently getting lots of speaking engagements on YouTube. His name is Paul Jenkins. And I'll show you exactly what we've done there. Another person I'll show you is Kris Krohn. We've done some really amazing things on YouTube there. And then I'll talk about the quickest way that you can monetize your YouTube channel. And then I'll talk about a timeline on how you can monetize it with speaking engagements with events and even add revenue. If you're not a part of the NSA, the National Speakers Association then I certainly encourage you to take a look at it. Find out where your local chapters and when they meet and go attend. It's a really good group. It's a group that's there dedicated to serving each other and helping boost each other's careers. So, these are all coaches and speakers there. Learning how to grow their business and learning how to make more money as a motivational speaker. So, if you're to compare it to Toastmasters, Toastmasters is great for practice. That's more of a club you probably have a dozen different clubs in your area and you could just go and practice. Practice different areas and have people catch you if you're saying thumbs or us. That's not what the NSA is about. The NSA is learning the behind the scenes of business on how to become a better speaker, how to promote yourself, how to work with meeting planners. Really how to grow your business and make money as a motivational speaker. So, you've got to check it out. Every July the NSA has the National Convention and I highly recommend that you come to one of those as well. Now, let's give you a couple examples. My hope is that by sharing these 2 examples, you really have a good vision of what's possible and why YouTube is such a good option for marketing your business. So, Paul Jenkins, he's a positivity psychologist. In fact, he had a practice doing typical psychology work for many many years. And he found that he really enjoyed speaking and coaching. So, while he's still a licensed psychologist, he does a lot more work in the coaching and speaking space, he was actually a president of our National Speakers Association chapter for a year. Now, to give you a little bit of background, he has had a podcast for 12 years. And he's had tons of amazing guests on his podcast. But it's been really hard for him to know how to monetize that. How to really translate that into business. He did have a YouTube channel. He'd been putting miscellaneous videos there for years and he had grown it up to 235 subscribers. And then I talked to him about really taking his channel seriously. Implementing some strategies taking his channel to 5 episodes a week and we can talk about that in another video about why what's the best consistency. So here we are, 22 months later and we've got 85,000 subscribers and we're averaging 15,000 views every single day. So, what does Paul do with all of this? He's actually monetizing the channel in 3 different ways. The first I've kind of mentioned speaking engagements, right? He's getting full fee speaking engagements just because of his exposure and following on YouTube. Now, he speaks on a variety of topics. He talks a lot about positivity. He's definitely a positivity expert. Talks a lot about parenting and a lot about relationships. In fact, his YouTube channel has really gathered a lot of traction around the parenting topics. On videos like how to get your kids to listen without yelling. So, he and his wife created a parenting course that they sell. And they don't really sell them in the YouTube videos. But at the end of the video, he'll say, "Hey, if you found this video helpful, I've got a free gift for you. Go ahead and click the link below and you can get access to that." So, he gives them the free gift and that they're now on his list. They've now become a lead. He can follow up with them and sell them his parenting course. So, currently Paul's getting tons and tons of leads coming in every single month just from the YouTube traffic to his website and into his sales funnel. Now, another way that Paul is making revenue is actually Adsense. This is something that you don't want to plan on it being very significant in the very beginning. And what is very beginning mean? I mean for the first couple of years, I don't really plan on making too much money. I've got permission from Paul to share these numbers so I can tell you how much ad revenue this child brings. Again, we're 22 months in. And it's bringing in I'd say about $1,200 per month right now. And that's not a whole lot. But it can grow. I can tell you that I've got other channels that I produce one that I own. That one's made as much as $18,000 in a single month. Another one of my clients is bringing in right now about $13,000 a month. So, it can become very significant. But you typically don't get to those levels on this type of a channel for about 3 to 4 years. Looks like I'd take off this next example. Because we're having amazing success. Now, this is the Kris Krohn Channel. It's currently generating between 5 and 6 thousand dollars every single month just from the YouTube traffic, okay? So, I just to set the stage. This is a really successful channel and yet we've done it all through YouTube just making how-to videos. Now, there's a principle that I want to share with an experience that the Kris had that I think will really relate to you wanting to get speaking engagements from YouTube. Because it will take some time. At first, the main way that Kris wanted to monetize his channel is to get people to come to his local events here in Utah. We had built a significant amount of momentum on the channel. People were commenting and saying things like, how can I work with you? Do you coach people? Do you have anything to sell? I don't think they said those words. But you know how can we work with you? And Kris wanted people to come from around the country and come to Utah to attend his event. And it just wasn't happening. We maybe have one or 2 people in an entire year come to his events. So, we had to think, Okay, well... They want something. Let's create something digital. And so Kris created a digital course, a video course that he could then sell to them for $1000. We launched that course and at the time, we had about 65,000 subscribers. We launched that course and very quickly in that month, that first month generated a $100,000. And then the excitement kind of settled down. We averaged in for the next several months making about $40,000 per month and then it just grew from there to now making between 5 and 6 hundred thousand dollars a month. And it's now 2 years later. Here's the cool thing: Today, Kris is able to fill his events from YouTube traffic. People that found him on YouTube are now coming to Utah and attending his events. He put on an event recently. I don't remember the exact number. He told me was either 250 people or 350 people in attendance. Majority of which were all from YouTube. So, that's pretty cool but we're almost 5 years into this channel. For the first 2 and a half years, we built the channel gradually just one episode per week at most. Then as we started to get momentum, we started increasing that up to 5 episodes per week. And 4 months later, our channel had our first spike. 2 months after that is when we launched the digital course. We had hit 65 thousand subscribers. We had our first 6-figure month. Now, 2 years later, we're at a point where we're monetizing it much better and Kris is able to fill his events. So, just like filling events for Kris took time, getting speaking engagements from YouTube is going to take time. The quickest way to monetize your channel early on, we found with Kris and we found with many other channels since. This is by creating a digital course. When you're creating a channel around your expertise or answering people's questions, they want more from you. They're going to go to your website and see if you sell something. They they want to know if you have any programs or coaching or membership sites or a course that they can take. And then as you continue building your channel, you are gonna get more and more speaking engagements from them. Now, I'm going to explain the huge opportunity that you have on YouTube because you are an expert. People all around the world, they're searching for your expertise. They just don't know that you exist. They don't know that you exist. They don't know how to find you. So, what do they do? They go to Google and YouTube and they type in their questions. So, I'm hoping a light just went off in your head. If not, I'll give it to you. All you have to do is make videos that answer their questions. It's as simple as that. That's what we did with Paul Jenkins. That's what we did with Kris Krohn. I currently produce 13 different channels and that's what we're doing on every single one of them. In fact, with the Kris Krohn channel, we're now approaching a half a million subscribers and we're doing a variety of topics. Some of them are just miscellaneous. They're not questions of people are asking. But the first 700 videos that we created on that channel, all followed this exact strategy of doing keyword research before filming. So, that you can find the questions that people are asking and then you know the exact title or videos. So, you can't just make up these titles. You don't want to just title your video and guess what people are asking. You want to do keyword research. I've created another episode. I'll link to it right here. It's my leaf strategy. I go into depth in this video on how you can do the keyword research to find these questions. Like, I actually even show you the tool that you can use that makes it really really simple. You just type in your category and we'll show you all the questions that people are asking online. So, definitely watch this video next.
On this episode: Dave recalls life as a Comedian in December, a news story straight from Brasseye and a Dog making dinner. The new music comes from Boring People; they are based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Words cannot truly describe how magnificent their song Every June, Every July, actually is. So, you need to download and listen to this absolute tune, trust me. https://boringpeople.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/boringpeoplekzoo/
Team Ineos cyclist Luke Rowe is the most selfless athlete I know. Every July he sacrifices his own race to help his team leaders to glory in the Tour de France. You don't get much more noble than that in sport.
Team Ineos cyclist Luke Rowe is the most selfless athlete I know. Every July he sacrifices his own race to help his team leaders to glory in the Tour de France. You don’t get much more noble than that in sport.
Gold Hill, North Carolina, was the home to many gold mines during the Carolina Gold Rush and, consequently, the home to many mining accidents and tragedies. It is believed that many of the miners who met their fates in the shafts still reside in the village and appear to guests and residents from time to time. Vivian Hopkins is a notable Gold Hill resident and expert on the history and ghost stories of the area, and she joined us on this episode of the Life in the Carolinas podcast. Vivian says that there have always been ghost stories told in Gold Hill and residents have occasionally had unexplainable experiences, but the prevalence of the stories and encounters began to increase after a film crew for the Travel Channel came to Gold Hill for a story about ghosts. The film crew had their own experiences during the filming process and when people started to see and hear about the show, more stories started to surface. On this episode, Vivian recounts several specific instances of ghost encounters with the calm confidence that only a resident of Gold Hill could. From a mysterious photo of a man in a mirror, to a woman seen walking along a wall on dreary days, to fiddle strings uncontrollably loosening, there is no shortage of Gold Hill ghost stories. Vivian believes that there are so many spirits in the village because of the tragic accidents that occurred in the mine shafts during the Carolina Gold Rush and she has accepted their existence as just a part of living in Gold Hill. Every July and October, Gold Hill hosts ghost story events for anyone interested in being immersed in the spooky history of the town. Go to their website for more information about these events! For more information: http://historicgoldhill.com/ https://youtu.be/iyJHNyYLfOA Connect with us: http://www.lifeinthecarolinas.com/ https://www.lifeinthecarolinaspodcast.com/
Get the featured cocktail recipe: Fancy Lady Soccer Club As Ann and Sandy both say, Smith & Lens is so much more than a gallery of just 4-walls and we couldn’t agree more. Just like the founders, it’s a little bit quirky, totally unique and a whole lot creative. The walls are adorned with works by various artists, to include Ann’s thoughtful, yet a bit rebellious approach to photography and mix media pieces. As a silversmith, Sandy handcrafts metal into stunning jewelry, hollowware bowls and so much more. Each piece is truly a unique work of art. Unleashing their creative spirits outside of their gallery, these two amazing women have established two can’t-miss festivals. Every January, head to Bay St. Louis for Dolly Should, a fest to celebrate Dolly Parton’s birthday with a Dolly look-alike contest, all sorts vendors and delicious food, of course. If you’re looking for a bit of Frida fun, then start growing your unibrow now and get your floral headband ready for Frida Fest. Every July, the community comes together to celebrate the art of Mexico’s famed artist, Frida Kahlo. This year’s proceeds will go towards an art supply and education fund for budding artists. Both of these grassroots fests are FREE, so why not put both on your calendar? Why not unleash your creativity and try crafting one of recipes from our library of libations. Don't forget to subscribe, download and review to share your thoughts about the show!
The Neshoba County Fair is known as Mississippi's Giant Houseparty. Every July the fair brings together families, communities, and first time fair goers to a place where tradition is strong and food is the glue that holds it all together. On this episode of Deep South Dining Malcolm and Carol welcome lifelong fair goer Pippa Perry to talk about her favorite memories and recipes from the fair. Also Malcolm shares some sounds from the 2019 edition of the Neshoba County Fair where he goes into several cabins and find out whats on the menu. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Every July and October, the Belleville nonprofit MindsEye sponsors unique baseball tournaments for St. Louis-area athletes who are legally blind. The games are played with beepballs that emit sounds and bases that buzz. Players with normal eyesight are welcome to play – blindfolded.
Every July, thousands of visitors from all over the world beat a path to steamy New Orleans for the annual Tales of the Cocktail. As Tales kicks off its 17th year, we look at how the organization evolved recently under new leadership and has a whole new mission.
Every July, thousands of visitors from all over the world beat a path to steamy New Orleans for the annual Tales of the Cocktail. As Tales kicks off its 17th year, we look at how the organization evolved recently under new leadership and has a whole new mission.
Every July, thousands of visitors from all over the world beat a path to steamy New Orleans for the annual Tales of the Cocktail. As Tales kicks off its 17th year, we look at how the organization evolved recently under new leadership and has a whole new mission.
Every July, bartenders & spirits professionals from all around the world come to New Orleans to celebrate cocktail & bar culture at Tales of the Cocktail, the industry's largest convention. Although, the event is approaching its 18th year, the event is still growing, especially now that it is under new & exciting leadership. Join us this week as we meet with Gary Solomon Jr., the event's co-chair, and listen in as he shares his insight into the event & what goes into making it happen. Learn More: Tales of the Cocktail http://talesofthecocktail.org Tales of the Cocktail: Grant Program https://talesofthecocktail.org/grants/ ============================== Join us every Monday as star bartender, Erick Castro, hangs out with some of the top bartenders from around the world while drinking a little bit of whiskey. The truth about bartending comes to the surface, since nothing is off limits and topics range on everything from sleeping with customers to the first time you got drunk. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: Erick Castro: www.instagram.com/HungryBartender Bartender at Large: www.instagram.com/BartenderAtLarge FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: Erick Castro: www.twitter.com/HungryBartender Bartender at Large: www.twitter.com/BartendAtLarge
Every July, American Buzzkillers get inundated with chain emails, Facebook posts, and Tweets that spread more myths about the Declaration of Independence. No matter how many times they’ve been disproved, the seem to crop up every year. John Hancock signing his name so large that “King George can read it without his spectacles.” And “The Price They Paid” -- the undying email myth about what happened to the signers of the Declaration. We explain these, and a lot more!
Every July 4th America celebrates it’s independence. Sometimes it gets weird.
Every July 4th we celebrate our freedoms as a nation. One of those freedoms is the freedom to worship as we please, yet there is a great responsibility with such a freedom. What does freedom mean as a Christian?
It's Thursday, July 13th, and today is National French Fry Day! Every July 13th, the nation joins in celebration of an culinary staple, French fries! That means our foodie fact for the week is inspired by French fries! During WWI, which army influenced the coining of the term "French fries" among US soldiers; the Russian, Belgian, or French army? The answer in this episode! This week we’ve added nine new items to our inventory. From the world of pizza comes a new dough option, 16″ presheeted pizza dough from It’ll Be. From Kellogg’s we’ve added Eggo brand heat-n-serve 3″ buttermilk pancakes. We’ve added an epic new low fat gelato from Honey Hill, Candy Bar Crunch. Lastly, from Juicy Juice we’ve added six new individual serving juice flavors. These come as a pack of 40, 4.3oz juice boxes. In this weeks episode we're talking coffee, with recent news on the health benefits of coffee giving frequent consumers reason to celebrate. Plus, there's hot news for cold brew, the math is in and there's opportunity and profit with this on-trend coffee item. We've also got fries, and every imaginable type of potato product! The team at Dennis is ready to find just the right one to your business needs. So, grab your ketchup and dive into episode 22 of Dennis Knows Food! Links and product information mentioned in this episode include our website at www.DennisExpress.com. Our National French Fry Day page at www.dennisexpress.com/national-french-fry-day. And, our cold brew coffee page at www.dennisexpress.com/nescafe-cold-brew. This weeks image comes from T.Tseng. Subscribe to the Podcast - Subscribe Now (Subscribe with iTunes)We look forward to your feedback, send an email to podcast@dennisexpress.com!
Every July 4th, we celebrate (with cookouts and fireworks) creeds and platitudes stating that all men are created equal and that we are endowed with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Episode 20 examines the ways in which we have fallen short of these ideals and how we must work to close the racial gaps and disparities that still plague our society.
Every July the National Auctioneer Associations elects 1 individual to serve as Vice President. In this episode we hear from 2017 candidate Darron Meares. The Fast Talking Podcast is a small business building podcast as seen through the lens of auctioneers and auction professionals. Focusing on social media, marketing strategies, finance, operations, human resources, and time management, we provide focused discussions on important topics weekly.
Every July the National Auctioneer Associations elects 1 individual to serve as Vice President. In this episode we hear from 2017 candidate Tim Mast. The Fast Talking Podcast is a small business building podcast as seen through the lens of auctioneers and auction professionals. Focusing on social media, marketing strategies, finance, operations, human resources, and time management, we provide focused discussions on important topics weekly.
Aladdin and the Lamp is one of the many popular tales from the collection commonly called The Arabian Nights, though its more proper name is The Thousand and One Nights. It's an anthology of many folktales from many countries, and going back many centuries. Although generally these stories originated in Arabic lands, Aladdin is of uncertain origin, and actually may have come from China. We come to you from Heber Springs, AR., a sleepy little resort town that hums with tourists during the summer. It sits beside Greers Ferry Lake and Sugar Loaf Mountain, and the Greers Ferry National Fish Hatchery. The Greers Ferry Dam was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in his last official appearance before his assassination. Every July, the lake is home of the World Championship Cardboard Boat Races. Yes, the boats really are made of cardboard, and are quite colorful. Happy Listening, Dennis (Aladdin, Stranger) and Kimberly (Mother, Vendor, Genies, Sultan, Sultana)
Every July the Royal Society’s new Fellows convene at the Royal Society to add their names to our prestigious charter...
Every July the National Auctioneer Associations elects 1 individual to serve as Vice President. In this episode we hear from 2016 candidate Scott Shuman. The Fast Talking Podcast is a small business building podcast as seen through the lens of auctioneers and auction professionals. Focusing on social media, marketing strategies, finance, operations, human resources, and time management, we provide focused discussions on important topics weekly.
Every July the National Auctioneer Associations elects 2 individuals to serve a 3-year term on the board as directors. In this episode we hear from 2016 candidate Jason Winter. The Fast Talking Podcast is a small business building podcast as seen through the lens of auctioneers and auction professionals. Focusing on social media, marketing strategies, finance, operations, human resources, and time management, we provide focused discussions on important topics weekly.
Every July the National Auctioneer Associations elects 2 individuals to serve a 3-year term on the board as directors. In this episode we hear from 2016 candidate Denise Rinaldi. The Fast Talking Podcast is a small business building podcast as seen through the lens of auctioneers and auction professionals. Focusing on social media, marketing strategies, finance, operations, human resources, and time management, we provide focused discussions on important topics weekly.
Every July the National Auctioneer Associations elects 2 individuals to serve a 3-year term on the board as directors. In this episode we hear from 2016 candidate Scott King. The Fast Talking Podcast is a small business building podcast as seen through the lens of auctioneers and auction professionals. Focusing on social media, marketing strategies, finance, operations, human resources, and time management, we provide focused discussions on important topics weekly.
Every July the National Auctioneer Associations elects 2 individuals to serve a 3-year term on the board as directors. In this episode we hear from 2016 candidate Trisha Brauer. The Fast Talking Podcast is a small business building podcast as seen through the lens of auctioneers and auction professionals. Focusing on social media, marketing strategies, finance, operations, human resources, and time management, we provide focused discussions on important topics weekly.
Happy 59th Birthday, DISNEYLAND! On July 17, 1955, a little orange grove in Anaheim CA, was transformed into a place we all know and love. Every July 17th Disneyland celebrates its birthday with a grand ceremony. JediTink and Bubba Alvarez, Sorcerer Radio Blogger and Correspondent, will tell us about the … Continue reading The post Episode 40: Happy Birthday Disneyland! appeared first on Skywalking Through Neverland.
Skywalking Through Neverland: A Star Wars / Disney Fan Podcast
Happy 59th Birthday, DISNEYLAND! On July 17, 1955, a little orange grove in Anaheim CA, was transformed into a place we all know and love. Every July 17th Disneyland celebrates its birthday with a grand ceremony. JediTink and Bubba Alvarez, Sorcerer Radio Blogger and Correspondent, will tell us about the … Continue reading The post Episode 40: Happy Birthday Disneyland! appeared first on Skywalking Through Neverland.
Bassik Park is family friendly space in the heart of Disco Circus. Every July it thousands of people flock the park for the Spectrum City’s Jazz Fusion festival, which celebrates the best in Jazz and Jazz Fusion.