Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Category: Spirituality

  • Ep302: Commitment to Radical Truth with New York Time Best-Selling Author and Political Activist Marianne Williamson

    Ep302: Commitment to Radical Truth with New York Time Best-Selling Author and Political Activist Marianne Williamson

    Ever since the COVID pandemic forced us into our homes levels of fear and anxiety seem to have doubled in the past year, paired with the negativity of news and social media, it seems like the world is the closest to ending it has ever been.

    It is easy to be crushed by hopelessness, but for the author, spiritual thought leader and political activist Marianne Williamson, as long as there is life, there is always hope

    “I believe in the possibility of infinite possibility.”

    An author of 14 books, 4 of which are New York Times bestsellers, Marianne is a passionate believer in the power greater than what we see. Some may call it God, Source, or Divine Intelligence, for Marianne this all centres around the same principle: Love.

    “When our lives are dedicated to love, that’s when we are doing our best to remove the unforgiveness, the blame, the negativity— all those forms of lovelessness that stand like walls in front of our love. When we allow those walls to dissolve something happens.”

    Passionately, she advocates that people should live a life that is not disconnected from spiritual practice, and a centring routine in the morning is essential in creating change around.

    “If we only look at worldly happenings, we are in trouble. Ultimately, the problem is in a deep level of our humanity.”

    For her, meditation, prayer and other forms of connecting to the Divine or Greater Power are no different from going to the gym; it’s simply an activity to build our mental and emotional muscles.

    “… that gives you the strength to remain still—the strength not to move but to just be there, at which point you become like a magnet in the universe in your presence,” she says, “and less obstruction to the same plan that turns the acorn into the Oaktree or the bud into the blossom.”

    Her faith and commitment to love led Marianne to pursue a career in politics. She believes that to love means also to act and to not just be on the sidelines. In 2014, she ran as an independent to fill a seat in California’s 33rd Congressional District, and in 2020, she ran for the Democratic nomination for president.

    She made headlines for advocating Reparations for slavery and resolving racial injustice but her spiritual verbiage proved too radical for the Democrats and she had to pull out following criticism of her mental state and sanity. She referred to this as ‘Character Assassination’ often done on women to keep them quiet—a modern-day version of Witch Burning.

    Despite laying out a plan for the Government to pay out $500 million in Reparations, she pulled out of the race.

    “To be a radical truthteller at this time, doesn’t always get you applause, and it doesn’t get you applause from everybody,” Marianne shared with us.

    This however was not enough to stop Marianne as she continued to take action rooted in her devotion to the truth.

    She co-founded the non-profit organization Project Angel Food, and the advocacy group The Peace Alliance. And just last year, she started her Substack newsletter TRANSFORM where she shares, guides, and teaches spiritual practice as well as socio-political issues and events.

    Sharing a quote from the Course in Miracles, she says, “An idea grows stronger when it is shared. It’s the idea of creating a resonant field of energy because everybody is on the same page. I created this Substack for people who want to meditate in the morning and make waves in the afternoon.”

    With that, she encourages us to practice the morning of centring ourselves and taking action as well.

    More from Marianne:

  • Ep285: Choosing To Be Who You’re Meant To Be with Mindset Coach Miro Heyink

    Ep285: Choosing To Be Who You’re Meant To Be with Mindset Coach Miro Heyink

    When you don’t know where you belong, mindset coach and philanthropist, Miro Heyink, believes that the universe will always find a way to set a path for you.

    Miro Heyink is the Founder of Manifest X, a community for high-performing conscious entrepreneurs to turn their wildest business dreams into reality.

    Although a mentor for impact-driven entrepreneurs, and a proud, loving dad, Miro has overcome many challenges to reach where he is today.

    Born to a fatherless home in Germany, Miro has experienced taking all the wrong roads – selling drugs, joining gangs, even encountering a near-death experience before even reaching the age of 18. It was when he was at the lowest point of his life were his goals became clear as he reached what he calls his “elevator moment”.

    “It was in that moment, with my nose broken and my black eye, that I had my elevator moment where I decided to follow my dream.”

    Moving to America with no citizenship or support, the world seemed to make a way for him despite the odds. Rather than telling himself to find a regular job, Miro decided to pursue his wildest dreams of becoming an entrepreneur in a foreign land and has since built a community that provides the same support he was looking for years ago.

    “If you’re around four donkeys, you’re going to be the fifth…having that community that believes in you and supports you is so important.”

    “The way the universe works,” he says, “is that we can either experience through these harsh, traumatic moments that put us back into our path or through a way more intentional and conscious alignment”

    Now, Miro has devoted his time to helping aspiring entrepreneurs make their wildest business ideas come true. Whether it’s regular people hoping to make it far or NFL superstars who want to take their career to the next level, Miro’s goal is to give them the proper support and mindset to make the most out of the life they have and the path that they’ve taken

    “You are allowed to be all that you are meant to be and truly have it all.”

     

    More from Miro:

  • Ep283: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary with Artist Choreographer Susan Slotnick

    Ep283: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary with Artist Choreographer Susan Slotnick

    We dream of living in the limelight of life, chasing after complex goals and looking for some semblance of a grand purpose for our existence.  Oftentimes we get lost in the process of doing something amazing that we forget the joy of simplistic pursuits. For the visual artist and renowned dancer and choreographer, Susan Slotnick, finding her purpose started with a humble love for dancing, and a passion for healing and reformation.

    “And I can’t remember a time, even as a child when I didn’t have this strong desire to do something; to heal the world.”

    Whether it be her daily walks or eating the same breakfast for the past 50 years, Susan has found sacredness in the most common activities. She makes it a point to appreciate mundane life as there is an art to be found in simple living.

    “Some of the most extraordinary things about the direction our lives take has to do with inherited proclivities…” Susan gleams. “… Most of life is ordinary, most of the way we spend our time is on ordinary activities. And if we don’t find those activities extraordinary, we’re going to feel that our lives are a little bit dull or a little bit boring.”

    Susan has even managed to transpose her simple love for dance and the freedom it provides into something meaningful.

    “Dance is a birthright,” she emphasizes, “it belongs to the world.”

    Today, even at the tender age of 76, she still conducts dance classes at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility and DFY (Division For Youth prison) every Friday and Sunday to bring the joy of modern dance to incarcerated men and boys under the auspices of RTA Rehabilitation through the Arts.

    Through her passion for the arts and her desire to bring healing to the world, she has helped countless men and women live reformed lives with their newfound freedom through dance.

    She claims it as the apex of her long career. She has volunteered for 15 years in boy’s and men’s prisons as well as with AIDS and cancer survivors, the homeless, and the indigenous poor of the Caribbean, All have been the recipient of her love, talent and attention

    “What I’m the most proud of,” reminiscing, she says, “in terms of taking the road less travelled, is the direction that I put all my talents to.”

    In addition to her work in dance, Slotnick continues her career as a painter. For ten years her painting, Compassionate Baby was on display in the Sloan-Kettering Hospital’s Pediatric Oncology Waiting Room. Currently, Susan Slotnick is a member of Roost Art Gallery where she has exhibited in a one-woman show.

     

    More From Susan:

  • Ep281: Death, Doubt and Dedication with Bestselling Author Jack Raymond

    Ep281: Death, Doubt and Dedication with Bestselling Author Jack Raymond

    It is ever so often that life throws us in the most breaking of experiences, for the sake of our own learning. Writer Jack Raymond knows this all so well. In his lowest point, he found relief in art and made beauty out of his own struggles.

    Before he made his Best Sellers, Jack was living a comfortable life selling corporate insurance. Only after the death of his dad did he consider a career in writing.

    “When my father passed away, and morbidly enough, while in the middle of writing his obituary, it dawned on me that this is what I want to do with my life.”

    “Prior to that I was wearing a suit and tie every day, sitting in traffic, and made a bunch of money off that,” Jack said. “I was on top of the world at 25 years old and he passed and it kind of brought me back down to earth”

    It was a humbling experience for Jack, but it was a dark period of grieving. He turned to alcohol and filling up hundreds of notebooks with his writing that he kept to himself. It was only after the recommendation of a friend did he decide to share his work on Instagram. One post every day, up until today. He found a niche of people by the thousands that could relate to his words.

    “I started to just share my work and it kind of took off from there and within six months a publishing company reached out to me and published my first book”

    But despite his quick start to being a published author he still doubted whether his work was good or not, before coming to the conclusion that one can only move forward. In his own words, “There was no artist that I care to even hang around with, or learn from, or associate with, who thinks their shit doesn’t stink like everyone.”

    “Even if they think it’s good… if they look at it too much, they’ll start to hate it so they have to quickly move on to the next one. That was helpful for me, going through these tragedies.”

    However, Jack recognizes that his first works appealed to people for their heavy and melancholic themes. It was hard writing from a happy place of recovery and acceptance, but he reminds us that “It’s okay to be happy.”

    Though most of his sadness has passed, the virtue of staying true to himself has kept his writing great and ever-improving. “I’ve always pride myself on just being authentic, being genuine, being honest, and after my dad passed away and while writing that obituary, it felt like from that day on, that was all that mattered.”

    Empathizing with other writers who are torn between their market and being authentic, he shares with us this mantra, reminding us why we make art. “It’s my art, not theirs. I write it for me. If you relate to it great, no offence but that’s not even the point.”

     

    More from Jack:

  • Ep278: Making Reality a Fantasy with Photo Artist Erik Johansson

    Ep278: Making Reality a Fantasy with Photo Artist Erik Johansson

    The blandness of everyday living can wear a person down, and bleach out the wonder of the world. But for the esteemed photographer and visual artist, Erik Johansson, the spark of surrealism is more alive in the common setting than we think. All we need is a little scenery and a lot of creativity.

    Raised in the countryside of Sweden, Erik’s spark for whimsical sceneries was brought by the beauty and simplicity of his life as a child. “Modifying realities has always been natural to me,” he says. Erik points out how he used to spend his time drawing rather than talking, and his work was inspired by the rural landscape he was born in.

    “It kind of came natural to me—to try to treat photographs as white papers, that I could fill with my imagination.” He spoke of his creative process and stressed how creativity isn’t something you can force yourself to have. Rather drawing is an activity that gradually improves the more you do it.

    “It’s not a gold mine that you’re digging out of creativity and one day you run out of it,” he says, referring to art as a whole. “I think it’s more about exercising the brain and thinking creatively.”

    When asked about the struggles of photography and dealing with the circumstances that we have today, Erik viewed it as a stepping stone for creative growth. “I think those limitations can sometimes be good for creativity as well…” while further stressing that, “the imagination is just so big, and sometimes limitations can be good to direct it in a certain direction.”

    Even though he only publishes a few of his personal work in a year, Erik takes pride in his pieces and the arduous artistry that goes into his photographs. “I think it’s a lot about trying to not just create something that looks realistic or impossible, but also trying to tell a story.”

     

    More from Erik:

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