Future Tripping

As a colleague and friend, Nate and I have spent years talking about the importance of having a Plan B in life. Very fortunately, one of Nate’s Plan B’s led him to the incredible work at Athlete Ally. Their mission is to end homophobia and transphobia in sport and to activate the athletic community to exercise their leadership to champion LGBTQI+ equality. Nate shares with us about their extremely impactful work and we go a bit further into why we think having a Plan B is so invaluable. Anytime, but especially now, I really appreciate getting to have this conversation with Nate.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

Stella was 14 when she died and yet her life has left an indelible legacy on everyone who was blessed to know her. Today, we have the privilege of talking with her older sister who was with her from when the diagnosis was received until she passed away. The family was blessed with an incredibly loving community and a deep bench of support and yet, there is nothing quite like the sibling bond when it comes to a loss of this magnitude and the ensuing heartbreak. We are honored that Charlotte was willing to share so honestly and candidly in this conversation. Her wisdom, insights, and advice are a gift to all of us - whether or not we've ever lost someone.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

From ancient forest bathing to modern biome boosting, we’re hearing more and more about our gut health. Our conversation with Dr. Christopher Lowry helps us begin to understand the very important implications of maintaining one’s gut health and how it has major ramifications not just for our physical health but our mental health as well. Dr. Lowry’s research focuses on stress-related physiology and behavior with an emphasis on the role of the microbiome-gut-brain axis in health and well-being. And not just physical health but our mental health as well.His research is absolutely fascinating, and you’ll leave this week’s episode with very concrete and accessible steps toward enhancing your overall health. Learning to trust your gut takes on a whole new meaning!To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

This week we are getting to see how transforming trauma into art can be truly life-affirming. Joined by filmmaker, artist, writer, and activist Eliaichi Kimaro, we learn how metabolizing one’s overwhelm can lead to enduring beauty. Years ago, Eli moved from full-time work as an advocate and activist to becoming a filmmaker. Her award-winning documentary A Lot Like You has won many awards and toured film festivals around the world. As Director of 9elephants Productions, she uses art and video to bring stories of struggle, resistance and survival to a broader audience. This conversation takes us from Eli’s familial roots in Tanzania and Korea to the next generation as Eli sought to both make sense of her history and create something enduring to offer future generations. We are reminded over and over, as Eli shares her wisdom, as to why art - the creation and maintenance of it - can be an essential act of liberation.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

There are many long-held cultural practices that have new science bolstering them, and cold water immersion is definitely one of those. Matt Soule is Washington state’s only Level 3 Wim Hof Method instructor and has been studying and practicing strategies to help master one’s stress response for years. In this conversation, Matt and Laura walk through very practical, accessible, concrete ways to reset one’s nervous system - all with safety as the absolute priority. Because of Matt’s expertise, he’s also able to offer a great deal of insight into both the physiological benefits as well as the deeper lessons there for us to learn. Having Matt translate the art and science around this was a real gift.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

ADHD, despite many advancements, remains widely misunderstood. We are so fortunate to be joined this week by expert Lesley Todaro, the Co-founder of the Hallowell Todaro ADHD Center. We get all [all that can fit into an hour that is!] our questions answered. Approaching this entirely from a strengths-based perspective, we learn what, exactly, ADHD is and gain a clearer sense of the misinformation that surrounds it. Lesley compassionately talks about both what’s beautiful and what’s challenging for all involved and offers listeners extremely concrete strategies for being as constructive and wise as possible. We truly appreciate the opportunity to do such a deep dive with Lesley on this incredibly important topic.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

We, personally, don’t know anyone who is not buckling under the weight of Decision Fatigue and Cognitive Overload. Laura has the privilege of being in conversation with Dr. Luc Schneider this week. We learn that a good decision is not necessarily one that has a good outcome, but rather one that has been made through a good decision making process. Dr. Schneider explains what that entails and generously answers all of Laura’s questions as they relate to decision fatigue and how to balance being thorough with not obsessing or perseverating. We learn how overconfidence and underconfidence play into how we decide things and touch on the role of vulnerability and why it’s so important to not be isolated in our decision making. Given how ubiquitous this fatigue is, we are thrilled to be able to offer Dr. Schneider’s insights with the hope of lightening everyone’s load a bit.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

Cultivating and maintaining self-respect in the face of societal headwinds can be extremely difficult and feel like a real reach on any given day. That’s the subject of this week’s conversation between Laura and recent college graduate, and soon-to-be medical school student, Celeste Coler. They start by talking about the fraught process of being accepted into, or rejected from, schools and jobs. From there, Celeste shares beautifully about navigating recent loss and trauma in her life. Being mixed race there’s lots to talk about in terms of being a part of predominantly white institutions, and they end on an inspiring note with Celeste describing the incredibly important work she and her peers have done to promote a culture of consent and sex positivity in college. One can’t walk away from this conversation without feeling a lot better about today’s current landscape.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

We continue our launch of Season Two talking with Flynn Coleman about the urgency of humanely designed artificial intelligence, what it means to work for social and environmental justice in a sustainable way, and why it’s critical to not neglect joy & beauty. Flynn is an international human rights attorney, author, and artificial intelligence expert. Having spent years at the forefront of conversations on the urgency of humanely designed AI, Flynn and Laura talk about how quickly the current landscape is changing and the larger implications of what it means to do work that will never be completed in one’s own lifetime. They explore the importance of being kind, flexible, and curious with oneself when making choices of how to spend one’s time and where to direct one’s attention. And with Flynn living in Florence, Italy, they affirm the importance of creating space for beauty, whether that is art, multilingualism, or connection with loved ones. We are delighted to learn from Flynn’s incredible life experience and while parts of their conversation are particularly relevant to the here and now, even more of it is timeless. Learn more about Flynn's work here.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here. 

In our inaugural episode of Season Two, Laura talks with Daniel Pink. Pink has authored 5 New York Times bestsellers, and for more than two decades has explored and researched behavior and creativity. In this conversation, they dive into his latest research on regret - why this ubiquitous human experience is one to turn towards, not away from. They talk further about what constitutes a meaningful life and weave in concrete tips on cultivating creativity and maximizing motivation. We are thrilled to launch our second season with his insight and optimism.To learn more about Future Tripping, Laura’s work, and The Trauma Stewardship Institute, or to email a question you'd like Laura and her guests to respond to, please click here, or call 360-228-5804 anytime and leave us a voicemail.  And you can find us on Instagram here.