Behind Greatness by Inspire North

We connect with Rune, who lives in Copenhagen. Rune is a leading expert in pre-Christian Nordic Religions & Animism. Born and bred in rural Denmark, Rune explains how hints of Nordic pre-Christian tradition was woven into songs that his grandmother used to sing. This spurred a life-long quest: his need for unearthing and attaining long-lost knowledge of Nordic Indigenous culture. He started with travelling and living as a teen to Norway and learning how the Sami (the last Indigenous peoples of Northern Europe) lived. He soon found that current scholarship in the field was too mundane for him. So, he decided to spend considerable time studying animist religions in West Africa and Brazil and he saw that the peoples from where he was born held similar ancient beliefs, long before the spread of Christianity. Rune brings us through a discussion on relation and connectedness to the “other”: the landscape, the animals, other peoples, cycles of the seasons etc. We discuss how death and the dead were uniquely perceived by his Indigenous ancestors and the “carnivalesque” nature of this perception. Just fascinating. We’re not going to lie: “Valhalla” was uttered at least once.   DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north   Rune: Website: https://nordicanimism.com/ YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Runehr Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rune-hjarn%C3%B8-rasmussen-4626b010/  

Marie joins us from Toronto. Marie is inarguably one of the country’s most public and most sought after criminal defence lawyers. She was born of Middle Eastern parents and grew up in Toronto within a tight knit family. Being a serious and studious girl from the get-go, she decided early in life that fighting for the underdog was what she wanted to do. Her deep affection for her uncle brought her to spend much time in NYC as a young adult. It was a world in full contrast to her own life in Toronto and her own cultural upbringing – but it was a world that felt comfortable for her just the same. Laser-focused and with sharp instincts, she also learned to navigate the world with an open mind through her uncle Sami’s mentorship. We discuss the perennial battle between objectivity and subjectivity in human-made systems. We hear about her thoughts on toughness, boredom, passions, the dangers of compartmentalizing, therapy, winning, losing and a little about artistic endeavours. And, home-made pasta. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-henein-bb35b936/ Website:  https://hhllp.ca/ Book – Nothing But The Truth: https://www.amazon.ca/Nothing-But-Truth-Marie-Henein/dp/0771039344/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8vSOBhCkARIsAGdp6RTW5lPEHW3gOemFHDKlw1sSVBGifrsNlF7iZZ1w34ZZ1SQZPzc2MFAaAiNSEALw_wcB&hvadid=362236155796&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9000799&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=12251961253226623843&hvtargid=kwd-297270459522&hydadcr=22426_9261600&keywords=marie+henein&qid=1641930990&sr=8-1

Antonia joins us from Vancouver, Canada. Antonia brings us through her experience in an idyllic US Midwest setting as a little girl, as a curious PhD student at Harvard and as a mother of four moving to Northern British Columbia and living with her adoptive Indigenous family. In the 1980s, Antonia met Dr. Ian Stevenson, an American psychiatrist from the University of Virginia. She became interested in his pioneering work on reincarnation research and the afterlife and she took it on herself. Already having a deep connection to the Beaver, Gitxsan and Witsutit'en peoples in BC she began researching reincarnation within these tribes. This soon had her join Ian Stevenson in becoming a pioneer in her own right in North America on the subject. We discuss the last dreamer/prophet (Charlie Yahey) of the Dane-zaa peoples and her first-hand experience witnessing one of his travels. We chat about the role that the child has in their society as a bridge between the past and the future, the Catholic Church’s changed stance on reincarnation and how the Canadian government currently actively funds studies like hers (!). And we hear about a wonderful early life transcendental experience of her own as a little girl. A purely enchanting discussion. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Antonia: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonia-mills-0b151222/ Website: https://www2.unbc.ca/first-nations-studies/faculty Upcoming Book: That’s My Chair: Rebirth Experience of the Gitxsan and Witsutit'en Other Books: Eagle Down Is Our Law: Witsuwit'en Law, Feasts, and Land Claims  

Suzanne joins us from Hilton Head, South Carolina. She grew up admiring her older brother’s career in the Air Force and dreamed of a military career as well. After becoming a Naval Commanding Officer and travelling around the world, she was invited to serve as the aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For several years she was privy to top secret files, she was meeting kings and presidents and she was sitting in meetings with the President of the United States. During the tragic day of 9/11 she flew over Manhattan on Air Force 2 - which was the last aircraft in US airspace. She tells us of her walk through the wreckage at the Pentagon (her home-base) that same day with her superiors. Soon thereafter, she retired and her life changed forever. And soon after, her young stepdaughter Susan was killed and her life changed forever - again. Suzanne awakened eventually to her abilities to see connection with the unseen. We discuss training yourself in untraining … in getting away from the philosophy of “sucking it up” and “stuffing it down”. Questioning belief systems was/is key to Suzanne for re-awakening to the reality of expansion and inter-connectedness. “Going from an emptiness that can’t be filled to a fullness that can’t be contained”. This is a must listen back to back with episode 67 with Federico Faggin.   To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Suzanne: Website: https://www.suzannegiesemann.com/ Books: https://www.suzannegiesemann.com/books/ Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGU9Lw6sITU4kvjqJ2gzaQw  

Carol joins us from the Toronto area. We spend some time together discussing what was important for her as she spent decades building a high profile corporate career and being a mother and wife. We learn about her upbringing and frequent moving across the country. She explains how sport and her coaches played a stabilizing role in her youth – and how she parlayed this experience into a foundational belief in building strong teams throughout her professional career. We discuss the stresses, the sacrifices and the compromises as she built her corporate career – and we discussed what wasn’t up for sale. We hear about core lessons she learned from her 5 year old daughter along the way – with driveway stand-offs and Mother’s Day tea.   Some simple and hard-hitting messages about the wisdom of children, the importance of keeping true to your humanity and staying honest with your vulnerabilities. And car-talk.   To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Carol: Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-stewart/  

Jonathan, a Toronto boy, joins us from his office in Connecticut where he plays out his days as an endovascular surgeon and a Yale professor. Jonathan lives and breathes his passion for surgery – and from that passion we discover a lot of what makes him really tick. We delve immediately into themes like seeking approval, the real definition of confidence and his view on the life of servitude that he’s chosen. We discuss leadership through humility and hard work and the desire to guide and mentor “Al Lawson-style”. We discuss the “filing cabinet of worry”, the intimacy of his work and the dangers of pedestalization. Being a former varsity baseball player, Jonathan also weaves his thoughts with us through the metaphor of sport and the lessons of some of its heroes.   But, more importantly we explore what Jonathan is realizing has become important to him. He explains what “legacy” really means for him. And we go deeper into discovery with him about the connection to the earth and being connected to his own human existence – through both the seen and the unseen.   A clean up batter of a conversation.   To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Dr. Cardella: Bio: https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/jonathan_cardella/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aP9Nai1cEg  

Marysia joins us from southern California. A “green witch”, she is a sought after herbalist and healer in the US. Her own roots lie with a rabble-rousing family in Poland who were active in the Nazi resistance during WW2. Growing up in a matriarchal family, she learned the importance of the plant world and the abundance of the earth from her grandmother. With the understanding that plants create the ecosystem that we are born into, Marysia’s philosophy is centered on our intimate connection we have with plants’ spiritual essence. We have an engaging chat on plants as elders, teachers, healers and guides. We discuss mountains, the (thin) veil present at both birth and death and wholeness being holiness. Oh, and that’s not the half of it …. We talk at length about modern humans’ linear view on production and consumption, the ancient wisdom of mountains and our connection with the “dreaming” earth. Throw in some musings about envy, the genius of the self and human creativity and we have an upbeat, expansive talk with a woman of the earth.   “Working with wild weeds, a part of us wakes up ….” Let’s go! To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Website: www.schoolofthesacredwild.com IG: @Marysia_Miernowska IG: @rituelbeauty BOOK: “The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary: Rituals & Recipes for a Year of Earth Magick and Sacred Medicine Making” - https://www.amazon.com/Witchs-Herbal-Apothecary-Rituals-Medicine/dp/1592339093/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=%E2%80%9CThe+Witch%E2%80%99s+Herbal+Apothecary%3A+Rituals+%26+Recipes+for+a+Year+of+Earth+Magick+and+Sacred+Medicine+Making%E2%80%9D&qid=1638930449&sr=8-1    

Nigel joins us from his abode in the UK. Growing up, he celebrated and channeled the  emotionally charged culture of his Scottish and Irish roots, which helped him make music his lifetime muse. A true citizen of the world, Nigel brings us through his journey in life from a wayward youth to internationally renowned composer to musically-focused healer and humanitarian. We walk through his experience as a head-strong youth who turned his back on a rock and roll career with a global music label and decided to live a high energy rock and roll life instead - in Eastern Europe in the early 1970s, no less. Nigel shares with us his run-ins with secret police in communist Poland and his unlikely collaboration with the KGB in the USSR, in the name of shining the light of art to others. Going on to compose for many of the world's greatest music halls and opera houses as an internationally renowned composer, Nigel always kept his eye on helping to heal the world with his creativity as a badass humanitarian - from Bosnia to Uganda to Syria to India and many other places in between. We talk about the winning nature of art, what the limelight really is to him (as a "refusenik"), the wisdom of music and acoustic ecology of indigenous culture. Nigel also warns us against sentimentalizing "great", imploring us instead to see ourselves as natural creators. Rock and roll, baby. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Nigel: Website: https://skoogmusic.com/ Website: https://www.x-system.co.uk/

We are joined by Robert in Toronto. He is currently a partner in one of the country’s oldest and largest law firms. He has Jesus covid hair. And, he’s an Inspire alumn to boot. We immediately dive into the existential, where Rob also feels at home. He shares with us some of his personal experience in childhood where he spent much time in and out of hospitals, leading up to a long, excruciatingly painful battle with cancer in highschool. We have a conversation about Robert’s journey with his unique perspective on hope – and the recognition that bad things happen to good people. Healthy and profound perspective is what Rob helps us explore ... staring at a hospital ceiling ... humanity’s “de-prioritization” of intuition … inability of modern humans to access beyond the veil … and a certain primal truth through speed. A joy. To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-antenore/

Vera joins us from the sunny Yucatan. Her focus has been bioarcheology and archaeology of pre-Hispanic and pre-colonial Maya. As a child, she grew up in Germany under a very demanding upbringing. Being an artist at heart, she wanted to explore what was calling her. As a teen, she “fled” to the US to study Art History at Tulane. From there she decided to pursue her studies in Medicine in both Germany and Mexico. But that was merely the beginning. Enchanted by the warmth of Latin American culture, she dove head first in a life of exploration in archaeological and anthropological adventure graduating from Medical School. Now a leading bioarchaeologist in Latin America, she weaves her skills as a trained physician and her sense of wonder as a social scientist and artist to explore human remains and what they tell us about the ideas of our ancient ancestors. We discuss ancient Indigenous Mesoamerican cultures and how their idea of the cosmos was anchored in the divinity of the human body. We discuss some lessons that the ancient Maya teach us about the realities of both the anguish and the intensity of life, including how modern children should live that intensity, instead of being protected from it. Such an intriguing conversation with Vera about veritas.   To DONATE to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: www.inspirenorth.com/podcast. Tax receipt issued to donors. Behind Greatness IG: @behindgreatnesspodcast & @inspire_north Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Tiesler Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00517-y