Inspired Evolution with Amrit Sandhu 🙏🏻

Our guest for this week is Pana Barbounis, a chocolatier, entrepreneur, and founder of Pana Organic.Pana has always been extremely passionate about food. He’s acquired over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. But, in 2011, with a base in Melbourne, Australia, he started his very own brand of raw, vegan, organic, Fairtrade and certified as kosher and halal chocolate called Pana Chocolate. Today his chocolate is being sold worldwide and they’re also offering other organic products like dairy-free ice-cream. Pana Chocolate is cooperating with some of the worlds biggest brands such as Virgin Airlines and their chocolate is also available in large venues such as the Etihad sports stadium in Melbourne.Pana Organic is a highly environmentally aware company and is also involved with a lot of tree planting charities. To this day, Pana’s organization has planted over 60 000 trees, raising the bar each year.Pana has also published a book of recipes called “Pana Chocolate, the Recipes” which is a collection of 70 recipes for vegans and healthy-aware sweet tooths. It teaches you how to make some of the most amazing desserts, from cakes and dishes for kid’s parties to traditional raw chocolate recipes that will take your breath away. It also features the story of the Pana Chocolate company and how they managed to reach a global following making a product that avoids all preservatives, dairy, gluten, soy, refined sugar yet still tastes incredible!Connect with Pana:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pana.barbounisWebsite: https://pana-organic.com/Pana’s Story of Inspired Evolution“Even though I’ve been successful, essentially, in some people’s eyes, from a financial [point of view], I felt unfulfilled in a lot of ways and I always felt like I was just doing things for the sake of it.” - Pana BarbounisPana Chocolate wasn’t built in a day. Even though he was always fascinated by food and he was working with it for quite some time, Pana realized that he was to some extent not living the life he was supposed to. His story is another proof that success is what we make of it, and that each person has their own definition they need to live their life by. It is only then when we truly get a chance to shine.So, Pana took a couple of years of sabbatical, and in that time the world kept leaving little signs along the road for him which teased what’s yet to come. He was introduced to raw chocolate by a friend and having seen the movie Chocolat, he was already in the mood for getting involved with making one of the most popular treats. He visited the UK and trained for some time in Belgium with some traditional chocolate makers, but upon returning to Melbourne, locked himself in a room for 6 months and experimented with different recipes on a daily basis.His very first batch of chocolate had a lot of similar qualities of the Pana Chocolates you can buy in different stores and venues across the world today. It was handmade, raw, hand wrapped with hidden messages of love inside it. But thankfully, he no longer has to distribute them himself on a Vespa!“I wanted that experience, I wanted those touchpoints from the moment you touch the cardboard.” - Pana BarbounisSearching for a Deeper Meaning in Your Work“Money isn’t everything. It can bring some happiness but it doesn’t make happiness.” - Pana BarbounisPana wasn’t always motivated by his intrinsic values. He had to go through a phase of trying to make your ends meet striving for financial security like most of us. At some points in his career, it felt like he was too focused on the wrong things. He mentions that if you’re placing too much attention on competition and what everybody else thinks, it’s pretty easy to get into an unhealthy mindset and neglect the things that are most important to you.Around the same time he discovered his true passion, he started developing a new kind of relationship with money. His company values reflect these same ideas, where the most important thing is creating a quality product which comes from a place of love, while also being environmentally conscious. It’s all about being able to make mistakes and learn from them and nurture good relationships in a team.“As long as things don’t become too corporate-y, I’m still here to help.” - Pana BarbounisPana’s Message of Inspired EvolutionPana’s professional journey is also a very spiritual one and demonstrates what we as humans are able to achieve when our work comes from a place of love. He took the time to figure out what he wanted to do in life and from that soul-searching adventure came a brand new one. To this day, Pana is continuously reinventing himself while being guided by the same core values that led to him creating his life’s work. His words of inspiration for us dive deep into the fundamentals of the creative process:“Stay true to yourself… Believe in yourself and believe in your own intuition of what you’re creating.” - Pana BarbounisSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Dr. Espen Hjalmby, a wellness educator, business strategist, speaker, ‘conscious business’ consultant and an official Australia’s Ninja Warrior.Dr. Espen comes from Norway, but he has moved to Australia in order to pursue his academic career. Over the years he’s acquired degrees in degrees in DipPhysEd for Teaching, HIVE, BApp Sci and MClinChiro RMIT. In 2009, he became a fully qualified Doctor of Chiropractic. His journey then led to him on the path of co-founding Bonfire Health Group, which is now the largest hot yoga and well-being studios in Australasia and is helping over 5000 people each week. Having worked with over 10 000 patients, he decided to retire from clinical practice in 2015. From then on his career focused on speaking, researching and teaching the science, art, and philosophy of wellness, longevity, detox, weight loss, muscle and fitness, personal power and personal development, mindset, spirituality as well as the powerful principles of business and wealth mastery. He is using his personal as well as academic experience to help people who wish to take their business and finance to a whole new level. Dr. Espen’s website is offering a range of programs and products for improving your business and health, as well as personal, group and VIP coaching sessions.In 2006 he suffered from very serious injuries which he managed to come back from through what can only be demonstrated the sheer power of human will. After a long and demanding period of rehabilitation, he was able to bring his body from the brink of doom to a state of such physical wellness. All of his endeavors reached new heights with him becoming an official Australian Ninja Warrior. You can watch his incredible run here!Connect with Dr. Espen:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drespenhjalmby/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-espen-hjalmby-356aab37/ Website: https://www.drespen.com Dr. Espen’s Story of Inspired EvolutionEspen’s heartbreaking origin story begins far in the snowy parts of Norway and starts to take an unpredictable turn somewhere around the age of 8. One night, Espen woke up to found his brother passed away in his bed. Two years later, he welcomed a sister into the family, yet she was also preparing for a difficult journey of her own as she was born with a disability. In years to come, he and his family have been dealing with an incredible amount of adversity.“When we experience hardship, it’s very easy to blame, it’s very easy to not see how it’s happening for us as a part of our spiritual contract, as I believe.” - Dr. Espen HjalmbyIt’s hard to imagine how in the whole scenario, knowing what we know now, that his struggles weren't even close to dimming down. In his youth, he’s used alcohol and drugs as a way of coping and in 2006 he found himself as a student in Melbourne, Australia. One day, on his way to work, he lost control of his bike as he slid into some gravel on the side of the road. He was thrown into the air and he ended up fracturing his both legs and breaking his pelvis.Espen was taken to a hospital where he had metal pins and rods placed into his body in a doctor’s attempt to put him back together. Sadly, he caught a multiresistant bacterial infection as a result of poor sanitation conditions of the hospital at the time. He was put on a range of very strong antibiotics which caused his healthy gut bacteria levels to go down rapidly, and he ended up losing 15kg in just 3 months.“When you are in the deepest pit of the pain of your life, in that essence your purpose is revealed.” - Dr. Espen Hjalmby Haunted by a threat of losing his right leg due to infection, Espen realized that his salvation was up to him and no one else. He ripped out the IV from his arm and from then on embarked on a personal healing journey. He drew strength from his 12 years of experience as a wellness trainer and nutritionist. Relying heavily on organic nutrition and superfoods, meditation, essential nutrient supplementation, detox, prayer, mindset, and my daily exercise regime, all while falling in and out of consciousness. After an excruciating 3-week period, Espen managed to beat the infection all on his own, true dedication and will, and the techniques he used became a foundation for his some of many programs he is offering to the world today.‘Unlearning’: Rejecting the Conditioned and Limiting Beliefs“It’s not so much what we have to learn it’s what we have to unlearn.” - Dr. Espen HjalmbyA huge part of Dr. Espen’s personal journey is being able to ‘unlearn’ what you’ve previously been conditioned to believe it is so. The whole portion of knowing when to take another path was crucial for his rehabilitation process. If he weren’t able to take destiny into his own two hands, who knows what would have happened with his infection, his body, and his life in the end. He points out that 95% of what we have already said to ourselves today, we’re likely to repeat the next day. The essence of transformation is actually making a conscious decision for changing a portion of this 95% each day, bit by bit. The end result is living a life without conditioned and limiting beliefs. Dr. Espen highlights the role of a coach in the process of ridding ourselves from limiting beliefs. A coach will have an unbiased perspective which will inevitably allow them to contribute to your journey with precise information that might be needed at a single moment, challenging your current state while providing support for shifting towards a new one.“If you don’t have a coach you will not be able to see it clearly, and if you can’t see it clearly, you’ll keep recreating those patterns over and over again.” - Dr. Espen HjalmbyDr. Epsen’s Message of Inspired Evolution“When there’s a challenge, know that you’ve attracted this as a spiritual being, that this is a part of your soul contract, that you’ve asked for this. And step up and take responsibility and change the question from ‘Why is this happening to me?’ to ‘How might this be happening for me?’ and you transform in an instant. That is the end of suffering.” - Dr. Espen HjalmbyExploring and learning from the hero’s journeys of amazing individuals is something that we get to experience weekly on our podcast. Still, Dr. Espen’s journey is uniquely mesmerizing and harrowing at the same time. Both aspects of his story are intertwined in a majestic artwork that we call life and all we can do as art lovers, is to try and find meaning for improving our own lives first so that maybe we can one day help others as well. Dr. Espen has learned how to help himself and he has managed to rebuild himself both spiritually and physically in a way in the style of a real-life 6 million dollar man. He has reached deep into himself to find strength, courage, and guidance and he is urging all of us to do the very same:“You have the truth inside you. You have the vision inside you. Find your truth, live your truth, love your truth and everything will open.” - Dr. Espen HjalmbySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Bianca de Reus, an animal communicator, soul coach, spiritual activist, speaker, author, shambala and reiki master.Bianca helps and teaches animal lovers how to make deep, meaningful connections with animals by tuning into animal language. In 2012, she created the ‘Connecting Soul Beings Institute’ in order to teach people how to bring themselves onto the same frequency with animals, and create a deep, intuitive understanding of each other. The main goal of her teachings is contributing to a world where both animals and humans experience love, harmony, and joy together.Bianca is also an author and she released a book in 2018 titled “Hello? Can You Hear Me?”. It’s an amazing explorative journey of animal language, connection, relationships, and spiritual abilities. The book provides insight into her own personal journey of tapping into the energetic world and connecting with animals on an entirely different level. It teaches the approach and the techniques while inspiring you to take action and establish a deep connection with their animal companions.She is based in Sydney, Australia and runs her business with a vegan, ethical philosophy. She lives with her wife, son and two very cute and cuddly dogs. ​Connect with Bianca:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BiancadeReusInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bianca.dereus/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biancadereusWebsite: http://www.connectingsoulbeings.com/Bianca’s Story of Inspired EvolutionBianca’s professional background is in corporate finance, but in 2011 she experienced a life-changing moment when she encountered a snake during a bush walk. While on a lunch break with a friend, a voice popped into her head saying: “Hello! Can you hear me?”, a moment that will inspire a book of the same name 7 years later. A conversation went on in her mind, where the snake let her know of her presence, but didn’t want to show itself because it would scare her friend. The snake went on to say: “You need to go out into the world, and do your job.”Bianca was flabbergasted by the whole experience but when she asked her friend if she was afraid of snakes, her petrified reaction was confirmation enough and what had happened will determine the course of her professional and personal journey. From that moment, she went on to explore her gift and learn more about communicating and making a deeper connection with animals.“I think the easiest way to explain it is to compare it with tuning into a radio station.” - Bianca de ReusShe learned how to tune into their frequencies and how to open herself up, but more importantly, how to close herself off and not get overwhelmed by messages since animals are all around us at all times.Bianca is looking to pass on her gift and teach animal lovers and service providers how to connect with their animals on a much deeper, more fulfilling level.Connecting with Yourself Before Connecting with OthersIn her teachings, Bianca starts the journey by providing the tools for getting in touch with yourself before being able to open your true self for others. She achieves that through meditation and through shifting the focus from our understanding of ourselves as human beings to realizing ourselves as soul beings. The process manifests and results in calmness and feelings of unconditional love. Bianca goes on to explain that this state is the precondition for being able to connect with animals and understand their language.“People can receive the information in different ways… How you learn best is also most likely, how you most likely will receive the information that the animal is telling you, or sharing with you.” - Bianca de ReusBianca combines this heightened sense of vibration with reiki, which enables her to experience and explore the relationship with animals further.Dealing with Scepticism“It’s all good. It’s all OK. Everybody has different levels of experience and beliefs and values, and I’m not here to judge that. All I can do is share what I know, keep serving in the way that I do and those people will come along.” - Bianca de ReusBianca has encountered a certain amount of skepticism when encountering people on her mission to serve and educate. Her approach in those situations doesn’t stray from her message of love and understanding towards building a world of connectedness and mutual joy. She believes it is all a matter of witnessing and being exposed to a specific moment which will open up a world of deeper functioning and allow those who hold a skeptic view to experience something new and different. She describes an interaction during one of her sessions with a person who seemed closed off to the insights and knowledge she was offering. Nevertheless, by guiding him through a particular exercise, she was able to broaden his perspective, open him to a new world of possibilities and the interaction even resulted in him buying her book!“People come on their journey when they are ready. People will come to the realization that connecting to your own heart is one of the best things that you can do to yourself.” - Bianca de ReusBianca’s Message of Inspired EvolutionBianca’s teachings about the importance of connecting with yourself are mesmerizing. Meditation and connecting with your heart are a stepping stone into a world of possibilities and opportunities and we need to understand the value of opening ourselves up for these types of experiences. She leaves us with an inspiring message, urging us to focus on what’s truly important in life:“Stay connected to yourself. Honor yourself… Be the beautiful, amazing being that you are… And just shine!” - Bianca de ReusSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Adam Roa, an internationally touring spoken word artist, motivational speaker, personal development coach, and conscious filmmaker.Adam’s educational background is a Magna Cum Laude marketing degree from Arizona State University. In 2015, he started a coaching business in the face of adversity. Having no steady income, he left the place he’d been calling home for 7 years and decided to travel the world because his intuition told him to do so. Along came amazing experiences including a 10-day silent meditation retreat in India, building clean-water wells in Tanzania and volunteering at a refugee camp in Greece. Even though he was traveling all over the world, he managed to build a successful business based on transmitting frequency to others who need support in taking a leap of faith and empowering them to become the infinite creators they are.In 2016, while traveling in Bali, he had an idea about creating a podcast. He is currently hosting ‘The Deep Dive Podcast’ with a goal of providing an authentic glimpse into the minds of today’s thought leaders and game changers. Adam is hoping to provide his listeners with an understanding that success and happiness are not about what you think, but how you think.In 2018, he started producing his own YouTube show titled ‘The Art of Choosing Love’. It revolves around his explorational journey he embarked on with his friends (who are also helping him produce the show), after him and his girlfriend, Azrya Cohen, decided to consciously uncouple after 10 years of a loving relationship. He is on a quest to experience the world, create conscious content and achieve his dreams while living life to the fullest and having fun.Connect with Adam:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adam.roa.1Twitter: https://twitter.com/adam_roaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/adam.roa/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoyY9JIaE0Uf08RfjGG0KowWebsite: https://www.adamroa.com/Adam’s Journey of Inspired Evolution“I went through what I refer to as a ‘hollowing-out period’.” - Adam RoaSometime around 5 years ago, it all seemed like it was falling apart for Adam. He was undergoing a complete financial restructuring and trying to start his own business, but as if that weren’t stressful enough, he was involved in a major car accident which left him needing hip surgery with a side of intense migraines. The point where it all cracked was one week after the accident when he saw that his parked rental car had been totaled in a hit and run.In the face of newfound adversity, Adam had to accept that he didn’t have things figured out as much as he’d previously thought. He proceeded to resolve his grueling situation through a series of steps including seeking help and taking action.One of the actions he took was experimenting with Ayahuasca, an entheogenic brew used in traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. The visual experience he had during the ritual became his awakening moment. It is a point at which everything shifted, which led him to accept and explore different areas of knowledge he previously found funny or didn’t take seriously. He became a believer because he had an experience which serves him as proof of a higher power and the interconnectedness of our universe.“I have this classically conditioned evidence that my spiritual beliefs are actually effective at creating the life I want to lead.” - Adam RoaScience and Spirituality“The reasons why people are drawn to my message is because I like to play in both realms and understand how it works because I think they’re the same thing.” - Adam RoaLiving through his very own awakening moment has opened up an entirely new world of wisdom and knowledge for Adam. But that doesn’t mean he has left his past beliefs behind, but rather that he discovered something that enriches them and is complementary to what he has known before.“We’re experiencing reality and science and spirituality and the esoteric, they’re actually just languages explaining reality. They’re just explaining it differently.” - Adam RoaHe is diving deep into new topics each day, with his intuition leading the way. By connecting the scientific with the spiritual, he is taking the best out of both worlds and in result gaining a broader perspective with a rich system of interconnected constructs. It has allowed him to take things into his own hands and empowered him to become a creator of his own reality.“At the end of the day, the reality we create is going to be based on what we believe to be true.” - Adam RoaNeed for a New Approach to Education: Living Your Dream“Now you’re seeing this rise of entrepreneurial endeavors and startups and crypto and all these technologies that are supporting entrepreneurs and what we haven’t seen is a massive shift in the way that we’re educating.” - Adam RoaAdam explores the concept of societal conditioning, to the point where our creative nature is being pushed back through educational systems put in place just so it would benefit the traditional understanding of work and economy. What has been happening in the past years and is being exhibited through the rise in small business ownership and personal brand development is that finally, people are becoming more and more empowered to live a life where they get to do fulfilling work while experiencing that they are making a significant impact. Adam points out that “the educational system was designed to fit into the corporate world” but there is an evergrowing need for stepping away from that mindset and inspire the future generations to dream. We’re dreamers by nature but we also have the power to live them.“I don’t believe that you’re given a dream that you can’t accomplish. The fact that you’re even having it means that the possibility exists for you to create it.” - Adam RoaAdam’s Message of Inspired Evolution“There’s enough people telling people, and the age of the guru on the mountain top - I just don’t buy into it anymore.” - Adam RoaAdam owes the unpredictability of his journey to his intuition, but the personal growth and the transformation he’s going through is a direct consequence of him having the courage to open himself up for new experiences and take actions which are destined to take him closer to achieving his dreams. His message of inspired evolution is truly a message of love and his parting words are underlying what we need to imprint into our subconscious in order to set a foundation for achieving true happiness in life:“You are seen. You are heard. You are loved.” - Adam RoaSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Adrian Anteros, a flower shaman, perfumer, biodynamic gardener, botanic geometrician, and creator of Pureheart Alchemy.Perfumery runs through Adrian’s veins, even though he created his own business a decade before he realized that was the case. His grandmother was born on the small island of Mo'orea, also known as the “isle of flowers and perfume”. Adrian believes that he inherited all of his gifts, talents and an intimate connection to scent directly from her. Today he is using these gifts to create fragrances which allow the optimum expansive experience: to love who you are.Adrian has traveled the world in hope of perfecting the sacred art of working with plants, but also with an agenda to awaken consciousness. For over 25 years he has cooperated and learned from shamans, elders, modern teachers all over the world including places like Peru, Africa, and Indigenous Australia. Along with his partner Izabella, he founded Pureheart Alchemy, a brand of alchemical creations (including mysts, essences, and rituals oils) with the aim of healing through beauty, raising frequency and creating awareness. They are offering educational and experiential events which create community and explore human consciousness through the healing power of plants. Pureheart Alchemy is only a part of the Pureheart Foundation, a community based non-government organization, which aims to create awareness and healing through humanity's sacred relationship with plants, reveal the benefits of biodynamic gardening and to encourage awareness through Sacred Ritual - supporting greater health, well-being, and consciousness. Connect with Adrian:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pureheart.mysts  Website: https://www.pureheartalchemy.com/ Adrian’s Story of Inspired EvolutionAdrian believes his refined gift of scent was passed down from his Tahitian grandmother. But that innate potential for his sensitivity of smell has developed in the context of his parent's retail business, which exposed him to an abundance of different fragrances and allowed him to experience a plethora of different tastes in a remarkable, multi-cultural setting. From a very young age, he developed a way of understanding the many different ways of how people use scent to communicate with each other.“We used to get a lot of cultures… women with so many different perfumes… there was a lot of traffic, so many different scents that come from all around the globe… and I’m profiling.” - Adrian AnterosHe didn’t take his gifts for granted and he decided to travel the world and learn as much as he can about the sacred relationship between the plants and humans from wise shamans and elders of indigenous regions.“I’d been working with different mediums and natural naturopathy-styled medicines, herbalism as well, that was on site, on farms... things like that which really give you a hands-on, emotional feel of what these plants have to offer.” - Adrian AnterosAnother reason why Adrian turned to plants was that he suffered from severe allergies to any pharmaceutical medicine he’d ever encountered. It’s one of the reasons why he created his own garden, with herbs and plants taking care of him as much as he’s taking care of them, providing him with an alternative to western medicine.“It was almost like a must at first but obviously I incarnated with a certain… configuration that I was… steered towards by it.” - Adrian AnterosCreating a Perfect Individual Perfume“My forte is… creating what I call a DNA-signature perfume.” - Adrian AnterosAnteros recognizes his strongest suit is being able to produce a scent which can match a specific individual and fit them perfectly. In his own words, he is “working with the genetic code”  with a goal of establishing “a very personal, activating, individual perfume”. He is trying to connect with the deepest, most rudimentary aspects of a person and then figure out a way to awaken it by creating just the right fragrance for them. By doing so, he is looking to create a setting for people to fall in love with themselves all over again.“On a more realistic level, it’s alchemy… and all the gnostic, mystic texts talk about stuff like this.” - Adrian AnterosBioresonance“We’re all fluctuating at a different frequency all the time, but there is an optimal level.” - Adrian AnterosBioresonance is a non-invasive therapy method during which a person is connected to a Bicom machine which tracks the energy wavelengths coming from the body and then counteracts bad frequencies. The goal is restoring the body to a natural balance and Adrian believes it can help bring us to levels of higher functioning and the higher-self. He often combines his fragrances and essential oils with this therapy method and in order to further facilitate the process.“Everything you feel, everything you sense is yours.” - Adrian AnterosAdrian’s Message of Inspired EvolutionA conversation with Adrian is a wonderfully mystic ride through both the conscious and subconscious, all the while exploring different states and never forgetting about the interconnectedness of it all. His messages are at times so poetic at times that you can’t help but feel you’re watching him paint a beautiful representation of the universe using nothing but words. Between the lines, between all the talk of meditation, yoga, bioresonance, and scent chemistry, a message of empowerment emerges and it goes:“You’re always there for yourself, instead of reaching for someone to do it for you.” - Adrian AnterosSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Connecting Talent to Opportunity with Daniel Tonkin | Inspired Evolution | Amrit SandhuOur guest for this week is Daniel Tonkin, recruitment innovator, author, sales ninja, and current Director of Operations and Strategy Manager of Wow Recruitment Australia.According to Daniel, the journey started way back in August 2008. That is when he got himself involved in the business of sales, marketing, and recruitment. In the past decade, he’s been working hard with a goal of perfecting his skills, having major success along the way. He attributes that success to a key ability he has developed - connecting talent to opportunity. In 2017, along with his partners, he set up a boutique recruitment agency specializing in sales, marketing, and corporate support called Wow Recruitment Australia. He plans to continue down the entrepreneurial route, with the hope of one day being able to share the skills and knowledge he’s acquired over the years, and embark on a new journey in the waters of coaching, consulting and mentorship.Daniel has recently released his first book titled “Shit Happens! Then Rainbows” aiming to “slay procrastination forever”. He offers a fresh outlook and hard insight into the process of achieving your dreams and finding your personal rainbow. Connect with Daniel:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-tonkin-353895144/?originalSubdomain=au Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shithappensthenrainbows/ Website: https://www.shithappensthenrainbows.com.au/Daniel’s Story of Inspired Evolution“When you only see the clouds for a long period of time, sometimes you think the sun is never going to come out.” - Daniel TonkinIn the midst of the global economic crises, a young old Daniel decided to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams no matter what. Armed with the enthusiasm of a 23-year old, he decided to embark on a journey that has been going strong for the last 10 years. Even though it might seem to you that his decision was rushed or not thought out properly, Daniel reveals that this naivety actually worked in his favor to some extent.“Sometimes when you do too much research, you scare yourself out of trying.” - Daniel TonkinHe points out his ability to take action as the crucial element of his success. Working every day and ticking off boxes one by one has allowed him to build momentum and create a progression that has led him to become the person he is today.There have been a lot of ups and downs though. Daniel was not immune to the common missteps we tend to make in our lives, like focusing heavily on the past or our future, neglecting to live life in the moment. He used an interesting, unusually named method he learned from one of his mentors called “brain-dump”.“I just started, literally, before I go to sleep… I just used to dump every single bit of shit of thoughts, positive and negative, onto a piece of paper.” - Daniel TonkinBy writing down his thoughts, Daniel had a better overview and has created a much clearer context for understanding them. He was learning how to analyze the things that bothered him and deal with them in a very direct, rational manner. He was basically able to, in a way, convince himself why exactly he should not worry about these things, especially right before he’s supposed to go to sleep.Action Lists: Hacking Productivity and Creativity“When you’ve got a great idea, as soon as you write it down, it turns into a goal.” - Daniel TonkinThere is something soothing in putting the pen to the paper. There is an old proverb, coming from the regions of Eastern Europe, that roughly translates to “a smart person writes things down, only a fool tries to remember”. Psychological studies suggest that writing things down or taking notes is a huge benefit for our memory because an idea is being coded in more than one way.Daniel has taken full advantage of the simple, yet not so obvious technique of writing down his thoughts, goals, and even dreams. All of this has another component to it, which is trying to create an upbeat attitude and calling for different manifestations to arise. By keeping his thoughts in order, while looking to give them a positive twist, Daniel is looking to use the laws of attraction to his favor in both professional and personal life. It’s important to note that he accentuates taking action above everything else, noticing that without it, everything else you’re doing would be more or less pointless, or at least ineffective.“I guess, all I really did was, take the concept of the law of attraction and how it actually worked and then added a layer of how I can take action on these different aspects.” - Daniel TonkinRoad to Mentorship“I want to be able to be the person that makes a difference for people at the early stages of their journey or later stages of their journey, like I’ve had people do for me.” - Daniel TonkinDaniel still has a lot more that he would like to accomplish before taking the next step in his career life. Still, the end game to his professional path is looking quite noble and it’s concentrated around the idea of “paying it forward”. Daniel is truly grateful for the opportunities he’s had of working with people who shared their knowledge selflessly and he’s hoping that one day he’ll be able to do the same. His book “Shit Happens! Then Rainbows” is the first step towards him sharing his experience with the world, hoping that it will lead people on a path to success.“Would really love to create a whole new wave of entrepreneurs where they can run businesses and be location-free” - Daniel TonkinDaniel’s Message of Inspired EvolutionTalking to Daniel was an absolute pleasure and his understanding of how important it is to take organized action is truly inspiring. The future seems very exciting for him and hopefully he will be able to fulfill his dreams of giving back to the community. To that end, he leaves us with this motivational thought to inspire us on our own journey of evolution:“You have to do you!... Be careful and don’t let people’s opinions or your own doubts stop you from moving forward!” - Daniel TonkinSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Liza Joyan, a relationship marketing strategist and the founder of Design a Life.Liza was born in Afghanistan and her family immigrated to Australia when she was a child. Her educational background is in Economics and Business Law and her career path led her to Canada where she spent years working in the field of Risk and Compliance, in both private and the public sector. She was also a part of a global network here she helped businesses experience from 20% to 400% growth using certain philosophies of relationship building, gratitude, reciprocity, and online tools. Liza was also involved with establishing teams in her network marketing business across 6 countries.She has moved back to Australia after 12 years and recently started her own personal brand called Design a Life, which will eventually lead to a book and other educational material in the field of personal transformation. Namely, Liza’s personal journey of self-discovery and appreciation has helped her realize that she needed to focus on three things in life: freedom, contribution, and fun. By following these key principles she has managed to take that leap of faith and will focus on helping others discover their own path and design a life for themselves, and not be dictated by what designer labels tell them.Connect with Liza:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizajoyan/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liza.joyan Liza’s Story of Inspired EvolutionFreedom, Contribution, Fun… That is what Liza wrote on her notepad on a seemingly regular workday in a multi-million dollar company at the 31st floor of the tallest building in downtown Toronto. As it turns out, it was the day she decided to leave her corporate job and pursue her dreams.Liza grew up along with 7 siblings in her family. She was born in Afghanistan but raised in Australia. Her parents immigrated when she was a child and her father instilled the idea of making the most out of every opportunity, early on. That attitude allowed to go very far in life, both professionally and physically. She moved to Canada in pursuit of great work opportunities and stayed there for 12 years.On the day Liza decided to change her life, back in that corporate Toronto office, she felt anxious and frightened about what the future would hold for her.“Suddenly, the walls of my office ended up feeling more of like a prison cell. And I don’t mean to be ungrateful for that, it’s just that it felt like that at that time. I felt trapped that I would have to come to an office every single day for the rest of my life.” - Liza JoyanSitting there, contemplating about her life Liza noticed the empty notepad in front of her, and without thinking wrote down the words that to this day guide her in her everyday life. Once she looked at the notepad again, the three things she put down were interestingly the ones she felt were missing from her life. Because of that profound moment of self-realization, Liza chose to leave the corporate world behind, focus on designing a life for herself, and serve her community by helping others take that leap of faith and realigning with their values.The Future of Business: Room for the Soul“I truly believe that corporations that are being created that are so large, I immediately felt the lack of soul.” - Liza JoyanLiza discusses the impersonal nature of working at a large corporation, something she has experienced first-hand quite well. She predicts that this will become the point upon which the next era in the business world will be formed. The Millennials are a workforce very unique bringing along a whole array of different beliefs and needs. The corporate owners, however, need to learn how to respond to those needs in order to remain competitive. If they ignore this demand coming from the average worker, they might be in the problematic situation of not being able to attract and retain what should be a company’s most valuable resource - the people working for it.“But I truly have a sense and an intuition that the future of business is going to have to be something that is on a smaller scale.” - Liza JoyanWhether or not will corporations be able to adapt is a point open for discussion. Liza believes that the future of work is going to be realized through smaller organizations and more direct interactions between businesses and clients, or in B2B relations. The rise of AI, as Liza ever so perceptively puts it, and the fact that it will make a number of job openings obsolete will play a key role in the way things will begin to unfold.Connection, Celebration and Appreciation “Life is about connection, celebration, and appreciation. If you can do those three things daily… what that does it doesn’t just build others, it builds you.” Liza JoyanThis is just one example of how, in the podcast, you can see Liza’s desire to motivate and inspire rise to the surface. By urging us to incorporate these three concepts into our daily routine she is basically giving us a recipe for not only improving the lives of others but raise the quality of our own lives as well. Connecting with the people around us, engaging them in conversation and interacting with them without a goal of self-promotion, but purely for the sake of showing them how much they mean to you and celebrating them and your relationship. Living the life of inspired evolution! YEW!“I just can only imagine if millions of people did this per day and just authentically and genuinely showed appreciation, connection, and celebration. That’s world peace!” - Liza JoyanLiza’s Message of Inspired EvolutionLiza’s story is representative of a situation many people are facing at the moment. The idea of discovering your values and realigning your life with them is slowly but surely becoming a norm. Liza took control over her life, re-examined things most important to her, and made the leap of fate. We can all find inspiration in those actions and she gleefully invites all of us to:“Give yourself permission to go within and really design your own life. Design the things that you want!” - Liza JoyanSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Layla El Khadri, a transformational coach, author, artist, inspirational speaker, and dance therapist with the goal of inspiring humanity to wake up and rise.Born and raised in Spain, Layla grew up in a family which supported personal development and spirituality. Having been told from an early age that she had immense potential, she had great success in her initial education in the fields of acting, music, and media film. But dealing with the pressure to succeed on one end, and the fear of being stuck in a 9 to 5 job on the other, Layla left her old life to find the new one in a totally fresh and exciting setting. She was determined to realize her full human potential, but in a way that made sense to her.Now with over a decade of studying personal development, Layla is helping others reach their potential through one-on-one sessions, coaching programs, and retreats and events being held in some of the worlds most beautiful places. She uses an amalgamation of different ancient traditions and cutting edge therapies, all wonderfully merged into her very own technique with which she enables people to discover their gift. She has studied meditation, tantra, yoga, somatic dance, NLP, the biology of empowerment and she has a passion for Taoistic philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine.Layla will be the part of this year’s Bali Spirit Festival which is going to be held from 24th-31th of March, 2019. She will be teaching 4 workshops on the subjects of personal development, transformational dance, art as medicine and life coaching. You can get your tickets here, and use the discount code LAYLA to get $75 off!She has written and directed an amazing short film that was released back in September 2018. The film is called ‘RISE of The Feminine’ and it is a truly inspirational work of art, which calls for a planetary revolution and inspires a movement of human awakening.Connect with Layla:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laylaelkhadri.ie/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laylaelkhadri/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9szbPTk1mAtdoulDtLDdFgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/layla-el-khadri/Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClugMhMbrRgLayla’s Story of Inspired EvolutionLayla was born in Spain and she grew up as part of a loving and caring family. Early on she was told she had “immense potential” and even though she managed to draw confidence from the phrase throughout her life, she found herself pressured to succeed and the unruly series of side-effects followed.“All the gifts and all these qualities that I was given became a burden because they were being seen through the lens of expectation.” - Layla El KhadriThere she was, studying film, music, dance, being involved with amazing projects and all the while still showing great potential, but behind the general hope for creativity, she noticed that the main focus of her work was achieving certain goals, rather than what she actually yearned for - self-expression. At 21 she finished her studies and on paper, her life looked perfect and on track but Layla was emotionally drained and burnt out from living a life of consistent setting and achieving milestones.“I was empty, disconnected, lost, dealing with rampant anorexia that was at times pretty bad… and flirting with depression in a way that could’ve gone down in a really bad direction.” - Layla El KhadriFollowing her mother’s advice, Layla joined a peace community in Portugal and she decided to take a 10-day vow of silence, with a goal of shedding the wishes and voices of others while trying to find her own inner voice.“I understood that in order for me to be able to live the life that I was wanting, I really needed to listen to myself.” - Layla El KhadriWhat was supposed to be a 6-month soul-searching period turned into 8 years of a different life, one that is away from the industry of the west. On this path, she was rid of all the anxieties, the pressures, and the expectations, while reaching an epiphany in regards to the importance of the uniqueness of the individual human experience.“Each one of us is a unique creature and each one of us brings something unique to the world. And if I don’t take the responsibility to bring my uniqueness to the world, the world misses my uniqueness and nobody else ever, ever again will be able to bring what I bring.” - Layla El KhadriOn her journey, she explored Taoistic philosophy, studied tantra and somatic therapy, and practiced meditation and yoga. She is currently focused on using her experience, skills, and wisdom to empower others to discover the gift within themselves and realize their full potential.Discovering the Inner Wisdom: Awakening the Creator“Everything that each one of us is seeking for in this life is already within. And it’s not a matter of going to acquire new information as much as learning how to activate the inner wisdom.” - Layla El KhadriHer coaching experiences have provided Layla with great insight into the human personal development process. She notices that within all of us is a “deep desire to create a life of happiness, joy, fulfillment, connection, integrity…” but she believes that the key confounding variable is the desire for creation. We are born with a certain capacity and drive to be creators, and yet, through our upbringing, we distance ourselves from this aspect of our being and push it further down, giving away our sovereignty. According to Layla, the answer is reconnecting with this inner power and rediscovering that forgotten part of ourselves.“That’s why I call my work the bridge between mindset and embodiment. Because mindset is the part of us that understands… But it’s not until we embody it… it’s not until we breathe art, breathing inspiration and breathe out creation, that we can actually create that reality.” - Layla El KhadriArt as Medicine and Fertilizer of Transformation“If there is something in this world that bypasses cognitive dissonance… the incapability of our brains to accept or process information that contradicts our pattern, that wall… is easily bypassed and powerfully bypassed by art.” - Layla El KhadriLayla’s teachings focus heavily on art and the creative process and utilize it in such a way that it becomes a transformational tool and enables personal development. Using the analogy of a sculptor making beauty and elegance from something that is so raw, dirty and unappealing like clay, she brings us closer to the understanding of the process of transformation. By using creativity and the artistic process we are allowed to take our issues and adversities and mold them into the life we want for ourselves, turning it into something to be looked upon with awe and understood as a monument to and for inspiration.“Take something that looks like a big, fat problem into a beautiful sculpture.” - Layla El KhadriLayla’s Message of Inspired EvolutionThroughout the conversation, Layla shares her most personal thoughts and experiences in order to brilliantly pinpoint the main factors, those that are either helping or hurting us on the road to personal development. She provides us with precise advice and direct instructions for living a fulfilled life of happiness and joy, the essence of which reflected n the sentence:“The moment that you reconnect with the creator inside yourself, everything else will align.” - Layla El KhadriSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Jason Partington, entrepreneur, meditation promoter and coach, and founder of Meditation for Men, a brand of meditation courses which has a goal of fighting depression and promoting mental health among men.Jason has had a very diverse career, with experience in both executive positions which include team management and business development, as well as in consultancy work, advising, educating and mentoring professionals in order to help them achieve business success. His career started in health and sports management and later on shifted into sales. He has attained leadership roles in several progressive Australian and international companies and more recently, as an owner of Residential Projects Australia, a respected and fast growing Property Investment Company. He has worked all over the world in places like French Polynesia, Indonesia, Maldives, Mexico, United Kingdom, Dubai, and India.About 20 years ago, Jason was dealing with a difficult situation involving alcohol abuse and other self-destructive behaviors. In a state of depression, a friend recommended he should try meditation and Jason never looked back. From that point on, meditation has put Jason on the path of love, peace, and happiness.Having witnessed an event which had suicide and depression rates in Australian men as the main topic, Jason felt inspired to contribute to the cause and share his experiences of meditation with the world. He founded ‘Meditation for Men’ which offers meditation courses in every major capital city across Australia. The 4-week courses are centered around learning the skill of meditation but they also provide an opportunity for men to discuss many challenges and barriers that they face every day.Spreading the word about meditation and the benefits it can bring to our mental health has become Jason’s mission in life. He has developed a 6-week training program called ‘Evolve’ which is designed to help you reconnect with your authentic self.Connect with Jason:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.partington.98 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpbizcoach/Website: http://jasonpartington.com/Jason’s Story of Inspired EvolutionAt the age of 28, Jason was working a job which allowed him to travel the world. Yet he felt lost, unable to find and connect with his true self. Throughout this period he developed bad habits that included alcohol abuse among other things. The deep unhappiness he felt pushed him towards the verge of an existential crisis and put him in a situation of having to ask himself very difficult questions, while desperately fighting an ongoing battle with depression.“I guess you could say I hit rock bottom. Like I really bottomed out.” - Jason PartingtonAt his lowest and among all the darkness, a friendly hand pulled him upward, guiding him on the path of meditation. Beata Alfoldi, who we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing on our podcast, has given him a pamflet about a meditation course. From that moment on, slowly but surely, Jason found his way back to a place of happiness, love, and peace, eager to share the gift and break the mystical barrier that surrounds the concept of meditation.“I literally changed as a person in 6 weeks. In 6 weeks I was going on one path and all of a sudden decided I’m going on that path over there. And that started the journey, that started everything. It changed my entire life.” - Jason PartingtonBy practicing meditation, Jason learned to bring silence to his life, which in return allowed him to uncover his true nature. From a place of being ruined by a dominant and often self-destructive Ego to a new era of life where he learned to let go and start a dialogue with his true self.“It’s this separating of the Ego from this actual, true identity. The more I meditate, the more naturally that true identity just permeates and becomes the person that controls it.” - Jason PartingtonThe Relationship Between Mindfulness and MeditationMindfulness is one of the most valuable skills we can develop as it is directly connected to having a mentally healthier, fuller and spiritually richer life. The pursuit of mindfulness is often misunderstood as something that needs to be chased. But it’s interesting to consider that bringing yourself to be mindful is not the only way to increase your capacity for mindfulness and as Jason profoundly puts it, it can be quite intense and exhausting. He believes that mindfulness and meditation are connected and that one should encourage and enable the other. By practicing meditation on a regular basis, we’re actually developing mindfulness as sort of a side-effect, without all the intensity and the pressure that comes with planned and organized training.“When you meditate and you do your meditation twice a day, mindfulness comes as a natural course and part of your doing your meditation.” - Jason PartingtonDemystification of Meditation“I’ve always wanted to deliver a meditation-styled teaching that was not so religious-based and something that I felt could be more mainstream. The first reason behind that is because I want to pass that on to my children. - Jason PartingtonJason’s love for meditation is apparent and justified and his mission of spreading the word is nothing more than the story of a person trying to pass on a precious gift they have been blessed to receive. However, on his road to making meditation more accessible to everyone, he found that people are often turned away by the stereotypical representation of meditation, as something practiced only in a religious if not ascetic context. He shares a story of being present at an event that discussed suicide and depression among men and how he was shocked to find out that about a third of a 300-men audience has experienced suicidal thoughts. Jason is positive that meditation could be used as a tool for achieving and maintaining good mental health, but in order to make it more accessible, it needs to be popularized in a way that resonates with people living in the modern day western world.Jason’s Message of Inspired EvolutionJason’s journey is an inspiration, not only because it shows that there is a way back from the darkness but because he is determined to lift others as well. He is doing so by spreading the word about meditation with the goal of making it more mainstream. If you’ve ever wondered what are the benefits of meditation, look no further than this wonderful, anecdotal description Jason shared about his personal experience:“When you meditate you get these feelings you want to give. You want to give to someone other than yourself. You just want to give and you can’t help but have this compassion come through you.” - Jason PartingtonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this week is Erfan Daliri, a social change animator, a writer, educator, youth worker, a spoken word artist, and the founding director of Newkind.Along with an educational background in Communication for Social Change, throughout his career, Erfan has acquired 15 years of experience in the fields of community development, including youth engagement, migrant settlement, mental health research, indigenous community work, human rights, and environmental advocacy. He has worked as a consultant and advisor to a great number of organizations and his impressive list of clients includes Amnesty International, Beyond Blue, Malaruch Aboriginal Corporation, Risdon Prison and the Townsville Intercultural Centre.In 2016, he founded Newkind, an annual conference which gathers people from different fields who are ready to step up, find their purpose, and make a positive impact on the world. By using a series of discussion panels, workshops, and lectures from renowned experts, entrepreneurs, and social justice advocates, the Newkind festival is made to inspire and empower people to join the movement and awake the change makers within. The latest Newkind Festival will be held in Tasmania, from the 19th until the 24th of February, 2019.Erfan’s goal is to provide individuals and organizations with the necessary skills and knowledge and empower them to become agents of change in their communities. At its core, his mission and message is one of social change and challenging the status quo.Free Gift for the Inspired Evolution Tribe:Get 20% Off Your Ticket to the Newkind Festival!Click on the link below and use the promo code: Inspired Evolutionhttps://events.humanitix.com.au/newkind-2019/ticketsConnect with Erfan:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erfan-daliri-25192134/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mr.erfan.daliri/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ErfanDaliriErfan’s Story of Inspired Evolution“From a very young age, community development and youth engagement and indigenous community work was a part of my life.” - Erfan DaliriErfan was born in India, and both of his parents are from Iran. When he was little, they applied and received the refugee recognition from the UN and eventually moved to Australia. It’s pretty safe to say that the good Erfan is doing today has roots in the work of his parents. He learned to be an agent of change from a very young age, watching his parents actualize themselves in the fields of education and helping refugees settle into Australia. Continuously being exposed to different types of challenges, taught him to accept them as opportunities for personal growth and focus on the things being born in the process of overcoming them.“When you become aware of injustices and when you become aware of things that aren’t working... an initial response will be anger.” - Erfan DaliriErfan recalls his earlier days of activism and shares that they were accompanied by frustration and anger. He believes that being angry is a natural response to being faced with injustice and also that it’s a part of the process. The prototype of an angry activist has its purpose in revealing and pointing towards a problem, but the true value lies in shifting over to the next step - becoming solutions-focused.“What is the solution I’m proposing? How can I actually alleviate this issue?” - Erfan DaliriThe answers to these questions are meant to guide us through on our journey of becoming a true agent of change and empower us to provide solutions for the problems we’re faced with as a whole.Taking Action as the Starting Point“I’m very much action focused. I do pray daily and I do meditate daily but it’s about that action. That is the third part of that amazing trilogy.” - Erfan DaliriOne of the key principles Erfan’s been adhering to throughout his life, is being action-oriented. He postulates that taking action is necessary in order to evoke any sort of change whatsoever. Even though praying and meditating play an important role in his daily life, he recognizes that they are only components of the solution, not making any actual and relevant impact if they are not followed by appropriate action. He further elaborates that taking action is connected to praying and meditation through faith. It’s important to maintain the belief and the positive attitude throughout your action-taking in order to truly move in the direction of where you want and need to go.“You have to act as if your prayers have been answered. You have to act as if there is no doubt in your mind.” - Erfan DaliriWe further explore the bigger picture and how becoming more action-oriented can help our society and not just ourselves. Erfan recognizes that even though many people are aware and empathize with the problems our world is faced with a very small portion of them is actually willing to engage and fight the good fight.“If you see something that needs to get done, make it your responsibility and address that issue.” - Erfan DaliriHe sees one of the reasons why more people aren’t working on solving challenges like improving the educations system, reducing excessive consumerism, and achieving gender equality is because they do not feel empowered to do so. We often find that we do not have enough time or that we’re lacking skills or simply that we’re not in a position to make a difference. All of these reasons are just showing that being an agent of change is not easy, yet Erfan reveals a potential perspective that could, in fact, empower people to overcome these supposable barriers. By using the analogy of a tired, overworked parent doing everything they can to provide for and take care of their child, he reveals that all of our actions need to come from a place of love. This is the way of assuring we will have enough energy and resilience to face any challenge that comes our way.“When we actually love our environment and our fellow beings that inhabit this planet with us, then nothing’s overwhelming.” - Erfan DaliriBeing Connected with the World“We are not separate beings from the oxygen that we breathe and the trees that give us that oxygen and the food that we eat.” - Erfan DaliriErfan sees the state of feeling connected with the world as a necessary foundation as well as fuel for dealing with difficult social and environmental issues of today. By separating ourselves from our surroundings and focusing on the individual we’re able to convince ourselves that these problems do not affect us or that we shouldn’t take responsibility for them. However, if we were to focus on the fact that we’re essentially deeply connected to our surroundings, our fellow beings, and the entire universe, we would need to deal with the fact that we’re a part of a whole, and that we have the right, the responsibility, as well as what it takes to work on solving issues greater than ourselves.“If you want to consider your connectivity to the environment or nature and how important it is I suggest you hold your breath for 5 minutes while you think about it.” - Erfan DaliriErfan's Message of Inspired EvolutionErfan’s mission of empowering people to take action is truly inspiring. His solution-focused approach to dealing with global issues provides us with an example and is just one way of taking on challenges that affect everyone, not just ourselves. But most importantly, in its foundation, his message is one of love and kindness:“Be kind. If we could just show kindness to one another, it would just change the way we behave.” - Erfan DaliriSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.