Our Human Experience

Justen is a husband, father, owner and founder of FlexxMP, a fitness facility in Rochester, NY and he is also the author of a book that will be released later this year (Aug/Sept 2021) titled "Purpose Through Pain: Finding Limitless Potential in the Presence of Adversity"

Justen has a pretty incredible story that includes healing and opening up about some pretty intense trauma as a child. His work as a health and fitness professional and the sharing of his story of overcoming the pain of his past and finding purpose through those painful experiences, has allowed him to positively impact the lives of those around him and the clients he serves.

What a great show we have for you, today we sit down with Dr. Aaron Olden founder of Mindful Medicine Rochester.  Aaron share his story of how he started in the field as an internal medicine doctor who then transitioned to palliative care which inspired him to then take a different path.  Since leaving the palliative care position Aaron has started his own practice (Mindful Medicine Rochester) where he works tirelessly to serve his clients through a combination of blending easter and western medicine practices, consulting with his clients and helping them to navigate our difficult medical system, acupuncture, mindfulness and more.  Aaron brings a deep understanding our our medical system and its practices to the table with the understanding he has cultivated around other holistic healing practices like acupuncture, breath-work, mindfulness and more; and with those tools he helps his clients better understand their health and wellness and empowers them the make lifelong changes in their physical, mental and emotional health.

Melissa and Chad sit down with Kathy Turiano from Joe Bean Roasters today to chat about how Joe Bean came to be, working with family and most importantly choosing the path of challenge in order to create a meaningful experience in their business.

Joe Bean creates delicious coffee while cultivating the experience for their customers and connecting their farmers directly to the success they have.  They help to bring coffee farmers out of poverty, to connect them to the product they are growing more deeply and establish trust and faith in the entire industry from grower to shipper to roaster to barista.

It was an amazing conversation with Kathy and we hope you enjoy it.  

Melissa and Chad had the opportunity to sit with Chase Tollenson today and discuss what his path has looked like and how he is using fitness to impact not only clients physical health but as a gateway to personal growth and development.

Chase is the owner of Ardent Fitness in Algonquin, IL.  He is also the creator of the Primal Man Pathway where he is guiding men to embody their greatest selves not only through fitness but through personal growth and development.  We had an amazing conversation covering how Chase ended up where he is today, the people and events that have influenced him the most and how he is applying the lessons of his life to help improve the lives of others around him.

Follow what Chase is doing here:

Today, Chad sat down with a friend and former client Casey Pepper to chat about an interesting group Casey was involved in. In an attempt to create true support and connection Casey and some of his rugby teammates set up a group they humorously call HGH Chat (Human Growth Help).  The group allows this seemingly contradictory collective of competitive, alpha males to connect and discuss real concerns ranging from relationship issues to financial concerns to personal development and growth.  

What we found really interesting was that this group was set up on their own accord, with no strings attached, no outside influence directing it and no guru facilitating the group.  The reason we were so compelled to bring Casey on to chat about this is because he and his friends have shed some light on to the fact that you can do this for yourself and for those in your life, you don't need permission, you don't need a degree or a business plan or membership fees....you simply need to offer open and real conversation in a supportive and caring group.

Please join us today as we dig into what the group does, what they discuss, how it came about and the value that Casey and the other members are gaining from it.  This was such a beautiful example of how we can all work to create our own human experiences and work to improve the experience of ourselves and those around us.

Today Chad's sister Buffy joins the conversation today as we discuss how we can define and experience trauma AND how that can be manifested through our physical bodies.  Buffy shares some background about her time working with trauma, some ways that she has seen trauma show up in the physical body, how this relates to basically every single person who has lived through the last year (2020) and a really great, simple piece of advise/action that we can engage with to bring ourselves into a better awareness and presence with our body.  

"Trauma is a normal reaction to abnormal events." 

Melissa and Chad jam with our good friend Kayla Hartz about her transition from a full time, successful professional into the role of a full time parent.  What led her to the decision?  What are some of the lessons she has learned as a result?  How can someone considering making this shift approach the decision making process AND once having made the shift how can they make the most of it.

This was a great chat with a brilliant young women that chose the incredibly important and purposeful role of mother over pursuing her professional career.  We were really lucky to have sat down with Kayla for this thoughtful conversation...after you listen let us know what you think.

Resources:

Today we chat about motivation.  Let's define it, let's understand it as a tool and as a limited resource (one which is incredibly valuable when present).  Motivation can really pour some gas on your fire, the question is what about those times you don't feel motivated?  When you are in that place where you feel you NEED motivation how can you find it?  Ultimately, can we come to a better understanding of how t use this tool when it is available to us and how to stay committed when it is on empty?

Tips:

Change the equation, instead of Motivation + Action = Results try Action + Results = Motivation (you've got to replenish this resource and seeing a reward for consistent action is a great way to do so)

Identify all of your "have to's", how many can you reshape into "get to's" or even "want to's" AND if you find that some of your "have to's" are things that you simply do not want or need in your life, can you remove them?

In Search of Motivation:

1. Hire a coach, recruit a friend, tell the world...establish some external accountability to get yourself started...this is not the end goal, if we solely rely on external motivators we will be left incapable of caring for our own needs when times are challenging and the external motivator is not available for one reason or another.  With that said having someone who is vested in your commitment and success is a great place to start if you are feeling lost.

2. Search for Awareness in your life, find a way to connect your goals to things that actually matter and are actually important to you and your life, use those as internal motivators...this is a little more challenging than hiring a coach AND a good coach will help guide you to creating this awareness and acting with intention in a way that aligns with what matters most to you.

3. Change your story...the narratives we tell ourselves (consciously and subconsciously) shape how we show up in life. Many of us (ourselves included) have the most difficulty keeping commitments to ourselves, this often stems from a lack of self worth or self love, and/or a feeling that we don't matter as much as someone or something else.  This is a very challenging and very powerful path to walk, we strongly recommend working with a professional in order to grow this skill.  That may be a mental health provider, coach, healer, etc. you have to find who will work best for you.

Mentions and Shoutouts:

Today we sat with Dr. Mike and Dr. Sarah Penkin and jammed about owning a business with your spouse, working on expectations, communication, division of roles and more.  In addition we explore how those lessons can carry over into planning a family.  Our ability to effectively communicate and support our significant others both in our "work" together and in our roles as parents and leaders are fundamental pieces of our success in those endeavors.

Resources:

Pinnacle Hill Chiropractic

Today we have the pleasure of chatting with our spicy friend Casey "Spice Christ" Bard founder of Tacticalories.  Having known Casey for the last 9+ years we have seen him make the transition from employee to entrepreneur, all while building a beautiful family.  Today we talk about what pushed Casey to make that jump, the obstacles and challenges that he needed to consider and how we can all learn from assessing our current situation, be it professional or personal, and deciding that we want a change.

We all have the power to make choices just as Casey did, that doesn't mean they need to be brash and irrational, these shifts require courage and considerable planning in order to increase your likelihood of success.  In reality this type of leap in your career or in a relationship or anywhere else in your life can be scary, we are here to say that staying stuck in your current prison state, enduring your familiar suffering, is likely far worse.

We hope that you listen today and find some inspiration to take a leap in your own life toward what you want.

Along the way remember to consider...."What would this look like if it were easy?" - Tim Ferris

Resources:

Tacticalories 

"Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior." - James Clear, Atomic Habits

Today Melissa and Chad define what our environment includes, how it can influence our habits/behaviors and most importantly some strategies to optimize your own environment in order to set you up for success.

We discuss 4 main strategies or frameworks to focus on when trying to optimize your environment:

1- Automate

2- Omit

3- Prime

4- Organize

This can be a really simple yet powerful way to start to enact positive changes and/or solidify positive changes in your behaviors and habits.  Give this one a listen and try some of the ideas that we have found to be valuable.  If you have something you'd like to share leave us a comment/review.

Our chat today was with our good friend Kurt Bednarcyk, we've known Kurt for nearly a decade prior to recording this and most recently his deep dive and growth in language has been really amazing and interesting to watch.  Today we chat about the importance of language, how we can recognize and cultivate the type of language we want and why that would even be important.  Our language impacts our perception of the world, it impacts our children, our friends, our families and all those we connect with.  Language is a tool we all carry, let's learn how to better yield it to live the life we expect for ourselves and to contribute to building the world around us.

Follow Kurt here ---> @kb.inatree    @the.infinitethread

Resources Mentioned

Mark England 

@markengland2020

Today Melissa and Chad jammed about the difference between education and implementation....it may seem obvious but we've found over the years of coaching and our own personal development that the education piece is almost always the easiest part of any type of personal change or development.

The key to successful evolution lies in our ability to sift through the information we have gathered and cultivated, find what is valuable to our lives and our priorities and then actually implement and act on that information.  Today's episode shares some useful tips on how to take that content you've consumed and apply it to your life, how to implement in a way that helps to breed success.

Resources Mentioned:

Today Melissa and Chad discuss why we started the Our Human Experience, what we hope to bring to those who listen and the types of information we intend to share.

Our topic today was about the experiences and narratives around 2020, how we can all learn from the vast opportunities presented to us this year and how we can start to shift our own narratives, habits and reactions in order to live in a world that is always changing.

Resources Mentioned: