We Won't Die Wondering - The Podcast

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is learn to say 'NO'.

No matter how good the idea might seem or what other people might think, what's important is how much we're willing to honour ourselves and our truth and what feels right for US.

Or to put it another way...

'Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.'

In this episode you hear me share two ideas that call into question this very notion and have demanded my full respect and attention.

One of which everyone loves and I've always felt tempted to revisit... This being that day, on the brink of going live, something deep inside of me just screamed 'NO' - this is me honouring that.

A window into my world and what I've been wrestling with and how I finally came to realise what was good and right for me in the hope that it will help you tune into what feels good and right for you.

PLUS I also share an 18 minute 'P.s.' of what I truly long for you this Christmas, New Year and every other day from here on in!

Enjoy

RJx

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Like this episode?

Please leave me a review and/or star rating.

Want to share a reflection or note of appreciation?

Email me: rajames1977@gmail.com

Want to find out about my 'Wonder Wander' events in nature?

Visit: www.wewontdiewondering.com

Want to find out about the coaching I provide?

Visit: www.ryan-james.co.uk

Stuck doing a job she didn't particularly enjoy, feeling uninspired by her life circumstance, Fiona Eadie had an urge to follow 'The Artist's Way' (by Julia Cameron - worth a read in itself!) and see what came of it...

What came was an emphatic soul's calling to go learn the art of 'storytelling'...

Guide by some super helpful, kind, encouraging souls along the way and committed to the invitation to follow her joy, the universe responded in kind and opened up a whole new abundant world of possibilities and opportunities beyond her wildest dreams... Effortlessly & joyfully.

Dive in and listen to this brilliant, beautiful story of what can happen when we tap into the real magic of daring to not die wondering. This is GOLD. It's so relatable. And who better to tell that story than a professional storyteller that's walked the walk and loves her work?!

Enjoy.

RJx

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Like this episode?

Please leave me a review and/or star rating.

Want to share a reflection or note of appreciation?

Email me: rajames1977@gmail.com

Want to find out about my 'Wonder Wander' events in nature?

Visit: www.wewontdiewondering.com

Want to find out more about Fiona Eadie?

Visit: www.fionaeadiestoryteller.com

Virtually a year ago to the day, I interviewed the brilliant Claire MacKinnon as she dared to step out from under her executive corporate coaching persona and show up as most unapologetically, unfiltered, brilliant, beautiful, messy, glittery & biscuity self... Once a week, every week in an email newsletter. Just sharing what's really here... No matter how she felt or who might read it.

One year later I was keen to hear how it has all unfolded, what's she's learnt, what she's gained, what she's come to realise...

Fully cognisant that as a result of this commitment alone, she's had her most lucrative, abundant financially successful and rewarding year in business yet - so it's not just been a nice thing to do!

Enjoy.

RJx

---

Like this episode?

Please leave me a review and/or star rating.

Want to share a reflection or note of appreciation?

Email me: rajames1977@gmail.com

Want to find out about my 'Wonder Wander' events in nature?

Visit: www.wewontdiewondering.com

Want to find out more about Claire MacKinnon?

Visit: https://glitterandbiscuits.substack.com/

AND/OR https://www.clairemackinnon.com/

Does the arrow seek the target or does the target draw the arrow?

Is it just that you follow your calling or is it that the thing you feel called to do, calls you in? Only as and when it, you, the time and circumstances are aligned?

I stumbled on this idea whilst reading 'Greenlights' by Matthew McConaughey. It took a while to land but when it did, it disarmed me so much that I felt called to get behind the WWDW microphone once more and explore and unpack just how juicy and relieving and playful and creative an inquiry this really is... And it feels GREAT to be back doing it too.

Maybe, just maybe the true art of not dying wondering comes in giving up trying so hard to make anything happen at all... And we trust the magic and mystery of it all?!

Curious. Cosmic. Juicy. Liberating.

Dive in, see what I make of it.

Feel free to reach out and let me know what lands for you.

rajames1977@gmail.com

Please leave a rating as you feel appropriate and called.

And please visit www.wewontdiewondering.com to explore other podcast episodes I've recorded, future adventures in nature I'll be organising and read more of the coaching I provide.

Thanks for listening.

Go well, Ryan

'As I breathe this moment with a simple breath, the world grows clearer with this new lense and I could smile... As I surrender the worry that I'm not enough, my heart grows wider, wide enough to feel... To feel that we are one, we are 'gold' and we raise up, raise...'

When you really listen to the lyrics of the sublime new song 'Gold' by brilliant singer/songwriter, Tallulah Rendall you quickly come to realise that the wisdom offered comes straight from her heart to yours, from a place of real, raw truth and lived experience. 

Coupled with the fact she's also a qi gong and meditation teacher, somatic experiencing practitioner and creative workshop facilitator, I thought it was too juicy an opportunity to overlook the possibility of getting her on my podcast to explore more, so reached out and asked her...

This is that interview and it is indeed 'We Won't Die Wondering' podcast GOLD!!!

But what is 'gold'? Where and how do we find it? What's getting in the way? Why is it so difficult to find? What does it mean to 'do the work'? What does it mean to be brave? What does it really mean to 'love yourself'? And why is it so important? 

Dive in as we go deep in conversation around what it really means to be human, in all our messiness. 

And stay tuned right until the end as Tallulah treats us all to a live, goosebump-inducing, acoustic performance of one of her new songs! 

Join the We Won't Die Wondering community for latest news, discussions, events and much more. Click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wewontdiewondering

Feel free to send me your thoughts on this podcast and any further reflections you may have: rajames1977@gmail.com 

You find me on this episode at another crossroads in my life. Having come so far and yet still feeling like I'm missing the point somewhat. Feeling like I'm still getting wrapped up in how to will things to work and exhausting myself in the process, not really being any the better for it. 

Time to double down on my quest to not die wondering. The gloves are off. A line is being drawn in the sand. I want to go deep with this whole life adventure of mine. Not just for me but as an advocate for us all. But how? What now? What's missing? Where do I start from here?

First stop this personal mentoring session I recorded with Tom Evans, the most curious, cosmic and intuitive man I know. 

A man 20 years ahead of me in this journey, who's written 17 books, amassed over 50,000 active followers on meditation app Insight Timer, has given up charging for his time yet still more financially abundant than he's ever been before, who has no set plan for anything he now does and yet is still achieving and enjoying things far beyond anything he ever thought possible almost without ever seemingly breaking sweat! 

What does he know that I'm still clearly yet to learn? 

Find out here. 

Tune in as I interview David Hieatt, Mr Howies, Hiut Denim and DO Lectures himself about what it means to be alive, backing yourself and DOing your own thing.

As you'll quickly learn, he wasn't a man that necessarily had the means or the qualifications. Instead he just put himself in the right environments to learn from good people before taking the plunge and backing himself to DO his own thing... With great success and the occasional spectacular fail along the way!

We explore the need to keep asking ourselves the right questions and lots of them. The importance of time and how we spend it. The merit in taking risks by placing lots of small bets as we go. What typically holds us back and how to get over it. The importance of investing in hungry people. How to run a better business (and a business better) and why. And lots more besides.

David is not a man to die wondering. This interview explores what we can learn from his example of just getting stuck in, DOing more the right ways.  

If you enjoy this episode I'd love to know your own thoughts and reflections at rajames1977@gmail.com

Join me as I take a deeper dive into the life changing magic of saying 'f**k it' and the idea that 'you'll never hold it right if you can't let it go'. In life, your relationships, your work projects, your kids, the ideas you have for yourself, your Instagram 'strategy', how to show up in the world. Repeat after me... 'F**K IT!'. Not so much the things themselves but the ideas you have about them and the way you think things 'should' be. F**K. IT.

Warning, I say 'F**K IT' A LOT in this episode. Sorry mum. 

Don't do this. Don't do that. Be polite. Be appropriate. It's rude to ask. This is not right. That is not right. I am weird to think or feel this or that. But why? 

Maybe it's all ok. Maybe our propensity to shame ourselves into or out of anything is the problem. Maybe we should welcome it all into our guesthouse like old friends. The happiness, the sadness, the fear, the love, the hope, the desires, the kinks, the lumps, the bumps, the needs, the wants. What would happen if we stopped trying to be 'appropriate' and instead allow ourselves to be all that we truly are? In the moment?

In the episode I explore and unpack the importance of being ourselves to free ourselves. Something that I sense forms the foundations of our truest need and want to not die wondering. 

'Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you.' ~ David Whyte

Put your feet up and allow yourself to ease into this conversation with me and my good friend (and fellow coach) Matt Hall as we explore what it means to not die wondering and the importance of whether we're actually trying to answer the questions we really want to answer in our lives!

We talk about the 'proximal development' stretch zone, resting in the comfort zone, giving up the need to 'fight', our need for growth, exhaustion and our real need for wholeheartedness, our own mortality, trying to answer the questions that have no right to go away and the fact that life is simply too short not to talk about big sh*t! All whilst Matt's 7 year old daughter tries to steal his attention to go get her Friday night pizza! 

I don't know what point we're trying to prove on this podcast but it's seriously curious nonetheless. 

Inspired to jump on the microphone in a moment of inspiration, I delve deep into what I feel it means to truly allow ourselves to not die wondering and live our lives without limits, from the heart. I explore what I think holds us back and how to overcome it. I outline what I think 'happiness' really is. And I unpack what I sense the point of life is too. Yep, I go all in and get on a proper roll! This is 'me' in my most unapologetic, full throttle, insanely curious best... Daring to not die wondering about just putting it out there! Enjoy.