A Congruent Life

Owen Marcus is the author of a new book called Grow Up: A Man’s Guide to Masculine Emotional Intelligence. Owen shares about learning from dyslexia and Asperger’s Syndrome, and the very real ways that working with men’s groups has impacted him personally.

In this episode of A Congruent Life, Owen shares his personal journey and the impact of men’s groups, including:

• the sense of personal empowerment that came from learning about and actively working to heal dyslexia, Asperger’s, and ADHD,
• the increased well-being he experienced through Rolfing,
• his perspective of authenticity as alignment in many aspects of life,
• atunement to personal energy as a gauge of direction, and fear as a necessary condition to move us forward,
• why he believes so strongly in the power of micro-communities to support and challenge us,
• the story behind Grow Up, and the impact that he wants the book to have.

Links

• Grow Up: A Man’s Guide to Masculine Emotional Intelligence
• Owen’s blog
• Owen’s Facebook page
• Free to Win
• Men Corps

Transcript

The post ACL 036: Owen Marcus appeared first on A Congruent Life.

Eric Plantenberg focuses on enriching the lives of others through his own multi-faceted life. Eric is the co-founder of Freedom Personal Development, has created a retreat called Abundant Living, and is now the “Core Values Ambassador” of Kombucha Mama. And — by the way — he’s also done significant humanitarian work around the world, summitted Mt. Everest from the north, taken a three-year travelling honeymoon with his wife Michelle, and completed the IronMan Triathlon four times.

In this episode of A Congruent Life, Eric shares compelling stories and profound reflections from his life journey so far, including:

• what he learned from a river guide about focusing his energy outward,
• how embracing his job as a dog treat salesman opened unexpected doors,
• about starting a long-running business with his friend, by pooling cash in a shoebox,
• how a professor panned his business plan and advised him to “just go get a job,”
• the importance and interplay of passion and authenticity in pursing goals,
• giving yourself permission to live the life that you really want, and what that’s looked like in practice for his own family,
• honoring intuition and internal wisdom when considering big life transitions,
• the profound value of “starting with why,”
• the difference between authenticity and positivity,
• lessons about passion and persistence learned from climbing Mt. Everest, and
• how pursuing authenticity requires effort and intentionality.

Transcript

Links

• Eric’s blog
• Eric’s TEDx talk: The Anatomy of Results
• Abundant Living Retreat
• Kombucha Mama
• Kids in the Game
• Simon Sinek, Start with Why: TED talk, Amazon

The post ACL 024: Eric Plantenberg appeared first on A Congruent Life.

Natalie Sisson is an entrepreneur and traveler who helps others seek freedom by building a location-independent business. She is the host of a website called The Suitcase Entrepreneur and recently published a book by the same name.

In this episode of A Congruent Life, Natalie reflects on her own journey as a nomadic entrepreneur, including:

• recognizing for herself that “you either do this now, or you do this never,”
• being willing to experience fear head-on in order to move through it,
• doing the inner work to identify and prioritize her core values, and staying aligned to them,
• staying connected to people close to her while living a nomadic lifestyle,
• learning to celebrate both wins and losses,
• how one’s best work happens when you’re being true to yourself.

Natalie is generously offering free copies of her book, The Suitcase Entrepreneur, to two lucky A Congruent Life listeners. For your chance to win:

• Share this episode on Facebook
• Join our community mailing list

Transcript

Links from our conversation

• The Suitcase Entrepreneur website
• The Suitcase Entrepreneur on Amazon
• How to Successfully Crowd Fund Your Dream Idea on Kickstarter
• Natalie’s books and training
• BYOB: Build Your Online Business
• Awaken the Giant Within
• StrengthsFinder 2.0
• The Suitcase Entrepreneur on Facebook

The post ACL 022: Natalie Sisson appeared first on A Congruent Life.

AJ Leon used to be an “unremarkably average” financial executive in Manhattan, and in a stunning moment of clarity, decided to “stop, once and for all, living some other dude’s life.” In partnership with his wife Melissa, AJ reinvented a multi-faceted nomadic life as a writer, designer, entrepreneur, and humanitarian in a quest to change the world.

In this episode of A Congruent Life, AJ shares the story of walking out of his office four days before his wedding, why he cancelled a book contract with a big publisher, reflections on traveling and working with his life partner, tales from a unique “MisfitConf” event in Fargo, and a “Good Misfit” humanitarian project to build a windmill in Africa.

Links

• Pursuit of Everything community and blog
• The Life and Times of a Remarkable Misfit essays
• Good Misfit – building a windmill in Kenya
• AJ Leon on Twitter
• The Pursuit of Everything on Facebook

The post ACL 012: AJ Leon appeared first on A Congruent Life.

Alana Levandoski is a singer, songwriter, and author who discovered that life as a professional recording artist left her unhappy and unfulfilled. Feeling “betrayed by music,” Alana left that world behind and embarked on a musical pilgrimage to heal and to rediscover herself, writing a book and an album called I Am a Sparrow about that journey.

In this episode of A Congruent Life, Alana shares the title track from I am a Sparrow, and talks about basing her identity on the expectations of others, how she coped with the pressure of being a star, her road trip to “fall back in love with music,” and the power of old stories for healing.

Links

• Alana’s website
• Alana Levandoski on Facebook
• Alana Levandoski on Twitter
• Recording Roots documentary

Stories

• Allerleirauh (Brothers Grimm)
• Allerleirauh/Donkeyskin annotated (SurLaLune)
• Allerleirauh synopsis (Wikipedia)
• Iron John (Brothers Grimm)
• Iron John synopsis (Wikipedia)
• Iron John: A Book About Men (Robert Bly)

Alana’s Music

• I am a Sparrow (CD and book)
• Hymns from the Desert
• Lions and Werewolves
• Unsettled Down

The post ACL 011: Alana Levandoski appeared first on A Congruent Life.