Category Archives: People

How can you get your family on board with a slower life? How do we engage with our community and make a difference in the world? How can we better spend our time with family and friends? And why does it matter?

Sheri Salata on embracing the beauty of No

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“I’m dedicating myself to really inhabiting slow.”

Sheri Salata

One of the many, many highlights of hosting the poggie is that I have the opportunity to regularly talk with passionate, intentional, conscious, self-aware people. People who have decided to go deep in to their own lives and really do the head and heart work of figuring out what’s important to them, then digging deeper to work out how they’re going to create a life with more space for those important things.

I’m so thrilled to bring you this week’s episode, where I chat with the utterly delightful human that is Sheri Salata who has done just that – digging deep in to her own life and doing the work of reprioritising – despite working for one of the most high-profile and well-loved brands in the world in a high-pressure, high-stress (and maybe even high-ego) job.

I was lucky enough to catch up with Sheri in person when we were in LA on the book tour last year and am so excited we finally got the opportunity to chat on the poggie because while not all of us get the opportunity to work with Oprah, we do all get the opportunity to slow down and really consider what’s important to us as individuals. And we also get the opportunity to gradually start putting those things at the centre of our lives by letting go, saying no, making space and getting clear on our why.

Sheri was the executive producer of the final five seasons of Oprah and Co-President of OWN before she decided to walk away in 2016 and pursue a simpler, more values-aligned life and, hoo boy, friends, does she have some knowledge nugs to drop on us this week – specifically on how to embrace the beauty of “no” both given and received, and how we can choose to view those “no’s” as obstacles or invitations.

Sheri is someone I admire a lot, because she has this incredible ability to strip things down to their very core and chooses to make her life decisions based on what she finds there, regardless of if it makes her uncomfortable or not. In today’s episode we discuss why she decided to walk away from her job with Oprah, how she knew it was time to listen to her inner-voice and what that first day of unemployment felt like after a career of high pressure work.

We also look at the role ego plays in our constant stories of busy-ness, how to get comfortable with discomfort, whether it’s necessary to reach a crisis point before making positive changes, her approach to living a spiritual life (and what it’s like to have Deepak Chopra on speed dial!) as well as her philosophy on living a full and glorious life in to her fifties and beyond. Particularly in a world that likes to make women believe that once we hit fifty we become irrelevant.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on today’s episode and hope you enjoy Sheri’s story as much as I did.

Questions featured in this episode:

  1. You’ve changed your life significantly over the past few years – what was the catalyst for those changes?
  2. You talk about going through a process of ‘reckoning’. What did your reckoning look like?
  3. How do you balance finding joy in the present moment and working towards the next thing?
  4. Do you think we need to reach a crisis point in order to reevaluate our lives? Or is there a way of manufacturing that awakening without hitting rock bottom?
  5. How did you learn to make ‘no’ a part of your vocabulary?
  6. What can people do to start their own process of reevaluation, excavation and reinvention?

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

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Blaire Palmer on rethinking our modern conventions of Work

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“The truth you hold onto most tightly is usually the one that’s giving you the most trouble. “

Blaire Palmer

Work.

For many of us it is nothing more exciting than a necessary part of life, used to pay the rent, buy groceries and clothes and petrol, and maybe fund a holiday every few years.

But does it have to be a drudgery? What if we’re looking for a way to make work a part of our lives that lights us up? In a world filled with corporations more concerned with the bottom line than the health, well being and individual strengths of employees, is it actually possible to find work that is fulfilling? (And do we need to be self-employed to find it?)

It’s something so many of us grapple with, which is why I’m so excited to have Blaire Palmer on the show today.

Blaire is an ex-BBC journalist turned business owner, who works to help people unpick the industrial-age conventions of work and find a fulfilling way forward that works for them.

In our chat, Blaire shares her own story and the shifts she’s made to the way she works, how we can redefine work and the way we do it, the power of bringing humanity to your job, and the reason she sold her house and spent 7 months travelling with her daughter.

Questions featured in this episode:

  1. You’ve spent the past few years unpicking the industrial age conventions of work: What are they?
  2. When did you start to question these conventions?
  3. How do we start to shift the system?
  4. How can we redefine what success looks like? 
  5. What was the catalyst to shift from working long hours to the way you work now?
  6. What was the call to return and put down roots after travelling?
  7. Did you ever find an approach to balance that worked for you while travelling, and that works for you now?

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

Love Slow? Support the show!

The Slow Return

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I snapped this beauty on our roadtrip through Utah in 2018.

“Our idea of home has changed completely.”

Oh hi, hello. Remember us? Yes indeedy, it has been a while.

After we landed back in Australia in March, life got really real. Really full, really different, really uncertain and really transitional. Those of you who are subscribed to the Slow Post know I took some time away from my work in order to uber-tilt in to supporting my family, finding somewhere new to settle and to not lose my head completely, and you probably also know how right that decision felt.

That sense of rightness is one of the biggest gifts slowing down has given me. When I slow down and get mindful I’m able to live, work and act in alignment with my Why, and when I’m able to do that – BOOM. Rightness.

Not to say easy. Not even to say simple. But right.

The past couple of months have been made so much clearer because I took that step back, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this wonderful community who understands why I’ve done it. It means a great deal to know that, in this fast-paced world, where we’re constantly told that to slow down is to risk losing – money, success, audience, influence – we can choose a different path. That slowing down is not only OK, but often the right thing to do.

So last week, when Ben looked at me over the dining table and said words I hadn’t heard him say in months (maybe longer), “I really want to record a podcast episode,” I knew.

I knew, with that same sense of rightness, that the time to tilt my energies back in to work, the podcast, writing again, was coming closer.

So we sat down and recorded a short hostful. One where we tell you what’s been happening, where we’ve landed in this beautiful country and how we’re feeling. We also talk about our future plans and when you can expect the poggie to return.

So listen in to get the low-down and stay tuned for Season 3, which will be in and around your earholes on Thursday 25th July.

Until then, happy days my friends. And thank you again. xx

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

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Homecoming: A Hostful Poggie

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“Right now, we all have the power and knowledge to change the world for the better. What are you waiting for?”

Ben

This whole ‘do the podcast in seasons’ caper is still relatively new, but one thing we did know from the beginning was that the final episode of every season would be a hostful – a relaxed episode where Ben and I answer listener questions, chat through what’s happening in our lives right now and occasionally enjoy some light to moderate silliness.

So when we asked for listener questions on Instagram a few weeks ago, we were stoked to see so many come through. Funnily enough though, a large percentage of them asked a version of the same question:

When are you guys coming home? (Or are you ever coming home?)

So rather than delay things any further, we kick today’s episode off with an answer to that very question and an update on life right now. Suffice to say, there’s a lot of really exciting changes afoot.

We then get down to the business of answering your non-travel related questions which are, as always, fantastic. They include:

  • What’s the thing you’re most proud of from your slow journey?
  • Do you get scared that you might go too far with the changes you’ve made?
  • How do you work towards big goals slowly?
  • How do you balance long-term goals with living in the present?
  • What’s the next thing you’d like to add or remove on your journey to slow?
  • Any tips for managing anxiety about the upcoming uni semester?
  • Which act of simplifying has had the biggest impact on your mental wellness?
  • How do I stop being addicted to my phone?
  • Would you like to come over for dinner in Raleigh NC?
  • What would life look like now if you’d never discovered slow living?
  • How do you stay slow on a busy commute?
  • How did you get started writing a book? What was your process, note taking etc?
  • Would Ben ever see himself being an employee in the corporate world again?
  • What’s your favourite poggie episode?
  • What is the soundtrack to your lives right now and who would you choose to star in a movie about your lives?
  • If you had the world’s attention for 30 seconds what would you say?

It’s been a phenomenal start to the year and I’m so full of gratitude for all the wonderful guests we’ve had on the show this season, as well as the fantastic feedback we’ve received.

I’m already working on Season 3 of the poggie and am really excited to share those conversations with you when it kicks off on May 2nd.

In the meantime, take it slow, friends. xx

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

——

Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

Love Slow? Support the show!

Meg Berryman on moving beyond wellness

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Image courtesy of Alina Golovachenko

“What’s right about you? What’s working well? Where are you whole? What does feel good? Let’s start to amplify that rather than marketing to your pain points.”

Meg Berryman

You know those conversations where you light up from the beginning? Where you feel like you’ve met a new friend and you could talk for hours?

I was lucky enough to have one of those conversations a couple of weeks ago and am so thrilled to be able to share it with you today.

In this episode I sit down with Meg Berryman of Beyond Being Well. Meg is a women’s coach, mum of two young kids, yoga teacher, empowerment educator and all-round, fabulous, no-BS human.

I was immediately taken with the work Meg does in helping women move through the process of making changes for themselves, and on to making changes for the collective, because this is something I’ve felt myself being drawn to more and more over the past year.

I have a few thoughts on what the wellness movement is becoming, but essentially I believe the current focus on wellness is wonderful as there are so many of us who need to relearn what it is to feel well and how it feels to practice self-care. But I also think that, in my case anyway, there comes a time when the focus can open up and give us the opportunity to make changes for the benefit of others too. Our homes, friends, families, communities – these are the parts of our lives that stand to benefit from our journey from wellness through to wholeness.

Meg talks about that journey from wellness to wholeness through to igniting social change – a shift from self to collective focus. She also touches on the importance of discovering what wellness is to us as individuals (letting go of those shoulds!) connecting to the body, why we need compassion in the face of patriarchy and capitalism and so much more.

This conversation was truly effortless and so engaging, and I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Questions featured in this episode:

  1. What does wellness mean to you?
  2. How can listeners start to explore what wellness looks like for them?
  3. Do you think it’s a counter-cultural move to fully explore your own wholeness?
  4. Do you find that a lot of people reach the point of wanting to shift their focus from the self to the collective in their explorations of wholeness?

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

——

Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

Love Slow? Support the show!

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