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Hey everyone,

This will be the last podcast episode I publish before my upcoming paternity leave, as Ashley and I prepare to welcome our second daughter! 🥳

Thank you so much for being part of the first season of this podcast. Hosting the show has already been so enriching and expansive for me, and it feels like we are just getting started.

I’m looking forward to being back at it in the fall/winter. An exciting new chapter for the show is already beginning to take shape, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Until then, soulfully yours,

Brooks

Tom Morgan is the founder of The Leading Edge, a vibrant private community for leaders deeply committed to personal growth, consciousness exploration, and authentic connection. After only 15 months, The Leading Edge has nearly reached its full membership capacity, demonstrating the profound impact it’s had on its participants.

Tom’s path to this purposeful work was anything but smooth. In this deeply revealing conversation, he opens up about his transformative journey from a conventionally “successful” Wall Street career to a profound spiritual awakening that shattered his previous identity and plunged him into a grueling dark night of the soul lasting several years.

Tom candidly shares the intensity of his experiences—including profound suffering, mental health struggles, and a challenging period of existential crisis—highlighting how crucial it was for him to strike the dynamic balance between agency and surrender to ultimately break through to his deeper calling.

We discuss how Tom navigated the uncertainty of leaving behind a highly successful financial career, faced the painful process of ego dissolution, and discovered that true freedom and fulfillment lay in authentically serving others. He explains how this led to creating The Leading Edge, which now serves as a safe haven and empowerment tribe for others who feel isolated on their own paths of awakening and transformation.

This episode offers rich insights into the power of authentic community, the burdensome blessings of spiritual awakening, the courage required to embrace one’s true calling, and how our deepest wounds can become our greatest gifts.

Links & Resources

• Connect with Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Follow Tom on X/Twitter

• Subscribe to The Leading Edge’s Newsletter

• Listen to The Leading Edge Podcast on Apple or Spotify

• Join the The Leading Edge Community

Chapters

00:00:00 - Introduction to Tom Morgan's Journey
00:03:45 - From Wall Street Success to Breakdown
00:07:30 - The Awakening Experience
00:11:15 - Plunging into the Dark Night
00:15:22 - Failed Attempts to Pivot Careers
00:19:05 - Ketamine Treatments and Rock Bottom
00:23:10 - The Turning Point and Healing
00:27:20 - Understanding the Hero's Journey
00:31:45 - Differentiating Necessary from Unnecessary Suffering
00:36:10 - The Shamanic Archetype in Modern Context
00:40:30 - Finding Joy in Authentic Work
00:44:15 - The Birth of The Leading Edge
00:48:22 - Building Community for Consciousness Explorers
00:52:10 - The Power of Vulnerability in Leadership
00:56:30 - Free Will and Personal Growth
01:00:45 - Life as an Intelligent Response System
01:05:10 - Embracing the Call to Adventure
01:11:05 - Creating Containers for Transformation
01:15:40 - The Wound as the Gift
01:19:00 - Closing Thoughts on Consciousness

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is a creative mentor, author, and soul-driven entrepreneur whose journey has been profoundly shaped by her quest to find authentic expression and deep belonging. I first met Kelly in May 2021, when she embarked on a Vision Quest with Animas Valley Institute—an experience that opened a transformative path toward manifesting her soul’s gifts through creativity.

In this episode, Kelly shares vulnerably about her journey through profound self-discovery, including the powerful Vision Quest moment when encountering ancient handprints triggered her realization of longing and disconnection—the "song of the lost white people." She discusses the birth of Prismara, her new venture embodying her soul’s authentic expression, and how creativity has become her path toward integration and fulfillment.

We explore creativity as a profound act of self-expression and healing, highlighting Kelly’s insight that our perceived blocks—what she calls our “maras”—are precisely the path our soul wants us to navigate to fully channel our unique gifts. Kelly also speaks candidly about navigating the complex dance between authenticity, visibility, and nervous system regulation, emphasizing the importance of creating from a place of grounded safety and embodied presence.

Our conversation delves into deep questions around finding our true place—psychospiritually, metaphysically, and literally—and what it means to genuinely find oneself amidst the turmoil and opportunity of our times. Kelly shares her thoughts on conscious parenting, the journey of becoming oneself, and why choosing to live from soul is both a courageous and necessary act in today’s world.

This episode will resonate deeply with anyone on a journey toward authentic expression, creativity, and soulful alignment amidst the challenges and potentials of modern life.

Links & Resources

• Connect with Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Subscribe to Kelly on Substack

• Follow Kelly’s work at Prismara: prismaracircle.com

• Check out Kelly’s book, Creative Dysregulation

Chapters

00:00:00 - Welcome to Soulful Impact Podcast
00:02:45 - Meeting Kelly: A Soul Journey Begins
00:05:20 - Finding Authentic Expression in Modern Times
00:08:17 - Introducing Prismara: Birth of a Soul-Aligned Business
00:11:42 - Working the Mirror: Creative Projects as Transformation
00:15:36 - The Power of Presence and Embracing the Wobble
00:19:32 - Authenticity as the Path to True Expression
00:23:10 - The Kelly of Four Years Ago: Lost and Searching
00:28:07 - Intergenerational Patterns and Finding Yourself
00:33:15 - The Quest for Self: What It Really Means
00:37:54 - Vision Quest Revelations: The Wall of Handprints
00:42:30 - Finding Belonging in a Disconnected World
00:47:05 - Consenting to Life: Saying Yes to Existence
00:51:37 - The Symphony of Being in Harmony
00:56:10 - Motherhood and Not Losing Yourself
01:00:28 - Soul-Centric Development and Necessary Darkness
01:04:46 - Raising Children from a Place of Integration
01:09:12 - Living in Integrity During Challenging Times
01:13:45 - Creativity as Life Force Energy Expression
01:18:22 - Creative Regulation and Clearing the Channels
01:22:38 - Discerning Soul's Calling from Ego's Distractions
01:27:14 - The Path of Authenticity: No Going Back
01:32:05 - Future Collaborations and Closing Reflections
01:35:45 - Final Thanks

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Marie Janicek is an intuitive movement, pleasure, and embodiment guide who combines her deep expertise as a physical trainer with a profound personal and spiritual journey. After participating in my 2022 Vision Quest program, Marie has stepped powerfully onto a path of embodying soul—described beautifully by her as living as a "magical, mythical being."

In this episode, Marie opens up about how embracing her soul became the transformative "missing piece" in her spiritual and emotional journey. She shares intimately about her experiences during the Vision Quest, how the quest supported her in integrating and building upon a profound awakening of embodied intelligence that she had experienced years earlier, and her ongoing spiritual, personal, and professional journey since.

We dive deep into the potent connection between sensitivity, embodiment, and vitality. Marie reveals how reclaiming her sensitivity—often misunderstood and dismissed by modern culture as weakness—has been central to her healing and growth. She speaks eloquently to the dynamic force of pleasure and sexual-creative energy, emphasizing its vital role in igniting aliveness and soulful leadership.

Marie and I explore how her experiences in psychedelic guiding, intuitive movement, and her journey through the highs of visionary states (including her experiences connecting with her mythopoetic soul identity, "Soaring Fire Heart") and the lows of deep human struggle - even contemplating suicide - have guided her toward clarity about her unique soul gifts and purpose, and helped her cultivate a deep and grounded foundation of presence.

This conversation will resonate with anyone navigating the complexities of embodying their soul, reclaiming sensitivity, wondering about their deeper purpose and whether there is something more magical and expansive to this life (there most certainly is), and/or stepping into greater vitality and impact in the world.

Links & Resources

• Connect with Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Connect with Marie on Instagram

Chapters

00:00:00 - Introduction and Spiritual Journey
00:03:15 - Marie's Background and Vision Quest
00:07:21 - Understanding Soul as Unique Entity
00:12:05 - Balancing Spirit and Soul Work
00:17:22 - Embracing Emotional Intensity
00:21:48 - Reclaiming Innate Sensitivity
00:26:30 - The Collective Pain of Disconnection
00:30:15 - Marie's Transformative Quest Experience
00:34:42 - Soul Name and Personal Calling
00:38:54 - Navigating Spiritual Highs and Lows
00:43:10 - Processing Emotions as Energy Waves
00:48:30 - Evolution Through Feeling More
00:52:45 - Embodied Intelligence and Movement
00:57:20 - Discovering Orgasmic Capacity
01:02:38 - The Sacred Nature of Pleasure
01:06:50 - Soul Practices and Nature Connection
01:11:25 - Defining Soulful Impact
01:15:30 - Marie's Work and Approach
01:18:45 - Closing Thoughts on Soul-Infused Living

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Jerry Colonna is a world-renowned and highly sought-after executive coach. After a very successful early career in venture capital and private equity, he found his calling in coaching. Known in some circles as “the CEO whisperer” or “the Yoda of Silicon Valley,” he brings a depth of soul-rooted presence, love, and fierce advocacy for the disinherited and the unseen.

Jerry disarms and interrupts harmful patterns rooted in fear and shows the way toward a mature, generative leadership rooted in love.

How did he get this way? Through a long journey of meeting his own fear and trauma with love, of course (see his book Reboot for that story). And through decades of personal work and dedicated spiritual practice (primarily Buddhism).

But there’s also a lesser-known aspect of Jerry’s journey, which I personally see as vitally important: he traveled the nature-based journey of soul initiation. I believe the tremendous contribution that Jerry is making to the building of a better world — including his groundbreaking books and his work with leaders and teams — is largely empowered by the journey he went on to find and embody his soul’s true purpose.

I was really excited to get to draw out more from Jerry about his experience of that journey in this podcast.

He describes it as going from being “dismembered” and “a complete mess” (as a financially successful investor in his 30s) to becoming “re-membered.” To remembering himself.

Jerry shares how at one point the Earth literally pulled him down and swallowed him whole — into the bottom of a 40-foot crevasse on an ice field in Greenland — initiating a wakeup call that brought him into contact with his deeper self and eventually led him onto a vision quest.

Jerry's quest story (which he shares in this conversation) is deeply moving, and proved pivotal in his journey of self-discovery and healing. We discuss how the part of himself he discovered on that quest — the essence of his soul’s unique gift — has informed and empowered his life and work since.

Jerry and I also unpack how the lessons learned from what helps us make it through our own personal dark times in a good way can also inform how we collectively approach the current dark times we are witnessing on the global stage right now.

This episode will resonate with anyone who is on or feels called to the journey of soul initiation, as well as anyone who (like both Jerry and me) is struggling to know how to show up in loving service right now, while keeping ourselves sane along the way.

Links & Resources

• Connect with Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Check out Jerry’s coaching firm, Reboot

• Read Jerry’s two books, Reboot and Reunion

• Connect with Jerry on Instagram or LinkedIn

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction: A Journey of Remembering
02:30 - Early Years: Disconnection and Depression
07:30 - Wakeup Call: Falling into the Crevasse
11:45 - The Meaning of Soul
16:30 - Vision Quest: Purging Pain, Finding Purpose
24:30 - Integration: An Ongoing Process
28:15 - Non-Directive Coaching: Allowing Emergence
32:00 - Reunion: Belonging and Our Ancestors
38:30 - Navigating the Dark Times
44:15 - The Work That Is Never Done
48:45 - Finding Joy Amidst the Darkness
54:00 - Remembering Our Role in the Symphony
59:30 - Final Reflections: Be Excessively Gentle With Yourself

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Ross Geiger is Co-Founder & President at Ciro, a YC-backed tech startup. His LinkedIn says he is “On a journey to understand & elevate the craft of Sales.” And he participated in the 2024 Soulful Impact Vision Quest.

If that combination makes you raise an eyebrow, you’re not alone. Ross is a unique and deeply multifaceted individual. Which is part of why I was so excited to invite him onto the show.

Through guiding Ross on his quest, I got to witness his incredible depth. I had the opportunity to walk beside him as he did a very scary and courageous thing. He stepped away from a very full life to spend several days alone in the wilderness with no food. He ceremonially released the control of his ego so that he could dive deeper within himself than ever before and connect with the truth at the center of his calling.

The result was profound. I’m incredibly grateful to Ross for his willingness to share some of that experience with you directly through this episode.

A core theme we explore in this conversation is how the setting and structure of the quest supported Ross in putting his ego aside, how this enabled a realization of his innate worthiness, and how that spark opened the door for his soul to speak.

We also explore what integration has been like for him so far, what’s alive for him now in this next layer of his journey, and how he’s finding deep soulful alignment without needing to make major shake-ups to the external realities of his life (which is something people often expect to happen after a vision quest).

In this way, Ross’ story is a powerful example of how it’s really the internal shift that counts. When we consciously live and act from a place of soul, we are guided to make soulful impact in beautiful and unexpected ways.

Enjoy!

Links & Resources

• Connect with Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Connect with Ross on LinkedIn

• Check out Ross’ company, Ciro

Chapters

00:03:28 Introduction and Journey Overview

00:06:24 Personal Background and Call to the Quest

00:09:30 Preparation for the Vision Quest

00:12:31 Experiencing the Quest: Inner Work and Transformation

00:15:22 The Role of Nature and Wilderness in Healing

00:18:40 Insights Gained from the Quest

00:21:28 The Importance of Authenticity and Self-Expression

00:24:15 Messages from the Soul and Personal Craft

00:27:21 Reflections on the Quest Experience

00:30:32 Future Directions

00:44:01 Believing You're Enough

00:46:06 The Journey of Self-Discovery

00:51:50 Nature as a Teacher

00:53:43 Understanding Our Place in Nature

00:59:51 The Power of Asking for Support

01:04:51 Embodying Soul in Leadership

01:10:36 The Importance of Personal Transformation

01:14:40 Integration After the Quest

01:20:33 Advice for Future Questers

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Today’s episode features my good friend and nervous system specialist, .

Jonny is the host of the Curious Humans Podcast and founder of Nervous System Mastery, a 5-week bootcamp to cultivate calm, boost resilience, and increase aliveness.

I often talk about how one way to conceive of the soul journey is alchemizing our pain into purpose.

Especially in the modern world, where most of us don’t have village elders around to guide us into the initiatory journey of soul when we are deemed ripe and ready, that initiation is sometimes catalyzed by external life circumstances that shake us up to wake us up.

In Jonny’s case, this occurred through the tragic and sudden loss of his fiancé to suicide in 2017 — right after she returned to work from some time off and suffered a panic attack.

In this episode, Jonny and I explore how that terrible event sent him on an inward journey — which initially helped him heal and fully submit to his grief, and eventually ended up leading him to the deep, soulcenteric place of purpose from which he leads and creates today.

I view Jonny’s work — and Nervous System Mastery in particular — as sorely needed, heart-centered offerings that can help people like his former fiancé stay regulated even in the most challenging moments of life.

Beyond that, I think Jonny’s work is a highly effective “Trojan Horse” to bring the crucial skills of emotional and somatic self-awareness and mastery into the mainstream — when, let’s be honest, these skills have historically been maligned and ridiculed in our culture, especially for high performing professionals.

These skills are not only important to help us stay emotionally, psychologically, and physically safe in our lives — but are also crucial for equipping ourselves to successfully chart the dark and dangerous waters of the Journey of Soul Initiation.

Jonny and I discuss the journey he’s been on since 2017, what it’s been like for him to build what he’s built, some key choices he’s made that have helped make him successful, and what he envisions for the future of his work.

Enjoy!

Links & Resources

• Follow Brooks on YouTube, Instagram, or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Follow Jonny on Substack or X

• Nervous System Mastery

Chapters

00:04:13 Exploring the Concept of Soul
00:16:35 The Journey of Grief and Transformation
00:27:28 Connecting Emotions and the Nervous System
00:28:20 The Nervous System as a Bridge
00:33:14 Creating a Course: The Journey of Expression
00:43:47 Future Visions: Expanding the Curriculum
00:53:52 Navigating Intensity: Growth and Balance
00:56:27 Navigating Thresholds: Living in Stasis vs. Breakthroughs
00:57:37 The Dance of Beauty and Terror: Embracing Obliteration
01:00:18 Chaos and Nervous System Work: A Path Forward
01:05:20 Envisioning a Future of Nervous System Mastery
01:09:18 Partnerships and Soul Growth: The Alchemical Container
01:16:32 Practical Steps to Nervous System Literacy: Starting Your Journey

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Upcoming Gathering: The Soul Alchemy Retreat

Join us for a rejuvenating and inspiring weekend in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. Featuring a deep dive sound ceremony, the medicine of Mother Nature, community connection, art, and embodiment practice. April 4-6. There are still a few spots left.

Claim your rebirth

Natural Harmony

I’m writing this on the plane back home from Joshua Tree after completing an incredible week with and the Sound Sanctuary Academy.

The Academy is a sound practitioner training and transformational rebirth. We learned to skillfully facilitate sound meditation, which I now believe to be the most effective form of meditation practice around. In addition, thanks to experiencing the power of sound ourselves and with the support of Quddus, we dove deep within and connected with the profoundly resonant tone of our embodied inner knowing.

Here are my key takeaways from the experience:

Harmonic Overtones: A Little-Known Powerhouse

In the words of Alexandre Tannous, former professor at Columbia University and the originator of the particular lineage of sound meditation practice in which we were just trained, working with sound and harmonic overtones as a meditation practice allows us to be “immersed in nature’s true harmony.”

“Harmonic overtones” are two key words in that last sentence, because most of the music and instruments that are popular in our culture today do not have them. In the 16th century, a new musical standard was adopted in Europe to create consistency in sound and support musicians from different locations in collaborating with each other. This was the origin of musical scales and keys in the form we now all know of them (think of the black and white keys of the piano, each with a 1/2 step in between).

The downside of this change is that it drastically reduced (effectively eliminated in most cases) the presence of harmonic overtones in culture. Instruments and musicians became more focused on only playing one specific note at a time, as opposed to what happens with overtone-emitting instruments, which actually play many notes at the same time. If you strike a Tibetan singing bowl in the key of C, for example, you will hear the tone of C but also a multitude of other notes that are in harmony with C.

When you put these harmonic overtones on a graph, you see a beautiful and very full range of sound waves — from the big, tall, slow waves of the low range notes to the small, short, fast waves of the high range ones.

This is a good time to remember that sound is a physical phenomenon. When that Tibetan singing bowl is played, it is sending literal — physical — waves of energy out in all directions.

Yes, those waves strike our ear drums and our brain translates them into the actual audible sound that we experience. But don’t you think it would make sense that they would have a broader impact on us than just that? Doesn’t it seem plausible — likely, in fact — that they would create a more holistic effect on all levels of our being?

To you music lovers out there, this comes as no surprise. We all know the power of a good song to drop us into our hearts, quiet the monkey mind, and bring us back to our true selves.

But the logical extension of this is where things get really exciting. If each of those sound waves has an impact on our being, that means that experiencing harmonic overtones would have an exponentially stronger impact than the average music or sound that most people might be listening to today, which has a much reduced and narrowed range of sound.

Based on Tannous’ research, as well as my own and thousands of others’ anecdotal lived experience, the amplified effect of harmonic overtones to elicit harmony and resonance in our minds, bodies, hearts, and souls 100% real.

Ancient cultures have known this from their use of overtone-emitting instruments for thousands of years. But modern scientific research is just now starting to catch up. More research is needed in this area, but the results of the early studies are pretty astounding. To see more on that, check out Tannous’ TEDx talk here and his resource-rich website here.

Inner Coherence

If I had to describe the impact that these overtone-emitting instruments make in two words, it would be inner coherence.

I have dedicated a lot of time to exploring and applying various practices to improve the consistency and depth of my state of presence. By presence, I mean being fully aware and here now, in a non-triggered, non-reactive state. I also mean being deeply in tune with my innate inner knowing.

What I experienced through the practice of sound meditation this past week was unlike quite anything else that I have come across so far. The speed, consistency, and ease with which this practice brought me into a state of presence and clarity was dumbfounding.

The key to creating that result was to engage with the sounds of these overtone-emitting instruments in a very intentional way, like a meditation. I wasn’t just passively zoning out. I kept bringing my mind back to a single point of focus — the sound.

We also created a lot of intentionality around the experience of listening to the sound itself. Thanks to the very thoughtful structure of the retreat, I knew exactly what I was there to learn and transform within myself. I knew how to focus on and engage with the sound, and then I simply got to let the sound do the rest.

The result was a remarkable level of clarity about various different parts of my life — topics with which my mind had been spinning in question and doubt in the months leading up to this experience. As David Lynch writes in Catching The Big Fish:

The water that Lynch is referring to, of course, is our state of consciousness. Our inner knowing is always in us. We just need to drop in to a deep enough state of conscious awareness — beneath the usual noise of our surface-level patterns, habits, and discursive thinking — to connect with it.

This is why I am such a huge fan of the styles of work that I already employ with Soulful Impact. I’ve long known the power of tools and allies such as wild nature, plant medicine, ceremony, and coaching to help us drop in and reconnect with that inner truth. Now, I couldn’t be more excited to add sound meditation to my list of favorite modalities.

The sound and harmonic overtones — “nature’s true harmony” — helped me re-tune myself with nature. This made it astoundingly easy to then remember and come back to my true nature.

Earth Love Warrior

One of the biggest pieces of clarity that came through for me this week was deepening my conviction and clarifying my vision around a role that I feel called to play in this life on a soul level.

In the words of my friend , I am called to be a “Love Warrior for the Earth.”

Before going into the deepest sound experiential of the past week, a multi-hour sound meditation in a ceremonial setting, I set two intentions:

My first intention was to let go of the racket of exhausting myself.

Coming into the weeklong retreat, I was carrying a lot of stress and fatigue in my system. This had been cropping up and creating less than ideal results in several different places in my life. Going into the ceremony, I still didn’t know exactly how to let go of it, but I knew it was time. I could clearly see how the self-exhaustion was rooted in a lifelong pattern of being “never enough” — feeling like I don’t belong and need to constantly stand out from the crowd to prove my worth.

My second intention was to let God guide me.

Earlier in the retreat I had identified that though I have long considered myself a spiritual person, I was still carrying baggage around the word — and the idea — of “God.” Spirit, Mystery, Life, and the Universe all felt like fine words to use to reference the divine, but God still had some religious and patriarchal baggage attached for me.

After a powerful exploration of this, I decided it was time to let that baggage go. I got excited about the new dimension of relationship with the divine that felt like it was ready to open up to me by relating directly to God himself. (My connection to Goddess, through my deep reverence for and relationship with Mother Earth, was already super solid.)

Then during the ceremony, the most amazing thing happened that met both of my intentions at once.

I realized that the reason I was still exhausting myself in my “never enough” pattern was because I still wasn’t operating from a fully integrated place of faith in God.

Because I didn’t fully trust God, I was still often thinking that I had to figure it all out and do everything by myself. That would subtly anchor my identity in the ego, the small “me”. And that little me is really good at doubting and worrying that he is never enough.

Then God gave me the message I had been waiting for. It didn’t particularly come as a surprise, as the message sings in harmony with the person that I already am. But it did something significant for me on the foundational level of how I perceive of myself and the role my soul came here in this lifetime to play.

“Earth Warrior,” the booming voice echoed in my awareness. “Earth Medicine.”

I wept. The words struck a chord deep within my heart.

I wept for their truth. For the grief that comes with the knowing inside that I am called into deeper service. For the letting go of the time in my life where I had been blessed to enjoy a more selfish existence. For the untold uncertainties that lie ahead for me on this new path.

And I wept for the Earth. She showed me her pain. She showed me that her pain is my pain. Our pain. All pain. My heart broke wide open, again and again.

With not a slimmer of hesitation in the entirety of my being, I accepted the assignment. At the end of the ceremony, I shared:

“I don’t want to fight. But the Earth needs our protection. She doesn’t need to be saved — that would fail to recognize her power. She needs to be honored, and protected.”

Being recognized as Earth Warrior — the one who carries Earth Medicine — was an experience of being seen on the deepest level of my soul.

I don’t know exactly where this path will lead. There is much more for me to discover and explore about who exactly this Earth Warrior is who I am called to become, and how he came to be. I am totally willing to let that further understanding unfold slowly over time. Soul moves slow, and I’ve come to trust that.

But some key ingredients are already coming to light. As Earth Warrior, I am called to work in service of protecting the earth and facilitating full-spectrum human development through the gifts I carry of Earth Medicine. Those two pieces go hand-in-hand with each other, because fully developed humans remember ourselves as interconnected members of the great Earth community, and live our lives in alignment with that truth.

Much of this will continue to come through the existing channels of work I lead through Soulful Impact. There are some new offerings I’m cooking up to build community and organize others around this mission: Bimonthly Tribe Calls (beginning next month) and the inaugural Soulful Impact Summit (tentatively planned for September 2026).

And some of it will emerge through new channels. In ceremony, the vision came through for me to start a foundation to operate in service of this mission. If you or someone you know would be interested in supporting or co-creating around that kind of effort, please reach out.

As always, thanks for reading. I’m honored to share this journey with you.

Connect with the Soulful Impact Community

Two upcoming opportunities to connect with fellow full-spectrum humans who are committed to creating Soulful Impact:

The Soul Alchemy Retreat

• April 4-6

• Private mountain sanctuary in the wilderness of Colorado’s breathtakingly beautiful Roaring Fork Valley (within 1 hour of Aspen)

• Includes: Sound ceremony, in-depth connection with nature, space for deep self-exploration, cozy lodging and nourishing food

Claim your rebirth

The Tribe Call

• April 24th, 10-11:30am MDT

• Complimentary community gathering via Zoom where people committed to making Soulful Impact gather to drop in, reconnect, support each other, get inspired, and get clear on whatever key questions are currently in your heart

Join the Tribe

Community Shout-Out: The Prismara Circle

I am super excited to share and promote an incredible new offering from my dear friend and fellow creator of Soulful Impact, : Prismara.

Kelly’s soul journey has led her into a devotion to creativity. She is the author of Creative Dysregulation, a brilliant book that will help you heal your relationship with your creativity and unleash your full creative joy and potential.

I am thrilled to be joining Kelly as a Prismara Mentor for her inaugural cohort this spring.

Prismara is a 6-month journey for project-based transformation. It’s a living dojo for leaders bringing their authentic work into the world where creative wholeness meets real-world expression.

If you have done the inner work necessary to know what you want to create during this next chapter of life and are looking for a creative council of like-hearted humans to hold you in your journey, then The Prismara Circle is for you.

Amplify your creativity in community

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We are so addicted to speed in our culture. It’s the water that we swim in. This is especially the case in the world of entrepreneurship — i.e. “Do More Faster” or “Move Fast and Break Things.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love going fast when that’s what is called for. Just ask my parents to tell you the story of when I was first challenged to a ski race at 4 years old.

But too much of anything — even a good thing — gets out of balance. And we are definitely way out of balance when it comes to slowness and speed in our culture.

Slowing down can be really hard to do when you’re programmed to believe that moving fast equals success, and operating from a consciousness of scarcity and threat.

But taking the time to slow down in a mindful, intentional, and soulful way is key to discovering and embodying the deeper truth of who we really are.

And it’s only after we’ve done that that we become truly unstoppable.

My guest on today’s episode is an incredible example of this.

is the founder of Downshift, the world’s first decelerator — helping high performers slow down in times of professional transition.

Formerly a partner at a New York Venture Capital firm, Steve (aka Schlaf) was forced to wake up and slow down due to a lack of sustainability in his own lifestyle.

Now 10 years into a deep journey of self-healing and self-discovery, I believe Steve and Downshift are poised for a greater level of genuine impact, success, fulfillment and freedom than anything that the prior version of Steve could have imagined.

And I that’s a direct result of the consciousness and soul-rooted place that he and his team are leading from.

Steve and I discuss the difference between what we see as the the old (still dominant but increasingly outdated) paradigm of entrepreneurial leadership, and the new one we see emerging that is rooted in a more expanded consciousness and therefore creates sustainable and life-enhancing outcomes for all.

We dig into a myriad of other juicy topics, including:

• The difference between leading (and building) from a consciousness of extraction vs. cultivation,

• The blessing of fatherhood as the ultimate invitation to slow down and be present,

• Lessons learned from Steve’s personal healing journey,

• What this current moment in time is asking of us as leaders and visionary entrepreneurs, and

• Steve’s recent dive into nature-based soul work and the unique value that work has brought him across all dimensions of his life.

Enjoy!

Links & Resources

• Follow Brooks on YouTube, Instagram, or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Downshift: Apply for the Spring ‘25 Decelerator Cohort

• Follow Schlaf on X or LinkedIn

• Schlaf’s Substack: Where The Road Bends

• William Stafford Poem: The Way It Is

Chapters

04:30 The Wisdom of Slowing Down

07:36 Deceleration and Connection

10:20 The Birth of Downshift

13:17 Challenges of Modern Acceleration

16:22 Facing the Fear of Slowing Down

19:32 The Cost of Speed

22:28 Confronting Personal Pain

25:34 The Journey to Authenticity

29:44 Facing the Pain of Addiction

32:53 The Journey to Sobriety

36:28 Embracing Life's Cycles

38:36 Exploring the Concept of Soul

43:40 Trusting the Inner Knowing

50:53 The Four Windows of Knowing

54:55 The Importance of Choice in Personal Growth

57:11 Navigating Existential Questions in a Changing World

01:01:02 Shifting Paradigms: From Extraction to Cultivation

01:04:46 Nature as a Teacher: Insights from Soulcraft

01:14:47 Fatherhood: Balancing Presence and Ambition

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Hey everyone,

Here’s a summary of some exciting things happening with Soulful Impact right now and some recent lessons I’ve been learning on the journey.

Sending love your way in this season of fertile darkness. May you receive the invitation to turn inward in these shortening days, tend to your inner fire, and connect with the transcendent vision that shines through you like stars burning bright in the midnight sky.

-Brooks 🦅

Announcement: Conscious Coaches Training

We are launching the inaugural cohort of the Soulful Impact Conscious Coaches Training in January. If you’re an experienced coach looking to become more powerful and effective in service of your clients while bringing more consciousness and soul into your coaching and your life, this training is for you.

We have 3 spots left and the price is set to increase on Monday. So if you’re interested in joining, now is the time! See full details below and reach out with any questions.

Learn more

Arizona Vision Quest: Highlights & Takeaways

Last month, a group of 7 of us gathered in the stunning desert mountains of Cochise Stronghold in Southeast Arizona.

It was one of the most powerful weeks of my life. Profound, joyful, and nourishing. A true feast for the soul.

Since then, I’ve been reflecting on what made the experience so special.

Part of it was our seamless group dynamic — the beautiful collage of what each participant brought to the table, the culture of love and trust we created together, and the way we all supported and challenged each other to step into the fullness of our soul’s true radiance.

It was also really special to have the sweet and romantic experience of falling deeply in love with a new place. I had been to Cochise Stronghold before, and had received a clear “yes” from the place to lead a quest there. (That’s crucial for me, to have a known connection to a place and receive its blessing before bringing people there to quest. Because the place is like my co-guide — even the lead guide — so we need to have a good working relationship.)

Even though I had received that blessing, my relationship with the place was still very new. I hadn’t been to this particular corner of the Stronghold before. I hadn’t been to Dharma Treasure Retreat Center (where we were staying). I didn’t yet know the specific features and personalities of the valleys, peaks, washes, caves, and forests of the land that would be holding my participants through their journeys of being reborn. When I first showed up, I was understandably nervous about what I would find.

It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. I was blown away by the power and the beauty of the place, the vibrancy of life force it emanated, and — most of all — how sweetly, generously, and fully it embraced and supported each one of us and our collective journey as a group.

The thing that most reliably blows me away every time I guide a vision quest is experiencing the love and wisdom that comes through the land and offers each participant exactly the reflection and the experience they most need. It’s a powerful and direct experience of reciprocity — to offer ourselves, our love, our gifts, and our vulnerability to the land, and to be offered such unspeakable blessings in return.

Having such an experience of reciprocity with the more-than-human world in particular fundamentally impacts our understanding of who we are. It brings us home to a deep remembering of our innate wholeness and embodied belonging within the Earth community. That’s the kind of empowerment we need to fully realize, embody, and live into our soul’s vision.

The Magic of Through Me

There’s one more takeaway that stands out above the rest in terms of what made this most recent quest so successful. Of all the quests I’ve guided — and all the other programs or retreats I’ve led for that matter — this one stands out because of the level of flow I was in as the guide.

For the vast majority of the time on the quest, in my present moment experience, there was no “me” doing the guiding. The guiding was happening through me.

Several different participants offered the same reflection to me, unprompted: It was so clear to them that in guiding this quest I was doing exactly what I was born to do — because of how much they could feel me in flow with what was occurring, and because of how perfectly what was coming through me seemed to meet what was needed in the moment. I received these reflections with a lot of gratitude and joy, and reminded them that they too (and you, by the way) were born to do something equally magnificent.

On one level, my flow state on this vision quest was a result of me now having enough experience and repetitions guiding previous quests (and other similar experiences) to have developed the mastery, comfort, and expertise I needed to fully relax into my ownership of the role. I trusted myself, my knowing, and my intuition fully.

It was also a result of the years of work I’ve now done directed toward cultivating that state of Through Me consciousness. Most recently, the dark night of the soul I worked through at the beginning of this year and the major realignments and inner renewals that have occurred in my life since then seem to have helped me stabilize a new level of expanded consciousness and flow state throughout my life.

But the piece I find most interesting and fun is how much this flow state seemed to be directly initiated by the level of challenge I was taking on in guiding this particular quest.

The setting was far from the only thing that felt new for me in Arizona. It was also the first time I had guided a group of this size, duration, and depth on a quest by myself, without a co-guide. Previously, I’d had my friend and mentor by my side, or someone with a similar level of experience and expertise. Rebecca has been guiding quests for over 15 years, and she led me on my first quest in 2014. (She and I also just released an awesome podcast interview together if you haven’t seen it yet.)

I had also made the somewhat bold decision to document this quest on camera. We are making a short documentary-style film about it, which I am incredibly excited about and look forward to sharing with you when it is ready.

As you can imagine, balancing the logistics of managing the filming process while also being a solo guide AND above all ensuring that the presence of the camera added to rather than detracting from the quality of the participants’ quest experience was quite the mental, emotional, and spiritual juggling act.

Last but not least, I admittedly came into the quest in less-than-ideal form. I had been working pretty hard to assemble the cohort and then had been rebuilding the curriculum for the program from the ground up. Plus I have a family at home, had been prioritizing time with them before going away, and thanks to my beloved and sweet 2-year-old, I hadn’t been sleeping too well. I was on the verge of getting sick.

I continue to learn so much from parenting as a spiritual practice. That’s a topic for a post of its own. But one of the greatest gifts it gives me is the forcing function it creates for me to really slow down and create a sustainable pace for myself. I’m excited to integrate that awareness more fully into preparing for my future quests.

And, this time around, that extra strain turned out to be a real blessing. Mere hours before the participants arrived, I noticed some old familiar mental patterns and anxiety rearing their ugly heads. The inner voices that wanted me to be in complete control and to have everything 100% planned and fully figured out before the week began were understandably freaking out.

The beauty of this was it gave me a prime opportunity to consciously choose to be guiding this quest from a different place. I knew that buying into those old stories and trying to control from a place of anxiety would be a recipe for immediate burnout. If I’d done that, I would have blown myself up. And that would have blown up the quest experience for all the participants too.

There really wasn’t much of a choice. I knew what I had to do: surrender and trust. I offered a prayer, crawled into bed, and rested for a few hours before the participants arrived. I simply chose to allow what would be to be.

I reminded myself in that moment — as I would again several times throughout the week of the quest — that a greater power was working through me. I didn’t need to do it all myself. I didn’t need to control it or figure it all out. In fact, I simply couldn’t. Being at the end of my rope in that way, while also being resourced and aware enough to know what I was doing, created an incredible opportunity for me to fully surrender to the state of flow and Through Me like I never had before.

And then it all worked out better than I ever could have imagined.

The Magic Mushrooms Take Center Stage

I haven’t shared too extensively yet in a public way about my work with plant medicine. There are many reasons for that, ranging from legal liability concerns to my own personal readiness to just fully own it.

Well, I’m excited to share that those concerns no longer seem to be holding me back. I’ve reached a point of comfort and rootedness in my work as a facilitator that I feel comfortable being fully out of the closet about this work.

I’ve also gained enough confidence in the solidity of the new legal landscape here in Colorado — where we decriminalized several psychedelic plant medicines including psilocybin with the passage of Proposition 122 in 2022 — to believe that being public about this work and doing it in the way I am doing it (in full integrity with my training and in compliance with the new laws) does not pose a substantial risk to me or my family.

So, with that being said, I thought I’d share a little update: After several years of working with both cannabis and psilocybin as plant medicines, I have transitioned the focus of my work fully to psilocybin. This has nothing to do with any lack of appreciation or respect for the medicine of cannabis. On the contrary, cannabis may have saved my life. I’m beyond grateful for all that she taught me and the doors she opened for me both as a human being and as a guide.

The reasoning behind my choice to stop working with cannabis has everything to do with the particularities and evolution of my soul’s individual calling. I may share more about that when I’m ready. For now, I’ll just share what I’ve told many friends: My relationship with cannabis was like a beautiful lover who wasn’t meant to be a life partner. There is nothing but love and reverence there between us, and we reached a point of mutual acknowledgement that it was time for us to move on.

This has opened the door for magic mushrooms to take center stage in my ceremony work! Which I am very excited about. I’ve begun facilitating more group ceremonies with psilocybin, whereas previously the majority of my groups were with cannabis and psilocybin was mostly 1:1.

This change has felt really expansive for me, and the first several ceremonies have unfolded beautifully. I’m also particularly excited to be working with an awesome team of two friends, who have been supporting me in leading local circles here in Carbondale. We just led our first public ceremony here last weekend, and are looking forward to planning our next one in the spring.

I’ll leave it there for now. If you’re curious to learn more about the ceremonies we are offering, you can find more details here:

The Soul Alchemy Ceremony

Take care everyone!

-B

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Watch this episode on YouTube, or listen on Apple or Spotify.

I’ve loved recording all the podcast episodes I’ve done so far. But I have to say, this one left me feeling incredibly alive.

is a Senior Soul Guide at the Animas Valley Institute, a psychotherapist, and the founder and creator of Wild Yoga, an organization that leads programs and retreats to help people connect with their bodies, dreams, and wild nature as gateways to creating soulful impact. Rebecca is also the author of the book Wild Yoga.

Rebecca and I first met over 10 years ago, when she guided me on my very first vision quest. We reconnected 7 years later when I went back to Animas for a quest guiding apprenticeship, in which Rebecca and I guided a group of 10 questers in the same desert canyon where I’d quested with her 7 years before. I then convinced her to be my co-guide on the first couple of quests that I offered through Soulful Impact. She’s a close mentor and a dear friend.

Deepening Relationship to Soul

In this conversation, Rebecca and I discuss how to build and deepen our connection to soul through the relationships we create with several very potent portals and gateways to soul, including:

• Wild nature

• Dreams

• Our bodies

• Our hearts

• Our trauma

Turns out that as human beings, we all come fully equipped with “soul hardware.” Meaning that we innately have everything we need to establish a profoundly deep, expansive, and powerful connection to soul. We don’t need anything outside of ourselves and our own natural wholeness to illuminate our life’s highest purpose and bring us fully alive.

But in our modern day culture, we’ve distanced ourselves from the knowledge and understanding of how to put that God-given hardware to good use. The necessary skills are still out there and available to all of us, but thanks to centuries of censorship and oppression, we have lost the cultural infrastructure that could guarantee we all learn these things.

The good news is that we are the lucky souls who get to turn this trend around. We get to remember and rediscover these ancient, deeply human pathways for ourselves, and then share them with others. We get to rebuild a new cultural fabric that is deeply rooted in soul and sings in harmony with the benefits of modern life.

This conversation with Rebecca is a roadmap to that future, one human being and one human soul at a time.

I hope you enjoy it!

Links & Resources

• Follow Brooks on YouTube, Instagram, or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Rebecca’s website: rebeccawildbear.com

• Follow Rebecca on YouTube, Instagram or Substack

• Wild Yoga Book

• Check out Rebecca’s TedX Talk: The Visionary Power of Dreams & Nature

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But what if it’s actually your resistance to the inner critic that fuels its wrath?

This past week, I got to witness a client do some courageous and loving work with an inner critic persona. The critic showed up in the form of a loud, angry, overpowering voice that was making fiercely mean attacks about the client’s lack of inherent worthiness.

Ouch! I mean, who wouldn’t have some resistance to that?

But wait until you see what a little more exploration revealed.

One of my favorite ways to engage with triggered parts of the personality — whether my own or those of the people who I coach — is to do a persona interview. It’s SO helpful, because it helps us see beyond the initial layer of however the persona was showing up in its triggered state. We get to understand the story behind the persona and its genuine motivations. We also get to give the persona the thing it really wants the most: the opportunity to feel seen, heard, understood and appreciated.

After my client and I interviewed the critic persona, it seemed like a completely different entity than before. Beneath the angry, shame-fueled attacker was a 4-year-old boy who had learned his harshness from watching my client’s parents. He believed this approach was the only way to keep my client safe, connected, and away from bad decisions.

The kid’s true desire was for my client to be loved, have a rich sense of community, and experience full aliveness. This little firecracker also revealed that underneath his harshness, he carried a hidden gift: the virtue of humility.

As we got to know the persona’s full story, I supported my client in offering him some heartfelt appreciation. My client recognized how important this persona had been in his life, and how many valuable qualities he brought to the table.

Slowly but surely, the critic persona softened. This opened the window for my client to convey to the persona the full impact that his harshness had on him, lovingly aligning with the persona on the level of intention while demonstrating the ineffectiveness of his outdated strategy.

He was then able to invite his inner critic persona into an entirely new form of relationship. Instead of fighting against each other like they had been for decades, they decided to begin working together as a team.

I’ve seen countless examples like this in my work as a coach.

Loving the inner critic can be super hard to do. We fear, understandably, that it would only make the attacks even worse. But every time I’ve seen someone genuinely open their heart to the hater inside, that fear fails to materialize.

Not only does the critic persona let go of their attacks, they often transform from inner enemy to inner ally. Of course, it takes dedicated practice to realize this shift in a durable and lasting way. But if we stick with it, we will get there.

More than anything, our inner critics want to be seen, appreciated, and understood. They relax and soften when they receive enough of our love and attention to feel safe. Then their full creativity and gifts really come online.

Pretty relatable, right?

If you feel ready for some exploration with your own inner critic, come check out the complimentary workshop I’m offering this Tuesday:

The Soul Awakening Workshop: Loving the Inner Critic

Tuesday, November 5
1:30-2:30pm MST // 12:30-1:30pm PST

Register here

This session will be highly experiential, so please come ready to fully engage and stay present for the duration of the hour.

Hope to see you there!

With love,

Brooks

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I’m so excited to share this new conversation with my good friend, colleague, and guide Quddus Philippe.

Quddus is a sound facilitator, psychedelic guide and the founder of Sound Sanctuary Academy. Surrounded by the instruments he calls his “bandmates”, he guides individuals and groups through life-changing sound and psychedelic experiences. He is currently based in Amsterdam.

Originally from humble beginnings in Canada, Quddus started his career as a campus radio DJ and then made a quantum leap, replacing Carson Daly as the host of MTV’s iconic show, Total Request Live. Describing his impact, TIME Magazine called Quddus “one of pop culture’s foremost tastemakers.”

Yes. Quddus was an MTV host!

Q has been on quite a journey since then. After exploring the world of personal development and becoming a certified life coach, it was a shamanic training that inspired a more spiritual awakening and the spark to work with sound. Quddus proceeded to study under 3 of the best sound practitioners in the world and now he gets invited by people all over the world to deliver his uniquely empowering journey with sound.

Quddus is also the founder of The Creator Incubator, a program through which he’s mentored hundreds of emerging voices — including my own — to amplify their dream project. My journey through The Incubator earlier this year was a crucial step toward launching this podcast.

What I love most about Quddus is the conviction, audacity, and love with which he pursues his calling and amplifies others doing the same.

In this conversation, we explore Q’s journey — what it was like for him going from being on TV in front of millions of people to facilitating small, intimate sound ceremonies.

We discuss the power of sound, meditation, and psychedelics to open us to our deeper truth and reveal the calling and the power of our souls.

We discuss the tension that can exist between soul and scale, and how to approach that tension in a creative, aligned way.

And finally, we discuss the path of becoming a shamanic practitioner, what makes a true and trustworthy shaman, how to navigate choosing practitioners that you work with, and in general, demystifying the complex topic of shamanism through the simple lens of “working in service of love.”

If you enjoyed this conversation and are seeking deeper purpose and presence in your life, you’d likely be an amazing fit to join me on The Vision Quest I am leading next month in Southern Arizona.

The quest is a weeklong wilderness-based ceremony that helps you travel more deeply within yourself than you have ever been before and get the answers you’ve been longing for.

If Quddus’ message about transforming pain into purpose resonates with you, I couldn’t recommend The Vision Quest more highly.

I feel the same way about guiding quests as Quddus feels about facilitating with sound. This was the journey that fundamentally changed my life for the better ten years ago, when I was depressed, stuck, and lost. There is nothing more fulfilling in the world for me than guiding others on this same journey and witnessing the incredible magic, purpose, and presence it brings into their lives.

What gifts and insights will you uncover when it’s just you and nature?

Check out the full details and apply here:

The Vision Quest

Links & Resources

• Follow Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Follow Quddus on Instagram

• Sound Sanctuary: soundsanctuary.org

• The Creator Incubator

• Beyul Retreat: beyulretreat.com

• New York Times magic mushrooms brain scan article

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with someone you think would appreciate it. You can also hit the ❤️ or 🔄 buttons to help more people discover Soulful Impact on Substack.

Our bodies might be the most powerful and important tool we have as human beings when it comes to the journey of remembering our deeper truth and living in alignment with our souls.

In modern culture, which is still largely dominated by the ego, we are often conditioned to create a really unhealthy relationship with our bodies. We see our bodies as limited, we criticize them and wish they were different. We experience their needs as inconvenient and contrary to what we need to get done or how we think we should be. We get confused between the genuine needs of our bodies, which can be met the vast majority of the time, and the insatiable needs of our egos.

It’s not our bodies that drive us into unhealthy behavior like overeating and addiction. Those are the ego’s doing — and then our bodies get stuck in habit and inertia as they attempt to adapt.

Learning to listen to and follow the genuine needs and deeper knowing of our bodies can be a long road when we’ve spent most or all of our lives ignoring or working against them. But it is so incredibly worth it.

Because a clear relationship with a healthy body is a dynamite connection to our intuition.

When we learn to listen and develop healthy relationship, our bodies become divine tuning forks that we can use to navigate everything from practical decisions in everyday life to the mysterious calling of our souls.

My guest on today’s episode is a master of this terrain.

is an executive and somatic leadership coach to high-performing founders, CEOs, investors and elite political operatives.

She is recognized around the world as a leading voice on the intersection between somatics and leadership. Her story was recently highlighted in an article in Forbes, with the title “Healing The Emotional Crisis in Leadership Through Somatic Connection.”

Like just about anyone I know who has developed a strong connection to soul and a genuine capacity for somatically-attuned leadership, Franzi’s wisdom was initially earned the hard way.

In her particular case, it was the unexpected death of her father that interrupted her unrelenting young-professional achievement drive, forced her to face how burned out she really was, and ultimately gave her the opportunity to connect fully with her body and begin a deep healing journey.

In this episode, Franzi and I unpack what that experience was really like for her, and how it informs the powerful leader, coach and mentor she is today.

We explore Franzi’s beautifully simple definition of soul — “truth and clarity” — and how leaders who navigate from that place are actually much more likely to be successful and build healthy, thriving lives and organizations than those who get stuck in an outdated zero-sum game of power over others.

We talk about how this relates to the idea of impact, and Franzi offers the compelling reflection that Soulful Impact creates success on a wholistic level, while narrower versions of impact are likely to include negative side effects.

One of the most inspiring moments in this episode for me was the opportunity to talk to Franzi about the journey of parenting.

Her level of attunement to her kids — a natural outcome of her own somatic journey and awareness — is nothing short of remarkable, and she shares how that has allowed her family to navigate a journey of healing that defies much conventional thinking and goes beyond what is currently explainable by science.

Please enjoy!

Links & Resources

• Follow Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Franzi’s website: franziskagonder.com

• Franzi’s Substack: Leadership That Heals The World

• Follow Franzi on LinkedIn or Twitter/X

• Forbes Article

• If you like this episode and want to hear more from these two, check out Franzi’s interview with Brooks on her podcast from last year

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support us in growing our audience, consider sharing this post with someone you think would appreciate it. You can also hit the ❤️ or 🔄 buttons to help more people discover Soulful Impact on Substack.

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Hey everyone,

It’s been a while since I shared a reflective essay post, as I’ve been focusing on my podcast (which I hope you’ve been enjoying!) and evolving my business, formerly known as Starlight Leadership, into Soulful Impact.

It feels good to open up a blank white page to write again. I expect these essays will be less frequent now that I’m putting more creative energy into the podcast, but they also feel like a particular form of expression that I value — an opportunity to slow down and be a bit more thoughtful with what I share. So I do look forward to continuing to post essays like this from time to time.

Today’s post shares more about the personal journey I’ve been on this year, the process I’ve been going through as Soulful Impact was born, and some key things I’ve been learning from all of that.

This post is also a chance for me to share my excitement, joy and passion for the 5 Steps of Soulful Impact, a framework that initially emerged through a 5-part newsletter series earlier this year and has since become the backbone of all forms of my work guiding and coaching others (as well as my own personal practice). As a quick refresher, the 5 steps are:

1. Adopt an Empowered Creator Mindset

2. Turn Toward What You Are Running From

3. Wake Up to Wholeness

4. Give Your Gift

5. Repeat

The deeper I get with this framework, the more I share it, the more I apply it in my own life and see others try it on in theirs, the more I love it.

If you’ve experienced traditional success and realized how hollow it feels…

If you crave a deeper sense of fulfillment, ease and joy in your life…

If you feel passionately about making the world a better place in a genuinely revolutionary and lasting way…

Then I really want you to experience the power of this practice.

Saying Yes to Life

My most recent dark night and the birth of Soulful Impact

Trigger warning: this post discusses suicidal ideation. If that topic is sensitive for you, please proceed with care.

I collapsed, weeping, into my brother’s arms.

It was early March, 2024. I had just made it — barely — down to Boulder for an advanced training intensive with my psychedelic guide mentors at The Center for Medicinal Mindfulness. My brother and his wife were welcoming me into their home for the week. When I arrived, they had just sat down to dinner with a group of friends.

“How are you, Brooksie?” my brother asked.

“I’m sick… and depressed.”

As the words left my mouth, I was overcome with tears. My brother is 6’3”, and as much as the younger me resented having a “little” brother who was bigger than I was growing up, in that moment I couldn’t have been more grateful to melt into his large embrace. A shred of embarrassment flittered through my awareness as I realized all his friends were watching, but it didn’t last. I didn’t have the energy to care how I appeared, let alone to bottle up my truth.

It had been a rough few months. I’d been no stranger to dark nights of the soul, but this was feeling next-level.

The prior fall, after completing the 2nd cohort of my flagship vision quest program, I was riding high. For the second year in a row, the experience and the results of that program had surpassed my wildest dreams. It felt so good that I never wanted it to stop. And that’s where I first got caught by my shadow.

After the program ended, I slipped into the subtle addictive pattern of identifying with and wanting to control my emotional experience. Some feelings were coming up that felt uncomfortable, that I didn’t want to be with, and that I thought meant some scary things about me and who I am. At first, I unconsciously tried to avoid those feelings by diving head-first into rigorously planning for the next cohort, but I quickly noticed that I was exhausting myself (ye old workaholism-leading-to-burnout pattern is pretty familiar to me by now).

So, I got myself some help.

I hired an awesome new coach to support me in working with this shadow material, to uproot these deeply seated fear-based motivations and help me settle into a more trusting and expansive flow with my business.

It worked great at first. My work with that coach helped me build a lot of new awareness and acceptance of what was going on, specifically helping me notice how my patten was being driven by those feelings I didn’t want to feel.

I was avoiding the grief and heartbreak I felt for the ending of such a beautiful program. As much as I intellectually knew the importance of honoring that grief, in the moment I just didn’t want to do it.

At the same time, I was avoiding fully feeling my joy — as counterintuitive as it sounds, I unconsciously wouldn’t let myself fully celebrate the victory I had had because I feared that would mean that it wouldn’t happen again.

That turned out to be the deeper emotion driving at least this layer of the pattern: an irrational but penetrating fear that I would never be able to achieve such a beautiful outcome again.

The narrative attached to this fear was a manifestation of my familiar core wound: the belief that I was fundamentally flawed, not worthy, and needed to constantly earn my right to live and enjoy life. “If I relentlessly produce tangible outcomes that other people see as worthy and valuable,” the inner narrative went, “then I will eventually become worthy and valuable myself.”

I had peeled back a few layers, but I wasn’t done.

While I was seeing myself more clearly and opening up some of these stuck emotional layers, it turned out there was an even deeper layer of healing that wanted to happen. But I was going to need an extra nudge to really meet it.

That’s when I got sick. In early January in Costa Rica, I unknowingly drank some bad water that led to contracting Giardia and E. coli.

It was brutal. The Giardia went undetected for over 6 weeks, and the E. coli was resistant to two rounds of antibiotics. By mid-February, not only did I still have those two original bugs in my system, but I’d also developed a nasty secondary infection called C. diff, indicative of a serious gut imbalance that is infamously hard to get rid of. That led to a third round of the strongest antibiotic yet (one of only two drugs in the world that work against C. diff). As a friend put it at the time, I had carpet bombed my gut.

I felt helpless and obliterated.

Being sick was like putting a megaphone to all those deep fear and shame voices inside of me. It was during this time that the depression really set in.

My fears about my inherent unworthiness and the compulsion to prove my worth through productivity were amplified by the experience of being sick and incapacitated.

To those scared and wounded parts of myself, being sick validated my basic fear of being fundamentally flawed. “There will always be something!” they would tell me. “No matter how hard you try, you’ll never escape this darkness and death inside of you… it’s at the core of who you are.”

The combination of the sickness and the depression did literally feel like darkness and death. It was like I was being haunted by a black cloud, a ghoulish presence. The blackness would creep up into the edges of my experience at seemingly random times, its wispy dark fingers clawing at my peripheral vision or turning my guts inside out. My body would somatically implode, caving in and collapsing.

And that’s when I would instinctively resist. I’d fight the darkness back with all my might. Which makes so much sense, right? If my description of this experience gives you chills, then maybe you get it. It was horrible. Of course I wasn’t willing to accept it.

But that’s also how I was giving it power.

In retrospect, I can identify this darkness as a part of myself that had been around for as long as I could remember. For most of my life, it had been relegated to the shadow — because I hadn’t yet developed the capacity to fully face, feel and experience it — but it was there.

This wasn’t just the part of me that feared I was inherently flawed and unworthy — it was the part of me that actually enjoyed and fed on that belief. In the words of Ekhart Tolle, it was my “pain-body” — a parasite of the mind that required me to be addicted to negative feelings and thought loops and used the energy of those experiences to keep itself alive.

But its strategy only worked when I was resisting it. By resisting it, I mean believing its stories, fighting to prove it wrong, and finding unconscious ways to avoid feeling and experiencing the intensity of it. Ironically, this resistance created far more suffering than I ever would have felt by just accepting it, allowing it, and letting it flow through me in the form of energy and emotion. But that’s how unconscious ego patterns (and the pain-body) work.

For most of my life, one key way I had resisted experiencing the depth of my pain-body was by being a workaholic. Terrified by the sheer intensity of negative feelings and nasty thought-loops that the pain-body would trigger in me, I would relegate it to the shadow and convince myself that if I won enough external success and adoration, it would finally relent. This may have distracted me from the pain-body temporarily, but what I was actually doing was just generating more fear and scarcity — more negative energy in the form of thought and emotion — for it to feed and persist on.

Another, more subtle and pernicious unconscious strategy for resisting the existence of my pain-body was self-loathing. As crazy as it may sound, on a certain level my ego preferred the experience of ruthlessly beating up on myself to actually fully feeling the intensity of my pain-body. I unconsciously preferred to fight against the pain-body at all costs, doing whatever it took not to fully let it in — even when that meant directing serious hate toward myself as a form of distraction and self-armoring. Perhaps, on some level, it at least gave my ego the illusion of control.

Once again, the actual result of this strategy was self-defeating, as it was just a way that I was feeding more negative energy to the pain-body parasite. When taken to an extreme, you can see how this is one way that the parasite can end up killing its host.

I found myself thinking about taking my own life.

Not in an intentional or directed way — I never formulated a plan or felt any actual motivation toward taking any action of self-harm — but suicidal thoughts were occurring in my mind at a pretty alarming rate.

That’s how loud and intense the pain-body experience (or more precisely, my resistance to it) had become. It was so intense, so scary, that some parts of my mind thought it would be better to die than to keep experiencing this.

Even though I knew deep in my bones that I didn’t actually want to commit suicide, my initial reaction to having those thoughts was to further amp up my resistance. I got even more scared. I moved farther away from the possibility of surrendering to the fullness of what the present moment was asking me to experience, and instead doubled down on contraction and attempts to control.

Even though I now see that this resistance was just prolonging and deepening my suffering, I can also totally appreciate the wisdom behind it. On some level, I believed that if I fully submitted to the pain-body — if I fully surrendered and let this ghoulish darkness fully come into my body and my experience — that I would never come back. I feared I would take my own life, or perhaps even worse, turn into a monster and severely hurt or even kill someone else that I loved.

I felt like a soldier in the trenches, stuck in a hell that never ends. I activated my network of support, reaching out to loved ones, mentors and friends and being honest about what I was experiencing. It helped, to a certain extent. I was often able to release some of the emotional energy of the pain-body on my own or with some support, but it would ultimately turn out to have been more like a pressure-release valve than a full clearing. Before long, I would be back in the trenches again, this time even more discouraged, dejected, helpless and obliterated.

At long last, I got the support that I needed.

The momentum of this whole experience finally turned around during that week in early March, when I made it down to Boulder for that training.

On a physical level, I was a few weeks into a new natural supplement protocol provided by an amazing GI specialist doctor who I’d been referred to by a friend. I was beyond relieved to have found someone who actually took the time to offer a holistic treatment to what I was experiencing, providing me with a regimen of supplements that would help keep the bad bugs out of my gut while also supporting the growth of the good ones, and avoiding any further antibiotics.

On a psychospiritual level, it was in the container of that training — with the support of my sacred plant medicine allies and the guidance of my clinically-trained mentors and guides — that I finally found the willingness to fully face, feel and release the depth of that darkness that had been haunting me.

The first night of that training was a “resourcing” cannabis journey. Knowing I was primed for a big experience, I had spoken with the team beforehand. I intentionally placed myself next to Daniel McQueen, the center’s founder and lead trainer, for the journey itself.

Sure enough, not long after the journey began, the darkness appeared. Instinctively, I watched my mind and body try to shut it down — just like I’d been doing for months (if not my entire life). But I knew that it wasn’t going to work, not in this space. Resistance is a recipe for suffering in any part of life, but that is especially true in the amplified experience of a psychedelic journey.

Earlier that same day, I had written (and underlined) the following note in my journal during our training discussion:

“The key factor is your ability to accept your experience, whatever it is. No aspect of the experience is irrelevant.

It’s about welcoming and saying YES.”

I knew what I had to do. Mustering all of my courage and strength, I raised my hand. Daniel came over to me.

“I’m going into a really dark place,” I stammered. “I’m so scared.”

“OK,” he responded, cool as a cucumber. “Let’s do it. I’ve got you.”

Grabbing my hand, he sat down next to me. The presence of his voice, his super calm nervous system, and his big teddy-bear-like body immediately helped me begin to relax.

And then the energy began to release. Bright flashes of moving color and light filled my visual field as a huge wave of sensation flowed through my entire body. An overwhelming flow of energy, light, feeling and sensation seemed to originate in my gut and then rocketed out of my arms, head and legs. I writhed uncontrollably, moaned, and screamed. It was the closest I’d ever experienced to an exorcism.

Daniel helped me let it flow. Intuitively and gently, he moved the arm he was holding into different positions, and placed his free hand on different parts of my body. I could feel the energy flowing more and more, as deeper layers of my nervous system let go and released.

I felt exquisitely supported and held. The combination of the medicine, the ceremonial container, and Daniel’s direct, in-person support allowed my system to finally drop into a state of surrender and trust.

It was super intense. But afterwards, almost immediately, I felt a thousand pounds lighter. The rest of that journey was like a sparkly waterfall of new insights, clarity and appreciation flowing in relating to various different aspects of my life.

I was back.

There was still some more healing to do — the remainder of that week in Boulder included two more very challenging and intense journeys for me — but the momentum had shifted. Over the following 1-2 months, I slowly but surely worked my way back into full mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.

Saying Yes to Life

Out of all the insights I scribbled in my journal in the second half of that pivotal journey experience, there is one that stands out:

“I choose to say YES to LIFE.”

What made this particular insight so powerful was not simply its defiance of suicidal ideation. Yes, it is a declarative statement of my desire to live — but more than that, it’s actually a deliberate embrace of the full spectrum of my entire life experience. It’s an open-hearted welcoming of ALL of it — including and perhaps especially the darkness. The pain-body. The haunting ghoulish cloud that makes me question whether I can trust myself, or whether I even want to stay alive.

When I lovingly welcome the presence of it all, I find my way home to wholeness and peace.

When I wrote that note, I was feeling directly connected to the sacredness of all of life — not just the pleasant stuff. Having put down a massive psychospiritual weight and found a sense of safety in my body again, I was able to deeply feel and remember the truth that everything — darkness included — originates from Source.

Saying yes to life doesn’t mean being boundary-less or submissive. It doesn’t mean letting go of your agency or your “no” — in fact, quite the opposite. It means claiming your no and your boundary from an open-hearted, loving, and trusting place. It means saying no to resistance in your inner experience, saying no to the parasite of the pain-body. It means stepping into an empowered creator mindset and choosing to trust that life is happening for you, not to you. It means sensing into the sacredness of everything you are experiencing and saying yes to letting life be your teacher and your guide.

Saying yes to life means letting go of the exhausting and endless fight with reality or different parts of yourself. It means welcoming the fullness of your present moment experience, no matter how intense — and from that empowered and loving place, choosing how you want to respond. It means taking your stand, finding your way, and giving your gift by showing up with the embodied presence, perspective and creativity that only you can.

It’s alchemy — turning lead into gold. Turning pain into purpose, freedom, aliveness, and joy.

The Birth of Soulful Impact

The 5 Steps of Soulful Impact emerged through the depths of this dark night. I wrote and shared those five posts between Feb 16 - Mar 15, 2024. At the time, writing them was simultaneously a way for me to bring some positive energy into my days — like a light at the end of the tunnel — and also an opportunity for me to really test and put into practice the ideas that I was articulating.

In the end, this whole experience became a deep validation for me of my belief in the power of those 5 steps and the principles that underlie them.

Without the foundation of an empowered creator mindset — including the ability to question my thoughts, seek out good support, and open to the possibility that all this was happening for me — I might never have made it through that experience.

What finally turned the tides was my ability to find the willingness to turn toward what I was running from and embrace the inner darkness.

Crossing that energetic threshold helped me wake up to my wholeness on an entirely new level. I’ve felt more safety in my body, more groundedness in my being, more trust, joy and love for life in these past 6 months than I ever have before in my life.

From that grounded, grateful and embodied place, I unlocked an entirely new level of giving my gift. What began as a simple 5-step framework has now evolved into the ecosystem of Soulful Impact, including a podcast and a cohesive suite of both new and legacy offerings. I’ve been more present, attuned, loving and in service to my family, friends, and community. All of that together feels like my fullest embodiment of my soul’s vision to date.

And of course, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to repeat! The past 6 months have included no shortage of further opportunities to keep on doing my work 😉. Thanks to this experience of my recent dark night and my deepening commitment to practicing these 5 steps, I’ve been showing up for that work with an open and loving heart.

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Welcome to , a newsletter and podcast exploring a new definition of impact.

My guest on today’s episode is . Scott was a co-founder of Troops, a successful tech startup that was acquired by Salesforce in 2022. He’s now the author of a popular newsletter called Consciousness: The Doorway to Human Evolution and the host of the Evolution.FM Podcast.

Scott’s deeper story is that while he was finding traditional success with his startup, he was also undergoing a process of spiritual awakening that, in his own words, felt sometimes like a living hell.

Since coming through that awakening journey, Scott has committed himself to helping other high-achieving entrepreneurial folks find the synergy between their calling to spiritual growth and their desire to build and accomplish meaningful things in modern day life. He’s recently been building an awesome community for entrepreneurs on the spiritual path, which is part of how he and I first connected.

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Scott and I discuss in practical terms how to connect with and be guided by our souls, why it’s perhaps more important to do so now than ever before, and how we can find our own way to a resonant connection with soul that’s characterized by empowerment and unconditional love — as opposed to the orientation of control and shame that so often permeates many aspects of modern day religion.

Another favorite part of this conversation for me was digging in with Scott around his idea of impact. As two Princeton grads who have found our way to the spiritual path, it was fun to compare notes and explore the possibility that, as Scott puts it:

“It’s damn near impossible to have the maximum impact if you’re not in alignment with your soul.”

Last but not least, Scott closes out this episode with some very on-point and helpful advice around how to navigate some of the more challenging aspects of the spiritual journey, such as dark nights of the soul, learning to let go, and surrendering into trust.

Please enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think!

-Brooks

Links & Resources

• Follow Brooks on Instagram or LinkedIn

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Scott’s Newsletter: blog.scottbritton.me

• Scott’s Podcast: Evolution.FM

• Connect with Scott on X (Twitter): @britton

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support us in growing our audience, consider sharing this post with someone you think would appreciate it. You can also hit the ❤️ or 🔄 buttons to help more people discover Soulful Impact on Substack.

is the philosopher and writer behind the popular Substack newsletter Deep Fix. He’s also the Co-Founder of Natura Care Programs (a novel non-profit harnessing psychedelics to support addiction recovery), a somatic therapist, and an executive coach.

Most recently, Alex is the creator of Life Not Wasted, an awesome online course which charts a path for all of us to enjoy a fulfilling life free from modern addictions.

Alex (known by his friends as “Olo”) knows a thing or two about addiction. As an ambitious and anxious twenty-something pursuing a sexy tech career in San Francisco, he fell into severe drug addiction that nearly cost him his life.

In this episode, Olo and I dig deep into what that experience was like for him, how he found his way through, and how — somewhat incredibly — that harrowing journey ultimately bore the fruits of what I now see as his soul’s incredible gifts.

Olo reflects at the end of the interview that it was one of the deepest conversations he’s ever had about the intricacies of his story.

Through the lens of Alex’s story, he and I explore the seemingly innate human longing for initiation, what makes a true initiation, and how our souls can find their way into initiation even in the absence of support and guidance from our mainstream culture.

We discuss Alex’s view on the phenomenon he calls “modern addiction” — essentially, the somewhat ubiquitous experience in modern life of losing ourselves into any number of (often tech-enabled) distractions and dopamine loops that pull us into a negative cycle of reciprocally narrowing our experience and ourselves.

Alex points out the reality that in this day in age, it’s much less of a question of whether or not you are an addict, and more of a question of where you fall on the addiction spectrum.

He also offers his take on how we can find our way out of the negative cycle of modern addiction — a path he calls “awakened recovery.” In essence, by adopting ways of seeing and being that bring us deeper into the present moment and a fuller experience of our truest selves, we can unfold into a positive cycle of reciprocal opening that leads us to a profoundly fulfilling, clear, and beautiful experience of modern life.

Last but not least, this episode was recorded on the eve of Alex crossing the threshold into becoming a father. The serendipity of that timing was not lost on either of us, and I'm so excited to welcome him — and all his hard-earned wisdom and love — into the family of fathers across the globe.

I deeply enjoyed this conversation, and found it enlightening and expansive. I hope you do, too.

Links & Resources

• Connect with Brooks on LinkedIn, Instagram and X

• Soulful Impact: soulfulimpact.co

• Alex’s website: deepfix.co

• Alex’s Substack: deepfix.substack.com

• Life Not Wasted online course: lifenotwasted.org

• Natura Care Programs: naturacareprograms.org

Thanks for reading Soulful Impact. If you’d like to support my work, consider sharing this post with someone you think would appreciate it. You can also hit the ❤️ or 🔄 buttons to help more people discover Soulful Impact on Substack.

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Sometimes all we need to unlock the transformation we seek is to try on a new perspective.

One moment of seeing yourself (or your life, purpose, impact, career, family, problems, etc) more clearly can change everything.

It can open the doors for a profound deepening of your connection to soul and to your clarity around what’s yours to do in this moment…

Especially when you are witnessed by others in loving presence.

That’s why I’m so excited to offer you some live coaching at my Awaken Your Soulful Impact workshop next week (Tuesday, August 6th, 10-11:30am MDT).

Reserve your spot now

If you’ve been inspired by the stories shared so far on the Soulful Impact Podcast, intrigued by the 5-step cyclical practice outlined in my series What Is Soulful Impact and How Do We Create It?, and/or feeling ready to find more clarity and fulfillment around your life’s purpose, then I warmly invite you to come out and play.

See what the practice of Soulful Impact is all about and find your innate wisdom and wholeness by focusing on Steps 1 and 2 of our 5-step cyclical practice:

1. Adopt an Empowered Creator Mindset

2. Turn Toward What You Are Running From

At $49 for 90 minutes, this is the most accessible opportunity available to receive live coaching from me on your journey of Soulful Impact.

Keen to dive in? Sign up here:

Reserve your spot now

How it works

During the workshop, I’ll invite volunteers to raise their hands to receive live coaching.

If you raise a hand, I’ll ask you to name an issue, challenge or question around which you’d like support. The content can be related to anything you like.

Then I’ll coach you, using the 5 steps of Soulful Impact as a guide, while the rest of the group witnesses and holds loving attention.

You are not required to raise your hand for coaching to attend. In fact, it’s possible to experience just as much transformation and insight by witnessing others doing their own work while remaining attentive and present to the process.

However, attendance will be limited to ensure we have enough space for everyone who wants to receive coaching to do so.

We’ll establish some shared agreements to keep the container tight, including:

1. Hold confidentiality and respect the vulnerability of those who get coached.

2. Join on time, keep your camera on and stay for the duration of the session.

3. Remain present and attentive throughout.

4. Practice speaking, listening, and witnessing from the level of soul.

All registered participants will receive a recording of the session within 24 hours (not to be shared to uphold confidentiality).

Reserve your spot now

I hope to see you there!

All my best,

Brooks

P.S. If you’re interested but can’t make the timing, my next Awaken Your Soulful Impact workshop will be Monday, October 7th from 1:30-3pm MDT. You can register here.

Thanks for reading Soulful Impact. If you’d like to support my work, consider sharing this post with someone you think would appreciate it. You can also hit the ❤️ or 🔄 buttons to help more people discover Soulful Impact on Substack.

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Hope you enjoyed a beautiful weekend.

Tomorrow, and I will be hosting our first Introduction to Soulful Impact workshop, and we’d love to invite you to join us if you feel called.

This is a free offering. All you need to do to sign up is register for the Zoom meeting here. It will run from 1-2pm PT / 2-3pm MT tomorrow (Tuesday July 9).

You’re a fit to join this workshop if you feel curious about what Soulful Impact is and how to create it in your life.

We’ll share a bit more of the philosophy behind our work, have open space for questions and discussion, and introduce you to the basics of our 5-step cyclical process for creating Soulful Impact:

1. Adopt an Empowered Creator Mindset

2. Turn Toward What You Are Running From

3. Wake Up to Wholeness

4. Give Your Gift

5. Repeat

Sign up here to join us tomorrow:

Register

Hope to see you there,

Brooks & Arielle

Today, Soulful Impact is growing up — from a newsletter to a platform.

My company, Starlight Leadership, has rebranded to Soulful Impact (and I’m super stoked about our fancy new website).

I created this awesome 2-min video to tell the story of why we do what we do, and to make the case for exploring a new definition of impact:

Take a look and let me know what you think!

The concept of Soulful Impact, along with a 5-step cyclical process for how to create it in your life, came into focus through my newsletter series earlier this year: What Is Soulful Impact and How Do We Create It?

But this is a practice, a conversation, and a movement I’ve been building toward for my entire life.

I feel so passionate about the idea that maybe — just perhaps — our greatest potential for positive impact doesn’t come from attachment to specific outcomes or attempts to control ourselves and the world, but from remembering and embodying the deeper truth inside.

I’m so excited for Soulful Impact to be growing into an ecosystem that can support and invite others into that exploration on a multitude of different levels.

NEW: Soulful Impact Podcast

Join me as we explore a new definition of impact — a new way of conceiving the legacy of our lives.

The Soulful Impact Podcast features rich, vulnerable and inspiring explorations of the terrain of Soulful Impact with me and many world-class interviewees.

Our first three episodes are now live for your enjoyment:

1. #01: Welcome to the Soulful Impact Podcast — Brooks’ story and an introduction to the show

2. #02: Experiencing the Deepest Truth of What You Already Are with Jim Dethmer — What soul means and how to follow its lead

3. #03: The Sacred Wound and the Call of Soul with Arielle Dispenza — Self-worth, self-healing, and embracing our inner darkness

   Watch on YouTube

   Listen on Spotify

   Listen on Apple Podcasts

Upcoming Online Workshops

Come get a taste for the practice of Soulful Impact

As I lean into exploring a new definition of impact and supporting others to do the same, I’m super excited to offer two live online workshops to introduce you to the work of Soulful Impact.

In an Introduction to Soulful Impact, we’ll explore what Soulful Impact means and how to create it in your life. Come learn the basics of our 5 step cyclical model.

In Awaken Your Soulful Impact, we’ll dive deeper into the first two steps of Soulful Impact. This is a more in-depth workshop where we will challenge and support you to face and accept the ways you’re not fully in alignment in your life.

Explore Our Online Workshops

Upcoming Dates & Details

• Our first Introduction to Soulful Impact workshop is July 9 from 2-3pm Mountain Time. This workshop is free and open to all. Register here via Zoom.

• Our first Awaken Your Soulful Impact workshop is August 6th from 10-11:30am Mountain Time. Sliding scale contribution $50-100. Register here and we will send you a calendar invite.

Thanks for reading Soulful Impact. If you’d like to support my work, consider sharing this post with someone you think would appreciate it. You can also hit the ❤️ or 🔄 buttons to help more people discover Soulful Impact on Substack.

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Jim Dethmer is Co-Founder of The Conscious Leadership Group, one of the most successful and sought-after executive coaches in the world, and — luckily for me — a close and treasured mentor.

In this conversation, I get Jim’s take on the meaning of soul and what it might look like to create Soulful Impact in our lives.

Jim is incredibly skilled at distilling deep wisdom into practical and relatable terms, which is part of why I thought he’d be a perfect first guest on this podcast.

Perhaps the most beautiful thing about Jim is his radiant, wise and loving presence.

In this episode, we explore how that gift — the Soulful Impact that just naturally flows from him as he embodies the deepest truth of his own being — has been cultivated and earned through intense life experience.

Jim opens up about his prior life chapter as an evangelical Christian minister, which despite making him quite successful and somewhat of a celebrity figure within that world, wasn’t deeply aligned with his soul. Jim reflects how the failure of that path was a result of looking outside himself to find something that can only be discovered from within.

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Jim’s humility is truly inspiring — I once heard him say “I don’t think I’ve ever had a single original thought” — and yet I experience him as one of the most powerful, skilled and empowering leaders I’ve ever known.

This episode is a delicious exploration into the deeper truth of who and what we really are, how life conspires in support of us waking up to that deeper truth, and how we can orient ourselves to live from that truth — with joy, gratitude and awe — each and every day.

Links & Resources

• Connect with Brooks on LinkedIn, Instagram and X

• Soulful Impact: www.soulfulimpact.co

• The Conscious Leadership Group: www.conscious.is

If you enjoyed this episode, consider sharing it with someone you think would appreciate it. You can also hit the ❤️ or 🔄 buttons to help more people discover Soulful Impact on Substack.