In this episode on the Weekend University Podcast I speak with Niall McKeever from the Weekend University.
In this conversation, we explore:
— How a near-death experience at eighteen revealed a state of consciousness beyond fear
— Why tracking animals can teach us how to track our own lives and find what we’re truly looking for
— The link between disconnection from nature and the search for meaning
— Why transformation begins with saying, “I don’t know, but I want to”
— How to follow a sense of aliveness in the body as a guide for decisions
And more.
In this conversation with Joel Monk, we dive into my particular approach to coaching, our connection to our inner nature, aliveness and our personal path, and the importance of story hunting.
This is my fourth time on Invest Like the Best with Patrick O-Shaughnessy – but the first in six years. In this episode we unpacked the intricacies of storytelling and why it’s such an essential for founders. We walk through different mechanisms of cultivating storytelling and becoming a meaning-maker. I encourage everyone to become somebody who stories happen around and be a character who finds characters. We also discussed the concept of “story hunting,” leveraging stories in business, and continuously finding new meaning in life.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
On this podcast I share how you can apply many of the same principles of tracking animals in the wild to discovering a path that’s uniquely you. I emphasize the need to question the scarcity mindset and cultural norms in order to truly be free. We also talks about the aliveness and wealth that comes from following one’s unique expression.
Highlights:
The journey to self-discovery often begins with a moment of clarity. For Boyd, it was when his mentor Martha Beck said: “The restoration of the planet will come out of a shift in human consciousness.”
True transformation always begins with not knowing. We’re conditioned to always have answers, but the real magic happens when we surrender to uncertainty.
Your body is your compass. Pay attention to what expands your energy and what contracts it. That’s how you start developing your “track awareness” in life.
The path to authenticity isn’t always flashy. It’s often marked by simplicity, a sense of enough, and a natural inclination towards service. That’s the real payoff of living on your track.
True confidence is not needing anything from anyone. Paradoxically, that’s when people are most drawn to you.
The mystics who isolated themselves in nature were onto something. Solitude strips away the unnecessary, revealing your true energy patterns and interconnectedness with all things. It’s not about escaping life, but seeing it more clearly.
Boyd’s life has been a continuous process of discovering what he loves and finding a way to share it.
On this podcast I sharem my wisdom on embracing our wild selves with my friend Cal Callahan from the Great Unlearn Podcast. We recently celebrated his 40th birthday on the South African coastline — hiking across the landscape, leaping from cliffs, and engaging in meaningful and revealing fireside conversations. Along this journey there was one primary aspect that we all felt truly touched by: the awakening of our unique wild self.
Boyd and I dive into…
➝ The ceremony of entering a new decade
➝ The journey to the wild self
➝ Becoming someone who cultivates and fosters life
➝ The intelligence of moving grief
➝ Uprooting what numbs us – identities, roles, unfelt emotions, stimulants
In this episode of the Align Podcast, Boyd tells us how African safaris can relate to the journey into our own lives. He also emphasizes how important it is to connect with nature for our personal well-being, especially in a world where technology is dehumanizing us on many levels. Boyd shares his personal experience with trauma and how he embarked on a healing journey through transformational practices and doing the work. Join us as we discuss what it means to be human, how to live towards the feeling and giving into the idea of “I don’t know”.
What we discussed in the episode:
02:18 Deep Breathe might help you.
06:50 Who is Boyd Varty?
18:15 Awareness looking at itself as a separate point of awareness.
30:33 If I’m not busy, I get depressed.
32:26 The Deep dark, unconscious aspects of yourself will be made manifest in your material world.
36:33 Ceremony Work
49:16 How do we like to lead someone into more depth within ourselves?
01:02:02 The kudu is really travelling with me.
01:10:13 What is the evolutionary function of distrust, chronic comparison, and alienation from oneself and nature?
01:15:22 What are some natural lifestyle choices that can help soothe the nervous system in a modern world?
Discussion Topics: What you will discover from listening to this Podcast:
* Boyd’s experience of spending 40 days and 40 nights in nature, alone, without any technology
* Becoming attuned to nature
* The importance of campfires and storytelling
* Wrestling with the complexity of modern life
* How technology absorbs your attention
* Why we should stop and slow down
* The history of Londolozi Game Reserve
* Tracking animals in the wild bush
* Boyd’s journey of coming out of depression
* How to heal from your wounds and demons
* Spending time with Nelson Mandela after his release from prison
* The discovery of living an authentic life
* Almost being eaten by a crocodile
* How animals can teach us
* Restoring the wildness inside of you
* How to begin your own transformation
We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.
“If it had been a horror movie, people in the audience would’ve started saying, ‘Don’t go near the shadowy place!’ And of course, as I walked past the shadowy place, I actually sat down just on the edge of those shadows. And my perception was that the water was too shallow for crocodiles. But of course the crocodile was in the hole, and the first thing that you notice when a crocodile grabs you is just the ferocity and the pressure of the bite.” — Boyd Varty
Boyd Varty (@boydvarty) is the author of two books, The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life and his memoir, Cathedral of the Wild. He has been featured in The New York Times, on NBC, and in other media and has taught his philosophy of “tracking your life” to individuals and companies around the world.
Boyd is a wildlife and literacy activist who has spent the last ten years refining the art of using wilderness as a place for deep introspection and personal transformation. He grew up in South Africa on Londolozi Game Reserve, a former hunting ground that was transformed into a nature preserve by Boyd’s father and uncle—both visionaries of the restoration movement. Under his family’s stewardship, the Reserve became renowned not only as a sanctuary for animals but as a place where once-ravaged land was able to flourish again and where the human spirit could be restored. When Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years of imprisonment, he went to Londolozi to recover.
Boyd has a degree in psychology from the University of South Africa. He is a TED speaker and the host of the Track Your Life podcast.
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
