The Competitive Edge

Shadows are unconscious distortions that undermine our experience. Example shadows include limiting beliefs, unhealthy patterns, suppressed emotions, small and big traumas. When I realized my life was quietly being directed by unconscious patterns and concepts, I became obsessed with uncovering and healing my shadows. This went on for a few years. I experienced a lot of growth but also realized that there is actually a shadow to shadow work. I’m a bit older and maybe a smidge wiser now, and continue to learn about the vast nuances of working with the unconscious. Today’s guest Kim Barta has helped expand my perspective and understanding of shadow work. Kim’s background as psychotherapist and teacher has culminated in him developing several new forms of therapy and models for human understanding including the evolution of shadow resolution and the stages model of human development. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast    

I’m glad that there’s a seemingly growing contingency in the scientific community who feel deeply inspired to help us better understand consciousness in the language of Science. It’s an important step in human development and will be imperative for consciousness expansion to be embraced by the mainstream. Today’s guest is one of those people. Andrés Gómez-Emilsson is the founder of Qualia Research Institute (QRI). QRI seeks to formalize the math behind our subjective experience and its emotional valence in order to map the  state-space of consciousness. One way you can think about this is that all states of being are just different expressions or configurations of underlying math. The bet is that understanding this math can help improve the human experience. Broadly speaking, I think anything that helps us see and understand ourselves more clearly is generally supportive. So I find approaching this from the vantage point of math vs. direct experience to be quite interesting. For full show notes: https://blog.

Life has probably never felt more frenetic and speedy for humans than it does today. Technology and culture have made it easy to always be on, always be productive, always be improving ourselves, and always be running to the next thing. Underlying this behavior is the idea that more and faster is what’s going to create the best experience and outcomes. But is that true? I think it behooves us to take stock on how this narrative is actually playing out for our well-being and prosperity. And are there times in life when it is particularly useful to slow down? Today’s guest Steve Schlafman thinks so. Steve is the first boomerang guest I’ve had on the show. This time he is coming back to talk about Downshift, the world’s first decelerator for high performers.  Steve has been a leader, investor, and coach in the world of startups and technology. More recently he has focused on helping higher performers in periods of transition. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

I am honored to bring a very special guest to the EvolutionFM today. Today’s guest is Ron Michael. Ron is the founder of Ascension Keys and is someone who has had a big impact on my life.  In 1993, he had a near death experience. While he floated above his body and went towards the light, he was told if he chose to come back, he would help usher in a new paradigm of how we looked at the frequency, resonance, and the human organism. When humans embraced the new paradigm, it’d help us far enhanced states of being.  We did this podcast, so Ron obviously decided to come back! For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Energy, Qigong, Kundalini, + how it can shift our experience An essential part of consciousness evolution is finding other people you can relate to. It helps us realize we’re not alone and has the ability to refine our understanding of our experience. Today’s guest is someone I have some shared experience with. Master Kambo has spent the past 20 years exploring and deepening his understanding of the metaphysical arts which he now teachers others. He is the founder of The Mind of Matter and Kamotion Qigong. A formative part of his experience was his Kundalini awakening which began in 2015. In this discussion we talk about how this process unfolded and how impactful learning to work directly with our primordial energy can be. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast  

Life is kind of funny in that pretty much everyone is trying to do the same thing - create a good experience. Yet we all run around with such profoundly different ideas of how to do that. The central idea in today’s conversation is the art of creating a good experience.  Our guest is Burgs, the founder of the art of meditation. I first discovered him through this beautiful Mt. Wolf track a few years ago. Since then he has become one of my favorite teachers to listen to Spotify. Like many teachers, Burgs life took him to Asia where he studied and practiced under the guidance of some of the world’s greatest living masters. He moved back to England at the request of one of his teachers where he has been teaching meditation for the past 25 years. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

We live in a time where there are many paths to increasing our awareness. The information age has really changed the game for those who feel called to go on the journey of self discovery and realization.  The people I know who seem to have went the deepest, usually try a bunch of things and then eventually commit to one tradition or pathway to really focus their energy. This focus creates a capacity for depth that seems to be harder when people are dabbling in many things. Today’s guest Delson Armstrong is quite unique in that he has been verified to reach the highest levels of many different systems. Verification is when someone like a master within a tradition provides confirmation of your depth of experience. He has mastered the levels of Samadhi mentioned in the Yoga Sutras, received the six degrees of kriya under the lineage of Hariharananda, as well as the seven degrees of kriya under the lineage of Panchanon Bhattacharya. He has also mastered the eight jhānas and attained the ability to entered into th

And the inner gold that comes with it I was recently in a text thread about how to find truth in our current times? There has never been more people with microphones in history telling us how to live, what to believe, and what is happening in the world. Although this diversity of information has created an immense amount of opportunity and freedom, it’s also made discernment more important than ever. This is true whether we’re trying to understand what’s happening in the world or the wisdom we choose to follow for our growth. Today’s guest Nadine Kreisberger has a unique perspective on this topic. As a counselor and consultant on her own journey of self exploration, she has spent the past 25 years studying many wisdom traditions, psychology, and geopolitics to help herself and others discover what she calls “the inner gold.” The inner gold is our deepest essence and gifts that we come into this experience to discover and contribute.  For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

I think a lot about how to integrate working on consciousness in the business world. Some people view these things as best kept separate, but this idea or path never resonated with me. If we’re going to spend so much time in the working why not use that as an opportunity for Self discovery? A lot of people think we are going through a shift in human consciousness. Many people think this is a necessity if humans want to continue to live here. I agree with both. The question is how do we usher in a more harmonious way of being and society? If consciousness is part of the solution, I don’t expect large portions of the population to all of a sudden become renunciates. It seems like we’re going to need more and more efforts to integrate consciousness work with existing parts of life like work in ways where the sum is greater than the parts. I love learning about this intersection and people who are pushing it forward. Today’s guest Scott Shute is doing exactly that. Scott is the co-founder of Changing Work and was

A convo with my dear friend Mark on playing the non-linear space What if success wasn’t just about picking good bets, making good decisions, and working hard? This is the traditional narrative and I’ve come to believe it’s missing an integral part of the pie. Oftentimes, this can lead us to what today’s guest calls “counterfeit success” where everything on the outside looks great, but their personal lives and inner experience is a different story. Today’s guest is my dear friend Mark Krassner. Mark Krassner is a 2x founder and executive coach who brings a fresh approach to the art of achievement, contribution, and fulfillment. As a coach, he began to notice a distinct pattern where some of his clients toiled away following the traditional narrative achieving mediocre results while others seemed to experience wild success with flow and ease.   For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast  

How Vibes Shape our world. I see the world of energy (Qi) as the next frontier for many fixtures of the human experience. Many traditions, including RenXue where I have studied for the past 4 years, see Qi as the fundamental building block of reality. The more we understand it through widely accepted means like Science, the more humans will be able to work with it to create a more compelling experience. Today’s guest scientist and author Garrett Yount has been studying energy and its impact on healing for the past 20 years. His interest began when he started to experience clairvoyant phenomena as a child. This eventually led him to a career in advancing our understanding of molecular neurobiology, consciousness and extended human capacities. Through his research he has performed extensive experiments with spiritual healers and biofield practitioners from around the world. His new book Why Vibes Matter: Understand Your Energy and Learn How to Use it Wisely covers in depth his experiences as a researcher in thi

What if learning who we are creates a more fulfilling life than getting what we want? I heard this question posed on a podcast with today’s guest and it pretty much sums up the entirety of my experience over the past few years. Nothing has been more enriching than the deeper exploration of the nature of Self and learning to embody that more fully so that it can be expressed in the world.  Today’s guest is Joe Hudson, founder of the Art of Accomplishment platform and executive coach. Highlights of the episode for me were: Why making life and business spiritual practice is so compelling How you can think about creating a container in the business world that fosters spiritual growth Why many companies fail at creating thriving businesses that help employees grow The power of letting go of trying  How he thinks about the Art of Accomplishment as a platform for change and empowerment For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Why is it that we can be doing something, and our mind starts to think about something else involuntarily? Is this a helpful part of the human experience? A nuisance? The nature of mind-wandering is something that scientist Arnaud Delorme has been investigating for the past 20 years. In this conversation, we explore what he has learned as well as some of the main questions the scientific community is trying to understand around the nature of mind. Arnaud recently released a book on this topic and his research called Why Our Minds Wander. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

There are some people I just love listening to talk. Today’s episode is one of those people.  David Perell is an entrepreneur, writer, and creator of the renown online course Write of Passage which helps aspiring writers transform their lives by writing online.  A lot of people know David on the internet because of his prolific writing and content creation, but what I was interested in learning about is how the shifts in David’s personal and spiritual life fuel his creative endeavors. In this conversation we talk about David’s journey with his faith and how it’s empowered him to be a better leader and step even more deeply into his purpose. It feels like many people I talk to these days have difficulty feeling aligned with their purpose. A big part of my personal hypothesis is that uncovering this is a process that occurs naturally once you begin to do the inner work and remove the impediments that make it easy to embrace what you love. For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

Today’s guest is Stephen Zerfas, the Co-Founder and CEO of Jhourney.  Five years ago Stephen found himself crying tears of joy after stumbling into a prolonged state of ecstatic bliss on a meditation retreat.  Up until this point, most of the retreat was migraine-inducing so he wasn’t sure how he had landed in this profound place. After the retreat, he was interested in how to recreate this experience whenever he wanted. Through many months of personal experimentation and research, he realized that these states are available to all humans on demand. In fact, you don’t even need to be a long-time meditator! In this conversation, we discuss the Jhanas and how Jhourney is going about making them more accessible. Interesting ideas include: An overview of the Jhanas and why we should care How meditation as far as what has been brought to the West is still largely unexplored The history of why these experiences went from very popular to obscurity and are now emerging yet again The different schools of insig

Today’s guest Sarah McCrum is the author of the book Love Money, Money Loves You. Sarah’s background was that she studied energy with Chinese masters for 20 years eventually opening a Qigong center in London. In 2010, she experienced spontaneous contact with the energy of money and began to receive information about its essence and what it wanted to communicate to humans. She began to transcribe this information and eventually, it became the contents of her book. Although this may sound like an absurd idea to many people, channeling is responsible for many profoundly impactful books such as A Course In Miracles which we covered in an earlier podcast. The idea is that all things are made of energy, including beings and energies on higher planes, and if we can open to and connect with these energies we can begin to receive and transmit information. This is the same exact way a radio works. I’ve read Sarah’s books and the ideas are pretty revolutionary. It really makes you question everything you thought you kne

Our society is obsessed with self-improvement. This was a major feature of how I related to reality for most of my life. As helpful as self-improvement can be, it also has a major shadow side that largely goes unexamined.  Implicit in the pursuit of self-improvement is that there is a deficit; that whatever or however your being is in this moment is not whole or complete. This keeps you grasping in a seemingly endless treadmill without ever reaching an enduring sense of completion or fulfillment. Most people don’t really even know there is an alternative to the self-improvement paradigm. This is one of the main topics of today’s conversation with Steve March, the founder of Aletheia Coaching.  Some of my other favorite ideas include: Why self-improvement on its own can be a trap Striking the balance between self-improvement and self-unfoldment How to practically embody a more unfoldment experience  Understanding how solutions and support often arise when we allow them vs. exert force How shifting ou

Imagine having access to a source of guidance that could tell you exactly what’s needed at any moment for your highest good in all parts of your life. I honestly can’t think of a more valuable resource! According to today’s guest Laura Coe, this is a potential for all humans by accessing what’s called the Akashic records. The Akashic records are like an energetic database that stores all the information from every thought, emotion, and experience we’ve had in all of our lives as a soul.  In this conversation, we discuss: What are the Akashic records and how we can work with them The potentiality for anyone to access this inner technology The relationship between intuition, soul, and the Akashic realm Moving from striving to accomplishment from flow and oneness The difference between fulfillment and success For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast

  One of those people early on in my startup journey was Leo Widrich, one of the founders of the social media company Buffer. At one point, Buffer was a darling in startup land with their great product, prolific blog and a culture of transparency that gained them lots of notoriety. I remember reading about their co-founder split and kind of never heard much about Leo again. I’m not exactly sure how, but somehow I found myself on his website 6 months ago and learned that he’s been on a similar journey of inner discovery. After “making it in startup world” Leo went to live in a Buddhist monastery for a few years. In this conversation, we talk about his experience going from the frenetic world of startups to living a monastic lifestyle. He shares a lot about the experience of facing his unconscious inner material which I related to immensely. Post monastery life, he found himself coaching startup founders who were experiencing similar challenges and dissonance that he had gone through. This article on less

Ryan is an accomplished entrepreneur who spent 10 years building VNN, the largest, fastest-growing high school sports marketing and media network in the United States. He’s since moved into the world of executive coaching starting his firm Inside-Out Leadership which is the only coaching firm that I know of completely comprised of exited founders who also integrate consciousness work. I find Ryan to be an incredibly thoughtful guy and compelling speaker which is why I was excited to have him on the show. In this conversation, we unpack how and why developing a more effective relationship with shame can be such a profound unlock for improving your life and leadership ability. This exploration bleeds into how to increasingly move towards emptiness so that you can meet life as spacious awareness.    For full show notes: https://blog.scottbritton.me/s/evolutionfm-podcast