The Dream Catcher Podcast

With the Holidays just around the corner, there’s a palpable buzz in the air. Everyone wants to ride the wave of prosperity that a New Year brings, along with the promise of a better future. But despite their best intentions to succeed in the New Year, research shows that only 8% of people achieve their New Year resolution.

Besides poor planning and a lack of discipline, another significant reason why so many fail is that they create their targets from a shallow level of consciousness using only logic and rational thought, and don’t involve their heart and intuitive intelligence.

In this episode, I’ve outlined a framework that you can follow to set New Year resolutions that you’re genuinely excited about committing to throughout the year. If you’re determined to get the most out of 2019 and move closer to your long term vision, you definitely shouldn’t miss this post!

I’ve always been curious about the ancient practice of shamanism especially after learning more about it during my research on Native American traditions. Before the advent of modern organized religions that we know today, shamanic traditions were the gateway to spiritual guidance, insight and healing for the ancient tribal communities that existed in the past.

Miriam J Katz, my guest today is a Shamanic Healer who taps into the power of nature and the cosmos using ritual, divination and facilitation to help her clients release emotional, physical, energetic and spiritual blocks. Miriam is an initiated Altomesayok, carrying the lineage of master shamans in the Andean Q'ero tradition.  She has certifications in professional coaching, Reiki, Past Life Regression, Realm Reading and is a member of the Society of Shamanic Practitioners and Energy Medicine Professional Association.

Miriam shares her in-depth knowledge to explain how shamanism works and how we can tap into this practice to deal with common issues such as stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD. By listening to this episode, you’ll learn some tools and techniques for healing, spiritual awakening and personal empowerment.

As a culture, we thrive on the fantasy of meeting our better half. Whether that be through novels, songs, or movies, we find ourselves immersed in a culture that celebrates the merging of two people. However, this glamorous portrayal of true love gives us false expectations.  

While making certain compromises is necessary to make any partnership work, losing ourselves in the process isn’t. In this episode, I highlight the importance of maintaining your individuality in relationships and the steps that you can take to ensure that you have enough time for yourself and your interests. In doing so, you’ll find that the connection with your partner deepens.

Rejection – the very thought of it will send many of us running for the hills. Yet no matter how hard you try to escape it, it will catch up with you because it’s a fundamental part of the human experience.

After all, who wants to feel like they are unlovable or not good enough? No one does! But the reality is that you will encounter circumstances and people that will trigger these fears at some point and you’ll need the right coping mechanisms.

In this podcast episode, I explain why we’re wired to have a strong aversion towards the idea of being rejected by others and the steps that we can take to overcome our fears so that we can take those chances that we need to take to make progress in our lives.

Do you sometimes find it challenging to deal with your current reality?

The act of facing the truth is similar to eating our vegetables. We know that it’s good for us, but we find it bland and boring. We’d rather treat ourselves to the candy floss of unrealistic dreams and the cupcakes of false hopes. Reality is a party pooper and we don’t want it to ruin the good times.

But there is a high price to pay for not facing reality-based truth. It almost always ends up in heartbreak, disappointment and pain. In this post, you’ll learn how to avoid this by learning how to distinguish between the two distinct kinds of ‘truths’ and then using this knowledge to make realistic decisions that will move you forward in a positive and empowering direction. 

If you’ve read a few of my posts on the Dream Catcher blog, you can tell that the topic of diversity and inclusion is very important to me. Like many others I’ve been disturbed by all the hate crimes, misunderstandings between communities and the social divisiveness being propagated in politics and the media. This is a rich topic full of nuances so I decided to invite a guest expert to shed some light on it.

I reached out to Risha Grant, a diversity and inclusion trainer, who is also the Founder & CEO of Risha Grant LLC, an award-winning diversity consulting and communications firm. Risha uses passion, knowledge and humor to empower attendees to increase their bottom line and create inclusive cultures in their companies and communities.  Her list of clients include governors, NBA teams, mayors, Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations.

Risha says that even though we can’t control what others say and do, we can control our reactions and how we respond. During our discussion, we talked about the root of prejudice and what we can do to overcome our own biases so that we can contribute to creating a unified and harmonious society.

In our modern world of 24/7 connectivity, it’s almost impossible to escape the influence of the media unless you live in isolation, far away from civilization. It doesn’t help that most news outlets tend to accentuate ‘bad’ news and sensationalism just to gain our attention.

Unconscious consumption of these stealthily crafted headlines can cause anyone to believe that we live in a dark, unjust, and cruel world filled with hate, fear, and distrust. But at some point, we need to stop and examine the cost of allowing ourselves to be exposed to the media’s flawed perspective

In this podcast episode, we’ll take a deeper look at the impact that negative news has on our psyche and five steps that we can take to overcome the effects and transmute it into something positive.

When was the last time that you had a good, hearty laugh?

Did it happen while sharing an inside joke with a dear friend or while watching a funny sitcom or reading the newspaper funnies?

No matter what the circumstances were, it most likely left you feeling jovial and elated. During those few moments, you forgot about all your worries and cares and the world looked just a bit brighter. But sadly, we don’t laugh as much as we need to. While life is without a doubt serious business, I believe that we can be better at coping with the seriousness of it all if we traveled lighter.  

In this episode, I highlight the many benefits of laughter and describe some simple practices that we can incorporate into our daily life to bring in more joy, humor and fun into our consciousness.

Staying objective can be a challenge when we feel emotionally ‘hooked’ onto the situation. We’re fearful of letting go of our mental grip of a situation because it makes us feel vulnerable. The good news is that we can overcome the stress it’s causing us by developing a detached perspective.

Mastering the subtle art of detachment requires conscious practice. It’s easy to slip into our instinctive nature to cling on and we need to enforce self-control to get back to balance. In this episode, I describe four steps that you can take to develop healthier attachments in your life.

All of us would like to express our highest potential and our message to the world. Whether you’re someone who wants to showcase your strengths and talents to potential employers or to potential prospects, you have to hone your message and clearly communicate the essence of your brand and mission to others.

My guest today, Mac Prichard, is an expert in these areas. Mac owns and operates Prichard Communications, a public relations agency that serves non-profits, public agencies, and foundations across the United States. He is also the founder of Mac’s List, where he writes regularly about job hunting, leads classes on job search skills, and hosts the Find Your Dream Job podcast.

During our conversation, Mac shares some useful tools and strategies on how to create effective communication and brand strategies to increase our influence as well as some ideas on how we can use our platform to create meaningful change in our communities.