You Are Not Defined by Your Past

Passion Struck with John R. Miles

How to Forge Deep Connections That Make Great Things Happen

Episode 164: Who And What Will You Love Into Being, the incredible wisdom of Jean Oelwang

I interviewed?Jean Oelwang, the president and founding CEO of?Virgin Unite , co-founder of?Plus Wonder , and a B Team Leader. She sits on the Advisory Council for?The Elders ?and several company boards, including RMI, Ocean Unite, Just Capital, and Virgin Unite. She is the author of the new book?PARTNERING: Forge the Deep Connections that Make Great Things Happen .

"Never ask the question: 'Does he love me? Does she love me? Do they love me?' Ask the question, 'Am I loving enough?' Whether that's a business relationship or whether it's a romantic relationship. How can you ensure you're giving your whole self when you enter these partnerships and collaborations."

Key Takeaways:

• How Jean Oelwang approached?Sir Richard Branson?about leading Virgin Unite
• The story of how Sir Richard Branson and Pete Gabriel founded?the Elders
• The importance of life's?magnetic moments.
• The importance of the partnership between?Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina ?in discovering that CFCs were destroying the ozone layer.
• How the partnership of?André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard?ignited the success of the first solar flight around the world called?Solar Impulse .
• How our moral compass in a partnership forms?virtues on purpose.
• Addressing the epidemic of?chronic loneliness.

LISTEN HERE

What is Inspiring Me

You can become the best version of yourself, regardless of your past.

Episode 165: Kara Robinson Chamberlain's unbelievable story of surviving a kidnapping by a serial killer.?

Kara Robinson Chamberlain?was 15 years old when she was approached by a man in her friend's front yard in Columbia, South Carolina. At first, the gentleman appeared friendly, but then he drew a gun, shoved it against her neck, and forced Kara into the back of his car into a storage bin.

Over the next 18 hours, Kara was held and sexually assaulted before she miraculously escaped her capture. Kara's quick action and extensive information she provided law enforcement unveiled that her kidnapper was not only a pedophile but a serial killer who had murdered three other female victims in Virginia: 16-year-old Sofia Silva in 1996 and a year later, sisters 12-year-old Kati Lisk and 15-year-old Kristin Lisk.

Key Takeaways:

• Simply feel your feelings. Emotions are not good or bad and they don't make you any less strong. But they just make you more human. They are just part of our experience."?
• People deal with trauma in different ways, but they must be well expressed, and that one heals so they don't negatively affect the person's life.
• "If you have an abnormal response to an abnormal experience is totally normal. There is no right or wrong response to trauma."?
• "I am not defined by what happens to me... I choose the parts that make me stronger. "
• Just as broken people hurt people, healed people heal people too. Share your story of healing, and you'll be helping so many others.?

Fan Comments:

• "Hi Kara, I also follow you on Instagram, I think you're an absolutely brave individual, and I am so proud of who you are today. You didn't let it destroy you; you go, girl!"
• "Brave is an understatement. Your actions saved others and yourself. I hope your story inspires many more people to be brave in dark dire situations. Much respect and awe for what you've managed to overcome and do."

LISTEN HERE

WHAT I'M READING

The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance by Dr. Nate Zinsser

Dr. Nate Zinsser has spent his career training the minds of the U.S. Military Academy cadets as they prepare to lead and perform when the stakes are the highest—on the battlefield. Now, for the first time, Dr. Zinsser distills his research and years of experience, offering a fascinating guide to the science of confidence and providing readers with a practical, step-by-step program to best harness their belief in themselves to achieve success in any field. The Confident Mind is a complete guide to confidence: how to understand it, how to build it, how to protect it, and how to rely upon it when your performance matters most.

WHAT I'M WRITING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Why If You Want a Remarkable Life, You Need to Stop Chasing a Normal One

In?last week's episode , I argued that?mediocrity achieved as an end result of all our best efforts is not bad. But, it is when we intentionally practice habits that lead to being mediocre.

The truth is no one wants the title of being mediocre. Everyone desires to be unique, outstanding, and gifted. However, until you create an environment around yourself that fosters excellent choices, you will persist in making daily choices that make you average at best. I go over eight ways to make it happen this week?in this piece .

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." -Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

That's all for now! See you next week.?

Live life, Passion Struck,

John

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