Overdoing it is ingrained in our culture. So how do you go against the grain?

In this latest episode, host Lauren Lowrey takes you on a journey through our American obsessions with doing too much. Get the deets on how our nation compares to other countries when it comes to work-life (im)balance. Plus, what questions to ask yourself so you can DO LESS. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You're chronically doing too much.
• Your self-worth was based on how much you can produce.
• You bought into the equation that HARD WORK makes you A GOOD PERSON

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with Lauren detailing why Americans are so obsessed with overdoing it. Lauren takes you way back to the Mayflower to show how pilgrims laid a lasting foundation for American society. Even to this day, we see the impacts 

• [4:26] But something changed in the digital age. Our obsession with work was accelerated and Lauren explains how.
• [11:26] Lauren walks you through the quantifiable disengagement happening in workplaces all over America and how it compares to other countries.
• [13:38] Tiny sneak-peak into what's coming up next for AMPstigator as Lauren details how she's taking her own medicine.

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:27 - Lauren details how this episode is structured

1:34 - Our American history (Hard work = Heaven)

3:09 - Individualists vs Collectivists 

4:26 - How the digital age accelerated our need to DO

7:03 - How the digital age has changed broadcast TV

8:12 - How "Just Do It" fueled the fire

9:30 - How this negatively impacts us

11:22 - We're seeing quantifiable disengagement in the workplace 

12:33 - World Happiness Report

13:38 - Lauren's taking her own medicine on doing less

🗈 Show Notes 🗈

Ep. 31 At what cost? (When doing it all nearly kills you) [Spotify | Apple] 

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website

AMPstigator on Youtube

AMPstigator Instagram

Lauren's Instagram

Wait, you want me to face my pain!?! Woof!

In the latest AMPstigator episode FACE IT, host Lauren Lowrey teaches you that once you've experienced trauma, the pain doesn’t go away. It just blends with you over time. The difficulty in processing the trauma comes from your inability to move forward. 

After we experience pain, we spend our lives trying to return to status quo. We try to get back to who we were before that pain. But we have to realize: We were literally changed by the pain and the person we were is gone.

In this episode, she shares 6 steps to FACE your pain and accept yourself for who you've become. 

 
💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You've experienced any bit of pain that you can't seem to face
• You're ready to try something new to process your problems
• When you think about a particular thing that happened in your life, you can't help but cry

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with Lauren sharing a recent experience getting her annual blood work. Everything was perfect until the rubber tourniquet around her arm triggered a major MAMMA JAMMA trauma response. Whoa, Nelly! Didn't see that coming! She shows how tears indicate unhealed pain and why you need to FACE IT!

• [3:13] Lauren shares the PARADOX in trying to heal. Once you've experienced something, it's literally part of you. You are different so you need a different approach. 
• [4:59] Why does talking-it-out work so well? It's literally a well-studied psychological foundation of Cognitive Based Therapy (CBT).
• [8:57] Lauren shares the steps you can take to begin to FACE IT in your own life. Her 6 suggestions include kicking judgment to-the-curb, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system and implementing a gradual exposure.  

 Plus, how you'll know when the healing is all done!

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:27 - Lauren experiences her first MAMMA JAMMA trauma trigger

2:44 - Working to heal and facing your fear

3:13 - How pain becomes part of you

4:59 - Research around healing trauma, Cognitive Based Therapy (CBT)

6:52 - The root of the phrase "face it" 

8:57 - How you can FACE IT in your own life 

10:34 - Getting a re-do on a trauma trigger

🗈 Show Notes 🗈

Ep. 31 At what cost? (When doing it all nearly kills you) [Spotify | Apple]

Understanding PTSD, National Institutes of Health

Ep. 56 The 7 surprising things that started happening when I meditated 2hrs/day [Spotify | Apple] 

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website

AMPstigator on Youtube

AMPstigator Instagram

Lauren's Instagram

I know what you're thinking: How the heck does she find 2 hours a day to meditate?

In this solo-episode with the AMPstigator founder and host, Lauren shares her touch-and-go history as a non-meditator and what made her recently commit. She shares the striking words from multiple sources urging her to commit to stillness and who served as 'the final straw.'

Lauren also walks you through the phenomenal benefits of meditation before finally sharing her list of 7 surprising things that happened when she began meditating 2hrs/day, just one month ago. Plus, during the recording, Lauren shares two more BONUS anomalies that popped into her mind, for a total of 9 things that have happened since she committed to consistent, daily meditation.

In the end, she encourages you: when you meditate consistently, just wait for the shocking benefits to emerge. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You can't IMAGINE that it would be possible to cultivate this much stillness into a day.
• You want to know what amazing benefits Lauren has seen from her own stilling practices
• You need encouragement to get started meditating

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:29 - What to expect in this episode

1:26 - Lauren's touch-and-go history as a meditator

4:59 - Why Lauren decided to commit to 1-to-2 hours a day of meditation

5:59 - How Lauren started implementing daily stillness

7:19 - Lauren's recent solo retreat to up-the-ante

9:25 - Research backs me up on my commitment to meditation

10:53 - The 7 surprising things that started happening (#1, Not caring)

12:08 - #2, Detaching my nervous system from work

12:58 - #3, Yelling less

13:49 - #4,Getting everything done 

15:04 - #5, More discernment

15:57 - #6, Actually RESTING

16:43 - #7, Seeing signs of confirmation 

18:25 - TWO BONUSES (The sudden need for less & Simultaneous social growth)

19:58 - How you can start meditating

✔️ Show Notes ✔️

Ep. 31 At What Cost? (Lauren details her hospitalizations) (Apple | Spotify)

Insight Timer (the app Lauren uses for guided meditations) 

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️

On the AMPstigator website

AMPstigator on Youtube

The AMPstigator Instagram

Lauren's Instagram

In this AMPstigator exclusive, intuitive business coach Amanda Marit leads an 8-minute BONUS visualization to help you hire your higher self.

Come back to this visualization often (first thing in the morning, before a meeting, after a setback, etc) to remind you that you're choosing abundance, passion, depth and meaning in your life.

Listen to the full AMPstigator episode featuring Amanda Marit, Ep. 54: We're NOT settling.

 ✔️ Connect with Amanda Marit ✔️

Connect on her website

Connect on Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Are you ready for your greatest lesson (the one that totally pops paradigms around your rug-pulls, hardships and worst days)?

In this episode, intuitive business coach Amanda Marit shows you how your disappointments are really just preparing you for what's next. If you know you're here to make a big impact on the world, Amanda will help awaken your best self then step into your future.

Amanda walks you through how to identify the dream in your heart and play with the possibility that what you want is actually MEANT FOR YOU. Amanda teaches you how to listen to your intuition and even shares how to look for signs (because they'll start coming).

Plus, this episode ends with an AMPstigator-exclusive visualization to help you welcome in your higher self. For repeated quick access, the visualization has also been separated as it's own episode, Ep. 55: Bonus Visualization for your highest path

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You need more instruction about manifestation
• You know you're here to make an impact on the world but don't know where to start
• You love people who give you permission to dream your big dreams

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with host Lauren Lowrey and intuitive business coach Amanda Marit talking through what's currently happening in the world, what it means to change timelines and why we need to listen to what we feel.

•  [11:00] What exactly does an intuitive business coach do and how is that different from a regular coach?
• [22:38] Not everyone feels like they're supposed to be doing something MORE with their life. But you do! So what do you do in that situation?
• [31:00] Yes, there's destiny. But HOW we get there is up to us. In this section, Amanda & Lauren go deep into co-creation and explain how powerful you really are!
• [47:31] In order to become this bad-a$$ babe you see in your dreams, you need to align yourself with that reality. Amanda explains how to do that Amanda guides you through what to do next: how to align with that new version of you and how to ask to be shown clear next steps (b/c spoiler alert: SIGNS ARE GOING TO COME IN). 

Plus, Amanda walks us through an impromptu visualization exercise [1:12:05] that you can come back to over and over again by streaming within this episode or separately in Ep. 55.

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:30 - Lauren's opening monologue

2:37 - Stop hustling and take a breath

5:05 - Moving on a whim and changing our timelines

8:23 - Stop diminishing what you feel, start allowing and transmuting it

11:00 - What does Amanda do as an INTUITIVE coach?

12:30 - How Amanda came into this work (navigating personal rug-pulls & starting a healing journey)

19:42 - What is a "Light Worker?"

22:38 - What do do when you know you're meant to contribute in a bigger way

25:10 - When things fall apart, it's preparing you for what's next

31:00 - How we co-create (the relationship between destiny and co-creation)

38:05 - How Amanda helps people BECOME who they're meant to be

40:40 - Step 1: Breaking out of your own habits, patterns & routines

47:31 - Aligning yourself NOW to your future self (Morning Practice; how would it feel to live that life now?)

55:10 - Advice for how to NEVER doubt yourself and embody REAL CHANGE

58:00 - The lesson: WE'RE NOT SETTLING

1:08:00 - Understanding the Divine Feminine

1:12:05 - BONUS: Highest Path Visualization

1:19:30 - Lauren's closing monologue

 ✔️ Connect with Amanda Marit ✔️

Connect on her website

Connect on Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

What do you do when your life looks totally different than you think it should?
Judge yourself? Go to therapy? Start traveling around the world? Do deep inner work? Write a book about it? Dr. Melanie Hicks did all of those things.

In this episode of AMPstigator, Dr. Hicks shares more on her two failed marriages in her 20s, domestic abuse, a traumatic sexual assault in her 30s, and losing the ability to have children. She shares the deep inner work required to shrug off the weight of expectation and live her life, free of judgement, even though it looks totally different than the norm.

She shares her life lessons (many of which were learned while staring out airplane windows), exposing her deepest secrets while exploring countries both near and far. This is the conversation every 30-something woman wished they heard at age 19. But then again, would we have listened?

**Trigger Warning: if you've been a victim of assault or abuse, this conversation may be difficult to hear.**

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You love candid and authentic conversations between women who choose to share their past traumas to help others heal.
  
• You thought you were alone in your experience with abuse or assault.
• You want to hear a story of hope and healing from a woman who's found love from a place of wholeness
   

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with host Lauren Lowrey asking Dr. Melanie Hicks why she chose to share such difficult experiences so publicly. Together, they weave through the most difficult story Melanie ever had to write: the one where she shared her sexual assault.

• [5:18] Mel shares why it took her 6 years to tell ANYONE, even one of her closest friends, that she had been sexually assaulted.
• [11:57] Mel and host Lauren Lowrey both share their traumas around domestic abuse (*Trigger warning*)
• [21:20] There's a fallacy around searching for your 'other half.' Dr. Melanie shares the moment she decided she was a WHOLE PERSON all by herself and she would never seek out a relationship to make her whole.
• [37:29] How travel ignited personal growth for Dr. Mel as she hopped from continent to continent.

Plus, Dr. Mel shares how she developed a healthy romantic relationship with another healthy, whole person [51:50] and lays out her two rules in her own marriage.

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:30 - Lauren's opening monologue

3:20 - Why share the hardest parts of your life in a book?

5:18 - Sexual assault and the trauma it caused Dr. Mel

11:57 - Host Lauren Lowrey & Dr. Mel both share their personal experiences with domestic abuse

17:15 - When Dr. Mel made the choice to share the traumas through the book

21:20 - The fallacy of searching for your 'other half'

24:12 - Arriving at 'surrender' (#openpalms)

27:16 - "No one can give you directions to places they've never been."

30:10 - How Mel helps people amplify the messages of other people

33:02 - The duality: professional life on fire, personal life in tatters

37:29 - How travel ignited growth for Dr. Mel

42:00 - Why Nepal is so magical for Mel

44:20 - Dr. Mel's stilling practices to help her clear her mind

46:33 - The significance of the book title "Incongruent"

51:50 - Healthy, whole romantic relationships in adulthood

57:30 - How Dr. Mel does pro bono work for international service organizations

1:00:17 - Her recent work in Sierra Leone

✔️ Show Notes✔️

Incongruent: Travel, trauma, transformation, by Dr. Melanie Hicks

 ✔️ Connect with Dr. Melanie Hicks ✔️

Connect on her website

Connect on LinkedIn

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

What happens when you shed the skin of expectation and boldly define your feelings in the most raw and honest way possible? Well, that's when you'd become a Nashville songwriter!

Katelyn Drye is one-half of The Dryes. She and her husband Derek are a singing/songwriting duo in Nashville. On this second AMPstigator appearance, Katelyn talks through what's changed in her life and the impact her own personal development has had on the depth of the music she's helping to write.

This conversation does a deep-dive behind the scenes of their recent stint on NBC's The Voice, the Nashville music industry and what it's like preparing for their upcoming concert tour with Jo Dee Messina.

At their core, The Dryes write music that cuts through to connect with people and gives words to the deepest emotions. Katelyn shows her faith and feelings in this follow-up conversation, one year later.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You love getting an inside look into the music industry
  
• You followed The Dryes on The Voice in 2022 and you want to know Katelyn better
  
• You're looking for an uplifting conversation about hope and following dreams
   

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with a deep-dive, peek-behind-the-curtain from NBC's The Voice. Katelyn & Derek Drye received national prominence during their multiple appearances and inclusion on Team Blake.

• [3:50] Katelyn shares how The Voice producers asked them to be on the show for two prior seasons and both times The Dryes turned them down! Katelyn describes the events leading up to the show's third request and why The Dryes said YES!
• [19:08] A long-time dream is about to come true for The Dryes: they'll open multiple tour stops for a recording artist. They currently have 12 dates with Jo Dee Messina. Katelyn shares how Jo Dee invited them on the road.
• [34:20] The music industry can be really confusing. Katelyn and Lauren break down what people outside of Nashville often don't know.
   Plus,

 Plus, Lauren shares a recent dream she had about Katelyn & Derek and why she's counting the days until it comes true.

 🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:30 - Lauren's opening monologue

2:50 - Katelyn's baaaack!

3:50 - The Dryes' turned down The Voice TWICE

6:30 - How people choose songs for The Voice

8:05 - Katelyn's worn one of Dolly Parton's ACTUAL wigs

10:10 - Walking on stage and being with Blake Shelton

13:25 - What's come from being on the show (concert impacts)

15:05 - Hard things make you STRONG

19:08 - How they found out they were going on tour

22:25 - The plan for performances while they're on tour

23:54 - Lauren's prophetic dream about The Dryes

27:40 - Knowing your purpose in your heart of hearts

28:38 - What emotion is coming out in The Dryes' songwriting lately

32:15 - Other upcoming things in 2023 for The Dryes

34:20 - What's the deal with publishing deals and songwriting cuts?

40:18 - "We grow every year"

 44:35 - Who The Dryes write music for

✔️ Show Notes✔️

Ep. 15 with Katelyn and Derek Drye

The Dryes "Dolly Would"

Hailey Whitters, "Ten Year Town"

 ✔️ Connect with Katelyn Drye ✔️

Connect on their website The Dryes

Connect on Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

We're overwhelmed, stressed and heading toward burnout. Who wants to live that way?!? NOBODY! In this episode, stress expert Rosa Castano shares how you can identify, address and overcome your chronic stress and create a stronger foundation of wellness for yourself.

Rosa is a certified meditation, mindfulness and movement teacher. She combined her extensive background in international sales and start-ups to create stress management how-to’s for companies and teaches them to overwhelmed employees.

She's bringing her best tips and how-to's to help you enhance your well-being and prevent burnout. It's an episode you'll be grateful for - where you remind yourself to STRESS LESS.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• Your crushing, chronic stress load is steering you toward burnout
• You're often overwhelmed and you don't know how to make it better 
• You need ideas on how to create mindful moments that reduce stress  
   

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with Rosa answering the question 'what is the state of stress in the workforce?' She details where the word 'burnout' comes from and how long we've been battling chronic stress at work. Spoiler alert: Hustle culture is killing us [6:18].

• [8:18] We're familiar with fight-or-flight, but Rosa shares the 6 Stress Styles to help you understand how stress is showing up throughout your day - even in places you don't realize.
• [17:16] How do you manage and reduce chronic stress? In this section Rosa shares effective, yet simple practices you can start doing now to help!
• [25:45] What happens to your body when it's under chronic stress? Lauren and Rosa tag-team this part of the convo as they both share just how detrimental it can be

 Plus, [51:04] Lauren shares the real-time question she has to ask herself before putting ANYTHING in her calendar, all in an attempt to AVOID stress.

 🔖 Chapters 🔖

 0:30 - Lauren's opening monologue

3:34 - Rosa calibrates us to the state of stress in the workforce

6:18 - Hustle culture is killing us

8:18 - The 6 styles of stress

11:30 - Stress Audit: Recognizing stress triggers in your daily life

17:16 - Implementing practices that manage and mitigate stress

25:45 - The responses Rosa hears from people in the workplace

31:40 - Newsflash: your employees aren't engaged

35:18 - How kids play into present-moment awareness

39:06 - Rosa's background in the corporate world & startups

43:15 - COVID was a gift for Lauren

51:04 - Does this give me a healthier outcome?

54:07 - The actual definition of mindfulness

55:38 - Science of visualization

56:15 - Increase the space in the pause

✔️ Show Notes✔️

Atomic Habits, by James Clear

Michael Franti lyric "The more I see, the less I know" (Song: Say hey I love you)

Ep. 48: Mental Health Matters (w/ Lauren's therapist, Tonia Dixon)

Michael Singer's books, The Untethered Soul and Living Untethered

 ✔️ Connect with Rosa Castano ✔️

On her WellbeingWithRosa Instagram
On her website

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Our food lacks nutrition. Our bodies can't detoxify. The Earth is sick. So what do we do about it?!? Dr. Christina Rahm has a plan. In this inspiring episode, Dr. Rahm shares how her work in the pharmaceutical industry ignited a passion for healing people naturally. Her work evolved to include an environmental mission, makeup and skincare, a fashion line and a new dream to launch a way to educate people how to ACTUALLY heal their bodies.

She's the most educated and accomplished woman you'll likely ever meet, with multiple doctorates and advanced degrees. She owns 14 companies and holds multiple patents - all with one goal in mind: how do we make our bodies and our Earth healthy?

Get ready for an enlightening, power-packed episode that sounds like girl-talk between two brainy gal-pals. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You absolutely geek-out on research about the body, it's cells and how to be healthy.
  
•  You're into whole body wellness and you're eager to hear from a pioneer in the field.
• You see the sickness of our planet and want to connect with someone who's doing something about it.  
  
  

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with Dr. Christina Rahm explaining her devastating and life-threatening diagnoses in her twenties. She endured cancer and the loss of children. Both nearly killed her. She shares how she committed in that moment “to do as much as I can if I have the opportunity to LIVE."

• [16:47] Dr. Rahm shares her work in the pharmaceutical industry and explains why we never see any beneficial research about natural remedies. It's what spurred her to start Root Brands, a wellness supplement company that addresses the root causes of disease.
• [33:08] Dr. Rahm does a deep dive into why our food is lacking nutrition. She shares her plans to detoxify the land, air and water to begin [40:40] healing the Earth.
• [43:18] Dr. Rahm shares with Lauren how she manifests and the importance of her prayer-and-meditation practices. This is a life-giving section that will inspire and encourage.

Plus, like any good girl-talk, [55:33] Dr. Rahm circles back around to the importance of her spirituality.

 🔖 Chapters 🔖

 0:30 - Lauren's opening monologue

4:36 - What drives Dr. Rahm to do everything she's done

8:45 - Dr. Rahm explains the power in natural remedies

10:18 - She made a decision in what should've been an end-of-life experience

11:15 - Who helped her get to this level of creation and output?

16:47 - How her pharmaceutical research spawned her wellness company

21:18 - Dr. Rahm: 'We all could live longer than 120 years'

24:30 - Why do we think pharmaceuticals are the only things that work?

26:19 - The failure of our medical system

30:04 - When Dr. Rahm started getting attacked for her ideas

33:08 - The food we eat is sorely lacking in nutrition

38:50 - Dr. Rahm wants to educate people how and when to balance natural and medical approaches

40:40 - How do we heal the Earth?

43:18 - **Dr. Rahm's ability to envision and speak things into existence**

51:15 - The sheer amount of toxic things that are absorbed through the skin

55:33 - The benefits of prayer and meditation for Dr. Rahm

59:50 - What lesson is Dr. Rahm learning RIGHT NOW? Love without expectation.

✔️ Show Notes✔️

Root Wellness: Clean Slate (detoxify the body)

✔️ Connect with Dr. Christina Rahm ✔️

Connect through Instagram
On her website
Through her artistic pursuits: Under the Red Chandelier

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

This episode will make you think twice before you say 'it's my truth.' Because... what if your truth is wrong?

In this episode, host Lauren Lowrey highlights her own incorrect, unconscious and unhealthy belief around a tiny-little-4-letter-word and how she's working to combat it. She teaches you the questions to ask to root-out belief systems that aren't serving you.

Plus, learn the science behind changing how you think as Lauren shares how she's applying it to herself.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You find yourself hitting the same walls (repeatedly) in your personal growth journey

- You see unhealthy beliefs in other people, but you need help seeing them in yourself

- You want to learn how to rewire your brain to change old, unhealthy patterns

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren fleshing out the situation around our personal blindness. We can see others so clearly, but we rarely see ourselves. That part takes REAL work. 

• [4:55] Lauren walks you through how we build unconscious belief systems and explains the one she's working through right now. 
• [10:48] What does the research say around creating and changing belief systems? First, we have to understand how beliefs are created, neurologically.
• [13:21] Lauren details exactly how she intends to rewire her unconscious beliefs. 
 

 🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:29 - Fleshing out the problem

2:00 - We all have blindness when it comes to self

4:55 - We build unconscious belief systems around lies

6:36 - Stop and smell the roses

9:13 - What belief system do you have that's just plain wrong?

10:48 - How do you change your beliefs? Change your pathways!

12:43 - How long does that actually take?

13:21 - How will Lauren spend rewiring this issue?

 ✔️ Show Notes✔️

I want the Mantra Maker and Mirror worksheets! Email Lauren@ampstigator.com or DM "MANTRA MAKER" on Instagram
The backstory of how Lauren got sick and what she learned (Spotify | Apple)

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

You can't truly know a person until you meet their therapist (LOL). In this week's episode, host Lauren Lowrey introduces you to Tonia Dixon, LPC -- the woman who helped Lauren heal the trauma of her hospitalizations in August.

Hear Tonia describe the latest trends in mental wellness, what has surprised her in the last 5 years of client work, and why she doesn't think athletes get a fair shake. Be INSPIRED to set your boundaries around work and learn to include yourself in your schedule.

Tonia has spent decades listening to others but the tables have turned as we listen to her talk about her work helping professional athletes, military members and people of all backgrounds find peace and purpose.

 
💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You find yourself working long, hard days and are looking for suggestions on how to cut it off and protect your peace.
• You’re curious about going to therapy and want some insight into the trends seen in the profession as our world keeps changing.

• You need help overcoming the guilt of taking care of yourself
  

• You think it's so cool that Tonia is a former NFL cheerleader and now a Hall of Fame mental health provider

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

This episode begins with Tonia describing how necessary it is to practice what she preaches. She details how she protects her own mental health despite hearing difficult things from people throughout the week.

• [13:47] Given her background as an NFL cheerleader, Tonia explains her clinical interest in athletes, saying they 'don't get a fair shake.' She describes that when a person excels in any athletic pursuit - even if it's just through high school - they must be taught how to apply that need to move energy in adulthood. It's so much more than physical!
• [26:59] Tonia describes her delicate but strong ability to have mindful moments. She teaches you the grounding practices that take mere seconds to implement and the messages it sends to the body.  
• [42:03] Tonia talks about the trends she's seen emerge in the last five years, specifically that she's seen high-functioning people begin to really struggle in a way she had only previously seen in populations with severe and persistent mental illness.
• [46:14] Hear how Tonia masterfully carves up her day to make sure she never OVER-works herself. She explains her cut-off times, how many hours a day she works and how she maintains her own balance.

Plus, [50:15] she gives you the tips on how to NEVER feel guilty for taking care of yourself.

 🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:30 - Lauren's opening monologue and background on why she started seeing Tonia

4:08 - How Tonia practices her message every day

7:01 - Tonia's background in listening

8:08 - To feel is to be human. To be human is to change.

10:55 - Tonia was an NFL cheerleader?!?

13:47 - Her clinical interest in athletes

17:15 - The commonalities between athletes and soldiers

23:10 - The error in calling things "good" or "bad"

24:36 - Tonia's lesson right now: you never know what you're gonna get

26:59 - The power in mindful moments

33:25 - The opposite of a serious mental health crisis is a high functioning adult who needs help

39:14 - The trends have changed in the last 5 years

42:03 - How civilization and society shape us

46:14 - How Tonia carves her day in a way that allows for space

50:15 - Overcoming feeling guilty for taking care of yourself

55:51 - What's up next on AMPstigator

 ✔️ Show Notes✔️
Ep. 31 "At What Cost" where Lauren details her hospitalizations in August

Ep. 23 Clara Belden is "The Untitled" (the person who first set up Lauren with Tonia)

The Happy Hour, a mental wellness studio where Lauren sees Tonia

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Being a published author 25 times, those on the outside saw J.T. Ellison as the definition of success. Internally, she was painfully (and repeatedly) struggling with personal tragedy.

Driven by a years-long battle with loss and infertility, J.T. channeled that energy into her 25th published book (It's One of Us, released Feb. 21st, 2023) – in what she calls the most important work she’s ever done. It’s not the typical subject matter you’d expect from a thriller novel because J.T. isn’t your typical thriller writer.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You’re looking for new perspective on an internal struggle - for you or someone you love
• You feel like just when one thing in your life is taking off, something else is falling apart
• You’re looking for a new thriller to read and the subjects of loss, lies and a killer on the loose sounds fascinating

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

This episode begins with J.T. admitting her art was imitating her life in her new novel, It's One of Us. She shares how she was finally ready to face that reality on the page. 

• [10:30] J.T. opens up about her personal journey with infertility and what was going on behind closed doors while she was experiencing such enormous success in her career.
• [22:00] Don’t call it therapeutic. JT had to relive her pain to write a book that so closely mirrored her own life. But the book isn’t a downer – it’ll make you ask yourself 'what would you do in this crazy situation the main character finds herself in?'
  
• [32:45] J.T. has a lesson for creatives who start finding their own success and what it may mean for them in their personal life and relationships.
• [37:45] One of our favorite quotes from J.T. is around the power of what you say. "Words are powerful and you can talk yourself into a failed career with how you treat your work," says Ellison.
  

 🔖 Chapters 🔖

2:41 - The inspiration for her new book, It's One of Us

6:05 - Why it took nearly 10 years to write and release this book

10:30 - J.T.'s miscarriages

12:20 - Parallel paths (success & tragedy)

17:18 - How the pain showed up in earlier characters

18:01 - The emotion of infertility

22:00 - Reliving the pain to bring characters to life

24:17 - It's a story of 'what would you do?'

26:35 - How J.T. got her start as a writer

29:55 - How J.T. started writing thrillers

32:48 - J.T.'s boundaries around writing

36:20 - What's the lesson? Remember the joy

37:30 - Be present. Be positive.

40:30 - Why this is her most important work

43:25 - What J.T. hopes will happen with this book

46:30 - Not caring about others' opinions

52:41 - Coming up next week

 ✔️ Connect with J.T. Ellison✔️
On Instagram through her personal page

Her website

Buy her newest novel, It's One of Us

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

We look for reflections everywhere - in our friends, on our social feeds, in our work - but when do we ever see who we really are? In this episode of 2 Words that will Change Your Life, host Lauren Lowrey shows you how cameras give the ultimate reflection. 

Listen as she shares stories from her own life as she learned how to be her true self. 

 
💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You've ever seen a picture or video of yourself and said 'that doesn't look like me'
• You need help seeing your true self but can't find a good reflection
• You're curious about Lauren's methods using cameras for solid self-reflection

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website

AMPstigator on Youtube

AMPstigator Instagram

Lauren's Instagram

Burnout was so real for author and entrepreneur Jessica Zweig it manifested itself in the form of severe depression and anxiety. It cost her her happiness, her peace and nearly her business. That is, until she was able to open herself up to ask for (and receive!) help.

A trip to the other side of the world helped Jessica leave behind how she’s been programmed to think, act and be –  and see the path forward. 

In this episode, you'll hear how the former hustlin' boss babe shed the skin of overwhelm and stepped into a divinely feminine mode in her life and work. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

-You’ve been wanting to take a pilgrimage to gain some perspective on your own life and happiness

-You’re having trouble in your professional life, with motivation, or with the path you’re on and you need reframing

-You want to stop making apologies for being a strong woman and are looking for ways to channel that energy

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺

This episode begins with Lauren asking about what high-vibe emotions Jessica's been feeling lately. It initiates a soul-led conversation where Jessica describes a recent journey to Egypt and the full body experience that helped her shed her skin.

• [7:47] Lauren gives Jessica a new way to look at her relationship with her husband that makes her feel less guilty talking with other women about her marriage.
• [21:06] How Jess realized she was acting like a freaking VICTIM, turned it around and launched her personal branding juggernaut SimpleBe.
• [33:30] Jess describes how she reached full-on physical depletion and how it manifested as depression. She shares how moving from Chicago to Nashville helped her address it. 
• [42:56] An unexpected moment when Lauren mentions something specific about Jessica that is so spot on – she reveals she has a tattoo of the very thing Lauren is talking about. 

 🔖 Chapters 🔖
3:01 - The high-vibe emotion Jessica Zweig is feeling right now

4:34 - Emotional breakdowns, depression & anxiety

5:30 - Jess details going to Egypt

7:47 - The gift of husbands

10:41 - Women are the holders of wisdom

15:32 - Womb wisdom

19:29 - The stories we tell ourselves

21:06 - Jess realized she was being a VICTIM, but she has CONTROL

24:11 - The power in intentions

28:35 - Who was Jessica Zweig 6 years ago?

33:30 - Jess reaches full and utter burnout manifesting as depression

35:14 - Jess admits she was ready to sell her business

40:14 - The fallacy in thinking taking care of yourself is a luxury

42:56 - HIGH PRIESTESS MODE

45:50 - Your power is in your NONdoing

1:02:10 - What's coming up next week

✔️ Show Notes✔️

Rea Frey episode where she addresses primal screaming [Apple | Spotify]
Article on how ketamine helps in treating depression

 ✔️ Connect with Jessica Zweig ✔️
On Instagram through her personal page or SimplyBe Agency
Her website
Read her book, Be. A no bullsh*t guide to increasing your self worth and net worth by simply being yourself

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

We rarely celebrate. WHY IS THAT!?! Celebrations aren't just for birthdays and big promotions. They're for marking the moments that MATTER. For AMPstigator founder/host Lauren Lowrey, the launch of this podcast was a date worth marking. 

This re-launch of Season 3 falls intentionally on AMPstigator's one year anniversary, February 15th. In this solo episode, Lauren details what 2/15 really represents. Part surrender. Part truce. Part celebration. She walks you through the 5 questions to ask yourself to find times in your life that are worth marking.

Lauren also shares how she spent her two-month "creative winter" from Dec '22 to Feb '23 and how the time away from AMPstigator became an unexpected opportunity for advocacy work around maternal heart health.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You really missed AMPstigator and you wonder how Lauren passed the time for the last two months.

- You're not the best about celebrating things and you need a kick in the pants

- You've heard bits and pieces of Lauren's life-threatening heart event and you want the full story

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren sharing why the mid-season relaunch was placed on February 15th, 2023. But it isn't all unicorns and rainbows! This date represents waaaaay more than celebration.

• [3:54]  Lauren shares why she calls February 15th her personal Armistice day. She delves into the truce she brokered between her body and her destiny to release AMPstigator.
  
•  [5:12] Lauren details the three amazing honors that came ALL DURING THE CREATIVE BREAK. She learned AMPstigator was in the Top 10% of Most Shared Podcasts globally on Spotify. Then a few days later, the Nashville Business Journal named her to the Top 40 under 40. By January, the American Heart Association named her a Woman of Impact to raise awareness about maternal heart health.
• [8:34] Lauren shares, in great detail, the life-threatening heart event she experienced in 2018 after the birth of her second child. She details the sensations she felt and how she advocated for herself in the hospital - even when the tests showed nothing! Lauren needs your help, TOO! You can donate by clicking this link.
• [20:15] Plus! You get your favorite meditative mind prompts to find the moments in your life that are worth MARKING.

 🔖 Chapters 🔖

1:17 - Why Feb. 15th is the release date

3:54 - My personal Armistice day

5:12 - Awesome things that came during the break

8:34 - Lauren's heart story

20:15 - Meditative mind prompts

 ✔️ Show Notes✔️

Contribute to Lauren's Woman of Impact campaign through the American Heart Assoc.
4 signs your creativity needs a vacay AMPstigator (Spotify | Apple)
The backstory of how Lauren got sick and what she learned (Spotify | Apple)

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

You once loved it dearly, but now you dread doing the very thing that made your heart sing. How do you reverse it? We're glad you asked because that's EXACTLY what today's episode is all about: why your creativity NEEDS A VACAY and how to turn it around.

In this solo episode, AMPstigator host Lauren Lowrey walks you through her own experience with burnout and why you need to take a "creative winter," even if its preemptive. She encourages you to explore the seasonality of creativity and how you can take charge of your process by incorporating the wisdom of nature into your yearly rhythms.

Creativity should never be a grind. It's sacred. Keep it that way.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You currently dread to do things you used to LOVE to do
- You've been feeling like your creative juices JUST AIN'T FLOWIN'
- You want to explore the seasonality of creativity
- You love the way Lauren tells stories and teaches lessons

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren sharing what singer/songwriters were saying on the red carpet at the CMA Awards November 8th and how that inspired today's episode.

• [3:58]  Lauren explores the 4 reasons your creativity needs a vacay and how to remind yourself that creativity is sacred.
  
• [10:39] Nature seems to shutdown in the winter but much is still accomplished. Lauren explores the wisdom in the winter season and how you can apply it to your own creative process.
• [16:23] Okay, okay! You want to take a break but you don't know where to begin. Lauren shares her 4 best tips for creating your winter.

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:37 - Lauren's epiphany on the red carpet
2:14 - What it took for Lauren to build AMPstigator (and where to learn more)
3:58 - 4 Reasons Why Your Creativity NEEDS A VACAY
4:16 - #1 Creativity is sacred
5:37 - #2 Creativity takes time
9:08 - #3 Creativity dies with drudgery
10:39 - #4 There's seasonality to creativity
15:02 - What a "Creative Winter" looks like for Lauren
16:23 - Lauren's 4 tips on how to create your Creative Winter
18:27 - Why you gotta be open to whatever happens in your Creative Winter

 ✔️ Show Notes✔️
Lauren was interviewed about finding purpose and creating AMPstigator (Spotify | Apple)
The backstory of how Lauren got sick and what she learned (Spotify | Apple)

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Consider this episode your call to action as trademark attorney Aleece McKnight encourages you to STOP fitting the mold.

Much of her advice comes from working with creatives to protect their intellectual property. She's also personally struggled to fit into they typical image of an attorney. After years of practicing family law, criminal law, civil litigation, bankruptcy and personal injury, Aleece admitted to herself she hated it all!

In 2019 she quit the big law firm to take time away, find silence and re-set. In that time of soul-searching she remembered her love of non-traditional law – particularly working within intellectual property. By the end of the same year, she started a law firm specifically to help and protect the work of entrepreneurs. 

In this episode Aleece reminds us: you were called to break the mold.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You're fascinated by Aleece's story of hating traditional law and creating her own firm.
- You want to know why creatives need to protect their intellectual property
- You want to learn how Lauren found Aleece to do work for AMPstigator

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Aleece sharing her personal story of practicing law but HATING it. She knew she wanted to be an attorney, so she needed to go back to the drawing board to discover what type of law to practice. It's how she remembered "non-traditional" careers in trademark and intellectual property.

• [7:44] When Aleece went out on her own as an attorney, she didn't have anyone who really supported her. Those around her would send job-postings even after she opened her own firm. Aleece shares the difficulty of being unsupported.
• [20:31] Aleece teaches her lesson about NOT fitting the mold. She details how crucial it is to find the path you were meant to walk. Sometimes that means walking alone, but others will always come alongside when you choose to live with purpose. She also teaches that you can break out of the mold you made for yourself -- for reinvention!
• [36:25] In this excerpt, Aleece explains why you must let things unfold with Divine timing. You can believe for an increase, but just because you want it doesn't mean you're ready for it. She encourages you to trust how things unfold.  

Plus, Aleece shares what it's like to work with people every day who are pursuing their purpose. 

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:37 - Lauren’s opening monologue
3:01 - How Aleece arrived in non-traditional law
6:48 - Aleece was reluctant to start her own firm
7:44 - The lack of support and encouragement 
11:23 - How Lauren found Aleece
12:45 - How Aleece is living with purpose
14:48 - Typical ages of Aleece's clients
17:18 - Aleece wants to be accessible to creatives
20:31 - LESSON #1: DON'T FIT THE MOLD
24:48 - Where Aleece isn't finding peace
29:55 - LESSON #2: "In order to become, you have to let things BE."
36:25 - LESSON #3: "Just because you want something doesn't mean you're ready."
41:48 - People didn't support Aleece
44:18 - She gets to choose who she works with
47:20 - What happens when you step out in purpose
50:29 - Imposter Syndrome (You belong here)  
55:46 - Coming up Next Week on Ep. 44

 ✔️ Connect with Aleece McKnight✔️
Her website
Connect on Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

When was the best time in your life? How 'bout the worst time? In this episode, AMPstigator host Lauren Lowrey is put on the hot-seat by two friends and podcast guests Dr. Joyce WIlliams and Keli Alvarez. Together, they turn the series of questions on the host. Press play to hear her answers!

Prepare to learn more about Lauren in the first 25 minutes than she's ever shared on this podcast before.

This episode also explores the lessons these three women are learning right now as they encourage you 'this, too, shall pass.'

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You've heard Lauren ask hundreds of questions on this podcast and you're ready for someone to interview her!
- You're curious about the lessons these 3 women are learning in real-time
- You listened to Part 1 of this conversation when it was released (Sep. 13th) as Episode 32 and you're ready to hear the rest.

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with host Lauren Lowrey taking a turn in the hot-seat. The first 25 minutes of the episode has Lauren answering the original AMPstigator questions from Seasons 1 & 2. She begins with the best time in her life. 

• [10:59] Hear what Lauren calls 'the worst time in her life.' It's a section she thought about cutting out of this episode but decided to leave it in for honesty and authenticity's sake.
• [19:53] Lauren shares the reoccurring lesson she's learned 3 times in her life. She explains the meaning behind 'what got me here isn't why I'm here' and how you can use this powerful statement to ensure you're seeing the gift in every situation.
• [43:07] The three women set the record straight on all-girl exclusivity -- whether it's building community or an eye-roll producing extra.

Plus, in the episode's final minutes [54:01] Lauren shares her theory about spouses and partners – and what you can learn about your friends just from watching their significant other. 

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:36 - Lauren's opening monologue
4:49 - Lauren answers the Best Time, Worst Time questions
8:50 - Post-traumatic growth & radical acceptance
10:59 - The worst time in Lauren's life
16:09 - What Lauren's been saying a lot lately: "At What Cost?"
19:53 - Lauren's reoccurring lesson: "What got you here isn't why you're here"
24:39 - What Dr. Joyce would tell her younger self: "You don't have to learn the lesson."
28:17 - What Keli would tell her 32 yr old self: "Run the mile you're in!"
35:37 - Learning to take the good with the bad
39:14 - How Dr. Joyce sees death and mortality
42:07 - Dr Joyce: "Everyone is here for a purpose"
43:07 - Setting the record straight on all-girl exclusivity; structure of seeking out community
50:44 - The necessity of female friendships
54:01 - Lauren's theory about spouses
57:09 - Coming up next week on #AMPstigator

📝Show notes📝
The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk
Ep. 31 At What Cost (Spotify, Apple)
Ep. 32 Cultivating Deep Female Friendships (Spotify, Apple)
Ep. 26 Transforming your worst time into your BEST (#Find the GIft) (Spotify, Apple)

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Prepare to gain a new perspective on giving from a powerhouse business woman who's co-founded a tech startup, run a non-profit, served on beaucoup boards and helped name the AMPstigator video podcast.

Pat Shea has provided background support for AMPstigator's efforts for the last 15 months, but now she makes her podcast debut with the lesson "How Giving Connects Us."

In this episode, Pat teaches you how to create a movement and shares why asking someone for money is actually doing them A FAVOR.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You follow AMPstigator on Instagram and loved the quotes you saw from Pat Shea
- You want to know more about the impact Pat had on AMPstigator and Lauren's roster of guests
- Pat's ideas around the power of giving are quite novel

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Host Lauren Lowrey sharing her first connection with Pat Shea over smash-burgers and fries. The two women became fast friends and Shea even helped name the podcast.

• [14:07] Pat is known for her knack for raising money and in this episode she shares why! It may surprise you to learn when Pat asks for money she sees it as doing YOU a FAVOR. She explains how her belief is based in human behavior.
• [25:43] Pat also encourages us to check-in with our motives to give. Research shows when we give joyfully, we're much healthier. In this part of the episode, she shares how giving has always been a great tool for self-love.
• [40:29] Pat & Lauren gush over the James Webb Telescope images that show the universe still being created. Pat reflects on how images of star nurseries influence her belief that we're all connected.

Plus, find out what's next for Pat Shea [47:03] in the realms of giving, politics and fundraising.

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:36 - Lauren's opening monologue
3:48 - How Pat Shea helped name this podcast
4:28 - Pat's personal story
8:01 - Pat co-founded a tech start-up in the giving space
13:30 - Pat's always been generous
14:07 - Fundraising is a favor to the giver
16:41 - Pat's lesson: How giving connects us
24:08 - You aren't on a solo journey
25:43 - Joyful giving is a form of self-love
28:14 - Health impacts of giving
33:31 - Pat has an internal purpose radar
35:13 - Pat is known for her 'LET'S DO IT' attitude
36:59 - What you give is often what you need
38:36 - Giving as a currency
40:29 - Lauren and Pat are obsessed with the James Webb Telescope images
42:28 - What things exist around us that we're unaware of?
47:07 - What's next for Pat Shea?
52:32 - Coming up next week on #AMPstigator


✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Just because someone has letters behind their name DOES NOT mean they have it all figured out. So, what lesson is a doctoral-level therapist learning right now? 

In this episode of AMPstigator, Dr. PaQuita Pullen, a therapist-professor-yoga instructor, shares the role scarcity continues to play in her life. You'll also learn how she helps her patients UNLEARN behavior to rediscover purpose. 

In this LAUGH-OUT-LOUD episode, Dr. P gives real talk about having a clinician of color and what it's like to show up each day from a place of wholeness.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You follow AMPstigator on Instagram and LOLed with every Dr. P clip
- You're a high-functioning female in public, but a mess in private
- You want to know what lesson a therapist is learning in her own life

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Dr. Pullen describing her therapy practice, Ubuntu Counseling & Wellness, which offers personal coaching and development for anyone who needs mental health help. Dr. Pullen shares stats on the stunning lack of clinicians of color in America.

• [21:10] Dr. P describes what steps to take to find just the right therapist and why it's so necessary to get the perfect fit. Plus, how to know when you've outgrown your therapist.
• [23:45] Dr. P gets into the meat of the lesson of how to overcome scarcity. She helps you notice when fear from others is projected on to you and how fear can flourish within you. So, how do we root it out?
• [57:21] Dr. P describes her calling to train other clinicians of color. One of her focuses is on teaching therapy students to ask the right questions. She shares a story from her own experience that illustrates the power in how we pose questions. 
• [1:02:11] In the final 8 minutes of the episode, host Lauren Lowrey asks Dr. P if everyone needs stillness. Her captivating answer gives insight into human needs and provides permission for stillness to take whatever form feels right for the practitioner. 
  

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:36 - Lauren's opening monologue
3:40 - The meaning of 'Ubuntu'
9:38 -  How ACES scores affect your personal development
13:35 - The lack of clinicians of color
19:13 - You have to find a therapist who you CONNECT WITH
23:45 - Dr. P's lesson in Overcoming Scarcity, Part 1
28:52 - #SoftBlackGirl
34:17 - How Dr. P helps people UNLEARN on their path to purpose
40:01 - Dr. P's lesson, Part 2: Sometimes people project their scarcity on you
44:41 - How your personal transformation may threaten other people
57:21 - The proper way to ask questions
1:02:12 - Ask Dr. P: 'Does everyone need stillness?'
1:12:10 - Coming up next week on #AMPstigator


✔️ Connect with Dr. PaQuita Pullen✔️
Ubuntu Counseling

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Alyssa Rosenheck is living in a forceful season of non-attachment. Once you listen to this episode you'll understand how it's made her stronger.

In this episode of AMPstigator, Alyssa shares her personal evolution from workaholic, to cancer survivor, to acclaimed creative. Her work as a celebrated architectural/interiors photographer provides the metaphors for her own life as she explores the light and shadows in herself. It's been the platform from which she's expanded into titles like 'celebrated speaker' and 'best-selling author.'

In this episode, Alyssa reflects on her use of visualization and meditation to show how powerful it's been in her physical healing and how you can use it in your own life. She also shares how she's embracing her divinely feminine wisdom and the role it plays in her work.

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺

Alyssa shares her personal journey and her all-around views on life through stories and laughter. The episode begins with Host Lauren Lowrey's assessment of Alyssa's impressive evolution.

• [3:33] Alyssa admits she's an old soul but has realized she can redefine who she is as many times as she wants. It's an empowering message for every listener.
  
• [9:32] Alyssa shares how creativity saved her life during her battle with cancer and reveals how she felt called to pick up a camera. 
• [21:18] Visualization and meditation are incredibly powerful practices for Alyssa. She begins to share how she uses both and how they play into this episode's life lesson.
• [41:57] In the final 20 minutes, the conversation turns to the divine feminine energies Alyssa draws on for her creativity. 

Plus, Alyssa shares throughout the episode how she roots herself daily in different stilling practices. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You're a fan of Alyssa's photography and style
- You're going through a heavy time in your life and you want advice on how to handle it
- You're interested in learning how someone can balance their feminine and masculine energies

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:37 - Lauren’s opening monologue
3:33 - Alyssa is an old soul
5:24 - We get to redefine ourselves, change our story
8:13 - Work. Build. Create.
9:32 - How photography healed Alyssa
14:21 - Alyssa’s lens “identifies holes” in a space
17:34 - Photography plants seeds
19:42 - Alyssa needs inner stillness
21:18 - The power of visualization
23:01 - Alyssa’s a Generator in Human Design
25:17 - ALYSSA’S LESSON - Non, attachment, allowing & listening
34:16 - How do I want to show up today?
36:26 - The importance of VISUALIZATION!!!!
41:57 - Masculine-Feminine energies
45:41 - A woman is powerful on her cycle
48:40 - Living in your light exposes others’ shadows
55:23 - How Alyssa continues to find inspiration in her work
1:00:44 - Coming up Next Week

✔️ Connect with Alyssa Rosenheck✔️
Her website
Connect on Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

How do you define success? And is that definition even yours?

 In today's solo episode, Host Lauren Lowrey shows why your definition of success is holding you back from PURPOSE. She encourages you to eradicate the word success and instead replace it with a better word that's expansive, uplifting and releases you from others' expectations of you.

In the final minutes, Lauren guides you as you uncover your true definition of success. She creates a mindful moment and guided meditation to help you understand your truth around what you're striving for.

It's another encouraging episode that will leave you calmer, lighter and ready to reconnect with what you really want.

 📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren explaining why you need to hear this episode RIGHT NOW and how your views of success are holding you back from finding purpose. 

• [1:30] Lauren starts by defining the word success and why we're so tied to it's financial implications
• [3:42] She unveils the word you should be using instead and shares how she uses it in daily affirmations.
• [10:06] Lauren shows how this idea of productivity is killing us. It's keeping us from discovering what we're really meant to do. We can't cultivate purpose when we're living by other people's rules.

PLUS, Lauren uses her knack for asking questions to guide you [11:34] through prompts and a meditation to uncover what you really want!

 💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You feel overwhelmed by the hustle and struggle of the pressure to be 'successful'
- You feel like the bar for success is way too high and you need help figuring out a better way
- You love Lauren's way of breaking down complex concepts and making change RELATABLE
 

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:36 - Your idea of 'success' is holding you back from purpose
1:30 - The actual definition of success
3:42 - The word we'll use to replace 'success'
4:21 - Lauren's daily affirmations using the new word
6:29 - How replacing the word 'success' connects you back to gratitude
8:10 - How we're processing 'success' in the body
10:07 - Why your definition of success is keeping you from purpose
11:34 - Lauren's Prompts + guided meditation
14:15 - An exciting guest is coming up next week!

Show notes:
Ep. 26 "Find the Gift" Transforming your worst time into your best time

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Grief and loss are powerful emotions, but they can also be your greatest teachers. In today's episode, entrepreneur/wife/mom Katie Radel goes deep on her relationship with death, even calling it her "greatest teacher."

Katie grew up working in the family funeral home business, working Visitations, cutting the grass and maintaining the hearse. She saw what death did to families but was most struck by how people were remembered.

"I have this strange habit," says Katie. "I read obituaries all the time. To me, it’s just another reminder that ‘this life is short,’ and ‘what do you want that to say?’”

She was confronted with death when someone incredibly close to her died. Katie talks through what she learned through that traumatic loss and what it meant for her failing marriage at the time.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You know, first-hand, the pain of losing someone close to you
- You're fascinated by the concept that grief/loss could influence how you live
- You love Katie Radel and the PR work she does for companies and non-profits
 

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Katie talking through the odd-jobs she performed while working at -and living above- her family's funeral home. But the conversation quickly transitions to why death became her teacher.

• [9:01] How constantly seeing death taught Katie to live a fuller, more balanced life.
• [11:18] When Katie lost her mom, it made her realize she needed to divorce her husband and leave her failing marriage.
• [29:24] Katie's flow from entrepreneurship, back to corporate life, and then into the creation of a new company after her son was born.

Plus, host Lauren Lowrey goes deep into [45:23] abundance versus success and Katie Radel gives parting words about listening to your intuition [55:07].

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:36 - Lauren's opening monologue
3:22 - Katie grew up in a funeral home
7:50 - Death brings out the best & worst
9:01 - 'Death has taught me how to live'
11:18 - Losing her marriage and her mom
18:32 - Katie's familiarity with loss
19:32 - When Katie feels her mom's presence
23:09 - Katie's end-of-life plans
29:24 - Katie's profession in PR/Marketing
36:59 - Being a working mom is harrrrrrd
41:01 - Was anyone ever buried in their THINGS? No!
42:36 - The wisdom in obituaries
45:23 - Lauren's take: 'Success vs. Abundance'
52:28 - Lauren's take: 'Purpose comes from pain'
55:07 - Katie reminds us to trust our intuition
56:53 - Lauren's tease to next week

Show notes:
Ep. 18 Shannon Schottler, The Illuminator

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

We talk entirely too much! If our mouths aren't yappin', our minds will certainly fill the void. In this eternal conversation with our intuition, our racing thoughts create a barrier for us to listen to the guidance. You’re missing the best parts of your spiritual experience because you just can’t figure out how to SHUT UP.

So in this episode, we help you find ways to close your mouth, quiet your mind and just LISTEN to what you're being guided to do. 

 
💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• Your mind talks too much and you can't get it quiet
• You're interested in research around why we do the things we do
• You need the Top 5 research supported ways to clear your mind

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with Lauren laying out what this episode is all about - SHUTTING UP! She shares her history as a compulsive communicator and what she's learned from getting quiet. In this episode, we also get into:

• [3:02] The sheer amount of research done about people who talk too much. There's even a Talkaholic scale where you can measure if you're a compulsive communicator. 
• [6:12] The newest estimates about the number of thoughts you think every day and how overwhelming that would be if you said them out loud!
• [7:11] The Top 5 research-supported ways to quiet your mind. Lauren digs into the research around how to find calm and stillness in your mind and body.  

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:27 - Here's why you need to listen to this episode

1:54 - Little Lauren talked too much!

3:04 - Psychological research around talking too much

4:26 - Your mouth is closed but your mind won't stop talking 

6:12 - You think 6,200 thoughts every day; your mind won't shut up

7:11 - Top 5 research-supported ways to quiet your mind (#1 Meditate)

8:57 - #2 Be in Nature

10:03 - #3 Be Creative/Artsy

11:33 - #4 Start journaling

12:55 - #5 Physical exercise

13:57 - Shut up your mind; listen to your intuition! 

🗈 Show Notes 🗈

Talkaholic Scale (found here)

Ep. 59 JUST ASK (2 Words that will Change Your Life) [Spotify | Apple]

Ep. 56 The 7 surprising things that started happening when I meditated 2hrs/day [Spotify | Apple]

Ep. 31 At what cost? (When doing it all nearly kills you) [Spotify | Apple]

Ep. 39 How to trust, allow & let go (w/ Alyssa Rosenheck) [Spotify | Apple]

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website

AMPstigator on Youtube

AMPstigator Instagram

Lauren's Instagram

When was the last time you did something that took REAL courage? Something that made you nervous or forced you to trust yourself in a new way?

Sometimes courage can mean standing up for what's right. Other times it's more like accepting where you are in the present moment and saying to yourself: I belong here.

In this episode, speaker/author/entrepreneur Brittany Cole shares the times she's felt she might not belong and how she found courage to keep going. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You need encouragement about stepping into what's meant for you
- You love diverse viewpoints on DE&I and leadership
- You respect the personal journey of someone who left a major corp. to become an entrepreneur

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Brittany Cole talking about what "thriving" means to her. Her company "Career Thrivers" helps train and equip leaders, so it's a word she uses often.

• [3:47] Brittany shares her belief that thriving comes from proper alignment with your gifts and interests, plus when you're aligned, you also operate with ease and flow. 
• [5:58] Brittany's advice on what to do when you've worked your whole life for a goal, only to reach it and realize it doesn't make you happy.
• [14:50] You can't pour from an empty cup! Here, Brittany describes how to pour from your overflow.
• [20:30] Brittany shares today's life lesson: you belong where your feet are! She details the times she's wondered if she's ready for the challenge in front of her. You'll hear how she taps into courage and reminds herself she's been brought to this very moment -- and how you can find the courage, too!

Plus, during the interview [44:48] I was able to make the always-in-control Brittany Cole squirm by asking her one very specific question. SHE ANSWERED IT and shared something her FUTURE PLANS for Career Thrivers. 

 
🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:36 - Lauren's opening monologue
3:47 - What is 'thriving' to Brittany Cole?
5:58 - When Brittany WASN'T aligned
10:20 - How Brittany finds balance
14:50 - Pour from your OVERFLOW
20:30 - Lesson: "You belong where your feet are"
36:04 - Brittany battling personal identity and labels
44:48 - Brittany's vision for Career Thrivers
  

Show notes:
Lauren & Brittany's mutual friends who've been on AMPstigator: DeLisa Guerrier (Ep. 10) and Kirbee Miller (Ep. 25)
Ep. 23 Clara Belden "The Untitled," including an authenticity exercise in Ep. 23

 ✔️ Connect with Brittany Cole✔️
On her company website
Through her personal website
On Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

How do you handle it when you've been hijacked by your emotions?

When we consistently try to not to feel the suckiest of emotions, it sets us up to be completely derailed when one of them takes over.

In this episode, AMPstigator Host & Founder Lauren Lowrey talks you through a recent time where she was hijacked by fear, how she regained control and the questions she asked herself to find the true source of the emotion.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
-You're living in emotional limbo while you regularly try to diminish what you feel
-You realize it isn't healthy to keep avoiding the sucky emotions
-You're ready to heal a past hurt and let go

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren explaining a recent event where she was triggered at the sight of a friend's hospital wristband. Seeing the band immediately resulted in tears, which led Lauren into deep inquisition around the pain she stored and what needed healing.

• [4:50] Lauren explains the 6 emotions social scientists say are most often considered 'hijacking' emotions
• [9:19] She walks you through how to start asking yourself the questions that matter, like 'what's really stored here?' and 'what's the deepest source of this emotion?'
• [13:04] Lauren gives practical examples of how to process the most difficult emotions
• [15:03] Plus, she shares her formula, the 4 things Lauren does to calm her mind and recenter herself after a hijacking episode.

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:38 - When Lauren was triggered by fear
2:25 - Make sure to listen to Ep. 31 "At What Cost" first
3:29 - Disconnection from our bodies
4:50 - The Sucky Six emotions (anger, sadness, grief, guilt, shame, fear)
7:48 - Missing the message from the emotions
9:19 - Asking yourself questions that matter
11:56 - Lauren identifies the source of her fear
13:04 - How to handle the emotion (example w/ Recycling center)
15:03 - Finding your formula (Lauren's 4 go-to's)
18:47 - Let's review! What happens when we feel hijacking emotions?
21:01 - Next week's episode
 

Show notes:
Ep. 31: At What Cost? When doing it all nearly kills you
Ep. 17: 3 Questions to Deepen Self Awareness

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

If you're burning yourself out from constant & punishing work, this episode is for you. Bestselling author Rea Frey is here to teach you a lesson about your value. Girlfriend, you have nothing to prove.

Rea's written 9 books and co-authored/ghost-written another 50 books. Her company Writeway has also shepherded another 100 books to publishing in the last 2 years. She's been SOOO busy. But she's standing on her soap box teaching the lesson she's had to recently learn: she doesn't have to do anything to prove anything to anybody. No one determines her value. Just her. 

In this episode, Rea hammers the importance of getting out of your head and into your body, and how to down-regulate your system with one simple decision. 

Plus(!!!), she introduces us to primal screaming: the way she handles her sacred feminine rage. Did you know this was a thing?!?

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You struggle with constantly over-working to the point of burn-out
- You want to know how Rea balances creativity with entrepreneurship
- You're interested to learn how Rea uses her gut-instinct in client work
- You have an interest in the practical and "the woo-woo."

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Rea and Lauren talking in-depth about their shared Human Design. Both women are "Manifesters" which gives them an immediate gut instinct in most every situation.

• [10:07] How you can cultivate your intuition, no matter your design
• [11:00] Rea gets into her work as a writer. She's authored, co-authored, and ghost-written nearly 60 books and has a contract right now to write 3 more of her own fiction novels.
• [30:40] Rea discusses sacred feminine rage and how her primal screaming practice has changed how she handles anger.
• [40:11] Lauren & Rea help you understand how easy it is to down-regulate your system with one simple step (hint: it may not be easy, but it's simple)

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:36 - Lauren's opening monologue
2:53 - Meet Rea Frey!
4:21 - Rea's gut instinct
8:32 - Using our traits as assets, not flaws
10:07 - Teaching others to use their gut instinct
11:00 - Rea's career as a bestselling author
21:53 - Writing a book as a pathway to purpose
24:41 - REA'S LESSON: NOTHING TO PROVE
28:08 - Rea's healing journey
30:40 - Primal screaming and sacred feminine rage
35:10 - Avoiding pain & protecting your energy
39:31 - Lesson #2 - Listening to YOUR NEEDS
40:11 - Put the phone down
46:48 - Being real with or without an audience
54:18 - Giving YOURSELF permission
1:04:44 - Lauren's closing monologue and look ahead
 

Show notes:
How to know your Human Design type
Rea and Lauren were introduced by Kirbee Miller, featured in #AMPstigator Ep. 25 "The Nourisher"
Rea's Primal screaming teacher, Elizabeth DeVaughn

✔️ Connect with Rea Frey ✔️
On her website
Through her company, Writeway
On Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Have something you want to do but you're too scared to jump? JUST GO FOR IT!

That's the lesson in today's episode with (soon-to-be) Captain Emily Kinzer Crews. Emily was a former TV News Anchor in Sarasota, FL who fell in love with boat life when she moved to Florida in 2019. By 2021 she had quit her job with a plan to sail the world with her soon-to-be husband. The story that follows is equal parts freaking-unbelievable and awe-inspiring.

 
💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You totally resonate with quitting your job to live your dream
- You want to hear how Emily plans to do life on a boat still make money
- You've followed Emily's TV career and you want to learn about her new life
- You're shocked someone could have this much guts and you want to be inspired

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Emily explaining how she's one test away from obtaining her sea captain's license and how they just moved onto the boat as their full-time home two weeks ago. She explains how hard it is to learn minimalism in such limited space!

• [11:29] Emily shares the back story of her final two years in television and how an unappealing contract to stay in TV was the final straw. She decided to pursue her dream of sailing around the world and just GO FOR IT.
• [18:05] Living on a boat takes a lot of planning! Emily discusses what they needed to sell, what they needed to buy, and how they're affording all of it.
  
• [43:40] - How do you know when it's the right time to GO FOR IT? Emily shares how she knew.
  
• PLUS - how you can join the adventure on the Adventure Crews, the name of their boat! 

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:38 - Lauren's opening monologue
3:32 - Emily is becoming a CAPTAIN
5:13 - Where the dream to sail the world originated
11:29 - Loving your life, hating your work & choosing to quit
16:04 - Lauren & Emily look UNCANNILY similar
18:05 - What's it like living on a boat, plus how they'll make money
19:28 - What's the lesson here: JUST GO FOR IT!
28:58 - What you'll see on The Adventure Crews Youtube
35:48 - Emily started a business after quitting TV!
38:19 - The company Emily created after quitting her job
43:40 - How do you know when it's the right time to GO FOR IT?
50:34 - When people close to you get weird about your dreams
53:56 - "I can do this. I'm GOING to do this."
1:00:25 - What's coming up next week

✔️ Connect with Emily Kinzer Crews ✔️
On the Adventure Crews website
Adventure Crews on Youtube
The Adventure Crews Instagram
Emily's personal Instagram

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Female friendships aren't a luxury. They're a necessity.

In this AMPstigator episode, Host Lauren Lowrey enlists the help of two of her closest friends in Nashville to talk candidly about cultivating deep female friendships. The women sip some bubbly while getting real about the struggles of cultivating deep, life-giving friendships, and how they support each other through life's hardest times.

If your friendships just aren't doing it for you, these three women discuss what should be present in every supportive friendship in a light-hearted, LOL-type-way. Together they explore WHAT'S THE LESSON?

 💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You love Happy Hour with girlfriends more than anything
- You want to meet Host Lauren Lowrey's gal-pals
- You've struggled to find close female friendships in adulthood

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with the trio joking about getting tattoos and how they want to blow-off mom responsibilities to get inked. It's the perfect way to introduce you to hilarious moms who keep-it-real.

• [8:10] You'll meet LL's friends as they introduce each other and talk about their adult lives up to present day. Learn Dr. Joyce's path into the ICU and Keli's plight as a Major League Baseball wife.
• [22:58] Lauren explains how her friends supported her during her traumatic hospital stays in August. Dr. Joyce visited every day to keep Lauren's spirits up.
• [37:45] The trio explores the tenets of life-giving friendships and how they serve as therapeutic self-care for each other.

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:33 - Backstory; Lauren's opening monologue
5:44 - Girl time! What our friendship is really like
8:10 - Introductions - meet LL's friends Joyce and Keli
16:35 - Keli's an MLB wife
19:28 - How the 3 of us girlfriends MET
22:58 - How LL's friends supported her in the hospital
27:51 - How we met in 2018
37:45 - First lesson: What deep friendships require
39:20 - How Keli encouraged LL to start AMPstigator
42:57 - The tenets of a LIFE-GIVING friendship
50:42 - We're a therapy-friends group
57:35 - The effortlessness of healthy friendship

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

In this Season 3 Premier, Founder/Host Lauren Lowrey explores the life-altering events of August 2022 and how three hospitalizations caused her to deeply understand the focus of Season 3: What's the lesson here?

In this episode Lauren details how an emergency appendectomy sidelined her, but surgery complications deemed "exceedingly rare" by her care team forced her to deal with past traumas and the pain of new scars. She covers the life lesson that got her out of the hospital and back to normal life.

 💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You knew something happened to Lauren but you want every unbelievable detail
- You know the trauma of extended hospitalization and want someone else's account
- You want to learn Lauren's methods for overcoming fear and anxiety

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren explaining the goal for AMPstigator and why she decided to narrow the focus for Season 3, to go all-in on women and wisdom. She talks all about why lessons are so important and how we can learn from other women. Lauren also covers:

• [6:20] How August 2022 changed her life, starting with an emergency appendectomy that resulted in two separate surgery complications.  

• [13:09] Fear and anxiety crippled Lauren and prevented her from accepting what was going on.
  

• [17:44] The major life lesson that an extended hospital stay teaches someone like Lauren who values productivity more than anything.

• [21:50] How this chapter required Lauren to come face-to-face with radical acceptance, meditation and stillness. Plus, she teaches you how to do it, too.
  

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:38 - AMPstigator and purpose
3:38 - The re-vision for Season 3 and the focus on lessons
6:20 - How Aug 2022 changed my life
10:50 - Complication #1
13:09 - Gripped by fear and anxiety
14:50 - Coming home after Complication #1
16:38 - The lesson I couldn't seem to learn
17:44 - AT. WHAT. COST.
19:25 - Complication #2;
22:12 - Radical acceptance vs. resignation
23:20 - My Divine Do-Over (how I overcame the trauma to manifest healing)
26:41 - How are you feeding your soul for True Wellbeing?
28:04 - The doctors figured out what was wrong!
29:05 - WHAT'S THE LESSON HERE?
32:10 - How you can incorporate this lesson
34:09 - Coming up next week on AMPstigator!

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament by Michael Singer
Ep. 30, Sneak Peek to Season 3

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

Get ready for Season 3! In this episode Lauren shares with you what you what's totally new in AMPstigator Season 3 (a new location, new focus, new conversations) as it shifts from "finding purpose" to a deeper connection of wisdom shared between women. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You wanna know what's coming up in Season 3
- You're interested in Lauren's inspiration for the upcoming season
- You like hearing the back story about creative decisions for AMPstigator 

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren explaining when she was struck with the idea to shift the focus of AMPstigator Season 3. She covers inspiration, in detail, and how she's learned not to force creativity.

• [2:56] Lauren describes where she was and what she was doing the moment she had a new vision for the direction of AMPstigator, plus why it feels so aligned.
  
• [7:27] Hear why Lauren's recruiting her closest girlfriends to help with this season.
• [8:16] And find out the most important question every Season 3 episode will answer: what's the lesson here?
• 9:01] BONUS: Lauren explains why these conversations matter
  
  

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:24 - When do your great ideas strike?
1:09 - Waiting for inspiration on Season 3
2:09 - AMPstigator as a creative expression
2:56 - A sudden vision for Season 3
4:05 - Sneak Peek: Set colors
4:53 - Sneak Peek: New location
5:31 - Sneak Peek: Content & focus
7:27 - Sneak Peek: Who will Lauren interview?
8:00 - Sneak Peek: Modifying the Best time/worst time question series
9:01 - Sneak Peek: Why these conversations matter
10:32 - How to join the AMPfam

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Sign up now for Mom's Night Out: Parenting to Inspire Purpose
Ep. 22 Need Inspiration? Do these 4 things (Apple | Spotify)
Ep. 18 Shannon Schottler is "The Illuminator" (Apple | Spotify)

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

When life is craaazy or a major setback is put in your path, you have a few options on how you react. You can freak the -eff- out (not advisable). You can decide you're the victim (also, not advisable). OR you can just flow.

In this shorty Lauren-only episode, the AMPstigator herself shares a life-lesson she's learning in real time: how to flow. Too often we get sidelined by struggle. We give up! In this episode, Lauren encourages you to see setbacks as opportunities to pause, reevaluate and move on.

She also details when to call in reinforcements in the form of therapists and friends.

BONUS: Lauren shares how to sign up for a special August event, Mom's Night Out: Parenting to Inspire Purpose with AMPstigator guest and Holistic Life Coach, Clara Belden.

 💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- There's zero chill in you
- You need Coach Lauren to give you a major pep-talk
- You want to hear the inspiration behind this life-lesson
- You like being reminded that you need to let go

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
This episode begins with Lauren explaining the inspiration behind today's life-lesson and what role a mighty Nashville river played.

• [4:41] How we constantly allow setbacks to diminish the force and magnitude of our mighty flow.
  
• [7:08] What to do when you're completely blocked from progress? How do you handle that level of setback and what are you options to work around it?
  
• [10:43] Why you sometimes have to do the OPPOSITE of what you think you're supposed to do. You want to grip tightly, when really, you need to let go and FLOW. 
• [12:43] When to call in reinforcements. Why some blockages are really freakin' hard to clear on your own.
   

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:20 - Lauren introduces FLOW
2:34 - What the Cumberland River taught me while taping Season 2
4:41 - Why we let setbacks diminish the force of our flow
6:07 - The importance of water for life
7:08 - What to do when you're COMPLETELY blocked
11:00 - Physical vs. spiritual limitations
12:43 - When to call in reinforcements
14:31 - LET'S MEET UP! Mom's Night Out: Parenting to Inspire Purpose

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Sign up now for Mom's Night Out: Parenting to Inspire Purpose
Ep. 26 Find the Gift
Youtube Video, "Feeling the FLOW"
Water and the Human Body
Water attracts water (USGS)
 

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website
AMPstigator on Youtube
The AMPstigator Instagram
Lauren's Instagram

What does it look like to blaze a new path? To be so confident in who you are and what you bring that you don’t mess with pretense or attempt to impress anyone. 

That’s Rhett Power, a world-renown business coach, speaker, best-selling author, podcast host, entrepreneur and CEO of Accountability Inc. He’s kind of a big deal. But he doesn’t let on. 

Even after all the awards, the major international stages and all the success, Rhett tells Lauren Lowrey, he only just recently discovered his purpose: to help leaders be accountable, and not just in business, but in life!

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You’re interested to hear life advice from well-known business leader
- You want to understand the power of accountability in your life
- You need guidance from one of the great business coaches in the world
- You want to know more of Rhett’s personal journey

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺

The episode begins with Lauren’s favorite game, Best Time/Worst Time where Rhett shares the difficulty of having a son born with tremendous special healthcare needs which should’ve killed him. Rhett shares what those years taught him as a father.

• [7:15] How Rhett’s work in the Peace Corps changed the course of his life. He chose to leave corporate America because he felt a calling to go to the middle east.
• [12:41] How accountability brought clarity to Rhett’s life. He found more happiness and the achievement of goals that otherwise were left unattainable.
• [32:30] What his interviews with hundreds of business leaders worldwide has taught him about people’s needs.
•  [42:22] When Rhett realized his purpose and how he actively pursues it every day.

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:00 - Intro
0:31 - Lauren's intro to Rhett Power
4:38 - Best Time/Worst Time
6:42 - Rhett’s son nearly died multiple times
10:49 - How international Peace Corps work changed Rhett’s life
16:07 - How accountability brought clarity to Rhett’s life
19:29 - The business of accountability and why it’s so necessary
24:50 - Why accountability is so important
35:46 - We need to be kinder to each other
39:27 - Rhett works to overcome two big things
42:10 - Imperfections and accepting responsibility
46:00 - Rhett’s purpose to bring accountability
49:50 - How do we bring accountability into our lives?
53:51 - Lauren's wrap-up

✔️ Connect with Rhett Power ✔️
Rhett on LinkedIn
Rhett’s website
Rhett’s book

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Rhett writes "Did you know I used to sleep in my van?"
Ep. 19 Dr. Kelly Goldsmith is The Manipulator

What could you accomplish if someone believed in you? Maybe you could go faster or further? Or maybe a person's belief is the one thing you needed to begin the journey toward a new phase in life.

Amanda Banks is your person. She believes in people, opens the door for them and encourages them along the way. As CEO of Sports to Suits, a company using technology to develop a workforce development solution for collegiate and professional athletes, Amanda connects deeply with people. She's a mom, entrepreneur and student of life.

In this episode we dig into her past as a competitive child gymnast and how it served as the root of her perfectionism problem, but it also gave her the basis of understanding to launch her new company that serves the athletic community.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
- You're interested in how Amanda came up with this idea for Sports to Suits
- You want to hear how a CEO also manages life at home with her kids
- You totally understand perfectionism and you're working on it, too!

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺

We start the conversation with the AMPstigator "Best Time/Worst Time" game, which reveals the best time in Amanda's life, [4:32] when a destructive and deadly tornado ripped through Nashville just two weeks before COVID lockdown.

- [8:56] The root of Amanda's problems with perfectionism and how she battles it, plus [29:21] how perfectionism holds people back.

- [18:20] Why she decided to leave corporate life to create her startup, Sports to Suits, which uses technology to mitigate problems within the athletic community

- [39:21] What kind of guts does it take to become an entrepreneur, especially when you have a family?

- [55:26] And why it's so critically important for you to share your story of IMPERFECTION

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:00 - Intro
4:32 - Best Time/Worst Time
8:56 - A fear of cameras and perfectionism
11:35 - Where perfectionism began for Amanda
18:20 -Leaving corporate life to create Sports to Suits
29:21 - Why perfectionism holds you back
31:22 - Amanda is an incredible connector of people
39:21 - What it took to get into Entrepreneurship
45:02 - How Amanda supports others
51:44 - Step One toward happiness
55:26 - You need to share your IMPERFECT story

✔️ Connect with Amanda Banks✔️
Her business, Sports to Suits: https://sportstosuits.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg8fvYr9sCnsw1P-n_41xQg/featured
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-banks-9945502b/

You say 'I'M SORRY' more than you think. Research shows when we say it in the wrong situations we cause more harm than good.

In this latest episode of the mini-series '2 Words that will Change Your Life,' Host Lauren Lowrey explores how we constantly over-apologize [newsflash: women are repeat offenders]. Get ready to learn why we say it, the 8 things you should never apologize for and the 3 things you could say in it's place. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You've found yourself saying 'I'm Sorry' way too often
  
• You need a solid reflection about how people perceive your so-called apologies
• You didn't realize saying over-apologizing was such a detriment and want to stop

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with Lauren laying out why we say 'I'm Sorry' more than we realize. For many people it's a learned behavior that's hurting us in social situations.  

• [2:17] Research shows when you say ‘I’m sorry’ you’re actually sending the message that you don’t have any confidence in yourself. Saying 'I'm Sorry' at the wrong time causes the other person to feel even worse.
• [6:59] Why are you apologizing for things you shouldn't? In this section, Lauren lays out the 8 things you should never say 'I'm Sorry' for. 
• [9:39] Lauren shares three easily attainable options for other quotes you could use in place of saying 'I'm Sorry.'

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:27 - You say I'm Sorry way too much

1:16 - Using I'm Sorry [incorrectly] to appease and comfort others

2:17 - Research around 'I'm Sorry' (lack of confidence, anger, etc.)

3:13 - Why do we say 'I'm Sorry'???

5:58 - What Dr. PaQuita Pullen says about 'I'm Sorry'

6:59 - The 8 things you never should apologize for

8:31 - How to stop saying 'I'm Sorry' 

9:39 - 3 things to say OTHER THAN 'I'm Sorry'

10:45 - Don't use this as a crutch

🗈 Show Notes 🗈

Ep. 20 Set Your Intentions w/ Lauren Lowrey

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website

AMPstigator on Youtube

AMPstigator Instagram

Lauren's Instagram

What if the worst thing that ever happened to you turned out to be the best thing?

Consistently, the people on AMPstigator who've discussed finding purpose say, for them, it came after some level of pain.  But the choices they made in spite of the pain helped them overcome negativity, stress, and disillusionment.

Let's be real, life ain't all butterflies and roses, so in this episode we talk about why you have to find the strength to transform pain into purpose and focus on ONE VERY POWERFUL way to do that: SHOWING GRATITUDE. #FindTheGift

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

-You struggle with gratitude

-You're in the middle of a pretty big storm that you can't seem to get a handle on

-You need encouragement to let go of negativity

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺

What if this stormy period in your life is the exact gift you need to blow away bad habits, wash away limiting beliefs and drown-out an old identity? In today's episode:

-[4:47] Lauren shows gratitude is embedded deep within us because giving gifts and showing gratitude pre-dates our widespread use of language

-[9:27] Our connection to gifts and why changing our ideas about what they are is the key to feeling gratitude, even in the darkest times.

-[14:58] How purpose is the culmination of repeatedly making choices to overcome -- and nature's ability to teach us this every hurricane season.

-[20:51] A reflection session with Lauren where she asks you to think about what gifts are in your life.

Plus, receive Lauren's 5-step guide to starting a gratitude practice, reserved only for email subscribers. To receive it and sign up, email her directly: Lauren@ampstigator.com

Chapters

0:23 - What if the worst thing was the best thing?

4:47 - Our connection to giving gifts

6:16 - A vision that teaches us to Find the Gift

9:27 - Research-backed benefits of feeling gratitude

10:51 - How to feel grateful in the hardest times

14:58 - Purpose is the culmination of repeatedly choosing to overcome

15:25 - How loss teaches us gratitude (The Hurricane)

18:26 - What changed for me when I committed to gratitude

20:51 - Reflecting on where to find the gifts

Other AMPstigator episodes mentioned in this episode:

-Ep. 4: MaryBeth Hyland, The Bridge
-Ep. 5: Kristoffer Carter, The Transformer
-Ep. 17: 3 Questions to deepen self-awareness (w/ Lauren Lowrey)
-Ep. 20: Set your intention (w/ Lauren Lowrey)

Are you human? Do you get hungry?
If you answered ‘yes’ to those questions, then you can be a part of Kirbee Miller’s events mixing culinary with good conversation.
As a former hospital administrator with 3 science-based degrees, Kirbee is analytical. A few years ago, she decided to follow the entrepreneurial undercurrent that she felt was pushing her to food. Her delicious and accessible popcorn (of all things) was what garnered the most attention and even ended up in Grammy swag bags for attendees.
A tragic car accident in 2019 rendered her mom paralyzed and unable to speak. Kirbee left her full-time hospital job and became her mom’s full-time caregiver. All the while, Kirbee has maintained her drive to be an entrepreneur, pursuing her purpose as a nourisher to people who need to be fed physically and spiritually.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
-You know the struggles of being a caregiver
-You need encouragement to pursue your dream
-You’re analytical but feel a pull to explore spirituality

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
What does purpose and transition look like in real time? Kirbee Miller’s life is a good example. In this episode, she shares her journey as she balances entrepreneurship and full-time caregiving of her mother who was paralyzed in a tragic car accident in 2019.

She begins by sharing her big ideas on purpose and finding your path, but tells the story [13:51] of how she left her job to take care of her mom. 

-[20:46] Kirbee shows so much grace as she talks about her gratitude practice and the affirmations she says as she prepares for the day. You’ll feel uplifted and encouraged.

-[24:41] How many people can say popcorn changed their life? Kirbee tells the full story of how she started making popcorn and how it launched a whole new path

-[45:32] She also talks at length about unifying her analytical and spiritual sides. It’s a beautiful example of the evolution of a person who commits to follow their heart. 

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:00 - Intro
5:12 - Why Kirbee’s on AMPstigator
12:08 - Magnetism of purpose
13:51 - How Kirbee left her job
18:51 - Being a caretaker for a parent
20:56 - Kirbee’s gratitude practice and mantras
24:41 - How popcorn changed her story
35:01 - Best time in Kirbee’s life
41:05 - Worst time in Kirbee’s life
45:32 - Unifying the head and heart
48:50 - When she realized her purpose to nourish
50:52 - What’s next for Kirbee

✔️ Connect with Kirbee Miller ✔️
KiNiMi Kitchen www.kinimikitchen.com 
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kinimikitchen/?hl=en

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
5 Truths of Purpose  https://www.ampstigator.com/opt-in-45f0cdcf-3810-43d7-b905-26a02d0c2a0a

Other AMPstigator episodes mentioned in Kirbee's episode:
-Ep 10, Delisa Guerrier, The Groundbreaker (Kirbee's friend)
-Ep 17 3 Questions to Deepen Self Awareness (with Lauren Lowrey)
-Ep 23, Clara Belden, The Untitled
-Ep 24, Frank Castellano, The Healer Part 2 

Frank Castellano is singular. He's a 6th generation psychic medium who maintains a 16-month wait for readings in Nashville. He was 4 years old the first time he remembers having abilities and was counseled through how to use them by a relative with the same gifts. 

Learn more about how his gifts work by going here.

In Part 2, we delve deeper into spirituality and how to weave it into everyday life. We also talk about how to heal your energy and shedding toxicity in our lives.

You can't help but love the guy and feel so supported in every conversation with him. During this episode, you'll get a clearer sense why his episode is named "The Healer," because he brings so much closure to wounds of the past. He has a way of making everyone happy, even on their worst day. 

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
-You're interested in meeting a person with psychic abilities
-You loved Frank's 1st episode and you want a deeper follow-up
-You wonder how a person could be Christian but still celebrate other religions
-You're in awe of Frank (like everyone else who meets him)

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
We start off by talking about why he honors the spiritual practices of other religions, even though he was raised in the Christian tradition, and move into the idea of [12:27] what we’re all here to embody. This particular quality is connected to PURPOSE in a powerful way. 

[23:06] Frank also reveals how to heal a person’s energy and how we can begin to do that on our own.  

[32:15] In this section, Lauren shares a viewpoint about healing past traumas that Frank disagrees with. Hear his take on why it's important to just let things go.

[45:09] He ends with the encouragement that “You’re never off you’re right path. You can never mess it up. You’re always where you’re supposed to be.”

Like all conversations with Frank… they’re never long enough. 

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:00 - Intro
7:03 - Everything is spiritual
9:38 - Honoring spiritual practices
12:27 - Love, hate and embodiment
16:22 - Love as a spectrum of many emotions
23:06 - How Frank heals energy
24:51 - Step One for healing energy
25:39 - Asking questions of yourself
28:50 - Frank’s view of Astrology
32:15 - Toxicity in our lives and reframing past
36:50 - Looking at our design (Frank’s an enneagram 8)
37:59 - A shared goal of science & spirituality
42:32 - Astrology for America right now
45:09 - “You’re never off the right path”
46:32 - Coming up next week

✔️ Connect with Frank Castellano ✔️
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankacastellano/
Website: https://www.thespiritchrysalis.com/home.html

How tightly do you cling to your labels?
In this episode of AMPstigator, Clara Belden (certified holistic life coach) goes into detail about how labels keep us from connecting with our authentic selves. Her episode is called "The Untitled" because of the work she's done to define her own life authentically -apart from labels- and how she helps others do the same. 

"You don’t have to have a severe trauma to work on yourself," says Belden who keeps therapists, life coaches, energy and nutrition coaches on staff.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
-You're into personal transformation
-You struggle with perfectionism and you want to hear Clara's journey
-You're a MOM (lots of good stuff here for parents!)
-You want to go through an Authenticity exercise with Lauren 

📺What you'll hear in this episode📺
[6:15] This episode begins with an understanding about Clara's business, The Happy Hour and why she created it. Clara goes into detail about her own personal transformation from corporate marketing into entrepreneurship and shares the question she could never seem to answer for herself: who am I? Clara is a perfectionist and works to combat that, regularly. She shares helpful reminders for anyone dealing with the same thing.   

[34:44] A powerful part of the episode is the conversation geared specifically to parents who struggle to balance the important self-work with the responsibilities to their children. She guides parents to understand the emotions kids exhibit and help them to reconnect to how we really feel in situations.  

[39:39] In this episode we dive deep into the meaning of "shadow work" and how to do important self-work when you're a parent. Clara focuses especially on moms who need support, saying "the work you do on yourself is work you do for the world."  

[49:10] Lauren and Clara are teaming up to host a special night just for moms coming up on August 23rd (listen for all the details)!

[57:05] PLUS - in this episode, the tables turn. Learn even more about Lauren Lowrey than she's ever revealed in other episodes as Clara walks the AMPstigator host through an Authenticity exercise.

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:00 - Intro
0:37 - The backstory for this episode
6:15 - What is The Happy Hour?
9:46 - From corporate to entrepreneurship
12:15 - Asking the question Who am I?
17:13  - Clara’s personal road to creating The Happy Hour
18:31 - The importance of curiosity in transformation
23:14 - Happy Hour as a disruptor in the mental wellness space
25:47 - How she helps connect people to purpose
27:36 - Best Time/Worst Time
28:54 - Turning Point
33:07 - How Clara overcomes perfectionism
34:44 - Teaching kids their power
39:39 - How to do shadow work
43:10 - Doing this kind of work when you’re a parent
49:10 - AMPstigator & Happy Hour are teaming up!!!
50:41 - Stop, Breathe, Reflect, Choose
51:53 - Clara’s purpose is to help people find purpose
55:53 - What does an authenticity coach do?
57:05 - Lauren answers questions in an authenticity exercise
1:04:53 - How Lauren names episodes
1:07:09 - How old is someone when they connect with purpose?

Show Notes:
Ep. 17: "3 Questions to Deepen Self Awareness (w/ Lauren Lowrey)"
The Happy Hour https://www.thehappyhournash.com/

Research is pretty clear about the benefits to being inspired: more creativity, optimism, competence, self-esteem and FLOW. Inspiration is even a predictor for how many U.S. patents someone holds. But inspiration is elusive and happens spur-of-the-moment. So, how can you lay the foundation to be inspired?

In this episode, Lauren details:
[2:59] The three components of inspiration and what sparks the difference between something you're inspired by versus inspired to do. She also details how inspirational thought transcends ordinary thought and motivates you to act.

[11:08] Lauren goes in-depth on the four things that come before inspiration, as it's understood in psychological research: openness to experiences, work mastery, small accomplishments and exposure to inspiring role models. She helps you understand how you can use those things to foster more inspiration. Plus, she details a bonus 5th signifier for inspiration she's noticed in her own life.

[20:24] Throughout the episode, you'll hear the benefits of inspiration, plus:

[6:58] A BONUS! Lauren does a mini-meditation for you to remember your most recent inspiration and identify what triggered it.

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
2:59 - Researching inspiration & the 3 Components
5:23 - Active and passive inspiration
6:58 - Inspiration meditation
8:43 - The Inspiration Scale (IS)
11:08 - (How to be inspired) Openness to experiences
12:55 - (How to be inspired) Work mastery
17:01 - (How to be inspired) The final 2
18:40 - (How to be inspired) Lauren's bonus 5th predictor
20:24 - Benefits of Inspiration
23:05 - Research Recap

For Lauren's research and show notes, email her at Lauren@AMPstigator.com

Sign up for weekly emails at www.AMPstigator.com

How do you overcome bankruptcy, ego, greed and a victim-mindset? Former NFL Offensive Lineman, Marques Ogden knows how. He went from the National Football League to nationally-acclaimed speaker and coach.

But It’s the journey in between the two titles that’s created the man. After his 5 years in the NFL, he built a multi-million dollar company and lost it all through greed and ego. He filed bankruptcy, lost his business, his home, his car, his money – became a janitor - and embarked on a gut-wrenching journey to build everything back up again to find the other side of success.

In this episode, Marques shares his personal story of overcoming shortcomings and building a business based on coaching, public speaking, podcasting and writing. His story brings inspiration and forces a hard look in the mirror about where we’re failing and how commitment and determination can turn it around.

💥 This episode is for you if 💥
-You like hearing life perspective from former pro athletes
-You love a good underdog story from someone with a chip on their shoulder
-You're interested in how someone could go from boom, to bust, back to boom again
-You love motivational speakers!

📺 What you'll hear in this episode 📺
The episode begins with Lauren Lowrey's trademark collection of questions: Best Time/Worst Time. Marques details how losing his father at the age of 25 rocked his world.

We also talk in great detail throughout the episode about the loss of his business after his career in the NFL. Marques comes clean about where he failed and how he had to overcome his own ego. He also discusses overcoming his victim mindset and how he helps others work through the blame-game.

In this episode, you'll hear Marques say he coaches people who want to AVOID becoming like him.

🔖 Chapters 🔖
0:00 - Intro
0:38 - The Back-story
4:20 - Best time in Marques’ life
4:51 - Worst time in Marques’ life
8:10 - Greatest moment of clarity
11:39 - Getting out of victim-mindset
13:48 - People didn’t believe he could speak
17:12 - Bankruptcy is “hell on earth”
20:40 - Life as a professional athlete
26:27 - Transitioning from “player” to “coach”
30:53 - How Marques coaches people to leave victim-mindset
35:58 - The problem with impatience
37:12 - Be a farmer, not a hunter
38:34 - Belief vs. Trust
43:18 - Unhappiness among pro athletes
46:56 - How to create the life you want
53:36 - Black speakers are rare
57:29 - Marques’ purpose

This week is all about setting intentions. In this episode we cover three important facets of intentions:
-what intentions are
-what intentions are not
-how to set intentions

Lauren also details how to set intentions every day and scale them to cover what you want to focus on for months at a time - or until you've completed what you set out to do.

"Setting intentions is an important lesson in connecting with your values and understanding that doing inner work on yourself can impact your ability to live a life you dream of," says Lauren.

This episode is for you if:
-You need help in understanding the power of intentions
-You've never really understood intentions
-You want examples of how Lauren sets intentions

Chapters
2:22 - Intention is not expectation
4:41 - Intention is not assumption
6:31 - So what is intention?
7:17 - The link between intention and purpose
10:27 - Intention is born from what you value
12:56 - Your intention is an arrow
16:48 - How to use intentions every day
20:48 - Lauren’s current seasonal intention

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝

LAUREN-ONLY EPISODE LINK"
https://open.spotify.com/episode/54Y8oNUp4Gjm7LO0QfWcBF?si=H18dtKhnQeuXEM_5DSxNOw   FRANK'S EPISODE LINK: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cOWwxF2ZBjGUbj9xy3Vym?si=vJrhN4AsRVygiTL2HL5Nuw   MARYBETH'S EPISODE LINK: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2AXLNdeRvXF0TiWhEs4hCV?si=2KXJfHxGRdKN_5e-9WmDjw   Link to Lauren's video, 5 Truths of Purposeful People https://www.ampstigator.com/opt-in-45f0cdcf-3810-43d7-b905-26a02d0c2a0a

Not signed up for AMPstigator emails? Here's how you can get the note sheets and prompts Lauren sent related to this episode: Email Lauren directly at, Lauren@AMPstigator.com

Prof. Kelly Goldsmith, PhD is a brilliant researcher in the space of marketing and human behavior. She was the person who helped America understand why we were hoarding toilet paper at the start of the pandemic. It was her work to understand scarcity that helped people laugh at themselves in the midst of a stressful situation that was out of their control.

In this episode of AMPstigator, we talk through what the research says about setting goals, finding happiness and living with perceived scarcity. Goldsmith explains how to overcome our human nature to better pursue a life with more meaning and purpose.

PLUS! We delve into her 24-day stint on Survivor and her strategies for making it on and staying on the show. 

This episode is for you if: 
- You love witty fast-talkers with high IQ’s (Kelly is GOLD for this)
- You geek-out over research on human behavior
- You want to better understand why you never reach your goals
- You want to understand why you’re afraid to take the leap and live with purpose
- You want to hear about Kelly's stint on Survivor

What's in this episode?
Prof. Kelly Goldsmith, PhD brings her 20+ years of research into bite-sized and simple ideas that help you understand human behavior and better harness it to live a life with purpose. We start by discussing goals and why we usually don’t meet them: we have unrealistic timelines, we don’t make them quantifiable, and we just give up.

We also talk about happiness - more specifically - why we don’t try to be happy. Most people perceive happiness as something others can impact. When people perceive their level of happiness as something they can control, their overall measure of happiness improves. Goldsmith specializes in scarcity - which is how consumers respond to not having enough.

In this episode of AMPstigator, she applies her research in scarcity to a person’s fear of changing their lives or living with purpose. She also discusses her 24-day stint on Survivor Season 3. Her account of getting on the show is laugh-out-loud funny and what it taught her about herself and others.

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝

Amy Cuddy, “Presence: Bringing your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges” https://www.amazon.com/Presence-Bringing-Boldest-Biggest-Challenges/dp/1478930152

Research in embodied cognition (fake it till you make it)

The Mere Urgency Effect
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yang-Yang-355/publication/327103570_The_Mere_Urgency_Effect/links/5fe35ee0a6fdccdcb8f592b5/The-Mere-Urgency-Effect.pdf

Find the full transcript by going here:
https://www.ampstigator.com/blog/kelly-goldsmith-show-notes

If we're disillusioned and disenchanted in life, what the heck do we do? Shannon Schottler specializes in getting people out of the "mucky middles" (as she calls it) and into a life that's suited for their purpose.

Shannon is a career transition coach, but she walks people through the deep inner work that has to be done BEFORE a major transition out of a career that isn't in your calling. Shannon shines the light into the places of ourselves we don’t otherwise know how to explore and she does it by reconnecting people with their bodies. She calls it embodied sensation - which is essentially a somatic experience.

Shannon also talks at length about her foster care journey, which took four years to get a child placed in her home. Her, now adopted, daughter is 7 years old and has been the muse in much of Shannon's work to (re)learn rest and play. She brings those lessons to her clients, too, as she teaches self-compassion and devotion.

This episode is for you if: 
-You've felt stuck for a while and know you need a change
-You don't have the slightest clue how to start transitioning out of something that isn't right for you
-You're really into somatic experience and conscious sensation
-You're on a foster journey and need encouragement

What's in this episode?
Why is resting so hard for Americans?
What do we do if we need to transition but have no idea where to start?
Shannon is full of wisdom on the topics of transition and helps explain what role rest plays in finding the right answers for yourself. You'll hear her prescription for lifting the fog of indecision in your life.

We also talk at length about reconnecting people to their bodies and how we disconnected from those somatic messages in the first place. 

Shannon also is very forthcoming about grief and loss and the ridiculous corporate path that got her into this work to begin with. 

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Hudson Coaching Institute in Santa Barbara, CA https://hudsoninstitute.com/ 

Shannon's cocooners workbook https://shannonschottler.com/product/cocooners-workbook 

Find the full transcript by going here: https://www.ampstigator.com/blog/shannon-schottler-show-notes

Let me ask you a question: What does your self-talk sound like? Mine sounds like questions.

Did I eat vegetables today?
When will I have time to go to that?
What's the right way to do this?

The question about my self-talk is what inspired today's episode (the first Lauren-only iteration of AMPstigator). It was a question I was asked recently while being interviewed on another podcast.

If you’ve been following along for a while, you know I do long-form one-on-one interviews focused on wisdom-sharing, soul-baring conversations that help you connect deeper with purpose. This episode is no different as I discuss what role questions played in my own search for purpose and what questions you should be asking yourself on your path to fulfillment. 

 This episode is for you if:
-You find yourself feeling unhappy or unfulfilled but you aren't quite sure where to start
-Your self-talk needs an overhaul and you want suggestions
-You just freaking love Lauren and you want more of her story
-You want to get to know Lauren and the journey of how she came to create AMPstigator

What's in this episode?
This episode begins with Lauren describing the difficulty in recording this episode, both because she's living in a remodel and also because she's been coached for 16 years not to insert herself into the story. She tells several instances related to her role as a news anchor where she's been encouraged to keep herself out of it.
Lauren discusses the role questions play in deepening self-awareness during transition. She tells her own personal story of transition and the questions she asked herself in the process of discovering what would give her life meaning.
Lauren closes with the questions you should be asking yourself to deepen your awareness and refine your path to purpose. 

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Find the full transcript and corresponding blog post by going here: https://www.ampstigator.com/blog/questions-deepen-self-awareness

Why did I have to deal with that pain? Why did that traumatic loss happen to me? If you've ever asked the question WHY ME?!? this episode is definitely FOR YOU. 

In this latest installment of '2 Words that will Change Your Life,' host Lauren Lowrey answers the question by highlighting our uniquely human need for meaning and how -when we've found it- research shows we live longer, happier lives.

She walks you through her own steps to heal hurts and reframe the deepest of all questions [Why did this happen to -of all people- ME?!] to arrive at the answer you really seek. 

Next time you ask the question WHY ME, Lauren's answer will ring clear in your mind 'because it had to BE YOU.'

💥 This episode is for you if 💥

• You're having a really hard time in a situation where it seems the deck is stacked against you.
  
• You've held on to bitterness around an event and it continues to hold you back
• You want healing but you aren't sure how to go about it

📺 What you'll hear in this episode📺 

The episode begins with Lauren detailing a panic attack that started on TV in 2017. She explains the pain from that moment and how she felt victimized in a situation that left her asking 'Why ME?!?" Her experience with that question emerged again one year later after a life-threatening heart event in 2018 after the birth of her 2nd child. For the four years that followed, Lauren continued to ask the question 'WHY ME?!?"

• [5:00] Research around the uniquely human need for meaning. How an entirely new psycho-therapeutic theory sprung from Nazi concentration camps and what the doctor behind logotherapy behind discovered. Here's a hint: if we find meaning, we find hope; then we live longer.
• [7:37] How you 'll go about answering the question WHY ME?!? The steps you'll take to ensure you ask the right question and get the right answer
•  [10:35] When you have the courage to heal pain and trauma, you put yourself right on the cusp of learning the motherload of information surrounding your purpose. It's a means to understanding the bigger picture.
• [12:21] Why it HAD TO BE you!

🔖 Chapters 🔖

0:27 - Lauren's nervous breakdown and the question, "WHY ME?!?"

2:15 - Lauren's heart event and the second time she asked, "WHY ME?!?"

3:36 - Why do this mini-series and (more specifically) this episode

5:00 - Man's theoretical search for meaning and it's impact on longevity

7:37 - How do we find the answer to "WHY ME?!?" (Heal first, then ask a different question)

9:27 - Deconstructing your pain from a 3rd person place

10:55 - How painful years led to purposeful creation in Lauren's life

12:21 - Why did that happen? Because it had to BE YOU!

🗈 Show Notes 🗈

Dr. Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Logotherapy (Frankl's theory, "A will to meaning")

✔️ Connect with Lauren Lowrey ✔️
On the AMPstigator website

AMPstigator on Youtube

The AMPstigator Instagram

Lauren's Instagram

To many people, Dr. Alex Jahangir was the face of COVID in Nashville. He was the one who said “stay at home” or “wear a mask” and he faced hostility for it. But despite any ideas you have about his upbringing or his privilege, he’s endured the kind of life-defining hardship most of us will never understand.
At 6 years old, his family abandoned their life on the other side of the world when war made them refugees. He came to America speaking zero English and was bullied for his heritage and his real name (which is Amir, not Alex). Despite it all, he's devoted his life to improving his community through his work as a trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt Health since 2009.

This episode is for you if:
-You want to understand the man behind the mask
-You're interested in how he's devoted his life to Nashville and his family
-You already love Dr. Alex Jahangir and you want to hear about the experiences that made him who he is

What's in this episode?
In this episode, you'll learn about Dr. Alex Jahangir's commitment to his role as an orthopaedic trauma surgeon with a specialty in saving limbs. He downplays his role with humility, using his phrase "don't believe the hype."
Dr. Jahangir talks at length about being an immigrant, moving to the US at age 6 to escape the Iran-Iraq war in 1984. His parents gave up everything to give Alex and his brother a better life. Dr. J describes being bullied and doing everything he can to honor his parents and the sacrifice they made.
In this episode, he also covers how he decompresses from his most challenging days, clinically, and the weight he felt in March 2020 as he announced the city was putting into place a "Safer at Home" order which would shut down most in-person operations. He also covers the physical response people had to that order.
We end the episode with everyone's favorite AMPstigator game, Best Time/Worst Time where we cover some life defining moments and how he's changed just since COVID.

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Find the full transcript by going here: https://www.ampstigator.com/blog/alex-jahangir-show-notes

Katelyn and Derek Drye are a singing/songwriting duo in Nashville. They’ve been writing and performing music together since they first started dating 16 years ago. What sets them apart is the emotions they capture in their music, touching poignantly on love and loss.

Recently, CMT began playing their music videos and the reception has been huge for songs like Dolly Would and House on Fire. But their path hasn’t been easy. They’ve struggled with loss and an industry that isn’t quite sure what to do with them. But they aren’t deterred because they’re doing it together.

This episode is for you if:
-You love stories of couples who are doing incredible things together
-Want to know what it's like starting out in the music industry in Nashville
-Need encouragement in your creative process
-Want to hear music that makes you feel less alone

What's in this episode?
Starting out in the music biz isn't easy. Katelyn and Derek describe the help from family and friends when they first moved to Nashville. They also discuss writing and performing together as a married couple and the level of trust it requires.

The pair has also experienced a great deal of loss, which comes through in their music. At the age of 8 months old, Derek's mother died by suicide. He had never heard his mother's voice until they found old video tapes of her a few years ago. It inspired the song "War" which has garnered millions of streams.

Katelyn also describes the feeling she gets when a song is particularly vulnerable. It's often how she knows the song will touch the hearts of their fans. The Dryes also play the AMPstigator Best Time/Worst Time game where they describe their purpose here and now.

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Find the full transcript by going here: https://www.ampstigator.com/blog/the-dryes-show-notes

Amy Porterfield is an internationally known expert in digital marketing. She’s been named one of the top 50 most influential people in social media in the world. In the last 10 years, she’s helped hundreds of thousands of subscribers through her multi-million dollar online course empire.

But at her core, Amy stands for freedom. Freedom to be your own boss and make your own rules. On top of that, she teaches and encourages with love, because she’s been there and knows what it takes to create the life you really want.

This episode is for you if:
-You love stories about make-it-happen women
-You need encouragement as you plan to transition out of your corporate career
-You want to know you're not alone in taking the leap to entrepreneurship
-You're obsessed with Amy Porterfield (because who isn't?!?)

What's in this episode?
Amy takes us back to her years as a corporate marketing and content expert for Tony Robbins before she left her job around 2010 to strike out on her own. In this episode she talks at length about making the choice to pursue freedom in her work and how that played out the first few years as an entrepreneur.

Amy discusses the way she knows she's making the right or wrong choices in her business. She talks about the physical feelings of constriction or expansion in her chest and how she's learned to follow it. She also describes the worst time in her life and business when she ended a partnership that was financially lucrative, but had steered her away from choices that felt representative of who she really is.

Amy digs deep into her purpose, which she only just discovered in the last couple years.“In my business, something I feel is my purpose is to be an example to women of what’s possible,” says Amy.

She covers creating an encouraging community of women entrepreneurs looking for freedom to be and create the life they want.

By the end, Amy plays the AMPstigator game, "Best Time/Worst Time" and gives a window into her life and business empire.

📝 Show Notes & Mentions 📝
Find the full transcript by going here: https://www.ampstigator.com/blog/amy-porterfield-show-notes

Mary Gauthier is a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter who moved to Nashville at the age of 39 to start her career in music. She battled addiction early in life and overcame it with the help of writing and performing music. She's been named one of the greatest songwriters of her generation because her work pierces and transcends with its grit and honesty.

This episode is for you if:
-You struggled with addiction
-You love incredibly deep and introspective conversations with artists
-You appreciate a good story with a late-bloomer main character
-You're obsessed with Mary Gauthier (as is Host Lauren Lowrey)

 
What's in this episode?
Mary does a deep dive into the healing power of music and the role it plays in helping people know they're not alone. She goes into great detail about her struggles with drugs and alcohol and how she found her purpose.

Mary's story expresses two powerful ideas. First, that purpose can call at any time. She was a head chef who opened and owned restaurants around Boston in her 20's and 30's. At age 39 -and eleven years sober- she left it all to move to Nashville to write songs full time. Mary's story also illustrates the way her soul's purpose communicated with her, describing it as "a whisper."

Best of all, Mary uses her guitar to show how she translates emotion from a story to a song and her process of co-writing songs with people who need the most healing: combat veterans.

📝 SHOW NOTES 📝
Direct link to full show notes, including transcription and mentions here:
https://www.ampstigator.com/blog/mary-gauthier-show-notes