Breaking Trail – Details, episodes & analysis

“Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.”

This quote is often attributed to Goethe but it appears to be really credited to Basil King, a Canadian clergyman. As I chatted with today’s guest, Mary Kerrigan, this quote came to mind. To make a big change, you have to be bold. You have to start somewhere and when you start, “mighty forces” will come to your aid. In Mary’s case, she starts with a conversation. 

And today we’re going to learn from Mary how conversation leads to transformation. 

Mary Kerrigan is a Conversation Architect. Based in Ireland, she helps leaders, and their teams, in communities, organizations, and industry design and structure powerful conversations that change people, places, and public spaces.

Mary has a background in conservation and architecture. As an advisor to Northern Ireland’s Ministerial Advisory Group for 10 years, for architecture and the built environment, she gained a great deal of insight into the impact of planning when it comes to climate change and reducing carbon footprints. This was something she observed as a young girl driving around beautiful coastal Ireland, and though she didn’t know it at the time, she shares the story with us today as it set in play much of her future. 

She received a Getty Scholarship in 2018 in support of her research project: A Place Well Mended – Generating Communities Full of Life and Love.

She was a key driver in a project called Heritage Streets Alive, where she designed and led a public input process that transformed three historic but declining streets in Ireland.

She also helped create an empowering new context that made possible the creation of Derry’s Peace Bridge – shifting the context from resistance to possibility. The consequent emergent spatial transformation there connects one war-torn community with another, also transforming mindsets. By its third birthday, 3 million people had crossed a footbridge that many said would never happen – against all odds.

We talk about: 

• Doing big things and rewriting the self-doubt story
• A process for public input that involves conversation leading to transformation
• Built heritage – what it means to progress and preserve

So with that, let’s listen in and gear up for what’s next.

Where to find Mary and other links:

• LinkedIn
• Email
• Website
• Heritage Streets Alive! Project

BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review, and share with your friends!
 
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
 
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
 
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
 
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.

In his book Ecological Literacy, David Orr said we need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. He said we need people who live well in their places. People of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. 

These are the people who are redefining success in today’s terms and this podcast is for the peacemakers, healers, restorers and lovers of every kind.

Every other week, we talk to someone who is living well in their place and doing something to contribute to the world rather than take from it. We are breaking trail. 

Today I am excited to introduce you to Katie Harris, who has dedicated her life’s work to connecting this country through bicycle transportation.

Katie Harris (she/her) is the Director of Community Impact at Adventure Cycling Association. She is passionate about creating a future where bike travel is safe and inclusive, and sees bike advocacy at the nexus of climate change, transportation justice, and healthy communities. She provides leadership for Adventure Cycling’s advocacy work, including the U.S. Bicycle Route System, ACA’s safety program, and the organization’s newest initiative, Bike Overnights, which is focused on supporting anyone who wants to experience the joy of bicycle travel, especially BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and transgender, women, intersex and gender nonconforming cyclists. A collaborator by nature, she loves building partnerships with mission-aligned organizations and individuals to further their collective missions. Katie lives in Bellingham, WA, where she spends her free time hiking, mountain biking, skiing, fly-fishing, and poring over maps, planning the next adventure.

We talk about: 

• Safety on the roads
• Equity in biking
• Community Collaboration to get things done
• Stepping into our leadership, something I work to do every day

So with that, let’s listen in and gear up for what’s next.

Where to find Katie and other links:

• LinkedIn
• adventurecycling.org
• National Corridor Plan
• Nonprofits Unite to Create Equitable Access for Cycling
• Coast to Coast by Bike: Rails-to-Trails Magazine Green Issue

BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review, and share with your friends!
 
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
 
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
 
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
 
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.

This is a story about not letting our circumstances define who we are. If today’s guest can do that, we can do it. She is not paying it forward. She came from a place of extreme poverty to start this global nonprofit Days for Girls International.

Celeste Mergens is the founder and CEO of Days for Girls. She has led the organization since its beginning in 2008, driven by twenty years of nonprofit and business management experience. She holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Literature and audited a second in Global Sustainable Development. Days for Girls is a two-time Girl Effect Champion, won the SEED award for gender equity and entrepreneurship, and was named by the Huffington Post as a ‘Next Ten’ Organization poised to change the world in the next decade, and won the 2020 ORG of the year award. Celeste has been featured in Oprah’s O Magazine, Forbes, and Stanford Social Innovation Review. She was awarded the 2017 AARP Purpose Prize Award, named Conscious Company Global Impact Entrepreneur Top Ten Women in 2018, 2019 Global Washington Global Hero, and Women’s Economic Forum’s Woman of the Decade.

She is married to her best friend Don and has six children and 15 grandchildren and was named 2015 American Mother of the Year for Washington State.

Also, today is International Day of the Girl – Donate with matching funds with a goal to reach 50,000 girls. Go there now and support a girl – $10

How an idea in the middle of the night gave her profound purpose.
Why washable feminine hygiene is so important. 2015 – Nepal – one of the five things they asked for urgently was washable menstrual solutions
How to get an idea off the ground.
We are not our circumstances. It’s our response that matters.

So, with that, let’s listen in and gear up for what’s next.

Where to find Celeste and other links:

• ​​daysforgirls.org
• Instagram

BEFORE YOU LEAVE - If you are enjoying the shows, I hope you’ll subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends!
 
About Lisa Gerber:
Lisa advises CEOs and senior-level management on how to use the power of storytelling and effective communication to influence action and bring ideas to life.
 
She guides companies through the digital maze of constantly changing tools to build discovery, loyalty, and ultimately help them achieve their own big leaps.
 
When she is not in her office, she might be out skiing or trail running. This is where she does her best creative problem-solving.
 
To learn more about booking Lisa for consulting, speaking or workshops, visit www.bigleapcreative.com.

Jill Damman had a biking accident that would change her life forever. She could let the incident define her, or she could decide how she would let it define her. Jill shares with us a very difficult time in her life and how she made it into something better than she was before. There are so many silver linings in this story, I hope it changes what a “bad day” means to you.

We discuss:

• Losing your face/your identity
• Finding purpose when things go entirely wrong.
• Resilience and turning adversity into a net positive.

Links:

• EMDR (eye movement therapy) - emdr.com/what-is-emdr/
• Center for Healthy Minds
• Mindful

Find Jill online at www.jilldamman.weebly.com

The Gear Show will return October 5th with all new episodes!

“Encouragement doesn’t have a price”

We each have “our own Ironman.” It might be a 5k. It might be climbing Everest. Doesn’t matter.

today, my friend, Tom Garrity, owner of The Garrity Group, the leading PR Firm in New Mexico, joins us to share how he trained for and competed in the Ironman 70.3 Boulder, crossed the finish line with his arm in a sling, and still achieved a personal record.

Tom’s story of getting active didn’t even start until his late forties. From couch to marathon training, to ultras to Ironman 70.3 - that’s a Type A character if I’ve ever met one, all while running his PR agency.

There is no shortage of laughter in our conversation as well as ideas for keeping motivated for those mornings you just don’t want to get out of bed.

• What is the key to motivation?
• Why you don’t have to be a top finisher to be achieving big goals.
• Finding the balance between pushing yourself but knowing your boundaries, your strengths. In other words, how to keep it real
• Training and juggling running a business. Don’t expect a three-step framework here. There is no answer.
• The awesome story of working through adversity to finish his second half ironman not only finish, but best performance.

Links mentioned

Team in Training

WorldVision

Black Dog Triathlon

Where to Find Tom

TomGarrity.com

www.garritygroup.com

Instagram - @tomgarrity

Twitter - @tom_garrity

garritypr.com

OneMedal

Counselors Academy PRSA

Research by Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School, found that immersing yourself in a country outside your own can prompt mental change, including increased creativity.

Creativity is related to neural pathways and influenced by daily life, including your habits or surroundings, The Atlantic reports. Experiencing new things can create new connections in the mind.” - Thrive Global, How Travel Can Get You Out of a Creative Rut

It turns out the travel bug is good for you in so many ways and today I have no guest - it’s just me, talking about travel, specifically, international and what I’d call “immersion” travel - the kind where you get off the beaten path, beyond the quote unquote manicured for tourist experience and really get to know a place and it’s people. 

Patrick and I took a month to live in SW France. We were able to work from there on our businesses and explore the area and truly experience the region. We’ve had a lot of questions about the trip and I wanted to share some big lessons of our own, and outcomes of this kind of travel. Now, we were lucky enough to be able to take a month to do this. I’m not suggesting it has to be a long time. You could do this for a week if you wanted!

Some of the things discussed:  

• It’s kind of a financial commitment. so how did we do it? 
• How did we pull it off and make this trip happen? 
• How it came together - how we spent a month in France
• Planning vs serendipity - We discussed this idea of how stressed I was at not being able to find trails before we left on the trip: 
• Technology and apps - What types of apps and resources did we use for our trip planning - but first: 
• Being an american in a foreign country

Links and resources

• Thrive Global- How Travel Can Get You Out of a Creative Rut

Locations mentioned

• Tarn River Gorge
• Town of Le Rozier
• Kayaking in Les Vignes

Apps used

• Gaia GPS
• IGN topo maps - France topo maps
• Fooding
• Google Maps 

Today’s episode is going to give you gear barn envy and if you are the type to love type A organization, you are going to love the way Jeff Thompson plans his summer camping trips. 

Jeff is director at Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center, a husband and a dad to a five year old girl. We’ll talk about packing lists, and lists of lists, and refining those lists. He’ll share with us what he carries in his backpack and we even talk about how to get kids stoked to love the outdoors.

Learn more at www.thegearshow.com

Links, Resources, Further Reading:

Nalgene Drink Tube and Bite Valve

Where to find Jeff:

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center

Today's episode might change the way you think about hydrating.

I like to overthink things. I often wonder if I need to be more methodical about how I’m hydrating when I go out for whatever it is I’m doing for longer than an hour. Do I need to calculate my height/weight, distance, number of calories needed and then figure out the formula for my water and/or sport drink?

There are a few schools of thought when it comes to hydration while adventuring in the outdoors. Some say drink before your thirsty. Others say it’s better to dehydrate than over-hydrate. You’ll die from the latter, not the former.

Brian Harder is back, my friends - regular guest, good friend, former Exum Mountain Guide, and a generally pretty gnarly dude is going to break it down for us.

We had a fun discussion sharing stories of (de)hydration, what packs we use, how we fuel during and after our long workouts. He tackles such topics as to how and if it will affect performance and how to figure out what works for you. We talk about the idea of drinking before your thirsty and sloshy stomachs. Sugar drinks! Why types of sugar are OK?

And as usual, we get a little philosophical balancing preparedness with the risk of adventure. Hint: Brian likes to offer search and rescue guys job security.

Learn more at www.thegearshow.com

Links, Resources, Further Reading:

Tim Noakes - The Lore of Running

waterlogged

Where to find Brian:

Brians’ blog

Brian on Instagram

Today’s episode is going to help you summon the mental strength to not crumble under pressure.

Do you ever wonder how the professional athletes do it? Make the foul shot when the stadium is thumping? Drive the golf ball on the cutthroat round of the Masters Tournament? I do. Because my version of that foul shot is hopping into a new business client meeting, or the moments before a webinar starts, or I take the stage to give a speech. We all have our “foul shot” moments that could take us down if we let them.

Today, Cara Bradley, author of On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up, and Shine, is going to give us some amazingly practical tips for calming our sorry selves down so we can not only do well, but kick ass.

Cara, a former professional skater, is a mental strength coach in bodymind training. She is the founder of the BodyMind Center in suburban Philadelphia, co-founder of the non-profit Mindfulness Through Movement, hosts practices and strategies on her On The Verge podcast series and free app and is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, and Mindful Magazine. She also leads unique bodymind programs for CEO’s, corporations, conferences, universities, and sports teams.

It’s not as hard as it sounds - our thoughts really do become our reality so it’s up to us to not let that impostor syndrome take over and win. We’re going to learn how to train our mind much like we train our bodies, and even the big time professional athletes are doing this stuff. So let’s take some lessons from them and do better than just OK.

Links, Resources, Further Reading:

George Mumford - The Mindful Athlete

Richie Davidson

Muse App

Where to find Cara:

Cara’s website

Today is part 2 in our mini series on longevity, aging and wisdom. It’s the continuation of my conversation with Dave Leffmann, physical therapist, soon to be published author, and good friend and mountain playmate - today - we talk about our mind - the fastest and most adaptable tissue in the body - our nervous system and how our thoughts and outlook on life, scientifically translate to our physical abilities.

We have the power to use our mind to do better not just mentally, but physically and it’s interesting because for many, the mind is likely the most overlooked piece of gear we own.

I don’t want to get morbid on you, but often we fail to appreciate the important things in our lives until after they are gone. Dave and I have this conversation through the lens of a loved one(s) with terminal illnesses living out their last days to the fullest, and the positive outcomes from that, the work that it has led him to do. Hopefully we all walk away from this promising ourselves to focus more on our nervous system and to live our own lives more optimistically and fully.

Links and Resources

Joan Borysenko - psychoneuroimmunology 

Where to find Dave:

Dave isn’t really an online kind of guy. He’s an outside, offline one. Having said that, here his YouTube channel and information about his upcoming book:

Caregiving 101 YouTube Channel

Book will be coming out this fall via Summertime Publications and called: Caregiving 101: A Practical Guide to Caring for a Loved One