Episodes

Patricia Knight Meyer on Adoption, Identity, and the Right to Know | 1,663 Patricia Knight Meyer believes every person deserves access to the truth of their own identity, and no one should have to spend decades proving who they are. An author, speaker, and adoption reform advocate, Patricia was handed over as an infant along a Texas hospital curb in 1970 without an agency, judge, or legal adoption paperwork. She grew up with a fraudulent birth certificate and little documentation of her true identity. At 39, Patricia began searching for answers with no original records, known birth name, or confirmed birthplace. Her investigation eventually led her to both of her birth parents, and at 47, she received her first legal birth certificate. She shares her journey in WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption, an award-winning memoir exploring identity, secrecy, family separation, reunion, and the consequences of an adoption system that failed to legally recognize who she was…

William Cowan on Career Strategy, Leadership, and Navigating Change | 1,662 William Cowan believes a successful career is not simply defined by the positions you hold, but by how deliberately you navigate change, make consequential decisions, and continue creating value throughout your professional life. With more than 30 years of experience in senior management and executive advisory roles, William has built a career spanning corporate leadership, strategy, career management, consulting, broadcasting, and board governance. He has advised boards and chief executives around the world while also serving as CEO of several listed and privately held companies. His message is simple: a remarkable career does not happen by accident. It is shaped by the decisions you make, the transitions you navigate, and your willingness to approach each new chapter with clarity and purpose. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Enjoying the show? Support the conversation! 👉 Today’s guest: www.buildingawinnin…

Dr. Maria Nemeth on Turning Your Intentions Into Meaningful Action | 1,661 Dr. Maria Nemeth believes meaningful success is not simply about knowing what to do. It is about learning how to direct your energy toward what matters and turn your intentions into meaningful action. A Master Certified Coach, transformational seminar leader, author, and lifelong advocate for social change, Maria has spent decades helping people bridge the gap between what they say they want and how they actually live. She is the founder and director of the Academy for Coaching Excellence, where thousands of people around the world have been trained to bring greater clarity, purpose, and effectiveness to their work and lives. Her influence extends across nonprofit organizations, businesses, government sectors, and the broader coaching profession. Maria is also the author of two acclaimed books, The Energy of Money and Mastering Life's Energies. Through her writing, she explores how our relationship …

Angel Willard on Trauma, Incarceration, and Rebuilding Her Life | 1,660 Angel Willard believes the hardest chapters of our lives do not have to become the final ones. Sometimes rebuilding begins with the courage to face what happened, take responsibility for what comes next, and fight your way back to yourself. An author, mother, survivor, and advocate from a small town in British Columbia, Angel's life has been shaped by childhood trauma, loss, motherhood, chronic pain, incarceration, grief, and the difficult process of rebuilding after everything familiar has changed. That journey inspired her memoir, Fighting to Come Home, an deeply personal exploration of trauma, survival, motherhood, incarceration, healing, faith, and finding your way back to yourself. For Angel, "coming home" ultimately became about far more than returning to a physical place. It became about reclaiming who she was and deciding who she wanted to become. She is also the author of The Litigation Landmi…

How to Stop Living for Others and Start Living for Yourself with Courtney Freeman | 1,659 Courtney Freeman believes success means very little if the life you have built no longer feels like your own. Through her podcast, The Unbroken Blueprint, Courtney explores the emotional patterns and expectations that influence how people see themselves, navigate relationships, and make decisions. Her conversations examine identity, personal growth, emotional patterns, and what it means to create meaningful change without relying on burnout, constant striving, or abandoning yourself in the process. At the heart of her philosophy is a powerful distinction: there is a difference between creating a life that looks successful and creating one that actually fits. Courtney encourages people to examine the roles they have learned to perform, question what no longer feels authentic, and develop enough trust in themselves to make healthier choices, even when those choices are difficult. Her ap…

Dr. Kenneth Markowitz on Overcoming Addiction and Reclaiming Your Life | 1,658 Kenneth Markowitz believes recovery can become more than a way out of addiction. It can become the beginning of an entirely new way to use your experience, knowledge, and life in service of others. An addiction recovery coach and former pediatrician, Kenneth works with people navigating chemical and behavioral addictions. His approach is shaped by an uncommon combination of medical training, nearly two decades of clinical experience, and his own deeply personal journey through addiction and recovery. Kenneth earned his medical degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, completed his pediatric residency training at North Shore University Hospital-Long Island Jewish Hospital, and holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from New York University. That professional foundation, combined with lived experience, gives him a perspective that extends beyond theory alone. Today, Kenneth's …

Cindy Waddle and Carl Merrell on the Power of Words and Encouragement | 1,657 Cindy Waddle and Carl Merrell believe the right words, offered at the right moment, can remind someone that they are seen, supported, and not alone. Together, Cindy and Carl are behind Dezire to Inspire, a collection of thoughtfully created cards designed to offer strength, comfort, encouragement, and meaningful connection during the moments when finding the right words can be difficult. Dezire to Inspire goes beyond traditional greeting cards. Each message is created with the intention of speaking directly to what someone may be experiencing, whether they are navigating grief, seeking healing, holding onto hope, or simply needing encouragement to keep moving forward. With card sets covering 28 different topics, Cindy and Carl have created a resource that can meet people across a wide range of life experiences. The goal is not simply to send a card, but to create a moment of genuine human connect…

Susannah Robbins on Anxiety Relief, Overthinking, and Hypnosis | 1,656 Susannah Robbins believes anxiety does not have to control the way you think, feel, or move through your life. A Certified Master Hypnotist, IEMT Practitioner, author, and founder of MindShift Potentials, Susannah helps people struggling with chronic anxious thoughts, overthinking, fear, and self-doubt develop a greater sense of calm, confidence, and control. Her path into this work began close to home. After watching her daughter experience severe anxiety, Susannah became determined to find approaches that could help. That search eventually introduced them to hypnosis, and the meaningful changes she witnessed inspired Susannah to change the direction of her own life and train as a hypnotist. As her work with clients developed, Susannah recognized another important need. People needed practical tools they could reach for when anxiety appeared in everyday life, not only techniques used during a professio…

Positive Talk Radio is more than a show. It’s a movement of hope, healing, and purpose. 🎙️ Hosted by Kevin McDonald, we bring you real stories from real people who turned pain into power, fear into faith, and dreams into reality. From bestselling authors and visionaries to everyday heroes, each conversation will move you, challenge you, and remind you that you were created for greatness. Here, positivity isn’t just talked about. It’s lived, shared, and multiplied. Whether you’re seeking encouragement, clarity, or a spark of joy, you’ll find it here. 🌎 Watch and listen on Brushwood Media Network, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, and YouTube. ✨ Subscribe today and be part of the global ripple of kindness and possibility.

Michael Grayson believes adversity can leave deep scars, but it can also become the beginning of rebuilding a life with greater meaning, resilience, and purpose. A nurse, cancer survivor, and author of Blades of Resurrection, Michael's story has been shaped by experiences with poverty, addiction, grief, recovery, and profound personal loss. Growing up surrounded by instability and addiction, he faced challenges that would later influence both his understanding of human suffering and his commitment to creating a different future. Michael eventually overcame a gambling addiction, pursued higher education, earned multiple degrees, and built a career in nursing. His professional life placed him alongside people navigating some of their most vulnerable moments, giving him an intimate understanding of illness, uncertainty, and the importance of compassionate care. Those experiences became part of the foundation for his memoir, Blades of Resurrection, an exploration of resilience, a…

James Logan believes hope is not something you wait for. It is something you choose to keep moving toward, even when the road ahead feels impossible. A lifelong endurance athlete, James has completed approximately 300 races across four decades and has been pursuing IRONMAN competition since 2018. In 2026, that journey is taking him to one of endurance sports' biggest stages after being selected to compete with TEAM IMF at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. For 2026, James has simplified his life around three goals: arrive in Kona with enough strength and fitness to complete the race within the 17-hour limit, publish and promote Just Keep TRI-ING, and raise as much money as possible for the IRONMAN Foundation. His message is simple: a difficult diagnosis may change the course of your life, but it does not have to take away your purpose. Keep believing, keep moving, and above all, just keep TRI-ING. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Enjoying the show? Support the conversat…

Judith Hoaglund believes healing and self-discovery begin with a willingness to explore the deeper mysteries of ourselves, the natural world, and our connection to something greater. A lifelong student of spiritual alchemy, quantum mechanics, shamanism, mysticism, nature, and healing, Judith has spent decades exploring traditions and practices that seek to understand consciousness and human transformation. Her search for personal healing and spiritual wisdom has taken her across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, eventually transforming a personal journey into a life devoted to service. Since 1977, Judith has worked with people seeking healing and greater self-understanding. She immersed herself in Sufism and was ordained as a healer and minister in the Sufi Order of the West in 1979. During the 1990s, she expanded her practice through training with Native American and other shamanic teachers, later beginning an in-depth apprenticeship in Peruvian shamanism in 200…

Matt and Alexis on How Consistency Can Transform Your Life | 1,652 Matt and Alexis believe transforming your life is more possible than most people think, but motivation alone is rarely enough to make change last. As the founder of Firefli, Matt brings an entrepreneurial perspective to personal transformation, while Alexis, Firefli's Head of Marketing, brings her own understanding of what it takes to turn an idea or intention into consistent action. Together, they explore the relationship between motivation, discipline, and the small decisions that ultimately shape our lives. Their philosophy challenges the idea that meaningful transformation requires one dramatic breakthrough. Motivation can help someone begin, but consistency is what allows that initial spark to become progress. By continuing to show up even when excitement fades, people can gradually create new habits, strengthen their confidence, and move closer to the person they want to become. Through their work wit…

Roxanna Johnson helps spouses and partners heal from betrayal trauma by acknowledging their pain while rebuilding identity, faith, and hope. Her work shows that healing does not require minimizing what happened, but facing it truthfully and refusing to let another person’s choices define who you become.

Olivia Marie Blain on Career Change and Finding Your Passion | 1.650 Olivia Marie Blain believes life is too short to stay stuck on a path that no longer feels like your own. A licensed School Counselor, entrepreneur, and member of the Menominee Nation, Olivia is building an education-focused business designed to help students and everyday people discover what genuinely excites them and explore how that passion can become meaningful, income-generating work. Her mission grew from her own experience of realizing that a traditional career path no longer aligned with the life she wanted to create. Rather than continuing simply because it felt familiar or expected, Olivia made the decision to walk away and pursue something that reflected her strengths, interests, and bigger vision for her future. Today, she combines her background in education and counseling with an entrepreneurial mindset to create educational tools and career exploration resources that help people recognize p…

Alan Gillanders on Consciousness, Spirituality, and the Nature of Reality | 1,649 Alan Gillanders believes some of life's most important questions begin where certainty ends. For more than 50 years, Alan has explored questions surrounding consciousness, reality, purpose, spirituality, and the nature of human existence. Rather than limiting his search to a single philosophy, his journey has taken him through Christianity, Vedic teachings, Buddhism, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Hermeticism, and other spiritual traditions, alongside a deep personal interest in physics, neuroscience, and consciousness research. Alan's life has remained firmly grounded in the practical and creative world. He has worked as a technical advisor in engineering and mining, operated businesses, owned an art gallery in Western Australia, pursued oil painting and metal sculpture, and designed and built his first home himself. For Alan, spirituality is not about escaping everyday life. It is about ex…

Amy Ratkovich on Self Awareness and Breaking Emotional Patterns | 1,648 Amy Ratkovich believes understanding ourselves begins with curiosity, not judgment. A psychotherapist with more than a decade of experience, Amy's work is grounded in exploring what it means to be human and why we think, feel, relate, and respond in the ways we do. She approaches therapy through psychodynamic, relational, and body-aware perspectives, recognizing that our present lives are often shaped by experiences and patterns that developed long before we became conscious of them. At the heart of Amy's work is the belief that people make sense when we take the time to understand the full context of their lives. Our histories, relationships, emotional experiences, and even the wisdom held within the body can offer important clues about the patterns we continue to carry. Rather than simply focusing on changing behaviors, Amy encourages deeper awareness of what may be driving them. By becoming more con…

Nidhi Srivastava on Online Safety and Cybersecurity for Kids | 1,647 Nidhi Srivastava believes protecting children online requires more than technology. It requires giving them the knowledge and confidence to recognize risks for themselves. After years of helping organizations defend against evolving digital threats, cybersecurity became deeply personal for Nidhi when her own son encountered online scams and cyberbullying. The experience revealed a critical gap: children were entering increasingly complex digital spaces without always having the practical skills to navigate them safely. That realization inspired Nidhi to found DigiArmorX, a personalized digital safety platform designed for students in Grades 3 through 8. Her work helps children, parents, and educators better understand phishing and scams, AI and deepfakes, cyberbullying, online gaming risks, digital citizenship, and the everyday decisions that shape online safety. Rather than relying on fear or simply tell…

Dr. Jodi-Maree Cronin on Breaking Unhealthy Relationship Patterns | 1,646 Dr. Jodi-Maree Cronin believes the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the space between us can fundamentally shape how we experience life. A retired doctor, animal-assisted psychotherapist, Emotional Wealth Consultant, and Director of the Pack 4 Life Institute, Jodi-Maree has dedicated her work to understanding the role relationships and awareness play in healing, connection, and personal growth. She is the founder of Relational Awareness and Wisdom (RAW), an approach centered on developing greater awareness of self, others, and the relational space we create together. Through RAW, Jodi-Maree explores how recognizing our own relational patterns can change the way we communicate, connect, respond to challenges, and move through the world. At the heart of much of her work is an unlikely but deeply influential teacher: her assistance dog, Benni. Through trauma, recovery, and the extraordinary relat…

Euan Mutch believes fitness can do far more than change your body. It can help you rebuild your confidence, rediscover your purpose, and change the direction of your life. Founder of New Mindset New Power, Euan's passion for helping others comes from a deeply personal journey. Growing up in the care system without a strong sense of stability or belonging, he later faced years of addiction, depression, and self doubt. At his lowest point, fitness became an unexpected path forward, giving him structure, discipline, confidence, and something he had been missing for years: hope. That transformation inspired Euan to turn fitness into a profession. He became a qualified personal trainer and continued his education across life coaching, mentoring, counselling skills, mental health, addiction awareness, ADHD awareness, and specialized fitness training. His work took on another dimension while supporting his wife through menopause. Wanting to better understand what she was experiencin…

Chris White on Business Clarity, Leadership, and Focused Execution | 1,644 Chris White believes clarity is what turns ambitious ideas into focused action and meaningful results. An entrepreneur, executive coach, author, and co-founder of Ninety.io, Chris has spent more than three decades helping leaders cut through complexity, understand what matters most, and create momentum in their businesses and lives. As the creator of Clarity Business Academy, Chris teaches a practical approach built around three essential areas: Identity Clarity, Priority Clarity, and Directional Clarity. Together, these principles help leaders better understand who they are, determine what deserves their attention, and establish a clear path forward. Chris's approach combines business operating systems, leadership coaching, storytelling, and lessons shaped through his own experiences with entrepreneurship and adversity. Rather than adding more complexity to leadership, his work helps people simplif…

Dan Schlund believes the moments that bring us crashing down can also become the foundation for building something greater. Known around the world as “The Rocketman,” Dan is an entrepreneur, paramedic, stunt performer, author, speaker, and one of the few people to master the extraordinary art of Rocketbelt flight. For more than a decade, he completed hundreds of flights across 26 countries and six continents, taking his career from Hollywood stunt work and live-action productions to major international events. But Dan’s story reaches far beyond the spectacle of flying. His career has crossed professional stunt work, pyrotechnics, film and television production, and emergency medical services, giving him a unique understanding of both high-risk environments and the responsibility of protecting the people working within them. That perspective became deeply personal after Dan survived catastrophic injuries, including severe burns that cost him 185 square inches of skin and a lat…

Sandy and Derek on Spiritual Awakening and Energy Healing | 1,642 Sandy and Derek believe spiritual awakening is not about following someone else's path. It is about reconnecting with the wisdom, purpose, and alignment already within you. Together, they are the founders of Anamlíniú, a heart-centered space created to support people at every stage of their spiritual journey. Through channeling, energy healing, sound, light language, and meditation, they offer experiences designed to encourage deeper self awareness, conscious connection, and spiritual integration. Derek's path emerged through personal challenges and a period of deep inner questioning that eventually led him toward higher guidance and channeling. Today, he brings his work as an intuitive, sound healer, and growth facilitator into Anamlíniú, helping others explore their own spiritual development with greater clarity and openness. Sandy brings a complementary intuitive and healing presence to their work. As an …

Reconnect With Yourself and Trust Your Intuition with Summer of Just Be True | 1,641 Summer believes healing begins when we feel safe enough to reconnect with ourselves, trust what we sense, and stand fully in our truth. An intuitive teacher, Reiki practitioner, spiritual mentor, and the guide behind Just Be True, Summer helps people explore the intersection of trauma healing, nervous system safety, energy work, and spiritual development. Through private readings, somatic energy work, intuitive guidance, and teaching, Summer supports people in identifying and processing stuck energy while developing a deeper relationship with their own intuition. Her approach creates space for people to slow down, listen inward, and better understand what their minds, bodies, and inner knowing may be communicating. At the heart of Summer's work is the belief that spiritual growth is not about becoming someone else. It is about reconnecting with what feels authentic beneath fear, conditioni…