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An Authentic Goodbye, A Soulful Hello
6.4k Plays1 year ago
Come say hello to Laura on her new show, Soul School. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soul-school/id1680423580 In this final episode of Art of Authenticity, Laura Coe is interviewed by friend, Kevin Kaiser. Laura reflects on 236 episodes and 7 years of stories. Listen as Laura reflects and revels over the beautiful conversations she will be sad to say goodbye to. Excitingly, listeners can look to future hellos. Laura and Kevin are proud to introduce a new podcast, Soul School. Come check it out as Laura begins a new journey diving deeper into authenticity.
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Transcript
Celebrating The Art of Authenticity Finale
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to this week's episode of The Art of Authenticity. I'm Laura Coe, your host, and I am here for my final episode with my friend, Kevin. Hi, Kevin. Hey, Laura. Episode 236, to be exact. And your show has been live since January 2016, so seven years. And seven is the number of completion, if you're into that kind of thing.
Embracing Change and New Beginnings
00:00:51
Speaker
And which is why we're here today. So tell the folks why we're here today. Oh, it's a, I gotta be honest, a little emotional. I've been thinking about this for a long time. Um, we're here today to, to celebrate, to celebrate, um, 236 beautiful interviews, conversations, and honestly,
00:01:19
Speaker
A process that I've undergone of learning and growing with everybody who's come with me on this ride, the audience, the people who have showed up and my own journey. So a celebration in a way of that and everything that we've experienced and
00:01:38
Speaker
and an opportunity for a new beginning because what has been haunting me really for the last year, two years has been this need to shed what this was and to allow myself the opportunity to grow and change and evolve through a different expression. And I have really
00:02:01
Speaker
struggled with that. It has been something that I have been resistant towards and I had a knowing and this show is about authenticity. I have a knowing that I've needed to let it go, but I've had a resistance in doing so. So I'm here to celebrate and also let go and allow myself the opportunity to move and hopefully people here with me move forward into something new and beautiful.
00:02:28
Speaker
That's amazing. And what's so special about it to me, just being your friend outside looking in, is that the easy thing to do is to keep doing what you've always done.
00:02:42
Speaker
Um, that's the easy thing to do, but nothing is ever the same. Like it's always in motion. It's always transforming and right. It's like the, but the cost of the progress is like, is like fully accepting the discomfort and pain. But what's on the other side of that is like everything you've been looking for,
From Entrepreneur to Authentic Living
00:03:03
Speaker
right? Like, which is actually yourself, which is what your whole show is about. Um, what is it that you've been afraid of though?
00:03:13
Speaker
You know, it's like, I've got this weird FOMO with this one. I don't know. The only way I can answer it is to take you and the audience back as like, why did I do this show in the first place? What was this for me? What did it mean for me?
00:03:28
Speaker
I was an entrepreneur. I had a successful life. I was living what people would consider the dream. I had sold a company. I had a great, beautiful relationship and things looked reasonably good except something deep within me wasn't feeling authentic. And so I went on this search back to my philosophical roots to think about how can you have a life that is both successful and filled with passion?
00:03:55
Speaker
And it was such a great conversation, right? And I wanted to meet people who were in that search, right? And this was years ago. This was seven years ago. I mean, it's so long. I can't believe it. But what does it mean to identify with an authentic life? And I learned so much about
00:04:15
Speaker
how varied that is for different people. Some people success looks one way, it's 10 houses and the CEO of something and they're jet, you know, jetting around the world and that's truth for them. Other people, it's a studio apartment and artistry and that's truth for them and everything in between and it doesn't have to look one way and it changes over time, right? It's like unbelievable.
00:04:40
Speaker
And so the process of learning and growing with the interviews and myself and taking it in this information and using it in my own experience, right? Like here I was successful and now I'm moving into this new life of philosophy and authenticity and back to my roots of being a philosophy undergrad and graduate student and this passion, but how do I do my passion without being broke?
00:05:05
Speaker
I was exploring it as the audience was and as I was listening to these guests.
Exploring Deeper Truths Within
00:05:10
Speaker
And then I learned what I think I needed to learn. I learned that I had this space within me that had the truth of what I needed. The truth isn't my thoughts. It's not in my head. Consulting my head for my truth is like the worst idea ever. It's got a lot of information. It's a beautiful tool, but the truth is deep within.
00:05:33
Speaker
I then wanted to go deeper. I wanted to find out what is this thing we call truth? What is this authentic essence of self? What the hell are we talking about? We point to our chest. For those who can see me on video, I'm pointing to myself. We say I'm here or something within me, but what are we talking about? That's when I stumbled into the Akashic realm
00:05:56
Speaker
I had this spiritual awakening. I did an episode or two about it. And the FOMO is just like, will the audience will go along with me? Have I lost my mind? You know, am I giving up a good thing? Like that stuff you do every time, right? Like I don't want to let go of what was going well, all that stuff, right? But I knew it had come to an end and I knew I wanted to express this conversation in a new way.
00:06:24
Speaker
But I was afraid of, yeah, like the opportunity cost and the loss. And I love the audience and I didn't want to disappoint, right? Maybe not give them the conversation they wanted to continue to hear. So something in there. Yeah. Well, you said that you lost your mind. And I think that's exactly what happened. Because if you really think about what the essence of spirituality is, and like there actually is,
00:06:53
Speaker
Like there is this like, is that too weird for people? But spirituality actually is the most practical thing on earth. It has nothing to do with beliefs. It has nothing to do with religion. It's actually the, it's like, what is our essential nature? Like who are we really, right? And it's like the, cause I loved when you had Rupert Spira on recently and you all talked about, you are the happiness that you seek.
00:07:24
Speaker
You see that on Hallmark greeting cards and people roll their eyes, they're like, yeah, yeah, I get it, I'm the happiness I seek. But no, really. In all of these episodes where you've talked to these people who have pursued happiness, they've pursued the good life, all they've really been chasing is themselves. It's like this feeling of
00:07:46
Speaker
I'm okay. You know, it's not even like, what is the meaning of life that they're chasing? It's like, I just want to have the feeling of being alive.
Spirituality and Personal Struggle
00:07:56
Speaker
And it all comes down to like losing your mind. It really does. It's like, that's why like all the spiritual traditions call awakening realization or recognition. Like it's re-cognition.
00:08:10
Speaker
It's like rethinking, like re-cognition, completely changing your mind. So who are you now? Like, where are you going? Yeah, first of all, all of that, yes. You know, I struggled with the spirituality conversation. I don't come from a spiritual home.
00:08:34
Speaker
felt shame about acknowledging this part of myself. It made me feel weird or out there or woo woo or losing it or off the grid and all these things. And I didn't want, my identity didn't align with that idea, right?
00:08:49
Speaker
And so just like this idea of authenticity, what does it really mean at the core of it? I'm really interested in this idea of spirituality. Like what does it really mean to be a spirit inhabiting a human experience? And I'm done with the shame. I like fullheartedly believe in this conversation and I love it. And I've found there's this entire network of people
00:09:13
Speaker
who are not atheists, they're not completely science logic based and they're not hardcore religious structure only people. They fall in the middle where they may have a little leaning towards science or they have some organization towards the structural religious structures, but they're seekers and they're open and they're interested and they're curious and they have the same feeling like,
00:09:41
Speaker
People think I'm weird. People think I'm crazy because I'm not subscribing to one dogma or another. I'm all over. I don't know what I am. In fact, I'm just trying to understand the the endlessness of this dialogue. And so that's what excites me. I want to like what I did for authenticity play around in the sandbox of
00:10:03
Speaker
what it meant from every angle. I want to now think about, I am now, thinking about spirituality, the spiritual life, the energetic life. And by that, for me, it means
00:10:17
Speaker
the energy, the life force that keeps me breathing, what is that?
Excitement for Spiritual Exploration
00:10:23
Speaker
When we say, I am, who is? Where am I? What does that mean? Over what period of time? Where is it in space? All of these beautiful, beautiful,
00:10:37
Speaker
ancient spiritual teachings to modern day ones are brilliant and exciting. And I just want to bring people along. And then secondarily, like quickly, I you know, I've fallen into this Akashic realm, right? So I want to share the wisdom of what I've been learning through that with people and how it's transformed my understanding of
00:11:01
Speaker
the learned experience, right? So we come here with a clean slate as a kid and we're taught about what the world is, judgments, right and wrong thinking, prescriptive views on how to live life and feel good and be happy, find purpose. None of them work.
00:11:19
Speaker
None of them work. Nobody's happy with that stuff. So to share from the Akashic realm's perspective, how we can quicker, more effectively align towards these ideas in a way that is tried and trued over thousands of years and really does work, right? Which is what you were saying. I'm already here. I don't have to seek anything. I just have to uncover what's already been asking to be seen.
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah. And that is a massive shift though. I mean, it's just the... And I'll bring up something that came up when you talked to Rupert again, about what is your essential self, your most authentic self?
00:12:06
Speaker
the only way to find that out is to strip away everything that isn't essential to who you are and what you are. And this whole pursuit of happiness and how everybody gets to the top of the mountain that we're told to climb, the thing that you were just talking about.
00:12:24
Speaker
everybody looks around, they go, is this all there is? This is it. And then they realize they've climbed a mountain, but it wasn't their mountain. And it wasn't essential to them. It wasn't essential to their own happiness. And then the quest becomes, all right, I'm going to find my mountain. And then you come to realize that your mountain is actually you. You actually are the mountain that you're looking for.
Journey to Self-Discovery with Kevin
00:12:51
Speaker
And
00:12:53
Speaker
in all of these spiritual traditions, and not just spiritual traditions, but, you know, psychological traditions and Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell and like the hero's journey. People talk about the hero's journey, but the hero's journey is never about finding the treasure or slaying the dragon, right? It's about Luke Skywalker discovering that he's a Jedi, you know, or that Neo, like Thomas Anderson is Neo in The Matrix.
00:13:18
Speaker
It was like, you truly are the happiness and the quest that you're on and you're searching for. Everything you're saying is like this huge yes inside of me, and I'm sure it's a huge yes in a growing number of people, a swell of people.
00:13:39
Speaker
Kevin, here's the thing, right? Like, why did I do this in the first place? Back to the beginning, it's like, I had success. I had climbed the mountain, not my mountain, a mountain, and I had a lot of things that are the hallmark of success, but I wasn't happier. In fact, I was progressively less happy. And so this process of authenticity, the question around it has been,
00:14:02
Speaker
what makes me feel better. That's what we want. If we're authentic, we think we'll feel better. That's why, why do people want that? I want to live more authentically. Well, because I think in the end, if I'm more aligned with myself, I'll feel better. Everybody wants to feel better, right? And they want to feel purposeful. They want to feel what they're doing has some meaning, some value, right? But
00:14:27
Speaker
It's such an elusive conversation and I felt like I've done a great job talking about it in terms of the cultural norms success trajectories versus personal interests and passions.
00:14:39
Speaker
but what the hell is the authentic self? Like we're just skipping to me this core question. And it's not that it's not being spoken of, right? Rupert Spira, Daniel LaPorte just came on and she's talking about it. Koot comes on, he talks about it. I've had so many beautiful, beautiful people come on and they are speaking to it, right? That we are love. We are unconditional oneness.
00:15:05
Speaker
love. That is what we are. That is what we go back into, right? So I'm just interested in bringing that out and more spiritual leaders and authors and similar guests that we've had on, but just pushing a little harder. And I've been doing it in the last couple episodes, like privately already. So if you like the last few, that's where I'm going to head. But just to be more overt about it and more intentional, I think.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. So here we stand at the top of the mountain, the first mountain of art of authenticity. You've taken the journey, you've discovered so many things along the way, and then you've gotten to the top and you're like, all right, next mountain. Yeah. Let's talk about the next mountain, the second mountain. Yeah. And what that looks like and why we're here. So what's next?
00:15:59
Speaker
So Kevin's not here for a random reason. Kevin and I are launching a new podcast called Soul School. And if you've checked out my work lately, I have a website called The Little Soul School, and it's a dedicated space just for this, for people who are seekers, explorers interested in understanding the Akashic realm, but understanding the ideas behind this idea of spirit and living life from purpose, looking for happiness in that experience.
Announcing New Podcast: Soul School
00:16:29
Speaker
Working in community, finding community, finding joy in this process. Letting go of this negativity around the woo woo. Having fun with these conversations without shame. So we're launching a new podcast. I would love for you guys to come join us.
00:16:48
Speaker
I could have left it at the art of authenticity, but it just didn't quite feel right. So soul school feels right. It's a little opportunity to have discussions around the soul journey and what that means and a fresh start in doing that. So have guests on. Kevin and I will be speaking regularly on topics from what we've learned through Adashanti or
00:17:14
Speaker
any other great work, right? There's a whole long list that we've enjoyed, taking questions from people and discussing that and bringing, I hope, this conversation to the same level we were able to with Authenticity out to you guys. Yeah, and man, I am so excited about this. And for everybody listening, Lauren and I have been talking about this for a while.
00:17:37
Speaker
because we would have conversations where we would dive deep into all of these things and we're like, and wouldn't it be cool just to bring other people into these conversations? Because what we're talking about is what I call everyday awe or everyday enlightenment, because it's the simplest thing in the world. It's hidden in plain sight.
00:18:00
Speaker
And so those are the things that we really love is how can you have the direct experience with these things? Like don't take our word for it. It's like, hey, we're exploring all of these things. We're inviting you to come along with us to explore these uncharted places. And some of these places are mapped out, but we're gonna go explore them anyway.
00:18:21
Speaker
and see what we can find and see what we can experience directly for ourselves. Because like everybody else, we're asking, who am I? Why am I here? How can I experience a deeper, more meaningful life? How can I find and express myself through my work, my relationships? And all of those things are not as complicated as we've been told they are.
00:18:49
Speaker
I mean, you just have to be willing to honestly ask questions, answer the questions. And so we're going to be your trail mates along the way.
Reflecting on Podcasting Journey
00:19:02
Speaker
And who knows where it's going to go? But I'm super excited to be partnered with you to climb whatever these next mountains are. It's going to be fun.
00:19:13
Speaker
No, it's, it's a great honor to do this with you. And I can't, you know, I can't tell you, Kevin, at the beginning of The Art of Authenticity, I had to find a mic, and I had to figure out how to launch a podcast. It was 2016. There was so few podcasts at the time.
00:19:30
Speaker
my assistant was only 20 and he was like, you need to do a podcast. I'm like, what is that? I don't even know what it is. And he's like, there's a button on your phone. And I'm like, what are you talking about? You're like 20. This is so dumb. And then I started telling my friends, I'm like, do you know there's a button on your phone with all this content inside? And they're like, what? And I'm like, it's called a podcast, right? And
00:19:52
Speaker
And so just kind of the awe of the experience of letting it unfold, right, from not knowing how to record to not knowing what I was going to say to not knowing which guests would come if they would even show up. I have that excitement with us, you know, where this is going to go? Will there be like live Akashic record events? Will we deep dive into spirituality in different ways? Will we what kind of guests will show up, right? And that's the joy is that, to your point,
00:20:22
Speaker
We're going down this journey together and for me personally, there's a chemistry and a joy in doing it with you that is so profoundly unique in my life that I just couldn't feel more grateful to have this opportunity to move forward with you.
00:20:41
Speaker
Oh, same here. Same here. I'm thrilled that we're doing it. And if other people come along, great. If not, too bad for them. Well, I have one listener. Yeah, because this is... I mean, everybody's searching for the same thing. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? And
00:21:04
Speaker
you know, it's the only game in town. It really is. And you know, like if this is somebody's jam, you know, come on, like join us. This is going to be a, it's going to, I guarantee it will be an interesting and wild ride and probably sometimes very challenging too, you know, challenging new ideas, but you know, it's all like super practical stuff. So,
00:21:32
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that the open, honest conversations around our own journeys, the struggles, the breakdowns, the breakthroughs, learning about surrender and unconditional love and free will and the soul's journey and the spirit and how this all came to me, how it came to you.
Closing with Gratitude and New Excitement
00:21:51
Speaker
And hopefully in us, there are stories that wake up people to their own process. We both are, if nothing else, deep in the struggle of
00:22:02
Speaker
learning who we are from that level and breaking through and down the ego into this essential self, learning how to walk with the ego and the essential self and find that enlightened joyous state that we're looking to live in this lifetime. Well, Kevin, thank you for joining me on this final episode.
00:22:27
Speaker
For anybody who is interested in joining us going forward, Soul School, you can find it anywhere, iTunes, Spotify, all the normal places. Check it out, subscribe. If you're willing to give a review, it helps us a ton, but we just more than anything hope to share in this
00:22:47
Speaker
conversation. And to indulge myself for just a moment, I just want to send out a massive, massive amount of gratitude to all the listeners over all these years. We've been in every country in the world, I think bar like five. We've had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of million downloads. I don't even know the guests that have showed up. I just have extreme gratitude for the opportunity to have
00:23:17
Speaker
written this journey with you guys. And I'm excited to move to this new chapter, but I'm also grateful for the one that is closing. So just a big thank you to everyone. And as a listener, I want to say thank you. Thank you for taking us on this journey and leading the way and showing us that there's more to life that meets the eye and that the journey is worth taking.
00:23:46
Speaker
and there's so much more left to be discovered. So thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you all for listening. This is the final episode of the Art of Authenticity and we hope to see you at Soul School. Thank you again.