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37. The One Where We Start Questioning Everything
16 Plays17 days ago
This week’s episode is a raw, honest, and thought-provoking conversation about what happens when you start seeing the world a little differently.
After going down a bit of a “rabbit hole,” I share what’s been coming up for me lately - from global events and societal shifts, to parenting, technology, and the importance of critical thinking.
This isn’t about telling you what to believe. It’s about encouraging you to pause, question, and think for yourself - while staying grounded, open, and empowered.
What We Cover
- The moment things started to feel “off” and sparked deeper questioning
- The impact of recent global events and the overwhelm many are feeling
- Why it’s becoming harder to know what’s true - and how to navigate that
- The danger of blindly following any narrative (on all sides)
- The importance of curiosity, discernment, and doing your own research
- The balance between awareness and going too far down the rabbit hole
Big Reflections
- We are living in a time of rapid change and information overload
- Many people are starting to question long-held beliefs and systems
- There are multiple perspectives on everything - and no single source holds the full truth
- It’s okay to feel overwhelmed… but it’s also important not to switch off completely
Key Message
👉 Don’t blindly follow… but don’t blindly dismiss either.
We need more people who are:
- Curious
- Open-minded
- Willing to question
- Able to think for themselves
My Role in This
I share a little about what I’m currently working on - developing a curriculum designed to support children (and adults) in:
- Mindfulness
- Nervous system regulation
- Self-awareness
- Critical thinking
Because in a world that feels chaotic, grounded, aware humans are more important than ever.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
I would love to hear from you:
- Have you been questioning things more lately?
- What have you come across that made you pause or rethink?
- Do you agree, disagree, or sit somewhere in between?
Come and share your thoughts - I’m always open to respectful conversation and different perspectives.
Connect With Me
🌐 www.victoria-r.com.au
📧 hello@victoria-r.com.au
📱 @the.victoria.r
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Transcript
Introduction and Listener Appreciation
00:00:37
Victoria R
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Mindful Educator podcast. Thank you so much for joining me this week and I do just want to say a very big thank you to everyone that does tune in regularly to the podcast or if it's your first time, welcome and thank you for joining me here as well. It's not unnoticed the support that comes with having the podcast and I really do appreciate the fact that you take the time to actually listen each week. It really means a lot so i just wanted to preface our episode first by saying that.
Challenging Accepted Narratives
00:01:08
Victoria R
So today i am um'm I've got a few things I want to talk about. And I did debate kind of whether to bring this up on the podcast, but my intention when I first started this was to kind of share things that I wish I had known earlier.
00:01:27
Victoria R
And I have kind of dived down a bit of a rabbit hole at the moment. I think there's a few people that feel in the same way as well. And I know last week I shared a post and I was just, I was really angry. Like I'm not talking about just like a little bit of anger, like it was full on like rage sort of anger.
00:01:47
Victoria R
And so for for me i I wanted to firstly kind of bring up some of the things that have come to my attention recently.
00:01:59
Victoria R
And then i also wanted to also speak about kind of what I'm planning in terms of ways that I can kind of contribute to solving this problem rather than adding to it.
Trust in Information Sources
00:02:13
Victoria R
So I know I did briefly touch a few weeks ago on things like the Epstein files that have come out. And there's also been quite a lot of other stuff recently, which has come, I suppose it it's just, yeah, more attention has been brought to We've got, you know, a war happening at the moment. We've got, you know kind of everything that we thought we knew about. um a lot of things have kind of come crumbling down and it's,
00:02:43
Victoria R
It's very full on, to be honest. And I know for me personally, it was just like, how do you actually believe anything that you get told? How do you know that what you're being told is
Societal Divide During COVID-19
00:02:55
Victoria R
legit? How do you know that what you're being told is um not just someone else's agenda? And the thing is you don't. Like we we don't know. um Everyone's got their own point of view that they're going to add to things and people kind of only share the things that they want to share and all the rest of it. So we kind of need to approach everything with,
00:03:13
Victoria R
that open mind and that curiosity and that questioning as well, just making sure that we're questioning things. And I know for me for so long, I i just went along with it. I just went along with what I was told, you know, if people were um in, you know, various positions. Well, obviously I was like, Oh, well they, and they must know what they're talking about. And it's like, I know for me personally, i know COVID was a big time in terms of it kind of ripped the wool off my eyes a lot.
00:03:40
Victoria R
And There are some things, i one thing I hated about that time was how how it was such a divide in society. i That really did not sit well with me at all.
Conspiracy Theories and Disillusionment
00:03:52
Victoria R
And it was very much if anyone chose not to get vaccinated, it was, all right, well, they're kind of like we're outcasting them from society. And it was, when you look back, it's such an intriguing thing to kind of observe and be witness to and actually experience at the same time.
00:04:10
Victoria R
and I know plenty of people that chose not to get vaccinated. I know plenty of people that chose to get vaccinated. And I still remember saying to my husband, I'm like, I don't understand why people are being treated like this. Why are they kind of being, you know, they're like lepers of society. Like they don't, you know, people and people were really like, it was full on. And I don't know if you guys remember that as well, but for me, I do remember that really clearly. It was such a like, whoa, this is, this is not okay. Like we shouldn't be treating our fellow human beings in this manner.
00:04:44
Victoria R
Yet we were, there was, it It was kind of considered normal. It was it was encouraged to do that. And I think that was kind of the start for me. I was like, ooh, okay, like something's not quite right. And it was – Ever since then, I guess it's it's been a case of like you kind of see more, you talk to people, you get like, you always get different perspectives and everyone's got their own theories. And I guess what I'm finding now is all these so-called conspiracy theories that people have been going on about for years. Well, so many of them have actually come out recently that they weren't actually conspiracy theories.
00:05:22
Victoria R
And I think for so many of us, it's like, oh, wow. Okay. So there's been a lot of stuff going on.
Systemic Distractions and Societal Issues
00:05:28
Victoria R
A lot of things that have happened. You know, like I said, we've literally had the wool over our eyes.
00:05:34
Victoria R
And it's like, this is this is definitely not okay. None of this stuff is okay. Like, i just the fact that, I think the fact as well that you actually need to, you actually need to spend the time and effort looking into this is a big thing too.
00:05:52
Victoria R
And then my mind starts wondering and I'm like, okay, so obviously if they're trying to hide all these things, well, what's a great way to make it so no one's going to question everything?
Questioning Media Narratives
00:06:02
Victoria R
Well, overwork us, make sure we're all underpaid so we actually don't have the financial stability to be able to question things. And, you know, we're trying to work and have double incomes and do this and that, like, everyone's so busy all the time that we don't actually have that time or that space to sit and reflect and question and wonder why is this actually happening and why is this okay and I know there's a lot of theories going around out there and this is where it's like okay this is where you need to do your due diligence oh i actually said that word I didn't stuff it up and actually look into things yourself and so
00:06:40
Victoria R
Yes, social media is great, but again, people are also pushing their own agendas
Theories on Agenda 2030 and Public Concerns
00:06:47
Victoria R
in that case. So if you come across something look into it a little bit further and don't just kind of blindly take what someone says as gospel because it may not necessarily be true or it may be a version of the truth. They may have kind of skewed it slightly to fit whatever agenda they're fitting in. And there's a whole lot of stuff also going around about um the 2030 agenda. I don't know if you guys have heard of that one. um Like the United Nations, it's like all the the countries, all the things and and what their plan is. So there's quite a few things that people,
00:07:21
Victoria R
suspect are coming from that as well. Things like, you know, i know that there is a theory that the COVID vaccine um was used to kind of cull the population in a way in terms of um having reproductive issues and things like that.
Future Concerns for Children
00:07:39
Victoria R
So that's one of the things that has been floating around. um Another one is you know what they're spraying the crops with, where our food is coming from, the fact that it's so you know processed or the rest of it.
00:07:54
Victoria R
How is that going to be helping us as humans be healthy? like that Honestly, that it's it's a minefield. And I get it. I get why so many people like, sand, head, sticking. like I get it. Because it is a lot.
00:08:07
Victoria R
But the thing is, once you kind of start hearing it and seeing it, you start questioning. and There's also the thing about um finances. I think that's the the most recent one that I've come across is that um now, like I said, take all this, you know, I'm just sharing what I know and I'm definitely not an expert. So please don't take what I say is gospel, but I'm just sharing what I have come across recently to help you get your own opinions out there as well. But in terms of the finances and stuff, there's things like um the government control over your finances where they're wanting it to be a case of, um yeah, like everything's tracked, everything like there's, you know, there's not going to be cash anymore. They're aiming for a cashless society, all the rest of it. So there's there's so much into this and you can, when you actually look at it, you can see where we're heading.
00:09:04
Victoria R
And for me as a parent, it concerns me greatly. and concerns me greatly. What sort of world are we going to be leaving our children and our grandchildren? And you know what what sort of world are we leaving them?
00:09:20
Victoria R
Because at the moment, it seems a little full on. seems a little scary. And
Media Influence on Societal Norms
00:09:28
Victoria R
I guess for me as well, another thing, like I know this is like in terms of the big scheme of things, it's probably not much, but it also is When you look at what has been happening in Hollywood, how many people have been, how how do I put this?
00:09:45
Victoria R
The amount of people that have been kind of sliding under the radar doing disgusting things, abominable things, like things you wouldn't even want to dream about, getting away with it And then I'm like, okay, so these are the same people that are putting out what we watch on TV, um the movies, the music that we listen to, how far is this influence going and what have they been feeding us for this many years to kind of get us –
00:10:18
Victoria R
compliant as well. Like this is where my brain goes. Welcome to my brain at the moment. So you can understand, yeah, there was, there's been a lot of anger. There's been a lot of rage. There's been a lot of what the actual, you know, what is going on here.
00:10:33
Victoria R
And the recent one that I have been looking into is like the whole crypto thing as well, kind of trying to get my head around that and understanding that. And it's been like, Oh, okay. That's really interesting. Um,
00:10:45
Victoria R
because a lot of people, depending on which one you go, i don't know the exact term. So like I said, ah don't don't lie. I'm not your expert here. I'm just sharing what I've learned. um But how some of it, it's not, it won't be controlled by the government. So there is some crypto that you can do that won't be controlled by the government. And so it's almost like, oh, like you all these...
00:11:09
Victoria R
people that we have blindly trusted been raised to trust, you know, yeah you get raised like you you pay attention, you do the road rules, you pay attention to the laws and this and that, you won't end up in prison, you know, whatever the government puts in place is for our safety or the respite. And now it's like, well, is it?
00:11:28
Victoria R
Is it for our safety? i don't know. Is it to control us? I don't know. Like this is where it's like, whoa, this is a lot. And it makes me totally understand why people are just like, no, too much, I'm out.
Questioning Norms and Personal Actions
00:11:42
Victoria R
I get it, I get it. I'm also like, okay, maybe we just go buy a portal and live on our own. Live away from society, I don't know So it really, it does honestly make you question so, so much.
00:11:59
Victoria R
And it's like, okay, well, what do we do? What do we do about it? And I know that people are definitely doing things, but it makes me wonder how many of people are doing it and is it going to be enough?
00:12:11
Victoria R
But I also don't want to lose hope. And I know for so many people, like, you know, people are making sure they use cash still. They're looking into their own crypto and creating their own accounts. People are homeschooling. They're going off grid. Others are like pulling children out of school, going traveling, doing their thing. Others are moving to other countries. Like there's so many different ways that people are kind of doing what is right for them.
00:12:33
Victoria R
And I think that is absolutely amazing. And so... I guess what I'm asking you guys to do is just to to be curious about what you come across, not to dismiss everything as, you know, complete conspiracy. At the same time, it is a rabbit hole. So if you are going to look into things, just be prepared and keep an open mind and just don't.
00:12:57
Victoria R
blindly follow someone else because you can also go too far the other way and follow people that maybe also don't have the best intentions for you on that side of the scale as well. So it's just, okay, let's just be open here.
Teaching Independent Thinking to Children
00:13:12
Victoria R
And it's more important than ever now that we also teach our children to do this, to question things. or right. It's not a bad thing to question. You know, if someone says, you know, you you need to do this, well, you can ask why, like why do I need to do that? And if there's no ill intent, they shouldn't have any problem at explaining why this needs to be done or what this process is.
00:13:35
Victoria R
And I think giving those giving our children that body autonomy, that their right to, you know, their own mind to speak their minds as well, to, you know, be curious about things that are involving them. This is what we need to be doing when we're raising our children in this sort of world where so much is changing so darn quickly that it is really hard to keep up.
00:13:58
Victoria R
And for me as well, I know another big thing is the whole technology, the ai like this has been another minefield as well. And again, there's lots of information out there. AI, we all know it is progressing at a rate of knots. Like we actually probably can't key part with how fast AI is progressing. And AI in the right hands is probably one of the greatest tools.
00:14:24
Victoria R
But like anything, there are those out there that don't have the right intentions, that aren't the right hands to be holding these tools, but everyone can access it. So this is, again, where we just need to make sure that we are doing our own research into things and ensuring that our children are as well and also making sure that they're not relying on technology and AI so much.
00:14:48
Victoria R
This amazing thing that we have, this mind of ours, it gets stronger the more it is used. We need to make sure our children are using our their minds, using their brains and doing this frequently as well.
00:15:04
Victoria R
And that is such a hard thing to do in a world that is full of technology, but it is doable. All right. And it also means, you know, having those conversations with our children as well, being open with them about things and You know, i ah could go like, honestly, i'm ah I'm very mindful of, I really could go off on a tangent, but I'm trying to rein myself in a bit here.
00:15:27
Victoria R
But just making sure we have those conversations with our children. As parents, as educators, we kind of set the example here in terms of a child's technology use.
00:15:44
Victoria R
So therefore, we need to be aware of our own technology use and how we're using it, when we're using it, what we're using it for, especially in front of our children. We also need to be aware of how it's been used in classrooms and ensuring that it's not used for every menial task, okay? Making sure children are still using their brains. We want them to be thinkers. We want to have a generation and generations to come that are still using their minds and not relying on a calculator to tell them what two plus two is.
Parental Responsibility in Critical Thinking
00:16:20
Victoria R
All right. We need them to keep using their brains. It's like a muscle. If it's not going to be used, it it literally will stop working properly. All right. So them using it as parents.
00:16:33
Victoria R
Please, please like put some limits around technology. And I get it. I've got three children that are at the age where gaming technology, like it is a big thing in our world.
00:16:46
Victoria R
And I get how difficult it is. But if we, like it we are the ones that set the scene. okay We are the ones that set the parameters, the limitations, all the rest of it for our children. It's not up to anyone else. It is up to us as parents. And yeah, it's a big responsibility, but we also knew that having children, it would be a big responsibility because we're not just raising children. We're raising the the future. We're raising humans that are going to be adults that are going to then, you know, move on in the world. So as parents, we need to be doing what we can to ensure our children aren't doing this whole like brain rotting thing. And there's actual things out there called brain rot.
00:17:27
Victoria R
I'm like, ah, you know, not constantly on YouTube, not constantly gaming, like Let's have real life interactions. Let's go out and actually speak face to face with our friends and our community members and all the rest of it. Like we are raising the next generation.
00:17:45
Victoria R
right. It is a freaking hard job as any parent would say. right. But it is, it's our job. That's, that's why we became parents to to, have the next generation come through. Like, you know, we had children for a reason and,
00:18:02
Victoria R
I must admit, like it, I know that the children coming through school at the moment, that there are a lot of children that are starting kindy, that are starting their first lot of schooling with such little skills, with such little body autonomy.
00:18:24
Victoria R
um Things are getting worse. They're not getting better. And Is it lazy parenting? I don't know. Is it, what is it it? I'm not sure. I'm not sure what the answer is here. Is it just a change in, you know, everything? Perhaps, who knows? Who knows what's going on? But as parents, that is our responsibility to ensure that we are doing what we can to raise the future of everyone but these This is it.
00:18:52
Victoria R
They are literally our future. So we want to make sure that you know, they are able to think for themselves, that they are able to hold a conversation, that they are able to use their brain for Simple task for further tasks for them to be questioning things for them to be researching things for them not to just blindly go along with whatever it is that they're told, which is what a lot of us were brought and raised up on as well. But we kind of know you better now so we should be able to do better. And
00:19:25
Victoria R
like I said, this there's so much, there's so much out there
Parenting Experiences and Alternative Education
00:19:29
Victoria R
at the moment. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I just, I need to, for me personally, I need to take a breath. I need to remind remind myself I am doing what I can with what I have.
00:19:41
Victoria R
And that, I just need to focus on that. I just need to stay in my own lane in that regard. And I am definitely questioning a whole lot of things lately. And even simple things like um with one of my children, we'd been looking like we're heading down the the road of them having braces.
00:20:01
Victoria R
And we actually went to a holistic dentist the other day. I didn't know up until about like 12 months ago that a holistic dentist were even a thing. But it was really such a fascinating appointment the other day. It was a case of um them talking about...
00:20:18
Victoria R
my child's like nervous system, the actual structure of their face and their jaw and how everything kind of correlates. And I'm just like, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so interesting.
00:20:29
Victoria R
And ah again, it's like one of those things where, oh, like shouldn't this just be the norm for like every dentist to kind of know all this stuff? But again, you know, it's not. So this is where it does pay to kind of do your own research into these things as well and know that there are alternatives.
00:20:47
Victoria R
And again, we take everything with a grain of salt. We do our own research. We do our own discussions and thinking about it and all the rest of it. And then we can make an informed decision on how we want to move forward.
Developing Mindfulness-Focused Curriculum
00:20:57
Victoria R
And I think this is really what we need to focus on doing, not only for ourselves, but for our children and the children we work with as well.
00:21:04
Victoria R
So my little bit that I'm trying to do here say little it's not little it's pretty massive but my bit is to just I'm literally in the process of creating a curriculum now that I'm hoping to get into schools and into homes that will help with this type of thing and it is drawing on my skills as you know the mindfulness instructor training all the rest of it that type of thing as well because to me that is something that's really important it's really important that
00:21:39
Victoria R
We actually know how to connect and understand our bodies and our minds and how to keep ourselves regulated in a world that wants us to be really unregulated or dysregulated, whatever the correct word is there.
00:21:53
Victoria R
And so I'm like, okay, well, this is this is my bit that I can do to help that. So I've been in like deep, like, do-do-do-do mode. Off I go, working away, trying to get this out as soon as possible because, know,
00:22:08
Victoria R
To me, that is important. To me, that is something that I can do to hopefully, hopefully make some sort of change, some positive change amongst all of this.
Listener Engagement and Open Discussion
00:22:17
Victoria R
For the meantime, though, you will be able to catch me on this podcast sharing all sorts of things that go through my mind. So good luck to you there.
00:22:24
Victoria R
This is where I'm like, thank you so much for listening. But I would really love to know from you all kind of what, What, if anything, have you come across recently? Have you come across any like, whoa, that's an interesting um sort of theory or or is there anything that you've been questioning lots? Is there, yeah, has the wool been pulled off your eyes too? I would love to know. I would love to know this because it really is quite fascinating. And I love to hear different points of view about all this as well. And I think that's one of the things that is a bit of a skill of mine. i I am open to lots of different points of view, which will then allow me to make up my own mind as well. I know some people are very like, this is my way or the highway. which go for it. That's, you know, each their own. For me, I like to hear the different sides of the story and the different perspectives and kind of make up my own mind from there, which I think is, um like I said, my unique little skill that I'm claiming.
00:23:24
Victoria R
So I would love to hear if you've kind of heard anything or if you kind of like, oh, no, I don't agree with that. Like, feel free. Like, I'm open here for the conversation and just to get more people talking about this as well and to be more aware of what's actually happening because we don't want to be a little worker ants. We don't want to be just yes sir, no sir, you know, that type of thing. We actually want to be able to think for ourselves and to make our own decisions.
00:23:50
Victoria R
And this all kind of comes back to this. We want to be living the best f freaking life that we can All right. So how do we do this? How do we get out of this monotonous, like go to work, go home, go to sleep, get up, go to work, go home? Like, how do we break this cycle that has so many people stuck and and drained and unwell? And, you know, how do we get people help healthy and vibrant and you know, excited about life and living the best life that they can? And this is one of those ways by just starting to question things, starting to go, you know, what, is this the right path for me or is it not?
00:24:25
Victoria R
so I'm just going to leave it there because I really probably could go on about this for a while. And this has gone all over the place this episode. So good luck good on you for sticking with me until the end. Thank you for that. But like I said, please get in touch. I would love to hear your points of view about these sorts of things. I'm open for a chat. I'm open for a bit of debate. Whatever floats your boat, I'm here for it. So...
00:24:49
Victoria R
I'll leave it there. Thanks so much for joining me this week, guys. I will be back next week and I have got an awesome guest joining me next week as well. So I'm looking forward to bringing you that episode too. All right, I'll chat to you soon.