Ayelet Baron Part 1: A Conversation on Conscious Living & Self Discovery

In this episode, host Sam Loeffler sits down with the inspiring Ayelet Baron, a futurist, author, and conscious leadership expert. Join them as they delve into the power of nature, shifting mindsets, and creating a life that aligns with your true purpose.

Ayelet Baron is an adventurer trekking into possibilities with curiosity and courage to help us own our power and become aware that the future is human. After a successful career as a tech executive in the Silicon Valley, she began to see that there is a healthier way to live and work. A keen ability to help you not only face challenges and problems but to transform them into your biggest opportunities. And, seeing possibilities changes everything.

As a multi award winning author, facilitator and keynote speaker, Ayelet contributes insights into conscious living, conscious business, future of life and work and questions everything.

Her books and talks serve as guides where each person and organization is asked to do their own work. Her forte is serving as a trusted partner and she is recognized for her ability to bring transformative, holistic, large-scale change across all sectors. Her strategies bring together people, perspective and result in real world outcomes.

There are eight billion people on this planet today, and an increasing seven percent (180 million) are owning our power. Some are choosing a healthier way of living and some are creating the systems we need to flourish. And this is where Ayelet is focused on—together with her community, she is partnering with changemakers, visionaries and pioneers who are transforming education, business, healthcare and wellness, regenerative agriculture and areas we are starting to identify and create.

Connect with Ayelet: https://ayeletbaron.com/
Purchase F*ck The Bucket List (Book #1): https://www.amazon.com/Bucket-List-Soul-Discover-Wonder/dp/1647041856/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Transcript

0:06

Hey everyone. On today's episode I am talking to a dear friend and mentor of mine who is also an amazing author. Her name is Ayelet Barron. I have been wanting to interview Ayelette ever since I started this podcast because she has been just such a guiding light in my life, have learned so much from her books and our conversations, so I couldn't wait to share her perspective on this platform so that you all can learn and grow just as I have. This episode is going to resonate with you if you've ever questioned if there's more to life than what you're currently experiencing, if you've wondered if you're on the right path and you're wanting to know how to trust your heart and intuition to make healthier choices on your own terms. We are going to cover a number of topics, all which are subjects Ayelet writes about in her books, including advice for those feeling stuck, lost or unhappy in their current situation, what it looks like to chart an unconventional path and go against the norm. How to define success on your own terms and tap into your intuition and how you can start living your truth and speaking that into the world. So I have ayelette, right here, officially. Welcome to the podcast, Ayelet. Thank you. And I'm just as excited to be here. I'm so excited for this. I wanted to start by having you tell everyone where you're recording this episode from and where you've been living. I think you're actually my first podcast guest who is not located in the United States. So I like to tell people that I'm location independent. And when I say that, people say, where are you from? And I'm like, from everywhere. And then they ask me like, where were you born? And I'm like, it has nothing to do with anything because I have no connection to that country because my parents were expat and it's actually shocking to me that I was even born in that country. And then they say like, where did you grow up? And I'm like, I haven't. Who wants to grow up? Confuse people right off the bat. It is confusing for people because we're so associated with these boxes. And I've always felt like a global citizen, especially moving around all my life. And I know anybody listening to this who has been moved, especially at a young age, could relate to where are your affiliations and understanding that there's a bigger picture than just what you were told in terms of where you are. So about, I think a little over two and a half years ago I decided I was going to become a digital nomad and become location independent because life just changed dramatically. And so I ended up selling my place, giving away a lot of my things. And I'm not a minimalist in terms of Ideologies or anything, but now I travel with two and a half bags of all my stuff, which is crazy. And there was a thing called I don't know if anybody remembers this, but there was a thing called the Pandemic while I was doing all this. So my plans had changed, and I've always wanted to go as my first stop to Grand Canary in I just it just didn't work out. So two and a half years later, here I am in Grand Canary in a little fishing village. It's my last weekend here until I move into the big city next weekend. And it's been fantastic to be co living and looking at life from a different perspective. What is co living for people who may not have heard the term? Yeah, I think a lot of people have not heard the term. I think more people are familiar with coworking and just sharing office space. But co living became really big worldwide and most people might not even be aware that they're co living in the cities in North America where they live. But as people were not tied to a specific geographical location and could live anywhere they choose, again, different governments now are offering different visas and things. But instead of having your own place, you go into a co living space where things are shared. So you can choose to have your own room with your own bathroom, or you could share a bathroom with another person, or some of it are more like hostels. You won't find me there right now. I'll explain this one. I have my own room, just like a hotel, but I have an amazing rooftop overlooking the ocean that is a shared space where you could sit and you could do calls or you can meet and gather. And then there's a shared kitchen where we actually share a fridge, which was interesting because we just had a group of 20 women here from the EU on a female entrepreneur program. So it was interesting. They weren't co livers. They came for this month of entrepreneurship. But it was interesting to kind of experience it. And so you're sharing space, but ultimately last night I had a fascinating dinner with a guy who's a software developer working for a Swiss company, but he's Serbian and he just got his digital nomad visa, so he's here for three years. And so you get to meet people from all over the world and connect in different ways. Or you can have your own space and do your own thing. But for me, I never thought I would be living like this, but I'm so glad I am. That's amazing. I bet you meet fascinating people. And what a great concept for the post pandemic rise in digital, nomads? I mean, I would imagine that those co living spaces in the industry will continue to grow. Oh, absolutely. And there's like an experiment I wrote about it on my blog. I can't remember when because I write every day that's happening in Honduras, in Routan called prospera. And they're looking at building new types of cities and governance, and they're hoping to attract 10,000 digital nomads and also engage the local population because there has been a kind of a backlash for digital nomads coming into different places in the world and increasing the price of living. And so there are more people that are aware and where I am right now, it's amazing. They're doing things with the local high schools and really looking at the community. So the group of 20 women who were from all over the EU, although some were actually like Americans who moved to the EU or Canadians, I met some really fascinating women. They were doing projects with the local high schools on giving them a picture of work in the future that they could also be working remotely and what the possibilities are. So there's a really cool connection there when you look at it beyond just like a structural decision of how am I going to live? Oh, I love that. Yeah. And instead of just being like a parasite that to your point, could you're coming in digital nomads and be increasing the price, you're actually taking the time to get to know the local community and be part of that ecosystem that makes sense. So I haven't shared yet how you and I met. We actually met. I realized it's been almost seven years. So crazy, because it does feel like a lifetime ago. But I thought I'd let you tell the story about how we met if you want, because it's pretty interesting. It's a cool way we met. Yeah, and I love that we met. I mean, it's no accident that we met because I love what you're doing in the world. And from the first minute I met you, I love your spirit, your curiosity, and your courage as well, is what we're seeing playing out. And there's so much more to come, which I'm really looking forward to being part of as well. But I can't even remember the year I published a book called Our Journey to Corporate Sanity on Conscious Leadership. And I was doing a book tour, and I met a bunch of people in and with my dear friend Tim McDonald, who is formerly from Chicago. He introduced me, and we did this event in Chicago together. And through that, I met some people who were organizing a leadership trip to Nicaragua. And it was amazing. We went and worked with the local schools and really saw it from their perspective, looking at what conscious leadership is all about. And I think it was life changing for many people who have not been out in the you know, I have been very blessed because before writing these books and I'm sure we'll dive into it later. I had a very successful career in tech in the Silicon Valley and so I was able to be in some of the poorest areas in the world doing tech work. But also looking at how do we focus on youth and girls and young people as well. And so for me, this was part of my mission in life and this trip was really connecting. But I don't know if you have other memories you wanted to focus on. No, yeah, we were on a group trip. There's probably, I don't know, 15 of us in 2017. And yeah, I just remember meeting you and being really drawn to your energy and we connected and then I think we will talk about it in a little bit, but stayed in touch since then. But it was a very eye opening trip and I think what was special too was not only what we were there to do and help out with the community and the schools and visit local homes, but also that the people in the trip itself were all so unique and special and group of very conscious leaders. So we had pretty frequent circle talks and different things. So that too was a great experience. But yeah, that was a really special time. Another memory I'll just share is. What. Do you call it? Surfed a volcano. We hiked up to this, I think it's still active volcano and we boarded down it. So that was a cool experience. Yeah, it was a really amazing community. And I remember coming to visit and surprising everybody in Chicago when you guys used to get together physically after as a group. And it was just kind of like it was always like conversations also about what's possible and what can we create. And it was a really powerful group of people who were focused on creation. I wasn't sure I was going to go because I had a lot of things going on at the time and I'm really happy I did. And you were one of the best gifts from it. Likewise. Okay, so earlier you mentioned we're not boxing us into descriptions about where we live. So I'm super interested in how you're going to answer this next question. I sort of know what you do for work, but if we were strangers out in an event or I ran into you in an elevator and asked, so Ayela, what do you do? How do you typically respond to that question for people? Well, first I say because even like traveling, people will say to me, is this business or pleasure? And I say, yes. I love that. Because there's only life. There's only life. And for some reason we were conditioned to believe that we're workers, we're doers, but I strongly believe we're creators. And when we can shift to looking at life and then seeing work as part of it, I think many of us will be a lot healthier because right now as the state of the world, we're making ourselves really sick when it comes to work because we are not machines, we're human beings. And somehow we just forgot. So it's funny people here again. They ask me. And so when I finally stop my thing and they say, okay, so what is it? And I say, Well, I'm a futurist. They're like, what's that? And a lot of people think, like, I do astrology and oracle readings and dabble in that. And I actually just wrote a post about what is a futurist because I was getting so many questions about it. But a lot of traditional futurists look at trends, look at technology. Where are we going with smart cities? Where are we going with AI? What is happening in terms of the trends from an economical way? And I started a little bit that way because I was always looking at the future of work and life, because I want to live in a world of lifeaholics, not workaholics. And so I was looking at where are we headed? What's happening? I was talking a lot about the trends that are happening right now before they happened. A lot of the things I predicted about 2025 years ago are happening now, unfortunately not fortunately. And so it's an ability to see a different way and to help conscious leaders shift. And so I spent two years as a futurist in residence after I fired myself from my corporate job. Totally accidental. I wasn't planning on it. And I worked with a large organization in their innovation department and really shook things up about what's possible. And luckily, the person I was working with who headed up global Innovation was open to a lot of this. The organization, not so much, but she was an incredible leader. And we were able to shake things up quite a bit to the point where they actually blew up the department afterwards because it was hard for them to swallow. But I think it was beneficial for the people that were there because then they went in different places and were able to do that. And now I actually have shifted. I only want to work with conscious companies and conscious leaders. I don't want to help companies that are just looking at growth and killing us through the environment or food or whatever. So I'm very selective in who I share with. And then a futurist also does like, I just did a keynote here in Grand Canary about igniting opportunities, because I believe the shift we're going from is the old world is about problem solving. The new world that we're headed is about opportunity creators. And if more of us can stop looking at just problems and say, what's the opportunity? And each one of us woke up in the morning, whether we're individually or as an organization, and said, what's my greatest opportunity? Not what are the problems I need to solve? Our world would look very differently. And so that's what I do. I'm also working on something pretty stealth, and it's starting to gain momentum, and it's starting to form. That's why it's been good to be here in the co living space and co create with people in the ocean and nature and be able to let things flow. So I'm doing something I never thought I would do. I don't have the skills to do it, but I know the world needs it and I'm working on it as well. So I am also helping organizations. I've got a session coming up with a startup on how to communicate. They've grown really fast and they need help both on the customer side and on the internal side. And so how do we get alignment and how do we build those long term relationships and manage growth in a healthy way? And you've written a number of books as well, so you're a published author? I have, yeah. Those I definitely know what a futurist is because at a corporate town hall years ago, we had a futurist speak and I actually remember her whole speech and just thinking, wow, how do I get that job? It was so cool. But as a corporate employee at the time, it was very helpful to sort of get us out of our bubble of fire drills in the present moment and think about where is this all going? Where are the shifts in technology going? And then how can we relate that back to our priorities as a business? So, yeah, I definitely understand the concept of a futurist, but I'm sure a lot of people haven't had that encounter you mentioned earlier. There's just life. It's not work and pleasure, but really just life. I want to dive into that more. A couple of questions for you. Are you truly feeling like you're living that blend where you don't have in your mind a part that's work and a part that's pleasure, but it's all just sort of who you are because you're living your purpose? And if so, I'm going to guess that hasn't always been the case for you in your life. How did you come to find that sweet spot? Because that's the dream, right? That's like the goal we all want to be in is where, yeah, I'm living my purpose and work comes from that. Yeah, it's a great question and a great area that most of us kind of look at when we're thinking about and also waking up to what is really happening around us on the planet. And I think that's what happens because like many of us, I was conditioned that there was a certain pattern to life. You go to school, you get the degrees. Both my parents got their education when we were kids. They didn't have the ability to go to school right away and so education was very important to them. And then you get a job, you meet somebody, you settle down, you get the picket fences. I'll stop here to go and think about it. At what age has each of us been asked, what do you want to do when you grow up. And so it's instilled in us even more now. Like we forget to play. I mean, I don't know one baby that's born into the world, who is filled with hate, who is filled with fear, who is filled with these feelings that I'm not enough. This is all conditioning. This is all society. Wherever we are in the world, instilling the values in it. And when I realized that we learned to trust everyone else, whether it was a teacher, religious, police officer, parent, grandparent, whatever it was, we were taught to trust everyone else before we were taught to trust ourselves and our gut and what our heart was saying, we got totally disconnected. And the same thing happened with life because I started thinking about work life balance, like, where does that come from? And then I realized it was a myth, it was a hoax. Like we were trying to achieve something that's not achievable because there is only life. And for some reason, we constructed this world where we have to make a living. If we don't have money, we can't do anything. And I know we'll talk about this. It's my intuition telling me this about my time in the Amazon. But I remember talking to the 27 year old leader of the tribe and of course we had translations, but it was so interesting and to part of the tribe. And one of them had left to go to North America. And he said, in your world, it's like I can't even have water without money. And here we get up in the morning and we decide whether we're going to hunt or fish. So it's a very different kind of reality when you understand that there is only life and then everything around it are things we inherited, constructed, or were told that this is the way that it's supposed to be. And as I got more externally successful, I got more confused because I did all the things we were supposed to do, but now what? And just being like in a lot of battlefields in corporate, lots of egos, lots of I write about it in one of the books, lots of psychopaths and sociopaths. I think I met more venomous snakes in corporate boardrooms than I did in the rainforest in people just being out for themselves. And it kind of confused me. Like, I would see thousands and thousands of books and workshops and gurus on leadership and teamwork, but we didn't know how to do that. And also, being a woman was not easy because I was in many positions where I was the only business person in the room who was traveling like crazy and being out in the world quite a bit. And it was really hard. I mean, I made a conscious choice not to have children as a result of it because everybody else had somebody at home taking care of things. And it was a choice that needed to be made about what life looks like. Yeah, everything you just said, I'm just letting it kind of sink in because there's so many good points. I think one of the things you said really resonates with me, that it seems like we've gotten so far removed from nature and sort of what life is in a pure sense. And I think that's why travel is so important, seeing other realities. Right. Because I think in the States that we are so far on the convenience spectrum, we have everything at our fingertips. We are a very Westernized society, but first just realizing not everyone's living that way in the world. And you had a pretty profound trip to the Amazon that probably was the exact opposite end of that spectrum. But I think having that perspective to kind of wake us up is important. So that's why I'm so passionate about travel. But, yeah, it just feels like we've gotten so far away from that. Yeah. Even when you mentioned the home visits we did in Nicaragua, I remember being at a home and looking at it, and I'm like, I have to do this work in the world because I want more people to have opportunities not to have more or whatever, but just to live healthier lives. And then I caught myself and I looked around and there were a bunch of kids who were playing soccer, football, whatever part of the world you're in, without like a real ball. And they were having a ball and they didn't care because they didn't know. And even when we went to the school, we saw that they had a swimming pool there, but they could only fill it up twice a year. And the kids really looked forward to it. And in our mindset, it was very different. If you don't know what air conditioning is, if you don't know all these other luxuries that we call them, that we've created, then life is very different. And I think we get very arrogant sometimes. And that's what I caught myself in. Even in the Amazon, we were there on a trip for maternal health. We weren't there for any other reasons. And we were there to show it was the first time in this tribe that the women were rising. And we weren't there to instruct or tell them. We were there to support them and also be a presence in their communities to show that they're women in the world. And it was like life changing for me because the women were from all over the world doing incredible things in the world. The purpose wasn't like, just to be there to preach. It was really about co creating. And it was funny. Like, there's a guy here who is doing his PhD in AI. And so I asked him the other day, I asked it in my talk as well, you know what AI is? And he's like, yeah. I said, do you know about Ni? And hi and he's huh? And that's the response I get a lot when I ask this question. I don't know what is go? So ni is natural intelligence. Ni is nature. Ni is the sun, the moon, the universe. Ni is the mystery of life and hi is human intelligence. And so we are part that's what I learned. We are part of nature. If you look at the author of my trilogy, it's not me, it's the universe with me because it's arrogant for me to say, this is my knowledge. It's universal knowledge that comes from our alignment with nature. When you learn how to flow, you're not as stressed because you learn to trust the currents, you learn to trust yourself. And we've created this fear of change that's just unreal because you can't tell summer not to become fall. You can't stop some of the natural disasters. And so when you start thinking about change in alignment with nature, when you start thinking about life in alignment with nature, and then you use your human intelligence to say, okay, what do I want to create while I'm here? Not what do I want to work at? Or how do I want to make a living? Knowing that you need to and knowing sometimes you need to take a job that might not be your dream job, but it's part of the flow of life because we're really here to learn. We're really here for the lessons. There's no destination. It's all a journey of discovery. And so the only thing we know for sure, and we don't even know that it's being debated widely today is that one day we're not going to be here in the physical form. That's the only thing. And then we spend our whole life fearing it, which is insane. Or we say, let's detox in nature what we're going to detox in ourselves. How do we get more aligned to nature? Like, we blame technology, we blame social media, but we're the ones creating it, and we're the ones that created artificial intelligence. It just didn't show up and say, hey, I'm here, and then we're the victim of it. Yeah. Nature was here first and then we showed up. And I don't remember when, but I spent probably half a year working on a documentary film called Fantastic Fungi the Magic Beneath US. And it just reinforced everything to me about nature and the importance of us understanding that we need holistic systems, that our bodies are so important. Our bodies are miracles and they're a natural miracle and they communicate with each other. They don't hold back. Nature doesn't hold back in communicating between the different and protects each other. And it's called the Wood Wide Web. And we have such a far way to go to be in alignment with nature in terms of how we communicate, how we support each other. Because the biggest virus we have on the planet, especially in the last little while, as things erupted is fear. Fear, hate and division and thereby design. And it's not just the external world. It's also within us. I mean, I sat down with so many people who are so divided within I'm not good enough. I don't have enough. I'm intimidated. I'm jealous. And when you step back and you're like, why are we jealous? Why are we judging ourselves and each other so harshly? Every single person on this planet is here to learn. No one and I have rubbed shoulders and even have in my family, very well known celebrities, but they're human just like anyone else. They're not better. And so we have an opportunity here to really look at the whole ecosystem and say, where do we tap into our human intelligence in alignment with nature? Yeah, I'm just being reminded of that being a core theme that we have to get back to nature. And if you look at other civilizations, I think they're much more in tune with that around different parts of the world. So I think that's a really good first step. If someone's wondering, like, well, how do I make change without having to uproot my whole life? It's like, well, are you getting out in the sun? Are you putting your bare feet on the ground? Are you spending time in the forest? A lot of us aren't. And by our own doing, I think a lot of the things we're designing around conveniences and technology are actually pushing us further and further away from nature. So not to say we can't have those things. How do we stay connected to nature and the seasons? And there's scientific evidence that we get certain vitamins from nature and our circadian rhythms are connected to the sun rising and sunny. There's so many things I could rattle off that just reinforce how as human beings, we are so connected to nature. Yeah, we're not separate. We're more united. We have more in common with each other. But again, it's what you said earlier about the labels and kind of the minute somebody says, I'm from here, what jumps into your head? And is that your voice saying that? Because that's how we make sense of things because that's how we were taught, but it's not true because I want to live in a world where I meet somebody and they say, you know what? I'm a dad. I have three boys. I adore them. And one of my boys is Autistic, and I'm learning so much from him. How we introduce ourselves, how we answer questions, the questions that we ask, are they programmed or are they natural? What are we truly curious about somebody? And if you meet somebody and they say, Well, I'm a CEO, who are they? And you start to box them in. Yeah, I think that it's such a small detail, but an important one. How we introduce ourselves and how we I think one thing I've started doing this year. Is sort of speaking my mind more, even though it can be scary and being truly vulnerable. So that when I meet people before, I'd sort of keep all these thoughts in my head. But now I'm not afraid to say I'm feeling a little lost. I don't know what my purpose is in the world. I've been trying to figure that out this year. Sometimes I'm not too happy in corporate America. I don't know where I'll be next year. But it's like everyone can relate to that, but no one's sharing it. Maybe just with the closest people in their circle, but we're not living that on the outside. And I think we all are smart enough to sense that a lot of us do have that mask and are holding back, but it's like we're all doing it. We're all afraid to share. And it's that fear. It's the limiting beliefs that we hold. Some are ours, some we inherited and aren't ours. I write about it in one of the books. The voices in your head, once you deal with them and know the source of where that belief comes from and whether it's yours or not, becomes really important. I think that if we fall in love as much as we do with digital technology and ancient technologies that everyone has access to, you don't have to have a certain bank account to have it. Which is the ancient technology of questions, the ancient technology of connection, the ancient technology of dialogue, those are all accessible to all of us. But from a young age, we get questioned, we get shut down, right? I mean, a young kid will ask, why do we eat cows and we don't eat zebras in Western society? And the parent will say, well, that's just because the way it is. And now the kids are saying, well, why is it that way? And imagine that more of us would say, well, hang on a SEC. Why is it that way? And getting to the root cause of why does our packaging in the supermarkets now tell us what toxins aren't in our food? Why aren't they telling us the source of our food? And so that ability to become conscious and to question is something that we all have. It's just been shut down. And so slowly we're turning it. And if you go to the mainstream, we're still living around very destructive constructs that we created, around right and wrong, good and bad, appropriate and inappropriate. I mean, I don't want to be a good girl. I don't want to be a bad girl. What I want to be is a healthy human being. And so the other day I was out here, and somebody who had heard my keynote, I guess I struck him in a way, and he started attacking me. But he was making no sense. I was trying to have a conversation with him, but he had an agenda. And I was just like, okay? These are the infections of his mind. These are his beliefs. And so I let him go, and then I started asking him questions, and he just got frazzled because I was curious. I was like, Where does this come from? He was, like, telling me, you're too positive. The world sucks. How could you be positive? And so we were just having this conversation, or I wouldn't even call it that. And then at some point, I just got bored, and I looked at him and I said, you know what? You're absolutely right. And he looked at me in disbelief, and he said, you don't believe I'm right. I said, does it matter now that you're right? What are we going to do? What are we going to create in. The world you want to get past? I don't want to have these conversations. No, I think people have these automatic, knee jerk emotional reactions that they've been conditioned to over time, be it from your parents or those in your circle. And I think that's one of the first steps. And you talk about this in the book a lot is like becoming conscious, asking questions, starting to shift your own mindset, so then we can all create together in the world. But it kind of starts with you shifting your own attitudes and beliefs. So that's a really good segue into the book. So I want to shift now to the trilogy you were in.