B (15:01)

Oh man. I think it really, first and foremost, it all comes down to your comfort level. I think that there's so many ways for people to reconnect with nature. Whether it's hiking, whether it's biking, whether it's going to the beach for the day, watching a sunset. Just watching a sunset is so powerful. I think it's so important. I don't think we do it enough. I think that is probably the simplest way to remember that you are a part of something bigger. And as simple as it sounds, it is so important. Now watching a sunset in an amazing place is even 10 times better. It's that much more powerful just trying to reconnect with nature. I think the important part to remind people that yes, the earth is here. She is alive and she breathes and she's got A heartbeat every day. And I think that sunset is her heartbeat. And it's a great way to see it.

A (15:51)

I just saw, I think it was NASA released some footage of the particular. Some type of lens on a satellite that was able to actually detect a pulse on the Earth. Like the Earth has a heartbeat. But I'm sure the more science y people have another way of explaining it. But that it caught my attention and that feels just right on par with what you're saying. When the heart space and the headspace connect, I think that's when magic happens. Like when you can believe it in your mind, but then you experience it in your body. That is powerful. I think everybody needs to have an experience like getting into the deep ocean or going out into the wild nature. I really think everybody should have that in their life at least once. But I wanna share a little bit about what my experience was like with you and your wife swimming with Whitman Clarks. Because it was. There was so much momentum for me built up into what I thought that experience was gonna be. Because from the time I understood Little Mermaid Disney to the time I could name the dolphin body parts and thought that's what I wanted to be like this. There was so much emotional charge and I'm gonna go in the water and I'm gonna swim and. And it's going to be great. And I just had this idea that I'm going to connect with this shark. We're going to make eye contact and it's going to. We're going to just be on the same vibe. So many expectations that I never expressed, but they were all there. I was probably trying to keep it cool, but no, the reality. I will just to skip to the end. The reality far exceeds whatever I imagine the first day was me reconciling what I thought it would be and what it really was. Getting on a little charter boat going way out in the middle of the Gulf. And then I think sturgeon were spawning and that was what was drawing the sharks. And so it made visibility like all of these little eggs were refracting light. So it was this very sparkly. But also sometimes visibility was funky. And the thing that I couldn't wrap my head around was from the boat, you could look out at the water and see, I don't know, a dozen whale sharks at any given time. But then you get in the water and adrenaline hits and I don't know where they are. I can't see them. It's just having very little to no experience in the deep water. That was Such a jolt and a shock to my system. And then being in the water with an animal 20ft, 25ft, 30ft long, my nervous system just didn't know how to. To compute. It was so much. I don't think I'd ever been that tired, ever. It just. It took so much effort. And then day two, three, four, each day got a little easier because I had a better idea of what to expect. And also I didn't. You're covered in fish eggs. You're culvert in fish eggs. So the. The imagination that I would become this mermaid, this otherworldly creature, and have this like soul bond with a whale shark. It wasn't that, but the real life experience was incredible too. But I just. I don't. I guess I don't really know where I'm leading with the question, but how do you see when having guided so many people through these moments, like for somebody who's thinking about possibly planning an experience like that, like what. How do you prepare what would be good for someone to prepare for what that is?

B (19:12)

Like, it's so different for everybody. It's just valid.

A (19:17)

Not everybody maybe wants to be.

B (19:19)

Yeah, there's a few that want to be mermaids for sure on our trips. I'm not going to lie. But yeah, it's just really, these animals, the whale shark is a great. I call them, they're like gateway animals into a bigger world because, like, when it comes to seeing orcas and whales and of all different species and sharks, a whale shark is possibly. It's a great ambassador for the species because they're a harmless species. They're just like big giant catfish floating on the surface. And it's a wonderful animal for someone of all ages to experience. It really is the whale shark. And I don't know if you had manta rays on your trip as well, because sometimes they show up every other year. The manta ray is another ocean angel. They're just. They're just the perfect animal for people, for. If you want to experience the ocean, if you want to experience what life is like in the ocean in a Disney way, that is the perfect animal to do it with. It's very safe. It's a phenomenal way to decide if you know what I would like to do more of things like this or. This was perfect. This was enough.

A (20:27)

I want to go back. Something. Something that you wrote that I really liked, that reminded me, even though we are talking about safari, we're talking about adventure, we're talking about animals, I think the more specific we become, in a way, the more universal it becomes. And this quote made me think about a lot of the stuff that you write. It's a Mark Twain quote that travel is fatal to prejudice. Once you see something, you can't unsee something. I want to speak to the why beyond conservation. If I'm not connected to nature, if I'm not connected to. To animals, and I've got enough going on in my life that conservation, cool. I'm glad someone's taking care of it, but that's not my focus. What would be a personal, selfish reason that would be maybe a call to action that you like? What would be the invitation for somebody individually, not globally, not for any other reason, like why it could change your life to jump into the deep or get in a Jeep with no top and go drive out to a pride of lions. What is the reason that you could articulate why somebody should do that?

B (21:39)

I think the wildlife is. They're reminders of where we all came from. We were, all of us in our DNA. If you look at the generations of people that have lived on this planet, at some point, we were all part of that. We were all out there. There wasn't this separation between us and our wild places, whether it was the ocean, whether it was the jungle. Some of our ancestors had to deal with bears in their front porch. Some of our ancestors had to deal with lions walking through cam. That's something that we have either blocked out or forgotten. Obviously, we've forgotten just because of generations of separation from it. But we are all part of that. We are all part of this world beyond our cars and our homes and our clothes. We are part of nature a hundred percent. We've forgotten this. And I think these are great reminders to remind us, hey, this is where we all come from. This is. We're not separated from these things. We are very much a part of these things. And if anything, there are so many species that although they're no longer relevant in our world, they're so important for our world, not only as reminders, but as part of this giant balance, because we're all connected in some way, in some form. We're all, for lack of better, we're all one. And I think it's important to remind people that, like, we need to stay connected, we need to protect these animals because they're much a part of this earth as we are, and we have to remind people that they're there. Yeah, that's. This is our home. This is their home. This is our home.

A (23:24)

And I Also what I'm hearing too, it's. They. When you're in communion with nature, you become more in touch with or in tune with your own natural rhythm, your own self. There's. You might actually know him or. Cause I would imagine the community, like the pool you're in terms of career is probably small, I'm just guessing, but Boyd Vardy, he's from South Africa. He wrote the Lion Tracker's Guide to Life. He has a property in South Africa called Londolozi. It was a game preserve. Yeah, and. But his work in that book is basically teaching people to track wild animals. Helps them become more in touch with the rhythms of nature and by. Not by default, but through becoming more in tune with tracking nature. You, your track, like your path. So I think so many of the clients I attract are struggling with anxiety, depression and burnout. And I think a lot of the confusion and self doubt and head trash is also rooted in I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Maybe they don't articulate it like that, but it's experience that way of just, I don't know what I'm supposed to do as opposed to I want to know what I'm called to do. I want to know what I'm meant to do or what I want to do. My dog never questions when she's hungry, when she's tired. Like she is completely embodied because she doesn't have this giant brain getting in her way of everything. And I love hearing you talk about the more in tune you are with nature, you're reminded that you are nature too. That's.

B (25:01)

It's so important for people to stay connected to nature. And it's getting worse. I think it's just part of. Part of what I feel is that they are completely pulling us away from it. I think that unhealthy feeling. I remember having it as a growing up. I remember there was many times where I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know what my calling was. But I always just. I remember standing there and just looking around saying, something's wrong. I don't belong here.

A (25:32)

That's something wrong. The language I like to use with clients is. That's usually what gets people into an appointment with me first. It's what I say. It's like your smoke detector is going off because your smoke detector can't tell the difference between burning toast or bacon and a fire in some part of your house. But it's just beeping because it senses smoke. Something's wrong. And so I think a lot of times getting that emotional awareness or that clarity starts with something's wrong. And then you sit with that. But then the discomfort. It's like, I think about that story with you and the bull shark the first time, it's. I either need to chase it and funnel down with it, or I need to run away from it. And I think that tension is what happens every time we hit a big emotion or a fork in the road or we're at a growth edge, we're about to change. But I think that is the following, the path of curiosity is almost always what leads you down to some new sense of understanding about yourself or the world. I wanna. Do you have. Of all of the experiences you've led other people through, do you have. It could be one. It could be more than one. It might even be with a member of your family. But have you seen, like, shifts happen in people that just observed? Because I have over the years seen many powerful shifts happen in sessions. But it's such an intimate thing. But where you're out in the wild with someone, are there any moments that stand out to you of just being like, whoa, this person is different, or this person is really having an experience here?

B (27:04)

Yeah. I have this one gentleman who would do adventures. He would do travel on his own. And then he went on one of our trips, a very successful businessman. And I could see that this was just something he was doing for life.

A (27:21)

That's interesting. That's so interesting.

B (27:23)

Yeah, he was. He was on the trip and he was there to experience the animal, but it was almost like a science project. It wasn't like he was super into the animal.

A (27:33)

Like, he was intellectualizing it.

B (27:35)

He was. It was like. It wasn't like a bucket list. It was like, okay, I'm on this journey of. I'm going to photograph now. I've been photographing these other things and I'm going to photograph wildlife now. We went out there, he had the experience, and it was almost like this. You could feel the shift of just now. I get it. Goosebump. Thinking about it. Yeah. It was like now. Okay, okay. You know, it was. It was.

A (28:01)

It was like his body, like it kicked on.

B (28:03)

Yeah. Something inside him came alive and it was just like more. It was a completely different. More than when he first started.

A (28:12)

Something inside him came alive that gave me chills and almost wonder if it's the distinction of when you were describing a sunset. Like the difference between driving in your car and you're getting somewhere as the sun happens to be going down and you're doing a million other things versus watching a sunset and taking it in. I love this conversation with Eli Martinez so, so much. And one of the things I love revisiting is this idea that watching a sunset, it. It seems so wildly underrated because every day the sun comes up and every day the sun goes down. And actually appreciating and admiring that cycle and that rhythm of nature that marks the start and the end of a day, it. It kind of gets you back in sync with the rhythm of the natural world, which is so much of what Eli's work is, not only highlighting the beauty of it, but allowing and reminding us that we are a part of it. And the sunset is such a great visual for that. The other thing that I love so much about this is being able to remind myself my experience swimming with whale sharks. There is this going back to the idea in the solo cast, this momentum that we bring into things that really matter to us, Whether it's how we imagined it to be or how we hoped it would be, or the plan that we set and locked into place in our minds. But when that plan or when that vision or when that dream or imagination meets reality, it's a little different. Not bad, not good. We're not winning or losing, right? It's. It's different. And the more we can allow ourselves to feel that vulnerable, I would say even tender slash brave sense of adventure, the more opportunity we have to allow our dreams to meet reality and then decide what we want to do with that wisdom. When it comes to when we let ourselves be in awe, to explore things that feel familiar, to see parts of the world that we thought were so separate from us, whether it's a sunset or a great hike, or swimming with a gentle giant like a whale shark, we can stop fighting for control and start listening more, listening more deeply to ourselves, to our intuition, to the people around us. And in that listening, we get a deeper sense of knowing and a deeper sense of who we really are. Now I want to take a quick moment and shout out somebody incredibly special and dear to my heart. If cooking for the holidays feels overwhelming or you just want to bring a little more joy and intention into your kitchen, my dear friend, Sarah Klein. Connect is your new secret ingredient. Sarah has been a private chef for 20 years, cooking for celebrities and families. And she shares simple, game changing recipes, tips and techniques that make everyday meals feel nourishing and fun. She believes in food as medicine, in quality over quantity. And she says that looks so yummy. Because she truly does that a lot. And honestly, it is so yummy. I cannot get enough of her food when I see her. And just a little side note, I try to cook for her when I see her because I want to give her a break. But also selfishly, I'm like, can you just cook for me, please? Like, I know you're off the clock, but your food is so delicious. When you sign up for her annual substack subscription, you'll get a free 30 minute consultation with Sarah where you can ask her literally anything. Meal planning, nutrition, organizing your kitchen, or even a perfect party planning menu. She bails me out. Honestly. Every Thanksgiving I have to be reminded of cooking time, brining time, baking time. She just has an organizational mind that I don't and I appreciate so much. Make sure to visit the link in the show notes to connect with Sarah to bring more joy into your kitchen this season. Both of these clips today, dealing with conflict in nature point to the same truth that learning to trust yourself is an ongoing practice. Listening to your needs isn't selfish, and it's ultimately how you find your way back home to your center. Sometimes the bravest thing that you can say is, this isn't working and I'm willing to try something new. Relationships are brave. That's why I loved talking about conflict and jumping into the great unknown. With an adventurer like Eli Martinez, you may, when you look at his Instagram feed or look at his YouTube videos, of doing incredible things like swimming with anacondas and alligators and orca whales. How does that have anything to do with conflict? And I can say, as someone who has experienced my own version of both of these environments, deeply in the trenches and conflict in my personal life and relationships, and stepping into the wild in my own way, what you feel internally, physiologically like, what you feel in your body is the same. You have a vision in your mind of how you think it will be. Then you're confronted with the real moment. You feel the rush of maybe a perceived threat, slash excitement of stepping into something new. And then you step into an unknown experience, whether that is between you and another person that you love, where you're trying to find a new way of understanding, a new way of connecting, or whether that's stepping into some beautiful, remote part of our world. Both require their own type of bravery, but the internal environment in you is what's carrying you into both of those encounters. So whether you need a little bit more bravery and connection in your relationships or you're ready to answer the call of adventure, you can check out the link in the show notes where both of the full length episodes are saved for you, but if not enjoy this bite sized nugget. I hope that you have an incredible day and thank you for being here. Thank you for listening and sharing this time with me. It is a treasure. Every time I get to record an episode and get to continue this conversation and grow this community with you. Please remember before you hop off to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast. It helps it grow, it helps it connect and I want to hear from you. You can email me@danielleanielireland.com in the subject line Bangs. Put bangs in the subject line so I know what it's pertaining to and hit me up with questions, comments, feedback. You can always comment on the podcast too, but if you want to message me directly and say hey girl, can you talk more about X, Y and Z, I will say yes and please. So thank you so much for being here and I hope you continue to have an incredible day.