Lean In 26: Compassion; Finding peace and resilience through our own personal suffering with Abdullah Sawari.
Release Date: 04/12/2020
Lean In 42: Consciousness Rising; Stepping boldly into the full expression of yourself with Nadine McNeil
Lean In
Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing. If you are going through a change or challenging period in life, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together. “We are all in the same storm, but we are not all in the same boat” this quote struck me from my conversation with todays guest Nadine McNeil as we were talking about the current global climate - pandemic, racial protests, war, refugee’s and everything...
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Your Space Episode 41: Releasing Overwhelm
Lean In
Welcome to ‘Your Space,’ an embodied and direct experience that allows you to engage in a restorative moment of calm, to unwind, reflect and be nurtured. We are living in a time of great change. Old power structures throughout the world are changing and dismantling and shaking us up in a huge way. We are currently dealing with increased racial prejudice, natural disasters, climate change, a global pandemic on top of all the pain and suffering that is happening around us and inside of us every single day. It is an uncertain time, a time of great challenge. It is also a time where, for most...
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Lean In 40: Authenticity; Finding your own way and reaching your fullest potential with Chris Dufey
Lean In
Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing. If you are going through a change or challenging period in life, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together. Authenticity is a word that gets thrown around the self developing world like a hot potato. But what does it mean to truly live an authentic life? What does it take to live true to your core values, your heart centered intentions and your own personal goals?...
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Lean In 39: Survival. One brave man's unbelievable story of survival with Abdi Aden
Lean In
Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing. If you are going through a change or challenging period in life, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together. Today I have the extreme pleasure of introducing you to someone who has experienced the unbelievable and conquered the impossible; Abdi Aden. Abdi’s world completely changed when he was only a very young teenager and Somalia’s vicious civil war hit...
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Lean In 38: Acceptance; It is perfectly ok to not be ok with Clare Boyd
Lean In
Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing. If you are going through a change or challenging period in life or just want a deeper level conversation, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together. Acceptance is something we will all have to experience at some point within our own lives. On the healing journey it is an absolute allay that provides so much space and expansion for our minds and souls. Acceptance of...
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Your Space Episode 38: Acceptance
Lean In
Welcome to ‘Your Space,’ an embodied and direct experience that allows you to engage in a restorative moment of calm, to unwind, reflect and be nurtured. This session of “Your Space’ is the partner for Lean In 38: Acceptance; It is perfectly ok to not be ok with Clare Boyd. We live in a time where there is little encouragement for paying attention to our body’s needs and natural energy levels. Often when we are really exhausted, we ignore our longing for rest and rejuvenation and instead manipulate our bodies with caffeine, sugar, and other stimulants to create a false sense of...
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Your Space Episode 37: Expression
Lean In
Welcome to ‘Your Space,’ an embodied and direct experience that allows you to engage in a restorative moment of calm, to unwind, reflect and be nurtured. This session of “Your Space’ is the partner for Lean In 37: Expression; Exploring the depths of personal truth through creativity, art, and relationships with Christina Zipperlen. Creative expression can be seen as one of the most potent forces in the world and crucial in all aspects of our lives. It can point us to new paths, new ways of seeing and solving. Creative expression is rooted in the capacities for observation, discovery,...
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Lean In 37: Expression; Exploring the depths of personal truth through creativity, art, and relationships with Christina Zipperlen
Lean In
Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing. If you are going through a change or challenging period in life, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together. In its most expansive definition, Art contains all forms of creative expression. Creative expression can be seen as one of the most potent forces in the world and throughout all aspects of our lives. It can point us to new paths, new ways of seeing and...
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Lean In 36: Your Space Special Edition: Opening our capacity to feel, heal and grow
Lean In
Fear is a tricky thing. It shape shifts as many different emotions, experiences, thoughts and even actions. It can get a hold of us and become destructive if we let it, allowing it’s resistance to block us from feeling, seeing and experiencing our own truth. Right now, it feels like the entire world is in a panic, and it’s so hard to see what tomorrow will bring, let alone the future. I know with my whole heart and soul that we were made for these times and I encourage us all to take a collective breath, and let the fear and uncertainty work its way through us. There’s an old saying in...
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Lean In 35: Nourish; Finding nourishment through activism, yoga, internal healing and taking action with Bex Tyrer
Lean In
Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing. If you are going through a change or challenging period in life, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together. When we arrive in this world as children our early years are shaped for us. And yet occasionally certain traits of our individual personalities buck the status quo and reveal deep parts of what our soul is here to do in this lifetime. Activism and the desire...
info_outlineWhat happens when a young refugee is denied access to education, work opportunities or basic human rights? He co-founds a school so he and his community can continue to learn!
Welcome to Lean In, a podcast that explores ordinary people’s extraordinary lives through honest storytelling. My guests share with me their journey of discovery, laughter, personal experiences and healing.
If you are going through a change or challenging period in life, Lean In is the space where we can surrender to the cycle together.
Out of all the shows I have done thus far, this episode is the one I will remember the most. I first watched Abdullah’s Sawari’s TedX talk (link below) and it moved me to my core. Abdullah Sarwari's parents are from Afghanistan but he was born in Pakistan and raised in Iran. Four and a half years ago, Abdullah and his family came to Indonesia to seek safety as refugees and, just recently, Abdullah and his family signed their resettlement papers and now call Vancouver Canada home.
Abdullah and I discuss life as a refugee, his parents life and culture in Afghanistan, his childhood in Iran and what it is like to be a refugee moving around as a family.
Abdullah is an articulate and passionate storyteller and I got a deep insight into what life is really like living as a refugee. When he was living in Iran (around the age of 9) all of a sudden the rules for refugee children changed and he was not allowed to go to school anymore. He would lie to his friends and tell them he was Iranian in order to fit in and try and settle in school but sadly when one of his best friends found out he was in fact, a Afghan refugee and stopped talking to him.
This is just one of the stories we chat about.
When Abdullah’s family arrived in Indonesia, the then 16-year-old Abdullah realized as refugees, they were not allowed to work or study in Indonesia, meaning he could not complete his studies. In response to this, he and four friends co-founded an informal refugee school—the Refugee Learning Center. Over the last four years, the school has provided free education to over 300 refugee children, men, and women. The school continues to grow and evolve to this day.
We dive into;
- Life growing up in Pakistan and Iran as a Refugee
- When you’re a refugee where do you belong?
- The impact of losing his Father suddenly
- What life is like in Indonesia as a refugee with no human rights
- How living as a refugee impacts mental health
- Why education is so important
- Starting the Refugee Learning Centre
- How Abdullah went from “bell boy” to principal in 3 years
- Being selected out of 300 other candidates to work with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) in Indonesia
- Resettling in Canada
- The stigma and negative label of “Refugee”
- Breaking down the stereotype of what it means to be a refugee
Links
https://www.instagram.com/abdullahsarwarii/?hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSTw_7I25z4&feature=youtu.be
https://www.instagram.com/refugeelearningcenter/?hl=en
https://www.refugeelearningcenter.com/
Please Donate to The Refugee Learning Centre. Every little bit helps