Powerful And Unpolished

Tim: 00:00

Ever wonder why success doesn't always equal fulfillment? I'm Tim Salmons and with 30 years experience as an actor and a career spanning work in the blue collar corporate medical field, as well as public service industries. I've seen and experienced the human condition at its best and worst. Here on powerful and unpolished, we will explore the everyday traps draining our energy and hindering fulfillment. This isn't just another success podcast.

Tim: 00:29

It's about breaking free from patterns that hold you back and limit your potential. Join me on this transformative journey as we explore and identify limiting traps, detach from draining patterns and rediscover the power within. Creating a life that is truly powerful and unpolished. Welcome to powerful and unpolished. I'm making my guest laugh already.

Tim: 00:56

This is Tim Salmons. We are here to do our weekly pod show casting, powerful and unpolished. Thank you for joining us today. If you're returning, we really appreciate it. If you're new, climb aboard.

Tim: 01:09

See if you can hang on. See if it interests you. We we we like to go to the unknown sometimes. And today, I have a wonderful guest, Laura Marie or Laura Marie Rubin as I know her. She is just a divine soul.

Tim: 01:27

Her business is Wild Awake Woman and just powerful. She was one of our very first guests, and we had her back. And, usually, I kinda put together thoughts or questions we wanna explore. But I was like, no. Let's just we're gonna delve into the unknown, and we're gonna pull apart and, like, solve all the world's problems in the next 30, 35 minutes or something like that.

Tim: 01:52

At least we we think we are. Little bit about Lisa, Lisa. Sorry. I said that earlier, and I knew I was gonna say that. Meet Laura Marie.

Tim: 02:04

Alright. Don't be laughing too hard at me. Meet Laura Marie. She is a reformed hustle bunny. She is a queen of joy, lover of life, playologist, horse whisperer, spiritual guidus.

Tim: 02:20

After years of riding the hustle train, she made the courageous decision to take back control of her life. That's huge. That's not just a statement. That's for someone to powerfully do that is is a big deal, so I just commend you on that. Her journey has led her from a life of default into a life of design.

Tim: 02:41

Now she's on a mission to educate, empower, inspire ambitious women to step into their courage, defy their status quo, think outside the box, buck the system in pursuit of their highest good and heart's desire, both personally and professionally. As a wild, awake woman, Laura Marie encourages her clients to let go of the hustle and step into a life of purpose and fulfillment, reigniting their inner flame. Thank you, and welcome for joining us today, Laura.

Laura Rubin: 03:19

Thank you, Tom. Oh, okay. Tim. Tim. Thank you, Tim.

Tim: 03:23

I've been called worse.

Laura Rubin: 03:25

And for those that don't know, Tim and I are good friends. So and I do actually know Alisa Marie and absolutely love her. So, you know, it's not such a bad thing to be a Alisa Marie.

Tim: 03:36

No. It's I think I've been reading to I've been reading articles lately about Lisa Marie Presley, and that's why it's stuck in my head.

Laura Rubin: 03:44

Oh, well, you know? Okay. I'm

Tim: 03:45

like, okay. So but, thank you for coming back to the show. Obviously, we didn't scare you off.

Laura Rubin: 03:52

So Super excited. Can't wait for this free form. Because, again, as I mentioned, you and I are good friends, and I absolutely adore the conversations that we have. And so it just you know what? It was a great way to have another really meaningful conversation, and this one just happens to be recorded.

Tim: 04:12

Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna go with looking at your bio and touching on it from before. I when I paused in the middle of reading your bio, I mean, that's a big deal, Someone taking that courage to self reflect, you know, because a lot of time we get momentum and inertia. This is the plan.

Tim: 04:40

This is what I did when I started in junior high and I went to college for this and I know all this. And, and all of a sudden I'm I'm in this career that I thought I needed. I thought I wanted, and I'm not fulfilled, or I think I'm fulfilled, but something is egging at me. Something is is is missing. And a lot of times they'll hang on to that hustle train for an extended period of time.

Tim: 05:06

And, you know, let let's be real. Some of our folks who are who get caught in this trap or this pattern never get off the train and the train does not stay on the tracks, if you will. Right? So this is, you know, this is a big deal. And, I just want to first off acknowledge how powerful and big deal it is for you.

Tim: 05:33

But second off, how is it that, you're able now to help others kind of like awaken to just the power of making a different choice?

Laura Rubin: 05:45

Yeah. I think for me, you know, the biggest thing was you touched on this, not the biggest thing, but one of the things was what you touched on is that there was a time that I would, on the hustle train, going, you know, going, going, going, reaching for that external, what's that, you know, what's that thing? What's that thing? I'd get the thing, and I'd be excited for a split second. Wouldn't necessarily celebrate, but I'd be excited for, okay, you know, some relief, some, okay, I made it.

Laura Rubin: 06:17

And then that feeling would creep back in again. And I thought, well, something must be wrong with me. You know, what's wrong? Okay. I have to try harder.

Laura Rubin: 06:26

I have to work harder. So you talked about not getting off the hustle train, and that's really, for me at the time, it was, well, that that didn't satisfy that need. I I picked the wrong thing or I did the wrong thing or I just, again, I needed to try harder. Until I realized that I was tired of trying harder and nothing was changing. I mean, it was still I mean, I could go back and see that pattern and I did not put 22 together, make that realization, decide.

Laura Rubin: 06:58

It's a decision that I didn't wanna live like that anymore until I hit midlife because I had and I and I always say there wasn't I didn't have any life changing, like, I didn't have a near death experience. I didn't lose my career of 25 years. I I just woke up one day and was like, I don't really like my life. And I and I don't and I what I thought would make me like my life was not working. And it was like, okay.

Laura Rubin: 07:37

I need to really look at this. And and had no idea what that meant, what that looked like. Just knew that how I had been living and and also had hit midlife, so knew how I had been living for the last 40, 45 years was not how I wanted to spend the remaining, let's say, 45 years because I'd love to live to 90, maybe even 100. I didn't wanna live it the same way. You know, just constantly going for that next thing, really not tapping into what what lit me up, why I was doing this.

Laura Rubin: 08:14

And so really the journey, which was a lot of stumbling, a lot of really looking at what's my purpose. That is where so that was what I hung my hat on in the first thing. The first thing I said, what's my purpose? I have to have a purpose. What's my purpose?

Laura Rubin: 08:30

And after going on what I consider that just a different hamster wheel was, you know what? I my purpose isn't outside of me either. Just like making that, you know, getting the corner office, buying the car, buy all of that external and the purpose, that's not what is going to like, that's not it. That wasn't it. I realized that the purpose that I was looking for that would would satisfy me and fulfill me was the purpose of being me.

Laura Rubin: 09:07

Finding out who me was, and showing up as Laura Marie in every situation. Having my yes be a yes and my no be a no, because I knew what my yeses are. I know what my yeses are. I know what I need to walk away from or what I don't need to accept into my life. That was my purpose.

Laura Rubin: 09:29

My purpose is to live life by design, not by default. To live life on my terms based on who I am. That's my purpose. Now I can take that purpose and find my calling. My calling is how I'm going to show up as me in the world.

Laura Rubin: 09:49

What lights me up? And, yes, it can be semantics, but for me, that really hit home for me was understanding that my purpose wasn't outside. It wasn't something that I was trying to find. It was it was trying to find me. It was me.

Laura Rubin: 10:02

My purpose was to really live life as me.

Tim: 10:06

Well, so I I love the clarity that you just shared, and there's a lot of layers to that. You know? One is I know that there is a strong part of our population out there that, you know, and I if you're listening, please know that I honor you. But you're not good at asking questions of yourself. You're good at doing the next thing, going, what's the next thing I gotta get?

Tim: 10:37

What will fix it? What what what what do I need for the the the formula, the calculation? Like, there isn't the the version of of introspection is this illusion of what's the next thing I gotta do. And there's nothing wrong with doing in the world. It's just our our our whole world is so focused on doing and getting that we live in a hangover.

Tim: 11:04

And so few people know how to honor and stop and ask themselves the question, wait a minute. Who am I? What what is this thing that I think is out there, but I'm not willing to go inside to explore, to listen, to ask the question? I think

Laura Rubin: 11:23

oftentimes the the those inner questions, or we do because we're afraid of those inner questions, or we don't know what those we don't know what those questions are in the first place to even ask. Or we're, like I said, we're afraid what we might find out if we really stop to reflect. And then also I think that we're we're shown and modeled that what success looks like is all this external BS, in my opinion. You know? I mean, who's out there teaching that your success is what you want it to be?

Laura Rubin: 11:59

Success to you might be living in a cabin in the woods and making $12,000 a a year and being a homesteader, and and that's success to you. But in in society's standards, I would I wouldn't necessarily think that they describe that as success.

Tim: 12:17

No. No. It's a trap. You know? Sort of one of the, the jokes that I've heard is, like, it was a meme I saw and it was, like, about adultifying and it's like, it's a trap being an adult.

Tim: 12:33

It's a trap. Don't go away kids. Don't, you know, you don't want it, you know?

Laura Rubin: 12:37

And it's so well, here's what I think is so funny as children, all we wanna do well, I shouldn't say that's not true. Not of everybody and it's not exactly, you know, this is a blanket statement, but we wanna grow up. We wanna grow up. We wanna be adults. And being an adult is awesome and remembering who you are as a child.

Laura Rubin: 12:57

You know, having that childlike quality about you as an adult, that's awesome. Seeing the world through awe and wonder through the eyes of how it how the, you know, through the eyes of a child. Oh my gosh, I saw a video or a meme or I don't know, it was a it was a father walking through the woods, it was fall, he had his 3 year old son strapped to his back in a backpack, and this this child was just looking up in the trees and, oh, making all of these noises. And the idea was, if as adults, we could only look at trees like that.

Tim: 13:33

Right.

Laura Rubin: 13:34

And we don't stop long enough to to do that.

Tim: 13:38

Well, and it's it's there's so many opportunities. That's why I love the work that we do. I mean, you know, it's to me, having the opportunity to explore these questions, to explore the layers, I I've grown up and I've heard it, and I'm sure you've heard it because it's so commonplace in our culture. You know, all the justification. Well, I have to make a living and I have to do that.

Tim: 14:04

And it's like going, I can't allow myself the vulnerability to let my child out because I have responsibility.

Laura Rubin: 14:13

Mhmm.

Tim: 14:14

And it's like, that's a great justification or excuse for keeping yourself trapped and not being responsible that you actually chose the responsibility that you are now entrapped by. Yeah. Right?

Laura Rubin: 14:28

Exactly. Mhmm.

Tim: 14:30

And, we're not telling you to be irresponsible and to, not be accountable. We're just acknowledging or highlighting the fact that you can do what you're doing, plus look for the awe, plus look for something to be grateful or have gratitude for. My wife has a great example, and and I love this, and I'm gonna share this because it's huge. People would be like, oh, I, you know, I don't have time. I can't do that.

Tim: 15:06

If someone offered you a $1,000,000, would you be able to do oh, hell yeah. Then it's a choice. Don't sit here and fool yourself that, oh, I can't, you know, if if you really can't do it, then even if someone offered you a $1,000,000, you still can't do it. But it's a choice of value and you choose, oh, well, of course, now I'll, you know, and it's like, you know, that's and for those that are listening, you know, that's a little test to call yourself out. Now whether you're gonna be honest enough and, you know, objective with yourself enough to sit there and go, okay.

Tim: 15:42

Yeah. I am choosing this and I'm going to choose it and own it. And maybe, you know, you don't have to choose, or yes, I'm going to do it. It's just make sure that when you make the choice, you own it and you don't turn around and then become a victim to, oh, my circumstances that I chose. Right.

Tim: 15:57

Well, you chose it. You know? And I, you know, I just wanna, share a little bit more where, we're already putting the energy out. We're already, you know, engaging with these choices. We're already engaging with our, our, our paths, our, our, the people we engage with, our interactions that we go through every day.

Tim: 16:22

Why is adjusting the mindset take more energy? It really doesn't. It's the same energy you're putting out. You know? It's but would you say, Laura, in in this discussion that we're sort of tripping onto right now, Is there a a a value aspect to this, a self love aspect to it, an awareness?

Tim: 16:47

I mean, what are your thoughts around it?

Laura Rubin: 16:50

So thoughts around ex let's pinpoint that a little bit. Thoughts around the choices that we make and believing that we don't have a choice even though we made the choice?

Tim: 17:01

Yeah. Like, maybe why some people choose to stay on the path even though maybe they've been enlightened to more information, but they choose to ignore it.

Laura Rubin: 17:12

Because sometimes that path, the new enlightened path or the new is is hard. It's challenging. It requires them to look at themselves. It requires them to be someone different. And, oftentimes you hear about, you know, let's say women in abusive relationships.

Laura Rubin: 17:32

They know they need to get out. They know that this isn't healthy, yet they they are they have this mindset that they are trapped and and it's familiar. So they would rather stay in the familiar hell than get out to the heaven that they don't know anything about. You know, it's oftentimes we get stuck in things and and it happens a lot. I've done it myself.

Laura Rubin: 17:55

You get stuck in a habit or in a way of being because it's familiar. And getting out of it is big, is scary, is unknown, and it's almost like, okay. I'm just gonna stay where I'm at. I'm I'm going to learn to tolerate where I'm at. I've had several relationships, several marriages that that is I should have left long before I did, but the familiarity bound me.

Laura Rubin: 18:26

And again, that was choice. I totally you know, that was my choice. And and until it got to the point where I I had to actually get to the point where it was so bad that it was leaving nothing kind of thing. And I didn't have I never had a physical abusive relationship. They were mainly, emotional, which are tough in their own right.

Laura Rubin: 18:50

But, yeah, I think we get stuck in that familiarity. We get stuck in, oh my gosh, this is gonna be a big change. Even though maybe it's not a big change, but in our head, you know, and what we think, we start racing ahead of all the things that it could look like or what we have to do and how it's gonna be different and the things we're gonna lose or or that kind of thing, and and we decide that we would rather stay in the familiar hell.

Tim: 19:18

Yeah. It's, the devil you know versus the devil you don't.

Laura Rubin: 19:24

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And and it's not easy. And I commend anyone that has made that that decision and stepped out or has made that decision, stepped out, and then and then, you know, it was hard and they fell back into it again, but they continue you know, you're not always successful the first time.

Laura Rubin: 19:46

It it's a process. You know?

Tim: 19:48

It's it's like strengthening a muscle. Yep. You know, sometimes it takes more effort to build that muscle. Yeah.

Laura Rubin: 19:55

And that's where that's where community comes in. You know, surround if you are going to make you you know, depending on any change, you know, you're always better to do that with someone. Whether that's one other person or you've you've find a group to go to or, you know, you've got a close friend that can guide and you just kinda hold your hand through it and support you through it. You know, trying to do all that on your own is is very difficult.

Tim: 20:21

Oh, absolutely. And I wanna highlight another aspect of what we're talking about here is for some of our our listeners that may be listening, when we're talking about choice and it sounds like such an easy concept, we're not trying to sell you on this illusion that it is an easy concept. It's not. What we're trying to highlight is that sometimes people make choices and don't realize that they're making the choice.

Laura Rubin: 20:53

It's life. It's

Tim: 20:54

life, it's circumstances, it's happening to them. And the fact is, is it's it's happening because there's a decision or a choice being made to stay in the environment, to stay in the interaction, to stay in the energy itself. So, you know, we do acknowledge and know that there are people, everybody, each every all of our listeners, we have listeners that, you know, they're all on a unique path. You, the individual that is listening to this, know your path is absolutely unique. Your lessons are yours.

Tim: 21:30

They're no one else's. And someone may be able to relate to you or you may be able to relate to someone else, and that might be a a kinship that you have on your path, but you're still unique on your path, and these are your lessons for you. And to add to what you were saying, Laura, was, I also I think it takes community, that aspect, and I also think it takes grace. Grace grace with yourself.

Laura Rubin: 21:57

Yes. Like Yes. Because you will well, I shouldn't say I don't. Speaking for myself, I went back over and over. And and, you know, I even not even relationship choices, other choices that I made and decisions that I made, you know, that were not necessarily good for me.

Laura Rubin: 22:14

And I would, you know, I would make the effort to get out and then I'd find myself back again. And I'd make the effort to change and I'd find myself back again. And and grace, yeah, you have. We're human. It happens.

Laura Rubin: 22:27

We have to give ourselves grace.

Tim: 22:29

And, you know, with this this takes me to another reality of what we're talking about. When I say everybody has their lessons on their path, even that abuser that is so and this is not to justify their actions or their choices, but the fact that they are coming from such a weak energy or a weak, sense of responsibility or accountability that they have to engage and steal energy from another human being. Their lesson is, you know, the lesson that may be available to them is you don't have to steal power from someone else to value yourself. And unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there, all different types, who that's that's their illusion or their belief system of this world of go, go, go, get, get, get, do, do, do. You know, I don't care whose neck I step on as long as I'm ahead.

Tim: 23:33

And when you're doing that in your personal relationships, when you're doing that in your public relationships, it's costing you. It's costing you. And it's costing you the people around you because the respect that you think you're getting is an illusion. People don't respect you. They're just tolerating you until they can get away from you for what that's worth.

Tim: 23:58

But, you know, it's also playing with the awareness that, you know, there's, there's so many lessons. There's so much awareness. This is why, I'm gonna kind of take this another direction because this is into your wheelhouse. I am a huge advocate of any sentient being. So I'm going to clarify sentient being because a lot of people have asked me questions like, well, what do you mean by that?

Tim: 24:24

Any being that has this in in my world, this is how I kind of relate to it, any being that has this sense of self, sense of emotion, sense of awareness. So it could be an animal. It could be a human. It can be an alien from another world. As long as they have this sort of experience of life and essence to survive, that's a sentient being.

Tim: 24:50

And I think sentient beings are gifts. We're gifts to each other. We're gifts to one another. You work with horses

Laura Rubin: 25:02

Yep.

Tim: 25:02

And have for quite some time. When did you first get introduced to horses?

Laura Rubin: 25:07

Oh, shoot. I was a 10 year old crazy child for horses. We lived along a park. Our backyard backed up to a park. And every now and then, I'd see someone ride their horse in, and I was the crazy kid that would go out into the park and ask that person, can I pet your horse?

Laura Rubin: 25:29

I'm sure they thought I was nuts, but they did let me. So I was the 10 year old girl that just hit me like a ton of bricks. No explanation. My parents did not know the front end from the back end of a horse. Okay.

Laura Rubin: 25:43

Was definitely I wasn't raised on a ranch like my my 2 girls were. We had horse they had horses growing up. Did not have any of that. I look back now, and I just feel like they were meant to be a part of my life. And I would, you know and and the the phase never passed.

Laura Rubin: 26:05

I mean, I started as a 10 year old crazy, you know, horse crazy girl, and I am 60 and still horse crazy. So it's like that was not a I'm sure my parents would have hoped that that was a passing fad, but it was not a passing fad. And so, you know, I look back now, and I I really believe that that was just the beginning of what my path was supposed to be. It just took me a while to get to the point where I would coach with them. I've been riding, showing, you know, horses since I was probably about 22.

Laura Rubin: 26:38

So from from I didn't I got my first horse when I was 14, just a pleasure horse. And then there were periods in there, like when I went to college, sold my horse, got married, didn't have horses, and then probably picked back up really strongly in my mid twenties. And then that's when I I got introduced to showing. I show I still show. And then when I decided to go down the coaching route, I was introduced to a gal that did equine guided coaching, something that I've never you you know, I had this love of horses.

Laura Rubin: 27:13

I had this love now of coaching and mentoring women. And this woman brought both of my loves together, and I was like, I can do that. And so that's when I started exploring, how do I bring my horses? I have 4. I didn't start with 4, but I have 4 now that are in my herd that are at my ranch here in in Colorado.

Laura Rubin: 27:37

And, you know, how can I include them in my program? How can I because I knew what they did for me personally? And it's and then being involved, you know, getting introduced to this way of coaching with horses. I'm like, oh, I wanna do that. And so I started studying.

Laura Rubin: 27:58

I started, I did some research on the type of coaching I wanted to do or how I wanted to bring the horses in. One of the things that's really important to me is, that the horses being sentient beings have autonomy and agency over whether they participate or not. Oftentimes, you'll find programs that choose the horses for you or tie all the horses to the fence so that they aren't necessarily given a choice whether to participate or not. And those programs are very effective and people get a lot out of them. I just knew it was not how I wanted to do it.

Laura Rubin: 28:35

So through my research, I was able to find a gal in Canada. Loved her ethos, loved her philosophy, and I trained with her for 2 years, and got certified in her. And she has 80 acres in Canada, in British Columbia, beautiful, 22 horses on the property. And when you go out to coach with them, you go out to the field. And so those horses are allowed autonomy and agency whether they participate or not.

Laura Rubin: 29:05

Because for for me to get a in my belief, to get a true connection and a true representation and just a true energy, you know, exchange, I think the horse needs to be able to have some, you know, some autonomy in whether it participates or not. And I will tell you every time someone participates, you know, they somewhat all of them or one of them will always show up. And it always works out that the the woman that is calm and is interacting with the horses, the horse that shows up for her is what I call the medicine, is the medicine that she needed. It she the energy that they provided to her, the mirroring that was provided back to to her was exactly what she needed in that time. So I am a really big proponent.

Laura Rubin: 29:58

Everything we do is on the ground. You know, we don't do any of the writing or anything like that, and, it's just truly magical. And I always say this also, I can tell you how cool it is, and people always think horses are really neat, but until you've actually experienced it, you do not realize how how magical, I keep using the word magical, but how much it helps and how much it makes a difference.

Tim: 30:29

Absolutely. I just I I thank you for sharing that because I'm, as you're sharing it, I I'm in agreement. I, you know, I didn't grow up with horses. My uncle had horses, so I was always riding horses or ponies or stuff like that. And, you know, I've been bucked over the bucked off of them before.

Tim: 30:47

I was like, you know, where your whole world goes upside down, you're like, what just happened? And you're on your butt right in front of the horse. You know what?

Laura Rubin: 30:53

I always say you're not a true horseman until you've landed on the ground a few times.

Tim: 30:57

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And and it's weird because you you know, when it happens to you the first time, you're like, what just happened? You know? It was a it was a different reality.

Tim: 31:06

Yeah. But it is, you know, it is magical. And whether it is the horse or whether it is, you know, your own connected animal, whether it's a pet.

Laura Rubin: 31:18

I will say here's what I will say, number 1, that it provides is a place for for anyone who shows up to let the chaos of the life of life go away. You are in a different environment. You are in the presence of a £1,000 animal, and you better be present. I mean, these, you know, they're prey animals in the, you know, in the wild, you know, they if they are not present and alert to what's going on around them, they become someone's dinner. And that instinct is still very prevalent even though they're domesticated.

Laura Rubin: 31:55

So and they're a £1,000. So they're gentle, they're sweet, yet they're still a £1,000. So they require us to be present in their space. So number 1, you show up and the first thing is you just you you just do this huge exhale and you just feel the the quietness and the centeredness and you become present and life just kinda goes away for that time period that you are just out there. You don't even necessarily have to interact.

Laura Rubin: 32:29

You could just stand in the middle of the field with them. Even being in nature, you know, the blue sky, the the trees, the birds, all of it is just a great way to just release the stress of whatever is going on in your life at that moment.

Tim: 32:45

Well and the horses, I mean, I yeah. With what you're talking about. I mean, even being in the field, if you're not interacting with them or they're not interacting with you, still being able to take in the energy of how they own their space Exactly. Is a gift.

Laura Rubin: 33:00

So that's the other thing is sometimes, you know, if in the beginning, if the horses don't necessarily show up and interact individually, you can see how the herd interacts as a community. And you this is my my piece in all of this is to help people see what's happening. See in quotes. I'm gonna do air quotes. You know, sense what is what's the dynamic between these two horses?

Laura Rubin: 33:27

What's the energy you're sensing off of these horses? How do they interact together? How are they showing up? And then we take what's being observed and then we we apply it to how can we apply that? You know, how can you apply that to your life?

Laura Rubin: 33:42

How do you bring that back? How where do you see a situation like what you just witnessed between 2 horses in your world? How did how did they react? How did they handle it? What what's what's the lesson?

Laura Rubin: 33:54

What is the lesson in it for you as well? So there

Tim: 33:57

Oh, yeah.

Laura Rubin: 33:57

And it's always it's always fascinating to watch how the horses show up and the messages. And there's there's never there's no wrong or right. Everyone shows up because we all show up with our own perceptions, our own lenses that we're living life through. You talked about that. We're very each of us are very unique.

Laura Rubin: 34:16

And 6 women can look at the same interaction between a group of horses and have 6 different, feedback, 6 different reflections, and they're alright. Not one of them is wrong. So every woman is getting what they needed from from the herd.

Tim: 34:36

That's great. I just have a joke. I have to say this because I I'm in agreement with what you just said, but here's my joke. So you 6 women see the uniqueness of each one. You get 6 men and they argue about why it's not the same, you know?

Tim: 34:54

And you know, I mean, you know, I'm not I I'm not hating on my brother men, stuff like this, but it's like, boys, sometimes you can open up your horizons a little bit more than you give yourself credit for.

Laura Rubin: 35:07

Yes. There isn't one right answer. We're not going for the right answer. Right. No.

Laura Rubin: 35:12

It's it's just whatever whatever you sense and whatever you feel. Now my role is to guide that conversation, maybe open up, you know, open up to different dialogue, different reflections. You know, the the key thing also is as humans, we like to create stories. So a typical story is if there's a woman in the group that hasn't necessarily, had a horse individually come to her. The story might be, oh, there's something wrong with me.

Laura Rubin: 35:42

They don't like me. The horses don't like me. Horses do not have the ability to like and not like in the in that way. Right. And so that's a story.

Laura Rubin: 35:53

So, you know, when we when we create those stories, then it's then my role is to ask the questions. Why do you feel like that? Do you is that really true? Could that be a story? You know, and then we discuss it because, you know, I mean, we're we're great at telling stories, obviously.

Laura Rubin: 36:11

Oh, yeah. And making things up. And horses don't do that at all. No baggage, no judgment. You know, they black and white, they see things for how they are, they own who they are.

Laura Rubin: 36:23

That's why you have different dynamics in a herd, you'll have a lead horse that, you know, you'll have bossy horses, you'll have, you know, and they all own who they are and show up and nobody holds it against them. Nobody, you know, nobody's going, oh, did you see how Jack's pushed Gracie out of the water? Yeah. Away from the water. He's such an a hole.

Laura Rubin: 36:45

They're not picking that at all. They don't care. It's like, alright. Next on because they're more in tune to, is there a predator around? Do I need to be careful?

Laura Rubin: 36:55

Can I relax? That's what they're paying attention to. Yeah. And when we walk into the field, they sense our energy. So if we are incongruent with, let's say, we're having a bad day and, you know, we get together and you're like, oh, yeah, everything's great.

Laura Rubin: 37:13

I'm I'm really, you know, I'm I'm really doing well. And yet the energy inside is like tense and tight and contracted, that horse will be able to sense the demeanor on the outside versus the demeanor on the inside. They'll sense that incongruence and they'll go, oh, that's danger. They're not gonna know, oh, she's, you know, they're not going, oh, well, she's really mad, but she's not acting like all they know is what they're sensing is not congruent in the energy field, and they're like, oh, we have to stay away from that. You know?

Laura Rubin: 37:44

Well, and

Tim: 37:44

back back to the point too that you were making of the story aspect is I think, another big way to explore the story is, does this show up in other areas of your life?

Laura Rubin: 37:56

And and that's the key.

Tim: 37:57

Because a lot of times, they do, and it's like, yeah. Yeah.

Laura Rubin: 38:02

That's, I mean, that's if that story is running in their head, it shows up everywhere, and it definitely is gonna show up with the horses. And that that's that's wonderful that it's showing up because it's a way to expose it, talk about it. The horses will mirror back to you what that energy is. And so many times when when you're in the presence of horses, you start embodying things. You start feeling things in your body.

Laura Rubin: 38:30

And when you can notice that, be aware of it, now you've got a feeling to go along with the sensing. That's what you can anchor into and that's what you take back to real world. Because you're not gonna take that £1,000 animal with you to work, you know, those kind of things. But you can take that experience and that remembrance of what it felt like, where it felt like that, what your reactions were, what the horse's reactions were, take that as a learning, and then take that into the real world so that when it shows up, you can anchor back into, okay, this is what it was. This is how I worked through it.

Laura Rubin: 39:04

This is what the horse mirrored to me. Okay. I can I can show it differently? I can show it differently.

Tim: 39:09

Get an experience of it. Yeah.

Laura Rubin: 39:10

Exactly.

Tim: 39:11

So it's safe to say or or not. I'll say it anyway. It's safe to say that horses are one of your spirit animals. Would that be I'm

Laura Rubin: 39:22

gonna yes.

Tim: 39:23

Right? So what other spirit animals do you have?

Laura Rubin: 39:27

Oh, okay. Mike, I have 3 others. Ravens. Ravens show up all the time for me. Hummingbirds show up all the time for me.

Laura Rubin: 39:38

And moose, I don't see them very often, but I am so drawn to moose. Yeah.

Tim: 39:44

Wow.

Laura Rubin: 39:45

Yeah. And and I wish so I I can't necessarily speak to what each one means when I go read it. I'm like, oh, yeah. That's that their meaning, their symbolism. It's like, yep.

Laura Rubin: 39:55

Spot on. But those would be my other 3.

Tim: 39:58

I would say the meaning is whatever you actually explore with the relationship with that. Like I I've got I've got wolves tattooed on my back.

Laura Rubin: 40:06

There you go.

Tim: 40:08

You know what that means to me. I've got dolphins on my ankle. Mhmm. You know? And I've got gargoyles in my heart.

Tim: 40:14

So

Laura Rubin: 40:14

Oh.

Tim: 40:16

Yeah. And,

Laura Rubin: 40:17

And that's the thing about a spirit animal. It doesn't necessarily have to be a real animal. It can be it can be a a being of some sort.

Tim: 40:24

It will. And, and that's where a lot of people, this, this takes us into another realm of, you know, the, the realist and, oh, it has to be rational and has to all this. And it's like going, what a great way to keep yourself trapped and closed off from the world, because life is a creative experience. This whole world is a creative experience. Even a character created in a book comes out of the creative experience.

Tim: 40:51

So the essence of life, the the the the creator, the divine, God, Yahweh, whatever you wanna call it, this all comes from that creative essence.

Laura Rubin: 41:03

Mhmm.

Tim: 41:03

And it is a part of who we are. It's available to us whether we act on it or not, but it is available. And it's that creative, you know I I didn't know that gargoyles were as powerful for me as they were until I escaped into their world for a brief time. And I was like, wow. Very cool.

Tim: 41:21

And,

Laura Rubin: 41:22

Here's the thing. We don't know, you know, we don't know anything until we dive into it. So if we allow ourselves to be curious and to think outside the box or, you know, really study things, we learn things that we don't realize because we all, you know, I know for myself, I might have a perceived, you know, definition or belief about something, but I really I mean, can I really speak to that? I maybe I can't. And if I did more research, I'd go, oh, I think this is pretty cool.

Laura Rubin: 41:53

Maybe not what I thought it was.

Tim: 41:56

Well, and that that takes me into another realm that I wanna explore real quick is, I'm not sure if you run into this in your world. I I think we all kind of do, but anytime you're you're dealing with concepts, people want proof. They want proof. Give me the studies. Give me the evidence.

Tim: 42:12

Give me and I'm like, there's absolutely nothing wrong with people out there doing research, discovering details, and stuff like this. And if that's what you need, then great. But I just wanna introduce the concept that even though nobody had an idea about electricity is still existed. You know, just because you want or need proof about a certain study to, to validate your belief system, even if you don't have that proof doesn't mean that it's not true.

Laura Rubin: 42:49

Correct.

Tim: 42:50

And a lot of times that's what you run into when you're you're talking to people about exploring possibility is they go into this, well, where's the proof? Where's the evidence? Where and I'm like going, wow. You're really fighting hard to be shut down. I'm not trying and don't get me wrong.

Tim: 43:07

We do live in a world where there's a lot of charlatans, and they're trying to get whatever they can out of whoever they're engaging with. But I would venture to say that if you do enough of your own work and trust your gut and trust your senses and trust your wisdom and trust not your intellect per se, partially, your wisdom, when you trust that and you go, okay, my gut is, you know, this guy's be full of BS or whatever, or this situation's full of BS. You can trust in that. You don't have to sit here and say, well, where's the evidence? Where's the proof?

Tim: 43:39

You know, but the a large part of our population goes that direction because we've been so conditioned to go for proof, to go for evidence, to go you know? And and even in science, it starts out with a hypothesis, but the hypothesis isn't just some random thing pulled out of thin air. It's like going, wow, wait a minute. There's an idea, a thought, a creative thought about what if this is true and what if we go this direction? And even when you go that direction in studying something, there's usually, you know, the blinders that are on that you can kinda put on a horse.

Tim: 44:13

Right? The blinders that are on because, oh, well, we're looking whether this is factual or not factual. We're look you know? And it it delineates out into other things that oftentimes they they don't consider. They discredit.

Tim: 44:27

They they they throw out a you know? It's almost like I call it the Viagra experience. Viagra started out as a blood pressure medicine. Did you know that?

Laura Rubin: 44:35

No. It did not.

Tim: 44:36

Yeah. And it was a side effect as to what it was doing. And it was, like, going, oh, this is more effective at this than it, you know, the initial thing.

Laura Rubin: 44:46

Purpose. Yeah.

Tim: 44:46

And that yeah. And they turned it into but a lot of times in science, it's they're not even that broad or open. It's like going, we're either here to confirm or deny.

Laura Rubin: 44:56

Mhmm.

Tim: 44:57

And it's like, what about all the other creativity? What about the other well, we don't we don't want to, affect the study. We do we wanna keep it as pure. And it's like going, okay. I can I can understand that from a perspective, but there's more perspectives that are out there still to be considered?

Tim: 45:15

So part of the reason why I go down this path with you is do you run into people who have this concept where they want proof, they want facts, and they forget that even if they don't have proof of facts, it still may exist in their space in their life?

Laura Rubin: 45:32

I think most most of the circles that I run I'm not and I have run across people like that, but most of the circles that I run-in are with people that are willing to look outside the box, that are and that's just who I come across because it's who it's the community and it's the groups and where I show up. So it's a natural byproduct of where I wanna be. Here's what I will say, you know, back to the realist needing things to be real or back, you know, and this also includes the person that needs to, you know, have that proof. I think part of that stems from if there's no proof or if it's not real, that means there's uncertainty. And our brain is wired for certainty.

Laura Rubin: 46:19

So to, you know, to to think outside that box and that there might be things that are uncertain and to rest in that and be okay with that takes a lot. I mean, you know, it's not something that we are naturally, I think, wired to do. We have to allow ourselves. So I think the ask is for the realist, for the person that is like, I need all this proof before I can agree or that kind of thing, is is just to maybe expand that a little bit and allow yourself some curiosity and allow yourself to think there might be some uncertainty here or there might be another way, and it doesn't necessarily have to have proof behind it or or be real. You know, it's just it's it's just expanding your horizons a little bit to open up to the uncertainty, the curiosity, the possibility because there is a place for proof.

Laura Rubin: 47:19

There is a place for realistic real life. But the idea is the ask is just expand a little bit to explore the possibility that there is uncertainty and curiosity that there's a different way and there's more And Right.

Tim: 47:38

I think I that's a great addition, and I love that I love that you've gone there. And it's remember, not having proof doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Laura Rubin: 47:48

Exactly. I mean, your example of electricity. Obviously, it's been here for eons. No, you know, no one had harnessed it until he did.

Tim: 47:57

Right. And, and the other aspect too is I think in general, I I'm kinda highlighting certain aspects, but I think what we're also talking about is the layering aspect. Like someone may have several layers where they're very much open to explore things, but oftentimes people have that 1 or 2 subjects. And in today's world, and we're not gonna go there, but I'm just gonna highlight it, In today's world, it could be politics or religion. Mhmm.

Tim: 48:23

And people lose their concept of open possibility and exploration because that level of whatever their experience is, maybe, you know, the insecurity does shut them down maybe, or, or that kind of aspect. But that's just one example. This, again, this is not talking about politics or religion, but it's a, it's an aspect that there are layers where people, for the most part, may be operating in an open receiving broad manner. Just be aware of those those layers that are kind of the Achilles' heel that throw you out of why are you more confident in this because, oh, well, it's not as big of a threat or it's not, you know, that's something to consider, something to explore.

Laura Rubin: 49:07

Now what what is your tie? If we're gonna speak to politics and religion, what's what is the tie that is so binding

Tim: 49:14

Yeah.

Laura Rubin: 49:14

That, you know, that and and so that's that maybe that's the exploration is to be aware that I am really tied to this religion or really tied to this, you know, political stance. Why? What where is that coming from? And just to explore that, you know, and and to determine for yourself. You know, you may explore that and determine, okay.

Laura Rubin: 49:35

I still believe that. I'm still gonna step into it. Or you may explore it and go, no. Maybe I do need to broaden my horizons a little bit kind of thing.

Tim: 49:44

And that's yeah. Are you you're absolutely. You're, I I think the thing is is is whether no matter what it is, no matter what the subject matter is, if it's the one that is sort of your Achilles' heel that trips you up, it shuts down the exploration. And that's all we're we're here to kind of play with and talk about. Yeah.

Tim: 50:04

You know, you can still explore and own the choice.

Laura Rubin: 50:09

Mhmm.

Tim: 50:10

But what amazes me is when people run into that issue or that, arena that they don't like to deal with, they just shut down. Yeah. And, you know, they stick with what they know and it's like it, but it limits the gift that they have to offer. They bring a lot more.

Laura Rubin: 50:26

And sometimes I think those people stick to that, to whatever it is they're sticking to because at the at the end of the day, they don't really know what their why is. You know, they can't corroborate why they are so have such a strong stance about whatever it is, So they shut down because they can't articulate why. Because maybe at the end of the day, they've adopted something that really isn't them, but they've just adopted and they've had it, you know, they've adopted that for so long. Again, it's being in the hell that they know versus the hell they don't know.

Tim: 51:00

Right. I was just gonna take it back to

Laura Rubin: 51:02

Yeah.

Tim: 51:03

It's that going down that job, you know, that career because you've had you've done it for so long that, you know, I'm sticking to it. I'm sticking with it. And it's like going because it's familiar.

Laura Rubin: 51:13

It's

Tim: 51:14

the, you know, w and w you don't. Yep. So, wow. Gun violence. No.

Tim: 51:24

Just kidding.

Laura Rubin: 51:25

Let's not go there.

Tim: 51:26

I am

Laura Rubin: 51:26

not qualified

Tim: 51:27

to talk about that at all.

Laura Rubin: 51:28

I don't know. I'm not. I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna shut that one down right there.

Tim: 51:32

It was a it was it was a extreme effort of humor. So anyway but, we're just having fun. We're pulling apart, you know, the life the life that we have, the opportunity we have on the paths that we have. And what's fun is being able to have this conversation with you and just kind of explore the processing of it. Because my thing is this, is it's like people can be right about what they know.

Tim: 52:01

Doesn't mean they're right, but they can be right about what they know. But it's when they're open to the processing, when they're open to more possibilities than just being right about something, it actually opens them up to a greater sense of power for themselves. It opens them up to, potentially more opportunities to come their way too

Laura Rubin: 52:23

Mhmm.

Tim: 52:25

Because we have a new experience. So speaking of this isn't that new of an experience, but I do know that you're doing this. You have these events with these women that, and I've had the pleasure of of being out of your your horses, and thank you for that. It's it's a real gift. But you are doing events.

Tim: 52:47

Can you tell me about that? Tell me about those because you have one coming up.

Laura Rubin: 52:51

Actually, I just had it. So Oh. So the horse medicine connection experiences is what I what I call them. I bring no more than 6 women together or for men. And I also do these individually, but I also I do them in a group setting.

Laura Rubin: 53:07

And, we spend about 4 it's a 4 hour time. This experience is about 4 hours. We start, we do a little bit of debrief or briefing in the beginning of what to expect, coming up with an intention, what maybe we're gonna work on or bring to the horses to see what kind of reflections or thoughts that come up. We spend about 2 and a half hours in the field and then we end, we come back into the house and then we collage about our experience, which I have found that that is an actual physical thing that you're doing, art. We're doing art.

Tim: 53:45

Yeah.

Laura Rubin: 53:45

We create a mini collage that represents what we felt for the day, what came through to us, you know, the horses, all of that. And it becomes a physical representation and reminder of the progress, the breakthrough, the transformation, the 's that they had. And I always ask my women to, you know, put them on your bathroom, you know, bathroom mirrors, save them, you know, take them to your office so that, you know, it's always there and they can they can look back on it and then get that, you know, embodied feeling of what it was like when they were here. So, it'll last about 4 hours. I do them, like I said, I I do them both individually and in groups as well.

Laura Rubin: 54:26

And I do those periodically throughout the year. I'm actually done for 2024, but I'll start back up probably April, May of 2025.

Tim: 54:37

And I'm

Laura Rubin: 54:38

gonna add I'm gonna actually add more. I was doing just 1 a month, but I think I'm gonna add a couple a month because they're super popular.

Tim: 54:45

Oh, very cool. Very cool. What do you do or do you do much, in the winter time?

Laura Rubin: 54:53

Winter is usually for me my hibernation time. And I, you know, I I spend a lot of time reflecting about how my year went, how I want 2025 to look like. You know, I I work on my business, but I do so in a very, you know, quiet kind of way. But the other things that I do offer is, 3 month remote, you know, coaching sessions with Voxer in between. So and I can always take those out to the horses so that the horses are involved, But that is something that I can do, you know, that we that I do over the winter as well, and and they're just 45 minute coaching calls if someone wants to explore what it means to be a wild awake woman in their life.

Tim: 55:39

Cool. Very cool. So what's the best way to get a hold of you?

Laura Rubin: 55:43

Best way is to go to my website, wildawake woman.com, and then they can also find me on Instagram at living wild awake.

Tim: 55:52

Living wild awake. Love that. Well, thank you. This is, I I we could just keep talking. We could go off on different things.

Tim: 55:59

I I Always. I just pull out the the extreme levels of, you know, we'll touch on them, but we don't get serious about them. And, I just wanna thank you very much for not only showing up today, but sharing your gift, sharing your wisdom. Much appreciated. And for those who've been listening, I hope you've enjoyed this.

Tim: 56:20

I hope you had some good insights. If you did like this, or if it did make you think or, hey, maybe it frustrated you a little bit, that'll be something to think about too. It's always good to look at all of it. So, but we hope that you got something out of this. And if you did, please pass it along to a friend, family member, and, you know, hit the like button or give us a review.

Tim: 56:42

That would be helpful because we're just here to keep shaking things up until we, get people stronger in themselves, and that's what we're looking to do. So thank you very much, Laura. Much love to you and to our guests, to our friends out there, listening. We wish you all the best moving forward. Until next time.

Tim: 57:03

Cheers. Thanks for joining me today. If you've with any of the stories or insights shared today, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Your support means the world, so feel free to share your thoughts using hashtag powerful and unpolished podcast. Until next time, stay powerful, stay unpolished.