Unmute Yourself - Chapter 10
💫✨Unmute Yourself is a podcast about breaking through fear, finding our voice, and sharing our magic with the world. It’s for those who have spent too long holding back—whether from self-doubt, past conditioning, or the fear of being truly seen.
💫✨Through candid conversations with inspiring creators, we explore the courage it takes to express oneself fully, to be authentic, and the power of showing up—even when it’s scary.
✨💫 It’s not just about speaking—it’s about stepping into your truth, embracing your unique brilliance, and finally sharing your magic.🪄
Fancy a cuppa and a natter with a Cambridge-educated theoretical physicist turned oil industry pro turned personal development sage? Oh, I’ve got you. Expect laughs, wisdom, and the kind of insights that make you go, huh… why has no one told me this before?
Episode Overview
Substack is unlocking community, collaboration, and connection in a way that social media just well,… hasn’t. A few weeks ago, Anand Rao and I grabbed a cuppa over Zoom, and this conversation naturally unfolded—finishing with a golden morsel from our first chat (be sure to watch until the end!).
In this thought-provoking conversation, I speak with Anand Rao about the deep yearning for authenticity, the tension between structure and flow, and how we can release resistance to natural change rather than forcing transformation. Anand offers deep insights on the interplay between freedom and acceptance, the role of social conditioning in holding us back, and why our business journey can be a profound spiritual path.
Anand also shares powerful emotional regulation tools, the wisdom and softness of yin-based change, and how to navigate personal development with more elegance and ease.
If you’re ready to unmute your voice and share your magic—minus the burnout, force, or fear—this episode is for you. And if this conversation has sparked something in you (which, let’s be honest, how could it not?), Anand’s Free Saturday Coaching Club is the perfect next step. Details are on his Substack, and trust me, it’s brimming with wisdom!
Connect with Anand Rao:
• Substack: Developmental Mastery
• Website: developmentalmastery.com
Powerful Quotes from This Episode
“Sometimes we need the structured clarity of cognitive understanding, while other moments call for the fluid wisdom of bodily awareness. The art lies in knowing how to move between these approaches seamlessly.” – Anand Rao
“If you engage with your business as a spiritual path, nothing is out of place. Everything—every resistance, every challenge—is part of your growth.”
“We don’t need to fight with ourselves to change. Leaning back and listening to our system allows for natural transformation in a way that feels whole.”
Key Themes & Topics
Authenticity in the Modern World
• (00:01:04) Why is authenticity such a big theme right now?
• (00:02:24) The crisis of meaning and the rise of AI
• (00:03:21) The cultural shift from institutions to individual expression
• (00:04:37) What does freedom really mean and radical acceptance
Navigating Personal Development & Change
• (00:05:50) The “Leave, Change, Accept” model of life transformation
• (00:07:35) The universal desire to express oneself freely
• (00:08:10) Everyone has a unique story – the James Joyce perspective
• (00:09:29) Breaking free from social conditioning
• (00:10:53) The dance between cognitive understanding and embodied wisdom
Emotional Regulation & Working With Resistance
• (00:12:08) Why freedom without structure doesn’t work
• (00:12:52) How to build supportive structures without rigidity
• (00:18:05) Using emotional resistance as a path to growth
• (00:20:28) Practical emotional regulation techniques (e.g., havening, bilateral stimulation, self-touch for grounding)
• (00:22:01) Releasing resistance before releasing the feeling
• (00:24:11) The illusion of barriers: how our mind constructs obstacles
• (00:27:30) Small, elegant change vs. forced transformation
Entrepreneurship as a Spiritual Path
• (00:15:37) Why is it so hard to put our magic into the world?
• (00:16:17) The British “stop showing off” mindset vs. American confidence
• (00:18:21) Growth comes from engaging with obstacles, not avoiding them
• (00:32:03) Letting go of numbers & coming back to joy
• (00:36:10) The starfish story: focusing on impact over metrics
• (00:38:38) The importance of detaching from outcomes
Books & Thinkers Referenced:
• John Vervaeke – The Crisis of Meaning
• Jiddu Krishnamurti – Thought as a Dead Construct
• The Leave, Change, Accept model
Connect with Suzy:
• Follow Suzy on Substack
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