With Ron Stotts, a three-time bestselling author and transformational guide, leadership is more than a position—it’s a journey into conscious awareness. Holding a PhD in psychology and a Doctor of Chiropractic, Ron combines ancient wisdom with the latest insights in psychology, neuroscience, and leadership to support entrepreneurs and executives in reaching their highest potential. For over five decades, he has navigated both the personal and spiritual realms, guiding thousands of individuals through their deepest challenges and toward their greatest growth.

From his experience as Executive Vice President of a leadership-focused corporation to founding an international personal growth community, Ron has encountered both the power and pitfalls of leadership. His journey spans triumphs as a U.S. rowing champion and devastating losses in Vietnam, as well as profound spiritual insights gained through working with both enlightened and destructive leaders. Drawing from these rich experiences, Ron continues to mentor others, offering a grounded and transformative approach to leadership and personal development.

Join our conversation as Dr. Ron shares his personal journey of healing and growth after experiencing PTSD, alongside insights into the intersection of spirituality, psychology, and neurology in conscious leadership. Together with Heather Pearce Campbell, they explore the transformative power of inner healing, mindfulness, and breathwork, emphasizing the critical role of personal transformation in achieving both business success and a more conscious, compassionate world. The podcast also highlights the importance of legal support and self-awareness for high-level leaders looking to make a lasting positive impact.

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Takeaways & quotes you don’t want to miss from this episode:

• The connection between emotional intelligence and conscious leadership.
• Why is there a need to embrace life’s struggles as indicators for growth?
• The importance of mindful breathing as a tool for transformation.
• How to harness personal growth to improve leadership and professional success.
• Focusing on healing and self-acceptance to foster deeper connections.

“They can’t be emotionally intelligent unless they’ve healed their emotional past… unless they’ve expanded their consciousness, they can’t be present and aware with their people, with themselves, with their relationships.”

-Ron Stotts

Check out these highlights:

• 03:28 Dr. Ron shares his personal journey, starting with his time in the Marine Corps, how it led to a spiritual awakening, and his search for deeper awareness.
• 11:20 What’s the importance of embracing struggles and challenges in life as opportunities for growth and healing?
• 14:23 How mindful breathing can be used as a subtle indicator to guide life and handle stress.
• 24:06 Why is personal growth the foundation of professional success?
• 44:13 Dr. Ron offers his 30-day Breathing in Success program and encourages listeners to begin an inner journey of self-love and conscious living.

How to get in touch with Dr. Ron on Social Media:

You can also contact Dr. Ron by visiting his website here.

Special gift to the listeners: Get the first three modules of this new 30-Day program of “Breathing Into Success” for FREE by visiting https://ronstotts.com/breathing-into-success/

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below:

GGGB Intro  00:00

Here’s what you get on today’s episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®…

Ron Stotts  00:04

I work with high level leaders and that’s exactly what I guide them through. You know, they can’t be emotionally intelligent unless they’ve healed their emotional past and really become intimately familiar with a different feeling. They can’t, you know, unless they expanded their consciousness, they can’t be present and aware with their people with themselves with their relationships, they can lead on a conscious way.

GGGB Intro  00:27

The adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior®, Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell  00:55

Alrighty, welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, The Legal Website Warrior®. I’m an attorney and legal coach based here in Seattle, Washington, serving online information entrepreneurs throughout the US and the world. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business®. I am so excited about our topic today and our guests, we are going to have so much fun and you are going to walk away I know with some really profound insights. So stick around. Welcome to Ron Stotts. Welcome, Ron.

Ron Stotts  01:32

Thank you very much. Thanks for being nice to be here. And thanks for inviting me. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:37

Absolutely. Well, it’s so good to connect with you again. We were connected through our mutual friend JV Crum. Right. Yeah. So JV lives very much in the conscious business conscious entrepreneurship space. And so Ron is a natural connection when you approach it from that perspective. And for those of you that don’t know Ron, Ron is a three times bestselling author with a PhD in psychology and a Dr. of Chiropractic. He has spent the last five decades exploring the deepest caves and soaring heights of both personal and spiritual journeys. He has intimate with all aspects of the territory as a transformational guide, he has supported 1000s of others on their journeys as they move through their most difficult challenges and develop their greatest potential. I know you blend psychological and neurological leadership, like you’ve studied very, very broad fields and brought all of that into your work and work specifically with entrepreneurs and executives supporting them into the highest levels of conscious leadership. So welcome, you guys are in for a treat. Stick around we’re gonna have some fun. So Ron, I’d love to know when did like when did your interest in you know this area of I don’t even know how to summarize it, right? The area of because it’s so big, it’s spirituality. It’s neurology, it’s psychology, it’s leadership. It’s really a blend of some fascinating studies. But where did that begin for you?

Ron Stotts  03:28

Well, I would say, you know, I was in my late teens, my first year of college, I was a rowing champion. I was you know, I’ve been dating my high school sweetheart, was beautiful woman and then I just kind of okay, this is what what life looks like and, and I decided to go into the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and that changed everything.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:55

Wow, boy, did it ever. Imagine that

Ron Stotts  03:58

I was not I was physically extremely well prepared, but mentally didn’t have a clue that it was all about and that it wasn’t another sporting event that it was actually about being killed and killing other people. And so I did get out on a medical discharge after about a year but I was a mess. I mean, there’s no other way to say that I was PTSD and not functional and Oh, my God, divorce lost custody, my two sons. I was really stumbling badly. And I got to the point where I wanted to commit suicide. So I went up into the woods and deep into the woods so nobody would find me trying to be considerate. And on the morning that I was attempted, I was plunging a large putty knife in my heart and somewhere between here and here, Linda I just dissolved in this white ball of light, you know, and I’m 20 something, I have no idea what any of those Wow. And in that experience, I just really experienced the oneness of the universe, the perfection of life that I had higher purpose that, you know that regardless of how it looked, you know, keep moving forward. And so when I came out of that, obviously my mind had completely been blown. And I began my search in terms of what how do I reconnect with that level of awareness, that level of consciousness. And so it’s that exploration that really took me into my inner healing, outer exploration into spirituality and psychology and neurology and quantum physics and everything else. Because fortunately, I was able to reconnect and discover how to be in that experience without it being sort of dropped on me like that. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  05:59

Right, what a profound like, knowing of like, it’s not your time, right. But what a profound experience of that and yeah, sounds like very unexpected. Oh, you know, we were Veterans Day just past, right. So first of all, thank you for your service. And I read a quote that somebody shared that said, you know, all veterans pay with their lives, they either pay immediately, or they pay over time. And I just thought, oh…

Ron Stotts  06:33

Is just the worst thing that we do. I mean.

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:35

Oh it is absolutely the worst thing that we do. Yeah. So it’s, anyways, when you say, you know, you’ve been through the deepest caves, you know, and the soaring heights, I see glimpses of what you mean by that all kinds of caves in this lifetime, but you’ve had your own personal caves as well.

Ron Stotts  06:55

Yeah, one of my early mentors was Joseph Campbell. I mean, we really got to be quite close. And of course, he gave me that analogy that is now famous for in terms of going into that cave to discover the treasure that you seek. And of course, now I understand fully that that treasure is really yourself, and falling in love with accepting and unconditionally, being present with yourself.

Heather Pearce Campbell  07:23

Well, you know, you mentioned going through really deep depression and the personal struggles that you dealt with pretty early in life. I mean, in your 20s, that’s early, a lot of a lot of people I think, sometimes don’t hit that depths until midlife, right, with a typical midlife crisis, and I was reading one of my favorite books, well, two of my favorite books, and I was introduced to them in my 20s is the swamp lands of the soul. And the midlife passage, or the Middle Passage, I think it’s the Middle Passage, let me get the title, right. Anyways, I’ve read these books, time and time again. And they are James Hollis. Right. James Hollis is the author but they’re short. They’re intense, but they talk about it’s basically about the exploration of these caves. Right, and what the type of meaning that that can bring into our life, and also how caves are not an anomaly. They’re just part of the human experience. We all have them, we all have the opportunity to traverse them, to go through them to go deeper into them if we are willing, and really see what’s there. And, you know, I think so often in life, we spend our time trying to not get anywhere close to the caves. 

Ron Stotts  08:55

I think that’s the biggest shame as people have been conditioned through fear, and the news and politics and religion and everything with that inner world that going into those energies is really the thing that you want to avoid. And that’s truly where you find yourself. That’s truly where you find the depth of who and what you are the depth of what life is all about. That gives you the meaning. I mean, I work with high level leaders, and that’s exactly what I guide them through. You know, if they can’t be emotionally intelligent, unless they’ve healed their emotional past and really become intimately familiar with the different feelings, they can’t, you know, unless they expanded their consciousness, they can’t be present and aware, you know, with their people, with themselves, with their relationships so they can lead in a conscious way. And so, yeah, it’s a journey that I embrace falling on my own. And really, I guess that’s my job is to really encourage others as to go on that in a journey where they become mindful. And they become really focused on embracing regular personal transformational experience that center and that could be yearly or however life brings them but really intentionally incorporating those into their life.

Heather Pearce Campbell  10:19

Yeah, it’s so beautiful. And when you think about doing it intentionally because I think so often for many of us, the transformation comes on the other side of really deep valleys, you know, deep sorrows, deep grief, deep loss, like all kinds of deeps and, and I think that it’s, you know, we have this hunger for happiness. And it’s, you know, I don’t know how you feel about that, but I feel it and I feel like we’re so conditioned to be thinking like, oh, well, you know, we should be happy or even, you know, more, even from an energetic side, for those of us who are naturally optimistic or want to live on the brighter side of life, there’s almost a guilt and a shame that can happen when you get pulled down into the deeper parts and feel, you know, like, you’re down in the quagmire, right? But it’s so essential. 

Ron Stotts  11:20

And the irony of that is those are the greatest moments of your life, those are the one you should be celebrating, because that you don’t run into those struggles, you don’t run into those depths unless you’re really been growing. And then it’s like, okay, as soon as I feel something that I’m stumbling over something, as I’m struggling with something, as I’m in the effect of something, that’s nothing more than an indicator that there’s something that’s ready to heal, but I’m ready to access another part of myself and become more whole and complete. And that’s how we become a whole self accepting, loving human being. So we should be celebrating those times rather than avoiding them. And that’s where, you know, happiness is a little bit overrated, I think, but the result of that is happiness, but you’re not attached to what it looks like, you can be happy in the depths of your struggle, because you know, that it leads to the greatest rewards of your life.

Heather Pearce Campbell  12:28

That’s right. And to me, having been through multiple, pretty significant periods like that, you know, where you come out the other side and you you feel different, you almost feel like a different person, in many ways, right? But happiness, like the flavor that it’s taken on, for me in my you know, later life is wholeness, is what it feels like, it feels more like wholeness, right? Like that balance, that integration.

Ron Stotts  13:05

You’re saying, you feel like a different person, you are a different person, because you’re letting go of what’s holding you back. And you’re literally expanding your consciousness, which means you’re seen reacting to and experiencing everything that comes into your life completely differently. And much more with with all the tools and abilities you truly have available. So yeah, I guess that’s a lot of what I try and share is, whatever your stumbling blocks truly are stepping stones in the sense that the one you feel them, if you learn to go deep within if you learn to breathe and access, what’s really going on in there, then you go, that’s what I’m truly feeling. That’s what’s going on and you have the tools and ability to heal that. I guarantee it every time. The very part that you need to move forward and evolve in your life will come forward from that. I mean, it’s like so perfectly designed. And yet we have this lie that says we’re better off in our fear than in our love. Yeah, yeah. That’s a shame. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  14:23

Oh, gosh, it’s such a shame. And it’s so much of I’ve been on a healing journey, which I speak openly about for the last couple years, like a physical healing journey. You know, I’ve had some adrenal fatigue and I feel like a lot of things that can go hand in hand with modern day motherhood and also entrepreneurship. Let’s be clear, we’re speaking to a group of entrepreneurs and I think plenty of us know what burnout feels like, you know what some of the signs look like. But it’s, you know, one of the profound learnings was how much of our physical is tied to our deep, deep emotional and our you know, of course, our nervous system and this balance between fear and love and how, you know, 97% of the time. 97% of us are running around on the fear side living our life out in that way.

Ron Stotts  15:25

Which falls on breathing. Yes. And the other thing, which means you’re communicating to your body, you’re in fight or flight, which shuts down systems diminishes your brain capacity. And all of a sudden, you have reason to be afraid, because you’re limiting all of who and what you are, rather than taking whatever’s going on as an opportunity to expand into even higher states of consciousness, where you can always find the answer. To what? 

Heather Pearce Campbell  15:56

Yeah, well, you said a really important thing, you know, probably a few paragraphs ago about if you take a breath, right? And that simple act, Yes, I said to you, you know, before we went live, like my sister, and I joke, she’s a mom of two little boys. And we were just talking about by injuries, and you know, my son went through an eye injury and like, all the things that happen in life, and you know, pylon and we joke like, oh, yeah, we’re experts at shallow breathing, you know, and unfortunately, I think so many of us are.

Ron Stotts  16:30

Oh, it’s rampant. It’s just epidemic throughout our world. I mean, I’m a sailor, and you know, I live in the Northwest also. But when you’re sailing there for sale, the front sail has a little ribbons and little threads on it. And you watch those threads, there’s one on either side of that very front edge, of the front side of the gym, generally, but what you do is, if the inside one fluttering, you know, and to fall off the wind or come up a little bit and the outside one year, just so you really learn to recognize these very subtle indicators as to what you should you know, how you should guide your boat your life. And so if you learn to pay attention to your breathing, you can use that as your telltale or you can use that as your indicator. And so it tells you way in advance to the drama and upset, what you should be doing in terms of subtly guide in your life. And you can learn to breathe, and might as well throw it in here as a 30 day breathing program that I’m going to offer everybody. It literally teaches you to be paying attention to those subtleties. So you don’t have the huge dramas. So they’re not like where did that come from? You come in and you’re adjusting and you learn to really that’s the art of life, is to pay attention to those subtle indicators which your breath is generally the the easiest and most comfortable one to use. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  18:08

Oh my goodness, I’m in Perth shaking my head, because I think about how many of us have missed that as the simple forward indicator. And instead, like, I’m recalling a time in my 20s when I basically was diagnosed with much after the fact with shingles, I’d had a massive shingles outbreak on my torso. And it was a result. Yeah, totally. It was a result of going through a divorce. And at the same time, I had a sibling going through a really hard time. And just some, you know, a lot happening all at once, where that was the way that my body responded. And I remember my doctor saying and he’s a naturopath. And, you know, obviously, I’ve missed some of the early signs about what needed to change course clearly, like I was going through a divorce, I’d clearly missed many, many signs. But But he said, Write this because once you have shingles, there’s no you know, it doesn’t ever, like really go away. It’s always in your body. And he said this is the canary in the cage. This may be the thing that lets you know when your body is under stress in a way that you haven’t noticed. And I thought, oh my gosh, what a way to have that show up. You know, and for some of us, we have those types of things that are the canary in the cage because we missed the earth.

Ron Stotts  19:39

I mean, I’ve had people come to me with all sorts of physiological psychological issues. And that’s exactly what I do is I support them in saying that as a gift to an end as a more or less subtle indicator. The caves, that’s what mindfulness is all about, is finding the subtlest indicators so that you are mindfully breathing and paying attention, staying curious and conscious, so that you can enjoy your life. So that you can learn from and really be gratefully receptive to whatever is coming into your life. Trust that it’s perfect.

Heather Pearce Campbell  20:23

Yeah, well, I love that messaging, I could see what a great joy it would be to work with you. I’m wondering for the folks that find you. Do they know what they’re in for? Is that a funny question? Yeah.

Ron Stotts  20:44

I do try and give them a heads up. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  20:46

Yeah, yeah. Because you know, I imagine there’s things that they think are the problem. Like I imagine, you get people that come to you, and they think, you know, X, Y, and Z is the problem. And when you really dig into the work, it’s like, oh, my gosh.

Ron Stotts  21:01

Everybody thinks the problems outside of themselves. We are addicted as a society to looking outside of ourselves for all the advances that we can only find within ourselves. Challenges. And it’s really just disturbing for them to find, oh, it’s not outside, it is inside. But it’s also becomes the most exciting part of their life. Because it’s so empowering, so that’s what takes them into the higher level leadership, is because they really not only access literally neurologically entirely new levels of thinking and being and creativity and all. But they become more agile they aren’t, they’re able to just deal with whatever’s coming into their life, because they’re breathing, being present and curious. And in that place of present curiosity, they are mindfully aware, and there’s the forebrain develops in that quieter brain, it becomes much more aware of not only what serves you best, but what serves everyone best. And where the amygdala is kind of over to, you know, emotionally overreacting to everything, that forebrain when it takes over as the conscious CEO, which is really what its role shouldn’t be. It really guides us through life in a much more conscious way.

Heather Pearce Campbell  22:23

All right, let’s pause for a moment and hear from today’s sponsor. Are you an entrepreneur who is on track to make a million or more in revenue this year in your business? If so, your business is likely facing a host of legal issues that are right for support. And if you are like so many of my clients at this level, you are likely tired of taking unnecessary risks and a DIY approach to legal support in your business. You’re ready to tackle the mess of legal documents, six legal gaps that you have. You want to take care of your IP, your clients, your business, and avoid unnecessary conflict and risk in the process. If this is you, and beyond just being an entrepreneur, you are a catalyst and are committed to your mission and your impact in the world. I invite you to get in touch. You could be a fit for my catalyst club, a small business legal support program that I designed for my high level clients. Just like you, you can find out more at legalwebsitewarrior.com. Just click on the Work with Me tab to learn more about the catalyst club and other ways that I support my clients, a fabulous group of world changing entrepreneurs, I might add, you’ve done the initial legwork in your business. And now you want to soar. And you know that you can only go as high and as far as your legal foundation lets you go. So get in touch today, hop over to legalwebsitewarrior.com, click on the Work with Me tab. And if you have any questions, get in touch through the Contact link on my site, I look forward to connecting it would be a joy to support you on your path. Do you find that people because I imagine you know what you just said like people are shocked to find out like what the real issue is? Is that a knowing that they come into on their own through doing this work? Or is it do you feel like it’s much more like you’re shining a light and they look and then they see it in a certain way that they just haven’t seen it before? 

Ron Stotts  24:29

Yeah, I learned very early on that if I tell people something they’ll resist totally.

Heather Pearce Campbell  24:36

This is why I’m asking is like how do you? How do they get to the place of really seeing it clearly right? Because we’re all humans.

Ron Stotts  24:45

I have spent 40 years being a guide. And I guide them on a journey that allows them to recognize, realize and accept all the truths that they need to to really empower themselves and move forward in their life and and it transforms her life, then it transforms her, you know, their significant relationships as well as their business relationships and transforms their relationships with their family, their kids, as well as the relationships with everybody at work. And it’s all it’s like, for me, if I know my highest intention, then whatever supports that I’m going to embrace and integrate into my life, whatever doesn’t support my highest intention, my aspiration, what I need to breathe into, if you will, if it doesn’t support that, then I let it go, I ignore it and let it go. And as I do that, my life becomes much easier, because all aspects of my being mental, spiritual, physical, all of it are moving in the same direction. So of course, as you learn to do that, within yourself, you influence those around you and you know, the people I work with develop organizations that are all in alignment, and moving in the same direction. So it’s really no wonder that they increase their profits and productivity by a tremendous amounts. And they research shows 40%, but I see people do well beyond that in terms of increased profits and productivity. And so, you know, it’s, I’m a bit new agey, but the truth is bottom line, they’re gonna make more money, they’re gonna be more productive, their life’s gonna be better, they’re gonna have less struggle more is. So everything they really want, they’re going to have, but they have to let go of their egoistic, authoritative leadership, old style, that top down model, but that really works to a level that you can’t go past that level. Yeah.

Heather Pearce Campbell  26:49

Well, it’s I mean, we talk regularly on the podcast about, you know, business growth being limited by our our individual capacity for personal leadership, right. They’re just so intertwined. And so, you know, I think the joke, among folks who know is the best journey to individual growth is business is entrepreneurship.

Ron Stotts  27:14

That’s interesting, because that’s exactly where I’ve gotten to I mean, I used to, you know, add centers in Switzerland, and spiritual communities and all of that, but I really see, if you’re playing consciously in business, you have just created the best spiritual personal growth path you could possibly ever have. And you all, you know, I just finished with a guy, very powerful guy, and he’s looking at, well, geez, I really liked what you do, I want to go. Yeah, that’s great. Become a CEO of an organization, and you have all these people that you get to support them becoming more aware, conscious and supportive of one another, they just recognize that they owe this old playground that I’ve been on with all these rules and limitations and left brain, you know, analytics, turns into this really enjoyable playground that is unlimited. And it comes so highly functional, that oftentimes, they’re working, you know, there have solved several organizations, because they’re able to handle that they’ve empowered everybody else to threaten them, and they’re just more oversight. So it’s just, yeah, it is transformation.

Heather Pearce Campbell  28:27

Well, and it sounds like, you know, part of the transformation, the way you described it is, is helping people become more discerning, right, like increasing their level of discernment from a leadership standpoint, but it also sounds like through that personal journey, it’s also about getting to a point of whether it’s accepting or just having greater capacity for complexity.

Ron Stotts  28:57

It isn’t complex, it isn’t. Now,

Heather Pearce Campbell  28:59

It isn’t. No.

Ron Stotts  29:02

You’re there to present to aware and then dissolve the complexity, the complexity comes from not breathing, not loving things through and staying present with things and all backlog of gas, you know, from childhood issues to other organizations or whatever is going on. And that becomes very complex, very stressful, and so you can’t leave dwell from that place. And I, you know, research shows that it’s really, you know, my goal is to create a more conscious and caring world and that’s why I do what I do. And all the research shows that the only people that can have really lasting significant, transformational, you know, create that transformational change or high level leaders, both you know, that change in an organization but also on a societal level. So my goal is to kind of divine grace and enough of them to have that impact on the world, then all of a sudden, we’ll be moving in a better direction than we seem to have been doing for a while.

Heather Pearce Campbell  30:12

I love that, at what point in your journey through the work that you’re doing? Did you focus? I mean, was there a point where you weren’t working with entrepreneurs or people in business? Or and then you got more focused? Or have you always been focused on?

Ron Stotts  30:31

No, I certainly worked with the general public, that didn’t mean that I didn’t work with high level business people, I mean, owner of an NFL team or owner of a national hotel chain, so I worked with people who were playing on, on very, very high levels, sometimes, but other times, I just be dealing with whoever, you know, somebody referred somebody in other psychologists, you know, for a while, that was a lot of people coming in, because they realized they couldn’t work with people on the web level, they wanted to, because their own issues hadn’t been dealt with. And so I helped them through that. And then they could go out and have a bigger impact in the world. But my publisher, when I was doing my first book, really pointed out, that I have this very unique talent of ability to take people into these highest levels of leadership. And the truth is, it’s nothing different than what I was doing. 40 years ago, when I was working with groups on enlightenment, all I’m doing is I know how to shift levels of consciousness, how to get the things out of the way that keep us from being more conscious. And that’s when you really look at I mean, I’ve got a handful of books off to my left here, and they all say, you know, whether they know they’re saying that or not, is the highest level of leaders are really just more conscious, more aware, more present. You know, the thing that I found interesting is in all of those books, they say, well, we don’t really know how to take people into those highest levels, they can describe them, and they can take them in from mid level to a little bit above. But when I recognize that, I said, Well, that’s exactly what I know how to do. In my head, this is this is when it’s your happy place. But your point in terms of businesses is perfect for all that is, you know, that you can’t find in today’s world a better spiritual path. You know, you don’t need to go sit in the Himalayas in a cave, you can just sit in your office. And if you’re playing consciously and doing it, well, you’re gonna find what you’re looking for. Shifts are gonna take place.

Heather Pearce Campbell  32:46

I love that. Well, I’m for folks, because you’re talking to folks on the listening to the podcast, who are conscious, who want to be more conscious, who want to be more caring, who want to be more impactful through their work? Where do you start with folks were like, walk us through the first couple steps are things that you know, we can do, whether it’s on a daily basis, whatever the routine is to get a degree or a few degrees better, what does that look like? 

Ron Stotts  33:20

You know, it’s funny, because I had a talk, guy calling me just out of nowhere, very, very high level C suite guy. And I did some research in terms of who he was. And I’m like, wow, this guys playing. It’s a really interesting levels. So I kind of came into the conversation thinking, you know, I can’t really help him. He’s doing fine. And within minutes, I’m asking questions, and what I’m looking for as well. What’s your biggest challenge? Well, how’s that playing out in your life? How is it playing out in different aspects of your life? How long has that been playing out in your life is a time to get that handle? And literally every time it numb regardless of how much work they’ve done, or how wonderful they are, there’s that way, I always find something that’s ready to be healed. You know, it’s like, somebody I remember the old joke years ago was, well, how do you know when you reached enlightenment? And it’s like, well, if you’re here on the planet, you still have some work to do.

Heather Pearce Campbell  34:30

Oh, that’s so good.

Ron Stotts  34:32

Really. So it’s just a matter of patiently going on that inner journey and finding those parts of ourselves that are ready to be healed. And the best way to do that is to be able to learn to breathe and be present with yourself. You know, the truth is, breathing is everything that connects you to who and what you are to the world to others. How your breathing is going to tell. Are you exactly how you’re doing in life?

Heather Pearce Campbell  35:02

You say it again, louder for the folks in the back. Right?

Ron Stotts  35:07

Breathing really is my guide, that’s my spiritual teacher. It’s the thing that I trust that will take me into and through whatever I dealing with in life, in the most empowering aspect of my life, and it’s the most ignored and denied part of our life. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  35:28

Oh my goodness, right? Well, how many of us I’m raising my own hand are experts at shallow breathing, you know, getting through significant portions of our day and being like, wait, I have a physical body.

Ron Stotts  35:40

And I mean, as a chiropractor, I also know that sends that signal of fear, which shuts off half of our nervous system, which literally the brain shuts down.

Heather Pearce Campbell  35:52

Yeah, shuts down, your digestion shuts down. Yes, all of the above. I know.

Ron Stotts  35:58

As soon as you start to not breathe, you literally, you begin to feel fear and become aware of it. And fear really gives you a reason to be afraid, because you just diminished your basic innate capabilities of handling whatever’s coming into your life. So if you heal your past and learn to be present with coming into your life, then something’s come into your life, rather than stopping breathing, you learn to automate and breathe into it. And that changes the game completely. You know, because then you’re coming more from a place of self acceptance and love from a place of trust, from a place of gratitude, you’re trusting that everything can come in and your life is perfect, and you’re going to learn to breathe into it and receive it. That doesn’t mean it’s always fun and exciting. It means that you trust, and I have to share in moments of some of my, you know, I mean, I thought I’ve kind of handled things, but I was in my I think I was 60. And I thought you know, okay, now I realized…

Heather Pearce Campbell  37:04

I’ve learned my spiritual lesson, on the gravy train.

Ron Stotts  37:12

I went on, I was on a journey. And boy, I ran into something, it was turned out to be all about Vietnam stuff that I had just buried so deep that it had never had the permission to come up. And of course, having done all the healing now it was like, Okay, now I can come forward. But I remember the middle of that feeling like I’m giving birth to a water buffalo knowing that I might die, but also being in such gratitude that I have the opportunity to heal this in my life, knowing that’s going to really expand my ability and whatever is next to it just gonna allow me to really take a quantum leap in consciousness and my experience of life for beyond. So, yeah, people want to talk about being great and grateful for emotional intelligence and all these things. Well, this is what you have to go through, you have to do go on that inner journey and has to become part of your life, to really, now life isn’t about finding a comfort zone, as everybody knows and staying stuck, that’ll kill you. But it’s also not about finding a comfort zone and then shifting to another one and then shifting to another one. Because that’s where we’re designed, perfectly designed to evolve, and constantly grow and shift in that smooth, elegant sort of evolutionary way. Rather than the stop start struggle. Feel held back.

Heather Pearce Campbell  38:55

Visual, I’m curious for you as somebody who had previously done a lot of work because because there’s probably folks listening that, you know, have done an amount of work that they feel like okay, I have a new level of understanding I you know, I’m feeling better about where I’m at and then they bump up against something. What were the signs for you that you were bumping up against something at 60 right after having done a lifetime of work. 

Ron Stotts  39:23

Well, I was in the middle of an experience. Hit me rather fully.

Heather Pearce Campbell  39:30

Got it. Got it. Yeah.

Ron Stotts  39:32

It got there. What didn’t sneak up?

Heather Pearce Campbell  39:37

Did it sneak up? Yeah, it was in your face brick in the face moment. 

Ron Stotts  39:42

There’s always indicators. There really are. You know, and I mean in business when people come to me it’s because I’ve done the best I could to get to where they are and they kind of doubling down and overworking and stressing and everything they can’t seem to move and as you said earlier, our personal development It goes hand in hand with our professional development, it really does. And so those, again, when you’re stuck, that’s time to celebrate. Congratulate yourself for getting to where you get gotten to that it’s time to now,

Heather Pearce Campbell  40:13

learn a new lesson

Ron Stotts  40:17

of yourself. And like I say, in hate going in on that inner journey and healing, that part that’s ready to be healed, you will always know, no hesitation, and that you will always find the very part of you that you need to support join continuing to evolve and taking your life and your workout to the next level. You know, and people are so afraid to invest in that. It’s like, oh, well, what if whatever. And I was like, Yeah, well, what if you don’t?

Heather Pearce Campbell  40:51

What if you don’t I know That’s even scarier. Right? 

Ron Stotts  40:56

You know, and I want people you know, they go through this kind of work. They become the CEO, they become all the things that they truly wanted, that they were frightened, they never won. So many come into it going well, you know, but what if it doesn’t? You know, it’s like, what was that used to be an old joke of like, well, what if we train we put all this money in into training our people and then they leave?

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:24

Or what if they stay?

Ron Stotts  41:29

You have to make? Yeah, it’s like, so many people get divorced, because they’re afraid to open up their heart. Well, if you’d open up your heart, you wouldn’t have had to get the divorce, you would have been really discovered what love and connection and the depth of that journey can be about. And you know, so we. And it’s an arrogance, it’s a we do it so bad. We’re so afraid that if we don’t do good enough, we’ll be judged and rejected. But well, yeah, but if I do that, what if I fail, and I might be rejected, nobody might love me if I’m like that. And it’s like, you have to be willing to be yourself, be in your power, open your heart, love yourself unconditionally. You know, it doesn’t mean you won’t screw up, it doesn’t mean you know, it means you learn to say, oops, to screw up from time to time.

Heather Pearce Campbell  42:21

Right? Well, the irony in reading, and I can’t remember which one it was, whether it was swamp lands of the soul, or the Middle Passage, I I’ve been reading both of those again recently. And it was just there was a passage about how you can’t exist and not inflict pain on other people at times, like there is no perfect existence, you know, there is no not hurting others by being here and being yourself and growing through those lessons.

Ron Stotts  42:53

That’s because they have expectations and images of who and what you should be. And if you’re trying to fit in those, you’re killing yourself quite later.

Heather Pearce Campbell  43:04

Right. And how many people through midlife continue to try to fight that battle?

Ron Stotts  43:09

Yeah, the top 10 there was in chiropractics, who I liked the top 10 reasons people die. Out of those eight are really lifestyle choices. In other words, we’re slowly committing suicide through our life, and living our life that severely so that’s the comfort zone thing. That’s the being present with yourself, that’s not willing to open up your heart and love you know, it’s like, I when somebody comes to me, and they look at all the things they’ve done to protect their heart as a child, I say, Wow, what an amazing child, you were to be that smart to see what you need to survive that, that, that that part of your life. But now if you keep that, those, if you keep that armor on your heart, it’ll kill you quite literally. So now it’s time to let that armor down. Let the adult you really be reparent that child so that you are whole enough so that you are and conditionally loving us.

Heather Pearce Campbell  44:13

So beautiful, so beautiful, so hard for people and so beautiful. Oh my gosh, I could talk to you all day. We’ve got like two minutes to the top of the hour. So for folks that are listening, we already hinted at what Ron is giving away and it is essential. I am gonna go grab it. I am so excited to learn more about how to breathe better. So Ron, do you want to share a minute about what your gift is?

Ron Stotts  44:41

Well, you know, sometimes 30 years later, somebody will come and they’ll call me or email me and stuff and they’re still talking about the breathing. And I’m like, well, that’s not you know, that was such a small part of what I do. Well, the truth is, it’s woven through everything that I do. And so I finally did a 30-Day Breathing in Success program that, by the way, really enjoyable here, really, it’s just a thing that you can do every day. But I’m offering the first three modules of that for free. I love it. Sample that and it’s just, if you go to RonStotts.com/breathing-into-success/ and I think you’ll have that up. You’re welcome to enjoy those first three modules, listen to those for the rest of your life. Or you can get the other 30. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  45:34

Right. No, I love it. And so we will be sharing well, we’ll share your website, we’re gonna share that breathing into success. Where people can start the first three modules for free, folks, you can find those also with the show notes page, which is legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. find Dr. Ron Stotts’ episode, we are so excited to share this. Ron, I know that like we just you know, it was tip of the iceberg today, there’s so much more to your work and to your story. But I’m so grateful for you being here and sharing a bit with us about the profound impacts of you know, helping others through those caves, you know, and so often, it’s those caves that we need and we avoid. So I’m so grateful to you. And I’m so happy to know about your work. What, first of all, do you show up other places online? And do you do? And do you like for people to connect with you there? Give us a quick ping on where you’re at. 

Ron Stotts  46:35

Facebook and LinkedIn are really my two primary areas. And I’d love to connect with people on those two, and welcome to the website, ronscotts.com

Heather Pearce Campbell  46:45

Yeah, awesome. Okay, we’ll share those as well that links over to your Facebook and to your LinkedIn page. Any final thoughts or two, I mean, you’ve taken us through lots of territory already. But any final thoughts or takeaways that you would like to leave with our listeners?

Ron Stotts  47:02

You know, life, the world, our society is like a puzzle. And you truly need to take that inner journey, regardless of how you do it, where you do it. But take that inner journey and stay with it. So that you can learn to love and accept yourself and become become a part of that puzzle. We need every aspect we all we need everyone to join in and consciously be a part of that puzzle so that we can really create an entirely new, more conscious and caring society. And you’re part of that. So don’t wait for others to be I love it.

Heather Pearce Campbell  47:42

I love the visual of a puzzle, both from the connectedness standpoint and just the visual of it. Thank you, Ron, I so appreciate you really, really looking forward to sharing this conversation.

Ron Stotts  47:56

Thank you so much.

GGGB Outro  47:58

Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business® podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways, links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more, see the show notes which can be found at www.legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation, please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week.