Navigating Change with Grit and Gratitude | Laura Bratton on Blindness, Boldness & Becoming - The Soul Mirror Podcast

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Navigating Change with Grit and Gratitude | Laura Bratton on Blindness, Boldness & Becoming

August 8, 2025 • 22 mins

In this powerful episode of The Soul Mirror, host Shreya speaks with Laura Bratton—author, coach, speaker, and founder of UBI Global—on how to navigate life’s most difficult changes with resilience, grit, and gratitude. Blind since adulthood due to a degenerative eye disease, Laura shares how she transformed overwhelming grief into a life of impact, presence, and empowerment. From redefining success and fear to teaching daily strategies for emotional resilience, this conversation will move, challenge, and inspire you.

Whether you're facing personal loss, fear of the unknown, or navigating a life pivot, Laura offers a blueprint rooted in community, self-compassion, and the power of small daily choices. Tune in and discover how to walk through adversity without losing sight of your soul.

About the Guest – Laura Bratton: Laura Bratton is the founder of UBI Global, a speaker, author of Harnessing Courage, and a leadership coach. Blind since adulthood, Laura is known for turning adversity into advantage, helping others face change with boldness and grace. Her work blends personal experience, spiritual insight, and practical strategy to empower individuals and organizations around the world.

Key Takeaways :

Laura’s journey from vision loss to leadership shows that adversity doesn’t break us—it shapes us.
The grief she felt was transformed not by personal strength alone but by the unwavering support of family, teachers, and mentors.
A core tool in her transformation was gratitude as strategy, not sentiment. Even when life was falling apart, listing three new things to be grateful for daily helped rewire her mindset.
Her family didn’t lower standards due to her blindness—they adapted expectations without pity, preserving her dignity and potential.
Gratitude wasn’t about denying pain, but about acknowledging tools that help us move through it—like guide dogs or assistive tech.
Laura emphasizes embracing the messiness of life as part of redefining success—not through perfection, but soul-aligned truth.
She shares practical ways to differentiate intuition from fear, suggesting we root in the present rather than being overwhelmed by a fearful future.
UBI Global was born from her desire to help others face change. The biggest pattern she sees? People fear grief will consume them—but acknowledging it is the first step to healing.
Daily practices like short moments of gratitude and self-affirmation anchor her leadership and personal clarity.