June 28, 2023 • 35 mins
In Season 3 episode 9, Arthi is joined by fellow Forbes Coaches Council member Lara Augusta, founder of Embracing Potentiality, talking about undoing complicated narratives.
Lara opens up about her family & childhood where experiences led her to create a narrative in her mind of being an inconvenience and not belonging. This mindset stemmed from having to keep a massive family secret for her whole life and Lara goes into detail about how her family dynamic impacted her journey.
Lara has always had a natural curiosity in learning & connecting with people from different countries & cultures, so it is no surprise that her world travels began at the tender age of 15 when she had convinced her father to allow her to attend schooling in the UK for a year. This was the first time that Lara was able to simply be herself and make her own choices. However the narrative remained the same in her thoughts.
Lara tells us how important it is to change the unproductive narrative that we carry with us and to have grace & patience with ourselves in undoing the narrative and allowing new choices to be made
Some wise words from Lara:
- “..surviving mode was not allowing me to thrive..
- “Choose yourself”
- “Honour the choices you have made”
Listen to the full episode for so much more insights and ideas offered by my wonderful guest.
About Lara Augusta:
Lara is a coach, student and facilitator in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.), Core Energy Leadership Coaching, Energy Leadership Index (E.L.I.), Social-Emotional Learning and Positive Intelligence (PQ). She does corporate work in a number of sectors, since pivoting away from International relations, industries that include biotechnology, insurance, sports, food, hospitality, and entertainment, the Olympics even. Having lived in many countries such as south Korea, China, Russia, Switzerland, UK, US and of course her native country Brazil, plus having travelled to more than 57 counties as well, Lara brings this varied experience into her work with individuals where she helps them deepen their understanding of self towards greater personal and professional levels of joy and satisfaction. She does this through using neuroscience and psychology practices, with some key techniques grounded in energy shifting too.
Connect with Lara in the following ways:
● Website
Do rate, write a review and share with others.
Share too, your own insights from your journey based on themes from the episode - what has worked or hasn't for you. We can all learn from each other.
Connect with host Arthi here:
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★Forbes Coaches Council
★Forbes Councils
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Arthi Rabikrisson (00:15):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the
inspire your life podcast withme your host Arthi Rabikrisson.
I believe we find inspirationall around us, especially from
(00:36):
the stories that we all have inus. My aim with the inspire your
life podcast is to bring some ofthose real stories to light,
stories of my guests thatresonate with you and me.It's by
listening to the stories that wecan be inspired and motivate
(00:57):
ourselves to overcome, find anew path and rise even higher
than we thought possible.
Joining me on the show today isLara Augusta, founder of
embracing potentiality. Today weare going to be talking about
(01:21):
undoing complicated narratives.
Laura is a coach, student andfacilitator in dei, core energy
leadership coaching, energyleadership index, social
emotional learning and positiveintelligence or PQ. She does
corporate work in a number ofsectors since pivoting away from
international relations inindustries that include
(01:41):
biotechnology, insurance,sports, food, hospitality,
entertainment, and even theOlympics, everyone. Having lived
in many countries such as SouthKorea and China, Russia,
Switzerland, the UK, the US, andof course her native country,
Brazil last having traveled tomore than 57 countries to. Lara
(02:02):
brings this varied experienceinto her work with individuals
where she helps them deepentheir understanding of self
towards greater personal andprofessional levels of joy and
satisfaction. And she does thisusing neuroscience and
psychology practices with somekey techniques grounded in
energy shifting to. Lara, thisdiversity and variety sounds so
(02:25):
fascinating, I must say alongwith your experience, I'm keen
to know more. So welcome to theInspire life podcast today.
Lara Augusta (02:36):
Hi, Arthi. Thank you so much. Wow, what a great
energy you put on to theintroduction I appreciate you. I
appreciate you for having mehere.
Arthi Rabikrisson (02:43):
Oh, no, it's my absolute pleasure to have you
here. And you've got such aninteresting background and
experience. But you know, asLara, I've just shared a tiny
bit of what you're about pleaseto share, but more tell us what
Laura is all about.
Lara Augusta (02:59):
I find it challenging actually to define
Lara.This is something that Iput into my work and how I
choose to show up in life formyself and for my family, for my
friends for those around me forthe people that I get to work
with and can leave myself opento be discovered. Hmm, my
(03:21):
background, I do often have tosimplify what Lara, you know
who Lara Agusta is in order tome connections. So you've done a
great job on that, you know, byintroducing me through the bio,
right. And however, mybackground professionally is in
international relations andeducation. And it's something
(03:43):
that I've always been in touchwith since really, really small.
I've always been very interestedand different ways of being in
different cultures, in differentways of connecting with people,
in different ways ofunderstanding, living and
(04:04):
different ways of how is it thatwe learn, because people learn
differently. We understandwhat's being passed on to us
differently, which what to dowith what's being passed on to
us differently. There'ssomething that I've always been
naturally curious with.
I am originally from Brazil, andI did get to grow up most of my
(04:30):
life in Brazil. My earlier yearsI'm just getting used to that
since I'm already 40 Nowhowever, my older years has been
spent throughout the world nottraveling but also studying
working and exploring.
Arthi Rabikrisson (04:51):
Yeah, I love that. I love that exploration
but I could certainly get thatyou know just even from your bio
and it just means that there's awealth of experience and
expertise and life experiencespecifically. But I know Lara,
when when we were sort ofchatting ahead of us doing the
(05:13):
episode, you mentioned to methat there were some really
complicated narratives in yourbackground, as you mentioned in
when you were growing up inchildhood, is there a way you
could maybe help us understandsome of those internal
narratives that were that werehappening at the time?
Lara Augusta (05:30):
That's correct.
Arthi. Well, I was born, like Imentioned, I was born in Brazil,
out of a situation that at thetime, I had to learn it was a
complicated one. I had to keepit a secret. Well, I'm, as I was
born out of a relationship inwhich my parents were not
married to each other, my fatherwas married, and he had a
(05:53):
relationship outside of hismarriage with my mom. And my
mom, as a single mom, she reallytaught me how to keep that
situation secret, we've alwaysmaintained a very good
relationship, however my fatherwasn't always necessarily
(06:14):
present in my life, he waspresent in my life, the way that
he was able to be present in mylife. He was a public figure at
the time. So we had to be extraprotective of my, my mom had a
lot of fears and a lot ofinsecurities naturally around
the situation. And without goingtoo much into their own stories,
(06:37):
I'm very comfortable sharing myexperience of that story and how
I came into this world.
Arthi Rabikrisson (06:48):
Absolutely.
Lara Augusta (06:50):
However, for a really long time in my life, you
know, for as long as I canremember, because I did grow up
in that environment in whichlike, I had to keep this a
secret. It wasn't something thatI could expose or share, which
is so natural for children toshare. Who is your dad? Who is
your mom? Right? Yeah, stillbeing such a paternalistic
(07:12):
society. Most people, especiallya lot of the places that we got
to live in, they were verycurious to learn who my father
was, okay. And a lot of thetimes that meant they would also
assign different meaning andvalue to our exchanges into our
relationship based on who myfather was. Okay. Whose daughter
(07:35):
is she, hmm. And they had verylittle interest in learning who
my mother was, and there was alittle bit of a stigma already
around her being a single mom.
So there was extra curiosityaround who my father. That was
painful for me to, you know, Iunderstood that I had to respect
and protect to this part of ourstory. Yes. But as a child,
(07:57):
especially someone who is notshy. I love connections, I love
meaningful , forming meaningfulconnections, you was a huge
violation of my being to have tonot only hide this part of my
story,But also not be able tointroduce myself as the daughter
(08:20):
of my mom as a daughter of mydad, without without the
backlash of it without theconsequences to it.
Arthi Rabikrisson (08:32):
Yes, yes.
Yes.
Lara Augusta (08:34):
So I lived in there was there was some shame
involved. There was some fearinvolved, there was really not
that. At first, I felt it myselfas a child. But eventually, that
was the environment my mom wasin and passed on to me.
Arthi Rabikrisson (08:54):
Okay, okay.
And there was there were certainthings that I that I remember
you sharing came up for you interms of that inner voice and
those phrases that were comingup for you, as you were going
through, you know, this growthprocess in this environment,
could you share some of thosewith us?
Lara Augusta (09:10):
Well, as a child, and that's for pretty much any
child. We have the need toattach, right? That's all
survival. So our instincts putsus into that place in which we
accept the environment we're in.
We adapt to it and we integrateto that environment, that story,
(09:36):
those narratives into our livesin order to be able to be loved,
cared for accepted, to be ableto be to be able to grow and be
strong, right to survive, to beable to be to only then be able
to question our choices onlythen to question the choice of
(09:58):
those around us choose again andstart making our own choices
around them. Yes, we're for areally long time, you know, as I
can remember, like, I grew upwith this main narrative in my
mind that unfortunately, youknow, for my early years, I felt
like I was an inconvenience thatI didn't, that I was inadequate
that I didn't belong or if I waswanted, you know, this child
(10:22):
outside of a marriage, unsure ifI was accepted, unsure if, you
know, if I was loved, I mean,this is very strongly associated
with with what I had to learn tokeep it a secret, keep it in
fact, my mom and I, we moved herlot around. And mostly what I
have been told at that time wasto keep ourselves in hideout to
(10:44):
be away, be detrimental to myfather's permanent career and
status and exposure of, youknow, our families. Yes, yes. So
for that reason, I was like oftein new schools and having to
make new friends to adapt toassimilate, to connect somehow,
like real fast, that was like mysurvival skills, like we're
(11:04):
gonna get to know each otherreally fast. Because I dont know
how much longer I'm gonna behere, though I adapted i, which,
in a way, it's a gift. Really, Iregret this, it's a gift that
I'm able to walk into absolutelyany environment, and talk to
absolutely anyone and notpresent myself as a threat.
Arthi Rabikrisson (11:26):
Absolutely. I mean, in in that sort of
environment to still be able totake away gems like, that's like
you saying, it's actually madeit, it's become a gift for you
to be able to do that, becausemany people aren't able to do
that. Right. So that's beautifulas well.
Lara Augusta (11:42):
Its really hard to have that kind of self awareness
and self conscious as as achild, you don't have that as I
am grateful for this having beenmy go to as my survival mode,
But at some point in my life, Ilearned that at that choice, as
(12:05):
a surviving mode was notallowing me to thrive, he was
still hurting me, that I willshow up as my whole self.
Arthi Rabikrisson (12:15):
Okay. Okay, maybe that's an important point
as well, right? Because youknow, the self awareness
component, especially in thechild, in circumstances, like
what you've shared, When did yourealize this though, that the
Survivor Mode is actually nothelping you in any way? And then
(12:36):
what did you actually do then,to begin a process of altering
that sort of survival? Sort ofstate or mindset?
Lara Augusta (12:44):
Well, every time that someone asked me, which was
really often, you know, who myfather was, of this new
environment, it wasn't just mysense of self that was at stake.
It was also my sense ofcommunity. I often question
like, if I tell you who myfather is, how does that change
(13:05):
your opinion of me? Will youchange the attention that it's
invested in this interaction. Soeach time that I kept
questioning all these externalfactors for my need and passion
for meaningful connection, itfelt like a punch in the gut,
really. And I was internalizedthat for a really long time. I
(13:27):
questioned that a lot. It wassomething that I wasn't willing
to easily accept, because I,when I feel I feel really
strongly, and so much so thateven like when I had birthday
parties, you know, my mom waslike, would make birthday
parties for me and she wouldinvite all this people from my
(13:47):
school and all. I was Iremember being sick at most of
my birthday parties as a child,I would get physically ill
because of how much I was afraidto show up in community, and how
upset I was to show up incommunity without being able to
show up as myself whole. And,and your body does keep the
(14:09):
score, doesn't it? And at somepoint, again, when I you know,
when I was old enough, it'sstrong enough to make some of my
own choices. I rewinding likebacktracking first at first, you
know, how in the United Statesand a few other different
countries you have the sweet 16And you know, so in Brazil is 15
(14:34):
in a lot of Latin Americancountries also like a 15. It's
the quinceañera. My father askedme if I wanted to party or if I
wanted to travel, and I told himat the time I wanted to travel.
For me at first my firstreaction wasn't I can stay here,
and you know, keep going throughthis. I have to run away I want
(14:56):
it to run away so badly.
However, I chose to do it in away that was somewhat
responsibly. Right? I wasnt justreally going to like get out on
the streets and like, leave myhome and whatnot. I figured out
a way that I could get myparents buy in into removing
(15:17):
myself from that situationbecause it was suffocating it
was absolutely suffocating me.
So I told my parents I wanted totravel and my father at the
time, he thought it was I don'tknow, maybe like a 10 days in
Disney World with friends andwhatnot. And I was like, no, no,
I want to live abroad. And hedidn't give me much credit at
(15:38):
first. As a matter of fact, hisway of not getting you know,
this a lot of credit, he posed alot of different challenges to
me. Okay, well, you know, you'regonna have to find out a good
school, you can go to havecredit transfers the year the
school year is not the same inBrazil as it is because it
starts in January in Brazil,mostly. It's and you need to
(16:02):
find, you know, fly tickets, youneed to be able to budget your
time there. You, know, he gaveme like, he posed all these
different challenges to me. Andthat was pre Google. That was
pre computers at home, at leastin my household, i didnt have
(16:25):
one. I mean, there was nosearch engine, and 15 years old.
What I did at the time, I was solooking forward to like escaping
that situation. Yeah. In fact, Itook about a two hour bus ride
to Brasilia, which was thecapital and I visited embassies
like Canadian and Britishembassy. And I took like those
(16:48):
huge books, because at the time,they were the schools, they they
used to have like some enormousbooks, looked like phone books,
you know, introducing, like allof their programs, and, you
know, research, I went intotravel agencies, I found out how
to budget asked helped throughmy school of English as a second
(17:10):
language. So I very resourceful,and try to find a way to get out
of that situation. And withinthree months, I came back to my
dad with like this full onbusiness presentation. Hmm, my
top three choices of school andmy reasoning behind each one of
(17:31):
them. Obviously, I already hadmy own choice. But I show him
that I had done the work that Ihad done, and that I was ready
for this experience. And he wasflawed,I really surprised him
with that.
Arthi Rabikrisson (17:45):
You took it so seriously. Yeah, you invested
in this.
Lara Augusta (17:48):
She means Business
Arthi Rabikrisson (17:50):
Absolutely
Lara Augusta (17:51):
He was like, okay, all right, then you're going and
I went to England for a year, Istudied in a school in Oxford
for a year. And that was myfirst time to be completely
removed from the environmentthat I had grown up in. People
could not care less who myfather was. Nobody would ask,
(18:14):
right. And it was it was thefirst time that I was allowed to
experiment with my own choicesas well.
Arthi Rabikrisson (18:21):
Yeah, just be you.
Lara Augusta (18:24):
Yeah, just be me.
You know, my mom was so afraidof our situation that she had
controlled every single choicein my life up until then,
yeah,eve which backpack i woulduse for the school year, you
know, like, I wasn't allowed tomake choices. That's how much
control like she needs. And itwas it was extremely freeing,
going back. And I was able toquestion my choices, experiment
(18:46):
with my choices, make my ownmistakes deal with the
consequences of them. So when Iwhen I went back to Brazil, I
felt a lot more empowered toquestion my parents. Hmm. And
so, at that time, when I wentback to Brazil, I started
actually teaching English as asecond language, okay. And my
(19:08):
parents because of a differentsituation, they emancipated me.
So by the time I was 16, I wasmaking crazy money for a 16 year
old because it emancipated. So Istarted just letting my parents
know what I was up to. I wasn't,I wasn't, I was like, Listen,
this, you know, this weekend,I'm gonna be traveling and I'm
(19:31):
gonna be doing this. They'relike, No, you're not you have to
do that. And like, no, no, no,I'm letting you know. And this
is where I'm staying, these arethe phone numbers, you know, but
I had ownership of what choicesI wanted to make. And I still
had that narrative, though. AndI only understood that I had
that narrative that I was aninconvenience that I didn't
(19:51):
belong when obviously it wasvery challenging for my parents
to deal with my newfoundindependence.
And one day I ran away, youknow, to go to this concert. I
didn't. I was so upset. I didn'teven let them know. I was like,
What's the point? You know,we're going to argue again. So
just left And it was a GloriaGaynor concert. And when I came
(20:19):
back, my father was so upset, hetook me on this car ride to
like, really lash out on me. Soin a confined space, he wasn't
much conversation, nor did Ihave control of what where we
were going. Very one sidedconversation, and he really took
the reins on it. And for somereason, he felt the need at some
(20:41):
point to say, you need to lookat your mom and your dad as
examples in life because we'venever made a mistake.
Arthi Rabikrisson (20:49):
Hmm.
Lara Augusta (20:50):
And I was like, Excuse me. That was the first
time that it was like theloudest, loudest alert to
myself. And it was very clearabout it. He didn't call me a
mistake. He didn't say thatnobody has ever called me a
mistake or anything. It was acalling to me because when he
(21:11):
said that, my first reaction waslike, What do you mean, you've
never made a mistake? I am yourwalking,talking, feeling,
living, breathing mistake?
Arthi Rabikrisson (21:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Lara Augusta (21:25):
And that tore me apart that I was able to think
that like that. We have atriggered by his, you know, self
righteousness trip It was atrigger to me. And it was a huge
thing. And that's what sometimeslike triggers? Well, a lot of
(21:46):
the times. Yeah, that's whattriggers do to you. They're
they're hauling your attentionto something that you need to
address.
more versus it.
Arthi Rabikrisson (21:54):
So I mean, yeah, I love I love how you're
putting forward the story to usand, and sharing with us your
triggers. And at that time,potentially, and also how that
narrative started to change, youknow, given your level of
independence, and given this newawareness based on what your
dad, you know, sort of said toyou in that car ride. And it's
(22:16):
making me think now, you knowLara, why, and maybe articulate
this for our listeners, why isit then so important, that we
all undertake this process of,you know, undoing unraveling the
narratives, especially theseunproductive ones that we have
in us? What would you say?
Lara Augusta (22:35):
Such a big question.
It is key, because a lot of alot of us, we can go through our
entire lives, just carrying onunserving narratives through
different phases of our lives,and they just become too heavy
to carry at some point. And wecan't pinpoint you know, why is
(22:59):
it that I've ended up here? Somany people ask themselves to
you know, that today, they'veasked themselves that throughout
history, how did I end up here,you know, and that comes from
that missing the opportunitiesthat the challenges give you,
the triggers give you, thosenegative feelings give you. We
(23:22):
put such a bad rap on what Icall catabolic feelings. You
know, the nagging ones, the onesthat, that that really weighed
you down. Such a bad rap onthem, but what they're doing is
actually they're informing youat all times, that something's
not right with you. Thatsomething's not right with your
(23:44):
environment, that something'snot right, with the choices that
you are allowing to be made inyour life. And when we are
responsible for our choices. Asa child, not necessarily again,
we're looking at we're looking,we're adapt very quickly to
survive.
Arthi Rabikrisson (24:01):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Lara Augusta (24:02):
At some point what you've carried as narrative, as
a child or as a teenager inorder to be accepted in order to
be loved in order to be carriedforward in order to be fed in
order to be safe. At some pointof your life. You've just got to
look at that with grace andcompassion yourself for having
(24:23):
done that for yourself or havingallowed yourself to go through
that in order to survive. Ifthat was the case, right? but
if that was the case, case, youlove yourself for having done
through, you know for havingdone that for yourself. And then
check yourself in with withyourself in the present. Yeah.
(24:44):
Where are you at? What does itstill serve you?
Because if it no longer serveyou, that's okay. Honor it for
what it was and start choosingwhat will serve you from today
on so you can builds thatreality. So you can build the
circumstances. So you canexperience what you choose to.
Arthi Rabikrisson (25:05):
Hmm. I mean, that's, that's powerful in terms
of, you know, having that checkin, and then having that
knowledge about the choices, youknow, in terms of steps to move
forward. That's so importantthat I think we forget that,
Lara, oftentimes, you knowespecially when that narrative
is so loud in your in your head,right, it consumes and drowns
out every other sort of rationalthought that come in. But I
(25:29):
guess what you're suggesting is,is that there's some work that
needs to be done in thatinternal sort of component of,
you know, love yourself, giveyourself permission, hear what
it has to say, but then take themantle up of the challenge to
sort of say, alright, I hearyou, I acknowledge you. But I
don't need to continue in thatway I can choose something else
(25:51):
choose to behave in a differentway to her. That's quite
powerful.
Lara Augusta (25:55):
And even though I had, I had often offered myself
those opportunities, I alsooften questioned it, it's
important to have because you'rein that loop. Right? That's all
you know, that's all you've beenaccustomed to. So it's something
that happens overnight. Yeah.
You don't go to the gym onetime, and then you leave the gym
(26:16):
fit, you know,
Arthi Rabikrisson (26:19):
If only
Unknown (26:21):
Oh, my God. I know three gods Totally agree.
Lara Augusta (26:28):
It's constant work. It's constant, self check.
And it's constant, allowingyourself as well to have the
rights ruined. And sometimesthat support comes because you
saw it. And as sometimes thatsupport comes because you're
just doing the work and open toit. And that's what happened to
me about like, three years ago,about three years ago, I was
(26:51):
completely emotionallyderegulated for having shear,
and in a coaching session, I wasbeing coached through it. And
then I hopped into aneuroscience course where an
amazing scientist, you know,Coach, neuroscientists,
psychologists, she'soutstanding, should show she was
(27:12):
she asked that this was like,700 people in the room. Yes. And
she asked for someone to come upon screen to be coached through
something going through. And Ijust, I just put there in the
message super shyly, because Iwas so afraid to show up, I was
so afraid to expose myself I wasso afraid to speak up for all of
(27:35):
those things that, you know, allthose back of the mind
narratives, yes. Now, it doesn'tmatter what I have to say, I
don't matter, I don't belong andnot welcomed, you know, in fact,
that I just put their very shylyamong like, you know, hundreds
of people putting their whatthey wanted. I was like, I can't
spend another day withoutshowing up authentically, I want
(27:57):
to show up as myself you know,flaws and all. And so she, I'm
ready for that. And so she putme on screen and I was like, Oh,
what did i sign up for, But myPandora Box was already open.
Like I said, I had just like 20minutes before had just left a
(28:18):
coaching session. I was I wasstill emotionally deregulated
because of the process. Ihaven't integrated or reset
myself yet. Yes. So as I showher up here, I have like, my
face is still like, you know,puffed up and all in when she
starts coaching me that I'mlike, boom, I derail again. And
(28:40):
she offered me such a beautifulgift. Uh huh. She was like, I
see you. It's so simple. That'sit. I see you. And she's like,
No wonder, you feel this way.
Hmm. Anyone who have gonethrough this would have felt the
same. . You know, thatcompassion, that grace that I've
(29:04):
have tried so many times to tooffer to myself? Yeah, I found
it was I was open to theexperience. I'm scared but i was
open.
Arthi Rabikrisson (29:17):
Yeah, of course.
Lara Augusta (29:19):
And with that, she asked me some incredible
questions, you know, in which,eventually, everybody was in
tears with me. I had like, yourpeople reaching out and all of
that there was so much love, andit's warm in room for that, in
that some people were asking atsome point and you you're in
(29:40):
coaching, some people ask what'sbetween, you know, psychology
and coaching is what justhappened? And it was a very fine
line because I was veryemotionally deregulated and
working on a story that had keptme stuck in the past, obut she
also shown On this brilliantlight on the experience for
(30:02):
every all the coaches in there,you know for like all those
people in there, which, right?
Yes, she she was like pouringherself pouring a lot of herself
out. Yeah. But at the same timeshe was present with herself as
she support herself out.
There wasn't an amount of selfawareness and the willing to not
(30:27):
stay stuck to move forward withthat story. And to choose a
different narrative around it.
Arthi Rabikrisson (30:34):
Beautiful, beautiful.
Lara Augusta (30:36):
That was why it was a coaching session.
Arthi Rabikrisson (30:38):
Yeah, I mean, it's, that was powerful and
publicly powerful, too, right.
But there you were, you know, Icould I could, I can picture it
absolutely can picture.
Lara Augusta (30:48):
It was so healing, it was so healing.
Arthi Rabikrisson (30:52):
So Lara we are having such a beautiful
conversation today. And you, Imean, you sharing so much of
your experiences, things that wecan do as well, to actually
start the process or continuethe process, even if we are on
this journey of these narrativesand trying to uncomplicate them
so well for ourselves. As we aswe come to the close, I'd love
(31:15):
it if you could share anoverarching thoughts that you
want to leave with our listenerstoday about their journey, about
their process, and somethingthat can motivate them to keep
going on this journey. Becausethere's so much more in store
for them, what would you say?
Lara Augusta (31:31):
Choose yourself.
Just choose yourself, we can'tpour from an empty cup. And once
we choose to take a good look atourselves and to be present with
ourselves, man, there's a lot ofbeauty that can come out of it.
Now to offer ourselves grace, tooffer ourselves compassion, to
(31:52):
offer ourselves love, and tohonor all the choices that we've
made to this day that brought usto where we are today. We are
here And how empowering it is tolook back and, and instead of
completely dissecting everythingthat has gone wrong, to shine a
light on everything oneverything that has gone, right.
Arthi Rabikrisson (32:19):
Absolutely, absolutely that perspective that
reframe right,
Lara Augusta (32:24):
that among parents and all throughout life, we
could have chose, you know, toto argue we could have chosen
to, you know, have thisanimosity among the family, we
could have choked, it could havegone so many different we could
have chosen, you know, all kindsof different ways of supporting
each other. But we each did thebest that we could with what we
(32:45):
knew, at each of you know, thedifferent times of our lives.
And today, we've already hadthis conversation as well today.
It was like I'm so grateful foryou haven't you know, each one
of them to haven't been in mylife the way they did. They
could show up for my life. Yes.
And whatever it was that madethem show up, whether it was
obligation where there was fear,whether it was the need for
(33:08):
control, whatever, whatever wastheir reason, whether it was
love, whatever was their reason,they showed up they way they
could. You know, and I did it.
But we also have the freedom ofchoice. And today we do get to
keep each other in each other'slives.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:26):
Yes,
Lara Augusta (33:27):
choosing to do so.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:29):
Absolutely.
So choice, choosing yourself.
Lovely. I love that. Larra, it'sbeen an absolute pleasure
chatting with you today gettingto know more about you and your
experiences. And thank you forinspiring all of us on the show,
it has been such a pleasure. i
Lara Augusta (33:46):
Thank you so much for having me Arthi, this is
this is great.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:51):
Wonderful.
You take care, Lara,
Lara Augusta (33:53):
Likewise have a great one.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:55):
You too,bye.
Hi.
Thank you so much for joining meon this episode today. If you
like what you heard, rate, theepisode and podcast and feel
free to write a review. Plus, ofcourse, share with others too. I
(34:18):
love talking around topics likethese. So if you like my
perspective or insight in asubject close to your heart, or
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podcast information. If it'simportant to you, then it's
(34:42):
important to so I'm happylistening to the inspire your
life podcast and catch you soonon the next episode.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the
inspire your life podcast withme your host Arthi Rabikrisson.
I believe we find inspirationall around us, especially from
(00:36):
the stories that we all have inus. My aim with the inspire your
life podcast is to bring some ofthose real stories to light,
stories of my guests thatresonate with you and me.It's by
listening to the stories that wecan be inspired and motivate
(00:57):
ourselves to overcome, find anew path and rise even higher
than we thought possible.
Joining me on the show today isLara Augusta, founder of
embracing potentiality. Today weare going to be talking about
(01:21):
undoing complicated narratives.
Laura is a coach, student andfacilitator in dei, core energy
leadership coaching, energyleadership index, social
emotional learning and positiveintelligence or PQ. She does
corporate work in a number ofsectors since pivoting away from
international relations inindustries that include
(01:41):
biotechnology, insurance,sports, food, hospitality,
entertainment, and even theOlympics, everyone. Having lived
in many countries such as SouthKorea and China, Russia,
Switzerland, the UK, the US, andof course her native country,
Brazil last having traveled tomore than 57 countries to. Lara
(02:02):
brings this varied experienceinto her work with individuals
where she helps them deepentheir understanding of self
towards greater personal andprofessional levels of joy and
satisfaction. And she does thisusing neuroscience and
psychology practices with somekey techniques grounded in
energy shifting to. Lara, thisdiversity and variety sounds so
(02:25):
fascinating, I must say alongwith your experience, I'm keen
to know more. So welcome to theInspire life podcast today.
Lara Augusta (02:36):
Hi, Arthi. Thank you so much. Wow, what a great
energy you put on to theintroduction I appreciate you. I
appreciate you for having mehere.
Arthi Rabikrisson (02:43):
Oh, no, it's my absolute pleasure to have you
here. And you've got such aninteresting background and
experience. But you know, asLara, I've just shared a tiny
bit of what you're about pleaseto share, but more tell us what
Laura is all about.
Lara Augusta (02:59):
I find it challenging actually to define
Lara.This is something that Iput into my work and how I
choose to show up in life formyself and for my family, for my
friends for those around me forthe people that I get to work
with and can leave myself opento be discovered. Hmm, my
(03:21):
background, I do often have tosimplify what Lara, you know
who Lara Agusta is in order tome connections. So you've done a
great job on that, you know, byintroducing me through the bio,
right. And however, mybackground professionally is in
international relations andeducation. And it's something
(03:43):
that I've always been in touchwith since really, really small.
I've always been very interestedand different ways of being in
different cultures, in differentways of connecting with people,
in different ways ofunderstanding, living and
(04:04):
different ways of how is it thatwe learn, because people learn
differently. We understandwhat's being passed on to us
differently, which what to dowith what's being passed on to
us differently. There'ssomething that I've always been
naturally curious with.
I am originally from Brazil, andI did get to grow up most of my
(04:30):
life in Brazil. My earlier yearsI'm just getting used to that
since I'm already 40 Nowhowever, my older years has been
spent throughout the world nottraveling but also studying
working and exploring.
Arthi Rabikrisson (04:51):
Yeah, I love that. I love that exploration
but I could certainly get thatyou know just even from your bio
and it just means that there's awealth of experience and
expertise and life experiencespecifically. But I know Lara,
when when we were sort ofchatting ahead of us doing the
(05:13):
episode, you mentioned to methat there were some really
complicated narratives in yourbackground, as you mentioned in
when you were growing up inchildhood, is there a way you
could maybe help us understandsome of those internal
narratives that were that werehappening at the time?
Lara Augusta (05:30):
That's correct.
Arthi. Well, I was born, like Imentioned, I was born in Brazil,
out of a situation that at thetime, I had to learn it was a
complicated one. I had to keepit a secret. Well, I'm, as I was
born out of a relationship inwhich my parents were not
married to each other, my fatherwas married, and he had a
(05:53):
relationship outside of hismarriage with my mom. And my
mom, as a single mom, she reallytaught me how to keep that
situation secret, we've alwaysmaintained a very good
relationship, however my fatherwasn't always necessarily
(06:14):
present in my life, he waspresent in my life, the way that
he was able to be present in mylife. He was a public figure at
the time. So we had to be extraprotective of my, my mom had a
lot of fears and a lot ofinsecurities naturally around
the situation. And without goingtoo much into their own stories,
(06:37):
I'm very comfortable sharing myexperience of that story and how
I came into this world.
Arthi Rabikrisson (06:48):
Absolutely.
Lara Augusta (06:50):
However, for a really long time in my life, you
know, for as long as I canremember, because I did grow up
in that environment in whichlike, I had to keep this a
secret. It wasn't something thatI could expose or share, which
is so natural for children toshare. Who is your dad? Who is
your mom? Right? Yeah, stillbeing such a paternalistic
(07:12):
society. Most people, especiallya lot of the places that we got
to live in, they were verycurious to learn who my father
was, okay. And a lot of thetimes that meant they would also
assign different meaning andvalue to our exchanges into our
relationship based on who myfather was. Okay. Whose daughter
(07:35):
is she, hmm. And they had verylittle interest in learning who
my mother was, and there was alittle bit of a stigma already
around her being a single mom.
So there was extra curiosityaround who my father. That was
painful for me to, you know, Iunderstood that I had to respect
and protect to this part of ourstory. Yes. But as a child,
(07:57):
especially someone who is notshy. I love connections, I love
meaningful , forming meaningfulconnections, you was a huge
violation of my being to have tonot only hide this part of my
story,But also not be able tointroduce myself as the daughter
(08:20):
of my mom as a daughter of mydad, without without the
backlash of it without theconsequences to it.
Arthi Rabikrisson (08:32):
Yes, yes.
Yes.
Lara Augusta (08:34):
So I lived in there was there was some shame
involved. There was some fearinvolved, there was really not
that. At first, I felt it myselfas a child. But eventually, that
was the environment my mom wasin and passed on to me.
Arthi Rabikrisson (08:54):
Okay, okay.
And there was there were certainthings that I that I remember
you sharing came up for you interms of that inner voice and
those phrases that were comingup for you, as you were going
through, you know, this growthprocess in this environment,
could you share some of thosewith us?
Lara Augusta (09:10):
Well, as a child, and that's for pretty much any
child. We have the need toattach, right? That's all
survival. So our instincts putsus into that place in which we
accept the environment we're in.
We adapt to it and we integrateto that environment, that story,
(09:36):
those narratives into our livesin order to be able to be loved,
cared for accepted, to be ableto be to be able to grow and be
strong, right to survive, to beable to be to only then be able
to question our choices onlythen to question the choice of
(09:58):
those around us choose again andstart making our own choices
around them. Yes, we're for areally long time, you know, as I
can remember, like, I grew upwith this main narrative in my
mind that unfortunately, youknow, for my early years, I felt
like I was an inconvenience thatI didn't, that I was inadequate
that I didn't belong or if I waswanted, you know, this child
(10:22):
outside of a marriage, unsure ifI was accepted, unsure if, you
know, if I was loved, I mean,this is very strongly associated
with with what I had to learn tokeep it a secret, keep it in
fact, my mom and I, we moved herlot around. And mostly what I
have been told at that time wasto keep ourselves in hideout to
(10:44):
be away, be detrimental to myfather's permanent career and
status and exposure of, youknow, our families. Yes, yes. So
for that reason, I was like oftein new schools and having to
make new friends to adapt toassimilate, to connect somehow,
like real fast, that was like mysurvival skills, like we're
(11:04):
gonna get to know each otherreally fast. Because I dont know
how much longer I'm gonna behere, though I adapted i, which,
in a way, it's a gift. Really, Iregret this, it's a gift that
I'm able to walk into absolutelyany environment, and talk to
absolutely anyone and notpresent myself as a threat.
Arthi Rabikrisson (11:26):
Absolutely. I mean, in in that sort of
environment to still be able totake away gems like, that's like
you saying, it's actually madeit, it's become a gift for you
to be able to do that, becausemany people aren't able to do
that. Right. So that's beautifulas well.
Lara Augusta (11:42):
Its really hard to have that kind of self awareness
and self conscious as as achild, you don't have that as I
am grateful for this having beenmy go to as my survival mode,
But at some point in my life, Ilearned that at that choice, as
(12:05):
a surviving mode was notallowing me to thrive, he was
still hurting me, that I willshow up as my whole self.
Arthi Rabikrisson (12:15):
Okay. Okay, maybe that's an important point
as well, right? Because youknow, the self awareness
component, especially in thechild, in circumstances, like
what you've shared, When did yourealize this though, that the
Survivor Mode is actually nothelping you in any way? And then
(12:36):
what did you actually do then,to begin a process of altering
that sort of survival? Sort ofstate or mindset?
Lara Augusta (12:44):
Well, every time that someone asked me, which was
really often, you know, who myfather was, of this new
environment, it wasn't just mysense of self that was at stake.
It was also my sense ofcommunity. I often question
like, if I tell you who myfather is, how does that change
(13:05):
your opinion of me? Will youchange the attention that it's
invested in this interaction. Soeach time that I kept
questioning all these externalfactors for my need and passion
for meaningful connection, itfelt like a punch in the gut,
really. And I was internalizedthat for a really long time. I
(13:27):
questioned that a lot. It wassomething that I wasn't willing
to easily accept, because I,when I feel I feel really
strongly, and so much so thateven like when I had birthday
parties, you know, my mom waslike, would make birthday
parties for me and she wouldinvite all this people from my
(13:47):
school and all. I was Iremember being sick at most of
my birthday parties as a child,I would get physically ill
because of how much I was afraidto show up in community, and how
upset I was to show up incommunity without being able to
show up as myself whole. And,and your body does keep the
(14:09):
score, doesn't it? And at somepoint, again, when I you know,
when I was old enough, it'sstrong enough to make some of my
own choices. I rewinding likebacktracking first at first, you
know, how in the United Statesand a few other different
countries you have the sweet 16And you know, so in Brazil is 15
(14:34):
in a lot of Latin Americancountries also like a 15. It's
the quinceañera. My father askedme if I wanted to party or if I
wanted to travel, and I told himat the time I wanted to travel.
For me at first my firstreaction wasn't I can stay here,
and you know, keep going throughthis. I have to run away I want
(14:56):
it to run away so badly.
However, I chose to do it in away that was somewhat
responsibly. Right? I wasnt justreally going to like get out on
the streets and like, leave myhome and whatnot. I figured out
a way that I could get myparents buy in into removing
(15:17):
myself from that situationbecause it was suffocating it
was absolutely suffocating me.
So I told my parents I wanted totravel and my father at the
time, he thought it was I don'tknow, maybe like a 10 days in
Disney World with friends andwhatnot. And I was like, no, no,
I want to live abroad. And hedidn't give me much credit at
(15:38):
first. As a matter of fact, hisway of not getting you know,
this a lot of credit, he posed alot of different challenges to
me. Okay, well, you know, you'regonna have to find out a good
school, you can go to havecredit transfers the year the
school year is not the same inBrazil as it is because it
starts in January in Brazil,mostly. It's and you need to
(16:02):
find, you know, fly tickets, youneed to be able to budget your
time there. You, know, he gaveme like, he posed all these
different challenges to me. Andthat was pre Google. That was
pre computers at home, at leastin my household, i didnt have
(16:25):
one. I mean, there was nosearch engine, and 15 years old.
What I did at the time, I was solooking forward to like escaping
that situation. Yeah. In fact, Itook about a two hour bus ride
to Brasilia, which was thecapital and I visited embassies
like Canadian and Britishembassy. And I took like those
(16:48):
huge books, because at the time,they were the schools, they they
used to have like some enormousbooks, looked like phone books,
you know, introducing, like allof their programs, and, you
know, research, I went intotravel agencies, I found out how
to budget asked helped throughmy school of English as a second
(17:10):
language. So I very resourceful,and try to find a way to get out
of that situation. And withinthree months, I came back to my
dad with like this full onbusiness presentation. Hmm, my
top three choices of school andmy reasoning behind each one of
(17:31):
them. Obviously, I already hadmy own choice. But I show him
that I had done the work that Ihad done, and that I was ready
for this experience. And he wasflawed,I really surprised him
with that.
Arthi Rabikrisson (17:45):
You took it so seriously. Yeah, you invested
in this.
Lara Augusta (17:48):
She means Business
Arthi Rabikrisson (17:50):
Absolutely
Lara Augusta (17:51):
He was like, okay, all right, then you're going and
I went to England for a year, Istudied in a school in Oxford
for a year. And that was myfirst time to be completely
removed from the environmentthat I had grown up in. People
could not care less who myfather was. Nobody would ask,
(18:14):
right. And it was it was thefirst time that I was allowed to
experiment with my own choicesas well.
Arthi Rabikrisson (18:21):
Yeah, just be you.
Lara Augusta (18:24):
Yeah, just be me.
You know, my mom was so afraidof our situation that she had
controlled every single choicein my life up until then,
yeah,eve which backpack i woulduse for the school year, you
know, like, I wasn't allowed tomake choices. That's how much
control like she needs. And itwas it was extremely freeing,
going back. And I was able toquestion my choices, experiment
(18:46):
with my choices, make my ownmistakes deal with the
consequences of them. So when Iwhen I went back to Brazil, I
felt a lot more empowered toquestion my parents. Hmm. And
so, at that time, when I wentback to Brazil, I started
actually teaching English as asecond language, okay. And my
(19:08):
parents because of a differentsituation, they emancipated me.
So by the time I was 16, I wasmaking crazy money for a 16 year
old because it emancipated. So Istarted just letting my parents
know what I was up to. I wasn't,I wasn't, I was like, Listen,
this, you know, this weekend,I'm gonna be traveling and I'm
(19:31):
gonna be doing this. They'relike, No, you're not you have to
do that. And like, no, no, no,I'm letting you know. And this
is where I'm staying, these arethe phone numbers, you know, but
I had ownership of what choicesI wanted to make. And I still
had that narrative, though. AndI only understood that I had
that narrative that I was aninconvenience that I didn't
(19:51):
belong when obviously it wasvery challenging for my parents
to deal with my newfoundindependence.
And one day I ran away, youknow, to go to this concert. I
didn't. I was so upset. I didn'teven let them know. I was like,
What's the point? You know,we're going to argue again. So
just left And it was a GloriaGaynor concert. And when I came
(20:19):
back, my father was so upset, hetook me on this car ride to
like, really lash out on me. Soin a confined space, he wasn't
much conversation, nor did Ihave control of what where we
were going. Very one sidedconversation, and he really took
the reins on it. And for somereason, he felt the need at some
(20:41):
point to say, you need to lookat your mom and your dad as
examples in life because we'venever made a mistake.
Arthi Rabikrisson (20:49):
Hmm.
Lara Augusta (20:50):
And I was like, Excuse me. That was the first
time that it was like theloudest, loudest alert to
myself. And it was very clearabout it. He didn't call me a
mistake. He didn't say thatnobody has ever called me a
mistake or anything. It was acalling to me because when he
(21:11):
said that, my first reaction waslike, What do you mean, you've
never made a mistake? I am yourwalking,talking, feeling,
living, breathing mistake?
Arthi Rabikrisson (21:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Lara Augusta (21:25):
And that tore me apart that I was able to think
that like that. We have atriggered by his, you know, self
righteousness trip It was atrigger to me. And it was a huge
thing. And that's what sometimeslike triggers? Well, a lot of
(21:46):
the times. Yeah, that's whattriggers do to you. They're
they're hauling your attentionto something that you need to
address.
more versus it.
Arthi Rabikrisson (21:54):
So I mean, yeah, I love I love how you're
putting forward the story to usand, and sharing with us your
triggers. And at that time,potentially, and also how that
narrative started to change, youknow, given your level of
independence, and given this newawareness based on what your
dad, you know, sort of said toyou in that car ride. And it's
(22:16):
making me think now, you knowLara, why, and maybe articulate
this for our listeners, why isit then so important, that we
all undertake this process of,you know, undoing unraveling the
narratives, especially theseunproductive ones that we have
in us? What would you say?
Lara Augusta (22:35):
Such a big question.
It is key, because a lot of alot of us, we can go through our
entire lives, just carrying onunserving narratives through
different phases of our lives,and they just become too heavy
to carry at some point. And wecan't pinpoint you know, why is
(22:59):
it that I've ended up here? Somany people ask themselves to
you know, that today, they'veasked themselves that throughout
history, how did I end up here,you know, and that comes from
that missing the opportunitiesthat the challenges give you,
the triggers give you, thosenegative feelings give you. We
(23:22):
put such a bad rap on what Icall catabolic feelings. You
know, the nagging ones, the onesthat, that that really weighed
you down. Such a bad rap onthem, but what they're doing is
actually they're informing youat all times, that something's
not right with you. Thatsomething's not right with your
(23:44):
environment, that something'snot right, with the choices that
you are allowing to be made inyour life. And when we are
responsible for our choices. Asa child, not necessarily again,
we're looking at we're looking,we're adapt very quickly to
survive.
Arthi Rabikrisson (24:01):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Lara Augusta (24:02):
At some point what you've carried as narrative, as
a child or as a teenager inorder to be accepted in order to
be loved in order to be carriedforward in order to be fed in
order to be safe. At some pointof your life. You've just got to
look at that with grace andcompassion yourself for having
(24:23):
done that for yourself or havingallowed yourself to go through
that in order to survive. Ifthat was the case, right? but
if that was the case, case, youlove yourself for having done
through, you know for havingdone that for yourself. And then
check yourself in with withyourself in the present. Yeah.
(24:44):
Where are you at? What does itstill serve you?
Because if it no longer serveyou, that's okay. Honor it for
what it was and start choosingwhat will serve you from today
on so you can builds thatreality. So you can build the
circumstances. So you canexperience what you choose to.
Arthi Rabikrisson (25:05):
Hmm. I mean, that's, that's powerful in terms
of, you know, having that checkin, and then having that
knowledge about the choices, youknow, in terms of steps to move
forward. That's so importantthat I think we forget that,
Lara, oftentimes, you knowespecially when that narrative
is so loud in your in your head,right, it consumes and drowns
out every other sort of rationalthought that come in. But I
(25:29):
guess what you're suggesting is,is that there's some work that
needs to be done in thatinternal sort of component of,
you know, love yourself, giveyourself permission, hear what
it has to say, but then take themantle up of the challenge to
sort of say, alright, I hearyou, I acknowledge you. But I
don't need to continue in thatway I can choose something else
(25:51):
choose to behave in a differentway to her. That's quite
powerful.
Lara Augusta (25:55):
And even though I had, I had often offered myself
those opportunities, I alsooften questioned it, it's
important to have because you'rein that loop. Right? That's all
you know, that's all you've beenaccustomed to. So it's something
that happens overnight. Yeah.
You don't go to the gym onetime, and then you leave the gym
(26:16):
fit, you know,
Arthi Rabikrisson (26:19):
If only
Unknown (26:21):
Oh, my God. I know three gods Totally agree.
Lara Augusta (26:28):
It's constant work. It's constant, self check.
And it's constant, allowingyourself as well to have the
rights ruined. And sometimesthat support comes because you
saw it. And as sometimes thatsupport comes because you're
just doing the work and open toit. And that's what happened to
me about like, three years ago,about three years ago, I was
(26:51):
completely emotionallyderegulated for having shear,
and in a coaching session, I wasbeing coached through it. And
then I hopped into aneuroscience course where an
amazing scientist, you know,Coach, neuroscientists,
psychologists, she'soutstanding, should show she was
(27:12):
she asked that this was like,700 people in the room. Yes. And
she asked for someone to come upon screen to be coached through
something going through. And Ijust, I just put there in the
message super shyly, because Iwas so afraid to show up, I was
so afraid to expose myself I wasso afraid to speak up for all of
(27:35):
those things that, you know, allthose back of the mind
narratives, yes. Now, it doesn'tmatter what I have to say, I
don't matter, I don't belong andnot welcomed, you know, in fact,
that I just put their very shylyamong like, you know, hundreds
of people putting their whatthey wanted. I was like, I can't
spend another day withoutshowing up authentically, I want
(27:57):
to show up as myself you know,flaws and all. And so she, I'm
ready for that. And so she putme on screen and I was like, Oh,
what did i sign up for, But myPandora Box was already open.
Like I said, I had just like 20minutes before had just left a
(28:18):
coaching session. I was I wasstill emotionally deregulated
because of the process. Ihaven't integrated or reset
myself yet. Yes. So as I showher up here, I have like, my
face is still like, you know,puffed up and all in when she
starts coaching me that I'mlike, boom, I derail again. And
(28:40):
she offered me such a beautifulgift. Uh huh. She was like, I
see you. It's so simple. That'sit. I see you. And she's like,
No wonder, you feel this way.
Hmm. Anyone who have gonethrough this would have felt the
same. . You know, thatcompassion, that grace that I've
(29:04):
have tried so many times to tooffer to myself? Yeah, I found
it was I was open to theexperience. I'm scared but i was
open.
Arthi Rabikrisson (29:17):
Yeah, of course.
Lara Augusta (29:19):
And with that, she asked me some incredible
questions, you know, in which,eventually, everybody was in
tears with me. I had like, yourpeople reaching out and all of
that there was so much love, andit's warm in room for that, in
that some people were asking atsome point and you you're in
(29:40):
coaching, some people ask what'sbetween, you know, psychology
and coaching is what justhappened? And it was a very fine
line because I was veryemotionally deregulated and
working on a story that had keptme stuck in the past, obut she
also shown On this brilliantlight on the experience for
(30:02):
every all the coaches in there,you know for like all those
people in there, which, right?
Yes, she she was like pouringherself pouring a lot of herself
out. Yeah. But at the same timeshe was present with herself as
she support herself out.
There wasn't an amount of selfawareness and the willing to not
(30:27):
stay stuck to move forward withthat story. And to choose a
different narrative around it.
Arthi Rabikrisson (30:34):
Beautiful, beautiful.
Lara Augusta (30:36):
That was why it was a coaching session.
Arthi Rabikrisson (30:38):
Yeah, I mean, it's, that was powerful and
publicly powerful, too, right.
But there you were, you know, Icould I could, I can picture it
absolutely can picture.
Lara Augusta (30:48):
It was so healing, it was so healing.
Arthi Rabikrisson (30:52):
So Lara we are having such a beautiful
conversation today. And you, Imean, you sharing so much of
your experiences, things that wecan do as well, to actually
start the process or continuethe process, even if we are on
this journey of these narrativesand trying to uncomplicate them
so well for ourselves. As we aswe come to the close, I'd love
(31:15):
it if you could share anoverarching thoughts that you
want to leave with our listenerstoday about their journey, about
their process, and somethingthat can motivate them to keep
going on this journey. Becausethere's so much more in store
for them, what would you say?
Lara Augusta (31:31):
Choose yourself.
Just choose yourself, we can'tpour from an empty cup. And once
we choose to take a good look atourselves and to be present with
ourselves, man, there's a lot ofbeauty that can come out of it.
Now to offer ourselves grace, tooffer ourselves compassion, to
(31:52):
offer ourselves love, and tohonor all the choices that we've
made to this day that brought usto where we are today. We are
here And how empowering it is tolook back and, and instead of
completely dissecting everythingthat has gone wrong, to shine a
light on everything oneverything that has gone, right.
Arthi Rabikrisson (32:19):
Absolutely, absolutely that perspective that
reframe right,
Lara Augusta (32:24):
that among parents and all throughout life, we
could have chose, you know, toto argue we could have chosen
to, you know, have thisanimosity among the family, we
could have choked, it could havegone so many different we could
have chosen, you know, all kindsof different ways of supporting
each other. But we each did thebest that we could with what we
(32:45):
knew, at each of you know, thedifferent times of our lives.
And today, we've already hadthis conversation as well today.
It was like I'm so grateful foryou haven't you know, each one
of them to haven't been in mylife the way they did. They
could show up for my life. Yes.
And whatever it was that madethem show up, whether it was
obligation where there was fear,whether it was the need for
(33:08):
control, whatever, whatever wastheir reason, whether it was
love, whatever was their reason,they showed up they way they
could. You know, and I did it.
But we also have the freedom ofchoice. And today we do get to
keep each other in each other'slives.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:26):
Yes,
Lara Augusta (33:27):
choosing to do so.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:29):
Absolutely.
So choice, choosing yourself.
Lovely. I love that. Larra, it'sbeen an absolute pleasure
chatting with you today gettingto know more about you and your
experiences. And thank you forinspiring all of us on the show,
it has been such a pleasure. i
Lara Augusta (33:46):
Thank you so much for having me Arthi, this is
this is great.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:51):
Wonderful.
You take care, Lara,
Lara Augusta (33:53):
Likewise have a great one.
Arthi Rabikrisson (33:55):
You too,bye.
Hi.
Thank you so much for joining meon this episode today. If you
like what you heard, rate, theepisode and podcast and feel
free to write a review. Plus, ofcourse, share with others too. I
(34:18):
love talking around topics likethese. So if you like my
perspective or insight in asubject close to your heart, or
something that you're grapplingwith, reach out to me in your
comments or send me an email viamy website or connect me via
LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook,all my social media are on the
podcast information. If it'simportant to you, then it's
(34:42):
important to so I'm happylistening to the inspire your
life podcast and catch you soonon the next episode.
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