Get ready for THE TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE℠ PODCAST: SEASON 4! With co-hosts Rachel Bellotti (she/her) and Jenell Riesner (she/her), this is a gathering of un-sugar-coated conversations celebrating the untold stories of everyday people fearlessly finding and living their true north. 

In our own search to discover and live from our TRUE NORTH, we continue to meet many interesting, courageous people from all walks of life, doing all sorts of amazing things to live life in their own unique way. Stories from all over the world. Stories with heart. Stories with grit. Stories with plot twists. Stories going untold - until now. This season, we continue to celebrate these untold stories of everyday people who are fearlessly living their true north and inspiring each of us to do the same.

Today, we’re talking to Edgar Cholewa-Cardona, a huge fan of Shiba Inu dogs, originally from Guatemala, a language connoisseur (he speaks English, Spanish, Mandarin, Chinese, and is learning German!), on the Strategic Implementation Team at Mindbody, and lover of all plants - currently he has over 300+! We chat about how plants are related to living an authentic life and how they can teach us about diversity and community. We unpack energetic communication, finding the beauty in the little things, trying things just to try them, not taking things for granted, understanding your roots, acknowledging differences, having real friends or just a lot of people you know, blame culture, getting stuck in life, and celebrating experimentations, failures, and endings. This is a relatable episode that will leave you laughing and feeling connected. <3

*note: this episode includes explicit language appropriate for those ages 16+

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• #amplifymelanatedvoices @BlackPeopleW.Plants
• #amplifymelanatedvoices @epicgardening
• Renata Bliss Freestyle Videos
• The Trees Die Standing
• Mindbody
• TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE Youtube Channel
• Epic Gardening podcast
• Music from: https://www.jukedeck.com/

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. In plant ecosystems, there is a natural quality of supporting the weaker plants within the system to keep the entire community thriving. What can we learn about that as humxns? How can we give ourselves space to tap into that natural quality within ourselves that can support the whole in a way that supports us, too? What might that look like if you started to tap into that natural quality of care and love for those around you? And not at the expense of yourself, but in alignment with yourself.
2. In order to build deeper connections and relationships, there will be much required of you to dig deeper within yourself. We cannot expect others to be able to go there with us if we haven’t been able to first go there with ourselves. So, how are you sincerely getting to know yourself each day so that you can have the level of intimacy and meaningful relationships that you desire?
3. “You are not a real gardener if you’ve never killed a plant.” It is inevitable that it’s going to happen, so just accept it and learn and keep going. Similarly, as a humxn it is inevitable that you are going to mess stuff up and get stuff wrong and make mistakes and fail sometimes. If you don’t allow yourself this reality, then you aren’t embracing what it is to truly be humxn. Where are you giving yourself a hard time for something that is maybe actually making you, YOU? What if you practiced embracing all of it?

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [1:10] Dancing alone in the garage
• [3:50] Rachel gets the handle “weirdo” on TikTok
• [4:50] The clean plate club
• [7:14] Toilet stories!!
• [13:12] AD: Right now, Soul Care Collective, a Black woman-run virtual wellness center, is taking donations for their Affordable Wellness Initiative, where you can sponsor healing sessions for Black, Indigenous, NB, and Femme people who aren’t able to afford mental health + wellness services right now. Follow @soulcarecollective, spread the word about this initiative, and/or donate if inspired here.
• [14:20] Welcome, Edgar!
• [15:30] Why plants?
• [17:50] Plant personalities 
• [18:50] How to keep your plants alive
• [21:00] Layers of communication 
• [24:00] Power of ecosystems + tree communities
• [28:30] Scarcity mindset
• [31:00] Companies actually keep your resume on file?!
• [34:45] When random dots connect
• [38:00] What do you do with THAT much extra time?!
• [44:50] AD: In 2021, we’re so excited to be offering live zoom workshops, every month, to support you in the journey of reconnecting to your TRUE NORTH. Join us on Jan 28th, as we kick-off the series with an INTENTION SETTING WORKSHOP - inviting you to reflect, unpack, + get clear on who you want to be + how you want to show up this year. Additionally, THE COLLECTIVE, our free community conversations on authenticity will now be held on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Learn more + sign up here.
• [45:20] How plants related to diversity 
• [50:00] Making an effort to understand the differences
• [54:00] Difficult conversations
• [56:00] Friends vs knowing a lot of people
• [58:00] Blame culture
• [1:00:00] Getting stuck in life 
• [1:06:00] Changing your ending
• [1:08:30] Playing with guilt when a plant dies
• [1:12:50] Failure parties! And honoring the endings
• [1:15:00] Posting plant deaths as celebrations of life
• [1:20:30] How do you live your TRUE NORTH in 1 word?
• [1:21:00] Connect with Edgar via IG @talkingtomyhouseplants