From Survive to Thrive: How to Live A Truly Great Life with Sarah Grynberg
Sarah Grynberg - Keynote Speaker, Author and Mindset Coach
Sarah empowers professional athletes, executives, and business owners to overcome unhelpful thinking and achieve greatness. With expertise in mindset, mental resilience, and happiness, Sarah’s unique approach has helped countless individuals and businesses thrive.
She hosts live shows, including a tour with renowned author Johann Hari, and is the creator of the acclaimed podcast A Life of Greatness, where she interviews global icons like Matthew McConaughey, Andrew Huberman, and Esther Perel. Sarah also shares practical insights through her supplementary series, Sarah’s Thoughts, helping listeners unlock their potential and embrace purposeful living.
Sarah’s book: Living A Life Of Greatness – steps to a fulfilling existence is now available everywhere!
What would it mean to you to live a life of Greatness?
Greatness is something we can all achieve, if we get crystal clear on what greatness means today. And in today’s conversation with sit down with Author of ‘Living a Life of Greatness, Sarah Grynberg to understand just how we do this.
Sarah defines Greatness as an interior state,one where through shifts in our thoughts, behaviors and daily practices we can achieve our own true and authentic potential - however that looks for us.
Greatness is synonymous with self-actualisation— it’s about living a fulfilling life; it’s about knowing and becoming all that you are capable of being.
Sarah Grynberg is a keynote speaker author and mindset coach who empowers professional athletes, executives, and business owners to overcome unhelpful thinking and achieve greatness. With expertise in mindset, mental resilience, and happiness, Sarah’s unique approach has helped countless individuals and businesses thrive.
She hosts live shows, including a tour with renowned author Johann Hari, and is the creator of the acclaimed podcast A Life of Greatness, where she interviews global icons like Matthew McConaughey, Andrew Huberman, and Esther Perel.
In this conversation we explore what it means to live a life of greatness, and what practical things you can do right now to get you there.
Learn more about Sarah Grynberg:
Get your copy of Sarah’s latest book Living A Life Of Greatness – steps to a fulfilling existence right here.
Learn more about Sarah Grynbreg here, and listen to her podcast.
Episode Transcript:
Important Chapters in this episode:
00:00 Introduction to Greatness
00:20 Meet Sarah Grinberg
02:00 Sarah's Journey to Personal Development
03:02 The Turning Point: Burnout and Realization
05:25 Discovering the Mind-Body Connection
08:45 Defining Greatness
11:16 Overcoming Negative Thoughts
19:36 The Power of Intentionality
22:35 The Role of Love in Greatness
35:39 Authenticity and Living a Great Life
38:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
[00:00:00] Alexis Zahner: What would it mean to you to live a life of greatness? Greatness is something we can all achieve if we get crystal clear on what greatness means to us. In today's conversation, we sit down with author of Living a Life of Greatness, Sarah Grinberg. To understand just how we do this, Sarah defines greatness as an interior state, one where through shifting our thoughts and behaviors and daily practices, we can achieve our own true and authentic form of greatness, however that might look for us.
[00:00:42] Greatness is synonymous with self actualization. It's about living a fulfilling life. It's about knowing and becoming all that you are capable of being. It's about reaching your potential. Sarah Grinberg is a keynote speaker, author, and mindset coach who empowers professional athletes, executives, and business owners to overcome unhelpful thinking and achieve greatness.
[00:01:08] With expertise in mindset, mental resilience, and happiness, Sarah's unique approach has helped countless individuals and businesses thrive. Sarah hosts live shows, including a tour with renowned author Johan Hari, and is the creator of the acclaimed podcast A Life of Greatness. Where she's interviewed global icons like Matthew McConaughey, Andrew Huberman, and Esther Perel.
[00:01:31] In this conversation, we explore what it means to live a life of greatness. And what practical things you can do right now to get there. Let's dive in.
[00:01:46] Sally Clarke: Welcome to We Are Human Leaders, Sarah. It's such a delight to have you with us today. And we would like to start by getting to know you a little bit better and hearing a little of the journey that's brought you to this incredible book that you've written and the incredible work that you're doing today.
[00:02:00] Sarah Grynberg: Well, firstly, thank you so much for having me. A bit of background for everyone that's listening. I'm a mindset coach to a lot of executives and athletes and. I am a keynote speaker, as well as obviously, as you mentioned, having my first book come out in March this year, as well as having my own podcast called A Life of Greatness.
[00:02:20] How I got on that journey to do all those different things was a very interesting one. I started for many years working within media. And I got a job working on breakfast radio. And that was so exciting at the time and something I had wanted in my career for ages. So, you know, the moment I got the job, I thought, wow, this is incredible.
[00:02:44] And it was also interesting to note that what I thought was giving me. A lot of happiness and bringing a lot of joy to my life was all these external things around me, like this shiny new job and the amount of money I was getting paid for the job. And so I went into the breakfast radio role and after a few months became completely exhausted.
[00:03:08] So breakfast radio is a really interesting beast because it requires you to be on The whole day and the whole night in the sense that it's not a job that you just clock in at 9am and you finish at 5pm and then that's it. You don't look at work email or take any calls. This is a job where you are always on, always expected to answer your phone messages, doesn't matter what's going on in your life.
[00:03:32] If you take this role on, that is what you're expected. And especially back then when I was doing it, which was a while ago. So I had a two year old and a four year old at the time. And I. Was waking up at 3 a. m. Five days a week, you know, not waking up to go to the gym or do meditation waking up to go to work and then it was just so full on from the minute I got there to the minute I left and then having to do things for the children because they were obviously still young as well as being able to do this role.
[00:04:07] Ended up making me just completely, absolutely burn out. And it wasn't until I got really sick with the flu during that year of doing breakfast radio, where I was at home, just so miserable. And I thought to myself, this is so interesting. You know, I have constructed my life to be a certain way and thinking that I was going to be so happy achieving all these external things.
[00:04:34] Yet I was so incredibly sad and upset inside and broken. Really. I was barely spending time with my family. Like I'd wake up before any of them were awake. And a lot of the time I would go to bed as I put my kids to bed. I wouldn't even see my husband for days on end. Cause he wasn't even home from work yet.
[00:04:53] So you're getting into this cycle of just, it was just relentless. I was. As I mentioned, so unhappy, so burnt out. And I thought, you know what, if I don't make changes in my life, then nothing is going to change. And it really was in that moment that I thought, all right, I need to take control of this because otherwise it's just going to be a downhill spiral.
[00:05:17] And I personally just could not be at that level of on for the rest of my life or however long I was to do that job for. So that's when I really started getting into personal development work and what really interested me was the mind body connection and how that worked, why some people were happier than others, the idea of Buddhism and how that worked for people.
[00:05:41] I started studying philosophy as well as different forms of psychology and my life started changing in a very short period of time and it led me on the path that I am now.
[00:05:54] Sally Clarke: Amazing journey, Sarah. And I have to ask, you mentioned a moment. I'm so curious having been through a burnout myself as a finance lawyer, which is weirdly similar in terms of cadence, it seems to being on.
[00:06:07] in terms of how it consumes your life and is very externally focused in terms of motivation and validation. You mentioned a moment. So was there a moment of kind of almost confrontation with self that happened or how did that shift take place for you?
[00:06:21] Sarah Grynberg: Yeah. Well, it was in that moment where I had the flu and I was on the couch and it's so funny how the human brain works and we know this, that the brain will take.
[00:06:33] Almost like photographs of memories that have extreme happiness and extreme sadness. And because that memory of being burnt out and being on the couch was so upsetting for me. And as you know, a lot of spiritual teachers call the dark night of the soul. I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was so long ago.
[00:06:52] And for me, that moment was the catalyst in the change of my life forever.
[00:06:58] Sally Clarke: Amazing. And something that definitely resonates for me, having kind of collapsed at an airport many years ago. And I love that it's, this trajectory has really shifted for you from something that was very externally focused. It sounds to something that was much more internally focused in terms of exploring.
[00:07:14] Almost the inside of the human experience and what it means to live a life and indeed a life of greatness.
[00:07:21] Sarah Grynberg: Yes. I mean, my whole focus of my work now is about getting your inner world so steady and in control that whatever comes to you from the external world, you have the means to be able to ride it or take it on.
[00:07:38] I think, you know, life is about learning and it's a journey, right? And doesn't matter how many personal development books you read or what a kind person you are, you are going to have a life that has ups and downs. It's life, but the way that those bumps come into your life can be a lot smoother if you have the inner world that is able to tackle them.
[00:08:05] And I can tell you what I was like before personal development work and knowing mindset and being a teacher and writing books and all that kind of stuff. To what I am like now, when things, big things come into my life is so unbelievably different. And, you know, the reason for writing my book, Living a Life of Greatness.
[00:08:27] Was that I discovered these key pillars of what people need to be able to live a great life, things that worked for me, and that's what I want to communicate with people within that book. So they're able to lead their own great life.
[00:08:41] Alexis Zahner: And Sarah, you just mentioned there the title of your new book, Living a Life of Greatness.
[00:08:45] And I'd love to just pause for a minute and double click on this term of greatness. Can you help us understand that a little bit more by giving us your definition of greatness?
[00:08:56] Sarah Grynberg: Yes. I mean, I just love that you use double clear cutting. That is so wonderful. So obviously greatness is different for everyone.
[00:09:05] You know, what your greatness is, is not the same as my greatness. But I think at the end of the day, greatness is living a life that's fulfilling and a life of purpose and a life of meaning and being able to help others on your journey. I mean, I would say that majority of people would call that greatness.
[00:09:28] Alexis Zahner: And Sarah, something you mentioned there was that my greatness looks different from your greatness. So it sounds to me like there's this element of. sort of authentic alignment there that we need to actually take stock of what that might look like for us at a very individual level.
[00:09:45] Sarah Grynberg: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, obviously not everyone wants to have a job where they go out and do things like you and I do, like doing a podcast or writing or whatever it is.
[00:09:58] Their greatness might be looking after their family, but doing it in a way that's Being able to serve themselves and the people that they're around, being able to build an inner world that is so wonderful that when they are with their family and their loved ones, they're able to show up as the best person possible.
[00:10:16] Greatness is so different, but I think as we mentioned, when you touch on it, it's being able to be the best version of yourself and. That's what we all want. We want to be the best version of ourself because when we're the best version of ourselves, we can serve others in the best way possible.
[00:10:34] Sally Clarke: I think that's such an important insight, that real authenticity to self, Sarah, and I think for me also, there's a level of presence that's required in order for that to manifest because often when we're stuck in our busyness, in our to do list, it takes us away from the meaning and the purpose that we can find in life.
[00:10:52] And I'm curious to think, you know, some of us go through these kind of dark nights of the soul in order to have this evolution towards, you know, living a more authentic life. But how can we perhaps, if listeners are just in a busy life and sort of feeling perhaps a bit trapped in the day to day of this urgency culture that we experience, what are some ways that we can start to shift towards a life of greatness despite the busyness?
[00:11:16] Sarah Grynberg: So I think one of the things that people struggle with is their own internal narrative, right? You know, I'm not good enough. I could never do that. I'm not smart enough, whatever it is. I mean, I think the brain has something around 60, 000 thoughts a day. 80 percent are negative and 95 percent are repetitive.
[00:11:36] I mean, if you actually think about those numbers, they are wild. That 80 percent of what we think about every day is negative. The first thing to do, if you want to lead a great life is become consciously aware. So what does consciously aware mean? It means. Knowing what we're saying, what we're thinking and our actions, you know, being aware of what we're actually thinking that's negative, what we're saying and what we're doing allows us to then be able to change it.
[00:12:10] You know, when I talk to people. In keynotes or when I teach people, one of the first things I say, which again is wild because it's so simple, but people really get the understanding of it when I say it. For change to occur, you need to change. You can't change if you're doing the same things day in, day out, or thinking the same thoughts.
[00:12:33] doing the same actions, you know, it won't happen. So for the first thing, I always say to people, become consciously aware. So once you're consciously aware of the thoughts you're thinking, you're able to change them. And how do we change them? How do we change negative thoughts that come into our mind?
[00:12:51] Because 80 percent of them apparently are negative. So this was my life before I was thinking always worst case scenario. I was thinking about scenarios that never happened. You know, something really interesting. And I think a lot of people will be able to relate is that I would get up in the morning and I'd be like in an okay mood and go straight to work and from waking up to that not very long drive to work, I would then become in such a bad mood.
[00:13:19] Nothing had happened except my mind. I would just, Oh, I'm going to see this one. And what if she says this and. You know, I've got to go to this meeting and I hope in that meeting, they don't bring that up. I was constructing imaginary scenarios with people talking. We're never happening. And I was going from being an okay mood to being the shocking mood or because of my mind.
[00:13:44] And that makes us realize that if we control the mind, then we're able to control our emotions. Which when you know that, I mean, how amazing is that? That is so. It's great to know that we are able to control things that we think to be able to lead a great life. So the first thing I say to people is when you have a negative thought, go to a better feeling thought.
[00:14:07] And you know, that's easily said than done, but already know what your better feeling thought is going to be. So say for example, it might be something you love or care a lot about. It might be a dog. It might be. A child, it might be a partner, it might be a job, whatever it is for you, have the idea in your mind already what it is.
[00:14:29] When that negative thought comes up, which will happen hundreds of times during the day, immediately, if you're consciously aware that negative thoughts come up, I'm going to think about my dog. And you do that at the start so many times, but the more and more you do it, and we know this through neuroscience, the more the brain rewires itself.
[00:14:50] To go from that negative thought to the positive thought. So you won't be doing it as many times during the day. You know, we know again, through neuroscience, that there was a stage where people thought scientists thought that you get to around 30 years old and your brain is hardwired. That is the way it's going to be.
[00:15:07] And there's nothing we can do about it. Now we know through neuroplasticity that the brain can be rewired till any age, which is. Again, so amazing for us to know that we have the ability in ourselves to be able to do that. Another thing which works really well for people is when you're lying in bed ruminating at 2.
[00:15:29] 30am, which seems to be something a lot of people do, again, I know that this happens to me still not as often as what it used to be, is that when you're thinking of that dark thought and a lot of dark thoughts happen at that time of night, actually say to yourself and is that true? Whatever I'm thinking about, it might be, I think that my boss doesn't like me.
[00:15:50] Do I know for sure that my boss doesn't like me? 90 percent of the time, if we actually test that. We don't know for sure we're making this up. Like I talked about earlier when I was in the bad mood for no reason. So that already gives us a relief. If you do know for sure that that person doesn't like you, your boss doesn't like you, you know, he's told you, or, you know, there is enough evidence to show you that your boss doesn't like you.
[00:16:16] I tell people to go into radical acceptance. Radical acceptance of, okay, I understand this is the situation that I'm in. I can use internal levels of control, which we use a lot in psychology. Is there something I can do about it? Maybe there is, and then you go and you form an action plan and, you know, change that if you want to, or there's nothing I can do about it and I'll be radically accepting of it and then I'll move on and then I'll use the other technique if I go into those negative thought patterns again, moving to that positive thought.
[00:16:49] So those are the first kind of things that people need to know. If they're wanting to live a great life. And the same thing goes again through the words that you say. So if you have this negative narrative the whole time to yourself, but also to others via gossip or whatever it is, think about what you're engaging in.
[00:17:07] If people are coming to you and they're very negative and they're constantly saying bad things about someone, which is very different to someone just asking you advice. Think about if you want to engage in that, because when you're engaging in that, you're playing in that very negative, low vibrational space, which I can tell you is never going to make you feel good.
[00:17:28] And it's never going to lead to a good outcome. So be very consciously aware of what you're saying to other people about yourself and about others, and then also your actions. So, you know, one thing that absolutely really gets me annoyed is when people say something and they don't actually do it. So if I say, I'd be happy to come on your podcast, for example, because that's something I'm doing now.
[00:17:52] I wouldn't say it and then not come on. Cause that would not be in alignment with my words and my actions would not be aligned. It would be better for me to say, thank you so much for the offer, but I have no time at the moment and I can't. Because then you'd go, okay, that's fine. So being consciously aware of all those sort of things.
[00:18:10] It's going to lead you to a greater life.
[00:18:13] Alexis Zahner: Sarah, there's so much in everything you've just said that I can see in my former self. And interestingly, similar to you, I used to say that I would wake up at a sprint. I'd wake up and the first thing in the morning, my brain would just be off to the races. I feel like I lived in the present, in the future rather, more so in the present.
[00:18:30] And so I was always constantly looking ahead at what needed to be done, what needed to be said, the conversations I'd be having that later that day, the battles I might have to fight later that day. And I actually didn't even realize personally how much my brain tended towards that negativity bias that you mentioned, that idea that one small seed of a negative thought can actually grow into something so much deeper and darker than that and can really color the way that we move through the day.
[00:18:54] So I appreciate you mentioning this idea of starting with creating the space between ourselves and those thoughts so we can start to look at them. A little more like a third party and investigate them in a way that sort of creates some separation from self and thought. I, I just, I resonate with that so deeply having been there myself.
[00:19:13] Sarah Grynberg: Yeah. I think it's so common for so many people, cause when I often talk about it, so many people will say that's me too. But if we know that 80 percent of us are having negative thoughts. Um, then majority of people in this world are all thinking like what you and I used to think like.
[00:19:30] Alexis Zahner: Totally. Absolutely.
[00:19:32] And Sarah, I'd love to dive into the next concept that you talk about in your book as well. And that's the role of intentionality in living a life of greatness. How can we as a next step to sort of building that conscious awareness, how can we then look to incorporate some intentionality into our lives?
[00:19:48] Sarah Grynberg: You know, intention is really interesting because we have such busy lives and I think a lot of our day is done again, probably a little bit unconsciously where we're answering emails, we're getting back to this one, we're doing this, we're having this sort of interaction. We're not really thinking about what we're doing, we're just doing it.
[00:20:07] So that's why this is really good segue from conscious and awareness to intention, because you need conscious awareness to be able to then build intentions. To be able to look at, I know it sounds like it takes a long time, but it, honestly, it's a few seconds of your mind working is that, you know, I'm going to send you an email.
[00:20:25] What do I want out of this email that will serve both of us, right? Actually thinking about it before you write it. When I came onto this podcast interview today, I thought. You know, what do I want out of this podcast? Well, I want to turn up as my best self. So you guys get a good episode. And then the service part of that is that everyone that listens to it will be able to take something away from it to be able to live a great life.
[00:20:50] And if I sell a couple of books from it, that's also wonderful. So it kind of works for all of us, but I really believe that intention. When it has that service alignment to it, sometimes as well, then that's when it really works for both people. I mean, you know, any scenario you go into, be it a meeting, whatever it is, it really is what will work best for both of us.
[00:21:14] So it's not about I, the whole time, it's about we. And I promise you, sometimes I know that, you know, people might be thinking, Oh, but I just kind of want to get the best money or, you know, the best negotiation for this. I promise you it'll work out better if both parties come to an agreement of some sort, because then that relationship will last longer.
[00:21:37] And that goes into friendships as well. You know, well, I want to be a great friend because what happens when I'm a great friend and I show up to being a great friend that gets reflected straight back to you. So everything goes both ways. Thinking in your mind, just before you do the action, what is my intention for this?
[00:21:59] I can promise you that the outcome of whatever it is you're doing is always going to be better if you also tie it to a bit of service.
[00:22:08] Sally Clarke: That's such a beautiful description of I think how intentionality can actually give such extra shape. And the thought that kept coming to my mind, Sarah, was this almost this extra dimension that it's not just about the I or the you anymore, but it's almost about the space in between and this different.
[00:22:23] Energy that we can create when we bring that intentionality to our actions. And this also kind of segues neatly into a question that we didn't share with you in advance, but it was one that's really stood out to me as I was reading the book. And I'd love to understand from you what the role is of love.
[00:22:40] In living a life of greatness. Cause it's another chapter in the book that really resonated for me. It's not one, this is a leadership podcast. This is not a common space for the conversation about love, but it was so profound to me, what you shared in there. And I was wondering if you could share a little bit with our listeners about what love means in living a life of greatness.
[00:22:59] Sarah Grynberg: I mean, love is everything. It's everything. It honestly is, it's so nice that you bring up that chapter. I was doing an audio version of my book, um, recording it just the other week. And I started reading that chapter and it's just, it's so emotionally beautiful that it like takes me straight back to that retreat.
[00:23:19] You know, the time that I had there, we are like, our heart is our heart. Now brain, uh, the main things that we have within us, we have all these other organs as well, obviously. But like I said, love is everything. If we can give love to people, you'll see that reflected straight back to you. If you can put your heart into everything you do, say at the workplace, cause you know, this is the sort of podcast where we talk about this kind of stuff.
[00:23:49] If you can do your job from a loving place, then what you will turn up with is will be so much better when we go about our day. You know, there's something I never used to do. I don't know why I was probably too busy and again, very unconscious. I didn't really ever smile at people. I sure if someone smiled at me, maybe I would smile back, but maybe I would also look at the ground cause I wasn't ready for it.
[00:24:13] And I smile a lot at strangers now and I can tell you the amount of people that just absolutely give me this vibrant smile back. And it fills my heart. It fills their heart. Love is, you know, I'm a true believer of knowing like that love is why we're all here is to give love and to receive love. And we all know when we've received love, how amazing that feels.
[00:24:40] So I think in anything you do, if you put love into it, similar to intention, you're going to receive that straight back to you. As soon as I became a far more loving person, love would just come straight back to me. And I think it's sometimes again, we get so busy with whatever we're doing that we just go about doing it without really putting intention into it, putting any love into it, or really thinking twice about our actions.
[00:25:08] And I think the world as a whole, if it came from a more loving place.
[00:25:15] I mean, you think about any situations in your life, and again, it might just be a friendship or relationship, whatever it is, even showing up for your kids. If you're doing that out of a space of love, how much better does that feel? And do you see that that comes back to you? Very rarely will it not, you know, even if you show up for your kids.
[00:25:37] In that loving way, rather than in the mornings going, come on, guys, let's get ready, da, da, da, da, da. Being patient, talking in a kind way, really feeling into what they are feeling. Children are the best reflection of what we are showing up as. So if we do that via love, then that's what comes straight back.
[00:25:57] Alexis Zahner: Sarah, it feels to me as though by moving through the world and acting from a place of love is also a radical act of self love because we're creating. um, uh, environment where we're also thriving. Does that resonate for you as well?
[00:26:15] Sarah Grynberg: Yeah, there's a really interesting quote and it says hurt people, hurt people.
[00:26:22] And I believe that to be true, loving who you are, showing up as the best version you can and the best version of any of us is never perfect, but that's okay. I know for sure I'm not a hundred percent perfect, but I work on myself every single day and I will go to bed at night and sometimes if I know I haven't been as great as what I should be, I'll think about that.
[00:26:46] But majority of the day I will show up with my heart and more and I agree if we are loving who we are, then we're able to give that to other people and. You know, working on yourself takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. And it's not like you do it once and then you're, you know, it's magic. And that's it.
[00:27:11] The conscious awareness piece takes time. Something I would like to mention, which has been life changing for me is meditation. I do a lot of love, like getting into my heart meditations because, you know, for someone that works a lot and does multiple things as a lot of people listening, um, probably are the same.
[00:27:30] Every morning I will wake up and I go into a heart centered meditation. Where I would just feeling to the feelings of love and it's guided and it just allows me to then when I turn on my phone, when I'm doing whatever I need to, which is only after I've done the meditation, definitely not before I'm in a different space for so many years, I would wake up and I would be cranky because I wasn't meditating.
[00:28:00] I wasn't doing exercise and I wasn't consciously aware. You know, it doesn't matter what was going on in my life. I would wake up in a bad mood and doing these sorts of things will allow you, especially if you're going into that loving space, to be able to start your day in a more positive note.
[00:28:18] Sally Clarke: And I think also there's.
[00:28:20] You know, all of these practices that you're sharing and thank you for highlighting meditation. It's one that means a lot to both of us and to many of our listeners too, but it's this kind of little bit of vulnerability that I think it can take when particularly we've come from a very externally focused orientation where we get a lot of validation from external sources.
[00:28:39] We have to almost become a little bit courageous and vulnerable to start to be a bit more permeable almost to things like love and trust and authenticity. I love that the experience that I've had and Alex has and it through your book, I can tell you have too. Is that once you start on that journey, it might be the hardest journey you ever take, but it will also be the most rewarding because it transforms your experience of this gift called life.
[00:29:05] Sarah Grynberg: Yeah. And, you know, one thing that became very obvious to me when I started to study and research mindset and. Love and all, you know, the things that make a great person, the best possible version of themselves is everything we need is already inside of us. And it always was. And the reason I wrote the book is to remind people of that in this book that I write, you don't have to go buy something or go do a course or whatever it is from external places.
[00:29:40] You just need the knowledge to be able to come back home to yourself. Because no baby is ever born feeling not enough, but life gives us that sometimes. It's just life, you know, we could have the best upbringing, but I can promise you during the schoolyard days, someone might've told us that we didn't look a certain way.
[00:30:00] You know, a school teacher might have said, we're not smart enough to be able to do that. Or maybe we even shared with a parent that we wanted to be something extraordinary when we're older to get it shut down. And then slowly that beautiful light within us that we're born with disintegrates until it's barely existent.
[00:30:18] The idea of living a great life and having these pillars that I share in the book is so people can light the embers that are still there and allow themselves to flourish again with what's innately within them already.
[00:30:31] Alexis Zahner: And Sarah, you mentioned this in the book is almost like a death by a thousand cuts.
[00:30:36] It's all these little moments in time that seem to compound on top of us. make us forget who we are at that very innate level. And I think in today's very consumerism and materialistic world, we then try and build ourselves back up by buying the best shoes and the best cars and having the best jobs.
[00:30:54] And for me personally, that was also Where I realized I was idolizing all of the wrong people for the wrong reasons. And I want to know, do you see an example of someone who you feel is living a truly great life and what do you think makes that the case?
[00:31:12] Sarah Grynberg: Well, that's such an interesting question. And I do agree with you because, you know, a lot of what's on social media is that, you know, you buy the new car, you buy the house and.
[00:31:23] This is, you have the best body and you're going to be the happiest version of yourself. And I can tell you from being a mindset coach, some of the people I coach, you would never think that. How could they be unhappy? They're so well either in these amazing jobs. A lot of them are men as well, and they'll come to me absolutely exhausted.
[00:31:42] And even though on the outside, like with my life, it looks so shiny. It wasn't within look as far as people who I believe are living a great life. Let me have a think. It would probably be some of those people, those spiritual teachers, a lot of them who I interviewed because they understand how to work on themselves and they understand that by doing the inner work as we've discussed, your external world will then change.
[00:32:15] And again, like, I don't know their lives inside out. People, you know, like Eckhart Toll, Deepak Chopra to just as an example. I mean, I don't know Eckhart, I know Deepak, I don't know Eckhart that well, but I both know, I know for both of them, they realize that external things are not a big deal. And they have had a life where they've had a lot of external things and they're simple now and they're kind, and they still work very hard because they wanna be of service.
[00:32:48] But they realized that they don't need all the shiny things to live a great life. You know, even again, I interviewed her many years ago, but Bronnie Ware, who's a palliative care worker, she's a very simple lady. And she lives, I think in the country from memory, you know, she knows she doesn't need much to lead a great life.
[00:33:08] She sat amongst the dying for many years to know that I mentioned her in my book. She's content with who she is. She does the inner work. You know, this is where true happiness is found. I just thought of someone that no one will know, but I interviewed him on my podcast and I mentioned him in my book.
[00:33:26] His name is Ephraim Finch. And he was. The head of what's called the Hebra Kedisha, which was the Jewish morgue. And it was one of the most unbelievable podcast episodes I've ever done. The only podcast he's ever been on. And he talked to me for hours about giving his life to service and. You know, in the Jewish tradition, we say when you're serving people who are dead, cause they can't thank you for it.
[00:33:52] That is the highest form of service you could ever do. And really he would, again, pick up dead bodies from the morgue, sit with the families for hours on end, you know, babies or children at time. With grieving parents, he would take those bodies back to the morgue. He would wrap them in shrouds, you know, put them in holy water, like you're supposed to sit with them.
[00:34:15] Never leave them, someone from the morgue, him or the other peoples from the morgue, that would read prayers to them till the day that they were buried. And to be of such service when you never are going to get anything back. He was the happiest man I have ever met. Like to me, that is a person that is living with such contentment.
[00:34:38] And they're just living a great life. And it's not because they have the Ferrari in the house or the CEO of a company.
[00:34:45] Sally Clarke: Really wise words there. I love the phrase, you know, what you own will end up owning you came to my mind because I think so often we buy into this idea that it's the stuff that will fulfill us.
[00:34:54] And again, I think there's a little bit of courage and counterculture that is necessary when we start to shift, to focus on the moments that we inhabit, the people we connect with. And I think what that incredible man embodied also was this understanding that we are all deeply interconnected and therefore serving another is also serving myself and contributing to this greater whole.
[00:35:18] I sense strongly we could talk to you for literally days. However, I'm going to encourage everyone who's listening to go out and get a copy of the book as soon as they can. But I'd love it if you could leave our listeners with just one, perhaps a starting point for if you're feeling inspired by this conversation to start to shift towards your own version of greatness, what would be a first step?
[00:35:39] Sarah Grynberg: Well besides what we've spoken about, because conscious awareness really is the biggest piece. If you don't know what you're doing, you can't change it. But one thing that's an extra from what we spoke about is authenticity. Is showing up with who you are and what you like and just being you. And it's the best version of you.
[00:35:58] Cause if you're showing up and not being nice, cause you're cranky, that's not a great way to be towards other people or to yourself. But really living in authenticity in the sense that you're not a chameleon when you're around others. I mean, that has been a mantra throughout my whole life and something that I kind of never knew anything else, but so I would always be me and me was being matter of fact, that's just who I am being as kind as I can.
[00:36:27] And I never pretended like I didn't like things that I didn't like. I, this was me, I'm into personal development work. Now this might seem radical to people you're on the journey with me or not. And that's okay. If you're not, that's absolutely okay. Because if we feel that we can't be authentic around people who are supposed to be our friends, then what's the point in being friends with them, because as soon as you get into that space of not showing up as who you are, And having to change around people, that's when we see disease and things like that harboring.
[00:37:01] And we know this from research that Gabor Mate talks about, Ronnie Ware talks about. There are enough people out there that understand Jeffrey Rediger, who I interviewed, who is a doctor that deals with a lot of people that go into spontaneous remissions from diseases that are so called incurable. He said that authenticity Was the number one thing that people, when they moved into being their authentic self, became in control of who they were and were then able to lead a great life.
[00:37:33] And I really feel like if anyone is listening now and they feel like they're having to change the whole time, really, maybe it is going to meditation, work out what it is that you stand for and what you like and what your values are. And show up like that every day. And if that means that you're going to lose a few friends on the way, that's okay.
[00:37:53] Cause I can tell you, there'll be new friends around the corner that suit you more than the people that, you know, you're sharing relationships with that you can't be yourself around. So I think that's a beautiful point to leave people with.
[00:38:07] Sally Clarke: Absolutely agreed, Sarah. I think it's actually, I have five core values and authenticity is the one that I prioritized for 2025.
[00:38:14] So it's really validating to hear this and really inspiring also to be reminded of just how important it is and how with some conscious awareness, intentionality, love, and all of the other beautiful things and practices you mentioned in the book, we can move towards a life. Sarah, thank you so much for being with us on We Are Human Leaders today.
[00:38:34] Thank you so much for having me.
[00:38:42] Alexis Zahner: Thanks for joining us for this conversation with Sarah Grinberg on We Are Human Leaders. If you liked this conversation and would like to get a copy of Sarah's new book, Living a Life of Greatness, find out more information at the link in our show notes at www. wearehumanleaders. com. And if you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a five star rating.
[00:39:05] It really goes a long way in helping us bring incredible guests like Sarah to the show. For more information on We Are Human Leaders, visit us at www. wearehumanleaders. com. Bye for now and we'll see you next time.