Baker by day, medium by night, Kate Branagh treats the spirit world like a conversation—not a performance. From a first dorm-room visitation in New York to a Massachusetts guesthouse where an enslaved woman kept shouting “Get out,” Kate shares how she learned to listen, set boundaries, and deliver what people need—not always what they want. Her prep is practical and protective: Epsom-salt baths, a spoken filter (“messages of love and light only”), calling in guides, and jotting names, faces, and symbols before a FaceTime reading. She can’t conjure on demand, and she won’t promise lottery numbers; instead, her readings lean therapeutic—apologies, clarity, encouragement to trust your own instincts.

Highlights include a family validation that shook a skeptic, the “hell house” on her walking route with footsteps on the stairs, and a live moment where a Boy Scout–connected spirit briefly steps forward for James. Kate’s core metaphor—everyone is a radio; some pick up more stations than others—invites curiosity without dogma. If you’re cautious but curious, this episode offers discernment, ethics, and a grounded look at what “spooky” can look like in ordinary life.

• [00:00] Set-up at Fuquay Mineral Springs Inn; how Kate and Liz Purdue connected; the “spookiest month.”

• [03:30] Stick Boy bakery → “Are you spooky?” friendship; why Kate doesn’t lead with “I’m a medium.”

• [06:00] The Alzheimer’s validation: “Daisy” turns out to have Alzheimer’s—weeks later.

• [08:00] How messages arrive: mind’s eye, mind’s ear, images/words vs. physical phenomena.

• [10:30] First big encounter at 21: dorm-room man; grandmother’s visit; handwritten notes that stunned an uncle.

• [15:00] Empath overload and uninvited scenes; learning to ground and protect energy.

• [16:00] Massachusetts guesthouse: enslaved woman, “Get out,” recurring dream match from a resident.

• [21:00] What readings are/aren’t: no conjuring, no guarantees; why messages skew therapeutic.

• [23:30] Autonomy matters: you won’t always get answers—you’ll get what moves your life forward.

• [24:30] Ritual: Epsom-salt bath, “love & light only,” call in guides, pre-notes, then FaceTime.

• [25:30] The puzzle method: conversational validation to assemble the message; imposter-syndrome moments.

• [28:30] On over-reliance: “They already told you.” Why spirit gets quiet if you ring the bell too often.

• [33:00] The Margaret story: persistent spirit → genealogy check → exact match (singer/dancer; lung cancer).

• [36:00] Dark stuff? Boundaries, force-field imagery, and keeping it across the street.

• [37:00] The “hell house”: shotgun on the stairs, periwinkle dress, footsteps at night corroborated by locals.

• [40:00] “Everyone’s a radio”: why some pick up more stations; James as open-minded/logic-leaning.

• [48:00] What people get wrong: fear, judgment, and Kate’s view of “hell” as self-imposed stuckness.

• [47:30 & 50:00] How to book; purpose of the work: connection, curiosity, and living more honestly.

• • Kate on Instagram: @spookytimekate (DM to inquire/book readings).

  • Fuquay Mineral Springs Inn / Pauline’s garden (setting; mentioned during recording).

  • Liz Purdue’s haunted tour/book

Former Fortune 100 exec turned award-winning thriller author Guy Morris writes high-octane fiction that doubles as a field guide to the near future. After leaving home at 13, working his way from janitor to software architect, and spending decades at the edge of enterprise tech, Guy now uses story to connect dots most people never see—across AI, geopolitics, and faith. His “Snow Chronicle” series grew from a real AP report about a program that “escaped” a U.S. lab—an obsession that led to a hit web series and a surprise visit from the FBI. That night? “Best ever,” he laughs.

In this conversation, Guy explains why AI is neither evil nor benign—it amplifies who we are—and why the future we get depends less on code than on character. We dig into conscious AI timelines (quantum + neuromorphic computing), lethal autonomous weapons, and the three reasons this tech inflection is unlike anything before. We also talk personal reinvention, complex PTSD, and why he writes courageous, witty, flawed characters who refuse to be victims. If you want a smarter kind of rebellion—one that sharpens your mind and expands your moral imagination—this one’s for you.

• [00:00] Cold open: “AI is neither evil nor benign; it reflects who we are.”

• [03:00] How he writes: fun, compelling, non-dystopic—and thought-provoking for weeks after.

• [05:00] Backstory: runaway at 13 → father at 20 → four degrees → models that beat the Fed.

• [11:30] From Microsoft burnout to a “third-act” career as an author.

• [17:00] The AP article about a program that “escaped” — and the FBI at his door.

• [22:00] The Snow Chronicle: Sylvia, mini black holes, 5th-dimension physics, and The Image.

• [26:00] Core thesis: don’t fear the image; fear the beast it reflects.

• [29:00] Conscious AI by ~2027–2030? Quantum + neuromorphic + multimodality.

• [32:00] Utopia vs. dystopia isn’t tech—it’s people, policy, and power.

• [49:00] Three unprecedented risks: smarter-than-us, self-replicating, and lethal autonomy.

• [53:00] Where to buy (and why): author-signed copies at Guy Morris Books -Intelligent Action-Thrillers

• Guy’s site/store: http://guymorrisbooks.com (author-signed copies)

When a study showed that only 3.4% of children’s books feature a disabled protagonist, psychiatric nurse and educator T.L. McCoy realized the story her granddaughter needed didn’t exist—and decided to write it. Her middle-grade fantasy, Delilah vs. the Ghastly Grim, follows a 12-year-old with a life-threatening seizure disorder who’s pulled through an “indigo door” into a parallel world mid-seizure—then trapped there when doctors induce a coma back on Earth. The quest isn’t to “fix” her; it’s to live, choose, and become.

We unpack why inclusion (not just representation) matters, how to tell the truth about disability without preaching, and what it takes to bring an indie book to market at a professional level (30 self-edits, two pro editors—including The Hunger Games editor—and award-winning cover art). Teal shares the early reception from schools, Boston Children’s Hospital’s epilepsy unit, neurodivergent readers—and adults who see themselves in the story’s themes of belonging. If you’ve ever been told “stay in your lane,” this is a blueprint for building your own road.

• [00:00] “Sometimes we need to make people uncomfortable” — why discomfort drives change.

• [01:00] Dravet syndrome explained; why Delilah needed a mirror in fiction.

• [04:00] The 3.4% stat and the decision to write the book herself.

• [06:30] Don’t let others decide your life: the counselor, nursing, and coming back stronger.

• [11:00] Building an imprint: why she self-published and how she kept the bar high (pro edits, cover).

• [14:00] Plot mechanics: the indigo door, Othersphere, and the medically induced coma.

• [17:00] Reception: schools, hospital units, neurodivergent readers—and adults who relate.

• [20:00] Who it’s for: middle grade sweet spot, “goosebumps”-level scary, Easter eggs (3-6-9, Daredevil).

• [26:00] Inviting other authors; what Blue Round is looking for.

• [27:00] Progress over perfection: what better inclusion would look like.

• [31:00] Delilah’s real-life progress; spectrum realities; therapy cadence.

• [40:00] Craft advice: collaborate with lived experience; research for authenticity.

• [49:00] Indie realities: POD, marketing grind, timelines, and professionalizing your draft.

• Book: Delilah vs. the Ghastly Grim — T.L. McCoy

• Imprint / Contact: Elevate Your Story with Blue Round Book Group, LLC | Blue Round Book Group, LLC (submissions, services, updates)

At 17, Susan Snow’s father—a Los Angeles robbery–homicide detective—was assassinated while picking up her younger brother from school. Overnight, her life became sirens, cameras, and a brave face that hid years of panic and hyper-vigilance. The first therapist told her she was “fine.” She wasn’t. A decade later, the Columbine shooting triggered flashbacks and a spiral that finally led to a trauma-informed clinician who named it: PTSD—not a moral failing, not something you “get over,” something you learn to manage.

In this episode, Susan shares the long arc from shock to strength: choosing safe providers, setting boundaries with media and people, regulating a fried nervous system, and repairing relationships through honest conversation and accountability. Writing her memoir, The Other Side of the Gun, became both a reckoning and a roadmap—for her family and for anyone living in trauma’s wake. This one is practical, steady, and fiercely hopeful: you can’t change what happened, but you can change how you live with it.

• [00:00] Cold open: “Taking your power back” — why naming trauma matters

• [02:00] 1985: the call, the school lot, and the moment everything changed

• [06:30] Media glare, armed guards, and the mask of strength

• [10:30] “You’re fine”: when therapy misses trauma

• [15:30] Denver & Columbine: flashbacks, panic, and the wake-up call

• [19:30] “This is PTSD”: validation, vocabulary, and first tools

• [24:00] Boundaries that heal: news limits, safe people, body-based regulation

• [30:00] Repairing at home: hard conversations, apologies, accountability

• [36:00] Writing the book: timelines, memory, and telling the whole story

• [42:00] Purpose & service: coaching, speaking, and modeling mental health

• [46:00] Closing: it’s a marathon—how to keep going without burning out

• Book: The Other Side of the Gun: My Journey from Trauma to Resiliency (print, Kindle, audiobook)

• Site: Susan Snow Speaks — speaking, coaching, contact & discovery call

What if the voice that saves your life is your own? In this deeply human conversation, writer and coach David Alan Brown traces the slow erosion of self that came from always being “the good one”—the supportive partner, the present dad, the dependable friend—until one pandemic night he drove in circles, ideating, and realized he needed help. Therapy, awareness, and a surprising validation—“anger is the appropriate reaction here”—reopened his emotional life. From there, David rebuilt with a simple framework: cultivate awareness, honor emotion (without judgment), and take aligned action.

That framework became Convergence, his program for weaving three voices—instinct/emotion, active intellect, and a higher-power “I got you” presence—into one integrated way of living. We dig into functional depression, the gifts inside every feeling (“the gift of anger is motivation”), and how to move from autopilot to authorship—on purpose, one step at a time. If you’ve been drifting through your own story, this episode hands the pen back to you.

• [00:00] Cold open + premise: “Find the simple thing that helps you remember you are worthy…”

• [02:30] Author your life: handing the pen to others vs. taking it back (James & David)

• [05:00] Backstory → “good guy” identity; slow self-erasure by helpfulness and humility

• [10:00] Functional depression as numbness; the lyric that revealed “I haven’t felt anything”

• [11:30] Pandemic triggers; late-night drive and suicidal ideation; choosing to tell the truth in therapy

• [20:00] Relearning feelings without judgment; “anger is appropriate” + the gifts inside emotion

• [29:30] The return of the third voice: “I got you” (story of his son + the inner voice)

• [31:00] Convergence framework: emotion ↔ action ↔ higher-power integration (Venn lens)

• [39:00] Building the program with community conversations; who it helps most

• [43:30] What it’s like to work the program: tools, community, authenticity, love in action

• [48:00] Writing the memoir as unflinching self-inventory; why he knows what he knows

• [51:30] Big life bet: moving to NYC with faith and practices intact

• [53:30] Close: worthiness, simple mantras, one step at a time

• Website: home

• Program: Convergence (details via website/contact)

In middle school, Laura Bratton looked up at the blackboard and the words had disappeared. A rare retinal disease began taking her sight piece by piece—with no timeline, no roadmap, and no way to “prepare.” What followed was denial, panic attacks, and a daily apprenticeship in grit. With parents who refused to lower the bar (see the now-famous dishwasher story), Laura learned to take life inch by inch: get up, get dressed, get to school—win the day. Later, a guide dog in San Francisco became her first big “I can” moment.

In this conversation, Laura reframes two ideas most people get wrong: grief and gratitude. Grief isn’t failure; it’s fuel for grit. And gratitude isn’t loving your trauma—it’s appreciating what helps you navigate it (hello, guide dogs, Siri, and Alexa). Laura shares practical coaching cues for agency (“What’s one step today—one call, one email?”) and leaves listeners with a simple charge for any identity shift: give yourself compassion, then take the first step forward.

• [00:00] Gratitude clarified: not for trauma, but for what helps you navigate it (yes, Siri/Alexa).

• [01:00] The geography-class moment: the blackboard goes blurry; life tilts.

• [05:00] Denial → “I can’t do this” → anxiety and depression.

• [08:30] “Inch by inch”: parents’ day-by-day mantra.

• [10:00] The dishwasher story: standards stay high; victim identity denied.

• [14:00] First guide dog in San Francisco: choosing to embody grit.

• [16:30] Identity + grief: permission to grieve and move forward at once.

• [21:00] Coaching others: acknowledge loss, then ask for one step today.

• [31:00] “Grief fuels grit”: holding both at the same time.

• [32:00] Gratitude practice: three specifics per day, no repeats; the mindset shift.

• [36:00] Myths: gratitude ≠ forced happiness; keep it embodied, not rote.

• [38:00] Agency: you can’t control circumstances, but you can control response.

• [40:00] Core message: “You are still enough” through any identity change.

• [41:00] Where to find Laura & her work: Laura Bratton | Keynote Speaker .

• [43:00] Final charge: self-compassion first, then one courageous step.

• Book: Harnessing Courage: Overcoming Adversity with Grit and Gratitude — Laura Bratton.

• Speaking/Coaching: Laura Bratton | Keynote Speaker (contact, programs, book info).

What if the feeling you can’t explain is actually the clearest voice you have? In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, intuition coach and speaker Anna Quigley breaks down how to recognize, trust, and train your inner guidance—especially in midlife. Anna shares the surprising “shopping test” that convinced her intuition was real (complete with a last-minute nudge to “just ask”), the freeway vs. back-road detour that saved her 30 minutes, and why she believes midlife isn’t a crisis—it’s a calling.

We dig into the difference between intuition and emotion, why the rational mind can act like a “bully,” and practical ways to create the calm your intuition needs to be heard: two quiet minutes in the car, time in nature, water, yoga, meditation, even a simple tracking sheet to gather “evidence” you can trust. You’ll also learn how intuition shows up—gut feelings, a quiet inner voice, “thin slicing” certainty, and repeating cues—plus questions to rediscover what you loved before life got noisy. This is a gentle, actionable roadmap from distraction to discernment.

• [00:00] Opening: “Have you ever had a hunch so strong it felt like more than a feeling?”

• [02:00] Why intuition (not “woo-woo”)—Anna’s origin story and early seeking

• [04:00] The “shopping test” & the inner nudge to “just ask” (it worked)

• [06:00] Leaving a beloved but toxic job; realizing “it’s my time”

• [07:00] Midlife crisis as calling; what second-act purpose looks like

• [12:00] The practice of calm: meditation, yoga, nature, water; turning down the rational mind

• [13:00] The rational mind as “bully”; emotion vs. intuition (discernment)

• [16:00] Ideas in motion: a scientist’s best insights while running at Torrey Pines

• [18:00] The freeway/back-road story: ignoring guidance = 30 minutes of construction

• [20:00] Client win: “dig a little deeper”—the job that became five times bigger

• [22:00] How to build trust: use a tracking sheet; notice patterns & results

• [24:00] How intuition shows up: gut, chills, inner voice, “thin slicing,” repeating cues

• [31:00] Finding direction: what you loved as a kid; ask friends “what am I really good at?”

• [33:00] A personal example: importing what she loved (accessories) after feedback clicked

• [35:00] Tiny practices: two quiet minutes in the car; water as a shortcut to calm

• [37:00] “Go sit on the mountain”: traveling to an ashram and learning next-step faith

• [40:00] Closing challenge: review your life’s turning points—where was intuition already guiding?

• Coaching & speaking with Anna Quigley (San Diego-based; virtual groups and talks)

• Intuition practice ideas: meditation, yoga, nature/water time, personal tracking sheet

What happens when the identity you built your life around falls apart overnight? In this raw interview, Dean Patrick—Stanford dropout, former crypto fund manager, and now author of God Money: Lost and Found in the Crypto Wilderness—traces the arc from early “prodigy” ambition to addiction, collapse, and a near-suicide on a 30th-floor balcony in Manhattan. Family pulled him into recovery in 2018. The years that followed weren’t linear: relapses, resets, and finally a shift from status to substance—trading a high-profile accelerator role for a humble job that protects the two practices that rebuilt him: writing and Zen meditation.

Dean shares how week-long silent retreats and six months living at a Zen monastery gave him a new center, why success without values is a dead-end, and how “boring, systematic” routines actually fuel creative work. If you’ve ever asked, Is this really the life I want?—this conversation is your permission slip to choose differently, start smaller, and build a life that can actually hold you.

• [00:00] Opening: identity, ambition, and the prodigy trap

• [03:00] Homeschooled faith → atheism → “my new god became money”

• [05:30] Stanford insecurity, stimulants for confidence, and the crypto fund

• [07:30] Tripling the fund… then the crash, panic attacks, and the balcony

• [10:00] The phone call that pulled him back; rehab and the non-linear climb

• [12:30] Two steps forward, almost two back: relapse, lessons, and four years sober

• [13:30] Choosing a smaller life to save the bigger dream (service job → space to write)

• [15:00] COVID as a reset; five years to write God Money

• [18:30] Thoreau experiments: raw land, a DIY cabin, and what didn’t work

• [19:30] Zen practice begins: Rochester Zen Center, retreats, and rigor

• [21:00] Zazen: posture, pain, and why stillness hurts before it heals

• [26:00] The field beyond thought: “no problems” and taking the edge off life

• [28:30] Stoicism parallels; spiritual materialism and the ego in robes

• [33:00] Monastery life: 4:00 a.m. bells, choreographed breakfasts, work as practice

• [35:00] Designing a “boring, systematic” routine to protect creativity

• [41:30] Publishing God Money, reader response, and the next (auto)fiction project

• [43:00] Closing: being as an end in itself

• Book: God Money: Lost and Found in the Crypto Wilderness — Dean Patrick

• Audiobook: narrated by the author

• Website: http://DeanPatrickAuthor.com

• Community/Practice: Rochester Zen Center (mentioned)