Kimberly Burnham Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Kimberly Burnham
Kimberly Burnham is today’s guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.
She is a remarkable lady to be sure.
A poet and co-author of World Healing, World Peace Kimberly Burnham asks the questions “What are you doing to create a better world?
And what do you want for your life and the lives of the children to come?
And certainly she is taking her own questions to heart, as she strives daily to make a difference to everyone who is fortunate to meet her or come in contact with her work.
What makes her a prime candidate to look back over her life and “Join Up Dots” is not just to do with her creative output, but quite simply that her background seems to me less than usual to say the least.
How The Dots Joined Up For Kimberly
She spent part of her childhood living in a Colombian jungle with her father, she travelled extensively as a young woman, being in Tel Aviv Israel to watch the events of 9 -11 occur before her, to the fact that at the age of 54 when many people would have said “no that is going to be too hard” she climbed on her bike and cycled over 3,000 miles across the United States of America for charity.
She is a lady that is driven to make a difference.
And with writing credits on over 39 books, that she says she has written to help us feel better and function better because she believes people who feel better, make better choices for themselves, is there anything that she won’t tackle head on.
Well I am certainly glad that I made the choice to contact her to be on the show today, and of course I’m glad that she said yes.
Well let’s bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs with the one and only Kimberly Burnham, PHD.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics such as:
Why the placebo effect is so powerful..if you believe you are going to get something then you will get it!
How spending two minutes a day smiling at yourself in the mirror can change your life!
If you inspire just one person, you can change the world!
And lastly……
How not to let anyone tell you that you can’t do something…..just go out and make it happen!
How To Connect With Kimberly Burnham
Return To The Top Of Kimberly Burnham
If you enjoyed this episode with Kimberly Burnham then why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such Kenny Felder, Joshua Spodek, One Year No Beer or the amazing Daniel Hayes
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Audio Transcription Of Kimberly Burnham Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:25]
Hello, everybody out there Wallabies doing, make sure that you put the headphones a little bit firmer than you is today because we have got a guest, but is a remarkable lady to be sure. She’s a poet and co author of world healing world peace. And she asked the questions, what are you doing to create a better world? And what do you want for your life and the lives of the children to come. And certainly she’s taking her own questions to heart, she strives daily to make a difference to everyone who is fortunate to meet her or come in contact with her work. Now, what makes her a prime candidate to look back over live in Join Up Dots is not just to do with her creative output. But quite simply about her background seems to me less than usual, to say the least. She spent part of her childhood living in a Colombian jungle with her father. She travelled extensively as a young woman, being in Tel Aviv, Israel to watch the events of 911 occur before her. And even to the fact that at the age of 54, where many people would have said now is going to be too hard. I’m not just going to do that. She climbed on a bike and cycled over 3000 miles across the United States of America for charity. She’s a lady that is driven to make a difference. And we’re writing credits on over 39 books that she says she’s written to help us feel better and function better, because she believes people who feel better make better choices for themselves. Is there anything that she won’t tackle head on? But I’m certainly glad that I made the choice to contact her to be on the show today. And of course, I’m glad that she said yes. So let me introduce you to the one and only Kimberly Burnham, PhD. How are you today? Kimberly?
Kimberly Burnham [1:57]
I’m great. David, how you?
David Ralph [2:01]
I’m always glad Well, well, nothing ever brings me down because I won’t allow it to bring me down.
Kimberly Burnham [2:09]
Yeah, that’s a great, great attitude to have. And, and certainly, I tried to do that also, to really, you know, influence the the trajectory of my life in a way that is positive, that helps me to go forward no matter what
David Ralph [2:30]
did you think actually being positive is one of the key states but anyone to achieve success?
Kimberly Burnham [2:41]
I think so. I’m a firm believer in the placebo effect. And the placebo effect is essentially, that you get a positive outcome, because you believe that something is going to help you. And whether you’re believing a doctor or a friend, or yourself, I totally think that what you put out into the world in terms of what you expect, influences what happens. And so might as well put out something that’s positive.
David Ralph [3:20]
And even if it doesn’t make a difference in the world is better, isn’t it? It’s better to feel happy, I would have imagined.
Kimberly Burnham [3:27]
Well, absolutely. And you know, the world can be defined in many ways. I can think of my world, my world where I am every day and the people that I’m interacting with every day. And and I think that if I’m happy, and I interact in a, in a better way, a more thoughtful way, a more conscious way. That, that it does reverberate out into the larger world.
David Ralph [3:57]
Well, one of the things that we’ve been talking about Kimberly, at we’ve over guests, is about peer pressure, and selecting your group of close competence and colleagues, and jettison the ones that are miseries, all the grumpy negative people get them out of your life and fill them in with the positive ones. Now, we talk about that on a daily basis. But is it something that somebody out there listening today who’s in a job, they’re in a bank or an insurance company, or they’re working in an office or whatever? And they’re surrounded by misery, guts? Is it something that they can actually do? Because although we say it’s going to make a positive benefit to their life? How do people go about doing that?
Kimberly Burnham [4:45]
Well, I, I totally believe that, what we think influences our surroundings, so that if if I’m in a job, where I’m not happy, it’s not something that’s really concrete getting to my happiness, but I’m, I feels for whatever reason forced to be in that job.
I can still have control over
how I feel about it.
Like maybe I don’t have control over what the job is, or, you know, there are lots of reasons why people feel forced to do jobs that they that they don’t want to do. But if I go into work, and really bring myself to that environment, and look at what is positive, I think it literally changes the people around me, and changes that situation for me.
David Ralph [5:53]
In what way How do people change visibly in front of you.
Kimberly Burnham [6:02]
You know, there are different ways to interact with people. And if I go into, say, into a coffee shop, how how the facial effect on my face, like the expression on my face. And what I say to people, influences their response. So if I go in, I’m in a bad mood. And I just like say, in a rude way, say something, you know, that when I get back from from the people around me is not going to be very good. And if they’re having a bad day, and and they say, Sorry for keeping you waiting or something like that, and I say it’s no problem, you know, I’m, I’m fine. You know, that’s going to make their day better. And I’ve had the experience of sometimes people actually looking up at me, where, where they hadn’t really even acknowledged me. Or maybe they they acknowledged me but didn’t really look at me. And if I’ve said something positive to them, in response to their their business or something like that, I’ve actually had them actually look at me, because it’s like, I’m really impacting them. And they want to see who it is that’s impacting them. That if somebody comes at you with negative energy or unhappiness or complaining, I think it’s a natural thing to kind of divert your eyes and not look at the person. Almost as if, if you don’t look at them, they won’t exist, where the opposite is also true that people will literally look,
look into my eyes, look into my face,
if I’m responding in a positive way, and I think that that can happen in any kind of environment, whether it’s work environment, or another place where maybe I’m not working, but someone else is working.
David Ralph [8:25]
I think you absolutely you I do think you’re absolutely right. But I do certainly from corporate world, I’ve just come out of corporate world, and I’ve been in there all my working life. So from 16, to 43. And management and senior management particularly, always seem to be if they’re happy and jovial, but not providing value to the business. They’re not they haven’t got depth. And so they kind of walk around with a frown and look serious, and being very sort of non responsive to any fun things that occur in the office. That’s the way they operate. So if people are in a environment, and they’re seeing their bosses, and it’s not just my office, I’ve worked in loads of other offices, they all seem to be the same. They’re gonna sort of try to mirror that, aren’t they, because they think that’s the way that they’re going to get on to look serious and look like they’ve got great depth. It’s a shame.
Kimberly Burnham [9:21]
Right. And, you know, you touched on this earlier that part of my background is I have some expertise in alternative medicine and in brain health. And literally in our brains there are what are called mirror neurons. And if we see someone who’s happy, those neurons are stimulated, and we literally become happier. But that we it’s almost as if we respond in a different way to what is reflected back to us. And, you know, in in healthcare, we use this, we use the mirror neurons a lot with people that have problems walking or with their muscles, where we have the watch somebody do the activity. And literally, it connects up the brain to those muscles a little bit stronger. And so who we surround ourselves with is very important. And sometimes, sometimes maybe we don’t have such a big choice around in a work environment who we surround ourselves with. But we certainly have control over how we respond and how we were kind of energy we put out. And so if other people are seeing us, and we’re happy we’re doing we’re productive, we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. But in a pleasant way, their mirror neurons literally respond to us in a new way. And and it’s a way that one person can influence that environment.
David Ralph [11:11]
Can you find those mirror neurons? Can Can you stop it happening? Because I don’t see a lot of that I know what you’re saying. And I agree with it, or in many levels. But actually, in practice, I see a lot of happy people being almost isolated because they’re happy, but people don’t respond to them.
Kimberly Burnham [11:32]
Hmm. Um, I don’t think that really you can suppress it. I think that sometimes, if a person is very depressed, they’re it affects their eyesight, in a sense that they literally don’t see other people. And so I don’t think it’s so much suppressing the mirror neurons as it is your level of consciousness, really, you are almost literally not seeing other people. There’s some research on children with autism. That, that shows that a child with autism, sometimes someone else in the room will yawn. And of course, most of us if we see somebody yawning, then we start to yawn. And even just talking about yawning can sometimes stimulate that reflex to yawn. That’s what mirror neurons do. But what they’re showing sometimes with children with autism is that they’re, they’re not seen the other person. And so they’re not responding by yawning. If somebody else yawns, and I think that this happens in a lot of environments, where we really were so inwardly focused on our own lives, and often our own unhappiness, that we literally don’t see other people around us that are happy. And that one thing that if you’re feeling unhappy, like really consciously look around to see who is around you that is happy.
David Ralph [13:24]
And will you be able to spot them if you aren’t happy?
Kimberly Burnham [13:30]
I think so if you’re really asking yourself that question, Who do I see around me who’s happy? I think that you can see though, I think the problem is that we get wrapped up in ourselves so much sometimes that we we don’t ask ourselves that question. We don’t actually look out around us.
David Ralph [13:55]
I do think people don’t actually ask the question themselves. Am I happy today? You just kind of get up and go with it. You know, as I said, at the beginning, it was a slight a throwaway and respond to your, your comment. But it is kind of true. I do consciously decide to be happy. Do I think about doing it? No, it’s kind of ingrained in me sister kind of way I am really, but I can’t remember the last time I was miserable, even even when something should have made me miserable. I just kind of brush it off, because I don’t allow it to affect me. So if somebody is out there, and I think this is very powerful stuff before we sort of Delve back into your, your history and start joining up the dots. But if somebody is out there, and is listening to this, I’m thinking Yeah, actually, I don’t think that I’m as happy as I could be on exercises about I can do other than the mirroring.
Kimberly Burnham [14:50]
Well, one exercise and it still kind of touches on the mirroring is to literally look in a mirror and smile, no matter how cheesy it feels, how forced it feels, just spend two minutes standing, looking in the mirror, smiling. There’s another exercise that Amy Cuddy, who’s a Harvard Business Professor looked at class participation. And what she found was that men were more likely to participate in business classes than women were. And she started to look into this. Why is it and what she found is that how you sit whether your posture is open or closed, influence influences literally influences the chemistry in your body. And she looked at to specifically two chemicals, one of them cortisol, and the other one testosterone. Cortisol in high levels, makes us feel stressed. You know, the person that, that you look at their life, and you think, what are they complaining about? Yet, they’re all the time saying, Oh, I’m so stressed, I’m so stressed. And then there are other people who you look at them. And you think, I don’t even know how they survive. There’s so many stressful things in their life. Yeah. And yet, they’re going along, seemingly not that stressed. So one of the things that influences that from a chemical perspective is cortisol. And so and then testosterone makes you feel powerful, makes you feel successful, makes you feel powerful. And so if you think about some a runner, racing across the finish line, finishing first, you know, what do they do, they throw their arms up in kind of a victory sign. And that kind of posture, if you physically put your body into that kind of posture, where your arms are up and out, your chest feels open. Two minutes, Amy Cuddy has shown two minutes decreases your cortisol level increases your testosterone level. So by physically doing that exercise of opening your posture, it changes how you feel. And she suggests that if you’re going on a job interview, or if you have a stressful job, and you’re going in for the day, she suggests that you spend two minutes in the restroom in that posture, and then you go in for your interview or for your presentation. And so it’s something that literally, it’s, it’s the opposite of what we often think of mind influence in body, its body influencing mind,
David Ralph [17:49]
I can see that totally, absolutely. Just standing and stretching and kind of making yourself as big as possible. That’s got to affect you as an IT. And funnily enough, as you were saying, about the position, standing now on the finishing line, with your hands above your head, I’m looking at a picture of you standing outside the White House, I believe it is with your bicycle above your head in that same position, because you just finished cycling over 3000 miles across the United States of America. So at that point, were you reflecting on that? Or was that just a conscious state of I finished?
Kimberly Burnham [18:27]
No, I think that that really was my body celebrating what my mind was feeling. And that was just the exhilaration of reaching a point that I mean, 3000 miles on a bicycle is a long, long ways. And it gives you a lot of time to think. And there were certainly times days even when I was not at all sure that I was going to make it to that finish line, in a sense. In front of the White House, having completed the ride from Seattle to Washington, DC.
David Ralph [19:10]
What what points could you not either way, you know, away from the physical because obviously, your band must have killed you. I go out on bike rides with my kids. And I get back. And I already ache. So the thought of doing 3000 miles is beyond anything I could comprehend at the moment. And with the greatest respect, at the age that you were when you did it, you know, you’re not the youngest lady in the world to get on a bike and cycle over ways. So So what were the things that really almost knocked you off your seat? And you thought I couldn’t do this? Was it physical? Or was it just mental?
Kimberly Burnham [19:45]
Well, you know, before I before I started in Seattle, I talked to one of the writers who had done that same route the year before. And she said to me, the hardest part about the ride or not the bicycling. And for five weeks, I had no idea what she was talking about. Because the physical really was the thing that was demanding so much of me. And then in the sixth week, we stayed in a few places, I didn’t get enough sleep. And I got lost a couple of times I got a flat tire, I fell and got scraped up. And it started to accumulate. And that week, that was my worst week in terms of I really, I thought, I don’t know if I can do this.
David Ralph [20:41]
So So what got you back on the bike? on those moments? Was it just that I’ve committed to charity? I must do it.
Kimberly Burnham [20:50]
No, because because the money for charity would have gone regardless. So that really wasn’t a motivating factor. It wasn’t based on whether I finished or not whether the charity got the money or not. But it was in those moments that I realised early, how much community how important community is, there were eight of us who wrote the entire country. And then there were probably another 20 to 50, who did a week or a few days of that segments of the ride. But there were eight of us who went across the country. And I have to say it was really the support and encouragement of those seven other writers who it made all the difference to me. But, you know, when when somebody else who, especially somebody who’s of a similar age, is saying to you, you can’t quit, like you can’t you have to finish? Like Come on, think, you know, you’ll make it you’ll be okay. And, you know, our was that person also for for other people at different times. And so we each supported ourselves and, and supported the group. And and I think that this is really a lesson in a sense for, for anyone who’s trying to do something that’s hard. And that is, who is your community? And are you encouraging your community members to to do great things? And are you able to take in their encouragement and connect with them in a way that you can, you can be encouraged by other people.
David Ralph [22:45]
You know, that that comes back full circle doesn’t have to sort of peer groups and choosing the people that make you most successful. But there must have come a time on that cycle. Right? Well, there must have been two things. Number one, you must be excited, I think across America, and there must have been times when you feel Oh, my God, I’m an American, I’ve never seen this. This is like will grass roots, tourist viewing of the country that I live in? So that that must have been so inspirational on every corner where you were you went around? But there must be other times when you must have gone? I didn’t actually know I was be strong as a person to do this. Or were you always strong?
Kimberly Burnham [23:27]
No, absolutely and, and really what motivated me to, to even consider writing across the country was in the fall about six, eight months earlier, I had done a two day week weekend, where supporting the same group has owned sustain for sustainable agriculture. Supporting the same group and I had written 53 miles on one day, and then 40 miles the next day. Honestly, I never thought that I would be able to do that. And at the end of that 53 mile day, I thought to myself, wow, I did this. And this is an opportunity. It’s a it’s a moment where I can change the trajectory of my life. And I just, I’m a scuba diver as well. And I, and I’ve started in the last few years, it started to think Yeah, you know, maybe I need to quit scuba diving, because the equipment’s heavy, and the water’s cold. And I started to look at all the hard things about it and think, maybe I need to quit. And I kinda, I was kind of at that point in my life where, where I thought, you know, I’m getting older, I need to start slowing down not doing as many things. And that day when I was able to finish 15 three miles on my bicycle. And I trained a little bit but not a huge amount. It just it energised me in a way that I just thought
I can continue to do those activities that I love doing.
And, you know, it’s not time yet to hang up my, my scuba equipment and hang up my bicycle. But rather, it’s time to really train and get in shape. And do and I knew that it would take something really big to motivate me and no, crossing the United States on a bicycle. It’s a big thing.
David Ralph [25:46]
Well, I think it’s a huge thing. And I think we should all give you a round of applause. I’m going to do that now for you.
Unknown Speaker [25:53]
Right, okay. And
Unknown Speaker [25:55]
so when you
David Ralph [25:58]
think about slowing down, when you were doing the ride, and you thought, okay, I shouldn’t be scuba diving and stuff. You were saying that? And I was thinking, well, you just buying into what people kind of expect at a certain age? Did you really believe that you should be slowing down just because? Well, people generally do?
Kimberly Burnham [26:21]
Well, I think, because people generally do. And because it was getting harder and harder for me. And, and I think that I mean, the lesson that I learned is that when things start to get harder and harder. You can get into that and say, you know what these things are too hard for me to do. Or you can really up the ante and say, No, I want to be able to do these things. What do I need to do? What kind of training do I need to do? whether it’s physical or mental or educational? What kind of training Do I need to due to be able to accomplish what I want to do? And so I think every day, we have choices about what are we going to say? No, this is too hard for me? And what are we going to say? This is hard, and I need to up my game. I need to do something that enables me to accomplish something that’s hard.
David Ralph [27:28]
But you’re not just trying to accomplish things that are hard personally, you’re you’re trying on a global scale on you, you know, just attacked with your recent book world healing world peace. You asking the questions, what are you doing to create a better world? And what do you want for your life and the lives of the children to come? Now? They are such huge questions. A lot of people wouldn’t bother asking them because they seem so big. It’s almost that’s that’s out of my hands. I can’t I can’t affect that in any way. But you feel like you can actually do these things.
Kimberly Burnham [28:01]
Right. I mean, we talked earlier about Steve Jobs. I mean, that’s one man. And you look at the impact that he had on the psychological health, as well as the technical, technological aspects of this world. He one man Steve Jobs had an enormous effect. Why, in what way? In what way? Did he had that psychological health? Well, I think that a lot of people looked at him as a creative genius, and having those technical skills. And I think he’s a real role model. First of all, I think just even the fact that you’re having the show that loosely is based on his his speech indicates that, that people when there’s someone that they respect,
or someone who’s doing something great.
Again, I think people can have different responses. There are people who will say, yeah, that’s okay for that person to do it. Because they have money, they have strength, they have power, whatever they have. It’s okay, that they can do it, but I can’t do it. And then there are other people that can say to themselves, and certainly I’m one of those people that say to themselves, oh, they can do it, I can do it. And, and I thought consciously as I was bicycling across the country, I thought, you know, I have an opportunity to be a role model here, because there aren’t that many 5556 year old women who are basically 3000 miles. And I think, if somebody were to look at me and say, okay, she’s like getting on in years, she’s not like, like, I don’t look like I’m in perfect health or perfect shape. I think a lot of people could look at me and say, Wow, if she could do it, I can do something great in my life. Also, I think you’re absolutely
David Ralph [30:21]
right. And I think everyone who’s listening out there today, you know, should have those balls. Because if we all could sit there and go, I’m going to do something great with our life, or I’m going to change somebody’s life, or like you’re doing, I want to change the world, below me What a good place it’s going to be, isn’t it, it would be positivity on every corner.
Kimberly Burnham [30:47]
Right. And if you influence even one person, and that one person that might be a colleague, it might be your child might be someone else’s child. But if you’re a role model, or you influence them in public the way, they’re then going to influence somebody else in a positive way. And pretty soon, I mean, there’s so much to say, we are all connected, and 7 billion people live on this planet. And certainly I don’t personally know all of those people. But But I totally believe in that six degrees of separation. And now with with some of the technology that’s available, I think it’s much less than six degrees, I think it’s maybe three or four degrees. Somebody that I know, knows somebody else that knows somebody else. And I think I could connect myself to pretty much every person in the world. In that way. I have a friend of mine who goes to Nepal every, every year, almost every year, and she helps with a dental programme to help people take care of their teeth in a in a better way so that they can continue to have their teeth for longer. And so even someone in rural Nepal, who you might think, you know, what do I have in common with that person. But she knows a lot of people in Nepal and is connected to a lot of people in Nepal. And I’m connected to her. And so you know, and I use her as an example, because I taught some classes that she was in. And so I think I had a positive influence on her. And, you know, I’m not taking credit for what she’s doing. She’s doing also an amazing thing. But I’m connected to people all over the world. And so if i influence only those people that I know directly. They’re still reverberations of good things that go out world. Yeah.
David Ralph [33:04]
Yeah, I agree with that. If you listen back to Episode One of the show is just me talking about my arm. And a little bit of my background and what I hoped for the show. And it was it was pre launch. Nobody had heard it. And it was just me speaking into a microphone about, you know, what, what I wanted. And although I have based a show around the Steve Jobs, Beatrice, we’re going to play again, in a moment Join Up Dots, it made me realise that Join Up Dots is just about Connexions. And he was talking about connecting the dots backwards. But this this podcast going out global, and I’m getting emails, and I’m getting comments, and I’m getting a communication from from countries that I have to look up. And I think Where the hell is this? I’ve never heard of this country. And it’s It’s so inspiring for me that the words that you and me are having are going across the world, and they have coming back to us. And so it is I think Join Up Dots is about Connexions. I think you’re absolutely right, we are connected, just the fact that you and me are having a chat now, you know, and we plug on Skype, bang, communication. I think it’s it’s less than four degrees of separation I can use, you know, it’s two or three, if you really want to get out there and you know, and try to connect. It’s just mind blowing.
Kimberly Burnham [34:24]
Yes, absolutely. And those Connexions are powerful. And we have so many examples of, of people who one person their name is synonymous with, you know, something positive in the world to Mother Teresa, jack Canfield. You know, there there are people who have had a positive impact on a lot of people. And you know, so I don’t think any of us should say it, but I’m just one person, and what can I do, because we can do amazing things. And the other thing that I think a lot about is how we spend our money, so that if I buy something that’s made in a sweatshop in India, that’s what I’m supporting, I’m supporting those kinds of conditions. If I buy fair trade chocolate, then I’m supporting the people who produce that chocolate to be paid a decent living wage. And that’s something that I can do every day, think about, what am I spending my money on? What am I consuming. And that has an impact. Whether whether I decide to drive my car or ride my bicycle to somewhere that I need to go, that influences not only my own health and how I feel and and how people see me in the world. But it also influences the conditions under which that that gasoline was, was taken out of the earth, who, how it was transported, how much of it is needed, all those things are influenced by my decision to walk or ride my bicycle instead of driving. And, you know, those are things if we’re going to be spending money, and we’re going to be spending our energy. I think it’s worth thinking about what are we spending our time and money and energy on
David Ralph [36:51]
conscious decision and the power of thought, power, isn’t it? It’s power that can change the world?
Unknown Speaker [36:57]
Absolutely.
David Ralph [36:59]
Well, what I’m going to do at that moment, I’m going to play Steve Jobs speech, because you did sort of mention him and it is the theme of the show. And when it finishes, I just want you to sort of give you an appraisal on his words. I’m going to play this now. And let’s see what Steve has to say.
Unknown Speaker [37:14]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [37:49]
Well, Kimberly, what’s what’s your take on those words?
Kimberly Burnham [37:54]
Yes, I absolutely agree with him. I think that we can imagine how the dots might connect in the future. That’s maybe an area where I might like think about it a little bit differently. But there’s so many times in my life that I look back and I think, wow, I had no idea the impact of what happened to me or what I did. I had no idea about the impact of that. But looking back, I certainly can see the impact and can kind of see the the points where my trajectory changed. And, you know, I can’t predict how bicycling across the country will change my life and how that influences but certainly there are things that I’ve done in the past. But I can look back and see how did those things change.
Change the direction of my life.
David Ralph [38:59]
And easy it stumbles, its falls its mistakes, but it’s just having that, that faith, isn’t it, it’s just having that faith that if you do enough of something, ultimately, someone’s going to come out of it as good.
Kimberly Burnham [39:15]
Right, and, and consciousness. I think that, that if we really look at what are the choices that we have every day? What are the ways that the things that we can do that will impact us? And, you know, I think that we’re all trying to impact our lives in a way that the future is better for us then, than the present. And, as Steve, Steve Jobs said, we can’t always know what what is going to happen. But we can look back and we can learn from, from what has happened to us. And, and, and I think also thinking about what are the takeaway messages so that, you know, a number of people can all have a very similar experience, and the takeaway message can be very different. And I think sometimes even more than the experience itself, the takeaway message that we tell ourselves, influences our lives and how happy we are and, and what we’re able to do.
David Ralph [40:33]
So what does make you the happiest, obviously, you’re an offer you a medical practitioner, and you you go out helping and you coach and and you’re a public speaker, and all those things, what what is the the thing that really gets your juices flowing, and you think this is the reason why I’m here.
Kimberly Burnham [40:54]
You know, I used to say that there is nothing like working with a child using healing modalities, and seeing the potential maybe the next hundred years, influenced by what I did. And I used to say that until I was working on my, my PhD in integrative medicine, and I decided to work with people with Parkinson’s. Now Parkinson’s is something that it’s a disease of people, usually in their 60s 70s is when its worst. But I can tell you that changing the help influencing the ability of somebody who’s 70 years old, influencing their ability to drive to go out to eat, to read a book. There, there’s like such a joy in that, even if, if they only live few more years. And so it’s not what I realised is it’s not about the number of years that I influence, but, but the quality that oftentimes people in there, my experience is that people in their 60s 70s 80s, they’re kind of winding down and they’re thinking, you know, I can’t really expect so much of life and maybe I can’t expect to heal, I can’t expect to be able to do the things that I want to do. And I would just say there are so many healing modalities, certainly in my field, which is complementary and alternative medicine, there’s so many ways to change what’s going on that it seems say never give up, never give up and say, I have to say settle for something that’s not working for me. There, there are so many different ways to to heal so many different ways to be happy. The one of the ways that makes me happy is when I’m able to change something for somebody on a physical health level. So that they can be happier in their lives that that really that gets me to stop.
David Ralph [43:27]
I can imagine imagining it can’t get better than that can it are just a one on one connexion where you you’ve impacted that person in such a positive way that other than as opposed to changing thousands of lives and millions of lives. But how many people actually do that?
Kimberly Burnham [43:45]
Well, and I think even that you’re still most of the time doing it one person at a time. And, but but that one person that you impact, they’re part of the community, they’re part of a country, they’re part of the this world. And you’re changing the impact that they can have also,
David Ralph [44:07]
in the introduction, I saw you said that you you strive daily to make a difference to everyone who’s fortunate to meet you or come in contact with your work. I think it’s been clearly evidence by our chat this evening that you you do. Are there days when you sort of go home and you think actually nothing really happened? Or is it on a daily basis? Do you do gain nuggets of gold in your life?
Kimberly Burnham [44:37]
Oh, I think that’s absolutely about a perspective that I can I can sit in my apartment alone and do some writing or even reading a book. If I if I think about something that’s interesting, that can then influence what I do the next day. And so the start of where where that influenced is, is still in that day where maybe I didn’t really have much contact with people. So I think it’s all about perspective. And that if if I had to look at each day for the last year, you know, what impact who did I impact? You know, I could come up with something where I had an impact on on someone else? I think for every single day. Yeah. Just because I think it’s about perspective, and it’s about saying, Okay, what I’m doing right now, you know, what, what’s the potential impact? Or what can it change. And I think, you know, being on a radio show that I think that’s easy to see how it can impact people that, that you can inspire people, you can educate people. Lots of ways that you can change lives through a radio show, working one on one with, with clients, obviously, you can impact people’s lives. But even just making yourself better, better able to share your knowledge and experience that, you know, that makes a huge difference also,
David Ralph [46:38]
well, you’ve certainly made a huge difference to me, I could listen to you, all night, all night and all day. And there’s so much of your background, but I would like to go into but I’m aware that we’re running out of time now. And I don’t mind it might be the conversations go too long. So what I would just like to do at the end of the show, before we say farewell to you, Kim today is something that we call the Sermon on the mic. And this is when I hand over the presenting duties to you. And like a time Trevor, I send you back in time to have a one on one conversation with the younger Kimberly and you can choose whatever age you talk talk to. And what kind of words of wisdom would you do and say, if you could go back in time, so I’m going to play the music and when it fades out, I’m just going to sit back quietly and listen to you having a one on one with yourself. This is a sermon on the mic
Unknown Speaker [47:38]
with the best the show.
Kimberly Burnham [47:56]
Little little Kimberly, eight year old Kimberly reaching back through time. I’ve learned so much since since I was you eight years old. And you should really look around yourself really see what is around you. Really look, open the doors and look behind the doors. Go in the cars and the planes and the bicycles go and see. really see the world. And when you’re 28 years old, and the ophthalmologist tells you that you you have a good chance of losing your vision, do not do not believe him. Continue to see the world and continue to search for answers for yourself. Because as as I learned there’s a there’s a Japanese saying there are many ways to the top of Mount Fuji, don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. But something can’t be done. Because there are many ways many ways to the top of Mount Fuji, many ways to be happy many ways to see the world, many ways to connect with people, many ways to be healthy. So you know, eight years old, you might think that there’s there’s not so much that you can do. But you can learn and you can see. And by reading really seen what is around you, you can find all those ways to connect and to connect with people and and see that even though people might look really different from you. They might be older, younger, they might be of a different race of a different language. They might speak a different language, they might seem really different. But I can tell you from my perspective, people, everybody wants to be happy. Everybody wants to be heard and, and share their ideas. So really see people and really listen to them. That’s that’s, that’s my advice. advice to you.
David Ralph [50:51]
What are you listening little Kimberly? I certainly hope you’re listening to that. Kimberly Burnham, how can people connect to you?
Kimberly Burnham [51:01]
You can go to my website to www Kimberly Burnham, PhD. com. That’s probably the easiest way I’m not hard to find online. You can connect with me through Facebook or LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus, I’m not hard to find at all. Just look me up. And certainly you can go onto Amazon look up my name Kimberly Burnham, and lots of lots of books and lots of things to share. And this month, particularly is international or national day of poetry. And to have a number of of poetry books, including a piece in the anthology world healing world peace, which is it just came out this this month. And really, we’re trying to get it into the hands of as many people as possible. Because all of the poets that are shared in there have have shared the way that they feel about world healing and world peace. And what they see as the possibilities of that happening.
David Ralph [52:28]
Well, I would like to think that many, many people go out and buy that book. It sounds, it sounds something that’s worth having. But everyone, Kimberly, you’re certainly somebody that is worth having in the world, you’ve had a big impact on me, and I’m sure you’ve inspired all our listeners out there today. So thank you for being on the show. Thank you for being so open and generous, and of course, talkative. And as I say to all the guests, always come back and speak to us because the beauty of this show is that the Join Up, Dots can go forward as well as back and I believe that Join Up. Dots is the only way to build our futures. So thank you so much, Kimberly Burnham.
Kimberly Burnham [53:07]
Oh, thank you, David. Ralph. It’s been a pleasure.
Outro [53:10]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up Dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
