Ep40 Cory Firth - The Dark Side of Willpower and Unlocking Hidden Powers

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:00:17
Cory Firth
I see

00:00:00:18 - 00:00:08:20
Cory Firth
consciousness, exploration, self-exploration as a day to day act, much like how we sleep. We have a state of consciousness exploration in our day to day experience that

00:00:08:21 - 00:00:13:23
Cory Firth
we just have been completely closed off to. And so that has been really fun to explore and to,

00:00:14:00 - 00:00:16:17
Cory Firth
to put out into the world and just share and just, you know, see what other people think.

00:00:16:18 - 00:00:43:00
Suzanne Taylor-King
Hey, hey. Welcome to a podcast where dreams meet. Determination and success is just around the corner. I'm your host, Suzanne Taylor King. And I'm here to help you unlock the full potential of your business and your life. Welcome to Unlock Your Way with SDK. Let's unlock your path to success together.

00:00:43:02 - 00:01:13:11
Suzanne Taylor-King
Good morning. Good morning everyone. Susanna Taylor King here for another Friday edition of Unlock Your Way with STK. And I'm really excited for today's conversation with Corey Firth. He is a human impact strategist and so much more than just that. And I'm excited to dive into all things personal development, human exploration and growth. Welcome.

00:01:13:13 - 00:01:16:09
Cory Firth
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Good to be here, Susan. Thank you.

00:01:16:11 - 00:01:43:14
Suzanne Taylor-King
You're so welcome. Now total transparency. This is Corey and my first conversation. I found him on LinkedIn and was intrigued by the way he talked about himself, described what he does, and of course, some of the work he's doing in the world. Corey, tell us a little bit about the work that you do.

00:01:43:16 - 00:02:23:04
Cory Firth
Yeah. So I think the central thesis that I kind of lean into is, the exploration of ourselves has been suppressed by, intertwining of multiple systems in our society and, and that and a desire to explore ourselves. Our consciousness is, is starting to become a bigger part of what it means to be. Well. And I develop projects and companies that subvert the current model of mental disorder that is at the core of what's keeping us from exploring ourselves.

00:02:24:00 - 00:02:46:14
Cory Firth
That's what I do for a living, and I have some really cool work in that space. But I'd say the core of, like, who I am and why I do this is, is because I'm a father. I have a daughter who's three years old, and I, I think, like everybody, when they become a parent, they want to create a, a new world so that, it's a little bit better off for the kids, that they bring into the world.

00:02:46:14 - 00:03:18:05
Cory Firth
And so, yeah, I think about that daily, multiple times a day and how I can show up more authentically for myself and for her and, and to create, projects and, and creative endeavors in the world that help to support her evolution as she grows and not to take away the challenges that she's going to experience, but to allow her to embrace them and allow them and and balance out, that sort of, challenge and, and desire to grow as she evolves.

00:03:18:07 - 00:03:53:00
Suzanne Taylor-King
It's so beautiful. And I wanted to say that that feeling comes across with the way you talk about what you do, because what you do is who you are. And I really think that that space of being in a business or a company or ten companies can only come when you really delve into that self exploration and know yourself better than you know anyone else.

00:03:53:02 - 00:03:56:22
Suzanne Taylor-King
What does that look like for you? What's the journey been?

00:03:57:00 - 00:04:14:21
Cory Firth
Well, thank you for saying that. I really appreciate that. That's the goal right to be as I got that tick as possible. And that's the effort every day to challenge that you go to make sure I am and that's not always perfect, of course. But me on my journey, I guess I would say, like, kind of going back to what I, how I introduced myself around the disorder model.

00:04:14:22 - 00:04:44:15
Cory Firth
I just didn't fit into the disorder model of mental illness. I didn't fit into the education system. Unfortunately, I was kind of the class clown. I didn't really fit into that box. Felt really? Yeah, like claustrophobic in the classroom and needed to express myself and was kind of suppressed in a way, in that environment. And, I guess it really comes down to I was born with a suppressed gene that keeps me from regulating serotonin normally in my body.

00:04:44:15 - 00:05:03:23
Cory Firth
And serotonin is a key chemical that helps us to regulate our movement, our mental health. I didn't know this, until I was 28. After doing some genetic testing and some work with the couple doctors to figure that out. But, what I was told once, I kind of did understand this a little bit more was that I'd be more susceptible to things like anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.

00:05:04:01 - 00:05:23:01
Cory Firth
Three things I really struggled with throughout my life, but also that I would be a poor responder to things like anti-depressants and talk therapy, which are the two primary methods for treating mental health and North America. And so that's what I mean by I didn't fit into the disorder model. And so I had to kind of take it into my own hands at some point.

00:05:23:01 - 00:05:38:20
Cory Firth
I had to kind of I just, I see like break free from the systems. And I try to see that in a way that's not like conspiratorial or fighting fire with fire or sticking it to the man or anything like that, because I think the model does work for all of you. I mean, exist because it has helped, right?

00:05:38:20 - 00:06:07:00
Cory Firth
So, I just I've realized over time that, the averages within the system are the averages of the most sick. And so when we look at someone who is sort of functionally, well, we don't, have a lot of good, treatment options or preventative measures for keeping someone functionally. Well, and so I was dysfunctional in a way, right from like, a brain chemistry perspective.

00:06:07:00 - 00:06:25:22
Cory Firth
But everything else about my body was, was generally healthy. So I needed to find other ways to sort of, balance things out. And that was, 70. I mean, it's still a journey, right? It's still an ongoing thing. But once I unlock that, I kind of unlocked this skill of self-exploration and sort of what I would say.

00:06:26:00 - 00:06:50:12
Cory Firth
And that inspired all kinds of really cool, experiences. One of the main ones being, encountering psychedelics and really using psychedelics in a deeper way to unlock a little bit more understanding of who I am, why I'm here. And you know what I can do for myself to take my health and well-being into my own hands.

00:06:50:14 - 00:07:06:02
Cory Firth
And that has been just like an incredible, incredible journey. Very, very challenging, very, very hard. Because there aren't systems to support it. But I think we're changing that now. And so that's, that's been a big part of my journey and kind of where I'm at today.

00:07:06:04 - 00:07:41:04
Suzanne Taylor-King
It's it's really, what stood out for me, as you described that as a mom of a 15 year old, I was feeling the journey up until you were 28 and kind of figured out that, oh, they're genetically they're something off. And then looking back, how much did that explain for you about your teenage years in your early 20s?

00:07:41:06 - 00:08:01:15
Cory Firth
Yeah, a ton, because, I mean, my parents are amazing. I had the best parents in the world. I had two incredible step parents, all very, very loving. Grew up in a really loving home. But we didn't know what we didn't know back then. And they didn't they didn't know what they didn't know. And so I really sort of suffered in silence in a lot of ways because there's just no there is no marker for this.

00:08:01:15 - 00:08:28:05
Cory Firth
There was no definition for what I was going through. Because like I said before, we kind of define mental health on the average is of the most sick. So it's it's not matching up with my environment or my experience or. But I also grew up playing a lot of competitive sports, specifically hockey. And in that environment, there's a whole nother layer of sort of suppression of emotions there where, you know, they're, you know, suck it up and, you know, work, work, work, work, work.

00:08:28:07 - 00:09:08:01
Cory Firth
And I'm totally yeah, yeah, I'm totally, a fan of the idea of work. But, the recently I've, I've taken on a new understanding of what work is. And, Kahlil Gibran has a great quote about work, and he says, work is love made visible. And so when I sort of unlocked a deeper understanding here through, you know, the genetic testing, but then like, even deeper functional medicine stuff around my general health and all that kind of stuff, I started to realize that, like, self work with the idea of work has this connotation of it being challenging and hard and that and it was for me, of course, and maybe, maybe in some

00:09:08:01 - 00:09:33:17
Cory Firth
ways it has to be a little bit. But there also needs to be a balance of, of it being natural and it being part of evolution because evolution and the natural order of progress of us as humans, and I think in the natural order of the world has chaos and order, it has dark and light. And so I eventually found sort of a more balanced approach.

00:09:33:19 - 00:09:59:10
Cory Firth
And that was sort of another layer of the exploration journey where it started to become a little bit more easier because I see consciousness, exploration, self-exploration as a day to day act, much like how we sleep. We have a state of consciousness exploration in our day to day experience that we just have been completely closed off to. And so that has been really fun to explore and to, to put out into the world and just share and just, you know, see what other people think.

00:09:59:10 - 00:10:02:18
Cory Firth
And if they align to it, they align to it. If they don't, they don't.

00:10:02:20 - 00:10:40:10
Suzanne Taylor-King
Yeah. Well, I, I think what stands out as well is that, you know, my, my journey with, self-exploration as an entrepreneur all started with a diagnosis. And I didn't want to accept a diagnosis. And it was not even a question to accept. And, you know, go into the medical system. And it was a three year journey of figuring out what actually was wrong.

00:10:40:12 - 00:11:11:14
Suzanne Taylor-King
And during that time, there was so much resistance from other people, whether it was, you know, the four different neurologists I went to or the four different chiropractors I was seeing, or my family wanting me to just give in and go on the meds like, do what the doctors say. And it was this intuitive thing with me that said, don't do that.

00:11:11:16 - 00:11:47:16
Suzanne Taylor-King
More investigation is needed and a lot of it, a lot of that investigation became internal, but a lot of it also went into looking at different solutions that were outside of the norm. And I don't know what made that okay. In my mind ten years ago, but I knew, like, it was just this thing inside of me that said, there's an answer and it's not this one.

00:11:47:18 - 00:12:19:18
Suzanne Taylor-King
And yeah, I want to be able to and I think you're along the same lines here that to encourage that exploration is just such a gift to be able to encourage that in other people. And I work with business owners in entrepreneurs, and I fully believe that that journey, whether it's a health journey or just knowing yourself better, is the key to your business doing better.

00:12:19:20 - 00:12:38:16
Suzanne Taylor-King
And have you seen that connection for you that as you explore yourself and heal yourself, whether it's, you know, physically, emotionally or even spiritually that your business goes to the next level?

00:12:38:18 - 00:13:10:04
Cory Firth
Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Because I mean, the, there's so much there. The first thing is, like, I relate to your experience, of going outside the system and what, what I the way that I would describe it is it's about self-knowledge. Once you start to understand yourself, you start to realize that you're very unique, and you and the system itself isn't necessarily designed for the personal individual.

00:13:10:05 - 00:13:32:05
Cory Firth
Yeah. Progression of, well-being. It's designed in a lot of ways is a Band-Aid when we're sick to heal it and make it better, in the best way possible from the symptom place, not the root cause. So. And the same thing goes for in your business, right, where there's these little symptoms of weakness or these symptoms of breakage.

00:13:32:05 - 00:13:59:05
Cory Firth
And we typically try to like, Band-Aid those up and like cover the hole with some duct tape. So the leak stops. But the root cause of that is often. Yeah. Deeper. Right. And it's a it's a whole host of a bunch of different things. But I think becoming more emotionally intelligent, so that the resistance that you feel within the challenger experiencing translates into resilience as you dig deeper to find the root cause of whatever it is.

00:13:59:05 - 00:14:37:22
Cory Firth
It's that's, creating the issue again. Yeah. Very, transferable between the personal evolution experience or the personal health experience to the, you know, the entrepreneurial journey or the the small business startup journey. So, yeah, I think it's massively important. And I think it's something that is really often the overlooked, often overlooked because of, again, it's very similar to the health, the healthcare side of things, the way that if you look at like I was a part of an accelerator recently inside of a university, and the way that they teach you about business is like, this is going to be very hard.

00:14:38:00 - 00:14:56:12
Cory Firth
You're going to have to compete and you're gonna have to fight, and you're going to have to wiggle your way to being successful. And yeah, that's one way of doing it. And and you know, obviously that that has worked, you know, traditionally, historically over the last few hundred years. But the other way to do it is very balanced.

00:14:56:17 - 00:15:27:21
Cory Firth
And it's allowing all of the things that challenge the competition. But rather than sort of build the biggest boat, it's about bringing everybody along with you because we all will benefit from the exchange of knowledge. And that's where I think coming back to the health care side of things is what is missing. And it represents the other systems, too, I would say, is that the gatekeeping of medicine or the gatekeeping of treatment is through that, that system that we rely on.

00:15:27:23 - 00:16:02:10
Cory Firth
But then the gatekeeping of knowledge of what it means to be healthy is also dictated by that system. And so the more that we can remove the gates to the knowledge, the more that we can create. I think a more holistic way of being and that goes for business as well, to sort of open up the idea that, yeah, there might be challenge, but if you approach it in this way more consciously, that that challenge, becomes more easy to manage and actually is a signal for growth personally and for the business.

00:16:02:12 - 00:16:06:17
Cory Firth
So, yeah, I guess it'd be my summary of that. I kind of forget the question, but.

00:16:06:19 - 00:16:42:09
Suzanne Taylor-King
No, really wasn't a question. It was it was just, you know, this this connection. I often people ask me a lot about networking and, you know, building a great referral network because they see me doing it and they're like, well, how did you do that? And I kind of relate it to dating. Like you, you have to talk to enough people, figure out if you're compatible, figure out if the other person has an abundance of people to actually refer business.

00:16:42:09 - 00:17:15:13
Suzanne Taylor-King
And it's so Quora related to dating. Of course, when I was dating, there was no there was no apps per day. So, a little bit different. And I'm intrigued by an app or dating like you just. No no, no. Yes. Wow. What would that have been like? Back in the day? I don't know, but business is so similar to, you know, so many things that we're talking about.

00:17:15:13 - 00:17:53:09
Suzanne Taylor-King
You know, whether it's health, healing in order to succeed. I remember when I realized that I had a little leak in my very first website when I was a health coach, and I thought no one was interested in what I had. Nobody was interested in working with me. It was 100% that, spy role. And I came in to my computer one day and this was at least 15 years ago, so I was not as tech savvy as I am now.

00:17:53:11 - 00:18:22:14
Suzanne Taylor-King
And I realized that leads were coming into my website, but they work. B they weren't being absorbed by my CRM, so they were all still in my website and it was this instant realization that I was the problem. The technology was the problem. I had 600 people sitting there who have not heard from me in the last, you know, eight months.

00:18:22:16 - 00:19:04:20
Suzanne Taylor-King
Oh my God. And I was I promised myself after that it was never going to be victim in business again. It was going to be okay. If I'm the problem, what is the problem and fix it. And if I don't know how to fix it, let's find somebody who does. And I think that willingness to say I'm the problem has happened hundreds of times, and it's allowed greater growth because I'm willing to take negative criticism.

00:19:04:22 - 00:19:19:08
Cory Firth
Now, because you're the problem and the solution, right? It's about accountability. It feels like in a lot of ways because, yeah, and it's a lot about the stories that we tell ourselves like, oh, I'm not good enough or I'm not worthy of people's attention or money or whatever. And I go through that all the time, still all the time.

00:19:19:08 - 00:19:45:09
Cory Firth
But for me, I just I've studied how to change. I've studied studied behavioral health and I have to remind myself that, like, the best path forward is just the path forward. Whatever step can be taken, no matter what the story is or the emotion behind it all to me, you know, my understanding of habits, which I think is a big part of our behavioral health, of course, and it's also about how we achieve something.

00:19:45:09 - 00:20:08:09
Cory Firth
So whether it's in business or in like our transformation in our physical body or our relationships or whatever, it's, it's it's a really, it's a really. Interesting cycle that we go through, like, our environments influence our beliefs, our beliefs influence our thoughts, our thoughts influence our emotions, our emotions influence our behavior. Our behavior creates our habits or habits, career outcomes.

00:20:08:11 - 00:20:35:05
Cory Firth
And we get stuck like oftentimes in one of those things, right. We don't know what the environmental influences that's inputting into our belief systems. And then we don't really self-reflect on our belief systems enough to know how that's influencing our thoughts. We get stuck in an emotion, and we don't really realize the things that we're thinking about or are guiding that, and then that just creates this cycle of procrastination or an unwillingness to, like, move through the thing and do the thing.

00:20:35:07 - 00:20:52:06
Cory Firth
But just like one bite of the elephant every day on on one of those things is as you're struggling through something is it leads to there's such a huge compounding effect, business or. Yeah, physiology. So I think that is something I've had to learn the hard way. And it's something like I'm challenged with every single day. I'm sure you are as well.

00:20:52:07 - 00:20:55:01
Cory Firth
I think anyone is in this world.

00:20:55:03 - 00:21:20:04
Suzanne Taylor-King
Well, I the way you just described it, I, I saw it as like, a map or a or a ladder and some, for some reason I see in pictures, which is one of the reasons I've never and we'll talk a little bit about psychedelics. Why I would be nervous about that if I already see in pictures without it.

00:21:20:10 - 00:21:51:04
Suzanne Taylor-King
Or that might be interesting for me. But seeing that in a picture, the way everything is influenced by everything in, in your being that as soon as you realize that it's your emotions that are kind of directing things, you can become the director of your emotions and not allow things to upset you or aggravate you or whatever's happening.

00:21:51:06 - 00:22:17:05
Suzanne Taylor-King
And that changes the outcome, that changes the habit. And I always go back to food for this, because I started out as a health coach and a trainer and all the things, and if you can fix your food, so much else in your life changes and people struggle with the processed foods, the junk food, the sugar, all of the things.

00:22:17:05 - 00:22:39:17
Suzanne Taylor-King
And I used to just say, well, just stop. Just become the person that doesn't do that. And that allows you to change your habit. But most people call it willpower and say, oh, I just don't have willpower. If sugar is in front of me, I eat it. Or if candy is in front of me, I eat it.

00:22:39:19 - 00:23:13:09
Suzanne Taylor-King
Well, then my theory is you don't want that outcome as much as you say you do. And the emotion that you feel before you eat crap is what's driving the crap eating. And I got a lot of grief for that back in the day of that. Susan Pearce Thompson talks about bright line eating. Draw a line in the sand and just become the person who doesn't eat candy.

00:23:13:11 - 00:23:20:03
Suzanne Taylor-King
I think the same is true in business, in life, and in parenting.

00:23:20:04 - 00:23:41:15
Cory Firth
Yeah, I totally agree. I, I have some real I have some opinions about this, but just from my own experience, like I think it's, I think willpower super overrated. I think it's actually a block to, to, to change. And I think to really create change. It goes back to what I was saying before, and this is like what I was saying before describing sort of how it change with environments, beliefs, thoughts, emotions.

00:23:41:15 - 00:23:58:18
Cory Firth
That is part of like a method that I teach in, in coaching, when I, when I do coach, I take on I'm working on some creative projects right now that keep me from being able to coach more, but when I do that, that's what I teach people how to do is just create change because it's about change. People want to create change, but they don't know why and they don't know what's in the way.

00:23:58:18 - 00:24:16:13
Cory Firth
And that's where they're typically like at the end, which is the outcome. They're like, I want this outcome. And then they might know a little bit about what's keeping them from the outcome, which is the habit. They might know a little bit about the behaviors, but they might know a little bit about the emotions. They probably don't know as much about the thoughts.

00:24:16:17 - 00:24:41:10
Cory Firth
They probably haven't examined their beliefs, and they really likely have not understood the environmental inputs. And that's the present environmental inputs and the past environmental inputs. The past environmental inputs are the ones that are really harder to kind of find and to dissect and understand. But when you start with why you want to change and you really understand, like the devotion to change and their commitment to change, then you can reverse engineer that cycle backwards.

00:24:41:10 - 00:24:58:13
Cory Firth
And I see you speaking there. You see in pictures and it's, it's it's a cycle, right? Yeah. It's, it's a, it's a circle. And so you're constantly evaluating all of those things and those things are always at play. The environmental inputs are always at play. It's the people that are in your life today. The people that were in their life before that have influenced you from a young age to believe the things that you believe.

00:24:58:15 - 00:25:17:23
Cory Firth
It's the content that you consume. It's the people that you choose to listen to, you know, virtually through books, through podcasts, through TV, through movies and that's a good place to start because that helps you to really understand, like, why are you actually trying to make this change? You're making this change because you really want to make the change, or you're making this change because someone told you that it's it's a worthy pursuit.

00:25:18:01 - 00:25:33:12
Cory Firth
That doesn't necessarily mean you should do it. So yeah, it's a really fun thing to, like, watch someone like, unlock that because they move beyond that kind of idea of willpower and, and believe the belief system is really what creates the identity to change. But if you don't understand how to like, break a belief, then you can't just do it.

00:25:33:15 - 00:25:58:10
Cory Firth
You can't just say, you got to do it. You can also add the other side of it is there's a balance to all of this. We've created candy. I love candy. It's okay. Every once in a while, if you have a better relationship with your belief systems and the environment and all those things I talked about before, then you can see that candy is like there's just, a piece of something in your environment that you can choose to enjoy or choose to vilify.

00:25:58:12 - 00:26:14:23
Cory Firth
And I love the reflection of these things. That's the same thing for drugs. We talked about psychedelics some way with the vilification of drugs is a really big problem in today's environment. We choose to believe that this one is better than this one, but they all have inherent risks and inherent benefits. Just like candy. Candy makes you feel a little bit good.

00:26:14:23 - 00:26:25:20
Cory Firth
It tastes good. It doesn't necessarily mean that, like gorging on a whole bag of candy is going to be good for you long term, and it's not going to be good for your metabolic health. But I think you get what I'm saying.

00:26:25:22 - 00:26:52:09
Suzanne Taylor-King
Yeah, I do, I do, and I feel it. I have so much I want to say about things in things in moderation. But, I've been able to achieve really great things physically because of what I am able to do mentally. And I really think business is the same. I think relationships are the same. I want to touch a little bit on parenting.

00:26:52:21 - 00:27:15:02
Suzanne Taylor-King
You're you have a three year old. And how has this affected just this idea of your self-exploration? Knowing yourself, not only has it improved your parenting, and how has it made it more difficult?

00:27:18:05 - 00:27:21:19
Cory Firth
It's a good question.

00:27:21:21 - 00:27:38:22
Cory Firth
I sort of have like a for dummies approach to everything. You know, those yellow books, The fortunate. Yeah. So I try to like, think things. I think of things very simply. And so the way that I kind of categories categorize my human experiences in sort of four buckets biological, psychological, socio environmental and spiritual.

00:27:39:00 - 00:27:42:17
Suzanne Taylor-King
And so a little books that are in those books.

00:27:42:19 - 00:28:02:23
Cory Firth
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So I think of like how does the parenting journey impact all those things like biologically, I have a daughter and I grew up with two brothers. So I don't know that experience of what a what it's like to grow up as a, as a little girl. And so that has changed me biologically, I'm sure, on that.

00:28:03:01 - 00:28:23:17
Cory Firth
I've track my hormones and different things like that around the time that she was born and stuff. And there's you can look at some pretty cool research to show, like what changes in the men just as much as not just as much as what changes in women, but there's there's change in men, in our, in our sex hormones as, as, you you're becoming apparent, like through the change from, like, the gestation period to the actual birth.

00:28:23:17 - 00:28:52:21
Cory Firth
It's pretty cool to look at. And I felt that I could feel that something, something unlocked for me in a different way, biologically when she was. Yeah. And then. And then psychologically, that's psychologically, I would say, and sort of spiritually are the two or bigger impacts of what has been both rewarding and challenging as a parent, psychologically, I'm constantly faced now her as a toddler with, the expression of her emotions where I and my my partner as well.

00:28:52:21 - 00:29:12:20
Cory Firth
We're both very adamant, about like allowing her to fully express every emotion that she has. That is the hardest thing for us because it's very difficult when we're rushed to try to go somewhere to, like, just sit down and just, like, cry with her and just, like, allow her to, you know, have a little, a little emotional outburst.

00:29:14:10 - 00:29:36:04
Cory Firth
And it also challenges the way that I was not allowed to fully express in certain environments to and again, not like to, to criticize anyone in those environments when I was a kid. But it's just, again, we don't know what we don't know. But now that we know so much, that is also part of the challenge as well, where we know what certain behaviors can do to a child in those development years.

00:29:36:04 - 00:29:59:10
Cory Firth
The first three years, the first seven years, and that it's hard to like keep that at balance, keep that in the top of your mind as you're going through the emotional experience. So there's this like really present ongoing processing experience that I'm not necessarily good at, but I'm aware of. And that is a very challenging experience that both my fiance and I sort of go through.

00:29:59:12 - 00:30:23:02
Cory Firth
It's also beautiful because I get to learn about my childhood through her child, through her experience as a child. And then the spiritual part is the way that I've described, I, someone said this before that I kind of I'm stealing. I can't remember who was, but there's a piece of my heart in the world now. And yeah, that's very raw.

00:30:23:04 - 00:30:24:06
Cory Firth
That's like an open wound.

00:30:24:11 - 00:30:25:05
Suzanne Taylor-King
Yeah.

00:30:25:07 - 00:30:49:10
Cory Firth
So wanting to, like, make sure it's safe and make sure it doesn't get hurt and doesn't get harmed. I want to just create the biggest bubble around her and make sure she doesn't get hurt or get, you know, influenced by something negatively or, you know, I mean, you know, someone is mean to her on the in the schoolyard or whatever, but at the same time, I can't do that because that's how our grows as well her grows through her, grows through heartache.

00:30:49:10 - 00:31:16:13
Cory Firth
And, it's like a muscle. Right. And so that is, that is like increased my capacity for love by thinking of it that way. But it also has increased my capacity for grief. And that's how I would describe the experience of watching my daughter grow, is it's this polarity between celebrating her beautiful development and growth while also grieving who she once was.

00:31:16:13 - 00:31:42:15
Cory Firth
And that happens every day, like the day to day is different. And so I'm constantly grieving and sad about not having the constant cuddles and need for my attention, but also celebrating her independence and her growth and her strength and her expression as a little human being. So very beautiful experience, very challenging experience. But that's my summary of where we're at today as a as a three year old in 2024.

00:31:42:17 - 00:31:49:02
Suzanne Taylor-King
Well, I will say you've experienced nothing until you get to the fourth.

00:31:49:04 - 00:31:51:03
Cory Firth
Okay.

00:31:51:05 - 00:32:18:15
Suzanne Taylor-King
Everybody complained about the terrible twos and I called it the effing fours. So that was my take. But I have a boy and he was fearless. Fearless from jumping off of things to, you know, bikes and skateboards at at four. There was always a bruise somewhere on his face or chin or something.

00:32:18:17 - 00:32:20:17
Cory Firth
That was me when I was a kid. Yeah, yeah.

00:32:20:19 - 00:32:55:21
Suzanne Taylor-King
Well, it was kind of me too. But it was different experiencing it, you know, with, like you said, a piece of your heart out into the world. And, now at 15, he's spending less and less time with us and more time out in the world, more time with sports and friends and the girlfriend. And I just hope that I've done the job that I needed to do when he was under seven, right.

00:32:55:21 - 00:33:40:00
Suzanne Taylor-King
That was my goal when he not working, being a stay at home mom, going back to school to become a coach during that time, starting my coaching practice was all because I wanted to be more available, and it's really paid off for me because he's incredible. But at the same time, it did make me realize things about my own childhood, about again, I had amazing parents, only child, but it also made me realize that the things that I'm doing and my husband and I are doing together as parents just didn't happen in the 70s.

00:33:40:02 - 00:33:59:07
Suzanne Taylor-King
And, you know, children were kind of be seen and not heard. And that whole idea had me stuffing emotions for years, and I had to repair that. As I got older and started this self-exploration.

00:33:59:09 - 00:34:02:03
Cory Firth
Wow, beautiful. You sound like a wonderful mother.

00:34:02:04 - 00:34:30:05
Suzanne Taylor-King
Well, well, I mean, every day, every day. It's a he asked me recently why I still make him food. He's like, you know, I can make my own food. And I was like, all right, don't take all the mothering right. There needs to be a little bit. I enjoy making everyone food. It's not just him.

00:34:30:07 - 00:34:37:22
Cory Firth
Yeah, my mother's like that as well. She loves when we're around and loves to. Yeah. A nice little feast for us and take care of things. Because she does get to do that anymore.

00:34:37:23 - 00:35:08:07
Suzanne Taylor-King
Right? Yeah. Right. And I think that part of parenting, was hard at first, realizing, you know, a little one is there, all encompassing. And you have to be okay with a part of you for changing, you know, not going out on Friday night, not being able to just take off and go away for four days. And, you know, all those little changes felt hard when he was little.

00:35:08:07 - 00:35:19:16
Suzanne Taylor-King
And now I look back and I'm like, oh my God, I'm so glad I made all those adjustments to my life, and I'm so glad I chose the parenting thing because I always did it.

00:35:19:18 - 00:35:22:19
Cory Firth
And wow, good for you.

00:35:22:21 - 00:35:54:04
Suzanne Taylor-King
Yeah, it's been amazing. All right. Now, I want to talk a little bit about psychedelics and, well, one, the current the current paradigm is from my point of view is lots of retreats, lots of going into, you know, the jungle and experiencing it. Not so sure about the regulations on that. What what's your take on being able to use it effectively?

00:35:54:16 - 00:36:03:10
Suzanne Taylor-King
Not as like a recreation, but to be able to use it for your own mental health journey.

00:36:03:12 - 00:36:04:23
Cory Firth
Could you ask me that in a different way?

00:36:05:01 - 00:36:30:21
Suzanne Taylor-King
Sure. So what I see in the current marketplace is lots of retreats where you go and you experience this in a group of people. I don't see it from a medical perspective of healing or improving your mental health. And I'm wondering your take on that.

00:36:30:23 - 00:37:10:14
Cory Firth
Yeah. I think what the way that I've experienced it, having worked in this space for a while and advocated at the highest level for access to these things, is that the pursuit of, trying to make these things more accessible from a public, general public lands, but also from like a policy lens, from a scientific lens, from an education lens has challenged every system, every, like you said, the paradigm that we're currently live in because they have been so suppressed for 50, 60 years here in the West, but they have been used for thousands of years before that.

00:37:10:16 - 00:37:32:18
Cory Firth
So there's a lot of history that really doesn't come into play in the way that we talk about it here in the West these days. And so what you have is, as we're trying to, as those that have seen value in these things that are creating, projects and, and, experiences and communities for these things to be more experienced.

00:37:32:18 - 00:38:06:18
Cory Firth
We're all trying to kind of figure it out. And so you have you have, you know, you kind of business, systems that are creating corporations to, advance our understanding and our access to the drug themselves. Then you have organizations that are, prioritizing the idea of, pairing a psychedelic with a therapy. And that is also kind of one interesting challenge that's kind of present today.

00:38:06:20 - 00:38:32:21
Cory Firth
And then you have, the retreat model, and then you have sort of what's been classified traditionally in the last 50 years as like the underground. I would say I would classify those people as like the existing practitioners, the people that have been carrying the, the, standards, creating safety, and developing paths for these things to be experienced outside of the regulatory structures, which is very challenging, very risky.

00:38:32:21 - 00:39:01:00
Cory Firth
And, you know, not not easy to do and carry on for so long. So, what we're seeing today is, today, specifically today, like, as in very, very recently, the last 50 years or so, a lot of the advocacy work has been gone into, the combination of psychedelics and therapy together and our current regulatory systems just do not account for those two things in combination.

00:39:01:02 - 00:39:20:05
Cory Firth
They're very separate. Right. So in the US, you've got the FDA that really just thinks about the drug. Is it safe? You know, what does it do that kind of stuff. Is it beneficial in comparison to other things that exist that are legal, but it doesn't account for how you would pair that up with therapy. And that's a very difficult thing for someone who's advocating for therapy or someone who is a therapist to be like, yes, this works.

00:39:20:05 - 00:39:38:09
Cory Firth
I've seen my clients do this all the time, and they're going through it and they're experiencing it, and it's so powerful. But because there's so many different types of therapy, it's hard to justify its effect and quantify its effect because it's so multifaceted and there's so many different ways to do it. And it's all very personal. It's all depending on who the therapist is and who the the individual is.

00:39:38:09 - 00:39:55:05
Cory Firth
It's going through the experience. So that's why I would say that it's kind of like we've kind of stalled out here recently because a lot of the focus has been on that. But if you look at the surveys and the research that has been done to to see what, what and how people are using psychedelics today, they're not exploring them for therapy.

00:39:55:05 - 00:40:24:19
Cory Firth
Let's say they might be therapeutic, but they're doing them recreationally, which I actually I see a lot of value in that as well. Someone I've heard recently say that, you know, the idea of recreation is recreation. So in those moments where you where you're in relationship with someone, that's a really powerful place to heal. A lot of therapists will say that when your, trauma is caused by relationship, it's healed in relationship as well.

00:40:24:19 - 00:40:49:16
Cory Firth
So that that type of experience doesn't have to be in a clinic. It can be with a friend on a couch. But it can also be at a retreat. It can also be, at a party. I just think that the the way that our societal standards are created through science, that influences policy, that influences the education system, that it influences, like our societal standards.

00:40:49:18 - 00:41:11:17
Cory Firth
That's a very archaic system. It takes a long time to create change in that environment, and it often lags behind culture in a lot of ways, because the laws of culture are not really connected to that. They're connected to community, they're connected to storytelling, they're connected to what feels safe. They're connected to relationship. Yeah. And so we don't have a great way to account for that and to create standards of safety that can exist in those environments.

00:41:11:17 - 00:41:37:19
Cory Firth
But that, to me is really the interesting place that I spend a lot of time. So the two organizations that I work with, one being five, which is, Education and Discovery Company, focused on the compound five DMT, which is the most powerful psychedelic experience. We're all focused on creating safety and creating standards and bringing community together to develop best practices so that these experiences can be done in a safe way.

00:41:37:19 - 00:41:55:10
Cory Firth
Because of it being so powerful, we have to understand what the needs are for the individual going through it and have to create safety standards for that, because there is still a lot of like in any industry, there's a lot of misuse, there's a lot of manipulation, there's there's a lot of things that just people are bad actors and you can't really account for that.

00:41:56:09 - 00:42:18:10
Cory Firth
It's just it's just naturally going to happen. So it's a little bit of like our, you know, the governing bodies, whatever they may be, like a therapy governing body or a, you know, a regulatory governing body or a drug developer or, a drug governing body or our political system. You know, a lot of ways we they treat the general public as like, unable to think for themselves.

00:42:18:15 - 00:42:41:13
Cory Firth
Yeah. And so but that's what's happening, you know, in the underground, right. The existing sort of environments right now is we are trying to figure it out, and we are figuring it out pretty well. And so, like the work being done at five, we're creating safety for those experiences to happen. So, so that we can show positively what can happen even with the potential risks that are there.

00:42:42:01 - 00:43:09:12
Cory Firth
And we're continuing to just move the boundaries slowly but surely and, and creating those spaces that, that are, environmentally friendly, that are consciously, you know, created and that are designed to keep people, keep people safe. And then the other company I work with, I help to start up and, and I'm and I'm more kind of on the strategy side now just sort of a small amount of my time is really focused on psychedelic safety as well here in Canada.

00:43:09:14 - 00:43:37:05
Cory Firth
And we developed a, psychedelic first aid program. And the concept there is all kind of similar to what physical First Aid does and mental health first Aid does. But there's nothing in this world that exists today to account for the transpersonal experience of a psychedelic, transpersonal meaning like beyond the ego. There is there is a desire for a lot of people to go beyond the ego, to understand what, you know, maybe troubled them in the past or, you know, just break them, all right?

00:43:37:09 - 00:44:00:12
Cory Firth
Break the default mode. And we don't have like a set of standards to, to develop that. And so what we've done is tried to start that process, not to say that we know exactly what it means, but to say we need to all start to think about what it means to create safety in these experiences, no matter what the experience is, especially now, where a lot of the efforts are going towards focusing on psychedelics as therapy.

00:44:00:14 - 00:44:21:16
Cory Firth
Most people, if you look at the numbers, they're not exploring that style of experience. They're going into the basements, they're going into the parties, they're going right into the woods, they're going into the retreats. They're doing it by themselves or doing it with friends. So the same way that first aid, physical first aid, mental first aid is designed for the general public and the health care system.

00:44:21:18 - 00:44:41:18
Cory Firth
We've developed a model for that as well, so that, the health care system starts to integrate a more compassionate way to understand how these experiences are going, rather than just like sticking someone in a room and hoping the trip dies off, or worse, hitting them with another chemical that may actually keep someone stuck, or, you know, someone at a party or someone in a and we're recreational style environment.

00:44:42:06 - 00:45:03:07
Cory Firth
Knows how to see the difference between what is emerging and what is an emergency. And there's a very clear distinction, I think, and it's where becoming more aware of it now. But what's something that is emerging might feel like an emergency to the individual, but someone who's a little more, conscious and has a little bit more understanding?

00:45:03:07 - 00:45:20:05
Cory Firth
Well, I'll say that are a little more psychedelic, legal, literate. They'll know that there's a difference between what is emerging, and someone needs to see it and go through it versus, okay, yeah, we need to call someone and we need to make sure that you're physically safe and and psychologically safe and, you know, it's time to call the ambulance or whatever it may be.

00:45:20:07 - 00:45:45:18
Cory Firth
So I'm kind of rambling here, but I guess in general, what I see in the current space, in the current, you know, psychedelic movement is a really, big focus on safety because these things are going away. But policy is way, way behind. And we need the grassroots style, community building peace and and safety. And that's what five and Uma does to create that level of safety across the board.

00:45:45:19 - 00:45:51:18
Cory Firth
And we're calling everybody in to to try to develop that and co-create that beautiful.

00:45:52:08 - 00:46:32:23
Suzanne Taylor-King
It made me curious about how any of the, ancient or, you know, centuries old information on this is being used today, like instant curiosity about where it came from. And you know, the the ancient stories of plant medicine. And I'm fascinated by all of that. And I'm wondering if any of that ancient information is being used today to kind of guide where it goes.

00:46:33:01 - 00:46:54:02
Cory Firth
Yeah, it is in some ways it's not in the bigger health care system. Like they just don't have a good way of integrating that in. And it's not we we live in a society that's governed by scientific absolutism, and that if it's not proven by fact and science, then we we don't we can't do anything with it. So that's how our systems are designed.

00:46:54:02 - 00:47:13:06
Cory Firth
But what I see in a lot of the communities, and I've done a lot of work nationally, internationally, and I've seen all kinds of different community setups and a lot of different people and leaders in this space doing this. And and almost all of us and almost everyone that I've ever met is, is very respectful of what those are, those standards and those, those experiences.

00:47:13:08 - 00:47:38:18
Cory Firth
And I think that that needs to be carried forward, as I described, you know, creating more of a grassroots community based model is to carry those things forward, respect those things, and also at the same time, create new traditions, create new ways of experiencing these things so that we can integrate the best of both worlds the science and the sacred, the traditional and the modern.

00:47:38:20 - 00:47:58:11
Cory Firth
And that's difficult too. In the psychedelic community, there's a lot of infighting on what that means. And if that's the right thing and, you know, how do you bring everyone to the table? And then there's a lot of tokenism to where so, you know, A is trying to move a mission forward. And then so they bring in, you know, someone that has an indigenous background, but they don't actually really listen to them or give them a voice or allow them to guide.

00:47:58:13 - 00:48:23:12
Cory Firth
And so it's it's hard, right. Like, yeah, I would say, you know, in a lot of ways the traditional naturalistic psychedelics carry with them these standards of sacredness. And that's hard to leverage as we're trying to push the health care system in that direction because they don't listen to it. Right. So, I think we're at a we're at a place where, you know, we're going to see a lot of different versions of this, and that's really beautiful.

00:48:23:12 - 00:48:46:23
Cory Firth
I like I like that, and I and I think that there needs to be a little bit more of a place where we can, challenge each other in a respectful way to say, to lift the whole community up, to lift a whole movement up. And in a way that isn't done virtually through comment sections on social media, is done in like, real in person.

00:48:47:01 - 00:49:12:01
Cory Firth
Yeah. Positive dialog, I think I, I use the word dialog a lot because it's my favorite word, and I think it really leads to a lot of progression and, and a lot of change and dialog comes from the root words dih, which means moving towards and logos, which means meaning. And so when we're in dialog and we're challenging each other to explore and we're doing it consciously, we're not vindictive or we're not doing it emotionally, then I think we're moving towards meaning like we've done today.

00:49:12:03 - 00:49:28:04
Cory Firth
And so I think the more that we can bring dialog into these discussions, all the discussions that we had today about all the systems in education and science and health care, but from psychedelics, like, we just need more and more of that, and it's less about, you know, creating a conference where people can just talk about their science or their business.

00:49:28:05 - 00:49:36:13
Cory Firth
It's talking about the real cultural change that's possible here. When we when we talk about how these things can be adopted more mainstream in the mainstream.

00:49:36:15 - 00:50:07:00
Suzanne Taylor-King
Beautiful, well said and perfect place to wrap up our conversation. And I I'm so glad I reached out to you. I'm just astonished at your wealth of knowledge, and I absolutely love even more now the way you see things connected, like a map. It's it's almost like you're you're you're drawing this thread of connection from one thing to another.

00:50:07:00 - 00:50:28:04
Suzanne Taylor-King
And I think you did it three times during our conversation. So I really love that. And, I see a whole, a whole avenue of you just because that's how you see things being connected like that. So. Well done. And if anybody wants to follow you, reach out to you. How can we find you?

00:50:28:06 - 00:50:42:17
Cory Firth
Well, first off, thank you so much for saying that. I really appreciate that. And then, yeah, LinkedIn is where I spend most my time comment or like sharing thoughts and opinions and things like that. But I also have a newsletter, if you go to Corey firth.com, I have a newsletter where I write once a week.

00:50:43:13 - 00:51:03:21
Cory Firth
There it's it's me just kind of expressing my understanding of the human experience and challenging current perspectives and coming up with new ideas for how do we optimize our experience for sustainable growth. So Corey first.com, you can you can find information about the projects I'm working on in the and the deeper thinking that I guess I get to get to have.

00:51:03:23 - 00:51:32:10
Suzanne Taylor-King
Awesome. Well, let's keep having those deeper thinking explorations within ourselves. And thank you for being one of the people that encourages that in me now. And please, everyone, if you liked what we talked about today, give us a comment and a like and subscribe to Corey's newsletter like I did and you'll have a new fan. Thank you so much, Corey.

00:51:32:12 - 00:51:34:07
Cory Firth
Oh, thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

00:51:34:07 - 00:52:02:01
Suzanne Taylor-King
Thank you for tuning in to another empowering episode of Unlock Your Way. I hope you found today's discussion inspiring, and you're ready to take your business and personal growth to that next level. If you're feeling is fired up as I am and eager to unlock that full potential, I'm here to help you on your journey and provide that personalized guidance tailored to your unique goals and challenges.

00:52:02:03 - 00:52:28:20
Suzanne Taylor-King
Simply book a one on one coaching call with me, and we'll dive deep into your business aspirations and see how we could co-create a roadmap for your success. And whether you're striving to scale an enterprise size or just getting started. I'm here to support you every step of the way. To schedule your coaching call, simply visit the website and unlock your way with SI.com.

00:52:28:22 - 00:53:07:20
Suzanne Taylor-King
Click on the Book a Call button and we'll turn your dreams into that reality. Subscribe and review on your favorite podcast platform and on YouTube. Plus, you can join over 800 entrepreneurs in the Idea Lab, Facebook group. Let's make success as an entrepreneur happen together. Until next time, I'm AK. Keep dreaming big. Stay focused. And most of all, have fun while you're doing it.