Courageous Pivot with Meghan Telpner

EP 026: Stuck in Old Patterns? How to Rewire Your Brain for Change

Essential listening for anyone who intellectually knows what needs to change but keeps defaulting to familiar patterns. You know what needs to change. You can feel it. But somehow you keep choosing the same responses, the same strategies, the same patterns—and then wonder why nothing shifts. In this episode, Meghan gets to the heart of why "more of the same plus more of the same equals more of the same"—and what it actually takes to break free. Drawing from Dawson Church's neuroscience research in Mind to Matter and Dr. John Churchill's work on the imaginal realm, she reveals how our brains are wired for efficiency, not transformation. The good news? You have the power to interrupt old patterns and literally rewire your neural pathways toward new possibilities. This isn't about willpower or waiting for circumstances to change. It's about understanding that you are the architect of your reality, and change begins the moment you consciously choose to do something different. Not tomorrow. Today. Links + Resources * Full show notes [https://meghantelpner.substack.com/podcast] * Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/offers/Nt3QgZam?coupon_code=PIVOT30]

EP 025: Why Willpower Isn't the Problem: The Truth About the Knowing–Doing Gap with Ali Shapiro

What if your inability to change isn't a failure of willpower, but your heart's way of protecting you from something you're not ready to face? Ali Shapiro, creator of Truce with Food, shares how her journey from overworking addiction to radical life redesign began with a simple question: "Why does this make sense?" In this raw conversation, Ali reveals how addressing her relationship with food became the gateway to confronting deeper questions about worth, identity, and what success actually means—and why healing often requires becoming a beginner all over again. From her journey through cancer, infertility, and postpartum menopause to finally redefining wealth as "freedom over my time," Ali demonstrates how the courage to slow down and listen to your body's wisdom can unlock transformations you never imagined possible. Essential listening for anyone measuring busyness instead of impact, struggling to make changes they know they need, or ready to understand why their body might be wiser than their ambition. Links + Resources * Full show notes [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/blog] * Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/offers/Nt3QgZam?coupon_code=PIVOT30]

EP 024: Trust the Redirection: Finding Courage When Everything Falls Apart with Amber Joliat

This episode is a masterclass in resilience, the courage to question narratives (even about yourself), and what it means to keep moving when everything falls apart. Amber Joliat built a thriving wellness empire in Toronto—teaching movement, yoga, and Pilates to thousands, creating community in multiple studios across the city. Then, in June 2020, it all burned down in 72 hours. She had been 'cancelled'. In this raw and revelatory conversation, Amber shares what happened when she became the target of a coordinated cancel campaign during the height of pandemic-era social justice movements. From public accusations to media takedowns, she lost her business, her community, and nearly her sense of self. But the story doesn't end there. This episode traces Amber's journey from childhood grief and the healing power of movement, through entrepreneurial success and devastating loss, to a diagnosis that forced yet another reckoning. Essential listening for anyone who has endured a pivot that was not of their choosing and continues to seek out their inner courage to navigate the challenges as they come. Links + Resources * Full show notes [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/blog] * Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/offers/Nt3QgZam?coupon_code=PIVOT30]

EP 023: Learning How to Listen: When Your Story Requires An Unexpected Pivot with Productivity Expert Tiago Forte

What if the thing you're known for—the very success that defines you—is actually holding you back? Tiago Forte built an empire teaching millions how to organize their digital minds. Wall Street Journal bestseller. Sold-out courses. Eight-figure business. Then he walked away from 95% of his revenue. In this conversation, Tiago shares why he reinvents himself every single year like clockwork, how meditation and fasting unlock his next chapter, and what it means to watch AI devour your entire industry and choose to ride the wave instead of drown. For anyone who's achieved everything they thought they wanted and still hears that whisper saying "this isn't it"—Tiago maps the territory between success and fulfillment, between logic and intuition, between who you were and who you're becoming. Essential listening for anyone whose body knows something their brain hasn't admitted yet. Links + Resources * Full show notes [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/blog] * Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/offers/Nt3QgZam?coupon_code=PIVOT30]

EP 022 - A Midlife Chrysalis: Designing Your Next Chapter From the Heart

What if the discomfort you're feeling isn't a midlife crisis, but a chrysalis—an invitation to become who you were always meant to be? In this episode, airing just after her 46th birthday, Meghan Telpner explores how midlife isn't about decline, but about designing your next chapter from the heart rather than from obligation or fear. Learn why your body's whispers are getting louder, how to distinguish between what's truly yours and what you've been performing, and why the chrysalis stage requires dissolving old versions of yourself to make room for what wants to emerge. If you're ready to stop living from the outside in and start designing from your deepest knowing, this episode offers both permission and a path forward. Essential listening for anyone in their 40s and 50s who's ready to pivot from who they think they should be to who they actually are. Links + Resources * Full show notes [https://meghantelpner.substack.com/podcast] * Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership [https://fun.meghantelpner.com/offers/Nt3QgZam?coupon_code=PIVOT30]