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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Audiobook: narrated by the author

• Website: http://DeanPatrickAuthor.com

• Community/Practice: Rochester Zen Center (mentioned)

Former Marine officer and bestselling author David Richards shares how a life built on momentum—and other people’s expectations—finally hit a wall. From a childhood head injury and constant relocation to 15 years in the Marines, two divorces, and a pandemic-era low point, David explains how he began taking radical accountability and rebuilt his life from the inside out. The shift started with a simple but potent reframing: awareness creates reality—direct it, or life defaults to autopilot.

We trace the “judgment day” meditation that forced a life review, the mysterious “you’ve got a year” nudge from Jack Canfield, and the journaling marathon that became his books—including Love Letters to the Virgin Mary: The Resurrection of King David and Becoming One with Christ. David breaks down his three levels of mastery—intellectual, emotional, physical—and how daily incantations rewired his faith into lived experience.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re working hard but drifting, this episode is a compass: awareness, honesty, and everyday practices that create the life you actually want.

• [00:00] “Your mind is an ocean… your awareness is the lighthouse” — the premise of directed attention

• [03:00] Military childhood, constant moves, and an early head injury that changed everything

• [11:00] ROTC to Marine officer; 4 years becomes 15; realizing he’d followed his father’s model

• [18:00] Marriage, divorce, and the cost of living in two-to-three-year cycles

• [23:00] Choosing radical accountability; journaling to “reconcile with God”

• [25:00] The Santa Barbara mastermind; Jack Canfield’s “You’ve got a year” and the emptiness that followed

• [35:00] A “judgment day” meditation and a life review focused on love and relationships

• [41:00] From films to faith: patterns, King David, and a turning point toward Christ

• [44:00] A thousand pages of journaling; the title Love Letters to the Virgin Mary lands

• [46:00] “Tony wants to read your book” — grace and momentum, then a crash and reset

• [48:00] Subtitle inspiration and finishing the manuscript; launching Becoming One with Christ

• [56:00] Three levels of mastery & the power of incantations (from belief to embodiment)

• [61:00] Who the work is for: the religious, the spiritual, and the curious

• [64:00] Final note: “Life happens for you, not to you.”

• Website: http://DavidRichardsAuthor.com

• Instagram: @‌DavidRichardsAuthor

• Books:

  • Whiskey and Yoga

  • The Lighthouse Keeper

  • Love Letters to the Virgin Mary: The Resurrection of King David

  • Becoming One with Christ: The Lessons of King David