Cover To Cover with Anusia Gillispie

0:00Welcome. You are listening to Cover to Cover, hosted by Mary Elizabeth Jackson, a show featuring lively conversations with cutting-edge authors from around the globe. From debut to multi-award-winning to inspirational, you will find a new author and book to love. Mary is a special needs advocate, educator, speaker, and an award-winning author who brings that edge to dive deep into the writing world, sharing the journeys behind the stories and tips and tools for all things in the writing world. Now, here's Mary. Hello everyone and welcome back to Cover to Cover. On the Brushwood Media Network, we are America's number one syndicated network. Thank you to Brushwood Media. Thank you to all the fans and listeners around the globe. I am so grateful. And if you are wondering

1:00about playing by the rules as you trapped, it's time to break free. We're talking about this today and how, like, if you're going in one direction, is that really the right direction for you? Maybe you should be going in another direction and that's really awful to think about, right? Because then you can just spend forever. So we're going to talk about how not to do that, right? And get going on the path for you. And so if you're on social media, please connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, XhikTalk. I always have to think about these Blue Sky and Threads as I'm Mary Elizabeth Jackson or Mary E. Jackson 5. And also go to my website, MaryE Jackson.com. I have got my books. I've got down the free downloadables. I've got links to interviews and then also information. If you're a parent who has a child with needs, I am an advocate for over 25 years. I am a trainer for autism Tennessee. And I am a, I guess, sensory awareness expert. That's one of the things I do is helping with sensory awareness and getting sensory spaces into homes

2:04and businesses, libraries, corporations, even sports teams. So if you're interested in that, let me know. You can DM me or you can email actually brushwoodmedia.com because they send me emails when, when people don't get them sent to me. And also if you want a sponsor or show or you're looking to advertise, now we're going to talk about today when success becomes survival and performing replaces feeling the cost is cumulative. This phenomenon increasingly referred to as the great gloom reflects a creeping emotional flatline among workers characterized by widespread disengagement, low morale and a growing discontent between purpose and performance. Okay, so the author today is Anusa Gillespie. And she's a lawyer, turn novelist and RYT200 certified yoga instructor. So we may be doing some yoga on here. I don't know her workspan the cutting edge of Jin AI in the legal industry and the timeless journey of personal transformation. Now her novel we're talking about today is so tall and it's still pretty hot off the presses. You can get it

3:07anywhere that you can find books. Blends high achieving ambition with spiritual awakening. What a great recipe. Anusa, how are you? I'm good. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Okay, so your name. I love it. Like my daughter, one of my daughters is also a writer and so I'm going to share your name with her. Maybe she'll use that on a character. I'll have to tell you she does. I would love that. Yes, what is the what is your name? It's so beautiful. Thank you. My first name is Polish. It's my mother's name as well. I'm a junior. And then my last name is my married name. It's Irish. Okay, so very interesting going on there, right? You can polish some Irish. You get a lot going on and then probably some spark because you know, the Irish tend to be sparking, right? Yes, a little fiery. Okay, so drawing for her own soul, crushing experience in the wall profession and her evolution into a multi-dimensional thought leader for individual transformation and wellness. Okay, we're going to be talking about like, well, we need more at the time than what we

4:08have. So how are you today? I'm wonderful. Thank you. Well, I'm so excited for you to be here. And okay, so you've had a powerful career in legal innovation. And you know, I do usually ask this of all my authors, especially if I get a chance. What made you decide to write this book? I felt compelled to write this book. There was something inside of me that had to get out. But from a more logical rationale, two things. One is that as I worked as a lawyer, I worked as a transactional lawyer. I worked in dry, real estate loan documents all day. And then I was a very ambitious person. And so I would go home at night and read textbooks and leadership books and more nonfiction and more kind of dry material. And I felt that there was a gap in genre for professionals that, you know, if you're in kind of in the work all day at night, maybe you can go home and, you know, have a spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down and have something fiction and escapism and fantasy, but that you're still getting ahead and learning

5:13leadership lessons in. And so I wanted to create this genre that was a teaching tool, but still allowed people to have a bit more fun while they were doing that. So that was one. And number two is that I worked at Harvard Law School and their executive education department training lawyers on leadership and business concepts and the learning modality that we use were case studies, which are stories that in a fancier term for stories. And so there's, you know, world renowned, managing partners and general counsel from around the world would come into this classroom, read a story and then put themselves into the characters shoes and say, what would I do in this character shoes? What would I do in this character shoes? And it was really interesting to watch them engage with the material in a new way. And so I thought that, you know, learning through story could be a really effective medium in genre for adult learners, adult readers. Okay, I love that. And my former sister-in-law went to her, she got her doctorate at Harvard, and it's a great school. I've interviewed quite a few doctors from Harvard over the last year

6:17about what their, you know, their books that they've written. Now, I think that, what do you consider your genre? Contemporary fantasy. It could fit in a lot of places. I've explored self-help fiction. That's what I'm wondering. Yeah. Consider it self-help or, you know, so thanks for clarifying that. Okay. There's so many new genres all the time. So I think we just keep making them up. As the world gets more complex, this is our fitting as neatly inboxes quite so much anymore, but we still have to categorize them. We do, if you're new author out there, or you're, you know, you're getting published for the 10th, 20th time, you know, those keywords are very important. And the more creative we are, the more that allows you, you know, really do your research for Amazon. And when, you know, you're putting a book up because it can help you become a number one bestseller. We don't have a lot of competition. So I think that it's wonderful to keep getting creative, but then it's hard to keep track of all the genres. And that's why I was asking you. You know, so what do we clarify this? So now, let's talk about your core message and your passion

7:22is about the courage to pay your path in the world that it's telling you who to be and what to be. And why do you feel like this is so urgent right now? Why has this become a passion for you? Yeah. So it's urgent and relevant in my life. And then I'll zoom forward to right now where 10 years ago, I was practicing as a lawyer. And at the same time, I was having this soul craving. And so I signed up for a 200 hour yoga teacher certification program. And through that, I had this kind of blast of awareness and saw that the path that I was on to, you know, oh, I'm going to go to the law firm. I got my degree. And now I'm going to go through all the rings of the ladder to become a partner at the law firm. And that's what I'm going to do was not actually the definition of success as I saw it. That was something that was kind of put out there and imposed on me. And I started down it and then saw on a flash that that's not what I wanted. And so it led me to really ask myself, well, what is it that I do want? And how do I

8:26how do I move towards that and discover that? I think that this message is incredibly timely and relevant for people right now in this moment because of the acceleration of technology. And especially generative artificial intelligence. And everything that is coming with that because technology and the advancements in it are taking over a lot of work in a good way. It's taking over a lot of drudgery. But it's also disrupting business models. I'm in law. I'm seeing it happen overnight. We deal in the written word. And that's what some of these tools are really good at. And so when all of a sudden, the trappings of success around you of everything that you've worked towards start shifting and changing dramatically and really quickly. But I don't know who you are and have a really good sense of your integrity and what you're about and what your personal definition of success is, not necessarily what's been laid out for you. Because what's been laid out for you might change overnight. So I think a critical time for people to really be thinking about that. Oh, absolutely. Things are changing faster than what I think we can keep up with.

9:31And like you said, some things are really good. But then there are people who are losing their jobs and there are, you know, there's the invasion of AI into not only the written word for law, but as a creator, as a writer, as a writer of music, as a musician. So I know as a creator, not only as an author, but also as a writer. I've got one who's getting ready to graduate with an animation degree. It's interrupting animation. It's, you know, it's really a, it's kind of a scary time that we're going into about how things are going to, and I think as humans, we have the power to prevail, you know, to keep the human aspect there. And I think there's going to have to be those of us who are just saying, no, this is, we're going to keep this. You know, we're not going to let AI soak all that up because it's, well, it's, then what are people going to do, right? So we're meant to be creative. And I think that your message also is really important for people not only in the business world. But what about if you're in relationship and it ends all of a sudden?

10:33And then you're, what am I doing? Like my oldest daughter, four and a half years, and then it, you know, this is not the right thing. So then what do you do? So I think your book is just covers so many different subjects. And so that's a good thing to be able to help people not just in business, but in their personal. Yeah. Absolutely. How do I walk through life? If I don't know who I am, that's the first relationship we should figure out. Right. Yes. Because we have to know who we are in order to have a really healthy relationship. So then you don't get where your personal identity comes from someone else because it should never be anyone else. It's different when you're a child, but when you're an adult, you don't need to be doing that. So how, you know, how do we face the forces that keep us tethered to the life we thought we wanted? That's hard. It is hard work. But it doesn't have to be overwhelming work. I think, you know, on my book cover, it says a blend of eat, pray love. But at the same time, like, I don't think people need have to go to Bali to find themselves. I don't think people have to just, you know, disrupt their lives in that way. And actually, I would, I would recommend the opposite.

11:39Don't just blow up your life to discover this because a lot of what's in your life might actually be really great things that you might be on the right path in a lot of different places. You just haven't been aware of it in this way or noticing. So, you know, it's some of it's working for you. So I think it's at first a pause to step back and say, okay, what's working and how do I accelerate and expand on that success? And then what's the noise and how do I start stripping those pieces away? And there's a lot of different ways to do that. You can start with meditation, you can start with yoga, you can start with a writing prompt, you can start with a lot of people have come to me and said, you know, kite surfing or sailing or these other things, jiu-jitsu, these are my yoga. This is where I found it. So it's not necessarily yoga as the place, but whatever your yoga is, whatever that place is where you can tune out the noise and just come home to yourself and start doing that, you know, as a practice over and over again to be able to start hearing that little voice that is inside you because all the answers are there inside. It's just tuning out

12:41the noise to be able to access it and start listening again. Well, yeah, so that was the next thing I was going to ask you or say, you know, you a little bit of a practice because if somebody is like, I don't know how to do that, I think an easy practice would be is to sit and ask your sub-questions. You can start with really basic simple things. How does your body feel when you ask that question? How does your body feel when you think about that? Like when you think about, maybe you want to jump out of a plane. Now, I know I'm not going to, but you know what I mean? You know, taking that trip, does it feel really good? And if you don't feel good and you feel scared, break it down even further. Okay, is it just like fear, fear or because it's new out of your comfort zone? Or is it like really a message saying, no, do not go down that road or do not take that trip? So you want to talk about that? Yeah, and interesting that you bring up fear. So, fear has a, has an important role in our lives, of course, you know, fear stay away from that, but at the same time, I think we've kind of evolved into this complex relationship with fear,

13:47where we think we're supposed to push it away, but actually a lot of times our fear pops up because we are on the wrong path. And it's your body alerting you and saying, hey, you know, danger, danger, you're not going the right way. And that presents as anxiety. And we tend to push that down more and more instead of coming to it and saying, hey, fear presenting as anxiety, what is it that you're seeking to tell me right now? Are you seeking to show me that there's something I really need to address? Are you seeking to show me that I'm going down the wrong path? What are those pieces? And instead of pushing it away, really having a dialogue with your fear and not being so feared of your own fear and having it really direct you as a compass instead. So I think that there's a lot of opportunity there too to just have a different conversation with ourselves. Absolutely. And so, you know, your book is like well-being lessons through story.

14:48So will you give us like an example? Yes, well, I just did actually there is a scene in the book about fear. And someone it presents as these spider webs again in this fantasy world that are really stretched across one of the characters chess and pinning him down to the ground as they kind of like tighten around him and they keep tightening and tightening and tightening until finally he says, what is it you wish to teach me? And Thera appears and as fear and then they start having that conversation and he's able to kind of unlock a skill and move forward in this story. So it seems like that that kind of personify a different emotion or distraction. The name of the book is Sol-Tol and there's a scene where talking about like a well-being lesson or a leadership lesson, walking through life lesson. There's a chapter called Sol-Tol and a scene where the characters actually, you know, they're on this quest and they come to this

15:53beautiful palace with this woman Serena and she offers them an easier way like a cut through to get to the end to get to their destination. That's much more luxurious and comfortable and easier. It's not so hard, but of course they have to pay a toll. And so it's then, you know, what part of my soul am I willing to give up to pay this toll for luxury and comfort and the easier path instead of saying, no, I want to stay intact. I'll take the harder path. I'll learn more about myself, but I'm not going to just give up that part of myself to go down this road. I'll go the other way. So things like that come up in the book. I love it and I love less than teaching through storytelling. That's one of my favorite things to do so that then you're not like in somebody's face cramming things down or being very parental. It happens in a much more gentle way so that people can come to their own conclusions as well and gain their own insight. Especially when the

16:55answers live inside, people have to come to it themselves and it's not that. It's teeing up the right questions exactly as you say. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so are you, do you have a project after this? Do you have another book? I have many books in mind right now, though. I'm having a lot of fun getting this book out into the world and through different channels too. Like yoga studios are really enjoying it. I have a studio call the other day and get it as a gift for all of her teachers. She wanted sign copies for all her yoga teachers. Like a healthy, healthy cafes are into it because of just the vibes and resonance and well-being and all of those kinds of things. Corporate leadership and wellness and how are we all navigating this? And so it's been really interesting to see who's picking up what I'm putting down. And so I'm more interested in this moment, not in the next book, but in what are the real world impacts that this book is having? There's a

18:00chief innovation officer at a major law firm who read it and was inspired by the storytelling aspect of, you know, let's, let's impart wisdom through story. And he had a 60-page home on legal AI that he was going to kind of disseminate through charts and graphs and data. And then instead, he turned it into a story and a scene and dialogue and more of like a case study kind of method. And I thought that was so wonderful. It's like, oh, people are taking my story and like what I'm trying to teach and provide as a lesson. But then also taking the vehicle that I decided to use and now using that and infusing more story in kind of the legal world and the corporate world. So that's really wonderful too. So, you know, I'm exploring a lot of different areas right now and just how people are picking this up and reacting to it. That is amazing. I know and it's like, I asked that question because a lot of times authors even though they're launching

19:03a book, they've got one that's in the works or like maybe it's a series. So I do ask that question but at the same time that sort of the other side of the coin is, you know, reveling in that the release and launch and how long that takes for a book and how long you have to like really put into it. And, you know, we do have to. I love what's happening for your book. And in the places that you're able to, you know, put it and use it and share it because we have to be, you know, more more and more creative because the book world is so saturated that it's almost like, you know, we have to sort of stand out there with the drums and the horn and the piano and the and I say that because I've got one here in the background playing piano downstairs. She are ready to teach and I'm like, yeah, so, you know, we need a piano too, right? But I just, I'm so happy that you're having that kind of response because people are always looking for a different way to do things. Maybe they've tried something and it's not working. And your

20:06yoga and mindfulness, now it really is a grounding for us and it's such a great tool to utilize and so is a very helpful. Like I woke up yesterday morning very tired. I did my shagong and then I was like, okay, I can do this today. Like my whole nervous system felt calmer and I could just embrace all that I needed to do. So your thoughts and feelings on mindfulness and their work and, you know, grounding for inner work, you know, talked to us about that a little bit. Yeah, I have a note to myself actually that I look at often that is, you know, remember that you weren't looking for this. When it came, when mindfulness came to me, I was not looking for it. And so I try and be really thoughtful about just people, people need it, but they might not be looking for it in the in the language and words that a lot of the wellness community uses. I was looking for yoga and that I was forced into meditation that I like really did not want to do.

21:07And my first meditation, I was sitting there sweating. I did not. I wanted to run out of the room. I did not enjoy it at all. And I opened my eyes and I thought everyone had the same experience that I did. But no, people were sitting there, you know, just in joy and grace and peace. And I was the only person that had that experience. And that was the first kind of cue to me. I was like, ooh, I might need to sit with myself more. Why is that? Why can't I sit with myself for, you know, 10 minutes? And then after that, that things really took off. But I say all of this just in that, I think in wellness and meditation and all of these really helpful tools and concepts, there's a big opportunity to rebrand and use different language to make them more approachable for people who might still just push it away, even though it might be really good for them. And just aren't open-minded to that particular language or discipline, but might actually be open to the practice. If you just call it, hey, we're going to breathe. We're going to do some

22:09breathing. All of a sudden, it's much more approachable. And so I'm really exploring that space right now. And we have a lot to work from. There's a lot of resources now. And how do we, how do we make it more approachable for people who need it, but might not be looking for it, using the particular language that the wellness community is using? I love that. And you know what? I think it's amazing that you, that you stopped and actually asked yourself. Like you noticed that, okay, I'm not doing this so well. So how can I do better? Instead of running away from it. Because you could have just said, this is not for me. Yeah. That was my own hero's journey and kind of the refusal of the call. It would have been. So yeah, I feel fortunate that I did ask that question because it would have been easy to shut it out. Right. And so that you're sort of a testimony for others that, you know, don't give up. Maybe you don't do it very well. There's a lot of expectation I think people have with, you know,

23:12with actually meditation and grounding work and, and so, and what we're talking about grounding work and what we mean by that is being in your body, like sitting there and actually feeling your body, feeling all the parts of your body and being in the present moment and not on your to-do list and in the past and in the future and, you know, it's about being in the moment and we are really truly intended to be in the moment, each moment. And our world and culture does not support that at all. No, it doesn't. But even that can feel inaccessible of, you know, sit for a few minutes without looking at your phone, without thinking about your email. And that was for me 10 years ago. I went to yoga, you know, to get stronger, to manage stress, but not to really be with myself. That wasn't part of why I went. I think that that can evolve over over time too, like if just moving without being attached to your phone, you know, without having

24:17earbuds in, without, you know, like having devices attached, even if that's just a walk or something like that. If that's more accessible, then I think, you know, there's a lot of places to start. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So we're almost at a time. So for anyone who's listening and feeling stuck, what is a gold nugget that you can give them to just start today? Micro sole work. So change the expectation from my need to do 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 10 minutes, just two minutes, get out a piece of paper and write how you feel at the beginning of the day, how you feel at the end of the day. And just look at that and do it for a few days and just practice with micro sole work, two minutes. Okay, I like that title. You should have hashtag micro sole work. No stress there. It's not like, you know, you can just put it, it's like taking baby steps. That's what we want you to do is take baby steps because each baby step adds to another one adds to another one adds to another one and then also near at the top of the stairs and you're like, wow, look at what I've done, you know, and we forget to be gentle with ourselves and have compassion

25:22towards ourselves, you know, especially if you're in a loop of, you know, things have gone wrong lately and you're beating yourself up. It's really hard to have compassion, but we require compassion. Our soul requires compassion for healing. And so we want you to go out and get a copy, a sole toll and share it and please leave a nice review. And let, you know, let our author know today that, you know, you have gotten the book and, you know, you have used it and let her know how, you know, tell everybody how they can find you. You can find me at soldtollbook.com. The book is on Amazon or in local bookstores. And also I'm very active on LinkedIn and Instagram, just my name, Anusha Glaspy. Okay, that's awesome. Well, we're really excited for you to be here today and to share this. And I hope, you know, everyone got as much out of this interview as I have today.

26:22Thank you Anusha for, you know, taking that, that chance that you took into learn about yourself and figure out yourself and find out about yourself. And so then now you're sharing that with others so they can do the same thing. Thank you so much for having me and for hearing my story. I really appreciate it. Well, you're welcome. And I'll have to have you back on. So we will, we'll do that in the near future. And then we can talk about like the results that you've seen from all of this work. That would be really great, wouldn't it? I would love that. Okay. Thank you so much for joining us today wherever you are in the world. Day night or evening, I hope that you got something really great out of this interview today with Anusha Gillespie as she really tries to tell us and teach us how to get in that space of quiet and calm and be able to hear the voices and the answers within us and to tune out all the noise. And so this is a passion of hers. I hope that you learn something today and that you can take this and apply this in your life right now, tonight, tomorrow,

27:24whenever you're needing it. And it's very easy to do and an easy baby steps that will help you get down the road further to where you want to be. So thank you again so much for joining us today on Cover to Cover. I will be back soon and have a blessed day night or evening wherever you are in the world. Thank you for being a part of our audience today. Please share the show with your friends and tune in for the next episode of Cover to Cover for all things in the author world. As a mom, I want my kids' lives to be filled with joy and possibility. And I love that for every kid. That's why I support no kid hungry. They work in schools and communities to make sure every kid gets the healthy meals they need. Please join me in supporting no kid hungry for all kids. Thank you.