We were lucky to catch up with Adrianne Murchison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Adrianne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

I would say that I’m a true blend of both of my parents. Both have passed away. My dad was full of fire and very protective of his family so you didn’t want to cross him. At the same time he was thoughtful of his fellow man even if he didn’t show it outwardly. My mom was an abundance of love. My love for my relationship with God comes straight from her. I always say her heart was my heart. What she loved, I loved – and she loved God.

I used to wonder if I was born with my love for God and my desire to really know Him or did my mother instill that in me. I’ve come to realize that I was born this way but I was born to the perfect mother for me.

And similar to my father, I’m very protective of my loved ones.

I have memories of so many quick but pointed lessons from both parents that shifted me. When I was about 11-years-old personal journals (diaries) were hot items and they were on sale at a local store for only $1.  I went to buy one while my mom was waiting in the car. The cashier rang up the journal and was very friendly when she placed it in the bag, but she forgot to take my dollar. So I left. On the ride home, I chuckled to my mother about how the absent-minded cashier didn’t realize that she hadn’t take my money.

My mom turned the car around, drove back to the store and made me go in with my dollar and let the cashier know she forgot to take my cash.

The cashier’s mistake didn’t seem like a big deal to me. After all it was only $1. But it taught me to not take what isn’t mine and to not take advantage of people.

I was one of those little girls who people considered pretty but my parents would put me in check with the right words if I ever tried to buy into anything superficial.

It’s paid off in how I move through the world both as a strong but empathetic human being and as a spiritual being.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a news journalist living in Atlanta. Separate from my day job of writing stories on local cities in the metro area, I have a spiritual-based podcast called Let’s Start Healing that’s available on traditional podcast platforms,

It’s my passion and blends in my journalism experience well. I talk to people about their personal relationship with God or Higher Power, or healing after overcoming obstacles in life.

With the podcast focused on healing, some conversations have addressed social issues such as police shootings and the overturning of Roe v Wade.

My podcast motto is “We have more in common than we think and what we have in common can change the world.”

With this venture, I’m most grateful that I have an innate ability to connect with people and talk about who they really are at heart and how they move through the world.

How I move through this world in my everyday life – successfully or unsuccessfully – and stay connected to my true self has been very important to me.

It seems that now more than ever in modern times, this is important to most of us.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve demonstrated my resiliency to myself by coming through this time since the start of the pandemic. Many of us experienced some level of agony whether it was by contracting COVID, losing a loved one or going stir crazy during lockdown.

Before the pandemic, I had been working as a freelance writer for several years. And while that can bring highs and lows depending on the amount of work coming in, I had time to do Me. I had time to bring myself back to peace if anything disrupted it. I was able to stay present in my connection with God. There was balance between my outgoing side and my need to be grounded and in my own space.

I felt like I was flipped upside down a month before the pandemic started. That’s when I was hired for a staff job with my current employer. The workload was intense on a daily basis, my immediate boss was a hard ass – and I say that with love; and I was on a learning curve. Most of my background was in feature writing and my new gig was covering harder news. That requires different skills in approaching and crafting stories.

I doubted myself and felt like a failure at work through most of 2020. While I’m a person that will snap back when a person comes at me. I took the criticism when it was both valid and not true. Most days, I felt like I was punched in the stomach. No amount of prayers changed the dynamics.

I had no romantic partner in my life at the time to lift me up and affirm who I am. My close friends were supportive but of course they had their own lives and dilemmas. Working remotely, most of my days were repetitive dread with me seated in one spot working for 10-12 hours straight, only getting up to use the bathroom or take the dog out. And oh, wearing disheveled clothes that I threw on when I got out of bed.

I pushed forward and tried to understand what lesson I might be in need of learning. I didn’t have a clue until this year.

At the start of 2022, I started incorporating a deep breathing exercise and meditation into my daily spiritual practice. It has helped me to connect with Me as well as God in new ways. That and other spiritual practices is helping me to understand God’s love for me and my priceless value. I knew this before but not well enough apparently, because as I said, I had doubted myself.

As time has gone by, my work load has eased and I’m writing much better stories. But more importantly, with each passing day, I have an increased awareness that God’s got me.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

My product is me and my podcast. At this time there is no material or tangible item that I’m selling in the way that a store owner or a person providing an ordinary service would offer.

I am offering an avenue of spirituality that listeners can relate to or be inspired by. Most importantly, I want people going through tough times to understand they are not alone, and that no matter what, God – their Higher Power – is there and always accessible.

Having said that, everything isn’t for everyone. I’m building my audience around people that my podcast resonates with.

While I grew up Catholic, my spirituality is very open-minded and based in love. People who I listen to and read books by include Marianne Williamson, Abraham Hicks, Wayne Dyer, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Deepak Chopra and Kahlil Gibran.

These teachers have different approaches but the same underlying theme that a loving consciousness, which many of us call “God,” exists and is a source of great abundance. Accessing that love is not a matter of judgment, rather it’s a matter of understanding who and what we are in relation to that Source.

My approach to this understanding is through the variety of experiences of my podcast guests, as well as my own.

Having said this about who I listen to OR read on a regular basis, I also absorb information from people who have different teachings.

I have listened to such people as neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and similar thought leaders on such podcasts as Lewis Howes’ School of Greatness.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @letsstarthealingpodcast and @adriannemarie19
• Facebook: Adrianne M. Murchison
• Linkedin: Adrianne M. Murchison linkedin.com/in/adrianne-m-murchison-635b92105/
• Twitter: @adriannemarie19
• Youtube: Let’s Start Healing Podcast youtube.com/channel/UCXioPQe6R_wcbhH2fkHXASw
• Other: Reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ajc.com/staff/adrianne-murchison/

Image Credits
The photos are courtesy Adrianne Murchison The photo in which I appear with another person: I am with my podcast guest Lanada Chanel Duncan following a recording at her home.