We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Bourbeau. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

That even our “mistakes” in life are not really mistakes. If we never went through XYZ difficult experiences or awful situations (that we often help put ourselves in), we could never really learn important lessons, and be forced to alter course moving forward. It’s a hard thing to hear while you’re really going through it. However, looking back, had you not learned the hard lesson when you did, you may have failed to avoid an even worse version of this pattern later on. It really only requires this change in perspective to increase awareness, change your situation, and even open doors to opportunities in all aspects of your life.

Someone I’ve worked with made a decision in a romantic partner that had disastrous and extreme consequences when it all unraveled. They lost nearly everything they knew, loved and valued. It was an extremely traumatic experience. But now, after doing a significant amount of work and reflection, they are aware, and able to understand the reasons they had to go through that. They certainly don’t have to be delighted that it happened, but can now recognize that if nothing significant like this came along to abruptly halt and derail them, they likely would have kept making the same types of choices until something else like this occurred, along with unknown, and potentially even more serious consequences. In addition to viewing this from a healthy learning perspective, these important revelations are now helping this person reshape many aspects of their life, and have even inspired them to give back to others in similar situations.

Changing our situation is much about observing it and ourselves more objectively, learning what we need to learn from all our experiences (more fun, less fun and everything in-between), and making adjustments where necessary. If we can learn to consistently apply this, we are all much better for it. But most importantly, be forgiving and don’t judge yourself too harshly. We are ALL experiencing, learning and changing. It’s our consistency and vulnerability in showing up to work at it that matters most!

Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Ashley Bourbeau. I’m a transformational life coach, entrepreneur and former mediator. I enjoy practicing martial arts, hiking and seeing nature, good food, and good conversation. I am also constantly trying to learn more about everything, especially topics I feel will be relevant to our progression as humans in this lifetime, including studying space, consciousness, regression hypnotherapy, psychedelics and other holistic healing modalities, UFOs/UAPs, and more! If the UFO thing seems like a strange interest for a life coach now, it definitely won’t in about 3-5 years, bet!

Before I got into this business, I previously enjoyed helping people solve their legal problems as a mediator. That being said, I could often see the general patterns of thinking, acting and reactivity that landed people in the type of trouble requiring my help in that role. So, I felt a calling to coach, and make a greater impact by helping people create real change in all aspects of their lives.

I love helping people build the confidence, direction and balance to navigate everyday life, as well as build a life more in line with what they envision. I really enjoy helping people with major changes or challenges having to do with career and business, family, relationships, divorce, life after the death of loved ones, and issues related to a break of faith, spiritual awakening or otherwise radical shift in worldview. I help people get grounded, ask themselves the right questions, get clear on the things they want, their intentions, and reframe thinking in ways that will help them take action and improve with confidence.

What sets me apart is my adaptability in approach with clients. I can tap into whatever version of myself is necessary, whether it be my legal background, martial arts mentality, knowledge of many industries and topics, breath work, meditation, spirituality, wellness, and more. No two programs with clients go exactly the same. We can keep it practical and methodical with your journey, or you can go on a wild voyage of self exploration. It’s really up to you. Also, I promise to always keep it real with my clients and followers. Authenticity is my brand! It’s what the world needs more of, and it begins at home with each of us.

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

There was once a time in my life where I was quite vulnerable. I had a lot going on in my personal life – addictions, a whole bunch of different family tensions, and all of my own personal turmoil. I was barely scraping by through a pretty bad depression, and had a pretty major surgery, which contributed to things getting worse. I wound up with negative dollars in my bank account for quite a while, getting actually physically hungry, no car for months, and very little means to make money. I was probably another couple bad months away from experiencing homelessness in LA, quite frankly.

I was devastated, frustrated, embarrassed, and feeling so, so alone. It would not have been difficult at the time to decide it would be easier to succumb to the dark possibilities I was being faced with, because I really wasn’t sure how I was going to see myself out of the situation. Fortunately, I was able to realize that in order for things to change, I had to change. I convinced myself that I could sort myself and my mess all out, even though I had no idea how that would come about. I started with gratitude for the few people and things I did have, set intentions, did a lot of visualization exercises, and prioritized taking care of myself every single day, and working towards things little by little. Eventually, I came out on the other side, and ended up building my mediation business, as well as another business simultaneously. This time in my life helped lay the early foundation for me to turn toward coaching. I had to coach myself through a lot of tough stuff, and now I’m here so that others don’t have to go it alone!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

This doesn’t have much of a backstory, but it’s an important theme I feel younger people (Gen X, millennials, gen Z) really need to hear, and can relate to:

We need to unlearn the notion that we should always look to our elders for guidance, particularly about what our careers, social, political or economic situation should look like (or perceptions of what it currently looks like). We are conditioned to respect and obey elders virtually without question. However, there really does seem to be a massive disconnect in common ground and understanding of the realities of life for younger people today, compared with the perception of those who are their parents’ or grandparents’ age. Not only has it led to agonizing depression and anxiety for young people, it has also led to painful tensions between generations, even when that is not the intent.

The truth is, while older generations certainly have their fair share of issues, younger generations generally have far less financial stability and economic growth opportunities than their older counterparts, as society only continues to become more complex. Younger generations may be in a position now where it is necessary to create completely new systems to set things on a better trajectory for everyone overall in the future. We won’t be able to get there and improve our society if we keep doing everything the way our parents did, and tell us to do, even when they believe they have the best intentions. Sorry, Moms, Dads and grandparents! I really believe our survival as a race may depend on the younger generations evolving in the way they think about our society and how it should look. Not that there isn’t some wisdom to be had from older generations, but it’s becoming our time to take that initiative, get more active and fix it ourselves if we want it to get better.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thehigherhuman.com
• Instagram: @thehigherhuman
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-bourbeau-2aa2607a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCML4Z5PX1eRjWsrU8VE0f6Q
• Other: bio.site/thehigherhuman

Image Credits
Brooke Mason