In this episode of Supernormalized, CeeJay Barnaby speaks with Graham Skidmore about burnout, personal sovereignty, spiritual sensitivity, and the courage it takes to stop performing a version of success that was never truly yours.
Graham shares the story of how he followed the expected path: working hard, building a career, earning money, gaining status, and collecting the outward markers of achievement. From the outside, it looked like he had made it. On the inside, he was exhausted, disconnected, and deeply unhappy. That breaking point became the beginning of a much larger journey into healing, self-trust, and understanding what it really means to live in alignment with who you are.
The conversation explores how social systems often reward conformity while quietly punishing individuality. Graham speaks about the impact of diagnostic labels, the pressure to fit into narrow ideas of “normal,” and the way people can begin to see themselves through limiting definitions. Rather than dismissing support or treatment, he brings attention to the importance of not letting any label become a cage.
A major theme in this episode is the power of uniqueness. Graham explains that each person has their own way of perceiving, processing, sensing, and contributing. This is especially important for people with intuitive, psychic, spiritual, or non-standard experiences, who may doubt themselves because their gifts do not look like someone else’s. He encourages listeners to stop comparing their inner world to others and begin recognizing their own patterns of wisdom.
Graham also shares his perspective on consciousness, life challenges, and the possibility that our hardest experiences may carry meaning, growth, and guidance. He speaks honestly about the catalysts that changed his life, including the difficult moments that forced him to wake up, reassess his values, and choose a more authentic path.
The episode also touches on Graham’s work with people-centered systems, body wisdom, individualized physiology, and the need for workplaces and communities that support human beings rather than suppress them. He also discusses artificial intelligence, emphasizing that technology should support human intelligence, not replace it.
At its heart, this conversation is a reminder that burnout can be a signal, not a life sentence. Graham’s message is clear: you are not broken. Many of the systems we live inside are. Beneath the fear, shame, guilt, anxiety, trauma, and conditioning, there is still a powerful and authentic self waiting to be known.
This episode is for anyone who feels out of place, overwhelmed, spiritually sensitive, or tired of pretending to be someone they are not.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-skidmore
https://www.youtube.com/@understandingthescienceofyou
https://harmonyhealthinstitute.com/
Chapters
0:00 Episode overview
1:19 Corporate burnout
4:10 Diagnostic labels
15:42 Conformity and individuality
17:32 Recognizing gifts
17:59 Healthier systems
21:10 Safe spaces
21:30 Life as information
38:11 Consciousness and design
38:59 You are not broken
41:29 Catalysts and growth
43:00 Closing thoughts
43:33 Wrap-up
Transcript
CeeJay (00:00)
Today on Supernormalized, I have Graham Skidmore. His work is compelling in that he speaks both to the practical and to the profound. He brings executive level insight, lived wisdom, and grounded vision for how people, teams, and organizations can support individuality, restore agency, and create healthier ways of living and leading. You’ll hear about his turning points that changed his life path, how he thinks about consciousness and Earth’s intelligent design, and why he believes AI should support.
human intelligence rather than replace it, and what it really takes to build people centered systems that serve life. Stay for the full conversation, and by the end of this episode you may s see burnout differently rather than it being a curse or a prison sentence. That actually something that is a gift that changes you and helps you to walk away in a clearer sense of how sovereignty, healing, innovation can work together in your everyday life. Enjoy.
Welcome to Super Normalized, Graham Skidmore. Graham, you’re an experiencer, a person that’s sort of like connected more to your intuition now. And you’re finding your way in life and you’re using that to help other people. Welcome to the show.
graham skidmore (01:09)
CJ, thanks so much for having me. Yeah. learning to ⁓ lead an intuition led life versus ⁓ cognitive or logic has definitely been an interesting transition, that’s for sure.
CeeJay (01:19)
What what drove you there? I mean, you’ve had a a story of corporate burnout and then rediscovery of self. What did that look like for you?
graham skidmore (01:26)
Yeah, ⁓ I’ll I’ll try to give it an overview here and we’ll and we’ll and we’ll take it where wherever seems interesting to you. So I wasn’t one of those people that grew up
recognizing that I was hearing, seeing, experiencing, feeling things differently than anybody else. Like I didn’t have imaginary friends. I don’t remember seeing things. I don’t remember none of that was really resonant to me. I just always thought of myself and understood myself to be a quote unquote normal kid, albeit or a person, albeit quirky or socially awkward, right? As as I continued to get older. And was brought up, in the United States, in a in a very traditional understanding, which is you’re the man, you’re supposed
CeeJay (01:55)
Mm.
graham skidmore (02:02)
be the provider, you’d be the cornerstone, your value in life is what you can provide. You go, you do, you get a job, you provide and, ⁓ ideally you wanna gotta be known for more for your brains than strictly your brawn and,
go out there and work hard and that was, kind of what I was brought up with. And so now, you know, I was like, all right, so, after I got out of school, high school cus traditional schooling I didn’t get along, so I fortunately fell into a career that made a lot of sense to me and it did well at. I did just that. I checked the boxes that I was taught to do. I got the nice car, the house, the country club memberships, the the income, status, etcetera. And at the height of my but at the height of my success was the height of my misery, was the height of my
burnout was the height of of of my lack of fulfillment. I didn’t even know who I saw in the mirror anymore. I can remember being in Starbucks with the CEO who I reported to and it was like, I sometimes I feel like I don’t even know who I am anymore. I just feel like I’m a conglomeration of learned behaviors and habits to try to figure out how to fit in, right? And this doesn’t feel good. And so, after a certain point in time, we got to a point where, we
had a meeting and he’s like, This isn’t working and I’m like, No, this isn’t working and he’s like, I’d like to make some changes and I’m like, All right, well I’m gonna go. Right. And that was a big surprise to all of us because I’d been there for twenty one years. I was in the C suite of a twenty thousand person organization. I didn’t come from a college
So there was a bit of a success story, like, hey, you can come here and be successful in this organization without having to have go through the normal channels, blah, blah, blah. And so it surprised all of us. And so I left and I said, All right, if I played the game the way you’re supposed to, and I checked all these boxes, and I feel like crap, something’s got something can’t be right or something’s gotta give. I gotta learn how to play this game of life differently or something, because I’m only at this point in time like 40 years old or 41 years old, spending another 40 years feeling this miserable
is a no-go for me. So I gotta I gotta figure this out. So I went and understood myself with with my health. I said, okay, let me go figure out what’s wrong, quote unquote, what’s wrong with me. Let me go fix myself. I’m doing air quotes for those not watching. so that I can feel better and kind of go back to work because that’s what I was, my understanding of my role in life was supposed to be. So I went through the Western lens and they were like
CeeJay (03:45)
Mm-hmm.
graham skidmore (04:03)
yeah, so you know, and so I was diagnosed as autistic ADHD, dyscalcula, dyslexia, elixothymia, and then these glasses are Erlins Yeah, right. And so I was like, All right, all right, that’s enough. I don’t need any more, right? and initially it was helpful, right? It gave me a different vernacular, it allowed me to put words and feelings or words to feelings, words to emotions and experiences and things, and allowed you to speak from that. But just the same way that words can lift us up and and and you they can
CeeJay (04:10)
You got DSM’d.
Mm.
graham skidmore (04:28)
Bring us down, and so what I found was the more that I kind of leaned into these labels as understanding myself and my identity, the more that I also sort of bring out the symptoms and then and I’m gonna call it call it the quote the unproductive aspects, right? And so all of a sudden I found myself living a much more fearful, anxiety-based, and scary life, which then led and which then again I had that same conversation I had before, which is wait a second, you’re holy crap. If I just went through and thought that I understood things and playing the game of life differently, and okay, I just had these things.
Wrong with me, but now I feel even worse. This doesn’t make me feel even, more excited about my future either. So something again, something’s gotta give. And so a friend of mine, who ironically I also happen to work with at ⁓ at my former company, was like, Hey, you know you’re like really
psychic and stuff, right? And I’m like, and again, understood these things from a sensationalized perspective, comics, sci-fi, stuff like that. I’m like, what are you talking about? No, I’m not. I don’t understand any of that stuff. You’re crazy. And I didn’t really believe it. I never had any interest in f spirituality or woo woo. It just wasn’t of interest to me, right? And frankly I scoffed at that stuff because, I was the corporate executive guy and,
just had all the answers because I had money, right? Boy, you know, was I wrong there. so then I started to understand myself through different lenses, right? So I started to understand myself through the lens of of of spirituality, Eastern, in in indigenous as well as Western. And it was only once I started to recognize myself as an individual with an individualized physiology, with my own life goals.
That and and undertaking an integrated approach that I started to heal, that I started to become happy, that I started to feel empowered, that I started to be productive again, and started to feel comfortable in my own skin. And and in doing so along the way, I started to learn and understand my gifts and abilities and unlock, additional ones and come to understand, my life, the game of life differently, what I’m meant to do for my next chapter of life here. And ⁓ now I’m starting to re-emerge, ⁓ stepping into the stage of that next chapter of life.
CeeJay (06:15)
I would also throw into there that, ⁓ I think that a lot of people don’t realise it that a lot of those ⁓ ⁓ prescriptions of who we are according to society are actually curses. And you I think you fell into that curse, which was the all the labels and then deciding those labels were true. And ⁓
they’re another conditioned loop that we need to escape from because they’re not all exactly true. They’re only part of the story of who we are.
graham skidmore (06:37)
absolutely. It’s it was yeah, I that was all shedding labels, shedding conditioning has definitely been one of the most important, impactful and critical places where I’ve spent time.
CeeJay (06:48)
Mm mm. So ⁓ how did the season of awakening challenge the identity that you had built as a corporate executive?
graham skidmore (06:55)
Man. ⁓ everything everything that I understood about my life has been blown out of the wall. are you kidding me?
CeeJay (06:56)
⁓ Turn it upside down.
Yeah.
graham skidmore (07:02)
You know,
I came to understand myself ultimately as a being of consciousness, rocking a human suit to have a physical experience, And so which was obviously very, very different than the go get a job and, go make money world that I understood. Right? And I s and and I recognizing, my experience here on earth as a living and learning environment or as a classroom and
leaning into what how to listen to it, how to recognize that things that what I was learning so that I could recognize how things were happening for me and not to me, right was I mean, that was it was a total paradigm shift for me.
CeeJay (07:36)
Hm. So as a part of that story, you actually rediscovered your own sovereignty and the potential human you could become. When you say the power is always meant to reside with the people, what does that mean to you in practical terms?
graham skidmore (07:47)
Hmm.
boy. So in practical terms what that means to me is right is again this is the world’s upside down. Right now we have the
Almost we have people as property, frankly, right? We have people as property of governments, of higher of hierarchical structures, of quote unquote subject matter experts. You know, it where I’ve all taken it where, people are meant to are expected to give up an aspect of their s agency, of their free will, of their choosing to others that are quote unquote no more than them and no better for them to be able to improve their lives when the reality is
We all have it.
Through our own divine nature, we have access to all of the tools, information, and teachings that we need through our surroundings. That doesn’t mean that we don’t come across subject matter experts and that subject matter experts aren’t important, but there’s a very big difference between, hey, you’re a subject matter expert and I’m gonna learn from you, versus you’re the expert and now I’m beholden to you, and I can only get to a certain place through you, right? Those are very different dynamics, right? And so restoring power to the people means helping people to recognize and to realize how the divine provides.
that learning for them without them having to be ⁓ beholden to any structure, entity or individual in order to experience their healing, to ex- and to realize their potential.
CeeJay (09:04)
Mm.
Yeah, I would say that what’s happened in society is that we’ve been led to idolatrize power and to accept that the adults in the room know best and then we’re all just the children, which is ridiculous because you know, considering what you’ve just said we are all have our own under understanding and our own life path to live, and we should be doing that with freedom for pure self discovery.
graham skidmore (09:26)
I think that that that conflict between the man made intelligent design and the divine intelligent design, is a source of many of the problems that we experience here on Earth today, frankly. So, yeah.
CeeJay (09:35)
Mm.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. What do you think causes people to lose touch with their own agency and inner wisdom?
graham skidmore (09:42)
It’s for some it’s losing touch, but I think for most or it was probably more common is that people don’t even recognize they ever had it. Right? Because especially at least in the Western, world.
CeeJay (09:49)
Yeah, right. The
graham skidmore (09:53)
when we go to school, we go to gym class to learn how to be physical, we learn how to be in in shape, we learn how to build muscle. We don’t learn how to understand our bodies wisdom. We’re not taught how to tap into and understand how our bodies talk to us, how our bodies connect with our environments and how the environment it you know contains information and how that you know and and how our bodies able
That information just like a car radio station turning into different frequencies and stations, right? And so I think that like that was the case for me, right? Is that I was not one of those people who was who came from a quote unquote woo-woo family where exploring yourself and recognizing that you either had imaginary friends or were talking to people that that was a completely normal part of life, right? If I ever mentioned anything like that, it was at such a young age that it definitely got conditioned and squashed out of me before it ever became a memory that I have, right? And so that’s why I feel like a lot of us we’re just we’re not taught to recognize
That we have more than the traditional five senses, and that we’re connected to each other and we’re connected to everything around us.
CeeJay (10:47)
Mm-hmm. How do you help people begin reclaiming their sovereignty without making the process feeling overwhelming or abstract?
graham skidmore (10:54)
I’m not gonna claim to be able to do that for everybody because we all got our different belief systems and some of us are coming from different places, but look,
one of the things that I talk about i or teach to to help with that is that the the conditioning, the guilt, the shame, the fear, the anxiety, and the trauma all stand in the way between our full potential and who we are today. And all of us would like to live our life without being inhibited inhibited by those things. And so recognizing how to shed those, but and not just shed
Those but recognize how when those things are being presented to you, it’s the world it’s the world giving you a catalyst to help you through your life goals that you wanted to learn during this living and learning experience. and when you recognize that the world is teaching you and and you’re learning through it.
as you shed that guilt, shame and fear, a lot of illnesses, ailments, aches and pains go along, you know, with it and they go away pretty instantly. So usually as long as somebody’s like, hey, I’m willing to take another understanding of this game of life. I’m willing to try a different way next time I’m feeling anxious, guilty, shame, fear, whatever it might be, next time I feel triggered, and it’s pretty instantaneous to see how the world shapes itself much more favorably to you when you
engage it as a learning experience and as something happening for you to help you grow as opposed to something happening to you or to condition you or to keep you small. And so, when you feel it’s it’s easy to adopt things that make you feel better. There you go.
CeeJay (12:18)
Mm.
So ⁓ considering that, what signs would someone be looking out for to understand that the living they’re living themselves by external authority instead of internal knowing? Is there something that they could see to be able to discover that?
graham skidmore (12:34)
Well the first thing I say is if you’re triggered by anything, that’s a key that you’re out of alignment.
If if something causes you to experience fear, anxiety, guilt, or shame, th then you’re living out of alignment. There’s something that has gotten in there. And so, which again we say, hey, Graham, that’s everybody. Bingo, right. And the great news is, to me, it it and unfortunately again, so then normal Western medicine tends to normalize, there’s something wrong with all of us. Yeah, just take a pill. You’ll be fine. Let’s just suppress these things. When the reality is, hey, all we have to do is recognize that.
We’re here to learn. We’re not meant to have all the answers. We didn’t make mistakes. They were just part of our learning path. Give ourselves grace, give ourselves love, give ourselves acceptance. And how much and as a result of that, how much more easily and quickly our lives can become much more enjoyable.
CeeJay (13:21)
Mm-hmm. For the people out there who feel stuck, what is a grounded first step towards reclaiming their own personal power?
graham skidmore (13:28)
I think the first thing is to recognize the patterns that are happening in their life. Right? For example, when I talk about guilt, shame, anxiety, fear, there’s a pattern that happens, you know, and and a in a topic that causes somebody to have that reaction to it. And this and the sooner that somebody can start to recognize that pattern, the topic of what it is
then the the soon the then the sooner then they’re one they’re one huge step closer to being able to transform that and understand it as a catalyst into their personal growth and then recognize, you know, then what I help people do is recognize what the learning lesson is that’s behind that so that they can then, you know, incorporate that learning lesson as a way of shedding the
the effect of those things and as well as then in you know, it kind of stops that pattern from continuing to show up in their life anymore because they’ve recognized the learning lesson and and have worked their way through it.
CeeJay (14:16)
Mm, yeah. It sounds like a gentle observation of the of the process and then breaking the process through understanding.
graham skidmore (14:22)
Yeah, I mean self I mean self awareness is the k is the foundation to all to all healing.
CeeJay (14:26)
Yeah, definitely. Where do you see one size fits all systems causing the most harm in daily life?
graham skidmore (14:33)
boy, so I think that well
First of all, setting the expectations, right? I mean, if you think about the quality of our life and and and is generally speaking, comes from our expectations, right? How how we expect our interactions to be with somebody is gonna determine whether they were enjoyable or not, right? Do they live up to our expectations or didn’t they, right? That tells us happier or excited, or disappointed in me. And so likewise, when and so when we grow up thinking that to be here to be a quote unquote normal human means that we’re all supposed to fit into this box, we’re all supposed to think this way, we’re all supposed to have these values, we’re all supposed to have these same beliefs, and anybody that
And if we don’t fit inside of that box, we have a disability, a syndrome, an ailment, something, something that’s an unproductive label or identification associated with us. And so therefore we all grow, and so this kind of goes back to the one year earlier.
questions about you know what caused us to be disconnected well I don’t know that we were ever ever connected because what you know half the time as soon as we you know get going to school and interacting with society they’re like hey you’re supposed to be this way and so then we start doing that and so that immediately takes away from you know that that focus on conformity takes away from our individuality and you know our our power our sovereignty comes from our individuality right our enjoyment of life comes from our individuality
CeeJay (15:42)
Mm.
graham skidmore (15:44)
And and so I think and then also, you know, understanding our gifts, our abilities comes from our individuality. So th so that focus on conformity and that one size fits all prevents us from understanding who we are, what we’re capable of. yeah, pretty I mean yeah, I mean that’s a I guess that’s my longer answer.
CeeJay (16:00)
Mm. How do standardized systems misread neurodivergence, sensitivity, or spiritual openness?
graham skidmore (16:06)
Boy, this is a hot topic ’cause he’s the even inside of the neurodivergent community there’s not agreement on the wiring of this and and look and so I I
I feel like this is where there’s a huge miss to kind of tie in your prior question about the one size fits all and then also within the neurodivergent community is look spiritual giftedness or the f senses, psychism, mediumship, it’s not all the same for all of us. It’s just like it’s like athleticism. It’s individualized, right? And so to be a a a great basketball player doesn’t mean you only can shoot three pointers, doesn’t mean you only shoot free throws, doesn’t mean just your ability to dribble, right? It there’s all different skills and abilities that make up a good basketball player. Well and if you were to only
only
evaluate somebody by their ability to do one of those items, you would miss out on all kinds of talent and ability and and and continu and supporting and fostering that talent and ability to be able to shine. And so I think that so that same thing happens with, you know, those that’s spiritually gifted, psychic, whatever you somebody wants to call it.
Is that it’s not is that it’s it’s treated as, if one person’s telepathic, then it’s all supposed to be telepathic, and which means that telepathy works like this. Well, that’s not necessarily the case. And like anybody who’s tried to figure out their clairvoyance, right? Not everybody sees everything the same way with their mind’s eye, right? And so that that one size fits all approach again hinders and inhibits people from recognizing their own gifts and abilities because the way that I see in my mind isn’t the way that you see in your mind. But I’m trying to see in my mind the way you see in your mind, but I’m not. So I figure like, shit, I’m either
CeeJay (17:18)
Exactly.
graham skidmore (17:32)
broken or I don’t have that ability or well no the reality was it’s just different. And so yeah, so I f so that’s to me where the you know being able this take understanding the individualized approach and helping people to understand themselves as individuals and how to recognize their gifts in their own way is such a critical missing component of the of of the human experience these days.
CeeJay (17:36)
Yes.
Yeah, definitely.
What would a healthier system look like if it truly supported individuality individuality at scale?
graham skidmore (17:59)
I guess the opposite of what we just talked about, right? And which is this is where a lot of my you know, my work is you know, is now geared, which is it’s about helping people to understand themselves as an individual with an individualized physiology, which means recognizing your life path, what you’re here to learn, recognizing your body’s wisdom, how to tap into your body’s wisdom, how your body
CeeJay (18:01)
Ha ha ha.
graham skidmore (18:21)
it taps into the to the information and energies around you and then also when you don’t listen to that, when you’re not honoring your body, when you’re not honoring it, how it talks to you, the feedback loop.
Which it typically is aches, pains, ruminating thoughts, things of that nature, so that you have so that you are so that you recognizing that your human suit is really the best piece of kind of artificial intelligence that you have to help guide you on your journey. Right? So instead of looking at your human suit as your identity, you’re looking at it as a as a form of a compass, as knowledge, as wisdom, as a feedback loop, as ⁓ and and and as a ⁓ a bridge and a connector.
CeeJay (19:00)
How do you think people can tell the difference between a personal issue or shadow work that needs to be done and a system mismatch?
graham skidmore (19:06)
Hm, a shadow work and a system mismatch.
⁓ well I guess typically the system mismatch causes us to go into our shadow side, right? As as a survival mechanism. You know, and and as a way to get by. And so I think that in in general, if you’re doing something that doesn’t cause you to feel enjoyment or to feel happiness, and when I say let me give you my definition of happiness is living a life of self guided choices while being able to love yourself, others and your surroundings. So therefore if I’m doing something it’s not making
CeeJay (19:16)
Yeah.
graham skidmore (19:37)
me feel happy, whose choice am I really living and operating by? And that’s then well from there is where I start to identify the mismatch and what and in some cases today those some of these mismatches, are unavoidable because we have to do what we have to do.
to go to work, to make money, to pay bills, to put a roof over our head, food in our belly, things of that nature. But the more in tune, going back to that self-awareness, but the more that we can be in tune with how the systems are causing us to go into the shadows, our are the how the systems are causing us to not be our genuine and authentic selves, the better we can provide the right self-care to offset that, right? And and and that’s really a huge piece as well, that’s that that understanding ourselves as individuals to be able to provide proper self-care as a way to be able to,
make this living and learning experience much more enjoyable.
CeeJay (20:21)
Yeah.
Yeah. Part of that experience would be to rebuild your relationship with your body after moving through trauma, fear, and anxiety. How do you recommend people take that task on?
graham skidmore (20:31)
You know, I mean I’ve been very like for me personally, I’m very fortunate that ⁓ when I started to awaken I was kind of I you know, I had a few people that helped me out along the way, but I definitely learned how the environment was talking to me and how my body was talking to me to guide me.
And so I was able to lean into that. And I think that the most important thing for anybody to do is to find somebody that they trust that allow that they’re able to be their
Genuine, authentic, true self with and say the uncomfortable things because that’s really especially when you’re getting started, you got to be able to have a safe space to talk about, hey, this is what I’m feeling, this is what I’m experiencing, to be able to get that feedback from yeah, because without without the ability to truly speak about what your reality is, it’s gonna be really hard to find somebody who’s walked in those shoes who can then help you to s to understand what you’re going through, feel good about it, normalize it, and to help you heal and become healthy.
CeeJay (21:10)
Yeah, without judgment.
graham skidmore (21:28)
I think that’s the first step before you find a practitioner.
CeeJay (21:30)
Mm, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
What changed for you when you began reading life as information, learning, education rather than an ongoing life sentence? ⁓
graham skidmore (21:44)
Yeah, it was it was definitely well first thing was that I finally got hope.
Right, and maybe I shared with you a few times like you know, I started to get little bits of hope of I’m feeling better. I got this diagnosis, only to feel worse again. But this time, once I started to recognize, how things were talking to me, I recognized how my ignor how when I ignored those things, it caused energy to stagnate in the body, it caused aches, it caused pains, it caused ailments, it caused doubt, it caused fear, it caused anxiety, and learning how to be all of a sudden trust what I was experiencing, trusting what I what my body.
was
talking to me, trust that little voice, my intuition and taking action on that intuition. All of a sudden, you know, little by little, aches and pains would go away. The synchronicities and who would pop up into my life and be helpful, you know, started to increase. The enjoyment of the day, looking forward to waking up in the morning got, you know, you know, improved and happened ⁓ much more commonly.
and then again as I said, you know, as I mentioned earlier, you know, feeling better and feeling happy is the easiest way to to adopt new behaviors and and patterns. And so for me, that was what it was. And and and then from there it kind of you know I also had to recognize
that you know, just because thing not and by the way, not every piece of information is life changing, right? Sometimes it’s just little guidance, sometimes it’s friendly nudges, sometimes it is life changing. You know, and so learning how to recognize information, recognize what information is FYI, what information needs to be you know, action taken, and then what information is letting me know, hey, I you know, I’m not hearing what’s being told to me, and so now I’m quote unquote dealing with a catalyst to that’s that’s nudging me in the form of something uncomfortable.
CeeJay (23:23)
Mm. What role does your inner guidance play in your li own decision making today?
graham skidmore (23:27)
I mean now it’s everything, I mean, before I had to have logic and cognitive reasoning and tie it into what other people felt, what other people saw, what other people
And now I g now it’s now I you when I need to know or something it’s it’s more of, you whether someone wants to call a source, creator, God, universe, you know, whatever. I meditate and and I and I wait for the guidance. I wait and I and I now operate more off of what is it that I’m here to do based on
guess but yeah, what is it that I’m here to do based on my own individualized journey versus what is it that society’s telling me I’m supposed to be doing. Right. And and and they definitely, you know, they go hand in hand. Spirituality and capitalism don’t have to be at odds. Spirituality and science don’t have to be at odds. Right. And so recognizing how I’m being told to use my gifts to create new systems, to operate inside of a capitalist environment, to be able to create change.
You know, and then you know, and I don’t always know the answers, right? I just it’s sometimes it’s just being given one step at a time and then somehow when I look back, all of those taking those different steps one step at a time, you know,
allowed me to gain access and the clarity and the and the knowledge to do what needed to be done and the people crossed my path that that you needed to be there to assist me and somehow things have a way of working out. And so you know after enough repetition of going through that sequence, it becomes a lot you know much more comfortable in in in belief to to not require I should say belief to take those steps without requiring major positive reinforcement along the way.
CeeJay (24:54)
How does that play into your understanding of this dimension, Earth’s intelligent design? And how did you come to trust that framework?
graham skidmore (25:02)
I think that well
Yeah, simply put it, I was I was became happier, healthier, more productive and more empowered is the is the short answer. Right? What I started to recognize was that, you know, even though that I learned how to trust my intuition and and many times it was scary because it was very different because I couldn’t apply logic to it. And when I did apply logic to it, it didn’t make sense. And so that was very hard for me to then do those things that was no longer leaning into my logic and my cognitive abilities because I spent so much of my life living in that space and in the corporate world and in and in the status quo, that believe.
That cognitive and logic served me very well. So being able to learn how to trust my intuition and trust that inner guidance, especially when things didn’t make sense and when I had no idea how this would ever come together because I didn’t have the knowledge to make it work. I didn’t have the people around me to make it work. I didn’t have the resources around me to make it work. And then all of a sudden, somehow, stuff found a way to make itself work. Right? Though that feedback loop really was what was what allowed me to
gain that trust. And and I know I’m saying these things pretty easily, but believe me, this this th my journey was not like this sweet surrender of, I just trust everything now. Come to me and I’ll follow you. No, I came kicking and screaming. Every step of the way where it was gonna be my way and I had to try it my way until it didn’t work and then I was willing to find okay, I quit, I give up, let me I’ll do it your way. Right? There was it was a lot of that. And so that also helped to ⁓
me to adapt things and change my belief systems because the way that I did it just wouldn’t work anymore.
CeeJay (26:31)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I think we all go through that ⁓ stage of kicking ourselves in the ass ⁓ over and over until we realize we don’t have to do that.
graham skidmore (26:39)
Yeah, it was it was definitely there was a there was a lot more pain that th you know, in in my learning journey than than than simplicity and a or or joy as we as it was getting started.
CeeJay (26:49)
So let’s pivot now. We’ll have a talk about your understanding about ethical AI and human-centered innovation. Why is it important that to you that AI enrich human intelligence rather than replace it?
graham skidmore (27:00)
You yeah, it’s such an important topic t you especially in today’s world where we’ve got you at least I I’m here in the States, so my news loop is probably a little bit different than yours, but you know, you’re probably aware of, you got a handful of guys here that are the same ones that wanna talk about how humanity’s tapped out and we’ve reached our we’ve reached our potential unless we’re willing to use their tools to help us make us more intelligent and to help empower us, right? And essentially then just becoming more, you know, beholden to them.
CeeJay (27:23)
y yeah.
graham skidmore (27:25)
And look, and if you would have asked yeah, pretty much exactly right. That’s right, the Broligarchy, right? And so yeah, and look if you would asked me ten years ago, I would have been one of those guys, right? I would have been like, Yeah, humanity’s yeah. That that’s right, exactly right. But now but since I’ve recognized that, you know, like there’s a higher self and that there’s I have so much more intelligence, gifts and abilities that once I, you know
CeeJay (27:26)
Take assholes. Brawligaki, exactly.
You know, give me the brain chip, let’s go.
graham skidmore (27:49)
Available to me based on what I’ve accumulated all of all over all of my different lifetimes, you know, I’ve now recognized that, you know, humans have much greater potential and that consciousness and then I trust consciousness as, you know, to guide me and ca and being able to tap into the knowledge and wisdom that exists within the collective consciousness and and believe that to be
most rewarding path for humanity in its future as opposed to us giving up our agency to AI. Now that doesn’t mean that AI AI d can’t play a factor a part in I’m not anti-technology by any means. I’m just pro-human and pro-consciousness. Right? I believe that that we should be viewing technology like just like a calculator, right? We as somebody with this calcul you know d d math
You know, I it just didn’t come easy to me. But that didn’t mean that I lacked intelligence. It just means that meant that my wiring was instead of having me to be able to understand math, my free thinking and creative problem solving allowed me to create new data intelligence methodologies, to create alternative data sets and to be able to, you know, bring evolution into different, you know, industries that I was involved in. Right
And and but that but math is obviously important. And so if I didn’t have a calculator, I wouldn’t have been able to do those things. If I didn’t have something that could naturally take care of some of the calculations for me, I would have had real problems. Right? So it was a it was the ability to be able to blend my natural intelligence, my intuition guiding me with the proper tools and support that I needed to to operate at my best self that allowed me to accomplish the things that I did in my professional career. And so that’s you know, and so for me, that’s you know, I see that’s where I see the
leveraging technology. What’s that? ⁓ you can yeah what’s here’s crazy I’m in Chicago. I’m 44 floors up. The noise pollution here is crazy. ⁓ Yeah okay well I guess so yeah I wish I wish I could turn off the sirens for you but yeah way down there. yeah and so that’s and so that was when I realized wow there’s so much to all of us that we really need to be spending our time teaching us how to be our best selves.
CeeJay (29:22)
So I they’re coming to get you. They’re coming to get ya.
Whoa.
It doesn’t matter.
graham skidmore (29:46)
And that’s where the personal empowerment comes in, and that’s where the restoring the power to the people comes in. You know, not and then using AI to help us with that, not this narrative that’s being taught that we’re supposed to become, you know, again, a hierarchical structure or obedient to to to AI and the broligarchy as you know as our future. so anyway, so yeah, that was it was my it was through my own spiritual journey that I realized that humans and investing in humanity is one of the greatest.
is one of the things that we’re not doing enough of and where I believe is you know one of the greatest opportunities ⁓ available to us right now.
CeeJay (30:20)
Yeah, I think AI is a good tool, you know, for assistance, but to rely on it continuously and to invest your personality into it to such a degree that I mean there’s there’s people that have even committed suicide from, you know, dealing with AIs at this time in in history, which is very sad. But ⁓ you know, ⁓ people need to r realise they’re just, like you said, a calculator. Use them as as a calculator, use them sensibly. and ⁓ it can actually
B to benefit, but ⁓ I mean that big narrative about basically AI replacing absolutely everything, it’s just bonkers. You know, I mean that I’ve I’ve used a lot of AIs and I’m I’m an ex programmer and some of the stuff they put out is just garbage. you can stretch them out to a certain point and they can’t and they loop on themselves and ⁓ don’t even understand what they’re talking about. So and I catch out and call them on it and they they know that I’m watching. So it’s a bit of
graham skidmore (31:11)
Yeah, I mean it’s it’s it’s it’s pr
it’s pretty crazy and when you start to and it like I think well, when you s when you start to think about, okay, an al you know, a large language mod is a
Accumulation of all the knowledge on the internet, okay. Well, the collective consciousness is an accumulation of everybody’s experiences since the beginning of Earth. Right. Right. And you start, and you can and you can really start to understand consciousness through that kind of that tech lens, real and you start to go, all right, well, let me let me get this, let me think about this. I can have a direct access to consciousness.
CeeJay (31:29)
Forever. Yeah, exactly.
graham skidmore (31:42)
That doesn’t cost me a subscription. I don’t have to give up it’s not telling me what to do. It’s allowing it’s a you know it’s it’s allowing me to access information and helping me to make decisions for myself so that I’m becoming more intelligent and more confident. Or I can go f and work with a tool that tells me what to do based on a one size fits all system that may or may not work for me. Which one sounds more appealing, you know? And I just think there’s not enough of that conversation happening.
CeeJay (32:04)
Mm. Yeah.
Yeah. What do you think ethical AI would look like when it’s designed with empathy and stewardship? I mean, at the moment it seems like there’s almost no guardrails whatsoever and ⁓ they’re they’re in a hell bent race to ⁓ make the fastest and best AI that does absolutely everything. So I don’t know. I don’t know if we can actually get the empathy and stewardship at that at this time in history.
graham skidmore (32:29)
Look, I do I mean I I don’t think that it’s possible in today in in the the current approaches today don’t allow for it because all of the information that’s being taken, and I’m probably I’m using some broad brushes here, essentially comes from the information that’s either online or in books, known information which all contains which all comes from a bias from one group’s perspective, right? And so if you think history’s not unbiased, right? It it it it paints Yeah, right. Look I mean, you take a look.
CeeJay (32:52)
⁓ look at look at Reddit.
graham skidmore (32:55)
Look at the way that the the way that many that that we that we were taught about the indigenous. And instead, which it’s it’s bonkers, it’s full of so much bad misinformation. We would be so much further along if we adopted the knowledge and the wisdom that came along with that. And but we didn’t. What we have is the the colonizers’ view of history. We have the colonizers’ view of what of what it means to be human, we have the colonizers’ view of what the future.
CeeJay (33:00)
Yeah, it’s bonkers.
Yes.
Exactly, said
graham skidmore (33:24)
future
should look like and as a result of that all of the tools are then going to continue to further that and that and does not and the colonizers view doesn’t ex isn’t necessarily known
For its empathy, sympathy, and support for those that are that act outside of the box that it deems acceptable. And so therefore, psychology is gonna follow that suit and we’re gonna continue to create this self-fulfilling prophecy of of conformity and increased dru trauma and pain, anxiety, sh shame, guilt, suicides, etc. Because you know, people are gonna continue are going to in larger scales be made to feel like there’s something wrong with them and that they’re broken and they can’t and then they’re not able to.
figure out how to get out of it because those what the the one size fits all approach isn’t working for them and now they feel hopeless and then and now you’re gonna start and so that’s that’s the you know I’m kind of going down a bit of a rabbit hole here but to me that’s the scariest outcome is when you start to have a society that feels hopeless and helpless and can’t find its way out because the most the supposed most intelligent tool is telling you to do it this way and if you can’t do it this way then you’re the problem not the tool.
CeeJay (34:07)
Yeah.
Mm. Yeah. Well if you can’t behave according to the algorithm, then your bank account gets turned off.
I know. They’ve already done it. So, you know, they’ve tested that in Canada. so let’s just talk about your current work and future visions. How do NGEN, SATH Solutions and Harmony Health each serve a different part of your mission?
graham skidmore (34:32)
It really does, right? I mean it truly you know Yeah. Yeah.
wow. Well thank you for reading what I sent over. Wow, this so look so as part of my belief that we should be building a human centric future, I think the first thing that we need to do is there needs to be a the other side of the narrative which is why we’re in we should be investing in humans and why are we have, you know, more potential ahead of us as individuals without needing to, you know
take on brain chips or give up our agency to AI. And so my focus is in health and wellness. Because, you know, by demonstrating how people, by demonstrating how people are able to realize their potential when they’re s they’re properly supported as individuals, now opens up the door to say, hey, we need to do this at a systemic scale and we need to be able to do and we need to be able to invest in humans.
the same way that we’re investing in our in our in our technology. And once we’ve demonstrated that humans have an untapped potential, we can make that argument. And so once I do that in health and wellness, and by the way, the SATH Solutions is the for-profit entity that creates the education, the tools and the systems that’s donated to the Harmony Health Institute nonprofit, to help with, you know, to to show how
individualized healing can be done and performed at scale. is the you know, so I guess was a I sorry I kind of got a little jumbled there Anya. The you know so Harmony Health proves it, then SATH solutions then you know ha offers can license, I think that’s the word I’m looking for, license the tools, educations, systems, and frameworks to others that want to be able to
CeeJay (36:03)
It’s okay.
graham skidmore (36:18)
to be able to provide that individualized healing. I mean, think about it as like a healthcare system for the woo-woo. Essentially all you’ve got, you know, you’ve like you’ve got all kinds of guests that are all demonstrated this time and time again with different people. The you know what happens and the imp and how we’re all able to help and heal each other through stewardship, you know, looking out for one another. But what we lack is the framework that brings all of that together and into a scalable system to demonstrate and and give that power back to the people.
And so once and so that’s what I’ve been focused on with the for profit entity and then NGEN is another nonprofit and that’s essentially a society that is got the systems and the tools and the resources and the support and the networks for those that want to operate inside of Earth’s intelligent design and align with their path versus strictly the status quo that’s out there today. So that’s kinda that’s how they all kind of work together ⁓ and and support each other.
CeeJay (37:10)
How does your book and video series, I didn’t come o come with a knowner’s manual, connect to your larger body of work, understanding the science of you?
graham skidmore (37:13)
Yeah.
Yeah, so I was sort of thinking about right like what’s kind of a fun way to introduce as educate you know, the educational material. And so, you know, I said, well, you know, w I didn’t come with an owner’s manual, and that was part of the problem, right? Is that I didn’t know how to use my human suit. And so it caused me all kinds of aches, pains, traumas, et cetera.
And so I said, all right, so I’m to take that approach. And so the I didn’t come with an owner’s manual is of is currently a video series and it’s and then and it’s and I’m working on the book right now. And what that does is it explains Earth’s curriculum, Earth as a l living and learning environment. So for those that want to understand, you know, Earth as a classroom and ⁓ what it’s meant to teach us, how it’s meant to teach us, what’s different about you know the divine classroom versus the quote unquote status quo.
And then from there, the understanding the science of you helps you to understand yourself as a being of consciousness, which is very different than a conscious being, right? A conscious being is essentially, hey, you’re born and then you become conscious and you’re, you know, you’re just as in and from there as a as a conscious being, it’s up to the DNA lottery, you know, your intelligence, your gifts, your wisdom, et cetera. It’s all kind of some a bit of randomness or who your parents were. Well, that’s not true.
CeeJay (38:11)
Yeah.
graham skidmore (38:27)
As a being of consciousness, you predetermined all of this stuff ahead of time, including your parents. And so it’s being able to understand the the w it’s being able to understand life through that lens as a being of consciousness and how to navigate life as a being of consciousness. And so there’s different people on the podcast that I bring in to talk about, you know, how they’ve learned and how to understand themselves that way, navigate life that way.
And so between the two, we provide the framework to understand Earth through the through the lens of consciousness, and then how to understand it as a being of consciousness.
CeeJay (38:59)
Hmm. What message do you want your audiences to take away with them after engaging with your work?
graham skidmore (39:04)
You’re number one is you’re not broken the systems are.
Number two, there’s a whole lot of awesomeness sitting underneath that guilt, shame, fear, conditioning, anxiety, and trauma that the world has put on you. And when you learn how to start giving yourself credit, and well, I’m when you start to learn how life through you catalysts to help you grow, not mistakes.
And to give yourself credit for being as strong as you were to learn through them, to work through them and not define them. And you just look in the mirror and you start to give yourself credit for that and appreciate yourself, appreciate your experiences and love yourself, life becomes life really opens up in a whole new way for you, and it becomes a heck of a lot more enjoyable to live. And I want everybody to experience.
Through whether it’s through me or other people, it doesn’t really matter. We all got our own paths and our own journeys, but you know, I just want everybody to be able to find that path and that journey for themselves.
CeeJay (39:55)
What gives you hope about humanity’s next chapter?
graham skidmore (39:57)
Well, great news is as you know, as because the reality of I guess the is is rooted in consciousness, that means that there’s a certain level of things that are predetermined. And so when we look around, it can be easy to look at and go, holy crap, the world’s on fire, it’s hell in a handbasket. How in the world are things ever going to improve? Well, no, what we’re seeing is catalysts on a large scale that are here to cause and create change. And and because we are beings of consciousness and there is that predetermination of of what’s going on, that means that
We have the the change makers that are incarnating now. And we have the change makers that are coming into age. And we have the change makers that are coming into their own. And we have the energies that are now hitting Earth and and activating us to help us come into our own. And so for me, that’s what I see. So I’m see a world on fire. What I see is the world come is is the world
experiencing the catalysts that are needed to create systemic change and I see and you know and I don’t see, you know, the a world of people going crazy. I see people being activated through the energies coming to us to recognize their real and genuine authentic selves and their connection to the divine and the gifts that they have to offer and how they’re here to bring in that change. And the more then that people continue to get comfortable with that
you know, we’re gonna continue to see the positive change start to occur. But we’ve got a few, you we’ve got some growing pain still to w that we have to go through before that occurs, but you know, that’s where I see, you know, ⁓ you know, the quote unquote the darkest before the dawn, right?
CeeJay (41:21)
Yeah. Yeah, it does seem like that’s going to be the way. A lot of people ⁓ really need those eyes pried wide open with crowbars almost so
graham skidmore (41:29)
Unfortunately, unfortunately
right. I mean look, catalysts weren’t to your point, look, we didn’t always need catalysts weren’t always a part of the div of the design to help us to move. But we didn’t move fast enough, we didn’t grow, we got you know either content, complacent, or didn’t, and so we needed those catalysts to kind of nudge us along. And to your point, some of us need more catalysts than others. I certainly needed big catalysts. I needed those crowbars, I needed that two by four across the head. Not so much now, but definitely early on, without a doubt.
CeeJay (41:52)
Ha ha ha.
Yeah.
Yeah, I I’ve I’ve had some experiences with ⁓ spirits in other dimensions and as a part of that I did ask them, I said, Why does it have to be like this? And they said, Well, you know, we know what we’re doing, don’t worry.
graham skidmore (42:07)
Yeah.
Which isn’t always reassuring either, right? Sometimes you like to have a little bit of that answer of like, Okay, but how did we get to this place and when does it start getting better? I I I’m gonna trust you, but what else do I gotta go through? You’re right, give me some s give me some give me some give me a synchronicity, give me some positivity, something to help me along the way, feel a little bit better about what I’m what
CeeJay (42:10)
No
Yeah.
Yeah,
I think that’s pretty much the reason why people turn to astrology and divination as well, because they’re just gonna have those answers. If we had a roadmap, it makes things a lot easier. So yeah, all understood. Graeme, how can people find you and engage with your work?
graham skidmore (42:40)
So my YouTube channel, Understanding the Science of You, also has the I didn’t come with an owner’s manual video series there. or you know, connect with me on LinkedIn. I’ve got you a variety of articles there and so if you kind of like some of my different perspectives, you that I definitely you know write to that and and helping people to heal ⁓ and understand the world differently. Or if you just want to connect and say, hey, you connect with me on LinkedIn.
CeeJay (43:00)
Excellent. Thank you very much for coming on to Supernormalize today and explaining your understanding as driven from your own personal experience and great change.
graham skidmore (43:10)
You know, thank you so much for having me and thank you for for providing a platform for so many people to talk about their stories, so for people to recognize ourselves as a as a race, as individuals, as powerful people, and that this and that the spectrum of of what it means to be a normal human is much wider and more expansive and more awesome than what we’ve been led to believe. And so thank you for, you know, bringing that knowledge out there to people.
CeeJay (43:33)
That’s the exact definition of supernomalize. Thank you so much.
graham skidmore (43:36)
Wonderful.
CeeJay (43:37)
Yeah.
That was a great talk with Graham just now. I enjoy his understanding and his perspectives on life. And it was good to hear ⁓ about how even when people get to the top, it can be completely empty. But at least that’s the first point of call for change. If you’ve enjoyed today’s show, remember to like and subscribe. And if you’re on a podcast app, give me five stars and say something super nice, that’d be really cool. And share it to a friend. Share this video to a friend too if you’re on YouTube.
And ⁓ till next episode, enjoy yourself and maybe you’ll like these ones too.
