The Observatory | Discovery of Consciousness & Awareness

In this episode of the Observatory Podcast, Scott and LaRae Wright sit down with Dr. Stormy Hill for a deeply personal conversation about aliveness, intimacy, sensuality, pleasure, and what it means to fully participate in your own life. Stormy shares the unexpected path that took her from medicine to occupational therapy and intimacy coaching, including her son’s serious heart condition, the end of her marriage, and her discovery of Tantra and sacred sexuality as pathways toward embodiment, connection, and a more expansive understanding of intimacy.As Stormy approaches her 50th birthday, the conversation turns toward the second half of life, relationships, nervous-system patterns, what she calls “adaptive inertia,” and the ways we can unknowingly adapt to lives that make us smaller. She also shares her recent 85-mile hike around Mont Blanc, her return to writing poetry after nearly 25 years, and why she is shifting her measure of a meaningful life away from achievements and toward awe, creativity, receptivity, pleasure, and the question: what makes you feel most alive?Timestamps:[00:00:03] Welcome to The Observatory Podcast[00:00:18] Introducing Dr. Stormy Hill and the pursuit of aliveness[00:03:43] Expanding intimacy, pleasure, and sensuality beyond the bedroom[00:05:14] Approaching 50 and discovering the common thread of aliveness[00:07:46] Medicine, motherhood, and her son’s rare heart condition[00:14:45] Tantra, sacred sexuality, embodiment, and the divine[00:19:18] Growth, the nervous system, and “adaptive inertia”[00:25:08] The second half of life, relationships, and creating what comes next[00:30:08] Turning 50, resilience, and hiking Mont Blanc[00:38:12] One long blink of a life and helping people feel more alive[00:40:02] Keeping score with the wrong scorecard[00:49:24] What makes you feel alive and the practice of intentional participation[00:52:05] Poetry, grief, and rediscovering creative expression[00:58:24] Letting go, receptivity, and making room for what comes next[01:03:29] Living now instead of waiting for laterNotable Quotes:“We are wired for growth, but we are also wired for pattern recognition.” - Dr. Stormy Hill [00:20:26]“We give this one long blink of an eye of a life if we're lucky, and how do we bring aliveness and pleasure and joy to it?” - Dr. Stormy Hill [00:38:14]“I was keeping score with the wrong scorecard.” - Dr. Stormy Hill [00:40:02]“What makes you feel most alive? What keeps you from feeling alive? And how about we do more of what makes us feel more alive?” - Dr. Stormy Hill [00:50:02]“You arrive in innocence, you lose your innocence, and then at a certain point in life you realize that you've been innocent all along.” - Scott Wright [00:57:40]“Nobody on their deathbed says they wish they worked more.” - Dr. Stormy Hill [01:03:29]Relevant Links:www.Instagram.com/docstormy1 — on IG for more on aliveness www.Drstormyschiller.com — for speaking inquiries www.Lovedeeplab.com — for intimacy coachingSubscribe to the podcast: Apple PodcastsProduced by NC Productions!

In this episode of the Observatory Podcast, Scott and LaRae Wright celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary and reflect on the marriage, growth, and deep partnership they have built together. Married on the fall equinox in an aspen grove above Park City, Utah, they revisit the symbolism that surrounded their wedding and explore how their relationship has become a place for self-discovery, curiosity, emotional safety, creativity, and becoming more fully themselves.Scott and LaRae also open up about the parts of marriage that required real change—from career transitions and co-parenting to unhealthy coping mechanisms, communication patterns, and the runner-and-chaser dynamic they had to recognize and reshape. They discuss why partnership can become a mirror for unfinished inner work, what it means to be someone’s safe place, letting go of the need to be right, and the simple but powerful realization that after 14 years of marriage, they are still each other’s favorite person.Timestamps:[00:00:03] Welcome to The Observatory Podcast[00:00:18] Celebrating 14 years of marriage on the fall equinox[00:02:28] Aspen trees, shared roots, and the symbolism of their wedding[00:05:48] Virgo, the fall season, and finding someone whose waters run deep[00:10:00] Why LaRae wanted a relationship with emotional depth[00:16:48] Letting go of the need to be right and becoming more curious[00:19:00] Why partnership became a witness to LaRae’s inner work[00:22:20] Can you say your spouse is your favorite person?[00:25:00] Marriage, unfinished business, and the stories we carry[00:26:45] Career changes, co-parenting, coping mechanisms, and adapting together[00:29:34] The runner, the chaser, communication, and emotional safety[00:32:18] Independence, curiosity, creativity, and learning from each other[00:34:17] Writing, self-judgment, and simply showing up as yourself[00:36:38] Music, creativity, and releasing attachment to what we create[00:37:54] How partnership helped them become more fully themselves[00:39:24] The honeymoon, deep water, and a metaphor for their marriage[00:43:50] Preparing yourself for partnership and the journey aheadNotable Quotes:“We couldn't have goal set ourselves to where we are. We had to just show up and live our lives.” - LaRae Wright [08:55]“It prevented me from being curious.” - Scott Wright [17:05]“But you've always been my safe place.” - Scott Wright [30:58]“The one thing I do know is that I don't know everything.” - Scott Wright [32:23]“Just show up and be who you are.” - LaRae Wright [36:01]“The magic that has happened in being in partnership and marriage with you has been the ability for us to find ways where we can both be more and more and more of who we are truly meant to be.” - LaRae Wright [37:54]Relevant Links:Subscribe to the podcast: Apple PodcastsProduced by NC Productions!

In this episode of the Observatory Podcast, Scott and LaRae Wright sit down for a tender conversation following the sudden loss of Scott’s brother Jeff. Together, they reflect on grief, family, unexpected loss, and the way love, music, memory, and shared experience can keep someone close even after they are gone.Scott shares what it was like to gather with Jeff’s family, feel the shock of losing his first brother, and find comfort in the music that connected them. This episode is a gentle invitation for anyone who has lost someone they love to feel the grief without getting stuck in it, to honor the people who have shaped their lives, and to keep living with presence, purpose, and love.Timestamps:[00:00:03] Welcome to The Observatory Podcast[00:00:18] Scott introduces a somber conversation about losing his brother Jeff[00:01:24] Jeff’s sudden passing and gathering with family[00:04:28] Brotherhood, cousin brothers, and Jeff’s role in bringing family together[00:06:18] Sudden loss, grief, and making space to feel[00:07:03] A renewed sense of urgency around time, healing, and purpose[00:08:46] Feeling Jeff’s presence through music[00:11:30] Funeral preparations, family support, and what family means[00:14:15] Grief, drumming, and a ceremony of remembrance[00:16:05] Missing Jeff and the surrealness of sudden loss[00:17:25] Jeff’s final family visits and unfinished plans[00:19:03] Music as legacy, expression, and a way to honor Jeff[00:20:53] Paying attention to love and the way we spend our days[00:22:17] Not getting stuck in grief and continuing to live fully[00:27:14] A musical tribute and closing songNotable Quotes:“It was hard to lose my first brother.” - Scott Wright [03:48]“For that time could be short for any of us, and so it's important to take advantage of of that time.” - Scott Wright [07:27]“Not just playing music, but being music.” - Scott Wright [09:11]“Because these relationships have been witnesses to our life from the start.” - LaRae Wright [12:25]“Keep doing this. This is what you're supposed to do.” - Scott Wright [19:33]“The best way to honor them is to continue to live life not get stuck in life.” - LaRae Wright [24:15]Relevant Links:Subscribe to the podcast: Apple PodcastsProduced by NC Productions!

In this episode of the Observatory Podcast, Scott and LaRae Wright return from their summer hiatus to celebrate four years and more than 200 episodes of The Observatory, reflect on what the podcast has brought into their lives, and explore the power of curiosity in a divided world. They discuss how curiosity can create common ground, soften frustration, and help us approach people, words, beliefs, and conversations with more openness.The conversation moves into preferences—how they shape our reactions, become confused with truth, align with fear, and influence the way we view news, politics, relationships, community, and ourselves. Scott and LaRae share how the podcast has expanded their own curiosity, helped them see how similar we are beneath their differences, and invited a deeper commitment to community, flow, and conversations that bring people together rather than divide.Timestamps:[00:00:03] Welcome to The Observatory Podcast[00:00:18] Returning from summer hiatus and introducing curiosity and preferences[00:02:06] Four years of The Observatory and more than 200 episodes[00:02:58] Creating community through curiosity and conversation[00:03:41] Curiosity as a bridge between difficult and elevated emotions[00:06:10] Words, meaning, vibration, and common understanding[00:09:33] Preferences, self-observation, and The Untethered Soul[00:11:40] When preferences become personal truths[00:12:49] Fake news, media perspectives, and questioning assumptions[00:15:00] Fear, alignment, and validating what we already believe[00:18:02] A listener challenge about news, politics, and emotional reactions[00:19:25] Middle ground, humanity, and belonging to the human family[00:20:30] Small communities and supporting one another[00:23:40] How the podcast has stretched Scott and LaRae[00:25:18] Curiosity, openness, and letting the flow continue[00:26:35] What is coming next for The Observatory[00:28:35] September celebrations and closing thoughtsNotable Quotes:“We don't want people to think just like us.” - LaRae Wright [03:37]“When we become curious, we can move from that fixed mindset, that tends to keep us stuck somewhere.” - Scott Wright [05:13]“I didn't really understand that they were preferences. I held them more as truths.” - LaRae Wright [11:48]“If you can become curious about what is not your preference, there's such learning in there.” - LaRae Wright [17:29]“We realize we're all human.” - Scott Wright [21:26]“To also see how we are more similar than we are different.” - LaRae Wright [24:18]Relevant Links:Subscribe to the podcast: Apple PodcastsProduced by NC Productions!

In this episode of The Observatory, Scott and LaRae share the different aspects of trauma and how we can heal from them. Hear LaRae’s traumatic event of losing her mother in a road accident and how it shaped her life differently, Scott’s traumatic experience in 1967, and the traumatic event that Scott and LaRae almost died. They also share tips for healing childhood trauma as a family and what LaRae has learned from the Compassionate Inquiry with Dr Gabor Mate.Timestamps[03:22] Events in our childhood that create patterns in our lives[07:25] The feeling of being stuck[09:54] LaRae’s traumatic event of losing her mother and how it shaped her life differently [13:12] The different aspects of trauma[21:15] Scott’s traumatic experiences in 1967[26:46] The traumatic event that Scott and LaRae almost died[31:30] What LaRae has learned from the Compassionate Inquiry healing model[43:00] The purpose of the message today[47:00] Healing childhood trauma as a familyNotable quotes:“No one experiences childhood the same, even though you are all raised by the same parents and in the same home.” - LaRae Wright [06:09]“The first aspect of trauma occurs when something happens, leading you to interpret it in a way that creates rigidity. This causes you to frame your experience in a programmed manner that constrains you.” - LaRae Wright [13:11]“The second aspect of trauma is when your feelings become overwhelming, causing you to disconnect from them.” - LaRae Wright [13:27]“Life is a defensive game, and we are constantly seeking unconsciously validation of our experience.” - LaRae Wright [31:57]Relevant links:Compassionate Inquiry https://drgabormate.com/compassionate-inquiry/Subscribe to the podcast: Apple PodcastProduced by NC Productions!