Spirit Talk Show - Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups

What does it look like when a man stands in a thunderstorm, dares lightning to strike him, and discovers his entire purpose instead?

Steve Gamlin -- keynote speaker, stand-up comedian, vision board coach, and self-described "beach bum philanthropist" -- has built a life out of beautiful wreckage. A ten-year radio career that imploded. A divorce. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt at 35. And then, one afternoon on a golf course in the middle of a thunderstorm, something shifted.

That moment launched everything: a speaking career, seven years of stand-up comedy, the Vision Board Mastery program, Beach Bum Philanthropy (his official 501c3 nonprofit), and a personal development philosophy he calls "blue collar woo" -- no glitter, no fluff, just roll up your sleeves and do the work.

But the heart of this episode is a love story. In June of 2007, after 21 years of silence, Steve received an email from a girl he had a crush on in high school and never had the courage to ask out. Her name was Tina. Four weeks later, she texted him: "Can I tell you something if you promise not to freak out?" What followed was 6,386 days of the kind of love most people only put on vision boards.

Tina died suddenly in Steve's arms in a London hotel room in December of 2024, less than 24 hours after the two of them shared what Steve calls the most honest conversation of their lives together. And still, every single morning, his foot slides across to her side of the bed.

In this conversation, Steve brings all of it -- the grief, the humor, the heartbreak, the hopefulness, and yes, the standing ovation he admits he cheated to get -- into the Spirit Talk Show studio. We also perform a short radio play, read him a tribute story, and close with a poem that left the whole room quiet.

If you have ever felt like your failures were just firewood waiting to be lit, this episode is for you.

Find Steve and explore his work -- including Vision Board Mastery, his humor coaching, and his speaking events -- at www.stevegamlinspeaker.com. You can also connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter at @SteveGamlin.

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
Hosted by Doyle

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What happens to the families left behind after the headlines fade?

In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with novelist and therapist Debbie Show, author of Paper Roses, and audiobook narrator Laurieann Hart for an intimate conversation about sibling abuse, narcissistic family systems, generational trauma, and the long shadow of public scandal.

Debbie’s sister’s crimes became national spectacle — even featured on television — but Paper Roses refuses sensationalism. Instead, it explores the deeper questions: How does trauma move through generations? How does betrayal reshape identity? And how do you hold compassion without excusing harm?

Writing fiction allowed Debbie to trace emotional truth without being trapped in headlines. Laurieann — whose own life was personally affected by Debbie’s sister — lends her voice to the audiobook in an act of reclamation, healing, and courage.

Together, they discuss:

Generational trauma and multi-generational narcissistic abuse

Sibling abuse and family betrayal

Compassion vs. accountability

Reclaiming identity after public scandal

Healing when resolution isn’t possible

This isn’t a true crime retelling.
It’s a story about inheritance.
About breaking cycles.
About choosing empathy without losing clarity.

If you’ve ever struggled with family trauma, complicated sibling relationships, or letting go without closure — this conversation will stay with you.

Some stories don’t ask to be resolved.
They ask to be honored.

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
Hosted by Doyle

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There are people you meet in life who remind you that you are more than the story you have been telling about yourself. Wil Fisher is one of those people.

This week on Spirit Talk Show, Doyle gets deeply personal. He opens by sharing something that happened to him at a retreat he nearly did not attend, a weekend where he cried not once but three times, not from sadness, but from something rarer and harder to name: recognition. The relief of finally being seen.

The man responsible for creating that room is Wil Fisher, life coach, retreat leader, applied theater practitioner, hypnotherapist, NLP Master Practitioner, Reiki practitioner, founder of Willfully Living, and host of the podcast Queerly Beloved. Wil grew up in a home marked by addiction, alcoholism, and abuse. As a gay kid who also navigated bullying, safety was never something he got to take for granted. For years afterward he found himself in patterns that will feel familiar to many listeners: people pleasing, self-sabotage, chasing success that looked right on the outside but felt hollow on the inside.

What changed everything was an unexpected role at Easton Mountain, an LGBTQ retreat center in upstate New York, where he eventually became Executive Director and immersed himself in healing work every single day, sitting at the feet of shamans, coaches, and spiritual guides from around the world. He did not just witness transformation. He let it in.

In this episode, Wil and Doyle talk about what it actually means to be fully seen, why receiving a compliment can be one of the most terrifying things a person can do, how theater and improv unlock truths that the thinking mind cannot reach, what cacao ceremony is and what it is not, the inner child work that left Doyle speechless, how the retreat served men who showed up skeptical and left lighter than they had felt in years, and what it looks like to build a new neural pathway that tells you it is safe to be yourself.

Wil also shares about his one-on-one immersive retreat work in Encinitas, California, a place he calls high-vibrational and a couple of blocks from the ocean. And if something in this episode stirs something in you, here is what is coming up: Wil is hosting a retreat in Lake Arrowhead, California from Thursday, October 8th through Sunday, October 11th. It is the kind of weekend that changes things. Full details and registration are at https://www.wil-fullyliving.com/events. He is also offering a week-long Costa Rica retreat over New Year's, and the possibility of a Northern California event is on the horizon as well.

The episode closes with Doyle reading the tribute story he wrote for Wil, which brought both of them close to tears, and Wil reading an achingly beautiful poem about joy that just might stay with you for days.

If any part of you has been waiting a long time to exhale, this episode is for you.

Connect with Wil Fisher: Website: https://www.wil-fullyliving.com/ Upcoming Events: https://www.wil-fullyliving.com/events Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wilfish99/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WillfullyLiving Podcast: Queerly Beloved: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/queerly-beloved/id1647431399

 

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
Hosted by Doyle

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This is a special episode of Spirit Talk Show.

In one of the most personal and emotionally revealing conversations of the season, Doyle sits down with Eldra DeBarge Jr. for a powerful conversation about family legacy, music, fatherhood, pain, purpose, and the courage it takes to become yourself when the world thinks it already knows who you are.

As the son of a legendary musical bloodline, Eldra has lived with the weight of expectation, comparison, and assumption for most of his life. But this conversation goes far deeper than fame. With honesty, vulnerability, and remarkable grace, he opens up about what it was really like growing up near greatness, longing for connection, searching for validation, fighting to protect the people he loved, and slowly learning that he could not build his life by chasing someone else’s shadow.

Together, Doyle and Eldra talk about what it means to carry a famous name while still needing to earn your own peace, your own truth, and your own place in the world. They explore the tension between legacy and identity, the pain of family fracture, the longing to be seen fully, the redemption that comes through fatherhood, and the spiritual work of choosing love over ego, truth over image, and purpose over performance.

The conversation also turns toward Eldra’s new music and the heart behind his single “Trading Lust for Love,” a song that reflects where he is now as an artist and a man. More than a release, it becomes part of the larger story—one of growth, healing, and choosing soul over spectacle.

This is an episode about inheritance, heartbreak, healing, and the kind of self-discovery that does not come easy—but comes honestly.

A deeply human conversation for anyone who has ever tried to become their own person while carrying the weight of family, history, or expectation.

Listen, follow, and support Eldra DeBarge Jr. and his single “Trading Lust for Love” at: https://www.eldebargejr.com/ 

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
Hosted by Doyle

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In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show, Doyle sits down with Josh Tomeoni for an honest, deeply personal conversation about masculinity, divorce, identity collapse, addiction, failure, and the long road back to yourself.

Josh opens up about the moment his life cracked open—when shame, loss, and the collapse of the life he thought he had forced him to confront who he really was underneath the roles of husband, father, provider, and “good man.” What follows is a raw and thoughtful exploration of what happens when the white-picket-fence dream falls apart and a man has to decide whether he will keep hiding or finally face himself.

Together, Doyle and Josh talk about modern masculinity, self-worth versus self-esteem, addiction as escape, the pressure men feel to be useful at all costs, and why so many men suffer in silence rather than reach for help. Josh also shares insights from his book, The Gospel of an Ex-Derelict: Fight, Fail, Rebuild, offering a grounded and compassionate framework for what rebuilding can actually look like.

This is a conversation about pain, responsibility, identity, and the courage to stop performing strength and start becoming real.

A moving episode for anyone who has lost the life they thought they were supposed to have and is trying to build something truer in its place.

Learn more about Josh Tomeoni:
http://exderelict.com/

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
Hosted by Doyle

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