#353 | Introducing: A Perfectly Imperfect Union Series - Stories of Mindfulness and Resilience - Whole Again: Mindfulness and Resilience Through Kintsugi Wisdom

What is your birthday wish for America as it turns 250?

In a time when it feels like we’re more divided than ever, it’s easy to lose sight of what connects us. In this episode, Michael shares the story of a lifelong dream realized—a 3,700-mile journey across America—and how it inspired a powerful new series: Perfectly Imperfect Union, a space to amplify real voices, real stories, and the shared humanity that binds us together.

Discover the inspiration behind the Perfectly Imperfect Union series and why it matters now more than ever
Reconnect with the idea that we have more in common than what divides us
Feel inspired to share your voice and be part of something meaningful and unifying

If you are interested in being a guest on The Perfectly Imperfect Union Series, please email me at [email protected].

Press play now to explore how your story—and your voice—can help shape a more connected, perfectly imperfect union.

Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole again, the show that's here for you as you create a meaningful life. When I look back on my life, 1976 was a big year, although I was only nine years old. It was America's bicentennial. And during that summer I read an article about something called. The Transamerica Trail.

The people who created it, the Adventure Cycling Association in Missoula, Montana was calling it the Bike Centennial, a little play on bicentennial. It was a bicycle route that traveled across America from Astoria, Oregon. To your town, Virginia, and since I've always loved riding my bike even at that age.

In fact, I can still remember the very first day I came off of training wheels after I finished reading that article. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and I so wanted to do it, but I was nine years old, so some dreams have to wait a bit. As I went through my pimpled phase, teenage years into high school and then into college, I continued my love affair with cycling.

Although I was more into racing, I wanted to go fast, so I wasn't really into touring. I thought that was so slow for me. So I still had this dream of riding my bike across the country, but I, but I wasn't taking any steps to actually do it. It was one of those dreams that so many of us have. One day I'll do it, but often one day never comes or we run out of time.

Fast forward to the near death cycling accident I had in 2001, the one I call my last bad day, which sparked whole again. Well, after getting out of the ICU and talking to my medical team. They told me I should just be grateful that I was still alive and cycling probably wasn't in my future. In fact, they told me I'll probably never ride my bike again.

So in that moment I thought this one day dream was never gonna have. Its one day this dream to ride my bike across the country. Well, I worked. As you know, super hard on my recovery, on my rehab, and eventually I got back on the bike and then I got back to racing my bike. Then I allowed myself to dream again.

I thought, well, maybe, maybe I could ride my bike across the country. Look how far I've come. Well, I told a few friends about this dream and they thought I was pretty crazy. They were like, O'Brien. Don't do it. You won't be able to do it. Yeah, you've come far, but there's no way you can do it. But I didn't listen to the critics.

I still held onto that dream and I kept it private. This was going to be my little thing. Fast forward to the pandemic in 2020 and the world was going through so much as was this country. We were becoming even further divided, but the years that proceeded the pandemic, I was getting stronger and my dream became much more vivid.

I began to believe that I could do it. My wife has always had a dream of RVing across the country, and we got to talking during the pandemic about things that we've always wanted to do, but. I never did. Not that I needed a message around how precious life is and how short life can be going through what I've already gone through, but the pandemic really did underscore that for us, and I know for so many, including potentially you, we knew life was short and things weren't going to just magically happen.

If you wanna get after your dreams, you have to start getting after your dreams. So we started talking about what would be possible if we planned a trip across America, and I knew the exact route I would take the Trans America Trail. So in 2022, we found ourselves with our decorated rv. That was covered with Ripple kindness and Ripple love and pause, breathe, reflect stickers right there in Astoria, Oregon.

Ready to ride across America. And we followed that Transamerica Trail all the way to Kansas. And then we made an adjustment. We made a shift, if you will. And went north a bit and followed the Eastern expressway all the way to Washington DC and we finished up at the Lincoln Memorial. Washington was also very fitting because my wife and I met there and we started our family together in DC and of course we wanted to do the trip because this was a dream of ours.

But I also wanted to do the trip to showcase America. The thing is Americans don't travel all that much. We like to think so, but compared to other countries, we don't travel as much, and America is a big country. There's a lot to see and I knew that most people hadn't yet explored much of it. So I wanted to showcase all the beauty of America.

Its gorgeousness. And it's wonderful people in 2022, even though we were divided and we're probably more divided today here in 2026, I felt, and I feel this today, that we have so much more in common than what divides us, but we're too busy going on social media and trying to feed our addiction to being right.

We missed the opportunity to truly connect. That's part of our Kintsugi spirit here on whole. Again, we might break and crack. We might be or feel divided, but we can come back together and those scar lines that come up from what we've been through are symbols of our strength and resilience. Current day.

I believe Kintsugi is an app metaphor. For where we are in America, we are hurting, we are suffering. We are divided. But kisuki gives us hope that we can come back together because we are resilient people. And during our 3,700 mile track across the nation, there were so many moments of pure awe. Just drop your jaw.

Of moments when we witnessed America's beauty and there were so many wonderful moments of connection when I met so many people along the way. People that did not share my lived experience and didn't share my perspective on many things, but we found some commonality. We found ways to bond those moments.

Give me hope. Give optimism for our future, even though we are going through trying challenging times. As I record this, this year is the 25th anniversary of my accident and in celebration, I'm sharing a tip each Friday, a lesson learned along the way. That might help you as well. I'm also giving away copies of my bestselling book, my last Bad Day Shift.

And instead of doing one big cycling event this year to celebrate like riding my bike across the country, again, I'm doing a handful of significant events, at least significant in meaning to me, like riding my bike from Canada to Battery Park in New York City. I'm also going to do a new series within whole, again called a perfectly Imperfect Union.

I'd like you to join me in co-creating it. I believe we're all perfectly imperfect humans and contra to the notion that we wanna form a more perfect union. I believe our aim should be how do we create a perfectly imperfect union that recognizes that we have so many wonderful qualities and yes. We have some scars, we have some wrinkles and gray hairs and concerns that we need to address.

All of it. All of it creates that union that we wish to create. So I wanna amplify your voice and voices of people like you. We're gonna let the celebrities and influencers do their own thing on their own podcast. My aim is to speak with people like you and me across the generations, regardless of who someone voted for, who they love, who they pray to, if they pray and where they live.

Although I love to be able to include someone from each of the 50 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. I wanna hear and share their voice with you on the things they love about America, their favorite spots, the things that they're concerned about. And since it's America's 250th birthday this year, we need to have some cake.

And before we eat the, we need to blow out thes before we blow out the. Make a, so I'll be asking folks what they wish for for America as we go forward. It's a series that will air between Memorial Day and Labor Day and to hear what's common amongst us all because I believe that yes, we can have different mindedness, but most people.

From a like-hearted position, I believe that fundamentally we all wish to be heard and seen and loved, and whether we're talking about a company or a country, diversity is an essential ingredient. And then creating belonging and welcoming to make sure. We can tap into all our rich diversity. That's what makes a culture strong.

That's what makes a country strong and in a small way, I hope this series does that. It helps us see the humanity in each of us and hear the wonderful stories that we all share. Because I believe everyone's voice matters and we all have a story. Worthy of sharing. I also believe that if each of us takes a small step forward, then we can create a ripple effect.

A ripple effect that can create the country that we wish to live in, that we wish to celebrate and make better today and for future generations to come. So if you're interested in sharing your voice and story. Your reflections on America, please reach out. Or if you know someone who you think I should chat with during this series, also reach out.

I can't wait to share this series with you. I think it's a wonderful way to celebrate who we are and who we're becoming as America celebrates. Its.

And as always, thanks for being here. Thanks for listening. I hope you'll catch Friday's episode, another mindset shift tip for you. And of course, every Monday I share a microdose meditation with you so you can start the week off on the right foot. And until those episodes. Celebrate our scars as golden symbols of our strength and resilience, and don't forget to have fun.

Storm in the castle,

and if you wish to learn more about creating beautiful ripples and how to prevent a bad moment from turning into a bad day, please visit my website, Michael O'Brien schiff.com. And sign up for my newsletter called The Ripple Effect, and join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here at Whole Again, and discover how you can heal, grow, and become more resilient and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience.

Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this. And. We've got you.