#178 Mindset After Trauma: How Healing Begins in the Mind

What if the greatest healing you’ll ever experience begins in your own mind?

In this powerful episode of Healing Through Love, Jonathan McLean shares how a major physical trauma and a near-death experience in the Himalayas completely altered the trajectory of his life. What followed wasn’t just physical recovery, but a deep, transformative journey into mindset, fear, and inner healing.

Jonathan speaks candidly about how mindset became the most critical factor in his recovery, shaping not only how he healed, but how he chose to live afterward. Through lived experience, he explains why our thoughts are not passive — they actively influence the direction of our lives, our capacity to heal, and our ability to move forward after trauma.

This conversation explores the uncomfortable truth that growth and healing rarely happen inside our comfort zones. Jonathan unpacks why fear is often misunderstood, and how the very thing we avoid can be our greatest invitation to heal. Rather than seeing fear as something to escape, he reframes it as a signpost pointing toward growth, integration, and self-trust.

Listeners are invited to reflect on their own mindset patterns, the stories they tell themselves after adversity, and where they may be holding back out of fear. With warmth, clarity, and grounded insight, Jonathan offers a perspective that bridges spirituality and practicality, reminding us that healing is not about fixing what’s broken — it’s about remembering who we are beneath the fear.

This episode is for anyone navigating recovery, change, trauma, or a personal turning point, and for those ready to explore how mindset can become a powerful ally in the healing journey.

✨ CONNECT WITH JONATHAN

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Osprey-Guide/61573432047440/#

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-mclean-b9a71489/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/osprey.guide/

Website: https://www.OspreyGuide.com

📌 PROMOTION: https://www.ospreyguide.com/course-relationship

♥ ♥

Transcript

Intro | 00:00
The Healing Through Love podcast with Lynch and Rose Davidson. 

 Sharlene | 00:02
Welcome to the Healing Through Love podcast. I'm Sharlene Lynch and together we're shining a light on hope, resilience and transformation in the journey to end domestic violence. Each week we bring you inspiring interviews with changemakers, survivors, advocates and experts who are making a difference in the lives of those affected by domestic and family violence. Whether you're on a healing journey yourself or you're supporting someone who is, this is your space for powerful stories, practical tools and heartfelt inspiration. Let's heal through love. I'm excited today. We've got a wonderful guest, Jonathan. His journey is one of resilience and transformation. After a near-death experience in the Himalayas, he discovered a deeper connection to spirituality that reshaped how he approaches life. With a background in leadership and problem solving, he now blends these practical strategies with spiritual insights to help people move through challenges, overcome limitations and rebuild lives aligned with their true nature. His story is a reminder that even in our moments. Growth and renewal. Are possible. A message that speaks directly to anyone healing from trauma or seeking hope for the future. Hello Jonathan and welcome. 

 Jonathan | 01:32
Hello. Thank you very much for having me here. 

 Sharlene | 01:36
It's such a privilege. Wow. Okay, so let's start with your adventure, the journey that brought you to a near life experience, near end of life experience. And because that will be relevant for many of our listeners. 

 Jonathan | 01:51
I like that little slip, a near life experience. So, Way back in 2012, I went on this year-long trip around the world and it was cut short by 10 months because shortly after starting it, I was at the bottom of the mountain after falling about 90 feet falling and tumbling, I should say. 
 So I cracked open my skull and tumbled and dislocated my elbow and shoulder. So nerve damage on my left side. And I was kept alive by the nine people that I was with. And they nurtured me and kept me safe through the night where I'm Pretty sure that I probably crossed over at least once and then in the morning the helicopter came and brought me down to Kathmandu for massive head surgery and then the healing journey, the physical healing journey began at that point in time. And that was really a catalyst to help me on my personal, my emotional, my spiritual healing as well because little did I know Before that, I was very much in giving mode. 
 And then that situation put me into having to receive and having to be open to letting the love and support come in. 

 Sharlene | 03:23
I love it. Like it's a tragic story, but I love the awakening through that. 
 So in that night and obviously the time that moved through that whilst you're healing, what was your reason why? What was the, cause it's so, it would be so easy to go really, wouldn't it? To make the choice to go. Yep. Thanks for coming. And leaving. 
 So like what kept you here? What was the thing that was in your mind that kept you here? 

 Jonathan | 03:52
I don't know. That's the easiest answer because I don't have any memory. With that massive head wound, I've got about a week where I don't remember anything. There was one split second of a memory that I've got while I was falling. Which is this... Voice inside of me that just said, Just let go. And that's what I did. And so I relaxed my whole body and didn't snap my neck, thankfully. And I think that's what kept me alive right in that moment when falling. But then what kept me alive that night was I don't know. I guess I was here to keep doing some kind of work and my spirit and my mind somehow knew that. 

 Sharlene | 04:48
Wow, so this was the beginning of a long journey for you, 2012. So it's been many years. 
 So after you were, or during the process of becoming physically healed, how did you start to see there was a level of transformation? How did you, how were you able to shift from the giver to the receiver? 

 Jonathan | 05:09
That was the very beginning. Where I literally had to have other people feed me, bathe me, all of those things. 
 So that started the journey and then after that, I opened up a little bit more to receiving Then throughout the following years after that, started to learn that there were some other, you know, maybe not so healthy traits within myself, especially around relationships. So I had a bunch of failed relationships, including a failed marriage, where I'd gone into those as the savior, as the helper, as the knight in shining armor. 
 And then only a few years ago, I really started to step out of that. And I started going to different 12-step groups and deepening my healing journey through therapy and just safe spaces to connect in with. 
 So it's been a gradual opening up to receiving and it's still continuing actually. 

 Sharlene | 06:27
There's so much in that to unpack. So I want to dive into you mentioned a type of archetype. 
 So us knowing where we are and how we turn up. So I want to dive into that. And you mentioned the 12 steps as well as a recovered alcoholic, you know, it's I've been sober now just over 10 years. I get the 12 steps. And so dive into those things. First of all, talk to me about this archetype and recognizing who it is that you are and how it is that you turn up. 
 And then let's talk about how the 12 steps helped you move forward. 

 Jonathan | 06:58
Absolutely. Okay. The archetype of being the knight in shining armor. That is how I gained love. When I was a child. And I think all of us have some kind of an imprint that really gets us going and has us surviving in childhood, whether physically or emotionally, I know that a lot of listeners for your podcast, you know, are those survivors of physical, like the physical needing to survive. 
 So there's all of these things different ways that were imprinted For myself, I needed to be the knight in shining armor that would come in and be the helper, be the good guy, the one that would get love because I did something. So that's how... I thought I was going to keep going, right? It was good for me to show up as the, "Haha, I'm the hero." Right? I'm that masculine male archetype of, yeah, that savior and So that's... 
 Yeah, that's that part around needing to show that I am lovable. At the 12th step. ". 
 Where the 12-step group that I was mostly a part of is ACA. Or that's short for Adult Children of Alcoholics, or dysfunctional families. 
 So I fall into both categories. Very, well, not very dysfunctional, kind of normal level for me as I see it. But yeah, just a decent amount of dysfunction that we all go through in childhood. I'm pretty sure because we're not raised by perfect parents, right? 
 So I had a lot of this journey in this 12-step group where I learned to sit with my own family, with my own inner five-year-old, with my own inner teenager, and really got to let them be the kids that they were, got to really thank them for life. What they did and how they helped me survive. Because if my five-year-old wasn't the people pleaser that he needed to be, I don't know where I would be, right? I don't know how it's possible for me to have gone through the experiences that I went through without actually Yeah, surviving. If that makes sense. 

 Sharlene | 10:01
Yes yeah okay so before the show we were talking about human design and i'm just curious with this level of coming to a level of awareness of you being the receiver and now that needing to shift for you so you'd be the doer and now being the receiver how did the human design come into your evolution and how is that playing a part for you moving forward. 

 Jonathan | 10:27
There are so many nuanced pieces to this. I love it. In human design, I'm what's called a projector. And projectors do best when waiting for an invitation. The biggest challenge for projectors is to wait for an invitation. We see everyone else being able to just, or most of everyone else being able to just go out there and do and initiate and respond and just go. 
 So we are were kind of conditioned to try to do the same. Which I think is probably connected to why it was easier for me to do and then feel loved as a result. And Learning how to wait and receive those invitations was just that extra little cherry on top that has gotten my life to be so much smoother. And in the healing that I do with my clients, I let them know explore that within themselves. 
 So if they're a projector or if they're any of the other energy types, I look at their strategy, I look at how they are in human design terms supposed to live. And then I just ask them, okay, well, what if we just try this at a little bit of a different angle? And, And then That's how I have healed myself. 
 And then I try to help people heal themselves through that similar kind of modality. 

 Sharlene | 12:19
I love it. I'm a manifestor generator. 
 Yeah. I make the mess. I love it. I love it. I love it. Okay. 
 So like in order for you to have transitioned from where you were broken to going through the healing and looking at things completely different and the 12-step programs and everything else that you've been involved in through the process of these many years, one of the most important things that you mentioned before the show was about mindset and then the impact of that and how that can help one's trajectory in life. So can we just dive in a little bit and talk about how did your mindset contribute to your healing? 

 Jonathan | 13:04
Its mindset is the in terms of how I see this. Mindset is what made me fall down the mountain in the first place. I was sitting on the airplane on my way to Kathmandu. And I remember telling myself, I am going to experience whatever I can experience to have the most amount of personal growth possible. In my mind, mindset and manifestation are the same thing. If you have your mindset on The world is a horrible place and everyone's out to screw me over. 
 You see that. In my history, I told myself I needed to be the hero. I needed to be the knight in shining armor, otherwise I'm not lovable. Lo and behold, relationship after relationship, these people, these women came into my life expecting me to be the lover, the savior, the knight in shining armor, otherwise they wouldn't love me. 
 So I manifested that through my mindset. And shifting my mindsets little bit by little bit has just, been able to help me go onto this new trajectory of having the most beautiful amount of, you know, possibilities available as a result. 

 Sharlene | 14:43
That's very powerful. Okay. 
 So we, I love the, I love your take on mindset and how that actually caused you to fall down the mountain. I'm looking forward to unpacking that, but just to talk about the biggest fears, it has been your biggest fear. Has been your biggest healings, your biggest opportunities. 
 So the things that you have been fearful of have been the things that you've attempted to do or have done and they've been your biggest healing opportunities. Is that right? 

 Jonathan | 15:16
Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Previously, before that fall down the mountain. My biggest fear was to not be able to receive because I wasn't giving. 
 So then I got to see what it was like to receive without giving. And I had to go through this extreme version so that I would actually learn this opportunity. As they say... 
 Sorry, as they say, God speaks to you either in a metaphor. And if you don't listen, it's a two by four. And I got the two by four because I just wouldn't listen. 

 Sharlene | 15:59
And sometimes he just yells. 

 Jonathan | 16:02
Exactly. 

 Sharlene | 16:04
So, yes, I've heard the yelling. So you talk about the need to get out of your comfort zone and obviously the climbing down the mountain or falling down the mountain was a need to get out of your comfort zone. But this is not just the first time that you've got out of your comfort zone and you've got a keen awareness that. Getting yourself out of comfort is where the growth happens. 
 So yeah, can we just talk about that with our listeners? 

 Jonathan | 16:31
Yes. Well, We are... As a human, humans in general love to be in this comfortable space, right? We... We see this all the time, you know, especially in the United States, where it's the kind of epicenter of, well, people don't want to walk, so they don't walk, right? And, you know, it's... Tastier to eat, the sugary you know, snacks than to eat a vegetable-rich, you know, healthy, clean food diet, right? 
 So this, it's so much easier to say, okay, I'm going to stay where it's safe, where it's comfortable, what I'm used to. For me, what I was used to being in that people pleaser, in that knight in shining armor. Role. 
 So I The way, the only way that I was going to heal and grow was to step out of that and just try that a little bit. And I, do my best to push myself a little bit outside of my comfort zone so that I get to experience different things in new ways and then be able to grow my comfort zone. 
 So that I will be able to become even better and more healed and more lovable without me actually having to resort to the previous ways that I was. 

 Sharlene | 18:16
I love it. I've just turned 59 and this year is all about doing fearful things. I'm calling it the Brave Heart Project. 
 So before I'm 60, I'm going to do all scary things. I started off just a couple of weeks ago by abseiling down a perfectly good building. I don't do heights. 
 So like that was absolutely horrifying for me. And then the next one's jumping out of a plane and there's another one which is swimming with the sharks. 
 Anyway, I don't know what I got myself in for, but I don't want to get to 60 and have any fear. Well, any big fears left over. I want to have the really big scary ones knocked on the head by then. I love it. Now, you're actually offering an opportunity for people to get... Relationship ready to get to know themselves at a different level to have a look at their own archetypes to shine that light look in that mirror and see themselves differently so that they can see okay what level of responsibility am I taking for this relationship how do I want to turn up who do I want to turn up for what are the red flags what do I need to look for all of these things and so many more and so you've got a beautiful opportunity for people to learn how to get relationship ready and what I understand is our listeners are going to have access to a code, which is going to give them at a discounted rate. Now that code will be in the show notes and in the show description. But I'd love you to take out the podcast now by just running through and just telling us just a little bit about what they can expect in this Relationship Ready course. 

 Jonathan | 19:48
Yes, this relationship preparation course, it's relationship preparation for the relationship with oneself. And the second most important relationship is the intimate relationship that you have with your spouse. Or you're another person. Those two relationships that I think are foundational to the rest of life. 
 So for 99 days, It's a long course. We dive into who you are. Into where you're coming from, what experiences you had in childhood, young adulthood, previous relationships, unpack all of those through, you know, just sitting, writing and meditating on those different situations. 
 And then we go into healing all of that for the next middle section of the course. And finally, we get to build the foundation. Who do you want to be in the relationship? What kind of relationships do you want to be in? And really building that foundation of red flags, green flags, and non-negotiables, Good conversation tools as well. What if things get heated? Okay, well, what is a good tool to help you communicate in a really healthy way? And there's actually two codes. 
 So But we can link those up in the show notes. 

 Sharlene | 21:30
I love it. Okay, so listeners, you will have access to those in the show notes and in the show description. It's been fascinating talking to you about really... Life and death situation that could have gone either way that turned out to be You're saving grace. It turned out to be the opportunity, a door that was open for you to walk through and see life differently, turn up differently, learn more about you, learn more about your other relationships with other people and really dive in deep. And now through these learnings, you're sharing them with other people. I love it. I love it. It's been a privilege and a pleasure to hold this space and have this beautiful conversation with you. It's a goodbye from me, from Healing Through Love and a goodbye from Jonathan. 

 Jonathan | 22:14
Thank you. It was so much fun. 

 Outro | 22:21
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Healing Through Love. You can get further resources See the show notes or simply reach out to us via our website at htlaustralia.org. Thanks so much for joining us and we look forward to your company next time on the Healing Through Love podcast.