Kintsugi Heroes
John Shearer · 67 min
A man who survived childhood abuse, life on the streets at fourteen, a near-fatal truck accident, and fifteen years inside the mental health system now teaches the world's simplest practice — pause, connect, breathe — and it is changing lives.
John Shearer grew up in Adelaide with mental and physical abuse at home, then on the streets by fourteen. He worked across Australia, married, started a family, and at thirty was driving a truck down the Hume Highway when he collided with another vehicle in fog. He died in that moment and was revived in hospital, but came back changed. For fifteen years after, he chased something he couldn't name, struggling through the mental health system while professionals told him he couldn't be cured. Then on World Mental Health Day, an old friend knocked on his door with a spiritual message that shifted everything.
That shift led John to a simple daily practice: each morning, he puts his hand up and asks the sun what they are doing today, then pauses his thoughts to receive an answer. From there, he developed a method he calls Be Mindful, Pause, Connect. The practice is deceptively simple. When you notice an unhelpful thought or your mind stuck in the past or future, you pause your thoughts and connect three ways: with where you are using your senses, with whoever is with you through genuine presence, and with your source or spirit. John discovered this in a book on mindfulness-based therapy in 2009 and formally trained as an ACT therapist. When he created Mindfulness Day on Facebook in 2014, four thousand seven hundred people signed up. He wrote a month-long blog that transformed hundreds of lives.
For ten years, John worked with young people in juvenile justice, mentoring them one-on-one about respect, love, and giving. He now teaches that when you observe your thoughts as separate from yourself and don't react to them, they lose their power. You start living in the present moment where your life is actually happening. He carries that ripple effect forward, hoping those he touches go on to create ripples of their own, changing the world one person at a time.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses suicide & self-harm prevention, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au
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