A Near-Death Experience That Changed Everything | Rick Carlton, Part 1
At 17, Rick Carlton had a near-death experience that fundamentally changed his understanding of life, death, and human connection.
In Part 1 of this remarkable conversation, Rick describes leaving his physical body, experiencing an overwhelming sense of peace and unity, and returning with a completely different outlook on life.
What followed was a lifelong spiritual journey that took him from Southern California's 1960s counterculture to Afghanistan and India in search of deeper meaning.
Join AudioLife co-hosts, Carrie Purcell and Joe Marckx, as Rick shares the extraordinary experience that transformed his life.
1 Oct 2026
From Numbing to Feeling | John Bukaty, part 2
What changes when you stop trying to escape what you feel and finally allow yourself to feel it?
In Part 2 of our conversation with artist John Bukaty, John picks up at the turning point that ended Part 1: acknowledging his addiction and beginning the journey toward sobriety.
Recovery taught John something deceptively simple that he had the power to say no. But removing alcohol and drugs also meant confronting the emotions he had spent years trying to numb. With the help of nature, a recovery community and the people who entered his life at the right moments, John began learning how to sit with anxiety, frustration, disappointment and grief rather than escape them.
One of his most profound spiritual experiences came while holding his father’s hand as he died. Soon afterward, John became a father himself, triggering another transformation in how he understood responsibility, love and purpose.
He shares how Vance and Vera changed not only his life but his art including the small symbols he has hidden in hundreds of paintings for his children to someday discover.
John also reflects honestly on regret. He is grateful for the experiences that brought him to where he is, but he doesn’t want to forget the pain his addiction caused the people who loved him.
Today, the artist who once pursued stimulation and self-expression increasingly thinks about something else: service.
“It’s not a gift if you don’t give it.”
This is a conversation about sobriety, grief, fatherhood, love, spirituality, failure, second chances and what can happen when we stop numbing our lives and start fully living them.
Content note: This episode includes candid discussion of alcoholism, addiction and suicidal thoughts.
18 Sept 2026
When Everything Isn’t Enough | John Bukaty
What happens when the qualities that once made you feel different become the very things that define your life?
In Part 1 of this deeply personal conversation, artist John Bukaty looks beyond the paintings and performances to the experiences that shaped the person behind them.
John reflects on growing up with ADHD, struggling in school and being made to feel as though he simply didn’t fit. He talks about discovering art as both an outlet and a way of making sense of the world, and how the imagination that could make life difficult also became one of his greatest gifts.
But John’s story also includes experiences he spent years trying not to feel. He speaks candidly about childhood sexual abuse, a near-fatal car accident, addiction, family patterns around alcohol, and the anger and anxiety that followed trauma he had buried for decades.
Eventually, the pursuit of pleasure and escape left him with nearly everything he thought he wanted and profoundly unhappy.
Part 1 is a conversation about creativity, trauma, addiction, resilience and the long journey toward understanding that some of the things we spend our lives fighting may also contain our greatest gifts.
Content note: This episode includes candid discussion of childhood sexual abuse, addiction and suicidal thoughts.
Who has been a guest on AudioLife Memoirs
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Georgie Speakman
Tom Mawhinney
Tony Roy
Jules Delorme
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
56,336
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 49 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
43
Social presence
0
YouTube
76
Engagement
60
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