Join us for BookThinkers LIVE 2025! Happening November 9, 2025!
https://www.bookthinkers.com/book-thinkers-live-2025
In today’s episode, we have the pleasure to interview Alexis Leigh, author of Pain is a Portal to Beauty: Stunning Discoveries After Loss, Psychedelics, and Feeling It All.
Alexis is an investment banker turned seeker. She brings a unique blend of grounded insight and soulful storytelling to her debut memoir, where she traces her journey through grief, inner work, and spiritual awakening. With warmth, curiosity, and honesty, Alexis invites us to rethink what it means to heal, to feel, and to live more fully.
In this episode, you’ll learn how slowing down and noticing your internal world can lead to profound breakthroughs, why authentic gratitude must be rooted in truth, and how facing even the subtlest discomforts can unlock deeper self-love, healing, and joy.
We hope you enjoy this incredible conversation with Alexis Leigh.
To Learn More about Alexis and buy her book visit:
The Book: https://a.co/d/1hzQkzR
Website/Socials: https://www.alexisleigh.com/
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:53 “If you died today, your life would have been a tragedy”
3:01 Toxic gratitude and how to honor truth
9:43 Being patient with yourself and your journey
12:06 David Hawkins on repressed emotions
13:13 Alexis’s advice on improving self-acceptance
16:38 From Christianity to psychedelics
20:45 Journaling as a tool to connect the outside & inside
24:17 Slowing down not to default to coping mechanisms
24:55 Fasting as a form of therapy
26:29 Start the inner work by shutting down stimuli & noticing things
31:11 Being able to be at peace with your thoughts & emotions
37:33 “You can do nothing better for me than work on yourself”
38:19 You can always come back to the work when you feel the need for it
39:30 Nick’s & Alexis’s first experience with psychedelics
43:13 Sometimes in nothingness you find your way to healing
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