Following Your Inner GPS: How Lisa Dunford Dickman Built a Life By Getting Warmer (Part 1)

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Following your inner GPS is not a metaphor for Lisa Dunford Dickman. It is the actual operating system she has used to navigate six countries, four languages, 40 plus guidebooks, and a life that most people would not dare to imagine, let alone build on purpose. In this first segment of the Reignite Resilience Podcast's conversation with transformational coach, writer, speaker, and African safari retreat leader Lisa Dunford Dickman, cohosts Natalie Davis and Pamela Cass sit down with one of the most adventurous and genuinely free-spirited guests this podcast has ever featured. 

Lisa's story begins with a fourth-grade report on Hungary and a great-grandfather she never met, runs through a college study abroad program in Budapest in the aftermath of the Berlin Wall falling, detours through a five-year life in Bratislava where she danced on the square the night Czechoslovakia became its own country, lands in South Texas at an engineering firm where she met her husband and found her writing path in the same building, and eventually delivers her to 15 years as a Lonely Planet guidebook author hiking backcountry trails in Zion, communing with polar bears in Manitoba, and doing the Texas two-step in dance halls for work. 

None of it was planned. All of it was guided. Lisa calls it the game of you're getting warmer, a framework for following what feels hotter, moving away from what feels colder, and trusting the inner nudges that do not always make logical sense but consistently lead somewhere extraordinary. She turned down a job at Georgetown University with a free master's degree because it felt icky in her body, and moved to South Texas instead. That decision led her to her career, her husband, and the life she now helps others imagine for themselves. 

This segment also includes the beginning of the Camino de Santiago story: Lisa walking 100 kilometers across Spain completely unprepared, in hiking boots with no training in pancake-flat Abu Dhabi and Houston, and what happened when she decided to walk her own walk at her own pace instead of powering through like everyone else. 

In This Episode: 

• Why Lisa believes the biggest risk is always not doing the thing, and how that belief has guided every major decision of her life 
• The getting warmer framework for following your inner GPS, moving toward what burns bright, and trusting your desires as your God-given guidance system 
• How Lisa went from embassy work in Slovakia to a newspaper clerk job in South Texas to 15 years as a Lonely Planet guidebook author by following breadcrumbs she could not have predicted 
• Why turning down a free master's degree at Georgetown for a job in the sun was one of the best decisions she ever made 
• What the Camino de Santiago taught Lisa about walking your own walk and giving others permission to do the same 

Lisa is a featured speaker at Reignite Live 2027 on January 22nd in Loveland, Colorado, and her Open to the Magic in Africa transformational retreat takes place in November. Both links are in the show notes. 

Connect with Lisa Dunford Dickman:
🌐 opentothemagicinafrica.com
🌐 themorelifelist.com — Lisa's free anti-bucket list PDF
📚 Live Like a Lioness: Reclaiming Your Bright Birthright as a Powerful Divine Creator — forthcoming 
🗓️ Open to the Magic in Africa Retreat: November 12, 2026

Connect with Reignite Resilience:
🌐 reigniteresilience.com 
📧 podcast@reigniteresilience.com 
📘 Facebook | 📸 Instagram | 🎥 YouTube: Reignite Resilience Podcast 
🗓️ Reignite Live 2027: January 22 in Loveland, Colorado 

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has been waiting for permission to follow what feels warmer. 

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The co-hosts of this podcast are not medical professionals. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast. Reliance on any information provided by the podcast hosts or guests is solely at your own risk.

Pamela Cass is a licensed broker with Kentwood Real Estate
Natalie Davis is a licensed ...