Love Your Story

Episode 284: Are Anger and Shame the Root of Depression and Anxiety? - Interview Bronwyn SchweigerdtDo you suffer from depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, even psychosis? My guest today, Brownwyn Schweigerdt may be the most evocative psychotherapist you've ever heard. Instead of fixing peoples messes, her goal is to elicit the feelings we're most ashamed to have, such as hatred, betrayal, anger, shame. She knows that even though feelings are invisible they don't evaporate - instead they store away in our bodies when we disown them. These hidden feelings haunt us and cause mental illness until we externalize them into words… so stay tune and let's have some words with Bronwyn.Bronwyn has a masters degree in counseling and another in nutritions She is a public speaker, and author and licensed psychotherapist. I'm excited to have her on the show as depression and anxiety have shown up in my kids and I'm always looking for answers. So…let's get right down to talking about this topic of how feelings buried alive cause us some serious harm.Tune in to hear my discussion with Bronwyn and to hear us discuss questions like:Let's start with your story. What in your life brought you to want to specialize in this career, this topic?Tell us about this idea of externalizing our feelings into words and the best ways to do that and not alienate the world.You believe that most types of therapies and medications don't work for depression and anxiety, let's hear about that. There are a lot of people on meds.What role does shame play in our lives?How do we raise resilient children, and how do we help older children that may already suffer with some of these issues like depression and anxiety?Find Bronwyn:Podcast: Angry at the Right ThingsYears ago - like really - 20-30 years ago, I read a book called Feelings Buried Alive Never Die. It became one of my go-to favorites because it explained so many things to me about myself. Things I didn't understand about me. Bronwyn's message is very much the same. If we bury feelings they show up in our body in different ways - illnesses, aches, weakness, stuff just not working right. Because our bodies and minds are so closely connected, I believe this is very likely true. I don't think it's the absolute cause for all that ails us, but I do believe that it effects us. Mental and physical are intertwined. As we create our best life stories on purpose we are always needing to process and grow from the emotions and the messiness that life generates. Understanding how to do this, like the things we've talked about today can be crucial to making changes that bless our lives, our minds, our hearts.As we close I want to send my love and best wishes to all the listeners of the LYS podcast. I am getting ready to take a sabbatical from the show and I want to thank all the editors, listeners, supporters and people who have learned to love their story on our 8 year journey together. Thanks for being here. We'll be back in the saddle in no time at all, but for now: Live your best life with intention and keep coming back to the Love Your Story library. All the shows will still be available at www.LoveyourStorypodcast.com. There are almost 300 incredible episodes with incredible people, incredible stories that shine a light for the rest of us on how to navigate tough things, and incredible life hacks. Keep using the episodes. There is so much good to keep listening to! It's all still here. Enjoy and happy travels on your life adventure.

Episode 283: You Must Be Present to Win - RevisitedJoin us in this audio remastering of one of our earliest episodes. I quote May Swenson, share my experience in the moon-soaked darkness of the Teton mountains in Wyoming, and we talk about how being present to our senses...slowing down just enough to tune into our experience with all it's color, texture, and noise, makes all the difference in living a good life.Thank you for being a listener of the Love Your Story podcast.

Episode 282: Quick Chat -"Yes...and"-The Destress ToolWelcome to the LYS Podcast. Have you heard of the “Yes…and” concept? It's routed in improvisational theater, but for our purposes we are using it as a valuable approach to life. A life navigation tool.“Yes….and” does two primary things. The “Yes” creates acceptance. The “and” pulls us into the present moment - where we decide what to do next. Stay tuned for this quick chat that helps us move through hard things“Yes… and” is a building block. What is does is acknowledge the reality before you with the YES. Then the “and” is the jumping off point for what you'll do about it. How you'll build on what is.In the realm of improvisation, actors employ “Yes, and” to foster collaboration and creativity. When one actor introduces and idea or action their scene partner accepts it with a “yes and then they add on new information. The scene builds this way, one block - or one “yes, and” at a time.The alternative is to fight what is…. the first actor just introduced an embarrassing idea that I don't want to engage with. In the scene, I can't stop and demand they change their contribution, I just get to keep the momentum building and decide what to do with it, how to build my way out of it…For example - You're in an improv scene where the first actor just admits to a crowd of people that you caught an STD in a salacious way, now it's your turn to figure out how to turn this scene around. What do you do with this twist in the plot? In improv you simply have to make a choice what to do next. You can't stomp off, you can't demand they come up with something less personal, you don't stop the show….you figure out how to play out the scene.Ok. So let's apply this simple concept to real life. I have a sticky note on my desk that says “Yes, and…” in big letters. It reminds me that when something happens, when I'm struggling with something going on in my life, that sitting and wishing it was different, or letting it cause continued anxiety in me while I wallow in what is, are both completely in effective. They are the equivalent of being stuck in a mud bog. Here's the hero of the story, stuck up to her thighs in a slimy mud bog.Let's just take today: I'm recording this in July. My lawn is dying in spots and it's frustrating. I acknowledge every day that the crisp yellow grass shouldn't be there, I'm watering it. But it is. So, I can keep feeling the frustration and knowing it shouldn't be this way, day after day, or I can say Yes - this is happening, my lawn is struggling. Accept it, whether it “should” be that way or not. Now comes the “and.” What will I do differently about this thing? I will water it more, and/or I will change fertilizer. A decision has been made. I've accepted what is and I've moved on to action.Next example: I'm working with a new group of women doing the 21 LIFE Connection Challenges. We started out with almost 10 people and after the first week only 4 are checking in regularly. Now, I have a number of feelings about this. 1. I know this is how it goes. Every time. It takes a modicum of dedication to stick with the challenges and most of the time less than half of the groups make it through. Not because the challenges are terribly hard, but they lose focus, get busy, put it off. So, I know this is going to happen but I still feel bad for all the great women who are missing out on what they could have gotten out of it. 2. I feel frustration that discipline is so hard for so many. So the first thing that I need to do to stop resentment from building is to accept that it's happening and then decide how I want to deal with it. The “and” for me on this one is that I want to give all my best attention to those who stick with

Episode 281: Spiritual AlchemyFinding Inner Peace and Joy Interview Sohale SizarWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast! Today we're here for a dose of inner peace. Isn't that what we're all searching for? Some days we may have a taste, some days it's a million miles away. Today Sohale Sizar, the founder of Soul, with the mission to illuminate the daily practice of gratitude for his rapidly growing online community, - which I”m a part of - is here and we're talking about the practice of spiritual alchemy, knowing ourselves, and finding that illusive inner peace and joy. Stay tuned. We have something for you.LYS QuipSohale Sizar has been an entrepreneur since the age of nine with fifteen years of dedicated practice in meditation and gratitude. Sohale translated his experiences into earning a Stanford MBA and building ventures spanning non-profit charities, education, and consumer technology. Sohale is now an entrepreneur on a mission to facilitate access to one's inner light. - Let's find that inner light.Sohale, thank you for being here today.Join us on the audio program to hear our discussion about thing like this:Tell us your story - usually we all have something happen in our lives that helps us learn or understand a thing better, and then we often want to share it. First - How did you get to this place, Second - what is your mission, and Third - how do you do it? What is spiritual alchemy?What do you think creates inner peace?What is an “inner light”?What sorts of ways do you suggest we “get to know ourselves?”Thanks for being here today. I know your time is precious and we honor the time you spend with us. Join us in two weeks for a Quick Chat - One Inspirational Idea in 15 minutes or less. And please, share this episode - it's super easy to do - just send a link to someone you know. It's a great way to share the love and make the world better.The Love Your Story podcast will be taking a break toward the end of 2024. Thanks for being a part of our audience. I'd love to hear from you about your favorite episode or what you've enjoyed about the show. lorijlee@msn.comHave a great week living your life on purpose.Finding Sohale Sizar:Website: https://www.bringsoul.life/ , https://www.sohale.org/aboutFacebook:

Episode 280: Quick Chat - What's My Intention: Determining Your Intended Outcome SituationallyWelcome to the LYS Podcast. Let's talk about road maps! Ever wished you had a road map to help life go a little smoother?How many every-day situations do we just barge our way through? For most of us - that would be almost all of them. We head to a family party only to leave having gotten in a fight with a sibling because we got caught up in a reactive situation. We go on a walk with a friend and feel frustrated that the conversation was so focused on their bad relationship. We head into a client meeting and come out feeling like that could have gone better and we should have gotten more accomplished.It's a simple question: How could this experience have gone better if I'd clarified ahead of time what I wanted out of this interaction. Stay tuned because this tool changes everything.This simple idea today is about checking in with yourself before you head into any situation, to see what you really hope it holds for you. This is SOOO simple, but so powerful. #LIFEHACKSetting a clear intention before entering in to an interaction is a tool that shapes the dynamics of human interaction. It shapes your stress levels. It shapes what you allow to bother you and what you let slide. It shapes what you talk about and what you don't talk about. It shapes what you focus on. It shapes your energy. In summary - it provides a simple road map for you, for the interaction, guiding your thoughts, words and actions.This proactive approach fosters first - clarity for you and second, greater success in getting what you want from the situation. When you are clear with yourself, about what you want to get out of an interaction you are much more likely to get that outcome-Let me show you what I mean: I'm taking my boys skiing. If I identify before hand that my purpose with this outing is to build relationships with them, then I can clarify ahead of time that it's not about doing the hardest runs I can find, it's not about penny pinching by heading to the car at lunch to eat PB & Js. It's about relationship building. Once I know that I can forgo my own desire to hit the hardest trails, if they don't want to go on those same trails and it's not a big deal. There is no struggle on the hill and I've already decided I'm not going to go shooting off to do my own runs. I already know that it's about spending time with them and enjoying the runs they want to do. I can also choose to splurge on a lunch because they are young men who love a big juicy burger - I've identified before hand that t's not about the money, it's about the time with them. We can sit around the table and talk and enjoy ski lodge burgers. Example #2 - Before a client meeting I might identify with myself that despite a huge list of things I need to cover with my clients, that this meeting is all about helping them understand the process involved in buying a home so they are clear on what to expect. It's not about getting paperwork signed, or overwhelming them with all the dotted i's and crossed t's - even though those things are in my mind. When I stop and pin point what I really want from this meeting I can direct it, stay on point, not get discouraged that everything doesn't get done, not force too much on them. Again, this pre determination allows me to proceed smoothly and unemotionally through the process of what I want to accomplish in this interaction and let all the other factors fall away for now.One of the things I personally love about this is how much peace it brings to me in my interactions. It's a great tool to help manage emotions. Interactions with family, friends, bosses, clients, etc. can all be very complex.. I have hot buttons and money issues. I have expectations

Episode 279: Life By Design: The Power of Positive Habits - Interview Amy KempWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. I'm your host Lori Lee.Can we agree that our thought habits basically build our worlds? How small we stay, how big we become, what we allow, what we don't allow, how much we sacrifice, how hard money is to come by, etc. etc. these type of thought habits are the spaces we function from. In today's show we are talking about thought habits, with the expert Amy Kemp, author of “I See You.”Stay tuned for my in-depth conversation with this certified Habit Finder coach who has worked with literally hundreds to help people see how our habits impact our lives and how we can replace unhealthy thought habits with more healthy ones.Amy Kemp not only coaches, but she also gives workshops, speaks on stage, and has now released her new book: I See You. I'm excited to sit with Amy to learn and share as we talk about this powerful piece of our lives - our habits. So let's hop right in.Amy, Welcome to the show.Please join us on the audio program to hear our discussion about the following:At the start of your book you share this wonderful story of meeting with a woman for the first time, a woman who, as you had coffee shared her career path, her accolades, her successes. A woman who looked to have everything together. When she asked why you had asked her to lunch, you said, “Because I see you. Because I really see you.” Which brought the woman to tears. - WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY “I REALLY SEE YOU?'What does a certified Habit Finder Coach do?What are some of the most oft seen habits you see that do not serve people?What habits do you replace those with?Boundaries - Let's talk about thought habits and boundaries. (Let her speak) In your book you quote Prentis Hemphill and her definition, “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously.”In your book you ask a questions, “Wht if everything we want and are trying to create depends on only 1 thing: how connected we are to the source from which all things come?Do you believe this and why?Let's get back to habits - If you had one tool that you have seen really make a difference in helping people realize which habits are holding them back what would it be? How do we change unhealthy habit? Tell us the story of “Respect the mile.) Share with us what you have to offer: your coaching, your book, where listeners can find you.How to find Amy Kemp and the Habit Finder Tool:Website: Amylynnkemp.comInsta: @amykempincEmail: amy@amylynnkemp.com Often times our habits are something we aren't even aware of. I certainly do not believe I am aware of all of mine. In fact I am aware of very few of mine. I hope our conversation with Amy Kemp, today, has given you a gentle awareness - a reminder of how important it is to understand the habits - THE AUTOPILOT - we are allowing to run our lives, to create our worlds. To live intentionally - which is what this show is all about - is to be aware, and to make choices, actively.Blessings to you and yours. May you see your habits as they truly are and use your power to shift what you wish to shift, to respect the mile you are currently running. Until the next show - Live beautifully and with heart. See you in two weeks.

Episode 278: Quick Chat - Beginnings, Middles and EndsWelcome to the LYS Podcast. These quick chats are written around an idea that stands out to me that I want to chat with you about. Something that we can discuss in under 15 minutes that will hopefully be as interesting to you as it was to me.Todays is about how our lives are not one big story, they are made up of a bunch of smaller stories - lots of beginnings, middles, and ends. And I especially want to talk a little about the messy middles.Tune into the audio for this quick chat that I hope will give a little reprieve if you're stuck in a messy middle, some hope if you're at the end of something you didn't want to end, and maybe some excitement at what new beginnings may be around the corner.This week I read an email from Mary Alice Arthur, a story practitioner that I had on the show on episode 217 where we talked about “What is the most important story in the world.” Her email really hit home with me and I wanted to share it with you.Today we're talking about how we like to think of life as one big story, but in reality life is made up of a bunch of shorter stories - There are new beginnings, new adventures, new experiences, new starts. And there are other stories in our lives that are ending - the end of a project, the end of a job or a relationship, the death of someone or something. But the part I want to talk most about is the MESSY MIDDLE. The messy middle strikes me right now because it's such an uncomfortable place where we often don't know what is going to happen next. How will we find our way through? There is a lot of unknown.One of the ways you can tell you're in the Messy Middle, Mary Alice says, is that things don't make sense any more. What you used to do isn't working. Things feel out of control.This was comforting to me to acknowledge that confusion may be part of the process of living because I must be in the messy middle of a lot of things. Menopause is upon me and the “me” I used to know is no longer the “me” that is here. My body is weaker, my skin is less resilient, my energy and drive have abandoned me. I've been really struggling with not recognizing who I am. Really struggling. So when I read her ideas on the middle, I thought, “Oh, I'm in the messy middle. I don't know how this is going to turn out because I don't have it figured out yet. I haven't figured out hormone adjustments. I haven't come to grips with a slower self. I haven't relaxed into acceptance yet. Perhaps it's not the end of the world as I know it, it's just the messy middle.”I'm also at a loss as how to deal with my adult children who are struggling with depression and existential crisis. Nothing I do helps them. I'm at a complete loss and it's painful. I must be in the messy middle. We're looking at a variety of financial investments. The pieces aren't coming together as fast as I'd like. It's dragging on. I guess we're in the messy middle.Mary Alice asks the question: What do you do when you're in the messy middle? She suggests that sometimes the best thing to do is simply make a move. Get your hands dirty. I think this is great advice. I probably like it so much because it gives us power. I have a number of thought quotes at my desk. They say things like: “Yes…and” This saying reminds me that when something happens the best move is simply to acknowledge it and then decide the next best move.The next sticky note thought on my desk says, “Get curious about new ways of doing things.” The next one says, “Follow your intuition.”The pattern here is that all these reminders are about taking action. We won't get any where - we'll stay exactly where we are if we don't push on the gas. So push on the gas and steer as corners come up, but just sitting...

Episode 277: Tips for Successfully Parenting Adult Children: Interview - Emily and Erik OrtonHow to get a Seat on your Adult Kids' Board of Directors.Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast! I'm your host Lori Lee and today we are talking about the complexity and balance of interacting with and influencing our adult children.My guests today are Emily and Erik Orton, You'll remember them from Episode 133 - Seven at Sea, where we talked about the year they took their 5 kids and lived on a sail boat.This was one of my all-time favorite episodes because I so loved the things Erik and Emily shared.I'm very excited to have them back on the show! But I'm also excited because I'm personally having a hard time getting on the board of directors for my adult kids - or in other words, I'm not having a great deal of success having any influence with my adult children. How do they still think I have nothing to share with them….???? What am I doing wrong?Stay tuned as we get to talk shop with Erik and Emily as they share their expertise they have developed and share through their business The Awesome Factory.Erik + Emily Orton - Erik is an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer. Emily is an educator, author and public speaker. Their life design framework mutes fear and accelerates growth. They are parents to five kids raised in Manhattan, where Erik worked on such shows as Wicked, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. When their kids were 6-16 years old, Erik and Emily bootstrapped life aboard a fixer upper sailboat in the Caribbean. They sailed as a family from St. Martin back to New York City. Their memoir about the experience (Seven at Sea) is a New York Times Top 10 Travel book. After life on the boat, they continued to travel the world with their children through Europe, the South Pacific, Africa, and across North and South America in planes, trains, boats and vans. They are the co-founders of The Awesome Factory, a coaching and travel adventure company that leads retreats and sailing adventures all over the world.Emily and Erik - Welcome back to Love Your Story!TUNE INTO THE AUDIO DISCUSSION TO HEAR THE THOUGHTS ON THESE AND OTHER IDEAS:Lets start with your story. That introduction gave everyone a super quick look at the adventures of your past decade, but I'd love to have you share some of the highlights you've had with your family - particularly those that have helped you build relationship with them in a way that they now give you a place on their board of directors.You coach and direct a great deal regarding empty nesters and dealing with adult children. How did you metamorphose into this space of expertise?Let's jump right in - I attended an entire evening presentation on this topic, with you, so I know there is lots to talk about. How do we get on our adult kids' board of directors?What kinds of things do you have coming up and where can people find you?Finding the Ortons:Here is the link to The 100 Year Grid: https://www.theawesomefactory.nyc/100They tell all about how to use it in episode 18 of their podcast - What Could Go Right?The 100 Year Grid – How to Visualize Your Whole Life on 1 Sheet of Paper

Episode 276: Quick Chat: The Power of "I AM" Statements - How to Shift EverythingWelcome to the LYS podcast. Today is a Quick Chat - 1 inspirational idea in 15 minutes or less. We are talking about I AM Statements and being creators. (insert applause reel)The other day I was listening to Oprah's Super Soul podcast and her interview with pastor Joel Osteen a pastor from Houston, TX that is a very popular up and coming pastor. It aired on Sept 20 2022 if you want to catch it.They were talking about how you become what you believe. And, what we believe is what we tell ourselves - so the whole show was about the power of the statement “I AM” And of course, this is the same thing as…..what story am I telling myself about myself. Today we're talking about I AM statements, stay tuned and let's reprogram any mean lingering voices.People - IT COMES DOWN TO THE SIMPLE THINGS.My son and I think about the world differently. He tries to unwind the mysteries of the universe. The other day he was incredibly excited because he found a scientific video showing how eternal life could happen scientifically. He showed it to all of us - thrilled to have found something that made sense to him, but it wasn't striking home for me. I thought about our different approaches to life. As we've discussed things over the past year, I've realized that complication drives him, but for me when I am trying to learn or comprehend or progress, I love simple. I have found that in my religion, in my way of being, in my growth patterns I love simple tools or simple concepts to focus on..For example. Instead of looking at the entire doctrinal cannon of my church and feeling frustrated that I'm not good at all of it. I love just working on love. Sometimes I'm good at it and sometimes I'm not, but I know if I get that down or even make progress on it, that it's one of the things God tells us is most important. And, love really bleeds into everything, forgiveness, healthy self-love, charity, service, etc. So there is plenty to do, but instead of living in overwhelm I work on love.So, I mention this because the “I AM” statements are such a simple way to realize how you are setting the tone for your life.It starts when you wake up in the morning. Start with gratitude - I am grateful for…..there is always something - hot water, a warm bed, health, a good friend, my dog, a great sweater, my kids…… Train yourself. Open your eyes and say thank you or I've got this, or I AM confident, I am creative, I am disciplined, I am focused.What is the difference in the start of your day if you start with: I'm fat, I'm not attractive, I'm unlucky, I'm a bad parent, I'm not enough, I'm so tired, I'm not worthy….vs. I'm grateful, I'm all over this, I'm excited to see what happens today, I'm making this a great day, I am going to have some great interactions today. I'm getting healthier everyday.For me - those two create completely different days! Completely different.Paster Joel say, “Whatever follows “I Am” will come looking for you.” - What do you think of that idea? If you get to choose what chases you down in the world - well, then I'm inspired to put some good things out there because that's what I want chasing me. Your life is how you see it - that is a fact. So talk a second and thing about what follows “I AM” for you?If you want to know where you'll be in 5 years, stop and pay attention to what follows “I AM” in your own mind….So let's talk about how we shift these….You don't have to go to the extreme when changing these. Oprah shared an example of a day she was really tired. As she...

Episode 275: Everything They Never Taught Us in School about Money - Interview Kristen WonchWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. I'm your host Lori Lee.Last year one of the favorite episodes was my interview with Dr. Amanda the money doctor. Money is a really big part of our lives, so of course people want to learn and de-mistify how to get it, how to grow it, how to remove blocks to it.So 2024 delivers as well. Today Kristen Wonch, a wizard with numbers and one of a handful of women to land a highly coveted role of structuring multi million dollar deals as a commodities trader, is here on the show to talk with us about choosing with intention the life we want and then building the numbers around it. Her Money Mastery Method is the world's first to teach women to master the art of earning efficiently, spending smart and investing intentionally, while rewiring subconscious money beliefs from the ground up. That's all big stuff. So, stay tuned and get richer.Kristien - Welcome to the LYS PodcastJoin us on the audio to listen to our discussion on topics like:You went from $100,000 in debt to being a global money coach. Can we start with your story about how you turned that around?Let's talk about creating our life on purpose - money is often a big part of that. How do you coach someone through this process?What about this process where you determine the life you desire and then build the numbers around it?What is an unbudget?Let's talk money blocks. How do you figure out if you have money blocks and what they are?What do you do with them once you've identified them?What are the top 3 things you advise women to do in their financial lives?Find Kristen Wonch at:Free Investor Secrets Revealed Workshop: https://www.kristenwonch.com/investor-secretsKristen@kristenwonch.com1.

Episode 274: Quick Chat - Every Problem is a Thought ProblemWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. I'm your host Lori Lee and today you are here for a Quick Chat - that's one inspirational idea in 15 minutes or less.Today chat is: Every Problem is a thought problem. It's a bold statement. But a true one. And one that sets us free. One that puts us in control, most of the time.So stay tuned as we discuss how much power ACTUALLY have, and how to solve the problems.Since you are a listener of the Love Your Story podcast I'm going to make the assumption that we are on the same page on the topic of taking responsibility for the pivotal role our thoughts play in shaping our realities. Basically - our thoughts OR stories that we create in our minds create our realities - are we on the same page there? There are 7 Billion realities going on out there…Ok. With that said, I want to start out with the quote by Byron Katie. She says, “It's not the problem that causes our suffering; it's our thinking about the problem.”In other words, “Every problem is a thought problem.”Let's put me in the hot seat. 2023 was a rough year for Realtors and lenders. The higher interest rates meant that for a great many of us the clients buying and selling slowed down. I primarily blamed my slow year on this situation, but here's another angle - a slower year allowed me to travel more. It gave me more time to reach out and renew and develop relationships with my data base - my past clients. Which part do I want to focus on? Was it a problem or an opportunity? Problems don't have to stay problems, they can become opportunities if we choose to shift our thoughts.In the realm of personal development and self reflection this idea invites us to scrutinize the nature of our challenges by recognizing the subjective nature of them. By understanding and claiming that situations and ideas only hold the power we allow them to hold. Another example - if I come from a family where being a part of a certain religion is tantamount to being right with God and the world, then if I step away from that religion my social construct - family, friends, and members of that congregation may collapse around me, or cause people pain. On the other hand, if there is an acceptance among those people that everyone find their own way in the world, in a way that each individual feels is best for them, then the suffering ceases to happen. Or, if respect is really important to me, as it is to most type A personalities and I am disrespected, I will/can feel a lot of resentment, anger, frustration, maybe even embarrassment about this, whereas someone for whom that is not an important thing may hardly notice it, or may not feel disrespected in a similar situation. In other words - situations are subjective. Problems are subjective.My mother used to get really upset when her family parties didn't unfold as she had expected - her expectations weren't met and she'd often cry before the night was through - she learned to let go of those expectations and go with the flow as the years went by, but this is a good example of a person creating pain for themselves and then learning how to adjust their thoughts in a way that created less pain for them.Now let's combine this with the idea that “everything happens for me, not to me.” With the combination of these two ideas a powerful shift occurs. A shift that can redefine the way we navigate life's complexities.Katie's assertion is that our thoughts about our circumstances themselves contribute more to our issues than do the circumstances themselves.This is an important thing to realize...

Episode 273: The Road to More Confidence - Interview Christina LecuyerWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast, I'm your host Lori Lee.Have you ever met someone that brimmed with confidence? I can tell you that there is an energy behind confidence. There is a way you hold yourself, a mindset of expectation that doors will open for you, a presence that actually opens those doors.There are so many powerful concepts - gratitude, love, allowing, accountability - but today we're talking about confidence. I'm excited about this because we haven't talked about confidence before, been coached in confidence before and WE DON'T WANT TO SHORT CHANGE THIS INCREDIBLE MINDSET.Today I have Chrstina Lecuyer on the show - Voted one of the top Confidence coaches, this former professional golfer and TV host now works with an extensive ist of cientele from around the world. . Tune into the audio program for a little coaching. What does confidence look like? How do we get it if we don't have it? Where do we start and how do we use it?Confidence is defined as a feeling of self-assurance arising from one's appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities.Our guest today - Christina, battled low self-confidence, an eating disorder, and tying her worth to external validation, Christina was able to turn her life around to create her dream life and a multi six figure business. She uses the same tools she used for herself to help hundreds of clients to create their own profit and success. Through her signature “Decision, Faith & Action” framework clients have not only brought their own dream life into reality, but many have gone on to create multi six and seven figure businesses in the process. I guess we can tie confidence in ourselves to success in business, but I think it propeturates success in all areas of our lives. Let's see what Christina says. Join the audio to hear our conversation about:Christina's story: Who were you when you were battling with this low self-esteem and what caused the eating disorder, and how did you evolve and transition out of that?Let's talk about why confidence is important.Isn't this a topic almost everyone could use a little coaching in?If you don't feel confident in yourself? If you're one of those who hugs the walls, or doesn't risk, or prays nothing bad will happen because you may crumble under it….how do you start to step into more confidence? Maybe give us a little coaching here: What are some of the stories of people you've coached, some of the transformations you've seen?To find Christina:christina@christinalecuyer.comwww.christinalecuyer.com1 on 1 Confidence coaching - You're One Decision Away from the Life of your Dreams.Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”I share this quote because if you haven't stopped to consider all the tough stuff you've navigated, do. Stop and think about it, and realize that when the tough stuff comes along, you make it through. You've done it before, you can do it again. This recognition builds confidence in our resiliency, which helps us live with less fear.And one more quote: Dale Carnegie said, “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get...

Episode 272: What God Can Do with Loss Interview Nicole HolgreenBridle Up HopeEvery once in awhile I run across a story with lots of miracles. Stories, where for some reason, God, the Universe, Fate seems to really be backing up a person or a project. Today we are looking at one of those. We're going to sit around this technological camp fire and listen to a story about how a young girl passing away from depression created a program that's backed by miracles.We're talking with Nicole Holgreen, the executive director of Bridal Up Hope out of Alpine, Utah, a Rachel Covey Foundation. Tune into the audio to hear how this foundation that was created after Rachel Covey's suicide, to support the mental health of girls and women through equine assisted learning - yes - hanging out with horses - how this program finds itself in “ a tidal wave of miracles.” This is a story of depression and support. It's a story about the bond between a girl and her horse and it's a story about hope, healing scars, transformation and miracles in a time when we sorely need them. Nicole Holgreen is the Executive Director of Bridle Up Hope. She has led an incredible team to expand this organization and its mission to 13 locations worldwide. Nicole oversees the Alpine, Utah Headquarters and the 100 weekly lessons for women and girls here. Nicole is devoted to Bridle Up Hopes's mission to inspire hope, confidence, and resilience through equestrian training and The 7 Habits written by Stephen Covey. Nicole is a Provo, UT. girl and she and her husband Jared have four children and one grandson.Nicole - Welcome to the LYS PodcastJoin us on the audio program to hear our conversation about:I want stories - when you and I were talking awhile back we filled a couple hours with stories of the miracles that have supported Bridle Up Hope in it's opening to the world, and even that supported getting you here.Nicole shares her story - Where were you in life when you started crossing paths with Bridle Up Hope?Can I get some specific miracle stories - the ones that stand out to you - that have made Bridal Up Hope possible.Let's talk about the girls and women that have come here. How many do you serve? Can you share some of your favorite success stories? How have you watched them become empowered?Let's talk about Stephen Covey's 7 Habits. What are they and how do they help the girls and womenWhat do you see for the future of Bridle Up Hope?If someone wants to come to you for service where do they find you OR If someone wants to open a location on their own property - help expand this 1000 barn goal, who do they contact?Nicole HolgreenExecutive Director of Bridle Up Hope1141 Watkins LaneAlpine, UT. 84004https://www.bridleuphope.org/Mental health is maybe one of the world's largest challenges right now. How wonderful that there are highly productive programs that save, that support, that help us navigate this devastating path during this crucial time. This is a story of making a difference, a story of miracles and lives saved. If you know any women who may be struggling with mental health issues, or if you want to be involved by opening your own Bridal Up Hope non-profit franchise, I hope you'll share this episode and reach out.Have a wonderful week, and remember to create your best life with full intention. Listen to back episodes for all the best tools and mind training to help you to create your best story. We'll

Episode 271: Quick Chat - Reframing Happiness with Cortney McDermottWelcome to the Love Your Story Podcast. I'm your host Lori Lee and you're here today for a Quick Chat. That's one great inspirational idea in 15 minutes or less. Today's show is about reframing happiness. Stay tuned for a quickie discussion with Corney McDermott, Author of Give Yourself Permisson, as we explore the idea of shifting the way you think about happiness so we can more easily find it. Join us in the audio program as we discuss:In the Wizard of Oz Dorthy goes on an adventure to find her way home. She heads out on this path - the Yellow Brick Road searching, along her path she has the support of the Good Witch Glenda looking out for her, she has companions who are learning along the journey also, and in the end she finds that no one else - no wizard existed who could do it for her…. I think in a way we all take this journey. We are told - no sold - all day long that we need this product, that promotion, this coach, this corner office and then we will be happy, but Cortney points out in her book - “if the something or someone isn't pointing back to yourself, then it simply won't work.” We talk about:Where do we find happy? What is this reframing happiness you speak of?In your book you say, “Aligning your ego to the divine truths in you is like a constant spontaneous enlightenment that doe snot rely on anything or anyone outside of you for its fulfillment.” Can you explain this?Happiness is an inside work.We are sold what happiness should be - what if our happiness doesn't align with what we are "supposed" to want?Most of the time we don't question this - but what happens when you equate happiness with "all the things and all the gold stars" and you still aren't happy.What if happy to me doesn't look like happy to everyone else?Externalities don't solve the problemsThe work is in your head.Accept what makes YOU happy. Even if it's different.You are okay with doing it YOUR way.Move away from what is distracting you from your own happiness.Dedicate more time to what your happiness looks like. Start small but build up your devotion to you.Focus on the self enough so you can experience the most from your relationships.Don't force things. Ease in and allow things to flow.Cortney shares a story of her own emotional youth. She shares how important it was to learn to accept her own depth of feeling.What does YOUR happiness feel like?Thanks for being with us today. And thanks to Cortney McDermott, author of Give Yourself Permission for co-hosting the past 3 Quick Chats with me and sharing her powerful insights.If you liked this episode - please consider sharing it with a friend. It's all about doing good in the world and this is an easy way to share inspiration in your sphere. We'll see you in two weeks for our next episode.Contact Cortney or buy her book:www.cortney mcdermott.comemail: cort@cortinc.comBook: Give Yourself PermissionAmazon Link to purchase:

Episode 270: How to Stop Self Sabotage - Interview Thais GibsonWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. Have you ever self sabotaged? Are you aware of your own limiting beliefs?Today, Thais Gibson, the founder of the Personal Development School and I are going to talk in detail - get schooled on these topics. This is really cool to get to talk with Thais about this because this Ph.D. candidate has a decade of experience helping over 30K clients, and her private practice has a 2 year waiting list, so getting to have this one-on-one class discussion with her is lit. Tune into the audio program to start dissecting self sabotage and limiting beliefs with the head teacher from the Personal Development School.Thais Gibson - is certified in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, in Neuro-linguistic programming, in Somatic experiencing (which is a form of therapy aimed at treating trauma and stress related disorders) She has certificates in a bunch of other therapy and self development disciplines as well…13 in total I believe… and she has 38 million views on social media. I started following her on Instagram and it's fun to watch her great educational clips as she discusses mental health ideas. Thais….Let's bring that to my audience.Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast Thais….Join us on the audio to hear our conversation about:How did you get into this work? - What's your story?Can we talk about self sabotage? What does that look like? What do you know about it? What do we need to know to keep ourselves from doing it? Do you have success stories that show us how to overcome this?I've been trying to recognize my own limiting beliefs. How do we discover what our limiting beliefs are? What do we do with them once we recognize them? Those are hard things to change, usually really ironed in strong with our subconscious.Let's talk about the subconscious…how do we reprogram deeply help beliefs that are holding us back? Do you have success stories about this?Tell us about the school and what you do there?Thanks for being her with us today. I hope you've found just one ah-ha or idea that helps you on your journey, or inspires you to reach out to Thais, or follow her on Instagram so you can keep learning to navigate your mental health.How to contact Thais Gibson:She's big on Instagram: @thepersonaldevelopmentschoolYou Tube: @thepersonaldevelopmentschoolFacebook: @thepersonaldevelopmentschool Have fun building your best life story on purpose!

Episode 269: Quick Chat - Consciously Creating a Meaningful Life with Cortney McDermottWelcome to the Love Your Story Podcast. I'm your host Lori Lee and you're here today for a Quick Chat. That's one great inspirational idea in 15 minutes or less. Today's show is about this thing Corney calls Dimensions of Design. In a nutshell. Today's quick chat is on manifesting. Stay tuned for our quickie discussion with Corney McDermott, Author of Give Yourself Permisson, as we explore the ideas behind manifesting. Do you know how to manifest? Are you really good at it? I'm trying to understand it better, so if you're with me, tune in.Cortney and I look at:What Cortney has noticed about people not knowing what they want.This is to help people ask the right questions about what they want.Model includes distraction, delusion, demand, and design.Focus on the things you know are important to you, but that you don't have to do right now. When you focus on those things it clears out all the things that don't matter.Ask yourself this question: What are you putting off that you know you need to do?Focus on the really important things, let the less important things go and lots of time gets freed up.Designing your life by prioritizing this dimension makes time expand.We mold our lives from the inside with the decisions we make about our time.We talk about manifesting and how our attention is key to what we manifest.Allowing our attention to be fragmented slows down what we manifest.How much attention are you giving to guiding your thoughts and surroundings toward that vision?Want to get in touch with Cortney?Contact Cortney or buy her book:www.cortney mcdermott.comemail: cort@cortinc.comBook: Give Yourself PermissionAmazon Link to purchase:https://www.amazon.com/Give-Yourself-Permission-Development-Improvement/dp/B0C9SNG7NZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=O1BQ0ZKORWVG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8amufz-UuP5MoibMVqy9ytZAjysDYtrkrHH-n0pAurOWTAGFh4YdjC_sUVHwmq7ksKOgWsl2vK4J_Xyj5hT1-A.ASsOCz1Ig8IdvvM1x8vBiqKQUJPx8ieg2Nlsolw-ZYA&dib_tag=se&keywords=give+yourself+permission&qid=1704998197&sprefix=give+yourself+permission%2Caps%2C226&sr=8-1

Episode 268: What is Success? Interview John PlyWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. John Ply is a successful business man who started his own company - twice - and made millions. His father - Ziggy - was a Polish immigrant who was captured by the Germans in WWII and survived the horrors of a POW camp and then moved to America with nothing but the clothes on his back. Both men personify different types of success, and on today's show John Ply joins me to share stories and lessons learned from both lives. Stay tuned as we talk about stories of his father turning in a lost $20 bill when it would have paid his mortgage for a month, or when he refused to shoot a woman the Germans in the POW camp demanded he kill or be killed. John Ply has taken the stories of his father and the things he learned from him and written a book about both of their lives. The book is called YOU CAN BE THE BEST.Today John is here with me and we are going to share stories and some beautiful ideas for successful living. John, welcome to the LYS podcast.Tune into the audio to hear our conversation with topics like:A. Tell us all about you - your story - Let me give you a jumping off point: In one of the first chapters of the book you have a section entitled “You never know where becoming the best is going to take you.” I love this idea of doing the best you can do at anything you try and stirring that in with the magic of the unknown - how that translates into opportunity. So lets start in the summer after 8th grade….B. Let's talk about “Being the Best You.”I loved how you said, “Be the best “you” and everything else tens to take care of itself.”C. There are so many culturally dictated ideas of success. Let's talk about a couple different things here: 1. Our own individual definitions of success 2. What your definition of success is. 3. What did you learn about success from Ziggy?D. Ziggy - Your favorite stories about him and what he taught you.E. You have a concept called “The Clubs of Success” Will you run through those for us?To find John or get his book:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-ply-author-332449270/Amazon: https://geni.us/youcanbethebest In his book John says, “ America has been called the land of opportunity, but the thing about opportunity is that it comes down to choices. My father eded up having an incredible life in America because he built that life.”There are so many powerful concepts in the book, and I'll just end with this one: Ziggy came with nothing but a lot of trauma, a great work ethic, and a sense of morals and ethics. Despite having come from undoubtedly experiencing horrors in that war and POW camp he made choice after choice...

267: Quick Chat - How to Transform Your Perception of Wealth with Cortney McDermottWelcome to the Love Your Story Podcast - Quick Chat: That's one great inspirational idea in 15 minutes or less. I'm your host Lori Lee. Today's show is about how to transform your perception of money and wealth and our quickie discussion is with Corney McDermott, author of Give Yourself Permission. We explore the idea of shifting the way you think about something as crucial as money, for a different more abundant mindset. Join the audio program to hear me and my co-host Cortney McDermott:Mindset is everything and a right mindset about wealth - creating it with intentions - is a key to survival and living big. This is part of creating the life we want on purpose.We're talking about money and wealth today for 3 reasons - 1 - it was one of the top content topics on the show for 2023 so I know the audience has an interest. Who doesn't want to learn how to live more abundantly? 2 - I think the right mindset to something as important as wealth is key to achieving it… what story are we telling ourselves about money and 3 - the ideas we'll discuss around this concept are really beneficial to simply living well - which you'll see as Corney gives us a quick run down.Cortney, In your book there is a chapter called “Make a lot of Money.” In that chapter you have 5 principles you say are related to wealth accumulation. Let's talk about those. Tune in to hear the principles...We talk about*Where love is Money is.*Gratitude is the foundation of wealth*Wealth is inside workand much more...If you liked this episode - please consider sharing it with a friend. It's all about doing good in the world and this is an easy way to share inspiration in your sphere. We'll see you in two weeks for our next episode.Contact Cortney or buy her book:www.cortney mcdermott.comemail: cort@cortinc.comBook: Give Yourself PermissionAmazon Link to purchase:https://www.amazon.com/Give-Yourself-Permission-Development-Improvement/dp/B0C9SNG7NZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=O1BQ0ZKORWVG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8amufz-UuP5MoibMVqy9ytZAjysDYtrkrHH-n0pAurOWTAGFh4YdjC_sUVHwmq7ksKOgWsl2vK4J_Xyj5hT1-A.ASsOCz1Ig8IdvvM1x8vBiqKQUJPx8ieg2Nlsolw-ZYA&dib_tag=se&keywords=give+yourself+permission&qid=1704998197&sprefix=give+yourself+permission%2Caps%2C226&sr=8-1

Episode 266: The Beautiful Life Designer Interview Edwina Murphy DoomerWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast! I'm your host Lori Lee.I'm reading a book called Change It Up. The entire premise of the book is a comparison of how scared we get of change, but also how much we need novelty and how refreshed we are by changes we choose - new hair cut, wearing a new color, going to a place you've never been, and even sometimes the shifts that happen after a divorce or or a loss. In the moment it's a struggle, but many times it's those moments of change, even loss that propel us into some of our best and healthiest paths. Stay tuned for my talk with Edwina Murphy Droomer, the great women empowerment coach, we'll hear her story of how divorce was the cross-roads to greater things and then we'll talk about creating a higher purpose master plan.Are you ready to create a life you love living?Like many women, Edwina's metamorphosis sprung from her darkest hour as a suddenly single, broke mother with four children. With no choice but to sit firmly in the driver's seat of her life, Edwina set about taking back control of creating the life she dreamed of living. Now, as a Professional Interviewer and Women's Coach, Edwina is a powerhouse in the fields of vision building and transformation. She has supported thousands of women to create an exciting vision for the health, wealth, time and love they crave and then provides the support and accountability to bring that vision to life.Join the audio program to hear:Edwina's story of growing up - as an adult, and learning to source better energy and beautiful results.She said, "Like many women, I unlocked my strength and moxie during the darkest hours (weeks, months, year) following the breakdown of my first marriage and becoming a suddenly single, broke mum with four small children. For the first three and a half decades of my life, I was on a mission to prove myself worthy. Worthy of what I was never quite sure of, however, at its core was wanting to feel worthy of love and belonging.All the while raising four kids as a single mum and running a flower farm. But still, I suffered from not enough syndrome.Then one day, while sitting on my veranda taking photos of my children, I had a ‘what the heck moment'. Looking at my vibrant, happy, beautiful kids running around amongst the roses on our flower farm, it dawned on me…I did this. ME! I made this beautiful life for us.The proof was in front of my eyes. It is not about comparison or perfection; it is simply about doing the best I can with what I know, being grateful for the life I have now, and striving to grow into all I can be.That shift in mindset was the start of a whole new life."Join us as we talk about braking through the worthiness barrier, seeing how powerful you are, and how shifting your perception of self changes what you can do. What do you want women to understand about themselves?I love the part where we talk about taking responsibility and how an empowered human takes 100% responsibility.This beautiful life designer shows us how she did it and shares some of the most important insights she shares with her clients.Conclusion: On Edwina's website there is a quote that is so compassionate. It...

Episode 265: Quick Chat - Small Steps Big Wins with Sue SallerWelcome to the Love Your Story Podcast. I'm your host Lori Lee and you're here today for a Quick Chat. That's one great inspirational idea in 15 minutes or less. Today's show is called Small Steps Big Wins. Stay tuned for a quickie discussion with Sue Saller, host of the Small Steps Big Wins podcast as we explore the idea of giving yourself a break because, as Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”Tune into the audio program to hear Lori and Sue talk about ideas like:Lives are transformed one decision and one conversation at a time. You can't always see the difference you're making.Keep getting up and doing the little things. They make a difference.Sometimes you can only see one step ahead.Thanks to Sue Saller, host of the Small Steps Big Wins podcast. You can tune into her show wherever you listen to podcasts.Hope this quick thought helps you lighten up on yourself as you go about the daily good you do! You're doing bigger things than you know. Hit up the Love Your Story podcast website - www.loveyourstorypodcast.com and leave me a voicemail. There is a graphic of a little microphone at the bottom of the home page and you can click that and leave a message. Pretty cool I want to know what you think of these episodes. Have a great week living your life with intention, and recognizing that small steps lead to big wins.

Episode 264: How to Tell Your Story - Interview Amanda EdgarWelcome to the LYS Podcast! Every person I interview on this show has a story. They share those stories with us - the wins, the losses, the heartbreak and the learning. Man! There are some great stories on this podcast. As I've spoken with people - in general - about their stories, often people say, “I don't have a story. I just have a regular old life. Nothing to hear here.” My guest today is Amanda Edgar. After a life in academia she decided to leave the university and founded Page and Podium Press, a publishing company that helps people share their stories and create world-changing books. Tune in as I talk with Amanda about finding and sharing your stories.Bio:Amanda Edgar is an award winning author, ghostwriter, book coach and founder of Page and Podium Press. She is the co-author of the forthcoming Summer of 2020: George Floyd and the Resurgence of the Black Lives Matter Movement. She has been invited to speak at organizations such as FedEx and the US Department of State where she shares philosophy on issues of identity, and socially conscious storytelling.Tune into the audio program to hear us talk about questions like:Tell me your story - the juicy bits - and how did you come to be a story expertWhat if someone wants to write their memoir - why should they? how do they start?How do we use our personal stories to empower others?I'm told that you like to talk about the science of story telling and how we can make our stories land every time. Tell me about that.Let's talk about vulnerability - some of the most powerful stories are those that we are the most afraid to share…how vulnerable is too vulnerable? Where is that line?When you help someone write a book about themselves how do you generally organize it - is it stories by theme, or chronologically, what does that look like?I know you primarily work with leaders who want to share and publish their stories to support their teams and career, but what advice do you have for regular folks who are considering writing their personal stories?How can someone find you if they want to work with you?How to contact Amanda:www.pageandpodium.com/checklistwww.pageandpodium.comWRAP UP:I've been working on my father's life history. He's still alive so I can ask him lots of questions, which is huge, but it's no small task trying to put a life down on the page. I've also seen life history companies that send out a question to their clients and their clients write about it and then they compile the stories into a history, one story at a time. I've found as I've studied story that we use stories - the function of stories is varied - we use them to show that we are part of a group - like someone telling a story about how they rode a certain mountain bike trail to illustrate their prowess in biking. We use stories to warn - telling a story of narrowly escaping a tight situation in a dark park is a warning for others not to walk in dark parks alone. We share stories to teach, for example sharing a personal story about how you learned a lesson - what did you learn from your divorce, let's say. I could go on. But as you consider your stories - sharing them and organizing them, recording them or publishing them, let me assure you that YOU do have a story. Your story is not any more regular than anyone else - we all have a heroes journey.We'll see you in two weeks for our Quick Chat episode. Please share this episode with someone who is thinking about writing or sharing their story and hope on

Episode 263: Quick Chat - Making Something Beautiful from the Broken and Discarded Stuff of LifeWelcome to the Love Your Story Podcast. Today we are starting off the new Quick Chat series - this is the first one. Let me know what you think of it. It's one inspirational idea in 15 minutes or less. I've always loved thrift shopping. I think it started because I've carefully budgeting has been important to me and I love a bargain. I have no serious problem with sharing clothes that have been warn by someone else - just wash them first. I've found wonderful treasures, unexpected booty, every summer at yard sales. Every year I find the woman who is retiring all her craft supplies and I buy everything from ribbon, to tiny brads, to unopened packages of name-brand card stock, to perfectly cellophane wrapped embellishments that would be a perfect addition to my card making supplies - my art is making hand-made cards. I take the discarded supplies and make beautiful hand-made cards that I send all over the country, sell, or trade. I dare say that half the holiday accouterment for my home has also been purchased from women who set up tables in their yards to find new homes for the things they were tired of and make a buck doing it. This type of sharing, of recycling, feels fun and woven with hope that you'll find the perfect treasures for pennies on the dollar. In this way we use and reuse - enjoy an item while it is with us and then set it free to continue it's life in a fresh new space with someone else who will love the novelty of seeing it anew. The discarded finding new life through new eyes.My first dog was an black, curly, eight pound miniature poodle. My ex-husband's sister had somehow ended up with brother and a sister puppies, and the little miss had been pushed around by her brother, who was slightly larger, as well as the four little boys in that family that thrived on teasing and rough housing. Molly-dog wasn't doing well. On a weekend when MY boys were with their dad I got the phone call.“Can we bring home a dog? It's really nice and little and I promise we'll take care of it. Just for a few days?”I told them absolutely not. I wasn't going to deal with puppy puddles and shedding in my house. Never. They continued their plight: “She doesn't shed, she's been potty trained, she comes with her own kennel, dog dish, and she's had all her shots.” “Please mom! Just for a couple days while Tina and Doug are in town?” I allowed with the agreement that she'd stay in the garage at nights and that she could only stay for two days. That darling, bullied little dog never left, and never spent one night in the garage. From the day she entered the front door, until she died years later, she rarely, if ever left my side. She was always afraid of other dogs, and people. But, I was her person. And what an honor that was. The something beautiful that came from this bullied puppy, failing to thrive in her current home, was a love of my life. We made a beautiful life together, and as is often the case with dogs, we think we are giving them a home, but they become the home for our hearts. Something very beautiful came from the broken.My own life isn't so different from these spaces of working with the broken and discarded to create something better, even infinitely more precious. After three marriages and three divorces, broken is a word I understand. Broken heart. Broken home. Broken dreams. These are words we hear all the time but each one of them is loaded with heavy burdens and crippling, dark days. I think it's fair to say we all know the word ‘broken,' for life is always full of unexpected challenges, and everyone will have dark-nights of the soul. But here's what I found…. years later and with focus and effort I built something better on the ashes of those...

Episode 262: Lost on the Slopes - Lessons Beyond the Mountain: Interview Nick ShawWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. Today's show takes us into the story of the death of a 9-year-old boy after a ski accident at Big Sky in Montana. The tragedy, as you would expect, brought his parent's to their knees, on a path none of us want to walk. But Nick Shaw - today's guest - sought meaning as the life-line to hold to as he moved forward, and part of his healing process involved putting it down in writing, sharing the lessons he learned from his son. Stay tuned as he shares his story and as we discuss his book: My Teacher, My Son: Lessons on Life, Loss and Love.Nick Shaw, William's father, an accomplished executive coach, and the author of My Teacher, My Son, joins us today to share his story and the things he's learned along the way.Nick, welcome to the show.I wanted to read a quick review of your book:Kelly McGonigal, PhD, Research Psychologist at Stanford University writes:“It seems impossible that a book about unimaginable grief could offer so much hope, yet that is the gift of My Teach, My Son. With breath taking honesty, Nick Shaw shows how love, joy and continued connection co-exist with loss, change and challenge. The courage of Nick's self-reflection empowers each of us to find a way forward. A truly heart empowering read.”Very high praise.Tune into the audio program to hear answers to the following discussion questions:I know your story - I finished your book last week - but of course none of the listeners know who you are yet, so can we please start with your story? Tell us about your family and about that day.In dealing with this devastating loss, you chose to look for lessons. What have been the greatest lessons you have learned?In your book you say:“I took a six-month leave of absence from work to bewith Susie and Kai and to try to make sense of everything. This pause gaveme the time and space to reflect and ask, “Is this the way I want to go onliving my life?” While the answer is important, I found that taking the timeto ask the question is more important.” TELL ME ABOUT THIS. I LOVE THE QUESTION.As your healing progresses and a year later you and Susan have your third son, you say, In another section of the book,“ I had to be able to hold both my despair and my happiness at the same time. I had to accept that I could be happy and sad at the same time. I could revel in the delight of holding mynewborn son and at the same time be devastated by the loss of my oldest son. I could delight in sharing new and exciting experiences with Kai and at the same time be shattered by the fact that I will never be able to share those same experiences with William. I had to stop letting one feeling diminish the other; I made room for both feelings to coexist.I feel like this is a healthy mindset that allows room for the complexity of the emotional journey. Talk to us about this idea... When we are going through something traumatic, how do we not let the emotion and trauma just take over? How do we maintain our ability to choose mindset?To connect with Nick or get a copy of his book:www.meetnickshaw.comLinkedIn: Nick Shaw

Episode 261: The Best of 2023Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast!As 2023 comes to a close it's time for the annual “Best Of” episode - This is where we look back at which episodes of the Love Your Story podcast were the favorites of the listeners. Which ones did you guys like best?Tune in for the Top 5 Episodes, a clip from each, and if you've missed one of these favs - go back and listen to get all the goods. Coming right up…. the years top 5 favorites…Welcome to the top 5 Love Your Story Podcast episodes of 2023. Let's start with #5.#5 falls to one of our latest episodes. It's called “Voices of Healing” it's episode #252. It's a compilation episode where I pulled in clips from lots of past interviews so we heard from Todd Sylvester, Amanda Grow, Dianne Butterfield, Trevor Lay….and others about their healing journeys. I think this episode was so powerful because we learn from one another, and when we pull in real life healing stories from so many different people, with different experiences, as well as professionals, well…there's a lot to learn and something for everyone. We all have things to heal from, so we all want to understand this path better. Here's a clip….Tune in to hear the clip...If you want to hear all the stories from this favorite, go back to episode 252, this one launched on Aug. 23 of this year, and take a listen to the whole show.Ok. Here we are at #4 - the number 4 favorite episode of 2023 was episode 239: my interview with Chris Hawker. This episode was titled: Tools to Magnify our Worthiness. I loved my chat with Chris because he is a man that has been in the leadership of Next Level Trainings - which was where I did a great deal of my work in moving my life forward - learning to reframe my stories. Chris came on the podcast and was honest and vulnerable about his own struggle with feelings of unworthiness. We talked about how these stories of unworthiness happen, how he navigated his, and then we get to hear some of his wonderful suggestion for reframing those erroneous and destructive feelings. I think this one is a favorite because working through any feelings of unworthiness is an important part of really becoming YOU. Here's a clip:Tune in to hear the clip...to hear the rest of his story about his road to truly embracing his real self worth… - again, it's episode 239 and it aired on February 22 of this year.Now on to #3 top fav for 2023. It's none other than What Kindness Can Do with Peter Mutabazi in episode 242.Peter Mutabazi grew up in Uganda. In this episode we hear his whole story - the brave escape from an abusive father at 10 years old, his subsequent life as a child living on the streets struggling daily to stay alive, and the fortuitous meeting of a man who would change Peter's life, and in so doing change the lives his siblings, their children, and all the children Peter now helps as a foster parent. This was part 1 of a two part series that was just incredible. One of my favorite interviews because he story is shocking, incredible, and how often do you get to speak with someone who was there to see the Tutsi and Hutu massacre in Rwanda - he talks about that in the second episode in this series, What Hate Can Do. The whole thing was incredible. Here is the beginning of his story.Tune in to hear the clip...Again, to listen to the whole episode and the next episode -it's a 2 part series, for his whole incredible story. He's amazing.Now for the #2 favorite of the year….. Episode 244 - Tips on Connecting with Your Man. My interview with Laura Doyle. I found it super...

Episode 260: The Key to Upleveling - Relax Interview Cortney McDermottWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. It's December and we are winding down 2023 with two of the best episodes of the year. In a couple week's we'll have the Best of 2023 episode, which looks at download numbers for all the episodes throughout the year to find out what the favorites have been - I always love that episode. It gives me lots of great info. but it also gives the listeners a quick peak at 5 excellent episodes with a small quip from each, so if you missed any of them you can go back and listen……..AND our final interview of the year is today with Cortney McDermott.I'll tell you why I think this is going to be one of the best episodes of the year. On Love Your Story we are all about living into our best lives. We are all about intention and responsibility. We are all about gaining a greater understanding of universal laws and how they work so we can work with more faith, allowance, and intention to create what we want, well…I've been in this place lately where I've been trying to figure out how quantum physics works with the power of our own minds, how to manifest in bigger ways, how to get rid of mental corrals and think beyond what I'm used to….and then guess what shows up? This woman - Corney McDermott and her book “Give Yourself Permission.”I admit, as I read the book I really dreaded trying to write up my notes for the interview because there are tooooooo many things I want to talk about. Soooo much I'd love to get Cortney's perspetive on…so it's going to be a value packed show.Cortney McDermott is an award-winning author, she is a TedX speaker, and a mind-body expert who helps the world's leading organizations and creatives to disrupt old patterns of behavior, grow healthy businesses and apply the physiology and psychology needed for success. She has been featured in Inc. Women's Health, Success, The Huffington Post, FOX news and lot of other mainstream business and life style media. She was an executive at Vanity Fair Corporation….and I could go on, but I just want to talk with her, So….Cortney…. Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.First, who are you? What's your story….let me get more specific…..in your introduction you say that years ago you started having experiences you couldn't explain, like losing a lot of weight overnight..and another time you were transported out of the constraints of time and space.Whaaattt? 1. Who are you and why did these things happen, and what were they like?Listen to the audio program to hear Cortney's story and some in depth conversation on how we can connect with a greater flow of life by relaxing, listening, following inspiration, and doing with joy.We talk about intrinsic motivation vs. hard pushing and I talk with her about my lack of understanding about how we can make things happen by relaxing. What does it look like when you are a type A personality and the best flow of life lies in relaxing, surrendering?How to reach Cortney:CortneyMcDermott.comBook: Give Yourself PermissionTune in next week for our season closing episode - The Best of 2023 - and see what all the listener favorites were. See you in two weeks.

Episode 259: Quit Proof - Interview with Jenn DrummondWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. We are closing in on winter, and I always like to pull in a guest with some wintery story - a professional skier or a mountaineer - during these chilly months. We'll today's guest fills that bill nicely. Get ready to be inspired by my guest Jenn Drummond. She is a mountaineer who has conquered the world's seven second summits and recently became a world record holder. But her journey goes far beyond mountaineering. As you'll see, her story, of being in a horrific car accident that brought her inches from death, is a testament to resilience, motivation and the exhilaration of achievement. Her book, QuitProof: the 7 Necessities for Becoming Resilient, will be released in January.Jenn, Welcome to the LYS podcast. Let's start with your story.Join the audio conversation to hear about her summiting the 7 second tallest summits in the world. How to be resilient and how to intentionally build our life. Come listen as she shares her story of a car accident that shifted her world.How to get a hold of Jenn:Website: https://jenndrummond.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenn-drummond/Twitter: https://twitter.com/drummond_jennInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejenndrummond/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenndrummondResilience has been a strong theme this year. It's been on my mind because I've been watching people struggle, a lot of the upcoming generation struggle with mental health, in particular, and the ability to be resilient, or to...

Episode 258: Understanding Your Emotions for Emotional Resilience: Mastering Anger - Part 5Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. This is the last of the 5-Part Series on Creating Emotional Resilience.This series was created from a class I took, you've heard about it in all the other episodes - in it we practiced different skills like healthy thinking patterns, managing stress, overcoming anger….all the good stuff. Take from it what resonates with you, that you may navigate your life with a bit more resilience. One step at a time. These are muscles we are trying to develop. Emotional resilience muscles.Today's episode is about one of our strongest emotions. Anger.It's a real emotion that we don't want to deny, but that we need to learn to navigate and choose thoughts and actions that create more peace in us rather than feed the anger beast. Stay tuned.As I am writing this episode we just completed the April 2023 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As I sat and listened to the prophets and leaders I was surprised at how many talks were about not being contentious. Even the prophet himself focused his primary message on the topic of being peacemakers. In 3 Nephi 11:29-30 the Savior taught the Nephites: “There shall be no disputations among you…for verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another behold this is NOT my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.”Anger is something we all feel. It's an emotion that rears it's head when underneath we really feel resentful, disappointed, ashamed, hopeless, guilty, our expectations are unmet, we are embarrassed, frustrated, anxious, threatened, rejected, hurt, offended, heartbroken…there are a lot of underlying emotions and situations that trigger anger. Emotional resilience means that we are able to more effectively understand our emotions and manage them. This is a life-time of work, but a very important part of our work. This is part of living with awareness and moving toward higher ways of being.Let's consider a couple ideas.1. Anger comes from lots of various emotions, as I've just mentioned. Understanding that can help us get to the bottom of an angry situation so we can deescalate it and understand ourselves better. What I mean by this is that when you feel yourself getting angry, stop and consider what's causing the anger. Are your feelings hurt? Are you disappointed? Are you embarrassed? Once we understand what has us so upset we can navigate the situation better - sometimes even just understanding that can help you better communicate with the person you are angry with. For instance, let's say you've asked your husband to do something numerous times and he doesn't get around to doing it. You can spiral in the “Why doesn't he listen to me? Why can't he help? Why can't he see the wisdom in doing it this way?” etc. etc. or you can identify that perhaps you're feeling disrespected, resentful, unappreciated, hurt. With this knowledge you can then open a conversation, “When I ask you to help rake the leaves up over and over and it doesn't get done, I feel unheard, disrespected, hurt.” This approach shares a vulnerable insight into your feelings that focuses on you and doesn't focus on making accusations toward him At the very least this opens space for communication. People talking things out and striving to understand another's position on something is a tool to choosing peace and peacemaking over anger and...

Episode 257: Stronger Together - Building Emotional Resilience Through Healthy Relationships - Part 4Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.Have you ever been in a tight spot where a strong family relationship or a great friendship provided you a space for staying sane or healing? Let me rattle off a few that come to mind quickly for me:Once I was talking with my therapist during my marriage to an emotionally abusive man. I was explaining how I had left and gone to my parents for a weekend. I remember her response because she praised me for intuitively going to a mentally safe space when things got hard for me. Going to a space where there were supporting relationshipsI've noticed a comparison to the times that was single and had to deal with a hard day, a deep frustration with a real estate client, or a betrayal from a friend, vs. being married to a really good man whom I can vent with and go to for a place to talk and and shoulder to lean it. It's a big difference.I love that I have healthy relationships with my siblings. We laugh together and often play together, and at the very base of those relationships is the feeling that I have a strong base. I have roots. I'm not alone. Knowing that strengthens me.As we develop loving relationships with others, our physical, emotional and spiritual health is strengthened. Family and friends provide love, support, daily sounding boards, socialization, people we learn from and teach, people we laugh with. We need each other. The adversary wants to isolate us from others. He wants to deprive us of the blessings that come from healthy relationships. This episode is Part 4 of a 5-part series on Emotional Resilience. This started from an emotional resilience course I took with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I wanted to share some of my biggest take-aways from the 188 page 10 week course. I hope these episodes - this series, will support you in your own quest for choosing emotional resilience skills. Today's episode is entitled: Stronger together: building resilience through healthy relationships. Stay tuned and let's talk about this simple but super important foundation for emotional resilience.People were not made to rock things solo. We are social creatures. We all understand this because we are drawn to relationship. We want to find love. We seek after community and friendship. Babies who are not held and loved wither away and die. During Covid when we were kept from one another we saw serious mental issues surface across the board. I know for me, when I was single and my kids would leave for the weekend with their dad, I would sometimes be alone for an entire weekend, by the time Sunday got there I could feel the crazy of being alone. It's also why solitary confinement is considered the ultimate punishment in the penal system. We need each other. Today's emotional resilience episode is all about the reminder of the importance of building healthy relationships. Perhaps this simple concept is the basis, the most basic of creating healthy living.Today's show will go over 8 main points of creating healthy relationships. Things you probably intuitively know, but it's always good to get a reminder. We'll throw in a few recommendations and skills as well.#1Creating relationships means BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS. This means you must take initiative and invest in the relationship. What does initiative look like? Inviting someone to meet for lunch or to come over for dinner, or to ride bikes or meet for an evening out. Reaching out to talk, go on a walk, share ideas. IInvesting in a person looks like remembering special days for them, checking on them, sharing life experiences, talking, playing. Basically creating space for them in your life and initiating...

Episode 256: From Chaos to Calm: Managing Stress and Anxiety for Emotional Resilience - Part 3Welcome to Part 3 in our 5-part Emotional Resilience Series of 2023. I hope you've listened to Part 1 & 2. If not, here's a little background: I joined an emotional resilience group a few years back. There was a physical therapist, a composer, a nurse, a home economics teacher and me, a Realtor. We did not know each other before hand, and we were doing this course on-line because it was during Covid. This group was put together by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in an effort to support people in learning emotional resilience.The class focused on learning and practicing spiritual and practical skills to better care for the body, mind, emotions and relationships, and everyone took different things from the sessions, because we're all at different places on the path with what we needed.This was a 188 page 10 week course that I've pulled from and I hope these will support you in your own quest for choosing emotional resilience skills you can work on to better support your emotional work. TODAY I HAVE included some clips from a mental health discussion I had with KATHERINE REYNOLDS, A Marriage and family therapist who has shown up in all our episodes so far; and parts of a discussion I had with Brigham Haines, host of the Consider Everything podcast, a podcast about mental health….Take from this episode what resonates with you, that you may navigate your life with a bit more resilience. One step at a time.This episode - Part 3 - is all about Managing Stress and Anxiety for Emotional Resilience. Stay tuned for stories and insights from professionals.Let's put a few things out on the table. The first is a reasonable look at stress. Stress is a buzz word in our culture. We're going so fast, we're stressed out. Some see it as a badge of honor, an indicator that they are movin' and shakin. But for some it's gone off the charts and shifted into a debilitating anxiety.Let's dissect this a bit. Stress, in an of itself, is a normal part of life. It is how the brain and the body respond to any demand - a problem to be solved at work, an important decision you need to make - the right amount of stress helps you focus reach goals, protect yourself. Stress - in the right doses, can be an important part of functioning well. When does it get to be too much? Well, when stress becomes uncontrolled worry, or perfectionism, or a predominant fear that thIngs won't go well, that you won't be good enough to solve that problem at work, it can cause anxiety. Anxiety, or a feeling of excessive worry or nervousness can cause serious barriers for us. It doesn't fade when the situation is taken care of. It builds. I asked Kathryn Reynolds about her thoughts on stress and anxiety and she gave some definitions and ideas. Here are her thoughts:Tune in to hear Kathryn's thoughts.So, comparison can be stressor. Let's look at perfectionism, because this thought error is a big contributor to anxiety as well, and ties into comparison. Perfectionsim is the belief that if we are not perfect in everything, we are a failure and not good enough. Perfectionism is not a sign that you do things well, it is an inner belief that if you don't do things perfectly that you are unacceptable. Obviously, since no one does things perfectly, this is a terrible waste of time. Tune into the podcast to hear what Brigham Haines has to say on this subject.Kathryn confesses to being a recovering perfectionist and she has some great insights on how it isolates us through false connection. Here's our conversation:The podcast has all the clips from our visiting...

Episode 255: Developing Healthy Thinking Patterns for Emotional Resilience - Part 2Marcus Aurelius said, “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength.” Today's episode is #2 in a 5-part series of creating emotional resilience.Today's episode is titled: "Empowering Your Mind: Developing Healthy Thinking Patterns for Emotional Resilience”A couple years ago I joined an emotional resilience group a few years back. The class focused on learning and practicing spiritual and practical skills to better care for the body, mind, emotions and relationships. Pretty important stuff. I want to share some of my take-aways and I'll bring some experts in to comment as well.As I mentioned, this is the second in a 5-part series on emotional resilience. I hope these episodes will support you in your own quest for choosing emotional resilience skills - because these are skills we all need . Stay tuned for this important step in emotional resilience - developing healthy thinking patterns. I want you to find one ah-ha today that will serve you.My first marriage was in 1995, my second was 2007 and my third was in 2011. All three ended in divorce. When I finally came to love and accept my own personal story and the disappointment I felt, the failure I felt, the embarrassment I felt, the progress was all about learning to reframe the negative aspects of my story that I was focusing on. IT WAS ALL ABOUT INTERPRETATION AND MINDSET. It wasn't until I learned how to step out of victim mode and focus on what I had gained from my experiences, like understanding what it felt like to feel unloved, to be cheated on, to be abandoned, to be emotionally abused; I gained empathy for women in abusive situations, I gained empathy for being a single mom, for lonely people, for times of brokenness, for needing forgiveness; for the struggle to forgive. I gained strength as I survived, and kept trying. Instead of my perceived stack of failures - the overall crap in the relationships and the ultimate dissolution of the marriages, I could find peace in my own messy journey by focusing on the things I'd learned and understood now that I did not before. It IS ALL ABOUT WHERE WE PUT THE FOCUS - IN OTHER WORDS - MINDSET. My point is, our thoughts are everything. They create our reality. They make all the difference in how we see ourselves and how we interpret our world. How we talk about ourselves and how we think about things impacts how we feel because thoughts influence emotions. I've brought Kathryn Reynolds back for this episode. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist. We met her in Part 1. She practices solution-focused therapy and is passionate about helping women with anxiety or depression regain their sense of identity, expression, and purpose. Here is a clip of our conversation on Healthy Thinking Patterns:Tune into the podcast to listen to Dr. Reynolds.In Proverbs 23:7 it says, “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he…”I know that none of these ideas are new - but they are vitally important to understand and to work on. I'd like each of you listening to take stock of your own thoughts about your own life right now. What stories are you creating? Are they negative? Are they positive? The ones that are negative - how can you hop over the fence and reframe them?Let's peak into an example:I was speaking to a friend the other day and she shared a story with me that I thought really captured the clear concept of how the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves really define us. So it's important to look at what we are thinking.Hear Jackie on the podcast...As we discuss healthy thinking patterns we need to first accept this important piece of the puzzle, that knowing how much power our thoughts have over our emotions and how much power our...

Episode 254: Building Emotional Resilience by Understanding Who You Are and Embracing Your Strength: Part 1In Life, the Truth, and Being Free, Steve Maraboli says, “Life doesn't get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”In this crazy world we live in we come up against things people in no other time have had to deal with. Our mental and emotional resources are taxed with mental illness, with severe deviations like all the confusion around gender, like the high suicide rates, like access to all sorts of depravity with the click of a button and the knowledge of all the terrors taking place across the world. We have experienced the trials of being secluded during a pandemic, and that negative voice in our heads telling us we are worthless seems to be at shouting level. Emotional Resilience is something we need like never before. I really like what Steve said, though life doesn't get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient, but like any skill, that often takes intentional work on our part - so let's fight for our lives and our peace of mind. Let's learn and practice resilience. Stay tuned for Part 1 of this 5-part emotional resilience series: Understanding who you are and embracing your strength.I joined an emotional resilience group a few years back. There was a physical therapist, a composer, a nurse, a home economics teacher and me, a Realtor. We did not know each other before hand, and we were doing this course on-line because it was during Covid. This group was put together by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in an effort to support people in learning emotional resilience during a hard time, but it turns out, of course, that emotional resilience isn't something just for Covid sequestered people, it is a set of skills we all need in order to navigate life successfully and not end up shattered on the emotional rocks at the bottom of life's cliffs.The class focused on learning and practicing spiritual and practical skills to better care for the body, mind, emotions and relationships. We did the class as a council, sharing personal experiences across our Zoom windows. We made phone calls to support each other outside of class, and we practiced different skills like healthy thinking patterns, managing stress, overcoming anger….all the good stuff. Everyone took different things from the sessions, because we're all at different places on the path - we need different things. And, like that class, everyone will get something different from this series as well.As we close out 2023 I have put together 5 episodes that glean some of my biggest take-aways from this 188 page 10 week course. I hope these will support you in your own quest for choosing emotional resilience skills. I'll share stories, use content I've pulled from the manual, and I have experts on each of these episodes to share some perspectives beyond my own. Take from it what resonates with you, that you may navigate your life with a bit more resilience. One step at a time.What is emotional resilience? As a child I pictured my future with all the good things. I pictured happy relationships, a nice home, a successful career, lots of friends. As children we don't know or understand how deeply difficult life will be in the future. We don't picture the divorce, or the depression, the anxiety, the cancer diagnosis, the death of someone we love, the sexual assault, the disloyalty of a friend. We don't picture the emotional gauntlet that we will be forced to navigate because of the nature of being in the world. Emotional resilience is the ability to adapt to emotional challenges with courage and faith, helping yourself, helping others, and reaching out for additional help when needed. We throw around the words “Emotional Resilience” every where - it's a catch phrase, but let me just repeat that definition:...

Episode 253: Coding the Subconscious for Success - Interview Riya SokolWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. We are inspired by people who help us see the world in fresh ways. We often get stuck in our stories and perspectives, and those stories, many times, limit us. Further more, we don't often stop to question those stories and perspectives. Let's take the Corona Virus for example. How many people stopped to look for the positive things that came from our time of seclusion, fear, change and sickness?My guest today, Riya Sokol, is an internationally acclaimed artist, speaker and viral content creator. She gained widespread recognition for her video poem, “Thank You, Coronavirus.” I'll play a bit of it for you a bit later in the show. The poem has been translated into dozens of languages and received awards at several international festivals.Today we're going to talk about abundance mindset, divorce mindset, gratitude mindset. She's growing in popularity due to her unique and life-changing approach, so stay tuned to hear our discussion.Riya, usually we start out with your full story and then talk about the things you've learned from it, but as I've gone through your areas of expertise, what I want to do is address three topics, and as we get to each topic you can tell us your story about how you came to understand the things you're teaching us. First - let's talk about the subconcious mind: You have been doing research and experiments on the subconscious mind and then helping people realize the potential of our subconscious and how understanding and using it helps us live a deeper life. Let's start here:First, tell us your story about how you got involved in this type of research and why you're qualified to talk about it?Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.Second: Let's talk about abundance mindset. You have been known to say that we each sit in a position of abundance despite our current situation, even if it doesn't seem abundant. You say, lack only exists if you decide it does.What is your experience in how you learned this, how you use this?What do we need to know about how to shift into this mind set?Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.Third, You, like me, have gone through a divorce. In that situation you always have a chance to choose to separate in a friendly or unfriendly way. That is a very emotional space to navigate. You and your husband chose to “extend your family rather than break it.” Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.Fourth, You started performing at the age of 6 - and as I understand it, that was a source of anxiety for you. This is a big deal - anxiety, depression, panic attacks. We'd love to hear your insights on these spaced.Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.To contact Riya:Poem performance:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgm9E_cmvWABio: https://kitcaster.com/riya-sokol/Instagram:

Episode 252: Voices of Healing -Personal Stories of Life on the Healing Journey.Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.We all die. We all pay taxes. Another thing we all have in common on this crazy ride called life is that we all need to heal. Why? Because in this rough and tumble life we all get hurt. We all have to heal from things mild to wild, the broken heart, the deep disappointments, the full-out traumas. As I've looked over the past episodes of the Love Your Story podcast, no matter the episode, over 90% of them involve discussion about the path of healing. Whether the stories shared are about a miscarriage, an injury, a rape, a divorce, an eating disorder, the death of a loved one, etc. the thing they all have in common is that healing is part of the process if forward progression is to be made.As is obvious by the name of the show, we are all about coming to love our own personal life story. Often times the thing that stands between us and a full acceptance and love of our story are the broken times, the shameful times, the things we see as “failures,” the things we need to heal from.I'm so glad you've joined me today for some voices of healing as past guests share what this looked like for them. Let's shine a light on the healing journey and see what we can learn. We all have things to heal from.As we start out this episode I want to start on a humble note. The things we heal from are deeply personal and I'm not suggesting that I know how everyone should heal - just do this or that and all will be well. If I've learned anything from listening to people's stories, it's that healing is different for everyone, it's deeply personal. So what I share today are quips from other's journeys and a few personal ideas about things that seem to consistently work for people. See what hits home for you. If you can take one thing that will shine a light forward on your healing journey or someone you love's healing journey - then we are getting it right.My first real heart break was in high school. My first love was my high school boyfriend. We shared a locker, we snuck out of our windows to be together. We both played percussion so we got up early every morning before school and practiced and stayed late after. Of course we spent every minute we could, together. We dated for years. One summer we had a fake wedding ceremony next to a stream up the canyon. We had a teddy bear that I named after him and it symbolized our future kids. I have boxes of letters and notes from him. I know, to say it out loud is to shine a light on the beautiful immaturity, and at the same time I think it also shines the light on the depth a young, unharmed heart can go to. ….Until one Friday night I found him drunk, making out with the girl who was my “best friend” at a party. We had a couple of these bouts before I reached 19 years-old, and finally my heart was too broken to ever be put back together by him again. I don't have a great healing story to tell you, unless you count 25 years later when I finally had to heal from a life of heartbreaks, I had to reframe, I had to let go, I had to come to love my messy, broken story with all the deep pains and disappointments. All the betrayals, all the bad choices, all the disillusionment. Three marriages, three divorces, a handful of serious boyfriends that I hadn't chosen to stay with. There was a lot of relationship healing for me. At any given time we can be on the path to healing. It's not just something that we do once and everything is okay. Every time you get a cut or a broken bone you have to heal all over again. Of course it's the same mentally, emotionally, psychologically - we need to heal whenever we experience hurt. So, we are off and on the path continually.As I've gone back and listened to the healing stories of past guests, I mentioned that it really struck home how complex healing is. It's not the exact same...

Episode 251: How to Overcome Money Block Stories: Insights from Dr. Amanda the Money Healer When I was growing up we didn't have a lot of money. My dad was a teacher and we grew up growing our own food in the garden, mom made homemade bread, which now is very cool, but back then it just meant you were poor. My parents were frugal because they had to be and I gained a money mindset of lack. Over the years I've spent a lot of time working to shift that - focusing on gratitude and abundance. I'm so grateful for the abundance in my life - for which I have a great deal, but I also know I still have money fears, that I have to focus on generosity at times, that I have a tendency to save money rather than invest it. We all have our perceptions and comfort levels with money. So today I have Dr. Amanda - the Money Healer on the show. Stay tuned and let's all see if we can take one more step on our money mindset ladder. What is money mindset? Your money mindset defines how you think about money and influences how you save, how you spend, and how you manage your debt. It's your core beliefs about money and your attitude towards it. This includes: What you think you can and cannot do with money. So this is a topic for everyone because we all use it. Mindset and money have been hot topics, because everyone wants more money and everything in our lives is about what's going on in our heads - the stories we are telling ourselves. Dr. Amanda Barrientez - known as "The Money Healer" - is the founder of NFA - No Fooling Around - Money. She's a bestselling author, an international speaker, the host of The Woman Entrepreneur Podcast, and the NFA Money YouTube Channel. She's been featured on over 150 podcasts, sharing tips on how to up-level your money mindset to manifest easier money in your life and business. Today we're going to hear her story of going from food stamps to building a 6-figure business. And once she got that figured out she decided to teach people how to transform their relationship to money so they can attract abundance from their Zone of Manifestation™. Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast Dr. Amanda. Join the audio program to hear her story. We talk about the biggest money blocks for people. Her NFA Money Formula Her techniques with Affirmantras, and a lot more. Buddha said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” As I researched money mindset I found quotes from everyone from Suze Orman, Benjamin Franklin, Brigham Young, Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, Warren Buffet: They all said, it's not how much money you make, money is a tool, it's not where you set your heart but getting money allows you to free up time in order to pursue the things you want - money doesn't bring happiness, but it gives you time to create your own. They stressed the importance of not spending beyond your means, the importance of letting it work for you. In all the wisdom from these money minds we come back to the fact that money isn't happiness it's a tool. But as I've discussed, a lack mindset sometimes stops you and keeps you small. I'd like to end today's discussion with these ideas - Mindset, one of abundance and gratitude has been proven to create such better living by opening to the flow of all good things. Just like we heard about today. I'd also like to tip my hat to the wisdom of being a wise money manager. If you don't care for your money in the right ways, it won't matter how much comes to you, it will also flow right out again. How many lottery winners have to prove that? There is a balance of responsibility and a generous flow I think we need to find in our peaceful heart of hearts. We are all in different places of getting to this peaceful relationship with money. Dr. Amanda has a proven 3-step formula to help you begin...

Episode: 250 The Kindness Effect: One Woman's Journey to Heal through Compassion - Interview Megan SneddenWelcome to the Love Your Story PodcastWhen Megan lost her father in a plane crash and her brother in a car accident, her heart and life plummeted. Mental health issues brought her to rock bottom, but sitting at the bottom and looking up, she choose to find happiness despite her despair. On today's show she tells us her story and introduces us to The Kind Effect, a movement she started that includes a 3-day Random Acts of Kindness Challenge. Stay tuned for her take on why “practicing random acts of kindness is a good way for people to introduce more regular joy into their lives and their stories…. I think she's got some good stories to share.Megan Sneeden is the founder of af kindness movement the Kind Effect. She says, “The journey of advocating and sharing kindness hasn't been plain sailing, but kindness has taught me vital lessons.” Today Megan is here with us, and I'm looking forward to hearing her story, her rise from the dark spaces, and what has come sense. You know that we are fans of Random Acts of Kindness on the show, since it is the first of our 21-Challenges.Join the audio program to hear my interview with Megan. Some of our topics include:Her story- take us back to the path that led you to where you are - the death of your brother and your father…How did you first find your footing here as you were finding your way out of the dark?What have you created? What is the Kind Effect?What are some of your favorite RAK stories?What advice would you give people who are really hurting in their lives. When you are caught up in your own pain, it's hard to think of looking outside that….To contact Megan:Instagram @TheKindEffect or download her free guide The Changemaker's Action Plan. Past president and prophet of the LDS Church said, “Along your pathway of life, you will observe that you are not the only traveler. There are others who need your help. There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save.”I know how hard it is to try to think of others when you are in a state of pain, but often the way out of that pain is to turn your focus outward, away from the internal suffering and look to others, see what you can do to bring light, one small random act at a time, and before you know it there will be other feelings in your heart besides the heavy ones.Your challenge this week is to keep RAK forefront in your mind and heart…look for opportunities, make opportunities. Put kindness into the world because its a win/win. Lifting our sights, lifting our energy, lifting the world.Please share this episode with one person today as your first act of kindness and we'll see you in two weeks for the next fun episode of helping you create an intentional life story filled with all the good stuff.

Episode 249: Trusting Your Gut: How Intuition and Curiosity Can Shape Big Life Stories - Interview Taylor ProctorWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast peeoooopppplllleeee!A bit ago, Taylor Proctor, a spicy little red head and the host of “Creating with Confidence” — an internationally acclaimed podcast, was meditating, and the idea of being an 8-figure business owner came to her mind. Now….8-figures is a minimum of $10m, and she initially thought….ya, there's no way that is possible. But then she decided to explore what would happen if she leaned in curiosity instead of pulling away for the sake of reality. Stay tuned to hear her story because I LOVE the idea of leaning into curiosity. That idea comes up a lot when we talk about what's possible, about not judging, about knowing ourselves better….curiosity can take us to some new places!! Stick with us and let's see where curiosity took her…..Taylor Proctor is an intuitive business strategist and coach who uses her skills as a mentor to help high-performing business owners confidently create the life and business they love. As I mentioned in the intro, she's the host of Creating with Confidence — an internationally acclaimed podcast — and she loves to work with entrepreneurs to uncover their unique intuitive strengths while scaling and propelling their businesses through her proprietary IMOVE method. Tune into the audio program to hear our conversation and topics like:Let's talk about this idea of intuition - this seems to be a big part of your system and experience. What do you know and believe about intuition?I think, when we are talking about how to make our best life stories, that intuition is a really interesting piece of the puzzle. We haven't talked about this at all, but I think we should.Also, curiosity - let's talk about that. What does that look like for you? What has your experience been?What does IMOVE mean and how do you help people with it?“When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.” ― Kahlil GibránTo Contact Taylor:8 Crazy Actions to an 8-Figure Business Opportunity — Free Access: https://8crazythings.taylorproctor.com/8 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taylor.proctor.31/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingwithconfidence/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-proctor/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSv02tDGqO2_gyUbtMfVKNgWebsite: https://www.taylorproctor.com/Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creatingwithconfidenceQuotes on Intuition:“Intuition is the whisper of the soul.” - Your challenge this week is to tune into your intuition. What does it tell you? Alan Alda said, “At times you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.” As we close today's episode we've heard an important story of intuition at work. Whether you have a business or not, whether you reach out to Taylor or just receive inspiration from her story, I think we can all take away some encouragement about getting curious,...

Episode 248: Raising Great Humans - Parenting Hacks from the GalleryWelcome to the LYS podcast. I'm a mom of two fantastic boys. They're grown now, in their 20's and in some ways they are even harder now than they were when they were small. We never stop worrying about them, wanting the best for them. Watching them suffer with hard things is much harder than suffering ourselves. When they were growing up I always followed the Love and Logic parenting model because I wanted to teach them responsibility, how to make choices, how to deal with the consequences of their choices. I'm sure each of you parents have your own favorite parenting styles. I dare say most of us parent with intention. Today's episode gleans the fabulous parenting quips from past shows and puts them in one place. With this one episode you're going to get all sorts of parenting value bombs.So stay tuned for a little parenting pep-talk, ideas and inspiration.First - We have a Mothering Coach on hand today. In episode 229, Lara Johnson, talks to us about her work coaching mothers for reaching their full potential and being the best moms they can be. Let's jump right into some of her wisdom….Here's a link to her full episode. Tune into the audio program to listen to just her clip.https://player.captivate.fm/episode/43c93f12-52f6-4d12-aa88-0e66424ea09eWhat I hear Lara saying is that moms need to not sell themselves short. We need to take care of us. Honor our dreams and our potential. We are the main engine of our family eco-system, and that engine needs to be acknowledged and taken care of. You can listen to the whole episode and hear about how she sets up systems in the home to do that, Again, that's episode 229, but this is a great jumping off point for all of us - Taking care of you and your dreams is an important part of living a fulfilling life that keeps you healthy for your kids. I dare say it also sets an example for your kids of the importance of self-care and living your best life.Second - One of the things kids need is time and priority. In episode 203 - It's all about family - in my interview with Jason Martin, we talk about his book “This is Your Captain Speaking,” that he wrote for his family, so he could share bits of wisdom with his kids.Tune into the episode to hear the clip I chose from Martin's episode.C.S. Lewis agrees with him: "Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work." - C.S. LewisHere is Martin's entire interview:https://player.captivate.fm/episode/68b2f2e0-d7dd-412e-9ba3-f913d47ee43cNow, We've talked about talking care of us so we can be our best for our children, we've talked about making our kids/family our priority, and we've heard a bit about the importance of spending individual personal time with each child.What happens when they enter the teen years and communication gets a little harder?Third - On episode 236 and 237 I talk with Josh Brazier and Hollie Henderson, authors of Bang Head Here, about how to talk with troubled teens more effectively.Listen to this episode to hear the clip or go to their full episodes to hear all they have to share. They have part 1 & 2 - https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a1da3b55-15ab-4588-b48b-7e57cf594bf6https://player.captivate.fm/episode/90f2ee15-7be5-42b2-b018-577b79867dfcBuilding communication trust. Wow. That's a big one. The idea where you don't go into solving mode,

Episode 247: Embracing Your Journey: A Gratitude Coach's Guide to Loving Your Story - Interview Holly BertoneWho has ever heard of a gratitude coach? What a great idea. On today's show I am speaking with Holly Bertone, a gratitude coach, and we are going to be talking about how to unwrap resilience and build fortitude in our lives with the very lovely and important tool of gratitude. Stay tuned and let's see if she'll give us a little coaching.After all, as Tony Robbins says, “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”With us today is breast cancer survivor, Hashimoto's warrior, #1 Amazon bestselling author, and host of the Grateful Warrior Podcast, Holly Bertone. Holly spent 25 years rising through the ranks of consulting and federal government service before her failing health shattered her corporate dreams. Since then, she has leaned into her path of true purpose and fulfillment as a Gratitude and Mindset Coach by helping women view their cancer or autoimmune diagnosis as a gift so that they can unwrap their resilience to build fortitude with gratitude. Holly, Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.Tune into the audio program to hear us talk about things like:What is your story and who are you and what's the story that brought you into your wisdom?Have you come to love your story?I want to talk about How Gratitude Builds Fortitude During the Storms of Life. Tell me your thoughts on this…. What does gratitude coaching look like?Coach the me and the listeners for a minute - what is a basic technique we can practice to help us really embrace the power of gratitude.To connect with Holly:hjracer@gmail.comFortitude.Academy https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/podcast-landing-welcomeIG: @Holly.BertoneFB: Pinkfortitude1Deepak Chopra said, “Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.”Use it, people. Use gratitude to live with joy, wisdom and power. In the spirit of gratitude I want to deeply thank all who are taking a moment to scroll down on your app and hit the “leave a review” button. Thank you. And, if you haven't yet, I'd love to hear from you, we'll even share your review on the show. Here's one: Podcast Review: Title: Such a treat! Author: Claribelleee from the Philippines“Empowering, brilliant, and I learn so much!! Love this awesome show!”Thank you so much Claribelleee from the Philippines. I appreciate your time in cheering me on!!Your challenge for the week is to bring a larger dose of gratitude into your life. Where ever you are at on the gratitude scale - an every day event, or less, just move it up one level and start to open your being to all the beauty that surrounds and flows to you in your life.See you in two weeks. Please take 5 seconds and share this show with someone you love and want to see succeed.

Episode 246: Seeing Things Differently - Personal Stories of Shifting PerspectiveOne of the great life truths is that life is all about MINDSET. When you shift your focus the perspective changes, and when the perspective shifts your reality shifts. BOOM! Dropping truth.Once we accept this and learn about the power we have to reframe events and the stories we tell ourselves in order to support our learning and living, once we fully embrace the power of perspective and the flexibility of it, we become unstoppable.For example. With my personal story - I was married and divorced 3 different times. I can focus on the hurt, the betrayal, the struggle, the cynicism I gained from my experiences. Or I can reframe and look at what I learned, the great people I met because of the various experiences, the people who got to leave my life, the empathy and understanding of some really hard things that I gained. I can focus on the learning and growth, the empathy, the people, the places my adventures took me, or I can focus on the pain and all the messy bad stuff. That is my choice. So, reframing and changing perspective are really the same thing. Do you realize how big that is? It's everything. It's how you interpret the world. Stick with me….Today we're going to look at some perspective shifts about some of the most common things, and how those various shifts create a whole different world for you to live and thrive in. In Donald Miller's book Hero on a Mission, he talks about the importance of keeping the perspective of being an agent in your own life - being responsible for choosing the way you look at your story and taking action in your story. - Let's start with that. In episode 221 Jessica Burrell and I discuss the book and this idea of taking responsibility for doing the work in our lives. Keeping the perspective of our own power. Tune into the audio program to hear this clip. Or, you can find the whole episode here:https://loveyourstorypodcast.com/captivate-podcast/hero/Check in with yourself. Do you need to make the perspective shift into being the agent of action in your life? Are you taking responsibility for your own life? If not, this is a powerful shift in perspective. If you're already doing this, then excellent, let's move onto the next perspective idea.In episode 132 Rebecca Cookston and I discuss the book Deviate - the science of seeing things differently in order to get different results. This step is all about thinking outside the box in order to make life work for you. Rebecca is on the show because she implemented this deviate mindset in big form.Tune into the audio program to hear the clip, or find her whole episode here:https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3403d294-4172-4a85-bf5d-9e216106f778This book, this discussion with Rebecca, this idea that we can stop doing things the way they have always been done, that we can shift our mindset and look for new solutions was one of the most powerful ideas I've processed.In episode 160 Jo Marie Taylor was talking with me about her story of being a hostage in Iraq and how that experience shifter her perspective on the worthiness of all people. We've talked about shifting our perspective to take advantage of our power over our own life. Then we talked about thinking outside the box to find new perspectives to the same old things in order to see things differently and make them better. Now we're talking about shifting perspective about the people that we come in contract with on our journey and how that changes life completely.Tune into the audio program to hear this clip or find the entire episode here:

Episode 245: Forbes declares, "One of the Best Storytellers of the Year." Interview Max StosselDear Listener…welcome back to the Love Your Story podcast. Today I have a special treat for you….really. It's performance time… to welcome in the warmer weather and all good things we are getting a little Max Stossel. Max Stossel is an award-winning poet, artist and filmmaker named by Forbes as one of the best storytellers of the year. Spanning across five continents, from Lincoln Center in NY to the Hordern (HORDEN)Pavilion in Sydney, Max's performances have been described as "a rare opportunity to experience so many different emotions in the blink of an eye — the best bang for your buck of knowledge dropping, therapy, standup comedy, and wisdom-sharing. It's an hour of purity." Tune into the audio program because Max is with me today and he is going to perform two of his poems from his poetry special: Words that Move, and it's REALLY good stuff.Max Stossel's work has been translated into fourteen languages, won multiple film festivals, and has been viewed over 20 million times online. He's been featured on BBC, CNN, TEDX, and a handful more.His new release "Words That Move" is a first-of-its-kind Stand-Up Poetry Special told on stage at the Brooklyn Kings Theater. This is nine original poems where Max guides us to see the world through different eyes, while articulating the deep-seated kernels of truth that we so often struggle to find the words for ourselves. Taking on topics like heartbreak, consciousness, social media, politics, the emotional state of our world, and even how dogs probably (most certainly) talk, Max uses rhyme and rhythm to make these topics digestible and playful. Love me some poetry…In the audio program Max performs 2 of his poems for us and we talk about creativity and how we all have it.You don't want to miss this.Find Max and watch Words that Move:wordsthatmove.com/special; https://www.instagram.com/maxstosselThank you so much for being on the show today and sharing your work. So happy to share space with your lovely poetic soul. You have an important way of seeing the world; poets always do.I am a lover of poetry, a writer of poetry. If you recall, back in September of 2017 we had the poet laureate of Logan, Utah on the show, which was fun. I've had a handfull of poems published in the past, but one thing I know about poets, is that in general its a thankless art. It's a quiet art published in small chapbooks and read at open mics in coffee shops and University campuses. I'm really impressed with how Max has used technology and performance to share his poetry, his unique insights into the world with the rest of us.The lesson I'm taking away today is one about thinking outside the box. Just because something has always been done a certain way, doesn't mean you can't breach new boundaries, break down walls, find and use new ways of sharing.Your challenge this week is to take one thing you're doing in your life, especially if you feel stuck with it, and do a little brainstorm session that is strictly outside the box thinking, and see what you come up with. We always create our own boundaries. We also have to be the ones to break them down.Have a great couple weeks and we'll see you on the next episode of the Love Your Story podcast.

Episode 244: Tips on Connecting with your Man - Interview: Laura DoyleWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast - we are really knocking it out of the park in 2023. This is our 6th year doing the show and I'm so pleased to have collected so many wonderful stories and life tools for all of us to reference and use. SO MANY.Thanks for being here and continuing to enjoy the show.Today's guest is going to blow your mind. Laura Doyle is a New York Times Bestselling Author, she is the star of Empowered Wives on Amazon Prime, and hosts The Empowered Wives Podcast. On her home page it says, “I show women the proven way to fix their relationships without their man's conscious effort–even if it seems completely hopeless.” That sounds like magic.Stay tuned for 3 secrets to make your marriage happier and all the relationship magic Ms. Laura can dish out in 30 minutes.Insert LYS QuipAre you ready for some incredible power tips? New York Times Best Selling author, Laura Doyle was the perfect wife…until she actually got married. When she told her husband how to be tidier, more romantic and more ambitious he avoided her. So she dragged him to marriage counseling and nearly divorced him. In desperation she asked happily married women for their secrets, and that's when she got her miracle…the man who had wooed her returned.Laura wrote a book, to share what she had discovered, and it has been translated into 19 languages in 30 countries, and accidentally started a worldwide movement. She is the founder of the International relationship coach training school -called Laura Doyle Connect,she is the star of Empowered Wives on amazon Prime, the creator of The Ridiculously Happy Wife program and the host of The Empowered Wife podcast. She has been on The Today Show, Good Morning America and The View. She has worked with over 15,000 women and helped them fix even the most hopeless relationships.Join us on the audio program to hear answers to questions like:1. Let's start with your story. It sounds like it might start at a place where all women in marriages have been - a space of trying to help your husband be his best self - at least that's how we see it…. go ahead…2. What are the most common mistakes women make when they're trying to get their husband's attention or affection?3. How can you get your husband to help more with the house or the kids - the to do list?4. You have 3 secrets to make your marriage happier - what are those?5. Sometimes it's hard to get our men to connect in deep converstation - you've got 4 suggestions for us, what are those?6. You mentioned that there is a way to skyrocket the passion in a relationship, even if you're in a sexless marriage - what does that mean? Enlighten me…How to find Laura Doyle: Email:lauramdoyle@gmail.comSkype: laura.doyle44Telephone: 7147263340Website: lauradoyle.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramdoyle/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauradoyle.orgTwitter: https://twitter.com/lauramdoyleBrene Brown defines connection as, “The energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard and valued. When they can give and receive without judgement.”Personal relationships, especially with our significant other, are key to our health and happiness. It is key to a fulfilling life, and things that are important often take a lot of work. Today we've had some great tips from Laura. If there are some weak spots...

Episode: 243 - What Hate Can Do: Interview Peter MutabaziWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. Today is part 2 of a two-part story - the story of Peter Mutabazi. Peter joins me today, to share the incredible story of his life in Uganda, we are picking up where we left off in part 1. For his full story - please listen to part 1, because today we are going to look at the rest of the story and the other side of the coin. Part 1 is titled: What Kindness Can do. Part 2 is titled: What Hatred Can Do. The reason I am going to take an episode to talk in detail about hate, is because as I was reading Peter's book “Now I Am Known,” one of the greatest turning points in his life came as he became a witness to the genocide in Rwanda. What he witnessed, what these events taught him, and how they affected the progress of his life.Tune in for my talk with the author of “Now I am Known.”“When I first saw the bodies floating down the Kagera River out of Rwanda and into Lake Victoria on the local television station, I knew something horrible was happening in our neighboring country. Every day I watched news reports showing hundreds upon hundreds of mutilated corpes floating down the river. Men. Women, Children. Some had been decapitated. Others wer cut open with other body parts missing. The bodies of children…I cannot speak of what was done to the bodies of the children. Over the course of three months, tens of thousands of bodies piled up in Lake Victoria and washed up on its shore. When the winds came out of the south and east you could not escape the smell of death…”This is how the chapter “What hate can do” starts. Peter - Welcome back to the show. We loved hearing the first part of your incredible story a couple weeks ago…Tune in as we hear the story of bodies floating down the river, the massacre in Rwanda, the ah-ha of how hate was affecting him and where that took him.“I have seen firsthand the destructive power of hate, but I have also seen the healing power of generosity, acceptance, and love. We all have the opportunity to help others, inspire others, and love others from a sincere heart.”I think the world is incredibly messy. We are hurt, we hurt others, we love people who have been hurt or are hurting. We want to forgive, we want to know how to help others deal with difficult things like trauma or neglect or hopelessness. It's all so much. One of the things Peter said in his book was “Hurting people need to be heard. They need to know they are not alone.” And then I was listening to a Ted Talk about addiction and the way we try to punish and ostracize addicts, when research actually shows that people and lab animals don't turn to drugs or destructive behaviors when they feel connected. The suggestion for healing was not to ostracize the difficult ones, but to let them know you care, even though that may be the most difficult move. At any rate, I believe the more we listen to these real life stories, the more we seek the higher road, the more we understand where hate takes the human heart and the opposite, where caring, forgiveness, empathy and kindness takes the human heart, we can take steps in the direction of light. There is no quick solution to the struggle to forgive, or to heal from trauma, but there is the choice everyday to choose kindness and love when we can, and to work on the moments where we can't. Let's end with a couple quotes:Will Smith said, “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.”Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”May you move toward love, empathy and kindness today, with intention. See you in 2 weeks for the next episode of the LYS...

Episode 242: What Kindness Can Do - Interview Peter Mutabazi - Part 1Welcome to the Love Your Story podcastToday's story, “What Kindness Can Do,” starts out with the story of Peter Mutabazi. Here's a clip from his book:“The vine came down on me so fast I did not have time to duck. It ripped across my right arm and burned like fire. “You worthless piece of….” my father yelled as he swung the vine around like a bullwhip. I spun around to protect my face. “Don't you turn away from me,” He grabbed my shoulder with his left hand, turned me around, and brought the vine down across my neck and chest. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my aunts, uncles, and cousins running out of their houses. They had come, not to stop my father, but to watch. Nyabikoni was a very small village. This passed for entertainment.”Peter Mutabazi joins me today, to share his story of his life in Uganda, his brave escape from an abusive father at 10 years old, his subsequent life as a child living on the streets struggling daily to stay alive, and the fortuitous meeting of a man who would change Peter's life, and in so doing change the lives his siblings, their children, and all the children Peter now helps as a foster parent.Tune in for my talk with the author of “Now I am Known.”Peter believes that every child and every person deserves to be known. He has dedicated his life to advocating for children and youth. Peter grew up feeling unheard and unseen. He knows what it feels like to believe you do not matter at all in the world. He also knows what it feels like to slowly come out of that, one small step at a time. Join us on the audio program to hear his story...“When I was ten years old, I'd given up on life.”AND“When James saw the good in me, I wasn't very good at doing that myself. Not just with myself but with everyone. I expected the worst in people, and I usually managed to find it. Even today I must intentionally choose to look beyond behaviors and external circumstances and see the humanity within.” AND“When a foster child moves from an abusive situation to a peaceful household, they feel like they've landed on an alien planet. When you find yourself in that place, all you want to do is go back to a familiar place, even if that home is hell. Hurting people do not deserve judgement. They need understanding They need patience. They need love. They need grace.”Tune in to hear about his story, his book, his work and see if it doesn't leave you with a little shock and awe.Peter's story speaks for itself - What can kindness do? It can change an entire life and in so doing change many, many more lives.To Contact Peter or buy your own copy of Now I Am Known:Peter@NowIAmKnown.comFB:FosterDadFlipperLinkedIn: in/PeterMutabazihttps://nowiamknown.com/products/now-i-am-known-bookAs we close today's show let's think about where we can give a little more kindness. How can we give grace, patience, forgiveness, support. That's going to look a little different for everyone, but take a moment and identify what that means for you. Thanks for being here. Thank you to those who have left a review for the show. I'd like to share this one from: Sam Sam Woo Woo Review Title: This podcast rocks“I love this podcast, it forever changed my life. One of the hottest upcoming podcasts and everyone should listen.”Amen brother.If you haven't left a review, it's super easy and I'd love to hear from you - I may even read your review on the show. Have a great day and live it with intension.

Episode 241: Standing Up for What YOU Believe in - Interview Samantha HawkinsWelcome to the LYS podcast. On this show we share stories - stories of big adventures, stories of big struggles, stories that allow us to share our experiences and learn from each other.Today's guest is a story teller, so get your cup of tea or cocoa, find a warm comfy blanket, and settle in for some stories that teach us a few lessons.Samantha Hawkins, author of the children's book “My Mommy Marches,” has been a 911 dispatcher for almost 8 years. She's a training officer and instructor with Cobb County 911 in Marietta GA. She's also a public speaker and a story teller.Samantha was working disbatch during the riots that happened during the Black Lives Matter movement. She, being a black woman and a dispatcher and public servant, gets a unique view from both sides and I've invited her to be a guest on the show today to share some of her own stories.Tune into the audio program to hear what brought Samantha to write the book, My Mommy Marches, and the right we all have to stand up for what we believe in.I think part of living our lives intentionally is standing up for what we believe in - whatever that is - I think that's really what your book is about. Everyone has a different set of beliefs, but we live in America where we all have the freedom of speech - at least in theory - and we get to support that for everyone while marching for what we believe in. And maybe marching means not being afraid to share your beliefs in social media. Maybe it means standing up for people who have a difficult time standing up for themselves. What does it mean to you?In the audio program she shares 2 stories with us about how she learned to preserver. Join us for her stories.To contact Samantha:Instagram handle: @forevertellingtalesLinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/samantha-hawkins-2a045b3bPre-order My Mommy Marches:https://www.amazon.com/My-Mommy-Marches-Samantha-Hawkins/dp/1915244129/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3OV5LJ2JS5NAC&keywords=my+mommy+marches&qid=1671720404&sprefix=my+mommy+marches%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-1Samantha - thank you for sharing your storytelling and your life lessons. And thank YOU, dear listener, for being with us today. If you have some stories you'd like to share, I've been thinking of doing an episode or two that are a bit like The Moth - if you've ever listened to that it's where people come and share their own 5-10 minute stories about an event in their life.On the Love Your Story podcast website - loveyourstorypodcast.com, there is a page titled “guesting.” Go to that link and fill out that form with the subject line of Share My Story and let's see where this leads us.

Episode 240: A Brave Little Warrior - The Story of a 4-Year-Old's Amputation JourneyDescription: Rosalie Mastaler was pushed into the world of disabilities when her son was bitten by his father's K9 police dog. Tune in for the story of courage and how the family creates good and recognizes miracles from this loss.Shownotes:Rosalie Mastaler learned about Disability Advocacy when her husband's police dog bit her son, Hunter, on February 8, 2015. Despite the trauma, Rosalie and Hunter chose to accept his disability and continue on with life. Rosalie learned that she couldn't change her son's choice to accept his disability, but she could give him tools and opportunities to help him. Hunter eventually accepted his disability and learned that happiness is a choice and that resilience is a journey. Rosalie was inspired by Hunter's ability to keep getting up and pushing forward, no matter how difficult or challenging the journey was.Listen in to our discussion about:1. How did a police dog bite Hunter and what were the rules around those dogs?2. How did Rosalie and her husband cope with the guilt and the trauma of the situation?3. How did Hunter's journey of resilience help shape Rosalie's perspective on life?Visit Rosalie Mastaler's Socials:Mastaler Family on InstagramRosalie's WebsiteRosalie on FacebookTRANSCRIPT00:00:19 Lori: Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. On this show, we share stories. We share stories of big adventures, stories of big struggles, stories that allow us to share our experiences and to learn from each other. And today's guest, Rosalie Mass Taylor, was pushed into the world of disabilities when her oldest son was attacked by a police canine and he lost the lower part of his left leg. She and her family now focus on being advocates for those with disabilities and helping people to keep hope was a big thing. 00:00:55 Lori: When Hunter, this is her son, became an amputee at just four years old, his parents had to negotiate a host of feelings, including guilt and grief and worry for how their son was going to adapt. The loss of his lower leg altered their lives and how they cared for him, of course. But Rosalie and Michael, his dad, soon realized that the most powerful tool that they could offer Hunter was resilience. I'm really interested about this resilience topic because it's so big for all of us. So stay tuned for their story and a peek at the Mass Taylor Party of Five. 00:00:43 Lori: Stories are our lives and language. Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. I'm Lori Lee, and I'm excited for our future together of telling stories, evaluating our own stories, and lifting ourselves and others to greater places because of our control over our stories. This podcast is about empowerment and giving you the listener ideas to work with in making your stories work for you. Story power serves you best when you know how to use it. 00:02:25 Lori: Mass Taylor Party of Five is the social media presence of the Mass Taylor family and their story. In 2015, Michael, that's the dad in this story, his police dog attacked Hunter, their four year old son. And the bite was so severe that they were forced to...

Episode 239: Tools to Magnify our Worthiness: Interview Chris HawkerAm I worthy of love? Am I worthy of good things? Am I worthy of success?I have a couple family members who have recently discussed with me feelings of unworthiness because of religious or cultural messages. It's come up as a topic in multiple groups recently, so it's been on my radar.So, when Chris Hawker, co-founder of Next level Trainings, recently was featured on the Spirit River Coaching Summit speaking on “Are you worthy enough to love yourself - tools to magnify worthiness and move you forward,” I reached out to him right away to see if he'd talk to us about this universal struggle. The struggle to feel we are worthy of all the good stuff.Tune in for our talk about how to embrace our worthiness and the tools to help us do that. I believe in light and in darkness, I believe in good and in evil. I believe in these things because I've experienced what it's like to sit in love and light, and I've experienced what it's like to feel fear and shame and the hell it brings. I believe in God and light and love, and I believe in Satan, who seeks to keep us small and miserable, filled with self-loathing and self rejection. As I have watched people, done interviews, read transformational biographical stories of the human struggle, and taken note of our predominant struggles as humankind, I have come to the conclusion that feeling unworthy is one of the greatest tool that separates us from light and love. Feelings of self loathing and self doubt are amplified by our natural negativity bias, the devil on our shoulder seems to always be ready to cut us to the quick, ready to make us doubt ourselves and our worthiness for good things, for love, for success. Basic life struggles are instantly met with the idea that we are not enough.The reason this tool is so powerful in stopping us, is that when we buy into the belief that we are unworthy we will play small. We will not share our talents with the world, which rips everyone off - us and the world. We slink in the shadows, living well below what we are capable. I suspect one of the biggest battles we will ever engage in during our lives is the fight, within our own minds, to accept our brilliance, our worthiness, our potential, and our beauty as humans. This is why I'm so pleased today to talk with Chris Hawker about tools for magnifying our worthiness so we can move forward in big and fabulous ways. Let me introduce him - Chris Hawker is a transformational leadership trainer, inventor and professional speaker. He has trained teams at organizations like Duracell and McDonald's. He coaches leaders in living vision-driven lives. His award-winning inventions have received 40 patents, and his work has been featured in USA Today, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He is co-founder of Next Level Trainings, which has trained thousands of individuals, raising over $4M in charitable donations. He resides in Columbus, OH, with his wife, son and dogTune into the audio program to hear our discussion about things like:Let's start out with your story - what has been your path to a full acceptance of your self worth?What is self worth?Where does it come from?Why does doing the work to shed the unworthy feelings we have matter?How do you coach people as they work on reclaiming a deep sense of self worth? What do we do to get self worth?I'd like to get your thoughts on a couple of quotes - one you are familiar with and one is a surprise - First one:Roy T. Bennett said, “If you want to fly, you have to give up what weights you down” Second one:Maya Angelou said, “I learned a long time ago, the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side.”To contact...

Episode: 238 - The Messages: A Story of Navigating Life Transitions and Embracing ChangeWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. I've struggled for a month, since I read Dawn Kohler's book, The Messages, to figure out how to introduce this woman, what direction to take our discussion, and how to adequately portray the events that took place in her life….I've come up with nothing that seems to fully do the job so I'm just going to say “wow” and jump right in. In her 30's Dawn's body simply would not let her get out of her car as she pulled into her thriving, award-winning computer company, for another day as CEO in a job she loved. She couldn't get her hand to open the door. After sitting for hours she finally drove home and started on one of the most interesting and spiritual journey's I've ever read about. She says, “by sheer self-mutiny, the self I was born to be decided to hijack the one I had created.”Tune into the audio for Dawn Kohler's story and the amazing things we are going to learn from it.Dawn Kohler was an award-winning entrepreneur in the computer industry when she was abruptly summoned to take a life-altering course. What followed was an extraordinary healing journey from childhood abuse and rape. This journey took a giant toll on her, on her family, and on her marriage, but it gave her profound insights, incredible healing, and deep understanding. Combining these insights, and her business experience, Dawn became a sought-after Executive Coach helping leaders understand and enhance their impact on others and their contribution to the world. Her clients have included many of the most influential women in entertainment, as well as senior leaders at Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Lionsgate, DreamWorks, Fox, Snapchat, Disney, and Amazon. Dawn is the author of 3 books including her recent memoir, The Messages, a prophetic journey.Tune into my talk with Dawn. Here are just some of the things we talk about:While your book, The Messages, is the whole detailed story, will you please tell the listeners your story, and then we'll move into where that brought you?In your recent memoir, you share the story of how you came to receive a series of what you experienced as divine messages. What were the messages? How will they impact us? And why do you think they came to you, a secular businesswoman? In your book you share a conversation with your therapist where she said, “You followed your messages, faced your fears, encountered great upheavals, and released a lifetime of stored emotions that, honestly, I'm surprised have not killed you by now., It's the hero's journey. you want through the crucible in order to come out the other side and bring back a treasure to the kingdom.” The onset of your personal journey was marked by high anxiety and depression. We are certainly seeing an increase in both in our culture, do you think those symptoms are a kind of summons or awakening for all of us? How do we answer the call to a greater life? Why are some called and some aren't?In your book you say, “People need to understand how important it is to take responsibility for their own healing. We can avoid so much suffering if we embrace who we really are and learn to love more deeply.” How do we do this?You also said, “Our spirit is always trying to heal us, deepen our capacity to love, and guide us to where we can best serve. We just have to listen and follow our own path.” I want to talk about “our own path.” Your experience is incredible, but very different from my understanding of how the universe works. My sons are on paths that I can't fully understand. This idea of our “own path” is really opening me up to allowance, but how do we support each other when our understanding and belief in a certain path differs from

Episode 237: Bang Head Here: Interview with Josh Brazier & Hollie Henderson - Part 2Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. Today is Part 2 of Bang Head Here. We're back with Hollie and Josh, the authors of Bang Head Here, and today we are talking shop. In Part 1 we got their stories, of Hollie's troubled youth and how it put her on this incredible path, so go back and listen to part 1 to get her full story. And we got Josh's story of being a young man in Morocco and working with refugees from West Africa, watching their abuse and deportment that became so formative for him as he built a life of humanitarian work.Today we want to move on with our conversation with them so we can glean insight from their wisdom.Hollie and Josh, welcome back to the show.Let's dive right back into our conversation and pick up where we left off…..Last episode we finished up with the challenges teens are having with connection, this episodes let's go to the next obvious question:Tune into our conversation about:1. What keeps parents from connecting with their teens and young adult children?2. Why are you able to connect with teens when the parents cannot?3. Let's talk about developing resilience. In your book you talk about the need of accepting that pain is a part of life. You say, “We realized that we didn't really know what it meant to look at pain without trying to avoid it. In essence we didn't know how to be ok with not feeling ok.” Let's talk about this idea of acceptance of all the emotions of living, but then let's talk about how this is a part of becoming resilient. 4. How do we fill our resiliency tanks? How do we lay a foundation of resiliency?5. Why do young people listen and how do you keep their attention? “In your book you gave some great advice - “Make sure what you say today is living and void of judgement.” “If you can make them feel loved and valued at least once a day, you'll have a great start.”6. How do we deal with and avoid pain? What are healthy ways of dealing with pain?How to contact Hollie and Josh:WEBSITE: https://www.joshandhollie.com/EMAIL: info@joshandhollie.comFACEBOOK: @joshandholliecoachingINSTAGRAM: @josh_and_hollieTWITTER: @JoshHollie2I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about how hard communication is for everyone. When you think about it, we all have different experiences, different triggers, different insecurities, different stories about everything. And with those stories that we are telling ourselves in our own heads, we are creating different realities. In Bang Head Here, Josh and Hollie say, “We know very little about what's going on her to really know what's going on. It's a reminder that we need to keep our initial opinions and perceptions out of the equation until we have had enough time to be curious, ask questions and create different perspectives and possibilities, and to give the benefit of the doubt.”Your challenge this week is to give someone the benefit of the doubt. When you are hit with frustration or fear in one of your relationships, give them the benefit of the doubt and approach them with that in mind.So many teens right now seem to struggle so deeply. Suicide rates are so high. Social media doesn't help. We're dealing with the first generation being raised on the internet, hitting our heads against that proverbial wall, and finding our way around outcomes we've not had to deal with before. Bang Head Here may be a great resource for you. We'll see you in two weeks.

Episode 236: Bang Head Here - Interview with Josh Brazier & Hollie Henderson - Part 1Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.What do you get when you bring together a woman who was an at-risk teen, with severe troubles in her family of origin, and a man who on his LDS mission to Morroco worked with thousands of African refugees who were abused by guards and eventually deported, despite all their struggles, to make a better life? What you get is a dynamic duo who have partnered together, after years of their own experience in social work - like violence prevention and humanitarian programs, to help families and troubled youth learn to communicate and solve pain points.You also get a new book called: Bang Head Here. Tune in because we are going to get into their stories, as well as the tremendous work they are doing and you'll definitely learn some things about communicating with your loved ones.Today's podcast is about a number of things. It's about how to communicate in families, especially with at-risk youth. It's about how to recognize the part we play, as parents and caregivers, in the miscommunications that occur. It's about sharing the life experiences of two people who have taken some traumatic experiences and turned them into skills to share and help families communicate better. It's ultimately about using what they know to help others along the path of building better life stories.We have a couple “guides” with us today. Let me introduce them:First, Hollie:Hollie has been training teens and adults for over twenty years. Her training work began in the field of violence prevention and dating violence prevention. Hollie has trained thousands of teens and young adults to recognize the warning signs that lead to violent and deadly relationships.She is an active parent & teen coach who specializes in working with at-risk teens and young adults and their parents. She understands the struggle and nuances of these relationships primarily because she once was an "at-risk teen" who has found a way to reconnection within a family structure that once was failing.Josh:With over 15 years of experience working with youth and family in over a dozen countries, Josh brings a very unique perspective to healing and family culture. Having worked alongside thousands of young people and having been inside hundreds of struggling households, Josh's experience has led to deep and powerful insights that help create a new path of healing. Having worked for the past decade creating social programs for youth in the US and abroad, Josh brings his 15 years of experience working with youth to help solve real pain points the youth are facing.Tune in to the audio program to hear about his story serving in Morocco on an LDS mission. In a Spanish provence there was a refugee camp where thousands of West Africans were coming up to create a better life in Europe. He was tasked with building a church and helping the refugees - creating an English speaking branch. He worked with these people building good spaces for them. The refugees had to deal with very difficult psychological issues, abuse from the guards physically, verbally, sexually abused - rape was an issue. The overcrowding was severe. In addition the refugees had the horrible struggles in their travels to actually get to where they were - friends being eaten by wild animals, drinking their own urine to survive on the trail, women having to sell their bodies. He grew very close to these people as he walked with them on this path. One day he got on his boat to go to mainland Spain with his branch, when they were all apprehended by local authorities and his entire branch was deported to their countries of origin. He never saw them again and the trauma of the event caused a great deal of personal struggle. He started his program to honor these people. It became

Episode 235: Best of 2022Welcome to the LYS Podcast. Today's episode is one of my favorites of the year because it celebrates what you, the listeners, enjoyed most over the past year. I love looking at the top 5 episodes because it tells me about our past year, what resonated with everyone - which episodes lifted your spirits, connected with you, gave you what you wanted to create your best life story.But I also love this episode because it's a fun listen - you get to hear little teasers of the favorite shows, and decide which ones you may want to go back and listen to or share.Click the link to find out the top 5 listener-favorites for the year.So let's get started with the top 5 episodes of 2022.Coming in at #5 is Episode 214 - Walking on Water. In this episode we discuss the deep importance of us of learning to walk with faith, of coming to understand what it is, why it's important, and how to develop and use it in our own lives. I share clips from 3 excellent women who are expert on the topic and we talk about how we have to have more faith in our why, in ourselves, and in our supportive universal purpose and God, than we have in fear. In this clip I have just grabbed a little piece from the first of these women. Take a listen.#4Having the faith to take action in your life is a HUGE step to making things happen, but one of the next most powerful steps in creating a peaceful life is the ability to see how our trials help us to grow - to be able to recognize that the shit of life is the fertilizer….I'll add in this little thought as well. I was reading a symposium paper on why bad things happen, and there was a wonderful section that talked about how we CANNOT learn to forgive without being hurt and having someone to forgive. We cannot learn patience without having to struggle with the shortage of time, we can't gain understanding and empathy without knowing a particular pain - someone who has struggled with illness can understand another who struggles with this also. etc.. While our desire to avoid pain is strong, growth, understanding and the development of Christ-like qualities comes only through knowing the opposite side of it. Which takes us to #4 - Episode 227, my interview with Carrington Smith, the author of Blooming: Finding Gifts in the Shit of LifeHere's a clip from listener favorite #4: (Tune into the audio program)You can find the whole episode that includes her numerous personal stories of rape and abuse and how she comes to claim her story. Episode 227.#3Now, What is #3 for 2022? The 3rd most downloaded episode is: Episode 218 - Life Engineered with Rusty Lindquist. I'm loving this countdown, because each of the top downloads, as it turns out, are all super life tools.#5 - Having the faith to step out and take action#4 - Understanding that our trials and failures are really our greatest tools for building our character and refining us.And now, in #3 - Creating our life with intention - Engineering the life you want on purposeTune into the audio program to hear a clip from my interview with Rusty Lindquist.To listen to the entire episode, pull up episode 218 on your app or on loveyourstorypodcast.com #2Now we are to #2 - The second most downloaded episode this year was:Episode 212: Domestic Violence: Interview Brielle Cotterman and Melissa HaenchenBrielle...

Episode 234: Your Extraordinary Starts Now - Interview Shannon Bahrke-HappeWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast.Do you remember Shannon Bahrke Happe? Her 12-year career on the U.S. Ski Team, which brought her to the Olympics. Check out this list of her accomplishments: Member of 3 Olympic Teams (2002, 2006, 2010) Bronze Medal in Vancouver, CAN, 2010 Silver Medal in Salt Lake City, UT, 2002World Championships: Member of 6 World Championship TeamsWorld Cups: Member of U.S. Freestyle Ski Team for 12 years (1998-2010) On "A" Team (top 10 in the world or higher) all 12 years Over World Cup title, 2003 7 World Cup wins 26 World Cup podiumsU.S. National Championships: 6 U.S. titlesGeez.. Well, today she's here to reveal how she overcame obstacles, doubts, and fears to ultimately earn her 2 Olympic Medals. Shannon will also share how the same mindset, tools, and strategies directly correlate to how EVERYONE can execute them to achieve their maximum potential! Click the link to listen to our discussion and to feel her energy.Today's show is titled - Your Extra-Ordinary Starts Now! And Shannon Bahrke Happe is here to talk about how she did it.Welcome Shannon!Tune in to hear our discussion about the following:As always I want to start with your story. I listened to your TED talk where you talked about how average you felt you were, and yet here you are with a 12-year career on the US Ski Team and 2 Olympic medals. How did you go from average person to Olympic medal winner?As I mentioned, I've titled this episode: Your extraordinary starts now - because that's what you teach. So teach us a little about how to be extraordinary. Great things take work. A sense of entitlement will NOT help you accomplish much. I worry about the upcoming generation who often think if something is hard that it's not meant for them. Let's talk about how to develop mental toughness.You have the “Always do 1 More” adage. Can you teach us about that?You talk about envisioning the end goal with our senses. What does that look like? How have you used that? - a little manifesting hack here.Every day we have hundreds of choices - actions, reactions, these choices matter because they change the outcome. How do we “choose to win” in these small daily choices. Turn your biggest challenges and roadblocks into opportunities - what does this look like? I love putting this one out there. This is an important tool to understand when you are mired in a really tough space.Final thoughts on living extraordinary lives on purpose?To Contact Shannon Bahrke-HappeShannonBahrke.comTeamEmpowerHour.com(713) 670-4047MogulMama@mac.comLet's end with two quotes: 1. ”Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're probably right." - Henry Ford 2. Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”You only have one life to live, so why not make it something fabulous and unforgettable? As a 20-something I had a poem on my wall called If I had My Life to Live Over. The author was talking about dancing in the rain and eating chocolate cake for breakfast and worrying less and celebrating more. I think we could all stand to take a moment to stop, step out of the rat race, take a breath and decide how we want to make a difference, how we want to be grateful and powerful and what it means to us, individually to live an ordinary live or an extraordinary life. Sometime it's just small and simple things that make a huge difference. It is a path of mindset shifts, of positive talk shifts, of a choice to do one...