Podcasts about as karen

Karen Girmshaw, Consultant Nurse for Older People talks to us about the Dementia Awareness Training Programme at Derriford Hospital, the positive impact that this has had on patients and carers and how we can also help when planning a visit. As Karen says: "People come to hospital with their dementia, often not because of their dementia." Produced for KDFC by IAmTheHow

Learn to wait patiently is a life skill we all need to work on, but man, is it hard to teach to our kids! Today Karen and Sunny offer tips for helping your toddler wait at the doctor's office and practice patience when you're having an adult conversation as well as tips for teaching your teen to wait for a phone, or to begin dating.  As Karen says, it's always going to be easier to give in, but consistency will pay off in the long run as you work diligently to teach these skills! 

Karen Struck is the author of the new children's book, Three Paws. In this week's new episode, Karen shares the hurdles in her life that became great motivators. From her journey attending nursing school, being kicked out of her home by her father, to hitting rock bottom - she shares the lessons she's learned along the way, the perspective she gained, and her decision to keep focusing on her dreams. Her determination and her perseverance to become a nurse helped her endure the difficult years. Karen's goal is to create unique, and entertaining characters who inspire children to dream big dreams, to focus on the positive aspects of their lives. As she shares in this week's new episode, she discovered the joy of children's literature as she read to her daughter each night. By the time her daughter was close to graduating high school she discovered a new passion, a desire to write children's books. Inspired by the Harry Potter book series, and decided to take writing courses through the Institute of Children's Literature. Last summer, she pulled out the story she wrote 12 years and decided it was time to get it published. Three Paws, her debut book, is the first book published in the Three Paws Series. In Three Paws, Karen shares the story of Boots, a grizzly bear cub who faces new struggles after permanently injuring his paw. Rooted in friendship and acceptance, Boots' journey of learning new skills as he navigates his disability as told through Three Paws is perfect for young children, whether they are learning to survive their own challenge or simply to understand those who may appear “different”. No matter our background, we can all relate to Boots and his story: one of perseverance and never giving up on our dreams, even if the odds are stacked against us. As Karen shares, like Boots we all have struggles in life that we must deal with in order to progress forward and grow. Life challenges can be both humbling and inspiring depending on your perspective but overall our experiences can help us gain compassion for others. Boots' adventures in Three Paws encourages children to be bold and make new friends, all while allowing themselves the room to grow and learn new things. It promotes the importance of both independence and inclusivity, and how both together can function to provide acceptance, encouragement, and positive growth for a child. To learn more about Karen and her new book you can connect with her on her website www.karenstruckauthor.com and via email karenstruckrn@gmail.com  Stories of Inspiring Joy is a production of Seek The Joy Media and created by Sydney Weiss. To learn more and submit your story, click here. *Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Stories of Inspiring Joy.

Highlights:  [7:00] The trigger [17:00] Magical moments [34:00] Gratitude ripples   Meet Karen Treiger:  After 18 years of practicing law in Seattle, Karen felt an unmistakable call to explore the story of her in-laws, Sam and Esther Goldberg. Educated at Barnard College and New York University Law School --where she was editor-in-chief of NYU Law Review -- Treiger made the momentous decision to retire from her law practice and pull together the threads of a family story she had heard for many years. The result of her three-year inquiry is the widely praised book, My Soul is Filled with Joy: A Holocaust Story. In it, Karen chronicles both Sam and Esther Goldberg's journey, including Sam's escape from the death camp Treblinka, as well as her family's experiences in Poland when they retraced the path from Treblinka to the pit in the Polish forest where Sam and Ester hid until their liberation.  As Karen became invigorated and inspired by the people she encountered, Sam and Esther's story became her story too.  Since the book's publication, Karen has made it her mission to bring this compelling story to a wider audience. What I love about Karen is that she left all the comfort of her safe life to embark on something that she felt she was called to do. Her story is a powerful example of what it looks like to listen to our intuition and to follow our heart.  And in so doing she has created a platform dedicated to spreading a message of hope, kindness and love by taking a closer look at one of the most horrific tragedies that the world has ever known. So if you have ever taken anything for granted in your life… ever found yourself wanting to be more grateful instead of getting caught up in the challenges of life… this is the episode for you!   Connect with Karen: Social media handles - Facebook, Twitter, Youtube  https://karentreiger.com/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-treiger-5507255/detail/recent-activity/shares/ ... Want to try a revolutionary self-care game? Download InJoy Daily: The Self-Care Game now: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/injoy-daily-motivation/id1523808851 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brst.injoy

What does accountability mean to you? To your team? What does it even mean? As Karen will tell you, the dictionary falls flat on its face when defining accountability. But have no fear! In this episode, Jenn and Karen fill in the blanks, giving the concept great coaching context and beyond. Accountability is tied to relationships, alignment, and expectations. Listen in and try to get beyond Jenn’s knock-knock joke.

There is no life sentence for anxiety, depression, high stress, and more. Our body has a natural way to keep us alive and it is important to honor our body for whatever it goes through. The inherent knowledge and wisdom is meant to literally save us in precarious circumstances. Karen discusses the significance of releasing stored trauma and demobilizing our nervous system.Learn to regulate our nervous system when stressful situations appear rather than coasting through life as the difficulties happen. Release the stored memory of past trauma and create a NEW body. Let go. Get unstuck and become liberated from the damage your body has stored. This release allows a person to fulfill their passion and live fully! As Karen's facebook group says, we have the potential for LIVING AND LOVING UNLEASHED.Connect with Karen Austen:Facebook Group Living and Loving UnleashedWebsiteConnect with Lynanne:Facebook Group Triumph After TraumaWebsiteCoach Talk Café

In this episode of the pawdcast, Jean and Karen chat with Valerie Alfinito, a trainer who shifted her focus to creating handcrafted leather leashes and collars. A true dogtrepreneur – Valerie founded Dog Sports Designs in the 1990s when her clients came to her training classes with bruised, cut and injured hands from their dog’s leashes.To Valerie, leashes aren’t an accessory – they should be considered equipment and her handmade leather leashes will last your dog’s lifetime.As Karen, Jean and Valerie discuss, while Valerie’s leashes can be found at Westminster and the World Agility Championships – they are even more appropriate (and important) for all of us pet parents who really want the best for our dogs – and our hands! If you’ve watched the Westminster Dog Show, you’ve likely seen the “bejeweled” leashes in the ring – Valerie created the first bejeweled leash and with a client created a lasting dog show tradition. PawsUP for Valerie!Karen and Jean’s dogs (and hands) are big fans of Valerie’s leashes. As are America’s Veterinarian, Dr. Marty Becker; the Obama’s – Bo was an early customer; and countless rescues and champions.Valerie’s handcrafted dog leashes can be found at www.dogsportdesigns.com – enter code PawsGo20 for a SPECIAL 20 percent discount on your purchase.

In July 2020, Mateo ( 2 years old) and "Mommy" (Karen Alvarado, Producer of Podcast/Co-AD of Thinkery & Verse) walked through the empty chapel and small rooms of The Church of Saint John the Evangelist, the home parish of the slain preacher and choir singer. As they explore you will hear Karen reminisce on how the church entered their lives and wonder what it was like in the 1920s when Edward and Eleanor shared the space... with possibly their murderers. As Karen unpacks the aesthetics and "feel" of the rooms, Mateo plays, asks questions, sings and offers emotional responses to certain sections of the church. Listen to hear what this mother-son team unpack in their impromptu exploration of "The Murder Church."Want to support, work with, or give feedback to us? Email: thinkeryandverse.merchandise@gmail.com

In her new book, Your Life After Their Death: A Medium's Guide to Healing After a Loss, psychic medium Karen Noé shows you how to move on and enjoy life again after you've lost a loved one. As Karen says, “Your deceased loved ones are okay and want you to be too!” Karen offers sympathetic yet practical advice as a person who has also suffered through loss and wants to share what she's found to be most helpful. In this very handy book, you'll discover how you can keep the memory of your loved ones alive while moving on with the rest of your life—so you can heal your life after their death.

Good Thursday Morning, or as we like to call it around here, “Little Friday”. We’re waking up with a cloudy day in Boston but the GBH Morning Edition team is here to brighten your day. President Trump apparently had time to sit for eighteen interviews with Bob Woodward in the past six months, and now his denials and re-directions have commenced, but this time its all on tape. Meanwhile Covid is still raging and much of Northern California is bathed in an eerie red glow from rampant wildfires. As Karen points out, 2020 has become one long and extended episode of Black Mirror. Stay safe and stay sane out there and thank you for waking up with Joe Mathieu and GBH.

In her new book, Your Life After Their Death: A Medium's Guide to Healing After a Loss, psychic medium Karen Noé shows you how to move on and enjoy life again after you've lost a loved one. As Karen says, “Your deceased loved ones are okay and want you to be too!” Karen offers sympathetic yet practical advice as a person who has also suffered through loss and wants to share what she's found to be most helpful. In this very handy book, you'll discover how you can keep the memory of your loved ones alive while moving on with the rest of your life—so you can heal your life after their death.

What is a past life regression? How does it work? What would you experience and see? “Seeking with Robyn”, Host and Intuitive Robyn Miller Brecker and Executive Producer Karen Loenser share what happened when they had past life regressions with Spiritual Development Life coach, Michelle Brock, who specializes in past life regression. It was an experience neither of them will ever forget…it changed their lives forever. They were able to see themselves as they were…an African hunter, a Southern belle, a leader of the Arapaho tribe, a young Buddhist monk and more. They were shown these lives on purpose, to help them in their current lives. Plus, they reconnected and received messages from deceased loved ones and their Spirit Guides. The entire experience validated for them that we are not our bodies…we are souls living these different lives, learning and meeting up with our soul family in each lifetime. And while they saw themselves “die” in different lives, there was no pain — and it took away any fear of death.As Karen says, If you can recognize the messages from these past life experiences they can open up a whole new level of self understanding and confidence that you are on your path.”And Robyn emphasizes the lives that she experienced that show us that “we are all one, we are equal.”If we could all see each other for who we really are and have been, the world would change…for the better.For more from Michelle Brock, visit https://michelle-brock.com/#seekingwithrobyn #pastlives #karma

Jessie Bracelett was brutally murdered in the pre-dawn hours of December 17, 2012. As Karen and other detectives investigated the crime scene and related items they discovered bloodstain evidence that would reveal, indisputably, who murdered Jessie on that cold December morning.

Sean Howard is all of the things! He’s a talented speaker, podcaster, writer, brand marketer, and he’s the co-founder of Fable and Folly, a network of kick ass audio fiction podcasts, some of which he’s acted in and produced. Which is...   [If your podcast app isn’t showing the featured art for this episode above visit https://rebekahnemethy.com/artink15 to check it out.   Castbox and Podcast Addict are both apps I recommend that do show episode specific art.]   Links from the Show at a Glance:   Artist: Sean Howard Title of Art: Disconnected Artist’s Website: seanhoward.ca Instagram: @passitalong   Discover audio fiction podcasts on Sean’s network: fableandfolly.com   Sean Howard’s Levitation photographs   Art Ink Submission Guidelines: rebekahnemethy.com/artinksubs     Art Ink Podcast Transcript:   [Intro:]   Hello again, my friends! It’s been awhile since I’ve last spoken to you, and I hope you didn’t think I’d gone and pod-faded on you!   Believe it or not, I haven’t taken any breaks from this show. I’ve written at least a little bit, almost daily since the last episode came out. In my head, I was sure I was writing a short story, but it didn’t want to end, I just kept writing and writing, and watching the word count grow and grow.   One day I impulsively took a break to Google the definition of a short story, because I wasn’t so sure that this writing still fit into that category anymore. By the time I’d done the search it was already well over 10,000 words, which falls into the realm of a novelette. Anyone else out there new to this literary term? Apparently that is what you call a story that’s too long to be a short story but too short to be considered a novella.   I got excited at that point because I was sure that I was almost done, and as my creativity accountability partner Amy will attest, week after week it was my goal to finish this story. I was convinced that by the time I was done writing I’d get to introduce you to my finished novelette. Yet here I am, another 10,000+ words later, and I’m quite sure this story is destined to be a full-length novel… eventually anyway. For now, I’m calling it a novella and I’m recording it for you, because you’ve waited long enough!   Today’s artist is who I’m going to blame for all of this, Sean Howard, it’s totally all your fault for creating something that inspired me so much! I was instantly triggered when I saw your work, and it sent me down a rabbit hole that was hard for me to escape.   Sean Howard is all of the things! He’s a talented speaker, podcaster, writer, brand marketer, and he’s the co-founder of Fable and Folly, a network of kick ass audio fiction podcasts, some of which he’s acted in and produced. Which is awesome for you, my listeners, because while you’re waiting around for me to put out an episode, you could be discovering a world of new podcasts over at fableandfolly.com!   As if all that talent isn’t enough to squeeze into one human, Sean is also an amazing photographer. There’s something about his Levitation series of photographs that haunt me, in a good way, and I have to say it was not easy to select just one of these photos to write about. The saying a photo is worth a thousand words doesn’t do Sean’s art any justice… and, as I’ve already shared with you, it’s provided me with thousands and thousands of words.   When you get a second, my friends, make sure you take a look at the cover art for this episode to see the haunting photograph that Sean created. For those of you who can’t look just yet, let me attempt to paint the picture with words.     [Art Description:]   A girl in a spaghetti-strap, teal dress hugs her knees to her chest in front of a brown brick wall. She faces left, and we see a profile of her, eyes closed tight, pink and red highlighted dreadlocks pointing wildly in every direction.   Floating around the girl, surrounding her at shoulder height, are five floating devices: a tablet and several smart phones. Sean titled this piece Disconnected, and I could think of no better title for the story that his creation helped bring to life.   Enjoy…   [Story:]   Jennifer was hearing phantom ring tones. Despite the fact that she’d intentionally left her phone at home, her arm still instinctively reached out at least halfway to the empty dashboard mount before she realized there was no phone to be heard.   This was the third time she’d reached out to a non-existent phone. It was as if the fucking thing was a part of her body recently amputated.   It’s not that Jennifer didn’t want to bring her phone with her, but it’d be immediately confiscated as soon as she arrived at the center anyway, and so she’d figured it’d be better to leave it home; she didn’t want to worry about strangers invading her privacy… not that she had anything to hide.   There it was again; the distinct sound of her Instagram notification. Jennifer wondered if she was telepathically connected to the damned thing, as her arm automatically rose once again. She jerked it back toward her body, and huffed. If her other hand weren’t already occupied on the wheel she would’ve smacked herself.   Wouldn’t that be ironic, thought Jennifer, if I caused another accident distracted by a phantom phone? At least this time there’d be no evidence to incriminate her. She winced as the memory flashed through her mind, placed both hands firmly on the wheel, and squeezed until her knuckles were white and her concentration was on the road.   She panicked a bit when she saw the sign for exit 34; had she passed her exit?!   She glanced down at her odometer and sighed with relief as she remembered that A: she still had 30 miles to go and B: the exit numbers were counting down, not up.   Jennifer had known that driving to an unknown area without a GPS to guide her would be a challenge, but she’d done it as a teenager, back in the MapQuest days, when she’d had to print out directions on paper. Directions that didn’t magically rearrange themselves if she drove off course, she reminded herself, and then winced as horns blared in her memory. She remembered crossing three lanes of traffic in order to avoid missing an exit on her road trip to Maryland more than a decade ago. Jennifer sighed and reminded herself to be careful and alert.   The absolute worst part of this trip, however, was the silence. Usually she had an audiobook or podcast running when she drove. Occasionally she’d put upbeat music on when she was feeling down; by the time she finished belting out a couple of songs, she always felt much better. Jennifer was sure she’d be giving herself some music therapy by now… she’d tried the radio, but there was nothing to sing along to, the crackling quality was lacking, and there were more commercials than songs.   Jennifer’s circular thoughts filled the silence instead: she was broke, she was now jobless, she’d just maxed out her credit cards on this mandatory detox, and she couldn’t start fixing any of those problems until a month from now. A month from now!!!   It wasn’t like she was addicted to heroin… no one would have to hold her dreads while she puked her way back to sobriety for fuck’s sake.   The Insta notification chimed in her mind again, and Jennifer was reaching out before she could stop herself. She sighed loudly, put her hand back on the wheel, and rolled her eyes at the fact that some unknown force was calling her bluff. Maybe I am addicted to my phone, she thought.   Still, that didn’t justify the $6,000 it cost to go through this program. $6,000 down the drain… down the future drain, Jennifer corrected herself, sighing.   Jennifer felt pretty proud when she pulled into the parking lot a couple of hours later. She hadn’t gotten lost at all. Though it’s hard to get lost when you’re in the middle of nowhere and the turn offs are sparse.   The place was huge, and very modern looking; quite the opposite of what Jennifer had imagined it would be. The entire front of the building was covered in mirrored glass. In its center rose a pyramid shaped peak that stretched well above the rest of the structure; this was covered in the only glass that wasn’t mirrored. It looked more like a shortened, more angular version of a NYC office building than a rehab center. But what did a digital detox building typically look like? Jennifer knew of no others to compare it to.   Stepping inside was like putting sunglasses on, it dimmed the outside sunshine, but not enough to make you feel like you were indoors. Faint, lyricless, music played in the background, along with what sounded like a babbling brook. Jennifer noticed a waterfall that was built into one of the walls to her left. Floor cushions that looked like low love seats and couches were scattered across the floor in front of it.   Aside from the glass, everything seemed to be made out of natural elements. The floor was made of some kind of polished stone, with glimmers of an almost holographic iridescence where the light caught it. Sculpture creatures made of dried out driftwood and metal were scattered about the lobby. A crane with it’s wings spread and a fish in its mouth here, a puppy posed in a play bow over there, and what looked like a koala bear climbing a bamboo stalk in one corner.   “Welcome,” said a voice from the wall opposite the waterfall. Jennifer turned to it.   “Hi, I’m a bit early- I was afraid I’d get lost without the GPS on my phone.”   “Oh that’s no problem, let’s get you settled into your room.”   Even though Jennifer had told her she’d left her phone at home, the girl asked to go through her bags, which felt a bit demeaning. But apparently, many guests tried to sneak in digital contraband: tablets, iPods, old smartphones people claimed were no longer connected and thought should be allowed. The website had been clear about what was and wasn’t allowed – basically anything with a screen was banned.   Satisfied that Jennifer hadn’t hidden an iPod in her underwear, the girl moved on. She handed her a thick information packet, told her that orientation would be at 6 in the Oak Room, and walked her to her room.   With four hours to kill before orientation, Jennifer dropped to the bed and started leafing through the papers. She grew bored about halfway through the second page and studied the room around her. $6,000 and there wasn’t even a TV in her room. How was she going to make it through a month without Netflix?   Jennifer glanced at the clock on her nightstand, saw that only 5 minutes had passed since she’d stepped into the room, let out a lengthy sigh, and threw herself face down into a pile of pillows.   What was she going to do for the next 3 hours and 55 minutes? The panic started to tighten her throat; what if there was an emergency and she needed to call a friend? Then she started to breathe deeply as she remembered that she’d been through this scenario before and had planned accordingly.   She opened her suitcase to find all of her solutions. On top of everything was a practically blank notebook, the first page filled with her go to contacts and their numbers… when was the last time she’d manually dialed a number?   One side of Jennifer’s suitcase was stuffed with clothing and toiletries, and the other half was packed with a pile of books and art supplies. Jennifer was a doer; doing nothing was the ultimate depressant for her – and so, in a way, her suitcase was filled with anti-depressants.   Jennifer pushed her art journal and pencils aside to reveal a pile of novels. She grabbed a Carol Goodman book, The Lake of Dead Languages, and settled into the love seat to read… she couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat down to read a physical book. She “read” books all the time, but audiobooks were her medium of choice – that way she could multitask, “reading” while she walked, cleaned, cooked, and even while she was doodling sometimes. When she was caught up with everything else.   It’d been at least a decade since she’d given her total and complete attention to a book. Pinching the thickness of the pages in both hands, Jennifer had a nostalgic sense of beginnings; just the sliver of the paperback cover and the first few pages pinched between her fingers… the excitement of so many pages ahead. She remembered that giddiness every time she’d gotten a new Goosebumps book as a child.   Jennifer got lost in the book… until a loud knock startled her back into reality.   The girl who’d checked her in was standing at the door with a serene smile. “They’re waiting for you downstairs,” she said, and on a quick glance over her shoulder, Jennifer saw that it was 6:15.   As she approached the Oak Room door it didn’t take her long to figure out the origin of it’s name. Through the massive, triangular-shaped glass wall that stretched up at least four stories was the leafy top of a giant oak tree awash in golden light. The tree had to be at least 100 years old, judging from the thick trunk. Walking into the large room was like stepping outside. There was even grass on the floor… er… ground.   Though the base of the pyramid shaped room was as big as a high school gym, for some reason all of the chairs and their mostly silent occupants were all squished together in the center of the room… aaaannnd it didn’t look like there were any empty seats left.   Jennifer stopped behind the last row of chairs and mouthed the word “sorry” to the woman facing the group, before she bared her teeth, raised her eyebrows, and winced. She crossed her legs and stood with her hands clasped in the front pocket of her hoodie, avoiding eye contact with several people who glanced back at her.   “Oh good, I didn’t want to start until everyone had arrived,” said the woman in a sickly happy high-pitched tone. She wore a form fitting teal tank top and black leggings on her petite frame, and her blonde hair was twisted into a high 2-tier bun. She waved her hand rapidly saying, “there’s an empty seat up here,” and then she pointed to the front row.   Ugh, that’ll teach me to be late, Jennifer thought as she sped to get out of the spotlight, but once she was sitting down, she was grateful to have the chair. No one likes being the odd one out.   The gratitude only lasted a minute though, because although the tiny teenage girl to her left had unnecessarily scooted over when Jennifer sat down, the man on her right hadn’t budged his man spread knee until she’d wedged her own leg between his and the seat. Even then, he’d only moved an inch, keeping his knee hovering over her personal chair space.   The girl crossed her closest leg over the other, covering the rip in her jeans with a manicured hand. The black nail polish was in stark contrast to her pale skin, and the fine sprinkling of silver glitter in it did little to lessen it.   Jennifer scooted over a bit towards her, but was unable to escape the manspreader’s hovering knee.   “Ok, welcome, for those of you who don’t know,” she looked at Jennifer, “I’m Chris, and this is orientation, but it will also double as our first meditation session, so don’t anyone disappear.” she laughed at herself.   You’d actually have to disappear to escape this room without notice, Jennifer thought, as it was at least a 30-foot trek back to the door. Jennifer hadn’t seen another exit, but she hadn’t had enough time to gawk yet. She wanted to ogle the sunset lit view out the full glass wall she’d only had a chance to glance at upon entry, or up at the strange pyramid peaked ceiling, but there’d be no unrude way to look around this close to Chris… stupid front row seat. Another reason Jennifer liked to arrive to things like this early.   “I know that some of you are here of your own free will, but most of you have been given a court order for one reason or another, and to you I say don’t underestimate the power of your addiction. Yes, you are here to be rehabilitated… digital habits are just as toxic as chemical addictions. And for that reason we take our jobs here very seriously…”   Jennifer tuned Chris out as she squeaked on about rules and consequences… and then suddenly everyone was getting up and moving their chairs. She followed the manspreader’s lead, trailing behind him with her own chair. Everyone put their folded chairs into a number of wooden chests up against the far wall. Then they turned to either side to pull rolled yoga mats from matching wooden cubbies.   She picked a purple one and hustled to find a clear spot at the back of the room. As Jennifer walked through the crowd she noticed that nearly everyone here was a kid. Some might be in their 20s, but most looked they were still in high school. Aside from Chris, Jennifer guessed she was the oldest one here. Apparently 36 was a bit old to have a digital addiction.   Luckily, Jennifer was still flexible enough to cross her legs, unlike the manspreader who was struggling on his mat in front of her as she settled down. He managed to cross his ankles, but his knees wouldn’t go down further than chest level. As he continued to fight with his knees, pushing them down, only to have them bounce back up again, Jennifer felt a giggle rising up in her throat and attempted to stop it. She pressed her lips together and clamped a hand over her face, but this only forced the giggle through her nose AND through her lips in what, all together, ended up sounding like a squeaky face fart.   Jennifer suddenly felt eyes on her, and she let her face go lax and casually glanced around the room. Well if anyone was looking at her, they weren’t now; so she examined the young people, mostly girls – she noticed, around her, feeling proud that she could still twist herself into such a position.   “Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes,” Chris started, and Jennifer did so as a soothing chime resonated for several long seconds.   There was shuffling in front of her and Jennifer opened one eye to see that the manspreader had risen and was making his way to the wall, presumably to find a comfortable position on no less than three chairs. He turned around to face the room and looked directly at her as he unfolded, and then lowered himself onto a chair.   Jennifer closed her eye quickly, feeling the heat rise up into her cheeks. He’d definitely caught her staring. And she was probably glaring at him too, unintentionally, of course. She had one of those faces – what had her friend called it? Something bitch face… oh yeah, resting bitch face. She could only imagine what resting bitch face looked like with a one-eyed glare. Probably not very friendly.   Chris’s words brought her back to the present. “Focus on your breath. Pay attention to how your body feels as you breathe in… and out.”   Am I breathing normally? Jennifer wondered. She thought she noticed her heart rate going down as she slowed her breaths.   “It’s completely normal to have thoughts enter into our meditation, hear them and let them go… observe your thoughts, and as soon as you recognize them, remind yourself to come back to your breathing, focus on your inhale… and follow it through your body as you exhale… and repeat.”   Chris was silent for a few seconds.   Jennifer exhaled and wondered how long this meditation was going to last. She should definitely post an Instagram photo of this; no one would ever believe she’d sat still for longer than 5 minutes. How long had it been anyway? She should ask once they were finished so that she could have an accurate number to add to her caption… and then Jennifer realized an Instagram photo was not going to happen. She mentally smacked her palm against her forehead.   “Let your thoughts move on,” Chris suddenly reminded her, “and come back to your breath.”   Okay… Jennifer thought, breathe in, breath out… oh my god, my foot is totally asleep. How much longer are we going to sit here? She opened an eye again and glanced around without moving her head. No one else seemed uncomfortable, and she didn’t want to disrupt the silence by shuffling around.   She switched eyes and looked towards the wall. The manspreader wasn’t even trying. He was slouched against the wall, one hand on his crotch, knees spread to the max, and when her eyes finally traveled up his body, she saw that his eyes were open, a bored expression on his face. He was looking at Chris, whose own eyes were closed as she continued to breathe deeply.   Jennifer glanced back at the manspreader, but this time he was aiming his intense gaze directly at her. She automatically snapped her eye shut and winced; she’d been caught staring at him twice now. Oh. My. God. Stop looking at this guy. He probably thinks I’m a creepy cougar, Jennifer thought, but she quickly corrected herself. I’m too young to be a cougar.   “Now we’re going to do something that may be a bit uncomfortable,” Chris said, and there was a mysterious edge to her voice. “Think of an embarrassing moment… something from your childhood maybe… something that not many people in your life now would know about.”   Jennifer was immediately transported to a college classroom. She’d gotten high, maybe a little higher than she should’ve gotten, right before class. Usually it was the audience type of learning experience versus the participation kind… Jennifer took care to categorize her classes this way to make sure she didn’t get caught in a weed driven social anxiety attack, but Professor Brinkley must’ve been experimenting that day. He’d decided to have his students take turns reading aloud… only one paragraph at a time, but the text was dense with unfamiliar four and five syllable words that Jennifer had no idea how to pronounce.   As the student in front of her started to read, Jennifer quickly read ahead, trying to prepare herself for her turn. She’d internally sighed with relief when she was finished, but then the girl in front of her had gone on… she was reading the paragraph Jennifer was supposed to read. She had become frozen with shock, and suddenly it was her turn, and she was totally unprepared.   Jennifer had stumbled through the text, gripping both sides of the desk to stop her hands from shaking. She’d sounded out at least three unknown words as if she were a second-grader, then she proceeded to butcher even the parts of the English language she did know.   Jennifer couldn’t look up in the silence that followed. No one laughed or snickered… it was an uncomfortable, pitying silence, which was confirmed with the professor’s elongated, “ooookaaay.”   The heartbeat in her ears hadn’t relented its pounding until three students later.   She’d often wondered what her classmates had thought of her that day. Jennifer would be perfectly fine with the truth: she’d gotten stupidly high… but she feared it was more likely that they thought stupid was her default setting.   “Now, it’s time to forgive yourself.” Chris’s voice intruded into the memory, “step into your past as the present version of you, older, more experienced, and bring love to the child you used to be. Give that child a hug, tell them it’s ok, tell them you forgive them, tell them that you love them. See the expression on their face when they experience this forgiveness and love. Ok, it’s now time to come back to the present moment.”   Jennifer opened her eyes slowly, and unfolded her twisted legs even slower. She’d definitely need to sit there for a few minutes to let the blood flow reach her foot; to make sure the pins and needles had run their course before she tried to walk. Jennifer pretended to stretch as everyone around her began to rise, and intentionally avoided looking up, terrified of somehow being pulled back into the manspreader’s gaze again.   Chris directed everyone to the dining hall and a soft chatter filled the air and faded away behind Jennifer as the crowd left the room.   “Not as easy as it looks, is it?” A deep voice asked, and a hand reached down to her. It was the manspreader standing over her. Looking past his hand into his face, Jennifer noticed that, though he was dressed like a teenager in a white hoodie and jeans, he was a lot older than she’d realized. Maybe even older than her.   Jennifer took his hand and let him pull her to her feet, which still felt a little tingly. He held onto her hand at the end of the gesture combining it into a handshake and said, “Matt.”   “Jennifer,” she said with a tight smile.   “You a workaholic?” he asked.   “No… I don’t think so…” Jennifer said, “why?”   “Oh… I just assumed… wait. You’re not here on a court order are you?” He asked and amusement shone in his hazel gaze.   “Yeah, actually, I am.” Jennifer said shortly. And with that she turned her back to him and marched toward the dining hall.   When she smelled the tomato-sauce-drenched main course, she grabbed an apple and a banana and made her way back to the double doors, intending to eat and read back in her room. But manspreader, Matt, stepped in front of her, blocking the way.   “You want to join me for dinner?” he asked, an empty tray in one hand.   “I was actually going to go eat in my room,” Jennifer said, a hint of irritation in her voice. What was with this guy? Her earlier embarrassment around him was quickly being replaced with annoyance at his boldness.   “Ok, well, I just wanted to apologize if I offended you before… it wasn’t intentional.”   “Ok.” She said. But he was still blocking her way out. Should she walk around him?   “Sorry.” He said.   “It’s fine.” But it wasn’t fine, Jennifer thought, it was none of his business.   And then he finally stepped away, saying, “Ok, I guess I’ll see you later.”   But Jennifer didn’t answer him as she hurried out the door and back to the comfort of her room.   She read her book until her eyes were so heavy she got stuck in a loop, reading the same paragraph again and again in between bouts of wakefulness, until she finally gave up.   The next thing she knew she was sitting straight up in bed, heart thudding, her skin tacky with sweat. She’d had a nightmare, she realized… thank god it was just that. Jennifer had woken up just before she’d hit someone, someone else, she thought as she recalled the dream woman’s fear-twisted face through the rain-smeared windshield. She’d had a yellow umbrella and it had cast her skin in a shade of jaundice.   Jennifer didn’t see it happen, but the sense of speed and lack of control as she’d dropped the phone, gripped the wheel and punched the brake pedal to the floor… it made her almost certain that the hit had to be fatal.   Was this the Universe trying to warn her? Trying to make her take her “crime” more seriously? Not cool, Universe, not cool.   She let herself fall back into the pillow, which was now damp and cold and not at all comforting. The EHH, EHH, EHH of the alarm clock jarred her upright again, and once she could finally figure out how to shut the archaic thing up, Jennifer let out a long sigh. She thought of how, if she’d had her phone, she’d be woken up gently as a harp played, slowly increasing in volume as it went. She groaned as she got up; there wasn’t much time to get ready before her 1-on-1 with Chris.   Jennifer brushed her teeth furiously with one hand as she pulled socks off with the other, hopping a couple times to keep from losing her balance. The contrast of blonde on black automatically drew her gaze away from her brown eyes, and she sighed through her nose so as to avoid spewing toothpaste everywhere. She couldn’t even afford to buy a cheap bottle of dye, not unless she wanted to add to her already Everest high mountain of debt, and the pink had long since faded from her short dreadlocks.   Jennifer hadn’t taken a single selfie since… she’d thought about going with black and white photos, tried every filter there was, but nothing looked right alongside the colorful art in her feed; too off-brand.   Luckily, she didn’t have the time to dwell on it. She rinsed, spit, turned away from her reflection and its reminder of all her problems, and got in the shower.   Fifteen minutes later, Jennifer passed into Chris’s office with her clothes clinging to her still damp skin, but at least she wasn’t late, she affirmed to herself as she glanced at the clock. It was 7:29, one minute to spare.   Office was a formal word for the comfy, brightly colored room. There was no desk, no file cabinets, and it was as if a box of markers had thrown up on the walls. The glossy white walls were floor to ceiling dry erase boards, and they were almost completely covered in writing and drawings. Here and there were rectangular patches of black chalkboard paint, which were equally scribbled upon in pale pastels. An L-shaped couch, a love seat, and a few chairs were arranged in a circle that surrounded a bunch of beanbag chairs on the floor. The room looked more suited to a teenage hangout than an office. Jennifer took a seat on a vibrantly green, velvety soft sofa.   “How are you settling in Jennifer?” Chris asked from her seat on a hot pink chair; hers was equally velvety looking. Her hands were laid one atop the other in her lap.   “Well, my wake up wasn’t fun, but aside from that… fine.” Jennifer knew that no digital devices were allowed on the premises, but she’d thought for sure that an exception would be made for the people who ran this place. But even if not, shouldn’t Chris at least have a notebook, a folder to reference… something?   “Yes, you had quite the nightmare, didn’t you?”   “No,” Jennifer said, her gaze scanning above Chris’s head to a long, twisting, Chinese-style dragon drawn in red, “it wasn’t the nightmare I was talking about, it was the alarm cl—wait,” she interrupted herself, her eyes darting back to Chris, “How did you know about my nightmare? Are there hidden cameras in my room?”   “No, there are no cameras in your room,” said Chris, “along with being immoral, that would also be illegal.”   “Then… how did you know about my nightmare?”   “The same way I know about the manspreader.” Chris smiled broadly and raised her eyebrows expectantly.   “Who?” Jennifer began to mentally retrace the past 24 hours, but she couldn’t remember saying that aloud to anyone. Had she secretly been hypnotized during the meditation, caught muttering her inside jokes aloud?   “Hypnotism is something we can do here,” Chris responded, unprompted, “but I assure you, you have not been hypnotized.”   Chris paused for a moment, as if to let that sink in. Jennifer was stunned into silence.   “I hope you’ll forgive my intrusion,” Chris continued, “unfortunately, it’s the only way I’ve found to get through to most people… do you know why you’re here Jennifer?”   “Because it was this or lose my license.”   “Yes… that’s true. You’ve got three counts of texting and driving on your record… but I’m not asking you about your crime Jennifer, I’m asking if you know what you’ve come here to learn. Any idea?”   “How to promise I won’t do it again?… and mean it, since you apparently can read my mind.”   “Let’s go about this a different way. What have you experienced since you last had your phone?”   “I’ve felt… lost. Like something’s missing. Like I’m missing something.” Jennifer paused, but Chris nodded for her to continue. “I feel out of the loop. Disconnected.”   “Yes! You feel disconnected, and rightfully so. You know, smartphones have only been around for the past couple of decades, and in that time we’ve somehow conditioned ourselves to be completely reliant on them for our connection to everything.”   Jennifer couldn’t dispute that. The past day had been a challenge to say the least. She nodded.   Chris went on, “but what if I told you that you could be trained to connect to others, to this world, to this Universe, in ways that you could never imagine… in ways that would make your phone seem subpar?”   “What, you want to teach me how to read minds?” Jennifer asked doubtfully.   “You already know how to connect to others, you’ve had at least one big hit since you’ve been here.”   “What do you mean?”   “That wasn’t just a nightmare, Jennifer, it was a memory… someone else’s memory.”   Jennifer thought back to her dream. It was a bit fuzzier now, but she could still recall most of it: the phone in her hand, white screen blazing in the dimly lit interior, though the words she’d read were totally lost now, and the yellow-skinned woman with wide eyes. But wait… Jennifer went back to the phone in her hand… had it been her hand? Had it been her car? It was hard to tell. It’d been dark.   “Whose memory?”   “Well that wouldn’t be very fun, now would it?” Chris said with a smirk. “You’re here for a month, you’ll have plenty of time to figure it out.”   Jennifer headed to the dining hall after that. She walked through the food line in a daze, trying to remember the details of her nightmare. Could it really be a memory? Jennifer would’ve found that hard to believe before her strange encounter with Chris, but she also would’ve thrown mindreading into the same box; passing it off as just another sci-fi element, along with teleportation and time travel. There was no doubt, though. Unless Jennifer was truly losing it, there was no other explanation for Chris knowing about her dream… or the fact that she had internally nicknamed the manspreader.   Speak of the spreader himself, as Jennifer was exiting the line he was waving her over to his table. Her impulse was to pretend she hadn’t seen him and return to her room like she had last night, but she had so many questions about this place now, and maybe some of these other digi detoxees could answer them. At least this time he wasn’t alone, the ripped jeans girl who’d sat on the other side of her in the Oak room was at the table too.   Jennifer took a deep breath and headed toward them. “Hey,” she said with a forced smile she hoped didn’t look it. “Matt right?” she started, looking at the manspreader, but she didn’t wait for him to answer before she shifted her gaze to the girl, “I didn’t get your name.”   “Karen,” the girl said, extending her hand. Her long, almost black, hair was shiny, sleek, and straight. With her bangs, the way it hung was like a three-sided picture frame around her face, all hard edges and contrast.   “Jennifer.” She shook the girl’s hand over the table, and noticed that the black nail polish from yesterday had been replaced with fire engine red.   “We were just talking about Karen’s 1-on-1,” Matt said, “did you have yours yet?”   “Yeah, just before I came here,” Jennifer said, “wasn’t exactly what I’d expected.”   “Me neither, but the idea that we’ve somehow stumbled upon a school for psychic development makes it so much more interesting. Don’t you think?” Karen asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “I mean if going through this detox is mandatory, we may as well get something useful out of it. I’m actually excited now.”   “I mean it’d be cool, I’m not debating that… but do you think it’s even possible?” Matt countered. “I’m not entirely convinced.”   “I wasn’t either, at first,” Karen said, “but Chris knew things… she knew things I’ve never told anyone.”   “Like what?” Matt asked, a smirk on his face.   “Chris knowing is bad enough, I’m sure as hell not telling you.” Karen said looking at him like she had a bad taste in her mouth. After a pause she started again, “But, I will say that I think that whole embarrassing moment thing she made us do during the meditation was a way for her to get material.”   “Material?” Jennifer said.   “Yeah, you know, to prove this shit to us.” Karen explained.   “Well that’s not gonna work on me,” Matt replied, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest, “I couldn’t think of anything embarrassing. I was barely able to focus on meditating in the first place.”   “Well you’ll see,” Karen said assuredly, “when you go to your 1-on-1.”   Matt only shrugged and switched his gaze. “What about you, Jennifer?” he asked.   “I guess I’m still trying to absorb all of this.” She paused to eat a spoonful of bland oatmeal. She’d piled brown sugar on top and mixed it in, but barely tasted it. “My inner skeptic is still trying to convince me there’s a reasonable explanation for what just happened; but she’s having trouble finding one.”   “Yeah,” Matt agreed, “like maybe our friends and family are in on some elaborate practical joke?”   “But there’s no way,” Jennifer was shaking her head. “Chris was reading the thoughts in my head as I was thinking them.”   “Yeah, she did the same thing to me.” Karen said. “Look, I’m not saying I’m entirely convinced we’ll be able to do this mind reading thing anytime soon. But I have no doubt that Chris has some crazy skills… makes total sense now why we have to be here for so long… but yeah, I’m willing to give it a go. Think of what we could do.”   “Yeah…” Matt’s smirk returned, wider than ever, “Well I guess only time will tell.”   They were all quiet for awhile as they finished eating.   “Hey we still have an hour until the next group meeting,” Matt said. “Who’s up for a walk?”   “I’m down,” said Karen quickly, “the weather’s supposed to be gorgeous today.”   Matt and Karen both looked at Jennifer expectantly. “Ok, you’ve convinced me,” she said on a sigh.   “Well don’t let us twist your arm,” Matt said, but he smiled.   “No, I could use the fresh air, and who knows, this could be the last of the nice weather, we should definitely take advantage of it.”   ***   Matt was much taller than Karen and Jennifer, and he stopped several times to let them catch up to him before he found their pace. It was still a bit chilly out, but the sun on their backs was comfortably warm, and grew warmer as it rose.   “So, Karen,” Matt began, “you said earlier that this is mandatory for you…” he glanced at her before continuing, “care to indulge our curiosity.”   Karen shrugged. “Sure, I’ve got nothing to hide. It’s kinda stupid actually. Long story short, I got my three strikes and here I am. But it’s impossible not to text and drive when most of your “driving,” she used air quotes, “is actually idling in dead stopped traffic, ya know? Plus, I can’t do my job without my phone, I’m an Uber driver… so in reality, I never actually texted anyone. My dash mount broke and I had an unlucky week with cops, what can I say? What about you?”   So apparently Karen was older than she looked too, because Jennifer was pretty sure you had to be at least 21 to be an Uber driver.   “I checked myself in voluntarily,” Matt said, “but not until after I had a wake up call.” He paused for two or three paces, then continued on a bit reluctantly. “I’m kind of a workaholic. I was driving out to dinner after a late night at work, it was raining, pouring actually, and I was waiting for an important email. My phone went off, and it was just so automatic the way I grabbed for it… anyway, I took one hand off the wheel at the same time I hit a stretch of deep water. I dropped the phone as soon as I started hydroplaning, but it happened so fast, and before I had both hands on the wheel again I’d already done a 180 and was flying off the road. The next thing I knew I’d slammed sideways into a tree.”   “Wow,” Jennifer stopped walking, “were you hurt?”   “Not at all, but I can’t stop myself from wondering what could’ve happened if there was another car nearby… what if I’d hurt someone else? Killed someone? And all because of a stupid email? I’d never be able to forgive myself.”   “Well, you didn’t,” Karen gave Matt a friendly pat on the back, “and you’re here to make sure it doesn’t happen again, right? So don’t worry about it.”   Matt nodded and they started walking again. The path they’d taken looped around a large pond, and they were nearly back to where they’d started again.   “I worry about the same thing,” Jennifer broke the silence. She hadn’t planned on airing out her own skid marks, but Matt’s unexpected vulnerability made Jennifer feel like she owed it to him to be honest herself. “Though… I have to admit I don’t think it has anything to do with needing to digitally detox.” Jennifer started, she was about to bring up the nightmare since that was the main instigator of her recent fears, but she quickly decided against it. If that nightmare was a memory like Chris said, it most likely belonged to someone here, and who was she to tell someone else’s story. Plus, it had an uncomfortable number of similarities to Matt’s story. Could that be a coincidence? Was her dream off? Was he hiding part of the story?   “I actually did hit someone.” Jennifer admitted, and Matt and Karen both stopped simultaneously to turn toward her. “He was fine,” she quickly continued, a bit defensively, “but the fact is, it would’ve happened whether I had my phone with me or not.” Jennifer could probably squeeze between the two of them and keep walking, and that was what she wanted to do most, but she also didn’t want it to look like she was hiding anything either, so she stopped too.   “I was pulling out of this gas station. It’s on a busy road, so you can’t make a left there, but there’s a yield sign to go right. Sometimes you get lucky and catch a gap in traffic when the light down the road changes, but most of the time you have to sit there and wait.” Jennifer paused here as if her audience needed time to paint the scene in their heads. “So I was waiting and waiting, and my phone went off; it was a text from my friend checking on my ETA, so I tapped the screen to read it. Then I told Siri to text her back that I was on my way. I looked to the left and saw there was finally a gap I could cut into, I hit the gas as the last car was passing in front of me, but as I turned my head to face forward there was something in front of me, and I slammed on my brakes to stop from hitting it. But it was too late. My car jerked forward a couple of feet and stopped, and suddenly there was a man in front of me sprawled in the road.   “I tried to help him, but he got up all on his own before I could make it to him. He was furious, waving his arms at me, screaming that he saw me looking down at my phone. He called the police. And sure enough, they believed him as soon as they saw the time on my last text matched the time he’d reported the accident. It didn’t help that I already had a couple of texting and driving tickets on my record.   “What pisses me off the most though is that I was trying to do better! I got one of those stupid mounts so I could be ‘hands free’ and I hadn’t typed out a single text since my last ticket. And I wasn’t even driving!!!” Jennifer took a moment to breathe away her fury.   “Plus,” she continued in a much calmer voice, “I’ve turned out of that parking lot so many times. I never look right. There’s not even a shoulder on that road. It’s not the kind of road you should be out taking a stroll on. So I’m sure I would’ve hit him anyway.”   Karen was suddenly laughing, “So,” she started, but she was cracking up and couldn’t spit out the words. “So,” she said again once she could get control over herself, “you mean to tell me that guy saw you NOT look at him and decided to walk in front of your car anyway?” Again, laughter burst out of her, and Matt and Jennifer couldn’t help but be infected by it, letting out a few of their own chuckles.   “Yeah,” Jennifer said starting to catch a bit of Karen’s contagious laughter, “probably not his brightest moment.”   “That guy wouldn’t last two seconds in the city.” Karen said with a shake of her head.   Matt was chuckling a bit now too, though Jennifer could tell he was trying not to. “We are such assholes for laughing about this.”   “Why?” Karen said, “It’s not like he died… of anything other than embarrassment, maybe.”   “Ya know, that’s probably so true,” Jennifer said, “I never said it at the time, but I thought he was totally overreacting. I mean, if he had the energy to jump up and wave his arms around at me the way he was…” Jennifer was laughing again. “I’ve seen toddlers with less energetic temper tantrums.”   The laughter and the rest of their walk wound down as the trio reached the end of the trail. The paved pathway spread out into a parking lot before them.   “Just in time,” Matt said, glancing at his watch, “we have 10 minutes until our next group meeting.”   “Perfect,” said Karen, “I’m gonna grab something from my car quick, and run it over to my room.” She veered to the left towards a bright red Mazda RX8 and opened the passenger side door.   Something about the car was familiar to Jennifer, but with the only eye-catching paint job in a lot full of neutral blacks, whites, and silvers, she assumed she must’ve noticed it when she pulled in yesterday.   “You can use that for Uber?” Matt asked. “I thought all of their cars needed to have four doors.”   “Well, technically it has four doors,” Karen said as she reached in behind the seat and pulled open a surprise back door. “But you’re right, this is my personal car, and not at all Uber-approved, which is good, because if anyone threw up in this car, I’d be pissed.” She grabbed a small storage container out of the back seat and gently bumped both doors closed with her hip.   As Karen got closer Jennifer recognized the case’s colorful contents. “That’s a lot of nail polish!”   “Yeah, well, we’ve got a lot of time to kill,” Karen shot back, glancing at Jennifer’s nails as she did, “oooooohhhwww, you’ve got some blank canvases for me.” She raised her eyebrows in question.   “If you really want to,” Jennifer agreed half-heartedly, “I mean, there’s not much there—”   “Oh please, help a girl out,” Karen pleaded, “I’m doing my own daily, and it doesn’t take up nearly as much time as I need it to.”   “Ok,” Jennifer chuckled. Internally she wondered how she was going to keep from poisoning herself the next time she unconsciously bit her nails.   “You think we scared the big guy off?” Karen asked, and Jennifer noticed that Matt had somehow gotten ahead of them. He was already pulling open the glass doors some 50 feet ahead of them.   “Maybe… but he doesn’t seem like the type to scare easily,” Jennifer replied.   “I’m sure I could fix that with one ride.” Karen winked.   “I hope you’re talking about a ride in your car.”   “Of course! What kind of girl do you think I am?” As Karen made her way across the wide open lobby toward her room, she giggled in a way that made Jennifer wonder.   A few minutes later they’d joined the rest of the group in the Oak Room and were once again preparing themselves for another guided meditation.   When Matt tried to slink back to his comfort zone against the wall, Chris followed him. She gently pulled him to his feet, lifted the chair he’d been sitting on, and folded it. She looked up at him, paused. Matt had a shit-eating grin on his face. They were too far away to hear, but in a flash Matt’s forehead furrowed in shocked confusion, holding his mouth open like the shit had fallen right out. Chris turned around, bringing the chair closer to the group. She had a serene smile on her lips, but her eyes wore a cockier expression, like they were screaming “HA! Gotcha!”   “Does anyone want to go get something warmer to wear?” she addressed the group as she pulled a sweatshirt on over her tank and returned to her mat. “Once the sun’s gone it’ll get pretty chilly in here.”   A few people looked upward to the endlessly blue sky that shone through the clear panes above, but nobody moved from their seats.   The pyramid shaped room was basically a green house and Jennifer was grateful for the toasty temperature. Although it was comfortable outside while Jennifer was walking, once she’d slowed down in the parking lot, any hint of a breeze had bit into her skin.   “Anyone?” Chris tried again, but still no one budged from their seats. “Ok, then let’s begin, shall we?” She gave her tiny bell a tap and a familiar chiming vibrated through the large space for several seconds.   Chris led the group to focus on their breathing as she did before, and after a few minutes of that she guided them into full relaxation. “Notice how the top of your head feels, relax your scalp. Feel any tension in your face… and let it go. Let the skin on your forehead go slack, relax your cheeks, your jaw…” and she went on to bring attention to every bit of Jennifer’s tense body. Odd how you didn’t even realize your jaw was clenched until someone told you to unclench it, Jennifer thought. By the time Chris had reached her toes, Jennifer was so relaxed she felt like her skin had melted off; but in a good way.   “Focus on the sounds seeping into your ears,” Chris said softly, “let the noise gradually get louder, until you start to recognize it…”   The orangey glow that’d shown through Jennifer’s closed eyelids gradually faded to black. At the same time the staticky sound of nothing grew louder until she knew what it was. Rain. Jennifer opened her eyes to confirm it. The blue above had been replaced by a dark gray and it was pouring.   Only Chris still had her eyes closed, everyone else was looking up in wonder. Jennifer hugged herself and rubbed her arms as the temperature quickly dropped.   Without opening her eyes, Chris said, “I warned you that it would get chilly.” Then, after a pause, “Well I guess we’re done meditating for now,” she said and finally opened her eyes to look at everyone in front of her.   The group broke for lunch and afterwards, Chris divided them up. Most everyone had taken the opportunity to bundle themselves up before returning to the chilly, gray Oak Room, but it turned out that only half of them would be needing the extra clothing.   As Chris directed them all to form two neat lines, Jennifer felt like she was back in elementary school about to march out to recess. She was at the back of the line, Karen stood in front of her, and Matt towered in the next spot. But that’s where the nostalgia ended, as Chris instructed the group to turn sideways to face the opposing line. There just so happened to be an even amount of people in the room, and Chris told them all to pair off with the person directly in front of them.   Jennifer was mildly disappointed, as she seemed to already be losing her recently found companionship with this forced partnering. She walked toward the blonde girl across from her and offered a weak half smile. Jennifer was trying to be warm, but she had a feeling her face was suggesting more of a well-I-guess-I-don’t-have-a-say-in-this look. It was the same kind of smile one of two team leaders in a high school gym class might give you when it’s his turn to pick and you’re the last one standing.   “Hi,” Jennifer tried to warm up her smile as she extended a hand to the girl, “I’m Jennifer.” The girl reminded her of Baby Spice, minus the slutty attire and pigtails.   “Emma,” she said quietly.   No way, Jennifer thought, wasn’t that Baby Spice’s real name? She wished for the instant gratification of a quick Google, and she wondered if she’d ever stop wanting to Google and Instagram things every hour on the hour.   The brief introduction was all they had time for, though, because Chris was already separating them again. Those who were from Emma’s line were directed to make themselves comfortable beneath the oak tree, while Jennifer, Karen, Matt, and the rest of their group followed Chris back to her teen hangout of an office.   When they walked in the room seemed brighter than it had been earlier, and at a second glance, Jennifer realized it was because the shiny, white walls had been wiped clean.   “Take a seat for now,” Chris said as she spread her arms out and stepped to the side.   “We’re going to do a mini-meditation.” She continued as Jennifer planted herself beside Karen on the velvety green couch. “By now, your partners have been given their own instructions… to send you a message. Your job is to receive that message.”   A few people were exchanging skeptically raised eyebrows, one guy rolled his eyes shaking his head slowly back and forth, someone nearby shrugged their shoulders at him and returned their attention to Chris, who was making her way to an empty beanbag chair towards the room’s center. She practically fell into it on one arm, stretched herself out like a cat, and crossed her ankles.   “Before we begin, I just want you all to know that you can feel free to get up at any time. These messages can be fleeting, and as soon as you sense something, I encourage you to note it on the walls.”   Everyone started looking around the room, a couple with confused looks on their faces. “They’re dry erase boards,” Chris clarified before anyone could ask, “you’ll find markers scattered around, take your pick. Any words, images, shapes, feelings, sounds… anything that comes to you, make sure to record it on the wall. This is a way to communicate more than it’s a test of your artistic capabilities… so please don’t hold back. We welcome chicken scratch and stick figures.”   Chris paused as she looked around the room with a smirk on her face, and Jennifer wondered if she might be waiting for her audience to laugh. “Any questions?” she finally asked.   Jennifer had a few: Are you serious right now? How do you expect us to do that exactly? Is this for real, or have I somehow found myself in an American accented episode of Black Mirror?, but they all came out sounding incredulous in her mind, so she remained silent.   When no one uttered a word, Chris went on, “Close your eyes and clear your mind by focusing on your breath, like we’ve been doing, and once you’re relaxed, bring your attention to your partner. Imagine them sitting in the grass beneath the Oak tree, you’re standing in front of them, you look down at your hands and notice that they’re semi-transparent; you’re in the Oak Room in spirit.” Chris quickened her pace, “now merge into your partner, become one with them, feel what they’re feeling, hear what they’re hearing…”   Despite the energy in Chris’s voice, it seemed to be getting more distant in Jennifer’s ears, and suddenly she heard another voice… it was slightly familiar, but she couldn’t place it. “Imagine them in your mind’s eye, whisper your message, whisper your message, whisper your message…” but now that voice was fading away too, and Jennifer was sitting down on top Emma, falling into her body—   A red umbrella, it’s handle up in the air, flashed into Jennifer’s mind, and though she saw no hand holding it steady, it was balanced perfectly like a non-spinning top. And before she even knew what she was doing, Jennifer found herself at the board drawing what she’d seen. When she was done, she was embarrassed to see several sets of eyes staring at her curiously. She quickly made her way back to the couch, noting on the way that nobody else had drawn a thing… Jennifer’s upside-down umbrella was the only image that graced the walls.   “Very good,” Chris mouthed to her, and then out loud, “I’m going to give you 5 more minutes to focus on the message your partners are sending you, and then I’m going to ask you all to doodle your findings on the board… whether or not you think you’ve received anything.”   Someone sighed loudly, frustrated. Jennifer let out her own sigh; though hers was one of relief.   As everyone else focused with furrowed brows, Jennifer reimagined the experience she’d just had. It was a strange thing to admit, but this vivid umbrella had felt like it’d come from outside of her. She’d always had a vivid imagination, could create and see things in her mind’s eye… but she couldn’t trace this ‘vision’ – for lack of a better term – back through any stream of consciousness that’d come from her own thoughts. It was like a unicorn darting out from a herd of elephants.   “Ok,” Chris called out, “time’s up. Whether you think you have answers or not, go on, grab some markers and head to a clean space on the wall.”   A chorus of sighs and groans sounded as everyone stood and trudged over to the boards.   “You haven’t failed yet, so don’t make assumptions,” Chris said, “just write or draw the first thing that pops into your head. This is your first attempt at something you’ve probably never done before, and just like with any other skill, some of you will find your strengths in different areas. We’re all like radios, and you’ll find that you tune into certain stations more easily than others. Right now we’re just experimenting with the dial to see what we can pick up on.”   Karen had a blue marker and was rapidly scribbling a manifesto in tiny letters. Jennifer couldn’t read any of it from her spot on the couch. Next to Karen, Matt was adding pigtails to one of the 5 stick figures he’d drawn. A few others were adding their own embellishments to the wall, but more than half of the class stood stationary in front of a blank space.   “Don’t think about it,” Chris said to those paralyzed people, and she snapped her fingers as she went on, “first thing you think right now, put it on the board. We’re just playing a game here. There’s no penalty for a wrong answer. The only way you can fail here is if you don’t try.” That finally got the few remaining stragglers to add their own hasty additions in an effort to return to their seats quickly.   “Good job everyone.” Chris made eye contact with each and every person in the room before she finally dismissed them to lunch. Apparently they’d be going over their work once they’d reassembled later that afternoon. Jennifer looked forward to that with a mixed sense of excitement and dread, like she was just cresting the peak of the tallest point on a rollercoaster, waiting for the inevitable drop.   Karen looped her arm around Jennifer’s and leaned into her, “if we hurry up and eat we’ll have enough time to do our nails before the next meet,” she whispered conspiratorially.   ***   “So what was all that you were writing on the board?” Jennifer asked as she stretched her arm out to Karen.   Karen applied a mauve polish to Jennifer’s pointer finger in three quick, neat strokes and moved on to her middle finger. Without looking up she said, “The lyrics to a song that was running through my head.”   “What song?”   “Let it Go.”   “From Frozen?”   “Yup.” She was already done painting the nails on Jennifer’s right hand, and reached out for her left.   “Do you think that has anything to do with your partner’s ‘message?’ ”   “I dunno.” Then after a pause and another couple of painted fingernails, “but I guess we’ll find out,” Karen said finishing off on Jennifer’s pinky and finally looking up. She shrugged. “The real question is,” she said as she rummaged through her box of polish and pulled out a trio of bottles, one after the other, and laid them out on the bedspread in between them, “Red Red Wine, Lotus, or Garnet Star?”   Jennifer hunched over and squinted at them, the hues were nearly indiscernible in the dim indoor light. “What’s wrong with the color you have on now?” she asked as she picked them up and twisted to get a better look beneath the lampshaded light.   “Uh, they’re chipped,” Karen said, in a way that implied Jennifer was a bit thick, and thrust her ring finger towards her to prove it.   Again, Jennifer found herself in a game of find the difference searching Karen’s pristine nail for a defect. Finally she noticed a minuscule amount of missing polish on one corner of her squarely shaped nails. “Ahh,” Jennifer said, returning her gaze to the trio of dark purpley reddish colors in her hand. “This may seem like a dumb question, but, why not just paint over the chip? Or just redo that one nail?”   “I mean I might in a pinch, if I had somewhere to be,” Karen snorted, “but what else do we have to do?”   Jennifer nodded and handed her the color labeled “Lotus.” All three colors were too dark in Jennifer’s opinion, but that one was a shade brighter than the others.   As Karen silently began scrubbing at her nails with a cotton ball, Jennifer blew on her own nails, contemplating whether or not she should pursue the topic further. Karen seemed completely uninterested in the strange exercise they’d just performed, as if they’d just come out of a math class where they were learning obvious facts like two plus two equals four, and it was all mundane enough to be forgotten. But Jennifer had experienced something profound; something unexplainable. She’d had an out of body experience. She’d had a vivid vision! Like she was straight out of the pages of some supernatural thriller, playing the role of the reluctant psychic being drawn into a murder mystery. Even though the validity of what she’d seen had yet to be officially confirmed, Jennifer held a strange certainty that it would be.   [Conclusion:]   Don’t worry, my friends, there’s much more to come. If you’re listening to this in the week that it goes live, you can expect Part 2 of Disconnected next week. If you’re listening to this from the future, it’s you’re lucky day, and you can dive into Part 2 right now!   Thank you to Sean Howard for inspiring me with your art and for your generosity in sharing it with us as this podcast’s cover art. Please, please, please, check that out when you get a minute, and visit Sean over at fableandfolly.com to discover new fiction podcasts. I’d recommend you check the show notes to find a link to the rest of Sean’s Levitation series, too, I promise you won’t be sorry!   Much love goes to my Patrons Jennifer, Matt, Karen, and Chris whose continued support for this show is much appreciated. Words seem a dim representation for my gratitude, but I hope you all know that it’s there in a big way.   I have a bit more to share about the kind people my characters were named after at the end of Part 2, but for now, it’s time for me to get crackin’ so I don’t leave ya’ll hangin’ for too long.   I’ll be bok, I hope you’ll hear me there!

The series on boundaries continues … with a super swan dive into why some situations need boundaries and some don’t. Jenn and Karen drill down on the idea of “need” versus “want” and the whole sense of obligation dealy. Added bonus: Jenn shares a personal story to highlight the whole shebang. As Karen says, it will have you on the edge of your seat.

Hear why stories are the secret to your success As humans, we are all storytellers. That’s what people do. Our brains take the information they receive and create stories to make sense of it. By the time you are in your late 20s, you pretty much have created your own story, and changing that “reality” is very difficult. You only "see" what your brain tells you fits with your own story. And usually, you are the hero in that story. When a friend introduced me to Karen Dietz, a pioneer in business storytelling, I was thrilled at the opportunity to share her with you. Karen shares with us her wisdom, and also her own story. Listen in, then think about your own story and ask yourself if it needs changing for today's times? Karen and myself: remarkably similar journeys  Karen and I both had academic backgrounds and migrated into business: myself, to apply the methods and tools of anthropology to help companies change. Karen, to apply her knowledge of storytelling and folklore in business settings, helping organizations understand their origin myths, capture the power of their internal folklore, and better match internal stories with those communicated by their customers about them. As Karen tells us, transformational storytelling can help you change your world, or at least better understand how your world is changing. There is no better time than now to understand why stories are so important and are the secret to our success. Storytelling is key to who we are as a species There is great research that shows how humans have evolved over thousands of years because of our unique ability to communicate different realities, share complex ideas, and craft stories that bond us together into like-minded cultures. Think about your own story and that of the family members you live with, as well as the story of the folks you work with. Is it the story you want? Is it time to step out and think about that story through a fresh lens? Maybe it is even time to change the story, and the reality that it presumes to convey. During times of change, like these, your story might be out of step with what it needs to become to enable you to thrive. Give it a shot. See what you can create and then live that new story for a better, happier, more productive reality. About Karen Dietz Dr. Karen Dietz is not only a leader in transformational business storytelling but also one of the veterans in the field. In 2013, Wiley publishing company recruited Karen for its Dummies series. Her book, "Business Storytelling for Dummies," became a bestseller within a year. Karen is also featured in eight books on business storytelling. Currently, Karen coaches leaders and rising stars in transformational storytelling, communication and influence. Her clients include Disney, Princess Cruises, Citrix, Avery-Dennison, Cedars-Sinai, Viasat, a roster of nonprofits and numerous entrepreneurs. In 2013, she opened the San Diego TEDx conference with her talk on the impact of story listening to change lives and companies. Karen received her master’s and PhD in Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania.  You can contact her at karen@karendietz.com or via her website.   To learn more about the power of storytelling in business: Podcast: Stefan Pryor—How The Power of a New Story Transformed Rhode Island Blog: How Storytelling Can Transform Your Culture And Energize Your Team Blog: How Can Healthcare Organizations Get Value From Data? It's All In The Story. Additional resources Karen's website Karen's book:"Business Storytelling for Dummies" My award-winning book: "On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights" Simon Associates Management Consultants website  

As Karen says, we're seeing an attempt by petty tyrants to micromanage our lives. People are fed up and they're reaching their breaking point. What will push them over and cause a mass movement against the wannabe dictators. If they don't back off soon, they're going to find out shortly. The time for quarantining is over and it's time for everyone to open their businesses and get back to work. 

As Karen says, we're seeing an attempt by petty tyrants to micromanage our lives. People are fed up and they're reaching their breaking point. What will push them over and cause a mass movement against the wannabe dictators. If they don't back off soon, they're going to find out shortly. The time for quarantining is over and it's time for everyone to open their businesses and get back to work. 

My friend Karen is one of the happiest, craziest people I've ever met. I've never had a discussion with her where I didn't end up feeling better. She is the most free-spirited person I've ever known. If there is any person I'd describe as full of joy, it's her.The truly crazy part about Karen's story is what an amazing survivor she is. She has endured unspeakable abuse in her life. She was abandoned by her father and abused by her mother's boyfriends. She ended up marrying an older man, who she thought would protect her. Just a few months into the marriage, he began abusing her too. It started with him sharing their very private intimate videos with strangers online. This betrayal set her up for further exploitation as he transitioned into selling her online.Karen's escape from her abuser was straight out of a Madea movie. After a year and a half of being abused, she began praying for the power to get away from her husband. She remembers that the complete loneliness was one of the hardest parts and what drove her to pray. She had no family or friends to turn to, because her husband kept her completely isolated from the world.She smirked a little as she recounted her story to me, “I'm not sure if this was an answer to my prayers or just rage, but one day, when he was stoned out of his mind, he hit me. It felt like every ounce of anger I'd ever felt all came together in that moment. I grabbed the iron skillet I was cooking in and I knocked him out.” At this point in the story, she laughed. “I didn't think I could hit him that hard.”After knocking out her husband, Karen grabbed her social security card and driver's license then ran several blocks down the road to a payphone where she called a women's shelter. She remembers panicking because she thought she had killed her husband but also feeling like he was following her. Turns out, her knock-out punch sent him to the hospital long enough for the women in the shelter to relocate her to another state.It's been twenty-some years since Karen knocked out her husband that morning. It's hard to believe such a happy person has endured so much abuse. Her journey to becoming the positive woman she is now, hasn't been an easy one. She went through many trials and traumas along the way which shaped her into a strong, courageous and compassionate advocate for other survivors.Part of the reason she is so free is because of how she has forgiven her abusers, which was no easy task. It took years of counseling, prayer, tears, growth, and strength from God. As Karen grew in her walk with Jesus, she realized more and more how much she did not deserve his love. The closer she grew to him, the more her love for others grew. Eventually, she was even able to extend this love to the people who had hurt her the most.Karen is quick to point out that feelings and the kind of love Jesus taught don't always go hand in hand. She says, “Sometimes, you just gotta do what's kind and best even if you don't feel it.”Nothing tested her resolve in this, like her relationship with her mother.“It wasn't easy to forgive anyone, but it helped that I could see they were all messed up from drugs and dealing with their own messed up lives. But my mom, she was jealous of me. I was just a kid and she didn't protect me. How could she be jealous…”Determined not to focus on past hurts, Karen stopped. She knew she would never fully understand why her mother did what she did. Karen chose to focus on remembering that everyone needs to know God's love. Even the woman who hurt her most.Karen's journey to forgiving her mother began with sending Mother's Day cards and birthday cards to her. It took a lot for her to be willing to do even this. She would always pray, “Lord, you know I don't want to do this. I don't like my mom. She hurt me deeply and has shown not an ounce of remorse. But you love her. I would like to want to forgive her, but I'm not there yet. Please heal my heart…”Only, Karen admits, her original prayers weren't worded that nicely. She remembers them being raw, angry, and real. The version she shared with me all these years later was what she calls the PG-13 version. She always laughs about how the unedited original version had a lot more cussin' in it. She would then say, “It ain't like anything I was telling God was anything he didn't already know. He just wanted me to share it with him.”Through many years of doing this, Karen's heart softened. She realized all her mom was missing out on. She knew her mom was still a victim of constant abuse. Eventually, Karen found out her mom was in a nursing home. All the men her mom had given her body and soul to, through countless affairs, had left her penniless and alone now that she was aging and frail.When Karen visited her mom, she found out no one was helping her bathe. Karen would go in as often as possible and bathe her. At first, her mom wouldn't look at her. Karen wasn't sure her mother even recognized her. Then on one visit, her mother began to cry and just say, “I'm sorry baby, I'm sorry,” and “Thank you” over and over.Karen's mom died soon after that visit. They never had a deep discussion or the kind of reunion you see on a Hallmark movie, but Karen found peace. Karen no longer saw her mother as purely evil; she saw her as a woman who never knew she was worthy of love.Karen's story perfectly illustrates the completely different way of thinking Jesus called his followers to in Luke 6. Jesus' way is so completely hard to do that I'm convinced it's not possible without God's help.I have been working on “loving” my biggest enemy, who abused a family member. I'm currently at the point of: Usually, I don't want to retaliate. I kind of feel sorry for him. I pray he changes. I also sometimes pray he gets struck by lightning which God lets me say and helps me work through.So, if you think this next passage is easy to live out, Karen and I both want you to know we don't think you are reading it right!As Jesus continued his sermon about what it means to be blessed in God's kingdom, he said:“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36 (NIV).The word for love in verse 27 is “agape,” which I've mentioned before is a word that isn't possible for us to fully live out. It is often translated as “love” but sometimes as charity or benevolence. In our humanity, we can't completely comprehend or live out “agape”. It refers to more than an emotion it is also an act of the will. It is choosing to practice love towards someone.In other words, it is much more than the natural feeling of intensely liking someone who clicks with our personality. Agape has to do with intensely valuing people and seeing their inherent worth. I can choose to imperfectly model “agape” love towards someone even if I don't feel emotionally attached to them, like in Karen's story when she wrote cards to her mom. Karen didn't feel like she loved her mom, but her actions reflected an understanding of God's “agape” love for her mom.At first, the idea of agape being separate from our feelings may seem like a relief (As in”thank goodness I don't have to like all the annoying people around me!). But the choice is to something more intense than superficial and transient human feelings. When you think of the person who you resent the most in this world, God doesn't call you to feel the same kind of love for them that you feel for the person closest to you. He does, however, expect you to see them as a human being with extreme inherent value. He wants you to know that despite all the things you see, God sees more and he still intensely “agapes” them.As a fellow flawed human being, you will never fully live out God's kind of “agape” love in this world. But the more you understand his intense love for people you don't like, the more you can grow in choosing to practice this kind of love. This means actively trying to do good things for some people in our lives as we wrestle with not liking them…and yes, hating some of them.Obviously, this takes wisdom too. I don't believe for a second that “agape” loving other people means you should put yourself back in a situation where you could be abused again. For example, with Karen's husband, the forgiveness story included praying he would go to prison and never get a chance to abuse another person. It also included praying for God to change him. Karen has forgiven him, but she is never going to reach out to him because she needs to protect herself.Jesus called us to actively seek the best for our enemies, for our sake and theirs. Sometimes, it's not possible or wise to actively show love to someone who could still abuse us. In those cases, I recommend praying for the person and leaving them in God's hands. I promise, it's OK. God can work in people's lives without our help.Loving our enemies, the way Jesus taught, is hard. It is also the reason people like Karen radiate freedom and joy. She loves openly because she has had to walk so closely with God in order to forgive the extreme abuse she's endured. God made something beautiful out of her struggles: he shaped her heart to look more like his. He freed her from bitterness and hatred. Now she frees others.In Luke 6:35, Jesus tells us we will be rewarded for loving our enemies. “your reward will be great and you will be a child of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” (NIV) Karen is an example of the reward we get from loving our enemies. She proves she is a child of the Most High because he has freed her to show kindness to people who don't deserve it. She doesn't need their praise. She is filled with joy because she's being like her heavenly Father.That's the joy in this for all of us. Karen's example is tough to follow. It's not natural to love our enemies. It's hard to forgive people who have hurt us. It's even harder to actively seek to help them. But when we let God help us, we are freed from the trap of hatred. So, yeah, loving our enemies ain't easy, but when we do, we get to be sons and daughters of God, who are in on his business of loving this often-unlovable world.

“Lessons Learned from OCD” Reframing to see the good that OCD has brought: Lara put it this way: “Having OCD has made me a more intense, sensitive, and compassionate human being. I have been humbled by my disorder. It has built character even while tearing at my soul, my heart, and my self-esteem. It has enabled me to fight harder, to strive for the good and the truth inside of me. It has made me less critical and judge mental of others who suffer in their lives.” How to Revalue: Realize that your obsessive thoughts and compulsive urge are not important and that you can deal with them. You’re in sense, devaluing those silly thoughts. Anticipate and Accept Anticipate that the obsessive thought will occur hundreds of time a day and do not be surprised by them, even if they are violent and extremely upsetting. Accept that your problem is a treatable medical condition.... accept that it exists despite yourself, not because of yourself Use progressive time delays that gradually increase longer than 15 minutes by breaking the task into manageable bits, reassessing the situation while you are still anxious Practice - over stress the importance of learning to make self-supportive statements as a regular part of doing the Four Steps. Victim to victor - As Karen in the book says, “get a loving buddy, a friend, or a family member to help you and encourage you. Get your life back. Your future is in your hands now.” Recap: Relabeling - “It’s all right, it’s just OCD” Reattribute - it to a brain glitch Refocus - on a constructive, enjoyable behavior Revaluing - the meaning of your thoughts and urges - - - **Please note: all references and direct quotes mentioned in this book club podcast episode are directly from Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD with Beverly Beyette --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/foundfamily/message

The films, Powder and The Boy Who Could Fly, first appealed to young audiences in the 1980s and 1990s, because their teenage male protagonists stood out from the rest of the crowd. Both movies feature adolescent heroes with supernatural powers; but that’s where their similarities end. As Karen and Janet work to unravel the differences between these films, a myriad issues begin to emerge, ultimately challenging the ladies' belief that these were ever guilty pleasure movies to begin with.

Interview with Karen Paul from Keller Williams. Karen's story is truly inspiring and empowering to female entrepreneurs especially. Looking back on 35+ years in the Real Estate business, Karen credits much of her success to her persistence, professionalism and knowledge. Although she has had great success, Karen is never finished learning - consistently educating herself in order to improve everyday. As Karen says, the minute you walk out the door... it's show time.

I recently chatted with one of the funniest and most inspiring women I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, Karen Kenney.   *** There's a lot of adult language in this episode, if the kiddos are around, you're gonna want to ear muff it.  We talk about how human beings love to complicate the shit out of things. Meanwhile the things that truly change our life are actually very simple. As Karen says, "Everything has the meaning you give it. You've gotta heal, deal and not make it too real."  Karen shares the unthinkable tragedy she's experienced and how it became her greatest teacher.  She has a way of being so vulnerable and inspiring while making you laugh out loud. She shared a hilarious way to find a spiritual mentor, one who can help you transform your life. While explaining how to cultivate a daily spiritual practice.  Karen talks about the importance of being in a beginner mind, staying curious and how to stop arguing for your limitations.  Her story about Marinanne Williamson and how A Return To Love is the gateway drug to A Course In Miracle, will leave you cracking up.        Karen Kenney is a writer, speaker, and the founder of Fearless Flow Mentoring.  She’s a certified Spiritual Mentor, has been a student & guide of A Course in Miracles for 26+ years and is a longtime student of Passage Meditation. She’s also a Gateless Writing Teacher and has been a yoga teacher since 2001. KK grew up in Lawrence & Boston, MA and is known for her storytelling, her sense of humor and her “down-to-earth” approach to spirituality. Her signature mentoring programs: Your Story to Your Glory™ & Fearless Flow™ help people let go of their old stories of suffering and victimization, so they can write a new kick-ass story from a place of inner power, forgiveness, freedom and Spirit.  A sought-after expert and Spiritual Thought Leader for Live Events, Podcasts, Coaching Programs and Shows, Karen speaks on stages across the country and leads Transformational Retreats in the New England area and at the Omega Institute in NY. KK is the host of The Karen Kenney Show Podcast. She’s currently at work on her memoir. You can learn more and connect with Karen at: www.karenkenney.com    

Karen Bonnell is a co-parent coach, mediator and trainer who helps families and couples navigate some emotional territory to reach a healthy place for all. Karen has over 30 years' experience working with families, and she is located close by in Kirkland. Karen's new book "The Stepfamily Handbook: From Dating to Getting Serious to forming a Blended Family" is co-written with Patricia Papernow, a nationally recognized expert on 'blended families'. Together they present a great navigation tool to help couples and families avoid the pitfalls of rushing into blending families. As Karen reiterates, the slower we go, the faster the journey will proceed. www.coachmediateconsult.com

009: Do You Have A Nonprofit Talent Management Strategy? (Karen Geiger)SUMMARYWhat is talent management, and why is it important? Dr. Karen Geiger has worked with dozens of organizations and has seen what makes successful ones work, and what individual leaders can do to advance their career and the organizations they lead. Karen is a teacher and trainer at heart and combines personal experiences as well as those she’s had within the corporate, education and nonprofit sectors to offer wise counsel for current and aspiring nonprofit leaders. We discussed the factors that influence an individual’s nonprofit career journey and zeroed in on the board’s role in defining leadership positions for their organization. As Karen notes, many organizations use “best practices” as a proxy for their talent management plan, but these best practices are simply a proxy for “that’s the way we’ve always done things.” She explains some of the unique challenges a nonprofit leader faces by not working for a single boss, but often a dozen or more board-member bosses (who then rotate every year!). Finally, she shares a number of resources that can help you evaluate what you’re looking for on your nonprofit career path, and how you can best advance into leadership roles.ABOUT KARENAs a private consultant, Karen designs and conducts leadership experiences, and supports diversity/inclusion and race privilege awareness through group facilitation, one-on-one coaching and 360-degree feedback. Her client companies include those in financial services, medicine, non-profit organizations, and city-county governments. She is a member of the International Leadership Association; and is certified by the Harvard Program on Negotiation, Wiley behavioral profiles, and the Center for Creative Leadership in assessments and simulations. Karen holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Rochester, an M.S. in Education from Indiana University and a PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. She is President of Karen Geiger & Associates, Inc, a consulting firm she founded in 1992 specializing in talent and organizational development. Before starting her own business, Karen was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America, where she held positions as Director of Corporate Training and Development, Director of Career Planning and Director of Work/Family Programs. Learn more about Karen here, and check out her website to learn more about her coaching and consulting. EPISODE TOPICS & RESOURCES· Karen’s productivity: calendar-driven to-do lists and time blocking· The board’s role in defining leadership expectations· Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog! book· Ram Charan’s The Leadership Pipeline book· Marcus Buckingham YouTube How to Succeed at Work· Lahey & Kegan’s How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work book

The state of Colorado is being radicalized and brought down by the far left. Seems like no level of depravity is too great for them to wish upon the populace. As Karen says the left thrives on decadence, dependency, creeping socialism, greater homelessness and the lack of people to support themselves. So perhaps it's time to trade Denver to Denmark in exchange for Greenland. 

The state of Colorado is being radicalized and brought down by the far left. Seems like no level of depravity is too great for them to wish upon the populace. As Karen says the left thrives on decadence, dependency, creeping socialism, greater homelessness and the lack of people to support themselves. So perhaps it's time to trade Denver to Denmark in exchange for Greenland. 

In this episode we chat with Karen Egan, the VP of Advanced Customer Engagement with VMware. Karen chats about her early life, her love of maths, her time in UCC and the challenge of having a baby at that time and her early career moves that took her to a software company in the UK, and to Apple and Motorola in Ireland. We chat about her career success, her huge role with VMware and the challenges of managing in a huge multicultural company with a global presence. We talk about VMware, the importance of STEAM and not STEM, gender and life balance, embracing diversity and how to keep large teams of people motivated and engaged. As Karen says, it is about 90% attitude and 10% aptitude. Enjoy the show!    

Karen Rands, host of the Compassionate Capitalist Podcast Show, interviews Dan Kryzanowsk to share inside secrets on how you can take checkbook control of your retirement funds to invest in the asset class of your choice. The best part of all is you keep all of the tax benefits; your retirement funds are unlocked penalty free. Self-Directed investing allows investors to make all investment decisions from a tax-advantaged retirement account. This includes choosing assets, vetting deals, and writing checks. A Self-Directed account holder can invest in any asset class allowed by the IRS. Dan Kryzanowski is a Wharton grad,  serial revenue driver and active alternative investor. He currently serves as Executive Vice President at Rocket Dollar and Capital Partner for Pinnacle Storage Properties. Dan will share his journey from his traditional upbringing in Scranton, PA and corporate America to a complete 180-degree turn to embrace the excitement and opportunities as a local alternative investor and vibrant member of the fintech and self-storage communities via his Self-Directed Solo 401(k) and Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA) Investor programs.  Karen Rands is the best selling author of Inside Secrets to Angel Investing.  As Karen seeks to educate and encourage investors to look beyond real estate and stock market, to add investing in startups and emerging growth companies to their portfolio; It is important to understand how to unlock your pension and retirement accounts if you are an executive wanting the excitement of innovation, impact, and entrepreneurism - without all the risk.  

Karen Rands, host of the Compassionate Capitalist Podcast Show, interviews Dan Kryzanowsk to share inside secrets on how you can take checkbook control of your retirement funds to invest in the asset class of your choice. The best part of all is you keep all of the tax benefits; your retirement funds are unlocked penalty free. Self-Directed investing allows investors to make all investment decisions from a tax-advantaged retirement account. This includes choosing assets, vetting deals, and writing checks. A Self-Directed account holder can invest in any asset class allowed by the IRS. Dan Kryzanowski is a Wharton grad,  serial revenue driver and active alternative investor. He currently serves as Executive Vice President at Rocket Dollar and Capital Partner for Pinnacle Storage Properties. Dan will share his journey from his traditional upbringing in Scranton, PA and corporate America to a complete 180-degree turn to embrace the excitement and opportunities as a local alternative investor and vibrant member of the fintech and self-storage communities via his Self-Directed Solo 401(k) and Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA) Investor programs.  Karen Rands is the best selling author of Inside Secrets to Angel Investing.  As Karen seeks to educate and encourage investors to look beyond real estate and stock market, to add investing in startups and emerging growth companies to their portfolio; It is important to understand how to unlock your pension and retirement accounts if you are an executive wanting the excitement of innovation, impact, and entrepreneurism - without all the risk.  

Going Gray in Tinseltown: The Anti-Choice Mandy May Cheetham Apr 16   Month Three Sil-ver Sis-ter / ˈsilvər ˈsistər / noun A precious shiny woman in relation to other precious, shiny women who has been mined from a pit of darkness and called to shine her light upon the world. She has walked through the fire and harnessed the energy of the cosmos as evidenced by her flickering hair. Those who are privileged enough to look upon her with an open heart shall be forever changed, and those who look upon her with judgement shall be forever blinded by her light. A group of precious shiny women with open hearts whose magic may only be seen by those who believe. Last week I attended my first Silver Sisters meetup. It was at a restaurant in the valley that served rubbery, over-buttered eggs and was filled with screaming children. A good first step in my public going gray process since no one of any Hollywood stature was likely to be there. I was nervous to go, but not for the reason I expected to be. I realized on my way there, 20 minutes late, that I was delaying because I felt like going would be an admission of sorts. An admission that I was one of them — that I had joined some club that I hadn’t willfully wanted to be a part of — that nature had thrown me into without my permission, and that, despite the fact that I was protesting on instagram that this transformation is a radical act of self love, and a political one at that, the truth is, it is a group I have joined because I simply couldn’t hack the stamina required to remain a part of the other group — the one that was causing nerve damage to my scalp and rotting the skin off my head. It wasn’t a choice I made to champion being a natural woman, it was a choice I made away from the alternative. So why would this anti-choice be something I would want to celebrate? One of the most incredible parts of this journey for me has been the shock and awe of watching myself dive from one extreme to the next — literally feeling like a sex-pot superhero one day and the next feeling like a frumpy grandmother in slide-on cardboard slippers holding a broom and twirling my braidable chin hair. Sometimes I feel like I’m at war with myself, and am deeply concerned that this is not a radical act of self love, but a radical act of self sabotage — a way to bow out of my career as an actress with a giant plate of fuck-you-to-the-man, and a side of it’s-all-the-industry’s-fault on the way down. Needless to say I’ve been feeling a little conflicted. I would have bailed on the breakfast — especially since it was at 10AM… on a Sunday …in the valley — I don’t need to tell anyone who lives in LA why all of those things are problematic, but I was curious to meet Karen, one of the women running the Silver Sisters 2020 conference, and Katie, a woman with a popular blog and amazon site for silver sister products. I have a background in running events and am very excited to help Karen and her partner Marina run the 2020 conference. At least I was until I got to this brunch. I scurried down the street toward the restaurant feeling very self conscious for being late and acutely aware that I would be joining a tableful of women whom everyone in the restaurant would know were there together because of the collective head-glare. I tried to imagine we were like a group of people who like to wear stuffed animal outfits out in public and pretend it’s no big deal cause we are all there together, and just sit and laugh amongst ourselves. Yet it was still a big deal, and even more so because we were all there together. Glaringly. I cringed when I walked past the window and all these women whom I don’t know saw me and waved — they knew it was me cause my gray hair is that obvious now, and there’s no other reason why a gray haired woman would be out in public in daylight so I must be with them. A sign to me that I’m not flying under the radar anymore. I actually walked by another woman who was feeding her meter on the street who was fully gray and I thought of saying hello, but I am ashamed to admit that IGNORED her. I hate when people do that! Like, I know we are going to the same place, soooo are you going to pretend-you-don’t-see-me until we get in there and then give me a smiley face and a nice-to-meet-you and an ‘oh, did we pass each other in the parking lot?’ kind of shit. I did that. She was quite a few years older than me, and, how do I say this without sounding like an arsehole, not dressed very cool. Now I’m aware that this is some Hollywood garbage, but I’m just going to admit this — I was embarrassed to be seen with the table of gray haired ladies. I never felt this way about grey haired ladies before, and I would have felt so privileged to have been sitting at that table four months ago with my formerly dyed-red hair, but now I felt like I had crossed over into Northern Reflections territory (see below). Like I was admitting that I had given up on my fashion and style and am now actually admitting that I am old.   (No one was dressed like this. My ego and I were in an alternate Universe.) I’m admitting to this so I can stop feeling this way. I am making this admission because I feel I need to face my own judgements about women, aging and gray hair in order to make peace with how I am judging myself. It is a slippery slope if I start to try to distinguish myself from other women by COMPARING myself to them. (As Karen keeps reminding me ‘comparison is the thief of joy.’) If I am the one at the table with the youngest looking face today that does not make me superior because I’m more fuckable to the waiter (who I think was into men anyway). And Lord knows I won’t have the youngest face forever! So I walked through the front door of the restaurant and passed by two non-gray women in their 50s who were having brunch and I experienced what was my so-far second middle-aged-rage death stare scenario. No other way to really describe it beyond pure, open-mouthed disgust. Like, why-are-YOU-gray? You’re too young, and why are you disturbing my brunch by letting it hang out like that!? There’s this weird resentment I feel from some older women, even those within the budding #sliversister community, who maybe regret not going gray when they were younger because they could have dealt with the signs of aging one bit at a time ?— hair first, then face? I certainly didn’t plan to go gray now so I could have the ‘face advantage’. It’s so exhausting to be now transfering my old neurosis about comparing myself to other women who aren’t grey with a new one of being compared to other women who are — so, even if I can’t control the comparisons coming at me from other women, I can, and will try to stop it in myself, and that’s why I am talking about it publically now. I always felt like I would dye my hair until my 50s or 60s. I’m not even sure I was cognisant of why — just as I believed as a younger woman that I wouldn’t dye my hair until I had to, which happened at 30, and that I wouldn’t stop dying until I was at a socially acceptable age to stop — which clearly is not my age now based on the death stares at brunch. Man, I haven’t heard that term in a long time. Socially acceptable. It used to be socially acceptable to say socially acceptable. I’m not sure it is anymore. Socially acceptable seems like a scary thing these days, what with the social media monster lurking like an angry mob waiting to demolish and publicly shame anyone who dare go against what the people with the blue checks beside their names want. I am digressing. Let’s get back to my discomfort at this powerful meeting of the minds at the restaurant with the rubbery eggs. I’m not sure what I expected when I sat down. A table full of deep-breathing power-goddesses all calling forth the natural elements and shining our light to help be the change we want to see in the valley, but, instead, it was a table full of open, sensitive women talking about hair care products and sharing candidly about divorce, dry hair and career changes. Life; happening. The Silver Sister group is such an incredible cross-section of humanity, and we are all doing this for different reasons. I realized I had been idealizing these women and their processes. Watching everyone go gray on instagram with their empowering and supportive statements and emojis made me think they all knew something I didn’t. Because from looking at them you think that they have fully transitioned from slimy caterpillars and are butterflies now and have thrown off the cocoon of aging fears with it. Not so caterpillar. That became apparent to me yesterday when I was in the locker room at the Athletic Club where I am a member. I saw a woman with beautiful fully grown-out, soft gray hair and I went galloping toward her (in a towel and flip flops) and said; ‘It’s like I am the caterpillar and you are the butterfly!” She looked at me dumbfounded. Bathing suit in hand — clearly about to strip down. I pointed at my hairline aggressively. ‘I’m growing out my hair!’ She kindly refrained from changing so we weren’t both standing there emotionally and physically naked. She looked embarrassed that I had noticed. I understand that embarrassment. I felt it myself at that brunch, and had seen it on the faces of the women who were part of the catalyst for my decision — a director I worked with in my early acting days, and an actress friend in Toronto that I saw over Christmas. They all sort of slough it off like it’s no big deal — like they just did it because they were allergic, or because of a role, or because they just didn’t want their lives to be about how the looked anymore, which I sensed to be the case with this woman too, but, yet, here we were talking about how how we look. They don’t always want to talk about it because they didn’t do it in order to talk about it — mostly they did it to get away from the dye, not to go toward the gray. I get it. I wish I could walk around and just feel normal, it seems to be mostly moments of extreme feelings, and since the aforementioned rock star moments are less frequent lately, I’m wondering if I’ll ever get to that normal feeling stage at all. As it seems as though this lovely woman is not there either yet. And I was making it worse for this her by fan-girling about it in the locker room in a towel and flip flops. To cover the awkwardness she launched into slightly-off-topic, but totally relevant story about how she and her husband were riding their bikes in Venice and someone had yelled at them out the window of a car… ‘Wow, two old people riding their bikes, that’s so West-side,’ and how she and her husband had felt strange being referred to as old and I imagined how she may have felt responsible for him being called old because she had gray hair too. Like, if he has gray hair and she dyes then they still aren’t old somehow, but as soon as she goes grey she’s ruined it for the both of them. It made me think of those old Clairol ads — ‘Your husband will love it too. It’ll make him feel younger just to look at you.’ Such fing garbage. No one would have yelled at a gray haired guy and called him old — why bother? He’s not threatening the fabric of society by going gray — he’s just allowed to follow the natural course of his life. I guess we can add gray-privilege to a man’s list of advantages. Goodie. So, back to the brunch. I felt a bit depressed afterward (getting dumped didn’t help, but that’s another blog, grrr). I was surprised by the lingering sadness after this supposed to be empowering meetup. Then today, when Karen came over to sit for an interview for my Going Gray in Tinseltown podcast I admitted to her that I had felt embarrassed at the brunch, not empowered as I had expected, and I was worried that women may not want to come to the conference because they wouldn’t want to be seen with us. I’d like to say it had something to do with the dirty looks I got when I went into the restaurant, but it wasn’t that — it was building up in me way before that went down. I take for granted that I have lived the life of a privileged hot chick, and that, if I turn heads in a restaurant, it’s because I’m with a bunch of other hot chicks. Man, I HAVE SO MANY HANG-UPS ABOUT AGING! My ego was having a freakin field day thinking that hanging out with women just because they have gray hair is like being invited into a club that I didn’t want to join, and there’s no barrier to entry; oh, save one: These women have walked through the f-ing fire of being a gray haired lady in a world that is ageist, antagonistic, dismissive, rude, prejudiced and downright aggressive toward women who decide to let their grey hair live free. It is a sacred decision each woman makes to go gray and I respect it. I am grateful to have been in the presence of these women and I hope they will invite me back so we can heal this shit together and maybe share a makeup and clothing tip or two along the way. I went to a stand-up comedy show tonight that was an all female lineup. At the show there was an ‘older’ woman with fully white hair. She gave me that knowing look — the one that Harley Davidson drivers give to each other when they pass on the highway — like I was part of the club. I gave her a shaky smile back. She was there supporting one of her still-dyeing friends who was doing stand-up for the first time at 50 (HELL YES!) — the one who got up and made jokes about getting Botox and fillers. When the grey lady stood next to her friend after her set- she looked older than her in my mind (my projection and my issue, not hers), and also, now that I think about it, more at ease. I was not conscious of that ease at the time and instead felt embarrassed for her and realized that I will soon be the woman in my friend group who looks older than everyone else. Will this preclude me from being invited to be the wing-woman when my girlfriends want to go to Coachella? Because if I look old, and they are trying to pick up, I will be the ultimate cock-block — and the eyes of the hot guys that are already glazed over will just pass right on by the group of old ladies — even if only one of us is gray. This shit is invading my mind because I believe that is what looking older is: having gray hair. It’s not, but it’s a stigma that has to change, and if I don’t change it — who will? I hope that by airing all of this ugly self-sabotaging, self-objectifying, self-surveilling crap I will free myself from its grip on me and find the Miracle. The Miracle with a capital M — the one referred to in A Course in Miracles as a Change in Perception, because perception is not knowledge. That’s what the grey haired woman at the stand up show knew, and that was the real reason why our brunch table was getting so much attention — they, we, were glowing, and sometimes, those who stand on the periphery of the light are blinded by it. I want to reiterate that I feel very privileged to have been invited to that brunch — rubbery eggs and all, and that the best part about this community is our acceptance of each other’s neurosis, and our willingness to tell each other the truth. I’ve had a few conversations with the women from the group now, and, along with writing this article, I am finding my way to eradicating my judgements. This is a group that I hope will continue to have me as a member. And even though I have been getting the occasional death stare; it’s never from younger women. I am actually starting to notice young women really taking it in that I am doing this and witnessing it with kindness and respect. I remember seeing a woman with a beautiful gray bob when I was about 7 or 8 and thinking it was glorious, and that I couldn’t wait for it to happen to me. I think I thought then that it would happen over-night, which it really is, and which is why it’s all up in my face like this, but it is not lost on me that there are younger women seeing what I am doing with my hair who may think twice about dumping chemicals on their head if they don’t want to. In moments when I’m not all up in my ego shit I feel a deep sense of responsibility to them to keep going with the grey grow out. Because as each day goes by and I decide anew to keep letting my hair grow dye-free, it is becoming an active choice instead of just a side effect of my anti-choice. When I saw the vulnerability on the faces of the silver sisters I met with I was triggered, yes, and my ego came out in full force and I am ashamed of my narcissistic response, and I am so fucking grateful to each one of them for showing up wearing whatever makes them feel beautiful and alive and I couldn’t do this without them and we are changing the world and we are doing it together and that is so freaking much cooler than the clothing you wear to brunch. This may not get easier, but this is my choice, and I am so grateful I have made it. Silver Sisters 4EVA.

This is a fun one! Bucket List Busting with David McDougal, a family friend of host Karen Duncan and an advent budget traveler, David takes Karen and the audience on an adventure.As Karen and David prepare to travel to Japan, Russia, through Alaska up to Vancouver, they compare notes on what they are doing to prepare for this bucket list trip. It's David's first cruise and Karen's first trip to Asia, and her longest adventure yet. Different generations, different experiences, but some of the same. Are you a Four Seasons traveler or more budget conscious? This podcast and upcoming trip will provide a opportunity to see how you can do your bucket list no matter what your budget. David provides some great stories of his past adventures and how he is looking forward to staying at a capsule hotel in Tokyo and going to a traditional bath house. Plus some great tips on backing light and stretching your budget to get more from your experience.But these two friends have some similarities as well, eating some great food, meditating at a Zen Buddhist temple, and spending some quality time together with friends and family! Plus Cruise Critics 17 Worst Cruise Packing Mistakes and Japan's coolest Cafe Bathroom.. And Karen got her mobile WiFi device from Wireless Traveler to continue her connections while abroad.You want to make sure you subscribe to the show so you can follow their adventure.

As Karen previously stated, LinkedIn is the best place to be in 2019. This also applies to podcasts!   If you are a podcaster, or you want to be a podcaster, this week’s Good Girls Get Rich episode is definitely for you! On this episode, Karen gave strategic tips on achieving your podcast goals. And of course, as you may already know, Karen’s expertise is LinkedIn so expect this episode to dive deep on specifically converting your LinkedIn connections to your podcast’s success.   Karen recently became a guest speaker of Podfest Multimedia Expo and some of the things she talked about on this episode are rounded up from her talk on the said event. Listen and learn about the best practices for your LinkedIn profile that can get you more strategic visibility which will then lead to doubling your podcast goals – more downloads more guests and greater success!   #GoodGirlsGetRich We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com. Episode Spotlights: Karen’s LinkedIn inbox is more valuable than her email inbox right now. (3:15) Spend few hours a week on LinkedIn to double your podcast goals. Get strategic visibility. (4:04) Learn how LinkedIn became the money tree for monetizing Good Girls Get Rich Podcast (5:08) Realizing the importance of your personal brand as the podcast host. (7:15) BE YOU. Your podcast is most successful when you are you on your podcast. Same is true with LinkedIn. (8:19) Think about your LinkedIn profile strategically. Take advantages of the best practices for your LinkedIn profile (9:10) The power of keywords: When do you want your profile to come up? Use those words in your LinkedIn headline and summary. (10:26) Utilizing LinkedIn’s ‘My Dashboard’ section strategically. (13:04) Make your LinkedIn experience section stand out. (16:30) Use LinkedIn to get in front of the EXACT RIGHT people. (18:10) Be Proactive, Not Reactive to Building your LinkedIn network (19:52) Are you connecting with your local media? (23:04) Take advantage of LinkedIn’s new feature on building network on your next event (25:39) 6 Tips Converting Your LinkedIn Connections to Podcast Success (28:30) For podcasts, audio is KING. (30:38) LinkedIn also loves video. They’ve recently come out native video and will release Live video soon. (32:45) Creating LinkedIn long form post for your show (34:40) LinkedIn has become very hashtag centric. Create a hashtag for your show. (36:00) At the end of the day, this is about building powerful relationships, not just about building a network (37:55) Learn about the 8 step system Karen is using on LinkedIn (39:40) Resources Mentioned In This Episode: A conference for podcasters, digital influencers and change-makers, check out Podfest Multimedia Expo where Karen recently became a guest speaker Make a first great impression by building a high-quality LinkedIn profile. Learn more by listening to GGGR Episode 58: Your LinkedIn Profile – Bragging or Owning? The LinkedIn headline is one of the most important things in our profile, it’s the first thing that people see. Develop a great LinkedIn headline with these tips from GGGR Episode 16: 3 Secrets to Writing a Great LinkedIn Headline In Case You Miss It: GGGR Episode 59: Girl Scouts is an Entrepreneurial Training Ground with Sylvia Acevedo Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist – an inspiring memoir for young readers about a Latina rocket scientist whose early life was transformed by joining the Girl Scouts.   Help Us Spread The Word! It would be awesome if you shared the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your fellow entrepreneurs on twitter. Click here to tweet some love! If this episode has taught you just one thing, I would love if you could head on over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! And if you’re moved to, kindly leave us a rating and review. Maybe you’ll get a shout out on the show! Ways to Subscribe to Good Girls Get Rich: Click here to subscribe viaApple Podcasts Click here to subscribe viaPlayerFM You can also subscribe viaStitcher Good Girls Get Rich is also onSpotify Take a listen onPodcast Addict  

As Karen and Kristen wing their way to Austin, Texas for SXSW we're helping you get through March Madness by sharing our formerly Patreon-exclusive Ultimate Boyfriend Draft.    We created an ultimate boyfriend bracket and fight it out for nearly two hours. Only 1 man can be the Citizen Dames' Ultimate Boyfriend!      Get access to these episodes once they drop by supporting us via Patreon!

Karen Girmshaw, Consultant Nurse for Older People talks to us about the Dementia Awareness Training Programme at Derriford Hospital, the positive impact that this has had on patients and carers and how we can also help when planning a visit. As Karen says: "People come to hospital with their dementia, often not because of their dementia." Produced for KDFC by iamthehow.

Karen Carter is the Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Inclusion Officer at the Dow Chemical Company. She is responsible globally for guiding and directing Dow's efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive environment and workforce. “My job, in a nutshell, is to ensure that we have an environment that gives everyone a fair chance, those processes, those policies, how we evaluate people, and how we hire people…if you’re not focusing deliberately on including, you will ultimately exclude.” Karen has 25 years of experience with Dow, but she only recently moved into the HR space. Before assuming her current responsibilities, she held the role of North America Commercial Vice President, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics (P&SP). In her role, Karen was a member of the global business leadership team and was responsible for the overall profit & loss of P&SP’s North America region, which is part of Dow’s Performance Plastics Division and represents more than $18.4B in sales Karen has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Howard University and a master’s degree in international business from DePaul University. In 2014, Karen was named to the prestigious Forty Women to Watch Over 40 list for her innovative leadership contributions Dow Chemical has been in existence for a little over 120 years. With 50,000 employees around the world, it has revenue in excess of $40,000,000,000. Karen describes the company as a combination of a science and technology organization with a goal to develop and deliver solutions that are essential to human progress. One main focus of Dow is on consumer care, for example ingredients for prescription medications and vitamins.  Another one of their markets is packaging, for instance, keeping meat fresh, and as Karen touches on in our conversation, there's actually technology that is used to make a plastic that enables meat to still be fresh for a few days. The last market that is a main focus is infrastructure - things like roads and bridges and buildings and mega structures like stadiums. What does diversity and inclusion mean?Karen says, diversity is the collection of all of our unique differences. We talk about diversity across multiple dimensions, and most people tend to migrate directly to race, gender, ethnicity, however, there are other dimensions of diversity – for example, military experience or cultural fluency. Inclusion is the intentional and deliberate action we take to create a culture that embraces and values those differences. There are several technologies that Dow Chemical is leveraging in the diversity and inclusion space. They use a Workday People Portal that allows them to be much more transparent with information directly to employees and it allows leaders to have easy access to data that helps them make better decisions. For example, being able to see the last 50 promotions a leader has made to ensure that talent is diverse. As Karen shares in our conversation, we still have a long way to go when it comes to diversity and inclusion in organizations today. Some good strides have been made, but not enough. Things you will learn: Why companies are choosing to hire non-HR people to lead HR What does a Chief Inclusion Officer do? Typical biases that occur in most organizations How to measure D&I How D&I impacts engagement Technologies Dow Chemical is leveraging in the D&I space Why the conversation around D&I is so critical right now Contact: Karen Carter on LinkedIn  

Karen Bonnell is a co-parent coach, mediator and trainer who helps families and couples navigate some emotional territory to reach a healthy place for all. Karen has over 30 years' experience working with families, and she is located close by in Kirkland. Karen's new book "The Stepfamily Handbook: From Dating to Getting Serious to forming a Blended Family" is co-written with Patricia Papernow, a nationally recognized expert on 'blended families'. Together they present a great navigation tool to help couples and families avoid the pitfalls of rushing into blending families. As Karen reiterates, the slower we go, the faster the journey will proceed.

You won't have to battle your way out of a high security prison to join us for our Daredevil 304 Review as we talk about our top five case notes about "Blindsided" the forth episode of the third season of Daredevil. As always make sure you've watched the episode before listening to our podcast. Daredevil 304 Review "Blindsided" Spoiler filled Synopsis Directed by  Alex Garcia Lopez Written by Lewaa Nasserdeen Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) impersonates Foggy Nelson to infiltrate Riker's Island prison to find out more information on Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) from the Albanians. He finds out that Wilson Fisk had payed the inmate, Jasper Evans, to attack him to convince the FBI to move him. But Matt also finds out that he is apart of Fisk’s plans, as safe in his secure penthouse, Wilson Fisk orchestrates an attack on him in the prison. With the help of the Albanians he manages to fight clear of prison to a waiting yellow taxi cab. Meanwhile, despite a tip-off by Ray Nadeem (Jay Ali), Special Agent “Dex” Poindexter (Wilson Bethel) is investigated by his superiors for the suspicious deaths of some of the Albanians the night Fisk was attacked. But when Fisk is interviewed about the Agent’s conduct he covers for him and later thanks Poindexter personally for his actions putting Dex firmly in the sights of a manipulative Wilson Fisk. Elsewhere, a fed-up Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), angry at the demands from Matt, tells Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) that he’s still alive. With this knowledge both Karen and Foggy go on the offensive against Fisk. As Karen learns of Felix Manning who runs Fisk’s nested offshore companies; Foggy, convinced by his girlfriend Marci Stahl (Amy Rutberg), gains the support of the Officer Brett Mahoney (Royce Johnson) and the N.Y.P.D. to challenge Blake Tower in the upcoming election for District Attorney. As the day draws to a close, a groggy Matt Murdock wakes up in the back of the yellow cab as it plunges off a dock into the Hudson river, with the dark unforgiving cold water rushing in Matt Murdock is trapped! Contact us and subscribe to the podcast Thank you so much for listening to our Daredevil 304 Review Podcast. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast through Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts. We are now also available on Spotify just search for Defenders TV Podcast. If you would like to send any of your thoughts in please send them to feedback@defenderstvpodcast.com join us on facebook at Facebook.com/groups/defenderstvpodcast or follow us on Twitter @defenderscast and you can now record your thoughts for the podcast directly from our website defenderstvpodcast.com by clicking the “Send Voicemail” button. We'll be back with our review of Daredevil Season 3 Episode 5 "The Perfect Game" which will be out next week. We're hoping to release two episode reviews each week so make sure you send in your thoughts as soon as you can. Thanks so much for listening John, Chris and Derek Defenders TV Podcast Date recorded: 24/10/2018 Date published: 26/10/2018 MP3, 75.35 mins, 96kbps, 69.3 MB All images and audio clips are copyright of Netflix no infringement is intended. The intro and outro music for our show is provided by Mississippi MacDonald you can find more of his music at his website MississippiMacdonald.com .

You won't have to battle your way out of a high security prison to join us for our Daredevil 304 Review as we talk about our top five case notes about "Blindsided" the forth episode of the third season of Daredevil. As always make sure you've watched the episode before listening to our podcast. Daredevil 304 Review "Blindsided" Spoiler filled Synopsis Directed by  Alex Garcia Lopez Written by Lewaa Nasserdeen Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) impersonates Foggy Nelson to infiltrate Riker's Island prison to find out more information on Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) from the Albanians. He finds out that Wilson Fisk had payed the inmate, Jasper Evans, to attack him to convince the FBI to move him. But Matt also finds out that he is apart of Fisk’s plans, as safe in his secure penthouse, Wilson Fisk orchestrates an attack on him in the prison. With the help of the Albanians he manages to fight clear of prison to a waiting yellow taxi cab. Meanwhile, despite a tip-off by Ray Nadeem (Jay Ali), Special Agent “Dex” Poindexter (Wilson Bethel) is investigated by his superiors for the suspicious deaths of some of the Albanians the night Fisk was attacked. But when Fisk is interviewed about the Agent’s conduct he covers for him and later thanks Poindexter personally for his actions putting Dex firmly in the sights of a manipulative Wilson Fisk. Elsewhere, a fed-up Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), angry at the demands from Matt, tells Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) that he’s still alive. With this knowledge both Karen and Foggy go on the offensive against Fisk. As Karen learns of Felix Manning who runs Fisk’s nested offshore companies; Foggy, convinced by his girlfriend Marci Stahl (Amy Rutberg), gains the support of the Officer Brett Mahoney (Royce Johnson) and the N.Y.P.D. to challenge Blake Tower in the upcoming election for District Attorney. As the day draws to a close, a groggy Matt Murdock wakes up in the back of the yellow cab as it plunges off a dock into the Hudson river, with the dark unforgiving cold water rushing in Matt Murdock is trapped! Contact us and subscribe to the podcast Thank you so much for listening to our Daredevil 304 Review Podcast. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast through Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts. We are now also available on Spotify just search for Defenders TV Podcast. If you would like to send any of your thoughts in please send them to feedback@defenderstvpodcast.com join us on facebook at Facebook.com/groups/defenderstvpodcast or follow us on Twitter @defenderscast and you can now record your thoughts for the podcast directly from our website defenderstvpodcast.com by clicking the “Send Voicemail” button. We'll be back with our review of Daredevil Season 3 Episode 5 "The Perfect Game" which will be out next week. We're hoping to release two episode reviews each week so make sure you send in your thoughts as soon as you can. Thanks so much for listening John, Chris and Derek Defenders TV Podcast Date recorded: 24/10/2018 Date published: 26/10/2018 MP3, 75.35 mins, 96kbps, 69.3 MB All images and audio clips are copyright of Netflix no infringement is intended. The intro and outro music for our show is provided by Mississippi MacDonald you can find more of his music at his website MississippiMacdonald.com .

You won't have to battle your way out of a high security prison to join us for our Daredevil 304 Review as we talk about our top five case notes about "Blindsided" the forth episode of the third season of Daredevil. As always make sure you've watched the episode before listening to our podcast. Daredevil 304 Review "Blindsided" Spoiler filled Synopsis Directed by  Alex Garcia Lopez Written by Lewaa Nasserdeen Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) impersonates Foggy Nelson to infiltrate Riker's Island prison to find out more information on Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) from the Albanians. He finds out that Wilson Fisk had payed the inmate, Jasper Evans, to attack him to convince the FBI to move him. But Matt also finds out that he is apart of Fisk’s plans, as safe in his secure penthouse, Wilson Fisk orchestrates an attack on him in the prison. With the help of the Albanians he manages to fight clear of prison to a waiting yellow taxi cab. Meanwhile, despite a tip-off by Ray Nadeem (Jay Ali), Special Agent “Dex” Poindexter (Wilson Bethel) is investigated by his superiors for the suspicious deaths of some of the Albanians the night Fisk was attacked. But when Fisk is interviewed about the Agent’s conduct he covers for him and later thanks Poindexter personally for his actions putting Dex firmly in the sights of a manipulative Wilson Fisk. Elsewhere, a fed-up Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), angry at the demands from Matt, tells Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) that he’s still alive. With this knowledge both Karen and Foggy go on the offensive against Fisk. As Karen learns of Felix Manning who runs Fisk’s nested offshore companies; Foggy, convinced by his girlfriend Marci Stahl (Amy Rutberg), gains the support of the Officer Brett Mahoney (Royce Johnson) and the N.Y.P.D. to challenge Blake Tower in the upcoming election for District Attorney. As the day draws to a close, a groggy Matt Murdock wakes up in the back of the yellow cab as it plunges off a dock into the Hudson river, with the dark unforgiving cold water rushing in Matt Murdock is trapped! Contact us and subscribe to the podcast Thank you so much for listening to our Daredevil 304 Review Podcast. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast through Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts. We are now also available on Spotify just search for Defenders TV Podcast. If you would like to send any of your thoughts in please send them to feedback@defenderstvpodcast.com join us on facebook at Facebook.com/groups/defenderstvpodcast or follow us on Twitter @defenderscast and you can now record your thoughts for the podcast directly from our website defenderstvpodcast.com by clicking the “Send Voicemail” button. We'll be back with our review of Daredevil Season 3 Episode 5 "The Perfect Game" which will be out next week. We're hoping to release two episode reviews each week so make sure you send in your thoughts as soon as you can. Thanks so much for listening John, Chris and Derek Defenders TV Podcast Date recorded: 24/10/2018 Date published: 26/10/2018 MP3, 75.35 mins, 96kbps, 69.3 MB All images and audio clips are copyright of Netflix no infringement is intended. The intro and outro music for our show is provided by Mississippi MacDonald you can find more of his music at his website MississippiMacdonald.com .

Really connecting with our core consulting work at Virtual Not Distant, today is all about virtual teams – we talk about the idea of ‘virtual distance’, and how there are many ways that distance and closeness can be created. Also coming soon, look out for Pilar’s book, Online Meetings that R.O.C.K. – expanded and advanced and taking longer than expected due to fantastic insightful feedback from beta readers, find out what changed about the ‘C’! It’s going to be worth the wait. 07.15 What do you mean by that: Virtual Distance, with Dr Karen Lojeski  We really enjoyed this conversation with Karen Lojeski, founder and CEO of Virtual Distance International, and author of The New Rules of the Virtual Workplace. Virtual Distance describes what gets lost, when the human is translated through a machine. Karen’s original research found out that this could be measured and understood – and that it definitely impacts on relationships and collaborations to a measurable extent. But it is NOT dependent purely on physical distance – that is merely one dimension in a complex system, involving operational and affinity distance as well.  When virtual distance is high we damage innovation, trust and performance. And it doesn’t only apply at work… After all these are human factors, the technology is much less important. As Karen explains, "We often mix up the notion of the computer as a tool with the computer as somehow being smarter than the person and it just couldn't be further from the truth."  We are so much more complex and significant and interesting, the machines don’t come close. Check out both of Karen’s inspiring books on virtual team leadership.   39.05 Recommended tools: Voicedream A little while ago in episode 173 we discussed the medical affliction we affectionately described as ‘homeworkers bum’, a syndrome exacerbated by work which involves lots of reading and research.  It’s not easy to read whilst doing anything but sitting down, but Voicedream is an app which reads written text aloud. It’s not perfectly ‘human’ of course, but this is a technology which is rapidly evolving and will surely improve. But for now this is a nice app which can sync with Pocket (which we discussed in episode 172), so it helps you get through your reading queue more quickly, even when you’re out for a walk.   42.36 Oh No, my team’s gone remote, and I know we’ll grow more distant, but I don’t know how! Instead of our usual talking head format, Pilar gives us a little exercise to complete, to help us plan or reflect upon the virtual distances within our teams – and perhaps lead to improvements in how you work together. Here’s the diagram you will need, to work through the exercise whilst thinking about YOUR team.  You can find Pilar’s diagram for this at https://www.virtualnotdistant.com/podcasts/virtual-distance. How do the different expectations and behaviours impact on your work, and how interdependent are your activities? You can score yourself on the many different dimensions of virtual distance, to see how you’re doing. If you do this as individuals within a team, how do your ratings compare? How do you think they will evolve over time, if you are transitioning to new ways of working? And can you see how little of the whole picture has to do with physical distance? Remember to review, reflect and learn, from your exercise into virtual distance. Please let us know how it went for you, and make sure you’re subscribed for future episodes.  

Today we’re talking about Karen Karbo's latest book which just launched yesterday (Feburary 27) called In Praise of Difficult Women – Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared To Break The Rules. The book is a series of essays about Karen’s list of women, highlighting the aspects of these women that makes them "difficult" in the way they react to societal expectations, how they cultivated unexpected careers, and generally showed up in the world ready to be themselves, regardless of who else approved. As you’ll hear Karen say, these are her women – and they represent a cross-section of races, careers, marital status, sexual orientation and even eras in which they lived. As Karen tells us, you might choose a different 29 women for your list, but the focus she places on what makes them “difficult” and their bravery in expressing the full range of their humanity, as Cheryl Strayed puts it in the book’s foreword, is the real key. There’s a lot to learn from each of these women’s lives, even if you wouldn’t choose to befriend them. This is a fun conversation about how we need to think differently about women who are unapologetic about the way they choose to live their lives. I hope it makes you think, laugh and examine the ways in which you could be more unapologetic about your own way in the world. Because the world needs more women like that. Follow at instagram.com/beambitiousforher twitter.com/beambitious4her

SHOW NOTES Karen Copeland is the founder and co-owner of sammysoap, an all natural soap store and factory located in St. Louis, Missouri. As Karen puts it: “sammysoap is a job-creation machine for adults with intellectual disabilities disguised as the world’s best soap company.” The company’s products are 100% all natural, completely synthetic-free, and made of Earth’s most indulgent ingredients. The company’s team includes full-wage adults with intellectual disabilities, and that may be sammysoap’s best ingredient of all. Listen and Learn: Why there needs to be all kinds of options for people with disabilities The importance of modeling what real inclusion is supposed to look like How brand awareness translates to success Why entrepreneurs need to have a high threshold of risk aversion    TO FIND KAREN ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SAMMYSOAP, CLICK HERE.

There are often unpleasant or uncomfortable realities that as people we'd like to pretend don't exist or have any such impact on our lives, but as followers of Christ and fellow human beings shouldn't we have something to say about such injustices happening all around us? Don't we have a redemptive role to play in all of this? As Karen draws our gaze to the harsh reality of human slavery, she begs us with this same question. She kindly reminds us of God's feelings towards such evils and how we as his people get to be a part of his redemptive plan to change things. Now that we've been made aware what are we going to do about it?

Swing by your local Starbucks before listening to this hypercaffeinated episode of Not A Couple. As Karen, who has zero addictions, tries to help Jack quit the devil's bean, Will remembers he doesn't want a wife and yells at Grace a bunch. And on their (friends') wedding day!

“Vapid” and “vacuous” are two terms that come to mind when discussing the characters in The Money Shot, Neil LaBute’s theatrical thumb-in-the-eye to Hollywood that closes out the 2016/2017 season at Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre. LaBute, who’s written such harsh but interesting plays as In the Company of Men and The Shape of Things, has also spent time as a writer and director in Hollywood. If this play is any indication, he has not enjoyed his time there. It’s set at the Hollywood Hills house of Karen (Laurie Gaugin), an actress past her prime, and Bev (Sandra Ish), her partner. They’re being joined for dinner by Steve (Dodds Delzell) an over-the-hill action star and his trophy wife Missy (Heather Gordon). It seems that the European director of Karen and Steve’s latest film has some ideas on how to really “spice up” the film. Because they both need a hit, they’re willing to do anything – anything – as long as it’s ok with their respective partners. What follows is two hours of funny, if empty, conversation and argumentation which culminates in the play’s own ‘money shot’ – a wrestling match. LaBute, who’s been accused of being a misanthrope and misogynist, doesn’t allay those concerns with this script. I’d say he leans more heavily to the misanthropic side with this one as no one come off very well. To be fair, I’d say he’s taking his shots at very specific Hollywood “types” but still, there isn’t a likeable person to be found on stage. It’s the type of show designed with characters for you to laugh “at” rather than to laugh “with”. And you will laugh. Dodds Delzell, who hasn’t been seen on a Sonoma County Stage for a while, is very funny as the vain and doltish action star – think Bruce Willis or Nicolas Cage (with whom LaBute made a terrible film). Just when you think he can’t saying anything stupider, he outdoes himself. Heather Gordon earns the show’s biggest laughs (to me) with a simple warning about a specific “situation” and a cheerleader’s take on The Crucible. Sandra Ish, who is also the show’s co-director with Kimberly Kalember, does solid work as Karen’s put-upon partner whose blood pressure must spike fifty points with each of Steve’s incredible utterances. Her character seems the most grounded till you start to wonder how she ever ended up with Karen. As Karen, Laurie Gaugin seems to be the least “seasoned” of the cast as I felt there was a lot more to be mined from the Gwyneth Paltrow-like character who’s willing to endorse anything and everything to keep her image out there. The show is funny, but it is also caustic and crude and mean-spirited with some pretty graphic dialogue which really should be no surprise if you understand the meaning of the title - Google it if you don’t. There’s no great meaning to be found in The Money Shot. Some have labeled it satire. I see it more as farce. It’s two hours of unbelievable, exaggerated characters saying and doing ridiculous things. I say exaggerated because nobody could be as boorish, thoughtless, self-centered, egotistical, narcissistic, and stupid as the characters in this play. Right? The Money Shot runs at Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts through June 4. For more information, go to leftedgetheatre.com

As Karen & Tim begin to countdown the American Film Institute's 100 Years 100 Movies List, we begin with a discussion of 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy, starring James Cagney.

All the Defenders are back to Hell's Kitchen for our Daredevil S02E05 Kinbaku Podcast. We discuss our top five points from this episode, a flashback to Matt's past and our introduction to Elektra Natchios. Spoiler filled Synopsis for Daredevil S02E05 Kinbaku Podcast Directed by: Floria Sigismondi Written by: Lauren Schmidt Hissrich A former lover, Elektra Natchios (Elodie Yung), arrives in Hell's Kitchen to ask for Matt Murdock's (Charlie Cox) help with her father's business dealings with the company Roxxon Energy Corporation. However, her appearance turns his world upside down as it reignites the painful past of his father's murder and his history with Elektra. Matt refuses to help her, though he spies on her business dealings, and instead looks forward to his blossoming romance with Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) . As Karen and Matt head out on their first date, Karen keeps her continued pursuit of the truth about the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and his past from him. However, after the meal Murdock is drawn back to Elektra's apartment and is reminded by her of his potential for darkness at the home of Roscoe Sweeney (Kevin Nagle). But just as he is about to leave, unexpected guests converge on Natchio's penthouse, and she tells him to prepare to fight. We will be back again next week with our review of Daredevil Season 2 Episode 6 Regrets Only. We love to hear from listeners about your thoughts on Daredevil, Agent Carter and our Defenders TV show reviews so please send yours to feedback@defenderstvpodcast.com join our Facebook group here or follow us on Twitter @defenderscast. Thanks for listening John, Chris and Derek Defenders TV Podcast Date recorded: 04/04/2016 Date published: 07/04/2016 MP3, 84.33 mins, 128kbps, 77.7 MB All images and audio clips are copyright of Patrick Harbron/Netflix. No infringement is intended. The intro and outro music for our show is provided by Mississippi MacDonald you can find more of his music at his website MississippiMacdonald.com . This show is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast Network. For more shows like this visit Flickeringmyth.com

Karen Valley Karen talks today about what it means to be “disabled”, our limitations, her social entrepreneurial spirit and why it’s so important to push the boundaries in a variety of ways.  Biography Karen Valley was born missing her left arm below the elbow and was enrolled in The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program. As Karen grew up with the CHAMP Program, she embraced the Association’s philosophy of “amputees helping amputees” both as an enthusiastic Champ and later as a Junior Counsellor.  She gave media interviews on behalf of The War Amps, appeared on the Association’s float in a number of parades in the Ottawa area and made presentations to local children’s groups, spreading the PLAYSAFE message and raising awareness about life as an amputee.  In 1993, Karen began her employment at The War Amps, and today she is the Director of the Association’s National Amputee Centre (NAC). In this capacity, Karen ensures that the NAC remains a centre of excellence on the subject of amputation, providing valuable information to all Canadian amputees in the areas of prosthetics, limb loss and The War Amps many programs. By liaising with prosthetists, orthotists, manufacturers and rehabilitation centres, the NAC stays apprised of the latest in prosthetic technology and applications.  With over 20 years of professional experience, Karen’s knowledge of and familiarity with amputation has made her an expert consultant, and she is pleased to share what she knows with the media and other stakeholders. ---------- For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.  With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.     See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.