Podcasts about when allison

Episode 97: Raising a Child With Marfan Syndrome With Guest Allison Pullins Episode 29: Raising a Child With Marfan Syndrome With Guest Allison Pullins In this episode, Allison Pullins discusses her experience raising a child with Marfan Syndrome. James was diagnosed with this connective tissue disorder when he was 2 years old. He experiences an aortic aneurysm, is very nearsighted, has dislocated lenses in his eyes, and low muscle tone. The first signs of something different was asymmetry in James' eyes. Things were fine at the first eye doctor appointment, but 6 months later, his vision prescription was drastically different. He needed glasses by age 1. Around age  2, he was found to have lens dislocation in his eyes. He then  underwent an echocardiogram, which found an aortic aneurysm. It was recommended that he undergo genetic testing, which quickly found Marfan syndrome. When Allison got the diagnosis, she went through a year-long grief process, where she had difficulty coping. She still functioned, but emotionally, she was having difficulty. To cope now, she engages in a lot of self-care. She exercises, meditates, eats healthfully, and makes sure to stay in the  present. She also moved closer to Buddhism, found a community, found her higher purpose,and  strengthened her relationships. She has found that being in the moment has made her a better person and parent. She discusses her fears and concerns for her son and discusses her son's understanding of the condition. She discusses the lack of advancement of treatment for the condition. His condition is relatively stable currently. Treatments are limited for Marfan Syndrome  but James has used losartan and a beta blocker. The family is choosing to move to be closer to family in order to advocate for James and to use their social support. She found a lot of social support and relies heavily on the Marfan Foundation. Going to conferences really helped her meet people. When raising a child with special needs, consider your child's needs, get to know your child, listen to your child, and make the best decisions you can. Allison  discussed the sibling challenges of special needs.     Strengths Finder Test Marfan Foundation Children's Program     Links: Email us if you have any questions or ideas! We are now on instagram! Check out updates on our website. Follow Thriving on Twitter. Check us out on Facebook! We are also on Pinterest!     Please subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store, or wherever you find your podcasts, Leave us a 5-star review, to help us know what you like and what you don't like, and to make sure other like-minded people find support through this podcast. Show Music: Intro Outro: Intro Outro 2 by Mattias Lahoud under CC-BY 3.0 License (www.freesound.org) Theme Song: 90s rock style by monkeyman535 under CC-BY 3.0 License (www.freesound.org) Self Care Song: Green and Orange No Water by Duncan Alex under CC-BY 3.0 License (www.freesound.org)   Hosted by: Jessica Temple and Lewis Temple   Disclaimer: Our show is not designed to provide listeners with specific or personal legal, medical, or professional services or advice. Parents of children with health issues should always consult their health care provider for medical advice, medication, or treatment. Copyright 2021 Jessica Temple

When Allison's ex Jason tries to win her back, she is faced with some tough choices. Meanwhile, Mrs. H is holding Dylan's Teddy Ruxpin for ransom, forcing Cam and Bradley to enter hostage negotiations. Guest Starring Kevin R. Brackett.

What are we in the energy and sustainability fields getting wrong when it comes to reaching communities of color? Is it the actual message or is it something deeper? It’s an important question for a field that is overwhelmingly white and that has such an important mission to accomplish. To guide us through this complex territory we are joined today by Allison Musvosi who will share her research. Zimbabwe-born and trained as a qualitative researcher with strengths including survey design, experimental design, and customer satisfaction research, She works as a Senior Research Analyst with Illume Advising. There she examines both the individual and organizational levels to answer the questions of how and why customers engage. She has a masters degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) and with an eye towards equity, she specializes in multicultural research that helps clients reach underserved segments using well-researched, culturally appropriate, and resonant approaches. When Allison is not puzzling through research methods or wrangling data, she gives back to her community by serving on the board of an emerging arts and cultural heritage center.

In honor of National Recovery Month, Allison Merlo is on the show to share the tragic story of how her brother lost his battle with addiction and what she’s doing to raise awareness and raise funds for a special scholarship in his name. Learn how difficult it can be to support a loved one struggling with addiction and how you can help somebody in need right now by contributing to the Mike Merlo Scholarship Fund. The unfortunate reality of addiction is that it often takes the lives of those who can’t escape its grasp. Allison Merlo is on the show to talk about the story of her brother and how he lost his battle with addiction. Many people have loved ones that are struggling with addiction and don’t know what to do. Growing up Mike was always an entertainer with dreams of being an actor. One of Allison’s favorite memories is of Mike surprising people at a talent show dressed up in a bikini and a blond wig. The turning point for Mike was fairly early. Allison remembers a weeknight where Mike had to get his stomach pumped from drinking too much at a very young age. The severity of the situation scared Allison and her younger brother considerably. Mike continued to struggle with his addiction for the later part of his life from that point on. Allison never really believed that her brother would die from his addiction, but she wasn’t surprised either. The pandemic is putting a lot of extra stress on people right now, which is only making the struggle with addiction more difficult. When Allison was younger she wasn’t sure how to help. Once she moved out to Arizona and built out her network she had an opportunity to teach yoga to inmates in jail, which helped her understand how to communicate with people like her brother, who had been in jail a few times by then and help support them. Looking back at Mike’s later years, Allison realized that she wasn’t in contact very often with him. There is no clear cut answer about how to support someone suffering from addiction. You just have to do what you can with what you have where you are. When you lose someone you will feel like you haven’t done enough. For Allison, there is a sense of wondering if she could have done more, but she does feel good about what she’s done to be of service. Allison is setting up a scholarship fund in her brother’s name to help people that don’t have the resources to get the help they need. If the scholarship fund can save just one life, it will be worth it. The way that she’s fundraising is by doing a rim to rim to rim hike around the Grand Canyon. Donate to Allison’s cause because every single dollar that you contribute is going to help somebody out there that is in need. Follow your heart and lead your life like that. We need to connect and that helps connect with others, and that ultimately helps us heal and recover.

Episode 251: The Inspiration Ecosystem: How Compassion, Curiosity, and Coaching Led to An Award-Winning Start-up  Compassion, curiosity, and coaching are the inspirational ecosystem of MN Cup Competition 2020 grand-prize winners Dr. Allison Hubel and her bio-team at BlueCube Bio. I am joined by Dr. Hubel and President and CEO Karen Dodson in an adventurous conversation to learn how they are creating technologies adapted from strategies used by nature to preserve cells during freezing, why Allison calls herself a random genetic mutation, and how their inspirational ecosystem works at BlueCube Bio. Leveraging critical thinking, research, mentoring, and relationships can be applied to your business. DOWNLOADWe begin with how Dr. Allison Hubel witnessed a U of M graduate student suffering from leukemia and the complications followed by a toxic chemical used to preserve cells given during a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. His experience became a motivating factor for Dr. Hubel.Three years later, Allison was sitting in her office on a cold winter day. As she gazed out the window, she wondered, “how do trees survive the harsh Minnesota weather?” This question engaged her curiosity.A federal government grant was used to adapt strategies trees use to survive winter, to help cells survive cryopreservation. Significant research contributions by doctoral students Rui Li, now Director of Research and Development, and Katie Hornberger Director of Contract Manufacturing and Quality Assurance (CMC), BlueCube Bio has moved those strategies from the lab to the marketplace to help patients faced with life-threatening illnesses and coronavirus damage to the lungs. We discuss the details.In the middle of our conversation, we discuss the MN Cup Competition (the largest statewide start-up competition in the country with 1,042 entrepreneurs participating this year), mentoring and coaching, compassion, and where they learned how to apply compassion to all relationships. Karen Dodson talks about how she joined the team, their vision, and their products (mCube and iCube). The collaborative journey between academia, research, biotech, and pharma communities could ignite some new ideas for expanding your reach to other industries.We end with the Origin of the BlueCube Bio name. When Allison’s eldest son of three children was in preschool, she went in for the usual parent/teacher conference. The teacher said, “Your son is just such a unique individual and picked up a wooden cube in her hand. If I would put this up and show this to the class, most people would say it is a cube. Your son looked at it and said it is blue.” Allison says, “BlueCube Bio is meant to embody that curiosity and that unique eye that looks at a situation, in this case, cell preservation, and sees it through a different prism. We are working to take that prism, the prism of nature, and naturally occurring stabilization methods and apply that to cell therapy. We built curiosity into our name and our perspective and how we develop products.”Karen finishes our conversation by encouraging young women to look at entrepreneurship. She says, “We see few women in entrepreneurial roles. Women are well suited to lead through change, are adaptive, and resilient.”  Podcast Sponsor Strategies to Grow Your Business Monthly Bookkeeping Payroll Services Back Office Strategies and Support Contact Us Now Episode Resources MN CUP “MNCup is the largest statewide start-up competition in the country, supporting emerging entrepreneurs through events, educational programming, and an annual competition. Apply by April 17 in the largest statewide start-up competition that awards $500,000 in cash prizes.”   BlueCube Bio Wins MN Cup Grand Prize BlueCube Bio Article  Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring After listening, do the following three WeMentor C.A.L.M. Exercises: Take this risk: Allison Hubel and Karen Dodson believe in mentoring and...

Sean from Snohomish says his girlfriend Allison can’t cook worth a lick and he wants our help finding ways to encourage her to get better at it. He says they get take out so much that it’s getting expensive and he is gaining a lot of weight. He wants her to take some lessons or at least put some effort into getting better at it. When we ask why he doesn’t cook, he says he works 50 hours a week and she works from home and has more time. When Allison comes on she says she has NEVER been interested in cooking and made that clear to him from Day One and she doesn’t understand why he is suddenly making a big deal. But when Sean reveals that he saw a Facebook Memory of her cooking a big dinner for her Ex three years ago, both of their stories start to fall apart and the P1’s are there to pounce.

Have you been thinking about getting into network marketing and building a side gig, but you have no idea where to start? This episode is for you! Meet Allison Vercelli, who is a network marketer. Allison spills the beans on all things network marketing.Who is Allison (02:18) Allison is a work from home mom. She had a successful career until her son was born, and her boss eliminated her position in the company. After five years of being home and raising her children, she became an entrepreneur in the network marketing world. What is network marketing? (04:33)Network marketing is basically a distribution channel where instead of the company paying millions of dollars for advertising, or instead of paying an intermediary like a store, they pay the distributors. So essentially, we are marketing and promoting their products. We use a product, we love it, and we share it with everybody. How did Allison get into network marketing and why did she choose network marketing over traditional jobs? (05:17)Being a mom, traditional jobs did not work for Allison. She needed to be there for her children all the time and still make some money while still at it.When Allison found out about network marketing, she was not sure she was a fit, and she was scared until she decided to give rise above her fear. She was able to reach the top 0.1% of her company. How did Allison succeed in her business? (08:54)After losing money and having her family at a financial crisis, Allison found inspiration in other women. She was assured that if the other women could succeed, she too had all the reasons to succeed, and after six months, she hit the top 2% of her company?According to Allison, when you have a really strong reason why you're doing it, you start to become unstoppable.What are the secrets for success for network marketers or work from home moms when they are starting in network marketing?Consistency: You have to maintain consistency, and you have to have discipline. You have to learn to enjoy the process and be consistent and stick with it. Do you agree that network marketing is more of sharing information than selling? (16:07)Absolutely! Network marketing is about sharing information. You might find people who are good at sales failing in network marketing because all they want to do is sell. Network marketing is sharing a product you love and an opportunity that you believe in. What advice does Allison have for women considering network marketing or starting a business? (17:50)Be open because it's a viable business. It's a low start-up cost, and there's unlimited earning potential and be willing to step out of your comfort zone. Do you need someone to hold your hand in the network marketing business to help you succeed? Get in touch with Allison:www.AllisonVercelli.comAchieve Success with Allison Connect with me:www.bossladyinsweatpants.comInstagram: @allisonscholes

When Allison was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she chose not to see it as a broken wing. She began to see herself as the perfect person that she is. Allison feels compelled to share her experience with others, so they can share their magnificence with the world. She does this by encouraging them to be authentic, have integrity, accept and like who they are. Also, Allison recognizes that there may be stigmas associated with mental health illness. She is on journey to change that perspective and to encourage us to love and accept people for who they are. Allison shares these powerful nuggets of life wisdom: - something good can come from everything - there is power in truth - when you build a muscle in one area, you can use it in other areas and also help others grow - meditate - practice self care - surround yourself with a trusted circle - be open and accepting of people to allow them to be who they are - let's be mindful not to judge others without knowing their stories - if you feel that you may have a mental health illness, seek the help of a mental health professional Allison Francis Barksdale is the CEO of RISE LEADERSHIP, LLC. She is an accomplished leader and public speaker with more than twenty-five years of professional experience in service management, strategic planning, training and leadership development.  After a successful career in convention center management, Allison retired early to begin her entrepreneurial journey. To supplement her new business, she started substitute teaching when she was not coaching, consulting or speaking. Working in the schools has given Allison an even bigger WHY. "The future of our youth is at stake, and by extension, our collective future. Teacher turnover is endemic and our competitiveness as a country is declining. Many school campuses are tense and some are toxic. I know that I am being called to make a difference in strengthening our collective future." Partnering with educators, Allison now shares Time To Teach™ strategies to help teachers teach, students learn, and schools succeed! https://impactwithrise.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonfrancisbarksdale tags:  Allison, Francis, Barksdale, RISE, LEADERSHIP, impactwithrise, leader, speaker, service, management, strategic, planning, training, leadership, development, entrepreneur, teach, coach, consult, speak, Time, to, Teach, education, storiesthatempower.com, stories that empower, empowering stories, empowerment stories, stories of empowerment, stories of empowering others, self empowerment stories, stories empower, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, uplift, uplifting, upliftment, hope, light, Sean

Isaac and Allison sit down and discuss the idea of moving in together before marriage. After dating for 5 years, they struggled with their previous decision to wait until marriage. When Allison moved to California, the idea became more and more appealing. Listen in to hear more!

So many mothers face the tough decision of how to balance their careers while raising kids. It is often the catalyst for big change whether that be a new business, deciding to quit and stay at home or shifting your goals in your current career. On today’s episode, I got to talk to Allison about how the birth of her son started the beginning of her journey into entrepreneurship.   Allison spent much of her career in business management, as either an office administrator or an executive assistant. When Allison’s son was born and had to spend some time in the NICU, she was faced with the decision of returning back to work or leaving her career to stay at home. She was looking for a way to stay at home but also bring in some extra money to support her family.   She decided to start a blog, chronicling her life including the various issues NICU mothers face. Her blog quickly took off and she began being featured in publications such as Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, TODAY Parents, and more. Having learned how to effectively market her own blog through Pinterest and other social media outlets, Allison began offering those services to other bloggers and business owners.   In under 2 years, she has grown her online business management company to over 6-figures through mostly referrals. She now has a growing team that helps cater to their growing customer base. And she gets to do all this while spending more time at home with her children. I got to talk to Allison all about how she grew this company and how we can learn from her experience. Here is what we chat about in this episode: How the birth of her son sparked her interest in starting her own business or side hustle Why she started a blog in a saturated market and how she stood out How she started her online VA business What resources she used to learn about monetizing her blog and how people monetize their blogs How she built up her online business management company into a 6-figure business in 2 years.   Where to find Allison:   https://allisonrlancaster.com/ www.lovinglivinglancaster.com Pinterest course: https://allisonrlancaster.com/lets-learn-pinterest-course/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/allisonrlancaster/ Follow along for more: www.lessonsfromaquitter.com https://www.facebook.com/lessonsfromaquitter https://www.instagram.com/lessonsfromaquitter/ https://twitter.com/quitterpodcast  

When Allison signed up for an on-air coaching call, she thought she wanted help with narrowing her focus and keeping her classes interesting - but the byproduct of that work was to optimize her teaching schedule and hone back in the reasons she loves teaching in the first place. Why excellent teaching is always about coming back to your intention. The deeper reasons that your cues feel stale - and what to do about it. How to structure your class schedule to be a win-win for you and your students. How to use progressive sequencing to help your students understand the ‘whys’ behind your cues. The purpose and place of a cue in your classes - and why cueing should not replace teaching. The reason you might consider teaching privates before you ‘feel ready’ and how to get private students to give you helpful feedback. I have a limited number of spaces to work with yoga teachers intensively over the next three months. If you would like to be considered for a spot, please sign up for a free clarity call to make sure we are a good fit to work together. 

When Allison hired weight-loss expert David Zappasodi, he told her to stop exercising and go buy a bunch of junk food. This is a weight-loss strategy like no other. But, it WORKS.   Did you know that out of all the people who try losing weight every year, only 3% succeed? From the moment David stepped into the health and wellness industry, over 20 years ago, he knew he had to find a new method that challenges common weight-loss approaches. So he developed a revolutionary strategy to reprogram your brain to give up junk food and stop over-eating for good. His ultimate goal? To eradicate world-wide obesity. We love his mission!!   But how can you do this? By creating brain-flips around your cravings.   How Do Brain Flips Work? It’s vital to understand that we have two aspects to our brain. First, there’s the thinking brain - we use it to fix problems and make our lives better. The thinking brain knows that certain foods are an issue and it wants to get rid of the craving. This is the part of the brain most of us will try to use to lose weight, and it never works. The sensory brain, on the other hand, is different - it’s the opposite of your thinking brain in so far as it has no capacity to think. It just functions through your senses - hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste - but it doesn’t have a concept of what it’s seeing, tasting, touching, smelling etc. It doesn’t identify - that’s the thinking brain’s job. Your sensory brain’s role is to keep you safe - it does that by creating familiar associations.   For example, let’s say as a child you fell and scraped your knee. Your mum bandaged it up, and gave you an ice-cream. Your thinking brain is aware the bandaging is what’s helping, but your sensory brain just links the taste of ice-cream to the physical sensation of feeling better - it creates a program that says ice-cream equals feeling good. The result? A craving for ice-cream that lasts into adulthood. The story changes, the food changes, but it’s pretty much the same for everyone and all cravings. Your thinking brain might know that this is happening, but that won’t solve the problem. Unless you can reprogram your brain, you will keep having those cravings. You need a brain-flip. To create this brain-flip, you need a pain tool.   Pain Tool: You’ve concluded that ice-cream equals safe. So you need to create a pain tool that reprograms your sensory brain to believe that ice-cream equals not safe. How? David gets his clients to make an audio that goes deep into what their life will look like if they don’t solve this problem, which they listen to whilst eating the ice-cream or whatever food they crave. This pain tool plants a seed in the sensory brain that says ice-cream is not enjoyable after all. It’s a small seed, but it begins to decrease the cravings. Within a few days, this new programming takes over. Your brain no longer associates the ice-cream with comfort, it associates it with pain. The result? You don’t crave that food any more. You are free.   And that’s just Phase 1. In Phase 2, David tackles over-eating. Where cravings tend to be an association of taste with comfort, overeating is an association between the feeling of fullness and feeling safe. This might happen because as a child you were told to finish what was on your plate, so your sensory brain created a link between overeating and feeling safe. In Phase 3, you go even deeper, by brain-flipping your beliefs about working out - making exercise so exciting you’ll be begging to get to the gym. Tune in to discover David’s tools for brain-flipping around overeating and exercise.   Alli has just completed Phase 1, and has gone from eating dessert every single day to not even wanting anything sweet. She feels like a completely new person - and you can too!   If you’ve tried program after program and are seriously struggling with weight-loss, you can schedule a free coaching call with David at www.empoweredhealthnow.com/talk.   Being hailed as “Sex and the City for Food,” The Food Heals Podcast brings together experts in the field of nutrition, health and healing to teach you the best-kept natural secrets to being a hotter, healthier, happier YOU!   The Food Heals Podcast is hosted by Allison Melody and Suzy Hardy – two self-proclaimed natural chicks who will rock your world and change your beliefs about health! This sexy, savvy duo provides eco-friendly advice on a variety of issues including the healing power of nutrition, living authentically, turning your passion into your career, choosing the best natural health and beauty products, the benefits of a plant-based diet and so much more!

S2-E8 E=MC…? Dud Gramley and Vickie discuss Season 2, Episode 8, E=MC…. ? When Allison puts a newly hired, but criminal, genius in Jack’s care he’s less than pleased, but then an accident in a lab causes most of GD to lose their smarts, and he may be the only one with the solution. If you are a first time watcher, we suggest that you watch the episode BEFORE listening to this pod cast. You can also listen and/or find links to items discussed during this episode on our website at Eurekarewatch.com  Theme Music: That Positive Feeling (Loop) – Track By: alumo Standard License  

Guest Bio:Allison Croghan is the Social Media Anchor and Midday Meteorologist on Fox 13 News.After graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Mississippi, Allison studied atmospheric science through Mississippi State University's Distance Meteorology Program.Growing up in the St. Louis, Missouri, severe weather was not uncommon. Allison's first television news job was in Joplin, Missouri, where she covered the aftermath of one of the deadliest tornadoes in America's history.While Allison certainly has a passion for weather, she loves sports as well. In college, one of her favorite internships was at ESPN in Connecticut. Fun fact: her first time reporting on live television was during an Ole Miss basketball game on ESPNU.Her career has taken her across the country, but she's happy she landed at Fox 13 in June of 2012. When Allison isn't working, she's busy hiking, reading, practicing yoga, or attending sporting events.

Noble Crust Restaurant Review  Hey Weight Loss Nation!  Weight Loss Nation It’s Tuesday, and it’s a Tampa Bay Tuesday, and that means I have a Tampa Bay Area Restaurant Review for you! If you live in the Tampa Bay area……or…..you’re visiting Tampa Bay, you’ll want to check out this unique restaurant during your stay.  Today…..I’m reviewing Noble Crust Restaurant, which has …… 3 locations. You can dine in St. Petersburg and in 2 Tampa locations ……….one is in the Carrollwood neighborhood, which is in the Northern part of Tampa, and the 2nd one is in Wesley Chapel, which is in the North – Eastern part of Tampa.  For today’s episode……I visited the Carrollwood location. The restaurant is located at 11618 N. Dale Mabry Hwy – Tampa, FL 33618. That’s between Hudson Lane & Colby Rd on the West side of N. Dale Mabry Hwy.   There’s a real nice outdoor patio, and the “Noble Crust” sign is tactful & visible.   Inside…..Noble Crust is nicely decorated. You’ll immediately feel clean, crisp and trendy!   I walked over & spoke to the Host,  “Jacob” who had a great smile.  Jacob had my reservation ready and immediately took me over to an assigned table. Once seated, you’ll start looking around the restaurant. You’ll feel like you’re  in an upscale Italian Restaurant with a splash of Southern Charm! In less than a minute, My Server…..whose name was Allison, came over and gave me a Friendly, bright smile. Allison brought over some water with lemon and then …… recited the “specials of the day” like an actress.   Allison recommended the “melon bruschetta,” which was made up of watermelon, Cantaloupe and Honeydew….all 3 melons straight from the Noble Crust’s private garden! The melon is served with whipped feta cheese, basil and a balsamic vinaigrette! Sounded Delicious! I ordered it.   When Allison placed the plate in front of me, the aroma of the fresh basil & melon, filled my nose….and with that….my mouth was watering!   I immediately removed the beautiful melon & feta from the toasted bread & put it on my plate. No need for empty calories! I don’t need the white bread….you don’t either. You just take everything off the bread and eat it with a fork!   The melon was fresh, sweet & juicy! The feta brought a tangy twist to the fruit and the basil & vinaigrette capped it all off beautifully! It was really good!   For my dinner……I ordered the Double cut Pork Chop with fresh grilled Asparagus….which again…..comes …..from the garden!   The pork chop was tender & cooked perfectly! Chef Ramsey would be proud! The pork chop was Topped with a garlic herb butter and a tad of a cherry demi sauce underneath.  You know how good Pork Chops & Apple sauce is….right? Well, the cherry demi sauce was good too.   I am NOT an Asparagus person. I don’t like that it makes your pee smell. You know what I mean!  www.TheWeightLossNation.com I RARELY eat asparagus….. but when I heard it came straight out of their private garden THAT DAY….. I had to try it. I’m glad I did!   The grilled asparagus was tender, Fresh & quite tasty! Not bitter at all. Noble Crust is  a FUSION  of Italian cooking with some Southern Soul.   With menu items like …….Fried Green Tomatoes….cooked in olive oil mind you….. served with Lime Yogurt…or….Gulf Shrimp with Cheese Grits, you know you’re in the South and Noble Crust has a “relaxed” ambiance inside the restaurant. Nobody is rushing you to get out. Eat and enjoy your food! That’s what Southerners and the Europeans Do!   There is also Bronzed Salmon with seasonal vegetables as well as a  Farm Fresh House Salad…..filled with Fresh Greens, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, croutons and whipped feta. Tell your waiter or waitress to skip the croutons & you’ll be all set. FRESH veggies from their PRIVATE garden!   For pizza lovers….Noble Crust has a “Gluten Free” Crust.   I would highly suggest the “Margarita,” which has FRESH tomato sauce, FRESH mozzarella & FRESH parmesan cheese, with FRESH basil and olive oil. That’s how you want your PIZZA! Healthy with FRESH ingredients.   The Garden Fresh Vegetables and Herbs will make you say “Hmmmmmm” several times throughout your dinner. The manager walked throughout the dining room checking on patrons. Nice touch!   With seasonal, fresh ingredients and Southern Charm, Noble Crust is a breath of fresh air for Tampa.   Time to Rate Noble Crust!   I wanted to change the rating system…… “thumbs up” is ok….. but I wanted to make the rating a more “FLORIDA” friendly. So…….starting today…..a Restaurant can receive up to “3” AVOCADOS! Florida was the first state to cultivate Avocados in 1883, and Avocados are sooooo healthy for you….it’s only right that I give the Avocado some props.   1 Avocado means the Restaurant was “Ehhh”…..so it was “Fair.” 2 Avocados means the restaurant was “Good” just not Awesome. It was missing the mark on the service provided or the atmosphere….  and finally….. “3”  Avocados means you are going to have a “GREAT” Restaurant Experience. You’ll have Great Food with Healthy options, Great Service and a Great Atmosphere. In other words…..Go THERE!   Noble Crust gets a BIG Weight Loss Nation “3 Avocados!”   The melon Bruschetta AND my Pork Chop & Asparagus dinner was FANTASTIC!   Allison was an excellent server, who made sure I was enjoying my food and my time at Noble Crust.   The Ambiance was great! Lower lighting with comfortable seating and I you’ll be able to carry on a conversation with your guests, makes Noble Crust a great option for your dining pleasure.   With 3 locations, you shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes away! St. Petersburg                                                      8300 4th Street N.                                                 St. Petersburg, FL  33702   Tampa – Wesley Chapel                                            28330 Paseo Drive                                                    Tampa, FL   33543   Tampa – Carrollwood*                                                11618 N Dale Mabry Hwy                                      Tampa, FL  33618        Restaurant Reviewed*   Restaurant Hours Monday       Closed Tues – Thur   4:00pm – 11:00pm Friday             4:00pm – Midnight Saturday        10:30am – Midnight Sunday           10:30am – 10:00pm   Noble Crust’s private garden……which is called “Fat Beet Farm,” is scheduled to be open to the public by the end of 2018. I’m looking forward to that! You know I’ll be there to Rate & Review it for you Nation!   So there’s my Tampa Bay Tuesday Restaurant Review.   I hope you enjoyed it!  ARE YOU interested in learning more about WLN? Then …. Go to our website at www.TheWeightLossNation.com and check us out!   I would love to have you join me on my Long-Term Healthy Lifestyle Journey!   Till next time Nation…..I want everyone to have a Happy, peaceful & Healthy WEEK!                

Parent Driven Development Episode 008: Remote working with kids 00:37 Who all works remotely? 02:30 Working remotely with kids at home Lifestyle choice Nursing and alternate schedules Spouses working from home as well 06:00 Working remotely before and after having a child The difference between working from home with a spouse also working from home vs. not Hard starts and stops to your day 10:00 JC forgets pickup 11:00 Dealing with interruptions This classic example (https://youtu.be/Mh4f9AYRCZY) Interruptions from your spouse vs. the kid(s) 15:00 Allison joins 15:45 Do companies who accept remote work also do better at understanding flexible schedules and work/life balance? Tyranny of the green dot on Slack What are the expectations of being remote? Do we feel guilty about doing "life" or kid stuff during the work day? 19:53 Being a remote worker vs. being on a distributed team Understanding working hours Helping colleagues be more purposeful about working hours and communication 23:00 Shared calendars and communicating hours to your team slack notifications and snoozing google calendar work hours basecamp Tools 24:00 Based on Cate's blog post (https://cate.blog/2016/12/29/figuring-out-remote-work-is-figuring-out-work/) Going in to an office established a lot of defaults for a team and working remotely it helps to be more explicit 25:30 Being in the office is nice because you get to talk to other adults. How do you deal with isolation? Going to stores Being in the coffee shop Parenting groups and daycares Playdates with other kids The difficulty of coworking and coffee shop working while pumping Leads to great isolation which is pretty difficult Rant about when people tell you to be social while pumping (spoiler: it's not that easy!!) 31:00 Being home instead of going out as a matter of priorities What do you want to have time for? 33:00 Listener Question!! Our first!! It is so exciting!!! When is the right time to introduce screens to your child and how did you do it? Allison introduced games first, mostly on flights. When Allison introduced tv shows, she tried to make it educational like Daniel Tiger (http://pbskids.org/daniel/), PBS shows (http://pbskids.org/), etc. Talking to your child about what they watched and what they learned KWu thinks what screen time and for what purpose. And introduce something, see the effect and make changes from there. JC said as you have more kids, it's harder to control media and screen time. Having structure around things is very important. Josh remembers lots of research but can't remember when they introduced screens Andy says do it collectively and sparingly KWu says that technology and watching things can be used as bonding time and can focus on artistic or creative endeavors as opposed to isolating JC talks about use of imagination using programs like minecraft (https://minecraft.net/en-us/). 45:00 Genius / Fail moments JC - my daughter has been playing softball and she looked at pictures of herself batting and fixed an issue! She was resilient and didn't get discouraged. #Genius Allison - Everything is a genius and fail right now. My son's preschool teacher told me that he's doing fantastic #Genius Josh - my daughter has guinea pigs named Ana and Elsa and one of them fell which led to a visit to the vet. There they found out Ana and Elsa are male which led to a great discussion about gender and what gender means. #Genius KWu - Marriage win! We started watching the Americans together and it is so nice to be doing something together and have something not household related to talk about. #Genius Andy - After a difficult day, my daughter wrote "I love you daddy, even when you're grumpy" #Genius? or #Fail? 53:00 Contact Us! Tell us what you're learning! Follow & Support Please follow us @parentdrivendev (https://twitter.com/parentdrivendev) on Twitter or email us at panel@parentdrivendevelopment.com (mailto:panel@parentdrivendevelopment.com). Our website is at ParentDrivenDevelopment.com (https://parentdrivendevelopment.com) Support us via Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/parentdrivendev) and get access to our our Slack Community. Panel: Josh Puetz (https://twitter.com/joshpuetz) Allison McMillan (https://twitter.com/allie_p) JC Avena (https://twitter.com/jcavena) KWu (https://twitter.com/kwu) Andy Croll (https://twitter.com/andycroll) Additional links: https://medium.com/@benthompson/breaking-down-the-father-on-bbc-being-interrupted-by-his-children-9840cdc8857b https://youtu.be/-Ojvk-4IcOE

On April 20, 2012, Gerard Baden-Clay phoned the police. His wife hadn’t come home from her morning walk, you see, and it wasn’t like her to be late. She had a big day ahead, and he didn’t want to cause a fuss, but he was getting worried. When the police arrived at the Baden-Clay household in Brookfield in Brisbane’s west, Gerard greeted the officers, gesturing apologetically at his face. “Cut myself shaving,” he said. He needn’t have pointed it out. Officers immediately noticed the long, ragged scratches on the side of Gerard’s face.And they knew they weren’t from shaving.The investigation into Allison’s disappearance would become one of the largest in Brisbane’s history, in man hours and in media coverage. The people demanded to know what happened to Allison, a much-loved mother, friend, and member of the community. People who had never met her joined a crowd of hundreds at the Brookfield Showgrounds to volunteer their time to search for Allison. Her husband Gerard was not amongst them.When Allison’s body was found, days later, dumped in a creek under a bridge, miles from her home, there was one person the police and the public were sure was responsible.Sources:The bulk of the information for this episode was taken from David Murray’s outstandingly excellent book, The Murder of Allison Baden-Clay, a fantastic addition to anyone’s true crime library.The Courier-Mail archives have a huge range of articles written by David Murray and other journalists which can be accessed here http://www.couriermail.com.au/?s=allison+baden-clay if you have a Courier-Mail subscription.Allison’s autopsy report can be found at https://aussiecriminals.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/autopsy-report1.pdf.The judge’s summary for the jury at Gerard’s trial can be found here https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2014/QSC14-154.pdfFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com

Have you ever found yourself in a stressful or dangerous situation and had a complete stranger offer assistance? As if they’d been placed there, by fate, or impossible coincidence, miraculously timed to step in and help … And then, just as mysteriously, disappeared? Maybe looking back it seems like the Universe was using this ordinary person as a divine messenger for you — an ordinary vessel, but with a supernatural role and unbelievable timing. But have you ever experienced this phenomenon in such a way it left you wondering if these helpful strangers were even human beings at all? ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AS: Stranger Angels - Part 1 Stranger Angels - Part 2 The Paranormal Memoirs Are you new to podcasts? How to subscribe to my podcast free HOST LINKS sladeroberson.com Get an intuitive reading with Slade Download a free ebook and meditation Automatic Intuition Patreon.com Support this Show TRANSCRIPT Have you ever found yourself in a stressful or dangerous situation and had a complete stranger offer assistance?  As if they’d been placed there, by fate, or impossible coincidence, miraculously timed to step in and help…And then, just as mysteriously, disappear? Maybe looking back it seems like the Universe was using this ordinary person as a divine messenger for you. An ordinary vessel, but with a supernatural role and unbelievable timing. But have you ever experienced this phenomenon in such a way it left you wondering if these helpful strangers were even human beings at all? My name is Slade Roberson.  For over ten years, I’ve been a professional intuitive counselor and the author of the blog Shift Your Spirits, where I try to write about spirituality with fewer hearts and flowers than most New Age blather.  I also mentor emerging intuitives, psychics, and healers in a program called Automatic Intuition. Now a quick FYI before we go further — I’ve added a new feature to the show. For years now, before I send out a blog post, I try to tune in and listen for something that will speak directly to you, that will serve as a message. Like an oracle. And I get email replies, every week, with tons of you saying the post was a direct answer to a question you had. This is a really popular phenomenon -  for both of us - and I want to bring that to the podcast… So At the very end of this episode, after my final links and credits, I have a channeled message for you.  Be thinking about a question or concern you have. It may be answered by the show itself. But hold it in your mind and I’ll come back on at the end and leave you with something extra… OK So,  Back to the show.  Today, I want to share one of my own experiences with what I call stranger angels… (although I would never have used that terminology at the time…) In January 1992, when I was twenty-two years old, I traveled to Europe.  I flew to London with a small group of friends and stayed for a few days before splitting off from them to go meet up with another friend Allison who was waiting for me in Paris. We had arranged to connect at a specific hotel between the Latin Quarter of the 5th Arrondissement and the 13th Arrondissement on a Saturday morning — but the only trains I could take required that I arrive either half a day early or half a day late. So, I opted to travel in the wee hours of Friday night/ really early Saturday morning which would put me in Paris at 1 am. We were going to share a room, but I figured I could splurge and check into my own room for one night at the same hotel and sleep for awhile until Allison woke up. I only had a little bit of British cash when I left London, but I wasn’t concerned — all the train stations I’d ever been to in large cities like New York and London were always bustling with activity at all hours, even in the middle of the night. So I figured I could go to a money exchange when I arrived in Paris and turn in some American traveler’s checks for francs.  After the Channel boat crossing, which was actually pretty crowded, there were only four other people in the car on the train with me — two girls from New Jersey, Joanna and Julie, an Australian guy who eventually introduced himself as James, and a nondescript man in a khaki-colored trench coat who remained several rows away, never joined in our conversation, but nevertheless seemed to always be staring and closely watching us whenever I glanced over at him. The Jersey girls made entertaining companions, they were chatty and easy to be with; James from Australia was shy and although he moved closer to sit near us, he mostly just listened to the conversation. I was unprepared when I arrived at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris to find it an absolute ghost town — every kiosk, cafe, ticket booth, and bank was dark, locked up with those roll-down gates like you see on the front of mall stores when they’re closed. This was a Friday night in Paris; I thought there would be people everywhere. The Jersey girls yelled a cheery goodbye and snatched one of the only waiting taxis, and James melted away into the streets with the small crowd who exited our train from other cars. I wandered around in an awkward circle, looking for signs of activity, and quickly realizing I was not going to find any. This was a really ill-planned arrival. I had been so comfortable in London — I was traveling with friends from the US; staying in the apartment of British nationals; there was no language barrier; not to mention a kind of “past-life” familiarity that was at least partially supported by recognizable landmarks from years of studying English literature. Now I was alone in an abandoned metropolis with just enough high school French to read signs and grunt nouns and adjectives and to possibly butcher a verb conjugation or two, in a pinch. I was an obvious tourist carrying everything I had in an enormous pack; an easy target for a mugging. I was actually thankful there was a freezing fog everywhere to ensure the streets were emptier than they might otherwise have been. There was only one other person anywhere nearby that I could appeal to for directions. And he was watching me. The man in the khaki-colored trench coat, who had been staring at me on the train, was lingering, lurking at a casual distance. At least he was a familiar face, and if he had just arrived from England then chances were good he spoke my language. Feeling like a child who’d lost his mom in the mall, I walked up to him and began babbling about my circumstances — where I was trying to get to in the city, where I might find a money exchange… Why was Paris of all places shut down like this on a Friday night? I felt no sense of danger from him. Honestly, I suspected he might be cruising me, and I was more than willing to play along with that a little bit in exchange for crucial information. I was confident I could politely fend off any sexual advances, if that was his motive. As I talked to him, I realized there was something vaguely off about him. In the back of my mind I was cataloguing the details of his manner and appearance. He introduced himself simply as “Uh… John” and something about the way he said it sounded like a lie made up on the spot. When he spoke, his voice was soft and polite, yet he made no facial expressions. He was absolutely emotionless. He spoke English, yet I could detect no traceable accent — it wasn’t British, or American, or Australian. I can picture his face clearly and I would immediately recognize him if he walked into the room right now— but I can’t really describe much about him that would be identifiable or unique. His eyes were an unusual icy blue, but other than that… He could have been thirty… or he could have been forty or even fifty. His hair might have been a dirty blond… or maybe a light brown, or even silvery-gray. He was dressed from head to toe in monochrome — his pants and shirt were the same colorless beige. Only his shoes were a different color (and I noticed that, despite the cold, he wasn't wearing any socks). His clothes had creases in them, as if they had been taken directly out of packages. I felt like if I could have checked inside his collar I’d find price tags still attached. It reminded me of when I’d worked in retail stores, the way the body forms we dressed for the window displays appeared before the clothes had been steamed. That was it — he looked like a living mannequin. He looked too new, too perfect — yet totally unremarkable. He had absolutely no body hair — zero -  no stubble, no shadow, no hair on his wrists — not even the faint down that a woman or a child might have. He gave off an anonymous perfume that smelled exactly like… unscented dryer sheets. Even his breath was like a warm load of clean towels. John was… supernaturally ordinary. He offered to informally exchange the small handful of British pocket money I had on me — I handed him what amounted to less than five bucks, and turning away from me for a moment (probably to keep me from seeing into his wallet, I suppose) he produced a bill that, although still a modest amount, was at least quadruple the value of what I’d given him. “But it’s not enough for a taxi all the way from here,” he said. “You’ll need to walk quite a way first, as far as you can.” Using a rail map posted on a wall for reference, he showed me where I was and where I was headed. “Once you are in view of Notre Dame, or come to the Seine, you should be close enough to hail a driver to take you the rest of the way to your exact destination”  He hesitated for a second and then offered to walk with me. I told him that wouldn’t be necessary — I appreciated his kindness but I anticipated it might be more difficult to get rid of him later if I needed to. Before we parted ways outside the station he also warned me about the dangers of walking through this part of Paris in the middle of the night. He ominously advised me to “Be invisible,”  As far as ensuring that my path was relatively deserted, the weather was probably a blessing; but the grace of the cover it provided me came at a price — it was miserably freezing cold. The moisture in the air was just light enough to remain a dense fog, but it soaked me as well as any steady drizzle might have… It was a long, harrowing (shitty) night. I would need another thousand words here to itemize the petty trials of that night’s walk. My feet were blistered and swollen for days… I could not get warm the entire week that I spent in Paris… But to simplify the story, I can’t recall many times that I have felt that physically vulnerable. Had I been a crow, I could’ve kept moving directly south, but the streets were a crooked, uncooperative labyrinth that required constant course correction. I expended a lot of energy “being invisible” as I had been instructed. I encountered very few people — a handful of prostitutes propositioned me from the caves of doorways and shopfront awnings; I constantly crossed and recrossed streets to avoid anyone on the sidewalk; I ducked into phone booths from time to time to collect myself and maintain my bubble of cloaked energy. It didn't take me long to realize that John was following me. He remained a block or two behind me, and stopped when I stopped. Who has nowhere to be and nothing better to do than to follow me through the streets of Paris at 3 am in the middle of January? A serial killer? But I have to admit maybe I was a little comforted by his strange yet at least somewhat familiar presence over the alternative of being completely alone. Hours later — after walking and walking for hours — I spotted the recognizable architecture of Notre Dame. Soon after that, I was across the Seine and in the Latin Quarter. Thinking surely I was close enough to afford a cab the rest of the way, I stopped a driver and spluttered my destination.  He laughed at me and pointed — to the street I was seeking, which was about a few hundred feet away. I walked up and down that street for another hour — not only was the hotel not there, the very street number itself did not exist. After pacing back and forth and carefully tracking the building numbers to convince myself I wasn’t hallucinating, I was literally in tears. In frustration, I sat on a bench and surrendered to having arrived at being finally and totally lost. That’s when I saw John again, across a square formed by a jumbled intersection of streets. I was just pissed off enough and desperate enough at this point to walk right up to him and demand to know why in the Hell he was stalking me. He disappeared down a side street that looked like an alley and I followed him. But it wasn’t an alley at all — It was an improbable, completely eccentric continuation of the street I had been pacing up and down. The numbers picked up and continued. No sign of John, but there was the hotel. That Monday, a few days later, I was with my traveling companion Allison and her friend Natalie. We were walking from the Champs-Elysees headed to the Eiffel Tower when someone waved at me from the window of a restaurant. It was Jersey Joanna and Julie, smiling and waving excitedly at me. it was such an unexpected joy, the unlikely synchronicity of seeing these familiar faces.There were two men sitting with the girls who turned around to see who they were waving at. One of them was James the Australian guy — and I thought Wow! They ran into him again too? That’s kind of cool. What are the chances? And then I made eye contact with the Other guy. It was John. Why would he be with them? They never even spoke on the train… Allison was like “Do you know those people?” She was looking at me like — How is it even possible that you would just run into someone Here? I was kind of too overwhelmed in the moment just trying to process the coincidence to explain how huge it actually was, so I just said. “Yeah. They came over with me on the train from London.” But that wasn’t the last time I saw John while I was in Europe. I saw him again, a few weeks later, on the day I was mugged at gun point in Amsterdam. My time in Paris was… difficult. I felt stressed, distracted, uneasy, but also mute and invisible. I’m someone who talks a lot, but because my roommate Allison was fluent in French, she did all my talking for me. Her friend Natalie was a French national, and although I’m sure they didn’t purposefully exclude me, they chattered away with me along as a silent third wheel, just listening, catching only about fifty percent of what they said. They dragged me through two full days of the Louvre… Madonna-and-Child, Madonna-and-Child, Madonna-and-Child — “Oh, look, the Mona Lisa; neato” — Madonna-and-Child, Madonna-and-Child… Endless palatial corridors of Madonna-and-Child.  I felt like I was stuck in some virtual reality walk-through of a really tedious Art History textbook. I told Allison “If I don’t see something painted after 1890, I’m going to lose my mind.” So I ducked out and went for some amazing (much needed) inspiration from the modern art collection at the Pompidou Centre — without the girls. When Allison and I were finally alone in our room that night and she switched back to English, my voice came out thick from lack of use. And when we spoke, we bickered. She kept asking me. “What are you looking at?” I was standing by the window — again — peering out through a gap in the curtains, not really conscious of what I was doing or that it was even noticeable until she pointed it out. She accused me of acting paranoid, day after day — constantly looking back behind us when we were walking, checking and re-checking the lock on the door, and lurking near the window watching the street. She said “You’re making me nervous. It’s like we’re being followed.” I couldn’t explain myself so I let her believe I was just being a pill; that I was miserable being in Paris with her. (Which I kinda was.) I told her I was going to cut my stay short and go to Amsterdam alone. She didn’t protest; I’m sure she was relieved to spend her remaining days with Natalie without having to be my translator.  Maybe France simply did not agree with me.  Arriving in Amsterdam I immediately regained the better mood and sense of comfort I’d had when I began my trip in the UK. I met a couple my age from San Francisco, Marty and David, who were staying in my hotel. They had been in Amsterdam for most of the previous week, their last three days coincided with my first three; they were able to show me around to all the “best” places nearby they’d discovered to hang out and eat, reasonably inexpensive ones that weren’t such tourist traps. We went out to some great clubs every night and, best of all, I could participate fully in conversation again. I had exactly the kind of traveling experience I had hoped to have. I became attached to Marty and David pretty quickly, and when they departed, their absence was palpable. I had little expectation of achieving that same sense of joy or meeting other strangers I could click with so effortlessly.  Truly, my intuition said “Might as well go ahead and leave” — but there were a few sites I wanted to see while I had the chance and they seemed appropriate for that lonely, invisible state I had fallen back into. The first day on my own, I went to the Anne Frank House (a profound adventure that deserves its own story sometime) and then I came back to my hotel room and watched the flocks of thousands of birds that would wheel out into the sky each evening at dusk above the Centraal Station just across the canal from my window, moving together like an enormous tornado or a computer-animated coming swarm in a killer bee movie. They would hover in a shifting cloud for close to half an hour, as if they knew they were performing for an audience. The next day I chose to walk across town to the Van Gogh Museum. It was a fortunate serendipity on some levels — there was a special temporary traveling exhibit on Mackintosh Art Nouveau, which is absolutely my favorite art history design period ever. The entire upstairs of the museum was converted into complete rooms that replicated Art Nouveau interiors, and there was a small movie theater playing a documentary on the period. Although there were a half-dozen other people in the theater with me, I felt like the installation existed at that time and place just for me — like I had successfully manifested it… and I had more of these intense past-life memories that had made my time in England feel so electric. When the credits scrolled across the screen and the lights came on, I pulled myself up with a satisfied sigh and headed reluctantly toward the exit. I’m sure if you’d been there watching me, you would have seen the smile on my face MELT when I saw ….  JOHN sitting in the back row. Part of me was like Are you kidding me? But my physical response was fear — I didn’t even look at him, I just kind of weirdly acted like I hadn’t seen him — like you do when you see someone you don’t want to run into— and I just fled the museum. The wind that channeled between the buildings was the only thing that kept me from running all the way back to my hotel — I would round a corner and find the signs and traffic lights swinging wildly, and I’d have to lean into the force of the wind as if I was hiking uphill. It created that horrible sensation you have when you’re being hunted in dreams, your body stuck in slow motion, your limbs lagging behind the directions of your mind. It’s easy for me now to look back and wonder about the questions that must have been going through my mind — Who is this guy? Why would he be following me like this? Is he a stalker, a serial killer — maybe he’s some kind of cop who mistakenly thinks I’m a serial killer? Why would anyone want to tail me? And you know How is it even possible that he can keep up with me from one city to the next? At the time — honestly — I did not care. I wasn’t thinking anything except "I want to go home.” I hurried from the museum as if the United States was just a few miles away, and if I could move fast enough and push myself, I might reach it before I ran out of breath. I’d been abroad for about a month at that point — maybe I just wasn’t as “worldly” as I would’ve fancied myself to be; maybe all these enormous gray winter cities were smoothing away the edges of my personality… maybe I was just incredibly homesick and this was what that felt like. But more than anything, I felt threatened. I felt unsafe. I felt like I was in danger… and the stranger behind me, who I couldn’t seem to shake, corresponded with this atmosphere of fear. Fear often turns into anger (especially for me) and the anger gets directed at the person you blame for making you feel afraid. (Regardless if that’s appropriate or not) But at some I wasn’t just running away anymore, I was also fuming, and I knew it was building up ( and like, God help him if he actually caught up to me) – which, I kinda wanted to happen. I may have looked like I was moving away from him, but I was really marching toward the break where I would turn around and just RAGE. I heard a voice in my head (a man’s voice, not my own) say: You are powerful. And I answered back: I AM powerful. You are protected, the voice said.  And that slowed me down a little bit. You are fine, the voice assured me. Now, I was out of breath. There was a stitch in my side. I’d dropped into a slower pace of determined, sustainable endurance, and the words I was hearing rearranged themselves in a sing-song affirmation in time to my foot falls: I am powerful, I’m protected, I am fine / I am powerful, I’m protected, I am fine / It became a mantra, a chant that helped me maintain my speed, it pulled me along, but also calmed me, put me into an altered state. I came face to face with this man with dreadlocks who was standing right in my path. I ducked to the side to go around him and he matched the movement in what seemed like one of those awkward “Excuse me, after you” kind of dances But Dreadlocks wasn’t trying to pass me, he was shadowing me, mirroring me, “guarding” me like a basketball player. When I just stopped, he walked right into me as if he were going to embrace me with one arm and shake my hand with the other. He grabbed me and held me close him, and shoved a gun against my belly. At least, a pocket full of something meant to feel like the nose of a handgun. “Money,” he said to me in English. “Come on.” Two things flip my switch: being assaulted or bullied being in the presence of someone I care about who is being assaulted or bullied When I was in my twenties, I had virtually no ability to manage defensive anger and my temper turned on and up in one direction – full-on, unbridled, absolutely ape shit. No warning, no ratcheting up by degrees… And it came with a loud, hateful, free-style narration. My Daddy used to say that I had The Kind of Lip That Will Get You Killed in The Wrong Circumstances. My friends in college were amused by my tongue-lashings and called this aspect of my personality “Julia Sugarbaker.” I doubt Dreadlocks would have ever predicted the manner in which I responded. He had no way of knowing just how pumped up on anger and fear I already was. I probably looked like someone running away, which his instincts identified as prey – but what he ran right into was Royally Pissed. When my words came out, I screamed them, berating the pedestrians who passively walking by as much as my mugger, and on some level, I was screaming at John. “You have got to be fucking kidding me. You’re going to mug me, in broad daylight, two o’clock in the afternoon, in the middle of the damn street? And you expect me to believe you’ve got a gun and you’re going to shoot me with it in front of all these people for spare change? You know, it’s no shock to me that every fucking piece of shit would-be thug in America actually does carry a gun because our whole society prides itself on the fact, but in the Netherlands, man, really? That’s a pretty big deal for you to be carrying here, isn’t it? I mean, you’re either a serious hard core criminal or you’re faking it. You’re obviously small time, because why else would you be holding me up for a handful of cash that won’t even buy you a cup of coffee? What is that in your pocket anyway, a plastic cigarette lighter?” Dreadlocks glanced around nervously at the crowd I was drawing and said under his breath “Man, cool down. Just give me some money, that’s all I want.” I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out some Dutch coins and the crumpled, sweaty French bill that John had given me that night at the Gare du Nord. I’d never spent it. I had continued to carry it around like a talisman. I was even a little bit pissed to be giving up something I’d come to think of as a souvenir. Dreadlocks-man held out his hand between us and I slammed the money onto his palm, slapping it hard enough that the coins leapt and pinged off a grate in the sidewalk. He held onto the French bill, looked at it quickly, and shook his head like he was disappointed with me. “Man, come on,” he said, as if he were trying to say “I can’t do anything with this…” “No? Cause you said all you wanted was money; that’s all I got; that’s all you’re getting. Would you rather have some traveler’s checks you can’t possibly exchange without an ID and a really good forgery? If so, you’ll need to walk me back to my hotel and let me get them out of my room safe for ya, you wanna do that?” He looked at the French bill again like he was trying to decide whether or not to just give it back to me. “Come on,“ he pleaded one more time. I saw him look over my shoulder and his eyes re-focused. I knew exactly who he was looking at. In a much lower, confidential, whisper I said to him. “You see that man behind me, the one in the trench coat? …Yeah, I can see that you do… You’ll notice I also don’t even need to look because I know he’s back there. He’s been following me for two weeks. He’s some kind of cop, or some kind of detective, I don’t know who or what he is, but he’s watching me, and now he’s watching you too. You just got that guy for a witness.” It really wasn’t a bluff; and maybe the authenticity of my confession gave it power. At any rate, the doubt and confusion played out quickly. The Dreadlocks guy backed away slowly at first, clearly keeping his eyes on John, and then he turned and ran. I was so jacked up on the adrenalin of the situation, I swiveled around with the full intention of finally laying into this “stranger” John who was following me. I was mad enough to punch him.  Of course he was there, just as I knew he would be, keeping to his minimum fifty-foot distance. John just opened his hands and held out his palms, slightly shaking his head. He grinned with a kind of lop-sided, regretful smile. He looked, more than anything, sad and… apologetic. As if to say, “Sorry that it had to be like this.” And then he just walked away, back in the direction we’d come from. He was just swallowed by the crowd. I’ve attempted to relate this story without interpretation, because at the time it happened, and for many years after, it was just an odd mystery that became one of those “the time I was held up at gun point” stories. Knowing what I speak about and write about these days, of course, you’re gonna infer some paranormal or spiritual significance... Honestly, it may not even compare that well to the more profound angelic intervention stories you might have heard — it just happens to be one that happened to me. And I’m sharing it with you because it’s an event that came up again a decade later. This is just a Prologue. In 2002, ten years later, I met a man named Jesse — who somehow already knew these events had happened to me — and he’s the one told me What It All Meant. So... thanks for listening and stay tuned to the next episode of the Shift Your Spirits podcast… For show notes, links, and all the past episodes please visit shiftyourspirits.com You can subscribe to this podcast in iTunes or Stitcher or whatever app you use to access podcasts. If you’re new to podcasts, it’s that purple button on your iPhone. Click it, search Shift Your Spirits and hit Subscribe - then all the episodes will be there for you, automatically. And you can take them with you to the gym or listen in your car … that’s what I love about podcasts. Also, if you want to support the show, it would really help me out if you’d leave a rating and a review in iTunes, and share it with some friends you think would be into it. If you’d like to get an intuitive reading with me, or download a free ebook and meditation to help you connect with your guides please go to sladeroberson.com and If you’re interested in my professional intuitive training program, check out automaticintuition.com BEFORE I GO I promised to leave you a message in answer to a concern or question you may have. So take a moment to think about that—hold it in your mind or speak it out loud—I’ll pause for just a few seconds….right…NOW MESSAGE Your situation needs some forgiveness. You need to let go of any past anger you’re holding onto. It’s holding you back. You either need to forgive someone else…OR You need to forgive yourself... For placing unrealistic expectations on this situation.  I'LL TALK TO YOU LATER

When Allison met Heather at Gabrielle Bernstein’s Spirit Junkie Masterclass, she knew she had to come on the podcast! Heather Fantin is a transformational coach and intuitive healer, and founder of Soul on Fire retreats, where people can completely transform and heal their mind, body and being. Heather’s early life was filled with drama and despair: parents separating, getting into the wrong crowd, abusive relationships, rape, car crashes—life kept bringing her to her knees. At just 18, her inner guide voice shone through: “you are not living the life you are intended to live—you have a lot of work to do and you have to change your life.” She left her home town of Seattle and spent 15 years travelling the world, learning new healing techniques and experiencing different cultures, exploring humanity and herself. We feel the way we do because of what we’re thinking, Thoughts create our reactions and affect the quality of our life, and our future. You need to get clear on the story. Does yours empower or disempower you? It’s easy to fall into victim mode, but by becoming aware, you can free yourself from negative thought patterns. Heather believes there is a fundamental shift occurring in how we approach health. Imagine how different your entire life would be if you felt whole, if you were healed, if you embraced your light and dark with love. Imagine a world filled with people just like that. Radical self-care is more than just eating healthy and working out. It’s about cultivating loving feelings towards yourself, having a deep connection with a power bigger than yourself and being in a supportive and open community of like-minded individuals. 2016 was an intense year. The current political climate is raw and has awakened many pent-up feelings within us. How can we make a positive impact on the world through our thoughts and actions?  How can we heal this trauma? When we judge others, or situations, we are in fact judging something within ourselves that needs healing. Even Trump is simply a reflection of our collective shadow. When we come from a place of love instead of fear, we no longer feed the problem. We are spiritual beings, not just human beings—we can open up to love, heal ourselves, and heal the world. Being hailed as “Sex and the City for Food,” The Food Heals Podcast brings together experts in the field of nutrition, health and healing to teach you the best-kept natural secrets to being a hotter, healthier, happier YOU! The Food Heals Podcast is hosted by Allison Melody and Suzy Hardy – two self-proclaimed natural chicks who will rock your world and change your beliefs about health! This sexy, savvy duo provides eco-friendly advice on a variety of issues including the healing power of nutrition, living authentically, turning your passion into your career, choosing the best natural health and beauty products, the benefits of a plant-based diet and so much more!

Allison was adopted as a baby, and at 27, she searches for her Birthmom to find out some medical information. When Allison finds her, you won't believe how her story unfolds!

Allison Durant s mother died on the heels of her high school graduation. For years before, Jane had been absent from Allison s life, mostly in hospitals, fighting a losing battle with lung cancer. Allison s teenage invincibility gave her the strength to brush her mother s death aside and throw herself wholeheartedly into her own hectic life. Soon enough Allison was married and had 3 kids. It wasn t until Allison s own children entered adolescence that she was able to stare her mother s death in the face and admit it was one of the defining moments of her life. Coming to terms with alcohol abuse and finding expression for her buried grief, led Allison to form a New Orleans chapter of a national organization called Motherless Daughters. Motherless Daughters has helped Allison deal with her mother s death, and is helping other women of all ages deal with theirs. When Allison agreed to sit down and talk with Arian about Motherless Daughters for Death the podcast, it coincided with the first time her mother s death was not the largest loss she was facing. This edition of Death the podcast traces a full circle. Of life and death.