Changemakers World Podcast: Recent Episodes
Alina Boyte
A podcast highlighting the work of inspiring changemakers worldwide. This podcast was previously called the Heart-Centered Life podcast.
Education is powerful because it changes and develops minds. A love for continuous learning facilitates growth, deepens humility, and enhances the yearning for a better world. Providing our children with high-quality education and the lenses to understand the world around them is the “most powerful weapon which a [civilization] has to change the world.”
We need to commit to teaching our students soft skills such as creativity, innovativeness, empathy, and inculcate in them a genuine interest and curiosity in the world around them if we want to create a better world. Teaching technical and analytical skills is at the center of formalized education today and while we teach our children important building blocks in math, science, languages, and social studies that develop the intellect, formalized learning do not intentionally incorporate softer, more “emotional” skills that build a student’s love for lifelong learning. This unfortunate omission produced students who are disengaged, bored, and rebellious.
Lindsey Wander, who founded and runs World Wise Tutoring and a non-profit, Educate. Radiate. Elevate., believes that the love of learning is inherent in human nature. She’s made it her mission to provide all students, regardless of economic background, with the soft skills that underlie the love for learning and independent thinking. In this interview, we talk about her mission, strategies to keep students engaged and curious, what’s working and what’s not in American education, and her hope for the future.
About Lindsey
Lindsey studied to become a Biomedical Engineer and earned a B.S. in Biology, a B.A. in Chemistry, and a Minor in Mathematics. She took part in various science-based internships the world over to her passion and an environmental educator internship in Pennsylvania inspired her to return to college and become a biology teacher in California. Lindsey loved having her classroom and seeing her “kids” every day, inspiring a joy for learning within them while discovering new and creative ways to teach complex subjects.
When Lindsey moved to Chicago several years later, she became a full-time tutor. Through her professional and personal experiences, she could quickly assess her students, molding her teaching style to maximize their strengths and reshape their weaknesses into positive traits. She taught them how to learn, so they are always in the powerful position of being able to help themselves. This custom approach ensures they’re given every tool necessary to be successful, building their confidence and skills enough to be independent learners. She now shares her experience and method with her highly qualified tutors so that they can help more students become lifelong learners.
Connect with Lindsey
World Wise Tutoring
Educate. Radiate. Elevate.
Lindsey’s LinkedIn page
When I got married in the summer of 2012, I got fresh flowers. I wanted to symbolize a new beginning and welcome hopes of fertility, happiness, and fidelity. I splurged on the flowers and they arrived at our wedding venue wrapped in plastic and carefully laid in a new corrugated icebox. Our vendor wrapped the flowers with the proper packing material inside. In all the excitement of our wedding, we did not stop to consider using alternative flowers. But even if we did, I doubt we would’ve chosen silk or plastic flowers for 1 reason. I thought that they look fake.
But ordering fresh flowers for events and celebrations is costly - both to our pockets and to the environment. Reports state that sending the roughly 100 million roses of a typical Valentine’s Day produces some 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from field to U.S. florist with flower delivery flights burning approximately 30 million gallons of fuel.
In this episode, I talk to Megan Rapacz about how to protect the environment and our purse strings with reusable high-quality silk flowers. Today’s faux flowers are both beautiful and cost-effective. To meet the demand for these flowers in the wedding space, Megan, together with her sister Amanda, started a socially conscious business that offers beautiful silk flowers to engaged couples planning a wedding. We talk about starting a socially conscious business, finding the right partners to work with, staying true to the mission, finding the funds to start a new business, and setting bigger and more inspiring goals to aspire to as the business grows.
About Silk Stem Collective
Sisters Megan and Amanda Rapacz founded Silk Stem Collective to deal with these problems. Silk Stem Collective is a rent-and-return wedding floral service offering sets of quality silk flowers to environmentally and economically conscious couples. Newly married couples rent these flowers and pass their set off to the next couple after the wedding. Since the company started, it’s grown to offer 8 unique collections, with more on the way, of the highest quality silk flowers. More brides and grooms are getting beautiful flowers at a reasonable cost.
Megan and Amanda design bouquets that they would want at prices they would pay, with the goal of making these flowers versatile enough to fit every wedding vision but special enough to make their clients feel like a treasured bride or groom. Megan and Amanda also created a blog called “The Greenhouse” which is filled with original thoughts on flowers, trends, and tidbits they’ve learned throughout the wedding planning process.
Contact Silk Stem Collective
Facebook: @Silkstemcollective Instagram: @Silkstemcollective Website: https://silkstemcollective.com/
What would you do if you received news that turned your life upside-down and inside out in a moment? Sometimes, we receive bad news, news that we are unprepared for, and news that shake us to our core. Receiving bad news can trigger an avalanche of negative emotions and a whirlwind of dark scary thoughts. When we receive bad news, we try to run and hide because it would seem that not confronting the problem allows us to believe that we never received that news. Avoidance, however, is counterproductive because we cannot erase what has happened or the news we've received. The only choice we really have is to feel the big gaping hole in our heart, reframe the information we've received in our mind, find the strength we have (and believe me, everyone of us has a reservoir of infinite strength and wisdom if we tap into it), and turn bad news into saving grace, learning moments, and the opportunity to be thankful for the important things in our life.
Our guest, the beautiful and amazing Fitz Koehler, shares her terrifying experience of finding a cancerous lump in her breast seven weeks after a clean mammogram. But, as a fitness expert and race announcer, Fitz refused to play the victim or allow cancer to steal her extraordinary career or time with family. In her book, My Noisy Cancer Comeback, Fitz reveals the juicy and gory details of her 16-month battle, all while zigzagging across the United States. Enduring chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries in the public eye wasn’t easy.
You’ll laugh, cry, wince, and cheer as she chronicles the clash of an avalanche of side effects with 22 major race weekends in her book. Her inspirational tale encompasses the terror of diagnosis, bald heads and black dresses, spectacular stages, parenting with cancer, perspective, and, most importantly, triumph. Perhaps, more importantly, you’ll walk away grittier, more optimistic, and inspired to conquer any obstacle. Fitz's book is a must-read for all cancer patients and their families. People from all aspects of the running community will also adore getting to experience a behind-the-scenes view of life at the helm of America’s greatest road races.
About Fitz
Fitz Koehler is a fitness innovator with a Master’s Degree in Exercise and Sport Sciences from the University of Florida, who has been teaching fitness around the globe for decades. She’s the president of Fitzness International LLC, a fitness company that specializes in fitness education via mass media, and fitness programming for children (Morning Mile). Along with teaching to millions in person via corporate speaking engagements and seminars in over a dozen countries…Fitz has promoted fitness through every avenue of mass media; books, television, films, radio, magazines, journals and online. Fitz’s mission is to tack ten years on to everyone’s life she comes across. Fitzness is not only an aggressive force in the worldwide push to increase health; Fitz has created a brand. Fitzness is a gimmick free, innovative, concise, fun and attainable form of fitness.
Reach out to Fitz
Email: fitzness@aol.com
The Morning Mile
The Morning Mile™ is a before-school walking/running program that gives children the chance to start each day in an active way while enjoying fun, music and friends.
Fitz's Website
Order "My Noisy Cancer Comeback"
New Season
Season 3
Episode 38 Kicks-off A New Season of The Heart-centered Life Podcast
At the Heart-centered Life Podcast, we believe that positive change in the world happens when an individual manages to find that special space of deep happiness and contentment, connects with what he or she sees as the world's deep hunger from that space, and reaches out to alleviate some of the pain and suffering he or she sees. We understand that empowered individuals play a role in creating change that redirects how we function as a society and breaks down the insularity and silos we build to protect ourselves and our self-interests. And our desire through the Heart-centered Life podcast is to empower individuals to live their best lives and create social change. Reverand Buechner's quote above about one's calling captures what we aim to do with the episodes we produce.
While Season 1 launched the podcast with 17 episodes about how to live a happy and productive life and Season 2, over 18 episodes, explored what it meant to live and lead with the heart, Season 3 will focus on empowering individuals to build social enterprises that create systemic change with lasting impacts on society.
Episode 38 looks at how we can empower colored communities to be their best selves by having critical conversations about race that result in systemic changes in how colored communities show up in the world and contribute to others. Having hard discussions about the role we play in maintaining the status quo and in identifying the role we can and should play in building and guiding future generations towards a fairer and more equitable world is the activity we need to engage in to create systemic changes in society. Our guest Gahrey Ovalle, is the author of Unjustified: Where Have Our Black Leaders Gone?. Unjustified reflects on the self-inflicted wounds and systemically imposed limitations that affect communities of color and identifies how people of color hurt themselves, how others hurt them, and more importantly, how they can grow past that to create better outcomes for their communities.
About Gahrey
Gahrey Ovalle is a serial entrepreneur who has spent more than 20 years building successful six-and-seven-figure companies for himself and others. He now teaches people the art of living remarkable, purposeful, happy lives while erring on the side of personal well-being, financial security, and growth. As a coach and mentor to entrepreneurs and leaders, he helps them create social impact through business development and community building. He encourages his clients to Grow Forward and Give Back.
Gahrey is passionate about leveraging personal transformation and development to create generational and professional wealth. He accomplishes this by empowering entrepreneurs -- mainly women of color -- to eliminate the generational wealth gap that affects them and their families allowing them to create greater impact in their communities. He is an author, activist, and community leader. His nonprofit, Prodigy Strategic Solutions, impacts the lives of those in need through education, mentorship, and philanthropy. Gahrey works with organizations, businesses, and elected officials to create sustainable efforts designed to grow stronger communities and provide better opportunities. Gahrey knows that when people find their purpose in life and share those gifts with others, they have the ability to create generational change that improves not just their lives but the lives of everyone around them. He is committed to creating sustainable models for America’s future.
Gahrey's website
E-mail: gahrey@gahreyovalle.com
What does success mean to you? In contemporary society, success is often synonymous with the attainment of wealth, status, fame, or eminence. The more we have in terms of material and worldly wealth, the more successful we consider ourselves to be.
However, success has a more profound meaning when we ground ourselves in our purpose and in the present moment. The more centered we are in what we are doing in the present moment, the more we get out of life and success takes a new meaning. The reason for this is that by staying in the present moment, we gain clarity because we shift from a space of wild mental sprinting to a more grounded and calmer frame of mind. In this space, where we have significantly clearer thoughts, we can take the next step towards a better future - and more success whether that means better health, better relationships with the people we love, or better control of finances - because we know what that next step is for us from our own clarity.
About our Guest
Sean Rosensteel is the author of The School of Intentional Living and the founder of The Intentional Living Academy.
With a passion for helping others, Sean’s journey began when he found himself bankrupt at the age of 28 after following conventional wisdom all his life. This eye-opening moment taught him that attaining true happiness and fulfillment means breaking free from conventional living and creating your own path.
Now, he hopes to inspire and empower his readers to achieve their dreams and live the lives they truly deserve.
Sean currently lives in the Dallas, TX area with his loving wife, Karen, and their three young children.
Links
Sean's website
Sean's Facebook Page Sean's Linkedin Page Sean's Instagram Page
We are often told to live in the present, a temporal frame which grounds up in the now. The reason this is important is that it is easy to dwell on our regrets in the past and worry about future events that may not even happen. When we live with regrets and anxiety, we deny ourselves the happiness that come from centering ourselves in the now. Nothing dispels fear and anxiety more effectively than finding joy in the present moment as we talked about recently with Ryan Stanley.
But there is a difference between being in the present and coming to the Presence which goes beyond the temporal grounding of our human experience in the here and now, to an all-encompassing experience of everything good, kind, and benevolent. In this episode, I talk to P.J. about what being in the Presence means, how to know we are there, and how to get there. This is an inspirational episode about finding our power in something much greater than ourselves by finding the source of goodness.
About P.J.
P.J. is a Lifelong Motivational Speaker, and an International Transformational Coach who focuses on results!
Despite his disability. a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy, which was expected to take his life by 7, P.J. chose to live, and he has live well! P.J. truly lives an extraordinary life: sailing, outdoor skydiving, indoor skydiving, trapezing, ziplining, hiking, mountain climbing, snow skiing, water skiing, aqua jetpacking, and the list goes on!
He's a former wheelchair athlete, international traveler, amateur watercolorist, founder of two non-profit organizations and four disabled sports programs, a published author, 10th degree black belt, martial arts and women’s self-defense instructor, and a meditation teacher.
Additionally, P.J. has been inducted into the National Hall of Fame for People with Disabilities and was nominated to carry the Olympic Torch through Tucson in 2002.
P.J.'s website
E-mail: pj@pjswisdom.com
We live in a world that exalts perfectionism and many of us are perfectionists. Many times perfectionism hinders progress, improvement, and growth. This is because when we expect things, including ourselves and the people around us, to be perfect, we snuff out the possibility of better things ahead. Award-winning author, Vironika Tugaleva, has a wonderful piece of advice for the perfectionists, myself including:
“The most dangerous way we sabotage ourselves is by waiting for the perfect moment to begin. Nothing works perfectly the first time, or the first fifty times. Everything has a learning curve. The beginning is just that - a beginning. Surrender your desire to do it flawlessly on the first try. It's not possible. Learn to learn. Learn to fail. Learn to learn from failing. And begin today. Begin now. Stop waiting.”
In this episode, I talk to Benita Conde about why perfectionism is at best, unproductive, and at worst, dangerous. Benita offers the practice of gratitude, including building your intuition and creativity, as an antidote to perfectionism.
About Benita
Benita Conde is the founder of Create Radical Love, LLC a life coaching and consulting approach for people who want to radically love their whole life experience, not just compartmentalized parts of it. Benita is a former professional ballet dancer, a former personal trainer, and an advertising industry expert with 20 years of experience supporting and guiding the careers of creative people. She has been on a spiritual journey her whole life and has been sober for 13 years. She now works with individuals globally as a holistic coach guiding each client to lead with intuition, to define a calling, and take action from that aligned, excited, and Infinite place across all aspects of their life experience. She has designed a unique and radically loved life with her husband and son and is thrilled to share the approach with others.
Resources mentioned in the interview
Website: https://www.createradicallove.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benita_conde/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benita.conde.3
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benitaconde/
Navigating the legal terrain as you set up as an entrepreneur can be tricky. There are a lot of legal issues to think about and figure out if you are trying to start off as an entrepreneur - whether you are a self-identified actual entrepreneur or an accidental entrepreneur by default - in order to enjoy long-term success of your business.
In today's episode, we layout the legalities of setting up an enterprise to help entrepreneurs navigate this terrain. Mitch and I discuss the importance of testing developing ideas and making sure that there is product/service - market fit, the proper structure for setting up your business, contracts with employees and vendors, intellectual property licenses, and non-disclosure and non-compete agreements.
About our guest
Mitchell C. Beinhaker, Esq. is a business lawyer and estates attorney who runs a solo legal & consulting practice representing business owners, entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals. Through his 28 years of experience, Mitchell has handled business development, marketing, firm management, along with business transactional work for clients of the firm. He has extensive experience with corporate governance, commercial transactions, real estate, and risk analysis. Using his years of practical experience, he drafts contracts, negotiates purchases, and can manage outside counsel for any corporate situation. For business owners and executives, he creates and implements estate plans, along with succession plans to help companies continue for future generations.
As a transactional attorney, Mitchell has also handled the purchase and sale of multi-million-dollar businesses including insurance portfolios, restaurants, and even a small chemical company. In the real estate area, he has handled and coordinated many commercial purchases and sales from contract drafting and due diligence, including all the zoning and environmental review, through the closing of title. His work has involved helping with insurance and risk management as well as legal involvement with construction management projects.
Mitchell spends his practice development efforts networking, attending professional groups, and public speaking. He is also the creator and host of his own audio podcast – The Accidental Entrepreneur – where he interviews successful business people and professionals who share their knowledge and help you develop your business. Episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podbean, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn (Amazon Alexa), and iHeart Radio. You can follow them on social media including Facebook and LinkedIn.
Mitchell is a graduate of Cornell University (’89) and received his law degree (JD) from New York Law School in 1992. He was a tax intern with Internal Revenue during law school and is admitted to practice in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He was awarded the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) degree from The American College in 1998.
Links to resources mentioned in the interview:
- Email Mitch: mitch@beinhakerlaw.com
- Mitch's website
- The 4 Part Business Plan
One of the questions that often arise with start-ups and newer entrepreneurs is: how do I fund my business and take it to the next level? Often, entrepreneurs start with bootstrapping and using their existing resources, getting seed funding from family and friends, using money from savings or retirement funds, finding loans from a financier, applying for grants (e.g. SBA grants or research grants), and starting with an idea they worked on in their school (e.g. the engineering schools at Stanford are known for producing successful entrepreneurs - think David Packard and Bill Hewlett).
In this episode, I talk to an angel investor, Travis Lindsay, about the factors that angel investors look for in deciding whether to invest in a start-up company. As an angel investor, Travis looks for companies that are further along in their entrepreneurial journey in that these companies - although still in a "start-up" stage - have started to gain traction and momentum towards sustainable growth and profits. He looks for a good idea that addresses customer pain and offers the best solution to alleviating that pain. Other things he looks for are:
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the legitimate chance that business can grow (i.e. that there is business viability and a business model that can work)
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traction and momentum
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sustained progress (an entrepreneur should not be working on an idea for years without any traction - if an idea does not work, there may be a need to go back to the drawing board and reassess)
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the ability to take the initial investment and grow
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having a good team
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some evidence of potential success e.g. having intellectual property, workable prototypes, a safe model that works (e.g. an angel investor will not invest in a medical device or self-driving car that might open the company to liability if it does not work)
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continued market testing of the product / service
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have a minimum viable product (MVP)
This is a good interview with a lot of practical information for entrepreneurs thinking about their need for funding.
About Travis
Travis is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Cal State Fullerton. He is an experienced educator, mentor, coach, and investor. At California State University, Fullerton, Travis has been a driving force in the growth of the Center for Entrepreneurship and the founding of the university's first incubator, the CSUF Startup Incubator. Additionally, Travis is a founder and co-manager of Titan Angels, LLC, an investment fund that invests in early-stage companies.
Travis' passion is in educating and mentoring the next generation of business leaders. At California State University, Fullerton, Travis has worked with hundreds of students and community members, in and out of the classroom, providing feedback in all areas of business, including help with pro forma financial forecasting, integrated marketing plans, development of operational strategies, and more. At Titan Angels, Travis provides incisive feedback to founders that they use to better position themselves in the market.
How to reach Travis:
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By email: tlindsay@fullerton.edu
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Travis's Linkedin Profile
Entrepreneurship is not an easy path. The top personal traits that make a successful entrepreneur include discipline, confidence, open-mindedness, proactive, competitive, creative, determined, excellent people skills, great work ethics, and, perhaps most importantly, passion. All these traits guide an entrepreneur as they face uncertainty about the value of their business, build a supportive and engaged team, get clear about what their customers want and need, and persevere through times of failure and learning.
In this episode, I talk to seasoned entrepreneurs, Aleksandar Stamenić and Sven Rudolf Mumenthaler, about their entrepreneurial journeys and the challenges, joys, surprises, and learnings they encountered along the way. Aleks and Sven share their wisdom and offer guidance to entrepreneurs that are undoubtedly helpful to other entrepreneurs regardless of where they are on their entrepreneurial journey. Aleks and Sven clearly love technology and have focussed on developing products that make the lives of others better. Their passion for what they do comes across in this interview and they have good ideas that help entrepreneurs give back to their community.
About our guests
Aleksandar Stamenić is the Founder & CEO of ATG Innovations, a group of dedicated professionals working towards the common goal of creating cutting edge technology that will help protect our planet in the long run. ATG Innovations has designed and patented green energy technology in the form of highly efficient heat-exchangers that can be used in a variety of environments ranging from homes, offices, airplanes and automobile engines, and HVAC. Alex is a team leader with a strong passion for technology and the energy sector overall with many innovative ideas in development, some of which are currently patent pending.
Sven Rudolf Mumenthaler is a serial entrepreneur, investor, software developer, and team leader. He's Co-founder and CEO of Swiss Innovation Pool AG (swip.world) and is very passionate about product innovations, development, and full market implementation. He's a certified project manager and also specializes in crowdsourcing and open innovation. He holds a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Links and resources mentioned in the interview
"Atlantis Found" Book ATG's website: ATG contact: hq@atgcore.com Aleks's Facebook Page Aleks's LinkedIn Page The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses Simon Sinek's Start with Why TED Talk Sven's website Sven's email: sven@swip.world Sven's LinkedIn Page
Taking risks in life can be frightening especially when the payoffs are uncertain. Many of us would rather stay in a comfortable position than pursue something that makes us feel passion, excitement, and joy. Leaving a secure job or a cushy lifestyle is extremely difficult, which is why many of us stay stuck in unfulfilling and unrewarding situations. One common situation in which many people find themselves stuck is a job that compensates well but which drains your energy, passion, and vitality. In this interview with Lydia Lee, we talk about taking a complete turnaround and following your passion and heart and trusting them to lead you to a life that is infinitely more rewarding, fulfilling, and meaningful. Through our conversation, Lydia, a fellow Malaysian, describes the point at which she knew she had to change her high-paying job and jet-setting lifestyle for something that has meaning and purpose to her. She quit her job, followed her passion, and today serves clients all over the world by helping them carve a working life that is uniquely meaningful to them. From beautiful warm tropical Bali.
About Lydia
Lydia is a work reinvention strategist (also lovingly known as the ‘Freedom Instigator’) at Screw The Cubicle, her own company. Since 2013, she's helped hundreds of people transition out of the golden corporate handcuffs, develop successful self-employment strategies, and create an impact in the work they want to do.
The core of what she does is based on a belief that people can create a relationship with work that's deeply meaningful for themselves. And that they shouldn't have to sacrifice their lives for work. Instead, they need to find the right type of work that builds on their strengths, passions, and interests.
Now based in Bali, Lydia spends her time teaching people how to quit jobs that are crushing their souls, discover their hidden talents, and make money doing something they love and care about. She works primarily with corporate professionals, usually in mid-career to transition out of the traditional trajectory of a full-time job. She's focused on helping them to repurpose their expertise into a meaningful business that' builds on their strengths, values, and personality. Lydia has experienced massive burnout with a high-paying job where she spent 6 months out of a year traveling around the world and living out of a suitcase in 5-star hotels. This kind of work, however, caused anxiety, health problems, and stress. After she suffered a panic attack in a hotel room in Moscow, she reevaluated her life, resigned from her job, and pursued her passion for helping others live their best lives. Screw the Cubicle was born and Lydia found herself setting up her business in Bali. She loves it so much that she's made Bali home.
Links and resources mentioned in the interview:
Website Free Training: Reinvent Yourself - Lydia's Youtube Channel Lydia's Facebook Page Lydia's Instagram Page Lydia's Linkedin Profile
We all face emotions that can sometimes overwhelm. Maybe it is a difficult colleague at work who triggers our most visceral reactions or a stressful event that we are struggling to get under control. We all face those moments when it is difficult to make sense of the way we feel. How do we reign in those raging and uncontrollable emotions that leave us bewildered and wondering why we feel the way we do?
In this episode, I talk to ST Rappaport about how to make sense of these emotions and triggers in life. We discuss how we can use a technique, Creative Journaling, to deal with these emotions, help us make sense of them, and come to a more settled and calmer space. The technique involves using your non-dominant hand to answer questions asked by your logical, conscious, and more dominant side of your brain. This will allow access to more creative, intuitive, and authentic processing of these emotions.
About ST Rappaport
ST Rappaport is a relationship photographer, creative journal expressive arts coach, and host of the LifePix Relationships Podcast. After observing, listening, and connecting with so many couples, ST is on a mission to find out what makes relationships work and how they can become extraordinary. Her life mission is to help as many couples as possible.
Through ST Rappaport's podcast, she gets the chance to know other people's relationship secrets, successes, and challenges. She offers real techniques and tools on how relationships can be improved to become happier and healthier. Her podcast also focusses on the importance of communication and how to better understand your partner.
She uses the Creative Journaling technique in her coaching practice to help people overcome challenges in their relationship.
Resources mentioned in the interview:
Information about CJEA (Creative Journal Expressive Arts)
The best way to connect with ST on social media is on Linkedin
For a free mini session with ST
Many of us have mental and emotional filters, which is good because they help us relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us in positive healthy ways. These filters, however, can become self-censors and prevent us from seeing ourselves as we truly are - amazing. When we are overly critical of ourselves and harsh in our self-view, we diminish our brilliance and deny the world of our true authentic talents and gifts. Dr. Denise Moore is on a mission to change that and help each one of us quiet that inner-critic, embrace our natural talents and "own our amazing." This was a great interview where Dr. Denise took us through her own journey of quieting her inner-critic, finding her authentic voice, and owning her own amazing. This was a wonderful uplifting conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
About Dr. Denise
Dr. Denise Moore Revel is a CEO, founder, an award-nominated, best-selling author, speaker, and personal development coach. For over 25 years, she has literally helped people find their voices. As a speech-language pathologist (therapist), her job has been helping her clients discover their voice. Dr. Denise founded The Own Your Amazing Movement has an extension of the message of finding your own voice and living your worth out loud. Through coaching, mentoring, and workshops, Dr. Denise empowers women to find their unique voice, live their worth out loud, and create amazing lives they love.
Links mentioned:
Dr. Denise's website
Dr. Denise's Own Your Amazing Facebook Page
Dr. Denise's Instagram Page
Founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman said, "You really can change the world if you care enough." And the people who have created a lasting change in the world because they cared deeply about the plight of the people and environment around them. They also took massive action to address the problem they saw in the world. And they did that with passion and commitment to a greater cause.
This month, as we reflected on passion, we look at how passionate people follow-through on inspired thought. A thought which said, “maybe YOU should pursue THIS course of action because you feel so passionately about it.” When someone pays attention to that call and aligns their intellectual curiosity with their emotional draw and intuitive gut reaction that that is the right direction to move in, doors open up into a new world that is infinitely more rewarding and purposeful unfolds.
In this episode, I talk to Danny Blue, the founder of One Million Acres, about following that passion and creating a life and business that has a positive impact on other people and communities. We talk about how Danny left a high-paying corporate job to pursue his passion for the environment, love for the outdoors, and affection for animals. We also talk about finding a fresh path after leaving a settled position and being okay with the uncertainty that inevitably follows. Danny also shares how he started his social enterprise, One Million Acres, whose mission is to protect one million acres of the endangered rainforest while empowering indigenous artisan communities to rise out of poverty through the sale of hand-crafted and entirely biodegradable hand bracelets.
What are your passions and how can you turn that into a commitment to making your life more purposeful, fulfilling, and impactful?
About Danny Blue
Danny took a trip to the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador in the summer of 2018 where he stayed in one village of the Waorani tribe, a beautiful people that have been living in harmony with the land for hundreds of years.
On the drive into the jungle, it completely blew Danny away by the vast number of oil pipes lining the sides of the dirt roads. More shocking was the massive "oil block" (a fenced-in facility with a giant crab-like machine sucking oil out of the ground) located not even 100 yards away from the village where he was staying. After learning more about the plight facing these indigenous communities, and how their lack of economic opportunities was furthering the exploitation of their land, he knew he had to do something.
Danny founded OMA to harness the power of the collective good in people, to bring about large-scale change in the world and stand up to greedy corporations that care more about monetary gain than they do the future of our planet.
About One Mission Acres (OMA)
OMA is a social enterprise, a business that uses profits to support social impact causes. OMA makes bracelets entirely of sustainably sourced organic materials from the Amazon Rainforest, making it 100% biodegradable. The OMA bracelet is the only bracelet that has a zero-waste plantable packaging, meaning you can plant your packaging when you're done with it to cut down even more on unnecessary waste.
The heart and soul of OMA lie within our relationships with our indigenous artisan partners. OMA goes beyond selling bracelets to fund a cause. Instead, OMA is committed to creating new economies and opportunities for indigenous artisans in the same areas we are working to protect, thus increasing their ability to make a social impact.
Links
One Million Acres
Danny's Facebook Page
Danny's Linkedin Page
This month as we reflect on passion as our theme, one thing that comes to mind is how to keep the passion that you have for something going on when things get tough. Sometimes in life and in business, things don't go as planned. And we can feel like the passion that we initially started with isn’t enough to sustain our goals and take us where we want to go. In this podcast episode, Ryan Stanley shows us how to continue pursuing our passions and following our dreams even when we run into hard times along the way. Ryan's book “Be patient, Be present, Be Joyful” is a delightful book that contains nuggets of wisdom to help us find the strength when passion isn't enough to carry us through rough times. Ryan and I discussed finding the patience to deal with life inconveniences that will inevitably arise and enjoying when things don't go the way we hope it to. Patience helps us put things in perspective and shows us that in the grand scheme of things, a little inconvenience - such as being stuck in traffic - will not derail our goals and hopes for the future. And to be patient, we really need to be present at the moment. Finally, when we are present at the moment, we will find joy and it's that joy that takes us through those rough times when our most passionate desires cannot sustain the pursuit of our goals in life or in business.
About Ryan
Ryan is a lifelong entrepreneur who is known for his impressively natural ability to connect with, understand and empower those who are in pursuit of and willing to make significant changes in their personal and professional lives so they can end up being the best versions of themselves. Since graduating from The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) in 2009 as a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) Ryan has changed the lives of hundreds of clients from all walks of life. More recently, Ryan has also been working at his alma mater as both an Admissions Coach, where he closed almost $22 Million in sales in 8 years, and as their first-ever Internal Coach where he coached staff from entry-level to C suite on everything from daily professional growth to how they want to show up energetically in other more personal areas of their life.
In July of 2019, Ryan published his first book titled 'Be Patient, Be Present, Be Joyful: A First Aid Kit for the Emotional Bumps, Scrapes, and Bruises of Life'. It can be found anywhere that books are sold and on his own website at https://www.ryanstanley.com/
In the Spring of 2020, Ryan took his sales and coaching expertise to new levels by co-founding Teach Me to Sell, an online Sales Training Organization focusing on working closely with Service Oriented SoloPreneurs or SOS's (Coaches, Consultants, Direct Sales) as well as those new to any sales role in purpose-driven organizations to help them push past fears and blocks around sales.
In this episode, I reflect on creativity and discuss:
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what creativity is and isn't
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why creativity is important
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how to get your creative juices flowing
Here are 10 ways to spark your innate creativity and lead you to a more creative life:
🖼️ Create an inspiration board 🖼️ Go out more and look around you for inspiration 🖼️ Sketch and draw 🖼️ Play a musical instrument 🖼️ Socialize (but during the pandemic, socialization might have to happen online) 🖼️ Be curious about the world around you 🖼️ Be adventurous 🖼️ Collaborate with others - diverse viewpoints collectively improve creativity
🖼️ Meditate
🖼️ Be grateful
Link:
How to Use Creativity to Achieve a More Consistent State of Well-Being
Creative entrepreneurs love the adventure of creating something from scratch. There is something to be said about the creative spirit. It is free, unfettered, and it takes you anywhere your imagination wishes. There is nothing to hold back the creative mind. When the spark of entrepreneurship ignites that creative spirit, ideas come fast. The sky is the limit at that point.
To be successful as a creative entrepreneur, though, you need to have business skills. And the determination to succeed. Business skills help you be realistic about being a creative entrepreneur. They help you account for revenue, profits, and expenses. They keep you organized and focus on goals. They drive your creative mission and provide the means to monetize that mission. They, most importantly, help you pay bills, buy clothes, and put food on your table.
In this episode, I talk with Russell Nohelty about being a creative entrepreneur. Russell offers budding entrepreneurs sound advice on honing in your business skills. And shows you how to be both a creative and an entrepreneur. Above that, Russell points out that being a creative entrepreneur is not a misnomer. You can be both a creative and a business person at the same time. To be successful, you need to align both your creative right brain and analytical left brain. Links Russell's Website How to Build an Audience at the Complete Creative About Russell Nohelty
Russell Nohelty is a USA Today bestselling author, publisher, and consultant. He runs the small press Wannabe Press and The Complete Creative, which helps creatives build better businesses.
He’s run successful Kickstarter campaigns for Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter, The Godsverse Chronicles, Katrina Hates the Dead, My Father Didn’t Kill Himself, Spaceship Broken: Needs Repairs, and I Can’t Stop Tooting: A Love Story, Monsters and Other Scary Shit, Cthulhu is Hard to Spell volume 1 and 2, and Pixie Dust raising over $180,000 on the platform to date, including four campaigns that raised over $25,000 each, and two that raised over $30,000.
He’s also written several graphic novels, novels, and children’s books which all can be found on his site, www.russellnohelty.com.
For the last several years, Russell has cataloged and documented his own journey to build a creative business. He interviewed hundreds of other successful creators and dissected their stories to find out how they built and sustained their careers. He compiled all the lessons, successes, and failures he learned into his creative academy, The Complete Creative, www.thecompletecreative.com, which includes, courses, a podcast, a blog, and two books How to Build a Creative Business, a practical guide to building a sustainable business as a creative, and How to Become a Successful Author, a focused compendium of everything Russell has learned becoming a six-figure author.
He is dedicated to showing other creatives how to build their own businesses through his company, The Complete Creative. He truly believes anybody can be a success as long as they treat themselves as an entrepreneur and run their career like a business.
Have you ever felt the call to be more creative and to have a richer, deeper, and more fulfilled life but did not know how to reach it or get there? Maybe you didn't know the right words to describe the life you want or couldn't even tell someone else what you were feeling because words somehow escape you ~ even if you spend your professional life as a lawyer or an educator where words are your essential tools of trade? Don't fret. Try drawing or painting what you feel. Forget trying to capture those feelings in words. Just draw or paint and let the art lead you. That's the message that our awesome guest in this episode, Julie Claire, shares with us this week.
Julie is both an artist and a creativity-based coach living in New Mexico. For around 15 years she has been helping people connect with their intuition, their inner guidance and their creative voice in their art lives and/or in their personal lives. She describes herself as a “recovering thinker”, having grown up “smart”, who after many years realized it was those little moments of creativity and intuition that consistently pointed her towards her joy.
Julie has developed her own coaching style working with people who know they are more creative and alive than their external lives would suggest. She leads intuitive painting retreats for creatives looking to free themselves up in paint. And Julie offers a free weekly online class to people around the globe called: The Creative Cure for Anxious Times on Fridays at 9am Pacific/noon Eastern on Zoom.
You can hear Julie interview other creative professionals on her weekly podcast Creative at the Wheel on Soundcloud.
Here's how you can reach Julie:
Julie's website with all her offerings
Julie’s Creative at the Wheel podcast on Soundcloud
Friday's The Creative Cure for Anxious Times 9am Pacific / noon Eastern on Zoom
Julie's Business Facebook Page
One on one life coaching with Julie
One on one creativity coaching with Julie
Email Julie at: julie@paintbiglivebig.com
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Download our Creativity Booklet for the month of July to help you include more creative activity into your life this month and share your experience with us for the episode on the last Tuesday of July.
Download the HCL's July Creativity Booklet
In the final episode for the month of June we wrap up our reflection of adventure and what that means to heart centered living. It has been a incredibly busy week so this episode is published at the end of the week for the episode that was meant to air on June the 30th. Sorry about the delay but here is the reflection episode for June.
This month’s theme was "Adventure" and in the HCL adventure booklet and guest interviews with Tamika and Kimmlyn Archie, Lee Chambers, and Dan Zehner, we reflected on what adventure meant to heart centered living.
In reflection, adventure = curiosity + bravery .... if we use the following definitions:
Curiosity: “I seek out situations where I gain new experiences without getting in my own or other people’s way.”
Bravery: "I act on my convictions, and I face threats, challenges, difficulties, and pains, despite my doubts and fears."
(these definitions came from the VIA Institute on Character that study character strengths)
It might seem that adventure has been put on hold lately and we did not get to choose to our adventures but sometimes it is important to realize that instead of getting to choose the adventure, the adventure chooses us. AND we need to embrace the adventure that comes our way.
One of the most important adventures of our lifetime that chose us is the adventure of healing past hurts and racial divides that have come to the forefront these past few weeks. To heal, we need to have difficult and often uncomfortable conversations. In thinking about how to approach these conversations instead of running away from them, I came up with this acronym that would apply to any adventure that brings us out of our comfort zone.
SWIM
So, what does SWIM stand for and how does the acronym help us embrace a life of adventure?
Well, I'm glad you asked. Here is what it stands for:
S - suspend fear W - withhold judgement I - initiate the first step M - manage expectations
And here is how it helps us embrace adventure.
S - suspend fear
When we suspend fear, we taper our flight or fight response to activities that cause our heart-rates to rise, such as an adventurous undertaking.
W - withhold judgement
When we withhold judgement, we allow ourselves to take a step into the unknown and explore the beauty that the adventure might uncover.
I - initiating the first step
The first step is always the hardest and we need to take that first step in the direction of adventure. The next step and the ones that follow do get easier and easier.
M - managing expectations
We need to manage our expectations of what that adventure might include because many times, the route to that peak of the mountain or the oasis of calm involves difficult times and trudging through unpleasant experiences before we reach our destination.
I hope you enjoyed June’s episodes. The episodes in July will be on the theme of creativity and I encourage you to download our creativity booklet to help you incorporate creativity into your daily life to support your journey to a more heart-centered space, where intellect, intuition and emotion align, so that you can meet the world's deep hunger from that place of deep happiness and watch miracles unfold.
Talk again next week.
Links:
VIA Institute on Character
We're officially in summer and celebrated Father's day over the weekend. We are thankful for the men in our lives who are our fathers and those who also play the role of mentors and "spiritual" fathers. On my end, we celebrated my father, brother, and husband as well remembered my husband's father and my father-in-law. It was a weekend of laughter and tears.
On reflecting on adventure, I've come to realize that having difficult and vulnerable conversations with loved ones are adventures in their own right. We travel into the emotional unknown not knowing what we will find on our journey to the other side. But we all hope that the conversation will deepen and enrich our relationship. In this week's conversation with Dan Zehner, an adventure enthusiast, Dan describes the adventure of traveling into an emotionally vulnerable space, such as when we broach a difficult conversation with a loved one that we haven't had before, and the rewards that follow from that conversation.
Dan is also the host of the podcast, "The Anthem of the Adventurer," where he shares stories (and more) with his listeners, along with weekly challenges for their friends and family to encourage people to live adventurously every day through a mix of casual, crucial, and epic adventures.
Links to resources mentioned in the interview:
SEAL Team Leaders
The Anthem of the Adventurer Podcast
The Anthem of the Adventurer Instagram Page
The Anthem of the Adventurer Facebook Page
I can't believe a week has gone by as I write this and continue to reflect on what adventure means to heart-centered living.
This past week, I set out to interview the people I want to serve through my business - creative entrepreneurs. I set up a few appointments with people I have never met before for "virtual coffee" over Zoom to chat. My goal was to understand the life of a creative entrepreneur so that I could serve them well and provide them with the information and knowledge they needed to succeed.
I set up 9 conversations to meet this goal but little did I know ~ and least of all expect ~ that it was the journey towards the goal that made a lasting impression on my heart and how I understand the service I was providing. The conversations that I had with these highly creative and intelligent individuals broadened my worldview and changed the way I thought about the art and science of creativity by teaching me that the process of creating something is messy but highly rewarding. I've come to realize this from the past week: the most memorable - and indeed valuable - part of any destination is the journey there. The true adventure is in the journey towards the destination.
Because, it is in the journey that our experience of the destination is shaped. Cherishing and soaking up every single step towards the destination offers us countless lessons, memories, and opportunity for reflection. So much so that when we recall that final destination, it is inevitably entwined with the tears, sweet, happiness, joy, and gratitude we offered to get there. It doesn't matter whether the destination is right in the middle of the Amazon rain forest or on top of Mount Everest or the signing of papers for the sale of your start-up for upward of 7 figures. Let's all learn to cherish the journey there and let's not focus so much on the BIG adventure to the final destination that we forget that every step there opens a whole new world of smaller but just as magnificent adventures.
In this week's episode, we have a guest who has cherished every step he took towards where he is right now. And of course, the journey is still on-going for him. Lee Chambers has made a name for himself as an environmental psychologist, a well-being consultant and as the founder of Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing. He is also a workshop facilitator and sleep specialist, having spent the last 10 years focusing on well-being and performance in the local government, corporate organisations, and in elite sports spaces. He now brings his experience and qualifications to the general public with the aim of impacting the well-being of thousands of individuals and businesses.
Well-being is an issue very close to Lee's heart. After losing the ability to walk in 2014 due to chronic illness, he has battled back to achieve a positive health outcome and is now on the pathway to becoming medication free. He holds a Masters of Science in Environmental Psychology, with a focus on human interaction with workplaces and natural environments. Based in Preston in the North of the UK, Lee is currently working with business owners and employee teams to create culture change and well-being strategies. He is a father of 2, coaches a disability football team, and enjoys eating good food with good friends. He is currently writing his first book, “How To Conquer Anything”, which will be released in November 2020.
Lee also presents the Health and Wellbeing show on Ribble FM Radio, and speaks in educational establishments about his varied career path, health challenges and having a resilient mindset.
Links to resources mentioned in the podcast:
Download Lee's Latest Book Here
Connect with Lee’s Consultancy
Twitter: @essentialise
Facebook/Instagram: @essentialisecoach
Connect with Lee on Linkedin
Check out Lee's Youtube Channel
And if you haven't already done so, download the June 2020 Adventure Booklet here.
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As I was preparing the show notes for this podcast episode and thinking about what adventure might mean in day-to-day life, I toyed with the idea that adventure might mean the breakthrough of a pattern that holds a person back from experiencing the complete joy that life can bring and the journey forward from that breakthrough. Maybe some of us become too wrapped up in the fallacious idea that life should be perfect and that only people with perfect lives deserve success - probably perpetuated by the images we see of other people on social media - and never overcome the challenges life throws at us. As I thought about my interview in today's podcast and the adventure theme that is interwoven throughout the episodes this month, I came across this quote by one of my favorite creative, Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love.
“Let’s just anticipate that we (all of us) will disappoint ourselves somehow. Go ahead and let it happen. Let somebody else be a better mother than you for one afternoon. Let somebody else go to art school…
Let somebody else have a happy marriage, while you foolishly pick the wrong guy. (Hell, I’ve done it; it’s survivable.) While you’re at it, take the wrong job. Move to the wrong city. Lose your temper in front of the boss, quit training for that marathon, wolf down a truckload of cupcakes the day after you start your diet. Blow it all catastrophically, in fact, and then start over with good cheer. This is what we all must learn to do, for this is how maps get charted — by taking wrong turns that lead to surprising passageways that open into spectacularly unexpected new worlds. So just march on. Future generations will thank you — trust me — for showing the way, for beating brave new footpaths out of wonky old mistakes.
Fall flat on your face if you must, but please, for the sake of us all, do not stop.
Map your own life.”
The whole article where that block quote came from is here.
I highlighted the parts of the quotation that I think speaks so specifically to adventure. That maps are charted through trials and error, that we make wrong turns sometimes, that finding new worlds is a risk we have to take in order to experience the wonders that the adventurous are blessed with. And the learnings that we record, the maps we draw to navigate life, that we then pass on to future generations become invaluable.
I think my interview with filmmakers, Tamika and Kimmlyn Archie, embodies that spirit of adventure. Tamika and Kimmlyn are the producer of the hit TV series Behind Closed Doors and we talked about a wide range of topics: how to produce a TV series with very little experience and a limited budget, organizing the production and actors to keep the show on schedule, drawing the inspiration for the storyline from real life, and using the TV series as a platform for difficult conversation around childhood trauma and women's issues. I hope you sense the spirit of adventure in both Kimmlyn and Tamika and enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
Links to resources mentioned in the interview:
Nuvysion Media Group
Facebook Page
Tamika Archie Knights
Stormii Knights
Behind Closed Doors
Twitter: NuVysion Media
Bring adventure into your life this month with prompts, ideas, and resources on adventure with the free HCL June 2020 Adventure booklet. Download the Adventure Booklet here.
We start a brand new season with the Heart Centered Life podcast today. Some of you may know that the podcast is all about helping you align your intellect, intuitions, and emotions so that you are able to find a heart-centered space where you feel grounded, calm, and happier. And hopefully, you feel called to create positive change in the world from this space.
The underlying philosophy of the podcast is to help you find a space where your deep happiness meets the world's deep hunger. Because, in that space, miracles will unfold for everyone, including you.
If you are new to the podcast, I would like to welcome you. I hope you like what you hear and see and will decide to stay.
In season 1, I had the opportunity to have so many great conversations with wonderful people who had a wealth of wisdom, knowledge, and experience to share with the world. If you haven't listened to us before, I encourage you to visit some of the episodes from season 1 and if you have listened to us before, I encourage you to revisit us again to see if there are episodes you missed.
For season 2, I have lined up more awesome guests to talk to us about what heart centered living and leadership means. But that's not all. There is a new structure to how the episodes are produced in season 2.
While guest interviews are still an important part of the podcast, season 2 will center around monthly themes that support a heart-centered life. Themes such as adventure, creativity, passion, and resiliency are a few of the themes we will explore and reflect on throughout the months.
And to help us think about these themes, I will be producing downloadable booklets with some-original-some-curated ideas, prompts, quotations, resources, and inspiration. These will be downloadable with the first episode of the month.
And we will revisit these themes and your reflection of them in the last episode for the month. Then we move on to the next theme. Our guests come on in weeks between the first and the last episodes for the month.
It is my sincere hope that these booklets transform your experience of daily living. And that they take you from one state of being to a different one. From stressed, frazzled, and overwhelmed to being calm, grounded, and confident in your abilities to meet your next challenge. That is the essence of heart centered living.
Thank you, dear listener, for being the most incredible part of the podcast. I hope you will download the HCL June 2020 Adventure Booklet and come with me on the journey of exploring this theme this month.
And if you feel inspired to, please share your experience and reflection with me. With your permission, I may share them with the audience in the last episode for the month where I bring the theme to a close and share my own reflection and experience of the adventure theme with you.
Download a copy of the HCL June 2020 Adventure Booklet.
I look forward to reconnecting again at the end of the month and to sharing my own adventure this month.
With much love,
Creativity is an innate skill that we all possess but so few of us use it to our advantage. Our ability to see new connections between disparate ideas, identify patterns in analogous spaces, express our inner thoughts in a way that resonates with an audience, and inspire emotions in other people evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. Creative thinking kept our ancestors alive in a world that was uncompromising and today, creative thinking is an essential tool to keep us mentally and emotionally healthy in a world that is ridden with anxiety, stress, and fear of others. Creative thinking also provides innovative solutions to problems we face. In this interview, I talk to Robert Belle about how to be creative during a pandemic.
About Robert:
Robert A. Belle is a transformational speaker, mentor and ACCA Qualified Accountant. He is the Managing Director of Smip Consultancy and helps people who feel stuck in their career or life journey to break away from the “norm” and find new paths that reveal their true value.
He has shared his secrets of creative success at numerous speaking engagements as well as on Antigua and Barbuda’s ABS TV and Radio, Kenya’s NTV and KUTV. He also spends much of his time mentoring and guiding men of all ages to have a strong, positive impact on their families and society as a whole.
Robert is a winner of the 2019 Advocate of the Year Award (Affiliate) by the ACCA for his work assisting other accountants embrace their creativity and reach new growth potentials.
Robert is the author of "Blow The Lid Off! Reclaim your stolen creativity, increase your income and let your light shine!"
Links to resources mentioned in the podcast:
Robert's website
Amazon link to "Blow the Lid Off!"
Human beings have brains that are wired to dwell on negative thoughts and the negative things that happen to us. Cognitive scientists call this the "negativity bias" because a negative event affects us much more than a corresponding positive event. Sometimes, we forget about the specifics of the negative event but the effects and feelings we got around it slips into our subconscious and make their home there. The effects and feelings that surround negative events hold us back from accomplishing what we want in our lives and living the live we dream of.
In this episode, Janine talks to us about how painful life experiences can affect our lives and hold us back. Janine also provides us with ways in which we can replace subconscious negative thinking by bringing them into our conscious mind through the power of clinical hypnosis - which, if you listen to Janine, is not some magic art practiced by a magician who wants you to give him all your bank account details as most of us perceive hypnotherapy to be. Rather, hypnotherapy is a form of therapy used to put people in a relaxed state to access the subconscious and replace negative thinking with more positive affirmations.
Listen to Janine's interview to see how you can overcome painful life experiences (like losing a loved one as Janine talked me though) to see things in a more positive light.
About Janine:
Janine Wirth is on a mission to free women from the burden of unresolved trauma without spending years in therapy. As the CEO of Path to Healing Therapy and Coaching and the creator of the ground-breaking Pain to Purpose Academy, a 6 month experience combining therapy and coaching.
Janine applies the same techniques that healed her own traumatic experience to help women from around the globe overcome their painful pasts and create the lives and businesses of their dreams on their own terms. Janine is a licensed psychotherapist, clinical hypnotherapist, heart-centered life coach and author of the monthly advice column Ask Janine for CEO magazine. Her private online Facebook support group Heal &Transform Your Life provides a safe, non-judgmental space for women wanting a motivated, like-minded community. She resides in Germany where she lives with her husband and three children.
Links to resources mentioned in the interview:
Janine's Webpage
Janine's Free "Heal Your Inner Child" Hypnosis
We tend to think that creating social impact and making profits are mutually exclusive endeavors. The former belonged to the public sector, which included government, non-profits, and foundations, while the latter was the purview of businesses and the private sector. With the emergence of the B-corp and like businesses that work to align their business operations with the UN's sustainable development goals, it is becoming more apparent that profits and social impact can be aligned. Bill Drayton and Valeria Budinich discuss it here in a Harvard Business Review article: When Profit and Social Impact Unite
Tom Matzen teaches us how to do it in this podcast episode. Tom's vision is to empower entrepreneurs to be the greatest force for good they can be and his warm delivery of his message will resonate. As an international best-selling author and seminar presenter he has been able to share his message of business success & failure to more than 100,000 people on 4 continents. He has been interviewed in Success Mag, Inc Mag, Entrepreneur, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and literally 100's of radio & TV Stations across North America, sharing the secrets of business success, learned from his business ventures and from his personal interviews with some 204 business leaders.
Links to resources mentioned in the podcast:
Tom's Business Webpage
Embark Million Dollar Authority Partnership (for link to Tom's Scholarship Program)
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Kevin Hofmann, the author of "Growing Up Black in White." Kevin's warm-hearted book draws attention to the difficulty of growing up as a person of color in racially-charged Detroit in 1967 and how easy it is to give in to the pressures of social labeling and prejudice. With humor and humility, Kevin shows us that the best response when we are pigeon-holed by others, is to grow through it and develop the resiliency, self-respect, and personal identity that will define us as individuals in that process. In this interview, Kevin talks about how important diversity is in any thriving society and provides actionable steps to take to ensure that diversity in embraced and protected in our schools, communities, and work places. You will find Kevin's comments insightful, instructive, and candid but also deeply warm and sincere.
Links:
Kevin's Website
Amazon link to "Growing Up Black in White"
Connect with Kevin on Twitter
I believe that creative expression is essential to personal transformation and business or professional success. However, creative expression has to be authentic for transformation to happen and for businesses or a career to launch successfully. Intrinsic creativity takes us a lot further than extrinsic motivations such as monetary rewards, punishment or fame. This is why I think that this podcast is really good in that it provides the tools you need to access personal memories that can form the basis for personal story telling.
Links:
Miranda's website (where you can find contact details if you would like Miranda to send you the Memory toolkit)
Have you ever had the desire to pursue a creative passion - writing, music, art or making a movie - but dismissed the calling as impractical or unrealistic? Maybe you are a busy professional or entrepreneur and pursuing this desire is not aligned with the trajectory of your career. In this exciting episode, I talk to Bryan Smith about pursuing your creative calling while maintaining a successful career.Bryan is a trial attorney, musician, writer, and creator of the DreamPath Podcast. DreamPath explores the artistic journeys of musicians, filmmakers, writers, painters, and creatives of all types. He asks these questions: What inspired these people to make the leap from their day jobs to a career in the arts? What hurdles did they overcome? What did they learn from their failures? What advice do they have for aspiring artists? The DreamPath Podcast draws out the answers from these creative artists more. As an intellectual property law professor who has spent so much time thinking about creativity and pursued so many different creative projects, I truly enjoyed this conversation with Bryan who has incredible insights and advice to offer anyone who wants to pursue a creative calling.Resources mentioned in the podcast:The DreamPath Podcast WebsiteJulia Cameron's Morning PagesConnect with Bryan on:InstagramFacebookTwitter
Have you ever been in a job or career that just did not align with who you are or what you are about? Many times, we end up in jobs or careers because we took one logical step after the other. The problem with being in a job that you are unhappy or dissatisfied with is that it depletes your energy and dampens your spirit. Find a higher purpose to what you do in your daily life and being in alignment with it is essential to the heart-centered life.In this episode, I talk to Betty Kempa, a career coach who helps high-level executives, especially women, transition from a job they do not like into their dream career. Here Betty talks candidly about the 5 steps she walks clients though to take them from an unhappy career situation to one that is fulfilling. Here are the 5 steps Betty takes her clients through:1. Unpacking Your StoryUnpacking your job history to identify why you may be unhappy with your current job and what you actually do like about your job as it is. Find the moments in your day that makes you truly happy. Monitor yourself for a week and make a record of what makes you truly happy at the end of every day. These simple records can be very insightful.2. Clarifying Your VisionWhat is your life plan (how do you want your life to look like and your career goals should match your life goals)? What is your mission statement (and your mission statement SHOULD match your company's mission statement) if you are to be happy and thrive in that company.3. Gathering Clues about YourselfAssessments that reveal your career preferences, your strengths, life and career values, talents, and personality (such as the Myer Briggs personality test) can help you gather clues about the type of career or job that would make you the most satisfied. 4. Narrowing Your Clues DownSift through all your clues and separate your values into what is "non-negotiable" and just "nice to have." At this point, you would also engage in some research and interview people doing work in careers you are interested in to find out whether that career path is really something you want to be on. Listen to your gut as well. Do you feel expansive or do you feel tight in your stomach when you imagine yourself in your potential new career path? 5. Making your TransitionWhen you are making the transition to a new career, re-brand yourself and rewrite your resume. Instead of sending application letters to companies you think may be your ideal place to work, network instead and try to transition into your new job with the help of your network. Who knows who your hairdresser actually knows?Some questions to ask yourself if you are unsure about your current job situation:1. stress and anxiety: is your job the greatest (or one of the greatest source of your anxiety)?2. money: even if your job is so bad, can you afford to quit your job? can you afford to not quit your job?3. family: are you missing time with your kids or is the relationship with your spouse affected?4. values: are you able to use your talents in your job? is your job aligned with your values and life mission?5. people you work with: do you have a good relationship with the people you work with? are their values aligned with yours?Betty's advice: You are not trapped even if you feel that you are. So, just take one step this week to get some clarity and if you know what you want, take a small step in the right direction.Links to resources mentioned in the podcast:Dan Zandra, the 5 Book: Where Will You be 5 Years from Now?Betty's Website and How to Reach Her Freebie: The Sure Fire Guide to Finding Your Passion
In this interview for the Heart Centered Life, I talk to entrepreneur, published author, precision wellness specialist, health advocate, food and supplement formulator and hope expert, Wendi Michelle, about how to get healthy and stay healthy. We also talk about the importance of investing in your health while you are healthy. The key takeaways from the interview:1) What good nutrition looks like: stay as close to nature as possible2) Supplement your nutrition where necessary3) Nourish your body with water: use spring-fed water and try to collect your own water4) Movement: the body needs to move and enjoy the movement; move during the day5) Sleep is absolutely necessary to keep the body at it's optimal level6) Get as much sun and your feet in the earth as much as possibleLinks from the interview:Wendi's website: wendimichelle.comFind a Spring: findaspring.comBruce Lipton's book: https://www.brucelipton.com/books/biology-of-beliefSupplements Wendi recommends:Fortizel Colostrum - http://bit.ly/38XOOM8 (use Wendi15 for discount)Endada NADH - http://bit.ly/2Ohwl5A (use Wendi15 for discount)Chlorella and Blood Sugar Support https://www.biotropiclabs.com (use Wendi20 for discount)Stress support http://bit.ly/2OfrhOM (use Wendimichelle10 for discount)
In this interview, I talk to Courtney Weller about sustainable jewelry making. Courtney is a jewelry designer who founded the World of Indah, a luxury, fashion-forward and organically sustainable brand of beautifully crafted jewelry. Courtney's Indah factory is based in Indonesia and employs village locals to craft and produce her jewelry and as a result, provides local villagers with a sustainable livelihood. In this interview, we talk about Courtney's creative journey, from the time she gets and idea for a piece of jewelry design until the time the jewelry reaches the market. We also talk about where to find inspiration for creativity and how to engage with the larger community to find support for the entrepreneurial journey. I hope you enjoy this conversation.Here are links to connect with Courtney:The World of IndahCourtney's Facebook PageThe World of Indah's Instagram Page
This was a great interview with Daniel Levin, the author of "The Mosaic," a wonderful book about a young boy's search for heaven. In his quest, the boy, Mo, meets people who impart nuggets of wisdom on how to live a heart-centered life. In real life, Mo is actually Daniel, who sought answers to where heaven was as he tried to reconnect with the people he loved and lost. More importantly, in his quest he finally realized that he had always had them with him as he walked through life - if only he knew where to look and how to listen.Daniel provides us with many golden nuggets of wisdom about how to be truly connected with oneself and with the rest of the world. As part of a larger vision for a better world, Daniel is starting a journey within the United States first to talk to and document his conversations with the voiceless in our society starting May 1, 2020. He believes that listening to the people whose voices are not heard will create bridges that connect ordinary people who can make extraordinary changes. We are proud and honored to have this conversation with Daniel and to support him on this journey and important project. Daniel was almost ordained a Rabbi in Jerusalem and left 1 day before his ordination, spent 10 years as a monk in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, was the Director of Business Development at Hay House and played a big part in helping it grow from $3,000,000 to $100,000,000 over a 10 year period, and is an amazing story teller. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.The links to connect with Daniel are in the video itself but he is also contactable through the weblinks below:Connect with Daniel:Facebook: http://bit.ly/2SDLFBAmazon link to the Mosaic: http://bit.ly/39DLMOSAICThe Mosaic Webpage: https://lnkd.in/gaGNJDzDaniel's Personal Webpage: https://lnkd.in/gxXst5H
In this podcast episode, I interview Joyce Odidison. Joyce is a Certified Training and Development Professional with the Institute for Performance and Learning, a member of the International Association for Worksite Health Promotion, and a Certified Professional Coach with the International Coaching Federation. She travels all over the world on speaking engagements and is a sought-after coach, group facilitator, and master trainer. I am delighted to have this opportunity to interview her.We spent quite a bit talking about the weather at the start of the podcast before we warmed up enough to talk about all the good things that Joyce has to offer. So, to jump right in and skip all the introductory warm-up, head to the 6:00 minute mark.Joyce developed the Wellness Improvement System as a tool to help people move up a wellness scale and improve their interpersonal wellness. She identified 9 core competencies (or areas) in which there is always room for improvement. We talk about how to use the Wellness Improvement System to improve wellness in these 9 core competencies. We also talked about the importance of mental wellness, which is so important when we work in highly stressed environments, and how we need to de-stigmatize mental ailments so that people who need the help to improve their mental health are encouraged to seek the help they need.This is an awesome interview. I hope you will enjoy it and take Joyce's challenge to improve their emotional wellness through the link below. As always, I would love to hear from you. Here are the resources mentioned in the podcast:Joyce's 30 days Emotional Wellness CleanseJoyce's Website
I recently interviewed Jackson author, Latoya Lawson, about her book Ma'Sitter. In the interview, we talked about her book and her plans for the next installment in the series. We also talked about how she finds the inspiration and courage to create work that has a huge impact on the world. Latoya has really good advice on how to create really good work - take one step at a time. Just start and take the first step towards creating your final work product.Show notes:Watch the Video Interview On My BlogLatoya's Amazon Page
Why do some decisions bother us and make us feel bad? This episode centers on an audio recording made earlier this year which talks about research in the fields of evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and development psychology that shows how humans might have an innate sense of right and wrong. This sense of right and wrong guides us on a path that is correct for us and leads us to deeper fulfillment and happiness. When we make choices that do not match this inner sensibility, we feel bad.Here are resources mentioned in the audio recording:The Infant Cognition Center at Yale UniversityPaul Bloom, Just Babies: The Origin of Good and EvilMoral Psychology: Evolution, Morality, Adaptations (discussing the works of Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, founder of evolutionary psychology)PDF Download "3 Powerful Ways to Turn Within"
There are so many known benefits to being creative. Yet, few of us make creativity a practice or habit. In today's episode, we discuss some of the known benefits of creativity, why being creative and sharing your work with the world is hard, and finding the courage to do that. As we discussed in Episode 4, if we are all able to meet the world's deepest need from our place of deep happiness, we will be truly fulfilled and happy. Being creative is a great way to access our heart-center but we should not just stop there. We should share our creative output with the people around us and with the world. And we need to find the courage to do just that - share our creativity with the world. American columnist, Erma Bombeck's quote about creativity sets the discussion in this podcast about having the courage to be creative: In this podcast, I discuss what courage might look like and how I find the courage to create and share my creative work you and with the world. I've included a downloadable PDF that you can use to help you think of ways in which you might find the courage to be creative and trust your creative journey. Links:Rollo May, The Courage to Create Brene Brown, Dare to LeadPDF download "Finding the Courage to be Creative"
In today's episode, we discuss being an effective advocate for our clients by, first, grounding our emotional, spiritual, and mental stability in things that bring us deep joy and peace before we turn around and meet our clients where they need us most. This episode centers on a quote by Frederick Beuchner in his book, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC: Beuchner's definition of a vocation helps us zone in on how we can think about our role as lawyers and advocates for our client's best interests, which sometimes, ironically, may not be what the client wants but what the client needs. We must be sensitive to the difference and to be sensitive to our clients needs, we must first be sensitive and empathetic to our own need for self-care and attention. I've included a downloadable PDF with questions to take you through this process of being an effective heart-centered advocate for your client. Links:The Frederick Beuchner CenterFrederick Beuchner's Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC"How to be an Effective Heart-Centered Advocate for Your Client" PDF download
I know the feeling of having "butterflies in the stomach" before a big event too well. Those flutters in our gut, caused by nervousness and anxiety before the big event, can really throw you off your game. In this episode, I provide you with 5 easy hacks to calm those nerves, have an ultra-successful event while turning heads and winning hearts. The resources I mentioned in this episode are:1. Dr. Teal's Pure Epson Salt for those wonderful relaxing baths2. Meditation Exercise to Calm Mind
In this episode, I discuss why making heart-based decision has transformative value. Instinctively, we tend to think with our minds and feel with our gut (hence the "gut feeling") but in this episode, I explain why thinking and feeling with the heart (as we filter information through our minds and stomach) helps us become happier people and better more effective leaders. I also provide you with tools that help you work through daily stressors in a positive and heart-centered way.Here are some of the resources I mentioned in this episode:1. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow2. Paul Pearsall, The Heart's Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy3. Michael Gershon, The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding Of Nervous Disorders Of The Stomach And Intestine4.PDF on Dealing with Stressors from a Heart-Centered Place
Hello everyone. Welcome to Episode 000 of the Heart-Centered Life Podcast. I am really happy to launch this podcast to help us all live lives of purpose, strength, integrity, and authenticity. From this heart-centered place, we will be at our most fulfilled personally and most capable of creating positive change in the world around us.In this episode, I talk about what this podcast is all about, why I'm launching it, what I hope to see happen with it, and the format for each episode. I also tell you a little about myself so that you get to know me better and understand how everything fits together.Here are the links to the materials I mention in this episode:1. my blog post and slide deck on the heart-centered life 2. my website with my audio recording "3 Reasons from the Sciences to Turn Inward for Guidance"Enjoy and I look forward to reconnecting in the next episode!