Life Altering Events

Everyone wants to be appreciated. Pretty basic stuff, right? Yet why are we having so much depression and anxiety and stress? Why are nearly 84% of workers not engaged. Why is our world being divided into us vs them? There are three things that can make a major difference in someone's personal and professional life. They are I see you. I hear you. You matter. Eight words that can change our life, our organization and the world. Why is this so hard? I wish I had the answer. I don’t, however my guest Sarah McVanel, recognition expert, will share with us how we can rediscover our own greatness, and recognize the greatness in others.

Today we are going to talk about Facing and Our Fears and finding our joy. Fear is a very powerful emotion. It can motivate some to take action and it can paralyze others. Where does your fear come from? Is it from a past trauma, be it physical, mental or emotional? Is it because you tried and failed at a task or a job or a marriage? Is it an irrational fear or phobia you just can’t get past? What ever it is, until you face your fear it will continue to suck the life and joy out of you. My guest today is Belinda Farrell who has experienced debilitating physical, mental and emotional fear, but rather than giving up, she picked up the pieces and discovered fear is not an invincible opponent and she is showing others how to become alive with a CAPITAL A.

We all have periods in our life where we just feel stuck. No matter what we think we want to do; we just never get around to getting it done. We find ourselves in a rut spinning our wheels and going nowhere. So, we settle for being stuck waiting for “mythical someday” to come. As we have said on this show before, “That in order for people to embrace and activate change, they have to feel it is both possible AND important.” So, what do you want to change? Maybe you want to stop smoking or drinking, or become more assertive, or overcome a phobia that keeps you stuck. Maybe you want to change a dynamic in your family or personal life. It may be important enough, but is it possible? The answer is yes and Darlene Corbett will show us how!

The current state of the world has brought us to an inflection point. Some people and organizations have thrown up the hands and said why bother – I don’t see a silver lining or a light at the end of the tunnel. Fortunately, many more people believe everything happens for a reason and are grateful for the lessons they are learning and the opportunities that are being presented. If you are thinking, what lessons and what opportunities, then be grateful you tuned to hear my interview with Eileen Bild. Eileen believes and teaches that life expresses itself through our experiences, the good and the bad. She will make you believe in yourself and your ability to shape your journey.

Life Is Not Measured By the Number of Breaths We Take, But By the Moments That Take Our Breath Away. It is the little things in life that reach out and grab our hearts; that make us smile; that we always remember with great joy. Very often these moments appear during some of the most difficult times in our life to remind us that no matter what obstacles life puts in our way, we can always look up, get up and never ever give up. Connie Bramer has experienced more than her share of adversity. Death of her mother at age 26, divorce, breast cancer in her mid 30's, yet Connie is the person we look forward to seeing or simply talking too, that always makes us smile. She can find the lighter side in almost every situation. She makes us laugh and she can laugh at herself. She remind us that no matter what crisis we are facing, our attitude and outlook makes all the difference.

Have you ever noticed that good answers and good choices rarely occur when we are stressed out or in crisis mode? You cannot focus. You cannot find clarity of thought. You cannot rationally weigh the pros and cons. It is like trying to hold back the ocean during high tide. You are simply reacting to a situation you cannot change, alter or win. Our cluttered mind then tells us we have lost or we failed. At this point our lives are “CRAPPY.” So how do we go from CRAPPY back to HAPPY. My guests today are Kat O'Keefe-Kanavos, one of the primary authors of Crappy to Happy and Mike Pitocco a contributing author. The book CRAPPY to HAPPY is being released today.

We all know that misery loves company. It waits and watches for those who are hurting. It senses the storm seeds in our mind. Misery starts out as a friend. It will gain our trust. It will commiserate with us by watering and nurturing our storm seeds. It will not offer help. If we challenge misery and try to move forward, it will pull us back down. It takes advantage of us. It sucks the very life out of us. Misery’s goal is to replace our hope and faith with anger, depression and despair. My two guests today Rev. Dr. Temple Hayes and Ken Walls know this story all too well. They lived it. They did find the courage to stare down misery. They found support and rebuilt their lives. Now they both provide guidance and support for other and both are contributing authors for the book Crappy to Happy which will be release on October 6.

Today we will hear about the Power of Giving. Given the current state of affairs in the world, it is hard to find good news or even accurate news. It is frustrating and depressing as we go through the process of re-opening, and re-closing and trying to re-open again. But there are stories that give us hope, that make us smile, that make us cheer for people who despite their own hardships and heartache go out of their way to help, to give to others and willingly serve in their communities. Today, we are going to put the gloom and doom aside and talk about something positive. I have two guests today that will make you smile. They will touch your heart and give you hope. Both will downplay all they have done, because real heroes never act for personal gain or praise. They act because in their heart it is the right thing and the only thing to do. Harold Mintz and Dean Eller, have had more than one altering event thrust upon them, yet they continue to give.

In the past few months, we’ve all been through the agony of lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For Ana Billian, this is not the first time she experienced what we today call “these unprecedented times.” Back in the early 1990s when a civil war in her home country changed everybody’s life forever, lockdown meant sharing a tiny shelter with as many people as could possibly fit in. As Ana says, “There were days when everybody would have appreciated a little bit of social distancing.” In this episode, we discuss how this experience shaped Ana’s professional path, from living and working across the globe to founding her online career platform, Great Career Studios. In Ana’s words, “Life is too short not to follow your dreams. And it’s too short to be a hopeless dreamer.”

Given the events in the world, many people are opting to become a solopreneur, a term we never heard of six years ago. What is a solopreneur? How hard is it to start a business by yourself and more importantly what are the odds for success? Well, the odds aren’t good. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula. Most people don’t know what they don’t know about starting and sustaining a business. Most don’t have a solid plan or know where to go for help. No one has all the expertise needed in marketing or contact marketing, or prospect/data mining or accounting or distribution, or creating a web design that actually works or identifying their avatar. I am willing to bet, most don’t even know what an avatar is? Listen to Steve Eriksen who has faced and overcome these issues. His program fills in the gaps and allow you to focus on your business and life.

Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24. Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18. More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED. Jackie Simmons has faced this nightmare and has created a non-profit to teach parents how talk to our teens. If you have children you MUST hear this.

Amid the chaos we are facing, a number of people are using this time to look inwardly in the hope of finding a sense of calm and peace and meaning. These people have said me “Do I even want to return to my old normal, my old job, my old habits, with all the stress and anxiety? I want to be alive with a capital A.” There has to be a better way. Maybe this is the opportunity to change.” But how do we change? What do we change? And the real question - Do we really want to change? Listen to Gina Mazza tell her amazing story of transformation as we discuss her book, Everything Matters - Nothing Matters.

It is not what you know that will determine success or failure, it’s about what you don’t know. The University of California at Davis has created an Entrepreneurship Academy where they take brilliant researchers and guide them through the process of moving from the intellectual mindset to the innovative mindset needed to create, fund and sustain a successful business. Listen to Dr. Andrew Hargadon, the faculty director; as well as Dr. Teri Slack and Katherine Hu, whose companies won the latest Big Bang competition. These women are changing the world.

COVID-19 requires we all make major life style changes. As I talked with life style change experts, the term I hear over and over is Mindfulness Training, which is learning to live in the moment. So, what exactly is mindfulness and how can we learn to live in the moment. Listen to Dr. Dena Samuels an expert and author in Training and Consulting based on Mindfulness Principles. As we come out of this crisis, this is an episode everyone must hear.

Leading social scientists tell us that growing up we are a product of our environment. How we were treated and spoke to by our parents, siblings, teachers, classmates, etc. formed our personality and often our sense of self value or lack of self-value. Dr Laura Staley has faced those struggles for many years before discovering she could take control and live life on her terms. Listen to this intriguing story

If you are lucky, you find a job which becomes your passion. In a perfect world your passion becomes your business; your business becomes a success and you live happily ever after. Than was Lisa Brys' life until tragedy struck. Listen to her story of courage as she face personal and financial doom but never gave up hope.

Imagine you have achieved one of your life time goals at age 29. Pretty heady stuff. Life will only get better from here right? But life has plans of its own. An accident leaves you battered, broken and a wheelchair user. This is what happened to Gina Gardiner. Listen to her story in her own words. After dealing with the shock, grief, and then enduring the long and difficult rehabilitation process, she decided her new circumstances were not going to define or dictate her life. When she was told “you can’t” she responded “watch me.” One thing that cannot be tested or measured is the power and will of the human spirit. Never say Never.

What if your life altering event did not happen directly to you? What if it happened to a loved one? An illness suddenly befalls your child; your sibling is injured in an accident; or your spouse unexpectedly has a stroke. Now what? We know the impact on them, but what is the impact on you? Your life has also been dramatically altered. Whatever your life was prior to this event is either put on hold or changed forever. You must learn a whole new life. Suddenly, without any training or preparation you become a care giver. Will you be able adjust to this new role? How will you survive? Dave Nassaney has been there. He has survived and thrived and will tell us how we as caregivers must take care of ourselves.

What goes around comes around. I have recently read that a new trend is having a home funeral AKA a family directed burial, rather than using a funeral home. The more I looked into this “New Trend,” the more I discovered that this practice in not new at all. For generations all funerals took place in the family home. Today it means choosing to keep your loved one at home after they pass. Heidi Boucher is an expert in this field and explains the process and options families have.

The only constant in life is change, yet so often we do not like or want change. COVID-19, is changing just about everything we do personally, professionally, socially and spiritually. As we make our way out of this world wide crisis, who is going to thrive and who is going to flounder. Who is willing to embrace the inevitable changes? Listen to Dr. Natasha Todorovic Cowen who will explain how she embraced the difficult changes in her life to create a multi-million dollar organization that addresses thriving through change.