Back To Happy

Well, it's a bittersweet day in the land of Back to Happy because we're wrapping up our show with this episode. Between the two of us, we've been through a lot—but we genuinely, gradually have come back happier every time.

Yes, there will be pain in life. But if you keep perspective and get real about what changes need to be made, what you learned and how to proceed… peace and equanimity can be found.

May this episode help you rise up to greater happiness in your own heart.

We send you love and we thank you for listening,

Suzanne and Debi

WHO ARE THEY?

WHO ARE THEY?

Debi Granger is a true survivor. After nursed two of her children through life-or death experiences, she lost her home in Paradise, California after the worst wildfire in state history. She's also a working single mom with a disability. Yet, she remains a happy optimist, here to spread joy. She is a retired Dental Assistant with Expanded Function, and lives in the foothills of the Sierras with her fiancé, Chuck.

Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities for those who need better self-care.  

Few experiences in life can be more bewildering than watching your 19-year-old daughter get suddenly, seriously ill. And then stay ill, off and on, for the next eight years.

This is what happened to Debi Granger as her daughter Amera struggled with congestive heart failure, nearly dying three times. And yet. Such a time can also be when life is most inspiring, because a heart and kidney donated by a stranger ultimately saved her life.

Debi tells her story, with its surprise ending, in such grace and strength it should inspire you for a long time to come.

May you find her story useful as you find your way back to happiness, and what really matters in this life, yourself.

Sending a big hug,

Suzanne & Debi

The Self Care Group for Extremely Busy Women

WHO ARE THEY?

WHO ARE THEY? 

Debi Granger is a true survivor. After nursed two of her children through life-or death experiences, she lost her home in Paradise, California after the worst wildfire in state history. She's also a working single mom with a disability. Yet, she remains a happy optimist, here to spread joy. She is a retired Dental Assistant with Expanded Function, and lives in the foothills of the Sierras with her fiancé, Chuck. 

Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities for those who need better self-care.  

This show is a replay of one of our most popular shows, #6, honoring Suzanne's late daughter Teal.

If you feel stuck in life, unable to move forward or backwards, take a bit of inspiration here. Teal was a unique free spirit who felt the world was her oyster … and she rolled through it with ease, equanimity and a true lightness. 

Leaving behind her journals, and memories of her remarkable life, she is here to teach us: 

• How to live with uncertainty
• How to find acceptance
• How to detach from what bothers us
• How to 'just be' 
• How to stop trying to be all things to all people

May you find some fun inspiration here as Debi and I talk about Teal and her amazing life. 

About Teal page from our website

XBW PODCAST

Teal playing on the Champs des Mars in Paris, France in 2011

It seems in life we are always running to catch up with something. Or someone. I don't know about you, but I always feel just slightly behind.

Yet, a lot of serenity comes from feeling that you have enough time. And that you have enough of what you need in general in life.

In this show, Debi and I take on the tricky subject of managing time as a way to get back to happiness and inner peace. Among other things we cover:

• The power of mini habits to change your life
• My accountability pal and how we help each other along
• The magic of noting and really seeing your accomplishments
• How our To DO's take over our mental space
• How to get out of the habit of 'Shoulding' on yourself

May this help you rein in time a bit more so it's on your side.

Submitted with love,

Suzanne and Debi

The Self Care Group for Extremely Busy Women

Debi Granger is a true survivor. After nursed two of her children through life-or death experiences, she lost her home in Paradise, California after the worst wildfire in state history. She's also a working single mom with a disability. Yet, she remains a happy optimist, here to spread joy. She is a retired Dental Assistant with Expanded Function, and lives in the foothills of the Sierras with her fiancé, Chuck. 

Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities for those who need better self-care.  

Control—you either love it…or you run from it. Seems we're all caught in that push-pull dance in many areas of our lives. So, Debi & Suzanne knock around what we actually have control of, what we don't—and why this really effects our happiness. 

• What Debi tells herself when she feels like she has to let go
• The biggest source of anxiety for many people
• The many benefits of letting go
• How to keep the faith even in hard times
• What do we actually have control of?
• What Suzanne learned about control from her 56,000 person Facebook group

May this serve you well!

Submitted with love and friendship,

Debi & Suzanne

The Self Care Group for Extremely Busy Women

Debi Granger is a true survivor. After nursed two of her children through life-or death experiences, she lost her home in Paradise, California after the worst wildfire in state history. She's also a working single mom with a disability. Yet, she remains a happy optimist, here to spread joy. She is a retired Dental Assistant with Expanded Function, and lives in the foothills of the Sierras with her fiancé, Chuck. 

Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities for those who need better self-care.  

Life can get on your nerves—have you noticed? Tolerations are those things that aren't TERRIBLE, but they definitely grate on you. And they don't bring joy. Think of gossipy friends, squeaky chairs, jobs that drain the life out of you.

Debi and Suzanne discuss how to deal with 'tolerations', including:

• The 50-50 question
• Can tolerations be our teacher?
• The secret to letting go of that which we're only tolerating
• Manifesting 101
• What Debi learned about manifesting from her daughter's heart transplant

"Life figured it out for me," Debi said…

May this contribute to your overflowing joy!

Debi & Suzanne

Debi Granger is a true survivor. After nursed two of her children through life-or death experiences, she lost her home in Paradise, California after the worst wildfire in state history. She's also a working single mom with a disability. Yet, she remains a happy optimist, here to spread joy. She is a retired Dental Assistant with Expanded Function, and lives in the foothills of the Sierras with her fiancé, Chuck. 

Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities for those who need better self-care.  

Have you ever stopped to notice, when you're about to go on a furious tear, that you may be reliving old emotions from the past? No… well, yeah. Very few of us actually have.

Yet triggers are actually what's likely at play. In this show we talk about our various trigger insights, accumulated through collective decades of being triggered.

We share:

• A few stories from the past
• Some useful tools that can help with being triggered
• Ideas on what road rage is actually all about
• A nifty martial arts trick
• Words on the question of responsibility
• A really good journaling exercise

May this show serve you well!

Suzanne and Debi

Suzanne's YouTube Channel

The Conscious Girlfriend website (originator of the SCORE method)

https://consciousgirlfriend.com/free-stuff/

Nothing is worse than not being able to sleep! Debi and Suzanne knock it around on the fraught subject of tossing and turning. They share their very best tips of fighting insomnia including

• Best sleep tips
• How to manage waking up in the night
• What to do when your mind keep racing
• Various supplements and things that really work

May this help keep you well rested… and not lying awake! For surely, this is a path back to happiness.

Best from both of us!

Suzanne and Debi

WHO ARE THEY?

Debi Granger is a true survivor. After nursed two of her children through life-or death experiences, she lost her home in Paradise, California after the worst wildfire in state history. She's also a working single mom with a disability. Yet, she remains a happy optimist, here to spread joy. She is a retired Dental Assistant with Expanded Function, and lives in the foothills of the Sierras with her fiancé, Chuck.

Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities for those who need better self-care.  

What is at the heart of the mother-daughter relationship… and how does it affect us? In this show, we take a good clear look at our own relationships with our mothers (very different!), as well as with our daughters. For what's here is nothing but unvarnished love.

And it can be healing, indeed! Among other things, we covered:

• The story of Teal and Amera, our daughters
• Dealing with our daughter's pushback
• The heart of love in motherhood
• What the moment was like when Teal was born
• Girdles and Chanel No.5 vs farm dresses—our two moms
• An important lesson Debi learned from her mom

However, you get along with your mother, there is nothing as foundational as your relationship with the person who gave birth to you. May you find some healing and inspiration here.

Suzanne and her mother

Debi and her mother

Submitted with love,

Debi and Suzanne

RESOURCES

Suzanne's essay 'Learning to Forgive My Difficult Mother'

Suzanne and Debi knock around the critical issue of boundaries by sharing stories from their own lives, childhoods and relationships. Once you learn to stop allowing life (and others) to walk all over, happiness is easier than you think!

Among other things, we talked about:

• What to know about setting boundaries and why it doesn't always feel good
• What you can do to set boundaries more easily
• What you'll get from setting better boundaries
• Boundaries with moms
• How to know WHEN to set those boundaries

May this inspire your own boundary setting, and lead to even greater happiness.

Best to you!

Suzanne and Debi

WHO ARE THEY?

Debi Granger is a true survivor. After nursed two of her children through life-or death experiences, she lost her home in Paradise, California after the worst wildfire in state history. She's also a working single mom with a disability. Yet, she remains a happy optimist, here to spread joy. She is a retired Dental Assistant with Expanded Function, and lives in the foothills of the Sierras with her fiancé, Chuck.

Suzanne Falter is a writer, podcaster and essayist whose work has appeared in SELF, O, More, Fitness, New Woman and The New York Times, Tiny Buddha and Elephant Journal. She is the author of multiple self-help titles including How Much Joy Can You Stand? (Ballantine) and The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care (Sourcebooks). Suzanne also hosts the Self-Care for Extremely Busy Women podcast where she interviews leading self-care authorities for those who need better self-care.