Brilliantly Resilient

It’s important to give ourselves that space for self care and a lot of people think they don’t deserve it.

~ Lesley Logan

How many people and things do you put before yourself in your life? Family, friends, work, even picking up the dry cleaning top our To Do lists before we even think about ourselves. The result is that we’re often exhausted, frustrated, and maybe a little (or a lot!) cranky.

Lesley Logan stumbled onto the importance of making time for herself by accident when she took a Pilates class at the invitation of a friend. That one class proved transformational, showing Lesley the benefits of intentional self-care and movement. As Lesley reminds us, movement keeps the brain young and healthy–the basis for a happy, successful life.

Taking time for self care may mean we leave some things undone; that’s okay, too. By making a healthy body and mind a priority, Lesley realized that finishing can be optional, and it’s okay to change your mind. What a relief!! 

As summer begins, be sure to take the time for self care. Move your body (take a Pilates class!) make your brain happy, and put yourself at the top of your To Do list!

For more of Lesley’s Brilliance, tune into this week’s episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast.

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

KS & MFB

There are two kinds of pain–one that goes on and on and on, and the kind where there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Go towards the light.

~ Candace Plattor

Challenge and crisis are never easy. But they do come with choice. While we can’t always change our circumstances, we can change our responses to our challenges. The choice to change our response can break the cycle of pain and allow us to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Candace Plattor, this week’s guest on the Brilliantly Resilient podcast, knows about the pain that can be created when we choose to repeat the same patterns of behavior again and again, enabling a pain that goes on and on. As an addiction therapist, Candace knows that oftentimes, the pain we live in remains because we choose to live without changing anything, and as Candace reminds us, “if nothing changes, nothing changes.”

Yet, when we choose to address our challenges and change our responses to them, we can open a spot of light at the end of our dark tunnels, making that pain finite, or at least more manageable.

How are you addressing the challenges in your life? Are you repeating the same actions in response over and over? Can you change your responses and alter your circumstances? To hear more of Candace’s wisdom, tune into this week’s episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast.

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

KS & MFB

The God lens is always going to be a more compassionate, but a less certain lens. It’s going to take away the absolute convictions with which we are looking at many things and open us up to the possibility that we are mistaken.

~ Christine Eberle

Geez, we hate being wrong. It happens–rarely–but we really, really hate it when it does. Yet, it happens to us all, probably more often than we’d like.

Much of the angst we experience when we’re wrong comes from our insecure egos. If we’ve examined something, done our due diligence and run it up our personal flagpole, we should be right, shouldn’t we? In fact, our egos demand that we are. But what about the other folks who have done the same thing and come to a different conclusion than ours? Their egos are shouting just as loudly that they are the ones on the right path.

Author Christine Eberle, this week’s guest on the Brilliantly Resilient podcast, notes that it’s our perception–the lens through which we are looking at things–that keeps us stuck and frustrated. When we pull back and look at life through the God lens instead of our own, we may find uncertainty, but we also find room for possibility.

It may not feel like it at the time, but sometimes being wrong is the best thing that can happen to us, especially if it allows us to consider other actions and other outcomes. 

Christine’s new book, Finding God Abiding, offers thoughtful meditative lessons designed to open our awareness to God’s presence in our lives, as well as to help us recognize the wonder of possibility. Tune into this week’s episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast to learn about Christine’s four movements of life as she shares her Brilliance.

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO

KS & MFB

There was always a component of courage, but not the absence of fear.

~ Dr. Robyn Graham

Have you ever felt anxious? Hands up, everyone! No one escapes anxiety. But why does it cripple some of us while others seem to escape its grasp?

This week’s guest on the Brilliantly Resilient podcast, Dr. Robyn Graham, confesses that she’s experienced anxiety since she can remember, and it’s held her back on more than one occasion. Yet, by realizing that she had a choice about letting anxiety run her life, Robyn found the courage to navigate her fears and, while not overcoming anxiety entirely, learned to manage it.

We can move forward with a choice, and it’s essential to choose action even if there is fear. Fear is a natural response to the unknown, but it isn’t an excuse for staying stuck. Make an intentional choice to lead with courage and tell anxiety to step back. Each time you choose action for your good, the anxiety voice inside gets a little quieter. Pretty soon, you’ll recognize anxious feelings, but they won’t keep you from living your Brilliance.

For more of Robyn’s Brilliance, tune into this week’s episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast, and check out Robyn’s new book, You, Me and Anxiety. 

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

Kristin and Mary Fran

Look at your calendar from the last few months and see what put a smile on your face. What about those experiences can you do more of?

~ Fran Hauser

Finding our Brilliance. It’s not always easy. Our Brilliance and the things that light us up don’t always jump out and say, “Here I am! This is what you’re supposed to be doing!”

But our friend, Fran Hauser, author, angel investor and the queen of kindness in the workplace, offers a simple strategy to determine where our Brilliance may lie and how we can get more of it in our lives. 

By looking back through our calendars and intentionally evaluating our experiences we can get a sense of what makes us happy, as well as where we shine. Too often, we treat life as a list of things we have to “get done,” checking things off and then filing them away, rarely to be thought of as anything other than finished. But when we take the time to look at our experiences and what about them fueled–or didn’t–us, we can get a sense of where we should be putting our efforts to get the most our ot life–and out of ourselves.

Brilliance is within us all; sometimes we just need a little help finding it.

Fran offers more of her Brilliance in her new book, Embrace the Work, Love Your Career, a workbook that guides you through realizing career goals with “clarity, intention and confidence.” Brilliant!!! Tune in to hear more from Fran on this week’s episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast. 

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

Kristin and Mary Fran

Everything is situational. We constantly have values competing, all of the time. That’s where you make the hardest decisions. What is at your core?

~ Ken Meeker

Decisions, decisions. Wouldn’t it be great if they were all easy? Many are. For example, what would you choose, a paid vacation, or an extra 40 hours at work with no compensation? (Choose the vacation!)

But what about those decisions that have you considering the “on the other hand” option over and over and over again? 

Ken Meeker knows that it’s essential to make decisions based on our values. But sometimes, our values compete with each other, depending on the situation. What if the scenario above offered you a vacation or a month’s salary for a week’s work? Hmmmm…not quite as easy a decision.

That’s why it’s so important to know your core values–what are your non-negotiables? If your non-negotiables are met, it’s easier to make a decision based on what you want in any situation. As Ken rightly points out, values are not intrinsically good or bad; it’s where each has its place on our personal values scale.

Tune in to hear more from Ken Meeker on this week’s episode of The Brilliantly Resilient podcast, and find him at  www.vitalitycareercoaching.com.

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

Kristin & Mary Fran

When you’re by yourself and having a meltdown, it takes a few moments to realize no one is coming to rescue you, to get you up. That’s when you have to make a choice. No one controls my happiness, my destiny, my goals, and my dreams but me. It is no one else’s choice. It is my choice. ~ Cheryl Ecton

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you thought, “I can’t do this. I’ll never be able to get out of this mess alone.”? It’s not unusual to want someone to come in and make  all of the ugly go away. Yet, as our Brilliantly Resilient guest, Cheryl Ecton, founder of Elite Building Services, reminds us, it’s only when we realize that no one is coming to save us and we are responsible for our own happiness that we can make the choice to move forward.

That doesn’t mean we get to wave a magic wand and make our troubles disappear. But making the decision to just visit challenges instead of living in them and committing to accepting responsibility for our own destiny can set us on the path of empowerment. We may not be able to control our circumstances, but we can control our choices.

Sometimes that means choosing to take a step back to address another priority. Sometimes it means accepting that okay is good enough. Even if the end isn’t what we wanted, we still have choices. And Cheryl reminds us in her new book, Choices Change Everything.

What choices can you make today to move forward? How can you begin to own your happiness and destiny? Tune in to hear more from Cheryl Ecton on this week’s episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast. Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

KS & MFB

We have 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts each day. Ninety percent of those are the thoughts that we had yesterday. We are constantly living in the past.

 ~ Stanley Dietrich

How often do you find yourself on the hamster wheel of chasing the same thoughts over and over in your mind? When something is challenging or concerning us, it may feel like the same thoughts never leave–we dwell on them day after day, often with little or no resolution.

This week’s guest on the Brilliantly Resilient podcast is Stanley Dietrich, of 360 Life Without Limits. Stanley knows how it feels to be stuck in the revolving door or our past–so much so that our present may pass us by. That’s why Stanley teaches others to focus on the present, with simple exercises to stay attentive to life now–not yesterday.

Here at Brilliantly Resilient, we know how easy it is to run through a mental replay reel. It takes focus and effort to redirect our minds towards new opportunities instead of past mistakes. In that way, as Stanley reminds us, “We create a future instead of fixing the past.”

Tune in to hear more of Stanley’s calming wisdom on this week’s episode of The Brilliantly Resilient podcast. Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

KS & MFB

Victim is an identity.

Mindset is what you think.

What you think is what you speak.

What you speak is what you act.

What you act becomes your reality.

~ Michael Unbroken

Yet, trauma does not have to define us, or be the overriding factor in our lives. Our Brilliantly Resilient guest this week, Michael Unbroken, teaches trauma survivors how to move beyond trauma and its devastating impact to become the heroes of their own stories.

Here at Brilliantly Resilient, we say that uncovering your Resilience and discovering your Brilliance starts with a decision: Are you just visiting your challenge, or are you going to live there? It’s a mindset intention that will begin to point your brain forward, instead of reliving and fearing that the past will become your present.

Michael Unbroken echoes that sentiment by highlighting the importance of mindset coupled with action to Rise and thrive after trauma. Mental and physical health are possible after trauma. For more of Michael’s wisdom and strategies, tune into this episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast and become the hero you are!

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

KS & MFB

I learned so much from the people in my life. I wanted to share that and to remind others to cherish and honor those who raised and influenced them.

~ Jane Jenkins Herlong

Our Brilliantly Resilient guest this week, Jane Jenkins Herlong, knows the power of the women and men who raised her and taught her life lessons, whether family or friend. In her new book, Sweet Tea Secrets from the Deep Fried South, Jane shares hilarious, heartfelt stories about those who shaped her life, teaching her lessons along the way, even if they didn’t realize it.  

Jane wrote the book not only to share her own story, but to remind us to cherish those in our lives who influence us, and to remember their stories and lessons. Those who have touched us have helped to make us who we are. We’re reminded to learn, laugh, and love–hard.

Tune into this week’s episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast to hear more from our funny friend, Jane. And order your copy of Jane’s new book today on Amazon!

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO,

Kristin & Mary Fran