Calm the Chaos

Juggling life for years led Daniela Sulek to hit a wall. Her entire way of life and being changed when what she now calls "humaning" led to her developing serious illnesses while pregnant with her third child, and almost cost her her life. With her "play your way through life" philosophy, she now helps renowned yet unfulfilled leaders move into a permanent state of ease, joy, and passion. By transcending from the conditioned human to the consciousness of their true self, they shift into effortlessly creating by being, instead of creating by doing.

Daniela has been on the show before and is returning to share more wisdom about how to function at a higher level of consciousness!

In our conversation, here is what you will learn

• How you can get off the bus of doing and start being in life!
• How you can find a deeper sense of joy, peace, and passion in your days
• When you let go of the controlling and planning then you can find the joy in life!
• Anxiety and stress are a result of human conditioning
• Life is happening FOR YOU, not to you.
• Tips on how you can begin to get into a state of being and some challenges for you to accept!

Maybe you are missing the joy and passion in your life and need to get off the bus and start BEING! I invite you to reach out to me and schedule your free clarity call to discuss what's holding you back!

Resources and Links

Connect with Daniela Sulek

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Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

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Julie Morgenstern is one of the leading experts on organization, business productivity, and time management. The author of six best-selling books, a consultant to large corporations, and a sought-after speaker, Morgenstern has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, and NPR's Fresh Air and helped thousands of people transform their homes, businesses, and attitudes about every kind of clutter. The New York City-based Julie Morgenstern Enterprises has been successfully in business for over 30 years.

What You'll Learn

This book will help you clear the clutter for good! Julie takes a different approach by using the SHED process. Moving beyond throwing things out and walks you thru the pitfalls of decluttering

Declutter is identifying what's obsolete and no longer serves you

Organizing is designing systems that make you more efficient where you are right now

SHED stands for

Separate the Treasures

Heave the Trash

Embrace your Identity

Drive yourself Forward

Finding your Theme: What is your big picture? What do you want to express or experience in the future? What do you need to let go of and where are you heading?

Points of Entry!

Clutter is not junk! Clutter is an attachment to something you are struggling to release. Ask yourself what does it represent? Go in with love and tenderness for yourself.

Being in the present moment!

You can also use this process to evaluate your commitments, schedule, and habits!

Resources

Julie Morgenstern's Website here

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Book Your Spot for the Free 60 minute Clarity Session here

I recently had the opportunity to join Dr. Melissa Bordogna in her weekend event the Epic Self Project for Midlife! This was a wonderful opportunity to connect with those that were looking for inspiration in a variety of topics from experts in their field. With my expertise being in career and life coaching, I guided the participants into the importance of identifying your theme when moving into your next chapter! We had a great discussion and wanted to give you the opportunity to hear it on the podcast!

For this discussion, I created a worksheet that you can access on my website: https://www.deborahvoll.com. Go to the Work with Me tab and click on the workbook. You will see it offered mid-page!

Here are some of the reasons you will want to tune in this week for our discussion!

• How creating an overarching theme for your next chapter is so important and how it will help you to stay focused on your "end goal" for your life!
• I share my Theme for this next chapter and give examples on how I hold myself accountable towards that theme and how you can too!
• What is the first step in this process?
• What stories have we been telling ourselves what type of excuses have we been giving ourselves in moving forward?
• The tool for unlocking your inner desires
• Ideas on how you can hold yourself accountable towards your vision and theme
• How to step into the action and the doing!
• How to show more compassion towards yourself in this process.

I hope you will take the time to download your worksheet and complete it for yourself! If you begin working on the worksheet and feel that you need to be gently challenged to move forward, please reach out to me. I would love to be able to help you start this journey!

Resources and Links

Connect with Deborah Voll

Identifying Your Theme for Your Next Chapter Worksheet

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Grab Your Free Clarity Session today!

Diana Raab, Ph.D. is a memoirist, poet, blogger, thought-provoker, and award-winning author of ten books, including four poetry collections, including her latest, Lust. She blogs for Psychology Today, The Wisdom Daily, Thrive Global, Sixty and Me, and many others. Her most recent nonfiction book is Writing for Bliss. She teaches workshops on writing for healing and transformation. Her poetry chapbook, "An Imaginary Affair," is forthcoming by Finishing Line Press

Diana begins our discussion by sharing how she began her journey of journaling at a young age and that a tragic loss prompted the gift of a journal.

During our interview, we talk about the writing process and how to use writing to express our thoughts, gain insight into our emotions, and use it to heal to move forward.

We dive into these other discussions and Diana shares her insight on

• How to create rituals prior to writing and how that helps you to get focused and grounded for the work you are yet to begin
• We dive into why storytelling unites us as humans
• How storytelling can be presented in your story to capture all the senses of the reader.
• How to find your true voice as a writer
• Why you would want to write a LOVE Letter to yourself!
• How you can write for your emotional truth
• What if you want to write about others? What's the best way to handle those types of situations.
• How being fearful of writing something will dappen your creative process! Just go for it and write that first draft!

At the end of the interview, Diana leaves us with a fun challenge so get out your pen and paper!

Resources and Links

Connect with Diana Raab

Writing for Bliss the Book

Conversation Card here

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Stephanie Raffelock is the author of Creatrix Rising, Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women. She also penned the award-winning book, A Delightful Little Book of Aging

A graduate of Naropa University's program in writing and poetics, Stephanie was a contributor to the Rogue Valley Messenger in Oregon. She has blogged for Nexus Magazine, Omaha Lifestyles, Care2.com, as well as SixtyandMe.com

A recent transplant to Austin, Texas Stephanie enjoys an active life with her husband, Dean, and their Labrador retriever Mickey Mantle Raffelock.

For Stephanie, writing is an encore career! Stephanie is passionate about her work and sees midlife as a bridge from one part of your life to another. What we have seen in society over the years is the message that when you hit midlife, you're done! Stephanie is here to say that this messaging is not true! Not only are women finding their voices, but they are also raising them! This has become her work, to write about women and aging. How we see ourselves as we age and how we get stuck in the stereotypes of aging and how to break free from those stories!

We begin by discussing her book, Creatrix Rising! Creatrix comes from the three Greek fates. There was the spinner, the weaver, and the cutter. The weaver was the creatrix. The word means a woman who makes things. Stephanie felt that was a great word for what happens to us in midlife as we move out of the motherhood phase ( whether or not we've had children) We can then move into a phase of creativity. We become women who make things, whether that's leadership, gardening, or cooking. Creatrix is a positive archetype that gives power and empowerment to women at midlife.

Stephanie shares one-story in her book about a woman named Austin. Austin lived life to the fullest until the very end. She knew what it was to be a woman who makes things and never stopped. She goes on to share that women need to reassure themselves in life that they grow psychologically and spiritually until the day they die. There is no endpoint! We just need to change the way we talk to ourselves and how we perceive ourselves moving forward.

Our discussion continues to focus on the importance of staying curious and having gratitude in our life. Stephanie feels that you grow old the day you stop feeling impassioned by the things you love and what you stand for in life.

We discuss a lot about how important mindset is moving forward into this next chapter and how we need to treat ourselves kindly and be careful on how we speak to ourselves! Perhaps look in the mirror each day and tell yourself, "hello gorgeous! You got this! ". What a beautiful way to start the morning!

Resources and Links

Connect with Stephanie Raffelock

Blog Article: We Matter at Every Age

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Book Your Spot for the Free 60 minute Clarity Session here

You are listening to Episode 112 of Calm the Chaos! In this episode, I am sharing an interview where I was the invited guest with Nicole Christina from the Zestful Aging podcast! It was a lot of fun!

Nicole has been a psychotherapist for over 30 years and has her own podcast: The Zestful Aging Podcast. In her interview with me on Calm the Chaos, we talked about what is Zestful Aging, why are we here, and what type of legacy we will leave behind.

Today on her show, I am sharing my journey with my book, The Tell-All Guide to Airbnb Hosting, and the lessons I have learned about myself and others! If you are considering ways to make some extra money and you've been thinking about short-term renting in your home or on the site then this is a great episode as I share my experiences!

If you are not interested in hosting then perhaps you use the Airbnb site as a guest? This interview will also give you some insight on how to be the perfect guest on this type of platform.

Either way, fasten your seat belt because we take you on a journey!

In this interview, you will also get to know me better and how I continue to reinvent myself after the age of forty and continue to expand my horizons!

It's important to stay curious and take a step if you are interested in learning more about something. You never know where the path will lead once you put yourself in motion!

Resources and Links

Connect with Nicole Christina

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Book Your Spot for the Free 60 minute Clarity Session here

My Author Page to learn more about my Book

Daniel Mangena is an International Speaker, Best-Selling Author, Broadcaster, and Coach. He is best known for his highly successful Micro2Millions program, being the author of Stepping Beyond Intention and his Do it With Dan and Beyond Success podcasts. He is completely self-made and has spent decades perfecting his world-class coaching methodology.

His mission statement: "To spearhead an evolutionary uplift in universal consciousness, by awakening people to the importance of their unique role and enabling them to manifest their dream life."

Daniel has learned his lesson's later in life through losing his fortunes not once but twice. What he learned through this process is the importance of your energetic relationship with something and the importance of developing that relationship with something to allow it to stay. He focuses now on conscious deliberate creating.

We discuss how to break free of emotional blocks to get that desired dream life that so many of us are seeking! Daniel shares that our desires within ourselves are ready to be birthed and most of the time, we are not allowing it to be part of our world.

Daniel reminds us that everything we experience is a result of where we are in our environment. The actions we are taking, the habits, behaviors, and choices we make, and the people, places, and things that surround ourselves.

We go on to discuss the conflict between our conscious and unconscious thoughts and how 97% of our behaviors are run by unconscious programs. For the most part, the actions we take are not conscious choices. That's why for many, we are misaligned with our thoughts and outcomes. You may be ready to go out and achieve something new but most often our habits and behaviors are not matching the desired outcome. The reason why is that our unconscious thoughts don't match the desired outcome.

One way to get into alignment with our unconscious thoughts is to create an environment that supports us in getting in alignment with our thoughts and desires. Our thoughts, fears, and desires are built from our environment from our journey from infant to today! We need to understand that our environment can support us and if we curated it appropriately then the change will come easier and have the desired snowball effect.

Begin to ask yourself: What do we want to manifest or create for ourselves and then how does my environment right now support the emotional state and outcome that I want to achieve?

Ask yourself: Are your existing habits and emotions supporting my emotional desire or are these habits and emotions disrupting those desires and allowing me to step into something different. Changing your emotional state will change the quality of your thoughts!

We continue to discuss more opportunities to get in alignment with your unconscious and conscious thoughts and emotions by looking at how our environment and habits can support us

I ask Daniel about a blog article he wrote about Rejecting the Cookie-Cutter Approach to a Life of Intention. He encourages us to seize the day uniquely our own and not get lost in waiting for some big magical moment to show up for us! Instead, listen to the small whispers that lead you to your big vision. Play in those seemingly insignificant synchronicities that lead you to the outcome that you desire!

Daniel's Challenge for you!

Ask Yourself

• How will you feel, what emotions will you experience when you have achieved your goal?
• Write down those emotions!
• Does my environment support those emotions? You may need to start to clean up your environment or start to create an environment that supports you in having the goal that you desire!

Resources and Links

Connect with Daniel Mangena

Special Link for Calm the Chaos Listeners

Do It With Dan Podcast

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Book Your Spot for the Free 60 minute Clarity Session here

A descendant of Afghan nobles, Tareq Azim's family was forced to flee their homeland in 1979. He assimilated in the United States through his love of sports, excelling in wrestling, boxing, and football. In 2004, Azim decided to visit his home country, and upon arriving, he discovered countless children living on the streets, waiting for the inevitable recruitment into terrorist networks and anti-peace militias. Azim's close encounter with the ravages of a war-torn society taught him how pain can generate the most intense forms of fear, anxiety, and depression. He had found his salvation through sports and physical activity, and he knew these children could, too.

Growing up with the fear of not having and not belonging. Tareq was desperate to belong and asked himself, How do I belong?, how can I become a part of this American Society? For Tareq, it was the power of sport and physical activity. It was through organized sports in High School that he learned what embracing the discomfort meant and what it meant and how to challenge yourself and face your truth. It was then that Tareq recognized what was preventing the rest of his community to feel this same way of belonging. It was while playing football in high school that he experienced that feeling of acceptance from himself and others.

Once Tareq's confidence was raised through sports, he pushed himself to do other things like running for ASB President. He continued to push through to do things even when it felt out of his comfort zone and scared.

He then came to the realization at age 17, what prevents the optimization of human capacity and capability is fear. Now when he feels fearful he recognizes that this is where his opportunity lies within himself.

It was then that he started to hold himself accountable publicly and started using the fear of being judged by not completing his goal as fuel to pull the trigger on things that he felt were right for himself vs. falling victim to judgment. He was using it!

Tareq believes that we have the freedom to define our own narratives and definitions of behaviors. He helps individuals to recognize the value of fear vs. fear being something you should avoid and allowing it to be a disease that decimates everything else in your life. We use fear as an excuse on why we don't move forward and we see individuals running away from the responsibility of being aware of what you're fearful of. Once you are conscious of what it is and what's preventing you from being strong, you can then embrace the fear and define what it is for you at that moment.

Tareq shares with us how to conquer the fear once we recognize it and call it out. It's when you identify it and make the decision to embrace it that you can move forward. Give it a responsibility and give it permission to do what it is there to do for you.

Links and Resources

Grab Your Copy of Empower by Tareq Azim

Tareq Azim on Instagram

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Book Your Spot for the Free 60 minute Clarity Session here

Juggling life for years led Daniela Sulek to hit a wall. Her entire way of life and being changed when what she now calls "humaning" led to her developing serious illnesses while pregnant with her third child, and almost cost her her life. With her "play your way through life" philosophy, she now helps renowned yet unfulfilled leaders move into a permanent state of ease, joy, and passion. By transcending from the conditioned human to the consciousness of their true self, they shift into effortlessly creating by being, instead of creating by doing.

My conversation with Daniela begins by her sharing her journey and how in the beginning her life and health escalated to a point where she became very ill and realized that she wanted to know the truth and things needed to change. For her she wanted Freedom. To her Freedom is to be who she wants to be whenever she wants to be! And to do whenever she wants to do!

Daniela takes the pain she experienced and turned it into her passion so that others can know their true selves and let go of the human conditioning and be free!

Daniela shares her motto: Learn From Everyone, Follow No One. You are unique and have a unique blueprint. There is no need to follow anyone. You learn and take what you want and discard what you don't like. Think of life as an all-you-can-eat buffet!

We discuss that fear is a product of the mind. When we live in fear, guilt, and anxiety we are living of the mind and not living in the true higher consciousness of self. In order to have a higher consciousness of self, we need to hold absolute trust in life and know that we are good and all is amazing. That everything is happening for me

We then go on to discuss how to let go of the "doing" and "going" so that we can step back and "be". How do we surrender to that in our life? It's really a shift in consciousness. A shift in your thought and emotional patterns in your state of being.

Our discussion journeys on to discussing how to be present and with others and show up with no expectations or bringing any of the past "humaning" into the moment and how that will have a powerful impact on your relationships. Daniela encourages us to be and not get hung up in expectations on how things need to turn out or what needs to get done. Just be open to having what needs to transpire at that moment.

Daniela challenges us to do this with the next person we encounter: Don't look at them as to how they should be but just be with them. Look at them as to how they are. Let go of what you need from them or how they should behave. Be with them as they are and be you as you are and see the change.

Links and Resources

Connect with Daniela Sulek

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Book Your Spot for the Free 60 minute Clarity Session here

Jackie Parsons was born and raised in England. SheI studied languages from an early age and developed a passion for Latin cultures. She speaks French, Spanish, and fluent Italian. Jackie has led tours in Europe since 1992, specializing in walking tours in Italy since 2007

Her first degree in Spanish took her to the mountains of Mexico and to the South American Andes, where she took part in a Raleigh International expedition to Chile. Her enthusiasm for Italy developed alongside my love of its art, history, culture, food, wine, and people. She has also studied Italian art and culture with the Open University. As a Teacher of Modern Languages in the UK, she was a fully qualified expedition leader for the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Jackie and her husband own and operate Hedonistic Hiking which are group walking tours led in Australia and Italy!

Jackie joins us today from Italy and their home in Tuscany where it's been their base for the last three months! This is where they live while they are running their Italian Tours.

We chat about how she started Hedonistic Hiking Tours and her inspiration started at a very young age with her love for languages. She had a very inspirational teacher that encouraged her students to go one step further and to look for the adventure! Don't be afraid of where you are and what you want to do in life. Not wanting to do what was "expected of her", Jackie focused on her passion for traveling and shared how that journey evolved into what it looks like today.

Hedonistic Hiking Tours gives Jackie and her husband the opportunity to explore the things she loves the most: Sharing her love of food, wine, and walking! Sounds good to me! She enjoys sharing what she loves about Italy and seeing the joy on their faces when they are on their experience!

Jackie shares with us the different levels of intensity in their walking tours and there is something available for anyone's physical ability. They meet you in your comfort zone or you can push yourself with something a bit more challenging. On the lower level hikes, there is a support vehicle so if you are feeling that after lunch you would like to return to your hotel to relax by the pool you have that option! The tours are designed for the older generations which helps a lot to manage your expectations! We may not be elite athletes but we are looking for a fun and memorable tour experience! For Jackie one of the most rewarding aspects of her job is seeing each day the increased confidence in their faces and the joy in their face!

I ask Jackie to share her favorite walking tour and she immediately says that it's the one she is currently on at that moment! However, she does come around and share one of her favorite tours in Italy! You'll need to tune in to hear her describe this tour as it sounds amazing and dont want to give it away!

Jackie shares about what she's learned about herself through this process and how starting their business they took a risk and stepped out of their comfort zone. They let the business evolve without a 20-page business plan. They did have focus and a direction but they trusted that things were going to progress as they should. She shares that You don't know what you can achieve until you do it! Don't get caught up in the weeds and spend your life in the planning process! Start with one foot in front of the other.

Maybe 2022 or 2023 might be the year for you to do some exploration in Italy or Australia? Check it out!

Resources and Links

Connect with Jackie Parsons

Connect with Deborah Voll

Take The Midlife Quiz

Passion and Purpose Digital Workbook

Book Your Spot for the Free 60 minute Clarity Session here