“So this, I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 47. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Heather Kraft. 

Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life. 

Heather Kraft is a glass artist turned fine china jewelry designer. In 2009, she started Material and Movement, a practice that takes fine china and repurposes it into jewelry for the conscious world. She hopes she can give relevant purpose to otherwise forgotten, outdated objects. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

1:32 And I think for me, the way I think about seasons is in terms of our energy and the way we spend our days. So for me Spring, kind of means awakening or change, the energy is building, Summer is high energy, movement, full of life, Fall, would be reflection and slowing down, and Winter would be rest. 

3:50 I grew up always making art and building things. I'm more of a sculptor and a 3D person rather than a drawer or a painter. I found glassblowing when I was a teenager, and I just fell in love with it. So many people are drawn to it because it's very exotic. 

6:24 I didn't have a lot of other things going on in my life and I started scouring Goodwill's for plates and was just hammering away in my apartment. And then I, you know, started refining the shapes more and just growing this new idea. 

9:36 That's always kind of like a puzzle to me, that's really intriguing. 

11:56 But when I was thinking about this question, I just was coming up with the idea that keeping my creative practice a priority, no matter what my life looks like. 

13:46 So people will come to me with china that they've inherited or have somehow ended up with, they're not super excited about using it at their dinner table or even displaying it, but it's that feeling of well, this is you know, been in my family, or this is important to me, I just can't get rid of it.

 17:19 My goals this year, well, I guess for my business is really trying to expose my work and the service I offer to more people, I did start this business in 2009. But really, it was a hobby for many years. 

26:33 But I think I would tell her to, you know, go a little bit more with the flow and keep a wider perspective on life. I think that would have probably created a little bit more adventure for her too.

Find Your Voice and Feel Your Best with Sally Bolinger

Anyone can Create with Karina Hines

Millie Grenough, Founder of the Oasis in the Overwhelm

Make sure to visit our website, CynthiaMacMillan.com, where you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify so you’ll never miss a show. While you’re at it, if you found value in this show we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes – or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show, that would help us out too. 

Until next time live inspired!

“Self-care is not an indulgence. Self-care is a discipline. It requires tough-mindedness, a deep and personal understanding of your priorities, and a respect for both yourself and the people you choose to spend your life with.” ~ Tami Forman

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 46. I’m your host Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Melissa Wright.

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

I am delighted to introduce my guest to you. 

Melissa Wright is a Transformational Coach that helps people with life transitions, stress management and personal development. She helps clients to tap into their own wisdom, essentially guiding them to create their own solutions. By focusing on a way that honors who we are at our core, we create space for us to grow into our authentic self. Melissa holds a degree in psychology and started her coaching business in 2018. Today Melissa offers different packages for individual coaching, creates personal development YouTube videos and runs two Meetup groups. She is also in the process of writing a book on forgiveness, which is expected to be published by March 2021. To contact Melissa, please visit her website at www.yourlifetimecoach.com.

 Welcome to the podcast, Melissa.

1:53 You know, I feel like right now I'm kind of I'm in the season of summer, it's starting to come. But a while back, I went through fall and winter. And I sat in winter for quite some time. It's amazing how sometimes we can get stuck in a season. And I know being stuck in the winter had a lot to do with the fact that I was having a difficult time getting clarity, like kind of figure out my next steps to spring.

3:21 So the first thing I would say is to take baby steps.

6:53 So if we look at self-care, that's how we take care of ourselves mentally, emotionally, and physically. It's the activities we do to keep ourselves healthy and balanced. But if we look at self-love, it's self-acceptance. Meaning that we love ourselves and appreciate what makes us special.

9:38 Because of a lot of times, you know, we want to say yes to everything and help everyone. But then when we keep saying yes, we don't say no, we don't leave that space for us to be able to do what we need to do. We may forego some of our self-care or other things, to be able to do something for someone else.

19:19 Okay, so right now, I feel like I'm more in the summer, and feeling pretty awesome about the things coming into my life. But I would tell my 18-year-old self to be patient with the seasons that come like before this time because when I was in that, I felt like it would last forever.

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender

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Make sure to visit our website, CynthiaMacMillan.com, where you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify so you’ll never miss a show. While you’re at it, if you found value in this show we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes – or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show, that would help us out too. 

Until next time live inspired!

Anxiety and Wholeness with Jennifer Kremer

Millie Grenough, Founder of the Oasis in the Overwhelm

Find Your Voice and Feel Your Best with Sally Bolinger

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 45. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Becca Rich. 

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

Welcome back to Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast. Thank you for listening today. You are in for a special treat. 

 Becca Rich is the Holistic Time Management Coach at theholistictimecoach.com. She helps heart-centered womxn solopreneurs and small business owners leverage their time and energy so they can work less and intentionally reach their business and life goals without exploiting themselves. 

4:22 So really, like the bulk of my business was created in my car at lunch, I would schedule calls with folks, just during the lunch hour. It was just hilarious, like meeting everybody in my car for about a year until I like finally kind of got my wheels turning enough to like, know what I was doing. 

10:44 And yet, I stopped myself and went to the beach, I literally basically forced myself because I was like, when I go to the beach, or when I rest or when I do the things that bring me joy. You know, that's when things happen. 

13:04 We have 24 hours. And so, one of my, you know, tangible favorite exercises that you can do literally right now is to write down everything. What is everything to you, first and foremost? You know, what would make it..what would finally feel like enough? 

17:38 And so the best thing you can do for yourself is to use a calendar. 

17:56 So it helps your brain understand time and create meaning to it in your own life. It's not just like appointments and calendars. It is like literally what do you want to spend your time on? And time is your life, right?

18:28 But there is a way to make your calendar intentional, personal, spiritual, like whatever values you're looking for in your calendar, to visually see time - to be intentional with your life. 

21:16 You know, as I said, one of the biggest things is to visualize time and create meaning, create your own personal meaning of time. And so I think that that is, has been a huge lesson is allowing time to breathe and to be its own thing and work with it.

Make sure to visit our website, CynthiaMacMillan.com, where you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify so you’ll never miss a show. While you’re at it, if you found value in this show we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes – or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show, that would help us out too. 

Until next time live inspired!

The Alchemist, 25th Anniversary: A Fable About Following Your Dream

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Connection and Building Friendships with Christy Pennison

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Anxiety and Wholeness with Jennifer Kremer

“The earth laughs in flowers.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 44. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Virginia Joy. 

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

Virginia Joy is originally from New York. Born in Brooklyn and she knew as a kid she always wanted to help people. Virginia Joy’s interest in Aromatherapy began over 20 years ago…as many who seek alternative therapies. She began using essential oils for common ailments: headaches, colds and flu, and then found herself reaching for essential oils for many other issues in particular - addressing the emotions. This was back in 1983, and there really weren’t many resources to buy essential oils at all.  

In 2010 Stillpoint Aromatics was formally birthed.  At Stillpoint Aromatics, she sources and imports over 400 essential oils and extracts! All of Stillpoint's oils are either certified organic, wild-harvested, unsprayed, biodynamically farmed with the rhythms of the earth and or vintage. 

4:35 You know, it really was. It was really an organic journey and looking back, I think those journeys, the unplanned ones are the most rewarding and the most expansive.

6:15 It's a great question and there's a lot of confusion because essential oils are not flower essences and vice versa.

11:17 So even if somebody has, let's say, a back issue, there will always be a pain blend, so to speak for the back. But there's always another reason why that back is flaring. And that's where aromatherapy can add such a different dimension working on the psyche and on those patterns that cause the physical issue.

 15:24 But for just grief in general, Melissa (Melissa officinalis) it's also lemon balm is one of the premier oils for shock and trauma. I have a psychiatrist friend that uses Melissa - keeps a couple of drops on a cotton ball in a plastic bag in his office - for when his patients either disassociate or are having a lot of trouble - to breathe that. 

16:43 But people say what's your favorite oil? I have to tell you, that the aromas that help shift me are Coppertone or Chinese food. And that's because it reminds me of my mother. 

23:00 So in the Metaphysics of Essential Oils class, we do a lot of work on applying the essential oils to the chakras, and to the energetic body, and also how the chakras and energetic body ties into the different physical ailments that we could have. And we also go deeply into the folklore and the history of how the ancients use those plants and trees. 

27:52 My website is www.stillpointaromatics.com. I have a couple of Facebook pages: Stillpoint Aromatics, and I also admin, the Ethical Aromatherapy, and my metaphysical one is called the Stillpoint Mystery School, and that's on Facebook. I think it's Stillpoint Aroma on Twitter and then you could also just if you want to just text me, you could just text me directly. It's 928-301-8699. And so that way you could bypass the store.  

Make sure to visit our website, CynthiaMacMillan.com, where you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify so you’ll never miss a show. While you’re at it, if you found value in this show we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes – or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show, that would help us out too. 

Until next time live inspired!

Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

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I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough" 

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Crystals 101 with Angie Clark

Human Design with Clare Marie Edgeman

“We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” ― Jimmy Carter

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 43. I’m your host Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Karina Hines.

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

This is a really special episode and I am delighted to introduce my guest to you. 

Creativity has been there to support Karina thru many difficult times and transitions in her life. She was born in El Salvador and brought to the US when she was 15 years old, she didn’t speak English and the US seemed like an entirely different universe than the one she had lived in for the first 15 years of her life.  

Karina never takes for granted the opportunity to be here, even though she didn’t have the same opportunities as her fellow Americans she knew she had been given an opportunity and her parents sacrificed everything to allow her to follow her dreams. 

Her online art gallery opened its doors to showcase the first Purposeful Dreamers for the Purposeful Dreamer Experience and their artwork. They pushed their creative boundaries with a purpose.  For every piece they sell, 10% of profits will be donated to a charity close to each of us. They have also shared their creative experience and inspiration to open the doors to other purposeful dreamers in the near future. 

5:31  I became a citizen two to three years ago now. And, you know, that was a crazy journey of itself; it was such a scary process and there are so many stories through that immigration process itself and to become a citizen in that day, and I felt like, my world is like unstoppable now, because I'm a citizen.

 7:27 I should say I think so much back into my life and I think a lot of like this, like, a seven, eight-year-old, Salvadorian kid, you know, that, like I wouldn't have envisioned, being in the United States, you know, you would see the United States in the movies and New York and like, all these things, It just seems like another universe.

 11:58 And I remember I was like, listening to JLo, "Jenny from the Block", and like Shakira to help me learn English.

 15:26 I had been in the US at that time, probably for six or seven years, maybe, you know, I had learned the language, but I had just graduated high school, and I was not in a healthy relationship, at that point, and it was, I think another big moment where I was trying to find myself, you know, who my friends were because I feel like when your first language is not English for a long time, like, it's hard to fully relate to different cultures.

 27:06 For me, creativity is self-exploring and self-expression, it's, like, fulfilling that part of you, you know, like, we all have in us, and creativity can be in so many ways, too.

 29:07 Oh, my gosh, that's such a good question. Because like I was telling you, we all are like our own worst critics. So I think the first thing is shifting your mentality about it, you know, to me, it's about having fun.

 33:00 And then the next thing would be just set your boundaries. You know, like, that's so important because we are all on our own journeys. And sometimes it's easy to get caught in everybody else's journey.

 36:44 And I feel like if I just told myself, you know, when I was graduating high school, it's going to be okay, like, you don't have to have a degree and you're gonna be successful, like, it's gonna be okay. 

Thanks for joining us this week on Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast. 

Make sure to visit our website, CynthiaMacMillan.com, where you can subscribe to the show in iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify so you’ll never miss a show. While you’re at it, if you found value in this show we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes – or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show, that would help us out too. 

Until next time live inspired!

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition

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Believing I'm Worthy with Deborah LeeAnn

Life Coach & Intercultural Trainer, Yuko Deneuville

Lawyer to Seminary with Julia Baginski

“The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.” — Keith Ferrazzi

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 42. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Kathy Parks.

Introduction: Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

Welcome back to the Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast and thank you for being here. This is a really special episode and I can’t wait for you to meet my guest today. 

Kathy has spent the last 30 years working in Corporate North America for one of the top 10 most admired companies in the world.  She has extensive experience in Sales Leadership, Planning & Training as well as developing, mentoring and coaching front line employees into leadership roles.   

Since creating her Executive Coaching business, Kathy has worked with small business owners, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, leaders at all levels of an organization, and especially women seeking to expand their career and pay aspirations.   

Most recently, Kathy has been doing her best to help as many people as possible who have lost their jobs, to help jumpstart their job and career search.

2:04 Yeah, that's a great question, Cindy, because you don't really realize when you're young, that there are so many different seasons in your life. 

5:11 I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of some really great sort of cutting-edge leadership experience. And I had a lot of different teams in my career. And we were always very successful and it became more and more obvious to me what helps them be successful. And that was really sort of a good leader, helping them grow and learn and have good mentorship and having helped with their career and the work. So that was really the heart of my job that I loved the most was really to help my employees with their professional development, their career progression, and really be just more successful businesspeople. 

7:59 I think the most important place to start with any job search, even if you still have a job that you want to pivot or you're thinking that you're not that happy. And what you're doing is to really take the opportunity and figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. It's kind of that “What do I do when I grow up?” thing that we're I think we're always asking ourselves no matter what season we're in. And so the question of, you know, are you happy with your career path with your profession? 

12:45 Yeah, being prepared, practicing, having someone to practice with, practice in a mirror creating some, you know, understanding, again, back to understanding the value you bring to the table and what makes you unique, why are you going to be the best person for the job? 

24:25 So first of all, to really try and enjoy each season for what it is and for what it's giving you in what you're learning and what you're experiencing. But also, that as you get older into sort of the later seasons – especially after retiring – it is not the end of your life. You're not so old that you can't enjoy, and you can't still learn, and you can't still be productive and also add value because you've been through all sorts of experiences that are of real value to people. So, it's just like the best is yet to come.

Harvard Business Review

Women at Work

Race at Work

Connection and Building Friendships with Christy Pennison

Menopause is a New Beginning with Lorraine Miano

From Software Engineer to Clinical Hypnotherapist with Lori Burke

Anxiety and Wholeness with Jennifer Kremer

“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” ~ Terry Tempest Williams 

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 41. I’m your host Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Millie Grenough. 

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

Millie Grenough is known for her ability to inspire people to do what they thought was impossible. She has taught non-singers to sing, non-swimmers to swim, Type A folks to work smarter, frazzled folks to find calm. Millie walks her talk:  an ex-shy Kentuckian turned international trainer, ex-nun turned nightclub singer, she loves to help people shine their unique light and share it with the world.

A wife, stepmom, grandmom, professional coach, and Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, Millie created Oasis in the Overwhelm™ after a near-death accident forced her to face the frantic pace of her own life.

5:00 Well, it wasn't an overnight change by any means and each of the decisions along the way kind of leads into something that brings us to the next place. So, when I was growing up in a very Catholic family, I think the question in our family was always, what's the best thing I can be? 

6:08  So being an idealist, guess which one I chose, I chose to be a nun and thankfully, the group that I joined was the Maryknoll Sisters and their whole mission is to go to other countries, and learn from them and with them, not convert them, but work with them together. And it brought me to Bolivia and Peru for three years.

14:17 I felt that when I was a nun, I was somehow sitting on the side bank of the river and was not really in the river with the rest of the human beings and that may have been my own perception. I can remember when people asked me, Why did you leave? Again, it wasn't instant, it was a growing, and I got it down to three things.

19:08 I had just married for the first time and inherited three teenage stepsons. I was beginning a new work, writing a new book, I thought I had everything in balance. I didn't. My buddy Joe asked me to go for a bike ride with him one summer day in July. And we took off and long story short. I still don't know what happened. I think I hit a pothole in the road was thrown over the handlebars knocked unconscious.

29:48 I think it's a radical act in the culture of the current world in the USA. It's so fast-paced, everything is dot dot dot. Even when I go to get my car oil change. You can't just go in there and be quiet there's a TV blaring. At the doctor's office waiting there's a TV, it's like to take 60 seconds to just be here, and not do anything. Supposedly. It's a radical act. And to do it takes practice. It's not one of our usual habits.

39:22 I think my 18-year-old self then was so naive, so innocent. What would I say to her? I think I'd say just keep being who you are. And trust that it will lead you somewhere.

Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life!  If you enjoyed it as much as I did, please let me know! You can share a screenshot of this episode on Instagram and tag me, @cindy.macmillan, and tell me what your biggest takeaways from the episode were!

Until next time live inspired!

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Connection and Building Friendships with Christy Pennison

What Are Your Money Blocks With Carolynn Bottino

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 40. I’m your host Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Tracey-Anne Greenhow 

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

Tracey-Anne is a fully qualified Life Coach trained in NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and has been coaching people to manifest the life of their dreams for over 15 years. Having thought she would always be the single one and become a ‘cat lady’ (she doesn’t even like cats), she wanted to change her destiny!

Using her now 5 step formula she managed to manifest her now-husband Daniel in just 8 weeks! She now has a husband (Daniel), 2 sons and multiple successful businesses! She has now made it her life purpose to teach others how they can also totally transform their own lives. Some have even beat her 8-week record!

Oh my goodness Tracey-Anne welcome to the podcast. You and I set up a Zoom call to chat and get to know each other in early December and I honestly felt like I have known you forever. I am so happy you are here.

2:52: And now I feel like I am moving into a phase that is about my identity as Tracey-Anne and not just Oscar and Toby's mum or Dan's wife, it's about me, hence why we're having this conversation because I'm at that season, if this was this time last year, I wouldn't be able to do it. So what does it mean to me? Well, in a nutshell, for me, I think the seasons of life are about following your intuition. And more importantly, going with the flow of things. 

4:08: I will begin with Clear The Negatives because I think a lot of people jump very quickly to what they do and what they don't want. But they haven't really figured out the things that are blocking them. So I take my clients through that process and it is beautiful. It's kind of like getting out in the garden and getting out all the weeds and pruning the bushes and just tidying things up again. 

4:44: Then I take people into step two, which is How Do You Want It To Be which speaks for itself; you need to know what you're working towards with a goal. 

15:01  It's not about ever denying feelings ever, you should never deny your feelings, whatever comes up is valid, how you deal with it and how long you dwell on it and which place you put it in, in your mind. That's, that's the important bit. And that's the bit where I think people need a coach to help them through that. 

17:06: Are you saying, well, I'm too fat and ugly. So, if I'm saying I'm too fat and ugly, then what's the universe thinking of me, actually, what is going to come my way. So, getting really in touch with your language is a great thing to do. So, the mind-stuff, journaling is a fabulous thing. 

18:46: If you were in a position where you were trying to manifest true love, or let's say, let's take it away from true love. I'm going to go a bit rogue here. And let's say you wanted a new house, right? Let's say you were selling where you're currently living, and you want to move to a new house, if you don't do the decluttering process, psychologically, you're carrying the whole weight of every item in your house. So, the lighter it is, the lighter it looks, the more attractive it is, the quicker it sells, the easier it is to move, you see. So, it's very practical. 

28:59: It's really important to do this work because if you don't old habits, stories, patterns, the imprinting stage of your years of growing up, they will affect you forever. But it's about not about shutting those out. It's about understanding what those are. So who are you as a person? And how can you get what you truly need and truly want?

Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life!  If you enjoyed it as much as I did, please let me know! You can share a screenshot of this episode on Instagram and tag me, @cindy.macmillan, and tell me what your biggest takeaways from the episode were!

Until next time - live inspired!

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Connection and Building Friendships with Christy Pennison

What Are Your Money Blocks With Carolynn Bottino

This is episode 39 of Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast with me, your host Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest  Teisha Casasanta.  

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers, and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings, and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

I’m so excited about today’s conversation. 

Teisha Casasanta has been in the deathcare industry since 1997. She is a Funeral Director and Embalmer and transitioned her career to being a Grief coach for her business, Upward Spiral Grief Coaching. She is also a Teacher of Mindfulness and lives in Atlanta, GA, and is the mom to her 3-year-old Whippet, her first book, An Upward Spiral Grief Journey will be released in February of 2021.

1:36 Well, to me the seasons of life are the changes that have happened that we didn't plan and how we've adapted to the good and the bad. Seasons happen, whether we like them or not. 

2:42 The role of a Funeral Director is a very important one. It all starts with that initial phone call when we're notified that a death has occurred. We make arrangements to retrieve the decedent from where they should be when they pass away, we schedule an appointment with the family, and we sit down and talk. And I know that it’s very intimidating, even to walk through the front doors of a funeral home. 

5:26 And one of the questions that we would have to ask is, what type of legacy would you like to leave your loved one? It was intended to be a financial question because I'm trying to sell life insurance. But it always ended up being a very personable story…they would say, well, when my husband died, we did this, and we did that, and being who I am I would say, Well, tell me about your husband.

14:33 But when they focus on their current state, their current moment, it brings a lot of clarity to where they are now and, you know, we always tell people just take it day by day, moment by moment, minute by minute. That really is the way to get through sadness, or loneliness is to just take it in little bite sizes, it reduces anxiety, depression, it improves the clarity of memory. So, you're not missing out on life when you are fully in the now. 

24:09 And I really didn't know how to love myself. And I was carrying that into relationships where I thought, well, this person will love me and that's where I'll get my love for myself. Huge misconception. You really do need to know who you are before you could even give love to another individual. It's not fair to them until you have a solid foundation and can honestly 100% with your heart, love that person without needing their love to depend on. 

25:00 My website is Upward Spiral Grief Coaching and I'm also under that name on Facebook. I have a mindfulness group, which is called Mindfulness and Inner Peace. And I have a personal profile.

 What Doesn't Kill Us: The New Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth by Stephen Joseph PhD

You’ve been listening to Exploring the Seasons of Life and thank you for you being here.  I need your help, if you enjoy this show and want a free and easy way to help us grow, the most effective way you can help is to:

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I know it seems so simple, but ratings and reviews can help influence the choice of podcasts people choose to listen to. You’d be amazed to know how much it helps.

Until next time live inspired!

When We Shut Down on Grief We Shut Down on Life With Jasmin Jenkins

Peruvian Trained Shaman and Medicine Woman, Shannon Davis

Putting More Love Into The World With Zita Christian

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 38. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Cathy Cheshire. 

Welcome to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. Each week, join Cindy MacMillan as she interviews coaches, spiritual explorers, and celebrants from all walks of life about beginnings, endings, and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well.  

After dark seasons of great loss, Cathy Cheshire discovered the most helpful information from academic experts. Sharing this healthy grief and healing information in easy to understand terms, she created programs for learning, receiving grief coaching, and becoming a certified grief coach. 

Cathy has several free downloadable gifts about healing at www.cathycheshire.com/free-gifts

(3:00) And then desperate for love, going through three divorces, and then ultimately the worst loss, of my only child and then 10 years later, my husband's only child. Those in the depths of that grief, there is a pain that I didn't even know existed. And I struggled to find healthy information.

(11:00) You know, I am saying what I what I've come to learn is healing is about being whole, our mind, our emotions, our body, and our spirit, which I've gone through periods of time and ignored to my own detriment. So, the thought part is, and one of the free gifts talks about thought, mind, emotion, the body, the most profound lesson for me, is that I am in control of my mind.

(16:44) But what happens is, and what happened to me is, we go along our robotic life until something happens to shake us to look at our beliefs, to listen to the whispers that if we allow ourselves in meditation, or prayer or even just calming the mind, to be guided, and, and in my research, religious people call it God, spiritual people call it collective consciousness. And even scientists call it the quantum field, there are powers to guide us, if we are allowing ourselves to come to a place that we will let that happen.

(34:27) I would tell them, everything's going to be okay. Nobody ever said that to me. And so I never thought it would. But I know that now. If I can get through the death of two children, I can get through anything.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness by Peter A. Levine

You’ve been listening to Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Cathy Cheshire.

If you enjoy this show and want a free and easy way to help us grow, the most effective way you can help is to:

Subscribe to the show by clicking “subscribe” on iTunes

Write us a review on iTunes

Or, share this show with one friend right now which I absolutely would love for you to do!

I know it seems so simple, but ratings and reviews can help influence the choice of podcasts people choose to listen to. You’d be amazed to know how much it helps.

And don’t forget you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com.

Until next time live inspired!

When We Shut Down on Grief We Shut Down on Life With Jasmin Jenkins

From Software Engineer to Clinical Hypnotherapist with Lori Burke

Anxiety and Wholeness with Jennifer Kremer