This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 37. I’m your host Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Sharri Harmel.  

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 several different career pivots- from stockbroker to executive coach to college career coach, Sharri Harmel is now devoted to helping women step into their REAL selves, identify what they really want so they can create their own Life Reimagined. Sharri has a weekly podcast currently titled Life Reimagined (soon to be rebranded The Real YOU) as well as a new course coming out early 2021 titled Mindset to Joie de Vivre. She still coaches a few women individually and also has a Facebook Group titled Life Reimagined with an exciting new project starting the end of March! Sharri currently splits her time between the USA and the 7th arrondissement (ə-ˈrän-də-smənt) in Paris where she created her very own Life Reimagined. 

4:44 I think mindset is key, absolutely key to every stage of life. Whether you know, you're 16 years old, or you're 60 years old. I think mindset is super important. It's something that we always have to work on. 

10:06 Oh, I love it. But that's the whole point, is if we're not worthy, just us all by ourselves worthy of that perfume or that bra. What is the point? 

10:36 I think I said in the episode that in the beginning, the very beginning was right after my divorce, I started to go to Paris. And it was first once a year, and then it was twice a year, and then it was for longer time periods. And people would always say, you know, why, Sharri? Why are you going back to Paris, I mean, there's other places in the world? And, definitely, but I said, I like the woman I am when I’m in Paris. 

15:40 And I think there's something about being a role model for honoring yourself and your own interests and wants and needs regardless of your age. 

21:47 I think the biggest Aha, for me, was really recognizing that I had a voice, that there was a real message there. It sounds kind of strange, but that I could connect with what was important to me that week, that I wanted to share it with whoever is listening to my podcast, and so often, prior to that, maybe some of your listeners can relate. We have thoughts, but we don't really think anyone is interested in them. We sit there in isolation with those thoughts, and then we put it aside or forget about it, or whatever it might be.

41:42 Well, first, I have to share that when I was 18 years old, I was a birth mother, I was a pregnant teenager. So, the first thing I would tell her is that you will find your son, and that you will know and love each other. It’s not a forever loss.

Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism, and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100 by Marta Zaraska

You’ve been listening to Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Sharri Harmel. I loved when Sharri talked about how its not enough to stretch our bodies but to also stretch our perspectives and mindsets. She has encouraged me to stretch by doing solo podcasts. So stay tuned in for that.

If you haven’t already, please give us a quick review and rating on iTunes, and don’t forget you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or to ask a question simply e-mail me at  [email protected].

I want to hear from you: How are you going to stretch this week?

Putting More Love Into The World With Zita Christian

From Software Engineer to Clinical Hypnotherapist with Lori Burke

Anxiety and Wholeness with Jennifer Kremer

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 36. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Christy Pennison.

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 and thank you for being here. This is a really special episode and I can’t wait for you to meet my guest today. 

Christy Pennison, a licensed professional counselor and owner of Be Inspired Counseling & Consulting grew up in Louisiana and growing up she knew she wanted to help others, she just wasn’t clear on how she would do it.  As a young adult, she traveled to different countries with nonprofit organizations.  It was through those experiences her passion to help others grew.  Then counseling found her and gave her a way to connect and help individuals from all ages, backgrounds and experiences with the struggles they were facing.

 Welcome to the podcast, Christy.

3:02: I have really realized that, you know, we really do go through seasons. And some seasons are times where we're kind of growing. Sometimes it's we're being still, sometimes we have just different things that we go through or challenges that we're facing.

5:00: As we become adults, we just have different things that we are needing to do, whether it be work or whether it be taking care of kids, or whether it be having family members that you have to take care of whatever that looks like. So I think a lot of times in life, our priorities shift, and then it maybe doesn't always allow for opportunities to form and build new friendships.

7:10: I'll actually use myself if that's okay, as an example because I am in my 30s. And so one of the things that I've found that I've had to be intentional about is and we'll talk about this a little bit, but our friendships do change over seasons, and over our lifetime. So different friends come into our lives, I always say, for different reasons. And sometimes they may be there just for a season, and sometimes they may be there for a lifetime.

15:15: So I think there is varying degrees of friendships. And I think that’s okay. And so when you're entering new friendships, we sometimes may put a lot of pressure on a relationship to be a certain thing. But I think being open and allowing yourself just to see where this friendship goes, will go a long way in helping you feel more confident about just engaging and starting new friendships.

19:45: Yes, friendships definitely have seasons. And Cindy, I'm sure you can attest to this. If you think about some of the friendships that you have in your life. I have had friends that I have been really close to in certain seasons in my life. And then maybe we don't talk for extended periods of time.

26:32: A question that you can ask that I really like asking and I can't tell you where I heard it from to give credit to, but the question is, you can ask someone in your life on a scale from 1 to 10. Where do you feel our relationship is? And 10 be amazing and 1 being terrible? Where do you feel it is? And then this gives the person an opportunity to kind of give you some feedback on where they think the relationship is.

The School of Greatness Podcast

You’ve been listening to Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Christy Pennison. I loved when Christy said “exploring new friendships requires you to be brave”, I loved her energy and I loved her genuine desire to be of service.

OK…I know I said loved and fabulous a dozen times but I did love this interview and it was fabulous.

If you haven’t already, please give us a quick review and rating on iTunes, and don’t forget you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or to ask a question me a question or leave a comment, email me  [email protected].

I want to hear from you: What has been your favorite podcast episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life in 2020?

Until next time live inspired!

Putting More Love Into The World With Zita Christian

From Software Engineer to Clinical Hypnotherapist with Lori Burke

Anxiety and Wholeness with Jennifer Kremer

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 35. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Jasmin Jenkins.

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 and thank you for being here. This is a really special episode, and I can’t wait for you to meet my guest today.

Jasmin Jenkins is an Integrative Grief Guide and the founder of Fall Up, a community created to support people navigating the spectrum of grief. In her work, she brings her clients into the invitations within their grief journeys. Jasmin believes that healing is a co-creative process, and it is her deepest joy to support each person she works with in welcoming grief as a profound invitation to transformation.

2:21: What that signifies is the presence and holding everything with open heart hands, you know, seasons remind us that everything is temporary and I think there's an invitation in the reminding and in the remembering that everything is temporary, to keep the hands of our hearts open and to let everything come and to let everything go. 

6:58: The stages were pioneered by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the stages of grief, you know, disclaimer here, you don't go through them in order. There's nothing about the stages, that is linear, but the stages are in accordance to what Elisabeth wrote in her book, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, you know, you can go in and out of them. Sometimes acceptance takes years, sometimes it never comes. 

8:46 And your grief journey with your mother loss is completely uniquely yours in relation to every other woman who's lost her mother or who has a living mother who she has to, for various reasons, be separated from, but my point in mentioning your grief is as unique as your fingerprint is that everyone will navigate the stages in their own unique way. 

11:46: So The Four Invitations is a spiritual download that I received; In January of 2019, I'd asked for a simple sacred framework that I could use to support people and understanding how to navigate the inevitable challenges that come with grief. And so, The Four Invitations, my core teaching, is that grief is an invitation for growth and transformation. And The Four Invitations are elaborating upon that and they are how you stay alive to integrating with grief as an invitation. 

22:16: In the face of death, living fully in the face of death is living fully in the face of life. You know, that's what it is. And if we're talking about in, you know, in the aftermath of a loved one's death, living fully in that is, from, you know, my experience, it's taking care of our hearts is what is how we live fully in the midst of a deeply painful, agonizing loss. 

28:54: Well, I think we've gone pretty deep Cindy, and I think that you know death, it just cuts into the depth of life. And we can't talk about death and not be in a place of depth…And I think, you know, the more that we can have these courageous conversations, the more that we can be alive to this human experience.

LotusWei - To learn more about flower essences.

Al-Anon's Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions by Al-Anon

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Jasmin. I loved having her on the podcast and I just finished my 4th week in her newest circle series, Fall Up: Motherless Daughters and it has been life-changing.

If you love listening to this podcast, please leave a review in Apple Podcasts. Leaving a rating and 5-star review is the single best way to support the show but what would also be so incredibly special to me is sharing an episode on your social media - that will help me get the word out and I would really appreciate it or share this episode with a friend.

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or to ask a question or leave a comment for a future show, email  [email protected].

I want to hear from you: What has been your favorite podcast episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life in 2020?

Until next time, live inspired! 

Hard Conversations + Solace in Nature with Sarah McInerney

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 34. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Marvis Matarozzo.

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 and thanks for listening. I can’t wait for you to meet my guest today.

Marvis is a survivor of domestic violence.

Her husband was a police officer and used his contacts to sway the outcome of their divorce, including the judge- who is the sister to the woman he was having an affair with (and married). Despite all that, Marvis turned all the negative around and now helps other women transitioning through life’s challenges to explore their new life, stay away from pity-parties and to cherish their newfound confidence.

2:18: Well, the seasons of life, when you first say that you picture your life is broken into just four equal parts. And that to me, that is really not true. I picture my life as a book and every adventure is a chapter, every part of your story is another sentence in your chapter. And I just say I keep turning the pages of my book. 

5:02 As a coach, we do not tell our clients what to do, we guide them through so that they find their own answer. And because it's her answer, and her story, then she will find a way to pursue what she's looking for. 

6:31 Well, the very first thing you want to do is to make sure that this is what you want, it is very hard. And sometimes it's not your choice, sometimes your spouse will come to you and say, I'm getting a divorce. In my case, I am the one that said I want a divorce. And I surprised myself, as much as I surprised my ex by saying that, but once the snake was out of the can, so to speak, there was no going back. 

15:26: And that is actually abuse, because they are denying you the rest and sleep you need. So I think a lot of women are not educated enough or aware enough of all the different little things that are true abuse, and we ignore it, we make excuses for our abuser, we say, well, I got a roof over my head, I eat three meals a day. And so we keep allowing it to happen. 

26:45: Also, before I go, I want to tell you that I just wrote a book. It's on Amazon. And it is Find Your Strength: Before, During and After Divorce. So that will give you a little bit more of my background story. It's got some helpful hints in there. And just a lot of good reading. So thank you very much.

Find Your Strength: Before, During and After Divorce

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Marvis. I enjoyed our conversation, and she had some good tips navigating a divorce.

Beautiful friends, I have been remiss. Recently, I had someone point out to me that I haven’t been asking for ratings and reviews and how important they are for people to discover the podcast. If you love listening to this podcast, please leave a review in Apple Podcasts. Leaving a rating and 5-star review is the single best way to support the show but what would also be so incredibly special to me is sharing an episode on your social media and tagging me that will help me get the word out and I really appreciate it.  

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or to ask a question or leave a comment for a future show, email  [email protected].

I want to hear from you: what has been your favorite podcast episode of ESoL in 2020?

Until next time, live inspired! 

Hard Conversations + Solace in Nature with Sarah McInerney

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 33. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Nada Frazier.
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. If you are new to the podcast or are a long-time listener thank you for being here and you are going to love this conversation. I am so excited for my guest today.

Nada Frazier is the Founder of The Sacred Servant where she serves as a non-medical, non-judgmental holistic Life & Death Coach, Certified End-of-Life Doula, Consultant, Community Educator, Inspirational Speaker, and lover of life! Nada served on the Board of Directors of the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance 2018-2019 term. Nada founded and facilitates The Death Café of Northeast Florida and has served as a hospice volunteer for over 10 years. She enjoys her family, meditation, nature, and never met a tree or rock she didn’t love.

3:00: And then in the fall, again, with respect to our minds, it's a time of relationship to the rest of community and it reminds me of when trees start losing their leaves, right and going into fall, their roots go even deeper into the soil. And there are all kinds of studies now that talk about how tree roots have their like nerve centers, and they connect with other trees. And really, it is a community-building experience, not just what you see above the ground.

5:16: I've been around death and life, obviously, since I was a young person, I spent much of my youth on my grandparent’s farm in Texas.

8:50: Well, I can't speak for other people. Because I think every end-of-life doula is unique. For me, it's just so varied. So, you know, I can do anything for example I'll have someone contact me and say, I'm a college student. And I've got a friend that's received a diagnosis, and I really want to know how to best support them. 

14:25: A Death Cafe is really where people show up. My job is to facilitate the discussion meaning I create a safe space for people to talk about what they want to talk about. I am not there to, to you know, I do a lot of community education and workshops and different teachings. I'm not there to do that. In this environment, I'm there to just facilitate people having a discussion about whatever they want to talk about in the theme of death. And so, the objective of a Death Cafe is to increase awareness, with the hope of when people do that, they will make the most of their lives. 

17:56: If I change my perception about death, meaning, it's this big, scary thing that I'm fearful of, and I'm not going to say the D-word ever, because then it could happen. Well, here's the reality, it's going to happen, the death rate is 100%. At least the last time I checked; I don't think that's changed. And so when we start consciously addressing that elephant in the room, or whatever you want to call it called Death, I believe that we more consciously and fully live because we realize that there is an end date at some point on this particular lifetime that we're living. So I think that we are going to be more conscious about how we choose to live our life. 

34:23: So on my bucket list, I want to be really ever-present in my life, meaning taking the time to watch the Osprey that flies in my neighborhood, and even if it's five minutes, but being really tuned into that watching, as I said earlier, the squirrels play and making sure for example, my husband and I, we never go to bed mad at each other. Not that we're mad at each other very often; we don't get sideways very often, but especially in the work that I do, we have come to appreciate that any minute could be our last moment together. So we don't ever want to be sideways with each other. So that's on my bucket list.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by: Brene Brown

Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief by: David Kessler

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Nada Frazier.  

The very first step is scheduling a Discovery Session, which is simply a FREE 30-minute heart to heart conversation, where we will talk about your grief journey and get to know each other a bit and make sure we have the right chemistry to work together. Next, we will explore how coaching can give you the tools and the support you need to help you face your sadness, reconnect with your life, and find a way forward. You don’t have to do it alone.

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or email me at [email protected].

Until next time. Live inspired!

Hard Conversations + Solace in Nature with Sarah McInerney

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 32. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Angie Clark. 

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.  

My guest today is Angie Clark, owner of Essential Elements Wellness in downtown Melbourne, Florida.  Angie is an Intuitive Healer, Life Coach, and Spiritual Guide. She incorporates multiple healing modalities for a custom session with each client every visit. Just as you are in a different place each day in all aspects of your life - each session alters to meet your needs. Each session is unique and just for you.  

Welcome to the podcast, Angie.

1:45 - Angie: Exploring the Seasons of Life is pretty much what my entire life path and my business are about. It's about finding the tools and resources that you need to find it through the challenges, to create positive experiences, and to live the best of what we call life. 

2:37 - Angie: So I kind of work with my clients wherever they are, some are at the beginning of their journey and trying to figure out just the basics of what they need, who they are, where they want to go, and others are much more experienced. 

4:18 – Angie: First steps are to honestly sit back and kind of identify what you're feeling? Why does it matter? None of those outside forces really matter. You need to identify how you're feeling what you want to experience. Just very basic, you know, self-awareness. 

6:29 – Angie: We are going to go with just the basics, so we're not going to deal with anything that's situational. One of the main components to starting any of your mornings, we're going to start with clearing and protection. So, some basic crystals that you can use for those for the clearing part, Selenite is a great stone to help with any clearing. So if you're doing meditation practice, or a little bit of prayer work every morning or a little bit of yoga, some people use them for chakra work, then Selenite is a great stone, Clear Quartz is a great stone. Then we'll look at some protection, there's so many that you can use, most people know about Black Tourmaline, I do not like to recommend Black Tourmaline, unless you balance it with either the Selenite or the Clear Quartz, because it can be so overly protective that it actually shuts down positive information also. 

8:12 Cindy: If we could just go in a little bit deeper and talk about grief and loss, what crystal would you recommend for grief and loss? 

10:15 Angie: Charoite is a healer stone, it is one it's purple and got some dark inclusions, it's a very pretty stone, it is a healer stone. Carnelian can get rid of anxiety. So when we're dealing with that kind of energy Carnelian can help you get rid of the shaky, the unstable, the inability to get grounded, and fear; a lot of grief and loss is based in the energy of fear. 

16:43 Angie: When I wear Tanzanite, my thoughts are clear. I jokingly call it the “get yourself together” stone because that's what it does; it helps to streamline thoughts and helps to pull those energies together so that you stay focused. 

18:51 Angie: A lot of what we teach is really about the tools and based around the tools that are in the shop. Because if you don't understand how to use them, then it's difficult to know what you need. As I said, we also do readings, personal sessions, all of those individual services myself and my team. If you also look at our Meet Our Staff page on Essential Elements Wellness there's a list of all of us that work out of the shop and also booking links that you can go and check out what we do.

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Angie Clark, owner of Essential Elements Wellness.

I found it fascinating to hear about the different crystals and their properties. What I took away from our conversation was the power of giving ourselves permission to choose the crystal that is right for us and being confident in our intuitive guidance.

I totally resonated with Angie’s comments about being in the energy of deserving. This reminded me of a podcast I had listened to recently and  the host said, “despite the pain you may be experiencing, you are enough, you are worthy, and you are loved.”

The very first step is scheduling a Discovery Session, which is simply a FREE 30-minute heart to heart conversation, where we will talk about your grief journey and get to know each other a bit and make sure we have the right chemistry to work together. Next, we will explore how coaching can give you the tools and the support you need to help you face your sadness, reconnect with your life, and find a way forward. You don’t have to do it alone.

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or email me at [email protected].

Until next time. Live inspired!

Hard Conversations + Solace in Nature with Sarah McInerney

Peruvian Trained Shaman and Medicine Woman, Shannon Davis

Putting More Love Into The World With Zita Christian

From Software Engineer to Clinical Hypnotherapist with Lori Burke

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 31. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Madison.

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 and this is a really special heartfelt episode. I heard Madison on The Tendrils of Grief podcast and the episode was titled My Dad and I Were Best Friends - Coping After Losing Your Dad. 

So, Madison is with us today to continue telling her story.

Welcome to the podcast Madison.

(01:24) My dad was probably one of the best people that I ever knew. He was, he was the kind of person who would laugh at his own jokes and he really loved me and my mom a lot.  

(02:02) It wasn't really something that kind of hit me until like maybe a month or two later I was very confused and I felt very lost. It was something that really hit me really terribly emotionally. 

(02:41) I was 14 and I was kind of ignorant to a lot of the things that were going on in the world. And I always thought that life was like, oh, sunshine and unicorns. But after he died, it just kind of made me realize that life's completely unfair and that I always thought that bad things happen to bad people, but then I kind of realized that bad things happen to good people too. 

(05:26) I felt like they were very distant and they just kinda didn't care. I think that's the best way I can describe it. They just didn't care.  

(10:28) Good question. I think, there's this movie, it's a Disney movie ONWARD. 

(11:23) I know it feels like the end of the world right now, and that you're sad and you don't want to do anything and that you feel angry at everyone for nothing. And you want to just lash out and talk badly about people behind their backs, but you know, that's not the right thing to do.

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Madison. 

I enjoyed my conversation with Madison and especially at the end when she was talking about being honest with your friends about how you are feeling. We are coming up to the holidays and it’s really important to remember the emotions of grief are normal and natural and there is no right or wrong way to grieve so be kind to yourself.

I continue to be so grateful for your support and feedback, and I truly love hearing from you! You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or email me at [email protected].

Sign up for our monthly newsletter and we'll let you know what we're working on, as well as what we're reading and listening to in regards to beginnings, endings + the messy bits in-between.

Until next time, live inspired!

Hard Conversations + Solace in Nature with Sarah McInerney

Grief During the Holidays with Dora Carpenter

Beauty in Every Season with Debra Healey

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 30. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Dora Carpenter.

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 and thank you for listening, and being here today. Whether you are a long-time listener or this is your first exposure to the podcast. I really do appreciate you.

Dora Carpenter is a certified professional coach and founder of the Institute of Professional Grief Coaching and program director of the From Grief to Gratitude Coach Certification Program, an International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited program.  Working many years in the death care industry birthed her passion for grief coaching.  As coach trainer, author, speaker, and mentor, she has appeared on various media outlets.

This is a special episode for me because today’s guest has been my Coach and Mentor as I have been going through the From Grief to Gratitude Coach Certification Program. So I am feeling all warm and fuzzy.

(02:07) That's a wonderful question, actually, Cindy, I love that exploring the seasons of life. And when I think about it, I just have so many perspectives just on the term seasons, because I think I equate it all to the word change, which to me is just the common denominator in life. Whether in business or professionally or personally, it just to me indicates that the natural ebb and flow of life in general, but more importantly, then the change or the seasons is how we respond to them or how we react to them. Do we learn from them? Do we grow from them? Do we look at them? I think every season has goodies. So, what's the experience. What's the message?

(06:46) And it was during those aftercare appointments that families wanted to talk, they wanted to share. They wanted to share with me about their loved ones. They wanted to look at scrapbooks. And when I would return to the office, the following day, I was pretty much always chastised for spending more than the required length of time in the home. And so, what I realized was that the families really needed us more after what we call task mode.

(09:00) That's a great question. And they are extremely heightened and even more so this year, but it's a time when it's supposed to be a happy time, a joyous time, family togetherness, the sights, the sounds, the smell of the holiday, but when one's hope, dreams and expectations have been shattered, then it's not so much of a happy time for them.

(14:48) When that family circle has been broken, you might be low on energy. You may not have any holiday spirit. You may actually be eligible for an Academy Award for just pretending to be okay, let family members and others know that I may not. I may not attend the traditional Thanksgiving. Well, you may not be able to attend due to the pandemic but let them know what you feel comfortable doing, limit again, those number of commitments. And it's important to know that it's okay to say no, even if the tradition is via Zoom, if you don't feel up to it, it's okay to say no.

(23:14) That's my newest passion project because there's little or no grief education in corporate America and is as you know, from class, that medical students don't even have grief education as a part of their required curriculum. So when corporate America gives us three to five days off after losing a loved one, what that means is you're supposed to return to that office space as a fully functioning employee. And for those who have lost loved ones, they know that that's really not possible.

(26:28) You want me to go all the way back? You know what though, honestly, I would share my mantra for life. And my mantra for life is this, please know that everything in life is temporary, including life itself. So decide to say yes to the gift of now, because whether you're 18 or whether you're 98 or whether you're 108, decide to say yes to the gift of now, the present, that's why they call it a gift because that's all we really have. 

The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

In Tune With The Infinite - The Original Classic Edition From 1897 by Ralph Waldo Trine

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Dora Carpenter.

You heard Dora and I talking about the From Grief to Gratitude Coach Certification Program and I am so happy and so proud to say I have completed all requirements and I am now a From Grief to Gratitude Certified Coach. I am powerfully committed to showing up every day aligned to my mission: to guide and support women as they face their sadness, reconnect with their lives, and find a way forward.

When you’re ready to work through your grief, I’m here to guide you.

Writer, teacher, and psychotherapist Francis Weller said, “I am not suggesting that we live a life preoccupied with sorrow. I am saying that our refusal to welcome the sorrows that come to us, our inability to move through these experiences with true presence and conscious awareness, condemns us to a life shadowed by grief. Welcoming everything that comes to us is the challenge. This is the secret to being fully alive.”

You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or email me at [email protected].

Let’s talk about working together!

Until next time, live inspired.

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Reimagining the Possible with Cancer Coach, Marisa Harris

Beauty in Every Season with Debra Healey

“You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.” ~ Mary Oliver, Wild Geese

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 29. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Clare Marie Edgeman.

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 and you're going to enjoy every minute of today's episode.  Clare offers a variety of Human Design & tarot services for creative people seeking transformation and ease. She is a total intuition and imagination nerd and the author of Finding Fuck Yes: A Memoir of Orgasms & Insulin. She has too many degrees, too few cats, and often too much or too little blood sugar. Her life is a constant quest for coziness.

(02:04) And then I said, yeah, and they lose their leaves every fall and they're so chill about it. So, I think that that seasonality and the spirálic nature of things, I relate to a lot because I'm not very good at staying on one path for an extended period of time. So, I love the metaphor of seasonality because it helps ground me in the very nature of the changeability of life, which is just the messiness that I like to live in.

(08:08) If you've heard about Human Design, you probably know your energy type, but that is just one layer of the cake, not the entirety of your design. But it's where we start because that's how you energetically interact with the world. And there are five different types; there are Generators, Manifesting Generators, Projectors, Manifestors, and Reflectors.

(09:46) For Generators and Manifesting Generators, the biggest hallmark of your design is that you need to be lit up by what you're doing. So that's where the learning to respond to life thing comes in because you have so much energy as a Generator, chances are, you are probably perfectly capable of wrestling the universe into submission.  If you want to go after something, you are going to be able to achieve it. You are going to be able to get it. However, you were probably using more of your energy than you need to, to achieve that.

(18:58) I find that my gift and now we're onto my type Manifestors that one of the things I've learned through my Human Design and just through the trial and error of my life is that I'm not necessarily the person that wants to be the absolute authority on anything. I'm the person that comes in and finds the words that connect with you. That's my greatest gift is being kind of this translator of things.

(28:06) One thing I will say is that one of the things that Human Design has taught me is that my multiplicity and my interest in so many different things, and you know, you and I have talked about this, like we both are these, like multipotentialite, multihyphenate people, that you can be everything and you can't be everything all at the same time.

(33:48) I actually just published today on Medium, an article, called Why I Regret Publishing with “Hybrid Publisher” New Degree Press. So one of the huge things about my social media presence in my life is being super honest about the things that I have done that I wouldn't recommend other people do or that I want to be transparent open about.

On Being with Krista Tippett - Jericho Brown Small Truths and Other Surprises

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Clare Marie Edgeman.

I continue to be so grateful for your support and feedback, and I truly love hearing from you! You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or email me at [email protected].

Sign up for our monthly newsletter and we'll let you know what we're working on, as well as what we're reading and listening to in regards to beginnings, endings + the messy bits in-between. Until next time, live inspired! 

Challenges Often Inform our Passions With Eden Alex Wine

Experience the Pause with Elizabeth Hess Stamper

Peruvian Trained Shaman and Medicine Woman, Shannon Davis

This is Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast episode 28. I’m Cindy MacMillan and today’s guest is Bettina Yiannakurou.

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.

Bettina was made in Greece, assembled in Australia and is a direct import to the United States and is a proud American citizen.  She has traveled extensively and is married to a man from a culture different to her own.  She is a mother and understands that all people are unique. Bettina is a Wedding Officiant & Civil Celebrant and has appeared on Good Morning America, in Martha Stewart Weddings and countless blogs and publications. Weddings by Bettina revels in telling your story with humor and dignity.  

(02:17) When I got married 17 years ago, in fact, I did think like a lot of other brides who are pronounced Mr. and Mrs. at the end of the ceremony, that I would indeed go down to the Births, Deaths and Marriages and do all those things that are required to change your name and something in me, it was almost, maybe it's my intuition or maybe it was something that is deeply important to me, my identity as a Greek person, given that I was born in Athens told me not to.

(03:49) I moved to the United States on June 21, 2001, just prior to, September 11, 2001. And I was marveling at our four seasons here. I grew to love the bitterly cold winter of New York City because I had not experienced the true differentiation and I love music as well. So, while I'm talking to you, I'm thinking of Vivaldi's “The Four Seasons” and how there those four different demarcations are exquisite.

(14:51) Number one, first of all, after we've gotten all of the details of where the ceremony is taking place, what time, who's going to be there and what do you love about your partner and how has your partner made you a better person? Can you describe for me one of your special memories and maybe send me a photograph of that memory or describe it in your story? And those are the questions that I think are the most important, because why are they deciding to do something? That's one of the greatest risks we take as a, as humanity, don't forget. Marriage is possibly the most ancient ritual we still practice in society.

(25:00) There would also be an option to remember those who are no longer of this earth and that is also something that 99% of couples want to do. They want to remember grandma and I'll use the term of endearment that they used for their grandmother, not in this language like  Beryl or Mildred. Let's talk about poppy or Abuela; let's talk about her po po which is the Chinese word for grandmother.

(30:27) If you allow your hands to support our couple, then their love always flows back and returns to you. And this is the part where I feel like the tears start to roll, especially in times of trouble and challenging times. I'll ask there to be peace between a husband and wife or two husbands or two brides. And I will ask there to be peace between the countries.

(38:53) I'm getting myself choked up about how I'm very happy, where I am in my season of life, as you, call it. And I'm hoping for many more happy and brighter days ahead.

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life and my conversation with Bettina Yiannakourou.

I continue to be so grateful for your support and feedback, and I truly love hearing from you! You can reach me via the website CynthiaMacMillan.com or email me at [email protected].

Sign up for our monthly newsletter and we'll let you know what we're working on, as well as what we're reading and listening to in regards to beginnings, endings + the messy bits in-between. Until next time, live inspired! 

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