Life's Essential Ingredients

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C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #33 Amy Lenius is coming from Ontario, Canada (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Amy via her website nextleveluniverse.com/group/coaching

Amy helps people define success from the inside out, so the life they’re building feels fulfilling. Amy’s work is rooted in self worth, self belief, and consistency. 

Over the past 9 years, Amy has spoken on stages in the health, healing, and personal development space and has been featured on over 200 podcasts having real conversations about what it actually takes to grow. 

Amy helps people rebuild their internal foundation through identity, habits, health, relationships, and the patterns that shape how they show up every day. Amy specializes in working with women who are ready to reconnect with themselves and create a life that reflects who they truly are. This often means slowing down enough to get honest, learning how to trust themselves again, and choosing what feels aligned instead of what feels expected. 

Amy, thanks for sharing your many gifts and talents with people all over the world and thanks for focusing many of your efforts on women, and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show!

TOTD – If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.”      Muhammed Ali

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

What was life like growing up?

Best part of homeschooling

What do you love about being a parent

Biggest challenge of raising your boys

Fishing is my peace. 

Growth how do you do it? 

Fulfillment define it…Pillars of fulfillment…quality of life, pouring into potential, building out my contribution…using all three to expand your fulfillment…

Core beliefs (past, things we believe about our selves, could be accurate or not)from the past and developing core values in the space in which you live, core aspirations…align all three with where you want to go…

The gift of self-awareness…doing it with accuracy 

Success…define it and how to you achieve it…

Discovering your identity

Happiness…define it

Contribution…what are you doing to contribute to your family, team, community, society…

Building capacity to be

Belief…steps toward being consistent in knowing you can do it…

Self-worth…

Self Efficacy – having the capability, trust, confidence.. to handle any challenge that comes at them…

Legacy

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #32 Kameran Al-Areqi is coming from Wichita, Kansas (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Kameran via her website recognizingpotential.com

Kameran is a Gottman certified marriage coach, the host of The Married and Connected Podcast, and the founder of the Recognizing Potential Coaching Program. Kameran is known for her authenticity, straightforward nature and her ability to help couples with even the most complex of circumstances. 

Kameran believes that lasting love begins within. Over the years, she learned that unhealthy patterns, unhealed wounds, and unresolved trauma don’t just affect you — they seep into your relationship and form who your children will become as well. Unresolved issues create cycles of disconnection, frustration, and loneliness, which is why her coaching is deeply rooted in healing the individual, so that two people can come together stronger, safer, and more connected than ever.

Kameran, thanks for helping couples all over the world, thanks for continuing to coach yourself to be the best you can be and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show!

TOTD – “May I fall as rain to increase the harvests that must feed living beings…and in ages of dire famine, may I myself serve as food and drink.”                                     Shantideva

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

What was life like growing up?

Podcast – Married and Connected

93% success rate

Suffering…what does that mean…

Average couple waits 6 years to get help

Attachment Styles

Stages of relationships…

Gottman’s Sound Relationship House Model

Ingredients that are missing from most marriages – commitment, trust and friendship…

Comparisons..

Goal of Marriage is to grow together…

Partner should not be the one to make you happy…

Legacy

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #31 Rebecca Mullen is coming from Grand Junction, Colorado (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Rebecca via her website rebeccamullencoaching.com

Rebecca Mullen is the author of 6 Steps to Better Marriage Communication and host of the podcast Habits for Your Happily Ever After. Her work focuses on the small, repeatable habits that transform how couples communicate—especially in moments of tension, misalignment, or emotional overwhelm. 

Rebecca helps couples move from reactive patterns to intentional connection using simple tools they can apply immediately. Rebecca brings a mix of practical frameworks, relatable stories, and real-life application, so listeners don’t just feel inspired—they leave with something they can do differently that day. 

Rebecca, thanks for sharing your beautiful spirit with the world, thanks for having the courage to share your heart, and thanks for guiding couples to a happily ever after…welcome to the show!

TOTD – “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”  Carl Jung

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

Here is the link to a PDF I have that gives listeners access to 6 of my podcast episodes about the 6 steps for better marriage communication. 

What was life like growing up?

Where did you meet your husband…

Podcast Host of Habits for Your Happily Ever After: Relationship Communication Advice

Ted Talk…great….love the tug of war with your daughter and son…reading stories, creating a template of tolerance…coming together…why is that so important to you…

Classes – The money conversation, No More Loneliness…Marriage 101, Six Steps to Better Communication, Habits for Happily Ever After…

Blog since 2020…loved complimentary colors…did your daughter end up going to Lewis and Clark?

Happiness…what is it…fulfillment…

Investing in YOU…Bliss Basket…

Book - 6 steps to better Marriage Communication – Overcome Fear, Get Clear, Ask Cleanly, Beware Conditions, Affirm Lovingly, Build Boundaries

Newsletter…

Boundary happens in the corrective behavior…following through regardless of how the other person will respond…

Conflict Resolution

Clean Ask vs. Dirty Ask…step 3 (builds on step 1 and 2) is negative…ie. You don’t ever take the trash out…blame, shame…the dirty asker has not overcome their fear…

Clean Ask – 3 steps…name the fear, state the desire, ask in a way that your partner can answer in yes or no…give agency to your partner…

4 Step Apology that rebuilds trust 2 name the behavior, 3 talk about how you think your partner feels, 4 I have a plan for how I am going to do better…

Communication Clarity…one of the most challenging parts of marriage…

Hidden Fear Sabotaging Your Relationship…

Forgiveness 

Hello and Goodbye

Growing separately but together

Look for the good in each other

Make the invisible visible…

Pain is when we feel attached to what we thought we had and realize it isn’t there…?  Making the best out of a difficult situation…finding the good…

Legacy

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #30 Eric Robinson is coming from Lambertville, Michigan (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Eric via his website preachertobreacher.com

Eric’s new book – Irreverend comes out this fall.   Eric was called to do God’s work and worked for 12 years in that space as a preacher.   Unfortunately or fortunately, Eric knew there were other plans for him.   So on Easter of 2002 Eric preached his final sermon. The next Sunday he was in Quantico to attend the FBI Academy. Eric has taken the ingredients of two polar opposite callings and has turned them into his life’s masterpiece.

For nearly a quarter century, Eric used the practices and principles he learned in ministry to connect with victims and witnesses, and even to break through to criminals. Whether confronting terrorists, rescuing teen sex workers, or developing informants, the skills from his earlier life were put to use in his law enforcement career.   Eric’s career in the FBI was diverse and he used his unique skillset to guide many criminals, colleagues, and communities on a journey of compassion, commitment, and patience.

Eric thanks for all you have done with your career, thanks for taking the time to put your life on paper, and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show!

TOTD – “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”                                                    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

What was life like growing up?

Worked in Chicago…pizza?

What got you into your preacher role?

What are your life’s essential ingredients?

Married for 33 years – balance

Just retired after 24 years with the FBI – best part of retirement…

After action…the power of reflection

Communication skills that are universal

Values that are universal

Not interrupting silence – using compounding questioning…

Congrats on your book – IRREVEREND…interesting title, (not worthy of respect) how did you come up with it?

Fitness testing, being fit…

The power of connection

National Security…what concerns do you have moving forward and what hopes do you have…

Nutrition and discipline

Firearms instructor…what skills does it take to have confidence in that space…

Marathon Running…

Most interesting story…

Fuel for people who want to hurt people…

Characteristics of successful people

Team Building, trust building, 

Lessons learned…

Post Traumatic Stress…

Forgiveness

Mindset

Leaving work at work

Legacy

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #29 Dr. Sharalyn Payne is coming from Dallas, Texas (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Dr. Sharalyn via her website drsharalyn.com or smpistrategies.com

Dr. Sharalyn Payne is an award-winning speaker, strategist, executive coach, and management consultant. As the founder of SMP International Management Consulting, LLC. Dr. Sharalyn works with companies and governments to build high-performing teams, navigate through change, and develop the next generation of leaders. 

Guiding clients through sensitive organizational challenges, Dr. Sharalyn shares her unique perspectives and insights not only on how revolutionizing the workplace can lead to innovation, but also on the techniques needed to create destination organizations. Using lessons learned, provocative questions, and real stories, Dr. Sharalyn positions companies for greater success and bigger wins.

Dr. Sharalyn, congrats on an amazing career, congrats on authoring two books Unstuck, Unleashed, Unstoppable and Ignite, congrats on continuing to challenge yourself to be your best, and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show!

TOTD – “I never competed against athletes.  I competed against perfection.”  Carl Lewis

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

What does the M stand for in SMP?  Marie…

Lantana – represents resilience, rigor, and adaptability because it thrives in harsh heat and poor soil…cultural symbolism… endurance, transformation, and positivity…

is under your name on your website…then I did a little more digging and found out it is a part of Texas and most likely where you live…

What there a moment in time (past, present, or future) for you that shaped who you are today?

What was life like growing up?

Two Books – UnStuck, UnLeashed, UnStoppable.   IGNITE…Congrats

Podcast – The Game Changer with Dr. Sharalyn

You were a track and cross country runner…any insights from that experience and how it has shaped your life…

Accountability…

Mindset on POSSIBILITY!

Leadership, what is it, what frameworks do you like to work with, what are some activities you do in your offsites?

Culture, what is it, how do you assess it, how to you transform it, and how do you help engage in it…

Strategic action planning…what does that look like…maybe go over a case screnario…

Employee engagement

Assessment tools for personal and professional development..

Wellness and well being…insights?

Your company values: leave people organizations better than you found them, love who you are and what you do, we grow, we lead, we optimize, we believe everything is possible…

The Future of Work?

Transformation Modules from your website…key insights or takeaways from past participants…

HOGAM assessments – what are they?

Return on Power Newsletter – takeaways…

Culture Camp on another podcast…

Exemplary Leadership…what does that look like

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #28 Hanna Curman is coming from West Coast of Sweden (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Hanna via her website hannacurman.se

Hanna is an international speaker, Founder of BrainShift (the new transformation logic), certified in brain-based coaching, and author on leadership and mental health. Hanna helps executives lead transformation from the nervous system up—because culture lives in biology. Hanna knows firsthand that reactive patterns affected not only her own health - but also her daughter’s will to live. 

Today Hanna brings a clear message into the AI era: if we don’t balance speed with humanity, we lose prefrontal capacity—judgment, empathy, ethics—and the relationships that make leadership real. 

Hanna thanks for sharing your gifts with humanity, thanks for coaching people all over the world, thanks for continuing to transform yourself and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients.   Welcome to the show!

TOTD – “The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.”  Jim Morrison

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

Listening to you on another podcast and they asked you what meal would you want to share…PIZZA…I love it…the intention of sharing…

Website has some great articles on decision making under pressure, transformational leadership and sustainable change…

What was life like growing up?

Swedish decent…

What is self-discovery and what steps do you suggest one take to gaining that vital piece of their life?

Trying to fit in (story of Volvo) and losing that part of yourself… and then years later…gaining your true self…

What is leadership?

Define leader

Define culture

Are we in survival mode?  Why?

Coaching…share a success story…

You spoke about true intentions and truly living life with those intentions…what would that world look like?

Understanding my core values…one is trustworthiness…another is transparency…

The Clarity Chain…what is it and how can it help people when decision pressure is high?

Legacy

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #27 Bruce Babashan is coming from Washington D.C. (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Bruce via his website brucebabashan.com

As the creator of Meet The Moment™, Bruce challenges one of the most common assumptions in leadership—that organizations succeed simply by developing exceptional leaders. His work argues that while leadership development is essential, it is only part of the equation. The organizations that consistently perform at the highest level also prepare for the reality that every leader is human. 

Drawing on experience in executive leadership, organizational assessment, and high-stakes decision environments, Bruce helps audiences understand why judgment, communication, and decision-making can change as complexity, uncertainty, and pressure increase—and why organizations should anticipate those moments rather than simply react to them. 

Instead of asking how leaders can become tougher or more resilient, Bruce introduces a practical framework for building leadership support systems that help preserve sound decisions, clear communication, and organizational performance when the stakes are highest. 

Bruce, thanks for sharing your many gifts and talents with people all over the world, thanks for continuing to grow as a leader, and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show!

TOTD – “As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The person who grasps principles can successfully select their own methods. The person who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble."  Harrington Emerson (efficiency engineer)

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

What was life like growing up?

How did you get involved with boxing?

Mohammad Ali story…

The Good Fight nonprofit…

Poise in the Noise

First Code…

Making Decision in the heat of the moment

Training fighters for almost 30 years…making decisions in 60 seconds (time in between rounds)…when things were on the line…Game 7 mentality…crunch time…

See coaches on the sideline…making mistakes…mismanaging the clock…

A skill to be developed: Step 1 - awareness…Step 2 – control (regulate emotions) need to ooze confidence ..Step 3 – Clarity – process in which you choose to make decisions…principles in how you make decisions… especially in the crucial moments.  Step 4 – how do you communicate your decisions

What makes a great coach?

Getting reps of being in the moment…in the fire…

Phenomenology is a 20th-century philosophical movement and qualitative research method that investigates the nature of conscious, subjective lived experience.

Managing Stress

Building Confidence

Communicating with purpose and precision

Getting out of the way

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #26 Lydia Chale via her email address [email protected]

My wife recently had a birthday and I ordered her favorite ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.  I did it online but unfortunately entered the wrong time to pick it up.   So I had to call and leave a message to change the pick up time.  I was pleasantly surprised when I received a voice mail stating the cake is ready and I can pick it up any time I want.  

I entered the store the next day and spoke to the staff at Baskin Robbins and immediately Lydia noticed my voice and stated she would be right with me.  I was taken back by her attention to detail and that she remembered and appreciated my voice… So we decided it would be fun to join each other on this podcast…so here we are.  

A little about our guest : Lydia was born in North Carolina and moved to Davis when she was 12.  Unfortunately, things didn’t work out so well and Lydia decided at the age of 16 to drop out of school and moved out on her own.  That drastic change in her life lead her to needing to find a job… Lydia found work at Baskin Robbins and has been doing incredible work ever since.  She became the manager at 18 and at 23 she is a Franchise Manager. 

Lydia has used that opportunity as a spring board into creating potential future opportunities down the road.   She earned her GED and is currently taking college courses for business and philosophy. Lydia loves her 4 cats and spends most of her free time trying to study and learn. 

Lydia thanks for sharing your amazing customer service with people, thanks for continuing to better yourself with knowledge and education, and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show!

TOTD – “We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” ―Barbara De Angelis

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

What was life like growing up?

What are your essential ingredients

What do you love about music…

Cats

People…

Legacy

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #25 Ludovica Colella is coming from Naples, Italy (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Ludovica via her website lu-cole.com.   Change, Grow, Become!

Ludovica is a CBT-trained psychotherapist and confidence coach specializing in people-pleasing, fawning, and self-abandonment. She works with high-functioning women who are exhausted from over-giving and living for everyone else’s approval — and helps them build boundaries that actually hold. Featured in Forbes, Newsweek, Business Insider, and VeryWellMind, Ludovica brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to every conversation. 

She’s the founder of LuCole LTD and has worked with clients globally. Her core question: why do intelligent, self-aware people keep repeating the same patterns even when they know exactly what they should do?  That question and many more will be answered on today’s podcast.  

Ludovica, thanks for sharing your gifts and talents with people all over the world, thanks for taking your pain and turning it into your purpose and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show.

TOTD – “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”― Helen Keller

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

Have to talk pizza first…

What was life like growing up?

Groomed to Care as a child…

Being Empathic but with boundaries…

Understanding Patterns, Where they came from, what they are protecting you from, and how to start doing things different in moments that matter…

Looking at the beliefs underneath the behavior…the ones that feel so true you never questioned them (my needs are too much, I’m only lovable when I am useful, if I disagree they’ll leave…

People Pleasers – good at what you do but running on empty, say yes but then are resentful and guilty about being resentful, hard to say NO, know what to do but doing is difficult, put in the work but something still isn’t shifting your behavior

Emotional Hypervigilance

Overthinking Text Messages in Relationships

Fawning Trauma Response – what is it – giving excessive insincere praise….

Rewriting Your Story…

The power of healthy anger..

Why People Pleasers Attracting Emotionally Unavailable Partners

Conditioning and how can we rewrite that story…

Intuition and Belief…

Self Awareness…

Learning to say NO and set up Boundaries

Congrats on your journal you wrote…THE FEEL GOOD JOURNAL…

Healing…

Send us Fan Mail

C4 Leaders – the ONLY nonprofit to utilize the pizza making process to create space for our companions to be seen, heard, and loved.   We work with businesses, sports teams, hospitals, churches…anyone looking to RISE TOGETHER.  We also write children’s books and use the most amazing handmade, hand-tossed, sourdough pizza to bring out the best in each other.   Please check out c4leaders.org to support our important work. 

Season 6 Episode #24 Karen Danlovich is coming from St. Augustine, Florida (inform, inspire, & transform)

You can find Karen via her website tidalresilience.org

About our Guest: Karen is the Founder and Executive Director of Tidal Resilience Foundation, a nonprofit in coastal Florida supporting children and families navigating the loss of a parent or caregiver. Her life has been shaped by profound loss — losing her mom at nine, her dad at nineteen, and later her grandparents — experiences that taught her early what it means to survive deep grief and still keep moving forward. 

Karen built her career as an educator, teaching social studies, coaching dance, directing student programs, and later serving as an assistant principal. She also spent five seasons as an NFL cheerleader for the Jacksonville Jaguars, serving as team captain while teaching full‑time — a decade defined by discipline, leadership, and service. 

Her work today blends her educational background with the belief that the ocean is one of our greatest teachers. Through Tidal Resilience Foundation, she leads programs rooted in ocean‑based resilience, including Resilience Kits, Resilience Rides, community events, and The Reef, an online learning sanctuary offering free resources for families navigating the loss of a parent or caregiver. Each program is designed to help young people build grounding, emotional regulation, and connection as they move through grief. 

Karen’s mission is simple and powerful: to turn her personal story into a shared one — creating a community where grieving children and families feel seen, supported, and strengthened. She believes that when we take care of the ocean, the ocean takes care of us, and that its lessons can guide families through even the roughest waters of loss.

Karen, thanks for sharing your vulnerability with people all over the world, thanks for guiding families through difficult waters and thanks for being our guest on Life’s Essential Ingredients…welcome to the show.

TOTD – “When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt.  But that is not what great ships are built for.”                       John A. Shedd

Build a habit - to create intention - to live your purpose!

In this episode:

What was life like growing up?

Love the name of your nonprofit…what is the deeper meaning to it…

Grief meets the ocean…how does someone know they are grieving…Kubler Ross’s 5 stages of grief…

Core Values – Compassion, Resilience, Empowerment, Connection, Stewardship, Education

1 in 11 children by the age of 18 will experience the death of a parent or sibling…

the cost of inaction…

Tidal Resilience Foundation supports children and families navigating the loss of a parent or caregiver. Through ocean-centered experiences, resilience-building resources, and compassionate community connection, we help young people build coping tools, rediscover moments of joy, and move toward healing with support.

Request a Resilience Kit and Join a Resilience Ride  and The Reef

Connection and Community

Grief support

Tools to help…

Move with grief…

Legacy