Love Your Story: Stories and discussions about personal growth, mindset and living with intention

Augusten Burroughts said, “I, myself, am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.”

I love this quote because it is a simple statement of our beautiful individuality and the normalness of our unique qualities. Whether we would really actually call these things flaws, sometimes when they don’t align with societal expectation, they feel like flaws.

For example, today’s guest is an advocate for the differently-abled community. Her own diagnosis of debilitating multiple sclerosis and her inability to get work after this diagnosis spurred her to fight for a broader more open view of our differences, handicaps, and challenges. Stay tuned for a discussion on the power of individuality and how flaws make us unique, beautiful and indispensable.

Chantel Soumis a top LinkedIn Creator with over 30k organic followers in one year. Chantel is also the Founder and Creative Director of Stardust Creative LLC, a brand agency focused on embracing differences through personal and corporate branding. She’s spoken at VidCon as one of the first LinkedIn video creators as well as at international conferences in LA, London, Dallas, and more.

As an advocate for the differently-abled community, Chantel spreads awareness, hope, and inspiration to those around the world fighting for acceptance by sharing the hidden struggles of differently-abled community. By administering an attitude of gratitude, Chantel has overcome severe obstacles and spends a substantial portion of her time coaching others to accept and believe in themselves, and to treat one another with dignity and value, recognizing we are all brothers and sisters of the human race.

Tune into the audio program to hear Chantel's story and our discussion on how our flaws make us unique and beautiful.

Sarah Vowell, in her book, Take the Cannoli, said, “We are flawed creatures, all of us. Some of us think that means we should fix our flaws. But get rid of my flaws and there would be no one left.”

In an earlier episode, I shared an insight I gained at a conference this past year – it was that the things I had often acknowledged as flaws within myself were actually exactly who and how I was supposed to be to do what I came her to do. It was a new idea and it was fresh and full of self-acceptance.

I am a firm believer in the beauty of the diverse and varied. It is these colors and textures in each of us that make us who we are and help us do what we want and need to do.

Your challenge this week is to take one of those things you feel is a flaw about you and to reframe it. Find a statement that celebrates your differences – an affirmation that starts to help you see that supposed flaw as something that is actually helping you be who you need to be and do what you need to do. Embrace and love your own quirky self, whatever that looks like. And remember, most people are very unaware of others flaws, they are too worried about their own.

Let any self-criticism go and start with self-acceptance.

Don’t forget to use the Love Your Story website – all 150+episodes are available to listen to and share. You can buy your love your story t-shirts, or get the link for my book: LIFE Living Intentional and Fearless Everyday – the 21 LIFE connection challenges.

Have a great week taking another step toward self-love and the story YOU want to live. See you in a couple of weeks.

Ralph Marston, the author of the Daily Motivator, said, “Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it.”

I love his quotes – they are always so wise, and today his quote is going to usher in four stories of people who took the 2nd Annual Appreciation Challenge.

What is the appreciation challenge? Last year in episode 62  we had the 1st Stories of Appreciation episode where I asked specific people to identify someone in their lives who was under-appreciated and to show them profound appreciation, and then to share with us the experience.  Stay tuned to hear the four stories and get ideas for how to plant these seeds in your own life.

I have found that there is one thing everyone craves, and that’s appreciation. When we lavish it we create love, increased self-worth and simple satisfaction. We generate healthier relationships and we plant seeds for a harvest of even more good results from those to whom we have shown appreciation.

A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected.

William James, well-known psychologist and philosopher, said, “The deepest principle of human nature is a craving to be appreciated.”

We all want and need to feel valued for who we are and we love being recognized for our contributions and accomplishments. It’s important for us to know that we have made a difference in the world and to the people around us. When a person takes the time to express real appreciation for something we have done it builds our self-confidence, but more importantly it helps us know we are seen, our efforts have been accepted, and it empowers us. More often than not a simple appreciation also infuses an energy and motivation to work harder and do more. It’s powerful stuff. So, let’s hop in and hear about the experiences people had in going out of their way to show appreciation.

Tune into the audio program to hear the stories from our participants.

I extend this same challenge to you. Think about someone in your life who is often under-appreciated and go out of your way to show them appreciation today. This way of building connection in your life is powerful! Share the love and appreciation, people. It’s a small and simple thing that makes the world and your relationships sooo much richer.

Happy Thanksgiving

Enjoy the abundance in your life and in your relationships. Create more abundance by planting these seeds for your own rich harvest. Thanks for loving Love Your Story.

Remember the website www.loveyourstorypodcast.com has all the episodes – these are also great for sharing. It’s easy to share a link and send someone an episode you think they’d enjoy. You can also buy your copy of LIFE Living Intentional and Fearless Everyday. It’s the perfect Christmas gift for all the people in your life who are seekers and want to create more connection, self-care and possibility in their lives. Easy to get off Amazon and fun to give. I’ll see you in a few weeks on the next episode of the Love Your Story podcast.

Sitting atop the world at 29,029 feet elevation is not something everyone has on their bucket list, but David Roskelley had a whole lot more than just that day in 2013 on top of Everest. He also summited the other 8 highest peaks on the 7 continents. Math not adding up….I’ll let him explain that one to you, but suffice it to say, this incredible athlete and regular everyday guy, loves to do hard things and is here today to share why we can do hard things too. Join me for my discussion with David Roskelley the first American to climb the nine highest peaks on seven continents and the world’s tallest volcanoes on each of the 7 continents. I’m loving his story.

David Roskelley is a partner in an environmental engineering firm called R&R Environmental, Inc., and teaches public health at the University of Utah’s Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health as an adjunct professor. The Utah resident is clearly an avid mountaineer who has his next goals set on the moon – literally. And that’s a whole other story.

Tune into the audio program to hear about David’s adventures.

David said,

“Many people ask why I chose to set the “Seven Summits” as a goal.  The answers are not exactly simple and I’m not 100% certain myself.  However, I love to do difficult things and would encourage anyone reading this post to set a difficult goal and work toward it.  Otherwise, we tend to float through life rudderless (“take control and set a goal” I say).  Recently, I’ve been reading a book by Edward Whymper, Scrambles in the Alps (1871) where he discusses “patient, difficult, laborious toil” in the mountains and how it helps us “come back to our daily occupations better fitted to fight the battle of life and overcome impediments which obstruct our paths, strengthen and cheered by the recollection of past labors”.  For me, it’s easier to contend with traffic, email, commuting, phone calls, constant work obligations, etc. after completing something very difficult.  I just focus on the accomplishment and everything else pales in comparison.

Don’t think everyone’s “difficult” is the same and don’t feel you have to climb big mountains or run marathons to accomplish something.  Everyone’s challenges are different and for some it would be easier to walk across Asia than to speak in public or get married or finish their education.”

What hard thing are you working on in your life? As we discussed in the beginning of this podcast – everyone’s difficult is something different. I’d like to remind you that the difficult you are in today is giving you the strength that you will need to be who you are supposed to be. As the ever-popular phrase goes, “You can do hard things.” We say this because sometimes we need the reminder that we are powerful, courageous and so far our track record for making it through hard things is 100%, and that’s a pretty darn good rate of success.

Your challenge this week is to consider if you need to set a goal – something big and wonderful that feels hard and scary. If you do – take a deep breath, embrace the vision of it happening, and then write that puppy down. Because YOU can do hard things.

Thanks for being with us today. Remember loveyourstorypodcast.com for access to all past episodes, to buy your t-shirt, and the link to buy my new, fun book: LIFE Living Intentional and Fearless Everyday. Join the fun trend of embarking on these life enhancing daily challenges – there are 21 of them in the book. You can also find it on Amazon!

If you’re part of the crowd that has jumped on the 21 Life Connection Challenges in my book – I’d love to hear about your experiences. Drop me a line on the website or on FB.

Welcome back to the Love Your Story Podcast. Today we are talking about what you love about your life story. I walked the streets, with microphone in hand, of Salt Lake City, Utah to find out what people love about their life story.

Today I want you to think about what you love about your life story. Today we celebrate the things that are going right. The seeds you’ve planted that have born good fruit. What seeds have you sown and what fruit have you harvested? Ponder on that, but stay tuned to hear what people on the streets said when I put the microphone to them.

At the most basic level of the Love Your Story movement we talk about how we are responsible for creating our best life stories on purpose – because we can. We celebrate the law of the harvest. We don’t get apricots because we plant lettuce. Your life looks the way it does because of your thoughts, your words, your actions. If you’re getting lettuce and you want apricots well, plant apricot seeds, but if you love it, pat yourself on the back and celebrate the things you love because you have also created those – planted those seeds.

Tune into the audio program to hear what people on the street had to say. It’s grand.

Thanks for tuning in. I love almost everything about my life. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have goals or want more of this and that. But I love my home and yard with all it’s big, green trees; I love my children, my family, my job, my friends, my car, my dog and the good, good people in my life who are my friends. I love the magic I see pop up in my life every day. I love summer heat and the abundance I’m blessed with. I love my podcast and the people I meet on my podcast. I love my community and the people in my tribe. Thank you to all of you who make my life so wonderful.

Blessings to you and good job for all the wonderful things you have created in your life story. Keep up the good work!! Keep planting and nourishing the seeds you wish to harvest.

As we share stories around the technological campfire sometimes it seems the main tale is about the character who causes the harm and their path to destruction or learning. But there is also the other side of the story. The story of the victims, those affected by the poor choices of others. Today’s guest had an alcoholic father, two alcoholic husbands, and survived multiple sexual assaults and exploitations before the age of 20.

Stay tuned as we hear Bethany’s story of triumph as we see proof of a 12-step recovery program giving her the strength and insight to overcome, forgive, learn and take action.

Bethany Wallace is proof that 12-step recovery programs work if we’re willing to do the work. She has spent the past 12 years taking actions, often in spite of her feelings, to become a healthier person. She enjoys life with her husband and daughter in the Ozarks. Bethany loves working with others in recovery, advocating for sexual assault victims and survivors, writing, and hiking. Bethany also owns a communications consulting business and partners with mission-minded organizations and companies to improve soft skills and to build better workplaces.

Tune into the audio program to hear Bethany’s story and how we all have different paths to healing.

Support groups or counseling can benefit family members affected by someone else’s alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism can have devastating impacts on families. Spouses of people with alcohol problems may be at an increased risk for emotional or physical abuse. If you fall into this category, know that you can find support for your own healing as your story unfolds with this battle.

As the hero of our stories we seldom pick the antagonists, the dragons, the Darth Vadars that will show up in our lives to teach us and challenge us. But once we embark on the battle it is the wise soul who looks for resources to aid them in their fight to overcome the dark and rise again into the light.

Your challenge this week is to find resources to help you with whatever your fight is. There are groups, programs, coaches, mentors, doctors, authors…resources to help and guide us. I hope this podcast is one of those, but use everything you can find for your particular battle. This week seek out one.

Don’t forget to use the Love Your Story website – all 150+episodes are available to listen to and share. You can buy your love your story t-shirts, or get the link for my book: LIFE Living Intentional and Fearless Everyday – the 21 LIFE connection challenges.

Have a great week taking another step toward self-love and the story YOU want to live. See you in a couple of weeks.

Who doesn’t want to be happy? When you ask someone what they want in life, the most common answer is “to be happy.” Often the idea of happiness is considered one of chance, luck, or the blessed, but the truth is that your happiness depends only upon the story you create in your own mind about your life. Today’s guest is a certified positive psychology practitioner who has been teaching the science of human flourishing to mass media audiences for the past 5 years. He is the host of the More Happy Life podcast and has been featured in The New York Times, ABC News, Fox Business and many other national publications. He is currently on the board of TEDxBYU and is the director of the 1000 Words speaker series.

Stay tuned for a 5 Tools for creating your own happiness and Andy Proctor’s story of how he found his way to the happiness path.

We are here to thrive, not just to endure. It’s true that difficult things will happen in each of our lives. We’ll all have those dragons to fight and dark swamps to cross….it’s how we earn the magic elixir of learning and strength, but our ability to bounce back from the battles is, in the words of Andy Proctor, “One of the most important life skills we can develop.”

Andy, welcome to the LYS podcast.

So, you are the happiness guy. First and foremost we like a good story on this podcast, so can we head right into your story? What events in your life took place that placed your feet on the path of figuring out how to create happy?

Tune in to the audio program to hear Andy’s story.

What tools have you used that have had the greatest impact in your own personal life?

When we hit those rough patches it doesn’t feel like we’re in charge of our own happiness. Often it feels like an emotion controls us, or another person’s actions have plummeted us into despair or discouragement, or even apathy. But happiness is just like anything else worthwhile. It takes some effort to create positive mindsets and habits, but WE ARE completely in charge of the story we are writing and whether it’s a tragedy, a comedy, or drama. Thanks to Andy for sharing his insights – I hope you found even just one nugget of wisdom to take into your way of being for a good strong trial run. BE HAPPY my friends – This is what finding joy in your journey looks like. Decide to put on the rosy glasses, the dance shoes, and a focus on flowers rather than weeks.

Remember to use the Love Your Story podcast website – you’ve got access to all 140+ episodes for sharing and listening. You can buy your own LYS t-shirt. You can buy a copy of the new book: LIFE Living Intentional and Fearless every day. You can also find it on Amazon.

See you next week. Get out there and do some intentional living!

Once upon a time, there was you….

And then what happened?

When we are young we pattern our life dreams and expectations after the stories we hear and the movies we watch. Often, in American culture, Disney plays a major role in that. While the Disney rendition of fairytales is a butcher job of the originals, children only know what they are shown and taught and so we head off into our lives picturing a prince or princess and a happily ever-after.

We all want love, magic, and riches. That sounds good – I’ll take that.

I learned this week when I asked people how their life was like a fairytale, that the go-to mindset was to think about how it was a happily ever after. Fairytale seems to equate with perfection or the ideal. Stay tuned to hear my man-on-the-street quicky interviews where people got to share how their lives were like fairytales.

When I first started getting the responses and everyone was going straight to the happily-ever-after,  I had to ask – haven’t you ever read an entire fairytale? What about the challenges along the way? What about the problem the main character faced? Repunzel was a prisoner who wanted freedom, Cinderella was enslaved and wanted a little recreation, the Shoemaker and his wife were on the verge of financial ruin and desperately wanted money to buy food, the princess in the Princess and the Frog had lost something important to her. She desperately wanted her golden ball. Goldilocks was tired and hungry and wanted a place to crash.

The main character wants something in these stories and they are faced with major obstacles. Fairytales aren’t just about happily ever afters, they are about a hero or heroine facing heartbreak/challenge/disappointment, often the death of a parent. We love the stories with happy endings, but the stories are only interesting and beloved because the main character found their way through the struggle.

This is the part of the stories that smack a bit more of real life. We will always have challenges because those are the steps to growth and understanding. Challenges –check!

Let’s talk about more ways our lives are like fairytales:

One of the things I love about fairytales is the way magic shows up to help. Whether it is a fairy godmother, or an elf, or a frog, or simply the thing they wanted, there is a pattern that aligns closely with the universal laws of creation. As we desire, believe we will receive, envision and focus, then magic shows up to help us take something from an idea into literal creation.  I love the fairy godmothers– the serendipity, the “coincidence” the unplanned for things that show up just when I need them. I love these because it makes life seem so unpredictable and wonderful and supported by goodness. How wonderful to be able to believe that magic will show up. We all have those people we turn to in tough times – the people who show up in a pinch. Sometimes it is the small and simple things – the books, the advice, the workshop, the tip, the connection, the idea that glitters with magic and takes us where we need to go. Pay attention to the magic in your life and celebrate how much it really is like a fairytale. (Listen to the episode on serendipity – episode 10)

It’s also like a fairytale because we have wonderful pets and while they might not sing and talk to us in our native tongue they love us unconditionally and whenever life gets rough they are there.

Have you ever noticed that in fairytales there is almost always an enchanted forest? We also have nature – botanical gardens, backyards, wilderness, hiking trails, fresh air – head into nature and feel the magic.

One of the lessons of fairytales is that beauty is often buried. Things are not as they appear. A beautiful face doesn’t equate with a beautiful personality. The lesson here is the importance of not judging.

What about true love? Most fairytales involve relationships of the romantic kind because this is something the human heart longs for. We long for love, acceptance, someone who sees our beauty and value. It’s one of our greatest longings. If you haven’t found this, remember to look at others this same way and be grateful for all the love you do have in your life and you will create more.

I did something for this episode that I’ve wanted to do for a while. I went out on the streets of Salt Lake City, Utah and did a Man-On-The-Street approach. I asked others how their lives were like fairytales. Here’s what they had to say.

Tune in to the audio program for my interviews with the people of Salt Lake City.

This romantic idea of your life as a fairytale – of you as the hero or heroine of an intriguing tale is fun to play with. How IS YOUR life like a fairytale? Your challenge this week is to think about your own personal role in your own personal fairytale. Do you have the support of loving animals or fairy godmothers? Does magic show up just when you need it – an idea, a book, a person? Do you face a challenge that requires courage and ingenuity? Have you found your prince or princess? Do you live in a wonderful cottage or castle? Just for a moment, realize how much your life is like the beloved fairytales and think to yourself: “If this were a fairytale, what would the brave protagonist do now?” How do I write the best life story moving forward? What can I do to create connection (Snow White and the 7 Dwarves), possibility (Cinderella), and self-care (Rapunzel)? What courageous thing can I do to move my story forward in all the best ways?

Have a great week this week. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll love my book: LIFE – Living Intentional and Fearless Every day – the 21 LIFE Connection Challenges. It’s an organized way to create possibility, connection and self-care in your life. Available on Amazon or there is a link on loveyourstorypodcast.com.

How many powerful manifestors do you know? What are the keys to being brave enough to get what you really want from your life story?

Today I’m interviewing Amy Perkins, whose platform is the Keys to Courage. Tune in to learn from a lady who has learned to manifest powerfully, and let’s see if we can find some keys for writing the life story we want to live for ourselves.

Amy is passionate about helping you live your best life. That dream life. The one you wish you had.

Eighteen months ago, she got sick and tired of going through the motions. She felt there had to be more. She left a 25-year career in education after witnessing leaders who were not leading with integrity. She wanted a career that was fulfilling, one that made an impact and left a legacy. She sought a deeper bond with her family and she sought richer relationships with friends. So she went on a journey to find her purpose and live with purpose, and on that journey, she found the keys to building confidence, finding clarity and the keys to courage. Today she’s going to share her journey and the magic elixir that she discovered on her own hero’s journey.

Tune into the audio program to hear her story and to find out what she thinks the keys to courage and manifesting are.

To contact Amy:

Self-belief and self-love is always the foundation of living your best life story. I’m grateful for Amy’s enthusiasm and insights into increasing our self-love, our faith, our courage! Share this episode with someone who may need it and your challenge for today is to ………..

Don’t forget to use the Love Your Story website – all 130+episodes are available to listen to and share. You can buy your love your story t-shirts, or get the link for my book: LIFE Living Intentional and Fearless Everyday – the 21 LIFE connection challenges.

Have a great week taking another step toward self-love and the story YOU want to live. See you in a couple weeks.

When Cherie Burton was 25 she got pregnant and was abandoned by the father. Her decision to adopt out her baby daughter was accompanied by all the birth mother grief, stigma, shame, and judgment that often accompanies an unwed mother and “giving a baby away.”

She showed up on the adoptive parents’ doorstep when her daughter was just 3 weeks old and Wendy’s new family let Cherie wake her up and rock her back to sleep. Cherie is here today to walk us through her story of the decision of choosing adoption, the path of the toll that takes on the heart and mind, and the things she’s learned.

The adoption was an open adoption and the adoptive family has always been open with Wendy about her birth mom.

Cherie says “I learned we do not own each other. Parents merely have stewardship and a our souls are on “loan” from the Divine. We’re just all here to teach each other love, sacrifice, forgiveness, kindness and compassion. I’m pretty convinced Wendy, her mom Susan and I had soul contracts with each other to have this experience before we came here.”

Wendy, who is also with us today, says because of the open adoption she has always known how she came to her family and her adoptive parents have always been supportive. She acknowledges that it does have a unique set of issues, but knowing her genetics has helped her deal with PPD and PPA after having her first child, because she knew that mental illness ran in her genes and she was able to seek help from her birth mom to get through some tough spots. She says her birth mom is like an aunt or a best friend and they talk often and are so much alike.

Cherie Burton, the birth mother, has degrees in psychology and sociology and has worked as a group counselor at a psychiatric hospital, an addiction recovery center and a behavioral facility for teen boys.  She has stepped away from clinical work to inspire women worldwide to reach their full potential through books, workshops and retreats. Her work as an author, podcaster, international business owner, speaker, mom of 6, emotional release facilitator and leadership development trainer has helped thousands of women magnify their gifts and find wholeness

Wendy Toomer, the adopted child, is now married to her husband Larkin. They have been married for 7 years and she is pregnant with their second child. She is a Master Esthetician specializing in laser hair removal but mainly stays home with her best friend, a wild two-year-old boy named Tucker. During this season of her life she is focused on nurturing babies in a healthy and happy home.

Tune into the audio program for Cherie’s story and how she decided to embark on adoption as a 25-year-old, one year away from graduating from college, and then hear Wendy’s experience as the daughter with two mothers.

This is our first interview on adoption and I am so pleased to be able to do a “Both Sides of the Story” approach. Thank you, Cherie and Wendy, for shining a light on your process of learning, growth, and experience. It is by our stories that we shine a light on the path in front of others in how to move forward in spaces we personally have not yet trod.

To learn more about Cherie’s work you can find her at:

As you all know – my motto is to live intentionally and fearless every day!

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”–Henry David Thoreau.

My new book LIFE – Live Intentional and Fearless Every day is available on Amazon or a link on www.loveyourstorypodcast.com. With 21 LIFE Connection Challenges to help you create more connection, possibility, and self-care in your own wonderful story. To help you live your best life story on purpose.

In my teens I loved the book series The Incarnations of Immortality. Thantos/Grim Reaper was one of my favorite characters.  As an adult, I guess that fascination held over because I dress up as the Grim Reaper for Halloween every year. I have a real scythe hung from the pegboard in my garage. That being said, for all the interest in the incarnation itself, I have only had my grandparent’s die and when my son was diagnosed with leukemia my mind would occasionally turn to the “what if” and I would immediately retreat. At the Western States Folklore conference this past weekend there was a paper presented exploring the use of a character – the Grim Reaper or the like – (and there IS one in every culture) – to represent an event that we each must face. One suggestion that was made was that we have created a figure to escort us from this life into the next because we don’t know where we are going. There are so many unknowns. Perhaps those unknowns are what creates so much fear around death, but as the cheeky like to say, “No one is getting out of here alive.”

Margaret Meloni – the author of Carpooling with Death, is a Buddhist practitioner and a new voice on the subject of death awareness. Dealing with the death of her father, her mother and her husband within a two-year period gave her the opportunity to “make friends with death,” as she put it. Her book is to help others accept death as an essential part of life and to become death ready.

Tune into our audio discussion to hear what she has to say.

To buy her book:

As I conduct my interviews for this podcast, one of the themes that often repeats itself as we deal with some of the most sacred and dark places we have to travel, often death of a child, a spouse, a loved one is at the heart of that struggle. Today’s interview was to share Margaret’s story, but also to give tools as we all must eventually deal with the conclusion of our stories, as well as the conclusion of the stories of loved ones. I hope you’ve received some insights, tips, or inspiration for a positive mind-set shift as we face the final chapters of our stories.

While we life – my motto is to live intentionally and fearless every day! “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau.  My new book LIFE – Live Intentional and Fearless Every day is available on www.loveyourstorypodcast.com. With 21 LIFE Connection Challenges to help you create more connection, possibility, and self-care in your own wonderful story. To help you live on purpose before your own final chapter comes along.