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

Episode 234: Your Extraordinary Starts Now - Interview Shannon Bahrke-Happe

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.

Do you remember Shannon Bahrke Happe? Her 12-year career on the U.S. Ski Team, which brought her to the Olympics. Check out this list of her accomplishments:

 Member of 3 Olympic Teams (2002, 2006, 2010)

 Bronze Medal in Vancouver, CAN, 2010

 Silver Medal in Salt Lake City, UT, 2002

World Championships:

 Member of 6 World Championship Teams

World Cups:

 Member of U.S. Freestyle Ski Team for 12 years (1998-2010)

 On "A" Team (top 10 in the world or higher) all 12 years

 Over World Cup title, 2003

 7 World Cup wins

 26 World Cup podiums

U.S. National Championships:

 6 U.S. titles

Geez.. Well, today she’s here to reveal how she overcame obstacles, doubts, and fears to ultimately earn her 2 Olympic Medals. Shannon will also share how the same mindset, tools, and strategies directly correlate to how EVERYONE can execute them to achieve their maximum potential! 

Click the link to listen to our discussion and to feel her energy.

Today’s show is titled - Your Extra-Ordinary Starts Now! And Shannon Bahrke Happe is here to talk about how she did it.

Welcome Shannon!

Tune in to hear our discussion about the following:

As always I want to start with your story. I listened to your TED talk where you talked about how average you felt you were, and yet here you are with a 12-year career on the US Ski Team and 2 Olympic medals. How did you go from average person to Olympic medal winner?

As I mentioned, I’ve titled this episode: Your extraordinary starts now - because that’s what you teach. So teach us a little about how to be extraordinary. 

Great things take work. A sense of entitlement will NOT help you accomplish much. I worry about the upcoming generation who often think if something is hard that it’s not meant for them. Let’s talk about how to develop mental toughness.

You have the “Always do 1 More” adage. Can you teach us about that?

You talk about envisioning the end goal with our senses. What does that look like? How have you used that? - a little manifesting hack here.

Every day we have hundreds of choices - actions, reactions, these choices matter because they change the outcome. How do we “choose to win” in these small daily choices. 

Turn your biggest challenges and roadblocks into opportunities - what does this look like? I love putting this one out there. This is an important tool to understand when you are mired in a really tough space.

Final thoughts on living extraordinary lives on purpose?

To Contact Shannon Bahrke-Happe

ShannonBahrke.com

TeamEmpowerHour.com

(713) 670-4047

[email protected]

Let’s end with two quotes: 

1. ”Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're probably right." - Henry Ford 

2. Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

You only have one life to live, so why not make it something fabulous and unforgettable? As a 20-something I had a poem on my wall called If I had My Life to Live Over. The author was talking about dancing in the rain and eating chocolate cake for breakfast and worrying less and celebrating more. I think we could all stand to take a moment to stop, step out of the rat race, take a breath and decide how we want to make a difference, how we want to be grateful and powerful and what it means to us, individually to live an ordinary live or an extraordinary life. Sometime it’s just small and simple things that make a huge difference. It is a path of mindset shifts, of positive talk shifts, of a choice to do one more thing, a choice to keep at it, a choice to follow your intuition not your fear, and before you know it, life is big and bold and extraordinary.

Your challenge for this week is to take that moment. Step away for 30 minutes from the rat race and take a deep breath, maybe sit alone in a coffee shop and nurse your favorite tea or cocoa while you think; maybe walk a forest trail, or get up early and have the morning to yourself so you can take stock - but do that, decide what small and simple thing you can add on your path to creating the life you REALLY want, on purpose.

Episode 233: Little Bites of Bravery - Life Hack

November is a set of 3 episodes called 15-minute life hacks. I’m calling the November nudges. Each episode is a quick reminder of a life tool to inspire and help you connect to the world around you as you create your best life story on purpose.

Today is week 3 and we’re all about courage. It’s called Little Bites of Bravery. This life hack is about how to tackle the scarier, bigger things in our lives, and Jessica Burrell, owner of Life Amplified is with me for all 3 episodes.

Come with us for a quickie. This one’s about taking it one step at a time.

Tune into the audio program for my discussion with Jess about the importance of being brave - even in small increments.

We talk about things like:

What is Bravery? — the quality or state of having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty.

I first heard the saying “Little bites of bravery,” from Lady Gaga on her interview with Oprah on May 31, 2022; Your Life In Focus Tour

Lady Gaga started the Born This Way Foundation, (Foundation to support mental health) they encourage courage with “Little Bites of Bravery” 

She said, “Just be a little braver every day. If you feel like you can’t do something, just go take a little bite of bravery. I promise you before you know it, you’re taking a big ol’ bite of bravery.”

Be Brave for 10 seconds. What can I step into for 10 seconds? Think about that...

A couple quotes we like on this topic:

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” 

― Nelson Mandela

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” 

― Theodore Roosevelt

Tune in while I tell the story: The Giant

I found this story in the book -Lead with a Story, by Paul Smith. (American Management Association, 2012, Pg 144-145)

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a very bright and trustworthy young woman. Having learned all she could in her own village, she set out to explore the neighboring lands. After some time, she came upon a great city surrounded by a huge castle wall. “Surely I can learn something new from the people here,” she thought to herself. But after entering the city, she found its people too frightened and depressed to share any wisdom. “Why is everyone here so sad?” she asked. One trembling citizen answered, “Today is the day the giant comes.”

“Giant?” she scoffed in disbelief. “There’s no such thing as giants.”;

“Oh, but there is,” came the response. “He stands over 10 feet tall! So tall, he can’t rightly be called a man at all.”

Skeptical, but intrigued, the young woman pleaded, “Tell me more of this giant.”

So the frightened citizen nervously explained to her, “Every year, on the same day, and at the same hour, he comes down from the mountain where he lives. He stands at the edge of the clearing and yells, ‘Send out your bravest man for me to fight, or I will knock down these walls and kill everyone inside!’ Each year, one poor valiant soul steps out to face the giant and there he stands, mesmerized by the giant’s enormity and the impossible task ahead. Every year the giant slays the poor warrior where he stands before he even draws his sword. The warrior doesn’t even move. It’s as if he is hypnotized.”

Eyes wide with fascination, the woman begs, “Can I see this giant?”

“The only way to see the giant,” the citizen explained “is to face him in battle.”

“Eager to learn, the woman responded, “Then that is what I will do.”

Shortly thereafter the voice of the giant rang through the village and the woman stepped out to meet him.

She looked out across the clearing to the edge of the forest at the foothills of the mountain. Sure enough, there stood an enormous giant! For a moment, she just stood and stared at him from a distance. There was a gentle rise in the ground separating the two, so she could only see him from the waist up. It was difficult to tell exactly how big he was, but he was clearly taller than any man she had ever seen or heard of. She was struck with the same awe and terror all of her predecessors surely felt at that moment. The giant was real. Facing him today she would surely die. She considered running back inside the castle walls, but she had given her word to the people to face their giant, so with all the bravery she could muster she began to walk tentatively toward the giant. And, the giant began to walk toward her.

After a few paces up the gentle incline, she gained a full line of sight to the giant and she could see his whole form. With the better angle, she could tell he was not nearly the 10 feet in height she first believed but was perhaps only 7-feet-tall. He was still massive, but at least now in human proportions. She was still no match for him, but at least she would meet her defeat at the hands of something recognizable.

With that element of the unknown removed, she was able to walk at a normal pace and after a few more steps the giant appeared to be smaller still. Was this some strange optical illusion? The giant appeared to be not much bigger than she was now. She might actually have a chance! With this new hope, her pace quickened. And with every step, she could tell it was no illusion. The giant was actually shrinking before her very eyes and the faster she ran, the faster the giant shrank.

Her terror had turned to hope, and now that hope and turned to confidence. Certain of her victory, she was now in an all-out sprint toward the giant. As she reached the middle of the clearing she stopped and stood toe-to-toe with the “giant” who was now only 12 inches tall and still shrinking. She reached down and picked him up in the palm of her hand. She only had time to ask one question before he disappeared. “Who are you?” she said.

The giant responded in a tiny and dwindling voice, “I am known by many names, but to your people I am known as fear.”

We all have fear. That’ is part of being human. There is no shame in recognizing or admitting that. Some of our fears we understand, like self persecution, avoiding rejection, some things scare the hell out of us and we don’t know why, but either way, moving through a meaningful life means we have to face fears, we have to call on courage. Fully becoming means we push past the banshee voices of anxiety, judgment, doom, certain social ostracization, and face our fears with little bites of bravery. 

Throw yourself forward one little step at a time, if that’s all you can muster.

Share this episode and let’s keep up our forward momentum. 

See you in two weeks for the next great episode - it's holiday time. We've got some fun December episodes coming up.

Episode 232: Be an Encourager - Life Hack

Welcome to the LYS Podcast 

November is a set of 3 episodes called 15-minute life hacks. I’m calling the November nudges. Each episode is a quick reminder of a life tool to inspire and help you connect to the world around you as you create your best life story on purpose.

Today is week 2 and we’re all about cheerleading. This life hack is about Being and Encourager and Jessica Burrell, owner of Life Amplified will be here for all 3 episodes.

Come with me for a quickie. This one’s about lifting as we go.

When I started my Next Level training - that was my emotional intelligence training back in 2016, I had no idea what it would entail. I was there because a friend suggested the training for my own personal growth. I’m not here today to list all the things I gained, but one of those things was a personal coach. My coaches, across my program, not only called me out on my fears and complaints, they not only answered my hard questions, they were also cheerleaders. When I said, “It’s too hard,” or “I can’t do it.” they said, “If you say so.” And, I automatically knew it was up to me to change my attitude. But when I was in the struggle to pull up courage, to face fear and self doubt, they would look at me with complete and utter faith. They would help me envision outcomes and create belief. When I doubted, they did not. Oh my heart! What an incredible gift. To find people who will believe and lift you, support you when you need it most.

Join us for the audio program where we talk - short and sweet about the importance of encouraging each other.

Some of the things we talk about:

“You can borrow my belief in you until you can believe it for yourself.” - Jessica’s friend.

We don’t do life alone, and we have chances everyday to make a big difference in people’s lives - in the lives of our families and friends. These moments of cheerleading can make a huge difference in each other’s lives, can cement relationships. We can make history when we cheerlead at the crossroads of people’s dreams.

I heard a story the other day of a little gal that carried glitter in her pockets. When her mom was doing laundry she asked her why there was glitter in her pockets. “Mom,” she said, “you never know when someone needs to be celebrated.”

Clifton Strength Finders: Jessica’s strength is WOO. How many of your have the gift of Winning Others Over by supporting them.

Reminder - in my book LIFE - Living Intentional and Fearless Everyday, the 21-Challenges, Challenge 12 is - Give someone in your SOI hardy encouragement for something they are doing. Do what you can to forward THEIR agenda.

Sometimes this is simple like leaving a podcast review for a podcast you like. Maybe it’s showing up to a ribbon cutting or kick-off party, maybe it’s calling to tell them you know they’ve got what it takes to make their dream happen. Think about the other person, what they are trying to accomplish - how you can support them and what you can contribute to helping them move forward. By small and simple things. 

Whether it’s glitter in your pocket to throw for those spontaneous celebrations, or really standing for someone’s dream. Whether it’s a quick phone call to say, “you can do it,” or creating a killer play-list for someone with all the “take the world by storm” songs, let’s be cheerleaders. 

Of course your challenge this week is to find someone in your SOI that you can cheer on. That you can celebrate. That you can shore up their foundation when they doubt.

LET’S DO THIS! Have a great two weeks, until we meet again.

November is a set of 3 episodes called 15-minute life hacks. I’m calling the November nudges. Each episode is a quick reminder of a life tool to inspire and help you connect to the world around you as you create your best life story on purpose.

 

Today is week 1 and we’re bring you 5 actionable steps for clearing up misunderstandings. This life hack is about communication, and Jessica Burrell, owner of Life Amplified will be here for all 3 episodes.

 

The other day I was at a music festival and most everyone was busy enjoying the music, but one young man walked by the outskirts of the main body screaming into his phone. He REALLY wanted to be heard by the party on the other side.

 

Communication vies for the top rung on the ladder of human struggles. We want so badly to be heard and understood, as does each person we interact with. But we all have different backgrounds, different stories in our minds, different insecurities that trigger hot buttons, different experiences. We all create different stories in our minds about what is going on. This makes clear communication extremely challenging.

 

Add in things like text and email that allow things to be taken out of context. It’s a wonder we are not all constantly misunderstanding. Or, maybe we are.

Join the audio for my discussion with Jessica Burrell, owner of Amplify Your Life as we discuss the 5 steps of having a clearing conversation.

Step 1 - Tell the event without emotion

Step 2 - The stories I made up about myself were...

Step 3 - The stories I made up about you/institution/world were...

Step 4 - I acknowledge my stories and what they created...

Step 5 - In the future I commit to...

 

We share examples about a misunderstanding between Jessica and I; a misunderstanding between Jessica and one of her teammates, we talk about how we create stories in our own minds…. This is one of the most important and self aware aspects of this process.

 

We can all use clearing conversations multiple times a week. We can use them everybody - kids, friends, associates, parents, etc. This is a person-to-person skill set. Ya know, communication skills should have been taught in public schools, but since they aren’t we get to acquire our own communication skills along our individual paths. This one is golden.

 

Your challenge this week is to have a clearing conversation with someone you have a misunderstanding with. Just try it. Let them know you’re trying a new format and have them work with you.

 

I promise - it’s worth it. Please share this with someone - maybe even the someone you want to have the clearing conversation with. We’ll see you in two weeks for the next 15-minute life hack.

Episode 230: Your Story Matters - Interview Amy Chandler

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.

Every once in awhile I find another story practitioner who preaches the same truths I teach. Birds of a feather - another who understands this simple but often overlooked idea of how much our stories matter, how powerful we can be when we realize the power in our stories, and our ability to write them with intention.

Today is one of those days. Amy Chandler is an entrepreneur who helps people become an active agent in their story. She is the founder of a non profit called My Story Matters, that started forming about 15 years ago - one chapter at a time. She understands her mission is to empower people with the tools and resources they need to write their own story. As they do so, they choose to claim and create the future they want to achieve. She knows that within each of us is a unique skill set designed to help us achieve far more than we realize.

Tune into the audio program for our talk - because Amy has been to correctional facilities, in elementary schools, in high schools, all over the place helping people tell their stories, and I think you’ll like hearing about her adventures and seeing what they tell you about the importance of your own story.

I asked Amy questions like:

Amy, let’s start off with what you do in My Story Matters. What exactly do you do and who do you do it with?

In your work, what stories can you share of watching people step into their power as they own their stories?

Let’s talk about intentional living. What is your take on that - specifically about healing? Share any specific story of this happening?

You talk about claiming and creating a life of miracles. What does that mean to you?

One of the quotes you often share is “When we give voice and energy to our war stories they consume us. When we give voice and energy to our champion story it transforms us.” This sounds a lot like what I call - THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES. Let’s talk about this a bit.

I’d really like to hear about what you call, "dealing with life’s detours through the growth zone”

Let’s end with some stories of transformation that you have witnessed as the people you have worked with have stepped up to find, tell, accept their stories.

www.mystorymatters.org

www.safeharborscourse.com

@mystorymatters

Why do our stories matter? I think they matter on multiple levels. They matter to us individually because they are literally the playing out of our lives. They matter to us because we want to have adventure, fun, love, accomplishment, satisfaction, growth. They matter to us because if our lives don’t matter, the foundation of purpose starts to dissolve. Our stories also matter from a simple space of empowerment. When you know who you are and the power you have to create just what you want, you realize you are powerful, you matter, and that ties us into why our stories matter to each other. Our stories matter to each other because we are all in the same giant play. Our characters interact, we benefit from one another, we share with one another, we hurt one another sometimes, we set off domino effects everyday that matter to many people (in kind and positive ways as well as cruel and difficult ways), we shine a light on the way ahead as we share our stories and support one another. No one does life alone, we all need each other, and like it or not, acknowledge it or not, our lives are woven together like a tapestry. We are almost inseparable. Our living, our loving, our growing, our falling down, our being, matters deeply to the world.

Challenge for the week: Take the opportunity to let someone in your life know how much their life affects you.

Share this episode with just one person this week - more if you’re willing to go the extra mile. And remember that Your Story Matters.

Episode 229: Mothering with Intention- Interview Lara Johnson

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. The other day I had a woman approach me and confide that she was a focused and successful career woman before her children, and that she struggles with being with her kids all the time. It felt like her career was fading away and her kids did not afford her the success she felt in the corporate world. She was panicking and felt a bit like she was drowning. We talked a bit about seasons of life, about investing our time in the things we most value, in living our best, personal lives.

Today we are diving into this topic with an expert. Lara Johnson has been married for 14 years, has 3 beautiful tyrants, 2 spicy cats, and a baby on the way. She has the best job in the world helping moms live their lives ON purpose and WITH purpose.

In her free time she likes to grow and kill plants, play with pretty rocks, awkwardly dance in the kitchen, read too many books, and spend time with God, nature, and her family.

As a speaker, podcast host, writer, consultant, and coach, she has helped thousands of moms be in a better mood, play more with their kids, manage their homes better, get their to-do lists done, and answer their purpose with fire in their Souls. Stay tuned for my talk with her and how mothering/ and apply this to fathering as well, can be less stressful and more of what you want.

Can I start with a worry I have? I am always so honored to be a part of sharing the sacred stories of people’s lives. But so often, the triumph comes after the tragedy, the struggle, maybe always….there is no triumph in sitting around and watching TV or in a story that focuses on the easy times of our lives. Therefore, I find that our episodes are often focused on something depressing - an eating disorder, a divorce, mental illness, sexual assault, death, domestic violence….this sounds like dark list, and I can just imagine people saying, geez, I don’t want to tune in to another depressing story, (even though they have happy endings of learning.) So, I’ve tried really hard this year to include lots of positive episodes that focus on creating our life stories on purpose, like the Hero on a Mission series, and noticing and focusing on our happiness in the Practical Happiness episode, or how to Engineer our Lives on purpose, in the Life Engineered episode. Well, today is another of those supportive, live-on-purpose episodes, and this one is about motherhood. How to Mother on purpose in our own unique ways.

Tune in to hear my interview with Lara Johnson where we talk about ideas like:

Lara - first tell us what you do and why you’re qualified to talk to us about this topic.

Motherhood can be a challenge - those of us lucky enough to be mothers have found our way through in different ways. Some moms love babies, some love teens, some love toddlers, some want many kids, some want only one or two, and as we learn and navigate this, we learn who we are and boy is this a workshop for patience and love and joy and things you never imagined. But like all things, we can live reactively or intentionally. Let’s talk about what a reactive MOM life looks like and what a MOM on purpose life looks like.

We all come with different talents and abilities. You say, “Your kids don’t need the best, they just need you.” Do you think our children need specifically what we have to offer?

You have something called Discover Your Purpose - how does that work?

How to Contact Lara Johnson:E: [email protected]

W: larajohnsoncoaching.com

IG: @lara.t.johnson

 

Motherhood is the most influential role played on this planet. It is the creation and nurture of new lives, new hearts, new mindsets. It IS, after all, the creation and nurture of people. So this really big role is given to women - regular women who come with baggage and weaknesses and struggles, but we women also have heart, strength, love, wisdom, and an array of talents. As with anything, we can focus on where we feel we fall short, or we can focus on where we shine, on what we bring to the table. I love the idea that what we bring is what our kids need. I also love the reminder that we can approach all roles in our lives with intention. I did a vision board when my children were young and on it I spelled out the things I wanted to leave with them - a love for the outdoors, a secure base, an ability to be self-sufficient, an understanding of living with values. We approached life with these ideas in mind. I took them hiking and skiing, canoeing and canyoneering. I taught them to do their own laundry, they contributed through daily chores as they learned how to do things. I’ve always had their back, and I support them the best I can as they try things, as they succeed, as they fail. I have tried to create a home of safety, good books, good movies, education. When they were small I’d subscribe them to National Geographic kids and we’d watch videos about the Book of Virtues and living well. I’d say that was all very intentional. I’m a bit of a tomboy and I only had boys, which I think is how it should be. I’ve never been able to picture myself doing a little girl’s hair or tolerating a shopaholic or emotional frenzy. Drama, not my thing. So I hope my boys were with me because I was what they need/needed. As we leave today, if you haven’t already, think about how much of your mothering is reactionary, and how much of it is on purpose. Then maybe choose something you can intentionally do with your children that will create something you want to create with them. Your time with your children is an investment, always an investment.

Please share this episode with one other mother that you know. We’ll see you in two weeks.

Episode 228: The Stewardship Principle - Interview Ganel-Lyn Condie

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.

“When was the last time you experienced a major shift in your perspective? A moment when you learned something that changed your paradigm so significantly that the way you once saw things is forever altered with a new viewpoint?” So begins the book, “The Stewardship Principle,” by Ganel-Lyn Condie

Tune into the audio program because today Ganel-Lyn is on the show to take us deeper into what that paradigm shift is, and I for one, needed the shift.

Ganel-Lyn Condie is a popular motivational speaker – she inspires with her unique honesty, authenticity and spirit. She is dedicated to her family, faith, and inspiring others. Ganel-Lyn has experienced healing from a major chronic illness and is the mother to two miracle children. After the heart-breaking suicide of her 40 year old sister, Ganel-Lyn is constantly working towards suicide prevention. Ganel-Lyn lives with an open heart and feels passionate about sharing principles that will empower others to live life with more joy. She is a regular television/radio guest, and hosts the popular shows REAL TALK CFM and THE MIDDLE. Ganel-Lyn’s talks and books have now encouraged thousands of people all over the world.

 

Connect with Ganel-Lyn:

Facebook - Real Talk: https://www.facebook.com/groups/realtalkcfm/?multi_permalinks=775617246659046¬if_id=1621479650343120¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

Website: www.ganellyn.com

Instagram - The Middle: https://www.instagram.com/third.hour/

Buy her book the Stewardship Principe: https://ganellyn.com/products/

 

Click to listen to the interview:

Here are some of my main take-aways from this concept: A. Everything is on loan to us from God, so we can talk with him about how he wants us to handle our stewardships. B. Success is about our process and efforts, not necessarily about the outcome. C. Our stewardships - the good and the bad are tailor made for us, so don’t bother with comparison. D. This whole process of stewarding is what the path to being more like God looks like.

This week's challenge: What are you struggling with right now in your life - a child? a relationship? a health issue? Your challenge this week is to shift your mindset from owning this to one of stewardship over it. How does this lighten the load? How does this bring hope?

Thanks for being with us. Please share this episode - it’s a couple clicks on your phone to message it to someone you know, and spread the love, joy and understanding around creating your best life on purpose.

Episode 227: Blooming - Interview Carrington Smith

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. The most beautiful flowers and plants bloom with fertilizer, water, and light.

Today’s guest, Carrington Smith, says in her book, “I had been told to shut up and not tell my story. It makes people feel uncomfortable. But the truth is that my power, my secret weapons, my gifts are IN my stories. That is where I discovered the authentic me - where I discovered the gifts, the buried treasure - in all the shit (which turns out to be fertilizer). It is in the debris of life, in the fire, that I found out who I was and what I was made of.

Tune in for my interview with Carrington to hear her story and the process of blooming.

Carrington Smith is the author of Blooming: Finding Gifts in the Shit of Life. Despite being born into a legacy of wealth, life was not so kind to her. Carrington has survived childhood abuse, sexual assault, two divorces, mountains of debt, religious manipulation, and the loss of close friends. In her bestselling, debut memoir, she combines her wit with wisdom to share her journey from trauma to triumph. Today, with a shift in mindset, she lives a life filled with joy, opportunity, and purpose.

We talk about her story at home - Everyone’s story starts at home. You spend a number of chapters giving your background with your family, the incident with you father and the bike ride, the toilet incident at church, your mother’s response to your rape - these stories set a scene of a childhood that was traumatic and unsupportive. Can you share some of these most pivotal stories with us and then let’s talk about what gifts these held for you.

Let’s talk about the importance of owning our stories. In your experience, how did you do this? What was the power behind owning your whole messy story?

 

 

Carrington-Smith.com

+1(512)627-7467

in/CarrieSmithTrabue

@CarringtonATX

 

In each of the interviews on the love your story show, our purpose is to share the stories of our lives and learn from one another how we got through them - that’s what stories do, they inspire and teach. Carrington’s book more or less sums up what we are doing here on every show - listening and learning how to bloom despite the hard stuff. But I think we’re far enough along here to note that in the end, we can really thrive BECAUSE of the hard stuff we go through. We learn who we are as our character unfolds and we learn and grow. We become strong because we had to. We become empathetic because we now understand things we didn’t know before the fertilizer got shoveled our way. We become resilient because we learned to bounce back and regroup. We bloom BECAUSE of the fertilizer. It’s a rough game, and it’s one we often want to tap out of, but understanding how it’s played, can help a lot when the growth spurts happen.

Your challenge this week is to choose one of your past challenges - something really tough you went through, and to journal at least 1 page about what you gained from that experience. Just let it free flow as you write, and by the end you’ll be able to dig through and find the gifts.

Have a beautiful week and share this, right now, with someone in your life who is struggling. We’ll let the show remind them that there are gifts to be found in the hard stuff.

See you in two weeks.

Episode 226: Life is Hard, But I'll Be Okay - Interview Johnny Sirpilla

Welcome to the LYS Podcast. Today’s story is of Johnny Sirpilla, his wife Susan, their struggle with infertility, the death of their triplets, and the power of hope, coming through pain, and learning to live with gratitude.

 

Johnny Sirpilla, founder of Encourage, LLC, and author of Life is Hard, But I’ll Be OK, he is a professional speaker to businesses, communities and universities, about managing thoughts, leading yourself to productive choices and framing each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-reflection and growth.

 

Right up our alley.

I want to start with a couple reviews of Johnny Sirpilla’s book - Life is Hard but I’ll Be Ok.

 

Dr. Nido Qubein, President of High Point University, says…

“He has written a book to help anyone deal head-on with any struggle they face so they can become more resilient, eventually heal, and find beauty in the hardship, the silver lining in a dark cloud.”

 

Srini Pillay, M.D., Harvard-trained psychiatrist, said,

“Johnny Sirpilla takes us on a journey through adversity and reminds us that anyone who is falling apart can put themselves together again at a higher level. With a heartwarming style of writing, he reminds us to find the blessings in our struggles and to explore our shadow selves so that we can live in a more whole and self-forgiving way. Touched by magic himself, Sirpilla will remind you that your own magic is more within your reach than you think. A profoundly touching page turner, this book is a must read.”

 

Tune in to hear my conversation with Johnny as he shares his story and what he's learned.

encourage33.com

LinkedIn - Johnny-Sirpilla

 

In a talk by Elder Larry S. Kacher, a Seventy in the LDS Church, called Ladder of Faith, Elder Kacher illustrates what we’ve seen in the Sirpilla’s story. (The Sirpilla family are members of the Catholic church.)

 

He asks the question, “How will life’s challenges affect our faith in Jesus Christ? And what effect will our faith have on the joy and peace we experience in this life?”

 

Johnny’s story, and their faith, is a prime example of this - choosing faith has allowed them to find peace.

 

Elder Kacher goes on, “Accepting God’s will in place of our own is key to finding joy no matter the circumstances….our faith in him, can and will, guide us through the complexities of life. Indeed we find that there is simplicity on the other side of life’s complexities as we remain steadfast in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope.”

This story Johnny has shared today, is one of resilience and the power of managing thoughts to seek gratitude when life is hard - I hope you have found a light in his experience that will shine on your own path.  Remember that though life can be hard, you can be okay.

Please share this episode with someone you think would benefit from hearing it. We’ll see you in two weeks for the next episode of the Love Your Story podcast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 225: Wonders and Miracles - Interview Liza Lawrence

Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.”

Miracles - what are they? I suggest that miracles are things that we don’t yet know how to explain. They are events or happenings that go beyond what we can do for ourselves. We often beg for miracles, search for miracles, or manifest miracles by our faith.

One thing I found really interesting about Christ’s ministry, is that before he did any miracle he said to the person, “Be it unto you according to your faith.” I find that fascinating. According to this, I draw the conclusion that first one must believe before miracles occur.

Today I’ve invited Liza Laurence to the show - she is the host of the Wonders and Miracles podcast, to discuss her thoughts on miracles and some of the incredible ones she has heard, and then I’m going to share clips from 3 past podcasts, where my interviewees share some pretty miraculous experiences.

Tune into the audio program to hear it straight from the people who are kind and brave enough to share their personal experiences.

Do you believe God can do miracles? Do you believe you can create miracles because you believe strongly in a course of action? That belief in God, in ourselves, in the power of Universal law working for our good, despite our current limited understanding, seems to be crucial in the manifestation of miracles. Today’s discussion brings awareness to some unusual, even inexplicable things that create awe and wonder. Magic.

Let’s welcome Liza Laurence, the host of the Wonders and Miracles podcast.

Join us to hear Liza answer questions like:

1. What do you think is the definition of a miracle?

2. How many miracles have you shared with the guests on your podcast? How many episodes do you have up?

3. What are your top 3 miracles you were most awed in hearing?

4. Why do you do an entire podcast about miracles?

 

 

[email protected],

Podcast: Wonders and Miracles - www.wondersandmiracles.com

 

 

As I re-listen to past podcasts I notice miracles. Personal miracles that go on in people’s lives as they create, as they go through tough times, as they heal. Today I wanted to share a couple clips -

In episode 182, my interview with Richard Paul Evans, we talk about just a few of the miraculous events that happened as the book Christmas Box came together, but one of the sections I found most interesting was the way these little orbs of light followed him around as he spoke with people -

Tune in for clips from that interview.

The first year of the show we did a feature on the search for Annie Schmidt, daughter of Jon Schmidt from the popular group, The Piano Guys. I spoke with 3 people for this 3 part series, on of which was her mother. To say that miracles abounded in this search for her missing daughter is an understatement, but today I share one clip where Annie spoke to her mother after her death. (For the whole incredible story go to loveyourstorypodcast.com and listen to episodes 73-75.

Tune in to hear miracles from this search.

In episode 187, Deb Atella shares her own story of a lost loved one coming back to help her when she was hospitalized with a life and death hemorrhage.

Tune in to hear her story.

I think there are lots of kinds of miracles - Miracles we manifest with our faith, miracles that are just a hug from God - tender mercies, the miracles of angels around us, and serendipity moments. If you want to listen to more miracles, episode 10 of this podcast shared a whole pile of serendipitous and miraculous experiences. Go back and get the goods!

When you stop and focus on miracles, you can’t help but feel that God and the universe have your back. We begin to realize how little we truly understand, how much more there is to learn, and how abundant the universe is.

If you have a miracle story you want to share, you can contact Liza at wondersandmiracles.com.

This week, your challenge is to pay attention to the wonders in your life. To notice God in his abundance and generosity, train your eyes to see the magic and just sit with the idea that there is more than we understand and good things are afoot.

Thanks for being here.