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

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. Let me start with a story:

A Native American story tells about how god gathered his animal advisers together to help him decide where to hide the Secret to a Happy Life from humans. 

He first asked the Eagle, “Where shall I put it?” 

The Eagle answered, “I shall hide it at the top of the highest mountain. Man will never find it there.” 

God considered this but decided against it. “One day, Man will go there,” he said. 

Next, he asked the Clam, “Where shall I put it, little Clam?” “I will hide it at the bottom of the deepest ocean,” the Clam answered.

This seemed like a better idea, but the Lord hesitated again. 

“Man will go there someday,” he said after some thought. Then the wise Owl stepped forward. “Though I regretfully cannot take it there myself,” he intoned, “perhaps you ought to hide the secret on the moon.” 

After considering this, God finally came to the same conclu- sion as before: “No. There, too, Man shall go.” 

After some period of reflection, the humble Opossum came forward. “Perhaps,” he said, so softly that he could barely be heard, “the secret should be hidden in the heart of Man.” There was an awed silence among the animals. 

Finally, the Lord spoke: “Yes, cunning Opossum, that will be the last place Man will look.” 

This story reminds us of something that we already know but are often reluctant to embrace: Our happiness is inside us. The challenge is knowing how to find it. 

This story is shared from the introduction of the book, Practical Happiness, by Pamela Gail Johnson who is here today with me on the show. 

Tune into the audio program where we are talking about personal happiness. The individual nature of it all, and what makes YOU happy. 

Today on the show I have the founder of the Society of Happy People, and the author of Practical Happiness here to support us in intentionally creating our own happy spaces. 

Pamela Gail Johnson has helped people understand, expand, and rethink their happiness mindset since 1998, when she found the Society of Happy People. As a mostly happy person, she asked herself, where are all the happy people? She decided they needed their own tribe. Are you one of her tribe, or would you like to be? Yes, of course, who doesn’t want to be part of the happiness people tribe.

She has started 3 happiness holidays and her new book “Practical Happiness: Four principles to Improve Your Life.”

Tune in to the audio program to hear my conversation with Pamela.

As I’ve considered happiness in my own life - I have my own 4 ingredients to happiness: I have determined that happiness is comprised of 1. purpose - without purpose most people are unhappy and unmoored. And, 2. people - we need healthy personal relationships. 3. Gratitude, where we don’t ignore all the great blessings in our lives. Gratitude makes you feel like the universe has your back. 4. Fun - whatever is fun for you.

Our brains are hardwired to quickly recognize and help us get away from things that can hurt us. This goes back to our caveman days, when we had to protect ourselves from gigantic, hairy, scary creatures and such. Our brains evolved to help us recognize danger and keep us safe. That’s why it’s always easier, and maybe even more natural, for us to see what’s wrong before we can see what’s right. Having a positive outlook usually requires a conscious effort until it becomes a habit or our go-to mindset. Practice this mindset. Look for what is going right.

Your challenge for this week is to look for what is going right in your life right now. Take 5 minutes, sometime this week, and write a list of the things that make you smile. Then, I want you to put the list someplace where you can see it regularly, and make sure that you’re including those happy things in your days. Look for the good, acknowledge the good, celebrate the good, enjoy the good. Roll around in the good!

Please share this podcast with all the people in your life that could use a happy thought this morning. It’s easy to hit share on your podcast app and just text them a copy. Do a little good in the world by sharing the good.

See you in two weeks for our next episode.

Rumi said, “The wound is the place the light enters you.”

I love this gorgeous truth, the poetry of it, the truth in it, the hope of it. 

In our times of suffering and trial it is often hard to see the purpose. Instead it’s the “why me?’ It’s the visceral jerking away from pain, it’s the scream. But if we realize that this too shall pass, and in its wake will be strength and color we don’t yet understand, we can hold to hope. 

Join me today for insight from a war hostage, a woman who was hit by a car and had her leg paralyzed, and from a man who recovered from a truly traumatic childhood into an engineer of lives, too see how the wound is the place that the light enters you, and the importance of trusting the process. 

I want to start with 4 truths today:

1. 
   
3. You can’t get past the past until you accept it. 
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5. 
   
7. The process of growth is pushing past one wall after another, and often those walls are painful.
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9. 
   
11. Failure is feedback. It teaches us what not to do. 
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14. Don’t stare at the error too long. Move past it, move along and use the information. 
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16. 
    
17. 
    
19. Create a supportive story to go along with the learning: Which story is better?
20. 
    

A. I was treated unfairly and I feel shame about not being enough, or not succeeding as I expected, or God is unjust and cruel, or life is a bitch and then you die, or …

B. I learned _____________. I trust there is a reason for this experience.

I was listening to Oprah’s Interview, on her podcast Super Soul, with Elizabeth Gilbert. I have to say i was really impressed with Elizabeth and how centered she was. So calm, and the attitude was incredible. Let me tell you why - 

Oprah was commenting on the the space in Elizabeth’s life - She’s the one that wrote “Eat, Love, Pray” - when she left her husband and got news that her best friend had a lethal cancer, and she discovered in that moment that she actually was in love with her best friend. She went to her bedside to walk the path of death with her, which was heart wrenching on multiple levels, but the mindset that Elizabeth had was just inspiring.  She said, “I came here to  live a life fully, so I will take all of it. I came here to do this, I want the whole ride.” She said, “Even in the worst moments I knew this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

In the worst times she looks at, “What am I being asked to learn or do right now?” “Why is this being offered to me in this amount of pain?”

Her willingness to feel deeply, to feel the whole range and depth of emotions that living provides for us was so brave. So advanced. 

Most of us shy away from pain. We don’t want that range of emotions - I do for sure, but listening to her courage at facing all there was to get out of the experience of living, I was just impressed. I wanted to follow her around and become her disciple. 

Something else I really got out of this was that she didn’t try to blame the hard times on God, or question her own worthiness because of her struggle, she simply accepted it as the process of living, and granted herself huge amounts of mercy. No shame in the process of —-I landed here in the wrong marriage or the wrong job, or here we go again, or ..… She says, Go to mercy for yourself, not to shame or judgement, and keep doing your best.

She pointed out that we don’t have to know how to get through a thing, but you square your shoulders and you walk through it. You are good enough. YOU CAN DO IT.

I can’t say I have ever heard a braver approach to living - to be able to honestly embrace the whole emotional spectrum as an experiential learning space. 

I’m going to share 3 clips from 3 people who have learned, through their own struggle, that the dark days hold gifts.

Tune into the audio program to hear from:

Episode 218 - Rusty Lindquist: Life Engineered

Sister Susan H. Porter, First Councilor in the Primary General Presidency in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said, "God’s love is not found in the circumstances of our lives but in His presence in our lives."

It seems a common mindset to believe that if I am living right that bad things shouldn’t happen to me….my brother felt that deeply and it unmoored him when real life happened. 

It’s clear that God lets us go through hard things, but that if we call on him and pay attention, if we allow him to walk with us there will be support, comfort, added strength, and a turning of the events of our lives for our best. God can orchestrate a great deal of good from what appears to be a pile of bad.

1. 
   
3. Episode 83 - Wendy Garrett - Life is Tough, but I am Tougher
4. 
   

Wendy Garrett was a gymnast. She was struck by an automobile and one of her legs was paralyzed. While her gymnastics career was over, this led her to a different life of running marathons all over the world. Why is she glad this happened to her?

3. Episode 160 - Jo Marie Taylor: How being a hostage set her free.

On 2 August 1990 at 2:00 am, local time, Iraq launched an invasion of Kuwait with four elite Iraqi Republican Guard Division and Iraqi Army Special Forces. The main thrust was conducted by the commandos deployed by helicopters and boats to attack Kuwait City while the other divisions seized the airports and two airbases. Kuwait didn’t stand for long and the Iraqi invasion quickly turned into a take-over. JoMarie Taylor, an American, was visiting Kuwait with her Kuwaiti husband found herself a hostage in the country, hiding and navigating the fear and daily threat of death; watching the destruction, rape, murder and mayhem of the invasion – all this challenged the way she thought about life, but what it taught her was to Trust the process. There is a purpose to our sufferings and sometimes it takes a long time to see, but when the tapestry is turned over, the design will be beautiful.

From these three interviews I’m hearing - 1. Sometimes things need to happen the way they happen 2. We can’t always see the big picture but God can turn our struggles for our good, and believing in that can give us the ability to trust the process until we do see it. 3. Accepting our stories and choosing to let them make us better rather than bitter is a choice we are in control of.

Thanks for being here today. Remember that you can find more wonderful episodes on loveyourstorypodcast.com, you can buy your Love Your Story-shirt or get your copy of LIFE - Living Intentional and Fearless Everyday on the website.

I’d sure appreciate your reviews and hearing from you. See you in two weeks for the next episode.  

Donald Miller says, in his book,  Hero On A Mission, “Life is a beautiful experience and we get to participate in making it so….the idea that fate writes our story is a lie. We do not suffer fate, we partner with fate to write a story generated from our own God-given creativity and agency. And that story can be more than interesting, it can be meaningful.”

Part 2 in this 2-part series puts Jessica Burrell and host Lori Lee in the hot seat to discuss when they have sourced all these energy types:

Let’s have a little fun today and talk about what these roles look like in our own lives - Jessica and I will be the guinne pigs. As we do this we can start to be more aware of what energy we are sourcing in our lives, and with that awareness, create life stories with more intention and understanding. 

Hero energy is where you take responsibility for your responses to life. A hero moves forward.

When have you been sourcing Hero energy?

Listen to the audio program to hear both responses.

Victim energy is when you feel you have no way out. A victim gives up because they believe they are doomed. No one moves it forward. Life is hard, fate is against me.

When have you sourced Victim energy?

Listen to the audio program to hear both responses.

Note - If the story is going to work, the hero must not source victim energy.

If we find we are sourcing victim energy and feel shame, we move into the villain character who attacks the victim inside us. Don’t do that either. 

When Donald brought that up, I thought that was super interesting, that we could be a villain to ourselves.

Let’s talk about the villain: We want to make sure we/ the hero doesn’t source villain energy. 

How is the hero responding to their challenge? When they are insulted, how do they react, when they feel all is lost, do they lash out like a villain?

When have you sourced Villain energy in your life?

Listen to the audio program to hear both responses.

The story is about the transformation of the hero, the guide is the most respected and wise in the story - like Yoda for Luke, or Haimich for Katniss in the Hunger Games, or Gandolf in Lord of the Rings. When we are the guide - we sacrifice ourselves for another. 

When have you sourced guide energy?

Listen to the audio program to hear both responses.

To buy Hero On A Mission:

https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Mission-Path-Meaningful-Life/dp/B09128GM6X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23XV87SEK24U5&keywords=Hero+on+a+mission&qid=1653058903&sprefix=hero+on+a+missio%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-1

To contact Jessica Burrell:

[email protected]

Life forces us to live a story. It’s not a choice. We can moan and rage and create a victim or villain story, OR we can create a path of transformation in our life. A path to meaning. A path to transformation.

So much of this is about our identity and who we believe we are. Do we believe we are helpless (victim)? Do we believe other people are small (villain)? Do we believe we are in control and can transform and change - growth mindset - hero energy? Are we willing to guide, with wisdom and selflessness, when needed? 

In stories, pain is the only way that heroes transform and become the better versions of themselves. 

Pain is the force that transforms us. There is a redemptive perspective of pain. We must take the thing that hurt us and shape it into an inner strength. Pick up the pain and turn it into something useful. Victims can heal into heroes and heroes can strengthen into guides.

Humans are designed to change. Healthy people learn from their mistakes. That’s a lot of hope. We hope you've learned some things about yourself, about your story, and about the possibility for engaging with the energy you want, on purpose.

Thanks for being here. Share this episode with your friends and family

*Additional music by Kevin MacLeod

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast! Today’s episode is a double whammy of goodness because we are going to be discussing some really fun ideas for moving our lives forward, from Donald Miller’s book - Hero on a Mission, and we’re doing it with Jessica Burrell, the owner of Amplify Your Vision, the fabulous transformational coach.

Do you want your life story to be as meaningful as possible? Are you willing to take responsibility for your own life story? 

The good life stories take work. Our lives have a beginning, middle and end - like a story. We play many roles - friends, husband, wife, son, daughter, teacher, learner etc. - we are multi-dimensional characters. But within our story there are times we also play the role of the villian, the victim, the hero and hopefully the guide.

But before we go there, we first need to talk about our own power and responsibility. This brings us to - Who is writing your story? Do you think fate is responsible for where you are, for how your story turns out? Do you believe others, who act upon you, determine the storyline? Is it God that writes our story? As Donald Miller says in his book, if it’s fate or God they are doing a very unfair job.

In Hero on a Mission, Donald Miller says, “What if God has created the scene - the sunset, the sunrise, the ocean, the mountains. He has set the scene for US to create within. The broken nature of life is a fact. But, we have been given a pen to write our way within it. 

It felt right when he said, God isn’t writing your story, Fate isn’t writing your story, there has rather, been a space created for you to pick up the pen and write the meaning into your own story. We get to decide if we use colorful sparkle pens, we get to decide what we focus on, who we want to become, how WE choose to deal with the natural tragedies that arise from a world full of crazy. This is the gift of agency. You alone have the responsibility to shape your life into something meaningful. To learn from the setbacks and pain, to create with intention.

Tune in to the audio program for an interesting discussion about what it looks like when we play the hero, victim, villain and the guide. What energy are you sourcing?

Let’s start with a little definition and explanation:

Heroes are victims going through the process of transformation.

Victims believe they are buffeted by circumstances and they have no power in their own lives. They often give up, surrender to fate, believe they are doomed.

The Villain makes others small. They don’t seek transformation, they seek revenge.

The Guide helps the hero. The hero does not transform alone - we all have help. Lots of help. The hero doesn’t know how to do it all, because they are in the process of transformation. Here’s the cool part…the pain transforms a hero into a guide for others.

Donald Miller says, in the book, “Life is a beautiful experience and we get to participate in making it so….the idea that fate writes our story is a lie. We do not suffer fate, we partner with fate to write a story generated from our own God-given creativity and agency. And that story can be more than interesting, it can be meaningful.”

Join us for Part 2 as we discuss our personal times of sourcing the hero, villain, victim and guide energy.

To buy the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Hero-Mission-Path-Meaningful-Life/dp/B09128GM6X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VH6LCREL2CE&keywords=Hero+on+a+Mission&qid=1653005991&sprefix=hero+on+a+mission%2Caps%2C275&sr=8-1

See you in two weeks.

When a marriage fails, a friendship terminates, we find new wrinkles and new sagging skin, we lose a job or lose a beloved pet, the facts of impermanence stare, unblinking, at us. While logically we can acknowledge that impermanence is a matter of fact, a fact of life, it is also something we fear. We fear losing our youth, people and pets we love, a job that helps us define who we are, a way of life, wealth, etc. With that fear comes suffering. Learning to let go….that’s what we are talking about today.

Today’s episode is about Death with a little d. I’ve called in our death specialist, Margaret Meloni, but we aren’t talking about dealing with the death of our loved ones or ourselves today, more about the death of less crucial things. And we are having this discussion because a section of the road to enlightenment is living with more peace and less fear, and impermanence is one of those things we get to understand better.

Tune in for what this looks like in real life and maybe come away with a new coping skill.

Margaret Meloni is used to talking about death. In fact, her second book recently hit the book stands, Sitting With Death: Buddhist Insights to Help You Face Your Fears and Live a Peaceful Life. Her first book, Carpooling with Death, was highlighted in episode 146 of the Love Your Story podcast. But I don’t want to talk about Death with a big D today. Refer back to that episode for that discussion. 

Today I want to talk about impermanence. Margaret’s second season on her podcast, Death Dhamma, she is focusing on death with a little d. - the impermanence of all things and with the ability to accept that impermanence we increase the ability to create less painful life stories. So we’ll learn how to navigate the inevitability of change today.

In the audio program we'll discuss ideas like:

Can you tell us a little about how you got into the study of death?

What is death with a little “d”?

Let’s talk about the idea of impermanence. How do you define it? What does it look like in our lives? How do we accept it?

Things that we can expect to be impermanent: relationships, health, jobs, etc. What would you add to this list?

Shelley Knight said, “We are all grieving something. When we talk about grief people think it’s the death of a loved one and it’s not just that – that’s bereavement. Grief is the loss of anything with which you have an emotional connection. It could be your health, a relationship, a dream, your self-confidence, or something else. We don’t need to hide it. We need to normalize it.”

In your discussions on your podcast regarding this topic - what insight/story has stuck with you the most?

Let’s talk about: pain+resistance = suffering. Does the acceptance of impermanence help us with resistance and thus reduce our suffering? There are lots of real feelings to deal with when we lose something important to us. 

What do you think is the most helpful Buddhist teaching regarding impermanence and dealing with it?

In your blog post - Master Improvisation, Master Impermanence, you talk about the rules of good improv. 

“All you need to know is that there will be death, in that awareness there will be peace.” - Margaret Meloni

To Contact Margaret:

Social Media

https://twitter.com/MargaretMeloni

https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaretmeloni/

https://www.facebook.com/DeathDhamma

https://www.facebook.com/groups/962871121024043

Website:

https://www.margaretmeloni.com/

What are you grieving the loss of in your life. Maybe it’s as simple as the loss of an expectation - you expected a marriage to be happily ever after, you expected a friend to be loyal, you expected a party you threw to turn out differently. Your challenge this week is to consider the importance of things as a whole in your life. Take a deep breath and accept that inevitability. Sit with it for as long as you need, and when you are ready, stand up and live more fully into those things you love because they won’t be around forever. Life is change.

Who loves this podcast? Will you please scroll down your app and leave us a review. Tell us your favorite thing about the show.

Have a great 2 weeks. 

Have a great 2 weeks creating your best life - every step counts.

For all my Love Your Story listeners, you know the premise of the podcast is that we are living our story and while our backstories may be messy, coming to love and accept them is crucial to self-love and acceptance and to moving forward in a healthy way. We also constantly talk about the fact that since our lives are an unfolding story, and we have agency and intellect, we can, if we choose, control that story, we can shift directions at any time. We understand that the stories we tell ourselves determine what we believe, how we see the world, how we see ourselves - and those are powerful things, because they, in turn, determine our very lives. I have a question - do you get this in theory, or do you REALLY get it and put it into action?

Stay tuned — On today's show I have Mary Alice Arthur, a woman who has spent her life as a story activist helping people to understand this, and to empower them to use this power that we all have. She is the author of 365 Alive - Find your voice, Claim your Story. Live Your Brilliant Life. And she has travelled the world goin gin and out of organizations, systems and cultures working with groups and individuals helping them realize that story is the secret superpower of humanity.

Back to my question - do you REALLY get the super power you have within the story you are living? Do you use that super power with intention? Maybe you’re just starting to understand it. …. Well, if you really get it, then you begin to use your power to track the stories you are telling yourself. To determine which stories are lifting you, and which ones are holding you down. Then, with that information, you start to purposefully and intelligently make room for the stories that support and empower you. You become aware of the damage stories can have as well, and you realize you can purposefully extract the destruction, you don't have to make space for it, or feed it. So….Today’s show is particularly exciting because we have a guest who is going to give us more know-how, more insight, and actual things we can do to understand and embrace this power that lies within our mind and spirit, so we can create our best life story with intention.

Mary Alice, welcome to the show!! 

I want to start with a quote from you, “The stories you tell yourself influence whether you feel powerless or powerful, color how you define success and happiness, underpin eery action you take. When you wake up to the stories at work in for life you suddenly step into the position of power. Story stops being what defines you and becomes your ally.”

We want to make story our ally. We want to more fully understand the position of power we have with story. 

How do you help people understand the subjectiveness of story, and the power the stories we tell ourselves have in how our lives unfold?

When I read the Harry Potter books I would think, man, why doesn’t Harry study harder? If you knew you had that kind of power, why wouldn’t you figure out how to use it? Really practice… but in real life we do have power - amazing power that few of us take the time and effort to tap in to. 

Tune into the audio program to hear our conversation about the most important story in the world and how we can use it to support ourselves.

To contact Mary Alice:

365live.org

www.getsoaring.com

[email protected]

We’ve already had a lot to think about in this episode, so I’ll just end with the challenge - get clear on your own story. Pinpoint one area of your life that isn’t working for you as well as you’d like and take an honest look around the stories you are telling yourself, the stories others are creating for you, and determine how you could shift that story, look at it from a different angle, focus on what was learned instead of negative emotion, consider other perspectives, what would it look like to experiment with changes in the stories you’re telling so they could serve you. 

I know it’s hard work, but we can do hard things, especially when there is so much riding on it. 

Like Harry Potter learning to use his magic, sometimes the process is slow, but one step at a time, we make progress. Take a step this week.

Thanks for being here - share this episode with someone it will bless. Do a little good in the world by sharing a link. See you in two weeks for our next episode. 

Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.

Today we are talking about Resilience - let’s define it: Resilence is “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.”

Lynn G. Robbins, a leader in the LDS church shared, “During my visit to Brigham Young University–Idaho in the fall of 2017, the school’s new president, Henry J. Eyring, told me that his foremost concern was the high dropout rate of college freshmen. Students leave college for a variety of reasons, but a lack of resilience is one of the leading reasons that many universities across the United States are experiencing this same challenge.”

He then mentioned that the military is noticing the same thing:

“Discovering a lack of resilience among its recruits, the U.S. Army started offering the Master Resilience Training (MRT) program to fortify soldiers against the stress, demands, and hardships of military service.”

Colleges, military, these are just a few places where this lack of resilience is being noted among us.

So let’s have a conversation….

University, the Military, Covid - these things are not causing the lack of resiliency, they are just exposing it. How do we become more resilient?’’

Stay tuned for a look at resiliency and the keys we need to help us bounce back.

Lower resilience among today’s youth may be caused by a number of things - I’ll throw a few out:

1. Less physical activity (read too much device time), so the don’t know how to push through resistance.
2. Impatience in a world of instant gratification. Resilience is developed in great part through the virtue of patience.
3. Protection from rough seas. “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”

While the reasons are important so we can start making changes, what I want to talk about today is what resiliency looks like.

Is it just me, or have you also noticed, as we listen to the incredible life stories shared on this podcast, that one thing constantly pops up, a cross roads. This cross roads, in all our lives, may come up over and over, but that’s why it’s even more important to be aware of it. It is the cross roads of choosing victimhood/blame/depression and giving-up OR choosing growth/overcoming and keep on, keeping on.

This cross roads is a sacred place. It’s a place where the human soul does its hardest work. It is not a place to be taken lightly or to be talked about lightly. It is not the cause of the struggle, it is the choice in the struggle.

Today we talk about resiliency - because as Steve Goodier said, “My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.” 

I start out with this quote because I think when we are deep in the struggle that this becomes and important thing to remember. It might feel like life is unfair and you’re getting the shit kicked out of you, but someday it will be this process and what you do with it that create your character and your strength.

On today’s show we’ll hear from 3 people, clips of their stories and how they navigated the horrible spaces of paralysis from a rodeo accident, walking again after a bike/SUV collision, and taking back life after sexual abuse, and a deep emersion in alcoholic households. 

We all have our own path with our own difficult struggles - no one’s is the same….but what is the same is the importance of resiliency. This one thing determines whether you make it through, and how you show up on the other side. 

What does resiliency look like? It’s always best to look at real life examples: So I’m dipping into 3 past interviews.

We’ll hear some tips for sure, but as I listen to stories on the podcast, over and over, ONE thing that pops out front and center - ALWAYS —as the key to resiliency— is ATTITUDE. Resiliency is determine by how we respond to hard things.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.”

“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” -- Maya Angelou

“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” -- Gever Tulles

There is no end to the quotes about this fact of life - when we are beat down to the very bottom of what we feel we can handle, that is the time where the choice becomes crucial. Attitude, even if you can only start with a small hope, will put us on the path of residency.

In Episode 166 - Braxton Nielsen - Born to Succeed, was always interested in rodeo, Braxton placed 8th in the nation in 2017 and then went pro. His dream of becoming a world champion bareback rider was getting closer and closer, but life happened and after the accident Braxton was given less than a 5% chance of walking again. 

Five fused vertebrae’s, two rods, eight screws, numbness in his right leg and can’t feel his left foot. Recover is a long road, but stay tuned today to hear about his journey and to soak in some of that positive attitude that Braxton exudes as he talks about life.

Tune into the audio program to hear his clip

In Episode 168 - Michael O’Brien speaking about how he survived the morning of July 11, 2001 (more about that in a minute) said,

 “If we want to create the lives we want to create, it is all emotional labor.” —Michael O’Brien

So, on the morning of July 11, 2001, Michael O’Brien, an avid cyclist, was riding his bicycle on a New Mexico road when an SUV hit him head-on going 40 mph. The crushing accident left him near death as the mede-vac helicopter descended to take his broken body to be pieced back together. Today Michael is with us and will take us to the darkness of his accident and the long, slow road to recovery, but he’ll also take us to his shift – the moment when he decided it was the power of his mind that would decide the rest of his life. It wasn’t the tragedy that would define him, but how he responded to the tragedy.

Tune into the audio program to hear his clip.

Bethany Wallace in episode 151 - Finding Your Way to Healing, talks to us about her story of how she overcame, forgave, learned and took action after being sexually assaulted multi times and living in Beverly alcoholic households. 

Tune into the program to hear her clip.

Her journey in resiliency was supported by gratitude and the power to choose. She has spent the past 12 years taking actions, often in spite of her feelings, to become a healthier person.

As we close this discussion, let’s revisit the what it takes: 1. A positive mindset/attitude 2. hard work - a willingness to not give up. 3. Support from others. Don’t forget to reach out, to get support, to allow the humanness of the process

Your challenge this week is to look at your challenges and your attitude about them. Where are you and how can you shift it to a more positive space?

Share this episode with anyone who may benefit - Just copy the link and email it, or hit share episode on your app. It’s easy and it’s a great way to make the world better.

Have a great 2 weeks, until we meet again.