Soul Searching

Our guest today on Practical Wisdom Stories: Soul Searching is Fernmarie Rodriguez. She tells her fascinating journey of 9 years in college, 3 degrees, 15 years in tech that honed her analytical skills and led her to study the neuroscience of change and the surprising way it connects to personal development and spirituality.

She shares the story from her childhood in Puerto Rico where she had a passion for stargazing that led to a dream job as an aerospace engineer working at NASA. Her defining moment came shen she had a baby at age 16. She overcame adversity, inspired to give her daughter a better life. She quotes Paulo Coelho’s the Alchemist “When you want something, the whole world conspires to help you achieve it.”

Her practical wisdom advice: “learn to understand the difference between thoughts and feelings.” To bridge the gap in vastly differently points of view she advises: “experience teaches. Learning to trust our intuition helps us pursue true happiness.” She aspires to accelerate the evolution of human consciousness by teaching the power of experience.

Click here eepurl.com/dELfT5 to receive free resources to help you share your story and inspire others.

The challenges of a global pandemic, adjusting to a virtual work environment, and creating social justice require us all to up level our confidence and ability to connect with others.

A useful tool to help us thrive is to share a defining moment from childhood. When we reflect on those significant milestones from early in life, they reveal our inherent strengths, talents and gifts. These achievements remind us we can do hard things. As we recall the ways we’ve overcome adversity in the past, we face current hardships and upcoming challenges with renewed grit.

This confidence is contagious. As we share these relatable stories, we create trust and understanding. When we articulate our own narrative, we create space for others to communicate their perspective and we inspire empathy and unity.

Please comment and share your story to encourage others. Click here eepurl.com/dELfT5 to receive free coaching on writing and delivering your anecdote to inspire your team and family, give a great speech, land an interview and be part of the documentary.

Our guest today on Practical Wisdom Stories: Soul Searching is Anne Borozan. She shares insight on the joys of volunteering. She says, "there's so much to do. There's low hanging fruit. You can make a difference. It's easy to jump in. You don't have to be intimidated or wait to be an expert." She shares a story from volunteering with Women at Microsoft board where she was inspired by what's possible for a team. How trust, respect and appreciation created a culture where everyone contributed their passion, talent and it was a safe place to disagree. She said being an advocate for change is actually a very rewarding and remarkable experience. Yes, you're helping others, and you also receive bonding and friendship with the other volunteers. It's not just giving, but you get back so much. She said, "creativity comes out and fears drop away" when you're working freely for a cause you're passionate about.

Anne Borozan works in Customer Security & Trust within the Microsoft CELA organization. She is a regular contributor on women’s boards and D&I councils at Microsoft, and has a particular interest helping to facilitate culture change in the tech sector for women.

Feeling inspired? Click here to receive free resources to help you feel confident and discover your talents so you can become an advocate for social change and discover the joys of volunteering eepurl.com/dELfT5

Our guest today on Practical Wisdom Stories: Soul Searching is Harpreet Kaur. She shares insight on finding your superpower, becoming a confident speaker and developing resilience. Her practical wisdom: Stand out. Be resilient. Be hopeful. #Whyblendinwhenyoureborntostandout

My favorite part? At minute 16: witness her journey in becoming a speaker and watch her first ever live video interview from 3 years ago when she shared a story with me on overcoming prejudice and embracing diversity.

She also shares "I had rejections, bad interviews, managers who didn’t see the potential in me, surviving illness. I asked myself 'what did I learn from these? How can I make sure my teams, my mentees learn from my experience?' Grieve for a moment. Then become even stronger. Life’s an ocean. Waves keep hitting you, but keep learning to surf higher and higher."

Harpreet is a 1st gen senior technical product manager at #Microsoft with proven track record of leading business/digital transformation, managing teams and shipping high quality products/solutions. She is well known speaker and thought leader across the industry on technology, branding and diversity & inclusion. She's a mom of 2 and an abstract artist. Check her out at whyblendin.com

Share your story and get a free coaching session: eepurl.com/dELfT5

Our guest today is a leader in finance and frequent speaker at conferences. She's on the board for Women at Microsoft where she mentors women in tech, creates systems for career growth and is a corporate culture change agent. She speaks to us on how she developed confidence as a child, how she overcomes adversity and sadness and the difference between empathy and compassion.

Thanks to everyone who has been listening to this podcast. We're kicking off season 2 with adding videos on youtube, and deep dives interviews with people who have been soul searching during quarantine. This season we'll cover topics like what perspectives and character you've gained during this season of Covid and social distancing. We'll explore how to develop resilience, confidence and connection. We'll apply some of this insight to help us find our voices, follow our intuition, speak up for social justice, and become more of who we are capable of being.

From being spanked with chopsticks in China, to escaping danger in Bangladesh, to teaching value of immigrating to America, these storytellers help you imagine their childhoods and the values their parents taught them. One dad broke culture to consult with his daughter to get her opinion, one mom said, "yes, you sure can become the first female President." You'll hear how qualifying in a swim meet created dedication, the value of being voted Freshman class president, and how being told "your voice isn't that great" helped realize that sometimes life isn't fair, but talent isn't the only cause of happiness. Be swept away by defining moments from storytellers around the world.

A theme of these personal stories of defining moments teaches us how to stay calm in crisis, go from timid to resilient, and stand up for ourselves from bullies. You'll learn to stay in the game, turn haters into friends, and see how math is a universal language. You'll laugh at how blaming his brother for acetone on the TV led to valuing admitting mistakes, you'll cry at the faith developed by tragedy, and cheer for the tall girl who switched from ballet to choir. These storytellers inspire us to find ways to connect with people and better understand ourselves.

You'll be inspired as you hear the lasting character strengths that come from hardships. From the tragedy of watching a young cousin die, to discovering happiness comes from within, not necessarily from dad, to being beat up for being black. You'll hear how body language makes friends at camp even without knowing English, how to avoid acting stupid when backed into a corner, and the importance of asking for help. You'll see the power of mindset like saying "girls can do anything" despite culture and sports that say otherwise, and self talk like not quitting which ruins our confidence, and power of saying to ourselves "just get a foot in the door." You'll also be entertained with the power of a McDonald's cheeseburger and a fancy pair of shoes.

We often feel regret for mistakes we make. This episode teaches us to reframe difficulties and see how they are the birthplace of becoming our best selves. From a girl in Puerto Rico who gets inspired by her dad to pursue a lifelong goal, to discovering it feels good to tell the truth even if we get in trouble, to seeing the value of effort and achieving an MBA. You'll hear when it's worth it to lose a best friend, discover the importance of taking the blame, and see how time management can unlock potential. You'll be inspired to look back on your own life and reframe hard moments and see how they benefit you years later. You'll discover our own strengths lie just below the surface if you look more closely and see that you weren't a victim, you were actually a hero.