Stories that Empower

Sheila felt compelled to write her mom's story after her stroke, otherwise it would disappear. Sheila's advice to caregivers is to find a support group and do something you love. Her advice to writers is get going, write, there's no perfect first draft and enroll in a class.

Leah got into drugs and became pregnant, when she was 20. She turned her life around, which set her on a path that was more constructive and gave her life meaning. Leah's story highlights: face your fears / don't blame others / you are in control / you have the power to change things / get yourself to that happy place / you attract what you focus your attention on / true love comes from within. Leah E. Reinhart is a hairstylist, Angel card reader, and now author of her first book Manifesting Me: a Story of Rebellion and Redemption. Leah has learned the value of the law of attraction and how it works. What you focus your attention, you will attract. Think of riding a bike; you don't want to hit that big rock, but if you keep looking at 9 times out of 10, you'll hit it. If you focus where you want to be and look ahead and past the rock on the trail, you'll more than likely not hit the rock. When Leah Reinhart was six years old, her family moved to an unlikely neighborhood on a hill much like the country--- a place where everyone dressed and lived like they were living a real-life Little House on the Prairie. Yet their new home was in Oakland, Ca, and everything surrounding Leah's neighborhood was the polar opposite of their old-fashioned lifestyle. As an already scared little white girl, Leah quickly learned that if she didn't face her fears in this new town she would get eaten alive. But in her search for acceptance, she unknowingly joined a cult--and she spent much of her life afterward trying to break free of the damaging patterns she was taught. Phyllis King, author of The Energy Of Abundance says "This is a raw and honest sharing about love, life, and success. Reinhart skillfully takes us through a story that gently teaches that anything is possible if you always point yourself in the direction of love in your life." https://leahereinhart.com/ https://www.facebook.com/leah.reinhart.5 https://twitter.com/leah_e_reinhart https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/133-3010028-3907065?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Manifesting+Me%3A+a+Story+of+Rebellion+and+Redemption (tags: Leah, Reinhart, Manifesting Me, A Story of Rebellion and Redemption, hairstylist, angel, card, reader, author, leahereinhart.com, storiesthatempower.com, stories that empower, empowering stories, empowerment stories, stories of empowerment, stories of empowering others, self empowerment stories, stories empower, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, uplift, uplifting, upliftment, hope, light, Sean)

Leah got into drugs and became pregnant, when she was 20.  She turned her life around, which set her on a path that was more constructive and gave her life meaning.  Leah's story highlights:  face your fears / don't blame others / you are in control / you have the power to change things / get yourself to that happy place / you attract what you focus your attention on / true love comes from within.

Iris' mom experienced breast cancer. This impacted her brain and caused her personality to change. This loss had a profound impact on Iris. She learned to separate the illness from the person. Iris reminds anyone going through the same caregiver challenge that you're not alone, to get help (e.g. a friend, relative, health care professional, clergy, online) and to find camaraderie with other people. Iris Waichler has been a patient advocate and medical social worker for 40 years. She is an award winning author of 3 books. Her latest book, Role Reversal How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents, has won 6 major book awards. It is a memoir about her father and blends her professional experience to offer a wealth of information for other caregivers. She has been a caregiver for her mother and father. She also has helped 2 friends to die with dignity. Her book "Role Reversal, How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents" is the winner of : Finalist Best Book Award 2016 Finalist Indie Excellence Award 2016 Living Now Silver Award Winner 2017 Honorable Mention Readers Favorite Award 2017 Book Excellence Award 2017 Runner Up Award Florida Book Festival 2018. Her book "Riding the Infertility Roller Coaster: A Guide to Educate and Inspire" is the winner of: Mom's Choice Gold Award Winner for Best Book of the Year. Winner of the National Parenting Publications (NAPPA) Gold Award for best book of the year. Winner of the finalist award for Foreword Magazine 2007 non-fiction Book of the Year. http://iriswaichler.com/ https://www.facebook.com/RoleReversal1/ https://twitter.com/IrisWaichler https://www.amazon.com/Role-Reversal-Yourself-Aging-Parents/dp/1631520911 https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Infertility-Roller-Coaster-Educate/dp/1932279229 (tags: Iris, Waichler, iriswaichler.com, Role, Reversal, How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents, Riding the Infertility Roller Coaster: A Guide to Educate and Inspire, patient, advocate, medical, social, worker, storiesthatempower.com, stories that empower, empowering stories, empowerment stories, stories of empowerment, stories of empowering others, self empowerment stories, stories empower, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, uplift, uplifting, upliftment, hope, light, Sean)

Iris' mom experienced breast cancer. This impacted her brain and caused her personality to change. This loss had a profound impact on Iris. She learned to separate the illness from the person. Iris reminds anyone going through the same caregiver challenge that you're not alone, to get help (e.g. a friend, relative, health care professional, clergy, online) and to find camaraderie with other people.

Naomi, a born storyteller, shares this wisdom: - seek the joy, over the goals - allow yourself the pain of hardtimes and in the morning, take the next steps - a catastophy often provides us with something better than we thought - sometimes we get what we need, instead of what we want Naomi McDougall Jones is an award-winning writer, actress, and producer based in New York City. She is currently in post-production on her second feature film, BITE ME, with producers Jack Lechner (The Fog of War, Blue Valentine) and Sarah Wharton (That's Not Us), which she wrote and also starred in opposite Christian Coulson (Harry Potter, Love is Strange, The Hours), Annie Golden (Orange is the New Black), and Naomi Grossman (American Horror Story). Naomi's first feature film, which she also wrote, produced, and starred in, was the 12-time award-winning Imagine I'm Beautiful. The film received a theatrical release and is now available on iTunes, Amazon, and GooglePlay (www.imagineimbeautiful.com). A pilot she wrote, The Dark Pieces, is now in development for television in Canada after having been named on The 2016 WriteHer List as one of the top 16 unproduced pilots by a female screenwriter. Naomi is an advocate and thought leader for bringing gender parity to cinema. She gave a virally sensational TEDTalk, What it's Like to Be a Woman in Hollywood, which has now been viewed over 1 million times and can be seen on TED.com. She is the Founder and Chief Impact Officer of The 51 Fund, a venture capital fund dedicated to financing films by female filmmakers. Naomi is currently writing a book, The Wrong Kind of Woman: Dismantling the Gods of Hollywood, which will be published by Beacon Press in 2019. More at www.naomimcdougalljones.com. https://www.naomimcdougalljones.com/ http://www.twitter.com/NaomiMcDougallJ https://www.facebook.com/naomi.mcdougalljones.5?fref=ts https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2314036/ http://www.bitemethefilm.com/ http://moviesbyher.com/ (tags: Naomi, McDougall, Jones, naomimcdougalljones.com, Imagine I'm Beautiful, Bite Me, bitemethefilm.com, naomimdougallj, actress, writer, producer, women, activist, 51, fund, Wrong Kind of Woman, Fear(ful)less, storiesthatempower.com, stories that empower, empowering stories, empowerment stories, stories of empowerment, stories of empowering others, self empowerment stories, stories empower, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, uplift, uplifting, upliftment, hope, light, Sean)

Naomi, a born storyteller, shares this wisdom:

- seek the joy, over the goals

- allow yourself the pain of hardtimes and in the morning, take the next steps

- a catastophy often provides us with something better than we thought

- sometimes we get what we need, instead of what we want

Kelley experienced chronic illness, severe pain and fatigue for nearly two decades. In the absence of elders to guide her, she practiced self advocacy and educated herself for self care. She shares this wisdom. Define and maintain boundaries, which helps you focus on what you're good at. We don't heal in isolation, but rather in community. Surround yourself with a supportive community. Kelley Harrell is a modern shaman and author. Her practice is Soul Intent Arts in North Carolina. She's read the Elder Futhark for over 25 years. Her next book, Runic Book of Days comes out from Inner Traditions in September 2018. Kelley is the host of the runes podcast What in the Wyrd. http://www.soulintentarts.com/ http://www.kelleyharrell.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kelleysoularts/?hl=en https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-in-the-wyrd/id1322403741?mt=2 https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/what-is-eds/ (tags: Kelley, Harrell, kelleyharrell.com, soulintentarts.com, kelleysoularts, shaman, soul, intent, arts, Runic, Book, of Days, runes, What in the Wyrd, storiesthatempower.com, stories that empower, empowering stories, empowerment stories, stories of empowerment, stories of empowering others, self empowerment stories, stories empower, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, uplift, uplifting, upliftment, hope, light, Sean)

Kelley's story: Define and maintain boundaries, which helps you focus on what you're good at. We don't heal in isolation, but rather in community. Surround yourself with a supportive community.

Roq and Dave each felt isolated, because they adapted the societal expectations of providing and productivity. They lost direction and meaning. This led them to create a supportive community that provides meaning and purpose to men. They share the following wisdom. Share your vulnerabilities with someone you trust. Depart from what's familiar, face your fear and return to your village as a changed person. Join Roq Gareau and Dave Wali Waugh, authors of Soulful Fellowship: Men, Meaning and Purpose for a vulnerable, intergenerational conversation between two men about their lives, friendship and men's group. Through storytelling and dreamwork, Dave and Roq offer an honest but incomplete roadmap for men (and the women who love them), to help them navigate through barriers to an authentic life of meaning and purpose. Betrayed by our own ignorance and good intentions, we live in a time of desperation and undigested grief. Facing the truths that threaten us and our world can start to erode the trust we have in ourselves. This promotes a narrowing view and charged isolation that can have us quickly reaching for substance or diversion in attempts to dull pain and replace absence of connection. Roq and Dave dive into their life experiences and share their own storylines as they help us reach a better understanding of ourselves. By recalling their dreams and important life-changing events, Roq and Dave manage to outline why men often develop destructive habits and offer the solution of Soulful Fellowship as a way to bring us out of our isolation. Everybody is lonely, and we've forgotten how much we need each other to squeeze meaning out of complexity and breakthrough the patterns that prevent us from growing up. Times like these call for Soulful Fellowship. Roq Gareau and Dave Wali Waugh are the cofounders of Men, Meaning and Purpose, a series of men's retreats inspired by Soulful Fellowship. Dave is a psychotherapist (and director of Elements Counselling in Vancouver) with 25 years of experience in evolutionary men's work and the author of two preceding books, including Evolving Soulfully. Roq is a skilled facilitator and the director of CentreSpoke Consulting. Soulful Fellowship is Roq's first book. http://soulfulfellowship.com/ (tags: Roq, Gareau, Dave, Wali, Waugh, soulful, fellowship, soulfulfellowship.com, men, meaning, purpose, CentreSpoke, Consulting, storiesthatempower.com, stories that empower, empowering stories, empowerment stories, stories of empowerment, stories of empowering others, self empowerment stories, stories empower, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, uplift, uplifting, upliftment, hope, light, Sean)