Continuing our Transformational Conversations series. Being a change maker means that you always bring your A-game to the conversation. Practically that means setting a powerful intention. Before I coach, I always take a few minutes to ask myself what I want to bring to the conversation. This is unrelated to the outcome because that relies on the other person. And it has nothing to do with your expectations of the other party. Setting an intention is defining how you will show up for the other person. That if you decide to bring trust, then you will give the other person the benefit of the doubt. If you bring empathy, then you will resist the temptation to constantly think of a response and embrace the opportunity to listen and meet the other person where they are. If you bring support, then you will eagerly seek to find out their agenda. If you bring clarity, then you will notice and honor your own blind spots and check them at the door. I will set an intention and hold it for the entire session. Even if the other person does not consciously recognize it, subconsciously they feel supported by the energy of your intention. That’s what it means to bring your A-game.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Continuing our Transformational Conversations series. Ask yourself what you really want? Sally was hurt when Diana did not ask her to be a bridesmaid. When they talked about it, It didn’t go well. I only knew because Diana called me telling me that she felt blindsided and attacked, which reinforced her decision to leave Sally out of the bridal party, Diana contemplated disinviting Sally altogether. But I could imagine Sally’s blunt approach was let’s share all the things bothering us about our friendship to “clear the air.” What's more effective is the vulnerable approach which requires emotional intelligence and taking action to support the outcome you really want. In this case, the friendship by taking Diana out for some quality time. Saying “Spending time with you today means so much to me. I want to confess that I felt a little insecure when you didn’t ask me to be a bridesmaid. I realized I only wanted that because I value our friendship. Please let me know what I can do to help you and support you for the wedding. I’m here for you.” Which approach would move you towards a stronger friendship?   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Continuing our Transformational Conversations series. Ask what’s the story behind the story? One time my sister and I were having lunch. I ordered a dish for myself that was under 10 euros, totally within my budget. She ordered a main dish, an appetizer, something for her son and a dish to go. When the bill came, it was a bit over 40 euros. I asked myself what I could generously chip in for and offered, “How about I give you a 20?” She snapped, “So now you’re going to nickel and dime me!" The punishment did not fit the crime of offering a 20. What’s the bigger story? Emotionally, my sister had a tougher childhood than I did and money is one of her biggest triggers. It wasn’t easy but I reached hard for some compassion and spoke to her later when she had calmed down. I told her that I thought I was being generous by rounding up even though I was on a budget and had only ordered one thing. While she saw things differently, I was still able to have a calm discussion with her. But first I had to make room for a bigger story that wasn’t mine.    Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Continuing our Transformational Conversations series. Ask does the punishment fit the crime? Do you get sucked right in or do you have the ability to take one step back and say something is off here? One time my dad asked, "How is Jimmy doing?" I blew up and accused him of putting pressure on me and the relationship. I partially blamed pops for how things turned out, things had just ended with Jimmy. Dad's crime that day was asking a question. I was really hurting but the punishment did not fit the crime. The thing I said that was honest that day was it’s unfair for you to tell me what to do at this point in my life. "Can’t you just be happy for me when I’m happy and support me when I’m sad? I’m the one that has to live with the consequences." I could have spoken up the month before when he was lecturing me on what he thought should be happening in our relationship but I didn’t. This outburst was on me and I took responsibility for snapping at him and apologized. Other people will trigger feelings in our lives, but we are always responsible for how we respond. This is the premise of emotional adulthood and transformation.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

September marks the beginning of fall. A time of change. Traditionally this was the harvest season, when you would reap what you had sown in the spring. Spiritually, it’s a great time for self reflection.   This month, I want to focus on transformational conversations. How to have them and what it means to use words that can change your life and the lives of those around you. We’re going to focus on the energy that those words carry with them. Have you ever wondered why it feels so difficult to address conflict? It’s because the words and tone we have been taught to use tend to carry a negative spirit.   I’ll be sharing real life examples. All names have been changed. If the situation feels too close to home, don’t worry, it’s probably because it’s common. But common doesn’t make it good. And we’re here to make the world better because we’re in it. Stay tuned for a life-changing series on how to have transformational conversations.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

For travel accommodations, I use Airbnb if I’m looking for a space for a few days with a kitchen. I avoid it the first night if I’m arriving after dark. It’s just too uncomfortable to be in a new city after dark with luggage and not have a smooth and guaranteed check-in process. One time I was at a pizza delivery shop in Nice for over an hour late at night waiting for someone to let me in across the street because they went to a concert and their car was blocked in. I mainly used the Booking.com app for the majority of my accommodations bookings this summer in Europe. I used Agoda as a backup for a price check and they occasionally had a better price or option. But for the most part, the filters on booking.com made it the easiest to use. At the top of my list is location and I could easily sort by distance from the train and scan the map. The common filters I used were price range, free cancellation and property type. And when I did need to cancel, I found it fairly straightforward.   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

I love to experience local culture through it’s food offerings and hate to waste any part of my travels on a bad meal. I have my finger on the pulse of the LA dining scene but I’ve been following the local chefs and their careers for years, some well over a decade. What’s my strategy when I travel? I do a search on chowhound with the name of the city I am interested in visiting. For popular chowhound cities, the search results will be plentiful with many recent recommendations. When I see that the search yields scant results or there are not entries within the last couple of years, I know I’m not in a culinary destination. It doesn’t mean that it’s not a worthy cultural destination, it just means the food culture is not strong enough yet for it to appeal to other foodies. A good example is Ireland, the chowhound boards are pretty quiet about Dublin. Most days I prefer my own cooking to any of the restaurants. But when I was in Barcelona, I tried dozens of restaurants based on fellow Chowhound recommendations. Spain has a strong food culture, Ireland does not. I also search for local food bloggers, some are recommended within the chowhound boards. Some I just find on google.   https://www.chowhound.com   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

Air travel is not environmentally sustainable in its current form. The most environmentally friendly option is to walk or ride a bike. That’s just not an option for getting from the US to Europe. But once I get there, one of my favorite modes of transport is train. With all the security measures and extra time required around flights, sometimes a train can be more relaxing than a flight. For example, the train from Paris to Barcelona is 6.5 hours. At first that sounds like a long time but that is from city center to city center. But if we fly it’s likely going to be on a discount airline like Ryanair or Vueling and likely from an airport that is outside the city limits. Let’s say that takes you an hour, then add the two hours of recommended check-in and security, then almost 2 hours for the flight and then another hour on the backend to get you to the city center. That’s 6 hours already and that’s if you don’t experience any flight delays. My favorite app for booking train tickets is Loco2. European state-owned websites like Renfe in Spain can be clunky and cranky. A great resource for getting around Europe by train is Seat61.com.   https://girlvsglobe.com/what-is-the-greenest-mode-of-transport/ https://loco2.com/ https://www.seat61.com/   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

At a minimum, you should have a travel credit card that does not charge you international conversion fees. When making purchases abroad, you will always be better off declining the merchant’s exchange rate for US dollars in favor of opting for the local currency which will use the more favorable bank exchange rate used by your credit card as long as there is no international conversion fee.   Other perks to look for in a travel credit card are things like global entry application credit, primary car rental insurance, airport lounge access, a generous sign-up bonus. One of the most popular amongst my travel savvy colleagues includes all of these benefits, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Before you apply read up on the Chase 5/24 rule. It’s the reason I don’t qualify. I’ve been using my Citi Aadvantage Platinum select card to top up my American Airlines points since I was close to a flight award. A great website for answering questions about travel cards and effective strategies for accumulating and leveraging reward points is ThePointsGuy.com.    https://www.asksebby.com/blog/rules-to-know-for-chase-credit-card-applications https://thepointsguy.com/   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!

I often share what I’m doing that I think is working well. But in this area, I know I can do better when I need access to cash. I need to upgrade my travel debit card. Typically, it’s been a BofA or Wells Fargo debit card. The cards have a $5 fee for withdrawals outside the bank network which basically means any withdrawal overseas. This summer I was on a family trip and was responsible for spending cash for 5 other relatives on a 14 day tour through Europe. I normally make relatively few withdrawals but when I was at the atm every other day during our trip, the fees became excessive.    Charles Schwab is the most highly recommended debit card in my network of fellow travelers and it’s easy to obtain by opening a no fee brokerage account that does not require a minimum deposit. They refund all atm fees. The other option that may soon be available in the US is the Revolut card. It’s popular in Europe and lets you automatically exchange money to the local currency which is fantastic when your trip involves multiple currencies.   I’m eager to make the switch and stop paying unnecessary fees.   https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/accounts/brokerage_account https://www.revolut.com/   Want answers? Send your questions, comments and thoughts about life to [email protected]   Thank you so much for listening to The Lin Life Universe. I hope you’ve been enjoying it. Please leave a review!