ThriveologyPodcast – Thriveology

In the hustle and bustle, people lose sight of the Holidays.  Sure, we go through the motions, show up to the events, and try to put on our holiday joy.  But many times, internally, its a flat-line.  Nothing.  Nada.

Or worse… stressful.

Over the years, I have given a number of presentations about this, with title, “Merry Stress-ness and Happy Blue Year.”  Stressed out and depressed.

That’s not a great way to spend the Holidays!

It misses something… deeper.  More significant.  Something that nurtures the soul and feeds the heart.

How do you deepen the Holidays for yourself (and for those close to you)?  We discuss it in this episode of the Thriveology Podcast.

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What happens when one day, you wake up and realize you are overweight, deep in debt, and desperately holding onto a crumbling relationship?

If you are Adam Schaeuble, PhD (“Previously Heavy Dude”), you finally decide to make a change.

On that day, Adam finally took action… the same actions he had been putting off.  This time, though, something had shifted.

Many have that moment when they are “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”  They finally make a shift.  (I should know.  I had that experience.)  It is the moment of reckoning.

But for Adam, it was bigger than that.  It was not just about his health, wealth, and love.  It was about his meaning… his purpose.  Adam wanted to make an impact on the world… in a positive way.

And that day, he took the kickstart.  First, he lost weight and got into shape.  He then started helping others to do the same.  And soon, it was a mission for his community.  But now, it is his mission for the world!

It is his Million Pound Mission.  But the pounds are just markers for people regaining their health, taking control of their lives and well-being.

I met Adam at a conference a couple of times… and told him I wanted him to come on my podcast.  So, I am fortunate to have him on my Thriveology Podcast.  Listen below to his story and how we all can make a shift to a better life.

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What do you expect from life?  Sometimes, our expectations can get us into trouble.  Maybe you expect things to go badly.  Or maybe you expect something beyond your control.  Either way, your expectations trip you up.

Yet every action you take is based on expectation.  Sure, you want to “live in the present moment.”  But present moments are often moving toward something.  For example, as I sit here, I write this with an expectation that you will read it.  If I expected it would not be read, I would do something else.

Or lets say I go to the fridge to open it.  I didn’t blindly do that.  I was expecting to find something to eat (which may or may not work out… but I have an expectation).

Some people advise us to give up expectations.  No expectation, no disappointment, they say.

But today, my guest disagrees.  He says expectations have power.  We need to tap into our expectations in order to create the life we want.

Art Costello is creator of Expectation Therapy.  He says your life changes when you change your expectation.  It is the seed from which we both perceive the world and grow into our better lives.

Listen in to master the power of your expectations.

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Most people want to be in better health.  In fact, I have yet to run into anyone telling me, “I just wish I was in worse health.”  We all want to be in better health!

But for many, that is confusing.  There is so much conficting information.  One day, you eat one thing or drink one thing, and it seems that just a few days later, that is detrimental for your health.  Or vice versa!

How confusing it can be!  It can be hard to feel confident in your choices.  And yet, health is always about choices.  Sure, we have those pesky genes that we are born with.  But did you know that much of our health is not based in the genes we have, but how they are expressed?  And did you know that the expression of genes is based in what we are exposed to in our environment?  What is around us, and what we put in us, affects how those genes affect us.

When I got sick, I kept digging for information (and found lots of mis-information).  I felt like I was guessing.  But I kept on guessing.  I got lucky and found some decent resources.

What I would have loved was someone who brought a scientist’s mind, and a fellow traveler’s heart, to the process.  Someone who could point the way with some clarity to me.

This week, my guest is Maureen Vincenty.  A former scientist with NASA and the EPA, Marueen used her inquisitive mind to find the resources.  And she used her experimenting mind on herself as the guinea pig.  Suffering from auto-immune illness and issues, Maureen was determined to figure out her path to health and healing.

Long into having found her own healing, Maureen has worked to help many others find their own health and healing by discovering choices that make a difference.

That approach allows Maureen to tackle what amounts to 90% of healthcare these days:  lifestyle-based diseases.  And that approach can help you find healing, too.

In our interview, Maureen offers her 5 Pillars of Health, telling you exactly how to activate each pillar.

It turns out that much of my stumbling and guessing lines up with exactly what Maureen suggests.  I just wish I had the information at hand when I needed it.  You do.

Listen below.

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If you are alive, you will feel pain.  For some, it is just a little here and a little there.  For others, pain is chronic and constant.  Maybe just a little or maybe a lot.

Since I tend to be on the active side, I tend to have lots of bumps and bruises.  And at one point in my life, when I was suffering from an illness, I had significant pain.  Which means I am on the lookout for how to find pain relief that does not include a pill to take.

After years of dealing with chronic pain, my guest was searching for a way to heal her own pain.  And in the process, she has developed an approach that has helped many others to find pain relief without medication or medical intervention.  Oftentimes, when those interventions have already failed!

Sharon Smith applies an approach that is simple and straightforward.  It integrates physical healing with emotional release, reducing pain and releasing stuck emotions.

Often, when we talk about emotional issues and concerns, we use physical images:  someone being a “pain in the neck,” wanting someone to “get off your back,” and many others.  Why?  Because there is a link between emotional pain and physical pain (and vice versa).

In our discussion, Sharon helps me with a little elbow pain that leads to some insight for me.  And she also has some resources for you to get started with your own pain.

Join us.  Listen below.

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What prison holds you?

We ALL have some prison in our lives.  Maybe there aren’t any real bars and locked doors.  But it still keeps us stuck, trapped and unable to grow.  It might be a way of thinking, a relationship, a job.  It may be just your own view of yourself and your capacities.  But something keeps us stuck.

Is it possible to break free?  To escape the prisons in our lives?

According to my guest on this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, is not only possible… it is crucial!

Marian McSpadden discovered that she was trapped in a life… a belief system… that kept her from becoming her truest and best self.

So, she planned her escape!  And she broke free.  In her case, quite literally.  Was it easy?  No.  Was it worthwhile?  Marian says, “Absolutely!”

And so, Marian is out to help others find their freedom from their own prison.  If you are stuck, caught in a belief system, a relationship, a job, or something else, discover your path out, your escape route!

Listen in as Marian McSpadden and I discuss the power of breaking free from your prison.

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Tough conversations are, well, tough.  You know, those conversations you know you need to have… but avoid having them.  Maybe you aren’t comfortable with the topic.  Or maybe it feels risky to have that conversation.

Here is the problem:  when we avoid tough conversations, we also avoid real engagement.  And we miss the opportunity for deeper connection, more intimacy… and importantly, the opportunity for resolution!

My guest on this episode of the Thriveology Podcast is a returning guest.  Always about “keeping it real,” David Wood returns to discuss how to have those tough conversations.  David says he is an evangelist for tough conversations, trying to spread the word on how important those convos are!

But more than that, David wants to share a process of how to have those tough conversations on difficult issues. In his 4 step process (plus 1 “pre”-step), David reveals a method of how to have the conversations you’ve been ducking and avoiding.  You just have to follow the steps (and he has a special tool available to help you with it).

Stop avoiding the tough conversations.  Learn how to have them.  Learn to resolve the underlying issues.  And watch your life expand.

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Have you been to the Self-Help area of a bookstore lately?  We are awash with books on happiness.  There are lots of articles on happiness.  And lots of trainings and courses on happiness.  Heck, I have even addressed it many times before.

So, why aren’t we happy?  Why haven’t we made a shift, as a culture, to higher levels of happiness?

Many times, people keep looking “out there” for what will finally make them happy.  Something needs to “happen” to make them “happy.”

Maybe… just maybe… we are looking in the wrong place.  In the wrong direction.  We are looking “out there,” when the potential has been “in here” the whole time.

She calls herself “the Happiness Generator” and in this episode, Amy Huentelman discusses how you can generate happiness… from the inside!  By getting out of your head and into your deeper self.  Your True Self.

And not by waiting for something to shift “out there,” but how to make the shift “from within.”

If you want some help in making that shift, and in learning how to generate happiness, listen in to this episode.

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Living Beyond Grief

Long ago, way back in one of my college classes on death and dying, the professor told us that our death rituals — the funeral, visitation, etc. — were our ways of “reweaving the cloth of our community” after a loss.

Grief has a process.  It is our internal response to loss, that is about how we move through and beyond that loss.

Yet in our culture, we tend to have an impatience with grief and the grieving.  With the best of intentions, we sometimes push people to move through their grief.  And we push ourselves to move through our grief.

We want those grieving to find happiness again.  And as we grieve, we want to stop hurting.

Which often only serves to disrupt grief, prolonging or curtailing the healing that needs to come after a loss.  In our attempts to “speed it along,” we slow it down or cut it off.

My guest on this episode, Sarah Nannen, knows this first-hand.  With 4 young children, Sarah was widowed when her active-duty husband died in a training accident.

In the aftermath, Sarah had to follow her own instincts to find space for her grief… and then she found herself once again among the living.

Since then, Sarah has been helping others do the same.  She wrote a book, Grief Unvealed, and helps others to find empowerment as they process their own grief.

Who is this episode for?  If you are alive… you!  Because every single one of us will be (or have been) confronted by loss.  Every single one of us will (or has) pass through grief.

Listen below.

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Are you up for a challenge?

In the last episode of my podcast, I discussed how to hold on when life is tough.  That’s when life is challenging you.

But what about when life isn’t so challenging… where life is copacetic?  Just cruising.

It’s my observation that we work hard to keep life flat.  We work hard to keep things smooth.  Cold out?  Turn on the heater.  Hot out?  Turn on the A/C.  Keep things even… even-keeled.  Flat.

We spend LOTS of energy to save the energy of dealing witb challenges, big or small.

But does that help (or harm) us?  Does it keep us safe or make us fragile?

What if taking on small challenges actually gets us better prepared for bigger challenges?  What if making choices to expand into life helps us deal with life encroaching upon us?

One of my “things” is to find little challenges for myself… new things to try, new activities to do, new tastes or sounds to take in, and new ways to try life.

How about you?  What challenges are you taking on right now?

Listen to this episode of the Thriveology Podcast to discover the power of a challenge.

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