Episode 337: What takes precedence your entity or its mission?

“It matters what we do,” says Dr. Daniel Libby of the Veterans Yoga Project. He is on a mission to support recovery and resilience among our veterans, families, and communities. And has the data to prove it. Daniel Libby is the founder and executive director of the Veterans Yoga Project and believes its mission takes precedence over its entity. Find out why he says this.

Veterans Yoga Project reaches over 2000 veterans monthly through yoga and mindfulness practices. Daniel knows and has the data that compassion fatigue can be transformed into compassionate resilience, which is particularly relevant as we evolve with the covid-19 pandemic.  

How do you answer the question: “What is more important: Your entity or its mission?” Does it make a difference whether the entity is a for-profit business or a non-profit organization?

Daniel’s original vision, mission, and philosophy of organically growing his venture have stayed the same, but everything else has changed. Common in entrepreneurship, where you start isn’t necessarily where you meet the needs of those you serve. The real work begins with deep diving into understanding how your mission and offerings can adapt to client needs and the changing marketplace. The landscape in providing Yoga to veterans changed even before 2020. You can contrast Daniel’s journey to see how it mimics or differs from your entrepreneurial journey when you tune in to our podcast conversation.

Despite my overzealous attempt to add value, it was refreshing to hear Daniel’s surprise as he acquired new leadership skills and expressed how his mission grew after conducting a survey with 170 VA treatment centers. Daniel published the study in 2012 in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy which expanded awareness. The study showed that yoga teachers in V.A. treatment centers had no training in military culture and P.T.S.D. A lack of space and government funding were barriers to helping veterans heal and lead successful lives.

In 2018, when I first aired this conversation, the government started implementing yoga offerings for veterans as a whole health initiative. A huge success! Daniel was pleased. Expanding awareness by publishing his study prompted more government funding to support veterans in addressing all stages of their recovery. With the results in hand, Daniel changed his business model and added military culture and P.T.S.D. sensitivity into his yoga teacher training and works with government agencies to provide space and funding so veterans, their families, and our communities can access a full range of mind-body practices that facilitate recovery and resilience. He is counting his wins.

Our conversation brings us full circle to last week’s conversation about leadership and burnout and the benefits of mindfulness and yoga practices. Ensuring the business model and mission of the Veterans Yoga Project are congruent with veteran offerings is an ongoing process. Since 2020, they have added resiliency training for first responders, caregivers, and more.

Life is hard and full of challenges. The more we plant our feet on the ground, the more impact we can make and the less likely we are to discount our influence in the world. A statement Daniel emphasizes at the end of our conversation.

Daniel also says, “If you haven’t served in the military, Veterans Yoga Project is an opportunity for you to give to those who have served.” Consider how you can get involved. Daniel has embraced the phrase, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” Check out the 9th Annual Veterans Gratitude Week & a Warrior Salute, November 4 -13, 2022. 

Episode 336: Creating Space for Post-Traumatic Growth with Dr. Daniel Libby

What is the opposite of leadership? “Burnout,” says Dr. Daniel Libby. If you are starting today with feelings of stress and overwhelm or fatigue, this conversation with Daniel Libby, Ph.D., R.Y.T., founder and executive director of the Veteran Yoga Project, can help. We discuss those feelings and a few techniques to alter your neurological pathways to relieve stress and burnout. You can join in on a breathing exercise at the end of our conversation and continue with it after listening.

We met on April 9th, 2018, when Daniel launched the Veteran Yoga Project in the Twin Cities with yoga classes and teacher training for those working with veterans. My husband, Matthew Foli, and I took one of his yoga classes later featured on the local news station, KSTP. Daniel’s calming and soothing voice melted away any stress I felt before we started our conversation and after listening to it a second time before re-airing it today.

Daniel lives with his wife and now 10-year-old daughter in Alameda, California. He grew up in the Queens Village of New York, describing his upbringing with his brother as latchkey kids supported by their extended family. He has also lived in Florida, Washington, and Montana.

Feathered Pipe Ranch in Helena, Montana, is where Daniel found his direction in the world as an integrative healer helping others through bodywork for the mind and soul. He went from being a physical therapist and massage therapist to becoming a clinical psychologist when psycho-emotional content arose as he worked on people’s bodies. Interweaving the body and mind, soul and spirit, and entrepreneurship has created a meaningful life for Daniel and those he mentors.

His entrepreneurial characteristics of applying his learnings and passion for holistic healing emerged during yoga teacher training. He studiously organized the resources to launch the Veterans Yoga Project in 2010. The entity’s transition into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2014 positioned Daniel to emerge as a national entity offering yoga to veterans and their families and yoga teacher training.

Although Daniel is not a veteran, he has traced his family roots, noting that his grandfather fought in the Korean War and WWII. His Uncle Jimmy was killed in an Air Force accident about seven months after enlisting. Daniel was four years old at the time. That traumatic event affected his parents and, subsequently, him. “Scars of war linger,” he says.

Calling challenges into our lives through business ownership and innovation is stressful. Honoring our body, mind, and spirit is the best way to lead, influence others, and do excellent work is what Daniel believes, as do I.

Through yoga, post-traumatic stress converts to post-traumatic growth, where veterans and their families attune their goals to their values and master themselves. Yoga is a system for self-mastery in the leadership of the mind, body, and spirit. Breathing, moving, and resting makes us more excellent. Simple tools can help you continue to grow as a leader, like recognizing your signs and symptoms of burnout, compassion fatigue, overwhelm, and stress.

One of the symptoms of burnout is feeling like what you are doing is ineffective or doesn’t matter. To counter burnout, we discuss celebrating wins by tracking them. I talk about my dad achieving a lingering goal to build a cabin. See the pictures of his round cabin and our (Matthew Foli – my husband, our daughter, Olivia, and my parents) celebrating the 37-year goal thought to be unreachable at age 83. He did it! It reminds us to never give up on those goals deep inside us and celebrate our accomplishments.

Episode 335: Fantastic Client News and How to Sustain Your Focus

Fantastic Client News!

Mohamud Ali and Saido Jama founded Midwest Bakery & Café in 2019. I have been working with them to get their Halal whole wheat and white loaves of bread and whole wheat hoagie buns into Cub Foods on 28th and Lake Street in Minneapolis to test the market. Guess what? We did it! Midwest Bakery & Café is now in its first Cub Foods grocery store. (For those of you outside of the midwest. Cub Foods is a supermarket chain of 45 stores.)

Congratulations to Mohamud and Saido and their family! On the first day, we sold out and rushed to refill the order. The two bottom shelves are now bread. The detergent was replaced. We moved so fast that I didn’t get a picture of Saido and their adult children working to fill the orders.

They have expanded their customer base from restaurants and daycare centers to Cub Foods customers. The demand for their loaves of bread and hoagie buns is growing. I am thrilled to collaborate with them to expand their bakery and evolve their businesses. They also own Midwest Auto Repairs. I’ll have them on the podcast soon so you can hear them describe their multi-venture entrepreneurial journey.

Among the many things I appreciate about Mohamud and Saido is that they reached out for mentoring so I could help them cross this particular finish line and set the next big goal. They knew they needed help getting their six types of loaves of bread and hoagies buns on the shelves at Cub Foods. I knew I could deliver.

In under a week, they have passed the market test. Now, we can work steadily to evolve with the needs of their customers and set new processes and systems in place to maintain efficiency as the demand continues to grow and the offerings expand to other locations.

 You can purchase their loaves of bread and hoagie buns at 28th and Lake Street. I just had one for lunch after helping them fill orders; it was so good. The picture is Mohamud delivering their first order last week.

With fast growth, sustaining focus under pressure is critical. Today’s podcast meditation will help you sustain your focus with the pressures you are under.

How to Sustain Your Focus

Can you focus on the right things at the right time, most of the time? If so, you are practicing the first of four aspects connected with one mind skill: FOCUS. To start focusing, we need to direct our attention to what we want to think about. We then sustain attention as long as we need and want to, controlling impulses and noticing when our attention wanders and redirecting our mind back to its focal point. Once the task is complete, we can relax our attention, resting our minds for a few minutes before directing our attention to a new task. Sounds easy, right?

We resist so often what is good for us, especially when it comes to our minds. Sitting down for a few minutes to calm our thoughts and let go is difficult. Sometimes, I find it challenging to sit with myself, especially if I feel anxious or have nervous energy. This means something big lurks underneath all that nervousness, and I don’t know if I want to know what it is just yet. Giving myself permission to sit and see what happens takes the pressure off.

Last week we practiced Directing Focus. Today is the complimentary 6-minute meditation; How to Sustain Your Focus. I first aired this episode on March 7, 2022.

Episode 334: Direct Your Focus and Eliminate Distraction

 Have you ever felt challenged to direct your focus? Today more than ever, right? Every time I turn on my phone, my ability to stay focused on a task is challenged. Even in our physical environments, we can enter a room to get something and forget what we need in that room once there. Only to leave the room, remember, and then schlep back to get the forgotten item. Distraction is time-consuming and toxic.

What if we could reverse the trend by learning to catch ourselves before getting distracted? I aired this 6-minute meditation in February of this year and feel this change in seasons is an excellent time to practice directing our attention.

An ability to keep your focus, control impulses, and keep your mind from wandering directionless. Focus is a skill set with four aspects: directing, sustaining, noticing, and relaxing attention. Directing attention is focusing on the right things at the right time, like a flashlight shedding light on the task.

Because meditation can reduce lapses in attention and positively impact our work and relationships, we can all learn this first aspect of focus. After you complete the 6-minute meditation, share it with your leadership team, staff, and family. You can hear what others go through in learning this skill of directing our attention to the right things at the right time.  

The inspiration for this meditation originated from Healthy Minds Innovation and Healthy Minds @Work. I recommend downloading the free Healthy Minds APP to track your progress as you build a calm, clear, and stable mind. It is not unlike building muscles in other parts of the body. Repetitions, consistency, and intensity strengthen muscle tissue in different muscle groups building skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles over time. Researchers have found that regular meditators have stronger activation levels in the temporal parietal junctures, a part of the brain where we feel empathy. You practice cognitive control whenever you bring your attention back to your focal point.

Imagine being in a meditative state of mindful alertness all day. Directing your attention here and there, feeling empowered and joyful, not distracted with toxicity growing inside. It is possible with a mindful meditation practice. DOWNLOAD

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT STEP: Challenge yourself and do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (C.A.L.M.) Activities, below.

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Episode Resources

Healthy Minds Innovations

Healthy Minds Innovations

 

Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring

After listening, do these three C.A.L.M. Activities:

* Take this risk or do this adventurous task: DOWNLOAD and complete this 6-minute meditation exercise to learn how to direct your attention. You can start each day this week with this meditation as an ...

Episode 333: A Serious Way of Looking at Food and Your Imprint

God Bless Britain’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022), who passed on Thursday, September 8, 2022. Affection for the Queen will be in many of our memories.      Her stability and consistency are something we love about her. When I was born in 1961, Queen Elizabeth II, mother of three at the time, was doing Royal Tours addressing 250,000 people in India. She was eight years into her 70-year reign as Queen. Can you imagine leading and being a role model of stability and formality of the monarchy for that length of time? “Elizabeth remained determinedly committed to the hallmark aloofness, formality, and pageantry in preserving its mystique that underpinned its existence and survival. Her courtyard reserved manner changed little,” as noted in The New York Times (9/9/22).

The Queen’s tours in India reminded me of today’s Guest Mentor, Gita Mazumdar. Gita was born in India. Our two conversations aired at the end of 2019. Here is our first conversation, if you missed it.

In our second conversation, you will hear Gita’s profound way of looking at food and your imprint through her project, Mystic Murrabba. Gita’s mantra, “From the earth came seed, from seed came to the food. From food came man. Man is essentially the essence of food.” “This is a reminder,” says Gita, “of where we are as a big chain in the cycle of one part of this larger aspect of being.”

Mike Kabeya is my sound engineer, videographer, and photographer. After recording our two conversations, Mike and I had a good laugh. We were leaving Gita’s home in St. Paul, MN, and Mike leaned over and said, “I have never thought that much about food.” I paused a minute to take in the way he said, “I have NEVER thought THAT MUCH about FOOD,” and burst out laughing. That is so true, isn’t it.

Chef Gita has the well-being of others and their bellies in mind when she prepares her food. When you are not the preparer, little, if any, of one’s time is spent thinking about food. Our bellies were pleasantly satisfied when we left, and our view of food forever changed. A part of what led me to become a vegan, but that is a topic for another day.

Entrepreneurs are the preparers of innovations they infuse into the marketplace. Gita brings home-cooked community service and speaks to the conundrum every entrepreneur I know thinks about and needs to work through when creating an entity (for-profit or not-for-profit). When taking your idea into the marketplace, will I lose myself and what I am trying to achieve? Another way of asking the question is, will I compromise a part of me and my vision in a way that doesn’t feel right by legalizing my business? Will it be sanitized and distilled to a degree where I will lose all the joy and effervescence of creating it? Will it be disconnected from the Ecosystem? How can I sustain it, stay human, do my lifework, and participate constructively in our Ecosystem?

Gita tried creating a commercial entity. You will hear how she used the commercialization process to clarify what she is doing. Can that work in the American system if you abandon a for-profit entity and create a community project named Mystic Murrabba? Learn how she has carved out a niche that nourishes her local community and aligns with her Ayurvedic way of living and being in the community with others.

I received an email from Gita yesterday. She is in London with her husband, Jim, visiting the year-round farmers markets, taking long walks, and writing her cookbook. She says, "my book is creeping along, but is shaping into something cohesive." That sounds familiar. Enjoy our conversation.

Episode 332: Food Connects Us

Happy Labor Day! We’re keeping people employed in America, with 9.5 million jobs added to the economy since 2021. Unemployment is at a 53-year low of 3.5%. For the history of Labor Day and other statistics, click here.

We’re doing it. I have been writing my book, working on client projects, and revamping WeMentor Mondays with Nancy podcast for the two months since my last post. I am sure you have been working hard too. I have updates on all three fronts.

The writing continues. I have a wise editor flushing out concepts and helping me keep the content coming. Steady progress.

Updating you on client projects I am working on is a no-no in mentoring because entrepreneurial leadership development is confidential. I can say that infusing new products and services into the marketplace is centered around end-user acceptance, our nimbleness in responding to consumer demand, and ruling out avenues for growth not penetrable. Not every end-user wants what we are selling.

Exploring which avenues are viable for growth and which are not is time-consuming. Here are a few tips. Viewing each ‘no’ as a step closer to getting a ‘yes’ keeps your mind focused on completing the task. Rejection is part of our job as disruptors. I practice and encourage persistence, perseverance, and patience as part of the pursuit. The critical ‘Ps’ require us to keep learning, clarifying, and doing the navigational work to bring new opportunities to fruition.

Even in everyday life, you can encounter rejection. I asked a Lunds & Byerly’s baker to add a happy birthday to my father-in-law’s half-red velvet birthday cake and was met with a surprise ‘no, I can’t do that.’ After offering a few more rejected ideas, I finally said, ‘please find your way to yes.’ And she did. Keep finding creative ways to get your products and services through what initially appears to be a closed door. After all, we are dealing with other humans and their processes. Whether you are selling directly to consumers like at the State Fair or whether you are working at getting your products into a big box retailer. We just need to find the next customer who says yes.

I am re-airing my 1st of two podcast conversations with Guest Mentor Gita Mazumdar today. I want to coordinate new podcast conversations with the content in my book, so book completion comes first. New podcast conversations will air in 2023.

Gita Mazumdar says, “She was made in India, on the coconutty west coast along the Arabian Sea. What luck to have been nurtured by a playful father, an orderly mother, and both her grandmothers.”

In Gita’s first few years, “she was held for long hours by her beloved Badi, an elderly Adivasi (indigenous) woman who cared for her while her parents, both doctors, worked. Gita’s first food was Badi’s unusual grains cooked in clay. Gita cried for Badi when they moved away from that early home. The story is that Gita refused food, chanting ‘Badi’ a hundred and eight times before her father lost count. Her paternal grandmother, Mein, prepared bhakri, confident that it would break the spell. Hours past bedtime, Mein placed the spiced bread in front of Gita. She regarded it silently, looked up, and wailed ‘Baadiiii!” Exasperated, Mein said, ‘Eat your Badi’s fat chapattis’ and snapped off the lights. The next morning, there were no signs of bhakri and no more chanting.” This is how I begin today’s podcast conversation with Gita Mazumdar. An Ayurvedic Indian Cuisine chef, photographer, wife, mother, friend, filmmaker, and conscientious community connector. She continues describing a life that eventually circles back to her paternal grandmother Mean’s recipes and how women pass on their stories from one generation to another. Food is at the center of things. Read More and Download EPISODE I

Episode 331: An Announcement, An Incredible True Story, and My Oatbake Recipe

Announcement

 

We are taking a summer podcast break so I can finish my book, work on client projects, and revamp our podcast. You can look forward to new episodes in September. 

In the meantime, listen to a few podcast episodes below and try my new breakfast recipe. I would love to get your feedback.

An Incredible True Story

I have An Incredible True Story three-part podcast series with the author of Marcel’s Letters, Carolyn Porter. Our first conversation aired on December 18, 2017. Carolyn Porter is an unlikely person to find herself on a mysterious hunt to find a family across the continent and embark on a journey that almost costs her her life. Who would have thunk that a graphic designer and typography geek would be leading such an exciting life?! You can listen to all three episodes. Her book is also a great summer read and is one of my favorites. DOWNLOAD EPISODE I

Part II   An Incredible True Story, Part II | WeMentor Mondays with Nancy PODCAST

Part III  An Incredible True Story, Part III | WeMentor Mondays with Nancy PODCAST

My Oatbake Recipe

As an experiment on January 15, 2021, Matthew, Olivia, and I decided to try a plant-based lifestyle. Matthew says we are 98% vegan, which gives us flexibility when needed, like at the graduation parties we attended in June. Of the 10 graduation parties, I caved once and ate some fried chicken tenders. I was grateful for the chicken that gave its life to end up on my plate. One and a half years later, we are still at it. Feeling great and happy with our choice. The key is having choices.

My experimentation with new recipes continues. One morning after a walk around Lake of the Isles, we stopped at Isles Bun and Coffee Shop in Minneapolis. I ordered an oatmeal bake for the first time. OMG! Quickly, I became obsessed and needed to figure out how to make an oatmeal bake. After trying a few recipes, I came up with my own version: WeMentor Oatbake. My sister, Monica, coined the name after tasting it. Here is the recipe for the chef to try in your house. It is a bit labor-intensive but well worth the effort. It can last an entire week. WeMentor Oatbake Recipe

Enjoy the Summer

Thanks for staying connected. Have an enjoyable and worthwhile summer being you and doing what matters, our troubled world needs your humanity.

You know where to find me if you need mentoring. See you with renewed inspiration in September.

With Joy and Appreciation, Nancy.  

 

Matthew biking to work. The two of us.

NEXT STEP: Challenge yourself and do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (C.A.L.M.) Activities, below.

Episode 330: Inspiration from Art Fry, The Inventor of Post-It Notes

In 2018, I had the pleasure of interviewing Art Fry, the inventor of 3M’s Post-it Notes. He celebrated his 90th birthday last fall, and I thought about our inspirational conversation. I think we need some positivity during these times when our humanity is being challenged.

Art is a wonder and expressed the joy of having people always so happy to see him. Post-it Notes is his greatest invention. Enjoy our two podcast conversations and stay focused on doing work that elevates humanity. Darkness is diminished under scrutiny and light. Stay in the boat and ride out the waves. We are going to get through this storm with our humanity intact.  DOWNLOAD

 

2nd Podcast Conversation with Art Fry 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT STEP: Challenge yourself and do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (CALM.) Activities, below.

 

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Episode Resources

2nd Podcast Conversation with Art Fry

2nd Podcast Conversation with Art Fry

Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring

After listening, do these three C.A.L.M. Activities:* Take this risk or do this adventurous task: Revisit your mission and life purpose. Write down three core values and what makes your life worthwhile. Make an intention to live your values and commit to doing purposeful work each morning.* Apply Self-Compassion: Open heart, kind words, soft gaze. * Welcome Appreciation: “I appreciate Art Fry and his brilliance, generosity, and creative spirit. I use Post-It Notes every day. Thank you, Art, for doing what it took to invent such useful sticky pieces of paper.” Your Turn. Start with, “I appreciate what I heard from today’s Mentor, Art Fry. I appreciate this week’s adventurous task because….”  “Most of the problems in our lives and world are caused by relational dysfunction, a dysfunction in how we relate: as social groups, as individuals, to animals and the environment, and even to ourselves. Therefore, developing relational literacy—the understanding of and ability to practice healthy ways of relating—is essential for personal, social, and ecological transformation.” —Melanie Joy, psychologist, author, theorist, educator

When WeMentor… your life becomes more meaningful!!! Redefine how you lead and mentor while redesigning your business. Dual Innovation with Mentoring WORKS. 

Podcast Guest Mentor

About Arthur Fry. Art Fry is a retired chemical engineer and inventor from 3M. In 1974, Art used an only-slightly sticky adhesive invented by Dr.

Episode 329: The Gift of Recognizing Patterns

Juneteenth is the 12th federal legal holiday we are celebrating today. The official date is June 19, but it fell on Father’s Day this year. “The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation (13th Amendment),” according to History.com.

 Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1866; many of us weren’t familiar with the holiday until it became a legal holiday on June 17, 2021, and is now recognized as a national holiday. Government employees have a paid day off while private businesses choose how to acknowledge this day.

What I would like to say about this day that fits with today’s topic of the gift of recognizing patterns is this. The June 6 Committee Hearings display a deliberate pattern by the 45th President of the United States to overturn our elections. The committee has connected the dots uncovering the horrific truth of what happened in the Oval Office on that terrifying day. I recognize the pattern in how sectors of our population were manipulated and exploited by the 45th President putting himself above the Constitution and the will of the American people. Frankly, all of us are being chipped away at, questioning our sense of self. These groups are now Rogue Republicans rewriting the 2016 platform of the Republican party to further control, exploit, and destroy our Democracy. 

There are terrorist entrepreneurs like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, and other entrepreneurs with deviant criminal intent trying to override our United States Constitution. All entrepreneurs have an uncanny ability to recognize patterns that help them exploit opportunities either for the greater good of humanity or for their own personal or ego-centric gains at the expense of our humanity.

I would like to help you hone your pattern recognition skills and focus your entrepreneurial activities on serving the greater good of humanity. We all benefit from intentional efforts that inspire and unite us toward a kinder, equitable, and more considerate world.

Logan Ury sparked the idea for today’s topic. I read about Logan Ury in the New York Times on June 13, 2022. She is an author, behavior scientist, and coach who helps anxious daters and has a self-described gift of “pattern recognition,” an ability to see and synthesize the ruts in someone’s dating history. She has clients complete “relationship audits” to pinpoint blind spots so clients can change their decisions regarding who they date. 

Logan’s gift of pattern recognition is an entrepreneurial skill we use to connect the dots to new opportunities for products and services. Logan found a solution to chronic dating through a data-driven approach. She noticed modern dating is more tactical, and clients need a more precise step-by-step approach. She added some prestige to how she works by applying the language of Silicon Valley C.E.O.s to a throng of anxious daters, and it set her on an enormous growth path with her coaching business. Clever, right? 

 We acquire this cognitive pattern recognition framework through experience colle...

Episode 328: Priscilla Vang’s Journey from Refugee to U.S. Citizen to Multi-Venture Entrepreneur, Part II

Priscilla Vang is a multi-venture entrepreneur. Thirteen years of corporate accounting and tax preparation, plus two degrees in financial accounting and tax accountancy, prepared Priscilla to launch three connected ventures in 2016. An accounting and tax practice, a payroll processing business, and a staffing firm that educates and assists small business owners in running profitable businesses.

Before buying those businesses, Priscilla had a breakdown in 2013. We discuss the confluence of things that led to her breakdown, an ‘aha’ moment, and where she is today. Concerns about the next generations of her Hmong ethnic group are top of mind too.

Priscilla knows about raising the next generations. Her son and his wife are expecting their fourth child in July which makes Priscilla a grandmother four times over. In addition, she is connected to a huge family and 66,000 Hmong who live in Minnesota. The largest Hmong ethnic group in the United States.

We address Priscilla’s concerns—like lack of motivation and comparisons within families—with solutions and review a program by Professor Helen McGrath called the Bounce Back! Program. “Bounce Back!” is an acronym for some of the foundational principles of resilience.

B – Bad times don’t last, and things get better.

O - Other people can only help if you share with them.

U – Unhelpful thinking only makes you feel worse.

N – Nobody is perfect – not you, not your friends, not your family, not anybody!

C – Concentrate on the good things in life, no matter how small.

E – Everybody suffers; everybody feels pain and experiences setbacks; they are a normal part of life.

B – Blame fairly – negative events are often a combination of things you did, things others did, and plain bad luck.

A – Accept what you can’t change and try to change what you can.

C – Catastrophizing makes things worse — don’t fall prey to believing in the worst interpretation. (In the absence of facts, our minds make up stuff. Don’t assume things.)

K – Keep things in perspective. Even the worst moment is but one moment in life.

Vulnerability and Shame. One of the reasons we fear vulnerability is because of the feeling of shame. We don’t like feeling shame. Brené Brown, Ph.D. developed the constructive Shame Resilience Theory when she noticed that the fear of being vulnerable hindered meaningful connection with others. To arise out of shame, Dr. Brown discovered four elements of shame resilience:

* Recognizing shame and understanding our shame triggers (physical sensations like elevated heart rate or shaking).

* Practicing critical awareness of ourselves, our environment, and the way things work.

* Reaching out to others and sharing ourselves and our stories (building a social support network).

* Speaking shame keeps it from flying under the radar (Graham & Graham, 2015).

As we close, Priscilla explains two special offers for podcast listeners. Have her review your taxes for the prior three years or check your financials to prepare for our next tax season.

TWO SPECIAL OFFERS FOR YOU:

* Priscilla can re-examine the prior three-year taxes for only $225.00.

* Bookkeeping Review to get your financials in order intact before tax season for only $375.00. Priscilla will review your financials so you can avoid tax extensions.