I got this great concept about how you can use an ellipsis to adjust your mindset from a new book I'm listening to called "You Are Awesome." I ran across this book recently and it looked decent so I downloaded it with one of my many Audible credits and I am LOVING IT. In fact, I'd say this book about being awesome is awesome!!! lol!

I love finding great books that shift how we can look at things and this is one of those, taking a simple sentence and switching its punctuation so it turns from a negative into a positive. Just brilliant!

I much prefer reading a book vs. listening, but I'm loving the author's voice and the way he presents the material in this audio book, like he's right in the room talking to me.

Listen in and see if replacing a period - for a recent setback or obstacle you are currently facing that you may be using in your sentence of your life story - with a dot dot dot, gives you new hope for what may unfold in the future and helps you to keep moving forward because...

My guest this week is Matt Parkin, founder of The Awesome Ukulele Academy who can teach anyone how to play a song on the ukulele in under 3 sessions! His virtual school was his reaction to the pandemic, which means it’s one of the positive outcomes because Matt is now able to take his expertise anywhere in the world and awaken the musician in those of us who have always wanted to learn to play an instrument.

After playing in “dodgy” rock bands in the late 80’s and 90’s, Matt moved from the UK to Andalusia to raise his 3 children and chickens and to make furniture.

At the age of 45, he discovered a love of teaching, by pure coincidence, which led him to go back to school and get his degree. When the parents realized how much fun their children were having, he started teaching them too. And now, after taking his ukulele teaching talents to the internet, he has a thriving multi-six figure business teaching adults worldwide how to play what he calls...

How many times have you wanted something and not gotten it? And when that happens, what is your reaction? Can you remember a situation recently and how you handled it?

I ask because this recently happened to me. I failed at achieving one of my goals. And THAT led to the inspiration for this episode, as well as a new process I just came up with while brainstorming this subject - the 4 Ws. (I love it when something amazing happens from inspired action!)

In this episode I talk about how I’ve learned to shift my thoughts when I don’t get what I want. I used to dwell on the negative instead of looking for the lessons. But now I’m able to pull myself out of that negative energy so much more quickly. It’s made such a difference and given me so much insight on what I now don’t ever perceive as failures.

I also share a specific example of a failed goal from 4 years ago that turned me towards a completely different path, but ultimately towards a more a more...

This week’s interview is with Ryan Lesser, Co-Founder and Life Coach at InnerShift. I met Ryan through his partner, Alex Paulos, who invented a unique personality typing methodology where your genetic characteristics are “read” to tell you who you were really born to be.

This reading includes an overall assessment of your general character as well as your unique personality traits, and lets you know if you’ve been operating in alignment with your inborn personality type or if you’ve been operating with a chosen personality that you’ve adopted, thinking it will help you more easily navigate life.

What happens when you don’t operate as the person you were born to be, you aren’t living in your truth - it’s like you are walking around with a mask on - which will take you off course and away from your true path and purpose. 

People who operate from a chosen personality often find themselves frustrated and feeling stressed, which...

In this month's episode of my "Just Friggin' Do It" series, I share a long-dreamed-about random act of kindness that finally came to fruition. You may wonder why it took me so long to do something so wonderful, and that is part of the reason I wanted to do this episode because it is the same question I’ve asked myself.

If I can dissect what held me back, then perhaps my reflections will help you take action on something you’ve been thinking about but not taking action on…

My curiosity about why it took me so long to do this random act of kindness led to the following questions and some answers, which I dive into in this episode:

• Why did I hold back on taking action on something that kept coming up, even if it was just a simple, random, act of kindness?
• Why were my feelings more important than the impact of my action?
• Why did I finally act? What made the difference?

The feeling that I got from doing this was amazing and of course confirmed what I preach and...

My guest this week is Jill McCarthy, also known as “The Geeky Grandma”, who has a passion for digital art & encouraging women. Jill has 4 adult sons & 6 grandchildren and has been married for 43 years. Prior to retirement, she taught 2nd graders for 25 years. She says you’ll most often catch her playing on the computer dressed in one of her favorite t-shirts imprinted with a cartoon character.

Jill’s been an avid follower and practitioner of personal development for 50+ years, long before it was a popular topic. She says she realized, about 10 years into her full-time teaching career, that her heart was not into teaching children and that she wanted to organize and run women's retreats. 

Retirement has not slowed her down one bit. In fact, it’s allowed her to fulfill her dreams of advocating personal development to her now adult students. She recently held her 14th retreat. 

In this episode, Jill and I talked about:

• The story behind...

This "lessons learned" episode was inspired by a download I had this past week about regrets that nudged me to share a couple of my own personal experiences with them.

One I share was a big regret for a long time, but fortunately it was diffused over time and is now no longer a regret at all. Another one was destined to be what I call a "deathbed" regret that I nipped in the bud because I finally took action to prevent that missed opportunity from happening.

As you can hear in my voice, I'm pretty passionate about this subject because I don't want you to get to the end of your life with ANY regrets! So start thinking about potential regrets you MAY have based on something you desire but haven't pursued.

And tune into why you desire them to ensure it's a desire of the heart because those will become the biggest regrets.

Perhaps the examples of scary actions I took to avoid future regrets, that have worked out pretty well for me, will inspire you to take action to avoid your own...

My guest for this week’s podcast is Valerie Trumbower, a DONA Certified Postpartum Doula, a Certified Lactation Counselor and a mother of three, including identical twins. Her online courses, The Bump-to-Baby Roadmap & Expecting 101...You’re Adopting™ have helped hundreds of families (and grandparents!) prepare for life with their newborns. 

Over the past 8 years Valerie has been helping hundreds of parents adjust to their new family so that they can approach the newborn stage with as much calm confidence as possible. And so that they know what to do with their little newborns.

In this episode, Valerie and I talked about:

• Understanding what a Doula is and what they do
• How she learned about postpartum and birth Doula and how she started
• Best qualities to look out for if you want to be a Doula
• Necessary tips for grandparents to best help our children navigate new babies

Many people are probably not familiar with what a postpartum doula is. You may decide...

This "lessons learned" episode was inspired by my recent free training and the questions I've received by some who've attended.

It got me thinking about how, when we are trying to make a decision - especially when it's something we want (but something that may be a bit scary and out of our comfort zone), we use time as an easy excuse. And when we do this, it's through a lens of lack vs. a lens of abundance.

We look at what taking this action will COST us in time vs. what we will GAIN from the time we put in. Will it take time from our already busy schedule and cause more overwhelm, or will the time we take give us more quality of time in the future?

Two completely different perceptions when changing the lens we look through, right?!

Let's use some example questions to show the difference when looking through the lack vs. the abundance lenses. (I'll use questions related to enrolling in the Second Half S.P.A.R.K. School since they are what inspired this episode and the best examples...

My special guest this week is one of my amazing Second Half S.P.A.R.K. School™ students, Denise Hughes. Denise shares her story of signing up at a very low point in her life, when she was suffering from “long” Covid with very little energy and very far from living her best life.

But fortunately, like all of my students who decide to take action, she was finally ready to do something about it and she knew she couldn’t do it on her own… 

Denise’s story is nothing short of remarkable as it shows how our path to the dream life we desire is not always what we think it will be. But Denise shows how once we shift our internal energy by changing our mindset, we begin to attract what we desire. 

She is also a testament to how staying in abundance, no matter how hard your journey gets, and continuing to apply the tools she learned in the Second Half S.P.A.R.K. School™ brought her to where she is today, with more balance and happiness than...