Episode 254: Building Emotional Resilience by Understanding Who You Are and Embracing Your Strength: Part 1In Life, the Truth, and Being Free, Steve Maraboli says, “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”In this crazy world we live in we come up against things people in no other time have had to deal with. Our mental and emotional resources are taxed with mental illness, with severe deviations like all the confusion around gender, like the high suicide rates, like access to all sorts of depravity with the click of a button and the knowledge of all the terrors taking place across the world. We have experienced the trials of being secluded during a pandemic, and that negative voice in our heads telling us we are worthless seems to be at shouting level. Emotional Resilience is something we need like never before. I really like what Steve said, though life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient, but like any skill, that often takes intentional work on our part - so let’s fight for our lives and our peace of mind. Let’s learn and practice resilience. Stay tuned for Part 1 of this 5-part emotional resilience series: Understanding who you are and embracing your strength.I joined an emotional resilience group a few years back. There was a physical therapist, a composer, a nurse, a home economics teacher and me, a Realtor. We did not know each other before hand, and we were doing this course on-line because it was during Covid. This group was put together by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in an effort to support people in learning emotional resilience during a hard time, but it turns out, of course, that emotional resilience isn’t something just for Covid sequestered people, it is a set of skills we all need in order to navigate life successfully and not end up shattered on the emotional rocks at the bottom of life’s cliffs.The class focused on learning and practicing spiritual and practical skills to better care for the body, mind, emotions and relationships. We did the class as a council, sharing personal experiences across our Zoom windows. We made phone calls to support each other outside of class, and we practiced different skills like healthy thinking patterns, managing stress, overcoming anger….all the good stuff. Everyone took different things from the sessions, because we’re all at different places on the path - we need different things. And, like that class, everyone will get something different from this series as well.As we close out 2023 I have put together 5 episodes that glean some of my biggest take-aways from this 188 page 10 week course. I hope these will support you in your own quest for choosing emotional resilience skills. I’ll share stories, use content I’ve pulled from the manual, and I have experts on each of these episodes to share some perspectives beyond my own. Take from it what resonates with you, that you may navigate your life with a bit more resilience. One step at a time.What is emotional resilience? As a child I pictured my future with all the good things. I pictured happy relationships, a nice home, a successful career, lots of friends. As children we don’t know or understand how deeply difficult life will be in the future. We don’t picture the divorce, or the depression, the anxiety, the cancer diagnosis, the death of someone we love, the sexual assault, the disloyalty of a friend. We don’t picture the emotional gauntlet that we will be forced to navigate because of the nature of being in the world. Emotional resilience is the ability to adapt to emotional challenges with courage and faith, helping yourself, helping others, and reaching out for additional help when needed. We throw around the words “Emotional Resilience” every where - it’s a catch phrase, but let me just repeat that definition:...

Episode 253: Coding the Subconscious for Success - Interview Riya SokolWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. We are inspired by people who help us see the world in fresh ways. We often get stuck in our stories and perspectives, and those stories, many times, limit us. Further more, we don’t often stop to question those stories and perspectives. Let’s take the Corona Virus for example. How many people stopped to look for the positive things that came from our time of seclusion, fear, change and sickness?My guest today, Riya Sokol, is an internationally acclaimed artist, speaker and viral content creator. She gained widespread recognition for her video poem, “Thank You, Coronavirus.” I’ll play a bit of it for you a bit later in the show. The poem has been translated into dozens of languages and received awards at several international festivals.Today we’re going to talk about abundance mindset, divorce mindset, gratitude mindset. She’s growing in popularity due to her unique and life-changing approach, so stay tuned to hear our discussion.Riya, usually we start out with your full story and then talk about the things you’ve learned from it, but as I’ve gone through your areas of expertise, what I want to do is address three topics, and as we get to each topic you can tell us your story about how you came to understand the things you’re teaching us. First - let’s talk about the subconcious mind: You have been doing research and experiments on the subconscious mind and then helping people realize the potential of our subconscious and how understanding and using it helps us live a deeper life. Let’s start here:First, tell us your story about how you got involved in this type of research and why you’re qualified to talk about it?Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.Second: Let’s talk about abundance mindset. You have been known to say that we each sit in a position of abundance despite our current situation, even if it doesn’t seem abundant. You say, lack only exists if you decide it does.What is your experience in how you learned this, how you use this?What do we need to know about how to shift into this mind set?Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.Third, You, like me, have gone through a divorce. In that situation you always have a chance to choose to separate in a friendly or unfriendly way. That is a very emotional space to navigate. You and your husband chose to “extend your family rather than break it.” Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.Fourth, You started performing at the age of 6 - and as I understand it, that was a source of anxiety for you. This is a big deal - anxiety, depression, panic attacks. We’d love to hear your insights on these spaced.Tune into the audio program to hear her answers.To contact Riya:Poem performance:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgm9E_cmvWABio: https://kitcaster.com/riya-sokol/Instagram:

Episode 252: Voices of Healing -Personal Stories of Life on the Healing Journey.Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.We all die. We all pay taxes. Another thing we all have in common on this crazy ride called life is that we all need to heal. Why? Because in this rough and tumble life we all get hurt. We all have to heal from things mild to wild, the broken heart, the deep disappointments, the full-out traumas. As I’ve looked over the past episodes of the Love Your Story podcast, no matter the episode, over 90% of them involve discussion about the path of healing. Whether the stories shared are about a miscarriage, an injury, a rape, a divorce, an eating disorder, the death of a loved one, etc. the thing they all have in common is that healing is part of the process if forward progression is to be made.As is obvious by the name of the show, we are all about coming to love our own personal life story. Often times the thing that stands between us and a full acceptance and love of our story are the broken times, the shameful times, the things we see as “failures,” the things we need to heal from.I’m so glad you’ve joined me today for some voices of healing as past guests share what this looked like for them. Let’s shine a light on the healing journey and see what we can learn. We all have things to heal from.As we start out this episode I want to start on a humble note. The things we heal from are deeply personal and I’m not suggesting that I know how everyone should heal - just do this or that and all will be well. If I’ve learned anything from listening to people’s stories, it’s that healing is different for everyone, it’s deeply personal. So what I share today are quips from other’s journeys and a few personal ideas about things that seem to consistently work for people. See what hits home for you. If you can take one thing that will shine a light forward on your healing journey or someone you love’s healing journey - then we are getting it right.My first real heart break was in high school. My first love was my high school boyfriend. We shared a locker, we snuck out of our windows to be together. We both played percussion so we got up early every morning before school and practiced and stayed late after. Of course we spent every minute we could, together. We dated for years. One summer we had a fake wedding ceremony next to a stream up the canyon. We had a teddy bear that I named after him and it symbolized our future kids. I have boxes of letters and notes from him. I know, to say it out loud is to shine a light on the beautiful immaturity, and at the same time I think it also shines the light on the depth a young, unharmed heart can go to. ….Until one Friday night I found him drunk, making out with the girl who was my “best friend” at a party. We had a couple of these bouts before I reached 19 years-old, and finally my heart was too broken to ever be put back together by him again. I don’t have a great healing story to tell you, unless you count 25 years later when I finally had to heal from a life of heartbreaks, I had to reframe, I had to let go, I had to come to love my messy, broken story with all the deep pains and disappointments. All the betrayals, all the bad choices, all the disillusionment. Three marriages, three divorces, a handful of serious boyfriends that I hadn’t chosen to stay with. There was a lot of relationship healing for me. At any given time we can be on the path to healing. It’s not just something that we do once and everything is okay. Every time you get a cut or a broken bone you have to heal all over again. Of course it’s the same mentally, emotionally, psychologically - we need to heal whenever we experience hurt. So, we are off and on the path continually.As I’ve gone back and listened to the healing stories of past guests, I mentioned that it really struck home how complex healing is. It’s not the exact same...

Episode 251: How to Overcome Money Block Stories: Insights from Dr. Amanda the Money Healer When I was growing up we didn’t have a lot of money. My dad was a teacher and we grew up growing our own food in the garden, mom made homemade bread, which now is very cool, but back then it just meant you were poor. My parents were frugal because they had to be and I gained a money mindset of lack. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time working to shift that - focusing on gratitude and abundance. I’m so grateful for the abundance in my life - for which I have a great deal, but I also know I still have money fears, that I have to focus on generosity at times, that I have a tendency to save money rather than invest it. We all have our perceptions and comfort levels with money. So today I have Dr. Amanda - the Money Healer on the show. Stay tuned and let’s all see if we can take one more step on our money mindset ladder.   What is money mindset? Your money mindset defines how you think about money and influences how you save, how you spend, and how you manage your debt. It's your core beliefs about money and your attitude towards it. This includes: What you think you can and cannot do with money. So this is a topic for everyone because we all use it. Mindset and money have been hot topics, because everyone wants more money and everything in our lives is about what’s going on in our heads - the stories we are telling ourselves.   Dr. Amanda Barrientez - known as "The Money Healer" - is the founder of NFA - No Fooling Around - Money. She’s a bestselling author, an international speaker, the host of The Woman Entrepreneur Podcast, and the NFA Money YouTube Channel. She's been featured on over 150 podcasts, sharing tips on how to up-level your money mindset to manifest easier money in your life and business. Today we’re going to hear her story of going from food stamps to building a 6-figure business. And once she got that figured out she decided to teach people how to transform their relationship to money so they can attract abundance from their Zone of Manifestation™. Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast Dr. Amanda. Join the audio program to hear her story. We talk about the biggest money blocks for people. Her NFA Money Formula Her techniques with Affirmantras, and a lot more.   Buddha said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” As I researched money mindset I found quotes from everyone from Suze Orman, Benjamin Franklin, Brigham Young, Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, Warren Buffet: They all said, it’s not how much money you make, money is a tool, it’s not where you set your heart but getting money allows you to free up time in order to pursue the things you want - money doesn’t bring happiness, but it gives you time to create your own. They stressed the importance of not spending beyond your means, the importance of letting it work for you. In all the wisdom from these money minds we come back to the fact that money isn’t happiness it’s a tool. But as I’ve discussed, a lack mindset sometimes stops you and keeps you small. I’d like to end today’s discussion with these ideas - Mindset, one of abundance and gratitude has been proven to create such better living by opening to the flow of all good things. Just like we heard about today. I’d also like to tip my hat to the wisdom of being a wise money manager. If you don’t care for your money in the right ways, it won’t matter how much comes to you, it will also flow right out again. How many lottery winners have to prove that? There is a balance of responsibility and a generous flow I think we need to find in our peaceful heart of hearts. We are all in different places of getting to this peaceful relationship with money. Dr. Amanda has a proven 3-step formula to help you begin...

Episode: 250 The Kindness Effect: One Woman's Journey to Heal through Compassion - Interview Megan SneddenWelcome to the Love Your Story PodcastWhen Megan lost her father in a plane crash and her brother in a car accident, her heart and life plummeted. Mental health issues brought her to rock bottom, but sitting at the bottom and looking up, she choose to find happiness despite her despair. On today’s show she tells us her story and introduces us to The Kind Effect, a movement she started that includes a 3-day Random Acts of Kindness Challenge. Stay tuned for her take on why “practicing random acts of kindness is a good way for people to introduce more regular joy into their lives and their stories…. I think she’s got some good stories to share.Megan Sneeden is the founder of af kindness movement the Kind Effect. She says, “The journey of advocating and sharing kindness hasn't been plain sailing, but kindness has taught me vital lessons.” Today Megan is here with us, and I’m looking forward to hearing her story, her rise from the dark spaces, and what has come sense. You know that we are fans of Random Acts of Kindness on the show, since it is the first of our 21-Challenges.Join the audio program to hear my interview with Megan. Some of our topics include:Her story- take us back to the path that led you to where you are - the death of your brother and your father…How did you first find your footing here as you were finding your way out of the dark?What have you created? What is the Kind Effect?What are some of your favorite RAK stories?What advice would you give people who are really hurting in their lives. When you are caught up in your own pain, it’s hard to think of looking outside that….To contact Megan:Instagram @TheKindEffect or download her free guide The Changemaker's Action Plan.  Past president and prophet of the LDS Church said, “Along your pathway of life, you will observe that you are not the only traveler. There are others who need your help. There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save.”I know how hard it is to try to think of others when you are in a state of pain, but often the way out of that pain is to turn your focus outward, away from the internal suffering and look to others, see what you can do to bring light, one small random act at a time, and before you know it there will be other feelings in your heart besides the heavy ones.Your challenge this week is to keep RAK forefront in your mind and heart…look for opportunities, make opportunities. Put kindness into the world because its a win/win. Lifting our sights, lifting our energy, lifting the world.Please share this episode with one person today as your first act of kindness and we’ll see you in two weeks for the next fun episode of helping you create an intentional life story filled with all the good stuff.

Episode 249: Trusting Your Gut: How Intuition and Curiosity Can Shape Big Life Stories - Interview Taylor ProctorWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast peeoooopppplllleeee!A bit ago, Taylor Proctor, a spicy little red head and the host of “Creating with Confidence” — an internationally acclaimed podcast, was meditating, and the idea of being an 8-figure business owner came to her mind. Now….8-figures is a minimum of $10m, and she initially thought….ya, there’s no way that is possible. But then she decided to explore what would happen if she leaned in curiosity instead of pulling away for the sake of reality. Stay tuned to hear her story because I LOVE the idea of leaning into curiosity. That idea comes up a lot when we talk about what’s possible, about not judging, about knowing ourselves better….curiosity can take us to some new places!! Stick with us and let’s see where curiosity took her…..Taylor Proctor is an intuitive business strategist and coach who uses her skills as a mentor to help high-performing business owners confidently create the life and business they love. As I mentioned in the intro, she’s the host of Creating with Confidence — an internationally acclaimed podcast — and she loves to work with entrepreneurs to uncover their unique intuitive strengths while scaling and propelling their businesses through her proprietary IMOVE method. Tune into the audio program to hear our conversation and topics like:Let’s talk about this idea of intuition - this seems to be a big part of your system and experience. What do you know and believe about intuition?I think, when we are talking about how to make our best life stories, that intuition is a really interesting piece of the puzzle. We haven’t talked about this at all, but I think we should.Also, curiosity - let’s talk about that. What does that look like for you? What has your experience been?What does IMOVE mean and how do you help people with it?“When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.” ― Kahlil GibránTo Contact Taylor:8 Crazy Actions to an 8-Figure Business Opportunity — Free Access: https://8crazythings.taylorproctor.com/8 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taylor.proctor.31/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingwithconfidence/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-proctor/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSv02tDGqO2_gyUbtMfVKNgWebsite: https://www.taylorproctor.com/Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/creatingwithconfidenceQuotes on Intuition:“Intuition is the whisper of the soul.” - Your challenge this week is to tune into your intuition. What does it tell you? Alan Alda said, “At times you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.” As we close today’s episode we’ve heard an important story of intuition at work. Whether you have a business or not, whether you reach out to Taylor or just receive inspiration from her story, I think we can all take away some encouragement about getting curious,...

Episode 248: Raising Great Humans - Parenting Hacks from the GalleryWelcome to the LYS podcast. I’m a mom of two fantastic boys. They’re grown now, in their 20’s and in some ways they are even harder now than they were when they were small. We never stop worrying about them, wanting the best for them. Watching them suffer with hard things is much harder than suffering ourselves. When they were growing up I always followed the Love and Logic parenting model because I wanted to teach them responsibility, how to make choices, how to deal with the consequences of their choices. I’m sure each of you parents have your own favorite parenting styles. I dare say most of us parent with intention. Today’s episode gleans the fabulous parenting quips from past shows and puts them in one place. With this one episode you’re going to get all sorts of parenting value bombs.So stay tuned for a little parenting pep-talk, ideas and inspiration.First - We have a Mothering Coach on hand today. In episode 229, Lara Johnson, talks to us about her work coaching mothers for reaching their full potential and being the best moms they can be. Let’s jump right into some of her wisdom….Here's a link to her full episode. Tune into the audio program to listen to just her clip.https://player.captivate.fm/episode/43c93f12-52f6-4d12-aa88-0e66424ea09eWhat I hear Lara saying is that moms need to not sell themselves short. We need to take care of us. Honor our dreams and our potential. We are the main engine of our family eco-system, and that engine needs to be acknowledged and taken care of. You can listen to the whole episode and hear about how she sets up systems in the home to do that, Again, that’s episode 229, but this is a great jumping off point for all of us - Taking care of you and your dreams is an important part of living a fulfilling life that keeps you healthy for your kids. I dare say it also sets an example for your kids of the importance of self-care and living your best life.Second - One of the things kids need is time and priority. In episode 203 - It’s all about family - in my interview with Jason Martin, we talk about his book “This is Your Captain Speaking,” that he wrote for his family, so he could share bits of wisdom with his kids.Tune into the episode to hear the clip I chose from Martin's episode.C.S. Lewis agrees with him: "Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work." - C.S. LewisHere is Martin's entire interview:https://player.captivate.fm/episode/68b2f2e0-d7dd-412e-9ba3-f913d47ee43cNow, We’ve talked about talking care of us so we can be our best for our children, we’ve talked about making our kids/family our priority, and we’ve heard a bit about the importance of spending individual personal time with each child.What happens when they enter the teen years and communication gets a little harder?Third - On episode 236 and 237 I talk with Josh Brazier and Hollie Henderson, authors of Bang Head Here, about how to talk with troubled teens more effectively.Listen to this episode to hear the clip or go to their full episodes to hear all they have to share. They have part 1 & 2 - https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a1da3b55-15ab-4588-b48b-7e57cf594bf6https://player.captivate.fm/episode/90f2ee15-7be5-42b2-b018-577b79867dfcBuilding communication trust. Wow. That’s a big one. The idea where you don’t go into solving mode,

Episode 247: Embracing Your Journey: A Gratitude Coach's Guide to Loving Your Story - Interview Holly BertoneWho has ever heard of a gratitude coach? What a great idea. On today’s show I am speaking with Holly Bertone, a gratitude coach, and we are going to be talking about how to unwrap resilience and build fortitude in our lives with the very lovely and important tool of gratitude. Stay tuned and let’s see if she’ll give us a little coaching.After all, as Tony Robbins says, “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”With us today is breast cancer survivor, Hashimoto’s warrior, #1 Amazon bestselling author, and host of the Grateful Warrior Podcast, Holly Bertone. Holly spent 25 years rising through the ranks of consulting and federal government service before her failing health shattered her corporate dreams. Since then, she has leaned into her path of true purpose and fulfillment as a Gratitude and Mindset Coach by helping women view their cancer or autoimmune diagnosis as a gift so that they can unwrap their resilience to build fortitude with gratitude. Holly, Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.Tune into the audio program to hear us talk about things like:What is your story and who are you and what’s the story that brought you into your wisdom?Have you come to love your story?I want to talk about How Gratitude Builds Fortitude During the Storms of Life. Tell me your thoughts on this…. What does gratitude coaching look like?Coach the me and the listeners for a minute - what is a basic technique we can practice to help us really embrace the power of gratitude.To connect with Holly:hjracer@gmail.comFortitude.Academy https://academy.pinkfortitude.com/podcast-landing-welcomeIG: @Holly.BertoneFB: Pinkfortitude1Deepak Chopra said, “Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.”Use it, people. Use gratitude to live with joy, wisdom and power. In the spirit of gratitude I want to deeply thank all who are taking a moment to scroll down on your app and hit the “leave a review” button. Thank you. And, if you haven’t yet, I’d love to hear from you, we’ll even share your review on the show. Here’s one: Podcast Review: Title: Such a treat! Author: Claribelleee from the Philippines“Empowering, brilliant, and I learn so much!! Love this awesome show!”Thank you so much Claribelleee from the Philippines. I appreciate your time in cheering me on!!Your challenge for the week is to bring a larger dose of gratitude into your life. Where ever you are at on the gratitude scale - an every day event, or less, just move it up one level and start to open your being to all the beauty that surrounds and flows to you in your life.See you in two weeks. Please take 5 seconds and share this show with someone you love and want to see succeed.

Episode 246: Seeing Things Differently - Personal Stories of Shifting PerspectiveOne of the great life truths is that life is all about MINDSET. When you shift your focus the perspective changes, and when the perspective shifts your reality shifts. BOOM! Dropping truth.Once we accept this and learn about the power we have to reframe events and the stories we tell ourselves in order to support our learning and living, once we fully embrace the power of perspective and the flexibility of it, we become unstoppable.For example. With my personal story - I was married and divorced 3 different times. I can focus on the hurt, the betrayal, the struggle, the cynicism I gained from my experiences. Or I can reframe and look at what I learned, the great people I met because of the various experiences, the people who got to leave my life, the empathy and understanding of some really hard things that I gained. I can focus on the learning and growth, the empathy, the people, the places my adventures took me, or I can focus on the pain and all the messy bad stuff. That is my choice. So, reframing and changing perspective are really the same thing. Do you realize how big that is? It’s everything. It’s how you interpret the world. Stick with me….Today we’re going to look at some perspective shifts about some of the most common things, and how those various shifts create a whole different world for you to live and thrive in. In Donald Miller’s book Hero on a Mission, he talks about the importance of keeping the perspective of being an agent in your own life - being responsible for choosing the way you look at your story and taking action in your story. - Let’s start with that. In episode 221 Jessica Burrell and I discuss the book and this idea of taking responsibility for doing the work in our lives. Keeping the perspective of our own power. Tune into the audio program to hear this clip. Or, you can find the whole episode here:https://loveyourstorypodcast.com/captivate-podcast/hero/Check in with yourself. Do you need to make the perspective shift into being the agent of action in your life? Are you taking responsibility for your own life? If not, this is a powerful shift in perspective. If you’re already doing this, then excellent, let’s move onto the next perspective idea.In episode 132 Rebecca Cookston and I discuss the book Deviate - the science of seeing things differently in order to get different results. This step is all about thinking outside the box in order to make life work for you. Rebecca is on the show because she implemented this deviate mindset in big form.Tune into the audio program to hear the clip, or find her whole episode here:https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3403d294-4172-4a85-bf5d-9e216106f778This book, this discussion with Rebecca, this idea that we can stop doing things the way they have always been done, that we can shift our mindset and look for new solutions was one of the most powerful ideas I’ve processed.In episode 160 Jo Marie Taylor was talking with me about her story of being a hostage in Iraq and how that experience shifter her perspective on the worthiness of all people. We’ve talked about shifting our perspective to take advantage of our power over our own life. Then we talked about thinking outside the box to find new perspectives to the same old things in order to see things differently and make them better. Now we’re talking about shifting perspective about the people that we come in contract with on our journey and how that changes life completely.Tune into the audio program to hear this clip or find the entire episode here:

Episode 245: Forbes declares, "One of the Best Storytellers of the Year." Interview Max StosselDear Listener…welcome back to the Love Your Story podcast. Today I have a special treat for you….really. It’s performance time… to welcome in the warmer weather and all good things we are getting a little Max Stossel. Max Stossel is an award-winning poet, artist and filmmaker named by Forbes as one of the best storytellers of the year. Spanning across five continents, from Lincoln Center in NY to the Hordern (HORDEN)Pavilion in Sydney, Max’s performances have been described as "a rare opportunity to experience so many different emotions in the blink of an eye — the best bang for your buck of knowledge dropping, therapy, standup comedy, and wisdom-sharing. It’s an hour of purity."  Tune into the audio program because Max is with me today and he is going to perform two of his poems from his poetry special: Words that Move, and it’s REALLY good stuff.Max Stossel’s work has been translated into fourteen languages, won multiple film festivals, and has been viewed over 20 million times online. He's been featured on BBC, CNN, TEDX, and a handful more.His new release "Words That Move" is a first-of-its-kind Stand-Up Poetry Special told on stage at the Brooklyn Kings Theater. This is nine original poems where Max guides us to see the world through different eyes, while articulating the deep-seated kernels of truth that we so often struggle to find the words for ourselves. Taking on topics like heartbreak, consciousness, social media, politics, the emotional state of our world, and even how dogs probably (most certainly) talk, Max uses rhyme and rhythm to make these topics digestible and playful. Love me some poetry…In the audio program Max performs 2 of his poems for us and we talk about creativity and how we all have it.You don't want to miss this.Find Max and watch Words that Move:wordsthatmove.com/special; https://www.instagram.com/maxstosselThank you so much for being on the show today and sharing your work. So happy to share space with your lovely poetic soul. You have an important way of seeing the world; poets always do.I am a lover of poetry, a writer of poetry. If you recall, back in September of 2017 we had the poet laureate of Logan, Utah on the show, which was fun. I’ve had a handfull of poems published in the past, but one thing I know about poets, is that in general its a thankless art. It’s a quiet art published in small chapbooks and read at open mics in coffee shops and University campuses. I’m really impressed with how Max has used technology and performance to share his poetry, his unique insights into the world with the rest of us.The lesson I’m taking away today is one about thinking outside the box. Just because something has always been done a certain way, doesn’t mean you can’t breach new boundaries, break down walls, find and use new ways of sharing.Your challenge this week is to take one thing you’re doing in your life, especially if you feel stuck with it, and do a little brainstorm session that is strictly outside the box thinking, and see what you come up with. We always create our own boundaries. We also have to be the ones to break them down.Have a great couple weeks and we’ll see you on the next episode of the Love Your Story podcast.

Episode 244: Tips on Connecting with your Man - Interview: Laura DoyleWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast - we are really knocking it out of the park in 2023. This is our 6th year doing the show and I’m so pleased to have collected so many wonderful stories and life tools for all of us to reference and use. SO MANY.Thanks for being here and continuing to enjoy the show.Today’s guest is going to blow your mind. Laura Doyle is a New York Times Bestselling Author, she is the star of Empowered Wives on Amazon Prime, and hosts The Empowered Wives Podcast. On her home page it says, “I show women the proven way to fix their relationships without their man’s conscious effort–even if it seems completely hopeless.” That sounds like magic.Stay tuned for 3 secrets to make your marriage happier and all the relationship magic Ms. Laura can dish out in 30 minutes.Insert LYS QuipAre you ready for some incredible power tips? New York Times Best Selling author, Laura Doyle was the perfect wife…until she actually got married. When she told her husband how to be tidier, more romantic and more ambitious he avoided her. So she dragged him to marriage counseling and nearly divorced him. In desperation she asked happily married women for their secrets, and that’s when she got her miracle…the man who had wooed her returned.Laura wrote a book, to share what she had discovered, and it has been translated into 19 languages in 30 countries, and accidentally started a worldwide movement. She is the founder of the International relationship coach training school -called Laura Doyle Connect,she is the star of Empowered Wives on amazon Prime, the creator of The Ridiculously Happy Wife program and the host of The Empowered Wife podcast. She has been on The Today Show, Good Morning America and The View. She has worked with over 15,000 women and helped them fix even the most hopeless relationships.Join us on the audio program to hear answers to questions like:1. Let’s start with your story. It sounds like it might start at a place where all women in marriages have been - a space of trying to help your husband be his best self - at least that’s how we see it…. go ahead…2. What are the most common mistakes women make when they’re trying to get their husband’s attention or affection?3. How can you get your husband to help more with the house or the kids - the to do list?4. You have 3 secrets to make your marriage happier - what are those?5. Sometimes it’s hard to get our men to connect in deep converstation - you’ve got 4 suggestions for us, what are those?6. You mentioned that there is a way to skyrocket the passion in a relationship, even if you’re in a sexless marriage - what does that mean? Enlighten me…How to find Laura Doyle: Email:lauramdoyle@gmail.comSkype: laura.doyle44Telephone: 7147263340Website: lauradoyle.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramdoyle/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauradoyle.orgTwitter: https://twitter.com/lauramdoyleBrene Brown defines connection as, “The energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard and valued. When they can give and receive without judgement.”Personal relationships, especially with our significant other, are key to our health and happiness. It is key to a fulfilling life, and things that are important often take a lot of work. Today we’ve had some great tips from Laura. If there are some weak spots...

Episode: 243 - What Hate Can Do: Interview Peter MutabaziWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. Today is part 2 of a two-part story - the story of Peter Mutabazi. Peter joins me today, to share the incredible story of his life in Uganda, we are picking up where we left off in part 1. For his full story - please listen to part 1, because today we are going to look at the rest of the story and the other side of the coin. Part 1 is titled: What Kindness Can do. Part 2 is titled: What Hatred Can Do. The reason I am going to take an episode to talk in detail about hate, is because as I was reading Peter’s book “Now I Am Known,” one of the greatest turning points in his life came as he became a witness to the genocide in Rwanda. What he witnessed, what these events taught him, and how they affected the progress of his life.Tune in for my talk with the author of “Now I am Known.”“When I first saw the bodies floating down the Kagera River out of Rwanda and into Lake Victoria on the local television station, I knew something horrible was happening in our neighboring country. Every day I watched news reports showing hundreds upon hundreds of mutilated corpes floating down the river. Men. Women, Children. Some had been decapitated. Others wer cut open with other body parts missing. The bodies of children…I cannot speak of what was done to the bodies of the children. Over the course of three months, tens of thousands of bodies piled up in Lake Victoria and washed up on its shore. When the winds came out of the south and east you could not escape the smell of death…”This is how the chapter “What hate can do” starts. Peter - Welcome back to the show. We loved hearing the first part of your incredible story a couple weeks ago…Tune in as we hear the story of bodies floating down the river, the massacre in Rwanda, the ah-ha of how hate was affecting him and where that took him.“I have seen firsthand the destructive power of hate, but I have also seen the healing power of generosity, acceptance, and love. We all have the opportunity to help others, inspire others, and love others from a sincere heart.”I think the world is incredibly messy. We are hurt, we hurt others, we love people who have been hurt or are hurting. We want to forgive, we want to know how to help others deal with difficult things like trauma or neglect or hopelessness. It’s all so much. One of the things Peter said in his book was “Hurting people need to be heard. They need to know they are not alone.” And then I was listening to a Ted Talk about addiction and the way we try to punish and ostracize addicts, when research actually shows that people and lab animals don’t turn to drugs or destructive behaviors when they feel connected. The suggestion for healing was not to ostracize the difficult ones, but to let them know you care, even though that may be the most difficult move. At any rate, I believe the more we listen to these real life stories, the more we seek the higher road, the more we understand where hate takes the human heart and the opposite, where caring, forgiveness, empathy and kindness takes the human heart, we can take steps in the direction of light. There is no quick solution to the struggle to forgive, or to heal from trauma, but there is the choice everyday to choose kindness and love when we can, and to work on the moments where we can’t. Let’s end with a couple quotes:Will Smith said, “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.”Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”May you move toward love, empathy and kindness today, with intention. See you in 2 weeks for the next episode of the LYS...

Episode 242: What Kindness Can Do - Interview Peter Mutabazi - Part 1Welcome to the Love Your Story podcastToday’s story, “What Kindness Can Do,” starts out with the story of Peter Mutabazi. Here's a clip from his book:“The vine came down on me so fast I did not have time to duck. It ripped across my right arm and burned like fire. “You worthless piece of….” my father yelled as he swung the vine around like a bullwhip. I spun around to protect my face. “Don’t you turn away from me,” He grabbed my shoulder with his left hand, turned me around, and brought the vine down across my neck and chest. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my aunts, uncles, and cousins running out of their houses. They had come, not to stop my father, but to watch. Nyabikoni was a very small village. This passed for entertainment.”Peter Mutabazi joins me today, to share his story of his life in Uganda, his brave escape from an abusive father at 10 years old, his subsequent life as a child living on the streets struggling daily to stay alive, and the fortuitous meeting of a man who would change Peter’s life, and in so doing change the lives his siblings, their children, and all the children Peter now helps as a foster parent.Tune in for my talk with the author of “Now I am Known.”Peter believes that every child and every person deserves to be known. He has dedicated his life to advocating for children and youth. Peter grew up feeling unheard and unseen. He knows what it feels like to believe you do not matter at all in the world. He also knows what it feels like to slowly come out of that, one small step at a time. Join us on the audio program to hear his story...“When I was ten years old, I’d given up on life.”AND“When James saw the good in me, I wasn’t very good at doing that myself. Not just with myself but with everyone. I expected the worst in people, and I usually managed to find it. Even today I must intentionally choose to look beyond behaviors and external circumstances and see the humanity within.” AND“When a foster child moves from an abusive situation to a peaceful household, they feel like they’ve landed on an alien planet. When you find yourself in that place, all you want to do is go back to a familiar place, even if that home is hell. Hurting people do not deserve judgement. They need understanding They need patience. They need love. They need grace.”Tune in to hear about his story, his book, his work and see if it doesn't leave you with a little shock and awe.Peter’s story speaks for itself - What can kindness do? It can change an entire life and in so doing change many, many more lives.To Contact Peter or buy your own copy of Now I Am Known:Peter@NowIAmKnown.comFB:FosterDadFlipperLinkedIn: in/PeterMutabazihttps://nowiamknown.com/products/now-i-am-known-bookAs we close today’s show let’s think about where we can give a little more kindness. How can we give grace, patience, forgiveness, support. That’s going to look a little different for everyone, but take a moment and identify what that means for you. Thanks for being here. Thank you to those who have left a review for the show. I’d like to share this one from: Sam Sam Woo Woo Review Title: This podcast rocks“I love this podcast, it forever changed my life. One of the hottest upcoming podcasts and everyone should listen.”Amen brother.If you haven’t left a review, it’s super easy and I’d love to hear from you - I may even read your review on the show. Have a great day and live it with intension.

Episode 241: Standing Up for What YOU Believe in - Interview Samantha HawkinsWelcome to the LYS podcast. On this show we share stories - stories of big adventures, stories of big struggles, stories that allow us to share our experiences and learn from each other.Today’s guest is a story teller, so get your cup of tea or cocoa, find a warm comfy blanket, and settle in for some stories that teach us a few lessons.Samantha Hawkins, author of the children’s book “My Mommy Marches,” has been a 911 dispatcher for almost 8 years. She’s a training officer and instructor with Cobb County 911 in Marietta GA. She’s also a public speaker and a story teller.Samantha was working disbatch during the riots that happened during the Black Lives Matter movement. She, being a black woman and a dispatcher and public servant, gets a unique view from both sides and I’ve invited her to be a guest on the show today to share some of her own stories.Tune into the audio program to hear what brought Samantha to write the book, My Mommy Marches, and the right we all have to stand up for what we believe in.I think part of living our lives intentionally is standing up for what we believe in - whatever that is - I think that’s really what your book is about. Everyone has a different set of beliefs, but we live in America where we all have the freedom of speech - at least in theory - and we get to support that for everyone while marching for what we believe in. And maybe marching means not being afraid to share your beliefs in social media. Maybe it means standing up for people who have a difficult time standing up for themselves. What does it mean to you?In the audio program she shares 2 stories with us about how she learned to preserver. Join us for her stories.To contact Samantha:Instagram handle: @forevertellingtalesLinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/samantha-hawkins-2a045b3bPre-order My Mommy Marches:https://www.amazon.com/My-Mommy-Marches-Samantha-Hawkins/dp/1915244129/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3OV5LJ2JS5NAC&keywords=my+mommy+marches&qid=1671720404&sprefix=my+mommy+marches%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-1Samantha - thank you for sharing your storytelling and your life lessons. And thank YOU, dear listener, for being with us today. If you have some stories you’d like to share, I’ve been thinking of doing an episode or two that are a bit like The Moth - if you’ve ever listened to that it’s where people come and share their own 5-10 minute stories about an event in their life.On the Love Your Story podcast website - loveyourstorypodcast.com, there is a page titled “guesting.” Go to that link and fill out that form with the subject line of Share My Story and let’s see where this leads us.

Episode 240: A Brave Little Warrior - The Story of a 4-Year-Old's Amputation JourneyDescription: Rosalie Mastaler was pushed into the world of disabilities when her son was bitten by his father's K9 police dog. Tune in for the story of courage and how the family creates good and recognizes miracles from this loss.Shownotes:Rosalie Mastaler learned about Disability Advocacy when her husband's police dog bit her son, Hunter, on February 8, 2015. Despite the trauma, Rosalie and Hunter chose to accept his disability and continue on with life. Rosalie learned that she couldn't change her son's choice to accept his disability, but she could give him tools and opportunities to help him. Hunter eventually accepted his disability and learned that happiness is a choice and that resilience is a journey. Rosalie was inspired by Hunter's ability to keep getting up and pushing forward, no matter how difficult or challenging the journey was.Listen in to our discussion about:1. How did a police dog bite Hunter and what were the rules around those dogs?2. How did Rosalie and her husband cope with the guilt and the trauma of the situation?3. How did Hunter's journey of resilience help shape Rosalie's perspective on life?Visit Rosalie Mastaler’s Socials:Mastaler Family on InstagramRosalie's WebsiteRosalie on FacebookTRANSCRIPT00:00:19 Lori: Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. On this show, we share stories. We share stories of big adventures, stories of big struggles, stories that allow us to share our experiences and to learn from each other. And today's guest, Rosalie Mastaler, was pushed into the world of disabilities when her oldest son was attacked by a police canine and he lost the lower part of his left leg. She and her family now focus on being advocates for those with disabilities and helping people to keep hope was a big thing. 00:00:55 Lori: When Hunter, this is her son, became an amputee at just four years old, his parents had to negotiate a host of feelings, including guilt and grief and worry for how their son was going to adapt. The loss of his lower leg altered their lives and how they cared for him, of course. But Rosalie and Michael, his dad, soon realized that the most powerful tool that they could offer Hunter was resilience. I'm really interested about this resilience topic because it's so big for all of us. So stay tuned for their story and a peek at the Mastaler Party of Five. 00:00:43 Lori: Stories are our lives and language. Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. I'm Lori Lee, and I'm excited for our future together of telling stories, evaluating our own stories, and lifting ourselves and others to greater places because of our control over our stories. This podcast is about empowerment and giving you the listener ideas to work with in making your stories work for you. Story power serves you best when you know how to use it. 00:02:25 Lori: Mastaler Party of Five is the social media presence of the Mastaler family and their story. In 2015, Michael, that's the dad in this story, his police dog attacked Hunter, their four year old son. And the...

Episode 239: Tools to Magnify our Worthiness: Interview Chris HawkerAm I worthy of love? Am I worthy of good things? Am I worthy of success?I have a couple family members who have recently discussed with me feelings of unworthiness because of religious or cultural messages. It’s come up as a topic in multiple groups recently, so it’s been on my radar.So, when Chris Hawker, co-founder of Next level Trainings, recently was featured on the Spirit River Coaching Summit speaking on “Are you worthy enough to love yourself - tools to magnify worthiness and move you forward,” I reached out to him right away to see if he’d talk to us about this universal struggle. The struggle to feel we are worthy of all the good stuff.Tune in for our talk about how to embrace our worthiness and the tools to help us do that. I believe in light and in darkness, I believe in good and in evil. I believe in these things because I’ve experienced what it’s like to sit in love and light, and I’ve experienced what it’s like to feel fear and shame and the hell it brings. I believe in God and light and love, and I believe in Satan, who seeks to keep us small and miserable, filled with self-loathing and self rejection. As I have watched people, done interviews, read transformational biographical stories of the human struggle, and taken note of our predominant struggles as humankind, I have come to the conclusion that feeling unworthy is one of the greatest tool that separates us from light and love. Feelings of self loathing and self doubt are amplified by our natural negativity bias, the devil on our shoulder seems to always be ready to cut us to the quick, ready to make us doubt ourselves and our worthiness for good things, for love, for success. Basic life struggles are instantly met with the idea that we are not enough.The reason this tool is so powerful in stopping us, is that when we buy into the belief that we are unworthy we will play small. We will not share our talents with the world, which rips everyone off - us and the world. We slink in the shadows, living well below what we are capable. I suspect one of the biggest battles we will ever engage in during our lives is the fight, within our own minds, to accept our brilliance, our worthiness, our potential, and our beauty as humans. This is why I’m so pleased today to talk with Chris Hawker about tools for magnifying our worthiness so we can move forward in big and fabulous ways. Let me introduce him - Chris Hawker is a transformational leadership trainer, inventor and professional speaker. He has trained teams at organizations like Duracell and McDonald’s. He coaches leaders in living vision-driven lives. His award-winning inventions have received 40 patents, and his work has been featured in USA Today, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He is co-founder of Next Level Trainings, which has trained thousands of individuals, raising over $4M in charitable donations. He resides in Columbus, OH, with his wife, son and dogTune into the audio program to hear our discussion about things like:Let’s start out with your story - what has been your path to a full acceptance of your self worth?What is self worth?Where does it come from?Why does doing the work to shed the unworthy feelings we have matter?How do you coach people as they work on reclaiming a deep sense of self worth? What do we do to get self worth?I’d like to get your thoughts on a couple of quotes - one you are familiar with and one is a surprise - First one:Roy T. Bennett said, “If you want to fly, you have to give up what weights you down” Second one:Maya Angelou said, “I learned a long time ago, the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side.”To contact...

Episode: 238 - The Messages: A Story of Navigating Life Transitions and Embracing ChangeWelcome to the Love Your Story podcast. I’ve struggled for a month, since I read Dawn Kohler’s book, The Messages, to figure out how to introduce this woman, what direction to take our discussion, and how to adequately portray the events that took place in her life….I’ve come up with nothing that seems to fully do the job so I’m just going to say “wow” and jump right in. In her 30’s Dawn’s body simply would not let her get out of her car as she pulled into her thriving, award-winning computer company, for another day as CEO in a job she loved. She couldn’t get her hand to open the door. After sitting for hours she finally drove home and started on one of the most interesting and spiritual journey’s I’ve ever read about. She says, “by sheer self-mutiny, the self I was born to be decided to hijack the one I had created.”Tune into the audio for Dawn Kohler’s story and the amazing things we are going to learn from it.Dawn Kohler was an award-winning entrepreneur in the computer industry when she was abruptly summoned to take a life-altering course. What followed was an extraordinary healing journey from childhood abuse and rape. This journey took a giant toll on her, on her family, and on her marriage, but it gave her profound insights, incredible healing, and deep understanding. Combining these insights, and her business experience, Dawn became a sought-after Executive Coach helping leaders understand and enhance their impact on others and their contribution to the world. Her clients have included many of the most influential women in entertainment, as well as senior leaders at Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Lionsgate, DreamWorks, Fox, Snapchat, Disney, and Amazon. Dawn is the author of 3 books including her recent memoir, The Messages, a prophetic journey.Tune into my talk with Dawn. Here are just some of the things we talk about:While your book, The Messages, is the whole detailed story, will you please tell the listeners your story, and then we’ll move into where that brought you?In your recent memoir, you share the story of how you came to receive a series of what you experienced as divine messages. What were the messages? How will they impact us? And why do you think they came to you, a secular businesswoman? In your book you share a conversation with your therapist where she said, “You followed your messages, faced your fears, encountered great upheavals, and released a lifetime of stored emotions that, honestly, I’m surprised have not killed you by now., It’s the hero’s journey. you want through the crucible in order to come out the other side and bring back a treasure to the kingdom.”The onset of your personal journey was marked by high anxiety and depression. We are certainly seeing an increase in both in our culture, do you think those symptoms are a kind of summons or awakening for all of us? How do we answer the call to a greater life? Why are some called and some aren’t?In your book you say, “People need to understand how important it is to take responsibility for their own healing. We can avoid so much suffering if we embrace who we really are and learn to love more deeply.” How do we do this?You also said, “Our spirit is always trying to heal us, deepen our capacity to love, and guide us to where we can best serve. We just have to listen and follow our own path.” I want to talk about “our own path.” Your experience is incredible, but very different from my understanding of how the universe works. My sons are on paths that I can’t fully understand. This idea of our “own path” is really opening me up to allowance, but how do we support each other when our understanding and belief in a certain path differs from how someone else, especially people...

Episode 237: Bang Head Here: Interview with Josh Brazier & Hollie Henderson - Part 2Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast. Today is Part 2 of Bang Head Here. We’re back with Hollie and Josh, the authors of Bang Head Here, and today we are talking shop. In Part 1 we got their stories, of Hollie’s troubled youth and how it put her on this incredible path, so go back and listen to part 1 to get her full story. And we got Josh’s story of being a young man in Morocco and working with refugees from West Africa, watching their abuse and deportment that became so formative for him as he built a life of humanitarian work.Today we want to move on with our conversation with them so we can glean insight from their wisdom.Hollie and Josh, welcome back to the show.Let’s dive right back into our conversation and pick up where we left off…..Last episode we finished up with the challenges teens are having with connection, this episodes let’s go to the next obvious question:Tune into our conversation about:1. What keeps parents from connecting with their teens and young adult children?2. Why are you able to connect with teens when the parents cannot?3. Let’s talk about developing resilience. In your book you talk about the need of accepting that pain is a part of life. You say, “We realized that we didn’t really know what it meant to look at pain without trying to avoid it. In essence we didn’t know how to be ok with not feeling ok.” Let’s talk about this idea of acceptance of all the emotions of living, but then let’s talk about how this is a part of becoming resilient. 4. How do we fill our resiliency tanks? How do we lay a foundation of resiliency?5. Why do young people listen and how do you keep their attention? “In your book you gave some great advice - “Make sure what you say today is living and void of judgement.” “If you can make them feel loved and valued at least once a day, you’ll have a great start.”6. How do we deal with and avoid pain? What are healthy ways of dealing with pain?How to contact Hollie and Josh:WEBSITE: https://www.joshandhollie.com/EMAIL: info@joshandhollie.comFACEBOOK: @joshandholliecoachingINSTAGRAM: @josh_and_hollieTWITTER: @JoshHollie2I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about how hard communication is for everyone. When you think about it, we all have different experiences, different triggers, different insecurities, different stories about everything. And with those stories that we are telling ourselves in our own heads, we are creating different realities. In Bang Head Here, Josh and Hollie say, “We know very little about what’s going on her to really know what’s going on. It’s a reminder that we need to keep our initial opinions and perceptions out of the equation until we have had enough time to be curious, ask questions and create different perspectives and possibilities, and to give the benefit of the doubt.”Your challenge this week is to give someone the benefit of the doubt. When you are hit with frustration or fear in one of your relationships, give them the benefit of the doubt and approach them with that in mind.So many teens right now seem to struggle so deeply. Suicide rates are so high. Social media doesn’t help. We’re dealing with the first generation being raised on the internet, hitting our heads against that proverbial wall, and finding our way around outcomes we’ve not had to deal with before. Bang Head Here may be a great resource for you. We’ll see you in two weeks.

Episode 236: Bang Head Here - Interview with Josh Brazier & Hollie Henderson - Part 1Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast.What do you get when you bring together a woman who was an at-risk teen, with severe troubles in her family of origin, and a man who on his LDS mission to Morroco worked with thousands of African refugees who were abused by guards and eventually deported, despite all their struggles, to make a better life? What you get is a dynamic duo who have partnered together, after years of their own experience in social work - like violence prevention and humanitarian programs, to help families and troubled youth learn to communicate and solve pain points.You also get a new book called: Bang Head Here. Tune in because we are going to get into their stories, as well as the tremendous work they are doing and you’ll definitely learn some things about communicating with your loved ones.Today’s podcast is about a number of things. It’s about how to communicate in families, especially with at-risk youth. It’s about how to recognize the part we play, as parents and caregivers, in the miscommunications that occur. It’s about sharing the life experiences of two people who have taken some traumatic experiences and turned them into skills to share and help families communicate better. It’s ultimately about using what they know to help others along the path of building better life stories.We have a couple “guides” with us today. Let me introduce them:First, Hollie:Hollie has been training teens and adults for over twenty years. Her training work began in the field of violence prevention and dating violence prevention. Hollie has trained thousands of teens and young adults to recognize the warning signs that lead to violent and deadly relationships.She is an active parent & teen coach who specializes in working with at-risk teens and young adults and their parents. She understands the struggle and nuances of these relationships primarily because she once was an "at-risk teen" who has found a way to reconnection within a family structure that once was failing.Josh:With over 15 years of experience working with youth and family in over a dozen countries, Josh brings a very unique perspective to healing and family culture. Having worked alongside thousands of young people and having been inside hundreds of struggling households, Josh's experience has led to deep and powerful insights that help create a new path of healing. Having worked for the past decade creating social programs for youth in the US and abroad, Josh brings his 15 years of experience working with youth to help solve real pain points the youth are facing.Tune in to the audio program to hear about his story serving in Morocco on an LDS mission. In a Spanish provence there was a refugee camp where thousands of West Africans were coming up to create a better life in Europe. He was tasked with building a church and helping the refugees - creating an English speaking branch. He worked with these people building good spaces for them. The refugees had to deal with very difficult psychological issues, abuse from the guards physically, verbally, sexually abused - rape was an issue. The overcrowding was severe. In addition the refugees had the horrible struggles in their travels to actually get to where they were - friends being eaten by wild animals, drinking their own urine to survive on the trail, women having to sell their bodies. He grew very close to these people as he walked with them on this path. One day he got on his boat to go to mainland Spain with his branch, when they were all apprehended by local authorities and his entire branch was deported to their countries of origin. He never saw them again and the trauma of the event caused a great deal of personal struggle. He started his program to honor these people. It became

Episode 235: Best of 2022Welcome to the LYS Podcast. Today’s episode is one of my favorites of the year because it celebrates what you, the listeners, enjoyed most over the past year. I love looking at the top 5 episodes because it tells me about our past year, what resonated with everyone - which episodes lifted your spirits, connected with you, gave you what you wanted to create your best life story.But I also love this episode because it’s a fun listen - you get to hear little teasers of the favorite shows, and decide which ones you may want to go back and listen to or share.Click the link to find out the top 5 listener-favorites for the year.So let’s get started with the top 5 episodes of 2022.Coming in at #5 is Episode 214 - Walking on Water. In this episode we discuss the deep importance of us of learning to walk with faith, of coming to understand what it is, why it’s important, and how to develop and use it in our own lives. I share clips from 3 excellent women who are expert on the topic and we talk about how we have to have more faith in our why, in ourselves, and in our supportive universal purpose and God, than we have in fear. In this clip I have just grabbed a little piece from the first of these women. Take a listen.#4Having the faith to take action in your life is a HUGE step to making things happen, but one of the next most powerful steps in creating a peaceful life is the ability to see how our trials help us to grow - to be able to recognize that the shit of life is the fertilizer….I’ll add in this little thought as well. I was reading a symposium paper on why bad things happen, and there was a wonderful section that talked about how we CANNOT learn to forgive without being hurt and having someone to forgive. We cannot learn patience without having to struggle with the shortage of time, we can’t gain understanding and empathy without knowing a particular pain - someone who has struggled with illness can understand another who struggles with this also. etc.. While our desire to avoid pain is strong, growth, understanding and the development of Christ-like qualities comes only through knowing the opposite side of it. Which takes us to #4 - Episode 227, my interview with Carrington Smith, the author of Blooming: Finding Gifts in the Shit of LifeHere’s a clip from listener favorite #4: (Tune into the audio program)You can find the whole episode that includes her numerous personal stories of rape and abuse and how she comes to claim her story. Episode 227.#3Now, What is #3 for 2022? The 3rd most downloaded episode is: Episode 218 - Life Engineered with Rusty Lindquist. I’m loving this countdown, because each of the top downloads, as it turns out, are all super life tools.#5 - Having the faith to step out and take action#4 - Understanding that our trials and failures are really our greatest tools for building our character and refining us.And now, in #3 - Creating our life with intention - Engineering the life you want on purposeTune into the audio program to hear a clip from my interview with Rusty Lindquist.To listen to the entire episode, pull up episode 218 on your app or on loveyourstorypodcast.com #2Now we are to #2 - The second most downloaded episode this year was:Episode 212: Domestic Violence: Interview Brielle Cotterman and Melissa HaenchenBrielle...