"Today I Begin My New Life"

Sorry I sorta disappeared on ya, there.  I've spend the last 4 days in Salt Lake City.  I went for a team training event for my health coaching biz.  The first day was spent with Dave Blanchard, an amazing motivational speaker.  At the center of his talk, he taught about empathy, agape love, how to truly LISTEN to someone to make them feel HEARD and UNDERSTOOD.  I really loved these lessons as I feel these are intrinsic to working with people and helping them with their health and wellness.

One of the stories he told was about a dream he had.  One night he was walking with a huge muslin sack.  A voice told him to drop the sack and look inside.  But he did not want to look in the sack. He knew there were bad things in there. "Look in the sack" the voice said again.  He opened the sack and in them were these metal orbs with spikes all over them.  Each one was a bad memory.  One in particular, he had fallen victim to a pedophile as a child.  He cried as he looked at that orb. He did not want to look at it any longer.  Instead, the voices asked, "Do you think anyone else has suffered this?"  "Yes, of course" Dave replied.  He was then instructed to take the orb and put it into his heart.  He was scared to do this. It meant acknowledging the events, accepting them, no longer ignoring them.  He did as he was told.  He put that sharp, spikey ball into his heart. Suddenly he no longer felt like a "victim".  There was no turning back the clock.  What had happened, happened.  But now....he could use that experience to help others who have experienced the same thing.  A heightened awareness that allows him to look at people with love.

Needless to say, it was a weekend of digging deep into my guts and dealing with some things that maybe I have just tried to carry BEHIND me in a muslin sack so I don't have to look at them.  One of them is my divorce.

Roy and I are getting along....fine.  Everything is "fine". I feel "fine".  It's "fine".  IF you ask me how I'm doing with the divorce....I'm FINE.

Welllllllll......maybe I'm not fine.  Maybe I'm a little anxious about what it's doing to the kids, both now and long term.  Emily doesn't remember us married.  What is she learning about love between a husband and wife? Marriage? So...I'm anxious about it....scared, sad, worried.

This has led me to feeling "stuck" in my health coaching business. I've been shut down. I haven't felt like I could reach outside of myself and help new people.  But you know.... I've felt fear, disconnect, worry, sadness......this can help me help others who are also feeling these things.  We learned to listen, not to create in our minds a response, but to listen to really HEAR the person.  We couldn't say things like, "Me too" and start talking about ourselves.  We could only ask more questions and listen to them, let them talk, make them feel heard and understood. It was an amazing exercise.

The next day was spent on our business-specific training.  I was able to spend intense one-on-one time with so many in my "upline" of mentors.  I received some really, really great advice.

We really ARE just one big family and we all love each other for who we are.  Good thing... because.........

They were just trying to take a nice picture......when the PROBLEM CHILD had to show up. LOL  (I never take myself too seriously....it's incredibly freeing.)

I am so proud of the company I work for.  Our FIRST focus is to love and to help people. To help them get healthy.  To help them get back their lives, get off medications, have energy and ability to participate in life again.

Sunday was spent going to church with a fellow Mormon health coach, an "up-line mentor" of mine.  I am so happy to belong to a church....no matter where I go in the world, I have a home.  Instant home.  And all the meetings are the same around the world.  We are all learning the same lessons on the same day around the world.  The hymn books are the same, the structure is all the same, the way sacrament meetings are run are the same.  I really love that. I felt completely at home on Sunday.

After church, we had dinner (church goes from 1-4 in her ward) and after that, we went down to Temple Square so I could see the temple.  Being Sunday, everything was closed.  But we were able to walk around the Temple Grounds and go to the visitors centers.  Here are a couple pictures:

It was so amazing for this recent convert to be in Salt Lake City.  During the day, seeing the entire valley floor and imagining what it was like soooooo many years ago when the first pioneers arrived.  So grateful for the dangerous mission they embarked on that allows me to practice my faith today.  Being at the Temple Square, I absolutely felt the Spirit around me.  I'm so thankful I got to have this visit.  I know I will be back.

Ok, cats and kittens....I've got more to share with you about Dave Blanchard's teachings and his book "Today, I Begin My New Life" (you should get it!).  I'll be talking about spikey balls, empathy, agape love....the works.  

Fasten your seat belts.  I'm getting "un-stuck".

Heading to the Mother Ship....

I'll be heading to Salt Lake City this weekend for an awesome conference for my health coaching biz.  So excited to be with my mentor coach and fellow coaches.  We'll be doing all kinds of trainings and listening to highly successful people.  I've let my biz slip to the back burner while I went through the divorce....it just really sucked the life out of me.  I'm looking forward to re-launching my business to help people get healthy.

On Sunday, I'm tagging along with a fellow LDS health coach to Sacrament meetings.  Hopefully we can swing by Temple Square so I can be agog with the other tourists.

All this to say...I may be laying a little low this week, but I'll catch you on the flip side........

Hello....and welcome

Hey Cats and Kittens......

Welcome to my blog.  The title?  It bespeaks the notion that I didn't start this blog because I thought I had the answers to life, the Universe and everything....even though I am, in fact, 42. (Some will get the reference.)  So if you were looking for the answers....I'm not sure you'll find them here....but kick your shoes off, pour yourself something to drink and hang a while......just giving fair warning.....half the time I don't know what the heck I'm doing...........

But you know....after the 4,832nd person said, "You should write a blog", I figured I'd throw my hand in the game.

This won't be about any one thing.  I am many things: a mom.  I have two kids: Emily, a precocious little blonde troll/Southern Belle, and Andrew an 8 year old boy going on 47.  He has Aspergers and that just makes life about 12x more interesting.  My kids are my love, my heart, my whole life.  And I'm not afraid to say they are jerks sometimes.

That's right.  I will say the things you are thinking, but are too afraid of the judgement. Sometimes, kids are, in fact, jerks.  Want proof? They're PEOPLE.  And people can be jerks.  But they are MY jerks and they are fricken awesome, put up with MY jerky-ness, and I wouldn't want my life to be any other way.

I am newly divorced, which....even though it was my "choice"....it sucks. It's hard. I second guess myself at least 12,486 times per day on whether I improved or ruined my kids' lives. This single-parent thing is for the birds....and I feel weird saying "Single parent" because my ex is a FULLY involved father and often takes them on days that aren't his, picks Andrew up from his after-school tae kwon do so that I don't have to fly from Nashville to Murfreesboro in crazy traffic and just generally is a good guy.  Our marriage didn't make it, but he's still a good human.

In June of 2014, after nearly 20 years (off and on) of investigating, I was baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (The Mormons....but not the same Mormons you see on Broadway). I love my new faith.  I love my new walk with my Heavenly Father, my brother Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. If you're looking for Molly Mormon.....I ain't it.  I do my best to hold fast to the rod, but I fail...dust myself off and get back on the path. I guess you can say I'm no different than any other Mormon.  I just wanted to use "Molly Mormon" in a sentence.  (The male version, I am told, is "Peter Priesthood"  file that away under "useless information".)

I am a Health Coach.  As 2013 rolled around, I was tired, had achy joints, no energy, was overweight, plagued with insomnia and nuclear heartburn.  I found a healthy eating program that helped me learn and apply healthy habits, lose 60 lbs, sleep through the night and get rid of that nasty heartburn.  They asked me to become a health coach and help others do the same.  I'm still on a journey towards my goal weight, but over the last couple years I've learned that you don't have to be perfect to help others. My program is centered around helping you to BE healthy. There are no pills, weird bandaids or dangerous potions to drink. (I don't care if they say "all natural".  Anthrax is all natural.  Doesn't mean it's good for you.)  It's about adding healthy habits that ensure you will get and stay healthy for a lifetime.  (What happens if you stop taking those pills, potions or other temporary fixes? YIKES).

I am always in pursuit of a more healthy lifestyle.  I'm investigating things like natural oils, vegetarian and vegan recipes. and a more organic and holistic lifestyle.  However comma, unlike these perfect Pintrest, gluten free, dye free, sugar free, fat free, meals artfully created on color-coded plates hand made by the indigenous peoples of Madagascar-type  Mommies....I'm a full time working Corporate Paralegal and, for good or for ill, McDonalds is sometimes a solution to two hungry kids following me around and oddly call me "mom" and I haven't had time to grocery shop.  Guess what...their heads haven't fallen off yet...so......................................

Lastly, I'm just a general liver of life.  I love to take pleasure in observing the little thins. And I like to write.  So I'll share those observations with you.  But, hey.....this is a two way street, my friends.  I'd love to hear from you. I'm sure, somewhere on this page is a place to email me or respond to this post, or what ever.... join in the party.   To me....life is ALLLLLLLLLLLL about sharing the human experience.  Nothing is off limits here (though I do try to keep it a family show as much as possible.)

Cheers!