We’re all familiar with the old adage: “Laughter is the best medicine”. But how does humor actually tie in with healing trauma that we go through at some point in our lives?

Today’s episode of The Inside Story Podcast introduces us to Pasha Marlowe — life and laughter coach, and holistic personal trainer. As Pasha shares with me, she started out like any other marriage and family therapist who uses traditional methods for treatment. But a personal, traumatic experience led her to search for and apply all sorts of tools to bring about healing, and ultimately make the mindful decision to use humor as part of the process.

So join me and Pasha as we discuss:

• Her work as a therapist and health coach, and how a major shift in her family’s life became the springboard for her to use comedy, laughter and humor to promote healing
• What her coaching used to be like, versus how it looks now that she is working with the lens of humor
• Being open to...

The only thing that's constant ... is change. And no one is more familiar with change than my good friend — certified life and leadership coach Deb Cummins Stellato. As the Princess of Pivots, Deb is a lover of change, having gone through major shifts in her life that have defined who she is.

Change means letting go of something familiar and can therefore be a scary thing. But Deb has embraced change, saying that “success means leaning in to being courageous and being open”.

I invite you to join us as we talk about:

•   The two devastating events in her life and the grief process she went through, eventually leading her to begin her podcast
•   How she wanted her podcast to be raw and authentic, and how she used storytelling to build the audience for it
•   The necessity of taking risks and accepting life changes, which also meant letting go of the concept of perfection
•   Impostor syndrome and how it can stop you from moving forward...

In just a couple of days, a new year will begin. And with everything that has happened in 2020, it just begs the question: what do we want this coming year to be like? If we were free to imagine the best life for ourselves this 2021 and even beyond, would it feel unlimited?

The internal exercise I share with you on today’s episode for choosing your word of the year is meant to be an intentional practice. It asks for a deep examination of what happened this past year, and calls for a bold vision of what you want your life to look like in the next 6 to 12 months.

So grab your pen and paper and get ready for meaningful reflections as I share with you: 

• My 5-step exercise for coming up with your word of the year, that has really become a goal-achieving machine for me and can work in the same way for you
• How your word can impact not only your goals and the way you see yourself, but more importantly, how you make decisions as the person you already see yourself becoming
• What...

We’ve all been there: days when our creativity just flows so naturally -- even magically! -- and we are so inspired that the ideas come one after the other without any effort.

Then one day, it all disappears. We lose the enthusiasm to create anything, we feel uninspired, and we don’t know how to get back into our groove again.

This is the ebb and flow of creativity and yes, my friends, I say “we” because I’ve been through this process, too. In fact, I felt like I was pulling from a dry well as I thought of what I wanted to talk about this week on the Podcast. And if you ask what helped me get out of the rut, then I invite you to tune in as I share with you how I unclogged my drain and let the creativity flow freely again.

In this episode, I fill you in on:

• The 7 go-to exercises I practice to recharge my creative juices
• The book by Julia Cameron that has helped me and many others on their journey to meaningful and creative journaling
• The time in my...

When Minou Hexspoor and her husband found themselves trapped at home in Beirut at the start of the quarantine, a simple idea for a photo took them on an unexpected journey of documenting fun and different experiences … right from their living room! What began as a seemingly random Instagram post to commemorate Mother’s Day during quarantine, became a 60-day photo project that featured different movie characters, a day at the beach, a safari, fishing trip, and even camping!

But more than just setting up intricate and detailed scenes to post in social media, Minou realized that there was power in what she calls “practical imagination”. And ultimately, she found that the photos held more meaning than just being creative; to her and to many who went on the journey with her, the photos became instruments to teach JOY even during these challenging times.

So listen in as Minou and I exchange thoughts and insights on:

• How the photo project first...

If you’ve ever felt disempowered by your life or circumstances, this is an episode for you!

On the podcast today,  I am joined by my good friend and Certified Empowerment Coach, Kofi Williams. 2020 proved to be one of the more painful years of her life -- and from it, she is rising bolder and more open about her truest desires.

I always get excited when I see a woman rising up to share her Vision and Voice… but like most of us, it hasn’t always been easy for Kofi!

She shares with us how her journey to becoming a life coach began, and her life’s purpose to help other women claim their vision, find and use their voice to create a future they wanted, and free their minds so they could be empowered and achieve their dreams.

In 2007, Kofi heard these 10 words that forever changed everything for her: “When you change your thinking, you can change your life”. Hearing that for the first time, she finally understood the power that was within...

When was the last time you said YES to YOU?

I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say that for us women, our excuses are plentiful when it comes to doing something for ourselves. Sure, saying yes to others may come easily to us. But saying yes to ourselves is a totally different matter. Which brings me to the story I’m sharing on the Podcast today about a big decision I made to say YES to an amazing and life-changing trip for me, and the Red Dress that completely changed my perspective in 2020.

Listen in as I share with you:

• The invitation my friend Hayley extended to me, to join her in Paris for an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime trip
• The excuses I kept coming up with so I could say no to the trip. I’m pretty sure the excuses will sound familiar — most women say the same excuses when big things come their way!
• A seemingly trivial choice between a yellow and a red dress, that ultimately affected, in a symbolic way, how I...

Do you ever find yourself wanting to share a story you feel is relevant, but suddenly stop yourself with the thought that your story doesn’t really matter?

I know that sharing your story may not be easy at first, with all the junk (yes, it’s JUNK!) going through your mind, making you believe that you ought to play things down and not think big. And hearing my clients and people from my community making the same comments repeatedly made me realize that it’s just about time we debunk these lies, get back on track, and begin to purposely live our truths through our stories.

So today on The Inside Story Podcast, let’s talk about:

• Why telling your story is an important skill you need to learn
• The lies we tell ourselves that keep us from sharing our stories
• The different ways we can overcome these lies so we can begin our journey to better storytelling
• The 3-part formula you can use to put your story in perspective, and find the message and wisdom you can convey...

“Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have.”

- Robert Holden

We know the quote above to be true, but how often do we remind ourselves that we are amazing human beings, that we are worthy, and that self-love is our super power? Probably not often enough, which is why hearing my Mastermind coach George Bryant talk about the relationship between how we see ourselves and being successful in life just floored me.

In today’s episode of The Inside Story, I share with you:

• The 5-minute exercise George discussed in his podcast (which you should also subscribe to, by the way, because it’s awesome) that will probably make you uncomfortable at first, but will eventually give you the boost that you need
• How we are the ones holding ourselves back and getting in the way of our own growth
• Why I knew I had to take immediate action, and my decision to share it live with the LIGHTBeamers community
• The ripple effect of my Facebook Live...

In today’s episode, Police Sgt. Toni Gonzalez and I talk about the inside story on how she came to recognize a silent issue in the police work force that included confronting a devastating memory from her childhood, and how she conquered her fear of being judged to launch a life-saving program that aims to help not just police officers, but all first responders. 

Listen in as we discuss:

• How Toni got into the police force, and the reality of choosing the job over having her son with her
• What being a Hispanic woman meant when she first entered the academy
• A specific incident on the job that led her to go into therapy -- finding out what was triggering the anxiety she felt when responding to work calls
• How being called a train wreck hit home, spurred her to action, and made her look into how stress affected first responders and why it was not being openly discussed
• Toni’s concept of bringing a mental “book bag” to work that fills up during the day, and...