Restart - 014

A year ago, I gave myself permission to pause everything when my dad was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. I stopped my podcast for many months. Now, I am back and want to help raise vibrations all around. So much Love and Light to you!

The episode Restart - 014 from the podcast Soul and Stories has a duration of 13:22. It was first published 03 Apr 03:00. The cover art and the content belong to their respective owners.

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Restart - 014

Mel Bridger - Rising - 013

Mel Bridger became internationally recognized for her success in the Salsa dance industry in her twenties at venues around the world. Her energy and drive commanded a big following. She felt tremendous pressure feeling like she always had to prove herself to people and put on a certain persona. Behind the mask of success, happiness and confidence was Mel’s secret feeling of not being good enough. Years later those feelings worsened as Mel suffered from depression and anxiety that she kept hidden away from everyone around her.

I met Mel in 2017 in London while seated at a table across from her at Chris Ducker’s inaugural Youpreneur Summit among hundreds of entrepreneurs looking to build and grow their businesses. Mel was in the midst of a new journey to become an entrepreneur as the CEO in a fitness business she cofounded with her husband, Steve. Our conversation that day activated Mel’s determination and courage to step out from behind the mask of secrecy about her anxiety and depression.

Mel initiated “her own coming out” experience that started with telling her mom about her decade long struggle with mental health. With this breakthrough, she sparked a personal movement to speak out openly across various social media and professional platforms sharing her story and announced, "it’s ok to not feel ok." Her story quickly circled the globe as people watched and shared her video broadcasts and were inspired to speak about their own stories and struggles.

Mel describes what it was like to let go of her tightly held secret. “It was like I had my hands on a door and I was struggling to keep it closed.”

Within a few months, Mel and husband, Steve, along with the Beatz Fitness team were selected out of thousands of applicants to move forward advancing into the final stages of production with one of the BBC’s most famous TV shows, Dragons' Den. Similar to “Shark Tank” in America, the show receives pitches from new businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to win investment funds. While their appearance before the investor judges (aka “Dragons”) was never aired on the network, the experience was a success in so many ways. Mel stood her ground, pitched the business and claimed huge honors and recognition from five of Britain’s most well-known and influential multimillionaires.

Success is not always about money, especially in the early stages of entrepreneurship. Mel’s journey and personal growth in recent years is a powerful achievement in itself and a great example for us all.

On finally getting closure, Mel offered newfound wisdom, “People think you try to close the door to get closure, but what you need to do is open that sucker wide.” Mel’s personal growth and authenticity landed her on the main stage at Chris Ducker’s second annual Youpreneur Summit in London where she returned from year one and shared her inspirational story in front of 500 fellow entrepreneurs.

To learn more about Mel Bridger, follow @themummytrainer on Facebook, @themummytraineruk on Instagram. Be sure to check out her blog, www.themummytrainer.co.uk and business at www.beatz.fit

Declutter Your Home and Let Go to Spark Joy - 012

In this episode, I reflect on how downsizing our possessions helped us to upgrade our lives. Our experience moving to China seemed impossible when we first started the process of decluttering and letting go of stuff we had accumulated throughout our lives.

It turned out to be quite liberating and such a freeing experience as it opened up space for us to spark more Joy into our lives.

Imagine that you’ve just been told you need to pack up your house to move to a new home. Just the thought of packing and moving is quite daunting for most of us.

Now, imagine you are ONLY allowed to take what fits inside two checked bags per person in the household (under 50 pounds each) for an intercontinental flight along with your carry-on! That’s exactly what my husband, Azul Terronez, and I committed to when we moved our family from San Diego, California to Shanghai.

It’s perfect timing to remember all the important lessons we learned as we begin to settle into our new home in Puerto Rico. I also share a few of the tips I recently discovered from Marie Kondo’s new show, “Tidying Up” on Netflix.

Azul Terronez - How I Met My Husband - 011

Azul Terronez is an incredible husband, a wonderful father and my best friend. He lights up my life and many others who have the gift of knowing him. We met just over eleven years ago and have shared a journey and passionate pursuit to live in more alignment with our truth and inspire others to do the same.

In recent years, we became business partners in our efforts to help authors find their unique messages, tap into their creativity and overcome resistance to write and publish their books.

I am beyond words with excitement to be able to introduce you to Azul through this episode. It’s a behind the scenes style conversation that only the two of us can share with you.

This episode picks up from where I left off in Episode #1 titled, My Soul and Story. Azul and I open up about:

The night we met and the synchronicity in that experience
Common misconceptions about coming out as gay men later in life
The struggle of connecting with our true selves in the decades that led up to that moment
Vulnerability that comes with owning our truths and fear of failure
The concept of "Love at First Sight”
How focusing on Love has strengthened our family’s connections, including our former spouses

Azul described what unfolded and the lightning effect that happened between the two of us on the night we first met.

"Once you decided to be vulnerable you just went ALL in and so did I.”

After we said our goodnights, I remember thinking I’ll probably never see this beautiful man who took my breath away. It felt like it was too good to be true and our life circumstances were just too complicated at the time.

The day after we met I boarded my routine cross-country flight and left California. I flew first class to NYC for consulting work where I had been living my own version of Sex and the City, all the while wondering if I’d ever hear the sound of Azul's incredibly sexy voice ever again. After almost three days had passed I got my answer…

Be sure to listen until the end to find out what happened next.

To learn about Azul, visit www.CoachAzul.com and discover more about book coaching programs, his podcast show, Born to Write, and TedX talk, What Makes a Good Teacher Great.
You can find Azul and connect on Facebook @coachazul.

Enlightened Connections - 010

The New Year is here and there’s so much talk about setting intentions, setting goals for ourselves and moving onward and upward. Yes, it’s true that we only have the present moment and there is no turning back. Yet, we hope for a brighter tomorrow.

In this episode, I take some time to reflect about where I am on my journey and a big lesson I learned that helped me to get here.

I found myself reflecting back to 18 years ago in the days when my favorite TV show, Sex and the City, was a way to escape the day-to-day reality of my life. I dug into my memories back to August 2001 when Season 4 Episode 11 aired on HBO. It was titled, Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.

Back in those days, I often imagined what my life might be like if only I lived in the City with fabulous friends to hang out with like Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. What would it be like to live the Manhattan lifestyle with brunch among friends?

Kinda silly to think about those daydreams now, but it reminded me of an important lesson I learned soon afterward in the days that followed the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Everyone was stunned.

I just remember thinking, I don’t want my life to be filled with a bunch of Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda’s. I didn’t want to wait until someday to start living my life. I still don’t want to wait until someday.

Today, I’m reminding myself of the BIG purpose of life. I am reminded to embrace the present moment. Life is for living right now. I want to keep reminding myself and inspire you to never forget to embrace the present moment, to live fully and shine as brightly as possible.

Don't wait until someday to express your uniqueness.

Seek out new adventures for yourself as soon as possible. Acknowledge any fears or doubts, then choose an intention that will lead you to embrace the brilliant light inside you and share it with the world!

Lots of Love and Light,

Steve

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