I teach a class at Concordia University  in Irvine, California, and I have the pleasure of working with seven amazing students that are all working toward their MBA degree. 

The course is entitled, Transformational Success Coaching, and is a life success course designed to coach them in personal and professional success-filled balance and realizations about themself.  The ultimate goal is give them tools and exercises each week to challenge their minds, bodies (we are training for a 5K) and Spirits (it is a Christian University - God is a pretty hot topic). 

This past week I was inspired by one of my students, Samantha Rogers.  We had a special guest speaker, Laura Brownwood, who gave the students an exercise that I wanted to impart upon you this week as a tool for you to take stock of where you are at with your own physical body awareness. 

Then I’ll share Samantha’s responses that inspired her to take control of her own body and be more focused on how to take care of herself.

First things first, the coaching exercise. 

Write down your top 10 favorite parts of your body/self.  Pass no judgment here.  Be honest and go with your gut.  Write the first 10 that come to your mind.  
Feel free to share them with me via email or phone! 
I’d love to read/hear your thoughts.  You just might be inspired to see yourself a bit differently and celebate your body (not the norm in our country, eh?).

Read below for some inspiration and to get your mind thinking.  See if you find yourself in her shoes……Thanks Sam!!

By Samantha Rogers
Keeping in line with the list making tradition in this class, Ms. Brownwood gave us what I believe is the most difficult list for a girl to make. It seems so simple—List the top 10 parts of your body you like the most. However, when I sat down to write it, I got to “3” and then simply could not move forward without completely wracking my brain. I decided this was sad and subsequently buckled down, gritted my teeth, and finished.
Oddly enough, when I finished, I was happy with what I had written down and I’m going to use this reflection to share why and how I decided on this final list. (Which admittedly is more for my benefit than yours. I apologize.)

1. Left Hand Thumb: Not an obvious choice for number one, but I can think of no other body part I love more. I smashed my thumb in a car door when I was six. Various doctors have told me the large dent down the middle would grow out overtime, but almost twenty years later it
hasn’t. Not only do I think it makes me a little unique, but I remember years ago my little sister always grabbing it for comfort when she was scared. When she rubbed it she calmed down, and I love that my odd little thumb was able to do that.

2. Spotted Tooth: When I was two, I batted viral meningitis and almost lost. When it spread to my spine and brain, the doctors gave me one last hope—super strong antibiotics in super strong doses. The treatment worked, leaving me alive with a little less hearing and a spotted tooth—a side effect from the medicine. The tooth reminds me every day that I can overcome the impossible.

3. Feet: Not usually a top ten contender, especially when they’re a size 12, but my feet have always been a big part of my happiness. As you already know, dance is a huge source of joy for me, and obviously my feet are what enable that joy. I love them because they’re strong, and even though toe shoes for ballet rip through most dancers’ feet, mine faired much better. I even got a star tattooed on my toe to remind me of how important they have been to me.

4. Wrists: I love that they are both delicate and strong. At first glance, my wrists look very small and feminine. But these wrists toughed out years of gymnastics classes, and even worse, me practicing my tumbling on hard basketball courts. I’m still amazing at their strength when I do push-ups.

5. Calves: It’s almost impossible for a woman’s calves to NOT look sexy. Period. Gym shoes or high heels, doesn’t matter.

6. Lips: While the rest of my family was cursed with what they call “little lip syndrome,” I ended up with cushy, Angelina Jolie lips. I definitely enjoy this little genetic snafu.

7. Ankles: See #5.

8. Freckles: Almost didn’t make the list, but when I went back to the mirror and REALLY looked at them, I just couldn’t help but love how interesting they make my face. Sure they make it a little less symmetrical looking, but I can go without makeup a little more easily than others.

9. Shoulders: Because of my years of competitive cheerleading and gymnastics, my shoulders have become very broad and strong and I love it. I feel like they’re a great frame for my body and make me look more confident than I may be.

10. Back: While I can work months and not get a six pack, all I have to do for my back is about ten push-ups and it looks fantastic. God bless halter tops.

Now it’s your turn…..what’s your top 10?  Have fun with it!

I am not much of a movie review guru, however, this caught my heart and my Soul so much so that I wanted to share it with you.  It is probably one of the most remarkable stories I have ever seen/heard and found myself getting captivated and wrapped up in.  Enjoy and let me know what you think!  May it bring about some self realizations for you as it did me.

“THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY”

I was randomly walking through the video store in San Clemente the other day, looking for something.  I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for….it was a day where my gut told me that I would know when I saw it.

My eyes landed upon a curious title, “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”.  I’m a big fan of anything having to do with butterflies these days, as part of my company name suggests the process of metamorphosis that a butterfly undergoes - transformation from an egg to a caterpillar to a cocoon and finally a beautiful butterly.

I quickly grabbed the only copy that the store had and the back cover had zero details about the plot.  It simply told me that it had won four Academy Award nomications in which it did win Best director, Julian Schnabel , and was nominated for three other Academy Awards for best screen play, best cinematography, best editing - inspired by a remarkably true story. 

I went with my gut and decided that I really wanted to know what a diving bell was and what it had to do with butterflies.

Boy, was I in for an amazing story.

(Synopsis taken from Wikipedia)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly  is a 2007 film based on the memoir of the same name by Jean-Dominique Bauby. The film depicts Bauby’s life after suffering a massive stroke at the age of 43, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. The condition paralyzed him, with the exception of his left eyelid, so that he could only communicate by blinking.

During several scenes in the movie, when Bauby was feeling the most frustrated or the most alone and abandoned (how else would you feel if you can’t talk, can’t move, only can see through one eye and rely 100% on others to take care of all your physical needs), he would flash to a scene of someone (possibly him) dressed up in a scuba suit that rivaled most NASA astronauts.  The bell itself is never discussed in the entire movie.  I found out later that diving bells are used as underwater rescue vessels and by working divers doing underwater work and salvage.

Seeing the figure completely surrounded by the scuba gear and being so deep in the water admittedly made me claustrophobic at first.  Bauby was obviously feeling the same way as he sat there unable to live a normal life.  He felt “locked-in” and as if at the bottom of the ocean with only a diving bell to keep him oxygenated and alive.   For a moment, I felt as if I knew just what he was feeling as I saw the scene in the water.  I even found myself holding my breath. 

I realized about myself, in that moment, that I felt great empathy (possibly even pity?) for Bauby.  I could not imagine what he must have felt and yet his character appeared to play out so nobly.

He battled his demons throughout the entire movie and was inspired by the nurses who literally saved his life by teaching him how to “write” and “speak” via their own loving and giving of time in teaching him a new alphabetic verbal system where they stated the letters and he had to blink when they chose the correct letter as the next vowel or consonant to form the word in his sentence he was conveying to them.  Very painstaking work.

Who would be inspired to overcome the circumstances of the long road he had ahead of him, and the uncertainty, and yet come out ahead by writing a book?  I don’t know that I could do that! 
His memoir became his diving bell, his lifeline, in keeping moving forward to being that fully transformed butterfly.  His finished product is a memoir that you can actually purchase and read today.

The other irony this movie brought to me was this.  Bauby had lost the concept concerning time.  He no longer had anything to do other than wake up, write and be taken care of.  His life was simplified beyond simplicity.  Whereas before, as a busy editor of Elle magazine, he had never slowed down and was always shackled to the concept of time.  I could identify with that too through my own transformation and growth.

I won’t give away whether or not he fully recovers or exactly what fate he finds at the end of the film.  For that , I encourage you, if you want to be inspired and take a look at a triumphant and amazing transformation, this is the movie for you.

Here is a further movie review as written by a true movie review critic.  It may give you more details and inspire you to see it for yourself, or not!

Body Unwilling, a Mind Takes Flight
                
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: November 30, 2007

Jean-Dominique Bauby, a French fashion magazine editor and the author of the international best seller on which “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” is based, suffered an extreme form of confinement. In his early 40s, he suffered a stroke that left him in a rare affliction called “locked-in syndrome.” He retained vision and hearing, and his mind continued to function perfectly, but his body was almost completely paralyzed. He could not move or speak. In the film a friend, visiting him in the hospital in Berck, a wind-swept seaside town in northern France, reports the latest gossip from the cafes of Paris: “Have you heard? Jean-Dominique is a vegetable.”

“What kind of vegetable?” Jean-Dominique wonders. “A carrot? A pickle?” Like his condition, the metaphor is cruel, but not altogether unredeemable. As we come to understand in the course of this fierce and lovely film, his existence is not that of a vegetable but rather of a garden, a hothouse of consciousness, memory and ecstatic imagination.

Jean-Dominique is played by Mathieu Amalric, a French actor whose twitching, antic physicality makes the character’s immobility all the more painful. But “The Diving Bell,” true to its hero and its literary source, is neither morbid nor mawkish. Propped up in a wheelchair, able to communicate only by blinking his left eye (the other, in one especially nightmarish scene, has been sewn shut to prevent infection), he remains a sensualist, a bon vivant and a keen literary wit.

But never a saint. Before his stroke Jean-Dominique led a life of glamour, pleasure and self-indulgence, for which he never apologizes. He had recently left Céline (Emmanuelle Seigner), his longtime partner and the mother of his three children, an abandonment that seemed to follow a series of betrayals. Céline appears, nonetheless, at the hospital in Berck, fighting back tears and demonstrating a loyalty that comes close to masochism. In spite of his lapses, she clearly loves Jean-Dominique, and she is not alone. Besides other women (Marina Hands, most memorably), there are acquaintances, colleagues (notably Isaach de Bankole) and Jean-Dominique’s father, a rogue of the old school played with magnificent poignancy by Max von Sydow.

The phrase “triumph of the human spirit” hovers over “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” along with a swarm of other empty, uplifting clichés. But Mr. Schnabel and the screenwriter, Ronald Harwood, have other themes in mind. Limitation, constraint, incarceration — these may be, as I’ve suggested, the shared premises of Mr. Schnabel’s films (and also of some of Mr. Harwood’s work, notably his script for “The Pianist”).

Their common subject, however, is freedom, the self-willed liberation of a difficult, defiant individual. But Mr. Schnabel is not content simply to state or to dramatize this idea. Rather, he demonstrates his own imaginative freedom in every frame and sequence, dispensing with narrative and expository conventions in favor of a wild, intuitive honesty.

And yet he also shows astonishing formal control. The movie begins claustrophobically, as we see the blurry bustle of the hospital room from Jean-Dominique’s hazy, panicked perspective. Faces loom suddenly and awkwardly into view, while his captive consciousness writhes in its cage, trying to make contact with the world outside.

After a while it does, with the help of a speech therapist (the marvelously sensitive Marie-Josée Croze) who patiently teaches Jean-Dominique to turn his left eyelid into a means of communication. She sits beside him, reciting the alphabet and stopping when he blinks, piecing together words and sentences from his signals.

Later an amanuensis (Anne Consigny) takes her place, and together she and Jean-Dominique compose the compact, lyrical book that will become Mr. Schnabel’s expansive, passionate film. Their attention also introduces both the patient and the audience to an intense, nonsexual intimacy that is itself a form of love.

As Jean-Dominique’s eloquence takes flight, so does Mr. Schnabel’s. Condemned to live in an eternal present, Jean-Dominique is also freed from the tyranny of time, and so the film ranges freely into fantasy, speculation and remembrance, given shape not by a plot but by the ecstatic logic of images and associations. Working with the brilliant cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, he uses light and color to convey the world of sensations from which Jean-Dominique is exiled, but which he appreciated all the more acutely for that reason.

And so, curiously enough, a movie about deprivation becomes a celebration of the richness of experience, and a remarkably rich experience in its own right. In his memoir Mr. Bauby performed a heroic feat of alchemy, turning horror into wisdom, and Mr. Schnabel, following his example and paying tribute to his accomplishment, has turned pity into joy.

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has some sexual situations.

Financial stress got a hold on you?

There are many reasons that that may be the case!  With rising gas prices, economy inflation reports and the housing/investment market being very volatile these days, one could say that there may be a little more stress experienced than the norm.

If you fall into the category of wincing when you pay your bills, having more month than money or feeling as though your self worth has dipped below your net worth, I have found an amazing FREE tool that my colleague, Jerry Troyer, at www.malachigroup.net has made available to you.

CLICK HERE for your free financial stress test.  It serves two purposes.

1.  To get a conscious awareness of where you are at in your financial cycle of life.

2.  Gives a financial consultant/expert an opportunity to support you with some free information.

I highly encourage you to take the test.  It takes only roughly 5 minutes of your day and might just be well worth your time.  

No one succeeds alone in financial matters and I am excited to offering up this free tool!
Here’s to your wealth!

If you ever feel as though you are having a bad day……give this help line a call….it may do the trick!  It is entitled, Depression and Outsourcing.  I was depressed last night so I called Lifeline.
I got a call center in Pakistan .
I told them I was suicidal.
They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck

Please read in entirety to get the FREE teleseminar information for this Friday.  

This month marked a huge benchmark for me, which I wrote about last week on my blog and in my newsletter. 

I shared with you my journey in Maui and how I unexpectedly finished first place in my age group in the King’s Trail Triathlon.

I also shared my dream team  that helped me go from the emergency room and a very pain-filled time in my life after my last triathlon in March of 2007, to finishing first of 42 women in my age group of 30-34 on June 8th, 2008, putting me in the top 10% overall of the entire field of 400 + people.

Although I did not compete for 15 months, you might be wondering, how was I able to do this?

Two reasons:

1.  Healed body
2.  Healed mind

For the first time, I am going to interview one of the top 3 people that helped me in my journey of regaining my physical success out in the triathlon field and share what it took me to come back from the lowest of lows, in both my mind and my body, when all appeared to be falling apart.  It is a unique story and one that I am excited to share in the most detail that I have with any group ever before.

My guest is Laura Brownwood, of USANA Health Sciences, who is and has been a health/wellness guru for the past 30 years of her life. 

Her vast experience in the wellness/nutritional consulting business has guided and empowered thousands of others to take control of their thoughts, emotions and actions to create a happy, healthy and balanced life.  She taught me how to make my own Body/Mind connection using unique, effective methods that not only allowed me to compete triathlons at a high level but also impacted the health and wealth of my new company, allowed me to manifest more time/money into my days, plus gave me the best overall sense of well being that I’ve had in almost three years. 

This Friday I am offering a FREE one hour teleseminar to share with you my secrets of my comeback, as well as Laura’s journey, her tools and her wisdom of over 60 years of having an amazing life.

WHEN:  Friday, June 27th at 12 p.m./NOON PST

Sign up  now for the FREE teleseminar, entitled, “No One Succeeds Alone:  How To Keep Your Body Together When Everything Is Falling Apart!” to be held on Friday, June 27th at Noon/12 p.m. PST (note the time zone and adjust for yours accordingly).

By attending this seminar, it is our hope that you come away with your own personal game plan to:

• Create your own physical vision for your healthy body
• Implement the free tools and tips to create effective change in your own life

• Be empowered with a new outlook on your own health and well being

• Experience a benchmark that will put you back on top in your health, your wealth and most importantly, with your Self!

• Leave a legacy of health for your family, co-workers, friends

  Hurry!  Take action today as seats are limited! 

  CLICK HERE  to sign up for the teleseminar and learn how to get your body and your mind to a level of performance worth of any triathlon, any big event, any big goal/dream/purpose you want to achieve in this life! 

  CLICK HERE to visit Laura’s site.

  Here’s to your health!

  Yours in Transformational Success,

  Lois Tiedemann
  949-940-0399

By Maria Connor, contributing author from the Del Mar Times Community News.  She wrote an article about Jerry Troyer, owner of the Malachi Group, a financial company that I have worked with in workshops jointly to help the minds, bodies and Spirits of Americans to create financial success and alleviate financial stress!
What would you life look like if you can live it without financial stress?  Or at least know how to manage your stress and your money?

Read on for more information

CLICK HERE to take Jerry’s financial stress survey.

Jerry Troyer, education director of the Malachi Group, tells people that financial literacy - learning to manage money - can reduce stress, improve quality of life and benefit society.

“I see the American economy [failing] if the consumers do not change their pattern of living,” said Troyer, whose office is at Rancho Santa Fe.

He’s got a point. The average employee spends 29 hours a month worrying about finances, costing companies more than $7,000 in lost productivity per employee annually, according to analysts. Research also finds eight million Americans delinquent on their credit cards, yet spending $1.22 for every dollar earned.

Statistics like these demonstrate the perilous nature of most people’s finances and the impact it has on their lives and contributions to the workplace.

Knowledge is the shovel folks need to dig themselves out of debt, according to Troyer, a certified financial literacy specialist who has developed a two-hour workshop available to employers to offer their workers or at public seminars.

Limited to 30 participants, the workshops cost $79 per individual or couple, which includes materials and follow-up assistance.

On average, participants identify $3,000 in misallocated funds that are then available for pay down debt, put into savings or tagged for retirement, according to Troyer.

Troyer spends a significant amount of his time educating employers on the value of his program, not just for employees but also for the good of the company. Employers need to understand the potential risks associated with stressed-out, distracted employees, particularly working as doctors, police, and firefighters or in constructions where mistakes can be deadly.

Besides the cost of lost productivity, employers may incur recruitment and training expenses because of staff turnover when employees move on to better paying jobs.

Employers should view financial literacy education as a job benefit that will cultivate loyalty, as well as an investment opportunity enabling employees to contribute to retirement plans and/or pay for annual health insurance increases.

After 20 years in the banking lending industry, including 10 years as a financial advisor, Troyer shifted his focus and founded The Malachi Group, a financial literacy provider company. He, and his wife Mary Jo, the company’s administrative director, relocated to California from Indiana two years ago to be closer to family.

Aside from the workshops, Troyer provides financial advising for retirement savings planning to a select group of clients.

“People are financially desperate and need help today,” Troyer said. “Sooner, or later, we all have to drive a stake in the ground or draw a line in the sand and say, ‘I can’t have it all.’” A sense of entitlement is one of the reasons so many people are in a financial crisis, along with the enticement of merchandise “on sale,” Troyer said.

“Advertisers have gotten into our psyches,” he continued, “ so if we think it’s on sale, our instant gratification kicks in and we think we need to have it now.”

One example used in the workshop to help participants understand this concept is a pair of designer jeans marked down to $60 from $100. When asked how much was saved, the typical answer was $40.“Wrong,” Troyer said, “because you’ve spent $60.”

Adult peer pressures, and the perceived inherent right to have anything, and everything, are two other factors influencing American spending habits. Equally detrimental, but less controllable, are situations such as divorce, health crises or job loss, Troyer said.

The financial literacy workshops provide information about money management, not just how to reduce debt, according to Troyer, who added classes were appropriate for everyone, not just those in trouble. He especially recommends them for young professionals, public service employees, single parents and newly engaged couples.

“It’s about looking toward the future,” Troyer said.

Participants receive paperwork to fill out before attending the workshop, detailing their expenses, income, debts and financial goals. During the class, Troyer teaches them how to set up planned spending — he doesn’t like to call it a budget. He also covers the importance of building an emergency fund, equivalent to three months income, and shows how to pay off debts without filing for bankruptcy.

If individuals still have unanswered questions at the end of the workshop, they can repeat it at no cost or address specific issues with Troyer. All information remains confidential.

“It breaks my heart to see how much financial stress there is in families,” Troyer said, “and it can be corrected easily.”

With a conviction that financial literacy leads to financial liberty, Troyer hopes individuals and employers will invest in his workshops as a means of investing in themselves.

“I’d like to see people work in the profession of their talent and giftedness,” he said, “rather than just taking a job for the paycheck.”

For information on financial literacy workshops, contact The Malachi Group at (888) 788-6685 or visit www.malachigroup.net

Abundance affirmations taken from “A Little Book of Aloha” by Renata Provenzano.

During my trip to Hawaii, I found one of the most amazing little books on my trek up the Haleakala Volcanic Mountain National Park.  10,000 foot climb by car (or even bike for the not so faint of heart).  Along the way there was a little visitors center that had some Hawaiian gifts and books.

I zoomed in on “A Little Book of Aloha” immediately and picked it up to see what the book of Hawaiian Proverbs and wisdom could offer me for inspiration (as if the country itself hadn’t already done that).

I was blown away by the great pearls of wisdom that excited me and got me thinking about, of all things, wealth building.

To me wealth is so much more than money.  I have learned to live with lots of money and little, to no, money during different periods of my life.  And in reality I remember being happy at both times, however, the simplicity of not having any debt or financial cares in the world was pretty cool.  All I had to rely upon was friends, family and fun times that were had in simple ways, not anything flashy or exorbitant.  True wealth to me is when you are happy no matter what your financial circumstances are.  You are simply fulfilled by getting up and enjoying life - no matter what - as long as you have people that you loved and who loved you and support you in going after your vision in life, your dreams.

That was what this little book brought back home to me, so many miles away from home.

Here are a few excerpts that I wanted to share with you this week in the wealth section of this newsletter.  I trust they will bring some inspiration to you, as well as simplicity, for your own wealth perspective no matter what your circumstances.  Enjoy!

“Aloha is the center of all things Hawaiian.  It is through aloha that all other Hawaiian values have meaning.  The spirit of aloha affects everything we do, not so much in words, it doesn’t come from the mouth, it comes from the action.  To show you have aloha is from your action and how you deal with things.” 

-Na’auao Pane’e, Hawaiian Language Teacher, Brigham Young University

“Do not read too much into things.  Some things are exactly as they appear.  Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Listen to what people say, but watch what they do.”

-Hawaiian Proverb

“Joy is in the voice of love.  Share your love, do not spare it.  Celebrations, sharing, laughter, nurturing, caring, goodwill - all are forms of love.  Praise loudly, criticize softly.”

-Hawaiian Proverb

“Hawaiians interpret dreams as signs or ho’ailona.  A dream is considered just as important as the information gathered during waking life in order to make decisions or find answers to problems.  A dream could indicate the name of a child or the accomplishment of a goal, a warning of things good or bad to come.  The deja vu of the modern world exists for many Hawaiians as an ordinary experience.  In this way, a dream has provided an answer before the question or a glimpse of the future. 
Ask for a dream to provide the answer.  Listen to your innermost thoughts through what you dream.  Follow your dreams.”

-Hawaiian Proverb

“Make peace with your surroundings to have peace within.  Appreciate the quiet times in life when all is good.  Live in the moment.  Enjoy the present.”

-Hawaiian Proverb

“The bowl of poi (a staple food) provides a second helping of lessons for the young Hawaiian.  Some believe that if you reach the bowl and there is nothing but poi left stuck to the sides of the bowl it is seen as an opportunity to forgive or apologize.  You must dip your wet finger and kahi (scrape) the bowl to clean it…as an act of forgivness (when someone has wronged you or made a mess in your life) or in apology (for when you have caused a mess!). 
Forgive and get on with life.  Forgiveness is a great power that brings freedom to all sides.  Anger is fear of letting go.  Let go of the past.”

-Hawaiian Proverb

“Most Hawaiians have aunties, uncles, cousins or even sisters and brothers who are not necessarily blood-related.  These people are considered as close as blood-ties and are therefore so named.  The coinage of the term calabash family is used to describe the extended family networks Hawaiians form.”

“Recognize others, be recognized, help others, be helped; such is a family relationship.  Give and take is the natural process of family.  Value and respect your family and friends.  Recognize your value in a family and you recognize your value in society.”

-Hawaiian Proverbs

Thanks again to all of you who supported me in my journey in getting to Maui and raising the money for a great cause!

As a local chapter in Orange County, California, we raised over $400,000 (which was our goal by the way) and as a Team, we raised over $1.2 million from all the near dozen Team In Training/Leukemia & Lymphoma Society chapters from all across America that came out to compete in the King’s Trail Triathlon in Maui on Sunday, June 8th.

I hope to get some pictures in next week’s newsletter and, in the meantime, please
CLICK HERE to read more about the amazing Aloha story and the deeper meaning behind Hawaii’s saying and state motto, appropriately dubbed, “The Aloha State”.

I was blown away by the state’s beauty, people and kindness.  This story says it all.

Enjoy!

Aloha!

This was a question that I asked myself many times before I went through my health transformation in 2007.  I was brought up with the traditional medicinal avenues of helping heal sickness in my body.  When you were sick, you went to the doctor, got a prescription, took the medicine, got better in days and went back to life as normal.

The main reason that I ended up in the emergency room after my triathlon in 2007 (the last one I had done prior to June 8th) had nothing to do directly with the triathlon or my outside circumstances.  It had everything to do with what was going on in my head and heart, with my mindset filled with a lot of stress that I created myself due to life circumstances and how I chose to look at them based upon my beliefs at the time.  I chose stress - it did not choose me. 

It also had everything to do with the years and years worth of antibiotics and other meds I had taken to create what I thought was balance and health for my system.  They appeared to be effective choices on the surface at the time, however, what I wasn’t aware of was I was destroying my overall health and well being by making those choices.  (Please note:  I am not dissing traditional medicine here, just sharing my own journey and health realizations)

That was when I began my transformational journey of self discovery of how to be take responsibility and heal myself through mind, body and Spirit support.  I could choose my own health and joy, all I had to do was change what wasn’t working.

That’s when I found my dream team!

That’s when I started to get help from my naturopathic doctor,
Dr. Melissa, whom I have interviewed in teleseminars before.  She taught me how to cleanse my body and rid it of the physical things that were not helping me.

Then I connected with my new business partner and life success coach, Leo Ramos of BodyMindSuccess.  We teamed up together to create coaching products and I think I ended up getting the better end of the deal!  Leo has taught me so much about the power of mindset and how to shift my thinking and stop sickness and stress from even entering my body.

Lastly, I found Laura Brownwood, a health guru for the past 40 years of her life.  She is a health and wellness/nutritional consultant who taught me how to make that Body/Mind connection with cellular nutrition and food.  Garbage in does really equal garbage out.  I know that I know that I know that if I had not seen her, I would not have done as well in that race.  Happy cells equals happy mind, body and Spirit!  Laura is 60 years old and looks not a day over 39!  She has many great resources to help you with your own BodyMind Success as well.

Thank you Dr. Melissa, Leo and Laura!  I couldn’t have made it across that finish line without you!  There are so many more people I want to thank, such as Dr. Amber Voitenko, my chiropractor in SoCal;  Renee, Michael and Vincent of my massage team;  Marianne Anderson, my Spiritual Coach; Cheryl Silverstine, my Soul warrior; Jan, Larry and Mikey Brown; Lupita Lamitie of Kangen water; Tom, Maureen, Jean, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and all my triathlon training partners!!!  The value you provided reminds me again….no one succeeds alone!

Can you heal yourself?  Yes….just not alone. 

Below are some free (and admittedly, some not) resources that I recommend you to consider to help you in your own transformational journey of life success. 

Wherever you are at, I wish you well and if there is ever anything I can do to support you - in mind, body or Spirit - let me know!

LOIS RECOMMENDS/RESOURCES TO HEAL YOUR LIFE, ALOHA STYLE

You Can Heal Your Life  resources by Louise L. Hay

FREE! House Call Sneak Peek, by Dr. Melissa Dawahare

NEARLY FREE - Online Fat Loss and Nutritional Program by Dr. Wentz

Mastering Mindset Coaching  by Leo Ramos and Lois Tiedemann

FREE! - Laura Brownwood’s website - food/health/nutritional supplementation expert - cellular nutrition for athletes and every-body

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I have heard it said that the Mexicans say that the Pacific Ocean has no memory.

Today of all days, I was counting on that one being true.

As I toed the start line of the Pacific before my first triathlon race in over a year, I recalled the last time I crossed the ocean that was fabled to have no memory.  
Instantly, memories surfaced to my conscious mind from somewhere deep within my subconscious of the last triathlon I did in another country in the Pacific, ironically also on an island not too far away from this Aloha state. 

I smiled to myself as I awaited the pre-start race Hawaiian blessing, to be given by a local Reverand Alalani Hill.  The last time I competed in a triathlon was March 3rd, 2007.  That race ended in an emergency room visit and marked the beginning of nearly a year’s worth of health transformation and renewal.  After that race, the emergency room and experiencing what it took to overcome all the stress and internal changes my body would grow through….there were moments where I didn’t know if I would even want to compete again, let alone be at full strength to compete.  I didn’t race again after that experience.

Yet, on Sunday, June 8th, I was back in fine form and ready to challenge my body to a race.  Don’t get me wrong, I was definitely feeling a bit anxious at the thought of competing again after my transformation and time away from the sport that had defined me over the past decade of my life.  I had even written a book about it.  How could I not compete in a triathlon again? 

Yet, if the Pacific Ocean didn’t remember my last finish and ER exit, who was I to live in the past?

This race was different.  This race was dedicated to the memory of my friend, Mikey, who had died from leukemia just over ten years ago.  He inspired me to compete the first time I ever raced in a road race as a 20-year-old.  His mom, Jan, had even made the trip from Iowa to support me and cheer me on.  She had not even flown or left Iowa since my fist marathon for leukemia back in 2000.  This was big, not just for me, but for her too.  She has struggled with alcoholism and depression since Mike’s passing and her own transformation was ongoing since his death.  Her own courage at being there alongside me on this trip was enough to bring me to tears as I listened to the Reverand share her words of love and inspiration/encouragement in her blessing.

I knew Mikey would be with me in Spirit as I made my comeback as a triathlete - fit not only in body, but also in mind and in Spirit.  I was beginning to feel like “Rocky Balboa” after he made his comeback to fight the Russian giant, Drago, in Rocky IV after Apollo Creed died.   I wasn’t here to prove myself so much as a triathlete, as I was competing and fundraising one more (and possibly last*) time for a cause that meant a lot to me in my life’s journey.  (*AUTHOR’S NOTE:  Even Rocky didn’t stop after Rocky IV…..so time will tell if my fundraising days are over, eh?)

The race was centered around the Maui Prince Resort, in Makena, Maui.

The course consisted of a 1.5k single loop ocean swim, a two loop 40k  bike ride and a two loop 10k road run.

Promptly at 7 a.m. local Reverand Alalani Hill began her blessing.  Wow.  What a difference a Hawaiian blessing could make on one’s race prep and mindset.  I walked on the white beach with the thought of just racing for fun and focusing on the reason for being there.  Reverand Hill inspired me to experience more than that.

She reminded us of all the triathletes that had gone before us and how the ocean, the lava rocks, the wind, the trees and the environment was there for them, it would be there for us that day, and it would be there for many generations after.  She inspired us to respect Mother Nature and see the ocean as Her blood and to see the earth and lava as part of the Earth that was set there for us now and how we were running in the footsteps of many others that had gone on that same trail - the King’s Trail. 

She helped us focus on each moment of each swim stroke, of each breath, of each bike pedal, of each step on the lava rock ground that stretched beneath our feet….to embrace every moment, every ocean view, to honor and respect our teammates, our fellow triathletes -
and not focus on what was to come. 

This is somewhat foreign to a competitive athlete such as myself…always analyzing the next move, the next transition, the next discipline to plough through to get to that finish line.  It is born within me to count every second, because, as a competitor, every second counts in the end.  It means the difference between finishing first or finishing second or third or last.  Not thinking ahead meant not to analyze the “what if’s” of racing.  Anything was possible on this course.  One could have a flat tire, or five (as one of my teammates did).  The Hawaiian heat and humidity was not going to escape us that morning and leave for important hydration and nutrition/fuel needs along the way.  There were cut off times to beat and hills to climb.  Bathroom stops and unforeseen road rash that one could experience from falls.  Lots for the mind to take in.

Reverand Hill closed her blessing in reminding us about the Aloha Spirit, the Aloha Way of Life, which I had never been educated on.  When she told me that it meant, “The joyful sharing of life energy in the present” or simply “Joyfully sharing life” in mind, body and Spirit, I got goosebumps.  Indirectly, that was exactly the lesson I had learned in the past few years in building my new business, moving to California, in training for this triathlon and overcoming my health/stress/mental obstacles along the way. 
It is now part of what I teach people in my classes, what I coach my clients to experience every day….I just didn’t know it could be called “Aloha”. 

As the Reverand finished and we were told to take our places in our different waves (swimmers who would start at separate times according to our ages and genders), I felt a renewed sense of hope and whole new outlook.  I was reminded to be in the moment and enjoy the simple joy of being in the present and having fun with my fellow triathletes.  We weren’t competing against one another.  We were simply fellow travelers in this space and time, headed toward the same finish, most of us having raised money for the same cause (over half the racers were with Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program).

I ended up having the most perfect race ever.  The swim was exhilarating and I finished the .9 mile distance in 35 minutes (not too shabby considering swimming was my least trained component and I experienced an anxiety attack in my last triathlon).  I did exactly what Hill had told us to do and took in every breath of the swim with ease and honored the water as more than just water, but the blood and Spirit of Mother Nature.  It was refreshing to experience the warm water temperatures and go without a wetsuit.

On the bike I felt strong the entire time and was able to feel the energy continue to increase with every pedal stroke - even up “Heartbreak Hill” - the only major hill climb we had the opportunity to go up twice due to the two loops.  Fortunately, living on the coast of California, there is no lack for training up hills just like this one and I had little to no problem mentally or physically to crest the hill with gas left in the tank both times.  I crossed into that second transtion into the run after completing the 24.8 mile bike leg in 1 hour and 29 minutes (a 16.7 mph average on a rolling hills course).

I often say the run is where the race beings for me.  I usually get passed on the swim and then make up a lot of time on the bike, but the run is where my own passing of others begins.  Today, however, in the Spirit of Aloha, I didn’t even think about that.  I listened to my body and walked when the heat and growing humidity was taking its toll.  Hydration was key and the rolling hills were consistent enough that walking at times was greatly welcomed.  I finished the run leg in 57 minutes (merely a 9:14 per mile pace).

As I finished and collapsed on the grass next to Jan, I smiled with sheer joy and elation flooded through my body.  “Run for Mikey” was the sign Jan had created the night before at our pre-race Leukemia pasta team dinner.  She had been out there just as early as we athletes had been to support and encourage the athletes.  I did race for Mikey, Jan and all the others impacted by the disease.  Most of all, for the first time, I truly can say I raced “Aloha” style and will never forget this experience.

And as an added bonus, I found out that my 3 hour and 7 minute, 32 second finish time, was good enough to be honored as the first place finisher of 42 women in my age division of 30-34. 

The moral of the story?  I think I have officially adopted the Aloha lifestyle as my way of training and living life!  I didn’t expect to win first place in my race.  I just went out and stayed with the inspiration Reverand Hill shared - to experience the moment in my mind, in my body and in my Spirit.  Do my best and trust God with the rest.  Don’t live in the past or in the future.  The bonuses from there are the fruit of aloha.  That’s all I could ever ask for.  That’s the best I could wish for you, my friends, my family and everyone in our World. 

Aloha!