I did a cool thing the other day (which brought up my low parenting score for last week).

When I was in Denver this summer, I met with a new friend, Ted Barrett, who created a communication technique for tense conversations.

He was married for 45 years before his wife passed (she sounded like an unbelievable woman), and together, they developed and used this method in the final five years of their time together (which transformed what sounded like a pretty great marriage to begin with).

I spent the last ten days in silence

I’m in the business, for heaven’s sake. 

This only matters if you want to create your life on purpose rather than by accident.
 
This is edgy, but it's true:

See if the examples below resonate with you.

Shall I begin with the dogs infesting my house with fleas or the functional medicine doctor who says I’m allergic to eggs and coffee?

Yes, that’s right, I’m allergic to joy.

That alone had me wandering the kitchen in my pajamas at 12 noon,

Well, I eeked through Hannukah by the frizz of my humidityinfused hair this year.

But this year, instead of badgering myself about my inability to plan, lack of creative gift ideas etc., etc., etc., I enjoyed every lackadaisical, thirteen-yearold-nagging-me minute, and guess what?

It turned out great, like it does every year, except without my internal suffering. I showed up with presence, thoroughly enjoyed myself, and am damn proud of what I accomplished at work.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” – Viktor E. Frankl 

I’m in the business, for heaven’s sake.

But, leading-edge neuroscience tells us that no matter how much time one spends under the hood, we’re not accessing even half of what we think we are.

This only matters if you want to create your life on purpose rather than by accident.

This is edgy, but it's true: If you listen to yourself for an hour (and you’re being honest), you’ll see that you talk out of two sides of your mouth.

How do I know? Because I listen for a living. See if the examples below resonate with you.

I talk much about moving through life from the "inside out." 

In other words, using that seldom-heard voice banging around the soundproof box in your gut to determine what's right for you, not for Aunt Nelly, your spouse or child, or even what your mother taught you, but what's right for you.

When I first booked the From Burn Out to Badass workshop, I imagined myself bouncing into the venue on night one, bushy-tailed and polka-dotted.

However, as the time approached to craft what I wanted to teach, it came to my attention that Cinderella's stepmother (who has a habit of living inside my head) had been on a rampage, leaving me exhausted.

In other words, I had to teach how to avoid burnout when I’d allowed myself to become burnt out.

I know this is edgy, but don’t delete me yet; I have no beef with gratitude. The only problem is it can be elusive.
Take, for example, Mona (my adorable and grateful dog).

We had a lively discussion last night in the Mastermind, Elevate. It landed in everyone's consciousness that they believed it was their job to make everyone happy - be it at a dinner party, family outing, or work event. Not only is this impossible, but it's what drives feeling like a Hot Mess.