Brilliantly Resilient

"We get addicted to achievement because it's how we prove we matter." ~ Dr. Toni Warner, Certified Trauma Therapist and Author of  The Reset, A High Achiever's Guide to Freedom and Fulfillment: Your Step-By-Step  Roadmap for Getting Unstuck   Achievement. Do more. Be more. Check off more boxes.  UGH. Most women feel the need to achieve, which is not a bad thing in itself. But when that need keeps...

"The happiest people in retirement are the ones who stay curious." Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons ~ Retirement Transition Expert, Former Attorney and Author of Encore, a High Achievers Guide to Thriving in Retirement.    When you began your work life, do you remember thinking about retirement?  For many decades, retirement was the 65-year-old's goal: the end of the "job" and the entry into leisure and...

"Please don't assume you'll just talk yourself out of dark places. Help is there—and there's a reason for it." ~ Mary Fran Bontempo: Brilliantly Resilient podcast host and author of " From Broken to Brilliant: How to Live a Brilliantly Resilient Life "   This week on the Brilliantly Resilient Podcast, I'm getting personal. I recorded a solo episode about something we all face—but rarely talk about...

"I was standing there in front of this half-eaten birthday cake realizing like... what am I doing? This is not success." No Half Cakes Founder and Podcast Host Jim Sabellico   How do you define success? Most of us are or were under the impression that success means money, status, and stuff--all obtained through a brutal amount of work and time. Jim Sabellico thought so too. At least until the nigh...

"The 20s are not the best days of your life. It is a myth that needs to be busted." ~ Kate Berski, Author:  30 Phobia: Why Your 20s Suck and How to Get Unstuck Ah, to be 20 again, right? After all, the 20s are supposed to be the best time of our lives, right? Not so fast.  Kate Berski, author of 30 Phobia: Why Your 20s Suck and How to Get Unstuck notes that despite the myth, the 20's are a "tumult...

"Great leadership starts by leading with a mindset that's scalable—being willing to see things bigger. What would this look like if...?" ~ Ivy Slater, CEO of Slater Success and Author of Best of the Best: Lead Boldly, Scale Rapidly, Create Your Legacy What does the word "scalable" mean to you? If you are an entrepreneur, or work with an organization seeking to build (aren't we all?), the word "sca...

"My work directly acknowledges that anxiety (around AI) and talks about what actions we can take to take care of ourselves, our families, our communities, during a time that's high opportunity but also really high volatility." ~Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek AI Expert and Author of: Your AI Roadmap: Actions to Expand Your Career, Money and Joy" Are you afraid of AI?  Artificial Intelligence has long be...

"The hardest thing you've ever done is the hardest thing you've ever done. And it is no easier or harder than the hardest thing I've ever done.... Hard is hard." ~ Ash Beckham , Everyday Leadership Coach, Inclusion Activist, TEDx Speaker and Author of  Step Up: How to Live with Courage and Become an Everyday Leader   Ash Beckham believes that the hardest thing you've ever done is valid simply beca...

"Lasting resilience begins with acceptance. For me, acceptance is an every day prayer."  ~ Jay Armstrong Author of A Good Calamity: Useful Essays and Poems on Living with a Disability   Are you struggling to accept something hard in your life? Are you even thinking about acceptance, or are you still fighting the hard truth? Jay Armstrong was diagnosed with ataxia (a degenerative disease of the bra...

"It doesn't mean all the snacks in the break room are the greatest. It means that you work in a place that recognizes the dignity of you as a person, recognizes the value of your contributions, and recognizes that you're a human being with things to do." ~ Meg Gluth, Owner & CEO, Catalynt Solutions, Inc.    Meg Gluth knows about the "critical importance of compassion, empathy, and resilience"...

"Be involved in both your business and personal finances. 80% of women will die single. At some point in your life you are going to have to manage your finances. A man is not a financial plan." ~ Audrey Faust: Author of She Grows Rich; Expert CFO and Money Mindset Authority Are you in financial survival mode? Many women are. It's a mindset trap that many women, especially female entrepreneurs, can...

"Acute and chronic pain are processed in different parts of the brain. If you aren't healing and are still in pain, it's possible that your brain has established learned neural pathways that can continue to cause pain, which becomes chronic." Patty Tashiro ~ Natural Brain Solutions Is your brain keeping you in pain? The emotional responses we have to trauma--which often stay with us--can trigger t...

"There is diversity within diversity itself. Even people with shared disabilities have different experiences. We are all diverse. Diversity includes everyone." ~ Toby Mildon, Author of Inclusive Growth: Future-proof Your Business by Creating a Diverse Workspace, and Building Inclusivity: Making Your Workplace Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive   How many people in the world are exactly like you? EXA...

The Maasai tribe of Africa greets one another by saying "How are the children?" We have to recognize that all the children in our community are our children. Christina Sorenson Attorney and Advocate for Foster Children at TeamChild   Christina Sorenson was in 15 different foster care homes from ages five to fifteen. Separated from her sister and eventually adopted at age fifteen, Christina has mad...

"Be where you are on the way to where you want to be going." ~ Christine Eberle, Author: Finding God Along the Way "Be where you are on the way to where you want to be going." Um...huh? The above sounds like a riddle, doesn't it? Then again, isn't life a kind of riddle we try to figure out every day? Christine Eberle, author of Finding God Along the Way , decided to seek clarity in answering life'...

I came down to those two words. Be better. I think if we can boil it down to something, 'Be better' might be the most that we should be asking of ourselves. ~ Mary Fran Bontempo, Author 'From Broken to Brilliant: How to Live a Brilliantly Resilient Life'    It's 2025. How are you feeling about that? I find the time right after Christmas to be a bit challenging. After a month of being jolly buying,...

"I needed to embark on a journey to reclaim my connection, both personally and professionally." Shawnta Hooks ~ Leading Belonging and Mindfulness Speaker. Shawnta Hooks was never a believer in meditation or mindfulness. Working in accounting and corporate compliance during her 20 year corporate career, Shawnta found herself in a toxic work environment after a company reorganization, feeling comple...

You have everything in you already to live a Brilliantly Resilient life. You have Resilience and you have your own personal Brilliance. It's already there. You were born with both of those things. ~ Mary Fran Bontempo, Author, From Broken to Brilliant: How to Live a Brilliantly Resilient Life Have you uncovered your Resilience yet? Since Covid, we've been reminded constantly about the need for res...

Let's have smarter intergenerational conversations. Let's be OK and not threatened by the fact that you see this differently than me. Let's figure out why and how that could actually be helpful and beneficial.  Dr. Megan Gerhardt Author of Gentelligence: The Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce Do you work with people of different generations? Do you live with people of...

No one checks in on them, right? They often delay their own grief, put off their own mourning in order to support their parents and step up. But then? They remain there and they never really get a turn to express their own grief, or to be the mourner in the room. Annie Orenstein ~ Author of  Always a Sibling: The Forgotten Mourner's Guide to Grief     Do you have a sibling? Most of us do. And acco...

"I'm trying to open stutter more. Because I I've reached a level of of acceptance that I'm proud of, but I'm nowhere near where I need to be. I interview people on podcasts who openly stutter, and I'm so proud of them because they do it without shame and that's the real issue. The real issue is shame, every day, when you stutter." Brian Nolan President and Co-founder, Nolan Stuttering Foundation  ...

"Here's the myth I want to break: that self-love is selfish. The more we love ourselves, the less attention we have on ourselves and the more generous we become in a very natural, easy, relaxed way." ~ Rachel Madorsky How to Love Yourself in Less Than a Week and Also for the Rest of Your LIfe   Do you love yourself? Does even reading the question make you uncomfortable? And if it does, why? If you...

I led an independent study on making adaptive clothing for autistic children in partnership with a preschool….I couldn't get a job during Covid so I started working in special education and trying to figure out how to turn the study into a brand. I could see how these kids were really struggling with things and how we could add sensory tools to clothing to help these kids throughout their days.  ~...

I'm a gold star chaser…. If you just give the right answer, everybody's happy. I started this pattern of doing what my parents and the world wanted. It took me a long time to figure out there's another way…. The gold stars make it really easy to ignore your gut. Sarah Gormley Author of The Order of Things   Have you ever done something not because you wanted to, but because you thought you were "s...

Food insecurity relates to choices that people have to make economically. The choice between a prescription drug or buying food; the choice between buying gas or buying food, the choice between buying school supplies and buying food. We serve over 3,000 local families a year--a definitive need that lies below the surface. Mike Cerino: Executive Director, Warminster Food Bank When was the last time...