About Progress

"Action of any kind--even if it's small--makes that big difference of showing you that you're not giving your power away and your life away."   We live in a world of experts, ones that make you constantly feel guilty or frazzled. But Sid Garza-Hillman is here to hold your hand, make you laugh, and somehow inspire you to be better anyway, all with the premise that doing the right things most of the...

"If I try to stamp [sadness] out, then I'm cutting myself off from happiness in many ways because it's part of the spectrum. The two things are not inseparable. You cannot have one without the other."   I'm sure many of us can agree that our 20s were equal parts traumatizing and memorable. Meg Fee's writing has allowed thousands along the ride to her won experience of this transformative decade. M...

“There are all sorts of ways for us to make a nice big mess and come out with something glorious in the end.”   I knew Cori Connors growing up as the "Mom" of the neighborhood--the one always ready to laugh with instead of scold you, eager to cheer you on, and willing to sit with you when you're down.    She is an angel to many, and she also has an angel voice backed by her record-selling songwrit...

"Those things I’m thinking or feeling are there to guide me, and I can trust what is going on inside of me and it will lead me to good.”   Two years ago, Debbie Mayes and her family moved from a 5,000 sq foot home to a 200 sq foot remodeled bus and it changed everything.    Here's the thing: it's not about the bus. It's about RECONNECTION.   You see, the problem the Mayes family had was that they...

Do you know that using social media directly correlates with higher rates of depression and anxiety? I believe the root of why this is the case is COMPARISON. After all, comparison truly is the thief of joy.   I hate imagining how many times in my life (both on social media and in real life) I've been too caught up in seeing what I lack in comparison to others, only to miss the incredible blessing...

"You already have within you what you need."   What's holding you back from going after a goal, business, or piece of self-improvement? I bet you a million dollars that we can take whatever reason you'd say and get it back to the real main root: FEAR.   Crystalee Beck from The Mama Ladder is on the show to teach us about seven common fears people face on their way to success and how to overcome th...

“People need three things to thrive: safe place, safe people, and safe purpose. We always forget that purpose piece”   On a humanitarian trip to Ethiopia, Amber Runyon saw a big need--women and their families who were in the eleventh hour of suffering due to the effects of human trafficking. Imagine her shock when upon returning home, she discovered that her own city--Columbus, Ohio--was the fourt...

“The second you start doing something, you change your state.”   Andi Veenker is a fitness wizard and self-help fanatic. But here's the best thing about her--she preaches that nothing will fix you (no book, no weight on the scale, no achievement, no nothing) UNTIL you love yourself first. And in order to find that self-love, you need to do something. (Does that sound familiar?)   Andi is on the sh...

"Joy [is] a spiritual way of engaging with the world that's connected to practicing gratitude." ~Brene Brown   If you've been working on happiness, get ready to up-level it to JOY.    Joy is different than happiness. It's deeper and more eternal in nature and effect. It's earned through opposition. It's chosen and cultivated. And when the going REALLY gets tough, the good news is that "joy" will b...

"We need to create something for someone else that they might not be able to create themselves."    ~Charley Jenkins               Surely, we can all agree that music has defined our lives from time to time--but what about save our lives?   That's exactly what the Worth of Souls project and album is trying to do. Paul Cardall and a troop of incredible artists collaborated to create a movement desi...

"We can flip our thinking about our kids. They don't make us feel any certain way. It's us. We have that control."   You want to know a magical trick for parenting? You're in charge.   I know, revolutionary right? But really--you are in charge. However, not in the way you might think. Here's how:   You're in charge of YOURSELF. Your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions. Regardless of what you...

“Think of your own child being that scared and how you would comfort them. Treat yourself with similar grace.”     Rachel Nielson didn't realize how much her mother's long battle with cancer affected her childhood until it was affecting her adulthood, and badly. She found herself stuck in a terrible cycle of self-hatred and perfectionism, coupled with a Savior's-complex within her relationships. Y...

Let me ask you this: are you happy?   Why is it that most of us would have a really hard time answering that question? Well, I have a lot of theories.   People too often have the wrong idea of what happiness actually looks like (it's not rainbows and butterflies, people!), and they hinge it on their circumstances or others.   I've been guilty of this. Oh, have I been guilty! (Sorry, husband, for a...

“Weakness is pretending that you’re not feeling emotions, [and thereby] denying yourself of that humanity.” If you haven't heard of Preston Pugmire, get yourself acquainted quick. This "renaissance man" has a lot to say and it's going to change your life.   Preston--a speaker, life coach, musician, and podcaster (Next Level Life)--teaches us how to free ourselves from shame, guilt, and perfectioni...

"We have to continually have those conversations because it normalizes the idea of talking about tough topics."   Dina Alexander returned to the podcast to teach parents how to talk to our children about another hard topic: pornography.   We first discuss what Dina has researched are the trends in pornography, including the average age of exposure, what your children are "learning" from porn, and...

As a follow-up to my interview with childbirth educator Laura Dugovic, here is the birth story of my sweet baby born on February 5th.  (I share his name briefly on the interview, but won't be typing it up here as I guard my kids' names online.)   You'll hear about what led up to the birth, what I did to help with the pain without using an epidural, and how Laura's resources and positive affirmatio...

"I have learned that anything that I thought of myself, that I saw of myself, is not nearly the capacity that I truly am."     Mikael Monson NEVER planned on homeschooling her four children; in fact, she was staunchly against it for some time. But when the inner call for her came to pull her kids out of public school and teach them from home, Mikael took a huge leap of faith and did just that.   M...

"I don't think that 'acceptance' is an excuse to diminish yourself or to not hold yourself accountable to your best work . . . We should develop and expand and grow in whatever we feel called to do."   Nesha Woodhouse is the director of Lifehouse Performing Arts Academy and came from a intensive background in honing one of her beloved gifts--dance. But Nesha learned in her own life--and now passes...

“If we get so caught up in how we look, how our friends look, if we look good enough, we are missing the richness of life.”   Dina Alexander is back to teach us how to combat the perfect images social media projects for the children in our lives. BOTH boys and girls are constantly infiltrated with pictures and ideas about what their bodies are supposed to be like, and how they can get them. Listen...

“I’m getting my self-esteem from looking in . . . I have worth in my trying.”    Although Mallory Wahlstrom Wright was an accomplished musician, dancer, and athlete, she suffered immensely from perfectionism-bred low self esteem. As a way to cope with never feeling like she measured up, she turned to controlling her body and her weight. Years of this behavior led to a crippled life that she wasn't...

“My only approach is to love and strengthen all women, no matter what kind of birth they want to have.”   Laura Dugovic had prepared for a meditative birth with her first child, but what she experienced was gritty, loud, sweaty . . . and still completely transformative.    Laura is a doula and birth educator, but one who strives to help ALL women feel empowered to face birth with an attitude of a...

"It doesn't get easier, but it gets lighter. It gets lighter because we get stronger . . . Your strength is going to help somebody else when they are weak."   When we are facing especially hard times, we've all heard people say that things will get easier. Mandie Sherman disagrees. She knows from her lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis--a terminal disease--that it's not that things get easier,...

"When we attach anything to our goals--our happiness, worth, value, success--our goals are no longer out becoming . . .[they're] just about needing to achieve to feel something."   Sick of never meeting your goals? Too overwhelmed to even make some in the first place? It's not your method that needs some revamping; it's your motivation.   When you are a recovering perfectionist, you'll have a love...

 "If you set aside other people's expectations, set aside the need for permission and live your most authentic self, life is a lot more freeing and you're making better decisions."   Dina Taylor has faced many obstacles in her young life, but the two most recent--infertility and her 35-year-old husband's unexpected death--could have made her give up and give in. Not so, for Dina. Dina chose to per...

“Just like you and I lived at the mall or lived at the football game on Friday night, a lot of our kids are living on social media . . . I want my kids to make their mistakes while still living with me.  You want to give them parameters but also you want to give them the opportunity to make choices.”   We all worry about the incessant draw that technology is having on our children these days. You...