Navigating Joy Together

Send a text During this episode, you may notice that Becky is struggle with her speech. This is one of the side effects of Dystonia and some days are better than others. But she continued through and shared her incredible story on this episode! In this  episode I chat with Becky Johnson again! This time we chat about her duathlon while dealing with Dystonia. She did it!! She completed the swim and...

Send a text Listen in as I share why we didn't publish any new episodes this summer and what the future holds. Drive-A-Logue link at Bark! https://www.bark.us/blog/drive-a-logue/?srsltid=AfmBOop-1zhhdhu3tNfMSZfR5oMYS6BZMtDnWpsAt4hIIiWFaZMrUlUJ Lauren's Book, My Dad Died From ALS and How I Found Joy 30 Years Later https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2J15M3Z CONNECT WITH LAUREN AND HER FAMILY Ema...

Send a text Jenna B is a wife, mother, and spiritually intuitive. Jenna has worn many hats in life trying to find her own purpose outside of the home. With a very supportive husband, Jenna had the time to sit and pray to find what she was meant to do. Jenna feels her purpose is to help, heal and spread love to others.  Jenna and I discuss what transpired in her life to lead her to consciously choo...

Send a text This week I have a very transparent and real conversation with Becky Johnson. In 1997, she had to make the heart-wrenching decision to quit her senior year as a college swimmer due to a debilitating condition that caused her neck to involuntarily pull to the right. Despite intensive therapy and support from trainers, her performance declined, and she ultimately left the sport. This iss...

Send a text My guest today is Michelle Ruddell. Michelle is a speaker, author, and semi-retired teacher who lives in Central Texas.  She speaks to women's groups about how to find joy in the middle of tough circumstances. her book, "Welcome to the Club, I'm Sorry You're Here", was written to offer hope to grieving parents. Michelle shares with us the story of losing her 5-...

Send a text In this episode, I have the privilege of talking to Tanya Hackney.  Tanya graduated with a B.A. from Middlebury College in 1997, where she majored in English and double-minored in French and Education. She married her high school sweetheart and taught kindergarten in Atlanta, Georgia before transitioning to homeschooling her own five children aboard sailing vessel Take Two. She’s lived...

Send a text This episode is hosted by Hunter. To be completely honest, we were having a hard time finding a moment we could all sit down together to record so he took the bull by the horn and did his own episode. We had no idea what he was going to talk about until he recorded it. He "killed" it.  Maybe he said the title of our podcast wrong, but he definitely knows what to talk about wh...

Send a text How does MUSIC bring one JOY? IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: Benefits of music How we have used music to: Lift a family member up Start our day joyfully Alleviate a long car ride What have we tried that has worked?  What have we tried that has failed? One action step Drive-A-Logue link at Bark! https://www.bark.us/blog/drive-a-logue/?srsltid=AfmBOop-1zhhdhu3tNfMSZfR5oMYS6BZMtDnWpsAt4h...

Send a text This topic came up at the end of our dinner time. Addison announced she wanted to talk about something. This is the usual in the Raymond Household. Important topics come up during our dinner time. I pulled out my phone and started the voice recorder. She pitched us in making her curfew later...to 12:30 or sometimes to 1:00 am.  What are her reasons?  She wants to practice time manageme...

Send a text Ahhhh, social media! The bane of my existence with my children! The 13 year old is pitching his reasons why he wants Instagram! We let his sister get Snapchat when she was 13 and if we could rewind, we would NOT have allowed that for at least a couple years later!   So now Hunter is trying to convince us why he wants IG.  There are very clear reasons why as you will hear in this episod...

Send a text This episode was recorded right before the holidays. I found an interesting article in the AARP magazine that talked about memory and steps on how to improve your memory. Even though AARP is for "old" people there were some great pieces of information about the distractions that notifications play in our lives. Every time our phones beep, we pick up the phone immediately and...

Send a text Jennifer Faye Colombo is a watercolor artist living in Connecticut. Her intention is to give the viewer an opportunity to tune into calm, peace and joy through her various collections. Jen is super grateful to live near the water, her happy place that influences many of her paintings. In addition to painting, Jen creates journals and card decks to support others on their journey. A Poc...

Send a text In this episode, I interview Jason Wolbers. Jason is a successful business owner, husband, dad, positive influencer, and author of the book The Power of a Positive Mindset! His purpose is to help people to develop and maintain a more positive mindset and all around outlook in life! Jason shares how he grasped onto this positive lifestyle after being anxiety ridden for many years when h...

Send a text I love our family dinners! This is the time for us to connect about our day, what is happening personally and to hold family meetings. Our favorite place to hold these meetings is at the dinner table.  This week we discuss our puppy, Pearl, who is getting into items that are left out, specifically food. We also discuss with the kids their future in their orchestra for the remainder of...

Send a text SPECIAL GUESTS:  My niece Toni and her boyfriend Austin. Being in their early 20's they will share how they view: Joy What brings them JOY What takes them out of JOY How they get back to JOY Hear what they have to say about social media, how it affects joy,  and how "being in the moment" is essential to joy.  This episode is very valuable and enlightening not only for ou...

Send a text This episode is a conversation with Carla White.  Carla is a Spark Igniter! She’s on a mission to empower high performing  women to heal emotional overwhelm & exhaustion so they can finally give themselves enthusiastic, unapologetic Permission to Play… to reignite the Spark within, find joy, and boost their energy using the power of FUN. She is a 4x international  best-selling auth...

Send a text What are Powerful Moments? Why are they important? Hear some examples from the book The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath Addison shares how she created a powerful moment for a teacher. Hunter shares how he created a powerful moment for a stranger.  How can you create powerful moments for your family, friends, colleagues, etc? The Power of Moments by  Chip and Dan Heath https://ww...

Send a text This episode is a wonderful conversation with Liz Carroll who shares her experience with JOY.  Liz Carroll is a life-long student and teacher of making mindful money moves. Originally believing she was "bad with money," Liz did the hardwork to rewrite her money story. She needed to drop limiting beliefs about how a woman can earn and manage money to set her up for financial s...

Send a text This episode is a FANTASTIC conversation with Zak King.  Zak runs The Center For Advancement In Cancer Education (aka BeatCancer. Org). They are a 47 year old non profit organization helping people heal or prevent cancer using holistic modalities They do so through a variety of free programs such as free counseling with their in house doctors, free weekly Q&A sessions, etc, and the...

Send a text Another one of my favorites that I can listen to again and again! In this episode, we talk with Michael Jann and Michele Jourdan.  Michael is an Emmy-nominated late-night comedy writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon . Michele is Mike’s wife, writing partner, and a gold-medal-winning body-builder. She likes working out so much, she actually...

Send a text This week I chat with Michelle Steiner.  Michelle  lives with an invisible disability. She has articles published on The Mighty, Non-Verbal Learning Project, Dyscalculia Blog, The Reluctant Spoonie, Kalopina Collective, Imagine the World as One Magazine, and Word Gathering. Her photographs were featured in Word Gathering Independent and Work Ready. She works as a paraeducator in a scho...

Send a text This conversation with Adam Brooks is very informative.  He has some great tips for parents on how to navigate screen time and social media with children. Learn how he went from a special education teacher to speaking to and working with teens and parents. Adam is definitely out to make a difference in the world of children.  You can even hire him to come talk to your community. I lear...

Send a text It is SUMMER!!!!  School is out, activities and sports are done, now it is time to play and relax!  How do we still make sure we read, limit screen time, not argue about the things that frustrate us, and use our time together to have FUN and create JOY?  Mark came up with three questions for us to think about at the beginning of June. 1. What do we want to for reading this summer? 2. W...

Send a text I'm so excited to share this conversation with Martha McBride. We connected over social media and found we have a lot in common, especially our goal to live in JOY daily. Martha shares her experience with a bad breakup that led to depression and how she was then able to get out of that. She also shares how she knows she is living in a state of JOY each day.  One way she knows is i...

Send a text This weekś episode is a conversation with Linda Rossi.  Linda was born in Greensburg PA and now resides in Pittsburgh. She acquired her Associate Degree in Human Service which led to her 16 year career with helping to offer her support,encouragement and resources to families in need. She’s a writer of various artistic styles including the self-help genre, poems, and personalized quotes...