Latest / Inspiring Stories / Heather Andrews brings Us Self Love Elevated

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Heather Andrews brings Us Self Love Elevated · Inspiring Stories

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Thank you for listening to Depictures Media Radio. You dying. You know,
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we hear all the time how we should love ourselves, how we should take
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care of ourselves and do the things that that really elevate our soul. And
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in this next episode, we're going to hear from a group of authors and
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the name of their book is called Self Love Elevated. The whole thing is
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volume number two. And what does Self Love Elevated mean? The love and
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worth you feel for yourself sets the foundation for the types of relationships you have.
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What you believe is what is achievable in your life. It is embracing
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all of the essence of you that make you unique. When you feel an
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internal connection of love for who you are in all of your queenlike beauty inside
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and out, that's is when life changes. Your self love and worth will
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help you hold yourself accountable in your life, your business, and your career.
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So that's from the back of the book. UM just a little bit,
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and we're gonna hear um. You know, why did they Why did
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these with ladies uh create this book? Why did they get together and decide
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that it was a group book to um that they needed to do and there's
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a lot um going on here and let's listen to what these authors have to
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say, and they're probably who actually helped gather to them all together. Welcome
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to the show, Heather, and thank you for bringing such a wonderful bunch
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of women. This is an exciting thing. I love doing specials where we
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have like people really out to tell their story. So how did you how
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did you come about to actually put the book together? To begin with?
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This is this is Get You Visibles and my thirteenth compilation, and where I
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see it is self love. It's everywhere. Men are talking about it,
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women are talking about it, kids are talking about it, and it's very
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mainstream on social media. And a lot of the ladies that joined us here
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today and this book have a bigger vision. They've been on their self love
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journey. They have been on their own self love journey and their moms and
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they're modeling the way for their future generations and their lights in this world globally.
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And so they came to me through one degree of separation from someone that
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has been in that had signed up for the book, and that's really how
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we started this journey and it just turned into its own transformation process on so
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many levels. And I'm just so excited that all the ladies were here to
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join us today. And it's really about bringing self love with real stories,
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raw stories from multiple avenues of life to the forefront for people to read.
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And as I heard some of the stories, they broke my heart, they
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made my heart, they made me smile, and I felt so blessed to
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bring their stories to life and just them. And I have to say thank
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you, guys for just trusting me to bring your light to this world and
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trusting me with your heart centered story. So thank you for joining us,
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and thank you Helena for linking Michael to me so that we could do this
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interview today. Yeah, all right, so why don't we uh one by
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one starting um, you know what, I'm just gonna call call your name
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out from off my screen because there's a bunch of a bunch of us here.
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So I'm going to call your name out one by one and just um
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your name and the name of the chapter that you actually wrote, just start
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with okay, and we're going to start with Amber. Hi, everybody,
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I'm Amber. Um, my pen name is Amber Louise and my chapter is
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called Trust Yourself. The ultimate form of self love. Okay, Andrew please,
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Hi everyone. My name is Andrea Petruth and my chapter is called Remembering
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the Sacred. Brittany Hi everyone, um. My name is Brittany Hamilton and
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my chapter is called Orange Wasn't My Color? Charlene Hi, everybody name.
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My name is Charlene Madden and my chapter is entitled A Bulletproof Life. Christina
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Hello everyone, My name is Christina Smith. I'm an Olympian that was chosen
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to represent this amazing group of women through a forward that I wrote, and
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thanks to Heather so much for that invitation. Helena. Hi, I'm Felas
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Mulock and my chapter is What Self Love Got to Do with It. Jennifer
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Hi everyone, I'm Jenner for Trainer and my chapter was called how Losing My
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Job was a Blessing. Justine Hello everyone. My name is Justine Boolen and
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my chapter is Free from Darkness at Last. Camela Hi, Kamilahara, and
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my chapter is called did Not I was lost until I found me. Melinda
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Hello everyone. My chapter is beautifully broken and I'm just thrilled to be here
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with you all. Rena Hello everyone. I wrote chapter fourteen and my chapter
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is called Blessings, Faith and Love. Shannon. Hello everyone, My name
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is Shannon, and I wrote chapter sixteen knowing who I am and choosing it
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daily, And yes, mean, hello everyone, My name is My chapter
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was Journey to Infinite Love, and I'm the last chapter of the book and
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you are our last guest to speak. So, um, yes, mean,
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since why don't we start with you? Um? What was the the
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first thing to put you on that journey towards your self love? So the
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first, I could say, the first initiation that put me on a journey
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towards self love was my banking journey. Um, I had been in the
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bank for over ten years, and UM, I didn't feel like I resonated
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with that journey at all. And I believe the experiences that I've been through
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there were my initiation into the journey of self love, which is currently my
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purpose and it's I think it's the predominant value that we all need to live
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by, but we forget it because we just give blessings out there to everybody
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around us, and the last person we think of is ourselves. So I
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think that was the initiation. This is what put me on the path.
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Shannon started what started your journey on towards self love. So I would say
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what started my journey is reflecting on my strength and leaning into my strengths to
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just to live my best life. So it really came from a place of
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self aware earns, understanding those strengths and um, leaning into them. Very
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nice, um Na or Rena, I'm sorry already, okay. UM.
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So what I would say started myself my journey to self love, UM would
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be, you know, I just had a lot of stuff through childhood that
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led me to realize that I, um, you know, was here for
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a bigger purpose, a bigger reason. Um. And I started my self
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development journey at a very young age, and that just really brought me aware
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of self love and you know, the negative self talk that I was,
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um, you know, speaking to myself and realizing that you know, that's
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not self love, and you know, just trying to start me on that
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awareness and path to loving myself. Balinda, all right, thanks, great
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question, Michael. I think the thing that started me on this journey was
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I was reflecting on how I was able to make such a hard choice when
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I gifted my daughter in open adoption, and just wondering how on earth could
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someone do that? So as I reflected, I just realized that the people
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who supported me and loved me and were my bottom hands were the people who
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believed in me and knew that I could love myself and this little girl so
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much to place her in this life that she deserved. That's amazing. Thanks
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Kamela Hi for me, The journey started with realizing that I was depressed,
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which was very surprised, surprising to me. And I didn't feel not only
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love, I didn't feel many things. That was quite numb. So that
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was the beginning, and then there were many many further obviously initiations into us
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as well. No one is there's definitely not a good feeling and not a
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good thing at all. Justine, You're next. I M so my journey
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started when I asked the question why am I alive? And that question led
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me to a path of discovery or actually remembering who I truly am and for
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me self love. It's all about to be reclining all of me at least,
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that's been my journey so far. So yeah, thank you, hm
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Elena, thank you for this great question. My vote, um well,
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I can honestly say that when Heather approached me for this. I was very
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pushed back by it, because you know, when we go back in time
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and dig up things that we feel we've healed from, we just go uh
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Now, I don't want to go there, but I'm glad I did because
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it made me realize my life journey really started at the age ten, when
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I was responsible for myself and my two siblings. But the impact was really
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when I went through a first divorce with my first husband. That made me
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realize to step back and look at what I've done throughout my life to cater
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to others, And that's how it started. Christina, my personal self love
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journey started with really self discipline and seeking to be the best that I could
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be, which led me then further to an Olympic Games. However, my
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deep core was always about a larger purpose in life, and the beauty of
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having written the forward for this book was I was able to embrace all the
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purposeful journeys that each and every one of these women were on and the power
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that generated within their stories and how it could change lives beyond their own lives.
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So that was a beautiful gift that I was given to being part of
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this lovely project. Wow, that's fantastic, Charlene. Um. For myself,
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my journey to self love started when I actually I made a decision to
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end my life. And when I mean made that decision, Um, all
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of the chatter that I had been experiencing in my mind got quiet, and
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the universe pushed me in a direction where I ended up attending an event and
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unwittingly was opened up to hearing a message, actually three messages that eventually saved
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my life and put me on the path to self love, self acceptance,
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and self responsibility. So um, it was a decision to end something that
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actually opened up to a whole new beginning. So well, I'm glad you're
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you're here with this. Indeed you did, you only ended a whole part
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of your life, not your whole entire life. I believe we're at Brittany.
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Great question, Michael, So, I think my journey really started after
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a really horrific event that happened when I was twenty two. It landed me
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in a situation where I had a lot of shame and judgment and guilt and
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just a lot of negative emotions, and I had felt like, at that
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point, is this really where my life is going to be? Is this
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where my feet are going to land? And instead, I took that entire
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situation and I took it as a learning opportunity and one of growth and love
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and passion. And I started realizing I was here to help more people who
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have maybe not gone through something as traumatic as me. Would it have felt
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all all of those emotions and feelings that I was feeling at that time.
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So that was my journey. It just kind of unraveled over a few years
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after that. Andrea, this is a question that brings a lot of stuff
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because at eleven years old, when my mom got sick, she had cancer
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and she was fading away, I realized how connected we all are. And
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I realized that if I am a mother at some point in my life,
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I have to take care of myself and make sure that I stay alive and
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healthy so that my children can really grow up with me, so I can
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be with them and support them, because I was losing my mother and I
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would not have her support ever again. That's when I started learning how to
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love myself, that I have to love myself and take care of myself.
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Hey, Amber, so this is sorry, this is a tough question because
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I've never actually thought about it in this way before. I think writing the
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chapter that I wrote was the realization of self love for myself, and so
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starting that process of putting pen to paper and getting my thoughts out and being
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able to share was really an amazing opportunity for me to recognize self love.
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I know, after writing the chapter and going back in time and realizing what,
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you know, the different decisions I've made in my life and and how
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I've you know, how I've held myself and how I've ran my business,
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and how I've handled myself in lots of different environments. I can look back
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and say, hey, that was an element of self love, and that
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was part of that journey. So you could say that, you know,
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your journey to self love, you know has always been or you know has
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um is just part of the journey of life. But there's not a specific
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moment in time that says, Okay, this is when my journey began.
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It was more of a realization of the different decisions that I've been able to
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make over time and seeing that those were actually decisions of self love. Yeah,
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okay, um, Heather, why didn't you ask the ladies one of
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the questions did you ask them as you invited them to do the book.
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I think one of I was just going to go back to the question where
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the self love journey began for me, was I spent my whole life running
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away from self love and it was finally it finally caught up to me when
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we did the first book what self love got to do with it? And
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I have to say that every single one of you inspired me to really step
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into finding the piece, the calm, the awareness of what true self love
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was is because you all showed up when I put the challenge to you,
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and then you inspired me to step into it. More so, very grateful
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for each of you because I learned something from each of you in that space.
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And when people came to me and asked when I got them on the
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phone or in a zoom call each of you. One of the first questions
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that I asked was why do you want to write in this book? And
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most and most of you said you wanted to inspire others because of what you
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had learned. And the next thing was what were you so petrified of?
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But so my question to each of you is what has been the outcome for
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you? And the lesson that you learned by sharing your story in this book.
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Yeah. So do you want me to go around Michael? Yeah,
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and I want you to. I want you to start with that with Christine
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because I got a message from from Christine I understand, and then go to
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Jennifer please, okay, all right, Christina? What was it for you
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when I asked you right before? Wow, that was a very um I
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was so honored first of all to be asked to do such a task,
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and um, I mean the the power of embracing all these beautiful spirits in
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front of me right now, you know, and to to bring that energy
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into one forward was something I had never been asked you. I've I've written
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books before, but this was something very special. This was beyond, of
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course that that or any of self that it was. It was really about
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um uh, something that actually has driven me mostly in my life. Was
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about a higher purpose. But now it became this very very beautiful web of
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all these stories. So that was I'm up always for challenges, uh,
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you know, with my background of you know, pioneering women's boss Leigh,
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so that that was something that representing not only a movement, but it was
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representing you guys, and you guys really put me to the desk and your
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stories were so powerful that it just was um really an honor, so that
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that really was that that joy of um of being chosen. So thank you
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again, hither and and all these lovely ladies. Thank you Christina your words
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in the in the forward or just a barn and uncomparable, super strong.
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So thank you, jenniferum So for me, I was first approached by you,
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you know, to do this book as zer editor, and I mean
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I was thrilled to take part in it, just because I wanted to continue
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diving deeper into my role as an editor in my job. But it was
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as I was starting the process of you know, editing these beautiful chapters and
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you approached me about writing as well, and having been a co author in
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the past, also talking about my self love journey in another book. I
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wasn't sure at first if I had more to say, but then I decided
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to just start writing and see what came to me. And I realized I
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had more of my story to share and more more words of wisdom to pass
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on and hopefully inspire. And so what I took from not only just writing
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my chapter but from editing each one of these beautiful stories that these women writ
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wrote for the book was that for me personally, my self love journey is
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ongoing, and it's evolving and adapting and changing constantly. And what I took
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from the other ladies is that there is so much strength within us even at
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our darkest and most challenging times in life, and it takes a lot of
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courage to find that strength and push through those dark moments. So that was
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my takeaway from the entire experience. And it's been a beautiful journey, and
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I just you know, I'm so honored and blessed to have been a part
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of it. Thank you, Rena. Would you like to go next?
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Yes, thank you. M Yeah. When we first talked about writing the
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chapter, as you know, Roslyn is the one who preferred me. She
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wrote a chapter in the first compilation. And I've actually been wanting to write
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a book of my story for a very long time, but it just seemed
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extremely overwhelming. And you know, I've started and stopped many many times.
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So yeah, I wasn't sure how this would all go. But it actually
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was like such a great, great experience. You know, I started,
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my journey started when I grew up in foster care at a very young age,
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and from there I've learned lots of lessons and I really truly am grateful
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for all my experiences, and I believe that we're all going to be learned
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until you know, the day that we die. That's our journey. So
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yeah, just really was like stepping stone and showed me that I can do
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it. So thank you very very much. And yeah, I just like
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your process was just incredible. It was so good and everybody was so supportive,
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and yeah, it was amazing. So yeah, I think it's anybody
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that's looking at writing a book should definitely start with the chapter. That's definitely
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what I think is the best way to go. So yeah, thank you
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excellent Brittany, do you want to go? Yeah, thank you Heather for
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just an amazing question and just the journey of this book. When you asked
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it, I actually was getting teary eyed because I remember so I was referred
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to you, and I had wanted to write a book on my story for
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a very long time, but I knew I had to heal a lot before
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I could write my story. And I remember our conversation. I didn't even
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tell my husband. I didn't tell anybody that I was about to do this,
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and I sat down with you and I was just so scared to actually
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put it out there. It was very vulnerable for my children, for my
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husband, for myself. It was just very opening of my life, which
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is amazing, but I was so nervous of any I don't know, negativity,
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backlash, things to that nature. What I have found though, walking
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through this journey has been the biggest healing and most unbelievable blessing I could have
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ever asked for, and it has just done. It was like that last
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you know, thing of like, Okay, I can put this behind me
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and heal and it was just like that last little piece of my self love
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for that chapter of who I was. It was incredible. So thank you
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for your question, thank you for having me here with you. Guys.
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I'm just so grateful. Thank you so much. Brittany. Your story still
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and I see the transformation that's happened for you because you're talking about it on
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your lives and that's the freedom that comes from writing your story. Albert,
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would you like to go next time? The biggest lesson that I learned was
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that I can trust myself, and I know that my entire chapter is about
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trusting yourself and how I've done that over the years, and I talk about
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how to build your values and how to make decisions based on those, whether
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unconsciously or consciously, and I talk a lot about that, but I think
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it was also just a reconfirmation that I should trust myself, and then I
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do trust myself, and that I can trust myself moving forward in all the
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decisions that I have in front of me. You know, the last couple
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of years has been very transformational for me in a lot of ways, which
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I do talk a little bit about in the book, and I just again
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having that realization that to trust myself is allowed and I can do it,
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and I need to do it. I need to do it for myself.
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I need to do it for my family and my kids, my friends,
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and that's super important. Thank you, Ramber Andrea. The biggest outcome for
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me, Heather and Michael, has been the fact that I had a piece
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of my life that I could share with all those I love, and that
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I could help them see what I never told them, what I wanted to
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write in my memoir. I am writing that, but it takes longer to
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publish a memoir than being in a chapter. So you gave me the opportunity
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to give that peace to my family and friends, those who knew me,
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and the feedback that I god gives me goose bumps and makes me cry right
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now because they had the opportunity to witness my journey, my transformation and acknowledge
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what I waited all my life. And for those who are very old,
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which is my dad is not very old. But you know, I'm always
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thinking I'm in Canada, he's in Romania. I never know if I'm going
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to see him again. And the fact that my dad got the opportunity to
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read my chapter is the best gift that I could give to my dad.
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Thank you so much. I love it, Thank you, Thank you so
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much. Andrea, and I get to see you on Thursday because we're doing
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her book while we're doing the official book launch in Toronto. When I'm there
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is I'm very excited, Justine, Justine, Hello, Oh, very interesting
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question. And for me, the gift that I received is really appealing of
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another layer of myself. When Andrea invited me to shared about this opportunity and
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after talking to that there, like I didn't know how I can be a
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part of this, but I felt that cool because I've been feeling the call
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to serve in the bigger platform and so the universe conspired, I was given
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the opportunity to be a part of this or thank you Heather, thank you
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Andrea. And interestingly, as I was writing my book, my chapter,
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the thing that came up for me is like, who am I to write
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this, especially coming from the Philippines, and I am part of a group
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of amazing, incredible women have already accomplished a lot, and am I to
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be a part of this? And so that has been the journey of writing
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my chapter. And after writing my chapter and joining this, like the acceptance
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and another deepening of self love and that was the gift that I received.
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So yeah, thank you excellent, Thank you so much, Justine, Thank
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you for trusting me, Thank you for trusting Jennifer the process. And I
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just got to give a huge kudos to Jennifer for just really embracing and assisting
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on this project because we could not have done this without you. So I
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just want to give kudos to Jennifer Traynor, who is an amazing editor,
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amazing human and just really before. I think she has to go here soon,
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so I just wanted to give huge credits to that. Melinda, would
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you like to go next? For sure? Thanks Heather. I think one
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of the gifts that I've received from this is the friendship with Heather. We
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actually realized not too long ago that we had never actually met in person,
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so she came to drop off the books for me, and I'm like,
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oh, my goodness, you're right. This is the first time we met
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in person. I was introduced to Heather by someone who had written with her,
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and so I started talking to Heather firstly about my solo book, but
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like Rena said, it's a perfect opportunity to write a chapter for a compilation
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like this, and so I think number one it was a oh yeah,
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I can actually do this. Wow awesome. And then the other gift that
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this has been for me is that this is a stepping stone for my solo
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book and it has been gifted to me divinely gifted to me through this group.
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Wouldn't have happened without everybody here. So again, yeah, it's a
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stepping stone for me to elevate open adoption and to create help create more loving
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families with this solo book that I intend to write, So yeah, that's
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the gift. Thank you so much. Yeah, and yeah, we've definitely
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gotten to know each other over the thing, and it's been a beautiful unraveling.
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So very very blessed, Kamila. Do you want to go next?
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Yes, thank you so much, and thank you for the question. Yeah.
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For me, there've been multiple lessons. One that was one that really
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stands out is that once I shared my chapter, I realized for some reason
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with a bit of a delay, that it's not like posting something online where
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you can remove it. Everybody discriminately can read it who love it or hate
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it or whatever. So it was quite intimate to share two different parts of
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my life. It was kind of two stories that I shared and realized that
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it's done now. So it's kind of opened me up to sharing a lot
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more on social media as well, professionally and inspirationally, and quite possibly being
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even more vulnerable I always was, but so that was quite impactful. And
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then secondly, just feeling feeling something more than I know that will be writing
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books and solo as well, but being in this group, feeling these connections
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and friendships that I think will be there for the rest of my life,
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and then feeling this as I read the book because I touched it, I
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mean I kind of read energy as well. It kind of feels like this
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beautiful chorus, so a beautiful symphony of different voices singing together. And it's
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a very different feeling when you're collaborating in this very unique way. So that
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was very new for me and I love it. You know, when I
36:05
touched the book, I feel everybody in it. So it's lovely to be
36:08
a part of something like that. Thank you for thinking about it, being
36:12
inspired to do it, and inviting me hotully. Thank you so much,
36:16
Kamila, did Helena do you want to go now? Yes? Thank you
36:23
Heather for the question as well as for this amazing opportunity. As you know
36:30
in our discussions, I was literally in my back up against the wall because
36:36
for me, I'm the type of person that hells and moves on and then
36:39
just closes the doors that no longer need to be opened. But You're great
36:45
motivation and support really made me feel comfortable to embark on this journey. I
36:58
really can associate with Brittany in many ways in terms of you know, you're
37:04
you're writing this story about yourself, and it's not just going to be you
37:08
know it, like like on some social media where you can, you know,
37:15
erase it. It's permanent. People are going to read this story about
37:19
me and go either go wow, or how could she do that? How
37:25
could she leave the family unit? You know, it's the culture and you
37:31
know, so all those scenarios were playing around in my head. And also
37:38
I had a bit of fear from my family, you know, just just
37:44
very personal threats that I received from them. Um, I thought, do
37:49
I take a chance on publishing a story that may my family may revolt against
37:55
me? So I thought, you know what, No, I've They've already
38:00
revolted against me. I'm going to move forward. I'm going to tell my
38:05
story because it's going to help other women who may be experiencing the same issues
38:13
that I have. And that's what strengthened me, your motivation, my inner
38:17
strength. Thank you so much for it. And it's comforting. It's comforting
38:23
to know that there are these beautiful stories. And I can honestly say,
38:30
when I read the book, I could stop crying. I really couldn't because
38:35
what I went through. When I read other stories, I'm like mine is
38:39
so minor compared to that, you know so, but it's not minor.
38:43
It's all intertwined with each other. And what a beautiful journey you have to
38:49
put us on to share our stories. I'm so grateful to you and to
38:52
the other women. Thank you so much. And Michael, thank you for
38:57
showcasing us exactly. So we have three, Thank you, Helena. We
39:02
have three left, Shirlene, would you like to go next? Then yes?
39:10
Yeah, then yes, men and then Shannon, and then we'll wrap
39:14
it up. For me, I think writing in the book was just validation.
39:22
I had spent so much of the year prior to the book, probably
39:28
a year and a half, sharing my story really openly. I have been
39:32
doing a lot of podcasting, and it was just it was part of the
39:38
healing process. I realized that I needed to go through as well to give
39:42
myself the voice I didn't have as a child that I needed back then.
39:46
So for me, the book was just another pebble in the pond to create
39:52
the ripples that I know that my life is meant to create by sharing a
40:00
by sharing the story. So I'm really grateful. I you know, I
40:04
agree with the plain the story stories in this book are They're so impactful,
40:14
and I know you're creating some who have bought books from myself, and I'm
40:20
hearing such great, great feedback. So I think everyone should be so proud
40:27
of themselves for being so brave to share the stories. And Heather, thank
40:30
you so much for the time and the energy that you poured in and the
40:35
love you poured into this project. So I'm just grateful and I can't wait
40:38
to see what we all continue to do to keep creating those ripples. So
40:44
I think we're just getting started, which is kind of cool. Yes,
40:47
me and then Shannon, then back to you. Michael Sallan, thank you
40:55
to Andrea first for introducing me to Heather and referring me to this compilation.
41:00
I feel like and thank you for Heather as well for creating that safe space,
41:07
because personally I felt safe and an international like appearance or amongst other women
41:14
from different cultures to be able to put forward a chapter. One aspect of
41:20
my life I have to say was I needed that safe space and I felt
41:23
it with all of you, honestly, and for me it was like it
41:29
showed me. The lesson that I learned is like when you actually put put
41:32
your words on a piece of paper first. The mindset tips and the lessons
41:37
that you learned. When you read them to yourself, it's a completely different
41:42
perspective than when you have them up in your mind, lying there and floating
41:45
there. It actually becomes something more actionable and more realistic. So that was
41:51
kind of the first lesson for me. And the second lesson was that I'm
41:54
capable of because I was able to write my journey fully from my heart,
41:59
and I was so happy to hear that feedback from people who knew my journey
42:02
to come back with such feedback saying that even though we know what you've been
42:07
through, we still felt your heart and soul in the chapter. My capability
42:13
of writing. I wrote my chapter in six hours, I think, and
42:16
then I just reviewed it in two hours after that. So this showed me
42:22
a lot personally for myself, and also the collaboration and the compilation, like
42:28
how it all came in the under the umbrella of elevation. And I felt
42:32
that and I believed that I needed that as a stepping stone for my self
42:37
love journey to be even more open to acknowledge because in my chapter, I
42:42
acknowledged my roots, my parents, and I said that even though there are
42:46
differences, I still love them the way they are, but I just have
42:51
to persevere the way I need to. And so it was so beautiful to
42:55
see all of us come together, and then reading the book from all the
43:00
stories I think there was, it was devinely orchestrated. I was discussing this
43:05
with Uh with Andrea as well, that it was divinely orchestrated in a way
43:09
where the first chapter started with trusting yourself, because that's kind of an initiation,
43:15
and then all the way up to the part where you need to persevere
43:21
and you need to take that leap of faith and everything that goes in between,
43:23
like the muddy road and all the all the traumas and everything that you
43:29
need to look into. So it was so beautifully orchestrated. And I'm so
43:34
honored to be part of this journey honestly and part of this powerful movement.
43:39
UM. And that's it. That's it for me. I'm very grateful,
43:43
perfect, thank you, Yasmine, Shannon, thank you so much, UM,
43:52
And like all of you have said, UM, I'm also so grateful
43:55
to have been a part of this project and journey with all of you.
44:00
I have learned so much from all of you, and it makes me so
44:04
proud when I can talk about this project and know I have full confidence that
44:10
this book is truly for There's something for everyone. I cannot think of one
44:17
human on the planet that wouldn't have a takeaway and a lesson learned that they
44:22
could resonate with. So when I embarked on the journey, my life was
44:29
coming to a point where it was almost a complete transformation. I very shortly
44:36
after agreeing to write the chapter, which also for me as a stepping stone,
44:40
I realized the importance of setting boundaries. Boundaries wasn't a word that I
44:45
had used in my personal life before writing this chapter set a boundary. My
44:52
whole life sort of has been changing ever since, and it's now coming together
44:58
and rebuilding with self love. And when I said I'm leaning into my strengths,
45:01
it really came down to that, the importance of self awareness, knowing
45:07
my strengths and how do I lean into the gifts I have and wanting to
45:14
teach others how to do that, how to like I'm so fascinated by the
45:23
psychometric tests, like like Myers Briggs being one of the more popular ones and
45:30
flipped and strengths finders, and just really fully understanding not just my strengths,
45:37
uncovering other people's strengths and helping them nurture their strengths and refine them so that
45:43
we can all share our gifts with the world to make it a happier and
45:46
healthier place. This is also super important for me to be a role model
45:53
for my daughters, and so the boundary setting and the setting the strengths was
46:00
a way that I could show my daughters a lead by example in terms of
46:06
self love. And I just have such a passion for people and connection and
46:15
community, and I believe that we all, every human, all of us
46:21
here on the call, have So you're all so dynamic, and you all
46:25
have such unique gifts, and if we can lean into them, we can
46:31
achieve our highest potential and live our best lives. Thank you, Shannon.
46:42
So, Michael, I'm just gonna do say one thing and then I'll hand
46:45
it back to you, because I think it was one of the questions that
46:47
you would ask me anyway. The power of the compilation, So when you
46:53
bring together a community, even though you don't know who is going to be
46:59
in the book, the power of the ask, the power of the compilation,
47:02
which is a co author book where you bring authors together, like what
47:06
everybody's heard here today, but it's about bringing multiple perspectives and multiple stories together
47:14
so that the reader can really take the bits and the pieces and put those
47:20
into their life. And that is because a lot of people who read compilations
47:27
are looking for short snippets of inspiration and you, to each of you have
47:32
just inspired so many and I just really need to applaud you and being brave
47:38
to accept that job is the author to help give something back to the reader,
47:45
because that's really your job as an author, and so however you do
47:50
it in magazine format, podcast format, book format, you guys did it
47:57
and it's out there released. Just the freedom that you all have found within
48:02
that is huge. Michael, And I'm gonna put you back on the spot
48:06
and you want to share with us what you just got noted today because I
48:07
want to celebrate you celebrating us with what you got noticed, with what you
48:13
got used today. Well I did. I received some some fantastic news um
48:19
that we we did a short film on a hate crime that was committed over
48:23
twenty five years ago and normal sing Gil. He was a security guard guarding
48:30
a Zeke temple here in SURREYBC, and he was killed for his efforts by
48:37
five white supremacists. UM and the we rehashed the story because he was honored
48:45
by the temple by hanging his mitcher up, and we re we re released
48:52
the film with new at his new footage, and we won UM Best Short
49:00
Documentary and an international film festival. I would love to tell you the title
49:04
of it, but I can't pronounce it, but but it's it was just
49:08
an amazing thing to have happened. I'm going to lead this to towards towards
49:15
the question though, um, because we're all here because we want we want
49:20
to do something for our world and change our world and make our world.
49:23
Book look different, look a little better. Right, So I want each
49:30
of you to tell me what what is it? What is that goal that
49:35
you want that book to do so that helps change our world? Okay,
49:39
UM, Heather, you let's start with you first, because because you gathered
49:45
everybody, my goal is too. We live in a space where people are
49:52
hurting. I see it on Facebook every day. I've come out of thirty
49:55
three years in healthcare. I see frontline vel globally. I've got younger,
50:01
young adult children who are making impacts in this world. And the thing is
50:07
is that I've learned is that we have story, stories connected for generations.
50:13
Books have been available for education for generations, and it's the first thing that
50:16
people talk, that people reach out to, whether it's a podcast or book.
50:20
In today's world, it's really about sharing. And we live in a
50:23
space where rawness and is so true and I'm going to change this world story
50:30
in the time. I'm just I just am, I'm on. And I
50:34
also find that when people step into that space of themselves and they are to
50:37
share that vulnerability, it just creates space and it elevates them to go and
50:43
share with others. And it's really about people loving themselves enough did not stay
50:49
in generational trauma. It's about changing the dynamic. It's about changing and making
50:55
different choices and doing it in a loving way for yourself and your kids and
51:00
all of the things. So that for me is I've just seen transformation in
51:05
story. And once you start to write, it really becomes a spiritual journey,
51:08
which becomes a cathartic transformational journey. And I've seen people set themselves free
51:14
of their story by writing in a book a chapter. And that is what
51:19
I am put here on this planet to do, is to help people step
51:22
into that space of just owning a different story for themselves and helping them create
51:28
that vision for what they want for their life. And that's what I'm here
51:34
to do. So and this book is going to be its own branding.
51:38
We're looking at merchandise, we're looking at putting it into bookstores, we're looking
51:44
it into this is This one's got a big mission behind it and this is
51:50
only just the beginning of us collaborating on this. And because everybody, every
51:54
single one of these ladies showed up in a major way, and it showed
51:59
in how the book day viewed itself on Amazon, it showed itself how it
52:02
showed up in social media like this one had a whole different feel because of
52:06
the ladies that had done, because of the co authors. They've done the
52:09
work. They're raw, they're authentic, they're vulnerable, and they weren't and
52:15
they stepped into the space of bravery to show that. And that's really what
52:19
every single one of them did. And that's my vision is just to pre
52:22
create these platforms for visibility and just sharing and learning and growing and educating.
52:30
Heather, why don't you call it everybody else and let them chime in with
52:34
that question? Absolutely? Do you want to repeat the question when more time?
52:37
Michael, And then we'll go We'll start with Amber. What is it
52:40
that you want want the book to change? How do you want it to
52:45
change our world? Amber? Would you like to go first? I would
52:51
love to. I think specifically my chapter is to call out to women and
52:58
men just remind them that they have the ability to trust themselves and that they
53:06
need to look inside and they need to make sure that every decision they're making
53:12
is the right decision for themselves. And I talk about how I don't want
53:20
to self love and learning to trust yourself is not being selfish. Being able
53:30
to trust yourself and being able to make decisions based on that truth really allows
53:36
you to become and be the best person that you can be and show up
53:39
the best that you can be for those around you. So it's really an
53:45
incredible opportunity to make decisions and move forward in a positive way. Thank you.
53:52
Ever, I'm going to jump to Shannon because Shannon brought Amber in as
53:57
a co author, so I'm going to just link the two of you.
54:00
Would you like to take it away? Absolutely? So what I would love
54:05
for people read the readers to take away is the awareness or knowledge or the
54:16
mindset that we each have the power to transform our life and flow in the
54:24
direction of our dreams and to manifest the best life we want to live and
54:34
abundance, and to just keep you know, remembering your superpowers and coming back
54:43
to yourself and focus on those strengths. Life's a lot easier and more fun
54:47
when you are aware of who you are and you're choosing that every day.
54:55
Thank you so much. But for me, I think the first thing that
55:04
comes to my mind, and I think I said it before, is just
55:07
to inspire people, give them a bit of um the hope medicine that just
55:13
keeps their their light going even in the darkest times, because there's always a
55:19
way. There's always there's always a way, like and the and the first
55:22
thing that I would say is never give up on yourself. And reading these
55:28
stories, not just mine, will tell you all of that. So just
55:31
to inspire people and lead them towards the light of hope or the medicine of
55:36
hope so they can keep their light just fueled and their light just going.
55:40
Yeah. Thank you Melenda, Thanks Heather, Thanks Michael. That's an awesome
55:52
question. Um. I think my mission here is to elevate and empower mothers
56:04
to choose adoption and to feel beautiful about it, and to help build more
56:10
beautiful families and and show more love. Like you know, these little adoptees
56:15
who are in open adoptions have so many forms of love coming at them.
56:21
They just grow into such beautiful people and to be proud and joyful of the
56:28
choice that they are completely able to make. So that I think is my
56:34
mission just to elevate that open adoption perspective in society and let people know that
56:40
it's it's a beautiful choice. Thank you, Justine. Yes. So,
56:49
for me, self love is really the journey of loving our wholesales but the
56:55
good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the light the dark.
57:00
But it just starts there because elevating self love for me, it means
57:06
loving others as they are as well and giving them the same love of loving
57:12
their life, loving their darkness, loving the good, the bad, the
57:15
ugly, the beautiful in them. And can you imagine how different our world
57:21
will be if we come from that space of love instead of seeing the differences
57:25
and coming from a place of hate. So for me, that is what
57:30
I invite their readers to be start with self love and from their loving others
57:37
because we're all connected, we're all on So thank you, love it,
57:43
Thank you so much, Jennifer. So I'm going to use a quote that
57:53
I really resonate with that I really feel the book sort of describes this quote
58:02
perfectly, and it's if you want to store in life, you must first
58:07
learn to fly f l Y standing for first love yourself. And I truly
58:15
believe that every story in this book teaches readers that in order to find you
58:22
know, our great purpose in life, in order to find true joy and
58:25
happiness and love in our lives and with others, is to first love ourselves.
58:32
And I really think every story in this book paints that beautifully. And
58:38
that's what I hope our readers, you know, learn from each and every
58:42
story in the book, is that once they find the courage to truly love
58:49
themselves, they will discover pure joy. Excellent. Thank you, Helena.
59:01
Um I would love to change the world. We all are, all of
59:12
us. What we're doing this together it's beautiful. Self love is your self
59:19
identity, and I want to teach people that not to be fearful. I
59:27
think we've run on fear when we try to adapt to various plugins throughout our
59:35
lives that are imposed on us. Strength takes a lot. It takes a
59:42
lot of effort to say to yourself, no, I don't want that,
59:52
or no, I don't want to listen to this person. And it's not
59:57
selfish to say no. It empowers you to move on, to forgive.
1:00:05
You can't forget. Forget about that. Forgiveness. It's one of the most
1:00:07
powerful things anybody can do in their life. It was powerful for me to
1:00:15
forgive my family, to tell them I love them, I respect them.
1:00:21
It was powerful for me to look at my mother and tell her I love
1:00:23
her, I'm moving on. That's power, that powerful that I said,
1:00:31
I forgive all of them. So my message out there is to teach forgiveness.
1:00:43
Identify your fear, unleash it, gain your strength, and identify with
1:00:52
yourself because that's where your success is going to stem from as well, from
1:00:57
within. You know, we can motivate people as much as we can um,
1:01:02
but really have it when you motivated me. I had to step back
1:01:07
and look inside me. It was me that made the decision. Okay,
1:01:15
you accelerated it for me, so but deep down inside I still could have
1:01:22
said no, right. So, yeah I didn't. But the whole point
1:01:29
of it is that as we flourish in life, we need to maintain our
1:01:35
strength. We need to erase fear. I could have been fearful this whole
1:01:40
time. If I can get on that bus on July third, nineteen nineteen
1:01:49
ninety four, it wasn't fear. It was I'm going to do this.
1:01:54
I'm going to explore, I'm going to break away, I'm going to find
1:01:59
out who I am. I'm going to love me. So thank you,
1:02:02
Helena, Well, thank you for sharing. Andrea last I think that's you
1:02:07
think you're our last one. Yeah, legacy keeps coming up when I'm thinking
1:02:14
of this question and I look at this book. We all are leaving a
1:02:19
legacy to our people, to our friends, to our family, to the
1:02:23
world. We want to change by writing our stories, by sharing, as
1:02:29
you said, Heather, in any ways possible, and because I believe we
1:02:34
are all one, we are connected. What my vision is with these stories
1:02:39
and with this book is that we can see through this book, all of
1:02:45
us reading this, the connections, all the connections in our lives and how
1:02:51
we touch each other's lives in very small ways like Melinda always says, or
1:02:55
bigger ways like we see in each chapter. So I believe this is part
1:03:02
of the bigger vision related to this book, which I saw a new Heather.
1:03:07
I remember when we started talking and in binded me in the book.
1:03:10
I saw your vision beyond the scene world. And this is about touching life
1:03:17
intergenerationally behind us to the present and also going forward seven generations, like the
1:03:27
indigenous people say thank you for that. Thank you so much. And Andrea,
1:03:31
thank you for seeing my vision, and thank you for helping me and
1:03:37
guiding me to all of the people that you helped share this with. And
1:03:43
because this book was built on one degree of separation of three people, Andrea,
1:03:47
Roslyn and I think Jennifer, and that's really the power by one degree
1:03:57
of separation. So it was it's hugely and then Helena brought us to Michael.
1:04:01
So here we are, Michael, We're all yours. One degree of
1:04:06
separation is extremely powerful. And um I would have never met any of you.
1:04:13
UM wonderful, wonderful souls if it had been for Helena introducing me to
1:04:20
to Heather, and then Heather to all of you. And I'm so grateful
1:04:25
to have met you and so grateful to have been part of this, and
1:04:30
that I'm honored that my podcast is going to help promote a wonderful book like
1:04:38
this. I've read several of the stories already and some have touched my heart
1:04:48
in so many different ways. So with that, with that being said,
1:04:54
because we are actually just out of time, UM, I do have to
1:04:58
think all everyone who actually listening, please go to Amazon and you're going to
1:05:02
look for Self Love Elevated and um the the compiling author is Heather Andrews,
1:05:15
and um, so just put that into the search. And uh and if
1:05:21
I know Heather, if she did did things the way that she's supposed to
1:05:26
do. If if there is an author that that you that you have heard
1:05:30
today, that you recognize with, that you align with, type that into
1:05:34
the search with it with Self Elevated and I'm sure you will find that book,
1:05:39
purchase it and use it over and over again. Just keep rereading some
1:05:45
of the stories because each one is going to touch your heart differently. So
1:05:49
anyway, thank you, Heather, Thank you everyone for being here today.
1:05:54
Thank you for everyone who is listening or watching this on our rumble page as
1:06:00
a video, and it's just been wonderful. And as you go out and
1:06:09
purchase your book, there's links in the book underneath each of the chapters from
1:06:15
when you purch the amp book from Amazon. When you read the book,
1:06:18
feel free to reach out to the authors because that's why they're there. We
1:06:21
want to hear from you. Or you can go to www dot get you
1:06:26
visible dot com and you can reach out to me and I can always link
1:06:30
them to the authors as well. So yeah, perfect, all right,
1:06:34
thank you everybody took that subscribe button so bad. I just need so ways
1:07:03
you call that shop star. I want to dance event to be something we
1:07:38
can post that I don't know, so I was for action when three s
1:08:34
this says a reason to shit child, we can't yet see she go to
1:09:39
she ches Now I'm not. This show has been produced by Depictions Media.
1:10:21
Please contact us at depictions dot media for more information.