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Mindfulness and Connection: Lessons from Pets with Alison Rand · Authentic Living

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Everyone, it's Roxanne Durhoch.
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Thanks for tuning in again to the eighth, Authentic Living with Roxanne.
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Today, I have a special guest, author Alison Rand, and Alison brings with us some unique
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space.
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She's has a master's of social work, and she's had an amazing background.
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And I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Alison's background, but we wanna welcome you,
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Alison.
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Thanks for coming on today.
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Oh, it's wonderful to be here with you too, Roxanne.
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I'm really excited.
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Background, copywriting, acting, voiceovers, which we'll talk about, audiobook narration,
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which she did with her second book.
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She's written two books.
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The first one is A Place Called Grace in 2018, where she traces the adventurous wife living in
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Italy as she struggled to find her footing as an actress.
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And her second memoir is unique.
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It's a story that's told from the point of view of her beloved poodle, Dea, which we will love
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to hear a lot more.
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She's an exercise enthusiast and really enjoys hiking and skiing, and she loves walking in
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Riverside Park by the Hudson River.
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And she was born and raised in New York City where she currently lives with her poodle, Dea.
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So, Alison, you wrote two books and clearly the most recent one is something that's written
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from a unique perspective.
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But before we get into that, kind of tell us about her path of what got you to be a writer.
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Like, clearly you're creative from the word go, being an actress, but tell me, did you always
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want to act when you were young?
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No, not at all.
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After I was a copywriter for a short time and during that period I was writing commercials, I
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decided to try the other way around to see what it would be like to do them.
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It's a difficult journey, but I became an actress, or tried to audition a lot, let's put
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it that way, and did a lot of commercials here in New York, and had a big life change after I
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got divorced.
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I decided to move to a foreign country alone.
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I was a little unmoored in New York City.
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I was just not feeling like this was home anymore and needed a huge adventure.
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So I moved alone to Rome without speaking the language or knowing anyone or having any work.
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And I did do acting in Italy by the way.
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There was a lot of American things going on and I learned how to become a dubbing actress in
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Italy so I was able to learn a new craft there and ultimately that's how I received my work
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permit which is very hard to get by yourself which is a big part of my first book my very
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first memoir.
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Only a part of it though.
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The second one, and that's just for everyone listening, that has become an Amazon
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bestseller.
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Tell us a little bit about the of the impetus of the space that you were in when you decided
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to write this second book.
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After I published my first memoir, A Place Called Grace, I heard from many people that
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they were so curious what happened to me because that book does not end in a fairy tale
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ending.
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It ended in a very bittersweet way.
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So I knew I had more of a story to tell but I just didn't feel like telling it from my own
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point of view was the right way to go.
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So I really struggled with this because I wanted to write a second book and then I found
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a different angle and that would be my beloved poodle becoming the narrator of my second
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memoir telling my story intertwining with hers.
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It's all true it's all honest, and it's all a completely different point of view because it's
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my dog's point of view about my life, my continuing story, which had a lot of ups and
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downs.
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When you think about that, right, it's one thing to be creative to write a book from our
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perspective, but it takes a different, or should I say, a deeper level of being present
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and stepping into a space, guess I'm going say of intuition, where you're getting a sense of
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what DM might be experiencing and then you're capturing that in form of some sort which
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eventually ends up in text.
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So is there was there a process?
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I'm very curious as a writer I know what my process was and still is when I write but what
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was that process like for you?
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Oh, it was very difficult.
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I have a wonderful editor, so we worked very hard together on getting Dea's voice.
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Dea, by the way, means goddess in Italian, and that's what she is.
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I love Italian names for dogs.
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I started writing little bits, little bits, what I thought her personality and her voice
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would be and my editor would push me now more and more more it has to be more like a dog not
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like what I think a dog should be it's what a dog is again it's what I think a dog is but
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more from a dog centric point of view until we finally got her voice and once we did it wasn't
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easy but it rolled along very nicely and in fact I know her voice so well that I did the
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audiobook of my second book I've done both audiobooks the place called grace and walking
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alison but in walking alison I'm not the narrator my dog is so I she has a different
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voice and that I'm my own voice and all the other characters in the audiobook so that was
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quite an adventure and tons of fun but hard.
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No I would
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think because I think like I write about what I know And as a psychologist, I'm going into real
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life stories and experiences and situations and those types of things.
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Right?
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But it's my perspective.
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Not that yours isn't on Dea's, but it's, again, a different dropping into the unconditional
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love potentially.
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Or should I see a clarity of someone that is so close to you that you're in you're reflecting
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that reflecting back.
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And you tell me if this makes sense.
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The frame of what she thinks you're thinking she's experiencing with you and then writing it
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in the book.
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No, exactly right.
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So if I stub my toe and I do this all the time, but from dae's point of view she's saying look
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how silly you are mama look at you always oh I need to watch out for you you need special
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shoes you need this what would she think of me constantly hurting myself or falling or
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whatever it might be and my second memoir talks about a lot of things it talks about covid
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together she's not a covid puppy she was already five but what it was like to be so
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isolated in New York City alone with thank God I had my dog but and that's why so many other
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people got their quote Covid puppies.
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The only sense of normalcy I think I had was being able to just walk my dog outside because
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the gyms were closed I'm an exercise night, there was nothing to do, telephone to friends
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and be with my dog.
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But I'm divorced a long time, but I had fallen in love again a number of years ago and this is
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all via my dog's lens what she thought of him everything that happened and it's very very
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funny and when it ultimately didn't work out unfortunately from her point of view as well
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that it's quite all right I have my mama all to myself but also I've been sick I'm okay now I
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hope but I've gone through serious illness and I've been through cancer breast cancer multiple
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times and writing about it in this second book I don't write about it in my first book was
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written via Dea's point of view again which makes anything that's sad in my book it's okay
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because she's talking about it and she's on to her next adventure She lightens it up a little
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bit, which in turn believe it or not really helps me.
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She helps me take the focus off of me and onto other things in life besides taking care of
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her, but just enjoying life and trying to live in the moment, which is not easy for me to do,
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but because of this dog I do a lot more readily as opposed to the past and what can I do
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tomorrow?
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It's more about living in the here and now, which we all know animals live in and we don't.
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Right, right.
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It's so funny that you bring that up, right?
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Because I think of when my son was young and I was an executive and I was crazy busy and all
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that stuff.
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And then I had the at that time in Canada, we had the year off.
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It started in 02/2010, sorry.
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And I remember sitting on my cul de sac, and I have a friend.
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Her son is about three months older than RJ.
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And I remember for a moment because the brain just wires you to kinda think about what I
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could be doing or what I used to do with free time.
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And I would be sitting out there because I live on a little cul de sac and of course the boys
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would be flying around.
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And all I could do, like all I wanted to do at that time, that part of my brain was to read
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something.
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But I couldn't because I literally kinda had to always be on watch.
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And I remember there was a point in time when I really put down the, whatever, the magazine or
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the book, because what I recognized was really he was keeping me completely in the moment, but
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I was being pulled out by I should be able to read this, you know, chapter in this book or
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whatever until I just kinda put whatever I was reading down and completely engrossed the
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moment, which it which it sounds like that's what does for you.
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It doesn't matter that you're yeah, sure, you're still thinking about the future or
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whatever, but it sounds like kind of familiar.
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And is that what DEA does for you?
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It's almost like pops you out of your subjective reality of I've got cancer or all
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those things that are real because they are real.
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They're not going to go away.
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Not catastrophize about it.
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You kind of do what's within your control and then you let it go.
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Oh totally absolutely maybe I go overboard that way there was a chapter in my book where they
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wanted me to come to the hospital to check something and I said to the nurse practitioner
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I can't leave my dog, can't leave, can't I go in the morning?
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And they said well we'd rather you come tonight and I didn't.
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I stayed with my dog until the next day and I it was okay but maybe I go too much the other
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way but she comes first she truly does I don't have human children but I love her as much as
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if I had a human child and you know what that's like the feeling
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of course you would I said you would work you would walk into incoming traffic kind of thing
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or do what you had to do because, obviously, you're caring for you you are the primary.
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And and I see that with people that have pets that are truly connected to their pets.
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That is the same as having a child, except you get the two year old stage when they start to
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say no, and it's different then.
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Right?
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But other than that, it's that all I look at it as an unconditional drop down regardless of the
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date that you've had.
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You're not it's not about the ego.
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It's not about the accolades.
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It's not they're just loving you for who you are, flaws and all.
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Oh, totally.
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Even the more flaws you have, they love you.
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And it's amazing what I believe animals dogs and cats can teach you but dogs being you can
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take them outside and walk in the park with them just being with my dog in nature relaxes
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me where it never really I love nature and I love hiking but being with her I've learned to
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look at because I've written this book from her point of view I tend to look at our walks the
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way she would look at them I look at the squirrels I look at the chipmunks I look at the
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birds we listen more we sit on a bench and meditate every day outside and it's wonderful
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it's a whole other way to appreciate where you live if you especially if you like nature and
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you are with your I don't like to say pet but your dog or your cat you live life a little bit
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the way they do or you try to what is she smelling what is she thinking and it's
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wonderful it's just getting out of your head, out of your own story, even if it's for twenty
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minutes every three times a day or whatever it might be.
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It's a wonderful blessing.
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It really is.
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What comes to my mind when I hear you speak, Alison, is that it's what the world is chasing,
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which is mindfulness or meditation or whatever.
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Right?
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It's that space that oftentimes when I would say to people that I need them to use their
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senses and we're looking for texture and a lot of people that have pets, they would they would
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talk or I used to have clients that would bring in their pets their dogs with them.
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And back then, it was before the concept of therapy dogs, but quite literally, that's what
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it was the biggest comfort that person could bring.
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And it's interesting because even back then when I think of one particular lady that I was
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complex PTSD is one of my specialties, and she was working it through.
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And that dog was so protective.
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It almost paralleled the space and the level of trust that client had with me.
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And then eventually, as this lady developed trust, which takes a lot with the complex PTSD
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clients, then the dog would come and sit in my lap versus the owners because it's almost like
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she's safe now.
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That's very interesting.
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Yeah.
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So it's
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just talking about what you're saying about Dea, not having and having had a dog, but
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having had the experiences of treating people that have had pets that have been significant.
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And this woman also didn't have children of her own, but she was super, super connected to her
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pet.
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And but it took a while.
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It took a while before that pet actually would come.
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And when they would come in, then it would come and sit wherever I was throughout for the
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duration of the session.
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Well that was a smart pet or dog, which is wonderful, it was trained well.
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When you mentioned also earlier meditation there was a part in my book where things were
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going so badly I had broken up with my love interest and I had had cancer again and I
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believe it was after covid and just was a tough life I tried to become a meditator and what's
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it's a very funny chapter but I did learn to look at life very differently and via
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meditation but not listening to gongs and chimes because Deya was always on my lap and
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she writes in the book that this is such silliness you don't need to listen to that just
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do what I do I meditate naturally mama and so she'd go out and smell the grass go out and
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smell the flowers and you'll meditate and you'll be fine just live in the here and now Of
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course I don't go out and smell the flowers the way she does but I did choose to meditate
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differently and without the gongs and the times but to focus on what was really working in my
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life and not focus on all the negatives that I used to think of and I became someone a lot
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more outward than I was before with my dog and the connection we have I have met so many new
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people, neighbors that I never had spoken with before who knew me, but before Dea, now we're
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good friends.
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Strangers on the street.
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While I'm walking Dea, she gives them knee hugs.
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Literally she will give a stranger a knee hug and it's such a wonderful feeling because they
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say it's the nicest thing that happened to them all day.
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And they thank me and they thank her.
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She's an incredibly loving giving dog and just the people who want to say hello because I'm
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walking this very special creature it's wonderful it's so therapeutic so it's not that
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I need traditional meditation even though I do try to do that but just walking her is
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meditative and the joy that it brings the quality of life that it changes in me just by
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meeting all these new connections.
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It's very Absolutely.
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And what it's I would say from looking at it from my frame is that it's forcing you to get
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out of your subjective reality and connect, which with loneliness, what happens?
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Right?
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If you think about what happened through COVID and you be being in New York and just see I
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remember seeing the picture of Times Square with nothing.
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And you're thinking of that book 1984 that, you know, when you read and you thought that that
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would be possible, And and then us coming out of it and combating it.
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So when I think of your walks, right, you're forcing yourself to get out of your head, which
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is really what the brain does, is it wants to protect you.
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Right?
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It wants you to protect you to keep you okay.
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And getting out allows you what I call the mammalian connection, which is just the ability
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to connect with other people.
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And something so simple Right.
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But not easy when you're isolated like we were.
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Right?
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And then also being in a city, right, compared to where I am, which is a little town, it's a
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little bit easier to kinda go out and maybe meet people.
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But with you in New York, right, and the bustle and all those things, then you before you
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probably forgot what you were thinking about and worrying about that well, that probably
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never happened.
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Not that bad things don't happen we all have things happen but it gets you out of there and
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then you feel better.
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Right exactly yeah yeah it's fascinating though the the loneliness epidemic.
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I'm very interested in that subject matter and how much a dog or cat can help you live a more
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fulfilling life I mean they are always there with you they can if it's the right connection
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between you and your pet can be one of the most fulfilling relationships of your life.
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It can almost be as much as with another person sometimes more.
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The love is so deep at least it is with me and my dog but she has really taught me how to view
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life with a lot more humor and has really helped to reinstill my own resiliency.
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And it's hard to explain how that happened but basically sort of what we've just said getting
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out more getting more connected with people all via my dog not me alone it's helped me in more
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ways than one I'm so attached that it's a little scary but the love is so deep but she
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has also helped me learn to trust myself more which is an interesting topic in that in my
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first book I talk about a very dysfunctional childhood and my father who I felt abandoned me
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and I was separated from my siblings my parents got divorced so it was very not a great
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childhood that way and so for much of my life I've doubted myself and didn't really trust my
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own instincts I always felt I needed my mother or my brother both of whom have passed on to
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help me to help guide me but while writing this second book I discovered as Dea is the narrator
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that I have learned to trust myself on my own by the help of her I don't know if it's all
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just getting out more or learning to be more forgiving towards others because of her.
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If she makes a mistake, I get maybe angry for one or two minutes and then it's gone.
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So I think it helped me be more forgiving towards others and learning to love myself
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more.
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Which is Well, it sounds
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like secure attachment.
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I'm gonna it sounds like what you entered into is securely attachment space with her.
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And I often say that most of us, me included, never grew up.
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I had some uncertainty in my childhood as well.
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And ultimately, children are when they're kinda growing up in a secure, safe space, they
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resonate and learn and develop just learning to by the reflective lens of the system around
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them that says you are perfect the way you are.
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Whether you're gonna be an artist or if you're gonna be someone that likes machinery or
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whatever.
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Right?
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Or you're an extrovert or you're an ab Your parents would just reflect back that to you,
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and you evolve into learning to listen to yourself.
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And I oftentimes, most of most people don't have that.
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And then at some point, as we become adults, then that's the work that kind of comes in our
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lap.
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And it sounds like for you, it showed itself in certain ways.
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But with Dea, right, the concept is learning to listen deep and profound within yourself to
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really what she was reflecting back to you, which allowed you just to learn to listen.
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Absolutely.
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It's absolutely fascinating to me.
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Oh, here she is, my my little doggy.
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Hi.
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I
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think she's the star.
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I'm just the the writer.
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She's adorable.
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She's adorable.
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Yeah.
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Know.
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Yes.
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She she's
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a love bug.
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She's an amazing dog.
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She looks like a little cuddly bear.
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So when when you did the audio, right, so I'm intrigued by this.
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How did you of course now first of all you're an actress, but how did you did you come up
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with a voice specific that you made up that was hers?
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Yes but I didn't want it to be silly because someone's going to have to listen to the
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audiobook
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you didn't want them to have to listen to it it was too silly
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I know it's just it sounds just the way she should sound in my opinion a a very opinionated
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smart intelligent wonderful poodle would sound the way I made her sound
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but could you tell us could you do one line for
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us all right let me hold her and say okay okay mama what do you think of this podcast that's
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going on today?
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I think it's going splendidly, mama.
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Something like that.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So you just kind of so you intuited what you thought the voice should be like.
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Yes.
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And then that was and how long?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It changed a bunch of times and it's
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probably Right.
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Right.
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And then how long are you recording at any given sitting with to get the book done?
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Oh I did I think I start to lose my voice after about an hour and a half so at the most about
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an hour and a half but then it's a whole process because I will do her voice she's the
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narrator but I'm the main character so I have to quickly then switch to my own voice which is
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this and then go to mama what do you think of this and then go back to that and there are
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male characters in there and there are friends in there and there's the whole
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book so you voice all the different characters in the book?
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Everything.
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Yeah.
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Amazing.
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Amazing.
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That's wow.
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It's one thing to just narrate your own book.
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Allison, it's a whole other thing to do.
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All the characters, especially Dea.
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Right?
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And she's kind of she's the thread throughout right that's connected all the stories.
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Yeah yeah I grilled with that it was grueling fun but grueling and I'd go back and listen and
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I'd say to the audio engineer no I have to change Dea's voice it didn't sound right or my
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own voice sounded like Dea's can be a little confusing but I love it I love it it's charming
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it's difficult though it's very hard to do audio narration not easy
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yeah I haven't done it but I appreciate anybody that's done it and it's available on audible
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and all other
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it is on amazon and audible probably other platforms too I did my first book I did the
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audiobook for that as well and while I was the narrator I also lived in Italy for part two of
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it there's three parts to the book so I had to speak a little italian I had to be Italian men
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with their accents.
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So I did that too.
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So that was fun.
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That was hard too.
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That was really hard.
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Oh, absolutely.
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It all sounds really hard, but probably really gratifying when you're able to kind of achieve
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those goals, getting it exactly the way you want it.
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Yeah, definitely.
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And so many people don't like to read.
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They much prefer to listen to the audiobook, and they get the picture in their mind of
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Yeah, I do.
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I listen to I have listened to most of my books now because at the end of the day sometimes, if
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I've been working a lot or my eyes are tired, I can close my eyes and actually listen.
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So I found that I've listened to most of, I would say, the last year, most of my books that
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I've got through audio.
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Now when people are listening because I know there's a lot of people that's you know,
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they're alone or they're struggling to really maybe they're going through different scenarios
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like losses.
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We've talked a lot.
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You talked a bit alluded to the loss of a relationship or loss of family members, which
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I've been through as well.
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Life happens, and they're listening to you.
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What kinds of if you could give them some words of wisdom or guidance about some of the things
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that you learned going through those things and being resilient, what would you say to them?
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In my first book, A Place Called Grace my beloved brother dies.
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He was my world and it was one of the most horrible things of my life and and then my
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mother died and then my first dog, my beloved first dog Alba died and I was in turmoil until
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this quirky octogenarian named Grace, my first book is called A Place Called Grace, came into
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my life and she helped me regain my resiliency because I had a tough childhood it wasn't easy
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being separated from my father sister and brother and she helped me more than anything in
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the world she also passed she died but it stayed inside me.
26:49
She helped me get the resiliency back.
26:51
And I think as they say in the journals, you just need one person that understands you.
26:59
You really don't need a whole flock of people.
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And she was that one person.
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She got me.
27:04
She heard me.
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She understood my sadness.
27:08
She didn't try to make it go more quickly.
27:11
She let me grieve in my own time frame and space.
27:16
And so I would say, if you can just find one person that you can talk with that really hears
27:23
you and doesn't rush you, that accepts your grief, it's a major help in getting through
27:30
some of life's worst vicissitudes and serious illnesses and problems that most of us have.
27:39
Yeah.
27:39
We can't deviate from them.
27:41
Things will happen in life.
27:43
And some days are gonna be tougher than others.
27:47
But to your point, and I know you talked a lot about day as well, or even the connection with
27:51
a pet that, you know, it's finding those things that really allow you to be you and to have
27:58
that if it's a person or a pet, offer you that comfort so that you can learn how to and what I
28:06
hear is that what Day allows you to do is to be kind to yourself.
28:11
Like, oftentimes, we can be so much kinder if someone else is having a tough time, but when
28:17
it means listening to ourselves.
28:20
And one of the questions that I would use in coaching or with my clients is I would say, if
28:24
your best friend came to you and they were having this dilemma, what would you tell them?
28:29
And oftentimes, it's so kind and gentle compared to what they're kind of banging around
28:34
in their head, which is not gracious, not kind, not empathetic, those types of things.
28:39
Right?
28:40
Absolutely and it's really learning to love yourself.
28:43
I'm not sure I loved myself so much growing up.
28:46
I wasn't happy.
28:47
When you're unhappy it's hard to love yourself and through Dea and through Grace I have
28:52
learned to love myself and that's very important and to trust that you are okay who
29:00
you are and that you're making the right decisions thoughtful decisions that you don't
29:05
always need everyone else to listen to your decision making that I have a lot more
29:11
confidence now that I'm doing the right thing and also the isolation well I really don't feel
29:17
lonely when I'm with her but we all do at some point in our lives and it's normal I believe to
29:23
not to just go with the feeling to just go with it don't try to wash it away it's okay to feel
29:30
lonely we all do it will pass and the saddest of feelings they might not pass as quickly as
29:37
we hope but they will and life will get brighter in another time and to just be kinder
29:45
to yourself give yourself a break if you've been through a bad time.
29:49
If there's leaders listening, which a lot of our audience are leaders, and you want them to
29:57
reflect on loneliness in their workplaces, are there some things that you would suggest that
30:02
they consider doing?
30:04
In the workplace?
30:06
Yeah in the workplace.
30:08
Well because I'm sort of isolated because I'm a writer and I work from home so I'm isolated all
30:14
the time.
30:15
So I don't work in an office.
30:18
The last time I worked in an office was when I was a copywriter but there's no loneliness
30:24
there because it's non stop and that was a long time ago when I was an actor I would audition a
30:30
lot and that's it's a lonely job too
30:32
because yeah
30:33
you constantly tell yourself you're good you're okay it's and you get rejection after rejection
30:40
but I've haven't really worked in an office per se in a very long time so I don't know exactly
30:46
what that would be like yeah
30:48
because I think a lot of people are working on their own now even though they have jobs in
30:52
hybrid positions.
30:54
Right.
30:55
Think like your story about Dea and connecting outside of the home, think, is important.
31:02
Whether, like you said, it's a whether it's finding a cafe or having a special place that
31:08
you take walks or those types of things.
31:11
Because I think what we found is that a lot of people are getting so accustomed to being
31:16
alone, myself as well.
31:18
And through COVID, I was also alone.
31:22
And but I had an online group where I wrote my second book.
31:26
So we met every single morning and we were writers.
31:30
And most of us what ended up happening is, and this is goodness, since the pandemic, we're
31:35
still part of that group, and we pop like, I've been popping in and out now, but we became each
31:40
other's support systems and that it kind of ended up morphing into something else.
31:46
Right?
31:46
So I think it's just recognizing that sometimes we become cute creatures of habit, which is the
31:51
opposite of connection.
31:53
Right?
31:53
Becomes kinda easy to be by yourself and those types of things until it doesn't become
31:58
functional anymore.
31:59
Right.
32:00
Exactly.
32:00
I'm a I like the telephone.
32:02
I'm not a big texter so in a way telephone is a lot more personal than texting.
32:07
I know so many people just text their lives away, can't do that.
32:11
So even during Covid it was the telephone and my dog, those were my two favors.
32:17
Which is amazing.
32:18
That would probably be a very amazing question to ask for people.
32:21
What were the favorite things through COVID?
32:23
And toilet paper.
32:25
Right.
32:25
You find it.
32:26
You and everybody else.
32:28
Let's see.
32:29
As we wrap up, what was the favorite part of the book for you?
32:32
Was there a particular part of the book or a story in the book that where was there was a
32:37
favorite part for you that you might be able to share with us?
32:41
My very favorite part is actually the very last scene, and I don't want to give it away, I'll
32:48
lead up to it.
32:50
It puts it ties everything together, ties my brother in there, it ties me getting stronger,
32:57
learning to trust myself, the bond with Dea.
33:01
Covid has somewhat ended and the park where I live has opened up a brand new park six months
33:08
into Covid.
33:09
So it was a godsend.
33:11
Was a respite for all me, for my neighbors and myself.
33:15
So we all the gates opened up and we started walking and there are all these new paths that
33:20
I was walking on with Dea and at the end she pulls me towards something that's the ending of
33:27
my book that I love I don't want to give it away.
33:29
Okay you've left us like a good actress does, wanting more.
33:34
Yeah.
33:34
Oh, I hope so.
33:35
It's a lovely, lovely ending.
33:37
It's not bittersweet.
33:38
It's really beautiful.
33:39
I love it.
33:40
This is an amazing story.
33:42
Well, thank you so much for being here today.
33:45
And what am what am I taking away?
33:47
I'm taking away that we just have to look around and find out who or what is that peace
33:56
that allows us to connect to ourselves.
33:58
I always say that we're all in this on this journey.
34:00
We're always on this journey.
34:02
And in the psychological world, we call it the EP, which is the emotional part.
34:07
And we're always striving to heighten that part of us.
34:12
And today, with Dea's beautiful story and presence and Alison share sharing this amazing
34:20
story is it shows you that you never know where you're gonna get the most important lessons.
34:28
So make sure you keep your eyes open and use those five senses to really take in things that
34:36
you may be missing now.
34:37
Even if you're feeling a little bit down because we all feel it.
34:41
But then the pebbles in the rough are right there, but you have to make a concerted effort
34:45
to really try to listen on a deeper level to the things that might reconnect you or connect
34:53
you maybe for the first time to a deeper part of yourself.
34:57
Again, Allison, any last words?
34:59
Why don't you tell everybody where they can get ahold of you, where they can get ahold of the
35:02
book so that everybody can go to purchase a copy and follow you wherever you're on social.
35:09
Oh thank you that would be wonderful and I agree with everything you just said.
35:13
Use our senses and trust in yourself and get a dog.
35:18
Thank you so much.
35:19
My website is great.
35:21
It also will show you both my books.
35:23
It's
35:23
alisonrandauthor dot com and Alison is one L, a l I s o n, rand,rand, author.com and Amazon
35:35
sells the book as well as the audio book or you could go to Audible to get the audio book which
35:42
is tons of fun.
35:43
I think you'd enjoy it.
35:44
You can contact me via my website.
35:47
There's a contact form and I'd love to hear from any of you who reads my book or just in
35:53
general if you have anything.
35:54
There's a story about a pet that would be inspiring as well to share.
35:59
I'm sure a lot of people listening could probably tell us some amazing stories.
36:03
Probably not at the level of Dea, but definitely not there.
36:06
Don't forget she's a poodle.
36:07
So, you know, she's
36:09
a proud, proud poodle.
36:10
Oh my goodness.
36:11
Beautiful.
36:12
For everybody just listening, she's a beautiful black poodle.
36:16
She just looks she looks like black marshmallows.
36:18
She looks so good.
36:20
Yeah.
36:20
Thanks.
36:20
So, everyone, thanks for hanging out with us again.
36:22
I'm always grateful.
36:24
Please give us a review.
36:25
Let us know what you're thinking about our guests so we can continue to have these amazing
36:29
guests on.
36:30
I feel privileged each and every week to to provide someone that's inspiring the world to
36:36
make it a better place.
36:37
So what's new with me?
36:38
I'm just in the process of rolling out my cohorts on my book for a live course and
36:44
coaching in September.
36:46
The first cohort is almost filled, but looking to fill other cohorts.
36:50
If you're interested, just reach out, and we can chat a little bit further at
36:53
Roxanne@RoxanneDurhodge.com.
36:57
Again, Allison, thank you for your time.
36:59
Everyone, very grateful, and we will chat with you soon.
37:01
Take care.
37:02
Bye.
37:03
Bye.
37:05
Thanks for tuning in to Authentic Living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive,
37:11
healthy change.
37:12
Roxanne is a keynote speaker, psychotherapist, and coach.
37:16
To work with Roxanne, visit roxannedurhaj.com/blueprint.
37:22
We'll see you next time on Authentic Living with Roxanne.