Hello my friends. I have been very quiet in this group for several reasons. As part of the sandwich generation, I am in process of supporting an aging father, mother-in-law, and dear friends coping with serious illness. Two nights ago, we lost my precious mother-in-law, Sylvia, who has been a constant in my life since I was 16 years old. As you can understand, we are heartbroken as a family and we're taking the time to process this unimaginable loss. In the days to come, I will have more to say about all of this, but for now, I will be stepping away for the next several days to be fully present with my family. Thanks for understanding, and for sticking with this community. Warmly, Julie

Hello, my friends! I've been quiet here, and with good reason. This has been a very busy and demanding season of my life, and part of those demands are making appearances and speaking at events. I had the immense pleasure of speaking at the Calgary literary festival, "When Worlds Collide", and wow - what a fun time! If you are any kind of artistic nerd, literary festivals are the place to be! The trip was not without its emotional ups and downs - just like life. In my case, it was a comedy of errors with my car rental company. Let's just say that I'll never use third party brokers to book a car rental ever again, and from now on, I will stay with my trusted airport parking providers. The "errors" were sufficient that I could have completely lost my temper by the time I arrived at the rental office to retrieve my vehicle. Instead, I applied what I teach others to my own situation. BREATHE! Oxygenate that angry brain and pause before speaking! Think before acting! THINK: What's happening, what does it mean, what do I want, how do I get that? What's the best/worst thing that can happen depending on each choice/option? Once again: What do I want? Lastly, what's the lifetime value of this event? What I realized was that I most wanted to get on the road to arrive at my destination and hang out with my friend. I wanted to have a good weekend, and I did not want to waste time arguing over stupid, inconsequential, (no lifetime value) problems. So, I made a choice (it cost an extra $150, but whatever), and decided not to be mad about it. During my 38 minute drive, I did breathwork, sang along to the radio, and put myself in a state of anticipatory excitement about the weekend to come. Thankfully, my mood shifted before arriving at my friend's house. We went out and had a wonderful evening. The weekend was full of exciting firsts and enjoyable moments. There is something so cool about reading one's work out loud and watching the room respond emotionally and intentionally in real time. It's an experience I won't soon forget.

https://www.skool.com/live/hMHQx8xGCpk Come with all your questions about emotional mastery, anger, anxiety, communication, or problem solving!

Hey everyone! Join me live on June 8th at 2pm EST for a Q and A session. Bring your burning questions - what do you want to know? Types of questions I'll be ready to answer: 1. Emotions - how to recognize them and to "label them" 2. Questions about righteous vs. selfish emotional responses 3. Let's talk communication! All questions about how to say ____________ assertively and safely - I'm here for it. 4. Anything around self-regulation and anger resolution. I'm looking forward to this first live! Will you be joining us?

Yesterday morning, as I was cruising down the highway on my way to church, I noticed something strange. A minivan was stopped dead in the middle of an off-ramp, and a Pontiac Vibe was stopped directly behind it. My first thought was, "Uh oh! Road rage!" As I proceeded further, the minivan very slowly inched forward and then drove off. Now that the van was no longer blocking my view, I could clearly see the problem. A massive male turkey, feathers fully on show, was impeding the flow of traffic. As I passed the interchange, I could see the Vibe very slowly and carefully trying to get around the turkey so as not to harm it. Immediately, my brain went into overdrive. Here are my thoughts in order of appearance and with no apology for their randomness. 1) "That driver could just "bop" the turkey, and Easter dinner would be taken care of." 2) Imagine if a tractor trailer had rounded that corner at speed - poor turkey wouldn't even know what hit him. 3) That is when my thoughts travelled to the lesson. Isn't it interesting that a wild turkey, though large, is not larger or stronger than a mini-van or even a compact car? That didn't stop him from getting out in the middle of the road and trying to intimidate traffic. Not only that - he was successful! I got thinking that bullies are like that. They often look for someone more formidable, more talented, more resilient, more empathetic than themselves, and they target them. They puff themselves up, make a lot of noise, act threatening, and they count on the empathy and compassion of others to protect them from reprisals or from getting hammered by their bigger, stronger, smarter opponent. The next time you find yourself facing a bully, remember, bullies are just turkeys who aren't smart enough to consider the fact that their next challenge might be the tractor trailer that rubs them out without a second thought. Stand in your power. That doesn't mean giving up your empathy or compassion, but use it wisely. Know when you need to hold your own or demand the right of way. Often, the puffy feathers and big noise is just for show - in the end, it's just turkey talk.