#110: A Return To Trust with Andrea Frank Henkart

Welcome to The Conscious Pivot Podcast with international speaker, business mentor, bestselling author of Pivot, and your host, Adam Markel. The Conscious Pivot shares the stories and wisdom of people who have successfully reinvented some area of their business and personal life. You'll gain powerful insights into how you can fully embrace new opportunities, increase your performance, and master the art and science of innovation and resilience. So please join Adam as he guides you on your conscious pivot.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Conscious Pivot Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Markel, and I am taking a breath in this moment to feel gratitude for this day, to feel gratitude to be in my body in this moment, to be healthy, to be well, and even to be present With sadness that I'm feeling in this moment. And I think we all, you know, we feel sadness. It's not something that gets discussed a lot. I don't think it's something that is promoted on Facebook. People aren't running Facebook ads to their sad, to their sad moments or their moments where they just feel, you know, broken or in pain. And that's a good thing, I suppose. But it's also not giving, I think, people the real when it comes to what life is like at times. And so today, I just wanna be present and real about the fact that we are going to lose a member of our family today. Some of you have cats and dogs and other, I don't even like to call them pets, but just companions that you've lived with for many years and they don't live forever. And we have this beautiful, Golden Retriever. We actually have 2 dogs that we've had with us since our kids were little themselves, and we got these little puppies. So, those of you that are watching on YouTube, you get to see the picture. If you're consuming this on iTunes and you want to just hop over to the YouTube channel to check it out, do that. But our Golden is Duncan and our Lab is Willie. And Willie has looked like an old man for many years. He's got a gray beard. He's slow. You know, we just always thought, well, he's the older brother and he'd be the first to go when that call was being made by God. And it's not, it's Duncan. And we just found out about a month ago that he was really ill and things were progressively getting worse. And so today he is being put down. We're going to be there with him as a family. And I spent a few hours with him this morning on a walk, kind of his last walk, places that we'd been to. A lot of time I've spent with him just out in quiet and peace. And so ahead of that sad event today, I'm sending out my love to our little beautiful puppy. We nicknamed him Forever Puppy. And as I said to the kids, he is forever in eternity. And I think he's got good karma. So maybe he'll come back as a beautiful bird or he'll come back and some other way in our family or otherwise. But we love him. We miss him. And yeah, so I'm grateful for the time we've had with him. And I'm grateful for the opportunity even to express that in this way. And then I'm going to shift very quickly, shift out of sadness, but be present to the fact that life is just like that. It's a beautiful roller coaster. And I think if we can't feel sadness, it's very difficult for us to feel joy or anything else. So I'm feeling the sadness fully and just the way that I feel gratitude and joy and love fully. So I am feeling really blessed in this moment that I have a wonderful guest who is going to be with us today on the show. And somebody that I, I think she's, she's the embodiment of a lot of when I think of What does authenticity look like? What does transparency look like? What does integrity look like? What does beauty look like inside and out? Which you'll hear and you'll see. I think of this lady because she really embodies all of those things. And even though I've only known her a couple of years, I feel as though we've got a beautiful heart connection. So I'm going to read a little bit about her bio and then bring her on so you guys can get, get the wealth of wisdom from her and Find out about her pivots in life and her experience because you're going to learn a lot. You're going to really enjoy this lady. Andrea Frank Hincart is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur. She has 2 teaching credentials from UCLA where we have a daughter that graduated UCLA, so we're fans of UCLA. For all the USC fans out there, it's a little bit of a rivalry. From UCLA, she's got a master's degree in family psychology and is a certified nutritional counselor with 40 years of experience helping families. When you look at her, you can't even believe she's 40 years old at all. She got started really early. But she's got 40 years of experience helping families, pregnant and breastfeeding moms and kids, and she's appeared on Oprah, Montel Williams, The Morning Show, and hundreds of other TV and radio shows internationally. I love this part of her bio too. She is a proud mommy of 2 successful digital nomad adult children. Yes. who are her best friends. I know what that feels like. When she is not traveling the globe, she lives in Northern California, where she spends her spare time feeding the birds and the ducks and the flock to her garden. Wow. Andrea, Andrea, welcome. Such a great privilege to have you on the show today. Thanks for being with us.

Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. You had me crying though before we even got started.

I'm crying too. Drippy nose and everything. So, you've had this amazing life, this incredible— I mean, your credentials are impeccable and your history in businesses is long. What's not written in that bio? What's not written in your introduction that you would love for people to know about you as we begin?

You know, I feel like I've lived so much life, Adam, and I'm just getting started and just learning. And that's something that I love about the whole idea of pivot and growing and being open. I was a yoga instructor back in the '70s before yoga was popular. In fact, there were 2 yoga studios in all of Los Angeles. Can you imagine? Now they're on every corner. And I was a massage therapist back in the early '80s when we had to say we were non-sexual body workers because anyone who was doing bodywork or massage, it was assumed that you were doing some sort of sexual weird thing with that. I was a midwife back in the '70s, early '80s as well. So I've had many, and there's, I mean, I could just go on and on with the different— I was a hypnotherapist, I was just all kinds of things I was doing and got certified in and really, really was enjoying all the new, the new age things that were popping up. And now I'm finding that there's so many people are learning and doing all these new modalities that aren't new at all. They've been around forever. And for me to be able to say, well, not only that I've done that, but I'm so open to learning the new ways of everything.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, it's really exciting for me.

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That's a really good question. I think a lot of it has to do with just being open. And I feel like I've always believed since I was a young girl, I think it was just divine guidance, if I can really say that. I've always felt like each thing I've done has led to the next thing. It wasn't like, oh, I did this and didn't like it anymore. So then I did this, and then I didn't want to do that. It just flowed. Everything has been a flow. That's not to say there wasn't angst, there wasn't sorrow, there wasn't confusion, there wasn't— There wasn't fear? There was fear involved. There's all that. The human emotion has always been— I mean, I'm human, and I'm a very feeling, emotional person. So I felt all of those things. But I've always gone back to trust, and I think that's just something that I have. And I have to say, part of it is because I grew up in a family that didn't have that. I grew up in a very dysfunctional family, and so I believe that I came into that family to be able to bring light, to be able to be a changemaker, to be able to move out of that. And I learned that— I think I started feeling that when I was about 16 years old.

To learn trust, is it also one of the— would you say that— because you said trust, so I'd love to know a little bit more about what you mean there. And, and did you— do you think you came into that family to learn, learn trust?

I came into the— that— I mean, I have learned trust not because of the family, but also because of the family. Because of them, I have been able to move out of all that and I actually don't even have words to describe it because it wasn't— it was conscious but also unconscious at the same time. And trusting the process. I've always raised my children believing that if it's meant to be, it will be easy and effortless. And when I say easy and effortless, I don't mean that it's just rainbows and unicorns. There's always a process. And in that process, we have choice. And I've learned that a lot in my life. And being open to the choices, being open to the process, and always remaining in gratitude. I think that's the biggest one for me because there are days when I wake up, Adam, and I don't feel so happy and full of choice and full of, you know, and I will automatically just— my thoughts are tuned into, okay, Andrea, find the gratitude. And the gratitude for me, I don't want to say it's as simple as because when I look out My office window that I'm staring at right now, and I see a half a dozen beautiful trees of all different colors. I can look at those leaves. Today, I'm grateful. Exactly. And I am so grateful for that. I'm so grateful for that. Sometimes, it can be as simple as, I'm grateful for the way the water feels in my mouth. That's as far as I can take it. But I find whatever it is, and that, for me, keeps me going and keeps me on track.

It's so interesting. We were sitting out with some friends in the backyard around sunset last night enjoying what is the best of California as far as I'm concerned, is the gentle breeze around sunset and looking out at the ocean where the ball drops in the ocean thing. But there are days when it's covered in fog, like we were socked in with fog today. There are days where it's rainy, it's cloudy. It's like you said, even sometimes when the sun is shining, we feel Internally like crap. And we were having this conversation with these friends because I was drinking out of this mug that I held up just a moment ago. For folks who are not watching this, it says, today I am grateful. That's what it's like, a sticker that's put over this mug that I'm drinking out of. And so, these folks asked me about that. Oh, that's so cool. You have that sticker on your mug. And I said, well, it's better than a sticker that says, today I'm feeling sorry for myself. But It's interesting because so often when we feel a certain way, you might as well put a sticker on your coffee mug or on your water bottle that says how it is that you're presenting yourself to the world. Because there are days when anger and resentment and looking in the past or being so anxious about the future and fear, you very well are doing the equivalent. Like, so as you said, No matter what's going on, to be able to apply gratitude. It's simple, but it's not simplistic. It's simple and profound at the same time. In its simplicity is its profoundness, I think, because if you just take that one example, put an I am grateful for, like you said, the taste of the water, the fact that my feet are touching the ground, that I have no pain in my body in this moment, that I'm breathing. Whatever it is, I'm grateful in this moment. There's an energy to that. It's a complete way of being. And if you instead replace that sticker with something like, I am resentful, I can't let go of an old hurt against so-and-so, or I am feeling sorry for myself today, and put that on— how many people would walk around with a water bottle that had a sticker that said one of those things? And yet internally, that's part of the dialogue. And it's just as powerful in terms of how it's impacting our lives. You may not have the sticker on the mug, but you're still walking around with the energy of, I'm angry, I'm resentful, I'm beating myself up, whatever that might be. So yeah, trust. We were looking at trust. And so it's to trust in moments where You are where your things are not going perfectly. See, I think this is the part that I want to really tease out with you because gratitude is something you return to even when you've had tragedy. Right. So you lost a spouse. You lost a life partner. You lost a best friend not so many years ago. How do you have something like that happen and wake up in the morning and trust In the power of gratitude or trust in your connection to the higher purpose of your being and spirit and God and whatever else. Tell, if you wouldn't mind, dive into that pivot for us.

I'm happy to talk about that. And I just want to say I've lost 7 people in 7 years. And it wasn't just friends. They were all my father, my beloved dog, my spouse of 30 years, my best friend, my kid's godmother. It's been very close. 7 people in And before that, I didn't have that experience. So someone could say, oh my gosh, I don't trust life. I don't. And so let me just backtrack a little. I was married to my best friend for 30 years. We raised a beautiful family. We were all very close. Yes, we had our ups and downs and issues like any couples do, but 30 years with the same person. And he died 7 years ago in a plane crash. Oh my gosh. So, it was a sudden experience. And when I received that phone call that Sunday morning at 6:30 in the morning that woke me up, it was shocking. And everything crumbled, everything you can imagine. And I have to be honest, in that moment, I wasn't in gratitude. In that moment, I wasn't anywhere but in shock, and there was no way of feeling or experiencing anything But all the emotions that I was feeling, and most of that was just numb. And it took time. Of course it took time. But in that time, I have to admit, I sat on my couch for about a year and cried and ate and just kind of curled up in a ball to decide whether I wanted to live or die, what I was going to do with my life, what was next for me. I had 2 grown children. As you said in my bio, they're my best friends, so I wasn't going to check out. But did it cross my mind? Yeah, I have to admit it did. Not my personality type, but, you know, it was just— it was a gut feeling, a reaction. What do I do now? And I realized, Adam, actually someone said to me, someone very dear to me said something that was a pivot for me in that moment. And he said to me, Andrea, how long Are you going to stay in this space you're in? And I had a few really nasty words to say to him. I didn't suddenly say, oh my gosh, that's a good idea. I was just furious. And I said, you have no idea. You haven't lost somebody. You don't know. I was not happy with what he said to me. And he said to me again, I'm not judging you. I love you. I'm just asking, how long are you going to stay in this space? And from that moment on, it wasn't like some major revelation and I suddenly shifted. I didn't pivot at that moment, but there was an energetic shift. I became conscious and I started realizing that as a— the way I've lived my entire life, I still have choice. And how do I want to proceed here? Normally, somebody my age, a woman my age, they lose their home, they lose their job. Fortunately, I didn't have to get a job. Fortunately, I didn't have that issue, but I had a lot of things I had to deal with. And so, I went into a place not of gratitude, but into a place of choice, conscious choice. Who do I want to be now? What is available to me? What are my opportunities here? And I decided not only to write— someone said, oh, you'll write a new chapter. No, as a writer, I wasn't going to write a new chapter. I was going to close that book, close that book, and cherish it for all it was worth. Because I loved that story. And now I get to reinvent myself and create a brand new story. And it's been a process. It's not just, oh, sure, I'm just out there. It's been a real— I'm still in process.

Yes.

But it's been magnificent. Absolutely magnificent. And I'm actually now grateful that this experience was given to me because not only can I be an example for others, but I can be an example for my own self. And I can practice what I preach every single day in taking what happened and look at it as a gift somehow to be even more, to be even more in the world.

Wow. I'm taking that in. There's a lot there. You described that energetic shift, and I'm just feeling in this moment because we've had this TED Talk that's been out for a few months and has done exceptionally well from just views and shares and things. But there's been a lot of people too, in addition to all the people that are saying, declaring out loud how they feel about their lives and they're grateful. There have been people that have written back to say, I hate my life. And if you lived where I lived, some people from the Middle East and other places around the world, in Africa, If you lived in my conditions, you would hate your life as well. So you have some nerve, you have some audacity, kind of thing like that. And it's been both an eye-opening, a wake-up call for me to just see the diversity of perspectives and things that are happening in folks' lives. And it is a steep gradient, gratitude, at times. Like you said, you weren't going to wake up on the morning of something like that and feel gratitude in that moment. Yeah. And yet, ultimately, that's where you ended up. So, trust became something that was being tested in that moment. And in that moment where you couldn't feel gratitude, you described something called an energetic shift, which is interesting because Pivot's been out a few years. We're working on another book right now that's really more along the lines of instead of sort of these major transition points or these inflection points in our lives where we change a career or we get fired or somebody dies or a business goes bust or something, that there are all these little gradients in between these micro pivots, these more small mini pivots. And a shift in consciousness is— I mean, Marianne Williamson describes that as a miracle and I buy that. So, when you talk about an energetic shift of consciousness, that was both a miracle and a pivot. in how it is that you approached your feelings in that moment. And so I was writing down, if you were looking for a book title, I had a couple for you, but because this sort of flows through me at times, A Return to Trust. Marianne's book, A Return to Love, is a classic, right? And so for you, A Return to Trust, I thought that would be a great title for you, as well as something along conscious choosing. There's this conscious uncoupling was a phrase that was coined in And I think it was Gwyneth Paltrow that had a conscious uncoupling of a marriage, but conscious choosing. I mean, our show is called The Conscious Pivot Podcast because it is that miracle that happens when consciousness changes even in the smallest way because we're so programmed to work from the program, to work from the grooves in the record that were formed when we were very young as children, the way we see ourselves, how we We look at love, how do we— what's our definition of love? Those are grooves in the record. They're pretty deep grooves for a lot of us. So when you make even the smallest change in that consciousness, as you say, to shift yourself energetically, that's a big deal. And I imagine you had many, many, many of those shifts in the distance that it's taken 7 years ago to that loss to where you are today where you can actually experience and feel gratitude for the fact that it all happened. Is that fair?

Absolutely. But I actually felt it early on. I felt it about a year into that whole process in my life. And experiences that I opened up to and allowed to happen helped me get there. But I think it's really important because you touched on something I think I want to go back to, which is people who live in other countries or they feel really suppressed, repressed, depressed in their lives.

Oppressed.

Oppressed, all of those. And it doesn't look like they have much hope. It doesn't look like they have much choice. And they can't see out of that, out of that cloud of how to find that. And, you know, it's easy for us to sit here and say, well, here's what you can do. But the truth is, I still believe that it comes from within us. And even if— and you mentioned it— even if it's small little changes, small little movements to step forward, that alone can make a difference. And some of our major changemakers in the world came from other places. I've spent time living in third world countries, Adam, and I've watched how people's lives are so different than what I've been exposed to. And who am I to complain when they have— When I was building swing sets, in the impoverished schools in southern Belize, and I'm looking at all these children who don't even have a soccer ball. They don't have a shade tree. They don't have a swing set. There's nothing on their playgrounds, just these big empty spaces. There's no money. It's just absolutely in the jungles or on the beaches. The locations are beautiful, but there's nothing for these kids. And yet their gratitude when they received the smallest thing was an absolute miracle. And also another pivot for me watching How something so simple, a jump rope from the dollar store, I'd pack up my suitcase, a whole suitcase worth of stuff, and I'd bring it to the kids. And I was always— was everybody's auntie, just giving things away. And watching their smiles and their gratitude, they weren't asking for cell phones and iPads and fancy bicycles and shoes. They were happy for the dollar jump rope or the box of crayons. And it put things into perspective for me once again. about where gratitude is at any level. And I just keep coming back to that, about that gratitude and how we see it in our own minds. And one thing else I want to say about that, the stories we create about our situation is what guides us because we create a story. It can be, for example, a breakup. He cheated on me or whatever, she cheated on me and they're a horrible person. And we tell everybody and we're on the phone telling our family and friends, we're posting it on Facebook. Where all those things about how bad the situation is, whether it's that or whatever the situation might be, when if we can just— you talked about conscious uncoupling. When we talk about conscious uncoupling in every area of our lives, and if we can just accept it and say, this is now an opening for me, bless and release that person. This has been created For me to be able to move on in a new way instead of spending all our negative— all the negative energy badmouthing and going around with that negative attitude. How is this a gift in my life? How is all these things a gift? And turning it around that way, even if we're living in a place where we don't have that freedom, how is that a gift? And what can I do as an individual? To make a difference, even if it's small, because from that comes joy and gratitude and change.

Yes. It's a conscious uncoupling from attachment in so many ways. Yes. So I'll be married. I think you know this. Randy and I will be celebrating our 30th anniversary July 29th this year. And her phrase, she likes to remind me of this question. She'll say, what's the creative opportunity? What is the creative opportunity in this moment? Which is tough to ask. And when you describe that energetic shift that we could say is this little micro pivot, this little mini miracle, in that moment to find the creative opportunity in something, as you were describing, including even just the opportunity not to be attached or to let go of something. Like, so for example, today we're going to have this very sad moment where I'm going to let go and release Mm-hmm. A being that has been so close to us, this beautiful dog. It's so much part of our lives and we're going to release and let go of that so that we can simply— well, for me anyway, I won't speak for anyone else. I can just be grateful for the times that I had with him because they were just sweet, nothing but sweet. And that's how I want to remember him. That's why I want to think about him and that's where I want to keep him in my heart. But again, that's a choice and you said it earlier. Choosing is a powerful thing because when we're not choosing, we're in victim mode. When we are choosing something, we're empowered. It doesn't mean we have solutions in the moment. It doesn't mean you've solved your money problem or your relationship problem, your health problem, but choosing is a completely different energy. It's why, yeah, if you're walking around with your water jug, mug, bottle, and you put something on it that says, today, I am grateful, that's one choosing. Whereas today, I am angry. I am resentful. I am attached to my story. You might as well put it on and display it because that's what's going on on the inside. You might as well put it on the outside and be completely transparent about it. The reason that people wouldn't do that is because it's almost like to write that on the bottle you're drinking water from, people know it's like slicing their throat. It would be like an act of self-harm, and yet we'll allow it to go on inside of our minds and keep it to ourselves and have it impacting our heart space, and we'll do that, but we won't take the step of write it down. So, I guess what I'm saying is today, if that's where you're— when you catch yourself and when I catch myself going forward feeling that way and I can't let it go, I can't release it. create that energetic shift that you discussed, that little pivot in my choosing, how I'm approaching this moment, how I'm framing my story in this moment, I'll write it down, put it on one of those little Post-it notes, and stick it someplace that I got to look at. Literally put it someplace like, I don't know, maybe my forehead. I don't know. But because it's that powerful, and I really appreciate you bringing that to the front. Wow. The pace of change over the last couple of years has been rapid. And if you're a leader, a business owner, an entrepreneur, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Every day it's something different, something new. But the one thing that I've learned in performing at the height of all of those roles has been that we must be resilient. In fact, it's the unsung hero in every success story that you will ever hear about. And it's the reason why my team and I created the resilience assessment that more than 5 business leaders across the globe have taken, and all you have to do to get your own free Resilient Leader Assessment is go to resiliencerank.com. It takes less than 3 minutes, and it's our gift to you for being the leader that you already are. Other free resources and tools will accompany your score instantly. So go to resiliencerank.com and find out just how resilient you are. Andrea, so in addition to all the other pivots that you've had, you've had a health pivot of a sort. I mean, you said when your husband passed, you had trouble dealing with it and maybe you were dealing with the emotions through eating and through other behaviors. And then I look at you today and you are the model of health. I mean, I'm not going to say your age. I'm just going to say— I'm 54. You look pretty darn good for 36 and gorgeous and fit, and not just for yourself, but for thousands, I think it's fair to say, thousands and thousands of other people that are a part of the business that you've been running for yourself, a part of your organization. And I'd love for you to share a little bit about— we don't typically sort of talk about the business model in this show, but I think it's really relevant to your pivot. Yeah. Both out of the despair of losing 7 people you loved in 7 years, as well as what was going on in your personal health. So, set a little context for that and then let us know what that pivot was like and the business that's helped you with that.

Sure. So, about 17 years ago, as a matter of fact, it seems like forever, I was actually quite unhealthy. I was a size 3X, which women know is just like... I was wearing a tent, basically. And I'd always been thin my life, my whole life. I was a model when I was younger, so I just let my body go. My husband, luckily and unluckily at the time, just loved me for who I was. It wasn't ever an issue. We just enjoyed life and enjoyed food. And I had some hormonal imbalances and my body was just out of whack. And I'm sure some people who are listening can relate when they get diagnosed with certain issues that sometimes they say there's no cure. For about 8 years, I was Going back and forth to doctors trying to figure out what I could do, and nothing was working. And I wasn't in a happy place. And I was introduced to a nutrition— so as a certified nutritional counselor for 40 years, by the way, I always believed that healthy eating and exercise is all we really need to do. And I wasn't really abiding by that, but I can teach people that really well.

Isn't that interesting, right?

To be perfectly honest. We do what we need to learn. So I had gotten very off balance, and I was introduced to a nutritional program 17 years ago, and I absolutely said, no. I'm one of the biggest skeptics. I've got to review, understand, research. I take things down to the DNA strands of whatever is going on to really decide if something is appropriate and right. And as a nutritionist, I'm very cautious about what I recommend to people. So I had said no. And I was actually introduced to this by John Gray, who wrote Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Happens to be my kids' godfather. So

I trust John. Yep.

I trusted him with everything. And when he told me about this, I said, I am not interested. Fast forward, I was really at a place with my health at that moment in time when I wasn't feeling like I could— my body just wasn't supporting me, and I didn't know what was going to happen. And at the time, um, my— Bonnie's— Bonnie Gray, his wife, said to me, Andrea, just trust me, just try this. And I said, okay, just one more thing, I'll do it, just basically to get you off my back. And what happened in the next 4 months, Adam, was pretty miraculous because my body shifted, my mindset shifted, everything changed for me. And my husband had already said yes to John, which was interesting because— He said, sure, I'll try this. And I said, don't tell any of our friends because I don't want to talk about this to anybody. We actually gave it to our— he gave it to our children who didn't have weight issues, but they just had— my son had some learning challenges at the time. He's since outgrown them. My daughter kept off the College 15. It just worked for everybody. And I still said no until that moment. That was a huge, huge pivot in my life. Probably one of the most significant, I have to say, in my entire life, to be honest with you, when I said yes and then watching the transformation that happened in my body. And people were asking me what I was doing. I started sharing it with them with no intention to create a financial gain at all. I just wanted to serve people because that's what I've done my whole life. My life has always been— the work that I've done has been about service. And what I found is that we started having some residual income in. That's the money that comes in that you make while you're sleeping. And it was pretty nice. It was very sweet. And what happened when my husband passed away, as I mentioned before, I always had this platform that if I could educate adults on proper health and proper nutrition and break through all these ideas of keto, paleo, Mediterranean, all these vegan, whatever, all the different things people get confused with. If I could help adults understand what's right for them, they're going to give that information to their children. And that's what's going to make a difference for generations to come. Because adults can do whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it. The kids have to follow along. And kids have always been my platform. So with that said, when I was educating people and watching what was happening for families, And then having this residual income come in, not just for me but for everyone else, I was watching some major changes here. And when my husband passed away, as I said before, I didn't have to sell my house or get a job because while I spent that year in total grief, my income was coming in whether I was on the couch crying or not. And I suddenly realized that I had something in my hands I was holding a gift that was the best life insurance and the best health insurance that anybody could have because it keeps on giving still to this day. So, for the last 17 years, I've been sharing this with families all around the world who share it with others who share it with others. It's not MLM, but it is word-of-mouth marketing. And it's been nothing short of a miracle for me, for my children, and for all the people that I've reached. who have reached other people. So I'm just beyond grateful for that. And one more thing about that, the culture and community. That's something else that kept me going, was the culture and community. So in these times of diversity, when we're having— Support. That is, having that support, having positive people in our lives doing positive things, whether it's with you or not, being attached, involved, relating to Being able to reach out to that kind of a community, that can be a huge changemaker for anybody.

Yeah. That friend of yours that said that thing that you didn't like very much, that wasn't John, was it, by any chance?

No, that was David Wood.

Oh, that was David Wood. Interesting. Somebody else that we both know.

My brother from another

mother. Yeah. It's not easy for somebody to look at you and ask you that question. Are you going to continue to to feel this way, or are you going to get over it kind of thing. It's tough, especially when we know we are— a grieving process is a grieving process. Like you said earlier, you've got to trust the process as well. So, it is a bit of a— it's a fine line there. Just to take the mystery out of it, I mean, again, we know it's not typically something that we do, and I don't give out my endorsements lightly. I'll just say that for the last For the better part of a year, I've been using products from this company, the company that you're referring to, and the name of the company is Isagenix. And, I actually got invited. It was a wonderful thing. I was in Phoenix for a speaking engagement, and I think their offices are in Scottsdale. Is that right? Is that where the home office is? It's

in Gilbert, actually.

Yeah. So, I got to visit the corporate offices, this beautiful new building that was built, and meet the The founders and others of the executive team. I've got to tell you, I was ridiculously impressed. One of the things, not so much the physical surroundings, which environment is an important thing, so I do look at environment and say, if the environment feels a certain way, then there's a reason for that and all that kind of stuff. But, what I was really impressed with was what felt like a culture of family, what felt like this very heart-centered culture. mission within a model that clearly has been met well by the marketplace. I know the company has expanded really well all across the world, globally, and doing really amazing work. It's a tribute to its leadership. It's a tribute to the founders. It's a tribute to the vision of people like you that have gone in, worked with those products for yourself, and been able to model something that other people just can't resist, which is good health, good Good mindset, and good things happen. We take better care of ourselves when we trust ourselves and develop more self-care. So, one of the things we talk a lot about these days is resilience. And I think resilience is both physical. It's certainly physical, but it's also mental, emotional, even spiritual. And there's no question that when we take better care of ourselves across that, in that holistic way, we're better able to show up in the most challenging moments in the best way that we can under the circumstances, right? We get hit with a wave. It's unexpected. that's sort of sudden and we have an opportunity in that moment. And I think a big part of how you showed up in these significant pivot moments was the fact that you've been more conscious of taking good care of yourself. Do you buy that? Because I was in a conference the other day and somebody said, ah, you know that self-care stuff? I've heard too much of that. People are selfish now and they're so self-centered. They're just taking care of themselves. I said, I don't know. I don't know if I buy that one. I think taking care of yourself is a very key factor in how it is that you create resilience for yourself as well as for the organizations you work in, the people you're around, all that kind of thing. Do you buy that?

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, when you're on an airplane, they tell you, put that air mask on yourself first before you put it on the child next to you. We know that poor people can't help poor people. When you have something to give, then you can help other people. And so we have to take care of ourselves. And I don't believe that I'm self-indulgent at all. In fact, I don't think I'm self-indulgent enough to take care of my body. But I will tell you that these products that I've been using for 17 years with Isagenix has kept my brain chemistry balanced. That's really what it does. It balances brain chemistry, Adam. And so for the stress levels, the sadness levels, all of that, it's been able to keep me at a more even keel. Have I been like that? Absolutely. Again, I'm human, but it's really— there's such a difference than how I was before I had this stuff in my body for long periods of time. And it's just, for me, it's been the key and the miracle in my life that allows me to do what I'm able to do. And I told you, I'm going to be 64.

Oh, you said it!

In 3 weeks. Sometimes I think I shouldn't tell anybody because I don't really have any friends my age. Everyone's 20 and 30 that are my age that I hang out with. Because I can't even believe that I'm chronologically this age because I don't feel it. And I'm just getting ready for a new pivot in my life, an absolute new pivot. I don't even know what it is. I travel in Europe teaching workshops in the summertime. I do some work with Mindvalley, and I'll be teaching some workshops for them, and I'll be teaching at the Happiness Museum in London. And I know, I just feel it because I trust it. There are some major relationships that are going to come from that, some new friends, some new opportunities. And being open allows me to be able to experience it all. And it is not that I am looking for it. It is not like I am going, where is it? I don't do that because when I do that, I don't find it. But when I just do this and I am just open and ready to receive, it just flows. Because there's some sort of a— and I don't mean for this to sound airy-fairy, but I really believe that there's sort of just an alignment, a flow with the universe when we're open to receiving. And taking care of ourselves is a huge component of that.

Right. You're also not waiting for the bad taste. I think a lot of people, they pivot in their lives because something has gotten to the point where it's left a bad taste in their mouth, whether it's their work or the career path they're on or some other relationship or thing. And so it's a forced pivot of a sort because they don't have a choice. They're in such pain or someone else has taken the next step versus what you're talking about, which is remaining open so that you can make those better choices. And yeah, when you're taking better care of yourself overall, you make better decisions. I just— that's at least been my own experience.

I just got to interrupt you here and say something. And yes, you're right. I could have easily many times in my life From the time I was a young child, I told you I came from a dysfunctional family. So from the time I was a young child, I could have made a different choice all along the way. I could have made that negative choice to stay in the anger, to stay in the sadness, to stay in the story, to stay in the victim state. And it's been a process, and I'm still in process. Always say that I'm a work in progress. Until the day that I die, and hopefully even after that. But it really— I just got goosebumps. How we look at it, how we choose. It's back to choice, Adam.

Back to choice.

How do we look at

this?

Because I could have easily, easily stayed in the negative story. I've got stories. That's not what our conversation is about today. And I don't want anyone to think, oh, she's just got it made. She's been on Oprah. She's written books. No, no. I've been open and I've made things happen and I've worked to make it happen. I didn't just sit here receiving. I've worked to make it happen.

Yes.

And I've worked to— I continue to work to grow myself and to learn more about myself every single day. And on the days that I don't, I give myself time for a pity party. And I'll tell you, I'll say one more thing to be really transparent. This morning when I woke up, I thought, damn, I'm going to be on Adam's podcast and I feel like crap today.

Yep. I really felt that.

I thought, okay, I'm going to spin class and I almost didn't go because I was telling myself all these negative things. And I thought, how am I going to be on this call and be real? And I thought, Andrea, this is one part of yourself. You're feeling not so great. Why? I didn't even know why. I didn't have a specific reason. It just was. So I thought, okay, I'm going to go and be in it. I'm going to allow myself to be in this space, feel as crappy as I can feel, and then I'm going to give myself the opportunity to sit in quiet, not necessarily meditation, but just sit in quiet, refocus, remember gratitude, remember who I am at my core. And release that and go back to love, go back to gratitude, go back to being who I really want to be in this world. And that was a pivot right there. Today, before our call, I made a huge shift, and it was a conscious shift. I had to make it happen, but I did.

There is the book right there. Conscious Choices: A Return to Trust.

We

all

can do that. We really all can. We just need to trust that we can.

I really hope you're enjoying this episode of the Change Proof Podcast. If you've not yet gone out and gotten your own copy of Change Proof, it's not too late. You can get your copy right now by going to changeproof.com and not only getting the book and all the bonuses there, but getting access to our proprietary resilience assessment tool. It'll just take you 3 minutes to do, and it's something that will really help you to utilize the book even more effectively to create practices and rituals and habits that will increase your mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual resilience for the long term. Again, go to changeproof.com to get Indeed. Well, this is a perfect point for the gratitude that I want to express to you for being on the show today and a choice that we all have to make. So, first of all, thank you so much for your time and for shifting and being willing to shift. It was the same for me. I mean, when we knew a few days ago that This day was coming and we were going to be going to the vet with Duncan. And I said to myself, I don't think I want to do this show today. I mean, I just don't know if I can or want to or whatever. But in the end, I came to the same sort of a fork in the road that you did. And I said, what a perfect opportunity to be in the energy I'm in, be in the emotion I'm in, and share that because there are lots of people who wake up in the morning each day and are dealing with what they're dealing with, which could be the loss of a pet, or a friend or something else that's going on. And how do they deal with those things? Well, we're gonna deal with them together. That was my answer. And sure enough, I think you and I both, for ourselves and for a wider community, we're able to be in this and be open and received great. I mean, this was a miracle for me and a beautiful conversation. So thank you.

Thank you.

Our choice this morning was how we greeted the day. I wanna end in that place where We all made a conscious choosing this morning when we opened our eyes, and that was a blessing. I mean, Andrea, was there any guarantee that you were going to wake up today?

No. And that's the first blessing every day.

It indeed is. So my question to you is—

I'm awake. Thank you, universe.

Andrea, do you want to wake up again tomorrow?

Absolutely.

Excellent. And that's my question for all of you that are listening and watching. I hope that your intention is to wake up, that you realize that waking up today, regardless of the day that you've had so far, that there was no guarantee that you'd have this day. And tomorrow when you wake up and you're realizing that you are waking up again, being given another day, that in that moment of conscious awareness, as you're taking that first breath, that you realize that there are people who are taking their very last breath in that moment. Which makes that moment special. For me, it's a holy moment. I am giving gratitude in that moment, not because I'm going to have a perfect day or because I'm going to have a day that's free of challenges. Sometimes that's the case too, yes. But it's primarily gratitude for the day itself, the fact that it's a blessing and it's open, as Andrea said, open, open to the universe, open to possibility, open to the creative opportunity. So tomorrow, all I want you to do, if you're willing to wake up, is take 10 seconds, 10 seconds to sit in stillness in that moment when you're waking in your bed or when your feet hit the floor. Take 10 seconds to feel gratitude for yourself, love and appreciation for you in that moment. Wow. And if you're willing to say these words out loud or think them, say them out loud, even More powerfully, they come out of your mouth. The words are "I love my life." They're written right on my shirt. I love my life. What are the words, Andrea?

I love my life.

I love my life.

Love my life.

I am so blessed that we get this time together and really love, love the fact that our community has grown and your feedback is so valuable. So please. Leave your comments at adamarkel.com/podcast or on iTunes. You can join us on Facebook at the Start My Pivot community for you. And of course, we would love to have you look at the show notes because you can find out a lot more about Andrea's history and her work in the world and the companies that she's been representing and the health products and services that she is a model of great health. So, Check out the show notes and we will see you again very, very soon. Again, blessings to all of you. Ciao for now. Thank you again, Andrea.

Thank you.

Thanks for listening, everyone. We hope you now have the tools and greater insights to navigate your own pivot. Help us inspire others by sharing this episode and leaving your comments over at adammarkel.com/podcasts. For more tips, strategies, and support, As you consciously pivot into a new business and lifestyle you love, join our Pivot community on Facebook at pivotfb.com.