Getting Unstuck With Ferlie Almonte

Furlee Almonte is a new friend of mine. We've known each other for a while, but newer in the sense that we just recently had a good conversation about some pretty powerful stuff. And I wanted to bring you on, Furlee, to share a message of hope and resilience, which I know is what you are all about. So I'm excited to have you here today, Furlee. Furlee, can you tell our audience in a real quick— I know you've had a lot of ups and downs in your life, but what is the Coles Notes version? Of your story?

Well, 18 years ago, I was a respiratory therapist. I was exposed to an occupational hazard that left me severely disabled and actually with a 40% permanent lung damage. And obviously, obviously, I have not been able to go back to work. I was disabled for over 10 years. I had to find a way to reinvent myself. And also, I've been through a very bad divorce myself. And also, when I tried to find love again, and I did, unfortunately, tragically, I lost my spouse to pancreatic cancer within 8 months of our wedding day. And while she was dying, I was also laid off from my pharmaceutical sales job. I got flat broke, lost my home. Oh my gosh, everything that you could possibly throw in to one person, I actually had been through it. And so that has become the, basically the springboard of me becoming a motivational speaker and helping people become resilient in their lives. Because you know what, so many things that we're going through right now in this world, you know, we're losing jobs, we're losing loved ones, you know, we're getting stop, you know, because we don't know what the future lies ahead and, and we're crippled in fear basically. And so that has become my, my mission in life to become that voice of hope and resilience.

Furli, um, you just mentioned it, right? Like, this is a crazy world that we live in right now, and with the number of people, people's families are being just turned upside down due to COVID, all of these different things, stress with losing jobs, economy, whatever the case may be. There's a lot going on in the world right now. And I want you to share with our audience some really tactical things that people can do from that standpoint of pulling themselves out of that. How do you rise like a phoenix? How do you kind of live, kind of using you as an example, rise like a phoenix and kind of pull yourself out of all of that?

Oh my goodness, what a great question, Cheryl. You know, the whole point is that you gotta make your mess your message. And quite frankly, you cannot be defined by your adversities. Are you going to just marinate in your, in your funk, so to speak? You gotta get up there and, and think of this as not as what happened to you, but something that has happened for you, to stretch you, to open your mind to new possibilities, to expand you, to help you grow. And when you come from a place of mindset where you are actually being empowered and you begin to take a look at things so that the things you look at change, so to speak, by Dr. Wayne Dyer, you would see that your possibilities are endless. And the fear of the unknown must be a lot more exciting than you being stuck on the fear of just being on the rut, so to speak. You know, like, if you're going to remain where you are, where is that going to take you? It does not deserve your— you know, it does not serve your future. And so you gotta make that massive inspired action to be able to rise above all of this and believe that you have new possibilities awaiting for you. And during this very challenging time, I always ask people, begin to revisit all the powerful tool sets that you have within yourself—your mindset, your skill set. It's time to upgrade them and also to become more relevant, and also revisit your heart set. Where is, you know, who are you becoming in this process? What are you beginning to become? Just like what you said, rising above it just like a phoenix. And also your soul set, revisit that as well. You know, um, what they said, um, Mark Twain said, right? There are two most important times of our life: the day you were born and the day you find out why. Now it's time for you to be able to step into that calling and decide on what is your purpose in this life.

And I was just sharing a look at your website on the screen. So for those of you watching live or watching the replay, connect with Ferli, go and check her out because she has a whole host of ways and resources to be able to help you if you are feeling that way. You're feeling like the world is against you right now. This is really what she does. And because we had a conversation recently and I said, you know what, come in, come and share this with my audience because I think they could really benefit. If you're watching this live right now and I see several of you are on, post in the chat, no matter what platform you're watching on right now. If it's YouTube or LinkedIn or Periscope, soon to be Twitter Live, if you're watching on Facebook, leave a comment because Furlee can also go back and answer any of those questions after the fact as well. So just so you know, we want to be here to support you if you're challenged with something. And if it's not something that you want to publicly share, send her a message, right? Send Furlee a private message and I'm sure she'd love to help you with that. I think that you touched on something earlier about the tragedy that you, uh, went through in your life. Have you found love again?

By keeping your heart open to love again.

But have you found love? Yeah, have you found love again though, Furli?

Yes, I am actually blissfully married for 9 years now. And, uh, you know, that would be a different show, how I found love again, because it's actually quite juicy. But I'm telling you, unless you Open your heart to finding that one special person just one more time. Just believe that God is not done with you yet.

Yeah, that's right. And there are a lot of people just, um, you know, we hear a lot about, uh, spirituality. We hear a lot about— I mean, some people would consider this to be kind of woo-woo talk, but it's not really woo-woo, you know. It's real that how you think. And I love Dr. Wayne Dyer as well, so I'm a big fan. But it is true that it's It does have everything to do with how you look at things. Are you a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person? Because your whole life will be dictated with how you respond to things, how you see the world. So what are some challenges right now that maybe people that you're working with are facing? And what are some examples that you might be able to give us of maybe a client or someone that you've worked with recently who had such a challenge and it's like they overcame it by doing this?

Well, first of all, like, you know, a lot of people are out of jobs right now, for instance, right? And so, including myself, because I was, you know, I'm a motivational speaker, I coach, I speak, I entertain. All the gigs dried up. What are you going to do? You know, you have to be able to open your minds to different possibilities. Don't get stuck on the rut. Don't get stuck on, on, you know, on an outdated skill, because now, as you can very well see, everything is getting digital. So what happened? Of course, now I ventured in the a whole new project. And so now I'm helping people become financially resilient, and I'm able to help people work from home because a lot of parents cannot even leave their house because they need to be available at home to homeschool their children, right? And so you need to be able to be flexible, not only in your mind. I love that quote, by the way. You know, when you are flexible, there is no way that you're going to get bent out of shape.

I love that. I love that. Well, listen, I think that A lot of people can relate to that, that idea that we have to be flexible. We have to at least be open-minded. Are you open-minded enough to consider that there may be another path? There could be another opportunity there. But you have to, I think, beginning— and you tell me, Farley, if this is the right way to look at this— but you have to at least be willing, willing to open your mind to that idea. If you come at it from a closed-minded perspective of like, oh, it's my way or no other way, my way or the highway, I'm down this path and I'm not willing to look at other options, then you close yourself off.

Yeah, you become obsolete, so to speak. And you know, that's what I love about what you do, Cheryl, is that you allow people to have the platform to help others. And that is what makes you amazing, because you are light yourself. And I was just telling you, like, you know, when, when I help people, you know, I get drained sometimes. But you, you get— I get my fix from you, girl. Just simply amazing and beautiful and just a kind soul. And I am so grateful to have you in my life.

You know what I love about you? I love your energy. And there's something to be said for that. It's the energy that you put out there and that you put out into the world. Do you think that you would be, again, as resilient as you are if you hadn't found the courage to just really pull that, that level of energy out of yourself?

Oh, please. You know, I remember one of the quotes that I love by Charles Darwin, right? It is not the, the most intelligent or the strongest that survive. It is the one who is most adaptable to change. And that is what exactly I do. I do a lot of attitude adjustments, a lot of tweaking in the way I look at things. And also, the whole point is that, okay, you know, that part of me does not work anymore. Perhaps I'm being led to a new opportunity. You have to find the lesson behind all of those that you're going through. There is an, um, a potential, an opportunity, uh, despite your adversities. But you cannot look at them if you have your eyes closed and your spirit closed down. Um, you just have to open yourself, burst out there and say like, listen, I'm ready to receive the message, I am ready to step into what this amazing journey awaits me. You know, you, when you just have that kind of energy, be a go-getter there, you know, it's not going, you know, if you just fold yourself up, you shrink and marinate in your misery, nothing is going to happen. But when you get excited about life again and also fill your life with positive energy and be surrounded, first of all, with positive people just like you, Cheryl, you would see that you will begin to open up new ways that you can begin to, um, you know, to step into. But you know, then open mind. You know what they say, um, an open mind is like a parachute. It only works when it's open.

It's so true. We've got to open our eyes. We have to open our mind to new possibilities. And like you said, sometimes we need an attitude adjustment, frankly. And I know that's what you do. So, if you're watching this live or on the replay, please reach out to Furlee if you want to. Maybe, and Furlee, I know you were talking about speaking engagements and things like that. So many people in the event space too. Think right up. Listen, if you're watching this right now and you want Furlee to be on your show, reach out to Pearly. I'm sure she'd be happy to come and share her message with your audience. And maybe this is a way that we can progress, you know, your image to reach more people. So thank you so much, Pearly, for jumping on this little pop-up interview. I love it. And, um, and if you have questions, please post them in the comments and whatever platform that you're watching on. We're using Restream today to go live on all of these platforms, and we would love to be able to, to have you join us again next Tuesday We try to do this around the same time in the afternoon between 1:00 and 2:00 PM and do these pop-up interviews with a variety of different people that I run into. I just run into some really smart people who are expert at what they do, and I want to start highlighting them more for my audience. And Ferli, you're one of them.

So thank you so much. Oh my goodness. What a pleasure and an honor. Thank you so very much, my love, and keep shining your light as well. Mwah!