ENCORE PRESENTATION: ''Chicken Soup for the Soul'' with guest Diana Wentworth

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The following is a paid podcast.iHeartRadio's hosting of this podcast constitutes neither an
endorsement of the products offered or theideas expressed. Welcome to Becoming the Journey.
This show will be a series ofconversations that will inspire listeners along their
life's journey. This show's mission isto cultivate a community of mentorship by sharing

(00:21):
our experiences in our life's journey.Nobody's journey is a straight line, so
no matter where you are in yours, this show is for you. Meet
Grace Lobray. Hi, listeners,I hate to be repetitive, but thanks
for tuning in too. Becoming theJourney on WR seven ten iHeartRadio. Today's

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show is about beauty, and we'renot talking about what you see in the
mirror. You'll find that out later. My guest today is Diana Wentworth.
She's a New York Times bestselling andaward winning author of ten books. She
hosted the long running TV series TheNew Way Ormey and Diana was the first

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co author of the amazing book seriesChicken Soup for the Soul Close to My
Passion. She is the founder ofthe Inside Edge Foundation for Education. Welcome
Diana. It is such a pleasure, Diana. Diana, you are such

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an upbeat personality. You speak ofhow blessed you were both romantically and in
your career. I wouldn't do youjustice if I didn't ask you to talk
a little bit about that journey,especially how you went from cooking to what
we're going to talk about your newmission. So I know you loved going

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to restaurants. When did you knowcookie was your passion? And you have
six cookbooks, by the way,When did you know that that was your
passion? Well, it all beganwith my grandmother. She was an amazing
cook and quite the entrepreneur because shehad a husband who didn't work, and

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she opened a boarding house. Soshe would fix these amazing fried chicken dinners
and go out in the yard andgrab a chicken and pocket and we would
have a feast. And there wassomething about gathering people around the table that
just always fascinated me. She andmy mother both took such pleasure in making

(02:38):
boisonberry jam and all sorts of treatsfor us. So I used to My
first writing was little recipe cards,where I would just make up recipes in
my head and dream of having myown kitchen someday that I could invite people
to. I get that, ButI like your little story about sitting down

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in restaurant and thinking you would wantto be a waitress or a movie star.
I know people used to People usedto ask me what I wanted to
do when I grew up, andI would say that I wanted to be
either a waitress or a movie star, because both of them had equal prestige

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in my mind. You know,I didn't figure out for a long time
that my father paid for the food, so I thought that waitresses were like
angels who would bring us anything wewant. So the funny thing about that
is that having a television series oncooking for years, I turned into a
movie star waitress. So it justshows that we, you know, we
can bring into our life what welove. Right. Did you write those

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cookbooks and did you have the TVseries? Uh while you were married or
did you start that before you weremarried? Oh? Yes, I married.
My first late husband was a wonderfulartist, and when I had a
baby, I was beset with postpartumdepression, but we didn't have words for

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that in those days, and Iwas finding myself sort of overwhelmed with responsibility
and no longer able to go outto socialize. So my husband built me.
He brought in some little chairs formy kitchen, and I started inviting
people. And the funny thing was, it was when Julia Child was on
the air, and my class isjust the word spread and I had Linda

(04:36):
Evans and Meredith McCrae and all thesemovie people started coming to my classes and
I would teach menus for entertaining.That was my passion, really gathering people
around the table. So my husbandwas very instrumental. And then when we
went through a time when my trustfund was taken away through a loss that

(05:00):
my father had, we were suddenlyfaced with having to make a living.
And my husband, being an artist, could present food beautifully. He would
make all sorts of gorgeous garnishes andso on, and we just began teaching
together. And that led to,as you said, six cookbooks before the
Chicken Soup for the Soul coakbook,and that led to us having a school

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on Sunset Boulevard where Wolf Goom Puckand all the great chefs of Los Angeles
used to teach, and having ourown TV series and teaching and department stores
all over the country where we wouldtravel with all of our food and so
on. It wasn't an easy wayto make a living because you know,
things were perishable and sometimes our clothingended up smelling like mildewed parsley. But

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it was quite the adventure and itjust really turned into a whole career until
it didn't work anymore. Is thathow you overcame that postpartum? And to
my listeners, you know, nojourney is perfect. I just want them

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to know that everyone has always hadsome downfall in their life and thank you
for sharing that with us. Butis that what helped you to overcome that
postpartum? Was that you know,I know your husband was intrumental with that
feeling of camaraderie, and that thefact that you had to go out there

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and earn a living and actually becameyour own person. It did you know?
It was so wonderful because suddenly peoplewere all coming to our house and
I had been so lonely as achild. I'd been thrown into boarding school
at the age of eight and wanderedthe grounds alone and would walk through the

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playground all by myself and think,oh, I just so wanted people around.
There was something so nerdis charing abouthaving all these men and women in
my kitchen who not only loved learningabout food and tasting everything I made,
but they loved just the camaraderie ofit. As you said, just be

(07:14):
gathering, just the being together andsharing all sorts of antidotes with each other.
And I would invite people to bringtheir favorite holiday dishes and have a
whole I would do a whole turkey, and we would all have a big
Thanksgiving and advance and taste everybody's familyrecipes, and then I would print those

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up and share them. So itwas just an absolute joy. You know,
they say to choose for a livingsomething that you would do for free,
and that definitely was true for me. So now we kind of get
to co authoring chicken Soup for theSoul. Now, I know people talk

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about comfort food. Chicken soup isJewish penicillin old and I've referred to that
sometimes with my kids, like,you know, we've got to have chicken
soup. I'll make chicken soup.How did you equate the two where?
And I know a big part ofchicken Soup for the sol is storytelling and

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I am a huge believer in storytelling. I think we learned from our elders.
We learn those stories and they becomemeaningful to us going forward. They
are all comfort food, actually,the stories. But how did you come
to think that cooking and stories andwould become that chicken soup for the soul?

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Oh? Well, I was reallyexciting because I left our food career
when women went into the workforce innineteen eighty five in a very big way
and they no longer wanted to spenddays in the kitchen preparing a meal that
would disappear in a couple of hours. So we were invited to go into
the Soviet Union at the height ofthe Cold War with a lot of thought

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leaders of the day like Dennis Weaverand Mike Ferrell from Mash and Barbara Marx
Hubbard who was a futurist, anddoctor Patch Adams, the real doctor Patch
Adams. And our job at theheight of the Cold War was to go
get lost in the city and gohome with strangers and become sort of citizen

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diplomats in a way, hoping thatthere wouldn't be an end of the world
through nuclear war. And it waspart of a documentary, and what we
began to notice that was really excitingwas that these people sitting around the tables
at the end of the day wouldshare their stories and share resources with each
other. So Paul and I hadthe bright idea of creating a very early

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morning breakfast club. It was atime when power breakfasts were just starting in
the York City and it was fornetworking, but we thought, why not
do networking for a higher purpose.And so we had no idea how big
this was going to become. Westarted it at the Beverly Hills Hotel and
people just showed up. So someof the people that showed up were Jack

(10:18):
Canfield, who had never yet writtena book, Mike and Mark, Victor
Hanson, and doctor Barbara DeAngelis andLouise Hay walked in with just a little
tiny book. And Paul and Ihad the idea of hosting parties where people
had to show up as who theywere going to be in five years.

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And this is a party theme thatwas adapted by many thought leaders of our
day. I believe it's used bydoctor Jodoph Spenzen. Jack Canfield says he's
used it as the closing for everytraining he's done in the thirty eight years
since that time. So I wouldinvite people to show up, and I
remember doctor Susan and Jeffers showing up. She'd never written a book yet,

(11:03):
and she said that she had justreturned from her third New York Times bestseller
tour, and she actually pulled thatoff. She wrote three New York Times
bestsellers, starting with Feel the Fearand Do It Anyway. So this was
a real transformational time. And duringthat time, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor
Hansen decided to write a book calledChicken Suit for the Soul. And we

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were all so enthusiastic about it andsuper excited when when the first one became
a New York Times bestseller almost rightaway, and then it was followed by
a second version. The funny thingwas that everybody thought it was a cookbook
because of the title, and sotheir publisher was saying, well, we

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need a cookbook. And I gota phone call the day before Thanksgiving and
it was from Jack and Mark andthey said, what are you doing right
now? I said, well,I'm beginning to stuff this turkey. They
said, no, no, bringyour six cookbooks here. We're meeting with
the publisher you're going to write thechicken soup for the Soul Cookbook. And
so they were just a few minutesaway. So I was thinking, oh,

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my gosh, one hundred and onechicken super recipes. And then I
began to think, well, youknow, so much connection happens around the
table. Even when we're traveling,we meet new people. I can find
one hundred and one stories that wecan put recipes with. And they didn't
tell me that they already had anadvance order from the Shopping Network for nine

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hundred thousand copies of the chicken soupfor the Sole cookbook. And this was
probably the funniest day of my lifebecause they said, well, Diana,
can you get this done in threemonths? And I said three months?
Why do we have to get itdone in three months? They didn't tell
me they had these advanced this advanceorder, and they said, well,
what do you need to get started? And I said, well, I

(12:54):
need an advance, you know,because I'd always had an advance. The
publisher said, I'm sorry, wedon't give advances, but we aren't going
to give you a third of thebook. And I thought, oh,
this is amazing. So I gotthat book done in three months. It
was really, really fun. I'venever been so on fire with a project

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in my life. And my firstroyalty check was two hundred and forty thousand
dollars, so that was a hugeboon. And that brought me back into
the third world in a big way. So that I, Paul and I
ended up lecturing on cruise ships allover the world and we got to write
more books after that, so youknow, of all kinds. And I

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even wrote a book called Send MeSomeone, which was so great it was
bought by the Lifetime Network as afilm. Because shortly before Paul passed away,
he said I don't want you tobe alone, and I said send
me someone, and he said Iwill. So that's the whole story I
could go on for But that book, that book is sort of a memoir

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of your of of your life withPaul. I do believe that, yes,
and we will touch and we willtouch on that, because that's that's
an amazing, amazing story. Butwhen you were when you were deciding okay,
and this is not about food asmuch as it's going to be about

(14:22):
soul searching, but when you weredeciding what recipes to equate to a story
in your mind. How did youWas it what a story you remember while
your mother or grandmother was cooking aspecific meal, or was it a feeling

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inside you that this be a greatmeal for this kind of story. Well,
do you know? It's a seemto be organic. Really, re
invited all sorts of people to submitstories that had great meaning them that took
place around the table. And theopening story even was really important to me.

(15:07):
It was Thanksgiving and I was withmy mother and she said, Diana,
you have to make me a promise. And she pulled me by my
hand into her pantry and she says, promise me that you will never ever
feel guilty about me. I spentmy whole life feeling guilty about my mother,

(15:28):
and you've been a wonderful daughter,So make me that promise. And
I called that story Mimi's Kitchen,and I included her recipe for her fudge
that she made throughout the holidays.And the other stories you had to do
with people that they met while theywere in Afghanistan, for instance, and
sat down to a very exotic mealand had a very emotional moment of connection.

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So it just seemed to happen organically. People have lots and lots of
stories related to the food in theirlives. You know. It's first of
all, my grandchildren call me Mimi, so that's a little bit endearing to
me. Yes, they do.And I constantly remember meals with my grandparents

(16:18):
and my parents, I mean yearsago, we actually had dinner time at
a certain time. We sat downat the table and we did We talked
about the day and the good thebad. And every Sunday we would go
to my grandmother's. It would bemy aunts, my uncles, my cousins,
and I would help my grandmother makewhat's called today arequi ede and I

(16:45):
helped to roll the dough and spoonthe little ear and it was some of
the greatest moments in my life.So I totally agree with you and the
stories. You know, my grandparentswould tell us stories about, you know,
while we were in the kitchen withthem, and tell us stories about

(17:06):
you know, they came over onthe ship from Italy and how they made
a living and you know, theystruggled and it was just great and wine.
My grandfather made wine in his basementand so it was not just food,
you know, and it was justit was so fascinating, and so

(17:29):
I am a huge believer in storytelling. So was it after co authoring the
book that you realized, and Iquote you, that your deep seated calling
was never towards the food itself.Explain that, because that's going to kind
of lead into the second half wherewe talk about beauty. But tell me

(17:52):
a little bit about that. Yes, I always loved the food and the
taste, and I really some peoplehave many more tastebuds than others. I
have tremendous taste buds. But Ibegan to realize that what really warmed my
heart was people sharing stories with eachother around the table and connecting and meeting

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new people, and watching in theSoviet Union as people really lit up in
sharing their experiences. So that becamethe most important thing to me, and
I realized it was a blessing thatI didn't have to cook all that food
anymore. We could have our meetingsthroughout southern California and three different locations in

(18:40):
ballrooms and restaurants, and that partwould be taken care of. But I
also began to find all sorts ofways to suggest topics of conversation at the
different tables that people could share witheach other, and then we would invite.
We had fifteen hundred speakers over thethirty eight years of the Inside Edge.

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Probably every thought leader you've ever heardof was one of our speakers at
one time. And so I gotmuch more interested in focusing on in spotlighting
life enhancing information for people, andthe people loved that. So it was
never about me, and it wasnever about the food. Really, it

(19:25):
was about the deep authenticity of heartconnection. So I'm going to throw a
little curve here today. A lotof family I did. It's okay,
a lot of families do not sitat the table. They do not.
It's the kids come home from school, it's pizza, and then's sports or

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do your homework and get on thecomputer or whatever it is. Are they
missing out? Are we not doingour young people justice today? And I
know that's top, but just someonewho is so into storytelling and raised on
storytelling, you know, what doyou think about that today? I know

(20:11):
bothers me a lot, but Imean not knowing our kids justice. We
are not doing our kids justice becauseit's shortening their attention span and so much
they have so much incitant gratification theycan look up anything and they're not present
at the table. I am appalledat restaurants from all the six people sitting

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there all looking at their phones andthey're not appreciating each other's deep sharings or
watching for different reactions. And Ithink our greatest responsibility in this world is
to create a beautiful life and tospark joy in other people. And we

(20:55):
can't do that just by sending atext. You know, it's to be
I to eye, heart to heart. So I could go on a long
time about that, and I imagineyour listeners are noticing this, and I
think we just need to ask ourselvesquestions. How can we change that?
How can we bring greater heart connectionand communication with each other into the world,

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and just listen for answers, andyou know, anytime we see an
opportunity to do that, to kindof see if we can set that up.
And and by the way, listenerswere not suggesting that you go to
chat GPT to to find out toask the question that would be a ridiculous
But which is another topic of conversationI don't want to get into. But

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yeah, but doesn't that start atthe parent level? I mean, how
do we reach the parent to startto say and look. During COVID,
they had to all be confined inone space, and did they did they
come to the revelation that yes,this is a good thing. The kids

(22:11):
are sitting at the table, andI don't know if that happened. I
don't know if it was still thesame where you know, the kids went
in the refrigerator and grabbed something andthe parent was in her office, you
know, or his office working,and you know, I don't know if
we learned anything from that, butit's it's really a sore subject with me

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that you know. I know,I have great memories of doing that with
my parents and my grandparents, andyou know, I tried to do that
with my grandchildren. I don't knowif people care about that today. It's
just so I don't know. Thegreatest the greatest gift of COVID for me,

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even though my second husband passed duringthat time, was the fact that
I was still hosting meetings on Zoomfor the Inside Edge, and I still
work with coaching clients. And Ispoke this morning to a group of thirty
on the subject of beauty, andI love that we can ask each other

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questions and see each other's faces.It's almost like we're sitting across the table
from each other. I think itwas a great, great gift that we
can utilize to stay in touch.You know, I live home now for
two and a half years, andI really count on being able to see
the faces of people that I cherishand connect with groups and love invitations to

(23:42):
speak and host meetings where we cantalk about important things. But I think
you and I both are of ageneration that that's how we lived all lives.
I don't think the young people todaycare much about that community that camarad
Reid. Like you said, theysit at a table and they're texting each

(24:03):
other. They don't pick up aphone and have a conversation. I don't
even know if they get together anymore. I think, you know, it's
all it's not by zoom, butyou know, it's just Facebook and face
time, and it's just I don'tknow how to get back to that.
I just don't know how to getback to where we should be. I

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met a gentleman I'm working with him. He's from Denmark and what he's been
doing is going into indigenous communities inthe Arctic, in Greenland in Canada and
documentary documentaring stories from the Elders.And he's also written ten books. Yes,

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he's written ten books. He hasan amazing following, and I'm working
with him to kind of put thatglob believed, to get that out there,
because again, storytelling, whether it'srelated to food or experience, whatever
it is, is just important,especially in climate and environmental. You know,

(25:15):
Indigenous lived off the earth and soand a lot of times I don't
know your ancestors. I mean,they didn't have organic and all that stuff,
and they managed, so you know, it's just it's important and it's
an area where I just don't knowhow to correct it. Let me go

(25:38):
back to the words the party,concept and community. This was the premise
of the Inside Age Foundation for Education. You called it the human Potential movement.
How did that come about? Howdid that come about? You know,

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my first publisher was Jeremy Trcher.Jeremy Trcher was one of the leaders
in that publishing, you know,Acquering Conspiracy and some of the other books
that brought that term of the humanPotential movement into being. And that is
what I've always loved, even sinceI was very young. I started reading

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books about self growth and so on, and I just so love sharing all
of the things that I was learning, and the Insight Edge became a place
to do that. So people camethere with the idea of business networking and
meeting other people, and I wouldjust take the business cards away because I

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wanted them to connect on a muchmuch deeper level and have conversations that made
a difference. And I think thegreatest gift that we can give to anybody
is to listen deeply and have theother person feel fully received. So that
is our challenge, Grace, youand I to create ways that people can

(27:14):
be fully received with each other andthen they begin to blossom and bloom into
their highest potential, their human potential. So luckily, I've always ridden a
wave. I've been an enthrem entrepreneurall my life. So Julia Child went
on the air, and there Iwas starting to teach cooking in my kitchen.
So that wave went for fifteen yearsand then all of a sudden when

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it didn't work any more and wewere trying to figure out what to do.
The rising wave that we caught wasthis wave of human potential and people's
interest in that. So we hadNorman Cousins. We mean, we just
had everybody in their early careers standingup on the stage and talking about where

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they're where they were passionate about.And it was contagious all of that interest
in ways that we could bring outthe very highest parts of ourselves. And
that is what my life's been about. Yeah, I'm talking with my guest
Diana Wentworth on my favorite radio station, WOR seventy ten Human Potential Movement.

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You know, we're living in asociety right now that's nothing but protesting contest.
And I don't know if we knowhow to talk to each other anymore,
how to have a discussion, whichis something that you presented through that

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foundation was it was we were opento receiving other people's thoughts, whether they
were conspiracy theories or they were logicfact whatever. I don't think we can
do that today. It's not thatwe can't, I just don't think we
do that today. Everyone is juststuck in their own mindset and how do

(29:15):
how do we change that? Andpeople like you, people like me maybe,
but you know it's a journey.But with the journey, how do
we get there? I have avery strong commitment and a very strong opinion
about how we get there. MaryOliver, who used to walk in the

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woods in Cape cod one of thegreatest poets of all time. Really,
she says, she asked the question, have you finally figured out what beauty
is for? And has it changedyour life? So I find that people,
no matter what opinions they have orhow vehement they are about it,

(30:00):
if you ask them what beauty isto them, you will find the most
fascinating answers. And all of theseanswers are true, and they're so beautiful.
Rumy had us saying out beyond ideasof wrongdoing and right dooing, there
is a field. I'll meet youthere. And that feel, to me,

(30:25):
is the discussion about beauty, becauseeven though we have completely neglected being
good stewards of the beauty and theresources of the earth, we still find
beauty in the every day. Andthat is not just I'm not talking about
just physical beauty or visual beauty orself adornment. I'm talking about sparking joy

(30:52):
and art and listening to music andhow we just transcend through music into a
place of absolute divinity and poetry andmeals together and gathering. And I was
just asking a young woman that I'veknown for years. Well, she's not
so young anymore. Actually, she'sprobably sixty now, but still that's twenty

(31:15):
years younger than I am. AndI asked her what beauty is to her,
and she said that she finds itin volunteering because she works with teams
of other people to go out andtake care and pick up sections of the
National forest. And she says thatshe looks around at the group and there's
motorcycle guys, and there's families,and everybody's working together and just pitching in

(31:38):
to beautify that section of the forest. And so I suggest that we use
beauty as the catalyst, as aconversation starter to get people to open up
and communicate, because our values aretheir grace. Our values have fallen apart

(32:01):
because we're taking sides and we're allowingso much ugliness into our world. John
o'donahue wrote a book called Beauty TheInvisible Embrace, and he talks about the
tolerance that we have for ugliness rightnow and the meanness and just all of

(32:24):
the hatred that is being spewed.But truly that can be circumvented if we
get on the subject of what isbeautiful and how do we want to preserve
beauty in our lives. How canwe individually find out what our heart wants?
You know, I'm going to bethe opening speaker in San Miguel de

(32:45):
Ende, coming up three days beforethe Day of the Dead, so that's
October twenty eighth for a festival therethat's really all about beauty and it's called
the One Heart Festival. And theperson you know and asked me to speak
about what the heart wants. SoI think what we want to we want

(33:05):
to be together, we want tocelebrate together, we want to connect and
listen so deeply to others and justfind the joy in that connection. So
that's my purpose. Now I'm dedicatingthe rest of my life to opening and
having this conversation happen everywhere. Thatwas going to be my segue, and

(33:30):
you caught me off guard here,but I will do it anyway. So
I've had on my show Hillary Deceizar, who talks about relaunching, and doctor
Eric Amiller, who Diana you wouldlove her. She's ninety and she says
she's always reinventing herself and you referto it as these are your encore years.

(33:57):
And I'm assuming going out there andspeaking on beauty in a beauty uh
is what that means to you.So let's talk about that mission today,
do we? And And yes,there's a lot of ugliness going on.
And I am a huge proponent andextremely passionate about children's education, and I

(34:21):
think that's who we have to reachwith all of this. There's tons of
self help books, tons of coaches, tons of people telling you how you
should be, what you should lookfor, and look, you can't read
them all and not all size onesize fits all. What is the what

(34:45):
is the one thing that you thinkin you coaching and counseling, whatever you
do, and Hillary and and BeneBrown and all of them, what is
the one thing that the one theorythat all of you have that we can

(35:06):
just bring home? Oh? Thankyou. I love that word home.
I think beauty is homecoming. Ithink that when we encounter beauty, we
are startled awake, we are startedstartled back into our true self. And
I even created an acronym for art, which is attention and reverence and transcendence.

(35:35):
So let me give you my greatesttool really for beginning a day,
because what happens when we wake upin the morning is that our mind usually
goes to what worries us, orwhat we're concerned about, or what we
feel that we have to be responsiblefor that day, and it comes with
a feeling of dread. So whatI encourage people to do is first thing

(35:58):
when they wake up to small becausethat smile, just the act of smiling,
we releases all sorts of endorphins intoour system. And then let's begin
a day with a really profound question. I call these questions quantum questions.

(36:22):
I think Mary Oliver asked a question, tell me what are you going to
do with your one precious, magicallife? And so I ask myself a
question every morning. It used tobe where can the most joy be found
today? And that that worked forme for years. But now I ask

(36:43):
myself, where is a way thatI can beautify this world today? And
I use an app that is mygreatest tool. It's called newcom in UCA
l M. This is the onlypatented brain science so that you can use

(37:04):
headphones and you can listen to differenttracks on this app and it will take
you into stress relief. And it'sused by the military all over the world.
Or it can take you into somekind of excitement. They have Tony
Robbins on there, who's a freespokesperson for it, and he gets you
all fired up with gratitude and otherthings. But I listen to one that's

(37:30):
called Rescue, and I just beginasking these questions and it's almost like I
get a free download of my deepestthinking that comes through to me, and
I begin dictating into my own telephone, and I just I'm so filled with
inspiration. I can actually write threeor four thousand words before I even get

(37:55):
out of bed in the morning,just by dictating. And the value of
doing this, of living in thesekinds of questions is that, you know,
they used to call it our subconsciousmind, but there's a part of
us that loves to seek out answers, and it's better that we're not using

(38:15):
the chat thing. I asked itto write an article the other day.
I want to write six articles forAARP magazine on my deepest inspiration about how
beauty might save the world. AndI asked it to write an article.
And believe me, that article wasn'teven worth reading. It didn't have any
depth or any any real life changinginformation. So I just suggest that we

(38:43):
ask ourselves, how can we effectivelycreate beauty in the world. How can
we have in children inspired to havereal deep conversations. How can we spark
joy in somebody that we meet inthe market. How can we become ignited
and all fired up about the thingsthat really matter in the world. Because

(39:07):
I think that's our job, isn'tit. I mean we're here to do
something too, That's right. Ajob is to have an impactful legacy.
Yes, that's the way I lookat my job. That whatever I do
going forward, I know that I'mtrying to secure a better place for my

(39:31):
grandchildren to live in, and thentheir children their children after that. And
I often quote on the show somethingI've said over and over and over,
and that is knowledge is knowing theanswers. Wisdom is knowing what they mean.
I don't think it's enough just tohave the answer. I think we

(39:52):
have to dig more deep and knowwhat those answers mean, because sometimes the
answers we get if we elaborate alittle bit more on well, okay,
what are the options, what doesit mean? We get a different perspective.
I don't know. Do you agreewith that? Oh? I completely

(40:15):
agree, and on my website,Diana Wentworth dot com, you'll see that
I offer these wonderful wisdom circles wherepeople can gather and commit to spending time
together and choose what they're going todo as an Encore. I'm so glad
you brought that up, Grace,because I love what you do. I

(40:35):
love how you support beautiful things emergingin this world through your work, and
I believe that we all have anopportunity. I'm eighty two years old.
I'm just beginning my encore years.I'm beginning to give away everything I am
getting rid of. I'm selling mycondo, I'm selling all my art.

(40:58):
I'm moving into a much simpler lifestyle. I'm changing where I live. I'm
going to find a small sacred space. It's a little larger than Thoro's cabin
on Wolden Pond. But I wantto travel and I want to be speaking
at spas and teaching my heart yogathat I developed that is a form of

(41:21):
restorative yoga. And I want toreally have deep discussions with people about everything
that we can do to uplift theworld. And that's going to be my
legacy, the conversation that continues longafter I'm gone. Yeah, do you
still participate in the Inside Edge foundationfor it? Does it still exist?

(41:42):
I mean it's sort of like theGroup of G seven, But does it
still exist? It existed for thirtyeight years. In just this past month
we stopped. We closed it becauseit's very cumbersome to run a five oh
one c three. You need aboard it, you know, a board
and a committee to run it.And it's expensive. And people now can

(42:07):
access all of the great leaders ofour time online, the people that they
want to follow. There's so muchcontent. But it continues because you can
go to inside edge dot org andyou can see many of our past speakers.
Our last speaker there was Gary Zukoff, who originally wrote The Seat of

(42:30):
the Soul, and he said thathis latest book about universal it's a universal
something. He talks about how themost important thing we can do is align
our personality and our soul. AndI call that from ego to essence.

(42:51):
I think that's my job now asa legacy, is to encourage people to
drop the ego, move into whattheir soul is truly loves and share that
with each other and with the world. I totally agree The only issue I
have with following somebody or listening tosome is I we don't have that interaction

(43:15):
because if you want to ask thequestions and if you need to have that
bantering back and forth, because that'swhat presents the picture, it's a discussion.
And I don't think we do enoughof that. I don't think we
I don't think we know how todiscuss quite frankly, years ago. You

(43:37):
know, when I was in highschool, I was on a debate team,
and it was fun, it wasfascinating, and it was just I
loved every minute of it. Idon't think we do that. We can't
debate, we just because it becomeslike this argument, it's not debate anymore.
It's argument. And I think ifwe open ourselves up to what you

(43:58):
said before received leaving other people's thoughtsand opinions and then pulling them apart and
talking about them, it's so muchmore rewarding. So I think the inside
edge foundation back and forth, havingsomeone live on stage and being able to
ask a question. I think weneed to get back to that. And

(44:21):
I know it's expensive, but maybewe can do it Briefly. I mean,
it's sort of like a Ted talk. You know, well, yes,
you know. I still participate insomething that's been going for twenty five
years. It's called the Mastery Circleof Los Angeles and it's successible. It
meets every Tuesday morning from seven amto nine am Pacific, and we have

(44:45):
a deep spiritual sharing among the peoplewho are there for the first hour and
it's very lively and very poignant,and then we have a speaker from eight
until nine and we all get achance to share our opinions so we can
create these forums. Grace and Ireally want people to start forums and keep

(45:12):
them going because we can do that, we can still have these really deep
discussions, and I agree with youthat that's the most important thing. Well,
why don't you and I collaborate onsomething like that? You know I'm
in New York. Yes I would. I would love to do that.
I speak on panels, but Iwould. I would love to get that

(45:37):
thought conversation going among people that actuallyare willing to do it. I promised
you I would go back before weend the show, which I don't want
to end it, but it willend. I would go back to the
book your you know, your memorwar. Just do you want to just

(46:01):
tell us a little bit about thatI do. I do. I am
so proud of that book. Ittook me ten years to write it because
I didn't I'd only written cookbooks upuntil then, and I wanted it to
read like a novel, you know. I wanted it to become a film,

(46:23):
and so it needed to have flashbacks, and it needed to have cliffhangers
and all of that. So ittook me ten years, and it was
bought by the Lifetime Network, butthey never in time made the film.
So I'm still looking for the rightproducer for that. And the flop copy

(46:44):
says in the movie Ghost, thepassionate moment when Patrick Swayze is able to
reach out to me more from theother side touched people in a way that
few movies do. Kind of departedloved one really changed the course of our
lives. Diana van Wrollnes is whatWork knows with all her heart that love
does transcend death. It happened toher. So what happened was that my

(47:10):
husband, as he was dying,said I don't want you to be alone.
I said, send me someone.He said, I will, And
then all sorts of really magical thingsbegin to happen. I know that many
people have had experiences of they're departedloved ones, and it really happened amazingly
for me, and more recently withmy second late husband, who came into

(47:35):
my life two months after my firsthusband passed, and I began to see
all sorts of unexplainable lights and orbsand night took pictures and all sorts of
messages came through mediums and friends.So that's something I believe, is that
we're never really left, we neverreally leave this universe. That were part

(48:00):
of something that transcends death. Andso that book is very dramatic and has
lots of hilarious stories about things thathappened and how my life progressed and how
I met my new husband and howromantic that was. So it was my
great joy to have that published,and thank you for allowing me to tell

(48:24):
people about it. No, no, no, I just just a curious
question, though. Was it theconfirmation from your your your late husband that
you would find somebody If he neversaid that to you, would would that
book be different? I don't thinkso, because all sorts of odd things

(48:47):
happened. I was just beginning todate my first husband, my second husband
to be, and he began throwingcoins on the ground and I said,
what are you doing and he said, I don't know, I've never done
it before, but it's something thatPaul used to do. I met him
in Hong Kong in a hotel lobbyvery magically. I just was standing there

(49:09):
at six in the morning, notknowing what I was doing there, and
the elevator door opened and out walkedPaul von Wellenetz and he walked up to
me, asked me where I wasfrom, and we were engaged three days
later. So you know a lotmore about my life than we've talked about.
How I predicted how I said thatI was going to date Elvis Presley

(49:30):
and met him two months later andended up having a long friendship with him.
So my life is absolutely full ofmagic, and I expect magic.
That's the name of another book thatI've been working on for years. And
then even just fourteen years ago,I had a heart attack suddenly and went

(49:52):
to the hospital, got four stentsput in, ended up on a cruise
ship that I was lect on twoweeks later, and ended up writing a
book called Love Your Heart. Andyou can download that book for free on
the open on the homepage of mywebsite. So there's so much magic in
my life that I haven't even hadtime to share with you. But I

(50:15):
must say that I think we're goingto be talking for a long time.
Grace. I think I help soand I'm going to repeat something because I
would be remiss if I didn't throwit in. There is that little fun
fact about you. Yes, shebriefly dated Elvis, and I will leave
it at that. Diana, whatwould you unless you're willing to talk about

(50:39):
it, but I'd rather ask youthis question. What would you tell Let
me find an age a fifteen yearold today? What would be if you
were standing in front of a classroomof fifteen year olds? What would you
tell them today? I know youspeak to an audience of adults. What

(51:04):
would you tell younger people today?I would tell them to follow their heart.
I think that is our home.I think that is where our inner
knowing exists. I think that theycan ask questions about what's meaningful, what
really matters in the world, andlisten to their unique wisdom that can come

(51:31):
through when they invite that. Soask questions of yourself and of the divine
however you define that. I mean, you know, it can be your
religion, it can be God,it can be the universe, it can
be the quantum physics that the scientistsare telling us about that have just the

(51:54):
most amazing mirror neurons and things thatwill ever be able to explain how all
this works, but we can notethat it works, and that it can
work for them individually to really exploretheir own inner knowing and their natural inclinations
and what they're drawn to. Themost important question anyone ever asked me was,

(52:20):
Diana, are you driven or areyou drawn? And I'd say,
be drawn absolutely. I like tothink of it as getting in touch with
the landscape in your mind. AndI agree with you, I really do,
Diana. This has been an absolutepleasure. Maybe you come back.

(52:45):
Maybe you come back and we talka little bit about fun things and fun
stories and find out after you sellingeverything, And by the way, don't
sell all that art because I loveart and art is just heartwarming, and
think about out that because to lookat art, to hear music is just

(53:05):
part of just again bringing us home. Thanks everyone for listening to this episode
of Becoming the Journey. I hopeyou just all keep tuning in. I
hope we're getting better and better atthis. If you want to follow us,
you can follow us on Instagram atBecoming the Journey. And you know,

(53:27):
if you want to give us areview, please do. I'd appreciate
it. Diana again, thank youso much. It's been beautiful. It's
a life pleasure. Thank you,Grace so much for what you do.
Okay, by bye bye. Youhave been listening to Becoming the Journey hosted
by Grace Lavere. Tune in weeklyto hear more conversations that will inspire listeners

(53:47):
along their life's journey. The proceedingwas a paid podcast. iHeartRadio's hosting of
this podcast constitutes neither an endorsement ofthe products offered or the ideas expressed