Brilliantly Resilient

There are two kinds of pain–one that goes on and on and on, and the kind where there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Go towards the light.

~ Candace Plattor

Challenge and crisis are never easy. But they do come with choice. While we can’t always change our circumstances, we can change our responses to our challenges. The choice to change our response can break the cycle of pain and allow us to see the light at the end of the t...

The God lens is always going to be a more compassionate, but a less certain lens. It’s going to take away the absolute convictions with which we are looking at many things and open us up to the possibility that we are mistaken.

~ Christine Eberle

Geez, we hate being wrong. It happens–rarely–but we really, really hate it when it does. Yet, it happens to us all, probably more often than we’d like.

Much of the angst we experience when...

There was always a component of courage, but not the absence of fear.

~ Dr. Robyn Graham

Have you ever felt anxious? Hands up, everyone! No one escapes anxiety. But why does it cripple some of us while others seem to escape its grasp?

This week’s guest on the Brilliantly Resilient podcast, Dr. Robyn Graham, confesses that she’s experienced anxiety since she can remember, and it’s held her back on more than one occasion. Yet, by rea...

Look at your calendar from the last few months and see what put a smile on your face. What about those experiences can you do more of?

~ Fran Hauser

Finding our Brilliance. It’s not always easy. Our Brilliance and the things that light us up don’t always jump out and say, “Here I am! This is what you’re supposed to be doing!”

But our friend, Fran Hauser, author, angel investor and the queen of kindness in the workplace, offers a si...

Everything is situational. We constantly have values competing, all of the time. That’s where you make the hardest decisions. What is at your core?

~ Ken Meeker

Decisions, decisions. Wouldn’t it be great if they were all easy? Many are. For example, what would you choose, a paid vacation, or an extra 40 hours at work with no compensation? (Choose the vacation!)

But what about those decisions that have you considering the “on the ot...

When you’re by yourself and having a meltdown, it takes a few moments to realize no one is coming to rescue you, to get you up. That’s when you have to make a choice. No one controls my happiness, my destiny, my goals, and my dreams but me. It is no one else’s choice. It is my choice. ~ Cheryl Ecton

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you thought, “I can’t do this. I’ll never be able to get out of this mess alone.”? It...

We have 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts each day. Ninety percent of those are the thoughts that we had yesterday. We are constantly living in the past.

 ~ Stanley Dietrich

How often do you find yourself on the hamster wheel of chasing the same thoughts over and over in your mind? When something is challenging or concerning us, it may feel like the same thoughts never leave–we dwell on them day after day, often with little or no resolutio...

Victim is an identity.

Mindset is what you think.

What you think is what you speak.

What you speak is what you act.

What you act becomes your reality.

~ Michael Unbroken

Life is not for the faint of heart. And many of us have experienced trauma–some more profound than others. 

Yet, trauma does not have to define us, or be the overriding factor in our lives. Our Brilliantly Resilient guest this week, Michael Unbroken, teaches trauma...

I learned so much from the people in my life. I wanted to share that and to remind others to cherish and honor those who raised and influenced them.

~ Jane Jenkins Herlong

Every life is touched by so many others. But how often do we think back and acknowledge the lessons–whether good or bad–that we learn from those who have come into our lives?

Our Brilliantly Resilient guest this week, Jane Jenkins Herlong, knows the power of the ...

What are my transferable skills? I’m a big believer in using all of the skills I’ve gathered along the way.

~ Gail Robertson

Have you ever spent time doing something and thought, “Well, that was pointless”?

We tend to put value on things that are only immediately useful, discarding those that don’t prove their worth right away. 

Yet, have you ever been in a situation where those skills–the ones you thought were pointless–have come ...

We have different play needs at different times of life. We never outgrow the need to play.

 ~ Jill Asher, Magical Bridge Foundation

Have you ever passed by a playground and simply listened to the shouts of joy from children playing? Better yet, do you remember the joy you felt as you ran, jumped, and played as a child?

The world is a serious place–one that can make play seem frivolous and unnecessary in the midst of so much crisis...

It is about finding that Resilience and strength to say, “Okay, I’m gonna show up another day. I’m just gonna show up another day." And then the next day and the next day. ~ Maria Johnson, a.k.a. Girl Gone Blind

How often in a crisis do you think to yourself, “I just can’t do this anymore”? 

When a challenge hits us with a sucker punch, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and defeated. Crisis changes life in an instant, taking away, ...

The critic is the voice of fear; the coach is the voice of love. Talk to yourself like you want  yourself to win.

~ Kristin & Mary Fran

Here at Brilliantly Resilient, we can really be mean. To ourselves, that is.

It’s hard to imagine, but statistics show that we talk to ourselves thousands of times a day, and it’s often 80% negative. And not only does that negative thinking apply to our circumstances (the person paying by check...

We’re our own best case study. We’ve had to dig in, find our resilience, find the Brilliance within that challenge and then create some really cool stuff. We lived the Brilliantly Resilient process.

~ Kristin & Mary Fran

Did you ever hear the expression “Do what I say, not what I do?” Well, here at Brilliantly Resilient, we don’t believe in telling anyone to do anything unless we’ve tried it ourselves. 

That’s why, every time w...

Being Resilient and Rising are about failing your way to success.

~ Beate Chelette

Failure. The word alone can feel like an anvil on your head. But it wasn’t always that way.

No one remembers learning to walk, but talk about failing spectacularly. Babies fall an average of 17 times an hour while learning to walk! When they do, they don’t cry, they don’t blame the rest of the world because they can’t do it, they simply get up, over ...

Take imperfect action.

~ Kate Erickson: EOFire

How many times have you refrained from taking action on a problem because of the what-ifs? 

The thought process goes like this: Well, I can do xyz, but what if (insert new problem) happens? Then what do I do? I just don’t know how to proceed…. Before you know it, you’re paralyzed and you’ve talked yourself out of doing anything.

This week’s guest, Kate Erickson of EOFire, knows how it ...

However much anger you have will affect your future outcome. Conversely, the more love and faith, the better the future. ~ Eric Edmeades

Have you been angry lately? Yikes. Perhaps a better question would be, who hasn’t been angry lately? 

These days, the world is a pretty angry place. Everyone has an opinion, everyone’s opinion is right (???), people feel they deserve whatever they want, and if they don’t get it, they take it–or ge...

Create a silver lining—Do something, build something, create something.

~ Dr. David Fajgenbaum

Have you ever heard the expression: Find the silver lining? It’s about looking for something positive in a lousy situation. That sounds great, but what if things appear so bleak that you can’t find a silver lining? What then? To hear Dr. David Fajgenbaum’s story, it’s easy to see why it was nearly impossible to find a silver lining. Diagn...

It’s about discovering and remaining in your zone of genius as much as possible. Discover it and own it. Lean into the brilliance that you have and do it unapologetically. ~ Chris Ducker

Have you ever had someone compliment your Brilliance and instead of responding “Yes!! Thank you; I am Brilliant!”, you muttered something like, “Well, it was no big deal; I didn’t do much.”? Come on, you know you have.

We have a tendency to downpla...