January 23, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of Resilience Gone Wild, host Jessica Morgenthal sits down with Lizzie LaRoc, the creative force behind The Life Feast program. Together, they dive into the transformative intersection of positive psychology, nature, and creative photography, exploring how these elements can deepen our connection with ourselves and the world around us.
Lizzie shares her personal journey of blending mindfulness with photography, and how this practice has helped her and her community savor life’s most profound moments. From incredible animal encounters to moments of synchronicity, Lizzie reveals the magic that happens when we align with our true desires and stay present in the now.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Hey. Hi, Lizzie. I'm so excited to be
in conversation
with my old psycho positive psychology friend,
Lizzie Larocque, who has
inspired
so many people
to
just focus and because she's all about photography
on top of psychology and nature.
It just to, like, focus on the beauty
(00:26):
and focus on
being in the moment and focus on,
connecting. And
it's just one beautiful message after another. So
to that end, I'm gonna ask Lizzy Larocque
to introduce herself and tell us
the favorite things about herself that she loves,
about what she does and who she is.
And then Lizzie is gonna tell us this
(00:47):
amazing story about just deep connection
and
how it changed her with one of my
favorite spirit animals as well. So,
welcome, Lizzie. Yay. I'm so happy you're here.
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Jessica.
I am Lizzie Larocque, and I live in
Simoet Springs, Colorado. So I live in a
ski resort in Northwest
(01:09):
Colorado. And,
I I have a a program that I've
created called the LifeEase. And so just as
you said, like I say that it's a
mashup of
curiosity, awe, joy, mindfulness,
play, adventure, and creative iPhone photography. So I
love to blend this world of positive psychology
(01:29):
and
your camera because I feel, as as you
know, as you know, that you really enjoy
photography as well. But,
photography is such a great
metaphor for all of positive psychology
and savoring things. I feel like it's they're
they're just perfectly in sync. So
that is,
that is what I'm all about. I have
(01:49):
identical twin girls who just
left for college this year, so I'm having,
you know, some some new empty nest
grief as I just went back to school
the other the other day. But,
yeah. And I have to say, I always
wanna thank
you,
as we tie it into the positive psychology
(02:10):
because I know that you had sent me
that email several years ago of, Lizzie, you
have to go check out Mandy Seligman.
And I you were seeing her speak somewhere.
And so Mandy Seligman being the wife of
of Martin Seligman
and,
Founder of positive psychology. Of positive psychology and
that she is
(02:31):
a positive psychologist, clinical psychologist,
as well as a photographer.
And so Mandy and I met. She did
a workshop in in my program.
We text often, became lovely friends, and it
was really it was really neat because she,
with her proximity to the the science of
(02:52):
positive psychology,
simultaneously,
unbeknownst to either of us, we were doing
really similar work. She was creating an app
and I was creating this program and,
yeah. So it it I was so excited.
I forgot that that worked out so well.
And, like, Marty Seligman is, like, our you
know, everyone's hero who's in this space.
And Mandy is such a beautiful person,
(03:13):
like, such a beautiful, talented,
just,
wisdom
and joy
person. So yay. Thank you. Gorgeous accent that
I mean, she's just yeah.
Yay. So thank you. Thank you. Those those
random emails that you sent out, like, yeah,
I really not that you sent thing on
that. Yeah. I'm like I was like, okay.
I'll Google her. Like, there was no other
(03:34):
context, and I just went ahead and fell
in love. So Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that. That's, like, made
my day. That's a that's a a boost
for the day that like, one of my
coolest connections. Gratitude to you. I should have
just I think I did say, like, oh
my gosh. You did. You did. I remember
it. Yeah. She's gonna do it. Okay. So
we'll get her on here to do an
episode next. So we'll
(03:55):
yay. Okay. So now that we're all in
this, like, common this amazing energy and spirituality
thing between the 2 of us is common
energy.
I can't wait for you to share your
story about
energy and spirit and,
manifesting
what you want in life and just these,
like, special, special
experiences that we could all have if we
(04:17):
just open ourselves up to them. So tell
us your story. Tell us this beautiful story.
Yeah. And I it's so funny. Like, I
I love that I can own this now
because, you know, I love sciences so much
that in when I when I asked, like,
well, can I share some stories from, like,
spiritual
experiences with animals,
Jessica? You know, that you were you were
(04:38):
game for it.
Yeah. Because years ago, I probably would have
kept it more on the on the down
low. But
but so about,
I think, probably back in
2013
or so,
I I love yoga. I'm a long time
yoga practitioner, and I really love very traditional
(04:58):
yoga. And so my favorite teacher here where
I live was trained in India, and her
favorite
swami and teacher from India
came to Steamboat, to our little town
from India,
to lead, like, a 3 day yoga retreat
at my regular yoga studio. And I gleefully
(05:18):
signed up, and it was gonna be learning
all about your chakras and doing different yoga
poses and whatnot and meditation. And so
in the very,
first day of the the workshop,
we he's
the the the Swami Mahesh. He's a dear
friend now. But, he was teaching us, and
he was going through the different chakras and
(05:40):
what the
what the what the energetic
meaning is in our lives and how to
bring more balance to them and and all
the good stuff that comes with chakra work.
And he got to the heart space, the
heart chakra, so moving up.
And he had said,
yeah, this is your anahat
(06:01):
chakra,
and
it is your purest
heart's desire.
And that,
his example that he was using is he
said, you know, if you if you want
something in life, if you if you want
basically to you know, a word that sometimes
makes me roll my eyes. But if you
want to manifest something in life
and it's coming from your anahat,
(06:24):
not from,
say, more of your Swadhistaan, which was lower
in your in your hips of this more
ego based,
desires, If it's coming from your heart in
this purest place, like, it will come true.
And he said very joyfully,
cutely, you know, like, for example, I would
love to see a bear while I am
here in Steamboat. And we all chuckled, you
(06:47):
know, or thinking, like, yeah. I mean, there
every once in a while, you see a
bear,
and I don't know if you'll see one
in the next 3 days or so.
And
we start doing the the workshop, and we're
doing our different yoga poses.
And, like, an hour or 2 into it,
a a guy in the the
the room did not have mirrors. It's my
(07:09):
it's my favorite room. And it overlooked a
river and a wooded area and a small
ski hill where, they train, like, Olympic ski
jumpers,
not our main ski mountain. And so and
there's, like, a bike path and restaurants down
below. Like, it's it's
it's nature, and it's also, you know, our
downtown area, but scenic. And so a guy
(07:31):
goes, oh my gosh. Tommy Mahesh,
there's a bear in the tree
right now. Like, your wish is coming true.
And,
I think as I told you before, Jessica,
like, I've been practicing yoga in this room
since for, like, 15 years. I had never
seen a bear out the window. I've eaten
(07:51):
dinner at the restaurant down below. I've never
seen a bear out the window from that.
It was pretty extraordinary. So as soon as
this moment happened where, like, what? There's a
there's a bear you just said. This is
your heart's desire?
And
it
was I said, I thought, I'm a believer.
(08:12):
Like, alright. Life changing. Right? That, like, somehow
energy
can like, there's energy out there that that
things happen if you want them enough, and
and they're not free go to show off
or to tell people that they are about
just pure heartfelt
connection and and joy. Right? Yeah. Seeing the
(08:33):
bear wasn't gonna
inflate his status in life. It wasn't like,
I I need to see a bear because
that'll make me cooler or whatever or wealthier
or any sort of ego based desire. And
yeah. And he was so delighted by it,
and we we still talk. Like, he comes
back to town every couple of years, and
we still joke about this this day that
(08:54):
that the bear happened.
So shall I shall I tell you the
part part 2 to this sound? Yes. So
and this impact you beyond the bear? Go
further. Yeah. So so I definitely, like,
tucked in a way like, wow. That was
fascinating.
And,
I
I I see bears often, so I wasn't
(09:15):
really dying to manifest a bear.
But
I a couple years later, I was the
marketing director for a mindfulness company.
And,
the the founder of the company
was leading retreats in Costa Rica,
and I was,
I was helping her market the the retreat.
(09:37):
And she
trying to fully remember
if this was the same time frame or
previously.
I I think it was. She had been
she was gonna be in Costa Rica for
about a month. The retreat was gonna be
at the tail end of the month. And
so I was doing
some additional marketing for her of it, and
she
told me this story about how they had
(09:59):
gone to you had said the park, the
the national park in Costa Rica
where they watched the leather
shirt see, Leather Leather Leather Leatherback sea turtles.
Yeah. Wait. Isn't that what they're called? There
are leatherback turtles. Yep. But go ahead. But
this huge, massive Yes. Yes. She saw leatherbacks?
Oh, cool. Okay. Go ahead. Yeah. You got
(10:21):
it. They're like the size of the car.
I think they're it's like a it looks
like a and she she shared a picture
with me and she was like I mean,
there were 100 of them and they had
to That's in Arabada. That's at Camps Ridley.
But and they're smaller, but there's leatherbacks too.
Maybe you should sell them both. But anyway,
go ahead. We won't go to, like yeah.
Whatever. Whatever. What would you think it was?
Like, the large The largest ones are leatherbacks,
(10:42):
and they can weigh, like they're look literally
the size of Volkswagens are, like, could be
£1500,
but they don't come in they don't have
any Okay. Alright. So this might have been
a slaw smaller version. This is in Aradura
where, like, Costa Rica this beach is where
100 or 1,000 all nest at the same
come in at the same time. Yes. And
it's just, like, miraculous experience that I will
(11:03):
someday hopefully have.
That is that is the one. And she
had said, like, oh, yeah. There were all
these rules. Like, we had to be really
quiet. It was so you know, she's a
mindfulness
teacher. So it's this beautifully
meditative,
quiet experience of watching these giant turtles come
and lay in the sand to to nest.
And
I was, like, just absolutely swooning over this
(11:25):
story. Like, I want this I'm in Steamboat.
I'm in Colorado with the bears and the
and the snow. And thinking, I wanna have
this experience
with a turtle. I wanna be in Costa
Rica. This is this is amazing.
And I'm writing marketing material for her based
on this story. And
a couple months later,
(11:46):
so
I I was in
Cabo San Lucas, like, San Jose del Cabo,
Mexico with my family for my dad's 70th
birthday. And we had rented
a villa on this fancy, beautiful beach, and
it was a very manicured beach. It was
combed and maintained
daily.
And,
(12:06):
I had told my sister this story of
the the turtles that
that my client had just seen the month
prior. And I was like, that doesn't look
like this is the kind of beach that
we're gonna see hundreds of sea turtles come
to to nest, and I'm bummed about that.
My heart, I want to manifest
(12:27):
seeing a turtle. And
she laughed and, you know, we're just
nerding out about different manifestations.
And we a couple days later, we go
for a walk on the beach,
and we're walking
and walking. And all of a sudden, I
looked down, and a baby
sea turtle
(12:47):
washes up as the tide comes in over
our feet. And well, I thought it was
a toy. I thought I didn't know like,
I was looking at, like, oh my gosh.
And he's kinda paddling around, and then he
gets back out into to sea. And we
Like seeing these turtles in person is so
cool. Like, they're so beautiful. They're so small,
(13:09):
but they're just magical. Like, they've been doing
this for 1000000 of years. Right? And, like,
it's just crazy to just see these gorgeous
little
animals that have this life ahead of them,
that that they have this that they will
travel around the world and go back to
the same beach to nest. It's like a
a really miraculous kind of thing to see
(13:29):
one of these in person.
Yeah. So we well and so if you
picture us, the ocean is on our left,
you know, the the tides, and to the
right is or the houses and whatnot that
are that are on this beach. But we
so we look to the right, and we
see there's another turtle, another baby sea turtle
coming.
Okay. This wasn't a fluke. This isn't a
(13:51):
toy. This is actually happening.
And we look up, and there's a row
of, you know, like, 10 or so turtles
making their way down the sand into the
into the ocean.
So our kids
are way down the beach over by where
the house was that we were staying. We
start yelling to them to come run over
(14:12):
and see this. We walk up to the
sand and can see this pile of sand
and just watching, like, ants, like, ants coming
out of a hill of these little baby
sea turtles coming out
and, you know, making their way down down
to the ocean. So all the kids come
over, and they immediately, you know, go to,
(14:32):
like, pick them up. But I'm like, don't.
No. Don't pick them up.
As as we've shared, I thought that the
resilience piece was that it's kind of like
a like a baby learning to crawl. Like,
they need to build their strength
to get down to the ocean to make
their journey out into the ocean. And that
if we intervened with that, we would we
would harm their their muscle building process.
(14:54):
And as as I know that you've shared,
that's no. It's this,
what is it again? It's the magnetic
Yeah. They have magnetic they have magnetite and
magnet
this GPS
function, this crazy 6th sense in their brains
that remembers where they were born. Like, they
have to walk down the beach
to know where to go back to
when they have to actually have that experience
(15:16):
of, like, walking
and and
and embedding
the the pavement in their GPS.
Right? Like, it's like a crazy thing. Yeah.
Well and the and the kids' hearts were
in the right place because they're all these
birds are flying around and swooping in,
and they were like, no. The birds are
gonna get them. And I said, well well,
let's just stand over them and kind of
(15:37):
Yeah. Water along straddling them as they as
they to to
ensure safe passage into the ocean,
but not interfere with the with the process.
And so that's exactly what we did. We
did watch one tragedy where a bird swooped
in
and, you know, because there were so many
coming at once. The world It could be,
like, a 120. I mean, the short thing
(15:59):
just keep going. Yeah. Yeah. So we were
not able to, like,
say straddle them all. Of course, me being
a photographer, I happen to have I I
was really quite pleased. Like, I had had
my bigger camera with me, like, on my
shoulder. And
so I you know, I'm immediately stopping and
trying to get my
picture, which I I have one that is
(16:21):
actually up in my husband's office.
Oh, okay. We we will put them in
the show notes. We have to get that
picture from him. Yeah. Yeah. I'll put that
in there. So and what's funny is,
my my husband, we've always
joked that he's kind of like his spirit
animal should be a turtle because he
is,
very soft on the underbelly. He definitely has,
(16:41):
like, you know, not a not a harsh
exterior, but it's just protective. Yeah. And and
and he does he's very introverted where I'm
very extroverted, and he does go inward into
this shell. And so he's a therapist in
in our town, and he actually his company
is called Tortuga Counselors.
And
that's what he's that's what he's which is
(17:02):
funny. When he when he we first had
his business cards whenever my mom said something
like, is he gonna counsel turtles? And I
said, no. He's counseling people. But the people
resonate with this metaphor as well of this
soft underbelly and and, you know, a little
bit of a tougher exterior and and needing
to go inward for for all the things.
So we've always we're scuba divers, and we
(17:24):
I feel like it's such a
joy and a treat when you get to
see a turtle diving underwater because they're just
I think of, like, the Finding Nemo turtle.
That's, like, the cutest
surfer
dude.
And, they they just look so effortless
and elegant, and they're just floating away. And
it just it reminds me to take a
(17:46):
breath and relax
and to, like,
chill
out a bit. It's amazing because the only
time a female turtle will a female turtle
will only come back and not be in
that graceful
capacity
is when they nest,
and a male turtle will never return to
the beach, will never touch sand again. So,
like, that's their world, that graceful beauty
(18:09):
of
just the spirit of them wandering around in
in comfort, like, in enjoy. But when they
come back on the beach, it's a lot
of work. Like, we watch those little guys.
It was a lot of work to get
to get to the beach. Right? To get
to the water. Yeah. Like, that's quite the
journey. And well and I think as I
I shared with you
that,
(18:29):
so when we you know, having this amazing
experience and when it was over and we
went back to the house, we asked the
the caretaker of the house who shared it
with him, and he said, well, that's really
exceptional and very rare because
when this the turtles are so protected here
in this part of Mexico and
said so when they do find that there's
(18:50):
a nest,
they remove it and take it to their
sanctuary
where the where the turtles can have you
know, not be bothered by tourists and and
all of that. And he said, that must
be one that that got missed. And,
like, 3 I think 3 days after the
turtle sighting, there was
not a I mean, it was, like, almost
(19:12):
a hurricane, but it a tropical storm. So
it was a huge tropical storm,
and the waves
surged, and the the beach
was absolutely covered in water. It was flooded.
I mean, you could not our full area
at our house was flooded. Like, everything was
was flooded. So this,
I'm guessing, this turtle nest would not have
(19:33):
made it if it was
3 days later.
Yeah. Yeah. And he would share that it's
rare, anyway, that it was daytime.
Yeah. Right. And it was daytime. I mean,
it was such an incredibly,
impossible moment to have had,
but you wanted it to have. So you
(19:53):
it somehow happened. Right? Like, just like the
bear and the like and if it hadn't
happened, you wouldn't have a story, and you
probably wouldn't remember.
But it did happen, so it changes you.
Right? Like, these are the stories that change
us by by just embracing and savoring, as
you said, these these experiences so that they
they become more meaningful. Like, a story isn't
(20:14):
just a story. It has, like, a deep
meaning that changes you. Okay. So to that
end, what did it do to change you?
Like, how did what what came, carried, followed?
What rippled? What did you bring forward from
that experience?
So a couple of different things. So one
is that
I you know, as you just said, like,
if it hadn't have happened, I would have
(20:36):
forgotten that I'd ever set this pure desire
that I wanted to see a turtle because
I was jealous of my friend who had
seen
not jealous because it made her cool or
anything, but just that I wanted to have
that same wanted to have that. Yeah. From
that on a hot, a heart, really pure
desired place. There was gonna be no
benefit to me in life for having seen
(20:57):
it
status wise, ego wise.
And
so I choose to to to see that
experience not as just a random
coincidence, but as something that
that did come from this very pure heart
desire of mine. I think the synchronicity
of that happening just 2 months later, the
(21:19):
fact that I had been in this yoga
class before
where I witnessed this happened to someone else
and kind of attributed, like, well, he's like
a magical Swami. Of course, he can manifest
a bear. I can't do that. I'm a
mere mortal over here. And being like, oh,
wow. No. I can
can too. And,
like, just
tapping me into that difference between,
(21:41):
something that's a want from my head maybe
versus something that's really coming from my my
heart from this
other place. So this building this trust
in
for like, really, truly for, like, goal setting
and and other things that I want to
say in my in my own
business of, okay. Well, where where am I
(22:01):
tapped into this this true desire?
And then I also so I love
I I love these, like, god winks or
these,
sidewalk oracles or these just moments that aren't
random,
that I choose to not see as random
in my 50. Right? You can choose
to just sort of write it off or
(22:21):
you can choose not to see it as
random because if you get to choose the
story, why not choose the one that serves
you better? Like, that's that's you know, as
positive psychologists, that's like so and coaches, that's
that's the message. Right? Like, you don't know
the story, so choose the one that that
is better for you. And, like, we're always
making up a narrative in our heads. So
(22:42):
why don't I make up the one that
that I love? And so the one that
I love is
seeing these synchronicities
as these little winks from the universe, these
these beautiful moments that
somehow
in in that situation
of I I had voiced the desire. In
other situations, I think I've told you about
3 weeks ago
(23:04):
Mhmm. I saw a a white
marmot.
I forgot what it's it's not called, but
it's like this sort of lengthy,
little mountain. Is it a mink? Like a
mink, but it was pure white and saw
it while on a chairlift,
skiing. And, you know, you can think of
how yes. They are there, but they are
white and the snow is white and you're
(23:25):
up, you know, 3 feet above in a
in a chairlift. It's not easy to see.
And so saw this white marmot, and then
later that day, I saw, like, 3 white
bunnies,
on my way to my house.
And I
so
with other animal sightings, like, I Google immediately
not immediately because I'm on a chairlift. But
(23:45):
I Google, what is the spiritual
message behind
whatever animal this is? And I take it
as, maybe this isn't my
spiritual animal of all time, but more of
what is it just trying to tell me
in this moment? What is it trying to
remind me of?
And, like, with the the bunnies, it was
something like
(24:06):
remember to be playful. Remember to just be,
you know and and it was, you know,
it was December, like, an empty nester. My
kids are coming back. It's holiday time. It's
stressful. And it was just this beautiful message
of,
oh, yeah.
And I don't need to go, like, I
don't
know, down to have a peyote trip of,
(24:27):
like, oh, here's what my spirit
animal
message is by my journey. I can just
take this in this everyday life moment and
say, yeah. I needed that that I need
this own little little oracle in in life
of this Message. I needed to hear this
message. And people often say that. They're like,
just send me a message. Like, if so
if they lose somebody
(24:47):
and they're like, just send me a message
that you're still there. Just send me a
message that this is the right decision or
whatever. And then you hear people talk so
often about red you know, the cardinals
who come back after someone passes and they
feel like that's their spiritual like, if you
were to Google it, right, it would be
like, yes. What people see as the
return
and connection from someone who's gone.
(25:09):
So, like, someone might say, like, oh, you
don't need to see them. And I'd say,
like, well, if someone is grieving and that
is what's just most uplifting and helpful
in their resilience and in their healing, like,
there's no harm in having
keeping this as that's what that means to
me. And that is I'm so grateful when
these little
(25:29):
moments happen to me.
Not only the ones that you know, if
I say, like, I wanna see a red
cardinal today, but, you know, that they just
for you. Right? Like Yeah. Because you are
open to them.
And this is the whole, like, you've you've
defined the whole purpose of my whole resilience
gone wild. It's to offer metaphors and you've
connected this in a in, like, a a
(25:51):
beautiful way that if you if you just
give yourself permission to take this positive nature
metaphor
and
and and savor it and bring it to
mind when you need it. So, like, next
time you feel like, I'm just not having
as much fun or, like, my kids are
coming and I need to I really wanna
(26:11):
be the fun
have give them the fun experience and not
get weighted down by judgments or whatever. Like,
take everything too seriously right now. The bunny.
Bring the bunny to mind. Yeah. Like, that's
that's the offering. Right? And when you're looking
at, you know, the turtle
and
the the fact that you got to see
it, it's that you can, if you really
(26:33):
want something,
and you open yourself up to the positive
energy, let it broaden and build, which I
keep coming back to. If you're in this
place of positive energy and open mindedness and
curiosity and willingness
to just
let things happen.
Things happen.
Right? You're not, like, tight in yourself with
(26:53):
with no curiosity and not seeing anything except
your ego.
You're open to
your heart.
Yeah. And I know and I I bet
that as people are listening,
it's
jogging in their memory some random
sighting that they that they
either did pay attention to or or didn't.
But, like, I was even just sharing this.
(27:15):
I've forgotten about this story, but I think
I can't remember if it was before or
after, but, like, years ago, I was in
my my in law's neighborhood in Florida, and
it's like a golf community and pavement
everywhere. And,
I had decided I, like it was, like,
New Year's or something. I decided I was
gonna take up jogging, and I was, like,
running in their neighborhood or whatever and just
(27:37):
going going. Like, I'm just I'm always going
going going. And I, like, turned a corner,
and there was a giant turtle in the
middle of, like, someone's driveway
in Florida. You know, not there's the even
the kind of the more watery area,
they're not on a on a beach, but
they're on, like, a creek, and it's still
(27:57):
pretty far away from where we are in
this very paved area.
And, like, I, like,
take a step back and go, what? And
I did like, for me, personally, as a
well, especially a turtle because it's slow, but
I could take a picture, you know, if
I can
and I've I've happened upon these in my
camera roll from, like this is, like, 10
(28:19):
years ago that I saw this random huge
turtle in the driveway
in Marco Island, Florida. You know, that's so
strange. But I think that, you know, at
that time, I I I can't fully remember,
but I would guess that the the message
either that I took from it or needed
to was, like, slow down. You know, that
this is
you're just, like even though I'm trying to
(28:39):
take up a a good habit at this
time in life and motherhood and and work
and all that, it was just like, go.
Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Rather than,
you know That's the best part about this
story to me is that you get to
choose what you get out of a story.
Right? You could, like, see the sub seem
some sort of suffering or negative or whatever,
or you can say,
(29:00):
this is the message that I need to
hear at this time and and connect it
and and just you both are in a
better place after that. Right? Like, you now
move forward.
Well, yeah. Because because you you can get
the dark side too, but when you Google
something.
And I I remember being I'll tell you
one more. But I remember being in in
the parking lot of Starbucks,
drinking, you know, whatever beverage I'm having in
(29:22):
my car,
and I was, you know, answering messages or
something. And on my windshield, I felt, like,
a pecking, and it was a a bird,
and it was like a black crow thing,
like, you
know,
pecking away at my windshield, not stopping, definitely
wanting my attention.
And I forgot whatever the message was, but
(29:44):
it was you know, there were some darker
sides to it, which maybe had their own
own,
you know, positive
spin as well or that I could choose
to believe. I forgot what I how I
had
But this this is my head, but it
was like, okay. Yeah. This is you know,
pay attention.
Whatever this this is telling me. So I'm
(30:05):
going to toot thank you for that beautiful
story and for bringing
the whole idea that we if we pay
attention
and we
create a story
out of versus just a fact. I saw
a crow and a crow is banging on
my windshield. Yeah. Like This is a bad
omen.
Right? Create a story that that you want
(30:27):
to carry forward
that helps you live a more joyful life
and more resilient life. So to that end,
I'm gonna sort of turn it back and
say, that's what Lizzie offers
in her at least part of I'm sure
there's lots more that you offer, but, like,
that's such a a, unique
focus of your work is that, you know,
(30:48):
when I go back and look at old
camera roll pictures, which is some of the
activities and and things that you offer up,
it's like,
keep taking those pictures because
they they have a story. And if you
go back and look at them, like, remembering
those moments and savoring life that way
is such a beautiful way to go through
life. Like,
(31:09):
take the pictures. Go back and look at
them. Go back and remember the stories. Like,
we're so blessed to have iPhones.
Right? So that
we have access to I'm, like, so sad
that before 2010, I didn't have these pictures.
Right? Like, they're in these silly albums on
the shelf somewhere that I can't just look
at them. But so to to that, I'm
gonna offer you know, where where would you
(31:30):
wrap up with that? Oh, well and I'll
just say, I wanna give a caveat to
that because I go both ways with it
of, like, take the picture and also there
are these moments for your soul where, you
know, we're we're taking
so many that we're missing the moment of
being present. You know, I was really like,
with the baby sea turtles,
I didn't immediately reach for my camera even
(31:50):
though it was there and it was this
extraordinary
moment. It was like
being in awe of this experience
first and really feeling it and having it
in my heart. And then as I'm seeing,
like, well, yeah, these are there are a
lot of them. I could actually take a
moment to
to compose.
Or take a picture and then put it
away so that you don't feel like, oh
(32:11):
my god. I need to take a picture.
Like, just put it aside
Exactly. In the experience. And I keep going
back to an interview I did
with Oliver,
who's a,
who's the honey badger episode. And he said,
just 5 minutes a day. Just go out
in nature and leave the camera. Like, don't
take the phone out of your pack out
(32:31):
of your pocket. Like, just go out and
spend 5 minutes a day just
in awe and in connection,
and don't worry about
about recording it. You know? Like, that's a
different 5 minutes, and it change it changes
everything.
It it does. And you know what? It's
funny. I'll share it. This is such a
random example, but we went to, a Peter
(32:51):
Frampton concert, like, you know, 5 years ago
or so.
And I loved it because Peter Frampton kinda
made a joke at the beginning of the
concert that he had gotten in trouble at
some other concert for, like, taking someone's phone
and chucking it
in the audience, really. So when it was
recording,
And he said, so I've I you know,
my management and I have talked, and we've
(33:12):
come up with a different plan.
And he said, for the first two songs
of this concert, take as many photos as
you want, record as much as you want,
like, have at it. And he said, and
then after that oh, I'm gonna I like,
I get chills even today. He's like, after
that, we're gonna have an experience together. So
put that phone away. Like, I don't wanna
see it again.
I
(33:33):
like, we're
we're on this journey together. Spectacular.
And I love that. So I take that
in so much of my work of, like
yeah. Like like, documenting that one turtle in
Florida,
that was on the driveway. Like, it it
does it's a memory primer. Right? Like, just
having these things in our camera roll, we
can go back to and
reach remember that story, like, oh, maybe I
(33:54):
am meant to slow down today too even
though it's 8 years later. But
I'm really intentional about, like, having that moment
first. Then if I feel called to take
the photo or want to remember it in
some way to to do that
and not worry about it if I don't.
Like, that's a photo for myself. Okay. So
this is so important. This is coming from
the guru
(34:14):
of
savoring
through photos,
and that message is so freaking important. So
don't
feel like you have to have the picture.
Like, you still can keep the story without
the picture and just keep savoring the story
and
find some other way to to to have
it stay in your life
and
(34:35):
just just enjoy. Just
be in the moment. Right?
It's awesome. Yeah. I love love that. Okay,
Lizzie.
Thank you for all of this, this opportunity
to share
share this this
these fun stories. Thank you. Oh, this was
so beautiful. Thank you so much, Lizzie. Can't
wait to keep connecting in our lives
and and learning from you and and savoring
(34:56):
our world together. So thank you. Thank you
so much.
Thank you, Jessica.
This has been a production of BLI Studios
(35:17):
produced by me, Kai. Follow along with our
other BLI produced shows at balancing life's issues.com/podcastdashbli.
Got an idea for the show? Email me,
Kai, at balancing life's issues.com.
And don't forget to stay in touch with
your host, Jessica, atjessica@winwinwinmindset.com.
Anything else to add, Miles?
Hey. Hi, Lizzie. I'm so excited to be
in conversation
with my old psycho positive psychology friend,
Lizzie Larocque, who has
inspired
so many people
to
just focus and because she's all about photography
on top of psychology and nature.
It just to, like, focus on the beauty
(00:26):
and focus on
being in the moment and focus on,
connecting. And
it's just one beautiful message after another. So
to that end, I'm gonna ask Lizzy Larocque
to introduce herself and tell us
the favorite things about herself that she loves,
about what she does and who she is.
And then Lizzie is gonna tell us this
(00:47):
amazing story about just deep connection
and
how it changed her with one of my
favorite spirit animals as well. So,
welcome, Lizzie. Yay. I'm so happy you're here.
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Jessica.
I am Lizzie Larocque, and I live in
Simoet Springs, Colorado. So I live in a
ski resort in Northwest
(01:09):
Colorado. And,
I I have a a program that I've
created called the LifeEase. And so just as
you said, like I say that it's a
mashup of
curiosity, awe, joy, mindfulness,
play, adventure, and creative iPhone photography. So I
love to blend this world of positive psychology
(01:29):
and
your camera because I feel, as as you
know, as you know, that you really enjoy
photography as well. But,
photography is such a great
metaphor for all of positive psychology
and savoring things. I feel like it's they're
they're just perfectly in sync. So
that is,
that is what I'm all about. I have
(01:49):
identical twin girls who just
left for college this year, so I'm having,
you know, some some new empty nest
grief as I just went back to school
the other the other day. But,
yeah. And I have to say, I always
wanna thank
you,
as we tie it into the positive psychology
(02:10):
because I know that you had sent me
that email several years ago of, Lizzie, you
have to go check out Mandy Seligman.
And I you were seeing her speak somewhere.
And so Mandy Seligman being the wife of
of Martin Seligman
and,
Founder of positive psychology. Of positive psychology and
that she is
(02:31):
a positive psychologist, clinical psychologist,
as well as a photographer.
And so Mandy and I met. She did
a workshop in in my program.
We text often, became lovely friends, and it
was really it was really neat because she,
with her proximity to the the science of
(02:52):
positive psychology,
simultaneously,
unbeknownst to either of us, we were doing
really similar work. She was creating an app
and I was creating this program and,
yeah. So it it I was so excited.
I forgot that that worked out so well.
And, like, Marty Seligman is, like, our you
know, everyone's hero who's in this space.
And Mandy is such a beautiful person,
(03:13):
like, such a beautiful, talented,
just,
wisdom
and joy
person. So yay. Thank you. Gorgeous accent that
I mean, she's just yeah.
Yay. So thank you. Thank you. Those those
random emails that you sent out, like, yeah,
I really not that you sent thing on
that. Yeah. I'm like I was like, okay.
I'll Google her. Like, there was no other
(03:34):
context, and I just went ahead and fell
in love. So Yeah.
Thank you for sharing that. That's, like, made
my day. That's a that's a a boost
for the day that like, one of my
coolest connections. Gratitude to you. I should have
just I think I did say, like, oh
my gosh. You did. You did. I remember
it. Yeah. She's gonna do it. Okay. So
we'll get her on here to do an
episode next. So we'll
(03:55):
yay. Okay. So now that we're all in
this, like, common this amazing energy and spirituality
thing between the 2 of us is common
energy.
I can't wait for you to share your
story about
energy and spirit and,
manifesting
what you want in life and just these,
like, special, special
experiences that we could all have if we
(04:17):
just open ourselves up to them. So tell
us your story. Tell us this beautiful story.
Yeah. And I it's so funny. Like, I
I love that I can own this now
because, you know, I love sciences so much
that in when I when I asked, like,
well, can I share some stories from, like,
spiritual
experiences with animals,
Jessica? You know, that you were you were
(04:38):
game for it.
Yeah. Because years ago, I probably would have
kept it more on the on the down
low. But
but so about,
I think, probably back in
2013
or so,
I I love yoga. I'm a long time
yoga practitioner, and I really love very traditional
(04:58):
yoga. And so my favorite teacher here where
I live was trained in India, and her
favorite
swami and teacher from India
came to Steamboat, to our little town
from India,
to lead, like, a 3 day yoga retreat
at my regular yoga studio. And I gleefully
(05:18):
signed up, and it was gonna be learning
all about your chakras and doing different yoga
poses and whatnot and meditation. And so
in the very,
first day of the the workshop,
we he's
the the the Swami Mahesh. He's a dear
friend now. But, he was teaching us, and
he was going through the different chakras and
(05:40):
what the
what the what the energetic
meaning is in our lives and how to
bring more balance to them and and all
the good stuff that comes with chakra work.
And he got to the heart space, the
heart chakra, so moving up.
And he had said,
yeah, this is your anahat
(06:01):
chakra,
and
it is your purest
heart's desire.
And that,
his example that he was using is he
said, you know, if you if you want
something in life, if you if you want
basically to you know, a word that sometimes
makes me roll my eyes. But if you
want to manifest something in life
and it's coming from your anahat,
(06:24):
not from,
say, more of your Swadhistaan, which was lower
in your in your hips of this more
ego based,
desires, If it's coming from your heart in
this purest place, like, it will come true.
And he said very joyfully,
cutely, you know, like, for example, I would
love to see a bear while I am
here in Steamboat. And we all chuckled, you
(06:47):
know, or thinking, like, yeah. I mean, there
every once in a while, you see a
bear,
and I don't know if you'll see one
in the next 3 days or so.
And
we start doing the the workshop, and we're
doing our different yoga poses.
And, like, an hour or 2 into it,
a a guy in the the
the room did not have mirrors. It's my
(07:09):
it's my favorite room. And it overlooked a
river and a wooded area and a small
ski hill where, they train, like, Olympic ski
jumpers,
not our main ski mountain. And so and
there's, like, a bike path and restaurants down
below. Like, it's it's
it's nature, and it's also, you know, our
downtown area, but scenic. And so a guy
(07:31):
goes, oh my gosh. Tommy Mahesh,
there's a bear in the tree
right now. Like, your wish is coming true.
And,
I think as I told you before, Jessica,
like, I've been practicing yoga in this room
since for, like, 15 years. I had never
seen a bear out the window. I've eaten
(07:51):
dinner at the restaurant down below. I've never
seen a bear out the window from that.
It was pretty extraordinary. So as soon as
this moment happened where, like, what? There's a
there's a bear you just said. This is
your heart's desire?
And
it
was I said, I thought, I'm a believer.
(08:12):
Like, alright. Life changing. Right? That, like, somehow
energy
can like, there's energy out there that that
things happen if you want them enough, and
and they're not free go to show off
or to tell people that they are about
just pure heartfelt
connection and and joy. Right? Yeah. Seeing the
(08:33):
bear wasn't gonna
inflate his status in life. It wasn't like,
I I need to see a bear because
that'll make me cooler or whatever or wealthier
or any sort of ego based desire. And
yeah. And he was so delighted by it,
and we we still talk. Like, he comes
back to town every couple of years, and
we still joke about this this day that
(08:54):
that the bear happened.
So shall I shall I tell you the
part part 2 to this sound? Yes. So
and this impact you beyond the bear? Go
further. Yeah. So so I definitely, like,
tucked in a way like, wow. That was
fascinating.
And,
I
I I see bears often, so I wasn't
(09:15):
really dying to manifest a bear.
But
I a couple years later, I was the
marketing director for a mindfulness company.
And,
the the founder of the company
was leading retreats in Costa Rica,
and I was,
I was helping her market the the retreat.
(09:37):
And she
trying to fully remember
if this was the same time frame or
previously.
I I think it was. She had been
she was gonna be in Costa Rica for
about a month. The retreat was gonna be
at the tail end of the month. And
so I was doing
some additional marketing for her of it, and
she
told me this story about how they had
(09:59):
gone to you had said the park, the
the national park in Costa Rica
where they watched the leather
shirt see, Leather Leather Leather Leatherback sea turtles.
Yeah. Wait. Isn't that what they're called? There
are leatherback turtles. Yep. But go ahead. But
this huge, massive Yes. Yes. She saw leatherbacks?
Oh, cool. Okay. Go ahead. Yeah. You got
(10:21):
it. They're like the size of the car.
I think they're it's like a it looks
like a and she she shared a picture
with me and she was like I mean,
there were 100 of them and they had
to That's in Arabada. That's at Camps Ridley.
But and they're smaller, but there's leatherbacks too.
Maybe you should sell them both. But anyway,
go ahead. We won't go to, like yeah.
Whatever. Whatever. What would you think it was?
Like, the large The largest ones are leatherbacks,
(10:42):
and they can weigh, like they're look literally
the size of Volkswagens are, like, could be
£1500,
but they don't come in they don't have
any Okay. Alright. So this might have been
a slaw smaller version. This is in Aradura
where, like, Costa Rica this beach is where
100 or 1,000 all nest at the same
come in at the same time. Yes. And
it's just, like, miraculous experience that I will
(11:03):
someday hopefully have.
That is that is the one. And she
had said, like, oh, yeah. There were all
these rules. Like, we had to be really
quiet. It was so you know, she's a
mindfulness
teacher. So it's this beautifully
meditative,
quiet experience of watching these giant turtles come
and lay in the sand to to nest.
And
I was, like, just absolutely swooning over this
(11:25):
story. Like, I want this I'm in Steamboat.
I'm in Colorado with the bears and the
and the snow. And thinking, I wanna have
this experience
with a turtle. I wanna be in Costa
Rica. This is this is amazing.
And I'm writing marketing material for her based
on this story. And
a couple months later,
(11:46):
so
I I was in
Cabo San Lucas, like, San Jose del Cabo,
Mexico with my family for my dad's 70th
birthday. And we had rented
a villa on this fancy, beautiful beach, and
it was a very manicured beach. It was
combed and maintained
daily.
And,
(12:06):
I had told my sister this story of
the the turtles that
that my client had just seen the month
prior. And I was like, that doesn't look
like this is the kind of beach that
we're gonna see hundreds of sea turtles come
to to nest, and I'm bummed about that.
My heart, I want to manifest
(12:27):
seeing a turtle. And
she laughed and, you know, we're just
nerding out about different manifestations.
And we a couple days later, we go
for a walk on the beach,
and we're walking
and walking. And all of a sudden, I
looked down, and a baby
sea turtle
(12:47):
washes up as the tide comes in over
our feet. And well, I thought it was
a toy. I thought I didn't know like,
I was looking at, like, oh my gosh.
And he's kinda paddling around, and then he
gets back out into to sea. And we
Like seeing these turtles in person is so
cool. Like, they're so beautiful. They're so small,
(13:09):
but they're just magical. Like, they've been doing
this for 1000000 of years. Right? And, like,
it's just crazy to just see these gorgeous
little
animals that have this life ahead of them,
that that they have this that they will
travel around the world and go back to
the same beach to nest. It's like a
a really miraculous kind of thing to see
(13:29):
one of these in person.
Yeah. So we well and so if you
picture us, the ocean is on our left,
you know, the the tides, and to the
right is or the houses and whatnot that
are that are on this beach. But we
so we look to the right, and we
see there's another turtle, another baby sea turtle
coming.
Okay. This wasn't a fluke. This isn't a
(13:51):
toy. This is actually happening.
And we look up, and there's a row
of, you know, like, 10 or so turtles
making their way down the sand into the
into the ocean.
So our kids
are way down the beach over by where
the house was that we were staying. We
start yelling to them to come run over
(14:12):
and see this. We walk up to the
sand and can see this pile of sand
and just watching, like, ants, like, ants coming
out of a hill of these little baby
sea turtles coming out
and, you know, making their way down down
to the ocean. So all the kids come
over, and they immediately, you know, go to,
(14:32):
like, pick them up. But I'm like, don't.
No. Don't pick them up.
As as we've shared, I thought that the
resilience piece was that it's kind of like
a like a baby learning to crawl. Like,
they need to build their strength
to get down to the ocean to make
their journey out into the ocean. And that
if we intervened with that, we would we
would harm their their muscle building process.
(14:54):
And as as I know that you've shared,
that's no. It's this,
what is it again? It's the magnetic
Yeah. They have magnetic they have magnetite and
magnet
this GPS
function, this crazy 6th sense in their brains
that remembers where they were born. Like, they
have to walk down the beach
to know where to go back to
when they have to actually have that experience
(15:16):
of, like, walking
and and
and embedding
the the pavement in their GPS.
Right? Like, it's like a crazy thing. Yeah.
Well and the and the kids' hearts were
in the right place because they're all these
birds are flying around and swooping in,
and they were like, no. The birds are
gonna get them. And I said, well well,
let's just stand over them and kind of
(15:37):
Yeah. Water along straddling them as they as
they to to
ensure safe passage into the ocean,
but not interfere with the with the process.
And so that's exactly what we did. We
did watch one tragedy where a bird swooped
in
and, you know, because there were so many
coming at once. The world It could be,
like, a 120. I mean, the short thing
(15:59):
just keep going. Yeah. Yeah. So we were
not able to, like,
say straddle them all. Of course, me being
a photographer, I happen to have I I
was really quite pleased. Like, I had had
my bigger camera with me, like, on my
shoulder. And
so I you know, I'm immediately stopping and
trying to get my
picture, which I I have one that is
(16:21):
actually up in my husband's office.
Oh, okay. We we will put them in
the show notes. We have to get that
picture from him. Yeah. Yeah. I'll put that
in there. So and what's funny is,
my my husband, we've always
joked that he's kind of like his spirit
animal should be a turtle because he
is,
very soft on the underbelly. He definitely has,
(16:41):
like, you know, not a not a harsh
exterior, but it's just protective. Yeah. And and
and he does he's very introverted where I'm
very extroverted, and he does go inward into
this shell. And so he's a therapist in
in our town, and he actually his company
is called Tortuga Counselors.
And
that's what he's that's what he's which is
(17:02):
funny. When he when he we first had
his business cards whenever my mom said something
like, is he gonna counsel turtles? And I
said, no. He's counseling people. But the people
resonate with this metaphor as well of this
soft underbelly and and, you know, a little
bit of a tougher exterior and and needing
to go inward for for all the things.
So we've always we're scuba divers, and we
(17:24):
I feel like it's such a
joy and a treat when you get to
see a turtle diving underwater because they're just
I think of, like, the Finding Nemo turtle.
That's, like, the cutest
surfer
dude.
And, they they just look so effortless
and elegant, and they're just floating away. And
it just it reminds me to take a
(17:46):
breath and relax
and to, like,
chill
out a bit. It's amazing because the only
time a female turtle will a female turtle
will only come back and not be in
that graceful
capacity
is when they nest,
and a male turtle will never return to
the beach, will never touch sand again. So,
like, that's their world, that graceful beauty
(18:09):
of
just the spirit of them wandering around in
in comfort, like, in enjoy. But when they
come back on the beach, it's a lot
of work. Like, we watch those little guys.
It was a lot of work to get
to get to the beach. Right? To get
to the water. Yeah. Like, that's quite the
journey. And well and I think as I
I shared with you
that,
(18:29):
so when we you know, having this amazing
experience and when it was over and we
went back to the house, we asked the
the caretaker of the house who shared it
with him, and he said, well, that's really
exceptional and very rare because
when this the turtles are so protected here
in this part of Mexico and
said so when they do find that there's
(18:50):
a nest,
they remove it and take it to their
sanctuary
where the where the turtles can have you
know, not be bothered by tourists and and
all of that. And he said, that must
be one that that got missed. And,
like, 3 I think 3 days after the
turtle sighting, there was
not a I mean, it was, like, almost
(19:12):
a hurricane, but it a tropical storm. So
it was a huge tropical storm,
and the waves
surged, and the the beach
was absolutely covered in water. It was flooded.
I mean, you could not our full area
at our house was flooded. Like, everything was
was flooded. So this,
I'm guessing, this turtle nest would not have
(19:33):
made it if it was
3 days later.
Yeah. Yeah. And he would share that it's
rare, anyway, that it was daytime.
Yeah. Right. And it was daytime. I mean,
it was such an incredibly,
impossible moment to have had,
but you wanted it to have. So you
(19:53):
it somehow happened. Right? Like, just like the
bear and the like and if it hadn't
happened, you wouldn't have a story, and you
probably wouldn't remember.
But it did happen, so it changes you.
Right? Like, these are the stories that change
us by by just embracing and savoring, as
you said, these these experiences so that they
they become more meaningful. Like, a story isn't
(20:14):
just a story. It has, like, a deep
meaning that changes you. Okay. So to that
end, what did it do to change you?
Like, how did what what came, carried, followed?
What rippled? What did you bring forward from
that experience?
So a couple of different things. So one
is that
I you know, as you just said, like,
if it hadn't have happened, I would have
(20:36):
forgotten that I'd ever set this pure desire
that I wanted to see a turtle because
I was jealous of my friend who had
seen
not jealous because it made her cool or
anything, but just that I wanted to have
that same wanted to have that. Yeah. From
that on a hot, a heart, really pure
desired place. There was gonna be no
benefit to me in life for having seen
(20:57):
it
status wise, ego wise.
And
so I choose to to to see that
experience not as just a random
coincidence, but as something that
that did come from this very pure heart
desire of mine. I think the synchronicity
of that happening just 2 months later, the
(21:19):
fact that I had been in this yoga
class before
where I witnessed this happened to someone else
and kind of attributed, like, well, he's like
a magical Swami. Of course, he can manifest
a bear. I can't do that. I'm a
mere mortal over here. And being like, oh,
wow. No. I can
can too. And,
like, just
tapping me into that difference between,
(21:41):
something that's a want from my head maybe
versus something that's really coming from my my
heart from this
other place. So this building this trust
in
for like, really, truly for, like, goal setting
and and other things that I want to
say in my in my own
business of, okay. Well, where where am I
(22:01):
tapped into this this true desire?
And then I also so I love
I I love these, like, god winks or
these,
sidewalk oracles or these just moments that aren't
random,
that I choose to not see as random
in my 50. Right? You can choose
to just sort of write it off or
(22:21):
you can choose not to see it as
random because if you get to choose the
story, why not choose the one that serves
you better? Like, that's that's you know, as
positive psychologists, that's like so and coaches, that's
that's the message. Right? Like, you don't know
the story, so choose the one that that
is better for you. And, like, we're always
making up a narrative in our heads. So
(22:42):
why don't I make up the one that
that I love? And so the one that
I love is
seeing these synchronicities
as these little winks from the universe, these
these beautiful moments that
somehow
in in that situation
of I I had voiced the desire. In
other situations, I think I've told you about
3 weeks ago
(23:04):
Mhmm. I saw a a white
marmot.
I forgot what it's it's not called, but
it's like this sort of lengthy,
little mountain. Is it a mink? Like a
mink, but it was pure white and saw
it while on a chairlift,
skiing. And, you know, you can think of
how yes. They are there, but they are
white and the snow is white and you're
(23:25):
up, you know, 3 feet above in a
in a chairlift. It's not easy to see.
And so saw this white marmot, and then
later that day, I saw, like, 3 white
bunnies,
on my way to my house.
And I
so
with other animal sightings, like, I Google immediately
not immediately because I'm on a chairlift. But
(23:45):
I Google, what is the spiritual
message behind
whatever animal this is? And I take it
as, maybe this isn't my
spiritual animal of all time, but more of
what is it just trying to tell me
in this moment? What is it trying to
remind me of?
And, like, with the the bunnies, it was
something like
(24:06):
remember to be playful. Remember to just be,
you know and and it was, you know,
it was December, like, an empty nester. My
kids are coming back. It's holiday time. It's
stressful. And it was just this beautiful message
of,
oh, yeah.
And I don't need to go, like, I
don't
know, down to have a peyote trip of,
(24:27):
like, oh, here's what my spirit
animal
message is by my journey. I can just
take this in this everyday life moment and
say, yeah. I needed that that I need
this own little little oracle in in life
of this Message. I needed to hear this
message. And people often say that. They're like,
just send me a message. Like, if so
if they lose somebody
(24:47):
and they're like, just send me a message
that you're still there. Just send me a
message that this is the right decision or
whatever. And then you hear people talk so
often about red you know, the cardinals
who come back after someone passes and they
feel like that's their spiritual like, if you
were to Google it, right, it would be
like, yes. What people see as the
return
and connection from someone who's gone.
(25:09):
So, like, someone might say, like, oh, you
don't need to see them. And I'd say,
like, well, if someone is grieving and that
is what's just most uplifting and helpful
in their resilience and in their healing, like,
there's no harm in having
keeping this as that's what that means to
me. And that is I'm so grateful when
these little
(25:29):
moments happen to me.
Not only the ones that you know, if
I say, like, I wanna see a red
cardinal today, but, you know, that they just
for you. Right? Like Yeah. Because you are
open to them.
And this is the whole, like, you've you've
defined the whole purpose of my whole resilience
gone wild. It's to offer metaphors and you've
connected this in a in, like, a a
(25:51):
beautiful way that if you if you just
give yourself permission to take this positive nature
metaphor
and
and and savor it and bring it to
mind when you need it. So, like, next
time you feel like, I'm just not having
as much fun or, like, my kids are
coming and I need to I really wanna
(26:11):
be the fun
have give them the fun experience and not
get weighted down by judgments or whatever. Like,
take everything too seriously right now. The bunny.
Bring the bunny to mind. Yeah. Like, that's
that's the offering. Right? And when you're looking
at, you know, the turtle
and
the the fact that you got to see
it, it's that you can, if you really
(26:33):
want something,
and you open yourself up to the positive
energy, let it broaden and build, which I
keep coming back to. If you're in this
place of positive energy and open mindedness and
curiosity and willingness
to just
let things happen.
Things happen.
Right? You're not, like, tight in yourself with
(26:53):
with no curiosity and not seeing anything except
your ego.
You're open to
your heart.
Yeah. And I know and I I bet
that as people are listening,
it's
jogging in their memory some random
sighting that they that they
either did pay attention to or or didn't.
But, like, I was even just sharing this.
(27:15):
I've forgotten about this story, but I think
I can't remember if it was before or
after, but, like, years ago, I was in
my my in law's neighborhood in Florida, and
it's like a golf community and pavement
everywhere. And,
I had decided I, like it was, like,
New Year's or something. I decided I was
gonna take up jogging, and I was, like,
running in their neighborhood or whatever and just
(27:37):
going going. Like, I'm just I'm always going
going going. And I, like, turned a corner,
and there was a giant turtle in the
middle of, like, someone's driveway
in Florida. You know, not there's the even
the kind of the more watery area,
they're not on a on a beach, but
they're on, like, a creek, and it's still
(27:57):
pretty far away from where we are in
this very paved area.
And, like, I, like,
take a step back and go, what? And
I did like, for me, personally, as a
well, especially a turtle because it's slow, but
I could take a picture, you know, if
I can
and I've I've happened upon these in my
camera roll from, like this is, like, 10
(28:19):
years ago that I saw this random huge
turtle in the driveway
in Marco Island, Florida. You know, that's so
strange. But I think that, you know, at
that time, I I I can't fully remember,
but I would guess that the the message
either that I took from it or needed
to was, like, slow down. You know, that
this is
you're just, like even though I'm trying to
(28:39):
take up a a good habit at this
time in life and motherhood and and work
and all that, it was just like, go.
Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Rather than,
you know That's the best part about this
story to me is that you get to
choose what you get out of a story.
Right? You could, like, see the sub seem
some sort of suffering or negative or whatever,
or you can say,
(29:00):
this is the message that I need to
hear at this time and and connect it
and and just you both are in a
better place after that. Right? Like, you now
move forward.
Well, yeah. Because because you you can get
the dark side too, but when you Google
something.
And I I remember being I'll tell you
one more. But I remember being in in
the parking lot of Starbucks,
drinking, you know, whatever beverage I'm having in
(29:22):
my car,
and I was, you know, answering messages or
something. And on my windshield, I felt, like,
a pecking, and it was a a bird,
and it was like a black crow thing,
like, you
know,
pecking away at my windshield, not stopping, definitely
wanting my attention.
And I forgot whatever the message was, but
(29:44):
it was you know, there were some darker
sides to it, which maybe had their own
own,
you know, positive
spin as well or that I could choose
to believe. I forgot what I how I
had
But this this is my head, but it
was like, okay. Yeah. This is you know,
pay attention.
Whatever this this is telling me. So I'm
(30:05):
going to toot thank you for that beautiful
story and for bringing
the whole idea that we if we pay
attention
and we
create a story
out of versus just a fact. I saw
a crow and a crow is banging on
my windshield. Yeah. Like This is a bad
omen.
Right? Create a story that that you want
(30:27):
to carry forward
that helps you live a more joyful life
and more resilient life. So to that end,
I'm gonna sort of turn it back and
say, that's what Lizzie offers
in her at least part of I'm sure
there's lots more that you offer, but, like,
that's such a a, unique
focus of your work is that, you know,
(30:48):
when I go back and look at old
camera roll pictures, which is some of the
activities and and things that you offer up,
it's like,
keep taking those pictures because
they they have a story. And if you
go back and look at them, like, remembering
those moments and savoring life that way
is such a beautiful way to go through
life. Like,
(31:09):
take the pictures. Go back and look at
them. Go back and remember the stories. Like,
we're so blessed to have iPhones.
Right? So that
we have access to I'm, like, so sad
that before 2010, I didn't have these pictures.
Right? Like, they're in these silly albums on
the shelf somewhere that I can't just look
at them. But so to to that, I'm
gonna offer you know, where where would you
(31:30):
wrap up with that? Oh, well and I'll
just say, I wanna give a caveat to
that because I go both ways with it
of, like, take the picture and also there
are these moments for your soul where, you
know, we're we're taking
so many that we're missing the moment of
being present. You know, I was really like,
with the baby sea turtles,
I didn't immediately reach for my camera even
(31:50):
though it was there and it was this
extraordinary
moment. It was like
being in awe of this experience
first and really feeling it and having it
in my heart. And then as I'm seeing,
like, well, yeah, these are there are a
lot of them. I could actually take a
moment to
to compose.
Or take a picture and then put it
away so that you don't feel like, oh
(32:11):
my god. I need to take a picture.
Like, just put it aside
Exactly. In the experience. And I keep going
back to an interview I did
with Oliver,
who's a,
who's the honey badger episode. And he said,
just 5 minutes a day. Just go out
in nature and leave the camera. Like, don't
take the phone out of your pack out
(32:31):
of your pocket. Like, just go out and
spend 5 minutes a day just
in awe and in connection,
and don't worry about
about recording it. You know? Like, that's a
different 5 minutes, and it change it changes
everything.
It it does. And you know what? It's
funny. I'll share it. This is such a
random example, but we went to, a Peter
(32:51):
Frampton concert, like, you know, 5 years ago
or so.
And I loved it because Peter Frampton kinda
made a joke at the beginning of the
concert that he had gotten in trouble at
some other concert for, like, taking someone's phone
and chucking it
in the audience, really. So when it was
recording,
And he said, so I've I you know,
my management and I have talked, and we've
(33:12):
come up with a different plan.
And he said, for the first two songs
of this concert, take as many photos as
you want, record as much as you want,
like, have at it. And he said, and
then after that oh, I'm gonna I like,
I get chills even today. He's like, after
that, we're gonna have an experience together. So
put that phone away. Like, I don't wanna
see it again.
I
(33:33):
like, we're
we're on this journey together. Spectacular.
And I love that. So I take that
in so much of my work of, like
yeah. Like like, documenting that one turtle in
Florida,
that was on the driveway. Like, it it
does it's a memory primer. Right? Like, just
having these things in our camera roll, we
can go back to and
reach remember that story, like, oh, maybe I
(33:54):
am meant to slow down today too even
though it's 8 years later. But
I'm really intentional about, like, having that moment
first. Then if I feel called to take
the photo or want to remember it in
some way to to do that
and not worry about it if I don't.
Like, that's a photo for myself. Okay. So
this is so important. This is coming from
the guru
(34:14):
of
savoring
through photos,
and that message is so freaking important. So
don't
feel like you have to have the picture.
Like, you still can keep the story without
the picture and just keep savoring the story
and
find some other way to to to have
it stay in your life
and
(34:35):
just just enjoy. Just
be in the moment. Right?
It's awesome. Yeah. I love love that. Okay,
Lizzie.
Thank you for all of this, this opportunity
to share
share this this
these fun stories. Thank you. Oh, this was
so beautiful. Thank you so much, Lizzie. Can't
wait to keep connecting in our lives
and and learning from you and and savoring
(34:56):
our world together. So thank you. Thank you
so much.
Thank you, Jessica.
This has been a production of BLI Studios
(35:17):
produced by me, Kai. Follow along with our
other BLI produced shows at balancing life's issues.com/podcastdashbli.
Got an idea for the show? Email me,
Kai, at balancing life's issues.com.
And don't forget to stay in touch with
your host, Jessica, atjessica@winwinwinmindset.com.
Anything else to add, Miles?
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