Choice Wisdom

Within Reason

In 2020, we were all going through a lot. But Cristina Bernardo was really going through a lot. In November of that year, her 10-month-old daughter’s heart gave out at a hospital in San Diego, leaving her and her husband in shock and grief, with questions that went unanswered as to why. To this day, they and doctors cannot explain why their beautiful daughter, who was full of love and life, fell exceptionally ill several times in her short life and eventually died. They still have no answers. And during that year, Cristina also lost other people who were very close to her - including her cousin Patrick, with whom she was very close - leaving her heart not just broken, but shredded. Cristina heard from others the phrase we all say when tragedies strike, but is often said when we can’t think of a clear “why” - and that is, “everything happens for a reason.” At first, she was angry when she heard that phrase, but she came to know that things happen. Terrible, unimaginable things. The reason is something we have to find for ourselves, she discovered. We need a reason to go on, and to honor those we lose. Alongside this outward, difficult journey, Cristina started to take an inward journey and discovered she wasn’t kind to herself. At all. She was not kind in basically every part of her life - career, aspirations, appearance - you name it. But becoming a mother really put a fine point on it. As she says, “It was just one more thing I was bad at.” Cristina’s choice was one of self-acceptance and self-love, so profound that it will bring a tear to your eye (fair warning - bring a tissue to this episode)! But born from her commitment to herself was something powerful and beautiful - the company she co-founded with her husband - Avocado Health - which offers text-based parent coaching and resources designed to help parents feel more confident in child rearing - from pregnancy to the teen years. And it’s caught fire - growing rapidly and expanding through organic growth and partnerships. Most important, it’s empowering parents to make good decisions for themselves and their children. It’s giving parents the confidence to believe they can be good at parenting, and at life. And that’s a powerful notion that can change the world. Following our interview with Cristina, she decided to publish a newsletter that had been in the works for about three years - waiting for her to hit “send.” You can read it on LinkedIn here: Yes, Everything Happens, and we need a Reason to keep living. [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/yes-everything-happens-we-need-reason-keep-living-cristina-bernardo-jiz0c/] You don’t want to miss this amazing, uplifting and insightful episode! And you can check out all Choice Wisdom episodes on our website at https://choicewisdompodcast.com.

Cup of Genius

Joanna Zhang loves spotting the genius in other people. So much, in fact, that she named her company ⁠Operations Genius⁠ [https://operationsgenius.net/]. At a practical level, Joanna’s firm provides outsourced solutions for the “busy work” tasks in any growing business, including social media, lead gen, general admin, web/I.T. support, and digital transformation. But the genius behind it goes beyond just solving the “work stuff.” Joanna’s work with founders and executives also bridges emotional maturity, energy integrity and strategic leadership - where she guides clients toward using their new-found time to build impact without self-abandonment. And she’s well-qualified to do it, because she’s been through her own spiritual journey to let go of the belief that achievement equals identity. In this episode, Joanna gets real with Gayle and Louisa about what it takes for a high-performing professional to move from performance-driven identity to alignment-based influence, based on her own transformative journey. She shares her own take on how to let go of imposter syndrome and re-align internal fragmentation to arrive at a place of peace and self-trust rather than external validation. The episode is titled “Cup of Genius” because we talk a lot about how you make choices to fill your life with purpose using your own unique gifts and talents. Rather than “filling your cup” with all the expectations other people have for you, it’s our hope that after hearing this conversation you can take a deep drink from your own well of genius and see what happens! Learn more about Joanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhang-joanna/ Listen to more Choice Wisdom episodes at https://choice wisdompodcast.com

Judgment Day

Judgment is easy. We do it all the time. We judge people’s choices. We judge their reactions and the way they live their lives. Sometimes we even convince ourselves we are helping when we point out what they should do differently. But judgment starts to look different when you slow down and take a closer look. In this Choice Wisdom podcast, Louisa and Gayle talk about something that shows up everywhere in our lives...the stories we carry about what people “should” do. Yet, when we can see ourselves in the attacks we launch on others, it changes the game. Noticing that changes the conversation. It shifts the focus from blame to awareness. It creates space for a little more grace for ourselves, and the people around us. We share our very honest conversation about it in this episode. Nothing was off limits. And we challenge you to simply notice when you point the finger, then gently notice the four fingers that point back at you.  And then forgive yourself and see what happens. You can learn more about the Choice Wisdom podcasts and the two co-hosts at https://choicewisdompodcast.com.

All The Things

“All the things.” That’s a direct quote from Louisa in this episode, when we talked about how she’s showing up on social media - spreading a message of kindness – each and every day for the past EIGHT YEARS. She’s everywhere – Facebook, Insta, Tik Tok, LinkedIn, YouTube. And now, she’s spreading her kindness through Choice Wisdom as co-host! This was just the level up the podcast needed! When she said, “all the things,” it was about the channels where she shows up in kindness with her daily videos. But it’s also a great statement about where we’re taking Choice Wisdom this season: we are going to explore all the “things” that create the lives we want. And by things, that’s really choices – but how do we make great choices? In this episode, we share about ourselves, our journeys, and many things we’ve learned about being the most authentic you so that you can operate from your true default setting – and that’s JOY. By sharing our take on this topic, along with various guests who also want to share their wisdom, we are covering exactly what a life of power and purpose looks – and – more important – how you create that life from the inside out through your thoughts and choices. Of course, we’ll laugh a lot, too. Because that’s kinda what Louisa and Gayle do together. Want to connect with us? Check us out on choicewisdompodcast.com.

Dropped the Mic - featuring Gayle, along with Mei-Yung Lee & Cara Castellow

Welcome back, Choice Wisdom! I say “welcome back” because…well, it’s been a bit since I published a podcast episode. Basically, I dropped the mic. But not in the sense that I had something profound to say and it was time to exit the stage on that high note. The reality of what happened was a bit different. It was because I had a lot of realities I needed to sort out and choices to make to keep creating a life I wanted. I dive into that a bit in this episode, so to get the full story, please listen in! I also have the pleasure of sharing the stories of two other amazing women I interviewed before I went into podcast hiding: Mei-Yung Lee is the CEO of Ageless Zen, a skincare company founded as for-profit, but built upon a nonprofit purpose. Her dad was a Chinese medicine doctor and herbalist and when she was growing up, she told me he would always create natural remedies for the family when anyone had a cold or flu. She mentioned it would stink up the house and everything was bitter to drink, but it always provided the cure. And it instilled her a belief in the power of natural healing. Cara Castellow is a State Farm agent in Ennis, Texas and a force of nature herself, especially in her dual-life role as founder & president of Cara Caters, a nonprofit feeding schoolchildren across her community. Since its founding, it has provided more than 35,000 meals to food-insecure kids in her community. Among us, we share what it takes to commit to more than one passion and find peace and joy in all of it. Keep making great choices, and stay inspired, friends! - Gayle If you'd like to learn more about the guests on this episode, visit https://choicewisdompodcast.com.