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Resilience Development in Action
Discover practical resilience strategies that transform lives. Join Steve Bisson, licensed mental health counselor, as he guides first responders, leaders, and trauma survivors through actionable insights for mental wellness and professional growth.
Each week, dive deep into real conversations about grief processing, trauma recovery, and leadership development. Whether you're a first responder facing daily challenges, a leader navigating high-pressure situations, or someone on their healing journey, this podcast delivers the tools and strategies you need to build lasting resilience.
With over 20 years of mental health counseling experience, Steve brings authentic, professional expertise to every episode, making complex mental health concepts accessible and applicable to real-world situations.
Featured topics include:
• Practical resilience building strategies
• First responder mental wellness
• Trauma recovery and healing
• Leadership development
• Grief processing
• Professional growth
• Mental health insights
• Help you on your healing journey
Each week, join our community towards better mental health and turn your challenges into opportunities for growth with Resilience Development in Action.
Resilience Development in Action
E.199 The Power of Self-Belief: Caren Paskel's Journey Through Grief to Growth
Caren Paskel's journey from struggling with mental health issues to becoming a beacon of resilience and self-belief captivates from the first moment of our conversation. Her story begins at age 16 when a yoga class provided her first genuine spiritual connection—a transformative experience that would become her lifeline through depression, unhealthy relationships, and physical ailments.
What makes Caren's perspective so valuable is her emphasis on lived experience over theoretical knowledge. While she deeply values the ancient wisdom of yoga philosophy, she emphasizes that transformation requires active implementation: "You're not just a work in progress—it takes work to progress." This distinction between passive consumption and meaningful application resonates throughout our discussion.
The heart of her story unfolds with her late husband's brain cancer diagnosis at just 28, barely a year into their marriage. Despite this devastating circumstance, Caren found herself growing through the caregiving experience, witnessing firsthand what she calls "the power of self-belief" embodied by her husband. Even as his health declined, he maintained an unwavering conviction—eventually completing and publishing his aptly titled book "Can't Doesn't Exist" with help from a friend when he could no longer write independently.
Today, Caren works as what she calls a "spiritual escort," helping individuals reach their highest potential through intimate, personalized guidance. Her current venture, the Youthful Longevity Mastermind, specifically supports people through midlife transitions like widowhood, divorce, or health challenges. Rather than identifying as a victim of loss, she focuses on gratitude for what her husband gave her—a perspective that transforms grief into purpose and meaning.
Whether you're navigating personal loss, seeking greater fulfillment, or simply curious about resilience, Caren's story offers profound wisdom on embracing our unique gifts and believing in possibilities beyond our perceived limitations.
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Hi and welcome to Finding your Way Through Therapy. A proud member of the PsychCraft Network, the goal of this podcast is to demystify therapy, what can happen in therapy and the wide array of conversations you can have in and about therapy Through personal experiences. Guests will talk about therapy, their experiences with it and how psychology and therapy are present in many places in their lives, with lots of authenticity and a touch of humor. Here is your host, steve Bisson.
Speaker 2:Alors? C'est le dernier épisode avant la relance. This is the last episode before the relaunch. La Relance this is the last episode before the relaunch. My name is Steve Biso and this is Finding your Way Resilience, development and Action. If you haven't listened to episode 198, it's just me meandering thoughts, and I hope you go back and listen to those, because they're not just meandering. There's a lot of good stuff in there. But for episode 199, we're going to meet with Karen Paschal. Karen Paschal is someone who has had her own share of loss in her life and I'm sure she's going to talk about that. She's exploring resilience and empathy and grief for mental health awareness during challenging times. She is someone that has a book out. She has her own story that she'd like to share a transformative journey, actually and she wants to be able to share her own journey and how it could help others. So I hope you enjoyed it. Here's the interview. Getfreeai yes, you've heard me talk about it previously in other episodes, but I'm going to talk about it again because GetFreeai is just a great service. Imagine being able to pay attention to your clients all the time instead of writing notes and making sure that the note's going to sound good and how you're going to write that note and things like that. Getfreeai liberates you from making sure that you're writing what the client is saying, because it is keeping track of what you're saying and will create, after the end of every session, a progress note. But it goes above and beyond that. Not only does it create a progress note, it also gives you suggestions for goals, gives you even a mental status if you've asked questions around that, as well as being able to write a letter for your client to know what you talked about. So that's the great, great thing. It saves me time, it saves me a lot of aggravation and it just speeds up the progress note process so well. And for $99 a month. I know that that's nothing. That's worth my time, that's worth my money, you know. The best part of it too is that if you want to go and put in the code Steve50 when you get the service at the checkout code is Steve50, you get $50 off your first month and if you get a whole year, you save a whole 10% for the whole year. So again, steve50 at checkout for getfreeai'll give you $50 off for the first month and, like I said, get a full year, get 10% off. Get free from writing notes, get free from always scribbling while you're talking to a client and just paying attention to your client. So they went out, you went out, everybody wins and I think that this is the greatest thing. And if you're up to a point where you got to change a treatment plan, well, the goals are generated for you. So getfreeai code Steve50 to save $50 on your first month.
Speaker 2:Well, hi everyone and welcome to episode 199. You know you get in touch with people through email in my job a lot and I got to say that I get not a word of a lie. I get about five to six emails a week for guests and most of the time I read it for half a second and go, yeah, not a fit. And then I got Karen Paschal's thing and I was just, I was reading it and reading it I'm like, okay, since I've already read till the bottom, including her bio, I'm interested. And then I went to her website and I'm like I got to meet this woman. There's a story here that I think everyone will enjoy hearing on finding your way, resilience, development and action. So, karen Paschal, welcome to my podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Steve, so much. That was a nice introduction. I'm grateful to be here.
Speaker 2:Well, you know pre-interview we just had this conversation. Anyone who knows me and I think that's going to be something you're going to echo about you is that I can't lie. So if I didn't feel these things, I couldn't tell you these things. I would be like, all right and welcome Karen for finding your way, and that's all I would have said. I always talk about authenticity and that's even in our short conversation before this. Our exchange on email is really struck me as you're very authentic, so I really want people to hear that and see that, so usually just want to look. You know, I've started to know you, obviously with the stuff I've looked at, but my audience may not know you, so I like you to introduce yourself to my audience my audience may not know you, so I'd like you to introduce yourself to my audience.
Speaker 3:Hello everybody, I'm Karen Paschal and I'm just grateful. Really, what we were talking about before is to show up in my glory and share my story, and that is how I roll, that is how I live, that is how I educate, that is how I contribute to the world, and my greatest gift, I believe, is this desire to develop myself and improve on myself, and that is my purpose. I know it's my purpose to be in my highest vibration and to live in the celebration that I can achieve this state of self-actualization. And so that's the path I've been on for quite a while and I've always been seeking that. And I didn't know that it was an inward journey until I took a yoga class at 16, when I was having panic and anxiety in school, and that was the first deeper connection I ever made to myself, that I thought what is this? And now I know it was a spiritual connection and it was different from all the other connections that I had made so far, I guess, in life that were pretty external, based on the external. So this was internal and I wanted more of it. I wanted more of it. So I really have a long past and relationship now with yoga being such a healthy path for me in my forward movement in my life.
Speaker 3:I went to art school, my forward movement in my life. I went to art school but I involved art and yoga together. I ended up teaching even before I got certified. It was very natural for me to talk about life and transformation and everything. It was very therapeutic. That was for me so therapeutic to hear what the teacher was saying about life as I was moving and breathing. So I was able to emulate that at quite a young age without any training. So I knew it was natural for me and I enjoyed it. Plus, I could also make some money on the side while I was in school. So I kept on the path.
Speaker 3:But I had a lot of mental health issues. I mean, I was in a very unhealthy relationship and had an unhealthy relationship with men, with food, with my body. I had a lot of depression, sleep disorders and because of all this mental stuff I developed physical issues as well and inflammation at a young age and fatigue and I was on countless medications. So yoga was seriously my lifeline and I did go through a lot of therapy as well. So just talking about what I was going through and having that soundboard was really, really, really vital for me, especially because it was someone different than a family member. So there was, you know, no, no bias in judgment. Different than a family member? So there was, you know, no, no bias in judgment. I felt safe, right. That was the biggest thing.
Speaker 3:And you know, through all of this, I just stayed on the path of self-development and I I ended up really just starting to study more of the universal values of life and the philosophy versus the yoga poses, the physical stuff. And that's where things took a real big turn for me, like all that education for life that wasn't in my regular schooling and I thought why doesn't everyone have this? This is like the roadmap to how to be a human being in the world and to evolve. It just made no sense that it was so sensible. Why isn't this taught? So that became my mission.
Speaker 3:I got it, I got to teach this and it really became my highest desire to a better way that I could contribute and educate and lead, and all during the same time is when I became in my most impactful relationship with my late husband, and you know, he was the epitome of the power of self-belief, and even though I had grown so much and evolved, I still had a lot of physical and mental issues. I was struggling with my health and and I stayed small I really wasn't showing up in the big way that I am now and he was, and so I needed that mirror in my life. But unfortunately he became very ill very young age. He was 12 years younger than me, so he was diagnosed with brain cancer at 28. We were just one year married and it was a total shock through our worlds upside down. Our businesses were affected, our families, everything we had to reevaluate.
Speaker 3:But it created the biggest life shift for me to become a caregiver, to be of service in that way, to navigate life and take care of him in that way, and whatever came our way, I lost the greatest thing in my life that I had. And how do I continue on? Well, I used his power of self-belief and I'm living for him and that's my legacy, and I wrote a book called the Power of Self-Belief. So that's sort of my story. I'm sure there's a lot more in there, but you'll ask me the right questions.
Speaker 2:I'm not asking your right questions. I mean, there's like 12 questions that came to mind. More importantly, sorry for your loss. Thank you. That's always difficult. You know I was listening to your Maslow hierarchy of needs and yoga. You know I do yoga not regularly, but I do definitely do yoga and if it wasn't for downward dog, I would do it more regularly. I'll be perfectly honest with you, people like that's the easiest one to like. For some of you, some of us who don't have any flexibility, sucks especially for men.
Speaker 3:It's usually the hardest because you're actually carrying the more muscle and and the like you have less flexibility. So down dog is kind of torturesome for a lot of men.
Speaker 2:You're so nice thinking I have muscle.
Speaker 3:You, you have more muscle mass, I'm sure, Even even if you think you don't.
Speaker 2:I know I'm just trying to be funny here, but no, and I, and I think that what one of the things that you didn't say in so many words and I'd like you to continue talking about that is you know? You said you know why aren't they teaching that in school? I've learned in my life that what I learned in my master's means nothing unless I practice different ways of learning it. Hierarchy of needs of Maslow is one thing. Knowing how to implement that, know where people are at, how to implement that, that can be taught in people's words. It can't be like that stuff.
Speaker 2:I lost my best friend when I was 12 in a fire. You can't teach what grief is until you live grief and I don't know what it is to lose a partner and I'm going to knock on wood because I don't want to lose my partner in my life. I can't teach that to people. I can't know how you feel. And once you realize, the most lessons in life are never going to be taught in a book and you can't read about it. You can learn from them, but you're not going to, it's not going to be. You can't know it until you live.
Speaker 2:It is what I heard you say for the most part, and when I I ran for about seven years or eight years and I never got that runner's high, everyone talked about it. I never got it and I ran half marathons. I only did two half marathons. I'm lazy, never did a full one. But the point is is that when I did yoga, I got the spiritual breathing and I got to and there's and I can't teach that and I can't tell people about that because it is to me learning to breathe in that way is easier than breathing while I'm talking to you. I don't know why, but that's how it is for me. So I don't know what you want to expand on, but that's really what I found in what you were saying is very impactful, among many other things, because going to therapy so important. You learn so much about yourself and that third party God, you know that's so important, but I don't know where you want to go with all this. But I want to throw out my observations and maybe we can continue talking.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, I appreciate it. So I think that what helped me the most from reading the highest knowledge known to mankind, which come from the Vedas and Vedas just means knowledge and it was presented in such a practical way. They were values to live by, and I believe that for me they were a preventative meaning. They helped to prepare me for all that came my way and I think that is something we can do is we can prepare ourselves for life's eventualities. But I do believe that, yes, you can explain all you can explain and teach all you can teach about how to navigate, let's say, losing a loved one or going through that, but until you really go through it, it's, it is. You do learn through that experience to prepare people, because if you are alive and you remain alive and you continue your life, there's going to be challenges. No matter who you are and where you are, no matter how many people you have in your life, how much money you have, there will be these pairs of opposites that we will come to face. There will be things that happen to you that you may not be that think would ever happen or imagine. I didn't imagine this could ever happen. So, although I'm not saying you should imagine all these bad things might happen that's a pessimist but reminding ourselves that we're human and that life is full of challenge and change every day and to be ready for that.
Speaker 3:That's where I think the values to live by and the yoga and the self-development and all the things I did and continue to do. They allow me to lean in and find the blessings. It's like I don't feel anymore that I really lost anything. In fact, I don't even relate to that word. It just isn't even my vocabulary, because I look for the blessings in everything and because my husband was such a blessing for the time I was with. That's what I focus on. I focus on what I gained from him, even though he's not here, and so it doesn't feel like a loss anymore. It really did.
Speaker 3:In the beginning, I will tell you, it really felt like a huge loss, but I feel so full, like he gave me so much and I continue to focus on those blessings and that gratitude fills me up so much every day. And then, in fact, that's one of the values is just gratitude, and until I really learned to practice that full heartedly and to understand what that really meant not just making a gratitude journal and listing some things off. It's like a feeling and an acute awareness of the countless blessings that are occurring right now, in this given moment, and so, when I'm tuned into that, it lifts me to such a high frequency that nothing disturbs me, so it's very hard for me to get disturbed at this point. Yes, little things like ah, that's like annoying, but not to like deeply, deeply, disturb my inner peace.
Speaker 3:This took a long, long time, though, to get to this place, so that's kind of what I share with people is that this is a lifelong progression and you're not just a work in progress. You know, it actually takes work to progress and you have to choose to work on yourself, and yeah, so that's, that's where I am. The conversation, that's what came up.
Speaker 2:Well, so basically for me, you're saying that my progress and growth in life is not going to come from a podcast.
Speaker 3:Well, it could. You know, you could be inspired from, you know, learning here and that could. That could really spark the growth. But when it's what you do with it, it's what you do with it that matters, right?
Speaker 2:So if you're inspired, I was trying to lead you to yeah, you gotta I.
Speaker 3:You know it's very hard the the my position, because I remember my dad telling me like he was trying to explain to someone what I do Right, and he said you know it's, it's not tangible. What you do Like you, you can't really what is tangible about. About saying transformation and happiness and growth. It's, it's very hard to sell that, but that's why I have to grow myself. If I'm not doing it, then you're not going to believe me. But if I say, hey, I've created this kind of life and this kind of resilience and thriving from all the things that have happened, so can you? Because I don't think I'm special, I think I'm unique and everybody's unique. So if I can do it, you can do it, but I can't do it for you. That's the thing.
Speaker 3:And so the bingo yes, the person who is even in therapy. We know all this. It's like you could have the best therapist in the world, but if you're not going to take their words and really let them sink in and go apply, then you're going to be sitting in the same seat and listening to the same. You know feedback for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:Right, and I think that you know I went to one of my first yoga studios and I don't know why I walked into this group because they were all for lack of a better word experienced and I was. You know, I did it at home, but I never did it in the studio with other people and all I could do in my head as I was stuck in this thing that as a therapist I know, but as a human I don't always practice this I'm comparing myself to everyone in the room and then at one point I got up and left and one of the other people walked out and followed me out and they said I know and I've been there. She didn't even know me. She just said I know and I've been there, don't compare yourself to others, you're doing fantastic. I'm not even looking at you, but I know you're doing fantastic because you showed up and to me that was most like.
Speaker 2:It wasn't like yeah, you're the best yoga person in the world or whatever. She just took away all the stress that I had about comparisons and I didn't know this woman and I've never seen her again, for the record, and she has no clue. She gave me that gift, but it was me growing into. Oh, practice what you preach. Also, don't compare yourself to others. You're a progress and yoga is always about progress. Even yoga masters will tell you I'm still progressing.
Speaker 2:And so I started reading, and reading, and reading and now suddenly that 30 second interaction at best grew me, and that's why I think one of the things I wish you know this was what I thought you were saying is that it's not one thing that's going to change you. There's like, yeah, there's aha moments, but if you don't do nothing with your aha moment, it doesn't really matter. And I know I'm talking about therapy here, but I know you're talking about life in general. It's not about, oh look, I know the Maslow hierarchy of needs, but self-actualization is really freaking hard. Yeah, and getting there is going to be work.
Speaker 2:And I think that, unfortunately, I think a lot of people are looking for that magic pill that's going to make them feel better, lose weight, look good, be attractive to other people or whatever, and that's not life. Life is growing on other parts. So I don't know if I'm resonating your message in a different light, but I wanted to kind of like give you my feedback as to what you said, because it's absolutely true, it's not about one moment, it's about thinking that moment and growing it so you can be better.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I love that you said that about your yoga teacher, because I always said that and I see, continue to say it in my classes and in all my programs, like and I have this app. It's called Marco Polo and I have these, I have group community group programs on it and what it is is it's off social media, so there's no ads and you can communicate through videos. And when I first introduced this to my group and my program, I was so excited about because everyone who was in my program all wanted to make a greater impact in the world. They all wanted to grow progress. They all wanted to just be out there and be visible. And yet they had so much resistance to this app. They didn't want to show up and they didn't want to see themselves and they were, all you know, pointing out their flaws and, oh, I don't like how I look and all of these things. And I'm like this is exactly why we have this, because this is your starting place for being visible and self-love also and being seen. And I said just show up. That's all I kept saying and that's what resonated when you were saying that Cause yes, I've said it on my mat, I'm the mat a million times to all my you know groups in yoga, but even in transformation.
Speaker 3:I say it to people who you would never believe need this message. You would think you know I mean they're. They're in corporate and they're running these big things and yet on a silly app showing their video within a safe space and only our group. There's such resistance and they're having such a hard time. They're self-loathing and self-doubt and insecurity. And all of this came to the surface and I said can you imagine you're trying to go out there and become a transformational coach now and you can't show up for yourself in this and feel good in this group? So there's a lot to work at. And it really exposed all of us and showing up for yourself and people kept saying well, I have to listen. There's, I feel burdened because there's six different videos and I have to watch them. I said who said you had to watch them? I'm the facilitator, I have to watch them. That's my job. I'm just asking you for you to show up for yourself and share your story, just whatever it is Like.
Speaker 3:We talked about that authentic self and it was so hard for everyone and, slowly but surely, it took so much time and practice, to gain that trust in themselves, to believe in themselves, to show up for themselves. And now my Marco Polo groups are just exploding and it's amazing how much you know that, like you said, how much growth can come from. Don't compare, because a lot of people did that. Well, this person's here and that person's there and it's like do not compare. This is a nonjudgmental place, you know. I had to say all the things over and over and over again to help people feel like they are enough, they are worthy, and as soon as they started to believe that and show up in the space, then they were able to go out and be better leaders. They were able to quit their jobs, leave relationships and do all the things that they were trying to do before but couldn't, and also go on social media and speak, you know, live, because they want to get a client and they want to be a coach and all these things. So that's what really resonated for me. And, yeah, it's always about inspired.
Speaker 3:Action is what I want to say, too, to what you said. Where it's? I don't tell people what to do, right? I say wait for an inspiration and I looked this word up, you know, inspired, and it comes from this root word, ethos. It means enthusiasm. Ethos is the root word, which means inspired by God, and I thought that was so amazing. I'm like, okay, what if you just waited and not really waited, but instead of just doing things, to do them, be inspired from that divine feeling from within, and that's a different kind of action. That's the kind of action that really changes you and makes a greater impact.
Speaker 2:So many things that you just said mean so much to me. Thank you for being that yoga teacher. By the way, growth from yoga is spectacular and I know that's not a manly thing to say, but I frankly don't care. Number one. Number two I've worked with a lot of people who are and I hate these words, I hate buzzwords but the C-suite people and to me, the comparison and the imposter syndrome that they live through is absolutely flabbergasting.
Speaker 2:In my experience anyway, and one of the things that I've been known to say in my sessions and with other people is comparison is a thief of joy, and whenever you compare, karen's got something I don't and I probably have something that Karen doesn't. That doesn't mean Karen or me are better than each other, we're just different. But when you start comparing, you're always going to try to like well, I should have hair. Sorry, I just got to go for the easy part for those on YouTube Go has wonderful hair and I bald, in case you didn't know. But that doesn't make you better or worse than me, makes you different, and I think that that's the other part too.
Speaker 2:When I talk about you, talk about inspiration. If we were all the same, it would be freaking boring, yeah, and it's a learning to be different and being okay with our differences. Celebrate them Right and I think that that's what I'm hearing you say too because if you celebrate your differences and you make those efforts in order to go deeper and deeper in development, you're going to be able to share that gift. There will no longer be something to be compared or monetized, but rather be yourself.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That's huge. So big part of transformation and the work that I do with community and clients is all about celebrating them and every part of them, where we're at right now and where we've been and where we're going, and also those differences and the talents that we each have. So I really try to help people to see that the way that they're different is actually gravis. It's an autoimmune disease and so it's got some debilitating effects and people lose a lot of their abilities very similar to the decline my husband had with brain cancer. And I remember telling my husband you are still you, no matter what you can do, and that is enough. And there's always something you can do and that is enough. And there's always something you can do and focus on that. And because I gave him that talk, he was able to write a book before. Well, he wrote a book. He was able to get it out there before he died and he reached out to a friend to help him finish it because he couldn't write on his own.
Speaker 3:And so I remind people that your differences and even how you change over life, those are to be celebrated. You can actually, you know, give from that place. That is your mission to to be and give who you are in the world. It's actually so simple when you think about it, but we're so confused because we're taught to make money and we have to make a living and our parents might've said you need to go into this field because that's how you're going to make a living, and so we get involved in these activities that are really against our nature and against our differences in our talents, and that's what causes a ton of unhappiness and friction.
Speaker 3:And most of the work that I do with women and men in their 40s, 50s, 60s, even 70s and 80s, I find, is they have a lack of fulfillment and purpose because they're not celebrating their gifts and talents every day. And as soon as they start to do it just a little bit, even if it's a side gig, their whole life changes. Even if it doesn't involve making money, it's like, oh my God, they feel like they have, you know, purpose and meaning in their life and that's huge.
Speaker 2:You said it so well. I think that One of the things that I see, you know, no one goes under a deathbed and said I wish I made more money or made people feel less than more often, or what have you. Most people say I wish I did better to serve my community or be there for my kids or whatever, but it's always about being, you know, there, really appreciate about you, and I'm thinking you feel the same way as I do. I'm happy with my job because when I'm on my deathbed, I will have no regrets about helping people and being present for the people I love, and I think that what happens as we grow older? Yeah, you're a hedge fund manager that makes $5 billion, but are you happy?
Speaker 2:And I think that what you talk about like that can't be taught in a book either. This is not something that, like I'm so inspired by your husband or your. You know your late husband's ability to write a book, finish it off with his friend. You know how many people probably tell them look, concentrate on your death and not on your book, and how many people probably discourage it. And I'm not trying to make it morbid. I hope you understand where I'm coming from here.
Speaker 2:It's like people will always tell you what you can't do, people will always find ways to limit you, but doing what you inspire yourself, and you do it for yourself, is so much more important. As I joked around previously on my podcast, whether five people listen to me and you, karen, or 5 million people listen to me and you, karen, or 5 million people listen to it, if I inspire one person or Karen inspires one person, we did our job. We did everything we could. So for me, it's never about quantity, money or anything else, but rather what you can bring to other people, and that's why I'm so inspired by your late husband obviously inspired by you, but when you talk about your late husband, it really makes me inspired about what we can do once we realize that we don't need to bend to other people's winds for lack of a better word.
Speaker 3:Well, you won't even believe I'm only smiling over here because you won't believe. The title of this book it's it's called Can't, doesn't Exist. And that's exactly. I swear to God, no, no, and that's exactly I did not.
Speaker 2:I swear to God, did not.
Speaker 3:No, I know, I know that's why I was laughing, because I didn't even say the title and you know it took. I mean he was fighting. You know he was fighting till the very end and there was when he lost the right side of his body, wasn't working and so he had a photographic memory. I mean this guy was brilliant. He had very little schooling and was brilliant and just took certain classes to educate himself in terms of what he wanted to do, never studied, aced, all the tests. I recently talked to a teacher of his that called me out of nowhere. I had no idea and I had this great conversation and he was talking about him. It was amazing and he so.
Speaker 3:When he lost his ability to read and his speech was not great and his ability to type, he, he felt like he had nothing else to live for, I mean because he couldn't do right those things that he was so good at, and he landed face planted in bed. I remember he just did a face plant and he just I remember the scene so vividly he just kept saying I can't do anything, I can't do anything and I, like rose up with I swear to God, the divine power of self-belief that was transferred from him in me and I just said yes, you can. You wrote an entire book and you don't need to write it, it's already there, you just need someone to publish it and get it out there. And that very day he was inspired. This is a great way to. I know we're probably close to the end of the podcast. We're talking so much, but this is a great ending because, my God, he was inspired by what I said and that moment he took action because he could. He reached out to his personal trainer, who had published a book of his own and he was. You know. He knew that he had published his self, published his own book and written a book or two. He called him and said he didn't even ask him to do it. He was just asking him hey, I know you know a lot about this and I have this't even ask him to do it. He was just asking him hey, I know you know a lot about this and I have this book and I want to get it out there. Do you have any recommendations of who I could maybe have? You know, a ghostwriter or a publicist? Or he said dude, I'll do it with you, it'd be my pleasure. And the two of them.
Speaker 3:This was the end of my husband's life was on purpose and in purpose and inspired.
Speaker 3:We would sit at my dining room table, all of us, and he would do sort of a Josh would do an interview.
Speaker 3:That was the co-author and he would interview, but I would also be in there too because I was making food or eating whatever, and he would interview me too a little bit, and that's how the book was made and David got to see it published.
Speaker 3:He got to see that his book got out there, which meant the book was made, and David got to see it published. He got to see that his book got out there, which meant the world to him and I think was one of the reasons he was able to let go, because he knew I was gonna be okay. He saw that I succeeded and he knew that his legacy would be carried through me in that book and, of course, his family and friends. But that was man to watch all that. That's why I say, even though, yes, I lost his presence physically, it's like I gained so much from his six years with me, from this experience I would have. I just can't imagine where I would be without him or without going through all of that, and that's why I really don't feel like a victim at all.
Speaker 2:I mean victim sometimes is just in our mind, right, and I know there's a pejorative term around victim and sometimes we are victims, but most of the time if it's a self-imposed label it's worse. So I don't want to take away for those who think they were a victim. I'm just saying that sometimes when we self-impose it, it's worse. I know we got to wrap up, but I want people to be able to reach you and the other thing that I'm going to I'll cut it off the podcast if you wish. I need to have your book up. I don't have a problem paying for it, but you need to sign it for me. I need to read it, obviously, because I'm really interested, but I know you're much more than a book, much more than a yoga. I don't know what title you have. I'll say teacher for now. But like, tell me how people can reach you. What are you working on, stuff like that, so you can maybe hopefully inspire other people?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I would be happy to sign a book for you and I yes, I wrote the Power of Self-Belief and it is. It is my baby. That is my baby. It has all of these beautiful teachings and lessons, but combined with the story of David and I meeting, it's like from that starting point of I had all this self-development and all these teachings, but I didn't have the power of self-belief, and that took having a human being who had that, like you said, like I had to live with it, I had to be around it, I had to see it and then, when I was deeply challenged, you know, the worst thing that could ever happen that was what triggered the inspiration to believe in myself.
Speaker 3:And then, after he died, and I made that choice. But I had that living example and so I share the story. There's pictures of us so that you really get the visual of our life and what happened, and so I think it's really quite beautiful and powerful read. So that's on Amazon. If you Google it, you can find it other places Barnes and Nobles, it's in stores and stuff.
Speaker 2:I'll make sure to link it in our show notes too.
Speaker 3:Perfect. So I call myself a spiritual escort. I take people I know that's what I thought about the other day. I'm like I don't know how to describe myself except for taking people to the highest place that they can go their highest potential and I hold their hand. It's a very intimate process. I only work with one or two clients at a time to do that. So I've made room to make a greater impact and I have launched with my team. My beautiful mentors have become a team with me and we're launching.
Speaker 3:It's called Youthful Longevity Mastermind and it's really for people who are in their midlife transitions, with everything from maybe being a widow or divorced or possibly going through feeling health issues or signs of aging, et cetera. There's lots of transitions. So this is designed to give you immense support for your highest health and for your quality of life each and every day, including that joy and that fulfillment and purpose, and to have the community, the proximity to the health, the highest health examples as well to be around that, because what we've noticed is that's been the greatest support and transformation is the community of the high vibration, and so we're giving that in a new, beautiful way together. So we're launching it actually this week and if you want to check it out, you can and see our free masterclass. You can go to wwwyouthfullongevitycom. So that's pretty simple and you can watch the masterclass and we'd love to to hear from you that way. But you can check out my my site, karenpaschalcom. I know you'll share the link and get in touch with me that way as well.
Speaker 2:And Karen spelled with a C for the record. Just want to make sure people know that.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm not the Karen that everyone talks about. You know, with the K.
Speaker 2:You're such a Karen, but I think that walking people through those journey and that spiritual journey is, you know, to me it's such an important thing and I know, while I work with first responders and I talk about trauma and I'm a quote professional that higher vibration and that stuff means the world to me, because I think that if you think that life is only what you can see, then you're really not paying attention. So thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for allowing me to share and be here with you.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much, and I hope that our paths cross more than this podcast. Truthfully, I truly enjoyed our talk and this will be a joke between us, no one else will get it but so happy you found a hotspot.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, this concludes episode 199, and we're saying goodbye to finding your way, or finding your way through therapy. Thank you for all those who supported that podcast. It's still very relevant, but as of next week, we're going with the full rebrand and that's resilience, development and action. So I hope you join me then.
Speaker 1:Please like, subscribe and follow this podcast on your favorite platform in action, so I hope you join me then out to a professional counselor for consultation. If you are in a mental health crisis, call 988 for assistance. This number is available in the United States and Canada.
