Episode #39 - You are Uniquely Worthy

On this episode of the podcast Julie coaches on self-worth and the concept of being, and feeling worthy.  Feelings of self-doubt often develop into low self esteem and will snowball into stress, inaction and depression. All of us are uniquely worthy, talented human beings. If we work to learn about ourselves we can develop thoughts that are empowering and create a unique sense of self.   Realizing that all humans are uniquely worthy is the key to understanding your self-worth and creating better self-esteem. 

Check out this episode!

Dolphins are So Smart! - What they teach us.

This week I swam with dolphins!  Not just a few dolphins, but hundreds.  The experience literally brought tears to my eyes as I watched the wild Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins swim around, under, and past me, smiling at me in their cute dolphin way.  They squeaked and squealed, as they communicated with each other and because my face was in the water, I got to hear their song.  The sound’s only competition was the sound of my breath frantically going in and out of the snorkel that I had clenched between my teeth.  It is hard to say, “wow” and “unbelievable” with a snorkel in your mouth – but I did.   I was overcome with the beauty and the uniqueness of the experience.  Tears - for real. 

 

Myself and my husband Scott, along with six other passengers were on the ocean tour off the west coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.  The captain of the boat tour, Taylor, and our guide, Victor, are twenty somethings with a wild adventurous side and a love for the ocean.  They dropped us into the water three different times into large groups of dolphins.  We were lucky to see so many and we even got to see them jump and spin above the water. Two of the men in the group had Go-Pro cameras, so I hope to get some of the video from them.  At one point a helicopter circled overhead warning us of a large shark nearby, so we were asked to quickly swim to the boat. I did!

What life lessons did I take away from the dolphins?  (You know I love life lessons…)

Live in the moment!  Dolphins just live.  They take each moment and experience as it comes.  They do not stress and worry about time.  They don’t regret, blame or berate themselves.  They just live.  We spend so much of our time regretting what happened yesterday and worrying about what will happen tomorrow, that we miss what is happening right now.   What do we need to experience and learn in this moment?  We need to live more like dolphins.

Dolphins rely on each other.  When dolphins sleep, they only sleep with half of their brain at a time.  They have to stay half awake at all times in order to breath and monitor their surroundings, so they team up with a friend to allow the right half of their brain to sleep while their friend allows the left half of their brain to sleep.  Each relying and trusting each other for survival. We need to rely on each other and trust, like dolphins.

We spend much of our time with our faces glued to our cell phones, feeling bad about ourselves because we compare our lives to others. We don’t appreciate each moment that we are given, and we forget to enjoy life and just play.  We avoid sharing our struggles with others and don’t lean on our family and friends.   Take your lesson from the beautiful dolphins.

Live and appreciate each moment. Take care of yourself and your friends.  Remember to play.

 “You will love the ocean. It makes you feel small, but not in a bad way. Small because you realize you’re part of something bigger.” - Lauren Miracle

“There's no question dolphins are smarter than humans as they play more.” - Albert Einstein

Dr. Julie Cappel

Some Dolphin Facts: https://hawaiioceanproject.com/10-facts-about-spinner-dolphins/

Hawaiian spinners are primarily three colors. The skin on the dorsal area is a deep gray, while its sides are a lighter shade of gray. The bottom portion of the dolphin is white. The dorsal fin area has small white spots.  Because dolphins need to consciously think about breathing, when they sleep only half of their brain rests at a time. The awake half needs to tell it breathe and monitor its surroundings.  Though the dolphins primarily breathe through their blowholes, Hawaiian spinners have developed a method of breathing without surfacing from the water. They blow a bubble when near the water surface and then quickly draw breath from it. Dolphins are so smart!  When spinning, the dolphins can make up to seven complete rotations in the air! Though no one knows for sure, it’s believed the dolphins spin for the following reasons:

·      To clean their bodies of parasites (this is the most common assumption)

·      For courting members of the opposite sex

·      To communicate with other dolphins

·      For fun!

And they did spin!

Episode #38 - Dealing with The Negative Online Review

On this episode of the podcast Julie reads some online reviews and shares insights on why we allow them to affect us negatively.  Dr. Cappel shares tools to help us manage our minds around these and  how to respond in a professional and respectful way.  People who are hurting often hide behind the anonymity of the online review, and we need to embrace this concept in order to see each review as a reflection of the reviewer, not of us. 

Check out this episode!

You are Uniquely Worthy

This week I was listening to a podcast hosted by Ken Coleman while doing some housework on my day off.  Ken is the author of the book The Proximity Principle and he hosts a podcast for people struggling with career choices and finding their passion and purpose in life.    Ken’s podcast is interesting from the standpoint that he coaches people live on the radio and helps them work through their thoughts in order to help them accomplish their dreams.  Because I love coaching and leadership his show appeals to me.

As I was listening to him coach, he encountered a woman who sounded very discouraged and frustrated about the state of her life and career.  She mentioned something about not feeling worthy of attaining a successful career and expecting adequate pay.   Ken went into a small passionate speech about worthiness and how we are all worthy as humans and we need to embrace that concept.  When I heard him passionately speaking to this subject, it struck me that I have experienced the exact same thing with many of my coaching clients and colleagues in the veterinary field.  The thoughts that we are somehow not worthy continue to hold us back from creating a fabulous life and career. 

I immediately started writing a podcast about this and decided to write this blog today to try to encourage everyone to embrace their unique character and worthiness in the world.

The definition of worthiness is; having adequate or great merit, character, or value -being good enough.

When I think about being good enough, I realize that most of us want to compare ourselves to others in order to feel a sense of self-worth.  We see it as some sort of competition.  Are we more beautiful, more talented, wealthier, or smarter than the next person?  Who decides how much worth we possess? 

In truth, I believe as Ken Colman stated on his podcast that we are all perfectly worthy just because we are human beings placed on this earth.  We are all born with unique talents and ambitions which inherently make us important to the universe.  We all have something to offer and when we do not believe this or embrace the concept, we wallow in self-pity and waste the unique talents that we have been given.

You were born with a uniqueness and inherent worthiness that cannot be denied.  Your past trauma, your mistakes, or your work failures cannot change it. Your opinion of yourself is not regulated by any childhood experiences.  No matter how bad your parents treated you or how many horrible experiences you have had, you can choose to embrace your worthiness and love yourself. 

You are 100% worthy, just because you are a human. 

“Self-worth comes from one thing - thinking that you are worthy.” - Wayne Dyer

Dr. Julie Cappel

Episode #37 - How to Start Loving Your Job

On this episode of the podcast Julie talks about learning to love your job again.  She explains how some changes in your thinking coupled with new actions, will actually help you have better feelings about the work that you do. In order to move away from hating your job you have to remember the feelings that you had when you first started doing this work.  Taking stock of your current emotions and understanding the thoughts behind them will cause you to regain some of the love that you have for your important exciting work. 

Check out this episode!

Teamwork lessons from Carmen

I spent this weekend in Louisville Kentucky attending my daughter’s professional opera debut.  She has been performing in opera for the past several years as an apprentice artist, but this performance marked the first time that she was hired for a supporting role in a major opera performance.  Kentucky Opera’s performance of Carmen.

Carmen is probably the best-known opera to the general public because most are familiar with the music.   It is a compelling, entertaining, and easy to follow story about a soldier, a bull fighter, and a wild gypsy - Carmen.  They are involved in a love triangle which ultimately ends in Carmen’s death in the finale.  (spoiler alert – I know)

Watching the performance opening night was a memorable experience that the cast made appear effortless. The singers, who had rehearsed this performance for the past month were prepared and professional.   Performing in a large theater - without microphones - their beautiful, highly trained voices rang out over the hundreds of attending guests. 

The performers and support team had traveled from all over the United States to spend a month living in Louisville, rehearsing and staging this show.  All of this work for just two performances, Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

I marveled at the number of people that it took to put this piece together.  There was the conductor with a full orchestra, playing the beautiful music live in the pit – at least 35 people.  There were 11 principal opera singers, 34 chorus members and a children’s chorus of 15.  There were also people behind the scenes, including stage managers, set designers, lighting crew, choreographers, prop coordinators, costume designers, wig masters, makeup artists, and even a dictation coach.  There were people working security, tickets sales, ushers and bar tenders at the theatre concession. 

When you think of a performance like this you appreciate the art and entertainment, but you don’t often appreciate the massive dedication and teamwork that something like this entails.  You do not see the years of voice training, movement coaching, or the memorization of lyrics and dialogue – in French!  You don’t appreciate the travel, set building, staging, dance, coordination with the musicians, conductor director and then the

All of these things come together to communicate the story to the audience.  If they are effective as this team was, the audience leaves the theatre better than they were before they experienced Carmen. 

If we could take a life lesson from a production like this, it would be that dedication to a craft along with teamwork, allows for creation of something much larger than one individual can attain. These talented artists are a living example of what it means to work together towards one goal and achieve it well.  As you work as a member of any team, remember that the individual is key to making any large quality production work.  Dedicate yourself to your team.

"Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a teamwork, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." --Vince Lombardi

Dr. Julie Cappel