Ask the Expert: Authenticity & The 7 Core Pillars Of Self with Dr. Lori Monaco

This is amplify you the podcast about you discovering your message and broadcasting to the world. If you're a coach, author or speaker, you'll want to tune in. If you're looking for the best return on your time investment to get your message out to the world in a bigger way. We're giving you full access behind the scenes look of how we're running our podcasts, how our clients have found success, and what you can do to launch your podcast today. The world needs your message. I'm Michelle Abraham, the host join my family as we unleash your unique genius and find the connections you need to launch your venture today. Join us and let's get amplified. Hello, hello amplify your family Michelle Abraham. I'm here today with an amazing interview for you. We're doing an ask the expert interview with Dr. Lori Monaco, aka the badass Buddha. So let me say hi to Dr. Lori first before we jump into tell you a little bit more about her. So hi, Lori, how you doing?

I'm Michelle I'm well today. How are you?

We're doing great. So I want to just dive right into this. But let me just tell our audience a little bit more about you. So Dr. Lori Monaco is the founder and CEO of align yourself Inc. She's a chiropractor, teacher, speaker and coach. She specializes in mindfulness practice transformation and aligning with authentic self to create an abundant life. She's also a blogger, author and co host known as the badass Buddha, she is the creator of the seven core pillars of self, she teaches people to align with the seven pillars, the mental, emotional, spiritual, physical and visualized physiological, social, spiritual and financial states of being. So aligning with these pillars brings an individual to their aesthetic self for better health, wealth, love, satisfaction, inner peace in harmony. I love that. So we're gonna dive into the seven pillars in a few minutes. But first, Dr. Lori, I would love to share with our audience, how did you become known as the badass Buddha?

Well, you know, it's, it was, so I, okay. I've always been a compassionate individual, I've always resonated very heavily with the Buddhist religion. And so I've always, like I, I've always kind of felt I was a Buddha, like that type, you know, just just a general thing. I'm not like, you know, this, this person that's going to sit in a statue, you know, it's like, if people are going to worship you that kind of deal, it's more of just the, the, the essence of it right? And then, but I was never a badass. And I pretty much lived a life of just following what everybody else did, and what I thought I should do. And, and it wasn't until I hit my lowest point in my life when I was about 45, almost 46. And when I came out of that six months, really bad, like, depression, I as I started to pull myself up, and I started to really fall in love with myself, that's when I decided to become the badass in my life. And but to how do you do both, you know, and then I realized that, you know, I'm both like, I'm a compassionate individual. And I'm a badass individual. So I put those two together and became the badass Buddha. And that's and it's, it's a expression that I or name that came in as part of the the show that I do with my co host of the YouTube show, but but it stuck because it really it's describes me like a totally describes the person that I am.

That's great. I love I love what you have, like a fun name that you can, they can go by, I think that's really cool. I want to I want to find a name for me like that. I think that's fine. It's like you're find it, you'll find it. Yeah, you become the badass Boodles that's so cool. What I wanted to talk to you about today, and I think will be really great for our audience to kind of hear you talk a lot about the seven core pillars of self which I think when people are starting podcasts, they really need to it's one of those things that you have to be authentic when you're talking because if you're not you're not going to last very long podcasting so what are some things that we can do to prepare to align ourselves in these pillars that will make for so much better of an experience on a on a when you're diving into maybe starting a podcast or being on a YouTube channel or some new platform where you are you have to be the expert and and you have to be your authentic self at the same time.

So that is you know, that is the catch word and I hope it never goes away. You know, like transparency was the catch word a few years ago and I just want to vomit every time I hear it now because it's so people use it and they don't really mean it. But authenticity I hope never goes away because I think that's we're so hungry for being the Very authentic, very real. And that's what we want people we want, we want to meet people like that. And so that a lot of these podcasters coming in a lot of these individuals who are just in the spotlight, it's so important to be that individual, which requires you to also be vulnerable. And that's the piece people stumble on. Because being your most authentic, True Self requires people to see the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, the core pillars are designed to give you a template to follow and ask yourself those questions, you know, so, when you follow each one, so if you say like, what, who am I? And And who am I? Now? Who am I? And what am I? And what do I want to be? And you ask like mentally? Like what am I? How am I doing mentally? You know? How is my mindset mentally? How am I doing emotionally? My physical body? Am I in good shape? Am I in my flexible? It can be mentally and emotionally I'm flexible mentally, emotionally, am I in good shape, my physiological, how's my health? And you go through the whole list of spiritual piece, the the social piece, and then the last one is financial. And you it's, it's about saying, Okay, where am I right now in this moment in time with each of these, and not being afraid to say like, okay, I'm good here, and I'm really great here and I will I need to really work on this piece, and not hiding behind it. Because we all have moments, even in our transformation, we all have moments that were like really kicking it in one area, and then one area like were tanking, you know, and it's just a matter of constantly being aware and checking in. And so it like with the authenticity, the anticipatory piece authenticity piece is really important with podcasters. Because there's always going to be somebody out there that has more followers, or more whatever. And when we start questioning that and saying, Oh, well, what are they doing differently? It don't worry about what they're doing. It's look within. And so that's what the core pillar is about, it's looking within and saying what can I offer based on who I am. And even if I'm not 100%, even I'm still working myself. And I'm really, like, let's say the Financial Peace I'm really struggling with, but everywhere, everywhere else, I'm doing pretty well. And then that's, that's your authentic self. And you, you say that, you know, you say, well, here, you know, I'm working on this, I've got this down, I'm great here. But this is the piece that I still, you know, struggle with how many other people out there do. So it's an this, this template is something you just follow for the rest of your life, you just keep, you have to check in. Because we may be doing really well today with one piece. And then the next year, we're still in that same, you know, like that same level. But if your goal was to do better than you didn't do better, you know, so. So it's just, again, it's like checking in with each of those. And and it's really important, especially as we go, we get older, because we sometimes put some of them on the backburner, and then all of a sudden, we hit a certain age and we're like, wow, like, where did that weight come from? Where? Or why am I taking all these pills or, and the health piece is just as important because without health, you know, you can't even you won't be able to do your podcast. Let's put it that way.

Right, right. Oh, my gosh, I can still resonate with that exact thing right now. So I've spent so much time focusing on my business in the last few years that I really like neglecting my own health and my own physical, physical body. So yeah, I got to stop being behind the computer for so many hours a day and start living more. Yes, exactly. It's funny, because one season in my life, I was actually a personal trainer. So you know, it's like it's exactly totally can connect with what you're saying. Because it's not always like, oh, long term, you're always gonna have financial struggle, and be great at all these other things is constantly shifting. So do you think it's possibly possible to still be successful, even if not all these areas are in balance?

Well, I mean, obviously, it is, because there's so many people out there. I mean, even years ago, people were so successful, and it just depended on what they were defining as successful. So, like, you know, they would say, well, you're successful, if your business is really doing well, and you have, you're making a lot of money, and great, but then all of a sudden, the individual is like in poor health, or they have their marriage stinks or their, their, their kids can't stand them. You know, and I think over the last few years, we've stepped up and said, We want to be an abundant we want to have an abundant mindset. So we it's not just about being successful with your business, you have to you want to see success across the board. And so those require a lot that will number one all requires awareness number two requires work. And so you could be successful and still working on other pieces. Because again, if you just say I'm constantly in growth, like I'm constantly shifting like you had said before I'm constantly flowing, and it's learning is lifelong, then you may never fully master every single one. I mean, you know, like, but But you master it based on the, here's the authentic authenticity part, again, you master it based on what you feel is your master piece, you know. So like for financial people might say, Well, I just I want to be a multimillionaire, that's, that's the piece they want to master. There's some people that might just say, You know what, I'm good. Like, I don't need to be a millionaire, I just want to have financial independence, and I don't want to have any debt. And I want to, you know, feel comfortable, and I can move around, I don't have to have a huge house. So there, there's a little lower, like, they said, There's at a different level, one's not better than the other. So we could be out of balance. And with one, we just have to be aware of it. And then we say, okay, so if I'm not, if I'm not fully aligned in this piece, but I'm okay here, I'm going to I'm going to not pay as much attention to this piece. But I'm always going to, it's always going to be there. I'm going to put my effort into this other piece, I think what happens is, is that we, like you had said you were a personal trainer, but then you started to focus on other stuff, and then that fell out, right. And so the goal is, is just never fully disengage from each of the pieces. But shift your focus on to one more. So always checking in with the others. Okay, so I'm focusing this week on this, but then, let me let me at the end of the week, how did I do physically? How did I do? So oh, well, I'm in front of a computer all day, I didn't really move that much. Oh, I couldn't get to the gym. But who says you have to get to the gym reinvent, say, just get up and move around. You know, like, we do some crazy stuff in our household. Like, last Christmas, we bought our I bought the kids. And I have a little one. But then I also have a two big ones, you know, to two older kids. And we bought those hoppy things are those like blow up things that you said? Right. And, and I didn't realize they make him an adult sizes. So I so I got to love Amazon, right? So I'm on and I order it for the little one. And I ordered two adult size ones, right? And, and we have a house set up so that you could like literally go in a circle. And so we would have races and I'd be on one, you know, and I'm doing this I'm going, Man, this is like such good exercise. Like this is like I was so sore the next day. And I'm thinking I all I did was that so so you could you could change things up. And but again, it's like you just have to check in. So now I could say why don't I'm not gonna go to I don't I'm not a big fan of running. I know. So let me do that like that, hey, you know, and instead of my daughter, let's go, let's have a race, you know, across, I'm playing with her. So I'm doing the social piece at the same time. And I'm I'm doing what's important to me when my family is good for my mental well being is good for my emotional well being. And then I'm doing the physical piece, you know, so it's just a matter of, yes, you could be successful. But for how long? You know, I mean, I always think of people like Steve Jobs. You know, Steve Jobs was massively successful, financially speaking, he was an amazing inventor and visionary. But his family life was awful. His you know, his he is and then he ended up you know, it's a passing away from pancreatic cancer. So maybe somewhere, his he was not taking care of himself enough to have prevented that. So he was not aware he wasn't paying attention to other pieces, because he was so focused on what at that time was really important to him. And as opposed to, you know, looking at the bigger picture. So it's and again, it's also about what's important to you.

Yeah, I think that's such an important message. I was envisioning, as you're doing your Pogo races around around your living room. I was like, Yeah, we're like, what do you go jump on the trampoline with your kids. And it's like, tiring after five minutes to like, I know, as a kid. It's awesome. I love I love that just being creative and being social. And like, for those of us with kids, it's easy to do go kick the soccer ball around with the kids or things like that. I think that's great to, to just keep in mind, it doesn't have to be such a big deal or a big thing. Just that a little bit all the time. And that little bit of tension constantly is great. So did you how did you come up with the seven core pillars itself? Did you go through personal experience that drew it out? Or is it something that was from working with all your clients?

So I mean, I've done a lot of I myself have done a lot of personal development since I was about 19. And I am going to be 52 in like three weeks. So or maybe maybe maybe a month a little a little less than a month I'm going to hold on to the 51 for a little bit longer. I guess. And, um, so I guess it was just a lot of the reading and, you know, if you go in and research, you know, like research in Google search things out, I mean, you will see things that pop up that talk about mental, emotional, you know, they'll talk about the, you know, you have your mental your body, and your spirit and, and so I your mind, your body spirit. So it came from that, and then I just sort of broke it down a little bit more. And then because of my chiropractic background, you know, I was always taught in, in school, that you align the spine, that's, that's my job is to align the spine, and when you align the spine, everything flows, you know, freely from the nervous system. And I thought to myself, you know, if you align only one piece, and you only focus on one piece, and you let the others fall by the wayside, you will suffer. And that was what was happening to me in my life, it's like, I would work on one thing, and then I would like leave the others, you know, because chiropractors like to say sometimes that, oh, you only need chiropractic, like, you just need to come to me and never need to go to another doctor again. And I don't believe that, because if that were the case, then I would have never, I would have the most perfect life ever, you know, and my health was not bad by a little quirky things. But I just was like very bad at making choices. I just had the depression piece. And so I started really thinking about it, I'm like, you know, you have, there's, there's all these pieces that you have to think about. And you know, you could say, well, I'm in great health, and I'm in good physical act, you know, you know, my physical shape is great. And my mental emotional well, being is good, I meditate and I feel good. But if you don't have a friend, then that's gonna affect you may not affect you right away, but it will. So the social piece has to come in. And then your social network has to be individuals who are like minded and not toxic. And then and then. And then in the end, the whole piece is really a spiritual grounding. So you can work on all of that. But if you don't honor your spirit, it will. It Again, any ignoring any piece of it for an extended period of time, it will whip its way back in and it will affect every single one. And this is, so it was a combination of my experiences, a lot of my what I read, and working with clients, and then just coming up with, okay, I'm just going to name these and, and then creates, you know, coursework like workshops and coaching, to get people to understand how to be more mindful and use certain tools to align themselves. And that's why everything that I do, whether it's teaching a workshop, or if it's coaching, it's mindfulness centered, because it all starts without awareness, period.

Hmm, yeah, I think awareness is the first step to it all, isn't it?

Yeah. Well, right is that in therapy, they always say the first step is no, you have a problem.

Just know that you have it is through you're unwilling, you're waiting. Isn't that true all the way around. I love that. Any advice for our our listeners today who are maybe thinking about, like starting to get on a platform where they have to be visible, they're going to be seeing they have to use their voice? What would you suggest as a couple of things they could do to get prepared for that. And knowing that being in alignment with your authentic self is really helpful. I always, always tell my clients that takes like, a good 20 or 30 episodes. So you start finding your voice and getting your message out there, your throat chakra starts clearing up if you if that was something you struggled with first bit to get out there and have a voice, any suggestions for things that could work on and start looking at before before jumping into a platform?

So first work on yourself. So So ask yourself the questions. And this is what I always do with my clients is say who I'm Who am I now? And who do I want to be? Okay, and then, and then you can, you can go even deeper. And then you can say things like, make a list of what I like about myself and what I what I love about myself, and then what I dislike about myself and what I hate about myself, I know it sounds counterintuitive sometimes. But we have to face those things. And again, being authentic is being truthful to oneself. So even if it's the stuff you really don't like and you want to cringe that you have to face that so like podcasting, the cringe factor usually kicks in is their voice. They're like oh my god, do I really sound like that. And that's the might be like the minimal piece to worry about. Because you're worrying about it. But that's what everybody's been hearing for years. So don't worry about that piece. But that's kind of how it starts, you know, and they're like, Well, what if I say the wrong thing and just be you nobody does you better and know that if you are always just being and playing you that if you say something and you're like, I don't mean to sound that way there's always the Edit number one and then there's always the Okay, I said it so what can I do differently? You know, it's it's constantly just sort of checking in with yourself like what, you know, what can I do better? You know, how did I get my message across? What is my message? And it's about clarity, you know, like, and your message grows with you that's the other piece like, like one of the things. So in the show that I co host with my friend, we it took us no mind you, we're going to be rounding into our third year. And it took us about up to this year to actually coin. So we were so we were waiting, we're setting second season, and almost to the end of the year. And to coin what we really represented, we knew what we represented and what we did, but to actually breathe the words and we did we came up with it. So our show we say that we are disruptors, we are unapologetically courageous, we are spiritual grounded, magically orgasmic and we go above authenticity or beyond authenticity. And that's what we we live. And that's what we've decided. That's who we who we want to be. And that's what we want our platform to be. And that's what we want the people who are listening to step and be okay with that. Because being like a disrupter in your life means you're not going to be like, it's not that you're rude. And you're calling out people to meet, you're in disruptor in your own self. It's like if you feel that you're falling back, and you're questioning yourself, then disrupt it. Like what, why am I questioning myself? What? Don't listen to other people, your platform is your platform, your podcast is how you want it to be if somebody says, I don't like the name of that one, they don't listen. Or like, listen, but But ask yourself, well, why did I pick that name? What's why that name is so important to me or that topic, and then ask a couple more people don't just rely on one person. Because I mean, we use the term a lot and in my platform, magically orgasmic and that doesn't sit well with some people. But when we actually define what we mean by that, then people who were originally not on board because of just the actual term, they'll go, oh, so it's not associated with that. I'm like, Well, I can be but that's not what we're talking about, you know. And so it's your clarity is the moment you become clear as the moment you fall in love with you. As you are right now, you are perfectly imperfect. And so always know that and you were working progress, always know that. So you were continuously grow. And so your podcast, and that's the beauty of it. And it meaning that on the very first like show, we are growth like we are we are working progress. So this podcast, I have no idea where it's gonna go. But this is you know, and be excited about that. So yeah, I think that's

great. I love those. Yeah, it's one of the things that we're seeing a lot of people now coming to us, because they have a podcast that they've outgrown. It stayed over here, but their personal development happens when you're on a show, whether it be podcasts or YouTube or wherever, get that personal development happens, because you're you're out there and you're putting yourself out there and you grow. So now we're like realigning with that podcasts again, and refreshing. And like you said, it took us a couple of seasons to get your to get to get really into it. And now that you've teased it now, we all want to know, what's the name of the show? Where can we find it?

And well, I and I'm gonna say that in a second, but I do want to say this real quick about what you just said that it's true. Because as you grow, you may you may have to shift certain things. So for instance, yes, we do have a youtube facebook live show. And we it's video and we were we engage directly with the people on we answer comments, we're talking to people live, and we love the format. We also had the opportunity to go on to blog talk radio this year, and we did a word of mom network. And we would have a show once a week, once a month. It was a radio show and, and it was two hours. And it was we decided my partner and I decided that just we had fun on it, but it really wasn't working for us because we like seeing each other. We like the video format. We like seeing the comments come up reading them, you know, and talking directly out loud to the people that are commenting. Whereas the radio show we didn't know who was listening. We didn't know anything that was going on. So we realized that that was the format that worked for us would we put our stuff to podcast yes, we're actually going to do that for this year. That's the goal for this year is to just just take and re you know, what do they call that re purpose very purpose. Repurpose our shows for podcast so more people can hear but so our show is Viva cafe con Lecce, which means in Spanish have coffee with milk and it has to do with the fact that the best conversations happen. So often over a cup of coffee, like, you know, people come over and they're like, Hey, let's take out the coffee, or, Hey, I'll meet you for a cup of coffee. And what we wanted to create was something that just got people to talk about whatever. And we pick some of the deepest topics, the craziest topics, and we're not afraid to talk about them. We're very colorful, we don't hold back, thank goodness, there's no filters on our YouTube and Facebook channel. But it's, you know, it's just about being again, the disrupter and being authentic and being okay with who you are. And we were Tuesday, Thursday mornings 8am to 9am, Eastern Time on Viva cafe con leche, a YouTube channel and Facebook. And my co host and I, we are, we are just ourselves. And we have Tuesdays most of the time, it's just the two of us. And then Thursdays, we have a guest. So we're waiting for you, Michelle to come on as the guy I know, it'd be really early. That'd be like, ridiculously early for you. But But we've had west coasters Come on. And you know, come that early. But

at 430 in the morning for a show in the Philippines a few weeks ago.

Do it so the only time we had to do a special presentation was we had some real bigwig come on to the show. And she was in Hawaii. I was like, Yeah, I'm not getting up that early. I'm like, Okay, well, because you're so who you are. We're gonna accommodate you, you know. But anyway, yeah. So it's an it's a fun show. And it's, you know, we talk about, we have a topic and we talk about and we want engagement from, you know, the people that are viewing we want them to say they're there and we see them come up, and we want to them to say hello. And we want them to ask questions or make comments, you know, even if they have something to bring to the table that maybe we don't even know, we want it to pop up onto that screen. So it's it's, and we're a little crazy. See. So that's part of part of the mystique. You don't want to miss that either. Right.

I love that. I think that makes it even more exciting.

When my partner my partner's name is Gladiator guru, that's her name on the show. And all her name is mama got eat that they might have got etha. And yeah, so the two of us have this incredible dichotomy. And she's crazy. Like, I thought I was a little cray cray. She's really and she's yc. And fabulous, absolutely fabulous and

wonderful. I love the sounds of it. And I think that's you guys are obviously living exactly what you're seeing right here is that using your authentic voice being you be real, and that's going to attract the right people to you. I think what you're saying is brilliant. And I just want to put that back to our audience. Really think about, don't be afraid of starting a podcast and using your voice is going to feel a lot more comfortable. After the first few episodes. In fact, you're going to get comfortable being uncomfortable in the uncomfortable zone. So it's just a matter of patience. On time spouse. Exactly. Yeah. Don't be afraid to do it just get started in using them voice and, and being you there is no other one. And no, there's nothing else like you even have a same topic as someone else. You do it so uniquely you that it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing. Right. That's it. Yeah. Thank you so much. Dr. Lurie, for joining us today. I really appreciate all your insights and can't wait to go watch your show. Sounds that sounds fabulous.

And live his best. But if you you could still I mean, you know it's there. So you could always watch afterwards. Yeah. So but yeah, thank you, Michelle. That would be great. We'd love to have you watch the show. And we're going to schedule it to be on for 2022

That sounds fantastic. And look forward to it. And we will make sure we put it in the show notes so you guys can link to it because it sounds like it's quite a mouthful to remember. So definitely learn anywhere else you want to send anyone everyone today to go check out more information about you and all the things that you do.

I'm sure you could check out my website. It's Dr. Laurie Monaco calm you can find me on Facebook and LinkedIn on the same, the same name and let's see on Instagram, Instagram, I'm the badass Buddha one I think and then on tic tac tic tac tic tock, I am the badass buta tic tac, I think I was thinking of the mint candy. I don't know.