Sept. 29, 2022

Being Creation with Meredith Bell

Being Creation with Meredith Bell

In this conversation you get to meet our newest team member, Meredith Bell. She shares how she is creating who she is being with new people, loved ones and practicing being Love.

Listen for her:

Invitation to practice this through appreciation.

Invitation to create your own purpose statements

Invitation to do it now

This episode is especially for women as multidimensional beings who defaut to acting as a human doing. Listen to how she creates inner peace even in a personal family “disaster”. What do you see yourself creating for yourself in a similar situation?

About the Guest:

Meredith is co-founder and President of Grow Strong Leaders. Her company publishes software tools and books that help people build strong relationships at work and at home.

Meredith is an expert in leader and team communications, the author of three books, and the host of the Grow Strong Leaders Podcast. She co-authored her latest books, Connect with Your Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communication Skills, and Peer Coaching Made Simple, with her business partner, Dr. Dennis Coates. In them, Meredith and Denny provide how-to guides for improving communication skills and serving as a peer coach to someone else.

Meredith Bell contact information:

Meredith@GrowStrongLeaders.com

(757) 656-4765 (office)

(804) 824-4958 (mobile)

Website: https://growstrongleaders.com/

Connect with Your Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communication Skills

https://amzn.to/3jL0pEI

Peer Coaching Made Simple https://amzn.to/37iq3MP

Socials

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmbell

Twitter: https://twitter.com/meredithmbell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeredithMBell

Grow Strong Leaders Podcast: https://growstrongleaders.com/podcasts/

About the Host:

Cordelia Gaffar is the Ultimate Joy Monger. That means that she holds space for you to reveal your joy within. Joy Mongering is a word she created from several life experiences and based on her philosophy that self-nurturing is freedom. In fact she has created a process she calls Replenish Me ™ to help you transmute fear, rage and anger into Joy. In one of her eight books, Detached Love: Transforming Your Heart Do That You Transform Your Mind, she breaks down the Replenish Me ™ process through her research, client stories and her personal vulnerable shares.

She is also the host of three host podcasts. She won Best Podcast Host for her solo show called Free to Be Show and collaborates as a co-host on Unlearning Labels and the Ultimate Coach Podcast. The multidimensional genius she is, is further demonstrated as the mother of six children whom I homeschooled for 17 years. In summary, she has won multiple awards: Best Podcast Host of 2019, Top National Influencer, Sexy Brilliant Leader, and inducted into the Global Library of Female Authors in 2020; and in 2021 nominated for Author of the Year and Health and Wellness Coach of the Year. She has also won the Brainz Global 500 Award of Influencers and Entrepreneurs for 2021 and won BOOKS for PEACE 2022 award, CREA Award.

She has been featured on America Meditating Radio, British Muslim TV, Spirituality Podcast, Ultimate Coach Podcast, also featured on South African radio 786, and Fox News.

hello@cordeliagaffar.com

https://linktr.ee/cordeliagaffar

https://www.cordeliagaffar.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cordelia-gaffar/

The Ultimate Coach Resources

https://theultimatecoachbook.com

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theultimatecoachbook

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14048056

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheUltimateCoachBook



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Transcript
TUCP Intro/Outro:

Welcome to The Ultimate Coach podcast conversations from being inspired by the book, The Ultimate coach, written by Amy Hardison, and Alan Thompson. Join us each week with the intention of expanding your state of being. And your experience will be remarkable. Remember, this is a podcast about be. It is a podcast about you. To explore more deeply visit theultimateCoachbook.com. Now, enjoy today's conversation from be

Cordelia Gaffar:

Hello, Meredith, I'm so happy to be with you here. And, you know, welcome you onboard on the team of the ultimate coach podcast.

Meredith Bell:

Thank you, Cordelia. I'm excited to have this conversation with you today. And to be able to join you as one of the hosts for the podcast. I've had my own podcast the last three years, grow strong leaders and just love the kinds of conversations that are possible, and especially the focus of this podcast, on who we are being in the world. There's nothing more important than that.

Cordelia Gaffar:

That's so true. And, you know, before we started, we were saying, These conversations are really great. And I hope in our conversation today that we'll take it to a different place of being giving more space to women who have families, and run businesses, and the beauty of the nuances of being in that and with that.

Meredith Bell:

Yes, so I love that because I've been in business with my two business partners now for 31 years. And the last several years since I became familiar with Steve Hardison, and Steve Chandler's books, that's how I first learned about Steve Hardison was I was reading Steve Chandler's books. And in every book, he's highlighting stories about his coach. So I connected with Steve Hardison on Facebook and just following his posts reading about him, and who he was, was just very, not just inspiring to me, it inspired me to action inspired me to think differently about myself, who I am, what my capabilities are, and claiming them. And I was so excited when the new when the book came out the ultimate coach book. And, and I think it is just a magnificent book, Amy Hardison did a beautiful job capturing the essence of Steve and of course, all stories of his clients, reading the book as if it's for me, made all the difference in how I absorbed and experienced the insights and the stories of those other people. And I've just seen a lot of changes happen in my way of thinking, my way of showing up that have been really profound for me, and I think it impacts those that I interact with, as well.

Cordelia Gaffar:

Yeah, definitely. It's been life changing for everyone that has read the book so far. And, you know, meeting the work of Steve Hardison, through Steve Chandler's a common entry point, I'm noticing there's like a through thread and every one of my conversations. And definitely, Amy Hardison captured the work of her husband in just the most beautiful prose. And she also makes it easy for the reader to read it as if it's about you. Mm hmm. You know, so I'm curious, like, where did you connect most deeply in the book?

Meredith Bell:

Two places I would say. One is the Create chapter. And of course, creation is throughout the book. And also love those two, because I had taken one of those self assessment strength identifiers, and my number one was love. Now, this has been a number of years ago. And I've have given lots of thought to how do I demonstrate that, you know, how do I bring that and Steve just embodies it, you know, with everyone no matter who they are. it there's there's no barriers for him. There's no conditions, there's no judgment. And I absorbed a lot of that it helped me take my idea about love to a whole different level. And it has impacted how I think about an approach new people. Because it's so easy to fall back into patterns of of appearances, or of the things that we kind of put together in our minds when we first meet someone. And having that attitude of love and acceptance, and looking for what can I learn about this person, no matter who they are. Others feel that when you come from that place, and so the more I have practiced it, the more it's a way of being. And it's not an effort, I don't have to consciously think, oh, I need to be love here. You know, it's just how I feel feel that moment, when I show up, the Create part has so many different facets. And one of the things I think that really impacted me so much is reading the stories where people bring what they think is a very serious problem. To Steve, and to the rest of us. It would be right. Oh, yeah, of course. That does, big problem. And yet to Steve, it's nothing. There's nothing, no barriers. And I hold that, in my mind whenever I encounter something that's unexpected, or could be perceived as disappointing or a challenge. I'm continuously reframing it as what would I like to create from this? It's one of my favorite questions from the Steve Chandler books, that's also a thread in the TOC book. Given this situation, what would I like to create, and that, that produces a whole different feeling, it releases a more creative side of me that would not come out if I were feeling stressed, and fretting and worrying over the whatever the situation might be. And that just to me, has had a huge impact on my overall state of, of inner peace. You know, and being able to feel truly joyful about whatever presents itself. And I loved the story that Steve Hardison had in your interview recently with Chris doors, oh, yeah, read about it. Also on Facebook, where you know, Hardison gets this flat tire, and he's excited about it.

Meredith Bell:

That kind of response is something that, you know, I've been practicing also to eliminate the time between the incident occurring, and my getting to the point where I'm looking at it from the lens of how is this happening for me, in this particular situation. And I'll share a story with you a year ago, we were going to have a family reunion with 40 people at one of these big houses at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, three weeks before that, I think it was Father's Day, because my husband and I were with her daughter, our daughter and her family, which she has a husband and two children. So they were all in the room. And I get a call from my sister, who had been the point of contact with the company down there that we were renting the house from saying the house had burned to the ground. So my family that was in it escaped, fortunately, and no one was hurt. But my sister was at my mother's house calling to tell us this. And they were hysterical, distraught over this. And I was too for a moment. And then it was like I switched into All right, given that we have this situation. And there is no other house, we can rent in that short period of time because these big houses there aren't very many of them. So I jumped into very quickly this solution, you know, creation, what I thought of as the creation mode. Okay, so what can we do to think about next year instead? Maybe we'll do that. Well, what I overlooked was that everybody else around me was still in the moment dealing with that news. And I think I came I know I came across this a little too insensitive to

Cordelia Gaffar:

let's look Same pause. Yeah, let's pause with that, because that's a really good point and see, this is what I'm talking about. Like, it's one thing if you're one person on the road with a flat tire, but when you're a matriarch and you've got this whole family reunion planned, right, it's great that you can shift. But what about the other 39? People? Yeah, so then what happened?

Meredith Bell:

Well, I ended up backing off, because I could sense that they weren't ready to move on, they were still processing and thinking about the people who had been in that house and what they must have experienced. And the disappointment of not getting to see the family because we, we usually have these every three years, the year before we had canceled because of COVID. So and then, four years. And so it was just this disappointment of not knowing, do we even want to try again, you know, this was like the second strike. And so we're just needing time to process it. And so I realized I needed to just be present to their feelings. In the moment, even though in my own mind, I was okay, with what happened, I accepted it really quickly. But I needed to express and feel, in the moment, the empathy for the others in the sadness, they were experiencing the disappointment they were experiencing. So it's a learning. I'm glad you paused at that moment, because it does make a big difference when you are in a particular place. And the other people around you are not, it doesn't make me right, you know, it's not a matter of judging where they are versus where I am, is being being aware of insensitive to what do they need from me? What kind of love and and how can I serve them best in this moment.

Cordelia Gaffar:

And it also sounds like the great part of you being in that awareness and creation mode, that allowed you to create space to be present, and empathize with in love everyone, according to where they were in the moment, as opposed to if you were one of the people who were also experiencing that disappointment, it would have made it a lot more difficult for you to hold space and create space for them. So that's the beautiful part of how you're being and how you're able to practice what CD calls none time. You know, yeah. And so this is the, I want it too. I love that you shared that story. And I wanted to slow down with the pieces of it. So you know, because personal development for women, has nuances, and sometimes we don't know how to process the information. It's like, oh, you know, like, we should just be able to, and I'm going to infuse masculine energy here, right, we have to do. And the whole point is to be, which is a feminine energy. Right. And it's more of creating an energetic flow of reciprocity of love, non judgement, acceptance, awareness, and, and compassion. And you were able to do all those things in non time. That's, that's what I'm, that's what I want our viewers and listeners to hear and experience from your story.

Meredith Bell:

Well, when you think about it, and most of us, you know, have been raised in and our world spends a lot of time resenting, you know, what happens fighting reality, and wishing it weren't that way, and regrets and all these negative emotions that don't serve us. And for those of us that have been in this, I'll call it this TC community, you know, where we've absorbed and come and adopted this whole idea of choosing who we're being in the moment and being driven by the internal, not what's happening externally, and therefore whatever happens externally, we can embrace it and see what are the lessons for Whereas how is this working for us? For those who haven't been exposed to this kind of thinking being, it seems foreign. And, and so recognizing it's like, you know, it's, it's like any differences we have with other people in political or religious, whatever the belief systems are, when we've adopted this kind of a belief system of, it's up to us, and how we respond, and we can create from anything, it's not how the rest of the world thinks. And so we can feel like a fish out of water at times. And, and I think that's another opportunity for growth. And that's what I hear you saying, whatever situation we're in, we have our own response. And then when it impacts other people being aware of where they are, and what they need at this moment, so we can respond appropriately

Cordelia Gaffar:

to them as well. Yeah. And I want to also touch back to the piece where you were talking about appreciating, because I was in a session with you yesterday, and you were talking about appreciation. So I think that will help people also process this way of being, you know, and close that gap. So if you want to share that a little bit of that,

Meredith Bell:

oh, I would love to, because, you know, this is one area that I have also studied and, and looked at absorbing, so that I am gratitude, I in fact, that's one of my declarations, I am gratitude, so that I am in this state of appreciating anyone that I encounter. And instead of criticizing someone thinking about, what is it about them that I can appreciate. And what I was sharing in that session is something I had learned from strategic coaches Dan Sullivan years ago, where he talked about two definitions of appreciation. And one of them is really adapted from the military, where it means the scouts go out, and they want to get they want to appreciate what's going on, they want to have an understanding of what the enemy or what the other side is doing. And so it's having this full understanding of the significance of, and when we apply that to another person, we take time to reflect on what is their significance in our life. The other definition has to do, of course, with value. And so when we think of something appreciating, we think of stocks of land value, you know, real estate, but if we put it in terms of people, there's this appreciation that can happen, appreciating in value, each person that we meet. And so one of the goals in in thinking this way is when we encounter that other person, we give thought in advance to how much we value them. And the context of what we were talking about in that other session with someone who you know, you want to have a good relationship with, but there are issues that you tend to have with them or struggles in having this good relationship. And so if we can approach them with taking the time to think about what are eight things, or six or 10, whatever number you want to use, what are some things that I value about this person, so that we approach them with this mindset of wow, they add a lot of value to my life, instead of anticipating some kind of conflict, defensiveness, negative interchange or negative outcome from that if we can adjust our mind and approach them with this sense of appreciation. It does two things, it increases their value in our own minds. And it also increases their value in their mind. And I can't think of another gift that we can give someone else that's greater than approaching them in a way with love, where they walk away from that exchange with us feeling elevated, feeling better about themselves. And that to me is one of the beautiful things Steve Hardison does with everyone. Everyone that comes into contact with him as far as I know, leave I'm feeling elevated because of who he sees them to be. And it's something that's accessible to all of us, if we consciously take the time to go through this exercise, and it doesn't have to take very long, just thinking quickly about the things I appreciate about this person, and, and then appreciating also the significance of them in our lives. Because people sense that,

Cordelia Gaffar:

what they do, they definitely feel it, you know, like when, as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking, what an opening, right? Because this is someone that you're struggling, right, because you've chosen to struggle, and then you're like, wait, no more struggle, I'm going to appreciate what value this person brings to my life. Like, as I was listening to you, I even felt lighter, going into the possibility that I don't have to struggle, I don't have to fight this is going to be great, you know. And that that, to me, makes none time assessable. And in the ultimate coach book, I believe the section is referred to as acknowledgment, that's so you know, people may not resonate with the word acknowledgement. That's why I want to explain about appreciate. And so for, for anyone that reads the book and reads the section on acknowledgment, that's another way to connect with that, that section, if it if it was a challenge for you previously.

Meredith Bell:

So to me acknowledgement, is when you actually verbalize or write, to express to the other person. And even publicly, you know, you're acknowledging someone's value, someone's worth the appreciation can happen in your own mind. And then it's how you are with them, that they feel that, and I think that it's just amazing, because you don't have to say, here are things I appreciate about you, you don't have to list them, it's an exercise for yourself, where you are preparing yourself to have the best possible connection with this person in the best possible conversation. Because you've taken the time, even if it's just a few seconds, to get in that mode of of appreciation of who they are, and what they could bring, you know, too often, because I've had these experiences with people, you know, in my own life over the years, where it got to where I kind of dreaded talking to them, or interacting with them, because it always seemed like it had a negative outcome, or I would leave frustrated, they may not be unhappy, but I was unhappy with how it went. And I don't have those kinds of conversations anymore, because I don't bring that baggage to the conversation, when we can start fresh without the old stories about who they are and how they are towards us. You know, our egos get so wrapped up in, in defending ourselves. And one of the things I think that's helped me to that I've learned from both Steve's is this idea of being curious, you know, instead of reacting to pause and think, Oh, that's interesting. I wonder what's behind that, you know, instead of taking it as a personal attack on me, which it usually is not, but we're depending on where we are in the moment, we perceive words in a particular way. And so being able to stay curious and assume the best of the other person instead of the worst. All of that, you know, makes for just a much more beneficial exchange for both of

Cordelia Gaffar:

us. Definitely. And the other part of what I'm hearing is, appreciation is a requirement to get to acknowledgement because otherwise we're being incoherent in congruent within ourselves, right? He'd be out of integrity to just verbalize, you know, you bring me joy being in Your presence is you know, you'd have to have done that inner process of appreciation for the person before you can actually verbalize you know, because, again in the ultimate coach book integrity is another very important part right like your words must mean mean, exactly. Your words have to be the face value, right? Yes. Yes,

Meredith Bell:

I totally agree with that. And it made me think about the, you know, one of the most important stories I've ever heard related to Steve Hardison, and then it was in the book was the duesler to a store, yes. TBO, Li, T, NFL, and just thinking about being the best, and making that internal commitment to be the best. And what it has done for me is, it's increased my confidence in making these declarations, without concern about comparing myself. So I before I do podcast interviews, for example, I stand up in what Amy Cuddy calls the power pose, right? You can just stand where you feel like, I am powerful, and then make statements like I am the best podcast host on the planet. And I can say that and believe it. Because I'm not comparing myself to anybody else. I'm not saying Am I really, that it's, that's who I'm showing up as the best. And so what does that look like, in terms of who I am my behavior. So I am that, when I have those interviews, I'm there with service to this person, I'm there with love, I'm there to uplift them and bring out their unique brilliance. And so that's what i What's behind the I am the best statements. It's not being half hearted about it. But but this is, this moment is important. And so having those kinds of declarations, where I declare with a deep belief in the truth of it, I am the best, whatever it might be, is just an amazing preparation for being my best. The same with our conversation today, only I said, I am the best guest because then I know, I will be in the state where I am speaking from the heart, and not trying to impress anyone, but trying to say things that are useful and helpful to people who are listening. So that that I'm having a positive impact. I think that to me, as is just the key. In fact, this might be a good time to share with you my purpose statement, which I have had, and said for a number of years, which is very congruent with everything else I've been talking about. Each word was carefully selected to energize me when I say so my purpose is to serve and love profoundly. So others appreciate their own value and maximize it. That's no good, right? That's who I am. I won't say striving, but my focus on Bing. Each day, I don't hit the mark every day. But you know, to commit to it every day. It's who I Yeah, is who I am. Seeing myself as

Cordelia Gaffar:

that's good. You know, and commitment being committed to your declarations is is another practice, right? This is why once you create, carefully craft your declarations, living into them through the commitment, and and like you said, you know, you don't hit the mark every day, well, you may fall off like one minute, one hour, and all you have to do is reconnect. Right? And just slowly, say your purpose statement again, and commit to it and slowly say, your declarations again and then commit to those. And that's the practice and, and over time. You you be that, you know, it's so it's so hard for me to say that sometimes just to be totally transparent because it's like grammatically incorrect. It drives my brain like, but I know you know, just be be your purpose statement be committed, you know, to recommitting and everything. So I love that you shared that and I may I go ahead and make that an invitation to all the listeners to this episode to create their own purpose statement, you know to commit to and maybe starting out with the process of appreciating the The value that they bring to the world, you know, because, again, I mostly work with women, and I see this often, even with the most intelligent, you know, just celebrated women, they, they still sometimes don't appreciate their own value, you know? So just when we talk about appreciation begin with yourself. Yes, right, because we often are the reflection of, you know, what we see in the world. So if you can appreciate it, and someone else that means it's a new,

Meredith Bell:

you know, Cordelia, that is such a critical point. We can't, you know, it sounds trite, we can't get to someone else, what we haven't given to ourselves. And if we still have things about ourselves, that we don't love, that we don't accept, that we judge and criticize, that's going to carry over with other people. And one of the things I've learned in all my years is when I find myself being intolerant of someone else, and usually it's someone close to me, right, one of my busier, right husband, when I found that, why didn't they do this? Why didn't I stop myself? Because I know, something is going on with me, that's causing me to look out at them and want to blame them for one thing or another. And so recognizing that, and then not judging myself, has been such a huge learning for me, because it well, because one of my phases of learning was, well, if it's not them, and it's me, what's wrong with me? So looking in the negatives there, and getting now past that, to where, okay, what am I feeling right at this moment? You know, what's behind that? What thoughts Am I having, yes, that are creating this feeling that is not positive. And so when I can dig deeper, that's where I can get to that nun space, you know, because I can do it more quickly now. And I am more loving to myself, which, you know, I used to think, well, that's ego, but it isn't, if I can't truly love myself, it's gonna be hard to give love to others, if I'm attaching judgment, criticism, anything negative to it. So the more I can look in the mirror and say, I love you, you know, and mean it, which I do, then I can be freer to give that to others. It doesn't, there's nothing conditional that I have to attach it to, for me to be okay. Let's

Cordelia Gaffar:

talk about the definition of love. Because I love God, that was just so beautiful, the way you share that it was so kind, you know, and I want, I want you to share, like, the definition of love, because I feel like this is a word that's thrown around a lot, and misunderstood a lot. But the way the underbelly of what you just brought up about love, I love that. So share.

Meredith Bell:

You know, it's one of those words that we all have certain associations with it. For me, it's a deep caring about the well being, whether it's of yourself, or of another person, a deep caring, and commitment. And I don't even have to know them to have love for that person. Because to me, it's not conditioned on, do I already have a relationship with this person? I can love someone before I need them. Just because that's who I'm bringing what I'm bringing to the relationship I'm not holding back to judge or evaluate is this person worthy of my love? That's another, you know, declaration that Steve has, I don't remember his exact words, but I've seen other people have adopted a version of it. Everyone is worthy of my love. And no one deserves my criticism or if worthy of my criticism. And so when I hope that it's this thing of bringing a generous spirit, caring spirit to the exchange, even somebody as I'm checking out at the grocery store, I can smile to them behind my mask because they can see why I shine. And you know, expressing appreciation for checking me out so efficiently. There's always something you know that I can bring to another person to help them feel uplifted. Another example is with my husband. We've been married now 41

Cordelia Gaffar:

years. Wow, congratulations.

Meredith Bell:

Thank you. And you know, one of the things that I say every day, multiple times a day, is I am always kind to Lee. I'm always kind Tilly, because that to me is part of love answering your question. It's this having a kind spirit. So, you know, over all these years, and we're very different. He is a mechanical engineer that can fix anything, I look at it kind of helpless. Thanks, thankful every day that he's in my life to handle those kinds of things, because he loves it, you know, is his area of genius. So naturally, there are ways that we are different. And there are times that, you know, he might respond, because, you know, he might have a physical pain that's causing him to not be in the best mood. And I just always have at the front of my mind, I'm always kinda late. I'm always kind to like, so no matter what might happen, I don't respond with an angry, you know, retort to something, he might say, I don't take anything. I don't take it personally, I don't get hurt. And it's not because I'm putting up a shield. It's because I know, he loves me, you know, and he's committed to me, and he tells me so often, you're the best, you're. So he reinforces that that whole declaration of I am the best. So it's this idea, though, of how I want to be with everyone. I'm coming to everyone. He is my most precious person. So I'm the most to him. But that's sort of the approach as part of being loving to others, is what can I do, to uplift, elevate, you know, those words helped me think about a way of being that causes the person to leave the conversation better. One of my favorite quotes ever out of Steve Chandler's books, is the one he wrote with rich Lipton. And I think it was actually one of Richard's statements in the prosperous coach. And it had to do with conversations. This was in the context of having, you know, what coaches often call a discovery call or an initial call, but I applied it to everything, because I'm not a professional coach, you know, we run a publishing company, we have books and, and software tools. But I found that having this question before, every conversation I had was transformative. And it's this, how can I serve this person so powerfully, that they never forget our conversation for the rest of their life? You know, and the reason that resonated with me so deeply is because it reminded me, they're not going to remember a conversation, where I'm talking about myself and our products and what we do, you know, as much as I am being curious about them, and wanting to learn about them, and asking questions, maybe nobody's asked them before, or observing things and acknowledging them, in ways nobody has taken the time to do before. Is that awareness of bringing to the conversation, that level of service and caring, that can have a lasting

Cordelia Gaffar:

impact? Yeah, that is so powerful, that that book is another book that I've read, like probably four or five times. I revisit that often. And what if we always approached all conversations that way? You know what I mean? That definitely, what does that created in your

Meredith Bell:

world? Well, what's so amazing to me is how easy it is to invite people. I've been interviewing a lot of Chief Learning officers, CEOs of some pretty big companies. And I, I am finding that when I approach I have a pre interview call with them, where I'm learning about what it is they're most excited about. And when I can invite them to talk about this because I'm listening for what what's their real passion. It's amazing how they just run with it. And then the interview itself is set up to be fabulous. And the relationship I formed with these folks is strong, it's not transactional, they feel my genuine interest and excitement about what they're doing, and my desire to bring out their unique brilliance and experiences. And so these are not, you know, guess who I have on and then never reach out to, again, it's relationships that we formed introductions that are being made on my behalf, that come from a place of giving, and loving and serving

Cordelia Gaffar:

upfront. So you have a just a beautiful community, it sounds like of people that you've created through these three years of podcasting. Mm hmm.

Meredith Bell:

You know, it's interesting, you use that word creating, because that was another part of the and I don't remember it was in the Create chapter. That might have been where Steve talks about, he's constantly creating. And one of the ways that he does this is when he sees how he can be of service to someone, and he makes the introduction to someone else. And he doesn't just say, let me introduce the two of you, he creates the other person to that individual and the he creates them to each other. And before he makes the formal introduction, and I thought, gee, that's what I do. When I introduce people, I, my title I put on LinkedIn as the heart centered connector. Yeah, I saw that that is where I'm coming from. And I realized when I was reading that chapter, that's what I do in my introductions, I am creating these people with each other. That's why it takes me so long to write an email. I'm not being trivial, you know, and just saying, here, you meet this person, you need to know each other. I'm describing what it is each one of them brings, that could be of benefit for them knowing each other. And so looking at how can I create, because, you know, Steve can feel superhuman at times when you read about all the things he does and who he is. And yet, all that he is doing is accessible to every one of us. It's simply looking at in my life, how can I create? What can I do to create something that doesn't exist yet? Or where am I already creating that I haven't called it that, because I never called it that with these introductions that I made. But now that I think of it, that way, it's got a whole new life and feel to it, that's really fun. That, that, and also not having any attachment to it, I think that's another aspect of who we're being, we're doing things as a way of putting good out in the world without any expectation of I'm going to get this back or this is going to happen as a result, we just put it out there. And then good things inevitably come from it and some of them are big surprises. So you just never know what you have what you do may come back in some other way that you never expected.

Cordelia Gaffar:

Well Meredith listening to you and being with you today, I see you as the multi dimensional human being that you are you know, and it's it's just a slowing down and and listening to and piecing together all the through threads between your personal stories, your professional stories, and and just hearing the community that you're creating, you know, you're the you're always creating possibility you're living and committing to your purpose statement on a regular basis and your declarations I think I'm gonna call this one being creation or being gratitude because are you know, you're just you you are superhuman also and I think that's really the point that Steve is making, like, you know, on the back of the book with the instructions on how to read it is to see that you're superhuman to so I am acknowledging you for that narrative. Thank

Meredith Bell:

you Cordelia. I, I accept that. You know, I I've gotten another way I've grown is I own it. You know, I claim it and I own it. Instead of going oh, now it's not that great. Yeah, it is great. Something is a superpower and

Cordelia Gaffar:

I love the modeling that for us.

Meredith Bell:

We you know it's so important because so much of our culture. And I my family you know you don't toot your own horn you you know there are different message Does that tell us play small, and what I love? One of the big things I love about Steve is how big he plays. There's no limits. And I love

Cordelia Gaffar:

thinking of that just because he's six, four.

Meredith Bell:

And I just love, you know, the fact that he's committed to helping others see that they also have are limitless. And, and that frees me up to play, which I have tended to be too serious at times. And so thinking about being more playful, in my approach to anything that I do keeps me from taking myself too seriously. Because when we talk about being too serious, it's always how we take ourselves and the situation, but it's how we see ourselves first. So being lighter, gentler, kinder, more loving to myself, that's where

Cordelia Gaffar:

it has to start. Here. Amazing. There. That's, is there anything else you would like to put in the space before we close?

Meredith Bell:

One of the other messages that I've gotten from both cheeks, Steve Chandler's books, and partisan? Is this idea of doing it right now? Too often, I think we can talk ourselves out of doing things. Because we start questioning and doubting, should I do this? You know, does it make sense? Will I regret this? You know, instead of just saying, let's do it. Some of my favorite stories, you know, about harveston are around him just saying, let's do it. Now. Let's go to the font. Let's call this person right now. It's like, why wait. So that again, that none time applies to taking action, as well. And I think that's been another huge takeaway for me with the book, I'll go back and reread some of the stories where where Steve gets his client to do something immediately, instead of waiting, and that's where like a kick for me to okay, what's stopping you just your own thoughts. Let go of that stuff. And just do it and see where it takes you want to be my last thing is, don't let your own thoughts hold you back.

Cordelia Gaffar:

Yeah, be that do it now. Meredith, this has been just a beautiful time. And I'm so happy that you're on the team. And I can't wait to hear your beautiful podcast interviews on the ultimate coach podcast.

Meredith Bell:

Thank you Cordelia. I can hardly wait either. I'm very excited about being of service to the podcast community and the TBC community in this way.