Honor Your True Story Antonia Nelson

This is honor your true story. I’m Antonia Nelson. And today I have the pleasure of speaking with Rachel Westenberg. Rachel helped establish the new Rachel helped establish the organization in Green Bay. Wisconsin, we all rise. She works in strategic communication and marketing there and over the last five years, has worked as a community organizer on local and state levels to change systems of oppression with transportation mental health, mass incarceration and environmental justice. Welcome, Rachel. Hello, I’m so glad you’re here. And this struck me that you know, in your bio, you talk about having this deep passion within you from a very young age, about fighting for justice, and you’re still at a very young age. And when I met you, even you were in a younger age. So where did that come from? Is that from from an event that happened or where did you build this? inside of yourself?

1:29
Yeah, I think that like a lot of the ways some some things we just are right when we come into the world and I have oftentimes asked my parents that question too, because for as long as I can remember even and, like elementary or middle school, when we would do like fundraisers for the homeless shelter or hygiene collections. I can just always remember getting really excited for those kinds of opportunities and being ready and willing to talk to people and, you know, participate in those things with my classmates fully. And it’s I think it’s something that my parents have always said has just always been there. I think for me, looking back, one of the first, like foundational pieces of how justice shows up in my life is with Haiti, actually, our parish had a strong connection to Haitian parish. And when I was on my Lancer, I feel like this is when I was a younger version. Um, I think it was like when I was 1819 years old. I actually got to go with a very close friend of my parents que Schumacher, over to Haiti, to our partner congregation, that at that point, we had done a lot of stuff for and it’s been cool to watch that progression happen, but we got to go over there. And I was there for about 10 days that I was over with the organization called hands and hearts with Haiti. And we had a couple of set meetings that we were going into but it was just an incredible experience for me to go on that journey, especially as that was like a core foundation of like giving on a global level, right. What does that mean to be a steward of your global community? And I think that that was super foundational for me, because that organization truly believed that like in order to be part of the solution, you have to have roots in that community, right. So nothing was done without the input advice and direction of folks. Who are locally part of that Haitian community. And that’s just something that was really ingrained in me at that point was that like, holy crap, I can make an impact in Haiti, right, just by listening to what folks need and it sounds like a really like, Oh, why wouldn’t you know that already, but I think it’s just a really beautiful like, message to get ingrained in you at that age. So I think that’s one of like the core whenever I think based on like that journey for me, that’s kind of where that foundation always starts is like that journey, going to Haiti, talking with folks on the ground, but also being part of an organization that really talks about like, the work and the success that they’re seeing is simply because of the relationship that they have.

5:07
Yeah, and that we could stop the recording right now and send this out for people to get this right. I mean, that is something you talked about all the time with Joshua, and I got to see you know, got to see that more and it kind of leads me to what one thing I wanted to bring up, you shared with all of us and part of Joshua about those listening conversations. And that can’t remember if there was a specific name for them. Yeah, one on one, one on one

0:05
recording in progress. This is honor your true story. I’m Antonia Nelson. And today I have the pleasure of speaking with Linda. Eileen Miller and author who’s going to share about her new book he him his, the imposter was real. In the fall of 2020. Linda was stalked, scammed and catfished she writes, captured by his spell I fell in love with an imposter impersonating a well known singer songwriter. So welcome, Linda. I’m so grateful you’re here to share about your book. I remember last time you were on. You shared that you had this book coming out and I was so excited to read it. So tell us more like i My first question I wanted to ask was what was the initial point of contact?

1:02
They first of all, good morning and thank you. I’m excited to be here and excited that we are this close. To actually releasing into the world the story. The first point of contact, I guess, would be Instagram. That was a dear friend of mine who was an artist had suggested to me that I put some of my poetry on Instagram. And she said it would be you know, it’d be a good Connect for you. And I said, I’m not about social media too much. I kind of backed away from Facebook, and I really don’t do any other. And she said, No, no, this is really just about meeting more. People in the artsy entertainment kind of world and I was like, Oh, okay.

1:53
So that was it. And, you know, you talked about that this happened the fall of 2012 and 20. Right? In COVID. So I get why that would be appealing to go there. And do that.

2:05
Absolutely. Absolutely. We have. I don’t know about you, but we all have way too much spare time. Yeah. Trying to keep your brain functioning. And so you know, one day I was at a workshop and a friend of mine said, Tomorrow is the 21st day of September. Do you remember the Earth Wind and Fire song? about September and we all said yes. And she said go create something magical tomorrow. So I decided to go to Instagram. And I published some of my poetry. And the next thing I know I had a private message from one of the persons who I had chosen to follow on Instagram. And unfortunately, he was not the real person.

3:04
Which I’m having a little bell in my own head going off about being on Instagram and who you’re following. And you’re right. We don’t you don’t have a clue who’s really who it really even is.

3:18
No, no, you don’t. You don’t and you know, it’s interesting, this long, long story short. I was courted for six weeks, you know at 75 accorded is an old term. However, that’s what it was. It was via, you know, the web. And we had all this free time. And he convinced me that it was much easier to communicate on what’s app than it was on Instagram. Well, I knew nothing about WhatsApp. Absolutely zero. And he said it was easy, you know, so he told me what to do, how to do it. I did it. And we have long I mean lengthy long conversations via texts, nothing audible. Except for one failed attempt, but nothing audible for almost three to six weeks and sometimes four and five hours a day. We would texts and texts and texts and texts. And so we got to know each other pretty well. And I I think that was the interesting thing for me with a a transpersonal psychology background, my brain kept thinking is this possible? Is this really this person? And then my heart kept going, Oh my god. This is who I’m going to spend my last chapter of my life with. O M G. And with a strong entertainment background history between my brother and the the people in my own world. And then later, my son, it wasn’t it didn’t seem all that unusual. It seemed possible.

5:18
It totally I totally get it. I totally understand. And I’ve had the experience. So I do know over a period of time on the internet, what can blossom and it feels very real. It feels very real. For sure for sure. So So explain the whole scamming and catfishing I know you know there’s a show on TV but I like I want to hear it from you what

0:24
This is honor your true story. I’m Antonia Nelson. And today I have the pleasure with speaking to Carlos Legaspy. Carlos is a Mexican American owner and CEO of insights securities. And he’s going to share about his three year saga of betrayal, fraud and high stakes financial drama. Carlos has just has published his book on Amazon. It’s doing incredibly well. If the title is going for broke, one of Latin America’s largest financial frauds became a blessing. Welcome Carlos. And your book is it’s an amazing read. You know, to to imagine that a man my first thing was that imagine that this goes on. And then how much does it go on?

1:20
Yeah, it’s that’d be too when I read my own book. So like, I just can’t believe that I that I was able to overcome all those challenges. And and that was my intention to try to extract the gold from the experience or share it with others. And because it’s it I feel that I came out of your deal. Better. learn a lot by myself about also how our choices impact our, our surroundings, and how if I really honestly and vigorously pursue what I intend to pursue, magic happens. Help comes and and, and so that’s what I wanted was the story I wanted. It’s, you could read it on multiple levels. You could read it as almost like a novel, you know of an interesting story that happened to a man and an entrepreneur and that almost lost everything because he came across some international fraudsters. It’s a wonderful, really cool story and especially because it ended up with a happy ending. But the My hope is that the reader will go into what I call the under the what was the impact on me. My relationship with spirit, what? It’s all the things I’ve learned about myself through the ordeal, so that hopefully the reader can extract those nuggets and apply them in their own life.

3:19
I agree. The story is, you know, like, I’m thinking this should be a movie right? Or or if I saw this as a movie, I would believe it. Like I know Carlos and how could he have gone through this stuff for real and you know, the first scene in the book, your first experience in the book, you know, that has played out in my my mind, I don’t know how many times you know, I read the book probably three, four weeks ago, and that that question will come up in my mind all the time. Would I be willing to do that for somebody else would I be willing to go rescue somebody or bring something to help somebody? So that was a

4:05
really profound? This might be a little spoilers, but I think it’s important for our conversation is that, that, that 10 years ago, I had that powerful experience in which it got lost in the desert. And I was first found by a National Geographic film crew that could not take me they went and tried to find help. And they went to Vogue, the small farmhouse that was there and the groundskeeper walked three miles to help two strangers. rescue us a man that was barely subsistence. Very, very humble and he gave us as little as he had, he gave it to us. And so they can learn about generosity of spirit, and also my own inner process of being in a place that I was in not knowing whether it was wanting to survive or not. I’m gonna die there or not. And, and, and that’s why I wanted to start my book there, because that experience is what informed me and allowed me to overcome the challenges that came on my business which are like the main course of the book. This is the appetizer. So the main the main story back constantly keep referencing back to that, that that cathartic experience in the desert. And yeah, he was the guardian angel. They came in saved us.

5:41
Yeah, totally. And then it was all the, you know, as you were talking about how you had to you had to keep trusting yourself of where we’re going, you know, and kept going and kept going and was like, Whoa, that and it seeing that how that like you said that that was a foundational piece to get really to help you throughout what ha

0:30
Today our guest is Stephanie J. Allen, who’s been a therapist, instructor, published author and award winning speaker for over two and a half decades. An entrepreneur consultant and president of Gateway development. She’s worked with some of the world’s top companies on corporate health and well being stress management in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes. Stephanie also works in the lane of leadership and health in enhancing healthy relationships by recognizing strengths, leveraging value and creating awareness that optimizes impact potential. And results for both life and business. Awesome stuff. Good morning, so

1:18
I’m glad I’m here to Antonia.

1:19
It’s wonderful to be you and connect with you today. You too, you too, so we’ve known each other for over 23 years. Definitely I love it. And it’s been. It’s always awesome to me to see a friend you know, as they’re living their life and the different things that they are doing and going for, and I certainly have seen that with you. And Ben inspired for sure. And you also have a podcast with Marin OS like it’s called the soul for soulful leader podcast. And we’ve talked about that before about people being kind of stuck in just the physical aspect. And you shared you’d like to speak about that. Yeah,

2:08
yeah, I think it shares in mirrors my own personal journey as well. Like, I feel for the most part in our world, we can get so distracted by the physical. You know what it looks like? And what it should look like and why it doesn’t look like the way we want it to look like and we must be doing something wrong I call it the shoulda, coulda, woulda obtuse. And we can set ourselves up for that which is a great stress when we are constantly you know, determining our value and worth by what we see outside and we’re not really encouraged or we don’t have role models or ways to really connect to that value and connection insight. And my own personal journey which led me to help you know, unpack that was chronic pain like I say this will be my 30th year as being a massage therapist. I took massage therapy, not because I wanted to be a massage therapist, I really didn’t have any interest in touching people that that was kind of like a little too intimate for me. But I was really interested about having a massage. And so I thought the only way I was really going to learn massage was just to go and take it just took a weekend course. And it completely changed my life. And that led me into you know, the journey of discovering and in that process, I ended up with chronic pain like very like really quick on and I thought well it’s good thing I’m taking massage, maybe I can solve my problem with this physical pain. And that was 30 years ago. And not to say that I still have pain but now I understand it and have a different relationship to it rather than feeling like I did something wrong or being beat up by it. Now I have this. It’s almost like this, this intimate relationship with this soul being inside me that guides me and gives me little little taps every once in a while to help remind me to go inside into connect and and you know be present to that.

1:40
So yeah, you bring up a really great point and I I concur with your journey of you know, being a body worker and being in so much pain, and then having something that really shifted it and it wasn’t working on a body. You know, I’m like, Wait, how did that happen? That that could take the pain. Okay, so for you, you know, you talked about this place inside of you that gives you these little tabs. So I know I’m imagining for all of our listeners as well, that doesn’t just happen out of the blue.

2:19
If it does happen either they were really quite irritated about the whole thing. There’s a you know, when the student is ready the teacher appears and I always used to think the teacher was going to be this loving, kind beautiful being that’s going to serve me tea and ha

0:03
This is honor your true story. I’m Antonia Nelson and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Marggie Moertle. Marggie is an author, a life doula and inner life coach. She has a deep passion about helping others to connect to the inner voice within and strengthen the conversation with the divine that develops from this, her focus on death and dying and the sacred energy of that transition is what she’s going to talk about. today. And I’m so excited. So, Margie, how are ya? Hi, how do you become a life doula? That was my second question. First question is what is a life doula if you can share about that?

0:50
Well, a life doula is in definition. doula is a non medical holistic spiritual support and you have birthing doulas and you have death doulas, you know or end of life doulas. For me, life doula is someone who walks beside people during very serious transitions. My main focus had been in end of life and certainly is still my greatest passion. But to me that starts much earlier you know, as people are aging or is facing serious illness or terminal diagnosis, to walk beside them and to offer them my deep spiritual presence, my guidance, wisdom, encouragement and suggestions for resources and it’s that’s just it’s hard to describe. I have a new client that said, you know, I didn’t really get it until we started meeting and now I understand, you know, now I get what you’re talking about. And unfortunately that’s the nature of the beast. It’s it’s something that you feel and you experience more than a task so

2:05
well, and I was looking online today and just doing some research and the testimonials of families and the people who have employed I guess you would say, a life doula for their loved one who’s going through that transition? I mean, just incredible. Support and, you know, the words they use that how much support they got from their doula and how the process was made to be such more beautiful experience.

2:40
Yeah, and I’m sure we’ll talk about hospice later. But it really reflects on you know, hospice, as kind of like the benchmark to describe my work, and I love hospice. I’m a former hospice nurse and a huge proponent of it, but has this is part of regulatory medicine. And so when you have a doula you have a person who’s coming with unconditional love. That’s our job is to create that sacred presence and to bring that with us. And for me, as I’m approaching the home, I’m working on becoming a vessel of the you know, of divine energy and that so you have someone walking and bringing that energy to the situation, and able to normalize death and able to be peaceful about it and to honor everybody’s emotions, everybody’s thoughts and feelings, and to just be there with people. It’s enormous because it’s a very volatile time. Very, very deep emotions and everybody and symptoms during the death and dying process need a lot of attention. So it’s very exhausting. And so in comes the doula who has the blessing of being able to be that constant presence and just whatever happens in the moment is what I’m there for, you know, to help with so

4:00
well, that as you’re saying that I’m like, wow, that is so darn exciting to be able to walk into a an experience and have that open ended. Kind of being in the mystery of it. All right. In the uncomfortableness of the not knowing what you’re going to be doing. Yeah. And then I also think about you know, like in modern medicine, everything is like you know, you do this, you do this, you do this, you’ll do this and I know how important that also is the follow up protocol.

4:34
They go hand in hand. Yes. And so we have a peaceful death without good symptom management and without the support of those very wonderful professionals.

4:43
And is that where is that what the job of hospice is most of the time

4:49
they come with the same deep love and but their, their role is to create, you know, to make sure that all of

0:00
As I was looking for it my journey as a caregiver started when I was 17 years old and my dad had a massive stroke it was only 45 He survived and my parents were just divorced. And I’m the oldest child, and he became my responsibility for the rest of his life, which thankfully, he lived for 30 years. So it was quite a journey. Wow. So

0:29
at the young ages 17 When I’m remembering back of all the things that were important to me at 17 and all the things that I did how did you Wow What was that like for you

0:43
well it was the day after I graduated from high school and I I was going, going to be going away to college. And I was always daddy’s little girl. So it was devastating to see, you know, my big strong father in this vulnerable position. I, you know, it did change my life, I did go away to college. But I, I couldn’t stay there, because my heart was with him. And I knew that he needed me to be there for him. And of course, my mom didn’t want me to leave. Because she didn’t want it to affect my future. But there was just no way. I just could not concentrate, I couldn’t make the effort to acclimate to my new environment, because my head and my heart was always at home with my dad. Sure. So I did actually come home, I did attend a different university that I could commute to. And for a year and a half, I commuted I worked part time. And when I wasn’t working, I was doing things with my dad, I would help him do his therapy, he couldn’t move his leg or his arm by himself, I would do that for him, I would help them take a shower. I would, you know, I did it all. And, you know, at a certain point, as I saw my friends, enjoying that college life, it got hard. And I realized, you know what, I want to be here for my dad, but this is it like this is my only chance to have this experience. And I did wind up as a junior transferring yet to a third University. And I did stay there for two years and got my degree from that university.

2:50
Yeah, so that yeah, I can only imagine, like you said, seeing what everybody was doing. And you aren’t you? And you know, going through that once you don’t, you know, we don’t thank God, we don’t get to do our 70s and 80s. Over Again, on some level, right. But to see that, you know, like you said, just kind of passing you by, and yet I get you know, I can hear when you talk about it about how much that was in your heart to to be there for your father.

3:20
Yeah, absolutely. It was. You know, at a certain point, before I left the first school that I was at, he had some experimental brain surgery that unfortunately didn’t work. And when I did come home to visit him while I was still away at school, he actually said to me, I want you to come home, which he never would have said if you were in his you know, right mind. Sure has. And certainly, you know, that was the call. That’s that’s all I needed to hear. And, you know, I wouldn’t change a thing.

3:59
So, what what were you studying? Just curious, what were you studying in college?

4:04
So I did get a degree in accounting. Okay, cool.

4:07
So, you graduate from college? And you’re still your dad’s caregiver? Yep. Correct. And so where does your life take you from there?

4:20
So, I graduated from a school in Washington, DC, and I loved it there. And I, if I wasn’t a caregiver, I think I would have stayed there. But instead, I came home. And my dad at the time, you know, again, he was only in his, let’s say, late 40s. And there weren’t so many facilities like there are now you know, there weren’t a plethora of independent living and assisted living. And so the only place my mom actually did help find a place for him to go and live. But he lived, we lived in Long Island, he lived here, his place was in New Jersey. So I would, I stayed in Long Island, I got a job, you know, doing accounting, I became a CPA, and every couple of weeks, you know, he was in a facility where was taken care of, but I wo