Interview with Kristine Carlson, Author of Heartbroken Open

This week we truly had a bright light on our show as we welcomed Kristine Carlson! Kristine is the widow of Richard Carlson, author of the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series. Sadly, Richard passed away suddenly on a flight to NY on December 13, 2006 of a pulmonary embolism. He was 45 years old.

Kristine chronicles her journey from loss to self discovery in a very honest, raw, heart-wrenching….and heart lifting in her book, Heartbroken Open.

Now when I say heart-wrenching, I’m talking Have Something Available – tissues, paper towels, Sleeve…whatever you can get away with that isn’t someone else’s treasured or unwashable item.

What a wonderful opportunity to speak with Kristine this week! Unfortunately, I had two great things going on at the same time – this interview, and the scheduled performance of my 11 year old playing the bells in a Christmas concert. The school wouldn’t reschedule the concert for my interview, not even with a bribe for that Trader Joe’s 99 cent advent calendar chocolate. And a no show is a mandatory zero. I’ve never heard of a mandatory zero. I should have used that on my mom when I was in school!

So I had only about 10 minutes with Kristine but Jennifer was there to save the show for a second week in a row! I owe her big time! And Kristine’s very message even encompassed the situation – to live in the moment and not take anything for granted. So off to the bells I went and Jennifer had a fabulous conversation with Kristine.

We found out that the title, Heartbroken Open, is taken directly from her journals following the year that Richard passed.

Some of the other things we learned (but can’t give them ALL away…enjoy the whole show HERE) were:

*Don’t wait to live, life can change in an instant

*Why grief is love

*Why Kristine was not afraid of grief, but welcomes it

*How she went all the way into grief in order to return to joy

*There are still days, four years later, where she is consumed by waves of grief

*That she hopes people who read her book (and listen to this interview! Or maybe that’s MY hope) that her message is Life Affirming for those who haven’t lost someone. That they will live in the moment and be Present with their friends, loved ones, and themselves.

*Kristine started a fabulous forum for people who are grieving – be it a death, divorce or other. You can find it here.

*In May of 2012, we can look forward to Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff for Moms!

*And a message that I found extremely powerful, is “Your life is your message”. Amazing! What are YOU trying to say?

Kristine's website is http://www.kristinecarlson.com/.

We want to thank Kristine for sharing her experience with us in book and interview form and hope to speak to her again when her new book comes out in 2012!

Next week, we look forward to speaking with Donna Collins who not only seems to be a Jack of all Trades, but is also licensed with Heartmath. HeartMath is the only scientifically validated system of stress intervention techniques and objective biometric feedback that quantifiably and dramatically boost the health and performance of individuals and organizations.

If you can't catch us live, catch us in the archives...all shows are free! See you next time and have a delicious week!

Bats! Mosquitoes and Tequila! OH MY!

Good moment, everyone! Scheduled for last week’s show on December 1st was Laura Seckbach Finn, Bat Expert. The Universe had it hidden in the deck that our show would play out a bit differently than planned…and for the good of all!

Although we aren’t sure what happened to Laura (but we sure hope she’s ok!), the show went on!

As for me, there was an odd power outage in the area so that means that Yes, Jim, computers and phones and skypes involve wattage and I couldn't connect with the amazing modern world.

Ah, but it went on without me. And without a guest! So that leaves one co-host flapping in the breeze alone!

Actually, not so. She was joined by Jim Ellis, of Legacy Productions (thank you Jim for keeping Jennifer company and for asking those strange and intriguing questions!). Jim and Jennifer are currently the brains and brawn behind 1000 Breaths – a fundraiser to create a documentary to expose child trafficking that is aimed to be distributed in schools and other places that will educate adults and children alike. One disturbing fact – that two children per minute are involved in trafficking. NO children….actually, NO ONE should be used for such purposes. It’s a great cause and you can find loads of information at the Blog.

Since we were guestless and we really wanted to learn about bats, I thought we’d include some interesting bat facts here (obtained from Here!)

The ears of bats are extremely sensitive to sound. Some species of bats are even more sensitive to sound than others.

A few species of bats are carnivorous. Their meals may consist of frogs, lizards, birds and fish.

Vampire bats feed mainly on the blood of cattle, horses and wild mammals.

Contrary to popular belief bats rarely bite humans.

Bats are extremely clean creatures and may groom themselves for hours. (Seems to me that our dog does the same....)

The average lifespan of a bat is approximately twenty years. This figure may vary according to the species.

The mouse-eared bat was declared extinct in 1991.Bats have existed for over 50 million years.

Bats are not blind as most people believe. They have excellent vision though they see in shades of grey.

Bats communicate and navigate with high frequency sounds.

Not all bats are carriers of rabies. In fact, the incidence of rabies in bats is no higher than in skunks or any other mammal that lives in the wild. The rate of rabies found in bats is actually rather low.

Bats exist in large social groups. They roost upside down in caves and trees.

There are over 900 species of bats. Over 60 of those species are endangered.

A bat's wings contain the same bones found in the four fingers and hand of a human being.

Some male bats sing to attract a mate. ( A Justin Timberbat somewhere out there?)

The spotted bat has the largest ears of any bat species native to North America. It is also one of the rarest mammals in the United States.

Although most bats exist in tropical forest habitats bats are found everywhere in the world other than the Arctic and Antarctic. (I think garlic has nearly the same stats!)

Bats produce only one offspring annually. The young are referred to as pups. They are born blind and have no fur. Mothers nurse their pups until they are approximately six months of age.

And for ALL YOU TEQUILA FANS!!! You must read this article by Hector T. Arita and Don E. Wilson. They say that The interdependence between bats and agaves is so strong that one might not be able to survive without the other.

Let's do some quick math - Tequila needs Agave. Agave needs NIGHTTIME pollination. Bees are not like NYC...they sleep. At Night. That leaves certain Flowers In Need waiting for a suitor. Enter, stage right, wearing cape and tights....the Long Nosed Bat.

Not only that, but a small brown bat can eat 600 mosquitoes per HOUR! (Find a great article on what other nocturnal noodges they eat here.)

And even though we didn't get to speak with intended guest, Laura, we'd love to give you her website where you can view a Batcam! If the link doesn't work, you can find her work at http://www.flybynightinc.org/.

Tomorrow's guest will be Kristine Carlson, wife of the late Richard Carlson (author of "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" books). She will be sharing her story of making her way and finding herself through the grief of losing her husband.

That's all for this time and yes, Jim, I certainly do know a thing or two about laying cement.

Or do I?