Live Well. Be Wise
Deepening the well-being conversation---the podcast that finds the Gold in your stories of hardship and the connection to Wise action and lived Wellness!
Hosted by Kari Lyons-Price & Dorrinda Carlson
"Hey Dorrinda, let's do lunch."
"Ok, any special occasion?"
"Nope, just wanna connect and feast in your presence." (oh and I also have an idea for a podcast?!)
I waited until lunch was settling into our bellies before hitting Dorrinda with the idea. She was in! The brainstorm began and while we both work in the field, we quickly ruled out a Wellness podcast because of how overdone they already are. Besides we felt they were only skimming the surface with the repeat loop of ''expert" advice, gimmicks and trends. We wanted to go deeper.
What's the real story I wondered, "how do some people manage to be well amidst all kinds of hardship and others with every resource known to humankind, can't even catch the tail of wellness."
All my life I've been fascinated by thoughts, beliefs, mental states and the general power of the mind (also because I'm a trained therapist)! Especially in its relationship to our health and well-being.
What is that thing within us that motivates us to be well? We're not talking about a health goal or a number, a state that is achieved. We're talking about wellness as a state of mind; contentedness, balance, or an optimal state of being.
And then the vision fully landed...
Here at Live Well. Be Wise, we are on a mission to engage with people beneath the "doing" and the products, to find out how wellness is a living, breathing, personal thing that gets shaped through life itself!
Told directly to you by the individuals who have lived it. No experts, no products, and no judgment. Raw, powerful, real life stories told by everyday people about how they met the challenges and hardships of life and came out the other side.
At Live Well. Be Wise we answer the questions:
- how do we learn and grow through the storms of life?
- what is the wisdom process? how do we cultivate it on purpose?
- And...how does our wisdom process inform our wellness?
Live Well. Be Wise is based in North Central Washington State and is a community-based podcast. This is a place to hear the stories of your neighbors. To celebrate diversity in all ways and to bridge the divide between us; culturally, economically, politically and personally.
Value Driven:
- We feel our most profound learning is from one another and that we are not alone on this human journey. We are fueled by that belief and the deep desire to reconnect the divide within us and between us. Seeds of wisdom are inside every one of us, and when we share that learning out, it expands, sparking inspiration and possibility for us all.
Through the shared human experience called, "story" we hope to connect each of us to one another. To recognize parts of ourselves in our neighbors story. And to allow this shared humanity to be an anchor for building connection, community and goodness, one day at a time.
Reach out, share your story, be inspired to cultivate your own wisdom path through hard things. We are 100% in this together!
Kari & Dorrinda
Live Well. Be Wise
Ana Gonzalez--Transforming Wounds to Wisdom
Dorrinda and I sat down with community member, Ana Gonzalez, who tells about living with severe childhood mental health issues and how she came out the other side.
Ana was raised in a Mexican household, facing significant barriers of poverty, trauma and cultural assimilation at a young age. An experience that profoundly impacted her path to healing and instilled a deep belief in the power of boundaries and forgiveness--- two of her essential tools for growth & learning.
She also highlights the challenges of single parenthood and the mental focus, intentionality and support that helped her get through AND seed her dreams. We discuss the value of emotional and mental health for children, the challenges that block it; including cultural beliefs, stigmas, and lack of community-based resources.
With vulnerability, humility and courage Ana shows us how this early experience, shaped her career, her mindset and has fueled her path today for living a good life. A life where she cares for her own mental health and all those she serves in our community.
Ana is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and National Board-Certified Counselor with over a decade of experience in social services. With a unique blend of clinical expertise, cultural insight, and personal connection to first responders, Ana brings a compassionate, real-world perspective to conversations about mental wellness, fueling her passion for helping others heal—both on and off duty.
Mental Health Resources:
1. Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Text or call "988"
2. A school-based national program where struggling students confide in their peers. Locally, the Eastmont school district uses this model and has multiple schools where the program is active.
https://hopesquad.com/
3. One of Ana's local resources to share specifically for first responders in crisis.
