Pressure comes in many forms. Sometimes it is small things like dealing with an embarrassing situation at work or an argument. Other times it is something major like illness or a family bereavement. Whatever it is, we need to be able to deal with it with a sense of perspective and understanding. 
My guest on the Hot Women Rock Radio Show, Laura Lane, specializes in providing loving faith-based support for moms whose kids are fighting for their lives. As a professionally trained transformational workshop leader and cancer mom herself, she is there to support them along the way, help them learn needed skills and feel understood.
Laura says that her favourite definition of courage comes from Ernest Hemmingway and is ‘grace under pressure’. It means being be able to just step up and do what needs to be done and recognize that courage doesn’t mean that you’re not afraid, that it’s not hard. It’s being able to do all of that and do it with grace and ease
She generously shared her story with me and the 7 Pillars to Feed Your Soul that she teaches to her clients.
Laura’s Story
Laura’s journey of understanding the bigger perspective around major events started at a very young age.
‘When I was nine years old, my mom, my sister, and I were driving to the east coast of Canada and in a little, Chevrolet type of a car We spun out on some black ice and we were hit by a transport truck and we landed on the side of the road.
I called out and somebody pulled me out of the wreckage. They took me inside of a house and that was the last time that I saw my mom and my sister alive.
So, I learned about death and grief at a very young age. One of the things that I learned is that death is not a punishment. It’s not a punishment to those who go and it was not a punishment to me.
The day that that accident happened, I know I was protected. There’s no way I should have walked away from that accident and I knew that my Heavenly Father had a purpose for me. I argued with him for 30 years and I would say ‘Could you please tell me, I know you want me here for a reason, can you tell me why?’
And then, when my daughter, Celeste, was 12 years old she was having headaches and double vision. We went to the doctor’s and by 9:30 that night she was having emergency neurosurgery. We were launched into the world of childhood cancer.
My initial reaction was fear. Fear is an absence of knowledge. So, if I’m afraid it’s because I don’t know something. What is it that I need to know so that I can I can get a handle on this and understand what’s coming up? I also recognized that I was going to need to be the strongest mommy I could be to be there for my daughter, and I realized that this this was too big for me to do by myself. I had to get help.
I was willing to do for my daughter what I hadn’t been willing to do for myself. All of the baggage that I had been carrying for years that I knew that sometime I was going to have to deal with and I had put off all of a sudden, it became critical that I could no longer carry that. I was willing to ask for help in in ways that I wouldn’t have done just for me.
I reached out to all the experts I knew and asked for help including Jack Canfield, and Bob Proctor who I had trained with previously. I asked boldly.
I learnt so much from the experience. I wrote a book with Laurie Nersten about my daughter, and her little girl named Hayley who was going through the same experience. The book is called ‘Two Mothers One Prayer.’
What I can tell you is that living on the other side of my fears has brought me the greatest lessons in life, lesson of hope, strength and courage.’
7 Pillars to Feed Your Soul
- Be Bold. Ask for help. Ask for big and beautiful stuff that you never thought you could ask for. People are amazing and they want to help you.
- Grow your Gratitude. Recognize and be grateful for all the people who love and support you. Remember all the people that have been there for you in the past.
- Expand your Vision. Looking at the bigger perspective can bring you comfort and peace. Recognise that today might be hard but you can get through it. The challenges in the past have prepared you for this moment.
- Connect to Spirit. In this life, we have an opportunity to be in this moment, or be stuck in negative feelings about the things that happened in the past. When we are in those negative emotions the only person that it’s hurting is us. Use the Ho’oponopono healing technique to remove the blocks to connecting with Spirit.
- Love Unconditionally. Love is an expression of tenderness. Recognise your fragility and learn to love yourself and treat yourself tenderly. Love your life and your body. Extend that out to love others.
- Give Generously. Share all the resources that you have learned so that you can give back to others in need of support.
- Build your faith. Whatever spiritual belief you have, build on it and it will feed your soul.
If you need more help to manage pressures at menopause contact me for a chat to discuss how I could help you.