157. What To Do When You Don’t Feel Like a Human with the author of “Blue Sky Morning” and “The Too Tall Giraffe” Christine Maier

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Author Christian Maier is on a mission to help people gain clarity on how to turn their obstacles into opportunities and understand their beauty, purpose, and power.

www.thechristinemaier.com/

She does this through the power of guiding people to clarify and tell their personal story transforming perceived weaknesses into strengths.

In Episode 157 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast Christine talks to Dr. Brad Miller about her own story of overcoming adversity to achieve success as an author and public speaker.

Christine was born with a cleft lip and palate and had over 25 surgeries; her first at four months old. Christine not only looked different growing up, but she also struggled with her speech, and too often, missed school for surgeries and treatments. A learning disability added to her challenges and her small size made her a last-round pick in the elementary school kickball draft.

Tired of hearing stories about what people can’t achieve, Christine is now passionate about guiding you through changing your thinking and turning obstacles into opportunities.

With twenty years of experience in the NYPD Christine has seen some of the best and worst of life and achieved the following milestones:

  • Patrol in Manhattan
  • 9/11 rescue worker
  • Instructor at the Police Academy
  • Recipient of the Eliot H. Lumbard Scholarship
  • Promoted to Sergeant in 2007
  • Member of the planning team and speaker at the National
Homeland Security Conference
  • Manager of 35 amazing individuals coordinating emergency
response

Christine earned her Bachelor’s Degree from the Pennsylvania State University and her Master’s Degree from the University at Albany.

She enjoys exploring her passion for travel, history, photography, reading, and creating community.

Christine has turned to write fiction, speaking, and coaching to respond to the question found posted in social media “why people sometimes do not feel human.”

Her book “Blue Sky Morning” addresses the life of a woman whose idyllic life was suddenly devastated by an automobile crash and her road to recovery. Her children’s book “The Too Tall Giraffe” helps children to discover that their strength resides in their differences.

Christine has a flair for finding adventure and the ability to ignore those who tell her how to live life, Christine is living a life without limits. You might find her at a movie premiere, cage diving in South Africa, visiting the Great Pyramids in Egypt, or climbing volcanoes in the Galapagos Islands.

She indeed is driven To Turn Obstacles Into Opportunities!

Dr. Brad Miller’s interview with Christine Maire on Episode 157 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is a must-listen for the person looking for practical tools and a story guide to help you tell your personal transformational story.

The Mission of The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is to help people navigate personal adversity and achieve a life of peace, prosperity, and purpose. The Podcast is published weekly by Dr. Brad Miller at www.DrBradMiller.com

https://www.thechristinemaier.com/about/

Transcript
Brad Miller:

We have Christine Meier who's with us here. She is

Brad Miller:

the author of blue sky, morning and the up upcoming book, the

Brad Miller:

children's book too tall giraffe. She is has a great

Brad Miller:

story to tell and a great author in terms of her story where she

Brad Miller:

has overcome some great adversity in her life. Some

Brad Miller:

physical problems, she had many surgeries as a child, some

Brad Miller:

issues regarding speech, she splits her time as a police

Brad Miller:

officer in the New York Police Department. But right now she is

Brad Miller:

all about helping you in your life, to gain clarity in your

Brad Miller:

life to help you to discover opportunities and to understand

Brad Miller:

what she calls your beauty, purpose and power. So it's my

Brad Miller:

privilege to welcome to our podcast today. gUc Chris Humira.

Brad Miller:

Chrissy Welcome. Hi, how are you today, Brad? Well, I'm also this

Brad Miller:

so good to have you. With us here on beyond adversity, you've

Brad Miller:

got quite a story to tell. And you've got a book out that has

Brad Miller:

to do with how to tell a story about how someone else who

Brad Miller:

overcome some adversity, but let's hear about your life and

Brad Miller:

your situation. How did a person go from being having some

Brad Miller:

difficulties with their physical health growing up, become

Brad Miller:

involved with the New York Police Department, and now be a

Brad Miller:

person who's helpful to other people gain clarity in their

Brad Miller:

life? Tell us a little bit about your story.

Christine Maier:

Alright, well, as you alluded to, I was born

Christine Maier:

with a cleft lip and palate, I had my first surgery when I was

Christine Maier:

four months old. Over the course of my life, I've had 25

Christine Maier:

surgeries just for the cleft lip and palate, most of those as a

Christine Maier:

child, I kind of grew up just overcoming adversity, it wasn't

Christine Maier:

a choice. Or at least it didn't feel like it was just, here's

Christine Maier:

life, just do it. And so I just did it. So I think that really

Christine Maier:

helps me when I was also a small, scrawny kid in school.

Christine Maier:

Because when you have a cleft lip, you often have feeding

Christine Maier:

issues. So you know, the growth chart is a little bit can be

Christine Maier:

different. And I also had a learning disability, I had a lot

Christine Maier:

of things not going for me as a child. But I think that I always

Christine Maier:

just saw it as is just one more thing to overcome, prove

Christine Maier:

everybody else wrong. You know, whether I realized it or not,

Christine Maier:

that was kind of always what I was doing and thinking.

Brad Miller:

So you dealt with any pushback on your life, by

Brad Miller:

pushing back yourself. What I'm getting at is, I dealt with this

Brad Miller:

feature, edit myself growing up and felt a little bit, you know,

Brad Miller:

put down by others and that kind of thing, as well. And there is

Brad Miller:

challenges that we have children and other whether it's in

Brad Miller:

childhood with other children or adults, who give us a hard time,

Brad Miller:

but you just chose to push back. It sounds like is that the case?

Christine Maier:

Yeah. And I think I also quickly learned to

Christine Maier:

celebrate the things that were different about me, instead of

Christine Maier:

looking to be the same as everybody else. I can remember

Christine Maier:

in third grade, I was playing kickball, you know, I wasn't a

Christine Maier:

great player, I kicked the ball, the pitcher gets and throws it

Christine Maier:

at me and it goes over my head. In that moment. I thought he

Christine Maier:

missed me because I'm sure he missed me because I'm little I

Christine Maier:

was like, so that's, that's my power. My power isn't my size

Christine Maier:

and big, my powers my size and being small. And so little

Christine Maier:

things like that make it easier to overcome every other

Christine Maier:

obstacle.

Brad Miller:

Well, that's awesome. Because I think you

Brad Miller:

probably know and working with people, a lot of people take the

Brad Miller:

opposite approach, you know, they would feel you throw the,

Brad Miller:

you know, they would feel short, they would feel inadequate, this

Brad Miller:

type of thing. And so I know a part of what you're about is

Brad Miller:

helping people to change their mindset and to change from

Brad Miller:

seeing themselves to being somebody lesser than to

Brad Miller:

something, you know, beautiful and powerful and that kind of

Brad Miller:

thing. So he ended up somehow he ended up in the New York Police

Brad Miller:

Department. Tell us a bit about how that happened. And what was

Brad Miller:

you you mentioned, or I understand, you know, there you

Brad Miller:

had some both some great experiences and some really

Brad Miller:

challenging experiences, as were you an actual police officer. Is

Brad Miller:

that what you work? Yeah, I

Christine Maier:

was a police officer. And then I got promoted

Christine Maier:

to sergeant and I retired as a sergeant after 20 years.

Brad Miller:

But tell us a bit about your experiences in new

Brad Miller:

york police department.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, so um, you know, I feel like sometimes

Christine Maier:

when the candidate end up there, but I took a test. I was a

Christine Maier:

criminal justice major at Penn State. I took the test. I got

Christine Maier:

called around when I was graduating. So it seemed like a

Christine Maier:

natural step to take. It wasn't always easy, but it was often

Christine Maier:

very fun. Very interesting. See, you know, have that front road

Christine Maier:

to life. But there were hard times. I mean, you know, not

Christine Maier:

everybody has a great life going on. You know, there's a lot of

Christine Maier:

people in domestic violence situations, people getting

Christine Maier:

arrested because they're, they don't have money. They're just

Christine Maier:

desperate. And they don't have the resources so they're

Christine Maier:

resorting to criminal activity. So there's things like that

Christine Maier:

they're really hard and can be hard to deal with. That's a

Christine Maier:

police officer. Death when you're with somebody and they

Christine Maier:

find out their loved one guts guide, those are hard moments.

Christine Maier:

Sure. There's also New York City, there's so much going on,

Christine Maier:

there's so much celebration going on, too. So that's the

Christine Maier:

flip side where you can see the joy in people at a parade, or a

Christine Maier:

celebration for something.

Brad Miller:

You were serving as a police officer during the time

Brad Miller:

of the 911 disaster. Is that is that the case? And yeah, I was a

Brad Miller:

rookie cop. Wow. So tell us a little bit about how you

Brad Miller:

experienced that. You know, we talked about this whole podcast

Brad Miller:

about overcoming adversity that was a natural, you know, a

Brad Miller:

national disaster, but certainly a focused one in New York City.

Brad Miller:

So tell us what how you experienced that.

Christine Maier:

I was lucky in that I was off that day. So I

Christine Maier:

was at home in bed. But obviously I went into work that

Christine Maier:

day, I feel like that first month, it was like this bubble

Christine Maier:

of just work. And just taking care of work. That was the first

Christine Maier:

priority, I would, you know, come home, I would sleep for a

Christine Maier:

couple hours, I was living with my parents at the time, my

Christine Maier:

mother would give me food, wash my clothes, like, but everything

Christine Maier:

was work. And once you step back from it, you know, after about

Christine Maier:

maybe two months, you start to realize that you have to be part

Christine Maier:

of the world. That's when, you know, the stress and anxiety and

Christine Maier:

the depression starts to kick in with it. There was a couple

Christine Maier:

months that were really rough to sort of deal with that, you

Christine Maier:

know, I wasn't I wasn't working. So I wasn't impacted, you know,

Christine Maier:

physically by it also dealing with, you know, all the people

Christine Maier:

who were working and weren't impacted by it. And then, you

Christine Maier:

know, people thinking you're a hero, and you're like, I just do

Christine Maier:

my job that, you know, that's what I signed up for it. It was

Christine Maier:

never a thought in my mind on 911 that I wouldn't be going

Christine Maier:

into work. It was just when and where and how do I how do I do

Christine Maier:

that? You know, there's a lot of interesting, conflicting things.

Christine Maier:

And it takes a while to sort of get to that other side of it.

Brad Miller:

And then in that process, then you witnessed a

Brad Miller:

lot of things and you were part of it yourself. And part of what

Brad Miller:

I want to try to unpack with you Chrissy is how you have unpacked

Brad Miller:

these various challenges that you've had, and how you maybe

Brad Miller:

seen others doing it as well, your story as one of overcome

Brad Miller:

adversity as a youngster and and growing up and now as a police

Brad Miller:

officer. So how did you end up transitioning from a police

Brad Miller:

officer to what you do now, as a writer and as an advocate for

Brad Miller:

others?

Christine Maier:

I think I had a moment when I realized that, you

Christine Maier:

know, my job is good. I enjoyed it. But there was something more

Christine Maier:

out there. And I didn't know what it was. And so I started

Christine Maier:

working on goals for the next year. In that process, I

Christine Maier:

realized I actually during that process, somebody had posted

Christine Maier:

something on social media about not feeling like a human. That's

Christine Maier:

kind of the gist of it. It really hit me because even

Christine Maier:

through all of the diversity I'd been through there, you know,

Christine Maier:

there have been, it wasn't always easy. I never didn't feel

Christine Maier:

like a human. I'd never hit that low point. I really wanted to

Christine Maier:

explore how that happens. And how do we rebuild from it. And

Christine Maier:

that was what started me it was writing my book blue sky

Christine Maier:

morning. But I want to write it from a different perspective,

Christine Maier:

because I didn't want it to be somebody who had dealt with

Christine Maier:

adversity. Before I wanted somebody who hadn't dealt with

Christine Maier:

it before. Yes, and it all of a sudden falls in their lap. So

Christine Maier:

the idea is that this character has a pretty good life. And then

Christine Maier:

and then the car accident just changes it. And she's got to

Christine Maier:

find her way back to herself again.

Brad Miller:

Whether we kind of live in a world where tragedy

Brad Miller:

and adversity can have happened to us. And suddenly, you know,

Brad Miller:

for instance, you know, the whole pandemic situation

Brad Miller:

happened to everybody all at once, no matter if your life was

Brad Miller:

calling greater going crummy at the time, all of a sudden, you

Brad Miller:

had to adjust. Certainly people in New York City when 911

Brad Miller:

happened, those planes crashed and worse DC. You had to, you

Brad Miller:

know, adjust to that in my own life. Just not too long ago, my

Brad Miller:

own personal secretary was killed in a car accident. So

Brad Miller:

I've had to deal with that church has to do with that. And

Brad Miller:

me personally and her family, of course, the suddenness of that

Brad Miller:

happening. So let's talk for a minute about how you had this

Brad Miller:

moment when you wanted to be you I think he termed it how to be

Brad Miller:

human or the human aspect here. So you had to make a decision

Brad Miller:

then to do something about that. What did you do? What I forget

Brad Miller:

how you phrased exactly but, you know, how did you choose? What

Brad Miller:

actions Did you take to move from whatever that feeling of

Brad Miller:

less than human or not human or whatever it was to being human?

Brad Miller:

What kind of things did you do?

Christine Maier:

Part of it is recognizing what's going on. I

Christine Maier:

think a lot of people they Don't feel like they're human or

Christine Maier:

whatever feeling they have. And they don't even know it. They

Christine Maier:

just, they just don't feel right. Once they recognize it,

Christine Maier:

that is really the first step. Because from there, you can

Christine Maier:

unpack it, you can find out what story is creating that and

Christine Maier:

create a new story in the future. That's a simple way to

Christine Maier:

do it. But that's really what the process is. But if you don't

Christine Maier:

know what's going on, you can't take that first step recognize.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, and I think I know, in the last year, at my job I had, I

Christine Maier:

was having a tough time, every day, I would just say, there's a

Christine Maier:

lesson here, you don't know what it is, and you don't care what

Christine Maier:

it is today. But there's a lesson in one day, you're going

Christine Maier:

to know what it is, it just took the sting off of it a little

Christine Maier:

bit, and it told me that it's going to be okay, even though

Christine Maier:

you don't know what the problem is, you will. And you don't know

Christine Maier:

the solution as you will.

Brad Miller:

So hear you say at least two things here. One is to

Brad Miller:

have your antenna up your awareness have to recognize that

Brad Miller:

there's an issue here and I got to either do something about it

Brad Miller:

or, or choose to live with it. And then the notice the

Brad Miller:

blessings, notice the gratitude, notice the learning that takes

Brad Miller:

place, even the midst of difficult times. And I think a

Brad Miller:

lot of folks have experienced adversity as a learning

Brad Miller:

experience if they choose to, and to come out to a better

Brad Miller:

place. So that's awesome. That that that you did that. It

Brad Miller:

sounds like writing was a part of that process for you as well

Brad Miller:

was that a part of what you did is what else to kind of process

Brad Miller:

things

Christine Maier:

I did I i've i've journaled on and off for

Christine Maier:

years. And so I think writing is kind of a natural progression of

Christine Maier:

that, because it's just, I write fiction. So I'm creating a story

Christine Maier:

out of somebody else's journal, what's in their head, to give

Christine Maier:

insight to other people.

Brad Miller:

Because you emphasize that you are a story

Brad Miller:

guide. So when you say you're a story guide, what does that

Brad Miller:

mean? You try to help people unpack their story is to help me

Brad Miller:

understand what you love to do there.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, so it's understanding their story

Christine Maier:

unpacking their story, because there's a story of every story.

Christine Maier:

You know, if you're not, you know, if you feel like you're

Christine Maier:

ugly, there's somebody who in the past, he probably told you,

Christine Maier:

you were ugly, in one way or another. You know, that didn't,

Christine Maier:

you don't just come up with that on your own out of thin air

Christine Maier:

there, there's something there. So once you unpack that, you can

Christine Maier:

redefine it, you can redefine it into beauty in your own terms,

Christine Maier:

because beauty is not just the outside of us, it's the inside

Christine Maier:

of us. It's the our souls, it's our heart. It's our intentions.

Christine Maier:

One person's definition is not everybody's definition, the more

Christine Maier:

we love ourselves, and others, the more that we see the beauty

Christine Maier:

in them,

Brad Miller:

but beauty and and just physical beauty as an

Brad Miller:

attribute is very for the exterior, external is very

Brad Miller:

subjective. But the internal, it can be, you know, objective, you

Brad Miller:

can make it your your own, you can claim your own beauty and

Brad Miller:

your own clarity about your own your own life. So that's

Brad Miller:

awesome. So appreciate that. So part of what you help others in

Brad Miller:

is helping to pack their story and recognize things. Are there

Brad Miller:

any exercises or any ways that you help people to do that?

Brad Miller:

Because that's what I'm getting at. Here. Christy is so many

Brad Miller:

people are kind of numb, they're kind of cocooned or they're kind

Brad Miller:

of in that pattern. They're on a they're in a you know, they're

Brad Miller:

just punching the time clock, so to speak, and getting through

Brad Miller:

day to day. How can you help people then to gain clarity,

Brad Miller:

gain awareness? How can you do that?

Christine Maier:

Yeah, it can be as easy as listing down all of

Christine Maier:

those stories, and you don't have to write the whole story,

Christine Maier:

but I would call it a label. Just listing them down. And even

Christine Maier:

coming back to that list two days later, you're going to add

Christine Maier:

more things to it. That's where the awareness comes in. And

Christine Maier:

that's that first piece of it, it's actually acknowledging

Christine Maier:

them, it's the writing them down, you know, reinforces it in

Christine Maier:

your brain. That's the first thing that I usually do with

Christine Maier:

people.

Brad Miller:

That's awesome. So write it down, make a list

Brad Miller:

label. So I'd love that the way you use that terminology there

Brad Miller:

and how that's a real tool to use how labels can sometimes be

Brad Miller:

considered, you know, sometimes can be sidered a negative thing

Brad Miller:

even know what the label is, but if we re label ourselves, so to

Brad Miller:

speak, is what I'm hearing. Hearing. Yeah.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, because every label has a negative side

Christine Maier:

and a positive side. So you know, the next thing would be

Christine Maier:

finding finding the positive event.

Brad Miller:

So we're talking about being cognizant of kind of

Brad Miller:

working on your inner life, you know, as helping that and how

Brad Miller:

that you can translate that into how that is expressed to to

Brad Miller:

other people. And the inner life has to do with all kinds of

Brad Miller:

things, is there any way that you either personally, or

Brad Miller:

advocate some connection to something greater than yourself,

Brad Miller:

it might be spiritual life, it might be journaling it might be,

Brad Miller:

meditation is along along this line and how you try to center

Brad Miller:

yourself to think about some power beyond yourself that helps

Brad Miller:

to energize you.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, I'm a believer, I was raised Catholic.

Christine Maier:

So I'm an I know, like, Christian is a little bit

Christine Maier:

different, and the beliefs and there's some differences in

Christine Maier:

religion, but it all comes down to God. And he is our guiding

Christine Maier:

light, every time that I've ever questioned what I was doing, or

Christine Maier:

where I was going. Somewhere in some way, there's, there's been

Christine Maier:

gotten a message from God telling me that I'm on the right

Christine Maier:

track, or maybe I'm not on the right track, everybody hears

Christine Maier:

that message in a different way. It's just being receptive when

Christine Maier:

you're listening. Because there's times when we're, we're

Christine Maier:

looking for that message. And that's when God's gonna send it

Christine Maier:

when we're, you know, having a good time and you know, kind of

Christine Maier:

things are lighter, he may not be there in that same way. But

Christine Maier:

when we're doing that deep work, I think that's when he appears

Christine Maier:

and tells us, you know, which way we should be going and

Christine Maier:

pushes us in the right direction. For connected with

Christine Maier:

him, Well, on

Brad Miller:

that deep worker, as you call it, is where we

Brad Miller:

sometimes get what some people call, maybe call it a calling or

Brad Miller:

holy discontent. I've also heard a call that you know, that, that

Brad Miller:

sense of unrest that you have to do, you got to do something

Brad Miller:

different. And it has to come from someplace, and we have to

Brad Miller:

pay attention to it. I think I love what you said earlier about

Brad Miller:

paying attention and about noticing things and I think, a

Brad Miller:

part of the inner life drawing on a spiritual power that helps

Brad Miller:

us to do that if we pay attention, but also what, and

Brad Miller:

I'm a believer as well, and that, that the spiritual message

Brad Miller:

then gives us power to do what we have to do, because on our

Brad Miller:

own account, it's tough. It's tough to do on our own. Would

Brad Miller:

you agree with that?

Christine Maier:

Definitely. Because there are times when I

Christine Maier:

i've been like, you know what, this books really hard to write?

Christine Maier:

Yes, I could go be watching Netflix, but the the those times

Christine Maier:

when I feel connected, and I know that God's telling me this

Christine Maier:

is the right path. Those are the times when you know, when I'm

Christine Maier:

like that, that's great. I'm like, No, this is my purpose.

Christine Maier:

This is why I'm here.

Brad Miller:

What are the part of this I believe Chrissy is the

Brad Miller:

emotional component, you know, we you've mentioned, we've

Brad Miller:

talked a little bit about, you know, taking some action, you

Brad Miller:

know, listening, learning, writing some things down and

Brad Miller:

then listening to the spiritual component. But the emotional

Brad Miller:

component, how is how we relate to other people, and you mention

Brad Miller:

a little bit about that growing up, but how do you think

Brad Miller:

relationships good, bad or otherwise something personal, or

Brad Miller:

sometimes maybe mentorship, sometimes even books or

Brad Miller:

conferences, that type of thing? How does building relationships,

Brad Miller:

especially loving, caring relationships? How does that

Brad Miller:

fuel you? How does that help you to keep moving this whole

Brad Miller:

process, accountability or otherwise,

Christine Maier:

I'm one of those people who could kind of,

Christine Maier:

you know, pandemic didn't affect me that much. I'm like, I can

Christine Maier:

sit in my apartment all the time, and do just take care of

Christine Maier:

things on my own. But I've also realized the more in community

Christine Maier:

with other people, the more I accomplish, not just in terms

Christine Maier:

of, you know, a task list. But the more I accomplish with

Christine Maier:

people in general, the more people that I can reach even in

Christine Maier:

our solitude, and people who like that, that can feel great

Christine Maier:

at times, but we have to be in the world, because that's where

Christine Maier:

change happens. I think even for people who are a little bit

Christine Maier:

scared of that all that interaction, that emotional

Christine Maier:

attachment to people. It's still where the magic happens.

Brad Miller:

There are people who are extroverted introverts

Brad Miller:

and most people are somewhere in between. And yet, many people

Brad Miller:

who are introverted, you know, my wife is this way, she talks

Brad Miller:

about how she's an introvert for the most part, but she takes her

Brad Miller:

sustenance and her power from her solitude, but then has to,

Brad Miller:

you know, be in connection with others as well in order to share

Brad Miller:

that and to interact with that and where other people may an

Brad Miller:

extrovert may find their power, their energy from you know,

Brad Miller:

party and all the time or whatever who would be but I

Brad Miller:

think we have a responsibility and an opportunity, as you said

Brad Miller:

to be in community. And that's where life happens. You know,

Brad Miller:

you know, we weed or solitude, we need life to happen and

Brad Miller:

especially when we feel if we are feel loved and receive love.

Brad Miller:

That's an emotional, Jazz's up. So is there anybody any 80

Brad Miller:

people in your life that you have accountability to, or have

Brad Miller:

some relationship with yet help you keep this creative juices

Brad Miller:

going at this type of thing.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, well, I obviously have my family who

Christine Maier:

isn't, you know, in this kind of space, they're like, okay, Chris

Christine Maier:

is writing a book. Yeah, Chris, he's doing whatever crazy thing

Christine Maier:

Christine wants to do. And they're supportive of it, but

Christine Maier:

it's not their thing. And that's fine. But I have some great

Christine Maier:

friends actually, around the world that I've met, you know,

Christine Maier:

through the internet through traveling, they give me

Christine Maier:

perspective of the world. And they remind me of why things are

Christine Maier:

important and why it's important to continue. But I also have,

Christine Maier:

you know, most important masterminds, where I'm working

Christine Maier:

with people who are in a more similar place, and, you know,

Christine Maier:

with businesses and books, and all these pieces that are

Brad Miller:

more like minded people with similar trajectories

Brad Miller:

in life, this type of thing. Yeah,

Christine Maier:

yeah. And they're the ones who I think,

Christine Maier:

keep me on track, when I'm like, when the squirrel comes by, and

Christine Maier:

I'm trying to write my book, they helped me get out helped me

Christine Maier:

get focused back on what's important. And so it's good to

Christine Maier:

have these different types of people in your life.

Brad Miller:

And of course, it seems to me you're looking to

Brad Miller:

make a contribution in other people's life and people you've

Brad Miller:

worked with, through your website, the Christine Meier

Brad Miller:

calm. And we'll give that out here, again, a little bit here,

Brad Miller:

but you're reaching out to people. So that's awesome. Let's

Brad Miller:

talk for a minute, Chrissy about disciplines and habits and

Brad Miller:

rituals and practices. You've already mentioned a couple of

Brad Miller:

those about journaling, for instance, let's talk about any

Brad Miller:

ways that you have had found, I like to think of this kind of

Brad Miller:

the cognitive part, you know, the place the application part,

Brad Miller:

we take all the swirling stuff in our brain in our mind, and,

Brad Miller:

and we apply it we make it happen, you know, we do it. Tell

Brad Miller:

us about any routines, habits, practices, disciplines you may

Brad Miller:

have in your life that you find helpful that might be helpful to

Brad Miller:

other people.

Christine Maier:

You know, one of the things that I I've done

Christine Maier:

as an adult, when lint comes every year, is I give up

Christine Maier:

something, you know, at first I was doing it for God. And then I

Christine Maier:

realized that this is actually an opportunity for me to give up

Christine Maier:

something to better my life, which is serving God. And so

Christine Maier:

this year, I actually I've been having trouble sleeping, and I

Christine Maier:

keep saying, you know, I'm going to go to bed early, I'm going to

Christine Maier:

know all these great habits I'm going to do and I don't actually

Christine Maier:

do any of them. And I actually set up one where I don't touch

Christine Maier:

my phone at night, which was something that I I had to do

Christine Maier:

with my job. Before I retired, I had to keep an eye on my phone.

Christine Maier:

So it's a bad habit that I had to break. And I amazing how you

Christine Maier:

just set a time periods 40 days, and it's already changing my

Christine Maier:

sleeping.

Brad Miller:

Well, that's awesome. And then afford, yeah,

Brad Miller:

I'm sorry.

Christine Maier:

So sometimes it's just setting a goal for a

Christine Maier:

period of time and following it. And that can just change your

Christine Maier:

life.

Brad Miller:

I love the 40 day analogy of the Latin period. And

Brad Miller:

because there's a lot of studies Krissy and you probably know

Brad Miller:

about this, but if you commit, you know, try to crank up your

Brad Miller:

willpower for that 40 days, for instance, then something that

Brad Miller:

you that you do during your willpower period, then can

Brad Miller:

eventually become an ingrained habit. So we'll call it 21 days

Brad Miller:

and other things like this. But 40 days is basically a six week

Brad Miller:

period or five or six week period course in the Christian

Brad Miller:

Lenten year, it is six weeks almost credit your six weeks. If

Brad Miller:

you're able to do something for around that amount of time, it

Brad Miller:

can be pumped a part of your life and transfer transformative

Brad Miller:

like you said, it's not just a spiritual, you know, God Jesus

Brad Miller:

thing, it is a personal transformation thing.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, and every time I've done it the results

Christine Maier:

that lasted well past the 40 days.

Brad Miller:

Yes, yes. And so yeah, that's I think that's kind

Brad Miller:

of the point, you know, the 40 day fast or whatever it would be

Brad Miller:

helps him build a habit and you've mentioned basically when

Brad Miller:

you put your phone away that's a form of fasting you know, the

Brad Miller:

way I like to look at you know, you have excluded yourself from

Brad Miller:

some habit or pleasure in life and replaced with something

Brad Miller:

better in this case sleep so yeah, that's awesome. And when

Brad Miller:

you work with other people on your website, the Christine

Brad Miller:

Meier calm when people come to you, Chrissy What are they

Brad Miller:

looking for? Where are they at? And what are you able to offer

Brad Miller:

to them? What can people find when they come to you

Christine Maier:

often they want to change their mindset they

Christine Maier:

know that they have too much negative thoughts and they're

Christine Maier:

not accomplishing what they want to you know, that's the most

Christine Maier:

common thing that I'm that I'm seeing that are the common

Christine Maier:

thread no matter what they say. They're coming to me for you

Christine Maier:

know for that it's it's daily, small, daily practices. is what

Christine Maier:

I start them off with. And it could be reading a book, it

Christine Maier:

could be journaling. Everybody needs something slightly

Christine Maier:

different because everybody has a different style and a

Christine Maier:

different need and a different way to connect with themselves.

Christine Maier:

It's taking a small task every day that changes that mindset.

Christine Maier:

It takes time. But it's that dedication to it. And that's why

Christine Maier:

you start with something small.

Brad Miller:

Well, let's let's let's go with that for a second.

Brad Miller:

Let's talk about maybe a person or situation you have worked

Brad Miller:

with where you've seen someone you've worked with been able to

Brad Miller:

do that to achieve some success. Can you just tell us a story

Brad Miller:

about somebody you may have worked with, you know, to give

Brad Miller:

you names, of course, this type of thing. But any situation may

Brad Miller:

work, we've seen this transformation take place.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, I've been working with somebody for quite

Christine Maier:

a while who really, they've got a lot going on seeing her

Christine Maier:

recognize it and seeing her kind of getting rid of the toxic

Christine Maier:

things in her life and taking a stand with them. It's been

Christine Maier:

rewarding to see her reap the rewards from it and reap that

Christine Maier:

reward being freedom. It doesn't make everything else pretty, you

Christine Maier:

know, when we hit one, we're in tough times, we have to go

Christine Maier:

through the tough times the freedom that comes out of it.

Christine Maier:

She feels it every day, even though she's you know, still

Christine Maier:

walking that road and going through, you know, the desert,

Brad Miller:

so to speak. Well, as you say, on your on your

Brad Miller:

website, you'd like to help people become beautiful and

Brad Miller:

fearless. And free. And you mentioned that. And so that's an

Brad Miller:

awesome sentiment there. And, and I believe it's the

Brad Miller:

sentiment, basically, of your book, blue sky morning. And

Brad Miller:

that's a fictional work. I understand. And then, but it

Brad Miller:

really says a lot about these concepts we've been talking

Brad Miller:

about today, doesn't it?

Christine Maier:

Yes, it's a it's all in there in little bits

Christine Maier:

and pieces. As you know, Emily goes traveling around the world,

Christine Maier:

all these lessons pop up in different ways and places,

Christine Maier:

people

Brad Miller:

and your book is available on Amazon and other

Brad Miller:

places like that. And then your upcoming book is The about the

Brad Miller:

giraffe the two tall giraffe. Give us just give us a snippet

Brad Miller:

about that book.

Christine Maier:

Yeah, so better direct named Savannah, who

Christine Maier:

starts going to a new school, where she is, as the title would

Christine Maier:

make you Yes, too tall for the other kids because she's

Christine Maier:

different. They're kind of scared of her and they don't

Christine Maier:

want to play with her. They don't want to work with her. And

Christine Maier:

then one day, she has the opportunity to help them. And

Christine Maier:

I'm not going to tell you what happens. But at the end,

Christine Maier:

everybody realizes the value that Savannah brings to their

Christine Maier:

school in their community. They celebrate her differences.

Brad Miller:

Yes. So there'll be a lesson varying that. And so we

Brad Miller:

look forward to that. So your website is Christy v. Christine.

Brad Miller:

Meier calm. What do people want to find if they go there?

Christine Maier:

They're gonna find my books there. I do some

Christine Maier:

coaching there, you'll find out information about that. I have a

Christine Maier:

resource on there right now called the focus journal that's

Christine Maier:

going to help with that mindset, that small daily task every day

Christine Maier:

you can that's a free download. I have some a lots more stuff

Christine Maier:

coming with the two tall giraffe as I get ready to ramp it up

Christine Maier:

coming out this summer.

Brad Miller:

Awesome. We'll look forward to hearing more about

Brad Miller:

that dad. It's just been a pleasure to have you with this

Brad Miller:

great story that you had to tell about this transition you made

Brad Miller:

in your life from childhood through working with the police.

Brad Miller:

It now making just a real effort to be helpful to people

Brad Miller:

especially helping them and I love your toy, you put it to

Brad Miller:

become beautiful, fearless and free. So our has been a pleasure

Brad Miller:

to have you with us today. Our guest today on beyond adversity.

Brad Miller:

Christine Meyer from the Christine meier.com

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