Episode 25 transcript: Live the Width of Your Life Book Launch

Book Launch Party

Podcast Introduction

[00:00:00] Aneta: Thank you for joining me today. Today's podcast is really special to me and I think you'll even notice I become a little overwhelmed. We did a book launch party to celebrate the launch of my book, Live the Width of Your Life, and it was so amazing to have friends and mentors and clients, and people who are so dear to me and part of my community. Join me just to talk about the book. To talk about how they're reading it, what they're enjoying, and their favorite passages, and just have a discussion on what it means to live intentionally and purposely, and how the book has changed them. As someone who has wanted to write a book her entire life, and then to actually. See it come true. It is amazing. Their words just don't actually explain how you feel. So I hope you join me for this episode. It's a little bit of a love fest because I am quite overwhelmed and overcome with emotion just for the wonderful people in my life. And it's these moments that you never forget and you'll always remember. And, I hope you do listen. And if you haven't had an opportunity, check out the book. Please do so. The details are in the show notes. Now take a listen.

Virtual Book Launch Party

[00:01:17] Aneta: Hello! There we go. Thanks, Cat. So I am so excited that you guys are here. I want to thank you, I started, and I felt myself start to get a little emotional because my worlds are all colliding. These people that mean so much to me are all here. And I know it's lunchtime for many of us. And so I appreciate that you guys are choosing to spend it with me, and with this community. And so today, I want to celebrate. I want to celebrate us. I want to talk to you about how much you mean to me that you are reading this book and that you've been on this journey with me forever. So many of you said encouraging words before, during, and after, and that means so much to me. And I've invited two folks to help me with today's discussion because I'm sure you don't want to hear just me talking. And so I want to introduce Mahrukh Imtiaz, my coach right now, she's coming here from Toronto, and Cat Caldwell Myers, a dear friend from Chicago, they're going to help me facilitate our discussion today. I hope this is very interactive, and we all get to talk about our experience with the book, what it means to us, and what we're getting from it. And so, I hope that you guys are comfortable participating, and I do have about four giveaways at the end that I want to give you guys. And, there won't be any favoritism. It'll be all purely random. Cat will pick. So, yeah. So thank you, guys, so much. And so, Mahrukh, do you want to maybe introduce yourself a little bit more as well?

[00:02:52] Mahrukh: For sure. Cat, do you want to do it first, and then I could dive in?

[00:02:57] Cat: Okay, sure. Hi everybody. I'm Cat Caldwell Myers and it's so good to see you all. I'll be connecting with all of your names for the giveaway. Aneta and I met through my podcast mentor Cathy Heller at a beautiful event this fall on a rooftop. And we told that story in my podcast. Horses, Mountains, and Dogs. And I think I might be on your podcast coming up soon, but-

[00:03:21] Aneta: Yep.

[00:03:21] Cat: I live outside of the Chicago area. I run retreats with horses, and I work with people with dogs, spiritually, both virtually and here. And I do a lot of health and fitness, bringing all of that together with the animals. So, that's my lifestyle and I'm so excited to be here. My husband and I have been reading this book every morning together. It's been really fun, and I'm going to ask some of the audience questions. So welcome. Thank you for having me, and I'll pass it over.

[00:03:50] Mahrukh: Awesome. Thank you so much, Cat, and honestly, it’s so nice to see everyone here and all of your faces. It just kind of speaks volumes of the community you've built Aneta, and the person you are. In the short time that I've worked with you, the one thing that I know is that you pour your heart and soul into everything you do, and you always put people at the core front of everything you do. And, this is that kind of, validation that you know you're doing the right things and you have such a strong community. So thank you all for being here. Welcome as Aneta mentioned, I'm a podcast coach. I help people launch, grow, and, monetize their podcasts. But aside from that, personally, I love working with people like Aneta, whose values and purpose are so aligned with people and community, which is what I've loved. Honestly, you're one of my favorite clients. I know I'm saying that on record, but it's the truest thing. And for me, when she told me that she's writing a book, and she mentioned it so casually, she's like, yeah, by the way, I'm writing a book. I'm like, do you know how big that is? Do you know how much work that is? Like, we need to celebrate that. She's like, yeah, I guess, and I'm like, we need to celebrate that and which is why we're doing this book launch party. It's like a like small tribute to the amount of work that Aneta is putting out in the world, which will benefit so many people. And I have my book right here. And I want to start off by reading my favorite path is from January, and I'll be very honest, I'm someone who likes to skip a lot, like months. I'll go into June sometimes because that's my favorite month and read something from there. But like in the spirit of staying in Truth the month of January, I've picked my favorite date from January and I'll take a moment to read it out loud. So it's from the book, from people listening to this, I'm reading from the book, so it's January 9th, the quote is, every moment is a fresh beginning. And the reason I love it is that earlier on before we started reporting, Cat, Aneta and I were talking about January being the resolutions month. And we are so focused on it being the nearest resolution month. But I loved how it talks about every moment can be a fresh beginning. And let me read this passage, how refreshing it is to think about each moment being a new beginning. It's easy to look back on the past or be anxious about the future. But we forget that the only life we have is this moment right now. When we think about the past, it's easy to look back with regrets, to reclaim moments that we can't change, or to believe that the best times have already happened. But when we worry about the imaginary future that we've created, only in our minds. Feel the joy from this moment. The only thing we can impact right now is the very moment. By choosing to be present and aligning our mind, our breath, and our body, we are living more fully. There is freedom in recognizing that we can appreciate the moment we're in, and relish it connected to the people we're with. Pay attention to our surroundings and see them as a fresh beginning. Close your eyes. Slow your breath down. Drop within. Use all of your senses to take this in every moment and then open your eyes. What did you notice?

[00:07:09] Aneta: I can't believe I wrote that. That's crazy.

[00:07:11] Mahrukh: Right? Isn't it like so powerful? I don't know. It's like as I was reading it again and just like going through it, I feel it. I feel your words. I feel like going through it and that's where I kind of want to start off. Aneta. You did mention that this was the desk. You wrote this book, and I want to hear about your writing process. These words are so powerful. What was it like for you? While we go in and out with Aneta, I would love to hear what you all thought of the passage I just read.

[00:07:44] Cat: I'll share for a minute. As you read it, at the very end, I did just close my eyes and it was interesting for me to remember. Ah, feels so good to just close your eyes and one of the giveaways that our host will be back in a moment is breathwork. And, Aneta's breathwork process is amazing and it's so simple. These little daily readers, I mean, look at us all here on lunch. Just close your eyes for a moment. Back to you Aneta.

[00:08:17] Mahrukh: Back to you Aneta.

[00:08:18] Aneta: So yeah, I wanted to write a book for a long time and I wanted to write a daily meditation because what I've noticed with my clients is that we read a lot of books, but it's not always easy to put them into practice. And so for me, I love the daily meditations and it was October of last year, and I said, well, what would it look like for me to write this and to finish it before my 50th birthday? That was my initial desire. And so I just created a project plan because my brain works like that, and I was okay, well, I'll need to write this many every day and work towards that as the goal. And so from October until, I guess it was probably April, I wrote every single morning from 4:30 until, 6:30 before I taught every morning and I didn't allow myself to skip any days. Like it was just one of those, this might not be great, it might be good, but I'm going to write as many as possible. And I had to write at least five days at a time. But some days I wrote more, and some days on the weekends I was just in the flow.

[00:09:33] Mahrukh: Yes, we did. And you talked about your October to April writing every day and going through that process. I love that you use your skills in project management and I'm going to get this done. And that's how you've always been with anything, right? Mm-hmm. You just kind of set your mind to it and get it done. But earlier on I spoke about community with you, it's clearly all, everyone's here, so I just kind of want to understand how important was the role of your community in helping you write this book.

[00:10:05] Aneta: Mm-hmm. I looked at my clients first of all, and just said, what do I think would benefit them the most? And that was really important. And then friends that I've had for the longest time. Reaching out to them. Talk to them all the time. I think my college friends that are on here, I talked to them about writing for like the last 30 years I have always talked about writing a book, so they were the folks that have always reminded me hey, how's your book coming along? What's going on? I haven't heard you talk about it for a while. So they helped me stay accountable too. and then they also, were there to read and allowed me to sort of share what I was working on. And they wrote the testimonials or the reviews, they were there just every single step, which is just so important.

[00:10:52] Mahrukh: I love that so much. Again, having those kinds of check-ins and also people giving you constant feedback. Super important. Yeah. Right. Cat, I'll run it over to you, the audience piece.

[00:11:05] Cat: Okay. Audience. Hi everybody. So for the questions, I want to piggyback off of picking a favorite and talk a little bit about January so you can think about if you've already read the whole book, maybe a favorite you have for a different month because each month has a theme. But I had the privilege of reading in January, which is my birthday month. Before you brought the book out, Aneta. So I'm rather partial to January, and I'm also one of those people as I said, my husband and I have been reading this every morning together, and my favorite so far, and they're all a favorite because each one has something so beautiful to share. But I loved January 31st, the very last day of January. A bucket list is an invitation to dream bigger. Annette White, do you have a bucket list of things you want to do, see, experience, and accomplish in life? Bucket lists are a great way to capture your dreams and revisit them often to ensure you progress on them. I've kept one for most of my adult life and love continuously adding new dreams to the list. It's gratifying to plan and take action on items on the list. Don't censor yourself when writing the list and write things you can do. Stretch yourself to keep thinking bigger. Over time, some of my most significant life moments have happened because I wrote them down first. I was in college when I wrote about backpacking throughout Europe for a summer. When I wrote that I wanted to go to graduate school, I had two babies at home. I was in school when I wrote that I wanted to be a published author. And, when I wrote that I wanted to complete a marathon, I wasn't a runner. I was deep in my corporate career. When I wrote that I wanted to make a career change and start my own business. I am so grateful that I've kept a list all these years. It has allowed me to live intentionally and fully. My bucket list has made me accountable to myself for my dreams, and then the challenge I love. There's a takeaway at the end of each day and at the start of your bucket list, and let your dreams flow. Through the pen onto the page, what surprised you? So what I love about what you did with January and Dreams is that so often we're focused on New Year's resolutions in January, but we don't take the time to just think. Maybe it's not just weight loss, maybe it's not just the marathon. And also look back and give ourselves credit for different dreams we've had at different times in our lives. You're a gardener. Mm-hmm. the plants. When we plant the seed, it takes some time for it to grow. So I'd like to just offer that as a first question. What was a favorite page or month that anyone would like to share? And again, if you feel called, just pop that hand up and I'll see it. And otherwise, I might call on you. Hey, Carli, go ahead, please.

[00:14:13] Carli: Hi everyone. I'm Carli. I would say that my favorite day, the one that sticks out to me that I think of a lot is the story of Lucy the Goldfish, which is January 25th. And I thought it was adorable because I love how Aneta always ties back in her personal stories and she brought in the girls and, they had the small goldfish. They gave her a bigger place to live, and as they did, she grew. And I thought that was so smart. And I never thought of it that way. I mean, the same goes for potted plants. And then I thought, maybe I should change all my plants and see how much they grow, but then how do I tie it back to me and I can't confine myself? And I just thought that was super relevant and a great story.

[00:14:56] Aneta: We do miss Lucy. She's crossed over the rainbow bridge, but she was a great fish.

[00:15:06] Alex: We miss her dearly. Yeah. This is Dan, on Alex's phone, but thanks for saying that Carli. I was going to say that would probably be one of my favorite days as well. Just because, I don't know, it's just like a really great, perspective when you do, you can grow, when you change your environment. And I think that's something that all of us can take away from. That. So thanks, mom.

[00:15:30] Aneta: Thanks, girls.

[00:15:31] Cat: I love your mom, Alex.

[00:15:35] Aneta: Joe, did you have something too? I saw your hand raised, Joe and his wife, Marianne sent me an edible arrangement yesterday, which was so sweet. And I said, February 1st, I did talk about doing something nice for someone and I said, they sent me something that was really sweet.

[00:15:52] Joe: Well, I think what I know, my wife and my personal favorite was the bucket list as well. That, that morning, the both of us at, so she does, she has her own meditation time and then I do mine and we, we talked afterward and one of the things that have been on my bucket list is to go to Europe. I've never traveled all over the country all the time, but I've never been to Europe and I'm a real architectural fan, so I just can't wait to get over there. And so we've been talking about the river cruises over the year. To go to Italy and so on. So, we've got a plan this weekend to get a grease board for the goals list and put it right up on my wall over here so that we can start getting to some of those things that we have listed. Every January we write down on the Christmas cards, we give each other on the back, and we write, our top 10 or 20 goals that we want for the next year. But we don't kind of stay on top of it. So we talked about getting a grease board and putting it over here in the office so that every time she walks into my office, we can talk about it.

[00:16:57] Aneta: I love that. I love it. It's like a vision board for your trip.

[00:17:01] Joe: Yeah. And we are just so blessed to have this gal in our lives, aren't we? I mean, what a special spirit in this world. No, we just can't thank you enough Aneta, and reading your book every day is really, a nice kickstart to the day to say the least. So thank you, for putting it together. I can't imagine what a work of, intense every day trying to put that thing together. But God bless you for doing it.

[00:17:27] Aneta: Thank you, Joe. You were so sweet. Thank you, that's amazing. I know.

[00:17:33] Cat: Someone else, go ahead.

[00:17:34] Aneta: Yeah, I was going to actually ask you guys, if you reflected back on January and looked at some of the notes that you took and if you've actually taken action on anything in January if anyone has anything to celebrate.

[00:17:47] Rhonda: This is Rhonda.

[00:17:48] Aneta: Hi Rhonda.

[00:17:49] Rhonda: I love you. I have definitely really enjoyed this book and have given it to a lot of people. I really like January 13th, that ties into your question. I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past, and that's such a truth for me right now. And the last six weeks since I've been using your book I'm not even seeing the past. I just am seeing the future. It's so clear to me. I love it. I think the practice of reading these every day and letting them talk to you, it's just such a gift. And I don't know who the person who just spoke was, but spot on. What would we do without you in our lives? I mean, this is amazing.

[00:18:28] Aneta: Thank you, Rhonda. I love you too. It's so sweet.

[00:18:33] Cat: I'm going to go on to another question, see if, if this one is resonating with anybody, and, welcome those who are coming back in. So the question as you're reading this book is, what resistance or limiting beliefs are already coming up or fears? And it could be just generally, maybe it's not one from a page, maybe just something that you feeling in life right now, and Aneta might be able to point you to a month. I don't know if anyone resonates with that question. Yes, Joanna, go.

[00:19:08] Johanna: Hi, I'll hop in. Hi everyone. Hi Aneta. I'm so excited to be here today with all of you and I'm so excited, that you did this and that you pulled the plug and you just decided to go forward with it. Because you can already see from this group how impactful, the book is. And this is just the beginning of it. So I think for me, and I have to admit, I got your book and then I gave it away to somebody, and then I had to go back to the PDF of January that you sent, and then I had to order the book again. But for me, I'm thinking about, January 14th. I was looking at it this morning again and there was a quote there, that you're writing that this year be structured enough for success and achievement and flexible enough for creativity and fun. And that really hit me like a ton of bricks and resonated with me because I think that one of the things that the fear that pops up sometimes is that if I'm not vigilant, Hmm. If I'm not vigilant enough, I have so many different sticks in the fire. I have such big dreams and things that I want to do. And if I'm not vigilant enough, then it's just not going to happen because I'm the motor that drives it all, right? that's what goes on in my mind. But in those moments, I forget that I'm not actually, not the motor that drives it all right? There's, actually something much bigger than me that's holding me in a loving space. Right. And that when I open myself up and I remember that, yeah, I can play with this. This is actually everything that I'm choosing to do. My ability to step forward and open myself up to the play of it. It is all a creative process. This can all be fun, right? Yeah. And within that, of course, the part of our mind that wants to structure things. The part of our mind that wants to be in control of the process and plan and know what to expect, there's equal to creation and manifestation and bringing things forward. And that is to enjoy the process and play with it and have fun with it and, open yourself up to the unexpected things that want to happen as well, right? Because that's part of the creative process. So if we never give ourselves that space then we don't allow for those beautiful insights and those downloads that want to come to drop through. So, it was just a good reminder for me that when those fears come up to just remember that I can play with them. This is all fun, right? So thank you for that.

[00:22:02] Aneta: I love that, Joanna. I always, I like to say, leave a little room for magic, right? That's sort of my theme for the year. Do what you can, work hard, and do all the stuff, but leave a little room for magic, for the muse, for creativity, for all that energy, because it definitely makes it less stressful and more fun. Yeah. Thank you.

[00:22:21] Johanna: Absolutely.

[00:22:24] Cat: I love it. So this next question, I'm actually going to help you all out because hopefully, everyone has their book in hand. But in case you don't have a hard copy right now, I'm just going to read each month, what the theme was and if there's one that you want to speak on that you're maybe excited about what's coming and you do have the book, you could skip ahead to it and talk about why. I love that we are actually in three parts here, right? And that this first part is about planting those seeds, right? Guess what? We're not supposed to do our whole bucket list in 2023. Thank goodness. So January is about new beginnings. Begin to dream again, and plant new seeds. And then February is about self-love and service. And by the way, is Joe still on here? That was such a beautiful connection. You two that you were of service doing that so on this. I mean, wow, that was just so beautiful. Be an agent of love, kindness, and compassion to yourself and others. So that's the month we're in, and then next month, March. Courage, expand beyond your comfort zone. Let's just start with this first season. Is anybody feeling drawn to any of those or really excited about the month we're in or the month ahead?

[00:23:52] Gabriel: Yeah, I can go. Okay. Sorry, I didn't do the raise hand thing. First of all, super proud of my, Godmother, Nasha, for writing this book and, kind of going with courage in the month of March. I wanted to bring up the January 10th, prompt. And it was like making a list of fears and limiting beliefs. And so I actually went to Nasha when I was a junior in high school and we did exercise together where I wrote out all my fears and then I wrote out what if it happened the other way? All the good things happened and back then I was really—limiting myself. And I remember one of them was, I was afraid to like post a video of myself on social media and flash forward four years later, I'm hosting a podcast and I post videos almost every day. So I think working with her allowed me to examine my fears and like have the courage to step up and like give my gift to the world. So I appreciate you, Nasha. Super proud of you.

[00:24:58] Aneta: I love you. Gabe. Nasha means Godmother and Romanian and Gabe. You guys should all check out his podcast, the bridge that he hosts, mostly by himself, sometimes with his brother Sam. They're both on my podcast as well, but Gabe has written a book. He's writing poetry, and you're 20 years old, right? It's amazing. So follow Gabe and the Bridge Podcast. Yeah. And you overcame those fears or you stood firmly stared them in the face and continued to walk through those fears anyway. Yeah. Amazing.

[00:25:31] Aneta: Lisa, Michelle, Ann and I went to college together, so we've been thickest thieves since we were 18, which is awesome. So excited to have you guys here. Is there anything that you guys, like any day that really stood out for you in January or as Cat said, anything you're looking forward to?

[00:25:49] Anne: Just through the conversation, like the planting new seeds is resonating. So I've started to plant those seeds a little bit. My brother is actually working on a book. He's, going to publish a book. So I'm serving as the editor role and going to kind of help him figure out how to actually get it published out into the world. So that's kind of my way of planting my new seeds for something

[00:26:12] Aneta: I love it. I love that. Yeah.

[00:26:15] SE personal: And I'm a little behind too on my days, but I did read the one about decluttering, which I'm thinking about a lot. So I need to go through that and, do that soon and get rid of things that don't bring me joy. Yeah, that's a big thing. So reading just made it clear again what I need to do. So thank you.

[00:26:35] Aneta: You're welcome.

[00:26:37] Michelle: I just, marked this one, which I think I told you last week. Because you had one on January 6th, which you and I have talked a lot about with me before as putting everything into little bite-size steps and I don't have to do everything all at once. So I forget this would be, I won't read the whole thing, but, that one I think about all the time because there's something I want to do. I get very overwhelmed. And so this one I go back to a lot. So, thank you. We're so proud of you.

[00:27:04] Mahrukh: I've been like hearing a lot of people like Rhonda, Joe, Johanna. They talk about the impact you've had. Gabriel also just spoke about how you've really helped him transform, something he was fearful of, and now he's just doing it regularly. So, you're impacting so many lives already, Aneta. And I know that you had like, hopes when you were writing this book, so just want to hear from everybody what were some of the hopes you had from the book, and do you think you're getting that right now?

[00:27:37] Aneta: Hmm. Yeah. I always say dream big, right? And so when I was writing this book, I just had visions. I visualized a lot and I had visions of people having this on their nightstands, right? I would think where are people going to have it, where they can access it? And they'll pick it up in the morning or at night. So I was like, maybe it's on a stand, or maybe it's on the kitchen counter with their first cup of coffee in the morning and they do it with their partner or they're reading it by themselves, or maybe they want to go back to it before they go to sleep and then they're able to journal on it. And so I just had visions of people doing it and, and then talking about it with others and having people to, say, this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm writing. What do you think? Promoting discussion and really promoting change. My hope was that people read it, go through the book, and at the end of the year they look back and that they're really proud of themselves. As they say, I showed up for myself every day. I took small imperfect daily actions, and over the course of the day, the year it compounded. And I'm a different person. Because we are changing constantly, right? And so, I hope that this book helps people to some, at least small. I look back in January, I was more reflective, or I spent more time thinking about things, or I talked to my wife about going to Greece or, whatever it is. And people start really starting to live the width of their life. I mean, that's, that's why I wrote it.

[00:29:09] Cat: Welcome, Leslie. Yeah, we were just going through the book and some questions for people who have read the book and also just the outline of the book and questions for Aneta who wrote this amazing book that is changing and impacting so many lives. Yesterday, I was at the gym with a friend doing yoga and she was talking to me about needing a business coach and breathwork and she was like, that girl Aneta who wrote the book, she's amazing. Would she be the one and just the ripple effect?

[00:29:45] Leslie: Yeah. I was just on the phone with some peers in California who are doing the book together, a couple, and enjoying it, making a difference.

[00:29:53] Aneta: Joe is on, Leslie Joe's here. Yeah. Serious.

[00:29:58] Leslie: You go.

[00:30:00] Cat: Small world in the zoom room today. Mm-hmm.

[00:30:03] Leslie: Awesome.

[00:30:03] Sue: I just want to comment. What Aneta said earlier about wondering where people are putting the book. This is my morning routine. I keep it on my desk right next to me. I wait until I usually check emails really early, then I go get my tea. I come upstairs to my office as soon as I have my tea. Then I sit down with your book. I will only read the day that it is, and if I missed a day because I was running around, I'll read that. I will never go forward because I'm a rule follower. But it is definitely my morning routine. I love it for that. Did I mark the little ones that I want to go back to? And it's fantastic. I love you and it.

[00:30:44] Aneta: I love you too, Sue. Thank you. That makes me so happy.

[00:30:48] Catherine: Sue, can I just jump in there too because I was thinking when you were talking about that, Aneta I have my comfy morning chair and we should all send you pictures of where we read your book. does that now I'm curious about where everybody sits? And I also wanted to double back on your book and the importance of kind of journaling in order that you can see your growth in the end. So it is kind of fun to go back and look, and I already do see things. I mean, just writing it down keeps you accountable. So it's really great and I do love that you did it.

[00:31:25] Aneta: Yay. Thank you. And you were one of the people who held me accountable constantly. You have to talk about your book. What are you doing? What are you waiting for? What's going on?

[00:31:35] Catherine: Now, when's your next one? Yes. Keep it going.

[00:31:42] Maria: Hi, Aneta.

[00:31:44] Aneta: Hi Maria. Hi, Peter.

[00:31:46] Maria: I just wanted to echo some things and, add my own 2 cents. I was talking to somebody about you just two days ago. I said, Aneta da da da. I was doing all this work with her and she's so wonderful, and she asked the question, is she wonderful? Because you just like her, and she's a nice person or is she wonderful because she really helped you? And I said, well, it's both of those things, and the beauty of it is that you get to come every day into our house, right? And give us this wonderful advice that we always need every day, that is like a soulful reminder of who we are and what we could be. So thank you for writing us.

[00:32:25] Aneta: Thank you, Maria. I really appreciate it.

[00:32:27] Kelly: Hi.

[00:32:28] Aneta: Joining. You guys are making me blush. No worries. We're kind of talking Kelly about, just the book and if you have a favorite passage and also just how people are reading it, if they've read ahead or if they're just sticking to the one day depending on whether you're a rule follower or not, as Sue said. But I put in there actually at Mahrukh said, make sure you put in the intro that people can read this the way they want to read it. Some people want to skip ahead and, it's nice to just kind of open it up one day and go, August 21st, what does it have to say for me? So I know Trina, you read ahead, I think when you first

[00:33:06] Trina: I did. Yeah. Well, I went right to June because of course that's my birthday and June is the best month that there is. Here it is by my bedside. And, I did read the entire book and I love it. And you know that I love you too. I have loved you for years and I will love you, this lifetime. And the next. What I'm really loving, is the intentionality that it's created, not just in conquering fears or holding anxieties at bay, sort of, stealing those voices in your head that say, I can't, I shouldn't, I won't. But it's really created this idea of living the width of your life. Intentionality in decisions large and small during the day. How to spend your time, how to lift someone next to you who might be sort of drowning in the swim lane next to you. How to really be present and be fulsome in what you're doing. And that intentionality I think is so important in the idea that contribution matters more than career or wealth or status. That it's really what are you contributing, in this world? Are you a plus sign to the world? And, I think that the book on every page, whether it's about abundance or gratitude or being present or being intentional, it's about making a contribution. You're here for a reason. You are here to do the right things the right way. And that's what this book reminds me of every day. And I love that you wrote it. I love that every page sounds like you to me. Just like I invited you into my bedroom, going to help you in the morning to sort of whisper in my ear and get me launched in the right way. And I just love how it's making me think differently. About my workday and my home time and how I maximize those opportunities to do the right things, spend time in the right way, and, set my mind in the right direction. So thank you for that.

[00:35:13] Aneta: Thank you so much. For those that don't know Trina, Trina has been, a mentor of mine. I worked with her for many years in the corporate world, and we are friends. And I want to show you something that she got for me when I told her that I was leaving and it's this beautiful, she could see it. It says another opens, it's like a door and it's about the closed door, and then it says Another opens, and I keep it right here, right behind me, and I look at it all the time, which I love. So thank you.

[00:35:48] Mahrukh: Love that Aneta. I think it's Maria. Let me know, how you pronounce that. She kind of asked you a question. She said, what's your favorite day?

[00:35:57] Aneta: You know, I was looking through and there's one quote that still gets me every time. It's not my quote, but it's from a book. That I read, called Chase the Lion, and it's on January 24th and the quote by Mark Patterson is, God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. And that for me just always comes back and is a reminder that when you feel like you can't do something or you don't have the credentials, or you don't have the experience, or you don't have the connections, or anything if you were called if you feel in your heart that you are supposed to do something, if it's a dream that will not leave you alone, you will be given everything that you need at the moment to do what you need to do. You might not have it all figured out, but you'll be given today as your path will. Your path will be lit enough for you for today, and that's where we need to get comfortable is saying for today I can take this step and tomorrow I'll be given more and I'll be given more, and just keep going on. And by the grace of God, four years later, that's how I've built this business. And every day I just think, my goodness, I had no idea how I was going to do what I wanted to do. But being able to serve people and love people and to heal and help is what I've always wanted to do. And, every day you're just given a little bit more. So anyway, I think that's probably one of my favorite quotes in January, just because I return to it as a reminder for myself all the time.

[00:37:37] Cat: I love that Aneta. That happens to be my birthday, by the way.

[00:37:41] Aneta: Very special auspicious day, Cat.

[00:37:44] Cat: Very, and every year I actually wrote a few notes about what you just said. If it's a dream that won't leave you alone if it's a path that will be lit just enough for you. Right. And I wanted to echo, I know, I don't remember which girl shared January 6th, but just that first quote. Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin, beginning makes the conditions perfect by Alan Cohen. There is so much gold in here. I mean, thank goodness we get to live the width of our life with you all year long in print and also on your podcast. I mean, I'm just like totally blown away.

[00:38:23] Aneta: Joe? Yeah.

[00:38:24] Joe: Hi. I just remembered one thing. One of the things that I do from time to time was a statement in your book that talked about how, you paved somebody's copy and it just, you can just tell it lights up their day. And, I do that at McDonald's all the time. Not all the time, but, every once in a great while when I think about it. Because I don't always think about it and just always drive away as fast as I can. But having people chase me and honking and saying, I just wanted to say thanks so much. The whole spirit of that and being a plus one and making people's day just really rang true when I read your little statement about that. It makes such a difference to us. Just to make somebody's day just put a little sunshine on somebody's day. It was just a nice reminder of how important that is, to shed the light. Right. So I just thought I'd add that.

[00:39:17] Aneta: Thank you, Joe. Yeah, I think, and Cammi knows this, but I've always had this expression called lanterns of light. It just always stays with me, and maybe it'll be a next book or something, but I was just thinking that if every single one of us right chose to do something to be a ray of sunshine, for someone to be a plus like Trina's head every day, we would crowd all the darkness out, all of it, right? We would light this world up. And so I hope that maybe by reading this we just say, hey, what can I do today and how do I do that? It could be just a smile at someone, a store or just picking up the phone or sending a text or calling our mom if you can, and all those things. So, yeah.

[00:40:01] Cat: So speaking of moms and just a little idea to plant, since we're in planting seeds, when you buy this book, why not buy two? Anneta did not ask me to do this, by the way, but I was part of your launch and knew and put the podcast out the first week of January, how amazing this book was going to be, and talked about it on my podcast, Horses, Mountains, and Dogs. And I bought two copies. and I was traveling at the time visiting my mom in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and I should have bought three copies so I could give one to my sister too. But I was able to give her one and then have one for myself. She drove up to meet me in Taos, because of how the shipping worked, but think about sharing it with someone. I know there are a bunch of couples on here, and my husband and I are loving doing this together. And look, we have this whole tribe that's growing that could come together every month or at the end of the year, but maybe as a gift, not just for yourself when you buy it. Buy it for somebody else too.

[00:41:07] Aneta: Thanks Cat. Yeah, Dorel and I are doing it every morning too, which is really fun. He's like, okay, what are we reading today? I also want to do a little shout-out to Prem. So Prem is on this call and Prem and I have known each other since I went through Yoga Teacher Training and Prem would call me so often and he'd say, listen. I'm getting a divine download, you need to write your book. And so and when he tells me that, I was like, I really need to do it. So he and his constant sort of checking in and encouragement also. And he wrote the Beautiful Forward in the book. If you guys read it was just made me cry. But he was another person who sort of said, you can do this. You have something within you. Share it. Just ta take action. Just start right now. So, Prem's written two beautiful books, so I want to thank you Prem for doing that for me. I really appreciate it.

[00:42:01] Prem: I am most welcome. I just want to add, I mean, I have not read the whole book. So I feel a little bit, not quite connected with every idea, but I've looked at it enough and I read enough pages that I actually started to buy it for my friends. So that's good news, and the other thing is, the book is really very much like you, it's like your baby in a sense. Everything that I think of you, I feel like you're a person who really deeply observes life. And, every page has a beautiful mix of some wisdom as well as emotion, and it's got some hope and, it's got some little story connected to it, and it's so skillfully and in a subtle way woven together that I can only think of it as you call it, as a divine download. I would say, in our traditional language, will say intuitive really beautifully and I just think, you live by your words, you walk, you talk, and I cannot think that this book is going to be a perfect success for everybody. And I will read every page, I promise. I have read some of the pages, in fact, today I said, okay, let me see February 2nd. And it's really beautiful because I'm the one that also believes in you can make an impact on your world, on this world only by making an impact in your own life, making small steps, as you said, however imperfect. But it's wonderful that you are there for people to support them in making this. Perhaps, imperfect steps because this is what people often give up and they think, what can I do? I'm so busy. I'm like this. I'm like that. And you have this beautiful skill to kind of clear the clutter in people's minds and their lives and, and set them in the right direction. So I'm actually honored, that I am one of the people who have been a part of this process of helping you just get it out. Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone. I love you. Impressions.

[00:44:10] Aneta: Thank you. Prem.

[00:44:12] Alex: It's Alex, what's your next book coming Mom?

[00:44:15] Aneta: Honey. I've been thinking about it. I do miss not writing and like anything I think I put in here, once you do it once, doesn't seem so overwhelming. That's a good question.

[00:44:28] Prem: I think I'll take care of it.

[00:44:29] Catherine: So I'm just curious, do you read your own book daily and are you journaling as you go? And is anything new coming up as you do that?

[00:44:40] Aneta: Yes, I do it every day. I journal each day and I'm still surprised because even though I wrote it and I wrote it last year, I don't remember. Obviously, every 365 days and I'll still read something and I'll underline it. And Dorel, he laughs he's like, you wrote it? And I go, I know, but I'm like, I still underline stuff. And then journal about it. So I think, it's just we get inspired. And I hope. People come back to it over and over again. Like the ones that I have other daily meditations I've had for years, I keep going back to them and still find something new in them. So, maybe that sounds weird, but I am, yeah.

[00:45:25] Prem: No, I don't think it's actually weird in a way that any creative work, takes place, I mean, this common usage of the word download. It's really, making a connection with your mind, with a particular realm of thoughts and vibrations that already exists. Not just in this world but above. And so when you actually take that down and write it, you often feel, well only obviously it, it did filter through me, it came through me. But, there's some influence there that, I, when you go back in, and you think, how could I even possibly write this? You realize that there was some help that came at that time and so, therefore, there will be always some unknown undiscovered moment or page in the book or sentence. And it will ring so strongly and it will you could even imagine there was somebody else writing it. You'll be equally excited. So that's my explanation of it.

[00:46:21] Aneta: Yeah, I love that. I am so grateful to you. I know some people had to drop. I'm so grateful for each of you that you would choose to spend time with me, and that you're here for all your support, and all of your kind words for reading the books. I mean, it's been such a dream for so long and it's very overwhelming. I am just so thankful. So thank you all.

[00:46:47] Cat: Thank you, Aneta. I have one final question for you if it's okay.

[00:46:52] Aneta: Yeah.

[00:46:53] Cat: And this is dovetailing off your daughter, Alex because she knows maybe your book, your book wants a sibling, but also, just planting that seed. I know. Yeah. But also maybe your book wants some cousins or distant relatives and the number of people in my sphere, and maybe it's where we travel and play, who have either written a book or want to write a book, have you thought about now that you've actually written a book, turning around and helping the next guy do what you did and sharing that service.

[00:47:29] Aneta: Yes. I am happy to share, and I've shared with some folks already, it's like when you learn something, you know how to apply it and you can share it. So if anyone is interested in self-publishing, I'm here for you. I can share everything that I did. What was,

[00:47:43] Cat: is that another giveaway?

[00:47:45] Aneta: Yes, of course. That could be the coaching session. And, who knows, maybe there's a book that, in which I interview each of you who does the book every day and we see how your life is different at the end of it. How cool would that be? A chapter on each of you? Never know. Very cool, this book is amazing. Thank you so much, Aneta

[00:48:03] Mahrukh: The Podcast too, just saying.

[00:48:06] Cat: Thank you, everyone. It's been a great lunch hour.

[00:48:09] Mahrukh: Thank you so much. Thank you. What a gift. Bye.

Podcast Outro

[00:48:12] Aneta: If you enjoyed this episode and want a personalized guide to making 2023 the best year ever, then you are in luck. I've just released a bestselling book Live The Width of Your Life, 365 Daily meditations on Living with Passion, purpose, and Peace. Each daily meditation provides you with a journal prompter challenge so you can begin taking daily imperfect action towards the life of your dreams. You can get your copy today on Amazon. The link is in the show notes, and I'll see you next.

End.