A Kool Product from a Kool and Inspirational Woman: Andrea Leake

Self-growth.com has brought so much goodness into my life in the short month I have been a member. I wrote about finding my mentor, Karin Hiebert and today I am writing about another inspirational woman. Andrea Leake has also healed herself (of partial blindness), is an inventor of the amazing Kool Bandanna that helps many health conditions for people AND pets, is a social worker working with patients that have Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease and she is a commissioned wildlife artist. It has been an absolute pleasure talking with Andrea and as you will see her life is very inspirational.

Andrea was a single mom in Toronto working as a Social Worker when she started to go blind in one eye. Within a few days she could only see black out of her left eye. She followed a close friend's advice and started listening to Louise Hay's audio book "You Can Heal Your Life" and was able to heal herself and regain full sight. She not only regained full sight but suddenly had an urge to start drawing wild birds. With no prior lessons she began to draw amazing pictures of herons, eagles and more. Andrea's art is sold worldwide. She has a company "Inner Vision" where she sells her artwork and you can purchase them as greeting cards as well.

If you read my blog regularly or have read my ebook, you know that I am inventor. I was so excited to find out Andrea is one as well. Her Kool Bandannas are made of non-toxic plastic absorbent crystals which absorb 400 times their weight in water and are reusable. Kool Bandannas reduce your body temperature by 3-4 degrees and stay cool for 4 DAYS before you need to re-soak them. They are effective for sports injuries, headaches, avoiding heat stroke and eliminating hot flashes. Andrea also makes them for pets so that when they are out in the heat you can keep them cool. They even have the ability to be used as a heat pack if you soak them and put them in the microwave. These are wonderful products, only $10 and you can visit Andrea's site to see testimonials.

Andrea's healing story is also featured in Darlene Montgomery's "Conscious Women: Conscious Lives Part 2" book. I am so very grateful for selfgrowth.com for introducing me to my new friend, Andrea. We share so many similarities and she is an inspiration to me so many ways; the ways she helps others, the story of her own healing, her wonderful drawings, her invention that helps others and her generous, funny and warm spirit. Please take the time to learn more about Andrea and stock up on her "Kool products" before the warm weather is back before we know it!

Inspiration for the Inspirational

I have finally gotten used to being called inspirational over a year after I have healed myself. Yep, my self-esteem was very low there for a while and I am JUST getting the hang of receiving the compliment gracefully. After all, healing myself of all the illnesses and chronic pain I had for 6 years was my proudest moment -- so I think I deserve the title of "inspirational". I certainly understood my parents, husband and kids thinking so because they saw how bad my pain was for years and now it is nice that others are recognizing it without experiencing me at my worst. What keeps me inspired and wanting to learn more and be the best person I can be in ALL areas of my life? I wrote a post about "The Power of Inspiration and Knowing No Limits", I have written about Blogs I read that inspire me (I could add a lot more to that list now and want it to include "I Will Change Your Life", "We the Change", "Practical Personal Development" and "The Next 45 Years") , I have had inspirational people such as Dr. Judith Orloff and Dr. Ingrid Bacci write guest posts on my blog, I belong to a Master Mind Group started after joining Aaron Pott's wonderful "Personal Development Partners" and NOW I have found a mentor who defines inspiration to me, Karin Heibert.

I met Karin through selfgrowth.com where I am an expert on Law of Attraction. She is a Success Skills Expert at selfgrowth.com and when I read her profile I knew we would connect. As I was reading her story on her website I was mesmerized and in disbelief that someone could have lived through the severe childhood abuse she endured. I know there is no "quantifying" pain and suffering but hers was the worst I had ever heard of. It gave me chills and I had to finish reading her life story to find out how she overcame her trauma.

Karin reminded me of myself even though her pain was much more emotional/mental while mine was mostly physical (at least on the surface). ;-) She was always very much a perfectionist and felt she had to prove herself. She is a world renown hairstylist and is one of the "World's Top Ten Hairdressers" winning every competition she entered after studying at the elite Vidal Sasson Advanced Haircutting Academy. Though she was seemingly moving forward and succeeding in her life (same as I was) there were underlying issues she needed to confront and deal with in order to heal and move on with her life.

When Karin's children reached the age she was during her abuse it triggered several reactions including PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Dissociative Disorder (Formerly Multiple Personality Disorder), and severe asthmatic attacks that had her hospitalized several times. Her career suffered and she was on several medications for all her symptoms and diagnoses.

Through The Laurel Center (which is run by therapists who are survivors of sexual abuse), becoming a Dale Carnegie Graduate Assistant with high honors, Learning the Universal Laws including The Law of Attraction through "The Secret" and others (including Neale Donald Walsch's "Conversations with God") Karin was able to heal herself. Not only did Karin heal herself but she was able to develop her own success program called Inspiraction Training (Inspired Action), become an expert at Web 2.0 and coach many people to success. She is inspirational in every sense of the word and when I first made contact with her I KNEW I wanted her to be my mentor. She makes herself very available to her clients and we have talked via Skype several times already.

I am honored to have Karin as my mentor and am excited for all she will help me with. I know one thing on my list is getting over my fear of seeing myself on video. As you can see from the below video of Karin -- she is completely at ease and exudes kindness and quiet confidence. If you like this video visit her You Tube Page. To find out more about her coaching you can visit her myspace page. I am so excited to have a mentor -- I have been searching for the "right one" for a year now. Whoo Hoo someone to tell me how to be more efficient and kick my butt a bit when I slack off! I am sure you will be hearing more about Karin as we move forward but please check out this video and her website to learn about her incredible life. Thank you Karin for being my inspiration! Here is Karin's video on "9 Important Life Principals":

Influences -- People, Places, Things -- Make them Positive

A few weeks back I did a guest post on Alex Blackwell's wonderful blog "The Next 45 Years". I wrote outlining my "Paging Me System" (which I go into depth within my e-book and also Priscilla Palmer's upcoming book) about the methods I used to heal myself and KEEP myself healthy. "Paging Me" is an acronym for the methods I use to "Page Myself" or wake up my subconscious to keep me happy, healthy and in the moment. Today I am talking about Influences which is the I in Paging. In order to maintain health and happiness I need to keep the influences around me MOSTLY positive.

People

Whether it is the people you are watching on TV or the people in your lives -- ensuring they are people that inspire versus people that drain is key. We all know a complaining friend, relative or acquaintance that James Ray calls the "Energy Vampire". Try to be a positive influence for this person and share your learnings on the Law of Attraction and the act of being positive with them -- but don't exhaust yourself or try to "change anyone". You have to want to change to facilitate change. Limit time with people that suck your energy away from you and try and be aware of your feelings during your time with them. Make sure after you spend time with someone negative, if you do feel drained, do something positive to "lighten" your mood.

I have written about the news being negative and that there are better options for media to surround yourself with. Listening to or watching negative news can exhaust you and make you feel hopeless. The traditional news tends to focus on all the bad things happening in the world instead of the positive. There is a LOT of positive growth and news being made -- you just have to look a little harder to find it. Happy News is a good option. Also KNOWING how many people are working to make the world a better place helps as well. I listed a bunch of social networking sites that do a good job of this. Another example is the people involved in the movie "The Shift". Watch the trailer below to be blown away and if you can figure out a way to promote or help finish it being made -- please do so.

PLACES

Do you like where you live? Is your house filled with stuff? Do you enjoy where you work? All of these things influence your happiness and how you see your world. Home should be an oasis in every sense of the word. I work from home and know that things pile up fast and that having kids makes it near impossible to keep my place truly spotless the way it is in my mind's eye. My house is very comfortable for me though. When I see it getting overcrowded with "stuff" I KNOW it is time to donate, sell and give away things. According to the Law of Attraction if you have too much stuff you are sending out signals that you have more than enough. Look around and ask yourself how much of the stuff you actually NEED. Clean off one drawer or dresser top a day and see how much better and powerful you begin to feel within one week. Messiness and being unorganized contributes to feeling out of control and unwell.

Along with your home is the area you live in. Are you happy where you live? Do you enjoy walking outside? Is there a place you can go nearby (park, museum, village) and enjoy "being". I grew up in NYC and LOVED walking around the city. Now I live in upstate, NY and absolutely love looking out my windows and seeing mountains as well as walking to my nearby park. I walk there most of the year and cross country ski in the winter. I love the "downtown" area and enjoy walking around there. It is so important to get out of the house and explore other places. Make sure you have a few favorite places you can go that will bring that smile to your face.

Work is another place that you should be happy. Lawrence Cheok of "A Long Long Road " has a wonderful series of posts called the "The Career Lover Series" in which he gives suggestions on how to turn your passion into a money-making career. If you are at a job that you don't like you need to find some things positive about it until you can make that leap to doing something you love. Whether it be a positive person to have lunch with, the fact that you are making a salary big enough to put some away for when you will venture out and try something else....whatever it is be GRATEFUL for the things that are good about that position while you are figuring out "what's next". Concentrating on the bad at your job will only make it worse. Instead start looking into how you can make money doing something you love and be thankful you have some stability while you do that.

THINGS

Movies, books, television, songs, hobbies - all of these "things" influence our lives. Once you start to pay attention to what you are watching, reading or surrounding yourself with it is important acknowledge how those "things' make you feel. Watching or listening to materials that make you laugh instead of feel negative or "down" is an easy way to change your mood. Chuck at "Personal-Development" has a post that goes deeply into all the "benefits of laughter". Eckhart Tolle has a great video on "Your Pain Body is Very Seductive" below that touches on what watching violence does to your body and the importance of becoming aware of it.

It is critical to be aware of the influences you are surrounding yourself with and how they are affecting you. People, places and things contribute to how you see your own life. Take action, make the influences around you mostly positive and you will enjoy experiencing the changes that take place in you.