Choosing happiness is a personal journey. What works for one person may not work for another, so it's important to explore various strategies, listen to your intuition, and find the approaches that resonate most with you. In this episode, Maria Brady emulates positivity like a ray of sunshine being a Certified Energy Codes Coach. She emphasizes that everyone has the power to create their reality as long as we harness the power to create our reality, and by putting our attention to growth, the energy flows towards it. Maria also highlights the value of shifting our perspective and unlearning tradition to open the path for shaping our reality. These are what leaders need to radiate the same positivity. Tune in to this episode and Choose Happy with Maria Brady today!

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Maria Brady - Leaders On Leadership

I am tremendously excited to welcome my dear friend and longtime colleague, Maria Brady. Let me tell you a little bit about Maria. She is fondly called a ray of sunshine, this successful businesswoman, author, and certified Energy Codes Coach. She shines her light to inspire others. Her positivity and resilience along with managing a life-threatening illness propelled her to launch an inspirational website and gift line. We are going to hear about her energizing story, how she consistently decides to choose happiness, and in all things pays the price of leadership. Maria, I am so excited to reconnect with you on this show.

I am so honored and thrilled to be here. I have followed you and everything that you've done over the years. It is so gracious and so kind to include me here. Thank you.

You are so welcome and you've always been such a supporter. To our audience out there, Jim Toner, if you're reading, we were at a convention right when I first got back to run the business back in 2009 or 2010, so a long time ago. We were at this speaking event. Jim Toner invited us. That's where we connected. We have stayed in touch ever since then. She's going to share a lot about her story and her continued connection to tremendous people and tremendous books. Maria, you're an entrepreneur. A lot of our audience are entrepreneurs of all stages and ages of life. Tell me about your lineage as an entrepreneur.

My grandfather in 1916 was 16 years old, stowed away on a boat from Italy to come to the United States. He worked in the coal mines near McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and then went on to get married, started a restaurant with his wife, and had my father. My father and mother owned a restaurant. The entrepreneurial bloodline continues with myself. Also, my daughter, Rachel is now an entrepreneur selling jewelry and helping me in my marketing business. It's a little genetic code.

Isn't that beautiful? I grew up with an entrepreneur. I'm like, "No, I'm going the other route." After about twenty years, I'm like, "No." You are coded. A lot of our audience out there retired once, twice, sometimes thrice, and they're like, "Now, I'm free to serve." Everybody has this innate entrepreneurial gene in them. You have a beautiful story about how that kept propelling you. First of all, tell me a little bit about this marketing company that you have.

The company name is Marakae. I fused the first syllables of my name Maria with my daughters', Rachel and Kaylee, so Marakae. I started it in 1996 with the internet being launched. Some of you will remember that sound as you plugged in to connect. I started with a fax, a computer, and two clients, leaving a great job in the banking field with benefits and all the bonuses of being an executive at a young age. What was my priority? It was being a mom. There wasn't that flexible time in the workspace that you now have. I like to think I was a pioneer in the entrepreneurial world. I launched it, have grown it, and have been blessed for many years. They're grown now. Kaylee graduated with a Master's degree. I'm a grandma and so blessed.

For our audience out there, you guys know we usually go through loneliness, weariness, abandonment, and vision, but Maria and I talked, and because she's so tremendous, I would do it for anybody. I love that she said, "Let's start with vision because that's where everything starts." Maria, my father gave a speech decades ago that still continues to be the most downloaded. We have a little booklet in print called The Price of Leadership.

In it, he says that to truly be a leader and not just a leader in name only, one of the things that you are going to have to pay is you're going to have to have a vision. The Bible's very clear. Where there is no vision, people perish. Can you share with us what vision has meant for you throughout your leadership journey? Especially, you've gone through some pretty high highs and some pretty low lows. What does that do to your vision?

Thank you for leading this conversation with vision. Where you put your attention, energy grows. I feel it's so important to dream regardless of age. When we're younger, you think about, "I want to go to college and graduate. I'm going to find my soulmate. I'm going to have children. I'm going to buy a house." Once you look back and you reflect, you're like, "I've been so blessed with the realization of these dreams." You're like, "What else is there to do?" You can define the vision of your life at any time, at any stage.

It's very important to never stop dreaming and always embrace those dreams. At this stage, you can dive into your hobby. You can write that book. Your dad said one of the most profound things that I learned from you. Your life is changed by the books that you read and the people that you meet, and it's so incredibly true. When you can pick up a book that inspires you and it resonates with you, you transform your own life, and then you impact others.

Write a book, get a hobby. If you're called to open a business, do it. If you feel it, it's in your soul and it just needs to come out and be shared with other people. When I think about it, I was 55. I wrote a chapter in an award-winning book. I launched the website. I became a certified coach. It took me eighteen months while running a business full-time and earning certification at Chatham College. You can never stop dreaming. Just do it. It's so important.

I love that you linked vision to dreaming because we often don't think about it, but it is. There should be a wonderment and a joy about it that sometimes it's like, "Vision. I got to be so driven and so focused." Yes, you do. Like you said, we have authors in their 90s. Most of our audience are 60 and above and they're like, "Now, I'm free to serve." Their vision is the sky's the limit because they've built fortune in family. Now, they're at a season of life where they are free to serve their highest purpose. Not that the other ones weren't good, but it's a whole different thing as you are seeing and finding out.

It truly is. I believe that we are all here with a purpose. We should not allow fear to overcome sharing that divinity with others. It happened to me in 2013. There was this unexpected path. I wasn't feeling well, and it was more than just the fatigue of managing a business and two teenage daughters. Sadly, my mom had dementia, so we were trying to take care of her outside of a facility. We were selling my childhood home, which was so stressful and incredibly sad. My mom was my best friend. I kept going to doctor after doctor. Finally, after much testing, in bone marrow, we found out I had a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma but it was a subset. It was rare. It was called Waldenström.

We are all here with a purpose. We should not allow fear to overcome sharing that divinity with others.

The doctor calls, it's October 29th, 2013, and he says, "You have this. Your life expectancy is 5 to 7 years." I was like, "I will accept your diagnosis, but not the prognosis. I believe that God is the only one who defines how long we are on the phase of this earth." It honestly didn't fit in the vision of my life. I had kids that were going to graduate high school and college and get married. No. I planned on being here to witness and partake in all of that. I said no to that.

I credit my parents. They were very resilient and faithful. They always said, "You can define your future, and there's a divine purpose." I accepted this challenge. I knew that there were lessons to be learned along the way. I wasn't sure exactly what they were, but I didn't play a victim. I was like, "I'm going to be able to overcome this with a lot of faith." Flash forward, it was six years before I even needed treatment. It's God's will and it was a healthy lifestyle. I had already surpassed that five-year mark that he so delivered to me. I was pretty proud of that.

Can I ask you something? I love that you brought this up because I went through this about several years ago where they kept saying, "No, it's okay." I'm like, "I'm exhausted." My father had chronic fatigue before people knew it was chronic fatigue. In my case, my adrenal gland was shot. I figured that out. How did they find it? Did they find it in blood work? Was it a platelet count? There is so much stuff and they're like, "It's okay." You go out through test after test and you just can't find it. I want to encourage people that are out there to advocate for your health because if you're not feeling strong, something's not right.

They kept telling me, "You're fine," because my CBC, which is your baseline blood count was normal. I'm like, "No, there is something wrong." There's a number called IgM and I forget what those initials stand for. The IgM was elevated. A person's normal reading would be 300. Mine was, at that time, 1,200. It was either multiple myeloma, which ironically my paternal grandmother had. Here I was almost the same age as her. Weird, but it was the IgM. From that, they were able to do additional testing and do the bone marrow.

Did they have to go in and get your bone marrow to test it?

Yes.

You said you were fine and functioning. Did the symptoms subside or what happened?

Once I knew what it was, it was like, "I'm not going to absorb that."

Knowledge is power, even knowing what it is. That's my thing. I don't care how bad the news is. I just have to know what it is because then I'll have a plan of attack so I can process it.

I agree. Funny story real quick. I had to go for my first bone marrow. I chose not to have any kind of sedation or even relaxation because I had a big consulting gig that day that had been lined up. I just did it. 7:00 AM went in, came home, got dressed, had this cute little sweater dress on, and you could see the pressure bandage on my back. I was like, "This outfit looks so cute. I'm not changing." I rip off my pressure bandage, put on a bunch of Band-Aids, and leave. I work a twelve-hour day that day. I just kept taking Advil. It was so painful, but that's the resilient thing. You just move on.

I love that you did that. You're like, "This is what it is, but I'm going to power through this." I love that you kept your dress on. You're such a professional because what good does staying home going to do? I'm like you. I work through pain, emotional, spiritual, and physical. That's my healing, working movement, giving back. Laying home and recouping is not good for me.

The next thing he talked about was loneliness as leadership, loneliness in anything, loneliness in your spiritual life, loneliness in your personal life, and loneliness in your business. Tell me what loneliness means to you and maybe a season you went through and maybe some words of edification or some tools to help some of our audience that may be in a season of loneliness.

Initially, if I talk about personally when I was going through chemo and immunotherapy, I did feel alone, even though I had the love of family and friends, but then I would shift my thoughts when I was there. I would say, "I'm not alone. None of us are. We have God. We have Jesus. We have a spirit team who follows us." I was blessed to meet this woman who is so connected to the divine. She said that my spirit team is made up of Mother Mary, Mother Teresa, which explains why I love children and nurturing, the Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and there's a doctor named Gee.

She guides me through this holistic journey that I'm on. I will always receive signs when I'm trying something new, a new modality or a new supplement. It will be a butterfly or a dragonfly, literally words that appear on a license plate or an article that pops up about something that I'm thinking. I love that divine connection.

I also felt very alone from clients. I chose not to share my story. There was a lot of fear at that time in my life. It was fear of losing them as clients and fear of not getting projects because, "If she's sick, how can she take care of me?" A lot of my clients are my friends. I didn't want to worry them or burden them. There were close friends I didn't tell. There were family members that didn't know because I didn't want them to worry about me.

Looking back, I realized that I had foregone a lot of love and prayer, but that's where I was. That was my head space at the time. I felt very lonely. In fact, you may recall that when I went to compose the chapter in '21, the anthology that was a bestseller on Amazon, I called you. I said, "I'm asked to write this chapter and all my words keep coming to letting go of this story and coming out of how my entrepreneurial spirit guided me through this whole cancer treatment." You said to me, "Let it go."

I remember that dialogue.

It is these beautiful true words because, from that, God has placed so many opportunities for speaking engagements. He divinely guided me to write that award-winning website to go onto podcasts, to speak in front of audiences, and to empower not only cancer patients but other people to see the good and the gratitude in you now. It was a big moment for you.

I remember that. You were so brave to do that. It's a real thing. We don't want to tell people. We don't want to worry them, but then you're right, it's our livelihood. I love that you said you forego love and prayer. When we isolate, we deny others the opportunity to stay in our lives and continue to bless us either through donations, bringing a meal, praying, or even hiring us. That is our natural tendency to shoulder it alone, but it was so beautifully said. You also said, "That's where I was right now."

If you're out there and you've done it, we've all done it. When I was younger before, I got back and realized sharing is caring because other people need to know. They look at you from the outside and think. In the minute, you're like, "No. This is what's going on." It's not off-putting. It's almost like, "You too." We can pour into other people and serve as a beacon. If you're out there and you're thinking, don't go through this alone. As Maria said, there are so many people out there. When you share with the people that love you, you allow them to be a part of the trial, which is a blessing for them.

It's truly an evolution. When I think about loneliness now, what it means to me is a little bit of a spin. It's like being alone. I love alone time. Decades ago, I had to feel every minute with an activity or you didn't feel purposeful. You didn't feel you were doing enough or being enough. I'm so over that. My girls would say, "Mom, the only time we see you sit is on the beach or at our pool because you are in motion from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed." Now, I meditate. This type A plus personality is like a B. It's calming and it gives you time to drop in.

I encourage you, during the workday, especially if you are still working or if your day is hectic, just stop and breathe. Think of three things, three blessings, and hold that in your heart. What does that feel like? Take a minute and write those little things down on a piece of paper and put them in a jar. When you need a little lift, you open it, read it, and I guarantee you, it will bring a smile to your face all the time.

That's a beautiful real way. Have that on your desk. Have that already. We talked about vision and loneliness. Now, we're going to talk about weariness. Weariness is we're still flesh and blood. We have our spirits, we have our souls, and we have our resilience, but we are still mere mortals. Can you tell me how you combat weariness and how you stay refreshed and at the top of your game?

I always start the day hand in my heart with the words, "I am whole. I am healthy. I am healed." There's prayer at that time. There's prayer throughout the day and at the end of the day. Not only do you have to say the words. You have to feel it. Because when you feel what you say and what you think, you create that vibrational energy and alignment to invite that into your life. That's so important.

When you feel what you say and think, you create that vibrational energy, that alignment to invite that into your life.

I remember another thing that I learned from your speech. Your dad said something to the effect of most people walking around dead that they don't even realize it. It's so sad, especially in today's society where there's so much negativity. People are spiraling in this vortex of negativity promoted by the news and social media. You can't control that, but we absorb that energy.

There's a clip. His name escapes me now. If you google Japanese scientist water experiment, it is fascinating. Everybody needs to do this. He showed that the energy around you, the vibration of negativity, heavy metal music, harsh language, and harsh words, will create toxicity within you. He took pictures of water crystals. When the water crystals were introduced to kindness, loving words, and beautiful instrumental music, they were gorgeous. When they were introduced to harsh words and negativity, they turned cloudy.

What that made me realize is it's so important with whom you surround yourself, whether what you're listening to, what your thoughts are, and the people around you. I make sure that environment is very clean, and that's what keeps my energy level up and the weariness down. I personally haven't watched the news since 2020. I just find it very heavy. There's a study done that the less news you watch, the happier you will be.

I know. My last date was May 8, 2014. I am more informed and more at peace now. I then finally cut the cable. I just had it on. I got rid of that. I'm like, "I don't even want to have this presence in my house. Get this evil box out of here. I can stream what I need to stream." I'm feeling pretty excited about that too. You're right. That's thinking. They call that an emotional contagion. Your body can catch a disease of the mind. Norman Vincent Peale said that anxiety and stress have killed more people than every disease ever known to mankind. That negativity and darkness, we're not made for that.

No, we're not. Our souls are not made for that. Sadly, we're conditioned to be in that fight-or-flight mode a lot. When we go to the what-if scenarios, the majority of people will go to the what-if negative. They can't see the good and just go into this spiral. What that does is it increases your cortisol, your negative hormones. It increases your blood pressure. None of that is good for your immune system.

You have to train your mind to see the good. It's a conscious and deliberate decision to choose happy, to find the good, and to avoid that negativity. Positivity reduces that weariness. That high vibrational energy is created with positive and thoughts of gratitude. When I started treatment, the nurses would say, "You're going to be so sick. You're going to have headaches. You're going to have this." I'm like, "Why would you even say that to somebody?" Somebody who's not resilient is going to make themselves sick because that's what's expected.

You just spoke it.

I was incredibly blessed to be very high functioning during the whole time. What was interesting is when the IV would start, I would pray and I would envision this golden light going through my body and nurturing the sick cells. I did not kill them. I felt these poor little cells are just so lost and they're running amok and they need help. What was so fascinating about that is when I went through my Energy Codes training, Dr. Sue Morter talked about how these positive healing thoughts are sustaining our innate ability to heal. If you think kill, that doesn't heal. If you think love and nurturing, that heals. Isn't that beautiful?

Yes, because they were once good, and then they got corrupted, like us. We need to be made whole and new again, which we will. I never thought of it. For our audience out there, when people come in and speak things, I don't care whether it's stuff. It happened to me at the vet. Somebody said something, and I'm like, "No, that's not what's going on." It's so strange, but I love that you talked about that. For the audience out there, you guys know it. I'm preaching to the choir, but it's called rumination.

That's how my adrenal gland got shot because of all the stress. You run your body down. Within a couple of weeks of staying in that negative state, you can start flipping into a mental illness, not a genetic coating one, but one that you, out of situations, put yourself in it. I tell people, "You choose it."

There's good weariness and bad weariness, but you have to make that conscious choice. Every thought that enters my own mind, you're the gatekeeper. Yay or nay. Get out or I'm going to put it on mute because we're never going to stop it. We're living in a fallen world. This is part of who we are, but you sure can hold it captive, get rid of it, take that negativity as you did, and flip it around as a positive experience.

It's so true because those negative thoughts come in. "Did I ever think I could perish?" Absolutely. "Could I have a reaction to this medicine and possibly die?" Of course, you did, but the thought came and it went, and then you affirm it with a positive. Don't do the what-if negative scenario. Switch it to the positive.

I'm training my two little Aussie babies.

They're adorable.

Thank you. My private trainer came and I've had many dogs, but there's always something that this old dog can learn with my new babies. She said that when they stop, and then say their name again and do something positive and give them a treat. You stop that negativity, take positive action, not just reward them right away for stopping, but nope, stop, give them a new command, treat. That's what we do with our minds. I do that all the time. I will hear myself say, "No, we're not going there."

For our audience out there, I'm pretty positive, but I was one of the biggest ruminators out there. I was stressed and worried about everything. You talk about what-if negative. In prison ministry, one of the guys looked at me and he said, "It sounds like you're fixated on what isn't happening and what if the bad happens instead of the what if it's good." All of a sudden, I looked at him and I'm like, "Thank you, brother. I can't even hear my own verbal vomit." He called me on it, and I have been very conscious then. My what if is always going to go to the positive side.

Abandonment is the next one. Talking about animals, we hear a lot of fear of abandonment or you're abandoning an animal. My dad talked about abandonment as stop doing what you like and want to do in favor of what you want and need to do. It's this intense hyper-focus. I can remember him telling me. I'm like, "Dad, how'd you get so successful?" He's like, "I do more in a day to contribute to my failure than my success." I'm like, "What do you mean?" He goes, "Every day, just like those thoughts, you have to be on it saying, 'Is this the highest use of my time?'"

Even with jetting off the busyness, I had that too. I was in perpetual motion, I'm multitasking, I'm talking on my Bluetooth, I'm doing this, and then I'm like, "I love that rest, and that Sabbath thing is as intentional as anything else." With all the things you have going on and as active as you are, how do you deal with abandonment and stay focused?

I have to say the abandonment resonated with me. As entrepreneurs, and I'm not saying somebody who has a salary doesn't think this way, but we abandoned traditional ways of thinking. We always abandon old patterns, too, because in our businesses, you have to always be evolving. You always have to be growing and looking for ways to improve the process or add a new product or something like that to be able to keep growing.

It was interesting because I feel my entrepreneurial spirit served me well during my treatment and my healing journey. I approached the treatment plan like a project. I did research, "Where's the best place to go? What are the treatment options?" You hire a great team, and then you go in, you get it done, you set your goals, and you monitor your progress. I feel that mindset helped to have things go a little more smoothly and that resilience as an entrepreneur.

It started in March 2019. I went through treatment in August 2020. At that time, the IgM number that we talked about was stable. It was still very high. It was in the 3,000s, but it had come down from the 4,000s. What happens with the IgM is it basically crowds out your red cells, your white cells, and your neutrophils which causes immune issues, and then eventually organ function that's not going to happen. The IgM number is important.

When I saw this number stabilizing in the high 2,000s and low 3,000s, I was like, "I'm done." They're like, "You can't be done. You have another year to do this." I'm like, "I don't know what this immunotherapy long-term effects are. We're such a rare group. I'm out." As I took that leap of faith in 1996 with God and myself to launch this business, I'm taking a leap of faith with God and me again and saying I'm done with traditional treatment. There was a role, and it served me very well, but I think that we need that integrative approach where you're encompassing the mind, body, and spirit. I feel what's missing in our medicine.

Along the way, I became obsessed with the HEAL Documentary with Kelly Noonan. On there was Dr. Joe Dispenza. I started to follow him and Dr. Sue Morter, who are such thought leaders in the process of self-healing. Everything is done in Jesus' light. One of the things Dr. Joe said was, "Instead of asking God to be healed, pray to him in thanksgiving that you are." You're literally creating your reality. It's there. It's yours. That's what God wants. Stop thinking that you're ill or need to be healed. You are healed. That was such a pivotal moment for me. I was incredibly blessed with that.

Create your reality. Instead of asking God to be healed, thank Him that you are.

I then started down this whole rabbit hole of holistic healing and found a local support group, Faith & Gratitude, here near Pittsburgh. Lori Ball, who I think we were soul sisters in her previous life, was an ovarian cancer survivor. She turned me on to local practitioners that do reflexology and acupuncture. There's a gentleman named Paul who does a lot of energy healing. He's traveled the world and we call him the Paul Lama. One of the most profound things Paul said to me was the greatest way to learn is to unlearn.

I was thinking that's amazing because you need to unlearn all of these limiting beliefs that we, our parents, and society have placed in ourselves. We're so hard on ourselves. There's this even subconscious thing that we don't even know about. I go for EMDR therapy, which is the releasing of the subconscious because I'm holding onto something that I don't even know what it is. I just want to let it all go. Let go. You can't harbor anything. I don't even feel anxious. I don't feel like I'm holding onto anything. There's something up there. It's fascinating, unlearning.

I love how you also advocated for your health. A lot of people are like, "You mean you can say no to something?" I'm like, "Yes." When I go to a doctor or I'm with Mike, they'll be like, "We'd like to do this and that." I'm like, "Yes and no." They're like, "You can do that?" I'm like, "Yes. You read the test. Get in your portal. Do your research." I'll look at all the numbers. I'm like, "Yes, but this is a little high." I love the fact that you looked at it, but you got to weigh it all out. It's your body. You got to be able to say yay or nay and they don't know. I love that you were comfortable advocating for yourself. That's so important in all things.

It's so true. It was a lesson to learn about using my voice to speak. I no longer feared hurting somebody's feelings or stepping over boundaries. This is my body. These are my choices. I challenge them to have tests done. We're such a small subset. I won't go into all the details, but I used to have to manage some of my blood work. Why am I managing it by going to the lab just because I'm a subset of general cancer? This should automatically be done.

I went to the medical director and we cleaned that policy up. I also challenged the protocol for bone marrow because I had a second bone marrow done. They would not allow some of it to go to a different facility for research. I said, "I'm canceling the bone marrow." They go, "You can't do that." I go, "Yes, I can. Who do I need to talk to? If you have somebody willing to share so others can learn, you need to take advantage of that. Where do I need to go with this?"

Isn't that crazy? I experienced some of that during the last three years with what was going on. I'm like, "Why don't you want what I have to offer?" They're like, "No." I'm like, "No? Okay." That's very strange, but we press on to find the people that will be open. You get told no by a lot of people. How are you feeling now?

I am so blessed to feel great. Like I said, my daughter, I got to see her graduate, both of them from college, and one from graduate school. Rachel got married. I'm a GG now. I have learned to speak for myself. My voice matters. I have learned a lot about self-love. It doesn't have to do with anything being pompous. We're taught as young Catholic women that self-love is not a good thing, but it's about self-worth and knowing that you matter, you have a right, and you can speak. My mantra is true to me in '23 and I'm very blessed. I continue to advocate for other cancer patients locally and also nationally.

The fact that you talk about that, I had to laugh because I grew up not having a non-denominational background, but the same thing. Being proud is not prideful. We are to celebrate our successes. I'm going to re-read all of the Apostle Paul's letters to the churches. He keeps saying, "Nobody's done more than I have, but I boast in my weakness." That's what you're doing, and that's what he's doing. He's here to say, "I will never shut up because I know, through God, when I am weak, he is strong."

The fact that you're not talking about how successful you are, nobody wants to hear that. Unless you're out it and money's your main motivator and there are lots of people out there. Money can be gone like that, just like help. When you talk about when you are boasting about your weaknesses and how God has taken you through this, that's what 2/3 of the New Testament is all about. Reading his letters has helped me realize that's why we go through tough stuff, we testify, and we're witnesses to share with other people because we're sharing the miracles and blessings that have happened in our lives.

True miracles. Absolutely.

You have this Choose Happy. Tell our readers a little bit about that and how they incorporate the whole choose happy into their lives.

Choose Happy is super fun on Facebook and it's still growing. One of the things that I came up with was it's a gift line and also blogs. The word FEAR, I turned it into an acronym, Feel Everything All Relates. I put on a little t-shirt and there's a little butterfly as a symbol of evolution. If you root yourself in feeling everything all relates, it's for our soul's evolution. All our trials and tribulations and challenges, no matter how small and even the rewards in life, are all about the evolution of our souls divinely orchestrated.

It could be why there's a big Bible verse about that. "All things work together for good for those who love the Lord or are called according to his purpose." I love it. You have a purpose because where people face hope, face despair, and wanting to check out, there's tons of it around. Even kids have it now. It's because they don't see the purpose in it. If you can't find purpose in the joy and not the pain because life is a bittersweet blend of both, whenever people go, "I quit," I'm like, "Do you quit when the good stuff happens?" There's this duality of everything. We know there's good. We know there's evil. We know there's light. We know there's dark. You have to get used to being, as Charles would say, happy-miserable and not just miserable-miserable. You have to choose this.

It's so true. It's such a choice. When I was reading your dad's speech, and I have to quote him so I'm going to use my paper, in The Price of Leadership, these words were so profound for me. "We may not be the greatest recruiters or motivators, but we have to be real students of living if we were to pay the price of leadership. For the price of leadership is nothing more than living."

It's so true what you and I talked about that every day is an opportunity to learn and evolve. Every encounter with a person, a challenge, a reward, or an illness is an opportunity for our soul's evolution. As a mom, a GG, and a business lady, I'm a living testament to what faith and love, hope, and resilience means. I'm incredibly blessed.

Every day is an opportunity to learn and evolve our souls.

Maria, I am so glad that our past re-intersected at this time in our lives. We are very different people than when we first met, even when we met years ago. How can our audience get in touch with you? What is the best way to reach out? I know they're going to want to connect with you.

You can visit IChoseHappy.Live. I'm also on Facebook. My blog is under Feel The Vibe. The little gifts that I have, you could find under Buy The Goodies, and proceeds do benefit Faith & Gratitude and the Waldenstrom's Foundation. You can email me at BeHappy@IChoseHappy.Live.

I love it. Maria, thank you so much.

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About Maria Brady

Fondly called a “ray of sunshine” this successful businesswoman, author and certified Energy Codes Coach shines her light to inspire others. Her positivity and resiliency along with managing a life-threatening illness propelled her to launch an inspirational website and gift line. Learn about her energizing story and how to Choose Happy!