23 Gratitude and Manifestation: Tools to Help You Win Against Life’s Toughest Challenges.

Podcast Description:

From personal trainer to motivational speaker, I’ve  been on quite a journey of transformation, marked with the trials of battling MS and illuminating victories in the gym.    I’m eager to share the power of Manifestation Magic in my upcoming workshop, a workshop designed to unlock the immense potential within you. A fusion of my personal experiences and practical strategies, this workshop teaches you to manifest your dreams into reality, even when faced with life’s toughest challenges. 

I’ve found strength and positivity in the act of gratitude, born out of my battle against MS,  In the second part of this episode, I dive into the power of thanksgiving, teaching you to create an aura of positivity that attracts success. Learn how affirmations and a steadfast trust in the universe can be force multipliers in your journey towards your dreams.   Tune in for an inspiring discussion that could potentially transform your life!

Podcast Transcript:

Vickie (Host): Hey everybody, how are you? Welcome today to the Chronically Empowered Mom podcast and also to my YouTube channel, Vickie Siculiano. I’m very happy that you joined me today. I’ve got a lot going on and I wanted to share this with you, so I hope that you forgive me.

Vickie: I didn’t quite set up as optimally as I would like to have. I don’t have my notebook primed with being hardwired, so it’s in a kind of low data mode. So if I’m a little choppy, that’s what it is, but my voice should definitely be on because I am using my Blue Yeti microphone and I hope it’s recording. So let’s get started without further ado. I just want to let you know what’s going on. So on October 6th, this is 2023. I don’t know when you’re watching this, but if you’re tuning into a new podcast, this is episode 23, then you will be knowing that I have an upcoming motivational speaking gig. So I’m really excited about that because I wanted to fully transition.

Vickie: I don’t want to be a personal trainer. I am a personal trainer certified by NASM, but it’s really the thing that shined on my kind of resume that I wanted to get out there because I was an authority. I was working out every morning. It was my happy place. It still is very much 5 am at the time that I love to work out, and it’s my me time, and I always wanted to know that I was avoiding injury. I’m having MS. I just kind of get gung ho and I forget that I can get in there and have to walk out. So I just want to make sure that everything that I do is supercharged but done the right way, and that form is of utmost importance and the way that I do things there is absolutely important to me. So, and I also wanted to be a resource because I was a leader, a group leader, for the MS society.

Vickie: Sorry, sometimes my mind forgets, and if I’m not scripted, I don’t know exactly where to go, what to say. So that’s one thing. I guess MS, or just having a rainforest like anybody else. I don’t really prefer to say totally scripted. In fact, I had a little outline that I had on my phone, which is right here, but the phone is off so I’m not quite sure that I’m gonna follow exactly what I had planned to. But we’ll try to see what comes from my memory because I’d rather this come from my heart than just a plain podcast group today.

Vickie: So I wanted to go over some things for my upcoming presentation and workshop, really. So it’s gonna be kind of hands-on and something that people can use to manifest anything that they want in their life. So I’m looking to help people be the best version of themselves, right? I want you to know that, no matter what your challenge, what your chronic condition, if you’re coming to me with it doesn’t really matter. You have so much innate potential that is untapped, and I want you to know that if you really find all that you’re capable of, you will really be capable of some amazing things. So in just a few months, right, I’ve come up with this podcast. I’ve come up with my YouTube channel again.

Vickie: I am able to use some pretty older equipment, the Blue Yeti microphone that I’m on. I used it nine years ago when I was podcasting and I had a YouTube channel and I was all into social media. I’d just written a book. Yeah, well, nine years later, almost to the day, with MS kind of more advanced than it was before, because now I walk with two crutches. Before I walked with the cane. So I knew I had MS, but just, I’m a little bit further along in the disease progression. But I’m also on Okravis, which is a twice a year infusion, which is much better than self-injecting and much better than a pill that I was on, Tecfidera. That, for myself, gave me a reaction, so you would get flushing, your chest would be flushed, your face would be flushed, and if you’re working, which I was at that time, it looks like you’re real nervous about something or you just went out for a run and it makes you really hot and itchy. So I really don’t have side effects with this medication that I’m on now, so I’m very thankful for that.

Vickie: So this, speaking of, which is a podcast really focusing on gratitude because for my workshop, Manifestation Magic, I want to have the six elements that really go into manifesting your desire. Okay, whether that’s your day that you want now, that you want to have sending an intention for your day, if you want to really have something in your life, you want to create a life with purpose and manifest it, you can, but there are certain things that you’re going to have to do. I don’t want you to think that I came in here today to be a magician, even though my program is called Manifestation Magic. I kind of like the alliteration of it and using the two M’s in the title. Maybe it’s my marketing background, I don’t know but I just I love when something kind of rolls off the tongue and sounds really good, and Manifestation Magic is just that.

Vickie: I think that my life now is pretty incredible compared to what it was a few months ago, when I didn’t really have many friends at the gym. I was just kind of going and hoping I would belong at some point and, being that it is Planet Fitness and they have a huge mural on the wall that says that you belong, I really didn’t feel like I did. So now I totally belong and I feel like a leader there and I inspire a lot of people and that’s because I manifested who I am. I wanted to be an expert in exercise. I wanted to kind of be inspirational. I wanted to be a motivator for people to know that even if there is bad weather, like it was pouring two days ago oh my god, I wished I had windshield wipers to my glasses. It was that wet, but you know something, it’s not rainy in the gym. I may have to walk around some puddles when I get into the gym, but once I’m finished navigating that. I am large and in charge. So you know I’ve manifested this all in a few months and one thing I have to say is that I have a group that I started called Ladies who Lift, and I just went up to women who were at the gym with me and I would see them often.

Vickie: This is the people that were really there with me in the morning, and that’s a tough time for many, whether it’s because they’re just working, their schedule doesn’t allow or because they just like a warm, cozy bed at that time, and it’s hard. Not everybody’s a morning person. I really wasn’t this

many years ago. So I kind of morphed into that and, lo and behold, my little group is now growing. We have almost 100 women in our private Facebook group, so I’m very excited about that. So the six things that I think are the secret sauce to manifesting your desires are knowing your why, creating an intention, gratitude, having a vision, setting goals, and scripting. So these six things kind of tie into one another because you’re going to need to know why you want something. I know that we all hear a lot of motivational speakers say you have to know your why, and it’s so true.

Vickie: And I can really relate to this now that I’m a fitness trainer, because if you don’t know why you’re getting up, if you don’t know why you’re going to the gym, if you don’t know why you’re doing the workout that you’re doing and what your goals are, you’re just gonna go to the gym and you’re gonna be one of those people that you see there all the time and they’re working out. They look like they’re sweating, but they look like they’re doing the same thing every time they’re there. So they’re not making progress. So we’re gonna go over all these things, and we’re gonna be able to integrate it. The one thing about this that’s different than a lot of other workshops that I see is that I’m not gonna talk at you. I’m gonna talk to you. So that’s the reason why I can’t script anything because I can’t really prepare. I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the workshop. I don’t know what I’m gonna say. I don’t know what questions are gonna be posed to me. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to respond, but I’m very open to being able to respond. So we have a Q&A at the end, so I’d love for you to join us.

Vickie: If you want to get on the waitlist for the first workshop, you will go to vickisiciliano.com/workshop and you can get your information there. So once you’re on the waitlist, I will be sending out information as the workshop gets closer. We will have a date and we’ll have a time. I’m looking to do it on a Friday night so it’s Friday night lights, and you can stay home and have a really good night. We’re going to do it for about an hour. It’s gonna be virtual. It’s gonna be through Zoom, so I’m gonna be able to see you, which is great. You’re gonna be able to see me, which is kind of good. I know I could be scary in the morning. So I look forward to that, and I hope that you can join us. So that’s a little bit about that. I want to talk about gratitude.

Vickie: This is a little thing that I found that is really good. So in the morning, if you can find something that you’re grateful for, and in the evening, if you can find something you’re grateful for. If you do this and you continue to do this, it becomes a habit. I’m a little bit more mindful than most because I have to be. I have a chronic condition. I have a disability, and I find if I do things in the morning, like exercise or things that I know are gonna be a little bit of a challenge for me, that I really need to get up for, I find that doing gratitude in the morning is really easy because I’m not always 100% when I get up. Some days are better than others, but I can really say that there are some days that you have the cobwebs and you kind of need to get through them and start your day. You might be, like, a little groggy. So it’s not really hard for me to think of something I’m grateful for because I’m up and I’m alive and I’m breathing and I have another day to live and to be able to share.

Vickie: So the reason that gratitude is so important is that it really sets the tone for the rest of your day, because if you are not grateful for the little things that you have, then you’re not really gonna be grateful for anything else that comes your way. So I’m gonna give you an example. So you’re driving in your car, and you get a flat tire. If you’re not grateful for your car, if you’re not grateful for the job that you have to be able to afford the car, if you’re not grateful for your family that you’re driving to go see, you’re gonna be upset. You’re gonna be really mad because now your day’s ruined. But if you can find something to be grateful for, like even though you have a flat tire and that stinks and you have to call AAA or wherever your service is that you get your car repaired. If you can be grateful for the fact that it’s sunny outside and that maybe the sunroof is open and you can hear the birds chirping, then you can really have a better day.

Vickie: You’re gonna have a more positive outlook, and that’s what I find that, when I do things in the morning, it really sets the tone for the rest of my day. So I try to find things that I’m grateful for. I have a gratitude journal, which is nice because I can flip through it. I have one that I keep, like, in a little area with my Bible and my other books that I read and things that inspire me. And it’s nice because I can see it and it’s a reminder. But I also have one that I keep on my phone. So I have something that pops up in the morning and something that pops up in the evening and it’s an alarm, and it goes off, and it asks me what I’m grateful for. So I try to find something different every day that I’m grateful for, and it’s nice because I think it’s like around 8 o’clock in the morning, it goes off, and it’s so nice because it gets me going, and I can be grateful for, like I said, being alive. You could be grateful for the weather. You could be grateful for the cup of coffee you have, the person that you have sitting across from you if you’re not by yourself, if you’re with a family.

Vickie: And then, of course, in the evening, when you’re getting ready to go to bed and you have that feeling that I want to go to sleep and I want to just get into bed and just kind of, like, drift off to sleep, because there’s so much to do the next day. And you start thinking about the next day, and you start worrying about the next day, and you start having all these thoughts in your head. If you can