Episode #1 - What Is On Your Heart?

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Welcome podcast listeners and followers.

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Have you ever wanted to be able to share the best version yourself, but

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you were not sure where to begin?

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Were you ever lost in the maze of endless possibilities as to how life could go

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and seemingly unable to find where the end of the tunnel you've been walking

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through ended to make such a choice?

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Can you see yourself asking others to speak from their hearts and help you in

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creating that tapestry that is yet to be roen into a beautiful piece of work?

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These questions and others will explore on the inaugural episode

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of Speaking From the Heart.

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This is your podcast host Joshua D.

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Smith, founder and owner of Your Speaking Voice LLC based in Carlisle,

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Pennsylvania, and we're going to tackle not only these questions in today's

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episode, but we'll take it beyond.

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This podcast is for all of those officiados out there that are thinking

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about how can I make such an impactful difference in the world that we live in?

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It's not easy in life to overcome a wide range of difficulties that we

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might have that might set us back.

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It might actually have some circumstances in which we might have a lot of issues.

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I'm not just talking about the things that we have personally in our lives,

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but I'm talking about the things that are political, the social, the economical,

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the definition of who we are, what makes up our life experiences, what creates

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our identity, and what are the things that we want to portray to others.

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These elements and many more, whether they're basic or complex, really create

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the tapestry of what we are all about and what we really want to become.

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No other than myself, I know that I've been through many of those

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situations in my own personal life.

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Growing up in a household in which there were a lot of responsibilities

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living on a farm for over 20 years of my life, I learned the value of those

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sort of things, not only in the work that I was tasked to do on a daily

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basis, but also in the interactions that I had as a kid growing up too.

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And it's not easy to be able to put that through into a lens in which all

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of us can look at and be able to focus on day in and day out, on ways in which

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we can improve ourselves and each other.

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I'm sure that all of us can think of all the accomplishments that we've had,

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all the potential roadblocks that we have faced, whether we're moving from

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the physical or the mental, or maybe just trying to figure out where we are

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supposed to be, where we're supposed to actually reside in in society, and

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I know that for many of us in today's world, it can be very challenging.

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For the longest time in my life, I've always wondered what was holding me back.

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The things that often hold us back are the societal differences that we have.

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Those are the things that we deal with as a kid growing up, whether you're

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homeschooled or whether you went to a public school back in the day, or

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even where you're at right now, I know each of us can think of situations

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that are challenging and difficult that might put us in the lens of

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thinking about why these sort of things happen to us, but did you ever stop

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and consider that maybe those things are supposed to happen for a reason?

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Maybe those are the things that maybe hold us back at one point or another,

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make us get into such a deep thought of consideration that we're not quite

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sure what to do and maybe not what know what to say to somebody that is

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going through such difficult times.

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I know that for many of us, we can also speculate that those sort of things

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that make up us can create some of those very barriers that we often face.

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I want you to consider the fact that as we go through this process of

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trying to think about what our voice is, what is really on our hearts, we

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really need to ask ourselves what we can do to really speak out, and that's

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the reason for starting this podcast.

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It wasn't until just about eight weeks ago where I was diagnosed for the

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first time in my life with the word that, that Forever has changed my life.

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Autism.

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Now in adults, there isn't much of body of evidence as of today in terms of how

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you go about and navigate those sort of challenges that are related with

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that word, and I've seen many people of my friends, especially trying to

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get as much help as they possibly can, especially with their own children now

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that there's a widely accepted body of evidence when it comes to that.

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But, even with all those things that hold us back from what can be

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the best version of ourselves, I think that we have to realize that

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we always have two choices in life.

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We can let those things that are holding us back, the physical or the mental, the

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experiences as a kid, whatever the case might be, define who we will always be no

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matter what, and we can live and submit to that as much as we possibly want,

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or, we have the other choice of saying that we are not going to accept that

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solution and that we are going to become something that we always dreamed about.

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Something that we're possibly always going to be able to do as a result of working

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so hard on not only the things that are holding us back, but making us feel that

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we are capable of taking on the world.

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I decided not that long ago that I would do the latter.

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I want to be the force that is willing to help others understand what might

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be holding them back, and that's the reason why this podcast now exists.

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If you ever thought in a million years that you are sitting here thinking to

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yourself, I don't know if I can do this.

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I don't know if I have the ability to really make a profound impact on others.

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I don't know if I really have what it takes.

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I want you to know that you do.

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I want you to know that you have all the tools at your disposal, and it's

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all about seeking out what is best in what your life is meant to be.

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And if you're not sure what that is, that's what we're going

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to explore on this podcast.

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I want to be able to share with you a wide variety of topics that not only

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influence you as to what you can do, not only in the physical, mental, or even the

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professional sense of what it means to think about those sort of concepts outside

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of the box, but through the variety of guests that I'll bring on the show too.

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I want you to be able to explore what your inner calling is to really

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set forth the tone of your next adventure that you have, no matter

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what it is that you're trying to do.

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But you know what's so beautiful about all of this?

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As we even talk about this sort of concept, the beautiful part about

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it all is that we are all human.

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We're given the freedom to choose the path that we want to set forth on.

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There's no mathematical formula.

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There's no combination of unique tasks or backgrounds that you

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need to have to achieve those.

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It's about the magic, and I use that in the literal sense, the magic

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that we have to instantly transform you into something that you never

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thought you could possibly be.

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It will take hard work.

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It'll take determination, and the willingness to always get up and say

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that you can overcome whatever imposter syndrome that you have and say that

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you want to be the best version of yourself in this ever changing world.

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30 years ago, I was given that opportunity to start thinking about

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that very question when I was a kid working through a school system that

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really challenged me to start thinking about having my own voice, but I never

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thought of it that way, I was too naive.

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I wasn't given the right tools to be able to survive and be able

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to be accepted for what those things can be truly be in my life.

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Whether that was something that I needed to work on, whether that's something

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that I needed to focus and create the value for which I could be able

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to answer, all these sort of things that are in my mind and in my heart.

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It's about what I've been able to do with the information that I've been

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given and move it to the next level.

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For many people, I know that I can be very tough.

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That means challenging the status quo.

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It means challenging the things that you have always thought would be the

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toughest and the most ridiculed and the most devalued things in your life

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that you are just so afraid of doing.

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I know that it can be tough as someone that has been through mental health

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crises in my life, one after another, after another, I know that I can be

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extremely tough to be able to find the focus, to find that inner strength in

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yourself and able to say, I can do it.

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I am worthy.

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No matter what your background is, no matter what the societal aspects are

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that create that version of yourself, this is something that you don't have

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to live in for the rest of your life.

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It's all about making a choice.

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It's about making the things that are really necessary come true, and

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that means being able to look deep inside yourself and ask yourself the

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opportunity question of a lifetime, and that is what is in your heart.

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That's it.

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What is in your heart?

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Throughout the next several episodes, we're going to start exploring some of

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these concepts at a high level, but at the same time, you're going to hear from

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many guests that are going to be sharing what is on their heart, so that they are

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creating some of the value that you can strive for and we'll get into the weeds

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of what are they actually thinking about?

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What is it that actually drives them to create some of that

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value within their own lives?

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Because I know that for many of us, just being able to start from ourselves

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from a certain standpoint means just taking a look at what we are right now.

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This podcast is going to be about the three principles

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that I started my business on.

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Number one, relationships.

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These are the things that create the personal connections.

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They're the underpinnings of creating many of the values in our lives,

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and without them, we're unable to provide those opportunities for

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ourselves, and potentially others.

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That's why relationships are so important.

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The second thing is confidence.

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It's not only just about overcoming the challenges with adding knowledge and

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skillsets that we have, but it's being able to showcase the best version of

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ourselves, the mission of the business.

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We are willing to pursue those aspirations and those passions by being able to see

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through some of those challenges that are before us, whether they're all in

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the physical sense or the mental sense.

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Finally, tying it all together is the last value: determination.

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When we combine all these things that we've been saying throughout this

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episode into this one word, we're able to create a new world, vastly

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enriched with opportunities that we will be able to add throughout time.

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We'll be able to create the passion for goals that we can achieve by

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overcoming events that have held us back.

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That's why we're going to work on each of these values with the

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mission to transform our voice.

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Our voice is not just about the spoken word.

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It is about the things that we say and act on: the non-verbal.

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Those are the things that tell the picture of a thousand words, 10,000 words, a

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hundred thousand words, whatever you want to have, you can have as much as

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you want, as long as you within your heart, are willing to speak from it.

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We're gonna reach into these wide, vast concepts that we're conjuring up for

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ourselves because nothing is impossible.

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I want you to believe in yourself.

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I want you to believe that there's a world out there for you and so many

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others that will listen to this and feel empowered to make a change in their

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lives more than they ever thought they could ever make, and it all starts with

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making one concept come to reality: You; you are the one that's important.

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I know that this will be a journey that will enrich all of you, and all it's about

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is taking from what's inside you today and being willing to look at the opportunities

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that exist, whether it's from a life perspective, from a business perspective

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or from some vast wide-reaching concept that we're trying to conjure up for

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nothing is impossible.

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Thanks for listening to the inaugural episode of Speaking From

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the Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart very soon.