Have you always dreamed of traveling? As a passion coach helping people identify and discover what lights them up, I’ve noticed that living the travel dream finds its way into many people’s top 10 passions list. You can take “the passion test” and learn more on how to delineate your own in this book: The Passion Test by Janet Atwood.
Is it on yours? Where have you traveled? We’d love to hear about your travels or travel dreams. Feel free to comment on the BoomersReinvented Facebook Page.
Doris Gallan and Jacob Frank, are living their travel dream. Husband and wife co-founders of Baby Boomers Traveling, planned and executed their voyages to 50+ countries on all 7 continents. They’ve been around the world twice and have lived in six countries so far.
Manuel Antonio, Costa RicaArenal, Costa Rica
After two years of constant travel, they lived for a time in Costa Rica, Mexico, China, and Vietnam, at the time of our interview, with next stop Nicaragua.
Costa RicaVietnam
So, if you’re into travel, we’re delighted to share with you our conversation with Doris Gallan, brought to you by the wonders of modern technology, all the way from Vietnam!
Mexico City, [SOURCE: ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock]
Right now she and her husband Jacob Frank live in Vietnam, which is exactly 12 hours ahead of us during Daylight Savings Time. So when we talked, it was her morning and almost my bedtime, but it was so interesting speaking with her that I was not at all tired.
Doris has so many interesting stories and experiences, that I could’ve talked with her for hours, and not run out of questions and things to learn about. I hope you enjoy it. Let us know!
Hanoi, VietnamStone pagoda on the East Peak of the holy mountain Hua Shan, China
It was awesome to catch up with Doris for this interview, and we’ll let these breathtaking and intriguing images and her story speak for itself, when you tune into her interview. She takes us through their dilemmas and decisions before deciding to pack up their life and hit the road, skies and waterways, and through the trials, triumphs and immeasurable benefits of life as globe-trotting world citizens.
Doris Gallan and Jacob Frank are living their dreams, and want to encourage you to take that leap into yours.
The Terracotta Army or the “Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses” buried in the pits next to the Qin Shi Huang’s tomb in 210-209 BC. Xian of Shaanxi Province, China [SOURCE: Lapas77 / Shutterstock]Rice fields on terraced of Mu Cang Chai, YenBai, Vietnam. Rice fields prepare the harvest at Northwest Vietnam
Woo hoo! Moving into our new home in Quy Nhon, Vietnam today. Three bedroom, two bathroom, lots of outdoor space in great neighborhood near from cafes and the beach. All for 5 million Dong or $250 U.S. dollars! Lovely beach community on the central coast with swaying palms, turquoise waters and golden sand. Hoping for visitors!Doris & Jacob’s new 3 bedroom / 2 bath home in Da Nang for $250/mo right near the beach.Jacob Frank, Pham Phuong, Doris Gallan, Vietnam. Doris and Jacob practically adopted Pham, whose family lives far away.
Doris is a Baby Boomer who quit the corporate life, sold her home and everything she owned, and started traveling and living abroad in 2006. In the nine years since leaving Los Angeles, she has traveled around the world visiting 45 countries and all 7 continents. She currently lives in Vietnam, along with her husband, Jacob Frank, where she teaches hospitality and tourism to university students.
So if you’ve always wanted to travel, don’t wait. Our greatest growth lies on the other side of our comfort zone, so get out of that cozy armchair, and begin to plan your next trip.
BUT… if you don’t have the money to travel the way you’d like to, consider this: one of the things about travel that most of us love is the exposure to new things. We walk new streets and drive through new cities, with a beginner’s mind. We’re looking everywhere; noticing everything. Chances are most of us don’t do this in our own cities and towns. So if you can’t travel, consider taking a drive through your own town. Look into upcoming events and attend. Try a new restaurant and new cuisine, such as the kind from the country you’d love to visit next.
There are many ways to renew ourselves and travel into adventure and new experiences without leaving town. So don’t wait.
“Do the thing and you will have the power.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Doris teaching tourism and hospitality in English in Da Nang, Quam Tram, Vietnam
Musical bookwriter, lyricist composer, entrepreneur, mom, wife and business partner.
It was awesome to meet up again with one our earliest guests, Ali Skylar.
Ali is a humorously creative writer and imagineer who is just completing her first musical as the bookwriter, lyricist and composer.
Based on the storyline and music I’ve heard, I believe Ali’s first musical will be a huge hit because it touches on so much of the uncertainty of the life of entrepreneurs, artists and dreamers. It reveals the doubts and fears we all face that hold us back from achieving our dreams and embarking on the lives we lead in our imagination.
It’s about pushing through the fears with determination, no matter what.
It’s a play for artists, entrepreneurs dreamers, and anyone who has ever doubted the validity of their hopes and goals.
We think James Altucher would be a great fit for this because he’s all about this topic, the theme of the musical, breaking out of the mold set by others, and following your heart over the crowd. Plus he’s a New Yorker, it’s a musical, and it’s all about choosing yourself, which is James’ signature brand and message.
Ali’s musical has the potential to be a huge hit. Tune in to this interview to enjoy one of the songs being sung a bit later in the call.
So grab a cup of your favorite brew and join us in catching up with Ali. we enjoyed it and think you will to, and later we can all say, “I knew her when…” 🙂
As we were ending the call, there was these lovely rays of light streaming in over Ali. She didn’t notice until I mentioned it, because it was on her, thus hard for her to see on herself. It brought me to wonder… how many magical light-filled moments might actually occur unnoticed.
So wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, take a pause, look up, stretch, deep breath of gratitude and appreciation for the quiet moments hiding in everyday things.
If you or someone you know might be interested in investing in Ali’s show, or sharing it with an agent you know, please contact us.
Lisa Brick, born in 1953, is a survivor, regularly reinventing herself by seeking new learning experiences, through which she inevitably learns and grows. She began swimming later in life, even though it was challenging for her and her latest pursuit is learning the piano at 61, though she doesn’t look at day over 51! What inspired this?
“I was listening to myself”, Lisa said.
Tune into this interview with Lisa to hear what she heard, what she thought about it and how it motivated her. I really enjoyed sharing time and space with Lisa and think you will as well.
One technique Lisa uses to help keep her on purpose in life and each day is an awareness-focusing question: What am I for?
“I ask myself all the time: ‘What am I for?'” Lisa Brick
Lisa used this powerful mantra for aligning with purpose and stalling a dire health diagnosis when she was a young mother of two. It took her nine months to birth her mind into a new way of thinking that lead toward healing herself enough to delay the onslaught of a genetic disease by twenty years.
“Ultimately, the diagnosis and the journey it led me on internally, has been the greatest gift of my life.” Lisa Brick
Lisa asked herself: “What am I for?” And what she’d always been for is health and wellness. “Somehow it came to me from beyond my logical comprehension, that I could use this diagnosis to create better health than I’d ever known.”
Eventually—20 years later instead of the six month prognosis—Lisa’s kidneys did fail, but she is alive and vibrantly healthy today thanks to her nephew, Jared Brick, who donated his kidney to save her.
“The more perspectives I look at reality from the broader perspective I have.” Lisa Brick
Lisa has already lived an amazing and inspired—and inspiring—life, practicing a healthy lifestyle for the past forty years (!!!), and it shows.
Lisa is a healer of herself and others. An acupuncturist and holistic lifestyle coaching, she is committed to providing a pathway for learning. Along with others coaches in her coaching practice called Journey Beyond Divorce, Lisa helps people turn the pain and turmoil of the divorce process into an opportunity for personal growth and liberation.
“We are not our thoughts we are the thinker of the thoughts. We are not our experiences, we are the experiencer of the experience.” Lisa Brick
Lisa has invited, supported, and cajoled numerous individuals into being who they want to be: powerful, effective, creative, centered, generally upbeat, and self expressed human beings. In doing so, she effectively challenges individuals’ logical assumption that circumstances are the limiting factor in life, knowing that this assumption undermines personal motivation and creativity.
“When we look at life as an adventure, and we look at ourselves as divine creative forces, it’s an absolute game changer.” Lisa Brick
Lisa Brick has four decades of experience in supporting individuals’ well-being as an acupuncturist, whole foods advocate, dedicated family person, and since 2010, certified iPEC coach. Having first-hand personal experience with life changing in unwanted, dramatic, and challenging ways, Lisa knows the devastation of facing what appears to be a nightmare future, and finding her way out of it.
“Rather than trying to cover my fears… I actually went into them.” Lisa Brick
Through her own tremendous struggles, Lisa discovered the power of purpose and treasuring each moment by making the most of it.
Lisa brings new ways of thinking and being to light. Her most evident collective accomplishments include Unity Charter School in Morristown New Jersey, the Acupuncture Center of New Jersey, her coaching practice at Journey Beyond Divorce, and a loving and healthy family and marriage of 30 plus years.
“Our power isn’t in the future and it isn’t in the past. Our power is how we choose to use our creativity, our energy, our intelligence right now, each moment.” Lisa Brick
Speaking of marriages, Lisa shares an interesting statistic about divorce: 60% of all divorces are initiated by women. It’s usually a woman who says that “I can’t live this way any more.” But whether it’s a man or a woman seeking to change their life circumstance, it’s often the beginning of the journey of inventing or reinventing themselves more fully into a life that represents more of who they really are at their core.
“Often, the pain of divorce births a new lease on life.” LeAura Alderson
When people can embark on that journey together, as Lisa and her husband, Peter Kadar have, as well as my husband, Coleman Alderson and I have, that’s a wonderful and enriching experience. But if two people in marriage find they cannot reconcile their issues and align their life aspirations, then divorce supported by a coaching such as that offered through Lisa and her clinic can help to smooth out the rough spots and help people to embark on their own more empowered journey.
“Too often people waste time dredging through the remnants of the past.” LeAura Alderson
“Very often with divorce, it feels like it’s forever. Your stuck in the past your projecting into the future and you’ve disappeared as a powerful force in your own life in the present moment. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
When people don’t have a future to live into, then they’re really stuck. If divorce is a car crash and you’re a driver, Journey Beyond Divorce is focusing on that clear place beyond the crash… between that conflagration of cars and the railing. That’s the work that Lisa and her partners and fellow coaches do at Journey Beyond Divorce.
“We need to aim where we want to go and keep focusing on that.” LeAura Alderson
At first I was surprised to learn of Lisa’s healthy longtime marriage given that her coaching practice focuses on divorce. However, there are other coaches in her practice who’ve personally experience divorce, and as Lisa very aptly indicated, those seeking better relationships not only need coaches who can empathize with them because they’ve been there, but they also need those who can guide them from their own success, toward where they want to be.
“I see no productive value in worrying.” Lisa Brick
Lisa has not let age, illness, fear or worry stop her from living a fuller life. Rather, she has used adversity to grow stronger and healthier and continues to add new experiences and abilities to her life, no matter the age.
This conversation with Lisa is full of gems, so please mine them. From things we can do for our own health, fears and anxieties to concerns and fears about global matters in today’s changing world, there’s much food for thought and strategies for a healthy and balanced life approach, no matter the outer circumstances.
“Do I really want to utilize these moments in complaint..? Or, what am I FOR?” Lisa Brick
We were inspired by the wise and wonderful Lisa Brick and believe you will be as well. Tune in to hear her take on the “ping-pong game of duality”, and so much more.
In every change there’s an opportunity.’ Lisa Brick
Wise & wonderful, Lisa Brick
Lisa Brick is a wife, mother of two now grown and inspiring children, an author, acupuncturist, and IPEC certified coach, (Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching), in partnership with Karen McMahon as a Divorce Coach with Journey Beyond Divorce. There she facilitates support groups locally and in Manhattan, blogs, and coaches individuals to navigate and grow through the difficult transition of divorce with dignity and strength.
As a holistic healer and coach, Lisa applies her vast experience and wisdom in helping her clients navigate challenges to break through to their next major level of growth. Be sure to check out her website and download their free eBook: Navigating Divorce, and also their latest book: Stepping Out of Chaos.
