90. What 4 Marriages taught Lara Arden about LOVE and Life.

A Journey with Bernie

A VISION BOARD is a pictorial LIFE PLAN. My Vision Board summarises ALL that is currently important to me in a single colorful page of clarified values, bold goals and even personal pictures and quotes inspiring achievements to come. Today's incredible guest, Lara Arden took one look at it and politely stated that she had not met anyone who so clearly saw in advance the life they were creating. Then she went silent ... thinking silent ... wisdom silent. What she said next changed my life.

"You know Bernie, I've been through 4 marriages. I am certain that the first two marriages failed because I was too young to know what true love even looked like and because tight religious frameworks told me how life should be. That was misleading. The fourth marriage ended when he tried to kill me. He was charged for arson ... a fire that was also meant to reduce me to ashes as well. As a result of these experiences I have been tormented by deep traumas. I tell you this so that you know I have been through a bit. Life has spoken to me."

"When one creates the best-intentioned plans, the Gods start laughing. They hear you but for certain unexpected interventions will dint, possibly wreck your creative vision. For certain, you will stumble across encounters that you ignore, simply because they are not congruent with your Vision Board. This is unwise, because some of those foreign opportunities were sent to you to take you to even higher places. Your Vision Board is commendable. I just hope that you are still open to the vagrancies of life, because in 'the unexpected' there is profound opportunity to maximize your experience of life."

"I hope your plans always swim in the ocean of flexibility, otherwise you may drown in broken dreams".

It took Lara Arden one minute to deliver to me what I now call 'The Lara Principle'.
My response was simple, "You b____h, you just nailed me". We laughed.

You will laugh in this episode too because Lara is walking joy, but your face is more likely to be illuminated by enlightened thoughts and wisdoms born out of tragedy, recovery and redemption. Such is the power of Lara's story, the raw take was over 2 hours and it has taken Chip and I, 3 months to identify what we were prepared to release. What is left is a powerful episode that will move your soul. If you are listening while driving or cooking expect you and your meal to arrive late!

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