Ep 39: Turboboost Your E.P.I.C. Life: Myers Briggs, Mindful Photography, and More with Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick

I'm excited to share this Episode #39 of the Mother's Quest Podcast with a special guest who I seemed destined to know, and who I'll have the pleasure of meeting in person when we both speak at the upcoming Gaia Women Lead Conference in May, Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick.

The immigrant daughter of immigrant parents from Hong Kong, Alethea was born in London and grew up in a predominantly white community in the south of England. Today, she lives in Brooklyn, where she moved after university, with her husband and her two boys, currently aged 9 and 6.

An Advanced Certified Coach with the Gaia Project for Women's Leadership and a Myers Briggs Certified Practitioner, Alethea is also the founder of Photosanity, where she helps parents find presence, joy and connection through photographing their kids. She has a background in architecture, with a BArch from Pratt Institute, and almost 20 years of experience as a licensed architect in NYC.

Alethea is a multi-passionate person who has arrived at a point in her life where all the parts of herself and her path weave together in unique ways. In this episode, Alethea and I explore the many ways that she finds presence in her life. We discuss how the current political landscape has caused uncomfortable but important personal growth in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion in both of us, how motherhood can turboboost our connection to ourselves and how we can use photography as a tool to bring mindfulness with our children and grace to ourselves as mothers.

We also discuss what she's discovering about how the Myers Briggs personality assessment, in women's leadership and in parenthood, identifies our preferences and helps us make choices that energize rather than drain us.

Finally, Alethea gives us all a challenge to reflect on our own "zone of genius" and will come back into the Mother's Quest Facebook group on April 24th for a live conversation to help us make sense of what we learn. Make sure to join the Mother's Quest Facebook Group to receive your invitation to that event.

I was so energized by this conversation with Alethea. I hope you, like me, come away from this conversation excited and inspired to look at how the threads of your own life weave together, what your personality preferences are, and how you can become more fully present and in your zone of genius for a more E.P.I.C. life.

This episode dedicated by:

Katie Hanus for her grandmother, Marion Walden Cowan.

Katie's Blog, The Nature Wheel

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Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• How Alethea and I came to know one another through our mutual quest for activism after Trump was elected

• Who packs school lunches for Alethea's children and how that may have been shaped by her growing up in a household with non-stereotypical gender roles

• What it was like growing up as an Asian immigrant in a predominantly white community of England and how that impacts her today

• How becoming a mother can turboboost you into becoming your true self and what Alethea wishes she could tell every new mother

• Alethea's path to finding Myers Briggs as a tool for understanding the natural preferences in herself, her children, and her clients and the ways it might support you

• Capturing a moment through photography as a vehicle for deep connection and tool to bring even greater presence to our lives

• Brave spaces that Alethea participates in to build dialogue and connection across differences

• Alethea's challenge to explore our "zone of genius" as a first step to understanding our personality preferences

This Week's Challenge:

Alethea urges us to think about where our Zone of Genius lies, as a powerful reflection to do prior to exploring preferences from the Myers Briggs Framework.

The Zone of Genius is a place where there is the most amount of impact with the least amount of effort. When you are in the Zone of Genius, things come with ease, synchronicity abounds, and you have many aha moments.

Observe throughout your day when you feel energized from doing something and take snapshots of those moments to gather data. Encourage your children to do the same. Review Alethea's article on this for more background and share your observations and photos in the Facebook Group. Then, join us for a live conversation and Q &A with Alethea in the Group on Tuesday, May 23rd.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

• You can visit Alethea's website and follow her on Facebook andInstagram.

• For more about Diversity is an Asset, the course that Alethea and I both took together, visit their website.

• Learn more about Gaia Women Lead, the conference where Alethea and I will be speaking in early May. You can still register to join us!

• The Gaia Coach Certification Program that Alethea completed

• Photosanity, Alethea's mindful photography business for parents

• You can read more about the Myers Briggs framework here. And take an online test here.

• Get Organized Bk and Inclusive Conversations are the two groups where Alethea has been having brave conversations across differences

• Indicate your interest in learning more about an upcoming workshop Alethea is facilitating, based on the Scene on Radio "Seeing White" podcast series here

• For exploring the Zone of Genius, you can check out the book The Big Leap that Alethea recommended and the blog post Alethea wrote about The Zone of Genius here

• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Karen Ward's My Curious Eyes Photo Challenge that Jacob and I have participated in for several seasons

• Ep 02: Unmasking Motherhood with Katherine WintschMotherhood Un-Masked: Mother's Day Thoughts on the Pictures We Don't Usually Share

Announcements:

Spring into Your E.P.I.C. Life Clarity Coaching Package

Spring is an amazing time to more fully seed the E.P.I.C. Guideposts in your life. I'm opening a limited number of one-on-one coaching spaces for a 90 day coaching package that includes bi-weekly hour-long coaching sessions where I will help you mindfully close the chapter of the last season, identify your vision for what's ahead, set strategic action steps for moving forward, and provide inspiration and accountability along the way. Email me atjulie@mothersquest.com to set up a free discovery call and learn more.

Mother's Quest E.P.I.C. Life Check-In Featuring Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick – April 24th

Join us for a special edition of our E.P.I.C. Life Check-In with Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick on Tuesday, April 24th from 11:30 am-1PM pm via Video on Zoom.

We'll follow-up on Alethea's challenge to reflect on our "Zone of Genius" and learn about how Myers Briggs might support us to stay in that zone more often. We'll also build connections within the Mother's Quest community, reflect on how we feel along the E.P.I.C. Guideposts this week, and set an intention for the week.

Time for learning new concepts, introspection and community-building all packed into one hour and a half. Are you In? Join the Mother's Quest Community to RSVP and find the zoom link to join.www.mothersquest.com/community

Click HERE to Join

Virtual Mother's Quest Circle Pilot

I'm excited to announce that the first founding Mother's Quest Virtual Circle has been filled. If you're interested in a future circle, and want to receive notice when the applications open again, please add your name to this wait list. julie@mothersquest.com

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Acknowledgements:

A big THANK YOU to our "patrons" for helping to bring these conversations to myself and other mothers through financial and/or in-kind support:

• Katie Hanus
• Denise Barreto
• Sage B. Hobbs
• Samantha Nolan-Smith
• Jody Smith
• Emily Cretella
• Collette Flanagan
• Titilayo Tinubu Ali
• Carly Magnus Hurt
• Lizzy Russinko
• Suzanne Brown
• Mara Berns Langer
• Mallory Schlabach
• Katharine Earhart
• Jessica Kupferman
• Jen Jenkins Dohner
• Genese Harris
• Tonya Rineer
• Liane Louie-Badua
• Cristin Downs
• Erin Kendall
• Niko Osoteo
• Erik Newton
• Claire Fry
• Divya Silbermann
• Rachel Winter
• Caren and Debbie Lieberman
• Cameron Miranda
• Fran and David Lieberman
• Debbie and Alan Goore
• The Sustainable Living Podcast

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If you'd like to make a contribution to Mother's Quest to support Season Three of the Podcast and/or help provide coaching scholarships for mothers, follow this link to make a contribution.

If you would like to "dedicate" an upcoming episode to a special mother in your life, email me at julie@mothersquest.com