Susan Biali

What’s your relationship with food like?  From the time I was around ten years old, and my aunt invited me to try my first “diet” with her (eating only grapes – we lasted around six hours), until just a few years ago, I was obsessed with food and the way that I looked.  Even though most of that time I actually looked pretty good, I didn't think I would ever be "good enough".  

I was recently interviewed about this issue as a panel expert on the national show The Daily: Weekend Edition with Todd Cantelon (www.thedailyweekend.ca) , and was floored when my beautiful friend (and co-producer of my upcoming show), Stephanie, commented on-air that she’s felt awful about her body her entire life, even in her twenties, when she performed as a (no-doubt-drop-dead-gorgeous) go-go dancer!  That illustrated to me, yet again, that the way we feel about our bodies, and ourselves, is an internal phenomenon that often has nothing to do with reality, or the wonderful version of “you” that so many other people see and appreciate. 

The same goes for dieting.  On the outside, we may try out some new weight loss fad, or promise ourselves that we’re going to stick to a new “diet”, but our enthusiasm disappears after a few days and we find ourselves right back in old habits.  We fail because we don’t understand what’s really going on inside of us.  We don’t understand our relationship to food, our ideas about weight loss, and why we can’t succeed with this goal.  Most diet programs don’t properly address our behaviors and beliefs around food, and they also aren’t designed to be sustained for life. 

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A while ago, as I was getting a facial treatment at my favourite local spa, my aesthetician told me that spas across the city were experiencing a slump in business.   Apparently, when things get “tough”, people see something like going to the spa as an extra, inessential splurge.  Than, the other day, on the show The Daily, I was asked to provide on-air “ammunition” for wives who want to convince their husbands that they still need to go to the spa. 

What I discovered surprised me – in addition to helping you convince your significant other, this should convince you that taking care of yourself in this way is truly essential to your health and success!

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This past weekend I was honored to be invited to listen to Laura Lynn Tyler Thompson, my good friend who also happens to be the host of The Daily (the program on VisionTV and JoyTV, that I appear on every Wednesday), speak about the amazing story of her life.

Her story changed the way that I see the tough times in my life, and maybe it will do the same for you, too.

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I often joke that one of the major challenges in being a "successful" life balance expert, is that it becomes harder and harder to successfully balance your life!  I recently had coffee (actually, it was more of a steamed soy milk, on my part) with mega-successful radio host Jesse Dylan, of The Good Life Network.  He's interviewed me a couple of times for his show, which was a huge honour for me and an amazing experience, given that Jesse has previously been identified as one of the top 5 radio personalities in the world.  In addition to running his network and other business projects, Jesse manages to balance a happy, healthy family life, and is a world-class competitive triathlete.  His secret?  Read on...

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Yesterday, I was emailing back and forth with Toby Ward of www.HealthyCanada.com (I'm a health and wellness expert for their site), and when I mentioned that Hurricane Norbert was barreling its way up the coast, headed straight for us, here in Cabo, he told me I should "blog from the eye of the storm".  The hurricane's still about a hundred miles away right now, and looks like it'll just miss us, but I thought this would be an opportune moment to address what happens to so many of us: how can you manage to stay calm, focused and content, when everything around you seems to be going wrong or out of control?

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Here I am in Vancouver, it’s a glorious sunny day, and yet again I’ve only been outside for a couple of minutes.  It’s the usual – I try to get through my long to-do list for the day, and set the goal that by the end of the day, my reward will be going outside for a long ocean-view walk, before the sun goes down.  Lucky for me, the sunset’s so late here, up north. 

Does your life consist of long stretches of hard work and task-filled days and nights, interrupted by the occasional too-brief formal vacation?  Do you push through the weeks and months until you finally arrive at that longed-for week of vacation?  Today on MSNBC.com  I read an article on how to recreate the vacation experience (and some of its benefits) on days that feel like anything but…

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Another friend from the National Speaker’s Association, Mike Osorio, said something really cool in his latest e-edition of “Jam(Just A Minute) with Mike”, the other day. He mentioned this quote from John Wooden, the legendary wise and inspirational basketball coach:

"Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow."

Isn’t that great?  Virtually all of the inspirational and motivational greats that I listen to insist on the importance of continually growing, particularly in areas that are relevant to your dreams for your life.  Business philosopher Jim Rohn always says: “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job”.  Do you?

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Last month I gave my “Make Someday Today” keynote to a group of hospital-based health care professionals.  I had told my life story during the presentation and, during the question period that followed, I made a self-deprecating comment about the fact that, though at this moment I live a rather abundant, even cushy, life, when it comes to my bank balance and assets, “I’m not rich”.

The event organizer got out of his seat, stood next to me and said, into the mike: “BUT - you are rich in many other things.”  To my surprise, the audience cheered and clapped loudly in response.  I suddenly didn't feel so bad that I don't own a million-dollar home in the hills - could it be that that doesn't even matter?

What would a truly “rich” life look like, and feel like, to you?

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