Payback’s a Blast!

Posted on July 16, 2014

Yesterday morning, I was on KHTS 1220, our popular, local radio station for an interview with Wendy Hassenpflug, a fabulous yoga instructor and founder of Vayu Yoga. Wendy, a phenomenal host, skillfully synchronized her topic,  Vibrant Living (also the name of her show), with my subject, mindful parenting, and introduced my upcoming book,, The “Perfect” Parent, 5 Tools for Using your Inner Perfection to Connect with Your Kids.

It was my first experience being on the radio, and Wendy made it both easy and enjoyable! Since I always advocate emotional intelligence, I decided to run myself through a quick “Dealing with the Feeling” (spot it, say it, okay it), to practice what I preach! Let me take a moment to share the highlights with you:

I was ecstatic to be on the show. I felt very much in my element and afterwards, I was convinced that this would be just the first of many such experiences. Following the lead of Wendy and her co-host, Shannon Levy-Heath, was a delightful breeze.

Here’s the icing on the cake: The night before, my daughter, Nitasha, announced that she had taken half a day off work to accompany me, both to share the special moment and to shoot some video for our new website. I was thunderstruck; after all, we had no permission to do that. But a quick text message to Wendy took care of that. Nitasha and I drove separately since I had a meeting with the station co-owner,  Jeri Seratti-Goldman. And when I finally stepped into the recording studio, there was my daughter with her tripod set up and ready to go. She asked me to sit up straight and get closer to the microphone and reminded me to be natural and enjoy the process. Throughout the interview, she remained in the corner, fully focused on what she was doing. I couldn’t help glancing at her a couple of times; her strength and comforting presence helped me relax. It reminded me of the time I accompanied her to her very first basketball practice the summer before she started high school. I remember telling her to stay focused on her basketball skills instead of the newness of her environment. She asked me to stay so she didn’t feel alone. And I did—though she was 15 and old enough to get through it on her own and even though I was the only parent in the gym. Here I was, ten years later, with her silently cheering me on.

After the show, as I walked out of the studio, my son, Navin, called. “Mom,” he said, “I’m so proud of you. When I heard your name and then your voice, I got teary-eyed. You did it! You were awesome!” I had said those very words to him just seven years ago, when I watched him, a sophomore, start as a quarterback at a football game. And I’d voiced them again a short four years ago, when Navin, by then a freshman in college, co-hosted a sports show.

What goes around does come around. Life comes full circle.

Nitasha and Navin—thank you for being there for me. It was definitely a gratifying experience to appear on a radio show and discuss something I’m passionate about was. But having you both by my side always fuels my soul. Yes, payback’s a blast, a priceless blast!