Episode 768: Called to Love – Finding Purpose, Healing, and Humanity in a Chaotic World With Diane Woodford

EBT767 – Diane Woodford

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Every once in a while, you meet someone who radiates so much love and wisdom, you could listen to them talk for hours. This is that conversation. Diane Woodford. She is an author, speaker, and co host of the Love Drops podcast and one half of the incredible duo known as the One Love Ambassadors. She joins me to share what it truly means to live a life called to love. She and her partner Charles are currently traveling the world spreading joy and human connection at every stop.
 

And the story she shares will inspire you to pause, breathe, and feel again. We talk about healing through trauma, raising global energy, and the one thing food bloggers can do to stand out in this world of AI, which is to be deeply human. Let it come, let it be, let it go. That’s one of Diane’s quotes. You will want to soak up every word in this episode.

[00:01:15] Intro  

Hi, food bloggers. I’m Megan Porta and this is Eat Blog Talk, your space for support, inspiration, and strategies to grow your blog and your freedom. Whether that’s purchasing, personal, professional, or financial, you are not alone on this journey. 

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[00:01:45]   Megan Porta

Hello, Diane. I’m so excited to chat with you today. Thank you for joining me. How are you?

[00:01:58]  Diane Woodford 

Hello, Megan. I’m excited to chat with you as well. And I’m fantastic. I’m doing fantastic.

[00:02:04]  Megan Porta 

Yay. You’re coming all the way from France, right?

[00:02:08]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah. Dijon, France, home of the mustard.

[00:02:12]  Megan Porta 

Oh, right. Dijon.

[00:02:14]  Diane Woodford 

Yes.

[00:02:17]  Megan Porta 

Yes. I’m a big fan.

[00:02:19]  Diane Woodford 

I’m telling you. And you know what? Mustard is not just mustard. I’m gonna just put that out there to start the mustard here is next level, like, for real. I’m talking cranberry mustard, strawberry mustard, mustard, mustard, spicy mustard, man. I mean, we had. We, we. We had mustard on our sandwich today for lunch, and we were just the sandwich was just amazing. But we were talking about the mustard. We’re like, oh, man, this mustard, right? Yeah, yeah.

[00:02:54]  Megan Porta 

Going to go just for the mustard. You have sold me completely. Well, we are going to learn your story today. I know you have a story to share, and I’m super excited to see how this conversation unfolds. But first I like to ask all my guests if they have a fun fact about themselves to share.

[00:03:14]  Diane Woodford 

I knew it was coming. So it’s like, I have lots of fun facts, but this is the one that I will share with your audience. So I don’t really embrace titles, but a friend of mine gave me this title about a year ago, and it is coddiwomple. coddiwomple. It’s a real word.

[00:03:36]   

And what it means is a person that takes a purposeful journey to an unknown destination. And that’s what we’ve been doing, Charles and I, for the last 10 years. And so I thought it’s cool fact. Because other than are you guys crazy? I got a cool name that I could put on it.

[00:04:01]   

Coddiwomple. And that. It’s a real word. Yeah. So, yeah.

[00:04:05]  Megan Porta 

How do you spell this word that I’ve.

[00:04:07]  Diane Woodford 

I sure will. I sure will. It’s C O, D, D, I, W, O, M, P, L, E.

[00:04:19]  Megan Porta 

I love it. Does that. Is that related to. Isn’t there a word like coddi… or something? Or cat coddi… I feel like there’s another variation of that that I’ve heard, but I’ll have to look that up. But that’s so cool. And no wonder my husband was drawn to you guys and your story because we are just coming out of a 10 year journey as well.

[00:04:41]   

I didn’t know yours was 10 years. But we were also coddiwomple and sold our home. We went on the road in an RV and traveled. Eventually we bought it home again. But we’ve traveled in our RV every summer and people thought we were crazy.

[00:04:59]  Diane Woodford 

Crazy. Yes.

[00:05:00]  Megan Porta 

Totally crazy.

[00:05:02]  Diane Woodford 

Yes.

[00:05:03]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it was a hurdle. We had to get past that. Like. No, we’re not crazy. We’re actually just following our dream.

[00:05:09]  Diane Woodford 

Yes. And it’s so phenomenal when you can put a cool word to it. Right. So it’s like, what are you guys doing? Well, we’re coddiwompling. Oh, you’re making it up. Go look it up. You know? And it’s. It’s just like. So that sounds cooler than what are you guys doing? Well, we’re just going.

[00:05:30]   

We’re love cause and we land where we land and we have our assignments. Well, what are your assignments? Well, we find out when we get there and it’s like, okay. Yeah, they’re crazy. Yeah, they’re nuts. Yeah.

[00:05:46]  Megan Porta 

Oh, that’s so great. Yeah. I love that you started with that. It was meant to be. So that kind of leads into you. Like, we want to know who you are. Who are you and your husband. Where did this journey originate? Anything you want to share with us?

[00:06:01]  Diane Woodford 

All right. Hey, y’. All, I’m Diane Woodford. I am a One Love Ambassador. That is the title that I embody and that I take because for the last 10 years, that’s what we’ve been doing going around the. Well, initially us. So we traveled around the US for about almost 10 years, and we went from place to place to place.

[00:06:28]   

We started out in Pasadena, California. I was a regular person. I mean, just a real life professional person. I was a college professor of nursing, graduate nursing. I’m a retired critical care nurse. I’m a published author now times two podcast host, wife, Nana. But One Love Ambassador is what I really embrace these days, because we need love, y’, all, out here. And I tell you, we’re in France.

[00:07:01]   

I don’t really speak French, but I do speak love. And you would be amazed at how love will really cross the lines. You can smile. You can just use a couple of keywords right over here in France. I know how to say bonjour. I know how to say merci, merci beaucoup. You know, that’s like, thank you.

[00:07:23]   

Thank you very much. Bonsoir. Excusez-moi. And then I know how to smile. Right. And then just use a lot sign language. And I truly believe that in our journeys, what we do prepares us. So all my years in nursing, I have patients from all sorts of background. So you learn how to do that sign.

[00:07:49]   

You know, how to make it. You can communicate, right, with pointing. Smiling and Google Translate. I am fluent in Google Translate.

[00:08:01]  Megan Porta 

I bet. Yeah. I mean, love expands across all languages. Right? So just. I’m sure you just figure out how to. I mean, you can say so much with your face and body language, too.

[00:08:17]  Diane Woodford 

Yep.

[00:08:18]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:08:19]  Diane Woodford 

And it. Yeah. And it’s just like a smile. A smile. And, you know, even here in. In France. Right. Make the effort. And that’s wherever you go. Even in Portugal, you know, just, you know, you make the effort. And when they see you making the effort, then they meet you. They meet you at that.

[00:08:40]   

You know, just at that place. Right. It’s been an incredible journey, a remarkable journey. I’m. I’m taking it with my husband Charles. We’ve been here in Europe since May and have just. Love has just caught us to some incredible places. I’ve been to Ireland, Dublin, to the UK to Lyon, France. We’re in Dijon, France.

[00:09:07]   

Yes. What I’ve learned. What I’ve learned, Megan, is when you say yes to the adventure, then you will have an incredible journey. You just have to trust it, stay true to yourself and shut out the outside noise. Just shut. You have to just shut it out so that you can just elevate your frequency in your light.

[00:09:38]   

And then all that need to join you on set journeys, you will attract them. You’ll attract them.

[00:09:47]  Megan Porta 

So do you guys have a home base or do you. I mean, is the road, is the world your home?

[00:09:55]  Diane Woodford 

Yes, that’s. That’s great question. Thanks for asking. So for probably the last almost five so years, it’s been Nashville, Tennessee, before coming here to Europe this time, our licenses were going to expire, our driver’s license, maybe driver’s license to go along with that passport. So we stopped in Michigan to, you know, see our family before we came.

[00:10:24]   

So we set up just a temporary home base back in Michigan. Although we’re mission ganders, that’s really not home for us. Just temporary right now. So a home base in place matting is Michigan right now. And we’re discovering it. We’re discovering it.

[00:10:47]  Megan Porta 

Okay. Yeah, that’s great. So how do you pick where you go next? And you said that saying yes to adventure, to the call. Sure. It’s something like that. Like you feel a nudge or something. How does that work? And how do you know where to go next?

[00:11:08]  Diane Woodford 

Great question, and I will answer it like this. Our destinations choose us. We get called to places. So somebody listening is probably like, yeah, what? Nah, that doesn’t make any sense. And it doesn’t, but that’s what it is. And a great case in point is we were in Dijon, France for six weeks.

[00:11:33]   

It was. We were winding down and we knew it was time to, you know, take the next leap. Where are we going? So it got a little antsy almost, believe it or not, 10 years in the game, but still it’s like, well, where are we going? Where are we supposed to go? And so what happened was I just felt this nudge is like pulling us towards Paris.

[00:11:56]   

So I thought, we’re going back to Paris. And then what happened was I got this download and says, check out cities between Lyon and Paris. So I said, okay, let me check out some cities. Dijon was one of the cities. And so it was one of the cities that just kind of stood out.

[00:12:17]   

You know how, like, you look at something and there’s something that jumps off from the paper. So. So it. That was the city that highlighted. We got here two weeks ago. Today, actually. And so we. We. We came here and we did it. We. We booked for a week because, you know, we weren’t sure.

[00:12:38]   

And then the day after we arrived, we said, yeah, we need to give this place a little more time because it’s pretty amazing. So we extended for two more weeks. So to answer your question, the places call us. Like, we get called to different locations and we say yes.

[00:13:00]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, you say yes. And then once you’re there, do you feel like there’s a. Like a sole purpose, or is it just kind of radiating your love and being that for the place you’re at?

[00:13:13]  Diane Woodford 

There’s always a sole purpose. There’s always a sole purpose. Sometimes that purpose is more obvious than others. Sometimes it’s just the people that we meet and engage with. Right. And it might not be anything spectacular. Other times, it’s like we were sent in just like you were saying, I know why Dan or your husband, I know why he resonated towards you when I gave coddiwomple.

[00:13:43]   

Right. And so it’s. Sometimes it’s that sort of thing. Like, we get there, we share our story, and there’s someone that’s right at the crossroad, a transition. There’s someone that wants to leap, there’s someone that wants to take a similar journey in their own way. We show up and share our story, and it gives them that inspiration.

[00:14:09]   

It gives them that little. They’re like, you. You are not. We didn’t meet you by accident.

[00:14:15]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, they needed you. They. You came in at just the right time. Absolutely incredible. And you. You guys have a podcast, too. Is this something that you talk about on your podcast?

[00:14:27]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah.

[00:14:28]  Megan Porta 

Following the nudges.

[00:14:29]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah. So our podcast is Love Drops Podcast, and that was born out of the lockdown because of the narrator. It was such a negative narrative. Everybody, you know, everything was just heavy. And so we just started dropping love. And it started out with little videos, five minute videos, and it evolved into a podcast.

[00:14:54]   

And so the podcast definitely aligns with the journey because we’ve had guests from all over the world on the podcast. You know, we’ve had guests from all over the world on the podcast, and it’s inspirational. And what the podcast does is it shares journey, shares stories, shares people doing incredible things, and we share that so that those that are thinking about it just know you can do it, because this world is.

[00:15:23]   

This world’s a little. This world’s a little tricky to navigate right now, but it’s still so much love there. You know, it’s not all dark. And there are people that just in their part of the world, that’s all they’re seeing is darkness. It’s like, is there any light out there? Is there any love out there?

[00:15:47]   

And I truly believe that as one love ambassadors, that is our mission. To show people around the world that, yes, love is still here, love never fails, and love is still shining.

[00:16:01]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, this is the most important message I think we need to hear today. Honestly, there’s. If you allow it, there’s so much negativity, and it’s everywhere. If you want it, if you want to look for it, you can find it on tv, you can find it on the radio, you can find it on your computer, your phone, if you allow it.

[00:16:21]   

But this message that you guys are spreading is the most important thing because, like you said, yes, there is love. And what are you looking for? Are you looking for the negativity or are you looking for the love? And here you guys are going out and willfully spreading the love, which is amazing. I love it. I need you in Minneapolis. Come visit us next.

[00:16:49]  Diane Woodford 

I’m telling you, we, we’ve gotten a lot of hits from Minneapolis. I think you guys are like the third. Third person from Minneapolis in like the last month. I can tell you this. It’s always yes to the adventure, but the adventure knows how I feel about snow. And what I say is, I jokingly, not jokingly say I’m allergic to snow.

[00:17:13]   

So I just. Yeah, it’s just like this season right here. You know, I can catch you in the, in the spring. Not even the spring because the weather is so tricky there. I’ll catch you in a. I’ll catch you summer, fall. Yeah, I’ll catch summer fall.

[00:17:28]  Megan Porta 

I understand. Yeah, we do have a hot tub. So if you’re here in the winter, you can warm up in there if you want. But thank you.

[00:17:38]  Diane Woodford 

Thank you. Appreciate that.

[00:17:40]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, yeah, the offer stands anytime. So I imagine a journey like this where you’re just following the nudges, saying yes to your adventures. There have to be some storms that arise or some tricky times. Tell us about some of those.

[00:17:58]  Diane Woodford 

Absolutely. Great question. And you know, you’re right. We, we said we are called to our assignment. So we’re called into the very situations I think it is not by accident, totally by design, because in 2021, after the lockdown, we had a huge storm. You know, we were in South Carolina, actually Beaufort, South Carolina.

[00:18:31]   

And my wonderful Charles got sick for the first time, big time sick, where he needed to go to the hospital in his Life. And at the time, he was right before 78, I want to say, right before his 78th birthday. And they wrote him off. You know, it’s like the doctors were like, oh, yeah, he’s not going to make it.

[00:18:55]   

And it was a very tragic experience. Lots of trauma and going through that. I knew that there was a purpose, though, Right? Again, we speak about that love, right? And that love even goes into the storms after it was all said and done and he came out as the miracle man. What happened is I was able to better see what was going on.

[00:19:26]   

We were. We were placed in that situation. We were divinely placed in that situation and is definitely one of the places that if we knew in advance, surely I just said, no, thank you. You can send someone else. Yeah, I’ll pass on this one. But that’s why I think you just. You get into it and then you live through it.

[00:19:50]   

So. And. And that’s what it is for us. And so we were brought into that situation to bring love to the medical professionals that were serving the. So many people were dying. So many medical professionals were just hit. Like they were just. They were just traumatized by all of the death by all of, you know, that which Covid brought, right?

[00:20:21]   

And so even with him, they were. They. Even the nurses, they were optimistic. And then when. When he was placed on life support, you know, I saw the hope lights shut off for them and I didn’t blame them because of all that they had been through, but I would. My light was on.

[00:20:44]   

You know, I. I knew it’s like, no, we’re coming out and talk about crazy, you know, just how people think you’re crazy, because people were like, I understand, but you just gotta, you know, be realistic and you just have to just see that, you know, it’s. It may. It’s not looking good for the home team.

[00:21:04]   

And, you know, Megan, in this journey and when you hold that torch for love, you have to do so unapologetically. All in. Regardless of what others say, regardless of what others may feel, you have to know what you. No. And because I did, we were able to come through that storm. Love wins.

[00:21:37]   

A lot of the nurses we’ve stayed in touch with and a lot of them spoke to us after and they were just like, it was life changing. They told us that the ICU room that he was in, ICU room number eight, they. They were saying how people that were put in that room and they look like they were going down and they would just pop back up.

[00:21:59]   

So it was just like not Only was he the miracle man. It was just like the energy that was. That was there. But a big thing was it helped them to recalibrate their compassion compasses because, you know, you gotten to a point where it was all going south, you know, anyways, and it helped them to rebalance it and help them to reignite their hope, you know.

[00:22:28]   

And I’ll tell you, most of the nurses that were. Were key with us, they have gone on and done other things. They are, they. They are thriving, you know, in life, and even some of the doctors. So yeah, yeah, love, love, it matters.

[00:22:50]  Megan Porta 

That energy really matters. Okay, that story almost made me cry. I was able to not. But that’s just so incredible that you guys made such an impact. And I love that you were an advocate for Charles and that you were like, no, this. I. I get it that you are losing hope, but no, this is.

[00:23:11]   

I know what I know. And we’re going to carry on as I know we’re meant to. And he probably, I mean, certainly felt that as well. He felt your advocacy, for sure.

[00:23:21]  Diane Woodford 

Oh, yeah.

[00:23:22]  Megan Porta 

And that helps immensely, I’m positive.

[00:23:25]  Diane Woodford 

Oh, yeah, for sure. And. And. And still do, you know? And still do. And that, you know, that that’s the thing about this journey and it’s love is it does not matter what’s going on outside of you. You have to keep your. Your torch within you lit. And so however that is for you, whatever it takes for you to just keep your center right calibrated.

[00:23:54]   

Not saying that it’s easy, you know, because, you know, going through that and advocating for him, you know, it was not. It wasn’t a cakewalk by any means. Not by any means.

[00:24:06]  Megan Porta 

So speaking of keeping your center calibrated, I think this is really important to highlight because we’re talking to food bloggers and I don’t know if you know much about our space, but we have just been hit like one thing after another this year. Just the new AI emergence has just kind of taken away our traffic and our.

[00:24:28]   

Our revenue and our livelihoods. And not just that, but it seems like there’s just one thing after another. And it’s like that in the world too. It’s. It feels like all the hits just keep coming. I live in Minneapolis. We’ve had some tragedies here this year that it’s like, oh, my gosh, we’re can’t even wrap our minds around it.

[00:24:47]   

So how do we keep our centers calibrated when it just feels like things are coming at us? One thing after another?

[00:24:56]  Diane Woodford 

Yes, that That’s a great question. And as you were speaking, you know, I’m, I’m a foodie. I, you know, we talked a little bit about that before, you know, going on air. And here’s the thing, right? There is so much that AI can do. It can do it faster, it can do this, this and this.

[00:25:18]   

But there’s so many things, you know, that humans have advantage over. AI. Yes. AI is coming in and there it’s coming in like gangbusters, right? I’m a writer, so, you know, even when I write, sometimes I’ll check and then I’m like, yeah, nah, I’m going to go with what I said because it’s my voice, it’s in my voice, right?

[00:25:43]   

So even like with the bloggers, right, even though their AI is coming in, there’s so many different challenges you can do. Hey guys, let’s do the pizza challenge. Hey guys, you have to get, you have to find like that creativity. We’re going to do plant based ice cream. Hey guys, I’m going around and I’m blogging on all of the different independent coffee shops around Minnesota, right?Female based. You just, you find the different niches.

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[00:27:25]  Diane Woodford 

So what it requires in that pivot and recalibration is some research, Right. So you go out and say, well, what is. What is AI not doing? Or, okay, how is AI doing this? Okay, let me put a human. Let me put a human touch on it. Right? And that’s what you do. You don’t try to beat it at its own game because it can throw out reviews and blogs, like 1000 in 20 minutes or whatever.

[00:27:57]   

So, yeah, we’re not. That’s not what we’re doing. But what you can’t do is you can’t taste. You can’t, you know, just taste this flavor expression. Right. And, you know, just different things like that. And what AI cannot do, at least yet, is make human connections. So what you do is you find that human connection, and you do that.

[00:28:24]   

You start blogging on grandma’s recipes while we still have the grandmothers here. You know, go talk to, you know, to.

[00:28:32]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:28:32]  Diane Woodford 

You know, just all, you know, just things like that.

[00:28:35]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. You know, that’s kind of an epiphany moment, because I’ve never heard it said exactly that way. We hear all the time in our space, you know, do the human thing. People like the connection. But I’ve never heard anyone say it like that. What can’t I do and focus there? I can’t taste your spaghetti sauce and tell you how it tastes.

[00:29:01]   

So maybe that’s where we go for a time. We create videos on taste testing Grandma’s food that can’t be touched by AI. And I absolutely love that perspective. So thank you.

[00:29:14]  Diane Woodford 

Use the babies, too, when you said that, because you. When you go generation, you want to go up and down on that generational ladder. Right? So use the babies, like, have kids tasting different food, because I promise you, kids are not.

If it’s not good, it’s like, oh, that’s not good. And if it’s. If it. If your kid says it’s good, then, you know, you kind of. You kind of. You get that. You know, I wanted to. I was like, I want to say something to Megan because, you know, foodies and everything. And I want to say something about this pancake place that we found in Lyon.

[00:29:57]   

And I’m trying to think of the name. And of course I can’t think of the name because I’m trying to think of the name. But what I can say is the way that they prepared the pancakes is they did. They did the pancakes, and they were, like, so thin and. Oh, My God.

[00:30:12]   

So great. But here’s the thing. They put a fried egg on top of the pancake. So they. They had the pancakes, right? And then they had an egg over easy. Just cooked enough. It was so. Wasn’t slimy. But then it wasn’t cooked too hard either. It was like, perfect. So you still had the yolk.

[00:30:34]   

It was almost poached. It was almost like kind of poached. And then they had this really crispy, honey crisp bacon that they had. And let me tell you, it was so good. And they kind of like put it. And it was so good. When I saw that egg on top of my pancakes, though, right.

[00:30:54]   

I was like, what in the. What is this? Right. Exactly. But what I’m doing in these travels is I’m allowing myself to try flavors. I’m allowing myself to try it. And I’m tell you, there’s just some things I’m not trying, Megan. But some. You know, they have these places called bouchons here in France and what that is, they cook every part of the animal.

[00:31:19]   

So you might. I’m talking about from the rudy to the tutti, the eyeballs, the nose, the spout, the, you know, all. Just every. Yeah. Just everything. And so they say, just don’t ask, just eat, but just don’t ask. I’m not doing that. But I mean, as far as a egg over a pancake.

[00:31:39]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:31:40]  Diane Woodford 

And it was great. It was so just. And with the syrup. So you have the syrup, the butter, the. Oh, yeah.

[00:31:47]  Megan Porta 

I mean, you put savory and salty. Oh, yeah.

[00:31:50]  Diane Woodford 

Close your eyes and you put it in. And it’s just like. It’s things like that. And AI can’t give that expression. It can give a description, but not like that. This. That where you expression to it. Right. And so maybe even with the. With the blogging go react, you know, just for the reactions.

[00:32:15]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. No, that is good food for thought. I love that. Because video is huge because of this, because we want that authentic human connection, but also those connections that cannot be replicated through AI. It’s so valuable.

[00:32:34]  Diane Woodford 

Yes. Go to vineyards. Go to, like, it’s like you’re in Minnesota, and so, you know, it’s fall. I’m not sure if you have, like, cider mills or, you know, pumpkin patches, you know, just different things. And then literally go to the places, right. And taste test it. Go to the places and just see if you can get people that are coming up and just, you know, maybe just get a little quick video, you know, just people’s reactions and things like that.

[00:33:06]   

Yeah, I love that.

[00:33:08]  Megan Porta 

Thank you for that.

[00:33:10]  Diane Woodford 

Absolutely.

[00:33:12]  Megan Porta 

So, more generally speaking, just the world in general, how do you find that inner peace when maybe you happen to hear something terrible that happened in the world and you’re like, oh, my gosh, that was awful, and you start to kind of go there and get consumed with it? This happens to me.And then I’m like, nope, I have to come back to my center and find that love that you talk about. How do you do that?

[00:33:38]  Diane Woodford 

I do it by just intentionally starting my day grounded. Right. And when I see myself at the cusp of the rabbit hole, is what I call it, then I intentionally stop and just pull back away from it. Because what I say so often is in order to emit love at the frequency that we do, in order for me to just be able to say yes to the various adventures that I have to have that love centered.

[00:34:17]   

So for me, I hear the news, I feel the news, but I cannot hold it. So I have a friend that gave me. Gave me this quote a few years back, and it is, let it come. Let it be, let it go. And so when things are like that, like, happening like that in the world, like, just.

[00:34:43]   

Just recently, just all of this, I let it come. I let it be. I let myself feel pissed off, you know, And I think it’s very important for listeners and viewers to know that, yeah, I do get mad. You know, I get ticked off. I get sad. I get. You know, I have emotions, but I choose love.

[00:35:10]   

And that’s the thing. It is a choice. Every single time, it is a choice. And even, like I said, when, you know, went through that storm with Charles, it was a lot of mishandling and a lot of things that were done wrong in that hospital. And when I came out of it, my mind was on.

[00:35:31]   

It’s like, I am suing those suckers. They’re getting sued. We about to get pissed. It’s like life is just getting ready. And so what I did is I just went inside and I says, what is the best approach? Like, what’s the best way to get them? Because I’m going for the head, the knees, and the hands.

[00:35:50]   

I’m coming at them from all sides. And when I sat with that Megan, what came to me was, forgive them. And let me tell you something. Yeah, I had to go back a couple of times with that Megan, I’m just keeping it real with you. I mean, I am not even getting ready to say I got forgive them.

[00:36:12]   

And I was like, no, that is not what happened. I got forgive them. And my reaction was. Are you serious? Nah. I can’t be hearing this right. Let me just go. Hold on. Let me do some sage or something. Yeah, let me recalibrate this. Because surely, you know, I’m not hearing it right.

[00:36:37]  Megan Porta 

Right.

[00:36:37]  Diane Woodford 

No, honestly, forgiveness is not always easy. Choosing love is not always easy, but it is always rewarding, and it is always freeing, and it is always the best way to come back to your center. Always.

[00:36:58]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s a good point to make, that it’s not always easy. And I think we hear people like you talk, and we think, oh, well, it just comes naturally for her. Like, of course she’s going to choose love. But I am dealing with this, and it’s not easy for me, but that’s not the case. It is hard at times for all of us.

[00:37:19]  Diane Woodford 

All of us. All of us. All of us. And, you know, here. Here’s the thing. We always, always have a choice. Always. And I think it’s so important, especially in these times now, when you do not make a choice. You’re making a choice. It’s always. You’re always, always, always choosing. Even if you choose not to choose. Guess what you just chose.

[00:37:55]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that one’s good. That’s really good. I’m writing so many gems down, Diane. You’re just shooting them out. Wow. Oh, this is so good. I mean, I feel like I could probably talk to you all day, but what else do I want to ask you? Is there anything that you’ve learned in your journey that we haven’t talked about that you’re just feeling like you need to share with people?

[00:38:22]  Diane Woodford 

Yes. I would say that as fun as the word coddiwomple is, as fun as it probably was for you guys to just sell everything and get an RV and, you know, just take off for those 10 years, every single move is. There’s an intentionality there, and there’s butterflies there, and there’s. And you look over the edge and you say, okay, so, like, what’s next?

[00:38:59]   

And with every next, even, you know, I say the place. Cause. And especially when you don’t know what the call is. Like, you don’t have it all mapped out, which we generally do. Yeah. When you live in the now. When you live in the now moment, it’s so much easier to be brave.

[00:39:24]   

It’s so much easier to have gratitude, and it’s so much easier to take the next step. So what I would say is just be here now. Be here now. So many people are so Far in the future. Tomorrow’s not promised. Well, what am I going to eat? Well, I don’t. You know, my, my savings is only.

[00:39:52]   

I only have 10 years of, you know, just stay here. Just stay here. Because what I have found in this journey is every single thing that is needed. It always shows up. It always shows up. It just shows up. We have not been hungry. We have not been homeless. We have not even been without a community for the whole 10 years.

[00:40:23]   

Walking away from life as we knew it, giving everything away, saying yes to the adventure, not easy. And it’s not for everyone. It’s not for everyone. I say live your truth. Just live your truth and really just stay now, right here. Stay now and create the space for what you want.

[00:40:53]  Megan Porta 

That is key. I feel like being in the now, yet it seems so hard for so many people. There was a time when it was really hard for me as well. Are there tips or tricks you have for staying in the now? Is like, does meditation help you? Are there any little hacks that you have for that?

[00:41:16]  Diane Woodford 

You know what I say, find your joy. Right. And do that more. So sometimes dancing, listening to music, reading, walking. Walking is really key for me. I like to walk. Some people like to work out. I promise you, if you’re an avid physical fitness person, when you’re on that treadmill, running, or just lift those weights or, or just whatever you’re doing, doing your yoga, your Pilates, just whatever it is that like feeds your joy pot, you are not thinking about anything else.

[00:42:03]   

You’re in that moment. I’m. I love the ocean. So I love, you know, walking by water. I love the water and that. And that’s the thing about this adventure, because I am called to the water often. Like, I don’t have to find it. I. It just, it. I get called to places that’s.

[00:42:25]   

By the water. Some that I didn’t even know of. And I’m like, oh, my goodness, this is so exciting. Right? So it’s just to answer your question, you know, I meditate, I sit quietly. Sometimes it’s as easy as grabbing a cup of tea and just sitting with your favorite song and just enjoying that moment. Yeah, it’s very, very simple. It’s very. It’s very, very simple, you know?

[00:43:07]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. We don’t need to overcomplicate it.

[00:43:09]  Diane Woodford 

No, a pause. Yeah, just to. Just to pause and just close your eyes and just think on the word relax. Right? And just inhale through your nose and you think re. Exhale through your nose and you think lax. And you do that five times and you’ve reset your nervous system right there.

[00:43:37]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it’s as easy as that. Easy peasy. Something I heard recently that I’ve been loving is just follow your bliss. And that means like a moment calls, you follow it. The other day I had that in my mind and I was upstairs and it was this just beautiful rainy day and our screen door was closed, but like the sliding doors open so you could hear the rain.

[00:44:04]   

It was just this moment and I knew I had work to do, so I was trying to rush downstairs to get my work done and I remembered that, like, follow your bliss. And I was like, oh my gosh, it would be so lovely to just go sit on my front porch swing where it’s covered so I could sit there and not get drenched in rain and just enjoy that moment.

[00:44:25]   

And I followed it. I was like, okay, yes, put my work down for 10 minutes and I went out and it was the most. Just peaceful, beautiful moment, but such a simple moment. And I, I feel like I was. My whole day was rewarded because I said yes to it. Just that few minutes of time.So stuff like that you’re talking about just.

[00:44:47]  Diane Woodford 

Yes.

[00:44:48]  Megan Porta 

Noticing and allowing yourself the, the joy and the bliss.

[00:44:53]  Diane Woodford 

Absolutely. And you’re still smiling about it now. And that’s the thing, because it plants seeds. In the next time you have that bliss, you’re going to follow it because you know how it made you feel, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes.

[00:45:10]  Megan Porta 

So simple. And I think we just get used to ignoring those nudges and calls. Whether it’s a nudge like yours, a ten year plus adventure, or just sitting in the rain for ten minutes.

[00:45:25]  Diane Woodford 

For ten minutes.

[00:45:25]  Megan Porta 

Right, Right.

[00:45:27]  Diane Woodford 

Exactly that ten, right? Yeah.

[00:45:29]  Megan Porta 

The ten.

[00:45:30]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah.

[00:45:31]  Megan Porta 

That’s crazy.

[00:45:33]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah.

[00:45:34]  Megan Porta 

Thank you, Diane. I, yeah, I’m just so inspired by your story. This is the best way to start my day. You’re my first interview today. I could not.

[00:45:42]  Diane Woodford 

Awesome.

[00:45:43]  Megan Porta 

Have had a better start. So, yeah, just thank you for sharing and all this hard stuff about Charles and what you guys went through and just thank you for being such an advocate in the world for love and for spreading that we need you. We need you times a million.

[00:46:00]  Diane Woodford 

Oh, thank you, thank you. So I guess when we’re talking so about Charles, I. I did write a book. So I. Yeah, I did write a book about it and it’s called Aftercare – Finding Peace Beyond Trauma. So that’s the book that I wrote and my gift, because I always like to give, you know, just a gift to my reader gift, you Know, just people that take the time. Right. So we, we have this 40 day meditation that’s on our, on our side and so it’s called Pause Love Reset meditations. And they are awe. Shorter than three minutes. They’re all around about two minutes. And it, we, they’re inspired from that storm, but they’re my voice and Charles’s voice.And so, and, and so it’s on, on the, on the website. Yes.

[00:47:11]  Megan Porta 

Okay. Yeah, I’m excited to go check that out.

[00:47:14]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah. Well, thank you.

[00:47:14]  Megan Porta 

And your book, I’m definitely getting your book. Is that available on Amazon?

[00:47:18]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah, it’s available actually globally. Yes. I’m so, I’m so. Yeah, so it’s, it’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kindle, you know. Yeah, it’s a lot of places and a lot of independent bookstores and globally. Yes, it’s available here in France. Yay. Amazing. So, yeah, so I guess for the book, like if my website is Paths P A T H S 2 transformation T R A N S F O R M A T I O N.com awesome.

[00:47:59]   

Yeah.

[00:48:00]  Megan Porta 

Everyone will go check that out and after hearing your story, I think we’ll be compelled to buy it. So thanks for sharing it. And then I did mention at the beginning, before we recorded that I like my guests to either share a favorite quote or words of inspiration. You’ve already inspired us a lot.

[00:48:18]   

But do you have anything additionally, Diane?

[00:48:21]  Diane Woodford 

Well, yes, I came prepared for that part and it is so appropriate. And so it is a quote by one of my favorites that I absolutely love. And I had a chance to meet her before she passed. And that’s Maya Angelou.

[00:48:38]  Megan Porta 

You got to meet her.

[00:48:39]  Diane Woodford 

Yes, yes. And it was amazing. And so her quote, and it’s just a small, small section and it is just be the rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. And I feel like it’s very cloudy in the world right now. So let’s just choose to be rainbows. Let’s be rainbows. Let’s be rainbows.

[00:49:08]  Megan Porta 

Yes, please. I am so I cannot believe you got to meet her.

[00:49:13]  Diane Woodford 

Yeah.

[00:49:14]  Megan Porta 

What was that like? I can’t even imagine.

[00:49:17]  Diane Woodford 

Oh, my goodness. So it was in Pasadena, California. And I want to say it was back in 2009. Get it right. Get it right. Pasadena, California, at the Civic center in 2009. Charles and I sat front row. She came out in the auditorium with the chair, you know, lamp and everything. And she sat down and it was as if you were in her living room.

[00:49:45]   

And she just talked to us and talked to, you know, just talked and talked and talk. And she must have talked for like almost two hours. And it was just, it was phenomenal. It was like, you know, talking her story, her, you know, some of her books, but then just giving that personal touch and just, it was just so amazing to be in a room with her.

[00:50:11]   

And like shortly after that, in Pasadena, I met Terry McMillan, the writer. And in a restaurant, we were both going through the line in a restaurant and I got to meet Alice Walker. So, like, those three were kind of like my writing inspirations. So just to, again, it’s a tract. It’s a tract.

[00:50:38]   

It’s not like finding them. You just put out that frequency and it just, it puts you in the most amazing places. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

[00:50:49]  Megan Porta 

Incredible that you got to meet some of your people, right? You attracted?

[00:50:55]  Diane Woodford 

Yes.

[00:50:56]  Megan Porta 

Oh, well, thank you for that perfect quote and just, yeah. Again, great story and thank you for all of the inspiration. Today we will put together a show notes page for you, Diane. So if anyone wants to go peek at those, we’ll put everything we’ve talked about, including your book link and other juicy nuggets we’ve discussed today.

[00:51:16]   

So that will be at eatblogtalk.com/DianeWoodford. So go there and yeah, thanks again for being here so much and thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see. See you next time. 

[00:51:30] Outro

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. If you are craving learning, connection and increased productivity at a low monthly cost, join the Eat Blog Talk Inner Circle. Go to eatblogtalk.com/focus to join. I will see you in the next episode.