Hi, Big Dreamers.
Today we welcome Melissa Ambrosini.
I was so moved by her message that I actually just read her book Mastering Your Mean Girl on my summer family vacation.
I'm so excited to introduce her to you, Big Dreamers.
You ready?
It's time to dream big.
Welcome to the Dream Big Podcast Show.
I am your host, Eva Carmen, and today my mom and I are thrilled to have Melissa Ambrosini on the show.
Melissa is an inspirational speaker, best-selling author, and fellow podcaster.
She wrote an incredible book called Mastering Your Mean Girl, which I just finished reading and absolutely love.
We talk about the book in our discussion, so you'll be hearing about that shortly.
But I do highly recommend the book.
I'm so happy to introduce you to the delightful Melissa Ambrosini.
So let's roll the tape.
Hi, Melissa.
Hi, sweetie.
How are you?
Good.
Welcome to the Dream Big Podcast show.
I'm so excited to talk to you today.
I read on your bio that there was a time that you were not very happy.
And your words?
Working a soulless job, eating junk and drowning in the daily grime.
Can you share a little bit on why you were so unhappy and how you created such a dramatic turnaround in your life?
I was very unhappy because I was living a very externally... outward life.
My measure of happiness was on what I looked like, the work that I was doing, the status that I had.
And living a life where your happiness is determined by your external sources is one that's not very soul-fulfilling.
And in 2010, I ended up in hospital very unhappy and unwell.
I had depression and an eating disorder and a whole other host of health issues.
And that was a message from the universe, I believe, to really get my health and my life back on track and sorted out, because that way of living and being was not fulfilling my soul and I wasn't on my life's purpose.
And in order for me to get back on my life's path and on my true journey, I believe that the Yeah, that was how I got onto the journey that I'm on today.
Cool.
So you chose what you love.
Did you start doing what you love right away or how did you change that?
Well, when I was in hospital, I realized how unhealthy and unhappy I was.
So I went on to study holistic nutrition because I began to understand the power and the importance of nourishing my body.
I'd never even referred to my body as a temple, but I started to see that my body was a temple and that I needed to nourish it and look after it.
So I went on to study holistic nutrition and From there it opened me up to mind-body-spirit connection.
I then started to learn about energy and meditation and mindfulness and moving the body from a place of love.
And my world opened up.
I was exposed to all of these terms that I'd never heard before or been exposed to.
And they started to feel really good in my body.
So I began to just follow them.
I began to implement them into my life.
And I've never, never looked back.
Big dreamers.
If you choose love over fear, everything in your life will fall into place and you'll live the life of your dreams.
Imagine if you did everything from place of love, even the things that you don't typically love doing.
Absolutely.
It's um.
I realized that I was doing everything in my life, from a was eating to the work that I was doing, the friends that I was surrounding myself with.
Every single thing I was doing in my life came from that fear-based place, because I didn't know that there was another way.
Until I was exposed to living a heart-centered path, one where love is your leader.
Then my whole life changed.
Yes.
Well, Melissa, you have very, very interesting work and we'll talk about the book later.
And one of the main topics of your work is women power.
And let's talk a little bit more about it.
We know that our dad and our family is a little bit outnumbered experience.
He experiences my mom and then myself, my baby sister Sophia and our dog Annie.
And he's just outnumbered.
Yeah.
So what makes girls and women so special that we even call it women power?
I think women are absolutely amazing, amazing creatures.
Men are too, absolutely.
They're beautiful and they serve a beautiful purpose.
But I love women so much.
I think we have such a special role here on earth.
And our role is to bring that feminine goddess softness to the world.
I believe the world will be healed by the modern woman.
And we can bring that beautiful elegance, that beautiful softness that we all have to empower others and to share that with the world.
I feel like that is our role here on earth.
And when we can come together and empower each other and collaborate together, serve each other, help each other, then that's when life starts to get really juicy.
That's interesting.
Yes.
Well, little girls right now who are listening to our podcast, I'm sure a lot of times they have doubts.
They don't think that maybe a lot of things are possible for them.
And we want to just encourage those little dreamers, little girl dreamers, dream and take action.
Take action and when you think about negative thoughts, don't think about it.
I mean when you think about them once, like that's not gonna hurt you.
But if you think about it a lot then it just starts.
Every day you just start to say that oh oh, like I can't do this.
Yeah.
So just look at Melissa's example.
For example, she didn't like something in her life and she decided to make a change.
And I'm sure, Melissa, on that journey, you were surrounded by a lot of women who helped you.
Were there any powerful women in your life?
Who is your role model?
I have had lots of mentors and teachers and guides and teachers.
I've had so many and lots of them have been just from books.
I just pick up books like my book, like Mastering Your Mingle.
I pick up these books and I just educate myself.
And lots of my friends have been beautiful teachers, lots of Anyone can be your teacher.
Go to people who you admire and ask them to guide you or just speak.
Ask them for their opinion.
You don't have to go out and Spend money on a mentor or a teacher if you don't want to.
Just reading books, I think, is one of the best ways to learn from other women.
Cool.
And you mentioned mastering your mean girl.
What does mastering your mean girl mean?
Well, you know how you spoke about before those negative thoughts in your head?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So your inner mean girl is that voice that says you can't do this, or you're not good enough, or you're not smart enough, or you can't win that running race, or you're not going to pass that spelling test.
That's your inner mean girl, okay?
And we all have one of those inside our head.
But...
That is not your truth.
The truth is your heart loves.
And our job is to not let our inner mean girl run and ruin our life.
We want to live from our heart space and do what we love and share our unique and special gifts with the world.
So we want to master our inner mean girl and live from our heart and not from our head.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
And we'll, of course, include your book in the show notes.
Big Dreamers, here's a little lesson.
It's important to not beat yourself up.
You need to love yourself, and when things don't go according to plan, then learn from the experience and work to improve the next time, rather than hang your head low.
Yes.
And then, as Melissa mentioned too, just for you, maybe daily practice to get rid of that mean girl can be meditation right, Melissa?
Yeah, I have a three-step process that you guys can follow if you want.
Do you want me to tell you what?
Please, please.
We love action plans.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
So the first step is you've got to become aware of what your mean girl is actually saying to you.
So what's something that your mean girl has said to you before?
Well, let's say that I couldn't do this podcast.
And when I started it, I thought, I can't do this podcast.
I'm just not good enough to do it.
Okay, so your mean girl is saying that you can't do this podcast.
Okay, so the first step in mastering your mean girl is awareness.
You have to become aware of what she's actually saying to you.
And so yours was saying that you can't do this podcast and maybe you're not talented enough, or maybe you don't know enough.
Whatever it is.
So that's the first step in mastering your mingle.
We have to become aware of what it is that she is saying, okay?
Because you can't know what you don't already know.
So once you know something, we can then make changes, which is really cool.
Okay, first step is aware, and that's great.
First step of the way.
The second step is you gently close the door on your mean girl.
So think of your mean girl like an annoying salesperson who comes knocking on your front door to sell you something really boring that you just don't care about.
Instead of letting your salesperson come in and give you a big talk on these products that you don't care about, you just say Thank you, but no thank you.
I'm not interested today.
And that's what you do with your mean girl.
She pops up and says, you can't do this podcast.
You say, thank you, but no thank you.
I'm not interested today.
And then the third step is you choose love instead.
So, instead of choosing that fear-based thought of you can't do this podcast, you turn it around and you say I am capable and smart enough to do this podcast, or whatever words resonate with you.
So that's the three-step process.
Awareness, gently close the door, and then choose love instead.
Great.
So big dreamers, as Melissa just said awareness, gently close the door and choose love.
Yes, and you'll see the changes right away, because it is all self-talk a lot of times.
Thank you so much melissa, for sharing.
We love actionable steps.
And now let's talk about nutrition, because I know a lot of the young big dreamers in our audience, including myself, like junk food and are not the biggest fans of vegetables.
And you mentioned before that you did make a lot of changes for your mind and body and you change your diet and everything when you change your life.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.
Absolutely.
Nourishing your body is so important.
We've got to treat our body like a temple.
We only get one of them and we've got to look after it.
It's you would look after it.
You would clean it.
You would shine it.
You would take care of it.
That's the same as our body.
We have to nourish it.
We have to look after it.
We have to clean it.
We have to take care of it.
And by eating junk food and sugar is not looking after it.
We're not going to thrive and be the best version of ourselves if we're not looking after our beautiful temple and as much as we physically can.
So we want to make sure we're putting in the best nutrition.
We want to make sure we're thinking the best thoughts.
And we want to make sure we're surrounding ourselves with the best environment so that we can thrive and be the best version of ourselves possible.
Cool.
How much sugar do you think kids should eat and adults every day?
Like, let's say five or six teaspoons or something?
None.
If you ask me, none.
I think absolutely none.
I think refined white sugar is like poison.
And it is not good for you.
You can get natural sugar in things like fruit and berries and sweet potatoes and things like that.
So you can get natural sugar that way, but you don't want to be eating fake white refined sugar.
It's not even a real food.
It's a toxic chemical that Our bodies don't know how to process.
So we don't want to have any of that in our diet.
So I have an 11-year-old stepson who spends one week with us and then one week with his mom.
And so the week that he is with us, he has zero refined white sugar, not even one teaspoon.
I don't know what he has at his mom's and that's none of my business.
But when he's in our house, we have zero sugar.
Is he craving it?
Is he asking?
Or how do you help him to change that state?
Because habits are very powerful.
He never craves it because he's not addicted to it.
Um, but we educate him on what sugar does to the body.
So sugar is actually an inflammation food.
Well, it's not even a food, it's inflammation.
It causes inflammation in the body.
Do you know what inflammation is?
No, So inflammation is like okay, so you know, if your brain and ankle swells up.
Yeah.
That's inflammation.
That's your body, all the blood rushing there to try and help that ankle heal.
So inside your body, if you are eating foods like junk food and sugar, they're going to inflame your body, which makes your body have to work so much harder to to detox the chemicals out of your body.
So we don't want to have to make our body work even harder than it already has to.
Yeah, because it works hard enough.
Exactly.
We've got to help it out and not make it work any harder.
So things like sugar, they make our body inflamed.
And we want to not inflame our body.
We want our body to thrive and to be the best version of ourselves.
And in order for us to do that, we've got to put in the best stuff.
This is an important lesson for you big dreamers.
If you don't like the taste of vegetables, think about it as sugar.
You can actually close your eyes and actually feel yourself eating sugar.
It's a good place to start because you know what?
Your belief is everything.
If you believe it's sugar, it's sugar.
Whatever you believe is what you will create.
Awesome.
Well, let's get moving to our rapid fire questions.
Eva prepared a few of those, Melissa, for you.
And this is the section when we ask you a question and you answer as quick as possible and we'll move on to the next one.
So the first question is, what accomplishment are you most proud of?
Oh, work-wise or personally?
Both, both.
Work-wise, I think there's a couple.
Launching.
Mastering Your Mingo.
Writing a book is such a big feat and I'm really grateful and proud of that.
And I just handed in my second manuscript for my next book. which I'm also very, very proud of.
I'm launching my own podcast, the Melissa Ambrosini Show podcast.
I'm very proud of that.
And then personally, marrying my love, my soulmate, my one, and being a stepmom to my little boy.
I love.
I'm really proud of that.
And Yeah, they're probably my top.
I couldn't pick one.
Sorry.
So awesome.
We love that.
We love that.
It's a good balance, you know, when we have guests who are not talking only about their professional life, but also personal life.
This is what we're all about.
We are family, family show, and we can't do it any other way.
So we love it.
And the second question is what are your hobbies and things that you do for fun?
Well, I love hiking.
I love going to a yoga class with my girlfriends.
I practice yoga for about 10, 15 minutes every morning at home by myself.
And on the weekends, I like to go and do that with a girlfriend.
Love hiking.
Yeah, they're probably my two favorite hobbies that I do.
Do you have any powerful daily routines that help you to move powerfully through your day?
Yes, I do.
I do meditation every day.
So first thing I do when I wake up is I meditate.
And I do two meditations a day for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon.
And I move my body every day.
So I'll do some movement, whether it's yoga or walking or something like that.
I just always make sure I move my body.
And here's a tip, big dreamers and little dreamers.
When you wake up, do some meditation.
When you...
When you're doing like your sleep routine or something.
Yeah.
Then always do meditation.
It could be just nine minutes or three minutes.
Yeah.
Just do it every day.
Yeah.
Before Eva goes to sleep every night, we put very relaxing meditative music and she meditates too.
Actually, I even keep it on while I'm sleeping.
Yeah.
So it helps me fall asleep and meditate before I go to sleep.
And for a few final questions if you go back in time and talk to your 10-year-old self, what would be the best advice?
I would say be your own best friend.
Don't take life too seriously and have fun and laugh every single day.
That's a very good thing to tell your 10-year-old self.
And make sure you little dreamers tell that to yourself, too.
Yeah.
And the next question is when you have doubted yourself in the past, what made you overcome those fears and continue to persevere your dream?
I guess, because I just know that it's my mean girl that's trying to hold me back, and I don't want to let her win.
I want to dream big and live my best life, so I don't want to let my mean girl win and stop me and hold me back from living my best life.
I think it comes back to awareness of being aware that that's your mean girl trying to hold you back.
And that doesn't have to be the case.
You don't have to let her hold you back because you matter.
And what you have to share with the world really does matter.
So go out and share that.
We're all unique.
We're all so different.
We're all so perfect.
Everyone has something to offer, and that is you just being your true authentic self.
You don't have to have a special skill or talent or...
Being a singer or an artist, you just being you is enough.
And going and sharing that with the world, that's you being of service.
Yeah, and little dreamers, you start this from a young age.
Make sure that you do not let your mean girl win you over for the rest of your life.
Yeah, just be conscious about the thoughts.
Because from thoughts come the feelings and come actions.
So be aware of it.
And for the last two questions.
The first one is You already made a lot of dreams a reality, Melissa.
But if you look back at yourself today, what would be uh, your big dream for the future?
Oh okay okay, I've got a few.
Um, I would.
I would love um, my next book to be a New York Times best-selling book.
My first book was a bestseller and I would love it to be a New York Times bestseller because that means I get to inspire and reach more people.
I would love to work and inspire and help and support people. way more women.
I want to just be a mentor to so many more beautiful women.
I want to continue to be the best wife and the best mom I can be.
I would love to have a child who and birth a child into the world of my own one day.
I would love to travel more and see more of the world and just help more people and be of service as much as I can.
Wow, those are all great dreams.
Melissa, thank you so much.
You've been amazing and you shared so many great tips on our interview.
And the last question is where can our audience find out more about you?
You can head to melissarambrosinicom or you can come and check me out.
I don't know if your tribe has Instagram or Facebook, but I'm on those if you want to come and introduce yourself to me on those platforms.
But yeah, and I've got my own podcast if you want to listen to that too.
Yes, please tune in and we will include all the links in our show notes for sure.
So please find MelissaMbersini.com or Melissa Mbersini Show, Instagram, everything with her name.
And check out her book.
Thank you, Melissa.
It was such a pleasure talking to you.
And we're looking forward to see you in LA one day.
Yes, I will be there next March.
So we'll definitely have to stay in touch.
And I would love to see you.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
Bye.
Okay.
Bye.
Big dreamers, remember to master your own thoughts, make your dreams a reality by taking actions and follow what Melissa said.
Three steps, meditation and just being aware of what you think, how you live your life, and just do your best.
Yep.
Bye.
I simply love Melissa.
She's like a breath of fresh air.
So lovely.
And again, I just finished reading her wonderful book Mastering Your Mean Girl, which I highly recommend you check out.
And finally, if you haven't already, please be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, so you automatically get new episodes as soon as they are published.
If you can leave an honest review, that would be very helpful to get more exposure for the show and help us to continue to bring you great guests.
It would mean the world to us.
Thank you again for tuning in.
I'll see you in the next episode and remember to always dream big.
Bye.
