Thriving.

Have you faced your biggest fear?
I’ve faced a few and now take my biggest risk … sharing a story of nine lives in hopes that it’ll provide hope for someone to have a more peaceful and powerful life.

My nine lives started as a child with a black widow spider bite. During my late teens I was raped, stalked and shot at; in my early 20s I flew in a plane that lost control and nearly crashed; and in my mid 30s an 18-wheeler rolled over my car.

No need to share more crazy times. Rather let’s focus on the core message. Don’t let negative events dominate your mind like I did. It’s a waste of time.

I became a victim of my own mind. Life sucked. By my late 40s an attitude adjustment was deeply needed, and I wondered … could I teach this old bitch a new trick? Could I learn to enjoy every moment instead of saying, “how am I going to survive this moment?”

To flip my mindset 180-degrees, I needed to do something drastic.

Ironman
My Ironman race had two goals:
1. Discipline my body to finish in less than 17-hours.
2. Discipline my mind to get through the race without one negative thought.

2010 Ironman Arizona finishing time was 16:07:57, and that race day was the best day of my entire life. Since then I’ve been featured in a few magazines as an inspirational athlete, and that exposure brought me public speaking opportunities.

Sharing this makes me feel vulnerable. Still sharing it is worth the risk of appearing like a victim because someone, somewhere needs to know that their life can be peaceful and powerful, even during challenging moments.

Kona Inspired
My latest goal is to race Ironman’s 2012 World Championships in Kona as an inspirational athlete. The public votes on who wins entry, so please vote for me. Voting is easy.

Watch my Kona Inspired video.
Hit “VOTE FOR THIS” on the bottom left of the video.
Vote often and share with friends.

Lastly, I encourage you to follow Joseph Campbell’s advice, “If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”

Follow your bliss. Anything is possible.

It’s Mother’s Day, and Mom’s constantly on my mind especially since she’s in California and I’m in Denver.

Got to brag about Mom.  Mom has been at the center of my life since forever; cooking, playing the piano, organizing the family, going to church. She taught me how to be a woman, to give back to society, to forgive, to love.

Mom never raised her voice or cursed. Instead she had a wicked stink-eye that paralyzed all negative actions, except for the time I told her I bought a horse for $10.  Instantly that joke wasn’t well received, yet the memory still makes us smile.

Mom breathed adventure into our lives.  Nearly every June she’d organize a family road-trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest providence.

She’d build excitement by placing a map of the U.S. on the kitchen table and asking us to choose the route, north or south?  What national parks, cities or roadside attractions we’d like to see? Some years this adventure would be done in a red or blue VW van, other times in a Vista Cruiser; a car made station wagons cool.  It’s rear seat faced backwards, and it had three moon roofs, one over the second-row seat and one along each side of the rear cargo area.

Each of our nearly 20 round-trip treks crossed 8,000-miles, and they happened well before smart phones, portable DVD players, and way before 8-track players.  In the beginning seatbelts weren’t even used.  Yet, Mom pack-up five kids, Dad, sometimes our Grandmother and the family dog.  The process always looked so effortless.  Now as an adult I’m sure the details were stressful. If so, she never let on.  Her excitement always appeared much greater then the rest of us.

While driving Mom kept us occupied with a classic game that she invented, “White Horse, Cemetery”. Here’s how it’s played:  When traveling, if you see a white horse yell out “white horse”. Each claimed horse gets you one point. The goal is to have the most points by the end of the day.  However, if someone sees a cemetery and yells “cemetery” that call cancels out everyone else’s points.

Silly, maybe.  Effective, definitely.  Even to this day I play “White Horse, Cemetery”.  It’s one way of keeping Mom close wherever I go.  Plus, it’s a great source of entertainment, conversation, and observation of new surroundings.

Mom, thank you for your love, your sacrifices, your dedication, your 54-years of devotion to Dad, your faith through church, and for demonstrating how life can be adventurous and fun.  Mom, you are AMAZING.  We’d be lost without you.

xoxoxo I love you.

Had an emotional day. With my siblings we went through my Dad’s clothes and then donated most of them to the Goodwill.  We did this for our Mom who’s out of town visiting our brother.  We didn’t want her to take on this project. For after 54 years of marriage, cleaning the closet of her husband was just too much to manage.

I didn’t think it’d be that emotional then I came across his old sweatshirt that says “golf” across the front.  He didn’t even play golf that much, but still he loved wearing that sweatshirt.  He wore it gardening, traveling, and going around town.   It represented the essence of him. Like his personality poured out of every fiber, saying hello give me a hug.

I didn’t keep that sweatshirt. Instead I choose a blue sweater to wear with my jeans.

Miss you Dad.

Thinking about my Dad this morning and remembering some of his amazing qualities. Here’s one I want to share.

As a kid Mom & Dad took the family to an orphanage in Mexico for a weekend. We were part of a food-drive project spearheaded by our church, St. Cecilia.  Because we had a VW van, our family would help deliver the food.

Dad was a civil engineer who loved to build, and Mom was a nurse.  That weekend, together they applied their skills; Dad would make repairs to the building while Mom would care for the sick.

I was around eight years old, and Dad told us that while we were there we’d live with the orphans. Their despair still comes to mind … that along with how I took simple things for granted – a private bathroom and soft toilet paper — for the bathroom was behind a rock, and we used toilet paper that felt like sandpaper.

On the way home, Mom and Dad took us to dinner at a restaurant, a rare treat.  I distinctly remember Dad saying, “Now you’ve experienced two different live styles. It’s up to you to choose the one to live by.”

For years I took that to mean choose Rich vs. Poor, but with reflection, I realize he meant Giving vs. Taking.  Thanks Dad for being a wonderful leader.  Your influence helped fuel my passion for Corporate Social Responsibility.

Have you heard that 100,000 children are enslaved on cocoa plantations and that 70% of all our chocolate comes from those plantations?
Could it possible? Don’t really know.

Here’s what I do know.

I love chocolate and want to make something good happen from that bad insight.

Here’s what I’ll do … Share the love.

From now till February 14 — Valentine’s Day — let’s talk chocolate on my Facebook/dulebohn page.

The goal is to learn about organic, Fair Trade, and Rainforest Alliance chocolate.
Let’s share stories about our favorite sustainable chocolatier, or organic chocolate, or chocolate recipe.

For Fun.

During this time, if you like the posts, you can win a box of Dove Dark Chocolate.
Don’t like chocolate … no worries.  You could win a pound cake from De BEST Poundcake.

“Share” the love with your friends so they can play & learn too.

Why Dove Chocolate?

Dove Dark Chocolate, which is owned by M&M Mars, has a Rainforest Alliance certificate.
That means they source 100% of their cocoa volume from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.

The Rainforest Alliance helps thousands of farmers around the world gain the tools and techniques necessary to protect the wildlife, the environment, and the rights and welfare of their workers and their families for now and for future generations.

Why De BEST Poundcake?

These cakes are made my good friend, Donna Lott, and each Christmas I buy a few for family gifts.  Everyone who receives a De BEST Poundcake raves about how good they are.  So, why not share the love with you too. Hope you win one.

In our squeamish society I wasn’t going to post this, but since some of you asked … here’s a “Rat in the engine” update.

Yahoo … the rat is gone. Nature worked its course, and thankfully the rat left in a very organic way, so to speak.

Here’s the scoop: Earlier this week, before leaving on a road trip the rat was in my engine, it seems.  Of course, I didn’t know about this, otherwise I would have pounded on the hood to alert him of the imminent danger.

Anyway, it appears that when I started the engine the rat’s tail got hooked onto a turning-part of the engine, and sad to say the rat got sucked in. Leaving only it’s tail, some fur and a little paw as evidence of its existence ;-(

Poor thing. I can only pray that it was a quick end to a destructive life.
For those with a solid stomach and a gross sense of adventure, here’s proof.

One benefit of an Ivy League school is their resources. Take for instance, Harvard.

By utilizing their resources (professors, business connections, research staff, reputation etc.) Harvard Business School is now a premier leader in providing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) trends and issues.

They have the Harvard Kennedy School’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and an Executive Education CSR program, Plus, this week the Harvard Business Report blog featured a CSR post that was reprinted by the Wall Street Journal, the Law for Change, Governance Focus, Ethics Can, and now me.

If your company is interested in embracing CSR, consider Harvard’s advice and explore these four elements:

1. Employee Engagement
2. Cause Marketing
3. Skeptical Consumer
4. Board-Level Involvement

To read the full post, visit HBR.

Here’s the dilemma … On Sunday I discovered a rat is living in my engine.
The evidence is clear; it left rat poop, and the hood’s roof was eaten away.

The dilemma — should my morals matter when killing a rat????
Am I crazy? Who cares about about this rat’s ass? I don’t.
They’re ugly, and this one is clearly destructive.

Still I promote Social Responsibility, and it’s a living, breathing thing.
So, I should show some compassion?
What do you think?

Are you like me and collect sample bottles of lotions, shampoos and conditioners. Then let them sit is a drawer, never to be used??? Well, in 2012 that’s changing because I’m determined to use each one of them and get my drawer space back.   In the process I discovered TriSwim lotion.

I remember getting this bottle. A small tri-shop gave it to me with other samples of shampoo and conditioner. Used those long ago, but never got around to the lotion till now.  Got to say, this lotion is smooth. I love it especially after a long swim in a chlorine pool. That’s when my skin is sucked dry, and not many lotions feel refreshing afterwards. Some are too pasty or thin.  While others have a scent that doesn’t mix with chlorine.

Trying to search the manufacture and found that it can be bought nearly anywhere online from $7.95 to $12.50. It’s a bit pricey.  Still the description is spot on … Gently removes chlorine odor Enriched with Organic Aloe Vera, Vitamin E & Pro-Vitamin B5 TRISWIM Lotion is for people who love to swim but dislike the drying effects that chlorine has on skin. TRISWIM’s innovative lotion formula is designed to gently remove chlorine odor, and has a fragrant, invigorating citrus scent that will highly moisturize dry skin. TRISWIM contains Organic Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, and ProVitamin B5.

Reading the fine print on the bottle. I just discovered it’s made by SBR. Okay, while writing this post I’m toggling sites, researching and just found the SBR website; don’t care for it. I had to visit it twice before believing they were the TriSwim manufacturer. The website logos & colors don’t match those on the bottle.

No worries for it gets better. The President is a woman. Go Girl Power. They are environmentally conscious, and their office is in the same county as mine. Some day I’ll stop in and say Thank you. Then wouldn’t it be great if they gave me more samples … need to fill my drawer with something (smile). Besides, it’s the little things that make my day.

Today two people asked how I got started in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Great question. It was one of those unexpected, game-changing events that propelled me into CSR.

In 1999 a friend was the Executive Director at the Watts Counseling and Learning Center, and I was working for the Disney owned Anaheim Angels baseball team and the Mighty Ducks hockey team.  My friend asked if the teams could donate game tickets to the Center? If so, he’d distribute them to families in Watts.  Easy enough, that was done.

Than I thought about other people I knew and decided to organize a ski-day for some of the kids in his Center. After making a few calls, the logistics for that event was done.  Snow Summit donated ski tickets, rentals and lessons for 20 kids. Gold Coast Tours donated a bus to transport the kids to/from the ski resort. Oakley donated goggles, and I got friends to donate ski jackets.

About two weeks after the ski date, the kids mailed me thank you notes and pictures of their day on the slopes, and that’s when I  discovered none of the kids had been outside of Watts. So the entire day was a new experience for them — seeing the mountains, touching snow, learning a new sport, smelling pine trees in the fresh mountain air. WOW. It was life altering for them and for me.

A few days later my friend at Oakley asked about how I got Burton Snow Boards and Mitsubishi Motors involved. Well, that was news to me. Neither company participated. So I called both companies and discovered they partner together in a program called “Chill“. It was nearly identical to mine, however their program was national, working with three non-profits in seven markets.  Their goal was to teach at-risk, underserved youth how to build self-esteem and life-skills through snowboarding.

Instantly I understood why Burton created Chill , but why did Mitsubishi participate? The connection wasn’t logical to me. So I asked their community outreach person about their goals, and for the first time heard the words “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR).

The Mitsubishi representative said the Chill program was part of their CSR program. It was a community outreach campaign that enabled them to engage with the youth and show them how to accomplish goals they never thought possible.

Since then I’ve been on a quest to help companies thrive by embracing CSR.  My strengthens involve creating CSR strategies, identifying CSR programs that strengthen corporate goals, and communicating CSR efforts (internally and externally).

So, here’s the CSR scoop. It focuses on creating a positive triple bottom line: profits, people, and the planet. For example,  companies can create an employee wellness program; publish an annual CSR report; engage in environmental sustainability, create a community engagement program, embrace a cause marketing campaign (Habitat for Humanity, breast cancer awareness or financial literacy) or create a foundation (philanthropy).

The possibilities are vast, and helping a company embrace/communicate CSR give my life a sense of meaning. It helps me serve a purpose greater than me, and that’s why I am a CSR specialist.

Do you have a CSR question?  If so, please send me a note. Thank you.