Lorraine Crowston is a certified life coach, a speaker and an author and is particularly interested in helping people deal with their food demons. Lorraine has worked as a chef, a computer network instructor, a trainer and a project manager. Lorraine Crowston has bundled all of her life experiences into a package where she helps people achieve physical and emotional health in playful, easy-to-follow steps. Her book, 'The Devil's Food Cake Made Me Do It', is a great example of Lorraine's unique way of viewing life and helping people.
Contact Info
Website: LorraineCrowston.com
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn: @LorraineCrowston
Community: GoRead.com  (Lorraine has an author's page at GoRead.com)
Book: The Devil's Food Cake Made Me Do It by Lorraine Crowston
Most Influential Person
Jenny McKee (One of the women I do a lot of networking with)
Effect on Emotions
Mindfulness has caused me to be a kinder, gentler person. I don't have to be the manager. I don't have to be the hard, make-all-the-decisions person. It's been a lovely journey. I'm really liking being able to sit back and just take it easy.
Thoughts on Breathing
Breathing is so interesting because I've just finished doing an audio book. It's the audio version of my book. I've taken a voice acting coach and I also do Yoga. Breathing is part of all of those things.
When you're recording an audio book, you try not to breathe too loudly because it will pick it up and it has to be cleaned up later. But when you're doing Yoga, it's a totally different thing. You're making sure you totally focus on the breath.
Suggested Resources
Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
Book: The Devil's Food Cake Made Me Do It by Lorraine Crowston
App: FatSecret.com
Bullying Story
I was the smallest kid in the class. I don't term it quite so much as bullying, but I was definitely teased quite a bit. I was very fortunate, because I was the youngest of six, so once I got home I was safe.
I had a whole crew of people around me that kept me safe. It was my safe haven. I think that a lot of the times, I look back and think about these people who had bullied me or teased me at the time and I sometimes wonder what was going on in their household.
If they are feeling powerless at home, this is their was to regain power and so they're going to look for the person that they think is the most vulnerable and bully them. Unfortunately what happens, in my case it didn't work. I had five older siblings that picked on me.
What I think happens is that they look for the most gentle soul who won't fight back. That's really a shame because these poor gentle souls are the ones who take the hit a lot more. They don't have that hard core to fight back and so it is much more damaging to them than what may have happened to me when I was growing up.
My mom stopped protecting me and so I had to fight my own battles, so in a way, internally in my own house, I had to stand up for myself or find the means to navigate through the whole family dynamics. I had the tools for it.
Imagine if I had been an only child where I'm closeted and maybe a gentle soul and I wouldn't have received those tools to sorta say, hold on, I'm not going to be your victim, I'm not going to take the bullying. Back off. Then you get those very bad situations.