Your Badass Journey Guest, Dr. Alisha "Ali" Griffith

Dr. Alisha “Ali” Griffith is an autism parenting strategist, transformational speaker, certified professional coach, speech language pathologist, audiologist, and the mom of a child living with autism – all of which aligned and culminated in the bestselling book Au-mazing Gift: A Journey to Autism Acceptance!

Through her passionate service, ignite coaching, and fervent empowerment of families with autism and other sensory challenges, Dr. Ali has helped many to shift their negative self-talk towards positive energy power by believing in their unique strengths, differences, and gifts. And in April 2019, she proudly released her podcast, The Dr. Ali Griffith Show: Mindset, Meditation and Motivation!

What I love about this conversation is that you see the true gift that comes out of focusing on yourself first — because you can’t give of yourself until your cup runneth over!

Finding the Path

Dr. Ali has wanted to start a business since she was a little girl, but she never knew it would be — or could be — something related to autism. 

But what Dr. Ali thought was possible changed after working with Susie Carder, who is a big deal in the coaching world.

So, Dr. Ali was volunteering with her and supporting her when, one day, Susie said, “Tell me about you." Dr. Ali broke down and started to talk about her son, about being a parent with a kid with autism, and how she volunteered just to learn more about the business side of speaking. 

Then Susie asked her, "Why aren't you out there motivating autism moms?"

Dr. Ali didn’t feel like she was the right person to do that — but Susie Carder helped change her mind. Susie said that other mothers need to see the grit and grind that go into creating this empire, this legacy, that’s all based around their children. And that moment changed Dr. Ali’s life.

Your Cup Runneth Over

But getting to the point that Dr. Ali is today required a lot of internal work.

I think a lot of our mompreneurs and moms with unique children — and, really, moms in general — end up sacrificing the time it takes to connect back to themselves in order to serve others.

That certainly happened to Dr. Ali. She was recently re-married, navigating the school system, navigating life, and trying to get a hold on her finances. It didn’t feel like there was any time for herself.

But after she discovered the self-development field and started tapping into who she was, as Alish and not as a mother, Dr. Ali realized how important that internal work is.

“I was able to see, oh my goodness, I was such a disservice to this kid because I gave him this basics, but I wasn't celebrating him. I celebrated his milestones because — ‘Hey, now, you're able to talk in sentences. Now, you're able to answer questions’ — but I forgot to celebrate his quirkiness.”

So Dr. Ali started some new practices and started prioritizing this time for herself; things she can do to sustain the connection to herself so that she can be of service to her family and her clients.

Those practices are:

• Dr. Ali starts every day with about 20 minutes of meditation, although it doesn’t matter exactly what your practice looks like. “As an audiologist, my focus is also helping us finding how to listen. And meditation is truly the practice of being still and listening to what you're supposed to do, where I'm supposed to go. That began my biggest journey into pouring back into me.”

• Dr. Ali also needs to be active and move a few times a week, at least. If she doesn’t get to practice martial arts or kickboxing at least once or twice a week, if she doesn’t get the chance to have that complete release into a bag, she just isn’t the same. This also taught her that her kid also needs a safe space where he can release whatever he is feeling inside, safely and without judgement.

• Finally, sometimes you just need to shake that thang! Dr. Ali is a music lover, so sometimes she just throws on some feel-good music and enjoys herself; “just me, myself, and I.”

I absolutely love it. Because not only did Dr. Ali completely transform her own life and the life of her family, but she has also had such a positive impact on the lives of so many others. You can learn more and get more inspiration from Dr. Ali’s book, Au-Mazing Gift: A Journey to Autism Acceptance!, and her podcast, The Dr. Ali Griffith Show: Mindset, Meditation and Motivation 

Resources:

• Learn more at draligriffith.com

• Listen: The Dr. Ali Griffith Show: Mindset, Meditation and Motivation

• Read: Au-Mazing Gift: A Journey to Autism Acceptance!

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