Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
#1 International Best-Selling Author, Business Consultant, and Self Love Coach Arliss Dudley-Cash is an inspirational speaker and self-love movement leader. With a background in business, neuroscience, and forensics her career expands over several industries including operations management, research scientist, and death investigation. Arliss unites this eclectic background with her personal journey to overcome the odds and survive a terminal diagnosis. Her awarding winning presentations include topics on extreme self-love and body positivity. Arliss is a big believer in the magic of our individual stories and the power of storytelling to affect positive change in this world. In 2021, she co-founded The Body Positivity Podcast which she hosts with her friend Diana Gremillion. Through her company Soullutions LLC, she is passionate about helping her clients to become powerful, joyful, authentic business owners experiencing freedom, having a lot more fun in their business, and experiencing the success of their dreams.Arliss’s dream is for each of us to become the loves of our lives!
You’re a business coach and consultant who teach entrepreneurs, professionals, and “busy human beings” the art of self-love and how to build a business with soul. You have had a quite impressive and inspirational career where you also started off at a four-year-long Neuroscience Ph.D. program. Can You tell our readers more about your journey?
Four years into a Neuroscience Ph.D. program, life threw me a giant curveball: I was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and told that I was not likely to live more than another year. I was 28 years old. This diagnosis turned my life upside down. It led me on a path of radical self-love and self-care. In order to live, I had to start asking myself: What if you were the love of your life?
Through my experience, I have come to find that the secret to living is self-love. Self-love is incredibly powerful and transformative. Yet, it remains one of the most undertaught skills on the planet. I am on a mission to change this, by helping others cultivate a life-changing practice of self-love and self-care while experiencing business success.
After science, my second academic love is business. As the result of working as the Director of Operations for a multifaceted company, I fell in love with business and decided to return to school and pursue my Master’s in Business Administration. With my master’s degree in Neuroscience and an MBA, I decided to found my company, Soullutions LLC, to coach other entrepreneurs, professionals, and busy human beings who are struggling, to learn how to build and balance their life and business. My personal journey to self-love and healing, combined with my extensive education and professional experience, uniquely qualify me to serve as a coach and consultant.
For those of us that are not so familiar with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is, can you develop what it means to be diagnosed with the disease?
Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that affects all parts of the body that contain collagen. The first areas to come to mind are the joints and skin. Due to the EDS, I have had significant challenges with partial dislocations and full dislocations of my joints. Collagen is also a primary tissue of all hollow organs including the heart, intestines, bladder, and uterus. I have had challenges in all these areas, which led me to the devastating decision to have a full hysterectomy at the age of 29.
For much of my life and especially when I was diagnosed, I have felt completely betrayed by my body and even hated my body. I had so many health challenges growing up that I overworked and pushed myself as hard as I could to overcome what I perceived as not being good enough because my health did not allow me to keep pace with others around me. Gentleness and compassion were a foreign language.
Following the EDS diagnosis, I had no choice but to learn to love and care for my body if I was going to live. I had to learn to speak lovingly to my body, be aware of when negative thoughts were present, and allow myself to rest when needed. This is all still true for me today and is an important part of what I teach my clients.
What I have learned is that our brains and cells respond to how we speak to ourselves and the thoughts that we think. The response to negativity is a lessening of our ability to live long and healthy lives and a decrease in motivation and ability to achieve our goals. The response when we are loving toward ourselves is that our brain and cells support us in living longer and healthier lives and achieving greater personal and professional success.
Looking back, I realize how overworking myself, using negative motivation, and pushing myself added to the terminal diagnosis that I received. I felt that no matter what I did it was never going to be enough. Now that I am caring for myself with loving-kindness, I am the healthiest I have ever been and achieving more in my business than I could have ever imagined. That is what I want every business owner out there to know and live, without having to suffer and put their life on the line the way that I did. I invite all of YOU to start showing yourself loving-kindness TODAY, schedule self-care TODAY, and look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself “I Love You” TODAY. Do this and experience the amazing things that happen in your life and business. Start Today!
In 2019, you founded Soullutions LLC, what is the most fun thing about running your own business?
The most fun thing about running my own business is seeing my clients have so much more fun in their lives and businesses. Play and fun are key components to a full life and a successful business. Our brain needs breaks to recover exactly like our muscles following strenuous activity. You wouldn’t run a marathon every day without some rest days. You cannot work every day without some fun and relaxation and expect your brain to be in tip-top shape. One thing that I do, and I coach my clients to do, is always have something fun to look forward to on the calendar. As entrepreneurs, we all live and breathe by our calendars so if you are not scheduling your fun that is probably a big reason why it is not happening. Take the time today to carve out some time, at least once a week, to do something that really brings you joy and lights you up.
One of your main areas of focus is on the Body Positivity Podcast! It is so relevant and important, especially in today's society where many people have problems with their own self-image and feels the pressure of social media. Can you give us 3 tips on how to work on our self-love?
My Body Positivity Podcast Co-Host Diana Gremillion and I just celebrated our 1st Annual International Body Positivity Conference. Our goal is to create a world where positive body image is the norm. At the conference, our speakers gave us so many golden nuggets of wisdom and expertise as to how to start or maintain a body positivity journey. I am excited to share three of them with you today.
Affirmations. Reading positive affirmations to ourselves is a powerful way to shift our mindset around the way that we view our bodies. A great way to get started is to write down a couple of judgmental phrases you may hear yourself say about yourself on one side of a piece of paper. Then on the other side of the piece of paper write the positive version. I highly recommend using “I” statements and keeping them in the present tense. For example: if one of your negative phrases is “I am unattractive”, then a good positive affirmation is “I see the beauty in my body”. Then read your positive affirmations aloud so that your brain can hear them in your own voice.
Notice Negative Thoughts. When negative thoughts arise, notice them with curiosity instead of judgment or pushing them away. Realize that at some point those negative thoughts were serving a purpose. Maybe they motivated you or they protected you. By making the choice to start noticing when negative thoughts are present, that is an important step toward positivity and self-love.
Self-Care. Schedule time each day to give yourself self-care. Here are some examples: after you shower or bathe, rub lotion or oil on your body and tell the different parts of your body that you love them, look into your eyes in the mirror and say to yourself “I Love You”, or make yourself a healthy and delicious meal and set the table for yourself and maybe even light a candle. Choose a self-care practice that really makes you feel loved and cherished by you.
As seen on your Instagram page, you have a lot of beautiful and inspiring quotes.
Which one is your favorite and why?
My favorite quote of all time is:
“Every thought we think is creating our future” by Louise L. Hay.
Our thoughts are far more powerful than most people think. They impact our biology, biochemistry, mindset, neurobiology, and much much more. This has been proven by a wealth of research in the scientific community. If there is anyone practice that I can recommend, over anything else, it is to become aware of your thoughts. Awareness is the first step in making a change.
So, to the last question, what’s the next big goal or project for Arliss Dudley-Cash and how can someone get in contact with you?
My next big project is launching my Building Business with Soul Summit and group coaching program in May of 2022. This Summit and Program is specifically designed for Soulpreneurs who are ready to step out of overworking, pushing, and negative motivation and instead step into mindfulness, self-compassion, and passionately achieving business success while experiencing a whole lot more fun. I am looking for other like-minded coaches and consultants to present at the Building Business with Soul Summit and would love them to reach out at arliss@soullutions.com.
Diana and I will also be presenting the New Year Love You Body Positivity Summit and Celebration on January 13th, 14th, and 15th, 2022. We are looking for speakers and workshop leaders who are welcome to reach out to us at bodypositivitynow@gmail.com.
If you are interested in working directly with me, I currently offer a 7-week course, You Are the Love of Your Life, and a 1 Year Program, I Am the Love of My Life, focusing on deepening Self Love and building a true partnership with self. I also offer one on one business coaching and consulting. Feel free to reach out to me using any of the following methods arliss@soullutions.com or @arliss.dudley.cash or @soul_lutions.
You can also learn more details at www.soullutions.com.
