Michelle Burke & Lilamani de Silva, MSc - Co-Authors, Joy Cards
Michelle Burke & Lilamani de Silva, MSc
Michelle Burke is a sought-after leadership coach, facilitator, speaker, founder, and CEO of Energy Catalyst Group, a consulting and training company for well-being. Over her twenty-year career, she gained a deep appreciation and perspective working with people and cultures from all walks of life. Michelle has trained thousands of participants to make positive change—bridging communication gaps getting in the way of a thriving workplace and a joy-filled life. Her mindfulness coaching helps women to be empowered and promoted into leadership roles. Garnering rave reviews, clients include Stanford University, Microsoft, Sony PlayStation, Snap Inc., and HP. She’s been featured in Business Week Magazine, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Wall Street Journal. Michelle is author of The Valuable Office Professional and coauthor of 15 Minute Pause: A Radical Reboot for Busy People. She partnered with coauthor Lilamani de Silva to create Joy Cards, Personalogy™ games, and Teambuilder™, a card game to build collaboration. Michelle enjoys time with loved ones, cooking, fun adventures, reading, sports, and walking her dog Jadie.
Lilamani de Silva, MSc, has had an eclectic career across multiple industries including media relations, TV production, and the creation of innovative products for home, work, and play with coauthor Michelle Burke. She also worked for London Zoo, BBC World, and has helped produce documentaries for Discovery, Animal Planet, and ITV. An avid self-taught painter, Lilamani has sold her artwork worldwide. Her paintings illustrateJoy Cards. Her many experiences have opened her mind to different cultures and perspectives, which are reflected in her artwork and other projects. In her spare time, Lilamani enjoys being active, traveling, reading, painting, and spending time with loved ones.
I’m excited for you to connect with Michelle and Lilamani, check out their work and impact, and follow along as they continue to inspire and remind you that it’s possible to experience joy even during life’s toughest challenges.
I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.
Interestingly, we are two women from vastly different places. Michelle lives in California and Lilamani travels between New Zealand and London. A series of happy coincidences converged to create what some might call a chance encounter in Seattle, Washington. Michelle was delivering a keynote and training program for Microsoft's worldwide conference and Lilamani was filming a documentary for the Discovery Channel. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t be easy to orchestrate a meeting between two women from different walks of life and different continents. Yet, despite the odds (right timing, right place) our paths crossed, and we discovered we shared a lot in common including a ruckus laughter, creative spirit, and desire to make a positive difference.
Our shared purpose was to bring people together to build meaningful connections because people are at the heart of everything we do. We shared this philosophy right from the start and it is what drives us to this day. This alongside our combined talents—Michelle’s 20+ years of leadership coaching, team training, and empowering women from across the globe and Lilamani’s scientific background and artistic ability—have given us a unique perspective and expertise.
Fun, connection, and curiosity are reflected in our various products.We have coauthored a book, produced Personology™, a line of conversational card games, and our latest passion projectJoy Cardstohelp people cultivate and spread joy. This has inspired our new adventureJoy Retreats coming up this Summer! You can visit energycatalystgroup.com/joy-cards/ for more info.
How did you get started?
We met 20 years ago in Seattle, Washington. We immediately connected and became creative partners and dear friends. Over the years, we have developed various products together, working from our respective lounges. We’ve creatively pursued our ideas and would be hard-pressed to count the hours spent on Google and Skype (but in the thousands wouldn’t be far-fetched). There has been no shortage of travel as we’ve darted across the globe on planes, trains, and buses to test out and trial our creative endeavors. We’ve walked the walk, made costly mistakes, learned to get back on the horse, to ignore naysayers and to start again, and trust our instincts.
We have learned over time the difference between merely surviving day-to-day and living fully. Twelve years ago, we were at a place where we were both busy, running on empty, and disconnected. We looked at ways of not just coping but thriving despite the ongoing stress. It began with a friendly challenge. We encouraged one another to spend 15 minutes each day doing something fun, playful, or kind. Ouraha’s(over 10 years) led to the writing of our book15 Minute Pause: A Radical Reboot for Busy People.As creatives we are always coming up with new ideas. It’s the fun part of our job.
What inspired the work you’re doing?
We both had fathers who were successful in their own careers and served as our inspiration to pursue doing what we loved. Following our hearts allowed us to explore, make mistakes, fail, retry, and discover our talents and strengths along the way. Our individual journeys took us in different directions until we crossed paths in Washington state. They say like minds attract, and in our case, we found we also shared a sense of purpose. This led to a creative partnership spanning over 20 years, developing interactive products to help others have meaningful connection and fun.
Our recent passion project, theJoy Cards, was born from a very difficult time in our lives and in the world. Who would have thought we would all be faced with a pandemic? When we first went into lockdown, like for most people, it was chaotic, uncertain, and very stressful. Michelle was recovering from a bad case of Covid, while Lilamani was a caregiver to her ill father. We wanted to do something to help ease the anxiety and to make a positive difference. This was our inspiration to createJoy Cardsas a solution to reduce stress and a reminder to have more fun. As we designed each activity card, we practiced each one to see if it helped us to feel joyful. Some ideas didn’t work.Many of the joy activities were tried and tested in Michelle’s training programs over the years and proved to be hugely successful,such as theLove Letter. When it worked, we noticed that our mood shifted, we were laughing more and feeling better.At this critical time, when stress was high and energy low, we realized just how important it was to keep our energy tank full. So, we decided to focus on something positive and find a way to help others too.
What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?
Our current passion is to spread joy because everybody deserves to live a joy-filled life, especially during stressful times. Like so many others, we’ve faced unexpected family losses, overcome serious illnesses, dealt with failed relationships, suffered numerous rejections, and financial hardships—and yes, have been stuck in a rut at times. Despite these challenges, we found ways to move forward and discovered that being open allows joy to show up in unexpected ways. Joy made the good days better and the bad days more bearable. Each of us in our own way, took time to reflect, learn, and grow from these struggles. It hasn't always been an easy road yet, doing what we value, and love is fulfilling and rewarding in of itself. This divinely guided path continues to be a work in progress and hopefully we are becoming better humans as a result. Our experiences and lessons have given rise to our passions and driven our purpose. Ultimately, this journey has taught us a lot about ourselves, our limitations, the sacrifices, and joys that come with living a purposeful life.
What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?
Our joy blueprint is integrating a joy-filled pause as a regular practice into our daily lives. This intentional pause can start with just 15 minutes a day. It allows us to stop the busyness and become more aware of the present to notice and appreciate everyday simple pleasure, what we refer to as joy gems—like a warm shower, a walk in nature, or a beautiful sunset. It also gives us permission to take time for the “love to’s” and not just the “to do’s”. The pause allows us to do something that makes us feel good daily. In doing so, we build our joyful reserves to increase our sense of calm or playfulness when sadness or heartache come knocking.
Importantly, it helps us to stay more grounded during life's challenges by reducing stress, improving our mood, and making us smile more often. The more joy we add the more balance we have in our otherwise busy and oftentimes stressful day. Like any muscle, the joy muscle needs to be developed regularly to achieve maximum benefit. The joy gems are a quick and easy way to decrease worry and change a negative to a positive. And, they bring us back to the here and now to reenergize, recalibrate, and find respite from life’s daily grind. We have found that when we pay attention, joy shows up more often and in unexpected ways.
So many things light us up, bring us joy, and make us feel alive. There are too many to name, however, the most important is spending quality time with family and friends. After that, it’s a hodge-podge including the sea, being in nature, swimming, hiking, sunsets, traveling, writing, birdsong, delicious food, meaningful conversations, reading, a warm shower, alone time, a massage, springtime, baking, hugs, pets, movies, dancing, sing-a-longs, doing something creative, exploring, and having a purpose.
How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?
We practice mindfulness by pausing each day for at least 15 minutes. We discovered the more we paused, the easier it became to deal with life’s messiness. We eventually got into a rhythm, creating a positive habit and a regular practice, which has since become an essential life choice and life saver.
We both stay grounded by spending time in nature and swimming to recharge. In addition, Michelle loves to bake, garden, and walk her dog Jadie each day. Several years ago, Michelle took UCLA’s year-long program MARC that gave her tools and helped her develop a mindfulness practice.Today, she continues to take Deepak Chopra’s mindfulness courses. Lilamani prefers to be active to calm her mind and to stay grounded. She loves cycling, listening to TED talks, painting, talking to friends, and popping into galleries.
What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?
Our younger selves would be joyfully surprised at the path we’ve taken. It may not be what was traditionally expected, yet the effort, persistence, and courage to get this far would make “little us” proud. Most importantly our younger cheerleaders would be happy that we are doing meaningful and creative work that we love.
Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?
Every day, I have a choice, so I choose joy.
When all else fails, be kind, and be grateful.
Will this matter one month or a year from now?
What is your biggest dream?
Our hope is to inspire people to discover and experience the simple pleasures (joy gems) that lift them up, make them laugh out loud, and add spontaneity back into their life. Joy is contagious, so if we can be a catalyst of joy to spark fun in unexpected ways and help those who want to get their joy back, then we will have succeeded. Ultimately, we would like to start a joy-filled movement to spread more joy, remembering that it’s the simple pleasures and acts of kindness that really make a difference. We believe that everyone deserves to live a joy-filled life despite the stressors, fears, and uncertainty that shows up along the way! We are on a mission, a mission to spread joy.
To connect with Michelle and Lilamani visit https://energycatalystgroup.com/personal-development/ and energycatalystgroup.com/joy-cards/
Their recent projects include their online personal developmental programs and workshops. ReEnergize Your Life is a fun and easy online course to create more balance in seven life areas: relationships, soul, body, mind, creativity, career, and philanthropy. JumpStart Self-care helps lower stress and avoid burnout. These courses originated from their book 15 Minute Pause, A Radical Reboot for Busy People. Currently, they are working on their Joy Retreats based on their Joy Cards. They are designed for women who want to reset, recharge, and relax in a beautiful resort setting. It is all about feeling rejuvenated and learning how to rediscover and maintain joy no matter what stressors we might be facing.
Joy Corner is an interview-style blog series brought to you by Seek The Joy Podcast. Our mission continues to be a desire to share your stories, truths, joys and inspiration in your words. We invite you to join our corner, and share your joys, passions, and moments of inspiration as we continue to seek the joy, together. Join this series here