By Pops Peterson
Above: “Carole’s World” (2013) by Pops, featuring Carole on her property, Boulderwood, with some of her livestock and her late canine companion, Bertie.
Doing “The Berkshire Shuffle” is how locals label holding down multiple jobs at once to move ahead in life. The same term can also allude to the many talented people here who pursue their passions in different professional directions. A prime example of the latter is my friend, Carole Murko, who has evolved from real estate broker to life coach, as the owner of Love Eat Heal, with many cool professional stops along the way.
“I’m seeing miracles happen to people all the time,” she said, and in this new role as coach and healer, I’ve never seen her glow with such quiet confidence and pride.
My husband and I met Carole as the perky broker who sold us our commercial building in Stockbridge back in 2005. Then she went on to provide guidance as an interior designer. Over the years, I’ve watched Carole become a successful TV producer and host, a podcaster, webmaster, on-air talent for a cooking segment on Albany’s Channel 13 News, and more, throwing herself into each pursuit with ferocious passion, skill, and optimism. Her love of cooking inspired Heirloom Meals, a multiplatform food program she hoped to blossom into a multimedia company. Ambitions of becoming an alternative to Martha Stewart were not fulfilled, but nonetheless her “Heirloom Meals” specials were featured on PBS for 10 holiday seasons.
As Heirloom Meals was winding down, Carole was recruited to be the membership director of the ultra-exclusive Westmoor Club on Nantucket. “I called that job, ‘Grace,’” she said, “because it showed up exactly when I needed the luxury of a salaried job in paradise—as I had just been diagnosed with a theoretically incurable eye disease.”
A Smith graduate with an MA in international political economy and 15 years as a Wall Street financial analyst under her belt, she was not the type to simply sit back and let a diagnosis leave her hopelessly blind. She scoured the internet and sought advice from a plethora of experts: medical doctors, herbalists, an acupuncturist, a spiritualist, and more. She eventually found what resonated with her, and more important, what worked for her personally.
“I help people activate their inner healer because I know healing is an inside job.”
—Carole
The core of her discovery was the power of her own thoughts to impact her mental and physical state as well as her external environment. Now, despite her “incurable” diagnosis, she has vastly restored her eyesight. And her work life, helping others, is more fulfilling than she ever imagined.
“Change your mind and change your life,” she said of the positive-mindset program she developed from her self-healing journey and now teaches. It is a mix of Dr. Joe Dispenza’s meditations and prayer, Wim Hof’s guided breathwork, cannabis coaching, and other modalities in which she has become accredited. Her methods are intended to undo negative thought patterns to improve one’s entire life, not only physical health concerns. “Through mindfulness, self-care, and the power of food for healing, we can create a life that’s truly worth living,” she professes.
Carole hosts weekend seminar retreats at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge; at her own Berkshires property, Boulderwood; and at various corporations, where the emphasis is on healing cultural dysfunctions to enhance productivity. I planned to attend a retreat but, before I had a chance, found myself standing in dire need of prayer. My newborn grandson had recently undergone open-heart surgery. For him still to be in such a delicate condition, still in danger of never making it home, was freaking me to my bones. How grateful I was when Carole invited me into her prayer group, a “Miracle Zoom,” where believers worldwide meet online to pray for individuals in need.
Call it a miracle or just a miraculous set of coincidences, but, we got amazing news the very moment we were praying: My grandson was being released from the hospital! Just like that, the dark weight of the world was lifted from my heart. He is alive, growing up to be the brightest beacon of love in my life.
Pops and Carole on Nantucket
You may believe in angels or not, but Carole Murko has absolutely been an angel in my life. She is a friend who has done so much more than just cook countless delicious meals for us to enjoy with her husband, Jim Finnerty, and their kids. She models for me anytime I ask, has let me stage a major photo shoot in her dining room, negotiated my first important photography commission (26 framed pictures!), booked my first TV news interview, and even drove me to the TV station at five in the morning! She has selflessly shared her love and made my husband and me feel that we have family here in the Berkshires. If you ever have a friend like Carole in your life, you will believe in miracles! B
For Carole’s workshops and other events, visit loveeatheal.com
Pops Peterson is the owner of SEVEN salon.spa in Stockbridge and an award-winning artist.
