Sept. 4, 2024

Everyday Awakening

Everyday Awakening

The question is “why are we here”? What are we meant to accomplish while experiencing this life? I think we all experience that question at some point in our lives but don’t necessarily have the answer come to us.
Catherine Duncan is a spiritual...

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The question is “why are we here”? What are we meant to accomplish while experiencing this life? I think we all experience that question at some point in our lives but don’t necessarily have the answer come to us.
Catherine Duncan is a spiritual consultant, among many other things and she explains her own near death experiences and how that brought her to a point of peace and understanding as to what life is really all about, and how we can experience healing in our lives.
www.learingtolive.org

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This program is designed to provide general information with regards

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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with

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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station

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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,

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legal counseling, professional service, or any advice.

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You should seek the services.

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Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.

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At the end of the day, it's not about what

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you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what

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you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up,

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who you've made better. It's about what you've given back.

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Denzel Washington, Welcome to Inspire Vision. Our sole purpose is

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to elevate the lives of others and to inspire you

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to do the same.

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Catherine Duncan, Welcome to the show.

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Great to meet you today.

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It is great to see you.

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You were just telling me before we started recording that

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you were on TV this morning.

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Yeah, I was on Good Morning Arizona talking about energy boundaries.

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Very fun.

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Energy boundaries.

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Yep, energy boundaries. We are energy. We have an energy

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field around us, an electromagnetic field, and we can actually

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work with this energy field to not take in energy

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from loved ones a chaos of the world, and it's

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something I practiced for twenty years. Wow.

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Okay, so we're going to talk about that, and just

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what I'd love for you to do is share with

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the audience who you are. And I know you have

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an extremely varied background and it's amazing as I look

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at your bio. I want you to share that with

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your audience and help them to understand how you.

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Got to this point in your life.

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I am an integrative spiritual consult and I have a

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private practice where I work with people one on one

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providing emotional and spiritual support. I do QULD, have been

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of public speaking, and then this last year launching my

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first book, Every Day Awakening nationwide, which is so exciting.

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I'm actually I'm an or day minister, board certified chaplain,

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spiritual director and just passionate about whole person healing, studying

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it for the last twenty five years and I'm certified

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in a range of healing modalities. And so my background

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it was listening, listening, coming within, listening to the guidance

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that really started. How did I get here? I started

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when I was eleven years old, facing into dying as

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a very young child. I'm a survivor of having a

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very rare childhood cancer and my parents were told I

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had a twenty percent chance to live. This is in

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the seventies. It was quite grim back then. They had

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no anti nausea drugs. They did a lot of amputation.

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It just it was a lot, and surprisingly no one

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talked to me, and I just felt quickly that I

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was walking a tightrope. I could feel that I was

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between life and death. And that is when my life

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cracked open on my own. I started out of nowhere

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to pray, even though prayer meant nothing to me, but

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just praying to live. I wanted. I realized I wanted

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to live. I didn't want to die, and I was pleading,

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and not long after, this feeling of peace poured through

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my body. And it's just annoying. I was going to

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live and I never I didn't tell anyone, but it

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just has been comforting to me to this day.

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So you did not have a near death experience then,

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but you were on the border of dying according to

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the doctors, and obviously that did not happen.

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And fast forward in my thirties. I did have a

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near death experience. I was whitewater rafting in Costa Rica

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on a corporate Time Inc. Company trip, and I had

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what you call a near death experience that was really

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rough and it was a turning point actually for me

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after many years of being an advertising executive, making lots

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of money, time ink and having a wonderful career. Though

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but just like that's it, I'm done. This isn't who

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I want to be. I need to listen where am

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I being called in my life? And I, after that experience,

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within a few weeks, gave my notice to leave Time

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Warner to listen to where am I being called in

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my life?

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And with that, you know, as I've read different near

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death experiences from people, they all have a slightly different experience,

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it seems like, and so it would be interesting, I

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think for the audience to understand what yours was like.

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And yeah, I think that would Do you mind sharing that?

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No, absolutely. We went on this Timing corporate trip for

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their top sales executives. We were in Costa Rica. We

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decided to go whitewater rafting. We were in rivers that

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were torrential. It was like level four, pretty rough from rains.

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We shouldn't have gone out, so there are many boats.

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We were in a boat and I was in the

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very corner and I had a life elsa helmet, and

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if you can believe it, the head of our raft

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was head of they had like this Olympic team. He

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was crazy. All the other rafts were going around these

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rough rapids. Our guy was taking us straight down the middle.

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And next thing you know, I was thrown off the

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raft and I was deep underwater, and I mean here,

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I had this life best helmet, deep underwater, pitch black,

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and all of a sudden, like this is it, I'm

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gonna die. I just had flashbacks of being a child

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in the hospital. I had young kids. Then I saw them,

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and all of a sudden, this white light came around

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my body and this voice said to me, out of nowhere,

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really clearly, living or dying is fine, And this peace

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poured through me, similar in a way to when I

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was a child. But I didn't know if I was

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gonna live or die. And I just I let go.

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I just I think I let go of my body.

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I think that's how I came out from under a rapid.

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They grabbed me, got me on a boat. I was

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in shock. I couldn't talk. We had to finish getting

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down the river because it was such a remote area,

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and got through that whole experience. A day later, I

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flew home, and I'm in Minneapolis in a taxi driving

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to my home, and I happened to call my mom

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just to tell her I was home. My mother never

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shared a dream in her life and never has since.

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And she said to me, without me even telling or

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what had happened, She's like, Catherine, I dreamed that I

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slipped into a river and I almost drowned, and then

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I woke up. It was like the day that that happened.

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But I share this because it was a significant turning point.

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I just thought I need to listen where I was

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being called. I was already feeling restless about what I

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was doing, and like, is this really what I'm called

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to do? And so it gave me the courage to

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just walk away and start to listen to where I

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was being called, which led me then to studying theology

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and divinity and chaplaincy. And here I am all right.

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So you know, it's interesting as you talk about a

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spiritual consultant, because we're going to talk about mysticism. We're

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going to talk about all sorts of issues that may

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or may not have anything to do with quote spiritual.

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And yet you are a spiritual consultant and you approach

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things that way. Can you explain to the audience what

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it means to you to be a spiritual casultant.

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I would say, ever since eleven years old, when I

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was praying to live and all of a sudden that

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feeling came through my being of deep peace and comfort

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and knowing I wasn't going to die, and knowing I

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wasn't alone. That feeling of that just that oneness with

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the universe has been with me to this day. And

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I started, as I'll share with you, a teenager, voraciously

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reading life meaning purpose kind of books like why am

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I here to this day? And I'm just steeped, steeped

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spiritually and that I decided getting I got a master's

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in theology, a master's in divinity of all the degrees,

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But just what does it mean to tune in to

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that oneness of the universe? And I'll share with you

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as a spiritual consultant. And for years I worked as

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a chaplain. I was a chaplain at a Level one

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trauma hospital had oft been County Medical Center. I was

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a chaplain at Fear of You Hospice for years. I've

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worked with thousands of people, and I believe in being

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ecumenical inclusive. I think languages limiting. What is it for

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each of us? Everyone hearing this right now? That sense

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of is it a sense of flow of energy? True nature?

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God?

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Allah? I mean I just, I just what is it

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for everyone? And this has been my life path almost

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most of my life. I have contemplated and tuned into

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that force that life was, that universal energy that has

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guided my life well.

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And you're being politically correct by saying universal energy. So

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being a chaplain and you know, doing all the theology

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part is there As you talk about universal energy in

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your mind, are you speaking of God or are you

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speaking of something else? Yep.

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So in my book every Day Awakening, I do use

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the language God. I mean, for me, the word God

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is actually very comforting. But I also will use universe,

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higher power. I'll use some different words. It's all okay.

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I think I don't know. The more the more spiritually conscious,

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spiritually where mature you are, I think there's more of

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an openness and I've just witnessed how those kind of words.

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People get hung up on words for the good the bad,

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and I just what is again that feeling tone? And

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I'm just really open, even within myself, of how I

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use that language well.

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And it's interesting, you know, I got back from Thailand

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just last month and spent a number of months there,

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and it fascinated.

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Me to see how they are so open.

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In fact, I went to one I went to one temple,

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you know, because I love to take pictures. I went

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to one temple and off to the side was a

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smaller temple, and I asked, I asked the guy, what

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is that. He says, oh, that's a that's that's a

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Muslim temple. As they built that so that everyone would

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have a place to worship and be comfortable. And so

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I find that, you know, most people who have any

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kind of sense of deity or universal whatever, they really

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have that sense of openness and kindness and accepting of everyone.

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Regardless of their beliefs.

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But you made one comment, and I want to go

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back to that and ask the question. You may or

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may not have an answer for that.

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Why are we here?

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I think we're here to learn to love. I do.

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I think our essence are being as love. I think

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we're here to learn how to be fully alive and

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embody that sense of love which is our true nature,

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how to love one another. I think that's how we

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differentiate ourselves. I think when we die, I think death

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is not an end. I've seen we too much as

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a chaplain, which we can talk about. But I think

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what we take with us when we die is our

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ability to love. That's why I think we're here.

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Well, and as you talk about, you know, you've seen

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so many things. I think.

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I think there's a great fear among many people about

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death and wondering what's going to happen after I die?

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Or is anything going to happen? And of course you

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have all the various thoughts and religions about all right,

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you know, multiple lives, So you've got the reincarnation people.

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You've got people that says there's just nothing. You have

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people that have the heaven and hell concept, you have

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many other concepts. What why so much fear and how

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do we help people to understand? As you said when

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you heard that voice, that life or death it's okay?

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Well, I think starting with I think a lot of

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people in the US. A lot of people in the

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world live in their mind. They live head up their mind,

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their fast chattering ego mind runs their life. And when

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that happens, and like people like Akar Toll brilliant love

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e Car Tol, I do too, oh great. But when

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we're in our mind, you know, you're in the past,

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you're in the future, you're not even here. So cultivating

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moments of presence, just basic presence of if it's your breath,

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if it's using your senses, if it's putting your hands

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on your chest and just breathing to just bring you

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down into your body. Our bodies always in the present moment.

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So can you feel into just this moment? And it's

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in the moment, that sense of great peace and aliveness,

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it's there, it's not in our mind. So it's just

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starting people on the path of where are you all

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day long? And how can you feel into just the

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preciousness of life right now?

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Well, and as you you know, I'm sure you've observed

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being a chaplain and so forth that as we get

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into the religious community, in my mind, there are only

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a few that really understand what we're here to accomplish.

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And there's so much.

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Do this, do that. If you do this, you're sitting.

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If you do that, you're sitting. You're going to help

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blah blah blah blah blah. What have you found in

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your process, in your adventure that you're on. How do

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you help people to understand that those types of thoughts

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that have been embedded within us are not actually fruitful

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to our overall happiness and joy and perhaps even the

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intent of our lives here on the earth.

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Great question. My training, which was a couple of years

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as a chaplain doing what's called clinical pastoral education and

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my residency, you really learn how to walk alongside someone

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to meet the person on their path. My role was never,

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and to this day is not to convert someone or

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this is the path, you know, That's not my role. However,

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if someone has a faith that's causing them undue suffering,

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then I can be directive and like, well, that's not

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the belief I hold. I mean, there's a fine line

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in the form of direction if it's in fact even

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spiritual direction our chaplaincy work. And you know what, I've

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met people of all kinds, in all faiths and all backgrounds,

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and I guess one takeaway as it were, relating to

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what your other question was, It's just death. And I

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will say, and I'll share if there's an opening and

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a flow that I think death is not an end.

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I just I have seen and witnessed thousands of people

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leave their body and our spirit goes on. I can't

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get into details like where does it go? How does

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this happen? But physically, I mean I see spirits, I

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see angels. I've seen people's energy like leave their body.

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I've seen people come back and see me with days

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after they've died. So I do not have one doubt

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that death, death.

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Is not in it.

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We transform. We transform, so helping people open into what's

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their truth and how can there be an openness in

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understanding all of life?

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Okay, and as you talk about you're seeing these people

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who have passed away, or you're seeing people who have

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had their death experiences and actually come back or both

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all the above, all of the above, So that tends

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to get a little bit into mysticism. Yeah, and how

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do you know there's so many people who are so

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deeply quote religious, and so they think about mysticism as

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something that it's just kind of out there and really

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they don't want to get involved. And you know, they'll

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read things in the Bible, maybe the Old Testament about mysticism,

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and they label that a particular way. How do you

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equite mysticism and what is your definition of mysticism relative

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to what you have personally experienced, and how does that

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relate to this overall sense of divinity within us, divinity

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outside of us?

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How does that work?

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I think mysticism is just an opening to get guidance,

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inner guidance, guidance from beyond every one of us right now,

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everyone hearing this right now, every one of us can

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receive guidance if there's words clairvoyance, clare, audience, cleresension, but

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it's cultivating present moment, being in the moment, and one

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of us might get more hearing or sensing or feeling,

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but it's really we can open into these gifts when

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we're in the present moment. One quick comment that might

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be helpful, That really helped me years ago. Uh. It

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was a short excerpt from Ken Wilbur, who's incredible as

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a spiritual author, written many books, and he talked about

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four levels of spiritual maturation. It's just coming to me

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to share in the moment about where you meet people

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on the path. And the first level quickly to share

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is when someone is it's just their egocentric it's me, me, me, me, me,

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They can't see anything but me. The second level is

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ethnal centric, so like I'm I am of this particular

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religious tradition or you know, I'm Catholic or I'm Jewish

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or I'm this sect I mean where they you're just

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defined almost by their tribe, like they can't see beyond

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what their identity is with their community. The third level

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is world centric, where you're attuned to the world, and

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the fourth is cosmo centric the world and beyond. So

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as you can imagine my role as a chaplain, I

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met so many people, some that were you know, fundamentals

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evangelical to really liberal, to agnostic to atheists. It's like,

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so you learn a sense I think of acceptance and

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openness and helping. Ever someone is on their path, how

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can they find and tap into that peace in their

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heart and soul? Where how does that start?

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Well?

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And you know you talked about suffering, and you know

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that that rings a bell for me because I know that,

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for instance, in Buddhism, which I became familiar with while

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I was over there. He talks about getting to a

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point where you have eliminated.

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Suffering in your life.

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So there's a whole process of self development there where

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people are seeking to accomplish that. In Christianity we don't

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hear that quite so much. And yet if you really

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get into some of the things.

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That are in the New Testament, you know.

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Man is that he might have joy, you know, be

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therefore perfect, which in Hebrew really means be therefore complete,

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even as your the news completely. So you have all

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of these different religious aspects to help us to how

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do we overcome the suffering?

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Because quite frankly, I really believe.

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That men are and women are there to have joy

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and experience life in a sense of peace and happiness.

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And yet, as you say, so many people are suffering.

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And as zach cart Totley talks about that consciousness, if

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we allow the ego.

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To get in there and create all.

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Of those desires and so forth that are not really meaningful,

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that creates the suffering.

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With the work that you do, is your main.

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Goal really to help people to overcome that suffering and

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to reach a point of joy and happiness and love

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in their lives.

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Yes, And I would phrase it as awaken into the

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hurt and soul, Awaken into the preciousness of what it

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means to be alive right now. And as I say that,

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everyone listens right now has had a moment of an

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experience of it. You know, even when you think of

361
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you're out at night and the sun is setting over

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the mountains, over an ocean or lake, you know, and

363
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there's that glistening or there's that glow and it kind

364
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of like takes your breath away, and there's a moment

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where like, oh ah, wonder, I'm just precious. It's like, wow,

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I'm here. We can all experience that. But it's a

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conscious choice and it's a practice. Going back to your

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earlier comment, it is a practice, a mindfulness practice, like

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where am I all day long? Am I living in

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my mind all day? Or do I have moments of

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feeling into just here and now just starting there? I

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call it building that awareness muscle of just where am

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I all day long? And how do I want to live?

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And how can I grow more peace and joy and

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a liveness. It takes some consciousness and daily choice and practice.

376
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Well, and I know you talk about five essential practices to.

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Really get to the point where you open your heart,

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you open.

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Your soul, and you start a sense that can you

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share with the audience what those practices are?

381
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Yep, So the first practice sets the stage for all

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of it. Come back to the present moment, cultivating here

383
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and now, which I was just talking about. The second

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is connect with something greater and there I'm really open

385
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and how I language that. The third is grow your trust,

386
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the fourth is embodied love, and the fifth is holding openness.

387
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Do you care to elaborate?

388
00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:33.799
Yeah, So the first one we started to talk about

389
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building awareness, like where am I in my mind all day?

390
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When your mind's running you You're just you can't feel

391
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that peaceful, that joy, that precious us, that deep life.

392
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It's not in your mind, it's in the moment. So

393
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starting cultivating moments of presence. And then when you're cultivating

394
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moments of presence, can you then tune in to the

395
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sense of energy within you, that vibration within us? And

396
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you know, even I experience here's a simple way to

397
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look at I experience that vibrational energy every morning when

398
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I wake up, I have a gratitude practice and I

399
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think about for a few minutes I wake up. What

400
00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:17.079
am I grateful for? I'm alive? Oh wow, you know,

401
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I have a bed, I have family, friends, So I

402
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think it, But then I feel that energy vibrating in

403
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my body, you know, just starting there. Can you feel

404
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when you breathe into the moment that vibrational energy? And

405
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what is that for everyone on this call? You know,

406
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what is that in growing that sense of that energy,

407
00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:40.319
that inner guidance, and then that moves us into grow

408
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your trust. There's so many self help books out there

409
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that say trust trust, Well, how do you do it?

410
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You know?

411
00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:51.759
They just say trust? So I really push to what

412
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is trust me? And I think it's about coming into

413
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the present moment. I think it's accepting the moment. So

414
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much easier said than done. It can be hard with

415
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life being so messy to accept life, so accepting the

416
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moment fully here now, the good that is right now.

417
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And when we can accept the moment, we can hear listening,

418
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listening with the ear of our heart. You hear that

419
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phrase in all faith traditions across the world. But that's

420
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where that clairvoyance their Claire audience, Claire sension we can hear,

421
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and that's how we trust. Trust is a verb. It's

422
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coming into it and like you get like, oh I

423
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am on the right path. That's how I experience trust.

424
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And then the fourth and body love. I think again,

425
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love is the reason we're here on this earth, and

426
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it starts with loving ourselves. And I invite people to like,

427
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how do you love yourself? Here's way to grow love

428
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in your heart, Here's how to embody more love in

429
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your being. The more love we have, the more love

430
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we can share with one another. And then last hold openness.

431
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Can we go with the flow amidst life being so

432
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challenging for all of us at times? You know, how

433
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do we go with the flow? How do we find

434
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that EQ and him in a spaciousness? It's there and

435
00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:04.119
it's a practice.

436
00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:07.119
Well, and there are external things, or at least we

437
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.480
may consider them external things that we can allow them

438
00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:16.000
become internal self for instance, meditation and you talk about energy.

439
00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.839
You know, I know that you talk about sound healing,

440
00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:21.960
and I'm curious about that for a moment, when you

441
00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.160
talk about sound healing, what are you talking about there?

442
00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:30.759
Well, I'm certified in sound healing Level one with this

443
00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:35.319
amazing teacher here in the Midwest. Her name's Kay. So

444
00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:38.759
sound healing I work with, there's some different things you

445
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:43.160
can utilize. I work with crystal singing bowls and even

446
00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:47.480
with a client sitting with them playing a variety of bulls.

447
00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:51.960
Mine are all tuned to different chakra frequencies, and playing

448
00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:56.039
the sound can come into your being, into a cellular

449
00:25:56.200 --> 00:25:58.839
level for healing that you know words can't even reach.

450
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So it just of course, sound healing is one way,

451
00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:06.319
one modality that's a powerful healing modality. I use myself

452
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all the time. I just am really attuned to sound

453
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and I find that they're very healing to work with.

454
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With clients well, and I know it can be very effective.

455
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I actually have a personal example of that. My my

456
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son lost a child just prior to birth, and when

457
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he got back into the States, you know, he's just

458
00:26:28.359 --> 00:26:31.960
really struggled with that and struggled with that. And one

459
00:26:32.039 --> 00:26:35.000
day a friend of mine that was in a networking

460
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.319
group does the bulls right, and she said, you know what,

461
00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.960
why don't you Why don't you come up and I'm

462
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.960
going to do a session. And it was in it's

463
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:47.799
kind of like a cave with water a pool there,

464
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so you get into the water and then you just

465
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listen to that. And I thought, okay, you know, I'm

466
00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:54.640
always open to try that. But I called my son.

467
00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.799
I said, well you come with me. He says, okay, Dad,

468
00:26:57.319 --> 00:27:01.839
and so he did, and after was done, he looked

469
00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:08.759
at me and he said, it's gone.

470
00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:08.440
That deep grief.

471
00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:11.880
And obviously he's still grieves, but that deep sense of

472
00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:17.559
loss and grief was gone because of those singing bowls

473
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:22.200
and powerful and it's like, you know, it's.

474
00:27:22.039 --> 00:27:24.039
So amazing to me that that can happen.

475
00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:26.960
Do you have any stories that you can share where

476
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:30.319
someone went through a process like that where the singing

477
00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:34.480
buls literally help them in their emotional situation.

478
00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:40.759
Absolutely, yeah, many many stories. And here's here's a takeaway

479
00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:44.240
about working I think with sound healing bulls, you always

480
00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:46.400
want to start out working with him on a more

481
00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.559
minimal scale because they're so powerful. You know, for maybe

482
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:53.720
fifteen twenty minutes. How does it feel? Does it feel calming?

483
00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:57.319
Are you finding some agitation? Certain bulls maybe can agitate you,

484
00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:02.079
but working with the sounds them, just sink in and

485
00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:05.079
feel that tone and the energy of them, because it

486
00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:07.640
actually once you play with the singing bowls, it stays

487
00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:11.599
with you. For a period of time. That vibrational energy

488
00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:16.119
because we're vibrational energy. The bulls are vibrational energy. And

489
00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:18.480
I mean I find yes, I've had many stories with

490
00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:23.160
clients and also myself playing them. I will feel like

491
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:26.640
my heart center just vibrating. I can feel it moving

492
00:28:26.759 --> 00:28:28.519
up and down, all the way up to my crown

493
00:28:28.599 --> 00:28:32.480
shock or to my base is vibrating. It's powerful, and

494
00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:35.680
I can feel my energy center's open even more.

495
00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:40.200
That's amazing. And then you get into meditation. How does

496
00:28:40.279 --> 00:28:41.640
meditation work for people?

497
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:48.440
It's just absolutely incredible breathing meditating, and this is this

498
00:28:48.519 --> 00:28:53.720
stems back to the seventies doctor Herbert Benson, Harvard professor

499
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:57.440
and doctor who coined the word relaxation response. We know

500
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.920
when you sit doing breathing for five minutes, when you

501
00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:05.039
do a meditation, it physiologically changes our body. We can

502
00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.200
self regulate. It lowers our blood pressure, our heart rate,

503
00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:13.559
our cortisol level, it soothes our body. So meditation, there's

504
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:16.839
a lot of research out on this. It's really a

505
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:18.440
wonderful healing modality.

506
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:21.880
Well, they're all you know, there's so many types of meditation.

507
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:24.359
I would say in the last couple of months I've

508
00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:28.519
probably interviewed four to five people that talk about meditation

509
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:31.359
in a different way. You know, this works, that doesn't work,

510
00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:35.400
and you know, it's just like it's crazy. But as

511
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:38.519
you talk about singing bowls and the frequencies you know

512
00:29:38.599 --> 00:29:40.000
that they can affect.

513
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:41.480
And we talk about meditation.

514
00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:44.839
I know that there's one type of meditation called solfeggio

515
00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:47.200
where you tap into the different frequencies.

516
00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:48.319
Are you familiar with that?

517
00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:54.319
Maybe a little now? I mean I also between meditation.

518
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:56.240
You can do meditation with singing bowls. You can do

519
00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.039
meditation with using your voice what's called toning. I mean,

520
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:02.400
there's just a lot different ways. And I would say

521
00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:05.920
I invite people like what speaks to you? You know,

522
00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:08.599
is it breathing, is it meditating? Is it cha gonge

523
00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:11.519
body movement? Yeah, but so tell me for a moment

524
00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:12.559
what that is exactly.

525
00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:17.359
Well, so it's literally going in and talking about the

526
00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:20.359
frequencies that affect different parts of the body, of the

527
00:30:20.440 --> 00:30:23.759
chakras and so forth. So it's very similar to singing booths,

528
00:30:24.359 --> 00:30:27.240
only you listen to them and they have developed all

529
00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:30.680
these meditations that allow you to do that. So it

530
00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:34.559
just gets to be very fascinating. So as you talk

531
00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:39.440
about that, let's talk about without revealing you know, names

532
00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:43.599
and so forth, share with the audience and experience you

533
00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:48.079
had where you've literally helped someone that's just facing a

534
00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:51.799
really challenge in their lives and what was the process

535
00:30:51.880 --> 00:30:55.000
that you did and how did you help them and

536
00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:58.400
what was the end result for them? Well?

537
00:30:58.440 --> 00:30:59.960
Have it many experiences?

538
00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:06.680
One yeah, one that comes to mind was a corporate

539
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:12.279
executive man very successful, done really well, but feeling pretty numb,

540
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:13.640
feeling like just.

541
00:31:14.519 --> 00:31:19.480
A numbness to life to his family. And yes, we

542
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:23.920
started out talking like talk therapy, but then I led

543
00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:28.680
him in five minutes of a breath exercise, just breathing in,

544
00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:32.240
breathing in peace, breathing out stress. And there was at

545
00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:35.079
the end just like oh, kind of a feeling like

546
00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:39.000
here I am I just because the numbness dropped and

547
00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:43.079
he opened into a sense of feeling his heart, his essence.

548
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:46.839
It almost took his breath away and he had tears.

549
00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:51.440
It was just like wow, dropping out of his mind.

550
00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:54.279
That was just clenching. And I've had that happen with

551
00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:59.920
a number of executive a number of doctors of lee.

552
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:02.000
I think I'm in a particular, if it's a breath,

553
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:05.319
if it's a meditation where there was just a notable

554
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.400
dramatic shift in the moment.

555
00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:12.519
So do you do you focus on those imprints that

556
00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:16.400
we got as we were children, or even the generational

557
00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:21.000
imprints through DNA, the generational memory, all of those type

558
00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:24.039
of things. Is that one of your focuses. You find

559
00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:28.599
that that's really the focus of what if it's traumatic

560
00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:33.160
or unkind or whatever, that that's literally what's affecting our

561
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:34.519
experience in life.

562
00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:39.720
Yes, with people I work with, if even just going

563
00:32:39.720 --> 00:32:43.240
back to what's called attachment theory, how they attached as

564
00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:47.920
an infant a child with their parents directly implicates how

565
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:51.200
they attach in their relationships to this day. So, yes,

566
00:32:51.319 --> 00:33:00.720
if there's some unfinished, unresolved trauma blockages, themes of which

567
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:04.359
is so common. You know, I'm not enough, I never heard,

568
00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:07.480
I was enough. I was you know, I was told,

569
00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:11.279
you know, seen but not heard. You have to unearth

570
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.559
that to some extent, to move through it, to process it,

571
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:17.519
to integrate it, to get in the front of your

572
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:20.480
brain for what's called New York cortical integration, the thoughts,

573
00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:24.559
the feelings, processing it to heal and the pathway to

574
00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:28.319
healing is feeling of feelings. It is even just little

575
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:31.240
bits at a time. And I have found with many

576
00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:35.720
people i've worked with that there can be something from childhood,

577
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:40.240
an experience that just stuck within them that they've just blocked,

578
00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:44.359
they pushed down, and the tremendous healing happens when it

579
00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:48.000
can be unearthed and named and slowly processed. If it's

580
00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:51.640
processed verbally, then through body movements, then through breath, then

581
00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:55.319
through feeling, that's how healing and the integration happens.

582
00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:59.680
And does the processing actually remove it or does it

583
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:02.559
just help someone to become mindful enough that when it

584
00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:05.680
comes up, they recognize it's no longer going to affect them.

585
00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:09.920
I'd say a lot of it can be released, released

586
00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:13.079
so love like peace can come in. Can there be

587
00:34:13.159 --> 00:34:16.920
still a very thin thread that can carry on through

588
00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:20.000
some of the lifetime. Yeah, but I think we can.

589
00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:22.960
I do fully believe we can all heal. It's a

590
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:26.159
choice and it takes some real courage and strength to

591
00:34:26.280 --> 00:34:29.639
decide I want to heal. I want to feel more.

592
00:34:29.719 --> 00:34:32.159
I want to feel love and joy in my life.

593
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:36.280
Well, let's talk a little bit scientifically, because as you're

594
00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:39.199
talking about that that literally, as we talk about the brain,

595
00:34:39.639 --> 00:34:46.159
the brain has developed neural pathways based on those subconscious beliefs.

596
00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:48.840
I mean bottom line is that is the main controlling

597
00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:52.000
factor in our lives. The conscious is very minimal, as

598
00:34:52.039 --> 00:34:59.199
I understand it. So as we talk about that, how

599
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:02.840
do we get to the point where and scientifically do

600
00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:05.840
we literally find that we can take those neural pathways

601
00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:10.400
that have been with us our whole life and start

602
00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:13.920
to modify those or move them away and create new ones.

603
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:17.719
What's what's your vision on that and thoughts about that?

604
00:35:18.679 --> 00:35:20.119
Well, two pathsway we can go.

605
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:20.440
One.

606
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:24.199
I'm trained and certified in neural plasticity and that is

607
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:26.360
what we think and feel in our environment shaping our

608
00:35:26.440 --> 00:35:29.320
brain all day long till the day we die. So

609
00:35:30.119 --> 00:35:36.039
we can rewire all negative thinking patterns, worry, anxious patterns

610
00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:41.159
by just bringing it into and creating positive new neural pathways,

611
00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:43.559
by bringing it number one into awareness. When we can

612
00:35:43.639 --> 00:35:46.920
name with that loop, that worry loop, that fear loop,

613
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.320
that anxious loop, when we can name it calms our

614
00:35:49.320 --> 00:35:53.400
nervous system. Number two, when we can name the feeling

615
00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:56.280
not always easy, it calms our nervous system. Number three

616
00:35:56.480 --> 00:35:59.960
when we can feel it, it will start to dissipate.

617
00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:04.920
And then number four, growing the good, marinating in the positive,

618
00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:09.559
a positive image. That truly is what's creating those positive

619
00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:11.880
new neural pathways. This is I write about this in

620
00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:14.920
my book. This is a This is all the neural

621
00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:18.239
models I've studied so far, they all have these four steps.

622
00:36:18.280 --> 00:36:21.920
So that's one path. One other path, though, is with awareness.

623
00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:25.119
So for example, if you're aware, gosh, I have a

624
00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:27.960
hard time loving myself, or I never grew up hearing

625
00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:30.320
I love you, and I have a hard time feeling love,

626
00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:35.679
we can do practices to grow the love in our hearts.

627
00:36:35.719 --> 00:36:38.760
So even what's called this comes way back from mirror

628
00:36:38.840 --> 00:36:42.360
work with Louise Hay looking in the mirror and saying

629
00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:45.760
I love you, I really love you, I really love you.

630
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:48.480
Put your name in there. You say that ten times

631
00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:52.360
every day for a month. I can guarantee you that

632
00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:54.679
will start to open your heart and shift you. And

633
00:36:54.760 --> 00:36:59.000
when you're doing that and you're telling your subconscious words

634
00:36:59.079 --> 00:37:03.039
they've never heard. So there's literally ways that yes, we

635
00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:07.360
can rewire our negative thinking mind, but also how to

636
00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:12.800
grow our heart and soul and shift from that subconscious

637
00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:14.400
pattern of just being blocked.

638
00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:18.000
Well, you know, I hear so often that you know,

639
00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:20.960
I am who I am, I'm never going to change.

640
00:37:21.400 --> 00:37:22.519
That's not true, is it?

641
00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:29.280
No way, that's a mindset, that's a fixed mindset. Yep.

642
00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:33.559
So you know in all of like every one of us,

643
00:37:33.599 --> 00:37:36.519
it's like, how, And that's a big takeaway from my book.

644
00:37:36.559 --> 00:37:39.800
How are you choosing to live? Are you choosing to

645
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:42.719
live on an autopilot where your life's living you, your

646
00:37:42.760 --> 00:37:46.079
mind's living you, or are you choosing like I want

647
00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:48.320
to open more, I want to grow, I want to

648
00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:51.760
feel more love in my life. That's a choice and

649
00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:53.400
it's a practice every day.

650
00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:56.480
Well, and as you talk about your book, what are

651
00:37:56.519 --> 00:37:59.880
the main themes you talk about, So you talk about neuroplastis,

652
00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:05.840
you talk about I would assume spirituality. What are the

653
00:38:05.880 --> 00:38:07.800
things that you talked about in your book that would

654
00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:09.480
be intriguing for people.

655
00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:13.079
Yeah, So the five practices we just talked about are

656
00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:17.199
the core of my book. But I also have forty

657
00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:21.159
two exercises in my book. So my book is not

658
00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:24.159
just in your mind theory. But let's try this, Let's

659
00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:26.880
try all these different angles to come at feeling into

660
00:38:27.159 --> 00:38:33.360
just this moment, So exercises of breath or meditation, or

661
00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:36.079
how to work with body, or how your body movement,

662
00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:39.400
how to work with energy, how to work with your voice.

663
00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:42.159
I just so I have many different angles to come

664
00:38:42.199 --> 00:38:46.719
at these five practices for the reader to actually experience it,

665
00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:48.760
to really like, how is this for you? Let's try

666
00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:51.239
this and be open to what speaks to you when

667
00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:52.280
you're reading the book.

668
00:38:53.239 --> 00:38:56.800
Well, and I'm curious you talked about energy boundaries that

669
00:38:56.880 --> 00:39:01.599
you were talking about this morning. What what exactly is that?

670
00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:06.280
And how does someone develop enough of an energy boundary

671
00:39:06.360 --> 00:39:09.320
that they are really protected from all the negativity of

672
00:39:09.320 --> 00:39:10.480
the outside world.

673
00:39:11.639 --> 00:39:16.440
So we're energy. Everything is energy. We have an energy

674
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:19.079
field around us as far as our arms extend, called

675
00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:23.719
our aura. It's electromagnetic field. So we actually can work

676
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:27.639
with our field not to take in energy of those

677
00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:30.239
closest to us, the chaos of the of the world.

678
00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:35.079
And I'll share with you so exciting. The medical community

679
00:39:35.159 --> 00:39:38.599
is finally acknowledging this in the recent edition of the

680
00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:42.079
number one medical textbook in the United States called Integrative

681
00:39:42.199 --> 00:39:46.000
Medicine by David Rachel for integrative doctors, they have a

682
00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:48.480
snippet on this. So I'm just sharing this is finally

683
00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:52.079
being seen in the medical community. So here's some ways.

684
00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:56.760
I'll just give you a few you can visualize, and

685
00:39:56.800 --> 00:39:58.599
I write these in my book. You can visualize like

686
00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:01.519
a white light around your buoy forming into as far

687
00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:05.079
as your arms extend, and eggshell a bubble. I always

688
00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:07.119
have a hole at the top for light and love

689
00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:12.039
to come through, so that any negative, heavy, harmful, tough,

690
00:40:12.280 --> 00:40:15.079
rough energy can just hits the eggshell and drops away.

691
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:19.760
Same analogy, eggshell hole at the top with mirrors on

692
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:24.599
the outside, So just visualizing mirrors where that energy hits

693
00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:27.880
the mirrors and drops away. One more way. This is

694
00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:30.960
what I do every day and have for twenty some years.

695
00:40:31.559 --> 00:40:35.119
I set through words and intentions for a minute in

696
00:40:35.159 --> 00:40:37.800
the morning every morning of my life for the last

697
00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:41.440
twenty years, where I want to send love or peace

698
00:40:41.480 --> 00:40:43.639
out so that I choose love. So I'm gonna send

699
00:40:43.679 --> 00:40:47.239
I say I'm going to send seventy percent love and

700
00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:50.320
only take in thirty or eighty twenty ninety ten. I

701
00:40:50.360 --> 00:40:53.400
do ninety ten because I'm really empathic and I get

702
00:40:53.440 --> 00:40:55.440
a lot, So I just say I'm going to send

703
00:40:55.559 --> 00:40:59.960
ninety percent love to everyone and anything that I encountered

704
00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:02.719
today and I'm only going to take in ten percent.

705
00:41:02.760 --> 00:41:04.599
And I say that a few times, and I can

706
00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:08.199
feel my energy boundaries just set up and it's like,

707
00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:11.440
oh here I am. I just have breathing room. It's

708
00:41:11.800 --> 00:41:13.800
life changing. Wow.

709
00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:17.920
So as you as you think about and you've said so.

710
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:23.000
Many fascinating good things, but as we close, what would

711
00:41:23.039 --> 00:41:26.079
be a message that you'd like to share with the audience.

712
00:41:28.440 --> 00:41:32.079
I would just invite people listening to this, you know,

713
00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:34.440
what do you want in your life? And I think

714
00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:38.760
life is deeply precious. It's a gift to be alive.

715
00:41:38.920 --> 00:41:42.800
And I witnessed so many people as a hospice chaplain

716
00:41:42.840 --> 00:41:46.880
that I was with as they died understand this, understand like,

717
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:50.280
oh I'm here, and then they died, And I just

718
00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:53.880
I think everyone hearing this you can cultivate and grow

719
00:41:54.360 --> 00:41:59.239
that sense a preciousness of life. Right now, just starting

720
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:02.960
with tuning in, how are you living your day? You know,

721
00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:06.079
are you living your day where you're in your mind

722
00:42:06.119 --> 00:42:08.960
all day? Or are there some moments of just here,

723
00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:12.159
I am presence with your breath, using your senses, go

724
00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:15.039
for a walk, use your senses. Just here, I am

725
00:42:15.039 --> 00:42:20.599
in nature, walking to just feel that sense of wow, wonderment,

726
00:42:20.760 --> 00:42:24.719
all this life, the preciousness of being alive. And that's

727
00:42:24.840 --> 00:42:26.960
the big takeaway. I want to share with people that

728
00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:30.039
it's here now, you don't have to wait. Yeah.

729
00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:30.719
I love that.

730
00:42:30.800 --> 00:42:33.360
So how do people find you? And how do people

731
00:42:33.400 --> 00:42:34.119
find your book?

732
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:39.639
My book, Everyday Awakening, It is on Amazon, Barnes and

733
00:42:39.719 --> 00:42:43.719
Noble and it's all over. My website is every Day

734
00:42:44.039 --> 00:42:49.000
Awakening dot com. My I'm on social media, Catherine with

735
00:42:49.079 --> 00:42:54.360
the c Katherine Dungan. MABCC is my Instagram, my LinkedIn,

736
00:42:54.719 --> 00:42:59.960
my TikTok and Facebook. It's my company name, Learning to Live.

737
00:43:00.199 --> 00:43:02.280
So a lot. There's a lot out there.

738
00:43:03.199 --> 00:43:05.119
And the outcome for people is.

739
00:43:06.679 --> 00:43:10.960
Peace, joy, love, Oh.

740
00:43:10.960 --> 00:43:14.639
Wonderful, wonderful. Catherine, thanks so much for being on the show.

741
00:43:14.719 --> 00:43:15.960
This has been amazing.

742
00:43:16.559 --> 00:43:18.360
Yeah, great to meet you. Thank you.

743
00:43:19.159 --> 00:43:22.239
I really appreciate it. Folks, thanks for listening. I hope

744
00:43:22.280 --> 00:43:25.480
you enjoyed it and it's really a good book. Take

745
00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:26.960
a look at it and see if it can be

746
00:43:26.960 --> 00:43:29.320
of some value to you. This is doctor Doug saying,

747
00:43:29.360 --> 00:43:34.920
have a wonderful week. And now Mistay