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How to Get Good at Feeling Bad with Guest Denita Bremer
Episode 5016th May 2024 • Burning Brightly • Bonnie Wiscombe
00:00:00 00:31:51

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You're in for a treat with this latest episode of Burning Brightly. We had the amazing Denita Bremer on to discuss something so important yet often avoided: feeling our negative emotions. 

As Christian moms building businesses, we can get caught in the trap of thinking we need to be positive and grateful all the time. But the truth is, avoiding the hard feelings actually holds us back from creating the impact and income we desire. 

Here are a few key insights Denita shared:

- Feeling negative emotion doesn't mean you're doing something wrong - it's just part of the creative, messy process of building something new

- We often self-sabotage when we start feeling good because feeling bad is more comfortable and familiar

- Trauma from our past can make it very difficult to sit with uncomfortable emotions in the present, so having support is crucial

- The key is developing the capacity to just feel the sensations in your body without judging or attaching stories to them

Denita gave such a powerful perspective on why leaning into our uncomfortable feelings is ultimately what allows us to grow into our biggest, brightest selves. Her vulnerability and wisdom were truly inspiring. 

You won't want to miss hearing all her insights and personal experiences on this topic. Hit play to prepare yourself for doing the work required to shine your light in this world!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Learn more about Denita on her website and follow her on Instagram.

Also, be sure to follow her podcast!

Download Bonnie's free guide to getting your coaching business up and running in ONE weekend.

Ready to work together? Schedule a call to explore your goals and learn how I can help you.

Transcripts

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You're listening to episode 50 of Burning Brightly

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with guest Danita Bremer, how to get good

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at feeling bad.

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This is Burning Brightly, a podcast for Christian

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moms who are feeling called to build a

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business and share their light with the world.

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I'm Bonnie Wiscombe, a life coach, mom, and

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entrepreneur.

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And I'm honored to be your guide as

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you face this business building adventure full of

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highs, lows, and everything in between.

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This is where we help each other find

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the courage to shine.

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Welcome back, friends.

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Today, I'm excited to introduce you to Danita

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Bremer, who, she says, before becoming a fulfilled

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life and trauma coach, led a miserable life

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with a hot husband and three very healthy

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kids in Denver, Colorado.

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She says that her childhood trauma was a

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shadow that she has now learned to shine

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a light on, and she helps others do

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the same, especially on her podcast, which is

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entitled, If I'm So Blessed, Why Can't I

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Feel Good?

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She says she meditates and does yoga next

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to her bed because her office is too

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messy, which I think we can all resonate

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with.

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But today, I'm excited to talk to about

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feeling badly and why it is so important

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and how to get better at it with

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Danita.

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Let's dive in.

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I have a wonderful guest today.

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I'm really excited to introduce you to her

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name is Danita Bremer.

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And she has a new show out.

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Is that right, Danita?

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I do.

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I have a new podcast.

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It's called, If I'm So Blessed, Why Can't

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I Feel Good?

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I'm super excited about it.

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I really love that title.

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It's super intriguing.

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You want to give us just like the

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30-second rundown of what your podcast is

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about if they can't figure it out from

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that awesome title?

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Yeah.

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So basically, I remember years ago before I

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got into coaching and being an entrepreneur and

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learning all the things that I've learned where

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I kept asking myself, I have all these

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blessings.

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Why can't I feel good?

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And in the last five to seven years,

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I've learned a lot of things.

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I've dabbled in mindset coaching, in somatic coaching.

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And I also always love studying and thinking

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about faith and spirituality.

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And so it's a podcast to kind of

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answer that question every week, every episode in

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a variety of different ways.

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So we're not just sticking with coaching.

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We're also talking about some other things like,

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do you drink enough water?

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Things like that.

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Just like all the things, a very holistic

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approach to feeling better.

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Okay, that's incredible.

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I think as coaches, we get so pigeonholed

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sometimes into the thought process, right?

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And the mindset stuff, we just think that's

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going to solve everything.

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But clearly, that's not true.

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Do you say that's right?

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I would definitely agree with you there from

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my experience.

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So what we wanted to dive into in

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this episode is talking about feeling badly predominantly.

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Now, so don't shut it off yet.

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We're going to talk about some good stuff.

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But especially from the perspective of Christian women,

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what do you see Danita in your experience

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of talking about this sort of thing as

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a really big temptation for these Christian women

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that are very blessed when it comes to

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avoiding negative emotion?

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What is our problem?

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Tell me that.

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Yeah.

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Well, I don't know if I'm the expert

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on all the problems.

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But one thing I definitely see in the

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Christian women's sphere, and probably men too, is

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a lot of shame for not kind of

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fitting the mold, not being like the picture

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of success or whatever it is.

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And I think a lot of times we

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see what people are doing on the outside,

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but we don't necessarily know how they're feeling

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on the inside.

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We assume like, oh, they're smiling.

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Their kid is going on a mission or

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their business is making so much money or

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whatever the things are that we see on

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the outside.

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We assume that they must feel good, positive,

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motivated, whatever those feelings are, when that's just

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not always the truth.

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And so we kind of slide into this

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space of if I'm feeling wrong, I must

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be doing it wrong.

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I love that.

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And conversely, if things are going well for

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me, like you say in your title, why

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am I not happy?

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Yes.

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If what is on the outside is good,

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but what is on the inside is not

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as good, what's the disconnect there?

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What's my problem?

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Right.

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And maybe we start to feel guilty or

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like I'm not grateful enough because I have

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all these external blessings and I can't figure

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it out.

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I can't get it together.

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I can't feel happy.

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My life feels different than it should, especially

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compared to everybody else.

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We love the comparison game.

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Yes, exactly.

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So I do think comparison is a big

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part of this and kind of assuming the

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inside work that somebody has or hasn't done

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is a big part of it.

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I mean, there are so many things.

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There are physical reasons, right?

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We have a lot of chronic disease in

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our world.

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There are mental, emotional reasons.

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There are spiritual reasons.

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There are a lot of different ways we

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could come at that.

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That's a big part of what I do,

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what I'm talking about on my podcast.

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But really, I just think it comes down

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to that expectation or that assumption of how

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we envisioned it feeling.

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And then when it doesn't feel that way,

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we're like, there's a problem, right?

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And that's really just our brain.

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Our brain's always watching for problems.

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Yeah.

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But oftentimes, especially for like women entrepreneurs, because

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I know that's what you do and who's

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most likely listening, I think it's almost a

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lack of capacity to feel good, right?

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Like the skill of being able to hold

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good feelings in our bodies without self-sabotaging

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because there's this concept from The Big Leap.

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It's a book by Gay Hendricks of this

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sort of emotional thermostat.

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And it comes up over and over and

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over again for me in my work, for

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me personally, my clients, all of that.

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And it sounds counterintuitive because we think everyone

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wants to feel good, right?

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But the truth is when we're used to

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feeling bad, we actually want to feel bad.

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And so as soon as we start feeling

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good, as soon as we get like a

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little bit of success and we're like, oh

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my gosh, I'm so excited.

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It's working.

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Then we go, well, this is foreign.

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This is different.

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What's wrong?

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Something's wrong.

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Let's sabotage that, right?

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Yes.

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So that's another element here.

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Yeah.

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I'm so glad you brought that up.

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And sometimes it's difficult for us to see

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that happen in ourselves.

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It's usually difficult, but most of us can

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resonate with seeing that in someone we love,

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right?

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A family member or a friend who just

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can't seem to find satisfaction or contentment in

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their life.

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They're always focusing on the negative.

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And even when good things do happen, they

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almost either self-sabotage or seek out the

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negative aspect of it because they're so much

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more comfortable in that place of discontent.

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And that's terrible.

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We don't want that for ourselves or for

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our loved ones.

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Yeah.

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But the truth is the keyword there is

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comfort, right?

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We tend to go back to what is

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comfortable or familiar, even if it feels bad.

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And this is a concept that probably many

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of your listeners have heard before, but when

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we actually sit with it and we let

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it be in our bodies, that idea that

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I have to grow my capacity to feel

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good.

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Why does feeling good feel bad, right?

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So it's almost paradoxical.

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It really has to come with experience, I

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think.

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I think that's why it's see it in

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ourselves, which I agree with you.

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It is hard to identify in ourselves when

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we are self-sabotaging.

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And sometimes we can and we still can't

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stop it.

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And it comes back to this willingness to

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be open to feeling whatever it is.

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Right.

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Right.

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That's the ultimate skill.

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I'm here for it, right?

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Up, down, sideways.

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Let's just experience it all.

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Yeah.

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Let's talk for just a second about what

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is required when it comes to negative emotion

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as entrepreneurs.

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Because I know you and I talked about

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this before, and I think it's so powerful

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that building a business is very often uncomfortable,

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unfamiliar, and brings up a lot of negative

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emotion.

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And sometimes we're so disconnected with ourselves, we

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go straight to self-sabotage without even considering,

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huh, why do I feel this way?

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So why is it essential that we become

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comfortable with discomfort, I would say, as business

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owners?

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Yeah.

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I mean, you said it.

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It is going to be uncomfortable.

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It is going to be hard at times.

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It is going to bring up our emotion.

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I tend to think that my business is

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a mirror for who I am, kind of

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thing.

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And when I see something that I don't

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like, that doesn't feel good, right?

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So we have to be willing to sit

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in the discomfort to create anything in the

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world because creation itself is hard a lot

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of times.

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I mean, it doesn't have to be hard.

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Sometimes it feels easy.

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But most of the time, by and large,

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if we're creating something new in the world,

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that means it's unfamiliar.

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That means there's a learning curve.

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And that means that there's going to be

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some uncomfortable, difficult emotions, some negative emotions is

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how we say it.

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So if you want the end product, if

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you want the dollars in the bank account

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or the program that you're creating or whatever

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it is that you're creating, if you want

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that, you have to be willing to go

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through the negative feelings.

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And I do think that one of the

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things we do is we make feeling negative

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mean that we're doing something wrong, but it

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doesn't.

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It doesn't mean that, right?

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It just means that I'm doing something new

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or this feels uncomfortable or you know, sometimes

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guilt or shame can come up.

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It's like, Oh, I'm making it mean there's

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something wrong with me, whatever it might be.

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It doesn't necessarily mean that we're like on

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the wrong track or we're doing it wrong.

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And I do think every emotion has wisdom

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attached to it.

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It's like a signal in your body.

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And if we can slow down and be

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with those sensations of that emotion, we can

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glean the wisdom out of it without making

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it mean we're doing it wrong.

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We're on the wrong path.

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We haven't figured it out.

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Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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A lot of times it's just the process.

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And we're like, we want the process to

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be fun and enjoyable and impactful and all

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those things.

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But the process is just gritty and hard

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and messy.

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Yes.

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I'm so glad you brought up that word

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because I think about painting or drawing or

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cooking, like anything creative, even artistic, it requires

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mess, right?

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This is one of the reasons why I

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don't love cooking because I don't tolerate mess

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very well.

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Yeah.

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I don't love all the mess we make

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along the way.

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And it's like, not only am I cooking

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and timing everything, but now I also have

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this mess and then there's a bunch of

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dishes and all of that.

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And it's just sometimes overwhelming to me.

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But I had this aha moment several years

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ago where I was thinking about a painter,

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painting a picture.

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And if they tried to only squeeze out

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just the right amount of paint, they would

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be a little bit limited in their creativity.

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And I just realized all creativity requires some

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mess.

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It requires some extra that gets thrown away,

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that doesn't get used.

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And we have to get used to that

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idea, right?

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We have to be with that mess.

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Yes.

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I love that analogy.

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I'm just picturing.

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We look at beautiful finished works of art

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and they hang on in our beautiful homes

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on our pristine walls.

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But how often do we think about what

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that artist studio looks like?

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It looks like a train wreck.

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There's paint flicked everywhere.

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They have paint clothes and aprons and the

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process is very messy.

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And if we look at our businesses like

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that, honestly, it gives me some freedom to

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just loosen up a little bit and go,

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Oh, this is going to look like a

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painting studio where some things fall flat on

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the floor and some turn into a beautiful

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canvas.

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And it's supposed to be that way.

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Yeah.

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This reminds me of the concept of perfectionist

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fantasy, which I personally learned from Carl Owen

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Dial.

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But it's this idea, this picture in our

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mind of what we think it's going to

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look like or feel like.

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And it's this very beautiful, very curated picture

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of what business looks like.

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It doesn't have to be business.

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It could be parenting, be any endeavor we

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take.

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And then when we get in the process

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of it and we're like, this doesn't match

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the picture that I thought it would in

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my head.

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Something has gone terribly wrong.

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You're going to feel bad.

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Right?

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And so to sit with that vibration, to

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sit with those sensations and trust that it

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doesn't mean you're wrong.

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You're wrong.

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The process is wrong.

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You're on the wrong track.

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Any of that.

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It just means you have more data.

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Yeah.

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So I do think that perfectionist fantasy though,

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can really get in our way.

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Right.

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When I sit with clients, I was just

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sitting with a client and she's moving, she's

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moving across the country right now, getting ready

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to sell her house and buy a new

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house and all of that.

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And I said, well, what did you think

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it was going to be like?

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Was it going to be like, I just

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systematically go through all my things and then

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we pack all the boxes and then we

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do all the work on the house while

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we're still eating healthy and all of those

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things.

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I'm like, no, you just fantasized the wrong

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thing.

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It's supposed to be messy when you're moving.

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There's supposed to be piles of crap everywhere.

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Right.

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And so that's not what our brains do.

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Our brains see the perfect version, the ideal

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version.

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Well, and as business owners, I mean, that's

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part of our creative process is dreaming, right?

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We want to dream and envision the future,

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which is so great.

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But I like to remind my clients very

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similarly that it's not much different there than

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it is here.

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It looks in our minds so beautiful and

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so perfect.

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But really, our good and bad is just

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shifted a little bit.

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They just change shapes a little bit.

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The bad doesn't go away.

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The good doesn't miraculously just skyrocket.

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It's both there.

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It just shifts a little bit and we

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need to be prepared for that.

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So when we get there, we're not totally

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depressed because this didn't solve all my problems.

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It doesn't look like the perfect fantasy.

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Well, guess what's not in the perfect fantasy?

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It's our feelings.

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Because the feelings happen in our bodies, in

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the experience, in the moment.

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We don't plan for those.

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We don't plan for them because you can't

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see a feeling in your mind.

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Right.

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And even when you think about that thing

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you want to create, and of course you

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are thinking of an ideal version of it,

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you're not thinking about, well, how would I

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feel necessarily, right?

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Anything coming from our mind is very devoid

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of feeling of those bodily experiences.

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This is why I think so many people

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like the idea of travel.

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But then when we travel, we're like, oh,

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it's a lot of waiting.

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I just want to go home.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So that's the truth of it.

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Okay.

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So let's go back for a second to

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the part where you were talking about how

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if it feels bad, it's not necessarily wrong.

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Because I think we get so stuck sometimes,

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especially as believers in this moral dichotomy of

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right-wrong, good-bad, including our feelings.

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If it's right, it's going to feel good.

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If it's wrong, it's going to feel bad.

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And I have to make the right decision,

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ergo, that right decision is going to feel

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good.

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So speak to that for a minute.

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How can we overcome this?

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Because we know the right decision doesn't always

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feel so good.

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Yeah.

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I think the paradigm of right and wrong

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is the wrong paradigm.

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And what I think we're actually wanting to

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ask ourselves is what feels right.

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What feels right in this moment?

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And sometimes what feels right feels really bad.

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An example in my life is I'm writing

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a book right now, and I don't want

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to write a book.

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I didn't plan to write a book, but

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the spirit said, it's time, write the book.

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And so I'm doing it because that's one

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of my high values is listening to the

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spirit.

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That's what I consider being a person of

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faith.

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And it feels really bad.

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I have so much resistance to it.

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I have tons of emotion that's coming up

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as I write these stories from earlier in

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my life, but it feels right.

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When I got that prompting, I was like,

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oh, this is right.

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It also feels bad.

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There's so much emotion and drama in me.

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And I'm like, please, I don't want to

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do this.

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Yeah.

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And so the question that we default to

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is what feels good right now?

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But I think what we really should be

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asking ourselves is what feels right.

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What feels that kind of like, I call

499

::

it that aligned feeling.

500

::

What feels in alignment, right?

501

::

Yes.

502

::

What feels in alignment?

503

::

What feels like the next right thing for

504

::

me?

505

::

And sometimes there's going to be a lot

506

::

of fear around that, or like I said,

507

::

resistance.

508

::

Sometimes it does feel good.

509

::

Sometimes like this is the right thing.

510

::

I'm excited.

511

::

I'm moving forward, but not always.

512

::

Yeah.

513

::

So it's just so much more helpful for

514

::

me to think of what feels aligned, what

515

::

feels right.

516

::

And even as I look back on some

517

::

decisions I made or actions that I took,

518

::

almost always it felt right, but half the

519

::

time it felt good and half the time

520

::

it felt bad.

521

::

So I think most of the time we

522

::

act on what feels right.

523

::

We can override that.

524

::

I just know this about myself.

525

::

I've done a lot of my own deep

526

::

work and I've been a personality type system

527

::

nerd my whole life.

528

::

I know that I have a very strong

529

::

sense of identity of who I am.

530

::

And so it's a little bit hard for

531

::

me to override that just because that's so

532

::

strong in me.

533

::

But I know for many of my clients,

534

::

when we kind of peel back the layers

535

::

of, well, why did you do that?

536

::

It's oftentimes when they have regret or they

537

::

look back for some reason and they don't

538

::

like the decision they made, it's because they

539

::

were having some kind of prompting or intuition,

540

::

something like that, and they ignored it or

541

::

they overrode it.

542

::

And so it is possible to override that.

543

::

But I think that that awareness of actually

544

::

I'm asking what's right, not what's good or

545

::

bad.

546

::

Yeah, totally.

547

::

And I think you also bring up a

548

::

good point here because I see a lot

549

::

of us applying a moral code to business

550

::

decisions.

551

::

And sometimes there really are decisions that feel

552

::

much righter than others, even if it's going

553

::

to be hard and it's going to feel

554

::

bad.

555

::

But I think the vast majority of decisions

556

::

we make in our business are ours to

557

::

make, and there's no right and wrong one.

558

::

And I see a lot of people get

559

::

really stuck on that.

560

::

Like, I just don't know what the right

561

::

one is.

562

::

But what if we could just be free

563

::

to choose whatever we wanted, even if it

564

::

felt bad, even if we knew it was

565

::

going to give us a lot of growth

566

::

and it was hard, or we knew it

567

::

was the direction we wanted to go and

568

::

it was hard.

569

::

Does that make sense?

570

::

Sometimes we just have to trust ourselves enough

571

::

to take the first step.

572

::

You know, and part of this speaks to

573

::

the part of our brain that wants to

574

::

conserve energy.

575

::

We want to know the right path, even

576

::

if we can logically get to the place

577

::

where we're like, I know there's no right

578

::

or wrong, but I want to know the

579

::

path that's going to require the least amount

580

::

of energy.

581

::

Because that's a function of our survival brain.

582

::

Our brain's always trying to keep us alive

583

::

and it wants to conserve energy.

584

::

It wants to do like the most direct

585

::

path.

586

::

And it's almost impossible to know.

587

::

I mean, I dare I say it is

588

::

always impossible to know what the most direct

589

::

path is.

590

::

And I do think we get caught up

591

::

in that.

592

::

At least I get caught up in that

593

::

wanting to not expend more energy than I

594

::

have to.

595

::

So I wonder if that's true for other

596

::

entrepreneurs as well.

597

::

And there is also an element of, I

598

::

just don't want to have to feel the

599

::

negative emotions along the way.

600

::

Negative emotions don't feel good.

601

::

Right.

602

::

But if we open ourselves up to feeling

603

::

whatever is, almost like the way I think

604

::

of it is sensations.

605

::

I boil down the emotions to sensations.

606

::

If it's just the sensations, hot, cold, sharp,

607

::

dull, heavy, light, we're less tempted to put

608

::

some meaning on it.

609

::

Right.

610

::

To be like, oh, this means that I'm

611

::

doing it wrong.

612

::

Or this means I made the wrong decision

613

::

or something like that.

614

::

Right.

615

::

If we just boil it down to the

616

::

sensations, we open ourselves up to just feeling

617

::

what is, what is here in the present

618

::

moment.

619

::

And then most of the time, in my

620

::

experience, it just flows through us.

621

::

And then we're back where we were before,

622

::

before we felt that negative emotion.

623

::

Okay.

624

::

So give us some tips.

625

::

Let's say that we know we are dealing

626

::

with some negative emotion and we're often pushing

627

::

it away, but we need to move through

628

::

it.

629

::

How do you suggest we do that?

630

::

Especially when it comes to maybe a big

631

::

decision in our business or something we just

632

::

can't seem to wrap our head around because

633

::

it's so uncomfortable.

634

::

Yeah.

635

::

Well, like what I just said, if you

636

::

can boil it down to just the sensations

637

::

and just sit with those sensations, I like

638

::

to say 10 minutes.

639

::

Can you sit and just describe the sensations

640

::

in your body for 10 minutes?

641

::

Even the process of describing the sensations, you

642

::

can journal it.

643

::

If you want, you can speak it out

644

::

loud.

645

::

I've done that.

646

::

I've been like, okay, I, my cheeks are

647

::

hot.

648

::

I feel tears coming out of my eyes,

649

::

things like that.

650

::

I kind of verbalize it to almost to

651

::

help me focus because your brain's going to

652

::

be like, let's get away.

653

::

We should go eat a snack.

654

::

We should check our phone.

655

::

We didn't do this.

656

::

We should do that.

657

::

Cause it's so uncomfortable.

658

::

But if you could do that for about

659

::

10 minutes, sometimes less, most of the time

660

::

you get to this point where the intensity

661

::

of the emotion dissipates.

662

::

It usually doesn't last more than about 90

663

::

seconds unless we have thoughts that keep it

664

::

activated in us.

665

::

Right.

666

::

But if we can boil it down to

667

::

just that sensation level and then the goal

668

::

is just, just be with it.

669

::

Just let the sensation be there.

670

::

Most of the time it's like, oh, that's

671

::

interesting.

672

::

Now it's gone.

673

::

We just so much resist those negative emotions

674

::

that we keep them alive in us, right?

675

::

There's a saying, what we resist persists, right?

676

::

So that's the first step with a caveat.

677

::

The caveat is that for many of us,

678

::

and I was in this boat a couple

679

::

of years ago when I first started doing

680

::

this somatic work, we can't do that.

681

::

We can't even get ourselves to sit there

682

::

for 10 minutes because there's a reason why

683

::

it feels so uncomfortable.

684

::

And so we need somebody else's support.

685

::

We need that co-regulation.

686

::

It's almost like energetically, we rely on the

687

::

other person, their groundedness, they're not in it.

688

::

So it's not as intense for them.

689

::

And once we have that support, I think,

690

::

I don't know if you're a Harry Potter

691

::

fan, but I love Harry Potter.

692

::

And the point at the end of the

693

::

whole series where Harry Potter's walking to his

694

::

death, right?

695

::

And he turns the stone and his mom

696

::

and dad and people who have died come

697

::

to him.

698

::

It's what he needed to be able to

699

::

walk to his death, right?

700

::

That extra support.

701

::

So some people need some extra support.

702

::

It doesn't have to look like someone who's

703

::

telling you what to do.

704

::

It could just be someone sitting next to

705

::

you, right?

706

::

If you've ever had an opportunity to be

707

::

in grief, you know what it's like to

708

::

just have someone sit with you in silence

709

::

and how supportive that can be.

710

::

So that's the caveat is that if you

711

::

can do it by yourself or you just

712

::

sit and you describe the sensations of your

713

::

emotion, fabulous, great, but not everyone can because

714

::

of their life history, the things, the associations,

715

::

their brain and nervous system make with those

716

::

really difficult sensations.

717

::

So some people need a little added support

718

::

and there's nothing wrong with that.

719

::

It's just the path that you're on.

720

::

That is such a great reminder and also

721

::

a good reminder that it's going to be,

722

::

certain things are going to be more uncomfortable

723

::

for certain people versus others, right?

724

::

And again, to not compare.

725

::

Sometimes as we're building our business, we might

726

::

look over at so-and-so and go,

727

::

she has no problems public speaking.

728

::

Why is that so easy for her?

729

::

Why is it so hard for me?

730

::

Why do I want to cry every time

731

::

I stand up in front of people or

732

::

whatever's coming up for us?

733

::

And to acknowledge that, oh, my brain just

734

::

functions differently and this is going to be

735

::

something I need to work on a little

736

::

bit more than maybe Susie so-and-so.

737

::

Yeah.

738

::

I had that same thought.

739

::

I was certified through the Life Coach School

740

::

and I saw all these coaches immediately making

741

::

so much money and I thought, oh my

742

::

gosh, what is wrong with me?

743

::

And then through a series of events and

744

::

over time, I learned that the trauma that

745

::

I had endured, which basically all the kinds

746

::

of traumas I've experienced in the first 20

747

::

years of my life, was really setting me

748

::

back from the starting line, right?

749

::

We've, I don't know, the idea of we're

750

::

not all at the same starting line.

751

::

And I just, that was so comforting to

752

::

me.

753

::

And in a way, it was a little

754

::

discouraging too, because, you know, I'm a human

755

::

and I want to get the results and

756

::

the impact faster.

757

::

But when I realized the trauma that I

758

::

had endured was still showing up for me

759

::

and was really preventing me from showing up

760

::

bigger in my business, and I saw it

761

::

as like, oh, all these other people, they

762

::

were at this starting line and I'm way

763

::

far behind that.

764

::

And I have kind of, you know, pre

765

::

-work to do before I even get to

766

::

the starting line where they were.

767

::

That just, it really helped me not have

768

::

as much shame, not compare, right?

769

::

And I just, it's impossible to compare because

770

::

I think all of those experiences we've had

771

::

growing up, if I think we've all experienced

772

::

some kind of trauma on a big scale

773

::

or a small scale, it does come and

774

::

affect us in our businesses, right?

775

::

To have a business, to sell a product

776

::

or a service means that you have to

777

::

show up in a public way, right?

778

::

And there are varying degrees of how public

779

::

you have to be, but it's in relationship,

780

::

right?

781

::

Who are you selling that service to?

782

::

It's not in a vacuum.

783

::

And that, those experiences you've had with other

784

::

people and especially painful experiences with other people

785

::

can come and almost be an obstacle for

786

::

you in how you relate to other people,

787

::

you know, how you sell, how you market,

788

::

all of those things.

789

::

And so we're not, it's impossible to compare

790

::

because we never know who was bullied or

791

::

who had a parent that died or, you

792

::

know, something like that and how they relate

793

::

to other people.

794

::

Yeah.

795

::

So why is it specifically that these traumatic

796

::

experiences that we may have left behind 20,

797

::

30 years ago would cause us to struggle

798

::

to feel those negative emotions?

799

::

Because that's what you're saying, right?

800

::

It's like, it's hard for us to feel

801

::

embarrassment or imposter syndrome or whatever it is

802

::

because of what we've experienced in our past.

803

::

Yeah.

804

::

It's because by definition, trauma is in the

805

::

present.

806

::

It's whatever happened back then never got fully

807

::

resolved.

808

::

So you've been carrying it around for 20,

809

::

30, 40 years and it is still in

810

::

the present.

811

::

So for me, I wanted to be more

812

::

successful in my business.

813

::

I wanted to grow.

814

::

I felt like I had learned tons of

815

::

things.

816

::

I had all the tools.

817

::

I intuitively knew I don't need anything else.

818

::

I should be able to do this with

819

::

the tools that I have.

820

::

But something kept coming up when I thought

821

::

about like speaking to people on a bigger

822

::

level, on quote-unquote bigger stage, not necessarily

823

::

a physical stage, but more followers on social

824

::

media or whatever it might be.

825

::

Something kept coming up and it physically felt

826

::

like I was being stopped in my chest.

827

::

And I kind of knew in that moment,

828

::

I was actually sitting on a coaching call.

829

::

So this is the power of coaching, right?

830

::

Having somebody to be with you through this.

831

::

And I told her, I said, when I

832

::

think about speaking, I don't really consider myself

833

::

a speaker, but when I look at my

834

::

future self, she's speaking on stages.

835

::

And so I'm like, well, how the heck

836

::

am I going to get there?

837

::

It feels like I'm naked on stage and

838

::

everyone, the audience is awkwardly silent and I

839

::

can't see the lights are in my eyes

840

::

and I just, I like can't talk.

841

::

I'm frozen.

842

::

And I intuitively knew, oh, this is trauma.

843

::

Like this is coming up for me in

844

::

the present moment when I think about my

845

::

business.

846

::

But it's because of all of those experiences

847

::

in the past when I felt embarrassed or

848

::

I felt ashamed, or I felt like people

849

::

were judging me and I just froze and

850

::

couldn't talk at all.

851

::

So because that young version of me never

852

::

had a chance to resolve that, never had

853

::

a chance to get on the other side

854

::

of it and what does it mean and

855

::

all of that, it's still, I was still

856

::

carrying it around.

857

::

It was still inside of me.

858

::

So when I thought about being seen in

859

::

bigger ways, that's what came up.

860

::

Oh, that's so fascinating.

861

::

And so you personally, did you do the

862

::

same somatic work that you're telling us about

863

::

in order to move through some of that?

864

::

You're still working on it.

865

::

What's your process?

866

::

Yeah.

867

::

About two years ago is when that experience

868

::

happened and I immediately knew I need to

869

::

get some help, some support with trauma.

870

::

So I found a coach who did somatic

871

::

work and worked with her one-on-one

872

::

for six months.

873

::

And like most of the sessions were very

874

::

little of us talking and just her supporting

875

::

me through feeling, through the sensations in my

876

::

body, urges come up, resistance comes up.

877

::

And she was very skilled at helping me

878

::

resolve a lot of those feelings that originated

879

::

in my past, but were still present for

880

::

me.

881

::

And I continue to do that work.

882

::

So for me, it has become less about

883

::

the thoughts and the mindset and more of

884

::

just feel it, feel it all, feel it

885

::

all.

886

::

And I sometimes think we kind of pile

887

::

up the feelings because we're human and we

888

::

have the ability to kind of procrastinate feeling

889

::

and I'll get to it later.

890

::

And then we never do.

891

::

Or we break.

892

::

Or we break, right?

893

::

We get burnt out, whatever.

894

::

And so I really have several practices.

895

::

I have a very long spacious morning routine

896

::

that helps support me.

897

::

I love to walk.

898

::

I can't just walk for 15 minutes.

899

::

I have to walk for like an hour

900

::

every day.

901

::

I journal, I read scripture.

902

::

I do a lot of things to support

903

::

myself and I'm starting to get better at

904

::

it, but I still am human, right?

905

::

I still have moments when I'm like, I

906

::

don't want to feel that.

907

::

And so it's less of a like one

908

::

and done and more of a practice, more

909

::

of a lifestyle, I would say, at least

910

::

for me, because I do have lots of

911

::

traumatic experiences in my past and I am

912

::

trying to run a business.

913

::

So maybe if I wasn't trying to run

914

::

a business, I wouldn't need that quite as

915

::

much.

916

::

Although parenting

917

::

So maybe if I wasn't trying to run

918

::

a business, I wouldn't need that quite as

919

::

much.

920

::

Although parenting is another area that I feel

921

::

like...

922

::

Absolutely.

923

::

And we got to fix ourselves before we

924

::

pass it on to our kids, right?

925

::

Yes.

926

::

Some bad habits of holding it all in.

927

::

Okay, this is so, so, so helpful.

928

::

And I'm so glad that you brought up

929

::

business again, because it is an active work

930

::

towards a better version of ourselves.

931

::

And any self-progress we're trying to make

932

::

is messy.

933

::

And it's not going to look how we

934

::

want it to like this really pretty, perfect

935

::

package where we just open it tomorrow.

936

::

And there we are perfectly developed and everything's

937

::

great.

938

::

It is such an amazing vehicle to get

939

::

us from here to the best version of

940

::

ourselves.

941

::

But it's going to be rocky, and it's

942

::

going to be bumpy.

943

::

And we have to be willing to feel

944

::

because every time we shove it down, we're

945

::

missing out.

946

::

Not only does it harm us eventually, but

947

::

we're missing out on this opportunity to grow

948

::

and stretch.

949

::

And that's the whole point of life.

950

::

Absolutely.

951

::

Beautifully said.

952

::

Well, thank you so much for joining us.

953

::

I have loved talking to you.

954

::

And I would love to hear you share

955

::

with our audience where they can find you

956

::

and learn more about you.

957

::

Yeah, you can go to my website, DanitaBremer

958

::

.com.

959

::

But right now, I would love for any

960

::

of your listeners to hop over to my

961

::

podcast and give a listen and leave a

962

::

review.

963

::

It's a brand new podcast.

964

::

So that's kind of where I'm focusing.

965

::

But any offers I have going on will

966

::

be found right on my website.

967

::

Perfect.

968

::

Yes, we will link to her website and

969

::

podcast in the show notes.

970

::

So thanks so much for being here again,

971

::

Danita.

972

::

And we'll speak to you soon.

973

::

Thank you.

974

::

Are you ready to start or grow your

975

::

dream business?

976

::

Click the link in the show notes to

977

::

download the free starter guide to building a

978

::

business or to schedule a free coaching call

979

::

with me.

980

::

And if you loved this episode, don't forget

981

::

to leave a review and share it with

982

::

a friend who might be feeling the call

983

::

to burn a little brighter.

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