Empowering Chats with Susan Burrell

Permission to Be Emotional

Ep #203 - Permission to Be Emotional - An Interview with Author and Spiritual Teacher, Joffre McClung.

 

In this episode of Empowering Chats with Susan Burrell I welcome Joffre McClung. Besides being an author and a spiritual teacher she is also, what I like to call a common sense activist.

Joffre’s latest book is a workbook and guide to finding yourself and journeying back to self-love. As we entered into this conversation, we both realized how often the work of transforming and changing really is a whole lot of hard work. It’s the kind of work many of us don’t want to tackle. We often look for the quick fix, the easy path to enlightenment and it doesn’t exist. Only when you are truly committed to doing the work and looking under the rocks, to see what is hiding there, that change and transformation can occur.

Joffre tackles this subject of self-love in her new book, The Heart of the Matter, by asking deep questions to get you, the reader diving into your inner self and un-earthing that which needs to be investigated. It is set-up as a workbook on purpose so that you can use it as a way to get back to yourself and begin the journey of self-love.

Joffre’s first book was all about grief and overcoming it. Joffre shares her story with me on how she dealt with the back-to-back deaths of close family members and friends. Her mother, best friend, aunt and her sister all died within an 8-year span. It was one of the darkest periods of Joffre’s life and yet even in that dark place there were gifts that showed up for her.

Writing helped her get through her grief and re-discover her creativity and herself. She had to do the hard inner work, including her own deep grieving. Walking this path helped her to recognize the end, the saying goodbye to what was, so that she could welcome the beginning of something new.

In Joffre’s experience and mine as well, we realize that when you have darkness around you is when you really need to do the work – the homework of diving deep into self to see where you are meant to grow.  Only by having the contrast that life provides can we as individuals and soul-centered beings learn to grow and move into our higher selves. The light and the dark must be present together in order for us as to know the difference.

We don’t always like it and we don’t always want to step into the lesson, but in order to ascend and move beyond the hurt we must walk this path.

In this empowering chat we touched on so many aspects of growth with the main focus always bouncing back to self. We cannot control the outside world we can only control ourselves and our inner world. We get to choose how we want to respond to all that is coming towards us. And by doing the hard inner work is when we can make the shift so that our response becomes one of love rather than anger.

The biggest work is getting to the place of self-love – not self-like – but true self-love so that you can lean on yourself and know that deep down all is good in your inner-world. When you get there is when you can truly understand that nothing else matters. Love of self, leads to love of others, leads to whole life love and grounding.

It is also very important to give yourself permission to feel what you are feeling – get emotional, cry, scream do whatever you need to do in order to feel the deep emotions. Because only then will you begin to understand yourself and love all the bits that make up the unique person that you are.

 

To learn more about Joffre McClung please visit her website at: JoffreMcclung.com

To purchase her book, The Heart of the Matter: JoffreMcclung.com/book

To learn more about the work I do please visit my website at: SusanBurrell.com

Reclaiming Your Health

Ep #202 -  Reclaiming Your Health - An Interview with Author and Wellness Coach, Jovanka Ciares.

Jovanka Ciares' latest book, “Reclaiming Wellness,” is not just about reclaiming wellness but it’s also about claiming yourself and becoming an empowered individual. One who owns their body and understands how their body functions.

Jovanka’s personal journey began in Puerto Rico, where she was raised. She and her family lived alongside the land, the rainforest, and her family’s food did not travel far from its origin to reach their table. Eating the foods from the land and having them home cooked was common for Jovanka in her early years. Then she moved to New York City to pursue her education. And that’s when her body gave her what she calls “a smack down.” Chronic sickness soon became part of her daily life. By her mid-twenties she was told by Western medicine that they could do nothing for her. And that she would have to learn to live in pain and discomfort for the rest of her life.

Can you imagine being told that by your trusted doctor(s)? Well, that was not acceptable to Jovanka so she began to explore other options. She began by reclaiming her heritage and the foods she grew up with. She also incorporated other healing practices such as, traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Herbalism.

Jovanka's journey involved doing a deep dive both for her personal wellness and her spiritual growth. In her book, “Reclaiming Wellness,” she gives her readers many tools for how to heal your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies.

Some of the tools Jovanka touches on in her book include, meditation, hypnosis, journaling, acupuncture and so much more. And as we have both learned through life experience, not everything works for everybody. The important lesson here is to be open to the possibilities and be willing to try different modalities until you find what works for you.

We also talked about the importance of seeing your doctor(s) as partners in your journey to heal. You are the authority of your body and the doctor may be the expert in a specific field of medicine but that does not make the doctor an expert on your body. It’s all about working together so you can reach understanding and become knowledgeable in the quest to heal your body.

To learn more about Jovanka Ciares please visit her website: JovankaCiares.com

To purchase her book, “Reclaiming Wellness” go to: amazon.com

To learn more about how I show up in the world please visit my website at: SusanBurrell.com

The Intuition of Fear

Ep #201 -  The Intuition of Fear - An Interview with Teacher and Author, Ricci Jane Adams.

How do you follow your intuition? In this episode of Empowering Chats, my guest Ricci Jane Adams and I tackle that question. Ricci starts the conversation by asking us to be open to the invitation of following our intuition.

Ricci’s mother was her first spiritual teacher. She was taught deep, classical wisdom. However, confusion set in for her as she watched her mother express these spiritual truths while also observing that her mother was not happy in her life.  This led Ricci on a quest to figure out what was true for her.  She saw a contradiction of what her mother preached and how she lived her life. Ricci kept asking herself, “Why be spiritual if your life was not going to be great?”

That’s when Ricci realized the missing piece was the shadow work. A lot of her mom’s path was connecting to these high spiritual frequencies and despite that practice it was not transforming her mom’s trauma or her eternal state of being. This journey helped Ricci realize that if she was going to make this spiritual path her life’s work, she was going to have to figure out why so many spiritual people are unhappy. She realized she was unhappy and so was her mom, and others she came in contact with.

As Ricci began to do her own research it led her to start the Institute for Intuitive Intelligence. What she found was that the most powerful way to increase your intuition was to go into the subconscious and face your shadow side. By facing your fears in a safe environment then you don’t need to be taught how to be more intuitive. She found that by removing the fear, the block is removed and the intuition that has always been there gets the opportunity to begin flowing again.

That is the main kind of spiritual work that Ricci does at the Institute. They are a multi-faceted training school that specializes in trauma. At the Institute they start by asking questions of Fear. By doing that first, they can help people unpack that which they are fearful of. Ricci feels that much of our suffering and trauma can simply be the resistance that is being aimed at the fear we don’t want to face.

Many facets of fear are explored at the institute – including the dominant program of how you lead your life. Is it from a place of fear or a place of love? Radically different and yet connected just the same.  Ricci also shared that her mom's spiritual journey also evolved and she is now a part of Ricci's team at her institute.

To learn more about Ricci Jane Adams and the Institute for Intuitive Intelligence please visit her website at: RicciJaneAdams.com

To learn more about how I show up in the world please visit my website: SusanBurrell.com

 

Ubuntu - I Am Because We Are

Ep #200 - Ubuntu - I Am Because We Are - A Solo Episode with host Susan Burrell

In this solo episode which launches the month of September I am choosing to focus on Namaste and the Humanity that we all share. Many of you who listen to my show know that I end each show with the phrase “Namaste.” The definition of Namaste is, “I bow to you.” I was also taught that it means, “The humanity in me bows to the humanity in you.”  And as I was contemplating this show and the meaning behind the word, Namaste, I pulled out some of my notes on Ghandi. The saying, “I bow to you,” is a Hindu saying and came to me when I began to explore Ghandi’s life. This saying, “I bow to you” started to come into common use in the 1940s.

And as I reviewed my notes on Ghandi and the book I have about his life, I also came across an essay by Archbishop Desmond Tutu that appears at the beginning of my Ghandi book.

This particular essay, which again is written by Desmond Tutu speaks to this phrase of “the humanity in me bows to the humanity in you” and he speaks of the ancient African phrase of Ubuntu. It has to do with honoring the essence of what it is to be human.

According to Desmond Tutu no one comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think or walk, speak or behave unless we learned it from our fellow human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human.  So, I ask you to pause here and think about that phrase, “The humanity in me bows to the humanity in you.”   And I ask you the question, “What does this phrase mean to you? What does it feel like to know you are bound to other human beings?”

Take a look in your personal life. Are there places where you feel angry or resentful? Look within to see if anger towards yourself or others is present. This is what creates divisiveness and division of humanity. Because the truth is, the humanity in you recognizes and celebrates the humanity and gifts in your fellow human beings. That is Namaste. That is Ubuntu.

Ubuntu’s power of reconciliation is accessible to all. Even those we deem evil. And in this philosophy, as stated in this essay by Desmond Tutu he points out that both victims and perpetrators are connected. Perhaps another way to see it is that the person you feel has done you wrong is actually losing more of his/her humanity because they are unconscious of the behavior they are inflicting. And so those connected to their humanity must present the Ubuntu and consciously give to the other by “bowing to the humanity in others.”

It's a powerful message and one I think we all need to embrace.

To learn more about the work I do I invite you to visit my website: SusanBurrell.com

To explore the life of Desmond Tutu please visit: www.tutu.org.za

Pinch Me - Provence

Ep #199 - Pinch Me Provence - An Interview with Travel Enthusiast, Lori Howard

This episode of Empowering Chats is all about travel and getting out and experiencing people and cultures from other places. Whether you are traveling internationally or domestically, you always have the opportunity to learn something new and meet people from other walks of life. I believe experiencing new and exciting places enriches your life and gives you the opportunity to learn something new about yourself and others.

And so let’s dive into this Empowering Chat with Lori Howard, a very dear friend of mine. Lori is a travel enthusiast and the owner of Pinch Me – Provence, a boutique, personalized travel company based in the Provence region of France.  My husband Kevin and I had the most amazing time when we went to visit Lori and her husband Pascal. And I am not just saying this because we are friends – I am saying this because it is so true and Lori is amazing at what she does. She took us by the hand and showed us some very special places surrounding her hometown. And this extra touch made our trip very memorable.

I felt more like a local than a tourist as I traveled through the Provence region. Lori gives you the most perfect experience. All you have to do is put your bags down, open your heart and step into the journey.

Lori fell in love with France when she was an exchange student in her twenties, which also coincided with her falling in love with a French boy by the name of Pascal. It was magical and special but then life intervened and they each went their own way cultivating their lives, marrying other people and creating their families. Then they hit their fifties and life changed drastically for both of them. And they found themselves single and dating again. In 2015 Lori married Pascal and moved to France. This was a drastic change for Lori. She left her job, her hometown in the United States, sold everything and said goodbye to her family to go live in France.

Brave became Lori’s moniker as she dived into this new life for herself. And yet she did this because she wanted to, she always had this dream of living in France and when life presented her with these options she felt pulled to say yes.

Lori’s big joy is giving people the feeling of being local as they travel through the Provence region.  She finds the hidden gems, the local out of the way cafes and other jewels that are not frequented by tourists. And this makes her job, as the travel enthusiast that she is, so fun and so easy. Lori’s goal is to craft the best package for her clients. Her aim is to make it easy and fun for people to travel through the region. She creates personal intimate travel packages for clients based on their specific wants and needs.

To learn more about what Lori does and how to build you special travel itinerary visit her website at:

PinchMeProvence.com

To learn more about how I show up in the world please visit my website: SusanBurrell.com

Rewiring Family Patterns

Ep#198 – Rewiring Family Patterns - An Interview with author and visionary leader, Judy Wilkins-Smith.

I am thrilled to welcome author and visionary leader, Judy Wilkins-Smith to this Empowering Chat. Judy is the author of, “Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint. A Powerful Guide to Transformation Through Disentangling Multigenerational Patterns.”

As I began this interview, or chat as I like to call it, with Judy my first question to her was: What is an emotional blueprint?  Here is how Judy explained it. An emotional blueprint gets created when a significant event happens in your life. This event is often followed by your personal reaction to that event. And in response, you create a story about it and often times it is coupled with strong feelings. Eventually the story becomes so much a part of you that it becomes your truth. And then it becomes, “The Truth.”  However, is it not really “The Truth” it is your truth.

Now imagine that significant event happened generations ago and is accompanied by all the cautionary tales and all of the “be carefuls” which are also part of the story. This gets passed down either through word of mouth within the family or through cultural stories. And people’s reaction to the story are seen by you and others in the family. The feelings are played out on their faces and their bodies. What many of us don’t understand is that these reactions get imprinted into the generational system and then get passed down as truths. These truths create patterns and behaviors that also get passed down from one generation to the next.

Recognizing the patterns for what they are and seeing what is not inherently yours can be the pivot point to making different choices and seeing the gift embedded in the DNA of your family. Judy is all about acceptance of these stories as they are not bad, good or ugly, but rather they can be informative and ultimately can be used to heal that old generational pattern that has been passed on for many years.

In a series of easy-to-understand steps, Judy’s book, "Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint" explains how you can uncover these Emotional DNA patterns and understand the limitations as well as the gifts they bring. Judy gives her readers assignments and investigative questions to ask themselves as they work to break the patterns and rewire the brain, allowing for transformation to occur.

Written for the beginner, as well as for those who want to take systemic work to the next level, the book reveals how every individual can change and heal their Emotional DNA and be transformed through this amazing approach.

Judy and I enjoyed connecting during this Empowering Chat and we both believe we are all here to evolve – I think that is more true than the statement that says, "We need to heal to become whole." I believe we are already whole – we have all we need to succeed. What is perhaps lacking is the necessary insight to face those events in our lives that need to embraced and understood in a way that adds to the whole. By embracing it as a gift, I feel we can become more. Everything belongs.

To learn more about Judy and the visionary work she does please visit her website at:
JudyWilkins-Smith.com

To purchase Judy's book, "Your Emotional Blueprint," visit: JudyWilkins-Smith.com/products/

Judy also offers meditations and blogs on her website that I encourage you to check out.

To learn more about how I show up in the world please visit my website at: SusanBurrell.com

Stepping Into Courage

Ep#197 - Stepping Into Courage - An Interview with Jennifer Seven, Podcast Host of Unbreakable Spirit.

In this episode of Empowering Chats I welcome fellow podcaster, Jennifer Seven.

Jennifer shares her story of struggle which goes back to her childhood. She grew up with a very controlling father and a mother who tried her best, but could not stand up to her father. As Jennifer grew older, she became very rebellious and anxious to leave home and get away from that controlling environment.

Looking back she can see the actions her dad took to keep her under his thumb, including paying for the condo where she lived. Once she was married and had children Jennifer made the decision to stay home – this was something she wanted to do so she chose a career where she could work and be home to help raise the kids. Jennifer believes this is likely when she began to relinquish her own power and allow her husband to begin managing all of their finances and make most of the "important" decisions surrounding their family. And slowly she did become her mother.

Jennifer’s story is not a unique one. Many women find themselves making some of the same choices their mother’s made, not fully grasping why.

What ultimately happened to Jennifer was a complete loss of all she cherished. Her home went into foreclosure, her 25-year marriage was destroyed as the man she thought she married was not at all the man he pretended to be, and she had to file for bankruptcy.

She lost her confidence and stopped trusting her inner-knowing. With the help of an intuitive healer, who gave her the gift of a gratitude journal, she began to make her way back to her empowered life. The simple tool of writing down what she was grateful for became powerful for her healing. She found it very difficult at first and had to start with the very simple things like being grateful to have a bed to sleep on, food to eat, etc. She did this every day and then watched her gratitude expand and her days began to get brighter.

Jennifer and I both agree that the simple act of giving to yourself is the most important in regaining your courage and trust. The journal writing eventually expanded to include other self-care modalities like daily meditation. 

Through this experience of growth, Jennifer created her podcast, “Unbreakable Spirit.” She knew other women had their own stories to share about their unbreakable spirit and she wanted to give them a forum to share those stories. By knowing we are not alone in these challenges it gives us hope to know we can overcome anything.

To listen to Jennifer’s Unbreakable Spirit Podcast: unbreakablespirit.podbean.com

To learn more about Jennifer visit: 7company.com

Please visit my website to learn more about how I show up in the world: susanburrell.com

The Tranquil Life

Ep #196 - The Tranquil Life - A Solo Episode with Susan Burrell

It’s August and so I start this solo episode with the theme Ease. What does it mean to face life’s challenges with ease? How can we be more at ease with what is? You know, take in that “peaceful easy feeling” just like the Eagles sing about. So, in this episode of Empowering Chats that is exactly what I am going to investigate.

So, how do we do that? How do we reach that ease, that peaceful easy feeling? Especially when awoken at 3 AM and we can’t get back to sleep.

I think it’s about consciously allowing ourselves to be open to receive what it is we need to know.  Something I have found that works for me is to surround my bed with white light before I retire for the evening. Perhaps this would work for you, too.

Something else I have been doing of late to reach peaceful tranquility is to not read the headlines. This is especially true if the news makes you anxious. I find that when we are not in sync with ourselves, we can be pulled out of balance by these external triggers. Meditating or sitting in quiet, even if only for 5 minutes, can help. By doing this we allow our heart to be open so we can hear that we are safe, and these external issues nagging at us are really not that important.

Finding the solutions to our problems will manifest, I believe, when we are in peace and in balance within our inner world. Worrying incessantly is not the way to uncover a solution.

Where are you finding ease and tranquility in your life? Take a listen to this episode and you too may find answers or tools that will help you reach ease and get to that “peaceful easy feeling.”

The Journey Over Many Lifetimes

Ep #195 - The Journey Over Many Lifetimes – An interview with Author and Hypnotherapist, Karen Joy.

I begin this podcast with a giggle and a laugh because my amazing guest today brings out gooey love and appreciation for her and hence for each other. I feel like I am heightened into this awareness. I am honored to be speaking with Karen Joy who comes to us all the way from Australia.

Karen wrote a book called: Lost Soul Wise Soul, How Challenging Past Lives Shape Our Future.

Karen began experiencing this realm through her work as a psychologist. She found that many of her clients began to go into past lives, (or what they interpreted as being past lives) on their own. In this interview, Karen shares how this process would often times begin with an emotion. And by going through the emotion, the patient would leave the present moment and re-live, re-experience that which took place and thereby go back to that life.

By allowing her patients to step into that journey she would become the loving guide that would help them through those sessions. 

Eventually this led Karen to get fully involved in this type of work. She experienced first hand what a big difference these sessions made in people’s lives. And so, she moved into hypnotherapy and lives between lives therapy.

Karen goes on to explain that many lost souls are habitual beings that carry certain characteristics from lifetime to lifetime. For instance, many who are alcoholics will carry this trait through from one lifetime to the next. Sort of like being in a trance. Until something or someone helps that person / that soul break those habits, they will not awaken and move forward.

It’s about building your inner strength. Many of Karen’s patients come to her not because they are curious about past lives, but because they have issues or trauma in this lifetime and they wish to clear those issues up. This is important to them if they are to move on and grow in this lifetime.

To learn more about Karen visit: LifeBetweenLivesRegression.com.au

To purchase Karen’s book: LifeBetweenLivesRegression.com.au/books-2/lost-soul-wise-soul/

To book a session with Karen Joy: LifeBetweenLivesRegression.com.au/contact/

To Listen to Karen’s Podcast, Exploring Past Lives with Karen Joy: LifeBetweenLivesRegression.com.au/podcasts/

To learn more about the work I do please visit my website at: SusanBurrell.com

Defining Moments

Ep. #194 - Defining Moments – An Interview with Author and Hypnotherapist, Ann J. Clark

This episode of Empowering Chats with author and hypnotherapist, Ann J. Clark covers several topics. Including past life regressions, lives between lives, and dealing with, and learning how to recover from great loss.  Ann’s latest book is entitled, Healing from Great Loss.

Together, in this podcast, Ann and I ponder great loss and investigate ways to re-examine loss in our lives.  There are many books out on how to deal with loss and grief. Ann explains how her book is different as it is written from the perspective of the soul. She also goes on to explain that her book picks up where other books on grieving leave off. In other words, after a person has been through the common stages of grief many are left feeling empty and like they will never again experience happiness in the same way as before their loss. This is where Ann’s book picks up.

Through the use of tools such as journaling, self-assessments and visualization Ann’s book offers you ways to walk your journey of grief to re-discover yourself.

Many of us are grieving small and large losses since Covid hit. And we may find ourselves on the path of re-emerging and rediscovering who we are. Ann and I also talked about finding our inner voice and listening to our higher self in order to shift perspective and gain more wisdom and knowledge about ourselves and how we function in the world.

 

To learn more about Ann please visit her website at: BirminghamHypnosis.com

 

To purchase Ann’s book: Amazon.com/Healing-Great-Loss

 

To learn more about the work I do please visit my website: SusanBurrell.com