Empowering Chats with Susan Burrell

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

Embracing Possibility

Ep #193 - Embracing Possibility, An Interview with author and speaker Michele Neff Hernandez.

In this Empowering Chat I welcome Michele Neff Hernandez for a very timely and amazing conversation. Michele is the author of a new book entitled, Different After You, Rediscovering Yourself and Healing after Grief and Trauma. Michele is a widow. And through her experience of losing a spouse she learned things about herself that she didn’t know. This personal trauma led her to write this book and become a motivational speaker on behalf of others who have lost a spouse or a partner.

She also developed a non-profit called Soaring Spirits International that provides research-based programs and a community of peers for those that have lost a spouse or partner. Michele speaks to groups of all types about grief, hope and the healing impact of love.

Michele’s own personal loss of losing her husband in 2005 brought about her most transformative realization about how grief changes us. She was no longer the same person and could not return to being that person. She needed to work through her grief and her loss in order to rebuild her life as a resilient and empowered individual. One that was fully capable of living life fully and even joyfully.

Different After You is not just for those that have lost a spouse or partner, it can also help those that are recovering from a life changing experience or trauma.

 

To learn more about Michele Neff Hernandez: MicheleNeffHernandez.com

To purchase Michele’s book, Different After You: MicheleNeffHernandez.com/book

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

Are You Boundless & Free?

Are You Boundless and Free? A Solo Show with Susan Burrell

Are we growing yet? This Empowering Chat is all about GROWTH. I put that word in all caps on purpose. To both grab your attention and to challenge you to step out of your box. Join me for this conversation about change, growth and doing today what maybe you couldn’t do last year, or last week or even yesterday.

I want to challenge you to journey to the edge of your boundaries. By definition a boundary is called a frontier. I like to think of it as the place where we face the unknown. The unknown challenges of our lives, our thoughts, our feelings.

With everything that is going on in our world today, mass shootings, Covid, the war in Ukraine, where do we find Hope? Where do we find Truth? And where do we find Happiness, Freedom and Peace?

All of that and so much more is found within you. You are the frontier of potential. In the words of Ernest Holmes, we must create a larger vision beyond the old vision and limitations.  He goes on to say, and I quote “. . . all weightiness and confusion must be eliminated and we must think back to that which is boundless and free . . .”

For me what that means is that as we must push the frontier of our potential out into the world, and focus on what is good in our lives. We  must grow from the inside out. And as we grow our awareness, we can begin to awaken a greater influx of hope, love and peace. And then growth and change can begin.

If you want to reach your highest potential and journey into that frontier of change then I invite you to do just that. Be fully who you are. Empowered. Happy. A light leader expressing love.

Thank you for listening. To learn more about how I show up in the world I invite you to visit my website: SusanBurrell.com

The Luminous Afterlife

Ep 191 - A Q & A with Matthew McKay author of The Luminous Landscape of the Afterlife.

In this extended podcast, I welcome author Matthew McKay to my Empowering Chats. This is Matthew’s second time on my show. In this episode Matt and I, along with some of the students from my Luminous Landscape workshop, join in for this interesting and deep conversation about what it means to crossover into the afterlife.

Matthew has graciously offered to answer our questions about the afterlife based on the book he wrote in partnership with his deceased son, Jordan. There is no better source of information on death and the afterlife than someone who has died and lives in spirit. Channeling his late son, Jordan, Matthew McKay offers a post-death guide for the living, revealing in vivid detail what to expect when we die and how to prepare for the wonders of the afterlife.

I held a workshop earlier this year that was based on Matthew’s book of the same name, The Luminous Landscape of the Afterlife. And now I welcome you, my dedicated listeners to share the next 90 minutes of Q & A with Matt, myself and my students.

I’d like to share the following quote with you to jumpstart this chat about the luminous path. This quote is lifted directly from Matthew’s book. And even if you have not read the book this podcast is still worth a listen. So, I invite you to take a deep listen and feed your curiosity.

“A window into the world of spirit, an invitation to listen at the curtain between worlds, and a clear awareness that death is neither an end nor even a loss. It is merely the time when we finally remember who we are and where our home is.”

For more about Matthew McKay please visit his website: SeekingJordan.com

To Purchase Matthew's Book please visit: amazon.com/Luminous-Landscape-Afterlife-Jordans-Message/dp/1644112841

To learn more about me please visit my website: SusanBurrell.com

Nurture Your Inner Goddess

EP#190 - Nurture Your Inner Goddess - An Interview with Author, Theater Critic, Mosaic Artist and Educator, Dawn Reno Langley.

I opened my interview with Dawn with the question, “Why focus on the Goddess?”

Dawn’s response centered around the fact that because she wasn’t seeing or hearing anything about goddesses anywhere else, except in her yoga studio, she felt the need to begin journaling about the goddess. Which then led to her writing about the Divine Feminine.  

Before long she began her research and expanded on her journal writing to create her book, “You Are Divine, A Search for the Goddess in all of Us.” Her research took her down many rabbit holes, as she describes it, and through the digging and excavating she uncovered many ancient stories about the Divine Feminine. Including the fact that herbal medicine and the practicing of ancient medicine began mostly with women. And later as medicine evolved, the practice of it became dominated by men.

Dawn and I share many of the same views and in discussing her book we both went off on some tangents that made for a lively conversation.  The dominating theme of this podcast was the feminine versus the masculine.  And how now in present day the feminine is beginning to take center stage and gaining dominance over the masculine. The balance of the two is really what is needed in the world right now. 

As we see the masculine energy breaking down, the feminine energy is taking hold and I feel Dawn’s book is coming just at the right moment in time. The book is filled with empowering first-hand experiences of the divine feminine from spiritual teachers and students from around the world.

Dawn believes everyone holds the divine within them, and sometimes it can be hard to find. Learning to see “your-self” by looking into the metaphoric mirror is powerful and an important step in finding that divine being that lies within.

This book is a jumping off point and it can be read in bits and pieces and help you find respect for yourself. I think it is also a great book to read in a circle with other women. In a safe circle environment it is easy to open up the dialogue and think about how you can find your own divine feminine and search for that goddess that lies within you.

To learn more about Dawn Reno Langley visit her website: DawnRenoLangley.net

To purchase Dawn's Book, You Are Divine, visit:

DawnRenoLangley.net/you-are-divine

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

Releasing Tangled Energy

EP#189 - Releasing Tangled Energy – An Interview with Meditation Teacher and Author, David Gandelman.

 

David Gandelman is a spiritual teacher, author, and guide, whose mission is to awaken souls on their path of growth into being human, and living an enlightened, purpose-driven life. He is the author of 7 Energies of the Soul.

David and I share a lively conversation in this podcast about meditation, life struggles and finding the gifts in those tough experiences. David began meditating at the young age of 16. And he noticed how his life took a radical shift, simply by feeding his passion of sitting still. That became the thing that he would do define him. As his life journey progressed he went on to live in the Himalayas and travel through India. He was hungry for knowledge and in his own words he became a “Guru Chaser” seeking out Gurus from around the world to learn from.

He studied Eastern spiritual traditions while living in the Himalayas and he also spent 7 years as the director of a school for intuitive development and mysticism in Hawaii. David’s teaching style is one that connects energetic experience with ancient wisdom traditions, and he adds humor to create a safe atmosphere for people interested in learning to meditate.

I am fascinated by his new book, 7 Energies of the Soul.  As an empath reading this book, I especially appreciated the way David explained the archetypal energies of the soul. He gives you exercises and meditations to help you understand your special energies or gifts. His book offers a detailed guide to each of the seven archetypal energies of the soul, which helps you work toward spiritual and energetic balance.

Spiritual masters throughout millennia have always taught that the answers to life’s most tangled questions lie within. In the pages of David’s book I feel he has clearly laid out the ancient path that lies before us. And by letting go of what we perceive to be true, I believe with a little help we can re-focus through meditation to find the balance and the happiness we all seek in life.

 

To learn more about David and is work visit his website at: meditationschool.us

To purchase his book: meditationschool.us/the-seven-energies-of-the-soul

To learn more about how show up in the world visit: susanburrell.com

To explore Insight Timer visit: InsightTimer.com