Empowering Chats with Susan Burrell

Connecting to Your Moon Sign

Ep#237 - Connecting to Your Moon Sign - An Interview with author and Astrology Expert, Carmen Turner-Schott.

You all know how much I love my job and I never tire of saying this – my guests are all so amazing! And many of them come with cutting edge ideology.  As we continue to move through 2023 I am finding myself inviting some of my previous guests back for another chat. It goes along with this year’s theme to BE Expansive. I am finding that many of the guests I have been interviewing are just that – Expansive - in all that they do.

So, after my last interview with Carmen Turner-Schott I knew right away that I would have her back. In this chat we discuss her latest book, Moon Signs: Houses & Healing.  This is the companion book to her previous one, Sun Signs: Houses & Healing, which we explored in our first interview that took place earlier this year.

I began this interview by asking Carmen to explain the difference between a sun sign and a moon sign. The sun sign is your main personality and it is the one most commonly referred to when people ask, “What is your sign?” Carmen goes on to explain that your sun sign is where your main identity resides. It is how you show up in the world. The month and date you are born determines your sun sign. Most people know their sun sign, but many do not know their moon sign. The moon sign is actually the more important one according to Carmen. It is the one that holds your emotional nature. It’s how you show love, it’s how you express your emotions.

This is where you find comfort, stability and it’s where you find what you value. Your moon sign is determined by not just the date you were born but by the actual time of day you were born. It identifies where the moon cycle was at the time of your birth.

Each chapter in her book provides a breakdown for each moon sign, from Aries to Pisces. Carmen makes it simple to look up yours or a loved one’s sign. Carmen also offers affirmations in her book and self-care guidelines.

As our interview came to a conclusion, we also tapped into the energy that is currently swirling around our world. Carmen and I both feel that on a global scale we need to understand the energy of the nodes and what is occurring. Compromise has to take a front seat for peace to come to fruition. The shifting of the energy that is coming will be lighter and more positive. And we are all encouraged to speak the truth.

To learn more about Carmen Turner-Schott and the work she does please visit her website: CarmenTurnerSchott.com

To purchase her book, Moon Signs: Houses & Healing visit: carmenturnerschott.com/books/

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

Tapping into Your Feelings

Ep#236 - Tapping into Your Feelings - An Interview with author and emotional detox coach, Sherianna Boyle.

I am thrilled to welcome author and detox coach, Sherianna Boyle. She has written many books and her latest is called, Energy in Action.

My conversation with Sherianna was so full of insights and gentle reminders of the light we all carry within. 

Her book is brilliant and it is easy to follow. She explains that doing a physical detox in partnership with an emotional cleanse helps you release the inflammation of the mind. Sherianna explains that an emotional detox is the releasing of the stories and the narratives we use to cover up or minimize what we are going through. And she goes on to explain that you cannot hide once the detox begins.

It's all about cleansing the emotions. Which I personally love because for me I often have to have a good cry to see what all the emotion is about. Much of this comes up for me because growing up I was not given room to truly express myself.

Sherianna explains that having a good cry is a way of showing self-love and expressing to yourself the need to release the pent-up energies. She says the mindfulness process of an emotional detox is like digesting the energy that is appearing for you. Sometimes in small bites and then following that up with action, in order to move through it.

Facing your feelings is often times what ignites your intuition.

Sherianna also leads retreats and workshops. She is currently taking registration for her "Wellness & Nature in the Azores" retreat in Portugal in 2024.

To learn more about Sherianna Boyle visit: SheriannaBoyle.com

To purchase her book, Energy in Action visit: SheriannaBoyle.com/energy-in-action

To learn more about her retreats and workshops visit: SheriannaBoyle.com/events

To learn more about how I show-up in the world visit: SusanBurrell.com/about-susan

Nurture - Embracing Our Lives with Loving Care

Ep #235 - Nurture. Embracing Our Lives with Loving Care - A Solo Show with Susan Burrell

What does it mean to nurture oneself? Can the nurturing you show to others in your life also be embraced by your inner-self?

In this solo episode I talk about the theme I have chosen for the month of July – Nurture. You all know I like to look up the word and get the written definition rolling around in my head.

So of course, I looked up “Nurture” in the Webster Dictionary – here’s the definition:

“To Supply with nourishment. To educate. To further the development of or foster.”

When I hear the word “Nurture” I often think of mothers caring for their children or their elderly parents.  I think this is true for many of us.

In today’s chat I explore all that and more. Including where in our lives we can foster love and make connection with others.  And not just those in our lives but also with the environment we are surrounded by.

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

The Value of an Emotional Prenup

Ep#234 - The Value of an Emotional Prenup - An Interview with psychologist and author, Dr. Frieda Birnbaum 

 

Why is it important to do an emotional prenup? That is the question that prompted this interview with my guest, Dr. Frieda Birnbaum, a psychotherapist and the author of "Life Begins at 60." And so this sidebar conversation was one that Dr. Birnbaum and I found ourselves in as we began this empowering chat. This idea of managing our lives and the change that comes towards us then led us to the deeper conversation about managing our unions, specifically the union of marriage.

And so once again I ask, What is an emotional prenup and how do we create it? According to Dr. Birnbaum, it comes from a place of seeing more than just the material things we want to manifest in a marriage. For example, it is easy to share with your partner that you want 2 kids, you want to buy a house, you want to make so much money per year – but we never think about the emotional connection and what is expected of each of us in this union when it comes to emotional support. And most importantly how to deal with the unexpected occurrences that will land on your doorstep.

An emotional prenup is about voicing your assumptions about marriage and partnership and then checking in with your partner to explore if your assumptions match that of your partner. It is also about acknowledging what is important to the two of you as a couple.

Part of the process is defining what marriage means to the couple. Simply put, emotional prenups help to prevent divorce, where as financial prenups protect an individual after a divorce.

To learn more about Dr.Frieda Birnbaum visit: Drfrieda.com

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

Redefining the Self

Ep. #233 - Redefining the Self - An Interview with author and visionary, Lindsay Fauntleroy

I am so excited to have this interview and dance in this conversation with my guest Lindsay Fauntleroy. Lindsay is a visionary and an author. Before I move forward, I want to introduce her book as we will be talking about it throughout this chat.

It’s called, In Our Element, Using the Five Elements as Soul Medicine to Unleash Your Personal Power.  The foundation of this book follows the five elements that come out of Ancient Chinese Medicine – Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.  And she expanded those elements to show her readers how to utilize them in their lives.Lindsay has had the five elements as the center of her clinical practice for about 15 years. She explains that it’s not just about the body but about the patterns of thinking, of virtues and of unique ways of transforming and being in the world.

Lindsay wrote the book from a very personal experience. She has been living with these elements for a very long time and wanted to create something authentic to her experience with indigenous healing traditions.

She goes on to explain that according to the indigenous culture, the human mind is really part of the world mind. Said differently, our psyche lives in nature and nature reflects our psyche. Lindsay states, “This makes space for our healing to live out-loud. I think the elements make space for our lives to heal … and healing is not always serene, our lives are ridiculous and sometimes our pain can be exquisite!”

It's all about balance, people.

Each of these elements offers the sign of where our imbalance resides and it can also offer wisdom. By recognizing that you are heavy in one of the elements then you can do the work to re-balance yourself.

 

To learn more about Lindsay Fauntleroy and the work she is doing with her foundation, The Spirit Seed, visit: TheSpiritSeed.org

 

To Purchase her book visit: TheSpiritSeed.org/inourelementbook

 

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

The Money Walk

EP# 232 - The Money Walk - An Interview with Author and Visionary, Judy Wilkins-Smith

 

It is a true pleasure to have the privilege to once again engage in a lively chat with Judy Wilkins-Smith, whom I interviewed last year. Judy’s book, “Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint” – touches on many things, and today’s talk focuses on money and abundance.

According to Judy she says we all have a system in place to deal with inherited belief systems.

Judy’s focus is on the transformational aspect of what we can do to change our inherited patterns. She goes on to say that it begins by exploring our “personal” pattern(s). Judy breaks it down by letting us know that we all have a choice. And we inherit emotional DNA or patterns in the same way that we inherit physical DNA. So she asks the question, What is the chapter that only I can write? 

Emotional DNA is our pattern, our way of responding to an event or occurrences in our life.  These patterns can be passed on from generation to generation, so much so that it becomes “our” truth – but is it still true? And here’s where Judy helps her clients to see the pattern that needs to be identified so that transformation can occur.

I personally think we forget we have the ability to change, to transform and break the limiting cycles that we find ourselves in.

Judy strongly believes we are co-creators of our life and we can break the limiting cycles we find ourselves in.

Our thoughts surrounding money or the way we perceive money is also inherited from our family.

Judy explains that many times there are 2 patterns at play – The one that is currently playing out and the one that is trying to make itself known and take the place of the unhealthy pattern.  The one that wants to make itself known is the one centered in the heart and the one that only you as an individual can write.

Money is not about greed. It is about flow and sharing and having abundance.

To learn more about Judy Wilkins-Smith visit: JudyWilkins-Smith.com

To purchase Judy's book, Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint visit: judywilkins-smith.com/products/

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

The Abundant Life

EP# 231 - A Solo Episode with Susan Burrell exploring The Abundant Life

We are half-way through 2023. Can you believe it?  And the overall theme this year for Empowering Chats has been “BE-Expansive.” And we have done all sorts of deep dives into energy, nurturing, being playful and experiencing beauty, just to name a few.

For the month of June, we will be plunging into The Abundant Life.  What might that look like for you? I think many times when we hear the word “Abundant” the first images or thoughts that come to mind have to do with money or financial security.  And if we don’t have that then it must mean that we are broke.

You all know me well enough by now that I like to look up words in the dictionary. And so here goes. The definition for "abundant" reads in part as follows: An extremely plentiful or over-sufficient quantity or supply. It’s overflowing fullness and or affluence. 

So, none of that really said anything about money it just said plentiful, quantity, fullness and overflowing. That to me feels much better when I think about my life. I want the idea of abundance to be a sufficient or plentiful quantity of happiness, excitement, harmony. And as I feel those emotions, then abundance in money comes to me and abundance of opportunities present themselves to me. I think that can be true for everybody.

When we focus on abundance, we also need to focus on the positive quality we want to experience an abundance of, an overflowing amount of. I choose joy. I choose freedom. I choose happiness. I have always had these key elements as part of my life’s journey.

It’s about the “richness” of life. It’s about actively seeking the positive and perhaps saying yes to invitations that take you out of your routine so that you too can say yes and welcome the abundance into your life.

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

Embracing Your Missing Element

EP# 230 - Embracing Your Hidden Element. An interview with Feng Shui expert and author, Tisha Morris.

 

Have I told you all lately how much I love my job? My Empowering Chat Podcast introduces me to so many interesting and amazing people. I know I say this often, but I truly love what I do.

My guest for this episode is Tisha Morris, a feng shui expert and author. Tisha’s experience and training with feng shui led her to write her most current book, Missing Element, Hidden Strength.

I asked Tisha to share how she came to write this book. She uses the ancient wisdom of Taoist principles to identify your most challenging element. She goes on to say that everything on the planet is made of these 5 elements: Water, Wood, Fire, Metal and Earth.

And in the same way that we use Feng Shui to balance the energy in the material world it can also be used to balance our inner world.

According to Tisha is it is all about recognizing the elements we each carry and finding our primary element or strength and then the opposite one or the weak missing element, which reflects our untapped potential. It’s is all about the opposites in life or as she puts it the yin and yang, and how we learn to work with both.

Tisha points out how we can tap into our potential by identifying our most challenging element and turning it into our hidden strength.

We can all earn how to access all 5 of these elements to up level our life.

Fascinating stuff!

 

To learn more about Tisha Morris please visit: TishaMorris.com

 

To purchase her book, Missing Element, Hidden Strength visit: TishaMorris.com/books

 

For more about me and how I show up in the world please visit: SusanBurrell.com

 

The Rich Power of Your Chakras

EP# 229 - The Rich Power of Your Chakras, An Interview with Yoga Teacher and Author, Masuda Mohamadi

 

This interview began with laughter. The kind that brings forth playfulness and joy. I am so excited to introduce my guest, Masuda Mohamadi.  She is a yoga teacher and an author. Her book is entitled, “Unlock the Power of Your Chakras.” And let me tell you this is one fantastic and powerful book.

As I said, I started this interview with laughter which is centered in the Navel Chakra. And the laughter was just a natural response to my connection with Masuda and the wonderful pre-interview we had before I started recording this episode. I love my job and the many interesting and fascinating people I get to connect with.

Masuda attended a retreat many years ago that introduced her to the body chakra system. As she explored the body chakra graph even more, she realized she had lost touch with her own body. And this new practice taught her a roadway back into her essence. 

What I absolutely love about this book is that Masuda has included special tools and / or practices within its pages. Including, journaling questions, affirmations, healing practices and the symbols, with descriptions for each Chakra.

And I love that the edges of the book are color-coded according to the corresponding chakra. This makes it easy to explore whichever section calls to you.

Each chapter is dedicated to a specific chakra and helps you have an immersive experience. Masuda combines her many years of yoga experience with current psychology studies and her own experience to help get you closer to your true nature and to deeper levels of love and compassion.

 

To learn more about Masuda Mohamadi I invite you to visit her website: MasudaMohamadi.com

 

To purchase, Unlock the Power of Your Chakras visit: MasudaMohamadi.com/the-book

 

For more about how I show up in the world please visit: SusanBurrell.com

Wild & Free

EP# 228 - Wild & Free - An Interview with Author, Kris Franken

I am so excited to welcome my stellar guest, Kris Franken. She is an author, mentor and healer. Her latest book is entitled, Wildhearted Purpose. Embrace Your Unique Calling and the Unmapped Path of Authenticity.

Chapter one of her book opens with the following quote:  

“It is in our nature as humans to seek happiness and pleasure in our lives. When this is healthy and balanced these inner states are clear indicators that we’re connected to our truth, but without meaning we lose our balance and sense of purpose, as you initiate your vision, meaning will bring depth into the picture as pleasure brings elevation.”

According to Kris, balance and meaning bringing us into our truth. This is a powerful statement and a theme that flows throughout Kris’s book, Wildhearted Purpose.

The idea for this book and its title came to Kris years ago. When it first appeared for her she found it glowing bright and it spoke to her. So much so that years later it became the title for this book.

The title, in Kris’s words says so much. She finds that it’s connected to the heart and it expresses everything about what she does. When she began mentoring people she encouraged people to go into their own wilderness and discover their wildness.

She gave herself permission to be wild and messy.

For Kris “wild-ing” is living in the wildness of nature. It’s finding the balance. Often, she feels we take the word “meaning” as feeling too strong and dark . Kris feels it is really about finding love and playfulness, and balancing the giving and the receiving. It’s tricky but doable to find your "meaning" in your life.

The book was written as a permission slip to everyone to do exactly what your heart wants to do. And that was her intention in writing this book.

As a rebel, Kris does not follow a map. She resists structure and people or society telling her what she “should” do. And in her quest for balance, she found her wild and playful side and follows her own drumbeat. And thus encourages her readers, her audience to do the same.

To learn more about Kris Franken please visit her website at: KrisFranken.com

To explore her book, Wildhearted Purpose visit: KrisFranken.com/books

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