SDH175: Redesigning Your Life and Finding What You're Meant to Do with Liz Traines

Is your career one that you were told would pay the bills? Was it the career path that you were told you should want? Are you living a life that you were told was a 'successful' one? Does it make you truly happy?

Currently a career and lifestyle coach, Liz Traines, founder of Liz Traines Coaching, helps women get out of this rut and create careers that they love. Her target audience are women in the corporate field who have given all they can to their jobs, and are left drained. She wants to help them build a career that fulfills them at the end of the day, and doesn't cause them to neglect themselves and their mental health in the process.

Liz's drive to be a support system for these women came fromher experience in their shoes. For six years, Liz worked in the corporate finance world because it was a stable career that would make her money; but something about that field never sat well with her.

She ignored this feeling and continued to grow at her company, and live a life full of traveling and became a well-respected leader amongst her peers. Yet she was miserable, and it took a stranger at a New Year's Eve party to call her on the bluff that she was living. To him, it was evident that she wasn't happy or fulfilled with where she was in her life, and his observation was the jolt that she needed to make a change.

Now that she had broken free from the mindset of what she should do, she had to go on a journey to find out what she actually wanted to do. She began to take time off of work to travel for herself, practice self care, and spent about a year doing things that scared her and were outside of her comfort zone.

However, she still hadn't gathered the courage to quit her finance job, but it did help her figure out where she wanted to go in the new chapter of her career. Her job had sent her to India to teach and train new hires about their corporation. The connections she made with them made her realize that she loved teaching, getting to know people on a deeper level, and helping them flourish. But, after giving a presentation to get them excited about their company, she felt like an imposter because her passion for the company was no longer there.

Her decision to leave was soldified when she returned home, and after two days, she had to fly out to New York City during the holidays. As she was surrounded by the smiles and electricity of Times Square, she knew she could no longer lie to herself and the company, and finally talked to her boss.

After taking some time to re-energize, and watch some Netflix, she continued to learn how to really pamper herself without guilt. Coming from years of putting the needs of her job and others before herself, the concept and practice of self care without feeling selfish took some time for her to grasp. But through the process, she was able to empower herself, become more confident, and gain clarity about her next step. 

Settle in and listen to how Liz teaches her clients to talk through their fears in order to progress, and more about how she found herself and rebuildt her life on her own terms!

In this episode you will...

• Begin to prioritize your mental health over your career
• Learn to do some things that scare you in your personal and professional life
• Know how to emotionally unblock yourself
• Figure out ways to re-center yourself or leave the corporate world
• Become acclimated to pampering yourself and practicing self care
• Discover the fears that you may have that are holding you back

INSIGHTS

"We get so buried in the day-to-day of the thingsthat we have to do, that we don't think that much about the things that we want to do." -Liz Traines

"I felt I had built up this persona of who I wanted to be, but it wasn't truly me. It's like I had this shaky foundation of...what feels authentic to me. It was like there was this disconnect with the person I was externally...and there was this internal part that was just like, 'who am I?'" -Liz Traines

"If I don't put myself first, I don't operate at my best level...I have to shift my mindset and focus more on me...that kind of empowered me to [practice] self care; some people are built with it...but it wasn't modeled for me and there was so much guilt with that. So I think one of the big things from day one until now is I see the benefits...of doing things for myself." -Liz Traines

"I've completely created my schedule around how I want it to be, not what I think an entrepreneur should have as a schedule or what I think society...designates as a schedule...You really get to do it your way if you're willing to dig deeper and unlearn what may not be working for you...and build a vision about what it could be and make it happen." -Liz Traines

"What are those stories in your head that's telling you that you're not good enough...the moment we connect with why that story is there and that it is just a fear...and we have the control to make the future different than our past, it's liberating." -Liz Traines

RESOURCES

Liz Traines Website
Liz Traines LinkedIn
Liz Traines Facebook
Liz Traines Instagram
Liz Traines Twitter
Liz Traines Pinterest
You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
Self Compassion by Kristin Neff, PH.D.

SDH174: Being Real. LivingHonestly. Finding Your Power with Catherine Grace O'Connell

How many times have you felt as if the weight of the world was on your shoulders, and when asked what's wrong you said, 'I'm fine!'? How did that affect you emotionally? Why couldn't you say what was wrong?

Catherine Grace O'Connell said that this is due to the societal pressures that people, more specifically women, face to keep up a perfect facade. Most women are taught not to acknowledge or express the exhaustion from the stressors in our lives, which could be motherhood or possibly marriage. By conforming to these pressures, we can end up loosing ourselves in the waves that society and life has laid before us. Catherine said the key to finding yourself again is by becoming honest and aware of our emotions and speaking on them so we can begin to effectively heal and gain clarity, as well as empowerment.

This is why as a fashion lifestyle blogger, radio host, and journalist she aims to use her platforms to promote open, and real communication, as a stepping stone for women to find their strength and empowerment. This was done for her by Jen Sincero, with her book , You are a Badass, and brand after Catherine almost lost her life due to lyme disease in 2014. Along with a blog Catherine had started, her connection with Jen helped unlock the fierce strength she had inside of herself and made her want to help open that for other women as well.

Catherine said through real communication, we can begin to live honestly and mentally heal ourselves of our insecurities, internal sufferings, and negative baggage. That is why she is so willing to share her story with others and wants to create a supportive community with her brand.

Come with us as we delve into how her near death experience helped to reinvent and empower herself, and how she empowers other women like with her new podcast Cat & Kaehler with cohost Kathy Kaehler, and her Fierce 50 Campaign!

In this episode you will...

• Figure out how to shed light on an invisible demographic with your brand
• Learn how to know yourself at your deepest level and empower yourself
• Become comfortable with expressing your true emotions and taking steps to heal and be real with others and yourself
• Know how to promote authenticity and promote positivity with your platform and brand
• Find your method of emotional expression
• Realize that a lot of situations in life have nothing to do with you but are a reaction to something larger

INSIGHTS

"Fashion is my medium, it is not my message. I find fashion to be a very powerful medium and platform, yet my message is really all about empowering women." -Catherine Grace O'Connell

"This Fierce 50, it's really a part of my brand now and we're all about shifting the perception of women over 50, because the truth is...Advertising and marketing really hasn't opened up to our demographic...My message is not 'us vs. the younger demographic'. What about all of us? It's really a reflection of society now and [how] we've really come together." -Catherine Grace O'Connell

"Personal empowerment really was my way out. I stopped all the crazy stuff people do to heal and I empowered myself, very much like [Jen Sincero] did in the [You are a Badass] book, and it was incredible what that change has brought in my life...not allowing people to define us; really staying true to who we are authentically...we can really stand up inside of ourselves [and] have very firm energetic boundaries." -Catherine Grace O'Connell

"I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve and I share it all, because the truth is if we're not open and honest we can't give others the permission to be open and honest as well, and we're all suffering in some way...but the key to healing ourselves and healing others is to really let those walls come down." -Catherine Grace O'Connell

"This platform that I have now...is really all about being as real as I possibly can. Not negative, but real." -Catherine Grace O'Connell

"We do others a disservice when we always put that happy face on and we constantly deny that there's something off in our lives, and things aren't perfect...you have to be real with this." -Catherine O'Connell

RESOURCES

Catherine Grace O Website

Catherine Grace O LinkedIn

Catherine Grace O Facebook

Catherine Grace O Instagram

Catherine Grace O Twitter

You are a Badass by Jen Sincero

Cat & Kaehler Podcast

Fierce 50 Campaign

A Spiritual Solution to Every Problem by Wayne Dyer

Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins

Letting Go by David R. Hawkins

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

SDH173: Learn How to Protect Your Energy with Isabel Hundt

Do you feel as though you can't help but contract the energies of your environment? Have you met someone, and with no explanation feel that something is off?

Isabel Hundt, a transformation coach, public speaker, author, and Empath Warrior, says these sensations are caused by mirror neurons in our brains. Mirror neurons cause people to feel the same emotions as their peers and can be affected by environmental stressors and energies. Everyone feels some form of this, but someone who is an Empath experiences these sensations to such an extreme that they obtain certain gifts due to highly developed mirror neurons.

These gifts range from having prophetic visions or dreams, and the ability to communicate with nature, animals, and spirits. Isabel, who identifies as an Empath, has had variances of these gifts as well astelepathic abilities, and the ability to see auras and energies in the form of colors. However, the most common thread amongst empaths is their sensitivity to the energies of others and the environment where they can completely absorb that baggage and be negatively affected mentally and physically.

Due to this danger, she stresses that Empaths protect their energy, and learn to separate their emotions from others in order to take control of their health and well-being.

To protect her energy, she meditates outside every morning to connect to nature and become emotionally and mentally centered. Or she uses the power of her visions to picture an orb of white light, which has the highest positive vibrations, and purple light, which represents spiritual enlightenment. She accompanies this vision with a prayer, asking to be covered in their holy energy and put forth positivity into the world, while deflecting the negative.

With her transformative coaching, she hopes to be an aid for other Empaths trying to understand their gifts and help instill confidence in themselves so they can find their voices, and support the energetic shift she said is happening in this Millennial dominated world.

Take second and learn more about how Isabel obtained her gifts, and became the ultimate Empath Warrior!

In this episode you will...

• Find out if you are an empath and tips on how to navigate life as one
• Become more aware of the energy signals that people send out
• Learn how to protect your energy and separate your emotions from others as an empath
• Connect with people who are on your same page and can help you grow your business
• Be able to know to act off of your intuition, rather than the logical approach
• Know how to avoid energy vampires and keep yourself operating at a high vibration

INSIGHTS

"If you talk to empaths...they tell you it's really hard to really stay in connection with friends and to have a deep relationship with people because they get scared at some point...Most of them feel really overwhelmed and frustrated and a lot of them have depressive faces and panic attacks and anxiety. They'd rather just hide... [but] their heart speaks so much louder and they can see." -Isabel Hundt

"An empath warrior! They are warriors at heart! They know they have something to give to the world and they need to get out there too! It doesn't have to be speaking, but they know they have to get out there in a bigger way, but they don't know how to bring both together; the introvert and the extrovert." -Isabel Hundt

"Everyone has the mirror neurons and we can actually train that to become more aware of what is going on around us, to really look at people. But nowadays, I think we're so fast paced, that we don't take time to really look at the person and really take in what they send out. Because everything has energy." -Isabel Hundt

"I meditate every morining...and I often sit outside...It just helps me to really feel grounded to nature and to connect. I'm at this point now where I don't feel my body anymore, just feels like you become one with everything around you. And that helps me to really feel centered." -Isabel Hundt

"Everything around me is protected. My electromagnetic field is closed, and I can send out the positive energy and I can receive the positive, but the negative won't stick on me. I think most of the time, that' s the problem with people. We know now that energy can get trapped in your physical body and it can create illness." -Isabel Hundt

"As a spiritual person, there is no logic. There's intuition...there's guidance...Empath's have a very distinct purpose in this world and right now we see an increase in people who consider themselves empaths...and it's time for them to wake up and really use that gift because it shifts the whole energy of the world." -Isabel Hundt

RESOURCES
Isabel Hundt Website
Isabel Hundt LinkedIn
Isabel Hundt Facebook
Isabel Hundt Instagram
Isabel Hundt Twitter
The Power of Faith-Driven Success by Isabel Hundt