Wisdom Rising

How to Cultivate Abundance: Shifting from Stress to Gratitude

• Christine Renee, Isabel Wells, and Shantel Ochoa • Season 1 • Episode 28

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Have you ever wondered how shifting your mindset could lead to a more abundant life? Join us as we explore the evolving concept of abundance in today's world. This episode of Wisdom Rising is packed with insights on how millennials and younger generations are redefining success by valuing experiences over material possessions. We dive into practical strategies for embracing gratitude, setting healthy boundaries, and managing those tricky family gatherings during the holiday season, all while aligning your energy with the universe to foster peace and stability.

Our heartfelt conversation shares personal stories that illustrate the true essence of abundance beyond financial wealth. Discover unexpected sources of joy and connection, like finding an abundance of pine needles for crafting or the liberation of ditching a rigid morning routine. We reflect on the transformative power of being present and mindful, especially when raising neurodivergent children or dealing with holiday stress. Through this journey, we emphasize the importance of healing past traumas and cultivating a mindset of neutrality to invite gratitude and abundance into your life.

Get ready to embrace a healthier relationship with money by learning to approach debt and financial opportunities with gratitude and positivity. We also discuss the significance of maintaining personal growth and authenticity amidst familial pressures, and how setting boundaries can support this during the holidays. As we highlight the growing trend of sobriety, we invite you to share your experiences and insights within the Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics community, fostering a collective embrace of gratitude and abundance as we navigate this season together.

Ready to learn more? Check out our Soul Rising Shamanic Reiki program: https://moonrisinginstitute.com/soul-rising/

Moon Rising Shamanic Institute Links:
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Book a session with Isabel: https://calendly.com/into-the-deep/schedule

Book a FREE 15 minute connect call with Izzy: https://calendly.com/moonrisinginstitute/connect

Book a session with Christine: https://calendly.com/christinerenee/90-minutes-intensive

Book a FREE 10 minute connect call with Christine: https://calendly.com/christinerenee/10-minute-connect-call-srpt

Speaker 1:

It's time to remember your divine purpose and limitless potential. Welcome to Wisdom Rising, the official podcast of Moon Rising Shamanic Institute. Join shamanic Reiki practitioners Christine Rene, isabel Wells and Chantel Ochoa as we guide you on a journey of radical self-discovery and spiritual guidance. Each week, we'll dance through the realms of shamanism, mysticism, energy, healing and personal development to illuminate your path to true healing and self-sourced wisdom Through weekly inspired conversations and interviews with leading spiritual and shamanic practitioners. We are here to help you acknowledge, reconcile and balance your energy so that you can awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within. Welcome back to another amazing episode of the Wisdom Rising podcast. I'm your host for today, isabel Wells, and I am so excited to be joined once again with our visionary, christine Rene for this conversation on how we can embrace abundance through gratitude. In today's conversation, you'll hear us discuss the true meaning of abundance, how we can rewire our thought patterns and beliefs to help us embrace more abundance, the key to gratitude, and why gratitude isn't a pathway to guilt, but rather a way of appreciating what we have, aligning our energy with the universe and uplifting our thoughts and vibrations so that we are willing and able to accept more abundance and allow it to overflow through us to others Along the way. We also talk about the importance of healthy boundaries, how to navigate the holiday season in the middle of family and friends, as well as the role your nervous system plays in cultivating peace, stability and confidence throughout all of these situations. So if you're ready to embrace more abundance, expand on your gratitude practice, regulate your nervous system and learn how to set better boundaries with your family, then this episode is for you. Don't forget to join us over in our Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics Facebook group to continue the conversation and engage with our over 4,000 member community of shamanic and spiritual seekers. Of course, remember to subscribe to the podcast so that you get access to new episodes sooner, and be sure that you've joined our mailing list so that you can get access to special discounts, exciting news and one-of-a-kind updates every week.

Speaker 1:

With that said, let's go to the show. Welcome, welcome to another amazing conversation. I'm here with Christine and we're going to be diving into embracing abundance through gratitude, and this is a topic that we've both been really excited to share. We mention it probably every time we record a podcast or we do a conversation, right, this idea of gratitude and why it's so important. But as we head into Thanksgiving and the holiday season, wherever you are in the world, it's a really great time to center and ground ourselves back into today's topic. So I know Christine is ready to go with this, so I'll let her kick us off this morning.

Speaker 2:

Well, I was just saying how like this isn't a new concept. This is not some new wave of information that we're bringing you Like we know that when we're in a state of gratitude, we're in that expansive energy, we're more likely to be a receptor for abundance in our lives. That's not a new concept. Receptor for abundance in our lives that's not a new concept. But what I find fascinating is that I feel like the younger generations are kind of figuring it out quicker.

Speaker 2:

Like it was such part of the culture of like the boomer generation to like have the white picket fence and the big white house and the car and the two kids and the dog. Like that American dream has so drastically shifted from the 1950s to the today that our idea of what we are trying to manifest and have abundance with has been it's different. Like back in the day, if you had a van down by the river, you were like like that's the worst possible scenario. And now are the new American dream for the millennials and younger are like to have a van down by the river. That's like we've changed so much. And the fact that like van life is the thing to do like or traveling like, it's so not about having the money, necessarily. It's about having the life experiences and the lifestyle and the time that we want to craft and create in our life. And so, you know, things have shifted and that, in and of itself, I'm super grateful for, I'm super grateful that there's less pressure to have all of the stuff to prove that I'm wealthy, right, like like, for example, I don't have a car.

Speaker 2:

Right now I don't have a car. I don't really want a car. And there's like when I'm trying to think about okay, I probably need a car in the next. You know, in like two or three months I probably actually need a car, but right now I'm traveling so much. I'm gone one to two weeks a month and I only drive, like to and from my child's school into the grocery store. Like, maybe I'm hitting 5,000 miles a year in my own vehicle.

Speaker 2:

So why do I want to buy a $30,000 vehicle? Why would I want to buy a Tesla? You know what I mean? Like why would I want to have a car that has a status symbol if I'm not even going to drive it? And so I don't mind driving around a beater car from point A to point B, because that's not my life. I'm not in the car enough to make it feel like something I need or want to have, and I think that in of itself is like a mindset shift from previous generations, like we're no longer interested in the status symbols and the status symbols were such a huge part of our culture even 10, 15 years ago. Do you notice that, isabel? I know that we're in a different, like we're in a different generational gap, so I'm like how does that land?

Speaker 1:

No, and I think you're entirely right with that, and I was actually what I was thinking of when you were talking was, especially, when we look at you know, we had the great depression. I think is something that comes up a lot of the time in conversations about abundance is that it led to this generation that was so. It had such a strong scarcity mindset, right, we needed to hold on to everything and there was this constant state of fear, whereas now, for better or worse, I think we're seeing this, you know, in not to make it political or anything, but in you know the capitalist society that we have we see this overabundance in a lot of areas of the world. Right, obviously not all of them, but a lot of areas of the world, especially America, parts of Europe, that kind of thing, where there's this overabundance of stuff and items. And I think what I notice most is that there's been this arc from the scarcity that we saw in the generation that experienced the Great Depression and really was rooted in that idea that there is never enough, there's never going to be enough. And then we had this arc where we started to be able to come out of that and think that, okay, well, if there's never enough and that's what leads to scarcity then having more than enough is what's going to make us safe. Right, and we see that a lot even today in affirmations that we use, right. I think a really common affirmation for people is I have more than enough. I have more than enough time, more than enough money, because just simply having enough doesn't feel like enough. And so we saw this arc where it was well, if I can have more, if I can have more and more things and stuff and status symbols or whatever it is, then I'm safe.

Speaker 1:

And I notice it kind of coming down the other way, where we're realizing that we had all this stuff. We've seen people who have gotten the money, gotten the fame, gotten the time. You know, I think of Jim Carrey a lot, who said this he was like I got everything and realized it wasn't going to make me happy. And I think that's the switch that we're seeing in parts of the newest generation Definitely not all of us, but parts of the newer generations who are realizing that the stuff isn't what's going to make us happy, it's not fulfilling. It's like you were saying, it's the experiences, it's the ability to go out and experience life and all that that entails, and so I think this is a really fantastic place to start this conversation from. Is this idea of what is abundance? Because this is really where this conversation is going to take root, because abundance is going to mean something entirely different for every single person listening to this conversation, and that's why it's so important to think of not what is abundance in a general, objective definition, but for you. What does it mean to be abundant for you? Is it an abundance of money, time items, vehicle brands, clothing brands, or is it time with your family? Is it lots of friendships? Is it time spent in nature?

Speaker 1:

I was actually reminded recently of an experience I had with one of our soul rising students where she was feeling like there was a lack of income in her business and she was really struggling with this, knowing that she has right that I think we all have when we're in the spiritual community of if we can embrace the abundance that we already have, that abundance will flow in other avenues, and so she knew that if she could just embrace the abundance that was already apparent in her life, then financial abundance would naturally follow, because she was just standing firm in that energy. But she couldn't do it. She was having such a hard time, and so I was sitting with her on a Zoom call and we were just talking about okay, where are things that are abundant? And completely offhand, in this like exasperated tone, she was like you know what's hilarious is the one thing that the universe is giving me an abundance of that I really don't need is pine needles. My entire backyard is just covered in pine needles. And she was so frustrated at the time and I was like no, no, no, let's look at that, because at the time she was learning how to make baskets actually, and so I was like you have been gifted an abundance of materials to make something for this new hobby that has been bringing you so much joy. And not only have you been gifted materials, but you've been gifted green materials. And can we look at the symbolism of the fact that your backyard is littered with nature's equivalent of money, if you will, these little green slips of material that are going to allow you to make and create the things that are bringing you joy? That is essentially what money does, right? And that was a huge switch for her, to the point that we had a virtual guest book going for my wedding and that was her favorite memory that she put in the guest book was realizing that these pine needles were actually a symbol of abundance.

Speaker 1:

And I think that example is so powerful because it really shows that abundance isn't just coming in through one avenue. It doesn't just mean money or time or the objects that you have in your home. It can be a feeling, and in fact I think it really is a feeling at the end of the day, because when we look at abundance and what we want to be manifesting, we come back to this idea that we're not manifesting an item. We're manifesting the feeling that we think we'll have to this idea that we're not manifesting an item, we're manifesting the feeling that we think we'll have when we have that item. And so when we say, you know, if we think of what would abundance means to you right now, whether you feel like you have it right now or you feel like it's coming in the future, what are you looking for? Is it more money? Is it more time? Is it a car? Just kind of bring it to mind whatever it is for you and then think about what is the feeling that you think having that is going to give you. If it's more time with your family, is the feeling that you're going to have being connected, being accepted, being one with other people. If it is more money, is the feeling that you think you'll have one of safety and security and knowing that you're exactly where you need to be. If it's extra time, is it the feeling that you can finally be at peace, you can finally rest. What's the feeling underlying that wish that you have for abundance? Because that's really what we're looking for.

Speaker 1:

It has nothing to do with the physical manifestation, and I think this is where we can start to switch our mindset around of, instead of looking at abundance as the physical objects, we can come back to our understanding that everything in the physical reality is a manifestation of energy. It's a, it's a physical representation of an energy that we're experiencing. And so, instead of thinking of abundance as I have the thing, and it gives me that feeling let's go back to our understanding that we have from our Reiki training, from our shamanic training, from whatever it is that says no, no, the energy comes first, and think about what is the experience that you want, what's the energy that you want to have, knowing that when you can step into that energy, when you can welcome in that emotion, that experience, the physical is going to follow. And this is really where gratitude comes in, because gratitude is the ability to say look at this experience that I'm already having, look at the emotions that I'm already having, look at the things that I already have in my reality. And in doing that, you are cementing in that energy into your own energetic field, which is going to cause the physical manifestations to multiply and grow because you're in that energy. And so it really becomes this shift in our mindset of on the abundance side.

Speaker 1:

Let's rework what we think of as abundance. It's not about the physical things, it's about the energy behind those. And on the side of gratitude, it's not about saying I'm beholden to the universe for giving me these things or I owe it to the universe to be grateful for. I think a lot of times when we talk about gratitude, it can bring along this feeling of I don't want to have to be grateful in a way, but it's not. It's the difference between I am owing something, I'm owing gratitude in return and more of an appreciation of.

Speaker 1:

Isn't it amazing that I have this thing?

Speaker 1:

Isn't it amazing that, again, let's say, for example, your idea of abundance is more time with your family, which is rooted in that desire to feel connected and loving. How can you look around your day-to-day life as it is now and notice all the times, whether it's like a teeny, tiny moment, right the moment that your cat comes in from a different room just to like rub on your leg, or the moment that a friend sends you a text or you get a compliment in a work email, even if it's really small? Can you look at your day-to-day life as it is and notice the moments when that feeling of connection and love is already present and appreciate that? Isn't it amazing that this thing that I so desire, that this level of abundance that I want, is already showing up in my life in this small way? Isn't that incredible? Isn't it amazing that I get to have this experience and suddenly gratitude goes from being a to-do list item to being just a simple awareness and appreciation for the magic that's already happening in your day-to-day life?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely, and I think this is where we get to start observing the little things right. Once we start observing the little things that we're grateful for, we're doing a mind shift, a set shifts Like for for me, like I want to start my day off in gratitude, like if I know that if I can start with that expansive energy from the get-go, it's going to change my whole day. And there has definitely been times in my life where music hasn't been the thing and I just feel heavy and kind of like drudging through my day and having those negative, intrusive thoughts. Like I remember the day when that happened and I also remembered when okay, what's something I can do? First thing, is that getting up in the morning and doing five minutes of Reiki is that like what is it for you? Getting up in the morning and doing five minutes of Reiki? Is that like what is it for you and for me? I put together a morning playlist that lasts about 40 minutes and their songs are all about gratitude and for me, it's that playlist that really hits me off in the morning to get in the right mindset of like I have it all, everything is going well, all of my prayers are being met, like, like I need that full on physical reminder. It's something that I can dance to. So I'm like infusing my cellular body with this, this vibration of gratitude, and hopefully getting those songs stuck in my head, like that's actually what I'm setting myself up for.

Speaker 2:

I remember having this conversation with my daughter, who's you know, she's 11 and she is pretty neurodivergent. And we're we're singing the song on gratitude and I'm like I hope this gets stuck in my head. And she's like she didn't understand that she was singing it from a first person perspective, like we're singing along so that we're saying, saying it to ourselves like an affirmation. And she was like, oh, she'd never had thought of it that way, like I'm seeing the song so that it happens in my life, like as if I'm claiming it. And that was a beautiful little shift in her, her awareness that I just viscerally saw on her face and her body language. She's like, oh, I get it. I'm like that's the whole point, so that we can fully accept this energy of having everything that we need, having everything that we want, enjoying our time together. And if we're dancing through the morning one, I'm gonna be a much better mom, like that's just, I'm gonna be such a much better mom.

Speaker 2:

I remember pre-p, pre pandemic, where the mornings were the most absolutely stressful time of my day. I was so triggered every single morning by trying to pack lunches and get everyone out the door on time and it just was always a struggle. And as when the pandemic hit, when COVID hit and we had a lockdown, I remember going, oh, thank god, because now I can just meditate for an hour in the morning and I don't have to deal with this like rush to get out the door. It was the literally. I wanted to homeschool my children because I could not handle the 30 minutes before bringing my kids to school. That was the most stressful part of my day. And so in COVID I was like, great, I can take the time in the morning so that we don't have to start lessons till nine or 10 or whatever it was, and that I could have my self-care time in the morning. Like that was such a huge relief to be like, oh, thank God, I don't have to leave the house, I don't have to see anyone, I can just be here and I can take care of myself and then take care of my kids. Like I needed to put myself first and in that healing process because it really was.

Speaker 2:

I feel like that lockdown time of of being overall I am an introvert. I might be extroverted in a lot of cases, especially when I show up on video or on the podcast like I'm there, I can be very in an extroverted energy, but overall my my energy in and of itself I'm an introvert and so having that relief of like I don't have to see anybody, I don't. I was doing 15 to 20 Reiki clients a week, like I was definitely in people's energy every single day. Everyone wanted my attention. And then when COVID and the lockdown happened, I was like, oh, I can just take a deep breath and let my nervous system reset instead of having to rush from getting the kids ready, getting them off to school, going into my studio space and having back-to-back clients until three o'clock when I needed to go pick them up and then make dinner and then have homework done. That whole schedule was ridiculous. I never want to have to work 40 hours a week again.

Speaker 2:

I love the way my work life flows now and it works for me, but I needed that contrast of like this is what the quote unquote hustle energy is. That is the typical, typical American lifestyle like rush out the door, barely get any breakfast, get the kids off, then go do your work from nine to five and then rush home and get, and it's just always that same energy. And you know, I, I, I made it, I did the things. I was making good amount of money in my Reiki practice, more than most Reiki practices. I I was very quote unquote successful in it and I wasn't happy. I was helping a lot of people and that gave me joy, but overall it wasn't fulfilling to me to live in that hush, that that hustle of the business, and so being able to have that downtime and COVID to reevaluate what I truly wanted was huge, and so much of it was.

Speaker 2:

I wanted to heal my nervous system, I wanted to be able to wake up and not be anxious anymore. I wanted to wake up and enjoy my morning time versus being in that rush, and so in that I was able to restructure my life and my values and have a healing space. And now it's very much like I enjoy the morning, like I literally wake up, and when I don't have an alarm, I do not. I do not like alarms, so I'm like yo spirit guides I need to be up by seven. Please wake me up. And it's the easiest thing ever just to have that relationship with my spirit guides and be like they've got me. They'll wake me up. I never slept in too late and so they're my alarm.

Speaker 2:

And the first thing I do is I go to my Spotify gratitude morning playlist and I hit the play button and that is what I wake my daughter up to, and we get to dance our way through the morning, we get to enjoy our food that we make and and we get ready for the day, and I just love being in that space because then everything feels more in flow. Right, and I think that's what I want to cultivate. I want to feel in flow. I don't want to feel the rush, I don't want to feel the hustle. I want to feel in flow, and so I can. I can kind of wrap that ideal Like am I in flow or more and out of flow? How do I feel like I can take a deep breath or am I holding my breath Like it's so much different than you know. I need to make X amount of money. I want to enjoy my life and if that means I get to go travel while I work or I get, you know, I get Facebook DMS all day and that's how I'm supporting my students. That doesn't. That doesn't stress me out, like I love I'm. Y'all can text me and that's cool, that's how I like supporting.

Speaker 2:

And it's not in the structured way of I have to show up for this client for this hour and then I have 15 minutes to switch over my table into the next. And so I did a little test recently. I was like, okay, I've had a couple of requests to do in-person clients, so I'll put it on the schedule, I'll put it out into the world and see if anyone books. Not a single person booked and I just took that as a huge sign from the universe, like no, I'm not going backwards.

Speaker 2:

I from the universe, like no, I'm not going backwards, I don't need to do in-person sessions. That's not where I want to go. Now I did the same thing with I love workshops. I do online workshops, I do in-person workshops. I put together an in-person workshop at my house three days before the event and I had nine people show up. Okay, that was a yes from the universe, because I love teaching. I love teaching. That is where my heart, my passion, is, and so now I'm playing. I'm playing this game with the universe, and in that doing so it feels good, I feel in flow and I feel abundant.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and this is something I want to go back to that you touched on in there was that idea of where's your nervous system at when it comes to gratitude and abundance, and part of this is because, whether it's the nine to five hustle or it's heading into the holidays and family and presents and time and everything that can come along with that, when we are in a stressed state, when we're feeling overwhelmed, when we feel like there's a lack of time, money, abundance, whatever it is, when we are stressed, we're in a parasympathetic nervous system state. And basically a parasympathetic nervous system state is priming us to be able to fight, flight freeze, fawn right. It's our survival mode. And what is a survival mode? It is when we are making sure that, at the baseline, all we can do is tend to our physical needs Food, water safety, sleep. That is all we can do when we are in a stressed, sympathetic, parasympathetic nervous system state. We are in a state of fight, flight freeze. We all know these words, right, we hear them all the time. But what we don't think about is the fact that survival mode means that you are focused on taking care of yourself. There is nothing left in your cup to be able to share with other people. And yet we don't realize this, we don't think about this.

Speaker 1:

When we're in a stressed state, we are still trying to take care of other people. We're still trying to tend to other people's needs because we feel selfish for taking care of ourselves, but what that's doing is telling our nervous system even more that we're not safe. We're not safe to be able to take care of our needs. We're not safe to be able to rest. We're not safe to be able to whatever we need to do, which is just pushing us more into a stress state. And so we're in this kind of vicious cycle of being in a parasympathetic nervous system state. But what happens when we're there is we have nothing left to actually be able to overflow in abundance. We have nothing left to be able to accept abundance because the only thing that our minds and our energy are focused on is tending to our very basic needs, making sure that we are, at a basic level, safe. And if we constantly feel unsafe or we constantly feel a lack of security, our brain is not going to be able to recognize or accept abundance when it's coming to us. It's not going to be able to recognize or accept abundance. When a friend sends us a text or a family member wants to give us a hug, or we're up for a promotion at work, it's just going to add to the feeling of fear.

Speaker 1:

And so, in that state, our energy is not flowing, our energy is stuck because we are focused on getting ourselves to safety in a situation where the safety is man-made, and what I mean by that is the idea that we aren't safe, the feeling that we don't have enough, the feeling that we have a lack of security. It's in for lack of a better term our mind Meaning that, if we can step back and look at the objective situation, you're safe. Right, when you're working your nine to five job and you're looking at your to-do list and you're feeling really overwhelmed about how am I going to get these deadlines done? And it's pushing yourself into a parasympathetic nervous system state, you feel like you are in an unsafe situation. But when, in reality, you're sitting at your desk typing on your computer, you're safe physically. But we have created a scenario where we feel unsafe and because it is created in our mind, and it's our mind trying to keep us hunting for what's going to make us feel safe, what's the next thing that's going to make us feel secure, what's the next thing we can hold on to to feel okay? We're constantly looking for those spaces of lack and our energy gets stuck. It gets stuck in not feeling safe in the present. And because we're not safe in the present, we're not safe to move into the future. So we just get stuck. But when we can open ourselves up to gratitude or look at, like Christine was saying, where are the places where my energy can flow? What is one stressful part of my daily routine that I could shift right? Do you drive into work thinking about your to-do list and could you use that time to listen to a fun playlist or turn on a podcast? Could you make that ease up just a little bit?

Speaker 1:

One of the things I was reflecting on when I was flying back from my trip was this idea of analyzing versus experiencing. Right, when we're in a parasympathetic nervous system state or we're feeling stressed, right, to keep it simple, when we're feeling stressed, we're analyzing, we're looking for what's wrong, what's the problem, how can I fix it, and that's a very mental space to be. Our energy comes all up in our head and we get that kind of staticky, buzzy feeling because we're trying to hold on to everything to make sure that it's going to be okay, whereas when we're experiencing life, that's a very heartfelt energy. Right, we're very centered, we're grounded in our body, we're grounded in our experience. We're not even really thinking, we're just present. Right, we're able to experience life, and so often we spend so much time in the analyzing space without even realizing it, and so this is a really easy switch we can make to start to step into a space where we can welcome in abundance is thinking about. You know.

Speaker 1:

Let's use Christine's example of being really stressed in the mornings on the way to work, in that analytical mode of okay, do the kids have their food? Are they in their lunchboxes? Are they ready to get out the door? Are they dressed, do they have shoes? Do they have their homework? Are they going? Where's my car? Where's my keys? You're analyzing constantly what's happening and how can I control it to keep that feeling of safety and security. Whereas now, in this gratitude-filled morning experience, she's in an experiencing state of let's listen to the music, let's enjoy the food, let's choose joyfully which clothes we're going to put on. The outcome is the same. Right, the kids still get to school, she still gets to work on time, they still have all their homework and they're well-fed. But it's so much different because, in the one hand, they got to school stressed and anxious and overwhelmed and in the other hand, they got to school joyful and smiling and in ease and flow, and it was just that switch from.

Speaker 1:

This isn't a moment when I need to be analyzing.

Speaker 1:

This isn't a moment where I need to be in a parasympathetic nervous system state.

Speaker 1:

I am not being chased by a lion right now, I am not in mortal danger right now, and so I can let myself switch over into. Can I experience this moment for whatever it is Good or bad, pretty or ugly doesn't matter but can I let myself switch from trying to analyze everything and hold on to everything to just experiencing it for what it is and letting that be? And that gentle switch is the start of then being able to say wow, in this moment I'm experiencing gratitude or laughter or dancing or whatever. It is right. And that is something that I love to ask myself is, you know, we always hear about the present moment and I always like to think what's the present of the present moment? What's the gift that the present moment is giving you? Is it that smile that you got to have with your daughter while you were dancing to the music? Is it that deep breath that you were finally able to take in the car instead of being stressed? Right, it's that switch.

Speaker 2:

You know I'm laughing over here is because this morning I couldn't find my keys. You know, and here's the difference is that if I couldn't find my keys five years ago, I would have probably been screaming, I would have been panicking, I would have been ripping through the closet, I would have been a complete energetic mess, right, and it would have lasted with me for hours, right, it would have been so hard to shift my energy. But now my underlying understanding and belief is the universe has my back. I can't fuck it up Like. Everything is happening for reason and purpose.

Speaker 2:

So, even when I'm walking out to the car, I'm like did I leave my keys in the car? Cause I know I can't lock the car? If I, I can't my the car system won't allow me to lock the keys in the car. So I'm like well, let's go see. And so I've got these three kids I am responsible for carpooling. I can't find my freaking keys. And I'm like and one of the kids was like well, we can walk to school. I'm like yeah, we actually do have enough time that we can walk to school, and that would be fine. And then another kid said well, my mom's homesick today. You can take her car. I'm like, let's go find out.

Speaker 2:

And so I easily borrowed a car and it happened to be already completely without snow or without ice on it, because right now it is 16 degrees Fahrenheit in Bozeman, montana, and at my car would have taken at least 10 minutes to defrost and it all worked out fine. So we get in the car and I'm like all right, we're going to take a collective deep breath. Everyone, we're just going to blow out any of that stress that we're hanging onto. Everyone inhale and a big sigh we're all letting it go. And that was it.

Speaker 2:

So it's not that stressful things don't happen. Stressful things will continue to happen. It's the underlying premise of it's all going to be okay and I don't actually have to fully dive into the stress of this. The world, my world, is not going to crumble and that's how I know I have a much healthier nervous system at this point than I did five years ago. Right, like I was able to recognize the stress, not get too overly attached to it, knowing that the universe was going to have a solution for me, and I had to. We could walk or I could borrow another person's car, so I did not have time to figure out where my keys are. I knew that wasn't an option.

Speaker 1:

Well, and there's that, there's that abundance again, right, there's never just one choice, there's never just one option. You have all these different options and when we can step back, when we can let ourselves step out of that really tight hold, parasympathetic, stressed, needing to find a solution mode, and just step back and say, okay, what am I not seeing right now? If I open my heart, right, if I come down from my mind, step back into my heart mode and just step back and say, okay, what am I not seeing right now? If I open my heart, right, if I come down from my mind, step back into my heart space and just open myself up for a moment, what are the options I'm not seeing? Where's the abundance that I haven't noticed yet? Right, whether it's how am I going to get my kids to school or what are these pine needles in my backyard? Mean, right Of that idea of abundance isn't one thing.

Speaker 1:

Abundance is so many different things and until we open our hearts up to be able to notice what we haven't noticed yet, that abundance is going to feel like it's not here yet, that it's not present. But when we can step back and open ourselves up a little bit and say, okay, what is the present, of the present moment, what are the options that I haven't seen yet? That openness in our energy creates space for us to then be able to step into flow, step into experience, step into a sympathetic or restful nervous system state, step into gratitude and appreciation for what's happening, and it doesn't have to be difficult, right? What it takes is letting go of the idea that there's only one way, that there's only one way the abundance is going to come in, that there's only one way this situation is going to work out, that there's only one way. That would be the right way for today to go, because when we open ourselves up to that, we release our attachment to the outcome. We release our attachment to it has to go this way, and you can just step back and let yourself experience it. And when you're experiencing, you are open to all of the infinite number of possibilities that you didn't think of, because there are always more options than you think of. Right, there are always more options, and I was actually I was thinking about this during my wedding actually.

Speaker 1:

So we had this like lovely little timeline planned out. I planned all of it myself, which I loved, and it was fantastic, but we had this lovely little timeline and we got to doing photos after the ceremony and we had an amazing photographer and she was doing such a great job and I could see that she was just in such a flow with getting things done and I knew that it was time to switch to the next thing on the schedule and I was like you know what? No, she's in flow, her energy's moving. We're going to let it go and I'm just going to trust that everything's going to get done the way it needs to get done and the schedule ended up basically just being flipped backwards. But it was lovely. It worked out so much better than the one that I had created in my mind ever would have, because I just I saw that the energy was flowing and I let myself be open to it.

Speaker 1:

Right, and that's something that you know, you hear of. You know it's a wedding day. Something's going to go wrong. Nothing went wrong, not because it went exactly to plan, but because I let it happen the way that it needed to happen that day. And it was such a powerful example like you were saying with the workshops from the universe, of when you let yourself, let go of a certain outcome and just let it be what it wants to be. It happens so much more beautifully than you could have imagined because you are adapting, you're able to keep feeling into what's the next best option in this moment. And there again is that switch from a parasympathetic nervous system which says this is the one thing that I need to be safe and to be okay, into a sympathetic nervous system which says no, I can adapt, I can be flexible, I can be in flow.

Speaker 1:

And it really is as that simple as saying, when we think about abundance, when we even think about gratitude, right? I think a lot of times we come into a space of doing our five things of gratitude at the end of the day and feeling like I'll only be grateful if right, like I can be grateful that I had enough food on my table, I can be grateful that today went really well. But if something doesn't go the way that we think it should have gone, it's really hard to find gratitude. And the question that I want to bring forward for us today is why? Why is it harder for us to find gratitude when it didn't go the way that we thought it should? Or, in other words, why is it hard to find gratitude when our mind's outcome wasn't the outcome that the universe thought was best.

Speaker 1:

Can we find a way to open ourselves up to realizing that our way, our thought of how it quote unquote should have gone, was just one of an infinite number of potentials? And when we open ourselves up to that, then we can notice wow, even though it didn't go the way I thought it was going. To look at all these little moments that I wouldn't have gotten to have today if it had gone the way I wanted it to. Right In my example, I think about some of the amazing photography shots that we got that we wouldn't have gotten if I had said nope, it's time to go cut the cake now. And it happened in such a lovely flow that wouldn't have happened otherwise if I hadn't been able to step back and say my outcome doesn't have to be the only outcome.

Speaker 1:

And can we bring that into this conversation about gratitude? And abundance of your outcome doesn't have to be the only thing that would prompt gratitude in you. Your outcome doesn't have to be the only way that abundance comes in, it's just one. But what if there was something else? What if there was something more or different or better, that you haven't thought of yet. And in that knowing and that acceptance of maybe, just maybe I'm not saying it has to be, but maybe there's something better than what your mind has picked In that maybe, in that what, if, can you let your gratitude arise from there of, in this experience as it was today, not how I thought it should have gone, not how it could have gone, but as it was. What am I grateful for? What can I appreciate? What present from the present moment came through? What smiles did I get to have? What deep breaths with a car full of kids? Did I get to have? These magical moments that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't let ourselves just step back and experience instead of trying to analyze. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And I feel like getting into the real practical nature of this is like oftentimes we think abundance, we think money, and to know that oftentimes we have this cultural perception of what money is and how it's quote unquote supposed to be utilized and prioritized. And I I feel like in my own personal life, like I bought my house a year and a half ago I bought it by myself, I bought it with it on my vision board for almost 10 years Like I knew that it was coming and it was on its way. I knew like I knew, like I knew that it was going to happen and I trust that that that possibility and I had. I love the way it came together because for my house it was this uh, I had like two years to put down the down payment, so I had to figure out how to come up with over a hundred thousand dollars in two years and I I can't tell you today how I actually did it Every time that I needed the money, the money was there. Like I knew that I was going to keep in the flow and keep trusting and the universe knew that this house was meant for me and that it was going to keep in the flow and keep trusting. And the universe knew that this house was meant for me and that it was going to show up. So every time we had to put down another increment of 20, 30, $50,000, like it was available, I can't. I literally can't tell you other than all I did was stay in the energy. I stayed in the flow, I stayed in this knowingness that it was all going to come together and that it was meant for me.

Speaker 2:

And I feel so differently about debt than most people, because most people have this very dirty reaction to debt. And I think we can use credit cards, we can use school loan payments, we can use these things in a way that we're grateful for them. Like if I'm going to utilize a loan, for example, and be grateful for the experience or the opportunity or the thing that it provides, then I know that it's going to get paid off. It's when I'm doing it regretfully, when I'm doing it out of scarcity. That is so much different energetic signature. Like I'm using my credit card because I have to do this, I should do this and I hate that I'm using the credit card, well, then that's going to have an energetic imprint on your relationship with that credit card debt or that loan or whatever it may be. Whereas like, for example, when I take an online course, I do a training of some kind and I'm doing it in such a grateful way, like I'm so grateful for that this opportunity became available and that this debt is now was actually my opportunity to lead me into it. Then I know that that amount on the credit card that I used is going to come back to me tenfold, like it's going to be paid off very quickly. It's going to be paid off with joy, right Versus damn. I have to write another freaking payment to my credit card company, like that energy isn't in flow, and so how can we recognize that when I'm in a state of abundance, I'm going to be so free with this give and take of I'm offering money, support, opportunity for others and it's going to flow back to me and it's going to come back to me tenfold, like.

Speaker 2:

This is where I really find when people like, let's say, dolly Parton, like she, she would be a billionaire. Everyone loves Dolly. I don't care which political party you're a part of, everyone loves Dolly. Like she is amazing, right, and she gives away so much money every single year and she has all of these things that she pours her heart into and she always has more money, like the money is always there for her and it wasn't that way always. You know, it doesn't matter if you're Oprah or Dolly Parton or Jim Carrey. They all have a story of like severe poverty and utilizing gratitude and being absolutely prosperous in their life, and so I like to find those type of people as possibility portals. The possibility portal of these people are gateways. They've created a path of success for themselves where gratitude is a signature, that gratitude is a piece for them.

Speaker 2:

And how can I $20, $50 and $1 bills and go hide them places for other people to find, like putting that dollar bill in the library book on the library shelf, putting a dollar bill on someone's windshield, putting something like that amount of joy that you're going to create in someone's day because they found quote unquote a dollar bill. It's a doll, it's a dollar, right, but the amount of joy you create from that experience makes me so happy. Like I want to take Easter and flip it on its head and be like, how can we take the money I would have spent on the silly candy into? How can I, like give $10 to my daughter in ones and be like hide it. Hide it in the grocery store, hide it in the library, hide it in these public plate in the museum or wherever in the park, and hide it so that people, when they find that they're filled with with joy and I think there's an energy signature to that when we can be with money and a playful and abundant way, so that it easily flows back into our life, because if we can get, offer it and give it that way, the universe recognizes that it flows back to us. And I see this in my relationships, I see this in my and and and the people in my life where they offer in gratitude, that joyfully, like supporting others financially in some way that they it comes back to them so so much easier, so much faster.

Speaker 2:

And it's it is a mindset shift. It is this like, how do I erase scarcity from my body? How do I erase? And then this is where what Izzy is talking about, like we need I erase scarcity from my body, how do I erase? And then this is where what Izzy is talking about Like we need to get down to the nervous system.

Speaker 2:

If this is your childhood wounds around money which we all freaking have. If you grew up in the U? S, you most likely do right about. Money is scarce, there's not enough, money is evil, people with money are greedy All of those things. We need to wipe that slate clean, and when we can come from a place of neutrality and without these underlying negative stigma around money, then it's no longer dirty. It's something that I can say I love money and money loves me. And I I I asked our students that sometimes but can you say that with confidence? I love money and money loves me. And if you can't say it, there's something there that needs to be worked on Right.

Speaker 2:

And so this is where you know we can play with not only this energetic alignment that we need to cultivate, and this is why we do the personal development work, this is why we recognize our childhood wounds, this is why we do the personal development work, this is why we recognize our childhood wounds, this is why we do that shadow work.

Speaker 2:

We specifically do this in soul rising. We're going to start our next course, probably late January, so, and we also need to really feel into our am I in flow right now? Am I in the flow of the divine process of saying like? I trust that this is already happening and on its way, or am I stuck in the state of lack and and fear around that and going? What's going to help me find my flow? And if I'm in my flow, what action steps would I take? Like, if I'm in my flow, I'm going to get on the phone call with the person in Arizona today see if I can do workshops in Arizona right Like there's. When I feel good, when I feel expansive, I'm more likely to show up in my world to say yes to opportunities that are going to generate income.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it goes back to something we talked about a few conversations ago of the idea of humility as kind of an antidote to anxiety, right? This idea that when we are feeling that lack of whatever, it is right Again going back to that beginning conversation of abundance can be anything. It doesn't have to be money, it doesn't have to be time, it can be anything. But when we're feeling that lack, we're feeling anxious and we're feeling like we are the only person who can make it happen, right. So, for example, using Christine's house and having to, you know, collect $100,000 in two years, it would have been so easy to step into that stressed, anxious mindset and feel like I have to do this, I have to find a way to get $100,000. How on earth am I going to do that? We all have thoughts like that, these very eye-centered. There's no way I can create or collect $100,000. There's no way I can do this. But instead she stepped into this space of recognizing I'm not alone, it's not just me working in this situation and there's a level of humility is not quite the right word. But that feeling of understanding it doesn't end with you. You aren't the only energy, you aren't the only one playing into this situation on multiple levels. Right, we know that we have the universe. Whatever you believe there, god, source, spirit, energy, universe that's completely up to you, but we have this inherent knowing that there's something bigger than us, right? Even if it's as simple as the fact that we are all made of protons, neutrons and electrons and so there's energy flowing through all things. Right, there is energy supporting us. We have our own minds and our own hearts, yes, but we are also connected to our family members, to our friends, to every single one of our coworkers, to our boss, to our cashier at the grocery store. We are connected in this physical world to so many people. And then, energetically, we are connected to everyone else in the world.

Speaker 1:

It is a complete misconception to say that we are alone because we are connected to everyone else in the world. It is a complete misconception to say that we are alone because we are always surrounded by not only ourselves, not only the people around us, not only our spirit guides, not only our angels and our power animals, not only God, source, universe itself, but everything. Always, it does not end with us. And so, when we think about abundance, when we think about gratitude and we feel that constriction. We feel that feeling of there's no way that I can do this, there's no way that I'm worthy of having this abundance, or there's no way that I'm going to be able to feel peaceful this holiday season because I'm alone, or whatever it is?

Speaker 1:

Whatever the story we're telling ourselves is, can you find the I in that? Can you find the point where you have decided that it's up to you and you alone to make these things happen, that it's up to you and you alone to find something to be grateful for? Because a lot of times I find that when we step into our gratitude practice, it ends up becoming a way that we are marking ourselves for all the ways we fell short. You know, like I'm so grateful that I had food on my table, but, my gosh, I could have done a better job at not getting frustrated with my kids. Or I'm so grateful that I have a job, but I really didn't get everything on my to-do list done.

Speaker 1:

It becomes this way that once again, we're just putting ourselves down, but if we can step back into that understanding that it doesn't end with us, we're not alone, we're not the only force at work in our lives to make things happen, that's available to make things happen right, that idea of there are an infinite number of possibilities outside of the one that your mind has decided. And so often the one that our mind has decided on is it's up to us, it's our fault, it's our responsibility, it's our problem and we're the only ones who can fix it. But when we can come into this space of I'm not alone, when we can bring in that energy of humility and recognizing I am surrounded by opportunities, I am surrounded by people, I am surrounded by energies other than my own that could right Not necessarily will, but could contribute to making this thing happen. That could contribute to this experience, this feeling, this emotion, this abundance, this gratitude. There's so much around me other than just me.

Speaker 1:

Suddenly, the stress gets taken out of it and we get to be grateful for the food on our table or the job that we have or the income that we made that day or whatever it is because suddenly that stress of I have to do it, I have to fix it, and if I didn't meet my goal today, then I failed gets taken away, because it's not just about you, it's not just your problem, it's not just your goal, it's not just your manifestation, it's I am part of something bigger than myself and there is an infinite number of potentials, there's an infinite number of energies, there's an infinite number of ways that this experience can come through.

Speaker 1:

And if I can open myself up in that humility to set that anxiety aside and realize it doesn't end with me, I'm just part of a bigger whole, then suddenly, you know, like Oprah or Jim Carrey or Dolly, we can realize the resources that we have.

Speaker 1:

Right, when I think about those people, I think about all of the different avenues that they've taken to make connections, to bring about abundance and joy, not only for themselves but for other people, by using their resources, by connecting, by sinking their roots in and realizing I'm part of a greater whole.

Speaker 1:

And if I can stop isolating myself whether that's actually physically or through anxiety and stress and making it seem like it's just my problem if I can stop isolating myself and come back into that connection of wow, I am not alone, I'm not alone, whatever that means for you, then abundance and gratitude can start flowing through, because suddenly it doesn't end with you, you're not the stopping point, you're just another avenue, you're just another catalyst and another channel for energy and gratitude and abundance to flow through, because that's really, at the end of the day, all gratitude and abundance is is energy, and if you are a channel, if you're open to letting it flow through however it wants to flow through, you can stop making yourself a block to that energy flow and start making yourself this vessel for things to flow through, in this beautifully aligned way, because you take the stress out and you realize that it doesn't end with me.

Speaker 1:

It's not just me, I'm just part of this greater thing, and that humility can help us step into a place where that affirmation of I love money and money loves me isn't selfish anymore, because it is this idea that money is an energy. I am a channel for energy. Therefore, I'm letting it flow through me. Yeah, and that's it.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. And I think, with all of this, to recognizing the, the necessity to let go of the past, whether that is past mindset, whether that is past grief, whether that is past traumas, and how do we let that go. I think there's a huge invitation here to do the healing work, to go into the shadow, do the healing work, because when we can let that signature in our energy system to be released, then we're in at least in a state of neutrality where at that point, in the point of neutrality, then we can bring in the gratitude. And now we're in the light, now we're in the abundance flow, now we're in the vortex to support us moving forward. And so, when we're there, we and this is this is a such an interesting topic as we are in the holiday season of when you see people from your past how do you operate? How do you operate Meaning? Do you sink back into who you once were, who everyone is energetically projecting on you, like, for example, if you're going back to your hometown and your family there, your friends there, all still identify you as your 18-year-old self, like what they remember when you left town, and that is how they expect you to show up and be. Their projections onto you is a lot of energy to say, okay, this is how you respond, this is how you are a doormat, this is how you you are. You were treated and you aren't that person anymore. That might've been 10, 15, 20 years ago, whatever it was. And so your job is to go into these situations, into these family reunions, these family events for the holidays, and consistently say this is who I am, this is who I am, this is who I am because I'm not that person anymore. You think that I'm that person, but you have to correct them. That person anymore. You think that I'm that person, but you have to correct them.

Speaker 2:

So if they had treated you as a doormat for years now, your job is to hold the boundaries and hold them tight, going I'm not available to have this conversation, if this is where your tone is going to be at. And hold your boundaries going like I'm not available to have this topic discussion at the Christmas table or whatever it may be. Like I'm not available for this and I'm going to excuse myself until this conversation passes. Like you have to be willing to take yourself out of the situations to prove to everyone that you are a new person, that you're no longer going to be available for the BS that might be going down in family circumstances and what happens is you're going to piss everyone off Like first off, they're going to be upset because you are now standing in your authentic truth and you're not wavering in that and therefore going to cause friction. And your job is to continue to hold your, hold your ground and hold your space so that they learn that they can't push you. They can't push you into something that you don't actually want to do, that you're not that person. And so recognizing you know like it's easier for me to slip into my old version of who I am when I go drinking or when I have that mimosa at Sunday brunch or whatever it is like. You notice your lifestyle, what it once was, and if you're willing to go there again, to be with these people and to be accepted in that way, like it's.

Speaker 2:

There's a choice in all of it, and I think that's what we have to remember as we move into the holidays is your behavior and your energy is your responsibility. Everyone else's projections are their responsibility, and so it's your responsibility to be like. You know I might've done that five years ago or 10 years ago or whatever it was, but I'm no longer available, for I think so many people right now are switching into being sober, like I love it. I love hearing so many of my friends and family members going. You know, actually I haven't had a drink in this many months and I'm like and it's not because I'm an alcoholic or have a problem I just don't think it serves my life anymore. And I feel like this I love this whole shift because, like there's now mocktails, there's the stigma around not drinking Isn't so bad. Like I haven't. I probably have had 10 drinks in 10 years and I now I'm finally like I don't have to explain my story of why I don't drink, because it's now being normalized not drinking. And what a beautiful opportunity that now we can go like you know what, I'm just not. I'm just not into alcohol, it's just not my thing, and have that be okay.

Speaker 2:

And I think the question is, if you are trying to hold your own energy, that you want to stay in a state of gratitude and you're feeling triggered during the holidays, what's yours, what's your responsibility and going, how can I initiate? This is what I'm working on, this is what I'm working through and this is where I'm at and this is what I'm working on, this is what I'm working through and this is where I'm at and this is what I'm not available for. And so how can we set ourselves up for success and moving into that state of gratitude? So, when you have that you know weird uncle who's pushing your buttons I think everyone has a weird uncle like that pushes buttons and families I think everyone's can be like, yeah, there's that weird uncle. And when they start pushing your buttons I think everyone has a weird uncle like that pushes buttons and families I think everyone's can be like, yeah, there's that weird uncle.

Speaker 2:

And when they start pushing your buttons to to go, how can I find the lesson in this? How can I find the gratitude in this? How could I find that this is the universe's joke right now? Like, how can we switch my energy to not get attached to what they're actually saying? And I think that's that's it for me. Like I'm at the point where I'm like okay, the universe is testing me, the universe is giving me an opportunity to show up differently and not to play into this trigger. I can see that as a trigger and I'm not going to participate. How do I want to respond. How can I find the gratitude that the universe is giving me an opportunity to set myself up to say and I'm not available for this?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And so, in in all of that, knowing that this conversation is, as always, an invitation to take what resonates for you, leave what doesn't and just start to feel into. Where are the ways that you're holding yourself in anxiety and stress and giving your energy away, even if it's as simple as coming back into that knowing of this holiday season, if you're feeling stressed and anxious and out of alignment and you're trying to give your energy to your family, your friends, whatever it is, as you step into this season of giving and everything that comes with that, knowing that that's just going to push you further into that stressed feeling. And so, in this, can you take this as an open invitation to notice? Where can you bring in some gratitude? Where can you bring in the possibility that there's a different way of seeing the situation, of experiencing this moment, of having the abundance come through or the outcome that you want come through? Can you let yourself be a little bit more open to set boundaries, to stand true to yourself, to bring in some of that gratitude and humility and appreciation so that that abundance that's just waiting for you can flow? And so we would love to hear more of your takeaways over in the Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics Facebook group, knowing that, once again, this is an invitation, it's a beginning, and we would love to walk this journey with you through this holiday season over the next couple of months and see how it goes, see how we can all bring in more gratitude and abundance over the next few weeks. So keep us updated in our Facebook group.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us for this conversation and until next time, may you awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within. Thanks for tuning in to today's show. The Wisdom Rising podcast is sponsored by Moon Rising Shamanic Institute. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcasting app and be the first to know when we release a new episode. You can find us on Instagram, facebook, youtube and TikTok at Moon Rising Institute, or visit our website, moonrisinginstitutecom to learn more about our mission and find future opportunities to connect with our community of shamanic mystics. Once again, thank you for sharing space with us today and until next time, may you awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within.