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[00:02:18] information is made available to everyone. Combining new knowledge around your health and the ability to do my functional medicine lab tests in the comfort of your own home will allow you to optimize your health for today and all your tomorrows. Don't Wait For Your Wake Up Call!. Welcome back to the Don't Wait for Your Wake Up Call podcast. I am Melissa Deally, your host, and today with me I have the lovely Denise Holland

[00:02:48] all the way from the UK. Welcome to the show Denise. Thank you, it's good to be here. I'm excited for you to be sharing your expertise today and just want to introduce you a little bit to the audience before you share your story. Denise Holland is a state of mind performance specialist for youth, talent and elite sports. She supports talent and elite performance to understand the state of mind behind clarity, confidence and

[00:03:15] flow. As a former international netball athlete, national coach for Scotland netball, England super league coach and author of play freely, the spiritual key to athletic excellence. Denise brings over 35 years of lived experience in high performance sport to her work with talented athletes, coaches and parents. And we met recently at a conference, the three piece conference in Vancouver,

[00:03:43] where we were talking about the power of our mind and how the thoughts we have that create our reality impact our lives. And so while your expertise is in this sports background, I love what you do because it actually applies to all areas of life. Yeah, it sure does. It sure does. And so I would love for you to share your story because I know as an athlete, you had your own spiritual awakening during that process.

[00:04:10] And I would love for you to share that journey as an athlete with the audience as we dive into this episode today. Okay. All right, Melissa, where to start? At the beginning. At the beginning. So let me just take a take a moment. So I was I moved to Hong Kong when I was 26. And I tried to play netball for the Hong Kong

[00:04:35] national team at the 1991 World Championships, which was being held in Sydney. And I got in as a goal defence goalkeeper. So I ruled defensive player, but I had a real passion for shooting. I had no idea where that passion came from. I just really wanted to shoot. Anyway, I was trialled and I was selected as a defender. So four years later, I thought, Oh, you know what, I'm gonna have another go. I really want

[00:05:03] to shoot. And so I did. And I tried for the 1995 World Championship, which was going to be held in Birmingham, which meant I was coming home for it. And I got in as a shooter. And I was like, yes, I can do this. I can do this. And I just trained like, like, you know, elite athletes do. And I was putting up my 200 300 shots a day. And, and I just love shooting. But when it came to the competition,

[00:05:28] I started to get a lot of thinking and a lot of pressure. And to cut a long story short, I had a terrible time of being an elite athlete, when I switched positions. And it was awful. I put so much pressure on myself. I can remember one night, I didn't even sleep. I hardly I don't think I slept at all. And that for me is just a really sad situation, because there was all this beautiful

[00:05:54] talent. And it couldn't breathe. All right. So fast forward, I then came home to England, and I became an England Super League coach. I became an England technical coach. And then finally, in 2008, I stepped up to national coach for Scotland. And we did, I did four and a half years. And we went from 17th in the world to 12th in the world, which is no mean feat. And we qualified for

[00:06:21] the Commonwealth Games in our own right. So we didn't need a pink ticket to as host in Glasgow, we were there in our own right. So I was super happy about that. And I had been by this time, you know, 30 years in human performance. And I was always intrigued, Melissa, about pressure. And I was always intrigued about where does the love of what we want to do come from? Like, how come we're

[00:06:49] inspired to do things? And each of us have a unique inspiration. And so I started to, as I as I was coaching the Scottish thistles, I then witnessed before my eyes exactly what I went through players loving this sport, but not being able to produce when it counts. And I did lots of NLP, CBT, which is cognitive

[00:07:16] behavioral therapy, NLP, which is neuro linguistic programming, we would have done affirmation, self talk, and we would have done all sorts of stuff visualization in order to be able to control, manage and manipulate our minds such that we would get quiet and be able to hopefully be in the flow

[00:07:38] state of optimal functioning. And so I went on this whole journey. And I was like, well, sometimes it worked. And sometimes it didn't. And I'm like, well, that's not it. You know, thinking I've got the best there is. And can I just ask there, because I'm also NLP trained as well, when you say sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't, was it it worked for some people and not others? Or it worked in some

[00:08:06] situations and not others or a bit of both? It was a bit of both. And it was very random. Very random. And actually, you know, I was, I thought, well, if it's random, then there must be something else, right? Like, I couldn't really put my finger on why some people were impacted by reframing their thinking. But then, then since I've understood

[00:08:33] something deeper, I can totally understand it. So yeah, at the time, I, it was so hit and miss. And I thought, well, that can't be it. So there must be something else. And I tell you what really helped me to see that there must be something else. Because every athlete, including myself, would have moments where they would perform out of their skin, and they would be on automatic,

[00:08:59] and it would be effortless. And what I just described is what we call that zone state where everything seems to be fluid. And that's not just in sport, that's in every part of our lives. You know, we call it the top of the mountain feeling where everything is just seemingly beautiful. And, and it's just, if you like being guided, and it's just on a life on automatic.

[00:09:25] And so there were times when athletes would be in that zone. And then there were times where they couldn't get there. And they would just play, things would be awkward there, you know, their play would be disjointed, there would be no connection with each other. Then, you know, people get irritated. So it affects relationships. And so I thought, okay, I haven't found this secret,

[00:09:52] haven't found this secret source. And how sad, you know, so, but I did my best, I did my best to help people to manage and control their mind so that they could get into the zone. So fast forward to 2013, in the January, I, and to remain completely professional, I think the line is something

[00:10:19] like we respectfully and mutually agree to part company. And as a national coach, I think that's what we have to say. But I found myself out of a role prematurely, which sent me into a headspin, and real upset. And I this was my dream job, I'd left my children with their with their father,

[00:10:44] who was by that time, my ex-husband. And, you know, I was traveling from London to Scotland every week, we were doing 65 hour weeks. I was coming, spending half the week in Scotland, half the week down here in Kent. So, you know, and I was traveling for the entire world, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, Singapore, Barbados.

[00:11:11] We traveled to get our world rankings up. So it was no mean feat. And then to not be in the job was really hard. Mm hmm. And so by divine chance, and this is how it works, doesn't it? I can remember in the December, actually saying, you know, dear, dear God, give me something here, because I don't know if I can carry

[00:11:34] on this job anymore, I'm getting burnt out. And in January, kind of get let go. And it's one of those things, be careful what you wish for. However, you know that when you're being divinely guided, it's always for your better, betterment. It's always, it's always. And it felt, it felt really harsh at the time. But then when I was literally driving home, I came across Jamie Smart's

[00:12:03] book, which just happened to be in the, in the store. And I said, you know, give me something to keep me occupied for the next six months, because this feels horrible. And I was like, oh, okay, just took the book. I knew that was it. And I read the book, and it was hardcore, I will say. And I was like, oh, something, what, what, what? And, you know, we're only ever feeling our thinking, what do you what do you mean? This feels rubbish. And it wouldn't feel rubbish if I hadn't just got let

[00:12:31] go. So I like, okay, and carried on. And, and then that led me to Michael Neal's book with Inside Out Revolution. And about three weeks into that, I had this huge epiphany where I just was looking into the mirror. As you do looking at your eyes, seeing what's trying to see what's behind the

[00:12:54] eye, seeing who is looking at oneself. And I realized, oh, my word, I am making all this up. And I saw profoundly saw that human beings create their entire world from the inside out, like it's a projection of the mind. We don't experience circumstances as we would like a camera.

[00:13:23] So from that moment on, I was like, you know, relieved, I laughed, I cried, I felt as if I had 48 hours in every day, and everybody else only had 24. Because everything slowed down. And it was wow. And I knew I'd been searching. I had so many self health books. I'd been searching all my life for something. And I didn't really know what it was. And then when I had this epiphany.

[00:13:54] I knew that was the end of my looking, that was the end of my searching, and I was free. And that was really my story. And so with that freedom of mind, everything else started to click into place. And I could see, wow, I would never have to be a victim of circumstance ever again. Right.

[00:14:17] And what's more, when you when I'm not caught up in all of that psychology of victimhood, there's this beautiful creativity, and resilience that just comes through all by itself. And then I realized, aha, and I connected the dots. And then I realized, oh, Denise,

[00:14:44] athletes, people don't get into the zone. They are the zone. And I saw that we are this beautiful potential for creativity, and it is so peaceful and loving. And from from there, I just spent this last 13 years, if you like, traveling the world going to all sorts of wonderful events that we met

[00:15:10] in Vancouver, to learn, if you like, from the world's best, if you like, the people that heard from the person that brought this understanding to us in this way, which was Sidney Banks. And I learned from all the people that learned from him. So and just traveled around the world to see continually get more and more insights.

[00:15:37] And I'm just interested when you had your epiphany, did you already know of the work of Sidney Banks or not yet? No. So your epiphany led you to the work of Sidney Banks? Sidney Banks. It did. It did. I obviously read the backs of Jamie Smart's book and Michael Neal's book. And in fact, I contacted each of those authors. You know, that's, you don't normally do that,

[00:16:04] right? Contact the author and say, we really do need to meet. And I give them their due. Both Jamie and Michael met me individually. And we had the most amazing conversations. And that led me to, if you like, finding the 3PGC.org faculty internationally. And I, you know, I was at a time where I was able to learn from all sorts of different teachers. And although they're pointing in

[00:16:33] the same direction, they've all got a different pointer. I realized it's not about the pointer, Denise. You can just, that's their own expression of helping people to be in a space of peace or even just a space such that they get insights. So I wasn't too caught up with the

[00:16:59] content, the detail or the style of the pointers, but where they were pointing was the same thing. Right. And in so many cases in what we learn and understand in this life, and even, you know, as an integrative health practitioner, I always say there's more than one way to heal, right? And so there are pointers directing us and how we receive it as the insight can be different for each of us.

[00:17:27] And because that's what we need for our own individual advancement. And when you look at it, it's all pointing in the same area. However, each person's received it differently. Yeah, it's an interesting, it is interesting, because having spent 35 years curious about our psychological lives, I realized that the three principles were unique in as much as they just

[00:17:56] simply explain life. So they're not a tool or a technique. So they go underneath everything that I'd ever learned. But I love the question of how come I came to find the principles? How come people come to find such awakening, such epiphanies in life, and others don't? And I've asked that question many times. And the only thing I can come up with is that, as you say, everybody's on their own unique

[00:18:26] journey. And everyone, therefore, has the same opportunity to wake up to a deeper truth. And even with my clients, that's not on me. You know, I can facilitate a beautiful space, and really listen deeply to my clients. But the actual insights, I can't make them have an insight. No.

[00:18:55] So, but hopefully, and what normally happens is in that connection, there is healing, and there is a spaciousness, which is so rich, that people tend to hear something. And in that conversation, it sparked the opportunity for the insight to come through for them. It could be an

[00:19:21] hour later, it could be in the moment, it could be a week later, we don't know. However, there's a spark as a result of that conversation. So I too was introduced to the three Ps and in a different way to you. And just for the audience benefit, I was introduced through a mentor who introduced me to the books of Sidney Banks, because I was going to be working with that mentor in the UK, interestingly, later that year. And I was asking, well, in preparation for working together, what should I do?

[00:19:49] And he sent me the Sidney Banks book list and said, I suggest you start with the Enlightened Gardener. And I loved reading that book, and then went on to the Enlightened Gardener, revisited, and then continued reading all of the books. And then that was my introduction to the work of the three Ps, which of course are mind, consciousness, and thought. And anybody who wants to dive more deeply into that, I'll put, I've done a podcast episode about it, and we'll put that in the show notes.

[00:20:19] And go and find Sidney Banks books, go and find the works of his mentee, George Pransky, and read it for yourself. And those books in and of themselves can trigger insights for you. And so it's the seeker, it's the people that are wanting to continue learning, that are asking questions about their life, you know. Is this all there is for me? Or, you know, what is that next step that I can go

[00:20:48] to? How do I get there? Et cetera. It's those seekers that are the ones that are ready for the insights to come through, because they're open to the answers. So I love your story and how that insight came through. And I'm, I know you've written a book, and we're going to talk about your book, Play Freely in a moment. However, I would love for you also to share, having had that

[00:21:12] insight and having no longer being in that role of the national coach, how have you shifted your career? I know you said you travel around and you're speaking, and you're still connected to the sports world, I know, and working one-to-one with people. Are you still coaching? Are you working with groups as well? Tell me how that insight shifted how you now have built your career in the

[00:21:37] last 13 years? Yeah, thank you. Well, I guess after the insight, I had the notion that, oh, this is going to be fantastic for the sport industry. I'm going to revolutionize it. So I got really excited, and I had to calm down. But I, I really wanted to work with sports people. But here's the thing.

[00:22:02] The sports people didn't turn up, they didn't show up for me. And the people that showed up for me were people that were really struggling in life. So people that had addictions, people that had broken marriages, I had people that were terminally ill. And, and I had young people turning up that were having all sorts of eating disorders. And parents really struggling with their children,

[00:22:31] and they're not necessarily sports people. And I thought that was very curious. And at the time I was in 2014, I started to work as a mentee with the Pranskys, and Pransky and Associates in La Conner. And at the time, Barb Patterson was working for them as an associate. And we had this beautiful conversation. She was telling me a story about how that kind of happened to her. And I, and what I

[00:22:58] took from it was, oh, I see, I have this idea of how life should look. However, that's not necessarily how it's to go. And so I started to get very aligned with, if you like, a kind of divine calling, I was really listening to my heart and my soul. And I didn't resist it. I stopped resisting it. I'm

[00:23:27] like, Okay, well, let's, let's do this, then this is going to be fine. Let's, let's get on this bus. We'll do this for a while, we'll go on a journey. And I did that for, I don't know, nearly seven years. And I started to write a book called U-Turn, Y-O-U-Turn. And I, and that kind of turned into a bit of a, well, it turned into a podcast. And, and I did that for a couple of years. And it, and you know,

[00:23:55] it just keeps moving, the energy just keeps moving. And then I thought, you know, I had this, this idea, I really want to write a book for sports people though, and the youth in sport. And then the idea came about play freely. And that's my book, the play freely, the spiritual key to athletic excellence. And I just sort of asked really the, the divine in terms of this incredible

[00:24:25] spiritual source that I am. Okay, so if, if I'm to write this book play freely, will you help me? Because I'm not a writer. And I'm going to need some help. And several times, Melissa, I wanted to put it down. And there was no way the energy of life was letting me do that. So and, and I carved out as you do, you know, your time to write, whether it's six till eight in the morning, or it's in the

[00:24:54] evening. But I carved that out for five years to get my book over the line. And the wonderful Linda Pettit, who was doing some developmental editing at the time, offered to help me. And if it wasn't for her, I don't think it would have got over the line. So I'm hugely grateful to her for that. Well, and I love that you have written this book for athletes. And I, I don't think that I've,

[00:25:21] you know, ever heard before of a book for athletes where spirituality is connected. And so I think that's a real niche. And that is a piece that is so important. We are spiritual beings. And so if we're ignoring that aspect of ourselves, and wanting to be be that best version of ourselves, it needs to be a

[00:25:45] piece of it. And so I think this book is absolutely gold. And I love how you've divided it up into the various sections. And in section two, you have your seven discoveries to play freely. And, you know, the first one is the spiritual muscle design over conditioning. And so I'd love for you, if you can just

[00:26:09] very briefly just talk to each of those seven discoveries, just kind of a high level overview for people to understand how much gold there is in this book. Because I want people to be like, yes, I want to go buy this book. I know athletes that I will be sharing this book with. And the other piece too, is that the book is for athletes. And yet, you don't have to be an elite athlete to read the book.

[00:26:34] Anybody can be an athlete. Yeah, exactly. So the structure of the book is, I guess, the first section, the first five chapters are my life before my growing up, my years growing up, my life before my awakening experience, what happened to me, and then how it played out after. And then how does this understanding therefore make sense to me in the world of sport and elite sport

[00:27:00] and high performance. And then the last section is, yeah, athletes, and you know, we all have lives to lead. And we all have relationships and things happen. And so there's, there's chapters on parenting and divorce and death and grief, and uncertainty. So in those, so it's not to make it dark, but it's just retirement as well. I mean, that you have retirement, because how many athletes

[00:27:26] struggle with their mental health after retiring from playing their sport at an elite level for so long that it's their identity, and then they don't know who they are once they retire. Yeah, they say sports people die twice. And I've heard it so many times, that that identity piece, and hopefully the chapter offers some real insight into how people can really look to their

[00:27:55] inspiration, what it what it was that really they love during their career. And it doesn't go anywhere. And I think when we retire, we think that's it, big hard line cut. No, no, no, it just morphs into a new inspiration. And you can take all of that with you. So yeah, I mean, I guess I start out, I mean, I'm just looking at it, I mean, I guess to start out that the spiritual muscle piece,

[00:28:17] I think came from very early on in 2017, I went to the University of let me see, Kent in Kent, and they wanted me to be their netball coach, which is my sport. And I said, Yeah, okay, but only if we can do a 5050 program. So only if we can spend half the time on technical tactical,

[00:28:42] and half the time really understanding who and what is playing. So the real human side of it, the human dimension side, and in that we will cover our spiritual nature. And they agreed. So it so so so at the university, it was born the 5050 program whereby we would develop our spiritual muscle alongside our tactical, technical, technical, and our physical conditioning.

[00:29:12] I love that. I love that. And was that the first of its kind and that you're aware of in terms of coaching, bringing that in at a 5050 level? I believe so. I mean, there, when I wrote this, the publisher said who, which book is out there that you would want your book to sit alongside and the book that I kept coming to me was Phil Jackson's

[00:29:38] sacred hoops. And Phil Jackson was a basketball coach in the States many years ago. And I think he, you know, he's still with us, but he had really seen that, oh, there is something about our human potential, which needs to be explored alongside, and if not, more deeply than

[00:30:01] our physical being. And even our psychological, you know, starting to look at our psychology, but oh, hang on a minute, how does that work rather than deal with it? Right. So, yeah. Right. And from there, you go into being you, wisdom and identity, which I'm sure just flows beautifully as a result of that 5050 approach and diving deep into the spirituality, because that

[00:30:30] allows for that self-discovery to come through. Yeah, and it did. It really did. So I think we were getting into the COVID years, actually. And this chapter, some of the case studies I used was that, you know, I got the young people to really start to, to answer the question, you know, what does it mean to you to be you? And out of that,

[00:30:55] listening deeply to them, they could really see, well, what does life look like when you're not being you? And it wasn't a pretty picture. And these are young athletes, it was a really pretty picture. And it, and I, and I, and I write that all up in the book. And it was very much looking at the stories that we make up in our heads, in order to prove ourselves, when we're comparing ourselves to

[00:31:23] others, and ensuring that we don't believe into those stories for too long. And when we're free of those stories, because we see that we're just using thought against ourselves, then we can see our true identity of this amazing potential to create and live life in such a beautiful way, rather than

[00:31:46] keep trying to prove ourselves. It's a hard job, Melissa, to keep seeking approval from others. And we really don't need to do that. Because human beings are amazing. Yes. Entities. And, you know, I often say two cells create human consciousness. And that is incredible. Yes. And it's beyond anything

[00:32:10] our intellect can actually get behind. It's like, wow, how does that really work? And it's just, you know, it's quite remarkable what we are. Yet, we spend many years of our lives, putting ourselves down and thinking there's something wrong with us, and that we need fixing. And so, yeah, it really gets into our true identity. Love that. And yes, so many years of our lives comparing ourselves to others and

[00:32:40] thinking we need to be more. And we have all these layers that build on top of us and squash and our true identity. And so I love that you're taking this approach with, you know, youth at the university level. So at such a young age, they can start to discover what it truly means to show up authentically as myself. Yeah. Because I know in my generation, you kind of get there in your 40s and 50s, where you're like, oh, I can be, I am free to be myself. I now have the wisdom and the courage to

[00:33:08] do that. And I don't have to be that person that I thought I needed to be to please my parents or whomever. And so I love that you're teaching that to that generation and in the book, again, so that anybody can read it and benefit from it. And that brings us to freedom, because when we can authentically be ourselves, we get to that place of freedom, which is your next chapter.

[00:33:32] Yeah. And I was just looking at exploration over expectation. And I'm just having a quick look at the stories in there. I think that was born out of that, that chapter was born out of when things don't go the way you want it. And you have this huge expectation. And if you keep going along this road

[00:33:56] of believing your expectations, anything other than a created story, then you run the risk of being hugely disappointed and derailed. And that can sabotage not just living minutes, but that can sabotage weeks of people's time. And I use a few stories in there where I, you know, when I came back from

[00:34:22] Scotland with all these great ideas and four and a half years and, you know, all these world rankings to my name and, you know, the club, my club, they were kind of a bit indifferent about it. And actually at the time weren't really interested. And so I was really hurt and really distressed by them not really welcoming me back with open arms. And, and I think when it came to it, I, I could see Denise,

[00:34:49] you have the understanding to help solve this, whatever it is. And, you know, one might call it mildly some conflict. And you're the only person that can do this because you're the only person in this conversation that understands how state of mind works. And that's what I did. I set about really

[00:35:12] trying to understand where the others were coming from and not take it personally. And they were in their transient thinking. I was in my transient arbitrary thinking, and let's not take it too seriously. And so the club just went from strength to strength. I found a niche where a piece, a couple

[00:35:35] of sessions where they weren't too bothered that I took that. And then slowly, we, we actually doubled the revenue, we doubled the number of children that we look after. I mean, we look after 188 children per week, we train every night of the week, we're the biggest junior club in, in Kent in terms of

[00:35:57] under 16s. So if I hadn't known about the principles, Melissa, or the understanding of mind, I don't think that would have happened. I think I would have left. I would have been out of there. And so I love that you have all of that training and understanding, Denise, and again, sharing it with

[00:36:23] the next generation. Because the understanding goes another level to where you said, I'm not going to take it personally, you recognize that they had their own thinking, their model of the world, as we call it in NLP, you had yours, no one else can actually make you feel hurt. You are feeling hurt based on your thoughts and your model of the world. And when you recognize that you can shift that

[00:36:49] release yourself of the hurt. And then as you did that, grow the club to the degree that it is today. So congratulations. I, I so love when we have practitioners, coaches out there like you that are teaching our youth, the power of our mind. Because a lot of this work can be taught to kindergartners. And it isn't. And, you know, if you've got 188 under 16s, I don't know what the

[00:37:18] youngest age is, it doesn't matter. They're starting to be taught this where you and I were not as children, and we've only discovered it as adults. And how empowering is it for these youth to have an entirely different view of the world and understand that their own thoughts are creating that view of the world. And if they don't like the view of the world they're experiencing in the

[00:37:44] moment, they have the power to change it. Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. I love it. And of course, you lay it all out here so beautifully in the book as well. Another topic, and we're probably not going to get through all the chapters, and we'll leave some surprise for the readers to get to however, a topic that comes up so often with athletes, and just in general, is perfection. People striving

[00:38:10] for perfection because of childhood programming, you know, it's just ingrained. And it's parents aren't deliberately demanding that of their children. However, you know, a child might come home with a report card and have five A's and one B and the parent goes, great work. Maybe you can get all A's next time. And just that comment, which the parent thought might be inspirational, has created a neurological track around, I have to be perfect.

[00:38:36] Yeah. And we know that ultimately holds people back. And so I would love your talk on your view on perfection in sport and this chapter. Yeah, it's the pressure illusion presence beyond perfection. So when I was seven, I was a runner, I loved sprinting. And I remember sitting on the lawn,

[00:39:02] the lawn to get our certificates. And they said, you know, and in second place, Denise Day, was my maiden name. And I went, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I didn't. I came first, I came first. And I was convinced I came first. And I was really, I reluctantly went up and got the certificate. And I've got that certificate even now, all these years ago, years later.

[00:39:27] And just next to the second, I'd crossed it out and put first. Now, that I was seven years old, and the hurt and the pain I felt, because someone, somewhere I learned, Denise, you need to be the best that you can be. Now, that sounds like a really positive statement. But what I heard was, you're not enough unless you're being the best. You're not enough unless you're achieving.

[00:39:56] So the seeds of high achieving were firmly set for me when I was seven years old. And I have been my own worst critic all my life. I've strived to be better as if I wasn't enough already. And that story, that illusion cost me my enjoyment as an elite athlete, as a national athlete.

[00:40:25] Because had I known that, oh, no, Denise, life, aliveness is already perfection. Pure aliveness doesn't need fixing. It can never be broken. It just is. And so everything else compared with that is a story, right? So and we're making it up. So when

[00:40:54] we are not hitting the grade, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with us, or we need fixing, or, but we're going to make up a story that it is. And that's what I help people to do is to identify the thoughts they're keeping and the meaning they're giving to those thoughts. And when they see, oh, yeah, I'm really putting myself down here. And it starts to release and we start to get this freedom.

[00:41:23] But also the pressure valve, it just releases, because the pressure's then off. And then we can play freely. So there's a fork in the road where we go, you know, many people talk about the difference between striving and thriving. But we can really see the difference between performing from understanding,

[00:41:48] and performing from misunderstanding, performing from security, and performing from insecurity. And one is struggling. And that's where you get the grind, the grinding it out, the perseverance, the determination, and it's grinding out. It's not to say that you don't, you don't work hard on the other side. Of course you do, and you're highly involved. But it's exploration, it's,

[00:42:16] it's curiosity, it's tuning into intuition and instinct. And it's effortless. And there is a, there is a perfection in the potential coming through all by itself. And it's only our judgment of what comes through that we then stop to get off track.

[00:42:42] Yes, beautifully said. I love that, that there is a perfection in what is coming through. And it isn't for us to judge it. It isn't. That's love all that you're sharing, Denise. I could talk to you for hours. And I wish we had time to. However, I want to leave the audience with the opportunity to read the book, and for you to be able to share how people can get hold of it. If people want to work with you,

[00:43:07] how they can reach you. And I know you have very generously offered a way for people to get the ebook as well, if they would like to. So I'll let you share about all of that. However, first, I also love to ask every single guest that comes on the show, what does don't wait for your wake up call mean to you? Wow, this is one of those lovely pauses where people then lean in slightly, isn't it?

[00:43:32] Waiting for you to say something. Don't wait for your wake up call. It's a lovely title. And let me see what's coming is you're already enough. There's nothing lacking. What is it that you're inspired to do? What is it you love in life? And look there, look towards what's uniquely coming through

[00:43:57] you because without that, the world's missing your peace. And that's sad if they do. That's beautiful. Yes, because we all have our unique gifts to share with the world. Beautiful. So speaking of unique gifts to share with the world, how can people get hold of you? And how can they get hold of your book? Okay, so my book is on Amazon, and it's play freely one word. It's part of the brand.

[00:44:20] And you can email me denise at play freely.co.uk. If you would like to have a digital version, there is a free coupon and I can send that to you. So just email me and say about the show, and then we can get you a coupon. Otherwise, you can order it off for Amazon, or you can go to my

[00:44:41] website, which is www.denise, no, www.playfreely.co.uk. And I have another website, which is my original website. We've got lots and lots of stuff on there, which is info at deniseholland.org. That's the email address. And then the website is deniseholland.org. Is that correct? Yeah. Perfect. Wonderful. I have all of that in the show notes. And Denise, I love to ask every guest as we

[00:45:11] just wrap the show, do you have any last words of wisdom that you would like to share with the audience today? See, I would just encourage everyone to get curious about how amazing we are as human beings. And if we can collectively look inside for transformation and change rather than keep

[00:45:34] looking outside, then we're all part of one consciousness. It somehow has a way of manifesting in the world, a better world. So true. And the world needs it right now. So thank you so much for your work that you do with the youth, through your book. You will change lives and just getting this message out is

[00:46:00] so wonderful. So really appreciate it. Appreciate your time coming on the show to share it with my audience. And to my audience, thank you for tuning in each and every week. To learn more about your health, learn more about the power of your mind. And if you know someone that needs to hear this episode, please share it with them. Thank you for investing this time with me on the Don't Wait for Your Wake Up Call podcast. I'm so glad you joined in. If you can take two minutes to share this episode with someone you

[00:46:29] think can benefit and have a positive impact on their life, that would be wonderful. Please leave a review by going to your favorite podcast listening app and let me know what you enjoy or would like to hear more of. It will support me in my effort to bring the possibility of natural healing to a wider audience and help disrupt the sick care system we have today and make human health a global priority. Health is your true wealth.