Look, Listen, Learn Your Way To Joyful Living

Imagine getting up every day full of energy is if you were in your 20s. Again, what would that be like? What would that be worth to you? What is your health worth to you? Think about it. Your health isn't everything. But without it, everything else is nothing. And yet too many of us are taking it for granted until something goes wrong. No one wakes up hoping to be diagnosed with a disease or chronic illness. And yet, we've never been taught how to be proactive in our health through our school system, or public health. As a registered health coach and integrative health practitioner, I believe it is time this 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 in all your tomorrow's don't wait for your wake up call

welcome back to another episode of The don't wait for your wake up call podcast. I am Melissa Delia, your host and very excited to be bringing to you today as we round out the year. And Anita Adams of the joyful journey. Welcome Anita.

Thank you, Willis. I'm so happy to be here.

I just want to introduce you to the audience. And I'm gonna let you share your story. But uh, Anita is an inner wisdom coach, retreat leader and podcast host. She is passionate about teaching people how to connect with their higher self and tune into their soul voice to find answers they are seeking about life, career, relationships, etc. And to create a life that is truly aligned with who they are. And I absolutely love all of that Anita and such a perfect time of year this episode is coming out in December for people to you know, do a little bit of reflection as they start to look towards 2023. So I'd love to hear from you, though. How you your journey that has brought you to this line of work.

Yeah, wonderful, thank you. I actually come from a corporate background, I was running a national nonprofit arts organization that promote a Canadian film for 18 years. And then the pandemic hit, and all sorts of things went went askew, as as many people understand and felt the strains of that time. And with that, like I was I lost basically all of my funding my sponsors, my partners, Everybody pulled out, like, oh, my gosh, what am I going to what am I going to do and I was coming and having this little freak out this internal freakout. At the same time, we were my husband and I were family, we were supposed to move to India, and we had to cancel that trip. And that triggered a whole bunch of other things that happen such as not being able to renew our lease in the place that we were living and having to find a new place to live. And so that was just compounding all this stress. And then not to mention this the stress of this pandemic, you know, like I was, I was a different woman. I didn't even recognize who I'd become because I just was so beyond stressed. I was you know, we're talking this episode is about peace, I did not have any peace going on internally. And I reached out to my business coach at the time and talk to her about you know about what was going on and feeling the biggest stress was about my business because this is my, my identity, my you know, my regular paycheck, everything was my life, I needed this, this business to to work. And we had a conversation and she just simply asked me so Anita, what do you do to find that piece to calm yourself down? And I'm like, Well, I usually go for a walk in nature and that, you know, that presence in that environment helps to this help to calm me she's like, Alright, so this is what you're gonna do for the next 30 days. I want you to carve out at least 30 minutes a day to go for a walk in nature. Like I need business advice. I don't need to go for a walk in nature. I mean, okay, maybe I can do that this afternoon, but every day, and she's like, Yeah, this is what you need to do. And I really pushed back I just like I needed business advice, not how to, you know, like, sure I needed to calm down. But I needed business advice, and that's what I was paying her for was business advice. Anyways, long story short, she got a commitment out of me. And the only way I could find time to make this work was to get up extra early in the morning and get out you know, before everybody else in the world was was starting their day. So I started my my nature walks. And I was anxious. I was anxious and kind of angry and upset. And as I was walking through the woods, I would demand to know what I am supposed to do. And I'd be talking to God, the universe of squirrels. What am I supposed to do? I kept asking. And this went on every day. And over the course of a couple of weeks, I started to feel more present more grounded. And I started to actually enjoy these nature walks, I was starting to feel calmer, I was allowing the beautiful piece of nature and the healing powers of nature to come into me and just settle me down. And I Kevin scat in

there one thing that I want to say you say I was allowing it, but you had so much resistance in the anger, right? So I just want to mention here the power of nature to override our resistance and our anger, right? If we stick with it, which is why your business coach, very intelligent woman suggested 30 days in a row, right? Because you needed that time. And nature needed that time to calm your system enough that it could get inside you. And yes, we love this healing aspect of nature. But and I just wanted to point that out. Yeah,

thank you for presencing that it's such an important part of my journey, allowing that that space to that for that to happen, that connection with nature and that calming effect of take place. And so now it's about two weeks into this, this daily walk and I'm feeling better, I'm feeling calm, but I'm still demanding to know what am I supposed to do. And something bubbled up from within. And it was it was my own voice. But it was a different resonance, something that was a calmer presence yet. And it simply said, What do you want to do? And I like, What do you mean, what am I want to do? What am I supposed to do? I was still you know, really pushing, what am I supposed to do? I wanted to be told what to do, and

programming from being in the corporate world, right? Where a lot of people have difficulty moving from the corporate world into their own business, because they're so used to being told what to do. Because we're told what to do from the time we're young children, it's programming. And then all of a sudden, when we're not told we can feel a little bit lost. And that's

100%. Exactly. Thank you for bringing that up. Because that's exactly what was going on with me. And I was really wanting, I was wanting the answers. I'm wanting somebody to tell me, what is the right thing to do? And this voice persisted and just said, no, what do you want to do? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. Yes, you do. And that stopped me. And I'm like, I didn't know how to I didn't I didn't know. But I had this feeling that I do know, but I don't know you don't have just one of those. Like it was very confusing for me. And I I went home and tried to get into my work for the day. And I couldn't I was just so confused by all this. I mean, we've all had conversations with ourselves before. This was different. This was something deeper, something much more powerful. I couldn't let go of it. So I went to the bookstore chapters and park Roland West Vancouver was one of the stores that was opened at the time they were allowing people in you know, a few at a time. And I found myself in the Spirituality Section clearly looking for some answers there. Right some direction. And this one book caught my eye. It was Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch. And I pulled it off the shelf and I you know, flip it open. And these, this one sentence leapt off the page. And it's simply said, frustration and anxiety come from not listening to the soul. Like, I'm not listening to my soul. This is what's going on. I'm not listening to my soul. And I've been here before this 10 years previously, I had just about ruined my marriage because I was not listening to my soul. And clearly I needed to learn this lesson again. Fortunately, I started to listen to it with my husband and we we made we healed us because I listened to what was going on internally. Fast forward 10 years later pandemic hits and I'm reminded I need to listen to my soul. So the next morning I jump out of bed a little more excited about the day actually quite excited because I'm I've got a new mission. Now I'm going to go into the forest and I'm going to listen to my soul. I've got a new question to ask. And this one is, what do I want? So I I get into my, on my nature walk and just mean the birds and the occasional, you know, Coyote, I would see. And I started asking, What do I want? And I heard you know, the water trickling down the creek I heard the leaves rustling in the trees, I heard the bees buzzing in the Heather. I wasn't hearing anything else. I'm I'm I know, I'm on to something. I'm just I gotta keep doing this. And I realized when I started to get answers, that first time that the state of mind I was in was in that really calm, grounded present state of mind. And so I started to practice that I started to just really pay attention to my environment and take in everything that was around me. And I started to feel gratitude for what is I was falling in love with this environment. And what I believe happened, I was starting to have an expansion of my my heart. And then I asked, What do I want. This floodgate of things started to, to come forward. And the first thing I heard was that I want to close my business. And that really surprised me, because I had clung on to that for so long. It was a big part of my identity, I got a lot of validation out of it, I got that paycheck out of it. And the idea of letting that go was very frightening. And I realized, though, when I had that upwelling of I want to close my business, and when I sat and thought about it, I realized I actually had lost my passion for that business easily two years previously, but I was too afraid to move on to anything else. Or like I said, I just clung on to that and tried to convince myself that and everybody else that I was still really passionate about it. I wasn't. And the clarity that came in that in that moment that I wanted to close my business was was like lifting a weight off of me in many ways. I had it. I didn't trust it at first, though. And I had to keep coming back into the forest every day for a week. And that my question then became, do I want to close my business? Do I really want to close my business? And the answer was, yes, yes, yes, yes. And it just got stronger and more louder and louder. And I then felt the competence and the belief in this being the right direction to go in. And I want to point out one other thing, I didn't talk to anybody else about this during that time that, you know, that week, when I first got that I want to close my business. Until a week later, when I like yes, this is really what I want to do. Then I spoke to my husband about it and my closest friends. And I waited until I had that conviction within my heart. And I believe that's what we all need to do more more frequently, we are so programmed to turn to others for their input and their recommendations, but they don't understand you, like you understand you. And we need to look inward first to really get clear on what it is that we want. That's right for us before we can be influenced or turned to others where we could potentially be influenced by their their direction. So that was action, of course

is always well meant less of that they don't know you the way you know you the skill sets that you have. They don't have the passion that you have, et cetera. And so when they're giving advice, it's often coming from a place of actually could they do it? Or should they do it if it weren't them? Exactly. Putting that through their own filters, which are their fears

are coming up. Exactly, exactly. So

I love that you've pointed that out that yeah, answers are within, we have to go within to find them. And I love that you did that every day to just get that depth of clarity and the depth of that resolution. So you really knew that's what was gonna happen because at first you didn't trust it. Yeah. Which absolutely, you know, not surprisingly, right, you've built this business, why are you now suddenly wanting to close it? Yeah, good for you for recognizing that and just spending that time with you.

Yeah. And this is what I coach my clients to do too. And it's, it's very simple, and yet hard for people to do is and it's it's kind of it's kind of interesting, and it's part a big part of what I feel called to do is to hold space for my clients to do that to be able to make time for themselves and coach them to make time for themselves. was to just tune in to what's going on here. And so, you know, to continue with my story and I will, I will bring this to a close, I basically re invented myself after that a lot of a lot of changes happened, I closed my business, I took the time to properly wrap that up. And my one of the other messages that I got the internal guidance that I got was to get rid of all of our possessions and turn nomadic. And that came easier, interesting, Lee, and when I pitched it to my husband, he's, he's such a trooper, he's like, yeah, love it. We got rid of all of our stuff. And turned semi nomadic, I guess we ended up traveling around for a couple months and then landed in a place on Bowen Island, and on the edge of on the edge of the forest where I was able to continue my walking in nature every single day. And so I've been doing that for now two and a half years, every single day, getting out into nature, connecting with what I like to call my higher self. And about a year in to that these everyday walks, I started to get a really strong message and internal guidance, telling me to teach other people how to tune in and listen to their inner wisdom. And I pushed it away for almost almost a year. And I kept saying Who am I to do that? It was it felt too big, too bold to like, yeah, who am I? And that's a that's something I've discovered a lot of people have they have the they have that. They have that internal guidance, directing them somewhere. And then they throw on the brakes and say that's too big. That's scary. Who am I to do that? Were you not to do that? Who are you not to listen to the guidance that's trying to bring you to the grandest version of who you are, and the greatest vision for your life. And what you are picking up what you are hearing, seeing in your mind's eye is what you are capable of becoming. And we need to lean in and listen to that.

And our story I've always meant to be basically when you step into that you are able to operate from a place of ease and flow

and 100 versus out struggle,

right. Yeah, but I totally get that Whoa, who am I like I'm just learning this myself. I'm just figuring this out. How can I teach others Yeah, but we also only have to be one step ahead of the next person in order to show them the way

100% So that brings me on I want to share another really short little story this past weekend I hosted a retreat is one of the things that I've leaned in to do to teach people how to tap into inner wisdom. I've started offering retreats, I have a podcast called The joyful journey. I coach people one on one and I'm currently writing a book. At my retreat this past weekend, we had all my guests that I had at work welcome circle on the first evening. And during this welcome circle, I discovered that most of not most all of my guests have had a quite an extensive spiritual journey themselves. And I also I teach yoga at my retreat, we do a kundalini yoga practice, and every single one but one had their certification as yoga teachers. So the combination of these and for years they've been holding these certifications for years and they've been on this you know, like decade plus long spiritual journey. Here I Am I all of a sudden feeling super insecure again, because I'm like, you know, my journey is, is a lot shorter. It happened in a pretty intense period of time. I've always been a spiritual person, but I haven't embraced it. The way I've embraced it in the last couple of years. And I'm only I'm relatively recently certified as a yoga instructor. So here I am just feeling again, lesser than and I caught myself though and this is the power of investing time with yourself and with for me it's an in nature where you build an awareness of what's going on internally and I was able to catch myself way quicker than years ago when that insecurity bubble up and then you know, DOP stopped me and prevent me from really leaning in and being present and providing what I know I can I can provide. So that the next morning I started the conversation was sharing that insecurity and is decided to let my group know that there, this bubbled up. And what I realized in the evening while I sat and reflected on that is that we all have something to bring forward to teach and share on this journey to our higher self. And, uh, you may know something more than I do. And I may have some greater depth of wisdom on something different than you do. And together by sharing our collective knowledge we are supporting and raising each other up and raising the collective consciousness. So this is a good, this is a really good thing. And I why just wanted to share that with you, as I think we we tell ourselves that constantly, we're not enough that we, somebody else knows more than I do. And that who, again, who am I to do this, we all have something to bring to the table, we all have wisdom to share. And what we need is to find the courage to share

it. So there

you have that, thanks for sharing that for your vulnerability, but also for, you know, noticing that it bubbled up more quickly reflecting on that to understand why. And then choosing that the best course of action was actually to share that vulnerability, being upfront with it and letting the group know that I'm not here just to teach you. We're here to teach and learn and share together. Together. And I love that. And so what a beautiful outcome your clients would have had from being at your retreat as a result.

Yeah, I learned a lot from that. It's probably the first time I've I've shared so vulnerably vulnerably. I was I had the fleeting thought the night before about if I share this, does that undermined my my authority in any way? My position as the expert? And I'm like, no, no, it doesn't. And we're all in this together. We're all working towards our own personal betterment and supporting each other. And it did. I think it helped to bring our group together in a in a better way as well. We were it opened up everybody to share and there was a there was so much sharing, there was so much learning that happened from everybody. And it was really, truly a beautiful experience. So anyways, thank you for letting me share that. A little bit of

Oh, absolutely. I think there's, you know, valuable lessons in in just that story in of itself. But I love also your entire journey to the work that you're doing now. And, you know, yes, that happened in a relatively short frame of time. But you were able to land on your feet and move forward. Because you listened. Yeah, you weren't, you know, forcing your way into something and trying this and trying that. And you know, it could take you seven years to figure out what it was. Instead, you took that little bit of time, which initially 30 days sounded like forever. What are you crazy? Yeah, well, just that little bit of time, gave you the space to then move forward with such certainty.

Yeah, that's a lot of things that happened in that time and continue to happen.

If you're enjoying my content, and someone that wants to step into being proactive in your health and learning more, I would love to invite you to join my membership community.

There's a link in the show notes for only 1999 a month, you get access to all of my content. And there's a lot as well as weekly calls that you can come and get your health questions answered. It's truly priceless. I'd love to see you join the community, check out the link in the show notes.

I thought I dive in to share with you some of the key principles and things that I'm teaching people now that came out of that that initial 30 days that has become a a regular practice. So in my Yeah, so my my signature program, if you will, for lack of a better word, what I teach at my retreats, what I I talk a lot about on my podcast, what's the foundation of my book as the three guiding principles to inner wisdom, and those three guiding principles are look, listen, learn. And I thought if it's alright with you, I can go through those three, three principles really definitely accordingly. And what I've what I've got, um, for your listeners is I've got a printed PDF that goes a little deeper into on the things that we'll touch on today. So um, your your listeners can download, download this if it resonates with them, they want to go deeper and understand these guiding principles. And I love the simplicity of them and I think that's that's what makes this method I call it the wisdom way method to finding clarity to Are you tapping into your highest self, and it's it is really simple, you just need to make the time for it. And again, the principles are look, listen, learn. And the look is about looking inward. Carl Jung, the famous psychotic Hydras said that who looks inward sorry, who looks outward dreams, who looks inward awakens. And so this is all about looking inward. And what I've discovered is for me, and for a lot of people making the time to look inward, you can do that through meditation, for sure. That was challenging for me, if I tried meditation for years, I can do it a lot easier now, because I've learned to calm my mind, because I've been walking in the forest every day, I needed another way to look inward and stepping into nature gave me that opportunity to quiet the noise, the what I call the monkey mind all that caught clutter and the chitter chatter because I got learned to get present in my environment. And I could then look inward and try to understand who I who I really am. And there's there's three questions that I I guide my clients to do when they're investing time in nature and on this inward looking journey. And I asked them to ask themselves their higher selves. Who do I want to be? What do I want? And why does it matter in the why matters is really important. It doesn't have to be answered right away, I think it's important. First to get clarity on Who do you choose to be? Who do you who are you? And you can ask, Who do I want to be? Who do I choose to be? And explore what what bubbles up? And then ask what do I want and really listen to what bubbles up. So look, is all about what I like to call a love affair with self. When you are looking inward. This is a love affair with self. And having that love affair while you go for a walk in nature. It's like taking your lover for a walk in exploring this beautiful environment and being curious, like, you would be curious with a new lover to learn about this person that's in your life. Get curious about what's going on with you with yourself, and, and be curious without any judgement, don't criticize whatever bubbles up, let it let it flow. Like if you had, if you went for a walk in the forest with a new lover, and they shared their vulnerability with you, you wouldn't attack them which you would be open and receptive and listen to what they have to what they have to say. And that's what you do when you when you're looking inward. When you're looking inward, you're gonna You may shine the light on some dark corners, and that can be scary. And that's where we really have the greatest depth of learning about who we are is when we shine the light on those dark, vulnerable corners. So that's I feel like you're gonna ask a question that look like you.

Well, I wasn't gonna ask a question. I was just gonna say how important that is to leave the judgment at the door and get curious instead. Yeah, has so often, you know, just in as we go about our day, we've got 70,000 thoughts or whatever it is conversations with ourself going on in our mind, and they're so often us, you know, kind of beating ourselves up and not being kind to ourselves and judging ourselves, right. And so that is our natural go to last, we've created awareness around shifting that. And so pointing that out here is so important, because when we're going inside, and we're allowing things to bubble up and percolate, we don't want to jump on them right away. Yeah. And you said for yourself, you know, when close your business came up, you were surprised, but you didn't just jump on it and squash it down. You were surprised. And then you did daily check ins to see you know, just how important is this? And in your story, your questions were changing as you went through the process as well. But yeah, so I just think that's such a key point that the judgment behind

yeah, there's, we all have different voices that come up in your presence. One of them is the inner critic, or the ego. You know, the inner critic is the one that is going to, you know, say that point a stupid idea. That's the inner critic, and the ego may say the same thing. It often is that's coming from wanting to protect you, right? It's wanting to protect you. Both, however, are coming from a place of fear. So the ego and the inner critic that's coming from a place of fear when you hear something that bubbles up. That's your Higher Self, your soul voice, your inner wisdom. These are all terms interchangeable terms that I love using. That voice is always going to come from a place of love and it's always going to present the grandest version of who you are. Are and the greatest vision for your life. So you can you can pay attention, you know, is this voice coming from a place of fear, or is this voice coming from a place of love? Now, what's really important to also recognize is that when the voice of your inner wisdom, your soul voice comes up, and it's going to speak to you of your grandest version of you, it is potentially going to evoke fear, because it's big, it's bold, it is scary. So you have to you have to learn how to decipher between, okay, so that was my inner voice of wisdom that evoked fear and caused my ego to want to step up and get into the in the way, and that takes a little bit of time, you've got that you've you, you can figure that out when you give yourself time to settle the monkey noise and really get into listening to your, your sole voice. So so that's that's going to be sort of a quick overview that the locking process looking in. And then of course, the next process is is listening, allowing things to bubble up without judgment, you've hit that on the head without judgment, and just tuning in and listening, listening to what is happening, what is guiding you and deciphering, as I just mentioned, between that inner critic and, and the ego and, and your sole voice. And that it takes some time to develop that listening skill. It's, a lot of times people don't listen to it, there's, there's a couple things that happen. So there's, there's, I like to say, three groups of people, there's those out there that don't hear that that inner wisdom, they just don't hear it. There's those that hear it and choose to ignore it. And then there's those who hear it and they act on it. And I suppose you can imagine which are the most happy with those of that group, they Yes. And we've all been in, we've been those people in different parts times of our life where we've, we've actively listened. And we've actively ignored, and we've been so distracted where we don't even hear, right. So the time in nature provides the space for you to be able to start hearing. And then it's your choice to listen. And some some people choose not to listen, because they don't trust it, or they don't have enough belief in themselves. So this listening process will also reveal your self limiting beliefs, which will then have you come full circle into looking in inward again. So it's these look, listen, learn. They're they're all intertwined, right? So you've got to listen to what you're hearing, feel the fear, if something bubbles up that causes fear, and then look in again, and try to explore why where does that fear come from? What's the root behind it and shine the light on that, and then listen some more. So that's, that's a big part of that, that journey. And then the third part is, is to learn and the learning is multifaceted. Sometimes I talk about learning when you are, when you get the direction of the your inner voice, maybe you need to learn what you need to do to achieve what you want to achieve. So it could be it could be technical, it could be you know, like if you're guided to, for instance, with me to start retreats, that was one of the guidance that I was given. I never hosted retreats before, what do I do? You know, so I started to figure out what I needed to learn to do that. So that's, that's kind of a surface level, learn. The deeper learn is about learning to love yourself. And this is the key. Sometimes I think I should be calling it look, listen, love. Because we really need to learn to love ourselves, love ourselves deeply. When we have that kind of love for self, we become unshakable and unstoppable. And we are able to really, truly listen to the guidance of our sole voice, lean into that guidance and trust. Trust that it's going to take us two to our highest self to our greatest version of who we are. It takes a lot of love to do that. And that comes full circle back to look, when we look inward on our with ourselves. We learn to love ourselves by by looking inward, we need to have love for ourselves to be able to open that that gate so it's all happening simultaneously. And again, I want to I'm going to bring this now back to Why being in nature is so important, or certainly this has been my experience, my daily walks in nature, I started to fall in love with my environment, I've always loved nature. This was a deeper, deeper love for my environment, I started to notice the imperfections of my natural environment and be in awe of those imperfections and how perfect they made the whole picture, you know, with the trees that were over and over on the end with the with the bright yellow dogs vomit slime mold, that's truly what it's called On and on the end of a lug, and you know, they just and these these gangly roots over the stumps, and all of this, and that's perfect imperfection I loved I fell in love with this beautiful environment. And I started to feel like I was one with this beautiful environment. When you really take time to get present to your environment, you feel like you're one with that. And with that sense of oneness of my environment, that love for my environment. That included me, I began to feel really in love with who I am. And that's so powerful. I'm gonna get I'm getting goose bumps. Yeah, yeah. Somebody recently talked about that. And she says, It's not they're not goosebumps. They're truth bumps. Yes. Have those? And I'm like, oh,

with that. Yes. I totally agree with that. And they're happening for me right now, too.

Yeah, awesome. Yeah. And that that is what is so powerful about making time for yourself to get to know, understand who you are, to look inward, to listen, to learn to love yourself to learn what you need to do to be the person that your higher wisdom, your higher self is guiding you to become. And it's it's just such a beautiful process. And for me, and for those I coach, it all starts with making time to step into nature. It's so it's all interwoven. And this is what I am guided to teach peoples to step in nature to fall in love with who they are, and to expand their world, in the process. So there you go. That's my story.

I love all of that. And I really love your, you know, three, what did you call them three guiding principles. So look, listen and learn. But the fact that they're happening simultaneously, like you've said, and it's such a powerful transformation process that you're going through that you've described, and when you come out, you know, and and it's a never ending journey, right? Like there isn't an end. But just like the first time you go through when you first have for you the clarity about closing your business, and then what you were to do next, just that step, that I would assume brought you also great peace. 100% Yeah. And being in nature can bring us great peace. And the combination of both is so powerful, because you came from a place of having no peace at all, to a place of, of complete peace. Because you had gone through this process of looking and listening and learning and loving yourself and going back and looking and continuing learning, et cetera, et cetera. And when you are able to tap into your inner guidance, how much easier is that than always trying to push and force and initially you were demanding, right? That's not asking you are demanding. Tell me now. Right? That is still in a place of high stress. Yeah. And when we're in that place, we haven't slowed enough to really hear

yes. And when you when you slow down and lean in and listen, you you step into the current of the universe, and things begin to really flow. My life has gotten so incredibly beautiful. Not at my like I look at where I'm living currently. And you know, I've got this incredible ocean expansive view like right out my front door. I'm the house is like, we don't own this place. But it literally fell in my lap. Like I just I said to the universe on one of my walks, this is what I want. And then next day, I got a call asking if we want to come and take a look at this house to you know, stay here for a while. Like it's everything I wanted. It's just beautiful. It's so beautiful. And my relationships have expanded my love with my husband like we have beautiful relationship and have had for many years. And yet it's so much deeper and richer. There's just so much joy that is there joy. That's the big word like there's I'm just living in joy every single day, because I'm not, I'm not stressed, I'm not stressed. And things are coming to me clients are showing up, people want to be at my, my retreat, my podcast is reaching 1000s and 1000s of people people love the show, which is so wonderful, because it took a lot of courage to put that together, and to lean into that guidance. And it's like, okay, this is, this is what I'm supposed to do. And in a couple months, my husband and I are moving to Portugal, you know, and things are starting to fall into place with that adventure, that part of our nomadic adventure. And it's just, it's really just beautiful. It's simple, life is simple.

That is really beautiful. And just the fact that you have that freedom with the work that you've been guided into doing to just move to Portugal because of course you were guided to sell all your belongings and to become that nomad. So of course, the work that you're guided to do is going to be in alignment with that.

Yeah. And I have no idea what Portugal has in store for that for us. You know, it's, it's leaning in and trusting, right? You know, like, I've had a lot of people say, you, I can't believe you're giving up the house that you're you're living in like, it's such a beautiful, why would you give that up? Why would you let go of that and go to Portugal, when you don't know anybody? You don't speak the language. You don't even know where you're going to live there yet? And I'm like, Yeah, I know. But I feel like this is the right next step. For us. It feels right. And I'm trusting that I'm on the right path. And then that that's all come from making time to to know myself understand who I am, what I want, why it matters, and to listen to what bubbles up and to to learn what I need to learn, I clearly need to learn some Portuguese. Yes.

And also to learn to trust what is bubbling up. So you've had to precise that over the last couple of years. And so as a result, you have that deep trust for what's bubbling up now.

Yes. And yes. So it's easier to lean in and and to step into the unknown, when you've developed that trust. So it's it's been a, you know, almost three years of me tuning in and practicing listening to that, the little nudges, the little things, you know, just tune into the little things that are nudging you along. And then you build that trust for that, that inner guidance as it comes up.

I love it. Well, thank you so, so much for coming on to this show. And sharing your journey and your wisdom. I it's, you know, coming out at the end of the year is such a wonderful time for other people to hear this message, to start practicing this themselves in their own life. Especially if they feel like they're at a crossroads, but they're not sure what is next. But for anybody, no matter where you're at, to know that you have the ability to listen to your soul voice to be guided by it, and how you can start building a practice of looking and listening and learning. So a question I have for you as we come to the end of the podcast, I asked all of my guests this, what does don't wait for your wake up call mean to you?

What does don't look wait for your wake up call, I mean, to me is about learning how to trust yourself. You know, this thing, like you told me once before lifting the lid, you know, and looking looking inward. It's the same the same concept. I know when our conversation was health, but this is this is mental health, right? We're lifting the lid and looking in and understanding who we are. And you need to do that earlier in life than later.

Definitely, definitely. I love that that is a great a great explanation for it. Now, I know you have a gift for the audience, you've already mentioned it. And so we will make sure that we put the URL into the show notes for the downloadable pamphlet so that people can dive into your three guiding principles more deeply. But if people would like to get ahold of you, if you just would like to share what's the best way for people to reach you?

Yeah, for sure. They can reach me through my website and my email address. So my website is joyful, inspired. living.ca and I'm an Anita at joyful, inspired living. Oh, I said.ca It's dot com goodness, joyful inspired.com And Anita at joyful inspired living.com And I would love to connect with you.

Perfect, so easy, super easy for people to get ahold of you whether you're still here or Whether you're off on your next adventure in Portugal, they just see your email in your website. And they'll follow you everywhere. Any last messages for the audience to step into their joyful inspired journey today?

Simply make time for yourself. I know especially you know, if your career woman or mom, wife like we, we women tend to put everybody else first and you can be of greater service to everyone in your life if you make time for yourself. Yeah, so invest, invest some time with yourself in nature, every single day, even if that's just sitting on your deck, looking out to the sky and the trees and the birds just step away and unplug and find find tune in to who you really are.

I love that. And thank you so much for your time coming today and joining us and Anita, I've really appreciated this conversation and I know that my audience will appreciate hearing it too. So thank you very much. And to everyone listening thank you for continuing to listen to the don't wait for your wake up call podcast. And if you know somebody who needs to hear a need as message today, please share this episode with them. Thanks as always, and we'll be back again next week.