Secret to Creative Power

Speaker 1: and financial success is created from constant production, it's actually created through spaciousness. When we have that spaciousness, particularly for women, when we have that spaciousness and we are able to slow down, we can hear our intuition and that is our superpower. I'm Melanie Bar. Welcome back to the Sheila Tip podcast, your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave. I'm here to talk about everything from having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively, create successful teams, implement strategies for growth, and infuse tech innovation. I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges. I live in the city now, but I grew up in a town of a thousand people. I've navigated major life leaps, a senior level corporate career, worked in professional sports, and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business, technology, family, and making meaningful connections with you and the She Built It Community. I also love a good workout and dose of self-care.

Speaker 1: Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy. So, turn up the audio, open your favorite notes app, grab your favorite drink, and here we go. Welcome to the Sheba podcast. Thank you for joining us. Jennifer, what moment made you launch your business and rethink how success should feel? I remember sitting on a cliffside in Seattle overlooking Puet Sound and it was on my birthday and as I was looking out I was starting to feel really burned out in my career and I was a philanthropy executive at the time. So really successful on the outside but I remember thinking I can't keep going at this pace and I had this choice to either follow my intuition or keep burning out and I knew what would end up happening if I ultimately did that and decided then to follow the intuition to go study the divine feminine for three years become a certified spiritual director and a coach and that was the start of my business. And what did burnout teach you about real fulfillment? It taught me that as much as we are taught that success and financial success is created from constant production, it's actually created through spaciousness. When we have that spaciousness, particularly for women, when we have that spaciousness and we are able to slow down, we can hear our intuition and that is our superpower.

Speaker 1: And so then I was guided to my simplest and my easiest and most abundant next step which got me to where I ultimately wanted to be in a softer way, but I still was able to achieve the abundance. It didn't come at the sacrifice of prosperity. And I'm a twin mom, so I can certainly relate to being caught up in the speed of things and not taking the time for ourselves or myself like I should have during certain phases of life and how important that is. And now I'm even thinking about trying to be bored more often because we're on our phones. I'm growing multiple businesses. It can be a lot. So sometimes I think, how can I be bored for a little bit? Because that's really when, like you said, that intuition, you're sitting on the cliff, you're thinking, that's really when the things we want really come into our minds and how to fix problems and how to move forward in life. Yes, boredom is my new favorite word. I think we need to be actually booking time on our calendars for more boredom. And that may sound counterintuitive, but we need to give our brains a break. And there's actually mind deficit disorder from constantly looking at screens, constantly being on. And when we give oursel that pause and we focus on nature or gardening or our family or something creative, it actually resets our brains and our nervous systems to be more productive.

Speaker 1: And I don't mean productive in the sense again of going back to the hustle, but it gives us an ability to get things done in a fraction of the time so that we can then continue to focus on the things that we love and continue to have spaciousness. And then that compounded gives us even more spaciousness to follow what we love. And as a result, we become even more magnetic because we're in the vibration and the frequency of spaciousness and abundance. And the ripple effect just keeps expanding and expanding. And so it's this beautiful effect that boredom has on our minds and our bodies. And yeah, I just absolutely love that word. I've been thinking about that more often just in the last couple weeks. And I have fallen in love with 5-minute meditations because for a long time I'm like, oh, if I meditate, I'm going to be doing it wrong because people have these set ways to meditate. And then I thought meditation is just whatever puts you in that state in the right state. So, if I do five minute meditations in the morning and then also making sure to take that time because I'm pretty good now about self-care and the importance and taking the time for myself, but there are days where I think I've sat in my office all day. Have not taken that moment for myself and I'm going to have to figure out how to do that before the end of the day. Absolutely. I think that's so common and I experienced the same thing when I went into my business. I actually carried my hustle habits into my career. So like right out the gate, I had six figure months and everything looked really successful and I was doing really well on the exterior and then I found myself I was doing those 10 12hour work days. I was turning friends down for invitations to dinner and I was like, "Wait a minute, I'm doing it again. How am I doing this?" I was looking for a feminine framework that would hold me consistently through my days and my weeks and my months so that I could balance both the production and the rest. And I couldn't find anything. And I was actually at an equin spiritual retreat and I was standing in meditation and inside this horse corral and a horse came up to me while I was deep in meditation and he put his nose against my nose and I sensed him say, "You are me. I am you. And all of a sudden I realized it's like wait I am nature. I am a reflection of nature. And if I am why am I not building my business and my life aligned with nature aligned with the seasons of nature. And that's when my whole earth flow methodology was downloaded which is now the framework to hold us in so that we don't keep popping in and out like what you just said and what I had experienced too. But it's a framework that holds us throughout our days and our weeks. So that it's not just about taking a sacred pause. While we still do that, we have something to come back to and hold us throughout the day so that we carry that alignment throughout our lives and create abundance consistently and sustainably.

Speaker 1: That had to be pretty amazing to have a giant animal do that. I just have to ask you what a sign because horses are intuitive, right?

Speaker 1: And so for an animal like that to do that is definitely a sign. It's so interesting. So I had arrived at the retreat from a conference and so my energy was really scattered and I'm an animal lover. My background so I had worked with Jane Goodall. My background was working and building some of the largest animal welfare organizations in the world. I loved animals and I was usually a magnet for them. But I arrived at this retreat and they didn't want to have anything to do with me. And the guide said, "Yeah, your energy is actually really scattered." And she said, "Let's do a meditation to see if we can ground you and see what happens." And it was in that meditation where they were just on the edges of the corral. All of a sudden, as I felt myself ground, I felt his nose against my nose. And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, it's amazing how magnetic we can be with simple shifts in our energy by grounding in nature." It was such a powerful illustration of what's possible for us energetically when we ground. How did studying the divine feminine change the way you leap? It taught me that feminine energy isn't just about being soft. In fact, I almost stopped using the term feminine energy because I felt like it was a misrepresentation of what I was trying to tap into in my essence. And I exchanged it with feminine power because it taught me that I can be both soft and powerful, that I can be active and rest and still be successful. It taught me how to balance both sides of myself. I had been this executive and a very successful one for 20 years. And I didn't want to deny the part of myself that was very strategic and driven and ambitious. But I also really craved this spiritual side of myself. And so it felt like my life was an eitheror. And the studying the divine feminine allowed me to merge the two and honor both energies. It allowed me to honor and balance the masculine energy within me and then the feminine energy within me.

Speaker 1: And I felt like when the two merged, that was when I was grounded and rooted in feminine power. And it just gave me so much more permission to show up fully as me. That's so interesting because so often we find ourselves in situations and we'll shut parts of ourselves down depending on the situation we're in.

Speaker 1: Absolutely. I definitely felt that and it still is a challenge. That's just the way our society is built is we're taught that we can only thrive if we act a certain way. And so there's a lifelong unlearning and relearning how to be ourselves. Even with the framework that I teach is this seasonal framework. Each season, each year, I feel like I'm peeling back another layer of myself, peeling away a little bit more inauthenticity of the things I learned to do to survive in a more patriarchal world and revealing more of who I am.

Speaker 1: But it's a constant shedding every season and every year. Tell us about the wheel of the year and why does it work so well? Yes. So for those listening who aren't familiar with it, I refer to it as the Celtic wheel of the year because Celtic tradition is from my lineage, but there are a lot of indigenous traditions that teach something pretty similar. So when you think about a circle, you divide it into eight pie slices. And each pie slice represents a seasonal energy. And this was the ancient calendar that women and men lived by and they thrived by. They used it to know when to plant, when to harvest, when to celebrate their abundance. And it worked really well. And then when we became more patriarchal, we moved into a Gregorian calendar which is very linear, very production focused where we're producing all the time and we started to force things out of season. If you were an entrepreneur, you might be forcing launches or selling things in the winter when really your body wants to rest and hibernate. And so by following this framework, it brings us back into alignment so that we're working with our natural energy instead of against it. If you are in the business world, you're going to in the winter time, instead of launching out with your big New Year's goals and starting the year off strong, you're going to want to rest and reflect on what worked well last year and what didn't and what creative ideas want to come through in the spaciousness of rest and then waiting until early spring to begin to implement them. using that energy of rebirth to create and to implement that and to grow your community and to get out in front of more people. Often times when we're working against that, that's what creates that depletion and that exhaustion and that burnout. But by looking to nature and seeing what it's doing in that season and modeling your behavior after that, it makes your action and your energy so much more at ease and you're flowing with your energy instead of creating energetic blocks which block your abundance. That's so interesting cuz sometimes we force ourselves to do things when we don't feel ready or maybe we're not ready like you said. Maybe you're not in a creative state enough to create the things that you want to launch. Maybe you need to take that time to think more about it and do more planning during that time.

Speaker 1: And I'm pretty intuitive with myself. I really try to go with that flow. We always have things we have to do and those things are going to come up. But I try to listen to myself and if I need a few moments of downtime in a day, I try to do that because I know that energy will come back and then I'll feel ready to do it. Yeah. You said something so important is that you checked in with your body. And I think that's something too that we have forgotten to do. The best way to disconnect a woman from her power is to keep her too busy to go out in nature. And when we go out in nature, we tune into our bodies and we tune in into our intuition. So when you said that you tune into your body, there's so much truth and wisdom in how we're feeling. And if there's indications and signs, which our bodies are always giving us clues as to what's happening internally and emotionally and intuitively, if we're giving ourselves even just five minutes that space to say, "How am I feeling? What does my body need? What am I doing that might be working against what I ultimately want to do there? Is there an easier path? Like our bodies are giving us those clues as to what to do. What is that next step? So just starting with a five minute practice of just tuning in of what is my body saying? What does it need? What do I need to say no to? What do I want to say yes to? Giving ourselves permission just to do that. And I haven't admittedly been always been good at it, but it's conversations like today that really help bring me back. Yeah. I don't think we need to be judgmental about it because it is a learning process and an unlearning as well and it's just bringing curiosity and again like I keep going back to the framework because when there is that in place it's not like a week or two has gone by and it's oh my gosh I've totally forgotten to check in with my body now you have a methodology and a framework that reminds you every day to go back and check in with your body and so you're constantly held through that so it's not just these oneoff moments of check-ins. But yeah, we're not looking for perfection. We just need to bring our best and bring curiosity to it because it is a lifelong practice to learn. How do your clients grow big businesses without the hustle by following this method? I have an example of a client who came to me.

Speaker 1: It was probably like November or December of the year. And she had already planned out her entire launch and program. And she's like, "I have all my ducks in a row. It's all ready and my body is telling me no. I just don't want to do it. I'm tired. It's almost the holidays. I just want to rest. I want to be with my family." And I said, "What is making you think that you have to do it now?" And she's like, "I've already put all of this effort into place. Like, I need to just go with it." And I said, "What if it's just a pause? It's not that we're like scratching everything that you did. What if we listened and honored your body and just gave it a little bit of space for the next month, honoring what your body really needs?" And she agreed to follow her body's wisdom. And in the first week of just pausing, she had somebody that wasn't even on her radar reach out to her and hire her for private mentorship, which exceeded her goal for the launch that she wanted to do. And so she had this like beautiful magnetic quality about her in her rest season. And then flash forward to the time in the spring when we decided to launch this offer. It sold out before she even went public with it. And again, she was honoring her spring energy. And so just again, these subtle tiny shifts can have really dramatic effects. That's so true. There was a time when I really wanted something to happen and I remember being at home and I thought, I'm just going to go for a walk. And while I was on the walk, I got an email that it had happened. So, it's so interesting to think about those moments. Yes. When we step outside barefoot, within a millisecond of our toes touching the grass, our body already resets itself. I've been getting really curious. I have one of these EEG headbands. So, there's two ways to measure your brain waves. There's one inside your brain and then there's headbands that can measure your brain waves coming out of your head and there are ones that you can have at home. And so I've been playing around with different nature practices so that my clients can immediately tap into their theta state, which is where their subconscious and their most like abundant frequency is accessed. And within a millisecond of touching the grass, there is a reset which is amazing how quickly it can happen and you actually align with the frequency of the earth which is abundance. And so it does not surprise me that even on your walk you experience the same thing. That's amazing. I didn't even know those headbands existed. Yeah, they're really amazing. They're like $200 and it's been a toy for me. I'm just like playing with all sorts of things. But it's also allowed me to create really potent meditations and nature practices and really see the evidence of them working. And there are some types of music that work better than others. There are some type of aspects of nature. Sometimes when we do sun nature practices that helps us to tap into the frequency of confidence. When we sit by water, that helps us tap into the frequency of intuition and access our intuition. So, each thing does something different. So, I've been able to cultivate some really beautiful practices and meditations for my clients through this. It's interesting to think about what we're close to. Like, I like to be near the water. I grew up looking at a lake in Missouri. Now, I'm near the ocean. And there's something about seeing the water and being near the water for me. Yeah. Not sure what that means. Water does represent the feminine and it does represent intuition. So, it doesn't surprise me because I hear so so many women say that they're drawn to bodies of water as well. Yeah. The second I look at it, I'm just so much more relaxed. It's really really interesting. Yeah. Yep. There's actually a frequency shift that's happening inside of you. Yeah. What advice do you give women who are on the edge of burnout? You're not alone. This is normal. Unfortunately, we are at crisis levels of burnout. Take one simple step. If you can just commit to five minutes of practice, going outside, putting your feet in the grass, just allowing yourself to do that, that's enough to begin to rewire your system and to hear your intuition. I like to also combine it with a question. So I oftentimes guide my clients as they go outside putting one hand on their heart, one hand on their belly and asking their intuition or the universe, whatever feels right for you of what needs to shift internally or externally. Fill in like whatever your desired outcome is.

Speaker 1: have more peace, have less burnout, have more joy in my life, have more success without working harder. Whatever that is, speak that into that prayer or that intention. And I have found for me personally within 24 hours I somehow get either an answer, an opportunity, an insight, something from my subconscious, a limiting belief that I didn't even know was there will bubble up and I'll be like, "Oh, I need to give that more love. I need to work on that with my coach or my mentor." something will bubble up from you that will begin to help you realign into a less burnout type of pattern in a more aligned spaciousness. It's so true. And we need to listen to ourselves more today than I think ever because we're so inundated with technology and the work. And there's always there's really not much moments of boredom because we always have something we can do at any moment. It's so true. But we just need to unplug. I think sometimes though we're afraid of unplugging. We're afraid one that we'll lose momentum or success. But I think we're also afraid of what might emerge in the quiet. We're so afraid of our own power or our own wisdom that sometimes we squash it and we fill our days almost intentionally with noise, not realizing that because we're afraid of the change that will happen when we do listen to this wisdom within us. Yeah. So true. Magic happens when we focus on the part of our business and ourselves that brings us joy. We've talked a lot about business and our intuition today. What do you do to make sure that you're finding and living your joy?

Speaker 1: I love that. So, I have an image in my mind that brings me so much peace and it's this mountain cabin. You love the water. I love the mountains. And it brings me peace and I follow that feeling and whatever activity that I can find in the day that makes me feel that evokes that feeling of peace and joy, I follow that. So often we follow goals thinking that will bring us to whatever outcome that we really want and ultimately we want that outcome to bring us a feeling whether that is freedom or joy or peace. The feeling that I lean towards more like peace and freedom. And so I hold that image in my mind and everything that I do has to align with that feeling has to align with that vision. and I follow that versus very set goals. While I still have goals, they evoke a specific feeling versus there are simple steps to get from X to Z. Such good advice. Thank you so much for joining us today and reminding us to listen to ourselves. It's such good advice to think about feelings. How am I feeling throughout the day? Because you're right, we can check off goals, but how we feel is so important is just as important as checking off those boxes. Yeah, I do say even more because your feelings are going to lead you to exactly where you need to be. Please share with us how and where we can find you. Absolutely. You can find me on Instagram. My handle is I am Jen Whitaker. I A M J N W Hi T A K E R. I'm also the host of the podcast Rooted Women Rise. And you can find me on my website too at jenwitaker.com. Thank you for joining us today. I'd love to hear from you. Reach out to me at hello@ shebuiltit.com on our shebuiltit website or at shebuiltit on social. Thank you to my editor rich drefalino who always makes us sound good. Until next time, let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave.