Hello and welcome to today's episode of the how to choose happiness and freedom show.
I'm your host Lauren Foster happiness teacher and founder of Be Happy First and author of Happy and Free On Purpose Daily practices to live and love your life before I welcome today's guest I wanted to tell you a little bit about the awesome things that are going on right now at Be Happy First You can check it all out at LaurenGFoster.
Com if you're watching this in June now Now through midnight on July the 1st all book purchases whether it's a signed copy directly from me an Audible and a Kindle version a paperback through Amazon all purchases will be entered in a drawing to win a free Prosperity pendant you can see all about that a read about the magical stones that are included.
This was custom designed Exclusively for the Be Happy First tribe and each and every one is handcrafted with love and magic So you definitely want to be one of the first ones to have your very own copy of the book so head over to LaurenGFoster.
Com and sign up for that and get that book in your hands and Get happy and free on purpose now on to today's show I am so thrilled and happy and honored to be talking with Susan Burrell today I met her through the universe just bringing me guests that I wanted And you know when you ask it is given so we're gonna learn today from Susan how to live your empowered life She's an intuitive healer and spiritual guide She has a podcast called empowering chats with Susan Burrell and her website is susanburrell.
Com Welcome Susan.
Thank you Lauren.
Wow.
That was a big toot in my horn.
Yeah.
Well,
It was easy I only spoke the truth and Lacey come over to say hello to Your dog's name is Lacey.
Yeah Lacey my dog's name is Macy Okay,
So what you said about the universe bringing to us what we want that's exactly How it works when you get out of your own way,
Right?
Yeah,
That's exactly right.
So tell us about you We had a little bit of time to chat before and I know you've been you know Sharing meditations for many many years and you've been in TV.
And so tell us who Susan is and let us get to know you I'm laughing because at this exact moment in time I am doing a deep dive into who Susan is and I tend to do this I I I won't say it's cyclical.
It's just like oftentimes something happens.
There's a hard stop and I hear very clearly Sit down and take care of yourself.
So that's that's what I've been doing.
Um,
But so so I've been Teaching spiritual principle and Supporting others and learning how to develop their own spiritual path if you will and practice and I've been doing that for over I figured this out the other day over 25 years so Yeah,
Who knew and and so consequently because I teach that I have I have a really high integrity meter that I gotta be I gotta walk my talk.
So that's Consequently the hard stop of you know now who is Susan,
You know,
And I and I actually think that that's important every Well,
Definitely every decade when you turn that decade corner,
But every couple years to re Reassess yourself and that's something I didn't do when I was younger I I didn't know who I was in my teens and 20s and 30s and it took in it took In my 50s Filing for divorce after 28 years to really go.
Okay,
So Who am I I thought I was always going who am I you know,
And I was studying with shamans and medicine women and you know and meditating and but I didn't know until everything fell away everything fell away all the all the Physical stuff,
You know my marriage my house my blah blah but that was also the internal stuff had to go the the Which I'm working on again the internal Shaming blaming myself resenting So what I'm finding now currently Lauren in my new excavation to really Remind myself that I am a strong empowered woman is that?
Everything I thought was out there right this I this is what I teach for 20-something years It's if you think it's out there.
It's not you need to look inside yourself Well,
That was the hard stop for me.
I was like,
Oh Wow,
I am so I'm like looking at all my controlling modalities and where where is the deep root of that looking at Resenting my ex-husband and going oh no it's I'm resenting me looking at feeling abandoned and Going oh no,
I abandoned me at a very very very very early age so I'm looking at all that stuff and then going and and it's gift and it's also You have to be I you don't have to do anything what I'm choosing to do is try and be gentle with myself because my body Expresses the Addressed emotions Right.
So when I when I was in divorce,
I broke out in hives never had a hive in my life.
I was Full-blown head-to-toe hives for a year an entire year I think I had two days off of hives during that year and it was all this unexpressed rage That I felt towards him towards life towards me towards and so it just came out through my body And I when I work with clients,
I have to be very cautious on that I'm now speaking to the healers and Michael listening I have to be cautious because I tend to process every process everything through my body So I have to be aware when I'm out in public Like going to the grocery store and I come home and I'm like,
Oh,
What's that in my neck?
You know and then I have to like go okay that oh,
That's not mine It's what I call a drive-by,
You know,
Somebody walked by me and I just picked it up so then you have to just you have to just be mindful of all that so That's kind of the circuit Who's susan burrell?
Oh my it's it but there are so many amazing lessons already in just this this few moments So so listeners,
This is what I want you to hear even if you've been a spiritual teacher for 25 years That doesn't mean that you have it all figured out.
You never get it wrong and you never get it done You're always evolving.
So check back in with who you are.
Yes from time to time and Forgiveness is an ongoing practice that you're forgiving other people.
You're forgiving yourself You're healing all wounds all the time That's not something that is just one and done and check that off your list you do ever ever ever It's never done,
Right?
And I'm I I see I have been investigating past lifetimes too because I totally believe in that and I could find the root of the cause way back there not just way back when I was a child but way back there That are residual effects that I've brought into this lifetime Why we do those things?
I don't know is it's because we're supposed to resolve them possibly is it just because You didn't rinse off fully when you finished your shower kind of thing and when you made your transition,
So anyway Yeah,
I love that again The third thing is that energy is real and it thought starts in your thoughts it starts starts everybody else's thoughts that it manifests in the physical in your body and Energy is forever.
Just like she said she might be carrying around Energy from the beginning of time that came along into her body So it's the really big and cool and important things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I totally agree with you Lauren.
It's It's fascinating to me Who does people that don't really understand this because I've been immersed in this Probably all my adult life since I was about I started my spiritual quest when I was about 17 You know,
So this is like where I live and I ran into My neighbor across the street who is an ER doctor and she was running and fell and shattered her shoulder and elbow and all this and and After we talked for a while Being an intuitive healer.
I was like we would you be okay if I did some energy work for you on your behalf and she It's like I said,
Would you be in front of me?
No,
And I'm watching her and I'm like,
Oh my god She really doesn't understand who I am and what I do and she's like no no I'm okay Okay,
Fine.
Fine.
Fine.
It's not I don't have to I was willing So it's fascinating to me that people don't understand That with that we are energy that that there's I mean,
There's so many ancient Healing modalities like acupuncture That access the energy meridians or the Chi You know at all and and when we become aware of that You can feel those that energy moving in your body and that energy is always there to support us because I call that Source energy it's it's from a higher place that we can never place that we can never verbally explain or understand actually because it's so beyond the small human mind and concepts that we've constructed which is why oftentimes people create Come up with experience Raising my hand disease disease in their body Because they're not me.
I'm working on I'm God,
I guess I'm telling this I'm I currently am working at releasing 30 years of being diabetic insulin dependent diabetic and and it's been and it's a fascinating journey because I really I've always practiced that I Like you said earlier whatever thought you have you use that to create your reality,
Right?
So and if you've been given belief systems that you didn't get to vote on When you're a kid,
You know,
Cuz you're it's like pre verbal and you're like,
Oh,
I know I don't want that You get them because it's family of origin or it's teachers when you start going to kindergarten.
I had that going on.
So Then we just start piling on these beliefs in our brain that then the actual uh,
Uh Funnel the conduit of spirit conduit of source energy gets clogged,
You know,
Just like in plumbing,
Right?
You know when your pipes get all clogged and so it gets clogged and And then it's very challenging Unless you really are diligent about consciously Transmuting Not just evolving but transmuting your beliefs Your energy system in your physical body and then we have other bodies we have mental and emotional bodies and we have a theory bodies that go beyond this touchy-feely physical thing we're in and Being consciously aware of transmuting clearing purifying in a very very aligned right aligned holistic met met way and And I just want everybody to know there is this amazing loving frequency that is constantly Trying to get in right constantly trying to love and support us it and and and when you open up your consciousness and Begin to clear your energy channels You can feel that energy that frequency and what happens is that frequency then will take care of you will clear You so so it's for me Lauren It's been moving from how do I manifest a parking space and a beautiful car and a loving kind man?
To how do I live in full alignment with this highest frequency of love?
Live as love Act from love serve with love just be love and that's a more challenging thing than you know Finding the divine right parking place,
Right?
But don't but don't you find that when you are living in that way?
The parking lot the parking space shows up anyway and so does the car and so does the man and so does the money all The things so you just said in a different way the whole Theory and concept behind to be happy first.
So Thank you for reframing that in that beautiful way You're welcome And and I would see what I've learned in my where I'm at now thing is because I had to start at the outer Manifestation.
Oh,
Let me see that car Let me and I even got to where I come to a stoplight and I just say green please and it would change You know what?
I thought I was doing all that maybe I was I don't know But now I've gotten to where it's it is I really my intention for the last few years has to live since I've got divorced Was to live from the inside out to really know who?
Susan is to love and respect myself more than I ever have in my life and that's an ongoing process for me having kind of Tried to work it from the outside in you know,
A lot of people when they meditate they think that they're opening up So the outside can come in Here's the key the outside isn't coming in outside.
What you think is outside is already in that's that frequency of love That all you have to do is just a real line and awaken within yourself within your heart.
That's where I work from and and and recognize that it's already there all the things that we think we need we lack we don't have like oh I have You know people I just want peace of mind Okay,
Just you got it.
You already are that you know,
I just want to be creative Hello,
Then open up yourself to that because you already are that There's nothing we don't have already implanted and Seated within us and it's just our conscious Awareness that goes okay.
I'm going to activate this new experience from within me not going out because then like you said Then you'll find that the right person shows up to do so you can be in Partnership or you can do the thing that you think you're gonna do and or other pieces come in But that's because you already recognize that you are that You are that Yep,
And you you attract what you are and you're about a vibrational match to those things Okay,
So I want to go I want I want to talk about how most of the world You and I get this because we study it we teach it weird,
You know we're immersed in it and we're continually transmuting ourselves in this way,
But How do we take someone who feels as if life is happening to them and Implant the knowledge in them that they are the creator.
Where do we how do we start them?
How do we get them that belief that they can start from to to begin going with them?
What's the first thing they can do?
Okay,
So it sounds to me like you're asking a question for other healers on how they are going to and Coaches and counselors how they're going to work with a client No Actually,
I want you to speak directly to my listeners and tell them how they can convince themselves that they are a divine being Hey,
Lauren,
You asked for it.
Oh,
No All right.
So here here's the bottom line truth and it's just like what my my neighbor across the street Who's a doctor who doesn't believe anything but her?
Medical training right the science the facts the and we've just gone through A year and a half of trying to find where the truth is and it's become so convoluted because everybody's listening To outside sources and my prayer this year was that people will listen turn within and listen within so If you're looking if you're looking to learn how to transmute yourself first,
You have to be willing You have to really be willing to do the investigation and the investigation sometimes for people feels very scary You know like we all think we have these really ugly spots inside ourselves And sometimes they become the really ugly thing that the medical community has to take care of But and so we get afraid to to look inside,
You know,
What is that?
What is that?
Um,
But you have so you have to be willing to to change You have to be willing to dedicate yourself to some kind of spiritual practice and that doesn't mean you have to sit You know on a cushion and own your yourself into bliss because I we're not here We're here to be blissful,
But we're here to walk We're here to be on the planet doing the work and that means interacting Collaborating connecting with each other so that we can experience now I just so that we can experience that we are all one Because there's only one source On this entire planet that that fuels and runs and has oh so much fun Creating through us by means of us Creating through us by means of us.
So so becoming willing Developing some sort of spiritual practice and that might be just going for a walk in nature.
Lauren You said you live in the in these beautiful mountains going i'm a big tree hugger Go sit under a tree,
You know and just begin to commune With yourself That's the beginning piece of Transformation and I would recommend or suggest that most everybody has been on this kind of a path if they're listening to this and So then i'm now i'm going to call everybody i'm going to call you all because If you've been on this path And you feel stuck it is very important right now to Investigate again within yourself where you feel stuck.
Where is the root cause of that stuckedness?
Because when we can pull out that root cause and look at it and see that it's not the the ugly bugaboo guy we thought it was We can let it go.
We can transform it.
We can transmute it and um and currently Humanity is facing a new potential I I no longer talk about possibilities because we can walk right by a possibility and it can bite us and we don't even know it I'm talking about potentiality and potentiality comes out of the quantum field If you want to talk science the quantum field where there are multiple potentials constantly each and every one of us has multiple potentials of How we choose to live what our life is going to be like and then at any point we can Step into another potential So this this to me Lauren is is that whole uh,
Abraham maslow Pyramid where you start at the bottom and you're in survival and then you got to work your way up into loving yourself at the top is Actualization where you really live in that state of happiness or peace or creative harmony or whatever But then there's another piece of that Pyramid that we are now Able to investigate and enter into and that is an inverted triangle an inverted pyramid There's more potentials besides just self actualizing while you're here in this body.
There's multiple dimensions and multiple so so So shifting slightly just just one degree of your perception from what's my possibility To what is my potential there's when you when you lean into that at least for me There is a lot more empowerment there and a lot more guidance there But that also means that we can't figure it out.
Okay me I can't figure it out.
I I every time I try and figure it out,
I get knocked upside the head and Have then I go through my emotional reactions of being stubborn and why not and you can't make me do it And i'm not gonna and and don't tell me what to do,
You know that stuff.
Yeah,
That's me I mean,
I can't imagine i'm the only one doing that but So so you have to be willing and then you have to commit to some sort of spiritual connection within yourself um daily And I do a lot of journaling.
I I brought out all I bought a bunch of new journals and Started journaling again this year because I wasn't uh While I was meditating it what there was something else that had to be come up that I needed to see And the actual physical writingness for me Helped Uncover stuff that I was like wow.
Okay,
It's time.
I'm looking at that.
Wow.
I don't need that anymore.
We'll just Get it off my my screen in my mind.
So right Yeah,
I'm a giant fan of journaling and of course of meditation now and and as i'm listening to you I'm hearing the voices of different people Going but what about?
Or but this so What what of the one of these voices said well,
I can't I try to meditate but my mind just won't shut up What do you say to her?
You don't need your mind to shut up You don't need your mind to shut up and there is amazing Mindfulness apps out there meditation apps that you can utilize Where if you just start by listening to guided meditations You're halfway there because eventually you're because what you're doing is you're activating that heart wisdom That intuitive that already knows all your answers and everything You're just you just were stuck up in this brain system that Is run by the little uh egoic gerbil that runs around the brain system What am I doing?
What am I doing?
What am I doing?
So When you drop into that heart system Even with guided meditation you're eventually going to connect with that self within you that inner source energy within you And then you'll find that oh I I can just sit under a tree And my mind just is calm and you just and when your mind starts talking don't well Well as I do it you can go down those rabbit holes of whatever the mind's telling you you can run those stories Of you know,
Whatever your story is and um But but eventually Catch yourself enough that you go.
Okay,
So that good I thought about that now.
I don't need to think about it right now I'm going to just reset back into Whatever the love is that I am or the peace that I am or the joy that I am whatever you're currently Wanting to do but the the so insight timer Is an app that's been around about 10 years.
I have tons of guided meditations on there.
I When the pandemic started I started doing um guided meditations on facebook live I didn't even know how to do a facebook live.
I mean,
There's some of them where i'm sideways and backwards But um,
So I've got lots all those meditations are there and they're specific to whatever You can find one that's specific to whatever is going on with you and you can listen to that and um and And okay,
So the meditation thing the other piece about So the other piece about meditation for people that were raised in a very Rigid religion Is a belief that if I if I Quiet my mind the devil's coming in and i'm doing quotes here everybody Because if you go back to my my premise that we are fundamentally always Sourced by love then there is no devil.
It's the ego going nino nino niner to you but there is no devil and uh But it there is no devil and uh,
And it's important that the mind gets calm enough It doesn't have to be silent or still but calm enough so you can feel that Energy of love in your body like we talked about you can feel the touch of the divine within you you can feel connection and and heart connection with other people Because that is where we're at right now.
And that's all those new potentials I was just mentioning is is coming into collaboration from the heart not the head And not about what am I getting out of it?
But how can I serve?
How can I Serve you how can I serve others and and serving out of a font?
A well a deep well of love And that to me that's the benefits of meditation and I have client believe me I have clients that wiggle and squirm and don't and say no and and the and they'd rather run affirmations which In some cases to me that's just putting a band-aid on you know,
It's a slap and post it on like a band-aid and uh Unless you drop into your heart with your affirmations or with anything I think hopefully everybody's hearing that unless you drop into your heart You're not living your empowered life you're not going to be able to live your best life ever because There as human beings and the ego will put up all these blocks these blockades you know and and then we got You know,
Which is interesting When we put up these blockades because boy does that keep us distracted,
Right?
Does that keep us busy?
Oh,
No,
I can't possibly Connect with myself because I got this huge mountain in front of me that i've got to chop down In order to get to that place where I can meditate That's just garbage Yeah,
It absolutely is so,
You know,
Of course now last week's show was about um,
Two weeks ago was michelle blood and um,
The magic of affirmation power and So we're not just just so you know,
We're not saying that affirmations are gunk but affirmations that come from just Your brain that don't involve a deep connection with really feeling the feelings of those affirmations Did I did I rephrase that in a absolutely they are so uh In my book live your empowered life a 30-day journey.
There's lots of affirmations.
I personally work with I was going through divorce and um,
And so I put them in there because I know they worked for me and uh,
And and my whole thing when I teach is to Work the affirmation in the heart center.
And so sometimes you have to Say it out loud while you're going for a walk Sometimes you have to write it out several times until the body goes Oh,
Yeah,
This is what I needed because the mind again gets just so busy but there's lots of teachers when uh,
When all of this stuff started A while ago That just taught.
Oh do do your affirmations and you'll be better.
And so what happened is what we now know What happened for a lot of people is a spiritual bypass instead of digging down deep to get those roots of Of old belief systems that those roots that initiated your pain your discomfort your your unhappiness Um,
Unless you dig down and pull those roots out Just saying affirmations isn't going to get you the man the car the parking space Okay,
Good stuff so say say the name of your book again Live your empowered life a 30-day journey.
Okay.
Well,
I will figure out the link to that and put it in our show notes So wherever you're watching or listening to this if you look down we'll provide links to everything to get in touch with susan burrell and Have a look at her book and have a look at her podcast Or you you can go to insight timer and I have a one or two meditations up there and one day I aspire to be as prolific as you with meditation.
It's already done lauren It's already done.
It's already done.
There we go.
See,
Um,
But you can just search susan burrell and be able to look through all Of the different meditations that she has on insight timer All right,
So we we want you to live your empowered life What is the what what other things would you like to add to our conversation today that?
To make sure that our listeners take away something amazing okay,
So I I I So loving yourself first,
Right The whole thing is about being happy first,
Right?
Learning how to love yourself first.
It becomes a lifelong uh journey For many people especially women because we were not taught to take care of ourselves first.
We were taught Indoctrinated culturalized for eons to take care of other people So then learning to love yourself can often feel very uncomfortable and daunting because we don't have uh We don't have that many Uh people that have modeled that for us and if they if they do love themselves women that do love themselves They become such a huge,
You know Entity that the everyday person goes I can't I I could never be like that.
I could never be oprah or or michelle obama or You know elena roosevelt But learning to love yourself first to me is the key component to being happy first And until you love yourself enough Again because it's an ongoing thing until you love yourself enough then the happiness gets it goes back to those blockades I mentioned the happiness gets blocked the joy gets blocked Focusing on being happy and joyful is important But all of it stems from loving yourself first.
That's my belief my personal experience actually Yes,
And you're absolutely right,
But I would like you to expand a little bit more and um,
Talk about body image and that we're also Yeah,
And and and that I mean you take your body with you everywhere,
Right and So we'll talk talk to us a little bit about that about how you know,
We're we're divine beings having a human experience and how do we not be defined by our Our size and shape and what we look like in the outside parts of this physical earth suit Lauren this is cracking me up because this is exactly my body has expanded because of all sorts of things right and i'm Past the ripe age of 50 something and and so,
You know I look in the mirror and I I want to see my 20-something body and I look in the mirror and i'm like homo I see my face that's me with this body i'm like it's it's and and Again women have such a challenge because of all the advertising that's aimed at the the housewife from the early 50s who's the one that's going to go and buy things and so now it's so insidious and subtle that Young women are going and getting butt implants because they think they have to have because that's the current fad i'm like don't please don't so being For me,
This is my this is my current journey.
That's why i'm kind of giggling inside right?
Because for me,
I i'm currently in the place of forgiving myself Forgiving my body for Doing something different and looking different and i'm forgiving myself for i'm not an exercise junkie Those I don't know how those people do it and I'm not a Those I don't know how those people do it and I have Been on and off diets all my life and if I see another celery stick i'm gonna shove it someplace so uh You know,
So it's it's it's because it's really again It goes back to becoming comfortable with who you are loving who you are and then the body you can love and when you and and What I notice is when I I accept my body the way it is uh,
I I feel more attractive.
I feel sexier I feel more powerful And I may be a size large now as opposed to a itty bitty one Or three that's what I was high school college and well into my 30s,
You know,
So that's like a dramatic going from Less than small to large.
It's like Okay,
So the thing I guess I want everybody to hear is you haven't done anything wrong,
Right?
You haven't done anything wrong.
It's it's For whatever reason for many women it's the course of the way the body Changes and yes,
There are exercise things you can do Yes,
There are Changes in in how you eat that are important having a healthy lifestyle and drinking lots of water I find when I drink all my water my body is so much happier and if I go Through into the afternoon without having had my water My body's like I am not moving anything so uh So having a healthy lifestyle is important But but really start with the first premise of loving yourself first and letting your telling yourself I'm,
Okay Just the way I am I am beautiful Here's the affirmations I am beautiful and perfect just the way I am and let yourself know you haven't done anything wrong I have an amazing writer I love my body and my body loves me.
Yes Yes,
Well and then that then we could talk about the law of circulation because as you give you do receive so if you're giving out love To other people but to yourself I what you said I love my body and my body loves me.
That's the circulation there Hello,
Sweet thing.
Romeo is making his his daily appearance on the show So anyway,
So when you circulate love it comes back to you multiply when you circulate anything Okay,
If you circulate fear it comes back to you multiplied so circulating,
Uh self-love self-respect self-acceptance and self-forgiveness that's At least what i'm discovering lauren is that's a better diet or program for me And my body and my body beginning,
You know My body calms down when I do those things when I get angry with the fact that my body just bloated out again That that only fuels the bloat right that only because it's anger It's so important to recognize the emotions that cycle through us on A moment by moment basis because we're we're human beings who experience emotions And is it an emotion you want to anchor into the body?
Is it emotion you want to anchor into your life?
And you have to look at that right am I am I walking around being resentful You know because i'm right and they're wrong.
Well,
What's that getting you?
It's not getting you anything except probably more bloating Yeah,
Exactly.
So I know one of my favorite phrases.
Would you rather be happy or would you rather be right?
And yeah,
A lot of us would rather be right Which is fascinating,
Isn't it?
And to recognize I mean I had that I got that going on every once while I get in that twist i'd rather be in control Yeah,
But that but it makes in my and in my current spouse is so fabulous because still asks me the exact same thing What does that get you?
If you're if you're being angry,
What's what's it getting you and i'm like,
I don't know.
I just want to be angry right now Awesome What an amazing interview susan.
Thank you so much for being here.
Oh,
It's my pleasure establish.
Well,
I'm going to stay in touch with you.
We're going to be we're going to be just like this I'm going to go listen to your meditations and listen to your podcast and yeah life is good What life life is good and you have to work at it in order for it to be good You can't just lay around and eat bon bons or chicken nuggets or something.
Yeah,
We'll expand on that and on another show Awesome thank you again and um For everybody else that's susan burell.
Com and you can learn about her book.
You can learn about her podcast You can get to everything related to susan from there,
Right?
Right exactly and um be sure to go out and go and check out the all of the great free gifts that we have with the Happy and free on purpose book launch.
You can find that at laurengfoster.
Com And we're gonna get out of here.
I'll see you next week.
Say goodbye susan Bye everybody.
Thanks for listening Right until next week.
Remember that happiness is a choice.
You can always choose to be happy first.
I'll see you next week
