When Was The Last Time You Let The Universe Hold You?

Céline Harleaux – Host of the award-winning It's A Funny Thing Podcast. Author of 40 Days To Self-Love. Advanced ThetaHealing Practitioner.

Since 2017, Céline has inspired thousands of women to improve their relationship with themselves, using simple and effective tools. Céline’s audience absolutely loves her playfulness, authenticity and honesty – she never hesitates to share her most awkward stories, as well as her best tips for powerful and long-lasting change.

Transcript

This program was produced by and first broadcast on Radio Hawke's Bay,

Your community access media station.

Thanks to New Zealand On Air for making this type of programming possible.

Well,

Hello,

Everyone,

And welcome to this episode of the show.

So the show was previously called Your Time to Shine,

All Things Self Love,

But I have decided to call it something a bit different now for 2023.

So it's going to be called This Life Thing with Celine,

Of course.

So welcome to our first episode for 2023 and our first episode of This Life Thing with Celine.

But not the first episode of the podcast,

Of course.

So thank you for joining me.

I appreciate all those of you who come and join me on the show,

You know,

Week after week,

Month after month.

And I love exploring this whole life thing with you.

And I love asking questions to get you to think.

And I love that we are moving.

I love that we are moving forward together.

First things first,

I hope that you're doing well.

I hope that you are feeling good in your body today.

Our topic or question for today is,

When was the last time you let the universe hold you?

When was the last time that you let the universe hold you?

So I'll just give you a few seconds to ponder that question yourself and then we'll go into a conversation.

So when was the last time you let the universe hold you?

So for me,

The answer to that question is,

I cannot remember the last time I let the universe hold me.

I cannot remember for the life of me,

Remember when that last happened.

I was lying in bed earlier and thinking about,

You know,

All those little health issues that are plaguing me at the moment.

Not big health issues,

But you know,

Like a headache here and there.

And I had some sort of tummy bug over Christmas,

Which prevented me from going to work.

And,

You know,

Fogginess in the brain and,

You know,

Just a few pimples here and there.

And I just,

I was just lying on my bed,

Frustrated,

Thinking like,

What the heck is happening?

I am eating well.

I am resting.

I'm exercising.

I am taking some time for myself.

I am doing nothing quite a lot of the time.

So what is going on?

Why do I feel like I continuously need more rest?

Why am I lacking energy?

Why,

Why,

Why,

Why,

Why,

Why,

Why,

Why?

And I could have gone down into the rabbit hole.

And sometimes we do that,

Or often we do that,

Or certainly often I do it.

We go down the rabbit hole of all the things that we are potentially doing wrong.

You know,

Eating too much sugar in my case,

Perhaps,

Or,

You know,

I'm not necessarily going for hikes as often as I would like,

Or for horse rides,

Or,

You know,

Perhaps I should exercise more,

Or perhaps I should be doing less.

You know,

These are always questions that are plaguing me,

Plaguing my mind or keeping my brain entertained,

I suppose I should say,

A lot of the times.

And then this afternoon I thought,

No,

I'm not going to go there.

I know that there are things I can do differently,

And I will do them differently,

And I know that my health is a journey.

However,

What is the deeper reason?

So I asked a question to the universe,

To God,

To love,

To whatever,

Whoever,

Whoever was out there listening to me ranting and rambling,

Having a tantrum,

And I waited.

And the answer was,

When was the last time you let the universe hold you?

And I'm like,

Ah,

That is the answer.

That is the answer.

So I want to extend the question to you because it is something that we all need to ask ourselves regularly.

I'm just going to have some more water.

Give me a second.

We all need to ask ourselves this question,

Right?

When was the last time you felt supported by the universe,

By your family,

By yourself?

Can you remember a time in your life when you didn't feel tired or overwhelmed or drained or exhausted?

Or like everybody's putting pressure and asking things of you,

And there's never enough time for yourself.

This is a common complaint that we have,

Right?

When was the last time that you felt at peace?

When was the last time you felt something that was truly meaningful for you?

And these are all questions that I'm not expecting you to say,

Oh,

Yeah,

I've got something to work on here and there and here and there and here and there and everywhere.

And this is where I'm failing.

This is where I'm failing.

I'm also expecting you or asking of you that you realize what you're doing well.

So perhaps you are drinking enough water,

Like,

Yay to you.

That's amazing.

Perhaps you are taking your dog for a walk every single day.

That's amazing.

Perhaps you are learning how to nourish yourself and when to nourish yourself.

Or you are learning how your body responds to certain kinds of food,

Right?

Your body responds differently to,

I don't know,

A slice of avocado than it responds to,

I actually wanted to say cucumber,

But avocado crossed my lips.

Anyway,

To a bit of avocado compared to,

I don't know,

A plate of chips fresh from the oven,

For example.

Or perhaps it is that you need chips every now and again and that's,

You know,

Like the last thing that your body needs is avocado or cucumber or whatever,

A healthy thing or a smoothie.

But I want you to start asking yourself where in your life you feel that you're not supported.

And usually,

You know,

We start to notice these areas of our life where,

You know,

We feel that we're doing too much and people are asking too much of us and they're selfish and,

You know,

They're not taking our needs into account.

But what's really happening is that you are rushing or what is happening for me rather,

And perhaps it is true for you as well and perhaps there's another reason,

So I'm asking you to think about that as well.

You know,

What is happening for me is that when I get into that sort of mindset where I'm like,

Oh,

You know,

My husband is not helping and he's always taking advantage of me and he's never doing enough and I feel so angry with him.

Wouldn't it be easier if I was single?

You can see where I'm going into a cycle,

Right?

A vicious cycle of it's everybody else's fault but mine.

Now,

That's not going to be very helpful and my husband has become very good over the years at giving me breaks and not interacting with me when I'm in that mindset,

But just,

You know,

Feeding me,

Giving me a cup of tea and a good book and a blankie and then giving me an hour to sort myself out.

What is really happening is that I'm always rushing.

I'm always seeing what needs to be done.

I'm always seeing what hasn't been done yet.

I'm always putting my focus on what is below my standards.

Does that make sense?

So it's very far away from everybody's taking advantage of me to I am choosing for people to take advantage of me,

Perhaps because it helps me to,

You know,

Avoid boredom or it keeps me out of my soul's path because I'm afraid of what I would have to do if I was to finally listen to my soul.

I've come to think about it as a way to procrastinate for me.

So instead of doing what I know would really move me forward in life and I know that right now I need to focus on the basics and perhaps that's the same thing for you.

You need to focus on the basics as well,

Like drinking enough water,

You know,

Having an hour to do some soft and gentle movements to release the pressure and stress and,

You know,

All those kinks in your neck and your shoulders and all of that,

You know,

Just stressful energy that accumulates in the body every single day,

No matter how mindful you are.

It is to eat when you're hungry,

Sleep when you're tired,

Drink when you're thirsty and do nothing and rest when you need to rest,

Right,

When you're feeling tired.

I know that I don't have these basic things,

That I'm doing them okay,

But I'm not doing them well and I know that for the universe to trust me with more responsibility in terms of spiritual work,

I suppose you could say,

I need to have more energy and to have more energy I need to be able to have those foundations laid and set in concrete.

I need to be able to,

You know,

Wake up in the morning and have plenty of energy and it's interesting,

I was going through the list of the previous podcast episodes recently and I thought there is so,

You know,

So often we talk about that.

We talk about energy,

We talk about taking care of ourselves,

We talk about avoiding procrastination,

We talk about accepting responsibility for the path and the sole responsibility that are ours and I mean,

Obviously there's something that I'm,

You know,

Questioning or pondering,

You know,

Very regularly and I often seem to fall into that pattern of exhaustion and over-exhaustion.

And I wonder what your pattern is.

Is it,

You know,

Overstimulation?

Are you overstimulated during the day?

You know,

Do you spend hours and hours and hours scrolling on social media or just looking for whatever is going to catch your attention on your phone?

I find it amazing and deeply disturbing how much time I am spending on my phone and I consider myself to be good at catching myself when I do that.

So,

You know,

If you're not very self-aware,

You know,

Like how much time do you actually spend on your phone,

You know,

How much time do you spend on your phone because you're bored or you want some distraction from your brain,

From your mind,

From those negative thoughts that are plaguing your mind and your brain.

So is it overstimulation or is your body,

What's the word,

Polluted,

That's the word,

Is your body polluted by,

You know,

Saturated fats or processed sugars or foods that haven't been processed in your body,

That haven't nurtured you in the way that your body really needs to be nurtured?

So is your body saturated and polluted by stuff that you haven't processed,

So foods that you haven't processed or emotions that you haven't processed or situations at work or in your private life or anywhere else that you haven't processed?

Is it like me that you do too much because you're afraid that nothing's happening in your life and you feel afraid of living a life,

You know,

Filled with regrets because you haven't done what you were meant to do and so you fill your time with things,

Hopefully,

That are hopefully going to make a difference in your life,

In your abundance,

In your,

In any area of your life?

Or is it that you feel deeply depressed by this life that you are living,

This world that you are living in,

Where everything seems to be hard and seems to come at a great cost and,

You know,

You wake up in the morning and you're already feeling drained by the demands that the day is going to place on you.

It could be all of these things and any of these things and none of those things and anything else,

Right?

So I'd like you to take a moment to think about that thing,

That pattern that is stopping you,

That is allowing you,

That pattern that is allowing you to dream about the future but you're not getting there.

Or perhaps you are,

I thought about something else,

Perhaps you listen to the energies and emotions and mindsets of the outside world.

You know,

Right now everybody's talking about the cost of living,

That's the thing in New Zealand,

Right?

The cost of living,

The cost of living,

The cost of living.

And,

You know,

The recession,

The rising cost of food and fuel and whatever and people are panicking.

And before that,

There was COVID and people not getting vaccinated and,

You know,

Being a,

You know,

A danger to society.

Perhaps,

You know,

You're listening to the songs on the radio and,

You know,

You're singing along and you feel,

You know,

It's nice and an upbeat rhythm and it's nice music and you enjoy the voice of the singer and whatever.

And,

You know,

You sing along but you're not really listening to the words and what's actually happening is that those people,

Those musicians and artists are singing about heartbreak,

About loneliness,

About depression and you're singing along.

About not having enough money,

About being disappointed by life and people.

And so you're absorbing those energies into you pretty unsubconsciously.

You know,

You're absorbing these energies despite yourself,

Despite your best efforts to be more conscious of what you're bringing into your life.

And these things,

You know,

Very much happen without us being aware of them and I find it so interesting when you're,

You know,

Pondering or reflecting on your life and you think,

Ah,

This is not working for me and this hasn't happened.

And I want this but I don't know how to get there and I feel that I'm stopped in my tracks and I don't know how to move forward.

And then you have to have a good look at yourself every day,

Every hour,

Every month for everything that is keeping you stuck.

And you have to have a good look,

You know,

Behind what's right in your face to see what's,

To see and recognize the automatic patterns because they are automatic patterns.

We are not aware of them.

We have been running these patterns subconsciously.

Did I say unsubconsciously before?

What I meant was subconsciously.

It did sound weird to me and I thought I cannot think of what the right word is but what I meant was subconsciously.

And anyway,

So I was saying that,

You know,

These patterns are subconscious,

Which means that they are beneath the conscious mind,

Beneath the conscious mind,

Which means that you're not aware of them.

And what is happening is that perhaps it's a,

You know,

Belief system or a set of feelings and emotions and thoughts that has run in your mind for so long that it has become automatic,

Subconscious.

And you're no longer aware of it because it is sort of working for you and you haven't quite recognized the pattern as a problem.

Or rather,

You haven't recognized that the pattern is the problem,

Is what is keeping you stuck.

And so is keeping you stuck because it is unrecognized by your conscious mind,

Undetected by your conscious mind.

Or perhaps you have recognized that it is the problem but you haven't quite found the way to let that pattern dissolve into something that is much more empowering and serving to you now in the situations that you are facing now in your life.

So we have millions and millions and millions of patterns running through us,

Running through our mind,

Running through every single aspect of our lives,

Every single day,

Every single moment,

Every single second.

And some of these,

I mean,

All of these patterns are serving us.

I was going to say that some of these patterns are serving us,

But what is really happening is that all of these patterns are serving us.

And what can happen is that when you spend a good time looking at yourself and looking at your mind and looking at the way you live your life and the way that things are happening for you,

Is that we divide our belief systems and patterns into empowering belief systems and limiting belief systems.

But I believe that all of these limiting beliefs are serving us because they're helping us to procrastinate because we're afraid.

They're helping us to let only a certain kind of love in because we're afraid of receiving more love in because love has hurt us before.

In this way,

They're empowering us to distinguish between the love that we're receiving now,

For example,

And the love that we want to receive.

A limiting belief can be a belief system that is actually helping you to grow,

That is helping you to reflect.

The problem is,

Of course,

When you see that there is a belief system that is limiting you,

That is hurting yourself,

Hurting others around you,

And you're keeping it there.

Or perhaps it is something that has turned into this giant quagmire in your brain,

And it's just becoming worse and bigger and darker,

And you don't know how to deal with it.

And so you turn to sugar or you turn to snacks or you turn to Netflix for oblivion,

Or you turn to things like alcohol and drugs and violence and whatever.

But let's go back now for a moment to my original question,

Which was,

When was the last time that you let the universe hold you?

I realized the other day that I had never felt this loving universe that we all talk about.

I had never felt that loving universe.

I always felt that I have been pushing through the mud,

Pushing through the swamp,

And that somehow,

Somewhere,

Something must be loving me because I'm alive and I'm evolving.

But I mean,

Where the hell is it?

I'm doing everything by myself.

And it's only recently that I have come to realize that,

Yes,

There is a loving universe around me.

And yes,

I can feel that universe responding to me.

And an easy way to do that is to.

.

.

Oh,

I'm getting really thirsty.

Just give me a second.

I need to get some more water.

That's what's happening when I'm talking too much.

Ah,

That's feeling better.

So there is a loving universe around you,

But there's a difference between knowing that cerebrally,

So in your brain,

And knowing it,

Feeling it,

Feeling the universe responding to you.

And what was I saying?

That's what I was getting to.

And what I was getting to is that a good way to see how the universe is responding to you is,

You know,

When you wake up in the morning and you feel grumpy,

And you get up and you,

You know,

Bump your toe against something and it's really painful.

And,

You know,

The outfit that you chose for yourself is not really what you feel like wearing,

And it's making you feel fat and ungraceful.

And a colleague at work or a client tells you something that is deeply triggering for you or deeply hurts you in a way.

And you,

Or perhaps,

You know,

You feel that the universe suddenly has become,

The world around you has become this strange and unfamiliar place where everything somehow is against you.

That is how you know that you are manifesting things,

That you are manifesting the reality against,

Around you,

Not against you,

Around you,

Simply from the way that you feel.

And,

You know,

When you feel good and you feel like,

I mean,

Skipping and dancing in the rain and you feel that everybody is nice and,

You know,

You get a discount and,

You know,

The cashier at the supermarket,

You know,

Smiles at you and laughs with you and,

You know,

And you see the puppy on the street and you pet the puppy and everything is amazing because the puppy is amazing.

And,

You know,

Your kids are behaving themselves and your colleagues are behaving themselves and your partner is behaving him or herself.

And,

You know,

That's how you know that the universe truly is responding to you.

But a deeper alignment is to realize and feel that the universe around you is truly,

Deeply in love with you.

And I think it has been,

You know,

A huge learning journey for me to realize that the universe was truly somehow,

Why,

But it was in love with me.

It was a universe that is deeply supporting.

But you choose the universe that you live in.

So my question to you,

And I'm going to leave you with this,

Is when was the last time that you let the universe hold you?

And as a follow up question,

What kind of universe do you want to live in?

So I'm sending you lots of love and I'll speak to you very soon.

Bye!