Retreat to Peace

Embracing Healing: Rina Murta's Journey from Trauma to Empowerment and Self-Love Part 2 Interview

September 29, 2023 Catherine Daniels Season 3 Episode 34
Retreat to Peace
Embracing Healing: Rina Murta's Journey from Trauma to Empowerment and Self-Love Part 2 Interview
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Have you ever pondered the powerful impact a single moment can have on your life? How one event can leave an indelible mark on you, shaping your future in ways you never imagined? This week, we had an enlightening conversation with Rina Murta, who shared her powerful journey from surviving sexual abuse to healing and empowerment. Rina opened up about the hardships she faced and the transformative steps she took towards healing. 

Rina believes in the force of self-care, self-love, and the profound influence of journaling on the healing process. She revealed the surprising connections we all share, regardless of our backgrounds or experiences. We all want the same things in life - love, respect, honesty, and vulnerability. Despite the individual journeys we embark on, we are never alone. There is a shared universal language of emotions that ties us all together. Having faith in the face of fear is daunting, but remember, it's okay to ask for help. 

Finally, we touched on the unique and deeply personal nature of trauma. It's not a competition, but an individual experience that can't be compared to anyone else's. Rina's analogy of a buffalo facing a storm beautifully encapsulates how we can choose to confront our trauma. As we wrapped up the episode, we spoke about the power of hope and the comfort that comes from having someone truly listen to our pain. Join us for this heartfelt discussion and remember, no matter your journey, hope is a beacon we can all hold onto.

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Speaker 1:

Thank you for watching, thank you for being here with me and welcome back. My name is Catherine Daniels and I love to empower people with spiritual healing and bondness. The best thing about retreat to peace is the gift of inner peace, greater love and joy. And during these times of changes and uncertainty in our world, nothing is permanent except our souls, and that is why, as we come together and travel through one another's countries, creating a bridge, I'm removing all the labels and just coming together, finding our home as one people in this one world.

Speaker 1:

Our signature talk today is so important. Today I have the second half of my interview with Rina Murta and for anyone listening with children, please be aware that this is a sensitive topic, as we are talking about the healing and the compassion and empathy of the human process of sexual abuse. So please be mindful of your audience who are listening to this interview. But for those of you, please enjoy the rest of this interview with Rina, as it is a very delicate conversation but a necessary one. And for those of you that are looking for additional tools and ways that you can help yourself in this aspect, please go to retreattopeacecom and you will find additional information there. Thank you, and here is the second half of my conversation with Rina.

Speaker 2:

How you mentioned that your body was experiencing something, but your soul was almost out of your body. I don't know how that happens, I don't know why, but that was what I was feeling too at that time. Just to give it a little bit of context, what I went through was I grew up most of my life in Tokyo. I lived there for a long time and you may know that the trains in Japan are jam packed during rush hour. So I was commuting to school for my junior high in high school, so from 13 to 18. And almost every single day there would be a man putting his hand on my bottom. Sometimes his hand would go under my skirt, sometimes it would go in my underwear, and all I remember is that I froze. I heard my voice wanting to say something to this man, to stop or to ask for help, but I couldn't.

Speaker 2:

And I think what was happening was like you said my soul was outside my body, it was protected, it had to be detached.

Speaker 2:

But it's also so hard to go back into that, you know, for your soul and your spirit to go back to that body, because it's such a horrendous thing and the impact that it had on me.

Speaker 2:

It wasn't one big impact, but it was six years of almost every day Going to school in the morning, coming back in the afternoon, depending on the time, and it just still.

Speaker 2:

It still feels detached. To be honest, catherine, if I can go back a little bit, I think we are hardwired to trying to make sense of what happened and even though the logic is wrong, if someone said something, because our foundation has been rattled, our own sense of value, our rebirth has been rattled, and at that point I think it's gone into the void almost, and whatever information comes in, we try to make sense of it and because if we can make sense out of it, even though it's not right, maybe we feel safe in some way and we kind of run with that for a long time and we didn't set up our boundaries again because that has been violated. We are in a very wrong workplace with a new set of information about ourselves and, yeah, I think it's just the sense of birth part that gets vacuum sucked and, like you said, you know it exposes us to a new something.

Speaker 1:

I feel that that best gift anyone who's experienced this that they can give themselves is be gentle with that part of yourself, Because it really doesn't matter how old you are when it happened or what exactly happened it happened, and recognizing that it happened in the feelings that you have around it. Those feelings are important because they are a part of you and they're true.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and the thing about that piece of it is, oftentimes, when we go through a traumatic experience, it's kind of like when you're going through grief and you're mourning the loss of something or someone you know there is this part of you that is suffering a loss, right, and if you can get within your body and identify where it's sitting and write that out, put it into a journal and just say this is where I'm feeling it in my body and then from there just focus on healing that part of your body and restoring your body and making it whole, because over and over and over they've done studies about this and there is so much healing power that we can do for our own bodies. Where you know we are visualizing healing, I always talk about envisioning light, light just radiating to that center of whatever it is that you're feeling inside your body and just think about the cellular structure and repairing that. And what you're doing with all of that is you're, literally, without maybe even realizing, you're pouring so much love back into yourself. And the more that you pour that love back into yourself, the more you're going to feel your self worth because you're giving yourself that love, and the more that you start to feel yourself worth, the more you're going to recognize I don't have to fill in the blank, I don't have to lower myself to something that's not making me happy anymore. I can actually put that outside my circle and focus on things that do make me happy, whatever that looks like.

Speaker 1:

It's so important to focus on the healing of that, because the more that you can do that, the more you're going to open up your life and manifest exactly what it is that you want and heal from it, instead of just going into avoidance mode and pushing it down and then that part of you that's suffering because it does sit in the body. So that part of you that's suffering, we don't want that to manifest into illness or disease. We really do want to remove it from the body. So the best way to do that is get in tune with it and then release it. And journaling journaling is a powerful, powerful tool getting it out of the body, just removing it from your cellular structure, releasing it. And you know what, if you don't want to ever look at that again, rip out the pages, throw them away, burn them, whatever. At least you're getting it out.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, you touched on a lot of important information just now and you know, being a trauma informed coach, coach myself we want to move forward and have a meaningful and fulfilling life despite trauma. Trauma is not something that would that we eliminate, you know. It's always going to be there, we can't really forget it. But we can move forward despite trauma and we can adjust our life in a better way that is meaningful for us despite trauma. And there are a couple of steps that I also introduced in my, you know, my course is that because we go into relationships and we repatterns and if the sexual trauma part is not healed, there is a massive part of us that is bleeding into the unhealthy relationship patterns. So it is coming back to ourselves, with ourselves and loving ourselves, all the flaws, all the uniqueness, all the light, all the love.

Speaker 2:

But there's a story that is in our head that keeps repeating. You know, is it true? You know the belief. There's a belief that is not true, because you know, you may have heard, you know belief becomes thoughts, you know thoughts become words and you know words becomes actions and action becomes habit and habit becomes your life. So we need to kind of backtrack and I call it unlearning, but you know, unlearning those beliefs, unlearning, keep asking ourselves why. You know, is it true? Is there any judgment around our own thoughts? Because sometimes we feel and end up thinking like, oh, I shouldn't think this way, but does it ring true to you?

Speaker 2:

And there are also parts. Despite trauma, you are here today. There's something within you that was standing really strong. That part is also true. You know, what is the strength? Despite those horrific events happening to you, what remained alive? Because you may not know it, but it was always there with you. What is that? And I'd like to think that those are our core values. You know, and I think that core values are like our spiritual fingerprints. You know, it's like intuitive, it's something that just does not die. It is with you from the moment you're born until you leave this place. There are so many things that we can actually, even logically, use our brain and bring everything together the emotions, our body, the spirituality and our brain, our heart, our guts. You know everything, it has a place and they're all here for you. And using all of that to help you, it really does move you forward in a very healthy way. It will heal, you will see the love and light that you are.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's beautiful how you just put all that out the way that you did, and, as we go through our journey in life, I think one of the things that was very profound for me with my experience was I started to realize I wasn't the only one. I started to realize that there was really an army, an army of people, right, but we don't really talk about it. We don't really hear about it because nobody's really bringing it to the surface. And one of the things that I love about 2020 is it did give us this beautiful platform to put this out and have these conversations, because, with the lockdown, people had to start going into these deeper, you know, pieces of their lives to do this healing work, and I feel like this is one of those pieces, right is addressing some of that.

Speaker 1:

And the other thing that 2020 did is it brought a lot of grief to the surface, and this is an element of grief, right, because this is a part of us, and what we know about grief is grief loves to attach itself to other things, so other things that you've stuffed down, that you didn't grieve, and it just keeps on attaching until something hits and then, all of a sudden, everything's coming to the surface and exploding. And now we have to go through this process of grief. But again, even with grief getting back into our heart space, getting back into that heart center of love, it's. It's okay to have these ebbs and flows, right, because that's what grief is too. So it's okay, even after the show, to feel like you know, that was a little bit hard to listen to, but like it's okay, right, because you are going to resurface again and it will be okay.

Speaker 1:

You know it's just part of the process.

Speaker 2:

And healing is a spiral. It is so. You know it might look big but you know it's not going to be forever like the ebbs and flows and you will have a break. And you know, when you have that break you'll actually be better. And you know, those griefs and a lot of things that surface that feels very uncomfortable are only really parts of you that want to be heard by you and seeing by you with love and compassion.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I've heard that before, that grief wants to be heard and I feel like that's so, so true, because even when you lose a loved one, just having someone hear your pain it's almost like it helps you to rest a little bit easier and feel okay because you're not alone.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, no, I think this is what we talked about last time, and how it ended was you're not alone.

Speaker 1:

Right yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's. We meet a lot of people and there are a lot of things that people don't say and they don't share for various reasons. But it is really interesting that, man or woman, whatever you are, you know we as humans, we share the same emotions. It really connects us, regardless of your background and I find that fascinating regardless of your background or race or culture or age, that we feel and we have words to these emotions that connects us. A loss for so much empathy, so much compassion, even among strangers, I think that's quite profound, you know, for humans to have.

Speaker 1:

It's so true. I mean, we have so many languages around the world, and isn't it funny how you could go to another country and smile at a baby, and the baby knows exactly what you're saying?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, has no boundaries. No, you don't need boundaries for smiles. Yeah, I've learned a lot being with my second husband. I've been with him for four years now and how he's a man, but he's gone through a lot himself in his lifetime. But what we want fundamentally is really the same. It is like connection and understanding, acceptance, love, no feeling safe, respect, being able to be honest and vulnerable. It's like, yes, that sounds like such common sense, but I do find that it is quite true and, you know, I see hope in that, because I come from Japan and he was born in Race and Vancouver and we still have that connection.

Speaker 1:

It's remarkable how, during our journey, we have these people that come into our lives, that are assisting us with our healing process and for some people maybe they're not ready to heal and they've turned people away. But when you know you're ready, you'll find those people and they'll be there to help you and love you and support you. And I feel it's really the single most important thing is to really get yourself into that heart center and love yourself first, because really this work is your work, so it's not like somebody else is going to fix you. You have to do this for yourself. But I know Tony Robbins always says you know things don't happen to you, they happen for you and for some people that could be triggering right, because it's like why you know? Why would somebody say this? But I'll be honest with you.

Speaker 1:

I have done a show for three years where people have taken the worst of the worst and made it the most beautiful thing that they could have never experienced before. You know, it's like there was something. It was. It's almost like turning something inside out and just making it into something very beautiful.

Speaker 2:

Right, I do feel, you know, there is a crossroad of how some people find it difficult to turn their lives around and how some people do turn around, and I think the difference may be if you can see something that is more beautiful at the end of the tunnel on the other side of the bridge, and if you can feel it and if that feels good, you walk towards that direction. And you know, there's no promises really, but I think there's a big part that we need to have faith, that we trust that it will be better that we don't. You know, we don't know what's on the other side, but are we able to believe, you know? Have faith, and is that a big enough and beautiful enough reason to heal?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Having faith through fear is very difficult for anyone, especially when they are in fear because it's all these other stories that they've attached to it. And it's almost like you second guess, right, you second guess whether or not you can face the fear because you have all these things and you have all these feelings. And I go back to what I said earlier.

Speaker 1:

The pivoting point for me was just recognizing that, where I am as an adult and today, knowing what I know, I wouldn't have made those same choices but, I, can also honor and love that piece of me that did have that experience, because that's a younger version of myself and I can't be angry at that younger version of myself.

Speaker 2:

No, what happened? I think there was actually, you know, the logical brain kicked in, and it's really important in trauma being, in trauma, informed. But fear is such a primal thing. The brain reacts to fear a lot faster, while like 0.00014 is faster than our logic kicks in. But being able to recognize that I am an adult, I can ask for help, I will ask for help if I need to is in a way that you know you regulated yourself and because I fear is such a primal thing being able to distinguish, is it happening to me now? Is this fear true? Is it real fear or is it a perceived fear?

Speaker 2:

Those kind of things really, really help to create this opportunity, to create this window of being able to take one breath. You know it is one breath at a time. It's not going to be a miraculous overnight. I think maybe it will for some, but for most it isn't, you know. But it is one step at a time. If you can do it for one second, that's great because you're being able to do something that you weren't before. That is a step forward, no matter how small it is, it is a step forward. It is a step towards healing, it is a step towards feeling safer.

Speaker 1:

The thing that's coming to me, too is I think it's really important to make mention, which we haven't really discussed too much is that sometimes we're in a situation and it may or may not be an intimate situation or with our partner but we may be in a moment where, all of a sudden, our body is triggered and we don't sometimes even know what's going on in our brain, because we're like what just happened? Like I just freaked out and started crying, or my body, you know, got really stiff and tense and I feel like I want to throw up, or my skin feels like it's going to crawl.

Speaker 1:

And I think it's important to make mention because this is part of the residual body response, right, because of that cellular DNA memory that we hold on to with our bodies. And it's really important to make mention because when you're experiencing that again, it's where you have to go into that logic brain and remind yourself where you are in the present, like I'm here right now. I'm not in that past experience and recognizing that this is something that happened to you but it's not happening to you in this moment.

Speaker 2:

Right when you mentioned cellular memory. Is it like generational trauma? Are you also talking about generational trauma that your body or your spirit remembers?

Speaker 1:

I think it can be either or because there is generational trauma, but then there's also the trauma that you go through, and oftentimes I use the example of where were you when you heard about 9, 11. And immediately you can recall I was in this moment doing this with these people. All the details are there. That is trauma, right, it just looks and feels different, but it's still trauma. So when you when you can pull that up that quickly, that fast, that is trauma sitting in the cells of the body.

Speaker 1:

So sometimes, sometimes we can do that, we can recall it, and sometimes we can't, and whatever that may be like just recognizing it and then bringing yourself present, bring yourself back into the present and being awareness of you know, I'm here in this moment, like taking the smells what can you smell, what can you hear, what can you touch? Just getting grounded with the present moment and recognizing that is not like you're getting this reaction, but that's not where you are right now.

Speaker 2:

Right, like trauma is not necessarily an event, but you know it's an impact. It's the impact that had on your nervous system. So you know. That's why we can't really compare other people's trauma to our own. The same thing could happen to two different people and they would have a complete different outcome. You know, I experienced the big northeastern earthquake in Japan in 2011, on March 11. And there are people who are still traumatized, rightfully so and there are also people who had turned their life around and tried to make meaning of their lives, and you know many people went through that same event. So it is an impact on you, but it had a different effect and influence on people. So I think what I want to say is, if you are feeling that trigger and that impact or trauma, or it just comes out of the grill, you don't need to compare that with anyone. You know it is that that's your truth, to recognize what's happening to you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's. So. There's so many facets of this topic that go in all different directions, like you were saying earlier, and I feel that at some point when we could really start to begin our healing process and really start to love ourselves and know that we're safe and we're okay and instead of being angry and turning against ourselves, like really that's where we find that freedom, we find that release, we find that sense of surrender. And getting back to this group of women that I started this healing journey with, it was really astounding to me that we go through six months of this process, and I'm of the mindset that one of my one of my speakers had shared with me this really great analogy, so I'm going to pull that one out right now.

Speaker 1:

But he was talking about how scientists were studying animals and they were trying to figure out how animals react when there's a storm that's coming and there's some animals that will just freeze. They just freeze, they don't know what to do, so they just freeze, or some animals will try to run away from the storm. But what's interesting is they did a study about cows and buffalo, and cows and buffalo are both pretty big creatures and the study showed that when there was a storm coming, the cows would just freeze. They wouldn't go anywhere.

Speaker 1:

If you've ever heard the old wives tale, you know it's going to rain because the cows are laying on the ground. I'm not exactly sure the science behind that, but that's what they said. The buffalo, however, they would actually herd together, they would come together, they would all turn into the storm and they literally would move into the storm as the storm was happening. And if you think about this, the buffalo are actually going through the storm faster because they're facing it head on. So their survival rate was actually higher. You know, it was just really interesting that.

Speaker 1:

I thought to myself wow, I've always been a buffalo.

Speaker 2:

That's really interesting.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I've always been a buffalo. My whole life I've always been a buffalo. So when I've been faced with something, it's like, all right, let's go, because I knew I knew if I moved through it, I'd get through it faster, and then I'd get to the other side.

Speaker 2:

So interesting, you let it pass through. You like, you just wait or you go through it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you go through it yes.

Speaker 2:

And there's no other way. You're going to face it anyways.

Speaker 1:

Right. So it is a choice. It is a choice about what we do with what we're responding to and how we respond. And getting back to this group of women that were in this class, I was floored because, remember, when I said before I started this class I had been going through this whole process of repressed memories surfacing and this divine event happened, where I was invited to be part of this, and it was astounding to me because I'm sitting there and some of these women they did go into prostitution, they did go into self mutilation, self harm. I mean some of the stories that I heard.

Speaker 1:

I was really heartbroken for some of these people because it just showed me a whole nother side, a whole nother level of what their experience was. And the interesting thing about that is for one girl, she must have been in her early 30s, but she had somebody in college one time do something that was similar to what you experienced and it just derailed her in such a massive way. And again, it doesn't matter one time, one time, that's all it takes is one time. It's one too many. It's one too many, exactly, but it's. What do you do with this now? What do you do with it now? Do you let it consume you, do you process and heal from it? What do you do with it? And it is a personal decision.

Speaker 2:

Right, it is, and it is so unfair that it is left to us who experience it. That's the choice now we have to make that. We didn't want to, but we have to. That's very unfair.

Speaker 1:

But then I also look at the opportunity to pour love into ourselves and to learn something new about ourselves, and you so beautifully shared how your life transformed as a result.

Speaker 2:

It did. It really did. I think my self-worth was very low since I was a child because that part there's child emotional abuse. That took place when I was growing up. So my sense of worth was low to begin with and it just ripple affected everything that I did. Boundaries were very low self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-everything no, it all was low. But I think the turning point was when I had kids and my children my older one had house learning differences and whatnot. So I was, I guess, forced to face how do I raise this child authentically without having to make him something that he's not and I accept him and he accepts himself for who he is. So it was easier to do for my children than it was for myself. So because I wanted to show and lead by example. That was when I became a buffalo.

Speaker 2:

Like okay, let's do it. Let's face whatever crap was thrown at me and went through and I'm going to take care of it. So a big portion of it was taken care of. But I'll be honest, you know, like healing is a spiral.

Speaker 2:

I just went through something myself personally, that my sense of boundaries was still in some parts of my life lacking. And you know, going through that I had to go through it logically first, because it shows up in your body and emotions. You know I had a complete breakdown. I cried, I sobbed for a long time and, you know, anger surfaced. That's the funny thing.

Speaker 2:

I had anger issues in a different way, that I couldn't feel angry and I think, for the first time in my life the past two weeks, I felt anger and anger had a message. It was hurt, it was the feeling that I wanted to feel when my boundaries were disrespected, when they were violated. But because I was in that free zone, anger decided to subside and you know, like you were talking about earlier, it took decades for it to resurface again. But we can't keep it suppressed because we're actually missing out on what we can actually feel. You know the good stuff, you know the love and all those good stuff that are in our lives.

Speaker 2:

I was missing out on it. So, yeah, it's definitely uncomfortable to you know, be a buffalo and face it's such a good analogy. You're welcome, face that storm, but again, it's not forever Right and it can be dealt with, you know. That's why there are so many people. If you start looking, there are people who will and can't help you. Maybe they can't help you with everything, but they have their specialties in certain areas. So you know, look for them and they are there for you. Again, no one has to do this alone.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Right, no one wants you. You know like we certainly don't want people to do this alone. They don't have to.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I think, overall, the most important thing you can do is just recognize where you are in this moment and just start to pour into yourself that self love and compassion and grace and just come from your heart, centered space and really recognize that you're not alone and that is an overarching message. I feel like, literally I just feel right now there's so many people hurting on the planet and if you're listening to this message right now, like there's so much love going out to you and you probably can feel that because both myself and Reno are empaths, so we are definitely affected in a lot of times. You know people in this realm of life. We are the sensitive ones, we are the ones that really take those deeper hits.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

But I don't see that as a weakness, I see that as a strength, an incredible strength. So even bravery.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, yes. So if there's anyone listening right now that has been affected by this or know someone, or maybe you know you're raising children and maybe that child just needs to know, they can come to you if this happens to them, because I think often those conversations aren't had the parenting conversations of. If this were to happen to you, please know you can talk to me, and the thing that I wish I always asked this question to my guests if you know, what would you tell your younger self? What I would have told the adults in my life is believe me, believe me and make me feel safe. Help me to feel safe and know that I am okay, I am protected, I am okay. Believe me and then advocate for me, because I wasn't able to do that for my own self.

Speaker 1:

Right, how interesting it is that a little girl that grew up with her grandparents that literally got up in the morning and had breakfast and was shipped outside and came in for lunch and shipped outside and came in for dinner and then went off to bed and, had I used my voice, there would have been repercussions because the people in my life, I was programmed. You're not supposed to speak. You're a child, you are to be silenced, you are just to be seen. You are not supposed to talk, and I find it really amazing that now I'm talking to the world Right.

Speaker 1:

So, but there's so.

Speaker 1:

There's so much, so much that I feel people really need to know and that it's okay, it really is okay, and just give yourself grace or give your child grace or a child that needs you give them grace. And I, later in life, was at a family function and one of my family members came up to me and said to me I'm so sorry that I didn't believe you, I'm so sorry. And I literally thought to myself it's okay, because in that moment, at that time, during that period of time, it was a different time. Right, it's like these things weren't talked about, but the fact that they recognized it, the fact that they could come to me decades later and acknowledge and see me and validate me and say I'm sorry, my goodness, yeah, and not that I needed that, I really didn't need that, but it was just really a milestone moment, right, wow.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think I wish that would happen to all of us and I think, unfortunately, many of us may not have that given to us. But I was kind of thinking as I was listening to you what did I do, or what did I want to become? I think I became the person I wish I had, and that person would make me feel safe, heard, understood, held, you know, loved, like all of those things I wish I had. I think through that journey, this journey I have become and I am becoming more and more of, I think that's quite if I may say so myself, that's quite empowering.

Speaker 1:

It definitely is empowering.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's kind of like you know, when you experience something when you're young and you're like you know what, I don't like that experience. I will never do that again or I will not replicate that in any capacity.

Speaker 2:

Right. So it's similar to that, so it's very empowering it is yeah, it's like I watch my parents do things or you know other people do things and think I would never do that. But it's just a flip side of it, I agree.

Speaker 1:

Is there anything coming to you that you feel like we haven't talked about or you've heard? Maybe is on your heart that we should address?

Speaker 2:

One thing you said when we just started this conversation was bridging and co-creating, and that still speaks quite loud to me, and I think what it is is by healing, like you and I have come together and we are co-creating something together. You know, through our journey, through our healing and I think you know what your listeners that's I feel you know we're on a path of co-creating better, co-creating more love, co-creating with light and like this we're bridging. You know, you and I, we have become a bridge and hopefully, you know, with your listeners, we become a bridge with them and they create even more bridges with others. There's so much hope and possibility and so much beauty in that. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

The most amazing gift that this platform has given is the opportunity to really help one another raise that vibrational energy space. Because when we think about those lower vibrational energies of, think of fear, hatred, you know these lower vibrational energies. They are energy zapping to us right and learning the tools and ways to get out of that state and go into a higher state. And the more that we do that it's really profound, because that higher energy state actually is lifting other people, and the more that we can do that as a collective, it just it radiates, right, it's that rippling effect and it does radiate and it's one of the reasons why I'm always amazed at going through this process and meeting my guests and having these conversations and just having this opportunity to, like you said, build these bridges around the world and help people and help people grow and learn. And, for anyone who's listening, please go on to the Retreat to Peace website and share your testimony how we have helped you or you know something that is on your heart, because it really is a testimony of all of us as humanity.

Speaker 1:

And right now we are in a tremendous world of change.

Speaker 1:

We're in a season of winter and we don't know how long winter is going to last.

Speaker 1:

But the thing that is so, so important is that we are protecting our soul, because our soul is energy and that's why that energy field is so important.

Speaker 1:

So we want to bring it out of those lower vibrational energy states and bring it into the higher vibrational energy states, because our souls are energy and we have to as a world because of this full-on bombardment that we're experiencing, and it's coming from all directions. And if we can do anything, the slightest thing, if there's something that you can take away from listening to the show and share it with someone you love or use it for yourself, I mean there's so much empowerment in that and it's so needed. I mean, as we're speaking right now, the sewer side rates are going up. You know the death and the grief and all of these things, and this is why it's so important that really we lock arms as a humanity to really like literally in my head I can see humans all holding hands around the globe and I feel kind of like that UNICEF logo or whatever with the children, but I feel like that's where we are right now.

Speaker 1:

I do. I feel like this is just. This is just like it has to be done.

Speaker 2:

Right, right, right, yeah, more than ever, yeah, and again, you know, I just feel that we are so connected. I can see that too. Right now I'm closing my eyes, but I can see, I can feel it. And you know, if you're listeners, maybe they feel alone, but you're not. You know, we love you, we love you deeply, deeply.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so much. For some reason, I'm just feeling so much love right now.

Speaker 1:

It's beautiful. It really is, it's beautiful and, as I say, we're two or more gathered right, so, yeah, it's just really beautiful. So I have to thank you so, so much for your courage. I know in our first interview you just briefly touched on this topic and I know, after we had talked, it just made a lot of sense to bring this topic to light and I'm so glad that we did.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for having me again. You know your podcast is organic and I love how it ended on, you know, with love and that, yes, you know we're not like dismissing or minimalizing the pain anyone is going through. You know those are all real, but there is light on the other end. You know there is, there, really is, and I really really hope. You know, if you think for a moment, is there, the answer is yes, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and just like the buffalo going through the storm. I never realized that there was this analogy until recently. But, like, my motto has always been just keep moving, just keep moving, just keep moving, because it was a survival instinct for me to get through whatever it was I was getting through. And I remember being in that closet at three years old with my brother and you know, my mother locks the door, the closet shelf falls on top of our head and I just remember looking at the bottom of the closet door and the floor and seeing that light and I knew how important that light was and I knew it was extremely important, right, and that's something that has always stayed with me.

Speaker 1:

It's like always go to the light, always keep moving towards the light because it is there. It's like it's like, you know, you have to go through a storm to see the rainbow and get to the other side where the sun is shining again, and sometimes it takes a little bit longer than other times, but you have to keep going. Yes, you just have to keep going, you have to.

Speaker 2:

You have to. Yes, and it will be okay. It will be just. You know one more step, one breath at a time. You know one breath at a time, one step at a time, and that's praiseworthy. Right, and look at that step. You kept breathing, you know you did it, You're doing it, and maybe look up to the sky. It's there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I do that all the time. Look up to the sky and people that are close to me they laugh at me because I'll notice all the birds and they'll always be surprised, like how does she do that? And I think, well, it's because I'm, you know, constantly looking up to where the light is. And it's, you know, it's just really amazing when you can be in awareness that we are surrounded by love and light. We are surrounded by so much beauty and we're all divinely protected and no matter what your belief system is, universally everyone believes that same thing.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and we are divinely connected.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes.

Speaker 2:

If you can think, then yes, we're connected.

Speaker 1:

Yes, absolutely, you know. Thank you so so much. Thank you for having me and, as you know, at the end of this show I ask if I were to pick up your earth angel feather off the ground, what would your message to the world be in this moment?

Speaker 2:

Keep believing and guess there is hope. If you're thinking is there hope? That's enough, it's telling you there is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's so important to remember is that there's always hope. There's always hope. You just have to find it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you don't have to do it at all.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, exactly. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you again and for all of my listeners, this is Catherine Daniels, with Retreat to Peace, reminding you to live your authentic life in peace. And, as always, retreat to Peace and we'll see you next time.

Speaker 2:

You.

Healing and Empowerment After Trauma
Healing Power of Connection and Faith
Healing Trauma, Reflecting on Personal Experiences
Importance of Self-Love and Healing
Finding Hope and Authenticity