Return to Radiance with Danielle Venables
Underneath the layers of conditioning and societal expectations lies your true soul spark, begging to be set free. In this podcast, you'll find a mix of candid conversations, interviews and solo episodes designed to awaken and ignite the burning passion within you. This show is recorded with spiritual entrepreneurs, leaders and healers in mind as we cross through highly turbulent and challenging times and anchor in the new earth frequencies. This is a movement, and your call to rise up, own your soul purpose and embody the sovereignty and freedom that the world needs right now. Hosted by Danielle Venables.
Return to Radiance with Danielle Venables
083. Embodying Your True Self: A Journey from Healer to Leader with Demi Lee
Can the key to personal and professional fulfillment lie in embodying our true selves? Join us as we sit down with Demi, an inspiring women's mentor in business, who unveils her remarkable transformation from a local healer to a leading figure in the online coaching arena. We explore the magnetic power of radiance and the delicate balance between masculine and feminine energies, revealing how trusting oneself and one's spirit is vital for authentic growth. Demi's journey, filled with trials and triumphs, offers profound insights into navigating the allure of external success metrics while staying grounded in inner trust.
Sensitive, intuitive, and open-hearted individuals often face isolation when chasing ideals of limitless wealth and abundance. Together with Demi, we unravel the pain of disconnection and the shame that can arise when personal integrity seems compromised within coaching and spiritual communities. This conversation emphasizes the significance of humility and self-reconciliation, demonstrating that true leadership is about acknowledging mistakes and rebuilding trust, both with others and oneself. Our businesses act as mirrors, reflecting our growth and challenges, encouraging us to live genuinely and find authority rooted in human experiences, not manufactured personas.
Corporate control versus personal freedom, particularly in social media expression, is a tension many of us face. Reflecting on an incident of corporate reprimand over a social media post, we draw parallels to the limitations imposed by conventional marketing narratives. Demi and I underscore the importance of authentic self-expression, the detrimental effects of diluting one’s message, and the power of mentorship that champions individual normalcy. This episode encourages embracing a soulful, pain-free mindset that transforms not just business but life itself, promoting a return to simplicity, authenticity, and joyful giving without expectations.
Connect with Demi
https://www.demijacobs.com/
https://www.facebook.com/demi.lilly.3
https://www.instagram.com/ascensioncoachdemi/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/737185106987768
More from Danielle at https://daniellevenables.com/
Click here to get on the waitlist for my upcoming Oracle Deck.
Connect with Danielle
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Welcome to Return to Radiance, the podcast with one core purpose to remind you of your innate power and essence. I'm your host, danielle Venables, an Akashic guide and soul coach, here to activate, heal and empower the new wave of soulful CEOs to become radically aligned and unapologetic. In these episodes, we will be diving into all things mystic, soul level transformation, the new paradigm of leadership, business, energetics, awakening, healing and more, as well as holding potent conversations around connecting deeply to your personal power and owning your truth. If you are here for it all, be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. While I'm confident the discussions in this podcast have the power to change your life, these episodes are for information only and are in no way a substitute for individual medical, legal or mental health advice.
Speaker 2:So welcome to the Return to Radiance podcast. I'm so excited to have you here podcast. I'm so excited to have you here, especially being my first guest in at least a year and a half, so I know this one will be good because it's been a long time coming. We've been talking about having you on here for probably almost a year at this point. So why don't you start by just introducing yourself a little bit about what you do, what you're about, and we'll go from there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my name is Demi and I am a women's mentor in business. I love working with women at the soul level and just bringing through that deeper expression of self and really connecting into that divine experience that we all hold. One of the things I've always loved about the name of this podcast is that aspect of radiance, because I feel like when we really tune into radiance we become that magnetic attractor that attracts just the beautiful things in life and allows us to experience life more fully. And it becomes less about the milestones that we reach and more about just the embodiment that we hold and which essentially allows us to magnetize those greater experiences into life. So it's a little bit about working from the inner realms out rather than the outside in and, yeah, just allowing that transformation and alchemy to occur in its own natural, organic way.
Speaker 2:I love that and a little bit of backstory for anybody who is tuning in maybe doesn't know you, maybe doesn't know me, who knows? Um, demi and I have been connected for a few years now. Um, we worked together. I stepped into her one-on-one she's gotten readings from me. It's been like a very like reciprocal uh, non-hierarchical is that a word anyway relationship between the two of us. And one thing that's been really cool about our relationship is we have had the opportunity to witness one another in very different like facets of the journey.
Speaker 2:You know like I watched you when, when we first connected, I watched you in that magnetic power that you're talking about, in that embodiment, and then also, with both of us being high achievers, I was very much in sort of my hustle era when we met and then, as we worked together, I started to kind of soften, and that was a point in time.
Speaker 2:And as we worked together, I started to kind of soften and that was a point in time where you were really focused on business, growth and expansion and a lot of the stuff that the industry kind of dangles in front of us, as this is how you are successful, this is how you almost deem yourself worthy in the industry.
Speaker 2:Not saying that that was necessarily the experience that you had, but as a general theme, like I think a lot of us are like, okay, if we want to work with women in business, we need to be a certain way, we need to earn a certain amount, we need to whatever in order for our gifts to have value. And so we've kind of witnessed each other ebb and flow into the masculine, into the feminine, back to ourselves, losing ourselves, finding ourselves again and it's a really fun not fun when you're in it, but really fun thing to kind of look back on as an experience, which I'm bringing this up because it's kind of a culmination of why why here, why now, for this episode to happen. So I was wondering if you'd be open on just sharing a little bit about your side of the experience with that and what ultimately led you to the path that you're on now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd love to, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to fully vocalize this, because it's something that I've shared, like in content and little pieces, but, really, being where I'm at right now, I'm able to see everything with a clear 2020 vision of just what it has looked like and really what it has offered. The nuggets to receive from that and to sum it up, before I get into the long story of it is realizing that a lot of times, there's nothing that we're doing wrong to begin with and that if we can just be in that trust with ourself and our trust with spirit, everything will be fine. It's those, you know, those shiny objects and it's those ideas of feeling like we need to be more that can lead us through these paths of really initiation is what it is, and I'm grateful for all of the initiation and all of the experience. But really, if you're just tuning in or if, like, if you're wondering like you're doing and you've said this, danielle you're doing tuning in, or if, like, if you're wondering like you're doing and you've said this, danielle, you're doing a lot more right than you are wrong, and it's important to know that and remember that. So I stepped into the online coaching industry about August of 2021.
Speaker 3:And up to that time, I had been in business as, like a local healer. People had gotten to know me working with trauma, working with the body, somatic work, reiki trainings and I had grown a really great business for myself in the local community. I found the online coaching industry and began to see women doing the work that I was doing and making millions of dollars doing it. And, of course, we see that and it's like, oh, I want that, like I know the depth of my work, I know that that's possible for me. I'm going after it. Show me how. And especially when you're green in the industry, it's like you see people making this level of money and you have to believe that. You start to believe that they have an answer that you don't. And so it starts with the way that I'm marketing my business and the way that I need to talk about it and what content is appropriate, what content isn't.
Speaker 3:And I went through kind of that whole little thing and there was a lot of value that I took from that, of course, in terms of marketing, but what I found was that some of those structures just kind of made me feel icky, made me feel like I was watering down the magic, and you know, there was a lot of that internal back and forth of okay, this is what the person is telling me works, versus like this is what my soul is screaming for, and it's really easy, especially when we're investing in high ticket mentors. Of course we want to be coachable, of course we want to receive what they are saying, but being able to remain in that level of sovereignty with boundaries and I'll just kind of say it plain that there are also some people in the industry who are, you know, in these quote unquote, like higher levels of business, who become really demanding and they become really, I'll just say, egotistical around the fact that we aren't listening or we're not taking suggestions or different things like that. So it can bring forward some of that wounding even and make us think, okay, well, there's something wrong with me or there's something wrong with what I'm doing. And that was some of my experience and my business really did take off whenever I came online. I brought in that glorified six figures within six months of being in the coaching industry and it was really a beautiful time. There was a lot flowing and when Danielle and I met, it was right.
Speaker 3:At that turning point where my business was starting to take off, I had invested, again at an edge, with a mentor who I did really like. I enjoyed her, and there were parts through that mentorship that I could see myself just little by little beginning to lose my power. And you know, I was in that space of 10K recurring income, hitting between 15 and 30 a month some months, and it was like more, more, more, because I am that high achiever as much as I am that soft soul, and so, of course, that next step is the 100K months, and once I was shown or told what needed to happen in order to hit that and how to structure my business and what leadership was supposed to look like and the boundaries that were supposed to be, what ended up happening is that I really lost a lot of the zest that I had for business and it was no longer about creating to create or leaning in to help people in the ways that I really love to help people, and the depth of being in that really beautiful soul space with them. It became about the structures and the systems and all of these different things that they say it takes to hit this mile marker, and my audience felt that. I really believe that my audience felt that from me.
Speaker 3:I felt a huge dip in my audience and the connection that I had with people and I went into a little bit of a hermit mode and have just been slowly coming back out of that here and there through, I would say, even the last year and a half of investing in other mentorship, finding my leadership style and really, just at this point, returning back to who I was before. I ever invested in mentorship and there's a lot of value in what I have learned. There's a lot of things that I still believe in and I don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Of course there are pieces of that, but this stage is about unraveling all of the shoulds and really stepping back into exactly what I teach and what I help my clients with and allowing the soul to be expressed through me, because there's this level of radiance and magnetism that comes through when we allow ourselves just to be in that space and it's proven itself time and time again.
Speaker 3:The last three to four months I haven't been marketing business very much, but I've consistently had old clients coming back into my space. I've consistently had, you know, referrals coming in and just these different things dropping in that are proving to me it's like these little spirit nuggets of like. This is the way and the more we can drop into this and the more we can hold this embodiment, the more you're going to be blessed in return and I get to feel more peaceful along the way, which is beautiful. So that's my little feel there for a minute. So that's my little spiel there for a minute.
Speaker 2:That's the backstory, yeah, and I think you touched on something really important there that you know, when you made that shift, when you felt that shift, you felt your audience kind of drop off. You felt the engagement and especially the connection drop off right, because it's not just about engagement, especially the connection drop off right, because it's not just about engagement. You know, I look at engagement as you know connection but the word engagement has a little bit of a connotation to it that's more vain, but it's that connection that fell off where there was a disconnect between you and the people in your community. And that is something that I think I mean, I know I can relate to it, I feel like a lot of people in my circle can relate to it too where it's like we hit this point of striving to hit that next thing and in the process we lose a little bit of that humanity, and that's really I know we're very similar in that way where it's like that's sort of a non negotiable, that's when business stops being fun and starts being like heavy and hard, is when we lose that feeling of connection because we're so focused on you.
Speaker 2:You know, hitting that next level, hitting that next edge, moving forward in that way that we kind of disconnect from the root system of not only our our businesses and what fuels our businesses, but also the root system of why we started to begin with, which is that interconnectedness.
Speaker 2:And when we we're, you know, sensitive, intuitive, open hearted people, that separation and the isolation that that creates can be so excruciating, like, honestly, it can be so painful. So I'm glad that you brought that piece through, because so I'm glad that you brought that piece through, because it's so easy to look at this glorified idealism of limitless wealth, limitless abundance and people saying let me show you how, pay me and I'll show you how. And fundamentally, I think everybody in my life, in my circle that's done that has had that same sort of come to Jesus moment of like this isn't what I thought it would be and this isn't how I want it to be. And now showing up feels hard and I feel like isolating and that's not like a normal thing for people who thrive in that deep, like heart, centered connection.
Speaker 3:Yeah, isolating is definitely a big thing because when you get that deep connection with people, there's this layer of shame that comes through of like I've let them down or now there's this part of me that they've seen and are they going to be able to trust me again in believing that I really am that heart centered person.
Speaker 3:And it's interesting how sovereign women can slowly give their power away and then you know, to come back to that and to self correct, so to speak. It is truly a journey in itself because there's a lot of shame that comes through with that. Truly a journey in itself because there's a lot of shame that comes through with that. There's a lot of rekindling fires there. You know. There's a lot of just showing up in spaces and saying, hey, like you know, I, this is not who I really am, I lost myself for a minute and just allowing ourselves to step back into that space. There's humility that comes with it and I think that a lot of people that I've seen kind of fall off in the coaching industry or in the spiritual communities. It's like it's because they haven't been able to move through that shame.
Speaker 2:piece of it's okay, like there's many of us who've been through that and who have lost themselves in the sauce, so to speak oh yeah, and it's so funny because, before you even started talking there, what came through for me was like and it's nothing to be ashamed about, it's nothing to beat yourself up about, and I think that's the thing you know. In the Oracle deck that I wrote that's coming out next year, one of the cards is innocence, and the card, essentially, is talking about knowing your own heart, knowing your own intentions, and it doesn't always mean that every action that you take is right. And you know there's a fine line between holding yourself to a standard and embodying, you know, integrity and authenticity and those kinds of themes, while also acknowledging that you're human and you is. There's always the opportunity to step off the path and then to find yourself again, and with each of those you use the word initiation. That's exactly what it is. It's initiating yourself deeper into who am I really, what do I really stand for, uncovering new layers of you, uncovering places where your unconscious came online and was like I have to do this in order to feel XYZ or in order to be XYZ.
Speaker 2:And it's about finding yourself again.
Speaker 2:It's coming back to yourself again and those corrective actions that actually heal not only yourself but the collective, because we live in a world where there are highlight reels everywhere.
Speaker 2:People do not want to show imperfection. Even the vulnerability that people show is like a lot of it can feel very manufactured, very like, framed a certain way or only talked about a certain way. And so to actually be a human and actually be witnessed as a human, without trying to establish authority, without trying to, you know, step back up onto the soapbox and be like this is what we believe now like, and just literally coming into that place of humility and moving forward and picking up the pieces and rekindling, you know, maybe, relationships that have fizzled out, or you know, trust between you and your community, things like that, that kind of got caught in the crossfire of life, of the human experience. That's, to me, where real leadership lies. It's not about not making a mistake, it's about being able to reconcile with that after the fact and really redeeming yourself in this lifetime in business, in the online world, in the spiritual community.
Speaker 3:It's like, from this perspective, it is just initiation after initiation and it's seeing how these businesses and how these experiences, like you said, do invite us into that deeper soul growth. And you know, depending on who you're talked to, it's like your business shouldn't be that, because it's, but it's like now and I fully believe our business has its own energy, it has its own experience that speaks through us and with that it's also tied at the karmic level to help us to heal. It's a relationship just like any other and just like any relationship that we have in the physical world as that mirror back to us. It's exactly what the business is here for too. It's here to be a mirror back to you and to help you go deeper into the process of finding your radiance, claiming your power, and some of the most powerful leaders I know do have humility. They do have the ability to live life, and the word that sticks out to me that you said when you were talking is like this manufactured experience or feeling like we need to spin it into something that shows our authority, or there's authority in just living. Whenever you truly just live from the heart, there's a level of authority that cannot be re-imagined, that cannot be manufactured. It simply is this beingness that's there. And you know, when we can look at it from that outside perspective which typically comes after the fact, not while we're moving through it, it really gives us just a different level of insight of who we are, what we're capable of.
Speaker 3:And even through these last, I would say the last year and a half for me has been a little more of that deeper initiation. And it's hard going through that, it's isolating, it's, you know. But sitting here now I can sit here with a smile on my face just to see myself kind of whirling around and trying to figure everything out and trying to piece everything together, and it's like being so grateful for that woman that I was, who moved through that, who was willing to take risks, who was willing to show up, who was willing to be humble, who was willing to isolate for a little for my community and be that leader which even that word in these moments kind of gives me the ick in some ways, because it's like I I believe that there is no hierarchy. I believe that we all are just inspiration and mirrors for one another. Yet in a, in a level of business. Yes, we want to hold that compassionate leadership, but it's allowed me to be more of that for people as I'm stepping back into business world.
Speaker 2:I love that and I think, yeah, leadership gets a bit of a bad rap too, and it kind of depends on who you subscribe to in terms of the way that your relationship with the word will come through. But I think we're in a stage of needing leadership and needing different leadership. Right Like we're in a phase for humanity where we have been worshiping false idols, we have been following the path of leaders who were not, you know, serving the collective, both, you know, on a political, governmental, like global level, as well as within the coaching industry, as you know, and just kind of everywhere. Right Like, there's little pockets of that everywhere in the collective consciousness right now, and we're really in a phase where we're needing and craving new paradigm leaders. We're needing people to lead differently, and I think that's where you and I, you know, we had coffee yesterday, we connected and that's really where we're both feeling.
Speaker 2:Drawn is to this, this idea that what if leadership didn't mean having to strive? What if leadership didn't mean, you know, having to create that authority? What if leadership was simply this is how I'm going to live my life, this is what feels in alignment to me, this is what gives me that sense of peace and harmony within myself and then like letting that be good enough, letting that lead, and to me that's the soul level leadership. Right? It's when you take the ego out of it. It's like I don't have to prove myself, I don't have to make a certain income, I don't have to make a certain impression on people or give them the idea that I'm more perfect than I am Like.
Speaker 2:To me, new paradigm leadership is self-regulated, it's self-connection and really leading from the soul and allowing whatever byproducts of that to manifest into your life. And it's not to say like you're not going to have goals. I think we're all going to have goals. I think that keeps us on the right trajectory. But it's leading with a vision of what do I want humanity to look like? What do I want life for my kids to look like? What do I want? You know, if I found out that my kid was leading the charge in something, how would I want them to show up? And when we look at it through that lens, as opposed to, how do I establish myself as a leader of an industry? Those energies are so vastly different and the hope for me anyway, as a visionary, is that we're starting to move towards that new paradigm leadership.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you've done such a beautiful job with that too through the last six months and since having your son and just really anchoring into that. And I've noticed that with you there's just this different level of like, softness and beingness in your life and in your business, where it's like I'm just going to share and show and live the experience of my vision, not necessarily need to push it on other people, or it's like this soft invitation that you've created into the lifestyle that you live. That that is leadership. That is, you know, and it's still giving people the room to have their own experience and to create their own level of leadership, self-leadership.
Speaker 3:And I think that that's one of the things that both of us really stand for is it's like I'm not trying to sway you to live the way that I live and do everything the way that I do, but here are some things that really add to my life and I'd love to just invite you into what that looks like and then help that cult, help cultivate what that then looks like in your world.
Speaker 3:And you know, it is really interesting. My eyes are kind of opening now that my son's going into kindergarten. I walked into his public school and I'm looking around and I'm just like there's part of me that is super cringy at like even thinking about putting him into some kind of systemic experience. And then there's the other part of me that's like I haven't quite tipped the scales yet to be able to, you know, and as a society we haven't quite tipped the scales yet to be able to have a little more free choice. But that is the work that you and I and so many other women are out here doing right now, where it's like it's not just about the right now, it's not about the 10K month or the you know million dollar a year.
Speaker 2:It's about, little by little, creating this vision for the future so that our kids can grow up and experience life in a different way this might be controversial, because I know anyone who's spiritual or homesteady or really any part of any of the sort of niches that I fall into in the online world generally are, you know, homeschooling or unschooling advocates of some sort, but I honestly believe that a little dose of what the world is now is good for the kids. You know I have some pretty cool conversations. My son's 10 now. He's been in daycare his whole life and then in school like public school his whole life, and it's one of those things where he has some pretty unique perspectives and he'll come home. You know, if his one of his teachers said something or something just doesn't feel quite right to him, he'll come home and he'll come home. You know, if his one of his teachers says something or something just doesn't feel quite right to him, he'll come home and he'll be like you know, what do you think about that? And they'll open a dialogue and I'll be like well, you know, everything's not always as it seems and blah, blah, blah, like he's just he's so discerning that way and so it's really cool because he's getting exposed to alternative thoughts.
Speaker 2:I'm not just sheltering him with what, what I believe, or with what my husband and I believe, but instead it's I'm letting him go out into the world and hear other opinions, hear other uh perspectives and versions of truth, um in the world, and then he's learning that skill of discernment of well, do I really believe that? Is that really true for me? And it took a while to get there, like probably just the last couple years of his life where he's really become almost critical of the system. But at the same time it's cool to witness because I'm not forcing that on him he's coming to his own conclusions and saying I don't really agree with that, and I think that's really what kind of creates the next generation of leaders too. It's not existing completely out of the system and pretending it doesn't exist at all, but it's also not buying in fully to the system. It's having that awareness and then what the future generations do with that is really in their hands is really in their hands.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's. I love that share in it. Actually, uh, there was a thought that came to me when we were talking just about the experience of, you know, stepping into certain leadership inside of the industry and what that looks like and, um, you know it, bringing us back to our own regulation. I know that I needed that experience and I believe that it was one of the things that has helped me then understand what type of leader I want to be, and I think that a lot of us needed to see.
Speaker 3:I'm very much a shadowy polarity, like.
Speaker 3:I believe in that we need to see all sides of it, and it gives us the opportunity to understand okay, maybe these, these people are, these women have taken this to a level that I don't want to go to, and it helps me understand what I really do stand for and what we stand for, and it brings that discerning quality to it where it's like, perhaps, you know, without that experience and that self-correcting, I very much could have become egoic again, stepping into business from an aspect that I truly didn't want, and you know, thankfully that didn't happen for me, but yeah, it just reminded me of that kind of thought that I had.
Speaker 3:That it's like, even though it was a difficult experience, it's still a needed experience, and not to say that school's a difficult experience, but you know it's a more systemic and that's kind of the way that I see some of the ways that business is done in the coaching industry. It's like I quit my nine to five four years ago because I didn't want to work deep in that structure. There are pieces of that structure that are helpful, that are needed, that you know hold the foundation of what is being created. But it's also just a replay of that and that's not something that I feel my most magnetic state, just a replay of that and that's not something that I feel my most magnetic state.
Speaker 2:That actually is so funny. That reminded me of when I was in corporate um, at one point I had said something on social media and it somehow got back to the HR department of my company and they called me into the office. It had nothing to do with them, it had nothing to do with my work. I didn't even have them listed as my employer on my Facebook profile and I got called in to speak with the bosses and basically said like you can't say stuff like that, you can't do stuff like that. And I got written up for it and it kind of at the time I was just like what the fuck? Like you can't tell me what to do in my spare time, you don't own me.
Speaker 2:But at the same time I'm now seeing, with that share, I'm seeing the ways in which traditional business coaching, marketing coaching the generally accepted and practiced narratives of the industry are almost creating that same sense. Not that you're specifically getting called into someone's office and being like you're doing this wrong, but there's almost that same underlying feeling of either you can't tell me what to do, depending on the day, or did I do something wrong and, oh my gosh, I need to fix it or I need to watch my steps or I need to watch what I say, and that then shuts down expression. Well, freedom of expression, I don't know about you, but for me that's like one of my core. I mean, freedom in general is one of my core values. And so then, all of a sudden, we're bound by these arbitrary, like red tape, zones of you can't do this. If you want to sell, you can't do this. If you want to sell, you can't do this if you want to be successful in business.
Speaker 2:And it's like, oh, did I say the wrong thing? So then you water it down and then you know it's not hitting the same because you're watering it down, or you're trying to beat around the bush or dance around a subject because you don't want to say it. Um, or the things that you do say. You know, on the other side of that there's oh be, polarizing. You know it drives engagement, it calls in people who are aligned, and blah, blah, blah. And often when I see these polarizing posts, they're coming from a very like wounded place, right like it's not, it's still not authentic expression. It's like this weird distorted version of expression that you know gets a rise out of people but doesn't actually accomplish anything either, cause people still aren't getting to know your soul, like it's very much from this, like weird kind of gripping, just strange energy that I can't quite pinpoint.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's a lot of projection too, like just a lot of projection.
Speaker 3:And, you know, depending on our lens and depending on, yeah, just where we're at, it's like, of course, different people can take those things different ways, but it is very much like the masquerade in a lot of ways and it's not that authentic expression.
Speaker 3:And so then you see people showing up in authentic expression and sometimes it can create even that disconnect where it's like okay, are they doing this just for show and attention? Is this authentic expression? Like it is hard to discern, and it is also one of the things that I'm really working on right now is that breaking down all of that red tape. Breaking down all of that red tape and, you know, coming back to this, knowing that as long as, like you said, I'm living from the heart, I know that people can see my heart, then I am doing everything right, because that is the most important thing at this level of leadership. And I remember one of the first like profile scans or whatever that I got when I stepped into the coach online world and somebody was like I don't even know what you're selling, and I was like I am the product you know, is kind of like, because it wasn't all like spelled out exactly.
Speaker 3:you know what you get, who it's for and these different things, and my business was thriving at that time.
Speaker 3:It was thriving, but there was something about just that little 30-second voice note that I got that was like I don't even know what you're selling. That then all of a sudden sends us into this tailspin of needing to put ourselves in this box. And it's been proven to me time and time again that when I just show up from that authentic space, that people are attracted to it. And at the same time there are people out there who their most authentic state is to be more from that structured sense. And if it is, that's completely fine, there's nothing wrong with that. Let that be who you are and live in that fully, claim it, own it, be it, do it. And if it's not, then find that way. For me it's like storytelling, inspiration. You know these different ways, but it's about finding that way that just works for you and run with it, amplify it like, do more of it, be in it and allow yourself to own it fully, because that is what essentially is going to attract to you, what it is that you're ready to receive.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's so funny Cause, as you were like sharing that with you know, obviously, leading up to my home birth with my son, I did a lot of not a lot of research. I did enough research, I did sufficient research and was kind of immersed in like different, like Facebook communities and things like that relating to home birth and free birth specifically. And one of the terms that we often hear in the birth world is variations of normal, and the medical system's very limited scope on what normal should be is like very like textbook whatever. And once you get into home birth, free birth, physiological birth, letting birth happen there are a lot of variations of normal that aren't cause for concern but are just a variation, and it can vary drastically from days in labor to hours in labor.
Speaker 2:It can vary from, you know, breech birth to whatever, right, like there's so many things that can be normal that in the system they like to kind of demonize, they like to say, oh, you know, that's, that's a problem that we need to fix and we need to save you from, and so with that, I'm just like envisioning like this world where, like in business, we can all just be variations of normal instead of having to fit the textbook.
Speaker 2:It's like let's just be variations of normal, where you do it your way, I do it my way. If we're all connected to our own inner authority, then that's a variation of normal and that's perfectly fine. Then that's a variation of normal and that's perfectly fine, and we don't need to fix and diagnose and interfere and, you know, analyze things, just because it's a variation of normal, you know. So I was kind of like laughing to myself as you were saying that, because that's what came through and I'm like, huh, yeah, okay, that's true in every area through and I'm like huh, yeah, okay, that's true in every area, yeah, it is, and there's.
Speaker 3:You know, I believe in the value of mentorship when that mentorship allows space for that person to find their own variation of normal. You know, and that is the level of leadership I know both of us are really like standing for and bringing forward is helping people find that. And right now in the industry I'm seeing a lot of investment fatigue. I'm seeing a lot of just needing to take a minute to breathe, and this is where this soul level leadership I feel like is hitting that tipping point of inviting people in who are just kind of tired and just want to come home to themselves and have lost themselves through the process. And there are so many magical people and watching you through your process with having your son and going through the home birth and what that is now developing into. And you know just that like return to softness and invitation, and people are looking for that. And I think that that's one of the things that you reflect really well is this knowing of who you are and what you bring to the table, without needing to bring that word again, manufacture it in any way. It's just living the simplicity of the magic that we hold, and I think that that's the other thing that it's like there's so much out there about, you know and I love cellular activation, I love playing an energy, I love doing all of those things Right but it's like this constant push to ascend and, um, you know, create ritual and these different things has become show versus that deep devotion to the past, and I think that that's really what people are like. When I lean into my community and my audience, I feel like that's what people are just craving right now, that depth of devotion that many once had. And then, you know, the lights and the shiny objects and all the things kind of pull us away from that. So, yeah, just a little tangent to go off on there. But returning home is like when I really thought this would be the end of the year. What is this year? It's just a beautiful week for myself that I'm really excited to be a part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, and it's funny because yesterday on our coffee chat, we decided that we were going to do this 40 day prosperity plan together and just kind of hold each other accountable and just play with this idea of you know, god is the source. And when I was reading the web page that you sent me about it, um, one of the things that the author of the page said was like you know, if you want to amplify this, like, think about giving right, think about giving, but not giving from a place of give to receive, but rather giving just for the pure joy and delight of giving. And I feel like he he says in the page I think it's a he um says in the page like, if you give to receive, nobody benefits, like not even the recipient. And I thought that that was like really interesting because I think a part of me knew that fundamentally. But I feel like it's the same kind of theme as everything that we're talking about here.
Speaker 2:When it comes to a means to an end. It's like when you're showing up, when you're taking action, when you're speaking, when you're connecting with people, when you're being vulnerable, is it a means to an end or are you doing it for the joy and delight of doing it and the frequency of that can obviously be felt. It's very different and for those of us who have been burned in the past and have cultivated a very good sense of discernment at this point you know we've gone through it and you know anyone listening like I see you but you know it's versus just that giving and sharing and again leading from a place of like this is just who I am. This is just my experience, and I'm not telling you this to get you to buy from me. I'm not telling you this to get you to like me or share me with your friends or anything like that. I'm not doing it for the followers, I'm not doing it for the metrics, I'm not doing it for the algorithm, I'm just doing it from a space of. This is who I am, this is my expression and the amount of peace that we can feel. Even as I'm saying that, I just feel like this, like exhale. I just feel this heart opening type of feeling, because that's what, that's what really feels. Good is just.
Speaker 2:Whatever you do in your life, in your business, with your kids, whatever you prioritize in your life with your kids, whatever you prioritize in your life doing those things from that place of joy and delight as opposed to well. I think this is going like I could easily have looked at and maybe a past version of myself actually would have looked at this 40 day prosperity plan from a place of, oh, I'm going to do the thing to get the money. You know it's like, oh, that's a means to an end, that's a thing to do. But I I've hit this place now in my own life where I'm just like if it yields something, great. If it doesn't, I'm gonna trust the process, I'm gonna trust the journey, I'm gonna like lean in and just feel motivation that comes from my devotion to this thing that we're doing together, um, and just let it unfold.
Speaker 2:And if more money is a byproduct of that, fantastic. If more peace is a byproduct of that, even better. Ideally both. But like, yeah, it's just, it's that means to an end, stuff that I think, yes, we have real needs that need to be met, especially, especially in the financial realms. But at the same time, rooting back into just doing things without having the handout waiting for to receive, on the other end, is is powerful.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, and and bringing us back to that just space of trust and that, um, I love aspects of new age spirituality, but the more that I've kind of moved through that experience as well, coming back to the fundamentals of like, when I first learned about mindfulness and beginner's mind and presence and the power of now and, you know, just letting the simplicity come back into form, has been really transformational. So, yeah, it's that grip, I think, is what a lot of us, myself included what is what took away from the ability to really connect with what wanted to come through in certain aspects of life? But, again, one of those things that needed to be moved through and learned in order to then come back to this place of softness and know that this is the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and also knowing that it needed to be moved through and that might not be the last time that we encounter it. You know this whole concept of a spiral and our journey and having to like rehash and revisit, and you know, I'm sure there will be spaces. We're here talking and integrating this right now, in this moment, at this current, like you know, quote unquote level that we're at but at the same time, we're not sitting here like oh yeah, we've moved through this, now we're at, but at the same time, we're not sitting here like oh yeah, we've moved through this, now we're done, like no, not at all.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's that's the choice of the evolving woman. You know an evolving person and that's something that I talk to my clients about all the time. Like, at any point you can choose to tap out at some level. You know, and yes, we'll still learn lessons and these different things but the fact that we have chosen the path of evolution, we've chosen the path of consciousness, of becoming a visionary, that does mean that there are deeper levels of initiation that meet us and you can either look at that from a space of joy and curiosity or you can look at it from a space of despair and demise, like the choice is yours and you get to create your reality with that yeah well, and you know, part of me is like yes, yes, 100%, and I do think that those of us who say yes to the deeper calling, we face probably more layers, for sure of the initiations and at the same time, it's not like you can just choose to shut it off and walk away, not at this point.
Speaker 2:Well, forever, not because well or ever, like how many people have you know been handed like trial after trial after trial, until they finally awaken? Like it's one of those things where, especially like working in the akashic records, working with the soul, I'm just like there's an element of your soul that wants to come through and it will keep nudging you and there's a part of, like a greater plan that is at play and it's going to keep coming back. And first it's going to be the gentle nudges and it's going to be the oh, the gentle whispers of come this way and try this out. And what if you thought this way and you know what could this experience teach you? And then it often escalates to be louder and more disruptive.
Speaker 2:And that phenomenon, whether you are into astrology, whether you are into the akashic records, whether you just know this to be true about life, because it seems to be the pattern um, there's always going to be things that beckon you back onto your path. And so, even if you're just like, well, I'm just never gonna awaken, then which, if you're here, you've already awakened like it's not, it's not an option, but even if someone's like I'm just gonna stick my head in the sand and like survive this? Um, there's still gonna be things that are designed to crack you open. That's like, by design, the human. Some of these things were decided on way before you came into human form, and so the best thing that we can do is just navigate them with as much grace and self compassion and community and support as we need to ideally thrive through even the unthrivable ideally thrive through even the unfrivable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is true, I like to think I can stick my head in the sand sometimes, but, um, you know, and I I do believe that there's, uh, a certain point that we get to and, of course, especially from a collective level, people are waking up at a more rapid pace than I feel we've ever seen, and there are touch points, and I think that I speak more to this idea of like there there are some of us who have these cycles where it's like I want to dig in and learn myself more and, you know, be on that evolving path more I don't want to say intentionally, just more with more action behind it where I've gone through spaces in my healing journey where it was like every gentle nudge inward I was exploring Right, and so I feel too that's maybe a different conversation for a different day but, um, yes to us having predestined experience on the path and definitely being nudged toward that in whatever way the soul is necessary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and yeah, I think what you're getting at is like there are periods of rest.
Speaker 2:There are periods where you're like, heading up this shit, I'm, I'm good for a bit, I'm just gonna coast, might cocoon a little bit like, and I I think those are like naturally occurring seasons too.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's possible to be on all the time, whether that's relating to being on in your business or being on on your spiritual path and self-exploration and moving through the shit, like I think part of what makes life so beautiful is that we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We don't always have to be poking at the next wound or finding the next thing to heal, or, you know, there there's seasons where that urge will be so strong we will be guided that way, and then there's seasons where we do get to just enjoy it and be like I don't even want to meditate for the next month. I am taking a break, I am over it, um, guilty, but. But you know, like there's there's seasons, and um, the other area of choice that we have is our perspective on it, and I hate to keep bringing up birth, but I guess this was really alive for me right now um but like one thing with birth.
Speaker 2:There was a post in a facebook group recently that was like um, what do y'all suggest for, um, helping with pain during labor? And you know people are commenting like oh, attends machines and counter pressure and this and that. And I responded and it might have been a little condescending, but you know, I just, I basically responded and I was like nothing. You know, I sought evidence of people who had blissful, pain-free births. I read a book about it. I, you know, talked to women who had those experiences and I basically just recalibrated my own beliefs and my own energetic body to be open to receiving a birth that was not painful and excruciating. And I did like.
Speaker 2:Essentially I'm not going to say it was like super comfortable. I'm not going to be one of those people who's like I had an orgasmic birth but at the same time like it was very blissful, it was very peaceful. It was not the previous experiences I had had a birth that were very painful, it was like blissful, it was very peaceful. It was not the previous experiences I had had at birth that were very painful. It was this mindset of going into battle and emerging with a baby. And so there's this shift in mindset and this shift in just energy that you can create for yourself. And this is a conscious thing that you choose on what you buy into in terms of how does this experience have to be? If the collective is saying the process of evolution and ascension is painful, it's grueling, it's dark, it's whatever, if you're going in with that battle mindset of, oh, it's just something I have to get through, I have to grind through it, you're going to gonna have that experience.
Speaker 2:And I'm not saying that there's not moments just like my birth. I'm not saying that there's not moments where it was harder, where it was, um, you know, there were things that you hit a point where you're like I, I could be done with this lesson or this initiation, like, right about, like that'd be cool. I'm not particularly having fun at this moment in time, but it doesn't have to be this, this big painful ordeal. It can just be something that's kind of taken in stride, that you're like, yeah, there's the downs, but then there's also these beautiful ups and you know both existing simultaneously in the same space, and that almost brings you back to this place of neutrality of like I've got this and I can handle anything and I am supported and you know like it's just a different frequency, where you're not chasing highs but you're also not expecting the worst. You're just letting life unfold, trusting in life, knowing that nothing lasts forever and allowing things to emerge into your physical reality through that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I love that. And that's that beautiful point of neutrality which essentially holds the radiance that, you know, so many of us want to experience and be able to embody. It's held in that neutrality and that witnessing and breathing through and allowing the waves of all of it, the waves of the moment, of the months and the years. You know, it's just being in that presence and again coming back to those foundations of spiritual teaching and understanding that it is all just in the now, and the more that we can allow ourselves to be focused now and have, yes, that vision for the future, but not living that vision of the future. Live in the presence of the now, with the knowingness that the future holds just as much beauty as the moment does I love the way you put that period.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's a beautiful spot to just end that off. Um with that, that nugget of wisdom. Um. So where? Where can people find you? Where's the best place to connect?
Speaker 3:Um so my website is demi jacobscom. You can also join my group, the priestess collective. Find me on Facebook at Demi Lee. And yeah, shoot me an email carrier pigeon any of the ways Telepathically communicate. I'll be sure to get my carrier pigeon on it.
Speaker 2:Yes, perfect Awesome.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me, Danielle.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed this podcast, it would mean the world if you'd take a moment to download a couple episodes and rate the show to help it reach more like-minded leaders. If you loved today's discussion and decide to share it, be sure to tag me on Instagram at Radiant Soul Coach to help expand the ripple effect of this podcast.