Stop Ignoring Your Gut, Start Living (EP 108)

[0:16] Hello everyone and welcome back to the unhealthy podcast I’m your host uncle Marv uh today we are having part two of my conversation with Catherine Crestani, if you missed part one well we dug into her story of walking away from what looked like to a successful life on paper, and what it really means when your body and your intuition are waving the red flags, and you try keep trying to ignore them uh so today we're going to uh talk about that next step get into inner authority and the work that she is doing through her company willow healing, uh catherine welcome back, thank you for having me back I’m excited to see where we go today uh so am i so am i, um so i don't want to recap what we did on part one um but i do want to uh kind of ask the question of, since you walked away because we're really only a year you know from that um you're doing the willow healing project and what does a day in the life look like for you now, depends what day it is um my first priorities is normally my mom duties right so i have that priority of looking after my little human.

[1:45] Uh i homeschool as well so there's that element oh okay and then yeah and then also So, um, I have my own podcast. I do my writing. I've written some books. Um, so really it just kind of evolves to, I, I literally, before I go to bed, I see what I have on the next day and then allow that to fold out. I do make sure that I have enough time to do nothing on some days and just allow. So two days a week, I make sure there's absolutely nothing booked in, um, because that's what I need to balance back out. And um then I still have some psychic hotline work and then also um fitting my clients in there and my clients and I work probably a little bit differently so we, had this relationship where they just reach out to me and then we create a session or we do what we need to do in that moment and because I'm quite intuitive and they trust me they'll be like okay here's what's going on I'm okay, well, let's do that. We have to do this, this, and this today, and this is what the session will look like. And then we'll just see what else comes through. And It's very much about creating that supportive environment and allowing my clients to do what they need to do. But it's sometimes I need to remember too, like not to look at my phone because sometimes I'll have a hundred messages on WhatsApp. I'll be like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[3:09] I just need a moment for me. So really coming back and learning how to re-regulate my nervous systems kind of be my last year because when I first stepped away from working, I felt like I had to over schedule myself. So I was, you know, doing lots of interviews and doing lots of podcasts where I was interviewing people as well and had to write and had to do this and had to do this. But I really didn't. I just felt I did. So it was really about finding that balance again and coming back. You know, my favorite days are the days that I really had nothing on and seeing what comes from that. And then, you know, it allows me time to write if I feel like writing and allows me time to edit podcasts if I feel like editing podcasts or, you know, doing what I need to do. But if I schedule that too much into my life, then I find I get really overwhelmed, and then I don't go in flow. Instead, I'm just creating this hustle kind of idea and losing what I feel I need to do that day. Hmm. Interesting. Uh, all right. So I have podcast questions that I'll ask you later.

[4:14] Talk about that. Uh, so I guess my question now is when we, you know, talked about transitioning out of, uh, the old life, the corporate life, the, the hustle and bustle. When I asked you what came next, you immediately said the psychic hotline. So I guess the question is, did willow healing come after all of that? Or was it a part of that? How did that, how did that transition?

[4:42] Willow healing was kind of being birthed because I like to do things multiple times as I was still working as a speech language pathologist. So I was doing it in the background, but how I worked with clients was completely different because I was still finding who I was in this world, right, of spirituality, if you will. So when I started working with clients, I did something called channeling. So channeling is where you step into other dimensions or realms, if you like, or in my case, I tap into other people's spirit teams and I allow the messages to come through me. So I'm just kind of like a radio receiver and picking up the signal. That shifted. So how I do that is a lot different and a lot quicker, and I can do it really quickly.

[5:27] But then I was like, oh, maybe I'll do medical intuitive work. So medical intuitives are a whole different game. I have so much respect to them. I can't do it. I can do it, but I don't want to do it. I don't understand. How do you, what's... What's a medical intuitive? Yeah. So someone comes to you and they have an issue, say they've been going to the doctor for a certain pain and they can't figure out what it is or where it comes from. You can use intuitive skills to scan the body and to figure out the origin of that and also get insight. So really talented medical intuitives, they can sit there and go, all right, you need this test, this test, this test. Go take this to your doctor and get these tests done. This is what I feel is happening. we can't technically diagnose but we can you know list these kind of symptoms okay so, when i was i did a lot of sessions practicing this because i wanted to practice it because i can actually feel other people's pain so it i was it was at a point where I’d be like walk up to somebody and go is your left knee okay and they go no it's been killing me i said ah, your mom's doing something to kick your legs out from under you and they'd be like oh how did you know that i was like.

[6:40] Just did um and they're like but how did you know it was my knee I said because I can feel it in me but I had to learn to shut that off and I was really grateful because I've actually had that my whole life so I would go to parties when I was a teenager, and when I was in my early 20s and in Australia we can drink at 18 just want to preface that okay so it'd be like 18 19 it's rocking up to these parties and I feel incredibly sick and I just put it down to I was I drank too much or it was something I ate, but really I was feeling everybody else. I was feeling everyone else getting sick because they drank too much. I was feeling everyone else because it was just too much for me. I didn't know that until much, much later in life that that's what was going on.

[7:22] So then I tried medical intuitive heart and I was good at it, I guess, to a point, but I didn't want to sit there and keep attracting people who were constantly in pain because a lot of them found it hard to work on themselves and accept that, There's things that needed to change in their life. And sometimes I got something so accurate, Uncle Ma, that even I questioned how it could be so amazing. So I had this one client who she had this constant pain. I can't remember what it was. But what came through was the exact acupuncture point that her acupuncturist needed to do to relieve that pain. Like I wouldn't know. I experienced acupuncture, but I wouldn't know what anything meant. So it was like the, it was like a letter and then a number and she went and told her acupuncturist and that's exactly what she needed. So, you know, there's these things that I'm like, I can't, you know.

[8:19] That's not me. That's just me standing to a side. And then what ended up happening was I started to get people who were starting businesses. So then I was like, oh, maybe I'm meant to be like a business coach and use my intuitive skills to help guide them on their right path and learn to listen. But then, as I mentioned at the end of the last show, that evolved into relationships, but really it came down to relationships with yourself because most people who I work with, they'll come because their relationship is breaking down, but really they're so disconnected from themselves and what they want in their life and what they want to choose, that they can't even dream. So I have clients and I said, all right, what do you want five years from now? And they can't even get past the next five minutes. Right. So really coming back to themselves is such a powerful thing.

[9:08] And that's how my business kind of evolved to where it is now, essentially. Okay. So before I ask more questions specifically about your business, I want to ask the name Jonathan Edward. Does that mean anything to you? No. So Jonathan Edward was a gentleman who...

[9:34] So I was introduced to him. He did a TV show, and he was introduced as a psychic slash medium. And he would basically go into a room of people and just start relaying either messages or things from the other side. And, you know, people would come wanting to hear from, you know, a relative that had died or a friend that had died and um john would you know, of course ask questions like well okay I’m getting somebody who you know likes to, you know hit a spoon on a wall and it's from somewhere and he would you know they would find the people it was so i was so if you don't know him I’m just making a bunch of rubbish.

[10:27] But it sounds like something like he would talk about where he would just, things would just hit him from people. Um, but it always felt like he had to figure out a way to turn it off because it was almost overwhelming to him sometimes and stuff. Do you ever get that where it's like, okay, I've got to, I've got to walk away.

[10:53] Yeah, it's interesting because I had to learn really quickly with certain things. So when my gifts started to come back online, because we all have psychic gifts, whether you want to believe it or not, we actually do.

[11:06] But as my gifts started to come back online, the spirits started to come through too. So it was funny in the space of like two days, I had two people tell me, you need to go put on contracts about the time they can come and talk to you. Otherwise they'll just show up all the time and I'm like I'm new to this that's not going to happen you know like whatever, I kid you not the next day Uncle Marv I was like okay all these spirits are showing up at all these times of the day I need to go put some contracts in so I did um, and then I started then learning processes of how to disconnect myself from people's energy as well because when I was channeling I was kind of tapping into their energy now I do a completely different way um, but i would do things to like kind of cleanse my energy then when i started the psychic hotline work and i speed dating right so it's like you know this person has 15 minutes I’m like oh okay go go go go go so I’d have to turn on really quickly and then turn off really quickly and disconnect so i actually asked my spirit team and said hey, you know what are some tips you have for me connecting and disconnecting so I’m not going to get drained and so I’m not going to keep thinking about these people after I hang up from them. You know, not because I don't care, but because I have to move out and go to the next person. And I don't want to sit here all afternoon percolating on someone else's life, right?

[12:31] So I put in things in place. And often when I get messages through, I'll tell my clients if we're online or if we're in person, do you want to record this? Because I might not remember what comes through. And it's on purpose that way. So if it's important that I do remember, I will. Or sometimes they'll be talking to me about it and I'm like hang on a minute and then I'll kind of get the memory if you imagine like someone putting the book back in my head oh okay great I remember now um because it is it can be very overwhelming I don't know how people do group medium sessions I think it'd be so much energy I find it hard enough to hold space for a small group I can do it quite okay but if it got quite big I'm not at that point just yet I'm telling you I’m just hearing yet, you know but to do all that psychic medium work in such a big group it would be overwhelming because there'd be so many energies coming at you and a lot of spirits um.

[13:32] When they see that the door is open they want to come running through i don't say I’m a medium but I’ll have past loved ones come through if it's meant to be, in that session and then I’ll just pass on the message that needs to come through okay all right thank you for that i just Uh, I just felt like I needed to let the audience know that I, uh, I wasn't letting us go down this path without a reason. And, uh, I was exposed to that with Jonathan Edward. I know that there's a, another medium out there called Tyler. Um, yeah, I mean, so, um, yeah.

[14:09] But it is interesting. And I kind of wanted to make sure we talked about that because that is a lot of what you do with Willow Healing. But you do it from what you said. It's relationships with self. And I, for some reason, was just thinking it was just, you know, helping people kind of center themselves, kind of, you know, come back to, you know, gaining some sense of, uh, inner peace purpose, inner peace. Um, I don't, I'll be honest. I don't, I don't understand the idea of purpose. I know everybody's talked about, you gotta have a purpose. You gotta have a goal. I'm like, the goal is to live, you know? Um, and preferably we live healthy and be happy, which is why I came up with that tagline for the show. And, you know, um, but everybody has their own idea of that. So...

[15:12] Yeah, it's interesting because a lot of people like me, when they're so lost in their relationship, their job, their career, with themselves, whatever it might be, it's because they feel like they don't know where they're heading. It's like they're living everyone else's dream or living on everyone else's expectations. Right. And they forget to allow themselves to have something that they want. You know, so it doesn't have to be massive, but it can be if you let it be. So when I first stepped into my spiritual work, I had this dream of building a healing center where, you know, it would be a place that people could come and be creative. You know, they could paint, they could cook, they could learn, they could have therapy, like with different types of practitioners. There would be group settings, you could go out into the Australian bushland.

[16:02] And then my dream got bigger. And now I want to be part of co-creating a new kind of, I call it a spirit school. But I guess a school where people can come back to themselves and remember their psychic gifts and remember why they're here because we all have a purpose and a mission and when people say oh what's your purpose, it's like well what is your big dreamlike and sometimes people don't know because we come so disconnected from ourselves and like I was sharing I had this client and when we figured out what she really wanted she had tears in her eyes because she didn't even realize that that was her dream she was so talented with so many things but we had to put it together in a way that felt right for her, and i said well if you could do anything what could it be and she's like i would open a store and allow create craft that people can come in and do craft with their kids and i was like wow that's beautiful let's do that you know but, we get so stuck in thinking that our dream has to look a certain way or we end up living somebody else's dream and then we forget that we actually had a dream in the first place. And when we start to connect back with ourselves, That is where this purpose can come from. Or, you know, when you wake up, I'm sure you've had people talk about mindset every day, right? What's your mindset and what's your intention and all that sort of thing. But if you don't have a reason for doing that, where are you going to go?

[17:24] It's like, why am I getting up at 2am, which I did this morning, why am I getting up at 2am to show up for this group cohort call if I don't believe it's aligned to where I want to head? You know if i don't think it's aligned to what i want to share in this world or what i want to do in this world so sometimes not having anywhere to go can mean you have no motivation to get up and do things either.

[17:49] Did you feel like this was the path for you i mean you talked about, doing those calls in the beginning and you thought it was just all relationships and you know you know I want to find my perfect partner and stuff, but you said that it changed, that it was really more about them. So how did you come to the conclusion that your mission for now, I'll say it, I'll say it that way, is to help people understand their own, their own life, their own mission, their own, um, direction.

[18:32] It was just observing how people were so disconnected. Like they were too busy putting their energy into what the other person was doing. And a lot of the times I would have these phone calls come in and I just asked the question, well, what do you want? And they wouldn't know how to answer that. So they were too busy worried about what the other person was doing and trying to control and understand that, that they forgot to come back to themselves. And the thing is we've been so conditioned to disconnect from ourselves right so my favorite example that I’ve heard it's not mine but I’m going to use that okay is that if you go to leave the house, and your gut or your intuition is saying grab an umbrella, but instead of grabbing the umbrella you pull up your weather app and you say oh but it's meant to be sunny today i don't need my umbrella, and you leave and two hours later it starts raining you've just discounted your own voice and you've just discounted your inner authority or your intuition over technology, the shift that's happening more and more now is more and more people are relying on technology the amount of people I’ve worked with both like in phone calls but also, in person who are like oh i don't know why this person's doing this on social media or this is happening on social media or this is going on or i was on chat the other day or, and they've forgotten.

[19:56] I'm like why do you even care you know what's that got to do with you and what you're doing in this life so we've been almost conditioned to look for external reinforcement to what we should be doing rather than trusting what comes from within us, and it's because sometimes it can be scary, you know it can be scary it was you know you have to have courage to always back yourself as well, So part of me thinks that I, one, I agree with you about the technology aspect. We are relying way too much on technology for everything. But I wonder if somewhere our society has... Everything is based upon expectation and what is successful, what success looks like, whether it's you need to have, you know, particular job, X amount of money, the perfect, you know, family with, you know, 2.2 kids and a dog.

[20:56] That sort of thing there. but you're going even deeper than that and i don't know why i keep wanting to ask you about inner authority um, because i guess for some reason what is that.

[21:18] I guess we'll start. What does that mean, inner authority? It's what your soul is telling you to do. It's what, you know, your heart is urging you. And it's, for me, it was that feeling that I should be doing something more every day. It's like, this doesn't fit, I should be doing something more. And sometimes we think that more means you have to earn more money or you have to get the next accomplishment or get the next degree or, you know, the next level of success on your business front. That's what I thought it was, but it wasn't it was this isn't aligning and I'm not excited to be doing this every day and I was until I wasn't you know I got to do work with some beautiful parents and some beautiful children and change some lives but at the same time it wasn't filling my cup up and so in authority is, you actually already know things without even knowing why you already know things you know because, I believe that when we come into this world we kind of have a map that's already been laid out for us but we always have choices on which way we can go along to get to our destination bit like how you said isn't your goal to live well it is to live but would you rather live and be excited than joyful every day and I’m not saying I’m like this all the time majority of the time but some days i am sad and depressed and that's okay I’m allowed to have that balance as part of the human experience but it's when you get, feel that all the time you know i don't hit the snooze button.

[22:46] My alarm I just get up you know I know people that wants to hit snooze button on life all the time so really coming back to, what do I want to choose in this moment and really honoring that and learning to listen to that again so we have two voices we have the inner authority voice which is this beautiful, supportive kind of one that keeps you going on your journey sometimes it can be tough love like my quit you know like quit that's it quit you need to quit your job, but it's different from the mind the mind is where it makes stories it will go on this crazy tangent it will tell you all the things that you can't do, we shouldn't listen to that one it doesn't mean it will ever go away but it just means we learn to discern and learn okay what's my truth in the moment and that's the biggest thing i teach anyone my clients or people that listen to my podcast or um people i talk to, what is your truth because you're the only one that knows your truth what is right for joe is not right for bob you know it's what feels right for you in that moment and that's where that and learning to listen to that and then act upon it that is inner authority okay.

[24:01] Now, in my head, I'm thinking, okay, that sounds easy. And most people would be like, you know what? Even if I knew what it was, it's too hard to just make that switch and, you know, walk away from stuff and take that leap of faith or whatever it's called.

[24:21] So if somebody comes to you and they have that gut feeling that, you know, something's got to change but they're too afraid what are some starter steps that you can help people with, sometimes it's just bringing one thing back into their life that makes them feel joy, and joy is such a beautiful emotion it's different from happy. Happy is a moment in time whereas joy is a lasting thing it's just some of my clients I’ll be like they're like i love painting all right well can we create time in your day that you do painting or once a week or however that looks in your schedule you know I have some clients that love producing music like they make music I'm like okay well why don't you do that at the start of your day instead of the end of your day because when you get to the end of the day you've just told me you're exhausted and you're tired and you just want to crash, and what they do is by starting it with the start of the day all of a sudden they have all this energy because they've done something that's exciting and that's joyful and makes them really happy, you know, and, I like to, I got taught from my old coach about doing a life audit. So you just sit down, a life audit. Okay. So sit down and you write down all the things you do in the day, and then you have a look at.

[25:39] Is anything in there make you feel joy? Is anything exciting? What do you have to do? What do you choose to do? And really start to think about that. And then the things that you have to do, can you reframe that so it feels more aligned with who you are? So, for example, I have to do the washing. I can say it that way. Or I can say I choose to do the washing because that's how I support my family. And then I have clean clothes to wear to interviews. You know, you can reframe it so it aligns with how you are if it's something you have to do, have to do. You know, or it's those mundane tasks that just need to get done, right? Like eating. I'm not a big cook. I love baking. but cooking and me I’m like, uh I’m okay once I’m cooking but the whole idea of getting to the point of cooking, but I’m like no i rather nourish my body with something that i know is really yummy in my fridge then go get the takeaway and then i feel terrible for the next three or four days because i ate that and I’m not discounting that we can all have our cheat days or whatever but it's those choices that you make in the moment and a lot of people get stuck on, but why i can't do that. And then when I say, why not?

[26:52] They've never thought about why not, because sometimes the things that we think we can't do are the things that we're missing the most out on, getting the most joy and happiness in our life. And if you have more of that joy and more of that excitement, you have more energy, which means you have more time, which means you have more time to do other things. And all of a sudden, it's this beautiful cycle just from starting with one thing, that makes you feel joy in your day.

[27:16] Well, I think a lot of the times when somebody says, I can't, it's probably out of some sort of fear, some sort of rejection, or they've been told you can't do that their whole lives or something like that. But if somebody is starting to make that turn, so a few minutes ago, I was thinking, okay, what if somebody's listening to themselves and they are just completely wrong? You know because like there are times where I’m thinking okay why does that person that is and i mean granted i may not know you know whether they're wrong or not but there are times when people do stuff and they're just, they're like oh i shouldn't have done that um.

[28:00] Are there are there common mistakes that we make when you know listening to ourselves, i feel this is part of the journey right because we're so afraid of failure and getting it wrong that we don't even want to try half the time okay and, it's from failures and trying that you learn and so you might do something and it's completely wrong, and that's okay if you do it again the exact same way, and it's still completely wrong well you haven't actually learned anything and you have chosen not to grow and expand in that moment then i would say yeah there's something really not right there especially if you're going to do it a third time so um.

[28:41] It's really sometimes it's about learning to discern so discernment is that ability to decide what feels right and what doesn't feel right the more you learn to trust yourself the easier it gets so to me I’ve gotten to a point where my body actually has a whole somatic response so if it's a yes I get goosebumps over my whole body but if it's a no, and a definite no to an opportunity or something I actually want to throw up, I actually start gagging like that's the point that I've gotten to and it's really quick I'm like no not doing that no thank you or oh yeah that feels great yeah I'm saying yes to that I don't know what it looks like yet but I'm just saying yes and I'll figure out the rest you know and so um, that can be something that you just learn but if you're afraid to make a mistake or afraid to do something wrong then, just try and pull out that little bit of courage and just do something little and have that little you know do something small you know oh i really want to create a podcast, what can i do to start that all right go buy a microphone or um research different platforms or you know whatever it might be just give it a go and try it on and if it doesn't feel right for you at least you know you've done that and there's no regrets because you've tried, all right we're going to run out of time but i want to ask you this question for sure because you've made two references to music.

[30:10] Um, and that sounds like it's a big thing for you. So do you have a song or artist that, uh, shifts your energy all the time? Hmm. Do you know what's so funny, Uncle Marv? I will have songs magically appear in my Spotify like list that I have never seen or heard from before. And they're exactly what I need. Really? Yes. Is there is there a particular genre or just a song that would be a song you would never have listened to correct okay randomly will just show up and it happens so often um, but the ones that have showed up recently was like one by lens Linhy i think l-i-n-h-y and it's whispers from my future self, and i just needed it in the moment like to remember sometimes when we're on the other side of the journey it's easy to see how hard it was whilst we were in it and it was just this beautiful song that showed up um but yeah, it's amazing what shows up on my playlist I’m like i don't know where this came from but this is great thank you, thank you very much all right i want to talk about that some more, i i listen to a lot of music but i don't pay attention to what shows up but usually I'm listening to the same songs over and over. So that's why I asked that. So.

[31:36] All right. So we certainly did not cover everything. I hope that I can ask you in the future to come back and do another show with me. Um, but folks, uh, willowhealing.org. And, uh, I like the, the front page you have there. You already know. The question is, are you ready to live from it?

[32:01] And then you also put in here you're never too old or too young to be reacquainted with your soul so that and then of course you've got the willow healing matters podcast, and uh actually you've had a couple of shows on there i do, um it was funny i you had a show one You had a guest talking about mushrooms. I did. Yes. Um, what was the other show? I was, uh, well, we'll talk about it later, but, uh, the wheelie willow healing matters podcast folks. Uh, she's got some good stuff on there and, uh, she's also a, uh, an author got a bunch of articles out on the web, uh, for a huge magazine brains, uh, B R A I N Z. So we'll have links to all that Catherine thank you very much for coming on, thank you so much any last thoughts you want to leave people with since, I feel the biggest thing is that if you have a dream just take a step towards it and see what that feels like, all right.

[33:16] Listen to your gut. Listen to your gut.

[33:21] All right, folks, that is going to do it for this episode of the Unhealthy Podcast. Thank you to Catherine Cristani for coming on. Well, all I can say is don't just let this be another episode you listen to and move on from, because that would be ignoring your inner authority. So take a minute after this to sit quietly, check in with yourself. Um, ask the question, uh, where am I, uh, overriding what I know is true for me? Uh, if you found value in this conversation, uh, share it with a, uh, person, you know, in your world, who's clearly running on empty, but won't slow down long enough to admit it. Make sure you're following the show and your favorite podcast platform. Everything will be at unhealthy podcast.com. And uh let me know what you think um hit heart is for you, send me an email check me out on socials and uh follow the unhealthy podcast that's going to do it folks we'll see you soon and until next time live healthy and be happy.