Learning to Trust The Universe with Jen Petrie, episode 29 on the More Love Podcast

TRANSCRIPT - Learning to Trust The Universe with Jen Petrie on the More Love Podcast

[00:00:00.250] - Helen Reynolds

Welcome to The More Love Podcast, where we uncover the innate power held within each of us that's been withheld for thousands of years. This power is innately and rightly yours, but it's been hidden, lied about and taken from you. So if you want your freedom and your power to create back, this podcast is for you. Hit subscribe, settle in and enjoy. So today I'm joined with Jen Petrie. Welcome, Jen, to The More Love Podcast.

[00:00:31.310] - Jen Petrie

Hi, Helen. Thanks for having me. Great to be here.

[00:00:35.150] - Helen Reynolds

Well, we've known each other for a little while. This is like having an old friend on the podcast. But today we're kind of leapfrogging off your Nourished Nucleus program that you're running at the moment, which is really neat. But instead of talking about that, it'd be really nice to talk about how you came to be doing the program. So you were kind of doing all the right things in terms of diet and exercise and the way you were living, but you still had some niggles, some things that just wouldn't let go. And that began your journey being a curious creature that you are. Actually, I don't know if I know many people more curious than you.

[00:01:20.570] - Jen Petrie

You've just got to keep digging, right?

[00:01:22.540] - Helen Reynolds

Yeah. And for those who don't know, Jen, she is unstoppable. So tell us about how you started digging for an answer.

[00:01:34.550] - Jen Petrie

I guess it's an interesting question, right? Because I think like many people, I grew up thinking that I was doing a lot of things that were healthy and good for me. And if you ask me, I would have said, yeah, I'm healthy. That's great. And then I still had those through my 20s. I had things that came up, things that were niggling away. I had intolerances that I couldn't get through. And I got to the point where I had literally tried everything. And I ended up having an endoscopy where they stick the camera down into your stomach to have a look. And the gastroenterologist said to me, like, I've never seen anything like that. Your stomach just looks shredded. And I was like, what do you mean? Okay, well, what do we do to fix it? She's like, oh, there's nothing we can do to fix it. There's nothing you can do to fix it. This is just the way it is. And there was something in me, just this knowing I don't even know how to sort of put it into words. It was just this knowing that that's like, well, not right. That's not true. There's something else.

[00:02:37.610] - Jen Petrie

And I had tried everything at that point. I thought I had. And when I became open to the okay, well, I don't know what it is that's when opportunities turn up, people turn up, things turned up. And it became very apparent to me relatively quickly that what I thought was healthy and what I was doing was actually not. So at that point, the first thing that and I did it gradually, right. I was one of the biggest carnivores most people had ever met.

[00:03:09.950] - Helen Reynolds

Oh, I think we could've given you a run for your money, right?

[00:03:13.930] - Jen Petrie

So I just started gradually changing bits and pieces, and someone turned up. I think she was a naturopathic physician. They have them in the States. She was in Australia, and she said, have you tried to do a detox? And I was like, no, but all this very woo woo stuff. But I've tried everything else. So what have I got to lose? And I did it for two to three weeks. I wouldn't recommend that particular thing to people right now, but I did it for two to three weeks. At the end of that, I could literally eat or drink anything like weet bix, which in my life, I have never been able to eat more than two weet bix because it's just something about the weet bix. I could eat 14 of them in one sitting, and I was fine. I know it sounds really doesn't. It was a test to see if the gluten was an issue, right? But I could do that. And it was at that point that I realized what I was putting into my body was affecting what was happening. So I started changing different things along the way, and I didn't know where I was going to end up.

[00:04:13.690] - Jen Petrie

And along that journey, I gradually gave up or substituted one thing for another. And more and more information came to light as to why different things will let it go. And I ended up becoming vegan. So I'd been that way and living that space curious creature that I am for a number of years. I felt better within that period of time. I've also gone through a space where I had done juice cleanse and fast, and I just wanted to take it to the next level with the physical sort of stuff. So I did water fast for 30 days, only water, a bit of salt, not something that I recommend people just dive into. You need to be prepared for it, but certainly a level of cleansing and detoxing. So I did that. And then I got to the point a few years after this where I felt great and I felt better than ever before. I had more energy. And I realized after about a week, because I was starting to lean in and just be kinder to myself. I realized there was a week sort of over that Christmas, early January period where I hadn't gotten out of bed for a week.

[00:05:22.870] - Jen Petrie

And there was something in that. But I was like, Hang on a minute. And a lot of people said to me, you're the healthiest person I know how this happened to you? And for me, there's something bigger going on. I wouldn't have lasted that long had I not changed the food and the diet and that sort of thing. But there was something bigger going on. And that's when I realized that there was this bigger sort of soul crisis in terms of what's there, and that it is really a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual journey in terms of doing that. And we need to use all of them together rather than separately. So look, all I could do is surrender. All you can do is get out of bed to go to the bathroom once a day, and that's a big day.

[00:06:15.050] - Helen Reynolds

But I think it really typifies where we're at in society. Not that you typify society, but we live in a materially orientated world, don't we? So of course we're going to start the journey with the material stuff, which is our food, our lifestyle, the physical body, and how we're managing and connecting those things. And then eventually we get just encouraged. Maybe you could call it pushed to go to that next level.

[00:06:45.240] - Jen Petrie

Yeah, well, I think we get nudges along the way. Right. And if we listen to the nudges and this is something that I talk about within the Nourished Nucleus program, we get nudges. The Universe is talking to us. It's like, hey, little tap on the shoulder. Hey, just wondering. And if we listen awesome, right? When we go, you shift the gear and up we go. And if we don't like, it starts tapping us a bit harder. It's like, hey, I'm really trying to get your attention here. And if we keep going, it just ends up slapping this over the face or over the head before like, okay, I get it. Something's not right here. And then we're sort of forced into that change. Either that I kind of see the two places either like, we've been slapped overhead or people know someone very close to them, a parent, a child, or something that's been very unwell. And they've sort of got to that point on the journey as well where it's like something about that wasn't right. And I don't want to go down that path. And it's interesting, the level of I don't know if it's healthyness or that people think they have because most people would say, oh, no, I'm healthy, I don't smoke or I don't drink that much.

[00:08:01.120] - Jen Petrie

But when we think about 60 years ago, like, that stuff was normal, and there's the level to which that affects us. Right. We know that the smoking isn't great. We know that. But then there's other levels of things that we've been conditioned are okay and aren't. And it's sort of a matter of being able to question.

[00:08:19.610] - Helen Reynolds

You mean to say those jelly snakes I was addicted to all those years ago, and those golden gay times in the freezer at the service station really weren't good for me.

[00:08:27.970] - Jen Petrie

Not right. But it's interesting you say that, because the first thing that I gave up this is before I think I even started changing the food thing was... I was at an event, I was working with a friend who was vegan at the time. I definitely wasn't. And he wouldn't eat Jubi lollies. And I was like, oh, it's a Jubi lolly. I'll have one of those. And I said to him, being a bit facetious, I said to him, oh, what are you not going to have that because it's vegan? Because it's got meat in it. And he stopped and looked at me and he said, do you really want me to answer that question? And as you said, I'm a curious person. I'd like to know the answer. Would like to get the answer. And he said, do you know where gelatin comes from? And I was I think I was in my late 20s time. It's a food thing. You just put it in food. And I was like, where does gelatin come from? And when he told me, I swear I was off Jubi lollies [click of fingers] like that. It was the easiest thing to flip a switch and be like, I'm just not.

[00:09:34.660] - Jen Petrie

And I can tell you I have never had another one since. But I kept eating. And it was maybe about twelve months later, I was eating with group of people having toasted marshmallows, and one of them wasn't having it. And someone said to him, Why are you not having this toasted of marshmallows? And the penny just dropped in my head as to why? Because the same thing in the jubi lollies is in the marshmallows. And I just had this. I was like, please don't ask that question. Can you guys just I had a marshmallow in my mouth. This is the last marshmallow I'm going to eat, isn't it? He just nodded because he obviously realized that the penny had dropped for me. So I think sometimes it's a matter of not that I have to be wrong and not that there has to be another way. But what if this was true? What if there was another way? Because when we come from that space of curiosity, then things can turn up as opposed to, no, it's not this. And then sometimes when we lean in and listen, we discover things that we sort of hadn't put two and two together, even if we knew.

[00:10:40.120] - Jen Petrie

And I know for me when I went vegetarian and then went vegan, this lightning bulb went on in my head where I used to be a landscape architect and I wasn't sort of a chain-myself-to-a-tree-greenie. But I was certainly very concerned about the environment and sustainability. And I still am. But I have this like, oh my gosh, I am. You know, I know a lot of other people in that field, environmental scientists and things who are very passionate about the environment, and we should look after it. But yet what are we doing with the animals in terms of the grazing, the pastures, and what the effect that that's having on things?

[00:11:16.520] - Helen Reynolds

So it was really and our consumer choices.

[00:11:19.830] - Jen Petrie

Yes. And a lot of pieces of the puzzle sort of came together and landed together and that's been really helpful to apply to other situations for me as well. So if I just come from this, like, what if this was true? Let's just see what happens. I don't have to believe it at the end of the day, but it has opened up a lot of doors for me. And there's other people I know as well that I've said to them, read this book or think about this, but just can you sit with what if this was true? And a lot of people come back and say, do you know what? That was a massive help because I stopped judging everything. I didn't have to agree with it. I could just be curious, what if this is this true? And then get to the end and go, you know what? I don't agree with 100%, but actually I agree with 95% of this. So it gives us an opportunity for different things to turn up.

[00:12:08.410] - Helen Reynolds

So doubling back a little bit to what you were saying earlier about there's two things that give people a little push. We can either sort of get slapped around the head a bit, or we can be incredibly curious. I think was your second, although I'm not 100% sure I've got the second one right, but I'd like to add in a third. Some people have this really deep yearning to know love and to know who they really are, and that yearning can push us, too. I think I just wanted to add that in for any listeners who might sort of think, oh, well, I'm not one or two.

[00:12:42.150] - Jen Petrie

But sometimes I think it's very true. They're interlinked together as well, because when we've got that real, like, we can really surrender and lean into that. Like, I just want to feel this deep inner knowing, this deep love. And there's something there when we start using that and taking care of it, nourishing ourselves physically, it's like we deep dive into it because they go together and because it's all energy and interrelated. Right. When we're in the love vibration, we give ourselves more loving things, and it makes us feel better and we feel more loving. It's intertwined together. And I think that's a really beautiful part of being able to pull it all together is that there is this, like, looking after myself. And yes, that's about time and space, but it's in stuff that we do moment to moment. Like, how many times a day do you know we're talking about the moment, what we eat? How many times a day do you eat something right? But we're doing it so often, and we can use that as an opportunity to be able to lean in and be like, okay, I'm focusing on diving deeper into myself and the self love, and where do I start?

[00:13:57.930] - Jen Petrie

And I think we start in different places for different people. We get to different places through different paths. But I absolutely agree with what you say. I think it's definitely a matter of there can be this inner yearning, and sometimes we start there and we go along different paths.

[00:14:12.030] - Helen Reynolds

And then again, we all do different paths because we're all unique. Now, actually, we're going to talk about something that I really want to talk about. So here we are. What are some of the signs that we're on the right track. So if we've done some work, we're going to skip the work part. So we've had the nudge into sort of expanding our understanding of ourselves. We're going to skip we've expanded miraculously just in this second. Wouldn't that be great? And now we're enjoying receiving the signs. And so I'd like to talk about what kind of signs that people get.

[00:14:59.930] - Jen Petrie

Yeah.

[00:15:00.760] - Helen Reynolds

And then I'd love also to hear your points of view on how you listen or the art of listening.

[00:15:09.170] - Jen Petrie

Okay. Feel free to come back and remind me about that if you need to. So I love it. Right. What are the signs? And it's perfect because it's a bit like I spoke about when we are open and we're curious and we're like, what if this is true? And I touched on it briefly when I was speaking about this lady turned up who was a naturopathic physician and said, have you done the detox before? And I was like, no, I know why she turned into my like, where was she ten years ago? And why she's here now. And I know that she turned up then, and there could have been people before that I didn't see in hear because I was open to seeing and hearing and listening to her. So when we come from that place of curiosity, people and situations turn up, and it's whether we click and we lean into them and say, oh, where is this going? Like, this is interesting and, like, being able to feel into it. And it's like when we walk into a room, if you walk into a room and there's a great conversation and something awesome just happened, you walk in and you're like, what just happened in here?

[00:16:17.270] - Helen Reynolds

That's exciting.

[00:16:18.710] - Jen Petrie

Yeah. Right. There's this energy and this vibration, and everyone's like, oh, my gosh, this happened. And by the same token, if you walk into a room and someone's like a bomb shell has just been dropped or something bad has happened, and it's just like, again, you walk in and you're like, what just happened? You can feel that what's there. And it's the same thing when opportunities turn up. Right. If you're getting this, like something's not right, don't trust it, don't follow it. Maybe it's just a little maybe it's a sign of something not to do right. The awareness of that. But when it's there and you can just be curious, you can just start leaning in and then go, okay, this is great. Do I need to dive deeper or. Oh, no, I don't just follow the path. You don't have to know what the answer is at the end, you just pick up one breadcrumb and then the next. If you said to me, I'll tell you this, if you said to me, say twelve years ago, right, when we went to Antarctica, I know we laugh about this now, like, my gosh, imagine if we all ate the way we eat now because other people have shifted as well.

[00:17:22.320] - Jen Petrie

The chefs would have been like, you're crazy. But if you said to me then in five years time or in twelve years time right now, you will be a plant based vegan. I would have laughed very facetiously in your face.

[00:17:36.490] - Helen Reynolds

I would have facetiously even.

[00:17:41.730] - Jen Petrie

I would have put a lot of money on the fact, like millions of dollars. That would never be me. And yet I just kept picking up one thing and then trying this and then, okay, well, there is something in what I'm eating. What is that? Right. Then to pick up the next stuff. So sometimes the signs that do this and sometimes it's just, okay, we'll just do this one and then do the next one and see what happens. And I think when we trust that from a certain place, it's synchronicity, right. And people like, is it James Redfield, I think, talks about he talks about synchronicity with different things. And honestly, it's taken me a while to get here, but I finally realized that The Universe is always trying to conspire to help us, right. Showing us what's working or what's not. And when we just trust, then the right things happen and the right things turn up. And I know recently when you were in Sydney, right. And we caught up and it was pouring rain, completely bucketing down. Pouring rain. Would I have gone outside? No. I would have waited for another day. Pouring rain.

[00:18:55.110] - Jen Petrie

You want to go to the ocean pool, right? Okay, yeah. I really don't want to go to the ocean pool. It's pouring rain. We don't normally go. No, but Helen really wants to go. She's never beat anyone. I know where to go. I know where we're going. I know what we're doing. Right. So I just went prepared. We'd like to lend into adventures. Let's just go with it. Right. So we went and it was pouring rain. And we went and we got in. And I will tell you, I have never been in water that is that warm in Sydney, ever. It was bucketing down rain. The pool had been cleaned that morning. It's an ocean pool or rocks. But they do clean that every week, every fortnight. And it was just amazing, right. And when you trust and follow that, things just turn up and they happen, right. And we just got to be and it's like this is just amazing. And it feels so great. And then we realize it was 2-2-2022, like when we just trusted, then the opportunities happen and they show up. And when you think about the synchronicities and the things the numbers are so many signs and things.

[00:19:56.160] - Jen Petrie

When we just lean in and trust, things happen. And I can tell you, I've been back to pool since. And it wasn't like that. It wasn't like that, right. It was still overcast and rating, but the pool wasn't clean as opposed to I think there were a couple of other people in there when we were there, but not many one or two. But there was two dozen people in there. And you just got to trust that you're in the right place at the right time and lean into signs rather than, oh, well, that's just a coincidence. Well, what if you lean into like, what if it's not a coincidence? What does it mean? And I've so many times in the last and actually, you're someone that happens to quite often, right. You've just got, like, witchy vibes or something. And you're like, hey, just wondering. And I'll be like, I literally flew into the state. Right. And you're like, just wondering, are you here yet? I'm in the airport. The synchronicity of things. When we think a thing and we follow through with it rather than delaying it, that happens. So there's leaning in and trusting, seeing the signs.

[00:21:02.680] - Jen Petrie

And sometimes the signs come through other people. Other people will say things, right. Sometimes it's interesting. Sometimes when I'm coaching or doing strategy mentoring with people, they all come through that for them. We're talking about something, right. It's all focused on them. And this is over here afterwards, I'll be like, oh, yeah, I can take that on for me, too. Right there's that level of trusting where it will come through. And sometimes it's a complete stranger. Someone will say something or do something when we don't necessarily know. It's not expected. It's not a forced outcome. So I think the signs can come in so many different ways because the key word was forced, wasn't it?

[00:21:49.050] - Helen Reynolds

Along with what you've been saying prior to that, when we our mind will try and force things. That wonderful book, Force versus Power by David Hawkins. Yes. I was having to look at the bookshelf. He was talking about the power of The Universe, essentially, or the power of source energy or the power of God, all depending on which language you most prefer versus the force. Force of the mind, forcing yourself to get something done, forcing an outcome, forcing control, forcing attachment to something or the way things should be.

[00:22:29.860] - Jen Petrie

One thing I find really interesting when you're talking about power versus force. Right. Is people that post on social media and people that are in I'll say in business, but whether they're influences or in business or whatever they're doing, if people post from this, I have to post or I need something and I need people to respond and to like, and whatever or it's on my to do list and they just whack something up. I see those people and they're so frustrated about, like, why am I getting the interaction? Someone else is getting a post and someone else may be doing the same thing and maybe getting a different reach for different reasons. Right. But it's because there's no passion behind it, there's no energy. It's this forced. I will just do this and it's done as opposed to this. Okay, well, I have any attention to post today then. Yes, that might be part of the overall strategy. That's awesome. But what do people need to hear from me? What's the energy that I'm sending out? Or, you know, what am I curious about today? What can I share? And when you write something that comes from your heart, touch me today.

[00:23:29.730] - Jen Petrie

Yeah, exactly. When it's something that's just within not it's like, okay, so the first two sentences need to say this, and then this. And then it needs to be this completely different energy. If you write something, it connects with people and it's such a different place. But it's a really good example of, again, watching and listening what happens with people and the response that people get in terms of what's going on in the flow. So I just wanted to add that in there.

[00:23:59.670] - Helen Reynolds

How do you feel energy? Everyone feels energy differently. It's always a really interesting question to ask. So if something is suggesting to you not to do it or not to go there or that it's not an idea aligned with where you are right now, how does that feel versus how does something feel when you're in the flow in the zone, as people say, and riding the Jen energy?

[00:24:28.410] - Jen Petrie

That's an interesting question. And I think there's two parts to it because one, sometimes we're in the flow of things as they happen. And there's either this for me, like, I'll get this buzz in my heart or it just feels good. Just go with it. All this in my throat and this construction that's just like, just don't do it. Like you can't do it. Sometimes actually, I will get really drained out and exhausted and just be like, why can't I function? I'm like, oh, hang on a minute. I'm trying to force this thing and not do it. And the other thing is, sometimes I will tap in a bit like the kinesiologists do and ask my body like, give me a yes, show me a no. Like, what's a yes? What's a no. Okay, this is the question. Yes. This is feeling yes. This is not sure about this at this point in time. Let's delay that for what's there. So it really is, the more present and aware we are. I guess this is part of why I talk about presentness and mindfulness and being aware. It's not about being perfect, but the more we can lean into that and we notice it once and then we go, oh, yeah, okay.

[00:25:36.690] - Jen Petrie

I know I said again, otherwise we end up. And I know we've all had these experiences. Right, where something happens and we go, I knew I shouldn't have done that. I knew it or I knew I should have done that. We've had those experiences where we didn't trust that inner knowing. And I think sometimes it helps to be out. I know initially for me, when I started being more conscious and listening more and being more present in things, it helped more to look back and say this happened, and I knew that was going to happen and I took that action and it did. Or I knew that was going to happen, but I didn't take the action. And then the next time I feel like there's just something in me and I don't know why, but I just know this is going to happen. Just lean in, trust, go with it. And then The Universe can meet you part way because it's trying to help you. But if you're standing back going, I don't want this, and I can't do that. Yes. Sometimes it's appropriate to say no. But if we're saying no to everything and we're not willing to test and try things, and it's a bit like goals, right.

[00:26:41.460] - Jen Petrie

People have a goal. I'm all for goals and desires. That's awesome. Have the big thing that you want. But if you want it from a space of lack, you have this resistance. And if you have that, I have to get there. By doing these ten steps, one after the other, you're missing the magic. So, yes, take the first step. But then you might have ten steps and The Universe might show up in step three and be like, you don't need those. Here, do this. Done. So it's a trust. But for me, it's a feeling inside of me that I get. And it's like building a muscle trust.

[00:27:20.200] - Helen Reynolds

We all feel it differently. It's such an interesting question. The beautiful thing in your description, though, was the contraction and expansion, because heart energy and pure positive love energy, source energy, The Universe, God is an expansive energy. It's expansive. It's inclusive. It's just so beautiful when we're living from the mind energy or that restricted energy. Your words, where I feel constricted around the throat area or in my upper chest. And it is, it is an absolute constriction. If you're just starting to listen, if you're listening to this podcast and you're just starting to learn to listen, go for the can I feel expansion or contraction and build from there. So all of us feel it differently, but it will always be an expansion and contraction.

[00:28:18.370] - Jen Petrie

Yeah. I think what's great about what you just said as well, if you started this journey and particularly because when I started this journey and it's interesting, you say you're very curious, Jen. Yes, I know. But I was very heady. Right. And part of that is ingrained stuff. That's who I am. I'm a curious. There's different neurology and things. And it is very thought orientated. But that was also a lot of my conditioning. Right. A lot of my conditioning was thinking to do this all in the mind. So I would try more so to think my way out of something because I'd been taught to think my way out of something, not to trust what was inside of me. And part of it is having to go well, for me, it was having to go back and be like when I was a kid and I just like I trusted myself. Right. So I think part of the lesson is when we're feeling like, why aren't I getting there? It's working. Just drop into your heart, just sit in your heart energy. And when you sit there, then the mind can sort of drain and empty and it doesn't have to be thinking all the time.

[00:29:28.240] - Jen Petrie

Right. And a bit like, I know some people are very I could never meditate. I'll tell you, the first time I sat down in a class, people said to me, Are you okay? What's wrong with you? It's like you're asking someone who doesn't stop to sit, not do anything. Of course I'm going to fidget and move, but it can be walking. It can be just like go into the heart energy and just be there's nothing to do just for human beings, not human doings. Right. So I think just dropping into that space can really help in terms of that. Just starting to connect back to yourself. And then again, we get the signs we see hear, feel, touch - different senses and then we can lean into it from there.

[00:30:11.760] - Helen Reynolds

So having talked about learning being a learner and up in the mind, I was pretty much exactly the same. But it's a good opportunity now to flick and talk about the contrast when we're not living in our heart space, when we don't know how to connect to our true sense of being. What's that like now? There's a couple of it's really frustrating qualifies on this part of the conversation because one, the time of learning has passed, but many of us still need that contrast to flip us over into the Great Awakening, I guess. So what might we be feeling, Jen, if we're not in our hearts.

[00:30:57.490] - Jen Petrie

If we're not in our heart space? Oh, gosh, I guess that's a lot of what I just spoke about, right? If you're so in your head, if you're so you feel exhausted, you feel energetically, like you've got a big overcoat on it a bit like you said.

[00:31:13.430] - Helen Reynolds

We all like a lead overcoat, isn't it? It's so hard and it's so heavy.

[00:31:19.390] - Jen Petrie

We're really frustrated with ourselves. I worked in one of the big four banks for a short period of time, and I remember going in there and there would be people who got paid a lot of money and they hated their jobs. And I'm like, why do you stay there? Go and do something you do. I could never make this much money. But you didn't always earn this much money. At some point, you earnt less. You're going to come here hating what you do every day. Right? Which it's them building that momentum of the more hate, and you're attracting more of that or just going to do something. If you do something you love and enjoy from the heart, it will always work out. So I think that when it's not, that's the frustration, and that's when. And it can look different for different people. Right. Quite often we see people who are highly successful, and we might term that by materialistic wealth sort of sense, they'll be highly successful, but to them they're not. And it's this inner misting of the heart, self love space. And for them, it's just an emptiness. So it can show up differently for different people.

[00:32:27.790] - Jen Petrie

But unless you're a highly enlightened person, monks sitting in Tibet doing something, I imagine they still get these feelings, too, where things pop in their mind that I'm not enough. I'm not the stories that come up, and then it's making the choice. Like, I'm choosing like, yeah, I am enough. Well, you know what? I'm choosing not to do this anymore. I'm choosing to change the path that I'm on. And that can be a totally scary place to come from. But when I look at we're talking about my health journey earlier, and when I look at that, if I didn't make that change, I probably wouldn't be here right now. And we can make that change at any point along the way. You see those posts that people share on this happened to someone at a certain age. I think Colonel Sanders was 60 or 70 when he made KFC, right. Massively, highly successful thing. But there was something in him that was like, I just have to do this. The age doesn't matter. I just think, how wonderful would it be to be in a world where we all just did what we loved and we're passionate about?

[00:33:35.590] - Jen Petrie

It would be such a beautiful place. And this is one reason I talk about leading yourself. And Robin Sharma has written a great book. I don't know if you've ever read it, but the book called A Leader With No Title, and it talks about it's such a great book, whether you're an adult, whether there's teens or that sort of thing that are leaning into this space, but it talks about just doing what you do with love. Like, people can be doing seemingly mundane things. And one of the characters in there is, I think she's a maid at a hotel. And people are like, don't you hate what you're doing? She's like, I love it. I get to come in and make the space beautiful for people. And people come in and they feel relaxed. And that's what I get to contribute to. And I just think, how wonderful would it be if we all came from that place, and most of us have been conditioned not to do this and not to do that, not to whatever, until we start to I guess the first part is to believe that there could be another way.

[00:34:34.870] - Jen Petrie

Then the cracks starts to turn up and we can start to see another way, but we have to trust that. And that's also, I think, why it's important for those of us who are on the journey to share about it, because we're further ahead than someone else, someone's further ahead than us. And when we can see what's there, we know like, okay, if that was possible for that person, that's possible. For me. It's the awesome book. I highly recommend it. It's one of those he writes in a very fabley sort of way. But it's just a story that you read. I've read it a number of times because when I read it, I get to the space of it doesn't matter what you're doing. It's where you're coming from in doing that, and you get to choose that. And that's what I talk about. You get to choose again and again. You choose and stuff will happen that you stuff up or you miss it or you eat the wrong thing. And it's like, well, do I just throw the baby out with the bathwater or do I just like, that was a blip?

[00:35:36.670] - Helen Reynolds

Oh, man, if I had to throw the baby out with the bathwater with every blip, oh, my gosh, I have blips daily!

[00:35:46.430] - Jen Petrie

But it's a learning, right? Because we get to choose whether it's a blip or whether it's a mountain and it's going to stop us. And it's sort of a dead end. And we turn around, we go back and there's a learning in that as a kid or a teenager, how many times did you not do something or as an adult because you thought about, oh, my gosh, what are the consequences? And gradually you learn, oh, that's like, it's not such a big deal. I did a master class recently and I was talking about becoming energized and was from exhausted to energize and expired. And I turned up on the first day and had a massive coldsore on my face. And I literally said to people, I could have not done this. I could have made up every excuse in the book as to why we can't do it. We have to postpone it. Or I could be like, I've got two coldsores on my face and it's not great, but they're there. And let's just go with it. And there's part of being able to share that that had other people go. One, I didn't notice or two, I saw that, but I didn't worry about it.

[00:36:44.560] - Jen Petrie

I'm like, exactly, we get in our own heads about it and it's just we choose, right? Whether it's the blip or whether it's the dead end of the mountain or we get to choose that. So choose wisely, be kind to yourself. Right.

[00:36:59.070] - Helen Reynolds

So you're talking about passion just before, you know, wouldn't it be nice if we all lived in our heart space and followed our passion? I think there's a slight trap in passion in that we can start following our passion and then migrate back up into our heads and suddenly we become very driven to make this passion work. And I call it passion without compassion. [00:37:25.490] - Jen PetrieYeah.

[00:37:26.280] - Helen Reynolds

It's on my blog, but I just thought to me, when we move into the heart space down from the head or we align the head and the heart, which is actually a more accurate way to say it, it's not like we do it once and then we're following our passion and life is roses, unfortunately.

[00:37:49.210] - Jen Petrie

No.

[00:37:53.610] - Helen Reynolds

It's a repeating choice, isn't it? I call them micro commitments, a little commitment followed by little commitment, tiny weeny little commitment, tiny little. They all seem totally and completely insignificant, but they add up into something that's life changing.

[00:38:11.250] - Jen Petrie

Absolutely. And I guess a good example of that that's quite tangible for people to see is anyone who decides they're going to exercise knows the first and second day you start a new exercise thing. It is horrible, right? So I'm a swimmer. I know you are as well. And I don't swim during winter, but I know the first time I get back in summer, I hate it. It is horrible. It feels horrible. I feel heavy. It's hard, and I just don't like it. But I do it because I know if I keep doing it and I do it by the time I get to the third or fourth day, I'm like, okay, I'm starting to feel into this now. But you keep choosing, right? I keep making the choice because I know at the end I end up where I want to be. But it's just that choice again and again, and it gets easier to lean into, but it is choosing it again and again for what's there. And I use examples like that that are easy for myself. And I'm like, do I want to choose this? Well, what's the outcome you want? Do you want that outcome?

[00:39:09.650] - Jen Petrie

Keep choosing. But I think those micro commitments are really important because they do they add up to the big things, but we got to just start with the little things and then we end up add up makes a huge difference.

[00:39:24.120] - Helen Reynolds

It kind of reminds me of you talking about your first meditation. So years ago in my journey, which I won't share now, but just this tiny little part. So Eckart Tolle was a savior for me in many ways. And I would put him on in the car on a CD.

[00:39:43.840] - Jen Petrie

The olden days.

[00:39:46.490] - Helen Reynolds

Yeah, in the olden days. Let's go back to tapes. But anyway, just to CD's, and he saved me going to work and coming home from work anyway, I clearly remember him saying, if you don't like meditation, don't worry about it. Just take a moment here and a moment there and a moment just like you said, Jen, and they all add up. He said they're cumulative. It's not a once off. I remember thinking, really? That's awesome.

[00:40:20.750] - Jen Petrie

I could just do 2 seconds and then another 2 seconds time, and eventually I'll get a minute.

[00:40:25.890] - Helen Reynolds

Yeah, that's right. And that is how I started meditating. He changed my life with that one idea, and I think it's never left me. That whole idea that this is a journey, it's the micro commitments, and it brings us really nicely to the last thing that we were going to talk about, which is balance. So your final words, Jen, on balance, which is essentially what we're talking about. But you might have some lasting wisdom for us. No pressure.

[00:41:01.670] - Jen Petrie

Exactly. No pressure. Right. So balance is a really interesting thing, I think, because ultimately that's what we're all striving for in life. Right. Or maybe we're not striving for the balance, but it's part of what we want in living and feeling fulfilled in life is having this balance. And I don't think it's a matter of breaking it down and going, okay, well, there's ten different compartments, and I've got this family and I've got this work, and it's like everything has to be 10%. I don't think it's about that because that's going to feel very differently for all of us, for different things, and we're going to lean into things. So I think balance is more about like, we've been speaking about feeling into things and what do I feel like I need to be doing now? Great. Go and do that. What do I feel like I need to be doing later? What do I feel like would be helpful to step in and do? And the other perspective to balance, which I think is really important, and it's certainly something that I talk about in a lot of things is this idea of action and then space.

[00:42:11.920] - Jen Petrie

Right. Whether it's passive, it's a bit of the masculine, feminine energy. Right. The masculine, the heady, the forcing, sort of. Yes, there's certain things that we need to take action, but there's also that very feminine feeling. And I guess it's important just to identify at the moment, just for people who aren't aware that masculine, everyone, whether you're male or female, gender or you identify something else. We all have masculine and feminine energy, and we all work with them. If you're a male, you only have masculine. If you're feminine, you only have feminine energy. We have them. And it's this balance. And I think it's really important to look at all of life this way. Right. If we're doing we were talking about meditation and space before, and just how many times do you get in the shower and you're like, oh, I've got this great idea because the mind is like, oh, my gosh, this space. I don't have to think about something. But then there's times where you're like, okay, I need to think of the strategy now. I need to think about this. So it needs to be doing things. It's why we talk about Alzheimer's and things.

[00:43:13.900] - Jen Petrie

And people need to be doing crosswords or Sudoku's or something to activate their minds. And I think it's the same thing with the food thing as well. Like, yes, there's certain things that I have to go and do, and then what just feels right. It doesn't have to be just the space. So for me, the balance is really this really lovely flow. And when we're kind to ourselves and we're on this journey as opposed to picking up a backpack and like, let's get as quickly as we can to the top of this Hill. Right. We're not going to get there any quicker. We might as well enjoy the journey, and we may as well accept that we're growing and evolving on the journey. And when we come from that space of like, you know what? I really want to enjoy the journey, and I'm aware that I'm learning things as we go. It's a completely different space. And then balanced becomes, what do I feel like I need to do now? So it ties back into that, as you were talking about before, that heart energy and that feeling like, what is it? And sometimes we have responsibilities.

[00:44:19.640] - Jen Petrie

We have to go to work or we have children or small people or elderly people. We're responsible for them. Right. So there's times where we do have to do that and take action. And again, that's part of the journey. And it's a choice because we always have the choice. And I know that morally, yes, we have to do that. But there's people who don't for whatever reason. So it comes back to being the choice. And are you going to choose it from? Like, I'm enjoying it and I'm going to enjoy it. And now I'm just having time for this, and now I'm just going to have time for that. Now I'm going to balance doing food prep one day a week or one afternoon a week so that I can just go in and that's easy. And it supports me into flowing like, I feel like this now and I don't have to put that energy. So it's working. Those masculine, feminine, active, passive, whatever. Those sort of energies, I think are where it is for me, rather than balance in a 50 50 compartmentalized space. Yeah.

[00:45:27.300] - Helen Reynolds

I really like how you point out we can't compartmentalize our life because we just have to be authentic in every aspect of our life. But before I head down that path, because we have a track record for talking for long periods of time, and not everyone has that much time to listen to a podcast. So I just wanted to wrap up by the words that came to me just before that I think really sum up what you're all about, Jen, is curiosity. Of course, I couldn't leave that one out. Acceptance and feeling into where we're at, where each of us is at and listening, listening for the signs. It's been a really nice conversation. Well, you are all of those.

[00:46:21.240] - Jen Petrie

Yeah.

[00:46:22.410] - Helen Reynolds

We didn't deep dive into Nourished Nucleus, but I really think that our conversation embodies a lot of what you're including in Nourished Nucleus.

[00:46:31.010] - Jen Petrie

Absolutely.

[00:46:31.970] - Helen Reynolds

Yeah. I'll have the links on the show notes page for this website. To your social website.

[00:46:40.870] - Jen Petrie

Yes. Thank you for having me have a conversation. It's been great to be able to come from different perspectives and look at things in different ways and be able to bring it all back to the heart space. I really appreciate it. People have enjoyed listening to our conversation

[00:47:51.130] - Helen Reynolds

Yeah. Thanks for coming, Jen onto the More Love Podcast. Well, that's it for this episode of the More Love Podcast. Please tell someone else who wants their power back about the More Love Podcast. They'll be forever grateful that you've helped them reclaim their true state of being. Until we join together again, I wish you all the blessings that wholeheartedness brings bye for now.

Learning to Trust The Universe

Jen's Life changed when she surrendered

Building Connection with The Universe

TRANSCRIPT - Learning to Trust The Universe with Jen Petrie on the More Love Podcast