[Intro] Hello and welcome to my podcast, Empowered to Thrive. I'm your host, Corinne Powell. I'm an intuitive guide and I absolutely love helping people to heal from within so that they can create a life that they love, a life that they enjoy.

We weren't meant to just tolerate and get through life. We were meant to thrive and enjoy the life we're living. Of course, we will have seasons and moments that are difficult and challenging.

And the beauty of it is that we can be supported in those moments. I am here to be an aid and a guide to support you. And I hope that you will enjoy not only today's episode, but some of the past episodes if you haven't heard them yet.

On this podcast, I talk about all things inner wellness. We also sprinkle in some spirituality and parenting because as a mom to three kids, parenting is a big part of my life. I hope that you enjoy the episode and that there's at least one thing you'll pull from it and start to implement into your own life.

If you want to follow me in other ways, you can find me on Instagram, @corinne_changeradically⁠ or on Facebook Change Radically. Would you do me a favor and share this podcast with your friends? If you hear an episode that resonates with you and would you also go ahead and give me a rating and review my podcast? It would mean so much to me and I would appreciate it. 

I hope that you enjoy the episode and that we connect.

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Hi friends. Today's conversation is for any of you that battle and deal with intrusive thoughts. And when I say intrusive thoughts, basically any thought that makes you think you have something to be afraid of, you are less than, any thought that makes you want to shut down, run away, or stop you dead in your tracks.

These are the thoughts that seem to run over and over through our minds, or basically interrupt us in the middle of our day, when we might have felt like we were doing fine, and then comes this thought that stops us and makes us reconsider everything, or It starts to spiral us downward. And the first thing is you don't have to believe every thought you have. In fact, if you believe every thought you have, you will probably live pretty anxious and pretty  depressed because thoughts come and go.

And we can really get curious. Hmm, here's a thought. You may want to look into see why the thought is there.

Sometimes it's not worth giving thought too much time a day, and you restructure what you're thinking. So there couldbe times when I'm walking by someone, and I wonder, what do they think of me? Maybe they think this, maybe they think that, and I start to get pretty critical and judgy and nervous, based on my preconceived ideas, that I'm projecting onto someone. 

For all I know, the person could have thought, I looked beautiful, I was friendly, I was someone who gave off good vibes.

But if my thoughts don't reflect that, I'll start to create a narrative in my head, which is gonna affect my emotional state, which is then will affect the way I’m waling on my day. So, you have power over your thoughts, and your thoughts are not supposed to be dominating you. Granted, there are many times we think certain ways because of our past experiences.

So thoughts are valid, there are reasons why you can get curious around the thoughts you think, and, like I said, you do want to look at them, because they're going to be helpful stepping stones to give you a window into your past, where they may have originated, and you ganna need to know some of the thoughts you regularly think, in order to move foward. As you become aware and know your thoughts, your body sensations, your emotions, that it is helpful in the healing journey. So, first step: start to become aware of the thoughts that run through your mind.

Always be open to whatever physical sensations, and feelings, emotional states that you have. But even if you can't, if you are so disconnected that you just feel like “I don't know what I’m feeling, and no I don't know what's going on in your body”, then begin by becoming aware of the thoughts. 

And as you become aware of the thoughts, let's say that are really disrupting your days, you can do one initial step, its not gonna take care of the root problem, its gonna help you, but you still need to get in touch with your inner child, that echo of your past, and heal the little boy or girl you once were, who needs loving attention. Because he or she endured a lot, and held it all together. 

And, if you feel like your life is crumbling, and you're spiraling out of control, or you're feeling like you're in the middle of, you know, the onset of a breakdown or a mid-life crisis, I want you to know that this type of situation can happen to any of us, and all of us if we have unresolved complex, traumas from childhood and past experiences that we have not yet been able to look at and heal from, then it will interrupt and disrupt our present day. 

And sometimes, yes, to a very severe degree. So, start to grab a hold of the thoughts you have running through your mind, and change them into something that is basically a statement that resonates, you are safe, everything is going to be okay, help is nearby, and you are good enough.

Because there are themes that run through our thoughts, and often these themes are saying the opposite of that, they are telling us, you're not good enough, you don't measure up, something horrific is going to happen to you or someone who you love, life is going to change, and it will never be the way it is righ now, let's say you are in a really good spot, you are happy with your life, there are times that intrusive thoughts come to say something is gonna shift, something is gonna change, something is gonna get disrupetd, tragedy is gonna strike. 

Those thoughts is worth containing those thoughts. Now, like I said, that's not the only piece, if I were just suggesting, “oh, just change that thought, to say, no, nothing bad is going to happen, everything is going to be fine, I'm safe now” if you only do that, you do yourself a disservice because you have that fearful, anxious thought of impeding doom, for a reason, it's rooted somewhere that needs to be looked at, and given love and attention and nurturing, so that you can heal that part of yourself.

Consider for a moment, if you were a little boy, a little girl, who had parents that weren't able to regulate their own emotions, and didn't know how to help you, then you were emotionally neglected, maybe you were physically abused, physically neglected, or any other means of abuse and neglect, but at least emotionally neglected, because so many of us could consider ourselves having grown up in good homes, and yet, emotional neglect is something that is rampant, is going on all over, and it is so undeteced, because it has become something we expect, we are not even aware of what should not be allowed between parents and children, between teachers and children, between adults and children. 

So many things are happening that shouldn't be happening. Kids deserve respect, they deserve attention, they deserve love and care, they should not be considered less than, simply because they are smaller or younger, or an adult thinks they know more than the child.

There is no reason not to give the child a voice, to listen to what they have to say, to care about their feeling states and to help them return to a joyful place, a happy place. So if you were a child at home, with good parents, good enough parents, but there was emotional neglect, then, you may have felt unsafe, life wasn't predictable, you didn't feel safe, you weren't sure that help was on the way, is you had something happening inside you or outside of you that was causing you to panic and feel afraid. 

It's very easy for a child to feel helpless in a situation where an adult can easily see the way out, but if the child remains feeling helpless and the adult doesn't come and help the child see the way out, then that child will carry that helpless feeling and if it happens repeatedly becomes one of those core beliefs.

I don't have what I need. I'm alone. Nobody  is here for me. Nobody comes when I need help. It is very easy to translate our experiences into these beliefs that fuel the way we look at life. They absolutely affect our perspective on life, our interpretation of people's actions, their intentions and our thoughts are able to be traced and give us these windows in to the roots of why.

So my suggestion for restructuring and contaring the intrusive, critical, and fearful thoughts is simply one actionable step. In action to that, it is very important that you are able to heal and give attention to your inner child. That little girl or boy  you were before, because you always lived inside your body.

Your body stores the memory, your psyche knows you have been you're living with these feelings, you're suppressing them or trying to manage them and if you're in a place where it's not working, they're bubbling to the surface and they're coming so often during the day that it's making it hard to get through your days, then reach out.

Let’s schedule a session or reach out to another support system that you have that is going to be loving and knowledgeable and help you get to a place where you are able to heal some of very the unresolved pain. You are worth that. You should enjoy the life you are living.

We're all going to struggle with intrusive thoughts, you know, coming here and there. I think this is part of our human experience. Even this morning, I intended to get work done with a window of time that I had, and in the middle of that window of time, I didn't feel like doing the work, I just started to feel trapped and as if I started to feel this physical fatigue and this feeling of depression, where I don't want to do this, is too big, the tasks that I’m gonna have are going to be overwhelming, they are going to take more time, they are going to take more energy, maybe I’m not gonna know what to do to get it done, and all those thoughts, all those feeling states could have stopped me and made no further progress.

It could’ve made me shut down and run away. It could’ve made me do a host of things, so I felt those feelings, I acknowledged them, I recognized what was going on for myself, and I did pause and I considered - do I want to continue and stick with my original game plan or I want to pivot because it's ok to change your mind, it's ok to change your plans, but sometimes that's not what's necessary, and for me, I felt like you know what? I gave myself a little break and I wanted to jump in and get some of these tasks done, but I'm not going to push myself too hard, I'm getting some tasks done and I'm gonna give myself another break and I'm going to check in again with myself, “Do I feel up for doing more tasks?” 

I’m gonna have kindness on myself and be compassionate and I’m going to be the wise loving adult that my inner child needs, because I bet it is the echo of my past showing up to me today. The little girl that knew how tired she often was because she was doing a lot for her family, for the people around her, because her tendency was to people please , and to make sure everyone else was okay, even if she wasn't, just so she could create a feeling of safety within her world, if everybody else was okay, everybody else was under control, then she could be okay, she could feel safer. 

I want that little girl to know that I'm here for her, I'm supporting her, I'm loving her and taking good care of her, and no, she doesn't have to run herself ragged, she doesn't have to exhaust herself, but I can help her know that she can do some things and take a break and do more things and reevaluate and rest in between those moments and find ways to enjoy her day in between work and that's what I will do.

And that's my suggestion to you, to start to recognize that in this body that you're presently living in there is an echo of your past, There is a younger part of yourself that needs your attention, that needs your compassion, that needs your patience and your love. Will you offer that to your inner child? and I'm always, always, always here for you, reach out if I can help, much love from me. 

[Ending] We’ve come to the end. What did you think about what you heard? I hope that there's something you pull from today's episode and start implementing it into your life.

Create the change that you want to see, the change that you hear about. You have the opportunity to transform your life and I'm ready to link arms with you and to help and guide you to the life that you want to live. 

If you resonated with what you heard today and it touched you, would you share it with your friends? Would you also go ahead and rate my podcast and write a written review? It would mean so much to me. 

I hope that we'll connect whether it's for a session or just to connect because I enjoy meeting new people. You can find me on Instagram, @corinne_changeradically⁠ or on Facebook Change Radically. You can also always email me corinne@changeradically.com. If you have thoughts, questions or anything that you just want to talk about, send me an email. 

I hope that you have a wonderful week. But no matter what your week is like in the moments that are quiet, maybe it's when you pillow your head at night, or when you're driving in the car or taking a walk, or maybe it's going to be in the midst of the chaos with your children or the craziness of work. I hope that you'll remember how significant you are, that there is meaning and value to your life, and that I for one am so glad that you're alive. 

Catch you again next week.