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(SQP-Ep.012 ~ Connecting With the Natural Realms ~ Ana Maria Vasquez)
Editor Note: Minor edits have been made from the original audio recording for easier reading.

(opening intro music begins)

Intro Text: Welcome to the spiritual intelligence podcast, Awakening your inner power with Daniel Martinez Stahl, where we will explore, discover and integrate different aspects of our spiritual and human nature, so that we can all thrive and live life with more grace and ease, instead of struggle. 

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Daniel: So welcome to the Spiritual Intelligence Podcast once again, with me today is Ana Maria Vasquez. She is a friend of mine that I met last year along with Shannon Johnson, whom you guys met at episode seven. Ana Maria is another one of my friends that gets to play with Spirit directly and it's a lot of fun to have conversation with her. Incredibly knowledgeable, incredibly experienced, and one of the things that I find very appealing about her connections is that she is very connected with nature and with animals. So, it's really fun to listen to her talk about that connection and things, the messages that they share and — she just did a show with John Burgos on the Beyond the Ordinary Show (use this URL https://de149.isrefer.com/go/BTOS/akafaccia/ you can find her episode and special offer under Replays), and she talked about messages from rocks, which is amazing, and it reminds me of the conversation that I had with Wyn Morgan, where I talk to him about how everything has a spirit. Even a pane of glass that communicated to him has spirit, and I also mentioned rocks as an example in that episode. So, anyway, enough about my little introduction with Ana Maria. I will let her kind of talk about herself and what she would like to share and then we'll get started.

Ana Maria: Well first of all, thank you for having me, thank you for having a platform where we can have conversations about Spiritual Intelligence. Right? Like, I think we need to be having these more widespread, and it is not often at all that I get to appear with someone who actually says my name correctly. (both begin laughing) Right, like it is a rare day and a lot of the folks in my tribe will write into me like, "It was so hard to hear them slaughter your name." (more laughter) You got it right? We have peeps that are in common, we go back to the homeland together. (Daniel: Yeah, I saw you smiling when I said your name)

Super awesome that way, just, and I do love that we got that Guatemala connection cuz there's the other thing right, like that hardly ever happens, (laughs) so that's exciting, and you know our connection with the Life Between Lives trainings and things to that effect. My wheelhouse, like you said, is nature. Right? Like, I'm your go-to gal for everything to do with the natural realm and what I love about the national realm, when we're talking about Spiritual Intelligence, is the underlying theory of connecting with the natural realm is about that unity consciousness; that were striving to remember, that we were practicing, and we practice underscored a million times because most of us move through our life not without much consciousness, enough so to be able to talk with a rock or a tree, let alone our dogs or our horses. So, using nature and our inherent — because we are nature right? — our inherent connection is a natural springboard for me and for people who resonate with the natural world, for us to remember that connection and to begin to consciously reconnect.

Daniel: That's beautiful. So, first and foremost. I like to start with the same question to everybody as a, (pause) a launch pad, as a springboard into our conversation, and the question is, how would you define or what does it mean to you that we have inner power?

Ana Maria: Well, for me, that's a really good question first of all, so thank you for that, cuz I love when it starts to move everything. That is the basis of who we are. We're these infinite beings, with infinite power, embodied in this human form. And so to have that inner basis, being about our inner power, right? Like, so often, we put ourselves down, "oh, we're just human." Oh my goodness, there are entities throughout the multiverse (Daniel laughs) that envy us because of our actual human make up. We have something that's very rare in this embodiment and so, to be in the space where we're dismissing our humanness, it is essentially dismissing our own power. And that inner power is the basis of what compels us and moves us through this life.

And I see it, like visually see it, as our light. The light that is lighting us up and animating us, so the energetics of that. And when we remember, that at our core, we are that infinite power, that changes the whole game. That allows us to come at everyday stuff in a whole new way. And when we can remember that inner power, even when it feels elusive, that's when we're able to shift it, right? Cuz we can move through our day and one thing after another will start to feel like an assault, right? Like a barrage of assaults and we can barely get through this crazy, you know, obstacle course that happens, even within a few hours in the day.

But when we can, instead of seeing and being in the resistance of everything that's showing up, when we can look at it as an energy tracker, right? Like this is the energy that's up, let's look at this. What is this reflecting to me? And I get that when we're in the middle of it, we don't go there right away. But our practices — whatever they are, right? — like there's a whole spectrum of practices that bring mindfulness and bring us back to our center, and sometimes the awareness doesn't come until after-the-fact. That's okay, cuz awareness anywhere brings up awareness everywhere.

So, when we can start to see what else might be possible here besides, you know, my normal triggers or whatever it is. Or what are my normal triggers trying to reflect back to me? We can be with whatever shows up in our life in a different way, if we choose. We can also choose to just be reactive to everything and there's no judgement there, (chuckles) right? Like we've got the choice. But I've done both ways and I found that I am more effective when I come from a place of responding instead of reacting, and my connection and my practice with the natural realm has created a well-worn path for me that when shit shows up, I know to start asking some questions. Especially, if I [don't] want to go into reaction, right? Cuz again, I'm embodied in this human form, and my wiring here can dictate, and the density here can dictate somethings, and some days I am more adept than the others, but every time it brings about a choice point. And when we lean into those choice points, we can start to shape-shift our life. And I feel like the natural realm is just a really good reminder, as well as a portal, into that shape-shifting.

Daniel: Hm, lovely. A lot of things that you said really kind of caught my interest, and I want to go in a number of different directions, but I would love to start with something you said that I found really fascinating, which was that aspect of what we are capable of as humans and what we're not recognizing in our humanity. That aspect that you mentioned, other beings in the universe are envious or admire, I don't know if envious is the right word but admire our experience here on Earth, in a human body, and I would love for you to speak more about that.

Ana Maria: Yeah, this, you know, again, it so, we're so conditioned to make ourselves wrong and so we will make ourselves wrong for emotional reactions that we have and when those emotions come up, to me, they are like vibrational positioning systems for us. There's actually gold in there. Because the emotions are energy in motion and so they're showing us what's coming up, and it's not coming up to be like, "see how you suck? You're still dealing with this, right? Like, you still got that issue." We think that, so we get distracted and we go down and tell that story, we beat that drum, and then we end up creating more of the same.

Because the energy is so potent, and the energy doesn't care. Whatever you want to create, it's a yes universe. So, if you want to create more of the same, more power to you. Right? Like the universal will let us wallow in our stuff as long as we want to, like there's no hurry. So we've got that opportunity and then it comes down to how much tolerance do we have for our own nonsense and how much tolerance do we have for playing out the same story? Maybe with a different cast of characters, a little twist and turns here, but it's the same stuff. So, when we use those emotions that come up, again, some of us are very outwardly emotive. That's me, I do not have a poker face, and everybody knows exactly where I stand on something at the moment, and that's fine. That doesn't matter, and there are some folks who are more internal processors.

And so, the important part is that we look at it, right? Whether we're going to be in a reaction or not. That's a whole other level of the whole piece, but how are we going to be with what shows up? Because that's going to dictate how much success we have in creating and landing in our inner peace, but also in the bigger game of manifesting and creating our life, right? Like, this combination that we have of our emotional body, with our energetic body, coupled with our physical body creates like this sweet spot where we can — to infinity and beyond, right? Like, the potential is just limitless. But we get stuck in the small stories that we're conditioned with, from our families, from our friends, from our upbringing, from religion, from all of these things that have us dismiss ourselves and our inner power.

Instead of leaning in and saying, "What else is possible here?" And again, using the emotions. We are so good at trying to keep a lid on things or to "love and light" over it, right? Like that's a big thing in the spiritual community, "Well, I'm just going to love and light everything." Well, everything is not rainbows and unicorns, and there are other energies out there, and we have to have that emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence to show up and interact with it. But we are not a victim, right? Like, a lot of times we spend our lives just trying to dodge the energy. Instead of getting grounded, and almost like a Qigong or Tai-chi exercise, grabbing the ball of energy. It doesn't matter if it was a whole vibration being shot at you, or you called it in or whatever, we've got the opportunity to redirect that energy and learn how to ride these waves in a different way. So that, when the emotions come up, they don't take us out. We can be with them in a different way, and they can actually inform our lives and what we're creating in a different way.

Daniel: Hm, love that. One thing that I'd like to kind of add in my own two cents, is — and again, this is from my limited perspective in connection with the universe — but one of the things that I absolutely love about deepening my own understanding of what it means to be Spirit within the human body is, and I've mentioned this before in other episodes, but it's really that appreciation of the human experience, it's the appreciation of the fact that we have the capacity to feel loss and we have the capacity to feel incredible joy. Our human body has this immense, incredible variety of options for us to play with and feel, in a physical form. And I don't know how we compare to other beings, into other universes, and I've heard from a number of sources that Earth is a very difficult learning platform, and that very committed spirits are the ones that tend to come here because of that.

So I love the idea of appreciating our humanity. I love the idea of empowering our human body with that gratitude, for being such an incredible vehicle. Not only our individual body that we chose specifically because of its characteristics, but also the general human form because of what it offers us. It's just a, it's a beautiful thing that I enjoy reflecting on, and I just wanted to kind of add my two cents on that.

Ana Maria: Yeah, the physical body, the physical form, it's tough because of the denseness here, right?, and how much we forgot, the amnesia that we experience when we're here, versus in other realms where we — the quickness of our thoughts manifest in a different way. Thank goodness, right? That our thoughts don't manifest (begins to chuckle) as quickly in this dimension, as quickly as our synapses are processing, we would probably be in a lot of trouble. (Daniel begins to laugh) But there is also this beauty to the whole, I mean, these physical bodies are such amazing divination tools, right? Like this talks — goes back along the lines of the unity consciousness and everything being a reflection back to us.

When I stopped fighting my body every time it had something to say and trying to make it raw, my body shifted. Right? Like the weight wasn't there any more, the weird aches and pains, the weird things that had me on a bag full of medicines shifted. When I stopped trying to shut my body up, when it had something to say to me. Right? Like I had this whole lifetime of experiences that were stored in my body, but I didn't want to hear about it, right? I didn't want to hear what it had to say, I thought, "why can't I just move on?" And until I started to make the connection between the two, again, shifting the inner world, began to shift the outer world.

Because, this outer world, whatever is showing up in the 3D, whether it be your body, your animal's health or behavior, or just the external happenings and situations, that all is reacting to stuff from the past. Right? Like it takes a little more time for the 3D to catch up with the energetics. So, as we begin to learn more and go into our own expansion, and remembering this, we can get frustrated because it's like, "I get it, I get it, I get it, but my knee still hurts, or my back keeps going out." And it's that thing where, these aspects aren't going to shut up until we really hear them, and not just hear them, but when we move from realization, "oh, my lower back is giving me issues," this is correlated metaphysically to not feeling support, right? And whether it's financial support, emotional support, whatever. Instead of me saying, "yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't feel supported," into the actualization of "Oh, I see how that plays into my old stories," and we have that real shift, right from the head knowledge down in the heart, actualization and realizing it.

Then we can shift things in our body really quickly. Right? Like, my partner is always amazed. He's like, "you know, your body is will be telling you things and you are able to shift it, pretty quickly, you don't stay in any one state." But it's because I'm not owning those things. Right? Like, "Oh, my head is telling me something, it's showing up as a headache," but I don't have to own that and stay with that. I can start to look at the connections, "oh, there's some self-critical energy going on here," or I'm trying to do too many things, whatever it might be, but we can see it shift it and move on, and we don't have to keep that going and it's amazing, right? Like, life wants to live our bodies, wants to come back into balance, and when we give them what they need, not just from a nutritional standpoint but also from an energetic standpoint, things can shift in the body and make a huge difference in our everyday experience.

Daniel: Yeah, I mean one of the things that I was thinking about as you were speaking is, not everybody's going to have the association of what different parts of the body are trying to tell us, and so what I would suggest is to quiet your mind and allow yourself to just rest. Because a lot of times the story is — whatever the story may be, wherever it may come from, the energy of that story is what's getting caught up in the body and the body knows how to heal itself, if we give it that space. And for us to give it that space, 99.9 if not hundred percent of the time, it's just quieting the mind and allowing the mind to settle, and allowing the body to find its own power. From that space of nothingness, from that space of void, from the openness of the mind, the body will do incredible things.

Ana Maria: Yeah, that's brilliant, wise words. Because we don't — I mean, it's on one hand, it feels like, "Oh my gosh, a whole new other thing I've gotta learn now." Right? No! We have access to all of this wisdom, but we have to shut up for a little bit and get still, right? Like the trees will say that all the time, "you humans, you spend so much time asking for everything, 'give me a sign for this, give me a sign for that, tell me what to do here.'" But we spend very little time listening. Right? Like, and it's just that: getting quiet, getting still and listening. Because that higher guidance, it is that still, small voice. It's not the one yelling in your face, "pick me, pick me, pick me." It's the subtle that gets run over by all the other noise. Right? In our synthetic modern world, we are barraged with so much that we didn't have to deal with when we lived in the forest. Right? And so, it does get harder to hear the inner voice. But it's not impossible, and small mindfulness practices, like getting quiet and seeing, "what does this have to tell me?" We already know. We already have all the answers in us, we are amazing. We just dismiss that wisdom because we're used to it. We're used to doing it. It's a bad habit we have as humans.

Daniel: So, one thing that is related to this, but changing paths a little bit, is something else that you said in your introduction that caught my interest, and it made me think about how not all of us are as open or as aware to be able to decipher and recognize messages from our animals and from nature, and I'll put myself into that category. And I'll tell you that what I'm doing, is, I'm playing with the messages that I get in my head that previously I would have thought, "that's just me speaking," and I'll give you an example.

So, I think it was a conversation with Shannon actually, where I was talking about the fact that I don't speak to gems because the the gems and semi-precious stones — and I have a couple that that kind of follow me along in my conversations with you guys, it's a tiger eye with hematite, which is kind of my heart stone, and then a purple beautiful stone whose name I can't remember that is supposed to help with connections with the spirit world. So, these guys like to join us in these conversations and I keep them beside me — and I was talking with Shannon about how I don't have this conversation with them, like they don't speak to me.

But then I started kind of saying, "well, why not? I mean why don't I?" And I'll be walking by — I've got my stones up on a shelf, up on this side beside me on the right — and I'll be walking by as I prepare for these calls and I'll just get a thought, "oh, I should include Amethyst in this conversation," and so now instead of saying I get the thought of "I should include Amethyst in this conversation," I'm telling myself "Amethyst is telling me that it wants to be, it wants to play in this conversation." So, the inner dialogue in my head about the thought before language, because I end up converting thought into language as I interpret it. The thought before language was very clear, amethyst wants to play, but I can interpret that either as "oh, I should include amethyst, naaah," I'll put or you know, "why would I bother?" Or I can recognize that that thought came to me because Amethyst is reaching out.

And so this is what I do also with plants and with animals and — when I see an animal that comes into my awareness, they fly into my space, into my consciousness, I saw two spiders yesterday. So, I thought "how cool, spiders are trying to tell me something," because I don't normally see spiders every single day. So, why am I seeing them today and so I'm beginning to kind of open up the possibility that this isn't happening by chance. This isn't happening completely randomly, that I just happened to see two spiders yesterday. So, this is kind of what me, little layman person that doesn't connect with Spirit, is doing to open up my experience a little bit more broadly. To allow nature and the energies of the different beings and creatures and things and forms, to have a more easy platform of communication with me. And so this is the little bits that I'm doing to help them communicate better with me. And I like to share that with you guys because I am like you, I don't connect with Spirit, I don't connect with things and part of — like I mentioned in the last episode — part of what I want to do is share with you guys my journey as I do learn how to connect more and start connecting more. So, I would love to get your thoughts on that.

Ana Maria: Well, I think you are brilliant and right on track with all of that. And here's the thing, right? Like, we — there's several different pieces that I want to make sure that I mention here. The first thing is there was an actual process of disconnecting us as humans from our natural abilities, right? And then it turned it into only people who are gifted can do this, that or the other. Well that's all absolute nonsense. We're all absolutely wired, at a biological level and an energetic level, for us to be in communication, in two-way communication, not just like, "oh, I feel this energy," but a two-way dialogue. It's part of our intuitive development cycle, and we're starting to remember that more and more. But there was a systemic oppression of any of the non-linear senses, right? Like, I mean absolute genocide in Indigenous tribes where you get rid of the dreamers, you get rid of the one who were connected, and you shut them off and everyone else will start to forget.

Well, look at our society. We have forgot. We have absolutely forgotten this inherent connection that we have, and what I hear from a lot of my students, especially when they go through my certification program, they are like, "I was already doing it, but I didn't believe it and I didn't trust it," and the way that it happens for us naturally, it feels so easy that it's like "that couldn't possibly be it," right? Like we really don't have a point of reference and I want to tell you guys this hawk, a beautiful hawk, just swooped down into the field as we were talking here. I don't think he met his mark, but he came back up, and hawk is about getting a different perspective on things. And, so I'm honoring him and thanking him for helping us really drive home that point about our perspective.

And so, what I like to focus on with people is figuring out and tuning in to how the energy flows through us. And exactly what you were doing there. You started to change your conversation about it. Right? Instead of, "oh this is just me thinking about this, this may be this other energy tapping me on the shoulder and this is the way that I interpreted it. Because the way that it's happening, like mechanically, is your subconscious mind is triggered so you'll get a smell, a feeling, a color, a sensation, maybe an image, it's not necessarily words, but it's all this other stuff and then when we're in balance, that linear part, the analytical mind, comes in to help us connect the dots, and be like "oh, yeah, this is what I associate with that," and we can start to interpret it.

But what happens when we are out of balance and we are disconnected from the head and heart, when we're forgetting who we truly be, at the deepest level, what happens is all those images come in and the other side of the brain acts like the gestapo and they are like, "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT INFORMATION??? Sight your source!!! And show me your papers!!!" And the intuitive mind goes screaming in the other direction, like, "Oh my God, why is he so mean?" and we don't get anywhere right and then we're like, we've got all these excuses and dismissal of all of that, and what you were saying earlier about just listening, right?

Like there's a million books on everything, if you want to know the metaphysical properties associated with a bear, with a hawk, with a rock, with a tree, with your left shoulder, right? Like, it's all out there. But what's more potent than running to a book, just like with our dream work that we do, our astral work, is what does it mean to you? Did that feel heavy, did that feel light? You know, there's different things that you know — what do spiders mean to me? Because it's your subconscious mind that's making the connection, right? Cuz you saw the two spiders and things had to line up in a particular way for you to see them and for them to be in your awareness. And so, when we see things that are not common, right? Like a big hawk swooping down right in the middle us of talking. There's something else going on.

I almost see it like, you know like in a Disney movie, "cue the bunny," and then the bunny comes around, right? And so we can look at the universe or our higher self as like trying, "we cued 17 bunnies, the squirrel and a deer today, (Daniel laughs) and you still are saying, 'show me a sign.'" Right? So, it's this piece about leaning in, that maybe there is more going on than meets the eye, and maybe he could remember these pieces some more, and it's little tiny shifts. Right? We start to lean into it because you — maybe the way that you connect with Spirit doesn't look like how Shannon does it or how I do it or how whoever else does it. But you're clearly doing it because look at the work you're doing, right? Like, that doesn't happen to someone who doesn't have a connection. But most of the training that we've had in our upbringing, and then moving through our adulthood, is about survival by staying disconnected. Instead of staying connected, and so we kind of have to re-learn it in a different way and see how living through that connected space and that open heart really serves us. Instead of being afraid that it's going to be too painful to be the weirdo who's got, you know, their heart wide open. (chuckles) 

Daniel: Yeah, I think that's a very important point that I'd like to emphasize because — and again, I'll use myself as an example — I have always been open to spirituality, I've always been aware of my connection with myself and I don't hear voices yet, I don't see images yet, I don't get feelings and I don't want to say yet and that one because feelings is, is my, the hardest thing for me, to feel. I'm a more intellectual, analytical, processor and I see and I hear and I touch but feeling emotions that's my that's kind of the challenge for me. But I say this because I also see myself as being just like everybody else. And I love what you say about how, if you look at my journey it's hard to say that I'm not connected with Spirit. Because it's true, I've always been connected with Spirit, and all of us are connected with Spirit we just don't recognize it.

We don't give it either attention or importance or we've taught ourselves not to recognize it. So, it's an invitation for you to look at your life and see how your inner wisdom has already touched you. That inner wisdom is Spirit. The Three Principles community calls it Mind, the greater Mind with a capital M, which is what I referred to as the Intelligence of Life, the Energy of Life. Our inner wisdom is a spiritual intelligence, that's communicating to us and through us. And all of us have this, on a daily basis, and the more that we start to recognize it, the more that we train that muscle to recognize it and to work with it, and to align with it, and to allow it to, to really work with our decisions and the directions that we are making. So that we're working in line with our higher self, as opposed to resisting the energies of life that are constantly trying to help us. Where we innocently resist them and make more difficulty, and more suffering, and more mental anguish than necessary. So, beautiful. Love you for, for recognizing that and for allowing me to recognize the truth in what you said, and I wanted to share that with you all because of that.

Ana Maria:  Yeah, that was just. such an authentic share in there and the piece for us about this disconnect from the emotion, right especially those of us who feel too much. I mean, I know for me when I didn't understand the mechanics, I didn't understand the gift in it, it just felt like I was over sensitive. Right? And my parents would agree, (laughs) people that had been around me would agree, "God, she's so sensitive to everything," like, "watch out, she's either going to cry or yell, there's nothing in between." And so, you feel like "uggh, I don't want to feel more emotions, I don't even know what to do with these emotions that are here." And so, we turn off our super power. Right? Like, we're just not even going to go there, we're just going to say in the head and we have plenty of collective agreement that that's the way to do it.

And as people who are sensitive, or you can say empaths, you can say high-sensitive, whatever lingo you want to use. It doesn't really matter. It's all the same stuff. But those, when we feel like, "uggh, I don't want to go any deeper because I already can't understand this and I don't know how to be with it. That's just energy management. It's actually mind management. So the people who are really heady, actually like working with me because even though I'm like talk-to-a-rock kind of girl, I'm able to explain the mechanics. What's happening here and how can you work with it so that you're not being bowled over by it all the time. But that you can come back to your center, and now, you know, after learning how to reconnect and what I call creating a well-worn path, right? Into where I need to go. If I go too long in a day without something really magical happening, I know I'm off. I'm off my game and I better get out to the woods, like right away or play with the dog or go sit with chickens or do something, because I'm off. I'm not on.

Because life happens very differently when you stay connected, versus the decades that I tried to disconnect.Through a myriad of things, right? Which is what most sane people will do. It's not just one addiction, it's dabbling in all of them so that it looks socially acceptable, but we're constantly trying to numb or shut down things, turn it down or just feel like, "uggh, let me tune out." Instead of doing what feels the polar opposite, tuning in deeply and being there. When we come across those strong emotions, like we're afraid, but if we sit with them and we talk to them, it's only a 90-second experience. Versus the decade that we can do, wrestling to stay away from something, right?

Every day being on the verge of tears because we just don't want to look at that. Versus, "Ok, oh my god, like immense grief is up for me right now, I feel it in my throat, I feel it in my chest, where do I first remember? Oh my gosh, the wounded child. What can I bring here? Some love, some understanding," and I can move on and move through my day without being all hung up in that, and having that bleed all over everything that I touch the rest of the day. It's counterintuitive to the way that we're taught, but it provides a sense of emotional freedom and an ability to really feel the subtleties of all of the energies, and it's a much richer experience.

Like, I love this embodiment from like a Zorba the Buddha kind of aspect, right? Like, coming from it, all that we can feel, taste, touch, sense, immerse ourselves in, again, to feel the loss, to feel the high highs. It's intoxicating on its own, right? Without even adding any of the other stuff, but we can because it's all here and it's all part of the experience. But, when we cut ourselves off, to any of it, we feel that contraction deeply, and we can feel that we're not in that expansion, and we got choices. It feels like, and we talk ourselves into the fact that maybe we don't, but that's not true at all. In an infinite universe, when you are in the quantum field, every possibility exists. Until we collapse down on something, on whatever it is.

As humans, we're really good at "what don't I want? That's what I'm going to collapse down on and talk about, and beat the drum of, and da, da, da, da, da," and then I'm going to spend five minutes a day doing affirmations and then wonder why nothing has changed, because the other twenty-three-and-three-quarters hours I spend beating the drum of everything I don't want, what I don't like, and what the hell is wrong. And I spent five minutes about, "oh, I'm love, I'm light, I'm abundance," and the universe is like, "oh that's nice, (Daniel laughs) but we heard more of you're not worthy, you're not worthy, you're not worthy." (Ana Maria laughs too)

Daniel: Yeah, so there's a couple things that I want to talk about here. I want to start with one and see if I remember, or if it comes back the second one. But something you said, which I think is really helpful for the listeners to recognize as well is, and I know that some of my listeners are part of the Three Principles community and some of them are not, and of course you're always, all of you are welcome, this is really designed for everybody. But, for those of you that are not familiar with the Three Principles, you've heard me talk about them before, and the way in which Ana was just talking about, the way that I would interpret that from a Three Principles reference point is that when we experience our emotions and when our stories come up, the old psychological approach of trying to figure it out is to go back to the past and trying, and figure out, and associate where it comes from.

An understanding of how the mind works, allows us the freedom to not have to do that. I don't have to go back to the past to figure out, "oh, it's when my father beat the shit out of me when I was 7 years old in the back of a car in that made this," and I don't need to do that, and in fact, I don't want to do that, And I'll encourage you to, as much as possible, just be present in the moment, recognize that it's some old story that's creating this, allow yourself to be present with it, and to be okay with it, and it will pass. It will shift and it will heal the past, without having to go back. And Ana is nodding her head profusely, as I'm speaking, so I wanted to highlight that because — and I know that a lot of us, myself included, I mean I'm trained psychotherapist, I'm trained hypnotherapist, I'm trained NLP Trainer, I mean I'm in that world of change work, and of manipulating our thoughts and of adjusting our thoughts and conforming to different behaviors and all of that nonsense.

And what's really important to recognize is being present in the moment with whatever is coming up, and being okay with it. Listening as Ana was saying, listening to whatever that's trying to tell us. And sorry Ana Marie I just called you Ana. (Ana Maria: yeah, no worries) And so, as Ana Maria was saying allowing our body to communicate with us, and it might be that we get a flash of something that happened in the past, but we don't have to look for it, we don't have to go into it, we don't have to identify with it, we don't have to continue living it and re-experiencing it. It's just allowing it to be and being in peace with it, will allow it to heal. And it will heal all of our stories, when we let go of, when we let go of our grasp on trying to sort it out, or on trying to figure it out. When we just allow it to be, allow the energy of life to flow, as it's designed to flow, it will heal itself. Because that's how we're designed. So that's one thing that I wanted to mention. I don't know if you wanted to come talk to that a little bit or...(Ana Maria: Amen) Amen (both being laughing) Okay so the other thing I wanted to...

Ana Maria: And especially because, we were, most of us were brought up where the only thing is, you know, the going back to the baggage and stirring it all up again, and we could vomit because we're so tired of telling the story, even though we're really good at telling the story and we tell it all day long. But we got some other options and because of the plasticity of our brains, because of the fact that again life wants to live and thrive, we got other ways we can do it where we don't have to go back into the same old story, right? Like we, and it's better if we don't. If we see it, whatever it is, as something that we're observing over here and then we've got some choices right? (Daniel: yeah) Like that observer's standpoint, and it can shift so quickly, and again, it's not coming up because we suck, or to point out how much work we haven't done. It comes up because we have an opportunity, and a new level of awareness in our lives and in our psyche, that we can offer some wisdom to it.

But instead we get triggered, we go into the old thing, we go into the contraction. Cuz, every day, we're moving through life, we're moving through life, energy hits, we have an opportunity to process it. If it's high-vibrational and it makes us happy, we don't question it. Right? Like we go with it, we're so excited, and then the next one hits and it doesn't feel quite as good, and we're in resistance. And what we want to do is we try and make it smaller, right? And so, we get all tight and contracted around it. But what, again counterintuitive, but what we are being asked instead is to expand. To let it be able to flow through. We think we gotta do something, manage it, blah-blah-blah-blah-blha-blah, you know, magic words, whatever, but it's about being with everything in a different way. And when we practice that within us, it overflows to [our relationship] with others, with animals, with people, with nature, and the other show up changes, right? Like, how animals behave around me is different than people who are in fear around animals. Right? And so, it's the same thing in relationships. If I'm not looking for where this person's going to poke me in the sore spot, right? I'm going to have a very different experience than the person that's waiting to have a fight with everybody.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah, very true. And as I thought would happen the second thing I want to talk about has kind of left my mind. If it comes back, it will come back. So I'm conscious of the time we've got about 15 minutes left give or take, and I know and I apologize to my listeners this might be a little bit longer. But we'll see, we'll see where this goes. I would love to, if there's nothing else that's coming up that you would like to share, and it's perfectly okay if it is, and then we'll just go in that direction. But I would love to invite Spirit to speak through you and to share some things with us if that's something that feels right for you.

Ana Maria: Absolutely. I've been actually kind of listening in the background and this piece about connecting to the natural world, right? To, you know, stay in that heart space, to remember the unity consciousness, to receive guidance even, is that piece about being open, and realizing that we're, again, how much time we spend in resistance. Even when 

we go out, like, "I'm going to go outside and sit in the woods and have a meditation," but we're very linear in our thinking mind, on the way out we're just trouncing over everything, we're not even thinking about the fact that we're walking on the ground, light-force energy, that everything is sacred, right? We're like, very destination minded.

And so, I wanted to ask the natural realm some different, you know, what are some aspects that are trying to come through that they would like to share, some pieces. Because to me, the biggest thing about connecting with the natural world, is about that remembering. But the remembering of a different rhythm and a different flow, right? That goes with the seasons. Even throughout the day, the flow is different, and at each of the seasonal marking points, right? Like at the time of Winter Solstice, or Summer Solstice, or the Fall Equinox, or the Spring Equinox, the Earth herself is giving off a vibration that's been measured and it's actually, you know like they give you the time of the equinox or the solstice, at that time, this new emission of information is instructing everything, right?

So we're coming to the end of summer, we're going to be coming into that Autumn Equinox and at that point, the Earth has infused a new vibration that shifts, from being in full expression, into going into, like the harvest time, going into the dying off time really. And so, we're shown these different rhythms that we can be in sync with, versus our modern-day rhythms, which is, you know, fake light, cuz we're up at all strange hours, you know, an alarm clock waking up, fake temperatures and air, right? Like, all of these things that go against our natural rhythms, and it's not that we have to be in the same rhythm of sun-up, sun-down, but following our own natural rhythm, right? For some people, they're night owls, and some people like, I'm very solar powered, as soon as the sun goes down, I like, "It's time to go to bed," and as soon as it starting to think about coming up, I'm like, "yay, let's do this day." But we have to each know, what our rhythm is and what's going on.

So, as I was asking the natural world, "what do you want to bring through," the first aspect that came through is actually an insect. And when I work with insect energy, it's about our sensitivities, you know, cuz insects move through the world, they feeling their way through things. They're very different, right? Like, what a fly or what someone else is seeing is very different, then how a bear is or how we're seeing the world. And so when we have an insect that comes in, we're immediately focused on our sensitivities or what I call our intuitive energy channels. So, we've got bumblebee that came through, right away, and bumblebee is talking about — let me backup for a second.

When engineer's look at bumble bees, they don't make sense, right? Like this fat little body with these tiny little wings, it shouldn't fly. It doesn't make any sense. Like we can't build aircraft (Daniel is laughing) to mimic that because it wouldn't work. So, there is inherently some magic in there, right? And then when we follow that message of bee, they go from flower to flower, right? Looking for the pollen, looking for the sweetness in life, and so what bee shares with us is to follow the sweetness in life, to do the seemingly impossible.

So we've got our list of, you know, I got to do this, or I should or whatever, and then you've got the natural realm saying, "what if you followed your bliss?" How would that be different? What if you followed the things that light you up, versus the things that put you into contraction? How would that shift your own rhythm, and what would you be able to produce? You know what those seemingly impossible things in our life that we are told, or we tell ourselves, we can't do. Bumble bee invites us to shift that and turn it on its head, and say I'm going to follow...(bad recording, can't make out the word). So, especially those of us that can get stuck in our head, right? Cuz we're like, "uggh, I oughta do it, or I should." Every time we "should" ourselves, we're on the wrong path. And any time I utter the words, "I gotta figure this out," I already know I am in the wrong space, right? Like, it's not about figuring it out. So, I need to feel my way through it. What's up? Where's my contraction? What's my point? Where is bumblebee saying, "come on, let's go smell some flowers? Let's go do something that makes us happy."

The next aspect that came in was a stone actually, a rock, and I — you know a lot of people work with crystals, and they are great, but I feel like there is so much information out there on that, so the rocks, you know, are the ones that have been talking to me. And so the difference there, right? A rock is a conglomerate of a whole bunch of different minerals, where a crystal is typically a repeating crystalline structure of one particular mineral, maybe two, but typically a singular mineral.

So, with the rock that came in, what it was is sandstone, and sandstone happens to be — just like everything, right? There's masculine energy and feminine energy, it doesn't mean boy and girl, it's an energy, a particular flavor of an energy. Well trees, rocks and animals, everything has these different, has components of all of it in there, and some, just like humans, display one more than the other. So, sandstone is actually considered a feminine energy kind of rock, and it's by a process of this layering over time. And so, sandstone was coming in and saying we have all these things that happen in our lives, and they create who we are over time, but we use it to make ourselves wrong. Instead of looking at — like the sandstone formations, I mean think about any of them that come to your mind right away, they're stunning works of art. Beautiful in their own right out in nature and then when we take them and work them, and we bring them into our home, or out into our patios, or whatever, it's phenomenal.

So this part of honoring the process we've been through. Again, they're pointing back at that. Get out of our resistance, right? Like, "we don't want to deal with the trauma from when we were a kid or what are partner is triggering in us, or whatever circumstance / situation, but it also doesn't allow us, when we stay in that contraction to really honor and value everything that is made up the tapestry of who we are. And one of the beautiful things about sandstone, being that feminine energy is it allows it to be in a different flow. Right? And when we are in a different flow, we don't, we're not in that contraction that stops. So, this whole piece — and sandstone typically has a lot of water energy involved in it, again, you'll see it in the places river water has deposited things on top of each other, over and over. So, we're asked right away, we're pointed to "Where are we in the flow? Where are we resisting the flow?" And so sandstone can bring in that flow of energy, allow us to have an appreciation and even honor all the aspects that make us and who we're turning into, even. Because we're not static, we're dynamic, we're shifting. The same way, all of the elemental effects are affecting us as well. 

After the stone came in, we had a tree come in right away too, and it was a willow tree. Which is interesting because they're very connected with the water as well. So I love how the elements are sneaking there way in here and they're like "If she's going to talk about rocks and stuff, we're going to get the elements in there." And it's flow, and what do we need more than when we get stuck in our head? It’s to reconnect with that flow. Our brains are phenomenal and they're great, and they can be huge tools to help us but can also be huge stumbling blocks and huge dams, right? Like they put up a stop to the flow that we need. 

So, when the mind is not helping, right? It's creating chaos, it keeps us stuck in the not knowing and second guessing, and being in the fog. Versus, when we got the mind acting as a divine servant to help us connect those dots and understand and have a different perspective. And that willow tree, the one that I'm seeing is like a big, huge, it feels like a grandmother energy actually, of this willow tree, alongside of some water. Asking us, you know, get in that flow more.

Willow tree is also connected to the dream realm, that astral realm. Because when we've got that overactive mind, right? We haven't trained it to, "It's OK, calm down," right? Like, we don't have to react to everything, we can just watch. Even if our mind doesn't know yet, we can work in the dreamtime, where we don't have that conscious mind having to say something all the time. And then, I call it our cosmic committee, they can talk to us easier, they can get messages through. So, that Willow is really inviting us into the dreamtime, and a practical way that I like to work with the dreamtime — cuz again, folks who've got that overactive head, they don't always remember their dreams, right? And so, they're like, "ahghghgahghg (just representing some noises that Ana Maria is making) I haven't had a dream in forever, I don't dream," or "it's all nonsense," or whatever, "I remember it but it doesn't make any sense."

We don't have to have that literal translation but we can ask a question before we go into the dreamtime, and I would connect with, you know, the willow tree and the water, and you know, "I've got some questions." Start with one, like you all — (bad recording, can't make out words) — a big long list, start with one so we can stay focused. Connect with those elements, those aspects, ask the question, go into the dreamtime. In the morning, you may or may not have a dream that you remember or understand, but you can ask the question again and does it feel lighter or does it feel heavy? That can give us that yes or that no, like, do we move forward or do we not?

I do that with business aspects all the time, you know, I get invited into all sorts of collaborations and not all of them are for my highest and best, or on the trajectory that I'm on. So, I will take certain propositions that come in and I'll take them into the dreamtime if I can't get out of my head, right? Cuz some of them, these are people who are friends or family for a long time, but those are also loaded with landmines in there. So, let me go into this other realm and what kind of answers, right? And so, your mind will still be like, "Oh yeah, this happened but you know I really like crocodiles so maybe that was a good thing?" Versus did it feel heavy, did it feel light?

One of the things I took in actually had a crocodile crawl into the back seat of a vehicle with me and the other person who asked me to go into business with them, or a business deal with them. (Daniel begins to laugh) I was like,"I like crocodiles, but not in my backseat," and I knew right away that was a no, because in the dreamworld, we were like, "How are we going to get out of this?" and I was like, "Oh, yeah, ne-ne-ne,' this is a no for me, my team made it really clear. So, we can work with the symbolism that is out there and around us all the time, to help inform us, right? And it's about harnessing that energy, so that we can actually get on demand guidance. To actually help us move through this life in a different way. And the more that we connect with the natural realm, right? It forms these relationships, it forms this alliance and it helps us remember who we truly be.

Daniel: Yeah, and one of the things that I thought about as you were speaking is that the symbolism that — and you mentioned this earlier and I just want to highlight this to other people as well — the messages and symbolism that's coming to you is through the natural realm because you got that association. Somebody else may not have that association, but that doesn't mean that they're not getting messages from the natural realm all the time. They're just coming in, in the references that are relevant and appropriate in their life, with their background. So a lot of what both Ana Marie and I are talking about, is find your own language that resonates with you, that's meaningful to you, that you already are working with, that you are already living with in, that is already an integral part of who you are and how you manage yourself within this this beautiful world of ours. 

So, I love nature. I've always loved nature and I love the association of things. Like I couldn't tell you what spider means, for example, and I don't know what it means to me but I've always appreciated and respected spiders. And so I went online, as we now can do, and I put "meaning of spider" and what came back was beautiful. And whether or not that's the message that spider was trying to give me or if it was the message of knowing that I have that access to that information and that I would resonate with that or if it was just communicating with me about respect and beauty and curiosity and mystery because for me that's what a spider is its mysterious and it's, it's hidden and it's careful, but it's incredibly powerful and incredibly strong; and magical with its ability to create intricate designs of, you know, geometry, spiritual and universal geometry. Sacred geometry is the term that's commonly used. You know, so there's a lot of mysticism around spiders, which is beautiful, and so that was my kind of association.

So find your own path. Find what makes sense to you. Find the language and meaning. It's really about that feeling state. This is something that Ana Maria also mentioned earlier, is, our emotions are our guide and you'll see this in all kinds of writings. Have it be Three Principles based, will talk about this all the time, a lot of different spiritual teachers will also talk about this. I hear it through different mediums that are channeling Spirit directly. They'll talk about how our emotions are trying to tell us when we're aligned and when we're not, and it's that simple. We don't need to over-complicate it, we don't need to kick ourselves in the back when we're not aligned.

But that's what the emotions are trying to tell us. They're trying to tell us that we're going in a direction with the thinking in our head that is not inline with who we are. And in the Three Principles world, will talk about how when we understand how the mind works, the mechanism of the mind, the mechanism of thought, and how that relates to how what we create our day-to-day experience, it makes it easier for us to navigate life with a roadmap, and with an understanding of how things work. As opposed to blindly working within a system and guessing at why things are the way they are.

And so, a beautiful message and reminder for us to find our way, and again, something Ana Maria mentioned is, we're beautifully designed. Our bodies and our emotions are — our human experience is beautifully designed to support us and to guide us and to show us the way. It's inherent in the way that we’re built and when we start recognizing those messages — instead of fighting against them or trying to change them or discrediting them or, you know, resisting them — when we start recognizing those messages our life becomes more in flow. Going back to the idea of water, going back to the idea of, of, of that aspect that seems to be coming through in the lot of the messages that Ana Maria was getting. You know, it's that reminder that we are living in the flow of life and when we go with it, it just makes our life so much easier then when we are resisting and fighting against it. So that was kind of my thoughts of what Ana Maria just shared. Anything else that you would like to share Ana Maria?

Ana Maria: Well, underscoring that piece that you said, right? Like, follow your own meaning. Like for me, it's nature cuz that was my safe space, with a chaotic childhood. Going out to the animals or going out and hiding under a tree, that was my safe space. That was when I felt connected, and safe, and protected. So, but for some people, it's angels or ascended masters, or your own soul guides, or your own higher self, or knowing and accessing wisdom from a past life, whatever it is. But follow that because it should feel like a natural draw, whatever it is, right? And it is unique for everyone.

But we've got those places where it is just a little more of a natural fit and we can — the basic reminder is there's so much more going on than meets the eye as there's as much guidance out there as we're willing to lean into, and so we've got some opportunities to rise above the mundaneness and to activate, you know, access to these other sensitivities, these other channels that bring in the wisdom, bring in the guidance. That gives us that extra piece to help us move forward in whatever way that is. And whether you're someone who is ga-ga about nature, like me, right? (chuckles) Or whether you are someone who, again, can appreciate a spider even if you don't completely know what is coming through. That's a muscle that we hone and tune.

And that part about the mystery for you, right? Cuz like we know there can be a whole book written about the metaphysical properties of a spider,  which you touched on many of them, and what is it at that time, right? That's trying to come through, and to me, when you were talking about it was, being reminded of that mystery and the abundance when we go into, when we lean into the mystery, instead of trying to figure it all out, right? Like being with it and feeling our way through is very different then mentallizing it and trying to figure something out. And I would also say, there's this piece, I don't know if you've got any writing project that have been kind of on the back burner? But spider is always very connected with the alphabet, and helping us to literally weave a web, spin a web around (undistinguishable word) the words that we share. And so, oftentimes even the ancestors will come through spider to help us share whatever it is that we're needing to be writing about.

Daniel: Hm, lovely, thank you. So, that other thing that I wanted to ask you came back, and I know that we're going a little bit over time, and again, I apologize. But, I think this is really helpful for the audience, and I'm saying this because it's selfish, but I also know that this is going to be applicable to probably everybody that's out there. So, you mentioned something a while ago in our conversation that I wanted to ask you to expand upon. And I'll give you my story as the background to it.

So, when I was very young, I felt emotions very strongly. To the point where I couldn't feel an emotion without crying. The, I couldn't there wasn't any way for me to express what I was feeling other than crying. Crying was the only way that I could physically express what I was feeling. And needless to say, as a little boy that was not very well received. And I remember one time my brother's friends were teasing me, and we were in the basement of our house, and my brother and his friends, we're all playing together, and all of sudden, they started teasing me. And my emotions became so strong that I started crying, and they, of course, they teased me more. And I remember, in that moment, saying, “This is never going to happen again.”

And so, one of the struggles that I've been having probably in the last, God I want to say 10 years, actively, is to try and reconnect with that space of me. Trying to reopen that power, as you called it our superpower. That is my superpower and I'm neglecting it because I didn't know how to control it at that age. And I would imagine that, probably in the 90% of people out there have done something similar to myself. And you mentioned something that was very interesting to me, where you said there's things that you say and things that you do within the work with your clients that helps them find that superpower again. And if there's something that you are willing to share with us, that would be beautiful.

Ana Maria: Right, well you laid this out perfectly, and I get this in private sessions all the time, "I don't know why I'm going to start crying?" And I'm like, "because we touched on truth." Whenever the emotion comes up, we touched on a point of truth. So, whether it was, you were not being honored for who you were, right? As this little being who could feel everything, and it only comes up through that, again, there's no other articulation, the tears just come in. And so, and a lot of folks coming in there like, "uggh, I've tried everything and I've taken every course and I can't discern the messages, I can't discern the things coming in," and of course you don't look at it, and it's this point. Somewhere in their childhood, they had to make a decision to disconnect from the emotions because they weren't going to help them survive, through their childhood, whatever they were up against. And so, they actually, you know, you get rewarded for not having the emotions and staying disconnected and staying intellectual and in our head.

So, what I find is we have to that young one, and here you actually know, right? Like, you know the moment it happened, when you're little boy was like, "Screw this! This is never happening again!" And he went into his head and he's like, "Unplug that, that is trouble." And so there are times when I am working with folks that are like, "I can't even get there any more because I've disconnected so greatly that I know I should be sad about this, that, or the other, or whatever. But it's very mental. And so the first thing is always when we notice a contraction, right? Like we're in a space, and we know, right? Like our body language is different (chuckles) versus when we're open.

And so, the first thing is where do I feel this, in my body? We may not have — we may only know happy and mad, right? Like, those are the only two acceptable ones, and angry really isn't that accepted, but it's more accepted in some, it's more accepted than all the other ranges that are there. So when we're feeling something else, we got the opportunity to say, "Okay, I feel energy," and this is really empowering. Again, for the people who've been so sensitive and you felt everything and it felt like a curse, instead of the superpower that it really is, right? So we have to shift the way we talk to it and this is that mind management, where we get the mind on board.

So, we feel that contraction and instead of going, "You know, I'm getting emotional," just simply say, "I feel energy." Just notice that, like, just shifting from, "Oh my God, this is happening to me," because a lot of times it's not even ours. We are energetic sponges, and we can feel everything in a six-foot radius around us. So, walk into Walmart and imagine how much things you're feeling that's not even yours. And we spend so much time trying to process that. So, the first thing is to have a different relationship and say, "I feel energy," and then see if you can name it, "Ok, I feel energy, it feels light or it feels heavy?"

Usually we don't notice the light one, we only notice the lower one. "Ok, well it feels like sadness, or anger," if you can name it great, if you can't just be like, "aaehhhh, it's kind of in of those other ones," and then where do you feel it in your body? "Well I feel like my throat is really tight, or I feel like I keep blinking so I don't cry, or my chest, or my stomach," just noticed cuz it's starting to give you a vibrational roadmap in your body. For you to feel like what's going on for you. But also, and this doesn't matter, like it's really useful for me, because I read for other people, so if I feel something in my body, I already know, "ohhh, you're going into the victimization," or whatever, I can feel the whole center spot just collapsed in on itself.

But, even when we're around other people, in our relationships with other people, when we can feel in our body, "oh, that's not mine, my back was fine before I started to interact with this person," they're not feeling supported, right? Like we can have compassion. So, learning our own vibrational map in our body helps us also interact with everyone else. That's what being an empath is, is you can feel it, but you observe it. You don't own it. Because what we do is we feel something, we're like, ohhh, this relates right away to something that we already have a story for, and we go there. When 99% of the time it's not even ours.

And so, we can start by just, again, "I feel energy, this is where I feel it, this is what it feels like," and then you can ask, "is it mine?" Like that, "Is this mine?" Is a goldmine. Cuz again, we spend so much time — again, we come into somebody else’s energetic imprint and we own it as our own. So, all of a sudden, we were having a fine day and now we're pissed off. Or now we are all angry, or now we're depressed, and we can find a story for it, but if you've got to reach, it's not yours. And you can again ask who does this belong to?

What happens to me is I will either see the image of someone, like my Mom, my Dad, or somebody, or I'll see like a whole bunch of faces, (unclear words) I know this is a collective thing. Or I'll see myself and my team is like, "ohhh, you're not getting out of this, this is yours today, (chuckles) you gotta stay with it." (Daniel begins to laugh too) But, I don't have to if it's not mine. It doesn't help the other person for me to try, but when we are high-sensitives, we have a remembrance of how to move energy. We may not know it right now in this lifetime, but we think "If I take that on, I can help that person." It doesn't help them. They have to learn how to process their own energy. So we can send it back to them with consciousness and love and, you know, whatever they do with it, they do with it.

But we don't have to spend all that time. So, instead of the emotions then taking us over, right? Cuz we've got an observer, it's not me, this is happening to me and then my little girl's getting all upset and now it's a shit-show on this end. It's, "I just got hit with energy, I feel energy, where am I feeling it? What does it feel like? Who does this belong to?" If it's not mine, I can move on and I'm done, and you get good at that, and run through it really quickly, and questions move the flow of energy and judgements and conclusions stop it. So, we can move the energy anytime we want to. And our subconscious mind can't hear a question without looking for an answer, and you don't have to do anything, right?

Like I'm totally a fan of working smarter, not harder. (chuckles) So, when I can do things and, you know, you can't even put it on energetic auto-pilot, (unclear words) move itself through, we can then start to come back, into our emotions, and it can take time when we gotten so good over decades of shutting it down, but that's the process. Rinse and repeat, to come back into them, to be with the emotions in a way that doesn't bowl us over and make us feel so vulnerable that we can't show up in that way anymore.

I mean, I kid you not, my Dad loves to tell the stories, (chuckles) about how sensitive I was, he's like, "you can even look at her the wrong way and she'd burst into tears," and this was well into my thirties, even. And so, to be at a point where I could shift, and I mean, I can be with just about anything without it reducing me and making me feel like I'm crumbling inside, anymore, and it's so empowering and that shifts the way that I'm able to approach everything else in life, because it's just all energy. And I know the mechanics of energy, so I can navigate, I call it riding the waves, so I can ride the waves.

Sometimes there's new or more intensities and I've gotta, you know, work on my core strength some more to stay afloat. But it's a very different relationship with the emotions that I used to have, when I was trying to run away from them, or numb them down, turn them down in some way. Which is ridiculous because everything we do actually amplifies it, right? Whether it be drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, whatever — none of it, it all has a weird rebound that makes it worse than if we would have just been with it in the first place. But it does take up time, so there's that. 

Daniel: I love what you're saying, the invitation to recognize it as energy, and that really resonated with me. So thank you, that was really beautiful. I want to — I don't want to say translate this, but I want to apply this to my understanding of how the mind works. Because I think it would be helpful, not only for people within the 3P community but also for people that don't recognize how energy is felt within our body. One of the ways in which we experience any aspect is through thought. So, as energy goes into us, it's converted into thought, in some way, shape or form, whether it's conscious or unconscious. 

And I love the idea of recognizing, first of all, that it is energy. It is transient in its design, which is something that we talked about in the community. Energy is transient, thought is transient, it will pass, it will go through you, it will disappear. Now if you decide to capture that energy and play with that energy, it's going to stay. If you give that energy attention, it's going to play with you, it's going to continue playing with you as long as you continue playing with it. So, going back to what Ana Maria and I were talking about earlier, about being present with it and allowing it to be as it is, in its natural form, which is a fluid transient energy, will allow whatever thoughts, quote on quote, or emotions are experiencing, whether they're yours or they're not yours, to pass. 

And I love the idea of recognizing that as energy and what Ana Maria was talking about, of going through that kind of hierarchy of questions and then at the end asking, first and foremost, is this mine? I think is also huge, because we're so exposed to so many different energies and thoughts that we take on as our own, that we try and sort out and deal with and maneuver around, when they're not even ours. It's not even our story that were reacting to, we associate it to our story and then we make it our story, but it's not our story that's trying to communicate with us, and that is also another beautiful way to — for me it was beautiful to hear that to kind of recognize that, that permission to own what's mine and to release and let go what isn't mine.

And I love the idea of, that's not mine, you know, transmute it, trans— let the universe transmute that energy and transfer that energy and recycle that energy, have it be back to its original source or somewhere else where it's useful. But it's not you, it's not within you anymore, you kind of send that out to the universe for the universe to bless and to convert to the highest vibration, whatever terms resonate with you. But most importantly, you don't own it, you don't take ownership of it, (Ana Maria: yeah) and I don't take ownership of it, and I just hit my microphone with my hand, I'm sorry. (Ana Maria: that was a good underscoring (and both begin to laugh)) I just, I love that. So beautiful, so beautiful, thank you.

Ana Maria: Well, and it reminds me, like a lot of times on the spiritual path we've got this undertone of being on the spiritual path that — for spiritual life insurance, right? So bad things don't happen to us cuz we're manifestors and why would we create that, whatever. But the truth is, life is going to happen, right? Like, it's just energy flow, and things are going to show up. Some things we're going to like, some things we're not going to like, and sometimes it's old patterns. But what you learn is, I don't have to invite them all in for a beer, right? Like, I can see them at the door, bless it and work with it, is it mine, is it not mine, and then move on my way.

Whereas in the past, it was like, "Alright, let me gather all these packages off the front porch, take them in, and, you know, I'll just wallow in them for a few weeks, years, decades, or until I'm sick of it. (Daniel laughs) And now I know, pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. So, if I'm suffering, "oh, crap," right? I've got a choice point here. And I'll admit, sometimes suffering is tasty. It feels kind of good to wallow, but I've also learned, I'm going to time it, right? Cuz I get that I can get something out of that and there's some reward. But I'm not going to stay there, and I'm not going to let those people around me, in my inner circle, stay there. They are going to have a choice point too, "You know, we've had the same conversation about how you don't like this, this and that, a million times now, are we going to change the story? Or what's the deal here?" (chuckles) "What are we doing here, what are we creating? Because this isn't working for you, and if it's not working for you, why would you keep doing that? There's gotta be a pay off."

Daniel: Yeah, beautiful, lovely, thank you so much for sharing. So, is there anything else you would like to finish with?

Ana Maria: You know, again, like you said earlier, everyone got the pieces, the aspects that call them in, that resonate with them. And if nature and the natural world, if that resonates with you, if you're like, "oh, my gosh, yes, what she's just talking about, I don't know why I've been drawn to trees, or animals or rocks or whatever, but I get it, I'm understanding what she's saying." I would love for you to join me, and I shared a link with you for a free gift, and it's The Top Five Ways to Connect With the Natural World, and I talk about some of the symbology, I talk about some of the biology, I talk about energetic supplementation, and of course that also will get you on my email list so you can stay apprised of what I'm talking about, where I'm sharing it, those kinds of things.

But, if nothing else, you at least have some more information, some more going deeper with the natural realm, and then of course, I offer a myriad of different courses and ways that people can go deeper to remember, right? Because it's not about you learning anything, you are an infinite being. It's about remembering what we already know, in this density, and then applying it in our life. Because that spot where the spiritual meets the metaphysical, and science, and our biology and where all that kind of globs up, that's the sweet spot to me, right? Like, that's where it gets fun.

That's where we get to apply these things in our living laboratories, right? I see us with our goggles and our lab coats and it's like, "well, look at that experiment didn't turn out so good, well, let's change that up and not keep doing it." If we're in the lab, we're not going to keep doing the same thing, if we're not getting the results that we want. But in our everyday life, in our relationships, with other people, with ourselves, we do keep doing the same thing and getting the same results and then being completely bewildered by that. And if we can take off those blinders, and approach it in a different way, there is so much expansion, so much understanding, so much perspective and so much love and compassion that's waiting for us. And it can literally change our entire life.

Daniel: Hm, beautiful. And of course, I'll share that information in the description of the episode. Is there a website or a way that people can reach out to you just so that it's in the recording as well?

Ana Maria: Absolutely, my website is IntentionTraining.com, so intention the singular training dot com and on that page you can find all the information on how to connect with me in different ways. You can also find me on Facebook at facebook.com/AnimalsAsMessengers

Daniel: Hm, love that, love that. Beautiful, so, ah, I feel like I want to keep going. (begins to laugh) I feel like, I feel like I don't want the conversation to end, so I'm going to say, Ana Maria, thank you so much for everything you have shared with us, the energy that you have provided, I am grateful and I'm sure that the listeners are too, that you've decided that this platform was in line with your journey, and I would love to invite you back in the future and to continue this conversation. So, I am filled with so much gratitude and love, so, thank you so much.

Ana Maria: Thank you, and thank you for allowing us to have these conversations, right? Like, what a beautiful way, and space, and I love that you give an option for folks to go even deeper with you, through your membership. It's a really beautiful offering for folks to take it all in and apply it in their life, in a different way. So, I look forward to playing with you and the energy, thank you for this and I look forward to our next conversation.

Daniel: As do I, as do I. Talk to you soon. Lots of love.

Ana Maria: Bye, bye.

Daniel: Bye, bye.

Episode Note: If you enjoyed this conversation with Ana Maria and would like to have the opportunity of a more intimate setting, where you can speak with her and ask her questions, she's going to be joining me in the Spiritual Intelligence Community membership group, on September second, at 1pm Eastern time. I will leave details of how you can join us in the description of the episode and I look forward to seeing you there.

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Closing text: Thank you for listening. Hopefully, you've heard something new that invites you to reflect, to go within, and deepen your own understanding of life, and of our universal experience. If you enjoyed this conversation, please follow the podcast series on your favorite listening app, and share this episode with others that you feel would enjoy it as well. Until next time, may we all soar with inspiration, explore with passion and live with love. ❤️❤️❤️

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