S1E038 From Fear to Freedom: Healing in Layers with Catherine Powell

[00:00:01] Clear the screen, shift the scene, you're the rider of this dream. Let go of fear, let go of doubt and start playing the version that pulls you out. Clear the screen, clear the noise, choose again, you've got the choice. The story changes when you see, anxiety came to set you free. Welcome back to another episode of the Clear The Screen podcast. I am Melissa Deally.

[00:00:29] And I am Billie Aadmi and this is where anxiety ends and abundance begins. We are so excited to have our guest on today who is Catherine Powell. She is also a trainer of NLP and timeline therapy and all the good stuff that we do. And we're really excited to meet other people that are out in the world doing this beautiful, great work in the world. So welcome, Catherine. Thank you. Good to be here.

[00:00:55] Yes, we are excited to have you here. And just to give a brief introduction to the incredible person you are to the audience. I just want to share a little bit about Catherine that once upon a time, Catherine Powell was afraid of almost everything and anxious about the fear with a nervous system that treated everyday life like a threat.

[00:01:16] And through the tools of NLP, she now moves calmly and confident in her self-converted school bus, which by the way is super cool, helping other professional women live their authentic, confident life.

[00:01:32] So Catherine, I would just love you to go back a little bit into time to that person that you were and just share the journey that took you from being afraid of everything to the journey that you've come on to becoming the person that you are today. Absolutely. I yeah, I as you mentioned, I was afraid of fear. I was like I had so much anxiety built up about it.

[00:02:00] It was just like, if I don't get rid of this fear, how am I going to function in life? And I and the only tool that I had was just to walk straight into it, because that was just how I was. That's how I was taught. It's like whatever it is, you just go directly at it. And the house that I grew up in, like. I felt we didn't have the tools for life that we were that we were given.

[00:02:31] I was having a conversation with my sister the other day and like it was the house that we were literally all of our brothers and sisters. One of six were trauma bonded together through our experience of of growing up. And from that, I was a self-help junkie. Like I was like, OK, what's the tool? What's the thing? Who what the book? What book do I need to read? What, you know, workshop do I need to go to? And I was desperately seeking that one and done.

[00:03:00] Like, what's the thing that's going to fix my problem of life skills? Like, when am I going to feel like I'm enough? When am I going to feel like I'm worthy? When am I going to feel like I can be seen in the world? And be OK. And I drank at that problem for years and all the behaviors that go along with that.

[00:03:27] And meanwhile, still just, you know, raw dogging it at my problems and at my fears and going straight into them. And I finally ended up in a toxic relationship that for me, like fighting meant somebody cared enough to stay, to be there, to invest and be there.

[00:03:55] And it was toxic. It was toxic. And we fought all the time. And I had just taken a new job, which caused umpteen problems in our relationship. And I'm one where, when I'm at work, like, I don't turn social media on. I am there. I work. I do the job and everything else, right? Except for one day, I was like, you know what?

[00:04:25] I need to take a 15-minute break. And so I put Facebook on. And a gal that I had known through Essential Oils had posted a thing about this NLP introduction class. It was going to be a six-week thing and everything. And I'm like, oh, we've talked about that before. Because I was talking to her about her going through her trainings and stuff. And I already trusted her. We had a great rapport.

[00:04:53] And so I was like, immediately signed up, spent the money on the class, everything else. I'm like, I know this is going to be great. I know this is the direction that I need. I need to retrain how my brain thinks. And I signed up for it. And after the class, I did timeline therapy. So I released all the negative emotions and everything else. And I came out of that feeling like I was like this newborn baby.

[00:05:23] With my emotions. It was like I felt so much relief and clarity with everything. And then I was also a little terrified of the responsibility. Because I couldn't blame my bad behavior on somebody else anymore. My reactions were no longer tied to the past. And still thinking in one and done, right? I'm still thinking in one and done at this point.

[00:05:54] And I... But it got me to a point where I could see patterns in our behavior in the relationship. Patterns in the fighting. Patterns in... And then also voicing those patterns in the fight. Going, hey, do you recognize that you need me to cry every single time before you have remorse? I'm like, that's messed up and that's not okay.

[00:06:18] And that was one of the biggest turning points for me that NLP, timeline therapy, had such a gigantic impact in my world. And of course, I immediately signed up for prac. And then at prac during... It was during parts integration that I was like, yep, I'm going to be a trainer of this. Like, I need to know all the details.

[00:06:43] I want to know everything behind, like how everything gets put together, the structure of everything. I was mimicking in my head how they were teaching everything at the same time as doing in prac, experiencing it. I was like, okay, so they're doing this for this and this and this and this. And that's just how my brain functioned as being trained to train many other things because that's how I operated.

[00:07:08] And I, even after trainer's training, I went and took somebody else's coaching program. I'm like, I need to be coached in business. I need to be coached in this and stuff because it's like I had done the thing, right? And still in that one and done. And partway through that coaching program, I was like, okay, hang on.

[00:07:31] If I'm not utilizing these tools for me to work through all of my things and my issues and trust that other people have resources that I can tap into within that and that releasing layers upon layers and upon layers.

[00:07:47] And that I'm not in my unconscious mind setting any client up for success, setting myself up to feel confident in doing the work and doing the trainings and doing coaching.

[00:08:03] So I quit that other coaching program and then dove deeper into doing breakthroughs after breakthroughs after breakthroughs and working with other trainers of NLP and comrades and cohorts and everything and diving deep into it.

[00:08:23] And now, what, six years later, I get to meet you guys in the master practitioner, master trainer program and deepen all of those relationships. And one of the really, really, really, really, really, really cool things that I experienced just recently within doing more work is I had always, when I looked in the mirror, saw this like layered mask of my mother.

[00:08:52] And we have always had a tumultuous relationship. And in the back of my mind, that is negative self-talk was always her voice. But when I looked in the mirror, like the wrinkles, I always saw her wrinkles. I saw her face with it. And the work that I did recently removed that. Like I had looked in the mirror and I'm like, I saw me for the first time without anything else.

[00:09:18] Like, and this is where I'm just like, oh, thank God is not ever a one and done. Ever. You know, it's. It's so beautiful. And. And we get down to the deeper layers of our authenticity and our beauty and our joy. And like all of those like. Childlike curiosities that like just over time.

[00:09:46] And with gravel and just everything. There's just that life does. Those come back and we get to go. Oh, man. You know what? Nine year old me. She's a badass. She is so awesome. She is so cool. Like. And everything. So. I mean, these tools have been the greatest pivot in my life, especially going through perimenopause. And that like perimenopause rage is no joke. You have not.

[00:10:17] Some women just get cold, like get frozen shoulder. I got the rage. So. These tools are key and vital for. That. Segment of our life. As well. Yeah. That's so awesome. Catherine. And, you know, Melissa and I say this all the time is that we're never done. You know, where you'll you'll be done when you're dead and then you're not even still done because you're just done in this lifetime.

[00:10:46] And that means you're going to go somewhere else and do some more work. And the more we learn about how the mind works and the power that we hold in this beautiful thing of ours called the unconscious mind and our higher self is like we will never be able to really access all of it. Right. Unless we're, you know, Lucy in that movie where we get some drugs opened up in our and like it activates all the neural pathways at the same time. Like we it's just impossible to do that. Crazy.

[00:11:15] But I love like your example of, you know, you've been doing this for several real years now and yet you just got to this massive layer. And that yet can you get to the layer? Because we know that the unconscious mind will release what it's meant to release at that moment in time. And so now in this time, you are now in a more safer place. You have more awareness, more consciousness. And our unconscious mind is like, you know what, Catherine? Now I'm going to show you another piece of you, right? And do the work.

[00:11:41] And then next month, next year, next decade, I'm going to show you another layer of you, right? And it's almost I think of it like a video game. It's like we mastered this level and we know exactly what door leads to what, which timeline and all this stuff. And then we're like, OK, we got this now. And then the universe will give us something to be like, OK, now let's go to the next level. And now let's get really good at this level. And then, you know, we'll get to the next level. So I'd love that you've been experiencing that because I've been too.

[00:12:10] And we know like at this moment in time, energetically, planetarily, astrologically, it's like all the astronomers are all talking about it. Like it's never happened. And, you know, we were talking about this with our last podcast guest that all the lightworkers are kind of reconvening in this moment in time. And that's why like, you know, at the time of this recording, there's a massive war happening. And, you know, like it's almost like this old paradigm is falling and the feminine, the strength in the feminine is coming back.

[00:12:41] Before it was a lot of like the feminine is the stay at home. You stay in your kitchen on your roll. Now it's like, no, like stand in your feminine. It's not that a toxic mother that you, you know, was raised in and, you know, that that she put her shit on us. And, you know, now we can release that. And now it's like, OK, we've released that. Now we've made the space for us to open up and see this next beautiful level of who we are. So I love that you're still experiencing this. And this is what we say. Like, that's what we say.

[00:13:10] You do a timeline therapy session every month because you'll just get down to a deeper, deeper layer. So I love that they're experiencing that. Yeah. I was thinking the other day about how about the one and done and equating it to like grade school where you're like learning math or learning algebra for the first time. Right. You have algebra one for the entire year. Right. You get practice and practice and practice and practice and practice and practice and practice and practice doing it. Yeah.

[00:13:39] We think like I can go to therapy once or like twice or read a book and all of a sudden learn this thing and then it's got to be installed into my unconscious mind. And that's my new operating system. It's like, no, our operating system knows we've got to do things repetitively over and over and over and over and over and over again with clear direction, very clear direction to get it. So, yeah.

[00:14:07] And speaking of the one and done, you know, you came by that honestly, because that is the societal programming, the magic pill, you know, how can I get somebody to fix me, do something to me, do something for me. And along with that societal programming is the educational system that has us learning about our conscious mind and keeping us in our conscious mind, which is only the 10% of

[00:14:31] our mind with no training whatsoever around the other 90% of our mind, other than maybe to learn in biology class that it runs your body. Right. And so people listening to this, if you are there thinking, you know, the solution is a one and done or that the solution is something that you have to consciously go through, consciously talk about, we're just here to let you know that it's there's so much more available to

[00:15:00] you when you tap into the tools of the unconscious mind and then it can be done with ease, with grace. It's really fast once you learn these tools. And as both Catherine and Billy have said, it is an ongoing journey because the unconscious mind is programmed to always learn. And so we keep learning and we keep evolving and we keep, you know, peeling back the layers

[00:15:25] of what's happened in our past that happened for us in order for us to learn something and get to where we're at today. Okay. That's why I love this analogy is of a brain trainer, like a personal trainer for your brain. Right. You don't just go to the gym one time and be like, all right, I'm healthy. Check. Got that done. Now what am I going to do? I wish. We all know, especially in going through very menopause that, you know, you can eat the exact same thing and work out the exact same way and you'll still gain weight. And so we just have to be readjusting.

[00:15:55] And, you know, we talk about it all the time as if you build that new neural pathways, it's like a little bunny trail first and then you got to keep firing that neural pathway. As you said, Catherine, like, you know, keep doing it. Practice, practice, practice. Do the wax on, wax off, wax on. And sometimes it doesn't make sense. Why am I doing this wax on, wax off? I'm like, well, you'll figure it out when the time comes when you put that into practice and all of a sudden what we call that unconscious competence. It's just there. The program is there. And so I love that.

[00:16:21] So can you maybe give us some examples of, you know, before I love that you brought this up. Maybe we can kind of weave this in a little bit more about your the trauma bonding that you have with your sibling. As I know, that's a big, you know, again, the programming says, like, if you were sexually abused, go to a sexual abuse recovery. And if you're, you know, physically abused, go here. If you've had drug abuse, go here.

[00:16:45] And it's like, you know, you create like these partnerships where they just kind of dig that neurology deeper. And we don't, as you know, we don't talk about the trauma because you don't need to. It's already up here. We want to be in environments where we can talk about the learnings. What would we learn from that event? Yeah. Yeah. So how has it shifted your relationships with your sibling? It shifted it from the narrative that we used to tell everybody was my sister.

[00:17:15] And my dad were, they were so much alike that they were in conflict. So my sister beat up my brother. My brother beat up my brother. My brother beat up me. I beat up my sister. She beat up the youngest and the youngest kicked the dog. And one day, the youngest was like, y'all need to stop telling that story. I never kicked the dog. But that's how it was. It's like out in school, out in public.

[00:17:44] It was, that's my family. Don't you harm them? Like, I mean, we were the, we would like bully whoever was bullying a family member because at home, that's my person to bully. That's my person to beat up at home. Right. And so it was a very much outside is one thing, inside is another.

[00:18:08] And, you know, the, just growing up, knowing the amount of sexual abuse that I had, that my, that I witnessed, that my sister had that just going through and having my other sister recognized, oh, as soon as you said that I remembered this and things and knowing that there was a parent who couldn't deal or handle with any of that.

[00:18:36] No nurturing, none of that. Right. Yet. She also, she taught me how to drive, had me do a figure eight backwards perfectly before I could stick it into first gear. Wow. So, so weird, so odd, but I now drive a 33 foot bus with no backup cameras.

[00:18:58] So she gave me that life skill, yet no nurturing, no caring, no apologies were just go apologize to so-and-so not having any awareness of what you did was wrong, why you, why it was wrong and to actually have remorse. So that was a skill that I had to learn in adulthood. You know, that was one of those, let me go get things.

[00:19:26] And now it's, I don't have that incredible amount of shame or embarrassment tied to when I feel like I did something wrong. I was like, oh, I now have no more information that makes what I felt and how I acted different now.

[00:19:51] And I can go express that and ask for forgiveness and tell them what I want and plan to do differently. Right. Right. Because apologies, as we know, aren't just that, hey, I'm sorry for my behavior. I'm sorry when I did hurt you. Like, that it includes the, hey, this is what I plan to do differently. This is why I am so sorry for my behavior and my actions. And I recognize that that deeply hurt you.

[00:20:20] And that is not something that I want to do. But it also meant that I'm free from other people's responses and actions and their emotions tied to situations. I am responsible for all of my behaviors and actions and everything else like that. And I get to allow everybody else to be. Right. So I am no longer the only person responsible for doing all the work in our relationship.

[00:20:50] I, the painful piece, people pleaser is gone with 20, 25, you know, I love that. And I love that you use the word free because it is freeing, right? That you're not responsible for other people's emotions. And a lot of women specifically, it's just like ingrained into us, right? That like back in the caveman time when we had to manage the light, the home and, you know, like the man just had to go get dinner without being dinner and bring it home and like

[00:21:19] fornicate and reproduce. And that was it. That was always his two jobs. And yet the women had to create everything around all of that, the community. So yeah, it's ingrained in us as women to do all of it, right? And then be responsible for all of it. So I love that that's, you know, what I was getting when you were speaking, Catherine, is like this radical responsibility for just you. And imagine if everybody could just take that radical responsibility for themselves, their

[00:21:46] behaviors, their emotions, their actions, and then have that awareness. It always comes back down to awareness, right? The more we are aware of these unconscious patterns, these unconscious strategies, these unconscious ways of us behaving, which we don't even realize half the time because it's out of our awareness. You bring that to the forefront. Now, as we talk about, you know, now you have the choice. And then you can make those choices and have those beautiful conversations and say,

[00:22:12] you know what, and I love you and I know I was not very resourced because we know everyone was doing the best they can with the resources they have in that moment. And sometimes we're not very resourced because we're not in the best state or, you know, our thoughts are taking over. We're in anxiety and we're letting our emotions take control. So I love something to see online these days. But that, I said, that is so easy to see online these days.

[00:22:37] Like, resource, not resourced and allowing people to be human, make mistakes, fuck it up, like, and come back and say, oh, hey, yeah, you know what? I responded just like everybody else. And or I learned something from it. And where you're at now and what you are describing and Billy's talking about, where you're taking radical responsibility for your life, that's what we call Solution City. Mm-hmm.

[00:23:04] And it's over here in Victim Island where people are feeling stuck and they're blaming everyone else for what's going on in their life and pointing fingers. And the reality is, is that nobody else can make you feel the way you feel. It's your choice to feel the way you feel. And people listening might be like, well, you don't know what my life is like. The reality is, is when you do take control of your mind, you understand your thoughts,

[00:23:30] you understand that everything is happening for you to learn something, you then can understand that it's also your choice in how you feel. And everything is a choice. And it's a choice to stay on Victim Island or a choice to take that radical responsibility and move over to Solution City. And in the process, we need to learn something. And it's exactly what you did when you chose to go to that first NLP training, that six-week introductory course.

[00:23:58] That's what started that learning for you and started you being able to take responsibility and eventually get out of that relationship and then become a trainer in all of this and help others. So congratulations for having the awareness to make that choice to take responsibility for your life and to want to keep learning as much as you can about this. And so now, how do you help others? And who do you help?

[00:24:22] And also, please share how people can get hold of you if they would like to work with you. Yes. Now I think of my mission in helping people is to get them through that point of clearing all of the muck so that what they're focusing on in their life is clear so that they can live with courage and confidence authentically.

[00:24:49] And I do that by different trainings, NLP trainings. I have a demystifying intuition training and one-on-one coaching. People can get a hold of me through my website, Architects for the Soul, and or my email, Catherine at Architects for the Soul dot com. I love that. So when you say soul architect, I see that's your name there. Explain that a little bit. What exactly are you doing with soul? Mm hmm.

[00:25:18] So as a psychic medium, which we haven't even touched on, really, I have an ability to really tap into that core person's blueprint for their life and see where they're stuck and how to support them in getting back onto that blueprint. Help them clear all of that muck so that blueprint is clear and accessible. Right.

[00:25:43] They've got the resources for their life that they designed to live. And when I think of all of the work that I do, the coaching, the training, it all just chunks up to being a soul architect. Love that. Basically giving them access to their higher self, which has our perfect blueprint for life. So I love it. I love it. Great name. Well, also, Catherine, love all that you're doing in the world, how far you've come.

[00:26:11] I mean, you know, as Melissa and I, one of our most favorite things to do in this work is see those transformations of our students and our clients and that it is easy and it's it doesn't have to be hard. Right. I mean, this is why I have the easy button on my desk. Right. Because when people say this phrase, it's like, I mean, we told you needed to be hard. And that's the programming that we have to rewire that, you know, if it's hard, you're doing it wrong. Right. And that's not your blueprint because your blueprint, it shows you the path that you should be on.

[00:26:41] And that's when life is flowing. So, you know, I love that you're doing this in the work and in this work as well. And that you're in our time zone and, you know, and you're in our part of the world. And we love just connecting with other people doing exactly what we're doing out there because it is it's important right now, especially moment in time for us to help people remember their magnificence and see who they are. So thank you again for sharing what you do. Thank you for having me. This has been a joy.

[00:27:09] And just as we wrap this episode, Catherine, I just would love to ask you if you have any last words of wisdom that you would like to share to the with the listener today. I think one of the hardest things in personal growth and personal development is getting to that point where you have that conversation with a person that can help you and you say, all right, let's do this. Nice. Beautiful.

[00:27:38] Following the breadcrumbs, knowing that this is the path that you're meant to be on. Yep. And take it one step at a time, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Beautiful. Again, thank you so much for being here today, Catherine. And for all of the work that you are doing out in the world, it is absolutely incredible. And I know just how many lives you have the ability to transform working one on one with people as well as as a trainer of these powerful tools.

[00:28:07] And to the listener, thank you for tuning in and listening to the Clear the Screen podcast. If you know someone else that needs to hear this episode, please share it with them and help us create the ripple effect of creating change in people's lives. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Clear the Screen show.

[00:28:32] If you love what you heard, take a screenshot, post it on social media and tag us because we would love to celebrate you. And if you want to go deeper, scan the QR code, check our Light Circle membership. This is a community where it's going to serve you and uplift you and empower you because when you end your anxiety, that's where your abundance begins. And when you can amplify you, then you can impact others.