Interview with Michele Scott on Casey Radio 17th August 2021
Michele: My name is Michelle Scott on the founder of Our Wellness Community. Our Wellness Community is a beautiful space online for wellness in body, mind, heart. Every week we come into this (radio) space to tell a story, to share some tools and therapies and information, in the hopes that we can share how things have worked out for us, how things have lifted us up from all of those downturns and we’ve left disappointments behind, but in sharing a story with you, it turns that things around you as well and lifts you up.
And this week I’m welcoming back one of our favourite collaborators, Pip Coleman. She’s an author and a Reiki master. You’ve got so many tools in your kitchen. You are all about conscious courses and therapies, and you’ve got a beautiful new program that has just been launched. And we’re going to talk a little bit about that side a bit. Welcome back to the show, darling.
Pip: Thank you so much. It’s always fun.
Michele: We love a chat, right? And at the moment there’s so much to chat about. We thought we would have a little conversation in this session about the current climate, the current climate and the sign of the times is that life is really overwhelming and frustrating for many of us, with, you know, isolation and restrictions and COVID-19.
Pip: Yes. We thought we thought we’d grab the bull by the horns, so to speak.
Michele: Yes. We’ve talked about it a little bit since all of this began, but you know, we sort of tend to focus on positive interventions and how can we make positive changes from the inside out, in order to be able to deal with the external, in the most positive, effective way that serves us and our lives and our loved ones. But today we thought let’s come in and have a bit more of a chat around this because it really is. It’s a lot tougher than when we started at the beginning of what March, 2020.
So we thought in this session we’d talk about implementation. We’d talk about influencers and inspiration.
There’s a lot of information and I’m finding all of this overwhelming. I mean, how, how do you go with all of this information?
Pip: Yes, that is one of the things that quite a lot of people are having issues with. The changing and changing and changing and changing of the rules and the restrictions. What you can do, what you can’t do. It’s very disconcerting. It makes us feel uncertain and unsafe, you know?
I was watching a program called The Drum on ABC, and they were talking to a man called David Gillespie and he has a book called Brain Reset. I thought you would like it. He was talking about how in these times of uncertainty, we need to find a certainty within ourselves.
And to reset your brain, you need to create your own rituals and routines and schedules, to keep the certainty in your life. Because the outside world can be going completely bonkers, but if you have this that you do at this time of the day and this that you do at that time of the day. If you have a yoga session or meditation or running or walk or meet for coffee, whatever it is that you do, if you can keep those routines in place – that will give you the certainty in your life. You will be less affected. Your brain and your body will be less affected by the crazy whirlwind that might be going on in the greater world at large.
Michele: I love that. And it’s so true, from the extra learning that I’ve done through the Positive Psychology diploma, I’ve learned that the loves, loves, loves routine. So what does that typically look like for you, Pip? What sort of routines and rituals do you have in place that help you to find that solid ground in these unstable times?
Pip: So, in the morning when I wake up, I have a couple of different meditation podcasts and the hay house app and the calm app. And depending on what I feel like, I’ll roll over with one eye open, and just pick an app and just press the button and let it play. So that even before I’ve got completely awake, I’m actually letting myself ease into the day with some lovely meditation.
And I’ve been enjoying the sleep stories in the nighttime. I listen to the sleep stories that are read by famous people on the calm app. I got into it because I love Matthew McConaughey and …
Michele: Who doesn’t?
Pip: Exactly.
Michele: What is that this he says?
Pip: All right. All right. All right.
Michele: ha ha yeah …
Pip: I just love him. And so he has a sleep story called Wonder, and I’ve been listening to that for a long time. And then I realized that there were other people, not just Matthew McConaughey. So I thought, perhaps I could discover some of them as well. Now I’m really enjoying listening to one by Harry Styles. And there’s one by David Walliams, the comedian, and he has a beautiful voice. He actually reminds me of my granddad. The way that he speaks is very proper English. And he reminds me so much of my Pop, who used to read me stories when I was a kid. So it really suits me. They can be for adults as well as children. There’s a cute one about Sloths … anyway.
Michele: Are these stories that they have written or stories that other people have written and they’re just reading them?
Pip: Some of them are written by the people who are reading them. The celebrity ones are not written by them.
Michele: Okay cool.
Pip: So I have those two things that I do to bookend my day. And that helps me to just get that calming effect at the beginning and the end of my day. And then I usually do a ride in the morning, or a walk, or I go to an Aqua class. My exercise is generally in the morning time.
And then I also go get a chai at my local cafe. I know that this is going to happen every day. And then after that, I get into my work or my day off.
Michele: Oh, you just reminded me of that book called ‘Think like a monk’ – he has a strategy called time and T I M E. The T stands for thankfulness, so make some time for that gratitude practice.
And of course we know, from all of the research and studies that when we get into gratitude, it changes neural pathways in the brain and definitelychanges how we feel. And then that changes what we do.
Then I is about Inspiration … every day to find something to listen to, something to watch, something to read or going through some things that are soothing. And I was just thinking about this in the last couple of weeks, that’s one of the things are really great at now. I’ve learned how to soothe myself over the years. I thought as a child, you might have a dummy or a Teddy, a little blanket, you know.
I used to be so anxious all the time, but didn’t have so many self soothing tools. So for me, when I’m feeling down, I’ll go to Oprah’s podcast.
Then the M is about meditation, or it can just be a breathing practise. Doing some breathing over the course of the day or some guided meditation, or visualization. And finally you’ve already mentioned the E is exercise. If we had each of those things over the course of a day, then, as you said, it becomes a ritual, becomes a way in which we can count on something.
Pip: Yes that’s great. Give yourself T. I. M. E.
Michele: Some people are really feeling flat, really feeling anxious and overwhelmed, and some people are just angry. There’s so many emotions that we’re trying to travel through right now. I know that you live on your own Pip, but if you’re living with family, partners, kids or parents, we don’t all necessarily agree on how things are being managed. So want about your mother, father, family, friends, loved ones. I mean, do you all agree on what’s going on at the moment? Has there been any clash with any of that?
Pip: ha ha ha … well … there are people who have very strong opinions on it one way or the other, whether it’s vaccination or not vaccination and locked down or not locked down, or immunity versus … ummm … not immunity. What the opposite of that is
Michele: Right. Speaking of immunity. Uh, is it … what’s that idol on Survivor called? Is that immunity?
Pip: Ahh yeah it is.
Michele: There you go.
Pip: It’s very, very tricky. One of the things that, living by myself, is sometimes I find that I go into this spiral of worry and I don’t have anybody in my space to reframe it. Whereas somebody who lives with their family, whether they believe the same things or not, you can, if you’re in a bit of a spiral and going down the rabbit hole, having someone else there, who’s not can help to just lift you up and stop you from going as far as you might, if you were on your own.
Although, having said that if you’ve got someone who ALSO spirals out of control and you both just end up in the midst of drama, because you both going, “oh my God, this is so awful.” It can actually feed, feed each other. That’s something to be mindful of as well. If you’re getting drawn into the drama too easily. Especially somebody else’s drama, but also your own thoughts.
You know, Louise Hay used to say, stop scaring yourself!
Michele: Oh, I love it.
Pip: You know, people would be like, “oh, this happened and this happened”. She’d be like, “You know what? You need to stop scaring yourself. You are doing this, your thoughts are not your enemy. You’re your thoughts are just clouds going by and you’re the sky, you know?
Michele: So I love that. Stop scaring yourself. Yeah, that’s exactly what we do. And I know from all of the many moments in my life when things weren’t working out. Many times when I didn’t have enough money, I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay the next mortgage payment to pay that bill or, you know, the family being unwell and getting caught up in that cycle of worry.
I’ve had plenty of those experiences where (like now) we have plenty of reason to be fearful. We have all of the justification to feel what we feel concerned. And, you know, just as you say, being scared is normal, natural. This this is why I’m such an advocate for present moment living – what I’ve realized is that when I was going through those difficult times, all the worry in the world didn’t actually make the difficult time any less difficult. And it didn’t go away and it didn’t stop what was going to happen in it eventually.
When mum contracted cancer she died anyway. I spent a lot of years worried about my brother. Actually, my youngest brother, you know, just thinking and worrying that they would get into trouble and we’d lose them. And I lost my youngest brother anyway, but it was a car accident. It didn’t make any of those things not happen by worrying about it. I lost time. I didn’t spend the time I could’ve spent with him.
So now I acknowledge how I am feeling, deal with how I am feeling. Then I come back to the present and don’t project into the future about what could or might happen. In the present moment I would get clarity or I would get creative when it came to debt and not having money. If I just worried about it, nothing happened.
Pip: Definitely. I wrote down before our conversation, that self-care is vital right now. It’s not just something that you kind of might do sometimes. Perhaps in the past, we might’ve been a bit like, oh, whatever, I’ll get around to my self care and looking after myself.
But right now if you are not feeling good, do more self care. And if you STILL not feeling good, do EVEN MORE self-care.
That’s looking after yourself. Like you were saying, trying to stay out of that space of worry, whatever you need to do to call your power back. What’s that quote, if you don’t think don’t you have time for 20 minutes of meditation, you need an hour.
Michele: Yeah. I love it. You’re coming up with some good ones today. I’m loving it.
Pip: So, I had have a little prayer for calling your power back. If you get drawn into drama of someone else’s stuff really easily, I have a little prayer that is actually one of Kyle Gray’s. The wonderful Kyle Gray from his book Light Warrior. Do you want me to read it for you?
Michele: Yes, please.
Pip: If you want, you can close your eyes or you can actually say it back to me. Put your hand on your heart, and then you say out loud:
Dear power,
I call you back to the cave of my heart.
Wherever you are, wherever I’ve left you, I call you back.
Even though I may have given you a away.
Or had you taken from me.
Know that I allow you to return.
So it is that I am topped up.
Until I’m overflowing with my own light.
I’m full of my own light.
Full of my own power.
Today. I remember I have a choice.
And I choose to be happy in my own light and power.
Thank you, universe and angels.
For bearing witness to this reclamation.
And for supporting this process.
As I step back into my highest and greatest.
And so it is.
Michele: I love that we’ve given our listeners lots beautiful nuggets of wisdom, um, pearls of wisdom and nuggets of gold. Lots of wonderful tips and tools in this conversation.
You’ve got so much experience and you’ve done your own personal development, and you’ve grown into this beautiful teacher and speaker and you’ve created a beautiful course.
So how can our audience connect with you, if they want to go on that journey themselves with regards to self care, self love, self worth, and really turning things around themselves from the inside?
Pip: Oh yeah, look, the divine alignment coaching program is available on my website, www.pipcoleman.com. And it’s all about aligning. There’s lots of cool soothing, calming and knowing yourself tools in this beautiful process. It’s a five step process to teach you how to align and love yourself more deeply, feel more confident and be able to nurture yourself into the future – rather than whipping yourself and beating yourself up. I’m really enjoying teaching this version of my coaching program. It’s amazing to share this with lots of lovely earth angels that are feeling frustrated and lost and or disconnected from their true self.
Michele: Love it; What are the five steps in the process?
Pip: The A is all about acknowledging who you are and clearing away the weeds from the past, so that you can honor and move forward. And then the L is for love, acts and rituals to take care of yourself and eyes for intuitive skills to grow yourself trust. And G is for getting guidance and self knowledge. And then N is that nurturing of your future vision so that you can come back to being that divine aligned being that you truly are.
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