Teri Karjala's Guide to Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

Teri Karjala's insights on overcoming unconscious limiting beliefs will reshape your understanding of personal development. She reveals how childhood narratives and formative experiences create invisible lenses that affect our perceptions and actions. Learn practical strategies for shifting these limiting beliefs, embracing imperfection, and transitioning from a mindset of struggle to one of ease and success. Terri’s personal anecdotes, such as overcoming her learning disability and embracing small, courageous steps, provide a relatable and actionable roadmap for growth.

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Transcript

Nika Lawrie: 0:06

Welcome to the Inspired with Nika Laurie podcast. Terri, welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you here. Yes, thank you. It's delightful to be here on your show. Yeah, so can you first kind of start by explaining what is a transformational life strategist and then maybe share a little bit about your backstory, about how you got into that work?

Teri Karjala: 0:32

Yeah, so I feel like so transformational life strategist is a total term. I totally made up.

Nika Lawrie: 0:39

I love it.

Teri Karjala: 0:40

You know it's so funny. Is that my? So I, when is that? When I transitioned into this, everyone's like you can't give up. You can't just go and call yourself a coach because there's such kind of like I don't know, coaches get bad raps. Yeah, I, actually.

Nika Lawrie: 1:00

I really struggle with having the name coach because of that. So yeah.

Teri Karjala: 1:05

So I was like, okay, so that's what I came up with. But really it is all about helping people step out of their old beliefs and into their new possibilities. And so I've taken my 23 years of counseling experience, combined it with energy psychology and then applied the principles of the universal laws of law of attraction to really help women entrepreneurs build their businesses and do it with more fun, more ease and, at the end of the day, having more impact. Absolutely. That's kind of how I started. So my backstory really early on I was actually. I got introduced to the counseling world when I was in high school, believe it or not. So I was selected as there were six of us selected as a peer counselor for our school, because we didn't have like a mental health therapist per se, we had kind of more of a career coach, and so six of us went to Washburn University and was like trained by their you know master level, you know professors in peer counseling. So I started my career when I was 15 years old. It was crazy so, but I fell in love with it and so I was in charge of like the fifth and sixth graders. So I'd go down to the school and hang out like the fifth and sixth graders. So I'd go down to the school and hang out with the fifth and sixth graders and get to know them. And, um, and one of the days, um, I had a fifth grader came come to me and tell me that her sixth grade friend was going to commit suicide and she had this elaborate plan and she was I mean, her parents were going away for the weekend. She had a babysitter for like a two night stay and she had a plan, a means, and she, like, was committed to doing it and had this great elaborate story to tell the babysitter. So, long story short, we got involved. This came to my knowledge we got my kind of like supervisor slash teacher who was an over us involved. We got her hospitalized, we got her treatment and if you can imagine, like, being 15 years old and having that experience, it was kind of a game changer for me. And so, um I, it changed the total trajectory of what I thought I was going to be and do. Um, so I gave up my hopes and dreams of being having an undercover cop in new york city and, um, my hairstylist, like, like, that's what I wanted to do, like, right and so. But the undercover cop sort of thing like did come out to play. Because when you think about being a therapist, like like, people come in with like a b and c issue and it's like, well, why, why isn't this not working or what, what's, what's happening here, right. And then I got to like use my ninja skills to be like, okay, what's. And then you get to undercut like you could do, like you know you pull out and you know pick apart and you know say, okay, this is what the root cause is. And so I just absolutely loved it, so fast forward.

Teri Karjala: 4:08

I went into my undergrad in counseling and then my master's in counseling and then got out of that and then opened up a counseling practice.

Teri Karjala: 4:12

It was a private practice, just me myself and I.

Teri Karjala: 4:14

And then what I realized very quickly is that if I wasn't working, I wasn't getting paid and I was like there's no way to live a life Right.

Teri Karjala: 4:23

And so I know that there's a lot of solo practitioners out there andtime contractors to full-time contractors, to learning what I learned and then transitioned about eight years ago to full-time employment.

Teri Karjala: 4:53

So we have now employees and now that company has moved into in the last five years it has moved into an owner independent status, so I spend about two to four hours in that company and then that's given me the freedom to do what I feel really called to do, which is really helping women entrepreneurs to have a bigger impact. And so, whether that's an impact of 50 people, 500, you know, you know 1000 people or 500 million people, I truly believe that if I can help other women entrepreneurs reach what they are intended to do and they have a bigger impact, I believe that we can all have a huge impact on not only raising collective consciousness and vibration for the planet, but also being able to serve more people in our zones of genius, because we all, including yourself, you have your zone of genius and if you can stay in that zone of genius and help more people, I think we all win.

Nika Lawrie: 5:53

I love that. I love it. Such a great thing to focus on. I think the more we empower women, the better the world's going to be. And then I really I love your story about, you know, saving somebody's life. As a teenager I actually lost two very close friends when I was in high school, one to suicide and then one was a pretty tragic accident and the devastation that that has one on you know you look back on what they've missed. You know all the experiences but two, the ripple effect that that has on friends and family and the community as a whole. It's, you know, it's such a amazing thing that you were able to support that person and and really save her life.

Teri Karjala: 6:34

So yeah, yeah, I commend you for that. Thank you, and I, just as you were talking about that, I don't. I mean, yes, I've thought about that, but like it's kind of a reminder to think about. Oh yeah, yes, I've thought about that, but like it's kind of a reminder to think about.

Nika Lawrie: 6:47

oh yeah, like the ripple effect that that has Right and it's lasting. Yeah, yeah, it's lasting because, you know, even though those situations for me happened 20 years ago, there's still things that I look back on, I think about that have had lasting effect on me, on me, and you know, and so it really is, the more we can do to help people with mental health issues and the struggles they're having, the more that we can talk about it and take the stigma off of that, I think, is super, super important. Agreed 1000%, yeah, yeah. Well, thank you for what you did.

Teri Karjala: 7:17

It's amazing, yeah, and I and again, like when I was, when I was in that state of mind like I honestly thought that was like my calling, like that was like I and I was so driven to it and I and at the time it was, it was kind of interesting. So I was drawn to that and I was like I have nothing stopping me. And I had multiple things that came up, that popped up, that were that I had to overcome and overcome and overcome, and I was like there's nothing that's stopping me, there's nothing that's not going to allow me to do this. And so after I grew that, then I realized, like you know, there was something else that was calling me and I'm like, okay, I thought that was going to be my end, all be all and it really wasn't.

Teri Karjala: 7:54

I was just like, okay, that was kind of you know, again, like we get on these paths and sometimes we just don't know where our path's going to take us, and it's been an amazing adventure. But now I feel like it's like, okay, that was more like my passion project of, like, how do I help more people? It's capacity with mental health, and the clinic sees people of all sorts of abuse. So sexual abuse is probably the number one, and then we see physical abuse, sexual abuse, homicides, suicides, pretty much anything traumatic in a person's life, you know. And so that was a lot of heavy work, it was a lot of powerful work, and now that I've transitioned that to entrepreneurs, it's amazing to see, like, how many folks you know maybe not necessarily have that background, but it has been impacted by you know, some level or anxiety, or depression, or you know things that are taking over their lives so that they cannot, you know, create that business.

Nika Lawrie: 8:55

That's possible for them. So I think a lot of times you'll see people that they feel stuck or blocked or like they don't know how to move forward. Why do you think so many of us get into that kind of almost like a negative cycle or routine?

Teri Karjala: 9:10

Yeah, Well, this is my take on it. I truly believe that we all have some powerful, unconscious, limiting beliefs that are in play. And, if you understand so, the brain, the first eight years of our life. This is when the subconscious gets on track right. So if you think about those first eight years of our life, it's really impressionable on our brain. Then the brain, whatever messages we take from that, whatever was spoken unspoken, pre-verbal, verbal, unspoken, pre-verbal, verbal all of those experiences start to shape the way we see the world. It starts to create a lens.

Teri Karjala: 9:50

I always used to say that they were like these invisible lenses, that we all have them. Some of them are thicker than others and some of them are barely even a lens right, but we all have some sort of lens from some sort of depth and we have their invisible lenses. We don't see them on each other and we carry our lives through those, through those stories. And and I was explaining this to someone the other day is like you know, you know those stories have served us in some way. Like I remember my story, I had, I had a learning disability and I was terrified to speak in public and reading out loud was very difficult. I always tell people that language is not my first language. Language is really hard for me. It was a struggle. I was not good enough, Right, and that was. It was a great story. And here's the thing that story served me well. And how it served me well is it? It served me because I wanted to overcome it. Unconsciously, I wanted to overcome it, and so it made me a really hard worker. It made me show up 110% when everyone else was showing up at 90%, Cause I was like you know what I'm going to get this, I'm going to figure this out, I'm going to prove to myself that I am smart enough to do this. And so it served me really well because it motivated me. It took action. Like if I got a, you know a B, you know a B on a test, I'm like where's the extra credit? I, you know what I'm saying and you know like, what's the extra projects? What do I have to do to make this an A? Or you know an A minus or whatever. And so it drove me right.

Teri Karjala: 11:29

But at some point that then crossed over, and it was probably my high school, to you know, in my early twenties it crossed over for me where it did not serve me anymore because it stopped serving me and it made me become perfectionistic. Okay, I'm a recovering perfectionistic person Now. I just my mantra is 95%. But then it started going into these like maladaptive behaviors where it didn't serve me anymore and actually held me back Right, and I would then say I have to work hard. So this was a new story, that I had to work hard. Instead of being allowing things to become easy for me, I was now. I was literally putting that square peg in the round hole, going this will work, this will work Right, and what I found myself doing is I became addicted to this sense of struggle and I had to force everything to happen Right, and so that's when it stopped serving me. And then it's like, okay, these awarenesses, and so it didn't take me, it was not overnight I wish I could say I could say that was overnight but over my own personal development journey. Then I realized, gosh, that that story stopped right then and I kept, I kept playing it Right and so, and so I think that you know I hope that explains that is like.

Teri Karjala: 12:41

I do think that we have these stories and most of the time here's the thing Most of the time these stories are not even created by us. Most of the time these stories are created by somebody else, yeah, and they accidentally or on purpose or intentionally gifted them to us and we didn't know what. We didn't know because we were kids or early childhood and our brains still develop. Me, we're like, okay, that sounds like a good idea, and we unconsciously or subconsciously took it on and tried to make sense of it. And our brain is so brilliant that our brain will find the evidence to support any story we tell it, and so it gets a little messy and a little complicated. But when we have the brain going with the story and now everything we have with those lenses pointing us in this, in this directions, I think things just get reinforced, gets reinforced until we have, um, where I, I, I kind of like the you know, um, one of those transformational moments where it's like wait, some, everything breaks down, Like I feel like we have that breakdown to have the breakthrough, Right, and so we all had some level of that, to some degree, and we've had a moment where like, and then things start to shift and things start to like, start, we start to wake up, Right, and then we can start to make choices around it, and then that's where I feel like the work begins. Is, you know, like, okay, this was a great story that I had for these years. It served me in this way, but now I get to choose a different thing, and it's not, it's not something that we can do necessarily overnight, Although I love teaching people.

Teri Karjala: 14:13

When I work with people, I do it A lot of outside the box tools, energetically, because I do believe that we can easily shift those stories, Because right in our brain we have these neurons. That neuron pathway means this neural pathway. Well, if we break those neural pathways and say, actually, this neural pathway actually means this, we actually can start creating new neural pathways. Because our brain has neuroplasticity. We can create new, you know, which is very profound. So I love helping people, you know, understand that there are some ways in which we can shift that, yes, and I also give them the tools so that they can actually be creating with more ease in their life in general. But I believe if we're, if we're clear and we're in alignment, we can actually have the permission, if you will, or the ability, to create with more ease in our lives.

Nika Lawrie: 15:08

I love that. You know, one of the big things that I often work with my clients as well or you know, I've talked to friends and family that I've had struggling is really identifying truths versus beliefs, and so you know, right along with what you're saying, I think you know, so often we believe the stories that we tell ourselves in our head to be truth, but they're not actually necessarily factual. And I think there's a quote that I'm totally going to butcher. I'll find it and share it, but it basically says that your brain will create the stories to match your narrative opposed to. You know, building your life around the truth, if that makes sense, yeah, and so it's. Things that continue to happen in your life are based off of the stories that you're telling yourself.

Teri Karjala: 15:56

I literally just had a client session, literally right before this, and I had said to her I was like, you know, if we're going to make stuff up, right, if we're going to make stuff up in our brain, like, why not make it up to support us versus tear us down, like right now, the story that she was telling herself is not serving her, and it's the same amount of work to create that story as it is to create another story, right. And when we can be in that alignment with the brain and be like, wow, it's almost like our brain is like I don't know the cousin to Google, right, and it's like whatever I tell myself it's going to go do, right. And so if we have that ability right, like, why not set ourselves up for success? We have that, that ability right, Like, why not set ourselves up for success? What could be the new story that we tell ourselves that helps support us now, versus, you know, five years ago?

Nika Lawrie: 16:48

or 10 years ago, yeah.

Teri Karjala: 16:49

Yeah, If we're going to make it up, why not make it up? Good Like right.

Nika Lawrie: 16:54

Let's do it. How do you suggest people start to identify their beliefs or their stories that they're telling themselves, so that they can start to, you know, make those shifts, identify how they can tweak it?

Teri Karjala: 17:06

Well, I think awareness is always key, right? Because once we bring into awareness and what we're doing, when we bring things into awareness, we're bringing it from the unconscious and subconscious to the conscious mind, right? And I think that's always the power, right, Because most of us are living from our unconscious and our subconscious and that's where that's running the show. I think the National Science Foundation said that we have anywhere from 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day and only 2,000 of those are conscious. So we think about that element of it. And here we are, coming from this subconscious place most of the time, when we think about that element of it, and here we are coming from, like this subconscious place, most of the time. When we can bring that into that awareness, into the conscious thought, then we have choice, and I believe that's kind of the gateway to choice, right? So, having said that, if people just take on a piece of paper, like, let's just put pen to paper, there's so much power, as you probably already know that pen to paper is magical in itself, but writing down what is showing up in their lives, because when we can backtrack this to say, okay, what's showing up in my life right now, Is that in alignment with what I would like to create or is it not in alignment with what I'd like to create? And that's going to give us a pretty good indicator of like, yes, our thoughts are on track. No, our thoughts are off, Right. And so if we can just get really clear on what is it coming up for us right now? What is what is my life like right now? In all areas, Like, even just like all areas like right here, like financial relationships, you know, spirituality, like all of those areas of our life. There's seven areas of our lives um, like writing down, like where are we at right now? And then, like, the next column is like where would I like to go? Like what is you know? Where would I like to go with that? And this is kind of like Island A and Island B, right, and so, um, in Island B, it's like, okay, this is what I'd like to create.

Teri Karjala: 18:57

So when we start to look at those those two columns, it's like, okay, what am I doing to spend time in this first column? And what am I doing to spend time in the second column? Are there stories that are associated to that? Am I telling myself that I can't have island B. Is there something that's getting in the way? Because usually there's something that's getting in the way of me actually having and creating Island B and a lot of times it's not that we it's not that they're not a lot of people are not afraid of having it, they're afraid of what it would mean if they did have it right. That means I'd have to be seen, that means I have to be heard, that means I would have to stand up and speak right, yes, yeah, Because so often business owners when I'm working with business owners, the biggest thing is that fear of success, that fear of being seen, because it gets intimidating right.

Teri Karjala: 19:56

If I'm being out there being seen, and now people can criticize me or judge me or you know whatever, whatever you know, reject me or whatever that might be. That's kind of usually a big you know barrier that keeps us from going there and it's like, oh yeah, I'd like to do this, but and I always tell people, you cannot be. If you want to have an impact on millions of lives, you cannot be the best kept secret. It just doesn't work. The equation doesn't work.

Nika Lawrie: 20:22

Right, yeah, absolutely yeah. And I think you know, I think one of the best things that I have found personally to help kind of work through some of that kind of imposter syndrome, uneasiness is understanding two things. One is that teach what you know because you know more than somebody else on a specific topic and they're going to learn from you on whatever that topic is. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go teach you know tennis lessons to. You know Venus Williams, like you know the roles there. Teach what you know because you know more than somebody else on that specific topic and you know.

Nika Lawrie: 20:59

And then the other side of that is understanding that, as horrible as it sounds, people are really self-involved and so oftentimes they're paying attention to what's going on in their life, what they're doing, their fears, their concerns, and they're really not looking or paying attention to what you're doing. And oftentimes even they look at you and they're like, wow, how brave she is for putting something out there. I wish I could do that kind of thing. And so we kind of shifting, shifting again the story. You're absolutely right, we are so much more self-involved than we want to give ourselves credit for.

Teri Karjala: 21:42

I have a silly story about that with my shoes. One day Totally off topic One day I was leaving my house and I was telling the dog to go do its business and then I was throwing on my heels. I was running late to a meeting and so I'm throwing on my heels, I get into my car, I get to the appointment I'm like 15 minutes early, but I get out of the car and I don't have enough time. It's like eight in the morning, downtown Denver, and I look at my heels and I'm wearing two completely different heels and they're completely different color and shape and style, like everything that you could possibly imagine. The only thing that was the same on them they were, thankfully, the same height Anyhow, but I was like okay, and your point exactly is like I walked into this meeting and I'm sitting exposed I'm not behind a desk or anything like that sitting exposed with my feet, you know being, you know exposed, and I'm trying to like, you know trying to navigate this, and no one like could see, nobody noticed.

Teri Karjala: 22:49

And I actually did this one other time during it, just kind of like. I do these like social experiments and no one like no, like it's amazing. Yeah, I'm like how is this like not being picked up?

Teri Karjala: 22:59

Yeah To your yeah, like, how is this like not being picked up? Yeah, to your point is I think we're so much more self-involved than we want to give ourselves credit for you know, yeah, yeah absolutely, but I think it's, you know it's.

Nika Lawrie: 23:09

It sounds like a negative, but I really think it's can be flipped and turned into a bonus thing where you can use that as your kind of secret power to get out there and be brave yeah, and I don't think it.

Teri Karjala: 23:20

It doesn't require as much. I mean, think about, like just having 30 seconds of massive courage, we can conquer the world, right? Just, it's a matter of just like committing to yourself like I'm going to do this and get out of there. You know, and oftentimes it's more about you know, if we can shift the story or the perception of not comparing your beginning to somebody else's middle. Yes, right, because, or sometimes we compare ourselves so unfairly to my beginning to somebody's ending, right?

Teri Karjala: 23:52

I had a client the other day and she's getting out there and being super vulnerable and doing Facebook Lives and she's like, oh my goodness, terry, you make these seem really natural and fun. And I'm like, it's been four and a half years, my first one, and I say this in total transparency I freaked out the entire day and I'm like I'm doing a Facebook live and I had notes and I was just so worked up I did it and then, right after, right away, I'm like, oh no, and I started freaking out because I'm like, oh my goodness, tuesday's going to be here in less than seven days, like I. And so I freaked out again for a whole new week, I mean the first, like four months. I freaked out every day because I knew Tuesday was coming.

Nika Lawrie: 24:36

Imagine that Tuesday always comes.

Teri Karjala: 24:37

But after a while I grew into that muscle and now it's like, oh, it's Tuesday was coming. Imagine that Tuesday always comes. But after a while I grew into that muscle and now it's like, oh, it's Tuesday, Okay, what am I going to talk about? Oh, okay, I think I'll talk about this. And it's like, okay, I'm getting ready on five minutes. Like go right. Like yeah, yeah, I love that it takes that time in it.

Teri Karjala: 24:53

But the first 500, maybe not 500, but the first 50, let's say the first 50 took massive courage to do. But each time we stepped into it and did it, that courage, it required less and less courage to where it's like, okay, I'm completely fine with it. And when people reach out and say you want me to prep or whatever, for I'm like, nope, nope, I'm open book, let's go for it, Right, but that's not where I started, Right? I think that we have to be. We have to be fair to ourselves and not and not compare ourselves, because everybody started somewhere at some point, even the, you know, the, what, the folks that we put on pedestals. You know, fairly or unfairly, we put people on pedestals but, like you know, they saw, they all started somewhere too yeah, yeah, I love that.

Nika Lawrie: 25:42

You know one of my. I mean, I first, I completely really. I remember when I first started doing my podcast, the first couple of interviews, I would have to like pump myself up and I was like you know, sweating and trying to like keep it cool and just like figure out how to ask questions and, you know, keep it flowing. And then now I'm just like it's literally just having a conversation with somebody and it's such a natural, comfortable thing. But it took going through that uncomfortableness to get to this point. And so you know, I think that's the fear people have is that uncomfortableness, but understanding that it doesn't last that long. It's, it's a shorter amount of time than you actually think, and then you'll build and get past it. One of the and each time we do every oh, go ahead, no, no, no, go ahead.

Teri Karjala: 26:30

And each time we do like, we expand that comfort zone, right. So when you started, okay, here's your comfort zone, and now I'm starting to do one, two, three, five, six, 12 episodes and you just expanded that comfort zone, right. And maybe you've gotten creative with how to ask questions and how to lead a guest and like now you're like you're moving from that student path to that master path. Right, I'm like, okay, I've figured this out and now your, your comfort zone is so the next time you have an opportunity that comes up, you may be able to say yes to that faster than you would have if you didn't have already had this podcasting under your belt, right?

Nika Lawrie: 27:08

So it's all such a gift for us, absolutely. I think you know it goes back to the 10,000 hour thing. You know anyone can become an expert in anything if they, you know, supposedly put 10,000 hours towards it. And you know when you think about when you break that out. I think it's. I think it's something like four, 40 hours a week for four years. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, that's really not that much time working towards something. It's not. It's not, yeah, yeah. So you also talk about really helping people kind of step into their own power. Can you talk a little bit about, like, what that looks like and how we might go about doing that?

Teri Karjala: 27:44

Yeah, so I love helping people like get into what their purpose is right, because we can identify what is our purpose. And so often we, some people, can have chosen career paths or current situations where they feel like they had to do it for various reasons, but they don't really feel called to do it right and so, and as they're on this journey and that's where they were supposed to be at that, right and so, and as they're on this journey, and that's that's where they were supposed to be at that time, for whatever lessons, whatever, whatever that was. But at some point that there's this like I believe there's like this inner knowing and we can avoid it for some time and then, at some point, like it starts to like grow in power and it starts to grow in its volume as far as, like you know, listening to it, and so you know when we I'm going to ask people this all the time I'm like okay, if you just close your eyes and just like sit with it for a moment of like what do you know beyond anything else that you know you're meant to do in this world? And it's amazing to see people like they'll usually break out in tears. They're just like a word vomit like this is what I'm doing and it's so profound. But because a lot of times people are not in that place currently, you know they're playing a different, you know playing a different role or playing a different situation.

Teri Karjala: 29:09

But when we get into that alignment with what it is that we're here to do, like it's pretty profound, because then things start to what I call like start to line up for us and life doesn't have to be so hard and we're listening to that inner voice of like this is what I'm supposed to be doing and taking the steps, taking the next best step towards whatever that might be. And I truly believe when we make that choice and I believe it is a choice, when we make that choice to go forward with whatever that is things places, people all kind of start to fall into place for us and it can be pretty effortless. And people are like wait, that was just like how did, and we and it's almost like we can't make these stories up Like right, like it's like wow, like that was so more profound or more more easier than we'd ever thought, right, so so, helping people tap into what is it that they're being called to do, like listen to that voice and call that in and spend time with it. Pen to paper, like spend some time with that what that looks like. Because a lot of times people are on that path but they're just like missing it by a 10th of a degree or they're off of it by you know, just by a short amount.

Teri Karjala: 30:25

And as soon as we kind of shore that up and say, okay, this is what I'm here to do, this is what I'm called to do, and you get into alignment. And what happens? When we're in alignment from a vibrational standpoint, we are like off the charts, like in this high vibration, and when you're in that high vibration, we can also start creating and generating more. That's in alignment with that vibration and it just like it has like a domino effect for people that are on their path.

Teri Karjala: 30:54

And you can see it when you meet a person and you're like gosh, they love what they're doing, they are having fun. You can feel it from a consumer perspective, from a colleague perspective, from an ownership perspective. You can feel it right and it's pretty amazing to watch people step into their power, right, and I think that that's truly when we stepped into our power, like this is my gift, that I was given the day I was born. It might have taken me a couple years, or I might have taken five steps forward, three steps back, but I got here, right, I got here. But.

Nika Lawrie: 31:31

I got here. Right, I got here. I love that too. I think that you know you talked about how people sometimes aren't close to it but they're kind of riding along next to it, and I think one of the things people often miss is trying new things or experimenting. You know, like I've known my entire life, that I wanted to do something to. I want to help people feel better. What that looked like, I didn't know, you know, and I knew you know. I want to help people feel better. What that looked like, I didn't know, you know, and I knew you know. I looked into life coaching. I looked into all kinds of other things. I, you know, got a degree in psychology like been all over the place, but it took years for me to start to learn how much I loved nutrition and food and you know behavior change and those kinds of things. So it took trial and error and experimenting and I think a lot of people don't spend enough time investigating and looking into that.

Teri Karjala: 32:22

I love that and and everything that you did to get here. All is going to serve you.

Teri Karjala: 32:28

Oh, absolutely Like and it's almost like you know, god, spirit, angels, whatever you want to say like, yeah, let's just have her go here and then here and oh, absolutely yes, that's kind of the difference between having a kind of an open mindset and with a place of possibilities and curiosity, like, versus someone just having like a closed mind to to possibilities. Right, and, and you know, not to say that that person that has kind of that's closed off cannot open up, because I believe we can. But when we get into that place of curiosity and actually it's super fascinating because curiosity is the only emotion that lights up the entire brain, actually it's super fascinating because curiosity is the only emotion that lights up the entire brain. It is like super, like amazing emotion that we can experience and we get tap into that curiosity, you're right Like it opens up so many more doors, because we're like, oh, let me learn about this and like, yes, we can go down a couple of rabbit holes, but usually those rabbit holes, hopefully, are serving us in some ways.

Teri Karjala: 33:29

Yeah, but I, I always do these experiments. I didn't know what I was doing until years later, when I was. I always did these like either social experiments and I'm like you know what I'm going to wear this crazy like necklace where I'm going to tight, roll my pants and walk around and just see what these really silly social experiments that I would do, and they would just like give me joy, like secretly. I don't know why. I was like anyways, but I've always had, like this experimental like you know place and so like with my daughter. It's always like she's like I wonder what you know, boiled eggs and you know cream cheese would taste like I'm like I don't know, let's try it, right, like, and it's so delicious, by the way, okay, I mean just as calories, but I'm just saying it's good, you know, but it, you know, but it's been fun where it's like you know, we do this and it's, it's opened up and what I've noticed, like my daughter and her neighbor friends, we do chopped, so, um, you know, there's like a TV show, a reality show, and they bring out like three ingredients or three or four ingredients that you have to use, and then there's like some optional ones and I'll pull like random stuff, and we've been doing this now for probably at least two, maybe three years.

Teri Karjala: 34:46

Her ability to get me creative and experiment with stuff is like and it's okay, well, good, it's with food, right, and you, being a nutritionist, you're like what? No, I'm just kidding, but it's opened up her mind, but that is like I believe that that's a transferable skill, and so, guess what? It's transitioned to her schooling, it's transitioned to conversations with kids, it's you know, and it's so. When we get to that place, if we can just open our minds just a bit to experiment, like you said, and play with, like hi, I wonder what this is going to be like, just get super curious and it may epically fail, and then we have something, a great story, to share with someone, I hope.

Teri Karjala: 35:27

But when we get that, when we tap into that curiosity, it starts to. But when we get that, when we tap into that curiosity like it starts to, I believe it starts to tap into, like, our ability to innovate, absolutely, to start to create like, oh gosh, that didn't work out. But gosh, you know what this and this worked, amazing, you know. And so I just think that I agree with you 100%. If we can keep an open mind and we can tap into that curiosity, that it starts to open doors that we would have never in a million years even planned on.

Nika Lawrie: 35:56

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So. I know you have some tools that you share, but what are some of your favorite tools that you found to help people kind of work through this and kind of figure out their path and overcome some of their internal blocks? Maybe?

Teri Karjala: 36:13

out their path and overcome some of their internal blocks maybe? Yeah. So when I work with clients, I do two things. I always boil it down to. These are the two things that I'm really good at. The first one is looking at using some outside the box tools to help them clear all the blocks, the barriers, the baggage that is coming up for them and get really clear on that piece and so just eliminating all those like old beliefs and I always tell people there's like top five blocks that I deal with and that is the limiting beliefs, self-sabotage, getting stuck in fear, the overwhelm and the imposter syndrome, because those are kind of there's other things, but for the most part these are the kind of the top five that women entrepreneurs come in with me. And the second thing is, as I give them like energetic tools based in universal principles that can help them create and generate more in their life. And all the tools that I teach, all of them are under two minutes and I would say about 80% of them are under, like you know, five to seven seconds.

Teri Karjala: 37:12

Like it's like, like it doesn't require much, you know, and especially if we've done our work to kind of clear this stuff out, this doesn't? This other stuff doesn't take much to keep in a in a balance of it, right, um, but one of the tools that I teach people, um, I have, um, several products out there, but, um, I didn't realize how valuable this was until later and it's called my daily intentions planner and what this does. It combines brain science with law of attraction and and puts it into a daily practice for us, because so often people were like, ah, how do I incorporate this? And I can have like a quote vision board and I can do it once a year, but that's really all that they were doing towards really creating a business. And I, and that's great, I mean, I don't. You know, I love training on how kind of using, using, using, you know, certain tools to really help a vision board be really powerful, because I think sometimes we miss the boat of how to use this tool effectively, right, but then, like you know, put creating your vision board and it's like, okay, now I take it back and I'm like what are my, my quarterly targets? What am I heading towards?

Teri Karjala: 38:22

And so in my planner I have, you know, I have a little section that's actually engaging the reticuling activation system. That's like working this muscle, like it's daily, every day I'm working this muscle. It also, you know, and most of us have experienced that where I'm like, ah, you know what, I need to call Marsha, I need to call Marsha, I need to call, yes, you know, I need to call Marsha today, yeah, marsha. And then, wouldn't you know it, marsha calls me and I'm like I was just thinking about you. We all think this like magical and we're like, oh, my goodness, like we, what if I told you that you could create that every day? And what if I told you that, with like 90% of the work you have to do, like it's a game changer? It's like, oh, really, like I could put that into place Right. And so it becomes really, and there's been like probably four times in the last, like maybe two years, that I have not, I've, you know, I've missed a day because of whatever, I was traveling or whatever and I'm like I can tell immediately. I'm like, oh, oh, okay, I'm off, right. So I always like to teach people like how do we start our day five steps ahead of ourselves, or five steps ahead of our competitors, or five steps ahead of you know the next person? And if you can be really clear. So I teach people how to use a planner and I teach people how to you know, you know, fill it out the night before, um, just kind of based on the brain, and you know all the yumminess that happens on the brain, but then you know, being intentional with how do we follow through with this during the day, um, and then at the end of the day we talk about our evidence and also we end in gratitude, right, and that's a powerful tool just to use in general.

Teri Karjala: 39:59

But there's so many different tools that I have, I mean, in my book, and I actually have a free copy of my book that I'm giving away. So if people go to BeTheMagicOfYoucom, they can grab a free copy of my book. All I ask, just pay for shipping, but they can grab that book. All I ask, just pay for shipping, but they can grab that book. And there's I don't know how many. I need to go in there and count. I mean I bet there's over a hundred tools easily in that, and there's some YouTube videos and things like that. Here's how you can actually do this, because one of my big targets in this lifetime for myself is to have an impact on 1 million people, and so I can't be everybody's coach Okay, that would just be. It would take me, you know, 150 years to do that.

Teri Karjala: 40:42

But I want to give people the tools that they can use on themselves so that they can do, they can get themselves in a really great place without somebody else doing it Right. And so a lot of times it's like okay, like what is it that I, you know, what is it that I'm needing to shut away? And most of us, you know, here's the thing I always do these intake forms with my clients and I would say 95% of us know what's getting in the way, like we know, like we know what block it is, we know what that resistance is, because it shows up so often. For us it's like hello, I see it, I hear it, right. So I do think we don't give ourselves enough credit for, like, we really do know that here it is, but sometimes it's we're not able to clear it out ourselves. That's what needs some support. So, yeah, I don't even know where I was going with that, but anyways, it's going to talk and talk.

Nika Lawrie: 41:36

So I love it, though I think, I mean, I think you're absolutely right. I think when it comes to especially when I work with clients coaching, what I find is that you know so many people actually know they know what to fix, they know the struggles they're having, they know what they need to do different. They just need that guidance and support and accountability often to help them implement those changes. And you know, and so I think having those tools, those guidance and that support is really life-changing and really profound for a lot of people. Yeah, yeah. So I have one last question for you, but before I get to that, where can listeners connect with you? Where can they find?

Teri Karjala: 42:12

you, yeah, so I'm on pretty much all the social media platforms. But if you can just go to the website TalkingWithTeri, that's T-E-R-Icom, all the connections there. I'm on, you know pretty much all those social media platforms and if they want to grab the free book, just go to BeTheMagicOfYoucom and they can grab that.

Nika Lawrie: 42:33

Perfect, and I'll link to everything in this show notes as well. Yeah, so, terry, my last question for you is something I ask all of my guests, but I always get very interesting and unique answers. My question is what advice do you have for someone who wants to make change either in their life, in their community or around the world?

Teri Karjala: 42:58

Gosh, that's such a loaded question. Oh my goodness. There's so many things I could say. I will say invest in yourself. Invest in yourself, and not just necessarily with a coach. There's a lot that we can do without investing any other resources besides ourselves. Right, like dig into reading, dig into listening to podcasts, like your podcast. Right, go sign up and listen to her podcast. You know? Like, just invest in taking ownership, in creating the life that we love, and we do that and we commit to that. I mean that could be any commitment of I'm going to create a morning routine.

Teri Karjala: 43:41

I'm going to create an evening routine. I'm going to create, like, every day, I'm going to commit to doing my gratitude journal. Whatever it is that makes you feel good, that makes you feel light, that makes you feel that you're on track on serving other people, or serving your family or community, or whatever that is, whatever makes your heart sing. Do more of that. Invest in yourself and commit to yourself that I deserve it, I'm worthy of it, and it starts small. So, whatever that practice is, whatever that is for you, go commit to doing so and give yourself permission. You don't have to wait for anybody else to give you permission. This is about you. This is about you loving yourself first so that you can love other people. So commit to doing it for you.

Nika Lawrie: 44:32

I love that. I think that's such a good one, and I think that's actually what I've never heard before about investing in yourself, so I love it. Thank you so much, of course. Yeah, well, thank you for being on the show and sharing all of your amazing tools and advice and the knowledge with us. I'm just super, super grateful to have you here. So thank you.

Teri Karjala: 44:50

Thank you, this has been delightful.

Nika Lawrie: 44:52

Yay.