Harnessing the Healing Power of Journaling: A Journey with Reiki Master Niamh Corcoran

Discover the healing power of journaling as we journey with Niamh Corcoran, a seasoned Reiki master, meditation facilitator, and well-being mentor, who transformed her life through the power of the written word. Battling anxiety and depression, Niamh found solace and strength in her journal, a tool that she now utilizes to help others on their own journey towards self-discovery and healing. Our conversation is an inspiring testament to the transformative power of journaling and is packed with practical tips for those battling similar struggles.

We further explore the importance of perspective, gratitude, and the seemingly simple, yet incredibly powerful act of smiling. As Niamh shares her journey, we delve into how she shields her energy, harnesses the power of Reiki, meditation, and how she manages to find joy in the little things, even in the face of adversity. This segment of our conversation is a must-listen for anyone striving to maintain a positive mindset and energy in a world that often demands the opposite.

Our journey with Niamh concludes with a deep dive into the world of Reiki, a healing modality that promises healing on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. Niamh provides valuable insights into this ancient Japanese practice and shares her journey of self-compassion and overcoming depression. You won't want to miss her closing advice and a free offer for PDF prompts and journal prompts to guide you on your own journey to healing. So, if you're ready to explore the power of writing and harness the transformative power of journaling, this episode is a must-listen!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello and welcome to the next episode of the Overcome Yourself podcast. As you know, my name is Nicole and I'm so excited to be here today with Neve, and Neve is a business owner. She is originally from Ireland And so when you see the spelling, if you're in the United States, i learned this morning that the M H makes a soft V sound. Right, i'm correct. So far, right, neve, yes, you are Absolutely All right. So if you're like, wait a second, there was an M in there. There's no V. That is why. So we've learned like a new. You know something about new, about a culture, so I absolutely love that. So, neve, i want you to introduce yourself, and now she lives in London, by the way, so she's not in Ireland, she's in London, and so take it away. I want you to tell us who you are, what you do, how you help people. I'm so excited to have you, so take it away.

Speaker 2: 0:56

Okay. Hello everyone, i'm Neve. I'm a Reiki master, a meditation facilitator and, while writing for well being, mentor.

Speaker 2: 1:06

So, I started my journey years ago. Yoga that led me to Reiki and then to meditation. And writing is something I have done since childhood. Ever since I could hold a pen, i've been writing, and the counselor turned me on to journaling a few years ago. I have used my journal to get me out of a real funk, out of anxiety and depression that was just so debilitating I couldn't leave the house, so I want to share that with everybody else. So basically that's kind of what I do with my business. I use a combination of Reiki, meditation and writing to help people break free of anxiety and depression and actually to achieve their dreams, to build their self confidence.

Speaker 1: 1:54

I love it. That is amazing. So it sounds like you definitely have overcome yourself, right? As you know, this podcast is named after my book and that's the name of the book Overcome Yourself, coming to Amazon soon. And you know so. I've been in the, in the depression, where it's like I'm in my bed, i'm under my sheets and that's the only thing that's happening today And I, you know I've been there and it's tough, right. So I would love to know a little bit more about journaling. How did you use your journal to to help yourself overcome, to get out of the funk and really be able to I mean to do what you do now? like you I love, you're so vibrant on Facebook, like everything you know, you exude like this happiness. So I want to know a little bit more about that journey, which we have very similar journeys, you know where we've we've had to really look at ourselves and pick ourselves up by our bootstrap. So I would love to hear more about your journey and how did you use your journal to help yourself.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Okay, well, i mean, my journey actually started with me realizing my dream, my childhood dream. All my life, you know, as a child I wanted to be a teacher And I wasn't allowed to do that. When I was sort of 18, i was shoveled off to university to study accountancy And that kind of became my path, and I did that for 11, 12 years, something until my youngest was born. And then we decided between myself and my husband that it wasn't really practical for me to go back to work full time And we couldn't afford. We had this was, she was at my third child's and we couldn't afford childcare for three children. The only option was to either have a nanny in the house I couldn't do that, we couldn't afford that or to have them in three separate places and me running, working full time, having three drop offs and three pickups every day, was just not doable.

Speaker 2: 3:59

So I took some time out of work. My husband wasn't very happy with it, but I did. And when my youngest started school I thought you know, i have to do something. So I went into, i became a teaching assistant in the school, so helping out, and I was sat there watching the teacher teach, and I think I could do that. I could actually I think I could do that better than she could. So I applied to university to become a teacher And I got accepted And I completed.

Speaker 2: 4:29

I completed my qualification And I got my first teaching job, and that's where kind of things started to spin out of control. They all went wrong because my youngest suffers from a chronic illness, and so it was getting worse, and I would spend all night in A&E and then have to come back A&E is the emergency room And so I would come back to come into work in the morning to be faced with 33 eager faces well, not all eager, some of them didn't really want to be there And I would be trying to teach, having been up all night with my daughter, and I just realized that I couldn't do it. I was slowly losing confidence. I was just so exhausted. My husband wouldn't help, he did nothing, he without. All the time I was, i was really struggling with my daughter's illness and we're trying to do a full time teaching job, and I realized I was trying to teach these children how to be confident and how to be themselves and how, and I wasn't doing it. I was just feeling so low and so depressed and then one night, on my way home from work, i I didn't do it consciously, i almost drove into the back of a lorry And I was that depressed I just wanted everything to kind of end And so I saw counseling.

Speaker 2: 5:56

Now the counselor I saw was, yeah, i. She wasn't great, she was a Catholic, she believed in the sanctity of marriage And she kept telling me the way it was, the way I was communicating with my husband that was causing all these problems. And I kept thinking I don't have any difficulty communicating with anybody else, you know. So she then told me she suggested I started journaling And so I got out of my, you know, i bought a pretty notebook and a pen, as you're guided to do, and when I first started journaling it was via a verbal diarrhea, it was. It was just horrible. I mean, i was just splurging all over that page. It was a. I wasn't processing the emotions, i wasn't even really releasing them. What I was doing was just throwing all this energy out.

Speaker 2: 6:51

There I was, and sometimes I was so angry that I would actually the pages would be tearing as I wrote. There were other days where I was just crying so much that the pages I couldn't read anything because the pages were so waterlogged. The ink was running And I realized through time that each day when I went to my journal I was just putting the same stuff down over and over again And it became very much. A lot of it was a rant against myself. Like I hated myself. I hate who I'd become. I hated the way my life was And the only good things in my life for my children. But I didn't even see like I was being a proper mother, because I was just so angry and so resentful and so so depressed And I got to a point where I became agoraph. I got developed anxiety, panic attacks And my doctor was about to, and the diagnosis me as agoraphobic. I could not leave the house unless, unless I had to take the children somewhere, and then I have to have really detailed planning before I could leave the house.

Speaker 2: 8:02

So I realized that the journaling wasn't actually doing anything. It wasn't helping because I wasn't processing those emotions, i wasn't releasing them, actually sitting down, just writing all this stuff. It was basically like throwing who at a fan. It was just all coming back at me And nothing was happening.

Speaker 2: 8:21

So I then started, and I don't know how I started doing this or what triggered it, but I started asking myself questions when I was journaling. So why am I feeling the way I'm feeling today? What's triggered this emotion? Is it something for my past? Is it something I can change? Oh, can I, i can change it. Oh, i can change it. What can I change? How can I change it now? Three things I can change today to help me.

Speaker 2: 8:47

And that's the process I began. I started actually using my journal as a tool of inquiry, so actually really questioning and really going deeper into the things, and I realized, somewhere along the way as well, that my relationship was not just bad, but my husband was abusive. Oh, wow, yeah, and not that he would admit to that. But there you go, that is my feelings and my interpretation. And so I gradually, i gained the courage to actually ask him for a divorce, and that was, i think, six years ago now. So, but I continue to use my journal, but I use it as I don't use it every day and I don't splurge and blare all over anymore. I use it as a tool to help.

Speaker 1: 9:38

Yeah, yeah, no, no, that makes so much sense And that's what I wanted to know. My journey very similar. I started, excuse me, i was very frustrated with my journal. I was very sad, very frustrated, and what came out on the pages was just writing the same thing, like you said, over and over. I think that's, i guess, part of the process when you're starting to learn to journal. And then you're like what's the point of this? I don't feel better. I'm supposed to feel better. I've been writing the same thing for weeks and weeks and weeks and I feel worse. What, what the heck is going on.

Speaker 1: 10:20

And then there's intention behind it. So first is kind of establishing the habit of journaling and and you do feel kind of good to get it out, but you know by the 20th time or the 50th time that you write the same thing. You're like wait a second, what's going on here, right? but it's a really good way of taking in, to take inventory, kind of like your thought patterns maybe, that you didn't even realize were there, right? And one of the things that I talk about in my book is if you're going through depression, like if you are depressed, if you are in a state of depression.

Speaker 1: 10:55

What are the questions that you're asking yourself? because I found that those questions that I was asking myself, i was setting myself up for failure number one, right? because even if I was asking about something good, i was in a negative frame And so, of course, everything was going to be, you know, not great, because I wasn't. You know, my brain wasn't even asking questions in the right way to get a good answer. So how could I be happy? And so I think that's a big deal is, like you said, that you use your journal as a method of inquiry and you start asking yourself questions like new questions, different questions, and see what goes on in your brain, right? so what do you think about that?

Speaker 2: 11:38

Yeah, i mean definitely, absolutely. I mean that's what I started doing, you know, and the how can I be happy? is kind of I mean that's pie in the sky. Yes, you know, I had more money if I had a proper husband. Blah, blah, blah, blah. They're not things we can do immediately. So for me it was what three things can I do today to make me feel better? What three things can I do today to make me feel at peace? What three things are going to help me today?

Speaker 1: 12:07

Okay. So you want to know what my three things were. I had three things as well when I finally got into intention, and so I was what are three things that I could be grateful for right now? So mine wasn't even action. I didn't even start with action. I was just like how, what can I be grateful for right now? And I would have to find three things in my environment that I feel grateful for. And sometimes, some days, that shit was hard. It's hard especially when your mind is in one of those negative states. It's hard to, because everything you think of the AC well, it could be colder.

Speaker 1: 12:41

The sun, well, it's kind of bright and it's hot outside, you know so you know, learning, learning to adjust your perspective and be able to find three things and feel the gratitude Right, because it's not about writing something down, it's about writing it down and then feeling it. So, yeah, i think that's that's really cool, that is, we find something very simple three things, three things. What are three things?

Speaker 2: 13:06

Yeah, I keep a gratitude journal. I've been doing it now since, i think, 2018. So every night before I go to bed, i write and five things on, great for four. Now, some days is everything doesn't it.

Speaker 2: 13:21

Yeah, some days they'll be the same five things as yesterday, or one or two will be the same. I do try to change it up, yes, but. And then there are days, as you say, when just you've had a rubbish day and it just thinks, oh, it's not going to be grateful for anything today. And then that's when you've got to throw through that And you've got to come up and actually think actually my life is really good. And then you've got to come up with the things that you do have in your life. Even this is only the fact that my rabbit did a binky this afternoon, because he's happy and he's happy. That makes me feel good.

Speaker 2: 14:00

So, yeah, it's learning that's.

Speaker 1: 14:02

That's what learning to appreciate the little things means, right, because we say, well, you got to appreciate the little things. But then what? what does that mean? And it's like you said, it's like, man, my coffee tasted extra good this morning. Or you know, like just tiny little things that, yeah, you drink your coffee every day But, like, do you take a moment to just be? like I'm so grateful that I get to do this every morning? you know, and just like, and really it changes.

Speaker 1: 14:30

You know, when you change your perspective, your entire world changes, like even physically. I changed because when you're like, really depressed and you're looking down, you can't see the world because you're looking at the floor. So when you, when you adjust your perspective and now you're looking for things to be grateful for, you see a whole new world. Like I'll go places. I'll be like, oh my god, i didn't know that there was this many things here. Oh my god, look at all these people that are here. And I'm like, oh wow, i didn't even realize like this whole world was right here, because I've been looking down for so long. I can't keep to myself. So even your perspective can change you physically in a way. Right, because then you carry yourself taller, so you look up higher and it's amazing how many new things you see.

Speaker 2: 15:18

Yeah, absolutely. And then even just the whole thing that put a smile on your face. If you smile at somebody else, that changes their whole day as well, their perspective. And I noticed I mean I worked for a while at the yoga studio as a reset on the reception desk And yoga has you know what attracts all sorts of people. But a lot of people are recommended to do yoga when they're suffering from anxiety or depression. So I would be sat on the desk and you know people would come in And there were.

Speaker 2: 15:49

There was one lady in particular and I noticed that whenever she came in, my mood would instantly drop. She would come in and she would just, she would do to me what I was doing to my journal, she would splurge on me. There's a litany of things that were going wrong in her life that weren't working, that blah, blah, blah, and she could never, ever see a positive. It was really, really hard and that I realized actually that I was absorbing other people's energy to And that was a huge. That was having a huge effect on me and how I dealt with things in my life. And that was one of the things I actually took to my Reiki master as well and I asked him.

Speaker 2: 16:31

I said you know I, i'm obviously trained in Reiki. I can get you know, i can do healing with people, but I'm taking, i seem to be absorbing other people's energy. How can I do that? And then, so there's varieties of methods to do that. I mean you can put yourself into an energy bubble You like, use Reiki to protect myself I also. I'm also a certified angel healer and I do angel card readings and things. I don't actually practice that. That's more for my family and friends, but I also invoke angelic protection as well. So and I found, when I started doing that for myself, i stopped absorbing other people's energy quite so much, and then things also changed. It's so much easier to be grateful when you're just in your own energy and not anybody else's, and that goes back to smile. If you smile at other people, it changes. It changes the energy in the room and it changes their energy to people. People will always smile back, won't they? You get the odd curmudgeon who want to.

Speaker 1: 17:42

Mostly yes, mostly was not back.

Speaker 2: 17:48

No, go ahead. So that smile comes from. You know that smile changes everything and also you can write in your gratitude journal that night. So smile at me, or I smiled, and it made everything feel better.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Yeah, no, yeah, it sounds.

Speaker 1: 18:04

sometimes it sounds a little bit silly, but our brain takes cues from our body, right, and so when we smile, it tells our brain, hey, something good is happening, and so that does changes physically. And another thing that I did mention this in my book is how we can be superconductors, right, and we can give off energy. We can give off good energy, and then there's energy vampires that are just taking people's energy right, like that lady that you mentioned, and like, as soon as they walk into a room, it's just like the drain, like they're just like this battery that just drains, and but we actually have the ability to also be the opposite, to be an overflow, and to be so positive that that that energy is exuding off of us and we're we just got so much that we're just giving it to other people. And you know, when we walk in a room, it's like wow, i don't know what it is, but like there's some energy here. I feel bubbly, and I remember people used to tell me that like I worked in a restaurant And I remember, in particular, i was having like a really bad day And it was like 10 o'clock at night.

Speaker 1: 19:12

It was late. I had been there since really early and they sat me this huge table and I was just like I was in the back crying, i was just not having it. But I went out to that table Hey guys, what's up? and then the guy, the gentleman you know, like the head of the table pulled me inside and he was like he's like, what are you like? what are you on? are you taking something? I need to know what it is, because you, you just have this bubbly, this happiness to you That he's like I love it, like you're just making this one and I'm like, like, even when I don't feel well, that stuff is coming up with me, right, and it's just exuding because that energy is there.

Speaker 1: 19:49

So, yes, we can be superconductors and we can spread joy in the world, in the areas that we're in, but it comes with the confidence, it comes with gratitude And even in those moments where we're not feeling great, it can still be coming off of us and people.

Speaker 1: 20:05

You know, people don't even get that the negativity, because there's so much positivity That's just radiating off of us. So that's really cool. And you know, like we see this, this phenomenon, like when we smile at a little baby, right, if you smile at a baby, it doesn't matter what you say to them, like you could insult them, you could be saying horrible things to them, but if you're smiling, they're probably gonna smile back at you. Sometimes they do get that energy and they'll be like er, but a lot of times if you smile, they will smile back because there's just that energy. Or when a little baby smiles at you like they didn't say anything, but you'll smile back at them because there's, like these mirror neurons, i guess, or something that we see smile and then it kind of just oh hey, how are you.

Speaker 1: 20:51

Right, like you know, i smile.

Speaker 1: 20:53

Then you just kind of like, oh, she's smiling. Or when someone's laughing and you hear laughter, and then all of a sudden you start laughing. You're like, why are you laughing? I don't know because someone else is laughing, it's because it's infecting you and you start laughing too. Yeah, so I think that's really cool And we do have the power to.

Speaker 1: 21:11

Some of us do, some of us are superconductors, some of us are not, and that's okay. But you know, one of the things that I mentioned in my book is, if you're in these circles, if you're listening to these podcasts, you're reading things like my book, you're hanging out with other entrepreneurs. I'm willing to bet that you probably are in that circle of superconductors, because like attracts, like right, and so if they're hanging out with us, then they're probably superconductors too, because that's who we draw to ourselves. Right, we're gonna repel the negative energy because they're like oh, no, no, no, she's too bouncy for me. No, she's too excited, no, she talks too much. And then, you know, so, the negative, the energy vampires will automatically. They're gonna like, go away and be like no, that's too much for me. No, she's too happy all the time. She's too positive, it's fake, you know. And no, it's like we learn to live in these things. So that's so cool. Tell me a little bit about Reiki. How does that work? What do you do? Is that like an exercise?

Speaker 2: 22:09

It's an energy healing modality. So you get a tune to Reiki And then there's you can. There's different hand positions you can use, you're taught them. There's symbols we use. So there's four different symbols. It was them.

Speaker 2: 22:26

It's a Japanese system of healing, say? I can't find the word I'm looking for right now. It's not, it wasn't invented. But Mikae, you say, was the first one who came across it. He had.

Speaker 2: 22:38

He was a renowned businessman in Japan in the early 1920s. He went bankrupt, which for them was just, you know, not the thing to do, and so he went off into the mountains to kind of find himself and for penance and to work out what to do with his life. I'm probably not telling the story very well, but he, when he'd been in the mountains I think it was for 40 days or something And he stubbed his toe and he realized he put his hand to it and he healed it. And then he realized that he'd been given the gift of healing in the mountains And he came down out of the mountains and he started to share this healing with others. And there's a story of a big earthquake in Tokyo around the time And apparently he was there among all the victims, like with a you know, his feet, his foot on one person, his hands on the other people, healing them. And then he passed his healing modality down to other people and they carried it on. So you're attuned Now.

Speaker 2: 23:44

Obviously, other people have come up with different forms of Reiki. I'm a direct descendant of the lines from the KU say I don't do anything else apart from that one Reiki healing. But the thing I found with Reiki is when I give healing, when I put my hands on somebody, sometimes they feel heat or tingling, sometimes they feel emotional, sometimes they see colors. It makes you really really, really calm. It brings you kind of into a meditative state. But it also it initiates your own self-healing. So it can bring you pain relief. It can bring you relief from insomnia, it can. It starts to unblock your emotions as well.

Speaker 2: 24:27

So it's kind of based on it's not based on the chakra system, as we know seven chakras, but in the Japanese systems there's only three. They call them Tandon, so there's one in your abdomen which is the heart, then there's a heart center and the head. So on the three, the symbols are based around those as well. So you have healing on the physical form, so that's the body, and then you have healing on the mental and emotional and then healing in spiritual. So and obviously it works through all of them.

Speaker 2: 25:04

But for me the healing comes from the body first, that you have to heal the body and release all those energy blockages, and then you start to the emotional, mental and spiritual. You don't obviously have to go down the spiritual path, but I try and live by the Reiki principles. There are five Reiki principles. It's just for today. I will not worry, i will not be angry, i will be grateful, i will be diligent in my work and I will be kind to all living beings, and the kindness to all living beings includes self-compassion as well. So it starts with you.

Speaker 1: 25:42

But you have the gratitude.

Speaker 2: 25:43

Yeah, and you have the gratitude in there as well. They do not be angry and they do not worry. They're the hardest ones Harder ones, i think, sometimes to live by.

Speaker 1: 25:53

That's like the little song Don't Worry, be happy, right, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 25:59

But there are times when we need to worry. Oh my.

Speaker 1: 26:02

God, that's the first time I'm saying on my podcast. You see what I'm getting braver, i'm getting braver.

Speaker 2: 26:08

I'm just having my accident.

Speaker 1: 26:09

Oh, I love it That is awesome, i'm going to definitely write those, those principles down in the show notes because they're just great. You know great pillars to live by, right Like that's kind of like, just like just the base rules. I mean they're hard you know, do not worry.

Speaker 2: 26:28

I mean we all have things that we actually some things do warrant worrying about slightly, but it's not getting caught up in the constant worry. The I don't know if you've read it the book- the subtle art of not giving a fuck.

Speaker 1: 26:47

I don't know, i don't think so Okay, okay, so I apologize If you're not big on on cursey, but that's literally the name of the book And basically the whole premise is Save, save your fucks for whatever is Important, right?

Speaker 1: 27:00

So like, yes, you know, like don't give all the, you know like you're like worrying about these little things And then when something big happens, you've got no fucks left to give. So, right, so, like you know, at the end of the day, don't worry about the little things so that you have the energy to focus on the things that you really need to worry about. Right, you know, because most things are just situations that you can do that There's very actual few problems in our world. Problems is something that can't be fixed with money. Everything else is a situation, you know. So that's the way I like to see it. But, yeah, that's a good point. You know, leave your. Leave the worries like that you have. Like you, you have a limited capacity to worry about things. Leave that for the point of stuff, right, yeah, and I mean, that's the thing you know when you're depressed or you're anxious.

Speaker 2: 27:46

You get caught in ruminating And those worries just keep going around and around And you can't. It's really hard to get yourself out of that cycle And something like Reiki can just give you. And I mean I use meditation as well because some people don't want the energy feeling, but I will take people to the gym. I have a guided meditation as well, but that's just. It calms you down, it gives you clarity, it actually gives you a break from your thoughts when you're having a Reiki healing. I don't know if you've ever experienced Reiki. I did it once.

Speaker 1: 28:23

It was long distance. Yeah, i mean, i mean, i do distance Reiki as well, and it works.

Speaker 2: 28:28

And I've had people you know tell me it works And I have several testimonials from people telling me how much it worked for them and how it changed something. In person there's a different, it's all energy. But it tends to be slightly different in person because then you can put your hands actually on people and the power of touch. There's just something about touching And if you're in a depressed and anxious state and you haven't been touched in a long time, you're going to be in a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very short period of time. And I've been touched in a very, very, very long time.

Speaker 2: 29:04

Just somebody, even putting their hands on your knees, their shoulders, is just so powerful. We automatically pick babies up and touch them and cuddle them. We automatically do it with our animals. We don't always automatically do it with another adult. You're a child, will come to you with a cut knee and you'll cuddle them, and that will come to you with the problem like, oh, talk to me while I'm making dinner, or or I'll phone you later, or you wouldn't automatically think. A lot of us anyway wouldn't automatically think to put your hand on them give them a hug.

Speaker 1: 29:37

You're like why are you telling me go get a bandage?

Speaker 2: 29:40

yeah, exactly we're.

Speaker 2: 29:42

Sometimes just a hand on the shoulder is more powerful than all the words you can come up with. So sometimes Reiki in person, you know, especially for people who are in that state of anxiety and stress and they can't and depression, and sometimes you can't vocalize how you're feeling either so that touch is powerful and also when you're in the midst of a Reiki treatment, you just achieve this clarity, this, this calmness, this everything just kind of stops. That's how I mean, that's how I've experienced it and that's how a lot of my clients describe it to me as well. They can't really put it into words, but it's like somebody's picked a switch in their brain and all that worry is just kind of gone and they get a few minutes respite. So that's what we need, right? Yeah, that's absolutely what we need, just some respite from what's going on in your brain. But I mean, i found as well and from talking to people with anxiety and depression and I know from my own experience that actually sometimes you want to stay in that anxiety and depression because it's familiar.

Speaker 2: 30:50

It's what you know That rubbish going around in your brain is what you know, it's what you're familiar with, And sometimes a change seems too scary. You know, loving yourself when you've hated yourself for years is a huge and really really scary step.

Speaker 1: 31:12

And it's a journey. It's not a step, that right, yeah, no, it's a journey You don't just wake up on.

Speaker 1: 31:17

Then you're like I love everything about myself, especially when you've been hating yourself for a really long time. It's waking up and looking in the mirror and being like, okay, I kind of like that. And then the next day you're like I like that a little bit more. And then by the end you're like, oh my God, I love this, Like even the flaws, even the fact, even the stuff that I used to think was ugly. So it makes me me And I love it. But it is a process. And the other thing I wanted to mention is when I was in that.

Speaker 1: 31:45

I remember that when I was really depressed and I was having multiple panic attacks a day, I was I would just cry, I would just have these like horrible, just crying. Like every day I would cry horribly. And there was one day where I was just like crying and like I was just hyperventilating and you know just, it was like the world was ending like the Disney princess, you know just, and and then I really like it stopped and this thought popped into my head and I was just like, do you like feeling like this? And I was like, oh my God, I'm like you let this happen every single day. Like, what is it Like? do you like this? Are you just used to it? And that's where the journey to getting to where I am now started. I really had to face myself and be like, are you doing this just because you're used to it? Like, like, what's the point of this? Like, before you know, like there were things happening, but now, why is this happening? Like, you know, like two years later, why are you still crying? if you don't like what's happening, How can you change it? And so that that was the moment that led to really me asking different questions. And that doesn't mean I just stopped crying that day, That doesn't mean I stopped having panic attacks that day, but it was the day that kind of led me down that road.

Speaker 1: 33:09

I started having less panic attacks. I was able to be like, let's not cry, Let's see. You know, can I breathe through this? Can I figure out how to change the? you know the nail? Like there's a nail inside of me and I keep crying about it. Take out the nail and then you don't have to cry, you know kind of thing. And it's hard when it's depression and you don't have a physical nail in you. Those are things that you're going to have to dig out of yourself, you know. So those are big. These are big, big, big, big deals that we're talking about here. New, Let's wrap up. I want to know. Final tip for everyone, and I want to know how we can stay in touch with you. So first, final tip what's your one tip to help, to help people who maybe have gone through this or are in that journey of learning to be happy and learning to love themselves again?

Speaker 2: 34:00

Just be kind to yourself. Do something nice for you every day.

Speaker 1: 34:06

Yes, something nice, something it doesn't even have to be expensive.

Speaker 2: 34:12

Drinking water is doing something nice for yourself, Or even telling yourself that you know your hands look nice today. It's just really self-compassion, i think, is the key, knowing that and also knowing that this won't last, that everything changes, everything passes.

Speaker 1: 34:37

My thing. I taught myself this lesson. I was sitting at a stop sign. I was so stressed out And then I said to myself Nicole, it is a physical impossibility for you to be stuck at the stop sign forever. It cannot happen, it can't. So even if you're stuck here for five minutes, seven minutes, 10 minutes, you cannot be stuck here forever because at some point traffic will go away.

Speaker 1: 35:02

So even if you have to wait an hour, two hours. It's physical impossibility for you to stay here forever. So sometimes you have to remind yourself it's a physical impossibility for me to stay stuck forever. You can't because the world keeps going. And how can we stay in touch with you?

Speaker 2: 35:21

Well, i'm on Facebook. My name on there is Neve Corcoran. I have a website which is wwwrakebynevecouk. I'm also on Instagram. I think my handle there is rakebyneve.

Speaker 1: 35:37

All these links will be in the show notes, guys. okay, so scroll down or wherever you want. I think that's basically where I am. Okay, do you have like a newsletter, a freebie that you're giving away that we can include here too?

Speaker 2: 35:52

I have PDF prompts and journal prompts and how to relieve.

Speaker 1: 35:57

Well, you, should have met with that.

Speaker 1: 35:59

I love it. Journal prompts Get your journal prompts from Neve. Definitely, that link is going to be in the comments. Big deal, i love journal prompts. I have some journals on Amazon. We can talk about that later too. Awesome. So we've got Facebook, we've got journal prompts, we've got Instagram And then you'll get on the newsletter when you sign up for the journal prompts Awesome, yay, this has been so, so wonderful. Neve, i absolutely love talking to you.

Speaker 1: 36:33

You won a prize And I haven't announced it yet, so I've got to. So you won a prize and I've got to. I've got to announce it in the group and and give you your prize. So we'll talk about that after the recording. And yeah, because Neve participated in the latest in my in my Facebook group right Last week the week before I had a migraine last week, so it didn't even count. She participated in an event where I invited everyone to go live and Neve did, and I'm so excited And she was also one of the top engagers with everyone else's presentations, so she won a prize. So make sure you head over and hang out with Neve inside my Facebook group to grow Right now it's called to grow your audience, your brand and your income, because she hangs out in there with us as well And you can watch her presentation in there too, so awesome. Any last words before we sign off here.

Speaker 2: 37:23

Not really Just be kind to your side of all else?

Speaker 1: 37:29

I love it. Thank you so much for being with us, neve. This has been wonderful. We went over time and I love that. It means that we were having a great conversation. We were having fun And I'm so excited to be getting that. we get into that flow right, because we've got good stuff going on. So until next time, thank you, guys, for being with us. We'll see you next time.