Soulful Chats with Psychologist Fiona Thomson

In this month's instalment of 'Soulful Chats', I am joined by my dear friend and colleague, Psychologist and Embodiment Coach, Fiona Thomson.

Join us as we explore Fiona's journey with uncovering and integrating her spirituality, both on a personal and professional level, and the incredible transformation that it led her on, towards greater freedom, authenticity,  joy and abundance.

The book recommendation by  Fiona is 'A Return To Love', by Marianne Williamson and can be found here: https://www.amazon.com.au/RETURN-LOVE-REFLECTIONS-Reflections-Principles/dp/0060927488

Fiona can be found on www.wildfreeandabundant.com, where you can subscribe to her newsletter and be notified of when her blog goes live in a few days!

You can also find Fiona on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildfreeandabundant

and on

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildfreeandabundant/

Be sure to SHARE this episode to anyone you feel may be interested or benefit from this content.

And please don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE to keep up to date with our episodes and give us a RATING below. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 You can now send me your comments or questions, to hello@integratedwisdom.com.au or you can also find me on Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/integrated_wisdom/

Intro and Outro music: Inspiring Morning by Playsound

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Transcript

Tatiana: 0:00

Welcome to the Integrated Wisdom Podcast. I am your host, Tatyana Da Silva. Join me as we discuss what it means to live an integrated life and explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater meaning, peace, and connection by integrating the wisdom of spirituality, psychology, Neuroscience, Epigenetics and Energy Psychology are hoped to empower you to create deeper and more loving connections with yourself and others, whilst also paving the way for humanity at large to be reimagined and inspired to become the very best version of itself. Hello and welcome to the integrated wisdom podcast. Thank you so much for joining me for yet another week. I'm very excited to be bringing another monthly installment of my soulful chats. And today I have my beautiful friend, Fiona, who I have had the pleasure of knowing for the last couple of years. She's a psychologist and somatic employment coach. She's passionate about living, uh, Life that feels wildly authentic, purpose driven and free, full of love, joy, and abundance. And I think that just sums up here and out to a tee and is on a mission to help as many people as possible to do the same. She believes from the depths of her soul that we're here to live our dreams and that they're not as out of reach as we might think. One of the key aspects of living our dreams is creating the business of our dreams. One that truly supports us to live our wild, free, and abundant life. And Fiona is passionate about empowering women to create the purpose driven business of their dreams by helping them to identify, embody, and express their unique gifts, integrating them with the practical and strategic sides of business development and digital marketing. Fiona is creating her very own dream business. Wild, free and abundant, where she provides a holistic array of products and services that cover many of the aspects of living a wild, free and abundant life from the practical strategies to the tools and practices that support expansion and transformation, integrating the wisdom of the mind and body. She incorporates key transformational elements from the 20 plus years of her own professional, personal, and spiritual development journey, including somatic embodiment and movement practices, mindfulness and compassion approaches, as well as human design. I'm so excited for this conversation. Welcome Fiona.

Fiona: 2:49

Oh, thank you so much. Thanks so much for having me. I'm grateful and honored to be here on the Integrated Winsome Podcast. Yes.

Tatiana: 3:01

that you are deeply spiritual yourself. We know we, you and I often talk a lot, um, offline. You've recently done my human design chat for me, which is really intriguing to learn these aspects about myself. And so the having you on is very exciting. So thank you for coming.

Fiona: 3:21

You're inviting me.

Tatiana: 3:21

this. So maybe before we start talking a little bit more about, you know, your own journey with spirituality, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself?

Fiona: 3:33

Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, he summed it up a lot of what's kind of happening currently in the bio. Um, but I guess I've been on my own. Very much on my own journey for the last, yeah, a while. Like, yeah, more than 20 years now, I think. I guess I, um, had some challenges in my teens. I guess I've had challenges with mental health and with chronic illness, with chronic fatigue syndrome and things like that. And I guess. There's always been a part of me that's known that there's something more and bigger, but I kept steering myself in the wrong, in the wrong direction. Well, not the wrong direction, just that it's not wrong, is it never wrong. But

Tatiana: 4:17

There's a lesson. Yes.

Fiona: 4:22

you know, I, I have a huge love of travel. I've spent a lot of time overseas. I've spent a lot of time, I've dabbled in many, many, many different things I've had Which, you know, as a recently, you know, found out in the last 12 months or so that I'm a manifesting generator in human design. So I'm literally meant to try many, many, many different things. And so I did that. I've kind of, yeah, dabbled in a lot of things over my, like, professional career. Um, and. Yeah, I'm always trying to integrate the, the passion and, and the purpose into, into everything. But yeah, there's been a bit of a journey of like, of trying to come back to myself and, and find, find who I am. Um, that initially led me into psychology and so the last eight or so years I've been working as a psychologist. I currently work as a psychologist, but I'm now sort of yeah, transitioning into my own business, which just yeah, allows me to be more more free. That's why, you know, the name came to me, Wild, Free and Abundant, because that literally is what I want my life to be like, and I want, yeah, that just It feels like what life should be. So I

Tatiana: 5:42

your interest in spirituality, I guess, because I can hear from what you, the background that you've just given us, there were lots of things, right? You, you've, you've looked at lots of different modalities and approaches, but what started you off looking at spirituality through all of that?

Fiona: 6:00

mean, when I think back to childhood, I was, there was so many times where I was really interested in, in, in spirituality. I mean, I was, you know, asking the tooth fairy for like, you know, magic flying dust. So I was getting wildly creative with what I was asking the tooth fairy for. Um, um, and I just always, I

Tatiana: 6:22

Right. And you just want to fly.

Fiona: 6:24

I just wanted to fly. I just thought that would be the best thing ever. Um, which might be a metaphor, but yeah,

Tatiana: 6:34

with your business there, but anyway.

Fiona: 6:38

indeed. Um, but I, I guess there were, it just was always interesting in the, the magical and, and I had a very, I don't know, this is something that we share a very rich, like in our imaginative world. And, um, But I guess, you know, coming back to that in adulthood, because, you know, I've gone away from it and come back to it many times, but I probably really, you know, went to spirituality, tried to connect to spirituality to heal, you know, to, as a source of healing from, yeah, like my depression and anxiety and the chronic fatigue as well, because there were, that was back in the late 90s, 2000, early 2000s, and they weren't, you know, they weren't There wasn't a lot known about it, and all of the Western medicine things that I tried, like, nothing, nothing really helped, um, and so I guess I was looking for, yeah, I went outside of that, I went looking for the things that I thought might help other, yeah, had energetic practices, so it was probably, yeah, energy healing, things like that, I heard someone talking about, I think, pranic healing might have been the first thing that I tried, and I went and had that. Yeah. I went and did sessions of pranic healing, which I can't even tell you what that is, but, um, um, but yeah, like, I just, I just, I think I just found myself drawn towards different, probably more energy medicine, um, in hope in, you know, hoping that like, maybe there's an answer here. so that's probably what reconnected, like connecting me to it for healing. Yeah,

Tatiana: 8:28

So healing, it's so funny because I mean, not funny, but very intriguing that a lot of people who have this more natural inclination towards spirituality, um, um, You know, a very intuitive are also very prone to chronic fatigue and, um, autoimmune conditions. And I, you know, so much of that is tied to that sensitivity, right? That openness to picking up energy everywhere, um, and it ends up becoming this path. For a lot of people towards finding spirituality. So it's interesting how that's echoing in your own journey too.

Fiona: 9:09

yeah. And even, you know, like discovering human design and like coming across, like, you know, even the areas in my chart that tell me that I'm like, well, of course, I'm fatigued, of course, because I'm living out of alignment with this part of my design. I'm putting all the energy into this and, you know, there's all this conditioning. And yeah, even elements of that have shown me, oh, yeah, well. That makes sense that that makes sense that I'm always feeling drained and fatigued for Seemingly no reason, but yeah,

Tatiana: 9:45

Always more to learn.

Fiona: 9:48

yeah,

Tatiana: 9:50

And so what spiritual concepts did you first begin exploring? Was it, did it start with the, the chronic healing or.

Fiona: 10:00

I think, I think, oh, I just, yeah, I was interested in other healing modalities. I was interested, always interested in, like, you know, I think very early on in my first, one of my first jobs, I was really unhappy and, um, there was a shop next door, it was in Melbourne Central, and there was a shop next door that was like one of these, yeah, spiritual shops and crystals and they had reading, like, tarot readers and I went in there to kind of Get some answers. And yeah, I was, I was always really interested in, in, um, yeah, psychic readings and things like that. I just, again, I think I was just seeking answers, answers that I didn't, I didn't know.

Tatiana: 10:41

Yeah.

Fiona: 10:42

didn't have myself at the time. Um, so it was probably, but I think probably, yeah, the energy, energy work, like the energy, energy healing. Like I, I remember being drawn to Reiki, um, and even doing training in Reiki many years ago as well. And yeah, that was probably what, what I first, I think in terms of the kind of is, was like the path into spirituality, I

Tatiana: 11:18

So it started with a practice rather than a concept, really. Yeah.

Fiona: 11:23

yeah, I would say, I would say so. Um, I think there was a lot of, um, there was a lot of conflict around that because I, I went to a religious high school. Um, not because my family were religious. I mean, my mum, mum was on and off like mum is and, um, grandparents, her mum was, um, and that didn't have any kind of negative effect on me. Like there was no pressure from family at all. Um, my dad was the opposite. He was an atheist. So, um, but, but the school was really very pushy about religion and about doing things in a certain way. Um, and shaming you for not doing things in a certain way. So there was a lot of, and I was like, Oh, well, I guess I'm just, you know, not, no, I'm not spiritual. I'm not like, you know, I, I thought of it as a, yeah, it was something really negative. And so it felt really hard to integrate the actual concept of spirituality because I, had that association, I think, with the religious aspect that I just had so much, like there was, yeah, dissonance with, with that. So, and I guess in my earlier years when I thought, well, if that's, God and spirituality and I don't agree with that or I don't, I don't fit that, then where does that leave me? So yeah, that was hard.

Tatiana: 12:55

Yeah, I can imagine. It can cause so much confusion, right? And in some ways, it can disconnect you from that, that spiritual essence.

Fiona: 13:04

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't, I think, until I heard someone say, I consider myself to be spiritual, not religious when I kind of went, Oh, Oh, we can separate the two. Hang on. That sounds like me. Yes. Yes.

Tatiana: 13:25

it's, it's interesting cause you're in my course at the moment, the conscious therapist and the science is starting to show, right? That we talked about this in the course that it's, there is absolutely a separation between being spiritual and being religious. Um, and. Yeah. So to have that backed up, this concept backed up in that way, I think gives him, gives this even more, I guess, comfort to feel like it allows us to feel a little more comfortable. Right. To know that actually I can, I can hold the two things either simultaneously, but separate or distinct or one or the other, depending on what for you.

Fiona: 14:05

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. I think that's right. That comfort. There was, there was a real sense of relief. I think when I realized that because I was like, Oh, there's more freedom in this, you know, than I thought. Yeah.

Tatiana: 14:20

How beautiful. So what do you think are the benefits for you of incorporating spiritual, spirituality in your life? You're in like on that personal level for you?

Fiona: 14:32

Well, for me, every time that I have. I've gone away from spirituality. I guess I've I've struggled more. I've felt less like myself and every, and I only know from, I guess, upon reflection from coming back, you know, even when it's been a reluctant or like, you know, there's something that pulls me back. There's something of interest that pulls me back. It is a sense of a coming home and I guess a feeling more whole. Um, and that's a huge part of healing. And even when we talk about, you know, healing. Healing trauma and things like that. There's a, you know, reconnecting to those exiled, fragmented parts of ourselves and, you know, becoming accepting of, of the whole and integrating all of the parts of ourselves.

Tatiana: 15:25

Yes.

Fiona: 15:26

so I feel that it has the benefit and it just keeps unfolding. It keeps unfolding. The more that I, you know, kind of follow the Ellerbrook road like, it just. I just feel more whole. I, I, I, yeah, it feels, oh, there's another aspect of me. And instead of like judging it or, um, ignoring it, suppressing it as like a, Even the hard, difficult parts. It's like, but this is part of me. This is like a, this is part of my journey. This is part of my, my purpose to be here. So it's like, it's a not incomplete picture if I don't look at all of that. So yeah, like there's a sense of that. Yeah. Completeness and wholeness and

Tatiana: 16:12

Yeah.

Fiona: 16:13

direction and purpose. And like, that's definitely the thing that I think I'm feeling more and more every day as I connect to it is like. Just feel good. I feel happy. I feel joyful. It's the thing that we're all seeking, right? To feel happy and I have that like sense of peace and I feel like that's what comes more with Connecting to spirituality, I mean,

Tatiana: 16:40

Yeah. It's like a coming home.

Fiona: 16:43

it's coming home. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It really, and like a comfortable, like a comfort home, like a welcome, like warm blanket kind of couple. hot chocolate cone of home. Like it's beautiful. Yeah.

Tatiana: 17:01

That's so lovely. Um, I don't know if you do incorporate spirituality into your practice at all, but what do you feel are some of the ways, even on that personal level and your perspective, the perspectives that, um, opening up your spiritual connection more has had to your professional life, like to your work.

Fiona: 17:25

Yeah. Um, well, I mean, it is tricky, isn't it? This is what we talk about. Like it is tricky to actually integrate it into psychology,

Tatiana: 17:37

Yeah.

Fiona: 17:38

but I think that it gets integrated anyway, because I don't know. I think what you said before about spirituality being more of a concept and like, You know, less of a practice, I guess, more of a concept, or like, it's a beingness, so when you're connected to your own spiritual practice and you're being. And becoming, you know, more you and growing and integrating and becoming more whole and all of that. Like you just show up differently. You just, you know, even the, the things that come through, like, I just feel like, you know, the things that come through for clients, I'm a lot more in, I'm a lot more in tune with, with myself. I'm a lot more in tune with, with them.

Tatiana: 18:25

Mm hmm.

Fiona: 18:26

uh, And the, the, I feel like the interventions that we have, it's like, I mean, there's so many that kind of cross over, right? Like, you know, and that's probably why I've been led more towards doing things like ACT and, you know, mind mindfulness and compassion based practices and then, um, going and training as well in somatic experiencing, which is, yeah, in very, very like it integrates a lot of that, those spiritual concepts really, but in a way that sort of is digestible and science. based and um, but, but I think all of those things anyway, wouldn't, wouldn't have the same impact and like, unless you are doing the work on yourself, so you don't have to be talking. Yeah, you don't have to be talking to people like, you know, there's sometimes in the gosh, I wish I knew your human design chart. Like I wish, but knowing mine, like knowing mine, I can kind of lean into that and I can, you know, be more, I've become more open and accepting of myself. So that can only mean that I can, I can be that with clients as well. Right. So, and I can be, I guess I just use my own intuition and. I asked like for guidance, what does this person need to hear from me? What is, what's the, um, there's a beautiful, like one of the modalities that I'm interested in is access consciousness. And I've done some training in that as well. Um, which yeah, we're getting to it all, but it's a beautiful, you could go look it up. It's absolutely amazing. Um, but yeah, they talk about living in the question and one of the questions they ask is that, you know, Before you go into a session with a client, what are the infinite possibilities for this session? And I just leave that open sometimes. And so that even that's like, I don't know where this is. I don't have to try it. I guess. Earlier in my career as a psychologist, I tried to plan everything. I tried to control everything. Oh, we talked about this last session. I'm going to use this intervention and this. And now I'm like, well, what was possible, you know, today?

Tatiana: 20:34

And do you mind me asking how, how have you found that has, uh, transformed the way that you're working? Yes.

Fiona: 20:44

a lot less, I feel a lot less anxious than I used to. Um, I feel like the sessions flow a lot better. They just, I feel more connected to the client. I feel like they They get what they need, you know, kind of not every time. And I know like it's, it's harder, but I feel like we've, uh, I've seen, I've seen shifts in my clients as I've deepened my practice with spirituality. I have seen. Shifts in my clients and sometimes it's crazy that I'll be, I'll be working on something in myself and then a client will come in. They've been struggling with something and I'll be like, guess what? Blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, no way. Yeah It's like, I feel like, you know, I mean, somatic experience. I'm like, we are talking about the field of resonance and then I know that like, you know, it's good to tell it energetically. When we're working on our stuff and the research with that, the ho'oponopono of like being able to heal what comes up in ourselves has that effect on healing others as well, which is Amazing. Very

Tatiana: 21:59

so fascinating. I love this stuff, as you know.

Fiona: 22:01

fascinating. Yes. Yeah. It blows my mind every time though. It just, yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Tatiana: 22:12

Yeah, you're right. Like what we already know is so mind blowing. Imagine what we don't know yet. Right. What else do we know? Cover and explain some of these things for us more clearly.

Fiona: 22:25

I know, like, yeah, your episode where you're talking about the chakras and tapping, like, wow. Like, yeah. Like, we're just, we're learning more and more all of the time and it's really exciting.

Tatiana: 22:38

it is an exciting time to be in this profession. I think, right. Like it's starting to open up to all of these other elements. And yeah, I think, I mean, I believe we're going to see some very tangible changes in the way that we practice in the nearish future. Yes, it's very exciting to see spirituality weaving itself into our therapeutic rooms, but obviously there's still a lot of fear, right? Like, I know that when you and I first met, we talked about this, how there's so much fear, particularly in Australia as a psychologist, to talk about spirituality, to own that you have a spiritual side to you.

Fiona: 23:18

mm.

Tatiana: 23:21

So how have you navigated these fears around being a psychologist and being spiritually minded? Like what? How, what helped you override that fear, I guess, to the point that you can now be in this podcast talking about this so openly. I

Fiona: 23:43

um, yeah, gosh, it's been quite a journey because I guess I. especially when I entered psychology, I really disconnected from that part of myself. You know, there's a lot of the science and I, I, my mind particularly goes to this lecture where we were talking about, you know, the horoscope lecture, everyone's done that, right. It's not evidence based. And when the study where they give the teacher or the lecturer gave out like the same horoscope to everyone, but told them it was like tailored to them. And everyone Oh, yes. Wow. That's me. And, and, you know, was

Tatiana: 24:23

didn't want that.

Fiona: 24:24

um, I can't remember the particular study, but there was this, yeah, it talked about how, I mean, it was basically to sort of debunk,

Tatiana: 24:34

Yeah.

Fiona: 24:35

that, that we, you know, if we read something and we think it's for us, that we can make it be for us, we can make it mean, you know, what we want it to mean. And then it becomes like, I guess, a self fulfilling prophecy as opposed to like an actual, you know, guidance. Um, So I remembered that and I remember thinking, oh, and that made me feel really skeptical, you know, and I guess I kind of, every time I thought about anything spiritual, I was like, oh, you know, it's silly. I'm making it up. Like, this is, it's not real. You know, so even I guess being in the profession, I was like, you know, I, I am only interested in the, in the evidence base because It's, it's silly this, you know, the whole story about like, it's not real. It's not real and really skeptical. Um, I went away from it, but I guess my own personal journey just keeps like, keeps bringing me back. And I don't, I don't know if I've like really. overcome the fear of, of, of it in, you know, I know that's what we're talking about in, in your beautiful course as well. Um, but there, I guess, I guess there is, there is, there is fear that I'm like, Oh, you know, I've got, I've got to translate this. I've got to bring this in a way that can be related back to, you know, ACT CBT or, you know, something like that. And you can do that. So I guess there's, there's a caution. Um, but that's what's leading me, I guess. Maybe the overcoming the fear is is what's actually leading me towards, you know, developing my coaching practice so that I don't have as many of those constraints and I can, I can really, you know, dive into it, which is also scary. But there's a sense of, like, I have to, this just feels right. And I have to, I have to try to work with a lot of fear, and I guess it's that. Ironically, it's the connecting to this, my spirituality that has helped me to come overcome the fear and like try to, uh, get work with a deeper sense of, of trust, you know, and trust that like, Oh, yep. Okay, well, this feels right. This feels good. So it must be right, right? Like, um, there must be something right about it if it feels good to me. So it was my mind that's telling me that it's, it's wrong or it's bad or it's. So, yeah, I think I'm still navigating. I'm still navigating that. Um, but certainly I think that the spiritual practices that I, you know, that I, um, you know, embody what's helping me to kind of. Be with the fear, when the fear comes up, just to notice it, to be with it, to observe it.

Tatiana: 27:33

Yes. Oh, so beautiful. And it is, it's a, it's a, it's a gradual unfolding, right? Like

Fiona: 27:41

Yeah.

Tatiana: 27:42

little bits, you start to get more and more comfortable. And as it starts to become more widely accepted, I think it just opens up that door even more.

Fiona: 27:51

Yeah.

Tatiana: 27:53

I mean, and I keep finding as well, that so many of us actually do have this spiritual, um, Yeah. element to the way that we think about life, the way that we think about our work, right? It, there's a lot of ambition that comes with knowing there's so many more of us out there. Excuse

Fiona: 28:11

definitely. Yeah, definitely. That, that has felt So comforting. So again, I love that's why your work, this podcast, your work, your program is so important. You know, that was one of the things we did talk about was like, you know, feeling isolated and alone in this and like, being able to connect with the community. Oh, there are more people like me. Yeah.

Tatiana: 28:30

Yeah.

Fiona: 28:32

But I found that when I, when I jumped into somatic experiencing as well, I think that was, um. That really opened my eyes because prior to that, I'd been, you know, probably I've done trainings like an act and EMDR and things like that. And then somatic experiencing was totally different. It wasn't just psychologists either. It was, I mean, there were, yeah, physios and osteos and midwives and yoga teachers and. like, you know, psychotherapists holistic energy. Yeah. So it was like, it's kind of open to, to everyone. You had to have like a minimum, like counseling sort of qualification. Um, but it meant that there were people from different modalities and different backgrounds. And then we were, you know, just observing, like doing the training and observing it. And we have, you know, I remember this conversation that we had at lunch. We were just every day, our minds were just completely blown. We were like, you know, we we've been told. You know, certain concepts and understanding them on a scientific and, you know, nervous system level and all of that kind of stuff. But then when you watch it happening, you know, one of the comments someone said was like, it's, it's like, it's science, art, and magic. Like, which I don't think is separate things. Like,

Tatiana: 29:51

No.

Fiona: 29:55

So there's like, we understand, we understand this, we're seeing this, but But it's still mind blowing like, wow, look what the body can do. Look what it can actually, ah, you know, you're watching things, you know, happen in front of your eyes and you're like, it kind of makes sense, but it also wildly unfamiliar.

Tatiana: 30:15

Yeah. I mean, I, I love that because I do think there is a like, when you think about science, it is magic, right? Like historically a lot of what we now know that what's been explained by science of an animal. unnatural processes used to be have magical connotations to them because people didn't have the knowledge or understanding right when you watch some like scientific experiments or like i've been blown away by the the new telescope the james webb Web Webster, I'm having a mental blank right now. The new telescope that's come out and it's just what you can see out in the universe. And it's just mind blowing, right? It definitely feels magical. So I love that analogy, the way that you put it.

Fiona: 31:03

I think I'll never forget that. I'm like, science, art and magic. I feel like that's what life needs as well. All of those things. Um, we kind of maybe, you know, but it's separate. It's tends to be separate, right? As the science and maybe the science and the art, but the magic is definitely not something we talk about. But, um, I think magic is just stuff that we don't understand that we can't measure yet. Yeah,

Tatiana: 31:30

percent agree. Um, that's what we know. That's what I was learning too. Historically when people would get sick, it was because of bacteria, right? But they didn't know it was bacteria, so they wouldn't think it was curses until science came along and started to demonstrate the mechanism of bacteria and infection. So a lot of the things that we think of as supernatural, I always say this, there's no such thing as supernatural. There's only natural processes that we haven't yet explained because we don't have the tools to measure it. Um, so, but that doesn't mean it's any less magical, right? There is still some, there's still a wonder that comes with these things. Um,

Fiona: 32:12

absolutely. I was listening to a podcast we were talking about that and like, you know, however many hundreds of years ago, when we all have an iPhone, right, we can connect to the internet on our phone. That would have, if you took that back 200 years, it'd be like, Yeah, I burn at the stake as you. What is this, sorcery? Yes. Um,

Tatiana: 32:34

Yeah, it's so true. It's

Fiona: 32:36

yeah.

Tatiana: 32:37

But so from your perspective, Fiona, like, what do you think is the value for psychologists and therapists, more generally, um, in embracing their spiritual selves, or being more curious about spirituality, at least?

Fiona: 32:55

Well, I don't think anything bad can come of like, getting to know yourself better and becoming more whole, right? Like, I think that can only be good. I think, um, if this is something that um, When you feel more connected to yourself, when you feel like, um, more in tune with yourself,

Tatiana: 33:16

Mm hmm.

Fiona: 33:17

um, I had a supervisor years ago say to me, you know, you can only go as deep with your clients as you're willing to go with yourself. And, um, So because I think, you know, spirituality is, is really about, you know, be, yeah, that being more, being more whole, which is, yeah, interesting. What we'll talk about in terms of healing trauma, being more whole and integrating the parts like that, that's, that's kind of what we're aiming to do for our clients anyway. Right? Like, in, in, in the way that's right for them, you know, so it's whether, whether it involves spirituality. Well, they call it spirituality or not. Like it's an integration of all of an acceptance. Um, but yeah, I guess the values, it's the spiritual values of like, um, yeah, acceptance, contribution, um, compassion, love, joy. Like, um, if we pull the values out of it, um, and we embody those things, like that can only, I think that can only benefit our clients. Um, we just, yeah, show up as more us, you

Tatiana: 34:39

Yeah. More attention to me. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. That leads actually really nicely into this, the final reflection, um, question. So if you had to pick one transformative aspect of embracing spirituality more fully, both on a personal and a professional level, what aspect would that be for you? may have alluded to it already, but I'm curious to hear.

Fiona: 35:04

I, yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, I don't know if this is what you're thinking of, but like, um, so the word that keeps coming to me and that has been coming to me recently a lot is the surrender.

Tatiana: 35:18

Oh, beautiful.

Fiona: 35:20

which is a complicated word, I guess, because it's not just, you know, it's a, it's a practice and it's in a, you know, there's trust, there's receiving. You know, you have to, you also have to be in tune. It's kind of like that. Yeah, I'm just deeply trusting the process and and when you're used to controlling or when you're used to, you know, planning and knowing how things are going to go and then, you know, lean back and like all the fear comes up all of that. So again, that's, I think that that word of. Yeah, it's a practice, a concept that I am working with myself. I'm really trying to embody and integrate into my life. And yeah, just that, yeah, surrender,

Tatiana: 36:16

Surrender. So beautiful. A time when we're all so focused on controlling everything.

Fiona: 36:23

Oh, yeah,

Tatiana: 36:24

You need to know, yeah, it can be such a freeing thing to be able to surrender and trust.

Fiona: 36:32

it does. It feels so good. Like, it doesn't at first. I think like, Like, yeah, you're like, What are you doing? Where is this going? I don't know, but there's something inside me that's saying, Go this way, go this way, trust me, like, alright, alright, you're leading me to the edge of a cliff, but, ooooh, I'm gonna go.

Tatiana: 37:03

that's so beautiful. Do you have a recommendation for our listeners? I've been asking this of every, everyone I've had on these Soulful Chats for a spiritual book that's transformative where they can start their journey with, um, With this for those that are curious to explore more or, and I'm looking for a place to begin, I guess. Oh,

Fiona: 37:27

many. I could reel off a whole list, but the one that keeps coming to my mind, the one that I've been turning to, a lot lately is, um, a return to love by Marianne Williamson.

Tatiana: 37:41

beautiful.

Fiona: 37:43

Yeah. It's, yeah, it's, it's been, uh, because of the, because of my, um, the, the religious aspect, like, cause it's based on a, you know, her teachings on the course of miracles, you know, so there's a lot of mention of, of God and things like that, which I was like, yeah, I had to really like, Oh, what is this? You know, it's the way she speaks about it and the way she explains things. I'm like, Oh, we'll see if that was what I was taught in school. I might not have thought that really, you know, this was such a negative thing. Um, because it's that like the title of the book or return to love. It's all about love. Like everything is, it's about love. Like, you know, that the whole thing, the whole reason we're here, the whole purpose is love and that's what we are. Um, so I, I find it, um, in fact, that was the book that the other day when I was I was struggling with something. It's the book that I go to and it's one of those, like, I just tell me, you know, you know, that's what I need to know and open the page and it will usually be something, um, profound. And then the other day it was surrender. It

Tatiana: 38:51

Oh, wow.

Fiona: 38:52

that said surrender. And I was like, okay,

Tatiana: 38:56

I'm getting the message.

Fiona: 38:58

um, um, yep. I hear you. I hear you. And yeah, I just, it is a Yeah, that was a really, really, really, that's probably been one of the most transformational books in my journey. So, oh,

Tatiana: 39:12

to the show notes to the book. So people who might be interested in looking for it and find it, um, thank you so much Fiona. It's been such a wonderful conversation. Uh, always very, I always love our chats and hearing your perspectives on spirituality and the things that you're doing. You're, you're always so helpful. So I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and your expertise with, with our listeners today.

Fiona: 39:42

you're so welcome. Thank you for having me. It's been an absolute honor. Yeah. Always, always such a joy. Like, uh, our chats always, um, So joyful and beautiful. So yeah, I appreciate the opportunity.

Tatiana: 39:57

Thank you. And so do you have, where can people find you? Do you want to give, um, some details about how people can find you or what you have coming up?

Fiona: 40:06

Sure. Yes. Okay. Um, I'm, I'm just about to launch my website. I've been working on that, right? Yeah. So that's wildfruitabundant. com. Um, um, something I've been passionate about for a while is, is putting a blog out there. So I'm, I'm, and I've been scared to, so no, but I'm, I'm putting, yeah, I'm going to be posting, uh, my first blog, uh, this week. Um, I, I have, I've just started a Facebook page. So yeah, that's also wild for an abundant on Facebook and I'm on Instagram at the same, um, handle at the moment. I have a few, uh, digital products and things that. Um, like I said, the digital marketing business development aspect, but I am going to be adding, uh, human design readings and things like that. So, um, but if anyone who's interested, they can just sign up to my, um, to my newsletter, um, because there's lots of really fun and exciting things coming up that haven't launched yet. Um, they can hear about it through there.

Tatiana: 41:14

Fantastic. So I'll add all the different, um, links as well to the show notes to make it easy for people to find you. But again, thank you so much for this beautiful chat. Very, very grateful.

Fiona: 41:26

Oh, I'm so grateful as well. Thank you.

Tatiana: 41:30

And thank you so much everyone for listening today. I hope you all have a lovely week and I'll see you next time. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Integrated Wisdom. It is my sincere wish that today's episode may have intrigued and inspired you to reclaim your power and step into becoming more fully integrated spiritual beings. New episodes are published every Wednesday. And I hope you'll continue to join us as we dive deeper into what it means to live an integrated life. So if it feels aligned to you, I invite you to hit subscribe and share it with others who you feel may benefit too. You may also find me on Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. Remember, each moment is an opportunity to embrace your divine potential and create a world that is more frequently inspired. So for now, stay connected, stay inspired and keep shining your light. Into the world.