Awakening to a Life of Wellness and Wonder

Navigating life's tumultuous waves, Kelz Morris-Dale joins us from Reno, where she intertwines Reiki mastery with the intricacies of her mental health odyssey. Far from her New Zealand roots, Kelz delves into the battles she's faced with anxiety and depression, revealing how these dark companions led her to discover her inner resilience and strength. With candid vulnerability, she recounts the challenges of growing up in a world that stifled her self-expression, and how she cultivated a private magical realm to survive social anxieties and familial expectations. Her insights offer a beacon of hope for those feeling eclipsed by their own internal struggles.

This episode is a tapestry of human experience, woven through tales of awakening and transformation. A tender narrative unfolds as a guest shares the seismic shift in her life precipitated by her father's sudden departure from this earthly plane—ushering her into an odyssey of self-discovery and spiritual realignment. As if by serendipity, another journey crosses our path: a former COO's leap from the corporate grind to a life brimming with wellness and authenticity. From the healing properties of Kangen water to the profound impact of personal loss, this episode provides not just solace but actionable insights for those yearning to infuse their existence with purpose and, dare we say, a little magic.

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Transcript

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Finding Magic in Struggles

Dionne Malush 0:01

Has there ever been a moment in your life where finding the magic in your struggles seemed almost impossible ? How did you move past that feeling ? Well , welcome to Shine on Success podcast , where we dive into the stories of remarkable individuals who illuminate the path to success with their experiences . I'm your host , Dionne Malush , and today we're joined by a truly inspirational figure , Kelz Morris-Dale . Originally from the enchanting land of New Zealand and now residing in Reno , is a Reiki master teacher , a passionate advocate for mental health and a survivor who has turned her profound challenges into a source of strength . Welcome , , it's so nice to meet you . How are you today ?

Kelz Morris-Dale 0:41

I'm great . Thank you so much for having me here . It's just wonderful to be on these platforms these days .

Dionne Malush 0:47

It is so awesome . I love doing it Both sides , I love being on them and I love doing this and it's really fun and I really have met some incredible people . So I love your name , kels . Is that your real name , well ?

Kelz Morris-Dale 0:59

it isn't , it's Kelly , but oh gosh , you would that I . I haven't really used that for myself for so long like I it . It comes back to um when my time living in london and I had a friend there who just called me cal's and he put the z , or zed as we say in new zealand in it , because cal's is usually just k-e-l-e-s and that's too boring . Like I was more , always more for some excitement . So cal's .

Dionne Malush 1:23

I've never met anyone named . I've called people that , but I've never met anyone that was . You know , used that . I love it . It's such a cool name . When I first saw it come across I was like , oh , that's interesting . So let's talk a little bit about your journey . So you have a compelling testament to personal resilience and I know that this was shine on . Success is about , you know , pushing through adversity to get to the other side . Can you share with us how dealing with anxiety and depression , especially being far from home , because from Reno to New Zealand is far how that shaped your outlook on life ?

Kelz Morris-Dale 1:56

Yeah , well , gosh , it's a long story and I'm actually in the process of writing about it . Actually , um , in the process of writing about it . I'm in a multi-author book at the moment , um to be released on , uh , summer solstice . Uh , manifesting magical miracle moments , it's called . I always want to say miracles , which is manifesting magical moments maybe I should change it , because it sounds good yeah and in that I'm actually sharing uh about what we're what we're talking about today .

Kelz Morris-Dale 2:23

So , yeah , my , my history and my story about myself dealing with mental health issues stemmed right back when I was a kid . Like even as a kid I didn't I didn't know what that was , but I was very social , I had a lot of social anxiety . Even back then I was very shy , which we would call just like a nervous , shy child . Back then I guess , being in Gen Xer , we didn't really know what to to call those kind of terms , and as a child you don't really know that . But I grew up in New Zealand . It's , it's a beautiful place , but it's very modest on how you , how you think about yourself . We have a thing called tall poppy syndrome , where you just don't shine your light too brightly , like you want to kind of hide it , like it's not a yeah , it's so different to being in the States , like there's more of that ambition and that's a great thing . And New Zealand when I grew up it may well have changed a lot since I would last live there 12 years ago , but I always inherently felt a little different and but never wanted to rise up because that wasn't how you were supposed to be um , and then growing in a , growing up in a household , um , when any kind of like back to work or , you know , standing up for yourself was criticized and in general , just just being around and the family environment wasn't like they you see on the on the movies and tv shows , where everybody's just loving on each other . It was more teasing , but with an ominous side to it and I could relate to that In my young frame , like I didn't really understand why people could be that way . And it wasn't like there was a heck of a lot of abuse or anything like that . It was just lack of certain things or um showing , you know , showing love in different ways . It didn't actually feel quite right , like the teasing was just a little bit . It was a little yucky as a child , um . So all these adaptation , you know I sorry I created like an adaptation of myself living in it like a magical world . So I took I knew something was different . So you've got the tall poppy syndrome , you've got your family life being a little bit um tough .

Kelz Morris-Dale 4:32

I would create little scenarios for myself by focusing on just like little glimmers of um things I now call them hope or things like that . But in those days it was basically just going outside , um , and looking around and pretending like it was a fairy realm or something and like focusing on magical things that would bring me joy . And those little things , um , I started to bring into my real life , like focusing on when somebody did say something nice to me or when , you know , um , something happened at school and a teacher thought I was like got you know , did really well in French that day . Those little things I would like , those little glimmers , I call them .

Kelz Morris-Dale 5:11

I would like piece together , join them together till they became something that would sustain me through , um , when the times were dark , um , because there were a lot of like , a lot of like scary , sad times when I was a child and now , even today , overwhelming that social anxiety , all that kind of stuff . So it's just finding that little magic in myself and my story has a lot more parts to it , but that's just kind of what when I was young and stuff that what got me through and as an adult now I can look back in that time and give her a hug , but like you were something back then , girl , like that is .

Dionne Malush 5:50

it's such a great idea , though I think that what you're saying will relate to a lot of people , because , you know , I remember one time I was going through something very difficult and one of my friends told me I had to think of the memory as money , because I like money . And he said every time you think about it that it's like you're wasting money , it's going out of your head and you're wasting it . So I would sit there and think I'm not going to waste my thoughts on that anymore because it's wasting money . So really , help me . Like , if for everyone has different things that help them , that was one that helped me .

Dionne Malush 6:21

But I love your idea . I can see how , for a child , that would be such a beautiful thing to create for yourself . Because it is tough . The world is so difficult and I , you know , I've had my own , my own things too , that you know some that I've not shared with many people , but enough to change me that it could have really affected me as an adult , you know . But luckily we did have a little bit better support . Like , hey , it is okay to be successful in the United States , and I , you know that's . One of my favorite things about living here is that we can do whatever we want to do , so anyways all right .

Dionne Malush 6:54

So tell me , tell me more about some of the losses you've experienced are deeply personal and intense . You had a miscarriage , you had a divorce . How did those events influence your path to becoming a Reiki master and your overall healing ? Like , how did going through that ? Because you know our audience , half the people are going through divorce , right , and a lot of them have had a miscarriage . You know , and it's it's very common right to go through that , but but it's not common how you feel .

Kelz Morris-Dale 7:22

Yeah , no , I think for me I've actually had two divorces . Oh , okay , that's all right . Yeah , but to go back like I think that one of the biggest ones you know for myself personally was the miscarriage . I don't think there's enough talk amongst anybody really about how that can affect you . I think for me it was the most devastating part of it . Other than , you know , I had the miscarriage on my honeymoon in Fiji and you know the plane ride home was like devastating because I knew what was happening . But the thing for me was I'd already created memories of what this child would be like , foreseen in the future , all these events that would take place , and then that's just ripped away . So it is a huge . It is a huge loss in it , but it's so common , like I really had no idea at that point that most people have miscarriages in their first pregnancy . I had no idea and that was that was such a devastating thing . I actually ended up leaving the job that I was in which , which was stressful , going into a different route that led me to a lot of different paths , but it was so devastating and I couldn't really talk about it with my husband at the time because , you know , being a man , you don't really know what's happening with all of that stuff . He did his best , but it was such a something I had to work through and I had to hold on to those little glimmers . I I call

Awakening Through Loss and Signs

Kelz Morris-Dale 8:50

it .

Kelz Morris-Dale 8:50

My awakening moment was when my father died , and he died , oh gosh , almost 11 years ago now . I was in my second marriage . We were over here in the States , we'd just moved over the year before and I had just had my third child , my first boy , and he was actually my dad , was actually planning on coming out to visit for Christmas , but he passed away when my son was just three months old and it was so out of the blue , you know , as people who have massive heart attacks and that kind of thing . There was no illness , no , nothing . Like I'd just spoken to him . So , and my dad was one of these people in my lives that I really held him as a hero , like I was a daddy's girl , but he he just he had the way to speak that I was always wanting to speak like . He had the thought process , he was always kind to people . There was just a lot there that I was like well , now that's ripped away . Plus , you know he's my dad . Like when that happened , it's like the veil came down .

Kelz Morris-Dale 9:56

I'd kind of been living , um , in a way that was protecting myself and not really living . I think all the the trauma from my youth I'd brought into , you know , adulthood and had done the thing , got married , had kids , like you're supposed to . But I was kind of going through the motions . I was kind of like a zombie type person of myself , just , for example , to show how much I wasn't me and conversations with people . If I was out and about with my then husband , somebody would ask me a question , I'd defer to him and wait for him to answer for me . Like I wasn't even myself around people . It was so weird .

Kelz Morris-Dale 10:33

But after that my dad died , everything changed and I ended up having kind of like a I don't know if it was a vision or you know that moment when you're between sleep and you're kind of awake down like that . I'd never had anything like this before and once upon a time that would have been like okay , it's a little little cuckoo , what's that scenario happening ? But I had , like something happened to me where I was lying in bed over here in the states and , uh , just after my dad's funeral back in New Zealand I believe I'm quite not sure of the timeline um , and I felt like this , this force above me , and it was like a hummingbird , like you know the vast beating of a hummingbird's wings . Well , it felt like it was above me and I was like I don't know . I just had this sensation that it was my dad , or I'm like , is my dad the hummingbird or is dad like giving me a hummingbird , even in that moment , questioning what the heck is going on . Um , and then I just felt this overwhelming , um sensation of everything's going to be okay , and then that feeling kind of moved to the side of the room and I was just left there , feeling like , oh , like I just felt something . I can't even explain it and I can still . I've got like , I've got tingles . I can still remember that feeling , and so that came to me , like I call it my awakening , because after that , like , um , all these things started to happen in my life .

Kelz Morris-Dale 12:02

Reiki came into my world through , um , quite a beautiful way , like I believe in angel numbers and I keep seeing recurring numbers , one , one , one , and somebody would bring up reiki . I had no idea what reiki was . I had no idea it was life force , energy , or you could use it to help yourself , heal or help other people . I didn't know what it was and so I was guided to do that . Uh , it's changed everything for me .

Kelz Morris-Dale 12:29

Uh , it was suddenly a way to because I was still like very social anxiety a way to give out and help others and myself without having to talk or to share , or it was just this beautiful energy that I could , you know , be a conduit for . Like I didn't have to do it , I was just good enough , just being attuned to it . I didn't have to be a special person , like anybody can learn Reiki . So it was kind of like this full circle thing , um , of like an awakening and learning how to give back to others , but also realizing that I could . There's so much that I could do to top myself up and not have this loss of my dad be the most devastating thing . It was actually excuse my language kick up the butt or ass , but I needed , like he was , like he had an opportunity in the afterlife to , um , you know , say , well , you know , my lovely daughter , like no wake up , wake up you say that .

Dionne Malush 13:29

You know I never wanted to say these words , but I understand where you're coming from . Losing my dad , it was so heartbreaking and watching him be sick for a while . We knew he was sick but we didn't think he was going to die . We thought he was going to get better . In fact , the night before he died he said I'm ready to go to the ER and we thought , okay , now we have hope he's going to go . And then he died the next day . And and he died the next day and I can tell you that he loved me so much , he loved my family like he was . He was a cool dad , he was just a girl dad and he he just I .

Dionne Malush 14:04

I am so lost , like thinking about him and I think like I don't really think I have had many signs and I'm mad , like Like I think where are they , dad ? Like I need a sign . And then something else you said about I never had kids , but when I was a year and two months old , my mom had a baby boy and he died at three days old . So I got to feel the energy of their happiest days become their worst nightmare , and so I didn't know until many years later that that's probably why I never wanted to have kids and it affected me so much . I mean , it was my brother , you know , and so all my life he's been watching over us and I've never had a sign from him either . So like I feel like I'm missing out on the signs , Probably I'm just not noticing that they are signs . But I loved him so much and he knows it , but I thought for sure there would be something like impactful that I would say oh , that's really him .

Dionne Malush 15:00

Now I did hear a song last week . It was one of his songs , it was his CB handle when he was young , and I heard this song when I was going to the airport , I was taking my mom and and the second time I went to the airport and heard the same song . It's not a common song , it's not played all the time . So I think , well , if that's a sign , I guess that's a sign . I don't know , but it's interesting to hear you talk about it , because it's been 11 years for you , it's been not even seven months for me and and I so sad but it I'm trying to make the best of it because I know that he wouldn't want me to spend the rest of my life crying about it . Now he would like me to cry for a little bit because he liked the attention , but he doesn't want me to . He doesn't want to spend my whole life in sorrow . I know that .

Kelz Morris-Dale 15:52

Yeah , my heart goes out to you . There's so many layers to grief and it'll come back and suck you , sucker , punch you at times . And I have to relate to a little bit again to you , dion . My baby brother passed away when he was two and I was 10 years older . He was a half brother and that was so devastating and I didn't know what to do with that feeling . And you hold all these things in and you know , feelings buried alive never die . They always come out at other times . But for him I associated I don't know how it was .

Kelz Morris-Dale 16:25

Maybe you associate your own memories or like signs , because he's now my parking angel , random , if I want to park , how do I park ? You know , to parking space . I just say to Scott I say , scotty , find a park . Randy always does . So maybe it's not waiting to see the sign . It's maybe creating an association yourself and absolutely , if you're thinking that song was a sign , it absolutely was a sign . So there are little , these little glimpses , little glimmers out there that you just , you just need to open your eyes . I , in a movie this weekend , cabrini . I remember a quote from from this movie line . It's like this um background , italians immigrating to um us new york and she's ina , a um nun from italy , come over to help the orphans and stuff like that . She and her other nuns walk , walk into this really hard part of New York where all this is happening and she's telling the other nuns to open your eyes and see everything . So just open your eyes , look around and see everything and you'll find it . I just think it's really precious .

Dionne Malush 17:32

My hope is like that I don't have this amazing dream that he would come and talk to me and and I keep thinking I'm not dreaming at all it's like if you could just pay , could I give you some money and have this dream about my dad . I want to hear him . I have a lot of voicemails saved from him and fortunately we knew he was sick but we didn't know . Like you said , it was sudden . My dad had a heart attack at 48 . And he was about an hour away from dying when he got to the hospital and they life flighted him in front of us . Well , he lived until he was 74 . So we were lucky because that day , if he would have waited one more hour , he wouldn't have been here and we would have missed on so much of our lives . And so we are lucky to have had him for a long time . But I still had him for every moment of my life . So I and I loved him .

Dionne Malush 18:15

There's some people that don't love their parents the same way you know , and there just are . It stinks , but there are . I wish every little girl could love their dad as much as me and my sisters loved ours . I wish that , and I wish every dad would love their little girls the same way . But it's not life , it's not . People are just different , and so I even hear a little bit about this .

Dionne Malush 18:43

Uh , this baby that you had in a car .

Kelz Morris-Dale 18:45

Oh yeah , it's such a cool story . People get freaked out by him . I'm like it was the easy delivery , it was so easy and I did it all myself . Like woman , we are woman , hear us roar . Like we're phenomenal , like I had my first two um deliveries in New Zealand . My girls were born in New Zealand . We're pretty fast , like , um , I didn't really know like it , still it felt freaking painful and I it was not like , yeah , like the movies , a few um deep breaths and the baby's out . Um , no , I , but my first child was born eight hours . My second child was born in six hours , so I thought I've got four hours . I'm good , like , if it's going to come down . I did , statistically come down . Well , no , um , my son was was born .

Kelz Morris-Dale 19:30

We were living up in the mountains just outside of reno . I , um , uh , near one of the ski fields and it was about gosh , I don't remember now about 45 minutes to the hospital . Um , we were going to go . So I was like , as soon as it , you know I , soon as I started feeling contractions , like , we're good , uh , you know he came . He came within the the hour . Um , my mom had come over from the states . She was in the back seat , I was in the passenger seat , my then husband was driving and I was like I can't , I can't wait guys . My husband then husband was like freaking out that he would have to deliver a baby in the car . Luckily , my mom had the foresight to put down those dog pee pads . So I was like , I even was like and I had towel . I was like , well , I'm not gonna make a mess here .

Kelz Morris-Dale 20:17

Like things you think about when you're about to deliver a baby and all I can remember doing is , if this is gonna happen , I need to scoop his mouth like I they did that in the movies I need to , like , clear his ear way . So I was like he's coming and I delivered him onto the floor . I picked him up , so the umbilical cord was close and , um , I scooped his mouth and I looked at him and I said , hey , he is a boy , because you can even sure if you're , you know . And we stopped the car and it was , um , literally two blocks from the hospital oh , my goodness , the hospital I go and there was an indian smoke shop , um , that I remember seeing . I mean random things you think about and my dinner stopped in the middle of the four-way intersections and one of the streets was closed off and road workers came over to see what the heck was going on oh my gosh , there's a baby in the car baby , yeah .

Kelz Morris-Dale 21:17

So we drove the rest of the way very delicately and yet they got help from the hospital staff . But I was just , I was glow . I felt like that was so easy , it didn't really hurt like the other one , like it was so fast . Uh , it was incredible experience and my son's , like , can tell people that he was born in the front seat of a ford explorer yeah , that is cool .

Dionne Malush 21:39

I don't know many people that have had a baby in a vehicle . That's . That's a really cool story . Yeah , definitely one that will care . We'll go with him , no matter what . Right exactly . Tell me about your involvement with enagic international and your advocacy for Kangen Water .

Kelz Morris-Dale 21:55

Yeah , so I one of part of my I don't know what if I'm echoing sorry if that's me , I feel a bit echoing one of my I call it my epic adventures . I won't say this . The swear word that goes on with it is unlearning . We will say , um , it's part of my process was to do things that felt right for me , to live the best version myself , be as authentic as possible or that kind of thing .

Finding Purpose and Magic Through Adversity

Kelz Morris-Dale 22:24

And I at the time I was working , um , really long hours . I was COO of a small real estate investment company and I worked from home . I was one of the lucky ones . I I was working from home , especially through , you know , the pandemic , but I was always on meetings , always doing long , long hours , and the door was shut to my office and on the other side with my kids and I was missing so many moments with them . So I decided to just cut that out , with no backup plan . I freaked out and then did some part-time roles with HR , human resources , because that was always a skill I had . So I did that for a while and I was like , oh , I'm working for people still that aren't treating me great and I'm allowing that , and I've got to stop that cycle of toxic work environment . I'm worth more , and I don't know another thing like the Reiki . I'm worth more . And , um , I don't know another thing like the Reiki .

Kelz Morris-Dale 23:22

Um , this , this uh , direct selling module , you know , kind of business opportunity , kept coming to me and , uh , and I just was like , oh , I don't know , this seems so , I don't know , it just doesn't seem right . But I went further into it and I actually realized that Kangenwater was something I had discovered as soon as I moved to the States . One of my friends at the time , her dad , had a machine and he was going through cancer and she would come back to the house bringing this water with her and I was like , what is this King Water ? She was telling me about the machine and what it was doing and I just couldn't understand , um , how this was so amazing . But he got better . So I was like , oh , I always remembered that in the back of my mind and then , when this business opportunity came to me , um , via way of an Australian and us and our Aussie counterparts is so much like humanly , a bit like rivalry , I , I , I don't know the things you said it just hit home . And if I said to myself well , if an aussie can get me into business , then there's something right with this product .

Kelz Morris-Dale 24:27

And it turns out that energic is a 50 year old company celebrating their 50 years this year . Uh , originated from japan okay . Next they're in the blue zone . I'm all about . You know , low tox . In my household , the Kangen water is low tox .

Kelz Morris-Dale 24:45

You can use it for all sorts of health benefits as well as cleaning your home . It all , just kind of like , came together in this beautiful synchronicity and it's also now a platform , because we utilize personal branding to promote , to sell . I now have a platform to speak about every topic that I want to , which includes mental health awareness . So it's like I'm no longer in this nine to five regime I call it , with like people making me feel like a piece of yuckiness , and now I'm like , surrounded by this beautiful community and we're like selling , you know , wellness and also business mindset , and now I have a platform . It just seems perfect and through this opportunity , I am now writing a book which I've always wanted to write . So if that's not freaking , believing life is magic , then I really don't know what is it's really magical , and there is .

Dionne Malush 25:38

There is a lot of good that comes out of bad , and one thing that I always study when I'm studying Napoleon Hill and think you grow rich is you can't think a positive thought and a negative thought at the same time .

Dionne Malush 25:46

So I always opt for the positive side . It's not that the negative doesn't get into me sometimes , but I get it out quicker than I ever did . And you know , when you go through a traumatic experience and you know , and my , my mom , she had to move in with us and she had kind of disrupted her whole life . She lost her best friend , her , you know , confidant . They've been together since they were 18 and for 56 years and they barely ever I think maybe five times in all of those years that they weren't . They didn't sleep in the same house because they didn't travel much without each other . It was just for emergencies . So tell me about this . You're inspiring to others and when you uncover their inner strength , what practical advice would you give to our listeners who might be facing their own personal trials ?

Kelz Morris-Dale 26:30

Is there something ?

Dionne Malush 26:31

that they can do .

Kelz Morris-Dale 26:32

Oh , there's so much you can do , but it really starts with just loving on yourself first . Everybody's on that bandwagon of self-care , but from someone who has really battled the depths of depression , you can't treat yourself like anything other than your best friend . You have to start with yourself , the oxygen mask on yourself , like the analogy from the plane . You absolutely have to do that and build from it . Just find some little pieces of joy or there's little glimmers in your day , whether it's sitting down if you've got animals sitting down on the couch , with a puppy or a kitten on your cat or on your lap , or just looking around outside and going for a walk and seeing , you know , um , the light shining through the trees like that . You know other people walking and perhaps an older couple holding their hands just the tiniest little things , and build upon it . So start with yourself and then just build out from there .

Dionne Malush 27:27

I love what you said about opening your eyes . That was really impactful for me . So it's been enlightening to hear your story and learn how you've harnessed adversity to manifest a life with purpose and magic . So for our listeners looking to connect or explore the wonders of reiki , wellness , or even just to add a sprinkle of magic to their lives , how can they reach out to you ?

Kelz Morris-Dale 27:44

okay , they're probably the easiest for me . At the moment I'm building a website . It'll be kelsthekiwicom , but for now , find me on facebook . I have a Reiki group called Soul Hug Reiki and you can find me as Kelz Morris- Dale on Facebook as well .

Dionne Malush 28:02

Soul Hug Reiki . I love it . So , I would also like to remind everyone else to follow us on our social media platforms to stay updated on our latest episodes and insights from successful entrepreneurs , and feel free to send in your questions for the next guest . And thank you so much for tuning in everyone and keep shining bright . And thank you , kels , I really appreciate you being on today . Thank you , too , I appreciate it .