Episode 3- Intuition Unlocked: Reclaiming Your Truth

Exploring the power of intuition and how it shapes our lives, this episode emphasizes the importance of listening to our inner voices for personal growth and empowerment. Lauren shares personal stories and practical tips for embracing intuition, reframing experiences, and overcoming societal conditioning.

• Cherished moments can reveal insights into our journey 
• Winter brings emotional challenges and preventive strategies 
• Creating a mood-lifting box can counteract low spirits 
• Language matters: transform “have to” into “get to” 
• Intuition is a vital tool often suppressed 
• Personal anecdotes highlight the importance of trusting ourselves 
• Reflect on past experiences to understand your intuition better 
• Engaging in thoughtful reflection fosters growth and understanding 
• Self-compassion is key for personal development 
• Community engagement enhances the learning experience

Transcript

The Business of Lifestyle Podcast

Speaker 1 0:02

The Business of Lifestyle , where ambition meets alignment . Hi guys , and welcome back to the Business of Lifestyle podcast . I am your host , lauren Riley , and I am delighted to have you here Now . Today's episode is all about something that's so dear to my heart and so so powerful that I wish more people , more women , knew about and could genuinely practice . Blooper of the podcast or , you might argue there's been a number of them already , but I started to film this on a beautiful beach location in Barbados and the microphone cut out part way through . So at least a little bit of it . I'll be transporting you to a crystal cleared watered beach with white sand . It'll be absolutely gorgeous , but unfortunately for you , it'll only be for a few minutes because it does cut out , like I said , and I'll be filming the rest of it from inside my home here in the UK , or maybe you'll have a guest appearance from Wilbur as a result of that to try and compensate for the lack of background . But anyway , it is what it is , we're going to roll with it . So I thought I'd start with just a really simple and really cute little story , which you'll have all been a part of without knowing it . So my daughter , ocean , it turns out , is a huge champion of the Business of Lifestyle podcast . Not really , she's only three . But this story is to do with the jingle that you all will have heard on the way into this episode and , if you've listened to previous episodes , that Now I started working with an outsourced operation outsourced outfit , as in overseas and I would really not recommend that .

Speaker 1 2:11

It was a very stressful experience . Not for all overseas operations are like that , but this particular one was not kind to me and it was very stressful . But I was using them because I was trying to get from A to B really quickly on my last travels and I was trying to produce some of the artwork and the jingle . For this and in an effort for them to help , what they'd said was to produce a video . They'd asked me to make a video . They weren't interested in the visuals of the video , they just wanted the audio for the jingle and I was trying to get this podcast out as soon as I possibly could for you guys . So it was a weekend , so I had no child care . I'm a solo parent , you know .

Speaker 1 2:54

So my daughter was with me in the apartment and I started by filming the my version of the jingle up against the wall , so literally filming the photographs and the window and the plaster on our Caribbean home that we were at at the time . And so I was doing that , doing that , doing that , and obviously it took me loads of takes because I wasn't very good at it and one time so she kept coming in and asking me a question or playing the tv and I was like I'm gonna have to involve her in this , otherwise she's not gonna give me just it was only gonna take me a question or playing the TV and I was like I'm going to have to involve her in this or why she's not going to give me just it was only going to take me a few minutes , but the few minutes I needed . So in the end , in the most organic and beautiful way , I happened to be shooting the camera at her and , like I said , she had no idea what I was doing . I was never intending to use that video for anything except for to pull the audio from to make this jingle . And she chimes in at the end of me recording the jingle with her enthusiastic and beautiful yeah , and I was just like , as soon as she did it , I was like that is the take . That is it . I am keeping it . It's imperfect , it's a little bit messy , but that is solo parenthood and that is part of my journey and that moment and the fact that she chimed in and she was so excited to be a part of it and you know , I just thought was absolutely perfect . So I've kept it in and I'll actually share the video of me recording it on Instagram . So if you go over to my Instagram , which is Miss Lauren Riley , then you'll be able to see the actual moment that it happened and , honestly , so cute . I hope we always keep that jingle , even if we grow together , guys , and get this channel to be really big . It's just a beautiful example of motherhood .

Speaker 1 4:37

Now , speaking about how we go , the channel is people subscribing , people liking each episode and people rating us , so I would really appreciate if you could take a few minutes after this episode to do so . Thank you very much . So , before we start talking about intuition , which is what this podcast is all about , I am just going to walk you through a couple of tips , I suppose for January , because this time of year is traditionally , I should say , reserved for low mood . That's not the right word . Traditionally , people talk about it . There's a concept of blue Monday . There's a lot of statistics to do with depression and low mood in January and if that's where you are , please obviously never replace a podcast with professional help . If you need intervention , please go speak to somebody .

Speaker 1 5:36

But a tip for just sort of generalized low mood and something that I was working on for myself , because I do have seasonal affective disorder , not diagnosed , but just something I've picked up myself as in I can very clearly map the weather and the darkness to generally my mood , which is why you'll see me traveling so much um , which hopefully is a positive thing to create lots of wonderful content for you . But I was anticipating a lull in January . Therefore , I put together some sort of preventative steps Prevention is better than cure and all that , what they say . So I'm just going to share it with you . It might really resonate , might help somebody , it might not , maybe it doesn't . You skip over it , no problem , it'll take a couple of minutes .

Speaker 1 6:21

So what I did is I started putting together some like a little box I suppose you would Mine was actually a pile , because I'm not organized enough to have put it in a box but basically a collection of things that would lift my mood before my mood got low . So in my particular box I'd bought some stuff in some sales in November . So I kind of hived off some of those things that I knew were really going to lift my mood . So I'm a very sensory person . You'll hear me talk a lot about sensory overwhelm , which is the negative side of that , but the plus side I also can lift my mood and I can be very , very happy surrounded by positive sensory inputs .

Speaker 1 7:08

So for me , smell is massive . So I bought a ridiculously priced um piece of home fragrance that I used to buy when I lived in London from Harrods and it's absolutely stunning and it really reminds me of that very opulent , very abundant time in my life and it was good fun as well when I lived in London and shopped in Harrods and all of that . So I held that back in my little pile , um , so when I needed it I could open that scent and really give myself a lift . There was really little things in there , like colored post-it notes and , um , some things that people have bought me for Christmas that I'd opened , thanked them for , but not yet used I'd held back , like face creams and perfume things like that . So that was what was in my box , but it could actually it doesn't have to be new things . Maybe you've not got money to buy new things , maybe no , no one bought you a gift recently you could put in your box whatever you want .

Speaker 1 8:06

I've heard other people talk about music , like to create a music playlist that you'll go to for those moments . Some other people advocate memories , so like photograph albums that you can go to , which would instantly lift you . But there's all sorts of tools , but just I would advise anybody , anybody , even if you've never suffered from low mood before , everybody's going to have a bad day right , and having a little arsenal there , be it physical things or virtual things , I just think is a really good idea . So that was one tip and the other I guess I'm keen to share life lessons as I'm going along , and the other I guess I'm keen to share life lessons as I'm going along , and so I thought I would show you a reframing exercise I've done in my own life .

Speaker 1 8:52

So around the Christmas period was full of wonderful memories , like such beautiful times , beautiful memories . But I also found it really overwhelming , like I've got this beautiful home now and it can accommodate quite a lot of people and having people in my house has been a dream of mine since when I lived in a two-bedroom apartment in the city centre of Manchester and I couldn't host anybody , and before I had a child . You know , I came , I came from I'm an only child , for example , so I didn't have big Christmases and it's always been something I dreamed of and I was really grateful and I had beautiful , beautiful moments in my Christmas , by the way , but a lot of it , compared with some specific circumstances that were happening at the time , actually found quite overwhelming . The sensory input of so many people in my space actually was , yeah , just different to how I'd expected it to be and on the face of it , that's not a good thing , but actually it turned out to be really positive , the reason being because it's allowed me to reframe the 95 plus percent of the rest of my life , which is not that experience , which isn't a house chocked full of people , which isn't continually surrounded by family and other people . In my home it's .

Speaker 1 10:17

I'm a solo parent , as I've talked about . My life is predominantly me and my daughter and our dog , wilbur , and you know what . That is perfect , and this allowed me to reframe something that I think I was carrying over from my history , you know , when I talked about in episode one that you know I'd anticipated having this much larger family , more children , the 2.4 version of what life was , quote-unquote , supposed to look like . And actually my life doesn't look like that and there's been some residual sadness that I think I've been carrying around that it doesn't look like that . And don't get me wrong , you know there's that's still something to work through . But my life is beautiful , my life is perfect for me right now .

Speaker 1 11:19

And if I hadn't have seen the other side of that , what you know a lot of people looks like , what a lot of sensory input looks like , then maybe I wouldn't have got to that realisation . And maybe this lasts forever . I hope that it does . Maybe it does last for a couple of months , but right now , when I am in silence or I am in one-to-one interaction with my only daughter , my only child , I am in bliss . I am so happy , I am so lit up .

Speaker 1 11:50

But it took something with a negative connotation for me to get to that real positivity and that is a big life lesson for me and that is an exercise in reframing that a lot of you could do going into your own lives . One of the biggest reframing tools I've heard of and I think I heard it on a podcast by Stephen Bartlett was that you get to . So if you're going to do something let's go back to last episode about goal setting . If you're going to do something around your goal setting exercises like go to the gym , like eat a nutritious meal , like to record the next 10 episodes of your podcast you get to do that . You get to go for a walk . You've got the two legs and the healthy body and the presence of mind to get up and go . So the fact you can reframe things , that you get to do something rather than have to do something or must do something , I found a really powerful tool , so I hope they help with any feelings that are coming up for you guys in January and for the next part of our podcast .

Speaker 1 13:14

As you know my um well , as you know if you listen to the last episode , one of my business goals is to heal 100 women in 2025 . I'm so lit up and excited about that goal . You guys being here on the podcast are part of my journey as well , so thank you so much for that . Anybody sharing this with anybody that you think these sort of tips , tools , tricks will help , please do share it as far and wide as you can , because that will help me meet my objective of healing 100 women , or helping to heal 100 women , and you might just really help somebody's day , week , month .

Honoring Intuition for Personal Growth

Speaker 1 13:52

So one of the key things we need to talk about , then , in order to heal , in order to be true to ourselves , is intuition . So over to Lauren in Barbados , who will help you with the introduction to this topic . Hi guys , I just wanted to jump on and do something really quickly to talk about intuition . So , as you can see , I am still here in paradise , but the point of this post was I am speaking to so many women at the moment who are going through a similar experience to me , who are living a life and coming across problems that are weighing really heavy on them , and I feel so passionate about this , so so passionate that I almost called my new brand and the blog and the podcast um after this subject , and the subject is intuition .

Speaker 1 14:57

So we , particularly as women um , I think it's generalized to children , but particularly women we get told from a young age to ignore some of our internal let's be fair safety mechanisms , mechanisms that our body is telling us . In this situation , we don't feel safe , we don't feel comfortable and instead of being nurtured as children and allowed to follow that instinct , I think particularly our generation , I think we will parent very differently . Okay , sorry guys , you're back here in the UK with me , but let's take a moment of appreciation for how gorgeous that Caribbean beach was and for the lifestyle content that I was able to bring to you for that moment . Okay , so , as I was saying , as children particularly this is not limited to children , but I think where a lot of these beliefs come from , you know we are told to or we were told . Like I said , I hope that our generation do things very differently because we have the awareness that previous generations didn't .

Speaker 1 16:09

But we were told to suppress emotions when we were having tantrums or gut feels like if you didn't want to hug that , stranger , it was considered impolite . Stranger , it was considered impolite . You know , I don't know if this particular message translates globally , because I do think it's a very British quality to um , put politeness over everything , effectively , um , but I hope it will resonate for those of you that are not listening in the UK as well . Um , but I can only talk about , you know , my lived experience and that of my clients or my friends and people that are sharing their experiences with me . But yeah , as kids , you know , we were taught to , um , not necessarily nurture that gut feeling , not necessarily listen to it .

Speaker 1 17:05

If you think of an example of , you know , a child having like a sensory overwhelm experience , a soft play or , um , you know just so , so many examples where we were told , actually that's wrong , you were being the naughty child because you weren't conforming or you weren't being polite or you weren't whatever . So from an early , you know , you think about those formative years as well , for childhood . From an early age we're told , actually this gut feeling that you think is right is actually wrong . No , you were wrong . You're not experiencing an overwhelm right now . You can carry on and play with your sister . Or , you know , this environment isn't too noisy , everyone else is able to cope with it , so you should have been able to get on with it . You know the fact that you didn't want to , you know , hug that stranger in the street , that's , you know , somebody's friend's friend , you know , is actually something you are push , you have to push past your own boundaries to do , and this isn't to cast any aspersions on our previous , our parents , our previous generation people .

Speaker 1 18:18

Just this stuff wasn't talked about like intuition and it wasn't in the public conscience , if that's the right word , and they didn't have access to the internet and the tools and the books and the knowledge that we do now . But we do have it . So we do differently , we will parent differently , like one example and I hope I can put this at the end of the podcast because it would be super cute and it would tie really well into the way that I started it when I talked about the jingle . I teach my daughter the boundary song . So , um , if you are a parent and you're interested in that , it's nothing proprietary to me , it's just you could get it off . Um , you know , I , I would ask Alexa basically to um , to sing the boundary song , and she's learned it that way from me and from singing through through Alexa , yeah , and she can sing it like word for word . It's really , it's a really cute song , but it's got a really serious message behind it , which is that actually to follow . It doesn't say this , but it's to follow your intuition . The Boundaries songs . The words are please stop . I don't like that . I'm feeling uncomfortable , I need more space . So obviously that's aimed at children , but in my mind what I'm thinking is , yes , she can sing that song if she's in an uncomfortable situation when she's away from me and I can't help her to hold her boundaries , she's at a play date or she's , you know , in an educational environment that she could implement that tool . But really it's a case of actually trying to teach her that her feelings matter , her boundaries matter , in a way that it just would .

Speaker 1 19:55

Our generation , just , you know , didn't have access to that sort of available information , right , um ? So that's a very , a good example , um , like examples from my own life . You know , in relationships , I've definitely been in relationships where I have had to suppress my intuition to continue to be there , um , and right now , looking back , it's super obvious and you think , oh , wow , how did you go past , you know , that red flag or that , how did you suppress your intuition in that moment ? But hindsight's 20 , 20 , right , um ? And I can give you like number of examples from , you know , romantic relationships . I can give you a number of examples , loads of examples from business , right , um , which is why I like the fusion of my positive psychology coaching between lifestyle and the business mentorship that I bring and I've done for a long time , because I think a lot of the topics that we cover just are as relevant to business as they are to personal . So business examples then I was really fortunate and had a lot of mentors and a lot of , you know , positive influences in my first business but nobody is right all the time right and I would well I did definitely on more than one occasion got advice from people who were a lot older than me .

Speaker 1 21:33

I was only 20-something when I started that business . They were a lot older than me . They were male , almost exclusively . Unfortunately , because of the environments and the industries that I was in the mentors . Unfortunately , um , because of the environments and the industries that I was in the mentors , um , they were male , white , but white guys that were older than me .

Speaker 1 21:52

And there's this part of me and my conditioning , that thought , because they would tell me things right and I would think I'd know that wasn't quite right and it wasn't that they're bad business people at all , they were great . But for my specific example , my industry , I knew that product because I built it from the ground up . I knew that product inside out . I knew that sector because I was a lawyer previously , so I knew how lawyers behaved in the legal industry . So when I was getting these advice , this advice , I was like that's not right .

Speaker 1 22:24

But instead of going skirting over it or just saying thank you very much and moving on , you know I would gaslight myself to talk myself out of it because I wasn't listening to my intuition . I was going well , this man , this person's older than me , they've got more experience , they must know I must be wrong and they must be right which was a complete squashing down of that intuition , a complete disregard for what I knew to be correct in that moment , and it did not serve me . It didn't serve me and I made mistakes as a result of not listening to my own intuition . And I would invite you to maybe pause this podcast right here , or to at least go back to this exercise at the end of the show and think of some examples in your own life , because you will be able to recall , like I can , when you overlay this topic about intuition times where you you should have listened to your own gut . Basically and I hesitated on the word should , because I don't like it and I'm not .

Speaker 1 23:36

This is not a blame exercise . We're not going to come out of this feeling bad about ourselves because we should have done this or we should have done that , we should have done the other . Please , please , don't let that be what you take away from this . But , hmm , by looking backwards we can learn lessons that are going to help us move forward . So , by looking into your past and areas , maybe there's one area that sticks out . Maybe you're still doing that constantly , having to suppress your emotion to get through something , and I deeply sympathize with anybody in that situation .

Speaker 1 24:13

And , yeah , I think it's all about just being inquisitive , right ? What is that emotion trying to teach us ? What's that gut feeling ? Where is it leading us , or where should it be leading us ? What questions should we be asking as a result of feeling that ? Because , honestly , how , like I'm so passionate , like I said at um at the start you know , I almost called this podcast um a name , an alliteration actually , that went with um , this topic , because I was just , I just think it's key and I think so many of us just are not following it and I think , if you took nothing away from listening to me , um , however many episodes that you're with us and however many episodes we get to do together , if you listen to your intuition , more your life would improve . You would make better , more self-focused decisions , and I think that's really , really important .

Speaker 1 25:16

So I read a quote recently that resonated massively because , as you know , if you listen to the first episode , I suffered really badly with anxiety for quite some time in the recent past and this quote actually really blew me away because I'd not really thought of it like this and there's not many things you can say to somebody that's experiencing anxiety or that you can do for them . But I repeat this quote now to people who are experiencing that , I mean people in my I'm not a therapist so I don't do therapy but in terms of people in my friendship groups that come to me in that state and because it really helps me , so I hope it helps you . So the opposite . The quote was the opposite of anxiety is not peace , it's safety , and I was like that's a big one , right . The opposite of anxiety is not peace , it's's safety .

Speaker 1 26:13

So what you are lacking in those moments of anxiety and I'm not saying that gut feeling has to be completely linked to anxiety , by the way , you can have a gut feeling and intuition and not be experiencing anxiety . But I think a lot of the time they are linked and for me , I think when I'm feeling anxiety , it's generally a suppression of my intuition . I'm generally not listening to myself when I know better and that's a problem for the reasons we just described . So what that's trying to teach me is that I'm in this moment , I am not safe . Something about this person , this circumstance , this decision does not make me feel safe and that's a powerful exercise to kind of journal on or think about or muse or discuss with a trusted person therapist , confidant , etc . Um , and when we talk about because I just mentioned it there , we talk about because I just mentioned it there we talk about therapy .

Speaker 1 27:14

I got a tip in therapy for this . Now , as you'll hear me say so many times , you know if this is something that you need a therapeutic intervention on , this is not it . You will never get that from a podcast . Please seek professional advice where you need it . But I thought this tip was actually really powerful and my therapist said to me because I said I had been through a situation that involved distrust of my own self and suppression on a mass scale of my intuition and the tip that she gave to me was the only way you can get through that is to learn to trust yourself , and the only way you can learn to trust yourself is if you . It is from your own learned experiences .

Speaker 1 28:05

So the tip was to act on something and experience that you were right , that so I would act on something that would give me , say , um , anxiety or I felt , you know , particularly if I could align it to my intuition , I would act on that thing . That thing would turn out to be okay , maybe medium scenario or great , best case scenario , and that gave me the certainty . But only by doing this exercise , not just by doing , by consciously doing , by looking back and saying , okay , so you did the thing , you trusted yourself and it turns out you were right . So next time your intuition comes up up , next time you think you're right on something , you've just got that little bit more positivity , that little bit more certainty , that little bit more confidence in yourself that you are making the right decision , and therefore it's like this cyclical exchange and this loop of positive feedback for your own intuition , and I think that's a really good tip and I hope it really helps people . I would love to hear feedback if it does .

Embracing Personal Growth Journey

Speaker 1 29:19

And , yeah , a lot of our life experiences is learned behavior . Right , it's learned experiences . So , yeah , that was one , and you know , journaling on or reflecting on when that goes well for you is , I think , super , super helpful . So this is again a big topic . I feel like I'm coming out the gate with some really meaty things that we can discuss here , but I hope me walking you through those examples and really just how important the prevalence of this practice and how important it is for you guys to start living an aligned life , to start living your best life . It's a bit of an overused phrase , but get it works right . Um , I hope that was really helpful . Please do share what was helpful . Please do share this episode with others .

Speaker 1 30:17

Um , I think I will just end on something and I said it before a number of times , but I'll keep saying it because I think it's important . I want this to be a positive space for you guys . I don't want anybody to walk away from here thinking what Lauren said . You know I get it , but I can't do it because that's okay , you will meet me where you're at , okay , and that is all that you can do . So please don't take any negativity , negativity . Please don't walk away from here saying I understand that exercise that Lauren's given me to reframe an experience or to journal on something , but actually I just can't achieve it right now because there could be loads of reasons why that is not . This is not the time for you , but does not mean that your energy here and your effort is wasted . You know best case scenario .

Speaker 1 31:17

I really hope people can implement what I tell them to the extent that it's helpful to you , by the way , but if it's helpful that you can implement it immediately and you can go away with really practical tips and solutions , things that you can do in your own life to really help . But if you can't , for whatever reason , please , please , don't be harsh on yourself , because nothing ever got better by our self-confidence getting worse . Okay , nothing is going to improve by you being hard on yourself . And let me share an example of my own life , just to sit in your shoes , because I sit here now having spent thousands and thousands of pounds healing , thousands and thousands of hours healing , learning . I did so so much to get to the place that I meet you at now and maybe you don't need to do that . Work great . Maybe you are in like the best place you are could be in your life amazing . I'm like that's great and maybe you're not .

Speaker 1 32:22

Maybe there is some reasons you can't go ahead and implement this , but I was sat here in exactly the same position as you not that long ago , like a year ago . There were things that I knew that would help me Tools from positivity tools to self-help tools , things that I'd learned , things that I've been given , things that I've been educated , things that I bought For whatever reason . I just wasn't ready in my journey . I just wasn't there yet journey . I just wasn't there yet , so I didn't do them then . And things that I learned . I wish I could have implemented instantly and this is why I'm sharing this with you , because I didn't , but none of it was wasted .

Speaker 1 33:03

Go back to what I said in my very first podcast . Like every little step that you take is getting you somewhere . You can't always see it . I promise you moving forward if you keep moving , getting you somewhere . You can't always see it . I promise you moving forward . If you keep moving forward , you can only go one way right . So and that is ditto and amplified with knowledge as well If you are absorbing stuff , whether you can action it immediately or whether it's going to have to wait until a different version of you with more time , more energy , more resources , whatever it is that's holding you back .

Navigating Self-Development Journey

Speaker 1 33:44

That version of you is coming , and when they are there the things that you've learned maybe you'll revisit this podcast or some other tool that you can use in your self-development journey , or maybe these words will still be resonating with you .

Speaker 1 33:53

Maybe you'll still recall them in the future and you'll be able to implement it then . But I honestly found that barely anything I learned or did was wasted , even if I couldn't do it in that very , very moment . So , yeah , that was my walkthrough intuition and something I'm really passionate about . Guys , I would love to hear feedback , as ever . Please follow me on Instagram , miss Lauren Riley . Please subscribe to the channel , like and share it and review us if you feel that these things are helping , and also if you want to comment on my Instagram posts about the things that will help you and things that particularly resonated . That all really helps me to know that I'm making a difference and to know the direction of travel for the business of lifestyle . But for now , thank you very much for tuning in and I can't wait to speak to you again soon . You .