Finding the Calm of Authenticity with Ulrika Sullivan

Episode Transcript:

I’m Bridget Owens and you're listening to the Waxing Soul podcast where we dig deep into the nuance of magical and spiritual concepts

It's November 3, 2022, and on today's show today's episode I welcome former scientist turned author, intuitive spiritual life coach, yoga teacher, and energy healer Ulrika Sullivan for a discussion about finding the calm of authentic spirituality through the development of intuitive connection to self..

Are you ready to grow your soul?

Welcome back to The Waxing Soul, and I’m excited to have yet another guest on today. I am super excited about today, because I’m always glad to talk to somebody who kind of straddles that line between science and spirituality. So Ulrika Sullivan is a former scientist turned author, intuitive spiritual life coach, yoga teacher and energy healer. She is passionate about helping busy women to connect with their intuition, energy and true selves, to find inner calm self love and life balance so they can live life from the heart with more ease and flow. Ulrika is the author of Wisdom Beyond What You Know: How to Shift From Being Driven By the Mind to Living From the Heart and Intuition, the creator of New Light Living – See Your Life in a New Light podcast, and founder of the Beyond the Mind membership community. So thank you so much for being with me today.

Ulrika:
Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here.

Bridget:
So let’s just hop straight in by kind of talking about my pet topic, which is authentic spirituality. So how would you, you know… You work with people helping them kind of find their authentic spiritual life. So how would you describe to someone what it means to have an authentic spiritual life or spiritual practice?

Ulrika:
This is such a hot topic, because… And I feel authentic spirituality is really allowing ourselves to be our true selves, and also the discovery of who we truly are. Because once we get on that, you know, discovery and kind of start to dig deeper into who we truly are, not just scratching the surface., Which we may do when we have a busy life and there’s so many things in the external world that we want to do or accomplish. But once we start to ask ourselves the deeper questions, that’s when we are becoming our true selves. And when we find those answers, when there’s no like, “is it this or is it that? No, it’s this.” Right? So authentic spirituality for me is really that I would say manifestation of who we truly are.

Bridget:
Yeah, I find, like, there’s this misconception that our authentic self is like something that we sort of set our sights on and become, something sort of aspirational, rather than like actually digging down to find that. It’s a finding and not a becoming.

Ulrika:
Yes, I 100% agree with that. Because what we’re here to do and be and all the incredible power that we have inside is already there from the start. So yes, I agree with you. It’s an uncovering, unraveling, rather than, “okay, it’s over there. Let’s go there.”

Bridget:
In talking about authenticity with people, there’s phrases that pop up a lot, that kind of imply that authenticity is a quality that somebody can have. Like, “oh, this person is super authentic,” or, “I know this, you know, this friend of mine, like I admire how authentic she can be.” And then in trying to become authentic themselves, just trying to sort of mirror somebody else’s self. And it’s like, “No! You’ve totally missed the target there!” Because now you’re not you’re not unearthing who you are. You’re trying to sort of like put on the costume of somebody that you think is, is authentic themselves.

Ulrika:
Yeah. Exactly.

Bridget:
With this key to authenticity really being uncovering who we are, what are your go to practices and methods for connecting with that true self?

Ulrika:
My go to, and I’m sure I’ll talk a little bit about my story, but my go to tools now and what I help others with and show them that there is a path you can walk and tools you can use. What I do first thing with somebody that is asking me a question, “okay? How can I become my authentic self?” Or, “how do I get to know my true self?” The first thing that I go to or consult is tools like astrology or Human Design or gene keys, and there’s many more other I call them energy systems that tells us about our unique energy imprint. That’s kind of a source of information just based on you know, our birth information. And I love combining those systems to begin with just to paint a picture without even having met with the person yet. I kind of inform myself about that person’s energy. And I also tune into their their, you know, soul in a sense intuitively, but this is really something that’s easy for anyone to retrieve that information. What your natal astrology chart is telling you what your gene keys or human design is. There’s so much information there already. And the first step is really to kind of look at that and if you’re not versed in those systems, there are certified practitioners, like an astrologer can give you a reading, and I have some excellent questions that I think you should ask in those types of readings if you’re curious about, you know, that energy of yours that’s unique. But really is at the very surface level you who is listening or watching this can retrieve that information quite easily yourself. And the question is, what do you do with that information? That’s when you have to kind of go in and ask okay, what does that mean to me? Is that something, like if you find that you are someone that may need to… Well, what’s, what’s a good example? Let’s say my own case, I can tell you my example of that is that for many, many years, I had a job where I was kind of the go getter. And many of us have that perception of success. We have to be the go getter to succeed, right? Simply, I’m just speaking simple terms here. What I learned through just using the tool of human design is that my natural energy is really not a go getter. So the more I tried to push myself into that perception of who I need to be as a go getter, the more I’m working against my own energy. And once I realized that I’m actually someone that people need to come to, they need to see me and they need to be attracted to my aura, for example, and they come naturally to me, that changed the whole game, right? That changed the way I approach… Now I have my own business but back then I was in corporate world for 20 plus years. And now I can reflect upon my corporate years, like, of trying to be that go getter. I was very successful, but I was exhausted and no wonder, right? And now, I shifted my life to be having more flexibility. Being entrepreneur, people come to me, instead of me going out there and get clients, right? This is just a simple example of how life changing information that’s already available to each one of us about how our energy works naturally. And then we ask ourselves questions like, Hmm, where do I feel resistance in my life? That’s a sign that there’s probably something that we’re working against our own energy. And this is the more we can feel that ease and flow in life, the more we are our authentic self.

Bridget:
There’s something really liberating about recognizing your own, I guess I’ll use the word limitations, but when you run up to those things, were like I’m really working against my natural energy, and to give yourself permission to go like, okay, for whatever reason, and that was into like, at some point, I got this message that I needed to do this instead of what comes naturally to me. But giving yourself permission to go, Okay, I’m not going to keep bashing my head against that wall. It’s okay to not do that. I’m going to nurture what I can do and what comes more naturally to me. And there’s so much liberation in that. I think that’s and it’s but it’s so difficult for everybody to go, Oh, but this thing was so important to me! Like, I learned… my parents taught me that this is something that I needed to do. Or society, whatever. This was important, and how do I give that up? But there’s so much liberation on the other side of that.

Ulrika:
Yes. 100%

Bridget:
So let’s talk about your journey. What is sort of your story, your journey of self evolution? How did you get to be where you are now?

Ulrika:
You know, I I really started out my journey by, I would say… I wouldn’t say it started with a rock bottom, but for many it does, and a rock bottom moment is involved in my story as well. My journey is really one of complete shift. And often when we transform, it’s in an area first that matters to us. And for me, it was my career. I was so wrapped up in my career and my identity was attached to my career and success and having a young family at the time. So my, my life was very multitasking, if you will. But what happened was that the universe really came in with with a divine intervention. I know what it was now because it was time for me to evolve and and often when we have this rock bottom it hits where it matters the most, and it’s different for each one of us, right? But for me, it was my career. So I was let go from my role and I didn’t see it coming. So it was kind of this shock. And some people may say, well, it’s just a job get a new one. But for me, it really hit home because I was my job. And to the point that I was so disconnected from who I truly authentically was that if somebody asked me, “Ulrika, what do you do for fun after work?” Like I didn’t know what to answer. So that’s just an example of how disconnected I was. So of course, the universe like, “Ulrika, there’s more for you.” So I got got laid off from my job and that opened up a decision for me and I know now it was, you know, I’m happy. It’s like the best thing that ever happened to me and many of you maybe have had similar experience like in hindsight, you kind of realized it was the best thing ever happened. Because for me, it opened up… Not only I slowed down because, you know, just going in autopilot and all of that it allowed me to slow down because I just didn’t know what to do next. Because I just didn’t see this coming, right? And what started to happen after that, and there’s… I write about it in my book too. Is that signs and synchronicities were starting to come in. I didn’t realize it was at that time because I wasn’t really in tune with my natural abilities. Then I just like I came across this website. I was on some Facebook group and scrolling through and for some reason, I stopped at a post and I clicked on a link that had because somebody had asked like, how do you, what’s the best life coaching certification or how do you become a life coach or something like that. There was something in me that told me to, you know, click on that link, and, you know, three hours later, I had done tons of research. I knew that that was something I definitely wanted to go down the path of. So that was just one example of how things came into my life. And then there were a number of events and things that were placed in front of me that I had a chance to kind of either pursue or research. Yeah, so energy healing was the same thing. It just came into my life. A number of other things like that. I became a yoga teacher. And all of these practices if you will, what were bringing me closer to myself. It opened up my energy to not continue on this path of autopilot that actually to not ignore myself anymore. Ignore my needs. For me, the authentic… When I knew this was it, there was a point of no return right? I knew my past life my you know, the way I was viewing life or approached life that go go and all of that, right? It wasn’t me anymore. And that’s when I knew. When I had that point of no return feeling inside me that I’m onto something here. I’m on to my true self’s path. I’m on to my authentic self.

Bridget:
It’s something that I say a lot when I talk to people about reading Tarot and doing kind of divination stuff. Because when people talk about like, this is a way to tell the future and they want to know what’s in their future, I’m always like we are really bad at knowing what to do with that information even when we have it. And it every single one of us if we look at our lives, we have those moments where things happen like we lose a job or whatever, you know, that in the moment we feel like it’s just the worst thing that could have happened. The you know, it should make us… When we are being in tune with ourselves, those times make us look around and go, “What am I…? Like, slow down and what am I doing? Am I headed where I need to be? Is this is this a point where I should change course?” And for all of us, I think we can look back and find all sorts of times when like, everything fell apart, but now that we look back and go, “Oh, that was the best thing that could happen. I wouldn’t have chosen it because I wouldn’t have known that this was going to be great, but it turned out great.”

Ulrika:
What I’ve learned too, is that we don’t have to go through our rock bottom for things to change. But it really is a decision that we can make proactively, if we are in tune with our true self. And so it’s not a requirement to go through a rock bottom to start opening up to receiving information from different dimension, if you will, rather than asking our external world for answers. So it’s, I just say that my story is involves a rock bottom, yours may not have to, for those who are listening or are watching. But it is ultimately what I’ve found is that it is a decision because I’ve… In my work also it’s the first absolute most important and most difficult step is to go beyond that comfort zone and into, you know, a commitment to change and that’s the that’s the hump we need to get over if we want a different life for ourselves is to is to allow ourselves to peek outside that comfort zone. Many people are not willing to do that. And sometimes we believe, we’re, “I want this change. I want this change,” but then when we dig a little under a surface like, “I’m really not willing to change anything.” That’s an important point to be made. Because then we get stuck in this wishful thinking, right? And so yeah, it’s an element of what I call inner transparency.

Bridget:
I was just this morning talking to… I have other work that I do with a coach, and one of the clients in the group that she coaches was just talking today about how when she was a kid, and she grew up in a very Christian home and there was an – I can’t remember the name now – but there was a personality… I sort of vaguely remember this because I grew up as a preacher’s kid. There was a woman who had been paralyzed and was sort of this like, this big sort of lots of PR lots of like, became like a motivational sort of person, inspirational person in the sort of Christian circles. And this client was like, as a kid, all of this talk about how, like, when bad things happen to you this makes you a better person. And she was like, “I want to be a better person but I don’t want to have to like go through… Do my parents have to die? Do I have to be paralyzed to become a good person?” And that stuck with her so much through her life. Wanting to choose a more intentional path of like, No, I’m just going to I’m going to do what I need to do to be the better person that I can be because I don’t really want to have to have to hit rock bottoms and have to have to go through all of this stuff to be transformed.

Ulrika:
Yeah, and that can also that exactly what you’re describing now in this example, is that why people wait. Why people wait, wait, wait, wait, wait to change and or adjust something that they know needs to go or needs to be adjusted in some way right? Because they are waiting for this big thing to happen. It does not have to be this big thing. You can start today. But it starts with the question, do I want to feel better? Do I want to be feeling more alive in my life? Do I want to feel more peace? There is this comfort zone of fear if you will, that we are so used to. It feels like comfort sometimes to be worried about something or you know, how many conversations have we had sometimes with with our friends complaining about something? That’s comfort, but it’s negative. It’s it’s, it’s you know it…

Bridget:
And we tend to put it at the center… I think I’ve talked about this on on podcast before too, but the way sort of spirituality often works for people is that it’s centered around something that we fear. It’s, “this is something that I practice to protect me from or so that I can avoid this thing that I’m worried about.” Instead of it being about self or love or connection or anything like that we make it about those things that we’re worried about and the things that we fear.

Ulrika:
I think you’re hitting something really important here is that idea of that we need to avoid things that are negative and even, I mean completely understandable that many many of us have had huge traumas in our lives. And you just want to… many of us just want to forget it and not deal with it. It’s that avoidance kind of thinking. And we think that if we replace it with spiritual tools or practices, we have to be really careful that we’re not pushing down something that needs to come up and be understood. What are we spending our mind time on is often what needs to come up and be released. We’re whole in our negative or positive, like, that duality is us, but it deserves a big hug, all of it.

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Now back to the episode!

So I’m especially interested in your background in science and how that meshes with your spirituality. So how have you found a balance there? And what role does that play now?

Ulrika:
Yes, great question. And I have received that a lot because we, many of us believe that we can’t be both. And I’m a living example that I came from, you know, 20 years within science and that environment that we need proof for everything, right? And it can be read in a textbook otherwise it’s not true or it has to be seen otherwise it’s not, like, how can we believe it or is it really true? But the way I see life now is I really appreciate that I had that science background because I can see how much more there is. Because I can see the way we use science is that we want an answer right? We want to have an answer that we can explain to somebody else. And science can allow us to present that. Like it’s that exchange between, “Okay, I have studied this and I know the answer so I can give it to you.” I know now that… and I’m thankful for that perspective, because I can also relate that that’s how many people experience things. But I know now that there’s so much more outside this box, if you will, of science that can enrich what we know already. And that has to do with the spiritual part of trust and what’s unseen. And energy. And if we think about it, energy is also a science, right? It’s studied and we can’t you know touch it but we can feel it. We have other senses that can. So I’m just really thankful that I have a science background because now I can relate to the unseen or to the spiritual world in a completely different way, or new way or I see it as an add on an added value to have both these perspectives because I know they’re both very, very needed.

Bridget:
Yeah, it’s one of the things that sort of pops out at me about… And I’m an alchemist as part of my practice, and so it’s kind of a union of science and spirituality. And I think that people sort of forget or maybe it’s not taught that way enough anymore, but that, I mean, science also exists in that space where there are unexplained things. Because if we already understood everything, there would be no need for science, because science is founded on this investigation. This trying to figure things out. So just the fact the science exists is an acknowledgment that there’s a lot in the universe that we don’t know.

Ulrika:
Right, right. And I think it has been the need to have science, to be able to kind of explain to each other. But the spiritual realm, if you will, or the spiritual experience is really more of a inner experience that does not have to have words or does not have to have this exchange or convincing others about something, that science may have been used to do. Because people were asking the questions because they they didn’t turn to themselves. But now it’s like you can… I believe that science and spirituality have its role. But if we only rely on science for our answers, we’re missing out because there’s so much more that can be experienced and answered if we consider the whole.

Bridget:
Have you ever, like, was there a point where you struggled with, “I don’t have to understand this, it’s okay to just believe it if it doesn’t make sense”?

Ulrika:
Yeah, in the beginning of my journey, I was like, “What is this? I’m not used to kind of relate to my world or my day by trusting in myself.” Because not only, I’ve been kind of not really aligned with my true self in my past, so I didn’t know what to trust, right, in the beginning. But the more I opened up to my own power, if you will, I there was this… Sometimes I explained this feeling with or somebody asked me like, “How do you know it’s not your… You know, how do you just know?” I think that was the question. Well, I just know because it just is. And that is often what we struggle with, like often, you know, with our ego or someone else is telling us something we kind of doubt ourselves. It’s like, “is it this, or is it that?” And every time we kind of have that feeling like, I don’t know, maybe I need to do some more research. That is a sign that we’re not aligned to our true self when we just know and when it just is. That’s when we that’s a great sign for a green light. That is our authentic self. That’s also another little tool that you can use, anyone who’s watching or listening, like in your little toolbox. But it requires the self awareness. For example, in those situations when we kind of always, “is it this or is it that? What should I do? This path or this path?” Or even if it’s like, choices for dinner or whatever. So I feel that that’s the practice that we go through. When we come into authentic spirituality and our authentic spirit. within ourselves, it’s like it just is. It just, I just know.

Bridget:
One of my big struggles has been… And I’m still sort of working through it. As I realized in the past I can just year that it’s somewhat easy for me to get to a place of, “I just feel like this is, I have this feeling that this is the right choice to make,” or, “I believe in this thing or in following this thing, like, this is authentic to me.” And then I run up against that wall of, “but people know me as somebody who is logical and intelligent and makes relatively good decisions.” So if I do… like how do I explain to other people who are not going to buy the whole like, “I just have a feeling” or “I know this doesn’t have any scientific backing but I believe in it anyway.” And to be like, it’s a fear of being perceived as being stupid, or doing something, you know, crazy. And part of authenticity is making that space where you come into that ability to just be like, “No, this is me, this is my authentic thing. And I know that this is the right thing.” And it doesn’t have to make sense to everybody else. And it’s okay if everybody thinks that I’m a little nuts.

Ulrika:
Yeah, yeah, it’s that journey of releasing our codependency on others, releasing our patterns, if you will, that are not serving us in a way. And there’s a lot wrapped up in that in terms of how we set boundaries, how we set energetic boundaries. And it starts with looking at our our patterns and habits and where we feel that energetic alignment and where it doesn’t. And maybe… And often we have a lot of codependency to our immediate family and there are reasons for that. I believe. We are here to grow and learn. So if everything was like, all flowy, we wouldn’t be here to grow and learn. So it’s part of this, this also to be able to detach ourselves or just observe ourselves and see what’s going on without that emotional attachment. That authenticity that you also point out is to feel grounded and calm and that inner peace about what’s right for us, irrespective of who’s around. And that that’s the journey right? When we can sit there in our own skin and feel sovereign. And that doesn’t mean that we have to travel out in the nowhere to be all by ourselves, the hermit, right? No, it is the journey really and I can definitely, you know… I help others walk through that journey. Our environment may not change. We may have the same job, we may have the same family, we may have the same… People think that the external has to change. No, it’s It’s the internal that we have the opportunity to change to become sovereign and authentic.

Bridget:
So, I love that you mentioned the importance of, like, staying in balance between being connected to the present and to the natural flow and connecting with the energies and entities and such that are out there. So why is that particular balance an important thing for you?

Ulrika:
I feel that the more I can be in balance with the unseen and our material, like, physical world, the more enriched my life gets, right? I can’t really, as an intuitive, I can’t really now see myself only relating to the to the physical world. Because there’s so much more. And my life has been become so much richer with this, you know, in my life daily. But what I found is that, it if we keep putting ourselves last in our life, and many of us have gone through a life of people pleasing or, you know, negotiating away our own needs, to the belief that we’re doing our service that way. I’ve found that we cannot be feeling this connection to the universe or spirit or God or whatever we want to call it unless we become sovereign. Because then it’s not that authentic connection, if you will. It’s a band aid, so… But today, I just, I wouldn’t want to go I can’t go back to my previous way of viewing life or approaching life or living in the world today. But with this enriched kind of connection and daily connection to… That’s just my new my daily perspective is with in connection with everything, you know, seeing synchronicities, intuitively knowing what my right next step is. Yeah, in every interaction with with people, I can sense whether it’s worth my time or not. So it’s just this enrichment that it is for me,

Bridget:
I always think of it as if we’re not being authentic in those connections, then it’s not a really close connection. Like if we’re not authentically ourselves when we’re trying to connect with, you know, the unseen and and even being present in day to day life. If we’re not authentic in that role, it’s like connecting to a mask that we’re wearing and we’re just sort of…

Ulrika:
Yeah, I think I mentioned earlier that term, I don’t know if that resonates, but I call it inner transparency. And I feel that that is really what authenticity is. Like what we feel on the inside, what we… what our aura is expressing, and we feel the same on the inside and it’s aligned with what we do and express in the world, that’s authenticity. Well, what were you talking about and giving an example about is that you know, there’s a wall or there’s a mask or there’s, you know, something we say, but we feel different on the inside. That’s kind of also a journey of going towards that more inner transparency. Because we have to be transparent with ourselves first before we can be transparent with others. And many people think like, “Oh, help me solve this relationship. Help me, you know, my husband is this or my sister is that or my mom, you know, she needs to change,” or, “Help me kind of change my environment.” What people often come to me for is completely different than what they realize is the need. And that is that inner journey of becoming completely transparent with themselves. Inner honesty and transparency. And from there comes the authenticity eventually once we kind of remove all the limiting beliefs or filters why we want to call it that hinders us from being that from inside out person we need to be.

Bridget:
I like that inner transparency. I always said, radical self honesty, but yeah, it’s the same.

Ulrika:
Yeah, the same essence of that energy.

Bridget:
Over the years in a sort of day job kind of context, I’ve worked with a lot of coaches and teachers and you know, there’s plenty to criticize in the coaching industry. But one of the great things, one of the things I love about it is is how it’s the product of people, mostly women, finding a way to build community by making our own experiences something we can share with others. So at what point in your journey did you realize that you wanted to help and teach others and guide others in what you’ve learned?

Ulrika:
I didn’t realize it at first, and one example was that one of my first kind of gateways into spirituality was was yoga. Which is many people’s gateway in. And I had never envisioned myself as a yoga teacher, but I got invited to a training and was like, “I’m just gonna go with it my deepen my own practice,” like that type of thing, right? I never saw myself as a teacher, but here I am. I am a spiritual teacher. I am a coach, I’m a guide toothers. And that journey to realize that I have something to share with others, which is my authentic story, my authentic teaching, that’s something that doesn’t need a goal, right? It just comes. So how did I know? I don’t know, it just it feels natural to me to share what I experienced and what I’ve come to, you know, I just have this natural ability and that’s enough for me. It has never been, like, this goal… “In 10 years, I’m going to be this or that”, right? It has come natural, become natural to me, and with my own insight that and also knowing now based on my astrology and all of those things in the beginning like I could see it there and I can see it there now. If I had gone there and understood it there, I might not, you know, have linked it to at the time, but now I do. I can see it there. So I don’t know if that helps, but it’s something that truly comes from within. And I think it’s not a choice. It’s more something that just is part of me

Bridget:
I feel like it’s part of our humanity that when we know that we’ve uncovered something, a bit of wisdom for ourselves that has been powerful for our own lives, that we have this instinctual urge to pass that on, and to offer that…

Ulrika:
I think you’re hitting on something here also that we have this view of what success is and how it needs to look like, right? And we see these big stages with a lot of people and we see the, you know, there’s a way our society has defined what success is or what a leader is or what a, you know, any kind of teacher is. But the truth of the matter is that if we can stand in our own power, we are that teacher for whatever setting we we are placed in. Some people are made to be on the big stages some and that’s their path, but some people maybe it’s in the local community or… So I think it’s also a self image, right? A self view of ourselves as as someone who can impact others. Or someone can get inspired by.

Bridget:
I know one of the things that held me back for a really long time from doing things like doing this podcast or blogging or whatever was this thought that the path… Like, I am alone on this path that nobody else… Like, this stuff is powerful for me, but who else cares? Because no, there’s nobody like, surely I’m alone in this. I think that’s a breakdown and we’ve been pushed into this individualistic kind of way of living by society and all this stuff more disconnected from our communities. And but everybody, no matter what journey you’re on, somebody else is on a similar one. And it’s not that we are necessarily all called to be like gurus because I think that’s kind of toxic. But there is that natural, like, what humans do is when we learn something we pass it on. If we can find the other people who are also going down the similar path that we’re on, this wisdom that we have that’s impactful for us, that’s valuable to more than just us. And it is part of our, like, connection to community to find the other people who need it and share it.

Ulrika:
Yes, yes. And it’s similarly you know, how it’s working. And really, you know, once we you may also have this feeling I’m sure you agree that was we are in a group, a community of like minded, it’s like such a great feeling, right? We can be ourselves authentic self and in that type of environment. That’s what we’re looking for, like, we are not supposed to kind of having to squeeze ourselves in to fit in somewhere because that’s what’s defined success. If we can, you know, accept ourselves that much that… If I find my like minded people, that’s great, right? That’s also a sign that we have found… And I also have felt during my path, and you might have too, that these groups of like minded, that also can change depending on our own level of evolution, right, because that’s… We have to allow ourselves to kind of when friends come and go, for example, or it’s harder with family, but it’s it’s that openness to align with other like minded. It is going to change over the course of our our journey, and it’s natural.

Bridget:
I had some experiences this year that really highlighted that I’m a very different person than I was in college. And there are people who there are groups of people that were very big parts of my life when I was that age, and were hugely influential and we were very close and I don’t feel the same connection now. And that’s okay. They have gone on their journey and I have gone on mine and they’ve gone on two very different directions. And that’s alright, it doesn’t mean that either one of us is bad people, we’ve just evolved beyond the need for that to be a pivotal relationship in our lives.

Ulrika:
I think also the focus of being that sovereign, authentic person is also to be able to navigate those shifts, right? But many of us might want to adjust like we talked about in the beginning of the episode here, like wanting to adjust to fit in or have that mask on because that’s what’s accepted in the like minded, so called like minded community. Part of the journey is to find that courage to, to kind of remove that so we can feel that inner transparency again, right? At all times. Because it shouldn’t have to be situational.

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Do you find that working with others and helping them in their journey kind of helps your own journey progress and helps you evolve?

Ulrika:
Absolutely. I mean, my life’s work is to help people this way and that’s when I feel most enlightened. In a one on one coaching session with when somebody is having a breakthrough, right, that’s just like I’m as happy as they are, like… we hug virtually we, you know, that’s, that’s where my life force is getting enriched, right? When I when I’m part of supporting somebody or partner with somebody in that way, and it’s it gets very personal. And but that’s what I had asked for. My soul asked for that. In my corporate career, I couldn’t have these deep discussions with people. It wasn’t… my soul just urged for going deeper. And I found it. This is kind of what I do. And, you know, really, I’m more excited or enriched after a session coaching somebody than I’ve ever been at my corporate career after a long day at work. You know, if that’s not testament enough to being on the right path, I don’t know what what else is.

Bridget:
Do you notice sychronicities… So because I work with coaches, one of the things that we sort of, that I’m aware of things will come up in our lives. And then immediately after that, it will come up for everybody else. There’s a synchronicity of like, oh, it’s good that I processed that because that was so that I can help…. Now I have some some wisdom to apply to the things that are coming up for them.

Ulrika:
Yes, yes, we’re all… Even, you know, I truly believe that I learned as much from my clients as they learn from me. It’s this… because what I said in the beginning, too, I know now that my energy is like, my clients, they come to me because there’s something about me that they feel is a lock and key right. Naturally that way. There’s something that is already kind of agreed between our souls right there’s there’s this exchange of learning evolution, we helping each other. So yeah, I think your point is very point that when we are aligned with our authentic self, we also attract those learning opportunities, growing opportunities that are meant for us.

Bridget:
So what’s the most surprising way that you’ve personally changed or evolved through through all this?

Ulrika:
You know, the most surprising to me, it’s not surprising now in hindsight, but the fact that I could live my life, like, if I look at my week now versus a typical week and my previous life in the corporate world, what’s surprising to me is that I can be feeling such inner calm and inner peace. I didn’t know what it was before. And that’s surprising to me, that transformation, that it can happen and that’s why I’m so convinced when I work with somebody the first session, they come to me, I know that they’re with me for a reason and I’m here to support them in the way they they need it. Because I know that a transformation is possible. And I think that’s the most surprising. When I was disconnected from myself in the past, I thought that was the way life was gonna go on forever. And the way I was feeling inside, right? And now I… That’s the most surprising thing that I can be happy, right? I can be feeling alive. I can feel this inner calm and peace and I can be creative. I can live with that inspiration inside and you know, I want that for others.

Bridget:
Something that I’ve been sort of a pattern in my own path is that every now and then I’ll look back and kind of pause and go, “Wow, me from 10 years ago, wanted this but thought it would look very different.” If I could go back 10 years and go, “yeah, you will feel these things that you want to feel and you will have have the things that you’re searching for. But if I described it to you now you wouldn’t want it.” And do you feel like that has happened? Like if you went back to your your previous iteration of yourself and went, like, “this is the life you’re building,” would your old self have been like, “Are we okay?”

Ulrika:
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But that’s also is what I’m so amazed about because it like I’m coming back to the tools that I mentioned in the beginning. Specifically astrology because it’s that’s the one I’m mostly familiar with all of those conclusions that I know now about myself. There are in my chart already. Yeah. But it’s also it wouldn’t have mattered if I were to get a reading like number of years ago, I wouldn’t have been at that energetic level if you will, vibration to take all of that in. And I wouldn’t have, like you said, I wouldn’t have believed it or I wouldn’t even want to want it right. But it’s it’s amazing how, how much insight there is already and I think we’re meant to just kind of get it piecemeal, right. And there’s more to come.

Bridget:
If I had a nickel for every time, like, I’ve gotten a reading of some kind… Like I was thinking of, like, it’s probably 15 years ago, my wife and I went to and my sister went to… just kind of on a whim we went to the local like metaphysical shop, and there was somebody doing or readings. And there were things that she said about life and we’re gonna… you’ll start a business, something about you know, art, creative stuff and all of that, like had all of these like predictions, and at the time it was like, “Oh, that’s interesting. Like this seems unlikely.” And so 15 years later, I came across, like, she’d written it all down on this little like, she’d taken our aura pictures and stuff, and I like came across it cleaning stuff up and I was like, “Holy crap, she was like, spot on.” Like I mean, it took a while.

Ulrika:
Yeah, yeah, I think that that ties up the conversation about you know, our authentic self and our spirit. We have it all already, right. We have it all inside already where we’re going. So it’s like there’s nothing we need to reach for that’s beyond ourselves. It’s really the work to uncover that, you know, after 15 years, who knows where we are in 15 years, right, next. So it starts with asking our selves those questions, you know? Getting curious about, “who am I really am what what am I capable of?” And those are all big questions. But you know, it’s that willingness of starting to kind of scratch the surface and see what comes up. And understandably a lot of us have, you know, we don’t want to scratch the surface because there’s a lot of experiences and not so fun experiences underneath there. But it’s it doesn’t have to be to go through all the trauma again, it can be to, “what could we learn from it?” Yeah, because we are also this amazing soul that we we don’t have to be defined with what our past. It’s our mind that wants to define us by the past. And doesn’t have to be that way.

Bridget:
So I know that you have a couple of things to share with the audience. And I always like to turn over the last few minutes to the guests. So I know you have a guide on intuition and as well as your book. So I will give you the floor and let you share that with everyone.

Ulrika:
You’re very generous. Thank you. Yes, if anything of this today have resonated with you I would love for you to check out my book, Wisdom Beyond What You Know: How to Shift From Being Driven By the Mind to Living From the Heart and Intuition. I published this, came out this year. And it basically outlines seven inner shifts to go from being driven by the mind, our patterns, our habits etc to living from the heart and intuition. And invite that you know, there’s more perspective into our life. So I’m enjoying teaching that this year, and I can see some amazing, amazing experiences coming out from others in applying these seven things shifts, and if you’re curious, I also have a little guide on my website UlrikaSullivan.com. It’s my guide, my Seven Steps to Listen to Your Intuition. So that’s a little taste bite of the seven inner shifts, if you’re curious, download that. And other than that I also have a membership for those who… Just each chapter in the book comes with coaching exercises because I am really hands on person. I’m a triple Earth in astrology, which means that I want to see give people not just theory, science, I want to give people real results and hands on experiences. So I have a membership that’s based on actually digging deeper and these experiences of these seven in the shifts and doing the exercises. So that’s also an additional offer. Thank you so much.

Bridget:
And I will put all of the links so that you can connect to all this stuff in the show notes, so you don’t have to try to try to spell it all out yourself. Yeah, so check out the show notes for all of that information. And thank you again for coming on the show. I love having these these conversations.

Connect with Ulrika:

https://ulrikasullivan.com

https://www.instagram.com/ulrikasullivan/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/usullivan/

https://www.facebook.com/ulrikasullivancoach/

https://twitter.com/SullivanUlrika

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvNGRU3ms6Q6FBI6BdyIHUA

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-light-living-see-your-life-in-a-new-light/id1466826647

Thank you so much for listening.
New episodes of the Waxing Soul drop every Thursday.
All materials and resources except the music are copyright Bridget Owens.
Many thanks to my readers, listeners, friends, mentors, inspirations, and my framily for riding with me into season two.
Until next week, blessed be and be good to yourself.