Welcome back to another episode of the Genius Podcast.

My name is Karen Doyle, your host and founder of The Genius Project,

an initiative for Catholic women designed to support and resource you

towards growth in all areas of life, spiritual, personal, and professional.

We seek to do this through the Catholic Women's Masterclass.

Our Catholic Mindset programs for women, as well as a number of other

online products and resources.

If you would like to find out about any of these initiatives, you can visit

our website, www.geniusproject.co.

I'd love you to come and join us on Instagram genius underscore project

underscore daily, or you can view the live recordings on our Genius

Project YouTube channel, which is actually still in the process of

being rebuilt after being hacked.

So hopefully that will be all up and running very shortly.

Ladies, we have some very exciting news.

We are opening the doors to a new cohort of the Catholic Women's Masterclass.

For those of you who are not familiar with this masterclass, this is a four

month journey of restoration and renewal.

Where we take a look at your life, what's working and what's not working, and

then we start to build some rhythms of renewals, some very clear rhythms and

patterns of behaving and skills that are going to see you go from surviving

your life to thriving in your life.

At the heart of this masterclass is really coming alongside women and

helping them to live into the fullness of who God has created them to be.

Life has a way of pushing us to the sidelines of our own life.

And sometimes if we are living on the sidelines of our own life, we

end up feeling really unfulfilled.

We can feel overwhelmed, and then we can start to live in this state of resentment.

Ladies, you are not meant to merely survive your life as a woman.

Sometimes we lack the skills and the tools that are required to live this

abundant life and to live in the fullness of who God has actually created us to be.

So ladies, I would love if you have any questions for you to send me

an email, karen genius project.co.

And I would be more than happy to answer those.

We do have a waiting list for this next intake, and I'm hoping to

open the doors and kick off this masterclass around the 20th of July.

So if you'd like to get on that waiting list.

Once again, please send me an email or you can sign up through

our website, www.geniusproject.co.

On this week's episode of the Genius Podcast, I am talking to

the very wonderful dynamic and vivacious Lisa Canning, otherwise

known as the Possibility Mom.

She is the author of the book, the Possibility Mom, and she gives some really

powerful insight into how we can live, I guess, in our purpose and our mission.

And this is gonna be a bit of a focus on our podcast over the next couple of weeks.

Lisa Canning is the mother of 10 children.

She's currently living in Canada.

Lisa built her own interior design business.

She was, uh, the host of a show.

On HDTV and she was very successful in this arena.

She now spends a lot of her time helping Catholic women who are

wanting to build businesses.

To really develop those skills and the tools that are required to build

a good business from the ground up.

And on today's episode, we are really going to talk around this,

juggle that so many of us as women experience this juggle between work

and home, and how we can actually live a life of possibility and purpose.

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Lisa Canning.

Lisa, welcome to the Genius Podcast.

It's so fantastic to have you with us.

I think we had an interview booked in 12, four months ago and it

didn't happen, and so we've been rescheduling, so it's wonderful to

finally have you on the podcast.

I'm so happy to be here.

It's honestly a pleasure.

Oh, well, thank you.

It's what time?

It's 2:30 PM over in Florida.

It's 5:30 AM here in Australia.

And I, I've watched you on Instagram and you're doing your gym workouts

at 5 5 30, and I'm like, oh, she's a better woman than I am.

So, but you know, I will tell you, I never, ever, ever thought I would be

the kind of person really who would work at five 30, but it's amazing

what can happen when you just try it.

And now I honestly, I can't imagine my life without it.

And I can't imagine doing it at any other time.

Like it is a really.

Convenient time to just get it done and start the day.

Yes.

Well, my husband's always been like this.

He always gets up at four praise and then he's out on his bike.

I've never understood it to happen for me.

I, I, however, I do I, in the summer, I do like getting up, going for a run, but

it is getting a bit cooler here now, so.

That's a deterrent.

So Lisa, would you share with us a little bit about your background

and yourself, just for the women who haven't come across you?

Before I started my career, kind of in an interesting way, I, I was, uh, had the

fortunate experience to host an HG t v show in Canada where I'm born and raised.

So I was, uh, the designer and um, on camera talent for a show.

And I, I had no ambitions of being on television or doing interior design.

I, it was kind of a very random situation where a mom at my high school had

always seen me talk, like in public.

Mm-hmm.

And she said, you need to be on tv.

And I was like, I don't know what that means.

So it was sort of this accidental, uh, television career and design career.

And so, I started designing for, uh, both private residences and

then as well as on television.

So I've worked with people like Property Brothers and many other personalities

in the H C T V world and, um, had children at the exact same case that my

interior design career growing really.

So I now have nine children, but when I was doing interior

design, It was every other year.

So while I was still practicing interior design, uh, regularly, I

had six children and, and people just sort of like it, it was so funny.

I could, I could feel it almost happening in the middle of a design consultation.

I would be telling them, okay, this is where we're gonna.

Put your, your oven and your fridge, and here's the wall we're gonna remove.

And I could just, I could see it.

I could, I could, there would always be this little point in an interior

design console where somebody would kind of like cockeye, like they

would turn their head and they would just be like, can we please stop?

And can you tell me how you are managing your life?

Mm-hmm.

Because a lot of these professionals that I was working with were, uh,

you know, the kind it, most of the people I, I was working with, To do

sort of high end interior design were people who had professional careers.

So we're talking like doctors, lawyers, people in finance.

Very high pressured and very high.

Like high time.

Yeah.

But they also had small children and so they, there would be this moment where

they would be like, I don't get it.

Like, I feel like I can't keep up with anything.

And you are here smiling and happy with lipstick on, and you have all

these children at home like so.

I just sort of got to this place where I was like, okay, there's

something that I'm doing that I'm very unaware that I'm doing, but

people keep asking me for help with.

And so my business sort of just naturally translated or transitioned from being

very interior design based, can then helping people design their lives.

And so what I now, which is really fun.

Is over the last, I would say about like five years of my career, I've transitioned

from interior designing to life coaching, and more recently business coaching.

So I primarily help Catholic moms who want to feel less guilty in their motherhood

and less guilty in their business.

I've got two programs, one called Motherhood Without Guilt, and one called

Wealth Without Guilt, where I help women.

Do these things.

So good, isn't it?

I, you and I are very much kindred spirits cuz I share similar passions to you.

But it's so true that so many of us, and I'm sure you at different times will

have probably struggled a little bit with trying to work this out, but I know I

have, I have three children under 14 and.

That's not nearly nine, but it's still the juggle.

Right?

And we, we are, as women, constantly juggling all the plates.

And we need to do that well because if we don't, we fall apart,

everything else falls apart around us.

So that's sort of the topic that we're going to look at today

in this conversation because I think it's really helpful.

As you said, you realized, you, you became aware that you were

actually doing something and people were like, I want what she's got.

Like, I dunno, the secret.

And so that's something I'd love to discuss with you, that secret source,

like some of the strategies and the things that you put in place for women that you

advise women on, for how they can actually juggle their life because it's hard.

You know, I, and, and let me, let me tell y'all, this comes

from a very personal experience.

Like it's not like I had this all figured out and.

You know, I, my book The Possibility Mom, I opened that book with a story

I affectionately called my mini band Meltdown when I was about four or five

years into my interior design career.

And again, rapid growth in my family as well.

I had just given birth to my fourth child.

It was probably the, the all-time high of my business.

I, I was, uh, working with Property Brothers in that season.

I was renovating my home.

There was more money I had ever made in my life, like just.

All kinds of things.

Were going so well from the outside looking in, but I was literally like

newborn, infant, um, bringing her to construction site, absolutely ragged

exhausted, but I felt like I had to keep up this persona, this pleasing, this

performance for all of these people.

And you know, spoiler alert, that doesn't work when you are just constantly trying

to prove your worth through your work or through how good of a mother you are.

It doesn't work.

And so I was trying to prove myself on all these fronts that I could be this

great entrepreneur, that I could make money for my family, that I could pop

out a child and just kind of keep going as if there was nothing that happened

that I could be this great Catholic mama.

Like I just was absolutely imploding inside.

And so I described that as my minivan meltdown.

And, and the, the thing that kind of happened right after that was,

was this real, uh, honest look at my life, an honest look at why did I feel

the need to prove myself in my work?

Why was I never satisfied with kind of anything I was doing and

like, what did I want instead?

And so that's what began for me and I think that's what

a lot of people are asking.

And so I think the very first place I'd love to begin this conversation.

Is really like an awareness.

We need to have a sense of, is what I'm doing going to contribute to my legacy?

That's really where I like to begin all conversations, whether I'm coaching

with someone in business or in life.

This just this, uh, this honest question of what do you

want at the end of your life?

By the end of your time here, whether it is 40 years, 80 years, or more.

How do you want your life and your time to ha to be remembered?

And this isn't in some kind of a, like a vain sort of, uh, you know, oh,

I, I just want all these accolades.

Not at all.

But it, it's simply just a good question that we should all examine.

How do I want the gifts that I've been given to have been utilized?

What is that unique call that, you know, is I love, um, what,

uh, Newman, uh, uh, Colonel Newman says about, I have a mission.

There is an mission, and it's, um, something to the effect of it.

It's only mine and it's mine to carry out.

And I just think that's such an important place to begin.

And so we've gotta start there.

We've gotta start by looking at legacy.

I think that's so important because.

We can get caught on the treadmill of life, the hustle culture,

and it just takes us along.

So you can go through a whole decade of your life just being swept along through

this hustle culture without actually being intentional, without taking inventory of

your own life, without saying, am I happy?

Is this good for me?

Is this good for my family?

And I think it's a really important place to start.

The other thing that you touched on through your experience is just

understanding, I think, a sense of your personal identity and our

identity as the beloved daughter.

Because when we're grounded in that place, then we are coming at everything

we do from a different posture.

Instead of trying to prove worth, we're we're there to serve, we're there to give.

And so I think that's another aspect or another dimension of that starting

place is knowing identity and.

Taking inventory.

Oh, I, I was coaching a client and, and I'll never forget these words,

she said to me, she, uh, we were talking about the topic of worth.

And she has a daughter who has special needs, extreme special needs.

So she's in a wheelchair, she needs assistance to eat, she needs go to

the bathroom, all kinds of things.

And she just said something to me that has always stayed with me.

My daughter is always going to take more than she produces, so

meaning, There's always gonna have to be people like helping her.

Then she is going to produce for the world.

And of course we know this in our Catholic anthropology, we all have

worth regardless of what we produce.

You know, my client's daughter has immense worth.

I have immense worth.

You have immense worth.

Everyone listening has immense inherent work and no amount of pleasing,

producing, performing, perfecting, all the peas, no amount of any of that.

Can ever change it.

But the challenge is, I think even as a ardent Catholic, even as a devout,

you know, even if you are raised with this understanding, it can be

a very easy thing, at least in my experience, to forget when you are

surrounded by, whatever you wanna call it, hustle culture, or even just like

a sense that what you do for work and what you earn gives you something.

Like, like that means something about you.

Mm-hmm.

And it, that's taken me, I'll be very, if I'm being very honest and

transparent, that has taken me a long time to unlearn and I still

catch myself even now sometimes.

Um, you know, I, I have a, uh, I, I would say that I, I have a pretty decent

work ethic, meaning I, I, I can, I, I work pretty hard and I like to do a good

job, and I have to really watch myself to not allow that to inform my work.

Like, just because you produce all that stuff, it doesn't really matter because

if you didn't, it wouldn't matter either.

Hmm.

But I, I have to, I watch, I have to really watch myself,

my, uh, my love for achievement.

I, I just have to always monitor, um, is this a healthy love of achievement and a

good stewardship of my time and energy?

Or is it becoming like, you know, you're, you're patting yourself on the back.

I, I, I think we have to always, Absolutely.

And I think what you, you're picking up there is just living intentionally,

being really intentional and self-aware, and a lot of that comes from a

beautifully developed prayer life.

Um, I know you and I have both been through the Purgative Way

course with Meno Catholic, and, and that has been so helpful as well.

Did you find that helpful for yourself personally in this area?

I mean, I'm gonna try to keep, I'm gonna keep it brief, but I,

this, this is an area that just means so much to me personally.

So very quickly, I had, I have always personally developed, like,

I don't know if that is something I I gained from my parents.

They're, they're very intellectual themselves, and so I, I know

growing up we were always around.

A wide array of viewpoints.

Uh, my parents loved culture.

They exposed us a lot of different things, so being exposed to things

beyond the church, for example, was not an uncommon thing for me

growing up, all kinds of things.

And so I pursued development with, you know, world class

coaches in, in the secular world.

And for a very, very long time.

I, I just sort of, uh, it didn't occur to me at all that I was

perhaps com compartmentalizing my personal development.

Mm-hmm.

Not that I was ever sort of leaving Christ out of it.

I don't think I would've said that.

Yeah.

But, When I look back on my experience be all before what I know now from

taking Purgative Way, met Noia Catholic's Purgative Way program, I just have

such a different perspective or a different lens on the human person.

Hmm.

And you cannot separate anything.

Like everything in our life is interconnected, number one and number two.

Theologically, it's not correct to say that the person is like a little

bit over here, a little bit over here.

Like we, we are designed as totally integrated humans.

Like, like does, there's no, there's no, you can't separate, you know,

your, the, the fact that you are a child of God kind of in anything.

And you know, I think it's an interesting concept.

It's a true concept, number one.

It's a very complex concept.

It can be a very complex concept to sort of meditate on, but it's also very simple.

And what do, what do I mean by that?

We just want to always be pointed towards God.

Yeah.

And there are thoughts in our heads that can point us away from God,

and there are thoughts in our heads that can point us towards God.

And I, like I said, I think I had a pretty decent radar kind of growing

up in terms of, is this new age?

Is this like, not in line with my beliefs?

Um, but number one, it was exhausting to do that.

Like to constantly just be like, wait a minute, is that in line with my belief?

Just exhausting.

But then I think I, I really like, I kind of compartmentalized personal development.

I was just like, I'm just gonna do this over here.

It's okay that it's completely s.

Separate from God and like it's just gonna be over here to do it all

together to understand that we've been given reason and intellect by God.

Like just think about that for a minute.

To understand that your ability to reason, your ability to use your

intellect, that all of this can point you closer to your maker and help you

to become more holy, your intellect.

Can actually help you to become more holy.

Mm-hmm.

I just don't think I ever truly, I don't know, embrace that.

Like I, I, and, and so when I, when I kind of, when my eyes were all opened,

that actually the pursuit of human formation, um, can make you more holy.

I think I headed in almost the back of my head.

Human information could be bad.

Hmm.

And, and it could, it can be like, if we're just being honest there, there

are things in the secular world that are too self-focused, but this just

idea of like, oh my gosh, your human development can actually make you more

holy and actually put you like completely in the loving arms of Christ Jesus.

And, and to help my clients do that too, everything just sort

of like absolutely opened up for me in this totally different way.

And so, This Catholic anthropology that we have is such a deep and

wide and beautiful, uh, gift, and so, Why not make everything in line

with our Catholic anthropology?

Why not?

Absolutely.

And it just fits.

Everything just fits.

It falls into place and makes sense.

And I think when you're, and, and also I think that the tools given to do that

allow you to then walk into freedom, which I've experienced in my life.

I've seen it in.

The women that I coach.

And you can take someone to a certain point with personal development, but

Jesus is the ultimate agent changer.

And so when we're doing that apart from him, sometimes it's actually hard to have

that permanent lasting growth and freedom.

It's way harder.

And you know, I, I, I like to talk about it with this visual.

It's like you have two choices.

I say this a lot to the webinar coaching business.

You got two choices.

You can run your business like this with your fisted tightly.

White knuckle trying to hold on for dear life.

All the control.

Yeah, which is like the tendency that I've had for so many years and so

many business owners in the secular space, what I observe about them.

So much tension, so much pain, so much control, and so much disappointment.

Or you can open your hands and you can have this posture of surrender.

Knowing that there is so much freedom because everything can bring you closer

to your maker, including your business.

Amen.

Like imagine the pursuit of wealth actually is making you more holy.

Imagine the pursuit of a business, which is, by the way, sometimes

business is just straight up annoying.

It's just there are things that happen that are just straight up annoying.

But what if, if all of those pursuits are actually, um, Part of your unique plan

to make you holy to grow in the attitude.

You know, I like to look at the virtues of Mary in line with entrepreneurship,

and I just think there's a lot, there's so many things there.

Um, obedience, there's, there's qualifying words about, oh, here, wait,

I have it right here on my computer.

You got another book, Lisa?

There's another book in there.

Oh my gosh, wait.

Profound humility, how much of humility we need as entrepreneurs.

Blind obedience, sometimes.

You feel like you're on this path, but you're like, what?

Why am I here, Lord?

Well, let's just keep on going.

You know, continual prayer.

Heroic patience.

Heroic patience is one that I see in both moms that I coach in life and moms that I

coach in business struggle with so much.

It's like, why isn't this happening now?

Why isn't my child like agreeing with me?

Why does my house like always look like a disaster?

Nothing I'm doing is working this heroic patience.

Mm-hmm.

Um, is just that, that's just, I.

In my life.

Me too.

So good.

Lisa, tell me, I, I wanted to just dive into a little bit around some of the

challenges that women face, because we've sort of cast a vision for what is

possible, but where are they coming from?

Because I think sometimes we have to take inventory of where we are so that we can

then move forward into that freedom and into that transformation and restoration.

So in your mind, what are the top couple of challenges that you see

women, whether they're single, married, Midlife beyond empty nesting

that you see in women's lives.

Um, immense amount of guilt.

Hmm.

And, and guilt around everything.

Guilt around how I'm spending my time, guilt around what I'm eating, guilt around

am my exercising guilt around, you know, I didn't do this in my relationship.

I haven't accomplished this, this immense.

Mm.

And it's an interesting one.

You know, you and I both are in the same, uh, training

where we learned about manuals.

And so if anyone listening who doesn't understand what a manual is, we all have

manuals or you know, like my iPhone.

Same way that I have a book that tells me, don't drop your iPhone and water

and don't leave your iPhone in the sun.

Otherwise it's not gonna work.

We have manuals for how things should work.

Mm-hmm.

In the world.

You could have a manual around this is how.

Uh, good Catholic should act.

You might have a manual around this is what, um, it means to be successful.

I had a manual around success in work and money, you know, X, Y,

Z and so many people are walking around with all of these unconscious

manuals and then it causes them guilt because they're thinking, oh my

gosh, I see, you know, this person, her house is tidy all the time.

Mine isn't.

And again, this is where we have to get kind of like honest

and objective about ourselves.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and examine, well, why isn't your house clean?

Do you not have the skills?

Can you not like vision cast, like what it looks like?

Um, do you feel like you don't deserve it?

Like, there's just so many things that we can dissect, but also sometimes we

might have a manual for I am less than.

If my house doesn't look like that mm-hmm.

The things that we make things mean about ourselves, that's

where we have to just like Yeah.

Do a lot of healing.

Right.

And so objectively speaking, should we all have tidy houses?

Probably.

Like meaning there's a hygiene to a house.

A house is, you know, I come from an interior design background,

so I'm, obviously, I'm biased.

There's better order, order when peaceful.

So I'm not, I'm not saying don't clean your house.

Um, but if it's causing you to feel bad about yourself that

your house isn't clean, that's a conversation we need to have.

That's where there needs to have some coaching.

It doesn't have to mean anything about yourself, that your

house isn't anxiety, right?

So that's a really guilt, immense guilt around literally

anything is a big observation.

Mm.

And that word should, how much of the time?

I think if someone did a survey, if we all did a survey in a single day.

And tick off how many times we say I should.

It's so ingrained, it's so subconscious.

We're not even aware of it.

But it's that internal dialogue, that script that keeps playing,

that does make us feel less than, and it's that comparison.

I mean, who knows?

The woman with the tidy house might have really messy cupboards because

she's shoved everything into there before someone comes over because

she has an issue with self-worth and if her house is seen as being messy.

So we have to be really careful in those comparisons.

With other people.

That's one thing, but also just our own scripts.

And like you said, there's an invitation to healing in that.

And it's a great opportunity for women listening just if this is triggering

things in you, just to take note of those and then to take them to prayer.

Take them to Christ and under the gaze of the Holy Spirit, ask the

Lord, especially at this moment in history, where does he want to bring

about restoration in your life?

What is he actually, what's the Holy Spirit wanting to stir up in you because.

That agitation we feel is not a bad thing because it might lead us towards

virtue, towards wholeness in Christ.

So what we often see as obstacles can, in fact be invitations to, to grow.

So, so guilt's the number one.

What's another one?

Another challenge that you see in women?

Fear of failing.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it's interesting what you just said.

That discomfort that can lead us to holiness, that can lead us to sanctity.

I have an absolute abject fear of failure.

Like I, I just, it comes from Oh yeah.

Like, and it comes from, you know, lots of places comes from

being highly praised as a child.

You know, like I, I started to realize, oh, if I perform

a certain way, I get praise.

And so of course that got very ingrained in my, in my.

You know, my memory and my brain.

And so it also meant that I was absolutely terrified of failing

because, you know, what does that mean?

I won't get that praise, I won't get that adulation.

And so it's, it's been something that I've had to work on so much in

coaching, so much in spiritual direction.

And the fear of failure, when you think about it, and I see this

in so many of my clients, is a protection from something else.

Hmm.

Right.

We're protecting ourselves from being judged.

We're protecting ourselves from being criticized.

We're protecting ourselves, maybe from people thinking badly of us.

And I would also argue we're protecting ourselves from discomfort.

Mm-hmm.

Right?

And what my coach has been helping me with in this pursuit of getting a

better relationship failure is to simply just be okay with that discomfort.

So it's, it's easy to say, just be okay with failing.

Fail faster, fail faster, whatever.

And, and that's like a, a good, so it's a good script to have, certainly.

But I actually like, what she's been really challenging me on is that

emotion, that feeling you have when maybe you dis you do disappoint someone.

Yeah.

Or that feeling you have of um, you know, pain or regret or whatever, when

maybe a launch or something doesn't go according to, you know, your hopes.

That you actually just sit in that feeling and be okay with that disappointment.

Mm-hmm.

That, that, that, that feeling that you were so desperately

trying to avoid actually isn't that scary, actually isn't that bad?

And you can actually kind of get up and move on from it.

So fear of failure is so deeply rooted in protection from something.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, what if we just got actually comfortable with that

emotion, trying to protect ourselves?

Yeah, absolutely.

And often when we have strong emotions about things, whether it's

disappointment or frustration or feeling less than, we tend to avoid it.

And we do that through different behaviors and that's where we kind of.

It's leading us away from Christ because we might drink too

much, watch too much television.

We might scroll on social media endlessly compulsive shopping.

Like there's all those behaviors which are called buffering because they're

preventing us from actually dealing with the emotion and then obviously

what the Lord wants to do in our lives.

So I think it's a, there's a great invitation there for us all.

So, so we've got guilt and we've got sort of the discomfort and the fear of failure.

What's another one that you see?

And we might jump in and look at how we can deal with some of these.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I, I think they're all so related, right?

Yeah.

But like, avoidance of things, procrastination.

But when, you know, when you really think about it, all of

these things are avoiding intense feelings of despair or appointment.

Yeah.

Or, um, failure just dealing with reality.

And so, Really, like how we deal with it is what I, what I just shared a moment ago

is we get comfortable that that feeling and is, is actually okay, number one.

But even to expect it, like expect it.

And this is such an interesting thing that, you know, my coach is

having to work very hard on right now is literally, oh, you're dirty.

Yes.

Like there it is and hello.

Familiar friend.

Um, and again, to just simply get more objective about how

we respond to situations.

This phrase, don't make it mean anything about me is sort of my favorite phrase

to use, both on myself and on my clients.

Yeah.

What are you making that mean about you?

And honestly, when you can become more objective about basically

everything you do, it makes things incredibly more, uh, simple.

You're able to ask good questions, like, is that really true?

Is true all the time.

And again, at the heart of it, a lot of these are lies that are

not bringing us closer to God.

Hmm.

And so let's just vomit all those things out of our brains.

Let's just like,

and, and that's really how, how we move on.

And of course, you know, I'm a trained mindset coach like you, I can coach

myself to a certain extent, but I.

Love having an external coach.

I, I, I love it so, so much.

I can't say enough about it.

I, I, and I, I have a spiritual director, like I got all the things,

all the things, and it's just, I really like the, the biggest thing

that we can protect or, or invest in, I really do believe is our mind.

We are transformed by the renewal of our minds.

Our lives can be transformed by singular sentences when you think about

it, singular sentences in our brain.

Can make all the difference between a life of freedom and

a life that feels powerless.

Yes.

And, and that's, that's just the truth of the matter.

We've been given incredible intellect and the ability to reason by our

creator God, and so we get to use it.

It's like a gift to be able to use our reason and our intellect.

Absolutely.

And part of that is our will correct the ability to actually choose so

we can choose thoughts and I think.

This is a new concept for a lot of people, that you can actually choose what you

think and that gives you immense power and it also puts the the onus back on

you to co-create your life with God.

Cuz we are called to be co-creators with the Lord.

So we're co called to be active participants in our own life.

And so we're not passive victims to whatever happens to us and how

we think and our emotions, we are actu We have far more power than we

realize to actively participate with the Lord in, I guess, moving towards

vice or virtue and our own growth.

Lisa, sorry.

Go for it.

It's such a gift.

What you, what you just said.

That the, the, the will, the ability to have this choice.

We have been given free will.

That's another thing that I, my brain will always sort of, I don't know, like

if I think about it too hard, I, I get too, like lost in too much philosophy.

But like, we're not robots.

We are not robots.

We are not sort of just like put on this planet to kind of, I don't know, like just

dysfunction be turned on and turned off.

No.

We have been given this free will and it's like a fascinating gift.

And we get to every day choose to be in union with God.

Yeah.

And I just think it's so fun and it is so fun to coach in this way,

you know, like I never, this is a fairly new, uh, genesis for me.

You know, I don't know if you feel the same way.

Like Yes, very much this, being able to do this for our clients

thrills me like just so much.

It is.

It's so many, so many.

Our heart breakthrough moments I find in coaching women because we're

coaching in a unique way that's really integrated with our faith.

My husband and I studied at the John Pauli Institute.

We did the theology, marriage and family studies here many, many years ago.

So we studied John Pauli and we studied Aquinas and we studied that

at an, you know, a high end level.

But it's been such a gift.

Years down, like 15, 20 years down the track to then merge that

with coaching and, and to have all the pieces put together so

that you can actually help women.

That's, I I find that there's, there's such freedom that I'm seeing in women's

lives when they have a revelation of their ability to choose and their

ability that they actually have far more power than they realize, you know?

And, and the questions that I love to ponder, that I think coaching answers

is, What does cloud want for my life?

And now how do I go do that?

Right?

That latter phrase.

So what does cloud want for my life and how do I go do that?

That's the unique place.

That second half of that statement is the unique place a coach gets to live.

We get to help our clients.

How, how, how do you, how do, how do you do that?

What thoughts do you need?

What thoughts do you not need?

Yeah, and I just, it's, it's a, it's a great journey.

So Lisa, just in wrapping up, I'd love some of your thoughts around and

advice for women who are feeling really overwhelmed, whether it's overwhelmed

with negative mindsets or just overwhelmed with the juggle of life.

What are some of the things that they could put into place after listening

to this podcast that could really help them walk towards breakthrough?

So number one is to not judge how you feel.

It's like the best advice I've ever been given and, and what I'm

constantly telling my clients like.

So let's just, we're gonna use an arbitrary example.

You, um, you know, you forgot it was, uh, today's St.

Patrick's Day, time of recording.

It's St.

Patrick's Day.

You forgot.

At St.

Patrick's Day, all the other kids are wearing green and

like funny hats and you forgot.

You get in the car and you might kick yourself.

Like you might be like, I can't believe I did that.

You know?

Oh my gosh.

A terrible mom.

Yeah, right.

All the things.

So my very first piece is, you know what?

Like, it's all right that you're upset.

Like, just give yourself a little moment and don't judge how you are feeling.

Okay?

So that's like the very first step.

Let's get a little bit more objective.

Next very practical thing is to just simply say, is this thought

or is this collection of thoughts?

Do I want to follow this where it's gonna lead?

Mm-hmm.

So lemme just again, play this example out.

You're sitting there in the car being like, I can't believe I did this.

I'm the worst mom.

After taking a little bit of space to just be like, huh, I'm really upset.

Okay, well I'm gonna just be upset for a minute.

Ask yourself, well, if I keep thinking I'm a bad mom, what could this lead to?

And to be honest, for me, it leads me to eating ice cream at, you know,

9:00 AM which is just not necessary.

Okay.

To probably going on my phone and putting things in my Amazon

card that I'm never gonna buy.

Like, and it leads me to just something that is not true.

You know, like it's not true that I'm a bad mom.

I made an honest mistake.

It's just not true.

Right?

Mm-hmm.

And so, so if step one is to just like, no judgment, let's

just be a little bit objective.

If step two is, do you want to follow where this thought leads?

Okay.

And then most of the time you're gonna be like, actually no,

that's not gonna lead me anywhere.

Good.

Step number three for me, just from a very, very practical sense, is literally,

well, what do I want to think instead?

Mm-hmm.

Now, depending on the severity of the situation, it might not be that simple.

You know, sometimes things are a lot more complex and you know, you might need a

little bit more space and time to grieve.

I'm using a very simple, a simple situation that's to me this morning,

but, I would say in a lot of cases, when it is something truly trivial,

when it is something where, you know, it's, it's a, it's, it's really just

your thoughts about a situation.

Let, let's just choose a different way to think.

And so what is it I like to ask myself, um, you know, like, what, what

Lord is, is what Lord do you want me to gain from this little situation?

Hmm.

And just like, sit with that, you know, perhaps it's.

Perhaps it's a skill thing.

Like, oh yeah, maybe this is a good reminder that I should put these kinds

of reminders in my phone or whatever.

Right?

Or it could just be a, huh, maybe the Lord really wants me to grow in humility today.

And then you get to decide how to feel about that.

You get to decide like, wow, I'm so grateful I have the

opportunity to grow humility.

Wow.

I, I, I am so grateful.

That I get to go to a school where this is even an option where we

do fun, ridiculous things like St.

Patrick's Day.

Like you get to decide, but in a way that isn't, um, diminishing yourself or

isn't just sort of positive thinking.

Like, I really wanna make that distinction.

We're not just thinking positively about a situation.

Yeah.

The distinction I'm making is that you get to decide what to think.

I really like, I cannot stress it enough, how much choice.

I know you and I are so in line aligned in this how much choice a

woman has every single day of her life.

Yes.

To put herself in the loving arms of God.

And you know that my, one of my favorite quotes right now that I'm

absolutely blanking on the exact, it's, it's second Corinthians 12.

I wanna say maybe 10.

Forgive me.

Let's go with that.

It's in the ballpark.

Second Corinthians.

May I boast of my weakness because it's because of God's grace.

I can be made strong.

I totally paraphrase that, but like we don't have to feel

powerless when we make mistakes.

Mm.

We don't have to feel powerless when our human feelings, whether it be

like control or whether it be temper or whether it be, um, you can be

overly negative, whatever it is.

We don't have to let those things.

Um, put us away from God.

We can boast of those weaknesses because we know the grace of God is

available to us as the true change agent.

And so that's my best advice for Catholics especially.

I love it.

Just put that verse to memory that I of course don't have memorized.

It's alright.

Clean that up for the show notes.

But it is just truly the, the truth is that you are not

the, the, the change agent.

Truly at the end it is.

The power of God's grace that is going to change you.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

The complete change happens with God.

Yeah, totally.

And also just that apart from me, you can do nothing.

So I find, I mean, I've been guilty this in my life, but I do see it in coaching

women that they get so frustrated, like they're working and they're

conscientious and they're doing their journaling and they're trying all the

things, but they're just not progressing.

And sometimes at that point, it's just a sheer, I surrender, Lord, like I can't,

you can come and help me in this moment.

And I think that we always have to be aware of the fact that we can only, well,

we're called to be active participants.

Yes.

But ultimately it's God's grace that.

Comes in and transforms us and gives us that opportunity to totally change.

So beautiful advice.

Lisa, thank you so much for joining us.

Such a gift to have you.

It's my pleasure and solidarity sister.

You know, this is a, the, what you just said is the distinction between

a secular coaching model and uh, an authentically Catholic model.

That's right.

That understanding of race as a change agent is such a,

Just, it's the, it's the thing.

It's so important and, and we have to constantly be reminded of that.

Yeah.

Amen.

Well, thank you.

Well, ladies, I hope that conversation was a blessing to you.

If you'd like to follow Lisa, you can do so on Instagram.

I.

Lisa Canning, or her website is lisa canning.ca.

So much of what we discussed in this week's episode, we really deal with

inside the Catholic Women's Masterclass, and so if you are wanting a mentor and

a guide to really help you, I guess take some of those steps to build a

life of design and not live a life of default, then can I invite you to check

out the Catholic Women's Masterclass?

Here at the Genius Project, we also offer one-on-one mindset coaching.

So once again, if you're interested in either of those initiatives,

you can contact me through email, karen genius project.co, or our

website, www.geniusproject.co.

Ladies, it would be so helpful if you've enjoyed this episode,

if you could head on over to the.

Podcast platform that you're listening to this episode on

and leave a review and a rating.

This only takes a couple of seconds, but it does so much to

help support the work of the Genius Podcast and the Genius Project.

So I really thank you for doing that.

Until next week, ladies, have a beautiful week.

God bless you, and I look forward to continuing this conversation around

our mission and purpose as Catholic women on the GS podcast next week.