Hello, and welcome 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 them towards growth.

If you are interested in finding out about any of our initiatives, you can

visit our website, www.geniusproject.co, or come and follow us on ins.

Instagram Genius underscore Project underscore Daily, or

you can also subscribe to the Genius Project YouTube Channel.

Ladies, we are opening the doors to another intake for the

Catholic Women's Masterclass.

In this masterclass, we walk women through a four month journey of transformation,

where we teach you four key rhythms of renewal that will really set.

You up and see you flourish in life.

So if you are a woman who is stuck in old and negative, destructive patterns

or ways of thinking, if you've been through burnout and you are in a state

of overwhelm and exhaustion, if chaos has become the norm in your life, then

I would love to invite you to join us.

In this masterclass, we will look at establishing four rhythms that will see

you living a life of wholeness in Christ.

The masterclass involves nine video modules in which you'll have a

workbook that you can work through each week for these modules.

Then once a fortnight, the whole cohort comes together in a group coaching call

on Zoom, and I walk you through this session where we really look at how do a.

Practically apply what you've been learning to your life and we

sort of strategize around those problem areas and the areas that

you might be feeling stuck in.

So once again, if you'd like to find out about that and join us

in this next cohort, you can find information on the masterclass page

of our website, www.geniusproject.co.

Well, ladies, I have a wonderful guest joining me on today's

episode of the Genius Podcast.

Her name is Claine Noel and she heads up the Feminine Genius Coaching.

She's a physician and she does this coaching on the side, and

I'll let her explain a little bit more about her background and how

she came to be doing this work.

But in this conversation, we talk about the role that trauma and old wounds

have on us in our life, and how they can really keep us contained and hold us.

Back, but not just what they do, but how we can heal and how we can

walk into freedom and the abundance that God actually calls us into.

So ladies, I hope and pray that this conversation with Claine is a blessing.

Well, Claine, welcome to the Genius Podcast.

It's delightful to have you joining us all the way from New York City.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited to be here tonight.

Yeah.

Well, it's great.

You and I share such a passion for John PTUs, feminine Genius and really

serving and helping women, I guess, grow into the fullness of who God's created

them to be in his image and lightness, particularly as women and, and we'll

dive into that in just a moment, but I messaged you recently on Instagram.

We've been chasing each other.

On Instagram about doing this podcast interview and it was funny.

I was trying to copy your email from Instagram over into my

email, and all of a sudden I sent you the angry emoji actually.

I was like, oh no, and I messaged you and you sent a beautiful voicemail back.

But, um, I will share a funny story with you cuz I do have a very bad reputation.

Yeah.

And one day I was actually messaging, um, a male colleague who we were working on a

project with and um, it was quite funny.

I was just texting and all of a sudden the angry poo emoji sent to him.

Oh no.

Oh no.

I was like, oh my goodness.

And then a few minutes later I was, Writing.

I'm so sorry.

That was a mistake.

And then the love heart shark emoji sent Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

The article.

Correct.

And I know I was so embarrassed.

Um, but I, yes, so when that angry one.

Went to you.

I thought, I better clarify.

Actually mad.

I saw it and I was like, huh.

You know, cause it, I saw the alert on my phone.

I was like, oh, that's unusual.

Then saw the other, other message like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry.

So funny, isn't it?

So, uh, that's been our grand introduction to each other, but I have been following

you on Instagram for quite a while, and I know that you attended the

given forum last year and, and you have such a passion around, I guess

really supporting and serving women, and you do it so beautifully as well.

And I'd love to hear a little bit about, I guess, your background,

just where you live and vocationally before we dive into today's episode.

Yeah, sure.

Well, again, thank you so much for, for having me.

So, um, my background is actually work in medicine.

I'm a physician.

Um, so that's what I do during the day.

Um, and then in 2020 I just decided to start this coaching.

Uh, Practice, uh, for Catholic women.

And it really has evolved and, and grown and, and changed over the years.

And, um, for a period kind of went a little bit dormant.

And, you know, of course sometimes when things seem dormant, you

know, the Holy Spirit is very actively moving behind the scenes.

And, you know, suddenly, like last, uh, it was towards the end of July

actually, I just had this sort of fire, you know, that kind of came upon me to,

to sort of go in a, in a direction more.

In the area of healing, um, and in the area of really healing

our heart wounds and traumas.

And, you know, my background, what really brought me into to coaching,

I hired my first life coach.

About 10 years ago actually was wanting to heal.

Needing to heal.

And I believe that, you know, it's our faith that really is like the

catalyst for, for all of these things.

You know, I joined the church in 2012 and then I hired my first life coach in 2013.

And I really think that was just, uh, the journey that mm-hmm.

That God was inviting me on.

And I like to say I've just been sort of picking up these divine breadcrumbs.

I'm just, I'm just following the crumbs, you know, down the path.

And, um, yeah.

So that's kind of me in a nutshell and, uh, how I'm doing this

work that I'm doing tonight.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

And I guess that would kind of dovetail into your work as a physician,

because you're obviously healing people physically through medicine.

Yeah, and it's funny because sometimes I, I look back and it.

I kind of think, wow, how did all this sort of.

Fit so neatly together.

Um, and then of course it's like there's no coincidences.

You know, God of course knew where all this was gonna go in the future,

but I started my medical career, uh, doing obstetrics, um, in gynecology.

And yeah, that was where I started my training for two years.

Um, and then I changed.

Fields, um, into occupational medicine and then now also doing lifestyle medicine.

And now I'm talking about a lot about burnout and nervous system

regulation and heart healing and heart wounds and all these things.

And I'm working with Catholic women.

So it's, it's it all sort of in a beautiful, weird way just.

It all just makes sense.

Yes.

And isn't it amazing when we look back over our life, sometimes in the moment

we feel like we might be aimless or we're not quite sure we wanna know what our

calling is, but often when we get down the track, we can look back and see how God

strategically has positioned us and opened opportunities and, and like you said,

divine breadcrumbs that he just leaves.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

For sure, for sure.

And I think that's definitely been a theme for, for my life.

Mm-hmm.

Um, is to really just to trust in that, that process, um, that we only have a

little bit of the, you know, the, the view in front of us, we can only see so far.

Um, and that we just have to trust that, that he's not gonna abandon us.

You know, he's gonna, he's not gonna lead us into, um, a

situation that he's not gonna.

Give us grace for Absolutely.

Yes.

That's so true, isn't it?

Sometimes we get frustrated, but we do have to trust he's

got his hand on our life.

Yeah.

Now you, you mentioned that you started going to church in 2012.

So had you not grown up in the faith, you, you came to a conversion later in life?

So I was raised, um, Protestant and actually church was a very big part of

our lives, so, It, it's interesting, I, you know, how you would say

someone is like devoutly Catholic?

I would say we were very devoutly, you know, Protestant, so we

went to Sunday every, you know, church on Sundays, Sunday school.

Yeah.

You know, we did Sunday, uh, excuse me, church knowing the

week, like bible studies and youth nights and vacation Bible school.

So everything, I'm very, yeah, so I'm very grateful.

I feel like that the formation that I received, um, even though it wasn't

Catholic, It was very, it was very solid in the Christian faith and yes, you know,

learning all about the Bible and all those beautiful stories from the Bible.

And then we went to Catholic school, so my mom made the decision to send us to

Catholic school because she didn't want us to be in the public school system.

Um, at the time, you know, where I'm from in DC was kind of dangerous at

that time, so, She really wanted us to get a good education, but also in

a safe environment that had Jesus, you know, uh, involved as well.

And so I like to think, again, nothing is a coincidence.

And, uh, all those times that I went to mass and I wasn't receiving communion,

but God was seeing me and, uh, you know, maybe had his eye on me and knew that one

day, one day I would be, you know, all his and, um, Becoming a member of the church.

So, so yeah, I converted, uh, officially in, in 20 20 12.

What a journey.

Wow.

Yes.

And h how did your family receive that?

Were they supportive?

No, they really weren't.

Um, and even now, it's not that they are, there's no animosity,

but they don't understand.

Sure.

Um, Because no one in the family was, was Catholic.

I mean, I have looked at old records, uh, from the past and there were some members

who belonged to the Anglican church.

I guess that's, you know, closer to Catholicism.

But we were raised Pentecostal, so it's very, very different.

Um, so I was alone, you know, I was at my baptism alone except for the,

you know, the woman who sponsored me.

And, uh, it was, it was hard.

It was hard, but, You know, I made that choice because I really felt

that's what God was calling me to.

Mm-hmm.

And I never regretted it.

I never, you know, felt like I made the wrong decision or anything like that.

And there have been times when my, my family has accompanied me to mass.

So, you know, I pray for them and yeah, who knows?

God can more miracles.

What a fantastic journey.

And so what actually led you to doing the coaching with women?

So you were a physician, but then that's a big jump.

So what sort of was that trigger that, that invitation that

pulled you in that direction?

Yeah, I think for a lot of people who end up going into coaching, it's that.

We have an experience of coaching that is transformational.

So, you know, I got into, uh, personal development and coaching when, you

know, there were some things in my life I wasn't really happy about.

Um, there were some things from my past, my childhood that I knew I didn't

have as much of the awareness as I have now, but I knew something was, wasn't

quite right with my interactions with people and, you know, how I was showing

up in my life and how I wanted to be.

Et cetera.

And so that was really what got me into into coaching was just this

desire to sort of work on myself and become this better version of myself.

And I was doing a lot of, you know, prayer and adoration and now

it's going on multiple retreats a year and all of those things.

And I really believe that laid the foundation for me then finding.

A coach and that first coach actually was Catholic.

That didn't even register for me until fairly recently.

Like, oh, she actually was a Catholic coach.

Oh.

Um, and then, yeah, and then from there it was just like with coaching, you know,

you have to find the right person and the right fit and you know, there's so many

different programs and things out there.

So it was just like this, again, just following the breadcrumbs, following

the, the pathway of discovery.

As I was growing and learning, I would see new things and like peel back layers and

say, oh, that's a, that's a new thing that I, I really think I wanna work on next.

And eventually I was just like, I wanna help everybody know this information

because I didn't learn this growing up.

And why don't we learn this in school?

And so that's usually what happens.

You just get this like fire to want to help other people.

Improve and change and grow just like you did.

And I think it's very important to understand that I'm still on

my journey as, as we all will be until we get to heaven, right?

So it's not that you, you reach this level of perfection in, in

this life, but you're constantly on that, that pathway of growth.

So that's sort of what it was that led me to, um, to hiring a coach and

then doing a lot of training, um, since then to, to become a coach.

Fantastic.

And it's immensely satisfying, isn't it?

Doing the coaching, I find just being able to offer women what we've received, I,

I feel that in my life as well, similar to yourself, like I've been very blessed

to have great coach, great spiritual directors, great women mentors over the

years, and now it's such a privilege to be able to give that to other women because.

We don't know what we don't know.

And, and so many of the negative outcomes we are getting in our life

is because we are lacking the skills to actually understand, I guess, how

to understand our past and then how to be present in the present moment,

um, with what's happened to us.

Because so much of who we become is shaped by our experiences in life.

And I guess we tell ourselves a story.

We don't realize that we're telling ourselves a story even from a young age.

Like those thoughts and the patterns that we develop and that we might become

aware of in adulthood have actually been shaped very early in our life.

And that sort of becomes a narrative then by which we live, which drives.

The results and the, the things that we are actually doing.

You mentioned how you show up or how we don't show up in our relationships.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, it's so true that those, um, early years, it actually, it,

it goes back to the womb even.

We can pick things up from our mom and, you know, her experience and what she was

going through when we were in the womb.

And so yeah, those first seven to nine years of life are absolutely

formative and they shape.

The things that we believe today.

And I'm always, you know, I'm always fascinated.

I, I end up doing quite a bit of, uh, you know, like inner child work when

I'm, when I'm working with, uh, clients, it usually is a memory or an experience

of something that happened in the past.

That's usually what comes up.

It's that, yes, that younger self that experienced a heart wound or experienced

some kind of trauma or, you know, A parent said something or someone else

said something, or it happened in school, or whatever it was, and those

wounds, they run really deep because at that age, we don't have the ability.

To basically discern and say, well, that's not true, or That's a lie, or, you

know, that's not what God says about me.

Mm-hmm.

And so children will just sort of take all of that on, or they make these

wrong conclusions and then suddenly that seed is planted and that is carried

out through your life as an adult.

So, Yeah, it runs, it runs deep and you do a lot of work, particularly in

this area of healing the heart wounds.

Mm-hmm.

I, I had a look on your website and you, you know, obviously you are healing

the physical body, but we are this unity of body and soul as human persons

created in God's image and likeness.

And so what happens in the body affects our emotions.

What happens in our emotions often ends up showing up in our physical health.

And Absolutely.

And so you've really, I guess you Ned down to this area of the heart and

the wounds that we sustain in life.

Can you share a little bit about, I guess, what those wounds look

like and how we can, I guess often we avoid them, don't we?

Because we are aware of the pain.

Uh, we're wired to avoid pain, seek pleasure, but.

Can you share a little bit about those wounds?

I guess for women who maybe haven't done a lot of this work, and this is

an initial conversation, or even for women who are advanced on this journey

of sort of diving into those wounds.

Can you help us understand that a little bit more?

Yeah.

So I use the word heart wounds, um, and I'm essentially referring to

trauma, um, because not everybody resonates with the T word, um, but.

Essentially, if you're a human being, you probably experience

some type of trauma in your life.

That's just part of our human condition.

And because of sin in the world, um, you know, either ARS sins or someone else's.

So we've all experienced trauma and the, the way I usually describe it is, um,

most of us won't experience those big t traumas, you know, like war or violence

or, you know, assault or things like that.

But we've certainly experienced those more, quote unquote minor traumas.

So maybe being bullied or, uh, emotional neglect.

You know, if your parents were working really hard, um, they didn't necessarily

have time to come home and, and hold you and ask you how was your day?

Um, it could be that one parent left or the, you know, divorce

happened or so many things.

I mean, it, it's, it really is anything that your body perceives as a trauma

can be basically a trauma to you.

So, It can be very different things for different people.

And so when, when I use the word heart wounds, I'm really referring to something

that happened to you in the past where that experience is still alive inside of

you, even though the event is long over.

So the event has long since passed, but for some reason it

you are sort of frozen in time.

A, a part of you is frozen in that moment in time.

Usually it's that younger part, and that's the part that's alive inside of

us that makes all kinds of decisions.

That are actually the exact opposite of what we want.

So it could be that if you want to, um, you know, get a, a degree and you know,

there's a part of you that believes you were, you know, you were told

maybe you're stupid or you're not smart enough, and that part feels like, oh.

I, I, I guess I'm not smart enough to go for that degree, so I'm just gonna do

whatever it is that I can do, even though that's not the thing that I wanna do.

Right.

So that part may actually hold you back from fulfilling your true

purpose because there's a part of you that believes that you're not smart

enough to, to get that, that degree.

I mean, that's just one example, but it's, it's very clear to me now from

just talking to so many, um, So many women that we all have these sort of

internal conflicts and these parts that are, um, essentially created because of

these heart wounds, almost like little fractures, um, that happen inside of us.

And then what we wanna do in this healing work is, first of all, just to

acknowledge that these parts are there.

We've been stuffing these parts down, or, you know, Just hiding them for so

long cause we don't wanna look at them.

But really acknowledging that they're there and then really trying to

reintegrate them like back into wholeness and heal them so that

these parts essentially quiet down.

Sometimes they go away, but oftentimes it's that it just kind of, Quiet down.

So, yeah.

And, and what would you say to somebody that just wants

to avoid this sort of work?

Because that's very strong in people.

Like obviously none of us wants to dive in and do the hard work or the painful work,

but often say to women that you, you're going to have to do the hard, you just.

Have to choose which hard you're going to do because it's equally

as hard to keep avoiding.

Yeah.

And it, it's hard work to go into it, but what would you say to women who are sort

of been dancing around the, the size, they're aware of it in their peripheral

vision, but they really are avoiding, sort of dealing with and unpacking those.

I think the first thing that I would recommend is to really

just bring those wounds to Jesus.

Um, especially in just maybe in just adoration and even just kind of

silently presenting them to him and just saying, you know, I know that there

are these wounds that I'm carrying.

I don't fully understand them or fully understand the extent of it, but I,

I know that based on how I feel, or I know that based on my interactions with

other people, or I know that based on, you know, how I feel in my physical

body or whatever it is, and just.

Bring that to, to Jesus because ultimately he's the one who can

heal and transform us anyway.

Um, so I'd say that's the first step.

But you know, the reality is pain can be a, a big motivator and sometimes,

sometimes we just have to get to that rock bottom moment, so to speak,

or to that place where it's just.

Like the pain.

There's a quote that says the pain of of staying the same is,

it becomes bigger than the pain of, of, of growth and of change.

And sometimes that's what actually motivates us to move forward

is we just can't, we can't be in that painful state anymore.

So that can be motivating as well.

But I think it's actually better, in my opinion, to be motivated by a goal or

a dream or a vision or a mission that you feel called to, because it's much.

It's gonna be much easier to be walking towards something that you, that you

want than to be trying to running away from something that you don't want.

Mm-hmm.

So even just that little shift of switching the focus to, let me, let me

look at the future, the horizon that's in front of me, instead of trying to run away

from the, the gremlins that are behind me.

Sometimes even just making that shift can, can inspire someone to

move forward, um, on their journey.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

And, um, tell me, I guess, People who you've talked about going before the

Lord silently in adoration as an initial step, what are some of the other, I

guess, steps that women can take in that initial journey, and what does that

road of recovery and healing look like?

I would say, I always say awareness is the first step.

So just, you know, again, connecting with.

What is happening in the present moment?

So is it that you're finding yourself triggered, um, by the things that

people say or the things that people do?

Or is it a certain, certain trigger that keeps coming up again?

Or is there a certain habit or something that you keep bringing to

confession that's often a good sign of, you know, something that you're

either, you know, doing to cope or you're having this reaction that you

keep maybe falling into gossip or angry outbursts or whatever it is.

Um, so just being aware of sort of what your, your patterns are, um,

patterns of maybe thinking patterns of, you know, certain feelings.

You know, we all have this sort of emotional set point

that we kind of revolve around.

So just noticing, are you someone who's kind of in that?

Um, that space of more negative, more pessimistic, more cynical.

So noticing that and also noticing like patterns of behavior.

Um, and once you have that, then you have something to work with because until you

have that awareness, you're sort of just almost like you're just floating around

in life and you think, you actually think life is just happening to you.

And that's a very powerless place to be when you feel like.

I'm almost like a victim or I don't, I'm not in control.

This is just how it is, you know, and sometimes that can even plant

these seeds of, of mistrust with God.

Cuz we're, we're thinking, well, none of this is in my control.

And so we blame God and we think, oh, he's holding out on me, or he's, you

know, he's displeased with me, or maybe I'm not good enough, or whatever it is.

So, Really kind of understanding the role that we actually play in

our, in our healing process as well.

And then taking steps to heal.

So that might mean working with a therapist.

That might mean hiring a coach.

That might mean working with a spiritual director.

And to be honest, it might mean all of those things, you know, um, I'm, I,

I'm, I'm never gonna say one is, you know, better or worse than the other.

Sometimes we need a multifaceted approach because all of those things are different.

And they're, you know, approaching the problem or the issues from a

different lens, a different perspective.

Um, but they work beautifully together.

The thing about heart wounds is it's, it's not impossible to heal heart

wounds on your own, but part of what.

Trauma does is it kind of isolates us.

It makes us feel like we are the only one and we sort of like turn in on ourselves.

And that's the thing about having someone who can walk that journey with you again,

therapist, coach, spiritual director.

It kind of brings you out of that feeling of isolation and shame, because

shame lives in the dark, but healing invites us actually into the light.

And having someone walk that path with you can in and of itself be

incredibly, um, powerful and healing.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's so good.

Claine.

It's just, I think there's so many people who are living, they say, you know, lives

of quiet desperation, but living lives in pain, in shame, in silence, in isolation.

And I think that's where the enemy loves to keep us because then we actually

never begin that journey of healing.

We never actually experienced Christ redemption transformation in our

life, but that is the purpose.

Of why Jesus came to set us free.

Yes.

And to invite us into this beautiful fullness of life.

Now, I, I think it's important to mention that fullness of life doesn't

mean you step through that door of faith and then everything just disappears.

And there's a magic wand that makes it all better because we are, our

stories, and I think you touched on this, it's learning to integrate that.

As a part of our story.

Mm-hmm.

Um, how, how do people do that when they've been through, I guess,

trauma or they've lived in shame?

How do people, I guess, integrate that?

Because quite often my experience has been trauma happens here.

And mm-hmm.

It often defines a person, then they start sort of walking in the spiritual life.

But it feels like there's almost these two separate parts of who they are.

And the idea of being a whole person in Christ is that integration of our stories.

So can you shed some light, I guess maybe on the journey of shame

and, and unpacking that and then how someone can journey towards

wholeness out of that and integrate.

That into this story?

Yeah.

So this is actually where I think, um, having a, you know, a somatic

or um, embodiment, a approach can be very helpful in addition to doing

like mindset work or, or talk therapy, because this is where you actually.

Get into the body where a lot of the shame, the guilt, the anger,

the frustration, whatever, that's actually where it's stored.

It's not really a mental thing.

Um, it's in the body.

We feel shame in the body.

We feel anger in the body.

We have a physiological response to all of that stuff through, through the

body disease comes in the body when we have all of these things, um, stored.

And so a lot of it is actually.

Doing embodiment work to, to literally feel through those emotions so that

they can release, um, and heal.

And again, we've never really been taught how to do that.

And so we think that these emotions are just gonna overcome us and overtake us,

and so we try to back away from it or just kind of wall it off and not deal with it.

And we know that that doesn't work.

Um, eventually it, it's going to come out in some way, our habits, um, an angry

outburst or, you know, whatever it is.

And so what we wanna do is actually just allow ourselves to, to, to

be with that and to just, to just own it and to be honest about it.

That's the beautiful thing about confession too, is that.

That's essentially what we're doing.

We're saying, well, here is this, you know, this, this sin or this,

whatever it is that I've, I've done.

And we're bringing that again from the darkness, which is where Satan

likes us to live into the light and so, so Jesus can, can heal it.

And then as you are asking the question, I was also thinking about how Jesus.

In his glorified body in heaven, he still retains his wounds.

Right.

He, he still has his wounds, which I think is, is not insignificant.

Yes.

Because his salvation of all of us happened through those wounds.

Right.

And so it's, it's saying something that he is still keeping these

wounds almost as like marks of love.

Um, I'm good.

And a perpetual reminder.

You know, of, of how much he loved us.

And I think if we had that same attitude about these wounded parts, instead of

seeing them as bad or, or shameful or whatever, to just realize that, like you

said, it's part of our story and it's, it, it, it happened, or, you know, there

are things that we experienced that's part of us and they don't define us.

They just kind of make us the totality of who we are, but we know God has

the power to transform those, um, those ashes into something beautiful.

And so that, that's kind of how I, how I look at it.

Yeah.

I love that.

I'm, I'm just reminded of, one of my favorite scriptures is in Isaiah, and

I did see it on your website as well, Asiah 43, 18 to 19, where it says,

you know, Do not call to mind the former things or ponder on the past,

but behold, I do something new now.

It will spring forth.

I will make a way in the desert.

And rivers away in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Mm-hmm.

And, and again, Romans, you know, all things work for good, for

those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.

And having walked with people who have been through trauma,

trauma is not my specialty.

Um mm-hmm.

But, you know, obviously that comes up in mindset coaching for people and I

refer them to, to get that extra work.

But there's a, there's a.

I don't know whether it's Satan or what it is, but it's a mindset

almost that says they can't heal, that this has been, mm-hmm.

This traumatic event was so bad and damaged them so deeply that they actually

will never be able to walk outta that.

And I think those two scriptures are so important just to yeah, embed ourselves

in the truth and the promises of God.

In his word that he has come to bring life, to give us life to the

full, to bring healing, restoration.

Um, can you speak into that mindset a little bit where people feel that, that

something is so bad that even though they're doing this work, they, they

feel like they're not making progress?

Yeah, what, so what I see, the way it tends to show up for my clients is they

think that they're doing this work and that it means that they should never

experience those negative emotions again.

Or they should never have a bad day again or, or react negatively again.

And what I always say to them is, I'm, I'm not gonna promise you that you'll

never experience, you know, those, those feelings or, or have those reactions

Again, that's not even the goal because the point is that if something happens

that makes us upset, we should be upset.

Right.

Or if something happens that makes us frustrated, we should feel frustrated.

It's the, it's about what we do with those emotions and how we.

Conduct ourselves.

After we experience those emotions, we can go in two directions.

We can either, you know, go in the, the wrong, quote, unquote the wrong direction,

where we take it out on someone else or we, you know, numb ourselves out,

or we shut down, or we can take it in a healthier direction where we sit with it,

pray with it, bring it to God, process it, and then ultimately, ultimately let it go.

And so, That's, that's what I would say, um, to my clients when they, they sort

of ask me about, well, I don't wanna, you know, I don't wanna experience that

again, what I say to them is, this work is really about expanding your capacity.

Um, your, your, your flexibility, your resilience, if you will, to handle

the ups and downs of life, because life will never be without challenges.

Right.

Jesus said, you will have trouble, right?

Yeah.

But take heart.

I've overcome the world and so, We want to get to the point where we're very

adaptable, where we can sort of ride the waves, so to speak, of the ups and downs

of life and, and go along with it and not let it pull us down or, you know,

suck us down into the, into the darkness.

Because it, like you said, that's where Satan wants us.

He wants us in the dark.

He wants us hiding.

He wants us even afraid to, to look up and ask God for mercy.

And, um, Jesus is in the light.

So that's where we've gotta get back to, is to that light.

Yes.

And, and what would you say in terms of some of the practical

things that women can do to.

Walk into and to position themselves in that light.

Because I really think, you know, there's that funny story about the man.

You would've heard it on the, his drowning.

You know, that one.

And, and for those who haven't heard it, like this man's drowning.

The town's flooding got, so the town's flooding and he's going to drown.

But the, you know, helicopter comes and there's a boat and all these rescue

missions, and then he does drown.

He goes to heaven.

He is angry at God about why God didn't save him.

And God said, well, I sent you a boat and a helicopter and a warning.

And I think sometimes we miss.

What God's actually sending us in terms of our rescue.

We can miss that.

Um, and we also forget that we actually have to make decisions

and take action to cooperate.

Yes.

With our own healing and restoration, we don't just sit back and expect God

to abracadabra make it all better.

Yes, yes.

What would you say in terms of some of the practical steps that

women can actually take to position themselves in a state where.

They can heal and they can move forward and grow.

I think the biggest, probably the biggest missing piece for so many of, of us as

women is we've been sort of socially conditioned, um, in ways that prevent

us from connecting with our, our hearts.

Mm.

Um, and with our feminine genius and our, our god-given intuition.

And I feel like that's really, How God speaks to us is, is

through the heart, right?

It's not necessarily through the mind.

Um, it's really through the heart.

And so I'm very big on making time for silence, making time to pray and to

really talk to God, but also to listen to God, listen to what He is he might be

saying to you because I find that he, at least for me, um, He's very subtle and

speaks in very kind of quiet moments.

Sometimes when I'm not even expecting.

It might just be something that sort of, you know, drops in.

But because I'm trying to cultivate that space where I'm in, in a position

where I can hear him, that's, that's been very important for me in my life.

And so, making time for silence, making time for space, um, so

that you can hear from him.

And I think really being intentional about trying to reconnect with your

feminine genius, reconnect with your emotions, reconnect with your, your

heart, um, because that's, those are the things that the world has told us are.

You know, weird or you know, yes.

They make us look crazy.

Work.

Weak.

It's weakness.

Exactly.

It's a sign of weakness.

If we're too emotional, it's like, no, that's our strength, our, our

beautiful feminine hearts that that's really where our strength is.

And in scripture, we don't hear a lot about our lady, but.

A few times we heard her pondering in her heart.

I think that's very significant, that she was someone who was listening and she was

listening to the voice of God and really marinating on things in her, in her heart.

So really becoming more heart-centered instead of mind centered, which is.

More of a masculine thing.

You know, the logical, sort of linear thinking is more of that masculine genius.

But our, our feminine genius is really about heart and,

and feelings and connection.

So I think that's the biggest thing that we can do as women these days,

is really learn how to reconnect with our hearts and not be afraid.

Yeah, absolutely.

I totally agree with you, Claine.

And I think the culture that we live in is this hustle culture

that takes us out of ourselves.

It di causes this disconnection from our heart.

Just the sheer pace of life, the role that technology plays.

No one is bored, no one knows how to be bored anymore.

I'm like, wait, I've got three children.

And I, and they're like, I'm bored.

I'm like, well, that's really good.

So, because that's like, it's in that boredom or in that space of nothingness.

That we, we drop back down into ourselves and into our spirit where we finally

can feel those feelings or explore, I guess those channels in our heart.

It's so important.

Yeah, and I think that you're right.

I think as women, the culture, the role of technology, the pace just

disconnects us and it's, it's so important and I really encourage

all women to just try and carve out.

Sometime whether they've been through trauma or not.

Yeah.

Just that time for silence and solitude.

I think, you know, the fact that we're Catholic and we have Sunday, we, we had

a Sunday lunch yesterday with friends and we were talking about the Sabbath and how

we all actually practice rest on a Sunday.

Yeah.

Um, was interesting just hearing from.

Different families, how they do that.

Yeah, so I think that's really, really important.

God gives us these rhythms.

He knows we need this rest and the silence, he gives us a day of rest.

I think that's always a great place to start is just to make sure we are really

setting Sunday aside for that reset and.

Connection.

Yeah.

And I love that you said that he's given us these rhythms because

as women we definitely have a, a rhythm, we have a natural cycle.

Mm-hmm.

And again, it's something that we've either just been totally

like disconnected from or we didn't learn very much about it.

But if we were paying more attention, we would notice there

is a, a natural flow to how.

We do things and there are times when we feel more energy and there

are times when we need more rest.

And even just making that small bit of, um, of a shift to listen to those

moments when you're naturally wanting rest, to just allow yourself to rest.

And when you have more energy, try to do more things during that period.

Even just that small tweak can make a huge difference in our, in our

energy level and in what we can get done without feeling so drained.

Yes, all the time.

And, and the other one, you say dream, but the other one's

guilt too, that I think Oh yeah.

A lot of women, we struggle with permission to Oh yeah.

Call it self-care.

I, I don't know, but I would actually call it honoring ourselves.

Yeah.

You know, honoring the image of God within us.

Can you speak into that guilt that women have and how we just, we really need to

do a bit of work on that to dispel that.

Yeah, the guilt is, is pretty big.

Um, sometimes I find that women have been almost put into these roles

at a very young age, so it could be that they had to be the responsible

one, or they had to be the caretaker.

Um, or they had to basically do things that really they weren't.

Supposed to do at that age, they had to take on these roles and they sort of have

carried that through their lives to the point where they put themselves last,

or they kind of feel like they have to sacrifice and give everything to everyone.

And look, of course, as Catholics, we are taught to, you know, give

to other people and to love our neighbors and all of those things.

But I also very strongly believe we can't give our best, our highest

quality if we're completely tapped out.

If we're completely drained.

And so if we're giving and giving and giving to the point where

there's nothing left for us, then we're probably actually not giving.

Our, our highest and our best.

And so I always believe in, you know, sort of making sure that we are taken care of.

Um, because I know that when I am, you know, rested and when I am fed and you

know, I am, I'm, I've had my silence, my silent time and my prayer time and

all those things, then I have the energy that I need to go out and to do the

things that God is asking me to do.

And so we don't wanna feel guilty about just.

Doing the basic, um, things that we, we need to do.

Again, it's just part of our human nature.

We all need social connection.

We need, you know, physical activity.

We need nourishing foods.

We need of course, spiritual time and faith, and we need to be nourishing

our minds and our intellect as well.

So we wanna be making sure that we're doing all of those things every week.

Yes.

And I love that you say, you know that saying we can't

give what we don't possess.

And I think when we are still pouring out, pouring out, then we do get angry,

short-tempered, we harbor bitterness.

And you know, there's that beautiful scripture in Proverbs to guard your

heart above all things, because out of it, all the issues of life will flow.

And so we can get into this false notion of generosity and giving, but

it's coming from this really angry, resentful place and that spills over.

So that sort of going back to that importance of just creating Sol

solitude and silence so that our hearts can be filled so that we outta the

abundance of our heart, we can give Yes.

Yes.

And I think it's helpful to look at what is the thought, cause I know you

do mindset work too, but like what is the thought that is driving the

action of me needing to give if, cuz if it's coming from, well if I don't

do it, they're gonna think poorly of me, or I have to do it or else.

Or you know, if it's coming from that place.

And like you said, it's not coming from the right spirit, the

right motivation anyway, so Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's so beautiful, Claine.

It's a great conversation.

And can you, I'm wondering just as we wrap up, have you got any books

that you could recommend for women who are just sort of starting out on

this journey or wanna connect with themselves and their story a bit more?

Can you recommend any good books?

I'll recommend a book.

Um, it's, it is by a secular author, but I think it's a good starting point.

Um, and just kind of, since we were talking more about like the feminine

genius and about our sort of natural cycle and, and, and things like that.

It's called Do Less, uh, by Kate Northrop.

And in the book she's basically talking about some of the concepts that we were

chatting about as well, just about how.

The way we, we've been taught to work and to constantly be in the

state of like, production is, is actually not, it's not natural.

You know, there's no cycle in nature where it's constantly doing, you

know, one thing 365 days of the year.

So yeah, so that would probably be a good, a good, uh, starting resource.

Sometimes I'll actually, uh, give that to clients.

Uh, beautiful.

It's, it's a good, a good place to start.

Another one that just came to mind was, um, Dr.

Bob Schultz as well with his work in terms of healing and the Ju to

healing Center is another area.

If women are interested in connecting with you, where can

they find you and, and your work?

So my website is www.femininegeniuscoaching.com.

And then I'm also on Instagram.

Um, that's where I'm mostly active on social.

And don't send her an angry emoji cause she's really lovely.

But yes, on Instagram and watch's your hand on Instagram.

Yeah, it's feminine genius coaching.

Fantastic.

Yeah, I love that.

And and it really, you're very much a kindred spirit because

obviously the Genius Project and the Genius podcast is really that

play on the feminine genius as well.

And that was my, yes.

I guess what I specialized in at the JU Pool two Institute

when I did my masters there.

And it's just so rich that I think when women actually get a revelation of

God's beautiful design for us as women.

Mm-hmm.

And then when we can actually walk into that and accept our gifts and our

qualities, then we have something to give.

And, and that journey of healing is so central to stepping into

and living our feminine genius.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's so powerful.

I, I totally agree with you.

Yeah.

Well, Claude, it's just a joy to connect with you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Such good content in that conversation.

And ladies, I'd really love to encourage you that if there is anything there

that resonates with you and if you are feeling stuck in any of those areas

that we've talked about, I really wanna encourage you to bring that to

Jesus and then to take some action.

As we highlighted in our conversation today, you actually have.

To take action.

As we highlighted in our conversation, we actually have to take action

to be an active participant in our own recovery and our restoration.

One of those pieces is coaching, and so I would like to invite you

if you are feeling stuck to check out the Genius Project coaching

programs for Catholic Women.

You can DM me on Instagram or you can send me an email to find out more.

Karen genius project.com.

The Catholic Women's Masterclass is also a wonderful recent.

Source to really help you if anything has resonated with you In our

conversation today, this masterclass really looks at how you can develop

four key rhythms of renewal that will really set you up to flourish in life.

So I would love to invite you to check out the master.

To class on our website, genius project.co.

And you can also send me an email if you have any questions.

We do have payment plans for the masterclass, and I'd love to invite

you to join me inside this next cohort.

Until next week, ladies, have a beautiful week.

God bless you, and I look forward to you joining me again on the podcast next week.