The Joy of Obstacles with Kathryn Johnson

TAJ Intro/Outro: 00:00:10

The Abundance Journey explores all the ways abundance shows up to help you expand the abundance you embody Express and experience as your journey unfolds.

Elaine Starling: 00:00:28

Welcome, this is Elaine Starling, the abundance ambassador, and I'm your host of the abundance Journey podcast and video show. I am so psyched that you're here with me today. Because you know me, I love hanging out with really cool, interesting, amazing people. And I found another one. You have got to know Kathryn Johnson. She just rocks this woman sets the bar so high, it blows me away. Let me tell you a little bit about Kathryn , and why I'm so excited to have this conversation with her. Because Kathryn is an expert in turning obstacles into joy. And she's able to find the gift in every situation, no matter how dire it might be. Kathryn was born with a disability cerebral palsy, and she's been told over and over and over again through her entire life. No, you can't do that. Nah, that's not for you. And Kathryn came up with a completely different outlook on her life that says yes, I can talk about abundance, right? poverty mindset. No, I can't abundance mindset. Yes, I can. You can tell she's my kind of peak, right. So I love that Kathryn has three different degrees, two World Championship bronze medals, a best selling book, which I really love. By the way, I'll make sure there's a link in the show notes. She also has received several different awards and certifications for her work. And her life's journey has prepared her to help you navigate and succeed on your life's road. Kathryn's integrated her open door coaching programs to utilize both the left brain thinking she spent over 20 years as a certified accountant. So she knows a little bit about left brain stuff. But also your intuitive right brain thinking she is a certified life coach and spiritual intuitive. So she's got the whole gamut, right? And it allows her to gather really deep insight into your life. This whole brain combination of left and right brain thinking comes together into a one of a kind Open Door coaching program that ranges from eight weeks to a year. So it's really cool all the different ways that Kathryn supports people. And that's why I'm so psyched, and so thrilled and so delighted to have Kathryn , join us today. Kathryn , welcome to the abundance journey.

Kathryn Johnson: 00:02:53

Thank you so much, Elaine, for this amazing introduction. I'm so happy to be here. And I'm excited to talk to your listeners today about abundance.

Elaine Starling: 00:03:03

Well, you have such a unique background and such a unique story. It just It blows me away of what, what pulled you into creating this whole brain Open Door coaching program. Why? Why are you so passionate about doing what you do?

Unknown: 00:03:21

Well, we are essentially, in my opinion, spiritual beings having a human experience. I believe many of your listeners have probably heard that before. And so therefore, I think it's important to integrate both both facets of that experience, there are times that we need to be very practical with the left brain, and also very intuitive with the right brain. And also, we are both of those things at the same time. We don't alternate between being spiritual and human. They both exist concurrently, always. So to be in our full power. We need to use both.

Elaine Starling: 00:04:10

Absolutely, absolutely. I think a lot of people get tripped up over that. They think, oh, well, you know, I'll be spiritual when I go to church, right? Or I'll be spiritual just when I meditate. But my experience has been your spiritual all the time, 100,000% of the time. And by the way, you're doing business at the same time, or you're being a mom at the same time, or you're being a friend at the same time or whatever. But you're always coming from that space of spirit. So, Catherine, I just love your outlook. I love your perspective. Like I said, I adored your book, and I want you to help the audience understand because we're talking about abundance here. From your perspective. How do you define

Unknown: 00:04:48

abundance? From my perspective, abundance is is synonymous with fulfillment. It's not about words in Think mission and a whole bunch of stuff in Titus. It's about what makes us happy and not hurt. What makes our heart sing. What's our reason for getting up in the morning?

Elaine Starling: 00:05:11

I love that fulfillment. Wow, that just feels good, doesn't it? It feels very freeing to me when you say fulfillment, ah, just like, oh, yeah, I want to live here. But obviously, you're working with a lot of people who are dealing with some serious challenges. So is there like a common thread a common theme, a common challenge that you see, your clients typically have before they work with you?

Unknown: 00:05:41

The thing I find that comes up most often is people will say to me, I'll do this, when this happens, or you know, once I have the money, then all sign up. Once I have the time, then I'll sign up, and people are stuck, perpetually waiting for the right time. Well, I say, you know, you don't know how much time we're blessed with on this earth. And how much longer do you really want to spend waiting to start living your your true passion and your true life in the way that Spirit is speaking to you to live it? Yeah, if spirit wants you to be a certain way, and live a certain way, because that calling is within you, that I say start today?

Elaine Starling: 00:06:37

That is so true. And you know, Kathryn , I think a lot of people struggle with those limiting beliefs. You know, they don't think they can write they feel called to, but then there's something holding them back. And there's something, you know, pulling them down, what do you have to change internally, to get through that kind of barrier and show up for yourself? Because truly, it's about believing in yourself enough to go for the resources, go for the tools, find the guides, find the mentors, get out of your own way, and support yourself? What do you have to do? Or what do you have to believe in order to get to that space?

Unknown: 00:07:14

That's right. I mean, I think that is the key. What do you have to do, you have to just trust, I think, is a big, big part of it. Trust that spirit is supporting you and the world is supporting you. I find once you make a decision, a committed decision, the universe opens the door. What people are typically conditioned to do, however, is like I said, Wait till they have the money or more time. And so what that does is send a single signal to the universe that says, I'm not ready yet. We want to do this right now. The door doesn't open. So there's always another thing in the way, we have to make the first move and say, This is what I want. I'm alive with my heart. I hear you. I want to be of service for you. And doors will open.

Elaine Starling: 00:08:14

Well, that's so brilliant. Kathryn, one of the things that I talk about all the time, is you have a superpower called choice. And you can choose what you want to experience. So I encourage all my clients say I choose to receive divine guidance right now I choose to receive divine guidance and insights from two mentors today. And I can't tell you how often I will say that out loud, because they're listening and they want to hear it from you. And by using more of your own body really gets the message across with higher energy level. And I can't tell you how often I'll say I really want to receive guidance, divine guidance from two mentors. today. I'll be in line at Starbucks or the grocery store. And there are total strangers in front of me and they're having a conversation. I have no clue what they're talking about. But something they say is exactly what I needed to hear. But if I'm not open, if I don't choose to receive, if I don't choose what I want,

Unknown: 00:09:14

I'm not going to get it. That's exactly it. I believe there's a universal law that says that we have to ask you this, the universe cannot interfere in our lives. They're absolutely here to support us. Our guides are here to support us. We have to ask because we have our free will.

Elaine Starling: 00:09:35

Very true, very true. So Kathryn, tell me a little bit about what's what's your favorite way to help your clients experience abundance. What does that look like?

Unknown: 00:09:45

Well, I get them to develop a vision for themselves and tap into what they would love in their hearts. And as soon as they do that miraculous things to happen little synchronicities here and there, and that opens the door for the belief to start shifting about, this doesn't have to be hard. I don't need to find more time, I don't need more money, I just need to be open. And then through my coaching, we can work on more practical action steps they can take on a daily basis, and I'm there to support them through their, through the shifts that they want to make and different different things. I can be that objective voice for what they may be processing. Yeah, and it starts with a vision. It starts with, okay, what do I really want in my heart? Not what is what did my parents telling me? What did my teachers tell me? What does society Tell me? What's the media telling me? You know, it's no, we we have, as you said, choice to live his life and be more abundant than we could ever imagine?

Elaine Starling: 00:11:05

Very true. I totally agree with that completely 1,000%. So what I love what you said about vision, because if you don't know where you're going, then you've already arrived. And I heard it said, I don't remember who said this. But they said, your vision, your goal of what you want to complete or create or experience. That's the guiding light. And it's subject to change. So it's not a distant shore. It's not like you're aiming right for that. And that's the only place you can go, it could be this or something even better, and what you said about tapping into your heart, and really feeling how it feels that that is what ignites it and turns it into this Guiding Light. And so I loved the way you describe that. So I think a lot of people get frustrated, because they have this vision. And I think we all get stuck in that. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Is it next week? Is it tomorrow? When When do I get it? Where is it? What are those baby steps that we need to be paying attention to that are the signs that we're on the right track, and that we're making progress?

Unknown: 00:12:13

Well, first of all, you want to come from your vision, a vision is not something you get. And I think right away, as soon as we go into that feeling of I need to get there, I need to get to the job. And I get to this certain amount of money in the bank and the relationship. That automatically puts us in a framework of scarcity. Yes, what we want to do and what I encourage my clients to do is to be the person in their vision. So and we're already that it's just a matter of chipping away at the layers. That is the not self. Process does. Given that we have this vision within our heart that we're already are, it's just a matter of changing our frequency. We just start to be that person, for example, okay, I want to weigh less than I do today. Okay, so I want to change my eating, so I'm going to be that person. So the person who is that way, is going to eat differently, they're going to maybe drink more water start going to the gym or little things. And over time, it just miraculously happens. I mean, it does take energy and persistence. And there will be obstacles because as soon as you put the spotlight on something, everything that's not that is fighting for survival, human experience, it's okay. It's normal blessing because it's there, so that you can acknowledge it, and repattern it for release.

Elaine Starling: 00:14:04

Your there was so much there was so much golden what you just said, I'm like, oh, stepping into your future self owning it now because it's actually already within you chip away, the not self. Be aware that stuff is going to come back. And it's just to get you to recommit to who you truly are. And one of the things that you didn't say explicitly, but I heard between the lines that I absolutely love this. So I want to point it out. Here you have this guiding light that you just created in your heart is the vision of who you are. And so you're taking actions that are in alignment with that feeling that reinforces that feeling of who you are. So with your example, I want to lose weight. Great, I ate well, and I drink lots of water today, but I don't need to get on the scale every day or every 10 minutes to see what's happened. I get to look in my heart and how I feel about how I'm showing up and see that that feeling is in alignment with my vision of who I am. And the feeling is what I pay attention to. And the feeling is what I measure. The feeling is what tells me I'm on the right track. Is that where you're going? Or do I miss something?

Unknown: 00:15:11

You gotta note, you're exactly right. That's a plus. I'm getting there, Catherine, a plan is absolutely perfect. And what you're doing is you're changing your vibration. Because we live in a universe with infinite possibility. So which frequency? Are we vibrating on? That is what we think the physical. So as we be the person on our vision, our high vibration and our frequency changes and our reality of our physical experience changes along with it.

Elaine Starling: 00:15:48

It sure does. It sure does. Well, Kathryn, we were chatting a little bit before we started the interview about the free gift that you have for the audience, could you tell us a little bit about that?

Unknown: 00:15:59

All my free gift is my workbook that goes with my joy of obstacles book. The workbook has the questions that are really at the end of each chapter along with space to write it's a fillable. PDF. And it's available for your guests for free.

Elaine Starling: 00:16:18

Oh, that's wonderful, I'm going to make sure that the link to the free gift, the joy of obstacles, workbook is going to be in the show notes. And I also am going to include a link to the book the gift of obstacles, I read it, it is fabulous. It is such a brilliant book, and talk about knowing how to overcome obstacles, Katherine is a grand master at knowing how to overcome your obstacles. So being able to be taken by the hand and get that kind of insight and that kind of guidance, and the love in that book just pours through. I mean, it's like taking a bath, a warm bath and love, you will absolutely adore this book. So Kathryn, we always turn the table on our guests here at the abundance journey, because we know that when we give is when we get. So what is something that we can do to support you

Unknown: 00:17:12

download the workbook, please, that would be wonderful. That'll get you on my distribution list. And then you'll be able to keep in touch with me and get my newsletter twice a month. And we will skip a beat, we'll be able to stay connected and I can support you in whatever way you need. I'm here for you.

Elaine Starling: 00:17:34

That is so beautiful. And yes, you know, I also really appreciate you emphasizing downloading the workbook and using the workbook. Because your joy of obstacles is transformational. And if people take the time to read through those questions and fill out their answers, it will change them forever, they will experience an immediate transformation. So thank you. That is That is such a great reminder. And I appreciate you really holding our feet to the fire to make sure we do that. Because it's it's worth

Unknown: 00:18:06

it. Thank you so much. I mean, I guess there's no right. There's no right or wrong answer to the questions. I think a lot of people get stuck there. That's the right answer. I want to do it right. You know, just just do it. You'll just do this going through the process of answering the questions, however you answer them will help you sort on your transformation,

Elaine Starling: 00:18:31

and a chip for everybody. When you get stuck, you're in your mind. And you're trying to come up with the right words in your mind. Find heart words, even if they're incomplete sentences. find words that come from your heart, that really say who you are at your core. And you will be on the right track. You're shifting your energy. And Catherine has just done a beautiful job at helping you shift away from the old energy patterns that caused you to have those hiccups and obstacles and into the joy of being able to recognize them for what they are growth opportunities and move through them with grace and ease. Kathryn you rock you're just so rock. I love what you're doing. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us today on the abundance journey.

Unknown: 00:19:20

You're welcome. I have so much fun this was incredible view. Great.

Elaine Starling: 00:19:27

Great. Well everybody stay tuned because we're going to activate abundance in just a minute. Once encountered Austin, I absolutely love her energy. I love where she's coming from. I loved everything that she had to say. And now it's that fun time where we get to activate abundance. Remember we've got a five part process step one, celebrate in advance. We celebrate that we got to connect with such a high vibe woman. She's been told all her life, that she couldn't do things that it was way beyond her abilities that she'd never be able to accomplish her goals. Oh, yeah. Kathryn didn't let that hold her back. And with that kind of perspective and that kind of Outlook, you don't have to hold back either. How cool is that? So number one, celebrate in advance that your energy is connected to Kathryn and mine. And that lifts your vibration right off the bat. Number two, acknowledge something you learned, that really resonated for you. There were so many things that Kathryn had to say that I was just like, Whoa, I hadn't heard that before. And that reminder that your vision is about how you feel. That is so key that is so key. And you know, it's always in my bad. So what I tend to do is I tend to look at, okay, what things do I want to accomplish? How is that going to show up in terms of the stuff right, or, you know, the landing pages or the email campaign? That's what you look at, instead of looking at how do I feel? And even more importantly, how do my clients feel? What's the energy that they receive from this, that's the vision that I need to be creating. So mind blown, so appreciate and I have to acknowledge Kathryn for that, that she gave me that insight, because that was like, wow, I needed that. And I'm going to apply it like this afternoon. The third thing we do is appreciate, I can totally appreciate the shift that I'm going to experience when I adopted this methodology for creating my vision. Because when it's an energetic vision, instead of a traditional vision, it's much clearer, I can align my action plan so easily by making sure that the energy is what's aligned, and I can track my energy. How cool is that? Love that. Love that. Okay, so we celebrate in advance, we acknowledge something we learned, we appreciate the difference, it's going to make it our lives and then we activate it by actually scheduling time to do it on the calendar, or picking a trigger that's going to remind us of when we're going to do it. As it happens. It's time for me to update my vision. Perfect timing. There are no mistakes, everything is guided I needed to hear from Katherine today. I'm so grateful to her. So I'm gonna be working on my vision today and tomorrow, so that I can make sure my vision is really heart centered and aligned with who I want to be energetically, emotionally vibrationally. And with that kind of definition. It's all just gonna line up beautifully. So step five, celebrate will I have so much more clarity, I'm totally confident in what I need to do and how to approach it. This is just revolutionary for me. So obviously, I've received tons of transformation through one conversation. You did too. I can't wait to hear how you are activating abundance. Leave a comment below the podcast or below the video. I can't wait to support you. And I'll see you on the next abundance journey.