Chats With Susan Burrell

Ep#241 - The Energy of Emotions, An Interview with Empathy Expert and Author, Karla McLaren My guest today for this episode of Empowering Chats is Author and Empathy Expert, Karla McLaren. Her latest book, which is actually a  revised and updated version is chock full of wisdom and definition. It’s called The Language of Emotions. What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You. When I got the book, I opened it up randomly and the chapter on the "nger Family" is what appeared for me. I was obviously supposed to read this chapter. It described my family and my issues to a “T.”  I found myself writing in the margins and starring what applied to me and/or my family. So, I asked Karla why the language of emotions? Why that title? She shared that the original title was "Emotional Genius" – but it felt like that title was too much and something that people would not relate to – so she and her editor kicked around other ideas for the title and came up with "The Language of Emotions." Karla goes on to explain that many peo

Ep #240 - The Shadow Integration, an Interview with author, Connie Zweig My guest for this episode of Empowering Chats is retired psychotherapist, Connie Zweig. Connie is also an author of many books. Her most current book is “Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path. The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening.” I opened the interview by asking Connie to tell my listening audience how this book came about. She shared how at nineteen she became attracted to a young man who refused to go out with her because she was not “enlightened.” He was into Transcendental Meditation or TM and it was important to him that she also incorporate this practice into her daily life. So, she began to meditate – and she noticed that her anger began to dissipate and she learned how to quiet her mind and deeply relax. This changed her direction in life and she became a TM teacher in the early 70s. She was in this movement for about 10 years. It was about this time that she also began to witness the hypocrisy surroun

Ep. #239 - Unified Consciousness - A Solo Show with Your Host of Empowering Chats, Susan Burrell I touch on some tough topics in this podcast. Many of you already know that I don’t shy away from saying what I feel and challenging all of my listeners to pause and pay attention. Today’s episode gets a bit heavy at times, however please don’t let that warning keep you from listening to this episode. Many of you also know that I always lean into hope and optimism.  Okay, so here goes . . . most of you know me well enough by now to know that when I do my solo shows, I almost always have to look up the word I am focusing on for the month. And I do it not because I don’t know what the word means, but to see it in a different light and to review the actual dictionary definition of the word. And so today I am focusing on Society. The formal definition, in part, reads as follows:  An organized group of people associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic or other purposes. I

Ep #238 - Power of the Invisible - An Interview with Lindsay Fauntleroy, Director of The Spirit Seed and Amy Schimel, a student of Lindsay's and a Practitioner at Spirit Seed. I am thrilled to welcome Lindsay Fauntleroy, author of Our Element to Empowering Chats once again. Lindsay was on my podcast last month and our chat was so empowering and it felt like our conversation wasn’t complete so here we are for another go around. And this time I have also invited one of Lindsay’s student’s Amy Schimel who is in the process of becoming a practitioner under Lindsay’s tutelage. I am excited to welcome Amy to this empowering chat as well. She is here to share her experience as a student of Lindsay’s and her excitement at becoming a practitioner with Spirit Seed, the community created by Lindsay. Soul medicine is the term that Lindsay has coined to describe what she and her practitioners teach at Spirit Seed. Spirit Seed is a community founded by Lindsay whose mission is to “re-store our sense of connection, purpose,

Ep#237 - Connecting to Your Moon Sign - An Interview with author and Astrology Expert, Carmen Turner-Schott. You all know how much I love my job and I never tire of saying this – my guests are all so amazing! And many of them come with cutting edge ideology.  As we continue to move through 2023 I am finding myself inviting some of my previous guests back for another chat. It goes along with this year’s theme to BE Expansive. I am finding that many of the guests I have been interviewing are just that – Expansive - in all that they do. So, after my last interview with Carmen Turner-Schott I knew right away that I would have her back. In this chat we discuss her latest book, Moon Signs: Houses & Healing.  This is the companion book to her previous one, Sun Signs: Houses & Healing, which we explored in our first interview that took place earlier this year. I began this interview by asking Carmen to explain the difference between a sun sign and a moon sign. The sun sign is your main personality and it is t

Ep#236 - Tapping into Your Feelings - An Interview with author and emotional detox coach, Sherianna Boyle. I am thrilled to welcome author and detox coach, Sherianna Boyle. She has written many books and her latest is called, Energy in Action. My conversation with Sherianna was so full of insights and gentle reminders of the light we all carry within.  Her book is brilliant and it is easy to follow. She explains that doing a physical detox in partnership with an emotional cleanse helps you release the inflammation of the mind. Sherianna explains that an emotional detox is the releasing of the stories and the narratives we use to cover up or minimize what we are going through. And she goes on to explain that you cannot hide once the detox begins. It's all about cleansing the emotions. Which I personally love because for me I often have to have a good cry to see what all the emotion is about. Much of this comes up for me because growing up I was not given room to truly express myself. Sherianna explains that ha

Ep #235 - Nurture. Embracing Our Lives with Loving Care - A Solo Show with Susan Burrell What does it mean to nurture oneself? Can the nurturing you show to others in your life also be embraced by your inner-self? In this solo episode I talk about the theme I have chosen for the month of July – Nurture. You all know I like to look up the word and get the written definition rolling around in my head. So of course, I looked up “Nurture” in the Webster Dictionary – here’s the definition: “To Supply with nourishment. To educate. To further the development of or foster.” When I hear the word “Nurture” I often think of mothers caring for their children or their elderly parents.  I think this is true for many of us. In today’s chat I explore all that and more. Including where in our lives we can foster love and make connection with others.  And not just those in our lives but also with the environment we are surrounded by. To learn more about how I show up in the world please visit my website: SusanBurrell.com

Ep#234 - The Value of an Emotional Prenup - An Interview with psychologist and author, Dr. Frieda Birnbaum    Why is it important to do an emotional prenup? That is the question that prompted this interview with my guest, Dr. Frieda Birnbaum, a psychotherapist and the author of "Life Begins at 60." And so this sidebar conversation was one that Dr. Birnbaum and I found ourselves in as we began this empowering chat. This idea of managing our lives and the change that comes towards us then led us to the deeper conversation about managing our unions, specifically the union of marriage. And so once again I ask, What is an emotional prenup and how do we create it? According to Dr. Birnbaum, it comes from a place of seeing more than just the material things we want to manifest in a marriage. For example, it is easy to share with your partner that you want 2 kids, you want to buy a house, you want to make so much money per year – but we never think about the emotional connection and what is expected of each of us in

I am so excited to have this interview and dance in this conversation with my guest Lindsay Fauntleroy. Lindsay is a visionary and an author. Before I move forward, I want to introduce her book as we will be talking about it throughout this chat. It’s called, In Our Element, Using the Five Elements as Soul Medicine to Unleash Your Personal Power.  The foundation of this book follows the five elements that come out of Ancient Chinese Medicine – Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.  And she expanded those elements to show her readers how to utilize them in their lives.Lindsay has had the five elements as the center of her clinical practice for about 15 years. She explains that it’s not just about the body but about the patterns of thinking, of virtues and of unique ways of transforming and being in the world. Lindsay wrote the book from a very personal experience. She has been living with these elements for a very long time and wanted to create something authentic to her experience with indigenous healing tradit

EP# 232 - The Money Walk - An Interview with Author and Visionary, Judy Wilkins-Smith   It is a true pleasure to have the privilege to once again engage in a lively chat with Judy Wilkins-Smith, whom I interviewed last year. Judy’s book, “Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint” – touches on many things, and today’s talk focuses on money and abundance. According to Judy she says we all have a system in place to deal with inherited belief systems. Judy’s focus is on the transformational aspect of what we can do to change our inherited patterns. She goes on to say that it begins by exploring our “personal” pattern(s). Judy breaks it down by letting us know that we all have a choice. And we inherit emotional DNA or patterns in the same way that we inherit physical DNA. So she asks the question, What is the chapter that only I can write?  Emotional DNA is our pattern, our way of responding to an event or occurrences in our life.  These patterns can be passed on from generation to generation, so much so that it becomes

EP# 231 - A Solo Episode with Susan Burrell exploring The Abundant Life We are half-way through 2023. Can you believe it?  And the overall theme this year for Empowering Chats has been “BE-Expansive.” And we have done all sorts of deep dives into energy, nurturing, being playful and experiencing beauty, just to name a few. For the month of June, we will be plunging into The Abundant Life.  What might that look like for you? I think many times when we hear the word “Abundant” the first images or thoughts that come to mind have to do with money or financial security.  And if we don’t have that then it must mean that we are broke. You all know me well enough by now that I like to look up words in the dictionary. And so here goes. The definition for "abundant" reads in part as follows: An extremely plentiful or over-sufficient quantity or supply. It’s overflowing fullness and or affluence.  So, none of that really said anything about money it just said plentiful, quantity, fullness and overflowing. That to me fee

EP# 230 - Embracing Your Hidden Element. An interview with Feng Shui expert and author, Tisha Morris.   Have I told you all lately how much I love my job? My Empowering Chat Podcast introduces me to so many interesting and amazing people. I know I say this often, but I truly love what I do. My guest for this episode is Tisha Morris, a feng shui expert and author. Tisha’s experience and training with feng shui led her to write her most current book, Missing Element, Hidden Strength. I asked Tisha to share how she came to write this book. She uses the ancient wisdom of Taoist principles to identify your most challenging element. She goes on to say that everything on the planet is made of these 5 elements: Water, Wood, Fire, Metal and Earth. And in the same way that we use Feng Shui to balance the energy in the material world it can also be used to balance our inner world. According to Tisha is it is all about recognizing the elements we each carry and finding our primary element or strength and then the opposit

EP# 229 - The Rich Power of Your Chakras, An Interview with Yoga Teacher and Author, Masuda Mohamadi   This interview began with laughter. The kind that brings forth playfulness and joy. I am so excited to introduce my guest, Masuda Mohamadi.  She is a yoga teacher and an author. Her book is entitled, “Unlock the Power of Your Chakras.” And let me tell you this is one fantastic and powerful book. As I said, I started this interview with laughter which is centered in the Navel Chakra. And the laughter was just a natural response to my connection with Masuda and the wonderful pre-interview we had before I started recording this episode. I love my job and the many interesting and fascinating people I get to connect with. Masuda attended a retreat many years ago that introduced her to the body chakra system. As she explored the body chakra graph even more, she realized she had lost touch with her own body. And this new practice taught her a roadway back into her essence.  What I absolutely love about this book is

EP# 228 - Wild & Free - An Interview with Author, Kris Franken I am so excited to welcome my stellar guest, Kris Franken. She is an author, mentor and healer. Her latest book is entitled, Wildhearted Purpose. Embrace Your Unique Calling and the Unmapped Path of Authenticity. Chapter one of her book opens with the following quote:   “It is in our nature as humans to seek happiness and pleasure in our lives. When this is healthy and balanced these inner states are clear indicators that we’re connected to our truth, but without meaning we lose our balance and sense of purpose, as you initiate your vision, meaning will bring depth into the picture as pleasure brings elevation.” According to Kris, balance and meaning bringing us into our truth. This is a powerful statement and a theme that flows throughout Kris’s book, Wildhearted Purpose. The idea for this book and its title came to Kris years ago. When it first appeared for her she found it glowing bright and it spoke to her. So much so that years later it b

Ep. #228 - Tap into The Playful Side of Life - An Interview with Inspirational Teacher and Author, Jim Dreaver   This episode of Empowering Chats features an interview I did in July of 2014 when I hosted my radio show with Inspirational Teacher and Author, Jim Dreaver. Much of what we talked about still holds true, even today. Jim Dreaver is the author of, End Your Story, Begin Your Life. He is originally from New Zealand and moved to California in the mid-70s to attend chiropractic medical school. During his last year of study he began to experience health issues. His health became so compromised that he began to fear death and he could not sleep. What began as overwhelming fear soon turned to enlightenment as he began his spiritual quest. With the help of meditation and books by spiritual leaders he began his healing process. He settled in California and opened his chiropractic practice. According to Jim we are storytelling people – but we are not our stories – we are constant and pure consciousness. In thi

Ep#227 - An Interview with Dream Therapist and Author, Kelly Sullivan Walden. My guest for this Empowering Chats episode is the charismatic Dream Therapist and Author, Kelly Sullivan Walden.  The title of her latest book caught me off guard, it’s called: A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste. Kelly tells her story with humor and authenticity. She has a way of bringing humor into places that are uncomfortable and dark. I think she is an amazing storyteller. The Chapter titles in her book alone are sarcastic and funny. Some of those titles include: You Can’t Plug in Here, The Hippie and The Hypocrite, Infinite Pie and My Ass is on The Line. Kelly writes about how clunky and awkward being human can be. And she points out that we all have similar experiences in this journey we call life. Kelly’s inspiration for this book occurred on New Year’s Day several years ago as she was setting her intention for the coming year. She contemplated what it was she was supposed to write about. What came through was something sh

EP-#226 – An Interview with Michelle Welch a Medium and Author of Spirits Unveiled: A Fresh Perspective on Angels, Guides, Ghosts & More Since childhood, Michelle Welch has experienced spirits and angels that live beyond the veil, that live in the non-physical world. For as long as she’s existed, she has sensed or “seen” angels, fairies, and also those energies or spirits that would scare her. She has never really had the sense or felt the separation between the physical world and the spirit world – many times they would simply blend together. Michelle and I shared a powerful chat about the importance of acknowledging those energies which many of us empaths feel when the veil is lifted. For me personally I feel I am here to be the light and give love to all that some in contact with. It sounds easy but it’s not. It takes work to be light and spread the love. I believe that is what Humanity is requiring of us right now. Through a journey of exploration and also denial, Michelle finally learned to embrace h

Ep- # 225 - An Interview with Dr. Greg Hammer, Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, Mindfulness Expert and Author of GAIN without Pain: The Happiness Handbook for Health Care Professionals. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to interview this guest for my podcast. I am enchanted and thrilled to welcome Dr. Greg Hammer to this Empowering Chat. Greg is a Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and wears many hats. He is not only a medical professional in the field of pediatrics, he is also a mindfulness expert and the author of GAIN without Pain: The Happiness Handbook for Health Care Professionals. Greg began his journey into medicine by following his grander interest in the relationship between the very small and the very large.  His philosophy of seeing life through the lens of connection carried him into studying or “seeing” the human body in the same way. The larger vessel being our body with the smallest particle being the sub-cellular organs that make up these cells,

Ep- # 224 - Richard Bach's Life Adventure, A Revisit of a 2014 Interview with Author and Pilot, Richard Bach We have now entered into the month of April.  It feels like Spring is finally in the air. The sun is shining and the flowers have begun to bloom, at least that’s true for Southern California. I hope that is also true for your hometown as well. The theme for this month is, “Xiexie” which means Thank You in Chinese.  So, all of this month’s shows will relate to thank you, gratitude or being grateful. The show I am featuring for this episode of Empowering Chats is an interview I did in 2014 when I used to host a radio show called, “Living Your Inspired Life with Susan Burrell.” It features author and pilot, Richard Bach. It’s the perfect show to kickstart this month’s theme. In August of 2012 Richard Bach suffered a serious plane crash while flying solo in the San Juan Islands. We talk about this “life adventure,” and what it meant to kiss death and survive it. He spent a full year in recovery following t

Ep- # 223 - Clearing Energetic Paths, An Interview with Yogi Healer and Author, Lauren Walker As we wrap up the month of March and the theme for this month which is Energy, I am thrilled to welcome a special guest. Yogi Healer and Author, Lauren Walker. Lauren’s book The Energy to Heal – is all about healing from trauma and stress through the practice of Energy Medicine Yoga. So, what is Energy Medicine Yoga? It is a unique healing system that Lauren Walker developed and perfected over many years of study. She practiced on herself and early in her development of Energy Medicine she also worked with those in the military, to help them heal from trauma. This practice changed how Lauren practiced yoga. She found that with the right tools and practice one could heal their trauma and / or stress. Lauren works with the 5 elements, which is an energy system that resides in the body and is derived from ancient Chinese medicine. According to Lauren we can explore our life through the lens of these 5 elements in order