How to Jump Into A Life of Freedom and Adventure

KATHLEEN: Hello everyone and welcome to the Journey of an Awakening Spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, and we're streaming on the Bold Brave TV Network. The purpose of the show is to help you realize that you are not alone and that you are in control of your life. It doesn't matter where you came from or what your circumstances are.

KATHLEEN: We have all experienced pain, suffering, hurt, abandonment, loneliness, and hopelessness. The show is here to help you turn those dark moments around and create a whole new you. Despite your success, have you felt lonely, angry, frustrated, or even suicidal? Do you long to be supported, recognized, and respected for who you are, and not just the awards and accolades on your walls?

KATHLEEN: You don't want to be known, identified, or remembered in a way that feels fraudulent because you achieve things out of obligation and not passion. Do you find yourself sitting quietly at lunch, listening to what lights you up, only to feel shame, fear, frustration, and resentment?

KATHLEEN: Your inner turmoil and limiting beliefs surface, making you feel not good enough and afraid of doing something different. You've read the books, attended the seminars, and practiced new concepts and principles, yet you still find yourself in the same rut. The lies you tell yourself perpetuate a cycle of disappointment.

KATHLEEN: You say you'll change, but your self-limiting beliefs keep running the show, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a certified coach, I empower you to become your authentic self. My Soul Journey program aligns you with your true self and guides you to find your soul vision, helping you discover your purpose in life.

KATHLEEN: I provide tools to step into your true magnificence and remember who you are. If you're interested in learning more, contact me at bravetv at kathleenmflanagan.com. Each week we start the show with the sound of the tuning forks bringing in love, happiness, and balance to set the tone for the show and bring out the best in both myself and my guest. Let's begin.

KATHLEEN: A few years ago, Ingo Schumacher had a life most people would consider successful. He had a well-paying job and a leadership position in the semiconductor industry. Money, house, and he was traveling the world. But it didn't fulfill him. Then he and his family decided to sell everything, quit their jobs, and went on an adventure.

KATHLEEN: His wife, two kids, two dogs, and himself. They were traveling through Mexico and found a new home there. Today, he runs a successful business as a coach, guiding others to achieve financial freedom and to find their true purpose. We live the life of our dreams, celebrating financial independence and the possibility to do what you want. Welcome, Ingo.

INGO: Yes, thank you so much, Kathleen, for being here. It's a pleasure.

KATHLEEN: Yeah, good. I'm glad you're here. So why don't you tell everybody a little bit about your journey of becoming an awakening spirit?

INGO: Sure, absolutely. Yes. As you mentioned it already, I had a quite successful life. But I think what I didn't understand was that I was living more to the I had a very general definition of success, right? Because I adopted it probably also from.

INGO: What society thinks is successful or what other people or families or friends thinking is successful. So I think I was always good in chasing and achieving my goal. So I reached all my goals in my professional career and also in my private life.

INGO: But after many years, I figured out that the fulfillment or the achievement of these goals didn't really bring me any pleasure anymore. So once I reached a goal, I just wanted to go on to the next goal. And so I was just continually chasing these goals. And then, yeah, a few years back, I started to go back to rediscover myself. And to work more, to understand myself better.

INGO: And from there, I understood that eventually I need to change something. But then I think it still took a few years to make, I mean, from the first understanding that something is not really wrong or something is not really aligned with myself to this point where we made this decision. Because the point is also had this limiting beliefs, right?

INGO: Because I was in this job and living my life. Everything was not terrible, but it was also not great, right? So it was like what I call the curse of a good life, right? Because the pain is not big enough that you're forced to make necessarily this change. But day after day, you're just losing another day.

INGO: And then, I noticed that and I thought, what can I do different? And then I think finally... It was during the pandemic, actually, when things got even worse. And before I was traveling in my job. And in the pandemic, I was like everybody's sitting in front of the Zoom meetings all day and kids couldn't go to school anymore. And then I think the pain was getting bigger.

INGO: And then I think we were ready to make this decision. And we said, actually, my wife was more pushing a little bit in this direction. We said. everything is shit right now. So why don't we go to travel and see what we can do? And yeah, and then we made this decision. And actually, we made it very quick, right?

INGO: So I think we made this decision to move, to go somewhere else in, I think it was October or November 2020. And then in February, the year after, like three months later, we were standing at the airport, right? To board the airplane to Mexico. And at this time, we quit our jobs. We sold our house, our car, basically everything that we had.

INGO: And we went with a few suitcases we had and with our kids and our dogs to the airport. And I must say, before I was a little bit struggling with this decision. And of course, you have also worries and what will be because it's also like a jump into the unknown, right? And it's a little bit more risky than what we did before. But I must say, once we made this decision.

INGO: it was like freeing me completely up, and I actually never looked back and we were very happy here and then we went to Mexico we traveled here I didn't really worry for the first eight or nine months we were just traveling around with the suv and sleeping in airbnbs and visiting beautiful locations it was a great time and then at one point we didn't really plan it but we found a place and the kids wanted to go back to a school and have would go again i mean it's also getting they grow also up right they're getting teenagers so it got also boring for them a little bit probably with their parents also so they said they want to go to school and we said I would like it here so we stayed and now meanwhile we're here for three years and yeah let's see what's coming next so what is coming next I mean we are very open I'm not really making plans anymore for very long term I think for now we're staying here.

INGO: We actually bought land here and we built a house here. I hope in one or two months we're moving there.

INGO: I don't know what's forever. But I think now for the next years, we will stay here at least till my kids my oldest son is now 14. So now he's reaching also his maturity and starting to get into his own life. So I think now it's important for him that he... Has a little bit more stability.

INGO: I think the time of traveling was great and they learned a lot. But I think now it's also okay that they have this ability of being in a place and building their own social network and social environment. So at least for the next five or whatever years till as long as the kids are at home, we will stay here.

KATHLEEN: So how did your kids feel about being uprooted, so to speak, and moving to Mexico?

INGO: I think they took it very good. And I think we did it actually in the right time because I think now they're a little older now they're teenagers or pre-teen and now I think it would be more difficult but when we left they were like 9 and 11.

INGO: Ish and yeah of course they were sad that they didn't really understand everything but I think they were not really against it and since we were on the street I think they really enjoyed it and I think they learned so much more in this nine months on the street and meeting different cultures and and getting like involved in real life right with real people not only sitting on a school bench So I think it was a great time also for them.

INGO: And then we never played.

KATHLEEN: What country did you come from?

INGO: We actually came from Israel. So I'm from Germany. I lived most of my life in Israel. So I must say, we were always traveling a lot also before we moved to Mexico. So they're kind of used to traveling and to see different places.

INGO: Yeah, so we lived... Most of our life in Germany, but then the last three years from 2019 to 22, I had a job in Israel and we lived there for three years.

KATHLEEN: So you've been pretty much a world traveler.

INGO: Yeah, I met my wife in India in 2005, where I went from I was a student, I was backpacking there for six months. And so in India, Nepal and Southeast Asia, where I met my wife. And yeah.

INGO: I did my thesis in Barcelona, so I traveled all over Europe. And later also when I was working, I was like the product manager or engineering manager. So I traveled also to Asia and the United States a lot for business.

KATHLEEN: So during all of this movement, what was going on deep inside that was actually starting? I mean, can you identify what started making you feel that there was something more for you?

KATHLEEN: I know that you didn't feel fulfilled, but when did that start, that nagging feeling? Or can you identify, was there an event? Did something happen that kind of triggered that? And then how did that germinate to where you are today?

INGO: Yeah, I was always interested a lot in personal development and personal growth, right? So since my early 20s, I did this. But it was more like on the... Yeah, I had also these aspirations, like professional aspirations and everything. And I was very motivated.

INGO: And I think the point where I understood that really something needed to change was in 2018. So I'm also an athlete. I'm an Ironman. And one of my dreams was always to go to the Ironman World Championship, which is every year in Hawaii. And that took me many years. I did these competitions for many years. But then in 2018, I fulfilled this dream. And I...

INGO: Qualified for the you need to qualify for that so you need a certain level so I qualified for the world championship and I went to Hawaii in 2018 to compete in this race and I mean it was great it was amazing experience but what happened after that was when I crossed this finish line and and that's very difficult because you know you have all these years you have these goals and these dreams and they're getting bigger and bigger while you're growing also personally and then I achieved that and I passed this finish line and it felt great but like the days after I suddenly felt empty because suddenly I thought okay now you went to here so what's coming next I mean what would if you're like an endurance athlete and you're going to the world championship there's not much more that you can be bigger than that right I could say okay I want to do it half an hour faster but it didn't really you resonate with me to just have another goal and then I understand okay so something is going wrong and then I actually started to connect more with myself and going in to discover myself more and also to focus much more on the present and enjoy the journey much more rather than just postponing my luck or my happiness into the future and connected with certain goals.

KATHLEEN: I get that because

KATHLEEN: When I finished writing my books, and it was 2012, and I had all these plans, I finally got to go to Hawaii for a seminar, I had always wanted to go to the island of Kauai, I went up to Yellowstone, I had all these trips that I planned that that happened. And it was such a cool thing.

KATHLEEN: And I remember when I finished the last one, and I was like, well, why do I feel so empty on the inside? And it was like, and I had to really sit and be with that emotion because it was like I was let down or something. And then I realized I had anticipated this really cool year.

KATHLEEN: I was with friends and family and life was moving in a really cool direction, but it was all goal oriented. And then I was like, OK, well, what about me inside? And we're going to come back and talk about that a little bit more when we come back from a commercial break.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back everyone to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, and we're streaming on the bold, brave TV network. And we have Ingo Schulmeyer in the room with us today. And what I was saying before the commercial break was when I accomplished all of those dreams. And I understand that feeling like there was something missing and because it was more on that physical level.

KATHLEEN: I accomplished dreams on a physical level, but there was a whole other side of me that I didn't even think about at that point. And I remember just wondering where I wanted to go and creating something bigger than just personal goals. Because we're always taught to create a goal and go for it.

KATHLEEN: And that's how you create and see forward movement in your life. But that's not always fulfilling. Yes, it's fine to accomplish a goal. But To me, I started to look at there's a bigger purpose of why I was here. I wrote those books for a reason, not that I was behind the books yet, because I had just finished them and I hadn't even launched the first book yet.

KATHLEEN: But when I look back at that time, I also just kept asking spirit, where am I going? What am I doing? Because, when we're following a path, we don't always know where we're going. We just take those, we trust and we move.

KATHLEEN: And you strike me as that something that you did was once you fit, you accomplished that personal goal, it was like, okay, there's got to be something more, something bigger, something better. But yet you have a family now, which then, I was single, so it was easy for me. But when you have kids, I'm sure there's a lot more head stuff that goes on because you're the provider.

KATHLEEN: It's your job, as they say, the man is the provider of the family, so to speak. And you're also a very stabilizing force in the family besides the mom, because, there's the father thing and your training. So what went on in your mind when you were going through that? Because I'm sure all of that was happening inside of you as you're finding your way, so to speak.

INGO: Yeah, right. That was what's going on. And I think I mentioned it briefly in the beginning, right? That was one of my limiting beliefs that I had for many years already before we made this decision that I Cannot leave the job. I also thought about building my own business before that already, but I thought I cannot do it because I'm so busy with my day job that I just cannot get out from there.

INGO: Then we changed the perspective. But I mean, it sounds easy now, but I want to emphasize, it was a decision that also took me some time. And I think the point here is really what I mentioned, that the pain...

INGO: Of your current life needs to be big enough that you're able to make such a change because you know we're not going just in another direction because that's also the problem because our life in our comfort zone is somehow it's predictable right so every day we just do a small step more and we eventually don't understand that it's going in the right direction but it's so much easier to make this small step every day than to make one big step in a completely different direction.

INGO: But I also thought, what do I want to achieve in my life? And I don't know if it was kind of a midlife crisis but I thought, okay, is this really everything I want to achieve in my life? And I understood that it's not. And when I started then again to connect with myself and I started meditation and I started to work a lot mentally and also psychologically.

INGO: On myself with coaching and I learned a lot about this methods like NLP and different kind of mental and psychological methods to get there right and I worked also long for a long time with a coach to really understand where I'm coming from and to really understand myself better and I think that was very profound for me and yeah then I was able with all the circumstances then with the pandemic coming up then we made this decision.

INGO: And what helped also was this shift in our perspective because, we have always a certain way of seeing things, right? And I always thought, okay, if I quit my job, it's the end, right? I will never get a job anymore till the end of my life. And eventually, worst case scenarios, I will end up on the street and my kids will starve or whatever. So, okay, it's a little...

INGO: Exaggerating now but it's going in this direction and then I made this shift in perspective and I talked with my wife and we said okay let's say we quit our jobs we sell our house and we're going there to Mexico now so what's the worst thing that can happen and we said okay actually the worst thing that can happen is and we sold the house so we also had some savings so financially there was not too much pressure at least for some time we said the worst thing that can happen is that we go there for one year And eventually we don't like it there.

INGO: And in one year we can come back and we will look for new jobs. And we do the same thing that we did before again, maybe in a different job. And that changed it completely, right? Because suddenly your worst case scenario is not that bad anymore. If it's just like a one-year vacation is your worst case scenario, then it's...

INGO: And it's one of the things that I learned also, right? Working as a coach and working with my clients. Sometimes we're just stuck in our own perspective, in our own tunnel and see only one thing. But actually, there's so many other ways to see the things differently. And that, helped a lot.

KATHLEEN: And do you feel that when you were meditating, that actually helped you to allow yourself to see other perspectives besides the tunnel vision that we as humans have a tendency to be in?

INGO: Yeah, the meditating, I think the meditation helps for something else. The meditation helps for really finding this alignment with yourself that is often missing, right? Because, to know what we want and where we want to be and what our ideal life looks like. But I think we're very...

INGO: Biased by all the stuff we hear all day on social media and from our friends and family so I think we especially today in this age where we are constantly connected with media I think we we're losing this ability a little bit to listen to ourself and I think meditating helps there but I'm not only doing meditating I also do or did journaling but what helps me also is for example just to go for a walk or for a run in the nature that's why I like for example endurance sports because that's also kind of a meditation for me when I go to run with my dogs now in fields for one hour two hours so that really helps you to to disconnect and just be with yourself or connect with the stuff around you and that's where the meditation help me for the shifting the mindset they're it's helping a lot to work with a coach because it's very difficult to see only yourself without somebody getting this out of you this thoughts or without somebody that is pointing you towards where the issues might be it's more difficult and that helped a lot.

KATHLEEN: Totally agree with what you're saying because I've done the same thing. I love going out in nature. I love walking, things like that, dancing, whatever it is to just get out of here and just connect with the body and just myself and what makes me happy.

KATHLEEN: But I also noticed that when I hired a coach, best thing I ever did was hire him because I could see up here what I want. But he could see something different that, because he used to say, Kath, you went back into your head.

KATHLEEN: What do you mean I'm back in my head? Because it's come back into your heart because when you're coming into your heart, you're doing more of what you want. You're attracting more, you're doing more attraction marketing, attracting people towards you instead of being in your head.

KATHLEEN: And I never, I couldn't see what I was getting and I could see like I felt agitated or certain things, but I didn't necessarily see it. So, he knew where I wanted to go because he had me write my vision. Where is it? Not just goals, but what is your vision? What is that big picture of Kathleen and what does she want to accomplish?

KATHLEEN: And what was surprising, and we had a conversation actually on Tuesday and because we didn't have a call last month because he had shoulder. Surgery. And when I talked to him, it was just so exciting to just tell him everything that was going on.

KATHLEEN: And, he's just like, wow, you know, you're just like really in your heart, everything you're doing is coming from your heart. And it was exciting because he said, you used to never let me talk because you always thought you knew more.

KATHLEEN: It was just kind of an interesting observance of what he was telling me, how he observed me. Because I knew that I was like that, but I don't think I realized to the extent. And now it was like, I want to know what's going on with you.

KATHLEEN: And it was more of a collaborative conversation than a coaching, so to speak, because it was like I was understanding where I belong better, or I was more in alignment because he helped me to see things that I couldn't see, because we're always going to be blind to certain aspects of ourselves.

KATHLEEN: We're always going to be blind to certain things. And that's why I think coaching is really good that way. And then knowing what makes you happy, what makes your heart sing.

KATHLEEN: And that alignment is key. I mean, you said that word and that's so key. And I think when we're in alignment, that helps us to get out of the race mind. It helps us to come back into our individuality.

KATHLEEN: Our gifts because I think with all the social media sometimes I think people are so busy comparing or they're listening to the lies and they're not really and then they're thinking something's wrong with us and then we have suicide rates in our young kids because there's so much lies I'm just going to say it's just there's a lot of lies people are like oh yeah I'm having this wonderful life and look at where I'm at and they're broke and they're just trying to make it and I think that's the part that When we come back into ourselves, we remember there's other people.

KATHLEEN: We make more of a real connection. And I know that you ended up doing that once you got settled down and you decided to go into coaching. So why don't you tell the audience a little bit about what that looked like and how that came about for you?

KATHLEEN: Because what were you, some sort of an engineer or something like that? I mean, that's Where you came from is totally different than where you are. So there was a transition that shifted in there too.

INGO: Yeah, that's correct. So I came from an engineering background. So I'm also a very logical person, right? I try to explain almost everything rationally. And that's also how my brain works to a certain way.

INGO: And with the coaching, when I started this coaching, that actually started when we came here to Mexico. And in the beginning, I didn't really think about what I wanted.

INGO: Business and also in the beginning when I when I did all this education and all these courses about nlp and mindset and so on i actually didn't do it because I wanted to be a coach because I did it for myself because I wanted to understand myself better and I wanted to do something good for myself. And then I understood that.

INGO: And through this coaching and through this courses, the changes for me were so profound. I said, OK, that's what I also want to help other people with. Because on the way, I saw so many of my friends and former colleagues and people that I know that.

INGO: Have a similar issue right they stuck in their nine to five day in a day out and they just don't know how to get out even that they could have a life that's much more blooming than what they have today and it's very difficult to break through these barriers if you're alone because you said it also correctly right it's you need to go deep inside yourself and for the deep work it's usually very difficult because this is our belief systems And these are beliefs we're building over 10, 20, 30 years, all our lives, right?

INGO: And we start to build this fortress around our reality or our belief system, right? And if we want to clarify that, and if we want to expand it and grow from there and actually change that to overcome this limiting belief, we need to go back to our center. And that's where it's very difficult. Because our mind doesn't like us to get there, right?

INGO: So it's getting very uncomfortable. And that's where a coach can really help you to get there. And I started with this coaching like three years ago. And I also built my own process, which I call it Release, Rediscovery, Rise. That's usually the framework I go along.

KATHLEEN: Let's talk about that when we come back from a commercial break, because I think people will be really interested in hearing that nonstop.

INGO: Okay, perfect.

KATHLEEN: Thank you.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back, everyone, to The Journey of an Awakening Spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, and we're streaming on the Bold Brave TV Network. And we have Ingo Schulmeyer in the room with us. And he was just getting ready to tell us what he's doing today.

INGO: Yes, I think I finished talking about my coaching framework, right? And I call it the release, rediscover, rise process. So basically, it's three steps. And usually, we need to start with the release. And that's where we really understand or where I understand with my customers where they're coming from. So to go really deep into their belief systems and really,

INGO: Understand their true identity that their or their inner truth and I firmly believe that we all have our own truths and we all can find our own truths only within ourselves so that's the first step and then the second thing is the rediscover phase right and in the rediscover phase we basically look from where you're coming from to where do I actually want to be I mean this is where you think about your vision or your purpose and how you want to create your life that you really become a growing mindset so to say right and once we have these two points like where I'm coming from and where do I want to be or how do I want a life to how do I want my life to develop then we go usually in the rise phase where you then set up your your concrete goals and where you said you're making a roadmap how you can really achieve your goals and that's important to have this most of us or many of us are very good in this rise phase right we're all stuck somehow in this rise phase where we are setting ourselves goals but we don't really know why do we want to achieve them and how it's aligned with ourselves so if you don't have this two first first two parts aligned then I think it's usually not sustainable.

INGO: And I had some really good examples, right? There are people, they say, okay, I want to run a marathon or whatever. I want to lose 20 pounds or I want to be a millionaire, right? If you're asking them, why do you want to do that? If people don't even like to run, if they tell you they want to do a marathon, so there's something wrong, right?

INGO: If you don't enjoy the journey to your goal, it will be very hard to sustain it because you need... Put a lot of energy and it usually will also not fulfill you because you're just doing something and you're acting, but you're acting in the wrong direction.

KATHLEEN: I know for me, when I went in, it was going deep inside to really understand what happened in my life because, I was going through a lot of mindset changing and shifting and all of that, but it.

KATHLEEN: Wasn't as sustainable until I actually went really deep and did the deep, hard, ugly work. And that's not a fun place to go. And I was strong enough to be able to do it. Not everybody can, because it can be very scary, especially if you're dealing with traumas.

KATHLEEN: And that's where I think coaching really helps to get somebody through that process, because sometimes you just need somebody, you just need to like vomit it out. Or cry it out or whatever it is. I mean, whatever the process is for you is the right process.

KATHLEEN: And that's what I think people really need to understand is whatever that journey is for you, it's going to be the right one even if it doesn't match somebody else. You just find the right coach who's in alignment with you.

KATHLEEN: And what I did find when I came out on the other side and I was gone through the healing phase and... Where do I want to go? And that's when I came in with my soul vision is how I look at it because we can have goals, but they're not sustainable to me. Having a soul vision is when I ask spirit, okay, where am I going?

KATHLEEN: Why am I here? What can I do? And when I aligned with that is when the going got hard and the going will get hard. I had something that was bigger than me that was keeping me moving in a forward direction. It's like what you said. It was what is it that I want?

KATHLEEN: Because, accomplishing the next marathon is not what I want. Doing like getting my message out there, showing people the way home, whatever that is, that was what was more meaningful. And that's not an easy place to go. That's a very challenging, hard place because you're in two worlds. You're experiencing the energy.

KATHLEEN: And then you're dealing with people. And then how do you reach those people that want you, but they're so afraid? It was like really diving in okay, how did people reach me? Because I, became my avatar, so to speak, I was my own avatar to find those people.

KATHLEEN: And I think what you're saying is very accurate because we need that bigger version of us because. And it's not going to happen overnight, as you well know. And it is about enjoying the journey because sometimes the journey just sucks. You know, there's times when it's like, why am I even wasting my time?

KATHLEEN: Why am I doing this? Why do I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall and then something happens and everything shifts. But it was always, well, what can I do today? You know, the baby steps that you talked about. I mean, that's how your journey to Mexico happened is you were.

KATHLEEN: Taking small steps. So when the big step happened, it was a small step at that point to you. And people don't understand that either. It's like, you're just picking up and leaving, but nobody really knows that you spent years making that move. And I think that's what's.

KATHLEEN: So important is really understanding what is the bigger version of you that you're here because we all have a bigger reason why we're here. We're not here to just get married, have kids and die and have a job. I mean, why?

KATHLEEN: That's how I look at it, because, life is not easy. Ok, life can be very challenging. And it's like, yeah, I gave up, happiness and bliss and love for this. Why?

KATHLEEN: I know why now and I'm okay and I'm glad about it, but I think the peace comes and I'm sure your program brings that to you where that peace comes for your clients, where they understand they've connected the dots and they know where they're going.

KATHLEEN: And because the ultimate, in my opinion, is that you fall in love with your life, regardless of how icky it might've been in your mind that you picked, you created the best life for yourself.

KATHLEEN: And that's to me is the ultimate goal is being. So happy with your miserable life that you viewed as miserable, but in disguise, it really was the greatest blessing you gave yourself.

INGO: Yeah. And I truly appreciate and I'm grateful for the journey I made. My life brought me there and I'm happy for every moment that I had. And it's just, when you're saying it like that, I just want to point out, that happiness doesn't mean that you're all the time happy, right? Of course.

INGO: Moments when you're sad and certain things happening or certain circumstances happening that you don't have under your control that maybe give you like what we would judge as a negative feeling right but we also one thing is also the understanding or the acceptance of these feelings that they're also part of the journey and it's completely normal it's basically just our judgment that we say ah I shouldn't be sad or I shouldn't be like that or I should be different That's not how it is.

INGO: It's just our judgment. A feeling per se is not positive or negative. And we cannot be happy all the time. We also need to have these lows. We cannot remove the valleys while keeping the mountains. It's just not possible. So life has ups and downs. And it's awesome. We just need to learn how to embrace them and how to see everything as an opportunity.

KATHLEEN: Well, and I think if we get into the flow of how the earth is, because everything in the oceans have ebb and flow, the moon wanes and waxes. I mean, that's who we are, too. We do that. We have, times in our lives that things, we're up and down. Life sometimes just sucks to be us. And sometimes it's the greatest thing that ever happened to us.

KATHLEEN: And I think that if we can take, as you say, because I believe in that, too, is we judge. Our emotions, but we're human. We're supposed to have emotions. That's how we learn in this physical body is through our emotions. And I think if we can maintain a stability, yes, you're still going to feel it.

KATHLEEN: But if you're consciously paying attention to where you are and what's going on inside your body, you can find out what triggered you. Because sometimes it's just about a release. Sometimes something came up and it was like, oh, where did that come from? It's like, I didn't know you were there.

KATHLEEN: And instead of holding it on and making a story around it and then putting yourself down in the dumps, it's like it just wants to be released. Just acknowledge it and let it go. And that's as simple as life can be. And I think the greatest lesson that I learned is happiness is an inside job. And when I decided I was going to be happy, everything I did was that.

KATHLEEN: So if a life event happened that just wasn't fun, it was like, okay, well, I can't do anything about it now. I'm still going to be happy. I will search for whatever I need to do to take care of whatever the situation is, but I wasn't going to rule the life or say God hates me or, I must be a bad person or, all that self-talk, that negative self-talk we've done.

KATHLEEN: And I think that's when you go in and do that deep work, you start to realize that they're just events. There's nothing there. You're the one putting the meaning to it. You're the one putting the drama. Do you really want to have drama? I don't. I don't like drama. Drama is on the dance floor for me. That's where it belongs.

KATHLEEN: It doesn't belong in my life.

KATHLEEN: And you're more fun. I think when we're like this, you attract more people towards you because your light is shining. And when your light shines, you're touching somebody else and you're touching them through their heart.

KATHLEEN: And I think that's what you say is how I'm perceiving what you're saying too. I mean, it's what I do. It's what I say. And we've got to take another quick commercial break because this is starting to roll really fast now, these 15 minutes.

KATHLEEN: Welcome back, everyone, to the Journey of an Awakening Spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan, your host, and we're streaming on the Bold Brave TV Network. And we have Ingo Schulmeyer in the room with us today.

KATHLEEN: What is one piece of advice that you would give our audience to help them move into a different direction to achieve their dreams or become a better person, a better version of themselves?

INGO: Yeah, I think the most important thing, and I think we talked already about this, is really just...

INGO: Self-awareness and reconnect with yourself I think that's where it starts especially in our connected world and just start with that and listen to yourself more and we notice how uncomfortable it feels sometimes when we're for two minutes we're not checking the next message on the cell phone how we're not used to that anymore so just extend that time and plan in More times where you're disconnected and you don't have to start now with a few hours.

INGO: This can be just like a few minutes in the morning or whenever. And then just start to listen to yourself and start to focus what's going on within you, what's going on with your feelings, what's going on around you. And yeah, just be present and be in the present moment and appreciate what you have right now. And from there, I think from this awareness, It all starts.

KATHLEEN: Do you have a practice that you do every day that keeps you in that alignment that you're in?

INGO: Yeah, I have quite a few practices I'm doing every day or almost every day. So usually I stand up and one thing that I'm doing, for example, to what I said before is I'm not turning on my cell phone before like eight o'clock when I start working, right? So usually I stand at around five. I start with meditating. Then I drink something. I prepare breakfast for my kids. So the meditation helps me a lot.

INGO: Then I go for a walk with my dogs. So that also is like kind of connecting. And yeah, when I'm working and when I'm sitting on the computer, I really try to do that very consciously, right? That I'm not just consuming. That doesn't mean I'm never scrolling on social media or something like that. But I try to do it more consciously, right? That I'm not using that just to waste my time. And yeah, I do a lot of exercise.

INGO: I try to eat healthy. We're preparing a lot of our own food. And I'm trying. And I'm not perfect, right? I don't want to sound like I already reached everything. I'm still on my journey. So I still have room for improvement. But... Yeah I'm trying to give more power or more meaning to the present moment. Like when I'm doing one thing, I'm trying to do this with all my presence and focusing on that.

KATHLEEN: Yeah, I think a morning practice is real critical. I think it helps to set the tone for the day if you're doing that and taking care of you and it keeps you very calm and centered. That's what I have found. So Ingo, how can everybody get a hold of you?

INGO: Yes, I think the...

INGO: Best way if you want to learn more and where I also have a lot of videos is my YouTube channel I'm talking about mindset mastery about how to break free and live life on your own terms or get out of your nine to five and starting your own business my YouTube channel is called YouTube at the Small Reset I call it the small reason i came up with this name because they're I mean that's this idea of the great reset which I don't like so much so I think if we all do small steps to improve ourselves every day and if enough people are doing that that will you also make the world a better place, right?

INGO: So I think we cannot change the world, most of us. So I think we just should start with ourselves, not complaining about other things, but change the things we have under our control and accept the rest. And that makes my life much more easier. So for that, the name is The Small Reset.

INGO: And if you want to learn more about my coaching, it's also on my website. It's on my website. It's called also the smallreset.org. And you can learn more about my coaching approach. You can also... Book a free discovery call. And that's basically my main contact points.

KATHLEEN: Well, I want to thank you very much for coming on the show today, Ingo. I really do appreciate you coming in and sharing your story with everyone.

KATHLEEN: All I keep trying to prove to everybody is we all have very similar goals and dreams and we all operate very similarly. And there's no reason that none of us can change because there's enough support and knowledge out there. Coming to be. And I do appreciate you sharing that because it doesn't matter what part of the world you are, where you go, whatever it is, it's still the same.

KATHLEEN: We all have to change our own mindset. And I want to thank everyone else for joining us today. And if you found value here, it would appreciate it if you would like or subscribe to the show. And if there's anything that you would like to get more information about, then... Or struggling with anything, feel free to reach out to me at Kathleen, bravetv at kathleenmflanagan.com or even reach out to Ingo.

KATHLEEN: He will, his contact information will be on the website. So you will be able to get ahold of him there. My books, Dancing Souls, The Call, The Dark Night of the Soul and Awakened are available on amazon.com and kathleenmflanagan.com. And check out also on the Kathleen M. Flanagan. Is a list of the services and products that I'm offering.

KATHLEEN: And there is a three-minute de-stress meditation that will help you get into alignment if you want to do it before you wake up. When you go to bed, it doesn't matter. It just helps to get that calmness and get back into your center. And that concludes our show for the day. And I will see you all next Tuesday at 4 p. m. And from my heart to yours, I hope you have a fabulous week.