When Life Forces You to Stop and Listen
In this deeply personal episode of The Journey of an Awakening Spirit, Kathleen Flanagan opens up about navigating emotional exhaustion, nervous system overwhelm, and spiritual disconnection during a season of intense inner healing. After a series of life disruptions forced her to slow down, Kathleen found herself confronting old trauma, inner child wounds, and the pressure so many high-achieving women silently carry every day.
Through honest reflection, she shares how learning to pause, listen inward, and reconnect with God helped her begin finding peace again. Kathleen explores the importance of body-mind-spirit alignment, emotional healing, nervous system regulation, and trusting the healing process even when life feels uncertain or overwhelming.
This episode is a compassionate reminder that you are not broken for feeling tired, lost, or disconnected. Sometimes the greatest transformation begins the moment you stop fighting yourself and finally allow yourself to heal.
In this heartfelt episode of The Journey of an Awakening Spirit, Kathleen Flanagan shares a raw and honest conversation about emotional exhaustion, nervous system overwhelm, spiritual healing, and what happens when life forces you to slow down.
After navigating a difficult month filled with emotional triggers, physical detox symptoms, and unexpected life stress, Kathleen opens up about the inner battle between the mind, body, and spirit and how unresolved trauma and survival patterns can quietly surface when we finally become still.
This episode explores:
- Body, mind, and spirit alignment
- Nervous system healing and emotional overwhelm
- The impact of unresolved childhood trauma
- Learning to feel safe inside yourself again
- Spiritual connection and trusting God during uncertain seasons
- Why high-achieving women often feel lost and disconnected
- Rewiring the brain and creating emotional resilience
- The importance of rest, surrender, and slowing down
- Navigating personal transformation during changing times
Kathleen also shares personal insights about healing the inner child, listening to the body, creating stronger energetic boundaries, and learning how to reconnect with peace in the middle of chaos.
If you’ve been feeling emotionally exhausted, disconnected from yourself, or overwhelmed by life lately, this episode is a reminder that you are not broken, and you do not have to navigate this journey alone.
Please like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who may need encouragement and support right now.
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www.youtube.com/@KathleenMFlanagan
Dancing Souls Book One - The Call
Dancing Souls Book Two - The Dark Night of the Soul
Dancing Souls Book Three - Awakened
www.awakeningspirit.com
www.grandmasnaturalremedies.net
De-Stress Meditation
kmf@kathleenmflanagan.com
00:00 - When Life Forces You to Stop and Listen
02:12 - The Battle Between My Body and Spirit
03:44 - Coming Back Inside Myself
06:41 - When You Feel Like God Went Quiet
07:22 - Learning to Talk to the Father Again
08:54 - The Little Girl Inside Me Needed Safety
10:39 - When Healing Feels Messy and Strange
11:27 - Why Deep Healing Requires Going Deeper
12:19 - The Kind of Rest I Didn’t Know I Needed
13:12 - Resistance, Surrender, and Finding Peace
14:12 - Feeling Like Myself Again, But Different
16:03 - Creating from a Deeper Place
17:12 - How I’m Changing the Show Moving Forward
18:43 - Staying Grounded in a World That Feels Chaotic
19:48 - Rewiring My Brain and Learning to Trust Myself
0:00 Hello everyone and welcome to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanigan and I'm your host.
0:077 secondsToday I don't know, it's been a day. I have decided that I thought I was supposed to have a guest today and
0:1515 secondsactually it's next week when Brianna's coming on. So that is my bad. And I think a lot has to do with just a lot of
0:2323 secondschanges that are going on around the planet.
0:2626 secondsI know that in the last month I have been in a very quiet place really reconnecting with myself dealing with a
0:3434 secondslot of stuff that's been going on. And one of the main things that I
0:4141 secondsexperienced in the last month was when the water heater went out and how I
0:4848 secondswent into a trauma place and there was nothing I could do about it except for deal with it. And what it did is it shut down everything. And I contribute that
0:5656 secondsthe detox that I was on caused it as well. So I became very quiet and very
1:031 minute, 3 secondssilent. I really assessed a lot of things in my life at that point.
1:101 minute, 10 secondsAnd one of these is the show. I mean, I'm going to keep doing the show, but I'm going to take it's going to be different. And that's going to probably
1:171 minute, 17 secondsstart after Brianna comes on. And then I'm going to start a totally different type of format.
1:261 minute, 26 secondsWhat caused this was how I felt during this past month of when this
1:341 minute, 34 secondslittle girl came up and I was having this war, this battle in my head, like the body is saying, "I need help." And
1:431 minute, 43 secondsthe spirit is saying, "Hurry up and get your poop in a group," so to speak. And I it was like I was this outsider
1:501 minute, 50 secondswatching this fight between my mind and my body. Now I know I I wanted to talk about this because body mind spirit
1:591 minute, 59 secondsalignment we all think it means something different but it really is a body mind
2:062 minutes, 6 secondsspirit connection because what I was feeling at that point was the spirit is wanting to go because it knows how to flit around the universe.
2:162 minutes, 16 secondsIt's happy to flit around the universe.
2:182 minutes, 18 secondsAnd then there's this body that is dense and it can't flit around the universe.
2:242 minutes, 24 secondsIt is very solid on the earth. We are planted here. This is our learning school. This is what we chose to do and
2:312 minutes, 31 secondslearn how to remember and trust because we look on the outside. We don't look inside. So if we're miserable, it's because we're looking on the outside.
2:422 minutes, 42 secondsAnd I have been just as guilty of this as anybody else has. I've realized
2:482 minutes, 48 secondsthat during this period of time, I was always looking for what's going on in the outside and I had to come back to the inside.
2:582 minutes, 58 secondsAnd this month, I think really drove it home for me of I had to be quiet. I had to be still. I had to get my nervous
3:073 minutes, 7 secondssystem down. I walked away from a lot of things for a lot of reasons. I didn't go away. I just walked away for a little while because I needed to like reenter.
3:193 minutes, 19 secondsAnd what I discovered is that I'm becoming very
3:263 minutes, 26 secondsparticular. I would say I know how I want things to be. I know how I want to act. I know who I want around me. I
3:343 minutes, 34 secondsdon't want just anybody to come around and be around me. And I'm gonna tell you something really funny and you can get behind this or not. I don't really care.
3:443 minutes, 44 secondsIs two days ago I was having breakfast and a friend of mine who had passed away several years ago just popped up and
3:523 minutes, 52 secondsthis is what went on. She's sitting here going, "Hey, what are you doing?" kind of thing like let's go play.
4:004 minutesAnd I'm like okay. And it was, "What the freak are you doing here? I'm not interested in you. You know, you're dead. I'm not going to play."
4:104 minutes, 10 secondsBecause I understand my relationship with this woman was that to her spirituality was just a
4:174 minutes, 17 secondsgame and it's not a game and it never was a game and it never will be a game. It there's a lot of truth behind this.
4:244 minutes, 24 secondsAnd so when she was coming around saying, "Well, I'll help you do this and I can show you this and I can answer all your questions and all this." And I just said, "No.
4:334 minutes, 33 secondsI'm not interested because anybody that actually was spiritual that passed on
4:404 minutes, 40 secondsand even if I wanted to talk to him, we never talk about it. It's just something that's not done.
4:484 minutes, 48 secondsSo, I said no and I'm not interested. You're dead. We're done. We're over.
4:534 minutes, 53 secondsI've forgiven you for what happened in this lifetime. I understand it and thank you for giving me the gift that you gave me, but we're done. and I don't intend
5:025 minutes, 2 secondsto see you again." And that was the end of it. And then as I'm having this conversation in my mind with her, I'm
5:105 minutes, 10 secondssitting here going, "Oh god, I look like I'm freaking nuts." You know, I'm having like having this conversation with somebody who's not even in the same room with me.
5:225 minutes, 22 secondsAnd I get it because I what I realize is that I've become very clear and I haven't thought about this person.
5:325 minutes, 32 secondsThere was no reason for she for her to come in. There was nothing and I knew her energy anyways because we had been
5:405 minutes, 40 secondsin many lifetimes together. So I knew her energy and it was just the most bizarre thing to me to actually have an
5:485 minutes, 48 secondsexperience like that. And when I was talking to a friend yesterday, she said, you know,
5:555 minutes, 55 secondswe don't have time for this. It's not a game. We're here. It's heavy duty stuff that we're coming on. The world is changing. Everything is changing.
6:056 minutes, 5 secondsAnd what she had reminded me to do a couple of weeks ago, cuz I just felt so lost, was just talk to the father
6:136 minutes, 13 secondsbecause I said, "I'm not getting answers. I'm not getting any anything. I was just felt like I wasn't even alive
6:206 minutes, 20 secondsalmost like everybody left me. That's not the case. It's never the case. It was just a feeling. And I understood
6:286 minutes, 28 secondswhat was going on. So I know that if you feel this way, I understand. And you're not crazy when you feel it. And she
6:376 minutes, 37 secondssaid, "Just talk to the father because he's the one who guides everyone." And so I did. I started talking to the
6:436 minutes, 43 secondsfather and just I'm here to do whatever I'm supposed to do. I don't know what to do. I'm this is what I would like. And I
6:536 minutes, 53 secondsjust started just just talking. You know, it was that form of prayer of just asking for whatever it was and
7:027 minutes, 2 secondsthen sitting and listening. Now, I may not have heard the words verbally and I may not be getting information the way that I want that I'm used to getting.
7:117 minutes, 11 secondsBut what I did come to realize is if it's not coming from the father, I don't want to hear you. And I don't
7:187 minutes, 18 secondscare. It has nothing to do with anyone or anything. It's not like I disregard
7:247 minutes, 24 secondsthe angels or any of the hierarchy, the the archangels or any of them. I'm not discarding them.
7:337 minutes, 33 secondsI'm here for a bigger purpose. We all are.
7:377 minutes, 37 secondsAnd if you're feeling lost and if you're feeling confused, talk to the father and then just listen because he will
7:467 minutes, 46 secondsguide and he will bring things. And since I've been doing this, I think it's probably been about two weeks now, I think miracles are starting to happen.
7:567 minutes, 56 secondsThere's like signs of movement in a way.
7:597 minutes, 59 secondsAnd the fact that I feel like I've come back to me is huge because for a while there I just felt like I was lost inside
8:088 minutes, 8 secondsof myself. Like I didn't understand. And I know part of this had to do with that little girl because the war was with
8:168 minutes, 16 secondsher. My inner dialogue was all like a little five, sixyear-old kid who has been traumatized.
8:238 minutes, 23 secondsAnd I had to honor that part of myself.
8:268 minutes, 26 secondsSo, even though I've been doing deep healing and I've allowed the little girl to be who she is and let her move in
8:348 minutes, 34 secondsthat direction and to release her and let her know that this is not we're not the same anymore.
8:418 minutes, 41 secondsThis is something different.
8:448 minutes, 44 secondsthis was allowing her and like because the detox caused a lot of this too, I
8:518 minutes, 51 secondsbelieve, because we carry a lot of stuff in our cells and when we have a excess
8:598 minutes, 59 secondsweight and fat on us and parasites and bugs in our body, which we naturally
9:079 minutes, 7 secondshave bugs anyways, but it mimics and then we store that. And so these are memories from childhood. Now that I
9:159 minutes, 15 secondsthink that's a little extreme, but you know, they're saying that most of this stuff is 20, 30 years.
9:229 minutes, 22 secondsIt doesn't matter. It had to be released. I had to allow her to be her.
9:279 minutes, 27 secondsSo when I was saying I was watching this dialogue between me and spirit at the time,
9:369 minutes, 36 secondsthere was also the little girl having her conversation of wanting to be safe and protected.
9:469 minutes, 46 secondsIt doesn't matter what it was. Yes, I thought I was crazy. It felt crazy, but it was also humorous.
9:539 minutes, 53 secondsand take everything that's going on in your life. Take it with a grain of salt.
9:589 minutes, 58 secondsTalk to somebody if you need to talk to somebody.
10:0210 minutes, 2 secondsThere are people that are out there that can help you navigate this. And you know, most people thought I was just crazy anyways, and I'm used to that. So,
10:1010 minutes, 10 secondsit didn't bother me that much. What I had to do is understand that I needed to um just be okay with where I was.
10:2110 minutes, 21 secondsI trusted that I was where I was supposed to be.
10:2610 minutes, 26 secondsI trusted that it was time to release things that were still in my body that I didn't know, old thought forms, old memories, because we carry everything.
10:3810 minutes, 38 secondsOur ego is what goes and takes us.
10:4110 minutes, 41 secondsThat's what remembers. That's why when we say body, mind, spirit alignment, we're never going to be a 100% in alignment, but we can stay as close to
10:4910 minutes, 49 secondsit as possible. I want to go really high. That means I have to go really deep. I'm doing some deep, dark work.
10:5910 minutes, 59 secondsAnd when you're doing work like that, you just have to trust. And I've done
11:0711 minutes, 7 secondsthis long enough in my life to know that I'll get on the other side cuz I
11:1411 minutes, 14 secondsalways do. And what's even better is that it's getting there faster because it doesn't feel good.
11:2511 minutes, 25 secondsBut I just be with it. I'm okay with it.
11:2811 minutes, 28 secondsI still move forward. Very small baby steps.
11:3311 minutes, 33 secondsI keep moving forward. I keep doing what it is. But I'm resting and I watched a video that there are seven kinds of rest
11:4011 minutes, 40 secondsand I swear to God all seven of them hit because it I was I mean I go to bed 8:00, 9:00, whatever time I'd go to bed
11:4911 minutes, 49 secondsand I get eight hours and I would feel refreshed and as the day progressed it got a little bit um more I got tired.
12:0012 minutesNow, we were under rain for a while, and thank God we needed rain here in Colorado, but it my the weather really
12:0712 minutes, 7 secondsaffected a lot of my mood at that time, and I observed that. And it was okay.
12:1412 minutes, 14 secondsThe sun was out, I was happier. If it was cloudy, I was a little more dismal.
12:1912 minutes, 19 secondsI still moved. I still did the things I had to do. And I still rested.
12:2612 minutes, 26 secondsS's been gone for a month. He comes home tomorrow. Yippee. I'm so happy because he's miserable. It It's just been challenging. But he's the one who chose
12:3412 minutes, 34 secondsto go for a month. And the other thing I observed was my resistance to this because I was very resistant of him
12:4312 minutes, 43 secondsleaving for a month. I knew he wouldn't do well. I knew he didn't like it. I didn't like it. And I was very resistant and I was angry. And I there's no I make
12:5112 minutes, 51 secondsno qualms about where I was at with that. And then I watched myself surrender.
12:5912 minutes, 59 secondsAnd then I found myself at peace. It was a fast month.
13:0613 minutes, 6 secondsIt really went by really fast.
13:1013 minutes, 10 secondsProbably faster than I realized. But at the same time, it almost felt slow because on a daily basis trying to get my body back to where it was and
13:1913 minutes, 19 secondswondering if I was ever going to get back there. I did. About two days ago, I felt like I was back on myself again.
13:2613 minutes, 26 secondsthat I was back to being normal of what normal is for me. But it's a deeper, it's a quieter peaceful, it's
13:3513 minutes, 35 secondsdifferent, like I've grounding in this new energy of me, of what I'm doing, of
13:4213 minutes, 42 secondswhat I'm asking for, of why I'm moving and where I'm supposed to go. I'm not I don't have 100% clarity. And you never do in baby steps.
13:5413 minutes, 54 secondsYou never know where you're going. You have an idea of where you want to go, but you don't know how to do it because this is the cocreation process.
14:0314 minutes, 3 secondsDo what you can with what you have and then wait.
14:0814 minutes, 8 secondsAnd obviously, I needed I mean, my body went through a lot in the 90-day deeds, a lot more than I realized.
14:1814 minutes, 18 secondsMy body is still changing because now I'm integrating this whole new part of me. I don't crave sugar. I
14:2514 minutes, 25 secondsdon't crave salt. I don't crave wine. I don't crave any of that. I I don't know what I want to eat yet. But that's
14:3114 minutes, 31 secondsthat's not unusual for me anymore. But I'm not wanting those foods. I'm wanting
14:3914 minutes, 39 secondsthings that make me feel good, that makes my body feel good. If I feel foggy, I eat berries because berries are great for the brain.
14:4814 minutes, 48 secondsI eat organic. I have always, but you know, it's like yes, the last two days I was out working in my garden and I just
14:5614 minutes, 56 secondsground it in and I just was like, I don't know what I want to eat. So, I had cottage cheese and yogurt. That was what I ate.
15:0315 minutes, 3 secondsThat was it. And I was fine.
15:0715 minutes, 7 secondsSo, I'm trusting more of what it is that I'm looking for or what I need or what I want because that's where it comes from.
15:1715 minutes, 17 secondsAnd when I can be that person, then I go out into my community and it's like, "Okay, let's try this on and see if this works. Look at my new background that
15:2615 minutes, 26 secondsI've created. My website is going in for a major overhaul, too." That's what happened is I went deeper in to bring
15:3415 minutes, 34 secondsmore of me in. See, I love the fact over here I have the the merkaba. It's a geometric pattern. Yes. But it's a merka. Okay.
15:4515 minutes, 45 secondsThen I have over here where it's there and now it's enlightened with the lotus flower and the rocks. I mean to me this is like this is so cool of just the dark
15:5515 minutes, 55 secondsinto the light. It's a different version of the warrior princess. But I've always been that you have always been that
16:0316 minutes, 3 secondsspiritual warrior. I have another cool background which is a little different of my book background that was made
16:1116 minutes, 11 secondsthat's going to be used for other things. I think I was supposed to use it for this one but that's okay. I like this one, too. But I just want to say that I'm I'm moving. These are signs that I'm changing. I've gone deeper.
16:2216 minutes, 22 secondsI've gotten clearer with my message.
16:2716 minutes, 27 secondsThere's a lot coming in. There's a lot changing. There's a lot more information. I'm going to be doing more
16:3316 minutes, 33 secondstrainings as as the months go on. I'm going to give you tools and how to navigate through this
16:4216 minutes, 42 secondsbecause it's important that we learn how to navigate through these changing waters and they are changing. And one of the things that I say all the time and I
16:5016 minutes, 50 secondsmean this with my whole heart is you've got to stop and you've got to breathe and you've got to give yourself permission.
17:0117 minutes, 1 secondI can't tell you how hard it was to be out in the world off and on working. I was glad to be working, but watching the
17:0917 minutes, 9 secondspeople, the way they drive, it's like, "Oh my god, why didn't you just leave earlier instead of doing 90 miles an
17:1517 minutes, 15 secondshour on a highway that's not even moving that fast?" You know, and you just bless their you bless their hearts. You just
17:2317 minutes, 23 secondsbless them and think, "Wow, what's going on?" Because it's like you you feel like you're in survival mode, like you're
17:3217 minutes, 32 secondsprotecting your life. You have to be on alert 24/7 when you're in the road anymore because it's crazy. People are
17:4017 minutes, 40 secondscrazy. And if that's not an indication that something's going on on the planet, I don't know what it is. I mean, courtesy, you know, you don't see a lot
17:4817 minutes, 48 secondsof that anymore. You don't see a lot of anything. And my attitude is I
17:5717 minutes, 57 secondsneed to bring compassion and love and peace to the world because that's what we need right now. We need to just come together
18:0618 minutes, 6 secondsand be human beings that we're accepting because we're all in this together.
18:1618 minutes, 16 secondsAnd I don't know how people are surviving right now. When I had to pay $5.15 a gallon to put in the my gas
18:2318 minutes, 23 secondstank, I I almost died. It was like, what the hell?
18:2918 minutes, 29 secondsYou know, you go and you have hardly anything in your grocery store and you got a $300 food bill and water's going up and utilities are going up. I mean,
18:3618 minutes, 36 secondsthe corporate greed is enough to scare you. So, what do I do? I go inside and trust that I'm going to be taken
18:4318 minutes, 43 secondscare of because it's overwhelming to me. It's overwhelming.
18:5118 minutes, 51 secondsI've survived a lot of my life already.
18:5418 minutes, 54 secondsI can survive this, but I have to get myself readjusted to what's happening and just go back and just know and trust
19:0219 minutes, 2 secondsthat everything's fine. And that's when I'm going to start talking and teaching you more about how to do those things
19:0919 minutes, 9 secondsbecause it's those little things that make the biggest changes in your life.
19:1419 minutes, 14 secondsAnd you may not see it until one day something happens and you reflect and go, "Oh my god, because I'm light years from where I used to be." Light years.
19:2419 minutes, 24 secondsAnd I'm helping somebody on a in a course that she's doing. I'm helping her with the beta test. And the one thing is is that she's trying to teach people how
19:3219 minutes, 32 secondsto um understand their emotions, name their emotions, the story that goes behind it, everything I talk about.
19:4019 minutes, 40 secondsAnd the one thing is like when she asked questions, it's like I don't remember what I do because I've spent the last five years diligently rewiring my brain.
19:5119 minutes, 51 secondsI don't remember what I thought. I don't remember what my response actions were.
19:5619 minutes, 56 secondsDo I have paradigms show up? Yes. Am I triggered? Yes, but how I navigate through the world now is so different
20:0320 minutes, 3 secondsbecause I rewired my brain. And we all have the capacity to rewire our brain.
20:1320 minutes, 13 secondsSo, I wanted to let you know that, you know, if you really want to get started with some of this, you can also go and
20:2020 minutes, 20 secondscheck out my books at on amazon.com. And I am offering that if you bought the trilogy for $50. And that
20:2920 minutes, 29 secondsincludes the shipping. They would all be autographed to you or whomever you want because these books actually do talk
20:3620 minutes, 36 secondsabout how to navigate, how to start waking up and remembering who you are and where you're going
20:4420 minutes, 44 secondsin the world. And that's really important because we need a manual and a guidance. And these do it. They talk
20:5120 minutes, 51 secondsabout what goes on. And these are very emotionally done written books. I mean, this is everything that went on. And if
20:5920 minutes, 59 secondsyou're interested, then feel free to go either to my kathleen mflanigan.com site to get this or you can just buy them on Amazon as well.
21:0821 minutes, 8 secondsAnd I'm also al, you know, you can also go and on the Kathleen M. Flanigan's site and download the light activation
21:1621 minutes, 16 secondsguide which will be a very simple steps to start getting yourself back into a quiet place to where you can calm
21:2521 minutes, 25 secondsyourself down. So I would recommend going there just to try it on just to see if this fits for you and if it works
21:3221 minutes, 32 secondsfor you. And if this is something that feels good to you, then you can always come to my excuse me school community
21:4121 minutes, 41 secondswhich is I am the light sanctuary and you can just check it out. I mean it's you don't have to do anything. It's free
21:4821 minutes, 48 secondsto join right now and just come in and just look around and see if this is something. But it's not it's for people
21:5521 minutes, 55 secondslike us that need somebody to just talk to. It's for Excuse me. It's for the woman who's out
22:0322 minutes, 3 secondsthere, who's out there making things happen and is feeling lost, like she forgot who she was. She's losing herself
22:1022 minutes, 10 secondsalong the way, as so many of us have done it in the past. And we just don't want to continue to lose that way.
22:2022 minutes, 20 secondsSo, I want to thank you for joining me today. And if you want to keep up with what's going on, feel free to like and
22:2722 minutes, 27 secondssubscribe to the YouTube channel. If this helped you in any way, feel free to reach out. I would love to have a chat
22:3422 minutes, 34 secondswith you. I do have a call that you can do if you just needed somebody to talk to. I'm here for you on that as well.
22:4422 minutes, 44 secondsExcuse me. And next week I have Brianna Myers coming in to talk about quantum healing. This time we might get this one right.
22:5322 minutes, 53 secondsSo anyways, I want to thank you again for joining me and I will see all of you next Tuesday at 4 PM Eastern Standard
23:0023 minutesTime. And from a heart to yours, I hope you have a fabulous week.
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