The Intuition Paradigm Shift and Trusting Yourself
My guest, Julie Farha, has become one of the nation’s most sought out intuitives. She teaches people and companies how to apply intuition to everyday life and decision-making. We discussed what she calls the “intuition paradigm shift,” and
- living in an age where guiding your day-to-day activities and objectives through your intuition is a true asset
- everyone has intuition, and how to develop it for making business decisions
- a simple yes or no question to develop your gift of intuition
- how to marry your logic, research, and intelligence with intuition to grow your own business
“I realized at a very young age that I had this unique knowing of things, this intuition. I didn’t know what it was called at that time. I grew up in Wichita, Kansas, my family is Middle Eastern, we were an immigrant family. My family is Christian, we went to Catholic school, and this [intuition] was an unknown thing, unknown word, or concept.”
Connect with Julie
- Check out her website at: https://juliefarha.com/
- Connect with Julie on LinkedIn
Accelerate lasting success through harmony of mind, body, soul, and business
Transcript
JM: Hi, Julie, how are you?
JF: I’m great, Jenn. How are you?
JM: I’m so, so good. I have so many questions for you since you and I had our session together. Just to let our listeners have a little background information, you coach people but you really use your intuition which you are amazing at.
You and I had a session ahead of this podcast because I wanted to experience it for myself and it was so great. It started off as a conversation, I was crowdsourcing thoughts on how people make important decisions and a mutual friend introduced me to Julie and so I wound up having a session with her. After the session I’m like, “Julie, you have to be in my podcast. You’re so good.”
I am thrilled for you to share some of the information. First, tell us a little bit more about what you do. I know what my experience was but you offer more services as well. Tell us more about what you do.
JF: Gladly, thank you. I’m really excited to be here today. I love doing these kind of things. What I do is I offer people clear insights, that’s what I call really what I’m giving you. How I do that is I use my own intuition and psychic ability, if you will, to read the situations and read people and read dynamics.
I offer you the intricacies and the details of what’s really going on with a situation, with the challenge, with the people around involved in this as well. Then in that, you have all the information you need and you can decide what you want to do with the information and the direction. You can change something, accept something to create more of what you want with the situation and/or also, for sure, to have more peace with it.
It always comes back to you and your own inner wisdom and your own gifts and wiring, so to speak, as I call it and your own intuition and learning to really become more self-aware and connected with who you truly are so that you therefore begin to react and respond differently in situations. It happens a lot with entrepreneurs because they’re not always sure which way to go, really anything in life is what I help people with. Then I coach them. It’s more of a coaching thing.
JM: I love this because I think that oftentimes, especially I think really successful entrepreneurs are known for having that gut instincts. It’s like, “Oh, my gut says to do this.” To me, what I hear is, “Oh, my intuition is telling me that this is the deal to take, this is the person not to work with, whatever that situation is, that is what my gut instinct told me.” But I feel like it’s one of those things that people either have it pretty well honed or they don’t or they’re not listening to it. How did you end up in a career where you are utilizing your intuition to help people build their careers and businesses and learn to hone their own intuition? How did you wind up in a career built around your intuition?
JF: That is a good question and I will try to give you a brief description.
JM: Tell us everything.
JF: I realized at a very young age that I had this unique knowing of things, this intuition. I didn’t know what it was called at that time. I grew up in Wichita, Kansas, my family is Middle Eastern, we were an immigrant family. My family is Christian, went to Catholic school, and this was an unknown thing, unknown word, or concept. As I got older, I began to understand what this was, what the information I was getting, where it was coming from, what it felt like, and the wisdom in this information.
When I started my own journey of self-discovery and personal growth in my early, early twenties, that’s when I really got clear on this and how to hone it more. Because everybody has intuition. They just don’t always trust it. I moved around a couple of times and changed careers. Soon enough I moved here to the Valley in 2003, that’s when I was really wanting to look into doing what I was really here to do, so to speak, and a lady that I knew said, “Oh, Southwest Institute for Healing Arts has a new coaching program. It was relatively new.”
JM: Oh, we have a fabulous reputation here in our home city of Arizona.
JF: Yes, they very much do. I jumped on that, I was the second class to go through and it all sort of evolved from there. It’s interesting because being from Wichita, I have to say, people don’t always know this about Wichita but Wichita is the home of a lot of entrepreneurial successful ventures, Koch industries, Pizza Hut, Rent-A-Center, Coleman Camper’s Lanterns, all from Wichita.
I’ve had an opportunity to speak to some of the gentlemen involved in these companies and what they always said to me when I ask them about their success, they would say – in so many words – that their motive for doing what they do and why they do it is they’re willing to take risks and they follow the gut.
JM: It’s so true, people who are known for making really wise decisions, I think it’s funny, I think especially men have that tendency to say, “Oh, it was my gut. It’s my gut instinct.”
JF: Yes, same thing as intuition. When men call it gut instinct, we call it intuition.
JM: Right. There’s so much that you just shared and I have so many questions. First of all, did you feel like the black sheep of the family? How difficult was that growing up in a family that was religious? I imagine my family were immigrants for like three or four generations ago. It wasn’t like my parents but I imagine what that must be like is like they’re already trying to fit in to this different culture. It’s like they come here and they’re trying to kind of assimilate and fit in and not stick out but then you have this kid who’s like totally different than everybody else in the family.
What was that like growing up? It’s very interesting to me about you that I think for a lot of people, intuition and psychic abilities get shut down as kids because they feel like the weirdos and parents tend to stamp that right out like, “I don’t believe in that, we’re not doing that.” I mean for lots of reasons, I think kids lose those skills but you like latched on, you like dug your heels, and you’re like, “Nope, this is my ability and I’m going with it. I’m going to make a career from it eventually.” What was that like growing up in that family dynamic? What were some of kind of your early experiences with intuition that really kind of solidify that for you?
JF: Okay, let’s start with this family thing. I knew that I was different this way but I really didn’t know why like I said. I pretty much kept it to myself because I was already different anyway. I was reading at the age of four, I was very hyper, my family didn’t quite know what to do with me, and then I had this.
Your comment about fitting in as an immigrant family was spot on. Strangely, believe it or not, there’s a lot of Lebanese in Wichita which is what my heritage is. My father was a foreigner. There’s a lot of Lebanese in Wichita so now that we thought that we weren’t that different, ugly but yet my family wanted us to assimilate. They didn’t teach us the language, we were the first non-catholics in the catholic school system, so we were very different in a lot of ways. So trying to fit in was very important.
I didn’t feel like I fit in just kind of in other ways but I really didn’t pay much attention to it. I just kept being in my own little world and doing what I do, swimming all the time, and just being a kid which I’m grateful for. It affected me more I think in business because the culture I was raised in was very much patriarchal and women weren’t discouraged from having careers. But they weren’t necessarily encouraged, your career was being a wife, a mother, and a full time volunteer.
JM: And a caretaker.
JF: Yeah, exactly. I mean my family members could run this country with their skillset from what they do, no doubt. But women weren’t supposed to make more than the man and there was all these other very sexist, chauvinistic things that I had to bust through. That was an ongoing thing later in life.
But when you mentioned me grabbing on to my intuition and not letting it go, I kind of didn’t have a choice, my fantasies were so unique and so loud so to speak that I couldn’t ignore it. The first time I ever recognized this was I was young, I wasn’t even ten, I want to say around eight, and I was at my parent’s house and my aunt was coming in town to visit. We had this great aunt we all loved and her whole family was just fun. Whenever aunt Marilyn was coming in town, we all get really excited.
Mom said, “Oh, aunt Marilyn is coming to town this weekend,” and I had this knowing that she wasn’t going to. I just feel it actually in my body, I could feel this, “No, she’s not coming.” I didn’t say anything. She didn’t come. The weekend came and my aunt didn’t come. That was my first memory of something of getting this unique information in a very typical way, that was actually true.
JM: That’s interesting.
JF: Then more of those things would happen and they would just get more and more obvious in a way that you couldn’t discount them.
JM: Moving forward from that point, I mean, how did you kind of continue? It sounds like it was already pretty well developed so maybe the question is how can the rest of us develop our intuition? How do we start to really develop those? I wonder too, do you think is it physical for everybody when they’re kind of getting those messages or are there different ways that people have that knowing? How do we develop that?
JF: Okay, good question. Your level of intuition is directly related to your level of fear and the opposite of that is trust. The more you trust it and yourself, the more loudly and clearly it will come through and the more “intuition” you will have that you can even quantify it that way. I mean, not just trusting your intuition but trusting yourself in general.
For example, if you’re one who’s on a journey of spirituality or self-help, personal growth, somehow trying to evolve and become a better version of yourself, one of the outcomes is that you begin to trust yourself more and more and you have less fear. Therefore your intuition will just be more obvious, more loud, and more instant. That’s why I “hone” mine and that’s why I tell other people that’s how you “hone” it. The more you use it, the more it will work.
Now, what I often talk about is the tangibility of intuition like the gut feeling. Everybody can relate to what a gut feeling actually feels like. Now, for me I’m very kinesthetic so my intuition is a knowing, it’s also a feeling, like I feel it in my stomach, chest, or all over sensation. A yes or a no for example feels different. Intuition is answering a yes or no question. You can feel it in your body if you practice it and you become more aware of it because it’s happening anyway. Part of how to get more familiar with it and improve it is to recognize a sensation and trust them more when you get them.
JM: That’s interesting. What are some examples of some sensations that someone might feel if it’s maybe not kind of a physical presentation? Is that always like a physical presentation like when you’re working with your clients? What are some of the ways that they’re getting those yeses or nos?
JF: That’s a good question. Psychic ability, “Intuition can come through four ways, knowing, seeing, feeling, and hearing.” We all get it in one of those ways, if not all four.
JM: Oh, got it. Okay.
JF: They all come through your physical body for example. Like if you have vision, you will see things in their mind’s eye or they get images, they see colors, some can see auras, you see it, that is something you visually see. But you might get a yes or no answer from that and you will feel it in your body.
When I talk about that, what I mean is, everything you’re dealing with, every question you’re asking, every decision you’re trying to make in particular – which is where intuition is so valuable – can be whittled down to a yes or no question. It could be maybe five yes or no questions to get to the whole answer, the whole picture, but it’s a yes or no question.
JM: To get to the bottom of it.
JF: Yes. Yes will feel like you feel in perhaps your solar plexus or your chest or even in all over sensation, you’ll feel lightness of warmth, a movement, or a peaceful open feeling. That’s a very clear yes and these are instant sensations. If it’s a no, it will feel like a weight, a pressure, a constriction, a heaviness, something a little bit uncomfortable, not concerning uncomfortable but a little bit uncomfortable and that’s a no. It doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just simply no.
JM: Interesting. That’s so interesting.
JF: And again, these are fleeting sensations.
JM: When you’re working with your clients, most of the time are you utilizing that skill on their behalf or are you teaching people to do that?
JF: Both. When I’m reading the situations and giving in the insights, I’m using mine definitely. Then we do the coaching aspects of the information I perceive, “Okay, what are we going to do with it?” I guide them to use this themselves and to trust these aspects for themselves more so that they can know when they’re on point and when they’re not.
Ultimately the proof is in the pudding if you like the outcome then, that’s why you want to use this more because you always like the outcome when you follow your intuition. But I do put a lot of that into this because ultimately, I don’t want people to need me. I want them to be able to really do this themselves and trust their own guidance that they have. Socrates said, “True insight comes from within,” and what I hope for everyone is they really grasp that.
JM: Ooh, that’s so good. That brings me to like five more questions, so many questions for you. It’s interesting to me because we keep talking about trust. One of the things that you and I had discussed earlier was really trusting the process. I know you say that was a challenge for you and it is definitely a challenge for me.
I have a social media company that I started in 2005. I still have that business. I’ve learned so much over the course of time. It’s interesting because it has been really helpful for me in growing Catalyst where I am working with women entrepreneurs to help them change the way the world sees them in terms of their brand, help them change the way they see themselves in some instances where we’re working on some of the inner self image stuff that makes it harder to project the image that you want to publicly… and really helping them to grow their businesses and it’s my passion.
I feel like I’m in this place where I am serving my ultimate purpose like we are damn good in social media and my social media business. But I love working with women entrepreneurs. I’m growing their businesses. It’s been tough because there’s part of me that knows like I know logically it’s tough to grow a business and it takes time even if you’re doing everything right, even if it’s as effortless as it can be because you’re kind of going with the flow and you’re collaborating with the powers that be. But there’s part of me that feels like because I’ve already done it, I want it now.
I think, I launched this business in January of this year, like calm down. But it’s so hard to just trust the process because one of the things you and I talked about in my session was how right now, despite the fact that I feel like I want it right now, the roots are growing deep. It’s like creating something that is going to be so helpful and really be of such service to my women entrepreneur clients. What is important right now is just trusting the process that right now, in this moment, it’s about letting it all really come together and take on a life of its own.
But trust is so hard and I think especially when we’re talking about making business decisions, it feels like the stakes can be so high like, “Oh, let me trust my gut.” But I feel like it’s one of those they say like trust but verify. We use that with my kids all the time. “I’m going to trust that you’re making the decision that you said you’re going to make but I’m going to verify that you did it.”
I think what’s important in business too is getting all the information that’s available to you as you’re trusting your instinct or trusting your gut. But how did you get to that place where you were able to really trust like, “I’m making this huge decisions based on my intuition and this feeling that I’m getting?” How do you teach entrepreneurs to do that? Because it does feel really frightening. I think it has led to some of the best outcomes I’ve ever had. But then I think, “Oh, gosh, this is going to be the time that I used my gut and it was wrong,” how do you learn to trust that process?
JF: First of all, it was truly your intuition . It’s more about interpreting the information it’s giving you. This is going to be a bit of a multi-faceted answer here. It’s difficult for people to trust their intuition anyway because it’s really trusting yourself. It can be difficult I should say, but it’s there for you, it’s your friend. The more you get familiar with it, the more you’ll have it and I trust this all alone.
But in business, it’s a little bit different because like you said, stakes are high, so many things that stake it, the stakes are very high. And also the implementation and growing a business is very linear, very intellectual, and very left-brain. There are things we are told to do to implement a business successfully; you have marketing 101 or all these ten things you need to do on a daily basis. These things, I’m not at all suggesting that are not correct. But I believe we’re in a kind of a new time here – now this is a paradigm shift I’m suggesting so realizing that and I’ve seen a lot of people here that where trusting your intuition or letting that guide your day-to-day business decisions is truly an asset and your intellect will help you implement what your intuition is telling you in your business.
If you have that push-pull of, “I want to follow my intuition but I’m not sure if it’s right and the stake is really high here,” then merge them beautifully, marry them. Take a few moments, understand what your intuition is telling you, “Is it a yes or no? Should I do this or do this?” And then use your intellect to implement it so you feel more confident in trusting it because you know you’re using both. It grounds what your intuition is telling you. It takes away some of the fear.
For me, I still get on my head, “Oh, no it’s supposed to be done this way, you’re supposed to do this and this and this,” and when I follow that, and my intuition hasn’t validated that, which you can do, definitely, I don’t want the outcome and I don’t even like the experience of proceeding that way. It’s still like a drudgery.
JM: Will you say that again? I think that was super profound.
JF: I will try.
JM: I really want to just place some emphasis and unpack that comment so it’s talking about, if I hear what you’re saying correctly because I can relate to it, but I think it’s along the lines of if you are doing what you think you should be doing, and this is what women entrepreneurs do, this is what women do, we have this great sense of obligation to everyone and everything at all times. We have to make everyone happy, we have to take care of everyone, we have to take care of our children, sometimes, we’re taking care of our parents. We have all these obligational things you should be doing versus what your intuition tells you. When you do the things that you feel like you should do out of a sense of obligation versus what your intuition tells you, we’re not always happy with the results. I feel like I do this all the time. That is like profound.
JF: We’re not comfortable with the journey, that’s your indication of when you’re not aligned with that. Business implementation is such a task-oriented thing. It’s a micro-task oriented thing. The intuition is the bigger picture of it and the feeling of the task that you want to do, should, or shouldn’t be doing.
What I said before was, if I can recall this, I believe the challenge is getting comfortable with what feels right. You can’t think your way into intuition, it’s the feeling, I don’t mean emotion, it’s a sensation, it’s a knowing. To get more comfortable with what feels right and trust yourself, allow yourself and give yourself permission to follow that. Then use what your intellect is telling you to implement, what your intuition is telling you and merge them both so that way you don’t feel like you’re being irresponsible. You are meeting responsibilities, you’re taking care of business, you’re not just jumping off into this realm of what might be and ignoring all intellect and intelligence here, you’re merging them both.
When you’ve done that, when you’ve followed what your intuition is guiding you to doing in each moment with your business or with whatever you’re dealing with – but we’re talking about business now – the implementation of it is much more elegant, it’s much enjoyable. It doesn’t mean there’s not work involved. It doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a bit of a drudgery but if you’re in the flow and you’re moving, it’s a lighter unfolding of that particular process when you have done it that way, truly. When you haven’t, in my experience, it is drudgery the whole time.
JM: That is so true. God, that’s so good, Julie. You’re so good at what you do. That’s why I wanted you on my podcast.
JF: Thank you, thank you.
JM: It’s so brilliant, it’s so true.
JF: But it’s the way that feeling your way through it.
JM: Right, it’s so funny what you say because people talk about things being effortless. I think in business, that’s so hard to relate to because I don’t think ever anything is ever truly like effortless
When you’re talking about being in the flow, things are I think less difficult and cumbersome and less red tape when you’re in that place of flow. I think of that as becoming more effortless. It’s like when things fall into place, it’s because you’ve utilized your intuition, merged it with your intellect, the proof and the research, and all the kind of analytical pieces that make up a good business decision. But really having your intuition show up there is what gets you into that flow of ease, it’s such good stuff.
JF: What you were talking about earlier, to get this business going, you want it done now and there’s a process of trusting like we talked about before. But I recently read something that said, “Depression is creativity that’s not being able to be channeled outwards so it goes inward.” I don’t think I’m saying that right, I’m not quoting it correctly but how I took that to mean was when we’re creative people, when you’re doing a business, you have an aspect of creativity too. When you’re not able to express that outwardly, you get depressed or I’m going to extend upon that frustrated, impatient, self-doubt, all that kind of comes in.
JM: What’s the anecdote? Is that continuing to find creative outlet?
JF: For me, I would suggest, what I would tell you as a client is using your intuition as guide to what to do next or what to play with next – even if it’s writing a blog or something to play with – to put your energies outwardly into something that keeps you in motion towards your goal, to staying in motion somehow even if it’s doing something creative like doing a coloring book, getting that juice going.
JM: I love that.
JF: Then other inspirations can come with what you want to do in your business. The biggest thing for me that I can recommend to people with this new paradigm of how to go about creating a business, doing your business, or even anything in life – but I don’t always do this, I’m going to admit that – but my intention is do every morning, I have my practice of getting myself clear and doing whatever you do, meditation, whatever you do and I ask myself, “Okay,” what I allow/give myself permission that morning so let’s just say, “be guided by inspired action,” being open to all opportunities, experiences, and inspired actions. But you have to sort of set the tone, you have to put yourself in that place to be open to that happening into paying attention to what’s happening. You have the things you have to do that day, you already had your checklist but there’s opportunities in there for other inspirations to come through and for your intuition to guide the next steps.
JM: I love that, that’s such kind advice.
JF: So you can create a practice in the morning to get yourself set up for that and then just let it go and see what happens. That’s how it unfolds.
JM: Yeah. I’ve got my morning ritual.
JF: As long as we can stay out of our head.
JM: Yeah, it’s so important to have that morning ritual. I think that really sets the tone for me. It’s a number of things. I’m very sensory. Even this morning, I posted a picture of my podcasting area set, it’s got mood lighting, and I’ve got a candle. It’s just these things that kind of create the energy that you’re looking for. But I love those rituals, if it’s an oil, the diffuser, and if it’s spending some time.
I fought meditation for so long. I’m so in my head and finally for me it was listening to instrumental music. Because there’s that part of the really active kind of logical, analytical brain that I needed to just occupy somewhere. It’s like when your kids are crazy, you see to occupy them to calm the energy down. It was that part of my mind. But those rituals are hugely important, I think, in getting into that place. Then I feel like for the rest of the day, it’s so easy. If things are getting crazy and it’s two minutes in my car before meeting, it’s easier for me to take that two minutes to just get centered and grounded into my intuitions. I think that’s amazing advice.
Is there ever a time that you feel like you should not intuit? For example, one thing that’s really important for me is we host a series of dinners for women entrepreneurs where we get together. We place a lot of emphasis on facetime because everything is so technology driven in social media. I think sometimes, we just want to sit, break bread, have a glass of wine, and connect with each other. But I personally won’t drink during those dinners.
I have my celebration glass at the end of a great dinner but I like to be able to employ my skills of intuition while I’m having these conversations. I feel like it is my duty to come to that from a very clear space. My personal rule is I don’t like to drop on my intuition if I’ve been drinking so I tend to just not drink very much. Are there any other kind of things that you think people should, “This is not the time for you to be doing this, you’re tired, you’re sick, or you’ve been drinking?” What are some of those pitfalls that you like to see people circumvent when it comes to paying attention to their intuition?
JF: Oh, girl, you are really over thinking this. Remember your intuition is a feeling. It’s a knowing. It happens automatically and it can happen automatically. Some people just naturally propel themselves from that place and aren’t even conscious of it. I understand what you mean about the drinking, like you, I’m not going to have a glass of wine if someone’s going to be paying me to reach for them, no, I think there’s an integrity issue there.
JM: Like any job you would do.
JF: Right. I also know that I’ve had a glass of wine with a girlfriend and all the stuff just comes bouncing through. It doesn’t mean it can’t be there, it’s just a matter of how much more comfortable you are trusting it. Either way, it doesn’t negate it from being present or from that being true if you are on judgment of that.
JM: Got it.
JF: Again, it’s already happening anyway.
JM: Maybe have the glass of wine and let the things come through but don’t make the phone calls and do the deals while you’re still drunk. Make a no for tomorrow.
JF: Yeah. You better do what feels right. If you feel plugged in turned on, you do it, no matter what’s going on. The ritual is grounding yourself and opening yourself up and then it doesn’t really matter what else is going on. But it can be so automatic. But those external things don’t matter.
JM: Got it, and I do over think.
JF: For some, it’s more for some people, it comes more naturally. For others, it’s a skill that you need to hone. But everybody has intuition but not everybody is psychic. The psychic stuff really just comes through no matter what. I can’t really help that. As long as it’s happening the most times and I can tell you that too.
JM: What’s the difference between being psychic and utilizing your intuition?
JF: It’s a good question. Like I said, everybody has intuition but not everybody’s a psychic. How I define that or I see the difference is to me, psychic ability is a more advanced intuition. It’s more and it’s something that’s part of your wiring, it’s not necessarily something that you learned, it’s part of your wiring.
JM: Okay, got it. It’s one of those things you kind of have it or you don’t so it’s not like your intuition where it’s like a muscle and you can kind of develop that. Interesting.
JF: It can accelerate and it can advance, absolutely like your intuition. That’s happened to me my whole life and very interesting time but it’s just part of how you’re wired.
JM: Got it. What advice do you have for women entrepreneurs to continue to develop that sense of intuition and to utilize that? I mean any advice in general. I know you work with a lot of business people but what advice do you have for women entrepreneurs that you would share in terms of using their intuition to grow their businesses?
JF: I’m going to share about some of the lady entrepreneurs I’ve worked with, a couple of things, first I would say, “Yes, you have it. I’m telling you you have it, so you have it. But you do have it, trust that. Just accept the fact that you have an intuition. Then start playing with it seeing it in play in very easy, non-threatening way. It’s like ask yourself a yes or no question about some decision that’s not a big of a deal, what’s task for dinner, what direction to go to work, something very easy that’s not a high stake thing. You can feel what that yes or no feels like and you can start to get more comfortable with it. Then you’ll be more inclined to use it with bigger things. Even recognize what you’re already have been using and you didn’t even know it.” Think of women as more, we’re pretty clear when we’re using it but if there’s some fear around that, you might not be realizing how much you’re already using it anyway.
One lady I spoke to said, “I give these intuitions all the time but I don’t follow them, why is that?” It was a great question for her because her concern, her fear around it was, “I’m not good enough, women aren’t supposed to be successful so a lot of women aren’t supposed to be successful,” etc, etc. So I got to ride into that and when she was able to see that then she was more comfortable trusting it because she solved the illusion of those helping her. If you have some fear around trusting it, go in that and then figure out why, that’s the real personal journey.
JM: I love that.
JF: But you’re already trusting in the intuition in your life, I can guarantee you that. Play with it, see where you are using it automatically, and not questioning it, and then expand on that.
JM: Oh, that’s such good advice. I love that. Last but not least, I could just keep asking you questions forever and I know we don’t have time for that but one thing I do, and I talked to you a little bit about this, as of the time of this recording, mercury is going into retrograde. You told me about a lunar eclipse, which I’m just going to go cry after this because I didn’t even know that was happening. But I guess it’s good to be aware like we know what’s going on. Talk to us about what impact that’s going to have?
JF: Okay, so I’m going to try to put some positive spin on this/
JM: Thank you, please.
JF: Yeah, this is all astrology so take it or leave it. But mercury retrograde is when the planet mercury goes retrograde for two times a year for about three and a half weeks at a time and mercury to planet has two indications, why it’s called retrograde, it means all communications are off, things are kind of stopped, there’s misinterpretations, there’s missed appointments, little things that can go wrong tend to go wrong more often, emotions are heightened, tensions are little higher, things like that. I have some friends who have never believed in this and then they call me and said, “Okay, mercury retrograde,” and I said, “Yes.” Okay, now they’re believers.
JM: Oh, totally.
JF: Because it’s just a chaotic time so it’s really an important time to go with the flow, really go with the flow, don’t get hang up on details, don’t get things too seriously or too personally because you’re going to have to stand your toes and just really not take things too seriously.
Now, this lunar eclipse, eclipse is apparently, I’m not an astrologer so let me tell you that but from what I understand, from what I’ve read, eclipse is our time of bringing in a lot of change and the energy of an eclipse lasts about six months the solar eclipse, two weeks ago which always goes with the new moon and the lunar is this weekend which is the full moon. Again, I’m not an astrologer so keep that in mind.
JM: We’re in this for like the rest of the year then, this lasts for like six months.
JF: I mean, the impact, the changes it can bring. Change doesn’t have to be bad. It can just be unexpected. We’ve all been working on a lot of things within ourselves, with our lives, and with our world which has so much chaos and this can amplify some of the chaos in a negative way, it can also bring in a lot of change you’ve been working towards.
JM: Clear the way, got it, okay.
JF: Change can create chaos, even positive change. So that can be chaotic in and off itself. But from what I understand, this lunar eclipse is like the most significant one, most unique one in the whole century because when the eclipse happens – it’s going to take like an hour and twenty minutes or something like that. It’s kind of a big deal.
It might be a little overly emotional, a little more intense don’t take it so seriously, flow with it, don’t take things personally, and be excited to experience some changes. We’ve been wanting to change because that’s going to happen too, it’s not all scary, bad stuff.
JM: I love that and I think oftentimes, some of the advice that I give to my clients when I’m working with them is many, many times in my life as an entrepreneur – and I’ve learned to utilize this in my personal life too – when huge change comes, even if it’s unexpected, sometimes, you really can look at that, I often ask them, “How can it benefit you? How can you look at it at this change as a way to pivot into something else you’ve been wanting to do or big change that you’ve been looking for? What are the benefits?” Because I think so often, we are deserved creatures of habit and we have this tendency to look at what am I about to lose versus what could I gain.
JF: Change is always bad.
JM: Totally. It’s interesting because there are these psychology studies that show – especially we use this a lot in marketing and advertising – where people are more afraid of what they will lose than what they could possibly gain. That’s why unfortunately, you see a lot of marketing that’s kind of fear-based marketing, what bad things can happen. But we have this tendency to sort of think in those terms.
Anyway, I love what you say like change doesn’t have to be bad and even if it’s something unexpected, it could either accelerate something that you’ve been trying to do or if it’s something totally unexpected, how do you use that to your benefit. So thank you, I feel better now.
JF: And one more thing about the mercury retrograde, they happen about every three or four months, I think like three times a year, sometimes four. How I see the retrograde is its final deep excavation, “a final purging of stuff,” we’ve been working on the previous one.
JM: That’s good.
JF: It’s just the constant advancement of you as a person in all ways so it’s like the final purging of what you’ve been dealing with.
JM: Alright, super grateful to the mercury and retrograde.
JF: Exactly. Be grateful to chaos.
JM: Just get rid of that residue. Get rid of the stuff. Perfect, thank you so much, Julie. I just love talking to you and you give me this different perspective on things. I always leave the conversation feeling happier and more positive so I appreciate it. Tell people where they can find you. What’s your website?
JF: My website is juliefarha.com.