USE NEUROPLASTICITY OF THE BRAIN TO HEAL FROM DEPRESSION! #Chapter2 #35 #Part2

Feeling stuck in emotional pain? Discover the art of neuro drawing and how faith, curiosity, and empathy support mental health and healing.
In this episode, we explore how addiction recovery, spiritual growth, and God’s unconditional love intersect to ignite lasting transformation. Learn how pain can lead to self-discovery, how empathy deepens our connection with others, and how even karma is a sign of divine grace. This conversation offers soul-level encouragement for anyone on the path of depression healing and spiritual renewal.  Whether you're questioning your faith, healing from trauma, or seeking meaning in hardship, this episode is here to support you.

View all LINKS and supporting content mentioned in this episode HERE: https://imaquarius.com/use-neuroplasticity-of-the-brain-to-heal-from-depression-chapter2-35-part2/
This episode is for you if:
•  You’re navigating emotional pain and searching for deeper spiritual meaning
•  You want to heal from addiction or support someone who is
•  You feel weighed down by guilt and want to understand God’s unconditional love
•  You’re curious about how karma and grace work together
•  You long to replace judgment with empathy and curiosity
•  You question your faith but still want a relationship with God
•  You seek practical, faith-based tools for depression healing
•  You want to feel more joy in the small, everyday moments
•  You’re open to the idea that pain can be a path to growth
•  You’re ready to transform how you see yourself and others through God’s eyes

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Chapters

• 0:00 God's Love, Atonement & Spiritual Healing
• 3:45 Emotions, Faith & the Power of Compassion
• 7:15 From Judgment to Empathy and Curiosity
• 11:00 Healing Shame & Embracing Spiritual Growth
• 14:15 Light, Darkness & Hearing the Divine Voice
• 18:15 Depression Healing Through Faith & Purpose
• 22:45 Choice, Desire & the Path to Self-Discovery
• 26:15 Building Emotional Awareness & Emotional Safe Spaces
• 30:15 Connection, Mentorship & Inner Transformation
• 34:15 Finding Joy, Support & God’s Role in Healing

Transcript

0:16

do I not know about me, about them, about you? What do I not know? That's repentance. That's Well, and the people we come into contact with, the ones that really affect us in ways that are really hurtful or cause us pain where we're like, what did I ever do to you? realized that it's an opportunity and a humbling opportunity where if that is in my space, that cruelty or whatever that emotion is, is within me somewhere. Where is it? Yeah... do I release this so that I don't have to repeatedly relive this karma? Because I think we like to blame other people for the pain that we feel when other people do things that are hurtful. But I've learned to stop and say, okay, this just happened. Interesting. I didn't know that was in there. I'm going to go look for it and try to try to Christ goes, hey, can I look at it with you? Can I help you? Can I shake a bottle and help you release no matter what we do, He'll still want us. I think as women, I think we want so badly to be cherished and wanted and loved that significant other would never wander or leave us and just that surety and safe. And again, a lot of us don't have that experience on this planet. And so we can project that onto our divine, loving brother, Jesus Christ, when want us no matter what we do, no matter where we go, I still want you in the most intense way possible. Yes, yes, so beautiful. I was working with a group, they were in the Uniting Your Belief class, and this idea of not being worthy, not deserving, what do want me to know right now? What do need me to know? And spoke this beautiful thing. I love it when it happens real time, right? And I said, okay, I have a question. Do you have any influence and or power to make the sun not rise? Do you have any ability? And his course is no. Okay, what about it not to shine? Do you have any power, even if you want it so bad, do you have any power within yourself to stop that sun from shining? And she goes, no. And I go, you have absolutely no power at all over how much God loves you. There is absolutely nothing that you can do that changes it. You can't even make Him feel bad. He's God and He knows how to emotionally regulate, if you will. A human isn't gonna make Him feel like, oh, I'm such a bad God today, right? We have no impact on His love. Absolutely none. We cannot change it. We cannot feel it. We can stay inside the house instead of going outside and being in the sun. We can do that, but we cannot on any level, as our little human selves, change how much He loves us. Absolutely impossible. Now, I believe that one of these pathways that we've got culturally is that blessings equal love. Because if I'm not blessed, that's because I haven't been doing enough, and when I do enough, then I get the blessing. That's a false belief. So this is how I picture. even the not so great ones when we're suffering for something we've done, it's an act of love. It's literally a sign of his love that I love you so much. I want you to learn this thing or I want your family line to learn this thing. You agreed to do this. You wanted to do this. I'm helping you to do this. You don't remember, but it's always loving. Even if it doesn't feel like it at the time, we can be that toddler, He knows. He can see the big picture. It's always out of love. There's no punishment with God. We punish ourselves. Well, and we believe in transactional love. conditional, right? So picture you in a driving lesson, right? And God is the instructor, okay? Or Christ. And they're sitting there and He goes, okay, so we're gonna move forward. You need to push the pedal. And you go, no, I don't want to. He's like, okay, doesn't change my love. Ha ha ha! chose not to push the pedal and that's okay. I can sit here because I just love your presence and you don't even have to push the pedal. I'll just sit here with you and you can blame me because I do have the power to move the car, but I would really love you to learn how to drive. I'll just sit here and then when we push the pedal and we move forward, we have this thing in our head that now He loves us more. Nope. No, we just push the pedal and the result was a thing. And that's what commandments are. They're just instructions. And if we don't, and we don't again, and we don't again, and it causes us to suffer, or our behavior impacts somebody else and they struggle because of our not doing it, right? He's calling you back and going, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, come here. Do you remember? I know, I know, you like to be independent. I know. I'm going to go help them over there because what just happened isn't okay and we need to change this. You need to push the pedal. Can you just push the pedal? Yeah, I'll push the pedal. get off of the leg you just ran over, please. Because He can't change our freedom of choice, right? He go against it. And so we do things to each other in our freedom of choice that causes wounds all the time. And He can do two things. He can help you re-center back on Him where all of your trajectory is going where it should be, And if somebody else has done something, that has caused that pain, He knows what to do to answer that in love and help you not keep all of that energy inside your physical frame. but I love to believe that the blood that He shed was all of the negative emotions that He experienced because He had to experience emotion his in life or He could not have been empathetic. experience that sometimes my childhood, I believed that He only experienced negative emotions when He was in the garden because otherwise He was perfect. No, no, no. He experienced things and He knew how to repair and He knew what to do. And He had extra stuff for sure. It was the release process that after He left the garden, He was fully pure. He was only one negative emotion away from failing us. Think about that. Just one, He left everything in the garden. So by the time He gets to that moment where Peter cuts off the ear, He just is able to heal because has no negative anything. You said, that triggered a place in me and I need to go find it so that I can move it. He moved all of that. And so He knows how. He knows what to do when other people have done stuff to us and when we've done stuff, He knows what to do to help you release that from every part of you. He knows and He desires so deeply to just do it and He's grateful when you let Him and it's just, a beautiful thing when we can get our thoughts in alignment with absolute love. And I think it's not always our stuff. I want to reiterate that, that if you're like, well, I'm not a cruel person. They were so cruel to me. people in the concentration camps, like really? Like that's all in them. They didn't do anything to deserve it. Maybe not you, but maybe from an ancestor that needs addressing. So it's not always you, but you still have the responsibility to look at it. Or maybe someone you know, who's suffering who's connected you at that moment. I find that out all the time. I... Yeah. Well, for example, just when I was driving my husband to this mineral hot springs the other day, I started feeling the racing heartbeat and it was like up in my throat and I was like, this isn't me. I knew immediately because I don't have that kind of anxiety. I just don't. But when that happens, I'm like, who's this? Who is this? So it happened. was about of good 10 minutes of this. I was trying to just kind of process it away and it wasn't working. So I stopped the car, got out, ran around a little bit and then asked, who is this? The names of the people came to me pretty quick. I asked for their anxiety to leave and immediately gone. it's a lot of times when we feel it's not even us, it could be a friend, someone that we're sharing that energy in that moment. No, and that's absolutely true. I believe that there are those on this earth, you one of them, that is a chain breaker, and you're here to change that energy around. that's the reality. And I think the depression, there was one moment probably 15 years ago, I'd been doing a lot of meditation, I was really sinking in depression, no matter what I did. It just wouldn't go, And... I was talking to the Lord about it and there was this interesting moment where He said, you're absorbing what others can't carry. And the problem is, sweetheart, you don't know how to discharge it yet. You're not broken. You're not broken. You're not flawed. You're not bad and you're not weak because of this. And I can teach you what to do to shift this out. You don't have to carry it. But there are people who don't have the capacity to carry like you can. It's not like I seek people take their stuff on. But I can see, and then you probably have this too. You walk into a room, and you don't even have to know who the person is, but you can feel the one. Usually I'll feel it later. I'll be like, I carried something home. Which one was it from the party that I talked to or that I looked at? And then I'll have to go from there. for me, I feel like I pick up things I make judgmental thoughts, which is sinful. I mean, that's not good. So it's not always a good thing. It's something I need to learn that it's not my job to suffer for other people or judge other people. Christ chose to suffer for us so we didn't have to. Yeah, absolutely. So profound to know that kind of stuff, right? changes. Yeah, you don't have to carry it. energies work and how God is in all of it and that you have access to it. Whereas I think a lot of church members in particular are very black and white and they're thinking God has this job. I have this job. He literally told us to be like Him. We're here in training. He said, be ye even as I am. We can do miracles. Can I share with you the thing that kills judgment every single time? Every single time, curiosity kills judgment. Every single time. And that's with you as well as with other people and as well as with God. My husband is not a member and I actually work at the temple and I forgot my shoes one day. So I texted Him as I threw the phone into the locker as I'm going into a meeting and He comes in his t-shirt and his shorts with a grocery bag and He's like, I need to give these to my wife. The guy at the recommend desk was very judgmental immediately. And He's like, I don't know what you're doing here. Like, I don't know what He said. I think my husband had some anxiety walking in those doors anyway, right? So there was a woman that was there and she said, she's in some prayer meeting. She goes, I know exactly where she is. I'll take care of it. Don't worry. Right. And so that was taken care of. But if that man had stopped and gotten curious, because He judged Him as not belonging. Immediately. This is outside the norm and I'm going to judge this. If He had gone, wonder why a man is walking in here with a grocery bag in his shorts. This is a curious thing. Then it becomes non-judgmental immediately. The moment you say, wonder why. you ever been to the temple before? but He didn't go put on his tie, you know, to walk in to give me shoes, right? We are not taught to be curious. We are taught the standard must be met. And I listened to a thing from Jared Halverson, I love Him, and He was talking about the cross. And there are those who really follow every statute and it's like, this is how you do it. And they don't want to deviate, right? And people who are all loving of people have a hard time with them and they have a hard time with people who are loving everybody. And He says, it is the cross in action. These are the steps. Christ followed every single one to get there. That is the pole and the outstretched arms gathering people. That is the cross and the place is the heart where all of that meets. I love the fact that both are true. don't judge and let everybody in regardless of what they're wearing. Right? That's old school thought. And it's not there anymore. They're training all the time. No judgment, no judgment. But we're not saying get curious. It changes everything. and that has the energy of judgment. anybody in the psychology realm knows that you focus on what you want, not what you don't want. So instead of preaching, don't judge, say get curious replace it with that. eh curious about everything and then check in with God and say, help me understand what I need to think in order for me to feel what you desire me to feel so that I can behave in the way that is the most beneficial to me and everyone around. It's all about that belief. It's all about belief. And I think that I see so many people leave the church because they claim hypocrisy and, whole slew of excuses, but anyone who understands that yes, there's a lot of hypocrisy, there's a lot of judgment, and it's a result of many things, which we could discuss in a different podcast, if the foundation is true, the Book of Mormon is legit. I love the Book of Mormon. if I was to leave, I'd say, I don't need this anymore. Like we need people who can see the truth for what it is and look past the faults and be curious. I wonder why those are there. They're not doctrinal, but I can be part of this organization and bring more clarity. and bring more kindness and compassion and not make those judgments that would make me feel validated or... justified in saying, I don't want to be part of this anymore. It's really interesting to me because the ones who are judging, as I've said, in curiosity and witnessed and watched what is driving them, it's almost like they're protecting God. They've got the sword out and say, you can't do this, He said, and so I'm going to defend that. I'm like, do you really, I mean, do you really need to defend Him because I think He's got it, right? I've got a neighbor. that is so afraid of anything outside that just the rhetoric that we speak that she's closed herself up, she doesn't have a lot of friends and she judges and she judges and she judges and she's like in this little sanctuary hole of righteousness. And I go, sweetheart, you're so afraid. Yeah, the fear keeps a lot of people from being open to the gifts and the miracles that God has in store for them through often other people, angels on this earth who have healing gifts that they would love to share with you. There's definitely a dark side. You have to be careful because there's people who use their gifts in a way that's not, you gotta get a feel and you gotta be prayerful and vigilant. that if you're not willing to even try because you have this box and you think, no, it's my lot in life to endure to the end and to suffer. That's what He wants. I used to think that kind of, cause I just thought, well, He's not healing me, so He must want this for me. And I was just so closed off to that wasn't mainstream because the church can be very mainstream. have a water bottle with a bunch of stickers on it. And these are all my sayings. My friend and ended up doing this for me, because they're saying things I say all the time. But this one, I don't know if you can see it, it says, I can do hard things. I choose not to. Because we believe in this enduring to the end thing, right? And it's like, I'm a good saint if I'm struggling. So why do the pinky Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, enduring to the end, that's my last step. And it's hard. And it's like, no, no, no, I challenged and I said, the end of what, Lord? Is it really life? Like, what are we ending? And it was really cool because He said, the end of this change, what I'm doing with you, right now. Tilt threw the process of molding you into using the Atonement, which kind of hurts sometimes, that process, as you're releasing, just like Christ did with his blood. But after... Well, so here's a thought. Every once in Lord goes, nudge nudge, hey, sweetheart, we need to change something. This isn't going as well and you're just, there's a lot of pain and I would really like to lead you into something else, right? So faith, when I know that, repentance is I'm gonna let you have my mind and change this. Immersion, it gives me a dang experience that immerses me in the things that I've got to do in order to change. And as I do, I get power. And I endured to the end of that change. It's represented in the baptism. It's so cool. We think, yeah, we're going to come down and come up anew. But watch this. There's so much symbolism there. I went through a man hating stage. It was kind of after divorce. And I was like, why does a man need to stand in that water? Two people can go, yeah, she did it. I've been dunking myself practicing baptism since I was eight in the swimming pool. We all kind of did it. And again, I'm standing there and then I witness it and the Lord says, watch, honey, this is not a cute handhold. You are holding on to Christ and He is holding on to you. And you do not take the sledgehammer of doom and pound yourself into submission. He lowers you just enough for you to understand there needs to be a change. and you never bring yourself back up. He has his hand on your back at all times. There is nothing you are supposed to do without Him, sweetheart, always. And that changed so much for me, because I'm of like you, I'm really driven, you know? And all you have to do is be willing to get in the water. That's it. you have to do is present at the font and bend your knees. it's not in any kind of instruction manual, but the baptizer will always reach out like this to welcome you into the water. And if you can just witness Christ just going, come on, it's right here, I've got you. And I'm gonna stay with you through this entire change. I can do hard things. Every once in while, due to somebody else's choices, there's something that's very, very difficult. I happen to be experiencing one of those right now. I don't have to do it the hardest way. I've seen Him command people to do something and it looks really hard. And then I witnessed Him providing every single thing they need the easiest way possible along that journey. He wants to provide, I don't know, it's kind of his yoke is easy, his burden is light, like there's a thing. The principle's there. We're teaching each other at church. I mean, remember this. We're people we have prophets and general conference and we have loads and loads of history documents and access, but ultimately the way that you interpret what you're being taught is going to go through your own filter, but it's also going through their filter before they teach it to you. You have to have compassion for the fact that we have a limited ability to communicate truth. We're all imperfect. We're all trying. We're all in this together. I would say, religious organization, there's gonna be imperfections in it because there's people in it who are imperfect and we're all doing the best we can, but we're stronger together. matter what religion you are in, I feel like... you're true. to get this country back to church. I'm just going to say it. Absolutely. Absolutely. The biggest demon is shame. or feeling like people at church are shaming you and using it as an excuse not to go. Forgive them. Yes, they're being dumb. Allow them to be imperfect. Forgive them. It's the most Christ-like thing you can do. And that can be very, very, very difficult. And as I've talked to people who left the church and are leaving, if you really listen, it's always about the shame. There's some level of shame, not their own, but they're usually fighting against the judgment and the shame and all of this. I believe that that generation, 30's and down, they have come with so much light, they can't do shame. Like that's how I was raised. So I knew whether or not I was a good girl or bad girl, right? There was always the shame thing that we measured against. We were manipulated. We were taught. We were obedient to shame. Like all of that just was part of us. But there's too much light now. These kids are coming in. They cannot do it. I. They can't know they can't and if it's just one person, this one person when we have an entire group. Of people, it's called critical mass. and things are changing because of critical mass. And there's got to be those who are staying in this organization, in the church, sorting things out, modeling compassion, trying to be curious, all of those things so that when there is, hey, push the pedal, I need you to come back to some things, it's a safe place for them to stand in, right? Because it is so hard. I tried to leave for two years. I tried. And it was silent. Nobody knew. I sat on the bench. was done. Everything was a lie. It's one of the things that happens after a divorce because of all of the things you believe about that marriage and the dreams. And when that all crumbles, you question everything about everything. Mm-hmm. And there was a huge questioning. And there was this moment. It was two years in. And I was about to bounce. And Elder Holland gave his talk on the Book of Mormon. And it was a fifth Sunday. They were supposed to do something else. And the bishop rolls in the TV and plays that thing. I've had really profound experiences with the Book of Mormon. And I cannot deny that has happened. Right? And so now Elder Holland's speaking. And I'm like, OK, this isn't fair. nudge nudge. Hey, sweetheart, nudge nudge. And I said, all right, look, I will give you one week. You have one week to do something about all the crap that's going on in my life right now. I will read every single day, but you have got to show up. talk sassy sometimes to Him. And I gave Him two. And then I gave Him three. There were big things financially we were in ruin. My kid who's on spectrum was being beat up by the schools. My kids were so angry after divorce that they were eating each other alive and I'm just sitting watching it all. And I'm like you've got to do something that those situations didn't change but my peace about the fact that He's got it Started to change. And that was me coming back. Nobody even knew I left. Nobody even knew. There are so many who are just struggling and we don't know. And they're so afraid to speak. And there's why. What has happened that has taken you away so deeply from the trust that God is there and He loves you? What is it? it doesn't matter what it is. Come sit down and put my arm around you. have a situation with somebody that's really difficult. it's hard to talk to her. And so we kind of got together one day. I said, OK, I want to make a deal with you. Is it OK if when you text and I don't respond, is it OK for us to just go, she's struggling right now. And when she's ready, she'll come back and talk. Mm. go, is it okay that I have a hard time with some of these choices that you're making? And then on the other side, when I text and you don't respond to me and I invite you into a conversation and you go, I can't talk to you right now, is it okay if I just go, okay, I'm gonna let you have a moment to struggle and I'm just right here when you wanna circle back around. Can we let each other have a difficult time? Can we just do that? And the answer is, I would love that so much. was such a profound moment for both of us that it's okay that we're struggling. We don't understand some things, it's okay. And I want to be the safe place and if I'm not, I get to say, I'm not safe for you right now, honey. I'm not safe. And not have judgment that it means it's you. It just means I'm not in a place to be able to sort through stuff with you today. You know, that to me is that compassion It's that love, it's that being real, and it takes work. And the Savior is providing so much on this earth right now. So much light is flooding everything. And people think the opposite. They talk about the opposite a lot. the world's getting so dark It is the opposite. you say that the opposition that's so strong is only a reflection of the light that's getting brighter? Yeah. Absolutely. That there is opposition in all things, all times. And so the darker we get, the more light we get. profound understanding of things that we don't understand. And He's pouring it in. one of my slogans is this, staying faithful and grounded while expanding into everything that matters, because belief matters. Right? That there's this expansion that can happen when we sit with Him and we say, tell me what I need to know next. Because He knows how to lead us through our very narrow spots. This is the tree. All of the roots, all of our situations, all the people that are trying to find Him. Yeah? And then there's this moment where we say, I need to know you, Lord. There's this back and forth that happens like you cross over, He goes, no, it's almost strict, it's not. like, I'm going to make sure you know my voice. It's going to be narrow. There are a lot of voices, I need you to hear mine. This is how I actually had triple negative breast cancer and I did that whole thing without chemo or radiation because I know how to hear Him. I know what He sounds like to me. Once we do this narrowing thing, then it opens up to the bounds the Lord has set. How cool is that? And it's so vast and it's a tree with so much fruit and so much love. And I don't believe that there's one path to said tree. I believe that the tree is the path. Then we all come to this experience in different ways, but we all go through an experience where we come to crave, desire and know who He is and experience things with Him and then join in the abundance that exists and the relief from depression and the relief or at least the management of it, right? I still go through winters when I struggle and I have to go to a red light bed, but He's taught me what to so that I don't have to do the hardest way possible, which is not do anything and then sink rely on drugs you don't want to take. eh yeah, right? So the tree for me, that's why I actually wear a tree. You can't see it right now, but I wear a tree. And back behind me is a tree. And that's because to me, it is that path that I walked with Him when I found who He is. The living water coming up through that tree full of that living water and it flows upwards. And so there's so much light and those who are struggling against the darkness may need to play in some other darkness for a little bit. And one of the things that the Lord has promised is, you know, when you're not exactly in alignment with your highest being, you're going to feel it. You're going to know that you're not quite there. Like there's going to be a little bit of discomfort. it's not a reason to feel shameful, it's a sign that something's off or there's something I'm needing to learn. I have thought about this and then been woken up at three o'clock in the morning, even checked it with a stake patriarch because I'm like, I need to know. if I'm online or if this is completely off base. Am I making stuff up or is there something to this? I don't understand all but is there something to We have this belief. There's the plan and there's one guy and He says, follow me, do what I say. If you do what I say, you'll make it home, glory be to me. Then there's the other guy. Says, follow me, if you follow me, you'll be safe, glory be to Him. Is that all the freedom of choice that we had, choosing one guy over the other? I don't believe so. When I sit with people and I do visioning sessions, where we actually start to create life forward, right? And really put those visions into place so that you can step into the opportunities that would get you there. I always say, what would you love? And the reason is because when we say, do I want? That's actually in the subconscious mind, a place of not having, So what would I love? do you desire? to trigger people into, I'm not supposed to desire anything. I'm supposed to be grateful for what I had. So I finally stopped and go, okay, what would you love? When that happens, people are able to drop down into them and find something. So let's picture this. I say, yes, I want a body. And God says, come on, it's your turn, come on, let's sit down. And He goes, this is the entire world's history, everything, all of the people and the races and events and everything. So when you get there, what would you love? Like, would you love to like go down and come right back? Cause we can do that. Okay. Would you love to maybe go down, have some kids and come right back so that you can like help them from this side of the veil. Would you like to do that? Would you like to help? Your brother, What would you love? We always think about we said yes to the junk. But the question for me is, didn't we plan everything? He cannot violate choice. I chose to be here at this time on the earth. And there is a reason and a purpose. And it's not just a mission impossible. Here's your plan. Hope you do it. Hope you get back. That's not it. agency is part of the whole thing. Heart of the whole thing. So my passions, my desires, my gifts, my talents were all given in order to hold this. So this is God saying, yes, my gosh, sweetheart, yes. This is what we're gonna do. I'm so excited for you. I'll do this, you do that. It's gonna be great. This is the desires of your heart and I'm always gonna lead you to it. So. we change the plans because of choices we make here, He can adjust. I really believe that. It's not that lives are completely laid out. This exactly how it's gonna be because we make choices that may go against what we decided we wanted. He knows what we wanted. He remembers, but we don't. Right, no, totally. So I believe that his will is actually my original will. That's what I call this. It's the original will. And so if I follow his will, it's just because He's holding mine. And if I step off of trajectory and I do something that is not within that plan, I am going to feel a little bit off. Yes. I'm gonna explore, and He's even going, look, sweetheart, I cannot violate freedom of choice. You're gonna go down there, you're gonna experience stuff, you're gonna go, what about that? it's not on trajectory. And as soon as you want to kind of return to yourself and know you again, I'm just gonna keep nudging you and bringing you back into the space that is yours and your desired heart, all of this. And your brother says He'll clean that up, whatever happened over there. And then, Brother Jesus Christ is gonna help. And then you're gonna be on trajectory with somebody else and it's gonna just, you're staying along and then they're gonna step off the path. Their path. And it's gonna suck. And it's gonna hurt. been part of the original plan for them either, but that's what they chose. It's possible, right? Because He can do all things to get us to the original will, right? My first husband, the things that He did, could I have been able to have the impact in the world that I'm having right now? Absolutely. And I'm with somebody else. And is He able to help me get all the things that I need to impact this world? Yes. He's leading me to my original will. This is why we have to trust that He's got it. He has the how, right? We're driven towards something. And He's like, okay, just stick with me because I'm going to open up the doors. If you choose not to open up that door, it's okay. I am always going to lead you to this. I love the idea that every time I listen to a prompting or something to step forward into next, it's his will and I'm following it. But it's because it was my will and He's holding it for me. You can kind of revel in that this was a really good idea. was so good, right? And that He's always, always there leading us to the things that we want the most. And He loves us and knows the joy that that's gonna bring, right? It's such a beautiful settling for me moment. So one of the things I've had to realize is that I don't know anybody's will. I don't know what the original will is for my kids. I can be a part of whatever is there, but I'm not in charge of perfecting that human. And He knows their will. I am curious, that's the best way to put it, I'm curious about this mass leaving the church thing. What if their original will was to be part of critical mass? Very possible. What if they're not lost? What if they're actually answering the call? it's not like any of this is surprising God the Father. none of it is catching Him off guard. He knows. He knows. And once you have that experience of questioning everything you know, and you let God in and you give Him one week, there's nothing that can take you from that. And so one of the things that Gerald Howerson said is, what kind of army is He building right now? There's always a garden, there's always a fall, and there's always a redemption. What is actually happening right now? We don't have to be afraid. in very simple terms, He's looking down and we see it as a big huge mess. And He's going, oh no, no, no, this is perfect. This is absolutely turning out beautifully. We're like, what? The world looks horrible. Like Satan's in charge. nope, I'm in charge. I love it. I love it so much. heard somebody say just recently they were helping somebody and they had this visual of this great big mound of dirt that was in front of her, all of her burdens, all of the struggle, all of the challenges that are there right now. He says He witnessed great big bulldozer that was just helping her push everything and it went off this cliff. On the other side of the cliff, is a giant hand of Christ and it's sand. That is a beautiful visualization. I love it. But and it doesn't minimize the fact that it was big. And He has the ability. He is so big. That nothing is outside of his reach. And He goes, I'm so grateful you gave me that sand, honey, because your life is going to be a little bit better now. You don't have to keep climbing the mountain to get over. You just go around. Let me put some trees there too. You're going to love it. With this great big giant Christ, I love that thought so much that He can help me with my mountains because there is nothing that is impossible for Him. to give you some help on this. Anybody who wants to do the feelings jar, I will give you the PDF. They are separated between positive and negative emotions. There's a 100 emotions in there. So there's some rules to the game. Number one is that when you pick out the emotion, you don't go, well, I'm welcomed when I step in. No, you have to go to a memory. When is a time? You've got to access the memory. That's one of the big ones, right? If you peel out a negative emotion, the only response is, thank you for letting me in. There is no fixing it. There is no, uh-uh, you shouldn't have. just that, and it's safe. Yeah? If you have relationships that are a little bit wonky and you're not used to talking that way, take out every negative emotion. do the positives so that you get used to speaking something that happened and having somebody hear it and it's safe back and forth. You can start putting those in later, right? Yeah, yeah, because it's just too much, right? If we haven't had anybody listen to our emotions in the past, the fear, the anxiety, the panic in our body of being left alone upstairs because you screamed over some dessert, right? That'll come back. Yeah. And so if you get really safe with going back and forth, back and forth and feeling like you're known, seen and heard, it's so fun. Kids love this around the dinner table. they absolutely love to do it. take all the negatives out and only do one emotion per day to start. One emotion per day, the family knows it's emotion time. Because it's not over saturated, it's the fun thing. It's the game. My husband and I did it when we would go to bed. I will tell you the other thing. This is so fun. My husband needs a 24-hour lead time. I can't pull emotion and He can access the memory. He can't get there. I will give Him the emotion and that's the one for the next night. Gotcha. has all day to think about it. There was this one time pulled important. when's the last time you felt important? He goes, I don't know. Whenever there's an I don't know, you just sit quietly, expectantly, anticipation. Because I don't know means and I don't want to access it. It's the stiff arm, I don't know. It's like, I know you don't know. That's what we're doing. When is a time, right? And so I just kind of kept in that positive, I can't wait to hear this. And He goes, I got it. It was so much fun. He says, was at the plant. He's an engineer and He flies these plants all over. And this guy came into the break room and says, hey, do you know where I can find Tom Ferguson? And He goes, who? Tom Ferguson? He goes, yeah. He goes, everybody's telling me He's the only guy that's got the answer. Do you know where I can find Him? And He says, you mean the Tom Ferguson? You're trying to get a hold of Him? He goes, yes. Do you know how?" And He goes, I happen to be the Tom Ferguson. And it was so much fun to hear that. It happened a month before and I had never heard that story. We hadn't giggled or talked about it, right? That one emotion made a connection. there's others were like content. This is another role. If you don't know what that emotion means, get out Google. and research it. Don't come up with something says, well, it means this. No. If somebody says, what does that mean? Immediately go because then you are not the coach. You are not the expert. You are not anything. You're all doing it together at the same time. So vocabulary is coming from Google and then you can all try to access it. No. There was one time and know that this is emotional vocabulary. Yes. If letters, are arranged in a different way than English. And the word is different. But the thing is the same. It's just a foreign language. So we pulled the word heard. When is the last time you heard? And my husband goes. I don't ever feel heard. I'm I'm queen of hearing. What are we talking about right now? I don't understand, And so I said, okay, can you tell me what heard means to you? And so He's like, well, I mean, you still put the dishes right over disposal and you don't do this and you don't do that. so heard is me hearing the things He wants me to do and doing them. And I went, Okay, well, I don't feel heard either. He's like, babe, like I do it, And I said, no, I don't feel that my emotions are heard or validated. And what I realized in that moment is it's okay to have a foreign language. He doesn't have to assume my "heard" and I don't have to assume his. It was just when is the time that you felt heard and acknowledge and accept that. Don't try to convince them. No, no, no, that's not heard. be curious and go, wow, that's what that means to Him. really, really beautiful and it becomes very safe and it starts other kind of conversations. So I will give you guys the feeling, Yes, it's really, really beautiful. And then if anybody wants to really delve more into things, would just like to invite. Two things, one, there's the neuro graphics and I have a club that's once a month and we draw on a certain subject once a month. Like this month, it's all on health because it's spring, we're going to be outside. Is it food? Is it exercise? What is it that's blocking you from your feeling healthy? That's what we're doing. Then in May, we're doing it on gratitude for our mothers. What does that look like to have gratitude? We're going to draw. We're going to draw all those things. is this for men and women? yeah, absolutely. what does it uh entail? it costs $25 a month. And there's a recording. So if you can't make it for that particular drawing, there's always the recording of what we did. So you can join in. There's a community where people are talking back and forth. They're sharing their drawings. just really fun to just get with people who understand this process. And the other thing I would like to invite is to, if you want a skill set on how to hear, how to be present, to actually have joy, like feel it, how to know how to regulate your emotions, know how to know what to do when you're spinning, know how to actually access the atonement or how to forgive things that just keep biting you in the butt even though you thought you let it go. And then how to create with God. That's the last part is this co-creation piece. It's so much fun. That's the Igniting Your Belief class. It's five to eight people at a time so that I can really, really be a mentor. What participants experience is it's once a week for 90 minutes and they come in with me and we learn a concept and I give a skill set like the feelings jar. That's one week. just do feelings back and forth. Somebody pulls it and we do the feeling. So there's a skill set that we do once a week and we all get on Marco Polo The feeling starts the word of the day. So somebody draws it and then everybody comes in with their moment for that week. Yeah, so each week there's something new and then if somebody really gets stuck and they just they cannot get out of that spin, there is a special code that I have them text me and that means oh I need to get them right now or within the next half hour to an hour. I will at least touch base. And then depending on what is needed, I can either answer what's going on on Marco Polo or we get on the phone. And I will stay on the phone with people for three hours if I need to, to kind of shift these thoughts and help that, which is very different than traditional therapy. don't, it's like you get the raw thoughts come up and it's like, ding, time's up. We'll talk next week, right? And you're just kind of raw. I help people actually close the loop on the things that are bothering them so that we see what that looks like. Mentorship. is not coaching. It's not teaching. It's saying, I was there three days ago, and this is what I did. I know we have to get here, and you can do it the way I did it, or I'm going to stand here while you figure out how you're going to get to here. And I'm going to blaze the trail because there's probably something that I'm going to go through three days from now, and I'll be there to just be there. I can't do anything for you, but I can walk with you. That, to me, is the essence of mentorship. And so that's what the Igniting Your Belief class does is all of that instruction, but there's a mentor that brings you into those spaces you get that regulation, you get trust in God, you get personal relationship with your God, not the one that you learned about in primary or wherever you find Him in relationship. There's no shoulds, there's no shame, there's no judgment. And a lot of times it's for the first time in people's lives that they get to experience this. Every once in while I have a husband go, what did you do? Because I've got my wife back. And then what's really fun is then the wife goes, hey, husband, I want to have same language. You want to take Ann's class? And so then I have a husband take the class. And now they've got this common language, and they're speaking and talking in a way that they never have before. I just did classes. One woman had taken the class before. She convinced her sister and sister-in-law to buy the three husbands the course for Christmas. And then they took it too. So at the first of the week, I would teach the husbands this concept. And then at the end of the week, I would teach the women at the same time. So they could talk about it, but I never have spouses together in the same group because they need to have their sacred space to just be who they are and be accepted without any garbages behind it. But oh my word, the things that has happened because of that and the marriages that are coming out of that, it's just three months. It's just three months. It's so brilliant. said something like $500 or something insane.$600. But for three months and that kind of, I mean, it's unheard of. That is just an incredible resource, an incredible deal. At some point I would like to offer something like that. not quite there. I don't have the There's too much of me in the podcast right now. I would love to learn from you, honestly, like what your process is cause I really do believe that the real change comes from that connection and that understanding and having someone who's been there lead you through it rather than just me pounding stuff in a podcast. But that's also why I like to have people on here who can provide those resources while I maybe I'm not that right now, but you can go see Ann or any number of people that I've recommended on this show. So. Just so that you know, I do have an apprenticeship that I do once a year and I take 10 people into an apprenticeship of mentoring and I teach them. It's once a week. Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. It's enriching. It actually gets you into that place. You've got to do the Igniting Your Belief class before we enter apprenticeship. Because there's tools that I got to have you have so that we can do this other thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I would love, love, love you or anybody else I don't like just theory. I want to know how, and I want to practice it. Part of that is because I actually in high school danced with Ballet West. So I was professionally trained. And what I know is you'll get the choreography and you kind of got to get into your head. And then you got to practice it enough that gets into your body. And then you can dance. And it's the same process that I've created for these classes. I'm going to give you the theory, and then we're going to practice it. and then you're gonna take out into world and you're gonna dance in a way that you have never danced before with relationships and with God and with creation. It's beautiful. And that's what I created the workbook for. think having workbook groups would be good for people, groups of people who buy the workbook and work through it together so there's some accountability. It's hard when you're depressed to do anything like that alone. So I have to tell you, this is our last thing, but one of the first principles is the joyful moment. Like how do you find joy? And that's so hard with depression, right? And so we find the most. like. I can't remember. We find a moment that is good, that we appreciate, we like, or whatever, and then we breathe in to expand our body's capacity to hold more of it and put it into the memory. So joy to me, a lot of people think joy is elation. It's not elation. Joy is the expander of every other good thing. That's why you can be joyful. I can be joyful anticipating. I can be joyfully peaceful. I can be joyfully playing. I can be joyfully resting. It's the expansion of every good thing. So what we do, huh? No, no, it's not excitement. so finding that, like yesterday, I went outside and it was spring and I sat in my lawn chair and I had a book and the birds were singing and I took a deep breath and I went, I just want to feel every ounce of this one. And I want to tell my body that I'm safe. to feel this good, right? Because that's another thing. that you're okay to feel this good. Give it permission. Yes, but we have this stupid bully that jumps up and says, yeah, but it's not going to last. Yeah, don't feel it because you're going to suck tomorrow. It's like telling somebody, don't go outside when it's sunny because tomorrow it's going to rain. No, expand every good thing. There are times when I have been in such a funk of that depression when you're just in that numbness. You can see that there's something that you should be happy about. Sometimes you've been happy about, everybody else is happy and you're just at that numb. When we get there, instead of the joyful moment, we do that, that didn't suck moment. You got three green lights in a row, that didn't suck. So suck time in depression, we do and we honor and respect that that didn't suck moment because- If we have enough of those, it starts to turn into that joyful moment. And I've watched people really shift out of anxiety and depression in a really big way um from doing that. These practices and having people around them and just a mentor. It's the cognitive part of the depression. It's the spiritual part to have God walking with you in depression. There's the biochemical that I'm not working with. There's the spiritual energetic thing But there's so many things that contribute to this. This is really profound for mental stuff. There's the neurographics and there's the igniting your belief. such amazing resources at such an affordable It's very accessible. So anyone listening, please reach out to Ann. You can ask her questions. You can contact her on her website. Consider looking at some of her free offerings first, and then consider signing up for classes, either online recorded or in person. So thank you again. love, to meet any of you and there is nothing that you can burden me with. and that's one of the problems with depression. It's like you need somebody there, but you know you're to be burdened. You have to be alone, but you need somebody there. All of that mess. I have the capacity. He's given me the gift and the capacity. To help and discharge so it doesn't burden me like I can walk back out and I can be with my family and I have heard you and I have felt with you and I've got that capacity. So if you're wondering because you've got the deep depression, no, no, no. It's okay. It's okay. this planet who can do that and to accept it. Like, don't push us away, okay? Please. Because we want, literally want to help you. It's the dear Heavenly Father, please help me to feel good. And then He's like, and I would love to help you trust that it's more. And you're like, no, but I just want not to be depressed. We have to the pedal, people. If He's telling you to push the pedal, please push it. Yeah, I mean, even in my story, He provided the way and I recognized it, but I still had to take the steps forward and make the changes, even though was so much easier after I started learning how to listen and stop putting roadblocks in my own way. So yes, but again, thank you, Ann, for being here. Thank you so much for inviting me to this and honestly keeping on me until I showed up. God provided the way today and I'm just really, really grateful that He did. Yes. Cause I contacted you last night. We texted this morning. You're like, do you want to podcast today? Like, sure. I'll find a babysitter. We worked it out real quick. So it was wonderful. Well, The website is beliefmatters.com. They can go there and they can reach me email at ann@annfergusonmentoring.com. We're going to get Ann at Belief Matters, but I haven't got all the connections made yet. Right now it's ann at annfergusonmentoring.com. You can reach out to me, we can talk, we can set something up. There are payment arrangements for that course. There are plans. Nope. I know how this works. And if God is calling you to it because He's telling you to push the pedal, He's going to provide the car. So, right? He's got you. All right. for appearing today on the Overcome Depression podcast and to all of my listeners. We'll have an excellent episode again for you next week. Please join us. We'll see you next time. Bye bye. Thank you.