I absolutely love the Soulful Shout Out series here on Soul Speak! I get to highlight and introduce you to beautiful people and their wonderful offerings!
I love connecting people and sharing products that I love, and so I’m just thrilled to be able to do that each week with you here.
If you would like your product/website/service promoted here, please click here to read the details and then email me to apply. (I take what I share very seriously and will only share products and services that I am in alignment with.) The spaces are going quickly because the introductory prices are going way up after the first of the year, so please keep that in mind when you’re signing up! A huge thank you to everyone who has already done so. You’re all absolutely wonderful, and I am so grateful for each of you.
And now, let’s get to this week’s beautiful soul and her wonderful offer just for you!
This week, I am featuring Linda Graziano from Embrace the Inner You!
Linda and I met virtually several months ago, and I loved her sweet, loving energy right from the first moment we connected. She has taken her pain and struggle with depression and bi-polar disorder and turned it into a blessing by becoming a life coach and helping others move through their own depression and embrace their lives.
I’m so happy to introduce her to you! She is offering everyone a free 45-minute Discovery Session, which I’ll share more about at the end of the post. But first, I would love for you to get to know her a bit better!
Welcome, Linda! Thank you so much for being here! I’m going to jump right in and get started!
You say that depression has been the number one teacher in your life. How so?
In my opinion, going through severe depression is one of the worst things a person can experience. My episodes of depression have led to severe self-hate and a total lack of motivation for life. No one in this world should experience hating themselves like I did.
Although depression has been a terrible experience while in the midst of it, I have learned so much because of it. Even while experiencing severe symptoms of depression, I have witnessed the world to be a beautiful place. I have learned to have a positive, appreciative outlook toward life. I count every day as a blessing. I am more empathic toward others with struggles and problems. I have become a stronger and wiser person. And because of this illness, I have discovered my life purpose.
I love how you took your own pain and turned it into your gift and purpose by becoming a life coach to help others who are on a similar journey. Could you share what led you to become a coach?
Throughout my life, I have always desired to help people in a meaningful way. I guess it’s been a calling of mine, but I never really knew how I would go about it. I always loved reading and learning about personal growth. It was my joy. I tried teaching and I studied counseling, but it was not until I hit on life coaching through my own work with a life coach that I realized it was the best way I can do the most good.
Through the process of being coached, I truly learned to accept myself the way I am and to really love who I am, which helped me sustain my wellness. I also learned my life purpose, which helped motivate me to use my gifts.
It took some time before I realized I could use my experience with depression and bipolar disorder to actually help others. So I became a certified life coach. For me, living my life purpose is doing what comes naturally to me and what I love. By using my gifts and natural abilities combined with my love of personal growth and a strong desire to help, I have created a life I love. By coaching others with depression and/or bipolar disorder, I help them stay well. And it helps me too!
We both believe that loving ourselves is absolutely essential to happiness. Can you share some of the ways you show yourself compassion?
I have learned that self-love is a necessary prerequisite to love of any other kind. When I am loving and kind to myself, then I can be the same way to others. I have learned to be my own best friend. I am aware when I begin judging myself, or being critical, or comparing myself, or thinking I need to be perfect, and I stop right there and tell myself “I am just the way I need to be,” and “I am loved just for being me!”
And, when I’m having a down day or moment, I give myself the space to feel my feelings and allow them to pass through. Once feelings are acknowledged, they can just go on by. One way I acknowledge a down feeling is by just being kind to myself when I’m having one. For example: I make myself a cup of tea to sip while I’m feeling sad or I write a note to my “Inner Me”/ higher self in my journal to process when I am angry. I think of myself as a friend that I will have forever.
Can you share one of your biggest blessings that has occurred since you stepped into this life of helping others?
I know you’ve heard it before, but “when you help others, you help yourself.” It’s so true. By coaching others with the same struggles I have experienced, it helps me to stay healthy. While I’m teaching others to use gratitude, positive thinking, and self-love as a way to stay well and love life, it’s a reminder for me to do the same. Being a life coach is a blessing to me.
What does your soul want you to know?
My soul wants me to know I am always, always loved….even when I’m feeling down. And that I am here to help others with depression or bipolar disorder to know the same, so they can move forward in their life.
You have two wonderful offerings: a home study course and one-on-one coaching. Can you share more about each of these?
My home study course is called The Four Seasons of Your Soul. It includes many questions, exercises, techniques, and guided visualizations that are meant to help with managing feelings and thoughts, and to allow the person to get to really know herself. It is also meant to slowly guide a person from feeling down into feeling gratitude and self-love. Once the feelings of self-love can emerge, it naturally brings about a sense of happiness again and a desire for purpose and meaning in life. There’s also a process in the program to discover one’s life purpose: what the soul was put here to do.
One-on-One Coaching with me can go along with the home study program in a package of 5 sessions by phone. Or if for some reason the home study program is not desired, the one-on-one coaching can be done without it. Either way, I will be there as a support and encouragement to help find the strengths, qualities, and possibilities that have been waiting to be discovered. During the coaching sessions, I spend time teaching many tools, techniques, and exercises to stay above the sadness and connect to the higher self, and also to motivate the client to live his/her life with purpose. I am there to offer support and guidance with anything the client is struggling with at the time.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
One thing I’d like to add is that a diagnosis like bipolar disorder does not have to define a person. It is just a part of one’s experience in life, but it doesn’t mean that he/she cannot live a meaningful life. I want everyone to know (whether you have bipolar disorder or not) that by truly loving yourself, you will be on the path to your happiness.
So beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your heart with us today, Linda!
Linda is offering everyone a free 45-minute Discovery Session!
If you are ready to move forward in creating new possibilities for your life, I definitely recommend signing up!
In this session you will discover:
- the courage to go within and discover what you truly want to create in your life
- the hidden obstacles preventing you from feeling fulfilled
- ways to release those obstacles so you feel free to move forward with inspiration!
During your time together, Linda will also help you identify your next steps in learning to love yourself so you can create a life you truly enjoy!
Be sure to sign up for Linda’s Free Discovery Session! You can email her to set it up by clicking on the button below.
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Big hug,
