Krista Xiomara | I'm Awake! Now What?
Krista Xiomara is a writer, blogger, podcast host, poet, and author. Krista lives and thrives in Austin, Texas with her dog Penny Moon and maintains her spiritual practices through the lens of Buddhism. She is committed to raising the greater collective consciousness of the world through her podcast, writings, and speaking engagements. Her first non-fiction book, “The Alchemy of Kindness” focuses on helping individuals move from self-rejection to self-love through transforming their internal dialogue with radical kindness and self-compassion to create and sustain long-term unconditional positive regard for oneself.
Podcast: http://imawakenowwhatpodcast.libsyn.com/
Website: www.iamkristaxiomara.com
Instagram: @iamkristaxiomara @ianwpodcast
Brandon Handley 0:00
321 Hey, there's spiritual dope. Today I am on with my guest, Krista zetta mata on Ted's butchered it, but I did my best. She is a writer, a blogger, a podcast host poet and author, Krystal lives and thrives in Austin, Texas with her dog, Penny moon, and maintains her spiritual practices through the lens of Buddhism. She is committed to raising the greater collective consciousness of the world through her podcast, writings and speaking engagements. Her first nonfiction book, the alchemy of kindness focuses on helping individuals move from self rejection, to self love through transforming their internal dialogue with radical kindness and self compassion to create and sustain long term unconditional, positive regard of oneself. Woof, we got through it. So welcome to the podcast. And thanks for being here today.
Krista Xiomara 0:56
Thank you for having me, Brandon.
Brandon Handley 0:59
Absolutely, absolutely. So I always start us off with the idea that spirit the universe speaks through us, right? There's this inherent message that's coming through us today, specifically through you, that is for somebody who's listening. What is that message?
Krista Xiomara 1:23
I think for me, the message is always about homecoming to ourselves. Because we are living in a world that is constantly taking us away from ourselves and asking us to be something other than ourselves. And so I think in the vein of my book, my podcast, my own journey, it all comes back to I really, truly believe that the path to enlightenment is the path of self love and self return to oneself. I think there's no higher purpose we all have in this life, except for returning to ourselves so that we might love and greet the world from a very different place than it usually asks us to.
Brandon Handley 2:16
That's a fantastic message. It really is what it is. And you know, of course, the first thing that jumps out to someone that's not in this is I mean, look, even for myself, I'd run around and and she told me years ago, that you had to go on a journey to find yourself and be like, Well, you're right there. Where do you need to go? Right. So what do you mean by you know, there's that I love it. What says but what is what do you mean by this journey to ourselves, return to oneself within that?
Krista Xiomara 2:45
Yeah, so I, I referenced in my book, and in the podcast, oftentimes this extended metaphor that I like to call the puzzle. And it's this idea that we come into this world as a fully formed puzzle. And we get thrown into our families and society and to relationship with other people. And immediately when we land in our family, our family starts to take some of the puzzle pieces out to match with their puzzle pieces. Sometimes they don't like the way your puzzle pieces look. So they they chuck them. And when you grow into adulthood, you will look into the mirror. And you will see that not only are you missing puzzle pieces, but your own pieces are disorganized and out of place. And my podcasts that centers around the idea of personal development and spirituality, which inevitably, continually cross over one another. If you go on either of those paths, they both cross each other over and in our human experience in coming home to ourselves. Part of that homecoming is about going and finding our puzzle pieces that were chucked out the window, finding puzzle pieces that that actually make a better mosaic of what we actually landed in in this life, and then putting ourselves back together as our authentic, beautiful whole selves. Because we arrived here hole, and the world tells us we're not that tells us we're broken. It tells us we're damaged. It tells us we're not good enough. It tells us we're not thin enough. But we land literally in this human form as these beautiful whole human creatures. And to me, enlightenment in this age is about ascending beyond our current culture, and living so at peace with ourselves that we create piece around us.
Brandon Handley 4:54
That's great. So when you talk about these puzzle pieces, and you're telling the story, I always think about Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the King's Men, right? And so it's kind of similar, right? Like you're the only one that can put all your pieces back together. Right? You're the only one that recognizes even your own pieces. Right? And you also are the only one that has capability to recognize that this this, this picture is complete.
Krista Xiomara 5:19
Exactly. Right. Right.
Brandon Handley 5:22
Yeah. So. So let's talk for a second on on your podcast. I'm so jealous of the name of the podcast. I really am. It's so simple. But it's an it's so but it's so perfect. What's the name of your podcast?
Krista Xiomara 5:36
The podcast is called I'm awake. Now what?
Brandon Handley 5:39
Man is genius, right? So how did you know first of all, how did you discover that you were a personally awake? How do you define awake? And then what made you decide to be a voice for that?
Krista Xiomara 5:52
Yeah. So as many people who've listened to the podcast know that my journey started out, in a very weird offshoot of Catholicism growing up that was based a lot in conformity, fear and submission and denial of my own humanity and my gender, essentially. And towards the end of my 20s, I started to question start questioning a lot of things. And I started to look at the way the church taught, and the way I grew up, and the people that taught me my Christian values, and they weren't in alignment with each other. There was a lot of contradictions, there was like a lot of loopholes, and I'm very much a type a person, and I very much love rules. And so I one day just realized there are all these rules in the Catholic Church that people are supposed to follow. And maybe people are following them to like 45 to 50%. Like maybe that's, that's really giving a lot of credit to a lot of people. And like, what is the point of all of this then? And that was like the first breaking I was like the first cracking open of my conditioning, my cultural and religious conditioning, where I started to question like, Well, what does this all mean? What What do I believe, and I basically pulled myself out of my religious experience, and found myself in a yoga Ashram. And that's when I realized that in my conditioning, I was asleep. And I would refer to myself as a sleep walker or a sheeple. And then when I came onto the yogic path, I realized that there was this other more inviting, more self led way to be in relationship with yourself, the world and God. And I realized that was an awakened state and awakened a way of being with yourself. In addition to that those people that I met in that yoga ashram, were so at peace, and within so much harmony with themselves, that I knew that's what I wanted, I could point to it, I could see, that's exactly how I want to live in myself and live in the world. How do I get that? And so this awakening started to happen. And it was like a decade's long journey from like about 28. to, to 37 was a huge opening and cracking open of everything. And I, like you immersed myself in a great deal of texts and experiences and ideas and curiosities and curiosity. I think, if anything I've learned is a spiritual practice, the practice of curiosity is a spiritual practice, they're one in the same and you cannot go on this journey, and not be a curious person, because you'll, you'll bump you'll get stuck. So if you don't have curiosity as your lens for a lot of this, you'll get stuck. And so I knew that when I got to the other end, I love podcasts, I love radio, I love all of that. I knew when I got to the opposite end of it, and I had matured into a place of my own homecoming spiritually, that I wanted to create a system and a community where people could go and listen to like your story and other people's story of like, how are they navigating this awakening, which is very disorienting, very cumbersome, very scary, because you've got a dress like the light and the dark parts. And so my podcast was birthed in this idea of like, you wake up, and now what do you do?
Brandon Handley 9:42
And it's so so true. It's so disorienting, even even right from the onset. I think what you said there was, we do recognize that in you know, your your, your place of faith and religion, that just about 40% of the people They're not following the rules. So why am I trying so hard at it right is my guess because you said your type a right? You're like, why am I trying so hard? Why am I putting all my effort into this? And these guys are getting away with 40% something's something's not lining up. So and then and then, you know, that begins to kind of crack the veil, right? That begins to up against to say, Well, if that wasn't right, man, because you probably based sounds like you base quite a bit off of that, right? Or at least from that space. And now there's now everything's just kind of flying off. Right? That's the whole the whole, you know, well, Jesus, the Wizard of Oz, right, the man behind the man behind the curtain curtain. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, what you're saying to me, too, is really, really reminds me of the Alan Watts. Knew, and I know, fans of Alan Watts, right? So it reminds me of like, when he's talking about the monks in Zen Buddhism, when they would go up to the samurai eyes, right? And the samurai is bialik I don't know what Samurai is do but they, you know, they do their Samurai thing. And then the monk shows like no fear because he's a total peace with himself. Right? He's like, go ahead, I'm good. Do what you got to do. But and, and and then the samurai sees, you know, kind of what you saw these people are so at peace. So it like they have something and it's, it's nearly palatable, right? You can almost touch it.
Krista Xiomara 11:25
Yes.
Brandon Handley 11:25
And you're like, you're like, I want some of that.
Unknown Speaker 11:29
Mm hmm.
Brandon Handley 11:29
Right. And so that's that's kind of what I'm hearing you say right. But uh, if you know, so how did you decide to head in you What made you go to like yoga and an ashram? Right, because that's a, that's a pretty big leap from from from Catholicism.
Krista Xiomara 11:47
It's a huge, it's a huge leap. I read and this is going to be this is the cheesiest part of my whole story, but it's so it I can't deny it. It's everywhere. I've said it multiple times. But I had read Liz Gilbert's Eat, Pray Love. I know. You just posted an Elizabeth Gilbert quote today. I love her. She's everything to me. To me. She's like my, my female Jesus on this earth. She's so honest and transparent. And after I read her book, I was like, if she can figure out her life, and then yogic ashram, I think I can too. And she was right, because it's the source. It's so old. It's so ancient. It's so tied to the truth of what we are, beyond our current civilization. They have all of the wisdom there and their texts. So I landed in that I luckily had that yogic ashram in this tiny town of Spokane, of all places, Spokane, Washington.
Brandon Handley 12:49
Yeah, that's, you know, it's funny, because that's my, my, I spent a summer up there. Growing up, it is it is tiny. Like you said,
Krista Xiomara 12:59
there's like 200,000 people there something at the time, but yeah, and so then that led me again, like, curiosity became my guiding light. So the SWAMI who created that ashram there, Swami shivananda, Radha, this beautiful German Swami who is now passed on, but she had a prolific writing career. So I read all her books. And then I'm very much a root cause kind of person. I work in quality management systems in my regular life. And so when I want to understand something, I have to get to the base of it. And so once I dipped into the yogic ashram, which was based in Hinduism, that kind of led me down the path of Buddhism and Zen and Sufi ism, and Islam and Judaism. And then I realized I need to really understand these other religions and philosophies. And I really got into stoicism with Marcus Aurelius. And of course, then you go into the spiritual side, which is like all of the beautiful teachers we've had, like Alan Watts, and Wayne Dyer, and Michael Dooley, all these people have done such massive work and you just realize they're all saying the same thing, which is, you are God God is you live a life that is honest and pure and of service of others. And that's all you have to do and show up in this world as
Brandon Handley 14:32
so how are you accepting yourself as you know, God, right, I think that that's definitely been one of the bigger stumbling blocks, right? Because we also, we, you know, Westerners, we've got like this, you know, one concept of God, right? And then Hinduism and Eastern and other spiritualities have this other concept of Gods so when you say that, we're all God, what is your concept of that and how do you sleep at night with that? Right, like, I mean, cuz that's, that's definitely a challenge because, um, you know, I can tell you just from my own practice I can I can do like great meditations and I'll be like, I can get myself to like love. But I can't, you know, sometimes I had that struggle with, you know, seeing myself as God, right? Like I can be I am love. Right? But then I'm like I am God. I'm like, Hey, wait a second, buddy, what do you think in there? Right? So just walk me through that? Because I'd be curious to hear what that sounds like it looks like for you?
Krista Xiomara 15:29
Well, yeah, it's interesting that you bring that up, I would say the thing, where I've shaken out in my relationship with God, which is too small of a word for what created us, I think. And I don't think it's one person. But one of the things that I, I came to terms with on my journey to is like, in Catholicism, and a lot of the Abrahamic religions, and even some of the Eastern ones, there's this idea that God exists wholly in perfection, and that divinity equates perfection. But if you look around the world, if if a god or gods created us, there are so many imperfections in this world that make it absolutely beautiful. You can walk into a forest, like right now I can see outside of my house is the greenbelt here in Austin, which is like our, our forest, and it's untamed, and it's wild. And it's, you know, it's not perfect, and we're not perfect. And that means that the thing that created me is also imperfect, and I'm comfortable knowing that it's probably still evolving to, and we're evolving together. And that wisdom that exists in me to understand that helps me connect to my own divinity and remove that disconnection that I grew up with that said, like, God is in this place, and God can only be accessed through these people. And God is only available to X, Y, and Z. But I think we are born with a god shaped portion of our of God in our body and in our soul, and in our energy that circulates us as human beings. And it's a matter of recognizing that in ourselves. It's, it's not that you're better than anyone if you know that you have God within you or that God is something you know, unattainable. We all have it. And I think the manifestation of understanding that God is within you, is when you act in kindness and compassion and humility to other people. Because that's, that's literally God working through you, that's your own divinity, that the part of you that is God is coming forward. And it's manifesting as those actions as this podcast. As of the way you help people as a coach Brandon, like, that's, that's you and God, that's like you guys co creating, it's this beautiful co creation that we all get to be a part of that has been denied, especially in the Western world, because it's built on these Abrahamic religions and say, no Gods this other thing, but it's not.
Brandon Handley 18:15
Fair enough. Fair enough. You know, I 100% agree with all all what you're saying. And the one thing I would say, though, is I was recently introduced to a new definition of the word perfect. Meaning that you don't need anything else. That's all it means. Right? So actually, if you go to sleep tonight, Crystal, Do you need anything else? done today? You're perfect. Today, the world you live in is perfect. Mm hmm. Right. I mean, that forest over there, it doesn't need anything else today to be that forest, does it? Now it's a perfect forest. Right, you know, so somebody had introduced it and just said that that was like the old, you know, way back when that's what that word meant, like, you don't need anything else. And if that's if that's the definition of perfect, then there's a lot of us that are perfect, that don't think that we are right, therefore we keep ourselves from saying, Man, I can't access God, because last time, you should see me last week, that wasn't cool. Right? Or like, you know, they've got all these things that that make them think that they're being kept away from God. Right? The only thing that's keeping them away from that is themselves, right?
Krista Xiomara 19:26
That's exactly right. Right.
Brandon Handley 19:28
Yeah. And to your point today, it doesn't make somebody better or worse to say, I'm connected to God. Right. I'm divine. You know, that's, that's basically it boils down to a choice. Is that fair to say?
Krista Xiomara 19:43
Well, yeah, and I would say the when if if somebody is saying that, that should raise a lot of alarm bells in your mind, if they're creating that disconnection to you from them because they have a closer connection to God than you should run for the hills.
Brandon Handley 20:02
No good can come to that. That's what that's like the Crusades. Right. So, you know, so what made you decide to be the voice though, you know by by taking it and you know, by literally opening up you know their voice and bringing this to bringing us to the greater masses a and then be like, talk about stuffing into that like What gave you the confidence to be that person.
Krista Xiomara 20:24
Um, I mean, I'm not know if it was a matter of like confidence more than the desire to help. So like a lot of my motivations as an individual comes from the desire to alleviate other people's suffering, whether that's through community through the podcast through holding space for them to process things, whether it's just been friendship with somebody, so they don't feel alone. The my motivation was that I know there's people that need to hear these things. And I would say the best example of that was the summer when I finally put into one conglomerated space, the journey of me leaving my religion of origin, making sense of all of that trauma, releasing it and coming home to myself. And I can't tell you how much I've heard from people all over the world about how liberating it was to have somebody regurgitate that life experience that they had gone through, and that they were either at the beginning, the two middle parts or the end, and feeling like me, too. And I think when we do this work, like and you do your spiritual dope, podcast on your coaching and stuff, I don't think there's any deeper modality of love that we can do for each other than to see and hear each other. And I think what's funny about the world we live in now is social media is exactly that. It's this deep seated desire to be seen and to be heard, and to feel like you matter in this world. And I think us on the spiritual path. Our goal and creating this content is to also be a mirror to the people who are in the process of it all. Because we need each other and we need each other's experiences and wisdom and honesty and integrity. To help us through this this journey. We can't do it alone.
Brandon Handley 22:40
Yes, so how many? You know, when you open it up? Was there any fear? Was there any family or friends? were surprised or shocked by about kind of what you were doing in that space? How about your co workers, right? Like, I mean, is this something that your your, you know, your day job, right, you've got the day jobs, that's something that you know, you share with openly there? Or is this kind of like, you go to work today is Christa. You know, I'm here working today, and then you come come home at night, and you're like, let's finish delivery at some people. Right?
Krista Xiomara 23:18
Yeah. Well, it's funny, just to that point, and then I'll answer your question is one of the things that was, was very much a bone of contention in my own life when I was in my religious upbringing and still in the church of origin was, I did feel like they're like I had a dichotomy. There was like work Krista and then there was like, religious Krista and sometimes religious Krista could come out and sometimes only work Krista could come out or Krista in her marriage or Krista with her friends, or what not. And the thing that has been the most liberating on this path is that I the just the the ability to show up as yourself everywhere all the time is more peace than I could have ever asked for in my life. And so if people ask me about my podcast, or I'll tell people about it and my work life, but more than anything, what has changed about diet, you know, the duality of Christa, old Krista and new Krista is that my spiritual practices come into my work life and so I'm just as compassionate and kind and, you know, harmonious with my co workers who don't know anything about me. There's a lot of them who don't have never met me. I work remotely no matter what, because of COVID but, but I show up like that to them the way I show up to my podcast guests, the way I show up to my family, that I'm in relationship with my friends, and that's the thing that has changed more than anything. So I do tell people about it. Mostly my family doesn't really care, they don't really even understand what it is like they're so in their own world and in their own religious experience, still that they don't really get it, they don't understand that it's a thing that it's grown, that it has a lot of reach that people are super interested in it. So like, there's a small subset of people I get to really celebrate my podcast with like, you are one of them. And you know, the other people in my life, like, everyone else could care less and
Brandon Handley 25:34
less interesting, though, you know, it's all it's always interesting to hear, you know, how you kind of charge for arthritis. What I'm hearing, you say, though, too, is, at some point, there was a merger of the two of us, or maybe there was a, or maybe the you left behind all of all of this, and you're like, this is all I'm going to be, you know, this is who I am. Now, this, this is what this looks like, to me about like that decision? Because I think that's pretty interesting.
Krista Xiomara 26:01
Yeah, I mean, I think that our society asks that of us, our society asks us, all of us, men, women, children, mothers, fathers, to show up in these really specific ways. And even the people that we have relationships with, sometimes don't even want to see all of us. And so in my book of the book, that I'm writing, the alchemy of kindness, I say in there multiple times that it's like an it's like an act of bravery, to never turn against yourself to love yourself, no matter what you do, because we all make mistakes where, you know, I don't always show up compassionately. Although like, I wish I could I wish I that would be like every day of my existence. But I still fail in that in interactions and certain things like that. So for me, thinking about that, that whole idea of coming home to yourself and having that, that, basically, it's like if you think about it visually, like maybe you're projecting out these different kind of what are they called, like emojis or I'm not, I can't think of the word right now. But you've got these projections of yourself in the world. And in this journey, what we do is we like suck it all in and we become one, in and of ourselves. Because when I was living in that other place, I was very much at war with myself, I was at war with my ideals. I was at war with my words and my mind and everything. And being able to bring in all those parts of ourselves those avatars, that's what I was trying to say, you know, we have these avatars of like, podcast, Brandon, and podcasts, or Brandon father, and all these things, these avatars, but we're really the central core, we're the bean and bringing it like bringing those avatars in as part of the work on this path. Because to live authentically and truly, in yourself is, is I think, again, the work that we have to do here because our society has become something very wild and different. And authenticity, authenticity and wholeness is not always wanted.
Brandon Handley 28:23
So, the one thing that I see out there a lot, and you know, again, I agree, I agree with everything you're saying. The one thing I see out there a lot is is this idea of being the be your authentic self.
Krista Xiomara 28:36
Yeah. The bumper sticker.
Brandon Handley 28:38
Yeah, I haven't seen it. But I haven't seen a bumper sticker since March. Um, the the idea is, though, whoo, and what is your authentic self, and what you're describing is like, stop, stop, stop, like projecting all of what you think everybody, you think what everybody wants to see. And pull that all back in. And really sit with yourself. Right. And, and, and, and that's it. That's just the one, the one self that that needs to happen. And that is your authentic self. And you'll be able to know and feel your authentic self when every day doesn't suck anymore.
Krista Xiomara 29:18
And when you're not questioning everything, right, you know, you're not in alignment with yourself. If you don't know what you want, if you let people make decisions for you, if you feel uncomfortable, even facing yourself. Those are like the big red flags, that you're not living in authenticity with yourself and that you are not in alignment with your core being. And I think a lot of people go on this spiritual journey. And that's the outcome. The outcome is them coming home to themselves. A lot of the spiritual other work is healing and releasing stuff that no longer serves you and, and and finding your true self. Honestly, I'm sorry, I'm beating this To a dead horse, but it's how I feel this journey is is. That is the purpose that, like all of us doing this work is like if we love ourselves, and this is a universal truth that I hated hearing, and I didn't know it was true, I had to hear like 5000 times. But if we love ourselves, and we're at harmony with ourselves, and we're at peace with ourselves, and we are authentically in alignment with ourselves, the world aligns itself as well, because when we show up authentically, then we allow other people to show up authentically, when we are compassionate with ourselves and other people can give some self compassion to themselves and give themselves a break. Like that's what it's all about.
Brandon Handley 30:45
Where do you think you first saw that evidence, right evidence of that concept. And when did it finally click?
Krista Xiomara 30:53
I did say 10 years. At the yogic ashram, honestly, that was the first time where, like, the thing that with the authenticity, to just go back to the story about like, living in these dual places in my religion of origin, there was in the religion of origin, there was very much this idea of Do as I say, not as I do. And then going into the yogic ashram and watching people match up their actions with their words. And I was like, Oh, these people are living it. They're living their true, honest, transparent, authentic selves. And I knew that that's what I wanted, I didn't know that the outcome would be this huge homecoming at all, I had no idea that that would happen. I just knew I didn't want to be in conflict with myself anymore. And I felt very conflicted in my religious experience. Not because necessarily, even I wasn't living up to the rules. But the goalposts was always moving. If we want to talk back again about the God thing. It was like, you know, I, I,
Unknown Speaker 32:05
I,
Krista Xiomara 32:06
you know, I was abstinent I didn't do drugs, I didn't, you know, drink, I didn't curse, and I still wasn't good enough for God, I still wasn't good enough for my church, not you know, the goalpost just kept moving. And then you I went to the yoga ashram, and I'm like, No, these people, they know what they're doing.
Brandon Handley 32:27
That's hilarious. You know, I was never none of those things. I probably would have been incinerated going in. And that's always what I kind of thought. Like, they're not they don't want any of this. Um, you know, I love what you're saying there, you see that these people are actually living their truth. And you know, you're living your truth now. And then, you know, I like to hear how we'll just call it like the universe has opened up for you, because your podcast looks like you've had, you know, just a great run, right? You've had a great run, you're having great conversations. You're putting out a book. My guess is you've got more behind that. But also sounds to me, like you've found a way to and I'm just guessing here, you found a way to like, kind of surrender to it and let it like, be organic.
Unknown Speaker 33:19
Mm hmm.
Unknown Speaker 33:21
That's about that.
Krista Xiomara 33:22
Yeah. I mean, if we want to talk technically about the podcast, like, like anybody else, I started, I don't know what the hell I was doing. And I had to learn how to edit. And all of that stuff. I just had an idea that I wanted to put this information out, and I just needed to find a way to do it. And I had to figure out all of those things. And what I, I recently did an interview with a gal about how to start a podcast and one of my advice for somebody was just go in knowing that it's gonna evolve. And that's part of the process instead of being stuck in this like, box. So my first two seasons, I didn't know what I was doing. I changed the format a couple times, I changed the way it was, you know, presented, I changed my branding, and I did a bunch of things. Like, I didn't know what I was doing. And that was okay. And finally, after with a lot of trial and error, like I think our life is supposed to be it's supposed to be this loving, existence of trial and error, and we don't get punished when we error. It's just a learning lesson and we pivot, right? So I pivoted, and I found the right sequence. And I found an audience that resonated with what I was saying, which allowed me to bring bigger guests on because like, the bigger your podcast gets, the more people want to come. And I was just telling a Mona, who, you know, it's funny to think when I started my podcast, like, every week, like seven people would listen to it and now it's like, Up to 21,000 people a week. That's a lot of people listening
Brandon Handley 35:03
does a lot of people. Yeah, not congratulations. That's fantastic.
Krista Xiomara 35:06
But it was yours. You know, it's not like that happened overnight. This it has been me just diligently sitting down and saying, I don't care about the numbers. I don't care about the monetary compensation, what I care about is being of service to people on the path who need help. And I'm going to show up, and this is what I'm going to do, as that's as simple as I can explain it.
Brandon Handley 35:30
No, I mean, that's perfect, right. But again, so thank you for that. What I'm looking for is just the path opening up, right? And it sounds to me again, like you've like, again, you've kind of surrendered, right? You're not forcing something. You're not saying hey, you didn't come up and be like, Alright, well, 1231 2018, I'm looking for, like 75,000 downloads and that should that be a great year, right? Instead, you said, Hey, this neat, I need to do this, this is something I'm doing. This is something that I'm doing as much for me as for anybody else, I'm looking to be of service. I'm not looking for anything other than that, like you're you're doing it in an altruistic nature, right?
Krista Xiomara 36:16
Mm hmm.
Brandon Handley 36:17
But the idea is that once you kind of move with your intention with your purpose, and you know, you're in full alignment, the idea is that the universe opens up for you. Have you found that to be true for yourself?
Krista Xiomara 36:30
Yeah. And that's one of the universal truths. I know, you and I have talked about this already that it is true. I just think that when you go in, honestly, and you ask to co create with the universe, like, honestly, things just fall into place. And there's no easier way to say it is that like, when I wanted to do the podcast, I was actually telling my therapist about it. And she told me about this guy who happened to produce his own podcast, and he could help me and he helped me and tell me get it off the ground. And it was like, in the alchemist, where Paulo Coelho quotecolo, says, you know, like, the universe will conspire to bring everything to your plate. And it, it really is true, I think, the thing that I would leave the audience with is that you just have to continue to make actionable steps and show up and sometimes your steps are in the wrong direction. But the universe will course correct for you, it'll let you know you're on the wrong path. And you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And this idea of the surrender, is that I have this idea, but I'm not tied to it. And that's where the surrender comes in. So I had this podcast idea, and I thought I wanted it to be this thing. And I let it evolve and become something that it is today and have had opportunities because of it. In that way, is a large surrender, because I let it do what it needs to do. And I'm just kind of the conduit at the end of the day. Does that answer it?
Brandon Handley 38:11
It does? Yep. I mean, that. Nailed it. So that I mean, that's the space though. And then I think that how would you tell someone that you recognize that you're a conduit?
Krista Xiomara 38:25
Hmm. That's a really hard one. I would say first go read the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle Lee, and help you, you have to do I think anybody This is just a generalization, I think if you want to become a conduit, and a true co creator with divinity, you have to face the, I guess, the idea that you have an ego. And you have to kind of fight with your ego until your ego takes a step back. Because a lot of work can be done from the ego. And a lot can come from the ego. But where that becomes a problem is I think, if you're working egoic Lee, it takes you out of that alignment, and that co creation, and then you start to have, you know, obstacles or things don't kind of flow as easily. I've seen that too. And I've, I've had to fight with my own ego all the time, you know, throughout this whole process and to continue to recognize when it's trying to push itself forward when really the universe is asking me to show up in a very different way. So I would say start there. And then just know and trust like I do say this in my book, too. It's the it's in the introduction and it's the I say that When I went on the spiritual journey, there were two things that I learned. And the first one is that when you go on a journey, whether it's like physical or spiritual, there are proverbial, you know, twists and turns and things you cannot anticipate you have to be ready for that. But the second thing that you learn on this journey, if you stay open, is that the universe is literally there to bring you the tools, the people, the experiences, anything, you need to be able to become the conduit to your own life journey, and show up in a way that resonates with people. So that we can all help each other.
Brandon Handley 40:40
Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. I mean, what I'm what I think I hear you say that, too, is uh, you know, egos, the guy that says, you know, ego egos the voice inside you saying, I'm doing this, this is me, watch what I can do. Right. And whereas the conduit says, I have the resources of the universe, and it's just flowing through me, I literally wrote down this morning, I wrote down this morning, the idea that I'm, from a humanity standpoint, if I view myself as strictly human, then all I'm left with his, you know, my human capabilities, and the things of this world, right now, if I open myself up to being divine, or of this universe changes, right? I mean, and so there's nothing you can't do. Right? And I don't have to be and I'm not the one doing it. Right. And you know, so I think that's what I'm hearing you say, right, and kind of break in and having that breakthrough. And then looking for evidence of that, right? I think that that's really important. Right? So to set your intention to say that I want to become a conduit, here's, you know, you're talking about breaking through the egoic structure, and then saying, you know, now, where am I seeing it? Right? How am I seeing it? And I think that that comes from setting an intention and not acting on it right forcefully in such a way that to your point, like you do need to take action, right, there needs to be some type of whatever move to go get it. This is, you know, the call of, Hey, this is the hero's call type thing, you know, you're called to go do this thing. I'm not gonna do it. And so nothing's gonna happen then, right? There is no transformation, there is no transition. If you're called hero's calling, like, Alright, I'm gonna go do it. And then you're met with obstacles, but like, right behind that obstacles, like the thing like shut up? Right? All I had to do was pick up that rock. That's crazy.
Krista Xiomara 42:34
Yeah. And I would say that a prayer that has become like, a mantra to me is, I will literally say to the universe, like, I want to do this thing. And I don't know if it's right. But I'm gonna take these steps. And I'll just wait for you to answer. And that's literally what I do when I want to do something new. Or I want to venture out into something else, or write a book. I just say, I don't know if this is right, this is what's in my heart. And I need you to tell me if I'm on the wrong track, and I've never been misled. It's never it's, it's it's either shut doors, or open doors. And that's how I know. And it's like, you know, we have all of these other senses that we can tap into from our own divinity that allows us the wisdom to know what's the next right step every time.
Brandon Handley 43:28
That's awesome. That's a great one. That's a great one. So your book is coming out when when can we expect your book,
Krista Xiomara 43:35
ah, this has been like the biggest labor of love that I've ever had in my life. It's taken me two years to finish this book. And I'm still not even done yet. I'm I'm My goal is to get it done by December and have it out. And in mid March is the goal to after it goes to the drafts and the covers and all of that. But my, I think also to let me just back it up for a second what I've learned on this, this journey, as well, and having the podcast is that a lot of people have different entry points into spirituality, how we find it some for some people, it's addiction for some people, it's trauma for some people, it's the religious experience for some people, it's, you know, no religious experience, but we all have these entry points, but we all come together at some point our experiences kind of merge at some point. But the the, the conflict that I was talking about earlier that can that was contained in my mind was also this deep seated self hatred. And that was my entry point. And because I only needed peace, and I didn't need peace with the world, I needed peace with myself cuz I hated myself. I hated everything about me. I hated myself to the core. And it's like one of those things that people never want to talk about. But it was a it was a very big struggle of mine. And it was my entry point. into leaving my religion that I had an inclination that it was a contributing factor to my self hatred. But I didn't quite know if it was. And so the journey of the alchemy of kindness, the book is about, like, traversing my past to understand where did the separation happen, that I started to hate myself, because I certainly wasn't born hating myself. I be and then I did. And then unraveling the tools that I picked up, that helped me reverse that self hatred, and then the practices and the daily living, that allows me to stay in congruence with myself and in love with myself in an authentic way, not just like, Oh, I love myself. Not like that, like truly like, yeah, like, I don't say, a harmful word about myself, don't criticize myself, all those things. And so this book, I knew, like I did with the podcast, I knew that once I got through that whole thing, I really wanted to create a roadmap for people to unravel their self hatred, because it is a true epidemic in our society. And the, you know, the most hardest part of self hatred is is annihilation. And so, you know, I had a couple of times where I had suicidal attempts with my life. And because I was just like, I cannot stand myself, like, I have ruined everything. I'm like, an embarrassment to my family, and all of these things. And my self hatred took me all the way up to annihilation, like it does with a lot of people. But there's another way, you know, there's another way and the other way is that you're fine. And you're great. Just The Way You Are you just have been told you aren't.
Brandon Handley 46:56
No, that's powerful. That's powerful. Would you look at that, as you know, hatred is a gateway or addressing your pain as a gateway? How would you? How would you kind of determine to find that?
Krista Xiomara 47:08
Well, so for me for my experience, and I think it can be both and I'm guessing, for me, it was that I was in so much pain with my own internal conflict, like not being able to look at myself in the mirror for very long, or not being able to be in relationship with people and feel like they didn't like me, because I didn't like me. Like, I just assumed everybody hated me, because I hated myself to know. And the the pain of that was like, okay, there's something really traumatic living here, that I have to address now. And what is that, and I didn't do it on my own, which I say in the book, you know, I definitely had to go to therapy, I had to have a lot of spiritual experiences that helped me, come home to myself. And then the, the longevity of my self love really came into focus when I found Buddhism, because Buddhism is truly a homecoming. It's like, go and be by yourself, and sit with yourself, and be okay with everything that is, but be okay with yourself. That was like the most eye opening teaching I could have received is what the Buddha did in his life. And I was like, Oh, this is how I'm supposed to exist within myself, then I can attain that, and I'm gonna live it and practice it until it's in, like every molecule of my body. Right? So yeah,
Brandon Handley 48:46
just just be that. I love that. So you said, you mentioned your spiritual experiences a couple of times do you have like one or two that you could, you know, specifically point to as a specific spiritual experience?
Krista Xiomara 49:01
Like, do you mean through the self that allowed me to create some some self healing in this vein of the book or some are just like spiritual experiences
Brandon Handley 49:11
that yeah, I mean, you pointed to, you know, you pointed to like, along the way, having some spiritual experiences and you know, what does that mean? And what is one that might be specific?
Unknown Speaker 49:20
Mmm hmm.
Krista Xiomara 49:26
Let me think, um, I think one of the, one of the most significant spiritual experiences I had was, when I was in this really, I've had like, a couple dark nights of the soul. I would say, I think we all do in our life because it's hard to navigate humanity being human. But in one particular one, it was up towards the beginning of my spiritual journey. And I don't know why I looked it up. But I looked up like spiritual cleansing or healing or something. And I found out about Reiki for the first time. I'm, it's an energy healing modality. And I went on and I looked at all of these people online, and I started to look at their faces. And I was like, Hmm, I could send something about each person's, you know, you look at pictures, and you can really kind of get a sense of the person's own energy. And I landed on this girl named Chelsea. And she is like this petite, tiny, little white, white light Angel, very creature that I don't even think she's human is what I've just decided. And she, I went to her. And I just was like, I feel like I have a great deal of dark energy within me. I've done therapy, I've gone on spiritual retreats, and there's just this thing that's stuck. And I don't know how to get it out. And my curiosity led me here, can we work together, and she gave me my first Reiki healing that I had ever had. And I literally feel like she physically pulled out this darkness from my body, and liberated whatever that part was of me. And I saw her for a handful of more, have more sessions. But I think she truly was the person that I just think she did her work, so I could do my work. And I needed to go see her. And that was, that changed me I was forever changed by this very healing process that I didn't even understand that at the time, I didn't know anything about Reiki, I didn't know how it worked. I didn't understand it. And it was really bizarre going through it the first time. And but also, just like, this beautiful experience that truly, I think, went beyond the natural world of something I could never understand, I still I still struggle to understand how it all works, and how it's all connected. But that was a really big experience that helped me, it was a spiritual tool I took on the way to back to myself.
Brandon Handley 52:24
That's powerful. I mean, if you've got all that darkness, you know, caught up in Saudi and somebody quite literally able to rip it out of you without I mean, they don't, they don't touch you, right, like, I mean, now. This is a this is a you know, and if you can go through that and have that kind of sensation as you leave that place. And, you know, there's no drugs involved. There's no like weird things happening outside of that thing. That's powerful. And that's, that's something that resonates.
Krista Xiomara 52:52
And she was powerful. Like, I clearly didn't even know what was happening or what was going on. And she was so powerful that she was able to do this thing that was set me back on my course and really liberated me. And it was like all those things. It was like the therapy and it was like my spiritual journey and reading books and letting go of my ego and dispelling all the stories I had told about myself. And then I needed this other thing that could help me literally lighten up so I could enlightened because I was stuck. I was truly, truly stuck.
Brandon Handley 53:36
So the real recommendation here is go read Eat, Pray Love. Yes. And this will get you started. Right? Right. And along the way, pick up Chris's book, which will be out in March of 2021. Right? I mean, you can just set the date, let's just do it, right. It's common, it'll be there. And then, you know, go over and you wish wish was some people go
Krista Xiomara 54:00
check it out. You can just find me on Instagram at IN w podcast, I'm in the process of redoing my website and stuff. And I do have some other projects that are not ready to be spoken about. But there'll be very exciting in the near future. But Instagrams the best place to catch me for now while I revamp everything.
Brandon Handley 54:20
Okay, so if you're listening today, then make sure you head on over to spiritual dope or the podcast outline and the link for Chris's Instagram to the podcasts will be available for you. So Chris, thank you so much for coming on today. And you know, sharing pieces of your journey and how you got there and just spend some time with us today. I think that I think what you shared it out today was super valuable for anybody who's tuning in. Yeah,
Krista Xiomara 54:45
thank you for having me, Brandon. I really enjoyed our time together.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai