Reclaiming Your Moxie with Karen Carlucci Wahner

The text below is a transcript from the Conquering Everest Podcast. Karen and I discuss her book as well as meditation, the Law of Attraction, and energy healing.

Brian:
You are listening to the Conquering Everest podcast. This is episode eighteen. That’s right. You are tuned into the Conquering Everest podcast. My name is Brian Tellor. And let me just say, thank you. Thank you for choosing to spend a bit of your day with me now, on today’s episode, I sit down with Karen Carlucci Wahner.

Brian:
She is the author of Reclaiming Your Moxie. Hey, we all go through times in our lives where it feels like that fire, that fire that used to burn so intensely bright inside of us. Well, feels like it’s starting to die out. Well, that could be a sign that you are losing your Moxie, but don’t worry. Karen’s got the answers. So without further ado here is my conversation with Karen Carlucci Wahner. Karen Carlucci Wahner welcome to the Conquering Everest podcast.

Karen:
Thank you. Glad to be here tonight.

Brian:
I’m glad to have you. So we’ve got a lot to talk about we’re talking about Moxie and you’ve got a book about that, but before we get into the details, would you like to share a little bit about yourself with the listener?

Karen:
Yeah. All right. Thank you. So I am Karen Carlucci Wahner I grew up in Philly where I say you have to have a lot of Moxie when you’re growing up. And when I was young, I grew up in a household, like many households where I kind of had a mom who was not quite supportive, who didn’t instill a lot of confidence in me. And so I think that really laid the groundwork and the foundation for, you know, the issues I would have the rest of my life as far as making bad choices and maybe going into relationships that weren’t so good for me not having the confidence to speak my voice, to go for opportunities that I should be going for.

Karen:
And so, I mean, it’s not like that I was a schlep. It's not like, you know, I failed at everything. You know, I did manage to be a research scientist for about 17 years. I raised four great kids, but it has been a real struggle or going through a really horrible relationship and a narcissistic type relationship. And I mean, it’s just now and in my fifties that I am finally coming into my end. I feel like I’m coming into my own. That was not, you know, I’m not feeling kind of like this imposter that I have felt whole life, you know, we get this imposter syndrome, but I am finally feeling like I’m coming into my own and things are starting to click and I’ve got this mission and its to help people heal its to help people not feel so bad about themselves like I did for so many years.

Brian:
Yeah. Let’s talk a little bit about that. So when did you, you said your, your mother …

Karen:
Because she provided the basics. You know, she provided the basics like, like many, like many moms, there wasn’t a whole lot of support for things that I, I wanted to do. I had wanted to go into the music field, played violin guitar, wrote music, and that it was just not gonna happen. So I went to go to the high school for performing arts and she made it very clear that it was a really dumb idea. There was no sense in ever being a musician. So there was a whole lot of support if there was a lot of critiquing, there was a lot of criticism and you know, I’m sure she did the best she could. And I have to think that when people are hurting inside that they can take it out on others.

Karen:
Unfortunately, a lot of times it’s, they’re taking it out on their own children without even realizing the impact that it has. So that’s something that I have been very mindful of, you know, raising my own children. I decided my kids wouldn’t, we’re not going to go through what I went through.

Brian:
What would you say when you got out of that house? What did you, you said you were married, or did you jump right into building a family and marriage?

Karen:
No, I, I didn’t. I mean I left the house. I was, I think 17, 18 years old, just kinda all my own. And I went to a relationship that was not very good for me and went in from there and to be in a marriage that it wasn’t good for me and I didn’t have a relationship and between that was good for me, but when you’re not used to things that are good for you, it seems foreign and it doesn’t seem comfortable. And so you tend to gravitate back to what isn’t good for you, what you’re comfortable with, what you know, so well, what you think you are worthy of, you know?

Karen:
And so, yeah, so I mean, I’ve been married three times to the same type of person, some subtle differences, but essentially the same and have had to start all over.

Brian:
Yeah. That’s kind of rough when you, when you got to start over and, and it’s especially a, you know, I’m kinda on the same boat and that was in my forties when I was starting over. So tell me a little bit about Union Joe.

Karen:
Joe Love union Yeah, he was one of my friend’s husbands and I absolutely love Jimmy. He was a tough guy. You know Philly guy, a union guy. And we would go over to the house and there we’d be just watching TVs, puffing away on his cigarettes. And now he’s got his wife-beater shirt on his hair, all slicked back, you know, it kind of squinting all the time and gruff that gruff cigarette, voice disjointed nose looked like maybe the admin and one or two bar fights. But the union Joe is somebody you didn’t want to, you didn’t want to fuck around with, you know, it was a tough guy. And we had kind of gotten into a little bit of an argument one night because I was shopping someplace.

Karen:
It was a non-union one of his competitors. He worked in a union grocery store and he made it very clear that that was a union house and the people that enter that house, respect that. And so he kind of gave me an ultimatum, like, you know, are our friends, you know, we respect that and you gotta choice to make whether or not you wanna come in here. And I just, I just want to be looking at ’em like, are you kidding me? And I said, well, you know, my friends respect my choices. I’m going to shop where I shop. It sounds to me like you’ve got a choice to make Jo and my friend Lill just happened to me watching this thing she sat in between us just watching us back and forth.

Karen:
And she is just so quiet because she doesn’t know where this is going to go, but she thinks I’m getting ready to be a, throw it out of the house. And he, I expected them to get louder and start screaming. And he just got real, super quiet and just said, you know, I like your kid, you got Moxie. And so it, that Moxie word has stuck with me. I associated it with the union, Joe, you know, he is he’s long gone, but you know, I can thank him for, for that word. And, and, and, and, and this book, because honestly, that kind of speaks to the essence of Moxie is just kind of speaking up for yourself and having a big old flame that just doesn’t go out and just gets brighter.

Brian:
Tell us a little bit about the book. The book is that it’s a journey of healing. It starts talking about the whole Moxie thing with me. And, and Moxie to me is that bright flame, that internal flame that we’re born with, we’re all born with this flame. And it is so bright and beautiful. I mean, babies are born in a flame and that light just emanates from them. And as they, as they become toddlers, they still had it. You know, there are out there dancing and they don’t care who is watching them, you that they’re building crazy sheet with Legos there’s as make it all kinds of figure drawings.

Karen:
And they don’t care if they don’t give a rat’s ass as to what people think of them, they laugh, they play, they just, he just enjoys life. And so, as soon as we grow older, people start to put their limiting beliefs on us. They start to put their baggage on us. You know, boys don’t play with dolls. Girls don’t play with trucks. You know, you know, there’s no career as a musician. No, you have to find a job with good benefits. You have to be in, this is a good company. Don’t, you know, you’re crazy to work for yourself. So as we get older, we start accepting those limiting beliefs and that bright flame of Moxie, it just starts to dim.

Karen: And then you start getting hit with relationship issues and divorces and, and, and job loss and illnesses and addiction and everything else. And boy, that flame looks like it’s just out for good. It just does, but it’s not. It’s an Amber. It’s still in there. And as long as we breathe, as long as our heart beats, that Moxie is still alive in there. So this book takes a reader through that journey of what Moxie is, how we lost It and how we’re gonna get it back. And so it’s kind of a step-by-step guide. It’s really meant to be read from one cover to the other cover in that journey of healing.

Karen:
There’s a lot of exercise in there. Writing prompts for people, encourage people to have a journal so that they can write down some other ideas. So it talks about forgiveness and that’s really kind of hard sometimes to come to terms with it deals with our anger issues, but it’s written in a very conversational tone. I wanted it to be very, to be light, to be, to have maybe some humor to it. I didn’t want something that was incredibly cerebral, something that was going to be overwhelming to people.

Karen:
I wanted it to be more like I’m just sitting across the table from you having a glass of wine in a cup of coffee, and we’re just having a conversation. That’s it?

Brian:
And the title of the book is rediscovering Reclaiming Your Moxie. I’ve started it on audible because, I tend to procrastinate when it comes to reading, but I can listen very, very, very well. And I like the stories that I’ve heard so far in the book and, and you, you get into kind of this talk about intentionality and our frequencies. Could you go into depth a little more about that?

Karen:
Okay. So that has to do with the law of attraction. M thank you, you know, the secret and with Rhonda Byrne. And so what I believe in and many people believe is that we are all operating on frequencies. First of all, we’re all energy. All of us are energy, you know, and, and I break that down. You know, we looked like whole beings, but actually, you know, we are full of tissues. We’re full of organs and then you break those organs down and there are cells, and then you break those cells down. So eventually we get broken down into little tiny bouncy balls of energy, and that’s what we are. And we all emit a frequency.

Karen:
And so the law of attraction says that something you want is already created the moment you think of it is already created. Now, the goal is to keep that frequency so that it matches the frequency of what you want. So if I’m saying, wow, you know, if I want like a really great relationship I’m sitting like right here, this is what I want. This is what I want. But in reality, I’m saying all I get are losers. I just get, you know, bombs. I get people that are good for me. I get people cheat on me. And, and you can see there is the difference There. So if this is what we want, then we essentially have to be at that frequency and already know that it’s, it’s created, know that it’s already done.

Karen:
I have a good relationship. I already have it. It’s already there. I’m just waiting for it to happen. That’s all I, and I tell people if you want, if you want that great relationship, if you want to find that great person, start writing on your list, write your list of who you want and know that person is there and just expect that person to come to you. And they do.

Brian:
And, you know, some folks would say, well, the law of attraction, I don’t know. You know, like if I can believe it and dream it, I don’t know if, if it’s going to manifest, but when your experience with the law of attraction, I mean, is there anything special you got to do? Is there a certain yoga pose? You got a whole 45 minutes or, or is it just really just a matter of knowing what you want in knowing that you deserve it and, and focusing on?

Karen:
Well, I think that is pretty much in it. It’s knowing what you want, knowing what you’re worthy of, expecting it, knowing it’s already there. I mean, the things that people have been able to manifest are just amazing. I mean, I’ve manifested, I’ve manifested that it has to the beach, you know, and that’s what I wanted. I’ve manifested somebody, you know, that comes into my life. That really is, is somebody that I wanted in my life. So, you know, and I think a lot of people get stuck and they’re like, well, it hasn’t happened yet. It hasn’t happened. And they get frustrated and that’s where the frequency going down. You have to already know it and know that whatever you are requesting in the universe, it’s just, it’s coming to you.

Karen:
And sometimes there are hurdles and sometimes there are tests. How bad do you want it? You know,

Brian:
At what point in your life did you make that connection? I mean, obviously, before the book, there was probably that period of transition. I’m only assuming that because you know, most of the folks that I talked to there comes a point in time where were, at least for me, I always say it was just sick and tired of being sick and tired. And so I knew I had to make changes to, to, to get to where I wanted to go. What was that transition like in your life and, and how long did it take you to get to where you’re at?

Karen:
58 years. Okay.

Karen:
Well, what I can tell you is that being in a relationship that was not good for me was, was really not good for me. It was not good for the kids. And I stepped out of that house and the children, and I went to a downward spiral where we were homeless. We didn’t have a home of our own for about a year and a half. And, you know, I had been a stay-at-home mom. So, you know, I just got in my real estate license. So there wasn’t a lot of income coming in and that was so hard. And I mean, we’ve gotten past and we’ve gotten through it, the man, you know, and I touch on it a lot in the book and about the some of the things that we had to go through and moving into another marriage, I thought, okay, this is it.

Karen:
This is going to be good. This is great. And it wasn’t, it wasn’t. And I thought, here I go again, here I go. And at one point I just, you know, and I always say w when the student is ready, the teacher appears. And I truly believe that I just got to a point. I didn’t know what else I was gonna do. All I knew is that this was just not going to work. And I had to start thinking of making some big changes in my life if I wanted to have happiness and to have joy and have what I am worthy of having in this life.

Karen:
And I just, I dunno, it sounds really weird. It sounds hokey, but, you know, there’s, I believe we have guides that are with us and they are with us all of the time. And sometimes we are not ready to listen to them, but I was just guided to write this book. And this book was a healing process for me, it was my blueprint for healing. So everybody else is able to heal from it, but I was the first to heal from it, essentially. I believe it was my guide working through me writing this book. And, and I was healing as I was going along the process.

Brian:
Yeah. I like, I like what you said there, when the student is ready, the teacher, teacher, peers, and, and what the law of attraction, but it sounds like, is just because you’re initiating that in your life. And, and you’ve got your eyes on the prize. You may have to cross a few more bridges before it gets through. And, and, and that’s just all part of the learning process of preparing you for that. Life cause I can imagine going from, I grew up in poverty. It, we were, we were poor and, and oftentimes, you know, my mom had $5, the fetus, and if I would’ve gone from that life and it automatically came in the money, I probably would have blown it off because I wouldn’t have known.

Brian:
I’ve never had it before. So you know the law of attraction, it requires patience.

Karen:
And be careful when you ask for, because don’t just ask for more money because you might find a dollar on the ground and then that could be, have to be really specific about it too, you know, and you don’t have to watch what you w what your words are in your words really have to be positive and not of a negative sort or, you know, and so, I mean, in my house, I don’t have any medications. First of all, I can really take any medication, thankfully, but I don’t have any medication anywhere where I can say it, you know, because every time I think you look at medication, you think of illness. So you know, all my medication or, you know, my, my aunt’s Tylenol, my ibuprofen is hidden out in plain sight.

Karen:
So that I’m, I’m not going to see that I am not going to be reminded of pain or an illness or anything else.

Brian:
Yeah. I had, I had a coach at one time that told me we were just talking about different things that I wanted to achieve. And, and, you know, like most people, I said, well, I’d like to lose a few pounds. And he goes, you don’t want to lose a few pounds. He goes, what happens when you lose your keys? You go and find them. So don’t lose the way cause your, your mind is going to tell you to go find it. Like you’re, you’re going to eradicate the weight. You are going to eliminate the weight, you know? And so he was going down that same path of, be very specific about what you want and, and, and, and don’t, you know, don’t, don’t let your mind drift off too far to the other direction, or you are going to do the reverse.

Brian:
When you wake up thinking you’re miserable, you’re going to be miserable. That’s right. You talk a, talk a lot in the book too, about authenticity and being true to yourself and eliminating people out of your life, that, that aren’t serving your purpose. And, and that’s not always going to be easy for some folks. What would you say to those listeners that might be out there that maybe they're in that bad marriage or in that bad relationship where the spouse doesn’t really support what they’re going for it, I mean, it’s not easy to, to, to, to just leave, but what’s been your experience with removing those toxic people out of your own?

Karen:
Well, yeah, so, as I said, I, I really, you know, haven’t done, I don’t have any communication with family M all these years. And so I, Oh, my spa, I have a, I have a relationship with my, with my ex-husband, who is a father of my four children. We do have a relationship, even though it was, it was really horrible, horrible divorce. And that was one of the things was just kind of forgetting of, of that experience and forgiving him. I, I hated them with a passion for what he did.

Karen:
And so, and people don’t understand that forgiveness really has very little to do with the other person. Forgiveness is about just letting that energy go. Just, just, just let it go and releasing it and releasing you from that moment in time. So, as, as far as the people that aren’t supportive, it’s very difficult. And is if you’re in a relationship to, to get out of it, especially if you’re married to a narcissist, it’s, it’s not going to be, it’s not going to be a good time that I can tell you when it comes to other people, like people that don’t understand your dreams, if your entrepreneur, and you have a vision, you are going to come across a lot of people who aren’t going to be supportive of that.

Karen:
Well, why don’t you just go get a job? Why don’t you, you know, why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that? But the thing is, you’re going to have to follow your path. You’re going to have to believe in yourself sometimes when nobody else does. And that is going to make the difference that the harder, the bigger, the risk way take the greater the reward, I believe. And so, you know, I might go through periods where, yeah, I’m dirt poor. And I might go through periods where I don’t have a thing in my frigging fridge. And guess what? That’s just, that’s just the price I pay for my dream and my vision. And like I said, there’s a lot of people that don’t understand that they don’t have that entrepreneurial spirit.

Karen:
And, you know, our Your, you don’t have to ask yourself, are the people in your life cutting you down every time you want to improve yourself? Or are they giving you a big old five high, you know, a high five and saying, fuck yeah, you do that. And that’s, I think what you’re going to have to ask yourself, are you to, where are you crazy doing that? Or fuck. Yeah.

Brian:
Would you say to those people that would say they come to you and, and, and you’re like, yeah, you know, you’ve got to, you’ve got to remove yourself from this situation. And they’re like, Oh, but I can fix It, I’m a fixer. And I, and I think that I can fix a lot of situations. Yeah. So what would you say it, you know, if, if somebody came to U and get advice and, and, and you told them, well, that sounds like you need to make some shifts in your relationships. And they’re like, no, no, no. I can work it out. I can fix it

Karen:
Well, and I’m pretty much going to tie up, all right, go back and fix it and let me know how it works out for you. Because a lot of times w you know, and, and I mean, we, we learn from when we’re young to stay committed, stay committed, stay committed to that job, to stay committed to the process. Thank you. And even in my personal development, we say that, Hey, stay committed to personal development, but sometimes we stay committed to a job or a situation that’s just not good for us. And I think eventually, you know, nobody can tell anybody to leave. Nobody can tell anybody, you know, because if you’re not ready to hear it, it’s not going to matter how many times you say it.

Karen:
You just have to hold. The person is going to make that best decision for themselves. And I mean, eventually, you know, you hope that they’re just going to get tired of it and say, I deserve better than this. And when you finally think I deserve better than this, then, then you’ll start opening yourself up to, to getting out and moving on to better things in your life

Brian:
When you get out of when you, when you add. And I, and I won’t just limit it to, to marriage when you, when you, when you remove somebody from, from your life, because they’re not serving you in a good way, there’s going to be grief. There’s going to be, you know, like a time of mourning for somebody that might be coming into this, right. They, they may be, they’ve been, you know, the mother, you know, they got married at 20 and they, you know, they, they were staying home with the kids and, and the kids are grown now that, you know, and, and for, you know, reasons outside of their control, this, this, this marriage is falling apart. They’ve never experienced a lot of traction.

Brian:
They’ve never thought about intentions or, or, or, or, or the frequencies. What would be your advice to them? They’re saying, okay, I’m ready. I’m going to start out on this path. I’m ready to change. You know, my mindset changed where I’m at, how does one start? Like,

Karen:
I think, yeah, I have to be open and receptive to healing, and you’ve got to do a lot of soft work. You know, you’re going to have to do that because what you don’t heal, I’m, you know, and we’re all in the process, healing too. It’s never a hundred percent, and we’re always going to find something else that comes up from our past that we have to deal with. But unless, unless you take a look at some of those issues, you’re going to repeat them. So I think a lot of times, either a good thing is to either get involved with a therapist, a counselor, a coach, you know, sometimes you need outside, help, you know, to, to get move in on your healing process.

Karen:
And, and I talk about that in the book. You know we have so much shame in this country when it comes to seeking outside help and with their such a stigma with mental health here. But I mean, we, we all struggle with it and I’m not sure why there’s such a Sigma week. We all struggle with a lot of emotional baggage and mental, mental health issues, and depression. I mean, the pharmaceutical companies would, would not be making billions of dollars if, if, if we weren’t struggling with, you know, with his depression, but yeah, the people have to start the healing process.

Karen:
And then, and then I talk about just finding your peeps, finding that people from your planet start, start looking to where people like you might be, you know, 'cause there are others out there that are just like you, that are searching for you too, you know, that are going through a struggle and, and just need a good friend to rely on. There’s plenty of Facebook groups that you can get into, you know, that people are going through the same struggles, but just don’t be alone. You know, talk about it with others.

Brian:
That’s a good point in the fact that it’s not just about you. Like you said, you, you, others are going to come into your life and they’re going to come into your life and they’re going to need you to fill their bucket just as much as you need for them to feel that your bucket. So if it’s really not, you know, I don’t want people to give the perception. Well, I just got to surround myself with great people. Yes. But these are going to be great people that are going to look to you for certain things and certain to help them on their journey. Do you, how about when it comes to the law of attraction and manifestation, are you when I, when I first really got serious about it and wanting to shift and be in a different place, I, I started, I read a book and it talked about, I am statements like, you know, I am confident.

Brian:
I am great. And whether or not it's a placebo effect that, I mean, I felt a change. One, one thing when, when I kind of CA I, I call it my come into Jesus moment in Life when I, when I woke up and I said, okay, this I can’t stay on this path. I’ve got to, I’ve got to make a change. Then one of the decisions I made is I’m going to go out and face my fears. And my biggest fear at the time was public speaking. So I said, I’m going to tackle this and I’m going to overcome this fear. And so I started this, I am confident. I am well-liked, I am charming and I am whatever. And, and, and I, and I remember walking into work one day and, and I had been doing this and practice in, and I was getting up at like four 30 in the morning and kind of having this whole routine together.

Brian:
But I noticed my head was up and I was saying hi to people, which wasn’t normal for me. Like usually I’m head down, just get to where I need to go. What’s your, I mean, do you incorporate anything like that into your day-to-day habits? Or what, what’s your feeling on, I guess we’ll say positive.

Karen:
Yeah. It sounds a bit of affirmation. Reinforcement. Yeah. I mean, I, you know, you’re, and, and, you know, you’re, you’ve, you’ve been to Tony, Robbins’ you, you, you, you sow, so you know all about the peak state, you know, and, and so that’s when your migrations or the highest, I mean, I spent, you know, I spent 20 minutes before this, this podcast dancing around my bedroom, you know, and just kinda getting it, just elevating my mood. ’cause when you’re feeling really good, good things are coming to your way. They just, they just do, you know, I mean, it’s terrible. And when you’re having a really bad day and people are like, Oh, well, what else can happen? Well, don’t ever ask that is common to come in your way.

Karen:
And when you’re in a peak state, when you feel really good, you’re attracting really good things. You are attracting good people. You’re, you’re attracting, you know, money, wealth, all, all kinds of good things. So, yeah, but I, I do, I, you know, before I go on a sales call, before I talk to somebody, you know, I get in front of that mirror. And it was really hard for me for the longest time, because I didn’t have that confidence, but I certainly, you know, I talked about it in the book. I talk about what are you going to, talking to clients? You know, I’m making them do some mirror work, get in front of that mirror because sometimes that’s the only friendly face you’re going to say, is that one that’s in the mirror, you know?

Karen:
But yeah, I do. I do all the time. And I’m like, yeah, I’m a total badass.

Brian:
And that’s one area I know like Tony Robbins talking about him. He, he, he calls them incantations. I think that the pronunciation where he’s like, it’s not just enough to sit here and tell yourself, you know, I’m, you know, confident and competent. You’ve got to say it with meaning. You’ve got to get up and do that superman pose and different things like that. So, so there’s a little bit different language, but as you said, you were dancing, you were, you were getting yourself primed in, in, in your book, get in your body energized. You know, I think that’s good for anybody listening as it’s, it’s not enough to sit on the couch and be, you know, head down and saying these things you’ve got to get up.

Brian:
You’ve got to act it out and feel it like you also. Yeah, you gotta mean it. You’ve got to believe if you also talk a little bit in the book about meditation and that I know from my experience with not only myself but others, that could be a very hard thing. And, and, and I think a lot of people have this perception that meditation is sitting still for 30 minutes, clearing your mind, what’s your take on, yeah, what’s your take on meditation?

Karen:
So I hold these classes down here at the beach, it’s called meditation for the wine and beer crowd. And he goes, I want people to know that any everyday people, even the people drinking a glass of wine, I want to be here. Can you do meditation? We get this vision in our head, how people meditate. They’re a bunch of tree huggers, you know, or they’re eating bark off the trees, you know, all the time, you know, they can’t be me. They get, but really research has shown that if you can do meditation 10 minutes, twice a day, you can improve your health. You can lower your blood pressure. Yeah. And what it does is it helps lower the cortisol levels and your body and cortisol level.

Karen:
Those are the ones that are stressed or stress-related hormones. So, so when we reduce the stress, when we reduce the stress-reducing or stress hormones, and we started the healing process in our, in our body. So meditation is not as hard as people would think, and there are all kinds of different ways to do it. And you can do a guided meditation, which a lot of people Do, you can be sitting still quietly doing meditation. You know, you will have all kinds of little voices in your head. You’ll have a few ideas in your head, little thoughts in your head and that’s okay. You know, I just tell people, just surround them with a little balloon or a bubble and just pop It and then just get right back on course, focus on your breathing.

Karen:
But if you can start off five minutes a day or 10 minutes a day, or you can always build up, you know, and just because you screw it up once, doesn’t mean it’s done start over. It’s no big deal starting all over.

Brian:
Okay. And you’ve kind of already answered this, but I was going to hit you with a true or false, and it was gonna say true or false when you meditate, you’ve gotta clear your mind of all thought and go into some kind of a zealot.

Karen:
That’d be great. And I’m sure, I’m sure there are people that can do that. It’s not me. I can’t do it In, you know, going in here.

Brian:
No. Yeah. How about if somebody says, you know, so I’ll pick on myself at night. There, there’s a time in the evening when I, I shut off the world and I go into my own little room and, and I turn on some music and I just, I just let my mind be free. I don’t think about work. I don’t think about the podcast or anything. I just am just listening to music. I’m for me, that’s a type of meditation. It’s just really that solitude. Yeah. The meditation for wine and beer. So as everybody is sitting around drinking wine and beer, while they’re doing it?

Karen:
In other words, but it’s a, it’s a great class. You know, people, people come that, you know, never tried meditation and they’re like, wow, this is, this is a really is not. So it’s not so bad. It’s, it’s, it’s a lot easier than I thought it would be. And if they go off, like I said, just, you know, in the hope of doing it for five or 10 minutes, twice a day, they’re already improving their health.

Brian:
Yeah. And there’s no like a guided meditation. That’s how I started out. And you know, there are apps, some are free. Some you pay for there are all kinds of things on YouTube. I mean, it doesn’t cost anybody, anything to get started with that. If I, if I remember right in the book, you had talked about a ball of light, it is a little foggy, but it is that part of your meditation. What was the ball of light concept for you?

Karen:
I taught when I talk about Moxie being a ball of light also in meditation, I talk about just, you know, having a ball of light that comes down and surrounds you are envisioning something like that and envisioning healing light. I, I do that a lot of times when I’m doing energy healing on people, I will envision a ball of light coming through them and clearing out, you know, was any old energy. They no longer use

Brian: Let’s talk a little bit about energy healing. That’s piqued my curiosity. What is energy healing?

Karen:
Oh, I love energy healing. So, I mean, it’s known by several different, several different names. You’ve got Reiki, a healing touch, the third level healing touch. There is also a therapeutic touch. And what it does is manipulates the energy field around the body. And some of the shoppers, which are little energy centers throughout the body, and it can be done hands-on, hands-off. It can actually be done distance long distance, energy travels, think emails, you know, energy travels.

Karen:
And I, I absolutely fell, fell in love with it. And it’s just so funny. I got into the process of energy healing, just like one day I was just kind of feeling like, like I’m off, something’s off. Something’s something like, it felt like it was out of focus. And I happened to go to a free, it was a free energy healing clinic and it was a 10-minute mini energy healing. And so the guy was just doing this energy healing on me. And I just, I just kind of thought, wow, I, I can do that. And just as I thought that if the man said you could do this, and I said, okay, well, that’s a universe telling me I can do this.

Karen:
And from there I met with somebody who was a, was a representative from the healing touch organization. And so I started taking their courses and I just, I absolutely love it. I call myself, I am a hybrid healer. So I take healing from, you know, techniques from different modalities and incorporate that in whatever way I need to, when I’m working with someone, I mean, anybody can do energy healing. I mean, anybody can do it, you can do it. And w really the, my goal is to teach somebody so they can do it on themselves and then pass it on to someone else.

Brian:
So the issue with energy healing, is it because you mentioned the chakras, so is it kind of about realigning? I mean, what, what, what, what, what should I expect if, if, if I was going to be the recipient of energy, am I going to feel anything?

Karen:
Well, each experience is, is very individualized. So some people say that they will feel differences in temperature. If I’m directing energy over to a certain spot, a lot of people will talk about that spot, becoming very warm. Some people will see different colors. Some people will have visions when they’re having energy work, done. Some energy healers will have visions. I don’t, that’s just not my thing, but I can usually feel, I can feel it from my palms when the energy is moving.

Karen:
And it, it’s almost like a vibration. I can feel a vibration in my palms there are days that I don’t really feel anything, but I always say the energy goes where the energy goes. And even if I don’t feel it, it’s still good.

Brian:
This isn’t a paranormal podcast by any means, but are you worried? Is it like when you’re doing energy healing as, is it possible for you to absorb some bad mojo out of that? Or, I mean, it’s, it’s not, it’s not to that level or

Karen:
No, not at all. Not at all, because the is, so we go through traumatic experiences and those experiences, the energy of some of the energy of those experiences to stay around us say, stay in this, that aura, that biofield I’m. So my job is to a lot of times just to kind of push it out and gets it outta there. We don’t eat, we don’t need that experience anymore. We don’t need the energy from that bad relationship or that job loss or that trauma. We don’t need it. So a lot of times it’s just, it’s just moving in the energy and getting out of there. But no, I, I, no, no, I don’t ever worry about energy, bad energy coming in with no possessions, nothing like that

Brian:
Is involved or anything.

Karen:
I mean, so here’s the really cool thing about energy work to all of the people that are like, Oh, well that’s so we will, I trained, I chose to have my two of my courses at DuPont hospital for children. Okay. For healing touch. The DuPont hospital for children has a healing touch practitioner. They’re full-time working on patients and caregivers. And so other hospitals are now starting to incorporate Reiki and complementary medicine into their hospitals and into their practice because they’re starting to understand that they need to take a more holistic approach.

Karen:
We need to treat the person as a whole. And so there are, there are some studies because my background is in research. You know, I am a former research scientist, so I do need to see the studies and the data. And there are studies out there that show that energy works, that Reiki can help eliminate some symptoms, or it can help, you know, people with their health. And so they use it a lot in people who are going through chemotherapy and radiation to help reduce the side effects. So yeah. It’s, yeah, it gets used now on hospitals, which is really out of it.

Brian:
Cool. Yeah. I, yeah. I didn’t know that that’s a lens, a little bit of credibility to, you know, to that, that practice. When, I guess if you have an, a, you know, doctor after your name and you know, it, it, it builds it up a little more, but M do you mind if I ask you about spirituality and I’m not necessarily asking you, you know, there you go to church or anything like that, but from a, a, I think law of attraction, meditation, energy healing, they all saw it. You know, it’s, there is a spiritual aspect of it. And some people will say, it’s the universe, it’s the energy in the universe.

Brian:
Some people may say, it’s God. Some people may believe in other things for you. What is it? What is that like? What does spirituality look like for you in this practice?

Karen:
For me, it’s, it’s universal energy. It’s, it’s the energy that we all come from. We all believe we are all part of the same energy, or just broken into little parts of it. There’s, there’s a Karen part. There’s a Brionne part. There’s a, there are all these different parts of it. I talk about that in the book, you know, I tell people, you know, get some faith. I don’t care what it is. In fact, get some faith because its gonna make your life a whole lot easier because faith is like that magic carpet, you know, that kinda helps us take away a lot of our fears, you know, and we put our trust in it and it just goes, and that’s a thing with metaphysics in the law of attraction, you have to have faith that it’s happening.

Karen:
You know, it’s not like one of these, you know, we’ll all, all believe it when I see it. It’s just the opposite. Just the opposite of that is like you have to already know it’s there. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian:
I’ve got a sign back behind me somewhere. I don’t think it’s in-camera shot, but it basically says that faith makes all things possible if you have faith in it.

Karen:
That’s true. That’s true.

Brian:
So if somebody was interested in reaching out to you to learn about services, you provide learning more about the book. Is there a website, is there a way to Facebook pages? Are there any, how should, how would people interact with you?

Karen:
Well, I mean, I’ve got my personal Facebook page and certainly, or anybody can, can certainly get on that if they, if they like it’s Karen Carlucci Wahner I have a website it’s Karen Wahner dot com also ReclaimingYourMoxie.com and that’s got a little bit about me and it also has its links to the book if they are interested in purchasing in the book. As I said, we just went to the audiobook and I was thrilled to death about that. That’s really exciting. So, yeah. And, and reach out to me, Karen at Karen Wahner dot com

Brian:
And I saw it on, on, on your website to you. You have a forgive me it, but I, you have like a video series or something that people can download. Is that on your website or my crossing my wires?

Karen:
I think you’re crossing your wiress, but maybe that’s the spirit telling you to tell me I can be doing this.

Brian:
And I tell you what, with the, just to kind of add with the law of attraction too, because I think that’s, for me, at least in my experience is that’s the hardest thing to convince people that it exists. That, that, that, that, that it’s real. And I say, I got my wires crossed, you know, this podcast, wouldn’t when I had really said to myself, I started this way back in, in May of 2020, but I didn’t really get serious about it until after the first of the year. And then I put it out and I was like, I’m going to grow this thing. I’m going to, I want to have people sharing stories. And, but I didn’t know how it was going to do that. And we then did the Tony Robbins virtual and, and that’s where I met you through that Facebook group.

Brian:
And I’ve met so many others that it’s like it, and it’s happened so fast. I’ve gone from having one or two interviews lined up to, you know, I’ve got about eight lined up. So when I say cross in my wires, it’s easy because I’m trying to learn as much as I can about, but everyone that’s a that’s going to be on the show, but that’s really, I just, I just put it out there. I put the intention out there that I’m going to grow. This thing I’m going to make, this is what I’m going to make it into your tongue. Great. And it just, it just happened so

Karen:
Fantastic. It is real. And here’s what I tell people. Look, we are, this is not a dress rehearsal here. Okay. We are here to experience this planet, you know, in whatever way we want to do. So we only have so much time here. So why not spend it being happy? Do you know? And, and there are people, the people that the naysayers would say, well, you know, they had this or are these people had that advantage or there are people that, you know, Wahner, if there’s a whole lot of people out there that had nothing to their name and are incredibly successful. And, and I, I, I point them out in the book also for all of those people to sit there and think, well, couldn’t be me.

Karen:
Well, exactly. If you keep saying he couldn’t be your rights, then it won’t be you. But if you’re somebody that sits there and says, why not me? It should be me that already, you’re ahead of the game. Yeah. This isn’t a dress rehearsal. So it will be your best, do your best, enjoy this life because it can be like that, but

Brian:
Right. Yep. I and I can’t remember the exact statistic or somebody told me at one time and in that the, you know, the human heart only has so many beets, like physically, there’s only so many beats, so you’ve got it. You’ve got to use those, those, those days and weeks and years to their fullest because at some point in time, it doesn’t matter how healthy you are. The body wears out.

Karen:
I mean, are you, you know, and when you were laying on that death bed, how many regrets are you going to have? Honestly,

Brian:
Well, it’s been a real pleasure having you on the show. The book is Reclaiming Your Moxie I got a write this time is available on audible. It’s available on Amazon. Sounds like there’s a link on your page and I’ve started the book. And so I would highly encourage anybody out there. That’s listening to this, that check out that book, because it’s got a, especially if you like audiobooks, audiobooks because you said you’ve written it in a very conversational tone. And that’s what I felt like, I felt like you were here cause you author it or you, you’d be. Yeah. And I felt like you were here, ah, talking to me. So it’s, I’m highly recommended it. And then of course it will have links to your website and all that good stuff in the description field, but it’s been a pleasure having you on, and learned a lot from you.

Brian:
And I’ve enjoyed our conversations and some, somewhere down, down the road, I hope I could have you on the show again.

Karen:
Yeah. I’ve enjoyed it. This is wonderful. And I love what you’re doing. This is fantastic. Getting it out there and just, you know, Y we don’t know who it is going to affect, but we just we’ve put it out there and let you know today, I’ll tell you a real quick story today. I woke up to a message through Facebook and it was a woman. And she said, she said she would, you know, she really needs to the book. And she and her husband are in a homeless shelter. And so I said, I’ll get you a copy of the book. And I mailed her a copy of it. And I thought, you know, how much of a struggle this is going to be for this, for this couple.

Karen:
But if, if, if the book does nothing other than giving them hope that anything is possible that they can overcome anything, well, then it’s, it’s done its job. And, you know, you sit there. And like I said, I wrote this book and I thought, well, I don’t know who was going to help. I don’t know if it’s going to help anybody. It certainly helped me. And, you know, sure as shit, I’ll get an email from somebody saying, Hey, I just want to let you know, I just read your book and, you know, guess what I, I, you know, I left a horrible relationship or I read your book and I’m going to open up a business as I’ve always wanted to do. And so that’s what you’re doing, Brian.

Karen:
It’s like, you’re putting it out there. And, and, and, and you’re helping people. You’re helping the people that, are looking to be helped.

Brian:
Right. And there’s never a, there’s never a reason to, to recreate the wheel it’s already been created. We just make it our own and, and add our own little personal touches to it and, you know, keep it rolling. So, in, in these last, in these last few minutes, is there any partying wisdom or anything you want to promote or anything you want to put out there before we let you go?

Karen:
No, I don’t think so. At this point, as I said, I just, you know, Life is short, Life is short. Enjoy it

Brian:
To your action. Take action. Take action. All right, well, thank you again. I look forward to talking to you again in the future.