Darine: Welcome to stand out from the crowd.
I'm Darine and if you are anything like me, you have probably been through a few unexpected twists on your journey.
My plan A was to be a diplomat, but life had other plans leading me to become an impact entrepreneur and champion for women's leadership.
Sometimes life has a funny way of throwing us curveballs, right?
I have always wondered why fit in when you were born to stand out. In this podcast, I sit down with remarkable women leaders who have embraced their unique path, defied expectations, and created lasting impact.
We dive into their stories, explore their mindset, their resilience, and the strategies that helped them succeed even when left through stones in their path.
Whether it's insights on personal growth, strategies to amplify your visibility, or tips to boost your well-being and overall productivity, you will find the inspiration you need to unlock your full potential.
Join me for conversations that will empower you to stand out in your career, in your life, and in everything that you do. Because listen, here, we don't just follow the crowd, we stand out.
Today we are talking about something every ambitious woman faces, the invisible barriers that keep us from our next level of success.
What if the problem isn't that you are not doing enough, but that something beneath the surface is holding you back?
Our standout guest today, Dr. Teresa Smith, is a chiropractor, healer, and founder of the Success Zones.
She teaches women how to clear subconscious blocks, align their energy, and lead from flow, not force.
After balancing full-time work, single motherhood, and a decade of study to become a chiropractor, Dr. Teresa learned that 95% of what limits us comes from what we think and feel.
If you have ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected from your potential, this episode will show you how to clear the noise and unlock your natural power.
Dr. Teresa, welcome to the Standout Podcast. How are you doing today?
Dr. Theresa: Wonderful, Darine. It's lovely to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
I look forward to it. It's going to be great fun.
Darine: Oh, yeah. And this is a conversation I was looking forward to having, because I want to learn so much from you.
There are so many questions, so many things that I want to learn, so I can step into my next level of success.
Dr. Theresa: Wonderful. Yes, ask away. Feel free.
I'll fill in anything that you need to know.
Darine: Thank you for me and for the community, and for all the women listening to this episode.
Dr. Theresa: All the women.
Darine: Your journey is quite impressive, from business to chiropractic to healing and success mentorship.
What inspires you to focus on transformation? And what I want to know is, how did you discover the link between your mind, your body, and success?
Dr. Theresa: I've always known there was something.
So when I became a chiropractor, I started my journey with that when I was 31 years old. I went to my chiropractor, and she encouraged me to become a chiropractor.
And at that point, I was a single mother, and I said, I'm making 80 grand a year. And that was 30 years ago, or whatever, more, 40, I guess. Time flies.
And she kept telling me, and I'm like, I can't afford to do that. I'm a single mother.
I already have a career. And she kept going. And I go, you know, stop bothering me. Anyway, I figured it out. So I asked myself, are you worth $100,000? I looked in the mirror and said, are you worth $100,000?
Because that's what the expense was.
And I went, yes, you are. And you're going to help people. Let's go.
So I always thought that I could have saved my dad if I'd been a chiropractor, because I know that all the nerves from your spine go to organs and glands.
But then there's also emotions attached to every organ. Your lungs hold grief. Your liver holds anger. Anyway, that was the beginning of the journey.
So as a chiropractor, then, I was always learning and always looking for more answers for my patients and myself, because that's what we do.
We're not just looking for other people. We're looking for ourselves.
So when I learned later in my career that 95% of dis-ease is caused by what you think and feel, I went, what am I doing?
I've been adjusting to the same people for 28 years with the same problem. So that's proof to me. I already knew.
As soon as I heard it, I went, yeah, that's true.
And I think, I don't know who said it, but it's come from multiple people.
So that started me on that journey as well, on learning how the mind worked and affected the body.
I also then was severely attacked by a neighbor and, yeah, he punched me in the face, he broke my entire face. You know, that's, but it made me question, yes, I'm not into the story.
You know what happened? It's, it's all good. I forgive him. He's on his own journey.
It helps my journey. It helped my journey because I had, I could either be a victim or I could be a thriver and I'm a thriver.
So then I looked at, well, if we create, because I have learned this in the spiritual community, if we create everything in our lives, why would I have created that?
So it set me down a path of learning from multiple teachers, multiple gurus that are well-known on the planet.
And a lot of people get into weird stuff, you know, if you, you know, so I just kept digging for the truth. And so this is not something, I mean, the success zones are wonderful. I love it.
It is what I have gleaned from everything I learned and what makes sense scientifically.
And don't get me wrong. I love woo woo. I love energy. I know there's energy everywhere. We don't see it. I'm an energy healer.
So I just, I just came up with a system. I'm very good at organization and what I call readers digesting.
I don't know if you know what readers digest was, but I'm very good at seeing what the information is and how to put it together in a different manner.
So that's what I did with the success zones and that's how my journey started.
Darine: So how do you identify that what's happening to you is first taking place in your head? How do you know that?
How do you identify that and how do you course correct it?
Dr. Theresa: Okay. So one of the first things I teach people and in my book is all about how your mind works because you've got your ego, you've got your conscious mind, your unconscious mind, your subconscious mind, and then we're super conscious.
And the super conscious is where we're connected to the universe.
So you need to understand where you're operating from. We operate from our ego.
Anytime you hear, you have an idea and you're like, I'm going to go do this. And you hear yourself go, Oh, you don't know enough.
Oh, or you're not worthy. You don't deserve this. You're not capable. You're a piece of crap. When you hear that, that's ego.
Your own ego tells you you're a piece of crap. So you cannot have what you desire.
Now the ego is for survival, a very good thing. You know, don't run into the fire, don't, you know, things like that. But when it comes to living life, we must understand where we operate from.
So we all have certain things we operate off of. Mine is I'm not capable and I also help people. So I help people to my detriment, not anymore, but I used to.
So you need to learn how to understand how you, what you operate from egoically so that you can recognize it when it comes in and it's okay.
This is the thing everybody thinks, Oh my God, I have to change.
You do not have to change one thing about you. You must choose what you want to do.
You must choose who you want to be because at one end of the spectrum, you are in love.
And at the other end, you hate it. We are both at the same time.
So you must choose where you're operating from, but first you need to recognize it and just go, okay, because we all do this.
We all have this. It's not wrong. It's not right. It just is.
So you must first identify how you operate and understand how the mind works.
Because when you train your brain to follow your heart, you win.
And there are things to do to train your brain, to follow your heart.
So once you understand how the mind works, then you can grab your own horns, a bull by the horns.
And you can say, no, thank you for sharing.
I'm going to go get what I want, what I desire, but thanks for sharing. And this is key.
You must acknowledge the ego. So it shuts up.
Darine: Oh, okay. So it's not about, you know, pretending we are not hearing it. Pretending this thought from the ego is not existing. It's about acknowledging it's there.
And you know, thanking the ego, saying, okay, thank you, but no thank you. Yes.
Dr. Theresa: It's exactly that.
Darine: Ooh. I love that.
Dr. Theresa: Yeah. And it's fun and it gets real easy to do. You know, the thing about, I'm not doing what I do to make gazillions of dollars, you know, and that's something that bothers me about all the other gurus, but that's beside the fact.
So I'm doing this so I can live an empowered life. So that when I choose something, I will have it.
Darine: And you said, you know, we can train the brain to follow the heart, but how to train the brain to follow the gut, our instinct, because as women, I know it's really hard to follow our instinct, I think, because simply we don't trust it, but also we don't know how to trust our gut instinct and how to make that connection.
So how is there like a relationship between the head, the heart, the gut, where, you know, following your heart is something that sometimes we hear, you know, it's better to follow your brain, but how about, you know, your gut instinct?
Dr. Theresa: So you have to learn to listen to your intuition and there are exercises. And here's the thing that I want everyone to do.
When you listen to your intuition, I want you to write it down in red ink. I always use a red pen. Your brain sees red better.
I want you to write it down. I don't care how small it is. Write it down. I got this gut feeling. I got this hit and I followed it. And this is what happened.
Because the more we do that, we reinforce that our intuition is spot on and we will listen to it more. We do not give it enough credit.
We're very negative, pessimistic people.
It's just the way we're created. So there's not a lot you can do about that because that's who we are. You know, we're pessimistic in nature.
I mean, that's just the way. So write it down so that you listen to your intuition. And then the more you do that, the stronger the muscle. Right.
So, yes, there is.
And there's a definite I have a meditation that's available for intuition as well. And I also go into heart meditation and get you to pull out what you love, because here's another thing we talk about.
I talk about aligned choices in the book and everybody talks about alignment, aligned choices. You have to be energetic.
Darine: Like, can you tell us what it means? Alignment.
Dr. Theresa: It means, is it from the heart? OK, do you truly want that? So here's the thing. When people get excited, they say, oh, you know, I want to be a successful businessman.
You're subconscious. Here's where that goes. Well, you and your ego goes, well, you can't do that.
You don't have the skill. Your subconscious goes, what are you talking about? That's you.
It's not an alignment. Why not just be a businessman or a businesswoman?
Why not just be what you want to be?
Don't attach stuff like that to it, because your brain goes crazy and says, well, you can't have it then.
So just be pure. I am moving to Maui. I don't know how.
I don't know when I'm packing. My house is for sale. I have no idea how it's going to go, but I'm moving to Maui. There's no.
So I'm a businesswoman. I'm an author. But you see, there's no descriptive meaning.
There's no blockage. OK, and it's from my heart.
Because people want things and then they don't dream big enough, honestly. We don't dream big enough.
We're not taught to dream big. So what is your heart really, really, really want?
Let's get it. And that's an aligned choice.
Darine: So would you suggest we stay vague with our wishes?
But then, you know, we hear it a lot. Also, you know, if you want to dream big, if you want to achieve your big dream, then you have to set specific goals.
But then if we are too specific, we are creating barriers in our minds. So where do we find the balance here?
Dr. Theresa: So then you have I get people to make a list of their goals up to 12 to 13.
There are four non-negotiable. OK, so we'll talk about that later. So you make a list and every day you pick two and you choose.
I choose financial abundance.
How does that make me feel?
What am I doing? That's a daily vision practice.
What am I doing now that I have that? And then what action can I take today?
Listen, what action can I take today to have that? What do you hear intuitively?
And I'm going to tell you, it could be as stupid as you need to go plant some flowers.
Well, how is planting flowers going to get me clients?
Because my dear, because my dear, when you're planting those flowers, you're going to have a brilliant idea.
Darine: Yeah, because you are unplugging it.
And it's true. You know, we say go for a walk, go for a shower, plant flowers.
And this is when, you know, because you are not so focused on your goal, that ideas will just pop up.
Dr. Theresa: Yes. And your brain is looking for the opportunities everywhere in the universe, just as the brain when you're in drama and trauma.
The brain looks for more drama and trauma because you're addicted to that.
So get addicted to living a better life.
And then, yeah, your intuition just leads you to so many places. So, yes, I'm in the flow every day.
I have an appointment here at nine today. I can do that.
That's not out of flow because I put it in my flow. What is the rest of my day? Not a clue.
I have goals. I have things to do. I just go with the flow.
Darine: You know, like it sounds easy and at the same time, like it's a lot of work.
The reality is for us women leaders, you know, oftentimes we have to juggle the career, the business, motherhood, the family.
We have so much on our plate already.
So how do we manage to do the right thing for us without feeling overwhelmed or without even being discouraged just by the sound of all the work that it implies?
Dr. Theresa: Because when you're in the flow and when you're following your intuition and your heart and you're just asking for two things a day, like what action can I take to have that today? Yes, you have your chores, you know, you have your laundry, you've got to clean the house, all that.
But you just write that down on the daily vision practice and you just go with the flow.
You, you can't force life. You can't paddle upstream. It never works. It's too hard.
So breathe, listen to your heart and follow your intuition and you will get more done.
I'm going to tell you that when I, I don't call it procrastination.
Sometimes some people procrastinate, but have you ever put something off that you know is going to be like, I don't want to do it. Take you forever.
Then you wait for that right time and it takes three minutes, five minutes, you know? So yes, I'm not doing that today.
And yes, I know it's on my list, but it's not the right time. Listen, really start listening.
And the thing is I now know that no matter what I do or what, I mean, I know I'm directing my mind, my energies, but I know that no matter what I desire, I can have it.
I don't want a lot of money.
I want to live peacefully in Maui and comfortably. And I've thought about that to myself because most people are like, well, you know, if you want to make a lot of money, you have to change your identity, all this and that you do not, you need to choose it. Choice, choose.
And that's another thing I do in the book too, is clarity is like when you have a conflict, there is a way to either be the victim or the survivor thriver and you get to choose.
But when you write it out, it makes it a little easier to choose. Who do you want to be? Where's the power at the end of the day?
Darine: It's all about choice, the choices that we make and the consequences of it, because the life that we are living today is the result of choices we made like two weeks, one month, two years ago.
So yes, indeed. You know, you said something that is very interesting and that is challenging for me to understand.
So if it's challenging for me to understand, I'm sure a lot of women in the audience might feel the same, you know, as high achievers, we are always on the go, on the go, on the go, on the run, on the run. It's one action after the other, one goal after the other.
And we keep, and as soon as we have achieved the goal, we are looking at the next one, the next one. And so, and it is exhausting, but then on the other side, you know, and this is wonderful.
I love the idea of going with the flow. You know, what, what do I choose to do today? Like who I choose to be today?
You know, the choices that I make maybe twice a day, you know, two actions, as you said, that would take me closer to my goal.
But then when you are a doer and a go-getter, it can feel either anxious or feeling like you are not doing enough to achieve the level of success that you are aiming for because you're so used to being on the run. So how do you process that?
Dr. Theresa: I understand what you're saying. I'm on the run all the time. Just because I'm focusing on two things doesn't mean I'm doing, not doing a gajillion other things, trust me.
But my energy for the day, my mind for the day is laser pointed on those two items. Okay. And it's intuition that makes me choose those two on a day.
So that means that, you know, in a week or two, you can touch all of your items. It does not mean you're just sitting around. Trust me. I am busy every day. I'm hyper. I'm, I'm a workaholic. I'll admit it.
And but you'll see that everything just starts to go a lot better when you make those choices.
It doesn't mean you're not still doing all that stuff every day.
No, you can't just sit there. Action is critical. You have to take action.
And yes, there's so many things. Now here's another thing too.
Your brain goes crazy when you don't tell it. Okay.
When you don't sit down and when you've completed a project, I do, I have a completion exercise.
I completed this and in detail, like what was it because now your mind does not have to put the energy towards that.
Darine: It's like you close the door on one thing that is achieved so you can focus on the next one.
Dr. Theresa: So your mind can, it's not even you, it's your mind that's focusing on it. I mean, you can say you're conscious. Okay. I want you to try to think more than one thought at a time. Go.
Darine: And now you can't.
Dr. Theresa: So, so you can't exactly. I've sat here, I've sat here. No, no, I can't do it. So exactly. So your mind is the one doing the lasering and focusing.
You can have it run all day while you do all your other stuff. But it is also very important to tell them, Hey, we're done with that.
You can shut that down. And that brings a lot of peace.
Darine: When you look at it from that perspective, it's true.
Like you can have an, I do have like thousands of ideas by the minute, but thinking about two things at the same time, you can't, it's one after the other, no matter the pace.
Dr. Theresa: Exactly. So the completion really helps. That's another thing that I learned that I thought was really a great tool is, you know, telling your brain we're done with that.
And it really does help see. So in my daily vision practice every day, it takes 10 minutes with my coffee.
You know, I just sit there and plan my day out, which many of us do. I'm a liste person.
So, it really helps me. And, uh, then I do this tree. This is called the magnetization tree.
And then here's the, is where you choose. I choose financial abundance.
How do you feel? You really feel it because this is part of you.
We've heard this visualization and feeling, and this works.
And what are you doing or the leaves? So that takes 10 minutes.
Then I go about my crazy busy day, but my mind is focused. I don't have to consciously be focused. So I made my mind do it.
When should we get started?
So the success zone book is written so that anybody can do it all by themselves. Cause there's a workbook involved.
It would take, I recommend taking nine weeks, one chapter a week, because there's a workbook involved with each chapter and I want you to integrate it. Okay.
So in the first chapter, you're going to learn how the mind works. It's kind of boring to me, but I thought it was necessary that you understood each part of the mind.
And then you're going to learn how you operate because you're going to take a little Enneagram test. That's week one.
Week two, you're going to go into how to make aligned choices and there's exercises for that.
Week three, you connect to your heart, find all your beautiful desires and let, and say, yes. It's so important to say, yes.
I always said no. And you know, we do this a lot. Sorry. This is a little side road. We say no because I can't afford it, but that's not the point.
Do you desire it from your heart? Then say yes and let the universe deliver it to you. So anyway, we go into the heart, you get all your beautiful, big desires.
Then I take you on a journey with your shadow because you need to know your shadow. It has things to tell you.
People are, that you're your dark side, your shadow, whatever you want to call it. People are big into this. Now.
You don't need a lot from the shadow, just your dark side. Just what does it have to tell you? It has a purpose. It's part of you. Love it. Accept.
Choose different when you need to, you know, then we go into the manifestation tree, how to do that.
The conflict process is in there as well. The completion process and, uh, how to do the daily vision practice so that you're directing your mind to follow your heart.
You're training your brain to follow your heart.
Again, you don't have to be consciously focused on those two things every day. You already told your brain, go find it, bring it.
Darine: So it means within two months, nine weeks of reading your book, then literally we have the potential to change our life.
Dr. Theresa: Yes. My clients that I coach one-on-one love it because it is easy. Once you go through it and integrate it, it's so easy to do 10 to 15 minutes in the morning.
And it's so easy to do a meditation here and there, you know, because you should check in with your heart a few times, you know, a year at least or more.
So it is easy. And that's how I made the book with the workbook.
And it's going to be a course online soon in case you need more help. And some people want one-on-one, but for a book for 20 bucks, you can change your world.
I can't wait. That was my goal because I think if everyone knew how their mind worked, we would all be empowered to have what we desired and we would not be slaves to this world. That's a big statement and it's true.
So many people have been inspired to change their careers and go do what they love because we should all be doing what we love.
It would be a better world.
Darine: Especially for us. And people will be nicer to each other.
Dr. Theresa: Everything that is wrong right now with this planet is lack of love. Definitely.
Darine: But maybe also because there is a lack of self-love.
So when there is a lack of self-love, how can you love others?
Dr. Theresa: Well, that's, I'm talking about that as well. Yes. It stems from there. And then yes, because I can send love to everybody because it's unconditional.
It doesn't have any conditions.
Darine: Is there anything else that you would like to share with us? Like you have shared so many insights and strategies and practical exercises.
Is there like one standout advice that you would like to give to our audience?
Dr. Theresa: There's so many things, but whatever you focus on as your reality is one, you do not need fixing. You don't have to change a thing about you.
You just have to choose differently and give yourself permission. And when are you going to start? Let's go.
And you can go down any path and change lanes.
You don't even have to use a turn signal. Just change. So when are you going to start?
I invite you.
And if it's not with me, find something that resonates, that gets your mind trained to follow your heart so we can live on a better planet.
Darine: Thank you so much for this conversation. I have learned so much. I was looking forward so much to this conversation because, you know, like, and we hear it a lot on social media.
We see all the gurus on social media talking about alignment and action, you know, feminine energy, la la la. But at the end of the day, you know, just as regular people, like what do we do? How do we do it?
And I really appreciate the fact that you break it down in a way that is digestible and that is doable, that feels attainable.
Dr. Theresa: Yes. And there's no, no woo woo. I don't touch it on anybody's beliefs. This is just a system to get you to where, you know, train your brain.
So you have whatever you desire, because really that's all that matters at the end of this day. And understanding that is great. I appreciate the time Darine.
You know, I want to tell you, if anybody has any questions, when they see this, they can always email me, they can always call me.
I'm happy to talk to anybody, no charge, just to see where they are, see if I can help them.
Or if I know something that can, I'm here to help anyone who wants it.
Darine: Thank you. Thank you so much for that, Dr. Teresa.
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