Josette Diaz – A Guide to Seasons of the Wild Woman

Hi and welcome to the You World Order Showcase podcast. Today we are talking with Josette Diaz. She is a self-awareness coach and educator working with midlife women and she is the creator of.

Seasons of the soul. I love that.

So much. Welcome to the show, Josette.

Thank you so much, Jill. I'm really happy to be.

So tell us how you got started and what are.

You doing how you doing it? All the things.

Oh gosh.

How you get started just feels like such a big question because there's so many things that lead up to getting started, right, and I think.

Was born on.

Well, and I think when you decide to become an entrepreneur, you know, there are many reasons why you move in that direction and some you make choices in doing and some you kind of like.

End up there, you know mine. I never thought I would be an entrepreneur. And what led me to be an entrepreneur is after years of staying home raising my daughters, I.

Had a career.

Previously and then I stayed home for a long period of time and then life changed and I had been hearing whispers.

Within myself of the dream that I had always carried, yet I thought, you know, when we have these dreams, sometimes we think, Oh yeah, sure. Maybe. But it's sort of a novelty, right. We don't necessarily think that it's real or it will happen.

And I kept putting it off and sticking it on the shelf and thinking ohh I had all these different reasons why that was not for me. And there were a lot of different excuses and you know, it wouldn't fit into my family. I how am I going to do that with everything else that I have on my plate, which I think a lot of women.

Use that as a reason to not do certain things, and then when you put it.

Tough and it's meant for you. Life has its way of making sure that it does what it needs to do for you. And so that was my. I wouldn't say push, but yeah, kind of that I was led right into being an entrepreneur.

I'm a Reiki master teacher and I had a girlfriend who had her own space and she just kept trying to convince me to come and so I did and I had done coaching with her previously and she's like please do your coaching. And so that was the start.

And since then, so that was eight years ago, and since then it's evolved and I've gotten really good at understanding what it is that the dream has been calling me to do more and more and more. And I step into it deeper and deeper and deeper.

Did I answer your question?

Interesting how once you did totally, when you when you start out on that path you think you're going in One Direction and you start taking steps and then suddenly there's a turn and you're.

Right.

You're going.

Little off to the side and then.

The New Forest opens up and it's like, oh.

It's so true.

I think you have to really be patient.

This could.

To wonder if.

You're there. You do.

Right. Yeah. Yeah, you do. Because it is always a constantly evolving. And so this is my current version. It may be different in a year.

I really don't know yet. I'm. I'm just staying open and listening and paying attention.

And as.

You work with people and you see the other things that they have that come up that you're like, oh, I could help you with that.

Right.

It kind of. It allows you to, like, tweak what you're doing to really be of more service to the people that you are serving.

So in this iteration, the seasons of the soul, what exactly are you doing with that?

So seasons of the soul is the objective of it is to learn to really tap in. It slowed down, listen deeply and connect within. Those are the three pillars.

And it's using the seasons as archetypes to understand your own rhythm within so that you are you are activating that piece of yourself that works in tandem with itself in your. And I'm going to use the language feminine and masculine, yet you could use.

Your emotional, logical, whatever those terms are for you.

Regardless, it's understanding yourself to know that there's a rhythm to how that works for you. So whenever you're looking to seek change or you're in the midst of change, or you're wanting to flesh out some inspiration, it teaches you how to maneuver through that. And it's not just about that. It's.

Even more, it's deeper than that. It's more about making that true connection within yourself.

To bring out your authenticity, to identify your wisdom, to build upon your self-confidence and continue to stack the evidence.

Of who you.

Are and who you're becoming and it's meant for women in midlife because we are at such a pivotal point in our lives.

The shift is really happening and you know we start off with all of these physical things that happened to us in mid life and it's a very confusing time and no one seems to really know how to help you and you can find really good naturopaths and you know, they have a little bit more of an inkling I feel because.

You know, when I asked my doctor for.

Test for my levels. She was like, well, it's just going to tell you you're in menopause.

Like, well, yeah, I'd kind of still like to know, but so, you know, you don't get a lot of help from Western medicine in that way. And when we start from that point, it's more than this though it's deeper because we're we've built a life up to where we're standing in that moment of midlife where we start to recognize that.

Hey, you know in a few years.

Things are going to look really different in my life. I'm going to have more freedom and what do I want? And if I can do what I want now.

Then what is it? And so we then start to make peace with our past, because we've worn different masks to get from there to here and we can recognize that there are certain things that we don't need to put on anymore. We don't need to wear that mask anymore because we're not dealing with things in the same way.

And I feel really strongly that we've built a.

Consistent proof that we have the wisdom to now handle adulthood, and that might sound kind of funny, but no one tells us how to be an adult. You know, we just are out there. It's just like becoming a parent. There's no manual, there's no, you know, I mean, we just we use the models that we've had.

Which can be good and not be good, and we tweak it and make improvements, and yet we then still find ourselves putting on different masks to get from there to here. And so once we're here and we can see, we want something else.

It to get across that bridge. How do we do that? And so that's what seasons of the soul is designed to do. It's a it's actually a nine month program and it takes you through that unraveling of the mass that we've worn.

And it then moves you into how to understand yourself better and how to actually use this container. This system that takes you through inspiration.

To action, to reflection, and there is, you know, it's each of the seasons represent something. So you have inspiration in winter. You gather information in the spring, you take action in the summer and in the autumn you're reflecting back and the whole cycle starts again. It's very reflective of.

Nature and the seasons and it's a beautiful way to, like, really relate to yourself.

That's kind of how.

We operate too, don't like to think that.

Right, exactly.

But we do in the winter time we got better earlier and.

That's right. You naturally feel it.

Days are shorter, yeah.

And then there's the seasons of life. You, you, you're talking about, you know, becoming a Crone and there's greatness. And I embrace it. It's just like, this is the best time of my life right now.

And I have. I've never felt like there's more opportunity.

And I could.

Be more of who I am and you know my kids are all grown now. And yeah, they're.

I had them late and some of them later in life, so I still have a 19 year old that's floating around, but she's.

She's done. I don't have to mother her.

Anymore we can just.

Right.

Be friends and she's a roommate and.

It it's just.

So it I don't have the responsibilities and I think that's what you were addressing is you reached that point where it.

Now what? Yeah, and so many women don't have an answer to that. They want one, and maybe they have ideas floating around like I could be this. Or I could do that. But I really don't know how to.

Do it and.

OK.

Or they or they think they want to do something that's.

Like very altruistic, but it's not you.

A lot of coaches become coaches and then all of a sudden they become.

Abruptly aware that, oh, I'm an entrepreneur.

Dang, what do I?

Do now wait what? That's part of the deal. Yeah, that's true.

So interesting that.

You have a.

A coaching program that helps people kind.

Of navigate all these pieces to get.

Well, I found that there I took a lot of the tools that I've learned and gathered along the way. And I've been, you know, studying and self development and metaphysics since I was 18. So I've, like, done a lot of work. I've taken classes.

I've worked with.

People I've you know, done all those things and.

And I wanted to create something that women, it's dedicated for women because we don't prioritize ourselves most.

Of our life.

And we are now in a place in midlife where we get to prioritize ourselves. And yeah, everyone has certain circumstances that might, you know, preclude some of this. Yet at the same time, they can do it in a way that still honors themselves. And so it is for.

A variety of different women in midlife, and there was something that you said that I wanted to address and I'm I've lost it now, but hopefully it'll come back to me. But, you know, I think that having a container that helps you focus on that and prioritize yourself and really turn the work inward.

Where we haven't really had the opportunity to spend a lot of our time.

Is really important for us.

Yeah, it the slowing down enough to like, pay attention to what you're thinking about because you know when your kids are young, you don't even have time to really let your mind register your thoughts and they control everything in.

Your life I.

Mean they how you.

Feel on a day-to-day basis and if you're not watching them.

They.

They dive into that cesspool. That's.

Not helping anybody. I mean, just where your mind goes, everything is the end of the world.

It's really true, I know. And it does cause you to be very diligent around all of their activities and the family life is, you know, really your main focus if you are, you know, if you have a family and that's where you're at because I, I mean, I know when I had left my previous career.

Stayed home with, you know, when my daughter, second daughter was born. My oldest was 12. You know, I wanted to be there for the 12 year old cause I didn't get that opportunity when she was a.

Maybe. And I was, you know, 12 years down the road. So I was like 35 at that time. So life was different. And I had the opportunity to stay home with both of them. And I loved every minute of it. Yet everything was focused around my kids.

Yeah, and you lose your identity and then you start to wonder, am I really good enough? Can I go back into the workforce because you lose your confidence?

You get out of school.

And you're all you.

Know yeah, beveled up. I can do this.

I can do anything I can.

You know.

And I think that.

Catch the world.

I agree. I think society tells women that staying home means that you're not as valuable.

That you don't have value anymore really. Other than that you've managed, you know, these children.

And if you really look at.

And then they make it like it's no big deal when it's.

Yes, right excuses.

The next generation.

That's what I was just.

Going to say, you're like raising human beings.

And these human beings are going to go out and do things in the world. They're going to move in the world. How do you want them to move in the world? And so being a parent and staying home with your children is one of the most influential kind of jobs that you can have.

And it creates so many different skills that you accumulate.

I mean managing a family is not easy budgeting for a family is not easy. It's all those skills. It's unfortunate that you don't get pay raises for vacuuming and stuff, but you know at the same time.

In training, you learn to train these little human beings that are just not like really not interested in, and the things that need to be done, but.

Right. That's so true.

It's so true, but I think it's really valuable.

I agree I.

One of the I think it's the most important job that.

It comes along in a in a human beings life, whether you're a man or a woman.

What you do with your kids is.

Hugely going to impact all the rest of the.

World and that may be a broad statement, but.

Yeah, that's right.

You know, you never know your kid might be that one that discovers something that's.

Life changing?

For all of us.

It's really true. It's part of the ripple effect, right?

In a very big way.

Yeah, I'm.

Really big on that. So where are these life women, midlife women hanging out? Where do you find them?

A lot of a lot of times it's referral and I think that, you know, I do networking and I'm visible on my social media.

And I, you know, do as much in interaction that I can with women in midlife. So I do a variety of different networking events or I you know do panels. I have a couple of places that I'm involved with a membership group that's out of Australia called Sacred You.

And I have another group that I just started working with that is called Bloom Bates, and they're out of the UK and so my intention is to be international.

And that's why I love to work online, because it means I can be international and these women are a lot of times I think that the message has to be really precise for them to hear you.

They also need to be in the right space with themselves.

Because I think a lot of times we think as women we.

Don't really ask for help.

And it's hard for us to ask for help.

That we can figure it out on our own.

Right, exactly. If I read this book, I'll get enough what I need, and yet you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over. And I wouldn't say they're necessarily mistakes, but you find yourself in the same pattern over and over.

And so why are you in that pattern? And that's what having a good coach does for you is it helps you to start to decipher what is it that's going on with myself and why do I have the patterns and the habits that are impacting my life in a way that don't serve me?

And so once you can start to dissect that out and it doesn't mean that the coach is to tell you these things, I use a creative process in my work so that the women that I work with are using art and they don't need to be artists. I am not.

An artist? No. No shape or form.

Ask my kids and but and using art though it opens up a different conversation with yourself.

And you are actually opening the door to your own soul, your subconscious. And when you look at doing art in this way, in an intuitive way, I'm not saying draw an apple. I'm saying draw what? What does com feel like to you?

And if you lean into that, whatever you draw, you are doing it instinctively, so it then becomes an expansive conversation with yourself.

And then we go through journal prompts through that. So it's art therapy, right. And in those journaling questions, you're asking yourself particular things that the art is speaking to you. And so women then arrive at their own revelations.

And this is what I love about the work I do, because it provides women with the avenue the skill set, the ability to really open themselves up and have conversations with themselves so that they become their own alchemists, their own, you know, their own guru. And the answers come from.

Within and so I love leading women down that path.

It's really a rewarding thing to do to see someone, you know, have that moment of aha like oh, oh, I've been doing this because of that. And then you it put you put it in perspective, right.

It reminds me of shepherding.

From behind in my mind's eye, I picture these women in front of you and you're shepherding them down a path and they get to experience the Meadow as it unfolds or the valley as it unfolds, which is.

You know.

It's a good way to put it.

The first time you see a valley.

The first time I drove over Sardine Pass and I saw Cache Valley. It literally took my breath away and that's kind of the vision that I have of what you're describing.

Yeah, that's how it feels to me as well that it's.

It's that moment of really recognizing how.

Of the awe that you have within yourself.

Right, right.

It's such a gift on some levels.

That sometimes you.

Don't even realize that you have it wrapped up inside you all the time.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's true. It's true.

So do you do this as one-on-one coaching or is it group coaching?

Is a combination of both. What is that?

I do. I do have one-on-one coaching seasons of the soul is a group program or it's not a program. It's a system because it's more than just a program. It's actually a system that I teach you.

And so I do that in a group which I think is really valuable for women to, you know, be in that kind of container where they're witnessing one another because it really helps you to connect and know that how alone you are not, you're not alone, you know.

That we all kind of have very similar human experiences.

And you can learn so much.

And you don't have to be the one doing all of the talking. The spotlight isn't always on you, where you have to.

Be engaged and.

Because we're not always all engaged and.

That's kind of the magic of groups. Somebody may ask a question that you really need to know the answer to, but you didn't.

Even think of the question.

Exactly. And then you go oh, wow, that really fits with me.

Yeah, yeah.

And the different perception is always.

So eye opening, it can really teach you a lot of different things. It gives you something different to think about and that's why I love doing things in groups because it really helps women to it expands. It's more expansive in a lot of ways.

For everybody. And it's not like all the all the information they're getting is the information that you have because it's a combination of all the information that all of us are bringing.

To this.

And it's interesting to watch the synergy of different groups as they go through the A program.

Because not all groups are the same, each one has its own dynamic and flavor, and it's interesting to see how the universe brings a certain group of people together for an experience, and how the different.

Group will look.

Yeah, that's really true, I mean.

I think that we all kind of have like a lot a lot of similarities. Yet you're right, the personalities of particular groups will shift the information that comes.

And it's really cool to see how one group will level up in a certain way, and then that gets carried into the next group that gets leveled in another way. And so everyone comes when they're supposed to come, and they're there when they're supposed to be there.

So it really is a beautiful thing to see the unfolding of that.

Yeah, I can imagine I.

I get all these mental images when we talk.

I love it.

So I know that you offer a guide book and a video you want to talk a little bit about that.

Yes. So I offer a.

Master class that's called the seasons of your Wise Woman.

And it has a guidebook to go along with it, and it's an introduction to how seasons of the Soul works. And so it takes you through some creative exercises to kind of get your juices flowing around what's inspiring you.

And then using your feminine energy to receive, because that's her role as a state of being right and being in that, that quietness of receiving.

And then you move into your spring time where you're starting to gather the information around those inspirations. So you might have five or six inspirations, but really, what really lights you up there?

And take what lights you up and then figure out from doing some research around them. Gather some information. What really lights you up after. You know, a little more.

And so it's working with the that masculine energy that is the doing. And so your feminine energy.

Informs and your masculine energy does.

And then you move it all into action and then when you get into the last phase of autumn, that's when the masculine energy then is informing the feminine energy. OK, well, this, this and this happened.

And then she says, hmm.

I like the results of this. I don't like the results of that.

I'd like to see what this would.

And then she's back to informing and then receiving again in the winter for inspiration. And so it's really getting yourself into the habit of creating a new way of being with yourself and slowing it down enough so that it becomes very intentional. And so that's what the seasons of the wise woman is about is to give you.

A snapshot of what that can feel like for yourself.

And so it takes you through the creative process through those seasons, giving you some exercises to really sink into that a little bit more.

I love that it allows for.

Adjustments and growth and.

A little bit of.

And not forcing something to grow in a certain way, I guess is the best way.

To put it because.

Yeah, yeah.

Anytime you embark on an Endeavor.

To as an entrepreneur or coach, or.

Any type of service, you're really probably any type of.

Of adventure that you're going on, you're going to you're going to.

It's going to be a windy path and having places in there where you're asking them to just slow down and listen to your intuition. Listen to what your higher self is telling you.

And accept it. You don't have to act on it, but it's just the ability to say, OK, this is information and what do I want to do with it? And connecting with your body. And how does this feel in my body?

And can I?

I can. I. Can I move forward in this or is it is it going?

To is it really?

Stressing me out is this whole idea of like just like causing me anxiety because you don't want to live in that, but you may want to get to what's on the other side of the anxiety and how can you?

Right.

Work through it in a way that's not going to cripple you. That is going to help you grow so that you can get to the outcome.

That you want.

Right. Yeah, exactly. Because recognizing that anxiety it, it puts you in a different state.

And so slowing down enough to recognize what that state is.

And what does it trigger in yourself, in your mind and your body, to form the habits that protect you?

And so there is therein lies some of the resistance.

And so slowing it down enough and then leaning into what would I really love?

And asking yourself, would I love that?

If I got that, would I love it? Oh, and if I got that, would I love that?

And so.

That's part of the project.

Sitting in that feeling too, you know, putting yourself in the feeling that you would have when you've when you've actually arrived.

And sitting with it.

Does this feel good? Is this?

Really where I want to go.

Right.

And if it isn't then.

To rethink it a little bit.

That's right. You get the you have all the control to shift it and change it. It's like being an entrepreneur, right?

It's kind of like test driving the car too. You can you can test drive all of these ideas by just sitting with them and imagining to use, use your day dreaming skills, girls.

Yes, that's right. And if you and I've, I've had clients who have not really felt.

Connected to dreaming and dreaming just has really not part of their lives because of various reasons, usually dating back to childhood. And so, you know, we have an opportunity there to bring yourself back into that dreaming phase and moment within yourself, really connecting with your inner child.

I think that's the one thing that we also do a lot of work of inner child, our inner child in midlife, because I was just going through something personally the other day and recognized that I had.

Like holograph version of these different patterns of my inner child that pops up. Oh, here she is. You know, protecting me. And, you know, my 7 year old, I don't think I want in charge of my 58 year old self. And so I had the opportunity to step back and look at that.

And then do some healing around that and really put it in its right place with love and cherishing and nurturing for my inner self and my inner child because it's not about like making you know anything wrong.

It's really just embracing it and recognizing that it's data.

It you know, giving it gratitude.

And honouring the moment that that was a necessary means at the time, for whatever reasons, usually survival has a lot to do with that and really just allowing yourself to.

Let that go and see a new version of yourself without that.

Sometimes I like to reframe things that have happened in my past, that traumatic and you know, I dragged along with me all.

These years.

And I find that reframing them makes it.

It doesn't. It doesn't change anything in my in my life except that.

For now I don't have to like carry it around anymore. It's like I could just leave that bag over there and if I never pick it up again.

It's like writing a rewriting the story, right? Like you can imagine it differently.

And that can be the new story that exists for you.

And I don't think that. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

And it's.

It's OK to do that.

I mean people. Yeah, people.

Don't realize that you can. You can tell yourself any story you want because none of it is true.

That's strange.

In in the in the effect that.

The other people who were there experiencing it with you will have we be telling them a self themselves a different story than you're telling yourself so.

It's all based on perception.

It's all based on perception, and it's just a story, so you can make the story mean whatever you want it to mean, and we've so often, you know, these stories are when we're really young and we don't have a lot of data to go on. So we've created these stories that.

From that perception of a young person.

Right.

Who doesn't have experience?

Yes, you're just. You're basing this story that you've told yourself all these years on something that's doesn't have enough data to really be trustworthy. So.

And there's all these.

Go ahead, rewrite it.

Holes in data. Yeah, that's right. There's always some holes there. So you can totally rewrite it and let it become your new reality. I don't think that that's really a disengagement of what's real. You know, I hear in the back of my mind when we talk like this that, you know well, what is that person saying? That's a realist.

There, there isn't anything that's really real.

In the first place, it's like in a course in miracles. The first lesson in a course in miracles is to.

Practice disconnecting yourself from meaning and so you take a look around in the room. That lamp means nothing to me.

That chair means nothing to me. So you detach the meaning to it and just let it be whatever it is.

And we can do that with experiences too.

The same thing. Yeah, it's the same thing.

And Marissa Pierce says, tell yourself a better lie, because they're all lies.

And it really does.

Help I I've done it myself and you know I've. I've got things that I've dragged along since I was 6 and it wasn't serving me and.

It was really destroying some relationships that I had.

And I just decided that.

You know, I'm just gonna.

Make up a different story about what happened.

Yeah, I think that's so true. And I think that what we do as women is we use these.

Conceptions of ourselves from childhood that I'm not good enough, or you know.

I'm not lovable. I'm not all these things, but.

Yeah, all those things.

You know, says who?

So exactly, they really have no basis.

And they were just child. Our child's feelings. You know that? Not very eloquent. What I just said, but it's that that connection that we had when we were young and how we felt in our environments and it really isn't factual.

It's not really true.

And it's usually right when we're just beginning to be able to have really abstract thoughts, because you really can't do that until you're about 678.

I mean, you just.

Your brain isn't developed, it just doesn't compute, and so a lot of these stories that we've told ourselves and a lot of the way that we react to different situations is based on the very beginning.

Things of our personality and our ability to interact with our environments and.

And we just didn't know what we don't know.

That's right.

That's right. And that isn't that what self-awareness is all about. You know you reach that level of awareness and what you didn't know prior to that, you now know. And then there's even more for you to know. And so it's constantly leaning into what can I be aware of now?

And oh, I just love that because being a lifelong learner, you know, that's really my jam. So I find that really fun. I know not everyone thinks like that, but.

I do too.

I absolutely do. And I it's just like.

I think that's why I love this point in my life so much. It's, you know, I finally I am a croon and I own it. And I like being an old lady.

Honestly, can you imagine being in your 20s again? I wouldn't want to do it.

No, I wouldn't trade where I am now for that to.

For all the.

Tea in China, as they say I.

I'm. I'm confident in who I am. I if people don't like me, I.

Really don't care what?

Yeah, I'm never bored. I always have lots of things to occupy my mind and my hands. And you know, you learn a certain number of skills by the time they reach our age. It's like I know, how did all these things, you know, people talk about Thanksgiving dinner being a big deal. Well, you know, I can whip up a Thanksgiving dinner.

That's right, yes.

Pretty quickly and it doesn't.

A lot because I've just done it so many times, yeah.

Right, it's the practice.

Yeah. Or, you know, cooking dinners. You know my husband, who doesn't cook.

He he's just like in awe every night to the table. Can't believe you made this. And but for me, I don't even have to use a recipes cause I've made these things so many times and it's just like I can look in the refrigerator and figure out what we're going to have for dinner in 30 minutes.

And that is a skill.

Yeah, it's something you learn from being a mom and doing all these things.

That's right.

Thinking on your feet all the time, right?

Yeah, and having to juggle things in your head and keep information in your head there, guys.

Husbands, we'll just put it this way, often complain that they can't find stuff and everybody comes to moms. Where'd you put it? Well, whether you put it away or not, you probably know where it is and can find it for people because we're used to.

Keeping that information, we're really good at like that. The card game where you turn the cards over that matching game, I forget what it's called, but.

It's just, it's just a skill you have.

To have you need.

To build a.

Fun stuff.

True. And isn't it interesting?

In addition to that, that, you know their habits.

Sometimes better than they do.

So it's sort of like the card file, you know, rolls up in the Rolodex and you have a list of like, Oh well, they probably did this with it because, you know, I know how they are. And so it's knowing not just all of the facts of it, it's that, you know, the energy of the people in your life and where things are.

And to catalog all of that in your mind and to be able to retrieve it on an instant.

Skills, we learn.

I know we're pretty amazing.

We are really amazing.

So just.

How do people get in touch with you?

Let's see. So I am on LinkedIn at Josette Dash Diaz, and I'm also you can reach me through my website at guidance to wellness.com. If you sign up for my com journal, it's how to get com.

You can reach me there. I also have my e-mail link is in my web.

And I have several different things that I'm doing. I'm on meet up, I do a group called an artist guide to journaling.

And I have a truly you at midlife group.

So I'm pretty easy to reach out to.

That's wonderful. We'll make sure we put a lot of those links in the.

Show notes below. I think we have your linke tree link.

Which I think has all those.

Yeah, that will give you just about everything, yeah.

Yeah. So what's the one thing you want to leave the audience with today? What do you?

Hope they take away from this conversation.

I would like to leave midlife women with this thought.

You've it's taken you time to get to where you are right now and you've been all the things to everyone in your life.

And this is your opportunity.

To be your own soul mate.

And that journey is priceless.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you for having me, Jill. It it's been a really nice conversation. Thank you.