Unlocking the Magic: Breaking Free from the Copy-Paste Life w/ Amy Pons

Jen V. [00:00:05]: Alright. Welcome back, everyone. I am extra thrilled to introduce you to my guest today, Amy Pons. Amy, I met her through a podcasting group, and right away, I was like, that's a kindred spirit. And Amy, I don't you don't have to tell me if you felt that too. But I was like, I saw your background and if you're watching the video you'll you'll know exactly what I mean. But I'm like, yes. I completely get Amy.

Jen V. [00:00:28]: And when I looked at your website, your story was so familiar, which I know is gonna be familiar for others. So I'm just gonna read from your website, and then we'll turn it over to you to hear some of your story.

Amy Pons [00:00:39]: Yes. And can I ask you which website? Because it just Oh, yeah. Right. But is it the rotating photos of me on the front page? Is that the one that you're looking at? Or is

Jen V. [00:00:48]: it you with roller skates.

Amy Pons [00:00:50]: Yes.

Jen V. [00:00:50]: Is that the right one?

Amy Pons [00:00:52]: Yeah. Oh, no. I'm just I'm just curious of which version you saw. Because the other one, the landing page was a picture of me that says, fuck normal. I want magic.

Jen V. [00:01:03]: Why did we change that? Fuck is my favorite word. Like, it's literally on my phone case. I kid you not. Can you see that?

Amy Pons [00:01:12]: Oh, there it is. Yeah. It is.

Jen V. [00:01:13]: Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:01:14]: Why do we change it? Well, that could be a longer story.

Jen V. [00:01:17]: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:01:18]: Whatever you wanna read. Yeah.

Jen V. [00:01:19]: Okay. There are so many layers here to Amy. I love this. I love multilayered people. You wake up one day and as if by magic, what once felt normal, fine, even extraordinary about your life just doesn't anymore. There's a discomfort and uneasiness that wasn't there before. It's unsettling especially when you have no idea what it is, where it came from, or what to do about it. This is what I describe as a pinch.

Jen V. [00:01:46]: I should know. It's what inspired me to break free from the copy paste culture I had subscribed to for the first twenty years of my career. And it's precisely what inclines my clients to seek my unique, no bullshit, me too, meet you where you are style of coaching. And I think I mean, it's as if you were in my head and in my experience as a woman who has now spent thirty plus years in corporate America. So I would love to hear from you bits of your story. How did you get yourself out of that? Where are you at today? And what does living your best damn life look like for you?

Amy Pons [00:02:28]: So growing up in rural Central Illinois, there were so many in every I mean, so many people can resonate with this. It was like going to mainstream church every Sunday. I was actually the first generation to graduate from college. And so there was a lot of milestones set out in front of me. And what's interesting is, like, when I was four or five, I now looking back, I can remember feeling my clairsent and claircognizance when I was four or five. I would not have known what that is.

Jen V. [00:03:03]: Yeah. Big words for a four year old.

Amy Pons [00:03:06]: But when anyone came into my proximity of my energy field, I felt what they felt and also knew what they were trying to get to. Well, pair that with growing up with parents, with family that were extremely emotionally, if you wanna say stunted or, like, they very, very limited in that capacity in the household I grew up in. And this is I still struggle with how much to share on this because my family and I still try to have a relationship. And my dad and I have actually talked at at nauseam about the upbringing, and it was primarily physical, psychological, emotional abuse Mhmm. For the first twenty years of or, you know, however long I was home. And he was most of the physical, and he and I got into this really beautiful place where we talk about it a lot. And that's the only thing he knew how to do. Like, that's how he was raised, so he just brought that in.

Amy Pons [00:04:13]: So but, again, coming back to, like, four or five, I was having all of these things happening in my tiny little body and then told, stop it. That's nonsense. You're making this up. Or I would get beaten for it or some whatever.

Jen V. [00:04:28]: Mhmm. Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:04:29]: And so and then I went into mainstream school, and, of course, that was and then, of course, mainstream religion. None of that was like

Jen V. [00:04:36]: Yeah. Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:04:36]: Wait. Special gifts. Like, you know, that was like the devil's working. Like, down is bad and and up is good and things like that. So hit fast forward. So I had been suppressing and just kind of falling in line, and I believe we all sign up for things when we come to this plane. And I was like, oh, cool. Let me experience this in a household.

Amy Pons [00:04:58]: Let me see what that looks like. And, you know, we get here, we're like, oh, it's, like, kinda not what I signed up for, but here we are. What was great about my upbringing is that it was perfect training for corporate America. The plan was to get a job, go to college, get a better job, make the money, do the things, pay tax in retired Florida. And I was fine with that for a while. You know, when I graduated college, I was like, let me go make this money. I was most excited. I remember I was so excited about getting, like, the same amount of money every other week

Jen V. [00:05:34]: Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:05:34]: Which is fun now that I'm an entrepreneur. In corporate, like, when that showed up, I was told, you know, all the things like straighten your hair, curls are unprofessional, wear heels, wear suits. I had to show up like older white man. Like, that's really what I was being trained to do. And that was comfortable and familiar and safe for me because of my upbringing. So corporate was my jam until mid thirties. My soul started to stir a little bit. And when I was I would think I was building marketing campaign for, you know, getting people to spend more on their credit card.

Amy Pons [00:06:10]: I was like, k.

Jen V. [00:06:12]: This doesn't feel good.

Amy Pons [00:06:14]: And, you know, I kept getting promoted and climbing the ladder. But when I got there to each rung, I was like, what's next? Like, what now?

Jen V. [00:06:26]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:06:26]: And so I would not tell anyone that this is an easy process to start. I use the word purpose very loosely because, like, the whole purpose and the only thing that's, like, ultimately, divinely, innately true on this plane is that we exist as humans. So the purpose is for you to be the you est you, you can you. Mhmm. Mhmm. That's it. Before anyone told you or stepped in and said, here's what you should do. So check your shoulds.

Jen V. [00:06:55]: Absolutely.

Amy Pons [00:06:56]: Check your should check your shoulds.

Jen V. [00:06:57]: I'm pretty sure I have an episode on that, so I'll link to that. And you probably do too on your podcast or

Amy Pons [00:07:02]: somewhere. Yeah. And so what started to feel good to me, I was like, well, that doesn't feel great to, like, make people spend more money when they don't have it. So let me check out this employee resource group vibe, and there was a women's ERG. And I already I had always heard of it, but I was like, I don't really know what that is. So I joined the women's employee resource group where I became an amazing white feminist. Worked my way up there as well and became the leader. You know, I started to work with, yeah, probably globally, like, 3,000 women working toward the advancement and betterment of equality of women in the workplace.

Amy Pons [00:07:47]: That's okay. But what did start to light me up and well, I realized some of the threads that I was asking to pull was when I started coaching women from the ERG. So in corporate, it was like how to get a mentor or a sponsor or get the promotion or take a lateral. It was all about, like, okay. What's next? Because psychological abuse in the workplace is rampant.

Jen V. [00:08:12]: I feel like you and I could share lots of stories. I'm actually in a corporate place where I absolutely love it and I thrive, but that was after a fifteen month mental health break about a decade ago and me having to set some very firm boundaries for myself and what I was willing to put up with and not.

Amy Pons [00:08:30]: Glad you're here, and I'm glad you did that. Looking my whole career, twenty years, almost every role was psychologically abused, like, fueled. And I think, again, it's because I was that's my that was my comfort.

Jen V. [00:08:43]: That's all.

Amy Pons [00:08:43]: That's what I knew. Yeah. So I started to get, like, I felt I was staying in my corporate job to lead the ERG. That was the sweet spot. That's what I was staying there for. Then I got my last promotion in corporate, and that was paired with one of the worst bouts of psychological abuse. Had I stayed, I was dying inside. I physically would not have been here.

Jen V. [00:09:07]: Yep.

Amy Pons [00:09:08]: So it was it was my soul stirring. My gifts started to come back online. I visited Salem, Massachusetts in October.

Jen V. [00:09:17]: Yeah. I've been there in October. Amazing. Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:09:21]: And just felt catapulted into my I mean, we all like to call it an awakening. Mhmm. I had a remembering Oh, I love that. Of who I am. Yeah. And I was like, oh, right. That's why I came here. I'm a healer and a warrior on the forefront helping humanity create the balance we've never seen in this lifetime.

Jen V. [00:09:40]: Cool. I was made for this moment.

Amy Pons [00:09:44]: I need to figure out some way to make some money. But, also, because my boss was at the point where they were they were like, I will break you. I was like, I was in this this nature I was in this space where I was like, they had actually broken me, my spirit. And I was like, I had my one last straw moment. And then I said today's my last day. So after I got back from Salem in October and I had that one last straw moment, I had had some plans in place. I wanted to go into the following year because, you know, to get my bonus, and I wanted to get some things together and then say I'm out and have, like, a pad before I went out and got back into the pool again. So my spirit guide said, mm-mm.

Amy Pons [00:10:36]: No. We're gonna do this, and it's gonna be that extreme and drastic so that I needed, like, a clean-cut over. If I and privilegely

Jen V. [00:10:48]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:10:48]: I have a partner that could support me. We had built such a lifestyle based on really high salaries that I ended up closing my 4 0 1 k. Like, that's the logistical how we got through my first year in business.

Jen V. [00:11:00]: That's exactly what I did too over a decade ago. That was real fun. But you reached that point, right, where you're like, I cannot do this anymore. Mine, I was I was sitting in the bathtub crying before going to work, and my husband came in and I said, I'm we are either driving me to the hospital to kinda check me in for psych eval or I'm giving my two weeks. And and I'm I don't try to be a dramatic person. Like, it it took a long time to get there, but that was the point it was at. So

Amy Pons [00:11:33]: I'm feeling you entirely. That's what we're even

Jen V. [00:11:35]: told, though.

Amy Pons [00:11:36]: Yeah. For us for us to have to justify for us to almost had died, and a previous psychological abuse experience led to the attempt of my life. So I was starting to go down that path again. I I was recognizing it, and I was like, no. We're not doing this. You may take a financial hit. You may take a luxury hit. You might have to sacrifice for a little bit.

Amy Pons [00:12:04]: Mhmm. And, literally, no job is worth your life. Literally. Literally. No job is worth your life.

Jen V. [00:12:13]: Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:12:16]: So coming full circle, I almost jumped back in the corporate pool a week later, and my husband lovingly said, hey. Did we just do all this for something? I was like, oh, yeah. We're gonna figure this out. So I even rejected after the holidays that year. This is '22. Heading to '23. People People started reaching out to me to consult. Do because I'm marketing expert.

Amy Pons [00:12:41]: And I was like, maybe I'll start an LLC. I'm not starting a business. Maybe I'll start an LLC. And then I was like, well, maybe I'll get my certified my certification for coaching, but I'm not starting a business.

Jen V. [00:12:53]: Right. Right.

Amy Pons [00:12:54]: And then I got my marketing clients.

Jen V. [00:12:56]: Nope. You're holding yourself to that.

Amy Pons [00:12:59]: Not doing it. And then, like, I think I finally so I'm like, I don't have a business.

Jen V. [00:13:04]: Still had a business.

Amy Pons [00:13:07]: Finally, fall of twenty three, I admitted that I had a business, and I started a podcast, Women Making Moves. And so at this point in '24, it's been a really beautiful unfolding of unlock the magic, celebrating not only the humans that I see turning back inward and amplifying who they are turning it all the way up

Jen V. [00:13:30]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:13:31]: And lovingly releasing anything that doesn't fall in alignment with that.

Jen V. [00:13:35]: Yeah. It's the best. I finally got there myself after nine years of healing from childhood shit and trauma and adult stuff. I finally got there earlier this year. And that's what I want for other people to feel is, you know, like you said, unlock the magic. Yeah. I feel like anything is possible for me. I have the freedom that I always desired and

Amy Pons [00:14:09]: not a

Jen V. [00:14:09]: whole lot changed externally for me. It was all an inside job.

Amy Pons [00:14:13]: Oh, yeah.

Jen V. [00:14:13]: Yeah. It always is. Yeah. That's what we we don't think about that though until after we're on the other side. We're like, oh, that was always an inside job.

Amy Pons [00:14:22]: And so, like, by any degree, especially when things have changed for me as it relates to what I care about, Even five or six years ago, I would have told you I loved making a high 6 figure salary so that we could take these great vacations, and that's just not as important to me Yeah. In this moment. And we'll take great vacations still. Mhmm. For me, it's about creating unlock the magic in a both a coaching, marketing, but also a healing space because of my gifts, exploring how far women making moves can go.

Jen V. [00:14:58]: I love it.

Amy Pons [00:14:58]: Because it's like checking every single box of what I always wanted to do and feel. And not just do. I want everybody to know that. You can have goal goals are awesome. Get into your body and consider how you wanna feel on the other side of doing the thing.

Jen V. [00:15:17]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:15:18]: That will be a never ending.

Jen V. [00:15:22]: It's always moving. Always.

Amy Pons [00:15:24]: Never ending change.

Jen V. [00:15:25]: It's never enough.

Amy Pons [00:15:27]: So at this point, it's like my goals look very different. I don't follow business one zero one from whatever school. Don't mm-mm. Because I'm creating the new way to do business. Yeah. And it's a feeling business. Mhmm. Even with my clients that are my marketing clients, it's so much coaching because it comes from a space where, like, well, I see all these posts that we should be shoulds.

Amy Pons [00:15:56]: Mhmm. Should be x percent month over month. That, like, hurts Yeah. Might just hurt me. Because, like, when you feel beholden and you attach to any outcome, it's not you can't have goals. I wanna feel like I have enough

Jen V. [00:16:13]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:16:14]: To sustain my lifestyle. Mhmm. Put a pin in all of that stuff that you should do. You'll see your business fly.

Jen V. [00:16:24]: Absolutely.

Amy Pons [00:16:25]: And it's it's both the easiest and the hardest thing we can do because of the lifelong Yeah. Of saying this is what success looks like. This is what success does not look like. Yep. You gotta start unpacking those inside you.

Jen V. [00:16:38]: Yeah. That was one of my first episodes for this podcast is your unique definition of success and why it is so damn important. You know, I I love what you're saying because, again, we both come from a corporate background. I'm still in corporate. And, again, I I absolutely love it right now. Yeah. I love that I get to do both coaching, mentoring, consulting, and that and my podcast. I love that.

Jen V. [00:17:02]: Love that for me. I love that. But, you know, I have a project manager background. My current title is associate director of strategic priorities. I'm like, what is it? What is my title? Associate director of strategic priorities. It's a it's a fairly new title. But my background is project management. Right? You would think I would love goals.

Jen V. [00:17:22]: I freaking hate I I have I don't I'm not gonna say PTSD because it's not as strong as that and I don't wanna make light of what PTSD is for people because I have that in other ways. But I have this visceral reaction to the word goal. And so that is part of my business is people who have these big dreams, we're gonna make it happen. But much like you said, it's who are you choosing to be

Amy Pons [00:17:51]: Mhmm.

Jen V. [00:17:51]: As you make that happen. How is that feeling? How is it bettering your quality of life? That is what's important. And if you want all the you know, I love money. Don't get me wrong. But if that's your sole focus, I'm not the right fit for you.

Amy Pons [00:18:05]: Money is great. Yeah. And, again, until we can pay in candlesticks. Yeah. And the root of capitalism, if we go way back, wasn't a bad thing.

Jen V. [00:18:15]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:18:15]: We're in the part where it's Yeah. The only thing. So what I find a lot is people gravitate toward me, the ones that are feeling really uncomfortable with the systems still rooted in patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism Mhmm. In everyday society, but also in the workplace. And, again, you're told so this is related to goals. The goals that we used to create in year end performance reviews, which I really reject the word performance too. Are Are you performing? Are you putting on a show? Are you trying to pay your bills? Whatever. Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:18:51]: Oftentimes, I found that my reviews, I was crushing all of the metrics.

Jen V. [00:18:58]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:18:58]: And the feedback was around executive presence Mhmm. Brand, my my personal brand. I was I was always told I was always told that you're an amazing partner, but you can be a little bit bossy. You can be a little bit aggressive. And as my healer self, I laugh so hard because it's like, wow. I'm in I'm I'm intense. I know that.

Jen V. [00:19:25]: Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:19:26]: I'm a fiery Aries.

Jen V. [00:19:27]: But I'm a triple fire sign. You're the third person I've talked to about this today. I'm like, yes. I am a triple fire. Like, I legit cannot help it.

Amy Pons [00:19:36]: Yeah. And that's deemed as aggressive Yeah. In in a lot in a lot of places and settings.

Jen V. [00:19:43]: So charge. Yeah. Shit done.

Amy Pons [00:19:45]: Well, so but but that attitude was always like, I would just come home with my husband and I'm just like, I don't know because I was mask I became masking up so hard.

Jen V. [00:19:55]: Yeah. Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:19:56]: And I'm like, I'm a really nice person, and and I wanna get shit done. Both can be true. Yeah. Absolutely. Problem that I have with goals. You can set a goal for metrics or whatever. Allow for space to be human.

Jen V. [00:20:09]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:20:10]: The error of the margin of error is not welcome in humanity these days, and I see that as the biggest the biggest pinch that starts long when it answered your question about how I got here. Today is, like, I started to unsubscribe from the systems that I felt were very limiting for me to be able to help others express their full potential of humanity. And I am not a copy paste person. And for so long but, Jen, that's all I was told to be able to I was too. And it hurt Every time I was like, I don't know. I'm never good enough. I can't do enough. And then it would be it would it was so much gaslighting because I would still get the promotion, but then I would be told, but do less, be less.

Jen V. [00:20:57]: That breaks my heart, and I felt

Amy Pons [00:20:59]: that Unsubscribe.

Jen V. [00:21:01]: Yeah. And I think, you know, before we started recording, you had touched on permission. And the original title of this podcast was she gave herself permission because and then I decided that I wanted it to be I didn't wanna just focus on women. I wanted to expand it to include non binary, you know, men that whose values I align with, which isn't all of them. Well, I don't align with all women either, to be honest.

Amy Pons [00:21:28]: Exactly. I make some

Jen V. [00:21:28]: So we're not gonna go down that. But that permission piece, over my years

Amy Pons [00:21:33]: Yeah.

Jen V. [00:21:34]: And I had I've been masking. I had been dimming my light, but I it was still enough light that people would be like, oh, you just I love how you give yourself permission. Right? To do whatever and be whatever and, you know, go take the trip, you know, without your husband and family and, you know, blah blah blah. And I'm like, it dawned on me that doesn't come easily or naturally. We're not taught to do that. Right? And that is one of the keys to living a life that is you. The youiest you you can be. It's like, where are you not giving yourself that permission and only you can give it to you.

Jen V. [00:22:15]: And once you grok that, again, it's like your brain just expands to, well, what else can I do?

Amy Pons [00:22:23]: Exactly. And that's what I love so much. Now I understand what I love so much about professional coaching. It's so different from therapy. A lot of my clients are also in therapy. It's different disciplines.

Jen V. [00:22:35]: Absolutely.

Amy Pons [00:22:35]: But coaching, what we do is create a container to explore that permission. Yeah. And it's like, hey.

Jen V. [00:22:42]: I'm curious.

Amy Pons [00:22:43]: Nothing has to change right now. Nothing has to change today. What if?

Jen V. [00:22:47]: What possibilities could exist?

Amy Pons [00:22:49]: What could? Mhmm. I can't. Could I? Yeah. That's the fun of it.

Jen V. [00:22:56]: So fun.

Amy Pons [00:22:58]: And I I say even so many coaching friends, of course, our brains and egos are designed to keep us in the safe and familiar, so doing it for ourselves is some of the hardest work. I'll turn inward, and my brain's like, the damn hamster dance is like the, like, comes in. I was like, and I'm like, I yell at my coach. I'm like, help. Help. Hamsters running.

Jen V. [00:23:24]: The cobbler's children have no shoes. Like, this is a story that goes back generations and generations because it's so true. The cobbler's children have no shoes. So it's just an analogy, you know, the the cobbler is making shoes for everyone else, and he's so busy making shoes for everyone else that he doesn't have time to make shoes for his own family.

Amy Pons [00:23:43]: Okay.

Jen V. [00:23:45]: Yeah. I feel like we could talk forever on this. But I'm wondering and you've touched on some of it. But for someone listening in who is maybe stuck in that copy paste life and is like, this is so not who I am. What do you want their heart to know? Right? What do you want them to feel in their body? Not just know in their head, like, oh, I should there's that should. I should go do blah blah blah. What do you want them to, like, deeply know?

Amy Pons [00:24:16]: Let it all in, and don't judge any thought, feeling, possibility. Be don't let it don't allow anything to be judged or surpassed away. Here's and what's interesting, what you just said, one of the first questions I ask to those who book a vibe check with me is how's your heart?

Jen V. [00:24:36]: Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:24:37]: I asked that on purpose because I don't wanna I don't wanna know, how are you? Good. How are you? Good. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah.

Jen V. [00:24:42]: I don't hear about that.

Amy Pons [00:24:43]: And then how's your heart? And then to your point too, someone the moment, like, we get into sacred energy, they're like, I feel stressed. I couldn't possibly help me understand where you feel in Yep. I'm a certified shock healer as well balanced. So, like, I genuinely understand. Like, when you tell me, I feel tightness in my chest and my shoulders. Awesome. That's heart chakra. What's happening around you right now that you don't feel like you love yourself or that you can extend love? And they're like

Jen V. [00:25:14]: Oh. Like, that's the hard question. But, no, I love those questions.

Amy Pons [00:25:19]: I probably won't do that with you on the very first session. But although a brand new client of mine, she's like, wow. Call me out. I was like, don't mean to do that. Nope. Just I'm also working with their guides to, like, tell me how much they have before. So I won't I won't go places or say things that aren't welcome. But so to answer your question, I want everyone to know that we have full free will and autonomy.

Amy Pons [00:25:49]: I was making high 6 figures bonuses. I had all the, quote, unquote, safety, security, and stability, and I was not okay. Mhmm. I was not okay.

Jen V. [00:26:04]: Yeah. You were dying inside. And I feel that. I know exactly what that feels like, and it is one of the worst feelings in the world. I don't wish it on anyone.

Amy Pons [00:26:13]: No. So I just want every person to listen to know if by any degree you can allow in I couldn't possibly, but what if I could? Yeah. Is there any degree? Like, seriously. And you'll laugh at this. All of my marketing friends make fun of me for this. There's a quiz on my website. I don't collect cookies on my website. I have no idea who comes there.

Amy Pons [00:26:45]: I don't even get notified when someone takes the quiz, and I don't have their email address to say, like, hey. I saw you took the quiz. I have nothing. That's my commitment to letting you give yourself the audacity of the permission without me chasing you down. Do it on your own. Literally no strings attached and see what comes in. That's one degree that you could do, and nothing will happen. I promise nothing will happen.

Jen V. [00:27:17]: Yeah. I love that so much because I talk about, like, the teeniest, tiniest of actions. What is that one teeny, tiny, little it's just so easy to take. Right? Because our brains, by trying to keep us safe, we overcomplicate. That's just our brains doing its job. But that's what happens. And when you understand that, now you can be like, okay. I understand what you're doing, brain, but I'm gonna make this easy.

Jen V. [00:27:46]: Why do we love to complicate things? It's to keep us safe so we don't take the action to make ourselves unsafe, but what would the easy one feel like?

Amy Pons [00:27:56]: And everybody gets a voice. No matter what energy it is, it wants airtime. So I reason I say that is because a lot of people will say, well, I have an intrusive thought or a negative thought. I'm just gonna say no.

Jen V. [00:28:08]: Mhmm. Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:28:08]: The moment you do that, the further the brain gets from your heart, your solar plexus, your gut, your sacral energy, your root, that brain goes off in on their own. Let them in. So, like, when mine again, I'm like, hey, queen. What's up?

Jen V. [00:28:27]: Yeah. I love having a conversation with, like,

Amy Pons [00:28:29]: oh, yours being so cute. What's happening? What is happening around here that is bringing you in? Okay. Alright. Come on. Yeah. Come on. Start to consider that everything is all for you. Try try so hard, and this is not toxic positivity.

Jen V. [00:28:45]: There is such a difference. Listen.

Amy Pons [00:28:47]: Sit in the shit. Feel your feels. Mhmm. K? K? And if, again, by that smallest degree, you can consider that something is happening or unfolding for you, that's the power. That's the how. And here's one more thing that my clients hate but also love. I'll say, listen to me. Your only job is to align toward the favorite version of yourself.

Amy Pons [00:29:10]: That is literally your only job. That's your only to do Yeah. And to feel joy. K. Two things. The how, what, and the when is none of your business. And they're like, what? What? I was like, yo. That's what it is, though.

Jen V. [00:29:24]: And that's what I hate about goals. So in corporate, we're drilled into and not I don't work for a company now that that does this because, again, I vehemently disagree with this, but smart goals that are time bound. If I put a time on my healing Yeah. I would have failed that goal, and I would have been upset with it instead of sticking with it for nine years. And it I mean and still, you were always healing. Right? It's always a journey. But to get over the big hump of it was nine years. If I had set a time on that, I would have failed horribly, and I would not be the person I am today having this conversation, helping the people I'm here to help, living my version of my best damn life, which, guess what, ripples into every single relationship I have, whether it's my family, my work, and I know you understand this.

Amy Pons [00:30:18]: Yeah.

Jen V. [00:30:19]: But that's what I don't love about it. Measurable. How do you measure healing?

Amy Pons [00:30:23]: You don't. And, also, the moment you set expectations for yourself

Jen V. [00:30:28]: Mhmm. Different

Amy Pons [00:30:29]: goals, here's and someone might be saying, how do I Mhmm. Go forward if I don't set a goal or, you know, measure something? You set an intention.

Jen V. [00:30:39]: An intention.

Amy Pons [00:30:40]: I wanna feel better on the inside. Yeah. When something around me doesn't feel safe, I wanna feel, and I breathe from my solar. And I have sacral authority, so, like, everything lines up. Mhmm. I wanna feel like I got this, and I get to I get to stand flat footed in my magic, in my power. That's my validation of my power as well.

Jen V. [00:31:11]: Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:31:12]: The moment I said that

Jen V. [00:31:14]: I get goosebumps up and down my arms. Yes. Mhmm. My nipples get a little hard. That was

Amy Pons [00:31:21]: like TMI. What TMI?

Jen V. [00:31:23]: I love TMI.

Amy Pons [00:31:25]: Oh, my so what used to happen in my root chakra, my taint Yeah. Would kind of like when a dog's tail would touch when they tilt. Mhmm. I'd clutch my my taint, and that's in my root. So now that's been a lot of my you always have a physical tell. So now we're getting into fuss fun stuff. Yeah. That's how you know.

Amy Pons [00:31:46]: Used your body, by the way tell you. Your body is literally light years ahead. Nature is the ultimate playbook. Humans wanna over engineer it. So, again, none of this none of this is you're not wrong. Nothing's it's not your fault.

Jen V. [00:32:01]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:32:01]: Take ownership, accountability, but and Mhmm. You've been programmed, and it's okay. Mhmm. Everybody is doing the best they can. Somebody asked me, why do I have to heal? You don't have to do it, Dan. You don't have to. You will start to get more and more dissatisfied with literally everything around you to where your unhappiness outweighs anything that you ever felt good about. So that's not a threat.

Amy Pons [00:32:30]: It's like it grows, though. Yeah. Like, the the the calling or, like, what's coming in. And here's the other thing too. I could go all all day.

Jen V. [00:32:38]: I know.

Amy Pons [00:32:40]: So the moment something enters your consciousness, it would not come in if it is already not happening on another plane or you don't have capacity for it in your current space and time.

Jen V. [00:32:51]: Mhmm. I love that. I I love that. I I in the vein of TMI, I just hired a vagina coach. Yeah. And we won't get super into it, but, like, I'm a 54 year old woman who has had three children. There's some incontinence going a lot. Right? But why I'm sharing this is that one of the very first things she has you do, and I do this for myself on so many levels, but it's like talk to your bladder.

Jen V. [00:33:19]: Have a conversation with your bladder. So I've been doing that this week. If I feel an urgency, it's like, oh, like, we're like, I'll literally have a conversation. And I'm like, okay. This feels weird, but it's kinda working. Because I know this with my own work that I do and the work I do with others. But, you know, it's a brain, body, it's all connected. Right? And tapping into, like you said, where am I feeling this? And asking yourself, you know, going back to that person who maybe is like, how do I do this without a goal? And I love what you said.

Jen V. [00:33:55]: It's like, well, how do you how do you want to feel? What's the feeling? And then, you know, it's that work of, like, get curious. What can bring you those feelings? And maybe your plan a isn't feasible right now, but b, c, d, or e very well could be, and it gets you that incrementally closer to what you want. Right?

Amy Pons [00:34:17]: When in doubt, watch Moana.

Jen V. [00:34:19]: Yeah. I love oh my gosh. Love Moana. I hope to see Moana this weekend.

Amy Pons [00:34:24]: That's what got me through, like, November. I know. It's The something you just said was really, really critical. Nothing's TMI. Everything so that's why I refer to myself as a energy healer and coach because I'm gonna go find the energy.

Jen V. [00:34:38]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:34:38]: And we're gonna release it or move it somehow. Mhmm. A lot of times and what's interesting about that is that a lot of times, we have the power by moving energy to relieve physical ailments.

Jen V. [00:34:53]: Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:34:53]: Because the physical pain or ailment is the last kind of thing that will ring our doorbell because we haven't recognized it inward first. So physical is the last spot. So, of course, I love the the Vagina Coach. And what's in what building on what you said, when I hold sacred womb healings for women who have had any sort of loss or any judgment or embarrassment or fear in their wound space, which is almost all of us, I would say,

Jen V. [00:35:25]: or not. Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:35:25]: All because it's either from our lived experience or our lineage.

Jen V. [00:35:28]: Yep. Absolutely.

Amy Pons [00:35:29]: We talk to her. We name her. We hold her. It's amazing Mhmm. How when they start to walk side by side with their womb space, with their sacral chakra, the unfolding that starts to happen in that space is it almost feels unreal.

Jen V. [00:35:49]: Yeah. I was laughing because I'll find myself just kind of, like, cupping myself as that connection point. Right? And that's a fairly new ish thing to me in 2024. And I was talking with a girlfriend about it. I'm like, I feel so connected and so powerful in a way I haven't to myself before, and I love that.

Amy Pons [00:36:10]: It's not your responsibility for anyone's reaction or

Jen V. [00:36:14]: Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:36:14]: To your truth. It makes me laugh because, like, you've heard a lot or I mean, I think if you've you've heard episodes of my podcast, we talk so much about vaginal health

Jen V. [00:36:23]: Mhmm. Mhmm.

Amy Pons [00:36:24]: Vagina vulva. Like, the difference between the two, it's different. You

Jen V. [00:36:27]: know? Yeah.

Amy Pons [00:36:29]: Everybody listen to the lip slip. It's fascinating, the average size of a vulva.

Jen V. [00:36:34]: Oh my gosh. I have to go I'm obsessed with vulvas, I have to say. I was telling you I was getting art back here. I definitely have some vulva prints that are being printed out.

Amy Pons [00:36:43]: Mhmm. So I love the there's this art print that it's, like, shows, like, a million different vulvas. Mhmm. And I learned probably two years ago that not everyone's looked like mine.

Jen V. [00:36:54]: Oh, sure.

Amy Pons [00:36:54]: I didn't know that. I thought everyone's and in the lip slip, we talk about innies and outies. Mhmm. It's good to know.

Jen V. [00:37:01]: I love that. We will have all those links. Sorry. Sorry. Vol is it vulva gallery on Instagram?

Amy Pons [00:37:08]: Oh, I don't know. I have

Jen V. [00:37:10]: to I will I because she does illustrations. So folks will send photos to her and their story of their relationship with their vulva, and then she will hand draw them. And it's fascinating. But I will put the link in show notes.

Amy Pons [00:37:29]: I'm following it now.

Jen V. [00:37:31]: Okay. Okay.

Amy Pons [00:37:32]: I just had to do it.

Jen V. [00:37:33]: Was it vulva gallery?

Amy Pons [00:37:34]: There's a lot of them. Vulva gallery didn't have any pictures. It has,

Jen V. [00:37:39]: I'll find the one that I'm that I'm thinking of.

Amy Pons [00:37:42]: Oh, it is. Yeah. It is that. That's amazing. Right?

Jen V. [00:37:46]: And when you read the stories that are connected to each illustration, like, some just break your heart and some fill you with hope and it's all the different emotions. And it just it's such a rich cross section of of people and their connection with their bodies and their vaginas and vulvas. So I feel like you and I could talk forever about this stuff. I think you'll have to come back on somewhere down the road and we pick this right up. I love that you're out there doing the work that you're doing. I love that you're helping others unlock the magic. I grew up with whimsy and I still believe in fairies and unicorns. I know that's not the magic you're talking about, but opening our brain up to the possibility of the magic that is all around us.

Jen V. [00:38:34]: I love that you are using your gifts to help others do that. Because I have the gift of helping people get shit done and organize their thoughts and take action and make decisions and feel really damn good about themselves as they do it. I don't help others unlock the magic. Not to this not in the same way that you do. We need all kinds helping people. Right? The world is hurting. We need people like us who are reaching different people where they are in their journey and helping them get that more. Feel feel their you iest you.

Amy Pons [00:39:09]: Feel the you as you you can do. You just got my warrior when you said that, you know, I was like, yes. You do.

Jen V. [00:39:15]: I know.

Amy Pons [00:39:16]: That was my full fledged fiery

Jen V. [00:39:18]: I saw it come out, and I'm working on my self deprecating ways. And I'm like, damn it. I just did it again. I'm working on it. Anyway, Amy, we will have all of your information in the show notes. I encourage everyone, you know, if you've gotten something from this conversation, go check out your podcast, go check out the work that you do, follow you on the social. Yeah. And I can't thank you enough for taking the time to do this.

Amy Pons [00:39:43]: And let's plug. You'll be on Women Making Moves on Monday.

Jen V. [00:39:46]: Yep. I will. I will. So thank you so much, and we'll see you around.

Amy Pons [00:39:51]: Thanks, Jen. Bye.