The Power of Intuition with Paula Orozco Newell - EP 032
Dec 12, 2024
In this episode, I sit down with Paula Orozco Newell for a powerful and inspiring conversation about the role of intuition in life and business. Paula opens up about her journey of rediscovering her intuition during a challenging time in college—a pivotal experience that reshaped how she approaches decision-making, self-care, and building meaningful relationships.
Together, we dive deep into what it takes to unlearn societal conditioning and reconnect with the inner guidance we all have but often overlook. We explore how slowing down, balancing work with passion, and running “intuition experiments” can help you build trust in yourself and make more aligned choices.
This episode is all about embracing freedom, authenticity, and the positive change that comes from following your inner compass. Whether you’re navigating personal challenges or professional growth, this conversation offers heartfelt stories, practical insights, and a gentle reminder to lean into your intuition. Tune in, and let’s explore the wisdom within together.
Key Takeaways
- Intuition plays a valuable role in decision-making, self-care, and building relationships in the business world.
- Women face challenges in embracing intuition in a patriarchal and fast-paced work environment, but there is a shift happening towards valuing intuition and creating holistic work cultures.
- Creating a work culture that values intuition requires balance, intention, and effective communication. Passion and work can easily lead to imbalance and burnout, so it's important to find a balance and take time for self-care.
- Creativity and dreaming are essential for growth in business and life.
- Slowing down and listening to your intuition can help you make aligned decisions and avoid getting stuck in a rut.
- Trusting your intuition and running experiments can lead to magical moments and a faster path to where you want to go.
- There is no wrong decision, as every decision either takes you on the path guided by your intuition or teaches you a valuable lesson.
- Creating quiet spaces and observing your thoughts and feelings can help you become more familiar with your intuition and its subtle guidance.
- Urgency and scarcity of time are often fear-based and can disconnect you from your intuition and what is truly possible.
- Trusting your intuition allows you to be more authentic and explore your unique gifts and how they can positively impact others.
- Intuitive skills are becoming more valued and accepted, allowing women to have a greater impact and accelerate positive change.
- Embracing your intuition and managing your energy can equip you with the tools to navigate life's challenges and embrace who you truly are.
Episode Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
02:24 - Paula's Journey to Embracing Intuition
06:17 - Impact of Intuition on Career Trajectory
09:08 - Discovering Intuition through Reiki
13:50 - Challenges for Women in Embracing Intuition in Business
18:20 - Balancing Intuition and the Business Environment
22:25 - Shifting Work Culture to Value Intuition
27:32 - Finding Balance: Nurturing Passion without Burnout
30:22 - Slowing Down to Make Aligned Decisions
32:16 - Trusting Your Intuition: Running Experiments and Embracing Magic
36:38 - No Wrong Decision: Lessons and Guided Paths
39:02 - Becoming Familiar with Your Intuition: Observing and Differentiating
42:22 - Letting Go of Urgency and Embracing Abundance of Time
44:59 - Authenticity and Impact: Embracing Your Unique Gifts
49:15 - Equipping Yourself with Intuition and Energy Management
You may connect with Paula by visiting her website guidanceonthepath.com or on Instagram @guidanceonthepath.
If you’re ready to have a deeper conversation about how to maximize impact, profit and pleasure in your business and life, you can schedule a time to connect with me right here >>>
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Episode Transcript
Rachel Anzalone (00:01.294)
Hello and welcome to Pleasure and Profits. I'm your host Rachel Anzalone and my guest today is Paula Orozco-Newell and I'm really excited to introduce you to her. I think we're gonna have a really interesting conversation today leaning into intuition a lot so I'm very excited for that. Paula's desire to share what she's learned with other women comes from her own self-healing journey. She empowers women to heal emotionally and live guided by their intuition so they can experience lives full of freedom and joy.
As a coaching leader, she brings over 20 years of experience in the fields of psychology, behavior change, and health and wellness. Paula is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and holds a BA in Psychology.
As a Reiki master teacher and intuitive channel, she uses energy work and practical spirituality to bring the sacred to the everyday. And her clients actions are filled with intention and power. Her experience coaching health tech startups and entrepreneurs gives her a unique skill set that empowers conscious creatives to take an idea from vision to action and grow with integrity and soul.
When she's not coaching or leading women's retreats, Paula is enjoying time in nature or traveling with her son and husband and continues to learn from her own practice of intuitive living.
Welcome to the show, Paula. It's so great to have you here.
Paula Orozco Newell (02:18.766)
Thank you, Rachel. So nice to be here with you. Always a pleasure to talk to you.
Rachel Anzalone (02:24.536)
One of the things that I think really stands out to me in reading your bio and in the chat we had previous to this is your focus on intuition. And I'm really curious how you found yourself leaning into that in life. Was that something that you grew up with that your parents instilled in you or is it something that you had to discover along the way?
Paula Orozco Newell (02:51.83)
Yeah, it was not something I would say I grew up with, although in retrospect, I can see how intuitive both my parents are and how much they actually use that. So that's interesting. But I really felt like I discovered it when I was in college. So I was severely depressed, dealing with a lot of anxiety and panic attacks in a very toxic, abusive relationship and really, really hit my rock bottom where my depression got so bad and the medication wasn't really helping or it was helping, but there was a lot of side effects that were making things worse.
And so it became really clear very quickly that the therapist I was seeing and the doctors didn't have like a good answer for me and a way to really help me quickly. And at that point, it felt kind of like life or death. So I kind of just had to take matters into my own hands and I, you know, I still to this day don't really fully remember how I came across this book. I think the universe just sent it to me, somewhere I saw it.
Rachel Anzalone (04:00.4)
That happens, for sure.
Paula Orozco Newell (04:17.794)
Yeah, totally. But it was it was a book by Judith Arloff. She was, I believe, also a therapist, and it's called Intuitive Healing. So when I started reading that book, it just felt like familiar. And I started trying some of the exercises which are really simple, really just about going within yourself and listening. And she had, you know, little like body scan exercises and different things that just felt really natural and easy to me right away. And I was like, wow, there's something here. And I was also very curious and excited about how much I felt like was within me that I think I realized I was always there, but I wasn't really paying attention or really listening to what was there. And that's kind how it all began.
Rachel Anzalone (04:49.476)
Yeah, like sort of that habit of like overriding.
Paula Orozco Newell (04:55.766)
Yeah, or just like something in the background and you just kind of I think I always disregard it as just like another thought, you know, or it was just always so in my head, in my mind, especially with the anxiety and depression and all that, you know, ruminating thoughts that can come with that. Or just looking outside of myself, I think for answers or to people and, and really focused on that. So this was like a distinct shift where I was like, okay, I'm going within - to a safe place rather than into my mind which didn't feel safe anymore.
Rachel Anzalone (05:30.542)
Yeah. And so were you studying psychology at the time? Was that something you were already interested in? That’s certainly interesting, right?
Paula Orozco Newell (05:34.848)
I was. Yeah, yeah, I was always really interested in behavior change. I think at that time, I was studying psychology. It was at Florida International University, and I was working with children doing behavior therapy, like so, children who are autistic, and I was doing a BA. So I was very curious about like that whole, you know, connection of behavior and reactions and all of those things.
Rachel Anzalone (06:07.002)
And so when you read that book and started implementing those practices, did that then affect sort of your career trajectory or what you thought you might want to do with your life?
Paula Orozco Newell (06:17.324)
I kept going on the psychology path for a while. You know, I was just really using that I think to, start to connect to my intuition and to get like a little breathing room and a little bit of relief from what I was experiencing. But, you know, very quickly it started kind of, I started paying attention more and where it was guiding me towards was other modalities.
So first I found Reiki and I had my first session, I'll never forget this, it was 2001. I had my first session and she, the practitioner put her hands over my eyes and I just remember thinking, I thought my eyes were closed because I can see light in her hands. And then I was just like, wait, my eyes are closed, but I can see something. And I had this really, for me, radical experience. I'd never, anything like this had ever happened before. And throughout that session, I just kept having these instances where I could see with my eyes closed a little bit, I could see her energy. And I just felt so much relief and so many things just like lifting off of me through the energy work. Within a week, I was training with her. I was like, I need to find out more about this. And so I did that for myself for a while. But then that eventually turned into doing Reiki with others, teaching Reiki, then coaching and the retreats like all of it.
Rachel Anzalone (07:43.472)
That's so interesting. My experience with Reiki was that I think I was, I'm gonna say I was in my early 30s and I had trained as a traditional naturopath. And the whole time that I was doing that training work, I felt like I needed to make a really clear distinction between myself and all the like woo woo people who were, you know, I was like, you know, these people are saying all these things and it's all out there and there's no proof of any of it, but that's not me. Like I am nutrition and herbs and biology and the science. And that's the way that I approach this. And so as I was practicing as a naturopath, what I found myself, what I found was happening was that I would do a session with a client. I would know what was wrong and what was happening. And then I would spend hours trying to find the proof of it.
But in the meantime, it was like, but I actually just knew, like I just had like an intuitive knowing of what was going on. And so then somewhere along the way, I was also coaching and helping some of my peers with their marketing materials and their business stuff, because I had this business and marketing background. And I took on a client who was a Reiki teacher, and she was like launching her first website and going to do her first like course for a group of people.
Paula Orozco Newell (08:43.427)
Yes.
Rachel Anzalone (09:08.366)
And so I signed up to do her Reiki One training, truly just to support her. And then it just cracked me open. And next thing I was doing Reiki sessions and having downloads and like a feeling in my body what the person on the table was feeling like it just was a wild experience and completely unexpected. But it is one of the things I think also that really helped me understand what the wisdom is that I have in my own body and that I don't then need to go prove it with something I found in a book somewhere that I could just learn to trust that. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (09:44.811)
Yeah.
I love that. I can relate to so much of that because for me it was like, I loved the science of things. Like I loved psychology research. I loved understanding all those things. And so it's really different. And I do think Reiki is one of those things. I used to always say it's like your gateway drug into like awareness and awakening and so many things for so many people. Cause I hear that story repeatedly over the years from students and people who've tried it.
But I really think, you know, I see it now as like, it's sometimes for so many of us, the first experience we have about an aspect of ourselves, you know, and then like, and then it just everything kind of starts clicking a little bit more. And that's what I love. Like, I love being able to work with people so they can go within and learn about the parts of ourselves that we're not taught, you know, and that like, we have no idea about whether that's your your energy or your spirit and soul or just you know, that intuitive space inside where so many things live and come from because we just approach things so differently.
And I still have that part of myself where I'm like, I love like practical spirituality and it has to be really grounded. And for years when I started doing my work, I would like write and rewrite like the description of my work because it just did not want it to sound woo woo. But it was like, how do you get around, you know, talking about energy work and like…
Rachel Anzalone (11:10.108)
Hahaha. How do you talk about energy work without? Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (11:13.81)
Yeah, and then like angels and I mean, you know, it was like a whole thing that I kind of resisted for a while. But yeah, it just it is.
Rachel Anzalone (11:26.308)
Yeah, so it's interesting because you, I think you said this sort of learning to listen to ourselves and learning to go within. And I work with human design now a lot with my clients. And one of the things that was really sort of shocking to me, or it wasn't shocking, it just, was one of those truths that just like hit hard was that we know, like most of this stuff are things that we know and we knew as a child and then we were conditioned out of it. And then there's this process, the awakening process is the deconditioning. It's like letting go of all these things that we learned that layered on and layered on and getting back to that thing, you know, that five-year-old that was just like, that person is good and I like their energy and I wanna be around them. And that person, something about them doesn't feel right to me.
And then we, you know, we sort of… we forget all those things and we have to relearn them or forget what we learned along the way, some version of that.
Paula Orozco Newell (12:31.636)
Yeah, I think we're hit with so much information that is contrary to that innate, you know, instinct in us, or we just pick up a lot of habits. And I agree, I think so much for everyone on this healing path or you know, spiritual path is just unlearning, unlearning, unlearning, unlearning. And I see it with my son, I have a four year old, he just turned four this week, so my brain was trying to say three, but no, it's four.
And I saw it when he was born. I was like, wow, he's so smart. And like, they just understand so much and see their personality so formed, you know, from early on. So it's really wild to see the things that he talks about and it's curious about and how he makes decisions. Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (13:21.882)
Yeah. And so one of the things that you focus on with your clients working with women is how to lean into their intuition and use their intuition more clearly in business in particular. And so what are some of the things that you see women, entrepreneurs, women in business, whether they're self-employed, entrepreneurial, or executives, leaders, that they need to sort of like unpack or unravel in order to get to that place to be able to lean into their intuition in an environment that just like inherently doesn't value that.
Paula Orozco Newell (14:03.006)
Yeah, I think that environment is one of the toughest, you know, if you're trying to connect to intuition more because I mean, honestly, probably just because it's it's such a masculine patriarchal type of energy, where we are, we're really focused on like, moving quick, being productive. And that kind of environment where we're really not putting ourselves first. And intuition is this subtle thing that like, you really have to listen to and you have to be quiet enough and slow down enough to listen to. So I feel like that one piece alone is such a barrier. But also when you're working, I think with other people, as opposed to like, you know, your personal life and work and business, not only are you not just working on your own or living on your own environment, but you're making decisions that impact more people, maybe on your team or financial decisions.
Rachel Anzalone (15:05.294)
Hmm. The stakes feel higher. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (15:31.552)
Exactly. And in a world where intuition seems to have no place, right? Or that type of energy where it's really like logic, data, analysis, that kind of thing. It can be more challenging even if you're someone who uses their intuition and can hear it and then can trust it and then can take action on it.
If you can get through all those stages, which I think are like stages and have their own obstacles, and then bring it into business, then you really have to get buy-in from other people on your team or in your project or whatever to be able to say like, no, we're going to make this decision based on my gut feeling, or, you know, I just have a sense about this. And that can be really intimidating for people to do, for women to do. I mean, it's hard enough, I think, sometimes for women to speak up and be heard. But to say something like, I don't have the data to back this up, or maybe you do, right? You can do something like Hannah, how you were doing in your naturopathic days. Exactly, like bring in some data to back up this hunch that you have, but you really do have to communicate and ask for support and get buy-in. And I think that's one of most challenging parts.
Rachel Anzalone (16:08.801)
Go research for hours to try to find it.
Rachel Anzalone (16:25.22)
Yeah, I think about environments that I've worked in throughout my life where, you know, and I think I think we're close to the same age, like growing up in the 80s and the 90s, that this sort of feminism in the business world in that era was like, you have to be like the men. And I just, I remember these moments and I, it always like triggers this memory of a league of their own or Tom Hanks is like, there's no crying in baseball. And like, that's what we grew up learning.
And then earliest, earliest career,you know, earliest jobs, earliest environments that I worked in, it was like, you have to be tough. You have to be, you know, you have to be like the guys and you can't show up and talk about how you feel. And you certainly can't show how you feel. And my experience was that I would like go deep in that. I would like hunker down and be like, I will be the best at this and I will not let them see me waiver and I will be tough as nails. And I could do it for a while but then it was like there was this whole part of myself that I was completely denying, right? And so I would bounce in the other direction and I would, you know, quit that role and then go into I would find myself just like doing yoga every day and like laying on the beach or whatever it was.
Paula Orozco Newell (17:37.806)
Totally, yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (17:50.382)
And doing this sort of bipolar thing. And so I feel like for myself, one of the goals of the recent years has been, you know, just to make that pendulum swing smaller and to be able to find the place where like, yeah, I can be firm and tough and be in this environment, but also my intuition is valid and how I feel and my experiences are valid too. And not to be caught up in those extremes that I think often are sort of the stereotypes of what we see in those environments.
Paula Orozco Newell (18:20.748)
Yeah, that's wonderful. Having that balance, I think, is key. You know part of it, I think, what's happening, mean, things are shifting, I can feel it. Like the younger generations, even in corporate settings, much more comfortable sharing, speaking up, sharing about things, setting boundaries, asking for what they need. So that's wonderful.
Rachel Anzalone (18:42.394)
Yeah, it is.
Paula Orozco Newell (18:46.082)
I'd love to see that. But also it's what I think is where intuition comes in in terms of business is just how we work. How do we take care of ourselves? You know, because when you're in that environment where you're like in this competitive space and you know, you feel like you have to work the long hours and you can't take breaks and can't leave early to pick up your kid, you know, all of those things, it can be so easy to just completely shut down that part of ourselves that's like, go get a drink of water, go pee.
Rachel Anzalone (19:15.995)
Yeah. Go pee. Yeah. Eat some food. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (19:22.424)
Take a break and like, don't, you know, push yourself and things will still kind of, you know, get done and actually they will get done better. You know, it's like, it's like remembering that intuition can guide us in all those different ways. So it's like guiding us in self care. It's like the ultimate GPS, right? Like wherever you are, global positioning yourself in the right way in that moment and being able to not only take care of yourself, but bring that type of intention and checking in into the team, into the decision making and letting yourself be more creative, all of those things. And it's super valuable in that way. And then relationships with people at work. I think that's one of the ways it really served me, where it was like, you know, really making sure that if I had a hit about something someone was feeling or something that was going on, that I paid attention and addressed it versus just kind of, you know, ignoring things and then letting things get worse or harder at work.
Rachel Anzalone (20:32.804)
Yeah, I think that that ability for women in particular, this ability that we have to sort of read the people around us and sense what's happening before it reaches a breaking point is one of the greatest gifts that we have in those kinds of environments. And it's such a strength and I agree, like, I think things are evolving and that there's more value placed on that at this point than there once was. And I think we have a long way to go with that still.
And, you know, sort of being in this position that, you know, I think most of the people who listen to this podcast, I think the majority are probably over 40. So like late millennials or early early millennials, however you want to say that, Gen Xers and that we've spent our lives sort of unpacking and unraveling these things. And I know sometimes I have the experience of somebody younger coming on board on a team and feeling triggered by the fact that they seem to have this ability and they'll ask for what they want and they'll have an expectation and they'll talk about what they're feeling and like, shit, like we weren't really, we're still trying to figure it out. Like I'm still trying to figure it out. And where's the line between like, yeah, I wanna know that and I wanna be here for you and I want to be supportive, a supportive leader and mentor and team member. And also we're running a business and we need to get stuff done, right?
And so figuring out what those parameters are for each of us and the culture that we want to create inside our business or inside of the companies that we're consulting with or working with, I think it's a dance. And I think that it's probably something we'll be learning for a long, long time.
Paula Orozco Newell (22:25.802)
Absolutely, especially because it's different for everyone. Each company is going to have a different way, different needs.
And I think that's where, you know the slowing down again and the intention is so important. Because if you're really taking the space to pay attention, to connect, to keep the big picture in mind and the reasons why you're doing something in mind and to be able to communicate all those things amongst each other, it really sets up a completely different dynamic and it sets up systems that really work for the business, for the organization.
Rachel Anzalone (22:39.493)
Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (23:04.728)
And it's really intentional, right? So you're not just working from this like, know, SOP, like just, you know, getting it done, but like you're really paying attention. And again, that just requires a little bit more slowing down, which is I think a little harder these days, depending on the industries too, like, like tech industries work, you know, startups work really fast, tech works really fast. And so it's like, it takes a lot to be able to slow that down for yourself and even more to slow it down for a team.
Rachel Anzalone (23:39.92)
Yeah, I think that's interesting because we hear a lot about tech leaders who do, I mean, A, they're really high performers typically. And most of them do have practices where they have creative time or, you know, spaciousness and they know what's important for them and how they work. And then, and that's one piece.
And then the other piece is how do you filter that down to your team members that the rest of the team can't just be cogs in the machine. They also need that spaciousness to look at what they're doing and have perspective and understand how it fits into the big picture in order to approach things in innovative ways and not just be cranking out the work at whatever cost, at whatever quality. And so as leaders, that becomes really important not to just look at yourself, but to look at the people around you and what they need as well.
Paula Orozco Newell (24:37.966)
Yeah, it's it's a whole like ecosystem, you know, like, and being able to, again, tap into intuition and like feel into like, how is this part of the ecosystem working, checking in constantly feeling into it. And I think that gets harder as the teams grow. You know, I've seen startups that do that really well initially, and that's able to kind of be communicated to the rest of the team and be integrated into the team when there's 15, 30, 50 people.
And then when you have six hundred, it's like, how do you, you know, how do you do that? And, you know, the founders no longer at the head of everything in the day to day. And so that's where I think it really starts to shift for a lot of, you know, organizations and corporate environments. And, and unfortunately, it tends to then start going like, into that direction that we're talking about.
Rachel Anzalone (25:09.454)
Yeah, yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (25:31.596)
Where it's been the way it's been done and you know people are not put first and no one's really checking in or not enough and profit becomes really important and then you're just kind of doing that a lot. So you do see that happen often and I think where, I think I feel, you know, the world is going where we're going as entrepreneurs is to shift that, right? So like, have organizations that really care, you know, we see a lot of like, you know, the social enterprise models and just things that feel really aligned and holistic across, know, across the board. So so it's like the beginning steps of that. But in practice in the day to day for the employees, it hasn't fully shifted.
Rachel Anzalone (26:20.156)
Yeah, I think there's two things that come to mind when you say that one is that I often in the spaces that I work in see the opposite of that happen too, which is that it's an owner operator. They were really jazzed up about what they're doing and they're willing and excited to work, you know, 60, 70, 80 hours a week because they're just like amped up and they're in it and they start to bring on team that is also that excited except that the owner can usually keep going longer and farther and the team starts to sort of peter out and there starts to be turnover and the systems are in place to support that and often what I tell people when they're getting started is whatever, however you want your life to be five years from now, start setting up your business that way now don't do this thing where you think like well it's okay if I work 80 hours a week now until I get to this benchmark and then I'll stop and then I'll change because what happens is that benchmark just keeps moving and more and more keeps coming on the plate and you've created an environment where everybody's working in that way and it's just not sustainable. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (27:20.12)
Right.
Paula Orozco Newell (27:32.962)
Yeah, that's really wise. Yeah, I love that. I think that's so true. I've seen that as well where there's so much passion, you know, and I think for entrepreneurs, it's like, you can feel like you can work all day because this is what you love to do and or it's your baby and like that kind of energy. But that can quickly turn into, you know, working yourself too hard and not having that balance and then definitely not for the team. So yeah, I love that.
Rachel Anzalone (28:03.428)
And you reach a point, especially if there's a creative element to what you're doing, which for most entrepreneurs there is, you reach a point where that creative juice now has faded out and you haven't done anything to cultivate sort of the next round of that. Right? And so I think this is where you see people kind of getting stagnant and they're just doing the same things over and over and over and they don't have the energy or the juice to create like the next iteration or to keep, you know, sort of stay on top of what's happening in their industry or what sort of the next evolution of their work is. They just get in sort of a rut.
Paula Orozco Newell (28:41.398)
Yeah, I feel like that's why the dreaming element is so important, right? So really, again, if you're really connected to that like rich inner world, and you're paying attention, your heart is and your soul is really kind of giving you visions for what you want. Or at the very least telling you something's not right? You know, like we need a little more space for ourselves or we need a little more creative time. And so, you know, when you're in that space and you're dreaming and you're feeling creative and you're getting these visions or these ideas, it helps fuel those next phases. Right? Or you know, kind of what you're looking ahead a little bit and you can get more aligned with that and be more in integrity as you move forward.
As opposed to, you know, diving in and getting so caught up in that space that, you know, you come out of balance because you're not really paying attention the way you probably did when you first started that business. And it was just this like big vision and dream. And now you're just like in it.
Rachel Anzalone (29:53.508)
Yeah, I think that's a really interesting point. There's this place where you go from inspired action, right? And there was probably some spaciousness in allowing for that creative process that brings in that inspired action. And then if you're just working and grinding, then there becomes a point where it turns into just like having a busy brain. And there can be lots and lots and lots of ideas, but they're not, you're not taking the time to slow down and to really sense whether or not that idea is a good one or whether it's a good one for you.
Paula Orozco Newell (30:28.342)
Yeah. Right. If it's really what you want. Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (30:51.076)
You know, it might be if it's really what you want, if it's really aligned, if the timing is right. And then all of a sudden decisions are happening that are, that aren't congruent with who you want to be in the world and what your business stands for and all of that. So taking that time to slow down and assess and make decisions for farther out versus being in reaction mode. I think we agree is super important. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (31:00.162)
Yeah, absolutely. I think with business or in life, we are, I mean, the human experience is just like, there's so much that can come at you and there's so much that can be distracting and so many different ways you can make decisions from a place of like this makes sense, I should be doing this, this is what other people are doing, this is the template I was given, my coach said I should do this. There's just so many different ways. And so I totally get people going down those routes and we all do it, but that's why I think it's important.
For me, I think what shifted the most in life was that I realized like, as long as I have this as my compass and my GPS, do it then, and like never lose sight of that no matter what's going on, you know, and where I'm at, then I have to do, not that it's perfect, but there's like less going back and pivoting, less like, you know, needing to redo it or start over or all the things.
Rachel Anzalone (32:00.71)
Right.
Rachel Anzalone (32:06.736)
Yeah, like you actually get there faster by slowing down and doing one thing intentionally versus all the things in a hurry, right?
Paula Orozco Newell (32:16.426)
Yeah, and that counterintuitive thing of slowing down to speed up, I think, is one of the hardest things, like one of the biggest obstacles, I would say, to people starting to listen to their intuition, because it's such a process, you know, it's like, you really have to make the space to listen. I mean, even when we take space, like if we go on a nature walk, we're like listening to music or podcasts or calling a friend, right? Like, we all do that.
Rachel Anzalone (32:32.314)
Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (32:40.942)
Yes, my gosh, my gosh. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (32:45.134)
So there's really like, no longer really a space where it's like there's nothing, where you can really listen and get quiet unless you're really intentionally creating those spaces for yourself in your life. So first you have to create that space and listen or slow down enough to listen.
And then there's a whole process of like, okay, what I heard is like, is that right? Or is that my fear? Or, you know, what's the difference there. And I think people get stuck there for a little bit. So it really is such a process that you go through. And then, then you hear it and you can trust it. And you're familiar with it. But it makes no sense. So action is scary. And it's like, okay, I just heard move to Colombia, like using myself as an example, right? Like, like, or just leave the country.
Rachel Anzalone (33:25.979)
Yes.
Rachel Anzalone (33:37.048)
Yeah, yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (33:42.934)
I'm like, okay, but okay, but you know how and then then it's like the slow process of like just letting you know the steps kind of come to you and meet you and so it's not it's not at all the way that it moves it's not at all the way that we like to move in our world when like everything is like instant gratification and quick but it is a faster way to get where you ultimately want to go.
Rachel Anzalone (34:02.673)
Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (34:08.484)
Yeah, I mean, I think about, you know, like, let's use that, for example, and I don't know the specifics of your situation, but if you sort of receive this message, it's time to move, it's time to go somewhere else and live a different experience. And then you switch your brain on and you start to go “Ok, well, my house isn't ready to sell yet. I'm going to have to sell my house. And then I'm going to have to look at buying a new house. I don't know how to buy a new house in Columbia, don't know how.” You sort of you start to go through all these practical steps in your head. And then and that all just gets in the way versus what you just described, which is like, I got the message. I'm open to the message and I'm just going to wait for the next step to show up, like the next opportunity.
But our, I think our inclination as doers is that we want to know what the next step is and we want to go take that action now and not just sort of wait for the next thing to come.
Paula Orozco Newell (35:10.44)
Yeah, absolutely. And your brain will go there often, you know, and then it becomes overwhelming and super scary. And I will say that like, that's pretty rare. Like your intuition doesn't say usually like, you know, go move to another country now, you know, it's but, but it is like, or when you when I first even heard that, like there had been so many phases, right? Like my intuition had already told me like, this place doesn't feel right. Okay, don't know what to do with that. But I know that, you know, like this is you can't be here much longer.
Okay, great. You know, and then after my mind had tried to like problem solve and find the right place to move and whatever, and I couldn't figure it out. Then I got quiet again and listened and then it was like, well, you need to leave the country. Okay, great. That's interesting. Where do I go? Like still don't know. But then it was like, you know, and then things come and then conversations happen, and then it's like, okay, we're gonna try that, you know, and, and it was like, probably, I would say, a 9-month process, you know, from when like, you really start hearing intuition to when we're like, ready to, okay, start, start the moving process.
But usually intuition is like, is more like, do this now, you know, small steps.
Rachel Anzalone (36:34.682)
Yeah, like this one next step right now, whether it makes sense or not. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (36:38.324)
Yeah. And for me, it became, you know, I used to always also say like, I would only check in with my intuition, you know, initially, when I first started down this path, when I had like really big decision to make. And now it's like, it's just the way that I try to live right out of my head and my body. And I just keep checking in and and when I don't hear something right away. I just asked the question, like, what wants to happen next?
You know, like, not what do need to do? What should I do? But like, yeah. And usually it's like, you know, go get food or something like simple like that, or, you know, rest, like, it's okay to take a nap now. Okay. And then if I do those things, even if it's really inconvenient or makes no sense, my day starts to flow. And I'm like, I do have time for this and oh that canceled.
Rachel Anzalone (37:08.154)
Yeah. I really like that. What wants to happen next? Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (37:36.896)
So like it's this magic of like, you know, where the proof really comes. And I always tell people when it's hard to lean into intuition and life or in business, start running experiments, you know, like, test it with something small and see what happens. Because it's, it's really good. Like when you follow it, it's like, that was amazing. It was like a little magic moment, like things, there was ease and there was pleasure. And this is where I think you and I intersect a lot with our work where it's like, if this is just my, one of my systems that I work with people on, on helping them live life in a way that is joyous and pleasurable now, and not like six years from now or 12 years from now when like you do all the things or you, you know, you make that money or you finish that job, but like now, you know.
Rachel Anzalone (38:18.116)
Yeah. Yes.
Rachel Anzalone (38:29.041)
Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (38:32.886)
And, and, and because it's your GPS, I think this is the other thing I really learned that isn't obvious for all of us is that you have to really trust that what you want, what your heart wants, what your intuition is guiding you towards is good. Like you want good things for yourself and for other people. You're like, you're never going to be guided to something that's like selfish or bad or negative or, you know, like it's really going to benefit everyone including yourself and life is trying to support you. Life is not going to take you down the scary path by like moving you to come in. It may be hard. I'm not going to say it's always going to be easy, but it's always in like your highest good, you know, and I see that happen. And so when you run the experiments, you start to see a bit of that more and more like, oh everything worked out. Everything was easier. Everything was better.
Rachel Anzalone (39:26.534)
Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (39:27.994)
In some way. And so it's a fun way to do it, like experiment, see what happens. And then as that muscle gets stronger, then you experiment in a bigger way, right? Like you pick up your whole family and you move to another country and you know you're going to be okay. But it's baby stuff.
Rachel Anzalone (39:37.957)
Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (39:45.114)
Yeah, I think that's really interesting to think about it from the perspective of like, there actually is no wrong decision. You know, whatever, whatever decision you make is either taking you on this path that your intuition is guiding you on, or it's teaching you a lesson that will then take you to the path that your intuition is guiding you on, right?
Paula Orozco Newell (40:02.648)
Totally. Yes. Exactly.
Rachel Anzalone (40:15.098)
I was just listening to an interview today on a podcast and the host was saying that every objective failure that he's ever had in his life has led to the next thing that was like the most amazing thing he's ever done, an incredible experience. And that if he hadn't had that failure, then he wouldn't have ended up in the spot doing the thing that he was really meant to be doing. And so there is no wrong decision. You have to just sort of learn the lessons.
And I love this idea of experimenting sort of with the small things. And I realized one thing too, you said earlier, my first sort of leaning into this, especially around that time that I was training in Reiki and I was practicing Reiki a lot was that I would find myself in these like crisis moments. And that's when I would be like, my God, okay, what do I do? Right? And somewhere along the years, it's turned into this knowing like I don't actually have to wait for this to be a crisis. Like I could just every morning over my coffee, ask the question like what's the best thing for me to do today? You know? Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (41:24.608)
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, if you're going there when you're in crisis, that's still a good thing. But yeah, absolutely. It's like you don't have to wait.
Rachel Anzalone (41:32.442)
You don't have to wait until you're there.
Paula Orozco Newell (41:54.218)
And it's just always there. It's part of our instinct. I was thinking about it recently and it was like, we have so many biological instincts that keep us safe. And this is just another one. But I think a lot of our instincts keep us safe in like a, you know, survive, survival state. And with intuition, it's like a thriving state. It's like, you know, like, it's not just helping you survive, it's helping you thrive, it's helping you get to where you're going to thrive in life.
Rachel Anzalone (42:09.326)
Yeah, if you use it that way, right? If you ask the question before you're in the crisis, then it really can guide you on that path of thriving. I love that. That's awesome.
Paula Orozco Newell (42:22.634)
Yeah, yeah, that's what it feels like to me for sure. Like this. Yeah, it's my GPS to thriving. That's what I've been calling it lately. Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (42:34.446)
And so if someone is sort of listening to this and they're like, yeah, I mean, I guess I kind of get what you mean, but what do I do? Like, how do I, where do I start?
Paula Orozco Newell (42:46.582)
Yeah, I think just start small like we were talking about with usually slowing down and it kind of depends on where you are in your relationship with trusting, right? If you're like, you know, or your intuition, if you're like, I don't know what my intuition sounds like at all, you know, like that step, right? You really want to start slowing down and making those quiet spaces and listening and then just being like a good observer, you know, and saying, okay, well, that feels like a thought that feels scary. And there's a gut feeling or something I'm sensing or thought I'm having that doesn't sound quite like the thoughts I usually have. Intuition has a flavor to it, I always talk about it's like, it's flavor is neutral. So when we feel something inside of ourselves that has like a sense of urgency or stressful or scary and motivating us to take action or do something, that's not really your intuition. It could be something else that's useful. But intuition is so subtle and often quiet and neutral, but very persistent, like it'll never give up on you kind of thing and just keeps coming back.
So, so being able to slow down and listen and differentiate. So then you get to a point where you know what your intuition feels like, sounds like for some people, it's like mental images. I could just, I see my cupboard and I know, I need to go drink tea, right? For some people, it's, you just really have to know what it is for you. And then from there you start running the experiments.
Rachel Anzalone (44:26.062)
Yeah, I think that point of there not being any urgency, I think my own experience is that if something's really aligned for me, then I can wait a day or a week or a month and it'll still be there. And whenever I feel a sense of like, of I have to do this right now, or the opportunity will be gone, that's usually the first red flag that this is not what I meant to doing right now. And learning to just sit on things for hours or days has been really, really helpful for me.
Paula Orozco Newell (44:59.922)
Yeah, yeah, that's so true. I think, you know, nothing ever really misses us if we miss a window, another one will come or in a different way, right? Maybe not that exact same one, but in a different way. And with the urgency, comes from, you know, it can come from so many places, but it's like, it's fear, it could be, you know, lack mentality or like, fear of missing out or judgment or should or like so many different things that create that sense of urgency.
But that doesn't mean we necessarily need to be doing it or doing it right away. Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (45:32.89)
Yeah. Yeah. Because that sort of leads to or indicates a belief that there's a scarcity of time. And that is one thing that my intuition has definitely taught me is that there is no scarcity of time. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (45:45.539)
Yeah. And I think that's one of the hardest ones because of the way we live, but also like we're so there's so much we want to get done and we're eager to get to the next phase and our days are finite. You know, we have X number of hours and you're trying to fit so much in there and that sense of lack of time can really throw you off and create a sense of urgency in so many ways.
And that's where the disconnect happens. Like we're no longer connected to what's true and what's possible and what's abundant. We're just connected to like the list and the calendar and the clock and like those are all very stressful or can be very stressful.
Rachel Anzalone (46:30.51)
Yeah. So what for you at this season, this moment in time in your own business, in your life, what's exciting you right now?
Paula Orozco Newell (46:41.662)
I think the fact that I am able to trust my intuition is such a big way that I can like, I'm just at a level of trust in myself and in life where I can move, I can take bigger leaps, you know, again, like quicker. And I see my life changing in a, in bigger ways, I think that way and being able to find more, more peace in that as well and more freedom. Like a lot of what those leaps bring for me, I think, and what a lot of people are searching for are freedom, right? And for everyone's a little different, but it could be like freedom in terms of time, you know, all these different types of freedom. And so I'm excited for that because I don't know exactly what's coming, but I can feel the more that I trust that bigger things are showing up. And so… I'm excited for that.
And I feel like it's easier to be more authentic, you know, going back to those worries about like being woo woo and all of that. Like, I feel like, okay, I'm stepping into a next level for me of really exploring what my gifts are, you know, on a spiritual level and being like, what does that look like? And how can I help people without the stress of like, how is it going to sound? And are people going to judge me? That judgment that was coming from myself. So that's exciting and liberating in itself.
And I'm excited to work with women, like in where we're at in the world right now and how people are coming to all of this you know. When I first started back in 2001, most people didn't know what Reiki was. Like you would say Reiki, like no clue. And then explaining that to people was really challenging. And now it's like, you know, it's everywhere, mainstream movies, even if they're making fun of it, like people know what it is. They know. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's an exciting time, I think.
Rachel Anzalone (48:39.644)
At least they've heard of it. They know what it is.
Rachel Anzalone (48:50.14)
I think it is. I think, as you said, things are changing and the environment's evolving where these skills that so many of us have and have kind of hidden away are now coming to the forefront and being valued in a bigger way and it's allowing for women like us to have more impact. And I think that that just accelerates the change that's happening. Yeah.
Paula Orozco Newell (49:15.626)
Absolutely. Yeah. And at the end of the day, I think it's really all of us just becoming more of who we are. You know, that's all these, all these gifts, you know I think we think of, you know, intuitive skills and Reiki like none of it is actually anything that requires a person to be special. Like we all have the ability to do this. And so it's like being able to, to just be more of ourselves and own the different aspects of who we are and understand those things like your energy system or to manage your energy, all of it, so that we have more tools and are better equipped for everything that life brings is exciting.
Rachel Anzalone (49:53.466)
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being here, Paula. If people want to find you, how can they find you?
Paula Orozco Newell (49:57.752)
Thank you. Yeah, my website, guidanceonthepath.com or on Instagram @guidanceonthepath.
Rachel Anzalone (50:08.974)
Excellent. We'll make sure to put those in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. I love this conversation and I can't wait to hear what evolves next for you as things continue to grow.
Paula Orozco Newell (50:21.56)
Thank you, Rachel, for creating the space and yeah, fun conversation. Thanks a lot.
Rachel Anzalone (50:25.986)
Awesome. Thank you all for being here and until next time I'm wishing you even more pleasure and profits. Have a great day. Awesome.
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