Desire As Medicine Podcast
Catherine & Brenda interview people and talk to each other about desire. They always come back to us being 100% responsible for our desires.
Contact us by email:
desireasmedicine@gmail.com
catherine@catherinenavarro.com
goddessbrenda24@gmail.com
Instagram:
@desireasmedicine
@CoachCatherineN
@Brenda_Fredericks
Desire As Medicine Podcast
70 ~ Unwrapping 2024: 6 Questions To Close Out Your Year
This episode is OUR GIFT to you... an extra episode that walks you through 6 powerful questions to close out 2024 well.
AND ….
We are on the hot seat ourselves, answering these same 6 questions about our own lives.
It’s real, raw, and packed with insights to inspire your own reflection.
Grab your journal, tune in, and join us for this heart-opening practice. Let’s make space for more of what you desire in the new year.
Episode Highlights;
• Acknowledging the ups, downs and lessons learned from 2024
• Importance of daily habits and rituals to support our desires and growth
• Reflect and celebrate cherished moments of 2024
• Letting go of limiting beliefs and attachments
• Practicing gratitude as a path to having more of what we desire in life
Desire as Medicine End of Year Reflection Questions:
1. What challenges did you face, and how did you grow from them?
2. What habits or routines supported your growth this year?
3. What lessons or themes repeatedly showed up in your life this year?
4. What did you let go of that no longer served you?
5. What are some of your favorite moments of 2024?
6. What are you grateful for?
And, looking ahead:
What do you want to invite into your life? What are your desires?
>>TAG US ON INSTAGRAM with your answers!! @desireasmedicinepodcast
Thank you for listening. Wishing you a very Happy New Year.
How did you like this episode? Tell us everything, we'd love to hear from you.
If you'd like to learn more about 1:1 or group coaching with Brenda or Catherine message them and book a Sales Call to learn more.
Email:
desireasmedicine@gmail.com
goddessbrenda24@gmail.com
catherine@catherinenavarro.com
Instagram:
@desireasmedicinepodcast
@Brenda_Fredericks
@CoachCatherineN
Welcome to Desire is Medicine. We are two very different women living a life led by desire, inviting you into our world.
Speaker 2:I'm Brenda. I'm a devoted practitioner to being my fully expressed true self in my daily life. Motherhood relationships and my business Desire has taken me on quite a ride and every day I practice listening to and following the voice within. I'm a middle school teacher turned coach and guide of the feminine.
Speaker 1:And I'm Catherine, devoted to living my life as the truest and hopefully the highest version of me. I don't have children, I've never been married. I've spent equal parts of my life in corporate as in some down and low shady spaces. I was the epitome of tired and wired and my path led me to explore desire. I'm a coach, guide, energy worker and a forever student.
Speaker 2:Even after decades of inner work, we are humble beginners on the mat, still exploring, always curious. We believe that listening to and following the nudge of desire is a deep spiritual practice that helps us grow.
Speaker 1:On the Desire is Medicine podcast. We talk to each other, we interview people we know and love about the practice of desire, bringing in a very important piece that is often overlooked being responsible for our desire.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Desire is Medicine. I am Brenda and I'm joined by my lovely co-host, Catherine Navarro. Today, we are inviting you in to a space of reflection, a moment to pause, breathe and look back on the year that's passed. As 2024 comes to a close, it's natural to feel a mix of all different emotions. Maybe you're feeling proud, Maybe you're feeling nostalgic, sad, regret, relief, grateful it's all welcome here. Relief, grateful, it's all welcome here. Wherever you are in your journey, this episode is here to support you in uncovering your lessons, celebrating your wins and looking back at the challenges of 2024.
Speaker 2:So Catherine and I were thinking about this and we sifted through a lot of questions and we came up with six. Of course, there's many more questions that you can ask, but we wanted to keep it potent experiences of the past year, acknowledge your growth, acknowledge your challenges and really think about what you want for 2025. And here's the special treat about today. Catherine and I are going to be on the hot seat. That's right. We are going to be answering these questions about our own lives. Don't worry, you don't have to remember all the questions. We're going to take you through Katherine's answers, take you through my answers and we're going to post all the questions that we asked, all six, in the show notes so that you can do this practice by yourself, with your journal, with your computer, however you like it. This is a really gentle and potent practice. It's a way to really honor your story, honor your life, honor your year and step into the new year with clarity and purpose. All right, let us jump in, Catherine.
Speaker 1:I am here present.
Speaker 2:All right, you ready for question number one?
Speaker 1:I am.
Speaker 2:What challenges did you face and how did you grow from them? Did you face and?
Speaker 1:how did you grow from them? So a challenge that I faced this year was I had moments where I felt sad, where I wasn't sure if it was like depression and feeling like a loser. That was new. I wouldn't say that sadness is necessarily like a home challenge for me. I grew from them, I think point blank, because I haven't. I hadn't really faced it in a long time. I hadn't faced sadness or grief in a long time. So it was nice to sort of revisit and get to the other side.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Number two. What habits or routines supported your growth this year?
Speaker 1:supported your growth this year Well. So the discomfort this year was sadness and feeling like I had not air quotes accomplished on, anything wasn't successful enough, and so I really gratitude, being grateful for things, thanking God. That's like a strong habit I have. But one habit that I really put my attention on this year was asking myself what was my win today. So I got into the habit of writing three wins every day, and I cannot say that I was successful every day, but more often than not I wrote down my successes and then I would write my successes for the following day. This habit comes from Dan Sullivan, from the Gap versus the Gain, so it's not my creation, but it definitely helped me stay with where I was winning this year, because my default often this year was to look at what I had not done.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Number three. What lessons or themes repeatedly showed up in your life this year?
Speaker 1:Oh, lessons and themes I'm sure there were many, uh, the one that shows up for me right now, as we're talking right, is, um, how important it is to, how important it is to celebrate myself, how important it is to look at what I have accomplished, how important it is to pause and be with what has been done versus what hasn't. I've always been sort of glass half full, so the lesson this year, the theme around success, was slightly more nuanced for me. It was like really being willing to pat myself on the back daily, even for the small, mundane things, and that wasn't didn't come naturally for me. I want to, you know, shop from the rooftops. When it's congratulations worthy, right, it's a balloon worthy, it's like fireworks worthy. But when it wasn't that big, that was something that I definitely. That was a theme Like can I be that person?
Speaker 1:Can I be the person that celebrates herself all the time? Like a success is a success. It doesn't matter how. I don't have to measure the success in order for it to be a success. Like it being a success is enough. The other thing that came up for me, my word of the year, was consistently committed, and one of the things that I learned around that this year was that commitment is less about one time. It's like I have to commit all the time. That's what commitment is. I've recommit, recommit, recommit. So a much better relationship. I have a much better relationship with commitment this year. And lastly, I would say connection over perfection was a theme for me for sure this year.
Speaker 2:That's such a good one, connection over perfection, so powerful. Thank you, okay, number four. What did you let go of that no longer served you? It could be a belief, a habit, a relationship, an item or something else.
Speaker 1:Interestingly enough, this year, when I was really working on paying attention to the gain versus the gap, I remembered that there's a thread of this habit that goes back to my teen years. I remember when I used to say to myself, like there's no room for failure, I really didn't have compassion for failure. I didn't see failure as part of success. Like you need to fail, fail, fail, fail, fail until you succeed. Like we don't always just have like, oh, I moved in this direction and I won. Yay, everybody gets a trophy. Like that's not the way life is, and so that was like I had to sort of massage that out.
Speaker 1:All right, catherine, I can see where I had no room for failure in the past, but now I do have room for failure. Now I do understand that. Well, I understood it before. I think I embraced it more this year, really embracing failure as part of the success model, really embracing that every time I fail, I learn that this is how not to do it. Every time I fail, I get so much closer to what I do want to do and so, yes, I let go of that, I want to say, or I'm in the process.
Speaker 2:In the process. Oh yes, a lot of these things are just ongoing. Okay, number five this is a fun one. They're all fun. Number five what are some favorite moments of 2024? Maybe highlights, surprises, personal achievements, moments.
Speaker 1:Highlights favorite moments of 2024 would definitely be friends. Favorite moments of 2024 would definitely be friends. It's a highlight. I love my friends, I love my family. They're a highlight. I can't say that it uh. It's interesting, right, because not something it's not like in 2024. This happened and it didn't happen in 2023. Nonetheless, it's what made 2024 special. So, my friends, my family, my loved ones, my time traveling this year one of my brothers came to visit this year so I would say that the highlights for me this year have all been around connection. They have been my favorite moments. I had some business things this year. I was in DC, I was in Paris, I yeah, these would be my favorite moments Just being around people that I love and being in community. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and number six. Feel free to say a few. What are you grateful for?
Speaker 1:to say a few. What are you grateful for? This year was tough in that my own self-regulation, my own mind, was tripping out for whatever reason. Well, it's not for whatever reason. That's not really an honest thing. I think I really got to see how, in the past, I would be motivated by the there's no room for failure motivated by sort of punishing myself to get something done. I was sort of my own drill sergeant inside. So I got to revisit that this year and definitely bring in a lot more love, compassion and kindness so, and I could not have done it alone by any means. So I am extremely grateful for my network. I am extremely, extremely grateful for my faith and I'm extremely grateful in the trust that I continue to cultivate in myself, life and God.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Those are all really beautiful. Is there anything that you wanted to add to any of those that maybe you left out?
Speaker 1:I don't think so.
Speaker 2:Okay, thank you. Great, you're welcome. It's always nice to just go back and reflect on the reflections, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I'm good, I'm ready to get off the hot seat.
Speaker 2:You ready.
Speaker 1:Let's keep you on the hot seat a little longer. I am ready, I see what you're doing I'm just kidding trading spaces and I'm gonna go into the questions asking the questions now for Miss Brenda. Let's take a deep breath in, let's just shake it off and I encourage anybody who's doing this with a friend, if you're not doing it alone, that you just take some space, sort of switch seats, so you can equally witness each other and equally feel that heat in the seat.
Speaker 2:Heat in the seat. I feel the heat in the seat.
Speaker 1:Great. So question number one what challenges did you face in 2024? How did you grow from them? You can reflect on how you overcame the obstacles and what you learned. Thank, you.
Speaker 2:It's funny, even though we wrote the questions together, when I'm asked them it feels completely different. So challenge that I faced was two big ones really come up. I moved this year. I closed out my apartment, which felt really hard. I've moved many times and I've closed out two big houses.
Speaker 2:I've owned two houses in my life that I've packed up with children and I thought closing out a one bedroom apartment would be easier and in some ways it was, but it was hard and it's hard doing it with another person. You know you could always do something yourself, your own way, but when you're with another person and you're not only you have your own preferences and needs, you're working with another person. That's challenging, and it's challenging to on the earthly level level, to take every single item out of your house, of your home, and put it in a box and move it somewhere else. I found that to be really challenging and it took me a long time and I was tired. Which brings me to my other mini challenge that I want to say is that I had a muscle injury this year and it really slowed me down and that was really hard.
Speaker 2:That was really hard for me and what I learned from that was to really attune to my body even more, even though I feel like I've learned that a lot. Like you said, I learned that last year and the year before, but this year was a really big invitation to slow down and really listen to my body, because overriding it didn't work and maybe 10 years ago I could have overridden my body in some ways and I just can't do it anymore. It doesn't work. The cost is too high and those things went together because moving was tiring and so it took me longer, because I needed to go slower. I would pack rest, pack a box rest, and that was really challenging because I just want to get it done.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for that. Question number two what are habits or routines supported your growth this year, in 2024?
Speaker 2:growth this year, in 2024? Hmm, this is such a great question. Every morning I take a walk and this year I started going outside first thing and getting the sun on my face, drink a big glass of water, and go on a walk and have a daily morning call with a friend and we do a tool where we kind of release what's happening in our, in our bodies, in our minds and our thoughts to get clear, and it's a beautiful connection that we have. And so that is so multi-layered, because, number one, I'm getting outside and I'm getting fresh air. There's something so big for me about just getting out of the space I'm in and getting into a different space, like it actually helps me get into a different head space. And then the movement, getting the sun on my body and then also connecting with a friend and having the space to get out whatever's happening inside is really huge.
Speaker 2:And I also do yoga every morning and I do prayer and meditation and I do a desire quad, which we did an episode on a swamp, a bread, a gratitude and a desire. I literally state my desires every day because I want to always keep them in my field, even if it's not happening today. I want to have my focus and my attention on my desires and then have one more focus on my attention on my desires and then have one more Every day. I am on a thread with two other people from a mastermind I did in 2019. So this is how long we've been doing this, and every single day, the three of us write down our today's top three, the three things that we would like to accomplish today. So that keeps me really focused on what I want to accomplish, and sometimes I'll put things on there that I'm avoiding. It's easy to do things that are fun, but sometimes, if I notice I'm putting something off, I'll specifically put it on that list and it helps me stay accountable.
Speaker 1:Love that. You have such great practices really, really really do thank you we're going to move on to question number three, I'm ready give it to me what lessons or themes repeatedly showed up in your life this year.
Speaker 2:Oh, so many. I'm going to say change. I had a lot of change this year. I really did, because when I closed up my apartment, first of all, moving homes is huge, like one of the biggest things that you could do. It's just tremendous. And my partner and I didn't set up another house, we decided to put our stuff in storage and we're going to travel for the winter, but first we had to pause for the summer, so we hung out at our lake for several months and we're actually still in New York we haven't left yet, but it's just been a lot of change.
Speaker 2:Moving from one place to the other by choice it's great and it's wonderful, and it's hard to pack up your stuff and move it and then be in a new place and get used to what is this space feel like. And here's one of the challenges that I faced inside of that was, um, when I was at my lake, I was with people every day. It's a, it was. There's a lot of people around, and I really loved that. And so one of the challenges that I had was when I left there and even in my apartment building living in an apartment building there's always people around in the lobby Um lobby? Not, I don't have that in the current place that I'm in right now and I'm really missing it. So change, change is hard.
Speaker 1:I am going to move on now to question number four. Mm-hmm, what did? What did you let go of that no longer served you and take into consideration beliefs, habits or relationships that you released?
Speaker 2:oh well, I could say my apartment, because I did let go of that. It really was true to move, but I'm not going to say that just for a little change here. Another thing that I let go of that it really was true to move, but I'm not going to say that just for a little change here. Another thing that I let go of that was actually really hard was my car. I let go of my car this year.
Speaker 2:I had my car for 15 years. It was a 2009. I bought it when my kids were preteens. I bought it to like this big car to drive them and their friends around, and I specifically wanted to have it paid off so I could during the college years. And it lasted me well beyond that.
Speaker 2:But, like cars often do, it started. It started costing me money, it started breaking down and that was about two years ago and I wasn't really sure how I was going to have the new car. I wanted to really make sure it was a financially sound decision, because I had a car that I loved that was paid for, um, and it was time this year it was time to let go of my car and my partner and I bought a car together and part of having the new car is, like my stepping into my expanded capacity, self part of letting go of scrappiness, survival patterns, letting go of holding on tight to something out of fear and stepping into something with more expansion. Because it's very easy to keep my old car, because it was safe, but taking on another car payment asked me to step into something new and so that definitely has been expanding me.
Speaker 1:Yay, expansion, oh yeah, Okay, question number five what are some of your favorite moments of 2024? You can include highlights, surprises and personal achievement.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, so many. First of all, I do want to say our podcast. What a joy. It is so much fun to show up here with you every week, Catherine. It is so much fun to show up here with you every week, Catherine, and record and like flesh out what we want to talk about and just have fun Like we have a really good time. So podcasting definitely and it's super helped me grow. I could do all, I could answer all these questions just on our podcast, because there were a lot of challenges and lessons and all of that. Um, so that was one of them. Um, other favorite moments were right now I'm living on the beach.
Speaker 2:I love it. I go to the beach every morning. That walk that I talked about in the last question or two I do that on the beach every morning. The beach is one of my absolute favorite places to be and I get to go there every single morning. Same with the lake.
Speaker 2:When I was at the lake, I would go swimming every day, Every day. That makes my body and soul so happy. I feel like I am most myself when I could just swim in the water and flow. I'm like being my best, Brenda. And then also I want to include being with people. I love being with people. I love In 2024, like you said, also in other years but I really made a point to spend time with people that I love. That's so important to me and I spent a lot of time with my kids. My daughter visited me here. I went to visit her where she lives. My son visited a lot. I spent time with my sisters and my mother and my friends. I I really loved that. I think it's funny how we both answered that about connection. Those are the favorite moments.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yes, I mean it's, it's funny and it makes sense, right, I mean?
Speaker 2:it does.
Speaker 1:We look at statistically speaking. Usually life is about connection, loving connection, you know. Okay, so here we are moving to question number six what are you grateful for?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, so many things. I was walking on the beach this morning, thinking I am so grateful that I can walk on the beach. I'm so grateful, so grateful that I can walk on the beach. I'm so grateful I have a body that can walk me on the beach, especially with that muscle pain that I was talking about. There were many times this year where I couldn't take long walks. I'm still not back up to the long, long walks that I would love to go on, but I was able to walk pretty far today without any muscle pain and, wow, that is really wonderful. So I am happy to have a body that is healthy and well.
Speaker 2:Number one I'm happy for this podcast. I'm so grateful for this podcast and how it's helped me grow. I'm grateful for my partner, who shows up and his willingness to meet me every day, and for my dog. Oh, my God, I love my doggy. He brings me so much joy. He's just so precious.
Speaker 2:I am deeply grateful for the relationship that I have with both of my kids. It's really beautiful, it's honest and real and it's not without its challenges. We've had many challenging conversations, even this year, but I'm grateful that it keeps evolving and I'm grateful for my mom evolving, and I'm grateful for my mom that she's still here with me, and I'm just grateful that I get to live this life, that I had a whole other career before I had my own business, and that I changed everything and that I left teaching in 2016 and now it's 2024. And I was thinking just last week wow, it's been eight years and I feel like I am finally starting to know what I'm doing, I'm dialing in who I'm here to help, and that people are coming to me for that, and that I get to do this podcast and bring my heart and what matters to me out into the world.
Speaker 1:Gratitude is just so precious.
Speaker 2:It really is. I mean, I could go on and on.
Speaker 1:Makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm thinking right now, as you're talking about gratitude, and I'm feeling in my heart I'm like, yeah, as we were curating these questions for each other, and thank you so much for all of your lovely answers, brenda. Brenda and I came across some questions that wouldn't even be questions and it was really interesting. It's sort of like, as you do this work and as you honor yourself, there are certain things that are just not a problem. You know, like even the question of what did I do, what did I let go of that no longer served me For us here in 2024, it looks so different than what that would look like. You know that looks so different than what that would look like.
Speaker 1:You know and I know I've shared this, I think, in previous episodes how in my thirties, right when I decided, oh, I'm not bringing my phone into the bedroom anymore or, oh, I'm turning my answering machine off. So I just want to encourage everyone that the review and reflect is a great way to pause and look at what has happened, but it's not a death sentence, meaning like 2025 is right around the corner and the great news is that you can do better. When we know better, we do better, and even I can be so doom and gloom like this, and even if we don't get to live it, we won't know that we disappointed ourselves. It's fine. Keep going for it.
Speaker 1:So I just want to tell you to keep going. Keep putting yourselves first, keep leaning into your desires, keep feeling into what you want. Pause, breathe, reflect. I really want to invite you to honor who you are. Who were you in 2024, who do you want to be in 2025, and then sneak peek. Brenda and I will be definitely helping you with your reset in a future episode. Thank you so much for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us on the Desire Medicine Podcast.
Speaker 1:Desire invites us to be honest loving and deeply intimate with ourselves and others. You can find our handles in the show notes. We'd love to hear from you.
