Rewriting Life’s Narrative: How Deanna Moffitt Transforms Burdens into Blessings | ANEW Ep 41

In this episode of the ANEW Body Insight podcast, hosts Dr. Supatra Tovar, clinical psychologist, registered dietitian, fitness expert, and best-selling author of Deprogram Diet Culture, and Chantal Donnelly, physical therapist and author of Settled: How to Find Calm in a Stress-Inducing World, sit down with accomplished coach, speaker, and storyteller Deanna Moffitt.

Deanna shares her incredible journey of transforming the narrative of being a "burden" into embracing the identity of a "blessing." Drawing from her years of experience in improv comedy, storytelling, and leadership development, Deanna offers profound insights into how reframing personal stories can foster healing, growth, and self-discovery.

Listeners will gain valuable takeaways from Deanna’s inspiring story, including how she transitioned from corporate life to a fulfilling career as a life coach and speaker. Deanna shares practical advice on staying present, finding joy, and using play as a tool for growth.

Discover how childhood passions and early influences shape our adult lives and learn how to rewrite the stories you tell yourself for a more empowered future. Whether you're navigating change, seeking inspiration, or simply curious about the power of storytelling, this episode is packed with wisdom and encouragement.

Here is Social Media channels Link about Deanna Moffitt's:https://deannamoffitt.com,  https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannamoffitt,  https://www.instagram.com/deannamoffitt/. 

Tune in now and join us on this transformative journey to optimal health and wellness. Find out how to rewrite your life’s narrative and embrace the blessing within.

Listen on all major streaming platforms or visit anew-insight.com to watch and listen under the ANEW Body Insight podcast tab. Don’t forget to follow us on social media @my.anew.insight for more updates and inspiring content.

Thank you for joining us on this journey to wellness. Remember, the insights and advice shared on the ANEW Body Insight Podcast are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine. To learn more about the podcast and stay updated on new episodes, visit ANEW Body Insight Podcast at anew-insight.com. To watch this episode on YouTube, visit @my.anew.insight. Follow us on social media at @my.anew.insight on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads for more updates and insights. Thank you for tuning in! Stay connected with us for more empowering stories and expert guidance. Until next time, stay well and keep evolving with ANEW Body Insight!

Transcript

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Welcome to the ANEW Body Insight podcast,


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empowering and inspiring your journey to optimal health.


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Hosted by Dr. Supatra Tovar, clinical psychologist,


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registered dietitian, fitness expert and author of Deprogram Diet Culture:


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Rethink Your Relationship with Food, Heal Your Mind and Live a Diet-Free Life,


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and Chantal Donnelly, physical therapist and author of Settled:


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How to Find Calm in a Stress Inducing World.


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We follow our guests’ journey to optimal health,


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providing you with the keys to unlock your own wellness path.


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Tune in and evolve with us.


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Hello and welcome to the ANEW Body
Insight podcast.


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I am Chantal Donnelly.


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And I am Doctor Supatra Tovar.


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You are indeed.


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And today we are here with author
and coach Deanna Moffitt.


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Really excited to have you here.


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Well, I'm thrilled to be here.


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Thanks so much, Chantal.


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It's pleasure to be here.


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I'm going to talk a little bit
about who Deanna is,


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and then we're going to get into
some really great questions. Okay.


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Deanna Moffitt, is an accomplished speaker,


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life coach, and author of the book


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The Rewrite: Change Your Life
One Story at a Time.


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She has traveled the country
providing workshops


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and speaking to leadership for companies
such as Google, Marriott,


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American Express, Coca-Cola, Delta,
and so many more.


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With an eclectic background
in project management,


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leadership development, qigong,


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improv comedy and storytelling.


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Deanna brings her whole self
into every situation.


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While she masters
the art of conversational intelligence.


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The word people use most


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to describe her is energizing,
and I am going to say that the word I use


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to describe her is dear
dear dear friend. Yay!


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So glad you're here!


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Hey Chantal.


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Although I have to tell you,
that's probably more than one word.


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Oh, that's true.


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This doesn't sound. Right.


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It's got to be, dear friend at least.


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Dear, dear, dear friend. Yeah, I love it.


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You need more words, Chantal.


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More words.


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(laughter)


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Deanna, it is so lovely to meet you.


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I'm so excited for this interview.


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I've been looking forward to this.


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And I have heard that at age 36,


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you, you know, you were on
your way, had a successful career,


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you were a senior project manager
in the corporate world,


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and then something major shifted in you.


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Please, please, please enlighten us on


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why you had a change of heart
and then what you did next.


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Yeah, well,


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I'll give you the real story.


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There's a story
that I give to other people,


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but because you guys are good friends,
I'm going to give you the real story.


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And the real story is
I was in a relationship with someone.


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I had been doing improv here
in Portland, Oregon.


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I'm in Portland right now,
staying with my mom,


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and I was doing improv with someone
who was also I was in relationship with


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and I had just bought a house
and I didn't love my job by any means.


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But, you know,


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I was kind of getting the golden handcuffs
situation where I was making good money.


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And, this person that I was dating,


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he at about six months after I bought
the house, he goes, you know what?


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He goes, I want to move to Chicago
and do improv there.


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And I was like, what?


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I just bought this house.


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I couldn't fathom
how that was going to work out.


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And, he he went, he stayed.


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He did make that declaration.


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And then, we lived together and he stayed
in Portland for another year,


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kind of get his finances in place,
and then moved out to Chicago.


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And I was in this job doing very well,
but sucking my soul dry.


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And after six months, I saw him
patching it together, figuring it out.


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And to be honest,
this is what my real talk is.


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I thought
if that dumb dumb can figure it out,


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(laughter)


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Anyone can.


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I can definitely figure it out.


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And so, I had such a supportive,


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team and people that I worked
with at the company that I was at.


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And my boss, Deanna,
when I told her that I wanted to leave


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and go to Chicago, she said,
you have a job for as long as you need.


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I know you have a house to sell, whatever
you want, whatever you need to do.


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And I literally put


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the house on the market
and it sold in four hours


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and I, I was off and


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I was scared out of my mind,
you know, I didn't have anyone


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that I could look to to say, oh,
this is how you leave corporate America.


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This is this is what you do.


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And I remember making a list
of all the things that I needed


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to have in my home when I landed
in Chicago, of which I didn't.


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I don't think I got any of those things.


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And I realized that
I felt like I needed those things


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because I needed them here in Portland,
because I wasn't really happy in my life.


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And all those comforts, creature comforts,


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felt like what I was living for.


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And once I just went to Chicago
and started


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doing something
that I absolutely loved doing,


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I realized all those other things
just didn't matter at all.


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And I had such a great time.


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I spent 11 years in Chicago and I had such
a great time, and I have to admit,


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I was way older than most of the people
that I was performing with.


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You know, at 36, most of the people
come in to Chicago right after college,


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maybe even some right after high school.


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So bunch of 20 year olds,
you know, and me.


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But I had a blast.


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And I was so glad that I made that shift.


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Did you ever run into your ex? Did you do


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improv with your ex as well?


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Oh, yeah, we stayed together.


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I mean, I say he was a dumb dumb, listen,


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he's now my ex.


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I wasn't saying that. I stayed with him
the entire time I was in Chicago.


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Okay.


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But now he's a dumb dumb.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.


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For those 11


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years in Chicago, he was not.


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(laughter)


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Mm-hmm.


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(laughter)


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All right.


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(laughter)


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I had heard about this life of yours
that you lived in Chicago


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doing comedy improv,


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but we've never really done,
like, a deep dive on what that was like.


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And if you have any, like,
who did you hang out with?


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Did you, do you have any great memories?


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Oh yeah.


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What was that was not part of your life like?


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I have so many great memories.


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You know, it
it was almost like I was replaying.


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I didn't have a normal college experience.


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I went back to college as an adult.


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so it, because it was 
all these young folks,


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I kind of re had a college experience,
patched a bunch of jobs together,


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performed all over the place.


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I actually worked on cruise ships
for about 18 months of my life.


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So three winters in a row
I went and toured all over the place


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and did the Mediterranean and Hawaii
and the Caribbean.


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And, you know,
it was a really, a time for me


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to understand the importance of play. And what I started facilitating,


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even back then.


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I started using improv
as a facilitation tool,


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working for companies
like Second City and,


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Improv Olympic and going into companies
and universities and teaching


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how what we do on stage is actually
quite applicable to pretty much anyone.


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No one has a script for their life.


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And so how do you stay present?


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How do you stay in the moment?


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How do you really listen to people? And,


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it gave me a lot a life lessons


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and really, really the importance of play.


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And since leaving that or going on
and doing other things,


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I recognize for me,
if it's not lighting me up, if there's not


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something that like, I love doing this,
I just don't want to do it.


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I just want to do it
because I had that muscle of,


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kind of work
and pleasure has been so honed.


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that it's a real challenge for me.


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The idea of going in to work, to do work
doesn't


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mean I won't do it every once in a while,
but it's not something I love to do.


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Oh wow.


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Well, so you had this long


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career essentially in improv.


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How did you transition to becoming,


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a life coach and inspirational speaker?


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We want to know about that pathway that you took.


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Yeah. Why, I was it in Chicago,


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one of the things that I started
doing on the side in prep, you know,


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I did I still love improv
and I did it for a long time,


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but I have always been someone
who wants to expand my, my experiences.


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And so somewhere along the way,
I started a, storytelling show


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with a, producing partner called
This Much Is True.


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And I loved storytelling.


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I really loved it.


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And then started teaching
it at Second City. And,


00:09:07:13 - 00:09:10:13
I think that was a really great tool
for me


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at the very beginning to understand
how we shape our stories, how we shape


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our narratives, the stories we feel
are important to tell about ourselves.


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and I realized that I,


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11 years in Chicago
was long enough for me.


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It is cold there,


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very cold and also very hot,
and I just miss the West Coast.


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I grew up in Portland as I said before,
and I just loved the West Coast


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and wanted to come back.


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And, my partner, the person I was with,


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said, great, let's go.


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And then literally
we were here for three days


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and, he then had to go to Europe
to do some improv training


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with a bunch of people around there.


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And I sat in an empty apartment,


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for about three weeks.


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The day before he gets it back,
all of our furniture arrives home,


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and then he comes back.


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And through a series of conversations,
I recognize that this relationship


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is about to go south and, oh no.


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Yeah, this is why he's a dumb dumb.


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Exactly.


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This is what I was thinking. I was thinking that.


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(laughter)


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I say it with love now.


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I mean, it all has worked out for the best
for both of us, for sure.


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But he had come to the realization
he was in love with someone else,


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the person he was traveling with.


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He wanted to go back to Chicago.


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And fortunately,
I mean, as the universe works in such


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wondrous ways, our stuff had literally
come the day before.


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I hadn't unpacked anything.


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And so he just packed his stuff
back on the U-Haul and drove himself


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back to Chicago. And I was like,


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oh, I've got to figure stuff out.


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Oh, I, you know, I went on one audition


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for a commercial, actually got a callback,
but also realized,


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I definitely do not want to do that,
I did I,


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I felt like I needed to have
just a little bit of control and,


00:11:03:13 - 00:11:07:09
and not wait around for people to say,
you're who we want.


00:11:07:09 - 00:11:10:06
I wanted, I wanted, I wanted to bet on me.


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And so, I had been working
you know, I've been doing facilitation,


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using improv.


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And I'd also started
working for a company,


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that did more traditional leadership development.


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And as it happens, I got hired
and literally like a month later,


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they got a big, huge contract
to do virtual trainings,


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of which they hadn't
been doing a lot of those.


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And this is, well before Covid,
well before everyone got on Zoom.


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And so,


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they I was
doing great through their certification.


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They hired me on to this contract work.


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I worked for like a year.


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I got really good
at doing virtual facilitation.


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And but all that time that I had spent


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doing improv,
to be able to bring that into the room


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and understand that sometimes
really good training there is fun in it.


00:12:02:00 - 00:12:04:12
There's sense of humor,
there's a really present ness in it.


00:12:04:12 - 00:12:06:05
I can read a room really well.


00:12:06:05 - 00:12:09:22
I can see what people and, yeah.


00:12:09:22 - 00:12:12:23
So that's how I started in the leadership
development


00:12:12:23 - 00:12:16:04
is kind of taking those improv skills
and taking them into the room.


00:12:17:05 - 00:12:19:06
And I started coaching.


00:12:19:06 - 00:12:22:04
I was going to a CrossFit box right
near me.


00:12:22:04 - 00:12:25:05
I when I first got to LA,
I needed to pay for friends.


00:12:25:05 - 00:12:26:20
So I went to CrossFit and,


00:12:26:20 - 00:12:28:18
(laughter)


00:12:29:08 - 00:12:30:16
I needed to find my community.


00:12:30:16 - 00:12:34:03
I don't know if they, I love the folks
that I met there, but my body did not.


00:12:34:14 - 00:12:39:07
But one of the part owners of the box
was a guy named John Kim,


00:12:39:07 - 00:12:43:06
who's known as the Angry Therapist,
and he's really kind of blown up now.


00:12:43:11 - 00:12:46:17
But he used to run these classes called
Mindset Classes for the athletes.


00:12:46:17 - 00:12:49:18
And, I was really curious about it,
you know,


00:12:49:18 - 00:12:52:18
because I had done so much facilitation
at this point,


00:12:52:18 - 00:12:56:20
and he just offhandedly mentioned
that he runs a coaching school as well.


00:12:56:21 - 00:13:00:01
I was like, I wasn't even really sure
what coaching was at the time,


00:13:00:15 - 00:13:03:02
but I thought, oh, I'll just throw
my thousands of dollars down and see


00:13:03:02 - 00:13:04:12
what happens. And,


00:13:05:17 - 00:13:08:08
I went through it and


00:13:08:08 - 00:13:12:07
I, I was still at a loss for how to coach.


00:13:12:07 - 00:13:15:07
At the time,
it was just a tiny coaching school.


00:13:15:17 - 00:13:17:02
It really didn't have its legs.


00:13:17:02 - 00:13:19:10
And I offered up that.
I thought after what,


00:13:19:10 - 00:13:22:18
after I went through it, I said, John,
I think you need to have a class,


00:13:22:18 - 00:13:24:13
another class on how to question people,


00:13:24:13 - 00:13:27:13
because I still don't know
how to have a conversation with someone.


00:13:27:19 - 00:13:30:19
And he goes, oh, would you teach that?


00:13:31:06 - 00:13:33:07
And I was like,
John, I've never had a client.


00:13:33:07 - 00:13:34:15
I don't know what I'm doing.


00:13:34:15 - 00:13:36:14
He goes, oh, you'll figure it out.


00:13:36:14 - 00:13:37:03
And I think


00:13:37:03 - 00:13:41:22
because of all that improv experience
that I had, I knew I could figure it out.


00:13:41:22 - 00:13:45:13
You know, there's this whole adage of just
saying yes and well before you're ready.


00:13:46:00 - 00:13:50:07
And so I said yes, and I'm so glad I did,
because it really sent me down


00:13:50:07 - 00:13:54:04
a path of learning
about the power of our questions.


00:13:54:04 - 00:13:57:20
And yeah,
we got certified in Appreciative Inquiry,


00:13:57:20 - 00:14:02:02
which is just a way of questioning,
taking ourselves into the future state,


00:14:03:01 - 00:14:03:19
and framing our


00:14:03:19 - 00:14:08:17
questions in a positive way,
because so often we are asking ourselves


00:14:08:17 - 00:14:12:09
terrible little questions,
yes we are, right?


00:14:12:09 - 00:14:15:11
Like, what's wrong with me?
When, when am I ever going to get this right?


00:14:15:11 - 00:14:18:22
And why aren't I loved?
And all these things and


00:14:19:22 - 00:14:23:08
yeah, I it, it just kind of as we do


00:14:23:09 - 00:14:26:15
like just keep going in the direction
that I said, as I said earlier,


00:14:26:15 - 00:14:29:15
just kind of lights me up
or gets me excited and,


00:14:29:20 - 00:14:32:20
and then I would start coaching and,


00:14:33:16 - 00:14:35:15
I really love it.


00:14:35:15 - 00:14:37:06
I love group coaching.


00:14:37:06 - 00:14:39:22
I still love speaking.


00:14:39:22 - 00:14:42:22
but I think my heart is really seeing,


00:14:43:17 - 00:14:44:15
gosh,


00:14:46:00 - 00:14:49:14
the, the the power and ability for people


00:14:50:08 - 00:14:52:19
to kind of unfold into themselves


00:14:52:19 - 00:14:55:21
this, this truer sense of who they are


00:14:56:14 - 00:15:01:08
without the stories, without the beliefs,
without the world


00:15:01:08 - 00:15:05:08
trying to tell them who they are,
but kind of coming back into their core


00:15:06:03 - 00:15:08:08
and their question, oh I love that, of who are they?


00:15:08:08 - 00:15:11:24
I love that,
I think you can tap into that,


00:15:11:24 - 00:15:15:19
if you ask people
what they were like when they were kids.


00:15:15:22 - 00:15:16:15
Yeah.


00:15:16:15 - 00:15:20:04
I think that that's
the core of who people are


00:15:20:07 - 00:15:24:05
when they, you know, before all of the
conditioning, before all of the,


00:15:24:19 - 00:15:28:13
you know, negative influences and the


00:15:28:16 - 00:15:32:11
the names that they've been called
when they were six years


00:15:32:11 - 00:15:36:11
old, seven years old,
I think that that's their purest self.


00:15:36:11 - 00:15:38:02
Would you agree with that?


00:15:38:02 - 00:15:39:01
Oh, I love that.


00:15:39:01 - 00:15:39:10
Yeah.


00:15:39:10 - 00:15:42:21
I mean, if you look at my life,
what I was doing when I was six years old


00:15:42:21 - 00:15:46:17
is I would lock myself into the bathroom
and read the newspaper aloud.


00:15:46:23 - 00:15:49:15
I wanted to be like a newscaster.
I wanted to perform.


00:15:49:15 - 00:15:50:15
I wanted to use my voice.


00:15:50:15 - 00:15:54:17
So it makes complete sense
that I love to speak and be a speaker


00:15:54:17 - 00:15:57:18
and and, you know, be in front of the room
and use that.


00:15:57:18 - 00:15:59:23
I'm so curious if that was true for you 


00:15:59:23 - 00:16:03:01
Supatra and Chantal? What were you doing
when you were six years old?


00:16:06:05 - 00:16:08:07
I was singing into a hairbrush


00:16:08:07 - 00:16:12:01
and I'm tone deaf,
so that didn't go so well.


00:16:12:05 - 00:16:14:14
But here's a microphone right here, so?


00:16:14:14 - 00:16:15:00
Yes.


00:16:15:00 - 00:16:16:11
So, you know?


00:16:16:11 - 00:16:18:16
And also,
were you dancing when you were singing?


00:16:18:24 - 00:16:19:24
Yeah, I was dancing a lot.


00:16:19:24 - 00:16:22:14
Yeah. So, yeah, I was a spinner.


00:16:22:14 - 00:16:23:15
I like to spin.


00:16:23:15 - 00:16:25:06
I would like spin in my backyard.


00:16:25:06 - 00:16:26:24
I just thought spinning was everything.


00:16:26:24 - 00:16:31:14
And I think I was also,
you know, just a natural performer.


00:16:31:14 - 00:16:36:06
I always wanted people watch me spin
and watch me play characters.


00:16:36:06 - 00:16:38:20
I always wanted to play Dorothy


00:16:38:20 - 00:16:42:12
and have all of my other friends
playing the other characters.


00:16:42:12 - 00:16:47:14
But I wanted to be Dorothy, so definitely
I was a I was a performer at heart too.


00:16:48:01 - 00:16:48:22
Yeah. Me too.


00:16:48:22 - 00:16:51:22
I my I remember
my parents would play pinochle


00:16:52:02 - 00:16:54:17
and they'd have big pinochle parties
and I would do


00:16:54:17 - 00:16:58:21
my Cher impressions
on the hearth on the fireplace.


00:16:58:21 - 00:16:59:21
(laughter)


00:16:59:21 - 00:17:01:00
Ohh-Ohh.


00:17:01:00 - 00:17:01:19
I was going to say,


00:17:01:19 - 00:17:03:14
do it for us now.


00:17:03:14 - 00:17:05:12
Ohh (laughter) yeah, terrible. Right?


00:17:06:09 - 00:17:07:02
Come on.


00:17:07:02 - 00:17:09:14
(laughter)


00:17:09:14 - 00:17:10:10
I love it.


00:17:10:10 - 00:17:12:15
Yeah.


00:17:12:15 - 00:17:16:14
Now, you had mentioned that improv
really influenced you


00:17:16:14 - 00:17:20:14
when you were working for the other companies
and doing speaking for other companies.


00:17:20:18 - 00:17:24:04
Does it influence you in your coaching
and your writing?


00:17:25:15 - 00:17:26:02
I think,


00:17:28:06 - 00:17:31:06
I think the ability to stay present


00:17:32:05 - 00:17:34:04
to what's right here in front of me


00:17:34:04 - 00:17:38:23
has been such a gift
of really taking that from improv.


00:17:39:10 - 00:17:43:06
I don't often go out into the future
and spin out about,


00:17:43:21 - 00:17:46:20
you know, what's going to happen,
or because with improv,


00:17:46:20 - 00:17:50:23
you just really build a muscle
of being present to what's right here.


00:17:50:23 - 00:17:53:23
The gift is always here
in the present moment.


00:17:54:01 - 00:17:57:01
If I go off into the future
and trying to plan something, 


00:17:57:05 - 00:18:00:04
but Chantal and Supatra,
you're still in the scene,


00:18:00:04 - 00:18:03:22
I can't possibly be
meet you where you are on this stage.


00:18:04:06 - 00:18:07:00
So, that is really huge.


00:18:07:00 - 00:18:08:23
And I think, I personally think that


00:18:09:24 - 00:18:12:22
change can be really difficult
for a lot of people.


00:18:12:22 - 00:18:13:18
Oh yeah.


00:18:13:18 - 00:18:16:18
And if I can bring
a dose of humor into it,


00:18:17:16 - 00:18:20:01
I think we can have a little more fun
with it.


00:18:20:01 - 00:18:20:21
Right?


00:18:20:21 - 00:18:24:10
People make, people can think about it
and really grasp on to


00:18:24:10 - 00:18:27:19
and really make things really even harder
and more difficult for them.


00:18:28:09 - 00:18:31:24
And sometimes a little levity
about how crazy this situation


00:18:31:24 - 00:18:33:07
is in the first place.


00:18:33:07 - 00:18:37:22
And, you know, the be able
to raise our emotional wavelength


00:18:38:07 - 00:18:41:19
out of the worry
or concern or frustrations.


00:18:41:19 - 00:18:41:24
Right?


00:18:41:24 - 00:18:45:13
Change is so impossible
from, from that energy.


00:18:46:00 - 00:18:49:20
But if I can bring you up into a more
joyful, hopeful,


00:18:50:17 - 00:18:54:13
more future forward positive,
then change is way more possible.


00:18:54:13 - 00:18:57:02
Thinking about where you want to go
is way more possible.


00:18:57:02 - 00:19:01:00
So yeah, I think the muscles
that I've learned using improv


00:19:01:00 - 00:19:04:00
are definitely present in the work
that I do today.


00:19:04:00 - 00:19:07:14
Yeah, they say I've, I've heard it,
been said


00:19:07:14 - 00:19:11:06
that joy is the highest spiritual state.


00:19:11:16 - 00:19:14:06
Now, can you look at somebody
like the Dalai Lama?


00:19:14:06 - 00:19:18:08
You you never see him do anything
but just giggle and laugh.


00:19:18:08 - 00:19:21:08
And he's always smiling.
He's always joyful.


00:19:21:11 - 00:19:23:15
And I think that there's
something to that.


00:19:23:15 - 00:19:27:10
And in raising your energy level
to experience


00:19:27:10 - 00:19:30:14
joy, you have to be in the present moment.


00:19:30:21 - 00:19:33:02
You can't be thinking about the future.


00:19:33:02 - 00:19:36:14
You have to be connected
with what's happening right now.


00:19:36:22 - 00:19:39:09
Yeah, definitely that. And I think that's,


00:19:40:12 - 00:19:41:05
you know, I think that's


00:19:41:05 - 00:19:46:03
really critical, right now
for all of us to be considering


00:19:46:03 - 00:19:50:19
because I think the world outside,
everything that's coming into us,


00:19:52:03 - 00:19:54:07
is, is


00:19:54:07 - 00:19:57:14
asking us to be in a different state
than the present or joy.


00:19:57:14 - 00:19:58:00
Right?


00:19:58:00 - 00:20:01:09
It's asking us to go into a fear state
or what if and, you know, go


00:20:01:09 - 00:20:04:15
into the future of all the terrible things
they're going to happen.


00:20:04:15 - 00:20:08:17
But, man, if we can stay present,
and I always believe


00:20:08:17 - 00:20:11:17
that we are going to find
what we look for.


00:20:12:09 - 00:20:16:00
And so, you know, the muscle
of also looking for those things


00:20:16:18 - 00:20:20:11
that bring us levity, that bring us joy,
that we can find beauty in.


00:20:20:11 - 00:20:23:19
That, too, is a muscle
of looking for what we want to be.


00:20:24:03 - 00:20:26:10
We want to be
seen. It's all available to us.


00:20:26:10 - 00:20:29:10
I think the world is a field of potential.


00:20:29:14 - 00:20:31:22
So to look for what you want to see.


00:20:32:04 - 00:20:32:19
Yes.


00:20:33:02 - 00:20:37:21
Is that what inspired you
to write The Rewrite?


00:20:38:08 - 00:20:41:08
What were your,
you know, main inspirations for this?


00:20:42:02 - 00:20:43:21
What was my main thing? Good question.


00:20:45:17 - 00:20:46:06
Actually, it


00:20:46:06 - 00:20:50:03
was marrying the past of what I had done
with storytelling.


00:20:50:03 - 00:20:54:04
Just that was kind of the key of like,
recognizing when I taught storytelling.


00:20:54:04 - 00:20:56:21
It was so interesting to me,


00:20:56:21 - 00:21:00:06
the stories that people chose to tell
about themselves in front of an audience.


00:21:00:06 - 00:21:03:06
So this was storytelling for performance,
right?


00:21:03:07 - 00:21:07:03
And, you know, for a lot of people,
their first story was always interesting.


00:21:07:03 - 00:21:10:21
The stories that they would consider
that would define them like this is the


00:21:10:24 - 00:21:12:05
maybe this is the only story


00:21:12:05 - 00:21:15:05
they're ever going to tell,
but they want to tell this one.


00:21:15:07 - 00:21:19:15
But then as I became a coach,
it just became so obvious to me


00:21:20:00 - 00:21:24:14
that we all tell stories about ourselves.
And some of us are really,


00:21:24:14 - 00:21:28:17
truly Stephen King level horror stories
about ourselves, right?


00:21:28:17 - 00:21:31:23
About what we think are possible
and who we think we are.


00:21:32:08 - 00:21:35:24
And, recognizing that even


00:21:35:24 - 00:21:39:10
for myself for a night, right? Is like,
oh, I'm in a story right now about this.


00:21:39:10 - 00:21:40:09
I actually have no truth.


00:21:40:09 - 00:21:45:15
I have no knowledge that this is true
about myself or this situation.


00:21:46:14 - 00:21:47:01
And I actually


00:21:47:01 - 00:21:50:01
don't feel good
when I tell myself this story.


00:21:50:02 - 00:21:54:22
And so as a coach,
being able to catch that with other people


00:21:54:22 - 00:21:59:23
and challenge that thought
and have them think about, oh,


00:22:00:04 - 00:22:03:13
oh yeah, for them, that is a story
that you were telling yourself.


00:22:04:21 - 00:22:08:21
If you had the opportunity, rewrite that
in any other way, how would you do that?


00:22:09:10 - 00:22:11:21
So for me


00:22:11:21 - 00:22:16:20
I was, I remember my mom after she got divorced,


00:22:16:20 - 00:22:21:00
she was kind of going through her own
personal development, and I was about 12.


00:22:21:10 - 00:22:24:07
And I found on her nightstand, the book


00:22:24:07 - 00:22:27:12
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman
Vincent Peale.


00:22:27:22 - 00:22:32:16
And I remember taking that book on the bus
and reading it on the bus.


00:22:32:16 - 00:22:36:21
And for me,
it was like, oh, god, it was just such a


00:22:38:05 - 00:22:41:08
it's just
just such a the kind of like I can


00:22:41:21 - 00:22:44:17
I can think about my thoughts, my
my thoughts.


00:22:44:17 - 00:22:46:21
I could actually do something
with my thoughts.


00:22:46:21 - 00:22:48:02
They don't have to, yes.


00:22:48:02 - 00:22:51:12
I just don't have to believe them
as they are, yes.


00:22:51:12 - 00:22:54:19
And I can change them
if they're not serving me.


00:22:55:03 - 00:22:58:11
So even at that age, at 12,
I kind of I remember that


00:22:58:11 - 00:23:01:17
being like a like a heat wave in my face.


00:23:01:17 - 00:23:05:02
It was like,
oh, there's a different way of being


00:23:05:11 - 00:23:08:02
than what I'm experiencing right now.


00:23:08:02 - 00:23:10:06
I want to be curious about that.


00:23:10:06 - 00:23:13:12
I always tell my clients
that you are not your thoughts,


00:23:13:23 - 00:23:17:20
even if you've been thinking
the same way forever and ever.


00:23:18:00 - 00:23:20:16
That doesn't define who you are.


00:23:20:16 - 00:23:25:22
I think that is a real powerful, eye
opening experience.


00:23:25:22 - 00:23:30:20
When you realize that you have the power
to choose your own thoughts,


00:23:30:20 - 00:23:33:20
and when you do, so much changes.


00:23:33:20 - 00:23:36:19
I mean, this is the basis of Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy.


00:23:36:19 - 00:23:40:01
This has been around, of course,
with Norman Vincent Peale.


00:23:40:09 - 00:23:44:00
This is, you know,
the tenant of so many people out there


00:23:44:00 - 00:23:49:14
who have actually changed their life
by changing the way that they think.


00:23:49:14 - 00:23:52:21
I love that
you're doing this with your clients.


00:23:53:01 - 00:23:56:08
Do you think that
they're really resonating with that?


00:23:56:14 - 00:23:59:14
Because I can imagine
that feels really empowering.


00:23:59:23 - 00:24:03:01
Yeah, especially when it's it's


00:24:03:01 - 00:24:07:06
the first time that they're being
confronted with the idea


00:24:08:08 - 00:24:12:19
that, that’s just a story. For them
to really kind of sit back and, you know,


00:24:12:19 - 00:24:17:14
kind of take that in
and think about how you want to feel.


00:24:18:04 - 00:24:18:24
Right?


00:24:18:24 - 00:24:21:24
And then, what's the story
that will support that?


00:24:22:21 - 00:24:25:03
You know, what's the thought
that will support that feeling?


00:24:25:03 - 00:24:28:06
Because, as you know, Chantal has so well


00:24:28:06 - 00:24:32:10
taught me over the years that the stories
aren't just affecting your head.


00:24:32:10 - 00:24:35:14
You know, we have to connect
this whole body situation,


00:24:36:00 - 00:24:39:12
and the body is talking to the head as
much as the head is talking to the body.


00:24:39:12 - 00:24:43:04
So helping them really connect
with, again,


00:24:43:12 - 00:24:46:12
how are they feeling their body
with those thoughts.


00:24:46:15 - 00:24:48:01
Right.


00:24:48:01 - 00:24:49:06
How do they want to feel?


00:24:50:08 - 00:24:52:13
And what are some thoughts
that could support


00:24:52:13 - 00:24:55:13
that as well as
what do you need to do with your body?


00:24:55:13 - 00:25:00:07
I really, Chantal is really opened
a lot of doors for me and thinking that,


00:25:01:21 - 00:25:02:19
you know,


00:25:02:19 - 00:25:06:06
my belief is we
can really do a lot of work in the head,


00:25:06:13 - 00:25:09:04
but the body has got to be involved
in this whole process


00:25:09:04 - 00:25:12:04
of changing your story as well,
because the stories


00:25:12:11 - 00:25:16:03
are probably more embedded in your body
than they are in your head.


00:25:17:00 - 00:25:18:23
That is so true.


00:25:18:23 - 00:25:23:00
Well, we are loving picking your brain.


00:25:23:11 - 00:25:24:16
We are out of time for,


00:25:24:24 - 00:25:26:14
And your body, love and picking both. Yeah.


00:25:26:14 - 00:25:27:06
(laughter)


00:25:27:06 - 00:25:28:15
Pick your brain, pick your body.


00:25:28:15 - 00:25:30:08
We're picking it all.


00:25:30:08 - 00:25:32:01
And we want to pick it more.


00:25:32:01 - 00:25:34:24
So we are going to come back for the second


00:25:34:24 - 00:25:38:14
half of this amazing interview
with Deanna Moffitt.


00:25:38:14 - 00:25:41:11
We are really looking forward
to the second part.


00:25:41:11 - 00:25:42:22
Thank you Deanna.


00:25:42:22 - 00:25:44:22
Thank you both.
Thank you Chantal. Thank you Suatra.


00:25:47:04 - 00:25:51:02
Thanks for tuning into the ANEW Body Insight podcast.


00:25:51:09 - 00:25:54:21
Please remember, the content shared on this podcast is for entertainment


00:25:54:21 - 00:25:57:23
purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.


00:25:58:08 - 00:25:59:10
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00:25:59:10 - 00:26:03:12
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00:26:03:17 - 00:26:05:17
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00:26:05:17 - 00:26:08:08
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