Connect With Your Soul With Rhonda Grant – Episode 44

This episode of the Resonate podcast is an inspiring conversation of transformation and enlightenment between Aideen Ni Riada and Rhonda Grant, a highly regarded leader, entrepreneur, and award-winning real estate professional. Rhonda shares her journey and insights into meditation and mindfulness.

Rhonda Grant is highly regarded as an active leader, entrepreneur and award-winning real estate professional. Abruptly, after a near-death experience fractured her everyday
routine, she was compelled to write her book, Magical Forces Within: Extraordinary Discoveries in an Ordinary Life. Her book inspires readers with real-life stories of transformation and enlightenment. It is an Amazon International #1 Best Seller in multiple categories and an Amazon National Best-Selling Audiobook. Rhonda also hosts a podcast called The Rhonda Grant Show, ‘Courting Your Soul.’

Connect with Rhonda

Facebook: @RhondaGrantAuthor

Instagram: @rhondagrantauthor

LinkedIn: @rhonda-grant-57586584 

Website: rhondagrantauthor.com 

00:02 Welcome to the Resonate podcast with Aideen. My name is Aideen and my guest today is Rhonda Grant. Hello Rhonda. Hello and thank you so much for having me on your show today, Aideen. I’m really excited to chat with you. I’ve been on your podcast. I’m going to be mentioning that in a minute. And I know you have so much wisdom and so many insights to share with our listeners today on using their voice and getting really good at communicating, which is what the voice is really for.

00:32 But let me tell people about you a little bit here. Rhonda Grant is an active leader, highly regarded as an entrepreneur and award-winning real estate professional. Abruptly, after a near-death experience fractured her everyday routine, she was compelled to write her book, Magical Forces Within, Extraordinary Discoveries in an Ordinary Life. Rhonda also hosts a podcast called The Rhonda Grant Show, Courting Your Soul. That’s a beautiful word, ‘courting your soul’.

01:01 And that’s a new title for your podcast. What made you come up with that? Courting your soul has been a part of me for a long time. And usually when I come up with phrases like this, I sit with them for a long time, but it was always going to be the name of my second book. And I’m like a kid in the candy store.

01:29 And so what I did is I decided to change my podcast because I have been speaking recently and the name of my speech is called courting your soul and people are really finding it resonating with them. And I thought time to reveal. And so that’s what I have done. I it’s beautiful. It’s just, it just makes me feel like there’s so much love in that. Isn’t there? Well, yes. When we think of courting, we think of love.

01:59 And, and that’s why I love the, the name of it. Yeah. Because it’s a tender thing, the soul, it needs that. It needs a loving hand. Um, I am so happy to speak to you, uh, about voice because I know that you obviously have, were, have been very successful in business. Um, and we’re a good communicator in many ways, but what happened when you…

02:27 had your near-death experience, did that affect your voice or how you communicated? Did it change things?

02:37 It certainly changed how I heard myself. And what I did is when, after my near death experience, I was guided to write every single day, and I would get up and I would write. And so I ended up realizing at one point that I was writing a book. And it reduced me to tears because I did not…

03:06 I didn’t set out to write a book. It’s just the more I wrote and the more I listened to my soul and obeyed my soul’s journey, is I ended up with a book. And when I finished the book, I thought that I should have an audio of it, because I listen to audio books all of the time. And I started to think about who I would get to record my audio book.

03:32 And the more people I asked, they said, why do you not record it? You have a beautiful voice. And so that’s what I did is I went into the studio and I recorded my audio book. And then after I released my book and my audio, I was asked to start a podcast. And so from there, I went to More Speaking, which was a podcast.

04:00 That’s phenomenal. And in your everyday speaking experience, was there a change in your voice there as well?

04:09 Yes, because in my near-death experience, I actually left my body. And I was already an enlightened being, but that enlightened me even further. And I found that I was, I spent time listening and resonating and not just being a person who just spoke, but rather a person who spoke

04:40 from the heart or from what the soul was guiding me to say. And so I was more contemplative before I spoke. And I think that was the biggest change is that I was able to sit and listen for a long time to people. And when I did speak, I usually had something quite enlightening to say to those people that I was listening to. Yeah. And one of the things I’ve loved about your podcast is you

05:09 bring out the journey people have been on in order to connect with their own soul. And they’re very profound podcast episodes. I have to say I’ve really enjoyed the ones I’ve listened to and I really enjoyed listening to your audiobook as well. There’s a pace, I think, as well when someone is coming from their heart or their soul. It’s a little bit more.

05:37 measured or there’s a little more space as well. I even know myself, I have had the traits of maybe being a blurter, interrupting people, getting a little overexcited about things, wanting to be heard because of maybe a lack of being heard. I was the oldest of five siblings and there was always a younger sibling that needed to be heard.

06:05 more urgently than me. And I always had something to say, but those that journey for me has helped me to understand what I needed to heal. And as I’ve been healing those things in my life, my voice and my way of speaking and my way of communicating has evolved, which has been a beautiful journey. Well, and the key is listening. I find.

06:35 With my podcast, I ask questions, I listen to my guest. And then from listening to my guest, I’m able to find a journey that we intimately can go on, that they’ve never went on with another, they’ve never went on that journey with another podcaster. And so that our journey becomes special and that we’re able to share parts of ourselves that is a true essence of who we really are.

07:05 and the reason that we’ve come here. And if every single one of us changes ourselves in that way by listening more than we speak, and when we speak, we have clarity in what we also want to ask from that person is that we can change the world instead of changing all, if the people all around you, if you change yourself remarkably.

07:32 all the people around you will change. That’s a beautiful thing to imagine can be possible. Is that what you experienced following your, you know, your near death experience? Did your world change a lot after that? It changed significantly at first, and then it changed little by little after that. But…

07:58 There is, we all have an energy to the essence of who we are and we don’t really realize the power that our energy has. And I find that when I show up, doesn’t matter if I’m in a boardroom, if I am talking with a couple, with selling their home, when I show up in my energy, it comes from a place of calmness, of lovingness.

08:28 and connection and the genuine interest in my client or in the person who’s working for me when it’s my other business, the whole person’s demeanor changes. And I’ve seen people transform when I come into the area that I’m going into whether it’s a conference room or a person’s home, is that

08:56 If they have any feelings of self-doubt, of fear, of not being comfortable with asking the questions that they really want to have answers to, when I’m in their energy, the longer I’m in their energy, the calmer they become, and the more apt they are to ask the questions that they need to so that when I leave they feel comfortable.

09:25 in moving forward or not moving forward or making a different decision. And that has been the most fundamental change that I have found when I’m working in business. Because my business and what I do is not about me, it’s about the people that I serve. And when I serve people, I need to be very careful with my energy.

09:52 and keeping my energy intact, my energy soft, my energy loving, so that the people that I’m serving may feel trusting, be trust, trust me in the environment that we’re in and be able to move forward with decisions that they’re confident with. Yeah, that’s beautiful. It’s really beautiful. When we think of, you know, connecting with others in that way,

10:23 That calmness that you bring forth, does that make you more connected to your higher self, would you say, to your inner voice, your guides? Do you feel some things are supporting you through that? All of that, Aideen, and I thank you for asking that question. I find that the more I reside in my heart,

10:49 the more I’m in touch with the true essence of who I am as my soul and my soul’s journey. And so when I come from a place of that, people seem to respond to me and they may not know why they’re responding to me the way they are, but they’re responding to the essence of who I am. And maybe

11:15 my soul is communicating with their soul and the softness continues. Yeah.

11:28 Beautiful. You can feel that energy between us as well. Yes.

11:38 How would you suggest someone find that peace and calmness within themselves? Well, I think that, you know, the soul’s journey is vast. And, you know, we have a lot of bumps and bruises along the way. And I think that, you know, we spend a lot of time blaming others for our situations or our…

12:04 you know, some of the things that we do in life. And we always think it’s somebody else’s fault. And I think that if we just surrender and just take a look at ourselves and the roles that we play, I think that we’ll find that we can just surrender to certain situations and let them go instead of piling up all these…

12:31 she should have, he should have, and all those things. And we just surrender that this is our journey, these are the people that are in our journey, and that we would live a more loving and sacred life if we stop blaming others, surrender to our own journey, and just focus on ourselves and loving others. Yeah.

13:00 And there’s a lot to be said to stop blaming yourself also, because we do do that too. We blame ourselves. I think we’re hardest on ourselves. We and you know, we can frighten ourselves because, you know, I’ve challenged myself in ways, as you know, taking on projects that I wasn’t ready for. And and then.

13:28 it’s sort of we want to do a self-sabotaging, right? And instead of doing that, if we have taken on something that is too big for us, but we still want to accomplish it, is to reach out to someone who is in that field, and for instance, yourself as a voice coach, and have them help us reach our goals so that we can feel good about ourselves, about…

13:58 the choices we have made and having others help us reach our journey. Because it’s only in having others help us with our journey that we’re able to accomplish those bigger things in life. There’s something very significant here because I feel that we’re talking about, you know, voice and, you know, self-expression.

14:27 If we can’t accept the circumstances of our life, and we’re arguing in our own minds all the time, we may not see what we want to accomplish. We may not see who it is that’s right on our doorstep that would help us accomplish that. Or we may see who might help, but not allow ourselves to ask for that support. Yes.

14:55 Mm-hmm.

14:58 And there is a tragedy in that because I feel that each person is so special and so unique and so perfectly placed within our own community, our own family to have a positive effect on our lives and on the world around us. So.

15:19 We can’t. It’s almost I like this to the stepping stones, you know, when you don’t trust the step you’re on and you’re hopping from one foot to the other going, I don’t want to be on this stepping stone. I don’t want to be here. It’s very you can’t take a confident next step. So that surrendering is a lot of acceptance. And sometimes people are in very difficult situations. What would you speak to say to that? If you’re in a very difficult situation, how would you suggest someone try to?

15:48 surrender to it.

15:52 When I speak about surrender, I don’t mean giving up or giving in to a situation. I, when I speak about surrender, I speak about you yourself surrendering to your soul’s journey. And with that, it gives you the confidence to make decisions based on the situation that’s in front of you. So it gives you the confidence.

16:22 to make a change in your life, a change in friendship. And sometimes you don’t even have to make a change in friendship because I find that the more you evolve your human-ness, people who don’t, can’t, and won’t talk about those things because they feel safe where they are, those people fall away and then new people come up and take their place.

16:51 to help you on your journey. Messengers will show up to help you on your journey. So I think that in a bad situation, the best thing is surrender that you’re not going to accept this situation that’s in front of you, and that you’re going to make decisions based on taking different roads. Almost like there’s a lesson or I’m going to evolve through.

17:19 this situation. It’s part of my soul’s journey implies that there’s a lesson or something, right? There’s a lesson. And I think that a lot of people, not a lot of people, but there are some people who

17:33 start their morning in a rush, in a panic, and then they are pushy and chubby, and unfortunately sometimes they’re in a vehicle. And so they’re kind of reckless in their vehicle and those types of things. And people who are calmer and are in the true essence of themselves and are concerned about all people,

18:02 that they meet during the day would not be rushing and cutting people off. And I mean, a lot of people have road rage that is very, very dangerous. And I’ve seen some, and it’s very, very scary to the person who is driving along, not realizing that this is going to happen because it can happen suddenly that a person becomes very, very angry and they want to take their anger out and they happen to be driving.

18:31 you know, a vehicle that’s a ton or half a ton. And I think that, you know, it’s hard for people at that level of being angry to think about loving other people and caring about other people. So starting the day in a calmer way and being more mindful can be a good starting point.

19:01 Well, it’s a very good starting point. And if a person could meditate in the morning, if a person could journal in the morning, and one of the biggest things that I enjoy is the gratitude journal. And I write every morning in the gratitude journal. Sometimes I’ll write a couple of pages, sometimes I’ll write three lines. But if I am grateful for things in my life,

19:29 What you think about, you bring about. And a great author has said those words. And it is true because your life changes once you start thinking about good things. And when you see people in the world at the grocery store, and if you see they’re having a hard day, if you just take a moment and say to them and speak to them and say,

19:55 it doesn’t seem like you’re having a very good day, they will blurt out what is wrong. And all a person needs to do is listen, show them loving kindness. And one of the things that I do is I bless that person. And I think it’s sometimes it’s the first time they’ve been blessed. And I think that there are people there that just need others like us.

20:23 like you who’s listening to see them, see them in their role, see if you think, see, feel if you think that they are happy or unhappy and just give them some loving kindness because you don’t know if they have a family of four at home that they’re going home to and if you’re kind to them they may go home that night and be very very kind to their children.

20:51 We have no idea how far outreaching our kindness and lovingness will be to people.

21:00 It’s beautiful. I think it’s so important to recognize that we’re so interconnected. And yeah, we’re so interconnected. And when our voice is calm and loving and kind, instead of high pitched, or gruff, I people love to hear that type of voice. And you almost feel that they want to lean in to you. Because they

21:29 They want to hear what you have to say. It’s gorgeous. Well, I have to say I needed to learn that lesson. My husband and I, if we were out for a meal and I got a cup of tea, I’m going to just use the example that it came from a cup of tea, I got a cup of tea and the water was cold or the water looked like it had like iron in it or it just, it was very unappealing, like I wouldn’t want it at all.

21:57 my voice was tended to express that frustration and that I felt let down to the waitress. And Mike said to me a few times, Aideen, that waitress was really shocked that you spoke that way. Because up till then, of course, I was like very sweet and very nice and kind, but it somehow triggered me. And so he had to say it to me at least twice.

22:26 And then I was like, okay, here, now I’m going to do something about this. So this is a little strategy that maybe some of the listeners might need. Yes, of course they do. I needed it. I made a prayer. So I like to make a kind of a prayer and intention and say it three times. So basically the prayer was dear God, help my voice to always have kindness in it. Beautiful.

22:50 even when I’m frustrated, even when the service has been shoddy, even when I’m angry that something didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, in every circumstance, help me to express my needs and make my needs heard, but in the most beautiful, loving, kind way. And then I would say, in the name of Jesus Christ, or you can say in the name of the most divine light and love, and Amen.

23:19 And I would say that three times. But the shocking thing was, and this is not the first time that I’ve had this experience, the next time I was out for a meal and something like this happened, my reaction was completely different. And in fact, I did not even become irritated. Yes. I wasn’t, I mean, I saw the thing. I was like, in the past, that would have really pushed my buttons, but the button didn’t get pushed. So it was so much easier not to have a…

23:49 anything kind of come from that because it came to the source of my irritation. It wasn’t just, you know, I felt irritated, but I managed to control my voice. I just didn’t feel as irritated. So anybody who needs help with this, no, you’re not alone. Yes. And I think most of us have, you could be very tired. I know that I’ve had this experience with my husband where I’ve been exceptionally tired or felt very ill.

24:18 And that’s when I would say something in a very unkind or unloving way. And I’ve had to, I think in the past as a child, it was kind of the norm that you kind of, you know, someone would be irritated, so there’d be a bit of backtalk or, you know, and we kind of accepted that at certain stages of our lives. But now I don’t accept it. Mm hmm. Well, and when I have a suggestion, which I just did last night,

24:48 because I was out to dinner with my sister, and I was disappointed with my food, and I ate as much as I could and then decided I didn’t want anymore. And when the waitress arrived, yeah, I just described how disappointed I was with the presentation and the taste, and my expectations obviously were higher, and I just said that…

25:16 perhaps they would let the kitchen know that a person would appreciate a better presentation. So I just had a suggestion instead of being angry because it had nothing to do with her and it had nothing to do with her service. It only had to do with what I was served. And it’s not, I mean, I can’t remember another time that I was disappointed with my food. And so…

25:44 They’ll take that back and they’ll do something with it or not, but I know I won’t order that, you know, that food. But I could have been angry and called her over and said, take this back to the kitchen. I’m going to change what I’m going to eat. And I could have made my sister wait for me, like, you know what I mean? Then my sister would have said, I’ll wait for you. I won’t go ahead and eat and all of that stuff. It could have just been a really silly encounter and it wasn’t worth it. To me, it’s not worth it.

26:13 What’s worse it is just saying calmly how you feel about something and then have them go back and talk to the kitchen. And the kitchen’s either going to take heat or not. I mean, that’s up to them. It’s their business, it’s not my business. My business is to come and to hopefully get what I imagine I’m going to get which is worth the money that I’m paying for it.

26:41 And so I think we get that crossed when we are out in public, is we blame the person that’s in front of us instead of realizing there’s a whole crew behind them. There’s a whole army behind them that has, you know, has brought this food to your table, right? It’s the people who develop the menu and it goes on and on and on. But we always want to deal with the person that’s right in front of us and then blame them.

27:08 And so I really like what you did is that you prepared yourself, you prepared your soul, that you had changed, you prepared your brain to listen to your soul, that you had changed, because I find that the most trouble I get into is listening to my brain. When my brain has suggestions, I just want to check and make sure my heart’s okay with that. You know, because we can be really headstrong and I have been over the years and…

27:38 I’ve changed remarkably since my near death experience because I might not be here today. Yeah, so that gives you perspective, right? It gives you a big perspective, yes. Yeah. There’s so much more that we could talk about. Is there anything that you would like to say to our listeners before we start winding things up a little here?

28:07 I would say that if you’re listening to this podcast and you like what you hear and you wonder how you can begin on this journey that both Aideen and I are on, is that you…

28:26 If you just sit where you are and you breathe into your heart and you feel the love that you have in your heart, and if you sit there long enough, you’re going to feel your heart expand because it’s going to love you back because you are breathing and loving it. And any time that you get into

28:51 any situation and there’s many in a day if you go out of your house you are coming across people who are unhappy and if you run into those people instead of responding if you could just take a moment and breathe into your heart and remember the love that resides there and then you speak from there and keep your brain out of it you’re going to feel like you’re walking

29:20 a magical life because things around you will change because your energy level changes, which is your spirit. And people’s spirit and soul responds to your spirit and soul as long as you’re connected there. Absolutely beautiful. And of course, I’d highly recommend the listeners to check out your book.

29:46 And do you have any timeline in mind for your second book, Courting Your Soul? I have a few chapters written that I am now doing a little bit of editing with. I expect, well, the writing process is a lot quicker than the actual publishing process. So as far as I’m concerned, I hope to be finished my book by spring and then it’ll be published after that.

30:16 So maybe 2024, but I think we’re going to see the dawn of 2025 before it’ll be ready. Well, we can’t wait for that. And thank you so much for joining us today. I’d like to thank Rhonda Grant, my guest, and thank everyone listening. Spread the good word and be kind. And we will meet again here on the Resonate podcast again soon. Thank you. Bye bye.