Self Transformation for Community and Collaboration with Christina Pratt

We need to learn how to be able to disagree and still collaborate to find alignment where there doesn't appear to be harmony. And to actually recognize we as individuals have fragmented in a lot of ways to cope. And part of what I really focus on with people is, is how to identify what that fragmentation is and to call yourself back, which begins to be this whole sort of internal collaboration of you with the parts of yourself you disowned to get to where you are today. And how do we get everybody back in the in the center?

Hey, it's Chuck here, and I'm so glad that you're listening to this episode. And I just want to take this quick moment right now to let you know about our free collaborators toolkit. And this episode is all about partnership and collaboration. And our guests share many resources, tools, and things that you can use to make collaboration and partnership easier in your business. So if you're looking for better ways to grow, and scale your business, through collaborations, and strategic partnerships, this free collaborators toolkit is going to contain the best resources from our workshops, as well as contributions from our guests. And these tools could be the missing link that you've been looking for. And they're going to help you to solve everyday business challenges, and access, highly effective ideas that can help and grow your business exponentially. I know they've helped me and I know they're going to help you as well. And the best part about these tools is that they're completely free. And our gift to you for being a valued member of our community, and a subscriber to the show. So you can get access to all of the resources contained inside the collaborators toolkit today by visiting the website at www.CollaboratorsUnite.com/toolkit. That address again is www.collaboratorsunite.com/toolkit. Go ahead and register today get access to all the resources, and I'm gonna see you on the inside. Now. Here's the episode.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the show. This is the Creative Collaboration Show Chuck Anderson here. And I've got another amazing guest to share with you today. Today, I'm honored to be joined by Christina Pratt. And Christina is the host of the podcast, Why Shamanism Now, and she's got some amazing stories, to share about that some collaboration stories, and just some great tips and advice. And that's going to help you on your mission to build your business and get get your message out there and make a bigger impact that you're trying to make out in the world. So we're so grateful to have Christina here, Christina, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. I'm really happy to be here.

Excellent. Well, I'm thrilled to have you here. And so I introduced you as the host of the podcast. And I know you do so much more than that. And I know your story is amazing. And I'm not even going to try to do it justice, I'm going to let you introduce yourself. So. So let's start with your story. Who are you? And what is your mission? And what do you do, and we will build upon that.

So many years ago, in a land far, far away. Now, about 30 years ago, I was confronted by the possibility that what I had learned to do, going to school and going to college and getting my degrees and getting into medical school was not actually the purpose of life. That that I was told by a teacher that the purpose of my life was the evolution of my soul. And in that the expression of my unique genius in this life. And I thought, okay, i Nobody told me that I'm not doing that. So that is the purpose of life. I need a massive course correct? Because I'm about to go to medical school and go way into debt. And that is like not the development of my soul. And so 30 years later, here I am. So basically, what happened is I ended up asking the universe, why am I here? Like for real? Like diligently for a year? I committed my entire life to that question, because I thought I need this answer before I go to medical school, because I just deferred for one year. I got a year to solve this. And so I realized that she was right. We are here for the development of our soul and express our souls purpose. And so out of that came a spontaneous initiatory experience in many happened, which is a whole nother podcast, which brought me to why am I here, which is the mending of people's souls. Okay, so how do I do that. So I started learning skills and developing what has become last mass center, which is a healing practice that is all about the tending of your soul in this lifetime, so that you do what you've come here to do magnificently. And then, because people that get healed don't exactly know how to be in relationship, because most of our relationship skills are based on our family of origin, which for most of us, is fairly dysfunctional. So then we got life skills. And then the bigger ticket item over here is there's a whole four year set of teachings that orient us in the world with a very different sense of how to move through the world, in relationship in collaboration with the physical world, our emotional world, our mental world, and the spirit world. And not just the human aspect of that, but also our physical environment. And then all of the energies that are part of how all that connects together. And I don't personally see that as woowoo, since I went to college, and I studied hard science, I really see that in the way of on the edge physics, mathematics, people in the way they're talking to us about how it is all connected, it is all energy. So that's how I see it. Yeah,

I think you almost have to be pretending that we're not all connected to think that we're not all connected. And, or maybe that's just my beliefs, because I learned a long time ago that we most definitely are. And I believe it. And I actually don't consider it to be woowoo as all but at all. But even some people might categorize it as that. But uh, you know, it's really the ultimate collaboration, isn't it? Because I mean, so many times when we talk about collaborations or partnerships we're talking to, we're talking about one human to another human, you know, collaborating with one another or partnering with one another. And that's great. That's, that's the here and now. But there's so much more than that. There's such a bigger picture of Spirit guidance, whatever that we are collaborating with, in real time, all the time.

So I would just have a quick little story about that. So I was succeeding the way other people were teaching their things, you know, I was leading retreats and moving people through these four years. And I was doing this for about 18 years. And I had a following. And this is back before email, right? It was a while ago, but it was so easy to be connected. Anyway, the point is, bunch of people doing it, I was actually succeeding relatively well, for an individual person doing this. And I was totally tapped out. I had become an event planner, instead of this, you know, the, the actual value of my business was my being a teacher in these retreats. And I, you know, I'd show up exhausted from all the event planning, I thought this isn't going to work. This is not sustainable. Because I wasn't collaborating. In the business. I was collaborating in the teachings and in the work, but I wasn't collaborating in the business. And so I asked, How do I fix this? What is the solution to this clear sustainability problem? Right? The answer was community, which is profoundly unhelpful. was like what? And over the years, we tried different versions of interpreting that answer. But what we finally came to understand is that the teachings needed to be supported in the world by a community in a way that's consistent with the teachings, which now that they are I understand that that made sense. But the challenge of that was, is it meant I now went from being able to just do my own thing to having to collaborate with that community. It's a huge challenge. And even though everyone in that community was going through the same set of essentially spiritual life skill, teachings, believing the same things committed to the same purpose, we could not get along. And so I think about these indigenous cultures that lived in small communities, and were able to deal with conflict, in a way we aren't prepared to do anymore. We are very, we have a very narrow idea of individuality and the value of our individuality in the world. And so I asked, What do we do with this? They said, well, y'all are arrogant and ignorant about this. And I'm like, oh, okay, well, that makes a lot of sense. Now I understand. So into that you need to dial down that arrogance that you think you know what you're doing because you don't in collaboration and community so dial back Be humble beginner's mind go back to the beginning, ask questions. And there's there's a certain kind of ignorance which is okay, you don't know anymore. So you need to learn and that's when we realized that centering learning for every individual and creating an environment in which everybody is valuing learning, so even all of our most fabulous, you know, scorched earth mistakes could be learning. And then we would hopefully not do that, again, it just became part of the heart of that collaboration as community is how do we create a space where everyone is welcome to be in their learning process. And so that was the first thing we realized is we had to figure out how to be resilient and hardy people who could do that, which meant using the skills that were in the teaching, just kept being circular. But it's a big thing for us all to realize, as people that want to collaborate and understand we are all connected, we have largely lost those skills at this time. And so we need to learn how to be able to disagree, and still collaborate to find alignment where there doesn't appear to be harmony, and to actually recognize we as individuals have fragmented in a lot of ways to cope. And part of what I really focus on with people as is how to identify what that fragmentation is, and to call yourself back, which begins to be this whole sort of internal collaboration of you with the parts of yourself you disowned to get to where you are today? And how do we get everybody back in the in the center.

I love what you just said now about, you know, the learning to disagree. And, you know, it seems like so many people will cancel you or unfriend you or whatever, if you don't think the way they do. And, you know, I have an engineering background. And I remember very early in my career, we used to sit around as a group of engineers, and we would have a problem. And we would discuss ideas, and we would brainstorm. And we didn't call each other stupid, because somebody's idea was different. We're like, Huh, that's interesting, what could that work? How could we take the best of your idea, and the best of your idea, and combine those together for the ultimate solution? And I loved that. And I think that's really what I think about when I'm collaborating with people, I'm like, How do I take the best of what you're saying, and the best of what I'm saying, and let's, let's do something really cool. Together with that, instead of, well, you're stupid, because you don't, you don't agree with me, you don't, you're we obviously don't think the same way. So click, I don't want to hear from you anymore. Right. And it's, it's, it's sad, I totally agree with you, we need to get back to a point where we can see the disagreement for what it is, I think it's an opportunity to learn. And you know, to come together in a new way.

And talk we learned this exact same thing you and your engineer guys did right is, is that if we don't if we want to put our effort into creating something truly new, versus a new version of the same old thing, or there's a lot of I mean, how many out you out there, right, have done all this work to put your new whatever out in the world and realize once it was moving, it's actually just a new version of all those old patterns you were trying to get away from, like, we do this a lot. And if we actually collaborate in a way that I know, the essence of my piece of what I think is part of what we need to do, and you know, your essence, and there's another person who knows their essence. And we try to find this thing none of us understands yet, where all of the essences are actually included Together, we create something none of us can imagine. But it's actually going to allow us if we commit to now manifesting that, that will be something that is new, truly new. And we are not just repeating a new version of the same old patterns, because these old patterns are really highly problematic for our world right now. We have to learn to not just create new versions of it, you know, not in superficial versions. Yeah.

And what if just what if we were each the missing piece of each other's puzzle? Right? We're all on a mission, we're all trying to achieve something, we're all doing something. What if you are the missing piece I've been looking for or vice versa, or both are met and maybe even one step further. We were meant to do that together and to create this piece that wouldn't exist otherwise,

I actually feel that the help that I receive, right is saying that again and again and again and pushing me out of my happy little introverted life into those collaborations because I don't have at all that we all have a piece of this puzzle, really, of how do we put it all together in a different way so that we we humans can live in the world. With all the other living things in a way that everyone is in a sustainable way of living together again, and I feel like we fall down in that ability to do our part in that. What is what is that magic that I bring that allows chuck to do Chuck, right? And what is the magic you bring that allows Christina to do Christina think that we fall down in that in not moving forward all the time, and not actually looking back and saying, Okay, how am I getting in my own way and why? Because, from our perspective, we fragment in these four different ways. And that we individually need to fix that to be that thing everybody else is waiting for. And we in some sense, can't be that thing, until we have all of ourself coalesced into a hole. And we fragment by kind of marginalizing ourselves, the next level of stress in life that we adapt to, is what would have been called now dissociated selves are kind of out here watching looking back, some stay there, some sort of seem to move back and forth. But that's kind of like a weird, like a demilitarized zone of visit me or not me. But these are all within my sphere of influence. The third way that we fragment that is really problematic is when our parts of ourselves are so afraid, they're gonna die one way or another, that they exit the sphere of influence, and then they move outside of time, because there's parts of our brain that don't log time, like our cortex likes time, but the rest of our brain could care less, right? So it goes outside of time, and we lose it entirely. That creates a big hole in who we are, and what we think we can bring what we perceive we can bring. And so all of that is repairable if we can understand it, but each with a different kind of tool or skill. And then the fourth way, which everybody knows about, but nobody really knows how to fix is by just shoving things in the shadow, which is like this closet back here, that you throw all that stuff in and then slam the door closed. Try not to go into because everything's gonna fall back out against like, oh, I don't want to go in there. So shadow is perceived as a psychological fragmentation and dealt with with very hard arduous painful processes through psychology, which don't actually usually effectively complete the process. But when we look at it just as how we fragment and how we repair the soul in this context of collaboration, and what happens when we as a group, as a community are doing something together, that changes what each individual is creating, when we're committing our resources as individuals to a collective effort, it changes what that effort can do. And what I found is that this sort of shadow wound that we carry is really a collective wound. I shoved things in the shadow because y'all out there told me that wasn't a good part of myself. All right, and you did too, because your people in your world said, No, Chuck, you can't be that guy. That's wrong, right. And so we need to create this collective space for us to tiptoe around a guy who can come out now bring that aspect of ourselves back. And that when we do that, in this way that really celebrates the collaboration of humans, but also humans and their non ordinary help, whether that's your dreams, or you're helping spirits if you have them, that that relationship is really important guidance, and we all we all have it and we just need to use it. It's a collaboration that we are meant to be engaged in that collaboration between myself and the non embodied help that I have in this life. And in that, in that collaboration, right, I can then realign with my own fragmented Selten, particularly with our shadow selves, because man, they are sneaky. And they give up, they really mess up our brains. Right, really, really slippery. And we just when we think we've got it resolved there, they're back again. And so doing this collectively doing it as a collaboration, doing it as a collaboration with spirit and doing it through artistic expression. So we're moving out of the brain into the part of ourselves that just shouts out, you know, poetry, our movement, sound, you know, just that messiness of wonderful human expression. It allows another self out into that whole inner conversation that Allah

creates a kind of unity internally that we don't get when we're just trying to get there through our mind and talking about it and exercises in the mental realm. The mind is an awesome tool, but it just can't do everything. And certain things really irritated like crazy logic and love and, you know, other people.

If only we weren't so emotional about everything right? And all of the logic could just come to the forefront. And and we would just be perfect at everything that we do. But then yeah, like you said, those things come into play, and it brings the shadow part of us out.

Right, and the what's important back to the whole, that's how I got on this idea, because you're talking about what if were that thing, you know, that that someone else needs to do their thing is what I feel is in the shadow from this work that I've been doing for 30 years with people is the thing they need that they keep tripping over, you know, they keep manifesting then falling into that same Pavle, over and over and over again, is actually in the shadow. And it can be resolved in a way that that energy that went into the shadow gets transformed into the ally, that it was original form, and then it starts supporting, it's an ally to that effort you're doing in the world. And so that's, that's what made me think about that is we have our own inner selves, that are part of that collaboration, to be able to do what we're supposed to do, which then allows me to do what I'm supposed to do for you and the listeners I in that we, it's all a big collaboration, because like you said, we're all connected. I mean, we cannot be, yeah,

it has to be that way. I'm, I'm, I've been convinced of that for a long time. And, and that works for me and I when I when I look at how, how we're connected, and also feeling what someone else feels, and you know, looking at it from their perspective, I have found to be well, educational at times, also very empowering at times. And so, so look, you know, where we've only scratched the surface, I think of this whole topic, I think we could probably spend days unpacking all of this. And I know, you know, it's been your life's work. So a lifetime, perhaps. So So and I know some of our people are going to want to connect with you. And we're going to make sure that we make that happen here in just a moment. Christina, one of the things that we always ask of our guests is a recommendation. So there's a self help component to what we do. And if there was one book that you could recommend, that is a must read, because it will change your life, it will change your business, it'll change your mission, or whatever it is, help you to collaborate more whatever it is, what is that book? What What should everybody read?

Okay, so the one book that did that, for me right now, like, in the last year, is a book called sand talk by Tyson young comporta. He's Australian man. And the beauty of the book, which is very mind expanding in the most positive way, and it would help anybody realize, okay, I'm, I'm doing my thing, but it's got a, it's got to redirect in this way or that way. And then for you, Chuck, the he, Tyson talks a lot about how the fundamental unit of existence is that relationship, one to one. And then the next thing is networks of relationships. And then the next thing is networks of networks. And that, that everything is moves through that, if it is sustainable, if it is that which we're meant to be doing here, and pretty much everything else we're doing is a bad idea. Anyway, to add to the fun of this, of Tyson's work is he also has a podcast called other others. And in this podcast, he is having really interesting conversations with other people all over the world that are speaking the same. Same kind of thoughts about how do we collaborate with each other, with old ideas, with new ideas, with the technology, with all these things to figure out? How is there going to be a viable planet for people two generations from now? How do we do that? And let's do it. Let's start doing it together. It's really interesting people in tech fields and I don't know, tracking martial arts, I mean, all of these different masters in their field talking about where do all of these truths cross? How do we grab those truths and start living them? So personally, I've got obviously it's got me really excited right now.

Well, it's got me excited right now too, because just the power of the question that is being asked. And if we all asked that question, and we listen to the answers that come when we asked that question, and we shared that with one another. It would be amazing to see what could be created rather than some of the the, the nuts so productive things that we're seeing going on right now so, so I love that it's going on my must read list. I'm going to read that really, really soon. And I'm going to put a link to it below this video and in the podcast episode show notes so that you can go ahead and check that out. Christina, thank you so much for that recommendation, and everything that you've shared here today, if anyone wants to learn more about what you're doing, and get in touch with you, where's the best place to do

that? Okay, to get in touch and learn about courses and activities is last mask center.org. That's all all the different elements are there. If you just think I don't know, let me listen to what she has to say the I'm not sure about her yet, then you can go to why shamanism now.com There is 500 hours of podcasts for you to pick and choose and access whatever you want to listen to me talking about or interviewing guests about, which is all about the practical application of shamanic skills in our contemporary lives. So it's all very much about how do we do now in a way that is connected to our ancestors and to the descendants, and to all the extra help that we have around us in every moment.

Fantastic. So we're going to make sure that that's all linked in here. And that that information was all there. So. So Christina, thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun. I could talk about this subject all day long. But who's gonna listen to hours and hours and hours and hours and hours, commutes only this long. So hopefully, we've given you a taste of what's possible. There's so much more to unpack here. So Christina, before we sign off, if you were to leave our listeners with just one piece of advice, as parting words, what would you say?

Your greatest resource of love and connection is in the helping spirits you have not yet learned how to talk to so learn now. We need them.

Fantastic. Well said. And please, please, please do that. So Christina, thank you so much. Do check out Christina and get in touch with Christina, her link is beneath this video or in the podcast episode shownotes. And, you know, check out what she what you have so much to learn from her. I mean, it's been amazing here. So so go ahead and do that. And then make sure you join us for the next episode. We'll have another amazing guest here real soon. And until then go out there and be awesome.