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Episode 7- When Life Clicks Into Place
13 Plays18 days ago
Alignment is not a destination, it is a felt sense. In this episode, Leslie and Alex explore what alignment actually looks like in real life, beyond the buzzword. They talk about the moments when things stop forcing and start flowing, the internal signals that tell you something is right, and the courage it takes to listen when your life begins asking for change. This conversation brings together intuition, lived experience, and practical awareness to help you recognize alignment not as perfection, but as honesty. It is an invitation to notice where your life is already in sync, and where it may be asking you to realign.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Don't Trip On Your Cape'
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Don't Trip On Your Cape, the podcast where Leslie, the founder Align Living and Leadership, and her amazing co-host Alex from Much Love dive into the very things that weigh us down, only to reveal those burdens are actually our greatest strengths.
00:00:12
Speaker
Together, they help listeners recognize that what feels heavy is often just your own unique superpower in disguise. So grab your cape, and let's explore how to wear without stumbling.
What is Alignment?
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to this episode of Don't Trip On Your Cape. I'm Alex. And I'm Leslie. And I'm Welcome to this episode on alignment. can We're really excited to talk about this subject.
00:00:34
Speaker
This is definitely a topic that I'm grateful to have any opportunity to really talk about alignment. um So let's start a little bit with when was a time in your life when things flowed easily, but you didn't identify it as alignment?
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah. um The first thing that pops into my head is kind of interesting because it's um when I so first started becoming a photographer. um i learned photography in Nashville. I had quit working, I call a matrix job, just basically like a real world nine to five because had really figured out I did not fit in that world.
00:01:16
Speaker
And so i took it some time, not really, wasn't a great idea at the time because I didn't have a lot of money, but I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in my life. And um I was actually, we went on drive sometimes and I would take pictures. And so I would make screensavers and send it to my friends. and one day one of them said, well, why don't you be a photographer? And I was like, ding.
00:01:38
Speaker
And then I got this internship. And what I realized so much about it at that point was how different I see the world and how it was just natural for me to be able to then express that. I had to learn how to work a camera and got this internship and so much came out
Success: Appearance vs. Reality
00:01:53
Speaker
of that.
00:01:53
Speaker
But who is it was, The first time I think I really felt alignment, mostly because I realized I could be in the world in a different way. And there's a really funny story about that because I had quit the job and the person that had helped me get the job, I had moved several states to go there. Like, they were like, you're really good and everything. But she she said to me when I quit, she was like, this going to be the biggest regret of your life.
00:02:14
Speaker
And I was like, okay. And then um a year and a half later, when I became a photographer, she was one of the first people that was like, will you take pictures of my son? And then we were talking because I had come went to visit my friend at work that worked at the same place with her still. And she said, we said something else. And I said, well, you know, I don't fit in here. so I'm to be going in a minute or something like that. And she said, well, you're an artist. That's fine that you don't fit in. And so it was such a funny thing that the same thing, i was the same person, but she had said I was going to be making the biggest mistake of my life. And then it gave me this new identity where she actually saw me later. It's funny.
00:02:51
Speaker
I think that sparks... ah and a clarity in me as well is alignment is that ding. It is that moment of, Oh, this is where all the pieces have fit into place. And so often our conditioning and our, our programming and the expectations, maybe even of ourselves, but certainly of others can pull us off track and out of alignment. And we do it so habitually that we think it's, you know, it's a,
00:03:23
Speaker
it's a circumstance. It's, you know, it's it's a have to not a get to, but when we are in alignment, when we are truly embodying that thing, that is our unique life purpose, you feel it.
00:03:37
Speaker
And we don't always listen to it for sure, i'm but we do, we
Photography as a Metaphor for Alignment
00:03:41
Speaker
feel it. Everything clicks into place. So what would you say is the difference between the success that looks good and the success that feels good?
00:03:55
Speaker
I hope sometimes they can be the same, but often if initially that first story kind of led us perfectly into that was my job that I had originally had, like they had moved me stakes and I made good money, especially because I didn't really have education.
00:04:11
Speaker
a And hated it. I hated so much of it. It it was literally draining me. i was getting sick all the time. Like it was awful in so many ways.
00:04:23
Speaker
but it looked good from the outside. It was everything I thought I wanted. And then photography, i i never really made as much again in photography that I made at that job because it was such a specific job that I did such a good job at, but I worked less and I loved my life and I loved who I was while I was doing it. And that's really what that I think the key is is, the thing that I loved the most about photography is the way that the world works is, you know, everything is mirrors of us, right?
00:04:52
Speaker
You're literally working with a mirror for the photography. And more than that, you are looking for the best in the people that you are photographing. And more than that, they want you to see them as the best version of them. They are showing up that way.
00:05:06
Speaker
And it is such a very beautiful way of looking at life. If we all went into life like a photo shoot sometimes, where the alignment was there for all of us because we were all looking for the best in each other, showing up as the best of each other. Because we had the same goal, the same focus, which was to get these beautiful pictures and have good moments. And they couldn't be faked. They had to be real. You had to create
Career Path and Finding Authentic Alignment
00:05:31
Speaker
something. And so it was so interesting to me, the person that I was in those moments was the person that now I've carried into every other job that I have. Because I'm looking through that mirror, whether I have the camera or not at this point.
00:05:44
Speaker
I have been blessed to watch you in your genius when you've got the camera in your hand. And I can definitely speak to that expression of your alignment. It is, know, obviously the camera's picture,
00:05:58
Speaker
is is capturing the image that's in front of it, right? the camera The camera's not, got no emotional skin in the game. It's got no, it really doesn't care of the image it captures, but the way that you use the tool does capture that best version of a person, does capture the true expression of them that maybe they don't even see themselves until they're able to look at the beautiful image you've captured and the way that you've captured it from your own place of alignment.
00:06:28
Speaker
I know for me, my journey, especially when it comes to like the job, you know, i I studied human development and family studies because I thought I wanted to be a preschool teacher because I love two to five year olds. They're still some of my favorite people. But what I've learned, you know, 30 years down the road is part of what I love about that particular age range is that authentic expression of self, you know, that that ability to be transparent
00:06:59
Speaker
and say what you mean and mean what you say and do what you want and don't do what you don't want and express the emotions when those you know misalignments happen. But I got very clear very quickly that being a preschool teacher was not going to be really an aligned expression of my purpose, right? I i love the kids, but to be a part of that system the way that I wanted to show up in the world didn't feel aligned. And then I, you know, I was blessed to be part of a family that really prioritized education. And so i followed my undergraduate degree with a ah pursuit in business management and, you know, studying an MBA. and
00:07:41
Speaker
um And I can remember sitting in a marketing class and having my professor pull me aside one day and ask, what are you doing here? And I truly like did not understand the question because I was like, well, it's class day and you know, I'm supposed to be here.
00:07:55
Speaker
but But
Misalignment and Growth: A Pathway
00:07:56
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what he was really asking was a much bigger question. It was an executive MBA program. You know, it was 15 months long. it was ah It was a very intensive education experience. And most of the people that were in the program were there as a means to an end for a very specific goal that they'd identified, I was not. I was there because someone was willing to pay for the education and I wanted to go check out you know that part of the country.
00:08:23
Speaker
And i'm only i'm so grateful to think back on the fact that I had an instructor who was really asking the question, like, what is the purpose of this investment of your time?
00:08:34
Speaker
because he was right. I was not really fit for you know the corporate world, especially in my twenty s um And I was certainly doing it in my own way. But for me, it was the pursuit of the education, the the acquisition of the information.
00:08:50
Speaker
and then I you know went on to another graduate program and studied counseling psychology and you know really found my passion for grief counseling with children.
00:09:01
Speaker
But even that expression felt incomplete. And it's only been in my you know blessed 40s that I've been able fuse all of those different experiences that felt incomplete and too narrow to find my own alignment expression. And I'm so grateful for all the education and I'm grateful for all the tools.
00:09:25
Speaker
But if I hadn't been willing to do that deep, ugly work in in the middle, right that that personal inquiry that no one else can facilitate for you because again, it's personal.
00:09:36
Speaker
And figure out what are the bits and pieces from all of those experiences that really were born out of external expectations and other people's ideas of what I should should be when I grow up, whatever that was.
00:09:50
Speaker
and And create for myself the aligned expression did it get to manifest in my 3D world? And i'm I am so blessed to get to do what I do every
True Self and the Power of Intuition
00:10:01
Speaker
day. But it is pulling from all of those different experiences that felt misaligned is how I've actually been able to recalibrate and realign. And I think those, you know, the difference of what does outer success and inner success look like, it's it's back to what you said. It's that click. It's that inner knowing of, oh,
00:10:26
Speaker
this is the thing to do and this is the person to do it with and this is the way to show up. So alignment isn't something you create, it's something you remember.
00:10:39
Speaker
Have you had that expression when you reflect back on alignment in your life? What you said is is true. it It is a remembering because a lot of times you don't exactly have the words for it, but it goes back to that quote I always talk about, about You knew he remember who you were before the world told you who to be, because you know a lot of things in your heart and in your soul. It's like with photography, I was always drawn to cameras for a long time, but I didn't really understand why until it was like, ding, now I get it. and can i remember. And other parts of myself as well, they always felt once you find them, they're familiar. They are a a memory.
00:11:20
Speaker
Even like within my transition, when I finally saw myself in the mirror, it was a memory. of that experience of who I was supposed to be because your soul knows, my soul knew the whole time who I was supposed to be and who I was supposed to remember what I was supposed to remember.
00:11:35
Speaker
i think you said something really powerful there too. It is, it even though it may be a brand new experience, one we've never lived through, that alignment reminds us of our true purpose, right? We are born with this unique blueprint to leave an an impact on the world in a way that's never been impacted.
00:11:57
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And we come out knowing that, we come out with that unique plan of
Costs of Living Misaligned
00:12:02
Speaker
action. And then we go through all of these lived experiences with all these other people living their experiences and it can pull us out of alignment or are away from that path.
00:12:13
Speaker
But when we reconnect with those opportunities to remember that purpose, you feel it. You feel it in your heart. You feel it in your gut. You feel it in your body.
00:12:26
Speaker
You just, it's that, it like you said, it's that knowing and that thing that we know that we know, but we don't know how we know it. I think that is a beautiful expression of alignment and ah and a great cue really remember it.
00:12:41
Speaker
So what would you say is the cost of living out of alignment? Everything I, for me, when I think about the most misaligned time of my life was when I was a shut in during that time. And it was because I had really given up on so much an even life, you know, misaligned as missalign was living. So it it reflected in every part of my, my body, my experience, I, i was like 100 pounds overweight. I sounded like Darth Vader when I walked around because my asthma was so bad and i wasn't taking care of myself. I would like sit in the same chair almost all the time. And then when I did get up, would count steps to the bathroom or the living room or the bedroom because I was so heavy with all of the... My vitality was gone. i was so misaligned from everything. So it feels and costs so much when you are misaligned.
00:13:38
Speaker
I think when i when I talk about misalignment in my business with my clients, a lot of what comes up is burnout. And I think that's you know kind of a buzzword in a lot of a lot of areas these days, but it's it's an indication of that misalignment, right? That resentment that we feel or the confusion that we feel.
00:14:01
Speaker
and it's that it's just a pervasive sense of self-betrayal And we can get stuck, you know, as we've mentioned in past episodes, we can get stuck in those pain points, but those pain points are choice points.
00:14:15
Speaker
And if we can use that feedback of the experience, right? Burnout is that physical depletion. Resentment is that mental depletion, right? We, we feel victimized by the circumstances and we get stuck in the resentment instead of using that as an, as an opportunity or an invitation to create the new experience that is aligned, that doesn't create the resentment, that doesn't feel depleting, that isn't that betrayal of self that I think I have now come to to use as a launch pad into alignment when it doesn't feel right for me.
00:14:56
Speaker
It's not because of someone else. It's not because of the circumstances. It's it's because of how I and choosing to engage with the experience. And there is such a cost to misalignment that I think so many people are paying out of habit, you know, that it can, misalignment can can masquerade itself as discipline, right? I'm gonna continue to do the thing that makes me bitter and angry because I have to, or because it's you know an obligation or a responsibility or even an ambition. you know i I work with a lot of entrepreneurs who are not making aligned choices in their businesses, but they're so attached to that idea of success
00:15:43
Speaker
right? And they're calling the pursuit ambition when what I'm really identifying is misalignment. And that's not to say they need to scrap the business and go get a J-O-B necessarily. But what it does mean is when it feels upri like an upstream swim every moment of the day, that's a place where we could realign to create better results.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah. And I keep thinking about everything we're saying in the forms of photography now, because photography is such a clear, you know, you can point and aim, but what you see is not going to be the same thing as someone else seems set sees based on the settings you have, the lenses you use, the amount of light of the day, you know, just a couple steps off can change everything. And so in your life, it may be just a couple settings. It may be your viewpoint. It may be a person that you need to take out of the frame. Like there's a lot of things that you can change in your life in alignment as far as to, like you said, you may not necessarily need to go get a J-O-B, but you may need to have more a alignment. I remember the first time you sent me down to to work with my business with Mushlove and were like, all right, you're going to tell me all the hours and you're going tell me all this stuff. And I i am not that person. but then you sent me back this spreadsheet of like all the data and i could align to that so much because it gave me feedback in this really amazing structured way and as far as sometimes those things that we see someone else can also give us a different focus on the alignment and then you can you can realign to something new but it was so interesting to me when you sat me down and had me look at all of these things that were really, it was a confronting, that's what I'm thinking about alignment is sometimes your alignment, you do have to look in the mirror because the mirror and the camera and all of that does not lie either. And alignments first starts with lining up of where you're at too, to know if you're going to get where you want to go.
00:17:45
Speaker
It's a very interesting thought about, like I said, cameras in this case. Well, and i I think so many people look at misalignment as a failure instead of, again, as you know, i failure is one of my favorite F words because it's feedback.
00:17:59
Speaker
And we can't, we have very little hope of realigning and getting into alignment if we're not willing to have those confronting conversations with self or others or, you know, whomever it is.
00:18:12
Speaker
But ignoring misalignment always has a cost. And it may not be a cost in the moment because we power through and we're conditioned to do the thing we don't you know feel aligned to do. But that cost will absolutely, inevitably, and always show up.
00:18:34
Speaker
Absolutely. And the alignment shows up the same way. is It's always, it's unmistakable. is that fuck yes, fuck no. There is no in between. And the great part is you can always re-align Absolutely, and and I think that's a really beautiful way to remember that choosing alignment on purpose is how you do it, right? It doesn't really matter how many misaligned steps you've made in the past or the why, the reason we made those misaligned choices, sort of irrelevant to the process of realignment.
00:19:07
Speaker
So what does it what does realignment mean like in real life terms for you?
Rituals and Practices for Maintaining Alignment
00:19:13
Speaker
feedback on a daily basis and keeping aligned with yourself before you align with anything else is is the hardest thing to really do. But that feedback you know is for me very quick, especially because I do stay quite centered these days. It feels ease or not. And you know it is am I expending a lot more energy here than I need to? and
00:19:39
Speaker
especially to the more in tune I get, I can tell in the morning what kind of day it's going to be, you know, is this a mushroom day? I can hear the mushrooms talking. or It's funny because how easy it does start to feel and how alive and collaborative it feels like you're working with the universe in alignment. Whereas out outside, i always felt like it was collaborative against me.
00:20:03
Speaker
I think sometimes it's important to make the distinction between alignment and comfort because you're right, it is ease. But comfort isn't always where the ease sits, it's where we've been habituated to be, right? We can get really comfortable being uncomfortable.
00:20:23
Speaker
We can get really comfortable being misaligned. And we can, I think we can also use that as feedback for maybe I'm comfortable because I'm totally in alignment. This is exactly where I'm supposed to be, exactly who I'm supposed to be with and exactly the time I'm supposed to be doing the thing. Could be, not likely. don't find alignment to always be comfortable, to be honest with you. I i really find, especially the people that I'm the most aligned with,
00:20:49
Speaker
are very confronting in in a way that they push you. you're not They're not going to let you get out of alignment. I do not feel that way at all. It is almost the most more uncomfortable in the fact that growth is not always comfortable, but it's beautiful and worthy.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah. And I think it's you know that awareness that you just pointed out, that's our first gate to alignment. We have to notice what's even happening. And then we have to be courageously vulnerable enough to to reflect and process and contemplate.
00:21:24
Speaker
Is what's happening really an aligned expression of my my purpose and who I am and what I'm here to do? And I think that's also where the accountability comes in too, right? you You spoke to it just now, having those people in your life that you trust to help you be accountable to your alignment is such a gift.
00:21:51
Speaker
It is. And, you know, it's an integrity in and of yourself and with those around you to know that your alignment, you are going to keep your word. You are going to do the things that you say you're going to do. Because I think this is one of the things about self-esteem that people often confuse as well is self-esteem doesn't just come from some random things, it's proving to yourself over and over again that you're reliable to yourself. It is that alignment to you proving that even when things get hard, you're going to follow it. You know, like I said, it's not always easy and there are growing pains often, but that self-esteem comes from knowing that you are going to do the thing and you are aligned with yourself. And no matter what it takes, you have that conviction and integrity in and of yourself. And then
00:22:42
Speaker
you know, those other people around you that have that same self, because you can't trust somebody if they're not also not true to themselves as well. And so I think alignment has to do with that integrity in and of yourself too, so that you can show others that you also are aligned with them.
00:22:59
Speaker
And it's those small choices that can quietly realign us to life. You don't have to make big moves to be in alignment. As a matter of fact, more often than not, it's a series of small moves that ultimately, especially in reflection, we look back on and be like, oh, that's how I got here.
True Alignment vs. Comfort
00:23:18
Speaker
And that was misaligned and that was misaligned and that was misaligned. But all of these small realignments are actually what gets me back on track, which actually puts me on the right trajectory to go make the impact I'm here to make.
00:23:33
Speaker
easy So what what are some of the daily practices that you engage in in order to stay aligned? I have a morning ritual that is pretty sacred to me. i Actually, am excited to talk about it a little bit, mostly because I just, like I said, I love it. But I get some like newsletters from a couple different places. that Specific to me is one from Conversations of God and then another one called The Universe Talks.
00:24:02
Speaker
And then I look up where the moon is. i figure out where, what gate we're in for human design and what day it is, as far as what line day.
00:24:12
Speaker
I pull through tarot cards and then I figure out some of where ah the other planets are, like, and and then I do Hoppe. And so it is it's a good hour in the morning of of just me and the universe and communication and reception and alignment. And I do not pick up my phone. i don't communicate with you. don't do anything until that is done because It has become so sacred to me.
00:24:38
Speaker
and at first, if you would have told me this a long time, I'd be like a whole hour, but wow, I just love that time because it's so quiet and I hear so loud and it just feels like it sets me up every day.
00:24:51
Speaker
i think those kinds of rituals and practices are, part of what ultimately simplifies the expression of alignment, right? It could sound like someone could hear what you just described and think, wow, that's really complicated, but it's detailed.
00:25:07
Speaker
It's varied for sure. There's multiple different steps in that process, but you've come to learn that that ritual to your point earlier is what sets up the day to feel aligned, to feel successful. And, and it didn't start that big. You just started with,
00:25:25
Speaker
So newsletters, and then I had fun thing, and then I had a different thing because alignment grows. Absolutely. And I think also to your point too, the thing that gets us in alignment at at the initiation of the phase or at the initiation of the process
00:25:43
Speaker
will need to be amplified. It will need to be supported. And, you know, for for me, I'm very, let's let's figure it out, you know, in the moment kind of situation. But I have learned...
00:25:55
Speaker
I am not an early bird really intrinsically. That's not how my circadian cycle works. But I benefit from having that quiet time in the morning as well.
00:26:07
Speaker
And it doesn't necessarily include the same rituals every morning. Although i love to go get my cup of coffee and then come back into my bedroom. And hopefully everyone will leave me alone while I enjoy my cup of coffee. And I might read, i might do nothing.
How Does Alignment Affect Relationships?
00:26:23
Speaker
I might even scroll because frankly, that lets me enjoy my coffee and and connect with people that I might not connect with. and i you know I think you know a lot of people talk about doom scrolling. My newsfeed is so freaking inspiring. like the The things that show up on my pages are not the same thing that show up on other people's pages, apparently. i i get so much inspiration and motivation and you know ideas of things that I want to amplify in the world.
00:26:54
Speaker
So I think you know taking a moment to notice for yourself. I would love to be one of those 4 a.m. meditators. That just doesn't feel aligned for me, even though I know there's lots of benefit to it.
00:27:05
Speaker
I would love to be one of those people who benefits from cold plunges because I know all the science, how that works. That sounds terrible. I can't even take a cool shower. So like. okay That's also part of it too, though, is knowing that there's lots of different avenues for alignment and taking responsibility for what step on the path actually serves you, i think has been one of the biggest ahas for me when it comes to, you know, the integration of alignment.
00:27:39
Speaker
I like that you mentioned your newsfeed too, because that is also alignment. Curate those, you know what I'm saying? Like we don't have to be dream scrollers. Like you said, you can be a, a love scroller, an inspiring scroller, all of that. That is also alignment is curating what is fed to you and what you allow within your life and your mental space, your emotional space, especially early in the mornings. Those are the first messages that you get. so I love that you're scrolling. It's not a dream scroll. It's like... No, and I often like make the algorithm work for you, like program it just like you're programming your experience.
00:28:16
Speaker
Use the tools in a way that feels calibrated for you. And if what's happening doesn't take responsibility and make it be different. You know, it's it's it's a it's a we're not going to ever escape our conditioning and our programming. That is just an inherent part of being a human being.
00:28:34
Speaker
but we are in charge of how we choose to move through life with our conditioned responses. And we are empowered to reprogram the way that we show up in the world.
00:28:48
Speaker
But I think it comes back to that sense of power and that sense of awareness and knowing and taking accountability, right? that's It's about taking ownership of how you show up in the world and giving yourself grace for when it doesn't show up in an alignment or it feels misaligned in some way to recreate it. Absolutely.
00:29:13
Speaker
So what changes in relationship when you stop abandoning yourself?
00:29:20
Speaker
Hello, your whole relationship changes. and I mean, it's really interesting to me after my transition m because i have a completely different set of people in my life since then because of who I became.
00:29:37
Speaker
And some of the people that I was even close to then, it's very interesting to me. We've talked about this, you and I personally, but it feel it felt like I had entered a different reality than they had, like literally. And in some of the the ways that we would communicate before, especially I had a significant other at the time, it felt like no matter what I would say, she was still in the place where I had met her. i was in a very difficult place, a negative space. And when I leveled up and became completely different, like I was full of hope and love and light. Like I could not, we could not communicate on the same reality anymore. And it so much felt like everything that I would say with love and light and hope, she could use and hear to make herself feel bad about herself. It was such an interesting experiment in my life to feel
00:30:29
Speaker
the vibrational reality difference that I had moved into, but a lot of the people around me, and especially at that point, the person that I was closest to had not.
00:30:40
Speaker
And so alignment sometimes, especially when you level up very significantly, it does start to change things. And hopefully it can, you know, make other relationships even better and, you know, in a lot of ways. And, and some of my relationships, the ones that I've stayed have deepened so tremendously because of the way that I am showing up as all of myself and actually letting myself be seen that changed everything for sure.
00:31:06
Speaker
I think that's, I've had similar experiences on both sides of that equation. Sometimes when we stop abandoning ourselves, we release relationships because those people that we were in relationship when we were not willing to prioritize ourselves don't meet our needs anymore.
00:31:27
Speaker
Sometimes we can realign to what our purpose is and we can hold that high frequency expression of ourselves with such persistence and such determination that the people we're in relationship do rise to the occasion. And they do, they also realign to our new orientation of expression of self.
00:31:52
Speaker
I think there's sometimes i I've worked with a few people who are afraid to really stop abandoning themselves because they're afraid that the people that are in relationship will then abandon them.
00:32:07
Speaker
When the truth is when we abandon ourselves, right? when we When we are betraying our true aligned expression of self, every other relationship we're in is a reflection of that.
00:32:21
Speaker
Betrayal of self in order to not betray another is betrayal nonetheless. It is one of the quotes that I keep close to my heart because of that. Because if you're only showing up as a version of yourself that where you've betrayed yourself, you're not in that relationship.
00:32:39
Speaker
I think that's also, it's also important to acknowledge that staying aligned when those other external points of reference don't approve isn't necessarily a cue that what you're doing isn't right for you.
Influence of Personal Alignment on Others
00:32:55
Speaker
i think it's almost an invitation for you to reflect and and know with certainty what is right for you. and And, you know, I say often what's for you can't miss you. So if the relationship itself is for you, the person you're in relationship with will have to realign.
00:33:17
Speaker
And what a great opportunity to be in relationship with another person who encourages you to level up, right? And if you can't, you know, it's it's not really personal, even though I'm sure it feels personal in certain intimate relationships, but it's really not personal. It's an expression of alignment, alignment with self, but also alignment of the relationship. And I think alignment is what creates clarity, but not always consensus. and you know, on a human level that can be really confronting and heartbreaking and disappointing and, you know, bring a lot of other emotions to the surface.
00:33:59
Speaker
Yeah. and it's hard to know which is which, you know, when it, when it's going to be the right time to let someone go and and move on on when it's going to be the right time to, you know, stay, but,
00:34:12
Speaker
alignment always knows and what is the right time to go. Like therere there are always clear and and signals I find as far as where the pain is greater. The pain of staying is greater than the pain of changing. And I think that that is a ah key moment for yourself to know that those signals of pain when you're in them, sometimes it's because you need to hold your alignment and and stay clear. But when the pain really becomes great enough, it's because you need to change something. And that alignment will look different for each situation, but you'll know because the joy and the the pain will orient to you.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah, and our our emotions give us that feedback too. you know I was working with a a client a few weeks ago and she's ah a generator type and they have like a stair-step learning process. and And she said, well, how do I know when I'm in one of those plateaus, if the frustration I'm feeling is because it's misaligned or if the frustration I'm feeling is because I'm on a plateau and I'm about to up level. And while she didn't like my answer, the answer was you tune back into your intuition. You tune back into that knowing because the frustration in and of itself is not a cue to leave.
00:35:25
Speaker
The frustration is feedback that you get to integrate in an empowered way to go take the next aligned step. And unfortunately, maybe, or fortunately, no one else can tell you what's aligned for you. It's the hardest part. It really is. But it's also the gift. It's always both sides. Yeah.
00:35:49
Speaker
So how would you what would you say is the anchor for alignment as a long-term strategy for living? How do you, how do you feel anchored in your alignment?
00:36:03
Speaker
Hmm. For me, it's my relationship with universe. Um, it's It's the thing that has become non-negotiable in my life is it always, the feedback is so strong. and And I know when I'm in alignment because of the feedback I get from the universe. And that's just my own personal way of saying that. But I really feel like whether you believe in the universe or God or love or energy, or it's always the same answer is the feedback within and of yourself is strong.
00:36:36
Speaker
The more in tune with yourself you are, you can catch it in those whispers. And so for me, alignment just feels like less pain on a day-to-day basis, and you know, more growth. I do find when you're in alignment, things speed up significantly.
00:36:52
Speaker
I've have noticed that, you know, uh, the, what is it called, um where things are, goodness the word, I can't even think of it, but um time speeds up when things are good and slows down when things are bad. don't Time distortion.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah, time distortion, basically. Yeah. So basically that happens a lot more when you're in pain. God, it feels like every moment is three years. When you're in alignment and having good time, it really goes fast.
00:37:24
Speaker
And I have said that to a different person this week. I was like, every week feels like a day lately. It just feels really fast. And so I think that's also a clue when you are in the flow of the universe and you are in the flow of yourself, time distortion really does happen.
00:37:42
Speaker
i have definitely experienced that. I think for me, part of what I have learned and through some very painful and ugly confronting personal inquiry, right, is The ripple effect of alignment.
00:37:58
Speaker
When I make one aligned choice, it becomes easier to make another aligned choice. And when I make a series of aligned choices in my relationships, it becomes easier for the dynamic of the relationship to shift to alignment.
00:38:12
Speaker
It gives other people permission to also be in alignment without having to convince them. A lot of our relationship dynamic is about you know when we're in when we're when we are misaligned in our relationships.
00:38:28
Speaker
It's like we spend so much of our vitality trying to convince the other person or trying to convince ourselves or trying to convince our family or whomever it is that you know is creating that opportunity. And for me, alignment gives me permission to be with others and gives others permissions to permission to be with me without that need for convincing.
Call to Action: Share Your Aligned Experiences
00:38:53
Speaker
Relativity, that's the word. It came back. Anyway, yes, I could completely agree. you don't have to convince. When you're in alignment, it makes it easier for others to do as well.
00:39:05
Speaker
And then it just flows better. And I think trusting the timing also has been a game changer for me with alignment. I have have had plenty of times in my 49 and a half years, right, where I knew the thing I had the inner knowing, I could see the vision, but the timing wasn't right.
00:39:25
Speaker
And then I would go ahead and try to force it or try to convince or, you know, and, and being able to come to terms when the divine timing of all things has also given me access to my personal alignment more often.
00:39:46
Speaker
It's funny how much that is like, such a big thing I've also been trying to step into, but it gives you this like peace, especially because and look at it like when you place an order, you know, it's coming eventually, you know, Amazon might get delivered, might get, you know, whatever, or even if it gets something happens, you'll just call them and it'll get replaced or whatever. But like, it's going to come eventually.
00:40:12
Speaker
kind of feel like that is the metaphor I'm giving myself with, things that I know in the universe that we we've collaborated on in the universe. I know what I want. And I, and I've said before, every dream you have for yourself is a dream the universe also has for you. And so it's like a, it's like a piece that I have now knowing the order's placed, it's going to happen eventually.
00:40:34
Speaker
i just get to wait for it to show up like a birthday surprise and just be in the day-to-day momentum of finding the moments of joy and love and doing the things I can do to work towards my goals on a day-to-day basis. But I think part of that alignment is starts to become a trust in that it's not only your goal, it's not only about you and there will be the right people at the right place at the right time, but also show up for that alignment. Like even this podcast, I have had known for a long time that I was supposed to do a podcast. It's been a loud message in the universe, but I did not know i was going to do with someone else. And it's so much perfect. It's exactly what I could not have planned. And I definitely couldn't have planned to you, which is great. It's way better. But it's not something the universe gave me the whole story of. And I needed to wait step by step until it was the right time in the alignment. And now part that's part of what it's given me the trust of.
00:41:30
Speaker
It's going to better than I thought. And that's, you know, that order I placed as well. So I would like to ask our listeners to seize an invitation to take one aligned action this week.
00:41:44
Speaker
And if you do, we would love to hear about it. We would love for you to share with us what the choice is, what the outcome might have been, what the process was, and the execution. Because sometimes these invitations can feel scary because they're big. Maybe this is the first time that that you've ever even thought about what an aligned choice would look like for you. But we are here for it, and we would love to learn about your experience and hear parts of your story as well.
00:42:14
Speaker
And I think I just want to share something that's coming through for me is an aligned life is definitely a quiet form of leadership.
00:42:26
Speaker
And I am very personally passionate about living in a world filled with people making aligned choices. So i hope that we get to hear about your extor your stories and your experiences.
00:42:38
Speaker
Yes, please. And any questions you have for us as well about it, because that's what we're here about is sharing. it I love what you said about an aligned life is a quiet form of leadership. It's also the loudest form of happiness.
00:42:52
Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you again for being with us on this episode of Don't Trip on Your Cape. And we'll see you hopefully next week.
00:43:05
Speaker
Till then. Bye.
00:43:10
Speaker
Thanks for joining Alex and Leslie on Don't Trip On Your Cake. I really appreciate you being here and walking this path with them. If today's episode sparks something in you, if it helps you rock something new about yourself or your journey, show your support by subscribing to the channel, liking episode, and leaving a comment to show your thoughts or takeaways.
00:43:25
Speaker
Your voice helps to grow this community of brave, curious humans learning to wither kitchen confidence. Until next time, fly high, stay curious, and Don't Trip On Your Cake. Step into your superpower.