Did you know you can actually rewire your brain and transform your life experience by repeating simple phrases (aka mantras) daily?

I’m joined by Colleen Souza, educator-turned-real estate leader, speaker, and author of Living by the Mantras: Common Sense Wisdom for an Extraordinary Life.

Colleen shares how mantras have shaped her approach to parenting, teaching, and succeeding in business. She believes mantras aren’t just spiritual buzzwords, but practical tools to help you shift your mindset, create positive habits, and handle life’s curveballs with more ease and self-compassion.

"We have to put in front of ourselves the words and ideas that are going to make us a better version of ourselves, a positive version of ourselves. It matters." - Colleen Souza

Episode Highlights

12:22 – How simple affirmations can keep us resilient
19:53 – Turning setbacks and failures into powerful learning moments
26:07 – Using realistic mantras that encourage progress, not perfection
30:17 – Vision boards, manifesting, and creating aligned energy

Important Links

FREE Metabolism Boosting eBook Bundle

Website: SarahHaasWellness.com
Facebook: Sarah Haas Wellness
Instagram: @SarahHaasWellness
Youtube: Sarah Haas Wellness

Guest Bio

Colleen Souza is a nationally recognized educator turned real estate leader, speaker, podcaster, and author of Living by the Mantras: Common Sense Wisdom for an Extraordinary Life. Her work blends humor and heart to guide others to lead more intentional, value driven lives. Distilling her remarkable journey of success as both a professional and a loving wife and mother into powerful mantras: short, memorable sayings that carry big truths, she offers practical wisdom and inspiration to help readers parent, lead, and live with clarity and courage. Her book, Living by the Mantras, teaches parenting and family success strategies through leadership and parenting and family success strategies.

Free Guide: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: 5 Mantras to Begin Now

https://livingbythemantras.com/free/

Website: livingbythemantras.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576298213577

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleensouza_author

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@colleensouza3863

Living by the Mantras: Common Sense Wisdom for an Extraordinary Life, can be found anywhere books are sold.

Thanks for Listening:

Thanks so much for listening to my podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Did you know that emotions and unprocessed feelings are held in our bodies and can deeply affect our physical, emotional, and even spiritual health?

This week I’m joined by Maria Toso, somatic healing teacher, yoga trainer, and author of Heal What Hurts: How to Heal Emotional Triggers.

Maria says many of us stuff down and avoid uncomfortable feelings by:

1. Lashing out - scolding, name calling, blaming
2. Numbing out - overeating, drinking, scrolling
3. Checking out - avoiding and becoming disconnected

She shares practical wisdom on how to recognize when we’re being triggered, and how to then gently nurture ourselves back to a place of self-love and shift unhealthy patterns through breath, body awareness, and bringing loving kindness inward.

"The love that you have for everyone else is going to be so much more authentic when it comes from you totally embodying love in and with yourself." - Maria Toso

Highlights Timings:

03:21 Healing Childhood Abandonment Trauma

19:37 Breaking Cycles of Reactivity

25:14 Breaking Unhelpful Behavioral Patterns

31:46 Impact of Feminine Energy

34:57 Heal What Hurts

Important Links

Metabolism Boosting Bundle

Website: SarahHaasWellness.com
Facebook: Sarah Haas Wellness
Instagram: @SarahHaasWellness

Youtube: Sarah Haas Wellness

Guest Bio

Maria Toso, is a Danish-born author, somatic healing teacher, and yoga teacher. Her debut book, Heal What Hurts: How to Heal Emotional Triggers, offers a transformative path for understanding and dissolving emotional patterns through breath, body awareness, and divine presence. Maria blends somatic work, spiritual practice, and intuitive insight to help people heal deeply, reclaim their power, and live with clarity and purpose. She teaches Yoga Teacher Training at Minneapolis College, leads international retreats, and guides online healing circles for students around the world.

Website: https://www.mariatoso.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariatoso/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maria.toso
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mariatosoofficial/videos

Thanks for Listening:

Thanks so much for listening to my podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

As we wrap up Season 4 and take a short break before we kick off Season 5 in the New Year, I’ll be taking a short break to get everything ready for what’s coming next.

In the meantime, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite episodes—maybe some you haven’t had a chance to listen to yet or maybe you’ll catch some hidden gems you might’ve missed the first time around.

This is your chance to revisit a few of the most powerful and thought-provoking episodes from the first 4 seasons.

And while I’m on this little break, I’m hard at work behind the scenes, planning even bigger and better things for the next season.

Thank you for being here and I can’t wait to share the incredible guests and inspiring content I have lined up for you next year.

::Trigger Warning::

This episode contains discussions about trauma and emotional eating. If this topic is sensitive or triggering to you, please listen at your discretion.

We tend to think of overeating or eating when we’re not hungry as a lack of willpower or discipline. Feeling intense shame afterward. Vowing to never do it again. Only to keep returning to food and repeating the cycle over and over.

We’re great at blaming ourselves, but have you ever considered that your eating habits might be linked to deeper issues? And that your perceived lack of control is actually a survival mechanism?

Today Diane Petrella, MSW, clinical social worker, and author of Healing Emotional Eating for Trauma Survivors, and I discuss the link between childhood trauma and emotional eating.

Highlights Timings:

03:01 - The Link Between Trauma and Emotional Eating

10:01 - Early Trauma and Its Long-Term Effects

15:01 - Coping Mechanisms and Food as Comfort

20:01- Strategies to Manage Emotional Eating

Important Links:

Free Rev Up Your Metabolism eBook

Get It HERE

Website: sarahhaaswellness.com

Facebook: Sarah Haas Wellness

Instagram: @sarahhaaswellness

Youtube: Sarah Haas Wellness

Guest Bio

Diane Petrella, MSW, is a clinical social worker, certified life coach, and holistic licensed psychotherapist, specializing in the effects of childhood trauma, emotional eating, and body confidence. She’s worked with children, adolescents, and adult survivors. Diane has helped thousands of people overcome early trauma, create a respectful relationship with their body and food, and connect with their inner Wise Self for sustained healing. She is the author of Healing Emotional Eating for Trauma Survivors: Trauma-Informed Practices to Nurture a Peaceful Relationship with Your Emotions, Body, and Food.

Website: dianepetrella.com

Instagram: @dianepetrellamsw

Facebook: Diane Petrella MSW

Free eCourse: 5 Trauma-Informed Tips to Heal Emotional Eating

Order the Book: Healing Emotional Eating for Trauma Survivors

Thanks for Listening:

Thanks so much for listening to my podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.