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Unveiling the Path to Self-love & Purposeful Living. Naiomi Johnny, Apostle Giselle & Samia Bano

Unveiling the Path to Self-love & Purposeful Living

January 26, 202434 min read

Unveiling the Path to Self-love & Purposeful Living. Naiomi Johnny, Apostle Giselle & Samia Bano

Want to know how you can turn your #PainIntoPurpose?

Listen now to this interview with Certified #LifeCoach Naiomi Johnny + #Apostle Giselle Johnny. Both of these amazing women have experienced immense #trialsandtribulations in their lives and learned how to #RiseAboveChallenges to live a life full of #SelfLove and #PurposefulLiving, and now they are on a mission to help you do the same!

ABOUT Apostle Giselle Johnny:

Giselle Johnny is the co-founder of Extending The Borders Ministries and founder of Ignition Mode Life Solutions. A training company empowering Christian Women Leaders. She is also the #author of "Don't Abort Your Purpose", "Better Together" and "On Purpose: 100 Motivational Quotes for Personal and Professional Success". Giselle continues to deliver personal and group coaching sessions to empower women to Find, Fund and Fulfill their Kingdom Assignment.

To book Giselle for your next event please call 917-513-9180.

And check out her FREE GIFT for you at: https://freegift.ignitionmodemovement.com/

ABOUT Naiomi Johnny:

Naiomi Johnny is an avid #writer, #storyteller, #englishteacher, and a passionate #entrepreneur. Her business specifically caters to battered and abused women, helping them develop life skills, #selfesteem and a more #positiveattitude outlook on life. Being a victor of abuse herself she has decided to use her pain to infuse purpose. Naiomi is also a Youth minister and is zealous about helping young people find their identity in Christ.

Learn more about Naiomi and reach out to her for any necessary assistance at:

https://www.facebook.com/Naihairwexquisite?mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100049475275395&mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://www.facebook.com/Extendingthebordersministriesinternational?mibextid=ZbWKwL

To Book your Free HAPPINESS 101 EXPLORATION CALL with Samia, click: https://my.timetrade.com/book/JX9XJ

#purposefulliving #purposedrivenlife #liveyourpurpose #selfloveisthebestlove #selflovematters #selfloveisimportant #loveyourselffirst #painintopower #SelfDiscoveryJourney #ResilienceRising #InnerBeautyAwakening #HealingThroughFaith #AuthenticExpression #ToughLoveJoy #DivineInspiration #IdentityBalance #DreamChaserLife #FocusMastery #FulfillmentQuest #InspiredLiving #PurposefulHabits #ClearGoals #MindfulLiving #EmpoweredChoices #JoyfulDiscipline #FaithfulJourney #WholenessWithin #ChasingDreams #BalancedLife #InnerHarmony #LifePurpose #TransformativeMoments

Here's the audio version of this episode:

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Full Video Transcript

SAMIA: Hello, Salaam, Shalom, Namaste, Sat Sri Akal, Aloha, Holah, Ciao, Bonjour, Buna, and Privet... And Mabuhay! It's really, really good to be with you again. And you know what? You will be double happy that you're joining us today because we have not one, but two amazing guests today on our show. And our very first guest today is Naomi Johnny, who is a Certified Life Coach, author, minister, teacher, and entrepreneur... And our second most wonderful guest is Giselle Johnny, who's on a mission… Actually, I should say Apostle Giselle Johnny, who is on a mission to change the world by helping you ignite your purpose... I love that so much. Welcome to you both…

NAOIMI & GISELLE: Thank you. An honor to be here…

SAMIA: Okay, so you know what? We're going to just jump right in, and I'm going to have each of you tell us more about who you are and what you do. And we'll start with Naomi. So, Naomi, please tell us more…

NAOIMI: It's a pleasure to tell you more about who I am and what I do. I am a Certified Life Coach, right, where Apostle Johnny... I did my life coaching program with her, and so I got my certification in life coaching under Ignition Mode Life Solutions. And it was a real journey for me, you know. It taught me, as she would have said in her slogan, she's on a mission to help people fulfill their purpose, to know who they are, to make a difference, you know. And through that program, I was able to channel my own pains, you know, of my childhood, of young adulthood, abuse and stuff, and use those pains for purpose, to help women self-identify with their beauty, with self-love, with their passions, with their skills, that sort of thing. And so I started business... First, I started “Beauty With A Purpose”. And I was teaching women that regardless of their own scars, their own traumas, that they are beautiful... And that just because they are scared doesn't mean that they are worth any less. And so it transitioned into “She Becomes More Beautiful”, which is a business and ministry tied into one. So it's not just about outward beauty now. It's about getting the word in you. It's about inward beauty… beginning to know who you are as a person, your skills, et cetera, et cetera. And I love to write. I am an author because I have been pending poems from the age of five years old. So I love writing, and I love helping people express themselves through writing and editing. And, yeah, that basically sums it up there... So that's just me. I just love helping women, even men, children, become more, learn who they are, and just tap into their skills, you know, and go beyond. So that's just basically, in a nutshell.

SAMIA: It's amazing... That's amazing. And I'm glad that you work with people of all ages to help them love themselves more and figure more of themselves out, because I think the younger we can start with that, the better it is. You know, it's like you grow up and you don't know who you are, you don't know what your purpose is, and it just creates all these complications in your life and suffering in your life that you might have been able to avoid if you start these things learning young. So, awesome, awesome, awesome…

NAOIMI: Thank you!

SAMIA: Apostle Giselle, please tell us more about who you are and what you do…

GISELLE: All right. So I am, firstly, a person who just loves people most of all. I think that's the thing about me, I love people, and I love meeting people, and that's people from all walks of life. I just love people... I realized from very young, every time I met someone, I just wanted to know what's inside of that person, just looking at how unique each person is. And I found that from my childhood, I just found myself very interested in meeting people, finding out the way they think, you know, why they think the way they think. But the other side of that is that from childhood, I was born with a defect in my heart. And I was ill almost always. And I felt like, what is the purpose of being on this earth? Like, I'm always sick. I'm always at the doctor, always at the hospital. I couldn't play sports... I felt like a misfit. I was always clumsy. I shied away from anything that had to do with any game, anything like that. And I still am very awkward motor skills-wise. But I found when I was very young that I loved writing... So I started writing. Just writing stories about my mom, about myself, just writing. And then I found out, like, when I was 15 years old, that I just had this gift for writing songs. And so I started writing songs and started singing. But I actually started singing at eight because my dad is a writer as well. So I started singing, and I found in singing and writing, I was finding, like, expression... At age ten, I started my first business. We grew up, and there was lack and there was this need, and I started the first business, and it helped the family to get into entrepreneurship. So growing up, I, at 15, 16, you know I felt kind of suicidal, still kind of lost. And it wasn't until my 20s when this word came to me… don't abort your purpose… Put me on a journey to finding out what was my purpose, why do I exist? And that led me to write this book, "Don't Abort Your Purpose", the song, "Don't Abort Your Purpose." And then I just said, I'm going to give my life to helping people find their purpose. So in a nutshell, what I do right now is business. I help to coach men, women, sometimes men come in as well, in terms of what is your purpose and your goals, and your mission in life. And secondly, I love working on the humanitarian ministry side of things where we help the people in the homeless shelter with food and clothing... And that in summary, yup…

SAMIA: Yay! Oh, my gosh, that's amazing. And thank you to both of you for sharing your journeys in getting to where you are. That is so important. I think also it helps our listeners to realize and recognize that no matter what you have been through in your life, there is a way that we can take that pain or that challenge or the suffering that we have experienced and find some good in it. And I think that's actually the hallmark of an amazing changeMaker. So, that's… I really appreciate both of you.
Okay, okay. So I guess my first question, if I go to Naiomi… you were talking about how when you first started working in your business, you're sort of teaching women about how they're beautiful, even with all the scars they might have or any scars they might have. And now you've shifted to focusing more on the inner beauty side of things... So for you, when you are talking about beauty and you're talking about, like, you know, self-love... Tell me a little bit more about what do you ground self-love in? Like what's the basis… like if somebody has scars, if somebody is suffering, they have all these challenges in their life, you know, you can really struggle to find the beauty within yourself or the things to love about you. So what for you is the foundation or the basis through which you can find that self-love and beauty in yourself?

NAOIMI: Well, for me, I am a Christian. And I do not discriminate against any other religion. I'm just saying, for me, this is what I believe in. And I really found love from the Word. Some have their Quran, some have their Bible, some have their… everybody has their text and context... But for me, I found a lot of peace in my Wisdom. I found a lot of self-assurance in my Word. And I would say that my Word caused me to reflect my creator, my God, and see myself differently. So it took a lot of forgiveness of myself for taking blame that wasn't mine, and forgiveness for those who wronged me in my childhood and stuff, growing up… releasing that bitterness, releasing that anger. Because I was angry, Samia. I was angry at the world. But that quiet time, that time that you take to come away from the noise that tells you, you have a right to be mad, you know, and just really spent time in that Word that says, you know, you are loved, you are enough, you are blessed, you are strong, you are resilient... That's basically, it's a love letter from God, you know. And from there, I found strength, I found wholeness, I found healing, and you know I found that I could forgive. And letting go was the key thing... That was the key thing to identifying with self beauty. Because we can all paint on a face and be beautiful, but inner beauty is reflected from inside and it comes out, you know. So that's where I found my love, and I found that beauty. And I shared that with all my young people. I have a lot of young people, a lot all kind of people. And that's where I come from in context with love and inner beauty.

SAMIA: Yeah. Yes. You know, these are life lessons, truly, like, you learn through experience. I mean, you can read about these things in a book, but until you have been through the experience of it, sometimes, even if you know about these things theoretically, you can take the knowledge for granted. I know I have had that experience also growing up where I was very angry as well, because I'm also a survivor of child sexual abuse. And for many years, I didn't even know that that is what it was called, what I went through. I didn't have the words to be able to express or know or define what had happened to me.
But when I learned about it and I figured it out, it made me so angry. And the anger just spills out. That's the thing that I found out about anger, is that you cannot contain it to just that one context or situation in your life. It just spilled out into all my relationships, all the different areas of my life. And
when you are in that angry place, then, you know,  you are also getting judgmental and hating this and hating that and hating, you know, everyone. And with all of that anger and hate, you know, that’s bubbling inside of you, it's so difficult to tap into or connect with the love inside of us, whether it's for ourselves or anyone else. So that is an amazing lesson that you learned and that you're sharing.

NAOIMI: Thank you. They say experience is the greatest teacher, and you know, it's about beautiful inside and out. It's not just about being pretty on the outside, you know.

SAMIA: Yes, yes.

NAOIMI: Yup.

SAMIA: Yeah. And the fact that… it's interesting how there's this connection between outward beauty and inner beauty in that the two can really be a reflection of each other. But in this modern world, it's really weird, because there's so much focus, like, for example, here in America, on outward beauty, making everything look good. And if you go just a little beneath the surface, there's so much ugliness…

NAOIMI: …So much crap. Yeah... It's like there's no substance. It's superficial. Sorry to cut you. And for me, it started as a journey where it was about building up self-esteem and beauty. But it gets deeper than that... You have to dig deeper. You have to go to roots to really be healed, you know, to really become whole, to be able to share that love and experience with others. You really have to dig deeper. It's not just about a surface-level beauty. You know…

SAMIA: Yes. Exactly, exactly. And I think that's where Apostle Giselle, like, for me, your work comes in. Because I know for me, in my journey to discover my beauty and love myself more, until I found a sense of purpose, it was really difficult to sort of ground myself. Tell me more about your work with helping people find purpose... What's a challenge that you find a lot of people struggling with that leaves them not able to figure out their purpose or feeling lost in that way…

GISELLE: You know, Samia, it's about, at the end of the day, finding your why... I remember just recently seeing this gentleman, Simon Snick. I think he's an actor talking about start with why. But long before, you know, when you look around creation, why does the tree exist? Why does the ocean exist? Why does every flower have different beauty? A cannation is not a rose. Why is everything so unique and different? Why the fishes never come and try living on land? You know, why the birds doesn't try to be a lion? And so everything in nature understands that it was created for a specific purpose... And everything has its own beauty. Everything has its own expression, its own glory. But when you look at man, he seems to be the only confused path. And so that's what made me really get into faith. That's the challenge. Because without realizing that you were created and you have a creator, and if you were created, then what's the purpose you were created for? And so everyone cannot have the same purpose, because the lion cannot be the eagle. And so, even though we're all human beings and we may have different geographic… live in different geographic locations, have different cultures, belief, backgrounds… at the end of the day, we all have a heart. We all have a mind. We all have the ability to think... And so transformation comes when we begin to take responsibility. As Naomi was saying, faith is a great asset. I would say to anyone, having faith is a great asset. Taking responsibility, saying, I am choosing not to be confused, not to be sad, not to be bitter. I'm choosing to go on the journey to find out why... Why do I exist?

SAMIA: Yeah... Yes. You know, it's, like, interesting, the analogy that you just gave about… in nature… how everything in nature has its purpose, and it's like... you know there's something so interesting about this existence, this universe that we exist in, where on the one hand, there is so much diversity and difference, but on the other hand, again, when you dig deeper, it's like everything's interconnected and interrelated. And the diversity and the difference, sort of like, somehow, when each being, each thing, each creature, it's playing its part, that's when everything, like a jigsaw puzzle or something, you know... And so it's like, where's my place in this jigsaw puzzle? Yeah, yeah... And so there's, like, almost... it's an interesting… So how do you... how do you... Because, you know, like, when... Oh, yeah. You know, it's like when… I've seen so many of my clients also struggle with this searching for their purpose, because it can feel very complicated, this process. There's so many options, so many choices of what you could do that, you know, I know in my own experience, I'm like one of those personalities where I have so many interests, so many different things I'm good at. It's like, what is the one thing for me to do that is my purpose, that is mine to do? And it just felt so complicated to figure that out. What would you say… Like, how would you help someone in that situation or guide someone in that situation?

GISELLE: Oh, Samia, I feel you so much... I can agree with you. That, for me, was one of my biggest challenges. I was like, okay, what's my purpose? Am I a writer? Am I a singer? I'm a business person? Am I a minister? Am I a mom? Am I a student? I'm all these things, but these are just things that I do. But really, who am I? And I had to ask myself that question and then just go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper... And it brought me to realizing something that I do with my clients as well. I'm not my pain. I'm not my past. I'm not the victim of the person that did something to me. I'm not the result of bad, you know, things that have happened. I am a person with a mind and with a will. And so when I start asking things that who I am, what I'm not, helped me. Because you know what I realized Samia? For me, when we go through pain, we can say, I don't want to be abused anymore. I don't want to be in lack anymore. I don't want to be sick anymore. I'm tired of this... And we just keep complaining about what we don't want.

But when we start asking ourselves, what do you want? So we start with a why? We start with what do you really, really want? What do you want to do about the pain? Who do you want to help? How is this helping others going to heal you as you help others? You know, when we look at faith, every person of faith… I am a Christian as well… And when we look at Jesus, when we look at Muhammad, when we look at every single person and every belief system, it was about doing good and it was about helping others. And so when we realize, I need to be healed, I also need to bring something to the table, because I exist to be and to do. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but that point that seemed to help people really get that sense. I've seen persons come from the place of just existing. And when they find that what they love and who they can help and how they can use those unique gifts and skills and talents that they were given, that helps people to really find that inner peace and happiness.

SAMIA: Yeah. And I bet a lot of that also comes down to self-love, right... It's like even if you're going through struggles to figure out your why, but if you can love yourself in the meantime, going through that whole process, makes things so much easier. So, Naomi, it's like, for you, when you work with your clients, your people, in helping them love themselves, what is the purpose for you in… or that you try to help your people find in loving themselves, beyond the fact that it just feels so good to love yourself…

NOIMI: I mean, it definitely does feel good to love yourself, Samia. But I would say, you know, loving yourself is not just about pampering yourself. That is an aspect of it that is so lovely, you know. I love my foam baths and my scrubs and my affirmations, and all of that is self-love... But there is also a dimension of love that requires tough love. Sometimes you have to give yourself tough love. And growing up as a young person… now, I'm only 27, right. I started my journey young. And because of my beautiful life coach here, I always had a very good sense of direction. Now, I had some detours, obviously, but I also kind of knew where I was going. I love to write. I had a kind of definite purpose. And tough love is… okay, I'm good at this, but that doesn't mean I'm going to slack at it, you know. It means that I have to be consistent. I have to show up for me. I have to be diligent. I have to set times and boundaries for myself. So it's not just about yes, self-love is good. Self-esteem, understanding what you are worth, your standards, telling the world, okay, you can go this far, no further, this is my boundary... I will not allow you to walk all over me, but I will be here for you. Even in the dimension of friends, you know, relationship with friends... I have clients that… one specific client of mine, she loves to help people. Let's call her Monique, because I don't want to call her name. She loves to help people. And Monique's one downfall is she can't say no... So somebody will say, Monique, I can get your shoes from off your foot. Monique will say, yes, no problem, and walk bare feet. Now, that's not self-love. She may think that's self-love, but that's not self-love because that person has a shoe, but they're just covetous of her shoe, which isn't right... So she has to set standards. She has to have boundaries. So love in yourself comes with discipline. I have to wake up, I have to go to work, or I have to establish this business, or I need to build my faith, or I need to exercise… that’s self-love, too you know. So for me, love is just.... It is in all dimensions. You know, I have to learn to give more of me to people, or I need to learn to give less of me to people. Love works in both ways, you know. That's my lesson on self-love to my clients.

SAMIA: Wow. Okay. You just brought up so many interesting points... Okay. So, you know, when you were talking about Monique, the example of Monique who will give the shoes off her own feet and walk barefoot… and then you look at, you know, stories of our prophets, Jesus, et cetera... These great, amazing people who are our role models, our spiritual guides, and you see them going to these amazing lengths… Like, for example, if… you know that very common saying about turn the other cheek, you know, or walking that extra mile to help somebody, you know, things like that we are taught… how do you understand those teachings and in relationship to how we take care of ourselves and love ourselves in a healthy way... and still be honoring these teachings of our faith?

NAOIMI: I would say, yes, definitely give... You have to be a giving person, a loving person, because life, it happens in a cycle. And what you dish out is what will, in turn, come back to you. So, yes, you have to give. I do practice giving to homeless people, to children that who have... I do practice giving. But I would say that you have to do it in context. You have to know that there is a line that you don't overextend yourself to the point that you end up in the hospital. You know, you don't put yourself in a position where you give every molecule of your being and there is nothing left of you. You understand? So I'm not saying don't do extra, don't go extra. But don't kill yourself at the same time, yes, we are working to be like our prophets and working to be like our savior, but we are not going on the cross yet. So that's what I'm saying. So yes, do it, but do it in context, you know. Do it, but do not do it to the point where, yes, there will be suffering, but don't do it to the point where you can't function. You're not able to be a viable vessel to help... You get me?

SAMIA: Yeah.

NAOIMI: Yeah. That's what I am thinking…

SAMIA: Yeah, yeah. Apostle Giselle, what's your... do you have a perspective on this question?

GISELLE: I love this question. I love this question that you asked. It boils down to loving your neighbor as yourself. That's really what it is. Because we can love our neighbor, but we can't love someone else more than you love yourself. You know, someone may say, especially Christians, well, Jesus loved us more than himself, so he died. But the thing about love, when you look at the word ‘love’, in its full essence, like that word agape, it means to give to you what you need. And so he did that because he thought that's what we needed. We needed to be salvaged. So if I say to Samia, you know… you say to me… give me your coat. I have to be wise... I have to ask the question, is giving her my coat expressing love? Does she even need a coat? As Naomi was saying, that person may not need a shoe. And so many times what we call love is really people-pleasing. What we call love is looking for significance or acceptance. And sometimes our love has to be to say, "No, I can't do that", choosing to love ourselves. And so that's how I would answer that…

SAMIA: Yeah, yeah. And I, yeah, I take your point. And there's so much of you know, like context. You know like for example, when I think about how Jesus acted or how... like Prophet Muhammad… stories about the Prophet Muhammad… he was like, you know, so, so generous, like, to the point where you know he would... For example, there's a story of, you know, after there was a war, they collected a certain amount of booty and the Prophet, like, gave it all away to the point where he only kept back, like, a date for himself to eat and everything else was given away to other people in need. But the interesting thing was that for the Prophet Muhammad, that date was enough. Like, he didn't need more. He didn't want more. For him, that was enough.  And so he gave everything else away to other people who he saw had need. And so it's… And now I'm remembering the scene from this drama, Indian drama, where they were portraying the life of the Buddha, and there was a scene, a similar… where I thought it was, like, teaching a similar lesson where they showed the Buddha, and he takes, like, one grain of rice, and he eats it, and then he's like, I'm satisfied. This is all that I need. And then he doesn't eat anymore, and he gives it to other people to eat. And from an outside perspective, you'd be like, "Oh, that's so extreme. He only ate one grain of rice. How is that possibly enough? He's going to starve." But actually, he wasn't going to starve. He wasn't starving... For whatever reason, he had reached that point where that was all he needed, and he realized and recognized that that was all he needed, and he didn't take more. Because that was a value that he held, that you don't take more than you need. And so maybe it's partly also, like for us, when we look at these models and how generous they were and how far they went, maybe it's also for us to recognize that we have to build our own capacity to be able to maybe work our way up to being that generous, that giving… If you feel deprived going that far, then you have gone too far for you...
Okay, okay... So, is anything coming up for either of you that you would love to speak about at this moment?

GISELLE: Naomi, any thoughts?

NAOIMI: I have a book launch. I will be launching my book that I have penned for the upcoming year. So I'm excited about that. You can look out for the book of poems. And it's a book that I started penning when I was really young... I would say 13, 15, to this age. So it's an accumulation of all my woes, my pains, my joys, calling out to my God, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm really excited about that. So you can look out for that. And I don't know, Apostle, is there anything that you would like to share that you have coming up?

GISELLE: Well, for me, I believe that self-love, as we are talking, all of us, I'm listening to us... I'm listening to myself. I'm listening to Samia. I'm listening to you, Naomi. And self-love is a journey... Love is a journey... Happiness is a journey... Purpose is a journey... And the thing that makes a lot of people feel so broken is that we want purpose now. But it's a walking out of that daily. It's making choices daily. And maybe now, December 2023, we may be saying, it's enough. I love myself enough. I'm happy. But next year, we may say there's a higher bar, there's a higher place. For me, I just want to leave with everyone that we must realize that purpose is about just coming to that place... We may never be able to give a grain of… to live on one grain of rice, but we may and feel happy giving away that 75%.

NAOIMI: Yes…

GISELLE: It's all about bringing value to the lives of others. True happiness and true blessing is being a blessing…

NAOIMI: True.

GISELLE: You know, that whatever we do, we should try to make humanity better and really loving others, letting others know they appreciated, their value, seek to be that kind of person that helps people overall, you know, not to feel loved, but to know that they are loved.

NAOIMI: Correct.

SAMIA: That's awesome. You know, you make me think about one of my very favorite people here in Los Angeles. She's a leader in the Muslim community, in the interfaith community, and she had a podcast for a while. And in her podcast, she would always ask her guests… and I think given what we have been talking about, I will ask you the same question. And she was like, "What is your favorite way or best way that you love to fill your cup?" So I'll ask that of each of you. And Naomi, if you would maybe go first.

NAOIMI: I love filling my cup with kids. I love children. I love, love, love children, and I love to see children become, you know... I love to see that spark in their eyes when they just feel loved. Like if they were neglected for a long while and, you know, you just showed them… all children need is tender love and care. They don't need to be…. You know, I love to see children happy, healthy, full, eating, joyful. And that's something that I've always done. Whether it's the neighbor, whether it's friend’s children. They're always in my home. They're always in my home. I will cook a big pot of food. I'm just happy to see them happy. And that fills my cup till it runs over. You know and I am hoping that in the future, I don't need ten houses. One house is good for me, that I could have something of like a home for children, you know, where I could feed them and help them just identify their talents and have fun and play… and just children should be children... They should not be forced to be adults. So that fills my cup till it run it over Samia, that really makes me happy. So that's my thing.

GISELLE: Well, I would say mine is twofold. I love filling my cup by singing, listening to music, that just fills me up. In that place where I'm singing, I have a lot of inspiration, a lot of downloads, and even getting into that secret place of worship and singing. That's where vision and a lot of ideas birth for me…. Business… things that I've birthed… products, books… things that I've birthed came of that place. Even songs from that secret place. That's where I fill my cup. And one of the biggest ways that I feel that I can continue to fill my cup as well is when I receive just being able, out of that overflow, to pour into someone else. Because that brings me the biggest joy ever. Letting someone else have a portion of that joy in what I've received. Yeah, that's me…

NAOIMI: Yeah…

SAMIA: Awesome. You know what? I will ask you both another question because... And Naomi, actually, you brought this up as a challenge that we can face in our journeys of self-love. But also I know that this is a challenge that we face when we are working on living our lives of purpose, finding our purpose, living our purpose... And that is a challenge of distraction and going off the straight path, as it were. It's like we know what our purpose is. We know what we need to do to love ourselves more and better and to live our purpose more and better. But we get distracted. It's like a huge challenge in our lives. So, Naomi, your number one advice on how can we not get distracted? How can we stay more focused? And the same for you, Apostle Giselle. But Naomi, first…

NAOIMI: I would say that to relieve yourself of your distractions, I would say set clear goals. Clear, clear, clear goals. That's something that I practice daily. You can set mediocre goals, you know. Not mediocre, but short-term goals, in terms of day-to-day. Okay, I need to start exercising more. I need to spend more time in my word or meditating. I need, you know, to start giving more… or anything like that. That's short-term goals. I need to do this at the bank. I need to do this at the office. I need to help the orphanage. But then there are long-term goals where, okay, I need to get to this place, I need to go higher, you know... So I need to attain this to help do this… you know to do something bigger, bigger picture than just me you know, or I need to travel to be able to go and do missions and all these things. So for me, what really gives me the dedication and the discipline, as Apostle would say, is, yes, find your why, but also set clear goals. Now, you don't have to be like in the army, but you have to have an idea, "Okay, this is where I'm at and this is where I need to be", and exercise that self-discipline to get there. So that's what I would say that helps me to avoid being distracted or taking too many detours…

GISELLE: That's brilliant, that's brilliant. Thanks for that Naoimi. For me, I would say it's writing that vision and making it very plain. So when that vision is on the wall and you're seeing, this is my overall plan. This is the blueprint. This is the vision. This is the goal. This is the thing that I am here to do on the earth. I must leave this mark… because the word man actually means to make a mark. And so this is the mark that I'm going to leave on the earth. This is my why here... And so because of this, this is what January, February, March looks like. This is what Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdays look like. And then you realize that life starts having this pattern where Monday is my this day, Wednesday, it's my day that I'm fasting.  Friday, it's my... And that helps. And so when you put that in, you can always press that button and say, I'll call you back. Or you can go on the phone and turn off those notifications because you don't want to look at WhatsApp before 10:00 a.m. So it's these little things. When you set these big goals, as she rightly said, have that vision on the wall, every day, you know that this is what I'm doing and this is what I'm not doing. And always be willing to be flexible because life happens. But overall, get back on track as soon as possible. GPS getting off track, but you find that place to get you right back on track and stay in focus.

NAOIMI: ..would…

SAMIA: Yeah….

GISELLE: Life knows how, life knows how to get you out of balance and keep pulling you every direction. So we've got to get... You know what? I've got to get back on course.

SAMIA: Yes. That is so true. That is so true. And I think one of the most loving lessons that we learn from our faith is that, God, in His mercy and love is always open to us coming back. So no matter how long a detour you have taken, how big the detour was, you can always come back. And there's always, you know, that loving presence waiting for you to come back. So thank you so much to both of you for sharing your love and your wisdom, and man. We could definitely keep talking lots longer, but you know what? I will start to wrap up for today. And I would love to have you both come back and maybe even just do one episode focusing on each of you because each of you has such amazing wisdom to share that, you know, I would love to dig deeper in with you. But until we connect next time, you know, I will just remind our audience, our listeners, to please check the show notes because we will drop Naomi's and Apostle Giselle's links in there so you can connect with them and get more help and support whenever you're ready for it. And until next time, I just wish you lots and lots of peace and joy... :)

NAOIMI: Thank you for having us. Lot's of love, everyone. Likewise. :)

GISELLE: Yes, that's right. Enjoyed it totally. :)

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Samia Bano, Happiness Expert

Samia Bano is the #HappinessExpert, author, speaker, podcaster & coach for coaches and healers. Samia is most known for her book, 'Make Change Fun and Easy' and her #podcast of the same name. With the help of her signature Follow Your Heart Process™, a unique combination of #PositivePsychology and the spiritual wisdom of our most effective #ChangeMakers, Samia helps you overcome #LimitingBeliefs, your chains of fear, to develop a #PositiveMindset and create the impact and income you desire with fun and ease… Samia’s advanced signature programs include the Happiness 101 Class and the Transformative Action Training. Samia is also a Certified #ReikiHealer and Crisis Counselor working to promote #MentalHealthAwareness. Samia models #HeartCenteredLeadership and business that is both #SociallyResponsible and #EnvironmentallyFriendly. Samia is a practicing #Muslim with an inter-spiritual approach. As someone who has a love and appreciation for diversity, she is a #BridgeBuilder between people of different faiths and cultures. Although Samia currently lives in California, USA, she has lived in 3 other countries and speaks Hindi, Urdu, and English fluently.

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