How to Create a Life Outside the Box

“Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a fucking sharp knife to it.”

Banksy

Yesterday I did a medical intuitive reading with a young man who was having what I refer to as a break down in order to break through.

Although not typically a depressed person, he had noticed that recently he had trouble getting out of bed or even bothering to eat.

He was referred to me by a regular client who felt sure I could help him.

Even though he had excelled in school, he graduated in 2008 during the last recession.

Although he had also excelled at various jobs, he felt betrayed by corporate America, disillusioned with the current government and unsure what to do to get out of his current funk.

“You’re not an in the box person,” I explained to this young man, who I will call Harry.

“You don’t even like the box.

“You hate the box.”

It takes one to know one!

When I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University in 1981, if someone had told me I would be making a living as a medical intuitive healer I would have simply laughed in their face.

I remember the first time a friend, trying to be helpful, told me, “Catherine, you would love yoga.”

I retorted, “Yoga is for wimps.”

And yet here we are!

If I had not followed my passions, if I had not studied all over the world with the best teachers in natural healing I could find, if I had not created the space to allow myself to write not just one but 10 books we would be having a totally different conversation.

Many of the happiest, most creative and successful people I know are not in the box people.

Even though I work out of my house, work with my right hand dog Dixie, walk in the forest daily and have time to meditate and teach yoga, my house and car are paid for, I have no debt, I met yesterday with my investment advisors at Morgan Stanley and I have practical plans to insure my financial stability well into old age.

So how do you pull this off?

From the vantage point of age 60 – an age when all this might by now appear easy – please allow me to share my guidance:

• Figure out what you would be doing with your time even if nobody paid you.
• Give yourself permission to be as weird and wonderful as you actually are because other people want to be themselves also.
• Find your tribe.
• Discover a way to communicate how you can actually help people because being successful is really about serving others.
• No debt.

So let’s break this down.

Figure out what you would be doing with your time even if nobody paid you. Even if nobody paid me a dime the rest of my life, I would still want to be helping, nurturing, guiding, teaching, inspiring, uplifting, calming and reassuring other people. Even when other people do not know who I am or what I do for a living they ask me to do this any way. Once you figure out what you love to do, as they say you will never work another day in your life. I literally wake up every day looking forward to doing what I do. This is the essence of happiness and being happy solves so many other problems in life it’s not even funny. I’m not taking antidepressants because I hate my job. I’m not dragging myself to the office to pay the rent even though I hate my boss. I do what I do out of love, fascination, passion and curiosity.

Give yourself permission to be as weird and wonderful as you actually are because other people want to be themselves also. I started claiming my talent as a medical intuitive healer around the time I turned 50. By that age of course I had been studying and practicing natural healing since the age of about 34. I was at the Apple store learning how to use my computer and somebody there told me he could help me learn how to set up my own blog. What to write about, I wondered? A friend said to me, “The skill you have as a medical intuitive can not be taught or learned.” It seemed a bit scary to proclaim who I already was and what I had already been doing, but then again by the age of 50, you are too tired of bullshit (the technical term) to be anyone other than who you actually are. The more I have embraced my intuition, my gift of being able to read what’s wrong and what will work to make people better the easier my life has become.

Find your tribe. It’s a lot easier to be your weird and wonderful self if you find other people just like you. One of the greatest trips in my life happened in 2009. Don Dennis, the founder of Living Tree Orchid Essences, invited me to come for free and stay in a castle on the Isle of Gigha in Scotland with five other healers from around the world. Suddenly I was surrounded by women as intuitive as I am and as curious about natural healing, orchids, flower essences and the natural world as I am. Every day we took flower essences and meditated on the healing properties that we perceived from each one. Supposedly there is at least one person on the planet just like you. Even on the boat over to the Isle of Gigha I met a lady from Finland, Nina Hovik, who I am certain is my soul twin. Her hobbies include making jewelry, she is a Reiki master teacher and she has been a healer for decades. My heart leaps with joy every time I remember that trip and meeting all those sweet, kind, bubbly women!

Discover a way to communicate how you can actually help people because being successful is really about serving others. All business is about solving problems. Think of your average tire store. People need tire stores because sooner or later the tires on your car will wear out. You need someone at the tire store to talk with you about your car, explain to you what kind of tires will work best and help you put the new tires on your car. To support yourself outside the box you have to be able to explain to people how you can help them. Here’s my pitch. I can help you figure out what’s really going on with your physical body, energy system, emotions, mind and soul and also figure out what will make you healthy and radiantly happy. Every blog I write and every book I’ve published are just detailed further expositions on this subject. I give you tool after tool and insight after insight. I figure I can give away every piece of knowledge in my head but you’ll still need me because I can put it all together for you faster and more easily than you could ever do yourself.

No debt. Recently a friend who had worked for corporations her entire adult life quit to start her own business. “Would you like my advice?” I asked her. “No,” she replied. So I kept my mouth shut. What I wanted to say was keep your overhead low. When you find a way to live and work with little to no expenses many wonderful things happen. Number one, if and when the economy turns south you can still support yourself. Number two, once you are no longer in debt you can start saving and accumulating money towards your long-term financial security. Number three, there’s simply less pressure. You won’t have to gross $20K a month in your business to cover $20K in expenses. I learned this valuable lesson a long time ago from a client who is a multimillionaire. “The key to business is low overhead,” he explained to me. I have resisted opening an office outside my home. If there’s something I can do myself I do it. This year not only did I write two books I also painted the outside of my house with my handyman Paul Christopher Banks, who covered the tall person’s areas and the trim. I figured I saved myself at least $10K by discovering my inner painter at age 60. I find business partners who are reasonably priced, honest, hard working and reliable just like I am. The bottom line is that when you have no debt you are suddenly in a privileged place of absolute freedom. You don’t have to work like a slave and you don’t have to act like one.

What is healing? Healing happens when you recognize when and if you are not an in the box person and you give yourself permission to create a glorious, rewarding life outside the box.

To set up an appointment for a medical intuitive reading or healing work, please email catherine@catherinecarrigan or call 678-612-8816. If you are calling internationally, please call me at the same number through WhatsApp so I can return your call toll free!