001: The start of my spiritual journey

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Hi everyone, thank you so, so much for joining me today. My name is Marten, as most of you probably know, and this is the Canny Crystals podcast. Can you believe it? A podcast on crystals and Manifesting! Amazing. Thank you all so, so much. I just want to start by saying thank you to a couple of people who've put me onto podcasting. So the first is Eltinian. We started off by having a conversation on Instagram discussing things like what books we'd read and what podcasts we'd listened to in regards to the law of attraction and manifesting and things like that. And the second is Josie Baxter, who's also my PT, and she put the idea into my head a couple of weeks ago, and she was like, you know what, you'll be so good at podcasting, and there's a real market out there at the moment for podcasts on self-improvement and things like that. So I thought, you know what, why not? So I literally came home from the gym and ordered a microphone, ordered all the equipment, went in the next day, and I was like, Josie, guess what I bought? So yeah, so that's where we are right now. So each week I plan to deep delve into a topic on self-improvement. It doesn't always have to be about crystals, like I say, it could be about anything spiritual. So I'm going to deep delve into meditation, mindfulness, things like that. And a few surprise guests might pop up throughout the show. And I've also got a section at the very end for your burning questions as well. So let's just get right into it. How did I start out on my spiritual journey and get into crystals and manifesting and the law of attraction and all that jazz? Okay, let's rewind it. Let's go right back to the very start. So I've been working for the NHS for a number of years in the UK, and I left my job to help out a friend who was opening a restaurant. He wanted me to be an operations manager for the restaurant, and I thought, you know what, it's better money, it'll probably be more fun, let's just go for it, let's just this C, okay? So I quit my job after 10 years in the NHS, okay? I went to work in this restaurant where I found myself coming home daily drained, sluggish. I wasn't getting much sleep, I wasn't eating properly, which is ironic because it was a healthy eating restaurant, and I just didn't feel like myself anymore. I felt like the life had totally been sucked out of me. It all happened around about November, December time as well, so it was really long dark nights, things like that. And I was coming home on an evening and crying most nights into pillow, and I just felt like I'd been totally defeated, and I had this defeatist attitude come over me. And it got to the January time, and I just thought, you know what, no job is worth this. I was really spiraling with my mental health, and I just thought, you know what, no job is worth this. I'm going to quit my job. So I spoke to my partner about it, and he was totally supportive, and he said, like, at the end of the day, if it's affecting your mental health, why are you even in that job anyway? You can get a million other jobs. You're really talented. You've got loads of qualifications. 'Just go for it, try and get back in the NHS if you want to do that.' So I basically looked around and I thought, 'Do you know what? I'm worth more than this,' and I handed in my notice without the premise of another career. I was really down in the dumps, and one of my friends suggested that I read a book called The Secret. Now, I'd heard a few of my friends had read this before, but I'd never really given it any notice myself. And I had a look at it on Amazon and I just thought, 'You know what? It's £7.99, let's just order it, let's just see what it's about.', and I read it one day and I went through the entire book in one go. I was gripped and I suddenly thought, oh my God, this is why everything in the past has gone the way that it has. It's all been me and how I've thought things, how I've not been grateful for things, or how I've given my energy to the wrong kind of situations, if that makes sense. And if you haven't read it, go away and read it because it's an amazing book. It's called The Secret, it's by Rhonda Byrne. Go away and read it if you haven't already, it's a great book. So yeah, there I was having this realization that everything in my life had been caused because of the way that I thought. So I started Googling about manifesting and manifestations and when's the best time to manifest, and I got totally sucked into the phases of the moon and things to boost your manifestation. So for example, crystals. I just started Googling crystals that are really good for depression and anxiety, and I didn't really take it seriously until someone that I knew opened up a crystal shop, okay? And she opened it up online, and I just bought some off her on a whim, basically, because I thought, "Oh, I'll support her," do you know what I mean? You support your friends. And the crystals came, and I just started meditating with them daily and visualizing exactly what I wanted in my life. Slowly but surely, things started happening, and I thought, "Is this because I've got a positive mindset because I'm not employed and not being drove into the ground anymore, or is this something to do with the crystals and is there more to it? Anyway, the weeks went by, I was still struggling for employment, and I had a huge holiday coming up that was to celebrate my 30th birthday. My partner was taking me to Thailand. I couldn't go away without any spending money or anything like that, so I started trying to manifest abundance and wealth and prosperity. So I started Googling, what's the best crystals for prosperity and abundance and wealth and attracting money towards you? And I went on my friend's site and I ordered citrine, pyrite, jade, green aventurine, anything that I thought was going to help me, okay? And on a daily basis, I was putting them out in the sun to charge them, I was cleansing them in water, I was then bringing them in the bath with me and things like that, and I was sitting with them in my hands visualizing that wealth coming to me, but I was really feeling it as if I already had it, okay? So I was literally sat there thinking, What if I couldn't afford to pay my water bill? What if I couldn't afford electricity? And I just thought, how would my life be different if I couldn't afford these things? And therefore I was feeling gratitude and being grateful for what I already had. Although I had no money in the bank, I sat there and I wrote myself a check for £3,500. It's part of The Secret to write yourself a check and be really grateful as if you've already got that money in your bank sat there waiting for you. And I wrote myself that check. Every day when I saw that check, I would be grateful and thankful that I had that £3,500, okay? And all I was thinking is, that is my money for Thailand. Now, a couple of weeks passed and I got an email from ITV, okay? I've been on a few game shows over the years, and, um, ITV emailed me and said that they were going to use my application form from a previous show for me to apply for the new series of Tipping Point. Now, if you don't know what Tipping Point is, it's a UK game show. It's on ITV every day at like 4 o'clock. If you get a question right, you win a counter. You then put the counter in the machine and it goes down, you know, like them 2p machines at the arcade. And whatever falls out of the machine, every coin is worth £50. That's basically the premise of the show. Anyway, I applied for this show just on a whim, thought nothing of it. A month later, I was meditating, thinking about this money that's going to come to me, thinking about all the things I was going to buy while I was in Thailand on holiday. And sure enough, my phone started buzzing. When I looked at it, It was an unknown number. I very nearly didn't answer. Something inside me said, "Answer the call." I answered, and it was one of the producers from ITV wanting me to go in for an interview, bit like an audition. Of course, I agreed, and a couple of weeks later, off I was in the middle of Newcastle in a hotel. And there I was, sat in a room with about 40 other people, a couple of cameras in front of me, and 2 or 3 producers. One by one, We got sat in a chair facing the camera, and we were told to talk about ourselves for 3 minutes nonstop. Now, 3 minutes is a long time, and I started flustering, obviously really nervous about my go. And then when I got there in front of the camera, I totally flunked it. I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. Everyone was laughing at everything I said, and I just rambled. I literally rambled and rambled for the full 3 minutes. I came out a little deflated, and I just thought, you know what, I probably didn't get that, but never mind. A couple of days later, I was out shopping with one of my friends and my phone started ringing. You can guess who it was. The producers at ITV loved the video that they were sent of me. They thought it was hilarious. They thought it was really, really funny that I just stumbled and just started talking about random crap, basically. And they said that they would love for me to be part of the show. Being in the situation I was in, I was currently unemployed. I'd left a job that I hated, I'd left a job in the NHS, didn't know where my life was heading, and I just thought, oh my God, this was meant to be. I've been sent this money, the crystals have worked, what on earth is going on? So obviously I accepted, and they sent me an email saying that I would be flown down to Bristol to the ITV studios where it's filmed. I'll be put up in a hotel overnight, all expenses paid. I'd have my flights and accommodation all paid for. And I just thought, you know what, even if I don't win— because even if you're a contestant on the show and you don't win, you don't come away with any money whatsoever— but I just thought, you know what, it's a day out. So you better believe the day before, I took The Secret with me. I had it by this point on audiobook on Audible, I had it in a physical format, I was watching it on Netflix on my phone all the time. I was literally implanting that message from The Secret in my head over and over and over again. When I was out in my car driving, it would be on Audible. When I'd be sat in bed, I'd be reading like 2 or 3 pages a night. If I was in the living room and just cleaning up or something like that, I would put that shit on Netflix, okay? That message was constantly going in my head. Like attracts like. You are what you think. You attract your life. So anyway, I got to this hotel I had all my crystals out, I put them all out, and I just thought, you know what, these are going to help me attract abundance. Now I started Googling things like how to attract luck and how to manifest luck because I knew fine well that I was going to need a hell of a lot of luck if I was going to win this game show. I started reading something about binaural beats. Now I'll do an episode on this later because it is fascinating. So basically it's subliminal messaging but it's subliminal messages across music, okay? So that music is being pumped into your ears and there's subliminal messages on with positive affirmations in the background, such as, 'I am really happy now that I am wealthy and lucky.' 'I am the most knowledgeable person on the earth.' That kind of thing, okay? And if those messages are going into your psyche and into your subliminal thoughts, then that message is being believed by your brain, okay? So I pop my headphones on I started meditating. I put this track on that was basically subliminal messages, and I fell asleep. I woke up and it was 5 o'clock in the morning. I didn't have a clue where I was. These subliminal messages are still playing away in my head. I could still hear this weird music, but I felt totally different. And I just thought, you know what, it's 5 AM. I don't usually rise before 7, if you know me. But it's 5 AM. Let's just get up and let's get going. I put my trainers on. I went out for a run out of the hotel. I came back, I had a really, really healthy breakfast, I got myself dressed, and I used that as kind of my ritual to prep myself for the day, okay. I knew that I was going to win this money. I knew that I was going to be the winner. I knew in my head, I was saying, "I am so thankful that I have won Tipping Point. I'm so grateful." I started even writing out a text message to send to my boyfriend to say, "I have just won £3,500." And I kept that image in my head all day long. A taxi came and picked me up from the hotel and took me to ITV Studios. I went through hair and makeup, and the whole time there was a younger girl with me. I think she was called Caitlin, and she was on the show as well, the same episode as me. But she kept on saying, "Oh, I bet any money I'll be the first one out. I'm not very good at game shows." And I just thought to myself, she's affirming to herself that she's going to be the first one out. And guess what? She was the first one out on the first round. She had affirmed that message to herself. She knew and she believed that she was going to be the first one out. She knew she wasn't going to win, and she affirmed that to herself over and over again so much that it became true. The cogs in my head started turning, and I thought, you know what, she did this to herself. So in between every round, I made sure that while the podiums were being reconfigured and the presenter was having a drink and that kind of thing, I would go backstage and I would be saying thank you so much, and I kept saying thank you to everyone as if I'd just won the jackpot. I didn't care who I was saying it to, I was saying it to the cameraman, I was saying it to the sound guys, and I just kept saying thank you, thank you, oh my God, thank you so much. And they must have thought, oh my God, he's cracking up, you haven't won yet. But I kept on saying it so that I actually believed it. And sure enough, guess who got to the end? Guess who the winning contestant was? Me. Now, I'd said to my partner the night before, I'm going to win this, I'm going to win £3,500. And he was like, yeah, whatever, Martin. And I just thought, you know what, that's 2 months' worth of wages, that's 2 months that I've been unemployed, this will be perfect. £3,500. I wasn't going to be greedy. I mean, you can win £10,000 on the show, but I believed that I was due 2 months' worth of wage, which for me at the time was £3,500. And guess how much I ended up winning? Yep, you guessed it, £3,500. You couldn't have made that shit up. It was exactly how I'd envisaged it. It was exactly how it happened, and it was the exact amount that I had thought of. I was straight on the phone the second I'd won. The camera stopped rolling, I rang my boyfriend, and I said, "Guess how much I've won?" And he said, "£3,500." He thought I was joking. I wasn't joking. And that's when I realized the law of attraction, manifesting, crystals— there's more to the world than just sitting back and watching it go by. Now, when I thought about this all the way home, I was thinking, do you know what, I've got a really religious auntie who prays all the time, and I just thought, she is a Christian, what if her prayers were just her intentions that she was putting out to the universe? And then I thought, oh my God, witches use spells, what if they're just intentions put out to the universe? And suddenly my whole life just flashed before me, and I thought, all the times that I've had bad things happen to me.

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Wayfair, every style, every home. It's because of my intentions and my gratitude and the way that I've perceived everything. Now I know that that might sound absolutely batshit crazy to anyone listening, but there are little exercises all the way through the Secret book Things just like manifest in something very simple, like a feather for example, and it'll help you to believe. Once you start believing the smaller things, you'll start manifesting bigger things and bigger things until you start manifesting exactly what you want. Now, just even a couple of weeks ago, my follower count on TikTok was dire, and I was looking at it thinking, how can I get this follower count up? What can I do? I saw a video about manifesting on a new moon and using crystals to help out. So obviously I just went for it. I wrote down on a piece of paper that I wanted at least 50,000 followers and at least 1 million views on this video. I wanted to have 100 orders overnight, and I thought, you know what, if this happens, I know it's the law of attraction because that would never have happened for me. I would have 3 to 5 orders a day perhaps. I recorded a video on it I did exactly what I said I was going to do, and I went to sleep. The next morning, I woke up. You better believe I had 2.1 million views on that video. I had 55,000 followers. I couldn't believe it. I looked at my Shopify. Oh my God, there was over 100 orders. I could not believe what was happening. My PayPal was pinging every 2 seconds. I had orders coming out of my ears. I very nearly had to ring one of my friends to say, you're gonna have to come and help us. It was crazy. I spent about 7 or 8 hours that day packing orders, but the whole time I was doing it, I was like, I am so grateful for this. I am thankful. I can't believe that this has happened, but I'm so grateful that it has. And everything just fit into place. And that's just one little example of something huge that I've managed to manifest in the last couple of weeks alone. So what I want to do next week is look at how to manifest and what kind of things will help you manifest, you know. 'cause it's all right me telling you all these stories, but how do you then put that into practical use and how do you physically do that yourself, okay? So I'm gonna go into a bit more detail about that next week. But for the last 10 minutes of this episode, let's go at the question and answers. So earlier this week on my Instagram, which is @cannycrystals, I asked what were the burning questions that you had. There were 70 questions submitted. I couldn't have been happier at the response. So Rosie Blake has asked, if you could only work with one crystal for the rest of your life, which would it be? Now this is quite a hard question for me because labradorite is an amazing crystal. I love how it absorbs negative energies and things like that, and I just love the look of it. But if I was going to go for an all-rounder crystal, I would probably be tempted to say natural citrine. I just feel so connected to it when I hold it in my hands, and obviously it's like a little ray of sunshine. It picks you up when you're down. It's really, really it's like, like such a happy stone, and obviously it brings prosperity and happiness and luck and wealth and abundance. And I think when you have all them things in your life, you're pretty happy anyway. So I'm probably going to say citrine on that one. Um, Tony, T-O-N_1-I, has asked how to manifest and set intentions without making yourself feel silly for asking. Well, like I say, I will go into this a lot deeper next week, but why do you feel silly for asking? This is something that you're entitled to as a person. You are a creator, okay? You're a creator in this universe. There is nothing to stop you. Why should you feel silly for wanting happiness? Why should you feel silly for wanting something that's going to make your life a lot better? It might feel silly when you're manifesting. It is all about make-believe. It's tricking your brain basically into thinking that it's already got what has happened. And I can see what you mean, it might seem a bit silly, but like I say, I'm all for being silly if it means that I'm going to get my happiness. But yeah, I'll go into that a bit more detail in next week's episode when I talk about manifestations and intentions. And she also asks, crystals for beginners, which ones would you suggest to start with, etc.? Again, I've got an episode on this coming up, but I'd say probably the main ones for me— I think when I first started, my first main ones were amethyst because I thought it was a really good all-rounder crystal, um, clear quartz, citrine, green aventurine, jade, and pyrite. Now obviously at the time all I was trying to do was manifest luck and abundance and prosperity and wealth. So I think it all really depends on what it is that you're trying to achieve and what it is that you're wanting as the outcome. But like I say, there is an episode coming up on this in a couple of weeks' time where I'll discuss crystals in great detail. Kyla Kenyon_ asks, does cleansing crystals take away all their energy or just the negative energy? Now this is a great question. So I initially thought it just took away all of the negative energy but I've since learned that when you cleanse a crystal, you're basically doing a factory reset. So every time you cleanse your crystals, you should then hold it in your hand again to set your intentions all over again. If you don't, the crystal isn't going to know what it is that you're trying to achieve. You've just erased its memory, technically. So whenever I get a new crystal, I cleanse it, I sit with it, and I meditate, and I set its intentions. Then I carry it around and notice it in my pocket, or notice it in my hand, or notice it even on my desk all day long. The next time I go to cleanse that crystal, I know that I've got to do that process all over again. I wouldn't just cleanse it and then pick it up and continue to use it. I would cleanse it, I would again sit with it, meditate, set its intentions. Eltinian.x has asked, what was your first ever crystal? Now, my first ever crystal, I remember this from years and years and years ago. I don't know if anyone's familiar with the area, but there's a coastal town on the northeast well, it's more like North Yorkshire, called Whitby. And when you go there, they have like a big goth weekend, and they have a lot of witchcraft shops and witchcraft supplies, things like that. And I used to go in and be absolutely obsessed when I was younger. And I remember buying a green stone along with a little luck spell, and the woman behind the counter told me that it was jade. Okay, so for years I had this little crystal that I used to take away everywhere thinking it was like this lucky stone and things like that. And it wasn't until about 4 years ago when I came across this stone again when I'd moved out of my mom's house that I realized it was actually prayernite. It wasn't even jade in the first place. So yeah, my first ever crystal was prayernite. And she also asks, what's your favorite way to bring your vibration up after a dip? I get asked this question all the time, so I think it's different for every individual, but for me it's coming home with my dog, getting him ready and going out for a walk. Doesn't matter where I am in the world, it's just the comfort thing for me. Coming back, getting him ready, going out for a long walk, just walking along the riverside in Newcastle, along the quayside and things like that. It's just so soothing, so serene, it's dead calm. I usually put my headphones in and listen to a podcast or listen to a self-help book, and that really helps to raise my vibration. I could have had the crappiest day ever but if I go out on a walk and I switch off from the world, that really, really helps me. I used to just sit with me head in me phone, and in recent years I've found that that's probably exacerbating things and making things a hell of a lot worse than they actually are. But seriously, I swear by just getting out there, getting some fresh air, just doing it on your own. You don't have to make conversation, you can put whatever you want on in your headphones and just breathing. And she also asks— that's 3 questions— um, what's been your favourite book on self-improvement, crystals, and life? Well, I think as I've mentioned through, throughout the podcast today, my first ever book on this kind of thing was The Secret, and the writer of that, Rhonda Byrne, she also has another book called The Magic, and it's a 28-day self-help book. So basically you read one chapter every day, and every single day she gives you something to do, like a little task, an activity. So the first day, for example, it's about gratitude, and it's write down 10 things that you're grateful for within your and then the second day it'll be something like, think of 3 relationships in your life, write down 3 things that you're grateful for each of those 3 things. And initially you look at it and you think, have I got to do this every day for 28 days? And you build on it, so it is different things each day. I mean, some days you're just saying thank you for the air that you breathe and things like that. And it does seem a bit weird at first, but it doesn't half bring your gratitude up, because I mean, at first I looked at it and I thought, I've got to write 10 things that I'm grateful for for 28 days. That's 280 things to be grateful for. Now, if you said to me, think of 280 things that you're grateful for, I'd probably be able to list 4 or 5, and then I'd probably start stumbling. But when you're doing it on a daily basis, and it's just the little things that would have a major knock-on effect. So, for example, I'll get up, I'll have a shower. As I'm showering, I'm thinking, I'm so grateful for this hot water. And then the cogs turn through your head, and you just think, what would it mean if I didn't have a shower? I would have to go the day stinking. Imagine going into work not having a shower and being around people in the gym not having had a shower, and it starts making you look at life differently. So even just being grateful for the small little things, such as having a shower or being able to brush your teeth, or the fact that you've actually had a bed to lie on overnight, or the fact that you've had a duvet on your bed— some people don't have anything like that, and it's just being grateful for the little things. So that book is called The Magic, and it's a 28-day practice, like I say, but it really does change the way that you think about life and having gratitude in life. Lauren Richie 97 has asked, what's your morning or nighttime routine and ideas for manifesting, etc.? Well, first thing in the morning, what I like to do is as soon as I get up, I sit up in bed, I have a little journal at the side of my bedside, and I like to write down 3 things that I'm grateful for for the day ahead. Okay, so I like to pre-plan the day, so to speak. So if I know that I'm going to be going into a meeting with work I'll write something like, "I am so happy and grateful that the meeting was a success and that I got a lot out of it." If I knew that I had an exam coming up or something like that, I would write something along the lines of, "I'm so happy and grateful that my exam went to plan and that it was really easy and that I absolutely flew through it." And then I do exactly the same thing at night. So I lie in bed, and just before I go to sleep, I write in my journal 3 things that could have gone better throughout the day. So if I'd had a bit of an altercation or something with a colleague or something like that, I'll rewrite it in my journal as to how it should have gone and how I would have liked it to have gone, almost rewrite the day. And I find that that helps because it's changing that negative attitude into a positive one, and it's making you look at the situation in a brand new light and not in a negative way. I've also had loads and loads of questions today, like the one from @theonly_conor who's asked Manifestations and the Law of Attraction and how to apply these to everyday life, including job and health. I think a beginner's guide for Muppets like me. Like I say, I've got an episode coming next week all about manifestations. A lot of these questions have been about manifestation, but I'll talk about it in a lot more depth next week, and we'll look at how exactly you can manifest exactly what you want in your life. But for now, I just want to say thank you so much for listening. This podcast, although only 20 to 25 minutes, has took me about 6 hours to bloody record because I'm such technophobe. So yeah, bear with us, and I hope you join us again for next week. If you're on TikTok, you can follow me on there. My handle is @cannycrystals. It's the same handle as Instagram, which is also @cannycrystals. Pop me a message, ask a question for the next week's episode. If you're interested in boring pictures of gardens and dogs, you can follow my personal if you like. It's @marttweedie. And like I said at the start, don't forget to visit cannycrystals.co.uk Thank you so much. I'll see you next week.

Bye. You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank? Wayfair gets it. Planning on dining alfresco or relaxing poolside? Wayfair has everything you need to prep your space. Shop now and save up to 70% off during Wayfair's Fourth of July Clearance. Score huge deals on outdoor furniture, area rugs, and more. We're talking thousands of products for every style and budget. Plus, surprise flash deals July 6th. Don't wait. Shop Wayfair's Fourth of July Clearance now through July 6th at wayfair.com.

Wayfair. Every style. Every home.