Find Your Purpose and Manifest Your Vision with Danielle Faust

This weekly podcast inspires you to step outside of your comfort zone. My name is Zaakirah Muhammad, and I'm your host of the Living Legacy Podcast. I am a cancer survivor, brand cultivating strategist, author, and world traveler. This Living Legacy Podcast features women of purpose sharing stories of resilience. They are single and married. They are artists and entrepreneurs who run businesses and juggle parenthood. If you are ready to hear interviews about professionalism, entrepreneurship, travel, life, and love, you are in the right place. They will share stories of how they overcame adversity while seeing life through a different lens. Let's get into it.

So today's guest on the Living Legacy Podcast is Danielle Faust. She's actually a certified life and wellness coach. She was certified through NYU. Danielle helps busy women manifest the life that they've always dreamed of. But before that, she was a blogger, a one-on-one consultant with blog and video content. She has very cool digital products and now physical products. So she's been blogging since 2009. She's based in South Florida, and I'm from Fort Lauderdale, so I love the fact that we can talk all things Florida. But we actually first got connected online when we were both blogging around the same time. I officially started blogging around 2011, '12, and '13. So at that time, that's when Facebook communities were huge for encouraging other people to make sure that they have the support they need as bloggers because it's a very hard industry. And then after that, she has continued to live her own purpose of helping to guide women through life on a deeper level through psychic and intuitive readings. So she has a very down-to-earth vibe and she brings that vibe on her podcast Manifested Sis, which which helps women also to live their best life. So when she's not giving her all in her business, which she surely does, she can be found playing with her 2 kids and binge-watching or Netflix and chilling with her husband, Impacting Nike, on Friends and Family. So today we're going to talk about that transition from blogging to finding your purpose, as well as manifestation and nutrition, self-care, because it's very important at any time of the year, and life in Florida. But also, I feel like a topic that is not commonly discussed that I feel like we both can relate to is how to cope with grief. So, hi, Danielle, thank you so much for being a guest.

How are you?

Hi, Zaakirah, thank you again for having me on. I'm very excited to be here, happy to talk about anything and everything. You know me a little bit, so you know I love to talk. So let's do this. Thank you for having me.

Yes. So what, in your words, do you say that you do Currently, because you are, I feel like, the queen of pivoting, I would say, of knowing when and where to kind of shift things, but it all still aligned to what you're truly meant to do.

Yeah, you know, I feel like I'm here ultimately to help women live happier, healthier lives, and it's manifested in lots of different ways, um, through over the years. But, uh, right now, I, I would call myself a digital content creator. And a coach consultant with a psychic and intuitive slant. So I am doing readings, like every night I'm doing readings and card pulls and Reiki for my clients on the spiritual side. And then each week I do have consulting clients with people who are starting their blogs and, and online businesses who need my assistance. And on the grander scale, I'm helping with my products, helping women who are learning to manifest And I'm doing one-on-one coaching for manifesting as well. So it's a lot. And now I'm adding on the podcast. But overall, it's— my goal is to help women live happier, healthier lives, empower them to realize that they can do that. So I'm doing it just in lots of different ways.

I love it. I love it. But it's still aligned into what you're genuinely passionate about, right?

Yeah, yeah. Women's wellness is number one. I mean, I started as a personal trainer. And that's like the most superficial level of wellness, right? It's what we can see on the outside. But then it just kind of got deeper and deeper. And I'm helping women transform inside out.

So how did you go about finding your purpose? Tell me about that shift of knowing when it was time to really find your and live your purpose.

So I think I view purpose a little bit differently than a lot of people. I feel like everyone has the same purpose. And that purpose is to get aligned with themselves. So being your best self in order to be aligned with whatever you think is the highest— God, universe, spirit, source, whatever— getting aligned with that. And then from that space, doing what makes you happy, doing what feels exciting. So for me, I get aligned with my highest good, my best version of me right now that I can access. And I push out towards wellness towards women, because that's my, my secondary purpose. But some people's secondary purpose is to help the world by making them laugh, then they're, they're a stand-up comic, or by healing them physically, so they're a doctor. So I feel like we all have the same first purpose that we just have to tune into our best self to be and to find it. And then next is the secondary purpose that we just go by what we're passionate about elsewhere.

What are some tips that you would give for those who are struggling to really get there, especially in these tough times?

Yeah, you know, look at what you like. I mean, okay, so for the, for the primary purpose, it's really all about self-care, personal development, doing what you know makes you feel happy, healthy, whole, aligned, fulfilled personally. And then when you're looking out to say, like, what's my purpose as in career-wise, or how I'm going to help the world at large, it's really about finding what you enjoy. I've always enjoyed wellness, working out, running, that kind of stuff. So that's what led me into personal development and health and physical stuff. So what do you like? Do you like to paint? Do you like to watch movies and then critique the actors? Maybe you're supposed to be a casting director. Who knows? You know, so figure out what it is that you like. And it doesn't have to be grandiose, like, oh, I'm going to save the world. I'm going to be a doctor with Doctors Without Borders. It could be, um, I just like to paint. So I'm going to paint pretty things and people will buy them.

And so for that secondary purpose of, okay, I like what I'm doing, but right now life is in the way. I'm a wife, I'm a mom, but now what? How do I really know? I know that there's more to life. So how do I really dig within and find that?

Yeah, so it's hard, right? Because we want to give 1000% in everything that we're doing. We want to be the best wife, we want to be the number one mom, we want to be the best whatever in our career. And we have to give 100% to us so that we are full enough to go and serve these other places, right? And it's, it's like we put this pressure on ourselves. And so my step one like, release that pressure and know that you can't give 10,000% in every area. And remember that balance is— balance is fake, okay? Because when we hear balance, we think of like evenly holding these different things when no, it's really today this thing gets the most priority and then tomorrow that other thing over there gets the most priority. So it's a— it's a— balance is fluid, right? And I want to encourage you to be fluid with yourself. So if this past week you were just so focused on business or mothering or Staying sane, because we're in this COVID nonsense right now. So if staying sane is what you were trying to do this past week, give yourself that peace to be fluid and then say, hey, tomorrow I'm going to listen to this audiobook about something I'm very passionate about and see what comes up in me, see what stirs in me. It doesn't have to be like all or nothing. Like, okay, well, I know what my purpose is. So now I'm going to go full force towards it. And like, that's the only thing I'm going to do. No, you're still a human being. And you still have to focus on yourself. and everything around you. So it's partially being fluid. It's partially giving yourself grace, but still keeping what you're trying to do for the world and for your career in a high priority level. And that's going to look different for everybody. I'm—

in my book, I also see life through different lenses. I also did mention the power of vision boarding and how I— once I did get the hang of it and how it really did change my life. So tell me about the story of how it also changed your life and came into your life.

So, oh man, I read a book way, way back in the beginning of my kind of personal development journey called Creative Visualization. It's by Shakti Gawain. Get it. Everyone listening, just buy it, please. Okay. That said, and this is not sponsored by her book either. But that said, I read that book. I took it to heart, y'all. And I did all the little activities in there. And I have been such a big fan of visualization ever since. Whether it's with a vision board or not. But specifically for vision boards, I love it. First of all, it's a fun activity. If you hear a lot about vision boards and it just doesn't seem to resonate with you, or if you try to make it and it feels like, oh, what is this boring arts and crafts project, then don't do it. Because the whole point is for it to raise your vibes. If it's bringing you down or feels like a chore or something that you have to do, just put it aside. Don't do it until it feels aligned. And it might never feel aligned because every tool is not for everybody. So just know that and release yourself of that guilt.

Okay.

That's that. But if it does feel aligned and it feels exciting, as it should, do it. And look at it each day after you build it. You add the pictures of what you're looking to bring into your life, anything that resonates with you that you have pulled together for this book or box or board, because you could do a vision box or a vision book, anything you like. After you've pulled it together, I want you to look at it every day, maybe twice a day, and spend a little time just looking at the images and feeling How it would feel to have it right now. Because that's really the thing, the feeling, the emotional feeling state is really what's going to get you there. Thinking about it in your head is great, and that's a wonderful first step, but feel it. Take a second. It takes 5 minutes out of your day to look at it and be like, yes, I'm driving that fancy car. I don't know, whatever it is that you want that's on your vision board, just think about embodying it right now to help raise your vibes into a place where it manifests quicker for you.

This episode is sponsored by Talkspace. Sometimes you just need someone's undivided attention to talk to in a non-judgment matter. If you've already tried therapy, you know that it can be difficult to wait days or weeks until your next appointment. With Talkspace, you can send your therapist a message anytime, anywhere. Whether you're near a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, your conversation carries over seamlessly across devices and uses banking-grade encryption to keep it safe and confidential. Get $150 off your first week with my code 1628448. That's 1628448.

Let's talk about, um, raising vibes, because of course we are humans and life happens, and sometimes, uh, life can get in the way of sometimes we're normally that a vibrant person, but sometimes we either lose those vibrant people in our lives, the people that kind of meant the most to us, or especially in this time, there are so many people who will be losing their loved ones. So what advice would you have for those who are going through that or will go through that?

Man, so this is hard. I lost my baby brother on Christmas 2016. I think about him every single day. It was— I mean, I don't even know if I'm healed from it. I don't know if I can ever heal from it. It was such a profound loss for me. But it took me down. And backstory, I suffered with depression and anxiety for my whole adult life. So that coupled with now grief and losing someone so, so close to me, it was a hard hit. I was like, am I losing my mind? What's going on here? Can I make it through this? Am I going to die from this pain? And sometimes it'll feel that heavy, like I can't live through this. So I'm here to say, yes, you can. You can and you will. So it really is, and as cliché as it sounds, time will help. Now, when you're in the thick of it, don't nobody want to hear time heals all wounds. Whenever someone said that to me, I wanted to box them right in their jaw because like, why are you telling me time will heal all wounds? Because I'm right here and right now in the thick of the pain. So all that said, step 1 is to give yourself grace. Know that it's gonna hurt. Know that whatever you feel, is right. Some people like throw themselves into a project or throw themselves into work. Some people just are catatonic. I was that person. I was just like in bed, like catatonic, playing a Facebook game. Like, that's all I could— that's all I could do. I could keep my kids alive. I could just— and that was it. It was very hard for me to function afterwards. So just know that however you immediately grieve, whatever comes up for you is right for you right now. And then I'm going to urge you to kind of stay on top of your feelings. Whatever you can do that you know is healthy for you, do it. Even if all you can muster is waking up and taking a nice hot shower and telling yourself one good thing. So when you're able to then reach for something more, once you're able to kind of process and look for something that's going to heal and help, please talk therapy. And I don't know if your, if your listeners are primarily women of color, but I'm right now I'm speaking to all women, but my heart is focused at women of color. I don't care what Big Mama went through and how she didn't have to go to therapy for it or take meds for it or anything. You're not here to suffer, okay? You're here to enjoy this life. And even though things will happen, life will just throw you some curveballs, people will pass away, and all sorts of shit's gonna go down— sorry, stuff is gonna go down. But you're not here to suffer. So do whatever you have to do to get yourself through it, even if that means therapy, even if that means meds, okay? I did both. I'm telling you, it works, y'all. That said, if it's something that you can handle without going to those means, start journaling out your feelings. Everything's energy, including grief. So if you're just going through it, let it out. If you can't talk it out, cry it out. If you can't cry it out, punch a pillow, scream into a pillow, get the energy out, because holding it in is stagnant. Allowing it to come out of you, even if it's not words, it's that energy. And that release is powerful, and it opens up space for the good energy to flow. And once you've let out those those heavy, heavy feelings, there's space for you to now say, okay, I can sit with this feeling, I can journal out what I'm feeling, or now I'm ready to take the step to go to therapy or whatever it is. Am I answering your question? Because I feel like I'm talking a whole lot.

Absolutely right on the ball. Okay, so I love that because also, uh, I agree, time does heal every wound. And even for me, I'll admit, like, I think about those that I've lost every single day. And for me, it's Kind of different because sometimes it's family, sometimes it's not. Most of the time it's the fact that I— because I am a childhood cancer survivor, a lot of people who have my cancer do not make it my age, or they are my age and they passed away. So time definitely heals our wounds, and for me, music heals our wounds. So let's talk about that. What are— give me 3 songs that help you when you can't get up out of bed. It's one of those days where you can't just— you can't go, you can't do it.

I don't want to say this. Y'all are gonna judge me. Okay.

Non-judgment zone.

So I, I'm a very lighthearted, happy-go-lucky person. But when it comes to music, I'm ratchet. I'm, I'm selling drugs. I'm fighting people. I'm killing people. Like, it's just, it gets me going. So Hit 'Em Up by Tupac. I don't know what it is. But that's, that's the one. And I will, if I'm having like frustrations with my family, my kids are bothering me, I will go to my car, I will blast Hit 'Em Up. And I'll just be like, you know, just getting out that energy. And then I can come back in and bake the brownies and be the mom that I'm supposed to be. So that is one. Hit 'Em Up for me. It's, it's graphic, but it works. There's this song, Lady Don't Tekno. And I think it's by this these people called Latryx, L-A-T-R-Y-X. And it's just, it just has a good beat. And it's kind of funky. And it makes— I feel like they're talking about me because it's all these like positive affirmations about this girl that he's in love with. So I'm just like, yes, it's me, lady don't take no mess. So that's another one. And then there's this singer Brett Denon. He sings a song. He sings a lot of very high vibe songs if you want to check him out. But one of them is called Blessed, and the music is so vibrant and doo doo doo kind of, and it's just blessed is this life, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna enjoy being alive. Something like that is the words, but it's just very like, okay, I can handle any problem that comes my way. So that's another one. And if you haven't checked out Chris and T-B, how they have their trap affirmations, check them out. Chris and T-B, um, they're two dudes who are doing great stuff and bringing this affirmation and positive mantras to the world with these trap beats underneath it. So it's like, it just feels good.

Perfect, perfect. Yeah, no, there's nothing wrong with that, girl. I bet there's some people be like, whoa, like, yes, you know, when they heard that. So you are fine. Honestly, one of my ratchet songs, um, is Lose Yourself by Eminem.

Oh, I love that one. That's a good one. That feels a little less ratchet to me.

That just feels like, wow, you know, grungy.

Yeah, it is grungy.

Yeah. Yeah, that's me. But then, um, I'm also the one that, um, uh, harmonic male singer that would just sing about women, right? Like, you're so beautiful, blah blah blah, stuff like that.

Those are my songs.

I love it.

Yes.

Now, we can't go anywhere now, but when this is all over, where's the first place you want to travel to?

Uh, just anywhere out of this house, away from my children, away from my husband. Um, no, if I'm going overseas— well, you know what, I'm gonna go to Vegas with my husband in October if this is all over. Um, We have our 10-year wedding anniversary coming up. So we're gonna go—

Congratulations.

Thank you. So we got married in the canyons by Vegas. So we're gonna go back there for our 10-year. And that's what I'm looking forward to. But on a smaller scale, really, I just want to get out of this house. I would like to just leave my children and go to the library and do my work in peace where I don't have to—

And actually go to the beach.

Oh, that. Yes. Yes, I would love to do that. Just, just the peace. I need peace.

Perfect. I love it. Now, if no one got anything else from this, which I'm sure there's going to be tons of tips that they will write down for sure, but if for whatever reason they got nothing else from this episode, what is one thing you want to leave with listeners?

Just one? Okay. You know what?

Um, okay, maybe not just one, whatever comes to your head.

Okay. So Especially right now, the— so as I'm doing a lot of readings and a lot of card pulls for people, there is an overarching message that's coming for a lot of people, and it is of love, self-love, and putting your efforts towards self-love above all else. And that doesn't mean that you're letting anything else slip and slide, but you're starting from a place of love. And with any journey, whether it's manifesting, whether it's an entrepreneurial journey, No matter what, doing what you have to do to heal yourself, love yourself, and improve yourself is going to make you have the results that you want that are external to you, whether it's making more money, manifesting a house, a mate, whatever it is, it starts with the self-love. So the one thing I would have to offer to everyone is work on the self-love piece of your journey first, and you're just going to watch things just manifest around you with very little effort. So focus on loving you.

Like, I feel like my listeners will rewind that, like, oh, whoa, I love that. Let me, let me take notes on that. I love that. If people really want to just get into your energy and take advantage of your services, where can they find that? What are you offering right now? Services?

You know what, I'll start with what's free and easily accessible, right? So I have a group on Facebook. It's called, um, the Lifestyle Redesign Lounge on Facebook. That is a free space, um, for women and women-identified people to come on and just be in our energy. We, we do, um, moon ceremonies. I do readings in there. I answer questions in there. It's just a nice safe space for us to kind of try to ascend and align together. It's a free space to come join us. I also have a free 5-day Manifesting Breakthrough course. It's kind of a little intro to me because it's a video course. You can get my juju, but it helps you raise your vibrations, just get into the energy of manifesting. And within those 5 days, you do have a transformation. You're certainly going to be manifesting and noticing the manifestations that you are bringing into your reality. Those are my free options. And then of course, the blog, okdani.com. You can find— you could search there for tons of content over the past 10 years. And then the podcast, which is also free, Manifested Sis. And then my offerings that are one-on-one coaching. I do coaching for women who are just starting their online business or their blog. And you can go to okdani.com and click on Work With Me and find any of these. I do one-on-one intuitive coaching, and that's my favorite because I get to help women realize their power and realize that they can do anything. And it's just so— it's just fun. It's really fun to watch them transform and own their shit and go on and do big things. And I can be like, yeah, that's my client. And then I do— every night I'm doing readings. and card pulls and, um, mini intuitive coaching sessions with clients. Um, and you can go to okdani.com/intuitive-readings to get the info on that.

So, Okay Dani, I'll make sure my listeners go listen and get your services.

Thank you.

Where can we find you on social media?

Um, so my Instagram is where I'm most active. It's Instagram, @thedannyfaust. That's my main Instagram. And then I recently started a smaller one for the podcast, which is @manifest_it_cis. So Manifested Cis, separated with underscores. And on Facebook, you can find me at Coach Dani Faust. And of course, in my group I mentioned before, the Lifestyle Redesign Lounge, that's where I'm mostly on social.

Perfect. Well, this has been great. This has been just what we all needed. Thank you so much, Dani. Thank you.

I'm I'm happy to be here. I appreciate it. Thanks.

Thank you for listening to the Living Legacy Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, follow, and download so you don't miss the next episode. If you want to learn more, you can visit zaakirahnayyar.com. That's Z-A-A-K-I-R-A-H-N-A-Y-Y-A-R dot com. Do you have any suggestions on a topic you want to be talked about? Send me an email or leave them in a review. If you love this episode, be sure to share it with your friends.