Jim Fortin (00:00.256)
You’re listening to the Transform Your Life from the Inside Out podcast. This is another addition to the Transformational Interview series. And today I’m going to be interviewing a former TCP student, someone still in my tribe. Her name is Sarah Johnson. And we’re going to be talking about her transformation and she’s going to be sharing things with you guys that hopefully you guys will find some nuggets here that you can see yourself in our conversation and you’ll pick up some tools to help you on your own transformational journey. Keep listening.
Hi, I’m Jim Fortin and you’re about to start transforming your life from the inside out with this podcast. I’m widely considered the leader in subconscious transformation and I’ve coached super achievers all around the world for over 25 years. Here, you’re going to find no rah rah motivation and no hype because this podcast is a combination of brain science, transformational psychology and ancient wisdom all rolled into one to take your life to levels you’ve never thought possible.
If you’re wanting a lot more in life, to feel better, to heal, to have peace of mind, to feel powerful and alive, and to bring more abundance and prosperity into your life, then this podcast is for you because you’re going to start learning how to master your mind and evolve your consciousness. And when you do that, anything you want then becomes possible for you. I’m glad you’re here.
Sarah, thank you for being here with us today and thank you for coming to share. I really, really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
Jim Fortin (01:31.904)
Absolutely. So let’s go here first. Did I pay you to be here? No. Have I told you what to say? No. Okay, good. We got that out of the way because I remember as I’ve said before, somebody accused me of manufacturing all these and they’re not manufactured in terms of me telling people what to say. I just want people to come from the heart. So how about this? What brought you to TCP? What made you think
No.
Sarah Johnson (01:41.803)
No.
Jim Fortin (02:00.034)
That’s what I need. I’m going to do that. The heck with it. I’m going to give it a whirl. What brought you to this place?
I’ve been seeking for a while and just looking for that missing piece. Felt like something was missing. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t even know how I found you. I really don’t. Whatever I read or saw or came into my awareness was like, I’m going to try it. It sounds great.
Now, obviously you were looking for something and a lot of people don’t recognize it, but everyone who shows up and into this tribe, even if they’re on the podcast, they’re here for one reason and one reason only, because they’re looking for something. What was not working for you in your life?
Well, for quite a while, I knew I needed to be in service and something was holding me back and it was killing me. And I was not gonna stop until I found it.
What do mean it was killing you? Was it bothering you, you mean, or?
Sarah Johnson (03:09.804)
Yeah, so basically in a job that was not good for me, I just knew, I kept having this urging and this calling inside me that I could not push away no matter how hard I tried. So I felt like I was ready and then I’d be so scared. then anyway, fear was holding me back. And I’m just like, how can I get this fear to go away so I can show up and really help people? Cause that’s what I really wanted.
What was that fear? Was it the fear of being seen, being judged, being criticized, not being good enough? Because I’m sure everyone listening can relate to some aspect of this. So what was your particular fear?
Yeah, absolutely. Like, I didn’t know enough. Like, little old me, the quiet, shy girl growing up, like, how in the world can I make what’s happening inside me actually work and how can I actually help people? Comparison, I think, was maybe one of the biggest things for me. I could see the light and beauty and amazing and brilliance in other people. I did not see it in myself.
Okay, loaded question, but what shifted for you on our time together relative to this particular topic?
something you said still sticks with me and I hear it almost every day in my head. And you said, you’ve got to get yourself out of the way because I was so afraid of being judged and not good enough that it would just freeze me talking to people and showing up. And I’m trying to remember the phrasing that you said, but it was like,
Sarah Johnson (05:00.472)
take yourself out of the way.
Yeah, I often mentioned Martha Graham, the dancer, and she said, it’s not your job. There’s an energy that comes through you. It’s not your job to judge how good it is. Then what I probably did with you, because this happens with many, many, many TC peers, many people come into the tribe and they feel the same way. What can I share? I’m not good enough. Why would people listen to me? And you probably were in that same place.
And when I said, yourself out of the equation, what I probably said, which is what I constantly say is stop focusing on you and start focus. Okay, so that hit that resonated, right? Stop focusing on you and focus on how can I help people? Because when you’re focused on you, we get into, but what if they laugh at me? What if I’m not good enough? What if I don’t know enough? But when we actually focus on other people,
All of that goes away. And when we help people, we automatically start transforming ourself. Would that be fair to say that apply to you? So before we started, you said that, and we’ll talk about where people can find you in a bit. You said that you’ve already created a website now and it’s going to be live next week or so. So you are making progress towards this help that you want to deliver to people. Correct?
Yes.
Sarah Johnson (06:28.108)
Yes.
Has anyone in your family noticed you showing up in different ways since our initial time in TCP?
Yes, especially my husband, family members.
What would your husband say if I ask him, how is she showing up differently now? Because people listening or watching, they only know you from this recording. I know you from the very first week at TCP and you are quieter and more reserved even today, but you were a church mouse in the corner when we first started TCP. I mean, you were way back in the back row, so to speak of like church, so to speak. So what would your husband say has changed in you?
Hmm without cussing
Jim Fortin (07:15.34)
You can kiss.
caring so much less about what other people think. what hasn’t changed?
before you keep going there, that’s interesting because what we don’t recognize is all these fears that you had that, my gosh, what are people going to think about me in the 11th, 12th or 13 week? don’t recall where I asked it, but it’s in the PDF. What does your partner give up to be in relationship with you? And if you’re worried all the time about what people are going to think about you and he’s not worried about it, we’re not worried as much.
you pull him backwards, which is actually very challenging because it’s like he’s trying to swim and you’ve got his ankles pulling him backwards because you were into, my God, what are people going to think about me? So where are you with that now? How do you manage that now? How do you feel about what people think about you?
I don’t hardly care anymore. mean, that might sound callous, but I was like, if I show up and people think I’m weird, then good, then I’m being myself. It’s just completely different.
Jim Fortin (08:31.63)
So you’re authentic.
Well, I used to never speak up because I would say something and it would be so painful to ruminate on what did I say over like a whole week or even longer. And now I just don’t do that. I just don’t do that anymore.
One of the number one things that people say, and you can confirm or deny this, is many people think they’re coming for money. And we do talk about that a lot, but they think they’re coming for money, which I have asked people before, what’s the number one thing you got from TCP? I’ll hear everything like you said, well, what hasn’t changed? And I hear, I heard people say I was on antidepressants and I’m off, or I was on lifetime medication and I stopped, or.
I was going to get a divorce and now we’re happier. I hear all these kinds of things. What people don’t recognize, the number one thing that I hear from people is they learn to find and foster peace of mind. Meaning they’re just so much more peaceful. Would you say the same applies to you?
yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
Jim Fortin (09:41.614)
How do you think our time facilitated that?
Well, I think you help us to go inside and realize how much taking responsibility for ourselves and what we create in the world is our responsibility and the choices. mean, there’s so many things, but taking 100 % responsibility for
The way I feel, the way I perceive other people, the way I do anything, it’s all me. It is not someone else. And I used to blame my husband for so many things, my parents, things like that. But my husband and I, we’ve been together a long time, and I blamed him for so many things. When I stopped blaming, and like you said, what is it costing him to be in relationship with me?
He was having to show up in a certain way because of me. He almost had to do that with the connection and just the way the universe works. That’s one thing I really learned too in TCP is everything has everything to do with me. It’s all coming from me. And if it’s all coming from me, then that’s
actually takes the blame from anyone else. And if I’m creating my own reality and I can take 100 % responsibility for myself, then I have so much more control over my own life, my own destiny, my own creation. Because if I created it, then I can uncreate it or I can
Sarah Johnson (11:38.338)
move forward in creating. Right.
You can change it, right?
For whatever you feel comfortable sharing, when you said, because if you explain it further, I’m sure other people will resonate, when you used to blame your husband for blank, what things would you blame him for?
the money situation that I was in, that I created, the support. I didn’t feel supported.
Do you think you were in victim mentality and he wasn’t supporting you because so you were probably you’re nodding your head for people that are only listening. So you weren’t victim mentality, which you probably also had a fair amount of self pity with that. You’re my husband. You’re supposed to support me emotionally. Now I’m in victim mentality and I’m going to stay in my crap and you’re not buying into it. So therefore you’re not supporting me. Does that resonate at all?
Sarah Johnson (12:35.04)
Yes, absolutely.
Let’s go here because it’s behind you now. That’s not the life you live anymore. How did you think he felt? How challenging do you think the relationship was from? Have you ever asked him how challenging it was from his point of view? But yet you were the pebble in the shoe, but you’re blaming it on him. How did he feel in this?
it was, it was not good for a while. It was not good at all. In fact, right. I mean, it didn’t really come up that way. in a loving way, it was, what are we doing in a loving way? There was no meanness or anything about it.
We talk about the horse.
Jim Fortin (13:17.582)
Well, you’ve been together a lot of years and I know that you love him, but you guys might have been wondering, he is, well, am I with the right person anymore? Is this the person I’m supposed to be with?
Possibly and it was more like I was so unhappy he was like I just want you to be happy and you’re just not happy and I’m like I always thought I was happy and I wasn’t I really wasn’t it was all fake and The mask was like strong I feel teary-eyed thinking about it because I was like
Wow, I realized I was not happy.
you’re not that person anymore. Yeah. And your physiology and your body language changes when I say you’re not that person anymore. And the reason why is because TCP gave you tools. So I want to ask a promotional question about TCP. Do you think you would be where you are and are you happy in your relationship now? Let me ask that first. Yes. You’re happy. Okay. Do you think you would be there had you never registered in TCP?
I don’t think so.
Jim Fortin (14:32.812)
What do you think you would be?
I might still be blaming him for everything.
Yeah. And then at some point when that happens, the other party’s like, I can’t deal with this anymore. I love you, but I can’t deal with this anymore. It’s just, it’s, it’s too hard to be in a relationship with you. So I think it’s fair to say that you, and I don’t want to take credit, but I want to demonstrate the power of what we do. Number one is you didn’t know how to get out of it, right? You didn’t know how to change. You wouldn’t be where you are today. And I’m only going to speculate and you can negate.
I’m only speculating now that you’re in a happier place, a happy place now, but you wouldn’t be there without the mentorship from myself and the coaching team. Is that fair to say?
Yes.
Jim Fortin (15:21.068)
And you would most likely be back in the same rut you were in prior to us ever having met or worked together. And that is it’s his fault, it’s his fault. You had mentioned the daughter before. How did that affect your kids or did it, or do you think it affected your kids from the way that you were being and the way you were being your husband?
Absolutely. I have three children. One is almost 40, one is almost 38, and the other one’s almost 32.
Ages.
Jim Fortin (15:53.634)
You look great for whatever your age is. whatever you’re doing works. That Phoenix sun, guess, with sunscreen, but vitamin D. Yeah. Okay. So you have three kids. I don’t want to ask you a question that’s hard to answer for you, but when you were being this old way, this old you, which I’m going to just call it victim mentality and it affected the relationship. How do you think it affected the kids?
It affected them a lot because on top of that victim mentality, I was a people pleaser and was always trying to make sure everyone was happy.
expensive your own happiness.
Right, right. And so I would jump in, even at work, I could look back and I would, people would come to me, you know, with things and I just wanted to fix it. I wanted to jump in. I wanted to be the mother fixer figure that had all this compassion and empathy and, it was actually enabling. So I actually enabled people. realized that by
not letting them stand in their own power and trying to jump in and help.
Jim Fortin (17:08.462)
Did you do that with your husband also, even though you’re playing victim? Would you also enable him, which we do, healthy and unhealthy, but do you feel like you enabled him in any way to stay in his old patterns?
The only way that I could say that I enabled him was that he was having to, because of me and the way I was, he was having to show up and actually be the bad guy. He was actually having to show up in ways that I’m sure he didn’t like, and I know he didn’t like. And so now he’s the bad guy. He’s the one that’s holding the line or
you know, keeping things steady and trying to keep the peace. And he’s actually was looked at as, the perpetrator because I was a victim. Right.
Yeah. That’s an interesting comment because what a lot of people don’t recognize, if you are unhappy, many times your partner wants you to be happy. But if you’re unhappy, I’m just kind of say it. I can say to this, to any of us, if you are unhappy, you’re dragging down your partner. I see all the time. What can I do to help? I just want you to be happy, Sarah, but you’re unhappy and you’re victim mentality.
I’m over here wanting a happy relationship with my wife and my partner, but my partner’s unhappy. So therefore I’m not experiencing the kind of joy in my life that I could because why am I partner’s miserable and unhappy and, victim mentality over here, which was probably the role you were playing, but you said something vital. You didn’t even know that you were doing it. You knew something was off, but everyone listening, please listen very carefully.
Jim Fortin (18:57.43)
Many times we are sabotaging ourselves, but we don’t even know that we’re sabotaging ourselves. Anything you care to or want to add to that statement, Sarah.
that’s 100 % true. And there’s a saying that I have, you can’t heal what you can’t see.
Hmm. Yeah. I’ve been in this field for a lot of years and I’ve recognized that the former, what we used to call the B2Hab series is coming up. We’re doing pretty much all of it and do a new series. But the main point of that series is awareness because we can’t heal. We can’t air quote fix what we can’t see. So we don’t even know we’re doing these things. And what I’ve recognized with people, you have a lot different
and a nicer disposition. But sometimes when I would tell people they were in victim mentality, they’d get mad. They’d be mad about, I’m not a victim. What do you mean? And then I’ve had many people say, my God, I was a victim, but I didn’t even recognize that I was in it. So let’s go back a year ago. And of course we’d have to have a relationship to be able to say this. But if somebody said, know, Sarah, you’re really being a victim.
What would you think about that?
Sarah Johnson (20:14.166)
I would have said, no, I’m not. What do you mean?
And it’s not about me. What are you seeing? What are you thinking? It’s not about me. Yeah, I definitely understand that. So we’ll move on here, but how was your relationship with your husband today?
It’s really good. It’s really good. We’re still working through some things, but it’s really good.
Have you noticed also that when you change, he automatically changes also to correspond?
Yes, 100%.
Jim Fortin (20:47.662)
so you got a much healthier, happier, enjoyable relationship today. That is awesome. So you said you wanted to talk about relationships and you wanted to talk about money, which by the way, 50 to 60 % of people are challenged with relationships and probably 80 % are challenged with money. Before I ask you any questions about it, what do you wanna share and why do you wanna share about money?
so many things.
Let’s just dig in, whatever comes to mind first.
Yeah. So I had accumulated a lot of debt. I had bought the books. I had done so many courses. I just kept like spending money and spending money and spending money and didn’t even realize how much I was spending. And I was so miserable. I just thought, okay, that next course, the next thing is going to be the answer for me. And
I was doing that thinking unselfishly that I was doing it for other people. I was going to help the family. I was going to make the money and help people be able to make money and serve and actually be helping my husband and I in our retirement and everything. And it just, I was just completely going backwards.
Jim Fortin (22:14.19)
I’m sure there was more strain in the relationship also because he’s probably thinking, okay, you’re getting ready to get ready to get ready to get ready. It’s still costing more money. We still have more money rolling out and you still haven’t figured out what you want to do when you grow up yet. When you’re an adult, so to speak, I’m just kidding there. You don’t know what you want to be when you grow up. Even though you’re working that direction, you were literally at the starting gate, not getting moving. So I would assume once you started putting yourself out there,
I would also think that your relationship started to change because he saw you moving. So what shifted with your money?
for sure.
Sarah Johnson (22:51.276)
What shifted is I took responsibility for it. I fessed up and I couldn’t hide anymore how much money I had spent. So now things are so much better and I’ve actually seen clients and things are just flowing and happening and people are referring to me and I’m like,
Oh my goodness, this may not sound like a lot to y’all, but in one week I brought in $1,000. I was so excited from doing nothing to bring $1,000 in in a week’s time into my business was amazing. And then I was offered a part-time job for a decent amount of money too that just fell in my lap. So things are just happening.
I’ve been there. remember many years ago doing what I was, what I’m doing now and but at a different level now. And when I’d bring in a thousand dollars, I’m like, Oh my God, a thousand dollars. This is amazing. So I can completely relate to what you, you know, what you’re sharing. Now I do that when I bring in like seven figures. But again, I’ve been doing this a lot of years and everything takes time to build. Everything is a process. You know, I didn’t get to where I am.
over like Mickey Gilley said, he became an overnight success. It only took him 17 years to do it. So I think more than anything is you’re in movement. You are in action. You are in movement. Let me ask you this. Now that you’re helping people, how are you feeling differently with what you want to help them with, which we’ll talk about when we wrap this up. How are you feeling differently about yourself?
Amazing. Amazing. I feel lighter. I feel free. I feel like I’m in my purpose. It’s night and day. It’s like I just have this fire inside me that is just lit and it just feels really, really good. I, some things I think because I’ve surrendered and let go of lot of the things you said in TCP, we just need to get our
Sarah Johnson (25:07.214)
just take the focus off ourselves and the fire is just, it’s just growing and it feels amazing.
Let’s go here for a second. if you ranked your self-worth on a scale from one to 10 prior to TCP, 10 being the most, where would you say your appreciation of yourself, your self-worth would have been on that scale?
Probably at two or three.
Okay, where would you say you are now?
That’s a 10. Oh, it’s a 10. Wow.
Jim Fortin (25:36.546)
Wow. again, guys, I didn’t pay her to say anything. I didn’t tell her what to say, but here’s what I tell people a lot of times. And you’re experiencing this is number one. I’m just going to say it correctly. All these blind spots you had, you had no awareness of them. And even people listening have blind spots. They don’t have awareness about, and they think, okay. I can just listen to the podcast and that’s enough.
would you say that just listening to the podcast is enough?
It’s not quite enough.
No, it might be for some people, but I would say, I would say no being in a container, being in the group, like committing and going all out. Really, if you want to change and transform, you have to just dive in with both feet. You can’t just meander on the sidelines. It takes courage and work.
That’s what I gonna ask you, that C word, because before you dove in, there’s so many people that wanna dive into TCP, but they’re afraid. So let’s say you’re having lunch with someone, they say, Sarah, you’ve been through TCP, I’ve seen you change, you’ve got dramatic changes, I want to do TCP also, but I’m afraid. What would you tell them, Sarah?
Sarah Johnson (26:58.644)
I would say the very thing you’re afraid of is what will get you to your transformation that you want.
Interesting. The very thing you’re afraid of is what’s going to get you to where you want to go. I don’t want to skip over the thought that I started earlier, open the loop. So you’re feeling better. You’re taking action. You’re helping people. And this is what I say inside TCP a lot. And I can say it on the podcast, but people don’t get it until they remove the obstacles and they start doing it. But our own transformation is in helping other people transform because as we’re helping them now we’re like, wow.
I’m not so bad. I’m pretty good at what I do. There is value in what I do. People appreciate, and then mainly a big one for me and many people listening and you, I’m helping people. I feel good. I mean, how can you not feel good about helping people? But when you get out of your own way and you go do it, that’s when we start finding more value in us. And that’s why you said you were at a two. Now you’re at a 10. But for people listening,
I want to share and I’ve been there is the worst thing I ever tried to do was fix things, improve things myself because I couldn’t see my blind spots until I had coaches or people that say, you know, you’re shooting yourself on the foot here and here and here and here. I remember early on I had a coach and she’s like, you’re doing X, Y, Z. And I’m like, no, I’m not. And she’s like, she was very stern, PhD. She’s a coach for the day. She’s like,
I am not going to argue with you. And I’m like, okay. I’m paying her a lot of money. Maybe I should just be quiet and listen to her. And she pointed out all these places that even though I was gathering all the information and the webinars and all, I couldn’t see all these things that are myself. And so I had all this great information, but I couldn’t take action on it. And I found myself in the same old ruts over and over and over again. Okay. So for people listening,
Jim Fortin (29:01.856)
As we wrap this up, we’ll tell them how to find you in just a minute and a little more about what you do. What would be a final thought that you would want to leave with people listening to this episode right now?
I would say set your fears aside and go for it. Go for it. If you’re on the fence with TCP and thinking, should I do it, should I not, it’s the money, it’s that, you invest in yourself. Once you make that decision, you pay the money, you’re already going to transform. There’s no doubt. There’s absolutely no doubt.
You’re in the game. You’ve got skin in the game at that point right there. I’ve been there as well. So I empathize with people. And when I never had any skin in the game, gathering all this free information, crap never changed. Cause I had no accountability, nobody to call me out, nobody to call me on my shit. And then I couldn’t see a lot of it. And when I said, okay, I’m going to bite the bullet. I’m all in. That’s when things started dramatically changing for me. Okay. So
Let’s tell people listening a little bit about, love your take on it. What do you do?
I help people see their shadows. I help people see the things they don’t see because the things that they don’t see are actually where their greatest gifts and their brightest light is being hidden. People don’t realize, just like you said earlier in the podcast, that if you don’t see it, you don’t see it.
Sarah Johnson (30:41.452)
You just really don’t. And if you’re stuck in any way, then you’ve got to go for the shadows. You’ve got to go for the parts of you that you’ve disowned, that you reject. You got to love every single part of yourself. And that’s one of the things that happened to me in TCP was that I loved everything I embraced and loved
everything, all parts of me, all of these things that the victim mentality, the blaming, all of those things actually were gifts in disguise for me. And so once they were uncovered and I was able to see them for what they were and love myself and not beat myself up because of this or that or the way I think I should be or should not be.
Once I integrated all of me and just was like, this is the way I am and showed up unapologetically, then everything changed.
And the community helps people do that because in TCP as you recognize, nobody’s judging anybody in TCP. Everybody, we’re all there together. We’re all working through our shit. We all are, we’re all on this planet. And it’s a community that’s giving you the support you need without judgment. Because many people in TCP share things that they don’t even share with their own family, but we know it’s a safe place to be. What I want to share here though, as we wrap this up and we talk about your own website.
If I were listening to this, somebody could say, wait a minute, she helps people see the shadows. Why couldn’t she see the shadows in herself? And the reality is even a lot of my own stuff, Don Javier helps me for things that I can’t see, but like in business, for example, marketing, I can help anybody with their marketing. Show me your marketing. I can tell you exactly where it’s all my own marketing. like, well, I don’t know. mean, I
Jim Fortin (32:46.76)
And in your cohort, a woman named Tasha stepped forward. She’s in branding. And she said, Jim, my interpretation of TCP from the outside is nowhere close to what you deliver on the inside. So your marketing is off because if I would have known what’s really on the inside, I would have enrolled a long time ago. So I’m going to be working with her at some point, but I didn’t see it. Why? Because I do it every day.
So I don’t see it. So you, like all of us, we look in the mirror, but we don’t see until we actually take a different perspective. And now we see it. But I would have to guess that part of your gift is because you’ve been down this road, you can see in other people what they can’t see in themselves. And that is the hidden gift for why you’re on this path. Fair statement.
Yes. Mm-hmm. So good at seeing other people’s other people’s brilliance and everything. And it’s like, OK, well, that’s actually a gift.
And notice what you’re not doing. What a lot of people do when you’re not, and I think this is because of the work we’ve done is a lot of people beat themselves up. It’s like, what was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I see it? Why am I so bad? Why am I? No, you’ve let that go. When you’re like, Hey, I was a stepping stone. It was a learning. Now I’ve learned. And now I, Sarah can go help other people. Okay. So by the time this episode,
errors, your website should be up, where can people find more about you?
Sarah Johnson (34:22.444)
over healing.com
Spell that please and we’ll put it in the show notes.
AVRAH EALING.com.
What does Avra mean?
It’s Greek for the aura.
Jim Fortin (34:37.399)
So energetic healing, spiritual healing, wholeness healing.
Yeah, yeah. And I was gonna change it to my name and I don’t know, I just fell in love with Auvra, it just sounds so peaceful. So I just stuck with it.
think it’s a good call in that you went with what came to you and that’s what came to you. And that’s where the sweet spot in the energy is. Sarah, thank you very, very, very much for sharing today. I appreciate it. I will continue working with you. We’re working together now in the inner circle. I’m blessed to work with you. Thank you for your heart, your energy, your sharing. And I know that people listening can take some things away. Many people can see themselves in you. So thank you for coming here and just opening up and sharing your story with us.
I appreciate you being here, Sarah.
Thank you, Jim.