The Universe Has Your Back

The following podcast is a deer media production. Hey there, welcome to deer Gabby. I'm your host Gabby Bernstein and if you landed here, it is absolutely no accident. It means that you're ready to feel good and manifest a life beyond your wildest dreams. Let's get started. Welcome to my show, deer Gabby. I'm Gabby Bernstein. I'm so psyched to be with you. I'm deeply grateful that you made it here. This is the beginning of a very big new direction in my mission, in the work that I do. My intention for this show is to be a conduit through which transformational ideas and messages and guidance and wisdom can be expressed so that you can feel greater peace than you've ever known so that you can become the happiest person you know. That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for, my friends. And I'm a little nervous right now, which is so strange for me. Here I have, you know, I've been, I've had this career for 15 years of working as a spiritual teacher and a self-help book author and a motivational speaker. I've spoken on stages for Oprah or thousands of people in the audience and I've never been nervous, but for some strange reason I'm having this sense of nervousness right now and actually sometimes nervousness can be masked and we think we're nervous but it's actually excited. So as I unpack this a bit for myself, I think I'm just really psyched. Excited about what this can be, excited about this relationship that you and I can have in this way. Excited about the fact that this is now a new platform for me to be in the service of the work that I'm here to bring forth and help you my listener crack open to a spiritual connection of your own understanding. Because that's been my journey. My journey has been a journey of undoing fear and remembering love and through my own personal experience of one day at a time reclaiming the truth of who I am, the truth of who we all are, which is that presence of love within us. I have set myself free and when I say that I say that to remind you that this is your opportunity to do the same, this is your moment to do the same, this is a show that can bring you to that connection. Early in my life, I was, I can say early in my life now I'm 41 years old so when I was 25 years old, I made a commitment that changed my life forever. It was on October 2nd of 2005. I was 25, strung out from drugs in alcohol, it was six o'clock in the morning. I'm sitting on the floor of my studio apartment. I'm watching people walk past the window as they walk to work or walk their dogs or go get a coffee and they're all going somewhere and I'm going nowhere. And here I was again, six a.m. haven't slept yet, strung out on drugs in alcohol from the night before having had partied, having had been with strangers who knows what I was doing, trying to numb out impermissible feelings. And I'm sitting on the floor of this apartment, staring at this stack of self-help books next to my bed. And I see books by Dr. Wayne Dyer and Shakti Gawain and Louise Hay. And I'm looking at these authors and these titles and I'm wanting that. I'm wanting the freedom that they write about. I'm wanting the connection that is promised in those books. I'm wanting a better way to live. And looking at those books, I remember closing my eyes and saying a prayer to a spiritual connection that I did not believe in at the time, but there was a part of me that was so surrendered because I was at my bottom. And I said the prayer, God universe, whoever is out there, I need a miracle. And then I heard an intuitive voice speak back to me and that voice said to me, get clean and you will live a life beyond your wildest dreams. And I got sober that day and I've been sober 16 years now. And in my sober recovery one day to time, I have peeled back the layers, peeled back the layers of the onion to reveal the truth of who I am, to reveal the core of my essence, to reveal the presence of peace that dwells within each of us. I didn't have to go out and get anything to find that peace. I had to strip away all of the blocks to the presence of that peace that has been within me the whole time. And having this radical opportunity to hit bottom in that way was a catalyst for my greatest personal awakening and my mission in this lifetime. My favorite quote is the roomy quote, the wound is the place where the light enters you. And when you let that light in, everything begins to change. And so maybe you're listening to this and you've hit your bottom and you have no idea why you pressed play, but all of a sudden you're hearing truth in my story. Or maybe you've been suffering through this difficult time we've been living through. And you're looking for answers. Or maybe you're just feeling so disconnected from that presence of truth within yourself and you're longing for it. And like me, you're saying an unconscious prayer that you need a miracle and you landed here. Well, my friend, welcome to Dear Gabby. Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your life. Welcome to an opportunity to shift your perception and experience miraculous change. The transmissions that will come through on this show are designed to crack you open to your own spiritual connection to your own inner awareness to your own inner guidance system. You, my friend, are the guru. I am a rock and tore who will tell you stories of love and light. And I will be here to crack you open, awaken your thoughts, guide your belief systems towards a miracle mindset. But you are the guru. You do the work. You say yes. My stories that I will share with you, all the stories that I have lived and shared very vulnerably and authentically throughout my career are stories of addiction recovery stories of recovery from PTSD and childhood trauma stories of recovering from postpartum depression and anxiety. And I have gracefully lived to tell what recovery looks like. And I hope that through my stories, you can recognize yourself in me. I hope that you can know that you're not alone in your suffering. Know that we all have our own experiences of discomfort at times in our life or throughout our life and that there is freedom on the other side. There is freedom on the other side, my friend. I hope you can put your hand on your heart right now and just feel me as I say that. There is freedom on the other side. And that freedom is my mission for you. My mission is to crack you open to your inner wisdom that will one step at a time guide you towards that sense of freedom within yourself. Living through a pandemic, living through COVID was a cracking open for all of us. It was a bottoming out for everyone in our own unique ways. We all had this obstacle that really could have done two things. It could take us down or it could crack us open. Another beautiful quote is this "amma" which is when the egg shell cracks from the outside. It is broken, but when it cracks from the inside out, it is reborn. And so what I want to really emphasize here is that any cracking that might have happened for you in the last year, if you're listening to this podcast right now, it was in the pursuit of a rebirth. It was in the pursuit of your growth because you're here, you're here right now, you're still listening, you're willing to receive a miraculous shift. March of 2020, we all had something or many things taken away from us. For me, one of the things that was taken was my stage. I've worked as a motivational speaker for for 15, 16 years, really 20 years, but in the space of personal growth and spiritual development, it has been 15 years of being in the service of this work. And so the stage was taken from me. And that stage is where I have been able to express my art, which is to allow spirit and the universe and love to move through me and give me the word so that I can be an expression of love to remind you of the love within yourself. And so the stage was taken away and I had to pivot as we all did. And I am a strong believer that obstacles are detours in the right direction. So I went in and I asked myself, what will you do with this pivot? How will you transform this obstacle into a detour in the right direction? And in my meditation, I heard my inner voice say to me, go live, go live and do your thing. And what that meant to me was to get online and start serving by allowing people to ask me anything, to bring people on and just work with them to create community online. I used Instagram as my first outlet for this and I started going live and bringing people on a weekly show that I named Dear Gabby. Every Wednesday at 1230, I would meet my friends on Instagram. And this was started a year ago now and people would come on, I would bring anybody to join me live or anybody randomly from all over the world, people from all over the world, India, Africa, Asia, but people in Europe, all over America, people just coming on, coming on, coming on to ask for help and ask for support and guidance and spiritual connection and wisdom and self-help tools. And most importantly, what they were coming for, whether they realized it or not, was to recognize that they were not alone. To know that they were not alone in their suffering, that they were not alone in their experience, that they were not alone in their trauma, that they were not alone in their past, that they were not alone in their shame, that they were one with every being watching, because they all had the same problem, which was the suffering within ourselves. And we all had the chance to lean into the same solution, which is to lean towards the love within us to guide us to a new perspective and open us up to possibilities for growth, healing, change, abundance, wisdom, and grace. Being in the service of this community, this dear Gabi community, I want to give you all my Instagrammers, a big freaking shout out right now. I love you guys. I devotionally showed up every fucking week this year, showed up every Wednesday, every Wednesday, and people would just, you know, started, like, you know, just coming on to watch other people, to support each other, to support in the comments, to hold the space, to watch the replay. It just became a movement. And I didn't know what it was going to turn into, and I had no agenda. It wasn't a business choice. It was a service choice. It was service love and joy that inspired this movement called dear Gabi. And then as a universe would have it, I was presented with different opportunities and support systems to create a podcast. And it was very clear to me that this was the time because this was the show. Didn't just create a podcast, just to create a podcast. I created a podcast out of the respect of a show that needed to be heard more widely, a show that needed to be listened to through the lens of a newcomer, someone who may not have been on my Instagram feed ready to receive that information. And it needed to become a message that was going to be in the service of people all throughout the world who have lived with suffering, throughout their lives. And in particular, as that suffering brought to the surface in this past 2020 and 2021, and to be given the gift of borrowing the benefits of each individual who bravely comes onto this show to be dear Gabi by me, you will recognize yourself in them. You will recognize yourself in the answers and the solutions that I offer. You will recognize that you are not alone. You will recognize that you are in a community of like-minded people. Even if you can't see them, you will feel their energetic transmission come through this show every single time you tune in every Monday. Every Monday when you tune in, you're going to feel that connection. You're going to feel the listener in Africa, the listener in Asia, the listener in Europe, the listener in America. You're going to feel the listener in Canada. You're going to feel them in your soul, just the way I feel you right now. As I record this, I feel you are all around me. Sorry, I'm so emotional about it. Gabi, don't cry at your first episode. I feel you all around me. It's almost like this vision of these hands just like holding this energy for this connection, this communication, and this movement that we're creating. And I say, "We, I'm just a rock and tour. You are the guru, and you retell the story. You live the transformation. Every time you shift, you shift the energy of the planet. That's the law. Each shift that occurs within you is a shift on the planet that we live. It's a shift in the energy. It's a shift in the consciousness. It's a shift that elevates us in a time where we have needed it more than ever. And each shift in your perception creates a miraculous change. I'm really proud of you. I'm proud of you for being here, for being open to seeing your obstacles as opportunities. Right now, I want to ask you, how could you see some of the obstacles from this year as a opportunity for growth? Maybe the loss of a loved one has deepened your spiritual foundation. Maybe a loss of a job has put you on the career path that you always dreamed of. Maybe a frightening diagnosis has taught you to surrender more than you could have ever surrendered before. So as you witness in this moment, what these obstacles might be offering you, I challenge you to make a commitment right here right now to show up for them. I always say, if we don't show up for what's up, it will keep showing up. If we don't show up for what's up, it will keep showing up. So we have to really get grounded in this truth that what we resist will persist. So if you ignore that suffering, or if you ignore that past experience, or if you ignore that job that was so difficult that you never want to think about again, and you ignore these experiences and these fragmented parts, ultimately what will happen is they will continue to show up until you show up for them. Enter to your Gabby for you, my friend. This is your place where you can show up. This is your place where you can be inspired to do deeper therapeutic work. This is your place where you can be inspired to take action on your personal growth and your well-being. This is your place where you can start to show up for what's up and stop resisting and start allowing. This is a show where we really only have big talk. There's no small talk here. We go right in for it. We go right in for the truth, for the shame shifting. That's a huge part of what this intention of this show is is to take conversations that we feel so ashamed to talk about and to normalize them and give spiritual guidance and wisdom to them and bring personal growth to them and bring community to them and give voice to them. Conversations about trauma, sexual abuse, incest, addiction, codependency, all of those topics in our life that we've been so fucking scared to talk about. My friends, this is where we bring them. We bring them to dear Gabby. We bring them to this conversation. We bring them here and I will be here as a container to hold all those conversations for you, for everyone listening so that you no longer feel alone, so that you recognize yourself and somebody else, so that you feel that you are one with everyone that's listening because you are all in this together in this pursuit of growth and groundedness. We're going to talk about the tough stuff. We're going to bring a light-hearted energy to the tough stuff so that we can free ourselves from the shame that has kept it silent for so long. I'm going to guide you on this show through my devotional practice of surrendering to the universe and trusting that the universe has your back. Spiritual surrender. Taking your hands off the wheel. God, I know there are so many listeners out there that are just controllers. You got your hands on the wheel. You're holding on tight. You're like, "How can I control that shit out of my life?" So that I can make things happen and force things to be and keep myself safe. We control because we feel unsafe. But what would happen if you took your hands off the wheel? One of my favorite messages from a course in Miracles is if you knew who walked beside you on the path that you have chosen, fear would be impossible. Imagine what your life would be like if you took your hands off the wheel. How different would you be if you had faith in a higher power if you knew that you were being guided? I'm here to tell you right now that without a shadow of a doubt, you were guided here. You were guided here. Just like me 25 years old sitting on my knees in my studio apartment saying, "I need a miracle." You consciously or unconsciously asked for a shift in your perception. You asked for a miracle of your own understanding and your inner guidance system and the spiritual guidance within you and around you told you to press play. Told you to keep listening. Told you to stick around to listen to what this cursing girl is saying in her committed devotional voice, occasionally cursing to get her point across. You're here. You were guided here without a shadow of a doubt. So I want you to say a moment of gratitude for the guidance that brought you here and open up to releasing and surrendering. For the first time as we open up this podcast, thank you guidance of the highest truth and compassion, thank you universe, thank you spirit, thank you inner wisdom, whatever you want to call on. For revealing to me what I need to heal so that I can step into more freedom than I could ever have imagined. Open your heart right now for the possibilities of what's to come. Open your mind to the possibilities of how things could be different. Turn over time and outcome stop allowing the pressures of your controlling energy to guide your actions and life, take your hands off the wheel, that prayer of thank you universe for revealing to me how I can grow. And each day as you develop these practices more each Monday as you return back to dear Gabby for more wisdom and guidance, what I'm going to ask of you is just to stay willing and receptive. All that I ask of you is to stay willing and stay receptive. When you think you've surrendered I want you to surrender more. When you feel resistance I want you to inquire about it. When you feel triggered I want you to seek support so that you can get grounded again when you feel as though you're having a breakthrough. I want you to celebrate it. My intention for this show is that it becomes your spiritual home base, the place that you come to for guidance, for direction, for wisdom, for love, for support, and to know that you are not alone. My intention for this show is to be a weekly reminder that you are guided, that you are supported, that you are loved, that you are cared for, that you are enough, and that the universe has your back. When you commit to the practices that will be revealed on this show and the methods, and the prayers, and the meditations, and the spiritual techniques, and the personal growth techniques, and the guests, and the truth that's told, each lesson will crack you open to a greater sense of the presence of love within you. Of course, America says, "I'm not here to teach you the meaning of love. I'm here to release the blocks to the presence of love within you." That's what I'm here to do for you. I'm not going to teach you how to go out and get something. I'm going to teach you how to reclaim the greatness that is already there. I love you. I am deeply proud of you. I am grateful for you, and I'm really excited to go on this journey. I'm just so thrilled to open up this conversation in a way that we can normalize suffering, we can normalize personal growth, we can normalize therapeutic practices, we can normalize spiritual faith. Because guys, if we don't show up for what's up, it's going to keep showing up. If we try to anesthetize and push down the suffering, we will live in a hamster wheel of trying to chase a feeling that has always been within us, a feeling of safety, a feeling of security, a feeling of serenity. It's right there. It's right here right now. Place your right hand on your heart and your left hand on your belly and just take a deep breath in and let that go. Closing your eyes if you're not driving, take a deep breath in and let that go. Just holding your hand on your heart and your left hand on your belly. I'm going to pick a card for you from my deck. The universe has your back and this is the first card of the show. Here we go. Here this is where we get to let spirit speak through me. Give me the wisdom to guide you in a new direction today to open this community up. Thank you, guides of the highest truth and compassion for opening up this conversation to dear Gabby, the show with the card that has meant for us. Wow. Couldn't be better. I find a deeper meaning and personal growth amid the discomfort. It's pretty much the theme of what I've been talking about the whole time here. Finding meaning and growth in the midst of our discomfort. That's what this show is going to guide you to do. This show is going to guide you to find purpose and meaning growth opportunities, strength and freedom through the difficult experiences in your life so that you recognize that you have the power to transcend them and become new. Open up your mind and your capacity to welcome miracles now, to welcome spiritual guidance and support to stay open and receptive, to show up every Monday to dear Gabby with an open heart and an open mind and a willingness to be led, be open to creative possibilities for optimal growth and change in your life. And always remember the universe has your back. If you made it to the end of this episode, that means you're truly committed to miracles. If you want to get more Gabby tune in every Monday for a new episode. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of the guidance or special bonus episodes. Your experience at this show means a lot to me, so I really want to welcome you to leave an honest review. And you can follow me on social media at Gabby Bernstein. And if you want to get in on the action, sign up for a chance to be Dear Gabby Live at DearGabby.com. See you next week.