Exploring the Power and Possibilities in the Unknown with Dawn Krieger

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS | More

We all have access, all the time, to wisdom and well-being. The paradox of life is that we so often are unaware that this is so. I’ve only just begun to figure it out myself. Our busy minds seem to have a habit of convincing us that they have all the answers. But there’s another way to live our lives that is more peaceful and less fraught.

In today’s interview, Dawn Krieger brings that home with examples from her own life as well as her experiences working with clients.

In the introduction I mention being on a webinar last week with Christian McNeill. Click here to listen and watch. (My dear friend Lorraine makes a surprise appearance!)

You can find Dawn at DawnKriegerCoaching.com

You can listen above or on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. Below are the show highlights and full transcript.

Show Notes

• From healing to working in construction and back again
• Approaching a solopreneur business with a relaxed state of mind
• Listening to our own wisdom while growing a coaching practice
• The simple work of redirecting clients to see their own wisdom and well-being
• Focusing on the fun and creativity in business, rather than feeling pressure
• The power found in the unknown
• How our state of mind affects how we feel about the unknown
• On beginning to trust even the uncomfortable moments

Transcript of Interview with Dawn Krieger

Alexandra: Hi everyone I’m Alexandra Amor from StopSufferingAbout.com and I’m here today with Dawn Krieger. Hi Dawn.

Dawn: Hi. How are you?

Alexandra: Very well. How are you?

Dawn: Good.

Alexandra: I’m going to give our listeners a little bit of an introduction to you.

Dawn Krieger is a transformational life coach, workshop facilitator, and Three Principles practitioner. She started her journey as a social worker out of college and learned a lot about the resilience of the human spirit, compassion and personal well-being.

She shifted to individual and group coaching while getting her master’s in Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica. Dawn experiences a great joy when she sees her clients connect back into their personal truth, listening more consistently to how their well-being is always guiding them, and seeing them live life from the good feeling within as they slow down and listen.

I love the way you’ve described that that’s amazing.

Give us a little bit more about your background and how you came to know about this understanding.

Dawn: My background started out in social work and I’ve always been called to be of service, healing service and then I got burned out after six years and then from there I just did a complete flip and start working in construction.

Alexandra: Oh wow.

Dawn: Yes, I know. I get that response a lot.

And then I moved through construction for a while and then I got to the point where I knew I needed to move back into the healing services. And at that point it looked like starting classes and trying to get my marriage and family certification so I could start being a therapist.

During that journey I decided coaching fit me so much better. And now from that journey on I have been introduced to Three Principles, which that came to me through a really close friend of mine, Julie Chazotte.

She showed up and started speaking to me about the Three Principles and trying to describe it to me. And it didn’t click. It went right over my head. I don’t understand what you’re saying but I’m happy it’s working for you.

Julie at the time had a boyfriend, but their relationship was on again off again a lot. And they just seemed to struggle. And so where the flip came in for me was seeing it was when they did an intensive with Rohini Ross and she came out like Oh my God it’s just thought. Sometimes partners have low moods. And that was it.

They ended up getting married and have this just beautiful connection. And when I could see that, that’s when I was like OK it’s time it’s time to get deeper into this understanding because I could I had evidence of the experience and that just looks so good to me.

Alexandra: Yes. That’s amazing. Circling back a little bit to what we said in the introduction you also mentioned a master’s in Spiritual Psychology and you and I were in Rohini and Barb’s Solopreneur Leap class a little over a year ago and I saw that then that you were had to had that degree and I was so intrigued.

Can you just touch on that a little bit for me?

Dawn: Yes. Definitely. I hit a really rough patch in my life and I knew something needed to shift. At that point I was working for a commercial contractor in construction but I was not fulfilled. I had started looking at schools and also at the time I was very connected to the spiritual as well as the intuitive aspect of myself.

I wanted something that would line up both because I love the grounding but I also love moving into wisdom and the unknown. And so for me the master’s in Spiritual Psychology was perfect. And that journey was amazing. I did a lot of healing and identifying and for me the program kind of does a little more processing than I do now, but it helped me see that there was a lot of misunderstandings I was holding on to.

And then through that I was able to start moving into what it looked like to be a coach and to share these new ways of looking at things and really always pointing people back to their well-being.

But yes, it was a it was a beautiful journey and honestly this spiritual part was really just no different than what we talk about in the Principles in connecting to the soul part of ourselves. Wisdom. The well-being. But they just took you on a processing path with that right.

Alexandra: You mentioned the word intuition there, which is not a word I hear Three Principles practitioners use all that much.

I’m interested to know what you think the connection between intuition and wisdom is.

Dawn: I think in some ways they’re completely the same for me. So when I used to do what I called Intuitive Readings I was just connecting to someone’s soul and the possibility of their soul. That’s it.

Now I can see with the understanding in the Three Principles that I just want to stay present with people and show them where their well-being is showing up for them in the moment. And where in the Intuitive Readings that was not quite what people were looking for.

So I shifted gears around that. And always in coaching and in service to people throughout my entire life, I’ve always connected to my wisdom. That’s always felt natural and organic and good to me. I still just keep moving into that space and just don’t place it in the future like looking into the future aspects of things right. What should I do? What’s gonna happen?

Alexandra: I love hearing that. And I love hearing that you’ve always been really connected to your own wisdom. That’s not something that I’ve personally experienced in my life and I’m trying to you know get there and deepen that relationship, as it were.

Did your parents instill that in you or where did that come from?

Dawn: It’s actually a good question. I’ve just had this conversation with my mom the other day. And we talked about that and as a mother she was actually calling to talk about some of the things that happened in the past and like sorry that you know we went through that. And I was like no, it’s the past. I’m good.

I explained to her that her wisdom and well-being was always a great support to me. I never felt unloved. And I explained to her that her wisdom was such a guiding force for us. And so to me that’s kind of she just laid out the foundation and seeing that happen.

Now I’ll be honest in the sense that wisdom is so much easier for me to really access when I’m in service to others. It doesn’t mean that I’m always accessing it when it comes to my own self because my thinking obviously can get in the way of that. So I have definitely many references and where it’s helped me in my own life where I’ve allowed that to lead me.

Alexandra: One of the things I’m always curious about is how people who have an understanding of the principles and have a coaching practice how they approach the growth of their business, knowing about the principles and following your own wisdom

Can you talk about that a little bit?

Dawn: That’s kind of part of my journey and where a lot of my thinking was stirred up in the past and where as I deepened into the understanding where I come from now with the business is looking at it from a relaxed state of mind.

I live in L.A. So in L.A. there’s a ton of coaches and a ton of coaching mechanisms and practices and marketing and pricing and it looked like shit in my mind. It looked like it should be this and this and none of it fit my own unique essence.

So now I slow down and I basically take action on what occurs to me and so that’s shifted in the sense of going with the understanding.

I definitely have increased the amount of time I want to be with clients. I used to do a lot of one offs. Now to be in the understanding it’s like it’s a process it’s not a process but it’s a deepening. And I look at doing longer coaching packages and that kind of just that was what occurred to me just in knowing the understandings to the level that I know them right now and feel aligned with that.

Alexandra: So in other words, rather than just doing them one session and that would be the last time you would see the person now it’s over a period of time.

Dawn: Yes.

Alexandra: I imagine that seeing all that sort of “competition” and that crowded marketplace in Los Angeles, I imagine I can see how it would stir up your thinking quite a bit.

Dawn: Yes.

Alexandra: And also I can see that that would be a great place to learn how to quiet your thinking and to learn the value of listening to your own wisdom.

Dawn: Definitely. I would say I’m in the throes of that place right now. But what I do love because of the understanding it actually aligns with what I desired in the past where I wanted to just create from my own unique energy essence. And not follow these structures in these ways and formats.

And so for me it’s kind of it’s just relax and then I don’t. Now I’m not putting pressure on myself that it needs to. It’s funny because actually the website I just sent you, I’m working on it. It’s in process right now. But it was funny to watch how I got stirred up around it because I was putting meaning into it needs to look a certain way, it feels a certain way, words just to write and there’s literally no meaning.

All I’m doing is sharing who I am and what I want to offer and who I can be of service to. But it’s funny to watch even in building the website that thinking can get going and I laugh at myself now. Now I can look at this process and laugh but most of it is a lot of it now is just coming from organic. Like what occurs to me in the moment that feels good and aligned and giving services to others.

Alexandra: Do you mostly focus on doing the one-on-one coaching over a period of time or do you offer groups group things as well?

Dawn: Yes. I’m doing that more along the lines. Actually Julie and I have partnered up around a lot of that and so we’re looking at it. We’re in the process of building those right now so it’s coming down the line.

These are ideas that are percolating and that’s what I love about it is there is such possibilities and I don’t know what they’re going to be.

That’s why being in the moment has been really powerful for me, sowing down and being present to that because it’s there. I don’t need to dig. I don’t need to effort.

Alexandra:  Right.

Can you compare how you run your business now to how you did say three or four years ago and what the difference is?

Dawn: I would say the difference then was that it came from everything. And if I got referrals that was great. And I would share like hesitantly that I was coaching and my husband would say, you’re an amazing coach, share! Then I was like okay.

But there were ideas around sales and put that pressure and now none of that is there because I know everyone has their own well-being. And really that’s all I’m doing in coaching is redirecting them to see that. It just feels good.

So for me there’s now this where I had a lot of thinking and avoiding. Now there’s less thinking and I would say fun action. Fun creativity, not the pressure and pushing. I’m not paralyzed as I used to be.

Alexandra: I love hearing you say that because I’ve felt a similar shift in just coming from a good feeling place and wanting to share rather than feeling obligated to be salesy or whatever the word of the moment was.

Dawn: Yes.

Alexandra: I can really relate to that. You mentioned the the possibility in the unknown a little bit earlier and you recently had a retreat about finding possibility in the unknown.

Tell us why the unknown is such a powerful place.

Dawn: When you asked that question I started doing a blog because what occurs to me is depending on how I relax or how I react to the unknown is where my state of mind is that’s in I am.

I’m a little bit of a geek and I love Lord Of The Rings. And I will watch it over and over again. What I love about it is the adventure and adventure doesn’t mean there’s no challenges or obstacles or even really upsetting moments but what I love about it is they’re a team they’re cohesive. Everyone’s showing up for each other and connected and that to me is the adventure of life.

I feel like when I’m when I’m not in the thinking I am in the unknown, which is really, if we actually slow down, the unknown is in every moment. It really is. We can get up and plan our day and assume it’s going to go how we think it does. But you could go to work and find out you got promoted. There’s so many things that can transpire without effort.

The more we realize the unknown is not dangerous or unsafe and that we have well-being and even in the moments where something unknown feels scary, our well-being is even going to lead us through that. That just opens up the possibilities that our mind can’t really even fathom.

I have personal experience. And it was why I was in the master’s program and took a lot of big leaps and in the throes of the leaps experienced panic attacks and simultaneously well-being.

I took a lot of leaps. I was a single mother with my daughter and I moved to Southern California and I started my own business all like in the same moment basically. And it was really scary to step into that and not everything looked the way I wished it did. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing there and that’s when the panic would come in and the thinking.

But my well-being was always holding strong and said keep going, keep the path, keep going. I met my husband and I have my practice, my family. Everything lined up and I didn’t actually have to effort through any of it. It was just my stirred up thinking that created the struggle for me.

Alexandra: I loved what you said about that so much of life is unknown and in my own experience I feel like I’ve really grappled with that. And have developed habits to try to control to so that things aren’t as unknown.

Structure and order and routine. All different kinds of things.

Do you experience that in your clients the way that we sort of cope with the unknown?

Dawn: Completely. That’s very human. And in my own life if I am in my state of mind, where I’m in a low mood and my house looks messy and I feel like my kids and my husband aren’t helping, I go into a whole lot of thinking around that and I’m just like in and trying to control it.

And now I can catch myself and it doesn’t mean that I course correct completely. But I’ll just kind of pull out and be like oh, that’s my thinking that I need to control it because it feels it stirred up and I have an idea that something’s unsafe which nothing is unsafe. Messy house does not equal unsafe.

But it’s so ordinary for us to look at the unknown and then trust in that and be comfortable with that or even comfortable in the discomfort.

Alexandra: When you’re leading a retreat or talking to a client about that how do you how do you begin that conversation.

How would you introduce that idea that the that the unknown is safe?

Dawn: I probably would start by showing them a moment in their own life where they moved into an unknown that it’s like if you move into an unknown. Like when we’re getting married. We think we know but we really at the time when we say I do. Everyone gets nervous because it’s an unknown but at the same point you’re super excited to start that journey.

That’s the state of mind. I would lead them to start looking at their state of mind because that’s what impacts when the unknown comes up for them. If you’re in a state of mind where you see it as connected to possibilities and excitement and creativity there we’re happy, we’re good.

But when our state of mind is deciding that this is scary and dangerous that’s where I would start showing them what are you deciding in this moment. And then wherever there have been moments where it’s look scary and it’s turned out actually in your favor or you came through on the other side with clearer understanding. Your well-being showed you the way.

So I would show them or ask them to kind of step into that with me in their own experiences so they can actually have a feeling connected to that.

Alexandra: Yes. And it occurs to me too that does it involve stepping into the unknown and seeing the possibility and an awareness of our ability to respond in the moment?

Dawn: Yes. When I coach, I mostly start with helping people see their well-being and that it’s working for them. I think as humans we believe we’re striving to achieve it. That it’s hidden from ourselves. That well-being is outside ourselves.

In coaching I’m going to take them on a journey to see how it actually is present in every moment because once we start seeing that then we move back into trusting even those moments that feel uncomfortable.

I can look back on that span of time and be like oh my gosh, I can feel into the well-being the whole time as well as remembering the panic that came from thought.

So I would guide people to really start seeing how their well-being shows up in their life consistently and even in little moments.

It’s little moments. We think it’s the big moments we want to see that. But it’s really the little moments. And they build such powerful momentum when we start seeing it.

And when I say seeing it’s like from a deeper level, not just cognitive, but from the deeper sense of our essence. That’s always there. No matter what.

Alexandra: Yes. This has been great. I’m learning so much.

We talked a little bit about your adventure being a single mom, moving, starting your coaching practice and you’ve touched on that. You had that experience of both well-being and panic.

Is there anything else that you really saw that was true for you at that time or ultimately what felt true?

Dawn: I saw that my wisdom was leading me. Because I really had hit a point of surrender within myself. I just I knew there was a way. How do I describe this? Like if I could feel into the well-being in an essence like when I wasn’t connected to the thinking that stirred up thinking I could feel the well-being that it was leading me. I just didn’t have a clear picture of what that looked like.

So there was a lot of trusting into that that it was going to lead me to the next step and the next step and the next step. Probably at the time I didn’t have the 3P understanding but well-being still showed up for me where I find it. The understanding is that in those moments of heightened panic I could have identified, Oh that’s just stirred up thinking. I’m attaching ideas and thoughts to something.

I like to call it when I coach clients it’s almost like you’re in Disneyland or Disney World. But in the middle of it you’re watching a horror movie right. Instead of taking a little shift and as soon as you see there’s other possibilities. The minute people see that they just go with it. So it’s like and we’ll come back to the movie. But in those moments I could have it. It’s like looking at that and seeing that.

My truth was there was always something leading me despite the stirred-up thinking, I could feel it. I would keep connecting with it when I felt completely fearful that I had no clue what was going to happen and where I was going. There was a point where I didn’t know if I could feed my daughter. And then my ex-husband showed up with a ton of food.

I just surrendered into trusting that that part of me was leading me.

Alexandra: Oh I think I need you to coach me.

Dawn: This whole idea is something like I said earlier that I’m learning about more and more that the universe has our back and that wisdom is always there and well-being is always there.

And when we don’t trust that it’s yes, it’s been an interesting journey for me to learn to trust that that is there.

Alexandra: When you say your wisdom is guiding you and your well-being. What does that look like? Is it ideas that occur to you? You just gave an example about your ex-husband showing up with food.

Do you have other examples of how it shows up?

Dawn: I really honor the smaller moments. But during that time there was probably bigger moments and in them there was a moment where I started my coaching practice but it was like really small. I think I had two clients and I was paying rent and no other job and taking care of my daughter.

So at that time, a friend of mine called and she said hey I’ve got a proposition for you. She said I will pay you ten thousand dollars to move to Southern California if you do it this weekend. I was like are you insane. She’s like, No, this is part of your dream and I’m going to help you but you need to take the action to do that.

So I called a U-Haul. I set up a place to live. And that was a gift to my roommate from college was like Yeah come live with us. And it was me and my daughter. So it was a big give and again the universal intelligence just shows up. I didn’t have to effort into it.

I moved down there that weekend and been down here ever since. Today was an unknown for me because I hadn’t done podcasts and so I was like nervous and I was like I’m just having a conversation like which I love. So we’re good right.

But I can allow the nervous to happen. That’s just ordinary and human. And I know that well-being has the answers. If you asked me question it’s going to come from within and it’s going to fit whatever the need is out there right.

Alexandra: I love hearing that. Thanks Dawn. This has been amazing I could talk to you for ages more about all this stuff, it’s so fun.

Why don’t you let everyone know a little bit about where they can find out about you and your work.

Dawn: You can find out about my work on DawnKriegercoaching.com and I have a Facebook page under The Sacred Leader right now that’s I’m in the process of changing it over to Dawn Krieger coaching. But for the moment and that has content that if you’re looking for some upliftment or a connection you can connect to me there and my contact information is also in the website.

And for anyone that is looking to just be curious. I do the first connection session is complimentary just because it’s not always a fit. Letting people decide. And you know have that space to say does this feel good to us and then go from there.

Alexandra: That’s good to know. I will put links in the show notes to everything that you’ve mentioned and so that people can find you. Thanks again for being with me here today. I really appreciate it.

Dawn: Yes, thanks for the invitation. I enjoyed speaking with you.

Alexandra: Oh you’re so welcome. Take care.

Dawn: Thank you. Bye bye.

[Northern lights image courtesy David Becker and Unsplash.]