Transcript of Interview
Find Your Voice, Change Your Life Podcast
Podcast Host: Dr. Doreen Downing
Free Guide to Fearless Speaking: Doreen7steps.com
Episode #126 Shiraz Baboo
“Rewrite Your Reality for Total Transformation”
(00:00) Doreen Downing: Hi, this is Dr. Doreen Downing, host of the Find Your Voice, Change Your Life podcast. I'm always excited to introduce you to new guests who I’ve been personally affected by. This man today, Shiraz Baboo, is someone that I met in a workshop, or actually we were both delivering presentations to a group and I went to his presentation and raised my hand for one of his processes. I'll tell you later about what I gained and it was life-transforming, and that's what he's all about anyway. Hi, Shiraz.
(00:43) Shiraz Baboo: Hi, thank you so much for having me on your show.
(00:46) Doreen Downing: Yes. Well, you sent me a bio. I'm going to read that right away so that we can then dive into your story. Shiraz Baboo is a multi-award winning author, international speaker, and reality interventionist.
He is known for helping people to rewrite their reality and overcome challenges in their lives using what he calls energetic magic.
Shiraz has helped hundreds of people to overcome illness, poverty, and unconsciously addicted struggles. Overall, he is a renowned personality in the area of reality addiction.
His book, "How to Rewrite Reality" has changed lives across the globe. That's so true because I know you personally, so none of this is beefed up. It is you Shiraz. So, hello.
(01:47) Shiraz Baboo: Hi.
(01:49) Doreen Downing: We're going to be talking today about voice and about you personally, what that meant for you, not either having a voice, maybe where it might have started, and when you came to realize you needed more of a sense of voice in this world.
Let me start. Canada. Were you born up there?
(02:11) Shiraz Baboo: I was born in South Africa.
(02:14) Doreen Downing: Oh, tell us more. Let's start there.
(02:18) Shiraz Baboo: Not much to tell. I was born in South Africa. Apartheid was going on. My parents didn't want us to grow up in that place.
By the time my little sister was born, they packed up my brother, my sister, and I, and trucked us over to Canada. I've been in Canada since I was three years old. I was raised here, but I’ve lived across the world, in Australia, Japan, India, some other places and they're skipping my brain for some reason. Oh, Germany.
(02:51) Doreen Downing: Well, a lot of exposure to different cultures then, huh? Yes. I love to travel. That's part of what I love about being a psychologist is that people to me are like little mini universes and there's so much to discover.
(03:08) Shiraz Baboo: Oh Yes. I talked about going backpacking through Europe and my parents basically insisted that I do it.
I'm like, "I have to do it." They said, "It'll be good for you." I spent 3 months backpacking. After that, it's just like, "Oh no, this has to continue." There's going to be so much more traveling in my life.
(03:30) Doreen Downing: Yes. I was in the Peace Corps in Malaysia, in that area of the world, and because I was planted there, I was able to go up to India, all around Southeast Asia, China.
So, yes, I know that that opportunity to open the door into another culture, I think teaches us so much and to immerse yourself in it.
So, immersing yourself in your early life, just any stories that come up about early life and voice for you: school, or parents, or family—early life.
(04:10) Shiraz Baboo: It's another thing about moving. In high school, I was getting in with the "in" crowd. That felt great, but it's only when I look back at it that I found I was losing my voice because I was going along with whatever the "in" crowd was.
I was saying the same thing, so it's just agreeing, and so I wasn't really being me. I was being who I thought everyone expected me to be.
Then my parents moved us to a new neighborhood, and it wasn't just a new bunch of people, but we were living in the most multicultural space in the city. They moved us to an all-white neighborhood. All of a sudden, I have to be independent. I'm standing out amongst the sea of people.
So, in our high school, my brother and I were the first ones there. My sister was in a different thing until she got up to high school. But there were 2,000 kids and there were three black people in the whole school. Yes. I had to become more independent. I had to use my voice and it really changed who I was as a person. I would be someone completely different if I had stayed lost in the noise of the crowd.
(05:31) Doreen Downing: Oh, I like that phrase, the noise of the crowd. Right, that's something that's so easy to get absorbed in and lost in and you think you have an identity because you see it all around you, but you're just part of.
Well, I had a question when you were talking about how do you know the difference between when you're trying to fit in and when you are really true to yourself? What are the signs?
(06:02) Shiraz Baboo: Oh, when you're true to yourself you don't care what anyone thinks about you. When you're fitting in, you're constantly checking: how are they reacting? Am I doing the right thing? What are their physical reactions and what they say to who I am.
Just a couple of days ago, I was at an event and I was speaking and the host said, "We'll do some energetic magic on the crowd." I asked for volunteers and the very first person said, "I have doubts. I don't really think you can do what you say you can do."
It's my first person. I'm thinking, "Why did you even volunteer?" But I wasn't there to prove her wrong. I wasn't there to make a show of it. I knew what I was capable of, and I just started to work on her. So, what she thought of me did not matter. That I could help her, mattered. When we were done, she looked at me and she goes, "Oh, you're the real deal." I'm like, "Okay."
(07:02) Doreen Downing: Yes. Well, that's true. I do know you, so I do know that the way you just shrugged about yourself. It wasn't an inflated ego. You just come to what's really important to you is serving and being available and offering the gift that you have.
But what you just said, I think is really important for listeners. It's like being other-directed is what we call it in psychology. Checking around and to make sure that you aren't standing out and then to be true to yourself, it felt like you were saying check in and be okay that others are going to maybe judge you and that's okay. Like the story you just told about the woman who started with judgment and doubt.
(07:53) Shiraz Baboo: One of my favorite phrases is, why try to fit in when you were made to stand out?
(08:01) Doreen Downing: That's brilliant. Yes. Say that one more time. I want that heard loud and clear.
(08:08) Shiraz Baboo: Why try to fit in when you were made to stand out? When you think about it, for you or anyone listening, the people you admire most, do they fit in or do they stand out?
(08:21) Doreen Downing: Yes, you wouldn't notice them unless they stood out. Oh, great point. Well, when did you come to that moment? I mean, I know you told about the early life moment in high school, really being kind of forced to stand out and not really having a choice, but any other incidents because I think that's so important about voice.
(08:47) Shiraz Baboo: When I started practicing what I do. It's the same story, all business people, even speakers. How do I get people to know me? How do I get people to see me? And I went on an Abraham Hicks cruise. She does similar work. I was actually amused because— Are you familiar with Abraham Hicks?
(09:08) Doreen Downing: Yes. Recently that book came across my vision yesterday. There must be something that's calling me about that.
(09:18) Shiraz Baboo: Okay. So, people had said, "You must study a lot of Abraham Hicks." I said, "I’ve heard about Abraham Hicks," but I’ve never actually checked out this person, which is actually Esther Hicks, who channels the spirit of Abraham, which is a being that's just an all-knowing being.
So, I started listening to the audios on YouTube and they kept talking about these cruises that people are on and they get to meet her in person, so I thought I’ll book a cruise. So, I booked a cruise and went on there and there were 1100 people in the auditorium to see Abraham.
Esther comes out and it's just her on stage and another chair for volunteers and they come up and the interaction is similar to the one I do with you. 1100 people booked a cruise ship to do this. I'm like, "What is going on here?"
Then I realized, "Okay, I have to play bigger." I need more people to hear me so I can do something like this. From that, from setting that intention, it just led to meeting a coach that taught me how to write a book, and the book, "How to Rewrite Reality," got me even more attention.
My voice got louder. As my voice started to get out, I got more and more used to my voice going out there. I started having more and more fun with my voice going out there. I started booking more stages and finding where I could speak and getting on podcasts.
Eventually people started asking me, "Will you come speak on my stage? Will you come speak on my part?" It's just amazing. Like once you just get into it and you make that decision, everything starts to work in your favor and align to you. Suddenly you're everywhere you want to be.
(10:59) Doreen Downing: Oh, I'm already totally in love with you right now. I just feel like you are speaking my language and the voice that you're using in terms of inspiration and that there's more and setting an intention, I think is so valuable to the people who find my podcast and are fascinated by the guest and you are totally fascinating.
I'm going to take a Brief break, and I'm going to come back and tell my story in just a minute.
(11:32) Shiraz Baboo: Looking forward to it.
(11:42) Doreen Downing: Hi, we're back with Find Your Voice, Change Your Life, and Shiraz Baboo is here. He is a magician; I have to tell you. We've already talked about Energetic Magic, that's his brand, and his book where he talks about reality and how we can change that. I've had an experience with him that I'm going to tell you right now, and then we'll get back to having him do whatever he's going to do for the rest of our time together today.
As I said, I was in a summit where a number of us were talking about our books and that's where I met Shiraz and he asked for volunteers. That's his favorite thing to do is ask for a volunteer. I trusted him enough and felt like he understood inner depth and inner psychology enough that he wasn't just going to try and wind me up and throw me out into the world. He was really going to hear me, what was going on, what my struggle was.
It happened to be about my weight, a little extra pounds this last summer and COVID and I said that I felt like a diet or the way I was eating in order to reduce my weight felt like deprivation. And I have to tell you Shiraz asked me just a few questions, a few questions over and over just the same question, "Was I willing to let go of that?"
I have to say it was Energetic Magic. I've been reducing. I've done 15 pounds since I’ve seen you and it's been easy. I always remember that breakthrough moment with you. I think there's something about a breakthrough moment that changes, it kind of shakes up everything and it kind of slices reality and there's a new reality that you arrive in. Isn't that kind of a sense? Did I get it right?
(13:46) Shiraz Baboo: Yes. You're really, really close. What we do is, there's a story that's running inside you that you feel is important and necessary. We're basically cutting that out. That's when that breakthrough moment comes because when we pull that story off and you realize, "That was just something I made up, that I decided I needed." Then we get closer to the core of who you really are, the happy, bright, amazing person that's been covered up by these stories.
(14:16) Doreen Downing: Yes. Well, you got even deeper because there's deprivation, but you asked something else that took me to something more core about my grandma and where love is and sucking my thumbs and having doughnuts with my grandma. You took me there too. I don't know what you did right there with that kind of question, but—
(14:38) Shiraz Baboo: Oftentimes, not even oftentimes— every time when we're really young, we look for love around us. Based on how other people are behaving, what they're doing and how they're interacting with us, we decide this is what love looks like.
So, if there's abuse around you, you think love looks like abuse. If you only get love because you do the right things, you figure, I have to keep pleasing other people in order to get love. You become a people-pleaser as you grow up.
So, the interactions you had with your grandma is where you were defining what love looks like and that defines your path as you move forward in life.
(15:16) Doreen Downing: A big thumb in my mouth, right? Suck, suck, suck. Food, food, food. Yes. I get it now. I get it a little more deeply. I was depriving myself of love is what I thought, on a deeper level. Oh, I'm so glad we got to rehash that one too. Thank you.
Well, coming back to the book, maybe talk a little bit about what the book is so that listeners can go get it.
(15:48) Shiraz Baboo: How to Rewrite Reality. Actually, a little amusing story about the book is I found a book coach that said a book will get you more visibility, get you speaking gigs. He's not wrong. You get a lot more speaking gigs if you have a book than if you don't.
So, I wrote a book with the premise that I'm just going to use it to boost my business. Except when I was writing the book, I started channeling in all this information that went into the book that I'd never talked about before.
A lot of the things I talked about in the book, like genres—I put the whole book in the form of metaphors of a story because it's how to rewrite reality and the subtitle is becoming the author of the stories in your life.
So, just giving an example. The chapter titles, "Reality is just a bunch of stories, your backstory, your genre, your archetype, your purpose, your supporting characters, past, present, and future tense, driving the narrative, plot holes, and happily ever after.
(16:51) Doreen Downing: Oh, plot holes.
(16:52) Shiraz Baboo: And so, all of it was designed so that you can relate that your life is just a bunch of stories. You often think, "Well, this is just life and how the world works and there's nothing I can do about it."
But every story in your life, you can edit. You can remove some of them and add in new ones. You're the author.
(17:19) Doreen Downing: Yes. Wonderful. You're so clear. You're so determined and powerful. Thank you so much for giving this message to my listeners. What I like about how it relates to voice is that the story comes from a voice. Who is the one inside of you that is speaking that story? Are you listening to it? If you're listening to it and it's leading you into all sorts of crazy places, I think those come to you, come see you.
(17:54) Shiraz Baboo: The thing is, you're right. Who's the voice you're listening to? Because oftentimes it's not even your own voice. It's your mom's voice.
(17:59) Doreen Downing: Or my grandma in my case.
(18:02) Shiraz Baboo: Yes. I actually remember working with this woman and she was going to break up with her boyfriend. I said, "Why do you want to break up with your boyfriend?" She goes, "Well, he doesn't want kids, but I want kids." I looked at her and I said, "Do you want kids?" Because as you know, when I talk to people, I can tell when your conscious police match your unconscious police.
She said, "Of course, I want kids." I'm like, "Is it your voice saying that you want kids?" She's like, "No, it's my parents. They want me to have kids. I've been living for their dream of being grandparents, not my dream." "Is your dream being a mother?" She goes, "No, I don't want kids."
(18:41) Doreen Downing: See, that's an example. That story is a perfect example of reality. She was living in a reality, then broke through to the truth of her reality, and so this idea of truth and finding our own truth, before we get off, because we're almost at the end, can you just give—I mean, not everybody could find their way to you, but that's—wait, I'm going to stop that. Did you hear what I just said?
(19:13) Shiraz Baboo: I did.
(19:13) Doreen Downing: Did you hear that? I heard it too. I said, "Boy, Doreen, that's not true. Anybody, everybody can find their way to you." First, tell me how or tell the group, the listeners, how they find you.
(19:27) Shiraz Baboo: Just go to energeticmagic.com.
(19:30) Doreen Downing: Easy. You make it so easy. You make change really, really, really easy. To end, any other words that come from you that you want to share that seem appropriate for right here, right now?
(19:49) Shiraz Baboo: Don't be afraid to let your voice be heard because your voice is your story, it's the key to someone else having a huge transformation. As long as you're staying quiet and staying unseen, they can't have that transformation.
(20:07) Doreen Downing: I think that that message can reverberate in a resonance that will reach through these sound waves and have people go, "Yes." So, hey listeners, this is a big yes today. Thank you Shiraz.
(20:25) Shiraz Baboo: Thank you so much. It's been great being here.
(20:27) Doreen Downing: Yes, me too.