Your Body Knows When It’s Time To Pivot

Your life can look “right” on paper and still feel wrong in your body. Sally Burlington sits down with author Tara Mae Temple to unpack the moment when career success, productivity, begins to collide with intuition, stress signals, and a deep need for change. Tara shares how obstacles at work and a health scare became the wake-up call that helped her stop, listen, and begin a healing journey grounded in faith, self-trust, and daily rhythm.

We get practical fast. Tara walks us through peace practices you can actually do when life is busy: a mindfulness walking practice that uses your senses and a simple affirmation (“May I be healthy, may I be happy, and may I be free from suffering”), a five-minute visualization to pull you out of fear and fight-or-flight, and guided meditation approaches that make stillness feel more accessible. We also talk about why healing is not a destination, how to come back to your practices after you miss a day, and how these tools can calm the nervous system and retrain attention away from rumination.

Tara also shares what’s inside her book, Life Hacks for Healing and Harmony, including chapters on anxiety, grief, identity shifts, ego, fear, and self-limiting beliefs, plus journaling prompts to help you process what you’re carrying right now. If you’re craving a slower pace and a more peaceful inner life, this conversation gives you a steady place to start. Subscribe for more peacemaking conversations, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with the practice you’re trying first.

Transcript

Welcome And Settle Into Gratitude

0:02

Welcome back to the Create Harmony Podcast. Let me tell you what you're gonna find here. In this space, we settle into an intentional rhythm, and it's one that helps us savor life's blessings and ground ourselves in gratitude. And today we get to expand that space a little wider. I'm gonna be joined by a guest whose work and presence reflect much of what we value here at Create Harmony: connection, intention, and a deep respect for the rhythms that shape our lives. So wherever you are, settle in, take a breath, and join us for this conversation.

Meet Tara Mae Temple

0:45

All right, welcome back to the Create Harmony Podcast. I am your host, Sally Burlington, and I am so excited today. We have a guest that I know you're gonna love and you're gonna definitely get some good peace practices from. Her name is Tara Mae Temple, and she has written a book called Life Hacks for Healing and Harmony, and that is definitely in our wheelhouse. So we're really excited about our conversation with her. Welcome, Tara. Thank you, Sally, for having me here. I'm so excited to be speaking with you and your guest. Oh, I am I am so excited to have you. So where we'll get started, I know that when we talked to you when we were preparing for this podcast, you told us the story of kind of how you arrived at becoming an author and focusing more on your piece. I think you were working a corporate job. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about that.

Why Corporate Success Felt Wrong

1:36

Yes. Um so I'm happy to share. So about five or six years ago, I was at the height of my corporate career, making the most money in my career doing healthcare, fundraising, and marketing. I thought I had reached um, you know, the top of the ladder because I was, you know, I had a, I had a team of people I was managing. And it was in my mind the dream job to have um in my late 30s, um, you know, helping a hospital raise money for better health care um in the city in Toronto. Um so yeah, I was I was feeling great for a couple of weeks when I first started the job. But as time went on, uh I started hitting obstacles and um got into conflict with, you know, different projects and and people in in the um in the company. And I just noticed that these obstacles kept popping up. And no matter what I did to solve them, I was hearing my inner voice saying, you know, you need to stop, pause, and move in a different direction. This isn't for you. Um, so you know, like that, that inner voice and these signs kept popping up nonstop. And as women, we're, you know, taught to be productive and keep going, you know, provide for the family and just keep going and live your routine and don't question it, right? Um, because we're, I have to admit, I was stuck in autopilot, raising a young family, um, being a career woman, trying to balance both at the same time. Um at the time, I didn't have the tools to listen to my inner knowing very closely. Um, but I'm a very spiritual person. And I always I was always taught as I was growing up to really get in tune with my intuition and go with my instinct on things. And something just did not feel right when I was in that role, um, earning a lot of money and just, you know, having that that kind of ideal life that everyone um wants to achieve. Yeah. I want, I want to, I want to talk a little bit more about, well, first of all, I think it's a very common and relatable idea to think that, you know, we dream up a dream that we think is the right fit for us, and then maybe we pursue that dream and realize, you know what, it's not the right fit for me. That's not what I thought it was gonna be like when I'm actually arriving at that place. So I think that journey is very relatable, and um, so many people, including myself, are gonna feel like, yeah, what do you do when you get to this point that you've worked so hard for and it's not what you envisioned that it would be? And I think you really expressed a lot of wisdom in just listening to that inner voice. I would love it if you could say a little bit more about this. May not be something you can say a lot more about because it's it's such a nuanced thing, but how did you know that that inner voice was something you needed to trust? Or when did you know that? Yes,

Health Scare And Trusting Intuition

5:10

that's a great question, Sally. And I knew right at the point when I received a health scare, my body was giving me cues that, you know, like I was feeling sick in my body. I I realized that, you know, I could not function a hundred percent. I was having brain fog. Um, I actually had to decide, you know, what am I going to put first? Am I going to put um, you know, earning an income at the top of the list, or am I going to put my health first in order to be around longer for my family? And, you know, I needed, I knew I needed to prioritize that my health and make lifestyle changes because my inner voice, that inner voice and the breadcrumbs, um, which were the signs, were pointing in the direction that I had to focus on healing. And so, you know, um, and when you notice things are not working around you and things are not in flow, um, and you're trying to come up with solutions to fix problems around you. And and for me, it was, you know, the obstacles popping up in my workplace with colleagues. Um, it was, you know, all of these put together were a big, huge flag telling me, you know, you're meant for something else. And that voice was very strong. I had, you know, I was up to this day, I have a strong faith and trust in God, and He has a plan for our life. And I needed to trust in that plan and just surrender to it. I had a strong desire deep within my soul to write my own story. I had a love and passion for writing my entire life and storytelling and reading books. And I just felt that God had in my heart to go on this healing journey in order to discover that I had to tell my stories and my lessons to help people find inner peace. Um, when you say healing journey, I'd love to know approximately like how long did that take? Because I think sometimes my me and a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking, okay, I'm gonna have a healing weekend and then, you know, I'm done. I'm done with that. I've rested a little and now back to it, back to the grind. So when you say healing journey, say more about the time frame of that.

Why Healing Takes Years

7:45

Yes. Um, you know, it ebbs and flows because things happen in our lives that are out of control. So for me, the timeline, the trajectory of that healing journey was about five years. And, you know, and what I like to share with people when I'm teaching my uh messages about harmony is that, you know, healing doesn't happen overnight. You, you know, you need to find those little glimmers of hope and joy and, you know, integrate these healing and harmony rituals into your life on a day-to-day basis because challenges are gonna come up, but that peace has to come within. And you need to surrender to the healing process and come to a place of self-acceptance and just, you know, it's okay if you're having a very difficult emotion and you're feeling things um that you don't want to be feeling and you're in a place of suffering. I am, you know, I I totally am, I feel that because I've been there and I've been in your shoes. And knowing that, you know, you can feel you are human, let yourself feel that suffering and those struggles, but let yourself process it. And, you know, life isn't the healing isn't a destination. It definitely is a a journey and it comes in waves. Um, so for me, it was definitely in waves, but that was the the timeline, the five years. That's great. I love that. So, I mean, the the lesson there is it's it's gonna take a minute sometimes. It's gonna take a minute to realign, and and it's really sort of a lifelong process as part of what I'm hearing you say. I'd love to hear you say a little bit more about you, everybody is not gonna have the freedom or the ability to do a life overhaul, and everybody doesn't need a life overhaul. But I think that your peace practices can be something that everyone can incorporate, even if it's just a small dose of peace practices that can redirect people in the right way. So I'd love for you to tell us a little bit more about what are the types of things that you do to bring more peace into your life.

Mindful Walking With An Affirmation

10:11

Yes, I'd love to share that. And so basically, my number one, my go-to in helping me to heal, which I know will help others, is doing a mindfulness walking practice. Uh, and while you're doing that, you know, you could be walking through nature, walking by a lake, or just walking through your neighborhood. Um, and while you walk, focus on the sight, sounds, and smells as you walk. And then while you're walking, recite an affirmation. And the affirmation sounds like this May I be healthy, may I be happy, and may I be free from suffering. What that does is it shifts your attention away from your stress suffering and what you're challenged with at this moment. Uh, and that uh puts you in a place of serenity and calm. So it may be, you know, just that micro moment of joy, but basically there have been studies on this mindfulness practice that have helped so many people dealing with chronic diseases, illnesses. Um, there's evidence out there that it lowers blood pressure and um stress disorders and things like that. And it's just, you know, you can enjoy the nature and get in contact with nature while practicing that mindfulness. And and so that's the number number one tidbit. And anyone could start that anywhere, right? You can feel all the feelings that you're feeling in your day-to-day, but just take a little bit of time out of your day to go on that walk of mindfulness and um just witness how you feel after. Um I love what I love about that is that you've incorporated nature, you've incorporated your senses, you've incorporated an affirmation which is helping retrain your brain. And even though I am, I do this work all the time, have lots and lots of conversations about how to pursue peace in life, I feel like I need that reminder. You know, everyone needs that reminder of whatever you tell your brain, it's gonna believe you. And if you say, may, you know, focus it on, may I be well, may I be happy, may I be free from suffering, that's where, you know, the only thing we control is our focus. And that's really, really important and powerful. I love that you said that. Thank you. It's um, and I know it will help many, many people, right, Sally. It's um, you know, it's I know a lot of us have trouble staying in the present moment, but if you can give yourself that little gift, um, it can do wonders for you and it really get out of your head with ruminating thoughts. So I'm happy that you mentioned um that piece about, you know, retraining our mind with that affirmation, that mantra. Yes, for sure. So are there other things that you do that are your regular practices that support your journey?

Visualization For Fear And Illness

13:17

Yes, I um there's so many different ones, but there's um, there's one that I like to reinforce because I know that a lot of people may be going through um illnesses or they have a loved one that's maybe suffering from something, an illness or a disease. Um, so the one thing I I like to mention is, you know, if you're going through that certain circumstance in your life, um, my message here is to focus on love and use a five-minute visualization as a tool to get you out of fight and flight, fight or flight and to override the fears that you're currently having if you're, you know, sick or you have a loved one that is sick. Because I know when that happens, the the only thing we can think of is the worst possible scenario of things going badly and you know, having uncertainty and fear of losing a loved one or worrying about our own mortality, right? Um, so when that happens and we have those fears, I want listeners to experiment and try to do a five-minute visualization of each day of either yourself or your loved one being in very good health, smiling and having just a happy, warm, loving memory of spending time together. And, you know, put all your complicated dynamics aside and let love and light take over. And just know that that love is all that matters. And, you know, all the complicated stuff is just noise and chaos that is used against us to distract us from our natural essence of just being compassionate and and loving toward one another. Um, so this has been a very um strong game changer for me because what a five-minute visualization does is it helps you manifest more of the um the goodness and the blessings into your life instead of being so caught up with the fear of you know losing somebody or you know, things going badly for your own life or your own health. Um, so that definitely helps with manifestation and giving you more peace of mind. I love that. I love that. I think it's important to note that, you know, when we get very fearful or very agitated, our brain tries to continually revisit the things that are triggering all of that fear and agitation. And I think what you are suggesting is very helpful because it gives your brain a job to do. And if if it's doing that job, it's harder for you to circle back. I mean, you're definitely, I mean, when I have fear, sometimes that fear breaks through the job that I've given my brain to do, but it's just a process of revisiting it, just starting again, go back. It's okay, you know. And and I think that's a very, very healing process. Yes, it definitely is. And, you know, you you are all brave enough to revisit that fear and confront it head on, because you know, we can't let that fear overtake our lives. And we need to steer our minds in the right direction. And it really is all about disciplining the mind and you know, giving your muscle, the muscles in your brain some work to do um by focusing on what we want more of in our life. So what we focus on expands, right? So if we don't want more bad stuff in our life, try not to focus in or make that energy bigger, but um try to bring in more light and love into your life. And, you know, those visualizations really help you to manifest the the miracles and the blessings for sure, for sure. And I like that you, I mean, sometimes that's easier said than done because we get overwhelmed, we get agitated, we get busy. But I like that you said just five minutes. It doesn't have to be, you know, a three-hour thing. It can be five minutes, it can be three minutes, and that will make a difference in the way that you experience struggles or trauma or whatever. You can recalibrate that whole experience in that way. So I love that you suggested that. Yes. So do you have other, are there other things that you do, peace practices? We've got the mindfulness walk, we've got a guided visualization. What else is in your toolkit?

Guided Meditation And Spiritual Grounding

18:02

Uh, meditation is definitely um another number one of mine, asides from starting my day with prayer to God. Um, but meditation has really helped me in my healing journey. I I learned it through guided meditations and started with one or two minutes and then gradually worked my way up. And I noticed that when I started this, um, you know, it it could be hard for people who are highly energetic and can't sit still. But what it does is it silences your thoughts in your mind and it really takes away the cobwebs of you ruminating over thoughts that don't serve you any longer. Um, it really slows you down. And I notice that I'm able, it strengthens my connection with God and having trust in a higher power and in the divine. Um, so I highly recommend it. I don't do the silent meditation, but I do the met spiritual meditations that have some sort of an affirmation or mantra or intention. Um for example, there's one that really helps me because I'm an empath. I I I feel other people suffering. Um, so there's a guided meditation that I do that um where you visualize a cord coming from your body and grounding and connecting with the earth and the ocean and all of nature, and it really cuts the cords of bad energy around you and you know, helps you feel grounded again in your body. Um, so that's one. And then there's also a spiritual one that I like where um where I I visualize God or Jesus um, you know, putting light onto my body and I picture the cells receiving that light and my organs receiving all of that healing. And, you know, I just picture goodness and healing and health pouring into my bodies, especially, especially the um physical ailments or any discomforts I'm having in any part of my body and especially my mind to um, you know, be receiving that light so that I can be the best version of myself to be able to be a blessing to others and serve others to teach them about how to receive this inner peace. I love that. That is so beautiful. I I I love everything about that. I think, and I like the fact that you've sort of taken us on a little bit of a walking journey here when we started out with just a mindfulness mindfulness walk, which is easier if you aren't a practice meditator. You start out with that, that gives you nice nature and things to look at, and then you step to guided visualization, which is again a little bit more stillness-minded, but not quite as intense, and then on to meditation. So I I think, and that I think that's the way. I mean, I have lots of people in my realm that say, like, I can't meditate, I I'm not able to sit still. And I think the thing about it is it's a training process. So I like that you shared it in that way, that it's a process of train retraining your brain, which has probably already had a lot of training by your device and the world around it that wasn't still and slow and measured. And so it's a retraining process. And once you get better at it, once it becomes more of a habit, it's stronger, you you could do more of this. And just like your body, when you are exercising, it's the same thing. Yeah. It's the same concept. That's right. And I love that you mentioned that because in Western society, we're so focused on, you know. exercising our bodies and and trying to stay in shape um to say physically healthy but they're saying that now it's there's more emphasis on you know you need to be able to to help maintain your brain health and I I think meditation um really lends to that and adds to the benefits of keeping your brain healthy and you know helping you to stay stay mentally intact when you know the world the external things happening in the world are are very chaotic um you know like you can if you have that meditation tool that that will just really add to you feeling more harmonious and calm within your your body and it really does calm your nervous system yes I love we we try to have a lot of conversations here about habits that you can factor into your life that will calm your nervous system that will elevate the moments of your day that will settle your soul and your spirit and so these are all very very helpful practices um to do and for people to incorporate and listen every day is not gonna afford that you might have a day that is your schedule is bananas and it might not happen but the next day you can just come back to it come back to it again and start again. I love that and that's showing your self-compassion right it's um you know not beating yourself up when you miss a day um and just you know knowing that you can always come back to it because you know we I think most of the time we're the ones putting pressure on ourselves to perform and check off um the to-do list but if you can give yourself a bit of grace and that space to you know let yourself miss a a couple days here and there that's okay just you know we're all human too so I do you have I wanted you to tell us a little bit more about your book and what is in your book, what your book includes and how it can bless other people.

What Her Book Helps You Face

24:11

Yes I love to talk about that. Um so yeah in my book Life hats for healing in harmony I basically wrote this um basically each chapter starts with a story of the challenges I've dealt with and they're universal themes of what people deal with um on a regular basis not regular basis but throughout their lifespan um and that could be something like anxiety um grief losing a loved one um dealing with our ego um self-image struggles and then um what else uh identity crisis I talk about that and then also you know fear hacks as well and then you know conquering self-limiting beliefs and trying to overcome those to live to our full potential as well. So there's a lot of other topics in here but it doesn't have to be read from in chronological order. Basically you just you go to the table of contents and if you're dealing with something um on a given day or week you just look for what you're needing help with and support with and basically just flip to that chapter and so read through it. And then each of the chapters also have a writing um writing prompt exercise and journaling pages. So that'll help you process what you're currently dealing with and help you implement some of the um harmony strategies that that I suggest in here. And it's not only my stories, I bring it back to um the reader themselves it's a teaching memoir but it's also a self-help book with a lot of research that I've done to help me on my healing journey to help people overcome different things that they're dealing with and to lessen their suffering. So yeah, it is it is the guidebook I wish I had 10 years ago because we all know that life doesn't come with a manual and you know we owe it to ourselves to get access to resources like this to really be a good support and guide for helping us through very difficult times. And this can help you cope and change your mindset about certain things. So I still go back to myself on a on a given day to remind myself okay this I need a little bit of help with this and you know revisiting these different strategies and stories can really be uplifting to my soul. So that's my hope is that I can help others to find their joy fulfillment and peace in their lives because we all know life could be difficult and you know this is here to support you. I love that that is really I mean I and I like that you said that you developed the resource that you felt like you need. I think it's gonna be very practical for people it's it is you know virtually life hacks that people can incorporate into any busy schedule. So that that's really I think that's going to be very relatable and compelling to a lot of people myself included so thank you so much for div designing this resource for all of us to utilize and having all of those tools to access at any time and not that it's it's not like it has to be read from beginning to end. It's nice that you can just tap into the parts that are most applicable for wherever you are in your season of life. I love that I love that part too.

New Healing Modalities And Writing Dreams

27:56

So thank you thank you for that is there anything else you want to share with us about you know where you're going from here or yes I you know where I'm going from here is basically I want to write more to help people to help lessen people's suffering. So I'm currently exploring different topics that would help people in their day-to-day lives and um one one topic I'm very interested in is you know there's different thousands and hundreds of healing modalities that we could have access to to help us on our healing journeys. And you know I've explored a ton of them already you know traditional therapy um with a psychotherapist and journaling to help um purify and cleanse your toxic emotions as well as the peace practices we talked about but I know I could go deeper into different other healing modalities. So I'm currently doing research and even um trying out different healing modalities myself to s to get an idea about what different things these healing modalities can help um with in our lives. So um yeah it's it's an experimental and exploration journey of what I want to write about next and that's currently where I am and my my long term kind of dream is writing a novel. And um in that process you know I haven't written a novel before but I enjoy storytelling and in this first book that I write about a lot of my emotions that I went through but I'm really intrigued about character development and creating a plot and kind of you know making a story interesting. I love that that's great. That's gonna be very compelling to a lot of people and I like that you sort of are using yourself as the guinea pig where that the rest of us you're exploring all sorts of healing so that the rest of us can benefit. That's a really neat way to do it. And I think it's gonna be a great blessing to the world, to everyone. So thank you so much for taking time out to tell us about your story and your big pivot in life and all of the the directions that you've gone from there, all the peace practices that you practice regularly and I just know that people are going to find this inspiring and want to know more. So thanks so much for joining us today. Oh thank you so much for having me here. And um yes I really do hope this makes a difference in people's lives because we we know how busy we can all get but um we all owe it to ourselves to to have a little bit of time out and you know ask ourselves what what is our true desires and and the dreams that we want for ourselves and you know take a bit of time to have that peace because you know most people are living in in autopilot and they don't realize that you know they're in survival mode. But what if we can shift a little bit to a place where we're not in the hustle and grind of our daily lives and you know live a more peaceful slower paced life. Notice, you know, just play with that a little bit. And um I know Sally your your podcast and your peace practices are are really big inspiration to myself so I encourage listeners to keep listening to your podcast um to bring them a bit of grace and and joy in their lives because I know it does mine. Yes for sure thank you and we really appreciate you participating in the elevating of peacemaking the conversations around peacemaking are really important to us here and we just appreciate you participating in that ongoing conversation. So thank you again and we look forward to what comes next for you.

Peaceful Pathways Summer Box Details

32:16

Hope you enjoyed our conversation today here at Create Harmony we are committed to peacemaking. We are elevating conversations that help people refresh their lives and soothe their souls. And on that note I need to remind you about our peaceful pathways box. Y'all the summer box is here and it is chopped full of playful summer goodness that you are not going to want to miss. In each box there's a link to five guided meditations and some of the themes for summer are a walk through the farmer's market, running through the sprinkler in a playful way or resting in the cool shade. And these meditations give you just enough things to keep your mind busy so that you step away from your life and calm yourself. And also in each box there are other fun good goodies that are provided by Petal and Peak Mental Wellness Boutique. So let me get you excited about what that is. What's in the summer box what you will receive is a little mini watercoloring kit that is strawberry themed. You can just take a little time do a little craft it's calming and very peaceful. You'll also receive a summer garnish trio and this is for your summer drinks there's three little jars with three different flavors. You can add them to your water make infused water you can add them to your mocktails you could put it in a cocktail and it just elevates the Moma a little bit and makes your summer drinks extra special. There's also in the box what we're calling a take a breath jar and that is what that is. It's like a glass jar has a lid. You take the lid off and there are wool balls in there that have a scent very calming scent. So anytime your life is just getting out of hand you could get that jar, take the lid off and just take some deep breaths and just breathe in that calming aroma and it's just a way of aromatherapy and just relaxing your nervous system. So you can get a take a breath jar and then the last thing you get are some little notes that have ladybugs on them. The envelopes have tomatoes so they're very summery themed. You just need to jot a note to a friend if they're tiny like about the size of a business card so a quick little note that you can jot or drop it in a gift or something like that. Just a neat addition to all the goodness in that summer box. Now I also want to tell you one thing about our summer box. We've been doing this as a subscription so you had to subscribe for all of the other boxes. You don't have to do that now you can just buy one box. If you want to just sample the summer box you just buy that one box and then if you like it you can certainly subscribe and get one every order but a subscription is not required. So just give it a try. Check it out see what you think I'm sure it's gonna bless your summer in more ways than you can imagine.

Final Blessing And Sign Off

35:07

If you want more information about that you can go to mycreateham.com and look for peaceful pathways box and that's where you'll find it and until next time peace