Overcoming People-Pleasing & Over-giving with Presence — Intuitive Animal Communicator, Joanna Schmidt

In today’s post I’d love to share my own experience of transforming from being a floaty space cadet to grounded in the now, and how it’s helped me shake my habits of People-Pleasing and Over-giving by learning reconnect with my center.
I’ll also be giving you a simple practice to help you bring your energy back to your center and be present in the moment.
*I’d love to invite you to listen along…*

Listen here…

Hello Dear Intuitive One

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you’ve heard me talk about presence and center — A LOT. But it’s time I let you in on why I talk so much about it, especially in relation to intuitive, animal communication and spirit work .

I wasn’t always the grounded IN the NOW person I am today. I was (and I say this in the nicest possible way) a floaty space cadet when I was young.

I grew up in the 80’s when out-of-body-spirit-stuff was where it was at. Combined with chronic early life trauma that shook me out of my body and made it impossible to check back IN to my body… scattering my energy — being anywhere but IN my body was a way to cope.

When I was young, I felt safer OUT of my body than IN my body.

I’ve learned that I’m not alone in this. Most of us who are sensitive and empathic tend to spend a LOT of time OUT of our bodies.

Like when we habitually…

Space out and check out
Multitask ourselves right on out of the present moment
Take spontaneous journeys, like to visit the past, scout out future events or escape into our imagination
Or… when our energy zooms INTO our computers when we’re scrolling Instagram reels or on a zoom calls

All this checking out can lead to big energetic trouble too…

When we are not IN our bodies, we tend to over give, people please and have a really, really hard time not losing ourselves when we are in difficult relationships (*cough-mothers-cough*)

It’s also hard to tap into our intuition, sense what our animals are needing, or know which choice is best for us and, ultimately, we end up chronically seeking outside validation and resources rather than trusting and believing in ourselves.

It can create a kind of out-of-body-snow-ball effect for our sense of self and center.

Learning how to be IN my body

After leaving home and creating a life for myself that allowed me to feel safe and receive support to start to heal childhood traumas, all that out-of-body-spirit stuff started to feel out-of-date and a bit gross to me.

Floaty-spacy no longer felt good to me.

I taught myself how to be IN my body and connected with my center — while doing the dishes or journeying to meet with my spirit allies and guides.

As a surprise bonus, I learned that when I didn’t leave my center while doing scary things like public speaking or interacting with overpowering pushy people, I didn’t lose touch with myself. Over time, my chronic habits of people pleasing and over giving waned, and I was able to create and hold boundaries. And that is what has freed me to be the steady, grounded force of intuitive nature you know me to be ;)

I’m sharing this with you because I know that I’m not the only one whose energy scatters to the winds under conditions of stress and conflict.

Here is a practice you can use to bring your energy back to your center, and your consciousness back to the here and now.

Let’s tune in: Come back home to your center

**You can listen to this meditation by clicking the dark blue audio link at the start of this article.

My most favorite way to shift from being out of my body to being IN my body is to let my awareness focus in on the movement created by my breath. It's something we can do whether we are still or moving, and it will help you reconnect with yourself and be present with what you love most, including your animal friends.

Start by resting your eyes and giving yourself a moment to sense into the movement created by your breath. There’s no need to change how you are breathing, just sense into the movement.

Give yourself permission to shift from observing what’s outside of you to feeling your breath moving INSIDE your body and what you can sense INSIDE your skin.

Notice the rise and fall of your chest and belly as you inhale and exhale.

Notice what fills, what opens as you inhale.

Notice what softens and releases as you exhale.

As you breathe, let your breath be a beacon to help you invite any of your focus, attention and energy that is outside of you back home to your body. Welcome yourself home by placing a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly to remind yourself that you are safe, in the here, in the now.