Dr. Erica Steele (00:00): So if I don't feel worthy, right. Meaning that I don't feel like I'm good enough. I don't feel like I'm deserving. Why would I manifest what I really want? That's counterintuitive. So if I decide that I'm worthy, because I say that I'm worthy and I choose to affirm that I'm worthy and I choose to affirm that I'm deserving and I choose to affirm that I'm good enough. And I choose to affirm that I get what I want easily and effortlessly. Then I open up a space for that to occur.

The Student Loan Podcast Intro (00:36): Welcome to the student loan podcast.

Shamil Rodriguez (00:38): Here, you'll find practical advice on tackling student loan debt, paying down your higher education expenses

Daphné Vanessa (00:45): And inspiring stories about paying off student loans,

The Student Loan Podcast Intro (00:49): we're your host,

Daphné Vanessa (00:50): Daphné Vanessa

Shamil Rodriguez (00:51): And Shamil Rodriguez

Daphné Vanessa (00:55): Please rate review and subscribe to the student loan podcast by visiting the student loan podcast on apple podcasts or wherever you find your podcasts.

Shamil Rodriguez (01:05): This is not professional advice. And we speak from our own personal views and opinions.

Daphné Vanessa (01:10): The student loan podcast is brought to you by start new, where you can serve your community and get rewarded with tuition and student loan payments to check out if start new is on your campus, visit start new.com. Welcome everyone to another episode of the student loan podcast. Today, we have an interesting guest Dr. Steele here to talk to us about the energy of money. So with that, Dr. Steele, why don't you introduce yourself?

Dr. Erica Steele (01:41): Hi, thank you for having me. I appreciate being here.

Daphné Vanessa (01:44): Yeah, we're so happy to have you, so tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved in the energy of money.

Dr. Erica Steele (01:52): Yeah, so I would say, um, that, so I I'm, I have six degrees in my field and they're all in the natural healthcare space. I've been in natural healthcare for over 20 years. Uh I'm in general family practice and I've treated over 30, 40,000 patients roughly, uh, since 2009.

Dr. Erica Steele (02:11): And so I've been in, um, the energetic medicine space, but also functional medicine, holistic family practice as my practice. And so how I kind of got into it is I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a serial entrepreneur. Um, I bootstrapped my company, so not only did I put myself through, um, you know, graduate school and all of that, I left my house really early at 16 and really wanted to create a life that, that I wanted. That was for me, I wanted to really be free from both of my parents and do what I wanted to do my own, my own way and my own terms. And so my fascination with money, obviously being, you know, at that time, you know, poor right, because you leave. And I, I just laugh with literally a, a photo ID and not, excuse me, not even a photo ID, literally the clothes on my back, no job skills, no nothing. And so you have to kind of figure out how to manifest money pretty quick. Uh, and then I went into very risky entrepreneurship, right. Uh, against, you know, my, my dad's, uh, chagrin and, you know, wanted to become a doctor, but then wanted to become a very obscure type of doctor. So I'm, I'm a dual doctorate, but in natural. And so, you know, naturally I really wanted to kind of walk with faith and, and learn about how to sustain and support myself. So

Daphné Vanessa (03:38): Very cool. And so six degrees, my goodness. That's a lot of schooling. Yeah. Did you carry student loan debt?

Dr. Erica Steele (03:47): Of course, yes. Yeah, indeed. I mean, six figure student loan debt, and I'm, I'm about to start my PhD, uh, in August. So that'll be my last degree and it's final. And, and I kind of, you know, I love school. I'm very passionate about school. Um, and, and, you know, obviously school costs. And so, um, I was very creative in how I, um, paid, paid off my debt and worked through those concepts. And yeah, so of course I have student, I had student loan debt. Mm-hmm

Daphné Vanessa (04:17): How much student loan debt did you have? Um, and, and how much have you paid off?

Dr. Erica Steele (04:23): So I think it was over. So I did also a lot of certifications and things like, like I have over a hundred cert different certifications and different programs, and I did a lot of personal growth and self development, so I kind of all include all of that in there. Um, so I would say probably close to 2 80, 2 90, if I, if I, um, you know, kind of had my, my, um, numbers correct. Accurate. Um, I think I'm carrying only about, mm, I think around 1 25 right now, um, which will be up paid off by the end of the year.

Daphné Vanessa (04:59): So amazing. And in your payoff strategy, have you prioritized interest rates? Have you just used the energy of money, sort of what strategies have you used to pay off, you know, six figures of student loan debt so far?

Dr. Erica Steele (05:13): So the first thing I wanna kind of preference is so debt is not bad nor good. Right. It's what we make it mean. Right. So debt, you know, from one of the teachers I've learned from, you know, debt is just a decision to pay something over time. Right. And so this is gonna be a totally illogical, uh, strategy. Right. But I paid it, I paid things when I have felt inspired to pay them. Right. So I'm going along, I'm going along. And, and sometimes the weight right of the debt is like, Ugh, you know, and then there's, like I said, an energy or a, a sensation or a feeling or a, you know, what I'm done with this. Like, I, I just had that with one of my, um, you know, undergrad things. It was just like, I, you know, I was on a payment plan.

Dr. Erica Steele (06:02): The payment plan was fine. Everything was good with it. No big deal. And they call me and they're like, well, you know, we could just give you, you know, you know, I dunno a few thousand dollars off or whatever, if you just pay it off and I go, you know what, let's do that. Like, I'm just tired. Like, I'm like, I'm just tired of getting the statements. Like, I don't even wanna get these in the mail anymore. Like I'm done with this. Like, like, I don't wanna see this name pop up on any kind of thing anymore. I'm ready to let this go. So it's really about choice. Like, and I do the same thing with my credit card debt too. It'll be like, and I don't have a lot of credit cards done either, but like, I'll go, oh, you know what? I just, I just don't wanna carry a balance right now.

Dr. Erica Steele (06:40): Like, and then I'll just spontaneously either. I'll create a plan where I break it down. I like halves for some reason. Like, I'll like, I get a bill and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna pay half of that. And then I'm gonna pay half of that. And then, you know, and it just kind of whittles it down and for whatever reason, the halves, I think probably cuz I was born in second day, second month. So two is like my number, um, that I like that better. yeah, it just feels good to me. I dunno why I do only. I only do things that feel good. Like I don't do things because it's the interest, right. Or the, you know, all, you know, the, the whole, uh, Dave Ramsey approach. The, I, you know, that's just too much for me. That's like way too much.

Daphné Vanessa (07:20): That's so cool. So it's like basically, you know, does it feel good? You know, very consistent with a lot of the, um, you know, Abraham Hicks teachings, for example, you know, like, does it feel like it's the right thing to do? Um, have you ever been in a situation where you felt like you wanted to pay something off, but you didn't have the means to do it yet?

Dr. Erica Steele (07:45): Absolutely. And this one's interesting because so, so I, um, my, so what is it, what was that? I think it's my, my doctorate degree. Right? So they, I had like a, I had like, I think like a $2,000 balance. Right. And they would not release my diploma. Right. And so I'm like, Ugh, okay, whatever. Right. And so at the same time, so I, I had my practice and I'm like building my practice and everything's going well. Right. But then I don't have like my paper diploma's finished all the education, whatever. I found that out because I had a general manager who stole a lot of money from me at the time. Right. I've learned a lot about money that they stole a lot of money from me at the time. And as I was kind of digging myself out of all this crazy, I realized, oh my gosh, like, you know, um, exclamation point, um, my degree has not been paid for.

Dr. Erica Steele (08:40): Right. And of course I was going through divorce at the time. And like, you know, I'm like, you know, lifetime television movie on steroids. So, you know, what happened was, is that I'm, I just like gave it over. I said, you know what I need, I think it was like how much it was like $1,800 or something. And I just didn't have it cuz I'm like burying myself outta debt and I'm going through divorce and I've got, you know, all this stuff. Right. All from all I'm a single mom, like all the things. Right. And so I just kind of said, you know what, this is the amount that I need. I'm gonna trust and have faith that I'm gonna bring it in and it's all gonna be good. And I just let it go. Right. And kid you nod. This was amazing. I got a check in the mail literally for maybe like $20 over what my balance was.

Dr. Erica Steele (09:26): And I remember, and it was totally unexpected. My exhusband who never filed his taxes ever filed his taxes and they took it part of his like child support. Right. And so I got, yeah, I got the check in the mail and I remember sitting on the bed bawling, like crying because I was like, oh my gosh, this works. Like, I don't know how it works. I don't need to like listen to like every single Esther, he Esther, Hick's YouTube, you know, whatever. Like I know totally within my soul that I'm gonna be taken care of no matter what the amount is. And so I would say that that was definitely an experience where I wanted to pay something and it got paid off.

Shamil Rodriguez (10:11): Wow. That's amazing. That is seriously amazing that I do have a follow up question for it cuz I feel like it's, there are so many different directions that go on that one. Um, so when you're saying like, you know, it works right and a big believer in that concept, but I wanna make sure like, we're answering like, well what is it right? Like, is it the universe? Is it God? Is it like, how do you see, how do you, you know, spread that message of like, how do you help others see it that way? Cause it's when you're not in the mix or when you're not in the storm. Right. It's always so easy to see it from the outside. Yeah. But when somebody's in the thick of it, like how are you helping them with that?

Dr. Erica Steele (10:48): So practically on the court step by step. Here's how here's what to do. Right. You have to ignore what's happening in your current reality. Right. So I don't care how much money you owe. I don't care. Who's calling. I don't care. You know? I mean I've even been evict, like possibly evicted and all kinds of stuff. Right? Like I've, I've been through it. Right. Mm-hmm you focus on the step you're on or the next step. Right? Your persistent thoughts, right? Like you journal these morning, noon and night, you journal all your fears. Right. There's like a deepest fears inventory by Dr. Carolyn, um, Elliot, please look it up. You know, you write it out, all your fears, like just get 'em all out. Right. Like, doesn't matter how irrational. Right. And then you look at it and you go, you know, is this ultimately true?

Dr. Erica Steele (11:34): Is this ultimately true that I'm going to be starving in the middle of the street and blah, blah, blah. I mean, I could call my dad. I mean, I, I would literally go starving in the street before I call him. But nonetheless, right. You know, is this ultimately true? Yes or no. And let's say if I say yes, do I want this to be true? No, obviously not. Right. Mm-hmm mm-hmm and so if I don't want it to be true, what do I want to be true instead? Well, I want it to be true. That money comes easily and effortlessly to me. I want it to be true that the, all my bills are paid with more despair and share. I want it to be true that, you know, um, I have an abundance of money and I'm wealthy and I'm fully supported and I'm just a money magnet. These are the things that I want it to be true. Right. So then I, I data dump. So I have a, I have a trash journal where I write down all the trash and then I have a treasure journal where I write down all the treasure, all the things that I want. Right.

Dr. Erica Steele (12:36): Hmm. Right before I go to bed every night, cuz this is all in the subconscious mind, right before I go to bed every night, I affirm to myself what it is that I want. Right. So I want $125,000 to pay off the rest of my student loan debt. And I believe and know, and I declare declaration's very important. I declare that it's going to be paid off by the end of the year. And I do that. I affirm that to myself and I declare that to myself and I, I look in the mirror and I put my hand on my heart and whatever, every single day in the morning and in the night, right before I go to bed, because that's when the subconscious mind is, is simmering. I also do it right in the morning. Right. I also pull up the YouTube and I pull up like a prosperity meditation.

Dr. Erica Steele (13:20): Like there's one like large sums of money or whatever. And I play it on low all night long. So my subconscious mind is, is kind of picking all that up. Right. And then I just wait because the, how is not my job, the how is not your job. So you're not there to manipulate and figure out and stress out and you know, sweat bullets and, you know, donate plasma and God knows what you are just supposed to believe and know to be true, that your vibration is high enough that you are gonna attract it. And that's all you do. As simple as that, I, I know it sounds like ridiculous, but it really is true. It works.

Shamil Rodriguez (13:57): no, I think, I think it's, it's important to emphasize. So do you think you're tapping into one you've you've highlighted subconscious, right. Which is the, and you know, correct me if I'm wrong. Right. But the, the machine that's really running a lot of our, uh, I call it higher level programming, right. Yeah. But it's just, you know, it's really just running at pace that like, we just can't keep up with consciously. Yeah. It's now are

Dr. Erica Steele (14:23): You running? Just running the program. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Shamil Rodriguez (14:25): Right, right. So now are you saying that this process is going to help you really focus in on what your intention and how you're visualizing the future versus, you know what you're perceiving right now in the moment?

Dr. Erica Steele (14:39): So what it does that particular activating system. So the subconscious mind houses, your experiences, perceptions of those experiences, beliefs and core beliefs, right? It gives the conscious mind, its marching orders, logic, voice reason, and decision making. So logic, voice reason, decision making and your conscious mind actually has a lot of your defense mechanisms to keep you safe. So it actually blocks you from seeing opportunity that could potentially bring money in easier, right? Mm. Okay. Especially if you're afraid of money or you've lived in a poverty mindset or you're always in lack or victimhood, right. If you're subconscious mind, which forms between zero and eight years old is kind of already wired for struggle and victimhood and suffering and you know, all the things, right. You know, it, it's going to then communicate to that conscious mind, Hey, don't do that. Don't take that job. Don't talk to that person.

Dr. Erica Steele (15:36): Don't do this. Don't do that. Right. Because I'm not safe. Right. Mm-hmm . But when you start to rewire that subconscious mind through affirmation, through visualization, through, uh, declaration. Now you start to kind of anesthetize that conscious mind where now it begins to look for those opportunities to bring forth to you because money is everywhere. P I mean, money is literally everywhere. It can FA I once. Oh my gosh. So crazy. I was once. So I was striving to DC and, um, totally outta the blue, totally outta the blue. I was driving DC, DC to go buy a, um, this like biotechnology device or whatever. Um, I'm like all in the energy thing. So anyway, so I'm, I'm on my way to go buy this machine. And just outta nowhere, um, one of my loan companies called me and they said, oh, Hey, you know, we just looked and, you know, we were looking at your loan and this and that and this and that.

Dr. Erica Steele (16:38): And we just realized, you know, we could save you a lot of money on your interest rate and we just wanna renew. So what actually happened was right at the end of the day, they lowered my pants and they put like, I think it was like $22,000 in my pocket. Right. I was not even expecting that. like, this was not a thing. Like I was, I was mining my own business, driving down the road, listening to music about to go, you know, but, and, and that paid for the machine. Right. So you see, you know, we don't ever know where it's gonna come from. And the more you try to figure that out, that's that lack mentality. That's that fear, that's the resistance. And that's gonna bring up the blocks.

Daphné Vanessa (17:26): This is so powerful. And it reminds me of, sorry, we have a toddler. So I a children's book um, but it reminds me of the book. Uh, what would you do with the chance? I've, I've been reading that to our daughter, um, at night. And that book literally walks through almost a scenario. Exactly. Like you said, where the chance is in front of you, you, you can walk away from it and ignore it, but you're gonna regret missing out on that opportunity. And when you open yourself up to that chance, like they're endless possibilities. And it's like so important to have these reminders, because when you're in a state of lack, like maybe you have overwhelming student loan debt, or you don't know how you're gonna pay for tuition this next semester. And you're stressed about that. It's easy to retreat into a state of lack. Um, but I'd love to hear from you just because you have such an expertise in this area, how do you get out of that cycle of, you know, a chance shows up and you almost are suspicious of the chance. Yeah. But, but maybe it is just a chance.

Dr. Erica Steele (18:34): So first thing there are, so you have a relation. Everybody has a relationship with money. Yeah. If we visualize money as a person, right. Some of us like hide out from that person. Like we see that person walking down the hall and we run the other way. Right? Some people avoid, some people get angry, some people shut down, um, whatever you do, right. You have to stop it, right. Because it's not gonna work. You can't work on the relationship by not dealing with what's in front of you. And I know that it may be ugly, right? Believe you me. I mean, I left my house with literally not even a high school diploma. I disenrolled myself outta school cuz my life was crazy. So, you know, when you leave and when you, when you experience that much stress, right? Your number one, your nervous system is totally taxed.

Dr. Erica Steele (19:32): Right. But number two, all you have left is possibility. And so that's also where the rubber meets the road, where all those feelings and thoughts and ideas and perceptions that come up. That's what, what goes in your trash journal? If I am afraid to even open up my bank account, I need to write about why I'm afraid to open up my bank account. And then I need to put my big girl pants on and take a deep breath and I need to open up the bank account and look at what's in there because it's not just gonna magically fix itself. I'm gonna have to put in the work, whether it's, you know, the affirmations, whether it's the journaling, whether it's the recognition, I have to accept what I have manifested and nobody else is responsible for that, but me. So I have to personally take responsibility for what I've created and what I've manifested in order to change it.

Dr. Erica Steele (20:26): I can't just sit around and go, oh my God, this is just gonna happen. It's gonna fall out of the sky. Come on, get real. We're living on planet earth. Like, I mean, I'm sure it could fall outta the sky, but I mean, it hadn't been raining money in a long time, so I don't know, you know, and then you just create an environment. Right. So when I was working on my relationship with money, you know, I was like, everything. Like I'd have like everywhere and green, evenor all the little stones and I would get a money tree and I'd kill 'em and then I'd, you know, buy new ones and , you know, I would grow them and I would, I, oh my gosh, I paint my toenails like green and gold to remind myself about love. I mean, I literally just did anything and everything I could do to remind myself about this relationship with money, I would do meditations.

Dr. Erica Steele (21:13): And I would visualize what money looked like and what she felt like. And, and I would connect with her and I would talk to her and I would light little green candles and you know, like it it's, it really can be very fun if you choose to, you know, but if you're more committed to your suffering and your drama and your victimhood, then, you know, have at it, you know, I'll meet you on the island once you get it together, you know, but we can manifest anything. We want like stop it. We're, we're enlightened. We're in the enlightened era of time, the, the drama and the trauma is done. We're in a new paradigm.

Daphné Vanessa (21:49): I love that. And, and it's hard to, it's hard to get outta that space. We've spoken about that on previous episode because we get, you know, real messages from people going through it with student loans, um, whether, you know, they try to do PSL F and that didn't work out or, um, they're just in over their heads with the amount of tuition from what they expected. But I agree with you that there's a choice you can make. Um, but it's hard. And so let's, let's go back so that we are all giving like the right advice going forward, because I, I love this and I think it would be really important to just include this as a part of what students are hearing. You know, students are mm-hmm, so focused on the tactical, but they don't realize it like so important. What's going on in your subconscious mind. Yeah. Before even getting to the tactical. Can I,

Dr. Erica Steele (22:48): Can I clean up a couple things you said?

Daphné Vanessa (22:50): Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please do. Yes.

Dr. Erica Steele (22:52): So it's only hard if I say it's hard.

Daphné Vanessa (22:55): Hmm.

Dr. Erica Steele (22:56): I could, I could choose for it to be easy. Mm. I could choose for it to come to me. I could choose for these revelations to come to me easily and effortlessly.

Daphné Vanessa (23:04): Oh yes. I love that. I don't

Dr. Erica Steele (23:06): Have, I don't have to choose for it to be hard, screw that. I don't want it to be hard anymore. Like I've nobody needs that. I want easy. I want fun. I want excitement. I want joy. You know, I want just over the top gratitude. That's what I want. And so you have to be willing to allow yourself to really have what you want. And so now that gets into worthiness, right? So if you're a person that as soon as you get money, it is like burning a hole in your pocket and you gotta let it go. Like you, you are like on the Amazon, like burning it up. You are actually struggling with a worthiness issue.

Shamil Rodriguez (23:55): Mm. Which is what do, what do you mean by that? Yeah. What do you mean by that? Meaning,

Dr. Erica Steele (23:57): Meaning that. So, so we get our self worth from our mothers. Our mothers teach us our self-worth. Right. So if I don't believe, and, and whatever her self worth is, it translates to us. Right. So let's say our mother did everything else for everybody else. And they neglected themselves. That shows us that that's how we establish our worth is by giving to everybody else and neglecting ourselves. Right. So if I don't feel worthy, right. Meaning that I don't feel like I'm good enough. I don't feel like I'm deserving. Why would I manifest what I really want? That's counterintuitive. So if I decide that I'm worthy, because I say that I'm worthy and I choose to affirm that I'm worthy. And I choose to affirm that I'm deserving. And I choose to affirm that I'm good enough. And I choose to affirm that I get what I want easily and effortlessly. Then I open up a space for that to occur.

Shamil Rodriguez (24:57): Hmm. So it sounds like, and tell me if I'm, if I'm oversimplifying or not the perspective, right? Yeah. Like you're the, the rose colored glasses that people use, unfortunately, not as a positive term. Right. But to me, I see it as a positive term to say that what you're saying is what you decide to see the world as is what'll actually start to manifest in your life.

Dr. Erica Steele (25:22): Yes. So couple things with that, your thoughts create your feelings, your feelings, create your actions, your actions, create your behaviors, your behaviors, create your habits, your habits create your lifestyle. So that's established when you see children play, okay. They don't go. I'm gonna try to build this Lego set. They don't go, oh my gosh, , it's really hard to swing on this swing set. Like, Ugh, I don't know. There's just so much going on with it. There's like, you know, the swing part and this, and there's all this, they, they're not doing any of that. They're not doing any of that. But then what happens is life happens, right? and, and we fail and we become afraid. There's what we call when we're five years old. So we everything's magical until then. And then we have, you know, a, a breakdown in reality, a failure, if you will, right.

Dr. Erica Steele (26:15): A failure's just a breakdown in performance. And we create a story about that failure because we're meeting, making machines. We're so creative. We make up eat. We make up stories all the time about everything and everyone, by the way. And so we make up a story go, oh my gosh, the world's not safe. The world's not safe. I'm afraid I need to survive life. And then we go on and whatever we like mine, I, you know, I had a, a trauma. And what I did was as I go, I have to figure it out. And if I figure it out, then I'll be safe. Well, that's great in business and greatest being a doctor, horrible in relationships. Horrible. Right. And so I had to grow out of it and I had to make a decision. I don't need to figure it out. I'm safe no matter what. Right. Mm-hmm . So when we go back and we're really curious, right. And we wonder, right. What the possibilities are. We begin to challenge the status quo. We begin to challenge those limiting beliefs. We begin to see different possibilities. We begin to see that there's other alternate parallel realities that exist other than the drama trauma that we have created in this moment.

Shamil Rodriguez (27:28): You're dropping bombs. By the way, I wish you

Daphné Vanessa (27:31): Was taking notes. Notes. I can tell because

Dr. Erica Steele (27:43): I stopped talking and then it's like, still,

Daphné Vanessa (27:46): It's like

Dr. Erica Steele (27:46): The processing

Daphné Vanessa (27:48): processing.

Shamil Rodriguez (27:51): No, cause I think you're, you're hitting, you're hitting it on the head. I mean, it's clear that this is like second nature to you. Like it's just coming rolling off right off the tongue. But I think it's important because, uh, that I definitely had mentioned before our listeners reach out with the being in the mix, I call it. Right. Yeah. Like they're just in the fire. Yep. But what I like that you're saying is that sometimes the fire is what you created in your mind, right? Yeah. Is that, am I at least going

Dr. Erica Steele (28:24): Yeah. Your mind and then the feelings and then the realities that exist. But here's the thing, right? This is where resilience comes in. Okay. I would not be able to speak so powerfully if I had not gone through not one fire. Right. But like forest fires, like global nuclear disasters. Okay.

Daphné Vanessa (28:44): So

Dr. Erica Steele (28:44): Like no survivors, like they're wandering around like looking for life. They've got the whole suits on. Right. And so the thing is, is that no matter what your current present reality is, you have to believe, and this is where faith comes in. You have to believe without a shadow of a doubt, no matter what, that you're gonna get through it. And that's where also your mission and your purpose. See, I always knew I was gonna be a doctor, right. From a, from a, from a little girl running around labs. My mom did cancer research for an NIH. My stepmom was a geneticist. My dad was in education. I was sitting running around organic chemistry classes when I was like five or six. Like you can't like, you can't make this stuff up. Right. You know, I always knew I was gonna be a doctor right.

Dr. Erica Steele (29:28): From an early age. Right. I didn't know how I, at first, I didn't know what type of doctor. Right. And I researched all the doctors and kind of went through and, and that's a whole nother story for a different show. But you know, the reality was is I, I didn't know the, how I just had the passion and the purpose to do it. Right. And, and I knew, I knew that. I knew that I knew that that is the mission that I was here to do. And so if you know your mission and you know your purpose, right, you're unstoppable. The how is never your job ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. It's believing in yourself, it's believing in your truth. It's deciding that's like 90% of it deciding that this is what I want and not believing the external sources. Right. Because a lot of times people give their power away. They go, oh, this student loan, you know, this build's coming in and they're gonna do, and they make a decision that because some external entity or force said that they can't, then they have to believe it. You have to be a little rebellious. You have to go, you know what? Yeah, I get that. I hear that, but that's not my story.

Speaker 6 (30:36): Wow. And how do you know in the difference between and ego talking? So maybe, you know, my story is that I need to be in 30, under 30, or my story is that I need to be at X level by X time. How do you know that those sort of goals that you have for yourself demands are not you speaking to your purpose. Mm-hmm instead of like ego,

Dr. Erica Steele (31:07): Why do we have to complicate it so much? If that's what you want, you can have it. If you wanna be in 30, under 30, you can do it. If you want, if you wanna, you know, hit some crazy goal, you can do it. Like, like there's nothing that says you can have what you want. So the ego's actually telling you that you can't. Oh, and the ego is what's putting in the doubt, the ego's telling you, like, you can't really do that. You don't really think you can. You really got that figured out. You really think you're gonna be 30, under 30. That's the ego I you're higher. You're a higher self is who says, oh, you're a badass. Get it done. That's your higher self. Your higher self can see all possibilities. Your ego is kind of your human, your humanity that sees all the resistance.

Dr. Erica Steele (31:56): Cuz remember the ego's job is to protect you and keep you safe. But it doesn't see and any kind of, um, uh, movement outside of the status quo, we have what we call the pentacle of your success. So there's a certain threshold, right? That you feel comfortable hitting. That's why, when people let's say they get like ridiculous, you know, amounts of money or success or whatever really quickly they go, oh my gosh. And they sabotage themselves and do something totally like you're like, what were they thinking? It's because they, their ego didn't feel comfortable and didn't feel worthy and didn't feel good enough and deserving all the things that it brought it down to size.

Speaker 6 (32:37): Wow. Um,

Dr. Erica Steele (32:40): Yeah.

Speaker 6 (32:41): Oh my gosh. I'm I just have to sit with that thought for a little bit.

Shamil Rodriguez (32:45):

Dr. Erica Steele (32:46): Marinate with it.

Shamil Rodriguez (32:47): Marinate in that. No, that's, that's marinate in that for everyone who's listening. Because I think that Dr. Steele is, is really, like we said before, dropping bombs, uh, knowledge bombs right now where that I wanted to like superimpose that knowledge bomb emoji had exploding, uh, on the screen because, uh, it really, it really is. And I think the you're really helping. I hope we're really helping folks uncover, uh, some of the doubts that people have. Right. And, and let's bring it back to student loans, right? Yeah. Because, uh, ultimately a lot of times we have a negative stigma, not we, but the, you know, there's just that conception, that student loans have to be a bad thing. Right. Mm-hmm they just have to be this negative mm-hmm uh, and we advocated to right. Eliminate student loans or pay them down, however you're doing it. But, but we had a guest on that was like, no, like let's look at student loans as like the government trusting that you're gonna pay a bag. Or like, they're like, Hey, you know what? You want something so badly just sign here. Yeah. And we'll let you have it.

Dr. Erica Steele (33:48): Yeah. Yeah. And like, you know, any, any business strategist always says, use somebody else's money. You leverage somebody else's money to get where you need to go

Speaker 6 (34:00): PM.

Dr. Erica Steele (34:02): You know? Yeah. I mean, that's, that's like business 1 0 1. So why wouldn't I do that? And you know, it's funny. So I bought a, um, a, I bought a machine, uh, long, not long time ago, probably like six months ago. Right. It was a, a medical, uh, equipment. Right. And I could have paid the machine flat out. Right. But I'm gonna tell you, this is such a great feeling. So, you know, I go, you know what, maybe I don't wanna take out 65 grand outta my bank account. Maybe I want to leverage somebody else. Right. So I leveraged a couple companies and, and listen to what their offers were. And they, you know, were saying this and saying that da, da, da, they didn't gimme the offer that I wanted. Right. So I said, thank you so much for playing. I'm gonna bail. I'm gonna be my own bailout.

Dr. Erica Steele (34:48): And I, and I bought it outright. Right. Mm-hmm so just because it's available doesn't mean you have to, right. It's a choice. Yeah. It's a powerful choice that you make mm-hmm so it, and, and when you make that, it has to feel good. Mm-hmm if you are feeling stressed, signing that loan document, don't sign it. Yeah. Or, or change your perception on it. Go, you know what? You know, what it, what about this is bringing up fear, anxiety, worry, stress, because you need to get all that cleared out first. Mm-hmm right before you make that decision. Because otherwise what you're doing is you're taking that loan out of fear that you're not gonna be able to pay it back. And so guess what your wish is my command. You're not gonna be able to pay it back because you're literally intending fear.

Dr. Erica Steele (35:41): So we're not gonna hope that people are gonna get the message. We're gonna intend that all the people that need to hear this message are going to hear it. And they're going to be touch moved and inspired by this experience. And they're gonna play it over and over and over and over and over again until they get it. Yeah. Until it, it starts to become part of their language and their subconscious mind. I looked at EV if anybody wrote anything about money, I bought the audio book. If anything did a seminar, I was at it. Like, I didn't care because I wanted to gain so many different people's perspective on this thing called money. Mm-hmm you can YouTube all this. I mean, there's tons of people that talk about money. And again, you are your own internal compass. So you know what feels good?

Dr. Erica Steele (36:27): You just have to trust yourself. And some of y'all out there do not trust yourselves. You trust your friends, you trust the advisors, you know the television, you trust your parents, trust your parents, whatever. Don't touch parents. I don't care, but you're trusting everybody else. But you, and that's where you go wrong. When you abandon yourself, that's always, you're always gonna leave yourself high and dry by the side of the road with no food, no clothes, no shelter crying out on the victim. But guess what? You have to save yourself. Nobody's gonna come save you. Nobody. We're just messengers. We're just teachers. We're just here sharing information, wisdom. It's your responsibility to pick it up and do something with it.

Speaker 7 (37:09): You can

Shamil Rodriguez (37:10): Take over. Here's a good,

Shamil Rodriguez (37:14): No, this is, this is great because I think, uh, that, that moment to pause when someone's about to sign, their student loan is really important. And I find that a lot of people have a hard time having difficult conversations. Mm-hmm right. And so how does one Dr. Steele have that difficult conversation with themselves when they're attempting to actually address the fear? Yeah. Right? Because, oh, they, they may, they may, may be able to identify the fear, but then they may, like you said, walk away from it or walk past that person walking down the hall. So how, if you don't mind give some, some tips that you think would be helpful for someone to have that uncomfortable conversation so they can get through it and onto the other side of that better perspective that you're, that you're talking about.

Dr. Erica Steele (37:58): Totally. So it's, it's easy. What do I think about this? Right. More importantly, what do I feel about it? Because if I'm jumping up and down and I'm doing back flips internally and I'm stressed out mm-hmm and my nervous system is a wreck. Right. That lets me know that I'm not thinking that there's some, some, some thinking that's not quite working. Right. So then I go back to the drawing board. So what is it that I'm telling myself, that's driving this reaction? Why, you know, and do I have doubt? Do I have fear? Did my, you know, fifth grade teacher tell me I'm not gonna amount to something, you know, like what, what is the trash that's in my head that needs to come out. Right. And you really wanna do a personal inventory on this and be brutally honest, nobody like do it in your closet with the lights off. If you, if you're, you know, ashamed of sharing, like, you know, the reality is it's only, you, there's nobody else in this planet, we can try to pull, you know, doctors. We can try to pull it outta you. We can try to, you know, arm wrestle you for it, whatever. But at the end of the day, you ultimately know. So if you, if you choose to be honest with yourself, right. And you look at the situation at hand, just take a pen and paper, actually. What's amazing about taking a pen and paper old school.

Speaker 6 (39:18): Yep.

Dr. Erica Steele (39:19): Is it accesses the subconscious mind? Yes. So you just take a pen and paper and you just start writing it'll flow. Cuz people are like, I don't know what to write. Oh yes you do. You got a lot of, got a lot in there. So, you know, you just get in there and you just start writing and writing and writing and writing and writing. And then you, you get to it where your gas tank is empty and then you go, okay, whew. Now that that's done, right. You look at it. Do I want this to be true? Yes or no. You know, no, I'm gonna tear it up. I'm gonna burn it. I'm gonna let it go. What do I want to be true instead that I'm gonna leverage other people's money that other people are gonna pay me so that I can be fully supported in school. I'm gonna relax. All my grades are gonna be taken care of because I'm not gonna be stressed out about where I'm going to eat live, et cetera. I'm gonna make smart decisions and bond financially with money so that I'm not overspending. I'm gonna stay my off Amazon, you know, whatever it is that I , you know? Right. Mm-hmm in order to ensure that this becomes a possibility energetically.

Speaker 6 (40:25): Yeah. I'm, I'm so happy that, that we went here today because this is exactly the jump start that is needed at the beginning of a semester. Right. School. Year's getting started soon and you know, how are we going to handle this semester financially? Do we have student loans taken care of, you know, did we apply to all the scholarships that we deserve? And we're worthy for think it's a great time to get in the right mind space so that we're ready for this upcoming semester. Um, I did have a question about the two journals, just as a journaling nerd myself. Um, I've been, , I've been writing in a journal since I was 11. Um, and I never missed a year, but I never wrote in the two journals. I always just had like, I, I call them volumes, but like these many, many journals and some of them kind of become scrapbooks honestly.

Speaker 6 (41:21): Cause I like yeah. Things. Um, but yeah, but my question is how did, where did you get the idea of like, these are the thoughts that I wanna preserve, and these are the thoughts that I'm getting rid of. Like, I think that's genius to me. That's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A massive idea that, I mean, it's been told to me, like for example, my life coach does suggest like writing in a journal era. Yeah. It's been told to me, but I think, I dunno, for whatever reason today, the way that you said it in two separate journals, that's really hitting me.

Dr. Erica Steele (41:50): Yeah. I downloaded it. God called me and he said, Hey, you know, these two journals, this works. And then I just ran with it. Yeah. Like, because when you start to fully trust yourself, you start to listen and you start to hear mm-hmm , you know, and, and you start to understand and you build that relationship, whatever, you know, I it's, God, to me, it could be creator. It could be nature, whatever, you know, Buddha doesn't matter, you know, but you start to tr you begin to trust yourself and you build that kind of closer relationship because once you start to unlock all that trash, right. Yeah. What happens is you become more sensitive and more open to hearing. Right. And you become more intimately close to possibility and your consciousness begins to expand. Right. Mm-hmm and then it's contagious because the more, uh, positive things that occur, right. Like, you know, I've come a long way since that check, you know, that to pay off my doctorate degree, like holy cow, like, I mean, but I remember that like, it was yesterday because that really restored my, I mean, I've always had a strong faith in God, but, but that restored my faith in myself because I was like, holy cow, like, I, I don't know how I did it, but I know from here on out, God's got my back.

Speaker 6 (43:13): Wow. Wow. That's that's

Dr. Erica Steele (43:16): Yeah. So,

Speaker 6 (43:18): Oh,

Dr. Erica Steele (43:19): Great.

Speaker 6 (43:19): It's been amazing. I'm so, so excited. Sorry, Chanel. I interrupted you.

Shamil Rodriguez (43:25): No, no, no. I think you saying, you're saying the right, the right things, Daphne and, and, and Dr. Steele, you're, you're killing it. Uh, I am really enjoying this episode today and I feel bad for all the previous guests we've ever had. um, this, this, this episode is really, uh, yeah. Really hitting home. Um, no, because I think we, we get these, you know, like we had said before. Yeah. Uh, the mindset matters and, and that type of topic really, really hits home because that's where it all starts. Right. Like it, it all starts there. Uh, so Dr. Steele, before we, before we wrap up today, um, well, what I wanted you to a, to ask you is how can folks continue on this journey? In addition to the tips that you've given, one, what resources do you have for them? Yeah. How can they connect? And then what do you recommend? The folks that are starting out on this journey, uh, continue to read or research or YouTube, whatever the case may be, so they can, they can get to where you are. Right. We wanna make sure that folks are, are really, uh, enjoying, enjoying that success and that piece exactly. That you have.

Dr. Erica Steele (44:30): I love it. Um, there's some great books out there. Um, Dr. Joe Dispenza breaking the habit of being yourself is a good one. He he's, he is, you know, he's definitely more of the male track in my humble opinion. Mm-hmm . And so, you know, um, for, from a feminine perspective, um, I like man, uh, Amanda Francis, she's amazing. She's, uh, money. What is it? Uh, money mentality, makeover. Um, and she's got tons of free resources on, on the YouTube. Um, I would say if you love that kind of like protective, like kind of grandfather supportive, like wise council, I love, um, Dr. Joseph Murphy, the power of the subconscious mind. Um, I think he's really amazing. Um, if you kind of like trendy stuff, um, you know, uh, Gabrielle Bernstein, the universe has my back. Those are really good, you know, so every, everybody has their own spin on it.

Dr. Erica Steele (45:28): Everybody's got their own download that they've been given. And so, you know, my vibe is a little bit different, um, than all the rest of them, but, you know, we all have something to offer. And like I said, when I was studying it and literally going through the gauntlet of, of life, um, you know, I just like reached out to a, like, I was like, just had to consume everything, to be able to disseminate and make it my own. And so I really encourage everybody. I know every single person that's listening to this is going to get to where they wanna go. If they believe that they can do it and I'm rooting for each and every one of you.

Speaker 6 (46:06): Yay. That's so awesome. I'm, I'm floored. I think there's so much more in terms of relationship and learning that people can get from you, Dr. Steele, where can people get in touch with you? Where can people learn more?

Dr. Erica Steele (46:25): Yeah. So, um, holistic family practice, va.com is my practice. And Dr. Erica Steele is my, like my media, um, stuff. Um, I'm on all the socials, every single one. Um, although I haven't been on Pinterest in forever, so don't really hook me up there, but , um, but like IG and Facebook and, you know, I'm starting the TikTok, so, um, yeah. You know, so yeah, all, all over the place, you know, I'm walking this planet. It's, I mean, it's very easy to find me, so just Google my name and, and it'll, you'll pop up. I'll pop up. So

Shamil Rodriguez (46:57): I was gonna say, uh, so what, what is it that you want people to, when they're reaching out to you, what can they learn? Is there a program that you have? Is it, uh, articles I want you to, I want you to,

Dr. Erica Steele (47:08): Whatever, whatever they're private on. Yeah. So I don't ha I don't have, so my goal always mm-hmm, right. I'm a public health educator. I'm here to educate, motivate, inspire people. Right. And so I have absolute faith that whatever it is that I offer that people need they'll find it. I, I there's no, like, I mean, I have tons of online courses. I treat patients, yada, yada, yada, I'm gonna leave it up to the consumer because they know themselves better. And I'm no B no guru. Right. I'm just a teacher. So reach out, you know, we'll see what happens. It it'll start to, to challenge your faith a little bit too.

Speaker 6 (47:45): No, this was awesome. I really, uh, I, I feel engaged. Like, I honestly, I was low energy coming into this, you know, end of the week you got everything going on. And I just feel so uplifted. Right. Because you reminded me, I just say me personally, that, you know, I am worthy. I should trust myself, you know, believe in the chance don't be suspicious of it, Daphne. Um, you know, like so many songs, , you know, like I business was everything that I needed, you know, I thank you. Just selfishly. Thank you. Of

Dr. Erica Steele (48:25): Course. Of course.

Shamil Rodriguez (48:27): Exactly. Absolutely. Absolutely. And like you were saying before Erica, or excuse me, Dr. Steele that's, uh, this is, um, no, I, I think the topic of conversation happens, what it's supposed to happen. Right? Nothing happens by mistake. Uh, everything is intentional and, and, and big believer that God has a plan. So, um, so I, I, I really, uh, I'm grateful and, and appreciative that you have joined us, that you have patience and flexibility, super pro. Is there any final message that you wanna leave the audience with? Uh, before we close out,

Dr. Erica Steele (49:01): Just thank you all so much. I'm so humble to have shared this space and time with you. And I'm super grateful.

Shamil Rodriguez (49:07): Same here. Same here. All right. So everyone, for more information on today's episode, visit the student loan podcast.com/episode

Speaker 8 (49:15): 72. That's the student loan podcast.com/episode 72. Thank you.