Welcome back to another episode of An Empowered You, the podcast. I am just getting back from a Fix Your Life workshop led by Iyanla Vanzant that I attended this past weekend in Boone, North Carolina. It was held at the Art of Living retreat center in North Carolina, and if you don’t know who Iyanla is, she’s best known for being on Oprah’s network with her fix your life reality show, which she has now taken and formed it into a live three-day event.

Nothing in life is truly a coincidence, and that when it’s your time to learn something, or when it’s your time to explore and dig deeper, the signs are all around you. Sometimes they fall into your lap, and this experience definitely fell into my lap. It was nothing that I expected it to be. I’ve done a few workshops along with my life, from Tony Robbins to, different Healing Sessions and different experiences, exploring different spiritual walks and just learning as much as I possibly can learn.

I grew up in a Muslim household, and we’re taught and educated based on their beliefs, and our parent’s beliefs, and so on and so forth. So, this episode will be about my experience briefly, because I’m not really called to share what happened in such a sacred space. It’s something that is sacred for that space and for us personally, but definitely some lessons, some tools that I’ve taken away in the hopes to help you stay empowered, through everything that is going on in our lives right now. So are you ready? Let’s go

Podcast Intro Jingle: From struggle to purpose fighting through the curses, you are now listening to (dodging the surface, but nobody noticed )an empowered you. My name is Randa Quraan. And I am obsessed with everything marketing, and bringing the magic sauce back to your life. I’m a mom of three serial entrepreneurs and have turned a mess into a beautiful message. I am here to empower you through education, celebration, and falling in love with the person that matters the most. And that is you, no shy talk straight raw, real and uncomfortable topics that empower you in life and in business, a safe space for you to grow, heal and be the best version of yourself, get comfortable, pull up a seat, and get ready to be challenged and empowered while you learn.

So I’m getting ready to embark on my 43rd birthday. I’ve been living for 43 years, I have three incredible daughters, and I’m going to be a grandma. So I am living in what I feel is my calling and my destiny. I love empowering women, I love helping women, I love positioning them in a place to make them get greater. And some of the times I don’t even realize I’m doing that I’ve been told that because of a podcast or because of a video or because of a song or, you know, something that I’ve presented is really helped transform a person’s life. And for me, there’s no greater joy, I truly love and enjoy doing this. As I’m getting ready to enter my 43rd birthday, I’m always in a healing form. I’ve been through a lot of childhood emotional neglect. I’ve been through physical, emotional, and mental abuse growing up and in my relationships as well. I’ve lived that for so many decades of my life. So it’s, you know, that’s my story. And it has led me to this forever journey of healing, forever journey of growing, forever journey of learning and just opening my eyes, and my relationship with God has always been there.

Growing up in a Palestinian household meant that I was born into Muslim culture. The women have a choice to cover from head to toe when you enter the majid, you are required to be covered from head to toe. Before you pray, you have to cleanse your body and your mind in a certain way using water, and just lots of different prayers, that never really felt very, true to me. I’m all about the feels and it just didn’t feel right, it always left me with so much more questions and so much more digging.

Growing up culturally, in a Muslim Palestinian household, a very religious household where almost everything was haram, which means against God’s will. And that meant, you know, not allowed to have friends and boyfriends and not allowed to be sexually active, and just lots of restrictions on your life and what you can do, and most of the things that you wanted to do, you couldn’t do, because it was against God’s will. So, you know, that really didn’t work out for me. And, as I said, I always believed in God, but as I moved on, and as I got older, I, started to search and I would search in different areas. That’s where Christianity came into play for me at one point because I really connected with the spirit in a way that I had never connected before. And I really was just touched and moved, by the Holy Spirit in a way that I just, you know, it’s unexplainable. If you’ve been through it, if you’ve experienced that, you know, for me, it was just this, like this overwhelming sense of calmness and stillness, and clarity, and just, you know, a space where I felt I can be as I am without judgment without, you know, shame, and I dabbled in that for a little while. My spiritual journey just always stayed on the fact that I believed in God, I believed in a higher force, I believed that I was connected to God in a way and then began my journey of just exterior improvement a lot where it was like, you know, self-love, self-improvement, self-awareness, but I really slipped from the spiritual element, because I was more focused on the exterior. Still believing in God still, thanking God from time to time, or, asking God for guidance when I would have gotten in trouble, but never really taking the time to truly be still and to truly connect with God on a deeper level that I didn’t think existed, but just the level that maybe I wasn’t even ready to enter into, because it’s uncomfortable.

There’s lots of work that shows up in that space. There are lots of people that confront you in that space, but they confront you, in the same way, that you confront others. And that might not be always the best way. So I embark on this beautiful journey, and I’m on my way to Boone, North Carolina, and I’m taking the family, we’re doing a road trip, I have this entire game plan of what I’m doing, where I’m stopping, the activities we’re doing, the different Airbnb’s and attractions that we’re staying at. And then I get into this argument with Jazz my beautiful teenager and that completely shifted the direction of like, who I was taking and it was clear to me that I needed to go by myself and that I needed to embark on this journey by myself with no attachments. Just like a complete shutdown mode to everything that exists outside of me, myself, and I. So, I’m going to Boone North Carolina alone and you know, I was fearful, I haven’t traveled by myself for a while. This pandemic has halted so many travel plans we had amongst other things, and, you know, now I’m on a flight. I’m taking a flight to Boone. I had already rented a three-bedroom Airbnb, I want to say it’s like a little bit of magic. It’s in the middle of Boone, North Carolina. It literally feels like you’re waking up inside of a tree. It’s just gorgeous, it’s quiet, it’s serene, it’s, you know, the way the family has put this home together. And it was just it just a home that I was really attracted to. That was a month ago before even knowing that I was embarking on this trip by myself.

So I finally get to Boone. The entire experience from start to finish was magical, from the experience with the flight attendants to my flight. Although we were delayed by 30 minutes, I didn’t even put any emphasis on it. I got some work done on the plane, I knew that I was shutting down for the next five days, and I wanted to make sure that I responded to emails and text messages that couldn’t wait. I set myself to just turn everything off afterward and just really be one and be present with the space that I occupied each moment of this trip.

I landed in Boone, I was supposed to go to another car rental place, but the line is around the corner, so I wind up going with Enterprise and I wind up getting an awesome upgrade for the same price that I had already paid. You know that I had already been reserved with the other car place and I’m now at in the new Audi truck and the experience was just divine. Literally the whole experience with the gentleman at the counter, to the experience with the ladies that check the car when you’re going out, everything is just aligned. Nope, nothing’s forced. It just all feels so amazing. Mind you, the air in North Carolina, the humidity which is was non-existent, and the smell was just completely different. I can’t explain it. I finally arrive at a place where I sit, I eat, and I have some good old Southern cuisine for $7 with a drink! This Miami gal is used to getting lunch for $25.

I’m already zooming having a good time. Now I’m ready to go, get on the highway, I have my playlist which includes a little bit of everything. Some beautiful chorus, sometimes some DJ Khaled, some Meek Mill, some Cardi B, your girl loves all different types of genres and music so a very versatile music list. In my mind, it’s like okay, this is a Zen weekend and I’m ready to just live my life with no kids. The Audi has a complete panoramic sunroof going on and you know, take a few pulls of a joint right before I pull off. I wrap it up and I get on the highway and I start driving and I get on the highway I’m living my life, the music is blasting, I literally felt like I put my mindset that I’m this just a woman that has no responsibilities, no care or regard for anything, and I’m just doing what I enjoy. Listening to music and driving behind me on the highway. And little do I know, I hit like 96 in this car and I barely even noticed. But long story short, I get pulled over and I get a ticket. The cop smells the marijuana in the car and asks about it, I answer I’m an advocate for cannabis, I’m licensed in the state of Florida, and this is my medicine. Then he gives me a ticket, I go on my merry way. He expresses to me that it’s still not a federally regulated drug therefore I’m not supposed to have that on me. As I’m driving away from the police officer, it became clear that I know better. I know better than to be speeding. I know better than to be consuming cannabis in the vehicle. It all comes down to slow down, pay attention, and follow directions. So, instead of getting in a sour place, I put it behind me.

I take the next day to indulge in massage services, foot scrubs, and all this material stuff of what I think I spiritually need to unwind. Even though the experience was amazing, there is still this really heavy, overwhelming feeling in my soul of just not feeling enough in certain areas, but from other people’s perception. It’s like the mom, the business leader, the employer, the coach, the strategist, the chef, the driver, the volunteer, the philanthropist, and all this stuff. As I get ready to embark on my 43rd birthday, there’s something that’s been lingering in the air and I haven’t been able to figure it out. I go, I have this beautiful experience, zip-lining, and ATV riding.

The next day on Friday, the workshop starts. And I just take a moment to really be present in each and every interaction and each and every place that I showed up. My phone was nowhere around, I logged out of all social media accounts and I was really just present for once in my life in a very long time. Lately, I’ve just been consumed with everything in this pandemic and how hard it has hit us.

We begin the workshop and Iyanla has us pick a principal for the weekend. We don’t have name tags, we have principals. There may be three or four other people who have the same principle. On the tag, there is the principal (mine was integrity), the name of the workshop, and at the end, it said “I am as God created me to be.” This badge was taken from us every day. Multiple people lost the badge, people misplaced the words, and people grabbed the wrong color. It just was like a reminder that what we were being taught was to be still, pay attention, and follow directions. She opens it up with meditation, she goes into some of the workshops, and what we’re going to be doing. She gets into the different sacred spaces that she created within the first workshop as a whole. She clearly states that if we came to this workshop thinking that she was going to give us the answers that we needed to be better or to heal, that we could just leave because the answer is us. A lot of people did leave, a lot of people did not return the next day. She advised us that what we were getting into was some next-level shit and if we really allow spirit to move through us, this can really be a life-changing experience. She said it can be tough for those that have so much more healing to do.

I attend Saturday and we broke out into different sessions. I may have cried here and there during a session, but they’re just wasn’t that real deep connection that I was searching for. That could be because my ego and facade were getting in the way of a lot of it. Even though I empower women, I do have this ego. There was also this one woman that is part of her squad that just kept rubbing me the wrong way, even though she hadn’t even said two words to me. It was crazy, but her spirit annoyed me. I didn’t understand and I wondered why this lady annoyed me so much. But she was actually called out by other women for being mean. So, I’m like, okay, this lady is just whatever, right?

At the end of the second night, we’re called to pray for each other, and I love to pray for other women. But all of a sudden, I start to fixate on the thought that I have to go to the bathroom. I’m thinking “this is my time of the month, I have to go to the restroom.” So right before the session ended, I go to the side doors to run out and use the bathroom. But this young woman stops me and it’s the same woman that I said has rubbed me the wrong way. She stops me and asks “why would you walk away from this spiritual moment, this time, such a divine time to be able to pray for other women?” I start to think Is it that bad? You know, is it that deep that I can’t wait for the session to be over to go to the bathroom? And I was thought, no, I just have to go to the bathroom. But she keeps looking at me and then suddenly she dismissed me. And I’m like, what? Did she really just dismiss me? So I just walk off because I’m like, okay, Randa, let’s just walk off, this is not the place for you to try to get Brooklyn on people or try to involve your ego. So I walk away. But as I come back from the door, she grabs my hands and she says, “Listen, I don’t mean to dismiss you.” She goes into saying, you’re the type of person that a lot of people are intimidated by, a lot of people won’t really stand up to you because they’re scared of you, and you put fear in a lot of people’s hearts. I can’t believe this woman is just telling me all this stuff about myself. She goes on to speak about my principles and integrity. She says, “Although, you say the right things, and you’re beautiful, well put together, I’m just unsure as how the internal integrity is working out. It’s not intentional, but you are just really unaware and you have so much work to do.” Now I’m thinking, here’s this stranger just telling me stuff about me. Mind you I didn’t ask for her to tell me this. So I just sat with that for a while and it felt real. It felt real, it felt like it was something that I needed to hear.

It led me to go back to the house that night, cry, journal, and just be more vulnerable about what was going on around me and being more vulnerable to the areas that I still needed to work on. I needed to dig deeper and do the work. One thing that kept coming up to me that was clear is that, for me, integrity is not what you say but what you do. There are times in my life where I’ve gone back on something that I say I’m going to do. Whether it was because the other person that I’m doing it with, gave off a story, gave off their trauma, or gave off this attitude toward me that I wasn’t cool with. It would lead me to change my mind, I would back out of deals, and I would back out of things that I said I was gonna do. It’s like, your character, and what God gives you is yours. If you make a commitment to a person or to a situation, no matter how that situation or that person plays out, it’s really important to honor your word along the way. I start to just be really vulnerable with my feelings and you know, on top of all that, it’s the time of the month.

The next day, I was under the impression that we were getting up to be there at seven so I thought I was missing out on the seventh session. I just didn’t feel like even facing whatever today was because I knew that whatever work I did before was the real work. It always takes a situation, a person, or a sign to help you see and shift your perspective. So, I was really vulnerable on day three and I was ready to show up in a way that I wasn’t even sure what that was. That Sunday was ceremony day and last Sunday is the day that changed my world changed my life forever.

It’s such a beautiful spiritual awakening. There were so many visions, there were so many lessons, and my spirit was lifted in ways I had forgotten. I had forgotten that one of the most important relationships in this world is a relationship that you have to a higher source. Whatever that looks like for you, whether it’s God, whether it’s the universe, Buddha, Allah, Christ, Mary, or whatever spirits. It’s whatever works for you, but that connection with your source is it, it’s as God created me to be, I am enough. One of the biggest challenges and like I said, I won’t get deeper into her practices, or you know, what really transpired behind those walls in that sacred space, because those are all divine things that happen to the people in that space. I truly don’t feel like I’m the one that needs to repeat that. But I will tell you right now that my life is forever changed and one thing that I am clear on is, there are signs all around us.

We went to eat on Sunday, and I took some of the girls to downtown Boone where we got to experience some amazing Southern cuisine from Pardon, which was some of the best food I’ve ever had. Every food experience in Boone was amazing.

We got back to the house, and I’m sitting on the patio, I’m talking to Nadia, a queen I met during this experience as well. And there’s this bug that looks like a leaf and the name of the bug I now know is Katydid. And I go back in the house and I’m raving about this bug and another lady that I met during this experience, Tina tells me search, what’s a bug that has a green leaf exterior. So I google it and I pull up the general meaning of a Katydid and its origins. Then Tina says to me, give me your phone, and she Google’s what is the spiritual meaning of a Katydid? And I’m like, wow, interesting. I made a mental note of that, I was like, she did something new to me. I’ve never done that.

It says

A Katydid teaches attunement to new vibrations and will aid in heightening intuition, sensitivity and awareness. Katydid will aid in strengthening senses and perceptions of the seen and unseen. So whatever transformation stage you cure in, and will be a time to be aware mentally and spiritually sharp. So it’s a time to just be become mentally and spiritually sharp.

Google

I see this bug and I am welcoming to the bug. Nadia was so fearful of the bug, she didn’t want to go anywhere near it. And then I’m learning that there is now a spiritual meaning behind insects that are coming at me and that I’m realizing that these insects are in my presence, and it was just a mental note. Okay, I need to start to research the spiritual meanings of certain things that come in my path that I’ve never really taken notice of before from that specific perspective.

So I guess how I can wrap this up is just, it’s so important for us, as women as humans, to follow our intuitions and to follow those nudges and to pay attention to the signs that are around us. There are so many answers and visions all around us. But because we are always operating at the speed of needing to make a certain amount of money, reading, needing to achieve certain materialistic goals that we just need to always be in a goal, goal, goal, goal, goal mindset. And I’m here to tell you that that mindset for me has expired. I take time to truly listen to how I’m feeling and to just be still enough to work everything around that.

So my meditation, my stretching, my walking, my listening to my body when I am in overdrive, and doing a certain exercise that it’s just not fit for my body any longer. You know, these intense workouts for me, just don’t work out. No More. It’s just really important for me to always slow down and appreciate the moments that we have right now, right this second, the beautiful blessings that we have all around us.

There is this divine connection, we are all a kingdom of force, a magnet of like, I am the most powerful fucking person in this room. But you are also the most powerful person in this room. And as many people can truly believe that is what we create what we ultimately create in this beautiful universe of ours in this beautiful world of ours, if you notice when we are going through a pandemic, or when there’s war in our countries, or when there is something happening that just really brings people together, and there’s just so much hate and turmoil and anger and jealousy that’s all around us. Because we are all one I am as God created me to be, and we are one force of whatever we choose to create for our lives. And if we don’t let go of all of the material expectations that we have these on this world on what we think is going to take for us to be happy, or, you know, on in areas that we are trying to achieve in business and alive. I can tell you right now, friends, that none of it matters. Sorry, to burst your bubble, but none of it matters. The assets important to have dreams and aspirations and goals and to do things that you truly love to do shouldn’t be in any situation that doesn’t genuinely bring you joy and love, and help you gain something in your life. But it’s just so important for you to realize that the most special thing you can give yourself is the presence, the presence of presence in your life, and the lives of the people that you come across, whether it’s the person in the parking garage, or the person in the grocery store, or the person that cuts you off in traffic or your partner, your loved ones, anyone gives them the gift of presence. One of the things that I would encourage you to do is put your phone down, we spend so much time scrolling, we spend so much time comparing, we spend so much time judging, we spend so much time trying to tell people who we think they are that we get lost in the process, we forget who we are. So I want to empower you today. I want to encourage you to slow down, pay attention, follow directions, the signs are all around you.

The next day as I was getting ready to wrap up my trip in Boone I went up to a park all the way up in the mountains and I wanted to sit and go through this ritual that young law taught us through just igniting the light into your mind body and soul each and every day. There was this Bumblebee that just kept coming around me and minds you I just went through that experience where I learned how to find the spiritual meaning of the Katydid so that was in the back of my head. The bug got really close to my nose and I really just wanted to be still, but you know, fear came and I found myself shooing it away and I close the door and I grabbed my phone and I google what’s the spiritual meaning of a bee? And this excites me right?

The bee symbolizes community brightness and personal power. Follow the bee to discover your new destination history. The ancient Jews saw the bee as symbolizing the sun, the goddess celebration and community.

Google

I was just like, wow, I have no words. Yesterday I’m on the patio, I’m confronted with a Katydid and you know that talks about transformation and being in tune and getting ready to embark and being more aware, mentally, and spiritually sharp. All that comes to mind is immense gratitude, immense gratitude for being awake to this newfound power in my soul to know that I am the most powerful person in any room that I walk into, that I am enough, and I am as God created me to be. And what I love is that I got so many incredible visions for an empowered you 2022. Every year for the past five years, I’ve allowed someone else to take creative control of something that was that I wanted to build for me because I didn’t feel like I was enough. But when I tell you on March 5 2022, In Miami Ironside, divine rising is the theme. We’ll have panels and performances and an experience that is going to change lives, and that is what I’ve been called to do. As we get ready on my birthday, I’m getting ready to launch one of the biggest projects that I’ve been working on for over a year. And as I get ready to embark on my 43rd birthday, I want to empower you. I want to empower you, to find those divine experiences to be spiritually awakened to all the greatness that God and the universe have for your life.

This one life friend, I say this all the time, friends, this one life, it’s meant to be lived. No matter what your story is, no matter what you’ve been through, no matter where you come from, the transformation is real. It’s there, it’s available, you just got to want to, you just got to want it, and you just got to follow your heart. Follow those nudges and follow that intuition of yours that’s guiding you along the way, and keep asking God for the clarity that you need, because I believe in you. I know you got this and I know the best is yet to come. But the best is right now. We will always be faced with challenges in the midst of the best. But the greatest joys and the greatest experiences of life is how you bounce back from those moments. How do you react to someone else’s trauma and how you become the best version of yourself by just being who God created you to be and letting go of everything else.

So, my friends, this was a really deep passionate show for me today and I just really felt a nudge to come on here and share my experience with you all from a much different perspective. And to let you know that we’re going to keep the show going, we’re going to keep my IG lives going, keep our dinners and conferences going, and we’re going to keep empowering you to live your best life. I encourage you to research your ancestors and learn more and let them guide you, say this out loud “Guide my spirit on this next journey help me find the answers that I’m looking for.” Ask for the things that you want to receive, transformation will be a consistent message if you allow it to. I am believing, I’m hoping that you feel your way through this life of ours one breath at a time.

Cheers to an empowered you!