Please Note: This interview includes conversation around alcohol abuse, depression, sexual trauma and domestic violence. If you need help or support in any way, please contact Lifeline on 131114.

“And that judging of ourselves, of not being enough compared to, you know I like to think that the only comparison that we can ever truly make is our self to our self. And letting go of that judgement of ‘I am not enough’ compared to that person or judging other people is really just a reflection on ourselves, our shadows the deepest parts of ourselves that just want to be loved. A lot of the time we judge ourselves for where we are not meeting up to the people’s expectations or our expectations of ourselves compared to someone else.” Cat Parkinson

Beautiful Cat Parkinson is a woman who has learned the power of self-enquiry and going within. Her whole life she has felt like she was on a mission to help people. Always wanting to help others she felt she was a magnet where people would share their deepest darkest secrets. She knows she feels deeply, she listens deeply and she always aspired to be the ‘good girl’. But this all came at a huge cost.

Cat is the owner and Director of Nine Lives Coaching specialising in helping people of all ages and genders to overcome addictions. This includes one of our modern days’ biggest dependencies, alcohol.

She uses a unique fusion of Hypnotherapy, NLP, Time-Line Therapy, Reiki, Embodiment tools and Access Consciousness to guide clients on a journey into the depths of their unconscious mind to understand why they sabotage and how to overcome when that seed was first planted.

Cat guides people to overcoming limiting beliefs, negative emotions and self-worth issues to create the life of their dreams as a happy, healthy individual who loves all parts of themselves.

Cat is 47, she is happily married and a mother of two amazing children. She has been on her own remarkable health journey healing herself from depression, an ‘incurable’ inflammatory bowel disease and the symptoms of menopause all with the power of the mind. Through doing the inner work, never giving up on herself -no matter how hard it got – and having professional guidance every step of the way, Cat is now living proof that anything is possible.

She has proudly overcome many of the challenges that could otherwise have ruined her life, including the trauma of sexual abuse and domestic violence and she has quit drinking and smoking.

Cat is now on a mission to help her clients overcome sabotaging beliefs and behaviours and heal their past with ease and grace. She has rebuilt her life and shows us that no matter what happens to you, nothing can take away the ability to believe in yourself and be your own best friend. Her passion is to help everyone create a magical life that is full of love, life and adventure.

In this week’s podcast Cat shares with us her story of growing up. Her dad left when she was 4 however, he had checked out way prior. She realises now how she put up an emotional barrier. She knew her mum loved them extra hard, but also appreciates through all the work she has done that you crave the parents love you can’t have the most.

She was always looking for someone else to love, for someone to fill that void. At 14 she lost herself in what she thought was freedom. It was a never-ending cycle of promiscuity and alcohol. She shares very openly about how that looked and how desperate she was yearning for love in perhaps all the ways that did anything but find it.

She shares all about the emotional and sexual traumas, the binge drinking which a huge part of the 90’s culture. There was so much confusion and pain and she just could not understand it so pushed that part of her down for a very long time. She believes that things like ovarian cancer can be emotionally linked. She had ovarian cysts at 19yrs of age and realised the pattern that unfolded was if she was sick she got the care she was yearning for from her mum. It was a way to get help without the guilt.

She got very thin and realised the gifts were no alcohol and no unsafe activities. She was also a people pleaser as she had learned she needed to be a good girl growing up for her mum. She had no idea who she was.

In her early 20’s her dad had a midlife crisis which we now call a mid-life awakening. Her dad then studied NLP learning under Tad James and did a session with Cat. She was blown away, it cured ALL her symptoms. Her body returned, she had more energy and more self-love.

As a police officer she fulfilled her love of helping, protecting and serving others. She was caught up in a shooting incident that forced her to get counselling. This is where she fist opened up about her dad, that she had always been chasing someone to fill that void of her father.

She learned to tune into and listen to her intuition and innate wisdom. She enjoyed the upward spiral and how to bring more healthy love in. She chose better friends, worked hard on what she truly wanted. She found meditation and found Hypnotherapy to be incredibly cool.

She met her hubby and decided this would be a different relationship. She behaved differently. He is the most respectful and loving gentleman. She realised the more she respected herself the more beautiful it felt to be loved.

She used hypnosis and guided meditations to awaken her heart. She learned to fall in love with getting high on herself not depending on alcohol, sex or drugs.

Cat explains more about her life as a police officer and why she was a domestic violence liaison officer. She loved protected and defending helpless victims. But this environment was not necessarily the right one for her as it also had a drinking culture and, in her words, there were plenty of police on tap!

As she grew more and more using the powers of hypnosis and NLP she also realised how much she wanted to learn how this amazing modality worked. The shadow work in particular was a huge a-ha particularly around her father. It strips away layers and expose your raw authentic self. She always felt she had magical hands and that there was something bigger, more spiritual for her and that she had a much bigger purpose. She felt she was a leader. A human translator.

She finally started to feel at home in her mind and body. And now she wants to help translate for others.

Cat appreciates the more you study the more you learn at a different level and it’s great to be a study junkie! She believes life is all about chaos and order and chaos and order. The work we do on ourselves affects everyone around us. Every single person is on their own unique journey.

NLP is all about language and how palatable it is whilst healing.

Time-Line Therapy takes you back in your life to heal.

Hypnosis is the true magic to shed layers and allow the mind, body and soul to truly heal.

Cat loves to be a coach helping people with addictions, in particular alcohol. She knows that as a coach you are always learning and healing yourself in the process. She believes you attract what you need in the moment. And she discovered she had a love of studying and learning. She has said yes to so many courses even though she thought alcohol had ruined her ability to learn.

She has tapped more and more into her spirituality and she now knows if she can do this work, the partying fun drunk girl she was, then anyone can do it. And through this process and niche was born. She works beyond the sobriety mask and implements the powers of understanding self and taking care of your heart in the process. She is a coach who loves to help people heal themselves particularly around shadow work and limiting beliefs.

Coaching is a journey and why so many of us are called to it. It is a constant healing journey and a coach can hold you as you grow and heal. It is about stepping into the uncomfortable all the time. It is a healing process of the soul and unconscious mind in a safe and loving way. The more work you do on self the more strength you gain. The more compassion and empathy evolves.

We discuss the powers in this style of coaching. This work is all about understanding the parts of us that have unmet needs. Understanding we are all one. That everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have. Parents are acting out their own traumas. When we are at effect we are in blame and victim mode. When we are at cause we can learn more and we can love more.

Some of her self-love practices include:

– A bath with oils and candles
– Pilates
– Ceremonial cacao
– Some space and solitude
– Lotions and skincare
– Being in Nature
– Studying
– Reading
– Audio Books

Her definition of Self Love is: Doing whatever lights me up and whatever makes me feel at peace.

Her favourite quote is from Brene Brown:

In order for shame to thrive it needs three things:

– Secrecy
– Silence
– Judgement

Cat reminds us to tell our story, bring it to light, share ourselves, get support, get help and that it is ok to reach out. No one is ever alone.

Links to follow:

To book a session with Cat you can email her direct at: cat.parkinson@hotmail.com

You can follow her at Nine Lives Coaching

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/ninelivescoaching/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/NineLivesCoachCat
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