Rooted & Rising: Stories of Transformation, Intuition, and Soul-Led Healing
Formerly the Intuitive Mentor Mom Podcast, now Rooted & Rising is a space for those ready to stop living life on autopilot and start living it by design. Hosted by Tara Mychelle — woman, mother, entrepreneur, friend, daughter, corporate professional, and energy practitioner — this podcast is born from the roots of challenge and the rise of self-discovery.
Here, we explore the truth that life isn’t happening to us, it’s happening for us. When we release the victim within, we reclaim our power as the hero of our own story. Through healing and transformation, we create an inner world so rich and aligned that our outer world naturally reflects it.
With personal stories, raw reflections, and inspiring conversations, each episode invites you to deepen your roots in self-awareness, self-love, and truth — and rise into your fullest self-expression. Together, we’ll explore everything from love, relationships, and parenting to health, spirituality, and the courage it takes to live fully awake.
This is your invitation to heal, transform, and create a life you love — from the inside out. Get rooted. Rise high. And live the story you were born to tell.
Rooted & Rising: Stories of Transformation, Intuition, and Soul-Led Healing
36: The Power of Choice: How to Stop Reacting from Survival
What drives your choices, fear or truth? In this episode of Rooted & Rising, we explore how to recognize when you’re reacting from survival mode versus when you’re making aligned choices rooted in your deepest truth.
I share personal stories, like saying yes to a “safe” high-paying job that felt heavy in my gut, or stepping away from a relationship that was deeply right for me, moments where survival won out over intuition. These missteps taught me the power of listening to that inner voice, the wisdom within each of us that guides us toward authentic living.
You’ll also hear the unforgettable lioness metaphor that reshaped my perspective: a lion at the Oakland Zoo followed her instinct to climb into new territory, only to freeze in fear once she got there. How often do we do the same; awaken to our truth, but then get stuck in fear of the unfamiliar?
In this transformative conversation, I share four powerful tools to shift from reaction to intention:
- Pausing before reacting when urgency or defensiveness arises
- Asking your body where a choice lives; tight and anxious, or open and clear?
- Reframing fear-based “what if” questions into possibility-based ones
- Giving yourself permission to choose differently than before
Your body knows the difference between survival-based choices and truth-based ones. When you pause and tune in, you’ll feel it, the heaviness of fear versus the lightness of alignment. This awareness creates freedom, empowerment, and transformation.
✨ In this episode, you’ll discover:
- How to stop reacting from survival mode and start choosing from intuition
- Practical decision-making tools for alignment and clarity
- Mindset shifts to help you trust yourself and your inner knowing
- Journaling prompts to move from fear-based choices into empowered living
I invite you to reflect: Where might you be choosing from fear right now? And what small, intentional shift could you make this week to step into alignment?
Remember, you are never powerless, every choice is an opportunity to root deeper into truth and rise higher into your fullest self.
Looking for confirmation, guidance, or support in an area of life where you feel stuck, stagnant, or simply unclear of what to do next? Let's connect: book a complimentary Discovery Session with me, today!
Book a 30-min Discovery Session Here
In today's episode of Rooted in Rising, we're going to dive into the power of choice, how you can shift from reacting out of survival to making choices rooted in your deepest truth. Here we go. Welcome to Rooted in Rising. I'm your host, tara Michelle, intuitive guide, storyteller and fellow traveler on this wild path of becoming. This is a space for the soul-led, for the ones unraveling old stories, tending to their healing and rising, not perfectly but powerfully, into who they are here to be. Here we explore what it means to live with intention, to love with depth and to trust that even the hard things are shaping us. I'll share pieces of my own journey, the cracks, the beauty, the breakthroughs, and invite voices who are walking this path too, because I believe life isn't happening to us, it's happening for us. So come as you are, root in and rise up, and thank you truly, thank you, for being here. Welcome back to Rooted in Rising. I'm Tara Michelle, your host of the show. I'm so glad you're here with us today. This podcast is a space where we explore what it means to root deeper into our truth and to rise into our fullest self-expression. And so last episode, I left you with two questions, and I'm curious how many of you took the time? Those of you who have been listening, but I'm curious if you took the took the time, those of you who have been listening, but I'm curious if you took the time to reflect on those two questions. And the first one was where have you been true to yourself and what actions this is the next question what actions did you take to step into your biggest, broadest self? I hope you took the time and the moment to reflect, because those little moments of awareness are really what it takes to transform ourselves from the inside out. And it's taking those moments of you know, doing that self-reflection and doing that maybe we could call it self-collection, right, like you're collecting evidence for yourself of really seeing, of the steps that you're taking to make those changes within you and to grow. So I know I took that on as well and I recently launched a new business. It's a business out of passion. It's called Sold Spaces and that's S-O-U-L-D Spaces and you can find it at soldspacescom. And it's an energy alignment opportunity that I work with realtors. When I'm working with realtors, buyers and sellers, assisting them in aligning their properties to move for a smoother transaction, easier sale, but really to remove any blocks, resistance or hesitations that are showing up inside of the selling process as well as the buying process. So that's something I recently just launched and it's very exciting.
Speaker 1:But every day I'm having to ask myself where am I being true to myself in the area of my career and what steps have I taken to step into my biggest, broadest self? And the steps that I'm taking is really putting myself out there and launching this for real, and it is moving. But there are things that I have to do that are very uncomfortable for me to do Go into new spaces and talking to stagers and, you know, not really understanding that industry. Going out and pitching myself to realtors, going and dropping in on open houses and giving them my flyers, or just randomly cold calling people and saying, hey, by the way, this is something that I do, you know it's. It's taken something for me to stay on track and get my name out there and really push myself to step into the truth of who I am, which is somebody who loves working with energy, who loves working with people.
Speaker 1:I have a deep passion for real estate, always have and might've talked about that in episodes previous, but you know, those questions really assisted me this week because I had to keep asking myself where am I staying true to myself and what have I done today? What have I done today to move that needle, to step more courageously into the truth of who I am? So I invite all of you, if you didn't take that on last week, try it this week, because it really allows you to see the growth within yourself and it allows you to push against barriers or resistance within yourself. That just doesn't serve you anymore. It just doesn't serve you because, remember, this life is happening for you. It's not happening to you, it's happening for you, and at every second you have choice in the matter, and that is what we're going to talk about. So I actually want to kind of segue into what we're talking about, because today we're diving into something that really touches every single one of us, and that is the power of choice.
Speaker 1:Specifically, what I'd like to focus on today is the difference between making choices rooted in your truth versus choices reacting out of survival. Okay, one of the things that I tell my son all the time, part of his existence here, one of the very core pieces, is to master choice, because in every part of your life, every day is a choice. Every day, every single day, we make dozens of choices. Some of them are small, like what do I eat or how do I respond to this text message. Others can be much bigger, like whether to stay in a job or not, whether or not to move cities, move houses, or whether or not to even speak your truth inside of a relationship that you're in. But beneath every choice is an energy right, and that energy is either rooted in your truth or it's rooted in a survival mode. And when I talk about survival mode, it's when we choose from fear or we choose from that part of us that just wants to stay safe. Does that sound familiar to any of you? Like, are you choosing from a place of power and alignment and truth, or is it coming from survival? What you know, that you know, and often what you know that you know that is not the best for you, but it's safe, it's comfortable, it feels like a warm, cozy blanket and you just pull it over yourself and then you're like damn it, I did it again. I made that choice I knew I should have made, right?
Speaker 1:I'm going to talk about a time not that long ago where I had the choice between two jobs. Okay, this was actually late last year in November. I had the choice between two opportunities and, looking at them on paper, there was an obvious one. It had the larger base salary. It felt like security because I was moving over there with people from the previous company and it felt like the safe box to check, given that I'm a single mom and survival mode often is sounding off like an alarm in my brain all the time. And so the flip side of that was there was this other role. The base wasn't as high, but the opportunity was there to make probably equal to, if not more, money.
Speaker 1:The thing about the other job is that the culture and the people were so on point and the interview process was amazing, and when I really look back to this time, it felt so right in my gut. It felt so right. But because it wasn't everything on paper and it was a really hard decision to make, I deliberated and went back and forth and hemmed and hawed because I knew in my gut what my gut was saying. However, the take it, don't risk. It was actually stronger. I need the stability. Just take the bigger money, take the bigger paycheck, all the things.
Speaker 1:I was also told that, oh yeah, the territory is making X amount a month. So then I figured out the numbers. I was like, okay, I'm guaranteed I know what I'm going to make here and I'm going to be able to thrive. But deep down my gut was whispering go the other direction. Now, I didn't, didn't do that and even though going with this other company larger salary didn't feel aligned, I knew I was choosing out of fear and not faith. Actually, I'm going to say this hindsight, 2020.
Speaker 1:Now I look back and I think I totally was operating from fear, because survival can be really convincing. Right, survival can feel very convincing. It can feel like well, I know people, I got this, like this is safe, I know what I'm doing, I'll be able to move my accounts over. No, it's going to be it's. It's going to be seamless, because it was me leaving one company to go to the competitor and I was just going to move everything over. And I'm going to tell you something funny it didn't work like that and a lot of the things that I was told weren't actually what was happening and what that decision taught me, because that other role was going to be a brand new role. I was going to have to ramp up. I was going to be learning a new product, a new product, but what that decision taught me was to never ignore my gut, ever again.
Speaker 1:I had another similar situation in romantic relationship same thing. As a result, I made a choice out of survival, protecting myself, only to then, within weeks, go back and say I think I made the wrong choice and I'm sorry. And the way I chose to move away from this was not in integrity with who you are or with me. Thank you for the opportunity and the learning experience. And I just wanted to say I apologize. Well, I'm really lucky and blessed because that man then, a couple of weeks after that, came back and was like you know, we had a really great connection and your apology was really humble and I'd like to explore this again. And now I'm in an amazing relationship Can I just say, hands down, amazing.
Speaker 1:And on the day that I had decided I was going to break it off, I knew in my gut, like what are you doing? I kept hearing my gut whisper. Like my heart and my gut were like this is the wrong choice, tara, you're making the wrong choice. I was like no, no, I know what I'm doing. Nope, I know what I'm doing, I'm not going to do this, I'm going to do something different. Nope, no. Only to learn like that was the wrong choice. Now, again, I feel very lucky and blessed because he came back and was like, hey. And again I feel very lucky and blessed because he came back and was like, hey, let's try this one more time. And you know, maybe a part of me needed that too.
Speaker 1:There was something about when I was looking at the jobs could see me. I felt valued, I felt heard, I felt really truly seen and I felt connected with these people. But I wasn't having faith in myself and I wasn't trusting because what seemed safer was same product move accounts over, moved accounts over, going with people. I know trusting those people, I know bigger base salary, much bigger base salary, everything will work out. You know everything will work out. It felt safe, it was the safe thing to do and in hindsight, it was not the right thing to do. So I share those stories because you really can hopefully see that every day, every day, you're making a choice and that decision I'm going to say.
Speaker 1:Both those decisions taught me so much and it also showed me how heavy it feels when you say yes from fear. I want you to really root into that and feel that, how heavy life feels when you root from fear. And you know it gave me clarity. Those experiences gave me clarity to start asking myself what would it look like to choose from truth and courage instead Like? What would it look like to root into my truth and trust and then rise? What would open up? What blessings show up when you root in that truth and stop operating from fear?
Speaker 1:Comfort and survival mode. And the reason why I say comfort, because obviously you want to be in a good situation and you want to feel comfortable, right, you want to feel safe and protected in your good situation, whatever that choice is, whatever the good choice was. But what I'm saying is that we get very comfortable in that survival mode and what we know it's like well, I know that, it's familiar. It's like when you go back to the battered relationship well, I know that or the abuse of like you'll see people that constantly go back and back and back into abusive situations. It's because it's what they know and to go outside of that feels really scary. Here's another strange example that I will give, but it's one that I have never forgotten.
Speaker 1:So many years ago, I worked at the Oakland Zoo as a vet tech assistant. I was a volunteer there for about two years and there was this very wild experience. I look back and it was such a perfect metaphor. Okay, one of the female lions got out, she climbed over the fence and got into the bison enclosure, which was acres and acres and acres of land, so the lions themselves had a fairly large enclosure, but it was nothing like what the bisons had. And, of course, those bisons were looking pretty good to her that day. For whatever reason, she you know she's a freaking lion. Okay, so she's feeling like that looks good over there. I think I'm going to hunt it down.
Speaker 1:She got ballsy, climbed up the fence, went over there, and the moment she got over there she was terrified, terrified, panicked, freaked out, didn't touch the bison at all, just was aware that where she was was new ground, new territory and super unfamiliar. So what do we do as the zookeepers? You know, we all go and get her, make sure the bison are okay and they're not being hunted down. But that was a perfect metaphor because in this moment she was awakened by her truth. Right, her truth is I'm a fucking lion and I eat that shit. Okay, that was her truth. She was awakened by it and she responded Right. But then when she got over there, it was so uncomfortable, she panicked and she didn't know what to do. And that's often what we do, and so often we will go back to making those choices that we know, that are safe, that are comfortable, that we understand, and so I guess I'm saying, hey, go be the lion, the lioness, the lion, whatever. We're going to talk about that next here.
Speaker 1:What I want to do is I want to segue into this next part, but I really love this example of the lioness because it just speaks volumes to when we're rooting in truth versus when, all of a sudden, you know, we get into this new space and we start operating from fear. Right, so she operated from fear rather than stepping into her courageous self and then just going after and attacking in a bison which probably would have been a worse scene, honestly, at a zoo, okay, but so probably, luckily for us, it was a good thing that she did do that, but it's, it was a great metaphor to really examine, you know, because every second of the day you have a choice. So I want to step into this other piece. You know I don't want to get too deep into my little stories here, but I also want to say how do we actually do this in our everyday lives? How do we do it? How do we notice when we're when we are reacting versus being rooted in our truth?
Speaker 1:Here are a few things that that have helped me along the way, when I recognize this for myself, because it is a practice, for sure, and, like I said to my son, every day of your life is mastering choice. It really is so number one pausing before reacting and pausing before you make that choice. And, by the way, I want to say hands down to those people who are really good at this, because I know a lot of people who are really good at this. I've I'm one that has to practice at this, but I know a lot of people that are very good. They don't make choices out of survival at all. They're deliberate, they're thoughtful, they think about shit. And then there's me. I'm like I'll do it. So for those that are really good at it, I just hands down kudos to you, but one you pause before reacting.
Speaker 1:I know for myself if I feel urgency. Another good trigger for me is defensiveness. If I feel defensiveness or fear, like I start getting that panic, that panic that ensues, that's usually a sign for me to recognize I'm about to operate from survival right now, and so that might be something that you can look at for yourself and what you want to do in those moments. What I like to do is I breathe into it. You know, and one of the things I learned from Dave Ramsey anybody out there listening to Dave Ramsey, he's amazing is, like you know those big ticket items you want to buy.
Speaker 1:Sleep on it. Sleep on it before you hit the send button, sleep on it before you pick up the phone and call. Sleep on it. Take a breath, take a pause and recognize where is this sitting in my body right now? Number two, which then we're going to segue into that Number two ask your body, and we're going to segue into that. Number two ask your body where's this sitting in my body? Where is this rooted in my body? Is it rooted? Am I feeling grounded? It might feel expansive, I might feel it in my chest, I might feel it in my gut, but whatever choice I'm about to make, where is it in my body and how does it feel? Because survival will feel tight, it will feel anxious, it will feel heavy, it will feel unclear, and in those moments you are not operating from power. So number two question ask your body where is this sitting in my body? And feel into it. You could even even see what color does it feel like? Is it red, is it black, is it white? How does it feel in my body?
Speaker 1:Thing I like to do, number three, is reframe the question Instead of asking what if what I'm about to do goes wrong? What if this is a doorway to whatever I've been asking for? So those are some things to think about, because if it goes wrong, you're like, okay, because there's that already, always thinking in your brain, like it's not going to work out for me. So what if it goes wrong? Right, but what if that choice you make opens every door to every possibility you've ever desired? And again, that's where you have to think about am I operating from fear or am I operating from power in this moment? And then, number four give yourself permission to choose differently. Give yourself permission to do something new. Give yourself permission to make a different choice, even if you've chosen from fear before. You always get another chance. You always get another chance because choice is a muscle and it gets stronger with practice. And that muscle that you're practicing is your entire body, like tuning into your body and feeling the truth of your body. Am I about to operate from survival or am I about to operate from power? Because power is your source, that is the source of who you are, is your rooted truth, your rooted power. And it might be uncomfortable, but you'll know, because it will be clear. And I say never second guess that voice within you, don't second guess it. Here's another perfect example Yesterday morning I was getting ready to go work with a friend, was going to do some alignment at his commercial business, his commercial office.
Speaker 1:He's a chiropractor and I was throwing clothes on because I knew we were going to be moving furniture, getting dirty and dusty. It was just going to be a lot of work. So I just threw on whatever and I heard my internal voice say you need to change. And I was like, really why? Why do I need to change like this? We're going to be moving shit all day because you're going to meet somebody, is what I heard. Heard that in my mind you're going to meet somebody today and I was like okay, so what do I throw on that, just in case I meet a possible connection? And I knew that this was about my career, because I was going to help him with this new job sold spaces. I was going to cleanse, clear, align and do all the things feng shui, all the things in his office building.
Speaker 1:So I changed and I threw on some skirt, like a long one, comfortable one, one that I knew that I could move. You know some cute little cotton top. You know something that I knew I could get dirty and dusty, but I was gonna be moving stuff around, but at least I looked appropriate or approachable or I don't know. I look decent, because before I had like, just like crazy, like looking like rolled out of bed kind of thing, it's gonna show up and start working on stuff.
Speaker 1:And the funny thing is is that when I got to his place he said hey, by the way, I got a client coming in. She's going to be here at 10 o'clock and she knows you're going to be here, so don't worry, just work around us. And I was like okay, cool, she walks in and she's like oh my gosh, are you an organizer? I said no. She said, well, what do you do? I said, oh, I energetically align properties, I work with realtors, blah, blah, blah, go give her the whole spiel. And she's like, can I have your card? And I said, yeah, what do you do? She says, oh, I'm a stager and I'd love for you to come to my house. And, by the way, not only would I like you to come to my house, I'd also like to bring you on a couple of consults, because I have clients.
Speaker 1:My inner dialogue and made a different choice, okay, and that was powerful. I was like, oh my God, what? Because here I am, like trying to build this business, and here this woman walks in and says will you do my house? And, by the way, I have clients who need your services. It was this magical moment, but all rooted in the power of my choice and the ability to tune in and listen, listen to those inner dialogues.
Speaker 1:So now what I'd like you to do is I'd like for you to reflect on some questions, just some questions that I think would be really helpful for this week, because we're going to like do our little rooted and rise check-ins. So where in your life are you currently making choices from fear or survival. I really want you to think about that. Where in your life are you making choices from fear or survival? And what does your rooted truth feel like in your body? What does that feel like for you? Pause long enough to listen and hear for yourself? Does that feel like for you Pause long enough to listen and hear for yourself? And what small decision this week? I don't even like the word decision, I prefer the word choice. What small choice this week could you shift from? That is, out of a reaction mode and into an intention mode? Reaction mode and into an intention mode what choice could you shift?
Speaker 1:So the other thing is, if you're journaling about that, here's some other prompts that you can play with that I think are a lot of fun. You can play with something like a choice I recently made from survival was okay and it led me to feel X. So that's a prompt that you can use and that's a fun one. A choice I recently made from survival was X and it led me to feel X. Here's another one A choice I could make from my rooted truth instead would be X, and if I fully trusted myself, I would choose to do X. So those are questions that you can ask yourself this week, and they're simple questions, but they're powerful questions because they cause you to stop and listen to the truth within your body and it creates awareness within your body. It creates awareness within your mind, it creates awareness in your heart and it creates freedom in the whole space of your life. It really does in the whole space of your life. It really does.
Speaker 1:So I just want to say thank you to everyone for spending time with me this week on Rooted and Rising. My hope is that you walk away remembering that you are never powerless. You're never powerless in any part of your day at all ever, because every choice you make is an opportunity to align with your truth. It's an opportunity for you to root deeper and to rise higher, and that is my commitment. That is my commitment that you allow yourself that opportunity every day. So, before we go, I do want to give you a little glimpse of what's coming next week.
Speaker 1:In our next episode, I'll be introducing you to the incredible leadership coach. Her name is Vanessa Yu and her website is coachvanessayucom. Together, we're going to dive into the power of core values, and I love this topic. You know how they shape our leadership, how our core values shape our lives and what it means to truly lead from a place of alignment and when you're aligned with your core values. So we'll also explore her work in Leadership, rewired like how she works with people and what that looks like. And it's a conversation you're not going to want to miss. You just won't. You're not going to miss, you just won't, you're not gonna wanna miss it. So until next week.
Speaker 1:I wanna thank all of you for listening, share this episode with a friend who may need the reminder and, if you feel called, leave a review, please. It helps, rooted in Rising, to reach more hearts. So stay rooted, stay rooted in your truth, keep rising and I can't wait to see you on the next episode. Have an amazing rest of your couple of weeks and we'll see you soon. Take care. Thank you for rooting in and rising with me today. If something in this episode stirred something in you, take a breath, take what you need and let the rest soften. Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss what's next and, if you feel called, share this episode or leave a review. And, if you feel called, share this episode or leave a review. It helps the space grow and reach others on the path. Until next time, may you walk with trust, speak with love and rise in your own time. I'm so grateful you were here with us and thanks for being here. We'll see you on the next episode.