3/27/2019
Today we’d like to introduce you to Christi Turley Diamond.
Christi, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in a family of seven girls, no boys. I was naive and in love when I married my high school sweetheart and had three precious boys. I ignored the red flags that were nagging at me throughout our dating years, thinking that love could conquer all, not knowing I was in over my head. He had grown up with a very abusive father. After years of conflict, physical and emotional abuse and eventually infidelity, our marriage ended. Funny thing was, he is the one that finally walked out. Somewhere, it was ingrained in me to never give up no matter what, which can be a good thing but it also has its weakness. I wasn’t willing to walk out on my abusive marriage and it cost me… well… me. I literally thought my life was over. I went through clinical depression, having a hard time functioning. Eventually trying everything I could – counseling, talk therapy, self-help, affirmations and it worked for a little while, but then I would be right back in the thick of it. I did this for a few years until I discovered a quicker way to heal and on a spiritual level. I didn’t realize that my unresolved trauma and generational patterns had created survival patterns within me that were keeping me from getting to the other side of the pain.
Eventually, I had mentors who taught me about these concepts and I realized, at one point, that I was really gifted. I could read people’s energy. I could see moments in their life when a belief entered their mind, even at times pictures of those very moments. I could see where their energy was stuck. I could feel things they felt in their body. I could sometimes even see inside their body. I knew the ages of people where trauma had happened. I could see generational beliefs that had been passed down. I could sense so much of what was going on within them without knowing them at all. I could also clearly see the light of their spirit and their unique gifts. It’s like I could see the truth behind all the lies they had been telling themselves for years. I couldn’t explain the gift, it was just there. I had worked for MADD for years helping hundreds through trauma and loss and found my niche in serving others and helping them feel heard and finding healing in moving forward.
Eventually, I started my own healing practice, working with people’s energy- reading it, saw the healing powers of essential oils and integrated them into my practice. I was blown away by what could happen in just an hours time. Having experienced my own trauma of molestation by neighbors down the street, physical abuse, rape, and loss, I see the road it takes to walk from that pain to a life of fulfillment, meaning, and purpose. I see the trauma that wreaked havoc in the life of my first husband and that we can start to embody the very thing that wounded us. We will keep doing what was done to us until we acknowledge and heal it and change the cycle. I literally feel called to help the wounded. I have for years. Pain can be so debilitating, physically and emotionally. We can get so stuck in it that we can’t see our way out and so our relationships die, our families suffer. We can be in a marriage and still feel like the loneliest person in the world or have so much money we can buy anything we want and still feel completely unfulfilled and lost. Unresolved trauma is always the culprit of the places in our life we can’t seem to move forward in.
Now, I work with clients all over the world. Even though I have a physical office, 99% of my clients are over the phone. In the energetic realm, time and space don’t matter. I can easily connect to someone wherever they live and just feel what may be going on with them. Again, I can’t explain it but it’s like all the sudden I know so much about them and the energy around them and the beliefs that weigh them down. I tend to attract clients who have had deep trauma and feel stuck in their life. When you’re stuck, it ALWAYS has something to do with unresolved trauma. Now, when I work with clients, I assess five different things to help me know how to best help them on their healing journey. They are crucial to their healing. I have since been trained as a medical intuitive to help deepen the skills and gifts I already possess. It takes a consistent series of sessions and deep work and the freedom on the other side is sooo worth it! It’s like creating a new life and a recognition of who you TRULY are! Clients start to see subtle shifts and changes and then a few months later, they are like “Wow! Life is different. Rather than years of healing and talk therapy, it’s just taken weeks and months! Children process so much quicker than adults. Adults take much longer because they have created so many obstacles within them.
I eventually wanted to share some of the techniques I was using with my clients in a book so that people didn’t have to wait to find me and they could start healing on their own! I wrote two books – Aroma Heal 1 and eventually Aroma Heal 2. I ask them to do the surface work so that they can invest in the deep work with me. I also created a card deck called the Aroma Heal Emotional Mindfulness Card deck that shares the emotional healing properties of the oils. The amygdala is the powerhouse of the emotions and the quickest way to get there is through the nasal cavity. So, breathing in the essential oil along with the energy work creates a beautiful healing environment.
I eventually married the love of my life, Rick Diamond. I realized being in a relationship again, the trauma I still had within me and how much healing I had yet to do. We went through many moments of retraumatizing each other without even realizing it. At one point, on the verge of divorce and it was a pivotal moment when I was held at gunpoint one weekend while I was away at a speaking event. It was like God knocked him over the head and said, this is not over yet. We found our way back to each other and were able to do some deep couples work and learned of the traumatizing we were participating in. Once we realized. We now help couples work through their survival patterns. How you do one thing is how you do everything. Today, we have a thriving marriage. We went through so much to figure out the formula that really works. We are getting ready to travel the country again to share the healing with the world. Our country needs healing. We believe that when we heal our families, we heal our country but it starts with the unresolved trauma.
In 2016, we traveled the country for a year doing a book tour and teaching classes from the books and sharing hands-on healing techniques. We met so many amazing people! We came back and have been here for two years and now want to head back out on the road again to help many more heal even though Dallas is our home. We feel it’s our purpose and calling to do so. We have three sons and a daughter and there is no “Step” anything in our home. Life is rich and beautiful and amazing!!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I had many obstacles along the way and struggled with self-love and acceptance. I have had the beat up stick, the false notion I had to be perfect, the broken parts within me that needed healing and needed the recognition of my gifts and purpose to let go of the pain so I could finally be my purpose. When I turn around and help someone else see their gifts, their beauty, their purpose and whisper back to them their greatness, I can think of no greater calling than that. We can change within us things that have been passed down to us generationally. I think we will always be on our own healing journeys, evolving through each of them as long as we allow them to be for growth rather than our hindrance.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
The work I do is hold someone’s hand through the dark tunnel they seem to feel so stuck in and lead them to the light at the end of the tunnel where they can turn around and see it wasn’t a dark tunnel after all, it was just a forest of beautiful trees with their twisted and knotty trunks and branches they just couldn’t see their way out of. Our wounds become the catalyst to our purpose. There is such a gift in the things we have experienced. We can then turn around and help someone navigate through the murky waters and treacherous forest only to realize that there were beautiful lessons all along the way that added to our character and our resilience. We help people learn to trust their own decisions a little more, sharpen their inner compass, recognize the gifts that came from all the heartache and the purpose in the growth and the becoming of the best expression of themselves. I’m proud of the community we have built, the books, the card deck. I feel like there is light in the cards that we made. I got the privilege of being the instrument through which they came through. I get to walk a very sacred journey with people. I was sitting in my office one day just being still and I heard a voice say to me loud and clear “People trust you”. I felt it to my core. I take that very seriously and the world I walk into with others as I work with them is very sacred ground to walk on. It’s an honor and a privilege and the results I see after a few sessions is quite remarkable. I think we hold a space of safety, encouragement, and recognition of people’s gifts.
Honestly, I don’t know anyone who does the work I do. Not that I don’t think anyone can, just that I have yet to meet someone who does. In fact, sometimes, I think “I would love to have a Christi session” I don’t say that to brag, I just think it’s that unique and beautiful!
I’ve seen a woman who couldn’t stand to look at herself in the mirror and wouldn’t allow mirrors in her home for years because of her own self-loathing and hatred, go buy a mirror and put it in her home after the first session. I’ve seen people who were on the verge of suicide find their way back to a life of fulfillment. I have seen lives change drastically.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
You can only take your clients as far as you are willing to go yourself. I was willing to do the hard work, the deep work, the meaningful and healing work I needed in order to heal. I still do. It never stops. I get where people are because I have been there myself.
I honestly LOVE people. People fascinate me. I see so much pain in the world but boy do I see courage as well! People who have overcome the odds in big ways and are out there making a difference and being an influence for good. I love connecting with people. Hearing their stories, learning about their journey, the battles, the wounds, the triumphs, and the overcomings. So many brave souls out there doing SO MUCH GOOD! I think in the work I do, there has been safety and trust first and foremost, which creates connection and the ability for growth. I feel I help them let go of bondage and step into freedom. TRUE FREEDOM! I have to be honest though. I give God all credit as the healer and I call myself the detective as I go in and find what needs healing.
10/4/2018
I'm finding how essential daily meditation is for me. I feel so much calmer and at peace. When we sit and quiet our minds and just be still it's amazing what our spirit will whisper to us. I have a mind that is constantly going going going! I think about a million ideas, things I need to do, things I want to do, things I have to do and on and on and on so having time in the morning where I have a clean slate for a new day and the energy is cleaner and I've had some rest, it's a great time to gain clarity and look inside myself and just be still and quiet my mind from the to do list. This is where I also brain dump or maybe feeling dump. After meditating to some quiet music or a meditation cd ( Pandora is great for this where you can create a station for meditative music or a Deepak channel for free meditations) and reading my scriptures, I will sit down and converse with God on paper. I will write down all my feelings and ask questions and often answers come quickly and easily. It strengthens my intuition and I gain more confidence I. Finding my own answers within rather than looking to others or everyone else for my answers. There is nothing I hold back from telling Him. I can't hide anything from Him so why bother? It's freeing to unload all my feelings and confide in Him because then I can gain real perspective. This helps me then get clear on my intention for the day and know I can co-create my day with God. I also like to read from a self development book so I can do some self reflection and expand my knowledge and develop myself more. This morning routine has made ALL the difference in my relationship with God, myself, my family and my business.
10/3/2018
Wow! As I look to the week ahead I am so excited because of what I get to create with it! Today is a new day and a clean slate to look at what will matter most to me and where I put most of my time.
There is a saying that goes " nothing changes if nothing changes" so look at where you feel like you keep spinning the hamster wheel and what you aren't willing to tolerate in your life anymore.
I was reflecting as I looked back at this past week at how much I people please sometimes rather than honoring myself. I did several things that made me realize that I put my needs on the back burner sometimes. One was a conversation I had on the phone with a distant relative who I'm not very close to. She is a very negative person and pushes people away very often because of her own inner pain. I had called to try to be of assistance at the request of her husband. After she basically told me she needed nothing from me and was fine which I was totally fine with she proceeded to invite us over for dinner on Sunday. I got a knot in my stomach and told her I would get back to her. I'll tell you more about this later.
In the past I have stayed in places with people as to not offend them even if it was extremely difficult for me. For example when someone is in a deep thought while they light up a cigarette. I am highly allergic and have asthma so you can see how much an awful situation this was for me. I stood there and did not protect my health first and suffered through the smoking and guess what? 2 hours later I was coughing my head off and downing the oils so I wouldn't get bronchitis.
As I reflected on this I wondered why I hadn't put my needs first. I could go through some stories in my life as to why and explain it away but deep down I know I get to change this. I get to start listening to me and my body's needs and honor myself more. I pay a price when I don't. It's about time I decided to matter to me. This week look at ways in which you could honor yourself more and create more win:wins than suffering.
In the end I chose not to go to the Sunday dinner invite. I decided it wasn't worth my time being miserable with a miserable person. I knew no joy would come from it because I had suffered through it before. So I choose me instead
10/2/2018
We often go through life as adults looking at our "brokenness" and " what's wrong with me that I need to fix?" Or "what do I need to correct within myself to make me a better person" or "what do I need to overcome to finally be who i want to?!" Any of this sound familiar to you?
Do you know what I find? In my sessions when I work with clients I find that I get the honor and privilege of seeing someone's true essence and the core of who they are. Who are they without their story? I often whisper in their ear to remind them of the beautiful gifts God gave them and to help them see who they came here to be. I see their pain but I also see their beauty and their truth! When they let go of all the ugly lies that have been weighing them down they start to see it too!!
It's amazing as they evolve more into their truth and let go of the big fat lies. Their life starts to transform and inside they start to believe in themselves again. And there stands the beautiful soul in a new existence living an intentional purposeful life!!
So today instead of looking at your story or all the brokenness you think you have I want you to discus in the truth of who you are!! When you feed your truth more than you feed the lies and false believes, you start living your truth more!! You see the beauty of who you really are! And when you focus more on strengthening your truths instead of fixing yourself, change just magically starts happening.
Today I want you to go to at least 5 people you know and tell them you are doing an assignment and need them to list for you all the strengths they see in you. You will see some commonalities and this is a beautiful thing rather than focusing on your weaknesses. When you get your list: First of all, embrace it and don't push away the beauty others see in you. Second of all list the top three. And lastly look at ways to develop those even stronger and become them even more because those are your gifts and your truths and you are already on the road to sharing them with the world even more without having to develop a brand new gift. These gifts can be what strengthen you in your relationships and make you excel in your career. When you use your natural gifts, people feel it! It flows!
Place that list somewhere you can see it every day and embrace the beauty of your gifts and grow from then instead of feeling like you are at ground zero and starting from scratch!