Ep 25 Divine Worth Podcast: Cultivating mind, body, and spirit connection with LeAnn Austin

Karen Papin: [00:00:00] Welcome to the divine worth podcast where we are letting go of our self doubt, anxiety, fear, and limiting beliefs so that we can step into the divine roles that God has for us. I am your host life coach, Karen Papin, and together we are embracing our divine worth and potential.

Welcome to the Divine Word Podcast. Today we are joined by our guest Leanne Austin. She is a Master’s Certified Life Coach and teacher. She helps people create more fun and connection in their relationships with themselves and others. She loves exploring the daughter in law and mother in law relationship.

And she has a podcast in a book called Lovin My Daughter in Law. She lives in Georgia with her husband and dog. They have four adult sons, two daughters in law, a grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. She loves to coach, eat smoked meat and veggies, be outside, exercise, watch The Chosen, and connect with family and friends.

So Leanne, thank you so much [00:01:00] for coming and being on the podcast today. Ah, my pleasure, Karen. Thanks so much for having me. Well, I’m excited that you’re going to be on here today.

And a big part of what we’re going to be talking about today is the mind, body and spirit connection in relation to divine word. So what I would love to start out with is kind of to hear. Your story about how cultivating that connection with your mind, body, and spirit has really helped you to be able to see your divine worth and potential.

LeAnn Austin: Yeah, well, I’ve thought about this a lot and years ago, my husband told me about the stool, you know, where you have your mind, body and spirit and then yourself kind of as a bench and how just figuring out how to balance those out and how it works and as we I We’ve thought about it and talked about it this past year.

Our family word was connection, and I love that word connection. And we really honed in on the connecting with our mind, body, and spirit. And for [00:02:00] me, it was starting every day connecting with. My spirit. So I would every day I would wake up pray and then read the scriptures and I’m like, I just want to see what happens when that is the first thing that I connect with how that how that affects me because I believe our divine worth is really is connecting with our spirit as well as our mind and body.

But when we can do that and have that connection and truly love ourselves, I think it makes a big, big difference in just our daily lives.

Karen Papin: So it sounds like you, this last year has been really a big focus for you on, on that connection. Like you have that, that be your family word, which I love that. That’s such a great word to have as a family. How have you seen. and your family grow as a result of that?

LeAnn Austin: Well, I think when we choose to connect and I really do think it goes back to [00:03:00] loving ourselves, it’s all about knowing our divine worth.

I, you know, the two, I call them three great commandments. Love God, love others, love me. I think that is super important because when we love and connect with ourselves, we’re so much better able to love God and to love others. So I think recognizing our divine worth and that we’re a hundred percent valuable and amazing no matter what is a game changer and just emphasizing that for our family this past year has just been really helpful.

Karen Papin: What are like, what were like some of the biggest blocks to really feeling that connection for you?

I think perfectionism is a big block. I think I used to be one before I, I learned about these. you know, coaching probabl

I have to be perfect at everything. I have to get [00:04:00] it right. I have to get A I remember in high school, I was begging my math teacher please give me an A instead of a B I mean, seriously, does that even matter? It doesn’t matter. It really, I mean, Things like that, that I had to be so good at. And the thing about perfectionism is it keeps us from trying things.

It keeps us from really showing up and trying new things and developing, you know, our skills and our worth and seeing other things we love about us because we’re, you know, we’re trying to be perfect, which isn’t even a thing.

Karen Papin: It’s like impossible. It really is impossible. Everyone has a different view of what perfection is. And so we can not, we can’t fulfill, you know, everyone’s view of perfection. A hundred percent. Yep. Yep. So, so you kind of mentioned, having that connection between mind, body, and spirit and like focusing first on the spirit.[00:05:00]

Why do you feel that focusing first on the spirit is. Is it so impactful?

LeAnn Austin: Well, and I think everyone gets to choose how they do this. For me, it just was a great start to my day instead of starting my day with, you know, jumping on my phone or something like that. It was just like, wait a second. I’m just going to remind myself of God and Jesus personal revelation.

If I can start things out like that, it just kind of helped as I progressed along the day. So. That worked well for me. Now everyone gets to choose what works best for them. So whatever connection, just choosing how could I connect with my spirit? How could I connect with my body? How could I connect with my mind?

Just even 30 seconds of thinking about that every day can be pretty impactful.  

Karen Papin: So we’re talking about like mind, body, and spirit. How do you feel that all of those are kind of interconnected?

LeAnn Austin: I think, I mean, [00:06:00] kind of back to the stool analogy that my husband told us years ago, I think it’s just, they just are.

It’s just like, that’s just what connects. Those are the parts of us that connect everything. So to me, it’s just, it’s kind of that mind, body and spirit. If you can think about those, I think obviously there’s other things you can throw in there as well. But sometimes when we get so carried away. It just keep, you know, trying to include more, just keeping it simple.

Okay. Mind, body, spirit. That’s what I’m going to connect with. I think that makes a big difference.

Karen Papin: What advice do you have for those who are wanting that mind, body, spirit connection? And probably break it down even more, because it’s like, there’s maybe they’re struggling with mine, or maybe they’re struggling with body, or maybe they’re struggling with spirit.

so let’s start with the mind, like, what advice do you have for those who are struggling with that connection with the mental aspect?

LeAnn Austin: Well, I think just bringing awareness to the fact that you [00:07:00] know, you’re thinking about your mind. Okay, how can I connect more with my mind? Is there something that I want to learn?

Is there some thoughts that I’m thinking that are kind of getting in the way of things? How can I just connect? Connect more with my mind and see what’s going on up there. It’s like cleaning out a closet, you know, we just want to clean it out and see what’s happening in that beautiful brain of ours. So I think that would be helpful in connecting with our mind.

Karen Papin: Yeah, and it’s kind of like the whole idea that Our thoughts affect our feelings, which then in turn affect what the actions and then the results, right? Yeah. So getting in touch with those thoughts. okay. So what about the body then? What, what advice there?

Yeah, I just think, for me, it’s getting outside, being outside and moving your body.

Just any kind of movement. You don’t have to do any grand thing, [00:08:00] but going for a walk. Even if it’s starting out with a walk to your mailbox. Doing anything just to move your body. I mean, we were given these amazing bodies and just appreciating them and moving them and loving them. For where they are and that we can see and hear and move or whatever we can do.

I think making that connection is so impactful, especially when we beat ourselves up. So, ah, I need to lose weight or I don’t do this or whatever. It’s like, no, let’s love and appreciate and connect with our body and the things that it does do, rather than discount things that we don’t think it does. So

Karen Papin: where do you start with loving your body?

LeAnn Austin: Oh my goodness. Come join Connection Crew with me. I have a whole course on this. So I think it really, for me, it’s just waking up and telling myself something I love about me. I have a little light switch trick. Every time I turn [00:09:00] a light on, I tell myself something I love about me. I turn on the light in the morning, Leanne, I love your beautiful smile or whatever.

And it’s not. Always great things. Sometimes it’s like, Oh, Leanne, I love that you sent that text to your son. I’m not totally sure about it, but I love that you made the attempt. You know what I mean? So it’s not a perfectionism thing. It’s just simply appreciating and loving what you are doing.

Karen Papin: I think that the more that we do things like that, the easier it is to be able to see just the amazing things that our bodies are like, there’s. I mean, they have the capability of healing, like it’s, it. It’s amazing. It really is amazing when we stop and we really consider and take that time to train our brains to be able to recognize that.

Yes.

LeAnn Austin: Yes. Absolutely. And letting ourselves feel too. I’m taking [00:10:00] Leah Davidson’s nervous system. System resilience course. It’s so amazing. And just learning about our nervous system. Each one of us has a unique individual nervous system. So appreciating that about our body and learning how to regulate our nervous system and befriend our nervous system and just love the things that we can do is also super helpful when we’re connecting with our body.

Karen Papin: I love that. That’s such a great perspective to have. Like, I’m someone that has experienced a lot of anxiety in my life and, but to the point that I’m actually thankful for the anxiety because it’s brought me closer to God. And so just having gratitude, even for those things that it’s a little harder to have gratitude for in relation to your bodies, that can be such a powerful, powerful thing.

I love that so much, Karen. I’m just curious, how has it brought you closer to God, having anxiety?

Karen Papin: So that, [00:11:00] yeah, I was a really quiet child, like I, and I would hide behind the couch when other people came or hide behind my parents, you know, and, and, and that’s how I was growing up. And I remember the first time so, so giving a talk in church was especially nerve wracking for me.

And I remember the first time I did it, I didn’t actually do it. Like, I could not get the words out. And, that experience. Kind of instilled in me a greater desire to learn how to do that. but at the same time I had been studying the scriptures and I had made a daily habit of reading my scriptures every day and I’ve.

started to understand and read examples of people like Moroni, who’s like, I, I’m not good at writing or Enoch, who also struggled to talk [00:12:00] and Moses. And, and so I read about these experiences of. Heavenly father, helping them to be able to do the things that he had asked of them. And so, when the next time I gave a talk or was asked to speak, I remember just being super anxious, super nervous.

And I got up there to speak and of course, the prayer in my heart, right. Please help me to be able to just say what’s on this paper. Cause I would read this word for word, for my first talk. Right. So I. I remember as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, the words came and I was filled with peace. And it’s like the anxiety, my, my body was still reacting.

Like my hands were still shaking. I’m sure my heart was still pounding. Right. But I felt. At peace, and that helps me to know that God was with me and that he would help me to be able to overcome whatever came my way, he would help [00:13:00] me so that I can do the things that he asked of me. I

LeAnn Austin: love that. Beautiful.

Karen Papin: Thanks for asking. So yeah, I really do have a strong belief that even, even those things that we struggle to really love we can find. Things to love about or we can see the good in them or the lessons that we’ve learned.

LeAnn Austin: Yes. Yes I think definitely that’s it looking for the tender mercies I know I think of leafs like blessings every time I’m picking up the kazillion leafs in my yard I’m like, I used to hate it and now I get excited because I’m like, these are all the blessings and they’re countless and they just keep on coming and I love it.

So it’s kind of fun when we’re looking for that versus, everything’s terrible. What am I going to do? You know, so it does make a difference when we’re really seeking out, seeking the miracles when we’re looking for them. [00:14:00] We will find them. They are everywhere.

Karen Papin: That reminds me of, President Nelson’s talk.

He said, yeah, he says, seek and expect miracles. , I don’t remember what talk that was, but that was one of his quotes. And, so, so I love that because that, that just shows us the truth of that, that statement, seek and expect miracles. If we are seeking them, we will see them. Yes, exactly.

Okay, so mind, body, spirit. So we talked about mind, we talked about body. Um, we’ve kind of already talked about spirit too, before. But what advice do you have for, for people who are struggling to feel connected spiritually?

LeAnn Austin: Yeah, I think it’s so unique to our, to our own, Self and sense of self, just whatever resonates with you to connect with your spirit, like just listening, just pausing, um, prayer, scripture.

 You know, there’s so [00:15:00] many resources out there just to, I was listening to the new youth. Theme for 2025. Look into Christ. Oh my goodness. The video they put on and that I watched it five times. It was just amazing. The song and then, you know, Sister Freeman and I’ll not, yeah, Brother Lund and President Lund, I guess, President and President.

And then, listening to Elder Uchtdorf at the end, it was just, you know, when we look. To Christ. We’ll, we’ll see our, our lives are changed. So that connection with Spirit, I think in looking to Christ is huge.

Karen Papin: That makes sense. I love the story, of Peter. And I think I’ve shared this on the podcast in the past, but I love the story of Peter walking on the water because of that he’s looking unto Christ.

And as long as he keeps that focus on him, he doesn’t notice the waves and the wind and, and his fear is not there, but it’s when he starts noticing the waves and [00:16:00] the wind that he begins to seek. And, and yet he knows. The source. And, and so immediately he cries out, Lord saved me. And, and, you know, he’s saved, but it’s, it’s that focus, that focus on Christ.

Yes, exactly.

Is there anything else about like that mind, body and spirit connection that you would like to talk about?

LeAnn Austin: Well, , I was just, Reading this talk. I just want to share this a little bit. The go also connecting this with divine worth value beyond measure by Joy D. Jones. She gave this talk in October 2017

and I think this. This ties into connection as well. She shared that President Spencer W. Kimball explained in these glorious words. God is your father. He loves you. He and your mother in heaven value you beyond any measure. You are unique. [00:17:00] One of a kind made up of the internal intelligence, which gives you claim upon eternal life.

Let there be no question in your mind about your value as an individual. And I think when we can connect with our mind, body, and spirit, we really know that we are valuable, that we’re unique, and that is so powerful and empowering in whatever we’re doing.

Karen Papin: So how do you kind of find, like, the balance?

Like, do you know what I mean? It’s like, there’s mind, body, spirit. What if we’re too focused over on mind part and not enough on the body and spirit? So,

LeAnn Austin: yeah, and I don’t know that there, I mean, I, I, I think it will vary for sure. We’re not going to spend the exact same amount of time on. One versus the other.

I think it’s going back again to ourselves, to our own personal revelation. What area do we want to focus on [00:18:00] if we want to emphasize one more than the other? Maybe, hey, we’re doing okay, you know, and they’re, it’s not like a time block or whatever. It’s just like, okay, do I feel like I’m connecting with my mind, with my body, with my spirit?

And if there’s an area that I don’t, okay. There’s something I can work on, you know,

Karen Papin: I love that. That’s one thing that I tell my clients a lot is, uh, check in with yourself. Like that’s one of the biggest things that you can do to really improve your life is to just check in with yourself and, and ask yourself, what am I feeling right now?

whether it’s negative or positive, I mean, those are labels for those emotions, but, , whatever it is. And and then ask yourself, why am I feeling this way? Okay. Now, how do I want to feel? And what is the next right step to like, what’s what do I need to be focused on next? Like, what’s really important?

And, and just, and it usually only takes like a minute. But [00:19:00] if you do that daily or even multiple times a day, it’s like, that’s how you like rebalance yourself and recenter and really focus on what’s important

LeAnn Austin: and being willing to fill the quote negative emotions, the sadness, the frustration, the whatever it is, the one more willing to fill that instead of push it away.

That’s also super helpful to like connection, you know, with all the parts of us with whatever is coming up for us is a beautiful thing.

Karen Papin: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for bringing that out because, that is so important because I feel like when we’re not feeling those emotions, it’s like, there’s that disconnect, like you’re actually driving the connection away.

And one of the things that you had said in the questionnaire was, that one of your blocks is disconnection. And I would love to hear kind of more about that and how that plays out with Divine Worth.

LeAnn Austin: Yeah, well, just noticing that, [00:20:00] and I think Probably my biggest disconnect was, you know, for the first, I don’t know, 40 plus years of my life or whatever, was disconnecting with my body, not appreciating it.

For sure, you know, it was fine, but I was always trying to quote, fix it. It always had to be better. It was never good enough. I needed to do this and that and this and that. And I think just noticing, I think that for me when it was. I don’t have to be perfect. I can just be doing my best. I can just be choosing what I want to focus on and really appreciating what I can do versus what I want.

So just recognizing that I think creates that connection, that self love and self appreciation because when we show up for ourselves, it makes it so much easier to show up for everyone else.

Karen Papin: So in your bio, we kind of mentioned this, that you love exploring the daughter in law [00:21:00] and mother in law relationship. How have you seen this mind, body, spirit connection come to play in the, in those relationships?

LeAnn Austin: Oh my goodness. I think that is the daughter in law, mother in law relationship is such an impactful and insightful Relationship for us all to learn from, you know, rather you if you have a daughter in law or mother in law or not, it really is just something that you can be like, okay, wait, how am I connecting with my mind, my body, my spirit?

And how does that relate to my daughter in law or to my mother in law? Because when I’m in tune with me, and I’m listening to me, and I’m showing up as me, instead of tiptoeing around my daughter in law, It’s so much more of a real vulnerable connection. And so that I think is, you know, just being ourselves is really helpful in that relationship.

Karen Papin: . So what is [00:22:00] one small and simple action that those listening can take to embrace what we’ve been talking about with this whole. Mind body connection today,

LeAnn Austin: my very, very favorite quote is you either love someone or you don’t understand them.

So whenever you’re not feeling love for someone that you want to love or even yourself, what are you not understanding? How can you get a little more curious? And that is so helpful just to understand. Their point of view or something, you know, about yourself. So you either love someone or you don’t understand them is to me a great takeaway when you’re not feeling the love for daughter in law, mother in law, whoever it’s like, wait a minute, I’m missing something.

I wonder what I’m missing here. What, what is it? What, what could I, you know, what can help me better understand this?

Karen Papin: Seek first to [00:23:00] understand and then to be understood, but that’s a seven habit Highly Effective People. So that, that is such a good pull and, and takeaway there. So start, start, wow, I really like that.

LeAnn Austin: My favorite, and I wish I knew the author. I do not. I’ve looked up, tried to find the author. I don’t, but I use it all the time. You either love someone or you don’t understand them. And when you can really get curious and understand, man, the love you feel increases so much.

Karen Papin: Yeah, that totally makes sense to me.

So you either love someone, let me, I want to make sure that this sticks in my mind. You either love someone or you don’t understand them.

LeAnn Austin: When you’re not feeling the love and you want to feel the love. I mean, sometimes there’s times we don’t want to feel love, that’s okay. But if you want to feel the love and you’re not, then it’s like, Huh, I wonder what I’m not understanding.

Karen Papin: So what, what would be the first [00:24:00] step in like really, well, I guess that thought, but, but other than there, what would be like that the next step to take to really try to understand someone?

LeAnn Austin: Well, just getting curious and maybe like, huh, if I were in their shoes and they’re doing this, I wonder, I wonder what that’s about.

Sometimes it’s even asking, Hey, help me. I don’t really understand this. Can you help me understand? I don’t get it. So, I mean, as simple as asking can be really beneficial, especially in relationships. Like, I don’t understand what’s going on here. Can you help me? You know?

Karen Papin: Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So we’re getting curious in order to better understand people.

And that is so good. And that’s good with like, in so many different relationships, like any relationship, right? Yeah. So you had a really good divine word scripture. Um, do you have it? I mean, I [00:25:00] can read it too, but.

LeAnn Austin: I’ve got it. Yeah. So second Nephi 2628. Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness.

Behold, I say unto you, nay. But all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden. I love that. We’re all privileged. We’re all the same. There’s no hierarchy of humans. We’re all amazing. We all have divine worth, every single one of us.

Karen Papin: What stood out to me when I read that after you sent the questionnaire, I was a conversation that I had had on the podcast previously with Michaela Esplin, and she talked about a limiting belief that she had was God blesses others more than me.

And so reading that scripture, I was like, that is. Like the [00:26:00] antidote to that limiting belief and just embracing it’s like no he’s blessing us all he’s he’s blessing all of us

all are privileged one like unto another. Yep. None are forbidden.

Karen Papin: All right, so leanne, thank you so much for coming on here. , how can people connect with you?

LeAnn Austin: Ah, well, thank you, Karen. It was such an honor to be here today. I have a Connection Crew membership and one on one coaching hybrid program. Where I help people create more connection and fun with themselves and their crew.

And you can get all that information at LeanneAustin. com. you can also follow me on all the socials, LeanneAustinCoaching. I have a podcast and a book called Love of My Daughter in Law. And then a couple free things, I have the Connection Blueprint. So if you want to connect with you, I give three simple steps.

To transform how you connect with [00:27:00] yourself and others. So you can get that on my website. that’s available too. So, and then if you do have a daughter in law and a mother in law, I do have the one question, this powerful question that will improve your relationship with your daughter in law right now.

So you can get that as well.

Karen Papin: Great LeAnn. Thank you so much for those free resources and, for talking with us today and sharing your insights into that mind, body and spirit connection. My pleasure. Thank you so much, Karen. Thank you.

Speaker: If you have found this podcast to be a light, please share it with others and leave a review. This helps others to be able to find the podcast as well. If you are struggling with feeling fearful, overwhelmed, or struggling to see God’s love for you, for a limited time, I am offering to create a personalized meditation specific to you.

What you’re struggling with, and what you hope for. This meditation will give you strength as you learn to manage the thoughts in your mind in order to have more faith in God’s plan for you. To get your own personalized meditation, go to karenpapin.com/meditation or click on the link in the show notes.

You are of worth, you have a purpose, the Lord loves you, and he believes in you, and only you can make the impact on this world [00:44:00] that you are meant to make. Join me next time as we talk more about divine worth and potential.