In this episode, Nick speaks with Chris Wasko, a spiritual counselor, psychic medium, and energy healer. They discuss Chris’s journey from working in the corporate world to becoming a spiritual healer, as well as his experiences with seeing spirits and delivering messages from the other side. Chris shares her insights on healing from narcissistic abuse and childhood trauma, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, self-compassion, and taking small steps toward self-mastery, and they dive deep into the topic of generational and regional trauma, particularly in the Northeastern part region of the United States, and how it affects individuals and families.

What to listen for:

“My growth and development came from my own healing journey”

“Managing triggers is crucial in a healing journey; it’s about understanding and working with them”

“Breaking cycles of trauma is necessary for change”

About Chris Wasko

Chris Wasko is a Spiritual Counselor, Psychic Medium, and Energy Healer. She helps people uncover and evaluate individual traumas and challenges. Her specialty is working with old souls and survivors of narcissistic abuse.

Resources:

Interested in starting your own podcast or need help with one you already have? Send Nick an email or schedule a time to discuss your podcast today!

[email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Please subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5-Star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindset-and-self-mastery-show/id1604262089

Watch Clips and highlights: www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1tCM7KTe3hrq_-UAa6GHA

Guest Inquiries right here: [email protected]

Your Friends at “The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show”

Nick McGowan (00:02.425)
Hello and welcome to the Mindset and Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan and today on the show I have Chris Wasco. Chris, how are you doing today?

Chris Wasko (00:13.323)
Great Nick, thanks. How are you doing?

Nick McGowan (00:14.889)
Good, good. So I kind of have to let this out. she and I’ve already talked a little bit. We actually did a podcast episode already and sometimes technology happens, life happens, whatever. and we weren’t able to use it. So here we are. This is kind of a part two, but the reason why I bring that up is I think this would be a really fluid conversation. And we also made a bit of a pivot. So the first conversation started to go a direction it was going, but there’s something we’re going to get into that is kind of a regional, almost generational trauma that I think we can.

really dive into based on the conversation we had before. So nobody else has heard that bit of the episode, Chris. So why don’t you just tell us, what do you do for a living? And what’s one thing most people don’t know about you that’s a little odd or bizarre?

Chris Wasko (00:58.968)
All right, so I am a spiritual counselor, a psychic medium, and predominantly an energy healer. I work with old souls and survivors of narcissistic abuse. And as far as what people might not know about me, I really think it depends on who you ask because I kind of have two different lives in this lifetime because prior to doing this kind of work, I was in business. I worked in the mortgage industry.

and I was climbing the corporate ladder. So if you talk to anyone from that part of my life, they would think the fact that I’m doing this is absolutely insane. And then people now that know me and they hear that I have this business background and I was working in Manhattan and doing all this, it’s very different kind of life. They’re just, I watch people flabbergasted by that. So I guess, like I said, there’s like these two sides of me in the same person.

Nick McGowan (01:48.712)
the

Nick McGowan (01:53.832)
I think it’s so interesting when you see people that you haven’t seen for a few years or 10 years or you haven’t seen since high school or you run into somebody from like grade school, you’re like, my God, that’s what you grew up to look like or whatever, you know? But being able to have those different experiences, have you ever felt the times where you’re like, yeah, you don’t know me as such or you don’t know me in this sort of way?

Chris Wasko (02:14.072)
Yeah, no.

Yeah, it’s a weird one just because it’s, it was such a transformation for me. I think it just, I surprised myself through this process. So to tell people, yeah, by the way, I see dead people now and there’s someone standing right behind you is a weird opener, but it could be a good icebreaker depending on who I’m speaking to.

Nick McGowan (02:40.648)
I’m really glad that you brought that up because that was something you brought up in the first episode that I was hopeful that you’d bring back into this conversation. And that would be a strange thing for some people. Like, it’s almost like telling a joke, knowing that you’re the one that’s going to laugh, you know, and like they’d be appalled or like totally confused. But that’s got to be an interesting thing for you. Like I know we talked a little bit before about how when you first started seeing things, you were confused on what was happening, what it meant, what to do, because

I can theoretically think from that perspective. I’ve actually seen different spirits and I feel different things, but not in that like, I haven’t actually seen an older person from the 1800s over somebody’s shoulder or some situation like that where you go, huh, how the fuck do I tell you right now? What, there’s a guy with a hacksaw on his head standing behind you. It’s okay though. Or, you know, what was that like?

Chris Wasko (03:39.8)
Well, for me, it was more surprising because I would question, am I seriously seeing something right now? Because Hollywood makes it look one way and that’s just not the way it’s done. It’s not how it happens. It’s so incredibly subtle. So I was expecting if that were to happen to me, and of course I was not expecting that to happen to me, but if it were, I expected something very dramatic, you know, to have someone practically walk in as if they were still human.

Nick McGowan (03:46.663)
Sure.

Chris Wasko (04:09.176)
in spirit form, but I would just get this impression in my mind. And like you, I also don’t go back all that far in generations and I tend to see people that they know because usually that person has a message or something they want to say. And I had to learn how to interpret that or at least pass forward the information I was receiving so that the recipient could

kind of understand because a lot of times mediums have no idea what the message really is. We just are being asked to pass on certain bits of information and it’s really, you know, it’s information for you, not for me. It’s not for me to interpret and a lot of times I don’t understand half the things I’m spreading. It’s like, I have this message. Do you understand this? And they say, yes, I do. Okay, great. And if they don’t, I’ll be like, all right, well, hold on to that. And

See if something comes up and oftentimes, I’ll get an email like months later, you’re not gonna believe this and validates it.

Nick McGowan (05:08.822)
Huh, yeah, I could see how that would be strange where you’re like, they’re telling me like purple pancakes and monkeys. I don’t know what this is supposed to mean, but do you get it? They’re like, my God, the purple pancakes. Like sure, whatever. Do you feel used in a positive or a negative way?

Chris Wasko (05:16.472)
Thank you very much. Yep.

Yes. Exactly.

Chris Wasko (05:29.176)
That’s a really good question and one I haven’t gotten before. I think when it comes to spirit, sometimes yes. And I’ve learned over time that spirit likes to pick people they identify with. So I have a rather intense upbringing. It’s made for my personality to be somewhat intense as well. So I will get people in spirit that could be pretty intense and pretty pushy and really want to get the message.

I don’t tend to get more of the shy people. And if I do, that in itself is a message, because I’m like, this person was calmer and quieter, and this is always true to how they were in life. So that was really interesting in the beginning of my journey. So I guess at that point, I probably felt oddly used, like, you’re only coming to me because you think I’ll understand you.

But I really noticed it’s just more of they’re just so happy to be able to get a message across, to let their loved ones know that they’re there and that they saw their graduation, that they were at their wedding, that they know that their baby that was born, that they’re just all involved in that. So as I’ve really been able to appreciate that. And so, no, now not so much. Like I don’t feel used. I feel like I’m a messenger.

and I appreciate that. But I will say in my work, I do tend to do less mediumship because I prefer working with the living over the dead.

Nick McGowan (07:04.389)
Fair enough, is there a reason specifically where you’re like, you know, I’ve had some weird encounters with them? Cause it sounds like it’s a thing that ties into kind of what we talked about before we even hit record, this sort of generational and regional trauma from the Northeast of where we’ve both spent a lot of time. And I wonder if some of that is also like somebody from Jersey came to you and they’re like, geez, somebody can finally fucking listen and they can explain it and they can tell me and like.

Tell them all about the water problems and everything else, you know? So I wonder if some of that is that sort of situation, but then again, I wonder if some of it’s also because you are where you’re at within the process of it all. Sort of like if you started off just even in personal development or personal growth, take it back to this realm for a second, where we’re able to actually say, I get this thing. I start to understand this and I could see what my problems were before.

when those start to come back or different things are triggering you, then you’re able to handle them with more confidence, more strength, et cetera. Have you seen some of that in the progress, not only with the spirits that you talk to, but the way that your whole spiritual being has become because of those experiences?

Chris Wasko (08:20.088)
Well, I feel like for me, so much of my growth and development came from my own healing. The whole reason I could see people in spirit now is because of my healing process. Had I never healed from my own trauma, from my past, from things that were really weighing me down, I don’t feel I ever would have come to this place. So I feel that the connection to helping people heal in the way that I did is really

where I have found so much value because I see so many clients that are healing from narcissistic abuse, from childhood trauma. And I work with, and that’s not just regional. I mean, that’s really all over of people that are, you know, cycle breakers. They’re making changes and they’re feeling very lonely because of it, because a cycle breaker often walks alone and feels isolated. So to just be on that journey with them and to also see the benefits of that.

And also notice the more that people heal, the more they become connected to spirit as well. So they then themselves, I, you know, then start teaching them, okay, here’s how that works because I flew blind in that. Like I had no idea. I started taking classes, but I like to be able to also just tell people, okay, now that you’re starting to have these vivid dreams and here’s what that means for you.

Nick McGowan (09:43.075)
That’s so cool. Especially to be steps ahead, and getting sort of the help that you wish you could have had. You know, there are so many different stories of people that do those things, but then when you really look at it, I’m sure, and not to pull anything away from you at all, but there was certainly help that you had along the way, but you needed to figure things out on your own where now you’re in a spot on the platform where, like you’d said before, people may go, my God, I knew you 15 years ago. How the hell are you doing this now? There’s process that goes with all of that. There’s management that goes with all of it.

You’re still working with people and where they’re at with something that isn’t just a basic binary mechanical thing. Like you lift this thing and you put it over here. Okay, done. Like you’re actually working with them from a deeper internal perspective. But what really, what’s the main focus with the work that you’re doing internally now that you see is going to kind of take your work with your clients to another level.

Chris Wasko (10:36.984)
I think it’s about managing triggers because when you have had a lifetime of trauma and so many of us have, I mean, planet Earth is a very dense planet. It is about trauma. It is about emotion. It is about feeling. And so as much healing as one could possibly do, we often can misinterpret a healing journey as having a destination and being done. I don’t feel that that’s the case. I feel that we are…

forever evolving in that process, at least as humans, and then that shifts beyond as souls. And I think it’s really a matter, like I said just right now, when the triggers do come up, not having the reactions I used to and being able to unpack the trigger. Why is this a trigger? Where is the stemming from? Get to that root cause. Can I release it?

If not, what am I meant to do with that? Because sometimes we’re not meant to release things and that was a slap in the face for me because I wanted to be able to just release everything I possibly could but in some cases those things that do mold us and benefit us even as horrible as some of those situations were they do make us who we are and if we can understand is it something we’re gonna need to release or is it something that we’re meant to work with and then just move forward.

with that knowledge is really a game changer.

Nick McGowan (12:01.923)
Big time, yeah, there’s so many layers to all of it. It’s not like you can look at one thing, like even thinking of regret, if somebody’s like, man, if I did this differently in life, life could have looked different. Possibly, but it fucking didn’t, and that’s fine. Life is gonna work the way that it is going to work, not the way that it should work. And it can be really difficult to be able to actually work through that, I think because of where technology is now.

You see so much of the end results of things or the facade of results specifically on social media. I brought this up to potentially nauseam on the podcast about stepping away from social media, but legitimately being able to step outside of it and not having that punch in the face, even the dopamine hits or anything like that every single day does allow us to actually see things differently. Just like all of this, we get to be able to look and go, my God, I can see that. Let me do more work with that.

Here’s about what we talked about before we hit record. Let’s call out the Northeast, but I also need to call out basically the globe in a sense, because you and I grew up in the Northeast, so it can be easy for us to go, well, the Northeast was part of the, at least equation, maybe not problem, but at least part of the equation in the environment. Other people who grew up in the Midwest or SoCal or wherever you’re from may have these little pockets of things. However, Philly is kind of known

just in general, the Philly area, the Northeast area is just kind of known as energy and assholes in a sense, like just an asshole energy. And I mean that lovingly, you know, like we care, we’re passionate. And if we give a shit, we’re gonna tell you. And if we don’t give a shit, we’re probably gonna tell you, but maybe, maybe not, but you’ll know we don’t give a shit. So there’s something to that there where other parts of the country, and I’ve lived,

basically in every corner of this country. You move down south and it’s different, but they also have their little jabs too, like the bless your heart sort of thing. Like that’s a big old fuck you. Or something along the lines of, I love Jimmy to death, but I fucking hope he gets hit by a train. It’s like, what? Now where did that come from? So every spot has that, but you and I grew up in the Northeast where I do believe there’s a lot of generational trauma.

Chris Wasko (14:08.088)
I guess. Yup.

Nick McGowan (14:25.539)
And we can only speak from this. So if you’re listening to this and you’re another part of the country, do your own research, figure out what sort of generational trauma, where that stuff’s come from. As the Northeast, what I’ve kind of come up with is that I think because it was a lot of ports and a lot of conglomerations of different people that back in the day, it wasn’t just straight racism of black and white. It was also the segregation of the Irish, the Italians, the Polish, black, et cetera.

And there was so much of that that still comes through to us. The generational trauma that has happened to our parents, parents and their parents. It’s probably about as far back as it goes, maybe another generation, but that has all just been handed down and kind of beaten within them. So I have a lot of triggers. I have a lot of problems when it comes to that. Something that I really, really, really work on and try to respond to things instead of react to things.

But in everything that I do process wise, it all ties back to childhood because of the triggers and responses and reactions from the parents that I had and the people that were in the environment. So if we think about the region of that and the generational trauma, what do you feel about just kind of the topic of it?

Chris Wasko (15:46.008)
feel that we might need two episodes for this alone, but I will try to keep that condensed because I love the points you have brought up because especially when we focus on the Northeast and we focus on where we are at, many of our ancestors had immigrated. So my great grandmother came from Ireland and then on the other side of my family, the immigration was from Italy. So when you talk about

Nick McGowan (15:49.027)
Hahaha!

Chris Wasko (16:15.704)
You know the the segregation aspects so my parents grew up in different areas of New York My mom grew up in a very Italian part of Brooklyn and my dad grew up in a very Irish area of the Bronx so imagine the shock in Especially my dad’s family. My mom’s a little bit of a mutt, but my dad that the hundred percent Irish Then was going to marry a woman that was not Irish

his first wife was and that was a complete train wreck. But my mother, obviously not a pinch of Irish in her and this was kind of a big thing. So the not being quite accepted, the fact that she was also a divorcee, she had a child, there were so many things that were not considered okay or normal.

So that in itself, these are layers of trauma. And if you look at just trauma in general, and I brought up about immigration, I think we’ve really oversimplified what that does to a person. When my grandmother, or excuse me, great grandmother came over from Ireland, it’s because of the effects of the potato famine that the family just was not doing well and they really had to leave. So they had to leave a country that was all they had ever known.

She was 18 years old at the time, I believe. And the reason that when they were making them leave, they weren’t like, your whole family is gonna leave. They can only leave two at a time. So it was her and another sister that were traveling to at that time, Boston. And they had to then figure out, well, now where do we go? And how do we contact our family? So talk about all these layers of trauma and what that does. So it implements these.

survival techniques. We just have to figure this out and we have to get through this together. And then you also have all these things when you look at history that your generations had to encounter. So you have immigration, you have World War I, you have the Great Depression, and then eventually my grandparents, they lived through World War II. So, you know, carrying on also with that trauma. So my my grandfather was a boxer.

Chris Wasko (18:36.472)
because as an Irish person, it was very natural to be a fighter, whether that was for professional or personal reasons, but more likely personal, that became a thing. So we would hear these stories of my grandfather, because he was in the Navy and he would be on the boat during World War II. And they were fighting, like they would have like fights that were, they would bet on each other. And my grandfather kept winning. So he actually,

attributes his fighting to his survival of that war. Because of the fact that he kept winning, they were like, you stay on the boat. And they would send off other comrades to go fight and not all of them would come back. So again, like we were looking at fighting as heroism. So my dad, of course, was in constant fights growing up, especially in the Bronx. He very poor area. It was very survival based. So

you know and then my brother then would get into squabbles and think he was a bit of a hero because of it when really this is just recycled trauma and it takes someone to say No, I’m going to walk away from this I’m going to do better because I now know better and I’m going to make a change It doesn’t mean when I say better it’s not to look on previous generations as they were wrong It’s just to recognize we’ve come to a place of change

And we need to adapt to that. And we need to make the shift. It’s on us.

Nick McGowan (20:08.736)
Sure. And there’s context that’s needed too. You know, if like somebody were to look back and say, well he was a fighter, he kicked ass, so I should be able to as well. It’s like, he needed to, and he also really needed to survive in multiple situations. But that trauma, that’s in his cells, that’s then passed along. That starts to come out. I’m sure, I don’t know you all that well, but I’m sure that there are times where you can basically just click like, fuck it, I’ve had enough.

Chris Wasko (20:13.112)
100%.

Nick McGowan (20:38.592)
And I think a lot of that is from that trauma that comes from the past people. I have that too. And I think we can almost kind of smell our own in a sense of like, we can get to a point where it’s like, and I’m fucking done. A lot of that isn’t really necessary. It’s not a actual fight or flight. Like you don’t need to do something to that magnitude in most any situations.

Really, I don’t think there’s more than a handful of times where I’ve been in like, fuck, I could potentially die right now sort of situation and I need to act super fast. Some of that was, you know, my early years of like being a dumb ass and getting into the wrong situations. But that trauma and that reaction isn’t actually needed, but it can happen when we’re triggered by something that had happened to us in the past because of what happened to that person, what happened to that person, what, and it’s just a cycle that keeps going backwards.

Now here you are, you’ve told me that you have four children, I believe, and you have an opportunity to be able to change that for those kids where they can see maybe down the line or maybe their kids will see, like that’s where it broke. That’s where things changed in that moment. I’m really glad that you pointed out being better isn’t that somebody was worse or they were in a, that you’re just better than them. It’s a matter of seeing those things, being aware of that and doing something with it.

Chris Wasko (21:39.16)
Yes.

Nick McGowan (22:04.224)
and changing that from your perspective and moving it forward. And what a beautiful thing. It can be difficult to be able to continuously do that, but what sort of work are you doing now just on your own of the things for your triggers and different situations? Like what sort of deep processing or mentoring or the things that you’re going through to help you with those.

Chris Wasko (22:27.)
Well, a lot of it now I do like to go within. I am a rather analytical person, so I really like to look at all sides and really just see where it’s coming from and see what I need to heal. So in some cases, I may just need a release. I may just go for a run. I may just go for a walk in nature and connect. I may talk to somebody. So it really is seeing where I’m at at the time and, you know,

It’s seeing my own kids too and I’m very honest with them. I, you know, honest to a point where I’m not like dumping all of my past on them, but letting them know, hey, I’m working on this. And if I’ve, I’ve misstepped, I apologize. You know, I didn’t have parents that apologize. I think it’s important for us to show our children we’re human and that we make mistakes and that.

one of the ways to do better and be better is acknowledging one, you’re not perfect and two, you make mistakes. And when you do, you not only apologize, but you apologize sincerely. And what that means is you say you’re sorry and then you show action to reflect that you are sorry.

Nick McGowan (23:44.864)
simple things sometimes make such a huge difference, especially for, if you think of your formative years, going back to what four -ish to seven, eight -ish, something like that, where there are things that happen that you go, okay, that’s how you do that. You lose your mind. you put a hole in the wall. Okay, I guess that makes sense. Note to self, when shit gets rough, you punch a hole in the wall or scream or throw things or what have you, and being able to actually…

see that from your past and be able to tell your kids, hey, I’m working on this and here’s where I’m at. You can only hope that your kids are gonna take note of that or do something different, but they may also, not even may also, they’re gonna live their own lives and be their own adults and experience life how they experience it. The fact that you’re able to look at it like that is huge. I haven’t talked to us about any stories per se or specifics when it comes to narcissism.

Or domestic violence or abuse anything like that, but I know there’s all there’s that in your background And I want to know from the perspective of the healing that you’ve done How people that are going through those things can work through those but give us a little bit of context What have you been through and as much detail or as little details you want but? To go through all that stuff and be able to realize it do the work on it and knowing that somebody else is actively going through things like that the advice you’d give for it

Chris Wasko (25:13.016)
For me, I had a very difficult childhood because I have two parents that I would place on the narcissistic spectrum because I think one thing that is important in narcissism is recognizing it is a spectrum. And my dad was an overt narcissist or is an overt narcissist and my mom is a covert one. So I would have a lot of volatile reactions from my dad and a lot of manipulation from my mom.

that really molds a person. That was my version of normal. So it took a lot of time for me to recognize things that were not okay. Granted, there were certain things like hitting me as hard as I got hit and being punished and instead the things that had been said to me were probably not okay. I would have at that time looked at myself and blamed myself and how can I do better and how can I avoid this?

from happening again. And even that in itself is self -blame, just trying to avoid, trying to be perfect so that you don’t get hurt again, literally, physically, figuratively. It’s such a mess in that regard. So really for me, the best and most pivotal decision I made on my journey was cutting off my parents. And it took me a very long time to do that. I have now been cut off from them for a little over seven years. And my only regret is not doing it sooner because in that time I have done so much healing, so much growth. It is why I ultimately opened up to spirit and it is why my life changed for the better. And I have this, I’m at this place of peace, which is amazing. And when it comes to working with others in this regard,

I believe every path is very individual. So for me, it was incredibly helpful to cut off my parents, but that is not destined to be everybody’s path. It’s not even something I recommend to everybody because that in itself could be traumatic. That was not easy at all. I mean, to anyone that goes no contact, that’s a strong person. And that’s someone that has absolutely had enough. They are, as you put it, so fucking done and they’re not doing it anymore. And they don’t know what that’s going to look like.

Chris Wasko (27:35.896)
but they just know it’s time for change. So I really like to help people recognize patterns, recognize those cycles, recognize where they are in them, and also most importantly recognize if they’re gonna make change, they have to be the ones to change. We can’t change others, we can only change ourselves. And also, whenever somebody deals with trauma or abuse, we all come to places of being the victim.

Nick McGowan (27:53.307)
Mm -hmm.

Chris Wasko (28:05.432)
And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. So I do not want anyone that’s ever felt like a victim or feeling victimized to feel that they can’t be that. But I feel it is important to move past that because if you live your life as a victim, you’re going to remain very unhappy. But if you recognize that, okay, I was a victim of this, but now I’m a survivor. And that is where you come into your place of power. And I really love to help people get to that place.

Nick McGowan (28:35.002)
Yeah, it’s a, there’s steps to it all. You know, being able to understand what’s right for you may not be right for somebody else. And that’s really beautiful that you pointed that out because I want people to understand the people that listen to this that go through these things. Like don’t just take our advice. Don’t take anything we say and just run with it. Feel through it, pray about it, do whatever you need to do to make sure that it’s a right situation for you because there are various levels to that.

And there may be things where you need to kind of step back. Even with our own examples, you completely cut your parents off. I sort of cut off my mom in a sense, but just stepped back from continuing a relationship as much because of seeing things and being aware of what actually happened and calling it for what it was. That may change, but like you said, it takes that person to change.

So for the people that are listening that are like, well, is this permission to cut so and so off? Potentially, but you have to decide that and really understanding why would you do such a thing? What actually happened? I believe things happened for us, even though they may seem like they happened to us. So we get to decide and be responsible about what we want to do. And there’s help that’s out there, just like with you being able to talk with people and work with people through that, having the experiences of those things, but that’s

That’s a tough situation to be in and good on you for being able to actually do that and stick to that and being a different parent and knowing that you’re affecting other people, like your kids aren’t gonna have a relationship with their grandparents. And to some people they would say, well, you should do that because the system fucking tells us you should, but that’s not true. And you get to decide that. And I feel like you’ll probably be that.

Chris Wasko (30:23.64)
Yes.

Nick McGowan (30:29.017)
parent if not already and I don’t mean this in any sort of way but having your kids as they grow up to be able to say you you do you whatever you feel is right for you you go explore and figure that out because we’re all humans trying to figure life out but I’m glad that you’re able to see where the trauma came from and what that all looked like it can be difficult for people to really get to that without help so doing the inner work is huge but also doing process work like acupressure

different sessions that can really get to the cellular level is also needed. So it sounds like you’re doing a mixture of all of that, but your daily routine, is there something that you do on the daily to kind of keep you locked in not only with spirit, but with your intuition?

Chris Wasko (31:15.64)
Yes, so I always try to do something physical. I grew up extremely athletic. I wouldn’t say I’m at that same level of intensity, but I always like to do something where I’m connecting to my own body because I connect to my breath as well. And when we are really connected to our breath, our true breath, because oftentimes people don’t realize when they have struggled with any types of trauma, they struggle to breathe.

especially when it comes to taking a deep breath. And when we are able to truly breathe and connect to that, it puts us in the present moment and detaches us from all the bullshit we don’t need. So I really like to get to that place. So however I do that, it tends to be yoga, going for a run, going for a walk, just something where it’s about me and my…

physical body and my breathing and how I just get to that place. Sometimes I will meditate. If I’m doing any kind of session with a client, I always meditate because it helps me connect to them and anyone in spirit more if that’s the kind of session it is. But I feel just those daily things are so incredibly helpful just getting myself centered.

Nick McGowan (32:34.519)
Yeah. What a cool thing. Some people need that. Like you were saying to get your body moving, do something that connects with your breath. Other people need to be really silent, really still. And again, it’s all of us to be able to figure out what works. So any advice that we give or any advice, anybody hears, we should be able to take that in and go, how does this feel with me? What do I want to do with it? And kind of try it on sometimes. I’ve brought up journaling at different episodes because there were a few years that I journaled. My handwriting is atrocious.

Every teacher I ever had could tell you that. And at one point I could just type, I was like, beautiful, get out of my way. But being able to journal, I realized I got to a point where it was just mechanical. I was just doing the thing just to do the thing, because I told myself I would do the thing and I didn’t want to quit. And being able to shift it into something else, it takes us being able to spend the time to be able to do that. I’m glad you figured out this is what works for you and also being able to meditate and connect with the spirit so that you can connect with people for your clients.

Chris Wasko (33:10.04)
haha

Nick McGowan (33:33.56)
That right there is a telltale sign that you know what you’re doing, especially with the work that you do. I’ve talked to other people, not people specifically on the podcast, but people that you can tell are still on that journey to figuring out what’s right. And then I’ve thought like, how do you go into that with anything on your mind where your heart should be connected with what’s going on? So that’s cool that you’re doing that. What’s that piece of advice you’d give to somebody that’s on their path towards self -mastery?

Chris Wasko (34:03.448)
I think it is about the baby steps and not putting anything on fast forward. Cause especially if you are on a healing journey and to try to get to this place of self mastery, I think many of us, and especially since we’ve talked so much about our, you know, the Northeast, we are doers and we are creators and we like to do things yesterday and be done and then climb the next mountain. And I think it is really about,

not rushing, you know, taking the little steps, taking the necessary steps to mastery. Because if you try to push something too fast, you might miss an important step along the way.

Nick McGowan (34:46.135)
Yeah. And sometimes you won’t notice that until you have passed that step. Sometimes I think about life as like a video game. Remember the original Zelda game?

Chris Wasko (34:52.152)
Exactly.

Chris Wasko (34:57.624)
Yes, I do.

Nick McGowan (34:58.679)
God, I remember getting through some level, I forget what level it was, but it’s like you get to a door you can’t go through because you need a key and you’re like, motherfucker, I gotta go back and find this key. And that, I think that was several levels or maybe I was just like, just get through it. But that’s, that always stands out to me is what you’re saying where it’s like, you have to work through it and life will work out the way that it works out. There’s no should to any of this, no matter how old, how young, whatever it is, it’s just working it that way.

Chris Wasko (35:06.776)
Yes.

Nick McGowan (35:25.91)
Look, it’s been an absolute pleasure to have you on today. I appreciate your time. Before I let you go, where can people find you and where can they connect?

Chris Wasko (35:34.776)
I can be found on my website at chriswasco .com and I’m on social media, predominantly Instagram and Facebook at chriswascomedia.

Nick McGowan (35:44.534)
Awesome. Again, thank you so much for being on today.

Chris Wasko (35:47.992)
Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.