#147 Discovering Power in What Makes You Different

Transcript of Interview

Find Your Voice, Change Your Life Podcast

Podcast Host: Dr. Doreen Downing

Free Guide to Fearless Speaking: Doreen7steps.com

Episode # 147 Kathryn Regganie

“Discovering Power in What Makes You Different”

(00:00) Doreen Downing: Hi, this is Dr. Doreen Downing, host of the Find Your Voice, Change Your Life podcast. I get to interview Kathryn Regganie today and she’s a new friend of mine. I was just on her podcast yesterday, so what we’re doing is actually just carrying on a conversation about how to become the more that we are.

What we come into this world with is yet developed. We come in with something that is so pure. We either get nurtured into that potential, or it gets blocked. That’s what finding your voice is about, is learning, “Well, what is my purpose? What is my strength? Who am I truly?” So, I’m going to explore questions like that today with Kathryn.

Hi, Kathryn. 

(00:53) Kathryn Regganie: Hi, Doreen. How are you today? 

(00:56) Doreen Downing: Oh, it’s a good morning here. I feel bright and I remember meeting you yesterday and feeling like, “What a smile.” I know people talk about that with me, so I think we’re sisters in some way with our bright spirits.

(01:10) Kathryn Regganie: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me here today. I’m so excited about our conversation. 

(01:16) Doreen Downing: Good. I’m going to read the bio you sent so people get a sense of what you’ve done already and what you’re doing now. Kathryn was a corporate professional for over 15 years. During that time, she worked for many large companies serving as a liaison between the techie innovators and the not-so-techie, sales-forward folks. 

She has been bridging the worlds of meaning and analytics for a long time. After she left her corporate career and started understanding the world of energy healing, she realized the importance of being an embodied leader because women who are connected with themselves lead from compassion.

Ooh, I love that word. Compassion. Compassion creates cohesiveness in their environment. Now, she’s created a business that guides professionally-minded women into deeper resilience and leadership. They become confident enough to slow down, ground their deepest power, and leverage their feminine qualities.

This is wonderful. I’m so glad I got to read it again out loud because it makes me get to know you better, but also, like I said, I felt like our smiles are bright together. But the fact that you and I believe in the deeper nature, that’s, oh, I’m already getting little chills in my body just talking to somebody who understands that and can communicate it to our audience. 

(02:54) Kathryn Regganie: Yes, I love that. I love that. 

(02:57) Doreen Downing: When you heard that bio, I’m just curious about what came up for you right away. 

(03:04) Kathryn Regganie: It’s really interesting because flashbacks come through of where I started in life and all of the experiences that I need to have in order to get me to where I am today and having as much experience on this planet as I do, it seems like a long journey. Yet, very quick at the same time. 

(03:30) Doreen Downing: Yes, like a snap.

(03:31) Kathryn Regganie: Exactly. Yes. 

(03:34) Doreen Downing: Speaking of snaps, let’s do a snapshot of early life because we do have our potential that’s ready to start dancing around in the world, and sometimes it doesn’t get that chance. Tell us a little bit about you and how you maybe had a voice or didn’t have one early in your family.

(03:57) Kathryn Regganie: As you were talking about that earlier, I was thinking—and I think this really fits into it—I had a really interesting dichotomy of people who didn’t understand me and how I learned, because I have learning differences, so I didn’t fit into the typical way people are taught nowadays. 

And then my family at home, they were very supportive. Although they didn’t necessarily understand, they were really good about reminding me that I could do anything I wanted, it didn’t matter what anybody else thought. So, it was really interesting. The struggle that I had with being different, learning different, having learning disabilities, if you will, and really struggling to have people respect who I was, it was really, really hard. 

People didn’t have the confidence in me and thank God my parents did. I remember just being so frustrated one day and my dad, he lifted his eyebrow and you knew he was serious when he did that and he says, “You are the most determined person that I know. You can either choose to do it or not to, listen to them or ‘No, you can do it.’ It’s up to you. Only you can make that decision.” 

(05:28) Doreen Downing: Oh, what a voice to hear early on in life. 

(05:35) Kathryn Regganie: I’m so thankful for my parents in that perspective. Even though it was a hard road, it was hard to choose, but I chose. They didn’t have confidence I would graduate from high school. They said, “Come on, really. You know college isn’t for everybody.” 

“Oh, well, I’ll show them.” And then even moving up into the job world, the corporate world, it wasn’t always easy for me. I didn’t see things the way other people saw things. So, learning how to stand in your own power, it’s not easy. When you have that confidence, wherever that came from to do so, it can really move you along. 

(06:24) Doreen Downing: Yes, you said wherever that came from. Well, we know your dad was one of those confidence boosters. 

(06:30) Kathryn Regganie: Right. 

(06:31) Doreen Downing: And was able to see you in some way and give you that choice or to somehow teach you that you had a choice. It was a phrase you used. Of course, we hear about learning disabilities and we are now neurodivergent, but I really liked that phrase because it seems so neutral when you said, “learning differences”. There was no judgment. It was just like the truth. 

If our educational system could see, I mean, I guess they do. We have visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners, something like that, but to have brains that are not fitting into the traditional educational system feels like we need to really value that way more. 

(07:24) Kathryn Regganie: Yes, and it’s so true. It’s really interesting because one of my magic powers, superpowers, is that I’m dyslexic. When I’m tired, it gets worse, but it gives me the opportunity to see the world differently from a different perspective, and it comes out in the strangest ways. My husband and I were looking at glue the other day, and it said “construction glue” or something. Oh, screws, construction screws. I thought it said, “Carpet screws”. Those are the ways that it comes out. 

Then when he and I are trying to solve something around the house, how do we go about this? Sometimes I’ll just say, “Well, just turn it a little bit this way,” and he’s like, “I would have never thought about it.” So now, I don’t really see my dyslexia as a problem. It’s just that I see things differently. 

(08:27) Doreen Downing: I’m so glad I get to hear it in this way today and that the listeners are able to go, “Oh, yes.” The sense of valuing yourself for who you truly are and the way that you are and how you perceive, it’s a gift no matter who calls it whatever else out there in the world. Thank you. Yes, and the challenges. 

So, when we come back to voice and finding—I know you said—the power inside, I heard what your father said, but how did you come to know that your voice, during those earlier years, had value? 

(09:07) Kathryn Regganie: Well, it was hard. I’m not sure I ever knew that it had value to anybody else, but I knew it had value to me. If I didn’t believe in myself, clearly nobody else was going to, and if I allowed that to lead my life, I could have decided that I wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t going to be good enough. I’ll just live off the government because who the hell am I anyway?

Excuse my language. But I decided, “Wait a minute. This is my choice. This is my life. And this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to do it. I’m going to see where it gets me and I might as well try. So, let’s do it.” 

(10:02) Doreen Downing: Something else that occurs to me, you use the word determined, determination. That seems to be part of your spirit, the way that you move through life. I would think that having learning differences in this society helps build that kind of muscle of “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” That seems to be what I’m reading about you today. 

(10:29) Kathryn Regganie: Yes, that’s so true because sometimes when I have those little hiccups where I’m turning things around, people are like, “Oh, are you dyslexic?” “Yes,” and then they look at me like I have cancer. “So sorry. Are you going to survive?” “Yes. It’s not like a death sentence. It’s not like it’s a big deal. I can survive with this.” 

It just gives me a different perspective. And with that, when people really start to point that out, it is a challenge to sort of—they’ve taken a piece of you and it’s like, “Okay, now I have to stand up again. It’s not a bad thing.” They think it is, but it’s not. 

(11:12) Doreen Downing: That sounds like a voice. 

(11:14) Kathryn Regganie: Yes. So, it’s okay to stand up for myself. It’s okay to admit, “Yes, sometimes this really sucks, and you got to look at it, and I screwed up and that’s okay. I didn’t kill anybody. It’s just a number or it’s just a word.” 

(11:33) Doreen Downing: Well, thank you. It’s something to have you unravel a little bit deeper, this sense of the challenges of having the way that you are and who you are, but also because it’s about voice. Being able to say, this is my truth. Yes, it’s a challenge here and there, but guess what? It’s also fun, is what I’m hearing. It’s also fantastic to be able to have this skill or this magical power. 

(12:04) Kathryn Regganie: Yes. I agree. I agree. 

(12:07) Doreen Downing: Well, let’s move on then to, I guess, the corporate world. You had to find your way through that. I know I want to get to what you’re doing nowadays, but I actually need to take a break, so we’ll be right back because I like to give an opportunity for people to hear more about what’s possible with my programs. 

So, let’s take a quick break and be right back. We’ll get to hear more about how you ventured through life with your magic wand, your gifts.

Hi, we’re back with Kathryn Regganie and I’m having a lot of fun unraveling who she has been in her life and the challenges that she’s specifically come up against, but when we started, one of her messages is that challenges become the opportunity to be more of who you can be. Thank you. So, let’s continue the journey of your life. 

(13:12) Kathryn Regganie: Well then. It was really interesting because I was in corporate America for over 15 years and I started, of course, when I was quite young, and I had never been in a corporate environment before. I was working through college, so that took me a while, and I’m coming from something that’s not corporate.

I was actually working at a horse farm because I love animals. So, stepping into the corporate world was intimidating in and of itself. Fortunately, the person who encouraged me to take the job was there and part of my team. She was somebody who really helped encourage my career potential.

I always knew that I could speak with people. I was an intelligent person. So, I moved up in the corporate field or the corporate environment pretty easily. I got along with people. I could really see how things work together. I kept getting promoted. I kept changing positions that fit me a little bit better.

It was really interesting because even though I felt like I was a little quieter than a lot of people, especially at first, I started speaking up a little bit more, and so my voice was heard even more. However, when I was on teams that had that male-dominated, adrenaline-fueled perspective, I would shut down more, because it was much more directive, and much more I guess I would say like product-oriented, or there were some expectations that weren’t clearly set out. 

So, I had a lot more difficult time in those sorts of environments and it was odd for me. In a lot of ways, it really helped me grow, and in a lot of ways, it really helped challenge me.

(15:18) Doreen Downing: And it also did something else. 

(15:21) Kathryn Regganie: It did something. It helped me grow. 

(15:23) Doreen Downing: What I’ve heard from people who’ve been in corporate is that there are ways in which you aren’t really heard. That’s what I was wondering because obviously at some point you left corporate, so it seems like something must happen. 

(15:39) Kathryn Regganie: Oh yes, I was going to get to that. It helped me be heard because I used to create large-scale meetings and it was fun to facilitate things and take charge of the meeting and make sure everybody was heard.

At the same time, towards the end of my career in corporate America, it was really interesting because it turned into—this last bit was very much a male-dominated perspective. Looking back at it now, I feel bad for how it all ended up because I had two specific bosses and it was an interesting situation where they had taken my voice completely away from me in ways that were very shocking.

That whole communication thing that you learn about in corporate America and whatnot, when there’s lack of communication, there’s lack of trust, there’s lack of everything, and that’s what happened at the end. The communication wasn’t there. There was just a lot of stuff and I just decided, “No, thank you. I’m not going to be treated this way and I’m going to take my gifts and put them somewhere else.”

It taught me again that it’s not okay to be dismissed the way that it was happening and that I was strong enough to go out on my own.

(17:03) Doreen Downing: Oh, wow. That, to me, feels like it’s a repeat of you being in an environment where people aren’t really supporting you and have their own opinions, and yet you’re listening to yourself and saying, “I know it’s true for me.”

That means I have to do something else. So, this something else, know the why because you just told me that, but I know it’s called energy work. What drew you to that? 

(17:31) Kathryn Regganie: As I was going through all of this transition from corporate to—well, while I was still in corporate, of course, I trusted myself enough to step out of it, but when I was still in corporate, there was a moment where I was like, “Okay, I don’t like myself. I don’t like the skin I’m in. I have to change something because this is not who I am. This is not who I am. 

So, I found energy work. That really helped me understand that we live in energy every day. Everything is energy. Our thoughts, our words, our bodies. The communication that we have, everything is energy. Learning how to use that energy as sort of a navigation beacon, if you will, this body is a navigation device, and I really trust my soul. It was like a soul-level care regimen, more than going and getting your nails done, more than getting the massage. 

It was really a deep dive into who is this person, who is Kathryn Regganie, and where is her real power? Once I really started to understand things like that, my whole world shifted. I started to like myself again. I started to say, “Hey, you know what, I really am bigger than selling sewage pumps, which is what I ended up doing. 

My last corporate job was selling pumps. I’m like, “Okay, what the heck is that all about?” But then, once I really started to understand that, and then taking my experiences from corporate, I’m like, “There really needs to be a shift here.” Because it doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t have to be everybody against each other. It doesn’t have to be that backstabbing. What if we can learn to really calm ourselves, ground into who we are, and really leverage that power we have within. 

(19:43) Doreen Downing: When you say, “Ground yourself,” I felt myself, my whole body that even just saying that phrase, I think, is a way to bring ourselves back to ourselves. So, thank you for this story that you’re telling of your life and finding something that is much more nourishing than getting our nails done. 

Yes, the inner work of this energy that’s within us. I know we could call it power, but it’s a different kind of sense of what most people think about power to me. I don’t know how to describe that. I think. You know what I’m saying, right? So, go ahead. 

(20:29) Kathryn Regganie: It’s not an external power. It’s not like I have power over you, Dr. Doreen. I have power over myself and that’s really the only power I have. When I can trust that power and leverage that power that is within me, I can encourage you, I can invite you, I can lead by example, but there is nothing—I don’t have power over you. I have power over me and that’s all that’s needed. 

(21:04) Doreen Downing: All right. The power to Be. How do we increase that because I know you do work with this. We’re only beginning to come to terms with there’s more within us that needs to be expressed, needs to be heard first, acknowledged, recognized, embraced, all these other kinds of words, before we even express it or communicate it or live it out into the world. I think I’m answering my own question right now as I’m thinking about this question. Well, so how do we find it, come in contact with it, and develop it, our energy? 

(21:44) Kathryn Regganie: It’s awareness. Like I had mentioned before, there was a point in time where I became aware that I was not okay. My nervous system was a wreck. I couldn’t be in my skin. I can’t describe it. It was just like “ick”. I didn’t like it. That was the first step.

I didn’t like myself. Not suicidal, not like myself, but I just knew this was not okay to move forward in life being miserable. So, I started to find ways. Become aware of how you’re feeling. Become aware of your emotions. Learn how to calm yourself down. Sometimes it is just taking a nice deep breath, inhale and then a longer exhale.

That brings your nervous system down. That starts to oxygenate your brain, so that you can really start to think a little bit more about what sort of response you may have to give somebody else, what sort of response you want from yourself and then make your choices. 

(22:53) Doreen Downing: That’s to be the model you’re teaching today. Tell us about your programs. What kind of work do you do? What do you have coming up? 

(23:03) Kathryn Regganie: Oh. My programs can go pretty deep, but what I like to focus on is I’ve got a Dragon Woman quiz, which is a really great way to start with me. Dragonwomanquiz.com. That’s really just a fun way that I’ve created to really look at your Dragon Woman power and how you can start to leverage that moving forward. That’s really the first step. 

Then I talk and work with women individually on how to really calm down, bring down that nervous system, because really that’s the first step. If you’re not calm, you can’t really do any of the other steps. Once we really get that calm perspective from you and what that looks like for you, then we can really get into the whole grounding piece. 

Yes, it can be as simple as telling yourself you’re grounding into your meat suit, but it’s different for everybody. So, learning your specific way, it’s really important because my way is a little bit different than your way. We shift and change, and as we shift and change our methods of grounding shift and change. 

And then once we can really get that calmness and ground into ourselves, then we can really start to let our leadership shine. Where do you want to go with it? Do you want to stay in corporate America and really get those promotions and really make changes that you want to make? Or do you want to do something else? Do you want to create something for yourself? How are we going to go about and do that?

Those are some directions that we can go, but it really starts with calming yourself, getting yourself grounded, so that you can really make your leadership shine 

(24:51) Doreen Downing: Beautiful. I’m glad you explained it. I also heard the word clarity. What is also important, not only awareness, but awareness of what gives you clarity about what it is you want to create. A lot of C’s in there. Clarity, creation. 

We’re coming to an end and I’d like to give you an opportunity to, in some way, whatever kind of message you want to leave us with, let’s see what comes through this moment.

(25:24) Kathryn Regganie: All right. Thank you so much, Doreen. I am just really encouraging all of the listeners to take a moment and really just become aware of where you are right now. How are you feeling? What are some steps that you can take to let your own voice be heard? How can you stand up for yourself?

And if you feel drawn to do so, take the Dragon Woman quiz. It’s just a quick two-minute fun quiz to find out what your Dragon Woman power is. 

(25:56) Doreen Downing: Wonderful. I would love to do a whole other episode on this phrase that you brought in and this quiz, this whole idea of the Dragon Woman. Let me just, for a second here, feel that inside of me because it’s a feeling, it’s a sensation, not a thought, right? It’s an actual kind of thing. 

(26:17) Kathryn Regganie: Yes. 

(26:17) Doreen Downing: One of your words is “embodied,” that you feel inside of yourself connected to a power. And for me, that means the power then gets expressed through voice.

(26:30) Kathryn Regganie: Yes. 

(26:31) Doreen Downing: I like that “Yes” you just did. Yes. Full breath of Yes. That’s breath and “Yes” together. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much, Kathryn. It’s been fun getting to know you. 

(26:47) Kathryn Regganie: Yes. Thank you so much, Dr. Doreen.