Emily McDonald

I don't know if I would have been able to manifest the life that I want without this belief that there is this higher power or energy that exists, that connects all things, that flows through me, that I can channel.

that I can call upon.

For me, that developed probably late undergrad.

So started studying neuroscience and then the power of the mind, the brain, all that, and sort of started meditating and opening myself up to that.

I remember when I actually went into my PhD, when I first moved to Arizona, didn't know a single person

where I had moved to, and I had sticky notes that said trust and surrender all over, like on my door handles, on the mirrors, like everywhere, because I just had no idea what was going to happen.

And it was just such an uncertain and unknown thing that I was stepping into.

But it was that belief in the higher power that I believe in, which, I don't know, I think my personal opinion on that is just like, you can use whatever word that you want to describe it.

I don't think that really matters.

Like what matters is that you do believe in something and and for me that's I know just that honestly the word doesn't even matter it's like God the universe the collective consciousness energy the divine I like divine personally But but yeah, I think that that belief system has really been a huge player in getting where I am today I'm assuming you grew up believing in God, but then you said you were an atheist.

I don't know if I ever really believed in God growing up.

Like I was a little kid.

I went to Catholic school.

When I think back on those times, it really was just doing what I was told.

So I don't know if I ever really had that belief.

It was kind of just practicing the tradition.

It was a thing probably when I was in high school.

Yeah, I probably just didn't think about it at all in middle school.

I moved across the country with my family, stopped going to Catholic school.

So that was, you know, the first thing that happened.