Donna Murray from Body and Soul Healing, is a Healer, Intuitive and Mentor. Donna shares her insights on spirituality and the ultimate pursuit of wholeness and true happiness.
How has your life journey impacted the person you are today?
My life journey has impacted every single aspect of the person I am today. I have had many highs and lows throughout my life, and I have used them for self-discovery, healing, growth, and transformation.
I have experienced many stressful situations like childhood trauma, domestic violence, single parenting, major health problems, financial issues – you name it! These challenges have been the greatest catalysts for my personal and spiritual growth and evolution.
I found that as I worked through these areas – there was a beautiful silver-lining! I remembered my soul’s history as a healer in other lifetimes and was able to tap into the heart and soul of who I really am – who I was born to be.
My life journey has provided a first-hand education and understanding of healing and transformation from the inside out that I simply would not have otherwise.
Now, as a healer, intuitive and mentor for more than 32 years – my work with others is a direct result of my personal life experience and my soul’s journey over many lifetimes.
How much of a role does spirituality play in your life, and as an integral part of healing for others?
It plays a huge role! I am always in touch with my spiritual nature, and I feel the presence of the Divine light and love of the spiritual world around me all the time. Because I’m a deeply empathic and intuitive person, I’m never really separate from it. Spirit is the guiding force of my life.
When I am working with others my spiritual connection adds an important dimension because when someone is going through major challenges and emotional stress – it can be extremely hard to understand the true causes and know the right steps to take that will resolve it.
It is like trying to see your way through a thick fog – you just cannot see the light. People may find themselves feeling overwhelmed, stuck, and lost because they cannot understand why something is happening and they do not know what they need to do to get past it.
At the spiritual level – everything makes sense! There is always a Higher purpose to everything we go through and if we can understand it while we are working through something – it becomes a meaningful process rather than a feeling of having your life interrupted or derailed by something or someone.
Every human being has a built-in plan for their personal (human) growth and spiritual (soul) transformation. When we can understand and see into the deeper parts of our plan directly – it is like having all the pieces of our puzzle laid out clearly! Then we become empowered, and the path to healing and transformation becomes straightforward.
My spiritual abilities as an intuitive allow me to tune into the wisdom within each person – to those places of body, mind, emotions, and spirit that hold the answers they are seeking, that reveal the steps needed for resolution, and discover the Higher purpose for the problems and challenges they are facing and trying to move through.
As a healer I use that information to facilitate inner healing and transformation on all the appropriate levels and then I mentor my clients as they learn new ways to create lasting positive changes in their health, relationships, minds, emotions, and spirituality.
I also teach classes so people can learn how to tap into their own inner wisdom, guidance, and spiritual nature because this is the key to moving through life with more ease and making sure they are staying on track with the spiritual goals they planned on before they were born.
What is the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’?
My definition of the Dark Night of the Soul is when multiple areas of your life are collapsing and falling apart. Everything feels stressful and hard! This is a time when someone would be experiencing a major pile up of problems.
For example, in a normal situation you might have ONE challenge – maybe a health problem, relationship concerns, emotional trauma, mental health issue, financial stress, or something like that.
In the Dark Night of the Soul – you might be going through most or ALL of them at the same time.
It is overwhelming because you feel like everything is going wrong – and nothing you do seems to make a difference. You feel stuck in the darkness, and you cannot see your way through to the light at the end of the tunnel.
The emotional and mental weight of feeling the collapse of everything is difficult and it produces profound fear, anxiety, and loneliness. There can be a loss of faith and trust in life, in others and in the “Universe.” People often express that they feel unloved, unsupported, and alone and they do not understand why everything seems to be falling apart. They feel like they have hit rock bottom.
Having experienced this in my own life – I know just how hard this is!
The Dark Night of the Soul can be an extraordinary opportunity to heal, grow, and evolve in leaps and bounds – but it is not easy. This is an experience that pushes you to change in ways that are deep, powerful, and often painful.
It will force you to go within and seek the truth about who you really are, what your life is about, and why you are here. It provides a shift in many areas that you might not have realized were out of balance, off-course, or out of harmony with your soul’s Divine plan.
If you face these challenges with a genuine desire to understand yourself and your true purpose, then this time becomes very worthwhile, and the benefits are extraordinary and far reaching!
But to get there – you will have to focus on the deeper work of inner transformation so you can get the big rewards that are built-in to this experience!
Do you believe everything happens for a reason, and if so, can you quantify?
This can be a tricky question!
Things happen for a variety of reasons – for us to change direction, pause and reflect, to expand our perceptions, for karmic reasons, to help us do better, to love, accept and take care of ourselves, to connect with our soul expression, to learn something new, to help us make better choices in our behaviors, words, and actions, etc.
There are probably as many reasons as there are people. Everyone is on their own personal journey and their reasons will vary depending on the goals they set for themselves.
I like to think about it in a different way though. I believe that everything is purposeful, and our experiences – especially the challenging ones – provide a unique opportunity for us to heal, learn, love, grow and evolve, and to truly know who we really are as souls.
My personal philosophy is that when life brings unexpected loss, hardships, and personal challenges, use those problems to bring about a greater good. In my life, I know that something good has come out of every single challenge I have ever faced – because I chose to use those times to dig deep and further my spiritual and personal growth.
When you approach life this way – it leads to an empowered and awakened life. It puts you in the driver’s seat so you can go in the direction you choose rather than feeling controlled by people or circumstances.
In today’s world, people are going through a lot of things that are hard to understand. Through the healing process following a traumatic, painful experience or multiple losses and devastating personal issues – when we use them to lead us in a new direction or we grow from them – we can decide that it happened for a specific reason that means something to us AND we can also say that through our choices, actions and personal process it became highly purposeful in our lives.
I need to also add that for some people who are going through a difficult challenge – it may feel like there’s NO good reason – in fact, it is un-reason-able to them. And while on a spiritual level there is always opportunity and purpose within our challenges, as a human being stuck in the thick of a tough time or painful experience – we may not be able to see or understand that. And that’s OK!
People may need to feel their way through something before they can even begin to understand the reason or purpose. And then they may never know while they are here – not because they cannot know but they are not supposed to know.
They may have to wait until they have left the physical world and are doing their life review in communication with our Guides and Spiritual Team – before they understand the true meaning within their challenges.
Most difficulties can have a silver lining – and become a gift and a blessing if we can receive the cue, the pause or the direct message and challenge. But it really depends on what you choose to do with it.
Personally, I recently experienced something very difficult that illustrates this perfectly.
Last year (2021), three of my beloved pets died in less than 5 months. My ferret Waldo in April, my chihuahua Bailey in May and my cat Max in August.
In hindsight, I can look back on it now and know that I did make something good come out of it but then – no way! In my mind there was simply no good reason I would go through so many losses in such a short amount of time.
Waldo, my ferret, was elderly and had cancer so when he died it made sense. Because I am also a medium, I was able to help him cross over. He had lived a very long and good life and while it was sad – it was his time to go.
But – 3 weeks later my 3-year-old chihuahua Bailey died suddenly and all I could do was love her through it because nothing I did seemed to influence her health. And then I had to help her cross over, too.
A few months later to my disbelief – my cat Max had an undiagnosed kidney problem that ended his life in 2 days, he was 9 years old.
To say I was devastated – is an understatement! I am sure anyone who has loved and lost a beloved pet can relate to just how awful this is.
As a healer I know that anything is possible, and I did everything in my power to help them. But nothing changed the inevitable outcome – they were leaving the physical world, and I felt completely at a loss for why it was happening and helpless to do anything about it.
When Bailey, my 3-year-old chihuahua showed signs of feeling bad, I asked (begged, really) for my healing team and guides to help her. In my work with my clients’ and their pets, I have helped many in these situations get better, so I felt a level of confidence in my ability to help her get better.
Over the course of a couple of weeks her liver got worse and then it shut down. I could not believe it! She was born with a liver problem, and I was doing every support and treatment that was available. She was doing great and then her health quickly deteriorated. I reluctantly had to let her go.
Now looking back, I know that the loss of Waldo (her good friend and brother) knocked her into such a state of grief that her health suffered, and she could not recover.
As for me? I had asked for a miracle, and it did not happen. I was completely blindsided, devastated and my heart was shattered.
About a month after Max died, I fell and broke my right arm and seriously sprained my wrist. It was painful, and because I am right-handed, it stopped me from doing most things.
All I could really do was sit and process everything. I think when there is a spiritual need for us to heal, grow and understand something – life can stop us from moving forward – and it totally stopped me.
I started to realize that the same old feelings from my childhood of feeling unloved and unsupported had come flooding back. But this time, I felt unsupported and unloved by Spirit.
Why didn’t they help me? Why didn’t they help Bailey? How could they let this happen?
When I had this concentrated amount of time to sit, to go within and reflect, I ended up taking a deep dive into some dark remnants of old pain and abandonment that I honestly thought that I had previously worked through. I had no idea that something deep under the surface was still holding that painful belief of being unloved and unsupported in place.
Somewhere in that darkness – I remembered what really happened. My loved ones on the other side, along with my Guides were there with me before, during and after every one of those losses. In fact, the week before the first loss, I was sitting in my living room having a cup of coffee and I saw them there. I was a little startled and I asked them why are you here?
The response was simply to support me. Support me how, I asked? But they would not tell me anything. Quietly and lovingly, they were just there.
For over 6 months my living room was crowded with spiritual beings and loved ones offering support and love with their presence. I handed each of my babies to them as they helped them cross over safely.
So, here is the crazy thing! I knew they were there – but I could not get past my feelings about what happened.
This is a good example of how those old, outdated beliefs can blind us to the truth of what is happening now – even when it is right in front of us!
Now, it has been a year since Waldo (April) and Bailey (May) died. If you had asked if I felt loved and supported prior to these losses, I would have said YES! But something about the stress and pain of that time unlocked another level of something I did not know was still there.
This painful experience offered me an opportunity to work through and clear the final pieces of my painful childhood experience and now I know without any doubt how loved and supported I am and have always been.
This is what can happen for all of us. Something challenges us so much that it literally rips open the buried and stuck remnants of our past and then – we can use it as an opportunity to feel it, process it and finally let it go.
So, was this the “reason” why I lost three pets in less than 5 months? I do not think so, but did I find value through my healing and a purpose for having gone through it? Yes, absolutely!
The way I look at it is that if you are going to go through something huge and painful, why not use it for your personal growth and spiritual evolution?
Of course, I wish my beloved pets had not died, but I have had to come to terms with their passing and I can honor the beautiful time we had together.
Thankfully, this story has a HAPPY ENDING! Two of my babies have already returned to bless my life again. Zoey aka Waldo and Bella aka Bailey came back – both as puppies! They were very good friends then and I suspect that they planned to come back together! I am so grateful!
How would you describe, in relatively simple terms, the principles of healing and transformation that have resonated best with you?
For me, healing and transformation has always been about blending and understanding the connection between the physical and the spiritual.
I have always believed that things can get better and by wanting more – whether it was to feel inner peace and happiness, to restore my health, to have a fulfilling and rich life or some other quality of life – these desires provided the motivation and drive for me to work through the painful and scary challenges, so I could create a better future.
What resonates with me is to always use my life journey to further my personal growth and spiritual evolution so that as a soul I can accomplish what I set out to do, give and become in this lifetime.
I have always been drawn to spiritual practices, subtle energy methods and holistic, natural healing modalities.
When I was young, I loved learning about astrology, tarot, numerology, mediumship, and intuitive and psychic practices – things like that. I desperately wanted to make sense out of my life and understand why people do what they do – particularly in my family of origin.
This led me to more formal study in psychology, meditation, spiritual practices, NLP, holistic health, nutrition, mind-body medicine, biofeedback, and natural healing. I got my degrees and have certifications as a Natural Health Practitioner, Nutrition Practitioner, and I am a Universal Life Minister.
How do you work with your clients?
I use and teach the same methods of healing and transformation that I used for myself – because they work!
My approach is very holistic; involving all the parts of who we are spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. These are connected – and they cannot be separated.
I’ve helped tens of thousands of people who are struggling with situations that aren’t getting better or that they don’t fully understand – like health issues, spiritual blocks, relationship stress, or overwhelming emotions like anxiety, depression, grief, fear, and more.
There is the conscious part of healing and transformation that leads to positive changes and upgrades. This will involve looking at what we think and believe, how we see and perceive ourselves, others, and the world.
Then there are the more hidden aspects; the energetic areas within our body, mind, emotions and/or spirit that we hold blocked, trapped, or stuck unfinished business that needs to be processed, released, and transformed.
In my work with clients, I specialize in finding those true original causes in all the places within that are shut down, blocked or stuck, and I take steps to clear the problematic energy. Once the heavy blockages are gone – the cleared areas are filled with beautiful, healthy energy which immediately prompts inner healing and transformation in their lives.
Then I share my life transforming tools and teach the appropriate skills that help them make the changes real in their lives. This includes insight, guidance and solutions that help people feel empowered so they can finally feel better, get well, enjoy healthy relationships, and live the abundant, beautiful life they were born to live.
If someone feels drawn to my work, they can head over to my website to set up a free discovery call and we will talk about…
- what’s going on and the areas they want help with
- the vision they have for their new improved life – full of vibrant health, wellbeing, happiness, abundance, and spiritual fulfilment
- the biggest roadblocks that they think are keeping them stuck
- my experience with others who are dealing with similar types of problems or conditions they are going through, including the process we did and the results they got
- a plan for them to “get there” and start moving forward
I work with people all over the world through long-distance phone or skype sessions and I also offer in person sessions in my Durango, CO office.
Do you believe that our life experiences are predestined, and if so, is this for a higher purpose?
I believe that some of our experiences are predestined, and some are the natural result (positive and challenging) of our Free Will choices, decisions, and behaviors.
Before we come into this world to have a human life, we have many ‘meetings’ with our counsel of spiritual guides and teachers and it is there that we make certain decisions and choices about what we want to do, give, learn, and experience.
We will choose our spiritual path, passion and purpose and determine the major themes that will serve our soul’s desire and needs to heal, learn, love, grow and evolve.
Karmically, we also choose people and experiences that will either challenge us (to make something right, to make amends, to learn from previous lifetimes or pay back something we owe) or gift us with blessings and ease in certain areas (these have been earned)!
These are pre-destined and set into motion ahead of time. People, things, and experiences will show up at exactly the right time. We might feel the synchronicity and the sense of being in the right place at the right time. Or quite the opposite, where we happen to be involved in something hard that we did not see coming.
The most challenging aspect of being born is that there is spiritual amnesia once we get here, and we forget everything we decided on! Now, we need to remember who we are, we need to choose to do the right thing and navigate our lives without the supporting details from our planning phase.
Each soul will be uniquely equipped to manage their life choices and accomplish their spiritual goals, but you will have to do it without always knowing the “why.”
This life will unfold perfectly with your higher purpose-built in. Sometimes challenges are not pre-destined but arise because we are off track with our spiritual goals. We have free will and we will all make mistakes that create a consequence that will help guide us back to where we need to be.
Life is magical and special! We are all here right now because we chose to be when we were meeting with our council of guides and teachers. If you are in a challenging situation or experience right now – do not give up!
Ask yourself, “what am I learning, what can I gain from this experience, why am I here right now, am I off track in some way, who am I as a soul and what can I do that will serve my greatest good and the good of the world?
These questions begin to form answers that will help you navigate your life and help you connect with your soul’s plans and destiny. When you see life as a choice for the purpose of personal and spiritual growth and evolution then it becomes WORTH the journey!
