Working with thought leaders on shaping their speaking platform is an incredible privilege. One of my speakers, Dr. Susan Nicholas, is choosing to live a conscious life. In this candid conversation, Dr. Nicholas shares why she walked away from being a Fellow at Stanford on the way to being a Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon in order to share with humanity her insights into how to tap into your inner knowing.
Tricia: Susan, you are a cardio-thoracic surgeon, one of few women in this profession. What made you decide to go into this field?
Susan: From the age of 10 years old, I knew I wanted to become a doctor. It was at this age that I declared my purpose to myself and to my family. Thereafter, I studied very hard so that I could become a doctor. That said, a cardiothoracic surgeon was not something I dreamed of becoming until it actually happened. Early on, I thought I would practice primary care medicine, even tropical medicine around the world. My interest in cardiac surgery came during my internship in general surgery. During that year, I realized that I did not want to practice as a general surgeon, but it was heart surgery that I found to be most intriguing.
Tricia: What made you decide to leave this field?
Susan: In 2007, during my clinical fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery, I came to the realization that I was not on my rightful career path. Imagine that. Looking back, this was the time that my spiritual awakening began. In reality, it felt like a deep emptiness within me and a profound sadness that I had no idea how to remedy. It was during my clinical fellowship in heart surgery that I attempted to take my own life. I had worked incredibly hard to get there yet knew I had to change something in order to go on living. But I was unsure as to exactly what that something was. This was also the very first time that I heard my inner voice speak to me, which propelled me along an amazing journey of introspection and healing.
Tricia: How did you come to understand the Frequency of Money?
Susan: Five years after my suicide attempt, I found myself in that void again; a place of deep, inner sorrow. I had spent the five years previous changing my career. I believed that I had just made a career mistake and correcting it would fill the void, bringing me inner happiness. I moved across the country, went to business school, had a baby, and started a healthcare company. Despite all of these changes, I still felt that crevasse void, that soulful emptiness. Only this time around, I had a toddler in toe and I believed I wouldn’t make it this time. That is when I was given a gift, I believe. It was 2012 and I had a full-on crisis awakening. I began traveling out-of-body and returned with a new understanding of myself and my purpose. In fact, I had an entirely new perception on all of existence, including race, religion, and the elusiveness of time.
However, one of the most difficult constructs for me to understand in our human existence was our money. Why does money flow to some and not others, I wondered? I continued to contemplate why it was that I had to work so hard to earn money and why it never seemed to flow freely to me? This questioning of money led me to uncover what I now understand to be the truth about money. Money, like all things in existence, is energy at its core. And the way that we honestly feel about money dictates how money shows up for each of us. You see, I was born into poverty and carried the energy of deprivation within me. Despite my worldly successes and achievements, I was soulfully poor. In fact, many of us have experienced pain, fear, or even shame surrounding money and thus we have painful, fearful and sometimes shameful experiences with money as a result. When it comes to money, or deepest feelings about it matter.
Tricia: What can we do to tap into the energy or vibration of abundance?
Susan: Tapping into the energy or vibration of abundance is all about feeling. We haven’t been conditioned to really give credence to our feelings, especially in the area of finances. We are taught that it is all about numbers and managing those numbers in our complex financial system. Our feelings are rarely, if ever calculated into the financial equation. The connection we haven’t yet made as a collective society is the correlation between our innate self-worth and our financial net worth. We are only as wealthy or rich as we truly believe we are worthy of being.
Tricia: What would you say to someone who’s struggling with money, depression, fear?
Susan: An outward struggle with money is a reflection of an inner struggle with your confidence and self-worth. Getting to the root of your money troubles requires you to look at your past experiences with money. Sometimes the first pain experienced with money was in early childhood, perhaps before you had formal language and understanding. When there is depression about money, it often is a deep soulful energy in need of transformation. Sometimes the transformation of that hurtful energy comes with acknowledgement of it, or the forgiveness of self or others. In other instances, where the money pain runs very deep or is generational, a healing on the level of the soul is required. This might be in the form of an ancestral clearing or energy healing.
Tricia: You recently took your first TEDx stage. What did you talk about? What was your “Idea Worth Spreading” and why did you choose this idea?
Susan: Yes, I recently delivered my first TEDx talk in Farmingdale, NY. I spoke about Money Consciousness: Overcoming Generational Poverty. I chose this idea worth spreading because it is very near to my heart. I have come to realize how growing up poor has a way of holding you back from fulfilling your dreams. That even though you may dream of having more, if you are resonating the energy of scarcity, or if you believe there is never enough, you have embodied the energy of deprivation somewhere along the way. This dense energy must be transformed into a higher frequency energy to attract your rightful abundance. We are meant to feel joy, excitement, and gratitude when we think about and desire more money. I chose this topic for my first TED talk to share this important message with humanity.
Tricia: What is happening right now in the world when it comes to money?
Susan: In the world today, there is a heightened fear surrounding money as many businesses have been shuttered during the global pandemic and many individuals have lost their jobs and income as a result.
In times such as these, there is one question you must ask yourself: “Do I believe in a benevolent Universe?” You see, we are being asked to trust. To trust in the benevolence of the Universe. We must believe that the Source of all creation has our back, that we are not given more than we can handle, despite how things may feel or appear. It is not easy to answer this question in the affirmative during times of great loss.
In many ways, 2020 is a year of grieving. We are grieving the loss of loved ones, of our professional identities, way of life, and valued possessions. Still, in these moments we are also granted time with our families and ourselves. We have been given the moments to slow down and to create. This is also a time for introspection, to take inventory of what we do have and to feel genuinely grateful for the opportunities set before us.
When we see money from a conscious perspective, we realize that it is not just about physical dollars and cents, it is also about our connections and ideas, our opportunities, passions, our health and purpose. In these moments, we may not have all that we want, but we likely have everything we need.
Tricia: How do you see yourself and your son in the future?
Susan: I have an 11 year old son. He is the absolute joy of my life. What I am most excited for about his future is that he has not grown up in poverty as his father and I did. The cycle is finally broken. I see both of us continuing to live our lives fulfilled and in abundance. To ensure this, we alway remember what we are grateful for; speaking the words of gratitude each day as we sit down to dinner.
Tricia: Let’s talk about your children’s books. You have two, can you share with us what they are about and what inspired you to write them?
Susan: I am the author of adult and illustrated children’s books. My conscious children’s book series is about emotional childhood experiences that we find particularly difficult to discuss with our kids. From the early days of my conscious awakening, I came to realize that many of the burdens we carry into adulthood originated in our childhood.
My first title in the series is entitled Two Parts of Me: I am More Than My Body (2019). It is about our intuition and deepest feelings, reminding children to listen to their inner selves and to recognize intuition as guidance from their soul. My second children’s title is The Death of Cupcake: A Child’s Experience With Loss (2020). It was created as a platform for parents to discuss death and loss with their children and provides an exalted perception of life and death. My children’s books are nonfiction and written from a child’s perspective with conscious perspectives infused throughout the pages. The children’s book series is designed for K- 4th graders and ages 5 -10 years.
Tricia: What gets you out of bed every day?
Susan: Honestly, what gets me out of bed everyday is the inner knowing that I have a message to share with humanity. And each day, I deliver on my purpose in some way. I feel so inspired. For this, I am very immensely grateful.
Susan Nicholas, MD is a former physician and surgeon who after a conscious awakening in 2012, transitioned her life into soul healing work. She is now a telepathic medical intuitive and energy healer. As the founder of the Human Consciousness Consortium Publishing, she is the three-time author of conscious adult and children’s books, publishing under two imprints.
Dr. Nicholas is an international speaker in the area of motivation and human consciousness. Her inspirational speaking platforms enrich and enlighten audiences with universal themes including money mindset and emotional intelligence. Her diverse work has a common thread which is to awaken humanity to consciousness.
