068 | Your Difference is Your Destiny with Renee Linnell
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Renee is one of those people I feel like I was destined to meet. We found each other through our publisher, She Writes Press after Renee signed to publish her book with them. We had an immediate connection and soon after I had the honor of being a coach and guide for Renee the year leading up to her book launch.
In The Burn Zone, Renee openly and honestly shares her story — of losing her father at a young age, growing up with an abusive and alcoholic mother, to creating a successful career as a model and dancer, only to join a spiritual group “cult” that led her to burn everything that reminded her of her past (clothes, photos, everything), learn computer programming, get an MBA and create a life that felt the opposite of authentic to her.
After years of having a toxic relationship with her spiritual teacher, a near-death experience in a snowboarding accident finally gave her the "Wake Up” she needed to leave and start her life anew.
After picking up the pieces and going through her own personal healing from anger to forgiveness, she decided to share her story in her new memoir, The Burn Zone.
This thrilling tale leaves us with a powerful message of how to own our differences and liberate ourselves from the shame we carry from our past.
In this episode we discussed:
What Renee learned on her first month-long book tour
All about Renee’s new book, The Burn Zone
Renee’s story of being brainwashed and joining a cult and how she found herself again on the other side
The pattern of repeated trauma with empaths and narcissists
The vulnerable journey of having people read her writing
The liberation that comes with “Letting our skeletons out of the closet”
How to release shame and hiding about our past
What’s on the horizon for Renee next
"Loving ourselves means stop making excuses for not giving ourselves the things we want in this life. Our life is so short."
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About The Burn Zone:
After seven years of faithfully following her spiritual teacher, Renee Linnell finally realized she was in a cult and had been severely brainwashed. But how did that happen to someone like her? She had graduated magna cum laude with a double degree. She had traveled to nearly fifty countries alone before she turned thirty-five. She was a surf model and a professional Argentine tango dancer. She had started five different companies and had an MBA from NYU. How could someone like her end up brainwashed and in a cult?
The Burn Zone is an exploration of how we give up our power―how what started out as a need to heal from the loss of her parents and to understand the big questions in life could leave a young woman fighting for her sanity and her sense of self. In the years following her departure from the cult, Linnell struggled to reclaim herself, to stand in her truth, and to rebuild her life. And eventually, after battling depression and isolation, she found a way to come out the other side stronger than ever. Part inspirational story, part cautionary tale, this is a memoir for spiritual seekers and those who feel lost in a world that makes them feel less than perfect.
Renee Linnell graduated Magna Cum Laude with a double degree, traveled to nearly fifty countries before she turned 35, was a surf/bikini model and a professional Argentine Tango dancer, started 5 different companies, and got an MBA from New York University. She also spent close to seven years in a Buddhist cult and ended up severely brainwashed. In her new memoir, The Burn Zone, Renee discusses her journey into "deranged and damaged" and her awakening on the other side. Her key message is: “Our difference is our destiny, and that when we stop trying to hide the parts of us that make us different, we will truly soar.!”
