We had the good fortune of connecting with Sarah Montuori and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah, can you tell us about an impactful book you’ve read and why you liked it or what impact it had on you?
“Adventures in Opting Out,” by Cait Flanders is a great book to motivate you on your journey of opting out of a conventional paycheck from a conventional career. I have tried to start my business on multiple occasions, but have always put it on the back burner to focus on my full-time, government job with guaranteed pay and benefits. Flanders talks about her own fears and struggles with leaving the comfort of security for the unknown in freelance work. This will be my third attempt, but the first where I have left the security of my job to focus on my business full-time, with no security net. I love that she shares how it’s not easy for anyone to take that leap of faith, as you will always get push-back, especially from your parents and some friends. They are just worried about you and want to see you take the safe path. The safe path is fine for some people and it may be truly what they wanted, however, I have always wanted to live the life of a creative. My soul was dying, wanting to help people in creative ways with reiki, hypnosis, tarot, and art. I love being creative. Working in an office job, made me feel numb and dull.

I love this quote on page 227 of Flanders’s book, “It’s a beautiful thing, to allow yourself to evolve. To challenge yourself to grow and change. To even attempt to step into who you want to be in this world. Choosing to trust your gut and listen to the whispers telling you you aren’t being true to yourself anymore is empowering. If you do it once, my guess is you will opt out of something else in the future. And the farther you go down this new path, the more you’ll see that you weren’t actually walking away from anything. You were walking toward yourself. That is a journey worth taking, even if you don’t know how it’s going to end.”

The leap of faith is the hardest challenge. You have to have faith in yourself and your product that you will be able to survive doing what you love. I had not left my job for more than a few weeks and was already nervous and anxious feeling that I had made a mistake. I stumbled upon this book at the library when I needed it and it was the pep talk that I needed. I have in the past lost faith too soon and never fully committed. This time, I am willing to fully commit and see my business take off. I am up to the challenge.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am an energy healer, tarot reader, and hypnotherapist. I have studied with others, read a lot of books, and practiced, practiced, practiced. I am not only opting out of a career but am working in the field of the Spiritual. There are a lot of misconceptions about what reiki is and is not, as well as everything that I do. I not only have to try to break down the misunderstanding of people but remove blocks and fears. I have embraced the word “witch,” to empower myself, but I am aware that that word triggers a lot of people. The word “witch” used to trigger me as well. If you go to my website www.smartreikiandtarot.com under the “About Me” section, you can read my story. I followed the traditional path of going to college, graduating with my Bachelor’s, working for the Government, and now finally following my heart. My journey was about self-healing. I wanted to heal my life and myself and now I want to help facilitate others to follow their dreams, and heal their wounds, fears, and triggers. Life can be so beautiful. I did not want to live my life in fear anymore. My career is about empowering others to step into their truth, live their most authentic life, and embrace happiness. Reiki is Universal Life Force Energy. This energy helps connect you to Source, God, the Universe, or whatever you want to call the energy that makes us all up and connects us all. Reiki can help you heal on a subtle level, emotional and mental level. Hypnosis can help you overcome your fears and triggers. You can stop any bad habits or gain confidence to start new habits or lifestyles. Hypnosis is a great tool to overcome subconscious scripts that may be holding you back from living the life that you want. Tarot and Oracle cards can be used as tools to see where you are on your life journey and to make the proper changes if you don’t like the path that you are on. I use all three to help guide you on your journey. Life does not have to be so serious. I use color for a sense of fun, whimsy, and to connect to my inner child. As adults, we think that play is only for children, but it’s not. Play is extremely healing. I combine my tools in my toolkit to help others grow, learn, and free themselves from their own limitations.

Growth is never easy. I had a lot of Spiritual mentors and I hope to be able to mentor others on their journey. The path of authenticity is never easy, but there are tools and people here to help along the way. My business is there to support other’s on their journey.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love going to The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. I would bring my friends and family there and then take a drive out of the city to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Then off for a hike in Phoenix at Dreamy Draw to show that there is great hiking right in the city as well.

I would take them to the many New Age Book and Gift stores in the city such as Jan Ross New Age Books and Gifts, Fantasia Crystals, The Astrology Store, Vision Quest Psychic Bookstore, Cresent Moon Emporium, Storm Wisdom, and Tanja’s Natural Magick.

For restaurant’s we would go to Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles, King Gyros, Edelweiss Biergarten, Taqueria Los Nortenos, Romanelli’s Italian Deli, Balkan Bakery, Kamana’Wana Hawaiin treats, Mango Rabbit Boba, and Chino Bandito’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband deserves a shoutout, as he supports me 100 on my journey. He too was a Government employee, who opted out to be a full-time artist and sound engineer. He has supported my vision and helped me edit my YouTube videos. Without him, I would not have the confidence to live my dream full-time.

The Thomas Institute of Hypnosis, for my training.

The Reiki Academy where I received some of my reiki training and have met the best community of like-minded people. Reiki Rod is an inspiration and leads by example.

To Barbara Buck, Audra Rene Weeks, and the Spiritual Community in Phoenix, thank you. You are all amazing and supportive.

Website: www.smartreikiandtarot.com

Instagram: smmarht or smartreiki_tarot

Youtube: smartreiki and tarot

Image Credits
Nikolai Duron

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