The Great Things LLC Podcast

Angel Cotto: Following his calling to Ecuador's Jungle and to build a dream

• Josh Meeder • Season 6 • Episode 1

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When You Feel Pulled Toward a Different Life but Are Afraid to Trust It

Angel Cotto shares his story of trusting spirit and following the call. 

In this episode, Josh Meeder speaks with Angel Cotto about spiritual awakening, specifically the moment when life looks stable on the outside, but something inside keeps saying, this isn’t it. Angel shares his lived experience of feeling pulled toward a different path while wrestling with fear, uncertainty, and the possibility of ending up alone.

Introducing Angel Cotto

Angel is a former registered nurse and single father who followed an unexpected inner calling that led him from a structured nursing career to building a retreat and residency space in Ecuador. His journey is shaped by early loss, deep self-reflection, and a commitment to understanding the emotional patterns that quietly influence our choices.

When Stability No Longer Feels Like Safety

Angel opens up about what happens when the life you worked hard to build starts to feel disconnected. He shares how feelings of restlessness, dissatisfaction, and inner tension often arise not because something is “wrong,” but because something deeper is asking to be acknowledged.

Building Something New While Living the Uncertainty

From living without electricity or running water to navigating isolation and self-doubt, Angel shares the realities of starting over. His story highlights the emotional cost of following an inner calling and the quiet resilience required to stay present when outcomes are unclear

Final Thoughts

This episode is for anyone who feels an inner pull toward a different life but fears what trusting it might cost. Angel’s story offers reassurance that uncertainty doesn’t mean you’re wrong—it often means you’re listening more closely than ever before.


What’s Next for Angel

Learn about Angel’s vision for expanding his work in Ecuador, including upcoming retreats and a residency program designed for healers, creatives, and seekers who feel called to something more. He shares how these offerings are meant to support grounded healing, integration, and reconnection—without bypassing the realities of everyday life.


Angel’s Links

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Jo, welcome to the Great Things LLC podcast, the show that celebrates people who are making an impact on the world, people creating conscious businesses that are in alignment with their own personal values. Each episode shares the wisdom experience and the intentions of those that are following their dreams, visionaries who have chosen a different path found their purpose and create joy and abundance while helping others. Whether you're already a trailblazer or still searching for your path, these stories will inspire you towards being the best version of yourself. Welcome listeners. Josh Meeder here with the great things LLC podcast, and today, I'm excited to introduce you to Angel. Katy. I first heard of Angel, as he had worked with my wife's spirit bird in a program. And what was initially interesting is that he is in Ecuador on the coast, putting together a retreat center. But really, with all the stories we share here, it's how do you get there? What are the challenges and the inspirations and really hearing the back story? So with that, I want to introduce Angel. Angel. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Great. Well, we're going to get in before we get into all the juicy stuff, and I do want to throw out a kind of an announcement for our audience out here. If you are a seeker, a visionary, an artist or a healer, there's something special that angel has created in Ecuador, and you'll definitely want to listen through till the end of the program to see what is available, because this is where this whole story is rolling so but before we get to the end, let's start at the beginning. Angel, if you wouldn't mind, just give us a little bit of background about where you started in this world, your life, your early days, and you know, really, just let me start that again. So, Angel, what I'd love to hear is a little bit of your background. You know, what was life like when you started? And kind of where did this path first begin? So I was born in Massachusetts to a teen parent, and at that time, my grandparents decided that they were going to raise me as their child, and unfortunately, I would lose both of them by the time I was six, my grandfather at five, and then my grandmother, immediately following that same year, at six years old. And subsequently I was left with my living with my siblings, and then later, about six months into this, I would find out that my most turbulent sister was my biological mother, and so I from there had to go and live with her, which she had other children already, and she was, you know, in a relationship with her father, that became an extremely volatile and abusive situation. And so that kind of set the tone for a really significant abandonment wound that I kind of carried throughout my well adolescence and even into my adult life that I'm still actively working on. Okay, and for those who may not be familiar with the term, can you describe what an abandonment wound is? Because it is part of the offerings that you've grown to use, but just set some context for those that may not have heard of it. Yeah. So I think a lot of people have the perception that abandonment means that somebody intentionally left you, and that's just not the case. The abandonment moon shows up in many different ways. It could be through the death of a caretaker. It could be through just an absent parent. It can also show up for people who maybe your parents were together, but you had one parent who was working two or three jobs to support the family, and wasn't, you know, present in the home the way that you would need them to be as a child, and so the abandonment wound shows up in many different ways, and it can be different for everyone, but it all leads to the same thing, and that is these patterns in relationships where you're constantly chasing or monitoring and, you know, a systemic Fear of of losing connections, which leads to really unfortunate attachment styles. Okay, so that was quite a turbulent introduction to life from that point what? What was the next thing in your existence? How did that weave itself back in? Sure, so I had a really rocky relationship with my biological mother all the way through, you know, school, all my school age and into graduate, even after graduating high school, and I ended up becoming a teen parent. So my senior year of high school, I had a child. Fortunately, I only had about five months left of school when he was born, so I graduated that June. He was born, February, I graduated June, and then immediately that August, I turned 18 and moved out. So I've been very hyper independent my entire life, and not so much because I wanted to be, but because I felt like I had to be. And, you know, so I gave myself a couple of years, and. Then I was working at the time as a nursing assistant, which ultimately led to me pursuing a degree in nursing. So I became a registered nurse about the age of 26 and that year, simultaneously received full custody of my son. So I became a registered nurse and a single father at the same time. Wow, that's that's a lot at a relatively young age. Yes, it was a lot. All right, so that's, that's a good groundwork in what I'd like to do is move towards the place where there's usually a crisis, or an existential crisis, or a realization, and you see, seem to indicate that you you have something that sort of changed your direction. What was that first experience? Or how did you change and move on the path that you're on currently? Sure? So I had been, you know, always kind of seeking new experiences, which was atypical for my family lineage, everybody kind of stayed in the same location that they were born and raised. And for me, I started branching out, and I eventually found myself in Florida. I relocated to Florida, bought a house, you know, lived a really beautiful life there. What I have learned now is that I definitely didn't have an appreciation for my life the way that I thought I did, but ultimately, during covid, I started feeling very disconnected from my work, as with, you know, a lot of people started experiencing this around the same time, and I just felt called for something more. And now to backtrack a second, I always wanted to have some sort of business or something of my own, creating something of my own. But I never really had a direction or knew what to do with that. And so I started feeling really disconnected from work, and started feeling that call to create something. And then around that same time, you know, incidentally, I found myself in a relationship with a younger partner, which was extremely triggering. It actually mirrored back to me every aspect of my abandonment move that I had never addressed or I had buried all of a sudden, everything, like a movie, was being played out in front of me, and that ultimately led to a dark night of the soul, and I had a really intense spiral downward, okay? And I'm sure there's many out there that can relate to that spiral, if you could share a little bit about that. How long was it, how deep was it, and what was the turning point that you were able to start bringing yourself back up? So this spiral lasted for about six weeks. And I know that might not sound like a long time for some people, but for me, it was very intense, because I was also simultaneously, which I didn't realize at the time, but I was having a really profound spiritual awakening, and so I was having a lot of these spiritual experiences that I didn't really know how to identify. I didn't have any anything to compare it to. And so, you know, there's almost like this energy of spiritual psychosis that you experience when you're going through something like this, because you just don't know how to name everything, and you don't have meaning behind everything that's happening. And so almost as quickly as it all came on, one day I just woke up and I I said, like, the pattern recognition was so real and so tangible that it allowed me to really just stop for a second and look at what was really going on. And that's when I had this really huge aha moment that these patterns have been playing out throughout my adult life, and I have been an active participant, and the common denominator through all of the relationship failures was that I was allowing these circumstances to exist. So rather than saying, Why is this happening to me, or why are you doing this to me, I really just directed the focus to myself, which ultimately was something that was spirit led. You know, they pointed all of the fingers at me, and I realized I can't control what other people are doing and how they're behaving in relationships, but I can control how I show up for the relationships and what I will allow or not allow. That's great. I'd like to actually just if we could rewind a little bit there, because what you said is, I think fairly common in the work we see is that that first hints of spiritual awakening or those messages that come in are often really confusing. And as you mentioned, there's no basis or context to to understand what those are. Are there any that you'd be willing to share, like an example of how one may come in that you don't, aren't able to recognize it in the moment, but it becomes clearer once you can frame it. Sure. So I started actually having a lot of telepathy, like telepathy experiences, and I. You know, when you don't know what's really going on, you have to quite, you know, as a lot, as a person coming from logic and a science background, you question, or I questioned anyway, what am I really experiencing here? You know, is this real? Am I making it up? Is this just something that is me being like delusional because I started, you know, through a lot of really vivid dreams I was having, receiving information about other people, and then I was able to later confirm or validate that these things that that I was receiving information on, were actually happening. And so that's really how things slowly started to shift for me, because I finally had reconnected some of the dots and was able to talk to some people, including the partner that triggered all of this, and he validated all of these things that I was experiencing, because I knew part of what was happening in his life, even though we were no contact. It's amazing how those little things come in, and the validation is a piece you don't always get, but it is a lot easier to put into context when that validation is present. Yes, one of the things I'd like to go back to is how you were able to refocus your attention when you started to see patterns, and you started to see that it was not outside of you, but to bring it in, into that self, responsible place, were there any any things that happened there? How were you able to do that? That's a skill that a lot of people may struggle to learn, and a lot of people aren't able to create on their own, especially in emotional times. So for me, just because of the way that I had grown up and the experience that I had in relationships, the hyper vigilance and the hyper independence for me, I was always very much a self healer. I really throughout my life, I didn't have I never had a problem sharing or disclosing, but I was also not one to over extend information about me in a way where it would cause somebody to worry or to have concern for what was going on in my life. I always kind of internalized things, so I got very accustomed to the self healing journey. So this was not something that was really abstract to me. It's just the first time that I actually accepted responsibility and started changing things. But I have to say, you know, I have to accredit a lot of that to also my my spiritual connection, because I was I started behaving in ways that were not typical for me, and I started feeling called to things and listening to the call like, for example, read, you know, a book about empaths or a book about chakra healing. These are something that I would have never considered before, but all of a sudden they were coming into my my awareness, and I was actually following through. And so that follow through led to reading. And once I opened the first book, it sort of triggered, like the snowball effect of me going down a lot of rabbit holes and just educating myself on spirituality in general. I suppose that place I think we're good as humans. I don't know why we're pretty wired to it to, like, really doubt and talk ourselves out of those intuitive hits and that spiritual connection, or those downloads like, Oh no, it's, it's interesting that a lot of times the reaction is resistance rather than acceptance, and those, those really quiet moments, yes. Alright, so now you're going through this place, you're coming out, you're still in Florida, and this is the point where you came to a decision to really radically change your future and your path. Can you share a little bit about how that unfolded to bring you where you're at today? Yes, so I started feeling called to help people in a different way, you know, as a nurse and you know, I spent even before that, being a nursing assistant. I spent 25 years in the hospital, so the only work I've ever known was caretaking. So I knew that I was going to still pursue something in this, but I also felt very disconnected from Western medicine, so my shift was going to be helping people on a spiritual level. I just didn't know exactly what that would look like, and so I just kind of followed the cues that were coming in. And I really was feeling called to go to Costa Rica. And in that time, I also started feeling the call to Ayahuasca. And ultimately, when I was looking for a retreat in Costa Rica, what I found was a retreat in Ecuador, which kind of shifted everything for me. So I ended up choosing. To go to Ecuador as a way of expanding my spiritual awareness and my and deepening my spiritual connection, but also being open to any healing that I hadn't already covered, because for me, my my my, my self. Deep reflection really started with affirmations. And that might sound, you know, kind of simple, or, you know, strange for some people, but I looked in the mirror one day and I tried to say I am love, and it was one of the most uncomfortable feelings I had ever experienced. And immediately I knew if I couldn't say I am love in the mirror while I was standing there alone, then I had some things I needed to work on, and so that's how that progression started. Okay, yeah, for the listeners, if you want to test where you are with that really do stand in front of me or say I am love or I love you. It's surprising how difficult that can be at times. Yes, now you mentioned feeling the call to Ayahuasca. So, sacred medicine, psychedelic work. Had you this was the first time for Ayahuasca? Did you have experience with plant medicines before, or psychedelics? Yes, so I had a pretty intense experience with psilocybin. I it started, you know, I had experienced it when I was younger in more of a, you know, recreational way, only a couple of times, but this time, I started taking it with intention behind it, and even without any any guidance or, you know, and not really in like a facilitated environment, this was more something I just felt called to do. I was taking it by myself in the privacy of my own home. And I'll tell you, I did this for almost a year, for somewhat regularly. And for me, what I found with the psilocybin was, I've always been a very emotional person, and I can relate to people on an emotional level, but on this at the same time, rather I I always felt sort of this connection to something greater than me without being able to explain what it was, and for me, psilocybin helped me connect the the heart space, to connect everything that I was feeling outside of myself, and bring it back into the heart and emotionally connect to the things that I was feeling outside of me. Okay, so somewhat of an embodiment practice where it became real rather than conceptual. Would that be a fair assessment, yes, yes. It definitely helped me connect with the spiritual realm, if you will, on more of an emotional level. Okay, great. So now you're in Ecuador. You know fate has directed you away from Costa Rica, and you land in Ecuador, this experience did, did it reveal at that moment, that this is where you were meant to be. Was there a transition or a time of getting called back? What was that transition, or that experience from the Ayahuasca? Well, I felt when I first arrived in Ecuador, I flew into the city of Quito, the capital, and when I exited the airport, I can't really explain it any better than I just felt this sense of calm. It was just this energy that I really couldn't explain. It's something that felt familiar and something that felt safe. And so when I went to the retreat, you know, like I said, My intention was really about expansion and strengthening my spiritual connection. And I believe that happened for sure, I had a really, really beautiful experience. I was with a really incredible group of people. I happen to have a really amazing indigenous facilitator, medicine man, who just put on a beautiful, beautiful ceremony. And for me, I think one of the most profound moments during the ceremony was when they started drumming after the after the initial dose of the medicine. There was something about hearing the drums that felt so much like made me feel so more at home than I've ever felt in my own body. And so that sort of, I guess, intensified this connection or this draw that I was feeling okay. So coming out of there, you finish up, you head back to the States. What happens next? How long are you there? When was the transition to Ecuador? So I had already been in contact with realtors before I left for Ecuador, and so when I returned to the States, I immediately, kind of just amped up that communication, and then, you know, settled with a realtor that I was going to work with, and began the process for listing my home. I was back in the States for maybe about two months, met with a realtor, got a lot of that initial process started. It. And then I returned to Ecuador for six weeks. I went back to the retreat center as a volunteer for a couple of weeks, and then I went and traveled the coast, just to kind of get a feel for other parts of the country and what I was kind of really getting into, all right? Well, I love hearing that, like everyone has the call, like I want to go do something in the tropics or open a business. It sounds like you, while it was was a short time, was still fairly methodical. So that sounds like there was some, some strong forethought put into that. I guess the only way to really explain it, and a lot of people may not understand this, but I had this at this time. I just had this, this deep trust that I've never experienced before, and it's It sounds crazy to a lot of people when you say it out loud, but I had just this really strong inner knowing and this deep trust with where I was being led, even though I didn't know what the outcome would look like and I didn't know what the final destination was I just kept taking the crumbs and moving in the direction that I was being led. So were you able to find the land that you're on now during that trip, no, I did not. I basically, I really wasn't looking. During that six weeks that I was back here, I was still sort of in my euphoria, you know, I had an experience with combo, which was amazing, really beautiful medicine, and I was kind of just letting myself enjoy the freedom that I was feeling at that, at that moment. And so it wasn't until November. My house closed in October, and I came back to Ecuador November 3, permanently without any place to stay. I just showed up with a couple of suitcases after selling everything I owned. And it was at that time I when I landed in on the coast here, I first looked for an Airbnb to stay in, because I didn't have that. And then from there, I started looking at properties, and slowly, over the next several months, I would move periodically up the coast before finally landing where I'm at now, all right, well, I'd like to share a little personal reflection there, because what you did moving down there when, when my son graduated, I sold everything, sold the house, and literally was living out of one suitcase in a truck. And until you've had that experience of letting kind of all the worldly possessions go and just throwing yourself into the unknown, that's a sense of freedom that unfortunately most people don't get to experience. So yeah, the euphoria and in that sense of ultimate freedom to be like it's almost like you're self determinant every day, like each morning, gets to be something new on your own direction. It was just curious, if that was similar for you? Yes, I was. You know, my life had always felt very structured, even though there was a lot, you know, there were many years in my life where there wasn't a lot of stability. I had created stability for myself. And given that I was a single parent, I really didn't have the luxury of experiencing things that other people in their 20s were doing. I wasn't able to go out and travel. I had to, you know, really focus on establishing stability for my son. And so my my 20s and 30s looked very different from what you know, a lot of my friends did. And so at this point in time, I was already in my 40s, and so I had this this freedom that wasn't irresponsible, you know, I didn't have all of these ties that I was just abandoning, I was actually just enjoying the freedom of movement and, you know, and getting excited about what might be coming, or, you know, what tomorrow might bring. That's, that's great. A lot of parallels there. So let's move on to the place where you found, the land. Just describe that first introduction to it like, kind of the feeling, was it, like, Yes, this is it, or is it maybe? And then go into the experience of actually acquiring the land and literally landing on it, yeah. So one of the towns that I was living in, Santa Maria, down a couple hours south of here, I met this woman, will and her husband really beautiful people. And we were hanging out one day, and she asked me, you know about my story? And so I started sharing. And that night, I went home, and she, the next day, sent me this ad that she saw on Facebook, basically the land that I'm on. And so I kind of took that as a sign, you know, like, maybe, maybe this is it. She kind of just remembered hearing everything that I said I was looking for, and this kind of checked the boxes. And so that's how the initial pursuit of this property began. I was living about two and a half hours south of. Here at the time. Alright? So we'll just jump in you. You get to the property, and it's a fit. What were you? Let me ask, what were your first impressions the first time you saw saw the property or walked it? Well, I wanted seclusion and I wanted privacy because I knew what I was looking to develop or create, and I that was kind of a priority for me, and so I kind of, you know, took it to the extreme here. It's a little bit more excluded than I needed. But, yeah, initially you couldn't drive here. So we drove as close as we could get, and then parked the vehicle, and the owner of the property walked. We walked about a mile to get here, because there was no road off of the principal road. And me, I was just very excited. And when I first saw the land, I mean, it's really beautiful, you know, there's howler monkeys here, and everything, aside from the cabin that they had built, the land was completely raw. There were a lot of fruit trees that were, you know, immature, but for the most part, it was just raw land. There was no electricity, there was no running water, and like a fool, I sort of ignored a lot of those things, because I was so excited about finding this amount of land and kind of it being the environment that I envisioned. So with that, that led to me having some not so pleasant experiences throughout that process. So let's jump into the not so pleasant. So you acquired the land, and you move out with that. You know, we've had a little talk about this. This is an interesting part of your story. Yeah, so I buy the land. And I bought the land in May of 2023, and immediately I had begun the process of finding somebody to install the electricity, which was going to require about 1500 meters of holes and electrical cable. So a pretty big job. I moved on to the property on June 3, and the electricity was not finished until the last week of July. So I spent about seven, almost eight weeks living on the property with no electricity, and I had some water that was that was reserved from a rain collection over the time that the land was not being occupied. So that was my first challenge. Was being in the dark and not having electricity, and then the rain collection, which I also didn't anticipate, that collection device didn't have much water in it, so within about a month, that had run dry, and I no longer had any water in that collection. So I started collecting rain water through the gutter off of the cabin, and it was draining into a big barrel on the side of the cabin. And then I was using that to bathe and to wash dishes. And of course, I was buying bottled water for drinking. And that led to me finding somebody to drill a well, which turned out to be about a four month process between looking for somebody to do it, them finding the appropriate space, getting the well drilled, and getting everything up and running. That brought me all the way out from July to October. That's quite a time without any utilities. Now there's so there's no utilities. There's literally not much access. You're in the middle of the jungle. How, how are you eating? Or is there, what's the local town? Was there a place? Or did you have to grow on the land? What was your food situation? So I had a friend who was helping me, who I met early in my travels here, who was Ecuadorian, who was helping me sort of navigate the locals, and I'm very grateful for that. So, so this person actually came and was doing a lot of the communication, and stayed on the property initially to help me get things up and running. So one of the first things I did with the electricity install was carved out the road. Now, before I lived here, the community would literally shut down for a good six, sometimes eight months out of the year. Nobody could drive in and out of the community, and so I had invested a lot of my personal resources into creating a road that was going to be accessible year round. So I've been on the land now for over two years, and it's the first time ever in the history of this entire community that they've been able to drive in and out of this road year round. Wow. And so that's kind of how it started. And so I would be able to get out and get things as long as it wasn't raining. Okay? Now, you know, those are the physical. Challenges. What were your spirits like through this, you know, from purchase, through all the challenges, how were your spirits? So I was very, you know, initially I was super excited, ready to get things going. Of course, I didn't have all of the the foresight into what was really coming. So I stayed excited. And, you know, honestly, I remembered one of the shamans that I met here in Ecuador, was sending me a lot of communications. And I remember this passage that he sent me, and I still replay this in my mind a lot. But he, you know, he told me, he said one of the he the most significant teaching that you will have when you're on the spiritual path is humility. He says it's number one. And so I often reflected on that. And, you know, I just, I laughed at myself because I I was in a situation where I couldn't there was nothing that was within my control to change, you know, what was happening in the moment, and so I had to just either go with it and make the best of it or let it eat me up. And I had really put a lot of work into not living like that anymore. And so I just started laughing at myself. So that's a gift and a skill. One of the things that I would imagine is there is usually a transition, or there's a moment where that initial excitement wears off, the realities may creep in. There's the potential of self doubt, or, like, Did I do the right thing? Or feeling trapped? Was that a moment that you had? And if so, what was that? Yeah. So for me, that started probably about a year, well, maybe about eight, somewhere between about eight months to a year after being on the property. And the reason that started creeping in was because I hadn't anticipated all of the extra expenses that were going to come with developing the land. You know, I had a budget for, you know, I wanted to build cabins and, you know, establish the infrastructure here to be able to host retreats and whatever else I was going to create. But unfortunately, a lot of my resources ended up being consumed by the, well, you know, the electricity and, you know, 1000s and 1000s of dollars just into the road alone to be able to access the property. So all of these were things that I didn't anticipate. And so I started feeling a little bit discouraged and wondering, you know, am I able? Am I going to really be able to pull this off? How am I going to make the money or find the resources to still do what I came here to do. Because ultimately, if all I got into place was a house, well, then what do I do to be sustainable, and how do I, you know, pursue my vision from there? Okay, now you had mentioned in our talks, there was a there was the challenge of the isolation. Can you share a little bit about the isolation piece? Yes. So in my mind, I had just sort of believed that I would find the land, buy the land, build the infrastructure, and the people would just show up. And I felt, I believed that I would have, you know, an army of people behind me that, you know, like minded people that wanted to do this together. I never really saw myself doing it alone. So I was really kind of reliant on community coming together and showing up. And that just didn't happen, you know, and that really started to get to me for a while, because, you know, with the with the abandonment pattern that I had then, you know, had experience for such a significant portion of my life, one of the aspects of that was the fear of being alone. And so now, all of a sudden, things weren't looking the way that I had anticipated, and I was faced with this, you know, intense isolation and just the fact that I was alone in the middle of the woods. And so there were a lot of fears that started coming up with that. And eventually I became more comfortable being alone, but the isolation started to take a toll on me. So it didn't really matter how comfortable I was being alone. It was just not having people around and not having support. You know, it became really toxic for me and really challenging. So it does feel like that's quite a reflection of a lot of things that you explained from your childhood, the the abandonment, fear of being alone, creating a place where you're literally isolated, and then challenging that normal reaction of the hyper independence, where it looks. Like there's a mirror there, like you did need people and assistance to to get through that. So I imagine that was a pretty challenging, pretty challenging time. And there is a place where you continued with it. Folks are in those situations, there is a choice point, like, do I go home? Do I call it? You know, when is enough enough? And then there's also the fortitude to stick it out, because you have the calling. Was there anything in that vein of that fortitude, or just that, that knowing or attachment to the calling that helped pull it through? You know, I had a I had only a handful, maybe even less than a handful of close friends that I opened up to with this information, I tried to be careful who I shared that depth with, because I didn't want people who cared about me to say things that would influence me. I wanted to make sure that I was still doing the things that I was doing for me and for the vision that I had. And so I was just really, really methodical about who I was honest with in that, in that respect. And what I found was sometimes the people that I shared with would, you know, like anybody else, they would be supportive, and they would say, you know, you can always come home, you can always come home. And I respected that, and I definitely knew that, but I also didn't want to just give up on myself without trying. So I still don't know what the outcome is going to fully look like, but if I have to go back to the states, or if I had to go somewhere else, or if I have to pursue a different path, I will be able to do that with the confidence and the knowing that I didn't give up on myself, that I didn't self abandon this time. That's great. So we'll shift to that direction, because you haven't given up and you've made some progress onto property. So let's talk a little bit about where things are today, what's been accomplished, and, more specifically, where are you going? Because you have some really cool things on the horizon, sure. So over the last several months, you know, I when I was coming out of the isolation, this is just several months back. I, you know, before going into that, I had plans. I wanted to, you know, extend my food forest and plant more trees. And I had started clearing land, but I just sort of walked away from these projects. And so I, one day, just kind of woke up and sort of like back in 2021 or 22 with with my spiritual experience. I sort of just snapped out of it, and I started pursuing the things. I got an excavator here to finish cleaning up the land that I was clearing in order to grow more fruit trees, and I started clearing the spaces to put in additional cabins in the future. I started actively pursuing the renovations in the primary cabin here, and so all of these little things started happening simultaneously, and I started to feel encouraged again and again. It wasn't because somebody outside of me was saying, you know, do this or you've got this. I was basically being my own cheerleader and fulfilling the commitment to myself that I started, and the more I started participating in that, the the more excited I started to become for what I could actually do. You know, one of the things that I still had to accept was I I don't necessarily have all of the resources to make it look exactly how I would love it to look, but it's okay. I had to just accept that it's okay to start with the resources that I have available to me, and be patient with that and allow it to grow or expand from there that there really is not a rush into the final product. I have still many years to grow and develop into whatever it's going to now, when we had talked earlier, there was a place you made a decision for yourself, basically on the project priority with building the cabins, you know, providing for your own needs. I'd like to hear, you know, your words on what that was and how that may be shifted, or looking back on it, how that decision was the right one or the wrong one in that case, good question. So I think you know, during the time that I had that realization, I was actually in spirit birds, Shaman school, and it wasn't anything significant that I can remember that came up during any of our sessions, our week, our weekly classes. But I do remember a point where, as we started getting towards the end of the program, I credit, I credit this to just my growth and to my own personal development within. That container, I started really reflecting a lot on my situation and my what my real intention was, and what I started to recognize or admit to myself was that I was pursuing this project without consideration for myself and my own, my own well being. And so I started to really conceptualize that and accept that, and that built the framework for me accepting or realizing that I still have some underlying worthiness issues that were coming up. And why was I choosing to create something for others before I was willing to give something to myself? Because I wasn't necessarily in the most comfortable space for permanent living. And so I told you, we had, we had one free coaching call, one on, one coaching call. And so fortunately, I had saved mine, and this was the perfect opportunity to use that to have a one on one conversation with spirit bird, and we discussed it, and it felt right. She She validated what I was feeling. And so I switched the direction, and that's how I ended up building my house instead of building the retreat infrastructure. First, great, you know, in self care, especially when building something, seems to be the first thing that can go like, Yeah, I'm going to push I'm going to keep going. And really, the the resiliency and self care is probably just as important on being able to be sustainable in the long term, to finish and deliver the project. So with that, where they're standing, so you you're building out some additional cabins, and I'd like to talk a little bit about your vision and what you have coming up with your your residency and your desire for retreats, and speak to what will be available and who will really be, you know, not only welcome, but will really be served by what you've created there. The first retreat offer that I've created is called roots and realms that is going to be taking place in October of 2026 there is a 12 day version and there's an eight day version that are both up and active in my website. And roots and realms was born from a place of radical acceptance of my own human experience, because that is something that I definitely started to lose sight of. You know, it's very easy to keep to live in the clouds and to live in the in the upper chakras, whereas, you know, we tend to, a lot of us, I think, tend to ignore what's really happening in the lower realms, and that is actually the most important part. And so I started really, you know, with that permission to be human, and that sort of became the basis for the retreat roots and realms. It's all about helping people connect on a deeper, more grounded level, with within themselves, while also teaching them how to connect with spirit without losing that human connection. So let's talk a little bit about the residency. Because in addition to building the retreats, and I realize this is kind of your first opening, 2026 is really the year that all your work is coming to fruition, and you'll be starting your retreats. In addition to that, you have a residency program that you put together. Share a little bit more about what that looks like and who that would be really beneficial for. Yeah, so through, throughout the time of developing the retreat and really sort of sitting with what, what do I want this to look like, and what are, what are the possibilities here? I just started to try to be a little bit more creative with that, and that's where the residency idea sort of came, was born from. Basically, you know, I want to be able to create a space or a container for people who are needing, or in need of the support that I wished I had. And so that became sort of the groundwork for the residency program, and I'm directing this towards healers, visionaries, seekers, and even artists who are maybe feeling discouraged, or maybe they are feeling a little bit lost in their journey, or maybe lack of inspiration or creativity. You know, by doing this, I want to offer the space for them to come and live and experience the land and experience the nature, and let nature be the teacher, and let the land speak to them, but also holding space for them. Should they have things that come up? So really, it's about helping people to, you know, get the creative juices flowing again, and to do that in a in an environment that is conducive and supportive to their vision or their own mission. Great. So to. Dive into that a little bit further. What you're offering is the space in the land and available support. So in the these these residencies, the people will really have a lot of freedom and a lot of time to reflect and connect. Is that the experience that you're expecting someone would share? Yes, absolutely. So the way that I have it sort of mapped out right now would be that there would be like a weekly meeting where everybody would have, you know, just a check in, where people would have the opportunity to share something that they're creating, or something an idea that they have. And the my idea behind that would be that they could do this in real time and have real time feedback from the community. So if you were developing a program, you could talk about the nuances of your program and in real time. We might have questions that you didn't think of ahead of time. So before you launch something, you actually have feedback and ways to really patch those loose ends or re tie things before you actually put something out into production. Alright? So for healers, you know, visionaries, any creatives, this is an opportunity to come live relatively independently. There's some some agreements that you'd like to have where at least there's some weekly connection where the creativity and the mindset and the masterminding and the connection will come that is interesting from looking at it from the outside, because it sounds exactly what you wanted to create from the beginning, and actually what you needed in the beginning was that sense of community and support and collaboration. Yes, 100% 100% you know, I also noticed that there's not a lot of attention in the space after healing, you know, with the integration and the embodiment aspect, it's a very underserved space, and I feel like this type of design can help to fill that void. Yeah, but imagine, yeah, the just the ability, you know, in many healing circles, plant medicine ceremonies, you come, you have this amazing experience, and then you're dumped right back out the next day into the real world that you're trying to figure out. From my experience, and from what I've understood of yours is like that, that slowing of the pace, that reduction or elimination of the outside noise, and the ability to be in stillness and to be in thought within community, sounds tremendously powerful. So in the show notes, I'll leave all these appropriate links. But how's the best way people can contact you. The best way to contact me is either through Tiktok or my website. So when are the first residencies becoming available? Immediately following the retreat in April. So I'm looking at May to start the residency. So with the residency program, how many individuals would you be able to accommodate? The residency program can accommodate eight people. Well, Angel, I have absolutely enjoyed our time today, and I'm truly excited for what you're creating as parting notes here. Is there anything else you'd like to share with the audience? Yeah, I would just like to say that, you know, I know that I'm not alone in these experiences and this journey. And so I would just say to anybody who is feeling that, or who has ever felt alone or is confused about their direction, their path, their journey, I'm creating this space with you in mind, and I would invite you to get a hold of me through my website, get a communication going. I can tell you more about this beautiful land and the beautiful experience. You're invited. This is going to be a space for us, wonderful well Angel, thanks again. Be well and best wishes on everything that lies ahead. Thank you so much. Josh, appreciate it great. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the great things LLC podcast. If you did, be sure to share the link with this episode with your friends and share it to your social media with your biggest takeaway, tagging me at great things LLC. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. There's so much more to come. You can support me by leaving a rating and a review of the show, and that will help others to find their purpose, dream, collaborate and create their own success story until next time. This is Josh Meeder, your host, signing off.

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Josh Meeder

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