October 9, 2025 • 39 mins
🔗 Mentioned on this Episode: Show Notes 👈
What does it mean to build a scalable business that heals, not only others, but yourself in the process?
In this intimate conversation, I sit down with Dr. Danilo Mihajlovic, a psychotherapist, theologian, and founder of the Support Yourself platform. Danilo’s work is rooted in the sacred integration of Eastern Orthodox spirituality and trauma-informed psychotherapy and over the last few years, he’s guided over 1,000 clients through personal healing journeys rooted in love, truth, and deep emotional safety.
We explore the real cost of ignoring your inner voice while building a business. We talk burnout recovery for leaders, the healing power of spiritual community, embracing AI and technology with discernment, and what founders really need in seasons of transition. We also dive into family, fatherhood, emotional self-regulation, and Danilo’s move from 1:1 therapy to scalable group-based containers that honor both his purpose and his energy.
This is a powerful listen for entrepreneurs, therapists, coaches, and creators who are ready to scale with integrity, without bypassing the inner work.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danilo (00:03):
Come back to that inner feeling, or one intuition could
be also spiritual intuition orjust regular intuition, which
call them to start this whatthey are working on.
And the problem is when we uhforget that and when we focus,
you know, when that's that's oneof the wounds from childhood
when we abandon ourselves andwhen we try to meet expectations
(00:25):
of the others, of our clients,of our society, of our of
market.
And uh it's you know reallysubtle thing and uh mistake that
we make, you know, thatconstantly uh forget to come
back to ourselves.
Sheila (00:42):
Hi, welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sheila Botelho, and today Ihave the joy of welcoming a
special guest to the show.
Dr. Danilo Mihajlovic is apsychotherapist and doctor of
theology who brings together thewisdom of the Orthodox faith
with the precision ofcontemporary psychotherapy.
He's the founder of the SupportYourself platform, where he's
(01:05):
guided more than a thousandpeople on their journey toward
inner healing and discoveringtheir God-given authenticity and
purpose.
In this conversation, we'reexploring what it truly takes to
build and scale meaningful workwithout losing yourself in the
process, the patterns that canlead to burnout, the practices
(01:26):
that restore energy, and howembracing technology can
actually deepen human connectionwhen it's done with intention.
Danilo, I am so grateful you'rehere.
Welcome to the show.
Danilo (01:39):
Thank you, Shayla.
And I'm so happy to be with youbecause it's beautiful to be in
this moment and to share thisenergy that you uh have all the
time.
Sheila (01:48):
Oh, thank you.
Uh, one thing I didn't mentionin my introduction is that we
worked together previously.
Danilo was a client of mine,and it's been really, really
beautiful seeing you move yourbusiness forward, your practice
into really a global businesswhere you're now branching out
from your roots in EasternEurope to the greater
(02:11):
English-speaking market.
And so let's start at thebeginning.
You bring together Orthodoxfaith and psychotherapy in such
a powerful way.
In fact, I'd never heard ofanyone doing that.
And before we get into yourbusiness, what originally called
you into this work ofintegrating spiritual depth with
(02:32):
modern psychology?
Danilo (02:34):
Well, I think that you know, uh, all of us who are in
psychotherapy and psychology andcoaching, that's always, you
know, personal story.
It cannot be a different way.
And um, this also is a personalstory because I had really
traumatic origin family, and uhthe biggest strength in my
family was the faith.
Somehow, intuitively, uh, myparents realized that uh they
(02:59):
will have a lot of trouble, youknow, to figure out how to deal
uh with each other.
And uh the best part of theirpersonal life was the uh
Orthodox faith.
And before they uh decide to bebecome parents, they went to
the church and prayed, you know,uh to the God.
Uh they had spiritual father.
We have that um in our Orthodoxchurch, you know, you have
(03:22):
spiritual father, somebody whois um as well as the the the
word is saying father, you know,who is helping you to give a
birth to your spirit.
And they prayed, you know, thatGod who that to God to child
which they will receive to be,you know, from God to God.
So that's somehow uh that'sactually it's really good when
(03:44):
you know that you came in thisworld, you know, from this
story, uh, even though it wasreally highly traumatic in in
childhood.
So uh my first um uh beginningwas spiritual.
I felt you know that prayer anduh going to the church, but not
an informal way, you know, indeep internal feeling, you know,
(04:04):
when something or better to saysomeone touch your soul, and
then you cannot deny thatanymore.
And that that's not just onemoment, you know, that's so many
small pieces of the day, youknow, during your life.
And that's how I start uh goingand living in the church, and
then I went to uh uh high schoolfor priests, and uh then I went
(04:27):
to the theological faculty, andduring that my uh graduate
studies, I realized I was reallyinterested in you know that
correlation between spiritualityand uh our uh mind as well as
our body.
And I realized in this momentthat I'm not uh not feel called
to be the priest, even though Ihighly respect that uh you know,
(04:50):
men of cloth, but I realized Ireally enjoy in praying and in
working with the people,actually helping them to set
themselves free.
So that's how how everythingstarted.
Sheila (05:02):
Oh, I love this story.
So you've also trained with andmet teachers, a few of whom I
hold in such high regard in bothmy parenting and my coaching
work, Dr.
Gordon Neufeld and Dr.
Gabamate.
What have been some of the mostimpactful learnings that you've
gained from them?
And I'm sure there's many.
(05:22):
So, like maybe just the firstfew that come off the top of
your head.
And how have those shaped theway you support your clients and
also how you lead yourself as afounder?
Danilo (05:31):
Yeah, that's great questions.
Well, uh, first, when Ifinished this regular education
for psychotherapy, it wassystemic family psychotherapies
or systemic therapy.
I realized that talk therapy isnot enough.
You know, it's mainstream andit's classic and it's beautiful,
but there was somethingmissing, you know.
And then I, working with myclients and with myself, I
(05:53):
realized the story of emotionsand the inner part, you know, in
the body that's missing.
That's that's some somethingthat I feel I need to educate
myself more.
And then I um um come to thebook of uh When Body Says No
from Gabor Mate.
And I realized, okay, this guyis so tenting, and he is exactly
(06:14):
what I felt that I need.
And then I went to his one-yeartraining for trauma um
education to work with thetraumas, and that was the moment
when everything changed in myum understanding of myself, of
my uh origin, of my uh work withthe people, because Gabor, you
know, is a great person, and hehelped me.
(06:37):
Actually, the best thing thathe gave me was to set me free.
Somehow, you know, he helped meto um not to try to copy him or
anybody, but just to be myself.
Uh, and it's it's not just youknow some advices, it's more
like that the the relationshipthat he creates with you during
that work, and that's somethingthat helped me, you know, to
(06:58):
find inner parts.
And then I realized that uh uhGordon Newfeld, uh he was his
therapist, uh, you know, of thegovernment then helped him with
his challenges with his childrenand himself.
And then I went, you know, touh Newfeld Institute and started
learning from him, and Irealized, oh my god, how you
(07:19):
know it's possible that this guyis not so famous in the whole
world.
He's so great, great, and hefigured out so many things and
he's so modest.
So the best part from GordonNewfeld that I learned that
emotions are here with thereasons, and even though we are
not logically understand them,we need to listen to them.
You know, there is a big, youknow, low which is irrational
(07:44):
about the emotions, but thatdoesn't mean that there is no
sense.
So with Gordon Newfeld, Ilearned how to um listen
emotions and how to um even moreadjust my uh therapeutic work
and also my my uh my privatework, uh you know, my therapies.
Uh they helped me a lot.
And then I need to mention alsoum also one of the biggest the
(08:07):
biggest names uh inpsychotherapy today and
neuroscience is Alan Shore,right brain psychotherapy.
Then you know it's like thepuzzle, you know, when you come
to one checkpoint, you realizedokay, I need something more
here, and then you come to theanother, and then you find out
that the picture that you werefeeling in yourself, it's all
(08:28):
all all already there.
You just need to find somemissing part.
So that was uh the situationwith uh with me.
Sheila (08:36):
Oh, I love that.
It's so interesting.
You're so right.
It is like you go as far as youcan go, and then you realize,
oh, now I see another open gapin my knowledge or experience.
And I love that you just followthe trail, but like right at
the end, there was alwayssomeone waiting there to guide
you the rest of the way.
Danilo (08:54):
Yes, yes, that's that's the point.
And uh I realized with Gabor,uh, where where is the fear?
When I feel some fear to gosomewhere, that's the place
where I need to go.
Sheila (09:05):
Yes, I've learned that one from Gabor too.
Maybe not my favorite one inpractice, but once you get
through it, once you take thatstep, it's great.
Danilo (09:15):
Yeah, great.
That's great.
That's it's painful, reallypainful, but great.
Because then you you know openup new levels in you, and then
you realize, oh my God, it it'sso worth worthwhile of this.
Yeah.
Sheila (09:28):
Yes.
And so now you've supportedover a thousand people through
your platform.
And what would you say has beenthe most unexpected challenge
that you've faced in growingfrom like the one-on-one therapy
space into leading a largeronline movement?
Danilo (09:45):
Yeah, there is uh one book that I uh recently read.
It's uh called uh 10 times,it's bigger than two times, uh,
from um Daniel.
I forgot the last name, buthe's famous.
But the point was that when Iwas working with one-on-one, I
realized this is great, andclients, you know, having great
progress, but I felt somethingis missing out, you know.
(10:08):
And then uh after Gabor, afterBasil Wanderkolk, and other
educations, I realized well,community is missing.
We are not born to be, youknow, just alone, and every uh
uh uh wound that we have uh it'soriginated from the
relationship in the our familiesand our groups, and you know,
(10:30):
so we are um uh social beings.
And then I um start doing whatI have done, what I felt before.
I want to work in the groups, Iwant to work, you know, to
create safe community, safesmall community, and to work
with them because everybody ofthem has the part which is
healing other, you know, membersof the group, and vice versa.
(10:54):
And it was really uh not easyfor me because that means that I
need to uh leave everythingthat I developed, you know,
maybe just five percent of myclients accepted to start
working in the group.
So even though I developed, youknow, well-established practice
and I had so many clients onthe waiting list, and it was
like, no, no, no, no.
(11:15):
I I I feel it's the moment tojump.
And it was uh not easy, uh, butuh beautiful.
It's now it's so good that youknow, again our waiting list for
the groups, and uh and it'sit's magic, magical what is
happening, you know, in thosegroups.
But the I need to mention thatum the important factor for the
(11:38):
group is that everybody sharedthis uh shares same values, you
know, and in my context, it'sspiritual values.
They are Christians, most ofthem are orthodox, but also
Catholics and Protestant,evangelical, and so on.
But the point is, you know, theuh when you share the same
values and you have then thesame energy uh which you can you
(12:01):
know use during that process tomoderate the inner energy, and
then it's like I call that umatomic atomic bomb in a positive
way, you know, you have thatchain reaction of good and of
the healing process in thegroup, and you can see how that
could be multiplied andmotivated for others.
So, well, yeah, you know, it'sthat's something uh what I
(12:24):
realized it's highly important.
Sheila (12:26):
Well, and I love that it it is the the connection of so
many different people, differentparts of one particular
spiritual faith system.
And it's it sounds like everytime I hear you talking about
your experience and and howthings are going with your with
your clients, it's it soundslike it's the best of the best
in terms of the the way peopleare living out their faith.
(12:50):
Because we know life is tricky,and people coming into therapy
are coming from a variety ofbackgrounds and really
challenging experiences.
And the fact that they're metwith like a beautiful ecosystem
to heal is wonderful becauseoften, like people, so many
people, I'm sure you've heardthis many times, like any kind
of religious construct can feelvery divisive, but it sounds
(13:11):
like it's the opposite.
You're bringing people togetherand the healing, it's kind of
like Christianity in itsultimate form, like what is
really boots to the ground howit's meant to be.
That's how it feels like to me.
Danilo (13:23):
Thank you.
That's the point.
Because, you know, in in churchlife, you see that there is
one, it's most of the time thereis a theory, what we are called
to be, and who we are called tobe, and you know, practice how
that's far away from that.
And for me, it was I felt in myheart and in my church, you
know, the beauty of reality whenyou know we live like this, how
(13:44):
that could be strong, and youknow, all the uh the truth of
the faith in the Bible andwhatever, you know, as
especially Apostle Paul whenhe's talking about that of the
community and Lord Jesus Christ,when he's talking in his last
uh supper.
Um English is not my the thefirst song, so how you call that
preach.
(14:04):
The the moment when he's thesermon, yeah, sermon.
Yeah, when when he's talkingthat about all to be one, you
know, and in that one, everybodyare different, so you know
that's beautiful.
So I I felt that's the moment,and um I start working, just you
know, okay.
My idea was I will just be me,and I will just start sharing on
the Instagram uh withoutintention to bring anybody, that
(14:27):
was just you know, beginning,and then people start coming to
me with the sentences, oh mygod, you just you know, uh
you're it's like you are in myhead and in my soul, and you're
talking my words.
And I was like, Well, I'm justtrying to be in my, but it seems
that we have somethingtogether.
And you know, then people startcoming, and even though it was
(14:48):
not easy for majority of them toaccept to be the part of the
group, and they gave really goodoffers to work one-on-one, and
I told them, No, it's not aboutthe offer, it's about the uh I
know what I can uh give you ifyou trust me.
And then when they stoppedstepped in, you know, and they
didn't want to go away after aprogram, so they then uh uh all
(15:12):
of them uh you know asked me tocreate other program and other
program just to have somecontinued you know growth and
work.
And that's how I felt this isit, this is it, yeah.
Sheila (15:24):
And in doing so, and I mean obviously moving to this
more of a group focus, that'sbeen a key element to you being
able to protect your own energyas well, because we know in the
helping, you know, roles,whether it's therapists,
doctors, you know, people whoare working with people in any
regard, um, it's so easy to burnout.
(15:46):
And so, you know, you reallyaddressed earlier how you
started to recognize patterns,right?
And the pra practical shift, itsounds like you made was moving
to this group format.
And so, like, I'd love for youto share just a soundbite on
what you just came back from andsee you did this last year too,
and how it's shifted for you toreally shore up your energy to
(16:09):
serve as your best.
Danilo (16:11):
Yes, well, for me was the the key moment uh when I was
in the government uh training,um, then I decided to try to
find out some of the therapistsuh from his list because I
realized the body is you knowreally important in the work,
especially uh, and also, youknow, uh Stephen Porges,
political theory.
So all of them I realized, youknow, we are uh diminishing and
(16:34):
we are minimalizing theimportance of the body in the
process.
So I realized I need sometherapist from you know who is
also educated in that.
And that's how I find out my uhnew therapist, beautiful
person, and I just want to tellyou how I came to her uh on the
uh webpage of uh CompassionateInquiry, that's the uh Gabromate
(16:56):
uh webpage.
Um I just went to watch thefaces of the people of the
therapist, and I told I willjust pick up that for which I
find out in my heart that thatis it.
And I found Joanne, onebeautiful person, therapist, so
really experienced therapist,and I, you know, start working
with her, and later on werealized she's also a really
(17:18):
deeply um spiritual uh person,and uh we have similar life
stories, and uh I could touchyou know so many things in me,
and that's how I start havingyou know my safe place.
Uh, she helped me, you know, tocreate that on therapy with her
and also on supervision withher, but also my therapy, not to
(17:39):
burn out, you know, to comeback every time to everything
that is in me, you know, that Ineed to to stay focused to you
know keep safe uh little Danilo,little boy in me, which is you
know, learned to um be parent toall the world, but now you know
it's there is first thing thatI learned in that process.
(18:03):
You know, when they asked LordJesus Christ, you know, what is
the two biggest commandments?
And when he said second one, uhlove your neighbors like you
love yourself.
And for me, it was like, well,I I have heard that so many
times, and I'm PhD in theology,I'm teaching in university
students about you know biblicalexegesis and so on.
(18:24):
And but what is going on if Ido not know to love myself?
How I will love my neighborsand others, and what means to
love myself, but not in anegoistic way.
I I think that it's also thebig problem today in
psychotherapy and psychologythat we not realizing what that
means.
And then uh in that processwith with Jayan and you know,
(18:47):
with working with my spiritualfather, also from which is a
beautiful person, I came to thatthat you know you first really
need to love yourself in onehealthy way, and that means to
meet your painful moments and tomeet uh dark places in your
soul, you know, which is not sobeautiful, uh, but also to
(19:08):
accept that, you know, to acceptand to transform them through
the prayer and through theenergy of of um of God, and and
just after that you can start toreally or during that process,
you can start to really uh loveuh other persons as they are in
the moment, and that's justtransforming for them, you know,
(19:29):
because then they really feelthe feel loved and accepted, no
matter what is going on in yourprocess, is there you know,
going in some regression in themor whatever, because then
you're just you know you see theGod in them as well, the
picture of the God in them, andyou are just you know staying
focused on that and helping themto come back to themselves.
(19:51):
So but in that process, as youmentioned, you know, sometimes
you can really go, you know, inin um to go to burnout or or
something like that.
And it's important justconstantly to come back to you
know keep your inner inner uhpeace uh on the daily basis.
And for me, prayer is somethingthat is helping me.
There is uh one beautifultradition in our Easter Church
(20:14):
about one short meditation andprayer, it's called Jesus
Prayer, and just one sentence,which is when you are repeating
that sentence and concentratingon the words, you start focusing
your attention on the upperpart of your chests.
We call that your heart, notanatomically heart, but you
know, the center of your being.
(20:35):
And in that prayer, uh you canso deeply, you know, come to the
peace and to connect with theenergy of the God and to stay
rooted, whatever is going aroundyou, and that helping the
people, you know, that theystart become rooted in
themselves, and then we areconnected not from the effects,
(20:55):
but from uh from the authenticself.
Sheila (20:59):
And it it is so important because everyone we
are faced with on a daily basis,whether the people we live
with, the people we work with,just people we're that are out
and about, it can be challengingto really look at everyone
through that loving lens.
There's, you know, it's reallychallenging, but it's true when
we actually have self-love, whenwe can, when we can have like a
(21:24):
the you know, creator spiritcoming through us and like
allowing us to learn how to loveourselves and love among all
the parts of ourselves, it doeshelp us to love others more
easily.
It's not all is super simple,that's for sure.
But it's I think if that's ourif that's our intention, though,
to even if frankly, what hashelped me so much over the years
is just to visualize the otherperson as like a little baby,
(21:47):
right?
We were all these innocentlittle children at one point,
and then life came along and whoknows, things happened.
And so we respond.
We are often like we'reproducts of our environment.
And so what how beautiful is itwhen we actually show love to
others, how they can sometimeswarm, right?
It's like the beauty of justsmiling to a stranger, often
(22:07):
unexpected, but it's oftenyou'll get met with a smile,
right?
That's so beautiful.
Um, and so now with this work,it's it's allowed you to spend
more time the way you'vestructured things now with your
family.
You're you have two childrenand a lovely wife who's also a
doctor, and you're very, verybusy.
(22:28):
So you've made it a priority tohave protected time with your
family.
What does that look like thesedays?
Danilo (22:34):
Oh, that's beautiful because um my wife, she's an
anesthesiologist and she's umalso PhD, and she was working on
emergency center.
And uh in one moment she alsocame to that that she wants, you
know, to transform her businesslife because we want to be more
family, yeah.
And also I uh with this changeof mind, not one-on-one, but
(22:58):
working with the groups, I alsorestructured also my time and my
work at the university, and weput you know uh the biggest
emphasis of on our um familytime.
Um, and we have two beautifulboys, um, eight and six years
old, and uh we concentrate onthat how to have more time for
uh ourselves.
(23:18):
And this, for example, thisyear, uh, we organized to stay
uh two months in the Greece onthe you know um uh seaside on
the one beautiful island, and uhto work just you know, some
things which are must be done,but you know, all the time to be
together and to reproduceeverything what it's not so
urgent to be you know uh uh doneon the work, and you see then
(23:43):
difference, you know, totallydifference.
You are in the nature, not inthe city, or um if even though
if you are something writing,you are inspired, you know, you
just swim in the sea, and yourmind is you know deep in you,
and there is you know your soulconnected with the nature, and
there is also one beautifulmonastery where uh we were
(24:04):
going, you know, to the mess, wecall that liturgy or mess.
And um, it was so deep becauseuh my wife and myself we share
you know all the values andeverything, and also our
thoughts, our feelings, and whatis going on in us, and uh, you
can see then how children areconnecting to that energy
(24:24):
totally different than when it'shectic, you know, and everyday
life.
So that was beautiful.
And we're trying to have thatsmall islands during the day
when we are come back, you know,and school is starting and so
on.
Um, it's really important toremind yourself every day what
is uh priority for you, youknow.
And uh, even though if you knowso many people are wanting you
(24:47):
to work with them, that's notwhere is my uh word is, you
know.
So it's uh important to reminduh yourself what do you want in
this life, you know, and time isgoing really fast.
So we decided we want to spendwith our children and to and
that's so sometimes uh youprobably know it's harder to be
(25:12):
a good parent, good enoughparent.
Let's say uh there is noperfect parents, but good enough
parent than to be the besttherapist in the world, you
know.
Sheila (25:21):
It's I imagine so.
Yeah, it's it's like we learnthings we never knew we'd have
to learn.
Parenting is a very, veryinteresting school to join.
Yes.
Danilo (25:33):
So we uh so I realized it's you know not just about uh
getting another education or youknow, the certificate, this
something which is even deeperbecause you know it uh moves you
to your, you know, it wokes upyour child in yourself.
Uh and that's a great moment tomeet that and to change the
(25:55):
pattern.
Sheila (25:56):
Oh, yeah.
And it's so evident that yourwork that you're embodying in
your own personal life and yourfamily is very much a mirror to
what you're doing with yourclients.
And it's not about the quickfixes, but it really is just
about creating those safe spacesfor everyone to pause and
listen inwardly.
And you see the rewards thatyou're reaping.
(26:18):
I mean, goodness, like withyour clients, but also with your
kids, which is wonderful tohear about.
And, you know, as a result ofyou being able to move to more
group, um, more scalable type ofwork, you've also, this has
been really cool for me towitness how you've been
embracing tech as a way to alsopreserve your energy and extend
(26:42):
your reach.
And so, how has that stretchedyou?
I mean, going from like yourthe work that you have studied
for years for and now, okay,hello, tech.
And I just want to say, I'mreally celebrating the
supportive team you have workingwith you on this.
Danilo (26:58):
How's that?
Thank you.
That's that's that's a greatstory about that as well.
And I will be short.
When I start working in thegroups and the people who went
to my groups, they start, youknow, being friends and they're
hanging out after you know theprogram and during the program.
And I realized this is going tobe big, and I don't want to
(27:18):
have you know regular marketingagencies, don't want to have you
know regular agencies foranything.
I will just employ those whowent to my program and who um
let's say clicked and or orpicked up that spirit and they
are you know um attuned withwith this.
And then I um uh hire them.
And now they are you know uhgrowing up the this tech part
(27:43):
and others because they arereally talented for that and
their expertise, you know, inthe marketing or in the design
and so on.
And uh we have beautifulenergy, you know, it's not like
work, it's just like when it'ssomething stressed and so on, I
just remind them, okay, what wewill learn in our program.
So, you know, we checked inslowly, it will be fine, just
(28:05):
let's rooted come back toourselves, to our authentic
self, and you know, when it'sslip over, we will come to uh to
to solution.
And they're joking that theywant to print out uh the
t-shirts with I love my job, youknow, and and support yourself.
And I said, Well, yeah, becausewe you know are not trying to
(28:26):
compete with you know thiscrazy, crazy uh uh um market and
and the expectations that youknow everybody have, because I
realized why we need to be, youknow, the copy of the others
just because everybody is goingin one direction.
Um there is one sentence in mycountry, and it says, um, if
(28:47):
there is two the same person,one is uh uh how you say that in
English, uh, when there is um Ithen there is too much.
Yeah, there is too much.
If there is two two sameperson, one is too much.
So the point is, you know, weare different, and that
difference is beautiful, youknow, and let's just stay who we
(29:10):
are, and people will come.
So they helped me a lot aboutthis, and you know, they uh give
me um so many free time for myfamily because how you are
growing, of course, you know,you have more resources that you
can invest, and when you caninvest in the people who are
great in what they do, and alsowho had share your values and
(29:30):
the energy, then it's reallylike one big family, you know,
which is growing up.
And I just need to say thatit's uh personal, but I think
it's important.
You picked up that um when youmentioned when I was a child,
you know, my biggest wish was touh create a family which will
be happy and it's in which everymember will enjoy and grow.
(29:52):
And we, my wife and me, wecreated that and we really
enjoyed our family, but evenmore.
I created the family of the,you know, the people who are
coming to those groups and theybecome, you know, a spiritual
family, really uh spiritualfamily.
So yeah, I I think that's whenuh when you're working on your
(30:13):
wounds, your wound can become agreat source of beautiful
energy, uh healing for others.
Sheila (30:20):
Absolutely.
I completely agree.
It's it's really wonderful whenyou actually see the effects
over time and the changeshappening in the people's lives,
like who they come to you oneway and they leave and they're
impacting other people's lives.
It's really a ripple effectthat you're part of creating.
And and I think about thepeople coming to you.
(30:44):
Um, I'm sure you have like alltypes of individuals from
different backgrounds, differentemployment, all of that kind of
stuff, business owners.
If you were to sit in front ofan entrepreneur who's running
their business during this timein the world where we are we
have so much coming at us, somany new things, you know, the
(31:06):
economy shifting all the things.
What would you say to them interms of like a compassionate
word for how they can approachthis time while being able to
embrace the technology, but notlosing themselves in the
process?
Danilo (31:21):
Yeah, that's really good and hard question.
Well, I will I would call themto uh come back to their root in
the meaning, uh, to come backto that inner feeling or one
intuition could be alsospiritual intuition or just
regular intuition, which callthem to start this, what they
are working.
So, because for sure, you know,they felt some meaning and some
(31:44):
call in whatever they aredoing.
And the problem is when we uhforget that and when we focus,
you know, when um that's that'sone of the wounds from childhood
when we abandon ourselves andwhen we try to meet expectations
of the others, of our clients,of our society, of our of
market.
And uh it's you know, reallysubtle thing and uh mistake that
(32:08):
we make, you know, thatconstantly uh forget to come
back to ourselves.
And the point is, as much asyou are going toward others,
that's beautiful, but don'tleave yourself in that process.
You cannot go.
There is the beautiful sentenceof my therapist, don't go with
your without your legs.
So don't go without your legsmeans you know don't uh don't go
(32:31):
in your head just to meeteverybody if you're not if you
are staying here and in yourhead just trying to to to meet
everybody, it's not going to begood because you know you are
deepening uh the wound, uhleaving yourself and abandoning
some of the parts of yourself,and then for sure you cannot
achieve that.
(32:51):
So the point would be just comeback to the roots.
You know, it's not so hard.
Just remind you, remindyourself uh what I felt uh when
I uh started with this, why Istarted with why I struggled so
much to achieve this, and wherewhere is that part in me?
And just on this sentence, uh Iwould call them uh as Gabor
(33:14):
called it, just shortly check inyourself which part of your
body is resonating with this.
And that must not be somethingbig, it could be just some
strange energy in the chest, orsome you know, um energy in your
stomach, belly, on your on yourarms, or maybe some pressure in
(33:35):
your eyes, as uh tears,whatever.
Just stay with that for awhile, and just you know, uh be
curious about that, not to thinkabout that, just notice and
look what will happen with timestaying with this sensation in
my body because the wisdom ofthe body is something which is
(33:56):
underestimated, and uh as beaubeautifully um said that Bezil
Wonder Kolk, um body keeps thescore, you know, the great book.
And just come back to yourbody, body will tell you help
you to remind, you know, thatinner uh call, and also maybe
you will feel the tiredness,maybe you will feel you know
(34:17):
some um pain, maybe you willfeel some peace.
Whatever is there, just staywith that, be a while with that,
and you will see howspontaneously it will roll up.
Sheila (34:29):
So everyone just got an example of often what would
happen on our coaching callstogether.
Um, I would get so much valuefrom you.
Um, just being able to, likewe're diving into things, and
I'm always every singleconversation, I learn something
new from you.
The work you do is sobeautiful.
(34:49):
And I love how you say in yourbio, every person is free,
unrepeatable, and worthy oflove.
And that's how you make usfeel, I think probably everyone
who meets you, because there'sthat you have that connection
and it you can tell it's justcoming from within yourself,
from your experience and fromthe way that you've been
(35:10):
positively impacted by yourfaith and your work personally.
So thank you for doing what youdo.
And I look forward to seeing itspread far and wide across the
English-speaking market.
Danilo (35:21):
Yeah, thank you for your energy and you helped me a lot
when we were working togetherbecause uh, you know, it's not
even even though if you're atherapist, uh psychotherapist,
it's not easy, you know, everytime to uh to deal with the
amount of the job or to, youknow, to because it's totally
different uh industry, you know,entrepreneurship and and
(35:41):
everything there, you know, howto um to realize what is
important, what is not.
So you helped me a lot uh inthis in that part uh in our
sessions uh to uh to simplifythings, you know.
For example, just with my uhthis called today newsletter,
but I have a letter of support,that's how I call that.
(36:03):
Just you know, when you help mewith some, it sounds like
simple advice, but that helpedme so much, and people are love
that so much.
And then I realized, oh my god,Shayla is really right.
It just needs to be simple, youknow.
It's must not be some big, youknow.
It's it's sometimes, you know,we are in our head having so
many, you know, I don't know,knowledge or ideas, and we we
(36:25):
want to share, you know,everything, but it's not
something that is needed.
So thank you.
You really helped me to um tochange my relationship towards
uh my um organization of thebusiness, let's say like that.
Sheila (36:38):
Oh, I'm happy to hear it.
And yes, it's going fromacademia, and you know, you're
teaching at seminar, you're youknow, PhD.
It's like, okay, let's justkeep it a short, simple email.
But really, it is like kind oflike these snippets that people
will be able to return to inthis conversation we've had.
Like one snippet is like abeautiful way to add value to
(36:59):
your to your clients in an emailor in any any form like social
media or something.
So it's really cool to see youdoing that.
And I would love for people tofollow you.
And so please tell them wherethey can find you to stay on the
journey with you.
Danilo (37:13):
Yeah, thank you.
Uh well, uh, I'm starting onLinkedIn recently.
I started my page because themajority actually, until now,
everything was in my local uhmother language.
It's Serbian language, and onInstagram I have a lot of
followers, but it's in Serbianlanguage.
Uh, so on LinkedIn for now inLinkedIn, and I'm now preparing,
start preparing my own uh webpage, which we also will be
(37:36):
including uh which which willinclude English, and uh in some
moment I hope it will be uh openup for the groups in English
language.
People are also asking me forto start that, but then I need
to, you know, create all videosthat I created, and that's
interesting story, maybe some uhsome other time how they
spontaneously came to the thelife.
Uh but for now on the LinkedIn.
(37:57):
For now on the LinkedIn.
Sheila (37:58):
Wonderful.
Well, I will have this linkedin the show notes for people to
grab that, or if this is onYouTube, you'll see it in the
description below.
Danilo, it has been a pleasureand an honor having you here
today.
Thank you for sharing yourstory and sharing the wisdom
that I think all of us and allthe founders and entrepreneurs
and people who are building thisthing that is this vision in
(38:20):
their mind and taking it fromtheir mind out into the global
marketplace, that they can havesome sense of peace as they move
through that process.
Danilo (38:29):
Uh, I'm happy that you see some contribution that I
made to you.
So the the point is that just Ijust try to share my energy.
And I think that's enough.
That's enough.
If we're just sharing ourenergy, it's healing by itself,
you know, because there isbeautiful energy in every
person, just it's needed to finda way to come to that.
Sheila (38:48):
Absolutely.
And I'm so thankful foreveryone listening.
Please go on over to the shownotes and follow Danilo.
And we'd love to hear, you canalso find and follow my links in
there too.
Let us know what were a coupleof the bullet points you heard
today that really landed withyou that maybe you hadn't
thought of before.
(39:09):
And we'd love to hear how it'sgoing for you as you continue on
your journey.
Thank you so much forlistening, and we will see you
on another episode.
Come back to that inner feeling, or one intuition could
be also spiritual intuition orjust regular intuition, which
call them to start this whatthey are working on.
And the problem is when we uhforget that and when we focus,
you know, when that's that's oneof the wounds from childhood
when we abandon ourselves andwhen we try to meet expectations
(00:25):
of the others, of our clients,of our society, of our of
market.
And uh it's you know reallysubtle thing and uh mistake that
we make, you know, thatconstantly uh forget to come
back to ourselves.
Sheila (00:42):
Hi, welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sheila Botelho, and today Ihave the joy of welcoming a
special guest to the show.
Dr. Danilo Mihajlovic is apsychotherapist and doctor of
theology who brings together thewisdom of the Orthodox faith
with the precision ofcontemporary psychotherapy.
He's the founder of the SupportYourself platform, where he's
(01:05):
guided more than a thousandpeople on their journey toward
inner healing and discoveringtheir God-given authenticity and
purpose.
In this conversation, we'reexploring what it truly takes to
build and scale meaningful workwithout losing yourself in the
process, the patterns that canlead to burnout, the practices
(01:26):
that restore energy, and howembracing technology can
actually deepen human connectionwhen it's done with intention.
Danilo, I am so grateful you'rehere.
Welcome to the show.
Danilo (01:39):
Thank you, Shayla.
And I'm so happy to be with youbecause it's beautiful to be in
this moment and to share thisenergy that you uh have all the
time.
Sheila (01:48):
Oh, thank you.
Uh, one thing I didn't mentionin my introduction is that we
worked together previously.
Danilo was a client of mine,and it's been really, really
beautiful seeing you move yourbusiness forward, your practice
into really a global businesswhere you're now branching out
from your roots in EasternEurope to the greater
(02:11):
English-speaking market.
And so let's start at thebeginning.
You bring together Orthodoxfaith and psychotherapy in such
a powerful way.
In fact, I'd never heard ofanyone doing that.
And before we get into yourbusiness, what originally called
you into this work ofintegrating spiritual depth with
(02:32):
modern psychology?
Danilo (02:34):
Well, I think that you know, uh, all of us who are in
psychotherapy and psychology andcoaching, that's always, you
know, personal story.
It cannot be a different way.
And um, this also is a personalstory because I had really
traumatic origin family, and uhthe biggest strength in my
family was the faith.
Somehow, intuitively, uh, myparents realized that uh they
(02:59):
will have a lot of trouble, youknow, to figure out how to deal
uh with each other.
And uh the best part of theirpersonal life was the uh
Orthodox faith.
And before they uh decide to bebecome parents, they went to
the church and prayed, you know,uh to the God.
Uh they had spiritual father.
We have that um in our Orthodoxchurch, you know, you have
(03:22):
spiritual father, somebody whois um as well as the the the
word is saying father, you know,who is helping you to give a
birth to your spirit.
And they prayed, you know, thatGod who that to God to child
which they will receive to be,you know, from God to God.
So that's somehow uh that'sactually it's really good when
(03:44):
you know that you came in thisworld, you know, from this
story, uh, even though it wasreally highly traumatic in in
childhood.
So uh my first um uh beginningwas spiritual.
I felt you know that prayer anduh going to the church, but not
an informal way, you know, indeep internal feeling, you know,
(04:04):
when something or better to saysomeone touch your soul, and
then you cannot deny thatanymore.
And that that's not just onemoment, you know, that's so many
small pieces of the day, youknow, during your life.
And that's how I start uh goingand living in the church, and
then I went to uh uh high schoolfor priests, and uh then I went
(04:27):
to the theological faculty, andduring that my uh graduate
studies, I realized I was reallyinterested in you know that
correlation between spiritualityand uh our uh mind as well as
our body.
And I realized in this momentthat I'm not uh not feel called
to be the priest, even though Ihighly respect that uh you know,
(04:50):
men of cloth, but I realized Ireally enjoy in praying and in
working with the people,actually helping them to set
themselves free.
So that's how how everythingstarted.
Sheila (05:02):
Oh, I love this story.
So you've also trained with andmet teachers, a few of whom I
hold in such high regard in bothmy parenting and my coaching
work, Dr.
Gordon Neufeld and Dr.
Gabamate.
What have been some of the mostimpactful learnings that you've
gained from them?
And I'm sure there's many.
(05:22):
So, like maybe just the firstfew that come off the top of
your head.
And how have those shaped theway you support your clients and
also how you lead yourself as afounder?
Danilo (05:31):
Yeah, that's great questions.
Well, uh, first, when Ifinished this regular education
for psychotherapy, it wassystemic family psychotherapies
or systemic therapy.
I realized that talk therapy isnot enough.
You know, it's mainstream andit's classic and it's beautiful,
but there was somethingmissing, you know.
And then I, working with myclients and with myself, I
(05:53):
realized the story of emotionsand the inner part, you know, in
the body that's missing.
That's that's some somethingthat I feel I need to educate
myself more.
And then I um um come to thebook of uh When Body Says No
from Gabor Mate.
And I realized, okay, this guyis so tenting, and he is exactly
(06:14):
what I felt that I need.
And then I went to his one-yeartraining for trauma um
education to work with thetraumas, and that was the moment
when everything changed in myum understanding of myself, of
my uh origin, of my uh work withthe people, because Gabor, you
know, is a great person, and hehelped me.
(06:37):
Actually, the best thing thathe gave me was to set me free.
Somehow, you know, he helped meto um not to try to copy him or
anybody, but just to be myself.
Uh, and it's it's not just youknow some advices, it's more
like that the the relationshipthat he creates with you during
that work, and that's somethingthat helped me, you know, to
(06:58):
find inner parts.
And then I realized that uh uhGordon Newfeld, uh he was his
therapist, uh, you know, of thegovernment then helped him with
his challenges with his childrenand himself.
And then I went, you know, touh Newfeld Institute and started
learning from him, and Irealized, oh my god, how you
(07:19):
know it's possible that this guyis not so famous in the whole
world.
He's so great, great, and hefigured out so many things and
he's so modest.
So the best part from GordonNewfeld that I learned that
emotions are here with thereasons, and even though we are
not logically understand them,we need to listen to them.
You know, there is a big, youknow, low which is irrational
(07:44):
about the emotions, but thatdoesn't mean that there is no
sense.
So with Gordon Newfeld, Ilearned how to um listen
emotions and how to um even moreadjust my uh therapeutic work
and also my my uh my privatework, uh you know, my therapies.
Uh they helped me a lot.
And then I need to mention alsoum also one of the biggest the
(08:07):
biggest names uh inpsychotherapy today and
neuroscience is Alan Shore,right brain psychotherapy.
Then you know it's like thepuzzle, you know, when you come
to one checkpoint, you realizedokay, I need something more
here, and then you come to theanother, and then you find out
that the picture that you werefeeling in yourself, it's all
(08:28):
all all already there.
You just need to find somemissing part.
So that was uh the situationwith uh with me.
Sheila (08:36):
Oh, I love that.
It's so interesting.
You're so right.
It is like you go as far as youcan go, and then you realize,
oh, now I see another open gapin my knowledge or experience.
And I love that you just followthe trail, but like right at
the end, there was alwayssomeone waiting there to guide
you the rest of the way.
Danilo (08:54):
Yes, yes, that's that's the point.
And uh I realized with Gabor,uh, where where is the fear?
When I feel some fear to gosomewhere, that's the place
where I need to go.
Sheila (09:05):
Yes, I've learned that one from Gabor too.
Maybe not my favorite one inpractice, but once you get
through it, once you take thatstep, it's great.
Danilo (09:15):
Yeah, great.
That's great.
That's it's painful, reallypainful, but great.
Because then you you know openup new levels in you, and then
you realize, oh my God, it it'sso worth worthwhile of this.
Yeah.
Sheila (09:28):
Yes.
And so now you've supportedover a thousand people through
your platform.
And what would you say has beenthe most unexpected challenge
that you've faced in growingfrom like the one-on-one therapy
space into leading a largeronline movement?
Danilo (09:45):
Yeah, there is uh one book that I uh recently read.
It's uh called uh 10 times,it's bigger than two times, uh,
from um Daniel.
I forgot the last name, buthe's famous.
But the point was that when Iwas working with one-on-one, I
realized this is great, andclients, you know, having great
progress, but I felt somethingis missing out, you know.
(10:08):
And then uh after Gabor, afterBasil Wanderkolk, and other
educations, I realized well,community is missing.
We are not born to be, youknow, just alone, and every uh
uh uh wound that we have uh it'soriginated from the
relationship in the our familiesand our groups, and you know,
(10:30):
so we are um uh social beings.
And then I um start doing whatI have done, what I felt before.
I want to work in the groups, Iwant to work, you know, to
create safe community, safesmall community, and to work
with them because everybody ofthem has the part which is
healing other, you know, membersof the group, and vice versa.
(10:54):
And it was really uh not easyfor me because that means that I
need to uh leave everythingthat I developed, you know,
maybe just five percent of myclients accepted to start
working in the group.
So even though I developed, youknow, well-established practice
and I had so many clients onthe waiting list, and it was
like, no, no, no, no.
(11:15):
I I I feel it's the moment tojump.
And it was uh not easy, uh, butuh beautiful.
It's now it's so good that youknow, again our waiting list for
the groups, and uh and it'sit's magic, magical what is
happening, you know, in thosegroups.
But the I need to mention thatum the important factor for the
(11:38):
group is that everybody sharedthis uh shares same values, you
know, and in my context, it'sspiritual values.
They are Christians, most ofthem are orthodox, but also
Catholics and Protestant,evangelical, and so on.
But the point is, you know, theuh when you share the same
values and you have then thesame energy uh which you can you
(12:01):
know use during that process tomoderate the inner energy, and
then it's like I call that umatomic atomic bomb in a positive
way, you know, you have thatchain reaction of good and of
the healing process in thegroup, and you can see how that
could be multiplied andmotivated for others.
So, well, yeah, you know, it'sthat's something uh what I
(12:24):
realized it's highly important.
Sheila (12:26):
Well, and I love that it it is the the connection of so
many different people, differentparts of one particular
spiritual faith system.
And it's it sounds like everytime I hear you talking about
your experience and and howthings are going with your with
your clients, it's it soundslike it's the best of the best
in terms of the the way peopleare living out their faith.
(12:50):
Because we know life is tricky,and people coming into therapy
are coming from a variety ofbackgrounds and really
challenging experiences.
And the fact that they're metwith like a beautiful ecosystem
to heal is wonderful becauseoften, like people, so many
people, I'm sure you've heardthis many times, like any kind
of religious construct can feelvery divisive, but it sounds
(13:11):
like it's the opposite.
You're bringing people togetherand the healing, it's kind of
like Christianity in itsultimate form, like what is
really boots to the ground howit's meant to be.
That's how it feels like to me.
Danilo (13:23):
Thank you.
That's the point.
Because, you know, in in churchlife, you see that there is
one, it's most of the time thereis a theory, what we are called
to be, and who we are called tobe, and you know, practice how
that's far away from that.
And for me, it was I felt in myheart and in my church, you
know, the beauty of reality whenyou know we live like this, how
(13:44):
that could be strong, and youknow, all the uh the truth of
the faith in the Bible andwhatever, you know, as
especially Apostle Paul whenhe's talking about that of the
community and Lord Jesus Christ,when he's talking in his last
uh supper.
Um English is not my the thefirst song, so how you call that
preach.
(14:04):
The the moment when he's thesermon, yeah, sermon.
Yeah, when when he's talkingthat about all to be one, you
know, and in that one, everybodyare different, so you know
that's beautiful.
So I I felt that's the moment,and um I start working, just you
know, okay.
My idea was I will just be me,and I will just start sharing on
the Instagram uh withoutintention to bring anybody, that
(14:27):
was just you know, beginning,and then people start coming to
me with the sentences, oh mygod, you just you know, uh
you're it's like you are in myhead and in my soul, and you're
talking my words.
And I was like, Well, I'm justtrying to be in my, but it seems
that we have somethingtogether.
And you know, then people startcoming, and even though it was
(14:48):
not easy for majority of them toaccept to be the part of the
group, and they gave really goodoffers to work one-on-one, and
I told them, No, it's not aboutthe offer, it's about the uh I
know what I can uh give you ifyou trust me.
And then when they stoppedstepped in, you know, and they
didn't want to go away after aprogram, so they then uh uh all
(15:12):
of them uh you know asked me tocreate other program and other
program just to have somecontinued you know growth and
work.
And that's how I felt this isit, this is it, yeah.
Sheila (15:24):
And in doing so, and I mean obviously moving to this
more of a group focus, that'sbeen a key element to you being
able to protect your own energyas well, because we know in the
helping, you know, roles,whether it's therapists,
doctors, you know, people whoare working with people in any
regard, um, it's so easy to burnout.
(15:46):
And so, you know, you reallyaddressed earlier how you
started to recognize patterns,right?
And the pra practical shift, itsounds like you made was moving
to this group format.
And so, like, I'd love for youto share just a soundbite on
what you just came back from andsee you did this last year too,
and how it's shifted for you toreally shore up your energy to
(16:09):
serve as your best.
Danilo (16:11):
Yes, well, for me was the the key moment uh when I was
in the government uh training,um, then I decided to try to
find out some of the therapistsuh from his list because I
realized the body is you knowreally important in the work,
especially uh, and also, youknow, uh Stephen Porges,
political theory.
So all of them I realized, youknow, we are uh diminishing and
(16:34):
we are minimalizing theimportance of the body in the
process.
So I realized I need sometherapist from you know who is
also educated in that.
And that's how I find out my uhnew therapist, beautiful
person, and I just want to tellyou how I came to her uh on the
uh webpage of uh CompassionateInquiry, that's the uh Gabromate
(16:56):
uh webpage.
Um I just went to watch thefaces of the people of the
therapist, and I told I willjust pick up that for which I
find out in my heart that thatis it.
And I found Joanne, onebeautiful person, therapist, so
really experienced therapist,and I, you know, start working
with her, and later on werealized she's also a really
(17:18):
deeply um spiritual uh person,and uh we have similar life
stories, and uh I could touchyou know so many things in me,
and that's how I start havingyou know my safe place.
Uh, she helped me, you know, tocreate that on therapy with her
and also on supervision withher, but also my therapy, not to
(17:39):
burn out, you know, to comeback every time to everything
that is in me, you know, that Ineed to to stay focused to you
know keep safe uh little Danilo,little boy in me, which is you
know, learned to um be parent toall the world, but now you know
it's there is first thing thatI learned in that process.
(18:03):
You know, when they asked LordJesus Christ, you know, what is
the two biggest commandments?
And when he said second one, uhlove your neighbors like you
love yourself.
And for me, it was like, well,I I have heard that so many
times, and I'm PhD in theology,I'm teaching in university
students about you know biblicalexegesis and so on.
(18:24):
And but what is going on if Ido not know to love myself?
How I will love my neighborsand others, and what means to
love myself, but not in anegoistic way.
I I think that it's also thebig problem today in
psychotherapy and psychologythat we not realizing what that
means.
And then uh in that processwith with Jayan and you know,
(18:47):
with working with my spiritualfather, also from which is a
beautiful person, I came to thatthat you know you first really
need to love yourself in onehealthy way, and that means to
meet your painful moments and tomeet uh dark places in your
soul, you know, which is not sobeautiful, uh, but also to
(19:08):
accept that, you know, to acceptand to transform them through
the prayer and through theenergy of of um of God, and and
just after that you can start toreally or during that process,
you can start to really uh loveuh other persons as they are in
the moment, and that's justtransforming for them, you know,
(19:29):
because then they really feelthe feel loved and accepted, no
matter what is going on in yourprocess, is there you know,
going in some regression in themor whatever, because then
you're just you know you see theGod in them as well, the
picture of the God in them, andyou are just you know staying
focused on that and helping themto come back to themselves.
(19:51):
So but in that process, as youmentioned, you know, sometimes
you can really go, you know, inin um to go to burnout or or
something like that.
And it's important justconstantly to come back to you
know keep your inner inner uhpeace uh on the daily basis.
And for me, prayer is somethingthat is helping me.
There is uh one beautifultradition in our Easter Church
(20:14):
about one short meditation andprayer, it's called Jesus
Prayer, and just one sentence,which is when you are repeating
that sentence and concentratingon the words, you start focusing
your attention on the upperpart of your chests.
We call that your heart, notanatomically heart, but you
know, the center of your being.
(20:35):
And in that prayer, uh you canso deeply, you know, come to the
peace and to connect with theenergy of the God and to stay
rooted, whatever is going aroundyou, and that helping the
people, you know, that theystart become rooted in
themselves, and then we areconnected not from the effects,
(20:55):
but from uh from the authenticself.
Sheila (20:59):
And it it is so important because everyone we
are faced with on a daily basis,whether the people we live
with, the people we work with,just people we're that are out
and about, it can be challengingto really look at everyone
through that loving lens.
There's, you know, it's reallychallenging, but it's true when
we actually have self-love, whenwe can, when we can have like a
(21:24):
the you know, creator spiritcoming through us and like
allowing us to learn how to loveourselves and love among all
the parts of ourselves, it doeshelp us to love others more
easily.
It's not all is super simple,that's for sure.
But it's I think if that's ourif that's our intention, though,
to even if frankly, what hashelped me so much over the years
is just to visualize the otherperson as like a little baby,
(21:47):
right?
We were all these innocentlittle children at one point,
and then life came along and whoknows, things happened.
And so we respond.
We are often like we'reproducts of our environment.
And so what how beautiful is itwhen we actually show love to
others, how they can sometimeswarm, right?
It's like the beauty of justsmiling to a stranger, often
(22:07):
unexpected, but it's oftenyou'll get met with a smile,
right?
That's so beautiful.
Um, and so now with this work,it's it's allowed you to spend
more time the way you'vestructured things now with your
family.
You're you have two childrenand a lovely wife who's also a
doctor, and you're very, verybusy.
(22:28):
So you've made it a priority tohave protected time with your
family.
What does that look like thesedays?
Danilo (22:34):
Oh, that's beautiful because um my wife, she's an
anesthesiologist and she's umalso PhD, and she was working on
emergency center.
And uh in one moment she alsocame to that that she wants, you
know, to transform her businesslife because we want to be more
family, yeah.
And also I uh with this changeof mind, not one-on-one, but
(22:58):
working with the groups, I alsorestructured also my time and my
work at the university, and weput you know uh the biggest
emphasis of on our um familytime.
Um, and we have two beautifulboys, um, eight and six years
old, and uh we concentrate onthat how to have more time for
uh ourselves.
(23:18):
And this, for example, thisyear, uh, we organized to stay
uh two months in the Greece onthe you know um uh seaside on
the one beautiful island, and uhto work just you know, some
things which are must be done,but you know, all the time to be
together and to reproduceeverything what it's not so
urgent to be you know uh uh doneon the work, and you see then
(23:43):
difference, you know, totallydifference.
You are in the nature, not inthe city, or um if even though
if you are something writing,you are inspired, you know, you
just swim in the sea, and yourmind is you know deep in you,
and there is you know your soulconnected with the nature, and
there is also one beautifulmonastery where uh we were
(24:04):
going, you know, to the mess, wecall that liturgy or mess.
And um, it was so deep becauseuh my wife and myself we share
you know all the values andeverything, and also our
thoughts, our feelings, and whatis going on in us, and uh, you
can see then how children areconnecting to that energy
(24:24):
totally different than when it'shectic, you know, and everyday
life.
So that was beautiful.
And we're trying to have thatsmall islands during the day
when we are come back, you know,and school is starting and so
on.
Um, it's really important toremind yourself every day what
is uh priority for you, youknow.
And uh, even though if you knowso many people are wanting you
(24:47):
to work with them, that's notwhere is my uh word is, you
know.
So it's uh important to reminduh yourself what do you want in
this life, you know, and time isgoing really fast.
So we decided we want to spendwith our children and to and
that's so sometimes uh youprobably know it's harder to be
(25:12):
a good parent, good enoughparent.
Let's say uh there is noperfect parents, but good enough
parent than to be the besttherapist in the world, you
know.
Sheila (25:21):
It's I imagine so.
Yeah, it's it's like we learnthings we never knew we'd have
to learn.
Parenting is a very, veryinteresting school to join.
Yes.
Danilo (25:33):
So we uh so I realized it's you know not just about uh
getting another education or youknow, the certificate, this
something which is even deeperbecause you know it uh moves you
to your, you know, it wokes upyour child in yourself.
Uh and that's a great moment tomeet that and to change the
(25:55):
pattern.
Sheila (25:56):
Oh, yeah.
And it's so evident that yourwork that you're embodying in
your own personal life and yourfamily is very much a mirror to
what you're doing with yourclients.
And it's not about the quickfixes, but it really is just
about creating those safe spacesfor everyone to pause and
listen inwardly.
And you see the rewards thatyou're reaping.
(26:18):
I mean, goodness, like withyour clients, but also with your
kids, which is wonderful tohear about.
And, you know, as a result ofyou being able to move to more
group, um, more scalable type ofwork, you've also, this has
been really cool for me towitness how you've been
embracing tech as a way to alsopreserve your energy and extend
(26:42):
your reach.
And so, how has that stretchedyou?
I mean, going from like yourthe work that you have studied
for years for and now, okay,hello, tech.
And I just want to say, I'mreally celebrating the
supportive team you have workingwith you on this.
Danilo (26:58):
How's that?
Thank you.
That's that's that's a greatstory about that as well.
And I will be short.
When I start working in thegroups and the people who went
to my groups, they start, youknow, being friends and they're
hanging out after you know theprogram and during the program.
And I realized this is going tobe big, and I don't want to
(27:18):
have you know regular marketingagencies, don't want to have you
know regular agencies foranything.
I will just employ those whowent to my program and who um
let's say clicked and or orpicked up that spirit and they
are you know um attuned withwith this.
And then I um uh hire them.
And now they are you know uhgrowing up the this tech part
(27:43):
and others because they arereally talented for that and
their expertise, you know, inthe marketing or in the design
and so on.
And uh we have beautifulenergy, you know, it's not like
work, it's just like when it'ssomething stressed and so on, I
just remind them, okay, what wewill learn in our program.
So, you know, we checked inslowly, it will be fine, just
(28:05):
let's rooted come back toourselves, to our authentic
self, and you know, when it'sslip over, we will come to uh to
to solution.
And they're joking that theywant to print out uh the
t-shirts with I love my job, youknow, and and support yourself.
And I said, Well, yeah, becausewe you know are not trying to
(28:26):
compete with you know thiscrazy, crazy uh uh um market and
and the expectations that youknow everybody have, because I
realized why we need to be, youknow, the copy of the others
just because everybody is goingin one direction.
Um there is one sentence in mycountry, and it says, um, if
(28:47):
there is two the same person,one is uh uh how you say that in
English, uh, when there is um Ithen there is too much.
Yeah, there is too much.
If there is two two sameperson, one is too much.
So the point is, you know, weare different, and that
difference is beautiful, youknow, and let's just stay who we
(29:10):
are, and people will come.
So they helped me a lot aboutthis, and you know, they uh give
me um so many free time for myfamily because how you are
growing, of course, you know,you have more resources that you
can invest, and when you caninvest in the people who are
great in what they do, and alsowho had share your values and
(29:30):
the energy, then it's reallylike one big family, you know,
which is growing up.
And I just need to say thatit's uh personal, but I think
it's important.
You picked up that um when youmentioned when I was a child,
you know, my biggest wish was touh create a family which will
be happy and it's in which everymember will enjoy and grow.
(29:52):
And we, my wife and me, wecreated that and we really
enjoyed our family, but evenmore.
I created the family of the,you know, the people who are
coming to those groups and theybecome, you know, a spiritual
family, really uh spiritualfamily.
So yeah, I I think that's whenuh when you're working on your
(30:13):
wounds, your wound can become agreat source of beautiful
energy, uh healing for others.
Sheila (30:20):
Absolutely.
I completely agree.
It's it's really wonderful whenyou actually see the effects
over time and the changeshappening in the people's lives,
like who they come to you oneway and they leave and they're
impacting other people's lives.
It's really a ripple effectthat you're part of creating.
And and I think about thepeople coming to you.
(30:44):
Um, I'm sure you have like alltypes of individuals from
different backgrounds, differentemployment, all of that kind of
stuff, business owners.
If you were to sit in front ofan entrepreneur who's running
their business during this timein the world where we are we
have so much coming at us, somany new things, you know, the
(31:06):
economy shifting all the things.
What would you say to them interms of like a compassionate
word for how they can approachthis time while being able to
embrace the technology, but notlosing themselves in the
process?
Danilo (31:21):
Yeah, that's really good and hard question.
Well, I will I would call themto uh come back to their root in
the meaning, uh, to come backto that inner feeling or one
intuition could be alsospiritual intuition or just
regular intuition, which callthem to start this, what they
are working.
So, because for sure, you know,they felt some meaning and some
(31:44):
call in whatever they aredoing.
And the problem is when we uhforget that and when we focus,
you know, when um that's that'sone of the wounds from childhood
when we abandon ourselves andwhen we try to meet expectations
of the others, of our clients,of our society, of our of
market.
And uh it's you know, reallysubtle thing and uh mistake that
(32:08):
we make, you know, thatconstantly uh forget to come
back to ourselves.
And the point is, as much asyou are going toward others,
that's beautiful, but don'tleave yourself in that process.
You cannot go.
There is the beautiful sentenceof my therapist, don't go with
your without your legs.
So don't go without your legsmeans you know don't uh don't go
(32:31):
in your head just to meeteverybody if you're not if you
are staying here and in yourhead just trying to to to meet
everybody, it's not going to begood because you know you are
deepening uh the wound, uhleaving yourself and abandoning
some of the parts of yourself,and then for sure you cannot
achieve that.
(32:51):
So the point would be just comeback to the roots.
You know, it's not so hard.
Just remind you, remindyourself uh what I felt uh when
I uh started with this, why Istarted with why I struggled so
much to achieve this, and wherewhere is that part in me?
And just on this sentence, uh Iwould call them uh as Gabor
(33:14):
called it, just shortly check inyourself which part of your
body is resonating with this.
And that must not be somethingbig, it could be just some
strange energy in the chest, orsome you know, um energy in your
stomach, belly, on your on yourarms, or maybe some pressure in
(33:35):
your eyes, as uh tears,whatever.
Just stay with that for awhile, and just you know, uh be
curious about that, not to thinkabout that, just notice and
look what will happen with timestaying with this sensation in
my body because the wisdom ofthe body is something which is
(33:56):
underestimated, and uh as beaubeautifully um said that Bezil
Wonder Kolk, um body keeps thescore, you know, the great book.
And just come back to yourbody, body will tell you help
you to remind, you know, thatinner uh call, and also maybe
you will feel the tiredness,maybe you will feel you know
(34:17):
some um pain, maybe you willfeel some peace.
Whatever is there, just staywith that, be a while with that,
and you will see howspontaneously it will roll up.
Sheila (34:29):
So everyone just got an example of often what would
happen on our coaching callstogether.
Um, I would get so much valuefrom you.
Um, just being able to, likewe're diving into things, and
I'm always every singleconversation, I learn something
new from you.
The work you do is sobeautiful.
(34:49):
And I love how you say in yourbio, every person is free,
unrepeatable, and worthy oflove.
And that's how you make usfeel, I think probably everyone
who meets you, because there'sthat you have that connection
and it you can tell it's justcoming from within yourself,
from your experience and fromthe way that you've been
(35:10):
positively impacted by yourfaith and your work personally.
So thank you for doing what youdo.
And I look forward to seeing itspread far and wide across the
English-speaking market.
Danilo (35:21):
Yeah, thank you for your energy and you helped me a lot
when we were working togetherbecause uh, you know, it's not
even even though if you're atherapist, uh psychotherapist,
it's not easy, you know, everytime to uh to deal with the
amount of the job or to, youknow, to because it's totally
different uh industry, you know,entrepreneurship and and
(35:41):
everything there, you know, howto um to realize what is
important, what is not.
So you helped me a lot uh inthis in that part uh in our
sessions uh to uh to simplifythings, you know.
For example, just with my uhthis called today newsletter,
but I have a letter of support,that's how I call that.
(36:03):
Just you know, when you help mewith some, it sounds like
simple advice, but that helpedme so much, and people are love
that so much.
And then I realized, oh my god,Shayla is really right.
It just needs to be simple, youknow.
It's must not be some big, youknow.
It's it's sometimes, you know,we are in our head having so
many, you know, I don't know,knowledge or ideas, and we we
(36:25):
want to share, you know,everything, but it's not
something that is needed.
So thank you.
You really helped me to um tochange my relationship towards
uh my um organization of thebusiness, let's say like that.
Sheila (36:38):
Oh, I'm happy to hear it.
And yes, it's going fromacademia, and you know, you're
teaching at seminar, you're youknow, PhD.
It's like, okay, let's justkeep it a short, simple email.
But really, it is like kind oflike these snippets that people
will be able to return to inthis conversation we've had.
Like one snippet is like abeautiful way to add value to
(36:59):
your to your clients in an emailor in any any form like social
media or something.
So it's really cool to see youdoing that.
And I would love for people tofollow you.
And so please tell them wherethey can find you to stay on the
journey with you.
Danilo (37:13):
Yeah, thank you.
Uh well, uh, I'm starting onLinkedIn recently.
I started my page because themajority actually, until now,
everything was in my local uhmother language.
It's Serbian language, and onInstagram I have a lot of
followers, but it's in Serbianlanguage.
Uh, so on LinkedIn for now inLinkedIn, and I'm now preparing,
start preparing my own uh webpage, which we also will be
(37:36):
including uh which which willinclude English, and uh in some
moment I hope it will be uh openup for the groups in English
language.
People are also asking me forto start that, but then I need
to, you know, create all videosthat I created, and that's
interesting story, maybe some uhsome other time how they
spontaneously came to the thelife.
Uh but for now on the LinkedIn.
(37:57):
For now on the LinkedIn.
Sheila (37:58):
Wonderful.
Well, I will have this linkedin the show notes for people to
grab that, or if this is onYouTube, you'll see it in the
description below.
Danilo, it has been a pleasureand an honor having you here
today.
Thank you for sharing yourstory and sharing the wisdom
that I think all of us and allthe founders and entrepreneurs
and people who are building thisthing that is this vision in
(38:20):
their mind and taking it fromtheir mind out into the global
marketplace, that they can havesome sense of peace as they move
through that process.
Danilo (38:29):
Uh, I'm happy that you see some contribution that I
made to you.
So the the point is that just Ijust try to share my energy.
And I think that's enough.
That's enough.
If we're just sharing ourenergy, it's healing by itself,
you know, because there isbeautiful energy in every
person, just it's needed to finda way to come to that.
Sheila (38:48):
Absolutely.
And I'm so thankful foreveryone listening.
Please go on over to the shownotes and follow Danilo.
And we'd love to hear, you canalso find and follow my links in
there too.
Let us know what were a coupleof the bullet points you heard
today that really landed withyou that maybe you hadn't
thought of before.
(39:09):
And we'd love to hear how it'sgoing for you as you continue on
your journey.
Thank you so much forlistening, and we will see you
on another episode.
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