Hello, friends! Welcome to episode five of She Loves It.

I think I might have said my intro differently every single time. Maybe one day, when I’m knee-deep in podcast episodes, I’ll record an official intro—something jingling and professional and super consistent. But that day is not today. Today, I’m walking along as I always do when I record this podcast. And I just saw the craziest mushroom growing out of the elbow crease of an elder tree. That’s what I’ve got for you. Well, that and a podcast episode.

So, something people say to me all the time is, "You don’t live in the real world." They say this because I’m self-employed, doing work I love, living in a rural part of England, in a happy marriage, raising happy kids—just not quite in step with the so-called "real world."

And honestly? It used to bother me. It used to make me wonder: How can I help people? How can I be a voice for a different way of existing on this planet, when I’m so far removed from what life feels like for most people? The judgment in people’s voices when they’d say, "You don’t live in the real world"—it made me question myself.

But here’s the thing.

This life I live? It didn’t happen by accident. I deliberately crafted it this way.

Since I was a child, I’ve visioned this life. I grew up in a tiny hamlet—26 houses spread over a mile radius, a little farming community with a church at its center. Everyone knew everyone. The families had been there for generations. I grew up in that legacy. My grandmother, my great-grandparents, they had lived in the same farmhouse that I did. And when we had to sell the farm, I manifested a house in the very same hamlet.

So even though I’ve moved, my energy—my physical life, my walks, my spiritual practice—is still rooted in the exact same land.

And growing up, we didn’t have much money. My parents were hill farmers with marginal land, which meant they worked so hard for not much financial return. But instead of staying in that struggle, they took a radical step. They borrowed a ton of money, got a grant, and started a sheep’s milk ice cream business.

It was completely unheard of at the time. The local farming community thought they were betraying their roots by stepping away from traditional farming. But my parents did it anyway.

And I grew up watching my dad live life on his terms.

That became part of my own vision. I knew from a young age that I wanted to live a life of freedom. I wanted to create something for myself. I didn’t know how exactly, but I knew the feeling I was chasing.

So when people say, "You don’t live in the real world," I think—you’re right. Because I’ve spent my entire life believing in my own ability to create my reality.

And I don’t think it’s just me. I think anyone can do this. I think you can do this.

The beliefs I hold, the life I live now, didn’t start when things were "good." I believed in this even when I was temping in London, scraping by, waiting for something to click. And when I finally got a permanent job at Goldman Sachs, working in the chairman’s office, I still wasn’t on society’s expected path. I went home at a reasonable hour. I didn’t play into the work-till-you-drop mentality. I made it work for me.

The point is, I’ve always lived in a way that was out of step with the real world. And that’s exactly what I want to help other people do too.

So if you’ve ever looked at someone like me and thought, "She doesn’t live in the real world," I invite you to consider—maybe the real world isn’t what you think it is.

Maybe the "real world" is just a mass illusion, a construct that doesn’t actually have to be your reality.

And maybe, just maybe, you can step out of it too.

That’s it for today. I’d love to hear your thoughts—drop me a message, let me know if this resonated. And if you loved this episode, leave me a five-star review.

Sending you so much love. See you next time!

Good morning! This is Rachel Smithbone with episode four of She Loves It.

Do you know what I’m loving this morning, guys? I’m loving being out on my morning walk, from my little cottage over to my local, beloved coffee shop. Well, it’s actually a village shop with a tiny little corner that does amazing coffee. But I’m walking over there, and it’s cold. There’s not much wind—although now that I say that, I can feel the wind wanting to dance with me, because the spirit of the wind loves to play.

There’s this really low, bright November sun. It’s the end of autumn, and I’ve got the dog with me—she’s annoying, really. She’s lovely, but very annoying. I should post a picture of Enid at some point! If I forget, DM me on Instagram or drop me an email, and I’ll share one.

I’ve been wanting to record this episode for a while now. It seems like every episode is about walking lately, but that’s just where I am right now. We called the podcast She Loves It because my husband has this theory that I’m just really good at squeezing the juice out of life, no matter what my circumstances are.

Right now, life is sweet. We’ve navigated a really difficult time—I talked about that in previous episodes—and we’re very much out the other side now. Life is opening up again, and it feels incredible. I have my own business, something I dreamed of since I was a kid, since I watched my dad have his own business and thought, That’s what I want. I wanted to be in charge of my own time. I wanted to walk as far and as long as I wanted every day. I wanted to do spiritual work that makes people feel something. That was my dream.

And now? I find myself regularly thinking, My God, I’ve done it. I’ve actually done it.

So yeah, life is good. We have time. Time to do the things we love—walking, drinking coffee, dreaming up new ideas for my courses and my coaching clients. And what I’ve realized is that it took me years to get to a place where I actually prioritized the things that make me feel incredible.

When I first became self-employed, I felt like I had to work in the same structured way I had in my old jobs. You know, sitting at a desk, working set hours, being productive. But I didn’t have to. I could shape my days differently. And yet, I had to unlearn so much before I could allow myself that freedom.

It’s like homeschooling—kids in school are there from nine to three every day, but homeschooled kids don’t sit at a desk for that long. They do a bit here, a bit there, with focus and freedom. And I think having your own business is the same. You can work a fraction of the time and still be effective, but you have to allow yourself to break away from those old structures.

Anyway—tangent upon tangent! That’s what you’re getting today. But luckily, my brain can keep track of them all.

The point is, I’ve always been able to find joy in whatever stage of life I’m in. Even when I lived in London, working in the city, I still found ways to love life. I used to walk around during my lunch breaks, exploring new streets, meditating in old churches, soaking up the history and the energy.

And now, since we’ve moved, I’ve discovered this whole new joy—new paths, new walks, new ways to get to my little coffee shop. We moved just five minutes down the road, and yet, suddenly, there’s this entire network of bridleways and tracks I had never walked before. It’s wild to think that something magical was right there the whole time, and I had no idea.

It reminds me of a woman in my Money Magic course who shared a photo of a gorgeous park near her house. She said, "This is a five-minute walk from my home, and I never go. But today, I decided I wanted to feel plenitude, so I went—and it’s magnificent."

That’s what gets me! We live in this incredible world, surrounded by magic, and half the time, we don’t even see it. Spirit is alive in every moment—if we just tune in.

So that’s what I’ve got for you today. There is joy already in your life. There are magical things right there waiting for you to notice them. Maybe your outer world needs to change. Maybe it doesn’t. But either way, the magic is here now.

I hope this idea sticks with you. I hope you go out and explore and notice what’s already around you. Because sometimes, it’s not about chasing the next thing. It’s about opening your eyes to what’s already here.

Thanks for listening. Come say hi on Instagram, and if you loved this episode, leave a five-star review. Love you loads. Bye!

Hello, hello, hello! It's Rachel here—Rachel Smithbone—and welcome to episode three of She Loves It.

Today, I want to share a real insight from my journey of life recently. I can't remember if I've talked about this in previous episodes, but at the time of recording, I've just been through a really big life transition. We’ve left our ancestral farm—the farm where I grew up, where my grandmother grew up, where her father grew up, and his father before him took on the tenancy.

It’s been a huge thing. A long journey of grief, really, because I thought this was going to be my forever home. I grew up there thinking—without ever consciously thinking it—that it would always be ours. My gran still lived there with us. We lived there. I assumed my parents would be grandparents there, and that I would be a grandparent there too. And then, in 2016, a billionaire flew one of his lackeys over the farm in a helicopter, took a look, and said, "Yeah, I’ll take it, along with those other 12 farms in our local area."

Modern colonialism in action, folks—she says with a lightness she really does not feel.

Since then, we were in the process of trying to buy it, but it didn’t work out for us because this person came in, presumptive, and wanted to take the whole estate. As life would have it, though, that turned out to be the very best thing possible. Truly. Because as a family, we’ve all moved on, and amazing things have happened for each of us as a result of not being able to stay at the farm. But our lease gave us nine more years there. At the time, I had one child, then I went on to have a second, and the entire experience became a nine-year grief process.

I feel like I’ve got a PhD in long-term, complex grief. It’s a different kind of grief—almost like knowing someone you love has a degenerative disease. You live every day under the cloud of what’s coming. And it’s complex, because you have to balance being in the moment—loving where you are, appreciating what you have—while also carrying this deep, final grief, knowing it’s all going to end.

I felt that really deeply because I’m a shamanic priestess. I am very much of the land where I live. Exmoor. This tiny, 26-house, 11-farm hamlet in the West Country of the UK. I am of this land. There are burial grounds and portals here. We’re on a national park. It means everything to me.

I’m puffing a bit, guys, because I’m walking up a big hill—which is definitely the best time to record a podcast, right? I know! I’ll just walk up a really steep hill and record! But I felt the calling to share this with you.

Because of my deep soul mission, I’ve always felt like I could see things clearly—how the world should work. Obviously, everyone has different views on that, but I’ve always had a gift for walking lightly in that energy. A big part of that came from my profound connection and energetic awareness, which I attributed in part to being on these energy portals at our farm. But also, I placed so much value on growing up out of sync with the modern world.

Where I live? It’s the arse end of nowhere. We don’t have good transport links, which has largely stopped the area from becoming gentrified. And for me, that’s been a good thing. There’s a simplicity here. A slowness. A real sense of community. The families who farm here have been here as long as mine. Our grandparents went to church together. Their parents and their grandparents’ parents did too. There’s a deep, supportive, close-knit community, and that’s always felt really special.

Time is slower here. People stop and chat for twenty minutes on their way somewhere. The land calls people. I don’t think it’s any coincidence. The land is calling people left, right, and center. That’s a whole other podcast episode I’ll do another day. But you can see how my whole identity—my work, my life, the existence I crafted for myself and my children—was so tied up in that farm. Everything I felt was good and right in the world was tied up in that farm. And now, it’s dissolving before my eyes.

This year has been the hardest time.

At the time of recording, it’s November 2024. My little family moved into our new house in August. My mum and dad—who were the last ones standing at the farm—left at the start of October. And since then… well, it’s been complicated.

I normally feel so driven, so excited about life, so on fire with my own growth, expansion, exploration. But in May, it just stopped. That part of me dissolved. I remember going on a mini-break to Glastonbury with one of my best friends, and we were talking about it. At the time, we needed to earn more money—our new house was more expensive, and there was a shortfall between what we brought in and what we needed to pay the bills.

And I remember saying, "I know I can do this. I’m a master manifester. I always create more money." But my friend looked at me and said, "Sure, you can do it. But do you need to? Because you do not seem like yourself. You’re not the Rachel I know. That fire in you is not there. It’s just grief and pain. Do you need to? Is there any way you could take the pressure off yourself right now?"

That hit home so much.

I spoke to my husband, and God love him, he said, "Of course, we’ll just live off our savings for a bit. That’s what they’re there for."

And I thought, Yeah. That’s what savings are for. This is my rainy day.

So I made the decision. I took the pressure off. I surrendered fully to the grief. I descended into it. And looking back now, I am so, so glad I did.

Because here’s the thing. If I had pushed? I would have been trying to out-action my fear and pain. I would have been striving to outrun my emotions instead of sitting with them.

But I let myself sit with them. And what I’ve learned from this—what I hope might be helpful or inspiring for you—is the concept of surrendering to what is. It’s not very popular in modern culture. We live in a push, strive, make-it-happen kind of world. But there’s a difference between striving from lack and striving from fullness.

Surrendering to what is—fully allowing myself to feel the depths of my grief, to trust in the flow of life—has changed me. That’s an abundance all its own.

And yesterday, the part of me that had been sat by the fire returned. That fire inside me? It’s back. And it’s back with a healed, joyful, playful, creative energy.

So if you’re treading a difficult path right now—trust. Trust in the wisdom of your own journey. Trust in the wisdom of your body. If, like me, the driven part of you has disappeared? Sometimes, that’s for the best. Sometimes, that’s exactly what you need.

I love you. Thank you for listening. Go drink some coffee. Have a beautiful day.

Hello, hello, hello! It’s Rachel Smithbone here. And yes, you guessed it—I am out on a walk. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about today.

I’ve been absolutely knackered all day after an amazing weekend hanging out with friends and just doing things that I love. It’s half-term as I record this, so my two little babes are off school. And honestly, all I wanted to do today was sleep. That’s all I wanted—just go back to sleep. But obviously, I couldn’t, because I’ve got two kids who need my attention.

We’re a family that tries to be really mindful of screen time, so I didn’t want them glued to screens all day. When my husband got home from work, I took a quick nap while he took the kids out for a walk. And I thought, I should probably go too. But I was just so tired.

Eventually, though, I made it out. The light was dimpsy—do you know that word? Dimpsy? My husband takes the mickey out of me for using it. I was convinced it was a real word, but apparently, it’s not in the dictionary! I think it must be a West Country thing. Dimpsy is that time when it’s starting to get dark, but it’s not quite dusk yet. And right now, because the clocks have just gone back—it’s October as I record this—it’s that perfect dimpsy light.

So I threw on my sexy little high-vis jacket and got myself out the door. And my god, I have loved walking since I was a teenager. My family was really horsey—proper old-school farming, horsey people—so when I was younger, I rode every day. When I stopped riding, walking replaced that for me, and I’ve been obsessed ever since.

Honestly, I laugh at myself because I feel like a dog. No, not that kind of bitch! I mean like an actual dog—I need walking every day. And when I don’t get it, my mental health starts to suffer. Walking is one of those simple, criminally underrated things that just works.

That’s why I wanted to record this episode—to share my love for walking and see if any of you are just as obsessed.

Recently, I joined a subreddit all about walking. A lot of it is focused on walking for weight loss, which is interesting, but what really blows my mind is how many people are just discovering walking as this life-changing thing. And I’m like, where have you been?! Walking has always been my therapy, my meditation, my everything.

Where I live, out in the sticks, we used to have a school bus that would pick us up right outside our house. But instead of catching it, I’d walk in the opposite direction to meet it later down the route—just so I could get some movement in. My mum thought I was being difficult, but I was like, why would I sit on a bus for 45 minutes when I could be outside? Even now, I’ll always walk instead of drive if I can.

And walking isn’t just about exercise. It’s deeply shamanic. It connects you to the land in a way that nothing else does.

One of the guys in the subreddit I joined said that after just three years of daily walking, he feels so much more connected to the seasons. And that really struck me, because as a shamanic practitioner, I constantly talk about the importance of being in tune with the natural cycles.

If you live in the UK—especially if you want to be connected to nature—you have to embrace all seasons. You can’t just love the sunny days. You have to learn to love the grey skies, the rain, the dark mornings and evenings. There is beauty in all of it if you learn to look with shamanic eyes.

And if you’re walking regularly, that connection to the land happens naturally.

Since I moved house recently, I’ve been exploring new bridleways and paths I’d never walked before, and it’s just mind-blowing. Our ancestors knew the energy lines of the earth in ways we’ve forgotten. When I walk these ancient paths, I feel the thinness of the veil between worlds. It’s incredible.

So, if you’ve never thought about walking like this before, I invite you to give it a try. Not just as a way to exercise, but as a way to connect with the land, the seasons, and yourself.

Drop me a message—tell me if you’re a walker too! And if you enjoyed this episode, leave me a five-star review. I’ll catch you next time.

Lots of love!

So I guess this is the first episode of She Loves It. I’m Rachel Smithbone, and right now, I’m walking an energy line across what used to be my farm before it was sold. I’ve just been out in the sacred woods, and I figured—what better time to start this podcast?

The reason I’m doing this? My husband—my glorious, gorgeous husband—challenged me. He said, "You just need to start sharing what’s on your mind, what’s channeling through you, your truth. Stop worrying about fitting it into some kind of business-building exercise and just do it."

So here I am.

It’s a glorious day. The sun is shining. I just spent the night with my best friend, her partner, and my husband—drinking champagne, eating incredible food, and just being.

It’s funny—my best friend and I grew up in West Somerset together, and our lives have kind of run parallel to each other. We met in English class when we were 13 or 14, both of us drawn together by a love of mysticism and magic. We spent years searching for our paths. In 2008, we even thought we might want to be doctors and went through the whole medical school application process together. But that wasn’t the path for either of us.

Now, she’s a clinical psychologist with a PhD, doing cutting-edge research and helping people heal through science, and I’ve ended up… well, I don’t know—somewhere between priestess, mystic, healer, and pilgrim, walking this spiritual path. Two very different journeys, but in some ways, the same.

And that’s what I find so fascinating—this idea that life takes us exactly where we need to go, even when we don’t know it at the time.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how we’re already living in paradise. This planet? It’s heaven on earth. Right now, as I walk under this oak tree, the sky is the bluest blue, the autumn leaves are falling, and the wind is just the tiniest kiss on my cheeks. It’s stunning.

And yet, as a species, we keep ourselves from this. Even though we are designed to live in harmony with our planet, we distance ourselves from it. We’ve been conditioned to believe we have to work and strive and suffer. But I don’t buy that.

I spend a lot of time visioning how we could change the way we live—especially in the West—so that we’re actually in harmony with the planet. And it starts with small things.

Right now, I’m in a massive period of change. I’m figuring out how to build the life I really want while also making money, paying my mortgage, and raising my kids.

And I do have a business—I run an online community that focuses on spirituality, self-relationship, and connection with the divine. A lot of what I do there is me sermonizing, much like this—because I love the sound of my own voice. Not really! Okay, maybe a little. But it’s more that when I start talking, I go into a channel state—and that’s where the magic happens.

I also help people with their businesses because if we’re going to create a new earth, we need healers and visionaries who are financially thriving. There’s so much healing our species needs, and I believe a huge part of that will come from people who are called to this path—whether they work in traditional institutions or through private healing practices.

That’s why I’m passionate about helping spiritual entrepreneurs—because we need their work to spread, and for that to happen, they have to make money.

But this podcast? It’s not just about business. It’s about all the things I love. Spirituality, self-love, mysticism, new earth thinking. We are living in a time of radical change. The earth is shifting. We, as a species, are evolving. And what we believe, what we create in our inner world—that is what shapes the external world.

Right now, we are being mass-hypnotized to see only the worst of everything. We are constantly bombarded with darkness. And if we don’t make a conscious effort to see the good, we miss it. But the goodness is everywhere. Life is overflowing with beauty, abundance, and magic. We just have to train ourselves to see it.

So, that’s why I’ve called this podcast She Loves It. Because I do. I love all of it. And I want to share that with you—everything I notice, everything the divine brings to my attention, everything I feel called to talk about.

If you enjoyed this first episode, thank you for listening. Please share it with your friends. Leave a five-star review. Subscribe. All that good stuff.

And if you want to connect, email me, message me—tell me what you think, what you want to hear more of. I’d love to hear from you.

Okay, I’m off to finish my walk. See you next time!