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

Hi Lily, what do you attribute your success to?
Focusing on love, being in a calm state of mind, and having brilliant mentors. I started Peace From Within to help others reconnect to their natural peace of mind, resiliency, and wellbeing through sharing the principles of Mind, Thought and Consciousness as described by Sydney Banks.

Loving myself allowed me to move to the beat of my own drum and share lighthearted (but impactful) videos on social media. Sydney Banks wrote, “Love and understanding harmonize the mind of humanity to its true inner nature. What you give in life is what you receive. To give love is to receive love. A mind full of love and good feelings can never go wrong.”

I gave love, and received it back! My business took off and before I knew it I was approaching burn out. Loving myself and living mostly from a calm state of mind allowed me to recognize early when I was feeling overwhelmed and I reached out to my mentor Sarie Taylor. I didn’t beat myself or waste time analyzing why I got burnt out. I honored the fact that I noticed. In the words of Elsie Spittle, “When you ‘see’ without judging yourself, and without blame, you’ve got freedom.” I give myself full permission to be me and that means sometimes I start taking life and business too seriously. Through working with my other mentor Dr. Bill Pettit, I’ve come believe that life is too important to take seriously. Dr. Pettit always says if he hasn’t had a hearty laugh by noon that lets him know he’s taking life too seriously. That is very true for me and something that I find myself returning to again and again.

From working with Dr. Pettit I’ve come to see stress and it’s symptoms as alarms/with information/from love. When we start innocently using the power and gift of thought in a way that’s unhealthy (e.g., getting caught up in stressful thinking) there are alarms that go off. These alarms are from love and are letting us know to leave our thinking alone. When the mind clears get a feeling of peace and have a greater chance of hearing wisdom. Dr. Pettit has consistently pointed me back to Syd’s work and this quote pops up again and again for me: “When the desires of your mind trouble your spirit your life becomes turmoil. My advice is to free yourself from too many desires. Life on earth is short.”

Dr. Pettit has taught me to ask myself, does this lighten my heart and quiet my mind? This helps me return to a calm state of mind filled with love and understanding. The more I live from this place the more creative I am, the more I can hear my wisdom, help others, and experience a level of connection and intimacy that is breathtakingly enjoyable and filled with love.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

Prior to being a mental health educator and anxiety coach, I was a school psychologist for 12 years. At the time that I stopped practicing, I was the lead school psychologist in my district in LA. Throughout my life I struggled with anxiety and OCD, but after having a panic attack in 2010 it seemed to ramp up to the next level and I tried every healing method out there. Some worked, but nothing was long lasting until I found the Three Principles in 2018. Through the Three Principles I started to understand human psychological functioning like never before. I saw that I wasn’t broken and had been innocently overcomplicating it. I saw that my panic attack was a wake up call to leave my thinking alone, but I did the opposite. Understanding the principles of mind, thought, and consciousness allowed me to be a human being at peace with living life. I loved being a school psychologist, but felt moved to share with adults who were struggling with anxiety because I didn’t want others to suffer and feel broken like I did. I started my company Peace From Within in 2020 to share the principles and help others rediscover their own wellbeing. Today I help people around the world (16 countries so far!) reconnect to their natural peace of mind, resiliency, and wellbeing virtually in group and individual settings.

I credit social media (TikTok and Instagram) to helping me get to where I am today. I started making videos on Tiktok in August of 2020 and that helped my business take off. So in a way it was easy to get where I am today, but it was not without a lot of work. I’ve made SO many videos, responded to so many comments, and collaborated with others. I’m constantly creating content, but it’s enjoyable and my job feels like an extension of me.

I think what sets my approach apart is that not only do I have mental health training, I’ve also experienced severe anxiety, ocd, and panic attacks. I feel very comfortable talking about my experience. When I was suffering I didn’t know how to describe it and felt like my experience must be worse than others. I thought I was on the verge of insanity at times. Now I can share what derealization (for example) felt like for me and others breathe a sigh of relief when they read it. Many tell me they take my videos to their therapist. I also am very comfortable talking about all types of intrusive thoughts. When I made my first video on intrusive thoughts in September 2020 I remember pausing before writing about sexual intrusive thoughts. Then I thought “if I don’t do it, who will?” So I posted it and the response that I got was wonderful. I had thousands of comments and messages from people telling me that that video saved their life. They specially thanked me for bringing up the more “taboo” thoughts. It has been such an honor to reach so many people on social media and get feedback that my videos help. Another area that caused me a lot of suffering was health anxiety and people relate to that as well especially during the pandemic.

In my coaching I don’t focus on what’s “wrong”, but rather help shine a light on the wisdom and health within everyone. Wellbeing is already a part of us. It is our birthright, but we just cover it up innocently by taking out thinking seriously. We are designed to survive and thrive. It is in our nature to be whole, loving, peaceful & primed for joy. Anxiety and all its symptoms are friendly alarms letting us know when we’re innocently misusing the beautiful gift of thought. I know they don’t seem like it, but they are a love letter to leave our thinking alone. When we see that our own thinking creating our own experience there’s a natural tendency to come back to the now. I’ll end with this quote by Sydney Banks, “ “If the only thing people learned, was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world.”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d take them for a walk on the beach (we’d probably park at Shutters and walk head to the sand from there) and after we’d have lunch at Blue Plate Taco in Santa Monica. I love the Farmer’s Market Nachos and Baja Chopped Salad. The margaritas are also delicious! On Friday I’d bring them on a hike with my two friends that I hike with every Friday. We’d either hike Westridge, Paseo, or Murphy. That day we’d grab lunch from Erewhon because it’s such a fun experience and there are so many delicious foods to try. As someone with Type1 diabetes there are so many things I can eat and I’d most likely get the turkey collard greens wrap, which has pepperoncinis and bacon among other things and the keto brownie. I’d love to take them to the beach in Malibu and have dinner at Malibu Farms. Bacari on West 3rd Street is also somewhere I’d love to take them for dinner. I also love Hot8 yoga and would love to take my friend to a few classes there if they were up for being really sweaty.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Sarie Taylor- my friend, mentor, and Perfectly Imperfect Mind Mentor, coach & trained psychotherapist. https://www.sarietaylor.com

Dr. Bill Pettit- my friend, mentor, and board-certified psychiatrist who has spent the majority of his career awakening mental health, and sharing the understanding that there is just one cause — and one cure — for mental illness. https://thedrspettit.com/about-bill/

Website: www.peace-from-within.com

Instagram: @_peacefromwithin

Linkedin: Lily Sais

Facebook: Lily Sais

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LilySaispeacefromwithin

Other: TikTok: @peacefromwithin Podcast: The Perfectly Imperfect Duo

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