“Our spirit cries out for us to ‘Awaken’ from emotional famine for we are starved for spiritual connection to our purpose and intention in life.
“Our passion for life has been compromised by fear; anxieties; self-denunciation; and the many forms of self-medication.”

-- Shirley Catanzaro and Marianne Petrillo

There is no question that life is a journey, and often times there are bumps along the way.

Whether those bumps are inconvenient potholes or giant crevices, it seems that people over the years have felt comfortable in confiding their life’s speed bumps and detours to Shirley Catanzaro.

And it didn’t take Catanzaro long to notice that a similar pattern would emerge from these stories, these secrets, these tragedies.

“People are looking for more, there is so much happening in the world today,” Catanzaro says.

“People need to feel safe.”

The answers to those time-tested dilemmas, according to Catanzaro, aren’t found in families, books, philosophies, drugs or Hollywood.

They are found within.

She has been called an “inner tour guide,” but Catanzaro quickly dismisses the notion that this is about her.

“It’s changing people’s lives, but this isn’t about me fixing them,” she says.

“It’s about people looking at themselves, questioning themselves and finding the answers they already have.

“It’s about encouraging people to find their own inner muse, their own inner guidance.”

The “it” refers to a process that Catanzaro has streamlined over the years as she has counseled people, consoled them, encouraged them, enlightened them.

Catanzaro believes that everyone receives information from their “Inner Source” through the worlds between dream-like sleep and awakening.

She says messages come to her during these dreamtime visions.

Often times upon awakening, Catanzaro goes outdoors to her garden and walks her unique Medicine Wheel.

The message she receives during those times became the messages that she would write each day and send to her friends and family as “Words of the Day.”

Her daily “Words” became the basis for a new book published this past fall, “When I Awaken…Soul Passages.”

After organizing workshops for the Department of Peace and working with clients on a regular basis, Catanzaro met former Fountain Hills resident Marianne Petrillo, who benefited from the journey herself.

They soon became business partners, publishing the book and organizing a set of CDs called “The Awakening Process.”

Petrillo is a business consultant, coach and co-creator of many inspirational products and services.

Karen Drucker, an inspirational songwriter and singer, wrote this about The Awakening Process: “It is a beautiful CD series that can help people in their own experience of awakening and remembering the truth of who they are. The packaging and the whole concept is just beautiful.”

The six CDs are entitled I Am Safe, I Am Enough, I Am Loved and Supported, I Am Free, I Make a Difference and All is Well.

It involves a 90-day daily process in six, 15-day segments based on the affirmation CDs.

Participants are encouraged to journal along the way as they work through each 15-day segment.

“I talk people into a journey,” Catanzaro says. “I take them to a place of discovery.

“Everything begins within us. And if we are safe with ourselves, then we ask what do we stand for?”

The book, which came out at the end of October, is changing people’s lives.

Catanzaro has developed a workshop that blends the concepts presented in the book and CD series.

One participant in “The Awakening Process” series at Unity Church wrote she was apprehensive at first but needed answers to many self doubts and issues.

“Most of my life I have been an insecure, very private person,” she wrote.

“But it was time for me to reach out for help. The love and total acceptance I received were a gift to me.

“Shirley and Marianne are remarkable women. Through their series of gentle steps I have grown in self awareness and I have learned how very important self love is…

“With much gratitude I thank (them) for giving me the tools to walk my path in inner peace – awake and safe within myself.”

Catanzaro believes it is all part of a process in which people help one another.

“The main thing is to find our own support system,” she says. “I am simply presenting a gift I’ve been given to share with others.

“I believe if people start searching for themselves, they’ll find the answers. It’s just another part of my ‘pay it forward’ philosophy.

“My belief is that we all have choices, and that if we begin to believe in ourselves, miracles occur daily.”

She points to another young adult, Jessica, who was involved with gymnastic for eight years but was having difficulty taking it to the next level because of her apprehensions.

On her way to state championships she started listening to Catanzaro’s “I Am Safe” CD and simply relaxed, envisioning perfect routines for each event.

“The state meet was my best meet all season,” she writes. “I received a 9.0 or above in every event and earned the title of bar state champion. Not only that, I got second place all-around.

“I know I am going to listen to your tapes and believe in my self before every meet from now on!”

Catanzaro has donated her time to present workshops at the Fresh Start Women’s Resource Center and will start offering them at Chrysalis Women’s Center.

“I believe this is a pay it forward life,” she says. “I had an abusive past and had nowhere to go. People today are coming together to help each other out.”

She also wants to work with children to develop a set of CDs designed for kids and their specific issues in today’s world.

“Kids are facing so much today, they’re not looking forward to anything,” she says. “There isn’t anything to help them find their inner being.”

The Starshine Academy will be assisting Catanzaro to develop children’s focus groups and compile the new series.

More information is available by calling 837-5270 or visiting the Web site www.theawakeningprocess.com.