What I realized was that I kept seeing the same people. A year later, three years later, five years later they were still on medications. At the same time, I started to become more aware of people saying things like, “If I didn’t have depression then I can do that,” or “Jacqui said I need to be on this medication because without it I will be a certain way.” I went into that field so that I can help people, but I felt like instead of helping people, I was part of the problem. I was part of the system that told them, “You’re not well and you need to have this pill for the rest of your life or for an extended period of your life because you’re not good enough the way you are. You need the pill.” I didn’t say those words, but the message they heard was that, ”Something’s wrong with me. I’m broken and this pill’s going to fix me.
I felt very discouraged. I felt I was part of the problem, so I started looking for alternative options. I wanted to see how else I can serve my patients. I stumbled upon things that I knew nothing about, hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming, emotional freedom techniques and other holistic options. When I first encountered these options, the science base in me, because I’ve been a nurse practitioner since 23, so all my life practically, I’ve been very evidence-based medicine. Here’s all these holistic options and I’m like, “These things are for crazy people. There’s no way these things can work. It’s a bunch of woo-woo stuff.” I was curious and I was open-minded. I discovered sitting there that I was out of alignment, I asked my physician mentor, “How do you deal with this? How do you deal with being part of the problem?” He said, “Hypnosis.” That was the very first time I got introduced to hypnosis and I was like, “Hypnosis, you’re funny.” He said, “No, seriously, hypnosis. Come hang out with me in my office for a day and watch what I do.” I was like, “Sure.” I took the day off. I went and hung out with him and he does what I now know to be called Conversational Hypnosis. It wasn’t like he was putting people on a trance or people would call it putting them to sleep, he was having a conversation with them, but he was embedding commands. People were changing their attitude right there in front of him. I know that change can be very long lasting and permanent if that’s what they want.
That was when I had that headache. I was rubbing my temples because I’m like, “I cannot believe my mentor is crazy. I trust this man and he’s a complete nutcase.” Then he was like, “Jacqui, do you have a headache?” I said, “Yes, I do have a headache.” I extended my hand thinking he was going to give me an Ibuprofen. He said, “Hop on my table.” I’m like, “Whatever,” so I hopped on the table. He interviewed me like he would with his patients. He’s tapping on me and he’s telling me to repeat stuff. I’m repeating stuff and I’m crying like a baby. At that point in my life, I don’t cry. I had to be the tough girl all the time. I was crying like a baby just like the other people I witnessed, and my headache went away instantly. I remember thinking, I have no idea what that is, but I want more.
You took the course?
I took so many courses.
Hypnosis?
I’m a Master Certified Hypnotherapist probably three, four times over. For me, when I do something, I want to really understand the process. I don’t want to know and then hope I’m doing it right. I want to understand the process. I discovered that even though the content is very much the same, it’s the approach that is different. I took the certification three times. With each of my teachers, I learned a different approach. I combined the approach to make it something that felt right to me and that’s what I use with my clients. In addition to getting certified as a hypnotherapist, I’m a Master Certified in Neurolinguistic Programming, in time line, in emotional freedom techniques and those are things I use constantly. I’m also certified in life coaching, relationship coaching, success coaching and also spiritual counseling. The funny thing, going back to my mother, the thing I hated back then, “Study, study, study,” became the thing that brought me the most joy and success.
It’s wonderful to see that you are doing well and you found a vehicle for you to express and help others.
I do appreciate it. The more I practice, the more I discover my own voice and it’s a voice I’m still refining on a daily basis. I’m still discovering. There’s more to learn and more to share. In 2015, I wrote my first book and it was about the things I teach on a daily basis with my clients. I never thought about becoming an author and never wanted to be an author. I hated writing because grammar is difficult for me. It’s challenging for me to know where to put the S and the tense and all of that.
With my clients, with the very first session, I will teach them the basic stuff and a whole lot of stuff like how their mind works and how to start and taking control of their minds. All of my clients would say, “Can you please write it down?” At first, I’m like, “No. I just gave you so much info. There’s no way I can write it all down,” but once I heard that request enough, I decided I’m just going to write a short, two to three-page PDF. As I sat down and started writing, it came out and more and more. Next thing, I have a book. I’m very lucky. My current husband is amazing. He is a wonderful editor. I write and he does my first edit. Then I rewrite and he does a second edit. I rewrite and then I send it to a professional editor.
That’s wonderful you have a support inside the house.
He is amazing. He is definitely my biggest support system.
You wrote three books so far. What does each book focus on?
The first book is called 5 Simple Questions to Reclaim Your Happiness! and that particular book go through five simple questions to help you to understand why you’re feeling negative and what you can do with those negative emotions rather than hanging on to them. How many times have you said, “I don’t understand why I feel this way. I just do. I can’t control how I feel.” Yes, you can. You definitely can understand why you feel a certain way. You definitely can control how you feel. In the first book, using five simple questions, I walk readers through those steps so that they can take charge of their emotions.
The second book is called I Would, But My DAMN MIND Won’t Let Me. That book is basically a primer on how your mind works. It’s not as complicated as people think. Many people try to make it seem complicated, big and difficult to understand. I like the opposite. I like to break it down in very simple language where even a third, fourth, fifth grader can read my book and understand how their mind works and start taking control of it. In that particular book, I talked about the four belief systems that destroy our self-confidence if we don’t take care of that.
Then the third book is called Unleash Your Inner Super Powers: Destroy Fear and Self-Doubts. That book talks about how we are born with these amazing abilities within us. We all have these abilities except we don’t understand just how powerful these abilities are and how to tap into them consistently. This particular book walks readers through with exercises to discover their powers and to grow their powers and to use their powers appropriately. I wrote these books for teenagers because I’m so passionate for this age group but the content in these three books applies to anybody who’s looking to improve themselves and their lives. They could be younger than teenagers. They could be in their 90s. In fact, one of the negative critique that I get on my book quite often is, “Why was this written for teenagers? I need this book.”
You mentioned that one of these books is translated to Vietnamese?
It’s being translated. Two of my three books were picked up by a Vietnamese publisher. I Would, But My DAMN MIND Won’t Let Me and Unleash Your Inner Super Powers were picked up by the publishing company in Vietnam. They’re in translating process and it’s a long process. Hopefully, it will be available soon. The reason my first book wasn’t picked up was that it was not available to be picked up. I self-published my three books, but then I wanted to have a traditional publishing experience, so I took my first book and found a publisher. That book is off the market completely and the publishers are redoing their stuff. Once it’s re-released then, it’s going to be available for foreign rights and they’re going to approach the same company to see if they want to pick up the first book of three, which I would imagine they would. It would make sense.
Congratulations on that accomplishment.
Thank you. I’m so excited that the first language that my books are going to get translated to is Vietnamese. That’s where I’m from so to be able to impact teenagers in Vietnam would just be a dream.
You also have a podcast.
It is called Stop the Bully Within. The reason I started that podcast and the reason I chose that name was after seeing thousands and thousands of clients, the thing that I recognized the biggest problem was that each and every single one of my clients, no matter why they came into see me for, whether it’s for depression or anger or for weight loss or insomnia, it doesn’t matter what, they were their biggest bully. The way that they talk to themselves, the way that they kick themselves when they’re down and when they made a mistake was the problem. I recognize that the negative internal talk is so strong in all of us and so I wanted to give back to the community. The podcast, as you know, we spent hours and hours on an episode and we put it out there for free.
Each of my episode takes me between five to eight hours to do. It’s a total passion project. I want people all over the world to be able to spend half an hour with me once a week, listen to the content, listen to the teaching, and then at the end of the episode I have action steps for them to take. If they listened to the episode and follow the action steps, they are going to learn how to recognize when they’re being negative on themselves and to stop that pattern. My husband joint force with me and we co-host that podcast together.
I will start listening to that podcast as well.
Thank you. It’s so much fun to do. It’s a passion project. I wouldn’t be investing eight hours to do it for free if I didn’t love it so much.
That’s important. We have to do what we love to do, otherwise it becomes a job, which we try to avoid. We are avoiding by not working for anybody.
I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since I was in my early 30s and I am very unemployable. I cannot be an employee. I would not make a good employee.
What are you most proud of?
That’s an easy one. My son. I am so incredibly proud of the man that he’s grown up to be.
What does power mean to you?
It depends on what you’re talking about though. Are you talking about personal power or power over people?
Just the word power.
Power would be being in alignment with myself and being able to express myself wholly and fully.
What about freedom, what does it mean to you?
Freedom is being able to do and say anything I want to. That is where I am in my life now. The thing that is most important to me is freedom and happiness and spreading that to the world.
Where do you want our audience to go to find out more about your books and the podcast?
The easiest way to get ahold of me is on my website, which is JacquiLetran.com. In that website, you can click on the podcast, the books and the mentoring. All the information is right there.
Thank you for this intimate conversation, Jacqui. I am proud of what you are doing and I’m proud to say that you are the Asian Woman of Power. We welcome you to this tribe.
Thank you for having me on and for inviting me into your tribe. I gladly accept.
Until next time, see you. What did you take away from this interview? As a parent, what will you do differently with your children to show that you love them and care for their well-being? As a teenager or a young adult, has your perspective about your parents changed? What would you do to help your parents understand you better? We want to hear from you. Until next time, live life loud.
Links Mentioned:
Episode Quotes
"My violence was a cry for help!"
"Decisions I made came from bad experiences."
"My depression came out as anger, not as withdrawal."
“Power is being in alignment with yourself and being able to express yourself wholly and fully.”
“You definitely can control how you feel.”
“Negative internal talk is so strong in all of us.”
