Karen Kenney: Hey you guys. Welcome to the Karen Kenney show. I'm super duper happy to be here with you today, and I want to talk about something that was initially inspired
by a quote. Well, it's been inspired by several different things as as usual, per usual, with me, but I was thinking about the famous quote. It's a story about Gandhi, and
apparently, during one of the times when Gandhi had taken a vow of silence, he was on a train, and as a train was pulling out of the station, a bunch of like reporters and
different people were asking him, you know, which I thought was, which, I think is kind of funny, since he had taken about silence, and they were asking him to talk, and
they're like, Gandhi, you know, do you have anything to say to the people? And he wrote down, he wrote down on a piece of paper, on something, and he held it up to the window,
supposedly, this is, you know, this is the story. And and on it, it said, My life is my message. And I always thought that was such a powerful thing, and I think I even did, I
don't know. I mean, I'm like, 293 episodes in, I don't remember, like, everything I've talked about, but I think I did a podcast, even one time that was called Your life is
your message, which is really him saying that, you know, it's not so much. It doesn't matter so much about like, what I'm saying. It's about who I've been, being like my life
has been my message. Like I'm trying to be and live my values and what really matters to me. And what my message is is I'm trying to, like, live this thing, which I think is
really great. Okay, today's episode is called, your life is a reflection. And I want to talk about this idea that our life is a reflection. And I want what I mean by
this is our current situations are often and usually a result of our past choices. It's a result of like the current state of our life, including like our experiences, our
relationships, the state of our relationships, the the choices, all those things directly reflect the person or people that we have kind of like developed into
over time, the the people that we have become, okay, so the current kind of state of where we're at is showcasing kind of this like cumulative effect, this cumulative like
impact of our past, thinking, our decisions, our actions, our behaviors, our experiences. Now it's wicked important for me to say this caveat, though, because one of the things
that I think happens in, again, personal development, work or change work or mindset work or spiritual work, is we say these kind of like, um, one liners, Right? These quirky
little like headlines like these, attention grabbing heads. Oh, your life is a reflection. And we like to, like, simplify things, because here in a podcast, right? We
often don't have, I mean, sometimes we do. I've done episodes that were, like, an hour, two hours long when I had a guest, et cetera, but we cannot cover the truth of
everybody's experiences. There's always going to be exceptions, there's always going to be nuances, there's always going to be caveats to things, right? So it's really
easy for me to just say, like, Oh, your life is a reflection of who you've been. So here's the path that's important that I want you to hear up front, your life is also and
where you're at right now is also a reflection of not just who I have been right or who you have been. It's also a reflection how in your earliest years, how other people
have been. It's also a reflection of systems of oppression that exist in this world, whether people want to deny it or not, right, the fact that some of us have had
different starting points. You know, I often think about, I just watched on online, on Netflix, the show sprint, and it's about these incredible athletes, like the fastest
track runners, like in the world, and their journey of of where they were, how they got to the Olympics and stuff like that. And I'm always fascinated by people who are
brilliant at what they do. And, you know, there's certain races like, not when, like, not at like that. The 100, you know, the 100 meter one, you. They all start at the same
line, the same starting blocks. But in other races, because of the way a track is designed, some people start it looks like in different positions. And that's how it kind
of is in life. Is that people like at the starting line, like the real starting line, right? There are other people who are born with a shit ton of privilege, and they're
way ahead of the pack, and then there are people who are at a totally different starting line. So I just wanted to say this that I recognize that, because a lot of
times it can feel like when we say to people, you know, you're responsible for this, and you've got to take control of that, and you're going to yes, and yes, your
life is a reflection of who you have been, and right? There's a lot of other stuff that kind of goes with it. But the reason why I want to talk about your life as a reflection
is because the reality of it is, is that we often cannot do anything about how other people have chosen to behave, what other people are doing, what other people, you
know, other systems are doing what we do have control over, right? For the most part. I mean, of course, there are also, again, this caveats to everything, like some people
who might have undiagnosed or uncontrolled, like on helped at this moment, like mental illness, things like that, okay, but for the most part, for the most part, what I would
say is that our life is a reflection of who we have been, how we have been, right? And this is like our thinking, our beliefs, our stories, our identities, the choices we've
made. It's the cumulative effect of our past, thinking, our decisions, our actions and stuff like that. And it's, it's often like, when we think about comma, you know,
some people think about comma like, you know, comma is like, Oh, you're going to, you know, you did something bad karma is going to get you as if it's like, almost
personal. And I kind of think of comma as being more universal. I think of comma more like science, right, which is like it's just simply cause and effect. That's how I think
of comma. And so much of the results that we're experiencing the effect right now, when I think about this concept that your life is a reflection of who you have been,
it's about we are currently experiencing the effects of our causal choices and actions and thoughts and whatever it's like, it catches up to us. It's not like things
automatically, like, you know, there is like, instant comma, like, you touch a hot stove, you get burned right? Like, that's like, oh, cause I touched effect I got
burned right? Sometimes it's immediate. Sometimes it's not always so immediate. Sometimes the universe just kind of takes its time and things catch up gradually, I
always say gradually But inevitably, we will awaken to the truth of ourselves, right? Gradually But inevitably, hopefully, we move from a thought system of fear to love, but
there are some things that are pretty immediate, and so karma is this, this cause and effect. So we we often, though, and this is why I want to talk about it. Sometimes it
is immediate, right? And this is how we think. Sometimes we often attribute the experience that we're having right now to what we think we're doing right now, right?
But it's like yes and yes, it is true. Okay, to some extent, things are still being influenced by what we are doing currently. But even more so, right? It's also who we
are being right now. Okay, so to some extent, what we're experiencing right now is a result of exactly what we're doing and who we're being right now. However, however,
there's a but here, but okay. Outcomes and results really are the accumulation of that, which has also happened over time. And I can give you a couple of examples of this,
right? So when you think about like
trying to build muscle, let's say, okay, it doesn't happen immediately. But if you're consistent and you continue to do that, right, going to the gym, whether you count
your macros or you're just mindful of what you put in your body, getting enough rest. You're drinking good water, like all this stuff, drinking water, like, taking good
care of yourself, all these things, right? When you do this, the results over time are a reflection of the choices you've been making and who you've been being like, I've
been being right. Like, maybe this is you. I've been being somebody who gets up and gets their ass to the gym, or goes for a run, or I watch, you know, I'm mindful of
what I eat, etc, etc, etc, right? Maybe you're somebody who has a DSP, a daily spiritual practice, and you've been doing it over the years. So your spiritual. Muscles
have grown, and your ability now to move through the world, maybe with more joy or more happiness or more peace or more patience or compassion and kindness and
empathy and standing your sacred ground, and the ability to speak up for injustices and excuse your voice, et cetera, et cetera. Whatever it is is a result. It is an effect
of the causal action of you getting up every day and doing your DSP. So for I what I want you to look at is that the the results that we are getting, the reflection that we are
getting in our life, is is based on who we have been being in, the choices that we've been making. And this also applies to habits as well, right? Our habits are an
accumulation of like, who and how we've been and what we've been thinking about and the decisions we've made, right? It's, it's like, your habits don't just like happen
overnight. They are done through repetition. So eventually, our habits, our addictions, our patterns, our things, are a reflection, right, of who we've been, and the
accumulation of who we've been basically equals our life, right? Like, like, who this is, what your life is, is how you're interacting in the world, right, the choices
that you're making, the relationships that you're having, who you're spending time with, where you're working, like all these things, what you're creating. This is your
life, and it's a reflection of, again, I now I'm starting to sound repetitive, but it's an accumulation. It's the effects of our causal ways of being in the world. And this
is important, because it can be really easy to just give up on ourselves, and to say, this is how I've always been. This is just the way it is right, and I just don't
believe that. You know, in 12 step programs, you know, I was in back in the day, I had gone to to Al Anon, and I learned a lot of things. I've said this before. I learned a
lot of things we you think you're going to go into Al Anon to learn a lot of things about alcoholics, right, the people in your life that you're in relationship with, you
know? But really, when you go to Al Anon, you end up really learning about it, a lot about yourself. So I've been around, I've been around right the AAC, in an Al Anon,
and as they say in AA, there's a saying that they say, like, you can't build a better past. And that means, like you, you know, you can't go back and change things. What's
happened has happened like you can't go back and fit because healing, as we say in A Course in Miracles, healing doesn't happen in the past. Healing happens in the present
moment. Healing happens now. You know, we can certainly, like, go back talk about some things like, you know, try to reason and figure out, like, oh, you know what
happened? Why did that happen? All those things we love to contemplate. But that's not where the healing is going to happen. The healing is going to happen in the
present moment, in the presence of love. That's where healing is going to happen. Okay, so in AA, they say you can't go back and, you know, build a better pass. Meaning,
what I'm saying is, if our life is the result is a reflection of who we've been, maybe some of what we're getting right now we don't love and we can't go back and
change that. But the fantastic news is, the fantastic news is, and this is also something that they say in 12 step programs, you can start your day over again right now.
You can start your day over again at any time, right? And so I'm really into, like, I like preventative action, right? A lot of the work that I'm, that I do is based on
this premise of like, well, now, what like? I'm kind of like the What now, lady, I'm like, now, what like, now, what are we going to do? Right? Because we can go back and try
to dig up all that stuff, and there is times when that's totally appropriate, right? To understand how to know where you're going is knowing where you're coming from, right? We
go back and we look at it, but that's not where the change and the healing is going to happen, right? So I'm more into preventative action, rather than having to do, oh, Jesus,
clean up an aisle seven again, right? Clean up an aisle three pickles off the shelf again. You know, it's like, no, why don't we, right, do some causal action so that we
can get different results, so we can have a different reflection, so that we can restart our day right now, so that what we're experiencing as we're coming into the new
year right now. Again, I always say you might be listening to this in in October or March or whatever, right? But I'm recording this as we're entering like a new year, so
you can restart your day at any time. If you're looking forward and you're like, I want to feel differently. I want to dwell in the realm of the possibility of feeling
differently, being different, feeling different, feeling better, right? Having more joy, having more happiness. Having more tools to navigate this life, which is like,
right? The work that I do, you know, you can restart your day at any time. The first thing you have to recognize, though, is, I always say like, the first step is, like,
you gotta slow the down. Because if you, if you don't slow down enough, you don't even recognize that the water is rising around your ankles, and then it's at your shins,
and then it's at your knees right like you don't even realize, like, the shit storm you have gotten yourself. So the first thing is we got to slow down so that we can first,
first of all, recognize that things aren't really that great, you know what I mean? And then we have to have the ability to just stop so, like, bam, hit the pause button.
Like, and just stop for a moment. And once we recognize, oh my god. Like, first of all, take a look around. Need to make a change. We're going to restart my day right? First,
we're going to pay attention, we're going to slow down, we're going to stop, we're going to pause. And then, because we want to make new decisions or intentions or whatever,
from a place where we're not hijacked by our fear. We're not caught up in the trauma response of whatever your particular way of responding tends to be. We want to pause and
take a really good deep breath, right? Take a series of deep breaths. I always say breathe in four to the count of four through your nose, and then breathe out to the count
of eight, twice as long, through your mouth, with sound, right? There's lots of different sounds you can make, just like, like breathing out, just slowing down, and then
you just simply take kind of a moment to reflect, take a look around, reflect on how what you've been thinking, right? Because so much of what we believe, what we think, is
what's creating our experience. We all know that we have all had a shift in perception at some point in our life where we were like, oh, and it's literally like the lights
went on, like we were stumbling around in the dock, and all of a sudden we had a shift in perception. It was like, Oh, we realize some things, right? And so we want to take a
moment to reflect on how we've been thinking, how we've been feeling, how we've been being, you know what I mean? And then we have an opportunity to reset our mindset.
When you think about that word mindset, it's about your mind has been set in a very particular way, and now we want to reset that mindset to actually be working in your
favor, because a lot of times we're patterned with beliefs and identities and stories, right, that are not setting us up for our best possible outcomes, for the good
results, right, for the effects that we actually want to be having in our life, in our relationship with ourselves and with other people. So we have an opportunity to
reset our mindset, ask ourselves some reflective questions, and then we can intentionally choose how we want to spend the rest of our day, you know? And of
course, in miracles talks about this. It says like when you first wake up in the morning, you can choose the kind of day that you want to have like you intentionally set
your mind. I'm not saying it's always going to go exactly that way, but, man, we can start our day with the positive intention, with the intention to lead with love, to be
more patient, whatever the thing is, right, that you feel like you need more of and essentially, like you're making a conscious decision to approach the remaining time that
you have left in your 24 hours, but also maybe in your life with a fresh perspective and new intentions, right? So that you can do a little preventative kind of effort if
your life has been reflecting things to you that you don't like, that you're not proud of, that don't feel in alignment with your values or who you truly are, or where you
want to be, or how you want to be living and loving and all of these things. It is never too late to change, to have a different to allow life to reflect something new,
and so we have to stop making different choices now for ourselves, so that what's kind of coming down the pike, right? And we start doing it now, and it can be really
easy now, look, I'm not saying, I'm not saying that we shouldn't take time during the winter and at the end of the year to just simply rest. It's not like I want to
feel like I'm always giving you more homework and you got to do all this work on yourself or whatever, like people can take some of this, leave the rest. Take what
works, apply it. Leave the rest. Right. I'm not, I'm not big into I am not at all into, like, hustle culture, and always got to be productive and but I will say that we do
have to kind of watch our minds like a hawk, and life is always revealing to us, right who we have been. I really do believe this, you know. And I think that while we still
have some time left, we have a few more. We. Left at the end of the year. You know, why wait until January 1 rolls around to to like, then be like, well, now I'm going to
do all this stuff. What if we just took a little bit of time right now to start to be a little a little reflective and a little preventative, so that when the new year
rolls around, we're already building a little momentum in the right direction, so we start to think about things now. Instead of just like throwing our hands up and
giving up and saying, like, Ah, fuck it. I'll wait till just wait till January, maybe we take a little time right now to dream and to visualize how we want to move forward,
who we want to be, so that we are being causal in a way that's going to produce effects that we actually want. Does that make sense? Like taking time right now,
because if our current experience is a reflection of our past choices, our thinking, our actions and our ways of being. Then if we want to have something different
coming down the pike, maybe we have to take time right now to consider how we might want to be different. Show up different, right? Maybe we want to get you know, some support,
or join a community or have a mentor, or go to therapy or start going to the gym or get a coach or whatever. The thing is, read some books, slow down like really, just get off
of autopilot and start to be wicked intentional about who and how we want to be. And you know, in chapter 21 of A Course in Miracles, there's this great there's this
great passage that I want to share with you. And I've talked about this before, about how Projection makes perception like meaning, like how we think in our mind, right? The
internal world is creating our experience in the external world, we project out onto the world, and then we perceive it back, and we think, Oh, I'm at the effect of the world.
The world is the cause of my suffering. It's all the stuff out there that's making me feel this way, be this way, did it? I'm not saying, hear me, loud and clear that things
that happen outside of us, that are beyond our control don't have effects on us. I'm not saying that we can't often control what happens in the world, but we can change how
we think about the world. What's in our control is how we're responding to what happens in the world. So this little passage, chapter 21 it says, Projection
makes perception. The world you see is what you gave. It nothing more than that. Meaning, again, what we're seeing in the world is the projection that what we've
given it like what we've projected onto the world. Okay? And it says, it goes on to say, the world is a witness to your state of mind. It is the outside picture of an inward
condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive? Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world, because perception is a result.
It's a reflection and not a cause. Perception is an effect. And when you really think about this, it's incredibly powerful, because it puts some of the impetus and the
power and the control right back into in responsibility, right like, back into ourselves. So if I want to and again, it can be anything. It can be like, I want to save
more money in 2025 I want to, you know, get in better shape, like I want to have more strength. I want to have more rest. I want to have better sleep. I want to have better,
more connected relationships, like whatever it is, if currently what your life is reflecting to you is some shit that you are done with, you are over, you are not feeling
it. You don't want it. You want it to be different, then we have to make some conscious choices of who and how we are going to be, and we can't wait around. You
know, if you haven't listened to that whole episode, my BE, DO have episode, right? So often people are like, well, once I have this right? So hold on one second. Hey,
thank you for sticking with me. I paused because I wanted to grab the book creative visualization by Shakti Guin, because that's where this concept comes from. And it's
always really important to me that I give credit, and I wanted to make sure that I said it exactly the way that she says it, because that's where it comes from. So she
says. She says, often people attempt to live their lives backwards. They try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier.
So what they're really doing, she's saying, is that they try to have do, be, right? Their processes have do be I'm going to try to have more things or more money in order
to do more of what I want, so then I'll be happier. But the way it actually works, she says, is in reverse, you must first be who you really are, like your true self, that
that that self as the divine created you to be, which really is just love, right? That's who you are. Is Love. You've heard me say it 1000 times. You must first be who you really
are, and then do what you need to do in order to have what you want. So you want to connect with your beingness who you really are, and that's going to help you focus and
facilitate your doing this, what you're doing in the world, and this is going to increase and expand your having this. And this is what I'm talking about, your your
life has been a reflection of what you have been doing, the things that you've been having, and how you've been being and so sometimes we need to, like, tweak those
things a little bit, you know, and if your life again, like I said, is not reflecting shit back to you that you really love. And now some of it, I get, some things are
outside of our control. A lot of the things that happened to us when we were children, we were younger, when we were at the mercy of other people, were outside of our
control. But now we can choose how we want to relate, to interpret the meaning and the purpose we've given to those things. As adults, we now get to take our power back
and choose who we want to be, and I want your life to be, reflecting back, like my hope for you, like my hope for you, my wish for you is that your life reflects back to
you just how loved you are, just how beautiful and loving and lovable and enough and creative and capable and strong and brilliant that you are. And so we have to
kind of shift sometimes out of maybe who we've been spending a lot of time with, how we've been spending our money, how we've been thinking the patterns and the habits
that we've created. And this is so much about, like, the work that I do in the world with people to be helpful. Again, I can't stress it enough. It's not like, Oh my God,
you have so much work to do on yourself. Like you're a mess. You need to fix
yourself. It's not that. It's like these little subtle tweaks. You know, have you ever looked through a kaleidoscope and you just shift it? You know, when we were kids,
we looked through these kaleidoscopes and you would just shift it, that's tiny Smidge, and it was like, all of a sudden we had a whole new perspective, a whole new beautiful
picture. So so much of this is just creating shifts in perception, shifting out of thought systems of fear and moving more into thought systems of love, gathering more
tools that will help us to navigate both like and this is the thing I always say. It's not woo, woo. It's true, true, right? I'm talking about not just like, oh, it's
spiritual principles, yes, and scientific. Subconsciously, we know that the I am into practical tools to help us shift, right? I gave you one here earlier, right? When you
can't build a better path, here's how you start your day over again, like six or seven steps right, and they're fast. They're quick. It's like you pause, you notice like,
Oh, I'm about to do that thing, or, Oh, I've done this thing so many times before. I already know this outcome. This is not going to end well. This is going to be like my
causal thought or belief or action or words, the things that's coming out of my mouth, is going to create an effect that I already know I don't want, and my life has already
been showing me this is not what I want. So what am I willing to do? Different? Think different, say different, be different, right? Because your life can be a beautiful
reflection, and it starts from the inside out. Our life is often reflecting back to us, what we have thought, what we think, what we say, who we've been, who we're
being. And we get to tweak that, change that, adjust that, expand that, rewrite it, flip it, whatever we want to call it. We get, I always and say, like your life is a
story, write well and edit often, right? Write well and edit often, and this is part of that process. So I hope this has somehow been helpful for you. It's gotten you to
think, you know, I always say, I'm not here to tell you what to think, but I do always want to invite. People into thinking differently, to just maybe get like, wicked
curious. That's really what the show is about. Is spreading more love and talking about things in a way that maybe people lean in and get a little curious and think, Huh,
hadn't thought about it that way, or maybe right? I always say I want this show to either educate, elevate, enlighten or entertain, to enrich people's lives. That's
what I'm hoping that I'm able to do through this show. And here's the thing, man, like the things that I share on the show, I always say, like, you don't have to take my
word for it. I always want I want my clients. I want the people in the nest. I want everybody to find things out for themselves. I'm going to share some things.
I'm going to drop some spiritual breadcrumbs. I'm going to say this is what worked for me. Here are some tools. Here's a way of looking at it, blah, blah. Ask some
good questions, right? Because you have the answers inside of you like nobody knows you better than you. You have your own internal teacher, but sometimes we forget that, and
we need people outside of us to help us remember who we really are and how resourceful we are, and to help us out, and that's what I love to do. But I want your I
always say, don't take my word for it, because I want you to gather your own evidence. I want your experience to be your own proof. I want your experience of trying
these things for yourself to be come your evidence, that's what I'm into. So I hope this has been helpful in some way. I super duper appreciate you. I appreciate you
tuning in and listening, and if you are one of my listeners, and look, I think I mentioned it. I think I mentioned it on last week's podcast that I'm going to be starting
to offer online yoga. So right now it, the plan is I'm going to start with one class and see how it goes, and hopefully, if enough people are, like, into it and we're
digging it. I mean, I had a TV show for 13 years, so I know how to teach online. Like, I'm not worried about that. It's just that I think people sometimes are afraid to try new
things. But I just want to say to you, like, if you're at all curious, and if you're on my email list, you're going to be the first to like, get the sign up link and stuff like
that. So if you're not already on my list, go to Karen kenney.com/sign up. You can also just shoot me a message and stuff like that, because I still have to figure out, like,
What the You know, I know what the I know what the first link is going to be. But like, the direct link to like, sign up. I don't have that yet. I'll have it this
afternoon, so, but I think it's just going to you could probably just find it by going to Karen kenney.com/yoga like that. Might first take you to the page. We'll see, I
guess I should check that before I send you there. And I'm doing it right now. I'm typing as fast as I can. Oh, real time. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I gotta go in and tweak
this. But, yeah, you can go to Karen kenney.com/yoga I gotta, I gotta tweak that. But that's where the the link will eventually be, where you can find it out.
But if you're interested in doing that, I would love to have you join me. It's going to be on Tuesday nights, 6pm Eastern Time, My Time, it'll be over zoom, and I'll be
telling you more about it, like I said in the email, and maybe on the next episode I'll have more. I think the first class is going to be on January 7. So we got a little
time. We got a little time for you to get the details and get everything you need, like a yoga mat, some blocks, a strap, all that stuff, but I'm wicked excited to do it,
and it's going to allow me to share my love of yoga and this practice that I love, that has been so incredibly helpful in healing in my own life with so many other people. And
it's one of the reasons why I had a TV show for so long, is I wanted to be able to bring yoga to people who maybe otherwise could not get to a class in person. So I feel like I'm
kind of going back to my roots a little bit, which is wicked exciting. So I mean, I, of course, I love teaching in person. I'm going to also be doing that in 2025 I have a class
coming up in January at yoga from the hat in Laconia, so that in New Hampshire. So that's going to be wicked fun. I think that's on January 10, anywho. Thank you for listening.
Thank you for sticking around this long. I hope that you know we start to find, if your life already is not reflecting beautiful things back to you, that we can start to do
some things now, build a little momentum, momentum as we're going into the new year, so that when we hit January, we're not starting from behind, like we've already
been thinking about these things, starting to implement, maybe a couple of things, right? Just even if you just think one new, like habit per quarter of the year, like,
you know, just like habit sat gradually and slowly, but just start with something that feels really important to you, and let's just start to think about it, and daydream
and visualize and put some things into action. I'm really into practical application, so let's see how it goes, and let's see what starts to be reflected back
to us in 2025 would be wicked curious to to hear from you, but gather your own evidence. Find out for yourself. Let your own experience, right, show you. Show you and
not just take my word for it, okay, but thanks for listening. Okay? I appreciate you wherever you go, right? May you leave yourself and the animals and the people and
the planet, the environment, better than how you first found it, wherever you go, may you be a blessing. Bye. Bye.