Speaker 1: Hey, you guys. So I am actually pumping right now.
Speaker 1: If you hear a machine in the background, it's my pump,
Speaker 1: because you know, it's just got to happen. Um, it's
Speaker 1: so interesting. I always have so much to talk about.
Speaker 1: I always feel like I just have like a plethora
Speaker 1: of things talk about, things to worry about, all these
Speaker 1: things that are stressing me out right now, I just
Speaker 1: I feel like nothing I was worrying about really actually
Speaker 1: was worth worrying about. So much just happening in the
Speaker 1: world right now. From the tornado hitting right in my
Speaker 1: neighborhood that really, um shakes you up and makes you
Speaker 1: realize what matters, like what really matters. And then with
Speaker 1: the state of the world right now with the coronavirus,
Speaker 1: I don't know, something's happening where I feel. Um, Like,
Speaker 1: all the things I was stressing out about before I've
Speaker 1: just gone away, and it's gotten down to basic needs
Speaker 1: for me keeping my family healthy. You know, isn't that interesting? Um,
Speaker 1: I don't really care so much about all the other
Speaker 1: little things I was worrying about. Those are just kind
Speaker 1: of extra to me at this point. So I don't,
Speaker 1: like I said, I don't have a lot of things
Speaker 1: to talk about. I don't even know what to talk
Speaker 1: about because I realize a lot of the things I
Speaker 1: talked about are worries that um, I've had the luxury
Speaker 1: to worry about, and right now I'm just not worried
Speaker 1: about it because I'm like, there's some big stuff happening
Speaker 1: in the world, and I'm just gonna really try to
Speaker 1: be as calm as possible and just focus on staying
Speaker 1: healthy like everyone is, you know, being safe, washing our hands,
Speaker 1: being as um, taking as many precautions as we can
Speaker 1: to just keep the coronavirus contained and help rebuild my
Speaker 1: neighborhood in where I can. But there's just some bigger
Speaker 1: issues going on and it's giving me perspective for sure.
Speaker 1: So I have all since I don't know what to
Speaker 1: talk about. I have all these books that I read
Speaker 1: all the time, and one of them is from Oprah,
Speaker 1: and she has a book called What I Know for Sure,
Speaker 1: And so I'm going to read some of what she
Speaker 1: Knows for Sure and talk about it because I need
Speaker 1: a little inspiration to myself. Okay, this is on resilience.
Speaker 1: Oprah says, what I Know for Sure is that there's
Speaker 1: no strength without challenges, adversity, resistance, and often pain. The
Speaker 1: problem that makes you want to throw your hands and
Speaker 1: holler mercy will build your tenation, tenacity, courage, discipline, and determination.
Speaker 1: I've learned her a lie on the strength that inherited
Speaker 1: from all those who came before me, the grandmother's sisters,
Speaker 1: aunts and brothers who were tested with unimaginable hardships and
Speaker 1: still survived. I go forth alone and stand as ten thousand,
Speaker 1: maya Angelie proclaimed and her poem our grandmother's. When I
Speaker 1: moved through the world, I bring all my history with me,
Speaker 1: all the people who paved the way for me, who
Speaker 1: are part of who I am. Think think back for
Speaker 1: a moment on your own history, not just where you
Speaker 1: were born or where you grew up, but the circumstances
Speaker 1: that contributed to you being right here, right now. What
Speaker 1: were the moments along the way that wounded or scarred you.
Speaker 1: Chances are you've had a few. But here's what's remarkable.
Speaker 1: You're still here standing. I love that line. I go
Speaker 1: forth alone and stand as ten thousand that like since
Speaker 1: chills on my spine. We are so quick to live
Speaker 1: in a world of me, me, me, me me, And
Speaker 1: this is me included. It is so easy to be
Speaker 1: so self focused and so um just only aware of
Speaker 1: what's happening in our immediate world and our lives, and
Speaker 1: we forget who paved the way for us, like so
Speaker 1: many generations of people and our families paved the way
Speaker 1: for us to be here. I mean, we are one
Speaker 1: of ten thousand. This world has been going on a
Speaker 1: long time. If certain people wouldn't have gotten together and
Speaker 1: created life and had that circle continue, we would never
Speaker 1: be here. The hardships they had to overcome, the choices
Speaker 1: they had to make that led them to the life
Speaker 1: they led, which ultimately led to us being here. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just a miracle that we're here, it really is.
Speaker 1: And I think that's such a great perspective. And there's
Speaker 1: so many hardships that people have gone through before us,
Speaker 1: like like she was saying, imaginable hardships, and they've made
Speaker 1: it and they survived, and here we are because of it,
Speaker 1: so we can survive too. The world has always been
Speaker 1: faced with hardships. There's always been really scary things happening
Speaker 1: in the world, and the human race has continue to
Speaker 1: thrive and survive and get better and better, and so
Speaker 1: we are that as well. And when things get scary
Speaker 1: and it gets overwhelming, I think that's a great place
Speaker 1: to lean into, is to realize that our ancestors who
Speaker 1: came before us dealt with some really hard, hard, hard,
Speaker 1: terrible things and they still remained and let it led
Speaker 1: us to us being here, and so we can. We
Speaker 1: can survive and thrive too. We just have to. We
Speaker 1: just have to honestly find it within ourselves to connect
Speaker 1: to God, stay centered as much as we can, and
Speaker 1: do what has to be done. Two make this world
Speaker 1: a better place, you know. And it's not always gonna
Speaker 1: be easy. It's not. It's definitely not always gonna be pretty,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's gonna be scary, and we can make it.
Speaker 1: We can survive. We can do this. We gotta love
Speaker 1: on each other, um, give each other grace, work hard,
Speaker 1: and work as a team. Okay, here's something else that
Speaker 1: she said talking with thousands. This is from the book.
Speaker 1: What I know for sure, Oprah Winfrey, talking with thousands
Speaker 1: of people over the years has shown me that there's
Speaker 1: one desire we all share. We all want to feel valued.
Speaker 1: Whether you're a mother in Topeka, are a businesswoman in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: each of us at our core longs to be loved, needed, understood, affirmed,
Speaker 1: to have intimate connections that leave us feeling more alive
Speaker 1: and human. I once filmed a show in which I
Speaker 1: interviewed seven men of different ages, in all backgrounds, all
Speaker 1: of whom had one thing in common. They had cheated
Speaker 1: on their wives. It was one of the most interesting,
Speaker 1: candid conversations I've ever had. In a huge aha moment
Speaker 1: for me, I realized that the yearning to feel heard,
Speaker 1: needed and important is so strong in all of us
Speaker 1: that we seek that validation in whatever form we can
Speaker 1: get it. For a lot of people, men and women,
Speaker 1: having an affair is an affirmation that having an affair
Speaker 1: is an affirmation that I'm really okay. One of the
Speaker 1: men I interviewed, who had been married eighteen years and
Speaker 1: thought he had a moral code that would withstand flirtatious temptations,
Speaker 1: said about his mistress, there wasn't anything special about her,
Speaker 1: but she listened, she was interested, and she made me
Speaker 1: feel special. That's the key, I thought. We all want
Speaker 1: to feel like we matter to somebody. As a girl
Speaker 1: growing up shuffled between Mississippi, Nahville, Milwaukee, I did not
Speaker 1: feel loved. I thought I could make people approve of
Speaker 1: me by becoming an achiever. Then, in my twenties, I
Speaker 1: based my worth on whether a man would love me.
Speaker 1: I remember once even throwing a boyfriend boyfriend's keys down
Speaker 1: the toilet to keep him from walking out on me.
Speaker 1: I was no different from a physically abused woman. I
Speaker 1: wasn't getting slapped upside the head every night, but because
Speaker 1: my wings were clipped, I couldn't soar. I had so
Speaker 1: much going for me, but without a man, I thought
Speaker 1: it was nothing. Not until years later did I understand
Speaker 1: that the love and approval I crave could not be
Speaker 1: found outside myself. What I know for sure is that
Speaker 1: the lack of intimacy is not distance from someone else,
Speaker 1: It is disregard for yourself. What I know for sure
Speaker 1: is that a lack of intimacy is not distance from
Speaker 1: someone else, It is disregard for yourself. It's true that
Speaker 1: we all need the kind of relationship that enrich and
Speaker 1: sustain us. But it's also true that if you're looking
Speaker 1: for someone to heal and complete you, to that voice
Speaker 1: inside of you that has always whispered, you're not worth anything,
Speaker 1: You're wasting your time. Why because if you don't already
Speaker 1: know that you have worth, there's nothing your friends, your family,
Speaker 1: or your mate can say that will completely convince you
Speaker 1: of that. Now, that is a good point. Let's reread that.
Speaker 1: If you don't already know that you have worth, there's
Speaker 1: nothing your friends, your family, or your mate can say
Speaker 1: that will completely convince you of that. The Creator has
Speaker 1: given you full responsibility for your life, and with that
Speaker 1: responsibility comes an amazing privilege, the power to give yourself
Speaker 1: the love, affection, and intimacy you may not have received
Speaker 1: as a child. You are. You are the one best mother, father, sister, friend,
Speaker 1: cousin and lover you will ever have. Right now, there's
Speaker 1: what your Oh this is interesting. Right now, you're one
Speaker 1: choice away from seeing yourself as someone whose life has
Speaker 1: an inherent significance. So choose to see it that way.
Speaker 1: You don't have to spend one more second focusing on
Speaker 1: the on the past, deprived of affirmation you should have
Speaker 1: gotten from your parents. Yes, you deserve that love, but
Speaker 1: it's up to you now to bestow it upon yourself
Speaker 1: and move forward. Stop wanting for your husband to say
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, your kids to tell you what a
Speaker 1: great mother you are a man to whisk you away
Speaker 1: and marry you, or your best friend to assure you
Speaker 1: that you're worth a darn look inward. The loving begins
Speaker 1: with you. Now, that is such a great message. I
Speaker 1: have struggled with self worth like most people have, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I mean, I over wrote a whole book about it.
Speaker 1: Um so many people struggle with it, and I could
Speaker 1: not agree with her more. You can look for all
Speaker 1: the validation in the world to tell you that you're
Speaker 1: worth it, But if you don't believe it in yourself,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter who tells you you're worth it, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter who tells you you're not. If you
Speaker 1: believe in yourself that you're worth it, you don't need
Speaker 1: to hear it from anyone else. Yes, of course those
Speaker 1: are nice things to hear. We all want to hear it.
Speaker 1: But we have to know it. We have to know
Speaker 1: we matter. We have to know that we're trusting our instincts,
Speaker 1: that we're trusting our purpose, and that we have a purpose,
Speaker 1: and that we're valuable, and that our lives matter. We
Speaker 1: have to know that. And it doesn't matter what we've done,
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what kind of career we have. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what kind of lifestyle we're living in. Maybe
Speaker 1: we don't feel like we have anything going for us
Speaker 1: right now, but because we're here on this earth, we matter.
Speaker 1: We made it, we made it to earth. We're having
Speaker 1: this experience, so our lives are worth it. And what
Speaker 1: I've been trying to do lately when I feel confused
Speaker 1: and when I don't know where to go, and when
Speaker 1: I feel like lost, um, and you know, when you
Speaker 1: feel like you have a million plates in the air
Speaker 1: and you don't know if they're all going to crash
Speaker 1: or you're going to catch them, um, that feeling. I
Speaker 1: am just trying to let God guide me. And I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to really really get still in quiet and
Speaker 1: listen and try to hear what God has intended for
Speaker 1: my life and which direction he wants him to move,
Speaker 1: because you know, someone you get to a place where
Speaker 1: you don't know what the next move is and you
Speaker 1: don't know how to take that next step. And for me,
Speaker 1: I've had enough experience in my life when I forced
Speaker 1: things because I feel like I need something to happen.
Speaker 1: When I force things, it never really pans out the
Speaker 1: way I wanted to. When I have let my life
Speaker 1: unfold and continue to work hard and move down the
Speaker 1: road that I feel like it's being laid for me.
Speaker 1: It usually works out. So the way I listen for
Speaker 1: God to tell me what to do is by my
Speaker 1: gut instincts. I now, No, I've been in situations where
Speaker 1: I feel so much resistance, like nausea. Um. It feels hard,
Speaker 1: like hard in a way, like like a brick wall,
Speaker 1: like I can't move through it, like I'm really having
Speaker 1: to force um. It doesn't feel like things are working out.
Speaker 1: It feels icky. It feels like I'm pushing really hard
Speaker 1: and I'm getting resistance from everybody that I'm pushing up against.
Speaker 1: It doesn't feel settled in me. When I feel those feelings,
Speaker 1: that's when I feel like God's saying, pivot, pivot. This
Speaker 1: isn't this isn't opening up, This isn't the clear road,
Speaker 1: This isn't what you're supposed to do. You're forcing your
Speaker 1: own agenda. So I'm trying not even to get into
Speaker 1: agendas that I have to get out of right now.
Speaker 1: I really want to just be so open to God
Speaker 1: like that He just sort of lays the road out
Speaker 1: for me. Because I realize I can get on the
Speaker 1: hamster will and run run, run, run, run, run run.
Speaker 1: But I'm not going anywhere until I'm on the road
Speaker 1: that God's intending for me. I'm just running in a circle.
Speaker 1: I'm just literally spinning my wheels and wasting my energy.
Speaker 1: So I might as well stay calm and quiet, continue
Speaker 1: moving on the road that I'm on, um until God
Speaker 1: makes it clear by opening a door giving me some
Speaker 1: serious intuition, um shutting a door. I now know by
Speaker 1: the way I feel. If I feel good about something,
Speaker 1: and if it feels easy and right, and of course
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean you're not gonna work hard and you're
Speaker 1: not gonna have hard work to do. But if the
Speaker 1: road presents itself in an easy and light way, then
Speaker 1: to me, that's the road I go down. And I
Speaker 1: just continue to go down that road. And I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily know where it's going, but I'm just gonna walk,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna trust my intuition and my instincts and
Speaker 1: listen and be aware of the signs that God gives me,
Speaker 1: which are to me, they come in the form of resistance, resistance,
Speaker 1: or ease. If it's full of resistance and it makes
Speaker 1: me feel terrible. Then to me, that's when God is
Speaker 1: telling me to pivot. Okay, I'm gonna read one more
Speaker 1: excerpt from Oprah's book What I Know for Sure? This
Speaker 1: is about communication. The key to any relationship is communication.
Speaker 1: And I've always thought that communication is like a dance.
Speaker 1: One person takes a step forward, the other takes a
Speaker 1: step back. Even a single misstep can land both people
Speaker 1: on the floor in a tangle of confusion. And when
Speaker 1: you find yourself in that position with your spouse, with
Speaker 1: your colleague, your friend, your child, I found the best
Speaker 1: option is to always ask the other person, what do
Speaker 1: you really want here? What a great question when all
Speaker 1: the egos are flaring, and all the miscommunication, this is
Speaker 1: me talking, not Britain, all the miscommunication is happening, ask them,
Speaker 1: what do you really want here? Okay, she says. At
Speaker 1: first you might notice a little squirming, a lot of
Speaker 1: throat clearing, maybe some silence. But if you stay quiet
Speaker 1: long enough and can get the real answer, I guarantee
Speaker 1: it will be some variation of the following. I want
Speaker 1: to know that you value me, Extend a hand of
Speaker 1: connection and understanding, and offer three of the most important
Speaker 1: words that any of us can ever receive. I hear you,
Speaker 1: I know for sure your relationship will be the better
Speaker 1: for it. Isn't that the truth? Don't we just want
Speaker 1: to be heard? Yeah? I mean all of us just
Speaker 1: want to be heard. And that's what all of our
Speaker 1: tantrums and anger and everything kind of stems from. Is
Speaker 1: when we feel like this other person doesn't get me,
Speaker 1: doesn't see me, doesn't know me. It's all just a
Speaker 1: different way for saying this person doesn't hear me. I'm
Speaker 1: not being seen for who I want to be, for
Speaker 1: who I feel I am. What I'm realizing is you
Speaker 1: don't have to fully agree with someone. You don't have
Speaker 1: to like totally agree with someone's beliefs or think that
Speaker 1: someone is always right. But if you can hear someone,
Speaker 1: and really, my mom calls it active listening. If you
Speaker 1: can do active listening. And I'm not saying I'm great
Speaker 1: at this, I'm not. I'm aware that this is what
Speaker 1: needs to be done, but I'm not saying I'm great.
Speaker 1: But if you can do active listening, which is you're
Speaker 1: listening and you're not trying to come up with what
Speaker 1: you're going to say next, You're listening to hear what
Speaker 1: that person truly has to say, and then you speak
Speaker 1: after they're done, and you have a thoughtful response to
Speaker 1: what they've said, not just like what you've already been
Speaker 1: gearing up to say right back at them to get
Speaker 1: back your point. Active listening is really about, like, what
Speaker 1: is this person really trying to say? Because if we
Speaker 1: think of it from a spiritual perspective, we're all little
Speaker 1: light beams from from Heaven, from God. We're all a
Speaker 1: little just bolts of lights. Our spirits are, and our
Speaker 1: spirits have a purpose that they want to achieve while
Speaker 1: they're here on this earth. When we don't get heard,
Speaker 1: when we don't get seen, it's frustrating because our spirit
Speaker 1: is wanting to have this life and create this existence.
Speaker 1: That's why we're on this earth. But sometimes we don't
Speaker 1: know how to express ourselves as humans. So if we
Speaker 1: can view everyone as a little light beams and know
Speaker 1: that when someone's frustrated, it's just that they're wanting. They
Speaker 1: have an idea of who they want to be and
Speaker 1: they want to be seen. That's why we all are
Speaker 1: here existing. We want we have desires, we want to
Speaker 1: achieve and be certain things, and all of us have
Speaker 1: different desires and dreams because we all come here with
Speaker 1: a different purpose. So if we can just view each
Speaker 1: other in a way of seeing the light in each
Speaker 1: other and realizing that we all have purpose, let's try
Speaker 1: to help each other achieve our purposes. We don't have
Speaker 1: to have the same purpose. We're not going to we
Speaker 1: don't have to do things the same way. But instead
Speaker 1: of having to have things in my way, let's figure
Speaker 1: out what that person needs and work together. There's enough
Speaker 1: for everyone to win. There's enough to go around for
Speaker 1: everyone to win. We just have to drop our armor,
Speaker 1: lower our swords, and hear each other and comb at
Speaker 1: each other with compassion instead of anger. Okay, so now
Speaker 1: I'm gonna move on to another book. This is called
Speaker 1: the John Wayne Code wit Wisdom and Timeless Advice from
Speaker 1: the American Icon. He says, I define manhoods simply. Men
Speaker 1: should be tough, fair and courageous, never petty, never looking
Speaker 1: for a fight, but never backing down from one either.
Speaker 1: I like that standing your ground but not being unnecessary,
Speaker 1: like love yourself, stand up for yourself, but don't be
Speaker 1: an asshole. I mean that's how I interpret that. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's see what else we want to what other good quotes.
Speaker 1: This is one of my favorite ones of all and
Speaker 1: I think this is such a good motto to live by.
Speaker 1: I think this is one of his most famous quotes.
Speaker 1: Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
Speaker 1: Let's take a minute and think about that. Where in
Speaker 1: your life have you been scared to death? But you've
Speaker 1: jumped into the into the game of life, into the
Speaker 1: ring anyway. It takes balls to do that. I mean,
Speaker 1: it is so easy to wanted to sit on the
Speaker 1: sidelines of life when there's so much going on, there's
Speaker 1: so much fear in the world, there's so much comparison,
Speaker 1: we have so many insecure these there's so many there's
Speaker 1: so many factors, So why we don't want to put
Speaker 1: ourselves out there? But courage, he defines the definition of
Speaker 1: courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.
Speaker 1: So you feel so nervous, so inadequate, so whatever, but
Speaker 1: you get on that horse and you go ride and
Speaker 1: get in get into the big middle of it. Anyway.
Speaker 1: You don't know what's gonna happen, you don't know if
Speaker 1: you're equipped, but you go for it. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: what bravery is. That's what courage is, and that's all
Speaker 1: life is. We don't want to sit on the sidelines
Speaker 1: of life. I mean, what is our fear. The worst
Speaker 1: case that can happen, we die. I mean, that's a
Speaker 1: real fear. But also the worst thing that can happen
Speaker 1: is we sit on the sidelines of life and miss
Speaker 1: our whole life. That's a real fear. I mean, to
Speaker 1: each their own, there are some things that death isn't
Speaker 1: the worst thing. Sometimes, like I would rather I do
Speaker 1: not want to die, but like I want to live
Speaker 1: my life and not be afraid to live my life
Speaker 1: because I'm scared to die because I'm scared of what
Speaker 1: people are going to think of me. Obviously, you want
Speaker 1: to be smart and responsible and like, don't be an idiot.
Speaker 1: But I want to be in the big middle of
Speaker 1: my life. I want to live my life. I only
Speaker 1: get this one. So many things can happen every day
Speaker 1: I wake up. It needs to be a good day.
Speaker 1: Like I want to wake up and be like, yes,
Speaker 1: I'm in it, I'm living. I don't want to be
Speaker 1: plagued by fear and worry because there's so much to
Speaker 1: fear and there's so much to worry, and that's completely
Speaker 1: steals your joy. So I love that quote so much. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll read one more from this book. I suppose my
Speaker 1: best attribute, if you want to call it, that, is sincerity.
Speaker 1: I can sell sincerity because that's the way I am.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, And isn't that a great trait to genuinely care,
Speaker 1: to genuinely be sincere. You can see it in his eyes.
Speaker 1: I mean he did, and that's why everyone loved him,
Speaker 1: because he had integrity, he had courage, and he was sincere.
Speaker 1: That's what we're looking for in alife. And it kind
Speaker 1: of goes on top of what Oprah was saying. We
Speaker 1: all want to be heard and seen, and we love
Speaker 1: people like John Wayne because we feel like he stands
Speaker 1: for something and he hears and he sees us, and
Speaker 1: he also hears and sees himself, and that's really powerful. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read one more excerpt from this book called
Speaker 1: Love Hills Heels, Love Heels, written by Becka Stevens, the
Speaker 1: founder of Thistle Farms. If you haven't checked out Thistle Farms,
Speaker 1: check it out. It's an amazing refuge for women who
Speaker 1: have been abused and sex trafficked and overcome all sorts
Speaker 1: of terrible things. And Beck Stevens is all so Piscopalian priests.
Speaker 1: They make all the thistle farmers makes all these women,
Speaker 1: gives these women jobs, and they make all sorts of
Speaker 1: incredible candles and lotions and essential oils and bags and jewelry,
Speaker 1: and it's beautiful. Um. And Becca is just she is
Speaker 1: such a beacon of peace in the world. And this
Speaker 1: book is very um inspiring and offers a lot of peace.
Speaker 1: And here's something that she wrote about, which I think
Speaker 1: is a very great point. Sometimes we um this is
Speaker 1: still men talking. But sometimes we rush through our day
Speaker 1: and we get started right away, and we don't even
Speaker 1: take time to be intentional about our day in the
Speaker 1: mood that we're setting. And she says, a habit of peace.
Speaker 1: I've been practicing waking up to prayer, during an hour
Speaker 1: of yoga, pilates, and walking a few miles five days
Speaker 1: a week. I go, whether I'm inspired to or not.
Speaker 1: I go because I know that when I walk her exercise,
Speaker 1: I breathe and settle the noise around me. I go
Speaker 1: because I know when I walk in the woods or
Speaker 1: prayed silently in the morning all the clatter of everyone
Speaker 1: else's agendas grows quiet. Of course, some days I go
Speaker 1: out and come home and I barely remember what I did.
Speaker 1: I go through the motions, I make my path in
Speaker 1: a circle through the woods, and the warriors and fears
Speaker 1: are still stirred up within me. But every now and
Speaker 1: then everything settles in the still waters surround me, and
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful that I didn't miss it. In the
Speaker 1: midst of a world feel of field of stress, it's
Speaker 1: critical to search for peace to quiet our souls. We
Speaker 1: can respond to stress by finding our quiet times where
Speaker 1: we feel found, not lost. Moments of peace can be
Speaker 1: fleeting and far between, but they are healing. They are
Speaker 1: a healing balm for her troubled heart. Times when we
Speaker 1: see birds overhead, or we hear Him sung with a
Speaker 1: perfect harmony, or we see the love of God reflected
Speaker 1: in a child's eyes are so important. But they sit
Speaker 1: But they sit us down by an eternal moment, so
Speaker 1: that all troubles can pass us. And oh, temporal is
Speaker 1: what she's saying. I guess that means temporary. But they
Speaker 1: sit us down by an eternal moment, so all that
Speaker 1: troubles us can pass and we can feel peace in
Speaker 1: such moments. All we can do is give thinks that
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit leads us, leads us still to calming
Speaker 1: and peaceful waters. One morning, before I was going to
Speaker 1: preach in North Carolina, I got a text message from
Speaker 1: one of the Thistle Forms graduates. Today I woke up
Speaker 1: and I heard the birds and felip peace. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That simple note meant the world to me. She's finding
Speaker 1: those still waters where we can still reflect, where we
Speaker 1: can reflect, where we get quiet enough to hear the birds.
Speaker 1: It's simple, isn't life simple? We make it so complicated.
Speaker 1: There's so much noise in life. There's so much noise
Speaker 1: in life that is literally stealing our joy, stealing our peace.
Speaker 1: But if we can just take the time, and I
Speaker 1: realized it doesn't take that much time. If we can
Speaker 1: just take a few minutes, even sit outside, do some meditating,
Speaker 1: sit inside, do some meditating, put on a podcast that's calming,
Speaker 1: put on a meditation, read a devotional, do something to
Speaker 1: start our day off right before we just dive into
Speaker 1: the hustle and bustle of this busy world, find some
Speaker 1: peace before we just start into the news, into the chaos,
Speaker 1: into everything, start ourselves off with peace. What a difference
Speaker 1: it makes. Thank you for joining me today. Um, thank
Speaker 1: you guys for walking this journey with me. I am
Speaker 1: a work in progress and I feel like this actually
Speaker 1: was very calming for me. This gave me a lot
Speaker 1: of peace because there's a lot of stress right now,
Speaker 1: and I think we need to lean into things that
Speaker 1: bring us peace, which to me, it is reaching out
Speaker 1: and reading books and hearing words spoken from inspiring women
Speaker 1: and men who are just showing the way of how
Speaker 1: to find the inner piece. Because when we can't control things,
Speaker 1: what we can do is control ourselves. And the way
Speaker 1: that I mean control ourselves is we can't control how
Speaker 1: we respond. We can't control our intentions. And when we
Speaker 1: feel stressed and nervous, what we need to do more
Speaker 1: than anything is take a deep breath, get calm. My
Speaker 1: dad was telling me this. If you're feeling panicky, sit down,
Speaker 1: touch something anything and rub it and count to tend
Speaker 1: Because your mind can't do two things more than two
Speaker 1: things at once. So if you're rubbing something and counting
Speaker 1: to ten, so I'm doing right now one, two, three
Speaker 1: or five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, that allows space
Speaker 1: in your brain to come, because you can't just have
Speaker 1: thoughts of bombarding you because you're using your thoughts to
Speaker 1: count to ten and rub astir fist of something and
Speaker 1: it will calm you down if you're feeling panicky. So
Speaker 1: here's a little tip if you feel nervous or stressed out,
Speaker 1: or you're wondering how to calm yourself down. Um, hopefully
Speaker 1: that will help you. I love you guys. Wash your
Speaker 1: hands