“The assignment is alignment. How do you come into that place of alignment for what's true for you?”
–Karen Kenney
Curiosity over check marks — spiritual mentor Karen Kenney talks about how rote activities and putting spirituality on our to do lists doesn’t work.
There’s a difference between a habit and a ritual. Karen talks about the 5 Ds of a daily spiritual practice (DSP): daily, dedication, determination, discipline, and devotion. If you’ve ever had your meditation practice turn into another to do, it’s the devotion piece you want to look at — whatever the actual practice.
There’s no one size fits all when it comes to a spiritual practice. You need to get curious about your purpose and the what and when and how that will work for you — and why.
We talk about:
- Creating your DSP and getting curious about what works for you
- Bookending your day with love
- They why behind spiritual practices first thing in the morning and right before bed
- Not using spiritual practices to beat yourself up
- Growing into a practice and getting over resistance
- The effect on your nervous system
ABOUT KAREN
Karen Kenney is a certified Spiritual Mentor, Writer, Hypnotist, Integrative Change Worker and Coach. She’s known for her dynamic storytelling, her sense of humor, her Boston accent and her no-bullshit approach to Spirituality and transformational work.
She’s been a yoga teacher for 25 years, is a Certified Gateless Writing Instructor, and is also an author, speaker, retreat leader and the host of The Karen Kenney Show podcast.
A curious human being, life-long learner and an entrepreneur for 20+ years, KK brings a down-to-earth perspective to the spiritual principles and practical tools that create powerful shifts in people’s lives, relationships and businesses.
She works with people individually in her 1:1 program THE QUEST - and in her group program THE NEST.
Her approach brings together tools that coach both the conscious and unconscious mind. She combines Brain Science, Subconscious Reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis, and Spiritual Mentorship to help clients regulate their nervous systems, remove blocks, rewrite stories, rewire beliefs, and reimagine what’s possible!
Karen wants her clients to have their own lived experience with spirituality and to not just “take her word for it”. She encourages them to discover and deepen their own personal connection to Self, Source and Spirit in tangible and actionable ways.
Her “Your Story To Your Glory” process helps people to shift their minds from an old thought system of fear to one of Love - using compassion, empirical evidence and humor, her work is effective, efficient, and wicked fun!
KK’s been a student of A Course in Miracles for 30 years, has been vegan for 20+ years, and believes that a little kindness can make a big difference.
LINKS
DOABLE CHANGES
At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Action is where change happens.
But here's the thing: when we have a goal, a wish, a desire bubbling up in us, it can feel really huge. Sometimes we stop ourselves in our tracks based on how huge our desire feels. Change needs action, but it doesn't need huge action. When we focus on the next step, the next Doable Change that we can integrate into our lives, we don’t get stuck and we create momentum.
Choose one Doable Change that resonates with you today and really play with it. Fit it into your life, your days, make it work for you — then move on to your next Doable Change.
Here are Three Doable Changes from this conversation:
- START AND END YOUR DAY WITH LOVE. Start your day with five minutes of your spiritual practice. Try this as you wake up because of the opening that phase of wake/sleep has for us. Take five compassionate minutes to look back on your day before bed.
- GET CURIOUS. Instead of putting meditation (or whatever practice) on your to do list day after day, ask yourself what this practice means or does for you. Do you like the effect it has on you? Are you doing it because somebody else told you to? Is there a different practice that would serve you better? For example, if you have trouble sitting still for meditation, would walking mediation serve you? (Note, it doesn’t have to be meditation!)
- REMIND YOURSELF THAT YOU ARE LOVE. What happens if you remind yourself that you are love every day? What if you go about removing barriers to that or to believing that?
