Welcome to a brand new year and a fresh episode of the podcast!  

As we step into 2024, it’s a time for reflection, envisioning, and embracing the boundless possibilities that lie ahead. In this episode, I delve into the art of creating a vision that resonates with your soul and explore how to get our of the mind to connect with the heart’s true desires  

In this episode, you’ll discover: 

• The Power of Vision: Learn why creating a vision is meaningful and how to move into yours 
• Inspiration from Dr. Tererai Trent: Hear about Dr. Trent’s incredible journey from a rural village in Zimbabwe to achieving her vision 
• Mind to Heart Transition: Explore strategies to shift from a busy mind to heartfelt insights. 
• Reflective Exercises: Engage in practical exercises to uncover what will genuinely bring you meaning and fulfillment.  

Embark on this enlightening journey with me as I navigate the path from mind to heart, setting the stage for a year of profound personal growth and fulfillment. Tune in to redefine what’s possible in 2024! 

Remember to subscribe and share this podcast if it resonates with you. Your journey towards a heart-centered life starts here! 

Connect with Rev. Karen Cleveland:

Website: https://revkarencleveland.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/conne… I

nstagram: https://www.instagram.com/revkarencle…

I really hope to connect with you personally so please send me a message here or join me in my Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/connectednesswithrevkaren. And in the meantime, enjoy the show! 

Hello and welcome to the Connectedness Podcast.

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Just as you might have guessed, I talk

about connection and connectedness

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on this podcast, our connection with

everything in the world around us.

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Whether you see it or not, we're all

connected, and it doesn't matter if it's

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our dog, our cat, our God, our body.

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And I'll also talk about some more.

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Abstract connections like our career or

our land, our community, our emotions,

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your body, life is all about connection.

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So the sooner we recognize

that, the sooner we can have an

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easier, more meaningful life.

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I will talk about these connections

through different lenses.

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Things like synchronicities

and coincidences are just.

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It's really important that we pay

attention to all of this so we can

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live an easier, more meaningful life.

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So welcome to the show.

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I'm your host, Karen Cleveland.

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Hello, everyone.

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Happy New Year.

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Thanks for being here.

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Thanks for listening.

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Yes, this is being released

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So, it's a brand new year.

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And what are you going to do with it?

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A lot of times, the end of the

year, Beginning of a new year.

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feels like we need to make a change or

do something new or create something new.

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And the fact is, every day is a new day.

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We can do it anytime.

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Why not now?

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If you haven't done anything yet that

you want to do to create a vision

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for yourself to start something

new, might as well do it now.

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And actually today I'm going to talk a

little bit about creating a vision and

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a little bit about what you need to do,

but also about getting out of your head.

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That's one of the number one mistakes or.

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Not a mistake, but 1 of the number 1

problems I see people have when they're

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trying to be in touch with their dreams

and their visions and their soul is that

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they can't get out of their head and

all the answers that they're coming up

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with are coming straight from the mind

instead of from the heart and the soul.

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So I'm going to talk a

little bit about that later.

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So right now, creating

a vision for yourself.

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And why do that?

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You know, it's a good time to look

at how we are co creating our world.

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You are the co author.

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Of your life, and why not let it be

something you want to be someone that

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I really admire for having a vision

and just seeing it through forever.

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Her name is Dr terror.

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I Trent.

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And if you don't know

her, she's from Zimbabwe.

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she is a very powerful example of having

a clear vision and never giving up.

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So she was born into this very poor

family and rural village in Zimbabwe.

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And she wanted to learn.

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She didn't have the opportunity to

go to school because she was a girl.

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She taught herself to read and

she started reading her brother's

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school books and then eventually she

started doing his homework for him

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and his grades started to improve.

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They started improving so much

that the teacher was wondering what

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was going on and found out it was

actually her doing the schoolwork.

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So the teacher pleaded with the

father, please let her come to school.

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She's very smart.

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She needs to come.

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So she was able to go to

school for a little while.

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Until her father sold her

off to be married for a cow.

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So her father got a cow.

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She was young, got married,

and started having babies.

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after she'd had three babies, the

village got a visit from a non

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profit organization, and the woman

that came asked every woman in

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the village, what are your dreams?

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What do you want for yourself?

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What do you, what do you see for yourself

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And she wanted to, Dr.

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Trent wanted to come to America,

get a college degree, get a

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master's degree, and get a Ph.

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D.

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And so her mother encouraged her.

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She said, write down your dreams,

put them in a tin can and bury them.

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And she did.

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Now she held on to that vision.

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And eventually she was still

married to the same man.

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She had five children.

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She came to the United States,

went to school and got her

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bachelor's she got her master's.

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And then she got her Ph.

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D.

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and she would go back to her home,

dig up that can and mark off her

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dreams every time she reached them.

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And even since then, more

dreams, more vision has come.

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So she's a big advocate

for women in education in

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Zimbabwe and around the world.

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So she's very inspiring.

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What is your vision for yourself?

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It doesn't have to be that big

or it probably is that big if it

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were fulfilled and you started

living it to its fullest extent.

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And sometimes our dreams feel like

they're as small as I just want to survive

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the month and be able to pay my bills.

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And that's okay.

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You start where you are.

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That's okay.

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Shirley, Dr.

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Trent, one of those same things.

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And she did have a bigger vision.

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So have you ever sat down and actually

thought about what that bigger

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vision is for you and for your life?

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And this is where it takes

getting out of our head.

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Because if you can only think as far as,

Ooh, I want to make lots of money so I

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don't have to work and travel the world.

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And yeah, I do some volunteer work

and maybe I'd give some money to this

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organization organization in that one

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and that's all good when

it's coming from your heart.

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It probably feels and sounds

a little bit different.

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you are getting in touch with how you

actually want to make a difference.

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And for Now if you've had problems

meditating, doing some kind of spiritual

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practice, doing something that puts

you in touch with your heart and your

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soul, then I guess this is for you.

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And even if you haven't had problems

with it, this is going to be a

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good reminder of checking in with

ourselves and what do we really want?

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What do you really want?

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If I asked you what, what is your

perfect week or perfect month look like,

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and I would want you to look at it as

if you didn't have to work, whether

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you're retired, whether you inherited

five million dollars, whatever it is.

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So work is out of the question.

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You don't even have to

think about making money.

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How would you spend your time?

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And that's going to be one of

the key ways that you get to

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what your heart wants to do.

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Once you figure out

what you're going to do.

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For an entire week for an entire month

when you don't have to worry about

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whatever it is that you do to make money,

you don't even have to think about it.

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You don't have to write.

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You don't have to make videos.

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Let's pretend you don't

have to do any of that.

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How do you spend your time?

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Do you watch TV the whole time?

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I'm guessing you probably don't.

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You might for a day.

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You might for two days, but for

the rest of your life, you probably

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don't want to watch TV all the time.

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that is something we're going to consider.

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But before we actually get to that

question, how do we move from our

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mind to a space of connectedness to

a space of the universal connection?

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How do we do that?

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There's several things

that keep us in our mind.

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So there's different ideas

depending on what is keeping you

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in your mind from moving down.

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Let me just throw out some examples

and some possible solutions.

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And if it's something that

applies to you, try it.

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And if it's not something that applies to

you, then just go on to the next thing.

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if I ask you to sit down and

to close your eyes and to just

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sit quietly for 10 minutes.

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What would happen?

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Do you start going through this to do

list of items that you need to get done?

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Do you start going through the shopping?

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I need to buy this.

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I need to buy that.

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I can't forget to write

a thank you letter.

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I have to get gas in the car.

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I have to wash the car.

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I have to feed the animals.

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Okay.

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Is that what your problem is?

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Are you, is your brain afraid

you're going to forget everything?

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And you're not going to do

everything you need to do.

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So that's one kind of problem.

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If your brain is too busy trying not to

forget anything, then the solution is

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You literally keep a pad of paper next

to you with a pen and you write it down

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and you write down whatever comes up

because once it's written on paper,

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you can tell yourself it's there.

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I'll pick it up when I'm done and I

don't have to worry about it right now.

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Now what happens if you start doing this

is you usually stop needing to write

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things down after about two or three times

because your brain realizes she's got

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it covered, she's got it taken care of.

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I can trust it's going to get done.

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and it's kind of weird how our brain

works, that it thinks it has to be

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in charge of what we think and do.

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In some ways it does, of course, but if

you start writing down the list, you can

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start to relax you might even be able

to get out of your head a little bit

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and start to move down to your heart.

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That's just step 1.

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So stay with me to go through all these

different ideas and to actually figure

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out how to get down into your heart.

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Let me ask you the next one.

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If you sit down to get

quiet for 10 minutes.

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If I asked you to pay attention to

your shoulders, to your back, to your

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face, are they going to feel tense?

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Are you all tensed up?

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That tension in all of your muscles?

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It's it's a constant freeway of

information from your brain to your

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muscles, the rest of your body.

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And even though it's not

conscious, so you're not aware of.

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Oh, I have to tense up my shoulders.

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I have to make my neck really stiff.

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I have to keep my back perfectly

straight or forward or sideways.

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Okay.

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So even though it's not

conscious, it's a working brain.

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And so you do need to consciously

try to relax your muscles so

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you can stop the information.

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Stop that freeway.

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Of keeping your brain busy.

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So, literally, there's many different

reasons I use this technique.

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But start with your toes.

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And you can say, with your eyes

closed, thank you toes, you can relax.

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Or you can check in with your toes

and tense them and then relax them.

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Tense them and then just let go.

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And you work your way up your entire body.

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You can either thank it and

let it know it can relax.

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Or you just contract the muscle

and then relax the muscle and

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go through your entire body.

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It, it can take, you know, 1 minute

or 5 minutes or 10 minutes, depending

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on how much time you want to pay

attention to each part of your body.

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if there's something that doesn't

want to relax, just kind of sit

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there and focus on it and imagine

warmth and white light going to it.

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And just.

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Let it know you can relax and

then move on and forget about it.

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it might even take two or three or

four or five sessions to sit down and

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relax the body before you can sit down

and actually try to do something else.

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So just start doing it though.

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Start today, by Friday, Saturday,

you should be able to sit down and

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get relaxed much easier than you

are the first time that you try.

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there's another way that seem

to clutter up people's mind.

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And it's almost so obvious

that people overlook it.

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So if you sit down to get quiet,

whether it's meditating, visualizing,

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or just being quiet, And you are

in a room full of junk and by junk.

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I mean, clutter.

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I mean, piles of papers, piles

of garbage, anything that affects

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your mind being able to clear.

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And you can read about this and even the

scientific journals that our surroundings,

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a cluttered space, clutters our mind,

because all these objects are taking up

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memory space in our head, energetic space.

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things, objects, whatever they

are in our area, that their energy

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takes up residence in our brain.

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It really, they really do.

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just imagine yourself if you've

ever walked into a clean house of

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your own versus a cluttered house,

you know, before you clean it.

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And after you clean it, don't you

always feel better after you clean it,

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whether it's down to getting the dirt.

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Stains off the floor, or if it's

just removing the extra stuff

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that gets cluttered and laid

around, which happens so fast.

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And so easy, whatever your perception

is of clean is clean and uncluttered.

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That's how you need your space

to be when you sit down to

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get quiet and to get clear.

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now.

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Those are three ways that that

might just automatically keep

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your brain busy to start with.

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So, if those don't apply to you, or you've

dealt with them already, and you're ready

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to still move on you're going to sit

down and pay attention to a part of your

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body without using the normal senses.

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That are how you typically

receive information.

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So you're not going to use sight, you're

not going to smell, you're not going

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to taste, you're not going to hear.

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And it's about receiving information

intuitively and feeling what you feel.

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So it is going to, you

are going to feel it.

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and that's not a way we often

receive information without

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using all these other senses.

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So here's what

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I suggest you do.

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Sit down in a comfortable chair,

get quiet, close your eyes, focus on

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your breathing for a minute or two.

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Just something to help your brain settle

down and get into the space of where

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you are and not what's going on outside.

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And then you're going to lift one

of your hands up away from your

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body so it doesn't touch anything.

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And you're going to close your eyes.

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And you're going to ask yourself the

question, How do I know my hand exists?

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And I believe, by the way, this

is taken from a Martha Beck book.

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How do I know my hand exists?

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And you are going to concentrate

on your hand and how you know it

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exists without seeing it, smelling

it, tasting it, hearing it.

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How do you feel it?

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Now I know this might sound

backwards about how is this

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going to get me into my heart?

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Trust me on this.

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It's about, it's not so much about

getting into your heart as it is

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about getting out of your brain

and you have to feel your hand.

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You can't think about your hand

because if you think about it,

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you're going to remember things.

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This is what it looks like.

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You know, this is how it feels.

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This is how it moves.

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This is how it hurts.

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So when you think, use your brain to

think about it, it's all past information.

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It's not current information

and you need to get current

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information to feel it right now.

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You can also try this with your feet.

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Try it with what are my

feet touching right now?

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What does it feel like?

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And if you're out and about, say you're

listening to this podcast, you know,

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in the car, on a bicycle, on a walk,

if you're out and about and you have

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to stop somewhere, if you're in line

somewhere, if you're waiting at the

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drive through, whatever it is, see if

you can take a minute just to try that.

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Just how can I feel my body part without

thinking about what I know about it and

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what I've experienced in the past from it.

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But then also when you have a moment to

close your eyes for five or ten minutes

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and not disturb other people or they

disturb you actually try the exercise.

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I honestly think you will be amazed

at how you feel it and how you feel

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your hand in this space and time and

how it's different than when you just

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take it for granted and see it and

feel it and when it touches things.

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How do you know it's there?

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Now, remember, Like everything,

this takes practice.

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So sit down and do this once or twice

and then do different body parts.

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Check in with a different body part.

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How do I know it's there?

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What does it feel like?

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What is it feeling?

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And once you can begin to realize you're

leaving all your thoughts, all your to

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do lists, all the arguments from last

night or last week, everything that's

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going to go on tomorrow, once you can

leave them, Aside for a moment and

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concentrate on what's happening right now.

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What's present.

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That's when you can begin to get the

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2025, you know, the rest of your life.

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So when you're ready, what is

the impact that you want to make?

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And one way to help narrow it down, if

you want to do everything, if you want to

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save the entire world, one way to start

to narrow down where your personal impact

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might be, is to think about which news

stories, when I hear them or read them.

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Upset me the most.

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All right.

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Which ones just really tear you up?

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Is it the children?

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Is it the women?

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Is it the environment?

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Is it the animals?

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You know, the whales, the dolphins?

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I mean, there are so many different

areas of life to choose from.

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And we all are drawn to choose an

area that speaks to us so deeply, so

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deeply that I believe we are here To

perhaps change the way the world

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reacts to that, that thing, that cause

that person that you are drawn to.

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So maybe it is you that is to

bring a new light, a new way of

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experiencing something differently.

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Maybe that's what you

build your vision around.

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And this obviously isn't an episode

about how to create a vision.

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As far as, you know, a vision

statement or a mission statement,

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but it's just what is your intention?

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What is your intention?

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If you could do any kind of good with

the next year and you didn't have to

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work for money, what would you be doing?

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How would you be doing it?

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Who would you be doing it with?

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Where would you be doing it?

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Kick that dream engine into gear.

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sit down, get quiet, take those

steps to move into your heart.

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And what is calling for your action?

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WHat is yours to do?

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I don't expect you to get

an answer the first time.

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If you do, that's fantastic.

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If it takes 5 times, 20 times,

35 times, that's okay too.

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Isn't it better to know in 6 months

or a year than to never know?

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So, better to start now.

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Figuring out and creating, co

creating that vision for your life.

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For the new year, whatever new

year it might be and learning how

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to listen to your heart, learning

how to get into that space to

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allow that information to come out.

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So perhaps what I might have missed

is in, in talking about this is

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once you're able to let all that go.

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And once you're able to discern,

you know, what is my thing?

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What is my social cause?

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What upsets me the most, let's say it's

homelessness when you realize that and

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you still don't know what to do, you

don't know what your next steps are.

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That's perfectly normal, but begin

to look around and see what can I do.

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I can't save every person on the street.

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I can't feed every person on the street.

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I can't donate enough money.

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What's one thing I can do?

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And just start small.

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What is one thing I can do

for one homeless person today?

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So start small and eventually,

when you're headed in the right

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direction, opportunities arise.

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And you know, because you'll be

checking in with your body, it

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feels good or it doesn't feel good.

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When there's something that feels

good, you know that's the direction.

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To go, so when opportunities arise and you

check in, is that something I should do?

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Yes or no, and you just

start following that.

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So again, happy new year.

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It's going to be a fabulous new year.

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It's going to be a fabulous

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and whatever has come before you have

an opportunity to start to shift the

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change to that and move into your new

vision for yourself and for your life.

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I look forward to talking and

connecting with you later.

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Bye bye.

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If you enjoyed the show, don't forget

to head over to RevKarenPodcast.

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com.

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That's R E V K A R E N podcast.

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com.

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There you're going to find the

tools for finding more meaning

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and happiness in your own life.

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Plus, if you have a story that you want

to share with me, either on or off the

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air, be sure to look for that form.

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Make sure you follow me so you get

notified when new episodes drop.

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And also, I'd love to connect

with you in my Facebook group,

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Connectedness with Rev Karen.

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So head over to RevKarenPodcast.

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com.

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I hope to see you there.