My friend and former elementary school teacher, Kirsten Tulsian, found herself sitting on the floor of her classroom one night with her head in her hands and breaking down in tears.

Feeling overwhelmed, overworked and underappreciated, she realized that she just couldn’t keep going on this way.

Although heartbroken about what that might mean for the kids she taught and loved, Kirsten knew if something didn’t change, she wouldn’t be able to continue to be the kind of teacher her students needed and deserved.

Kirsten went on to write a children’s book, “Sprinkle Your Sparkles” and also combined two of her passions to create Kirsten’s Kaboodle - an online shop chock full of fun and effective resources for elementary educators.

Today on The Karen Kenney Show, we’re talking with this former educator and counselor who’s always been a fierce advocate for little kids.

From this passion came her newest venture, Inner Child ID Cards (aka: Self-Love Licenses) - where she advocates for the “inner child” in all of us.

These cards are a fun way for adolescents and adults to honor, care for and support that “little kid” that still lives inside each of us.

Plus they make fantastic personalized gifts, too! 😉

If you’ve been looking for some inspiration on taking that next step, wanting a dash of bravery for walking into the unknown, and needing a hug of healing for your “inner child”, this episode is for you!

KK's Takeaways:

• Education + Teaching Experience (05:10)

• Teaching Kids To Read + The Importance Of Exposure (09:54)

• Challenges + Burnout (15:16)

• Pivoting In The Profession (20:09)

• Writing A Children's Book + Creating Resources For Teachers (24:33)

• Teaching, New Resources, + Scaling Back Work (29:48)

• Advocating For Kids + Self-Care (38:30)

• Frustrations With Business Platforms (45:45)

• Inner Child ID Cards + Their Significance (50:50)

• Healing Inner Child Wounds Through Therapy + Self-Reflection (57:01)

• Training Experience With Unexpected Humor (1:13:08)

• Online Friendship + Meeting In Person (1:21:46)

• Caring For Inner Child + Healing Through Hypnosis (1:30:44)

About Kirsten Tulsian

Kirsten Tulsian earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and elementary education from The University of Iowa and her master's degree in school counseling from Sam Houston State University. She’s a former elementary educator and school counselor of nearly 20 years. She's been creating Social-Emotional Learning and Language Arts resources for elementary educators for the last eight years.

She recently launched her new business: Inner Child ID Cards (aka: Self-Love Licenses) which provide you with a tangible representation of who you truly are and serve as a gentle reminder that we came into this world wholly worthy of love and compassion. She is also a certified hypnotist, Reiki Master, children's book author, lover of animals, lifelong learner, and fierce advocate for kids. She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, teenagers, parrots, and goldendoodles.

Connect With Kirsten Tulsian

Inner Child ID Website: https://innerchildid.com/

Inner Child ID on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innerchildid/

Inner Child ID on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/selflovelicense

Kirsten's Kaboodle Website: https://www.kirstenskaboodle.com/

Kirsten's Kaboodle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenskaboodle/

Kirsten's Kaboodle on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kirstentulsian

Karen Kenney is a certified Spiritual Mentor, Hypnotist, Integrative Change Worker and a Life 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 22+ 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 applying spiritual principles and brain science that create powerful shifts in people’s lives and businesses.

She works with people individually in her 1:1 program THE QUEST, and offers a collective learning experience via Group Coaching. She supports both the conscious and unconscious mind by combining practical Neuroscience, Subconscious Reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis, and Spiritual Mentorship. These tools 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 people to deepen their personal connection to Self, Source and Spirit in tangible, relatable, and actionable ways without losing sight of the magic.

Her process called: “Your Story To Your Glory” helps people to shift from an old thought system of fear to one of Love - using compassion, un-shaming, laughter and humor, her work is effective, efficient, and it’s also wicked fun!

KK’s been a student of A Course in Miracles for close to 30 years, has been vegan for over 20 years, and believes that a little kindness can go a long way and make a miraculous difference.

Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenny show. I'm super duper excited. Because Because you guys, my guest today, my guest today known to me as que te. But to the rest of you, I would say and this is what's so funny, I'm gonna make her say her name. And then you'll hear how I say her name right? So actually, I'll say birth. So this is my this is my dear beloved, one of my best friends in the whole world Kirsten Tulsian . Okay, I'm gonna get excited. Now tell them how you would say your name.

Kirsten Tulsian ? How do you say you're stung like ear?

Yeah, here Kierstead. Right. So I say totally differently. But this is my guess. And I'm so excited to have her on the show today because she has just started a company. Now I'm going to give you all her background and all that stuff. But the reason why she's really here besides I just want you guys to meet her is that she has started a company that I am so jazzed about that. I'm wicked excited about it. I want everybody to know about it. So I basically twisting your arm as you come on the show. She's not a fan of public speaking. But I just kept bugging her and bugging her and bugging her. And finally she relented. All right, finally, you made me she's here. So we're gonna talk about that. And that's really why we're here. So stay with Stay tuned to find out about it. Because I'm telling you, it's going to be incredible gifts to give for the holiday season. They're also so incredibly sweet and wicked important. And I think that they are really powerful. Like in the realm of work that I do as a spiritual mentor, as a hypnotist, subconscious reprogramming, like all this stuff, these little things, that's all these little things that she's created, I think hit the mark for like, there's a science to them. I think there's a spirituality to them. I think there's subconscious reprogramming happening, I think, I just think they're so fantastic. So hi, welcome to the show. You. So the weird part where you're just gonna sit and listen to me talk about you for a minute. And then I'm gonna invite you into the conversation. But I just want to kind of land people in space as to why we're talking to you why now what's happening and all that. So? Kirsten Tulsian . Right. So you have an undergraduate degree in psychology and elementary education. You got that from the University of Iowa. Fascinating. And then you did your masters in school counseling for from Sam Houston State University. So here's what I know already is right? Kids are in the mix here. Right? So anybody who's an educator, you gotta love kids. Otherwise, you're a shitty teacher. Because you're, yeah, we can talk about that what it was like to be a teacher because I'm so fascinated. It says, you're a former elementary educator in school counselor for nearly 20 years. So you were dedicated you were in this. And you've also been creating social emotional learning and language arts resources. That's a mouthful, I'm gonna say that, again. You've been creating what I would just say products or resources, right for teachers, but they're creating specifically social emotional learning and language art resources for elementary educators. And you've been doing that for the last eight years. And you've been doing that under your business name, right. Kristen's caboodle? Yes. All right. We're gonna talk about that. You recently launched your new business. I'll say the name that was a little teaser, a little teaser there called inner child ID cards, aka self love licenses. I cannot wait to dive into that. And I'm not going to talk about them yet. We're gonna dive into that later. You also did a bunch of other things. You're a certified hypnotist like me. We're going to talk about that. Reiki master, all right, we do. Okay, children's book author, which I can't wait to talk about lover of animals. Murder brother. He's right. Love you, lifelong learner. And the last thing that you describe yourself as I'm not going to say it because we're going to talk about it in a little bit. But you live in Salt Lake City with your sweetie, your husband, Vinay and you got a couple of teenagers. You got a couple of parents, you got a couple of dogs. Alright, so furry kids, and human kids and we're gonna dive into all of that. But But I just want to say hi, thank you for coming on to the show. I'm wicked excited to introduce you to people. And I can tell people all about you. Okay, I definitely want to tell the story of how we first met and stuff and all that. But first, just tell us a little bit about your background. All right, like educated. Asian teaching caboodle like? How did all this come to be? Like? How did you come to be a teacher? Did you always know that you wanted to be an education?

Um, so thanks for having me. First of all, I did not always know I wanted to be an education. When I was in undergraduate, School and University of Iowa, I initially got a degree in psychology and wanted to work with kids, and realized quickly that I would really need to end up getting a masters quickly or a doctorate to be able to do that. And so the quickest path for me to be able to work with kids was through elementary ed. So I, you know, got certified. Actually, I did my student teaching in Houston, Texas, I got recruited there from they had a bunch of people come to the University of Iowa and say, If you come and you do student teaching, basically will offer you a job. Wow. And so I planned on staying in Houston for three months just to do my student teaching. And during that three months, I met Vinay, my husband. And they offered me a job. And so I took the job thinking I'll just work for a year and get some experience under my belt and then move back to Minnesota, which is where my mom was living at the time and where I graduated from high school. And, and then I just stayed for 10 years, and ended up getting my master's there. Before we moved to Salt Lake, in 2007. So we've been here for 16 years, and as a teacher in fourth grade and third grade ESL intervention teacher for math, here in Salt Lake for eight years. Wow. So 10 years 10 year stint in Houston as a school counselor and teacher. And then you're for another year

in Salt Lake and how why Salt Lake?

I was born here. I have a lot of family here. My brother is here. My grandparents were here. So I I didn't love Houston. I'm not gonna lie. And I really

Yeah, I wanted to be honest, I wanted to be honest.

I begged and pleaded to get out of there. So Vinay had an opportunity through his job through Carmax to transfer here. Oh, and

so what was the name that got you guys to Salt Lake? Okay, so So for you listen is one of my greatest joys. I've never been to user. I've never been to Salt Lake. But as you guys know, I'm wicked curious. So one of my greatest fascinations and one of my greatest excitements of you being a salt lake kid is that I vicarious learn through you. And I need to make a clarifying point. Not and I'm not saying it in a negative way. But I learned so much about the Mormons, and Mormon history from you, which I find totally fascinating as an East Coast like raised Catholic kid, right to discover all the differences of like how the Mormon stuff does now, you are not Mormon, but you've been around Mormonism for a wicked long time. And you have I think, family members who, you know, were involved. And I know your dad, I mean, that's a whole other thing. Your dad ended up writing two books about a lot of stuff, which we may or may not go into. But I just find it so fascinating. Like I'm so it's so cool that you're there because I get to learn about things that I never ever otherwise, probably would have discovered or learned about. So. So I just want to say thank you to Vinay for, for, like 16 years ago, like in comics for being able to indulge all my weirdo questions and curiosity. So that's really cool. Okay, so you were in education? Now? What? Because I know there's got to be some teachers who listen to this show. So what was your experience as a teacher, I mean, I imagine there were some really high highs, like being able to see kids grow and just kind of bloom and you know, blossom in front of you. And I can also only imagine frustrations with systems, the educational systems, the structures that are in place, the disparities, you know, because I remember you telling me one time when we were first meeting, that didn't you work in a really, for lack of a better word, a low EQ, social economic community. So some of your kids were like, really, you know, struggling and, you know, it's because I want to know why you didn't just become like a teacher you wanted to teach, you know, specifically the social emotional learning stuff. That's really what lit you up. So can you tell me a little bit about just the experience of being a teacher and some of your greatest things you loved about it? Maybe the things you found challenging or hard for you or your heart? Yeah,

for sure. So, one of my favorite things about teaching is First grade was my The first year I taught I taught first grade. And teaching kids how to read is one of the most magical experiences ever. I mean, they they literally come in, some of them don't know the letters of the alphabet yet, and they leave after that year. And they're able to pick up a book and read independently, watching them read out loud. I mean, there's there's nothing, nothing better than that. First grade is where I was for a while, and I actually was a Reading Recovery teacher as well, I got certified, I think it was my third year of teaching. So I would spend half the day teaching first grade and half day reading recovery, where I would pull like four different kids each day. Well, they were the same kids the same for kids for like, weeks and weeks, but 30 minutes one on one and teaching them how to read. So that was that was amazing. When I imagine

I'm going to interrupt here, because I imagine that working with the same four kids repeatedly repetitiously you could really watch their progress. And let me just say this as a kid who's also obsessed with books and words, and reading and stories, you know, as a storyteller, I think one of the greatest gifts we give kids is the ability to read to teach them how to discover stories and other cultures and other worlds and to time travel. I mean, literally like having a library card and being able to go into a place and pick up a book and be able to read I agree with you, I do think it's magical, I do think it's like a superpower. So it must have been so satisfying. Like being able to hold their hands kind of metal metaphorically and watch them gain confidence and gain skills. And were they so proud of themselves. I

can only imagine proud, so proud. I mean, the other part of my day, that was my favorite was reading out loud to kids. So any picture book read aloud, I it was the best part of my day, hands down, just sharing literature with them. And I'll put a little plug into for anyone who has small children that are not in school yet. Reading out loud to your kids, even when they're like three months old is a big, big deal. their literacy skills skyrocket just by virtue of being exposed to print the concepts about print how print works, how books work, how the pages turn left to right, right, like, the whole thing, it makes a huge, huge difference to read.

So what you're saying is don't Are you saying read to them? Because you use the word print? Or do you mean like, literally get a book and like run your finger along the word, like show them the printing of the words like Like, literally take them through the experience or just reading to them.

Just reading to them. I'll just read. I mean, you can show them. But what ends up happening is, the more exposure they have, the more they get, I mean, they'll start tracking, like where your eyes are on the page, and they'll start to see like, oh, it starts on the left and goes to the right. Not consciously sure it's happening. It's happening in the background. But just the concepts about how books work in general. I mean, kids come in with a huge deficit when they don't have that exposure. And

yeah, because their parents aren't readers, or their parents don't book lovers or whatever. So if you grew up in a home where there were no books, you know, you're having a different experience than kids who like like, we were poor, like we had, we had no money. That's why I always say, like, I'm a huge fan of the libraries, because libraries, like even the playing field for poor kids and kids who don't have a lot of resources. So I think having a library card is one of the coolest things. You can also give you a kid shout out to libraries, but also teachers also teachers. I mean, because we know that and I am an example of this as well. We know that one, one unkind comment from a teacher can derail a kid. Do you agree?

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, and reading aloud to even you know, I, some parents might be like, Well, my two month old, it doesn't make a difference. It does the brain development happening and a two month old, and the repetition of what it sounds to be fluent as a reader. All of those things, the more the more exposure kids can get is I mean, it's a huge, huge makes a huge difference. When

you say what it's like to be fluid as a reader, do you mean literally the pace and the rhythm of your voice as you're reading? Like all those little cues are getting into that little subconscious. Yeah, you and I know as hypnotist, right? how powerful it is between leaving no, like while you're still in the womb, right? That last trimester up until about like seven or eight years old. Kids are highly suggestible, highly like hypnotizable. So, like you're saying They're watching you. They're taking everything you're doing in like they are paying attention and getting programmed for lack of a better word getting conditioned getting wired on your watch, right?

Yep, yep, absolutely, yeah. It's, it makes a huge, huge difference. So a lot of the time, in first grade, I was spending, teaching kids how to read reading to kids. The first class of students I had were non English speakers. And so it was a lot of a lot of reading and showing pictures and a lot of times just kind of figuring it out as I went.

So that's the effort. I'm sorry to interrupt. What was your first language?

I'm Spanish? Yeah, yeah. My second favorite part of teaching would be fourth grade was one of my favorite grade levels.

That's a whole that's a whole.

Yeah, it's a whole different ball of wax. But they are mature enough, they have enough, you know, their ability to think abstractly and to get jokes. And all of that was super, super fun. And during read aloud times, with them, it was like reading chapter books more, which was so fun. I may or may not have, you know, not taught as much social studies as I should have been, like, we can't stop reading. Yeah.

Um,

so those were my favorite parts of teaching. In Houston, the the ratios, the student to teacher ratios are lower than they are in, in Utah. So 22 to one in first grade was generally how it looked. And if you got over like, 24 kids for more than five days, they would hire another teacher.

That's in Houston. That's in Houston. Yeah, yeah.

So class sizes, there were manageable. In Utah, the rules are different. So they look at the number of students in the whole school. And they allocate teachers based on that. So if you have a school that only has, you know, two teachers per grade level, and you happen to have 70, kids in that grade level, wow, you're, you're going to be stuck with 35 kids. So a lot of a lot of the struggle that I had, towards the end of my teaching career was not necessarily a lack of support, I had a great principal, there were, you know, other teachers and support staff in the building that were really helpful. But when you're responsible for over 30 kids, and you have students in the classroom that are mainstream that have special needs, and you have 35 families, sets of parents that are emailing all the time. And the the responsibility just becomes so overwhelming, I can imagine that it, it was no longer. It didn't feel like what was best for kids. And through my career, every professional decision I've made is what is best for kids. And I didn't feel like I could do every single student justice. And I, you know, no longer wanted to participate in it. So

well, there's so it felt like the system, what I'm hearing is, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, it felt feels like the system was kind of broken, because it was interesting. You said, and I know you didn't mean it this way. Like when you said you'll be stuck with 35 kids, and in my head, I'm thinking, and they're No, no, but what I know what you meant when you said that, but excuse me, also, those kids are stuck in a class, where we already know that one person, there's no way there's no way you can cater to the needs of every single child that is in your care. And that must have been incredibly, like you said, at least you had a supportive principal, you had other supportive, great supportive, you know, other teachers in the building, whatever. But you yourself, there's only so much you can do when you're one person. I mean, even as a yoga teacher, I'm gonna have a really different experience if there's, you know, like 12 people in the room, versus 36, or whatever. Meaning if I'm the kind of teacher that wants to put my hands on you in a positive way, and assisting or doing a little wishy washy at the end of the class and shavasana, whatever. So there's only one of you. Yeah, and you have all these little beings who are having their own emotions, their own experiences at home their own, either learning challenges or learning gifts, you know, and you're one person and you got to keep track and maybe somebody's parents are going through a divorce or somebody's grandpa died or there's abuse going on at home. Like there's 1000 things that can be happening. And like you're one person with one nervous system who's trying to regulate And we know, we know that humans and warm blooded creatures, we regulate, we co regulate, and we regulate each other's nervous systems. So did it feel energetically sometimes just like, a lot like walk raising,

draining? Well, I mean, the thing is, teachers teach because they care about kids. And that's where, you know, I'd get in my car at the end of the day and cry and just be just so overwhelming, because you, you literally, for that many students, you cannot meet all of their needs, the way they need to be met, it's not possible. And so it's, as a teacher who cares that much, it's hard not to focus on what didn't happen, instead of the wins or what was successful. Because you always constantly want to do better and more and better and more and better and more, and then you end up feeling like you're on this hamster wheel that just gets it feels out of control. So you know, and then a testing, mandatory testing by the state becomes an issue watching kids who have, you know, high anxiety during test taking. And I'm supposed to stand there and make them take the test when I know that's not what's best for them. So lots of situations like that, yeah. Where you're forced to do something that you know, is not in their best interest. And it just gets to the point where it's so out of alignment, that it doesn't feel good anymore to wake up in the morning. And go, the best part is like if I could teach and just teach kids and not worry about the politics, the class sizes, the teaching is so fun. super fantastic. But yeah, relationship with the kids. I mean, really can't be beat. I missed that. I missed that a lot. Yeah,

well, so I want to talk about a little bit more. Because when you decided to leave teaching, you didn't decide to leave kids. In fact, you wanted to keep helping them. So instead, you started well, you started your business, right? So tell us a little bit and then and then I'm gonna ask you about maybe what you were like as a kid. But first, because when you're like, Okay, I can't do the teaching thing anymore. Do you remember the exact moment when you decided like, was there a turning point like, were you like, gotten your fucking power or something and you're just ball. It's not like you're crying your eyes out? And you think I can't do this anymore? Like, was there literally like, I would call like a come to Jesus moment where you're like, and then like, how does the idea for caboodle as I like to call it come about, like, talk about that transition, because I'm sure somebody here is listening. And it might not be teaching. But there might be somebody listening who is at a breaking point with the job. And they're like, I don't know if I can do this anymore. So tell us about your transition out of that to what you passionately do due about mostly or partially due now.

Okay, so there was a moment that I remember very distinctly, it was a Friday night, five, 530, maybe, and I was still at school, I had finished correcting this huge stack of papers, and I was sitting on the floor with a crate, and I would file all of the students papers in these file folders so that they could take them home on Monday and their take home folder. And as I was filing these papers, and I looked at the clock, and I was like, Okay, it's, it's Friday night, I should be at home, I was overwhelmed from the week I was exhausted. And I just my head fell, and I started crying. And I'm like, I can't do this, I just can't do this anymore. And there was a moment that I thought that it would be better if I was working at a kiosk in the mall, because I wouldn't have stress, I wouldn't have the take the big bags of papers to take home and grade, which end up you know, like they ride in the car. It's like a little field trip for them. I never take them out, bring them back to school. So there's this constant constant need for like, there's always stuff to do and it eventually gets done, or you throw some of them in the recycling bin. I mean, that happens as well. But there was that moment and I knew at that moment that if that's where I was mentally I was not going to be at my best for kids. And so what had happened during that time as well as I wrote a children's book and the You

mean this sprinkle yes back off. Oh my god, you guys I'm holding this up. Those of you who are listening and not watching I'm holding it up but I want you to hold up the real book. I'm just holding up the printout okay that says sprinkle your sparkles show your love and highness. Oh my god, it's so cute. All right, you're holding it up now. So you wrote this book, obviously. And then you had somebody, somebody else did the artwork and illustrated it for you. So that's Yeah. Okay. But wait. My other question before we dive into the book, you are also a mom at this. Are you a mom yet at this time, so you. So you have basically, your own kids, you're trying to keep alive and feed and be there for emotionally. And then you also have these 30 some odd other kids that you have fallen in love with in a healthy way, but like that you care about? And so you're sitting there and you're like, I can't do this anymore. And then you're like, tell me how your brain went to like, Okay, I've written this children's book. And so talk to me about that.

So the children's book I wrote, I think I was I scaled back slowly in teaching. So I was teaching full time at one point and then the next year, I was like, point seven, five, I was 75%. So I had like, one day off a week and then the next year I went point five and I was halftime. So I kind of moved out slowly, but

slowly moonwalks like out of teaching. I did. Okay. Yeah.

Um, but the publishing company reached out and they asked me to create, like a free resource guide for the children's book and to put it on Teachers Pay teacher's

okay, you kind of jumped over this big thing, where in October, October of 2013, so like, 10 year anniversary edition PS, it's like when your 10 year anniversary, right? In October. So October 15. I think 2023 It was published. So as you're scaling back, you start to you start to write a children's book. Correct. So,

so the children's book, and I'm trying to remember exactly how it all played out. The children's book was written. I think it got published the year that I started scaling back my time as a teacher.

And that was 2013.

Okay, yes. And so? Yeah, yeah. Well, that's

what Amazon says.

That's what that's what the book that Amazon knows better than I do.

I'm telling you, October 15 2013, is what it says it was published. So all right. So you start to scale back, you write this children's book, which is fantastic. And sprinkle your sparkles. Oh, my God, I love it. And but what happens is the publisher of the book reaches out to ask you to create some sort of PDF or digital product or something to put on now I gotta remind you, you know what, all these point 5.7 All these teacher acronyms you speak teacher, so I'm laughing over here. I'm trying not to be a pin in your acid interrupt you the whole time. But when you say TPT, or Teachers Pay Teachers explain to the to the crowd. So the publisher reaches out, Hey, you created you wrote this children's book. We want you to make a resource for it, that teachers in schools or whatever, can use and that's the beginning. So tell us about that journey?

Yes. So at that time, I didn't really know what teachers pay teacher's was.

I didn't know I'd never heard of it until I met you so good. Yeah, yeah,

unfortunately, I wish I would have known because I would have utilized it a whole lot more as a teacher. But the idea is that teachers can find this resource and download it and it provides more exposure for the book, basically, it encourages people to purchase the book. So when I went to teachers pay teacher's to look at what was happening there, and what I what she wanted me to do. I was fascinated to see that, oh, like, I could have purchased or gotten free resources downloaded these to us with some of my favorite picture books that I was teaching with. Oh my gosh, there's a whole lot of stuff going on in language arts and like the all of it. It's, it's a, like a treasure trove of resources for teachers. So I thought about it. And I was like, Well, I have I mean, I've created a lot of things as a teacher that I use in my own classroom. I wonder what would happen if I, you know, posted some of those on Teachers Pay Teachers. And so I think the first summer I posted to resources to paid resources. And every now and then I would get an email that was like, Oh, congratulations, you sold you know, Greek and Latin stems and roots and you made $4.50 And I'd be like $4.50 I've ever made. That's exciting

though. And you get your first sales and you had no idea. You're just like, hey, I discovered this. So to TPT or Teachers Pay Teachers. It's like an online think of it almost like an online shop or a big online store where Resource creators from all over, can basically upload products, right? Or digital downloadable resources that teachers can buy for use in their own classrooms. Is that did I say that correctly? Yep.

Exactly. Yes. They call themselves a marketplace. So it's, yeah. And it's all digital. They used to I believe they used to allow teachers to sell hard goods, but they don't anymore. It's it's all digital, like PDFs mostly. Yeah. And there's, there's a lot of

time is what I would say there's a shit ton. So you upload a couple of your products that you've created. And then like, you're just laying around and it's like, ding, you made four bucks. Do you made three bucks doing? And you're like, hey. All right, or something like that? Yes, I

was like, this is this could like feed my coffee addiction. I say that I don't even buy Starbucks. I make coffee at home. But yeah, I mean, it was it was enough that I was like, wow, I mean, this, this could cover part of our grocery expenses, this could over a month's time, this might be able to pay our electric bill or show whatever. So there was reinforcement with those, we call them teachings they they make a touching

that I mean, talk about talk about as subconscious reprogramming and, or just subconscious programming and hypnosis. I mean, you want you want to get a little neurochemical dopamine hit here, that little chip chip. And somewhere inside your brains like Yeah, it's like so excited, right? Little reward.

Well, the other thing that was fantastic is it really like married two of my passions, kids, and also like writing, creating, I loved writing before. So when I would create the resources, I just, I felt like a new I had a new purpose. And it just kind of grew from there. And I was able to scale back more at work

teaching. So you started to scale back going to school. So from point five, did you just say I'm out? Or did you go to point two, five? Like, how did that like at what point are you like, I'm going all in on my new business, like I'm going all in on this dream. And tell us about the name to like where that came from? I'm fascinated by it. But at what point like how long as you're dipping your toes in and hearing the touching and making a little cash, I'm assuming you start to make more products, your shop starts to grow the marketplace, that's to reward you. And then you make a decision or something happens. So what happened and how did you come up with the name?

So I was I was working halftime at the time and it was December and I think that there was a deadline to turn in the resignation for the following school year. So I finished out that school year and that oh, it was it was one of the most terrifying decisions I've ever made. And looking back, I don't know that I the income I was making on Teachers Pay Teachers was not making up. I mean, it did not equal a teacher salary. But I knew that I needed to just dive in. And if I had more time to create resources, like hopefully I could fill that gap but it was absolutely terrifying. So it's

a leap of faith though. This is a leap of faith story right? This is like me closing down my yoga studio after 10 years when I have one spiritual mentoring client and I'm like yeah, I'm gonna go for it right so is now as Vinay at this point looking at you like yeah, babe, go for it. Is he like? Oh, you okay? Like yeah, I love you, babe. I believe in you and right, like, so how did that feel? Like we're, what did you like, tell your friends tell you teaching friends and you just like moonwalk and like, boom, like, because I can imagine. That is a big step into the unknown.

Yes, yeah, he was supportive. And he knows me well enough to know that no matter what happens in life, I will figure shit out. I will make stuff happen regardless. So if that meant that I need to go find another job somewhere or whatever. He knows. He knows me well enough to know that I wasn't just gonna like, let us you know, sit at home and we're gonna lose the house and

eat bonbons?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, you were

gonna you were gonna do what needed to be done. So that's really exciting that you went all in on your dream and then what was the inspiration for what you name your shop and what is that? Does it have some sort of significance? Um,

so not not really I mean, it kind of does initially, it was my first and last name Kyrsten Tolson. And initially, I also was only creating language arts resources. That's how it started. I think after I had maybe like 20 or 30 products, I started creating the social emotional learning resources.

Can you give somebody an example of what social emotional learning might look like? Like what when you say that like to the lay person at home? What might a product that you're selling or whatever? What's the goal of it like? Well, give me an give us an example, if you can. Um,

so the goal is to support I mean, kind of what it says like the emotional well being of students, so anything from like, growth, mindset, resources, resources that help kids understand and regulate feelings. I've got, like, you know, pull down corners and self care stuff, anything that helps them regulate and understand their social emotional selves. So, growth mindset is I've got a lot, a lot of growth mindset resources. So the name I mean, I guess, because it's kind of a conglomeration of different things that don't necessarily. You don't think that they go together. I was like, oh, it's like a coupe caboodle of resources. And then I like alliteration. And so

I was like, what? Oh, like, I love the word. I thought it was a really fun word. But I just didn't know if like it was a nickname or where it came from. So yeah, okay. So you do all this, you create all these resources, which it's interesting, because it's Teachers Pay Teachers. And it's often talked about, like resources for teachers, but I think of it as you resourcing children, still, it's still your way of delivering the goods to the little ones that you love and care about so

much. Yeah, I mean, ultimately, that's who it impacts the most. I do love helping teachers in terms of convenience and time saving them time and effort and energy. When I get feedback, that's like, Oh, thank you so much. This saved me. I didn't have to create something over the weekend. And I love that, but ultimately, it really is the delivery where it lands is in in the students. And it's not just teachers. It's, you know, school counselors, it's psychologists, it's principals, by stuff, homeschooling parents, so that it's not just necessarily, you know, like homeroom classroom teachers. Yeah.

So home home, anybody who basically has a kid and they're teaching them stuff has can can can buy, right? You just create an account or something, and then you can start purchasing all of these awesome resources. So your shop is Kristen's caboodle. So do they just google the name? I don't, I've never used TBD. So you just go online and you look for that name, and then your shop or whatever will come up.

It'll pop right and caboodle is with a K. I mean, it's not spelled correctly with a gay but it's spelled correctly with a K and my business name is C, but it is geared. Yeah.

Yeah, that's awesome. And they can just kind of go and shop around and find find stuff that they need to support.

And there's, there's a ton of free resources on on TPT as well. So there's, you can go. Yeah, you can go search any topic. And you can sort by free you can sort but whatever. You can sort any way you want. But there's a lot of stuff there also for for free.

All right, well, this is awesome. So you've been doing this now for like eight years. And that's been going fantastic. But I want to now kind of talk about the thing, why, why I'm really having you on the show, and other than I love you. And at the end at the end, we're going to tell you the story of how we met and this whole amazing thing. But this is really important to me. So if you've listened this long, thank you so much for staying with us. Because this kind of leads into that. So we see how you know you love kids, and you want to help kids. You become a teacher, you become a counselor, you do all this stuff. You do that for as long as you can, then you're like not doing this but still want to help kids. So then it's like, okay, caboodle we're cooling, right, we're doing all this stuff. Now, at some point then while you're rebooting, right. And I think this is what I want to kind of talk about, because you are one of the things I can say about getting to know you. And I'll talk more in depth about this later, is that one of the things I really started to notice through knowing you is how much you truly do like you are a fierce advocate for kids. And you're not just a fierce advocate for little kids. And you know how we joke about how people will often ask me, and they'll say, you know, do you only work with adults? And I say yeah, and they're like his kids could really use your work. And I'm like, Yeah, and I don't mean that dismissively. I'm like yeah, and I said, but I said, I technically work with adults, but I'm really working with little kids and adult bodies, right. So something that I noticed about being your friend, is whenever I would tell tell us stories about my childhood, things that I had just really normalized, right? Like, things that other people would be like, um, that's fucked up, right? Like, I just kind of normalize. And you know, we Voxer I mean, we box every single day. For those of you don't know, a boxer is it's like a box of voice messaging app. And I would remember like, you'd asked me a question, and I'd voxeu back and the way that you would respond when you felt like somebody was mean to little me, like little KK, like, like the little bunny, as I call her, you would get like huffing and puffing pissed about No, no, when somebody did something unkind to me as a child, so I could really, really see your true advocacy and your true fear spirit around loving kids protecting kids, and the way that you would be wanting to protect and defend kids. And so I'm curious about and we're gonna, we're gonna go into how, just like you, just like I was saying about how I work with adults. But really, it's like little kids and big bodies. This new this new offering this new product that you've created that I love so much, which I'm going to hold up in a minute, I'm going to ask you to hold up also comes from you wanting to help nurture love care for remember, the little kids in adults, the inner child and adult. So talk to me about this, because number one, your mom was a psychologist. Correct. Growing up, your mom is a psychologist still to this day, right? Okay, so you're you're cuddling, and then you're sleeping one night, or you're getting ready to go to bed or whatever. And all of a sudden, this idea comes into your head right? Or something like that. So tell the story about now how you're continuing to kind of do what you've always done, which is trying to help kids but in this really exciting new way. But really like, it's for the little kids in the adults. So talk to us

about this. Yes. So as a kid, um, I moved a lot as a kid, my parents got divorced when I was seven. And moving back and forth from Minnesota to Utah happened frequently. I had like 16 places that I called home by the time I was 16. And so there were there were struggles during that time. And then during my adolescence, I also struggled somewhat, but what my mom would always tell me is, when you feel like you are having a hard time taking care of yourself, nurturing yourself, eating well, all of those things, pretend like you're taking care of a younger version of you. And would you withhold food from her? Would you withhold love from her? Or would you withhold compassion from her? And so, as an adult, even sometimes when I struggle, I'm like, okay, I can do that. I go back to that. And I really treat myself like I would treat a five or six or seven year old version of myself. I also have I have it on my computer, have this little like, okay,

so hold that there for a second. So for those of you who are listening and not watching what Katie is holding up is a picture of her when she's a little kid, she's got super, super super like what we call this kids like towheaded kids like really blonde, little really, really platinum blonde, little girl, and the little yellow dress with their little cute smile, which looks the same, because now it's an adult. And she's got this little school picture of her and her yellow dress taped to a sticky note. And what it says up top is what when I say awful things to myself, I'm going to remember that I'm also talking to her. And then it's the picture of her as a little Katie's a little girl. So you've had this, I've seen it in your, in your room, you have this next to your desk, your writing desk in your work desk up in your office. And so you're a kid who like me, right? bounced around a lot, always moving new, scary places, challenges. Of course, any kid of divorce knows how challenging that can be. But literally gone from Utah to Minnesota. That's a trap. Like that's like a whole different world, right? So you have these times when you're struggling. And as did your mom's not saying to that to you like you were in your teens? Or do you remember the first not maybe not the first time but so when you were a teenager, she's saying that to you basically.

I think like high school was probably the first time I heard it. It's been several years since she said it. But I mean, into my early 30s Even she would say yeah, take care of her take care of yourself like you're taking care of a younger version of you, which is so beautiful. The perspective that shift in perspective, because of course my five year old self is worthy, of course my six year old, and then you get to the question of well, why Isn't that as a 30? Whatever year old 32 year old? What changed? What happened?

How did I stop being worthy and deserving of my own love or compassion or attention or care or whatever? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you're you're so I remember the exact moment because I have the boxer. Tell the listeners now. So this is the history right? Like so you've got this psychology ecologist mom saying this thing to you? Which I find it fascinating because I can only imagine what it's like to grow up with a parent as a therapist or a psychologist and like, you always see it portrayed on TV and in movies as them always saying, do you How are you feeling? No. How are you really feeling? Is that true? Does that happen to psychologists?

That's legit. Yeah. Okay, so, yeah, so

preacher, kids are always like, preacher's kid. And they have like an unspoken language. Right? Like, they have like a language that they all understand. I think that psychologists kids probably also have I also think that kids who grew up with cops for parents, right? I think what there's certain gigs, that those kids like, are like, Yeah, my mother was always like, No, darling, how do you really feel like oh my god, right? So okay, so your mom, your mom says this to you? And so you've had this picture and this reminder to yourself to basically don't be a dick to yourself, right? When you say mean things to yourself, Kiersten. Right, Katie, you're also talking to this little being remember that Okay, so this has just been kinda in your not in your face, but in your awareness in your conscious awareness, but also in your subconscious mind, because your mom has been saying this to you? And then when's the epiphany about the new the new product? Because I was on the receiving end of that, that Voxer, right. And I was like, Oh, my God. So tell us about

it. Yeah, I remember that. Voxer because I remember sending the message and being like, I had a new business idea last night. And then I left like I didn't Vox what the idea was, and there was like, 70 and not explainer, so you

can't just say that and then not tell me like what it is you're thinking about? Yeah. So where were you like, Were you sleeping? Were you in between, like, coming out asleep? are you just sitting around, like, what happened?

I was in bed, and I was trying to fall asleep, ah, and my brain was, you know, moving a million miles a minute. And I mean, I'm coming off of also creating, and I still do creating resources, PDFs, that get uploaded digitally. But I had this idea that. So okay, let me back up. I had been struggling a little bit like just business decisions and different things. And I thought about how it would be really nice to be able to carry something like this in like a wallet or a purse. And I know some people do carry, like just their younger self picture in their wallet. And initially, the idea was to figure out a way that teachers could, you know, create them for kids even. And as my mind is churning, I'm thinking, oh, gosh, no, it'd be really fun to be able to like laminate them and actually send them in the mail to people if people wanted to order them somehow. And then it went from there. And I'm like, What's even better than laminating? Oh, I'm creating little cards, like a little driver's license and ID card. Oh, and then I could add these like words and I could personalize. So it kind of snowballed from there. And I actually I think it was probably like 1230 or one in the morning, I got out of bed and went up to my computer to see like how much it cost to purchase a an ID card printer. And there was anything out there like that. And then it just snowballed. And I think I was probably up till three that night, just thinking how it could all look the layout, the graphics, the the entire thing. So it kind of evolved slowly, like in my periphery for my whole life. But that night specifically, it was one magic

magic struck,

like, Oh, I could do this, I could do this. It could be so fun. Well,

what's fantastic again, is it's another thing that were so I would say sto TJ like spiritual team on the job, right? Because you're starting to bump up against and we don't have to go into the whole TBT thing. But you were starting to bump up against some frustrations and some things in your you know, you're not necessarily your business but the platforms that you use to do your job right. I mean, you creating resources, you're brilliant at it, and she really is you guys. I mean she she makes some fantastic stuff. One of my favorite things is the bios that you do on Brad Meltzer, his books, right? So Katie is the one who sent me the I am Mr. Rogers a little Brad Meltzer book which I think everybody should get a copy. I'm obsessed with it. But one of her products that she makes these she does these little by I have a bio things right that go along with the companions for the book basically. Yeah, yeah. So obsess anyways. Okay. So you're you're a little frustrated with things. And you're and I know because we had been hashing it out going back and forth on Voxer, which we do all the time with in our brain trust with our other friend Emily. Right. So I call Emmeline, you guys have heard me talk about Emily, a born Emmeline. So we have this little brain trust. So you come online, you drop this bomb, like, Oh, I just had an idea. And I'm like Jesus Christ. Like, you gotta tell me what it is like stat, like, let's go.

And that wasn't the group with Emily, because I think both of you at the same time. thing. You can't just say that and then run.

Yeah, we were so excited about it. But I mean, where I was going with all that is that new ideas for you. And again, this is why I say spiritual team on the job is it's kind of like this frustration, or this, this this dissatisfaction or, you know, in the way A Course in Miracles came to be, you know, the big book, of course, in miracles, right? It's because one person said to another, basically, this is no longer working. And there must be a better way, there must be a better way. And the other person said, doesn't matter. I don't want to make that the other person said, I'll help you. And as soon as there's like, there must be a better way. I think the door to inspiration, like swings open. So you laying in bed and being like, I don't know about this, it's got to be something and dusted it out. And then all of a sudden, it's like, boom, you know, and the inspiration, the idea arrives in your heart and your mind. But here's the thing, you didn't just go interesting and go to sleep. Because this goes back to you saying Vinay basically what I say device video all the time, you know who you married. So Vinay knows who he married, and he's like, you know, she'll, she'll do what she needs to do. So you get your ass out of bed. And you're on the interwebs like searching. So. So long story short, is you end up getting the printing machine, you get the cards, you get the and you start to design it or whatever. And I just want to hold up mine. Okay, so I'm going to show you and I want you to hold up yours. Why don't you hold up yours to do you have the one from that little picture that was by Okay, so you I'm so glad you did the feather one because I grabbed my hats one because I have a couple of these you guys. So we're holding these up right now. And what you can see is they're about the size of a driver's license, right, the exact same size fits in my wallet. And at the top, I just want to describe this. It says self love license. And there's a yellow band behind it. My little graphic is little hats coming up the side and you see a little picture of little meat. Mer, the little bunny and underneath it is my name Karen Kenny, and on the front, and I'll read mine. And I think I think we chose the same words for these. And Katie has hers as well as a little picture of her as a little kid. And on the front it says And I'll let you talk about the back I'll talk about the front of the car. And on the front it says I will show her so you get to pick your pronouns. Right when somebody orders one of these cards, you can pick your pronouns, you can pick your picture, she's got it all set up on the back end to make it as easy as possible. So I chose I actually I think you chose this for me I think you sent me I don't know if which one you sent me. You might have sent me the hats first. And then I chose on the on the other one. But it says I will show her kindness patience compassion, attention and love. And at the bottom like how a license does it says never expires. never expires. You guys look how cute. Oh my God, I want you to look at another Yeah. So a status is my other favorites. I'm obsessed with stars the feathers in the hot so she's holding up another one of me okay is waking cue. And on that one it says I will show her what to read that for me. What does that one say?

This one is compassion, kindness, safety, strength and love.

Myrrh. Is she a little money wanted safety she wanted thank you so much. Okay, so you're designing these and you're like, Okay, on the front next to their face, I want them to have these words and then tell them about the back of the card and you can hold up yours and talk about I'll hold up mine, but you can just kind of talk about it too. So

the back of the card there, the picture repeats. So whatever picture you picked for the front shows up on the back as well. And the message on the back says when I show up for myself, I'm also showing up for her or whatever pronoun you choose. Yeah, and

there's also the the website where they can get these because I know somebody right now it was like well, you just tell us how we get these friends. Because you guys there's such a great gift to give. Who doesn't want to I don't care how old you are. I don't care if you're 90 I don't care if you're 50 When you're 15 you forget about that. Little one in you to write, because you think you're all grown up and you know everything, but from whatever age you are, these are such an incredible gift. And you can get them at tell them where they can get these. And then we're going to I want to talk a little bit I have a few more questions for you. So tell them where they can actually get these.

So the website address is inner child id.com I N N E R C H I E, L D. I d.com. Child id.com.

The original self love license. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm kind of obsessed with this. And I will tell you this, you guys, so I gifted them. I gifted them to everybody at my retreat that we just came back from which we'll talk about in a minute. And they I kind of had to do a little fake out with the big pictures. We talked about that but the people at home you don't need to know what I mean when I'm saying inside joke inside joke. But then I gifted everybody these and if you could have seen the looks on their faces, just how delighted how happy how the chairs the teary eyes, right? To receive this because, you know, this is such an important reminder, especially for like New England kids. Right? East Coast kids are like, our whole Mo is like suck it up and stuff it down. And no whining and cut the shit. And don't you know, like just that that tenderness? I often say I was I didn't get enough tenderness growing up for sure. And I think a lot of people don't and I think that they don't understand. So one of the reasons why I love Pat's work and internal family systems work right. Richard Swartz, Dick Schwartz, thank you. Thank you for creating internal family systems ifs. But I think we don't understand the importance, like as a culture of honoring the younger versions of ourselves honoring the inner child. So do you want to talk about that a little bit, especially given your background?

Yeah, I mean, I think I came to know more about it. And through the course of therapy myself, I was in therapy for a few years, and I spent a lot of time reaching out to the younger parts of myself that really felt unseen and unheard as a as a kid. And the power in being able to have a conversation with those parts. And to be to connect with those parts is really, really incredible. It's really powerful. So like you said, at the retreat, though, I mean, the looks on their faces when I, when they see the picture. And I have this experience where I know that there's a younger part of them that is touched in that moment, and it makes my heart melt. Because I mean, it's not very often that most adults even pay attention to those younger parts. What do those younger parts need, as an adult, now we have all these tools that we can help those younger parts, but we don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, or executing it. So I mean, these cards are just like a little fun invitation nudge to Yeah, a little love. Note that those all of the younger versions are still with us, the two year old version, the eight year old version, the 15 year old version, all of those parts are still inside of us. And it's like a little a little, just a little love note reminder to, to pay attention to that. And to really watch our own self talk adults have can get in the habit of getting in shame cycles and loops, and paying attention to the words that you're saying to yourself that I'm saying to myself, and we're not just saying it to our adult versions, those messages seep into the inner child. So

it Yeah, I mean, I have so many thoughts about this. So I was laughing It's like, I actually did a podcast on this a wicked long time ago a couple of years ago called How old are you? And so I often tell my clients you know, when you're getting triggered when you're getting upset when you're having some sort of reaction and and sometimes you might know what, what it's about, but sometimes you don't. And I'll say you know when I often will say it's not about the past, right? It's not about what you think it's about or whatever but I'll say how old are you? And then I you know, I guide my clients through Ask yourself these four questions, but the first one is how old am I right now? And that doesn't mean the age you actually app. It's how old is the part of me that is reacting to whatever the trigger quote unquote button pushing the trigger the fear, whatever it is, and it's really really powerful and I know somebody out there might be rolling their eyes right now like, oh, fuck it and in a child work, right. Look at look at I'm gonna prove to you, I'm gonna prove to you that there's hope. Because back in 2006 All right to that As an insect so this is a wicked long time ago that we use we have a shop called Newbury Comics. And I'll never forget seeing this because when I lived in LA when I lived in California, I was there for eight years. And Majan going from like boss like Lawrence Boston to LA and just like LA was like a different world. It was hyper spiritual, hyper open minded hippie dippie, like all the whole vibe, right? Which obviously, I kind of got into, but when I first was there was like, culture shock. So the first time somebody ever talked to me about inner child work, I was I was like, like, my eyes could have like, stuck rolled back in my head so far that I was like, oh my god, no. So when I went to Newbury Comics, and I saw this sticker, I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen it because it was true, because the little kid in me who had to be wicked tough, did not want to talk about this inner child stuff. It was like, Fuck you and your inner child stuff, right? So look at look at this sticker, I still have it. I never stuck it on anything. I have the sticker that I can tell for 1706. Right. That's how long I've had it. Okay. And it says, My inner child is a mean little fucker. Okay, so is this how long I've had this. So I just want to say to you, those of you who are just like, Oh, God, and trust me, I've had clients, I've had clients that are like, it's way too uncomfortable. It's too painful to like, go back there. But I think this is why these are so powerful. These self love license the inner child ID, because it's so cute. And it's so non threatening. And it's simply just a gentle reminder. And like you said, an invitation to remember that when you're talking shit when you're being unkind to your quote unquote, adult self. And being unkind to you guys looks like a lot of shit not getting enough sleep. Right? Eating a bunch of shit. That's not good for you sleeping with people that aren't good for you putting up with things in relationships, not having good boundaries. Because you adult you is not the only one who's suffering the consequences of adult use choices. Yeah, right. Yep. So one of the things we joke about, and I literally, I have two of these, I mean, I could have many more, because you use me as a test fixture for a bunch of times. So you've got one of me, I probably

have like, 15 of you. I

know, I know, you really do. And I'm gonna get another I have two other pictures that I want them for. Okay, but here's the thing, you guys, we joke about this. So I keep my extra one in my wallet, like literally in my wallet. Right? And then I keep this one stays right here next to a picture of my mom because it makes me like mirror. So I always put little me next to my mom. So my point is though, I keep it in my my car in my wallet. And I always say the next time if I ever get pulled over by a cop. I'm gonna I'm gonna hand them my inner child ID instead of my driver's license and say, it wasn't me. It was her. She likes to go fast.

Can you show her like you said, you're showing kindness and love, show her all those things. Please,

please don't show her a ticket, show her kindness, compassion, love, whatever. So you guys, I'm so obsessed with these. And this is why I was like, please come on the show, please come on the show. Like I said, I finally twisted her arm. And she relented and she's here. And I think they're so important. And they're so helpful. And nobody else out there is doing anything like this. So the original literal self license and look at self love, love license. And you guys, they're not that expensive. They're not like, I'm like, you could go order one. And I remember what these reminded me of Katie and why I'm obsessed with them to is when I was a little kid, there was this book company. And you could like write in. And you could tell them your parents or whoever could tell them like your name, the street lived on, like, your dog's name, like, whatever. And you would get this book back in the mail. And it would be like, Karen lived in LA. And you'd be like, Oh, that's probably why I well, it was probably one of the things that really made me want to be a writer and definitely a memoir is it's like how did this happen? Okay, because I was I saw my name in a book and I was like, That's it. Obsessed. My dog's name was in there like Gigi. I was like what is happening? I thought it was the coolest thing that's ever happened. So I think that personalizing something and reminding our adult self of that you know what it reminds me of? It's a we as adults keep a running list our ego our ego keeps a running list of all the times we blew it all the times we screwed up all the times we let people down all the time. We disappointed ourselves all the times we fucked up screwed up did all the stuff, the addictions, the divorces, the times you were unkind the times you think you were lazy like all the stories in the chatter. And what what these little cards do is they help us to remember in return to not just love but returned to our innocence

our birth Right. Yep.

That we came through, as A Course in Miracles says your birthright is peace and love. Inner Peace and Love is your birthright. You come through as I always say happy, healthy, healed, whole and holy. And that's what this is like an external reminder of those inner, eternal, I believe truths. Yes. So as you guys can tell, I'm a super fan. I usually don't have people on like Hawking products. But my Patent No, but seriously, I've never done this before. I mean, somebody comes on, they get a book, they're hot. I'm like, of course, you can talk about your books. But I'm poor part of why I do this show is to help end suffering, and to pour more love into the world. And I really believe that the inner child ID cards does that.

And I appreciate your enthusiasm. 150,000% from the get go. And all the boxers and the Zoom calls to look at design and the nudges and the this and the colors and all of it. I appreciate so much so much. You're so it was

a joy. It was a joy. I mean, I was wicked excited. I was wicked excited for you, as a creator. Like we here's the other thing, artists and creatives, like fellow writers, we have to support each other, just like I'm championing you right now. I'm celebrating you right now, as you're on your journey to write your second children's book. Let's not leave that out, too. PS, Katie's kind of like my sweetie. Like, she will never toot our own horn. So I'm like, here to do it for you. Not that you lack confidence, like you have confidence, but you're not going to just be like over the mic like, yeah, and by the way, PS, I'm writing another book. So I will do that for you. So I just really, really think that artists and creatives don't get enough celebration. I don't think they get enough. You know, unless you're fucking famous, right? But there are so many people in the world who are doing good work important work, who they don't get a platform, they don't get a voice, they don't have an opportunity, right. So I think, you know, if you have a podcast or you have a Facebook page, or whatever, one of the greatest things we can do for each other is to shout each other out and to celebrate when somebody's trying to do cool work in the world. I mean, I haven't had a guest on other than Jordan in like a long time. Like, I don't have that many people on the show. Because big mouth.

I appreciate it. You've been asking for a little a little while.

Okay, so you guys why this is also really fun. We'll just tell you the story now. Man, is there anything else you want to say about ID cards? So we know where to get them? And we'll remind them at the end. But is there anything else you want to say about about these cards and your thoughts? And I think they make great gifts. I know that people, you know, how do I say this? I think we've described them on off, don't you that people kind of get the gist of what these suckers are. Because I know people, these make total sense for us. Because, again, you come from that counseling background in the teaching background and you're a hypnotist and you're a Reiki and you're into the spirit. Do all that stuff. And me too, right? So but a layman might be like what what are these comrades? Like? Why do people we don't I mean, so I also want to speak to that that do you think we've left anything out? That might help people to understand what what the purpose of the SEC is? Is? I don't think so. I think we I think we did a good job. All right. No, pat on the back. I think we did. So you guys, go check them out. Give them to somebody. I'm telling you, your grandmother, I just think about I just keep thinking I swear to God, I don't know why I keep going to like somebody's like Grandma, grandma or grandpa or your nana or your Pepe or your Momo or whatever everybody calls their their people different right? And I just think oh my god, my not I used to say oh my Nanaka bra at the holidays or whatever would always like slip us like a little a little fiver. You know, she'd give us like, she'd give us a $5 bill she'd like, pull it out of her little sleeve or a sweater or whatever. And she'd hand it to you and she'd always say, go buy yourself a little trinket with this. Oh, get yourself a little trinket and I think of that every time I look at this like get just give yourself a little trinket but give it to somebody else too. So order one be yourself, man. Get some for somebody else. Okay, so let's tell them the fun story of like how we met I was going to lead off but they're like yeah, we don't give a shit you two are excited about that. But if you've hung in here this long, this is a story worth telling. So we were both in a group and we saw that there was a hypnotist training coming up and you can tell any section that you want to tell you just stop me okay. So because you're the guest of the show, I should probably stop talking. So what were we both sign up for this training and on the first day of the training this hypnotist to get certified to be Come on hypnotist. There's like what? 18 people in the class? Yep. Right. Okay. And we tend to attract teachers or have teachers who just throw you into the fire.

Right? Yes, Breakout Rooms still makes me melt a little bit. Yeah.

So So okay, so it's like day one of our sort of our, our certification training to become hypnotist. And we learned some concepts, we do a little thing we learn about, like, you know what hypnosis is. And you know, scripts and like all this stuff, and then all of a sudden, it's like, breakout room. You're gonna hypnotize each other. To looks like some faces. I'm totally nonchalant. But I know the little kid in me, my hat Saturday, the hammer. And I'm like, and literally the little kid me was like, what if I fuck up? What if I do it wrong? What if I ruin the experience for them? What if I don't know what I'm talking? Like the chatter in my head, right? So all of a sudden, you know how it is, when you're on Zoom? We're on Zoom. And they're like, whoever is the wizard, whoever's got control of zoom goes like, boop, breakout rooms, and then you're transported to a magical room somehow. And you have no idea who's going to be on the other side of the curtain. Okay, you can you can take it from here, and I'll keep you

surprised. That's what it was. I mean, I even I think I at one point was like, I wonder if it's too late for me to back out of this whole course. It's so uncomfortable. I mean it as much as I can, as much as I don't enjoy being on podcast being front facing speaking in public, that it just those breakout rooms were horrifying.

But tell us why. Like why for you, because I told you why for me, like, I'm always my biggest fear wasn't, it wasn't so much that I wouldn't do a good job. It's that I know the other person on whoever was going to pop into that room is there to learn. They want to have a good partner, and I want them to have a wicked good experience, right? Like, that's my thing. And I'm like, Oh, I don't want to let them down or be clumsy or awkward and not not be able to follow the directions, because I'm the kind of person who, if you give me instructions, but you are not clear in your communication, I get a little frozen. I'm like, I can't really take action and move forward when I'm confused. And I always say if you want to, if you want to keep me from taking action fucking confused me. That's what I always say, right? So we're literally just kind of thrown into this. And then all of a sudden, it's like, okay, I'm in the breakout room who's and it's like being and then all of a sudden, there you were. And it was like k, k and k CI. And then you could tell your experience, and then I'll talk a little bit about about

mine. Let me know immediately. The nice thing about talking with you is that you know how to have a conversation, you know how to speak. And I'm over here, like, I'm awkward. I don't know what to say, I don't want to screw up. Oh my gosh, did I write the instructions down correctly? So immediately, I was like, Oh, good. Okay, so Karen can talk a

loud mouth, you gotta loud.

But immediately, you know, and we're supposed to be in this room doing an exercise, we're supposed to be practicing something. But what really ends up happening is we start chatting. And we're like, 15 minutes and 20 minutes in and we're like, shit. We're supposed to be back in like five minutes. We haven't done what we're supposed to do. So I think we did. We did hurry. And

we did do it. And because I remember i Teacher popped in and are like, sorry, like, Finally, like, do we I don't know, it was like, we did both end up doing it. Because there might have been? No, it might have been, I don't know, if at one point somebody ended up with three people. But I don't know if we get a little more time. But we did end up you know, doing it. But we did. Because I'm so curious, right? I know, you're a curious person, too. And it's like, who are you? Where are you at? I'm like Utah, like, oh my god, like, we're going back and forth. And then I'm like, shit, we should probably do our work, right? We should do our homework or whatever. But we hit it off right away. Yeah. And then we go back, because this is like an eight day or whatever. It was intensive training, like eight hours a day, whatever it was, it was hardcore. And then the next time you get put in a breakout room, like literally, we're like, I'm melting. Like on the inside, we're like, I'm melting, I'm melting and then boom, we got padding again, right? Like the second

I want to say over the course of that whole training, I bet at least half the time that we got paired up with somebody we got paired up together and I'm not saying like it wasn't horrible being paired up with other people but it was always so much fun when your face would appear on God.

It was like gamma you know when you roll the dice and you're just like crossing your fingers like that's an it'd be like like crossing your fingers like oh my god let it be Katie let it begin to end and then I'd be like boom, and I gotta say true. Like we did. We met some Lovely people in that training. And it was it wasn't, it wasn't awful. I want to say that it wasn't bad. In fact, there were times when it was completely delightful to be paired with other people. It was really fun. And it was always extra special and fun when it was you. So we both decided, like, we pretty much immediately became friends. Because we started I said, Do you Do you have Voxer? And you're like, what's that? I'm like, get it. Now. I was immediately bossy. I was like, get it now. Because we're gonna talk to each other, whatever. And so you downloaded Vox. I'm like, get the pro version, right. So we get, you know, I use it with my clients and stuff. And so we just immediately started talking, like, back and forth and back and forth. And we made each other laugh. So working hard, like so. i Right, right. We would be like crying laughing you guys. So listen to me. I'm trying not to slip into just a little time bubble with Katie. I'm trying to remember I'm talking to you guys too. But you know how it is when you have a friend and you can just make each other laugh and laugh and laugh like you can't even breathe. And then I discovered that Katie snorts when she laughs which would just make me laugh even harder. So we have these epic messages that are like sometimes one two minutes long, and we're literally just laughing back and forth. It was so fantastic. So we became friends and then we did a second brilliant training in integrative hypnosis with the brilliant Melissa tears who we both love, love love. And we were in that group and on day one of that we got paired Do you remember that she like she hit the she hit the button breakout room. And there we were again and we're like oh sto TJ spiritual team on the job this is meant to be so we both did certifications in for hypnosis, one and more like traditional hypnosis and then one with Melissa tears. Who does everything like NLP work and integrative change work and conversational hypnosis and pattern interrupts and subconscious reprogramming? I mean, that was a brilliant training wasn't

so good. Such a fantastic training.

Yeah, we love Melissa. We love Melissa. We were so jazz. But that was a thing. I think I remember. Did I did I find that training online? Is that what it was? And I said, Hey, she's you put a sign up. This is the last like, okay, so I found

her where I was listening to that Voxer and I was like, Wait, and I got I went into my office right away, got online and looked. And I was like, Oh, that would be so fun, especially to do another training with you. But all of the stuff she included?

Yeah. Because we learned about her prior to that I had heard her name even prior to the first training, because Melissa is fantastic. And I mean, she works with all kinds of people. And she kind of I think of her as a as a teacher's teacher and a trainers trainer. You know, that's what I think of her. She's a hypnotist hypnotist. You know, she works with psychiatrists and psychologists and medical doctors and people who have clients or, you know, cases or clients that they haven't been able to help and they'll call Melissa, right? She's in New York. And she was so brilliant. So you know, she has written a bunch of books, and but she works. She does incredible work and anxiety. So we had learned about her. So I googled her right when we got her book, The anti anxiety toolkit, and then we googled her and I was like, Holy shit, she's doing a training. And this is probably like the last one because I called her like, we talked on the phone, right? And Melissa die. And I was like, Katie, you gotta sign up, like, you got to do this and like you looked, and we signed up, and it was a fantastic experience. Okay, there's a reason why I'm telling you guys all this. So through all these trainings, and that's one of the cool things about our friendship is that there's no competing. There's no comparison. Like we really showed up. You know, I'm Shel Silverstein's book, The missing piece, where the piece just rolls around, trying to find people to complete them, you know, it always makes me a little sad, right. But I always say like, we showed up as two whole people. And our friendship just started rolling down the sidewalk, and it was so easy and so seamless. And we, you know, if you see a really cool course, even if you might not want to take it but you think I want to take you let me know if I find out there's a discount code for this. Right? I let you know, there's a reason why I have all these Minky blankets on the floor behind me. You guys always see the colorful blankets behind me those of you who watch, right, I found out about those because, uh, you PSPs and on and on and on. And so we just became fast friends. And I say probably besides my sweetie, I talked to you more than I talked to any other human on the planet. The only other person I talked to every single day.

Yeah. I mean, some there are some days I talk to you more than I talk to my husband or my kids are Yeah,

yeah. So we ended up talking a lot. All of this to say you guys is that? We've been friends now for almost in January. It will be our two year anniversary. We're sorry. And we became like, I never want to speak for you. But you became like my best friend. You're like one of the people in my life who's nearest and dearest to my heart. And, like, I have a picture of like, your son on my fridge, which is a story. But the point is you guys is that we became friends over the internet and over zoom in over Vox, Ed, and we had never met each other. And then Katie just came out and flew out for my retreat, and November, the November 2023. So we just met for the first time in person. And it was such a trip. And I just want to tell this little section. So she, she got to my house, you know, she flies into Boston and rents a car drives to my house, and she's looking in the window. I was in the bathroom. And she's knocking on the door, and she's looking in the window. And she sees her kid on my fridge. And she's like that was that you said that was a strange moment for you?

Well, yeah, I mean, I'm a meeting somebody I've never met face to face. I'm at a house I've never been at before. And I look through the window, and I'm like, Oh, that's interesting. I've never seen this space in person. But there's my kid on her fridge.

So her son Kai graduated high school. And I'm so you know, I don't have human kids, but I didn't. So you send out like, cards, like announcements or whatever. And of course, I got one. So I'm like, Yeah, this is like my honorary nephew. He's gonna write on my fridge, you know, along with like, my other, my other nephews and great nephews and stuff like that. So that was really fun. And we just had the best time and the number one question that we got asked about meeting. I know, you know, the question that you got asked that I get asked to weird,

wasn't we? Everyone wasn't weird. Well, the thing is, is a lot of people have been along for the journey like my family members, my kids, my husband, everybody knows who you are. They know your voice. They've talked to you through zoom. You know, like, my brother asks about you all the time. Like, lots of people know about our friendship, our relationship. And so all of those people it's the same

quote Well, my my listen it Yeah. Was it weird? Well, your listeners, my listeners, those of you who are loyal listeners, you know the story because you know who Katie is because she's the Katie of the eye color intervention episode. So it was Katie and her brother who I was trying to convince like, you have hazel eyes, right? Like hey, remember I said do you know motherfucker? I was like, exactly like know what the fuck is your eyes are not brown. They're Hazel. So my family well my sweetie at least right my sweetie knows all about you. And my my other friends like know about you. And Emily knows about you because I introduced you to and yeah, so it's just been fantastic. So we finally met in person. It was like not weird at all. What was weird was you being in front of me? Yes, you and I that was not weird. But all of a sudden, like you materialized like off a zoom into, like, into 3d, like right in front of my face. And it was so fantastic. So that's the story, guys. You can make real friendships over the internet, if you're willing to go beneath the surface, right? It is not just like how do I say this? There has to be some genuine curiosity and not just surfacey stuff. You gotta be willing to do it but it can happen. And I if you would have told me like two years ago, I was going to meet some some broad from Utah. I'd be like what, who's gonna fly to New Vegas gonna fly to Boston to come to your retreat? I would have been like, why? Like, what are you saying right now? Oh, my God. But so this is there anything else you want to say about any of that before I

I want to shout out to Emily too for because I all of her help, too. With the cards and the design. This little brain trust we have where we meet. Want to make sure I mentioned her name. Yeah,

yeah. So Emma Emily, a born some of you might know Emily from. She used to have the community she built this. And Emmeline. That's my nickname for Emily a born.com. She's a content copywriter. She's a writer, she's brilliant. She's a peach, we love her to bits. You know, when we see online all the time, all these like big wig business coaches, like selling their masterminds and like data that, you know, like come and be in a room and get your foot in the door and all that stuff. And I was like, why do we have to pay somebody between the three of us like I have 20 plus years of entrepreneurship. You have however many you have like nine to nine, whatever it is at this point, Emeline. I mean, you had a brick and mortar and like now does stuff online. So we have a lot of experience. It's and mostly that what we have is respect, and curiosity and goodwill and support. And so we kind of like the triumvirate, right, the three of us kind of like came together. And so if you're somebody who's out there listening, you know, you can get together, you can create your own little mini mastermind, where you and your friends kind of share ideas and share resources and cheer each other on and support each other. Because being a business owner is not especially online, like we all work online. It's not always easy. It can be a lonely and challenging. And Deborah, do you want to say anything about that?

Yeah, I mean, the other thing that's nice about our little group is that we each have our own different perspectives coming from different businesses. So they're not all the same. So we can bring in different pieces of our own business practice, to help, you know, solve issues, or brainstorm or whatever. It has just been fantastic.

Yeah. So we bring different talents and skills and insights and whatever. And we're all different ages, we're all from different like, Emily's in her 30s, you're in your 40s. I'm in my 50s. And we all come from like these different backgrounds. So there's no competitiveness, like women can be so weird. Women can get so weird with each other. And so Catty, and so backstabbing. And look, I love women, I love women. And ladies, we have work to do, we have work to do. So. I mean, I'll leave it at that as a whole podcast for another day. But there's something like, if you were ever in a BNI group, like a business, networking, whatever International, whatever that is, I was in a BNI group, I hated it. But I understood the concept of it, which is only one person from each area of business. So it doesn't get weird, right? The two massage therapists like aren't competing or whatever. So because we come together in that way, where we're each bringing our own, again, our own experience, our own businesses, our own whatever, it's not weird at all, it's really bringing talking about you creating resources, it really is a fantastic resource. And I think, I hope more people, not that we came up with the idea, but I hope more people borrow the idea and, you know, maybe create their own and, you know, lean on each other and not and but here's what I'm going to say about that be a good brain trustor, right, we call as the brain trust, you know, but be a good brain trust, which means don't be a taker, don't just go in and overload them with your needs and your whatever. And just take take take, you got to be a giver. That's what makes it works is that it's balanced.

Yeah. Yeah. It couldn't be better. You literally think of a way that it could be improved at this point. Yeah,

it's wicked fun. And we plan like so we have calls where we have through staff, and then we're, we have a working day we're going to be doing in DeSoto, where we're all gonna gather together and work online for long periods in our lives. Yeah. All right. So do you have any idea? Or do you feel comfortable talking at all about your, your children's book that you're working on? Or is that still secret squirrel?

I feel comfortable talking about the topic is a book about intuition. And it'll be a picture book. It's a little bit tricky, because it's pretty abstract. And the audience is concrete. And so concretizing that is, is a challenge

Oh, kids can like so kids can wrap their idea around having intuition and what that means.

Yeah, and I use the word intuition. In the book. It's more about using like an inner knowing hunches, gut feelings, that kind of thing.

So I'm so excited. I can't wait. And so sprinkle your sparkles. All right. I love that you wrote a book. I love that you're working on your second book. I love that no child Kaiser out in the world. And I also love that Kirsten caboodle is still going strong. I mean, it's not like you're abandoning that you're still creating resources for teachers, and homeschoolers and people who can use that stuff. So you guys are all of her social links, how to find her websites, the various web websites and stuff are going to be in the show notes. But why don't you just tell them one more time how they can get their hands on these suckers? These inner child IDs. Do you want to tell them the website? Yep,

it's inner child. id.com.

And on Instagram, the handle is just inner child ID. Yep. And then on Facebook, the the the handle is self love license. Yep. Okay, and then for the Kaboodle website,

so that's Kyrsten kaboodle.com. We're gonna spell caboodle K. I RST ENSKABODL e.com And I believe on Instagram. It's at Pearson's Caboodle and on Facebook, it's Kyrsten Tulcea. Yes,

correct. That is how everybody finds you. So, I'm so excited. I'm just checking my notes to see if there was I mean, I'm impressed. We hit all the markets that I wanted to say. And so, ultimately, you know, if this this show, the Karen Kenny show is about pouring more love into the world. I really think that all the work that you have done with kids, the work that you continue to do in creating resources and then also now these I think it's this is how you pour love into the world. I mean, I get to see you at home how much you love. How much you love. Banzai and Sookie your dogs how much you love your kids. Right? I get to see you at home like how you interact with Jenga and Pico your little I call them mini parrots. But you can you want to tell they're

the little dinosaurs with with wings and feathers and a

little bird she so you're a bird person, right? And you also have dogs and you also have like two dogs, two kids, two birds. One, but one has been in Utah.

And there's only one wife in this relationship. Yes. We've

joked about that, that that that we would we you know if I was Mormon, you know, and I was if I was a plural family, I'd want you as a sister wife. That's what we say. Yeah, but um, so is there anything else? Is there anything I didn't ask you that you wish I asked. Anything that's on your heart that you want to share about caring for your inner child are any final thing that you want to leave our listeners before we say goodbye?

I don't think so. I just I appreciate you for having me. And I appreciate you for asking so many times and and pushing me outside my comfort zone encouraging

you encouraging you? Yes, I believe in you. And I believe in these so much. So you guys, let's hold them up one more time. And you have different ones you have different pictures different people. Yeah, let's show I only have this one. My other one is in my wallet. But my life. There's Binay Oh my god. He's so cute. So that's her husband Vinay as a little kid. Well, she got

this is my daughter. Oh, Ella.

Yeah, she's like a little she was like a little she was like a little elf. That's why they are like a little fairy. She's,

she's adorable. She's me again. But it's a different card design that doesn't have the yellow strip in the back.

Oh my god. That's the one you just put on socials. Right? Yeah, so cute.

And my cute little towhead brother,

oh, my god, presidential. Hazel, my Hazel eyed brother. And they do.

And then my boy. Oh, chi.

I love that so much thing. So thank you for sharing those. Thank you for sharing your heart. Thank you for sharing. You know why you do this work? I can tell that you're, you remind me of my mother in that way. My mother was a fierce advocate for kids. She you know, she volunteered her time to help kids. And so I really, really saw that in you right away, when you would get really mad on my behalf. You'd be like, I'm sorry, but he's a dick. And I'd start laughing. And I'd be like, Oh, God, and I can tell like you really genuinely and you guys, I don't blow smoke. I mean, you genuinely care about the welfare and the well being of children. And we need more of that in the world. Because so much of what goes wrong. You know, I often say to my clients, you know, when they talk when they say I'm just one person, what can I do? And I'll say, look, all a government is made up of is individuals. All a community is made up of individuals, all neighborhood, etc. All big, big things, big systems are just made up of individuals. And I'll often say to them, Do you know why we have starving kids? You know why we have homeless kids and sex trafficked kids? Because enough people decided that that was okay. Yeah. And so when I meet somebody who actually genuinely cares about the well being of children and tries to, like, it's funny, right? entrepreneurially we say you make resources, right? But what you're really trying to do is resource children. Yes, yeah. And if we can give those younger parts of ourselves, which is part of the work that we do as hypnotist, if we can go back, right, go back, and we can start the journey with the inner child ID cards, if we can go back and resource those younger kids, and help them to feel safe. It is literally like time traveling forward and helping the adult as well. Yeah.

It's like giving them a little tool belt with a bunch of tools to be able to use to just Yeah, feel better and safe. I mean, safety, of course, is the number one thing but

right. The nervous system is always saying the number one question, you guys know this, right? Am I safe? So us as adults, you know, using these little external reminders to take good care of our inner inner selves. Our inner child is an incredible healing seeing opportunity possibility there's so much magic that that becomes possible. So, Katie, I just love you to bet. Thank you. So a lot of you. Thank you so much for being on the show and for sharing yourself. Your your creativity, your genius with everybody. I just love you and appreciate you so much. Thank you for all the work that you do in the world. And you guys, go check her out, go find out, we gave you all the information. If you have any questions, they can shoot you a DM, if anybody has a question or whatever, you can contact her you got to contact them on your website, too if you have particular questions about them, okay. I just know I'm like somebody. I think these are the greatest gifts again. Alright, I'm gonna stop talking about it. All right, and we're back. Okay, here's the deal. You guys, you know, I say at the end of every show, wherever you go, may you leave yourself. May you leave your younger selves. May you leave the people, the animals the planet, the environment better than how you found it. Wherever you go. May you be a blessing. Bye