It's the end of the year and I thought it would be a great idea to look back at the past 34 episodes and kind of pull out some of the common themes and key points. I thought it was going to pull out three or four or five common points to share with you. And then I kept going through it. I'm like, whoa, whoa, wait, that one's really good. I can't forget that one. Oh, I gotta include this one. So here are a bunch of the highlights from this year in review.

If you have any comments about any of the information that was shared throughout the episodes, or anything that you'd like to see shared in future episodes, reach out to me reach out to me at Lori at Zen Rabbit dot com.

It would be awesome if you'd leave a review for this podcast. When you do that, it helps other people find it.

Lastly, as I was recording, it occurred to me that you might want to see ALL the key takeaways. So I created a PDF with all the key takeaways from all the episodes. You can download it at ZenRabbit.com/2021takeaways.

Hello and welcome to Fine is a 4-Letter Word. I'm your host, Lori Saitz. Today's episode is a little bit different from the past episodes in that I don't have a guest. I don't have an interview for you. I'm doing this one solo. It's the end of the year and I thought it would be a great idea to look back at the past 34 episodes and kind of pull out some of the common themes and key points. And there were some ideas I had my head when I started the process of looking at what what the key takeaways from past episodes have been. Of what the most common themes were that I've heard from guests but once I started going through the actual, seeing them on on paper, if you will on the screen, there was so much more wisdom and more commonalities than I actually remember. So I thought it was going to pull out three or four or five common points to share with you. And then I kept going through it. I'm like, whoa, whoa, wait, that one's really good. I can't forget that one. Oh, I gotta include this one. So, here's what I've got. I'm gonna share some of the really interesting, juicy wisdom from every single person who gave me their time and their story in their trust to share on the show. Every single person had something of value to offer. And truly every single person that I had on as a guest is somebody that I would want to be friends with. So very few of the people I actually had as guests, I don't know if you know this, to this, some of them were, are people that I have been friends with for years, but most of them are people I just met. And I am just so grateful for the opportunity to have met them to get to know them. And now I feel like they're my new best friends, which I know sounds like sappy and dramatic. But I really truly respect and appreciate every single one of them.

Let's get into this year in review. And if you have any comments about any of the information that was shared throughout the episodes, or anything that you'd like to see shared in future episodes, reach out to me reach out to me at Lori at Zen Rabbit dot com and put a comment you know, on Instagram, leave a review. When you leave a review for this podcast. It actually helps other people find it as well. So I would really appreciate it. If you've gotten value from listening that you would leave a review, that would be awesome.

We started off the show with an amazing conversation with Dara Goldberg. One of the key points I continuously refer back to from that show is about shedding the shoulds. I’ve just about eliminated that word from my vocabulary. And anytime I’m tempted to use it, I catch myself and change to a different way of phrasing what I’m about to say.

Focusing on what you should have done isn’t serving you. What matters is where you are now and where you are going. At this point I’d add an additional word to that phrase and make it shedding the shame of the shoulds.

Courtney Krulis challenged you to imagine what life could be like if you went through it with no expectation of what “should” be. If you could live in a world where you were truly living from your soul's purpose, or just giving your soul's gift.

No shame in getting help when you need it. Be strong enough to say I need help. It’s not a weakness.

Keep looking for a modality or a counselor or tools that works for you. Trust that the help you need for your situation exists, because it does; it’s a matter of finding it. So if the first one or the second one or the third one doesn’t help, keep going. Keep looking and exploring different options.

Then, even when you HAVE the right tools, you may still fall out of balance. That’s life. You fall a little out of balance and come back, over and over again. Tools are going to help you get through whatever you’re facing; but that doesn’t mean you won’t still face challenges.

Have or find a support system. We all need others to hold us up when we need it, cheer us on when we’re winning, and point out the blind spots when we can’t see what is so obvious to everyone else. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious before you see it. You can rarely SEE the crazy when you’re IN the crazy.

Plus, we don’t have all the answers on our own. So when you have a network, you can reach out and find someone who does. Michelle said even Wonder Woman had help.

We are meant to be interconnected and meant to rely and depend on one another from a place of choice and from love and equality and partnership. Allowing partnerships in life lets you see so many more possibilities. You're going to be able to go past where you would normally stop alone. We’re not talking about partnership only from a life partner, romantic partnership. Simply partnerships with other humans.

And role models. Find role models who can show you what’s possible. Role models aren’t only for kids or people just starting out in their careers. They’re for everyone, no matter what stage of life. Angela mentioned purposely seeking out and surrounding herself with people who had a more positive outlook and resiliency than she did, so she could learn from them and overcome being angry all the time.

Trust and have faith in all things. God, the Universe, Karma, whatever you want to call it, is always conspiring for your highest good.

Faith is taking that first step, even when you can’t see the whole staircase. Taking that first step through inspired action. We talked a lot about inspired action. Not simply making noise and being busy. Getting quiet enough on a regular basis to hear your inner voice – your inner truth – that’s always talking to you and telling you which way to go. The answers to every single challenge you’re facing exist. This leads into…

Always follow your heart. Trust your intuition. It always knows what’s right. Honor your journey. Everybody's journey is different. So how are you gonna do yours? You have to know and honor yourself in order to step into your power.

Bravery and courage is required. Transitions begin with endings, and end with new beginnings. In the middle, is a lot of emotion. There’s tremendous power with sitting in the discomfort.

People you expect to support you, may not. Their doubts are about all their fears and insecurities. It’s not about you at all. Move forward with your truth anyway.

The Universe is always communicating with you and giving you signs. Pay attention because if you’re not hearing, it will get louder and louder until it needs to hit you in the head with a proverbial 2x4 to get your attention. And that’s uncomfortable. That hurts. And it’s never convenient.

You are responsible for you. For your happiness, health, and well-being. For your personal growth, which is an ongoing, never-ending job for as long as you live. For returning your damn shopping cart.

It’s your responsibility to say something when you’re uncomfortable. To not stay painfully sitting on the tack, as Trista literally did. To grow your self-worth to be big enough to support your goals and dreams.

It's easy to be mad at and blame others for past circumstances. He did this to me, and she's so horrible, and so on. But it really comes down to coming to terms with your own choices.

You get to choose how your life goes. You have choices in how you show up. Start with how you set your intention for the day, how you frame your energy, and how you choose to find gratitude. And know you make a different choice if it doesn't work out the way you anticipated. And then choose again, and choose again.

However, there's a difference between taking responsibility for your actions and blaming yourself because things didn’t or aren't going the way you think they should.

As far as past decisions or actions, you did the best you could with the knowledge and the experience you had at the time. Give yourself grace as you move forward now. Everything in your life up to this point has prepared you for where you are now and where you are going from this moment forward.

Lisa shared the Zen proverb - the obstacles are not off the path, the obstacles are the path. Those obstacles are the gifts for us to go back to, and extract the wisdom, and heal through them with love and compassion.

Oh, and while we’re talking about responsibility, you can still be a responsible person and make decisions that bring you joy. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

Having fun is important. We tend to lose sight of exactly HOW important it is. So figure out what’s fun for you and go do those things!

Say “I’m proud of you” to your friends and yourself MORE. You’re out there doing hard things and accomplishing amazing feats. This phrase “I’m proud of you” carries so much more weight than simply saying “good job.”

Be proud of yourself, not just for accomplishments. Also for being who you are. For the inner you. Learn to love and appreciate yourself.

Your feelings are valid, no matter what they are. Wait, let’s step back for a moment because one of the things I’ve heard over and over from my guests on the show as well as in conversations with people outside of here, is “we didn’t have emotions in my family.” Or we were taught to keep them under wraps and not express them. Stuff them down and pretend they don’t exist. Whoa! This is not healthy. I didn’t grow up with that restriction, so it’s been surprising to me to hear how many people did.

Humans have emotions. They are built into the wiring. Emotions are natural. They’re actually part of your guidance system, to help you steer and then know when you’re moving in the right direction. Are you feeling joyful, grateful, happy? Keep going in that direction.

Are you feeling sad, angry, frustrated? It’s completely ok to feel those emotions. The problem comes when you get stuck and stay in them. Often people get stuck in them, don’t like how they feel, and then try to bury them with unhealthy habits so they don’t have to feel them anymore.

The healthier way to manage uncomfortable emotions is to validate them, feel them, and then when you’re ready to not feel them any longer, to find a way to pull yourself up the ladder to higher vibration emotions. Ones that feel better. So it’s not covering up the emotions you don’t want to feel, it’s finding your way to better feeling emotions. Does that make sense?

Since we’re on the topic of emotions and moving to a place of feeling better, know there’s a difference between looking on the bright side in every situation and ignoring that your house is on fire.

Krisi mentioned that one way to tell the difference is if you’re reluctant to tell others what’s really going on because you’re afraid of what they’ll think, that’s an indication things are not right. Shannon said it’s important to tell people what’s happening with you because keeping it all inside is not healthy. Often you start seeing physical health conditions manifesting in people who are suffering emotionally and psychologically but aren’t sharing any of those feelings with anyone.

The definition of success. What is YOUR definition of success? Once you get clear on that, it’s a lot easier to achieve it. To make deliberate decisions to get there – and again, take inspired action. Knowing what success looks like to you, leads into the next point about sacrificing.

Sacrifices are necessary. You will have to let go of certain thoughts, habits, people, in order to get to where you are meant to be. To fulfill your higher purpose. Think of it as trading something of lesser value, that’s not working for you, for something greater. And then imagine what “future you” would have you do. Ask yourself, when I’m 80, will I be happy with or will I regret this decision or this path? Put some perspective on your choices, which may give you incentive to make better – or different – decisions.

When you are clear on what success is for YOU, it’s easier, or at least more palatable, to make the necessary sacrifices to get there.

The definition of failure. You’re either going to win or learn. Nicole’s definition of failure is standing still and giving up. Your negative self-talk and programming is going to come in and try to make it something more sinister. You get to choose differently. To say, that wasn’t what I expected. Now I get to choose differently, and keep moving forward.

Your value is not tied to what you do and no one else gets to determine your value. Your worth has nothing to do with your accomplishments or how productive or profitable you are. It’s not tied to how many degrees you have, your job title, or how many years you’ve been married. You have worth, simply by being here on Earth.

Everything is energy! No matter if you’re talking about science or religion, logic or spirituality, it’s all universal energy. We’ve traditionally been taught you have to SEE something first before you can believe it. When you’re working with energy – and again, everything in our Universe is energy – you have to trust in things you can’t see. You have to see them in your mind’s eye before you see them in your reality.

You have to FEEL grateful, healthful, joyful, loving, in order to bring good things into your life. Seeing in your mind and feeling in your body comes first. Not the other way around.

Remember, Jennifer Garman focused on feeling grateful for her complete health and recovery without actually being in that state yet. She was grateful for the state she knew was coming. She had to have trust and faith that it was coming. And then it did.

Chelsie found similar healing when she looked at the mind-body connection and how that was playing out in her physical dis-ease.

This is great news because this gives you the power. You get to choose how you feel and what you see and then it shows up. You don’t have to wait at the mercy of anyone else or of circumstances for something to show up.

The frequency you put out is what’s going to come back to you. When you live in a frequency of fear or worry, that doesn’t serve your highest good.

If you take away nothing else from listening to this show, take this. Your mind is incredibly powerful. Your thoughts control your actions and therefore the outcomes you’re getting in life. When you live in fear and worry, you’ll see the results of that. When you live in gratitude and joy, you’ll see the results of that too.