The Karma Of Daily Life: How We Create Our Lives

So today we're talking about the karma of daily life,

The law of cause and effect.

I love this topic and the reason I love this topic is this is the discussion about how we actually create our own lives.

And this can seem very strange,

Right?

I mean we can look around us and we can look at the circumstances of our life,

We can look at the people in our life,

We can look at the politics going on,

We can look at our community,

We can look at the people,

You know,

We can look at everything around us and we think what do people mean when they say that you create your own life?

Like I'm pretty sure not all of this is within my control.

But this is the crazy thing is that within every circumstance we have choice and whatever choice we make has different effects.

It's like so I'm 56 years old and when I was a teenager back in the 80s there was a really popular book series called Choose Your Own Adventure.

I don't know if anyone else ever read those the Choose Your Own Adventure series.

And essentially there were these little little paperbacks and you'd open up and it would say you are a commander in a jet and you are flying this way and you see this opening over here.

Do you take that opening or you continue on your course and complete the mission?

If you choose to go into this other thing turn to page 35.

If you choose to continue on the mission turn to page 20 and you make the choice and then you turn to that page and now the story continues and then you make another choice and then if you choose A go to page 54.

If you choose B go to page 10 and you basically would read the book choosing your own adventure.

This is our life.

In every single moment we have a hundred choices in that moment.

Very often we think well I only have A or B but the reality even in Choose Your Own Adventure imagine if there were a hundred choices in every moment.

And sometimes I think this is part of the spiritual journey is expanding our repertoire of choices in any moment.

You know it's like in any let's say you're in a difficult conversation with someone.

Maybe you have the option to be angry or maybe you knew someone or you read a story about Gandhi and you thought well what would Gandhi do right now?

And so you think well my options are I could be like Gandhi or I could lash out in anger and I think oh there's only two options.

Sometimes we don't think there's even two options we just think there's one option.

That's when we're really caught in some kind of cycle.

But what if as you continue on your journey you start to realize well I actually could also say can we go for a walk while we talk about this?

I could also say I'm feeling kind of triggered can I just take a minute and just breathe for a sec before we continue?

And what if we could also say can we just sit and breathe together for a moment because I really want to sort this out because I really love you.

Like suddenly there's a hundred options in any moment in any single point in an argument there's actually a hundred different choose your own adventures.

And depending on what you choose the conversation will go in a different direction.

This is how we create our lives all these micro choices throughout our entire day.

And this is fascinating to me because you know especially when we've been taught this by by the spiritual teachers by the gurus that you create your own reality you create your own life and for us when we get caught in the day-to-day machinations of life it's like it really doesn't feel like that.

Like bottom line it just doesn't feel like that.

And so that's what we're going to talk about today and I really love this topic.

So the reason this talk is called the karma of daily life is because this is the mechanism that not only allows the creation of everything we do but also is what gets us stuck in places.

So the first thing I want to do is define karma.

Karma is simply the law of cause and effect here on earth.

If I take a pebble and I throw it into the pond it's going to create a ripple.

If I bend down to sit on the chair I will end up sitting on the chair.

If I am hungry and I have a sandwich I will be I will have eaten.

Like it's not very interesting it's just simply that when I do something it affects something around me.

Even speaking the very act of being silent and speaking there's an effect in the world around me by simply speaking.

Even if no one hears it I hear it.

My body is affected by the sound coming out of me.

My consciousness is affected by the words coming out of me.

The world is changed because I took action.

Karma,

So because of that when we do something over and over again this creates a pattern within us.

In physics they would call it inertia.

You know that whatever pattern we're in we will continue in the pattern until something stops it.

Part of the inertia thing is an object at rest will stay at rest until something happens to change that and an object in motion will continue in motion until something changes that.

So if we have a pattern in our mind in our in our lives it will continue until something interrupts it.

Now about karma it's very very important that when I say karma I'm not talking about what goes around comes around.

I'm not talking about guilt.

I'm not talking about my life must suck because of bad things I did in past lives.

That kind of teaching is it's a very manipulative teaching that is used by certain religious authorities to to make people feel bad basically.

It's used in the brahmanism like in the caste system to tell people why you were born into a lowly caste.

It's nonsense.

It's not real.

It was just used to force people into this false hierarchy.

In the Christian church we'll often feel like oh well I'm doing this because I did something bad.

This is a penance for my sin and when we have this idea in our head that why I'm in this position is because of something I did that was bad in the past we're sunk because that teaching puts us into a state of shame or guilt.

These two emotions are the most debilitating emotional states to ever make change.

So it's really important that when I say karma I don't mean guilt.

Those are fabrications used to manipulate people that is not the original meaning of karma.

Karma is simply patterns that are continuing.

These patterns could have come from past lives.

There are many many traditions that teach that life is a series of lives and that these patterns can just continue even as we maybe shed this earthly skin.

We have a new one but the energy patterns of the soul continue.

They might call them samskaras or whatever we want to call them.

It doesn't matter.

They're simply patterns continuing.

They could also be patterns from generations.

Intergenerational patterns passed through epigenetics which is just a memory that sort of comes through the womb,

Comes through the experiences of the mother.

But we could have that.

We don't really understand how this life works.

We don't really understand where these patterns come from.

And we don't want to get caught in that.

We don't want to get caught in that debate either.

The reason I'm bringing up where these patterns may come from is to allow ourselves to be kind with them,

To be kind with ourselves.

You know you're going through life and you all of a sudden you realize wow I'm really caught in a pattern here.

It doesn't matter if someone says something.

I always end up defensive and I always feel like I'm fighting for my life whether I'm talking to my parent or my partner or my children or my boss.

What is that?

What is that?

And if I think it's guilt or anything like that we're just dead in the water.

We're just going to go have some chocolate or have a drink or do something to numb that horrible feeling.

But if we can sit in our witness mind in this quiet place inside of us and say to ourselves this is a pattern that I've developed in this lifetime.

Did this come from my childhood?

Hmm I don't know.

It doesn't feel like it.

What if this was a pattern that I've lived out before?

Is this a pattern that my parents have lived out?

Have I somehow even absorbed it as a child witnessing their life experiences?

Is this a pattern of my grandparents and my ancestors?

And again it doesn't even matter what it is but when there's context to it we suddenly can relax and we're able to be objective to see the pattern without all the high emotional loading.

Because if we have the high emotional loading we may not be able to change it.

Because as that pattern continues the motion will continue until something stops it.

And the only thing that's going to stop it is our own rational objective kindness that says hey my friend let's look at this and let's see if we can shift it.

It's the only way.

So it's really important to kind of maybe say to ourselves you know I don't I don't know where this pattern came from.

It isn't a character flaw.

It isn't because I've I've screwed up so many times in my life and now I'm just reaping the benefits of it.

No you're just in a pattern.

Who knows where it came from?

All that matters is that in this moment this is where we have all the power.

All the power to change it lies right here in this moment in this lifetime in these circumstances exactly as they are.

This is where I get a chance to do something different and stop that wheel from turning.

So if we come into this moment to really you know imagine in our hearts that every choice I make makes a difference.

Every thought I have,

Every action I take,

Every piece of food I put in my mouth,

Every time I go for a walk,

Every time I take a breath before responding,

Every action makes a difference.

Every action is that pebble being thrown into the pond and ripples going out.

We have the power to choose those actions.

So first it's important to imagine us as human beings and to understand that at any time we are these multi-dimensional interesting beings that are always living in a state of homeostasis.

So what that means is everything in our lives is in balance.

Even if we're suffering even if we're happy,

Even if we don't like our life,

Even if we love our life,

Everything is in balance.

So what that means is because otherwise we wouldn't be here right now.

We wouldn't be able to sit and listen to this talk.

We wouldn't be able to interact the way we do.

Our soul is living in the center of our earth and that earth every single thing inside of it is an ecosystem and they are all connected and they are holding each other in balance.

So let's say you have a you experience a lot of fear.

Well somewhere in that ecosystem is something that causes you fear and the fear is balancing that to keep you aware because there's something amok but everything's in balance.

So as soon as you start to dive into that and wonder well what is causing me all this fear and you start to look into it already you've changed the homeostasis.

Already you're beginning to shine light on a corner of your universe that maybe was in darkness before which was unconsciously causing the fear.

You've already done something and then maybe you discover that wow you know what there was this thing that happened to me when I was a child.

Wow that that makes a lot of sense and now because the awareness has happened over here in the frightening thing the fear in in due balance will lessen and homeostasis will stay.

Every single thing we do affects everything else in the homeostasis and this is really really important because very often we think you don't understand my life like it's complicated.

There's so many moving parts and it's been complicated for a long time like it's chaos right like and but this is the interesting thing that even no matter how difficult painful confusing our life may be right now we are maintaining homeostasis and that means that if we pull one thread change happens.

So this is where it's really interesting especially if you have a meditation practice a spiritual practice of any kind and you sit quietly and you ask you breathe deeply and you say what can I do differently today?

What can I do today that would bring me to the life that I really want to live?

What's one thing that you can do differently today?

And what's crazy is there's no ideal answer and this is the whole thing about you know this is right or this is wrong or this is good or this is bad.

It's not like that.

If you have been a workaholic your whole life the one thing that you could do differently today is sleep in and spend the day reading a book.

And if you're a workaholic that's the most terrifying thing that I just said there or you might say I'm going to read a book for one hour today and you think to yourself well how's that supposed to change anything?

But it does because you have changed the homeostasis.

You have changed something in the ecosystem because you sat down and read a book for an hour.

You might say you know what I'm gonna have a bath instead of having that drink and you will have changed the homeostasis of that workaholic pattern.

One thing that what even if you took one bath in a month it will have changed.

Every single action we take makes change in the whole right?

Not in other people's lives.

This is the problem.

We're so focused externally but I want that person to change.

I don't want them to be such a jerk.

I don't want them to keep nagging me.

I don't want them to do this.

It never has anything to do with them.

It's all about us because as soon as you start taking a bath as an example you might and you don't take your phone in and you're not scrolling in the tub or listening to a podcast or being efficient or learning while you're wasting time or whatever other workaholic patterns we have rolling through our consciousness because I totally get that.

But you actually went into the tub and you lit a candle and you had a nice bath pillow and you closed your eyes and you were silent for an hour.

This is life-altering if you are someone who always has something gibbering at you.

TV,

Phones,

Videos,

Podcasts,

Audio books,

Whatever.

Taking one hour of silence,

The ripple effects of that into every part of your soul,

Your liver,

Your consciousness,

Your psyche,

Your butt muscles,

Everything is going to have an effect and that effect will be ever so slightly felt in every aspect of your life.

So suddenly that person does this thing that bothers you and you will respond one percent calmer or twenty percent calmer but you will respond differently because you're different.

Someone else might have the opposite problem.

Maybe that inertia is that they are stuck in a still pattern and they just can't move.

That's a real thing,

You know.

That's a real,

Real thing.

I remember back on the farm like so if for anyone who's new,

I grew up in Toronto,

Went to university,

Became,

Got a math degree,

Became a computer programmer and then I married a dairy farmer,

Moved to the middle of the country,

Countryside,

And I was a programmer for a while until I had babies.

Then I was on the farm.

We bought the farm.

It was just my husband and I working it with the kids.

It was a dairy farm.

I don't think I'd ever felt so stuck in my whole life.

I honestly was like my entire life is just laid out before me and I don't know what I can ever do differently.

And we can feel stuck in all kinds of places.

We can feel stuck in depression.

We can feel stuck because of illness or pain.

We can feel stuck because of circumstances.

We can feel stuck just because we've been in this one place for so long.

I can't even imagine it being any different.

The power of simply saying,

I'm just going to go for a walk today,

Just around the block.

I'm just going to walk around the block and that's it.

This makes such a huge difference in our lives.

You know,

So let's say you are in that stuck space where you actually can't get anything done.

You just,

You're so stuck in that place of inertia that I don't know,

You're almost afraid to make a move,

To take that step,

To get that job,

To move into that place,

To whatever.

And you just take one step,

One tiny step.

You sit in meditation and you see what rises and you ask,

What is one step I can take to help change this situation?

And something comes to you and then you do it.

Years ago,

I was sick in 1999 and this is where I met my first teacher.

And he taught me,

He said,

You have to learn how to pray Katrina,

Which I got really angry about because I had a lot of issues with the church.

And he said,

Not that kind of prayer.

He said,

You need to learn to ask,

You need to learn to listen,

And then you need to learn to act.

And that action piece is,

It's not the most important one,

But it's equally important.

And without the action piece,

The first two are irrelevant.

Like there's no point even going down that road if we're not going to take action.

And the reason is that if we don't take action,

Our psyche will start to believe that we did.

Because we thought about it,

We saw the solution,

But we didn't do it.

But our psyche thinks we did.

But of course,

Nothing changed because we didn't throw the pebble.

We didn't actually do anything.

So nothing can change.

But we thought about it,

And we saw the solution,

And nothing changed.

And that becomes wired into us.

There's a woman who runs this amazing weight loss program.

Her name is Gina Livy.

And she calls it the illusion of effort.

And she said,

You know,

A lot of people who struggle with weight loss,

Or struggle with fitness,

Or struggle with anything,

Financial solubility,

Whatever,

Whatever.

That's not the right word,

But you know,

Whatever it is.

But for her case,

It's about weight loss.

And people would say,

But I've done everything.

I'm trying everything,

And nothing works.

And she's like,

But have you fixed your sleep?

Are you drinking all the water?

Are you doing this?

Well,

No,

But you have no idea.

I've been working at this for 20 years.

But they've been thinking about it,

And journaling about it,

And making plans about it,

And doing all this.

And it is,

It is so,

It's like a trick of the mind that we believe we're actually doing different things than we've ever done before.

But it's an illusion.

And this is why that third step of action is so important.

So let's say,

For example,

Your goal in life let's say you have a relationship.

It doesn't matter who it's with.

It could be a friend,

Child,

Parent,

Loving partner.

And you say to that,

And you think to yourself,

I really deeply want to feel connected to this person.

That's what I want.

I want to feel connected to this person.

But of course,

Obviously,

The reason you're having this deep longing is because it doesn't exist,

Right?

Because you're struggling.

And so inevitably,

A situation arises where there's pain,

Something happened,

Someone attacks somebody,

Whatever.

And you feel attacked.

And in your heart,

You take a breath and you go,

And you ask yourself,

What pebble do I want to throw into the pond right now?

Do I want to throw the pebble that I always throw so that we can repeat the same pattern over and over again?

Do I want to think about what I really want to say,

But not really do it,

So that I feel stuck,

That this is never going to change?

Or maybe you ask for guidance.

This is me.

Ever since I was sick back in 1999,

That was the biggest change was that first step is to ask for guidance.

It's like,

What can I say right now that would help bring us closer together?

And inevitably,

Some kind of answer would come.

And then I would say it,

Whatever it was.

And the other person would sort of look at you because you didn't respond in the normal way.

And the conversation would be different.

It might not be all peaches and cream and roses and everything's solved in one singular moment,

But it's different.

It changed and change is good.

If all we want to do is change these karmic patterns,

Anything different is better.

And then they say something.

And again,

We ask within and it's like,

What now?

And you say something new.

And what's interesting is,

Who knows who you're asking?

And you know,

If you kind of think,

I don't like this prayer idea,

Or I don't know what that even means.

What if there's a part of you that is caught in this cycle,

This karmic cycle,

A part of you,

Maybe it's a personality,

Maybe it's a past life,

Maybe it's something,

Maybe it's your grandmother,

Maybe it's just a long inherited pattern that you are actually unconsciously living out.

But your conscious self,

Your wise self,

Because every single one of us has a conscious wise self.

Every one of us.

And what if who we're really asking is our conscious wise self,

That conscious self that is connected to our divinity.

And we're asking ourself to say,

How do I break out of this pattern?

And the answer comes,

And slowly over time,

Because this takes patience,

The pattern changes.

And a year later,

You can't even fathom that you were caught in the pattern.

This is how we create our life.

It's all in these tiny little shifts.

And the crazy thing is,

Is this isn't all like just spiritual woo woo.

This is real day to day stuff.

You know,

I love philosophizing.

I am a born died in the wool philosopher.

I love it.

But the actions are always here on earth.

I have a friend who is a medical doctor.

And he's a very interesting man.

He,

When he did his medical,

When he did his residency,

He actually lived in a Buddhist monastery.

And he was quite convinced that he wanted to be a monk.

Like he just had this beautiful peaceful sense of himself.

And who knows,

Maybe he's a Bodhisattva,

Like who knows.

But the lead monk,

I can't remember what you call that,

Said to him one day,

I don't believe your life is meant to be spent in a monastery.

I think you're meant to go out and join the world.

So he finished off becoming a doctor.

What's wild about him is he does all kinds of wonderful alternative things.

Like he teaches,

He does yoga,

And he's into running,

And he's into whole foods,

And he's into nutrition,

And he's into all kinds of things.

So one day I said to him,

I said,

Considering how you live,

Why didn't you become a naturopath,

Or homeopath,

Or something like an herbalist?

Like,

It's interesting that you live kind of the naturopathic,

Homeopathic,

Holistic way,

And yet you're a medical doctor.

That's so curious.

And he said,

Well,

In his opinion,

95% of our health is within our control.

What we eat,

Whether we move our bodies,

Quality of our sleep,

Whether or not we deal with the stresses in our lives,

And how we think,

He says these are the biggest motivators in our health.

The other 5%,

Maybe I can help you medically,

Maybe I can help you with herbs,

Maybe someone can help you with whatever,

But the vast majority of our health is 100% within our control.

And this is interesting.

When we imagine how we can shift our ecosystem,

Changing what we eat,

And this is nothing to do with weight loss,

This is all about our mood.

Does what I eat affect my mood?

Or does my mood affect what I eat?

Is it affecting whether I sleep at night?

If I'm eating late at night,

Is that disrupting my sleep patterns?

What else is disrupting my sleep patterns?

Am I drinking a lot of caffeine?

And again,

None of this is a judgment.

There's nothing wrong.

I love caffeine.

I am a latte queen,

For good or for ill.

But to be able to hold everything on the table,

To say I love caffeine,

But I'm struggling to sleep.

I wonder if these are connected.

Maybe they are,

Maybe they aren't.

Maybe I'll do an experiment.

Maybe I'll cut back here.

And if emotions suddenly rise,

That makes us think,

No way.

That's interesting.

Right?

That's when your witness mind comes in and says,

Was that all about?

Have we got an addiction online?

And what in the world is feeding that?

And again,

Not from a judgment place,

But from a kind place,

From a place that looks at us with love and says,

Why am I so dependent on that?

That's weird.

Or at the end of the day,

Why do I feel like I need the snacks at the end of the day?

What am I feeling?

And not out of judgment.

You can have the snacks,

But you kind of sit there and go,

What is going on?

Because very often we live,

We all live in a certain sense,

A certain percentage of denial.

It's sort of like that whole thing that I've done everything I possibly can,

And nothing is going to change this relationship.

Nothing is going to change my health.

Nothing is going to change my financial situation.

But it isn't true.

We are selectively remembering certain things and leaving other things off the table.

Right?

And that's where it takes someone else sometimes to say,

But what about this?

And you're like,

Well,

I don't want to,

I mean,

Yeah,

Okay.

I guess that,

Yeah,

I guess that might affect it.

Right?

Like it's just about allowing it all to be on the table.

This,

This woman,

Gina Livy that I was talking about,

The weight loss woman.

One of the things in her programs,

Her program is that,

That you weigh your weight,

You get on the scale every morning.

And so of course in the weight loss world,

This is a highly debated topic.

You should,

You shouldn't.

And her whole thing is,

It isn't about like losing weight or gaining weight.

It isn't good or bad.

It's allowing yourself to be aware of the whole ecosystem that to understand that your weight fluctuates based on whatever you're doing.

And it's actually fluctuating based on a lot more than just your food.

That if you are not getting enough sleep,

Your pancreas isn't working properly,

Which is causing an imbalance of insulin in the body,

Which is causing this,

Which is causing inflammation.

And your body's going to gain weight just because you're not sleeping well.

If you eat late at night,

You don't gain weight in the morning because you ate late at night.

You gain weight in the morning because you ate late at night,

Which disrupted your sleep,

Which is why you gained weight in the morning.

You might,

The scale may be up because you're starting,

You're starting a new workout at the gym and your body's healing.

And there's a bit of inflammation where the body's working out and it's figuring out how to build new muscle,

But it'll go away.

Or maybe you're bloated because it's 40 degrees out,

Celsius,

Right?

And that's all it is.

And then all of a sudden it goes down,

But to not have this loading on that scale,

Because it's,

It's a result of the whole life,

Not just the food.

And this is where in our lives,

We need to be able to have everything on the table,

Nothing loaded,

Right?

Everything's just on the table.

And you're like,

Well,

This let this homeostasis makes sense.

It makes sense that my weight's not changing.

It makes sense that my relationships aren't changing.

It makes sense that my financial situation isn't changing.

It makes sense that my happiness isn't changing because nothing's actually changing,

Right?

I'm not actually doing anything differently,

More than once or twice.

So in the end,

The interesting thing about these patterns is the first thing we have to do is sit quietly with ourselves and say,

What kind of life would I love to have?

What does it feel like?

What does it look like?

Are there a lot of people around me?

Do I have one special friend?

What does my work life balance look like?

What do my,

You know,

What does my body fitness feel like?

Am I active?

Am I chilling at home?

What does my life look like?

And to really,

Because this is different for every single person.

There's no ideal life to aspire to.

Every one of us was designed for something unique and interesting.

So the question is to go deep inside and say,

What does that look like for me?

And then to imagine,

This is possible.

This life that I desire is possible.

And then you watch if any beliefs rise that say,

Yeah,

No,

It's not.

Right?

That's the first thing you're like,

What rises to say it's not possible.

And this is the beginning of the journey.

Whether you sit and journal about it,

Or you do yoga with that question,

Or you meditate with that question,

You talk to a counselor or a friend,

Whatever you do,

You look at that and say,

I wonder where that comes from?

Is that just from my family?

Is that is the idea of making change,

Interrupting these cycles I'm so familiar with?

You know,

What's that all about?

But the cool thing is,

Is all we have to do is know what our goal is.

It's like we just have to hold it in our mind's eye.

You know,

I think that's where vision boards are cool.

You know,

You make a vision board of all the things that you really would love in your life.

And you let it just be there.

And then you quietly take steps towards it.

You know,

You just keep taking little tiny steps that you kind of go.

Yeah,

You know what,

I would really love to sleep better at night.

That's something I'd really love to do.

So you know,

I think I'm gonna go for a walk after dinner.

I'm just gonna make that a habit.

I'm just gonna go for a walk after dinner around the block.

It doesn't have to be a kilometer.

And you don't have to walk fast.

Just take a leisurely stroll out in the fresh air after dinner.

I'm just gonna do that for a month.

See how that changes anything.

Right?

So it's like,

To be kind with ourself to allow this dream to sort of manifest.

And then to be patient.

We have this real efficiency speed problem.

You know,

That I want to get to my goal weight in,

You know,

The least amount of time possible.

As opposed to saying,

Yeah,

At some point,

This is this is the direction my boat is heading.

Or I'd really love to have joyful relationships all around me.

Right now,

My five closest relationships are very difficult.

Well,

Then that's going to take time.

So many dials have to turn.

So we just very gently start making small choices and start doing kind things and responding differently in heated moments.

And bit by bit,

Then a year goes by and two years goes by.

And all of a sudden,

You have all these lovely relationships in your life that are happy and kind and supportive.

But we have to allow time to turn.

And we just keep making little choices all the way along.

It's very,

I love it.

It's very expansive and optimistic.

And I think it's how we're designed.

I'm gonna put my glasses on.

And if you have any questions,

I would love to answer them.

How can you differentiate between taking a risk out of escaping versus listening to your intuition asking you to expand?

What a great question.

You know,

The first thing that comes to me is a question,

The question of urgency.

Do you ever feel like that?

When something feels so urgent,

Like I have to do it right now I have to do I can't wait,

I can't wait.

And like a good friend might say,

Well,

You know what,

Just sleep on it.

Just give yourself a cup.

I can't sleep on it.

I have to do it now.

I have to do it now.

That's an interesting question.

Is there a sense of urgency?

Because if you can sleep on it,

And it's still a good idea a week from now,

That's probably your intuition talking.

Because the crazy thing about intuition is it doesn't,

It doesn't go away.

Do you ever have that?

That when your intuition is sort of knocking on your consciousness,

And it's saying,

Hey,

Go do this thing.

And your brain's like,

I don't know.

I don't know.

You have all these fears rising and all these old programs saying no,

No,

No,

No.

And then your intuition just kind of sits there in the corner,

While we go on in life.

And then all of a sudden,

It's like,

It goes a week later,

It's like,

Hey,

You want to do this thing?

Then,

You know,

You leave,

You know,

It's like,

No,

No,

No,

Not now.

And then maybe a year goes by.

And you have a crisis of some flavor,

Something happens,

And you're like,

I don't know what to do.

And then your intuition is like,

How about this thing?

For me,

Those little ideas never go away.

They just niggle at me,

Until one day I finally do the thing.

Whatever it is.

I think that's a really big way that we know whether or not it's kind of fear and escape.

Or whether it's intuition.

I think it can be a mix to the feeling.

Yeah,

Your intuition can say,

Go now,

For sure.

And you know,

The great thing,

Honestly,

Is there's no wrong choices.

If you make a choice,

And in hindsight,

You realize,

Wow,

I just made that choice out of fear,

And I was escaping something.

Well,

That's good to know.

It's just interesting.

Like we're,

We've been taught to be so hard on ourselves,

As as if there are right and wrong choices,

As if there's a path that we should be on.

And then this messed up path that I am,

On.

There is only one path.

Each one of us is on our life path.

There's no alternate life path,

Just the one we're on.

Everything else is an illusion.

Everything else is a fabrication of the imagination.

So what that means,

If I do make a choice,

Which we all do,

Out of escaping,

Every day,

We make choices to escape.

Through food,

Through booze,

Through Netflix,

Through scrolling,

We do it every single day.

And then one day,

We say,

Scrolling is really eating up my life.

Or,

You know,

I used to love reading.

Maybe I'll pick up a book tonight and not watch Netflix.

You know,

Like,

We will make different choices.

And I know that's not,

Maybe not the escape you're talking about.

And then other times,

We'll follow our intuition.

It's like this lovely dance,

You know,

And that's all good.

It's all good.

There's no,

There's no right thing.

No,

That was the right choice in that time.

And what we learned from that experience helped us make the next choice.

You know,

It's all good.

What if I'm stuck in rushing?

Rushing is a funny habit,

Eh?

Like,

I'm pretty sure we can all relate to that one.

I remember hearing there was a country song that went,

I'm in a hurry to get things done.

Oh,

I rush and rush until life's no fun.

All I really gotta do is live and die.

But I'm in a hurry and don't know why.

I love that song.

And I think I have to listen to it a lot.

Because it's funny how we rush.

But again,

I think it's that witness mind.

Just being witness mind is this neutral mind inside that when we take a deep breath,

And we kind of sit in this quiet place,

And we observe ourself and say,

Why am I rushing?

What's going on?

And you know,

Something funny.

So I have these hiking boots that I've been wearing for years.

I think I bought them 10 years ago on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.

And I wear them all the time.

But they're lace-ups.

And you have to lace them up.

And then there's the hooks around the ankle,

And you have to loop them.

Well,

I get into such a hurry.

What I do is I tie the laces really loosely.

And then I just slip my feet in.

And I just schlep out into the world in these loosey-goosey,

Untied hiking boots.

Because I have it in my head that,

Well,

I don't have time to always be lacing these up all the time.

Especially when I was taking care of my son's dog,

Who had to go for a walk every three hours.

I was like,

I don't want to have to lace these boots up.

You know,

Slip-on culture.

And about a month ago,

Something in me said,

Slow down,

Katrina.

Lace up your boots.

You're allowed to take 20 seconds to lace up your boots.

And it became this meditation for me,

That as soon as I was leaving the house,

I would stop,

Take the time to lace up my boots.

And something in my whole nervous system relaxed.

That's it.

And I think when we're in the habit of rushing,

I think it's the same thing.

You look at all the places that we rush.

And we just slowly turn those dials.

How do I just change this one thing that I rush in?

How do I just change this other?

You can't change it all at once,

Because they're all connected.

And they're all connected to other aspects of your life.

And,

You know,

So it's just to change one little aspect.

Whatever your metaphorical lacing up your boots is,

Just do that.

And just,

You know,

And then allow the ripple effect to go through all of it.

You know?

So thank you so much for being here.

And I hope you have a wonderful day.