Retreat to Peace
Retreat to Peace
Shining Through the Shadows: Kawhon Glover's Path to Inner Peace
As we journey through the forest of life, we often forget the power that lies within us. We become entangled in a web of fears, worries, and stressors that hinder our growth and progress. But what if we were to tell you that within you lies an untapped reservoir of strength and resilience? Yes, profound strength and resilience that can help us navigate change and find healing, even amid the most testing of times. Just like a tree standing tall in the face of a raging storm - that's the power within you!
Join us on a transformative journey with the inspiring Kawhon Glover, a beacon of hope who has weathered the storm of stroke, brain surgeries, opioid addiction and more. With his captivating insights, we will explore how we can harness our adversities and use them as stepping stones to growth and purpose. We'll dive into how faith in a higher power can liberate us from the shackles of anxiety and how practices like prayer, creativity and hugging a tree can be powerful tools for inner healing.
Set sail with us on a voyage to the core of our being, as we understand the importance of mental health and how we can use depression as a tool for growth instead of a trap of despair. We learn to separate ourselves from our emotions and find our true selves, creating a sanctuary of empathy and support. As we end our journey, we find ourselves bathed in the warm glow of gratitude, inner strength and the power to control the controllable. So come, let's turn on our flashlights and navigate our way together through the challenges of life, finding light in the darkest corners, and living our authentic life in peace.
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Hi everyone. This is Catherine Daniels, with Retreat to Peace. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I had an extraordinary conversation with a very dear friend and, as we were talking about the energies and what was happening in the last couple of days, especially in the United States, we were discussing the drain the drain of energy that not only we were feeling, but other people that were experiencing this drain were also feeling, and one of the things that we definitely had discussions around was just taking back our sense of control.
Speaker 1:We know that there's a lot of excitement around a new year, 2021, things are supposed to be uplifting and changing and purposeful as far as navigating into a new space. And as we go into this new space, we also have to be mindful that we are in a space of transition. We are in a time where things are changing and the only thing that is ever constant is change. So, as we go day to day in through our changes, it's important that we remain mindful that this is a process and things don't just quickly and swiftly move into the space that we would like them to be. As I reflect on 2020, the blessings that came from 2020 were so abundant. It's just amazing to me how, when we release and let go, how much fuller and brighter comes into our space. A lot of release happened in 2020. And as we move into 2021, what we need to do is remain mindful and present of living in our authentic spaces, but also in our truth. We need to remain vigilant that we stand in our truth and our authenticity. If we're living in a state of fear, we're going to be brought down to a lower vibration. We're going to be brought down into a darkness that we don't want to live in. If you're living in a state of fear, recognize your fear, but then make a conscientious decision not to remain in that fear-based state. That is a lower vibration and is not going to serve you. Look for ways to help yourself get out of that fear-based state. Call a friend, connect, get connected with other people to help rise above that. Look at the things that you can do, that you can control. Don't focus on the things that you cannot control. There are a lot of things that we do not have control over, so we need to be mindful of the things that we actually can control.
Speaker 1:The other day, I woke up and after just prayerfully doing my gratitude that I do every morning. I was feeling so stressed and I just literally got myself dressed, went for a walk and as I was walking I had a friend reach out and say don't forget to hug a tree. When I saw her text I actually laughed because I was like, wow, this is something that I say to other people but I forget myself. So I found a tree, I found the perfect tree, and I laid my body next to the tree, I closed my eyes, I breathed into the space. In that moment it was incredible to feel my body physically changing and releasing all of the toxins and stress that I was feeling.
Speaker 1:If you've never laid your body next to a tree, I encourage you go put your back next to a tree, go put your arms around a tree. You will be amazed how healing hugging a tree actually can be for your spirit, your physical being, your soul. There's so many healing properties that Mother Earth provides us. I walked on after hugging that tree and just feeling that there was so much healing property to it that I need to find another. And I did. I found another. I laid my back against the tree, my whole body, and I just closed my eyes and absorbed the sun shining on me and just felt everything that was happening.
Speaker 1:If you've never done this, like I said, take a moment and make it happen for yourself. Experience it for yourself. It's wonderful. I invite you to look at ways that you can take your sense of control in the littlest things, like hugging a tree, like getting a walk, getting sunshine, detoxing your body. Make sure you're drinking a lot of water, make sure you're eating healthy foods. Make sure that, when you're feeling a sense of fear, that you pull out your flashlight. Look for the light. Look for other people that you can talk to, but also help yourself, because when you're helping other people, you're helping yourself. Look for ways to get grounded.
Speaker 1:Right now we're in a period of transition. We're going to experience a rebirth of sorts. What was a year ago is not ever going to be again. So we do need to go through this process of rebirthing, this process of rejuvenating and moving through a space that, yes, at times is very uncomfortable. But are we going to stay there? No, we're going to keep walking through it. And when you're walking your path and you're feeling like you're stumbling, find the tree. Lean up against your support, lean up against the healing powers of Mother Earth. Allow her to ground. You do what you need to do to keep your sacred space authentic and true.
Speaker 1:I invite you to be part of a very special workshop January 15th with Retreat to Peace. I will be sending emails out to everyone who's reached out to me this far and inviting them into this healing platform on January 15th. If you would like to be part of this, please email me at retreattopiecellccom. Again, that's retreattopiecellccom, and I look forward to seeing you there For my next guest. This is an amazing, amazing young man who's been through so much in his life and his words of wisdom are divinely brought to him from God. You're not going to want to miss this very special interview. I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Speaker 1:And here's my interview with Kawhon Glover. Hey you, wherever you are in the world right now. Thank you so much for being here with me. We know that we're living in some crazy times and we know that the world is changing. So let's create a bridge as we travel through one another's countries, removing all the labels, coming together as one people, finding our home in one world, and as we do this. This is why our signature talk today is so important, and today I am so privileged to welcome my guest, kawhon Glover. Hi Kawhon.
Speaker 2:Hey Catherine, how you doing.
Speaker 1:I'm doing great and I'm so grateful that you're here with us today. You have an amazing and powerful story, one that I think most people in the audience are going to step back and really say, wow, you know, because you just have so much to offer the world, especially in the place that we're in right now. But I do want to do your bio. I know that you're a survivor that has lived through a stroke. You've had three brain surgeries, you've dealt with suicidal ideations you actually had one attempt You've gone through opioid addiction, depression and you have a $1.2 million medical debt from all of this. And, despite all of your hardships, you've started this company called Overcome Adversity, which leverages to help other people, as it says, overcome their adversity, no matter what it is that they're going through.
Speaker 1:And you're also a writer, a public speaker, and you're a self-published author with a memoir entitled Favor how Stroke, struggle and Surgery Help Me to Find my Life Purpose. I mean, this is just amazing in so many facets of how amazing can be, how you totally took all of these things in your life and just turned it inside out and made it beautiful. And I just wanted to go back a little bit because it's really interesting in the way of the world right now. We're dealing with a lot of darkness, there's a lot of heavy energy, there's a lot of uncertainty. Everybody dubs at this crazy time, which, yeah, it feels crazy because it's not something we're used to. We're uncomfortable in it, which is why we're calling it this crazy time because we're uncomfortable. So, my goodness, can you I mean you probably could talk all day long around being uncomfortable and living in uncomfortable times. So I'm going to throw the floor over to you and just allow you to speak a little bit to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at that age when all that began to happen, as a young man, in the prime of your life, I was 20 years old. So I had a pretty easy life, I would say. At that point in my life I had graduated with a full point off from high school. I had the girl I hadn't gotten to the college I wanted to get into, I played three different sports and I was riding high. But I knew, at the end of the back of my mind there was I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't know really who I was or what my purpose was. And then God has a way of coming into your life and kind of shaking things up, if you will. So I had once at the hospital, my mentors at the hospital. They'd have the CAT scan and say you have something in your brain. That's what not supposed to be there. They sent me to another hospital and they said it was, from the chronic evidence, malformation. Come to find out last year. The thing that they found in my brain had probably been there since birth and I just created the right conditions to allow it to burst. So they did an operation to fix it. October, august 15, 2014. Because I was 20, a young man. I went back to school a week after surgery and within a month, I had my stroke and that put me in rehabilitation for months and I went back to school. The following, so this is the surgery and stroke happened in 2014.
Speaker 2:I'm at a school spring 15 and that summer of 2015 fell into a major, major depression or didn't move. I was isolating myself and I just didn't understand why I had to live this way or what it was going to do for me. And that's the problem people often find themselves in when things happen what about me? Why does it affect me so greatly? And there's a chapter actually my next book, called as Bigger Than you, is one of the final chapters, and that's where it took me so long took me six years, even after it was all over, to realize that all the things that happened, you know I would go on to have the opioid addiction, pergocet, fentanyl, you name it. I would go on to have another brain surgery, another brain surgery, and I would go on to have balsam, depression and self isolation and then, after all the surgeries, the 1.2 million dollar medical debt. But all those things are behind me, but the emotional trauma. I have to make a conscious choice to address that every day and it is a part of me, but it's not who I am. It doesn't represent the person I'm going to become.
Speaker 2:And when you look at this situation, we're in the world now like we were talking about before we start. You turned on the cameras. I'm now better equipped to handle certain things, but I never, until I talk to you today, I didn't realize. You know, not everybody has experienced this level of trauma or doesn't really face adversity the same way. So I really feel for those people who don't have a basis of gratitude or story to lean on, people or community to embrace them in this time of need.
Speaker 2:And I you know I said this before. I said again, I can menu, catherine, on your efforts to really bring together people that do have stories like we rise, strength and inspiration to the masses and help them understand that you know there is light and there's always hope. There's always a similar language. We just have to search or be who we're meant to be and it'll show up in our lives, and I think you know this. Creating this platform allowing others like myself and you to share your stories with your audience, it'll start to crack that door open just a little bit more, and then just start to see the light shine through.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I'm very humbled by that and I appreciate that. And thank you, I mean, that means a lot. I you know your story. With all of what you've been through, I mean I just can't even imagine what it would be like to go through a stroke or have the surgeries that you've gone through.
Speaker 1:I know, you know, for a lot of people, they, when they go through adversity, they, they do ask that question why is this happening to me? And I know for myself, given my own journey. You know, I've been through a lot of traumas. People know, and for me, I've always turned it inside out as well, where I always felt like, okay, I'm going through this experience for a reason and I'm going to take it, and when, I'm on the other side of it and I'm going to gift it back to the world, so that you know it's turned into good, right.
Speaker 1:But unfortunately, when, when we're in the midst of it, when, when we're in the moment, that discomfort and you know, everything just feels like it's so big, it's so much bigger than us and we just don't even know how to go within ourselves to undo these heavy feelings that we have. And one of these heavy feelings that we have is depression right and depression can lead to other things, and you know you had, you had touched a little bit on the depression and I know right now around the world there's a lot of people that are struggling with depression. So what, what was it that helped you? I mean, like, tell us a little bit about that time of life for you and what that looked like and how did you get out of it.
Speaker 2:And then when you look at depression from over, for overview not let us down it's hard to see the picture when you're living in the frame and I think a lot of people are living in their depression and not understanding you have to adjust it objectively. So when you look at depression objectively, it's because you're thinking about the past and the way things used to be and the way you wanted to be in a they were before all of this happened and you're constantly finding yourself faced with your. Your expectations based on your past are meeting with the now, your reality and that flashing and that can you know, when you crash a warm front and a hot front together, that creates a tornado and that can create a work perception in your mind of yourself and your environment. So the question is not just sadness, it's an overall feeling that extends from within and can permeate your body, and sometimes it's like misery loves company, that darkness can feel warm to embrace and invite you when you can build a house there. I like to call that house victimhood. That's where all the victims lives and build houses.
Speaker 2:But when you look at depression, it is because you're letting your thoughts, feelings and emotions drift into the past, but your mind has no concept of time. So those feelings of longing, of sadness that you're feeling about things that have already gone on, you're feeling that right now, and instead of embracing, was what you desire. What you can touch, feel, smell, taste and hear is right in front of you. But you're missing that because you're always focused on what was instead of what is. So, rooting yourself in the present moment and giving yourself this face the time and energy to feel those emotions, process them and then understand.
Speaker 2:Okay, what is this showing me? Because it's another thing for my next book. Your pupils dilate in the darkness and that's because you're searching for the sources of light. So in that time of darkness, in that time of despair, under the time of uncertainty, there are lessons that you, your spirit, is looking for, that God is sending you, that you may not even know, that are there. You just have to find a way to grab onto them and then, once you do that, the light will shine through and it'll be so bright it's almost blinding because your eyes have been so dilated and open to that darkness.
Speaker 2:But depression is not inevitable. It does not have to be, but it is a choice you have to make to live in the now instead of letting your mind, your thoughts, your actions dictate or drift towards the things that happened before. Even this moment is in the past. There is no such thing as now, because now is already in the past. You think about what's immediately right in front of you. So keep your mind, your thoughts, your emotions, your feelings, your actions right in front of you, and then things will start to get a lot more clear.
Speaker 1:And the whole tool that you just threw in there about keeping present with understanding the five senses, what it is that is here and now, what can you name? Five things that you can see? Can you name five things you can hear? Can you name five things you can smell, touch, taste.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's so powerful because I know for a lot of people, there's people right now that are feeling a lot of anxiety and they're wondering how do I get out of this state of feeling anxious? And some people don't even know that that's what they're experiencing. They just feel their body is on this overload of not kind of like you said, the hat and the cold front and this tornado effect, right. So I would just remind everyone if you need a quick tool to help you, that's a great tool, but if you need a deeper level of support, please reach out to your community, reach out to medical teams and resources that can help you, especially if you're suicidal and I know part of your story. As we said in your intro, you were in a place where you had these suicidal ideations and if you're comfortable enough to share with us a little bit about that and how you pulled through that or what allowed you to pull through that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think as a man, especially being a black man, it's oftentimes frowned upon in our community to talk about your emotions or talking about your feelings, so there's a lot of repression, and that repression will then. It's not present thought, but it's seeps into your subconscious and your subconscious controls a lot of the actions that you're not even aware of. And when you have a can of soda or bottle of soda, you shake it up enough. The pressure has to go somewhere. So when I had my first attempt, it was just a leak of that pressure that was building that I wasn't allowing to air out, to what would carbonate, decarbonate. And you have to give yourself room, space and a community to express yourself in. You've got to get in places where you can let that stuff out.
Speaker 2:I think depression also leads to suicidal adhesion. For me I came into understanding what term called passively suicidal. And in that space you're not actively always trying to do harm to yourself or take your own life, but at the same time you're constantly thinking about if I die today, it'll be all right. If I die today, I don't think anybody would care, it wouldn't be a big deal. And that constant it's like a slow struggle down to the deep, dark jet, because you're diminishing yourself little by little, by little by little, and again with anxiety. That's the cousin of depression. That's when your thoughts are future based or fear based of something that may never actually happen and you think about what if this and what if that?
Speaker 2:What if you took your next breath? What if you were able to get up in the morning? What if you were able to breathe? What if you were able to have a meal? What if you were able to get someone to hug? What if you were able to have a conversation? What if you were able to remain human? What if you were alive? I think those are better questions, because when you ask your mind questions, bad questions, your mind has no choice but to give you bad answers. So I constantly ask myself better questions Instead of why me? What did I just learn? Instead of why did that hurt so much? What did I paint teaching? Things like that are called a perspective shift, just shifting a little to the left, a little to the right to see a different vantage point of what you're experiencing. I don't know if that answers your question, but I want to touch on those couple of points.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you are answering the question, and if we could just go back to part of the question about how you got out of that? So you had these suicidal thoughts and what shifted for you to get you out of that space that you were in.
Speaker 2:I think they did an experiment where they had two rats and in one case it was a rat with nothing really. In this case it says two bottles of water and in those bottles of water was just water on one side and heroin and cocaine in the other bottle. When the rat was alone, he drove to heroin and cocaine water. When the rat's case was filled with other rats and other little things rats like to do like a rat a music part, like a rat in the Disney world they chose a regular water. So in that you can see that what you're doing, catherine, is creating a community, creating a space where people have other people to support them.
Speaker 2:So in my case I had people that were around me, that were constantly dragging me out and trying to get me to see the outside world and allowing me to isolate myself. And then, in those moments where I was alone, I had to make a decision to give myself positive reinforcement, telling me that my life was worth something. I had to build self-confidence, because self-confidence is your trust in yourself. I had to build self-esteem in myself and understand that I was worth more than I was giving myself credit for. So it took a lot of that mental exercise. It took a lot of that community engagement.
Speaker 2:It took a lot of that therapy. It took a lot of that self-talk. It took a lot of building my own self up from the darkest points. Something you know I talk about in my business is the bottom of the V. I mean, look at the letter V, that's the first letter in victory, but it's also a representation of vows and peaks and a lot of times, even times like this, where it seems like you're going down that and to deep into that valley, whether at the bottom it's not your faults or you didn't cause the things that happen to you, but it is your responsibility to choose, to make a decision, to climb back up the sea outside of victory. So what's the combination of my community, my mental exercises, therapy and just understanding that I was worth more than these thoughts were trying to tell me I was worth, and a little bit of faith, a lot of faith on the back end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thoughts are really interesting because the mind is our central computer system for everything in our body and they do control a lot of what we're doing with our bodies. And I really value and appreciate the message that you're giving around making a decision, because one of the things that I think is really impactful is when people are feeling triggered or they're feeling that electrocuting feeling within themselves. That is your body's response to allow you to ask those questions that you were talking about. That is your body's response to be aware that the thoughts that you're having, you can release those kind of like balloons. Just put them in a bubble and let them go and re-center yourself with why you're here.
Speaker 1:And for people that struggle with what is my purpose everyone is here for a purpose and a reason and people that feel like they're different you're supposed to be different. That is part of what makes this entire world beautiful is your uniqueness and what you bring to the world. So there is a reason for you to be here and I look at someone like you and all of the things that you've been through and how you've turned it into this beautiful space for people to be accepted, no matter what shape or form they show up in, because it's okay, like you have that same mindset, without judgment, and I love that. Your analogy of the V I love that because a lot of times you hear people say that they're in the deepest, darkest valley, but, to your point, you're on your way up to victory, so it's just a matter of making that decision.
Speaker 1:The thing that I want to talk to you, too, about is the spirituality, the sense of you know what the higher power shows up in your life and how it does, because this is something that people challenge and I know for myself personally. I've actually been part of a spiritual worship center where I'm in the audience and I have personally witnessed recovered addicts going up to tell their testimony. And it's astounding to me this experience, because there's never a dry eye in the house, because there's always, always, this presence of a higher power that shows up when someone's in their rock bottom place. That starts them on the trajectory of climbing the mountain to victory, right. So I wonder, do you have a story like that, or how does this higher power show up for you?
Speaker 2:It's funny that you say that. I do have a very, very, very specific story. When I had my second surgery, they had to go through my nose and so they put me under, woke up in this dreamscape and everything was working. My millions were working, I fill everything and I was, you know, I used to box, so I was throwing punches and I was like, wow, everything's working. I can't believe it.
Speaker 2:And then I'm, I was wearing a hoodie and a jeans jacket and I'm just walking around in this white void and Then it starts to rain with the rain is like it's black as my keyboard and I stick my hand out and the rain is not touching me. And then I start to float up and as I'm floating, I'm losing my human visage, my human form, and I'm watching this happen. But I'm also seeing it happen from point of view, and as I get to, I'm looking at it like a painter's canvas, and as I get to that canvas I was to get to the top. There's like a hand when you're right here and it just pushes everything back down in reverse, and right before I woke up, you're not done yet, and that, for me, was at the time. I didn't understand it because I was still going through recovery. But I I've told us, or so many times and it's never changed. The order hasn't changed, the details haven't changed. Actually, they become more clear. I can still see that image and I believe that as evidence enough for me to let you know that is a.
Speaker 2:There's a higher power and I think that open my eyes and I think about you know, even on title my book, favor, like that's not a word you can really put into Words, you can't describe this meaning or worse, it just shows up in. My grandma said that favor ain't fair, it's just favor. And sometimes your giving gifts that you didn't necessarily work for earn. But that's when my God, giving gift to give back to, wrote my favorite my story is allowed me to have this In credible story and then often feels weird me saying that, like when you read in my bio I'm just like I think that's pretty cool, but then I'm like, oh, stop me, it's weird again.
Speaker 2:But I think God has had an opportunity to show up in my life and you know, if I wrote our chapter on coincidences, it would have three, three words. They don't exist and and Dr Rue West said that Coincidence is just God's way of remaining anonymous, and I think that that's the divine order of the world, also believing in the high power. The world's Issues anxiety, stresses. They can be crushing for an individual to handle. So having belief in and a person upstairs, if you will, or higher power, allows you to alleviate the focus on issues that you can handle and let the creator control the uncontrollable.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, and it's. It's interesting to me how many people are Literally trying to wrap their arms around controlling and and not releasing and surrendering to what they can't control and they think that's really part of this process is just Recognizing what it is that you have control of and letting go of what you don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when people have anxiety, they often wish like say stuff like I was to control everything about my day or my environment and like I mean you couldn't go outside and trip and break your name. That that's something that you didn't plan for, you can't control, that's just something to have it. But then again back to the thoughts. Like there's often a lot of stories when people do things like that I forgot somebody home and going back, like I know you probably heard about the guy that forgot something at work and he worked at the Twin towers and he went back to get it and he wasn't there when the builders went down and that saved his life.
Speaker 2:You know, those are things you cannot Plan or control. That's just the way. Like we can't control the weather, we can't control how many hours in a day. We can control what we do, thin those hours, what we wear inspired that weather. But I think there's a proximal distance of things you can control and beyond that, it you understand, you prepare for, but it's not your concern and you mean you try to grab hold of everything. You're gonna explode, because trying to control everything is trying like trying to drink the ocean every day and it's just not possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's a great analogy and that's so on point that you just can't do that. I want it. I want to talk a little bit, too, about your ability to Take all of what you've had on your plate and turn it into, you know, something that is as beautiful as helping other people. And how do you, how do you find that within yourself to do that, like, where does that come from and why do you do that instead of just living with it?
Speaker 2:Ah, you know, for a while, after everything was over, you know, I just didn't want to talk about it, I didn't want to relive it, I didn't think it was important, you know, because I always said, well, there are people that are going through worst things to me constantly Be living myself and taking them the validity out of it and taking a power from the story. But you know, again, it was about the community of people that ran on me and my family and friends and like, hey, you have, so you should tell it. And then it was something I heard less browns at one time. The most wealthy place in the world is the graveyard and that's because people take their talents, ideas, thoughts and With them when they die.
Speaker 2:And I, just, I Believe in building a legacy. And when you start doing that, you share the gifts, you. I want to live full and die empty, so I want to give everything I got to everyone I meet and I think that gets me a sense of Fulfillment. That is my purpose. And when I understood, when I started to understand that this happened to me, to show it that people, when I start to Understand this is my purpose, and when I really started accepting who I had become and Letting vulnerability be my superpower, empty my bread and the source of my storage, my fuel source and gratitude of my foundation. Those four things combined allowed me to be like you know what. This is what I'm supposed to do. This is why I'm here and I'm gonna do something with it, and I'm gonna change the world Some kind of one person at a time. So it was a long process of things that had to connect to the right time and start to make sense, and then I just ran after it.
Speaker 1:It's astounding that you have this ability to Recognize that and then take it and turn it into something, and it's it's really intriguing to me because I I know for a lot of people I have conversation with when they ask me, how can you be who you are and how can you do what you're doing, I have a very similar mindset that you do that. My experience was something that was given to me and I need to use that to help the world right, and I see you doing the same thing. But there's a lot of people that think, well, I'm angry. I'm angry that I have to go through and fill in the blank, whether it's, you know, chronic illness, depression, whatever it may be like. Fill in that blank and people, people are angry and can't see that this is something that is part of their life for a reason. What would you say to those people?
Speaker 2:You know you can feel anger, but you don't have to be anger. You know I'm saying you absorb. People get too absorbed and locked onto that feeling because they feel it gives them some type of control or some type of power. But it doesn't change the situation. Feelings are there. You can't control them. They just pop up. They're like thoughts, they just are. But you do not have to become them. They are Extensions of your thoughts and feelings and ideas.
Speaker 2:But when you become anger, when you become sadness, when you become jealousy, when you become rage, when you become Missable you know I'm saying that's when you be. It becomes who you are, it represents who you become, it, it permeates your, your being, your thoughts, your beliefs. You believe in anger is all you know. And that's when you have to start to separate yourself. Because being anger and being, you know, experience anger, angers of feeling, and those don't last that long. But becoming anger, you can be anger for the rest of your life. And that shoes if that's how you choose identify a lot of people Don't even realize they're doing it and it shows in the way they interact with people, it shows in the way they handle. And Then you're not doing a deep work because anger is an external thing. When you Blame and go, when you become angry, you're just often stepping outside of yourself to live somewhere when you're true self doesn't even exist, doesn't even acknowledge.
Speaker 2:I Think you have to go deep, you have to look within and a lot of people are, like you said before you start taping I, struggling with looking inside and seeing who they really are, because they've been living this life where they present an image that's suitable for the environment they're living in, a suitable for their peers, that's suitable for their family. I love people's expression. You know, there they say there's a face you show the world, there's a faith that show you, you show your friends and there's a place you showed nobody. My one of my goals in life is to show the face that I showed nobody. Does many people as possible to get to be authentic self? And Again, it's.
Speaker 2:It's hard to see the picture when you're living in the frame and a lot of people Choose to frame themselves and pictures that are filled with anger, resentment, sadness and misery. When I have a new step outside the frame and there's so many other pictures fade to choose, why choose that one? And something you said before that really jumped out of me is that you know, when people ask why me? What will people like us is now like how could it not be me to do this? How could it not be me to share this story? How can it not be me for this to happen to? How could I not have this power? And that's the way of you now? It could only be me, so I'm gonna use it and do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I I wonder too, as far as you know, with the way of the world and people, you know, being in lockdown and that is, as you were saying, this lack of control and just kind of turning it into a different mindset, you know, controlling the things that you can within your space, that you have, but keeping mindful of when your direction is and where your thoughts are going, and those kinds of things. There's a lot of people in the audience right now that may be dealing with some really, really heavy, heavy things. I know right now suicide rates around the world are around 30% and there's, you know, a population of people that are really affected by this. And I just wonder if you, if you, had any kind of words or Insight as far as Something that you could offer to help people that may be in this, in this place, what would it be?
Speaker 2:you know, I was sister. She's 13 and what I would say to her, a she's have that. Even. First of all, you want to ask them hey, how's things going? Hey. So one of the things the world likes today and what the advent of social media has been turned up a notch is Empathy, sympathy. If you're walking in the woods and your friend falls down home like, oh, I feel bad that you found on the whole that sympathy. But if you're empathetic, you're like, wow, I can really feel the pain you're feeling. I'm really sorry. What can I do to help? Feeling for someone is empathy. Feeling no sympathy, feeling with someone is Empathy. So I will say practice your empathy.
Speaker 2:Try to Imagine what you feel like at that age or what you would feel like if you were dealing with those thoughts. What would you be doing? What would you want to happen? So who would you want to talk to and think about? Your community, or building a community around that person of support or, say, space, a Place where they can express how they really feel, without judgment or a prejudice.
Speaker 2:A lot of people Don't express or don't share or keep everything they're feeling bothered in because I don't trust the people around me, I don't feel safe. Well, people like Katherine and myself are resources. People like you know their therapeutic resources. Out there, there's people around you that are. Your thoughts are not original, these are recycled things that many people have thought and oftentimes you feel alone so you choose a self. I stay even further and I'm gonna say you are not an accident, you are not alone and you are meant. You are worth more to me than you will ever know. There are people that see this darkness that's never ending and something I always say is the darkest night guns with her the brightest morning and your morning is coming. Just have to choose, make a decision to understand that this too shall pass. Just have to keep pushing. Keep pushing and understand that you are a Conqueror. You're more than a conqueror. You're more than enough. You're more than adequate. You were built for the fight you're facing and, knowing us wise and whatever issues you feel or permitting your being, step back out of a little bit perspective. Look at the things you do have and are able to control and able to celebrate and able to do.
Speaker 2:You know people often think well, I don't have a TV or somebody I know doesn't have a house. I don't have shoes for somebody I know doesn't have feet, or if people you know on the opposite spectrum that work really hard and you know killing themselves to make a difference or killing yourself to make you know, ends me and they don't give themselves enough time for rest or relaxation or they don't give themselves enough time to really step away from it and take a breather. I think the breath is very important. I think believing in high power and prayer is very important. I think being In injecting positive material and so your your everyday.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of people watch the news and media presents the image of the News and media presents the image to keep you watching because your brain is set up to be attracted to their negative. You got to see their negative, but they are a YouTube channel. Some good news, look up email lists or report good news stories. Don't always turn TV off. Go, step outside, get some sunshine, some vitamin D. They can really help with your mood and understand that you are put on this earth or something greater than you, and realize and the things that you are gonna do and decide will dictate how long it takes you to get there. So Choose yourself and understand that your purpose is greater than you understand and then lean into that and it'll find its way to you.
Speaker 1:I Love what you just said, how it will leave. You know, if you lean into it, it will find its way to you, because I think that's one of the overarching struggles that human beings have they're just not really sure what they're designed to do and how to navigate it, and that's something that I personally work with people with as well. It's just tapping into that, that inner strength that you have and, you know, leaning into it to help you move forward through it. But I love how power packed it is that you that you share with your thoughts and your answers, because you know the analogies you use. I mean, there's so many like great tools and nuggets that people can take away and really Really use them, in a sense that you know we're in a place and time because we're supposed to be here and it is okay. Like, as you said, this too shall pass.
Speaker 1:And I know, as a little girl, you know just some of the adversity that I had gone through.
Speaker 1:I know it was always abundantly clear to me that, even though my, my life was in this Uncontrolled state because I was a child and I didn't feel like I had control I think I really needed to recognize as well over the things that I could control right.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that I know a lot of kids like to do is just be creative and a lot of time just being in that creative state, you know, whether it's Doing artwork or drawing or journaling or any of those things, it's a. It's a really good way to get your mind out of that place that you're in and kind of detox the body as well. So I think that's important for people to remember. Like that is kind of a form of meditation and just going into a Zen state and you can find your higher power in that Zen state. Like you can get connected and Into these places where you can ask these questions that you struggle with and turn it into something else. But I mean, besides the kids, is you know, I don't know, is there any other tools or anything else that you'd like to offer up to our audience, our adults?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think for an adult it Feels like you already had a firm grasp of the way the world is supposed to work and then it doesn't work like that anymore. So it's like how is this possible? Like your reality is not what it does not meet your expectations. The quickest way to disappointment again another I don't know why we're hitting all the chapters expectations. When you go into a relationship, when you go into a conversation, when you go into a connection with another human being, and you have those expectations that can really throw you for a loop, and I think a lot of adults just keep expecting for this to be over or keep expecting for things to change overnight and keep expecting for the results to change, and I think those expectations are deepening the despair you've fallen into.
Speaker 2:When you see the world and accept it for what it is, you can start to regain some strength and power to control over things that you can control. You are not built or meant to control everything about everything in your life. Some things are out of your control and again this is leading more to the anxiety. When you're an adult, you have children and you're like, oh, I want them to go over in the world like this. Every generation has their experience growing up. Every generation has their struggle, but that's theirs. Yours is living your life right now and I think it remains the same. You know those grounding exercises, those what you decide and what you need is right in front of you at that moment. It doesn't have to be thinking too far ahead or taking too far in the past. Just understand what's going on and accept it and act on what's happening right now in your best interest and my, like I said, my foundation is gratitude, understanding the learned thing. I'm grateful to be a human, I'm grateful to have breath, I'm grateful to be able to live, just jotting three things down at the end of the day or waking up to those three things. I do like a journal almost every day, you know, and I have like a stack of journal like this, tall, when I'm like 50, understanding that gratitude not only boost dopamine, which is a pleasure sensor in the brain, but it also boosts our toning, which is like the happy, happy hormone, whatever, and most of it, you know.
Speaker 2:If you go into a more scientific level, I think 90% of their total is created in the stomach. So might be mindful of what you're putting into your body, what you're eating, how you're eating it, how much of it and when you're eating. I think that'll help you be a little more happy each day, and as an adult, you have to understand that, just like children. You know, at some point this one would be a thing for my sister. This will have passed and she's in the next phase of her life. The same in the rest of the community said to you like it seems like your time clock is not as long as theirs, but this too shall pass, as long as you're keeping yourself happy, you're practicing, practicing mindfulness, prayer, gratitude. Those things can really do a lot more for you than you think. You know. Happiness is fleeting, but in those moments, grab hold of it, learn from it and then use it in each, every moment going forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the rate, so this routine. It sounds like you have this daily routine to really keep yourself grounded, keep yourself centered, and I think that's so key as far as when we're going through difficult times, is just getting yourself on a routine and, like you said, make sure that you're detoxing the body and having feeding the body what it really needs, like drinking a lot of water, eating the good foods. It's really important to rest. Make sure you're letting your body rest, like you had mentioned earlier, and you know, the spirituality piece is really important. I love all of it because it's something that is so necessary and I know other speakers have talked to those points as well, but it is so worth reminding everyone to find ways to do this, and including any children or young adults that are listening to this show as well. It's really important to do this and just be mindful of it. So go through a routine every single day.
Speaker 1:I live in gratitude, I live in a state of gratitude, and one of my little secrets is, before I even open my eyes in the morning, I just say thank you. I just say thank you. It's as simple as that. It just gets my day started on the right foot and I start my day with gratitude. So everything after that it's. You know, it's like I'm just thankful to be alive, I'm thankful to have the breath I take and have everything about me, because there's so many people in this world that live in a different state that literally some people can't do the things that I'm able to do. Like right now, somewhere in the world, somebody's having surgery or someone is chronically ill or, you know, living in a space where they can't move their body because they're paralyzed or something. But even then, just being thankful for life because there's something you're meant to do, there's a reason you're meant to be here, would you agree?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. After my foot touches the ground in the morning and I say I'm grateful to be alive, everything after that is a gift.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, absolutely a gift. Oh, my goodness, I could just continue to talk to you all day long. I mean, you're just a beautiful human and you have such a beautiful way of expressing your message and, honestly, I'm just so filled with gratitude, you know, to have you on and have you, as part of this platform, with me. So I do thank you so much, ka-won.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. It's been an honor and a pleasure.
Speaker 1:So I always ask my guests at the end of the show if I were to pick up your earth angel feather off of the ground and you had a message to the world, what would your message to the world be?
Speaker 2:Every morning is part of my routine. You know, I go through some scriptures and one of the ones I've been going through recently is John 1, and it talks about the light. And then, at a time now where things seem dark, uncertain and we don't know where things are headed, we seem shrouded by a cloud that doesn't want to go away. And you know when you're in our dark space, jesus is the light, or God is the light, or Creator is the light. But we do have flashlights and we can turn one on and we're so ever there is dark, we're so ever there's light. Darkness can not have a place. So turn on your flashlights, bring the light home and shine your power forward.
Speaker 1:That is really a beautiful way to put that message and I just yeah, it's amazing. Thank you so, so much, so so appreciative. And that's all we have time for today. This is Catherine Daniels, reminding you to live your authentic life in peace and, as always, retreat to peace. We'll see you next time.