March 27, 2025 • 36 mins
On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show, you’re going to get a chance to discover if you’re a thermometer kind of person -or- a thermostat kind of person.
Basically, a thermometer just records the temperature. It registers the warm or cold degrees of the room it’s in and lets you know what’s happening outside of you and around you. It’s a reflector of a space.
While a thermostat actually sets and changes the temperature. It has control and can affect the world around it.
To illustrate this point, and to come at it from a different angle, I’ll first share a personal story about encountering different types of people - some warm and welcoming, and others cold and off-putting.
Then I’ll dive deeper into things, by drawing inspiration from the originator of this concept, Dr. Henry Hitt Crane, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who also did a sermon about it.
I explore how rather than just passively reacting to the environment around you like a thermometer, we get to be a "thermostat" who can work to change or improve the environment or community it finds itself in.
The core message is that we have the power to choose who and how we want to be. Instead of being reactive to society – we can be proactive and actually transform it!
Developing a Daily Spiritual Practice (DSP) can also help you train your mind to be more aware and intentional.
Whether it's meditation, prayer, or simply setting an intention each morning, you can learn to be a thermostat - someone who transforms the temperature of their environment through love, empathy, kindness, warmth, and positive energy!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• Thermometer vs. Thermostat
• Choose Your Energy Wisely
• Be Proactive, Not Reactive
• Set Your Inner Temperature
• Make History, Don’t Be Made By It
• DSP + Mind Training
• You Control Your Thermostat
• Transform Society Through Love
• The Nest - Group Mentoring Program
BIO:
Karen Kenney is a certified Spiritual Mentor, Writer, Integrative Change Worker, Coach and Hypnotist. She’s known for her dynamic storytelling, her sense of humor, her Boston accent, and her no-BS, down-to-earth approach to Spirituality and transformational work.
KK is a wicked curious human being, a life-long learner, and has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years! She’s also a yoga teacher of 24+ years, a Certified Gateless Writing Instructor, and an author, speaker, retreat leader, and the host of The Karen Kenney Show podcast.
She coaches both the conscious + unconscious mind using practical Neuroscience, Subconscious Reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis/Change Work, and Spiritual Mentorship. These tools help clients to regulate their nervous systems, remove blocks, rewrite stories, rewire beliefs, and reimagine what’s possible in their lives and business!
Karen encourages people to deepen their connection to Self, Source and Spirit in down-to-earth and actionable ways and wants them to have their own lived experience with spirituality and to not just “take her word for it”.
She helps people to shift their minds from fear to Love - using compassion, storytelling and humor. Her work is effective, efficient, memorable, and fun!
KK’s been a student of A Course in Miracles for close to 30 years, has been vegan for over 20 years, and believes that a little kindness can make a big difference.
KK WEBSITE: www.karenkenney.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Karen Kenney (00:01):
Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney show. I am wicked excited to be here today, and I'm just going to dive right in. I'm going to call this episode. Are you
a thermometer or a thermostat? Are you athermometer or a thermostat? Stay tuned. Stay tuned to find out, because you're going to get a chance to discover if you're a
(00:25):
thermometer kind of person or a thermostatkind of person. And I'm going to come at this concept. I'm going to use a couple of different ways to explain it. I'm going to
look at it from a couple of differentangles. So first, of course, I'm going to share a personal story, because I always tell a little story. And then I'm also going
to share a little quick excerpt from asermon from one of the main members of my spiritual team, dr, Martin Luther King, Jr, so Alright, there's this theory, right?
(00:55):
There's this theory that says there are twokinds of people in the world, a thermometer, kind of person in a thermostat. Now, as soon as I see something like this, of course, I
get wicked curious. I really am not the kindof person that just loves to throw around theories and stuff like that and not give credit where they come from. Now I have
(01:17):
heard the thermometer thermostat thing becredited from everybody, from Simon Sinek to friggin strength and conditioning coaches, you Lowell or something like that. But I
actually tracked it back to Dr Martin LutherKing, Jr, who talked about this concept in 1954 but then I got even more curious, and I was like, Well, is this his original
(01:45):
thought, or did he get it from somebodyelse? And it was fascinating, because, you know me, I love to give credit. So I found and I'm holding this up. If you're not
watching your I'll describe it. I'm holdingup a wicked old like photocopy of a newspaper. And this newspaper is called the BG news, like literally, like the bee, gees,
(02:08):
like the band. It's called the B G news,spelled the same way. And this article comes from Wednesday, June 18, 1947 and so this concept of the thermometer versus the
thermostat goes all the way back to 1947 andit actually came from a pasta called Dr Henry hit crane. And he was a pastor, not only in Detroit, but he was also in
(02:37):
Massachusetts. And he graduated, I think hewas in the School of Theology from my alma mater, Boston University. So I thought that was kind of cool. So I'm going to share
like, where he's coming from and where DrKing was coming from in a moment. But first, let me just lay down some basics. Then I'm going to tell you a little story and how
this applies to you and can be reallyhelpful for you, and what's going on, not only in your personal life, but in the world. Okay? So here's the thing, this
(03:05):
theory that there are two kinds of people inthe world. There are thermometers. Now think about what a thermometer does. A thermometer tells you the temperature, okay? And then
there's the thermostat, and the thermostatactually sets the temperature. And this is where I just want to jump in really quickly and tell you a little story. Now, remember,
(03:25):
I'm going to come at this concept ofthermostat and thermometer from a couple of different points of view. And hopefully one of these is going to really hopefully I'm
not wasting time, but I found this reallyinteresting and helpful. So okay, so I've been looking for a space to do some in person yoga. Again, I had a space. I stopped
(03:48):
using that space, um, and so, and then Itransitioned to just doing some online yoga classes. And then I'm like, I'm ready to get back in person with people. So I've been
looking all over God's creation for a newspace. So I've been meeting new people. I've met some realtors. I've met some people who already rent space in the building. I've met
(04:11):
people who sublet from a building. And,like, I've just been going around, like, getting my getting right up in people's business, and finding out, like, what's,
what's the deal, right? And what I havediscovered is is this really fascinating thing. There are certain people that you meet, and as soon as you come into their
presence and you connect, right, whetherit's like literally just seeing their face to their first hello to then standing in a hallway with them, or whatever, there are
(04:41):
people who greet you in a really warm way,and then there are people who are really kind of like cold and standoffish and just not warm and welcoming at all. And it's been
really fascinating over the past couple ofweeks to. Uh, meeting a bunch of new people like totally new people, like strangers, right? I've also reconnected with some
(05:07):
people that I have known, but maybe wedidn't know each other super well, right? Maybe we cross paths in a certain community, a yoga community, or whatever. But I had
this one particular experience where I waslooking at a space in a building and trying to determine if this room, this space, was gonna work for me. Now, the real to kid, he
(05:28):
was, like a young kid. He's like, 24 yearsold, just really sweet, just like tall, thin, gangly. He's a ginger, you know, just like just started his real estate career.
He's been at it for like, a year, and he waslike, showing me these two spots in this building, and I was trying to determine if these things were going to work for me.
(05:48):
Okay, the first day I'm there, right as I'mcoming into the building, I see this little dog sitting in the window, and I'm like, so psyched, because I'm like, as soon as I see
a dog, I'm like, Yes, this is great. It'sgoing to be fun. And the dog was the dog of one of the owners of this particular business that rented also in this building.
(06:10):
And they're basically like, Hey, this isJake from State Farm, right? So the dog's name is Jake. The little sign in the window, this is Jake from State Farm. He's wicked
friendly. Come on in and say hi. And I'mlike, Oh my god. So I go in, and I'm pointing at him before I'm even in the building, and the women who are in the
office can see me, and they're laughingbecause I'm going, like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Like a dog, a dog. And so when I get inside the building, I say hi to
(06:35):
the real estate guy, and I said, hi. I don'tmean to be rude, Karen, but like, I gotta pet this dog. So he's like, Oh yeah, yeah, go ahead. So I open their door, Jake comes
out the sweetest little, sweetest, cutestlittle guy, and we have a moment. And then the women in the office are wicked nice to me. They're smiling at me. They say hello.
(06:58):
They're like, telling me about theirexperience being in the building, like, wicked nice, right? Okay, go down the hallway, check out the space, and then have
a great time with this kid. Like, he is sonice, he's curious, he's open, he's like, trying to be so helpful, just really kind, you know, love this kid. Okay, fast forward.
(07:22):
I come back the next day because this time,I've come back with my yoga mats, because I want to lay them out and see if they'll fit in the space. Now, this time, he's like, I
get there before him. The the insurancepeople and Jake are not there, so I'm just standing in the hallway by myself, like with my yoga mats leaning up against the wall,
(07:43):
because I don't want to go into the room,you know, until he gets there. I'm trying to be respectful, because my my normal instinct is just like, you know, just open the door,
whatever, and go in and stop measuring. Andwhile I'm standing there, this other person comes out of their unit. Now there's only, like, I think there's 12345, there's like,
six or seven spots in this building, andnobody else is in the building. So this woman comes out, she looks at me, looks down at my yoga mats in the hallway, looks back
(08:13):
up at me, and her face is giving me likenothing, like no warmth, no Hello. Fact, she's just kind of making a face at me, and so I recognize right away what's happening.
I'm like, This is not a warm and fuzzyperson. This is somebody who is blasting. So because we're talking about the vomit is in thermostats, I'm going to make my point. So
(08:35):
she is not blasting, like warm and fuzzytowards me at all. And I imagine she's like, okay, she steps out into the hallway, and he is a stranger, like, with yoga mats, so to
try to, like, explain to her so she can,like, let down her God and, like, not be so, like, weird towards me. I say, I said, Oh, Hi. I'm Karen. I'm like, waiting for so and
so, and he's gonna show me the room, youknow, and he's gonna be here any minute. And she looks at me, doesn't say hello back. And I often talk about how there are people who
(09:08):
smile with their mouths and not their eyes,and it was so interesting watching her brain and her face do this thing where, like, I think some part of her social conditioning
was telling her that she should probably benice to me and try to smile, but like her face, could not hold on to the smile. So she started to, like half smile. And then she
crunched up her face again, and she looks atme, and she goes, Are you going to be doing yoga in here? And I was like, Oh my god. So immediately, right, I feel like this
(09:38):
reactive, all right. I feel this thermometer
like in my body come up, which is Vicky withtwo K's from Lawrence, and Vicky's not having it right. And so I immediately feel like the temperatures start to go up. And I
realize, like, Okay, well, I'm not going tobe rude back to her, like I have been doing this work long enough that I can most of. The time, if not, like most of the time, I
(10:02):
can stop myself. I can I can feel myselfreacting. And I'm like, Oh, I don't want to react. I'm going to choose who I want to be. I want to be a thermometer. I want to set my
own temperature. I want to set my own tone.I don't want to just react to her cold temperature by throwing it back it up, right? I'm like, I'm going to respond. And I
(10:23):
so I just said, still with a smile on myface, being really friendly, I said, Oh, I don't know. I don't know what I'm going to do in here. I might do yoga, I might do some
spiritual mentoring. I might do some ThaiYoga massage. Like, I'm not sure yet, and this does not make it any better for her, because you can just tell, like she I don't
know what the deal is. I don't know what herproblem is. I don't know if she's just liked having this unit next to her, like, fucking empty, forever, whatever. But she was not,
(10:49):
was not being kind. And so the thetemperature of that room was chi, like, chili, chili, chili, chili, Burr. Like, Burr, Burr. Like, put on, put on my pocket
because it is freaking gold in here. I waslike, Oh, interesting. And so she starts to walk past me down the hall, still with this look on her face. And I said, How do you
(11:13):
like being here now, I have to admit that'sme being a little fresh, like I can tell that she's like, kind of not into it, and I'm just like, gonna now make her, like,
respond to me. So I was being a little bitof a brat, and I just said, so how do you like being in the building? It seems like it's kind of empty, huh? She's like, well,
not really, you know. And she just sayssomething to me about one of the rooms, or husband rents it, whatever. And I was like, Oh, okay. And I was like, Well, do you like
(11:41):
being here? How long have you been here? AndI could tell like it was taking, like it was killing her to have to talk to me, because she was so not happy. I don't know what the
deal is. I don't know this woman. I've nevermet her before. She has no idea who I am, but it was just like a really weird thing. And I thought to myself that I'm gonna get
to the point. And so, you know, and then,and then, in contrast, you know, the realtor kid comes around the corner and he's like, Hey, and he was so sweet and so happy to see
(12:07):
me, and he's like, that was really weird. Iwas like, Yeah, you think he's like, I'm sorry. Like, no, it's not your fault. You know, she's clearly just, like, whatever.
Maybe she's having a day, maybe she's havinga mood or a moment. But here's my point, um, we are responsible for the vibe, the energy, the the setting, right? We are responsible
(12:33):
for how we are setting our thermostat whenwe go into a situation, when we go into a room. So we can either be thermometers and be reactive to the people around us and
what's happening and just kind of beingpassive and tossed about, or we can choose to kind of set the temp and set the tone. Now, me, I like to be a warm fuzzy towards
(12:55):
people. You know, I have had some reallygood teachers in my life, and some of my best teachers have been my dogs. And when I think about like Abby, like Abby girl, when
I think about no Buckminster biscuits,buckets, who I got Bucky or buckets, when I think about bun she right. When I think about all my animals, all my dogs, when you
(13:18):
walk into a room, they are always so happyto see you. They get up, they make a big deal. I don't care if I just like, if I went downstairs right now, bunchy would, like,
jump up and spin around and wag his tail andwiggle, wiggle, wiggle and make little noises. He's like, so delighted, so delighted that I'm back in his presence,
that I have reappeared, you know. And wecould learn a lot. We could learn a lot from our dogs about how to welcome people and greet people. Now, I know some of you are
(13:46):
probably listening to this, and they'relike, I don't know. Okay, my dog jumps on everybody and like, whatever. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So some, some, some animals are maybe
a little too enthusiastic. Maybe need alittle training, a little support on how to regulate, like, when somebody comes into the room, or whatever. But I know double A man
hands, if you know what I'm talking about. Isaid, I feel like I walk into the room and I'm like, getting an Academy Award for just appearing right? I could look like shit. I
(14:09):
gotta just rolled out of bed. I could havebeen, like, just coming in from, like, a hot, sweaty run, like, you know, you're just like, what? And they don't care. They don't
care how you look, how you smell, likewhat's going down they don't know about you. Know your struggles and your all they know is like your back and you are the light of
their life, and they are so happy to seeyou. And I thought to myself, what kind of a different world would we live in if the temperature that we set ourselves at was the
(14:36):
was the temperature of love, was that warmand welcoming vibe, and that when you step into people's presence, that they can feel that welcoming, they can feel that
inclusivity. They can feel that they arethat they belong there, and that they are welcome there. You know what I mean, to create a space that at least offers like,
you know, a sense of no harm and safety,right? Yeah, and I will also say that some of the other people that I met, they were lovely to me, and it was so nice to, like,
(15:07):
meet new people who were, like, open andcurious and whatever. So that's just kind of like the little personal story. Now I want to turn to another slightly different way
and deeper way of looking at this. So stepnumber one is like, check yourself, like, you know when you're walking into a room. So one of the things that I have tried to do
(15:29):
for a really long time, and this is this issomething that I learned from one of you know, my friend and my mentor, my spiritual godmother, Mary Ann Williamson, way back in
the day, like in my early 20s, like she toldme, you know, if you're, you know, I mean, obviously this, these are things that she said to other humans and in her books and
stuff like that. But I'll never forget her,you know, talking with me and saying, like, you know who you're being when you enter into a room, like, makes a difference, like,
(15:55):
how you're holding yourself and the energythat you're putting out there. And she would always say, like, if you're going to go into a space and for whatever it's for, whether
you're leading a class or about to speak orhaving to have a difficult conversation with somebody, or maybe you're going into like, trying to work out a business deal or a
negotiation or a contract, like whatever thething is, like, the energy and the intention in which you go into that room, it makes a difference. And she would always say, like,
(16:21):
just blast love. Like, send love. She wouldsay it, send love in front of you, you know, send love out in front of you. And every person that you walk by, and every person in
that room, you know, she's like, You don'thave to say it out loud. Like, you don't, you don't have to, like, seem like a crazy person, right? You don't have to walk into
the room and announce, I'm blasting you allwith love. But this is a really powerful thing to do, and it's something I've been doing, like, since then. So before I go
(16:47):
into, like, a yoga class or anything, I geton stage, or I'm doing a whatever, you know, I always ask, you know that that the that my that I have guidance, basically, right,
first I blast love in all directions. Andbecause I am not omnipotent, I don't know what the best outcome is for every single person involved. We, of course, have our
(17:10):
hopes, our dreams, what we wish wouldhappen, but I don't know what the best thing can be. So I always just go in and I say, you know, hey, may I be of service, may this
be helpful, may everybody here, like, feel,feel the love that I am sending in their direction. And this can be a very powerful thing to that that thermostat is really
different than pulling your hands back,putting your dukes up, being cold, being like, whatever, and like, you know, I always thought it was fascinating too. Like Gandhi,
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he used to say, like, he's like, when hewould bump up against people who are trying to push back from him, like in negotiations and stuff. He's like, That's when he showed
up as his best, because he would just meettheir intolerance and their attitude and their hatred and their stuff. He would just meet it with love. He would just meet it
with kindness. He would just meet it, youknow. And it was really disarming. So I thought we thought that was really fascinating. Okay, let's fast forward now to
(18:04):
this whole thing with Doctor King, and thenwith with Doctor Henry hit crane. So Doctor, Doctor crane, back in 1947 he was actually giving the commencement address for the
class of let's see. I don't know where theywere, but it was a class of 1947, for a commencement address. I'm not sure what school it was, but this is what he said. I
(18:29):
thought this was fascinating. First of all,the title of his address was literally thermostats versus thermometers, or thermometers versus thermostats, and he says
this,
a thermometer conforms completely to theenvironmental situation in which it finds itself, while the thermostat is an instrument with all the characteristics of
(18:51):
the thermometer plus the element of control,and that right there is key stay like just squirrel that away in your little library in your brain. So I always I got a little I got
a little library in my head, and my littlemy little guys are put the Philo facts like just Dewey Decimal System. Put it right in there. Okay, it has the element of control.
(19:13):
And then he went on to say this. He saysthermometers are those who act as though their chief object in life is to do whatever is, quote, unquote, being done. Their major
passion is to be popular with the crowd. Hesaid, the saviors of the world are the thermostats. And I think this is really, really powerful, because the thermostats are
(19:40):
the ones who basically say, I'm not going toconform. I'm going to decide how things should be. So if I see something that's unjust, I'm not just going to conform,
because this is how it's always been done.I'm going to actually do something about it. And. This, no doubt, must have inspired Dr Martin Luther King, because in his sermon
(20:06):
from november of 1954 he had a sermon calledthe transformed non conformist. The transformed non conformist. And this is what he had to say, I love this. I love this. He
says, I'm sure that many of you have had theexperience of dealing with thermometers and thermostats. The thermometer merely records the temperature. If it is 70 or 80 degrees,
(20:33):
it registers that and that is all on theother hand, the thermostat changes the the temperature. If it is too cool in the house, you simply push the thermostat up a little,
and it makes it warmer. And this is from hisspeech, he says. And so the Christian, because he was talking, he was a sermon in church, he says. And so the Christian is
(20:56):
called upon not to be like a thermometerconforming to the temperature of his society, but he must be like a thermostat serving to transform the temperature of his
society. Oh, my God, I love this so much,especially when you look at all the insanity that's going on in the world right now, there are going to be some people that just
(21:21):
throw up their hands and they say, this isjust the way that it is, and there's nothing we can do, and we're just going to go in and we're going to conform. And then there's the
thermostats that are like, no, no, no, no,we're not going to do that. We are going to transform the temperature. And this bullshit that I see that's happening in society right
(21:42):
now. So instead of just being a thermometerthat is passive and is simply reflecting what's going on out there, we get to be proactive. We get to respond to what's
happening out there, and we get to work tomake change or to improve things. Because Dr King's sentiment is basically saying this, you can either make history or you can be
(22:08):
made by it. And he said that we're oftenmade by history rather than making it, but our job is to go out and to make history rather than be made by it. So your another
way of saying this is like, this, I hopeyou're picking up what I'm putting down, because I think right now a lot of people are just feeling completely like
(22:32):
overwhelmed, and they're just sitting therelike, Oh no, we're doomed. Like, this is how it is, and there's nothing we can do about it. And all we can do is reflect back the
crazy that's happening and the fear that'shappening right now, and it's a very passive way to be right. And I think that we want to be the thermometers. We want to be the ones
(22:53):
who like go in and say, Hey, I'm taking thetemperature of the room, and I don't like what I'm seeing. I don't like what's going on. And it goes back to like me being in the
hallway. Now, I could have met frigid Janewith more frigidity. I could have just met her with coldness and meanness and like, I could have just, boom, you know, ice cube to
ice cube. But I was like, Oh no, I'm goingto turn up my son. I'm going to turn up my light. Right? Of course, in miracles tells us we are the light of the world. A cloud
(23:20):
does not put out the sun. So even though Iwas trying to be the sun and she was trying to be a cloud, I was like, Man, I'm just going to peek around the edges of this
cloud. I'm just going to dial up mytemperature a little bit. I am going to set the tone for this interaction. I don't have to be at the mercy of how she's behaving and
how she's treating me. I don't have torespond right with fear or with attitude or with my ego, I could choose to respond with love. Now, of course, in miracles tells us
(23:47):
that everything is either people are eithershowing us love, right, or they're calling out for us. They're either extending love or they are crying out for help. And the only
sane response to somebody who is showing youlove is to show love back. But the other only sane response is when somebody's crying out for love, and people do it in a lot of
(24:10):
different and difficult ways, is to respondwith love. And that doesn't mean you become a doormat. You know? I didn't just sit there and be like, Oh, I'm just going to let this
lady to be rude to me, right? But I alsodidn't let her change or choose how I was going to be. I got to decide how I wanted to show up. And so you know, your experience
(24:31):
and attitude does not have to be at themercy of what others outside of you are doing and saying you get to wake up in the morning. In fact, there's a whole like
exercise of the Course of Miracles that saysyou wake up in the morning and you get to decide the kind of day that you're going to have. You certainly get to decide the kind
of person that you're going to be. You getto choose your attitude. You get to choose how you're going to speak to people, how you're going to be with. People, right?
(25:01):
You're going to get to decide, am I going tobe the kind of person that wants to kind of shit on other people's parade? Or, if it's raining, do I want to help them hold up an
umbrella? Right? Like, who am I going to be,and how am I going to be in the world? And one of the really powerful and fascinating things, and I think fantastic things is that
(25:22):
when you start to develop a DSP, a dailyspiritual practice, and whether your daily spiritual practice involves prayer or meditation or mantra or contemplation or
chanting or being in mother nature or doingyoga or doing devotional reading or going to church like whatever, going to synagogue, going to temple, going to whatever, whatever
(25:44):
you do, and doing your rosary beads, right,whatever it is
when you start to develop a DSP, andespecially if you're doing something like the daily lessons of A Course in Miracles, or if you're doing some form of meditation,
what's really powerful is what you'reactually doing is mind training. You are learning to place your focus, place your attention, place your mind where you want to
(26:12):
place it. We are choosing to be consciousand intentional, intentional, and we're choosing to pay attention to whether we are being reactive or whether we are being
proactive. So to be reactive is to be athermometer. We are simply just being at the mercy of the temperature, of what's happening, and whether that's in your home,
(26:39):
whether that's in your relationships,whether that's the people you're around at work, whether it's in the logic culture, whether it's what's happening with the
government in the world, right, the society,okay, versus right, being a thermostat, which says, No, I'm going to set the tone. I'm going to decide who I'm going to be, how
I'm going to be and how I'm going to respondwhen I encounter other people who are trying to set a tone of racism or misogyny or sexism or xenophobia or whatever, whenever
(27:10):
we can, whenever we're bumping up againstpeople who are not trying to do the love thing, the people who are trying to do the hate and the greed thing and the racist
thing and the unkind thing, the notinclusive thing, when we're bumping up against that we don't have to be the mercy of their temperature. We get to decide to be
(27:32):
our own personal thermostat. And it's byhaving practices, having spiritual practices, having support in a community of people who are trying to be the love that
they actually add. They are trying to be thelight of the world. They are trying to be like like, when I think about the Mister Rogers and Bob Ross and and the Sesame
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Street right, the places and the programsand the people that are trying to put more compassion and kindness and love and empathy and integrity into the world. So we don't
have to be tossed about like, Oh, now it'shot, and now it's cold and oh my god. And what are we going to do? We get to say, no. This is how I'm setting my mind. This is I
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am I am dialing my thing, right? I amdialing my thing for warmth, for inclusivity, for connectivity, for community, for creativity, for love, for
kindness, for compassion, for mercy, forunderstanding, for deep listening, whatever the thing is. So we don't have to get tossed about. We get to decide, and if we find
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ourselves in a situation or in a country orin a whatever, where we do not, like what's going on, we don't have to just, like, pull the covers over our head and just bundle
ourselves up and go in our own little, like,corner of the world. We get to say, Nope, I have a choice, and I'm going to be proactive, you know? And it goes back again
to what, to what he says, you know, we arecalled not to be like a thermometer conforming to the temperature of his society. We must be like a thermostat
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serving to transform the temperature of thesociety. So if you find yourself in situations where it's been a little, as I always say, it's been a little chilly, maybe
you can turn up your thermostat and dial upa little bit more love and also be hyper aware, like be really aware the vibe, the energy, the temperature that you are
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bringing into the relationships and thespaces that you occupy. How are you greeting people? Are you being open and welcoming and inclusive? These are important things to
ponder, especially if you're somebody whohas a business, especially if you're somebody who's trying to connect, or maybe find a patent in life. Maybe you're looking
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for your sweetie and you want to, you know,like, what are you putting out? And you know, it can be. Really easy to just feel like that. I thought, this is really
interesting, too. I just interrupted myselfbecause I looked down and saw this. So Dr, dr crane says that the ramifications of these principles. He was looking at them in
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four significant realms, social behavior,politics, education and religion. And he was basically saying, you know, he says, in politics, he pointed out that these two
principles of life are dramaticallyrevealed. Listen to this. This is so fucking powerful. He says, dictatorships assume that virtually all men are thermometers that they
(30:40):
will change with the conditions into whichthey are put. While democracies, hello. Let me say that again. While democracies assume that all men are political thermostats,
meaning we are going to decide. We are notjust going to say, like, oh, you say this is how it is, and we're just going to kind of like because this is what happened in Nazi
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Germany. There were a bunch of thermometers,and we needed more thermostats. You know what I'm saying? He also went on to say that, in regard to these principles, how
they operate in education and in my teachersout there. Listen to this. This is fascinating. He stressed the point that thermo metric education, so you know, is is
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counterfeit. It emphasizes indoctrinationand regimentation, while thermo static meaning being thermostat. Education seeks to develop insight discrimination and critical
judgment. Oh, my God, this is so freakinggood. And he says, he says, Finally, in regards to religion, he pointed out that all the highest expressions of the thermostatic
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religion is called Christianity, he says,the thermostat which makes, he says, quite contrary declarations and demands. What cannot be endured, he said, must be cured. I
hear so much of Martin Luther King Jr inthis as well, right? What cannot be endured must be cured. And this is like to endure something is to be the thermometer. To cure
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it is to be the thermostat. So we have anopportunity to get really real with ourselves and to check in and to ask who and how we have been being again to yourself,
are you just being tossed about by your moodor your circumstances or what's happening, or somebody wasn't being nice to you, or you didn't get your way, or your sweetie didn't
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give you enough attention, or murmur likewhatever, are we going to let ourselves just be tossed about by what's happening the external? Are we going to be at the effect
of what we think the causes, which is outthere, or are we going to be causal? Are we going to be thermostats? Are we going to set the temperature in the tone and say I am the
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captain of my own ship? I'm going to decidehow I'm going to be I'm going to be proactive instead of reactive, and I am going to get to decide exactly who I am,
despite what somebody out there might betrying to do to me, despite what somebody on social media might be trying to say to me, we do not have to be at the mercy of that.
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And this is why having a DSP, a dailyspiritual practice, having a spiritual mentor, hello, raising my hand open for business, or being a part of a community,
whether that's again, your yoga class, yourchurch or something like the NES, my spiritual mentoring group program, right? So if you want to find out more about how I
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help people with this becoming morethermostats than the mom it is, you can always go to Karen kenney.com, check out all that stuff. Of course, you can always keep
listening to the podcast. I hope you foundthis episode helpful. And I also understand that there have might have been times in your life when you have been more
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thermometer than thermostat. And I thinkthat one of the good things about being a thermometer sometimes in small doses. Although let me put it this way, I take that
back. Let me because I just, I justrealized. So my thermostat downstairs in my house, it will not only tell me the temperature of the room, I can also tab the
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power to set the temperature of the room. Soit's helpful to be able to read the temperature as well. That's the one thermometer. Thing that's good is you can
walk into a space and you can kind of sussout what's happening in that room. You can feel the vibe, you can feel the energy, you can feel the temperature. You can be
sensitive enough to understand what'shappening, what has been happening. And we don't have to form to it, though. We can decide like, yeah, I. What's going down
(35:00):
here. I don't like what they're trying
to do. I'm not going to put up with that.I'm not going to let you tell that racist joke. I'm not going to let you treat my friend that way. I'm going to get between
you physically and that other person,because what you're trying to do is wrong, right? We get to be the thermostats, but it's helpful to be a thermostat that can
also take the temperature of the room and toknow what's going on around them. So I hope this has been helpful in some way. I'd love to hear from you. I always love to hear from
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you guys. And thank you to those of you whoresponded to my My Care Bear episode that was really fun, hearing from some of you about like, what your belly badges were and
what your Care Bears. So please, if youlisten to the show. I just take, take 30 seconds, take a minute out of your day. Let me know if you listened, if you liked it,
what your favorite pot was, if somethingstood out or certainly reflect back to me your own awareness is your own ahas, your own insights, because I love hearing from
(35:54):
you guys. Okay, wherever you go, may youleave the people, the animals, the environment, the place, the planet and yourself better than how you previously
found it. Wherever you go, may you and yourenergy and your just your vibe and your kindness and your love and you being the thermostat, be a blessing. Bye, bye.
Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney show. I am wicked excited to be here today, and I'm just going to dive right in. I'm going to call this episode. Are you
a thermometer or a thermostat? Are you athermometer or a thermostat? Stay tuned. Stay tuned to find out, because you're going to get a chance to discover if you're a
(00:25):
thermometer kind of person or a thermostatkind of person. And I'm going to come at this concept. I'm going to use a couple of different ways to explain it. I'm going to
look at it from a couple of differentangles. So first, of course, I'm going to share a personal story, because I always tell a little story. And then I'm also going
to share a little quick excerpt from asermon from one of the main members of my spiritual team, dr, Martin Luther King, Jr, so Alright, there's this theory, right?
(00:55):
There's this theory that says there are twokinds of people in the world, a thermometer, kind of person in a thermostat. Now, as soon as I see something like this, of course, I
get wicked curious. I really am not the kindof person that just loves to throw around theories and stuff like that and not give credit where they come from. Now I have
(01:17):
heard the thermometer thermostat thing becredited from everybody, from Simon Sinek to friggin strength and conditioning coaches, you Lowell or something like that. But I
actually tracked it back to Dr Martin LutherKing, Jr, who talked about this concept in 1954 but then I got even more curious, and I was like, Well, is this his original
(01:45):
thought, or did he get it from somebodyelse? And it was fascinating, because, you know me, I love to give credit. So I found and I'm holding this up. If you're not
watching your I'll describe it. I'm holdingup a wicked old like photocopy of a newspaper. And this newspaper is called the BG news, like literally, like the bee, gees,
(02:08):
like the band. It's called the B G news,spelled the same way. And this article comes from Wednesday, June 18, 1947 and so this concept of the thermometer versus the
thermostat goes all the way back to 1947 andit actually came from a pasta called Dr Henry hit crane. And he was a pastor, not only in Detroit, but he was also in
(02:37):
Massachusetts. And he graduated, I think hewas in the School of Theology from my alma mater, Boston University. So I thought that was kind of cool. So I'm going to share
like, where he's coming from and where DrKing was coming from in a moment. But first, let me just lay down some basics. Then I'm going to tell you a little story and how
this applies to you and can be reallyhelpful for you, and what's going on, not only in your personal life, but in the world. Okay? So here's the thing, this
(03:05):
theory that there are two kinds of people inthe world. There are thermometers. Now think about what a thermometer does. A thermometer tells you the temperature, okay? And then
there's the thermostat, and the thermostatactually sets the temperature. And this is where I just want to jump in really quickly and tell you a little story. Now, remember,
(03:25):
I'm going to come at this concept ofthermostat and thermometer from a couple of different points of view. And hopefully one of these is going to really hopefully I'm
not wasting time, but I found this reallyinteresting and helpful. So okay, so I've been looking for a space to do some in person yoga. Again, I had a space. I stopped
(03:48):
using that space, um, and so, and then Itransitioned to just doing some online yoga classes. And then I'm like, I'm ready to get back in person with people. So I've been
looking all over God's creation for a newspace. So I've been meeting new people. I've met some realtors. I've met some people who already rent space in the building. I've met
(04:11):
people who sublet from a building. And,like, I've just been going around, like, getting my getting right up in people's business, and finding out, like, what's,
what's the deal, right? And what I havediscovered is is this really fascinating thing. There are certain people that you meet, and as soon as you come into their
presence and you connect, right, whetherit's like literally just seeing their face to their first hello to then standing in a hallway with them, or whatever, there are
(04:41):
people who greet you in a really warm way,and then there are people who are really kind of like cold and standoffish and just not warm and welcoming at all. And it's been
really fascinating over the past couple ofweeks to. Uh, meeting a bunch of new people like totally new people, like strangers, right? I've also reconnected with some
(05:07):
people that I have known, but maybe wedidn't know each other super well, right? Maybe we cross paths in a certain community, a yoga community, or whatever. But I had
this one particular experience where I waslooking at a space in a building and trying to determine if this room, this space, was gonna work for me. Now, the real to kid, he
(05:28):
was, like a young kid. He's like, 24 yearsold, just really sweet, just like tall, thin, gangly. He's a ginger, you know, just like just started his real estate career.
He's been at it for like, a year, and he waslike, showing me these two spots in this building, and I was trying to determine if these things were going to work for me.
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Okay, the first day I'm there, right as I'mcoming into the building, I see this little dog sitting in the window, and I'm like, so psyched, because I'm like, as soon as I see
a dog, I'm like, Yes, this is great. It'sgoing to be fun. And the dog was the dog of one of the owners of this particular business that rented also in this building.
(06:10):
And they're basically like, Hey, this isJake from State Farm, right? So the dog's name is Jake. The little sign in the window, this is Jake from State Farm. He's wicked
friendly. Come on in and say hi. And I'mlike, Oh my god. So I go in, and I'm pointing at him before I'm even in the building, and the women who are in the
office can see me, and they're laughingbecause I'm going, like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Like a dog, a dog. And so when I get inside the building, I say hi to
(06:35):
the real estate guy, and I said, hi. I don'tmean to be rude, Karen, but like, I gotta pet this dog. So he's like, Oh yeah, yeah, go ahead. So I open their door, Jake comes
out the sweetest little, sweetest, cutestlittle guy, and we have a moment. And then the women in the office are wicked nice to me. They're smiling at me. They say hello.
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They're like, telling me about theirexperience being in the building, like, wicked nice, right? Okay, go down the hallway, check out the space, and then have
a great time with this kid. Like, he is sonice, he's curious, he's open, he's like, trying to be so helpful, just really kind, you know, love this kid. Okay, fast forward.
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I come back the next day because this time,I've come back with my yoga mats, because I want to lay them out and see if they'll fit in the space. Now, this time, he's like, I
get there before him. The the insurancepeople and Jake are not there, so I'm just standing in the hallway by myself, like with my yoga mats leaning up against the wall,
(07:43):
because I don't want to go into the room,you know, until he gets there. I'm trying to be respectful, because my my normal instinct is just like, you know, just open the door,
whatever, and go in and stop measuring. Andwhile I'm standing there, this other person comes out of their unit. Now there's only, like, I think there's 12345, there's like,
six or seven spots in this building, andnobody else is in the building. So this woman comes out, she looks at me, looks down at my yoga mats in the hallway, looks back
(08:13):
up at me, and her face is giving me likenothing, like no warmth, no Hello. Fact, she's just kind of making a face at me, and so I recognize right away what's happening.
I'm like, This is not a warm and fuzzyperson. This is somebody who is blasting. So because we're talking about the vomit is in thermostats, I'm going to make my point. So
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she is not blasting, like warm and fuzzytowards me at all. And I imagine she's like, okay, she steps out into the hallway, and he is a stranger, like, with yoga mats, so to
try to, like, explain to her so she can,like, let down her God and, like, not be so, like, weird towards me. I say, I said, Oh, Hi. I'm Karen. I'm like, waiting for so and
so, and he's gonna show me the room, youknow, and he's gonna be here any minute. And she looks at me, doesn't say hello back. And I often talk about how there are people who
(09:08):
smile with their mouths and not their eyes,and it was so interesting watching her brain and her face do this thing where, like, I think some part of her social conditioning
was telling her that she should probably benice to me and try to smile, but like her face, could not hold on to the smile. So she started to, like half smile. And then she
crunched up her face again, and she looks atme, and she goes, Are you going to be doing yoga in here? And I was like, Oh my god. So immediately, right, I feel like this
(09:38):
reactive, all right. I feel this thermometer
like in my body come up, which is Vicky withtwo K's from Lawrence, and Vicky's not having it right. And so I immediately feel like the temperatures start to go up. And I
realize, like, Okay, well, I'm not going tobe rude back to her, like I have been doing this work long enough that I can most of. The time, if not, like most of the time, I
(10:02):
can stop myself. I can I can feel myselfreacting. And I'm like, Oh, I don't want to react. I'm going to choose who I want to be. I want to be a thermometer. I want to set my
own temperature. I want to set my own tone.I don't want to just react to her cold temperature by throwing it back it up, right? I'm like, I'm going to respond. And I
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so I just said, still with a smile on myface, being really friendly, I said, Oh, I don't know. I don't know what I'm going to do in here. I might do yoga, I might do some
spiritual mentoring. I might do some ThaiYoga massage. Like, I'm not sure yet, and this does not make it any better for her, because you can just tell, like she I don't
know what the deal is. I don't know what herproblem is. I don't know if she's just liked having this unit next to her, like, fucking empty, forever, whatever. But she was not,
(10:49):
was not being kind. And so the thetemperature of that room was chi, like, chili, chili, chili, chili, Burr. Like, Burr, Burr. Like, put on, put on my pocket
because it is freaking gold in here. I waslike, Oh, interesting. And so she starts to walk past me down the hall, still with this look on her face. And I said, How do you
(11:13):
like being here now, I have to admit that'sme being a little fresh, like I can tell that she's like, kind of not into it, and I'm just like, gonna now make her, like,
respond to me. So I was being a little bitof a brat, and I just said, so how do you like being in the building? It seems like it's kind of empty, huh? She's like, well,
not really, you know. And she just sayssomething to me about one of the rooms, or husband rents it, whatever. And I was like, Oh, okay. And I was like, Well, do you like
(11:41):
being here? How long have you been here? AndI could tell like it was taking, like it was killing her to have to talk to me, because she was so not happy. I don't know what the
deal is. I don't know this woman. I've nevermet her before. She has no idea who I am, but it was just like a really weird thing. And I thought to myself that I'm gonna get
to the point. And so, you know, and then,and then, in contrast, you know, the realtor kid comes around the corner and he's like, Hey, and he was so sweet and so happy to see
(12:07):
me, and he's like, that was really weird. Iwas like, Yeah, you think he's like, I'm sorry. Like, no, it's not your fault. You know, she's clearly just, like, whatever.
Maybe she's having a day, maybe she's havinga mood or a moment. But here's my point, um, we are responsible for the vibe, the energy, the the setting, right? We are responsible
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for how we are setting our thermostat whenwe go into a situation, when we go into a room. So we can either be thermometers and be reactive to the people around us and
what's happening and just kind of beingpassive and tossed about, or we can choose to kind of set the temp and set the tone. Now, me, I like to be a warm fuzzy towards
(12:55):
people. You know, I have had some reallygood teachers in my life, and some of my best teachers have been my dogs. And when I think about like Abby, like Abby girl, when
I think about no Buckminster biscuits,buckets, who I got Bucky or buckets, when I think about bun she right. When I think about all my animals, all my dogs, when you
(13:18):
walk into a room, they are always so happyto see you. They get up, they make a big deal. I don't care if I just like, if I went downstairs right now, bunchy would, like,
jump up and spin around and wag his tail andwiggle, wiggle, wiggle and make little noises. He's like, so delighted, so delighted that I'm back in his presence,
that I have reappeared, you know. And wecould learn a lot. We could learn a lot from our dogs about how to welcome people and greet people. Now, I know some of you are
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probably listening to this, and they'relike, I don't know. Okay, my dog jumps on everybody and like, whatever. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So some, some, some animals are maybe
a little too enthusiastic. Maybe need alittle training, a little support on how to regulate, like, when somebody comes into the room, or whatever. But I know double A man
hands, if you know what I'm talking about. Isaid, I feel like I walk into the room and I'm like, getting an Academy Award for just appearing right? I could look like shit. I
(14:09):
gotta just rolled out of bed. I could havebeen, like, just coming in from, like, a hot, sweaty run, like, you know, you're just like, what? And they don't care. They don't
care how you look, how you smell, likewhat's going down they don't know about you. Know your struggles and your all they know is like your back and you are the light of
their life, and they are so happy to seeyou. And I thought to myself, what kind of a different world would we live in if the temperature that we set ourselves at was the
(14:36):
was the temperature of love, was that warmand welcoming vibe, and that when you step into people's presence, that they can feel that welcoming, they can feel that
inclusivity. They can feel that they arethat they belong there, and that they are welcome there. You know what I mean, to create a space that at least offers like,
you know, a sense of no harm and safety,right? Yeah, and I will also say that some of the other people that I met, they were lovely to me, and it was so nice to, like,
(15:07):
meet new people who were, like, open andcurious and whatever. So that's just kind of like the little personal story. Now I want to turn to another slightly different way
and deeper way of looking at this. So stepnumber one is like, check yourself, like, you know when you're walking into a room. So one of the things that I have tried to do
(15:29):
for a really long time, and this is this issomething that I learned from one of you know, my friend and my mentor, my spiritual godmother, Mary Ann Williamson, way back in
the day, like in my early 20s, like she toldme, you know, if you're, you know, I mean, obviously this, these are things that she said to other humans and in her books and
stuff like that. But I'll never forget her,you know, talking with me and saying, like, you know who you're being when you enter into a room, like, makes a difference, like,
(15:55):
how you're holding yourself and the energythat you're putting out there. And she would always say, like, if you're going to go into a space and for whatever it's for, whether
you're leading a class or about to speak orhaving to have a difficult conversation with somebody, or maybe you're going into like, trying to work out a business deal or a
negotiation or a contract, like whatever thething is, like, the energy and the intention in which you go into that room, it makes a difference. And she would always say, like,
(16:21):
just blast love. Like, send love. She wouldsay it, send love in front of you, you know, send love out in front of you. And every person that you walk by, and every person in
that room, you know, she's like, You don'thave to say it out loud. Like, you don't, you don't have to, like, seem like a crazy person, right? You don't have to walk into
the room and announce, I'm blasting you allwith love. But this is a really powerful thing to do, and it's something I've been doing, like, since then. So before I go
(16:47):
into, like, a yoga class or anything, I geton stage, or I'm doing a whatever, you know, I always ask, you know that that the that my that I have guidance, basically, right,
first I blast love in all directions. Andbecause I am not omnipotent, I don't know what the best outcome is for every single person involved. We, of course, have our
(17:10):
hopes, our dreams, what we wish wouldhappen, but I don't know what the best thing can be. So I always just go in and I say, you know, hey, may I be of service, may this
be helpful, may everybody here, like, feel,feel the love that I am sending in their direction. And this can be a very powerful thing to that that thermostat is really
different than pulling your hands back,putting your dukes up, being cold, being like, whatever, and like, you know, I always thought it was fascinating too. Like Gandhi,
(17:38):
he used to say, like, he's like, when hewould bump up against people who are trying to push back from him, like in negotiations and stuff. He's like, That's when he showed
up as his best, because he would just meettheir intolerance and their attitude and their hatred and their stuff. He would just meet it with love. He would just meet it
with kindness. He would just meet it, youknow. And it was really disarming. So I thought we thought that was really fascinating. Okay, let's fast forward now to
(18:04):
this whole thing with Doctor King, and thenwith with Doctor Henry hit crane. So Doctor, Doctor crane, back in 1947 he was actually giving the commencement address for the
class of let's see. I don't know where theywere, but it was a class of 1947, for a commencement address. I'm not sure what school it was, but this is what he said. I
(18:29):
thought this was fascinating. First of all,the title of his address was literally thermostats versus thermometers, or thermometers versus thermostats, and he says
this,
a thermometer conforms completely to theenvironmental situation in which it finds itself, while the thermostat is an instrument with all the characteristics of
(18:51):
the thermometer plus the element of control,and that right there is key stay like just squirrel that away in your little library in your brain. So I always I got a little I got
a little library in my head, and my littlemy little guys are put the Philo facts like just Dewey Decimal System. Put it right in there. Okay, it has the element of control.
(19:13):
And then he went on to say this. He saysthermometers are those who act as though their chief object in life is to do whatever is, quote, unquote, being done. Their major
passion is to be popular with the crowd. Hesaid, the saviors of the world are the thermostats. And I think this is really, really powerful, because the thermostats are
(19:40):
the ones who basically say, I'm not going toconform. I'm going to decide how things should be. So if I see something that's unjust, I'm not just going to conform,
because this is how it's always been done.I'm going to actually do something about it. And. This, no doubt, must have inspired Dr Martin Luther King, because in his sermon
(20:06):
from november of 1954 he had a sermon calledthe transformed non conformist. The transformed non conformist. And this is what he had to say, I love this. I love this. He
says, I'm sure that many of you have had theexperience of dealing with thermometers and thermostats. The thermometer merely records the temperature. If it is 70 or 80 degrees,
(20:33):
it registers that and that is all on theother hand, the thermostat changes the the temperature. If it is too cool in the house, you simply push the thermostat up a little,
and it makes it warmer. And this is from hisspeech, he says. And so the Christian, because he was talking, he was a sermon in church, he says. And so the Christian is
(20:56):
called upon not to be like a thermometerconforming to the temperature of his society, but he must be like a thermostat serving to transform the temperature of his
society. Oh, my God, I love this so much,especially when you look at all the insanity that's going on in the world right now, there are going to be some people that just
(21:21):
throw up their hands and they say, this isjust the way that it is, and there's nothing we can do, and we're just going to go in and we're going to conform. And then there's the
thermostats that are like, no, no, no, no,we're not going to do that. We are going to transform the temperature. And this bullshit that I see that's happening in society right
(21:42):
now. So instead of just being a thermometerthat is passive and is simply reflecting what's going on out there, we get to be proactive. We get to respond to what's
happening out there, and we get to work tomake change or to improve things. Because Dr King's sentiment is basically saying this, you can either make history or you can be
(22:08):
made by it. And he said that we're oftenmade by history rather than making it, but our job is to go out and to make history rather than be made by it. So your another
way of saying this is like, this, I hopeyou're picking up what I'm putting down, because I think right now a lot of people are just feeling completely like
(22:32):
overwhelmed, and they're just sitting therelike, Oh no, we're doomed. Like, this is how it is, and there's nothing we can do about it. And all we can do is reflect back the
crazy that's happening and the fear that'shappening right now, and it's a very passive way to be right. And I think that we want to be the thermometers. We want to be the ones
(22:53):
who like go in and say, Hey, I'm taking thetemperature of the room, and I don't like what I'm seeing. I don't like what's going on. And it goes back to like me being in the
hallway. Now, I could have met frigid Janewith more frigidity. I could have just met her with coldness and meanness and like, I could have just, boom, you know, ice cube to
ice cube. But I was like, Oh no, I'm goingto turn up my son. I'm going to turn up my light. Right? Of course, in miracles tells us we are the light of the world. A cloud
(23:20):
does not put out the sun. So even though Iwas trying to be the sun and she was trying to be a cloud, I was like, Man, I'm just going to peek around the edges of this
cloud. I'm just going to dial up mytemperature a little bit. I am going to set the tone for this interaction. I don't have to be at the mercy of how she's behaving and
how she's treating me. I don't have torespond right with fear or with attitude or with my ego, I could choose to respond with love. Now, of course, in miracles tells us
(23:47):
that everything is either people are eithershowing us love, right, or they're calling out for us. They're either extending love or they are crying out for help. And the only
sane response to somebody who is showing youlove is to show love back. But the other only sane response is when somebody's crying out for love, and people do it in a lot of
(24:10):
different and difficult ways, is to respondwith love. And that doesn't mean you become a doormat. You know? I didn't just sit there and be like, Oh, I'm just going to let this
lady to be rude to me, right? But I alsodidn't let her change or choose how I was going to be. I got to decide how I wanted to show up. And so you know, your experience
(24:31):
and attitude does not have to be at themercy of what others outside of you are doing and saying you get to wake up in the morning. In fact, there's a whole like
exercise of the Course of Miracles that saysyou wake up in the morning and you get to decide the kind of day that you're going to have. You certainly get to decide the kind
of person that you're going to be. You getto choose your attitude. You get to choose how you're going to speak to people, how you're going to be with. People, right?
(25:01):
You're going to get to decide, am I going tobe the kind of person that wants to kind of shit on other people's parade? Or, if it's raining, do I want to help them hold up an
umbrella? Right? Like, who am I going to be,and how am I going to be in the world? And one of the really powerful and fascinating things, and I think fantastic things is that
(25:22):
when you start to develop a DSP, a dailyspiritual practice, and whether your daily spiritual practice involves prayer or meditation or mantra or contemplation or
chanting or being in mother nature or doingyoga or doing devotional reading or going to church like whatever, going to synagogue, going to temple, going to whatever, whatever
(25:44):
you do, and doing your rosary beads, right,whatever it is
when you start to develop a DSP, andespecially if you're doing something like the daily lessons of A Course in Miracles, or if you're doing some form of meditation,
what's really powerful is what you'reactually doing is mind training. You are learning to place your focus, place your attention, place your mind where you want to
(26:12):
place it. We are choosing to be consciousand intentional, intentional, and we're choosing to pay attention to whether we are being reactive or whether we are being
proactive. So to be reactive is to be athermometer. We are simply just being at the mercy of the temperature, of what's happening, and whether that's in your home,
(26:39):
whether that's in your relationships,whether that's the people you're around at work, whether it's in the logic culture, whether it's what's happening with the
government in the world, right, the society,okay, versus right, being a thermostat, which says, No, I'm going to set the tone. I'm going to decide who I'm going to be, how
I'm going to be and how I'm going to respondwhen I encounter other people who are trying to set a tone of racism or misogyny or sexism or xenophobia or whatever, whenever
(27:10):
we can, whenever we're bumping up againstpeople who are not trying to do the love thing, the people who are trying to do the hate and the greed thing and the racist
thing and the unkind thing, the notinclusive thing, when we're bumping up against that we don't have to be the mercy of their temperature. We get to decide to be
(27:32):
our own personal thermostat. And it's byhaving practices, having spiritual practices, having support in a community of people who are trying to be the love that
they actually add. They are trying to be thelight of the world. They are trying to be like like, when I think about the Mister Rogers and Bob Ross and and the Sesame
(27:54):
Street right, the places and the programsand the people that are trying to put more compassion and kindness and love and empathy and integrity into the world. So we don't
have to be tossed about like, Oh, now it'shot, and now it's cold and oh my god. And what are we going to do? We get to say, no. This is how I'm setting my mind. This is I
(28:16):
am I am dialing my thing, right? I amdialing my thing for warmth, for inclusivity, for connectivity, for community, for creativity, for love, for
kindness, for compassion, for mercy, forunderstanding, for deep listening, whatever the thing is. So we don't have to get tossed about. We get to decide, and if we find
(28:38):
ourselves in a situation or in a country orin a whatever, where we do not, like what's going on, we don't have to just, like, pull the covers over our head and just bundle
ourselves up and go in our own little, like,corner of the world. We get to say, Nope, I have a choice, and I'm going to be proactive, you know? And it goes back again
to what, to what he says, you know, we arecalled not to be like a thermometer conforming to the temperature of his society. We must be like a thermostat
(29:07):
serving to transform the temperature of thesociety. So if you find yourself in situations where it's been a little, as I always say, it's been a little chilly, maybe
you can turn up your thermostat and dial upa little bit more love and also be hyper aware, like be really aware the vibe, the energy, the temperature that you are
(29:29):
bringing into the relationships and thespaces that you occupy. How are you greeting people? Are you being open and welcoming and inclusive? These are important things to
ponder, especially if you're somebody whohas a business, especially if you're somebody who's trying to connect, or maybe find a patent in life. Maybe you're looking
(29:53):
for your sweetie and you want to, you know,like, what are you putting out? And you know, it can be. Really easy to just feel like that. I thought, this is really
interesting, too. I just interrupted myselfbecause I looked down and saw this. So Dr, dr crane says that the ramifications of these principles. He was looking at them in
(30:17):
four significant realms, social behavior,politics, education and religion. And he was basically saying, you know, he says, in politics, he pointed out that these two
principles of life are dramaticallyrevealed. Listen to this. This is so fucking powerful. He says, dictatorships assume that virtually all men are thermometers that they
(30:40):
will change with the conditions into whichthey are put. While democracies, hello. Let me say that again. While democracies assume that all men are political thermostats,
meaning we are going to decide. We are notjust going to say, like, oh, you say this is how it is, and we're just going to kind of like because this is what happened in Nazi
(31:04):
Germany. There were a bunch of thermometers,and we needed more thermostats. You know what I'm saying? He also went on to say that, in regard to these principles, how
they operate in education and in my teachersout there. Listen to this. This is fascinating. He stressed the point that thermo metric education, so you know, is is
(31:32):
counterfeit. It emphasizes indoctrinationand regimentation, while thermo static meaning being thermostat. Education seeks to develop insight discrimination and critical
judgment. Oh, my God, this is so freakinggood. And he says, he says, Finally, in regards to religion, he pointed out that all the highest expressions of the thermostatic
(32:00):
religion is called Christianity, he says,the thermostat which makes, he says, quite contrary declarations and demands. What cannot be endured, he said, must be cured. I
hear so much of Martin Luther King Jr inthis as well, right? What cannot be endured must be cured. And this is like to endure something is to be the thermometer. To cure
(32:25):
it is to be the thermostat. So we have anopportunity to get really real with ourselves and to check in and to ask who and how we have been being again to yourself,
are you just being tossed about by your moodor your circumstances or what's happening, or somebody wasn't being nice to you, or you didn't get your way, or your sweetie didn't
(32:48):
give you enough attention, or murmur likewhatever, are we going to let ourselves just be tossed about by what's happening the external? Are we going to be at the effect
of what we think the causes, which is outthere, or are we going to be causal? Are we going to be thermostats? Are we going to set the temperature in the tone and say I am the
(33:09):
captain of my own ship? I'm going to decidehow I'm going to be I'm going to be proactive instead of reactive, and I am going to get to decide exactly who I am,
despite what somebody out there might betrying to do to me, despite what somebody on social media might be trying to say to me, we do not have to be at the mercy of that.
(33:31):
And this is why having a DSP, a dailyspiritual practice, having a spiritual mentor, hello, raising my hand open for business, or being a part of a community,
whether that's again, your yoga class, yourchurch or something like the NES, my spiritual mentoring group program, right? So if you want to find out more about how I
(33:51):
help people with this becoming morethermostats than the mom it is, you can always go to Karen kenney.com, check out all that stuff. Of course, you can always keep
listening to the podcast. I hope you foundthis episode helpful. And I also understand that there have might have been times in your life when you have been more
(34:12):
thermometer than thermostat. And I thinkthat one of the good things about being a thermometer sometimes in small doses. Although let me put it this way, I take that
back. Let me because I just, I justrealized. So my thermostat downstairs in my house, it will not only tell me the temperature of the room, I can also tab the
(34:32):
power to set the temperature of the room. Soit's helpful to be able to read the temperature as well. That's the one thermometer. Thing that's good is you can
walk into a space and you can kind of sussout what's happening in that room. You can feel the vibe, you can feel the energy, you can feel the temperature. You can be
sensitive enough to understand what'shappening, what has been happening. And we don't have to form to it, though. We can decide like, yeah, I. What's going down
(35:00):
here. I don't like what they're trying
to do. I'm not going to put up with that.I'm not going to let you tell that racist joke. I'm not going to let you treat my friend that way. I'm going to get between
you physically and that other person,because what you're trying to do is wrong, right? We get to be the thermostats, but it's helpful to be a thermostat that can
also take the temperature of the room and toknow what's going on around them. So I hope this has been helpful in some way. I'd love to hear from you. I always love to hear from
(35:29):
you guys. And thank you to those of you whoresponded to my My Care Bear episode that was really fun, hearing from some of you about like, what your belly badges were and
what your Care Bears. So please, if youlisten to the show. I just take, take 30 seconds, take a minute out of your day. Let me know if you listened, if you liked it,
what your favorite pot was, if somethingstood out or certainly reflect back to me your own awareness is your own ahas, your own insights, because I love hearing from
(35:54):
you guys. Okay, wherever you go, may youleave the people, the animals, the environment, the place, the planet and yourself better than how you previously
found it. Wherever you go, may you and yourenergy and your just your vibe and your kindness and your love and you being the thermostat, be a blessing. Bye, bye.
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