February 13, 2025 • 37 mins
On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show, I talk about my deep connection to a remarkable three-legged deer that we've named Trixie - who lives in the woods near my home.
For the past 6 or 7-ish years, Trixie has become a symbol of resilience and hope for me, as she continues to thrive and even start a family of her own, despite all the odds stacked against her.
When I recently captured a video of Trixie in our yard, it unexpectedly went viral, resonating with now over 1.7 million viewers!
I believe it's because in these challenging times, Trixie's story serves as a beacon of hope!
She’s a reminder that with resilience and determination, we can overcome adversity, too.
Even amidst the darkness and division in the world, Trixie shows us the power of maintaining an optimistic, and possibility-focused mindset.
I also emphasize that hope is not naive, but a rebellious act of courage.
By dreaming big and walking "as if" our hopes have already been realized, we can tap into a higher realm of possibility beyond what our physical eyes can see.
Surrounding ourselves with a supportive community like The Nest is also key - to sustaining this hopeful mindset when the world seems bleak.
Ultimately, I believe that love will prevail, even in the face of hatred and negativity.
Trixie's story is a testament to this, and I hope it inspires listeners to cultivate more hope, resilience and compassion.
Not just for themselves, but for other humans, all animals and our indivisible shared humanity.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• Trixie's Viral Video
• Her Resilience Inspires Hope
• Maintaining Optimism
• Hope Empowers Positive Change
• Community Fosters A Resilient Mindset
• Expect The Best Outcomes
• Get Your Hopes Way Up
• Love Ultimately Prevails
• 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 (00:02):
Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney show, and I'm super duper excited to talk to you today, because I want to talk to you. I'm just going to go right
in. Just gonna go right in, because I'mwicked excited because I'm going to talk to you about something, or is it really a someone that I love, love, love, love, love,
(00:24):
love, okay, all right. Pull it together.Pull it together. Okay. So some of you may know that where I live, I kind of like, live in the woods, and I like, even right now,
even right now as I'm like recording this, Ihave windows on either side of the computer right, and I can look up on what I call the ridge. We have a ridge behind our house, and
(00:46):
up on the ridge is where I see a lot ofanimal activity. I'm so lucky. There's like birds and squirrels and chipmunks and turkeys and deer. I one day saw a fox. I
almost left my body. I was so excited. I'veseen all kinds of creatures. And there's one particular woodland creature, you know me. You guys know me. Like, I love all animals,
(01:11):
all the animals, all the time, all day long.Like, that's like that. That's just fat. And we have one particular animal that Rome's uh area Ayad, our woods, right? And she's a
little three legged dia. And her name, wecall her Trixie. Okay, so she is a tripod, right? She's missing her front left Yes, her front left leg. Now I'll get into that more
(01:43):
in a second, but I'm just setting up thepremise of the show. So today we're going to be talking about Trixie, and I'm going to call this sucker having hope, having hope,
and I'm going to connect the dots as to whatTrixie has to do with with this. Okay, so let me tell you a little bit about her first and foremost, and then I'll get into the
(02:05):
whole hope thing. So we first noticed herprobably about six or seven years ago, and I don't know if I saw her up on the ridge first, but I noticed this dia that was
walking differently than the other dia. So alot of times I'll see, like, up again, up on the ridge, I'll see, like, a little family, a little herd of animals, a little like, and
(02:26):
they'll be like, a couple of does, maybe afawn, like, whatever. And so they'll let go, scaling across and then, like, a little bit lagging behind them. All of a sudden, one
day, I saw this three legged DIA and like,lost my mind. Like I was like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Maybe my sweetie saw her too. I don't we don't remember who saw her
(02:48):
first, but this is, like, my first memory ofher. And so over the years, she has, like, obviously, come down the ridge. She cuts through our yard, she nibbles on the thing,
the vegetation around a yard. We see her allthe time, and it is always like a super duper treat and a blessing for me when I see her. I'm a little obsessed with her, and I
(03:12):
always have such a visceral, like, physicaland emotional reaction whenever I see her, the first thing like it just makes me immediately start to cry. I get so happy at
such happy tears. One because, first of all,a lot of people in New Hampshire hunt. So we have put up like no trespassing and no hunting signs all along around our acreage,
(03:36):
because we don't want, first of all, no no,hello vegan. Of like, 23 years you're not going to be hunting on my land, but we can't control, like, what you know, the forests
around us and like what other people do. Sowe try to keep her safe, because we love her so much. But a deer out in the wild, never mind a three legged dia but just think
(04:00):
about, like, the snow the woods, trippingover things like it's not it's not always easy to, like, get around. And most deer in their natural habitat, in the wild for a
variety of reasons, hunters, humansincluded, you know, their lifespan. I've heard people say, even though they can live a lot longer in captivity, etc, etc, but out
(04:23):
in the wild, they usually last around, like,three or four years or whatever. I've even heard people say two to three years. So the fact that she's been around for this long,
that in itself, is just miraculous. So wehadn't seen her in a while, and then this past summer, you know, anytime we see her, it's like, Oh my God. Thank God. Thank God.
(04:43):
Like, oh my god. Like, I just get sorelieved, like, so relieved that she's still alive. She brings me so much joy. But so we saw her this summer in August, and she had
with her for the very first time, her ownlittle fawn, her own. Little Bambi, her own little spot, little white spots on her back, little Fauci. I thought I was going to have
(05:05):
an out of body experience. I was so happy.Oh, my God. Okay, that was then. And then, like, a week or so ago, I saw a little, a little herd of Dia down in the yard. I know
usually because the dogs start goingballistic and they stop backing and scoot, never box, right? But scoot when scoot backs, you know, something's going down,
(05:27):
right? So I go downstairs, and I'm like, Oh,look, there's three deer, you know, and they look like does. And I'm like, they're so cute. And then all of a sudden I see this
other small idea is, like, not quite still ababy fawn, but still a fawn, like still young. Just if you guys, if you've ever had a pet, you know what the zoomies are, right?
Like, you've seen a cat have zoomies. Theyjust start running for no reason. You've seen puppies and dogs have zoomies, where they just run around and run around. Well,
(05:54):
this little deer had totally the zoomies. SoI was like recording, I'm gonna get to the hot beat. Stay with me for the story. I sat recording this little baby deer, like
zipping around. He's like, just running.She's running through the yard, like going into the woods, and then, you know, 10 seconds later, just zipping back around. So
(06:14):
I'm trying to capture this on my phone, andI'm laughing so hot, and all of a sudden, the deer shoots out of the little zoom media shoots out of the woods, runs across the
yard, across the driveway, and kind of outof sight. So I try to, like, pan over and catch it, and all of a sudden I see that it's Trixie fawn. And Trixie, like the
(06:38):
little deer the Zoom media had gone over tolike, see their mom. And so I look over and I'm like, oh my god, it's Trixie. And I'm so excited. Okay, this is just recently the
snow storms, about just snow on the ground,whatever. So I shoot this little video. I have a separate video of all the zoomies and stuff like that. And then I have another
(06:58):
little short video. It's like 27 secondslong of just her walking across the driveway, not even the baby, just Trixie, okay? And I think, Oh, my God, I love her so
much. I'm gonna post her on Instagram,right? I'm just gonna do, I haven't done a reel in a gazillion years. I'm like, I'll just throw up a, you know, a little thing,
(07:19):
and let some other people enjoy her. So Iput it on Facebook, I put it on Instagram, and I went about my business. Holy Jesus Christ on a cracker. Slowly, slowly. I don't
know what happened. I don't really give ashit about the algorithm. I don't expect posts to do well, blah, blah, blah, blah, but all of a sudden, the number of views of
(07:43):
that real starts to, like, take off. And I'mwatching it, and I'm like, Oh, look, that's really fascinating. It's had like, 400 views, right? And then I'm not, I shit you
not. I shit you not, you guys. It's goesfrom like, 400 to 1000 to 2000 and it just keeps going, and then it hits 10,000 and I'm like, This is ridiculous. Like, what is
(08:05):
happening? Lo and behold, here we are now,like, I think, like, a week later, and Trixie is real. Her video has been viewed more than 1.6 million with an M million, I'm
like, of course, it's so like me to havesomething quote, unquote, go viral that has nothing to do with my business, right? I just laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh, my God,
(08:35):
my spiritual team has the funniest sense ofhumor, but it may not have anything to do with my business, but it has everything to do with my hat. It has everything to do with
who I am, and the reason why I shared Trixievideo, and why now we're getting to the hot beat of this episode, why I think it's still going up. I mean, it's still going up and
up, right? But I think the reason why somany people are viewing it and sharing it and whatever, and commenting on it, you know. And I've been doing my best to, like,
(09:05):
keep up with commenting back and respondingto people, you know. I think there's a number one reason why it's happening, but before I get into that, I want to, like,
just talk about some of the comments,because it has to do with this episode, right? So, alright, actually, I'll back up. Let me say this. This is what I think. I
(09:30):
think when you see this video of Trixie, andif you haven't seen it, or you want to see it, you can see it on my Facebook page, right? Just find me, Karen Kenney, but you
can also on Instagram, I am Karen Kenney,right? L, i, v, e, live. So Karen Kenney live one word, that's my handle, okay, if you want to go see it. And so I think what
(09:52):
it is is that Trixie in a really fuckingdoc. Time in the world, Trixie is like this little b. Chicken of hope, her resiliency, her ability, first of all, to be around
after six or seven years, to be having herown little herd, her own little family, to be able to have her own little fawn to keep going despite all the odds that are against
(10:21):
her. I think it's moving people's hats. Ithink it's it's really like a little beacon of hope. And what I thought, which is so interesting, is, if you take a look right
now, take a look around, right I say this.I've been saying this probably for at least six years that have been on the show and if not before that, but the world is, is in a
(10:43):
really, really, really, kind of a shit showdoc space. Now, I am kind of an annoyingly positive person. I look for the good. I look for, you know, I look for the good, the
beautiful and the holy all the time, like,that's my thing. But I don't, I don't prescribe to, like, just the like, Oh my God. Like, everything's great. I don't
(11:11):
believe in some people call it toxicpositivity, whatever. I'm kind of what I call like, an idealistic, realistic person, right? So I we in A Course in Miracles, we
would say it like this, right? Look at thecrucifixion, but like, Don't stare at it. Do you know what I mean? Like, don't become obsessed with it. So I am not blind to what
(11:33):
happens in the world, and I try not to letthe ego, fearful thought, system of the world dictate everything that's going on inside of me, right? I tend to lean towards
the light like I tend to try to lean moretowards love, but I don't deny what's kind of happening here, around in the world. And right now, there's some shit going down,
(11:54):
right? Donald Trump is elected president.There's a bunch of like, just hatred and division and violence and racism is like it never went anywhere. First of all, never
went anywhere. Only got worse when a bunchof white people lost their fucking minds because we elected a black president, right? So many people are collectively just like
(12:17):
losing their minds right now makingdecisions to, like, and, you know, education and dei and like, all the Deia and just going after groups of like, it's just, it's
a nightmare. It's a nightmare when you, whenyou, I don't want, I don't want this episode to go in this direction. But I will just say this, I look around amongst all the darkness
(12:42):
of the world, and I just think, you know, Iwant to be part of the solution, like I want to be part of the light. And for me, part of the solution is having hope. And I think
that if you take a look around right now,that's like I'm saying, take a look around right now. Things are a little. Things are a little right now. You know what I mean. But
(13:08):
when it came to Trixie, when I did thatpost, and I started seeing like, the number of views go up, I also was looking at the comments, and what I found so fascinating is
is that I would say, like, 97% of peoplewere being positive, love her too. They fell in love with her too, leaving, like, really beautiful comments. You know, there's a
(13:34):
handful of people who are like, Why don'tyou save her and take her to a sanctuary like, you know, they want the human to like, swoop in, of course, into fear on her
behalf, you know. And for those people, Ihad to, like, respond and say, like, Hey, she's been doing just fine for six or seven years. I do what I can to protect her, you
know, like, no hunting signs, whatever. Butthere's a lot of reasons why you shouldn't feed dia like, in your yard. There's a lot, I mean, it's one thing if you live in on,
(14:01):
like, totally protected land, where nobody'son your land and up. But a lot of times, feeding stations for deers can make them really easy prey, because they start to rely
on that food, and then they congregate. Andit makes it easier for the preys and the predators, the predators, I mean, to, like, find them. So my whole thing is, Trust me.
Trust me. Trust me. There is a part of methat is just like, I just want to make her life so much easier. Can I just leave her out some food and like, dead, like all the D
(14:29):
I want all the animals to be happy, healthy,healed and and safe, right, free from suffering. But I also try not to do the whole like, I'm just going to be the Savior
in swooping and save her. Save her from Ican't save her from nature. I can't save her from all the coyotes or all the awful things that could potentially happen to her, but I
(14:51):
can do what I can on my land. And of course,if I ever found her injured or hurt or look wounded or whatever, I whatever. A we, I should say we My sweetie too. Whatever we
could do, we would help her. But there waslike this, this little subsection of people on the internet who just cannot help themselves, right? They have to be, let's
(15:13):
just call it what it is. They have to bedicks. They have to think. They think they're so clever and so witty and like, nobody had thought of this before, and
they're just going to say the thing to getattention, or to be that one miserable human being who, you know, has to say something to make fun of her to, like all the hunters, a
(15:35):
lot of hunters had to leave comments about,like, bang, next meal. Oh, oh, the Kaya. Like, just you can just imagine, I don't even want to give them time and energy, but
you can just imagine some of the things thatpeople said. I was like, delete, delete, delete, delete, because you have no business here. This post wasn't for you, if that's
how you think. And this is my whole point.Their comments, what they showed me is how they feel and how they think. What it showed me was their mind. Now let's come back to
(16:07):
hope. So for me, when I think about hope andwhat Trixie was giving us all, which was this, look at this incredibly resilient creature, and let me tell you something, she
is a walking symbol of us too, becausewhether you see yourself this way or not, trust me when I tell you we are all incredibly resilient creatures. And because
(16:35):
of that, she is mirroring back to us what wethe potential of us. She is showing us in these tough times where there's going to be some people who maybe don't like you, have
have shitty things to say to you, or mighteven want you dead right amongst this time, she continues to go. She continues to thrive. She continues to show up. She
(16:57):
continues to like create family. Shecontinues to gather together in her little community, her little herd, right? So I have this really strong feeling like she, for me,
is a symbol of resiliency. She's a symbol ofhope, and she's spreading a lot of light and love in the world. And I think that when the forces of darkness are at work, man, do they
hate love and light? Do they? And I don'tmean like love and light, I mean like fierce like love light, the people who are showing up, the people who are showing up and not
(17:26):
going away, especially when you don't expectthem to so many other people would have counted her down, like expecting her like every year she I have an expectation, right?
I hold a vision every year. Now, of course,you know, at some point, you know we're all gonna die like at some point, there will be a year where we won't see her, and I'll be
(17:46):
crushed, and that'll be a tough one, but Ialso understand the circle of life, but until that time, until that time, I walk around with the hope in my heart that she's
gonna make it another year, and She mighthave another fawn, and she might continue right to be the little blessing that in the lesson, she's a blessing and a lesson right
(18:08):
in our lives. So I wanted to talk about hopetoo because I got curious about it. I'm like, Oh, I'm going to look up the word hope. And the reason why I wanted to do this
episode too is I think a lot of people thinkof hope is kind of like this lame. It's kind of like lame and naive and Pollyanna ish, like, kind of thing. So
(18:29):
when you look up hope in the dictionary,this is what it says. It says hope is a feeling of expectation for certain things or outcomes to happen. A feeling of expectation
for certain things or outcomes to happen.Okay? And so I was like, Oh, that's interesting. And then when you just type in hope, there also comes up, like biblical
(18:50):
hope, like how the Bible meant hope. And theway that I've interpreted like, kind of like biblical hope is that this belief that God will carry through on what he said. And my
way of interpreting that is, like, thisbelief that God is going to get shit done, right? Like, you just put it all on God, you have hope, and you're like, Yeah, God's
going to come through or whatever, right?Some Christians out there might be like, No, you got it wrong. KK, I'm open to being wrong, but that's how I was thinking about
(19:15):
it. But I started thinking about this, youknow, because some people describe hope as a feeling or an emotion, but I also think that hope is a way of thinking. I think hope is a
feeling and an emotion, but I also thinkit's a way of thinking, and hope for me, right isn't about certainty, right? Because when you look at that definition from the
(19:38):
dictionary, it's a feeling or expectationfor certain things, like you really want a certain thing to happen. And for me, it's not about certainty. For me, hope is all
about possibility. What becomes possiblewhen we align our mind with something greater, not just buying into what. We think the world is showing us right, what the ego
(20:03):
mind has created in this, what we wouldcall, in A Course in Miracles, small ah, ah, like the little ah letter, Ah right, Q, I S, right, the small Ah, right. This world is
like, kind of like the small ah, reality. Ithink that when you tap into hope, what you tap into, is like capital reality, which is beyond this world, which isn't just limited
(20:27):
to what our eyeballs see or our experience,our physical bodily experience here has shown us, I kind of like to dwell in the realm of possibility, of things that my mind
maybe can't even understand, and this maybegoes into, you know, the spiritual or the mystical or the magical, right? And I just think there's so much more going on beyond
(20:53):
what our physical eyes can show us, and it'sproof, like so many people see Trixie, so many people wrote with good intention, right? Oh, like teary eyes, like tear like
crying and like poor creature. So manypeople called her a poor creature, and I let some of them go, but once in a while I would respond, and I'd say, Actually, she's not a
(21:15):
poor creature. We see her as incrediblyhealthy and resilient and strong. This is a creature that has lasted like, six or seven years. She has a family. She has a fawn. She
looks healthy and strong like, you know,I've seen her, like, hop over things and move pretty quickly when she's had to, you know, this is not a quote, unquote, poor
(21:37):
creature. So what I was going to say earlieris so much of how people responded right in their comments, whether cruel or kind, it was just a reflection of their own mind. It
was just showing me them. It was showing menot only how they feel, but how they think. And to me, I think if we're not careful, we can get roped into the darkness and the
(22:03):
cynicism and the hopelessness and thehelplessness, you know, like right now, I think there are a lot of powers that be that want the masses, that want the people to be
divided, to be and, look, there's a lot ofreasons to feel divided right now, right there's a lot of us that feel very differently from one another. I understand
(22:23):
why it happens, right? But part of this isrecognizing that they how do I say that? When you say the words, they like that, okay, there's a lot that there is a lot of
kind of push to have us feel overwhelmed, tohave us feel hopeless, to have us feel helpless, that's what the powers that be want. Because when you feel that way, you
(22:50):
don't fight back, you don't show up, youdon't call your congress, you don't call your representatives, you don't gather together in community. You just kind of want
to stay in your little bubble and otherpeople and not get too involved, because you feel exhausted and overwhelmed, and I get it. We all, we all have to follow our own
individual curriculum. And there are times,there are times when activists need rest. There are times when we need to take a time out. There are times when you need to just
(23:18):
find a safe place to rest your head and takea few winks and have a good meal and have somebody hug you and let you cry and tell you it's all right. That is all totally
appropriate to the madness. And I always saywe need to do these things, and then we need to get back down to the business of love. And I don't mean love and light, right,
although in my previous episode, I talkedabout how fierce and powerful love and light can be in the right context, right? But I mean, like we have to, like we have to not
(23:47):
get hopeless, because when we get hopeless,we tend to feel helpless, and we can start to create reasons or excuses or things that tells us, you know, it's never going to
change. We can't do anything. It's just howit is. It's like, nope. And to me, Trixie is like, is like, kind of like this bright, shining light of reminding me, reminding me
(24:12):
of my own strength, reminding me of my ownresiliency, my reminding me that no matter even when the odds are stacked against you, and people don't think you're going to make
it through another season. Boom, you show upin the spring, and you don't show up alone. You show up with your herd, you show up with your community, you show up with your
people, right? You know what I'm saying? Soshe's been absolutely incredible. And I think that you know a lot of people you know, think that to be hopeful, especially
(24:43):
in unprecedented times, or doc times, orwhatever you want to call them, that it's naive. And to me, it's not naive at all. I think it's incredibly powerful. It's because
I'm not relying on just myself right to knowthe answer or to have. Figured out, you know this, to me, is like moving again beyond what my human eyes show me, what we might
(25:06):
call in the Course of Miracles, like, isabove the battleground is to take a different POB, to have a POV like, a different point of view, to have a shift in
perception from fear, like, oh my god,Trixie, you know, the predators are gonna get or, like, like, fuck off. You know what I mean, like, there, there's, like, no need.
I'm like, Why? Why? Why do people insist ongoing on other people's, you know, pages or threads or posts to just try and take, like, you know, a big shit on whatever they're
(25:38):
saying. It's like, it's just humans are sosometimes exhausting. We're also incredible, but sometimes people, you're exhausting, okay, but so I love having hope. I'm call me
naive. Call me whatever you want to call me,but I love having hope. And I want to share with you. I'm going to share with you a quote, a little passage that is one of the
(26:04):
things that I remind myself of when itstarts to feel like, Oh, my God, the bastards are winning, or whatever.
There's several quotes I think of Gandhi hasa quote that I love. I've talked about before, and maybe I'll talk about it on another episode soon. So I rely on, I rely
on a lot of the members of my spiritualteam. When things start to get extra weird and extra kooky out there, I draw upon the wisdom of my spiritual team. So in a moment,
(26:32):
I'm going to share with you this quote orthis way of thinking that has been incredibly helpful to me, and it's something that I want to leave you with but I also
want to say this, like, this is a great timeto, kind of like, check yourself right, to just take a moment to just like, slow down and tune in. And to be really honest with
yourself, I always say, like, notice whatyou notice, but kind of take a moment see if you can do a little moment of inventory. Do this out of curiosity and not judgment. Do
(27:01):
it out of awareness and not shaking yourfinger at yourself. I always say, be curious, because that's what you're what you need, and what your mind needs is, is your
compassion and your curiosity. What itdoesn't need is your contempt, okay, so in your judgment. So let's, let's, like, swing open the love doors and approach this little
exercise in this way. But if you could justkind of like, just kind of notice what it's been like in your head space, what have the quality of your thoughts been? Quality of
(27:32):
your thoughts about yourself, quality ofyour thoughts about others, quality about your thoughts about the world, right? What have your What has your light the quality of
your thoughts been? What is the quality ofyour words been? The things you say to yourself, the things you've been writing, the things you've been speaking power into
right? Just start to notice these things.Start to notice when you start to shift over into that ego side. I think of I often joke about how the ego, how the mind is like a
(28:00):
duplex. And on one side is the rightmindedness, right on the miracle mindedness, and on the left side is like where the ego goes to goes to have parties. The Keg is the
wild. Keg is with the sticky floor, right?So people in the nest know what I'm talking about. It's kind of like an inside thing. So when you find yourself spending a little bit
(28:22):
too much time over on that side, over in theplace where the darkness is, or, and again, I'm not talking about like, oh, just be positive all the time, but when you find
yourself kind of shifting into thathopelessness or that helplessness, or that throwing your hands up, or just being completely exhausted and not having anything
left to give, because you're not takinglike, care of yourself, just like, notice that and know that you can choose differently. Know that you can choose again.
(28:48):
Know that you can take a moment to catchyour breath and rest, and then maybe you'll, you'll get your own assignment. We're, I'm going to talk about that on another
individual curriculum or individualassignment soon, because we all have a role to play. We all have a role to play, and you matter. And we need your love. We need your
(29:09):
light. We need your gifts. We need yourtalent. We need your brilliance. We need your hope. We need your hope. Okay, and it can be really easy right now to not feel
that way. So do you just take a moment withyourself, you slow down, you sit close your eyes, maybe take a couple of good deep breaths into the nose, exhale out twice as
long through the mouth, let that nervoussystem start to maybe down regulate a little bit, and then just get honest with yourself and ask yourself, like, yeah, what kind of
(29:37):
thoughts have I been Having lately? Youknow, how, what kind of how? What, what kind of words have I been putting out into the universe? And for me, I think one of the
most resilient things that we can do is toto remain hopeful, to remain joyful, to keep showing up and caring for one another and loving one another and looking out for. Our
(30:00):
neighbors looking out for people who maybe,maybe look different than us, right? We cannot, we cannot start to see each other as the enemy. And I know, like, Look, I get it.
There are a lot of people acting in a lot ofways that I am not down with, I am not okay with. You know, if you're somebody who, if you're somebody who is okay with so much of
(30:26):
the racism and the hatred and the violencethat's going on in the world, we are not in the same camp, like, just know that, right? They still love you, still help you out if I
can. And right, it's like, Jesus, okay, andwe're back. So I want to share something here about this idea that to be hopeful is to be naive. And this is a quote by a guy
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named guru Singh, and he says this, he saysthis. And it's about this concept. It's about the concept, you know how people say to you, like, Don't get your hopes up. I've
never really liked it when people say to me,don't get your hopes up. I'm like, why don't try to bring you down? I understand that they see it as a way of trying to protect
you. They might even see it as a way ofloving you, because they they don't want you to be quote unquote disappointed, right? So people say, Oh, don't get your hopes up.
(31:18):
Like, don't have high expectations ofyourself or anybody else. And I'm like, yeah, no, that never really sat well with me. I don't, I don't really like that. Like,
don't, don't, don't be, like, a pattypooper, right? Like, don't be coming on my post about Trixie talking about predators and shooting her at all. Like, just, like,
beat it. Like, just piss off. Like, beat it,you know. Oh, my God. Okay, but listen to this. This is from Guru Singh. I'm going to say it slowly. I might even say it twice,
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because sometimes I need to hear things saidtwice for it to kind of sink in. Okay, so whatever your dream is, whatever your hope is, whatever your dream is, right? We're now
where you're now entering the realm ofpossibility. This is like going from the Wizard of Oz, when the Wizard of Oz goes from black and white into color, like we are
moving into that Technicolor vision, okay?He says, walk as if and fill in the blank, right? Dream, your dream and walk as if, whatever that dream is has already happened.
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Okay, this is what he says, like, walk as ifwhatever that dream is, get your hopes up, like whatever the dream is, walk as if it's already happened. Dream your dream, not what
anybody else tells you. Dream your dream,and walk as if whatever the thing is has already come true. And he says this because we know what we want, we know what we want
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and when we know what we want, we receiveour expectations. So learn to expect the best. Don't follow that old saying that says Don't get your hopes up, or don't get your
expectations up. You don't want to bedisappointed. Because if you don't want to be disappointed, don't be act in a different way. So walk as if, and get your
(33:12):
expectations way up there and you be you andbe nobody else. And that's the directive. Walk as if, keep those hopes way up there. So I walk as if I'm going to see Trixie next
year too. I hope I see her a lot more thiswinter season. I hope she's doing fantastic. I believe in her. And when the time when the sad time comes when I don't see her anymore,
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yeah, I will probably cry my little eyesout, right? If I find out, if I hear from somebody, a local neighbor or whatever, who finds her body, because we all know who she
is, right? Our little three legged dialittle Trixie, if, if, if the time comes, you know, I'll be really sad. But you know what? I'm not going to focus on the fact
that that she's had a long life. That's whatI'm going to focus on. I'm going to focus not on, oh, she's dead. It's so awful. Like I said, I will cry, but I'm going to focus
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on how much joy she brought us, how muchhope she brought us. Right? Having hope right now is a really kind of like, rebellious thing, like not getting sucked
into the undertow of negativity and hatredand throwing up our hands or sticking our heads, no, it's like we're showing up. We're making calls. We're gonna get some shit
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done. We are a resilient people. Don't everforget that. Don't ever forget that. Okay, so you go out there and you walk as if too keep your hopes way up there. Having hope is
a rebellious act. It is a brave act. It is astrong act, right? It's not naive, because I've seen some things in my lifetime. I have seen some things in my lifetime that I just
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think, like, holy shit, something greaterthan me got. Involved there, right? Just like, meaning, like, I think that love wins. Maybe I'm an idiot and the jury is still
out, but I think love wins in the end. Ithink that's a good place to end. All right, you guys, I'm having a lot of hope over here, and I hope you're having hope too. So
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wherever you are in the world, all right,first of all, also
come join the nest. I've been thinking aboutthis, and I'm like, You know what? Right now, with the world being the way it is, it is such a great time to be around people, to
be in a little community of people, right?Who are noticing, who are paying attention, who are staying hopeful, who are learning right, not just spiritual principles, but
(35:48):
practical tools, practical neuroscience,tools to help us. Like, the nest is such a cool little space. It's like a cool little family like, come join us. Go to Karen
kenney.com/nest, I just had to say that,okay, and we're back. Because if just I'm like, I can't believe more people have wanted to join this thing. And it's not
(36:09):
about me, like, oh, because of me, but it'slike, what the nest offers you in these very turbulent times. It is like a beautiful space, a beautiful space. And it's not just
like, oh, we sit around and theorize, butlike, we can get some shit done from the inside out, because that's the only way. That's the only way that the world changes.
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It's an inside job. More on that later.Okay, here we go. Wherever you go, may you leave the people, the animals, the place, the environment and yourself better than how
you found it wherever you go, may you andyour energy and your presence and your love and your hope be a blessing. Bye. Bye.
Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney show, and I'm super duper excited to talk to you today, because I want to talk to you. I'm just going to go right
in. Just gonna go right in, because I'mwicked excited because I'm going to talk to you about something, or is it really a someone that I love, love, love, love, love,
(00:24):
love, okay, all right. Pull it together.Pull it together. Okay. So some of you may know that where I live, I kind of like, live in the woods, and I like, even right now,
even right now as I'm like recording this, Ihave windows on either side of the computer right, and I can look up on what I call the ridge. We have a ridge behind our house, and
(00:46):
up on the ridge is where I see a lot ofanimal activity. I'm so lucky. There's like birds and squirrels and chipmunks and turkeys and deer. I one day saw a fox. I
almost left my body. I was so excited. I'veseen all kinds of creatures. And there's one particular woodland creature, you know me. You guys know me. Like, I love all animals,
(01:11):
all the animals, all the time, all day long.Like, that's like that. That's just fat. And we have one particular animal that Rome's uh area Ayad, our woods, right? And she's a
little three legged dia. And her name, wecall her Trixie. Okay, so she is a tripod, right? She's missing her front left Yes, her front left leg. Now I'll get into that more
(01:43):
in a second, but I'm just setting up thepremise of the show. So today we're going to be talking about Trixie, and I'm going to call this sucker having hope, having hope,
and I'm going to connect the dots as to whatTrixie has to do with with this. Okay, so let me tell you a little bit about her first and foremost, and then I'll get into the
(02:05):
whole hope thing. So we first noticed herprobably about six or seven years ago, and I don't know if I saw her up on the ridge first, but I noticed this dia that was
walking differently than the other dia. So alot of times I'll see, like, up again, up on the ridge, I'll see, like, a little family, a little herd of animals, a little like, and
(02:26):
they'll be like, a couple of does, maybe afawn, like, whatever. And so they'll let go, scaling across and then, like, a little bit lagging behind them. All of a sudden, one
day, I saw this three legged DIA and like,lost my mind. Like I was like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Maybe my sweetie saw her too. I don't we don't remember who saw her
(02:48):
first, but this is, like, my first memory ofher. And so over the years, she has, like, obviously, come down the ridge. She cuts through our yard, she nibbles on the thing,
the vegetation around a yard. We see her allthe time, and it is always like a super duper treat and a blessing for me when I see her. I'm a little obsessed with her, and I
(03:12):
always have such a visceral, like, physicaland emotional reaction whenever I see her, the first thing like it just makes me immediately start to cry. I get so happy at
such happy tears. One because, first of all,a lot of people in New Hampshire hunt. So we have put up like no trespassing and no hunting signs all along around our acreage,
(03:36):
because we don't want, first of all, no no,hello vegan. Of like, 23 years you're not going to be hunting on my land, but we can't control, like, what you know, the forests
around us and like what other people do. Sowe try to keep her safe, because we love her so much. But a deer out in the wild, never mind a three legged dia but just think
(04:00):
about, like, the snow the woods, trippingover things like it's not it's not always easy to, like, get around. And most deer in their natural habitat, in the wild for a
variety of reasons, hunters, humansincluded, you know, their lifespan. I've heard people say, even though they can live a lot longer in captivity, etc, etc, but out
(04:23):
in the wild, they usually last around, like,three or four years or whatever. I've even heard people say two to three years. So the fact that she's been around for this long,
that in itself, is just miraculous. So wehadn't seen her in a while, and then this past summer, you know, anytime we see her, it's like, Oh my God. Thank God. Thank God.
(04:43):
Like, oh my god. Like, I just get sorelieved, like, so relieved that she's still alive. She brings me so much joy. But so we saw her this summer in August, and she had
with her for the very first time, her ownlittle fawn, her own. Little Bambi, her own little spot, little white spots on her back, little Fauci. I thought I was going to have
(05:05):
an out of body experience. I was so happy.Oh, my God. Okay, that was then. And then, like, a week or so ago, I saw a little, a little herd of Dia down in the yard. I know
usually because the dogs start goingballistic and they stop backing and scoot, never box, right? But scoot when scoot backs, you know, something's going down,
(05:27):
right? So I go downstairs, and I'm like, Oh,look, there's three deer, you know, and they look like does. And I'm like, they're so cute. And then all of a sudden I see this
other small idea is, like, not quite still ababy fawn, but still a fawn, like still young. Just if you guys, if you've ever had a pet, you know what the zoomies are, right?
Like, you've seen a cat have zoomies. Theyjust start running for no reason. You've seen puppies and dogs have zoomies, where they just run around and run around. Well,
(05:54):
this little deer had totally the zoomies. SoI was like recording, I'm gonna get to the hot beat. Stay with me for the story. I sat recording this little baby deer, like
zipping around. He's like, just running.She's running through the yard, like going into the woods, and then, you know, 10 seconds later, just zipping back around. So
(06:14):
I'm trying to capture this on my phone, andI'm laughing so hot, and all of a sudden, the deer shoots out of the little zoom media shoots out of the woods, runs across the
yard, across the driveway, and kind of outof sight. So I try to, like, pan over and catch it, and all of a sudden I see that it's Trixie fawn. And Trixie, like the
(06:38):
little deer the Zoom media had gone over tolike, see their mom. And so I look over and I'm like, oh my god, it's Trixie. And I'm so excited. Okay, this is just recently the
snow storms, about just snow on the ground,whatever. So I shoot this little video. I have a separate video of all the zoomies and stuff like that. And then I have another
(06:58):
little short video. It's like 27 secondslong of just her walking across the driveway, not even the baby, just Trixie, okay? And I think, Oh, my God, I love her so
much. I'm gonna post her on Instagram,right? I'm just gonna do, I haven't done a reel in a gazillion years. I'm like, I'll just throw up a, you know, a little thing,
(07:19):
and let some other people enjoy her. So Iput it on Facebook, I put it on Instagram, and I went about my business. Holy Jesus Christ on a cracker. Slowly, slowly. I don't
know what happened. I don't really give ashit about the algorithm. I don't expect posts to do well, blah, blah, blah, blah, but all of a sudden, the number of views of
(07:43):
that real starts to, like, take off. And I'mwatching it, and I'm like, Oh, look, that's really fascinating. It's had like, 400 views, right? And then I'm not, I shit you
not. I shit you not, you guys. It's goesfrom like, 400 to 1000 to 2000 and it just keeps going, and then it hits 10,000 and I'm like, This is ridiculous. Like, what is
(08:05):
happening? Lo and behold, here we are now,like, I think, like, a week later, and Trixie is real. Her video has been viewed more than 1.6 million with an M million, I'm
like, of course, it's so like me to havesomething quote, unquote, go viral that has nothing to do with my business, right? I just laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh, my God,
(08:35):
my spiritual team has the funniest sense ofhumor, but it may not have anything to do with my business, but it has everything to do with my hat. It has everything to do with
who I am, and the reason why I shared Trixievideo, and why now we're getting to the hot beat of this episode, why I think it's still going up. I mean, it's still going up and
up, right? But I think the reason why somany people are viewing it and sharing it and whatever, and commenting on it, you know. And I've been doing my best to, like,
(09:05):
keep up with commenting back and respondingto people, you know. I think there's a number one reason why it's happening, but before I get into that, I want to, like,
just talk about some of the comments,because it has to do with this episode, right? So, alright, actually, I'll back up. Let me say this. This is what I think. I
(09:30):
think when you see this video of Trixie, andif you haven't seen it, or you want to see it, you can see it on my Facebook page, right? Just find me, Karen Kenney, but you
can also on Instagram, I am Karen Kenney,right? L, i, v, e, live. So Karen Kenney live one word, that's my handle, okay, if you want to go see it. And so I think what
(09:52):
it is is that Trixie in a really fuckingdoc. Time in the world, Trixie is like this little b. Chicken of hope, her resiliency, her ability, first of all, to be around
after six or seven years, to be having herown little herd, her own little family, to be able to have her own little fawn to keep going despite all the odds that are against
(10:21):
her. I think it's moving people's hats. Ithink it's it's really like a little beacon of hope. And what I thought, which is so interesting, is, if you take a look right
now, take a look around, right I say this.I've been saying this probably for at least six years that have been on the show and if not before that, but the world is, is in a
(10:43):
really, really, really, kind of a shit showdoc space. Now, I am kind of an annoyingly positive person. I look for the good. I look for, you know, I look for the good, the
beautiful and the holy all the time, like,that's my thing. But I don't, I don't prescribe to, like, just the like, Oh my God. Like, everything's great. I don't
(11:11):
believe in some people call it toxicpositivity, whatever. I'm kind of what I call like, an idealistic, realistic person, right? So I we in A Course in Miracles, we
would say it like this, right? Look at thecrucifixion, but like, Don't stare at it. Do you know what I mean? Like, don't become obsessed with it. So I am not blind to what
(11:33):
happens in the world, and I try not to letthe ego, fearful thought, system of the world dictate everything that's going on inside of me, right? I tend to lean towards
the light like I tend to try to lean moretowards love, but I don't deny what's kind of happening here, around in the world. And right now, there's some shit going down,
(11:54):
right? Donald Trump is elected president.There's a bunch of like, just hatred and division and violence and racism is like it never went anywhere. First of all, never
went anywhere. Only got worse when a bunchof white people lost their fucking minds because we elected a black president, right? So many people are collectively just like
(12:17):
losing their minds right now makingdecisions to, like, and, you know, education and dei and like, all the Deia and just going after groups of like, it's just, it's
a nightmare. It's a nightmare when you, whenyou, I don't want, I don't want this episode to go in this direction. But I will just say this, I look around amongst all the darkness
(12:42):
of the world, and I just think, you know, Iwant to be part of the solution, like I want to be part of the light. And for me, part of the solution is having hope. And I think
that if you take a look around right now,that's like I'm saying, take a look around right now. Things are a little. Things are a little right now. You know what I mean. But
(13:08):
when it came to Trixie, when I did thatpost, and I started seeing like, the number of views go up, I also was looking at the comments, and what I found so fascinating is
is that I would say, like, 97% of peoplewere being positive, love her too. They fell in love with her too, leaving, like, really beautiful comments. You know, there's a
(13:34):
handful of people who are like, Why don'tyou save her and take her to a sanctuary like, you know, they want the human to like, swoop in, of course, into fear on her
behalf, you know. And for those people, Ihad to, like, respond and say, like, Hey, she's been doing just fine for six or seven years. I do what I can to protect her, you
know, like, no hunting signs, whatever. Butthere's a lot of reasons why you shouldn't feed dia like, in your yard. There's a lot, I mean, it's one thing if you live in on,
(14:01):
like, totally protected land, where nobody'son your land and up. But a lot of times, feeding stations for deers can make them really easy prey, because they start to rely
on that food, and then they congregate. Andit makes it easier for the preys and the predators, the predators, I mean, to, like, find them. So my whole thing is, Trust me.
Trust me. Trust me. There is a part of methat is just like, I just want to make her life so much easier. Can I just leave her out some food and like, dead, like all the D
(14:29):
I want all the animals to be happy, healthy,healed and and safe, right, free from suffering. But I also try not to do the whole like, I'm just going to be the Savior
in swooping and save her. Save her from Ican't save her from nature. I can't save her from all the coyotes or all the awful things that could potentially happen to her, but I
(14:51):
can do what I can on my land. And of course,if I ever found her injured or hurt or look wounded or whatever, I whatever. A we, I should say we My sweetie too. Whatever we
could do, we would help her. But there waslike this, this little subsection of people on the internet who just cannot help themselves, right? They have to be, let's
(15:13):
just call it what it is. They have to bedicks. They have to think. They think they're so clever and so witty and like, nobody had thought of this before, and
they're just going to say the thing to getattention, or to be that one miserable human being who, you know, has to say something to make fun of her to, like all the hunters, a
(15:35):
lot of hunters had to leave comments about,like, bang, next meal. Oh, oh, the Kaya. Like, just you can just imagine, I don't even want to give them time and energy, but
you can just imagine some of the things thatpeople said. I was like, delete, delete, delete, delete, because you have no business here. This post wasn't for you, if that's
how you think. And this is my whole point.Their comments, what they showed me is how they feel and how they think. What it showed me was their mind. Now let's come back to
(16:07):
hope. So for me, when I think about hope andwhat Trixie was giving us all, which was this, look at this incredibly resilient creature, and let me tell you something, she
is a walking symbol of us too, becausewhether you see yourself this way or not, trust me when I tell you we are all incredibly resilient creatures. And because
(16:35):
of that, she is mirroring back to us what wethe potential of us. She is showing us in these tough times where there's going to be some people who maybe don't like you, have
have shitty things to say to you, or mighteven want you dead right amongst this time, she continues to go. She continues to thrive. She continues to show up. She
(16:57):
continues to like create family. Shecontinues to gather together in her little community, her little herd, right? So I have this really strong feeling like she, for me,
is a symbol of resiliency. She's a symbol ofhope, and she's spreading a lot of light and love in the world. And I think that when the forces of darkness are at work, man, do they
hate love and light? Do they? And I don'tmean like love and light, I mean like fierce like love light, the people who are showing up, the people who are showing up and not
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going away, especially when you don't expectthem to so many other people would have counted her down, like expecting her like every year she I have an expectation, right?
I hold a vision every year. Now, of course,you know, at some point, you know we're all gonna die like at some point, there will be a year where we won't see her, and I'll be
(17:46):
crushed, and that'll be a tough one, but Ialso understand the circle of life, but until that time, until that time, I walk around with the hope in my heart that she's
gonna make it another year, and She mighthave another fawn, and she might continue right to be the little blessing that in the lesson, she's a blessing and a lesson right
(18:08):
in our lives. So I wanted to talk about hopetoo because I got curious about it. I'm like, Oh, I'm going to look up the word hope. And the reason why I wanted to do this
episode too is I think a lot of people thinkof hope is kind of like this lame. It's kind of like lame and naive and Pollyanna ish, like, kind of thing. So
(18:29):
when you look up hope in the dictionary,this is what it says. It says hope is a feeling of expectation for certain things or outcomes to happen. A feeling of expectation
for certain things or outcomes to happen.Okay? And so I was like, Oh, that's interesting. And then when you just type in hope, there also comes up, like biblical
(18:50):
hope, like how the Bible meant hope. And theway that I've interpreted like, kind of like biblical hope is that this belief that God will carry through on what he said. And my
way of interpreting that is, like, thisbelief that God is going to get shit done, right? Like, you just put it all on God, you have hope, and you're like, Yeah, God's
going to come through or whatever, right?Some Christians out there might be like, No, you got it wrong. KK, I'm open to being wrong, but that's how I was thinking about
(19:15):
it. But I started thinking about this, youknow, because some people describe hope as a feeling or an emotion, but I also think that hope is a way of thinking. I think hope is a
feeling and an emotion, but I also thinkit's a way of thinking, and hope for me, right isn't about certainty, right? Because when you look at that definition from the
(19:38):
dictionary, it's a feeling or expectationfor certain things, like you really want a certain thing to happen. And for me, it's not about certainty. For me, hope is all
about possibility. What becomes possiblewhen we align our mind with something greater, not just buying into what. We think the world is showing us right, what the ego
(20:03):
mind has created in this, what we wouldcall, in A Course in Miracles, small ah, ah, like the little ah letter, Ah right, Q, I S, right, the small Ah, right. This world is
like, kind of like the small ah, reality. Ithink that when you tap into hope, what you tap into, is like capital reality, which is beyond this world, which isn't just limited
(20:27):
to what our eyeballs see or our experience,our physical bodily experience here has shown us, I kind of like to dwell in the realm of possibility, of things that my mind
maybe can't even understand, and this maybegoes into, you know, the spiritual or the mystical or the magical, right? And I just think there's so much more going on beyond
(20:53):
what our physical eyes can show us, and it'sproof, like so many people see Trixie, so many people wrote with good intention, right? Oh, like teary eyes, like tear like
crying and like poor creature. So manypeople called her a poor creature, and I let some of them go, but once in a while I would respond, and I'd say, Actually, she's not a
(21:15):
poor creature. We see her as incrediblyhealthy and resilient and strong. This is a creature that has lasted like, six or seven years. She has a family. She has a fawn. She
looks healthy and strong like, you know,I've seen her, like, hop over things and move pretty quickly when she's had to, you know, this is not a quote, unquote, poor
(21:37):
creature. So what I was going to say earlieris so much of how people responded right in their comments, whether cruel or kind, it was just a reflection of their own mind. It
was just showing me them. It was showing menot only how they feel, but how they think. And to me, I think if we're not careful, we can get roped into the darkness and the
(22:03):
cynicism and the hopelessness and thehelplessness, you know, like right now, I think there are a lot of powers that be that want the masses, that want the people to be
divided, to be and, look, there's a lot ofreasons to feel divided right now, right there's a lot of us that feel very differently from one another. I understand
(22:23):
why it happens, right? But part of this isrecognizing that they how do I say that? When you say the words, they like that, okay, there's a lot that there is a lot of
kind of push to have us feel overwhelmed, tohave us feel hopeless, to have us feel helpless, that's what the powers that be want. Because when you feel that way, you
(22:50):
don't fight back, you don't show up, youdon't call your congress, you don't call your representatives, you don't gather together in community. You just kind of want
to stay in your little bubble and otherpeople and not get too involved, because you feel exhausted and overwhelmed, and I get it. We all, we all have to follow our own
individual curriculum. And there are times,there are times when activists need rest. There are times when we need to take a time out. There are times when you need to just
(23:18):
find a safe place to rest your head and takea few winks and have a good meal and have somebody hug you and let you cry and tell you it's all right. That is all totally
appropriate to the madness. And I always saywe need to do these things, and then we need to get back down to the business of love. And I don't mean love and light, right,
although in my previous episode, I talkedabout how fierce and powerful love and light can be in the right context, right? But I mean, like we have to, like we have to not
(23:47):
get hopeless, because when we get hopeless,we tend to feel helpless, and we can start to create reasons or excuses or things that tells us, you know, it's never going to
change. We can't do anything. It's just howit is. It's like, nope. And to me, Trixie is like, is like, kind of like this bright, shining light of reminding me, reminding me
(24:12):
of my own strength, reminding me of my ownresiliency, my reminding me that no matter even when the odds are stacked against you, and people don't think you're going to make
it through another season. Boom, you show upin the spring, and you don't show up alone. You show up with your herd, you show up with your community, you show up with your
people, right? You know what I'm saying? Soshe's been absolutely incredible. And I think that you know a lot of people you know, think that to be hopeful, especially
(24:43):
in unprecedented times, or doc times, orwhatever you want to call them, that it's naive. And to me, it's not naive at all. I think it's incredibly powerful. It's because
I'm not relying on just myself right to knowthe answer or to have. Figured out, you know this, to me, is like moving again beyond what my human eyes show me, what we might
(25:06):
call in the Course of Miracles, like, isabove the battleground is to take a different POB, to have a POV like, a different point of view, to have a shift in
perception from fear, like, oh my god,Trixie, you know, the predators are gonna get or, like, like, fuck off. You know what I mean, like, there, there's, like, no need.
I'm like, Why? Why? Why do people insist ongoing on other people's, you know, pages or threads or posts to just try and take, like, you know, a big shit on whatever they're
(25:38):
saying. It's like, it's just humans are sosometimes exhausting. We're also incredible, but sometimes people, you're exhausting, okay, but so I love having hope. I'm call me
naive. Call me whatever you want to call me,but I love having hope. And I want to share with you. I'm going to share with you a quote, a little passage that is one of the
(26:04):
things that I remind myself of when itstarts to feel like, Oh, my God, the bastards are winning, or whatever.
There's several quotes I think of Gandhi hasa quote that I love. I've talked about before, and maybe I'll talk about it on another episode soon. So I rely on, I rely
on a lot of the members of my spiritualteam. When things start to get extra weird and extra kooky out there, I draw upon the wisdom of my spiritual team. So in a moment,
(26:32):
I'm going to share with you this quote orthis way of thinking that has been incredibly helpful to me, and it's something that I want to leave you with but I also
want to say this, like, this is a great timeto, kind of like, check yourself right, to just take a moment to just like, slow down and tune in. And to be really honest with
yourself, I always say, like, notice whatyou notice, but kind of take a moment see if you can do a little moment of inventory. Do this out of curiosity and not judgment. Do
(27:01):
it out of awareness and not shaking yourfinger at yourself. I always say, be curious, because that's what you're what you need, and what your mind needs is, is your
compassion and your curiosity. What itdoesn't need is your contempt, okay, so in your judgment. So let's, let's, like, swing open the love doors and approach this little
exercise in this way. But if you could justkind of like, just kind of notice what it's been like in your head space, what have the quality of your thoughts been? Quality of
(27:32):
your thoughts about yourself, quality ofyour thoughts about others, quality about your thoughts about the world, right? What have your What has your light the quality of
your thoughts been? What is the quality ofyour words been? The things you say to yourself, the things you've been writing, the things you've been speaking power into
right? Just start to notice these things.Start to notice when you start to shift over into that ego side. I think of I often joke about how the ego, how the mind is like a
(28:00):
duplex. And on one side is the rightmindedness, right on the miracle mindedness, and on the left side is like where the ego goes to goes to have parties. The Keg is the
wild. Keg is with the sticky floor, right?So people in the nest know what I'm talking about. It's kind of like an inside thing. So when you find yourself spending a little bit
(28:22):
too much time over on that side, over in theplace where the darkness is, or, and again, I'm not talking about like, oh, just be positive all the time, but when you find
yourself kind of shifting into thathopelessness or that helplessness, or that throwing your hands up, or just being completely exhausted and not having anything
left to give, because you're not takinglike, care of yourself, just like, notice that and know that you can choose differently. Know that you can choose again.
(28:48):
Know that you can take a moment to catchyour breath and rest, and then maybe you'll, you'll get your own assignment. We're, I'm going to talk about that on another
individual curriculum or individualassignment soon, because we all have a role to play. We all have a role to play, and you matter. And we need your love. We need your
(29:09):
light. We need your gifts. We need yourtalent. We need your brilliance. We need your hope. We need your hope. Okay, and it can be really easy right now to not feel
that way. So do you just take a moment withyourself, you slow down, you sit close your eyes, maybe take a couple of good deep breaths into the nose, exhale out twice as
long through the mouth, let that nervoussystem start to maybe down regulate a little bit, and then just get honest with yourself and ask yourself, like, yeah, what kind of
(29:37):
thoughts have I been Having lately? Youknow, how, what kind of how? What, what kind of words have I been putting out into the universe? And for me, I think one of the
most resilient things that we can do is toto remain hopeful, to remain joyful, to keep showing up and caring for one another and loving one another and looking out for. Our
(30:00):
neighbors looking out for people who maybe,maybe look different than us, right? We cannot, we cannot start to see each other as the enemy. And I know, like, Look, I get it.
There are a lot of people acting in a lot ofways that I am not down with, I am not okay with. You know, if you're somebody who, if you're somebody who is okay with so much of
(30:26):
the racism and the hatred and the violencethat's going on in the world, we are not in the same camp, like, just know that, right? They still love you, still help you out if I
can. And right, it's like, Jesus, okay, andwe're back. So I want to share something here about this idea that to be hopeful is to be naive. And this is a quote by a guy
(30:50):
named guru Singh, and he says this, he saysthis. And it's about this concept. It's about the concept, you know how people say to you, like, Don't get your hopes up. I've
never really liked it when people say to me,don't get your hopes up. I'm like, why don't try to bring you down? I understand that they see it as a way of trying to protect
you. They might even see it as a way ofloving you, because they they don't want you to be quote unquote disappointed, right? So people say, Oh, don't get your hopes up.
(31:18):
Like, don't have high expectations ofyourself or anybody else. And I'm like, yeah, no, that never really sat well with me. I don't, I don't really like that. Like,
don't, don't, don't be, like, a pattypooper, right? Like, don't be coming on my post about Trixie talking about predators and shooting her at all. Like, just, like,
beat it. Like, just piss off. Like, beat it,you know. Oh, my God. Okay, but listen to this. This is from Guru Singh. I'm going to say it slowly. I might even say it twice,
(31:46):
because sometimes I need to hear things saidtwice for it to kind of sink in. Okay, so whatever your dream is, whatever your hope is, whatever your dream is, right? We're now
where you're now entering the realm ofpossibility. This is like going from the Wizard of Oz, when the Wizard of Oz goes from black and white into color, like we are
moving into that Technicolor vision, okay?He says, walk as if and fill in the blank, right? Dream, your dream and walk as if, whatever that dream is has already happened.
(32:23):
Okay, this is what he says, like, walk as ifwhatever that dream is, get your hopes up, like whatever the dream is, walk as if it's already happened. Dream your dream, not what
anybody else tells you. Dream your dream,and walk as if whatever the thing is has already come true. And he says this because we know what we want, we know what we want
(32:47):
and when we know what we want, we receiveour expectations. So learn to expect the best. Don't follow that old saying that says Don't get your hopes up, or don't get your
expectations up. You don't want to bedisappointed. Because if you don't want to be disappointed, don't be act in a different way. So walk as if, and get your
(33:12):
expectations way up there and you be you andbe nobody else. And that's the directive. Walk as if, keep those hopes way up there. So I walk as if I'm going to see Trixie next
year too. I hope I see her a lot more thiswinter season. I hope she's doing fantastic. I believe in her. And when the time when the sad time comes when I don't see her anymore,
(33:37):
yeah, I will probably cry my little eyesout, right? If I find out, if I hear from somebody, a local neighbor or whatever, who finds her body, because we all know who she
is, right? Our little three legged dialittle Trixie, if, if, if the time comes, you know, I'll be really sad. But you know what? I'm not going to focus on the fact
that that she's had a long life. That's whatI'm going to focus on. I'm going to focus not on, oh, she's dead. It's so awful. Like I said, I will cry, but I'm going to focus
(34:05):
on how much joy she brought us, how muchhope she brought us. Right? Having hope right now is a really kind of like, rebellious thing, like not getting sucked
into the undertow of negativity and hatredand throwing up our hands or sticking our heads, no, it's like we're showing up. We're making calls. We're gonna get some shit
(34:29):
done. We are a resilient people. Don't everforget that. Don't ever forget that. Okay, so you go out there and you walk as if too keep your hopes way up there. Having hope is
a rebellious act. It is a brave act. It is astrong act, right? It's not naive, because I've seen some things in my lifetime. I have seen some things in my lifetime that I just
(34:57):
think, like, holy shit, something greaterthan me got. Involved there, right? Just like, meaning, like, I think that love wins. Maybe I'm an idiot and the jury is still
out, but I think love wins in the end. Ithink that's a good place to end. All right, you guys, I'm having a lot of hope over here, and I hope you're having hope too. So
(35:22):
wherever you are in the world, all right,first of all, also
come join the nest. I've been thinking aboutthis, and I'm like, You know what? Right now, with the world being the way it is, it is such a great time to be around people, to
be in a little community of people, right?Who are noticing, who are paying attention, who are staying hopeful, who are learning right, not just spiritual principles, but
(35:48):
practical tools, practical neuroscience,tools to help us. Like, the nest is such a cool little space. It's like a cool little family like, come join us. Go to Karen
kenney.com/nest, I just had to say that,okay, and we're back. Because if just I'm like, I can't believe more people have wanted to join this thing. And it's not
(36:09):
about me, like, oh, because of me, but it'slike, what the nest offers you in these very turbulent times. It is like a beautiful space, a beautiful space. And it's not just
like, oh, we sit around and theorize, butlike, we can get some shit done from the inside out, because that's the only way. That's the only way that the world changes.
(36:30):
It's an inside job. More on that later.Okay, here we go. Wherever you go, may you leave the people, the animals, the place, the environment and yourself better than how
you found it wherever you go, may you andyour energy and your presence and your love and your hope be a blessing. Bye. Bye.
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