May 1, 2025 • 52 mins
Words shape our reality in profound ways we rarely notice. When was the last time you paused to consider what "identity" truly means to you? Or how your understanding of "surrender" affects your daily choices?
Author Rhiah Krista Kujat invites us into a transformative relationship with language in this soul-stirring conversation about her book "Life's Poetic Glossary." With stunning vulnerability, Rhiah shares how her path from environmental advisor to actor to somatic practitioner ultimately led to creating this unique meditation on the humanity behind our vocabulary. After selling her successful retreat business during the pandemic, she embarked on a two-year journey of exploration around the world—a radical experiment in freedom that birthed her creative vision.
"I've always written with metaphor," Rhiah explains, "because I could express sentiments that weren't available to me in the English language." This limitation became her inspiration. Words like "passion," "joy," and "calling" become diluted through casual use, losing their depth and personal resonance. Through poetic definitions paired with breathtaking x-ray flower photography, Rhiah reclaims these words, giving voice to their subtle nuances and transformational power.
The book functions beautifully as a daily oracle—open to any page for inspiration or a word to contemplate throughout your day. As Rhiah reads her definitions of "identity" and "surrender," we experience how poetry can capture the paradoxes of human experience in ways conventional language cannot. Identity both defines us and limits us; surrender both releases control and expands possibilities.
Whether you're looking to deepen your journaling practice, enhance your mindfulness, or simply surround yourself with beauty that speaks to the soul, this conversation offers fresh perspective on how the words we use create the lives we lead.
Rhiah's book recommendation:
The Power of Enough - Elizabeth Husserl
More about Rhiah:
Rhiah’s work spans from educating and mentoring others through healing and relational dynamics within family systems, as well as supporting women in cultivating their connection to their sensuality. Her passion for embodiment is expressed through dance, which has led her to pole-dance in New York, salsa in Cuba, and tango in Argentina. Though born and raised in Calgary, Canada, she has since lived around the world and now resides in Los Angeles, where she just released her debut collection of poetry called Life’s Poetic Glossary.
For free poetic audios & book giveaways
www.kristakujat.com
Instagram:
@rhiahkujat
https://www.instagram.com/rhiahkujat/
Amazon Link to Life’s Poetic Glossary
House of JerMar: houseofjermar.com.
Instagram: instagram.com/houseofjermar/
YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@Houseofjermar
Read Jeanne's Book: Two Feet In: Lessons From and All-In Life
WELCOME TO OUR HOUSE!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Identity is a constellation of habits.
Identity is the first thoughtupon waking and the final
thought before drifting intoslumber.
Identity is selecting whichbelongings to shove into a
(00:20):
backpack when the fire alarmgoes off to shove into a
backpack when the fire alarmgoes off.
Identity is choosing the mostfitting avatar to represent your
insides.
Identity is having an idea ofwho you think you need to be
(00:40):
yourself.
Identity is realizing we aremore shaped by the cult in the
word culture than we realize.
What I know about identity isthat defining ourselves in order
to be ourselves is not alwaysnecessary.
What I know about identity isthat it shatters in the eye of
(01:06):
the storm and shreds through theeye of the needle.
What I know about identity isthat when it dies, it swallows
every belief and offers aforgiving blank canvas to begin
again giving blank canvas tobegin again.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Welcome to the House of Jermar podcast, where
wellness starts within.
The House of Jermar is alifestyle brand, empowering
women to live all in throughinterior design and personal
wellness.
We are a destination for womenready to reimagine what is
possible in their homes andlives and then create it.
We are honored to have you joinus on our mission to empower 1
(01:51):
million women to live all in.
I am your host, jean Collins,and I invite you to become
inspired by this week's guest.
Welcome to the House of Jarmarpodcast, where wellness starts
within.
I'm your host, jean Collins,and today's guest is an author
just like me.
I'm so excited to talk to her.
So this is Raya Kuye HopefullyI'm pronouncing that correctly,
(02:15):
or at least somewhat close andshe is the author of this
incredibly beautiful bookeverybody Life's Poetic Glossary
and I'm showing it for peoplethat can actually see it.
This book is so beautiful.
It's about the humanity ofeveryday words and I will say
when I received this book.
First of all, the book isbeautiful and it came with this
most incredibly handwritten,gorgeous note.
(02:35):
So you are truly a creativeperson which I can resonate and
connect with.
But one of the things we'regoing to talk about is not just
the book, your journey towriting the book, what the book
is.
But when I first got it I waslike poetic glossary.
I'm not into poems, but I haveto tell you I was so into this
book.
I've already gifted it tosomeone.
So, raya, welcome to the Houseof Jermar podcast.
(02:58):
I'm so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Thank you, I'm delighted to talk with you too.
I'm really excited to, you know, have have a rich conversation
around all these angles abouthow we come to be the way we are
as creatives and as writers.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yes, yes, well, and thank you for joining us.
Just so everyone knows, shelives in LA and we are recording
this a little while after theheight of the LA fires, and so
she is safe and almost everyoneshe knows is safe.
So I always want to commendpeople who are living in LA who
are taking the time to do thingslike join us on our podcast and
be guests, because there's alot going on in your community
(03:34):
and it's kind of a stressfultime.
So thank you for being willingto still be a guest on the show.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, you're welcome and it's really wonderful to
have a focus like this to diveinto beyond what's happening in
the world.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So I appreciate that Beyond what's happening outside
your front door, yeah, yes, well, good, let's talk all things
creative and poetry, and alsothere's a little spirituality
that's going on in your book andthere's definitely wellness and
connection.
So I'm really excited to diginto that.
But before we do, I love toshare my guests' stories and
(04:12):
career journeys, because youdidn't start out being a poetic
writer and so I would love tolearn a little bit more about
you and your background and howyou got to where you are today.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Thank you.
I have had a very poeticjourney in my life.
I've had many careers.
I started off as anenvironmental advisor and I
worked for a government inCanada.
I'm Canadian from Calgary,alberta, and I worked for
ministry of forests.
I worked for the clean air act.
I worked for at the time therewas a federal department called
(04:43):
Department of Indian and NativeAffairs, which is no longer in
existence.
But I had a real passion forsaving the environment.
And I was young, in my earlytwenties, and I found once I got
into that work it was a lot ofpaper pushing and I found like
in my heart and soul, I am acreative and I want to express
(05:05):
that creativity and have thevalue of my creativity be seen
and received.
So I left my.
I then had a corporate job withfull healthcare and views of
the mountains from the 27thfloor I even had.
I was well-established,considering I was in my late
twenties at the time, and I soldmy house, my car and I moved to
(05:28):
New York.
And that's where I started acareer as an actor and I did
that for just over a decade andthen I had a really big life
transition which was pushing meinto the direction of really
looking at all of the patternsin my life's expression,
(05:50):
including an intimaterelationships.
Then that healing journey thatI went on really urged me to go
into the direction of therapy.
So I became trained as asomatic experience practitioner,
which is trauma release.
Family constellationpractitioner, which is working
with intergenerational trauma,and both of them are very much
(06:12):
their modalities that work withour heart, soul and body beyond
the mind, which is one of thereasons why I particularly
needed them, because I knew mymind could only get me so far
through thinking things throughand I became very passionate
about these modalities thatcould help people in these ways
(06:36):
and have profound change intheir lives like I did.
So I started to build coursesand I had an online presence for
a while, particularlysupporting women with their
connection to sensuality.
That was very much my journey.
I'd been very shut down in thatarea of my life and I lacked
(06:57):
agency around my own pleasureand I lacked agency in owning my
desires, whether they wererelated to pleasure or not, and
becoming an advocate for joy andbeauty and pleasure in my life,
without working so hard andfeeling like I needed to earn it
in order to have it.
(07:18):
So that was very much a throughline for me and it's also
informed this book and theprocess of writing it.
And then, as I journeyedthrough that, I had a vision to.
I've always had real estateinvestments on the side of my
creative and therapeuticservices.
(07:38):
I invested in getting a retreathouse where I could accommodate
wellness retreats and otherretreats where people could come
together and havetransformative experiences and
or you know apply so many partsof myself, my business self, my
creative self.
I have a passion for interiordesign so, like you, I could
(08:11):
infuse all of this into that onecreation.
And then COVID hit and it wasvery clear to me as all of the
structures around me broke down,especially the structures that
were providing me my basicsecurity, and that I could no
longer make money from anymorebecause I couldn't rent and
accommodate people for theseretreats during that time.
(08:33):
So it was a really profound,intuitive decision to let it all
go.
After I'd built it up and hadit running perfectly before
COVID and it was very successful, and I let it all go.
I sold the business and then Idecided to take two years off
(08:53):
and live around the world andjust live an intuitive life, be
only accountable to myself.
I also ended a long-termrelationship around the same
time, and so I had thisincredible freedom in my life
that I'd never had before, andit took a lot of courage to
embrace it and to believe thatwhatever is next for me is going
(09:16):
to reveal itself, and it wasduring that time that I started
to write this book.
I've always written my wholelife.
I've always loved writing withmetaphor, because I could
express sentiments that weren'tavailable to me in the English
language and that I couldn'treally express other ways.
So poetry for me was a vehicleof self-expression that I didn't
(09:43):
find I had in my everyday lifefor a long time.
And the idea of this book camebecause I felt also working as a
facilitator and a therapist.
We use words that become verydiluted in that field of work,
like passion or joy or, you know, awe or bliss, like what do
(10:05):
these things really mean in ourlived experience?
And they're so personal.
They're personal and yet souniversal, and so my inspiration
really came from wanting togive voice to those subtle
nuances that we don't normallyacknowledge when we're using the
same words with each other allthe time.
And it's also recognizing thatmy word for awe is, or my
(10:31):
personal lived experiences ofawe, are going to produce
understanding and definitionsthat might be very different
from someone else's.
And so this was my kind of myode to expressing what's been
unexpressed with language, andspecifically words that have the
(10:51):
power to be verytransformational if we connect
with them in the livedexperience in a certain way that
feels expansive, that feelsgenerative, that feels
enlivening.
So I wrote that book with thatlens, and it was such a
pleasurable experience.
It really felt to me like ameditation.
(11:12):
So I felt nourished very muchby the process of writing this
book.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
How did you choose the words.
Let's talk about that for aminute before we talk about what
you wrote about.
How did you decide?
Because, just to give somecontext for everybody, choose
the words.
Let's talk about that for aminute before we talk about what
you wrote about.
How did you decide?
Because, just to give somecontext for everybody, it's like
here, let me see, I'm going toshow this for people that can
actually see this on the screenso she'll have a word, and in
this instance it's a calling is,and then she'll have poetry
(11:41):
about that.
In some of the words there's alittle bit more, and you might
have a descriptor or a sentence,or you'll describe a character
that possesses that quality,which is also really fascinating
.
But so every couple pages,every two pages, is based on a
word.
And how did you choose the?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
words.
It was a combination of a fewthings choose the words.
It was a combination of a fewthings.
One was feeling the desire tofulfill a definition that I feel
these words hold, that I woulduse in a therapeutic sense, like
passion or sensuality or erosor guilts, and these words that,
(12:23):
when we can use them in atherapeutic sense, it has such a
deeper meaning than the way weuse them in everyday life, kind
of transactionally.
And so I wanted to give voicespecifically to those words that
I found myself using in atherapeutic context or in a
(12:44):
personal growth context, let'ssay.
And then there were other wordslike calling it's so funny that
you happened to flip to thepage of calling, I just picked
one.
I love how that's sosynchronistic.
You can do that with this bookyou can flip to any page and it
can offer something in themoment.
So calling to me was something,a word I found myself using a
(13:09):
lot with friends because wewould talk about you know, what
are we feeling called to?
And it would mean somethingamong my little micro group of
friends and we had a sharedlanguage and understanding
around what it meant to us.
But then when I started to meetother people, there wouldn't be
a shared understanding aroundwhat calling meant and what does
(13:30):
that mean to the greater public, the greater society?
And so I chose words where Ifound there was some kind of
like cultural context that wasmissing for that word.
From my perspective, yes.
And then the other way I chosewords was quite indulgent, I
(13:53):
would say, like it was to givevoice, to indulge in, marinating
in how that word made me feelexpansive or how I could move
through my day with arelationship to that word and
that lived experience.
That would give me juice forthe day and that would give me
perspective to anything that Ihappened to be going through at
(14:18):
that time.
So that was another way I chosethe words was like just feeling
the call, or feeling pulledtowards, wanting to, like
marinate in the juiciness of acertain word yes, wanting to
live with the word yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So there's a couple of things here that I think are
so interesting your point aboutyou can open the book at any
given point in time and any dayand read the word and really
think about that word and whatthat word might mean.
And I almost kind of relatethat to like a tarot card, like
find an inspiration for the day,just like you don't know what
you're going to get, but trustthat the universe is going to
open you to a page that is goingto make you think or touch your
(14:59):
heart or enlighten you.
So I think the book isfascinating in that way, because
you can read the whole thingand I read it and I folded down
pages of certain ones that, like, really spoke to me and I was
like Ooh, and some pages I satwith the page for like five
minutes reading the words andthey're short, it's easy, it's
so easy to read.
But the message behind how you,the poetry behind the what
(15:21):
you're saying about that word,like really made me pause in
some instances, which I think isreally interesting.
And what I also think isinteresting as we're recording
this in January, I have a wordof the year right, and I know a
lot of people that I know thatare into spirituality and
personal growth.
We all have words of the yearand I think your book is also
(15:41):
really helpful in helping peoplepotentially identify what word
might resonate for them, and itdoesn't need to be for the year.
Maybe it's for the week ormaybe it's for the day.
Maybe it's for the day becauseit doesn't need to be for the
year, maybe the word is just forthe day.
Try on a word for size for theday, and I think your book could
be really helpful with that.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I see it that way too .
I really share that perspective, and I've had that feedback on
the book of it being used atwomen's retreats or in a
conversation with family, ofjust flipping to a page and then
talking about that word or thatconcept, because at the end of
the day it's a philosophy oflife in a way.
(16:26):
I hope that can be feltviscerally, which is why I like
to, at least in my way, transmita message that's poetic,
because it can be felt in theheart and the body and there's
an efficiency to it too.
It's like having a shot ofespresso.
You don't need to read a wholebook Sometimes that's just what
(16:48):
we need, like just one line.
Just one line to have a gentlereflection for the day that
orients us to how we interactwith ourselves in the world, and
I love that simplicity formyself, so I hope that others
also.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Oh, as a reader, I totally did.
It's like all these littledigestible, little bits of
wisdom and thought provokingthings.
Did you write the whole bookwhile you were on your two year
journey of traveling the world?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
No, I didn't.
I started it.
Then I started maybe five orseven words and this idea just
kept on baking inside of me.
I didn't write the first fullversion until 2023.
In November, I joined amovement called Nano Write.
Maybe you've heard of it.
(17:35):
It's kind of known in manywriting circles, but it's
basically the concept of takingNovember to write every single
day.
No matter how many words youwrite every single day for that
one month, you know, show up andwork on that same.
You don't even have to work onthe same project.
But I chose to do that becauseI really wanted to finish the
book and I did so for 30 days.
(17:57):
I wrote, you know, some somewords took several days.
Other days I would write threewords in one day and all of
those definitions and I had myfirst draft to then start doing
the revision.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So it was surprisingly a lot easier than I
thought it was going to be, andI love things that are easier
than what I think, Easier thanyou think, yes, Well, I have to
say I can't write the way youwrite, and so when I read what
you wrote to me, the thought ofwriting that actually gives me a
(18:34):
little bit of anxiety andstress, because it's so creative
in a very condensed littleformat.
And it was like theunderstanding of words and the
way that you're using words in avery short, condensed way to
communicate your message.
I was like I am the opposite.
I am like blah blah, blah longsentences and stories, and so I
(18:57):
read it.
But I also have an incredibleappreciation for your ability to
be able to write this way andto be able to tell a story and
be so impactful and sothought-provoking in what you're
writing and heartfelt in suchan abbreviated sense.
So you are very gifted at that.
So kudos to you.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Do you meditate at all to have it kind of come in
subliminally?
Or do you walk and it comes toyou when you're in nature Like
how do the thoughts come to you?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So many ways.
I am a lifelong meditator.
I've been meditating for a longtime.
However, during this period ofthe 30 days writing the book,
the book was my meditation.
So I just got really still inthe morning and my morning is my
(19:53):
favorite part of the day mostdays because that liminal space
between waking and dreaming,where you know, there's so much
kind of amorphousness in reality, it really allows my
imagination to be free and alivewithout my full cognition
(20:14):
operating Right, and that is sodelicious to me.
So I love communing in thattime and space and also before
there are sounds outside or, youknow, the feeling of other
people being busy outside in themorning, which was a new
commitment for myself.
(20:45):
I'd never done that before and Iwanted to make sure that this
was the first thing that Istarted my day with, after a
cold shower, which to merandomly at the same time and
the idea is that gets yourmetabolism going and I'd have my
(21:08):
cold shower, I'd do a littlebit of movement, then I would
sit down and just see where myfingers took me through the
description and the meanderingsof these words.
And, yeah, when I sit with itand when I'm quiet, it comes
easily the ideas andassociations with words and my
(21:29):
own life stories.
They come very easily.
And then sometimes the of thelast poems that I added to the
book.
It wasn't part of the originaland it just became a very
(21:51):
important word for me as I wasnavigating an intimate
relationship where I reallywanted to stay open to the
possibilities and not close downbecause I was afraid of getting
hurt.
Sure, yes, common and stillhonor myself and still be true
(22:14):
to what I really desired insharing myself that way, so that
one happened to offer me thegift of several weeks probably,
of not just meditating with theword but living the word, really
living the word.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, yeah, I remember reading that one
yesterday and I was like, oh,that's an interesting word.
That's not the same, as youknow, forgiveness and love, and
you know there's some others inthere Guilt, guilt was a big one
, but I did like what you wroteabout forgiveness.
I thought that was actuallyvery beautiful.
The way you wrote aboutforgiveness I thought was really
(22:55):
pretty.
So you take things thatsometimes people just view as
just difficult and hard andnegative and you find a much
more positive spin to them,which I think is interesting.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I really appreciate that reflection.
That was my goal as well tofind that.
What is the life-giving qualityeven of a very difficult
experience that we relate tocertain words like guilt or
forgiveness?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, so let's talk about the artwork that's in the
book, because the artworkeveryone.
You have to buy the book justto check out the artwork.
Oh, my goodness, like one pageis better than the next.
It's all I'm going to let youdescribe the artwork actually.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
So I'm I'm similarly excited to talk about the
artwork, artwork with you as aninterior designer, because and
I've really wanted to send youmy special edition book but it
wasn't ready yet, so I'm goingto show it to you now.
It has the gold foil on thefront Pretty, it's a hardcover.
The artwork, these.
(23:55):
I don't know if everyone cansee this, but for those
listening People can see it, cansee it.
It's stunning they're x-rayphotographs of flowers, and
there are over.
There are almost 70 poems inthe book, one poem for each word
(24:16):
that I chose, and there arethat as many different flowers,
and my choice of flower for eachpoem was very deliberate.
But first, what I was drawn toin the x-ray image was this
quality of being able to seethrough the essence of beauty,
(24:36):
right to the core, and seeingthe different dimensions of it
through a visual like an x-rayphoto.
And I have I've had a loveaffair, especially with roses
for a long time.
So it started with the rose anda flower on the cover, and then
(24:57):
I started working with agraphic designer who helped to
generate these images.
So they're images that arebased on photography, but there
is AI that was used tomanipulate them so we could get
the quality that we wanted totransmit with the book.
But the process of choosing theflowers was really satisfying
(25:23):
because it was the chance to sitwith each word again and to
really be with the essence ofnature, like how nature
expresses itself, and I reallyfeel nature is one of the
biggest teachers in my life inseeing how we go through these
cycles of feeling.
(25:43):
You know we go through thesecycles of feeling alive and then
we die, like every seasonalmost we die, or at certain
seasons we die.
So I'll give an example of onethat felt very.
It just really mirrored whatthe word, the essence of the
word.
I think it was lament and itwas an image of an iris, that
(26:06):
where the petals are just foldedaround the edges a little bit
and there's that delicacy thatcan be a difference of those
petals being open or closed.
And I wanted to communicatethat with the word lament.
That lament can change itsquality when we see and reckon
(26:33):
with the unforgiving wish ofwanting things to be different
than they are number one, andthen really facing the pain so
that we don't carry it as partof the identity, and embracing
the joy and for me the joy isabout those petals being able to
life.
It's the biggest.
I don't even remember the wordI used in the book, but it is
(26:57):
the biggest revolution in a way.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Well, the imagery is really powerful and as an
interior designer, I could fullyappreciate that every image was
different.
I did take a pause because, asa designer, I'm a huge proponent
of artwork and I alwaysencourage people that they
should have artwork everywherein their home.
And artwork speaks to the soul,and artwork you can sit and you
(27:22):
can look at it and it exhibitsdifferent emotion for different
people and everyone's responseto artwork is very personal.
And so for me, these images areall black and white and I
happen to love black and whitephotography.
I have it in multiple rooms ofmy home.
Is our only have black andwhite photography?
And so for me, it reallyresonated in the simplicity and
just the beauty of, as you said,the nature.
(27:44):
I love nature.
I think it's really good forthe soul and so important.
So I found, as an interiordesigner, I was like, oh wow,
these images like even just theimages, like have a calmness and
they speak as well, withouteven the words.
The images by themselves areactually saying something in the
(28:04):
book.
As wacky and woo-woo as thatmight sound, folks, they
actually are.
They're talking to us.
Yes, they are.
They are talking to us, yes,well, and I had a feng shui
expert on the show and she wastalking about how the books that
you have in your room giveconsideration to the books on
your nightstand, because they'retalking to you at night.
So when I had her on, I was like, oh my goodness, I must have 30
books on your nightstandbecause they're talking to you
(28:25):
at night.
So when I had her on, I waslike, oh my goodness, I must
have 30 books on my nightstandbecause I can't finish any of
them.
And she's like, but they'retalking to you, and I was like,
oh, they must be causing mestress because I can't finish
them.
I need to get those out of theroom.
I need to just have the fewthat I'm actually working on,
because if I have all thesebooks that I haven't finished
that message actually.
(28:45):
Because she was like, how do youfeel when you look at them?
I said I feel incomplete, Ifeel like a failure because I
haven't finished so many of them, because either they haven't
captured my attention enough orI've moved on to something else,
and so it's actually not apositive emotion, which I found
interesting, emotion which Ifound interesting.
(29:06):
And so then, when I think aboutyour book and the fact that
there's so much positivity andheart in here.
I was like, ooh, this isactually a good book to have
next to my nightstand becauseit's talking to me in a very
healthy, creative, heartwarmingway.
So I'm excited I'm putting iton my nightstand.
It's going to get to stay there.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Oh, that means the world to me you can't even
imagine, because I designed itto be a bedside table book for
that reason, not feel theoverwhelm of a 400 page novel
sitting on the bedside.
That feels overwhelming andinsurmountable.
And I really appreciate whatyou said about art and how the
(29:42):
purpose of art is how it makesus feel and those choices of
what we put into our environmentis constantly making us feel
something and it is verypersonal as well.
We all relate to artdifferently, though it doesn't
mean the world to me that youwould enjoy just having it as a
(30:04):
visual by your bedside, becausethat was my hope is that the
beauty could be felt andappreciated from that standpoint
as well.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
So that makes me very happy.
Well, it also taps into youknow I'm a mindset coach and so
mindset's really important to me, and so the power of the words
that you have is also veryimportant.
You are what you think aboutall day long, and so being able
to leverage a book like yours topull a word to take with you
for the day and have that beyour focus for the day, or even
(30:38):
just pull a word and journalabout that word for a little
while, I think can be reallyimpactful for people.
Or find a word that representshow you're feeling at that
moment and journal about that,and that's important.
And sometimes people strugglewith words.
They really do.
I feel like the Englishlanguage is so complex and so
complicated and I think themajority of people struggle to
(30:58):
find the right words very oftenfor how they're feeling or with
what they're struggling with,and so your book is yeah, it's
right there.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I really relate to that too the struggle to find
the words to express a feeling,a thought, a sentiment.
And the language is limited, itreally is limited.
So having metaphors to be ableto express ourselves and our
feelings for me has been gamechanging.
I don't know what I would havedone without it and having those
(31:29):
as tools of wider vocabulary.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
So yeah, it's powerful, so thank you for that.
All right, so, on a differentsubject, for someone who's
traveled the world for two years, what is on your bucket list?
What do you want to dopersonally and professionally?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Because, wow, I want to start by saying that during
those two years, it was the mostfreeing thing to be
ambitionless and to feel what itwas like to not have any
ambition, any goals, but justreally to allow myself to enjoy
the moment.
And so, coming out of that, itfeels really strange to start
(32:12):
imagining a bucket list, becauseI really felt so fulfilled
every single day by just livingthat bliss and feeling so
fulfilled by it.
So I do have things that I haveon the horizon that I've been
dreaming about.
I've been working on a memoirfor many years, so that's really
(32:35):
one of the next big things thatI would like to release and
share.
And related to that is a coursefor young women.
I've had a longtime desire tomentor young women in relational
dynamics and relationship withtheir bodies and pleasure, to
(32:55):
empower them and free thembeyond feeling at the mercy of
those things so that they canlive their greatest life of
those things.
So that they can live theirgreatest life.
I know I spent so much time inmy early years, like all the way
up to my forties, being soconsumed with not knowing how to
navigate intimacy in my lifeand it was a real energy drain.
(33:20):
So I feel this, to use the wordcalling again.
I really feel this towardsmentorship, and that will also
be very soon in a format thatI'm still imagineering and
dreaming about.
So that's on my bucket list.
And then I have another book,which I hope to release this
(33:44):
year, which is connected to thepoetic glossary and also totally
different.
It's a book of words that I'veinvented Ah cool New language to
describe moments of awarenesswhere I'm engaging with someone
(34:05):
or something and I'm realizingin that moment, or I've most of
the time I realize it.
After I don't realize it, I'llstart to feel the inner conflict
come up and then you know,through various avenues, figure
out that I was abandoning selffor the sake of pleasure,
security, comfort, et cetera,safety.
(34:26):
So I've invented about 70 wordsthat are meant to be like a
handbook for savvy people inrelationships.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Ooh, that's cool.
Again like three words quickyes, yes, Ooh, I like that.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
That's exciting to me , and those are the next things.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
All big things.
Yeah, and all very creative andall that tie into writing,
because I was going to ask youif you missed the writing after
writing every day for a month.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, I do, I really do miss it.
I do, I really do miss it.
And it also takes a differentkind of creativity and brain
energy to then share a book andshow up publicly to the world
whereas the writing is suchinternal right, the internal
process, and so I do miss it.
(35:20):
And I was actually justthinking today I'm going to
weave it into my mornings againand have that as part of my
creative time before anythingelse happens, right?
So I'm working on doing that.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Yeah, 30 days is plenty of time for it to become
like a serious routine andritual in your life, so that
when you stop it it almost feelslike something's missing.
It does, yeah, absolutely,which is exciting.
Oh, good for you, and I amgoing to have you read from your
book, but before I do, I alwayslike to ask my guests if
there's a book that they canrecommend to our listeners
(35:59):
that's impacted them eitherpersonally or professionally
since Book Chains Live otherthan your own book, which we
will tag and have all the goodlinks and all that stuff in the
show notes.
So, is there a book that you'dlike to recommend everybody?
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Yes, I'm very excited about this book.
I read it a few months ago.
It's also a newly released bookand I'm rereading it.
Well, I'm listening to theaudio now.
It's called the Power of Enough.
It's by Elizabeth Husserl andshe's a friend of mine, actually
(36:32):
, and I've known her for years,so I've known about her work for
a long time.
She's a financial advisor, butshe really goes deep on the
relationship to wealth and moneyand really debunks all of the
conditioned beliefs and ways ofinteracting with wealth and
(36:52):
money that so many of us have.
Her book has been very timelyfor me because I'm at a point in
my life where I have a lot offinancial freedom that I worked
so hard for, lot of financialfreedom that I worked so hard
for and I'm really wanting toalign everything that I invest
(37:13):
in, including my time, my energyand resources and what I build
creatively, to be able to havethe most impact.
And so it's really wonderfuland rich to dive into her book
at this intersection of my life.
And what I love about her voiceis that she approaches both the
(37:34):
practical and tactical as wellas the deeper relationship with
wealth and money, which I reallyappreciate.
So I highly recommend that book.
It's giving me such rich foodfor thought at another era of my
life because I worked with her.
I was her client in 2017.
(37:55):
I was just seeing I had doneone of these exercises.
She has a concept about talkingwith money and creating a
relationship with money that.
That was very it's been verypowerful for me, and so it's so
wonderful to see how she'sbrought this rich body of work
into one condensed book.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
I am a hundred percent getting her book.
It's a subject I am fascinatedby just because I struggle with
it, and struggle with it myentire life, my relationship
with money, my entire life andhaving money not define my worth
or my value.
And I can't wait.
I'm going to maybe listen to itfirst and then, if I listen, I
(38:38):
also buy the print version,because I tend to like to
highlight and fold pages downand stuff like that.
But sometimes I find it easierto consume a lot of content by
listening because I can do it inthe car or while I'm doing
other things.
But then I do tend to go backand actually read and fold down,
or vice versa.
If I'm reading, I very oftenwill do the audio book
afterwards also.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah, I do the same thing.
I love having the hard copy andthen listening as I walk or
drive or do something.
Do the dishes Totally.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Oh yeah, All the time while I work out.
Oh, I love that one, all right.
Well, she sold another bookbecause I'm going to go buy her
book, so thank you very much.
So I have one question for you,and then I want you to read a
poem.
So Raya, what does Raya mean?
Does Raya mean anything?
Or like, where did that comefrom?
What is that?
Because on your book you'reactually, I'm assuming, krista
(39:26):
is your birth name and so Kristais the name on your book but
I'm assuming that Raya is notaccidental.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
It's not.
Thank you for that question.
Raya is a name that camethrough meditation, and my close
friends all started calling meRaya when I had this experience
with Raya, which I'll share in amoment, and so it's really been
a very meaningful name for me.
(39:59):
It happens to mean queen, but Ididn't know that when I was
connecting with it in ameditation.
So basically three years ago,2021, when I was also going
through many other changes in myrelationship and also selling a
business that I'd worked reallyhard to build, I was meditating
(40:20):
with friends and I was askingwhat is my soul name?
We were kind of experimentingwith this as a group and we
would all ask for our soul namesand for me it was just fun.
I was never looking for anothername.
I love my birth name, kristaKouyat.
It's gotten me so far in life.
I feel connected with the name.
But when we were sitting thereand meditating and I felt this
(40:46):
burst in my heart and it was anenergy of such freedom and, oh
my God, it makes me, it moves meto remember.
It was such freedom andunbridled power of of sharing my
(41:08):
voice, sure, and the image thatcame with it was like this
soulful singer, like taking upso much space in this huge
canary yellow dress, and it wasjust so incredibly liberating
(41:32):
and freeing and I felt it was anexpression of all that I am.
That's always been there.
It was just a whole other leveland so my friends who I was
with, they all started callingme R and it felt so incredible
when they called me Raya.
I remembered and connected tothat feeling every single time.
Yeah sure, everybody'sreminding you of it.
(41:54):
And then I started ordering mycoffee at Starbucks saying Raya,
and it felt so good when theywrote Raya on the cappuccino,
which you know and, and it wasan honoring of this.
Who am I on a soulful level?
That is still difficult for meto put words to, but with that
(42:14):
one name and with interactingwith that name with friends and
new friends, it just I have thatexpansive feeling inside and it
just feeds it and nourishes it.
So that's what the name meansfor me and I always invite
(42:36):
people to call me Raya because Idelight in the joy of that
connection and I also use I madethe decision not to change my
name, so I I also use.
I made the decision not tochange my name, so I, you know,
built so much under KristaKouyat and I include that as
part of who I am for sure.
So for my longtime friends whoknow me as Krista for years and
(42:58):
years, and they all know mystory of Raya and yet they still
call me Krista sometimes too,and that's also equally as
welcome, of course.
Yes's also equally as welcome,of course yes, thank you for
that question.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I love that, though there's so much power as you
describe it, I can see it.
Now I have a whole differentappreciation for the name Raya.
I really do.
I can visualize it, I can feelit, I can see it.
I can see the power, the factthat it means queen.
As soon as you said that mydaughter sometimes calls me
(43:31):
queen, she's 18.
And there's like some likecoolness to the word queen, and
every time she does I'm likeyeah, yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
I was like okay, good , I love it.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Every once in a while that word comes out I'm like I
did something right.
Even by the 18-year-old said Idid something right, so it's
really powerful.
So I love that.
So thank you for sharing that,because now I kind of look at
Raya a little bit differently,as a lot more just, soulful and
powerful.
And I am here Like I am here, Iam stepping into me and I am
here to share my voice with theworld and to make a difference,
(44:03):
which is really powerful.
So thank you for that.
So I want to end the show withyou reading, let's say, two
poems that are impactful andimportant to you, because I
would love for you to be able toshare your book, because we
talk about poems and I speakabout this because I've read the
book, but I think there's somuch power in someone hearing
(44:24):
how you actually are writingsomething, because I think your
book is very powerful.
So I would love if you wouldpick two that you would read for
everybody and we can close theshow on that.
Oh, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Thank you.
Thank you for that opportunity.
I'll, let's see.
I'm thinking of identity.
Identity has such a strong rolein my life.
I mean, now that I've justshared my story about Raya,
identity, I think, is a reallygood one that connects with that
(44:56):
.
I'll just find it in my book.
Good thing it's in alphabeticalorder, Okay.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Well, and identity is also a good one, because so
many of us struggle with what isour identity.
Yeah, yeah, so that's a goodone, that's a powerful one.
Yeah, I'll be quiet now, okay.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Identity is a constellation of habits.
Identity is the first thoughtupon waking and the final
thought before drifting intoslumber.
Identity is selecting whichbelongings to shove into a
(45:36):
backpack when the fire alarmgoes off.
Identity is choosing the mostfitting avatar to represent your
insides.
Identity is having an idea ofwho you think you need to be in
order to be yourself.
(45:56):
Identity is realizing we aremore shaped by the cult in the
word culture than we realize.
What I know about identity isthat defining ourselves in order
to be ourselves is not alwaysnecessary.
What I know about identity isthat it shatters in the eye of
(46:21):
the storm and shreds through theeye of the needle of the storm
and shreds through the eye ofthe needle.
What I know about identity isthat, when it dies, it swallows
every belief and offers aforgiving blank canvas to begin
again.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Love Touches my soul and I remember reading that one,
because I remember the secondline that you said about the
first thing you wake up in themorning and the first thing that
you think about.
I talk about environment.
What's the first?
thing you see, what are thefirst things that your senses
(47:10):
experience?
And I talk about that from adesign perspective all the time,
but from a mindset perspectiveit's so important to think about
.
What are the first things thatyou do in the morning and what
is your morning routine?
And you know, I very often justhave a routine where I'll put
my hand on my heart and my handon my stomach and I'll talk
about things I'm just gratefulfor.
I'll just think in my head whatI'm grateful for or what I
(47:46):
positive about your day oryourself personally, as a way to
kind of wind down your thoughtsto something that's very
positive, as opposed to ournatural inclination, which is to
kind of like beat ourselves upbecause we didn't do enough or
it's too late, and on and on andon.
Yes, so that your second onewas so powerful.
I remember reading that lastnight.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Oh, for me too.
Yes, thank you for filling mein on the inner life that you
had as you were connecting withit.
I so agree with the firstthought and the last thought,
and gratitude being so helpful.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Yeah, such a helpful friend, so helpful Correct yes,
okay, poem number two, wordnumber two Okay.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
So I would like to read Surrender because I feel
it's so connected with identityand the moments where I've had
many moments where I've neededto let go of my identity to
become something new.
So to surrender.
To surrender is an essentialdaily supplement.
(48:56):
To surrender is to release fromthe pattern of doing and allow
the next step to reveal itself.
And allow the next step toreveal itself.
To surrender is to let grieferupt, knowing it's a measure
for how greatly you've loved.
To surrender is to let all thescaffolding constructed around
(49:19):
security come tumbling down.
Surrender is to realizefriendship with the unknown is
in reach.
To surrender is trusting thematrix of life has your back.
To surrender is to let blissbring you to the edge of the
(49:40):
cliff, where a gushing waterfallcarries you into surprising
thrills.
What I know about surrender isthat, even when you think you've
let go of control, you canstill find yourself holding your
breath.
What I know about surrender isthat it makes your heart softer,
(50:01):
your eyes more forgiving andyour smile more sincere.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Beautiful.
I love it.
We all need to surrender moreand trust in a lot of things.
So thank you, Raya.
This has been truly a gift tospend time with you.
You are so creative, sotalented.
You're a beautiful soul.
Your energy is amazing.
I truly love your book.
I will help promote your book.
When this episode comes out, Iwill share it with friends and
family.
(50:30):
It is really.
It is a beautifully writtenbook.
So thank you for sharing itwith me and for sharing your
time with us as well.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Oh, thank you so much for your time and space to have
a little deep dive on beautyand soulful beauty.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
I so appreciate you.
Yes, I love it.
Thank you so much and we willdefinitely stay connected.
We'll talk soon.
Yes, absolutely All right.
Bye.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of the House of
Germar podcast, where wellnessstarts within.
We appreciate you being a partof our community and hope you
(51:08):
felt inspired and motivated byour guest.
If you enjoyed this episode,please write us a review and
share it with friends.
Building our reach on YouTubeand Apple podcasts will help us
get closer to our mission toempower 1 million women to live
all in.
You can also follow us onInstagram at House of Germar and
sign up to be a part of ourmonthly inspiration newsletter
(51:31):
through our website,houseofgermarcom.
If you or someone you knowwould be a good guest on the
show, please reach out to us atpodcast at houseofgermarcom.
This has been a House of Germarproduction with your host, jean
Collins.
Thank you for joining our house.
Identity is a constellation of habits.
Identity is the first thoughtupon waking and the final
thought before drifting intoslumber.
Identity is selecting whichbelongings to shove into a
(00:20):
backpack when the fire alarmgoes off to shove into a
backpack when the fire alarmgoes off.
Identity is choosing the mostfitting avatar to represent your
insides.
Identity is having an idea ofwho you think you need to be
(00:40):
yourself.
Identity is realizing we aremore shaped by the cult in the
word culture than we realize.
What I know about identity isthat defining ourselves in order
to be ourselves is not alwaysnecessary.
What I know about identity isthat it shatters in the eye of
(01:06):
the storm and shreds through theeye of the needle.
What I know about identity isthat when it dies, it swallows
every belief and offers aforgiving blank canvas to begin
again giving blank canvas tobegin again.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Welcome to the House of Jermar podcast, where
wellness starts within.
The House of Jermar is alifestyle brand, empowering
women to live all in throughinterior design and personal
wellness.
We are a destination for womenready to reimagine what is
possible in their homes andlives and then create it.
We are honored to have you joinus on our mission to empower 1
(01:51):
million women to live all in.
I am your host, jean Collins,and I invite you to become
inspired by this week's guest.
Welcome to the House of Jarmarpodcast, where wellness starts
within.
I'm your host, jean Collins,and today's guest is an author
just like me.
I'm so excited to talk to her.
So this is Raya Kuye HopefullyI'm pronouncing that correctly,
(02:15):
or at least somewhat close andshe is the author of this
incredibly beautiful bookeverybody Life's Poetic Glossary
and I'm showing it for peoplethat can actually see it.
This book is so beautiful.
It's about the humanity ofeveryday words and I will say
when I received this book.
First of all, the book isbeautiful and it came with this
most incredibly handwritten,gorgeous note.
(02:35):
So you are truly a creativeperson which I can resonate and
connect with.
But one of the things we'regoing to talk about is not just
the book, your journey towriting the book, what the book
is.
But when I first got it I waslike poetic glossary.
I'm not into poems, but I haveto tell you I was so into this
book.
I've already gifted it tosomeone.
So, raya, welcome to the Houseof Jermar podcast.
(02:58):
I'm so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Thank you, I'm delighted to talk with you too.
I'm really excited to, you know, have have a rich conversation
around all these angles abouthow we come to be the way we are
as creatives and as writers.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yes, yes, well, and thank you for joining us.
Just so everyone knows, shelives in LA and we are recording
this a little while after theheight of the LA fires, and so
she is safe and almost everyoneshe knows is safe.
So I always want to commendpeople who are living in LA who
are taking the time to do thingslike join us on our podcast and
be guests, because there's alot going on in your community
(03:34):
and it's kind of a stressfultime.
So thank you for being willingto still be a guest on the show.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah, you're welcome and it's really wonderful to
have a focus like this to diveinto beyond what's happening in
the world.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So I appreciate that Beyond what's happening outside
your front door, yeah, yes, well, good, let's talk all things
creative and poetry, and alsothere's a little spirituality
that's going on in your book andthere's definitely wellness and
connection.
So I'm really excited to diginto that.
But before we do, I love toshare my guests' stories and
(04:12):
career journeys, because youdidn't start out being a poetic
writer and so I would love tolearn a little bit more about
you and your background and howyou got to where you are today.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Thank you.
I have had a very poeticjourney in my life.
I've had many careers.
I started off as anenvironmental advisor and I
worked for a government inCanada.
I'm Canadian from Calgary,alberta, and I worked for
ministry of forests.
I worked for the clean air act.
I worked for at the time therewas a federal department called
(04:43):
Department of Indian and NativeAffairs, which is no longer in
existence.
But I had a real passion forsaving the environment.
And I was young, in my earlytwenties, and I found once I got
into that work it was a lot ofpaper pushing and I found like
in my heart and soul, I am acreative and I want to express
(05:05):
that creativity and have thevalue of my creativity be seen
and received.
So I left my.
I then had a corporate job withfull healthcare and views of
the mountains from the 27thfloor I even had.
I was well-established,considering I was in my late
twenties at the time, and I soldmy house, my car and I moved to
(05:28):
New York.
And that's where I started acareer as an actor and I did
that for just over a decade andthen I had a really big life
transition which was pushing meinto the direction of really
looking at all of the patternsin my life's expression,
(05:50):
including an intimaterelationships.
Then that healing journey thatI went on really urged me to go
into the direction of therapy.
So I became trained as asomatic experience practitioner,
which is trauma release.
Family constellationpractitioner, which is working
with intergenerational trauma,and both of them are very much
(06:12):
their modalities that work withour heart, soul and body beyond
the mind, which is one of thereasons why I particularly
needed them, because I knew mymind could only get me so far
through thinking things throughand I became very passionate
about these modalities thatcould help people in these ways
(06:36):
and have profound change intheir lives like I did.
So I started to build coursesand I had an online presence for
a while, particularlysupporting women with their
connection to sensuality.
That was very much my journey.
I'd been very shut down in thatarea of my life and I lacked
(06:57):
agency around my own pleasureand I lacked agency in owning my
desires, whether they wererelated to pleasure or not, and
becoming an advocate for joy andbeauty and pleasure in my life,
without working so hard andfeeling like I needed to earn it
in order to have it.
(07:18):
So that was very much a throughline for me and it's also
informed this book and theprocess of writing it.
And then, as I journeyedthrough that, I had a vision to.
I've always had real estateinvestments on the side of my
creative and therapeuticservices.
(07:38):
I invested in getting a retreathouse where I could accommodate
wellness retreats and otherretreats where people could come
together and havetransformative experiences and
or you know apply so many partsof myself, my business self, my
creative self.
I have a passion for interiordesign so, like you, I could
(08:11):
infuse all of this into that onecreation.
And then COVID hit and it wasvery clear to me as all of the
structures around me broke down,especially the structures that
were providing me my basicsecurity, and that I could no
longer make money from anymorebecause I couldn't rent and
accommodate people for theseretreats during that time.
(08:33):
So it was a really profound,intuitive decision to let it all
go.
After I'd built it up and hadit running perfectly before
COVID and it was very successful, and I let it all go.
I sold the business and then Idecided to take two years off
(08:53):
and live around the world andjust live an intuitive life, be
only accountable to myself.
I also ended a long-termrelationship around the same
time, and so I had thisincredible freedom in my life
that I'd never had before, andit took a lot of courage to
embrace it and to believe thatwhatever is next for me is going
(09:16):
to reveal itself, and it wasduring that time that I started
to write this book.
I've always written my wholelife.
I've always loved writing withmetaphor, because I could
express sentiments that weren'tavailable to me in the English
language and that I couldn'treally express other ways.
So poetry for me was a vehicleof self-expression that I didn't
(09:43):
find I had in my everyday lifefor a long time.
And the idea of this book camebecause I felt also working as a
facilitator and a therapist.
We use words that become verydiluted in that field of work,
like passion or joy or, you know, awe or bliss, like what do
(10:05):
these things really mean in ourlived experience?
And they're so personal.
They're personal and yet souniversal, and so my inspiration
really came from wanting togive voice to those subtle
nuances that we don't normallyacknowledge when we're using the
same words with each other allthe time.
And it's also recognizing thatmy word for awe is, or my
(10:31):
personal lived experiences ofawe, are going to produce
understanding and definitionsthat might be very different
from someone else's.
And so this was my kind of myode to expressing what's been
unexpressed with language, andspecifically words that have the
(10:51):
power to be verytransformational if we connect
with them in the livedexperience in a certain way that
feels expansive, that feelsgenerative, that feels
enlivening.
So I wrote that book with thatlens, and it was such a
pleasurable experience.
It really felt to me like ameditation.
(11:12):
So I felt nourished very muchby the process of writing this
book.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
How did you choose the words.
Let's talk about that for aminute before we talk about what
you wrote about.
How did you decide?
Because, just to give somecontext for everybody, choose
the words.
Let's talk about that for aminute before we talk about what
you wrote about.
How did you decide?
Because, just to give somecontext for everybody, it's like
here, let me see, I'm going toshow this for people that can
actually see this on the screenso she'll have a word, and in
this instance it's a calling is,and then she'll have poetry
(11:41):
about that.
In some of the words there's alittle bit more, and you might
have a descriptor or a sentence,or you'll describe a character
that possesses that quality,which is also really fascinating
.
But so every couple pages,every two pages, is based on a
word.
And how did you choose the?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
words.
It was a combination of a fewthings choose the words.
It was a combination of a fewthings.
One was feeling the desire tofulfill a definition that I feel
these words hold, that I woulduse in a therapeutic sense, like
passion or sensuality or erosor guilts, and these words that,
(12:23):
when we can use them in atherapeutic sense, it has such a
deeper meaning than the way weuse them in everyday life, kind
of transactionally.
And so I wanted to give voicespecifically to those words that
I found myself using in atherapeutic context or in a
(12:44):
personal growth context, let'ssay.
And then there were other wordslike calling it's so funny that
you happened to flip to thepage of calling, I just picked
one.
I love how that's sosynchronistic.
You can do that with this bookyou can flip to any page and it
can offer something in themoment.
So calling to me was something,a word I found myself using a
(13:09):
lot with friends because wewould talk about you know, what
are we feeling called to?
And it would mean somethingamong my little micro group of
friends and we had a sharedlanguage and understanding
around what it meant to us.
But then when I started to meetother people, there wouldn't be
a shared understanding aroundwhat calling meant and what does
(13:30):
that mean to the greater public, the greater society?
And so I chose words where Ifound there was some kind of
like cultural context that wasmissing for that word.
From my perspective, yes.
And then the other way I chosewords was quite indulgent, I
(13:53):
would say, like it was to givevoice, to indulge in, marinating
in how that word made me feelexpansive or how I could move
through my day with arelationship to that word and
that lived experience.
That would give me juice forthe day and that would give me
perspective to anything that Ihappened to be going through at
(14:18):
that time.
So that was another way I chosethe words was like just feeling
the call, or feeling pulledtowards, wanting to, like
marinate in the juiciness of acertain word yes, wanting to
live with the word yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So there's a couple of things here that I think are
so interesting your point aboutyou can open the book at any
given point in time and any dayand read the word and really
think about that word and whatthat word might mean.
And I almost kind of relatethat to like a tarot card, like
find an inspiration for the day,just like you don't know what
you're going to get, but trustthat the universe is going to
open you to a page that is goingto make you think or touch your
(14:59):
heart or enlighten you.
So I think the book isfascinating in that way, because
you can read the whole thingand I read it and I folded down
pages of certain ones that, like, really spoke to me and I was
like Ooh, and some pages I satwith the page for like five
minutes reading the words andthey're short, it's easy, it's
so easy to read.
But the message behind how you,the poetry behind the what
(15:21):
you're saying about that word,like really made me pause in
some instances, which I think isreally interesting.
And what I also think isinteresting as we're recording
this in January, I have a wordof the year right, and I know a
lot of people that I know thatare into spirituality and
personal growth.
We all have words of the yearand I think your book is also
(15:41):
really helpful in helping peoplepotentially identify what word
might resonate for them, and itdoesn't need to be for the year.
Maybe it's for the week ormaybe it's for the day.
Maybe it's for the day becauseit doesn't need to be for the
year, maybe the word is just forthe day.
Try on a word for size for theday, and I think your book could
be really helpful with that.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I see it that way too .
I really share that perspective, and I've had that feedback on
the book of it being used atwomen's retreats or in a
conversation with family, ofjust flipping to a page and then
talking about that word or thatconcept, because at the end of
the day it's a philosophy oflife in a way.
(16:26):
I hope that can be feltviscerally, which is why I like
to, at least in my way, transmita message that's poetic,
because it can be felt in theheart and the body and there's
an efficiency to it too.
It's like having a shot ofespresso.
You don't need to read a wholebook Sometimes that's just what
(16:48):
we need, like just one line.
Just one line to have a gentlereflection for the day that
orients us to how we interactwith ourselves in the world, and
I love that simplicity formyself, so I hope that others
also.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Oh, as a reader, I totally did.
It's like all these littledigestible, little bits of
wisdom and thought provokingthings.
Did you write the whole bookwhile you were on your two year
journey of traveling the world?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
No, I didn't.
I started it.
Then I started maybe five orseven words and this idea just
kept on baking inside of me.
I didn't write the first fullversion until 2023.
In November, I joined amovement called Nano Write.
Maybe you've heard of it.
(17:35):
It's kind of known in manywriting circles, but it's
basically the concept of takingNovember to write every single
day.
No matter how many words youwrite every single day for that
one month, you know, show up andwork on that same.
You don't even have to work onthe same project.
But I chose to do that becauseI really wanted to finish the
book and I did so for 30 days.
(17:57):
I wrote, you know, some somewords took several days.
Other days I would write threewords in one day and all of
those definitions and I had myfirst draft to then start doing
the revision.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So it was surprisingly a lot easier than I
thought it was going to be, andI love things that are easier
than what I think, Easier thanyou think, yes, Well, I have to
say I can't write the way youwrite, and so when I read what
you wrote to me, the thought ofwriting that actually gives me a
(18:34):
little bit of anxiety andstress, because it's so creative
in a very condensed littleformat.
And it was like theunderstanding of words and the
way that you're using words in avery short, condensed way to
communicate your message.
I was like I am the opposite.
I am like blah blah, blah longsentences and stories, and so I
(18:57):
read it.
But I also have an incredibleappreciation for your ability to
be able to write this way andto be able to tell a story and
be so impactful and sothought-provoking in what you're
writing and heartfelt in suchan abbreviated sense.
So you are very gifted at that.
So kudos to you.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Do you meditate at all to have it kind of come in
subliminally?
Or do you walk and it comes toyou when you're in nature Like
how do the thoughts come to you?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So many ways.
I am a lifelong meditator.
I've been meditating for a longtime.
However, during this period ofthe 30 days writing the book,
the book was my meditation.
So I just got really still inthe morning and my morning is my
(19:53):
favorite part of the day mostdays because that liminal space
between waking and dreaming,where you know, there's so much
kind of amorphousness in reality, it really allows my
imagination to be free and alivewithout my full cognition
(20:14):
operating Right, and that is sodelicious to me.
So I love communing in thattime and space and also before
there are sounds outside or, youknow, the feeling of other
people being busy outside in themorning, which was a new
commitment for myself.
(20:45):
I'd never done that before and Iwanted to make sure that this
was the first thing that Istarted my day with, after a
cold shower, which to merandomly at the same time and
the idea is that gets yourmetabolism going and I'd have my
(21:08):
cold shower, I'd do a littlebit of movement, then I would
sit down and just see where myfingers took me through the
description and the meanderingsof these words.
And, yeah, when I sit with itand when I'm quiet, it comes
easily the ideas andassociations with words and my
(21:29):
own life stories.
They come very easily.
And then sometimes the of thelast poems that I added to the
book.
It wasn't part of the originaland it just became a very
(21:51):
important word for me as I wasnavigating an intimate
relationship where I reallywanted to stay open to the
possibilities and not close downbecause I was afraid of getting
hurt.
Sure, yes, common and stillhonor myself and still be true
(22:14):
to what I really desired insharing myself that way, so that
one happened to offer me thegift of several weeks probably,
of not just meditating with theword but living the word, really
living the word.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, yeah, I remember reading that one
yesterday and I was like, oh,that's an interesting word.
That's not the same, as youknow, forgiveness and love, and
you know there's some others inthere Guilt, guilt was a big one
, but I did like what you wroteabout forgiveness.
I thought that was actuallyvery beautiful.
The way you wrote aboutforgiveness I thought was really
(22:55):
pretty.
So you take things thatsometimes people just view as
just difficult and hard andnegative and you find a much
more positive spin to them,which I think is interesting.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I really appreciate that reflection.
That was my goal as well tofind that.
What is the life-giving qualityeven of a very difficult
experience that we relate tocertain words like guilt or
forgiveness?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, so let's talk about the artwork that's in the
book, because the artworkeveryone.
You have to buy the book justto check out the artwork.
Oh, my goodness, like one pageis better than the next.
It's all I'm going to let youdescribe the artwork actually.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
So I'm I'm similarly excited to talk about the
artwork, artwork with you as aninterior designer, because and
I've really wanted to send youmy special edition book but it
wasn't ready yet, so I'm goingto show it to you now.
It has the gold foil on thefront Pretty, it's a hardcover.
The artwork, these.
(23:55):
I don't know if everyone cansee this, but for those
listening People can see it, cansee it.
It's stunning they're x-rayphotographs of flowers, and
there are over.
There are almost 70 poems inthe book, one poem for each word
(24:16):
that I chose, and there arethat as many different flowers,
and my choice of flower for eachpoem was very deliberate.
But first, what I was drawn toin the x-ray image was this
quality of being able to seethrough the essence of beauty,
(24:36):
right to the core, and seeingthe different dimensions of it
through a visual like an x-rayphoto.
And I have I've had a loveaffair, especially with roses
for a long time.
So it started with the rose anda flower on the cover, and then
(24:57):
I started working with agraphic designer who helped to
generate these images.
So they're images that arebased on photography, but there
is AI that was used tomanipulate them so we could get
the quality that we wanted totransmit with the book.
But the process of choosing theflowers was really satisfying
(25:23):
because it was the chance to sitwith each word again and to
really be with the essence ofnature, like how nature
expresses itself, and I reallyfeel nature is one of the
biggest teachers in my life inseeing how we go through these
cycles of feeling.
(25:43):
You know we go through thesecycles of feeling alive and then
we die, like every seasonalmost we die, or at certain
seasons we die.
So I'll give an example of onethat felt very.
It just really mirrored whatthe word, the essence of the
word.
I think it was lament and itwas an image of an iris, that
(26:06):
where the petals are just foldedaround the edges a little bit
and there's that delicacy thatcan be a difference of those
petals being open or closed.
And I wanted to communicatethat with the word lament.
That lament can change itsquality when we see and reckon
(26:33):
with the unforgiving wish ofwanting things to be different
than they are number one, andthen really facing the pain so
that we don't carry it as partof the identity, and embracing
the joy and for me the joy isabout those petals being able to
life.
It's the biggest.
I don't even remember the wordI used in the book, but it is
(26:57):
the biggest revolution in a way.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Well, the imagery is really powerful and as an
interior designer, I could fullyappreciate that every image was
different.
I did take a pause because, asa designer, I'm a huge proponent
of artwork and I alwaysencourage people that they
should have artwork everywherein their home.
And artwork speaks to the soul,and artwork you can sit and you
(27:22):
can look at it and it exhibitsdifferent emotion for different
people and everyone's responseto artwork is very personal.
And so for me, these images areall black and white and I
happen to love black and whitephotography.
I have it in multiple rooms ofmy home.
Is our only have black andwhite photography?
And so for me, it reallyresonated in the simplicity and
just the beauty of, as you said,the nature.
(27:44):
I love nature.
I think it's really good forthe soul and so important.
So I found, as an interiordesigner, I was like, oh wow,
these images like even just theimages, like have a calmness and
they speak as well, withouteven the words.
The images by themselves areactually saying something in the
(28:04):
book.
As wacky and woo-woo as thatmight sound, folks, they
actually are.
They're talking to us.
Yes, they are.
They are talking to us, yes,well, and I had a feng shui
expert on the show and she wastalking about how the books that
you have in your room giveconsideration to the books on
your nightstand, because they'retalking to you at night.
So when I had her on, I was like, oh my goodness, I must have 30
books on your nightstandbecause they're talking to you
(28:25):
at night.
So when I had her on, I waslike, oh my goodness, I must
have 30 books on my nightstandbecause I can't finish any of
them.
And she's like, but they'retalking to you, and I was like,
oh, they must be causing mestress because I can't finish
them.
I need to get those out of theroom.
I need to just have the fewthat I'm actually working on,
because if I have all thesebooks that I haven't finished
that message actually.
(28:45):
Because she was like, how do youfeel when you look at them?
I said I feel incomplete, Ifeel like a failure because I
haven't finished so many of them, because either they haven't
captured my attention enough orI've moved on to something else,
and so it's actually not apositive emotion, which I found
interesting, emotion which Ifound interesting.
(29:06):
And so then, when I think aboutyour book and the fact that
there's so much positivity andheart in here.
I was like, ooh, this isactually a good book to have
next to my nightstand becauseit's talking to me in a very
healthy, creative, heartwarmingway.
So I'm excited I'm putting iton my nightstand.
It's going to get to stay there.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Oh, that means the world to me you can't even
imagine, because I designed itto be a bedside table book for
that reason, not feel theoverwhelm of a 400 page novel
sitting on the bedside.
That feels overwhelming andinsurmountable.
And I really appreciate whatyou said about art and how the
(29:42):
purpose of art is how it makesus feel and those choices of
what we put into our environmentis constantly making us feel
something and it is verypersonal as well.
We all relate to artdifferently, though it doesn't
mean the world to me that youwould enjoy just having it as a
(30:04):
visual by your bedside, becausethat was my hope is that the
beauty could be felt andappreciated from that standpoint
as well.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
So that makes me very happy.
Well, it also taps into youknow I'm a mindset coach and so
mindset's really important to me, and so the power of the words
that you have is also veryimportant.
You are what you think aboutall day long, and so being able
to leverage a book like yours topull a word to take with you
for the day and have that beyour focus for the day, or even
(30:38):
just pull a word and journalabout that word for a little
while, I think can be reallyimpactful for people.
Or find a word that representshow you're feeling at that
moment and journal about that,and that's important.
And sometimes people strugglewith words.
They really do.
I feel like the Englishlanguage is so complex and so
complicated and I think themajority of people struggle to
(30:58):
find the right words very oftenfor how they're feeling or with
what they're struggling with,and so your book is yeah, it's
right there.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I really relate to that too the struggle to find
the words to express a feeling,a thought, a sentiment.
And the language is limited, itreally is limited.
So having metaphors to be ableto express ourselves and our
feelings for me has been gamechanging.
I don't know what I would havedone without it and having those
(31:29):
as tools of wider vocabulary.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
So yeah, it's powerful, so thank you for that.
All right, so, on a differentsubject, for someone who's
traveled the world for two years, what is on your bucket list?
What do you want to dopersonally and professionally?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Because, wow, I want to start by saying that during
those two years, it was the mostfreeing thing to be
ambitionless and to feel what itwas like to not have any
ambition, any goals, but justreally to allow myself to enjoy
the moment.
And so, coming out of that, itfeels really strange to start
(32:12):
imagining a bucket list, becauseI really felt so fulfilled
every single day by just livingthat bliss and feeling so
fulfilled by it.
So I do have things that I haveon the horizon that I've been
dreaming about.
I've been working on a memoirfor many years, so that's really
(32:35):
one of the next big things thatI would like to release and
share.
And related to that is a coursefor young women.
I've had a longtime desire tomentor young women in relational
dynamics and relationship withtheir bodies and pleasure, to
(32:55):
empower them and free thembeyond feeling at the mercy of
those things so that they canlive their greatest life of
those things.
So that they can live theirgreatest life.
I know I spent so much time inmy early years, like all the way
up to my forties, being soconsumed with not knowing how to
navigate intimacy in my lifeand it was a real energy drain.
(33:20):
So I feel this, to use the wordcalling again.
I really feel this towardsmentorship, and that will also
be very soon in a format thatI'm still imagineering and
dreaming about.
So that's on my bucket list.
And then I have another book,which I hope to release this
(33:44):
year, which is connected to thepoetic glossary and also totally
different.
It's a book of words that I'veinvented Ah cool New language to
describe moments of awarenesswhere I'm engaging with someone
(34:05):
or something and I'm realizingin that moment, or I've most of
the time I realize it.
After I don't realize it, I'llstart to feel the inner conflict
come up and then you know,through various avenues, figure
out that I was abandoning selffor the sake of pleasure,
security, comfort, et cetera,safety.
(34:26):
So I've invented about 70 wordsthat are meant to be like a
handbook for savvy people inrelationships.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Ooh, that's cool.
Again like three words quickyes, yes, Ooh, I like that.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
That's exciting to me , and those are the next things.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
All big things.
Yeah, and all very creative andall that tie into writing,
because I was going to ask youif you missed the writing after
writing every day for a month.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, I do, I really do miss it.
I do, I really do miss it.
And it also takes a differentkind of creativity and brain
energy to then share a book andshow up publicly to the world
whereas the writing is suchinternal right, the internal
process, and so I do miss it.
(35:20):
And I was actually justthinking today I'm going to
weave it into my mornings againand have that as part of my
creative time before anythingelse happens, right?
So I'm working on doing that.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Yeah, 30 days is plenty of time for it to become
like a serious routine andritual in your life, so that
when you stop it it almost feelslike something's missing.
It does, yeah, absolutely,which is exciting.
Oh, good for you, and I amgoing to have you read from your
book, but before I do, I alwayslike to ask my guests if
there's a book that they canrecommend to our listeners
(35:59):
that's impacted them eitherpersonally or professionally
since Book Chains Live otherthan your own book, which we
will tag and have all the goodlinks and all that stuff in the
show notes.
So, is there a book that you'dlike to recommend everybody?
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Yes, I'm very excited about this book.
I read it a few months ago.
It's also a newly released bookand I'm rereading it.
Well, I'm listening to theaudio now.
It's called the Power of Enough.
It's by Elizabeth Husserl andshe's a friend of mine, actually
(36:32):
, and I've known her for years,so I've known about her work for
a long time.
She's a financial advisor, butshe really goes deep on the
relationship to wealth and moneyand really debunks all of the
conditioned beliefs and ways ofinteracting with wealth and
(36:52):
money that so many of us have.
Her book has been very timelyfor me because I'm at a point in
my life where I have a lot offinancial freedom that I worked
so hard for, lot of financialfreedom that I worked so hard
for and I'm really wanting toalign everything that I invest
(37:13):
in, including my time, my energyand resources and what I build
creatively, to be able to havethe most impact.
And so it's really wonderfuland rich to dive into her book
at this intersection of my life.
And what I love about her voiceis that she approaches both the
(37:34):
practical and tactical as wellas the deeper relationship with
wealth and money, which I reallyappreciate.
So I highly recommend that book.
It's giving me such rich foodfor thought at another era of my
life because I worked with her.
I was her client in 2017.
(37:55):
I was just seeing I had doneone of these exercises.
She has a concept about talkingwith money and creating a
relationship with money that.
That was very it's been verypowerful for me, and so it's so
wonderful to see how she'sbrought this rich body of work
into one condensed book.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
I am a hundred percent getting her book.
It's a subject I am fascinatedby just because I struggle with
it, and struggle with it myentire life, my relationship
with money, my entire life andhaving money not define my worth
or my value.
And I can't wait.
I'm going to maybe listen to itfirst and then, if I listen, I
(38:38):
also buy the print version,because I tend to like to
highlight and fold pages downand stuff like that.
But sometimes I find it easierto consume a lot of content by
listening because I can do it inthe car or while I'm doing
other things.
But then I do tend to go backand actually read and fold down,
or vice versa.
If I'm reading, I very oftenwill do the audio book
afterwards also.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah, I do the same thing.
I love having the hard copy andthen listening as I walk or
drive or do something.
Do the dishes Totally.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Oh yeah, All the time while I work out.
Oh, I love that one, all right.
Well, she sold another bookbecause I'm going to go buy her
book, so thank you very much.
So I have one question for you,and then I want you to read a
poem.
So Raya, what does Raya mean?
Does Raya mean anything?
Or like, where did that comefrom?
What is that?
Because on your book you'reactually, I'm assuming, krista
(39:26):
is your birth name and so Kristais the name on your book but
I'm assuming that Raya is notaccidental.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
It's not.
Thank you for that question.
Raya is a name that camethrough meditation, and my close
friends all started calling meRaya when I had this experience
with Raya, which I'll share in amoment, and so it's really been
a very meaningful name for me.
(39:59):
It happens to mean queen, but Ididn't know that when I was
connecting with it in ameditation.
So basically three years ago,2021, when I was also going
through many other changes in myrelationship and also selling a
business that I'd worked reallyhard to build, I was meditating
(40:20):
with friends and I was askingwhat is my soul name?
We were kind of experimentingwith this as a group and we
would all ask for our soul namesand for me it was just fun.
I was never looking for anothername.
I love my birth name, kristaKouyat.
It's gotten me so far in life.
I feel connected with the name.
But when we were sitting thereand meditating and I felt this
(40:46):
burst in my heart and it was anenergy of such freedom and, oh
my God, it makes me, it moves meto remember.
It was such freedom andunbridled power of of sharing my
(41:08):
voice, sure, and the image thatcame with it was like this
soulful singer, like taking upso much space in this huge
canary yellow dress, and it wasjust so incredibly liberating
(41:32):
and freeing and I felt it was anexpression of all that I am.
That's always been there.
It was just a whole other leveland so my friends who I was
with, they all started callingme R and it felt so incredible
when they called me Raya.
I remembered and connected tothat feeling every single time.
Yeah sure, everybody'sreminding you of it.
(41:54):
And then I started ordering mycoffee at Starbucks saying Raya,
and it felt so good when theywrote Raya on the cappuccino,
which you know and, and it wasan honoring of this.
Who am I on a soulful level?
That is still difficult for meto put words to, but with that
(42:14):
one name and with interactingwith that name with friends and
new friends, it just I have thatexpansive feeling inside and it
just feeds it and nourishes it.
So that's what the name meansfor me and I always invite
(42:36):
people to call me Raya because Idelight in the joy of that
connection and I also use I madethe decision not to change my
name, so I I also use.
I made the decision not tochange my name, so I, you know,
built so much under KristaKouyat and I include that as
part of who I am for sure.
So for my longtime friends whoknow me as Krista for years and
(42:58):
years, and they all know mystory of Raya and yet they still
call me Krista sometimes too,and that's also equally as
welcome, of course.
Yes's also equally as welcome,of course yes, thank you for
that question.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I love that, though there's so much power as you
describe it, I can see it.
Now I have a whole differentappreciation for the name Raya.
I really do.
I can visualize it, I can feelit, I can see it.
I can see the power, the factthat it means queen.
As soon as you said that mydaughter sometimes calls me
(43:31):
queen, she's 18.
And there's like some likecoolness to the word queen, and
every time she does I'm likeyeah, yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
I was like okay, good , I love it.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Every once in a while that word comes out I'm like I
did something right.
Even by the 18-year-old said Idid something right, so it's
really powerful.
So I love that.
So thank you for sharing that,because now I kind of look at
Raya a little bit differently,as a lot more just, soulful and
powerful.
And I am here Like I am here, Iam stepping into me and I am
here to share my voice with theworld and to make a difference,
(44:03):
which is really powerful.
So thank you for that.
So I want to end the show withyou reading, let's say, two
poems that are impactful andimportant to you, because I
would love for you to be able toshare your book, because we
talk about poems and I speakabout this because I've read the
book, but I think there's somuch power in someone hearing
(44:24):
how you actually are writingsomething, because I think your
book is very powerful.
So I would love if you wouldpick two that you would read for
everybody and we can close theshow on that.
Oh, I would love that.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Thank you.
Thank you for that opportunity.
I'll, let's see.
I'm thinking of identity.
Identity has such a strong rolein my life.
I mean, now that I've justshared my story about Raya,
identity, I think, is a reallygood one that connects with that
(44:56):
.
I'll just find it in my book.
Good thing it's in alphabeticalorder, Okay.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
Well, and identity is also a good one, because so
many of us struggle with what isour identity.
Yeah, yeah, so that's a goodone, that's a powerful one.
Yeah, I'll be quiet now, okay.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Identity is a constellation of habits.
Identity is the first thoughtupon waking and the final
thought before drifting intoslumber.
Identity is selecting whichbelongings to shove into a
(45:36):
backpack when the fire alarmgoes off.
Identity is choosing the mostfitting avatar to represent your
insides.
Identity is having an idea ofwho you think you need to be in
order to be yourself.
(45:56):
Identity is realizing we aremore shaped by the cult in the
word culture than we realize.
What I know about identity isthat defining ourselves in order
to be ourselves is not alwaysnecessary.
What I know about identity isthat it shatters in the eye of
(46:21):
the storm and shreds through theeye of the needle of the storm
and shreds through the eye ofthe needle.
What I know about identity isthat, when it dies, it swallows
every belief and offers aforgiving blank canvas to begin
again.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Love Touches my soul and I remember reading that one,
because I remember the secondline that you said about the
first thing you wake up in themorning and the first thing that
you think about.
I talk about environment.
What's the first?
thing you see, what are thefirst things that your senses
(47:10):
experience?
And I talk about that from adesign perspective all the time,
but from a mindset perspectiveit's so important to think about
.
What are the first things thatyou do in the morning and what
is your morning routine?
And you know, I very often justhave a routine where I'll put
my hand on my heart and my handon my stomach and I'll talk
about things I'm just gratefulfor.
I'll just think in my head whatI'm grateful for or what I
(47:46):
positive about your day oryourself personally, as a way to
kind of wind down your thoughtsto something that's very
positive, as opposed to ournatural inclination, which is to
kind of like beat ourselves upbecause we didn't do enough or
it's too late, and on and on andon.
Yes, so that your second onewas so powerful.
I remember reading that lastnight.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Oh, for me too.
Yes, thank you for filling mein on the inner life that you
had as you were connecting withit.
I so agree with the firstthought and the last thought,
and gratitude being so helpful.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Yeah, such a helpful friend, so helpful Correct yes,
okay, poem number two, wordnumber two Okay.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
So I would like to read Surrender because I feel
it's so connected with identityand the moments where I've had
many moments where I've neededto let go of my identity to
become something new.
So to surrender.
To surrender is an essentialdaily supplement.
(48:56):
To surrender is to release fromthe pattern of doing and allow
the next step to reveal itself.
And allow the next step toreveal itself.
To surrender is to let grieferupt, knowing it's a measure
for how greatly you've loved.
To surrender is to let all thescaffolding constructed around
(49:19):
security come tumbling down.
Surrender is to realizefriendship with the unknown is
in reach.
To surrender is trusting thematrix of life has your back.
To surrender is to let blissbring you to the edge of the
(49:40):
cliff, where a gushing waterfallcarries you into surprising
thrills.
What I know about surrender isthat, even when you think you've
let go of control, you canstill find yourself holding your
breath.
What I know about surrender isthat it makes your heart softer,
(50:01):
your eyes more forgiving andyour smile more sincere.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Beautiful.
I love it.
We all need to surrender moreand trust in a lot of things.
So thank you, Raya.
This has been truly a gift tospend time with you.
You are so creative, sotalented.
You're a beautiful soul.
Your energy is amazing.
I truly love your book.
I will help promote your book.
When this episode comes out, Iwill share it with friends and
family.
(50:30):
It is really.
It is a beautifully writtenbook.
So thank you for sharing itwith me and for sharing your
time with us as well.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Oh, thank you so much for your time and space to have
a little deep dive on beautyand soulful beauty.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
I so appreciate you.
Yes, I love it.
Thank you so much and we willdefinitely stay connected.
We'll talk soon.
Yes, absolutely All right.
Bye.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of the House of
Germar podcast, where wellnessstarts within.
We appreciate you being a partof our community and hope you
(51:08):
felt inspired and motivated byour guest.
If you enjoyed this episode,please write us a review and
share it with friends.
Building our reach on YouTubeand Apple podcasts will help us
get closer to our mission toempower 1 million women to live
all in.
You can also follow us onInstagram at House of Germar and
sign up to be a part of ourmonthly inspiration newsletter
(51:31):
through our website,houseofgermarcom.
If you or someone you knowwould be a good guest on the
show, please reach out to us atpodcast at houseofgermarcom.
This has been a House of Germarproduction with your host, jean
Collins.
Thank you for joining our house.
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