Hello friends. It's so good to be back with you today. On this episode of picture love. I am revisiting actually building on last week's episode about releasing the over-thinker or letting go of our overthinker. You knew that part of our psyche, that ego. That wants to analyze and collect data. And can actually get a stuck in patterns of thinking and analyzing, and maybe even finding decision paralysis. And I shared some stories with you last week. So if you miss that one, please go back because I also. Tried to support the conversation by suggesting ways to accomplish that. If you find you're just locked up in your head and. One of the things that I like the least about being stuck in my overthinking is the creativity that gets completely extinguished. When I overthink everything. I've also had an Siri in episodes of the past, referred to people pleasing. And those two things seem to be. Very close cousins. They go hand in hand, they get along great. And they tend to magnify things that. May be. Are not the highest priority in our core values. But this episode is to build on that and to share with you a new layers of covered in just a week's time. And as this episode drops here in the us, it is election day. And so I wanted to offer. Something positive something, loving something to help you picture love and tear day. If maybe you're finding it so easy to fall into old patterns that society introduces and reintroduces and reinforces when it comes to just focusing on things in the media that drag us down. And crush creativity and oftenly often. Oftenly there's a new word for you. And often extreme extinguish the joy that comes from a creative flow. So this part too. I titled from over-thinker to freedom because. That's what happens for me. And I know it happens for a lot of other people as well. So if you would, please just indulge me for this conversation. And let's talk about what happens. When we transmute transform. That overthinking to a calm mind. Where freedom is introduced in the space where that noise was occupying before. And I want to share a story with you about. Um, the very, very earliest days of my entrepreneurship back when I was still a public school music teacher. And I had started a direct sales business, doing something I find highly satisfying, and that was taking photos and putting them into albums and teaching other people how to do it. It was a sales. Um, plot, um, direct sales company. That's still around in a newer version today. But it was a really important part of my journey. And I look back and I can see now, you know, hindsight is always so much clearer. I can see now. Um, pivotal moment one. I silenced my creativity on purpose because I actually believed. That I was alienating the people who needed me the most by coming across to creative. Little did I know? That 20 years later, I was going to be working really hard to unpack and reverse. And erase those well-practiced muscles. So I've been told, oh, Kris, you're so creative. I could never do that. And in a lot of different ways by people who just honestly weren't in that moment, recognizing the beautiful creativity within themselves. And for some reason, I grew up believing. That in order to make other people feel better. I had to dim something that they claimed was just unattainable. That I had and they thought they didn't. You know what I'm saying? And so I would dim my light. And in this case it was creativity. The first scrapbook I ever made. Was with my wedding and honeymoon pictures. And I literally set up a card table. And I had a stack of pictures. And this is back in my, my teacher days. And it was summer break and I sat down and basically for a week. He ate, slept. And returned to the card table. Um, to finish this album and I knocked it out in about five days and I was so proud of it. I used all those proofs that didn't go into the scrap into the actual wedding album or. And to frames, you know, the ones that were really great of different people, but they put, you couldn't fit them all into the album. Well, I did crazy detailed pages like we honeymooned in Napa valley and that's in California for those who don't know in the U S.. So I took a picture of each person in our wedding party and each one of them was cut into an oval and gathered in a cluster on a page and it became a bunch of grapes and I cut out leaves and I drew. Tendrils for the fines. And I just really put my heart into it. And I was so proud of it. And I loved how the album told the story without me holding somebody prisoner to the whole, you know, story of the sequence of events from, you know, the wedding and the. Reception and the celebrations and the traveling. One of the things I've always loved about the freedom of looking at a photo album is I can flip through the pages as fast as I want. Or as slowly as I want. And I was so pleased that I had this sequence, this beautiful story unfolding for myself, for my husband. Our future kids and anybody who cared to take a look at the fun stories. And. Before long, I stopped showing it to people because the conversation was around. Oh, that's so creative. I could never do that. And I didn't see opportunities to offer, to do it for people back then, I was convinced as a teacher that I could teach anybody how to make an album and it doesn't have to be fancy, but it's okay if I'm fancy. But then eventually I started to tell myself now, Kris, you've got to stop making things that are so creative because people are going to look at it. They're going to be intimidated and they're not going to want to scrapbook with you. So these are the, these are the things that I told myself while I was busy. Overthinking. And believing things like I need to dim and dummy down my creativity. So I do not alienate or make other people feel less. Wow. There's a lot to unpack. So. One of the things I love about the reason I did that is because I care about people. I care about serving people. But what I didn't know back then in my younger adult days is I don't have to make myself less for somebody else to become more. And I'll be honest. I don't think any of those people who said I was too creative, who said that was, they could never actually do that. I don't think any one of them ever really wanted to make an album and that's okay. I wasn't hurt by that, but I was so stuck on the thought that I had to be something different for somebody else. And if your toes are curling or your, your fingers are in fists, like mine arm, maybe he high struck a nerve. I don't know. Maybe you think it's just ridiculous to even have that perspective, but. If that's the case, you're probably already listening to something else. But this comes back to something that a very dear friend told me in and my coworking session yesterday morning. I mentioned it last week. If you want to know more about co-working sessions, let me know. And I'd be glad to do an episode about why I love them and why a host one. But she said to me, Kris. Just because somebody isn't ready to see the magic yet. Doesn't mean you should hide yours. That was a mic drop moment for me. And that echoed in my memory in many different scenarios where I hid my light. I hid my creativity. I hid. Something that I've. I've got an ability for. For the sake of trying not to alienate somebody else. So. There's just a lot of freedom in that awareness because all of a sudden. I'm realizing. Hm. Not once did I. Actually help somebody by dimming my light. So another example comes from last week's episode. And I walked you through some of the things going on. With me right now and my move. And, um, This. I'm still kind of reeling over this. So. I drive sensible cars. Do I like flashy cars. Sure. That's great for people to, I want somebody to rev their engine and, and give me an adrenaline rush while I'm walking my dog. because they scared the bejeebers out of me. No, I don't love that, but I do like a fun ride. And when I got to the car rental center, when I was out of town and they did not have the car that I had reserved and they offered me something that was in a much higher class than what I had rented. I gladly partook. Is that the word? She asked, would I be interested? And I said, oh yes, please. And this is the first time anybody ever asked me the following question. Kris would you rather have a Corvette or a Mustang? I'm going to let you just wonder which one I chose just to be mean and kidding. Yeah. So that was the first time anybody asked me that question and handed me the keys that I asked for. And bottom line while I was away for three days and sunshine and blue skies. Beautiful whether with the top down in my convertible, again, I won't say which one I chose. It was so nice to just receive instead of worry about what's next and. And that was as a result of letting my over-thinker have the day off. And just go with the flow. And it's so interesting. Every time I told myself, this is an amazing day. I wonder what else could happen? Something else would happen. And I, I literally took a very quick trip trying to find our next place to live. And I kept saying to myself, you know what. I really think I just need to rent something. I just need to rent something to, we could figure out exactly where we want to land. Let's finish selling the house and then we'll have time to be playful about this. And sure enough, I looked at two places and found the perfect place to rent. So now my family has a beautiful place to move to. The a place that had checked all of the boxes as far as location goes and access to the ocean and not backyard for the dog that's fenced and. Friendly neighbors. Literally checked every single box. And now I don't have to feel rushed to buy the next home. We have some freedom. Because I relaxed and I listened to my intuition because the over-thinker wasn't screaming in my head. So. Every time I turned around, I'd find something lik. a free covered shaded parking spot at the beach. I mean, where it's all paid parking, but this was. And just one thing after another kept unfolding for me. And every time I just said. This is so amazing. I wonder what else could happen? It was like, my emotions were we're rolling out the red carpet for the day. And I don't see this to brag. I say to share with you. The beautiful things that came in the freedom of the quiet mind that could actually hear the heart speak. And. It might not sound like the most amazing story to you, but. It was such a gift to be able to give myself a mental vacation. And to travel with the task of trying to find a place to live. That could have been a very stressful situation. in my older versions of myself. And I didn't. I didn't tell myself I have to dim my light. I can't drive a flashy car. Cause what if people will hate me? I can't drive a flashy car. Cause what if somebody's going to Nick it or dented or you know, all the things that could go wrong when we dare to do something better for ourselves than we've ever done before. I want to put an invitation out there. Who's willing to do something better for themselves so they can show up 10 fold better than ever before for the rest of the world. If we picture love in our lives for ourselves, with the intention of being that better self imagine how much better this world could be. And that leads to my next thought. Actually, you might have some input on this one. Also. You know, when you learn a new lesson and not all of a sudden life gives you another chance to practice what you've learned as your newest version of yourself. So the over-thinker will always have a chance to revisit things. And we have to in order to grow and move forward, instead of being stuck in the same lesson and a time loop, you know, a Groundhog day of sorts. We have to learn what the newest version of ourselves. Does how they act in these scenarios? So. Like, for example, the mindset, when they offered me the flashy convertible, I needed to not respond as the Kris who wouldn't dare make creative scrapbooky pages for other people to be intimidated by again. I need to be the Kris who reveled in creativity. And coming with new ideas and thoughts and working in a creative flow, I need to, to be in that freedom state of mind. In order to say yes, I would love that. and to to. You know, put the roof down and to let the hair be wild and crazy and not worry about it. Learning what the new version of yourself is. In order to stay at that higher level of. Of being, you know, that better version of ourselves. So how does that better version of ourselves think about all of the usual scenarios? And we have to look at it by dressing, like the part, acting like the part, thinking like the part and having new behaviors and thoughts for that newer, better version of ourselves. Freedom thinkers, not overthinkers freedom thinkers. Have the space in order to choose those better options, those better reactions, those more generous gestures, those more grateful. Words those more optimistic points of view. And those freedom thinkers are going to be the ones who actually can turn off the media. When the media isn't saying anything new. But the repetition is fear-mongering. That freedom thinker. Can say, you know what? It's a paid advertisement. Of course, that one point of view is going to believe this, but I don't have to let that ruin my day. I don't have to be stuck. And the repetition, whether it's truth or not, if it has nothing to do with me, maybe I can mute that. Maybe I can turn it off. Maybe guy could go put my feet in the grass or in the ocean or in the lake. Or maybe I can take a walk in the woods. Maybe I can reconnect with nature or do one of the many things we talked about last week to help give the over-thinker a break. Because quite honestly, our brains and over our overthinkers come from the right place. It's just that they're branches. Kinda need some pruning at times. And how every healthy tree needs. It's maintenance. It needs it's water, it's sunlight and it's pruning so that it can grow balanced. And certain overdeveloped parts. Can be trimmed back to maintain balance in these beautiful creations, you know, just like a haircut. You know, just cause one side of your hair grows a little bit faster than the other. And that looks a little uneven doesn't mean. That. You're broken. It just means it needs a little trim. And sometimes so too, our thoughts, our thoughts need a little bit of grooming. A little bit of trimming. And it's okay to let it down and let it be messy sometimes. But more than anything today, I hope that these stories and these scenarios, I hope there's something that resonates with you or remind you of something that you really believe. And you want to bring to the front of your thoughts. And one last thought I want to share with you today. Something you already know in your heart. And I just want to give it some words. When the world seems nuts, upside down or inside out. And you just can't figure out why. Get quiet. Go within. And find that peace that's right there inside of your heart. And when you're quiet enough, the over-thinker will say. That's right. Peace is right here. And it starts in each one of us. So from my heart to yours. I wish you nothing but love. Peace. And of course reminiscing. But let's just choose wisely where we want to reminisce and picture love and our lives and in the world. See you next time.