Picture Love Podcast

Protecting Your Peace in 2026

Kris LeDonne Season 2 Episode 40

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We are being bombarded with information, outrage, and emotional intensity. But what if our greatest contribution right now is personal regulation?

In this episode, Kris reflects on micro changes, nervous system care, and why peace is not something we outsource to other people or circumstances.

A grounded conversation about energy, focus as currency, and how small shifts create collective impact.

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Kris LeDonne:

Hello friends. So I was listening to a YouTube channel that I subscribed to, and the message that I got from it was just offering gentleness and self preservation tips on how to handle all the news coming out because. What's news to us may have happened a decade or two ago, but until it comes to light, we don't know it's news, right? So we're being bombarded by information and usually most of it is dysregulating and fearful and just not good for the nervous system at all. And that was the point of the video I was watching. And or listening to. And one thing that my eyes landed on was a comment by a listener who said something to the effect of, I tried to tell them I knew this was going on. Nobody would listen to me. Why couldn't the world just listen? And my takeaway from that was a little more impactful than the actual video itself. Because what I was able to notice and read, fortunately without feeling,'cause I was pretty balanced at the time when I read it, was this person's hurting and this person has anger and frustration from years of trying to give into other people of something that they knew to be true. And I wanna speak to that with you for a few minutes today. From my heart. I hope you. I hope you're supported by this. I'm not going to tell you what to do. I'm not going to talk about me as much as I am. A concept of self-healing and doing the work, so to speak, and in the context of today, early 2026. You know the whole world. It's not just here in the United States, it's all over the world. There are stories coming to light and people reacting, and some people banding together for better, for worse of all kinds. Atrocities, worry, stories of worry, stories of coming together. I've been very, very moved by the peaceful protests that humans all over the world, in all languages, in all countries are, demonstrating. And from that perspective, I wanna say yay, humanity, because you're seeing divided people who have opposing political views actually uniting over a common quote unquote enemy. But unfortunately there's more division. You know, we're trading one division for another anyway. Everything has to get messy before it can. Let me rephrase that mess is part of the crumbling before anything can be rebuilt, right? If you like me, have ever moved, you gotta empty out all those closets and it becomes a hot mess before it can ever get neat again. Renovations, all those things. Change is messy. And so I wanted to just inspired by that voice of frustration and anger and lower emotions. Let's say speak with compassion and not judgment to that, that common thread that we all face and we all feel,'cause I won't tell you, I don't get angry, I won't tell you, I don't get fear-filled and I won't tell you, I don't get frustrated. I get frustrated with myself for that matter, but where I'm going is talking about self-healing. Doing the work on one's self and healing past traumas, past troubles, you know, giving things peace that will never be resolved from human to human, but because maybe you can't, they're not around anymore. All of the healing that we do on ourselves helps the big picture, and so I wanna sell you on self-help, and if I'm preaching to the choir, so to speak, and you're already there with me, then maybe you can chime in and offer me a few things I'm not mentioning because I could talk about this all day. I am no expert. I just have very strong feelings about what I've experienced and how it's helped me and other people. But I think together we learn so much more than we do alone. And that being said, micro changes. Little tiny changes repeated over time. Make micro patterns. While micro patterns can grow into macro patterns with repetition, with sharing, with inspiration, and spreading. There's steadiness that comes with patterns. And so if one new tiny micro pattern, pattern of thought that creates a pattern of emotion, that creates a new pattern of action, that creates a new, new momentum that offers validity. To the point where an old pattern can be released. That's where I'm going with this. If we can all just find a small, subtle change that is valuable for each one of us individually, that help one's self, that is not selfish, that's self responsible, you know, whether it's simply waking up and having a glass of water and being grateful for it. Before talking or speaking or doing anything else, whether it's something as simple as that little micro change can cause such a beautiful, beautiful ripple and collectively by all of us adding a little micro change. That is a macro change that is large scale improvement. And I see it. I see it with people coming together. Whether you are able or called to be a demonstrate demonstrator in public, in the masses or not. All of us have a very valuable role, and I think it's really, really important that none of us forgets the work we need to do within our own hearts and with our own selves, because quite honestly, a regulated family member. Makes the difference between an escalated argument and an argument that just loses its fuel. You know, can we cut the fuel lines that are piping gasoline onto the flames? What if we did that one small thing that we stopped giving our energy to? What if we could just detach from the outcome of one thing, one pattern. That triggers us over and over and over and over. Can you think of one pattern that triggers you every time it comes round and you feel like Groundhog Day, haven't we done this before? Haven't we done this before? Haven't we done this before? What's gonna change? It doesn't take a whole makeover to break a pattern. It just one little shift. To make the difference between a pattern continued or one releasing gradually over time because something else is getting stronger. So I wanna talk about energy and focus as currency. So if there's something. That is being released over and over and over, and it's another file. We're only, we're only 2000 into the 6 million files, right? If we continue that same stress response on every announcement and we invest into every single one of them, what's it gonna do to the nervous system right now? Am I saying turn a blind? I know if you are one of those. Oh, warriors of Information, who's going through it for the collective to actually serve. Thank you so much. Thank you for your role. I appreciate you. You are appreciated. But if you are in a position of more, the majority of people who are not hands-on involved in them, and you're not in a position where you can come together with community and find people you can peacefully express. You're cry for peace and don't think that the work you're doing on yourself is any less significant. Honestly, because one calm, grounded, regulated human being in a, in a room full of tension can actually diffuse, can actually be a pattern interrupt. A calm system in a calm room can make the difference between something escalating and it not, because honestly, regulation isn't louder. Peace is sometimes loud, but sometimes peace is quiet. And I think the intention of all of this bombardment that we're being given, whether it's tariffs, whether it's, you know. Arrests, whether it's injustices on the street or injustices in our data, whether it's any of those things. One micro change might sound like, what can I control here and what can I just observe or what it look like? Can I observe this? Without judgment, good, bad, or what have you, or I detach from the outcome. I'm showing up as the best version of me as I can, or I will come back to this later. Right now, I am silencing all of the technology and I'm going to breathe, or I'm going to take a walk, or I'm going to take a nap, or I'm shutting this off an hour before I go to bed tonight. Those little tiny activities of self-preservation are love. That is not selfish because honestly, there will always be a new, a new news cycle. There will always be something else to read about or hear about. If we can work on ourselves, collective, if every single human being was working on regulating their nervous system, none of this would be happening, right? None of these things would've happened in the first place. So let's rewrite our future instead of rewriting our history. What do we do right now to get on good footing to restore bodies? Start with a glass of water. A little gratitude for the ability to drink that water. Start with a well wish of gratitude for the people who are in the weeds for us. Start with a little bit of celebration for yourself, for one really great choice that you feel really proud of, that you'd like to do again, when that situation circles background again, you know, I. I may have mentioned this to you before, but just in case, I'll keep it short. I was at a home improvement store and there was a woman in a hurry, and I, she was behind me and I did not realize that as I am pulling over to the curb to load something into my car in the loading zone, but she didn't like it. And apparently maybe, maybe her vision wasn't what it should be. She didn't think that the 10 feet between her car and mine were white was a wide enough distance to navigate around my car. So she lays the horn, the horn on me, and my old self would've like turned around and had some choice where said, what's your problem? But my regulated self was present that moment and so yay me, the regulated person. I looked at her and said, would you like help getting around me? And then when she continued to honk her horn in my face and other people started looking, I was like, I just walked away. And I shook my head in a, took a deep breath and. I didn't have adrenaline rushing through my body, which is something new. So I celebrated that and no sooner had I gotten, you know, the employee to come out and help me load my car with what I just picked up as this other customer was going into the store and she said that was not necessary, honey, you did not deserve that. And I said, wow, I just feel bad for her. She probably aged herself another five years in that five seconds and she giggled with me. It felt so good to just not take on that woman's anger into my system. So that's one way I was able to ground and then go home and drive safely, not enraged by somebody else's parking lot rage. So that's something, for example. That I'm celebrating because the next time somebody is, as I perceive them being irrational at me or towards me or around me, maybe I will have practiced that once enough to help me do that again and stay grounded and calm and maybe not even comment at all. Maybe just silence. That could be my next, version of that.'cause your life always circles around. Our growth is never a straight. Straightforward. It's never linear. It's always spiral. There's always a theme that keeps re revisiting and revisiting until we actually learn it. And then when it circles back around and we've learned it, it's just a non-issue. Right. So here's to lessons learned that help us regulate. Maybe set a good example for others who might wanna be inspired by that. They'll take it or they'll leave it. But my point is, my piece. Not something, something I'm willing to outsource to another human being. I'll say that again'cause I really like how that sounded. My peace is not something I'm willing to outsource to another human being or other circumstances for that matter. Let's see, what little micro changes can we make towards our own personal piece? What little micro changes and become micro patterns. Those micro patterns can make old patterns just irrelevant and fall away. What if officers given unjust orders just banded together and said no? Hmm. What if, what if the offices were supposed to respect spoke to their superiors with silence? Instead of executing, you know, ridiculousness, just a thought. I'm gonna continue to spend the currency of my focus and my intention on what somebody might consider imagination or dreaming or fantasy, because quite honestly, that is a better inspiration than the anger of the other guy. So. That's all I really wanted to share with you today. This is one little culminating thing I wrote in my journal. I'm gonna share it with you just in case those words support somebody today. And I will put it in the show notes and I'm calling it my homecoming statement Home, meaning like within self airgas. Read it like a mantra. I am consciously here. I participate as my authentic self. I honor and protect my peace knowing it is powerfully contagious. I use my energy consciously. I give myself permission to adjust my focus as I remember who I really am. I am embrace compassion for myself and others as we continue to grow, and I am consciously and lovingly here. That's what I'm telling myself these days. That's the space that's allowing me some micro changes, some micro shifts, and maybe some really vibrant sparkly new micro patterns. It all starts with a thought, right? We, if we practice a thought enough times, it becomes, there's fueling to it, right? And. Making those feelings into positive patterns causes positive actions, and we send out ripples of peace and productivity in growth. So let's make our personal work a priority. And if you're finding that your body is starting to clench, your shoulders are way too high, your stomach is way too tight, the sleep is far too disrupted. Maybe give yourself the gift of unplugging an hour earlier before you get some sleep and make sleep a non-negotiable. I know it sounds like I'm telling you what to do, but you deserve it. We all deserve it. That's all the love I'm picturing right now. I hope it helps you do the same. Until next time, I love you. Keep picturing love.