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RELATIONSHIPS ARE COLLABORATIONS · The Karen Kenney Show

0:01
Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney show. I'm super
0:04
duper excited to be here, and thank you so much for listening
0:08
to the podcast. If you tune in regularly, like, you already
0:11
know who I am, right? Like, maybe my face is familiar. You
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know my voice, you know what we talk about here on the show. But
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if, like, you're wicked new to the show, first of all, welcome.
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I'm so happy to have you here, and you can find out, like, I'm
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not going to read you some long ass bio, but you can find out
0:30
all about me. Karen Kenney, k, e n, n, e, y.com, the work I do,
0:36
the stuff I offer, whatever. But in a wicked short synopsis,
0:39
right? A little short synopsis, I'm a certified spiritual
0:43
mentor. I am a writer, I'm a speaker, I'm a storyteller, I'm
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a integrative coach, I'm a hypnotist. I I've been a yoga
0:52
teacher for like, 26 years. I do Thai Yoga massage, like Thai
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Yoga, bodywork, blah, blah, on and on and on. Mostly I'm like,
1:01
I'm a child of God, I'm an extension of the universe. I try
1:05
to spread love. That's what the hot beat of the show is about.
1:08
Is about spirituality and storytelling. And, you know,
1:12
kind of just learning all about who we are, why we do what we
1:16
do, say what we say, think, what we think, etc, etc. And I just
1:20
really try to share applicable and practical tools and tell
1:25
stories that like have maybe universal principles in them,
1:29
but that you can also somehow like put into action in your
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life. So spreading a little more love in the world is kind of
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like my my modus operandi. That's why, that's why I like to
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do this show. Okay, so today, today, what today's episode is
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brought to you by different inspirations. One was a
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conversation I was having with my friend who I call Emmeline.
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Her real name is Emily, a born but I call her Emma line. And so
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we were talking about collaborations, and that's kind
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of like the hot beat of what this episode is about. And then
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also something that I saw online from an actor that I love, Ethan
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Hawk, and so I'm going to dive into that right now. So Emma
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line is actually doing Emily a born, right? Her podcast is
2:22
called content with character and next week. So whenever
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you're listening to this on, her episode is coming out on like
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August 19, 2025 and she's talking all about collaboration.
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So you want to go check that episode out for sure. And she's
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kind of coming at it more from a professional standpoint, a
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business standpoint, I'm talking about collaborations on more of
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a personal level. And I think so often we think about
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collaborations being for business, right, or school or
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something that's not as close to the human hat, but I think all
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relationships are like good collaborations, right? Or, I
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should say maybe all good relationships are like good
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collaborations. So relationships are like collaborations. And let
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me kind of tell you what I mean by that. So a lot of times when
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we're going to quote, unquote, collaborate with somebody out in
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the world, you know, we're kind of looking at it from a very
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strategic point of view. It's like, okay, what are they
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bringing to the table? What am I bringing to the table? How is
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this going to benefit me? How is this going to benefit them? Is
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this going to speak to my audience? Is this going to land
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with my listeners or my clients? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
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but for me, and it's not even a but, and for me, the main
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driving force is, is the math has to be mathing, meaning, when
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we bring me together with you, right? When we bring these two
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living, breathing human beings, these human spirits, together,
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you've got one plus one, and hopefully you are Better
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Together, meaning that when you come together, that you create a
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certain kind of magic that benefits not only each of you
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but the greater world, your community, your family, your
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environment. And so when I think about relationships this, this
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goes to personal relationships, like, hopefully within your
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family, your friends, your sweetie, your partner, who
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you're married to or sleeping with, or like, whatever, right?
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So when you're going into this, who you choose, when you're
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going into a relationship with, right? When you're when you're
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planning on hooking up with somebody, whether that's for
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months, years, life, whatever, right who you choose to quote,
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unquote, collaborate with, matters. So it's not that we
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want to be picky in this special way, like I'm better than you,
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but we want to think about this beyond just the pretty surface
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stuff. Like, like, oh, that person's hot. Like, I want to be
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with them. It's like, wow. It's like, can we go, like, a little
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bit of a deeper dive? Because those elements beyond Oh, it's
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just going to look good together. Right underneath that
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is, it's like, are we better together? What I'm bringing into
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the relationship, and what they're bringing into the
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relationship, is we collaborate together? Are we going to create
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something that is really strong, that is really powerful, that is
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really, you know, can, can kind of like last, last, over time.
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Now, sometimes there are going to be quick collaborations,
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right? You might meet somebody and you decide to do a project
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together and like, that's whatever, but if we're doing
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something for a long period of time together, it's really
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important, I think, that we start off by choosing somebody
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who we're going to be in a relationship slash collaboration
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with, that we respect, that we trust and beyond loving them,
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that we actually like them, because there are all kinds of
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people that you, quote, unquote, love, right? Oh, that's my
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uncle. I love him. He's part of my family. I find it fascinating
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that we can love people. There's a love there. But we necessarily
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don't want to, I don't want to, like, maybe hang out with them,
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or,
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oh my god, we don't want to see him that often. You know what
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I'm saying. We don't want to go to lunch. It's like, yeah, I
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love them and right and find the right distance or whatever. But
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something that Ethan Hawke said made me really start to think
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about this idea. He was talking about that he and his wife had
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started to collaborate. She was getting more into, like
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producing films, and so they were working on a project. And
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one of the things he said two things that really jumped out at
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me, and I want to share them here, because I think they're
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really applicable to our relationships, to these
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collaborations that we decide to get into. And he said, number
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one, one of the things that makes a successful collaboration
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is you have to be open to other people's ideas. A lot of times
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we come into relationships and we think like, This is who I am.
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This is the way, the right way, the only way I'm the one that
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has the strength in this area. Like we kind of put ourselves in
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boxes, and sometimes we put ourselves up on pedestals, and
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we just do don't listen very well to what other people are
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trying to share with us. And so number one, I think when we go
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into a relationship or a collaboration, we have to keep
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our minds, open our ears, open our eyes, open our hearts, open
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right? We have to be open to what the other person is sharing
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with us their ideas, right? We can't just say, like, No, I'm
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the boss here. Like, you suck it in a bucket, right? That. That's
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not how this works. So number one, we got to be open to other
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people's ideas, and this applies, right? Because here's
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the thing, even if everything I'm saying can also pretty much
8:15
be applied to business collaborations, because all
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those are relationships as well, they just might not be, as you
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know, intimate, let's put it that way. But even a really good
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business collaboration, there is a certain amount of intimacy and
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vulnerability that that goes on there. Okay? Number two, Ethan
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Hawke, he said, You have to trust your collaborators. You
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have to trust your collaborators. And the way that
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he said, It really made me laugh, and it made me think
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about long term relationships, because I think that there's
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this thing that happens in long term relationships, and I've
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talked about this on other episodes, where people just kind
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of start to take each other for granted. People like to start to
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like, pigeonhole people and label them and think of them as
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like, well, I'm the one who cooks, they're the one who
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cleans. I'm the one that has the mechanical skill set. They're
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more analytical, or they're more feely, or they're like,
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whatever. And so we label people, we stop seeing them, we
9:16
stop trying to understand them, because we think we know
9:19
everything already. We know everything about them. We know
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how they are. We think we can predict what story they're going
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to tell, what their moods going to be, how they're going to
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respond. We don't even allow them to have a present moment
9:30
experience, because we've already like labeled them or
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whatever. And when we start to do this, we start to take them
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for granted, and we don't trust them anymore. We're not as
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curious about them. We show up with all of our judgments, so we
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have to trust our collaborators. And he said it like this. He
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says, You have to keep in mind, right? I'm paraphrasing a little
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bit. He says there was a time instead of instead of project,
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right, instead of the word project, just think
9:58
relationship. Okay, you. He says, There was a time when you
10:02
really wanted them to join this project, and it's because you
10:07
thought they were smart, and I love this so much. There was a
10:13
time when you were starting to get into a relationship with
10:15
somebody, and you were like, Yeah, I want to do life with
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this person. I want to spend time with this person. I want to
10:22
exchange time, energy, resources, money, sex, bodies,
10:27
whatever, with this person because you trusted them,
10:30
because you thought that they were bringing something
10:33
worthwhile to the table, right? You thought they were smart. And
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this is kind of really low grade secret kind of, like internal
10:44
contempt that I see that builds over time in relationships where
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the couple stops collaborating and they're more like competing
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or withholding, and I've seen this, especially In older
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couples, like talking about, like, grandparent level couples,
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right? And I know some grandparents are much younger
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these days, but I'm talking like old school, like old school, and
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one of my set of grandparents, oh, my God, I couldn't tell
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like, I'm like, they stayed married, like, up until their
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deaths. But I'm like, there was so much contempt, there was so
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much anger, and I think just disappointment and eye rolling,
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you know, like one would start to talk, and the other one
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would, like, roll their eyes so hard and far and back in their
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head that I'd be like, I don't know, I don't know if she's
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going to be able to Get those down, you know, and I'm like,
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whatever this relationship slash collaboration was at the get go,
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I think, I think at this point now, they just pretty much can't
11:49
stand each other, but they stayed together because that's
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what you did back then. You know what I mean. So one of the
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things when we're going into these relationships, into these
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especially these longer term collaborations, is we want to
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understand like, what is this other person's values? Like?
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What are their core values? Like, what really matters to
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them, right? And what do they consider valuable like, what
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what matters to them? Like, who are they? You know what I mean?
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Because, again, who you are choosing to collaborate with,
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matters, and we're going to go into how it doesn't always work
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out in a minute. We want to understand how they communicate.
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Like, if I'm trying to do a project with somebody, I need to
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know like, who they are, what's their style like, what's their
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style of communication? Are they going to be like timely and
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getting back to me, are they able to do they have emotional
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intelligence? Can they tell me what they're thinking, what they
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they feel? Do they communicate in a very gruff or abrupt or
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harsh way? Do they tend to need an invitation to communicate, or
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are they afraid of being a bother? Like, there's so many
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layers to it, right? We want to understand their commitment
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level. Like, how serious are they about this thing? How
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serious are they about this project or this relationship?
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Like, are we on the same level of commitment? Are they doing
13:17
like, Hey, this is a one off thing, right? Or are they
13:20
looking to go a little deeper and to establish, you know, a
13:23
connection, and to establish some history and some some time,
13:27
and, like, whatever, you know, what's their skill set? What?
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Again, not so much like, what do you bring into the table? But
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like, yeah, what's your contribution to this
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relationship? Like, what? What like Do you have the capacity
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right to communicate, to care? Are you a total raging
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narcissist? Are you like, are you so traumatized that you're
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not able to access parts of you like, you know, like, who am I
13:55
dealing with? You know that again, what's their style of how
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they're showing up in the world, because I think in a really good
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relationship and in a really good collaboration, there is
14:09
enough room for everybody to shine, so even if your styles
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are totally different, one of the beautiful things like I
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think about my sweetie and I right, like My sweetie and I, we
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share a lot of the same core values, like we care about, you
14:26
know, certain that we both we both love animals. We both are
14:31
like a little introverted, and we do extroverted things, right?
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Even though we're both very introverted, we do very
14:37
extroverted things in our life.
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We both artists, right? He's a musician and I'm a writer. We're
14:44
both creatives. We both value, like, time to get etc, etc, etc,
14:49
right? So, but he is, like, he has a skill set. Like, I marvel
14:56
at his skill set. He is so ridiculously talented. Like, he
14:59
just makes me. To punch myself in the face. Sometimes he's so
15:02
talented and he can shine in he shines in very particular ways.
15:08
And then there's me and what I do, and then there's whatever my
15:11
skill set and whatever I do in the world, right? So we
15:15
compliment each other, and there's room for both of us to
15:18
shine. You know, there was a period of time in my life where
15:22
I kept choosing partners, I kept choosing people who were like
15:29
always really talented, but there was no real room in the
15:33
relationship for me to shine, because it was always about
15:37
them. It was always about my contribution was in upholding
15:43
them, supporting them, being their greatest cheerleader, you
15:46
know what I mean? And slowly over time, right? I finally, you
15:51
know, chose a guy who and there was another relationship. In
15:56
fairness, there's another relationship before that that
15:59
started to give me a taste of that, of like, putting the
16:02
spotlight a little bit more on myself, my sweetie just really,
16:06
really supports me, and he's my biggest number one fan, right?
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And that's another thing. Like, you want to be a fan of the
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other person that you're collaborating with, that you're
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in relationship with. You don't want this weird fucking
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competition. Like, I just cannot hit I can't stand that. Like, I
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know people believe in healthy competition. They're like, Oh
16:28
yeah, when I see them doing well, it makes me want to
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ratchet it up a gear, like, whatever. That's fine. I'm
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talking about the kind of competition where it gets weird.
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You know, when, like, the vibe starts to get weird, and you're
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like, oh, this doesn't feel like it's a supportive, mutual fan
16:47
club thing. This starts to feel like either there's envy or
16:51
jealousy or them actually frenemy, right? They really,
16:56
actually don't want me to do well. They don't want me to
16:58
shine too bright, like they think that my brightness casts a
17:02
shadow, rather than seeing that. You know, we're kind of that
17:06
sunlight that we're both bringing is nurturing all the
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way around. Yeah, we want to be in relationship, aka
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collaboration, with people, where we actually support one
17:16
another. You know, because I'll tell you this, I can think off
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the top of my head, and I'm sure that look at if I'm leaving
17:25
anybody, nobody take this personally, anybody who, who
17:28
I've worked with in the past, but just off the top of my head,
17:31
I can think of, like, three really fantastic collaborations
17:33
that I had. My first one was when I was in college in BU, my
17:38
friends, I was lucky enough to actually be in school, in the
17:42
same classes with just friends who I adored like I adored. And
17:48
my sophomore year, we had to do what was called a capstone
17:51
project. And basically we had to get together, and we had to,
17:55
like research. I think we actually did a paper on the on
17:58
the Hare Krishna movement. But it was like myself, my friend
18:03
Christy, I think my friend Grover, there was a there was
18:07
like four or five of us. I think there was four of us, and we
18:11
each brought our own particular skill set. And the thing, other
18:16
thing, is that we all trusted each other, and we were all
18:19
reliable. Not nobody was dragging ass. Nobody was
18:22
slacking. Nobody was not doing their part. No, at least in my
18:26
memory, right? That's how I remember it is that everybody
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was doing their job, like do your job. That's another part of
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a powerful, you know, collaboration slash relationship
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is, you know, don't be slacking. Don't be slacking, don't be
18:40
withholding like everybody, do your damn job, and it just makes
18:44
it easier for everybody else. You know what I mean? I'm not
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saying you can't have a tough time or go through a period
18:50
where you need more support or attention or love or whatever,
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but if you pull your own weight and you really do your best,
18:58
that goes a long way. Another time is the New Hampshire yoga
19:02
retreat. So for five years, I patented up with three other
19:05
yoga teachers who are my friends, and we put on these
19:10
fantastic yoga retreats, and like 120 people would come, and
19:15
it would be so much fun, and we would do it over a three day
19:18
weekend, and we all came from different studios. We all
19:21
brought different points of view and strengths and whatever, and
19:26
we all believed in each other and supported each other. And
19:29
there was no weirdness, right? There was no like jealousy,
19:32
there was no it was a true collaboration. It was such a
19:35
blast. And then my friend Emmeline, Emily and I did a
19:40
collaboration called the content compass, when we talked all
19:44
about, like, creating content and storytelling and whatever.
19:47
And it was one of the easiest and funnest and just like, no
19:52
drama, like it was like, Okay, we would hop on a zoom. We'd
19:56
talk about it. We're like, let's do it over this many days, the.
20:00
Sounds great. What time do you think? Yeah, sure, it was so
20:05
easy, which in and it was easy, it was fun. It gave me more
20:13
energy. I did not feel drained. Because, let's be honest, I've
20:18
had some bad collaborations, like things where I thought, Oh,
20:23
this is a good idea. This person is x, y and z, so this is going
20:28
to be like, a good fit, right? We're all bringing different
20:32
POVs to the table, like, let's do this thing. There's one in
20:37
particular that I think about now. I cannot tell you, it never
20:42
got off the ground. I was planning an event with some
20:45
people, and there was one person in particular who made it so
20:53
fucking hard, just like everything was like, you know,
20:57
we talk about, like pulling teeth. It was like an energetic
21:01
suck of the biggest and deepest level. And I would get off those
21:06
calls and those Voxer thing, those threads, and I would just
21:09
be like, I can't do this. It was like, it was like pushing a rock
21:15
uphill again and again, like a massive boulder, and I would be
21:21
like, This is so exhausting. This per and it was because I'm
21:25
not saying, Look, we all bring our own stuff, right? We all
21:28
bring our own stuff to a collaboration. But one of the
21:31
things that I saw is that this person had a different style of
21:36
communication. This person was not willing to be open, really,
21:41
to other people's ideas. They did not trust their
21:44
collaborators. And how do you know that? Is because they were
21:47
trying to control every little thing, and they kind of kept
21:52
making themselves be the centerpiece they wanted. They
21:55
had to be like, Oh, I do. I and I'd be like, hey, there's like,
22:02
two other two other people here. You know what I mean? Because
22:06
you'll just know you I mean double A men hands you guys. If
22:10
you've ever had to work on a project, or you got paired up
22:12
with somebody or whatever, we know what a shitty collaboration
22:16
a partner feels for like, right? So I don't have to, like, hop on
22:20
it and drag people through the mud, or blah, blah, blah, blah,
22:22
because I'm sure there's somebody out there at some point
22:25
they could say, Oh yeah, and they were not the strongest
22:27
collaboration partner, you know, back in the day, whatever. But
22:32
here's the thing, if you are going to engage, right and,
22:37
quote, unquote, collaborate, I think all relationships are like
22:42
collaborations, and we want them to be good, right? We want to,
22:48
at the very least, own what we're bringing to the
22:52
relationship, showing up with honesty, showing up and saying,
22:56
This is what I'm capable of. This is what I'm not capable of,
22:59
at least right now. This is what I'm working on. This is what I'm
23:02
willing to do. These are my values. This is who I am. And
23:06
what that means is part of it means you have to know yourself
23:12
now sometimes we might, quote, unquote, surprise ourselves
23:16
about how we're showing up or not showing up, how we're
23:20
reacting, responding, communicating, whatever. But if
23:23
you don't know yourself, if you don't know what you're good at,
23:26
if you don't know where your strengths lie, where your
23:29
weaknesses are, where you struggle, where you get
23:31
triggered. But you have to know yourself if you're going to be
23:35
getting into a quote, unquote, collaboration with somebody
23:38
especially long term, you know, and it requires a lot of
23:42
honesty, first and foremost, with yourself, because nobody
23:48
wants to be bamboozled. Nobody wants to put in the time, the
23:52
energy and the effort to plan a life with you. Never mind just a
23:56
project with you, if the if you're not like if you're not
24:00
going to be who you say you are who you are, you know what I
24:04
mean? If you're not going to do what you if there's an if
24:06
there's a lack of congruency, remember, I always say the
24:10
assignment is alignment. If you're out of alignment, there
24:14
will be that cognitive dissonance. They're going to be
24:16
like, Well, wait. They say that. They always show up on time, but
24:21
this they're always late. They say they care about X, Y and Z,
24:26
but their actions are in complete opposition to what the
24:31
crap that came out of their mouth was, you know,
24:34
and that that will break down trust and sometimes it all looks
24:40
good on paper. It all looks good on paper. And then you actually
24:45
start to get into each other's kind of energetic field. You
24:49
start to spend a little bit of time together. You have to be
24:52
able to, kind of, like, read the vibe and read the room. And
24:56
there are times when, yeah, you know, not all collaborations,
24:59
like. To be wicked smooth all the time. There'll be speed
25:02
bumps. That's just life. But we have to know when to say no. We
25:06
have to know when we have to pull the plug. Because this
25:10
isn't just a This isn't like a temporary thing, right? Like
25:16
this is how that person operates in the world, and there's just
25:20
going to be no, this isn't going to work. And the thing is, is
25:23
you don't have to hate somebody because of it. You don't have to
25:27
cast them out of your hat. You can simply just say, like, yeah,
25:31
I don't think this is going to be a good fit. You know what I
25:33
mean? And again, I think everything I'm saying also
25:36
applies to business. I think whenever you're going because
25:39
it's all relationships, even if you bump into somebody at the
25:44
grocery store, a stranger for like 10 seconds, and you share a
25:49
glance, you share a moment, you get somebody some cereal done
25:53
off the top shelf because they're shorter than you that
25:56
that is a moment, momentary like relationship, you know. And of
26:00
course, in miracles, we call it like a level of teaching,
26:02
there's that moment, there's that opportunity. And every time
26:05
you interact with another person, it's an opportunity for
26:09
a holy moment, you know. And again, it makes me think, what
26:12
about what Ethan said, you know, you have to trust your
26:15
collaborators, which means you have to remember that you
26:18
started to go into this thing because you thought the other
26:21
person was smart or they had some value, that they were
26:25
bringing something to the relationship. So when you find
26:29
yourself starting to slip into that kind of like agitation or
26:34
contempt or judgment or eye rolling or taking people for
26:39
granted, or whatever. That's when you want to really just
26:43
slow down and start to take a look at what's going on inside
26:47
of you. And I think to know, again, we're going back to like,
26:51
you got to know yourself. You got to know why you're feeling,
26:54
what you're feeling, why you think, what you think, why you
26:56
say, what you say, why you do what you do, and what kind of
26:59
shit that you're bringing to the collaboration, because it's
27:02
really easy to be focusing on well, they're not doing this,
27:06
and they're not doing that, and they're not saying this, and
27:08
they're not holding up their end, and they're not Murmur,
27:11
murmur, them, them, them, them, them, them. It's all their
27:14
fault. It's all what you we have to be willing to take a look at
27:18
ourselves too and say, Do I trust, do I trust this other
27:23
person in the collaboration, meaning myself, like, am I
27:26
actually showing up at my highest level? Am I showing up
27:30
from a place of love, or am I showing up from a place of my
27:33
fear and my neuroses and all my bullshit, all my undealt with
27:36
trauma, all my emotional baggage, you know? And I always
27:40
talk about it like this, you know, I think about
27:42
relationships like when, when you're dating, I'm like, when
27:45
people first start dating, they love to show up and put on their
27:50
best act, right? Their best self steps forward and goes on the
27:55
date for the first however long, right? Because if people were to
27:58
just show up with their big bag of emotional stuff, all their
28:02
undealt with stuff, all their habits and patterns and
28:05
conditions and insecurity and bullshit, and they just imagine
28:10
just walking up like you're meeting at a restaurant. It's
28:12
like the first time you're meeting each other, and you both
28:16
like walk up to the table, or one of you is already sitting at
28:19
the table, and the other person just walks up with this big
28:21
Santa size sack full of stuff, full of shit. They just set it
28:26
down, and they're like, hi, like, this is me, and big
28:29
gesture, this is me and like, my stuff, right? The other person
28:33
would be like, yeah, check, please, check, please. I'm out
28:36
of here. So we have a responsibility, too, in our
28:40
relationships and in our collaborations, to know what
28:43
we're bringing to the table. And literally imagine that, like two
28:47
people about to sit down at this table, and they're looking at
28:50
each other and they're like, so why you want to do this thing?
28:53
Like, how you doing? Like, what's going on? Like, we think
28:56
we can make this thing work. Like, who are you, what are you
28:59
doing? What are you up to? What are you carrying around? What's
29:01
your attitude, what's your values, how do you communicate?
29:04
Is there room for me in this relationship, or is it going to
29:07
be the you show like all the time, right? Is there mutual
29:11
respect and support, right? Do we love each other double A men
29:15
hands, if you get that. But do we like each other like would we
29:19
choose each other? Would we choose each other? And that's a
29:27
really important thing. Because remember who you choose to
29:30
collaborate with, who you choose to do relationship with. It
29:34
matters. And then one other point, like, because beyond
29:37
that, you know, they become like an extension of you, you know.
29:43
And so I often talk about how, like, you know,
29:48
I don't like to be associated with people who are doing shady
29:52
shit. I want to, I want to surround myself with people who
29:57
look and we're all flawed. We're all flawed, we're. All a work in
30:00
progress, but there's a difference between, they made a
30:04
mistake, they screwed up, they're learning, and that is
30:07
some shady shit. That is a person who is, like, up to no
30:12
good. I'm all for fun shenanigans, right? I'm all for
30:16
like, we're gonna stumble, we're gonna be clumsy. That's life.
30:19
We're doing our best, and we're going to get better, and we
30:21
apologize and we own it, and then there's people who are up
30:24
to some stuff that I want nothing to do with, and I don't
30:28
want to be associated, right? So it can be really easy to be
30:33
charmed by people. So one of the other things I'll say is before
30:40
you jump into a collaboration, a relationship, a friendship. Pump
30:45
the brakes a little bit. Have a little patience. Feel things
30:49
out, get a real sense of people, because we are training our
30:54
brains these days for everything to be fast, immediate. Want
30:58
instant gratification. Let's just do everything right? And
31:02
like, we need to be able to pump the brakes. Kind of take a look
31:06
at the larger landscape. Kind of float above the timeline, go
31:10
above everything. Take a look, see, take a little look, see
31:13
around, and be like, Who is this person really? What am I getting
31:18
into? And you know, some people, you get involved too fast, too
31:24
furious, right? The Fast and the Furious. And it doesn't always
31:27
end well. I feel like I could talk about this for a really
31:31
long time, that this metaphor, right of relationships are like
31:35
good collaborations, but I think I'm going to pause it there for
31:39
now, and it's just an invitation, too, to take a look
31:41
around and see who are you collaborating with these days.
31:46
Maybe you haven't collaborated with somebody in a long time.
31:50
Maybe your collaboration partner recently passed away, or you
31:54
broke up, or they left, or there's been a rift, or some
31:57
kind, you know, maybe it's time to stop looking, you know, to
32:01
collaborate, or maybe the greatest collaboration you want
32:04
to have is between you and yourself, or you and your book,
32:07
your artistry, your writing, you and your music, you and whatever
32:11
you're creating, you and your clients. I don't know you and
32:14
your pets, like whatever. It's not for me to say what your next
32:17
collaboration should be, but maybe you've been not really
32:21
pouring into any kind of collaboration lately, and maybe
32:25
you've just been kind of like dog paddling, trying to keep
32:29
your head above water. But you know, there are, there are some
32:33
great collaborators out there, and they're also looking for you
32:38
and for the beauty and the the wisdom and the joy and the fun
32:41
and the love. And let me just say that too, great great
32:45
collaborations, great relationships. They have fun.
32:49
You have more fun together. And so if you're starting to feel
32:53
like, Oh, these things, this doesn't really feel that fun
32:58
anymore. And I'm not talking about, like, hard patches,
33:01
because all relationships go through those kind of tough
33:03
patches, right? I shouldn't say most, let's, let's normalize
33:07
that most relationships, they go through a thing when you feel a
33:09
little out of sync, whatever. I'm not talking about that. But
33:12
sometimes there comes a point where you're just like, Yeah,
33:15
this is just a grind, and I don't see a way out, like, and
33:18
I'm not saying give up, right? That's what therapy and coaching
33:21
and mentoring. There's 1000 things you can do, but sometimes
33:24
we just when we start to realize, yeah, this doesn't feel
33:27
that fun anymore. That's like a flare being sent up into the
33:32
consciousness to take a look at that. But hopefully, whoever you
33:36
are collaborating with right now, you're having a lot of fun,
33:39
and I'm so grateful to all the people that have been great
33:43
collaborators with me throughout my lifetime, and I've had some
33:47
great collaborations, and I super duper appreciate you. And
33:51
right now I feel like I'm having a collaboration with my
33:53
listeners. So thank you so much again for being here. I hope
33:57
this has been helpful in some way, or got you just thinking a
34:00
little differently. I always say, I'm not here to tell you
34:02
what to think, but it's an invitation to think, and
34:05
sometimes it might be a new way of thinking, which is always
34:08
fantastic and fun. So I appreciate you so much. Don't
34:12
forget, my friend Emmeline has her content with character
34:15
podcast. It's coming out on August 19, and she's kind of
34:19
taking a collaboration angle more from the business side, and
34:21
I'm really excited to listen to that. Maybe you'll check it out
34:24
too, and just thank you for being here and wherever you go,
34:28
wherever you go, may you leave yourself and the place and the
34:32
animals and the planet and the other people, your other
34:35
collaborators, better than how you first found them, wherever
34:39
you go. May you and your energy and your presence and your love,
34:45
you know, be a blessing. Bye. You.