Latest / Alive & Kicking: Stories of Waking Up with Kay Eck / Interview with Kay Eck | Awakening Through the Creative Process

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Interview with Kay Eck | Awakening Through the Creative Process · Alive & Kicking: Stories of Waking Up with Kay Eck

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Alive and Kicking Podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Kay Eck, and this is where we talk to ordinary people about their extraordinary lives.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to the Alive and Kicking Podcast, everybody.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited to be here with my friend Ashley Livingston.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Ashley.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: So the listeners and viewers of the podcast might recognize you as one of the very first guests that we had on, but today we have something different planned.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: We're going to turn the tables around, we're going to switch up the microphones, and you're going to interview me.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited that you could do this for us because you're one of my favorite people in the whole world.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: You're just brilliant and wise and insightful and um bold and brave.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I just love every bit of you.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you so much for doing this.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for asking me.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's an honor.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: Ah, wonderful.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: So with that, I guess I'll turn it over to you.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for having me today.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to ask you the question first that you ask all of us when you have us on your podcast.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit about your origin story and your spiritual journey.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Oh gosh.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: So the first, I guess the very first um kind of spiritual awakening that I recall was when I was in second grade.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I went to a Catholic school and we had nuns.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: And when I was in the second grade, uh we had a missionary nun come to visit our class.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: And she came from Africa and spoke to us about what her work was about.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I just remember being like completely lit up by her presence and thinking to myself, oh, that's what I want to do.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: I want to serve.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so I was like a really sort of um, I was kind of quiet and a little shy, well, probably a lot shy, but I was also super tough because I had two older brothers and um very much wanted to be like, you know, in the mix of things.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: So that really kind of toughened me up.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: And when I was going through my, you know, schooling, it just I was also like really sensitive and I I was like, I loved people deeply.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like I always was able to like pick out the child at the lunch table who didn't have anybody to sit with or somebody who was new to the school and invite them over.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like I just like felt that connection with those people.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: But in my school, it was you know very academically oriented, and I was somewhat interested in academics, but I I quickly realized that that was sort of like that was the currency, was the intellect.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: And so I just stepped on board that train and I, you know, just started going that route.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I went to high school, I was also an athlete, and that um I always considered that athletic um pursuits to be like a meditation in motion.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: I always had that understanding.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: I was really connected to my body, and um I was it was like a a huge part of my life.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I was a gymnast until I was in college.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: I loved to ski and bike and you know, all the things.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: So um I in college, I kind of went through one of those, you know, deep existential crises.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I, although it was like an incredibly expansive time, it also was super dark for me.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: I was just really kind of falling apart, didn't know who I was, didn't know what I really wanted to do, didn't feel super connected with other people.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: I was really drawn to like philosophy and you know, groups that um sort of valued the the intellect less than the spiritual, because at that time there wasn't really a lot of spirit that I knew of, a lot of spiritual communities outside of religion, and I had long ago given up on that.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: So um I was I just felt really lost, and I was surrounding myself with people, with people who were similarly um oriented, kind of lost, you know, and that just that kind of just snowballs and things just you know don't go well.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: So things didn't go that well for me, and but then as I um I went to college, struggled still with the same things, but started to um sort of find my way out of it by by understanding that I was unique, had something to offer, and but I was still on the same track that everybody my age, every woman my age was on.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I was like I had a career.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: I got after I graduated, I I had a good job and I met a good person, and we started dating and eventually got married.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I just was like on this sort of track, and um I had four children and I was very busy and I had a very full life and it was very stressful.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I I after raising my kids, when my daughter was in first grade, I decided that like I needed to do something.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: So um I started to take drawing classes, and looking back at that period, so I I um enrolled in the School of the Art Institute certificate program.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: So it's meant to be like a four-year program, but I did it in two because I was just like super hungry for it.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: And looking back on that process, I can see how I was working through various spiritual themes in my work, even though I wasn't really aware of that.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: And my intention was to become like a fine artist, but the work was way too solitary for me after you know, raising my kids, which you know can be a very solitary pursuit.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I just couldn't imagine spending day after day after day in a studio alone.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I decided to, um, I had also started taking yoga, and immediately that was I felt like it from my first class on, I was connected to an ancient part of myself.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: And yoga just came very naturally to me.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: I and went into a teacher training program after just a year of practicing on my own, and a year um with within a year after graduating, I had opened a studio.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: So that took me really far deep into the rabbit hole, so far deep that I my family was kind of like, where's mom at?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like, and so um, and then along around that time, through that sort of introspection, my um my my relationships started to really come under scrutiny.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um and it's it was it was more of a it was like a very deep period for me, very introspective.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um and that in and of itself is a struggle because when you go in that deep, you know, the outside world becomes a little uh surface, a little cardboard cutout.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: And so when you're not engaged in the outside world, you know, people start to wonder what's going on with you.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: You might appear to be like I appeared to be depressed when actually I think I was just really in search of myself and of meaning.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, but it was an incredibly difficult period.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe my marriage ended up ending, my mother died, my daughter was struggling, I had to put my dog down all like within the within the um a course of like maybe a year.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: And it just was like that was like looked to me like a life that was falling apart.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it's um, but what I found at the bottom of that rabbit hole was myself and this um incredible everything started to turn around for me.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: I started to see everything as a gift that would lead me to more of myself and more of my power.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I started taking back my power from all these various systems that I had given it away to, whether it be marriage or the school system or government or religion or you know, all the things.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: And um, so that has been um that has been my path.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I came to understand that I had a certain talent for taking these really complex concepts and making them accessible to people.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so as part of my journey, I just started writing a little bit about the human condition online, you know, Facebook posts or whatever.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that kind of like has propelled me on this journey to write and to share and you know, all the stuff that I'm doing.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: So that's kind of like the abbreviated version.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's beautiful.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So writing flowed out of that whole deconstruction process for you as life fell apart, you turned to writing throughout.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I I should say that I um I was always a writer as a kid.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: I never journaled because I thought that was so boring.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and I never like went back to read anything.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, what's the point?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: But when I was going through that period of um when my mother was passing away and everything was going on, I started writing just to help me process because there were so many things occurring on so many different levels in my life.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: It was almost hard to like keep them straight.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I started to like go a little bananas with it, to be honest.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so I just started writing and I would um I would either ask ask myself a question or set some sort of intention either the night before or in the morning.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I would write for maybe two hours, and after maybe um a month and a half or so of doing this daily practice, I realized that I was actually channeling a book.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was coming out what I felt were like every day was a different chapter.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought, oh my God, this is this is a book.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I always knew that I would write a book, but I just did not expect it to be that one.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so is that how your first book came about?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or is that part of the second book that we're gonna talk about?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: So um that was um that ended up being divorce a love story, and it captured um a very specific time in that process.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: And the book is really not about divorce.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: It it divorce was the catalyst for me to write about the things that I had been going through.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's it's really about self-love and how that practice can heal everything, and about how to take responsibility for your life and how to take responsibility for the specific things that are occurring in your life, and how how that practice puts you in a position of power to create a different life, the life that you're actually seeking.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so, um yeah, that that I ended up with, you know, I don't know, maybe 75,000 words.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I think the the book was, I thought the whole thing was just like written first time through, but as it turns out, no.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: So it ended up being around 25,000 words.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: So the editing process for me is really where the book is written, because um, like you can if you that's where like the message is crafted and honed.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: And that has been so much the case with my second book, Dear Human, as well.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's it has been a process for sure.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: So your next book, your second book, Dear Human, is coming out soon.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you just gave such a beautiful summary of Divorce, a love story, where it came from, what it was about, what you intended as you shared that writing with the world.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: How would you summarize Dear Human?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: So Dear Human came about because I wanted to take the things that I had learned in the process of writing the first book and experiencing all those things, take it out of the context of divorce and make it more accessible for everybody because the the lessons in that book are universal.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's like universal human experience.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: But I knew that like with that title, that um it would have a very specific um target audience, and it's not wasn't for everybody.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: So it it started out that way, but what I found in so what I did was I assigned one word for each of the 52 chapters or 64 chapters in Dear Human.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember, I think it's 64.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: And then I just use those as writing prompts.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so I would like let's say um one of the words was authenticity uh or ownership, responsibility, love, sweetness, gratitude, like all of these different things.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I would I would start writing about it, and it would come very naturally, and then I would read it and I'd be like, Oh, is this the truth?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: And then I was like, wait a minute, no, there's something deeper.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: And then I would write, I would revise and write about that, and then I would look at it again and think, wait a minute, is this the truth?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: So this would go on and on and on for each of these words, and what I was actually doing was understanding my truth about these words and what this meant in my life.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then from that, I could extrapolate what is what is it about this that is relevant to the human condition for all of us?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that doesn't mean that that you know everybody's gonna agree with everything in there, it's not it's not like that, but there are like some universal truths that I was trying to get to.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Whether I succeeded in that, I don't know.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: But um it's it can be seen as like an exploration of these concepts that are really essential to us knowing what is life, what is love, what is self, what is other, what is God, what is earth, what is what are these things?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: So um things that we're all really that are really you know front and center um for us right now.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: And if not, then coming, you know, for sure.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Because I don't think that you can well, I I don't know if I can if I can say, but for many of us, these are the questions that are propelling us forward.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I loved the way that I found myself as I read through the copy you gave to me, finding new definitions for old words that I had kind of discarded or that still felt a little painful, and reading the way you had excavated them brought a new perspective for me around some of them.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then as I read your book, I'm getting chills, as I read your book and I re-evaluated those words and what they meant for me.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you guided the reader into what if we reconsidered the word love or the word authority or the word ownership or sweetness, and what if we looked at it from a little bit of a different perspective, or what if I share my perspective with you?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it just opened up such a rich space of curiosity and kind of retrospection for me in my own life and the history of some of these words, and then the way I want to make them new.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I just thought that was such a gift, the redefinition of really important concepts and words.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I I tried to I had a very specific audience in mind when I was writing the book.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that is the person who is just sort of starting out on their spiritual journey.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: But I also think that there's no there's no end to the depth that we can plumb on some of these concepts.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: And as we change, our relationship to these concepts are going to change and deepen and enrich.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: And some of them we may end up just, you know, like, no, that's um that's not relevant for me anymore.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not even exploring that.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: So um I'm hoping, and also I tried to, it's like one of those books that are there's like not a lot of words, but there's not a lot of spare words in there either.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like kind of condensed, I think.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Was that your experience of it?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Completely.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's um it reads so easily and so softly and beautifully, but I found myself rereading paragraphs over and over.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And as I sat with some of the concepts or some of the things that you shared, it was like epiphanies would just start coming, coming through and rolling forward and like dots were being connected for me, or parts of myself that even still feel unhealed to some degree.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I found some healing in a new way of looking at things, or a new uh example of how to surrender, and then sinking into that and then rereading the chapter one more time and just having it land softly and warm warmly for me.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, it's like it's a book that anyone could pick up and read, and it will meet you where you are, but you can read it again or over time, I'm sure it would land differently.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I really don't think that the way you wrote it appeals to one type of person or one version of spirituality.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think it's a book for everyone, wherever they're at.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: It really meets everyone where they are in a beautiful way.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, like the whole premise of the book and why I called it Dear Human is that I'm encouraging the readers to view their life like a love letter that has been sent especially for them.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's been written just for you, no one else.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: And it's been written with the greatest love and appreciation for your human journey.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: And it it's it's meant to encourage you to view your life as whatever's being presented for you is your clue.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's like your next work that that needs to be done or looked at or considered to take you to the next highest level of awareness and joy and gratitude and love.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: So everything that you need, I mean, you don't actually even need the book if you just pay attention to your life.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: You don't need anything.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: None of us do.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but sometimes it's nice to have like a little, you know, guide book.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: And as I said in one of my Facebook posts, like this book just wants to sit on the seat next to you.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: It wants to ride shotgun and let you know, like, there's nobody you can you can change lanes, you can get off and get some coffee, you know, you can don't miss like the scenery, don't take things too seriously.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, it's just kind of like meant to be one of those types of books.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: It really, your intent for it came through.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think because I know you personally and we've been on walks, or I've called you with questions.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think the really beautiful part about this um, your authentic voice comes through.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I just felt like I was sitting with you talking, or you know, that you were sharing your heart and or that you were listening, even as you wrote the book and were reading it.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's like who you are is in it.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And like your essence is just right there as the reader reads it.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's a beautiful way that you share a piece of.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Who you are, or you share who you are with anyone who reads it.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And as your friend, I can attest to the fact that your friendship is so special and is such a gift because it creates a space for acceptance of what is with some encouragement for what's next.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but without condition, without, you know, here's what you really need to be doing next, or here's where you're going wrong.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: But just, oh, let's just sit together and look at what is.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm here alongside.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, you know, that is like the highest praise ever because I feel like that is, well, that's definitely where I'm headed in my life.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm, I think that other people are headed that way too.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's when we talk about the self, that's what that this is the path that we're walking.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's like we're we're walking toward our own authenticity.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: And this sounds like such an easy job.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like it would be like, you know, you just have to think about that for a little while, and whatever comes out is authentic.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: But we often don't realize all of the programs and conditioning that are playing in the background.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I just want to give an example, but I am still exploring this.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: We all are like, I don't, I, I don't even know anybody who's not operating from conditioning, but I think we're gonna get there someday.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: But um, so I thought about I I the last couple of months, which have been super intense for most of us, have been really intense for me too, and all around the um the subject of relationships.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so in many of my relationships, I started to notice that I was like on a train track, and you know, there's there's different ways to go, but I had like an engine that was pushing me in a certain direction, and it was the conditioning, it was the the program of what a romantic relationship should look like, what a parent-child relationship should look like, what a friendship should look like.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I've got this conditioning and it's pushing me down the track.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: And the problem is that these that we're in a time when these relationships are not fitting into these boxes.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: They're not meant to be like on this track.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so when when you're forcing yourself down this track, you get to a point where it's not working and it feels like the train is falling off the track, you know, and that that is scary.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_03: And it's um, you know, oh my God, the the emotions that I have experienced in the last couple of months, I have been like the highest highs and the lowest lows, and like a ping-pong ball, and every single day.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: And actually, just before I got on with you, I was like close to tears just because I have like relationship things, you know, and and like I was discovering that the relationships hadn't changed at all, but I was feeling that they had.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: But this, so this um these relationships are meant to be more expansive, they're too expansive for a train track, they're too fluid, they're too um, you know, they're they're they can be fleeting, you know.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: You you might be on the track with no train, and you're like, what happened to the train?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and so um I feel like if we can just like not hold them so tightly and let them become what they want to become, that we're gonna be able to be more comfortable in them, and that that process will bring about the most uh fulfilling true connection with people.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: I have no idea how I got started on this story or why, but this has been so front and center for me.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, oh, I know, like I want people to one of the things about the book is that some of these concepts are really challenging.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: And there was, I had to keep like editing the book so that it didn't get too bogged down and heavy, because like you know, when you're in the thick of it, this stuff is is heavy, it's hard, it's unfamiliar, it's scary.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so, like, there's I want it to be encouraging, but also like shit happens.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like, this is you know, this is hard, this life stuff.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: So it's kind of um, you know, that kind of book.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: It'll sit next to you, but it won't always be easy, you know.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that any of us that are on this journey towards authenticity and what's true, we want that.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: We want the challenge.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: We know the bitter comes with the sweet, you know.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: We want we want the excavation and we know that the pain is worth it because we get to what's true.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: I loved the way you said in one of the chapters, everything, how did you say it?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Everything true wants to be known.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, um, and that includes us.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: The truth must be known.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Truth must be known.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, that's exactly what it is.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: And even when we start to get fearful of, I don't know what my truth is, or the world is going off, you know, to hell in a handbasket.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's like, no, steady on the truth will be known.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: It must be known.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth about us will come forward.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of are we going to be willing participants in the journey and the excavation?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's happening and it's coming and it's here.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so for those of us who are hungry to know who we really are and why we really are here, this book is a companion in the same way that you are to the people in your life, in your intimate circles and have been to me.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, it's the best kind of friend.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's the truth with love.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_03: And at least it's like a confirmation that some of these difficult things that we we go through, because I I've been talking, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to do the podcast, is because I wanted to help people see what is on the other side of the challenge.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: Because when you're in it, you cannot see that.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_03: You can't see the purpose in the um, you know, like I say, like in one of the chapters is called Trouble is Plentiful but purposeful.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like, yeah, it's plentiful.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: Once you know its purpose, once you can start to see the purpose of everything, to teach you, to expand you, to grow you, to love you, to wake you up, you know, whatever.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's then then everything can be met with a spirit of challenge.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_03: And like, even even if the challenge is like laying on the floor in a puddle because you don't want to do it, you know, you don't want to face it, you don't want to let go of this person or that situation or or that, you know, yeah, human, oh my god, the human journey.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: The human condition.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I was telling a friend yesterday after reading through your book, it was I read through the book and I'm like, of course, you have had this podcast alive and kicking, where you welcome and you draw out and you listen to the stories of others that are inspiring or just help you feel not alone.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the contrast between all of our stories matter and are so uniquely different, like as unique as our fingerprint.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yet there's something universal about the human condition and about the human experience.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so, can we hold both?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Can we hold that each of us have had such a unique experience because of who we are, how we're wired, the family we grew up in, our you know, the story, our origin stories, but also we all long to answer those same questions and we're all on a journey to some degree of finding the answers, finding ourselves.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I think like as you're walking down this path, you and you connect with other people because that's inevitable.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: As you as you raise in frequency, which is the truth, the light, it's you're you know, you're raising in frequency, you draw into your life people of like resonance.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: So you oftentimes when people are considering that they um, you know, they're on this path and it's taking them away from things that they've known and people they've known.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's like you're you can rest assured that there's new people and new situations coming into your life to support you.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_03: That is that's you know a given.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Kay, with regards to Dear Human, I'm curious to know what parts of this book were easier to write and what parts of this book were really challenging for you to write.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um well like I said, like the it was a process of like really digging deep into some of these concepts.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the hardest concepts to write about, and also I think for people to accept is this idea of rightness and wrongness.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like this is the you know, sort of the polarity that we've been engaging with as a consciousness, um, as a paradigm.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: We've been living in the paradigm of polarity.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: So in that setting, this idea of rightness and wrongness, light and dark and good and bad, it fits, it fits like and there's things to be learned um in that paradigm.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: But humanity as a collective and us individually are moving out of that paradigm to a place where there's a third thing, and that is acceptance of all that is.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so this is a super hard concept for people to um embrace because they feel that acceptance of the bad means that you know criminals are gonna get away with um what they did, and there are certain acts that we that we have to view as bad.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it's it's a really tough concept.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: And I can only say that I mean, writing about that the iterations uh as I took myself through that process was um a lengthy process.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: And what we this understanding, this acceptance that we come to doesn't mean that we don't have a preference.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like we might have a preference for light and love and goodness and uh rightness, um, but what we but what isn't available to us in these higher dimensions is the judgment about these experiences.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_03: So because everything is God, all of these experiences were available to us, and we chose as a collective to go down some dark holes.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: And even though we made these choices and have been collectively turning away from those choices, choices to a higher vibrational choice, doesn't mean that we're we're gonna be judged for those things or that we're bad or that we need to judge other people.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um and in the in the the book, I kind of talk about that in terms of like junior year and senior year.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_03: And if like let's say junior year is going through these experiences that we as a humans wanted to have the darkness of judging each other and seeing each other as different and other, and you know, some of the less savory things that humans have gotten up to.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Let's consider that like junior year, and then you you graduate, you go, you you move on to senior year, and you don't need those experiences anymore, but you don't judge juniors for needing junior year.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_03: Now that you're a senior, you can say, like, oh, I learned something from that.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I, you know, like writing some of those chapters that people just like you just really don't want to hear that.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: You want for, at least in my experience, I wanted there to be a very clear notion of right and wrong.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: Because um, if the if I didn't have that, then how was I gonna be right?
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like if I moved in this direction, I wanted to be seen as right.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: And that's just not how it works at a certain level.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like we're all right, no matter what we choose.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't mean that we don't have a preference.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't mean that we don't acknowledge that people deserve help and um safety and goodness, and you know, they're a a way out of some of the circumstances that they're in.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, we want to provide the assistance if they if they want it and need it, it's just an acceptance of all that is, and that is a super tough concept.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, you know, concepts like gratitude are a lot easier to write about and a lot more fun, but they're only part of the human journey.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I was seeking to write about as much of the human journey as I have been exposed to or could, you know, gather together in one short little book.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I would say that the the the chapter that was the hardest but the most fulfilling for me was the last chapter, because I wanted so much to express the deep love I have for humanity.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I I have like I have head to toe goosebumps because I have been in a love affair with humanity for um forever.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I've uh I've seen a lot of things and I've looked at a lot of things, and um I know that like I just have this unconditional love for us as a collective and what we've been through because it's been very hard, it's been very dark and very good and very beautiful and very creative and very masterful and purposeful.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: So um yeah, I hope that I was able to communicate, you know, the the love that I have for humanity in that chapter.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_03: I rewrote it like a hundred and fift times.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: That last chapter, as I was thinking about this podcast and interviewing you about it, I was like, we gotta talk about that last chapter.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It just brings it all home.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it brings it all home, it brings it back to love.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say you accomplish your goal.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we have goosebumps from my perspective.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was really interesting too.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think another reason, and I'm saying the same thing I did earlier.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Another reason I appreciate your writing and what you've shared in this book is that there is no spiritual bypassing.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that chapter on polarity and the last chapter about love.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's both.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, what was your favorite part?
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, I have so many favorite parts, but I think maybe because of my own background and growing up with um religion instructing and guiding and programming most of my life.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the chapter that you titled, Dear Human Life Will Ask Things of You, you talked about your own religious experience.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think even alluded to the fact that that was part of what caused you to have your awakening.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: But you wrote, My religious experience was slowly draining the spirit right out of my soul.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: I read that sentence and I just stopped, like it took my breath away.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, it's one of those things, it's a distinction between soul and spirit.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, draining the spirit out of my soul.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: I felt that, you know, just like such an identification.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then I, as I read that sentence, I thought, again, what a gift this book will be to others who are feeling that right now.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like we're fumbling around in the dark sometimes in our spiritual journeys and in our our desire to wake up, but it's scary to wake up.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like we have just enough conscious awareness that this is what we need to do, but it's terrifying.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like I had that sense of there are so many, I say of us.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I flip the lights on more now than ever, but there's so many people fumbling in the dark right now and just feeling their way.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when you read a sentence like that, it's like the lights turn on, and someone is able to articulate exactly what you're feeling, and you're like, yeah, that's it.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you talk about after that phrase, you go on to talk about the programming and the conditioning that you had, and how it was just it was like second nature.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that then you started to question and you had these moments of doubt and disbelief, and you felt like they were wrong, and others make us feel wrong when we start to push back away, or we start to question, or we start to listen to the doubts that rise up within us and we're honest with ourselves, right?
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you say, This was the gift of my disbelief.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: We are taught that rejecting, rebelling, contrasting, and disbelieving are negative choices.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, oh, I'm sorry, this was my response to you saying this was the gift of my disbelief.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't matter.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, wait, that was not in quotes.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I then responded and said, We're like, I've been taught that rejecting and rebelling and contrasting and disbelieving are all negative choices.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you label them in this book as a gift, and then you go on to explain why.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I just wanted to ask you, what has that gift given to you?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: The gift of disbelief.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that um one of the key understandings for me around that was um that this that doubt and the disbelief and belief are actually just two sides of the same coin.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_03: And um I kind of liken it to happiness um if you or joy, like if you if you are sad, it's only because you know that happiness exists.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: The same way that if you're in disbelief, it's only because you know that belief exists and you can't get there.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: You think you can't get there.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: So if you if you I just like encourage people to have like an open heart to that, that they actually have both.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: They have both belief and disbelief.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_03: And they're both welcome because they're both purposeful, you know, like the disbelief is where the questions occur, not the belief.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like once you believe, it's like you know, the questions change for sure.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: So all of that is so purposeful, and not to be afraid of the of the disbelief that casts you outside of your known life.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's okay, you know, it's leading you somewhere, it's a breadcrumb, it's one of the it's a paragraph in the love letter, you know.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's something here about um like staying in your curiosity when you are talking about both sides of the coin that belief is the other side of disbelief.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I love how towards the end of the book you talk about uh your struggle with, you know, naming God God, like you kind of let go of the concept of God for a while.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and just how complex that became for you to address God as God.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then you said, you know, my heart, my heart knew what my head wasn't letting me um articulate, that I still believed in God.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that your curiosity and your journey brought you full circle back around to a deeper understanding and communion with what you now are able to say is God.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I just yeah.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that even as a child, I understood in my heart that everything and everyone was God, and that there wasn't that if God is every, you know, that there wasn't anything that wasn't God.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: That seemed so obvious to me just from what I had heard in the religious setting.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, why doesn't anybody get that?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: And um the the the trouble I had was that my mind then was trained to believe that God looks like this and does this, and you are obedient if you want to earn favor and you know, all the things.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_03: And um so I had like this big fracture in me.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_03: And because I was so conditioned and taught to be in my intellect, I was like, I can't do that because it doesn't work here.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: And it was, you know, the whole time my heart was like, even though I like I broke up with God, you know, I was.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, still in a relationship because you can't not be.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: So, but my head was like, We're broken up and I'm going out with other people.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_03: So, so yeah.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: So that that I still have um trouble with the with the word god.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: I don't even really like to use it that much because it is, it's it's still triggering even to me, because it has it has been a certain thing.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: It has been, you know, lump molded into a certain thing that doesn't allow for the the bigness of what we really want want to experience in life.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: So um that's a that's an ongoing process for me.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, like I I in even writing the book, I think I had one of my friends um read it early on, and I think her response was something like, um, well, it sound you sound like almost like religious, and like because I was talking about God a lot, and I actually considered going through it and like finding other words so that it wouldn't, you know, intimidate people in that way, because I don't even think of God at in any way that resembles how I used to think about God.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think of I think of the divine or source or whatever it is, the higher power, whatever you want to call it, the Buddha nature, Sophia, whatever, that of it as the creative expansion of unconditional love.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's like a force, it's like a it's like a consciousness that you can step into or toward or not, you know, you get to you get to choose because we have allegedly have free will.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: The hands of worms never stop.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, well, and it's just funny to sit here and try to like put a name or put a label on the divine, or sort of it's like we're gonna spend the rest of our waking life trying to know and draw close to and accept that it's already us and then engage with this energy or this spirit and each other, and like it's like it's never-ending, yeah.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's no defining or labeling or boxing, right?
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: And think of how ridiculous that is to like try and come up with one word to describe all, all right, not just all that is, but all that can be, and all that ever was, and you know, it's like way too big, isn't even a good word, you know.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, we uh maybe we should get like a symbol, like prince's symbol or something.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe we are the symbol, the the force formerly known as God.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, that's awesome.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love that.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask about one more part or bring up one more part of the book?
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um you say in the book, your purpose is set by you, and you're talking to the reader.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it got me thinking about um how like the unchanging purpose for all of us is to just be present in our lives.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like we all can come up with all these different, you said, you know, it's great to have goals or to achieve things or to obtain things or to enjoy material things.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like your purpose in life is really just set by you.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when I thought about all the different people that I know or have coached through what's your life purpose and what do you feel like it is?
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, just asking that question.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Some people have never even asked that question of themselves.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's like everyone has different purpose, but like what is a universal purpose for our time spent on earth in a human body?
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought the only thing I could come up with that might be universal is to be present for the experience.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of encapsulates love and acceptance and awareness.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, I was curious what your thoughts are.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, wow, that's I love that.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's that is everything because everything is right there in the present moment.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah, wow.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um this this idea of purpose is has changed so much for me over the years because at different times in my life, I've had many different purposes, and some of them are pragmatic, and some of them are spiritual, and some of them are personal, you know.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_03: So uh, and they're all legitimate, you know, like who's to say?
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_03: But I the thing that you're alluding to is that we there's always going to be a part of us that knows something, like a purpose, and much more of us that knows nothing because we're not stuck here in one spot doing one thing, like we are everywhere doing everything, and so it's it would be foolish of us to try and like talk to people about what their purpose should be, like you know, like how would you ever do that?
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it also takes us down this this route that people another thing that I find resistance to is that we each have our own reality and our realities intersect from time to time, and um so how can anybody else determine what your purpose is and find find that for you?
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_03: Or or like you're on some pursuit, like no, you're being a human.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't have a purpose, just be human, just be present, like yeah, that's enough.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and like it's so counter-cultural and it's so counter-religious to say that that you existing in your being is enough, yeah.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: But you even talk about like slow your pace, connect with your breath, touch your food and give thanks, like just be with what is and slow down and don't be afraid to resist the programming and the cultural conditioning in order to find your deepest, your deepest uh truth or beingness.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where it all begins.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I love the idea of like you give such beautiful permission to not know.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like this isn't a book of instruction, it's a book of permission and like permission to go and be, permission to go and be curious, permission to ask the questions, permission to struggle and knowing that it's all going to be part of it.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: And others of us are here walking the path with you, and it's all okay.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be okay in the end because it already is okay.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so permission to be and to stay in that spirit of curiosity.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it made me the part where you said, you know, there's a lot more that we don't know than we know.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it just made me think of science and politics and religion and how heightened and polarized things have been in the last couple of years, more so it feels like than ever, possibly in history.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, you know, knowledge and truth is king.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: But when you actually humble yourself and look at your life and look around and are very honest, you realize if we're all screaming something different, how much do we all really know?
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so permission to not know for sure, anything.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's key.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: I I think that is key to our harmony, you know, to our to our to our mutual dependence is just allowing that we don't know.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: And why would you want to, you know, because then it's like game over.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_03: What's the point?
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I I like that is such a beautiful thing to come into a situation with others and be like, hey, what's up?
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like, like I said, with curiosity instead of you know, ideas about preconceived notions about what's what it's going to be about.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_03: I think, like you said before, curiosity is like the harmonizing thing for sure.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then you even bring this up at towards the end of the book, how when we're able to take that posture with others, we're finally able to really take that posture with ourselves.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe I don't know what this is about, or maybe I actually don't know some things about myself that I thought I did, or permission to be today's version of Ashley and not yesterday's or next year.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be a completely different person just because I'm continuing to evolve and grow and learn and sink deeper into the truth of who I am, and in that get lost in it.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_03: And and I I think I talked also about this idea of coming to every encounter with a blank slate, and because that frees other people to be who they can be, not who they were, who they can be right now or who they want to be.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, oh god, if we could just let you know ourselves be new today together, you know, how wonderful would that be?
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like, hey Ashley, who are you today?
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_03: You know, tell me about it.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me who you are today.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it opens up so much possibility and it and it's inspiring.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a more inspiring posture to live within for ourselves and then for everyone we come in contact with.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think we we um we don't until we drop the judgment, we don't know how freeing that is.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, and of course, like I'm still, you know, I'm totally a work in progress on that.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm that's like really up for me right now.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm trying my best to like let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go again and again and again and again, because it's so ingrained, judgment is so ingrained in us.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll just say me, maybe it's not for everybody, but um this but when I can glimpse into it, when I touch into it, it's like, oh my god, that's gonna be phenomenal.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's gonna be amazing.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_03: And we're if we can get there together, it's gonna be so much fun.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_03: So much fun.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's so beautiful.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_00: I just love your heart.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's so beautiful.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's gonna be good.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you for having this conversation with me.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for welcome me into it.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_00: Welcoming me into it.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you should definitely do this for a living.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'll leave that to you and you can just invite me in once in a while.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_00: I have a few questions about the book as it comes out.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you?
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so Dear Human is being released soon.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a release date?
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: And how can we order it?
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I want to apologize to everybody for for um jumping the gun and saying I was gonna have a spring release.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_03: So we are what nine days past spring?
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm already late.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_03: And um it's just the process always takes longer than you think it's going to.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_03: Excuse me.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm very close.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm waiting for my physical proof, the actual book.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, provided that's okay, it'll probably be, I'm guessing, another month to month and a half.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_03: It just depends on like, yeah, how everything happens.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, I'm trying to keep people up to date.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: I really encourage people to sign up for my newsletter.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm always sending out like little things that people can use in their daily lives.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I'll also keep you updated on the book release and where you can find it and um any sort of uh events that I'll be doing.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm happy to like come to your book club if you have, you know, 10 people.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm happy to like, if it's nearby, I'll come.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_03: If you want to, if you want me to zoom in, I'll do that.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna, if you want me to come to your local bookstore, I'll do that.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_03: If you want me to come and sit with your grandma, I'll do that.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: Reach out to me via my website.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what's your website and where can everyone sign up for that email distribution?
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, k ec.com.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get some gals together and we are gonna have you come for sure.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_00: I it was so fun to meet you when you were going around to bookstores and reading from Divorce a Love Story when that released.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so my next question was gonna be do you have plans once the book is released to do any touring now that the world is opening up after the pandemic, or is that just future to be determined?
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sign me up.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what are you up to presently, besides you know, wrapping up the production of the book?
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening in your life that's important?
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_03: Well, so um I've been splitting my time between um Michigan and Arizona, and um the bringing the book to market is like a big effort.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so a lot of my time is devoted to that and also the podcast.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm passionate about the Alive and Kicking podcast, and I'm always looking for new and interesting people to have on it.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_03: So that takes a little bit of time.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_03: But the other thing that I'm working on that I'm super excited about is that I'm working on bringing together a collective of um authentic voices and creating a subscription platform where people can rest assured, it's called Genuine Collective, and people can rest assured that when they come to the site, they're gonna meet individuals who have walked this journey and who have stepped into their authentic voices and have done the work and are leading from that authentic place.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_03: And the idea is that is to create a web of sharing information, and um that's been it's a Herculean effort, and it's it's challenging me in every way, but um yeah, so that's and also there'll be a publishing division as part of that where we'll bring new authentic voices like yours to the market.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's beautiful, and sell books.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love how big you dream.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's challenging me right now, that's for sure.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but life would be boring otherwise.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for asking.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_00: I always want to know what you're up to.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for this conversation.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Ashley.
• 1:00:04
  unknown: Yeah.