ACTIONS ARE THE VOICE OF THE HEART

Hey you guys, welcome to the Karen Kenney

show. I'm crossing my fingers and I don't screw this one up. I

got like, 12 minutes into recording an episode, and I went

to pause it because I was getting so hot because my little

mini fireplace was on, and I hit the wrong button and I deleted I

just screwed the whole thing of it was so funny, but I'm back

and we're back and we're gonna dive into this episode. I don't

know what it's gonna be called, but I can tell you this kind of

the hot beat of this episode, right? Is about this, that our

actions are the voice of our heart. Actions are the voice of

the heart. And what that really means is that our actions reveal

our true feelings, our intentions way more than our

words, because we've all been sweet talked by somebody,

haven't we? Haven't we? You know, there's a lot of people

out there that talk a good game. They They smile to your face

while they stab you in the back. It, you know, and I use, I can

appreciate a sweet talker, but these days, at this age, at 57

I'm way more interested and people like who they are being,

what they're doing right, rather than, rather than I look at, I

love a good orator. I love somebody who can speak, right?

Who can speak? But you got to be able to back that shit up with

some true blue, real deal. Holyfield, you know, actions.

And you know how these shows kind of come together. For those

of you who might be new to the show, welcome, if you are, is I

always just kind of let, I just kind of let my spiritual team, I

just kind of let my inner teacher and whatever is rising

up in the culture or around me to inspire me. I don't really

plan these like a lot of things. I don't do a ton of planning.

You know, when it comes to this show, I like to just see what

what is rising up in my consciousness, what's catching

my curiosity. And so I had kind of decided that I wanted to do

an episode on this. And then, lo and behold, my spiritual team.

They're so friggin funny, S, T, o, t, j, so I decided, all

right, I want to do, I want to do a thing on actions of the

voice of the hot and really get down to the nitty gritty about

what's in our hats and who we really are, right? And we just

happened to watch a show last night, a movie, and it had a

bunch of my favorite actors in it, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck,

Kyle Chandler, a bunch of fantastic actors and actresses,

right? And the story just happens to be around. The basis

of the story is that there's these cops, and they find a rip,

which is basically they find all of this, like cash just stowed

away in this house. And it's fascinating, because you get to

watch the character of these people. Get to watch these

characters, portray their character, and see what are they

going to do? Right? They could just take some of this money.

They could steal some of this money. They could report it all,

like, whatever. And you see, feel like this kind of dramatic

tensions around like, what are the actions of these people

going to be like, what's the voice of their hat? You know

what I mean? I thought it was fantastic. So I encourage you to

watch it. Some really, really, really great moments in that, in

that film. And so when I was thinking about doing this

podcast, I had been kind of like gathering these little moments

and stories from my own life. So I'm going to be doing some

storytelling today, which I'm really excited about. I got

like, three stories I'm going to share. Going to share with you.

And you know, my purpose in doing in sharing stories is that

stories often reveal, like, yeah, personal stories. But my

personal stories are the ones that I choose to tell. It's

because they're revealing some sort of universal spiritual

principle that applies to all of us. And that's just the way that

I teach, is through storytelling. And my hope with

this podcast, again, if you're new here, welcome is always to

either educate, to elevate, to enlighten, to entertain, to move

people emotionally right that they have some sort of emotional

connection or feeling, or whatever my job is never, of

course, to waste your fucking time. So hopefully, hopefully

I'm not doing that today. All right, let's just dive in. So

this idea that actions are the voice of the heart, like, what

does that mean? So I kind of believe this, in our heart of

hearts, who we truly are when we come through. I always say

factory installed is love, right? I believe that who we are

is love. I believe that kindness is also who we are. So love is

who we are. Kindness is who we are that comes in baseline, like

installed, and we have so many opportunities in our lifetime to

basically extend that love, to extend that kindness to be who

we actually are. Like, I think that's the whole gig, right? I

think the voice of our heart is loving, kindness, compassion and

that, then our actions get to back those things up. A lot of

people can talk a good game, like, there's a lot of great

orators out there. Like I said, we've all been sweet talked a

little bit by some. Somebody, but I'm way more interested at

this age, right? The age that I am now. I was like, Yeah, that's

great. I love somebody who can really speak powerful speakers,

but if what you are saying is not in alignment with what

you're doing, we get that cognitive dissonance. Like, I'm

not a fan. You know what I mean? And we've all done it at

different points in our life, right? None of us are perfect.

We've all done it. I'm just saying My goal as I continue to

age, as I continue to grow, as I continue to become more fully

and true, truly myself, is to really have my actions speak

right for the content of my heart, for the content of my

character. And so if we're acting from the heart right,

what does that look like? So I'm like, let me give you some

examples of some things that I experienced throughout my

throughout this past like month or so. Okay, so I drive a car.

It's like, 16 years old, so it's not that big of a deal, right?

So it's like, it's, it's like, and this particular car, it's

for whatever reason. When it came off the assembly line,

something happened, like with the paint. So many, many, many,

many years into it, right? They sent out a recall saying, like,

hey, this these particular colors. And of course, it was

like the pearl white and the whites, you know, the white

cars, or whatever meaning, the one that I had, has a problem

with, sometimes with temperature fluctuations like whatever. So,

you know, got repainted in certain areas as it was flaking

blah, blah, blah. The reason why I'm telling you all this is that

I don't get too hung up, right? Let me get this. Let me say

this. I'm a person who does love beautiful things. I like nice

things, but I also want things to be practical, and cars just

like my real thing. Some people love them. Obsess over them, wax

them. I keep my car clean. I try to, you know, do a good job on

it, take good care of it, but it's not like cars really aren't

my thing. But there's a reason why I'm telling you all this. So

one day I'm at the store, I come out of the store, and as I'm

walking towards my car, and it's a wicked windy day out, I see

this little piece of paper, like flapping on my windshield, and

I'm like, oh, maybe a yoga student, somebody

I know, like, recognized my car, left me a note or whatever. And

I pick up the note, and I actually have it right here. I

still have I was saving it so I can use it for the show at some

point. Okay, I'm gonna show it to you. It's like this, I'm

gonna wait, I'm gonna hide the phone number, but it's just like

a torn piece. It's like a rectangular piece of paper. When

she tore it out of her little notebook, it like totally ripped

it, almost ripped her name off of it. But this is what the note

says. It says the wind took my car door and hit your car. Sad,

sad little face. So sorry, exclamation point, and then her

name and her phone number. And I look at my I didn't know what to

expect, so I look at my car, and I see that my car is white,

right? And I see that there's like, like, red, like, scratch

marks now, not deep, not whatever, but like, when I try

to, like, just wipe it off with my finger, I'm like, Oh, that's

not coming off. I have to buff this or do something with it,

right? No big dent or anything, just a tiny little bit of

damage. And I stood there, and it was freezing on, it was

windy, and I'm looking at this thing, and I just thought, wow.

Like, how cool is that, that Molly did the right thing, like

the voice of her hat was because, look, I was in the

store, I would have come out. I never would have known who it

was. I wasn't looking at the car park next to me. I was on a

mission. I had shit to get groceries, to get whatever it

was, and I like, just, I'm just going in, and I came out. And I

was so moved. I was so impressed that she could have just tucked

tail, snuck away, Lil thief in the night or whatever, right? I

never would have known. I never would have known. I just would

have come out. I would have been like, oh, somebody dinged my

car, great. And I understand, like, they don't know when I'm

going to come out of the store. Maybe she had places to be.

She's not going to stand around and wait for me. She did the

right thing, and she left me this note. And it really was

like the Grinch. It was like my hat grew three sizes that day

because I just thought, Oh my God. And I'm like, You know

what, Molly, I'm going to give you a call so I see the number I

get in my car, you know? And I called her up, and she's like,

hello. And I said, Hey, Molly, you know dada. And she's like,

Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I was like, no, no, no, don't worry

about it. My car's like, you know my cousin, that's I was

like, 15 and, like, my car is 15 years old, it's no big deal. So

I just really want to say thank you, like, I want to commend you

for actually leaving me a note and letting me know and leaving

me a number like that was a really cool thing. And I said,

don't worry. She was so apologetic. And I was like,

Don't worry about it. And I was like, Molly, whoever you I don't

know your last name. You know you're a real one. I Your

parents raised your right, or you raised yourself right, or

whoever, whoever planted those seeds of of you know your your

character, right? She revealed her character, her actions were

the voice of her heart. And I thought that that's a person

you'd probably want to be friends with. You know what I

mean? So that's Story number one. And maybe you've done

something like this before. There was an like again, I keep

thinking about the movie The Rip right? There's an opportunity

for you to do something, to do the right thing, or to do the

wrong thing. And you know, Ryan Holiday just wrote a book called

right thing right now. And that's the that's the work right

is to the best of your ability to do the right thing right now

and let your voice speak, let your actions speak. What, what

the content of your character is. That's number one, okay?

Number two, if you listen to last week's number story, number

two, if you listen to last week episode, you heard that I had

kind of a tough week, a childhood my childhood

sweetheart, childhood friend died, and also we had to say

goodbye to one of my 15 year old pups. Scoots my goots. So it

was, like, tough, okay, and I've talked about, maybe I've talked

about it before, I don't know, but I certainly talked about it.

I know online, because one day I posted a picture of me in a

dress, and people lost their minds, and I was like, guys for

like, Guys, relax. I was like, I said, I have one dress. I wear

this dress to funerals. I wear this dress to weddings,

whatever. It's the one thing I you know, that I have. And

they're like, you clean up, nice, whatever. People were

really, really sweet. It was a picture in fair. It was a

picture of me and my sweetie, and we were both dressed up nice

for my nephew's wedding or whatever. And there was a big

hullabaloo about seeing, seeing me in like a dress. I thought it

was funny. So I'm like, Okay, there's the wake, and there's

the funeral. And I'm like, it's, you know, it's January. I

already knew my friend was a retired police officer and

Detective, and beloved, just beloved in the community. And I

knew it was going to be at, you know, because the police always

come in first, and they go through the line, and then I

just knew it was going to be a massively long line. And I'm

like, do I really want to be standing outside in a dress? And

the answer was no. And I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to

like do, or what I'm going to wear. I'm like, I got to go get

some some pants, you know? I gotta go to the store and get

some pants. I gotta figure something out. So I go to the

store, and I'm like, walking around, and I'm like, so I found

all these different kinds of pants. And, you know, I'm going

in the dressing room and, you know, I'm like, I'm still, like,

really sad, like, all of this is fresh, between scoot and my

friend and, you know, my friend's mom, and just like, all

of it, and the world is just heavy, you know, Renee good had

just been murdered. There's just, like, all these things,

like, going on. And I'm like, the last thing that I know how

to do is, like, especially when I'm in that, I'm like, I don't

know fashion like that. You know, my my fashion is jeans,

jeans and chucks, right jeans and sneakers and freaking

hoodies and sweatshirts, like, That's my style. I don't dress

fancy, you know what I mean. And so I'm in the I'm in the room,

I'm in the changing room that, you know

I'm saying, Well, you go and you try on the clothes, and I go in,

and there's nobody like, manning the place. You just kind of

like, walk in and I go in, and I after, like, trying on, like,

eight pairs of pants and a sweater and this and this and

this. I kind of get it narrowed down to, like, these two pairs

of pants. And I really just need an opinion. First of all, I'm

like, I don't even know what kind of shoes I'm gonna wear

with these. Like, you know, I'm vegan, so I don't wear leather

shoes. And I'm like, what I don't know, do I wear a flat?

Like, I don't want to wear flat. I'm like, What am I? You can

just hear it right even in my voice right now. So come out of

the lock. I come out of the changing room to use to look in

the mirror, another mirror, and I come out like a couple of

times, because I'm trying on different sizes and stuff. And

every time I come out, there's nobody else with me, and then I

narrow it down to these two pairs of pants, and all I'm

thinking in my head is it would just be so nice if I had a

second opinion, who could, like, help me. I'm like, and in my

head, I'm like, what I really need right now is, like, a girly

girl, like, I really need somebody who knows how to do all

the clothes and fashion stuff, you know. And I hear somebody

else come into the to the dressing room, and I'm, like,

standing in my room, like, talking to myself, like, what I

don't know, and then I step out to use the mirror at the, you

know, the out, that mirror in the out, and kind of like the

hallway inside the dressing room. And this young woman is,

like, stepping out. Now, I size her up right away. I look at

her, I'm like, her hair is done, you know, she has like, long,

like, auburn hair, brunette hair, beautiful. And it's like,

I don't know if it's naturally wavy. Is she curled? I don't

know what she did, but she was looking good, right? She her

makeup was done. She was stylish, she was neat. I was

like, Okay, this is a person that knows what they're talking

about. So I just said to her, excuse me. I go, can you just,

can you just tell me if you think these pants are too small

or too big, or whatever, and she looks at them, and she goes,

Well, she tilts her head, you know, so sweet. She's like,

well, what are you wearing them for? And I said, a funeral. Now,

this is the first pair of pants, and I could just tell, because

I'm hyper sensitive and hyper aware of people's body language

and what their faces. Doing what their eyes are doing, whatever.

And I see the slightest, like, tilt of her head right, which

tells me it's like, Hmm, maybe these pants I should be wearing

to a funeral, they looked a little too casual. They were

black, they were flowy, they were fine. And she's like, hmm.

And I said, Do you think these are too casual, like, too casual

for a funeral? And she's like, well, maybe I go, Well, what if

I tried them on? And I said, because here's the thing, these

are the mediums, the small pants. If I put on the small

pants like the you can kind of see the pockets through them. I

said, I know that I'm going to probably be standing for a long

time. I just want something comfortable, but that, you know,

looks respectable. And she's like, hmm. I said, Well, can I

try on the other side? Do you have a second? She was so sweet.

She's like, yes, of course. So I pop in, boom, boom, change my

pants, come back out, and she's like, Oh, I see what you mean

about the pockets. And I said, Okay, I have one more pair. Can

I just pop those on and you can tell me what you think? And

she's like, yes. And she's standing there, she's, like,

holding these clothes. She's being so kind to me and and

she'll she, you know, and I come back out and I have on the third

pair, the second pair, but like, the third ones that she's

looking at, she goes, Okay, these are the ones. She's like,

do you see how there's a pleat in the front? And I'm like, Yes,

she's like, this makes it seem more, you know, like funeral

worthy. And she's like, and I just want to say, I'm so sorry

you're going through this, you guys. She was a peach. She was a

total sweet hat. And so she breaks down, like the pleat and

data. And then she says to me, Well, what are you what shoes

are you going to wear with these? And I literally grabbed

my head, and I was like, Fuck if I know, I go, Look, I don't

dress up like, I don't have like, like, I don't know. She's

like, Okay, you could either do like a flat or you could do like

a chunky boot. And she literally just starts breaking it down for

me. And I'm just standing there, and all I'm thinking is like, S,

T, o, t, J, spiritual team on the job, they sent me a little

dressing room angel to help me figure this out, because my

brain is not functioning, and I don't know girly stuff very

well, you know? And I was like, okay, she breaks it all down for

me. And I just, at the end, I say, I just have to say, thank

you so much for your kindness. Thank you so much for taking the

time to, like, spend with me and help me. You really didn't have

to do it, and it's not lost on me that you've done it, and I

just appreciate it so much. And she's like, Oh my God, of

course. I go, you like, you just, like, know this fashion

stuff, like, like, I'm amazed right now. And she looks at me

and she says, Oh, well, that's because I'm a photographer. And

I said, what she's like, Yeah, I'm a photographer. I go, what

kind of photographer? She's like, Well, I do weddings, but I

also do branding. And I was like, Oh my God. And I'm like,

Do I know you? So she pulls out her card. It's like, a dot card,

which means, like, she can just tap it to my phone, and it pulls

up, like all of her links, her email, her website, or like her

socials, like whatever. She pulls it up, and I immediately

see that we have several people in common, so we make this

connection. And I said, I'm going to stop following you on

Instagram. And she's like, Great, then I'll know who like.

I'll see your name and blah, blah, blah, and we have this

whole exchange. And I was like, she did not have to do that.

That was an action. Is the voice of the hot moment, if I've ever

seen one. She was so incredibly kind. And I really needed that

help. And I ended up, like, finding these chunky vegan

boots. Right then, I was like, oh my god, this is perfect.

Bing, bang, boom. I was in and out, and it just worked out

fantastic. And I was so grateful. This is the thing that

we don't realize, you guys, you know that old saying, which is

like, Be kind, be kind, be kind. Everybody you meet is fighting

some sort of a battle. So often we don't know what people are

going through. And a tiny bit of kindness, man, does it go a long

way, and that was so incredible. And then the last one, this is a

tiny little story, and it's not, I'm not tooting my own horn, it

just is a reflection piece that that I thought this was also

worth mentioning. So when I got to the funeral, I was standing

in line with a bunch of my childhood friends from high

school. It was like four guys that I grew up with, and when I

was standing next to them, all of a sudden, I like, I just

pulled out I had some Tic Tacs in my pocket, and I pulled out

the tic tacs and I offered them to my friend gut. And I was

like, gut, you want a tic tac and he's like, Yeah. He goes,

you trying to tell me something? It's like, No, I go. I just

never, I just, I said, anytime I pull out Tic Tacs, I offer,

always offer them. My thing with tiktoks Tic Tacs is you always

have to take two, not just one. So I give him two Tic Tacs, and

he looks at me, and he's like. Like, he's like, he's like,

okay. He's like, Hey, you telling me so? And I go, No, I

go. And I go, snacks are always better when they're shared. And

that's what I said to him. I go, it's just that snacks are always

better when they're shared. And he looked me right in the face,

and he goes, Yeah. He goes, I remember study hall because we

went to Lawrence high together, right? We were in study hall

together, and in study hall, anytime I had snacks, because he

always sat close to me, behind me, next to me, whatever I was

always sharing my snacks with gut. And it was just this

moment, and it was so nice, because you forget right, like

you forget sometimes, like how you were back then, and you can

always hope, like, was I kind? Was I nice? Look, I didn't

always get it right, that is for fucking sure, but it was nice to

have a little glimpse of that, that younger version of me, that

kid who shared her snacks. And I was like, Oh, I was really happy

that I that I was, I was nice to you. Nice to you, at least you

know what I'm saying. So that was really fantastic. And the

thing is, you guys, is that we have so many opportunities the

these three stories, these these three, yeah, this is say these

two stories, right? The first one with Molly and the second

one with Christina. Oh, and that woman's name, PS, her name is

Christina Olson. Look her up. It's like Christina Olson

studio. She's a Boston and New Hampshire wedding photographer

and branding photographer, and she was fantastic. And you spell

Christina, k, i, y, s t, I N, A Olson, O, L, S, E, M, she's

great. So go, go, hit her up, tell her you heard about her on

my podcast. You know, people could have done any other number

of things. She could have just told me she was too busy. Molly

could have just, you know, not left a note and driven away, and

I would have found my Kyle with a little ding on it, you know.

But it's just a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful thing when

people throughout all the day, all the months, all the years of

our lives, when, when, when we have opportunities come up

again. Right Thing, right now. And this is my encouragement. I

really, really, really want you to listen to the voice of your

heart. Listen to that in a teacher. Listen to the kindness

that you are, listen to the love that you are when you listen to

that voice. It doesn't mean that everything is going to be easy.

A lot of times doing the right thing, doing the kind thing

might not be the easiest thing or the most popular thing, but

we all have a voice of the heart, and when we're listening

to that inner voice, when we're listening to that in a teacher,

it's important that we do this whenever we are trying to like,

when we have a choice to make, When we're doing decision making

when we find ourselves in, you know, in a situation

that we need to evaluate and say, like, Okay, what's the next

right, smallest step? Like, what's the next right? Smallest

step? And, you know, I always say, like, I would rather you be

true, true blue than popular. I would rather you be willing to

be unpopular by doing the right thing, by answering the call of

your hat and showing the content of your character. And it won't

always be easy, but it's a lot easier to live with yourself.

You know when, when people have regrets? I think it takes a

toll, right? It takes a toll, and especially if they there's

no tools for learning how to do self forgiveness, right? Because

we're all going to screw up so and it's really easy to think,

oh, the voice of the hat. I'm not saying abandon all critical

thinking, right? We want to listen to the voice of the hat

and the voice of reason like we want to be smart about things,

right? But being kind doesn't cost us anything. I did a whole

podcast about this a long time ago, being kind doesn't cost us

anything. And being kind, right is, it is a natural extension of

the truth of who we are. And one of my teachers, Ken Wapnick, he

said it beautifully. You know, he's A Course in Miracles,

teacher, he's dead. He's no longer with us, but he always

used to say, you know, kindness is who you are. And he says, so

we don't have to work we don't have to work at being kind. We

don't have to be like, try to be kind. Like, everybody's like, I

gotta try to be kind and get to try to be loving. I'm like, no

loving, loving, being loving. Like, love and kindness is who

you are. The work Ken would say, is to be vigilant for when you

are unkind. That's the work, is to catch yourself going down

like, you know, shit bag road when you're starting to make

that, that questionable choice, where you're you're, the world

is tempting you, right? The world is tempting you. And

whether it's with money or sex or fame, or for whatever the

thing is, whatever it's tempting you with you like we have to be

vigilant for when there's that temptation to be unkind, because

the world is always going to try to pull you off character with

all kinds of office and whatever. And it's really,

really important that you. Listen to the voice of your

heart and to let your actions reflect that. I think that's all

I have to say about it for now. I mean, I could talk about this

like Forever, forever, forever, but I'm going to wrap it up with

that. Okay, so wherever you go, may you and your actions be a

blessing wherever you go. May you leave yourself and the

people and the place and the animals better than how you

found them. Bye.