Show notes –
Join Shannon & Christine for an intense conversation on Intellectual Wellness with special guest – Rosalyn Kahn.
Intellectual wellness refers to active participation in scholastic, cultural, and community activities. It is important to gain and maintain intellectual wellness because it expands knowledge and skills in order to live a stimulating, successful life. In order to improve intellectual wellness, it is important to value creativity, curiosity, and lifelong learning. – University of Illinois
What are things that you have done to maintain your Intellectual wellness?
Share your thoughts and plug into our community by joining us on Mighty Networks as we support each other personally and professionally through intentional conversations, collaborations, and classes.
This week’s resources and references:
Global Society of Female Executives
Show Transcript –
NOTE: While it’s not perfect, we offer this transcription by Otter.ai for those who are hearing impaired or who don’t find listening to a podcast enjoyable or possible.
Christine Gautreaux 0:08
Let’s do this.
Shannon M. 0:08
Okay, ladies, welcome to our podcast. I am Shannon Mitchell, a black female, millennial entrepreneur, the founder of shallow glow, a handmade shea butter company. I am a champion for your self care, business care and intentional wellness.
Christine Gautreaux 0:25
And I am Christine Gautreaux, a white social justice advocate, an international speaker, coach and published author who helps you upgrade yourself in community care.
Shannon M. 0:35
Yes. And together, we are women connected in wisdom, a podcast grounded in the eight dimensions of wellness. Welcome, welcome to our show. Today, we will be talking about intellectual wellness. Are you ready? Right.
Christine Gautreaux 0:50
Um, you know, talking about being off beat, I had really pretty much from last week from our last podcast, you know, that was when we had the shootings in Atlanta, and then just having those shootings in Denver, I have just been so out of whack. How are you dealing with everything?
Shannon M. 1:15
We talked about this, right. And I feel like if I’m transparent, a lot of this stuff goes on another layer of my How do I see my processing, it has to write it doesn’t always hit the what I need to be able to focus every single day. It has to be does happen so much, honestly, is we talk about International Women’s Day. But women, this is where the record, Women’s History Month is all month, we have a whole month of women in history. And it’s not just the day, and it’s very interesting to find a day in the month, because then it makes you think that the other one isn’t happening. But unfortunately, for me is just like something happening in black history month at the very beginning of Black History Month when we’re supposed to be celebrating. That’s how it feels. And women getting shot is like at work, you know, out of place. And we talked about it how a lot of those women were relaxing. And then a year after COVID We’ve been talking about how to cope, how to be intentionally well, and when we’re trying to be intentionally well. And I think it’s crazy to think that it costs him in our life. I’m trying to find a better phrase, and it’s crazy. But that’s how I phrase all of it is. Yeah,
Christine Gautreaux 2:42
yeah, it’s, I mean, it’s not unbelievable anymore in the United States, because of how much gun violence we had really close to home. You know, I’m in Gwinnett County, and we have the largest population of South Koreans out of South Korea. And one of the moms that was killed was the mother of two sons who went to school with my children. And yeah, and then, you know, less than a week later, the boulder grocery store shooting, which was my sister’s grocery store, when she lived there she sent but really way too close for comfort. I mean, it’s so devastating. It’s just devastating, I think. And it is to me, I think, Shannon, like, we’re there’s so much hope and possibility right now with people getting their vaccines with people getting ready to get back out there. And we’re also hit with this, but I guess it’s all the time, right that we have grief and gratitude. I mean, we’ve we talked about this often, like, it’s a yes and right. It’s but I know that yeah, I felt off beat for a little bit. I’m like, All right. And and I know that’s what we talk about about wellness. Like, it’s not just the we don’t spiritually bypass it. It’s not like, oh, yeah, go, go get a massage, and that’s gonna fix racism. And like, we know that’s not true, right? It’s like having these conversations about how do we be well, in the midst of this nonsense, you know?
Shannon M. 4:29
And I love what we’re talking about today because, again, we’re talking about intellectual wellness. And actually, let’s go ahead and start from the definition, okay. Wellness refers to the act of participation in Scholastic, cultural, and community activities. It is important to gain and maintain intellectual wellness because it expands knowledge and skills in order to live a stimulating successful life in order to improve intellect to a wellness, it is important to value creativity, curiosity, and lifelong learning. And this definition is from the University of Illinois. One thing that I love that I’ve was learning with intellectual wellness, all of this is very important, right? It definitely gives a better picture than just your IQ or academic learning, like we usually think about. But something else that I learned while I was researching it is your ability to learn from situation. Right, so your book is still point, the the playbook for caregivers talks about post traumatic growth, and how instead of post traumatic stress, we can grow from a situation. And when I think about this shooting with these Asian women, and this gentleman, being able to say that he had a bad day is infuriating, because we have horrible, like people have horrible days, bad days, every day here. So if that’s where you go, when you’re upset. Intellectual wellness is something that I would challenge you to look into. Because it helps you get through situations that are difficult, it helps you think about different perspectives and what you can do to respond in a healthy way.
Christine Gautreaux 6:15
Right. Yeah, I’m excited about our guest today, because she, I think she embodies this intellectual wellness, when we introduce her to folks. Um, and we’re going to get to that in a few minutes. But I wanted to circle back around on that definition. Because some of the things when we’ve talked about it before, you know, some of the ways to know Are you engaged in the process of intellectual wellness is, Are you open to new ideas? You know, I know you, my friend to be completely open to new ideas.
Shannon M. 6:54
Yeah, it’s important,
Christine Gautreaux 6:56
right? Another way to know if you’re engaged in the process of intellectual wellness is Do you seek personal growth by learning new skills? So I think I asked you this last time we were on this topic, but what book are you currently reading? Because you’re always reading a book. always engaged in learning new skills.
Shannon M. 7:18
So let’s go through a few right, I’m definitely being still point, one of my new favorite book, I absolutely love it. And it’s helped me give a deeper level of verbiage the things that I didn’t know how to articulate. So thank you very much. So I love so point, right? I just got done listening to the truth about men by I believe his name is Reverend Devon, Franklin, this is Megan, good husband, it was great. It was great. And I love learning about the other genders to better help the men in my life, my partner, business partners, or whatever it is. So that was great. And what else am I reading right now, I need to finish Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which has been great. And I need to invest 150 hours, the time management stuff that we’ve been talking about, but all of those have been really good for my personal development.
Christine Gautreaux 8:12
Right? I either live reading as much as well, I read, I read fiction all the time, just That’s my escape, but like when I’ve been taking a lot of online classes for my learning and for development. So I just, I finished up that class we talked about in the last podcast about organization and decluttering. And then I found this new thing I had no idea this existed. It’s it’s a place where you can buy storage in the cloud for like your all your pictures and memories. And you can organize all those things. Like it’s a whole nother I was thinking about you today. Because I took a class on it Shannon, it’s called Forever calm. And well, their organization skills are just taught and I was like my friend Shannon Mitchell would love this so much. Because you album, style albums underneath it. And you I was like, oh, so I was learning a new skill about organizing pictures today. Another thing that you can if you know, if you’re engaged in the process of intellectual wellness is do you search for learning opportunities and stimulating mental activities? And do you look for ways to use creativity? So yeah, I was I have to say almost, I would say every woman in my life is engaged in the process of intellectual wellness.
Shannon M. 9:38
Hmm, good. Yeah, it’s really important who you’re around. And I will also say, for our listeners, who let’s say you’re beating yourself, right, cuz you’re like, I haven’t been working on any of this stuff. I also feel like we’re conditioned not to do this, you know, the way that a lot of people feel about learning. Oh, I wasn’t a good student. And so actually After school is over, people stop learning. And that’s one of the biggest lessons that I learned from the restaurant is you’re always a student and always a teacher. So you don’t know anything or you don’t know, specific things. Now we have the internet, there’s more than enough resources. And we’re going to bring a great resource on for our guest today, I’m so excited to get plugged in so that we can work on new ideas, and personal growth, for different situations that we know are going to happen, because that happens all the time.
Christine Gautreaux 10:29
Right. And I just want to say, even if it’s not a book, even if it’s not like, a YouTube video, like that’s learning and creativity, I mean, that’s my go to, if I don’t know how to do something, I’m going to google it on YouTube and go how to do did it. And I would also the whole piece about being creative, right? I think sometimes we think oh, if we aren’t a Vincent van Gogh and have a masterpiece, we’re not an artist, which is not true, like the creativity piece of, you know, coloring the color or painting to paint or, you know, arranging leaves in your backyard to make a living piece of art. There’s so many ways to be creative and to, to just, you know, do beauty our next guest, um, sent us both. It’s not in her bio, but she sent us both beautiful calendars that she with her photography, which we share that in common. We both like I don’t, I’m gonna have to ask her how many how many photos she has on her phone. Mine’s a little ridiculous when I was like
I don’t consider myself a hoarder, except when it comes to photos and emails. And it’s like, oh, yeah, there’s a limit to storage sometimes. But are you my friend? Are you ready? All right. So I’m going to introduce Rosalyn Khan, Rosalyn, Professor Rosalind Khan teaches public speaking and is taught interpersonal communication. She earned a master’s degree in speech communication from Cal north. Let me make sure I read that right from Cal State Northridge and earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California Santa Barbara. So she’s on the West Coast while we’re east coast. She has a dual degree in sociology with an emphasis in speech communication. In graduate school, she traveled to Belgium and presented a paper on the five stages of downsizing looking at Kubler Ross on death and dying in a labor conference. Oh my gosh, that’s fascinating. I want to ask her more about that. As a result of that conference, she has a paper that was published in a journal, she did a book signing in Rome, Italy, for her last book, random acts of kindness are changing the world, which boy, we need more of that today. Don’t wait. Outside of Academia. She’s a professional speaker, and TEDx. And she is presented on stage with Emmy winning filmmaker taught about forgiveness as a result of her book on random acts of kindness. Her signature talk is breaking cultural differences. She also has a program called Reach Out versus strikeout, targeted to stopping school violence. Her second book, she’s got numerous books I love authors, is dogs and roses reducing stress and anxiety in today’s troubled times. She enjoys photography, nature and swimming. And she also has a brand new book out that we’re going to talk about, but we’re I’m gonna bring her to the stage. So we can we can chat some more come on in here, Rosalyn? Good to see you. We are so excited to be talking with you today. Like this is really good timing.
Rosalyn Kahn 13:52
Well, it’s a pleasure and honor to to speak to both of you as well. You know, you’re you’re talking about that that incident that happened in Colorado. And as I began my my class today, we talked about gratitude. I read a piece out of my book on message for tomorrow’s leaders. And it was really touching because the person was an 88 year old lady who’s talking about the unexpectable the unknown and being ready for life is always changing. And as we I said we’re gonna take 10 seconds out, just 10 seconds out. And I asked them to reflect on this life. I said to me, it doesn’t matter the color of the skin, it doesn’t matter where you come from or what you’re all about. We all matter in this world. And what it really brings to the forefront and I want everyone listening to the show to remember is we don’t know when it’s our time. We truly don’t know when our last day is Are you going to spend this one worrying that you didn’t clean the house, clean the dishes that you didn’t call the grandma or go out and exercise or this person made you mad, or that person made me mad. I think if all of us made the effort to make every day count, and, you know, don’t get me wrong, I broke down and cried yesterday, I said, this is the first time in the whole pandemic I’ve ever shed a tear. And realize that that life isn’t a constant uphill. It’s got some those downsells and if we don’t take the good with the bad, then then we don’t have life as it is. And so my readings for today and my two books I read is recognizing those gratitude that I could be here with with the two of you and in and hear how close it was and your worlds and know how Colorado is, is so close to me. And everybody knows somebody I was in a group called up with people that traveled around the world. And, you know, there was an incident that went down and you know, lady was gone, you know, it’s okay, it’s alright. And remember the first event in Columbine being in there in a classroom and send that same message. And it just, it just lets us know that every day is precious. And as a dear friend of mine, David Levi Harrison wrote on the Facebook page, it takes 2.4 seconds to to say hello to someone. And you know how short our life is. And so I said hi to 26 Different people in that group. And they said, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. Hello, hello. And remembering just how important that is. And sorry to get sight check that I just had to put in my, my two cents. And let you know. And so if you go to my Facebook page, you’ll you’ll see a post about you know how Asian Lives Matter, and how they’re so important and everyone’s life matters and always trying to bring kindness and love to the world. So after passing, you
Christine Gautreaux 17:08
know, thank you Rosalyn and and yes to taking that deep breath and giving gratitude you know, and so did you just say 2.4 seconds to say hi to somebody?
Rosalyn Kahn 17:22
Yeah, just 2.4 seconds.
Christine Gautreaux 17:24
Well, we can we can tell your West Coast cuz you know, we’re from the south. I think it probably is gonna take us at least five seconds but we’ll
Rosalyn Kahn 17:36
just there’s nothing like that southern hospitality. Right. Brings us all back.
Christine Gautreaux 17:42
I am I am. I am so grateful for that reminder. Right? How because I know I get caught up. A lot of times I’m busy. I’m working or I’m you know, did it. And I’m a texter. Like everybody that knows me, I am so much better at texting and calling. But my friends are really good at calling me back to like, I’ll text him with a question. And they’ll go, Well, hey, good morning. How are you? So that, that reminder of the humaneness of it all, and to and to be grateful for that. And I think this year in the pandemic, it’s been a little tricky with that, because you know, we’re virtual, which thank goodness we are we get to have a conversation with you live while you’re in California, and we’re here, but remembering that we’re 3d bodies in a 2d world, and that, you know, we all bring different life experiences, different, um, different emotions, different isms, all of it that comes with us, every day, every conversation, and how crucial that is.
Rosalyn Kahn 18:59
No, it’s it really is. I mean, you can, I always say, you can feel a heart through a computer computer. And, you know, as you shared, how close that last incident was to a friend of your family and how this one was, was, you know, somebody went to your kids school and your sister who used to live there. So that was that was my story. That was my go to place. It gets closer and closer. And when are we going to take out the time to realize how valuable today is and say those important messages today to those ones who are really important. So if we all make an effort to call one person and just say, you know, thank you for being part of my life, that that may be the last the last time
Christine Gautreaux 19:57
I think Go Shannon.
Shannon M. 20:01
I was, I was gonna say, I think that’s so important to keep front of my right. But I also think that there’s a balance to it. And with everybody having it more front of mind for quarantine, I think now when I think about intellectual wellness is, okay, so how do I remember to tell my loved ones I love them, and how important they are to me, right? But also, and also before I move on, and also to be realistic in students, the events that take place. But next is what about the new ideas where we going, right, if this is how we’ve been culturally, or this is how we’ve been socially or intellectually, for so long. This is this is what we’re talking about how to move from one place to another. Because before it was easy to stay disconnected, and oh, I have work and my child has this practice, and we’re running all over the place. But I think it’s really asking people to start better communication habits. It’s not that you’re the only one bad at names is that everybody’s pretty bad at names and calling people back, you know, so what he, especially you, right, especially you rather than with your experience in inner communication, and studying language, and studying culture, and how all those things enter that question that I have for you, how would you say that all of that interpersonal communication throughout the different cultures affects intellectual wellness?
Rosalyn Kahn 21:31
Well, I think, and I’ll just go through a number of different associations that I’m in that it’s so important to have people from different places and to listen to their voices, and, and hear their experiences, you know, I was in a one group that I belong to is Coach masters. And most people come from the same background. And I said, you know, wouldn’t it be kind of nice if we got together with this group of people because you know, different corners of the world. And I think that if you speak to someone from a different language, and a student argued with me like that, it’s it’s a chance to, to travel to another world to hear that experience was a conversation I had in my classroom, and my student wanted me to fight about it. And you know, I was in a BNI group, and I was looking at the colors of the rainbow from from all around the world and thinking, how rich and how wonderful that is. And I’m in a global society of female executives, and they have people from all corners of the world. And it’s seeing how we’re all together, when I take a lesson out of Religious Studies, and I’m not going to ask you what your religion is, but I remember going to a, a, the possum, of meditation. And they said, this isn’t a religious experience. We take people from all walks of life and all places around the world. And all of them are welcome here. Because what we’re simply trying to do is bring ourselves to a place where we can look inside of ourselves. So what’s really important? And I think about the Kiwanis club that I just got off the phone with, and was listening to their, their mantra of they don’t ask, what race what background, what religion that you are, do you care about people, that people people as as who they are, and you know, I’m getting this this side thought in my mind, I used to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And I remember a girlfriend the night that I had, and I remember being out on her porch one day, and I don’t I don’t know what what caused it. But she said, do we ever think that we’re raise a kid who’s going to go up and be a bank robber? Do you ever think that’s a parent’s thought, at when these when these tragedies go and happen? This is where I’m one of those people who always ask the question, I always ask, you know, if a student is around, where are you? What’s what’s going on? I haven’t seen you for a while. You know, he mentions that he’s a military guy. You should you should call the health services. And, you know, I call the health service, you’re going to talk to this guy, this guy’s going to be given you a call and you see him in class and you just say, did you get my email? When he says thanks? Because all of these situations, people give signs. They give out signals. But how many of us are wait to see what those signals are? In, in my life experience. I’ve saved people from suicide. by just asking those questions and, and, and being there, if noticing, you know, something is different in, you know, I remember one situation in particular. And there’s always people who say mind your own business. It’s not your problem, it’s their problem. And when you enroll in my class, you’re part of my family. It’s the Rosalind family, many services either or the family. And I remember one day, she came into my office, and she said that she was having some issues or whatever and kind of struggling. And one day, I had this thought that was a speaking class. And she always missed her speeches. And always and always, this was another one. And this was another one. And this was another one. And when she was finally supposed to be there, and it was one more time, she wasn’t there. Our intuition talks to us, but to listen to our intuition. And I remember calling the health center. And they said, Do you really think it’s important that we call the police and break into the house?
And I said, Yes. And when she sent me an email, she was in the hospital. And her hands were strapped down. She, she thanked me. And
I remember the department chair who told me previously to find my own business had came back around and said, you know, that was pretty amazing. And, and it’s, it’s, we all have the intuition. Do we listen to what’s on the other side. And I promised and assure you, that both of these individuals who went out there, there were signs. There were there were.
Christine Gautreaux 27:16
And we also know that we’re also in a system. I mean, they’re
Rosalyn Kahn 27:20
worse, we’re in a system, and there was a student who gave a speech about, you know, what race is up, and what race is down, and who’s in and who’s out. And it, it goes, it goes all over the place. You know, it’s, but there’s another world. And that’s just, that’s just one of the worlds where you talk about intercultural and what that brings in. We always need to be sensitive that everybody comes from a place and what happened in your home growing up, and what happened in your home growing up, and what happened in my home growing up, are different. But if we can look at these, and learn, and learn, and take a piece and make it a part of me, Christine’s the verge of saying something?
Christine Gautreaux 28:06
Well, what I’m thinking about is I’m thinking about this third book that you just came out with, and about learning and about, I want you to tell our listeners a little bit about this and, and what this new book is all about, and, and how it fits in to this discussion about intellectual wisdom and, and wellness. Well, thank
Rosalyn Kahn 28:31
you so much. The the new book came as part of academia, I work in academia and the Academic Senate had put out a request on how do we maintain minorities in the school system? What can we do? Can we keep them in? And so I said, What if we went out in I invited all these people from all these different places, and invited them to come into my classroom. And I get the first one in who was a coach, his name was coach knock, it was an inner city high school. And he just truly resonated. And I just kept collecting these stories. And I brought people from all different walks of life from people who were beauty queens to people who talked about drug addiction to a 12 year old humanitarian who just gave over $3,000 to kids to an 88 year old woman whose story I read today, who’s called the pink lady who interviews tap dancers and so on and so forth. And everyone from car mechanics, to doctors of wellness to stunt riders to people who work with just amazing people in the world. It’s It’s just incredible. And the stories, answer three questions and you guys are invited to be in the new edition of the next one, and I’m sure you’ll agree. We’re asked three questions. It was number One, what are your thoughts about the pandemic? Number two, what are your thoughts about the protest? What about the riots? What career advice do you have to keep people in tune to education? And, and that was just just the the beginning and the stories were absolutely amazing. We’re gonna do something funny here. Give me a number between one and 102. And I’m going to read you a story. I’m going to read you one of the stories in here.
Christine Gautreaux 30:32
She remember
Rosalyn Kahn 30:35
me. Wow, I think that was almost the one that my students today it’s interesting. I’ve read this story several times. This is one of my dearest friends. Her name is songwriting. Shane songwriting. Shane is a Grammy Award winning artist. She’s a multi award winning singer songwriter. She’s a retired New Jersey State Police officer, and she was the international team leader of CIA, SM, the 911 ground response team in New York City, and activist and La communities and she has a message that says unite all hearts for peace. And she writes, growing up, I was taught there was only one God and one world. I was taught to respect all people. I learned there are people who feel entitled, in all walks of life, both rich and poor. But that didn’t make it right. In school, I learned of the trials our forefathers went through to unite our states in the name of brotherly love, freedom and to bring about one nation under God, to always be indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all. I was taught to be responsible, respectful, hardworking and thankful for all things. I still thank God for all things and pray for those who need help and healing. That means all people what I saw during my lifetime, was sometimes quite the opposite of what I was taught in school. And it often saddened me. I saw division, control and discrimination by people who deem themselves privileged or abused by their life situation. My generation was taught at home and in school, to help others and not discriminate. My generation follow the direction of our forefathers before us and we continue to fight for the rights of all people being abused by an unjust system led by abusive leaders, bosses and spouses. My generation, died in wars and cried out, give peace a chance. Many of my generation became victims of abuse by those who were taught to blame entire races, nationalities, or religions, for their own sets, situations or bad choices. We all have suffered enough. We’ve all suffered through this discrimination, and abuse running rampant throughout the years. And yet those of us still live from the 40s 50s 60s 70s and 80s. Generations hold on with faith and knowledge. As we slowly watch our country, and so many other countries falling apart, due to the greed and hatred of man, and no one listens. It’s 2020. I’m thankful to be improperly raised and educated with respect and love for others without prejudice in my country is still one nation under God. That contract our Constitution was signed, sealed and deliver. And I think our forefathers for their death defying mission to achieve that goal for the betterment of life and brotherly love, for the good of all. My opinion on the pandemic, power and greed cause havoc and war and all nations germ warfare, chemical warfare, psychological warfare, monetary warfare, are all words of those who devise evil towards others. I believe they will be dealt with when they meet their maker that in almost every Bible around the world, my advice, stay in school. That is your saving grace, and the key Santa’s sanity and discernment during these crisis. War never brings peace, hatred never brings unity. discrimination doesn’t solve anything. There are good and bad people in all walks of life. Most people around the world want peace and freedom and justice, like most of us the opinion on the protest, fighting and yelling to deaf ears. isn’t the answer. act intelligently, especially now. safety is a priority. We need good police protection. We need good unity and respect of all People, otherwise we continue to create more victims by our own demise. What I learned at school and at home remains the same. I’ll share an educational principle of life and inner strength with you. Every one of us knows we are here on earth for a short time,
no one is in control that or anything for that matter. We are all given a lot of time to do the best we can with our lives. So be creative, helpful and loving towards one another and be thankful for the world and life around you. Peaceful and intelligently demand respect for God and our country as was so ordain demand honesty, with zero tolerance and government to man good education to man justice to those individuals violating our rights and demand good police protection, please, in the name of love, unite our hearts for peace. And that was songwriting Shane’s she and I were in a, in a group that was called Arts arts for peace. And, sadly, there was another lady who stole the name of that project. And it was her song. And, you know, Shane moved out here to California to follow a dream to get this this recording recorded. Hollywood is filled with good and bad people. And I remember one set day when she was ready to pack her bags and go up because of someone who miss abused her trust. And in on, on another day, and another place, I was a different person. And we were at an event in pista Ross, and she calls me out of her life. Friends, know people who are really good people. And so when I asked her to make this contribution from my book, and I’ve kept in contact with her over the pandemic, and one of those friends, I can just go and hang out and we both have a, a huge love of dog. It shows you what’s real in life. And, and I tell you the goods and the bads, the ups and the downs. Because if you go to my Amazon page, and you look at this book, I sent this book out to all the contributors. And one of the couple people who gladly posted on my Amazon page is songwriting Shanes. And you can see and hear what she says, because she is a blessing person on on this world of Earth. And I give so much gratitude to her. And there we have it,
Christine Gautreaux 37:58
thank you for reading that Rosalind. I’ve read all those stories, because I know that they are different voices. So I know they will have different life experiences and different you know, different perspectives that they bring. And we may not agree with all of them, but yes to listening and, and tearing what that is. So Hannah, do you have a question for Rosalyn?
Shannon M. 38:34
No, I think I think that was beautiful. Like Kristin said, you know, sometimes the positions are different. But I love the idea of peace and being accountable as individuals, that how we operate in remembering to each other and like you they read, you know, Rosalyn, and we we don’t know in our time in so what do you want your life to look like? Is it really that important that you stay mad for 15 years or is it better for your health? To let go?
Rosalyn Kahn 39:06
Yeah, it’s it’s, there’s there’s there’s there’s so much of that so much.
Christine Gautreaux 39:11
Well, before we brought you on Horizon, we were talking about the definition of intellectual wellness and creativity as a part of that and I know that you are a creative human being because you have three books that you’ve written and and your photography is there. Are those your main creative outlets or do you have other creative outlets that we like to dabble in?
Rosalyn Kahn 39:34
Well, I I’m a speaker I speak on stages I speak on podcasts I’ve done you know 30 Plus I have a show that you know if you go to my Instagram you can see it it’s called community of unity Rosalyn Khan and I think if the word the world has as creativity, it’s it’s just become refined and expanded in this world and I’d invite anybody who listens to this podcast to Follow me on Instagram. And look at the posts that I did over the first part of the pandemic, and you will see my creativity Gone Wild, I dabbled into one of my other books, which is going to be called Food flowers and my furry friends on how I survived the pandemic. And you can see the ingredients of what I had done. And if you have any pictures or anything that you want to go ahead and share, I’d love them. And I got into working with working with food and flowers and just going out and as you said, collecting leaves and making a beautiful thing. And, and for a while. It was it was fun and excitement. And then I ran out of stuffed animals. And then I stopped going ahead and creating those. And I was the summer way. And I was like, Well, what am I going to do next. And I started this thing yesterday, yesterday was the first post. And it was, how to speak on Zoom. I did my first first entry up there and those will have to be another one today. And it’s doing live zoom conversations that goes up to YouTube on how we can speak better and do better. And in that. So if you want some tips on how to make that happen, I’m still learning. So there is always always creativity. But you know, from a very young age, I was writing poetry and I’ve always turned to writing as as a source. But in this pandemic, I was making all sorts of food and different creativity things and as a cousin mindset at the beginning of pandemic, everybody wanted to share food and nobody so much wants that food anymore. They’re there they’re worried about the the pandemic five, you know, instead of the freshmen five, it’s the pandemic five, of how we take that and so she says she’s she now brings wine. Here’s here’s something that no one can go ahead and deny unless, of course, you’re not wine drinker. And as a friend of mine, who thinks that we don’t have enough food in our house always has food that he’s dropping off over here had two boxes of donuts. And I said, No. Just a Krispy Kreme in the refrigerator, and I can let that Krispy Kreme go.
Christine Gautreaux 42:23
Well, speaking of gifts from friends, I know that you have a gift that you’d like to offer our listeners, do you want to tell folks about that gift?
Rosalyn Kahn 42:32
Oh, certainly, I always like to leave people in different parts of the of the world a gift from my heart. And so there’s a gift. And I know when Christine puts up the link, there’s a gift, it’s called Be kind. When you go to my webpage, and you put in this particular link, what I’m going to give you is a copy of my first book, which is called random acts of kindness or change in the world. And it’s it’s a keeper. It’s one of those things if you’re in a bad mood, you just sit and read that and your your heart will be changed. I was once at a health club and this lady was telling me about this phenomenal book that she and her family talked about around the table. And it was my book. Oh, and it was it was just so so touching. And so I want to spread this kindness with more people in the world and bless more people and let them know there’s there’s a reason to keep living and so if you like the show, then please be a recipient of that that wonderful gift. And you know, I’d say follow me on instagram follow me on YouTube subscribe in everyday there’s there’s new and exciting stuff that’s that’s coming out on our we’re changing this world.
Christine Gautreaux 43:46
Absolutely. I love that. And we’ll make sure and put all your info in the show notes Roslyn so people can find you. And I would love for us to close out the section like I love that idea of just random acts of kindness. So instead of thinking about what we’ve done for somebody else, because I know the three of us on this call do random acts of kindness. But can you think about what was the last random act of kindness that was done for you and you don’t have to name the person that did it? You can if you want to, but what um, what was the last random act of kindness that somebody did for you?
Rosalyn Kahn 44:26
Well, this one really touched me yes, you know, those those calendars and so forth. And I had someone I got some feedback and I had to share them. So I went out and I gave them to all my neighbors. And one person thanked me and one person came to my door with her daughter on her shoulder, little baby and brought me this gift of cookies and green tea. Said I wanted to thank you rosins So much for that beautiful calendar that you gave me. I gave it to my grandmother and she so much enjoys it. And I always say we never know what the smallest things we can do, whose life we can change. And it can be the the littlest, smallest thing of opening a door closing a door saying thank you, or returning a text message.
Christine Gautreaux 45:29
I love that Rosalind Shannon, do you have one that comes to mind?
Shannon M. 45:34
A random, which way was the situation that I’ve done for somebody or that somebody?
Rosalyn Kahn 45:39
Somebody somebody did? Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 45:48
I received this week in the mail, I received these beautiful cards that somebody sent to me from a class I taught just out of the blue that said, I just wanted to thank you for your class. And, and they just sent me some of their artwork, which you all know, is my love language. So it was so delightful. So you got one, Shannon? Hello?
Shannon M. 46:11
Well, I would say and I was gonna, I’ll be honest, I was probably gonna discount it, because they do so much. But both my boyfriend and my best friend have been amazing. And you, Christine, if I say, oh, I need this for shoe logo award for a war job or whatever, they’ll just okay, well, I’ll take care of. And that’s really what is required for me. Getting the stuff that I need and not having to think
Christine Gautreaux 46:40
back to what we talked about at the beginning of the conversation about really listening and seeing each other and hearing each other. Right. And, and giving from our hearts like that’s, and I think that’s, you know, I know, we’ve completely done a left turn y’all from intellectual wellness, but I have loved our discussions today. I think it’s right on time and right on point. And Roslyn, we just want to say thank you for being with us today. And, and we’re so grateful for this conversation. Well,
Rosalyn Kahn 47:12
I’m really grateful for for the two of you, Christine, and Shannon, it’s really truly been a heartfelt moment. I love exactly what you guys do on women connected in wisdom, because women are the changemakers of the world. They’re the ones out there that are bringing the the changes that we need, the changes that we see, and, and every occupation that’s out there. And I think what you’re doing is is truly incredible. So gratitude beyond words, thank
Christine Gautreaux 47:38
you. Well, we will definitely see you online. And we’ll make sure everything’s connected so folks can find your new book, and they can download your beautiful gift about random acts of kindness. And so, so grateful for to talk with you. Thank you that was a big old conversation, my friend. Yeah, we veered a little from intellectual wellness, but I think what was the thing that stuck out to you the most about that combo?
Shannon M. 48:19
Oh, let’s see. Because I took so many notes. I will say the 2.4 seconds to say hello to someone. You know, we talked about wellness for ourselves and wellness work community. And I think that for me, that’s what it starts with saying hello, just like you were I don’t know if you said on the call or before we got on alive, but you were talking about reaching out to your friends in sometimes forgetting to say hello first. You know, at work, I was definitely that person, please say hello, before you send me all these errands. And so 2.4 seconds, you know, it changes the whole dynamic.
Christine Gautreaux 49:00
Right? I think that’s so true. And I’m gonna commit to work on that’s gonna be my wisdom and action this week. Because, you know, sometimes I get caught up in that task list. And I I jumped ahead. I’m a Leaper. And I’m all I’m I’m three Taskin. And so just taking that deep breath and, and saying hello, and pausing for a moment, I think is going to be my wisdom and action this week. What do you think yours is gonna be? I think let’s
Shannon M. 49:31
see, what do I want mine to be? So I’m gonna say my, for intellectual new categories. I’m reading about his bookkeeping and taxes. In the US tax season. We’ve been talking about our mastermind. So I’m gonna put the minor D over there and continue to learn new ideas in my financial literacy and my strategy.
Christine Gautreaux 49:57
Well, that’s right on time because next week’s show is about financial wellness and it is tax season and it is all that goes with it and we know and support so many female entrepreneurs and women who are in business for themselves or have side hustles. So that is really timely that your wisdom in action is getting around financial wellness. Yeah and learning about it the intellectual wellness part. Well, before we go my friend, I want you to tell folks about Shayla glow as our sponsor and about Shay rose, tell our listeners about
Shannon M. 50:38
so again, ladies, stay low blow is a handmade shea butter company. We also have multi use oils and sugar scrub for exfoliation. But right now I want to talk a little bit more about the shaver. Right, we talked about the 44 interviews that rosmond has done in her newest book. Clearly Christy and I are always talking about our ladies, our manifestation, Monday’s masterminds and the different groups that were connected in. And today talking about remembering to say thank you to people in your life to say hi to say, how are you doing and to intentionally check on them. That’s what the shaver was about a person in your community that betters your life, she betters the community. She’s taking care of everybody else. And this is your gift to her that I’m giving for you right to honor her to give her some self care to give her a second Morrisville to be intentional about taking care for her body, so that she can continue to do all of the things that she’s been doing. So in order to nominate your Shea row, the subject line is going to be my shea row and email that to me Shayla glow doc, Kimmy Shea low glow@gmail.com. The registration for the nominations is open until the end of the month. And we’ll be announcing that at the beginning of April. And then the nominations for the next month will start so if you have somebody if you have a few people that it’s fine nominations have already started coming in. And I’ll let you ladies know who gets chosen.
Christine Gautreaux 52:02
Oh, I love that. I love that gift that you give back to the community and honoring women in our lives. I think that is so beautiful. Shannon, thank you so much. And I Yeah, I’m just grateful. I am grateful for today’s conversation. I know it wasn’t an easy one listener so if you stuck it out this long. Thank you. It’s we look forward to chatting with y’all next week as always,
Shannon M. 52:31
and don’t forget, be well be wise
Christine Gautreaux 52:35
and the whole
Unknown Speaker 52:44
thanks for listening. This has been the women connected and wisdom podcast on-air live on Wednesdays at 5 pm. Eastern via Facebook and YouTube. Be sure to like share and subscribe be part of the conversation and get connected at women connected in wisdom.com.
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