Show notes –
Join Shannon and Christine as we talk about the 8 dimensions of wellness and look back at Season 2.
This week’s resources and references:
Women Connected In Wisdom – All Episodes
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,
Christine Gautreaux 0:43
right? Well today y’all. It is hard to believe Shannon. But today we are doing a summary show on season two,
Shannon M. 0:53
season two guys. The last episode next is going to be Welcome to season three.
Christine Gautreaux 0:59
Right? So you know, I’m a part of the aware printers community and Paul’s Elizur. It’s over there and he has a podcast success team. And the average stats on podcast are most podcasters do not make it past 15 episodes. Okay. And we’re at 17
Shannon M. 1:22
He’s my favorite number, y’all. My birthday is coming up may 17 17th 17th 17th,
Christine Gautreaux 1:24
episode 17 for the birthday. Happy birthday, my friend.
Shannon M. 1:33
Thank you so much.
Christine Gautreaux 1:34
I’m so glad you are celebrating yourself. And yes. And this beautiful trip. Well. You know, we can talk about all the eight dimensions of wellness, we could talk about our amazing guests we’ve had on we could talk about our week, what do you want to start out talking about today?
Shannon M. 1:54
I say we talk about intentional wellness all together, and how we do how we do it. You know, and whatever comes up for each of us. I say we hit on that. Let’s do it. Yeah, yeah. So for me, I had a great question. Right. I had somebody called me and it had been a while since we’ve caught up. He said, you know, Shannon, how do you stay mindful of all the eight dimensions every day at the moment? That’s a great question. I might have talked about it on a show, but I’m not sure if I did. So we can kind of run through it. This is the this is the recap, right? No, it’s really good. I don’t make it Instagram. We don’t make social media stuff out of it and everything. But for financial, that’s something I’ve been working on, right. I’ve made sure I know what’s going on in my bank accounts. So on my checklist I have, I have to check money, check the money bag, so you know what’s in the accounts. For occupational, on the checklist before my work stuff before I check my emails and social media and I’m following up with customers, I’m doing my stuff for myself, I pay myself first with my time. That’s mind, body and spirit. So I do my devotion, get up and workout, drink, eat, make my bed up, all that stuff is for me for so that includes my spiritual wellness, that includes my mental and emotional wellness with me writing things I’m grateful for right? On the podcast, we talk about the relationship between gratitude and grief. It’s been a lot of grief during quarantine. So the gratitude, writing 10 things that day, which I feel like is a lot. But there’s also a lot to be grateful for that’s really helped me if I’m focused on my intellectual wellness, you know, reading is on my checklist, but I moved it from the beginning of the day, which I wanted it to be to the end of the day. And that’s also the intellectual wellness, being open to new ideas, and then modifying when it’s necessary, you know, so that’s my intellectual lawn. It’s learning new things every day. What else is there social wellness. So social media, of course, being mindful of how much I’m on online, even though I work online, but also being mindful of my role in my relationships that are important to me being quarantined and haven’t been away from everybody. You know, before we get used to getting back out. I’ve been very intentional about how often I see people when we talk making sure we don’t go too long and that I know what’s going on with them. So if anything happens, it’s okay. How are you doing that thing that we talked about, you know, and again, pull in my part for my role in the relationship. But all of those things helped me and it’s not a overbearing checklist like I have to do this I love I was reading so point at the airport, Christine and one thing I love that she ladies had on the list of rules to be mindful of your wellness is to break the rules on time, and to actually not stay too strict and try to be perfect. So you don’t get arrogant. You don’t get bogged down. And that’s really the reality of this stuff. It’s not gonna be perfect every single day. But if you’re intentional about it, we make habits. That’s what’s helped me so season two, it’s been great And I can’t wait for season three.
Christine Gautreaux 5:03
So are you telling me you took my book with you on vacation to my own?
Shannon M. 5:06
I do have it here.
Christine Gautreaux 5:07
Right? Do I need a picture of you reading that book on the beach, please? Okay, like, I need to see your feet and you read the book like that makes my heart so happy. My friend.
Shannon M. 5:19
Brian brought it for you for marketing materials, right, don’t play Christina’s point. at that airport, before
Christine Gautreaux 5:28
you’re ready, this is partnership power. Right, we can still point about partnership power. And that is a perfect example. Thank you for reading my book in the airport. Because, you know, that’s, that’s awesome. Partnership power. Um, yeah, talking about these eight dimensions. Because, um, you know, I, I think the more we practice, right, in interplay, we have a saying, change your practice, change your life. And so for somebody that was new to the eight dimensions of wellness, it may take like, they may need to see a list, a sticky note, you know, sometimes when I’m in a new skill, or I’m learning something new, I write myself a note about it, and I put it on my bathroom mirror, like I do. Because if it’s not in my body, if it’s not in my habit body, I might forget. Right? That’s a great point. Once you get the practice in yes to breaking the rules, and not always being perfect. But first, you got to have the protein before you break it. Um, so when I think about this question, you know, there’s my perfect days, quote, unquote, not everything. But you know, there’s the way I’d love it to be, right. And then reality of how it is a lot of times with things, but I’m with you, I start the day with the spiritual and the emotional and mental wellness, like, I start the day with some meditation, if I can today, you know, you’re sitting there on that gorgeous beach, I’m in a sweater because we it’s been raining all day in Atlanta, and it’s gotten a little chilly. And so like, it’s dark and rainy. But, so like, I didn’t start the day outside this morning, because the weather just was not conducive to it. But you know, starting the day, with that spiritual and emotional and mental and checking in with myself and yes to writing the gratitudes I think we talked about it this season that Alex, my oldest daughter is reading the book tools, tools for Titans. And she has started a new practice, which I love, which I’m starting to adopt is your three gratitudes in the morning. And then what are three things that would make the day awesome, because I that goes to like, it goes to the intellectual wellness, like that mindset and that intentionality about the day. And then at the end of the day, you circle back around and write your gratitudes. And what made the day awesome. I love it. Yeah. So I’ve been playing with that a little bit. And then physical. You know, most days it did not happen this morning. But most days I am taking a two mile walk this morning I played and danced with a friend in Canada and just moved and stretched and yeah, and then you know, the social one is the one that has been a challenge because of the lockdown. But thank goodness for technology, right? This is some out of balance with as an extrovert because I like to connect with people. So yeah. Oh, I have a daily practice of connecting with my nibbling who are my almost two year old nephews in Colorado. Oh my gosh. And I tell you how ridiculous they are. Like, they are doing this new thing because, you know, they grew social. It’s very interesting because they know more about the phone than they know about people in person because endemic. So they’re doing this new thing where the SFM they’re like, Hello. Hi. Hello. It’s so awesome. But now that you know it’s getting safer to travel, I’m gonna I’m gonna get to go scoop them up pretty quick here and give him a hug. Yeah, I I booked my tickets to see them. And then we’re going to drive down to Texas from Colorado and see my family on the drive a bit. It’s about 12 hour drive. That’s without that’s without twins. So how long it’s gonna take
But, you know, I really realized this week Shannon, how much grief I’m holding in my body. And I’m, you know, this is part of my work. And I work with this, and I have tools to transform it. But it was really interesting to me, now that I’ve booked it, and it’s getting close to being able to see my family who I haven’t, you know, held in a year and a half, I just feel that grief rising up, like, I’m gonna be a ball and mass when I see him, I just know it. I’m like, I’ve been stuffing it, you know? And it’s, and there’s really, I think, because there really wasn’t much I could do about it. Right? And that’s the way grief is sometimes we we tuck it under, and oh, my gosh, I have to tell you about this incredible resource. I want you I’m going to look it up while you tell us something awesome. And then I’m going to tell you this incredible grief resource that I just found. Hang on. Yeah,
Shannon M. 11:05
yeah. And me and my best friend, were talking about this, because we both love her. And is really interesting. I was telling the story. And I was I’ll just be honest, we’re on a podcast, right? So I’ll be honest about what happened. I say, you know, my mom just passed away. And it’s like, really, it’s actually the time is getting up there, you know, this November be two years, and then we’re still away from November. So it really still just happened. But especially with COVID, it was like that happened and the restaurant closed and had to move and all this stuff has been happening in between. So I didn’t really get to sit down. And even when everything closed, now I’m studying to start a business and I was studying for it, you know, because it needs to be a successful business. And so even though I wasn’t actively working, I was still actively learning, which takes a whole nother part of your brain, you know, and it’s important to make sure that we look at how we feel. But I think there’s gonna be a lot of people, we talked about grief, and you’re about to show us this resource. But we’re opening up now we’ll see how that goes and see what steps people need to take to get re acclimated back to whatever situation they’re in. But a lot of people have passed away, a lot of stuff has happened, how do you look at how you feel in the face and deal with it? You know, I was talking about my morning routine. I wasn’t really doing that last week, I was trying to get ready to wrap all of our stuff up. So we could be able to go out of town. So I was really looking at myself to like, how am I handling this? What do I need today to be okay, and that’s what it’s about when they’re sticky notes, or whatever you need.
Christine Gautreaux 12:36
I think that’s a good point that don’t expect perfection out of our ourselves and the enemy of the good I think in a lot of times, but and we’re all coming through collective trauma after a year and a half. So how do we do this? So my friend, Cynthia went, and Henry, who’s the co founder of Interplay shared this resource with us yesterday, and I’m going to share my screen for folks that are watching this video. For our listeners, it is called the artist grief deck. And it is, um, and we will put it in our we’ll put it in the show notes. But look at how cool this is. It is artists and I’m different, like social workers and grief therapists who have put in art, but then they’ve also put in like little things you can do. So it is the coolest things. I just submitted something this morning. So we’ll see if it gets accepted. But it’s called, you can find it at grief deck.com. But it’s called the artists grief deck. And I’m like this one it says acceptance, let it rain. And then it gives you more like you click on it and you can continue. But it is really gorgeous. A lot of different prompts for for working on grief work. And I just think about that for emotional and mental wellness. I think about how when our friend Tracy Reese from heart Hughes was on here and her art. Yeah, I want to she sees this because she I would I could totally see her having a piece of, of art on here.
Shannon M. 14:14
And I love I love the story of heart views. You know, I love this. I love the artists that and I love Tracy story this season, how she shared about the different colors of hues and the situations that she was going through. That’s the reality. You know, of course, there’s grief, there’s gratitude. There’s those things we’ve talked about. But there’s really only other details and you can feel differently about them. A lot of times I feel like we talk about a few emotions, and not all of them. But all of them are there. All of them can be tools or pointers to show you something that you need to pay attention to something that you need to work on or I mean honestly even something that you do well, but it’s not something to feel bad about. I think we’re taught to feel bad about certain emotions and certain situations. Yeah, right.
Christine Gautreaux 14:58
Absolutely. Right. And I’ve always thought, you know, oh, that feelings are neither right nor wrong. That’s what them that count. Right. And we’re allowed our whole our whole range of feelings. Yeah. Judy says that is a beautiful deck. I agree, Judy. And there’s a way to submit as an artist if you want to, to put your work and your prompts on there, because I know you’re an amazing energy healer. So that would I for sure, check it out. We’ll put it in the show notes about to connect that deck and how to how to put a submission in. So absolutely. I don’t I think it’s all virtual right now. I don’t know if they’re making a physical deck or not. Yeah, I was thinking about Shannon, I was thinking about season two. And I was thinking about some of the guests we had. And, you know, this was the season that we had Collin Chambers from Wildwood magic. And I was thinking about her because on Sunday, I, my girls, and I went for a hike on the Appalachian Trail. And you know, it was about physical wellness, and hiking and walking and noticing things around you. And I haven’t really posted those pictures, but I should share them with you. So we can post them as our social media. But it was stunning. It was, um, it was a trail. That’s what supposed to be one of the most beautiful ones for the part of Georgia. And can I tell you, it was it took us two hours to get there. We were on national forest roads. And we were out in the middle of nowhere last night. So my kids were like, Mom, could you pick the more remote spot? Oh, there are roads. But it was stunningly gorgeous. And there were all kinds of little wildflowers and you know, we were just it was I don’t know, it was almost a perfect day. It was so stunning. And so I was thinking about calling and her the Leave No Trace. And the principal she was talking about when we were like this weekend. Yeah,
Shannon M. 17:18
and I love what she said that it’s nothing that no, there’s no bad situation that are good walk cat fix something like that. She said, you know, and I plan on taking a walk today for the sunset at the beautiful ocean and I was like, All
Christine Gautreaux 17:34
right, yeah, take a picture of that. I would love for you. That is my sunrise and sunset or my favorite time at the ocean. Have you gotten to see a sunrise yet?
Shannon M. 17:45
But not before the sun came up? But better probably would be tomorrow. I still been getting up pretty early and we’ve been working out. But not that early. Not yet.
Christine Gautreaux 17:55
Right? Sometimes when I’m at the beach, I set my alarm to go do the sunrise and then go back and take a nap. But I would be curious for our listeners. Are they sunrise or Sunday sunset folks then? But you know, I’m a sunrise.
Shannon M. 18:12
Okay. I like I like the sunrise. And then I actually like at night. Like I my if you have a place on the beach where there’s some light or you bring your own light it’s also it’s breathtaking.
Christine Gautreaux 18:24
It’s magical.
Shannon M. 18:25
Yes, it’s it’s different. It’s I don’t even know the words to put to it. But yes, very
Christine Gautreaux 18:32
high country song and I’m gonna blow it because I don’t I don’t recall artists but you know the country song where she sings about I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean.
Shannon M. 18:46
When you stand by the ocean, yeah,
Christine Gautreaux 18:49
you know? Yeah.
Shannon M. 18:54
I don’t know the person but I definitely know that all right,
Christine Gautreaux 18:56
well, we’ll show notes my text to be like, Girl, you’re failing. They’re gonna revoke my card.
Shannon M. 19:07
You know what else I’ve been thinking about from the season is what honestly is the Ana Ana. Ana with this, Anna. So she was talking about her field. Right. And when I think about social wellness, that’s definitely definitely what I do. Like as a young black person in America. What do you do with the angers you not me? I’m brave. But that like, if you’re creative sure that that’s a great outlet. That’s the healthy outlet. You know, what else do you do? Because there’s so much stuff that happens on a daily basis. How do you realistically work through that stuff? And for me, coming from a place that looks a certain way, living in a place that looks a certain way? I’m not talking about Atlanta, I’m talking about my mental home and where I stay. That helps me so much, and not because I’m unrealistic but because I choose the temperature of where I live. You know, I’m a thermostat, I’m not at the monitor. So a thermostat. Just gauges the temperature in whatever room this person walks into. That’s what they, that’s what they switch to. So they walk into a hostile situation. Now they turn up and now they’re hostile if they walk into a calm situation, now they’re calm, and they feel like they can relax. But I feel like I’ve had a better time being a thermometer and okay, this is what we’re setting it to. And then I’ll, I’ll respond based off whatever happens after that. But when I set it to a certain thing, it makes it a lot easier to handle situations and well, rounded way.
Christine Gautreaux 20:36
I love that. Yeah, I know, Anna was talking to us. She’s the founder of the expansive community. And if our listeners didn’t get a chance to hear that episode, she was talking about spiritual wellness, and how we, you know, set our intentions in when we walk into spaces. So I love that she Mm, yes, yeah.
Shannon M. 20:59
And what I love to go back to Tracy’s stuff, the hard to use with her paint parties, and excuse me for calling the paint parties, because I believe it’s something else. But I love the idea of
Christine Gautreaux 21:12
what you say nothing.
Shannon M. 21:15
But I love the idea of working through situations that have been things that have happened in your mind, while still focusing on painting and doing something creative. And again, she said, it’s for the people who don’t pay who aren’t necessarily creative and wouldn’t say that there, that person is even better, because you’re not trying to be perfect. You’re just trying to finish the task at hand while you’re thinking about everything else. And I think that’s great to start if you need to start somewhere and you’re not used to it. And even if you are, I feel like it’s more relaxing that way.
Christine Gautreaux 21:46
Right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think there’s so many things that can bring us to wellness. And the thing is, is is individual, right, we do different things. Um, you know, Rosalyn Khan, she was the author that was talking to us about kindness and about youth development and mentorship and leadership. And yeah, I just, um, I don’t know, I think about the random acts of kindness, I think about I used to practice on on a very regular basis. It’s been I’ve been out of habit of it lately. But do you remember when that was a big thing? Where I can’t even remember who started it random acts of kindness. Yeah, where you would just intentionally do a random act of kindness for somebody you didn’t know as you went along today. So
Shannon M. 22:45
for me, if you’re asking where it started, the furthest back, I can remember, I remember the movie. Pay it forward. Hmm. And so for me, that was I didn’t go to a conference or hear about this. I don’t know if there’s like a huge movement, but I know the movie paid for it. That’s what it was about, you know, doing something for this person. And you never know, the ripple effect of what would happen and how that might change the trajectory of somebody scores. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And when you talk about wellness, like, I’ve had so much stuff going on in my life, that volunteering and helping other people is actually really important. You know, it helps me take the focus off of my stories and going over these details that I know so intimately over and over again. And remembering that I’m still in a place where I can help other people. And now I see, you know what, and not in a judgmental way, but I’m, I would rather be where I am, than on the other end. And so I can do this and still be okay. And we’ll make it through whatever I’m going
Christine Gautreaux 23:45
through. Right, talking about volunteering. I want to give a shout out today to today’s give Interplay day. And so give Interplay Day is a fundraising day for an organization that is near and dear to my heart interplay.org Or Interplay atlanta.org, we really we use movement and storytelling and voice to create just communities and do community building? And yeah, so I’m gonna put a link to that in the show notes too, because that’s one of the places I volunteer at. And I do work too. I do community work with through them, their nonprofit. And the other shout out I want to give talking about volunteer work, because I think it goes to social wellness. And I think it goes to what we’re talking about is reforming Arts is an organization that I’m currently serving on their board, where we use arts and theater, device theater, working with folks currently in the criminal justice system in Georgia and reentering society. So we had been in and I want to put a link to this in the show notes. I don’t know but y’all we had the best meeting with the Gwinnett. County Public Library. They have a program right now, that is ridiculously awesome for reentering citizens. It is an entrepreneurial program that they got a grant for that they hook folks up, you have to apply. And I think the application date is the end of May. So if anybody listening know somebody that’s re entering this program is for folks that want to start their own business or have their own business and want to have mentorship. So they give him a top a hotspot for six months, a mentor, they do a monthly class and check in. And it’s really a beautiful program to help folks start their own business because as we know, so many people are discriminated against when they come back when they reenter society. So it’s like a second sentence, you know, they they pay, and they did their first sentence, but the discrimination that happens when they come out is like a second sentence, because they have trouble finding housing and jobs. And so, I was so thrilled to learn about this program. I will put it I will put it out there for our listeners. But absolutely. Your work, you know, yes. It being a part of our wellness and what world so
Shannon M. 26:24
and yeah, and yes to people who are reentering society to start their own businesses. That’s what I’m going to fix this. If that’s what suits them. That’s, yeah, I’m bored.
Christine Gautreaux 26:35
Right. That setting is so beautiful shaving cream. So you know how you put the backdrops in on Zoom. That’s what it looks like. It’s such a beautiful setting,
Shannon M. 26:48
when to do that. Right, I set up my Zoom background anyways.
Christine Gautreaux 26:52
Right and take a picture of it. And that can just be your like, there I am. But yeah,
Shannon M. 26:57
because it will Shayla blow burden in the corner.
Christine Gautreaux 27:01
You are absolutely fantastic. I was thinking through our guests from last season. And I was thinking about our friend Virginia, who does roots and wings, the experiences for women outdoors, and also owns next steps evaluation. And she was talking about balancing her occupation with her work and occupational wellness, like doing what you love, and making a difference in society. That was a powerful conversation.
Shannon M. 27:34
Yeah. And it’s so um, it’s really interesting, because, you know, when I was a manager at the restaurant, I’ve realized some things that I loved about my job, right? I love helping people get to the level they wanted to be at whether it was promotion, or get better at something that was difficult for them. Now, mind you, that could also be my psychology degree and be a counselor or something like that. So I felt like the parts of my job that I love, I could do at a number of different jobs, which is why I decided not to be there anymore for part of it. But outside of that, how do you and this is why we have conversations with amazing women. Right? But how do you balance all of that? Which is why I’m glad that we had her on especially somebody who has, I wouldn’t say trail wats How do you How would you describe her walk?
Christine Gautreaux 28:21
I would say intentional walks in nature are experienced and are intentional natural experiences. Because she sometimes says journaling with her walking. Okay, she prompts with her walking like she’ll give prompts before she heads out. Um, yeah. Yeah, sounds pretty incredible one she and I did together over at Roswell mill. That was incredibly beautiful. Think
Shannon M. 28:48
her and I went to Roseville to we went somewhere up anyone. But I love them. So we have Virginia with the walk. We have Tracy with her excuse. We have Joe with our drum lessons. Right? We have different Yeah. And that’s just three of the many guests that we have. We have so many resources
Christine Gautreaux 29:08
for our friend, Dr. Joe VZ. And Joe and Tracy was our first episode back in season one after intro. She launched this week I saw on social media, she’s doing group drum lessons virtually. Y’all my inner 12 year old was doing a happy dance. I so I think I got to take one drum lesson when I was a kid. And then that was botched. So I need to sign up for those drum lessons like that make me think about drum. Right?
Shannon M. 29:42
Oh, it was so interesting. Like so I wasn’t banned for seven years. And when I went to try out I thought I was going to be playing the clarinet ended up playing the flute again for seven years. And I knew I would play an instrument I knew I would learn to read music. I knew that marching bands marched again. We said this Season One, it’s important to reiterate, marching band is a sport, okay, we’re not walking on the field, we are marching, all those things I knew. But what I hadn’t thought about was the physical wellness part and not the marching. But the breathing. Like the breathing exercises helped me so much with everything that I was going on, that I was going to on those seven years, I really think and and the intellectual wellness that it cultivated and required, and the physical activity, the breathing, it really helped me manage the level of stress that I had during that time.
Christine Gautreaux 30:35
Do you have an instrument that you still want to learn how to play or you want to pick back up for practice?
Shannon M. 30:42
I would love to pick that a piano play piano when I was younger, I would love to learn how to play piano, I would love to pick up the flute again, I was section leader. And it’s been probably now longer than seven years, actually, I think has been longer than seven years since I’ve played now. So we’re about twice, you know, the same amount of time as I played. I would love to do that again, make sure I’m in tune and able to read the music. And I would say guitar to guitar is always on the list. I love acoustic guitar.
Christine Gautreaux 31:12
So okay, do it now, Shannon, because I tried to play guitar a couple years ago, and I threw my shelter out. And when I went to the chiropractor, she started laughing at me because she said You are like the third middle aged white woman that’s been in here this week, with her shoulder out trying to learn how to click.
Shannon M. 31:34
Okay, so when I play guitar increase how much calcium I have got it?
Christine Gautreaux 31:39
Well just know that there is physicality to some of that, right? It’s not I don’t want to discourage anybody from doing it. I my kids then gave me a ukulele, which I haven’t practiced enough. But, you know, there is a physicality to some of that stuff that we don’t think about, right? So yes, I want to, I have drums and flute that I want to practice, that I am, that I just don’t schedule practicing. And when we talk about wellness, you know, one of my wisdom in action is to schedule things like that. Because, you know, we’re so good as women of taking care of other people. And so many times I find that, you know, my attention gets tagged here, here, somebody needs this or that and all that. And that free time sometimes goes away. So scheduling that. And I think sometimes that’s why it’s great to hire somebody like Joe to have a drum lesson because, you know, it’s accountability, and you’re going to show up, right? So,
Shannon M. 32:44
honestly, I think it depends. I was doing kickboxing, you know, people have gym memberships, and don’t go I was paying like $70 a month. Who knew? You know, and sometimes I wouldn’t go. So I really think it’s the personal commitment, you can schedule as much stuff. It’s really interesting, these classes to say online classes, right? They have this part of the pool is that, oh, you’ll go through it with a community, everybody will learning together. I was an honor student and a lot of times I sat at the front group projects weren’t optional. I did great in whatever situation you put me online, the group does not keep me there. I still want I don’t know what it is. So what what you personally will be committed to, right?
Christine Gautreaux 33:27
Yeah, like a body devil. I like having some, you know, I like doing things. I think that’s part of my social to, like, I like to combine social and physical wellness. I have somebody that’s going to meet me at the pool, or they’ll go on a bike ride with me or that I like to do those things by myself, too. I just, I like doing it with a buddy. And it couldn’t be because I had a sister that was 16 months younger than me. So I just grew up have, you know? Yeah, I think that sometimes, is it our family of origin? And how we grew up? You know?
Shannon M. 34:01
Yeah, I mean, you know, when we talk about nature and nurture, the thing that makes a person who they are, nature, your biology, parents, where you come from is 1/3 of it. Nurture is the other two thirds. So your environment, we around your social group in the way that you’re taught in the different what word am I looking for? And the different places that you are to make it simple, right, the different environments that you’re in. So you grew up with your sister, it absolutely makes sense that you’re used to having somebody there with you. Yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 34:34
Yeah. Yeah. And even
Shannon M. 34:37
outside of that, I think that we can know what’s the norm for us, you know, what we’re used to and then decide how to operate outside of that. Of course, initially, like you said, You got to get into the rhythm initially, you might be more comfortable with somebody else there. But after a while, takes 21 days to create a challenge. If your situation calls for something different when you feel like you need something different think as adults, and then it’s like we can choose how we want to be to a certain age. But being with somebody helps you with your physical, then do that you’re able to do that still then Good job, you know, you’ve been doing a great job with it. Well, I
Christine Gautreaux 35:15
also think about, you know, when you were in band, I was in all the sports because my dad was a coach when I was growing up. So I went the sports route. And I think about like the team and stuff. Like I’ve always been a part of a team. And and so I think that’s part of it. Also. Thinking about teams, I’m thinking about our friend to Artesia who was on for occupational wellness, and didn’t one and talk to us about women engaged. And that organization that is amazing. And, you know, we got some stuff happening in Georgia, y’all. Right? I’m writing postcards, part of my wisdom and action for Community Care this week is I’m writing postcards, about redistricting, because this is a year in Georgia that they’re redistricting. So I encourage you to check that out and to pay attention and as to be active and engaged. Because that makes a difference on voting, and it makes a difference on resources, and access to resources. So
Shannon M. 36:28
I think that’s huge. I was so happy to to know you, they need to know that you’re involved and helping the community stay involved in politics. I know that’s a whole nother topic that we can talk about later on, you know, but things are changing. And that’s what love does that. That’s what we do keep moving forward. So I’m happy to know that you guys are still working on stuff. And yeah, hrtc was amazing. As far as telling us what she did. I remember she said she had to get more used to taking care of her so and that that helped her take care of her household. And on top of that, her goals and everything that she was doing with the voting, she said they crushed the goal. So that was great.
Christine Gautreaux 37:08
Well, and can I give you an update on her and our, because I spoke to her this week, y’all and I will put this in the show notes. But you I don’t even know you know this yet, Shannon, she just signed a lease to take her industrial cleaning business out of her home. And it has now a brick and mortar and office. Right. And she also signed a lease to or signed a contract to be an authorized U haul dealer. So that is a woman that is kicking it. So she she said to us on Monday’s manifesting meeting that she’s going to have a grand opening in July, and that if we don’t come she is going to be mad at us for 4545
She said she regretted for 45 days. So the grand opening up when we know about it, we’ll let everybody know because if you put in a planner that’s gonna be in Snellville Georgia, and we want to celebrate that amazing woman and I mean, she is just kicking it. So I love that. Right? Yeah, that’s amazing. No one when the company needs to grow and continuing to do that with a new company, she saw an opportunity a 14 and took advantage of it. So I’m so happy to hear that she’s
Shannon M. 38:24
growing. And you know, I’ll be there if I can. Absolutely.
Christine Gautreaux 38:28
Right, super fun. Well, we are give a shout out to my dear friend and co author Sheila K. Collins. And as you’re reading stillpoints So many of those words are hers and her deep well of wisdom, you know, from her eight decades on the planet, and the fact that she shows up in dances every day just amazes me. So
Shannon M. 38:54
yeah, and I love how the book makes it again the dance of self care. Right so I feel like we’re used to dancing or taking pictures if they’re perfect. Or if the line is right in your body if you have the moods right if you don’t know the dance sit down but that’s not life because you know, the picture isn’t always going to be perfect you should take it anyways dance anyways, we were just singing the song you know. And I think that’s really what it’s about. That’s really what it’s about is the move which you can move like she said for our episode. And to keep things in front of keep your wellness in the front of your mind and remember to stay connected to all the different parts of you that’s what I love about skill point. How it brings into somatic twins but touchy and feely and how you know, can you tell I’ve been reading the book because it’s not just logical it’s, it’s all of these things and when you cut out part of it, you cut out part of your your space to heal. You’re cutting out part of the situation and how you were affected and why limit yourself and forget part of yourself in other situations. in your life when you can bring all of it with you into the next day into the next moment, so I love it.
Christine Gautreaux 40:05
Right? Yeah, it’s really it really had just bringing it all you know what guests brought their all to our episode was shrinker Rakeem Bebo love and breathe. Breathe in love breathe out love.
Shannon M. 40:27
Yes. And again, that was so interesting. We talked about social bonus, because historically you guys see I’m at the beach, I’m at the pool. I don’t know if I would have been able to swim in this pool two decades ago. So I made sure to swim in the pool and not not in a manipulative type of way. But just because I know how to swim and I like to swim. So I’m going to get in the pool. But to breathe in love, even in an environment where there might not be love for me again, it’s maybe a thermostat. But then even if I’m not breathing in love from other people to breathe out, look, it’s very important to be where you are, and how you affect the environment. That’s our environmental wellness. You know, what is what is your environment look like?
Christine Gautreaux 41:11
I love that. You know you saying that about the pool makes me think of my friends and colleague from interplay. Charles our lingo, we call him out. And he was, here’s one of the things I love about living in Atlanta or near Atlanta. He was one of the first white men to work if not the first to work for Dr. Martin Luther King. And he was in that famous picture of the pool. When they were riding the pool when they threw us in the pool. He was part of that demonstration. And I met him through his daughter Kyra jewel lingo, who is going to be a guest on our show in season three. And she was a monk for tick, not Han order. And she she’ll tell us her story. It’s a pretty magical journey. But she is an interplay leader now. And I met her through interplay. And she introduced us to Al who is also now an interplay leader. And I think about the connections, right? The connections of wellness, the connections of social justice, where we live and how we walk in this world is pretty, pretty magical. Well, you know, whose name we haven’t called, who I want to call out as we’re Round two is my friends, Carolyn Renee, who, in season one for intellectual wellness, and she is the founder of Whoa, women, women helping others advance. And he’s also the executive director of the arts exchange in East Point, Atlanta. And just phenomenal. The
Shannon M. 43:01
walk. Yeah, what I loved about her story was how her and her daughter together the the jury of enemies, they spend time, of course, you know, but they were intentional about their wrongness on an intergenerational level. And that’s huge. You know. So it looks one way, you’re this age. To this age, it does look different. You know, there’s different considerations. If you’re going to be in the workforce for the next 50 years. It’s completely different than if you have five years left, you know, so I love thinking about that makes
Christine Gautreaux 43:31
me that makes me think about Terry Stigler who came and talked who talked to us in season two about financial wellness. I’ve been working
Shannon M. 43:39
with Terry, absolutely. Yes. And he said, she said a lot of people think they’re ready to retire. And their the their trajectory where they’re going says that they’ll never be ready to retire. So Terry absolutely has a free snapshot that she can do for you financially. So let you know where you are. We’ve been doing a lot of work, we were able to get my life insurance set up and are working on this car insurance now. I would love to pay less money and still be covered. So yeah.
Christine Gautreaux 44:10
Oh, I love that. I love that you’re still in connection with her and that. That’s what it’s all about, right? We have friends. We have people. We have women in the world who are doing amazing work and helping our communities and supporting each other and lifting each other up. Like let’s lift each other up in these times. I love that. Yeah, I love that. Well, I think we’ve shouted out every guest except for Mariela McCall who was last week’s guest her account naturals and boy she was awesome when she
Shannon M. 44:47
Yeah, and her story reminds me a lot of the story for my company for Shayla glow. Right I started making a product because I needed something works amazing said you know what, let me start a business and that’s fair story. Her skin cleared up you eautifully to the point where you wouldn’t even know that she had this issue and had dealt with this but because it was a problem that she she saw opportunity, but now she’s able to help all these women and and men and people in general. So I love that.
Christine Gautreaux 45:13
Right, stunning, stunning inside and out and an actor and new to our community. So it was delightful to meet her. It really was. Well, my friend tell me, I don’t know if we should give you a wisdom in action because you’re on vacation. So I don’t know if hashtag wisdom and action today.
Shannon M. 45:36
I mean, I would always do wisdom and action because you can be wise and know better, and then move away from that and start acting unwise. I’ve done that before. So I’ll do it. And last week was exfoliation. You see why I have to get on my exfoliation schedule. Okay, I had to come to the water. So we had to be ready. This week, I will and this is the recap. Right? So this is all eight dimensions. I will say that. Okay, so this is perfect. My wisdom and action is setting up my plan. So we’re about to come back. It’s going to be the last half of the year. I tried to make sure I don’t run and just do things I try to operate from a plan so I need to come back with the plan in tech and work from the plan so my wasn’t an action is to set a plan for the rest of the year.
Christine Gautreaux 46:21
Yeah, it’s a great time because we’re rolling up on June which is incredible. Yes. Good time for for a half year check in. Right. Yes. My wisdom in action is I’m who I got so many of them. That’s the thing I got it. I had to distill it down because I do too much stuff. Yeah. My wisdom and action is resting this week is resting. And we had a new moon yesterday. I was reading something it was talking about rest and relaxation. And yes to breathing and resting while we’re getting all this done, you know taxes are weak, they’re shout out to still need to get their taxes done. That’s a good financial wellness and if you’re not going to get by Friday, put in for the extension. Take care of yourself. And so yeah, I’m and I am really getting my schedule back on track for my morning routine and just allowing myself a little extra time in the mornings to to set myself up for success for the rest of the day. By taking that time to breathe deep and meditate and walk in my woods and you know, and then go go go cuz you know, I like to go
Shannon M. 47:43
go in the guest right now. And crazy.
Christine Gautreaux 47:47
Talking about gas running out. You know what’s happening in Atlanta. Y’all harassing Florida. Okay,
Shannon M. 47:53
we know you’re worried about gas. We’ve been walking everywhere. We didn’t even rent a car.
Christine Gautreaux 47:57
Okay, well make sure your Oh yeah, hopefully you have gas in your tanks when you fly back in. It’s good. Yeah. Yeah. So our listeners, we’re having a big gas shortage on the East Coast. And yeah, so hopefully it’ll be fixed by this weekend. But it’s Yeah, well, that’s good. Walking everywhere. That’s a good wisdom and action walk everywhere.
Shannon M. 48:20
That’s financial wellness. I rent a car if you don’t need one.
Christine Gautreaux 48:23
Right. I love it. But I also think you know, I think about the joys of walking you know, I’m a walker. I like to walk places and feel the trees and the earth and you know, see thing I see things when I’m walking then I don’t see when I’m in a car. So that it’s Hey, will you tell us about our sponsor? Before we wrap up our show today? Will you tell us a little bit about Hello glow.
Shannon M. 48:50
Of course. Ladies, our sponsor for women connect getting the wisdom is Shayla glow, the handmade shea butter company. And the mission of shallow glow is to include self care into your daily life so that we’re intentional about it. So in addition to including that in your daily life, we also like to do is honor the shave room. So if you see the banner at the bottom of your screen, and if you’re a listener, it’s my shea row to shallow blow@gmail.com. I want you to email me and tell me somebody that you would like to honor somebody you want to give a free gift of self care to. And we’ll kick somebody at the end of the quarter and honor them by, again sending out a self care package. But it’s been an honor to be able to host and sponsor this podcast to connect women and wisdom give you resources and tools to take care of yourself. And that is what Shiloh is here to do is all about. Right?
Christine Gautreaux 49:44
I love it. I love doing the world my friends.
Shannon M. 49:48
Thank you so much. We’ll see you next week for season three. And don’t forget, be well be wise and the
Christine Gautreaux 49:57
whole I look forward to it my friend Enjoy
Unknown Speaker 50:05
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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