Keep an Open Heart

From Episode 33 of the PINK Lifestyle Podcast:

We all deserve a life that is purposeful, intentional, natural, and kind, right? I know I do. I know you do, too.

Today I want to talk to you about keeping an open heart. To allow yourself the space to experience and accept change with an open mind.

You may or may not know that I moved from Southern California to Tennessee this past summer, for various reasons. And while professionally it is starting to turn out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, the impact it has had on me personally is stronger than I expected.

A little background - I was raised in California, grew up in the 70s and 80s, listened to country music for as long as I can remember - and I mean everything from Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams to Johnny Cash to the modern stuff (at the time and now).

While my music preferences have pretty much stayed the same throughout the years, my interior décor has changed, going from leaning to beachy and country/feminine, to modern and clean. Black, metallic, and glass accents. But I always kept my pink (of course), blues, and florals. Condo and townhouse living, without a yard but with a door man, was my goal.

See, some of my favorite locations are big cities. New York. Boston. Los Angeles. Chicago. I feel at home in the middle of the hustle and bustle, noise, and even all the frustrations that accompany living in a city.

Except traffic. I’ll always dislike traffic. That 405 in LA…to take 3 hours to go 30 miles…ugh.

I’d never even been to Nashville, but I just assumed before I even got here I was going to love it. I may have just been attempting to manifest my happiness, so I didn’t give myself any other choice.

But with all change comes the need for flexibility and dealing with the unknown. And honestly, I’m not a fan of extremely small towns. The kind where everyone knows everyone else. I’ve lived in one and I was so uncomfortable the entire time. Perhaps I just love the anonymity, or I like meeting new people. Live in a small enough town - like I did - you meet everyone pretty quickly.

So like I coach my clients, I took my own advice and kept an open heart and mind and allowed myself the time to acclimate to the area and at the same time dive in to learn the culture without reservation. I removed expectations and accepted what came. Granted, in this COVID climate it’s not the easiest, but I started venturing out more this week.

Through this, I confirmed once again that keeping an open mind and heart, and embracing change is always the best route.

And last week I had what I’m calling a mini-awakening.

I felt like the city claimed me for its own. Wandering around the city and investigating the area, I physically felt this wave of warmth and acceptance - it accepting me and me accepting it - and the country girl in me was reawakened. In fact, I know the exact moment. I was driving south on the 65, away from the city. I could see it in my rear-view mirror, and in front of me were rolling green hills. If you’ve been here or live here, you know what I mean. And if you haven’t, it’s nothing short of spectacular. Such a juxtaposition of two different worlds, it’s almost too hard to believe.

I still have my edge. I’m not the ruffles, flowing skirts kinda gal…I’m the jeans, black shirt, tennis shoe kind. And a black hat, I love a black hat.

But my main message in this is that I want you to find ways in your life to be more open-minded, and to keep an open heart with thinking about new possibilities or options. It may open new doors for you, you could learn new things about yourself, or even awaken something that had gone dormant.