(upbeat music) - Hello. It has been a minute since we've had a more relaxed chatty episode where I just give you some updates and share some ideas and things to explore. So that's what we're gonna do today. I'm your host and intuition coach, Kayleen Elise Suss, and this is episode 178 of the Celebrate Cultivate Podcast. I'm gonna be talking about some of my summer favorites. Guidance, my inner voice gave me to take a purposeful pause from work, which I'm back from, by the way, a life update about my in-laws moving to Austin and some updates about the fall and work and the studio and coaching with me. It's gonna be a fun conversation. I've got a cup of coffee with me. I invite you to grab a cup of coffee as well or whatever delicious beverage you are enjoying and we'll just dive on in. So to begin with, the autumnal equinox is approaching and you really can't turn the corner anywhere without seeing back to school and fall vibes everywhere. I find that there is this natural tendency or maybe it isn't a natural tendency. Maybe it is a societal, cultural, economic, patriarchal tendency to push forward into the next season as opposed to really anchoring into the season that you're in and soaking it up completely. So at this time of year or really at this time of season, when the new season is approaching, I find it to be really supportive and useful to look back on the season that you've been through and celebrate the highlights, cultivate more of what you want, release what wasn't serving you and open the door to receiving what will feel good in the season moving forward before you just jump into it. So before you go into fall, spend a little bit of time reflecting on those things. And if you're in my signature program, a year of calm or if you've been through it in years past or that we spend some time focusing on this and we even have a full group call where we celebrate and close out the season before we welcome it in. And there is a method to my madness. There's a reason why we do that. It's really to help counteract what happens everywhere you go in Target, at Starbucks, all of your favorite local shops that you go to. I mean, there is just this push into fall. And I understand it, but I also think that there's a groundedness in being where you are and in honoring where you've been. So for me, looking at my summer favorites, some of my personal highlights include swimming with the kids. So my kids now are almost three, six and eight. And so swimming is like a full contact sport right now. The six and eight-year-old are proficient, safe swimmers who like to play a lot in the pool. And then our almost three-year-old is a full-on monster in the water. He is so fearless. He is so fun, but he really requires like one and a half adults attention. We don't use the puddle jumpers or like inflowties or anything like that. I swam in college. I taught swim lessons my whole life. And I haven't taught any of my kids how to swim. But I do really like the idea of, at least for my kids, everybody's family's different. And you do you, no judgment here. But I like the idea for my kids to be able to feel really what it's like to swim in their own body. The thing about Neil that I've never experienced with any of my other kids is that he will just leap into the water and you gotta be ready to make sure that he doesn't just sink to the bottom because he just has no fear whatsoever. And he really doesn't even get bothered when he takes in a mouthful of water or coughs and swallows water or anything. He's just like, he's along for the ride, trying to keep up with the big kids. And so the pool and swimming with the kids has just been such a fun thing this season. My husband and I also went to Aspen with some of our good friends for a weekend. And that was really, really nice. I have not been to Colorado in many years when I graduated from high school. My dad and mom and brother moved to Colorado, but I never lived there. I would spend like holidays coming home from school, but most of the time it was in the winter. So I really haven't spent any large amount of time in Colorado in the summer. And Aspen's just so beautiful. Everything is like pristine and perfect and the weather was great and we had nice meals and we hiked and it was just so fun. So that was definitely something that was interesting for my husband and I to look at is potentially maybe we wanna make it a priority to go somewhere cooler and more mountainous for the summer. So that's not something that we've done ever before. We've gone to Florida a lot for our family vacations. This year we went for the third time with the whole crew, which was really fun. But I do think that getting out of the heat and doing something other than water sports, even though we love it so much, is just like a really nice change of pace. We also went out to eat a ton as a family this summer. It feels like that has become a lot easier recently. So if you've got little babies or toddlers and it's hard to go out to eat, I will say it has become a lot easier recently. So our two oldest can pretty much, they know what they wanna order at all of our favorite restaurants. They know what to expect. They know how to keep themselves occupied. My daughter is really excited whenever she needs to go to the bathroom because the restaurants we're going to are pretty small and we'll let her go to the restroom by herself. And so she feels very big and independent. And so that has been a really fun and exciting thing for us because my husband and I really like to go out to eat. And it's nice to go out to eat as a family. That's a memory that I have from growing up and just being able to see that, okay, this is something we're gonna be able to do together. Moving forward is really exciting. And then the other big highlight from this season is just a lot of alignment and work. A lot of doors, opening that I wasn't expecting, a lot of fun opportunities, even when my inner voice guided me to stop work for just a little bit, even that felt like such alignment. So I am feeling even more than ever that being a coach that helps women release emotions that are no longer serving them, integrate past lives that are coming up because they're safe and ready to be integrated and really, truly living from a place of alignment and flow and ease and excitement through intuition. All of those things are things that I wish for myself and that I want for myself and that I have for myself. The added layer of accountability is so there because I wanna walk the walk. I wanna be the example for you and I wanna be able to share what works and what feels good. And so this season in particular, I've really noticed myself embodying things even more than I have in the past because of the clients I'm working with and being able to say to you. Well, this is what I'm doing. I know you can do it too. And that's been a really fun, exciting thing to notice in myself and to experience and feel. I was wondering as I was getting ready to record this episode if there were any favorite things from summer that I could share recommendations of products and things, but it's really been a simple summer for me. I've gotten rid of more things than I've brought in new if we don't count the kids 'cause I feel like kids always need new stuff and speaking of back to school, I'm just on the other side of having to buy everybody new shoes and new clothes and just all of that is a lot of work. It's very fun, but it's a lot of work. So for me, I cleaned out my bathroom cabinet and so many of my toiletries. I went through a huge essential oil phase during COVID, like in 2020 and I haven't touched an essential oil in years. I don't have any diffusers in the house anymore. I'm loving incense, when it gets cold outside, I'll burn candles, like I'm just not using my essential oil collection. So I parted ways with many, many, many of those. I also went through all of my makeup and all of my skincare products and got rid of anything that didn't feel exciting and aligning and perfect and like exactly what I want. And so what I have right now is really minimal and it is so nice. It feels so good. I did recently purchase a bunch of hair products from the company R&Co. There was like so many different things I wanted to try and I was feeling very excited and inspired when I was shopping their site. I really had one refill of one holy grail product that I needed, but then I ended up buying a ton of different things. So I reorganized all of my hair products and I'm kind of working through, okay, I like this one, I don't like this one, but that's kind of been, I don't have any top recommendations from that right now because it's still kind of in discovery phase. So for me, especially in this time of switching from seasons, it is a really good time to clear out and make space and get rid of things that maybe you thought you were gonna use this summer, but you never did. If it's not bringing you joy, if it's not sparking alignment, setting that aside, finding a friend that you can give it to or donating it or throwing it away. I know everybody is so worried about putting things in a landfill, but I had inner voice guidance recently. My inner voice said it's either junk here or it's junk there, it's junk everywhere, if it's junk to you. And I was like, yeah, touche, that's right, that's right. So if it's not serving you, find a place that will serve and if it can't serve anymore, it's okay for it to be trash. It's okay. So that's my summer favorites and highlights and some of the things that I really want to celebrate and honor as the season is coming to a close. All right, so I've alluded to this purposeful pause download that I got from my inner voice. It happened when I was in the shower, of course, that's where all good ideas come from. And I was kind of just mentally rattling through my to-do list and all the things that I wanted to do. And I just got the download, I got the ping, I got the words, purposeful pause. And the second it came through, I knew exactly what I needed to do, which was not record the podcast, not go on Instagram, not publish my newsletter from the moment I got that message to when the kids were back in school. And what is so crazy about all that is that very shortly after my son got sick, then I got sick, then back to school happened. And it was like all of these things were just like, my husband had his 40th birthday. It was like, I hadn't totally recognized how I felt this pressure of the to-do list, but I had not recognized. I certainly didn't know I was about to get sick. I hadn't realized how much of a break and real pause I needed. And it was not part of my plan. My mind had all of these plans and to-dos and things. And I really did shut it down. The second I got sick, I was like, oh yeah, like I got a fever, I was sick. And I just knew it's time to watch love is blind UK. It is time to be in bed and just relax and rest and heal and let myself pause. I didn't use that pause time to batch content or like work ahead, I really stopped. And it was so perfect. It was exactly what I needed. So anytime you get those nudges and those pings, can you be so bold as to really do them? That's the next edge of this practice, of listening to your inner voice and living in alignment and living in flow is really honoring that wisdom, even when it feels uncomfortable or it is counter-mental, like against what your mind would have you wanting to do. And on the other side of that purposeful pause, I feel really excited about the season ahead. One of the things that I am thrilled about is that my husband's mother and my husband's stepfather have moved to Austin from Ohio. So in the end of school year, so at May, half of May into June, we had them at an Airbnb here in Austin. Just to kind of live, they were here for four weeks to kind of live in Austin and live with our lives and pick the kids up from school and they had a pool, so we'd had lots of pool time and it was so fun. And as they were here, they started looking for places and was really kind of a surprise to us, but they left to go back to Ohio on June 11th and they moved into their new apartment in Austin on July 11th. They sold their place, they sold their car, they got a new place here, got a new car here, they're settled in now, they're fully integrated, helping us out with the kids, spending one-on-one time with each of the kids, having sleepovers with the two big kids. It is just like, it is so amazing. And one of the things that I am most excited about is just the intergenerational dynamics at play and how my kids are benefiting from the exposure and the love and the experience of being with family because we haven't lived in the same state as family. I haven't since high school and my kids never have and my husband hasn't since he graduated college. So it's just been a long time since we've had an extended support network past our friends and our nanny who she's worked for us for more than eight years now. So a long time and she is 100% family and also the best employee anybody could ever ask for. And also having family here is just so, so good for us. Work-wise, there's like so many updates and things I feel like I haven't shared with you or updated you on. So this most recent round of IVFT just wrapped up. So this is the Intervoice Facilitator Training hosted by Bella Lively. Bella's name used to be Jess Lively if you're familiar with her. She started this training in 2020 actually and I went through it in the summer and fall season of 2020 and that's how I got certified and that's how I shifted from being a website designer to an intuition coach was by going through that training. And then since I went through it, I have helped run it by being a small group leader, what they call squad leaders, four times now. So I've been three rounds of IVFT and then she also did this thing called Sacred Month of the Self which was not for certification but we still had small groups and so I led one of those groups. Oh actually, let me correct that. I've done squad leading four times and I've done it five times if you count Sacred Month. So I've done it a lot and this rounds group, they always name themselves something and our name was The Willows and it was a really amazing group of women, not all from the US. We had two people over in the UK. We had single mom. We had somebody who is living with her parents. We had just like this amazing mix of life stages and phases. We had somebody who's has one child and he's starting kindergarten. Like everybody had these like different things happening. Most of them have full-time jobs or wanting to incorporate this into their work somehow or into their lives somehow. And so when they went through this training, I was there each week. We had our own call helping support them through listening to their intuition which is what I help all my clients do but then also bringing this practice of facilitating sessions to others so that they can become coaches and inner voice facilitators if they choose. So they just finished up. Like I said, it was an amazing group and I had so much fun supporting them. And now that that is done, I have a lot more space on my calendar to support more of my own clients because the actual training is pretty time-consuming for participants but also squad leaders. And this is just perfect timing that as it wraps up, I am also opening the doors to a year of calm which is my signature program all focused on living with your inner voice, your intuition through all the seasons of life. The doors are open to the wait list right now and there's limited spots, there's an exclusive discount and a really awesome bonus if you join as part of the wait list. Of course, if you don't end up joining as part of the wait list, you can still join while the doors are open. If you're interested in learning more or wanna sign up for the wait list, be sure to go over to calenealease.com and you'll be able to find all the information for the show notes in today's episode. So if you open up your podcast app and click the links in that, you'll be able to come over and learn all about it. But a year of calm is a few years in the making now. I've had several women go through full years and it's really an incredible program because it has one-on-one sessions with me every season to really give you that deep access to your inner voice. And then it also has group calls where we work together and all of the group calls are different. We always have one to open up a season, to welcome the new season and we always have one to close out the season. So those remain the same, but then I'm always shifting and changing what we do in the rest of the group calls based on who's in the group and what's coming up for you. But the main focus is helping you release what's not serving you and integrate your inner guidance in your everyday life, in your work, in motherhood, in all of the different aspects of who you are in this journey. And then the other element of it is that you get access to the studio where each season you have a whole suite of rituals and resources to help you tune into your intuition, live with more flow, ease, integration. There's a meditation each season, journal prompts, rituals like I mentioned. So all of these different elements to really help you live a year of calm. So that is my signature program. It is like my pride and joy. I love it so much. And many of you who are the alumni of a year of calm, you've completed that first full year, you are all invited to join the inner circle. And the doors are open to that now and I've reached out to many of you. Some of you are already in the inner circle so you know what's up, but that is essentially the continuation because a year of calm is pretty amazing, but a life of magic is even more. So it's really just continuing the work that we do in a year of calm, giving you the time, space and support to continue connecting with your intuition and having someone outside of yourself, AKA me, showing you like, "Hey, do you remember when your inner voice said this?" And messaging back and forth on Fox or having private access to me so that you have a little bit of that external accountability that we all love and crave. And the extra layer of support to remind you to continue to tune into your intuition. Another thing that's come up in my work as a coach recently which I am delighted by is I've had several people reach out requesting packages of sessions. So while the doors have been closed to a year of calm, I've had a few people come over and say, like, I really wanna work with you and I have this particular situation happening in my life right now, can you help me? And sometimes I guess the answer is no, but most of the time, by the time somebody's coming to me, the answer is gonna be yes, I can help you with that. So one of them is really struggling with insomnia and anxiety. The other one actually was dealing with quite a bit of anxiety and emotions tied around transition and work. And I had another client who is also part of year of calm who's interested in a package because she just wants more sessions than that one session per season. So there's a lot of different reasons why you might want a package. And now that I've had three people ask me for this, I know it's something like that magical number of three when something comes to me three times and three people ask me for something, it's that sign from my inner voice and from the universe that, okay, this is something that is very exciting for me. I really love working with people on an ongoing basis. It's so rewarding and supportive for you, but it's also amazing for me because then I am able to really dig deep and get in there with you and support you through that turnaround, that opening of the door, the scene in a different way, the feeling totally different. And some of you, I mean, I know you, we've worked together for years and that is just, it's such an amazing relationship that we're able to cultivate. So I will be more formally offering client packages soon. I'm gonna make an update to the website that makes it easy for you to sign up for a pack if that's what you want to need. But between now and then, before that comes up on the website, if this is speaking to you, please reach out because it's certainly something that I can accommodate while I'm working on the website in the back end. There's also a lot of exciting autumn content coming through including an autumn ritual bundle, the ultimate fall self-care guide. So some of the things that I offered in the summer that received a lot of great feedback, I am making new versions of for autumn. And if you are already in a year of calm, you'll have all of the new autumn goodies very, very soon. Looking into the fall season, a few things I'm really excited about, the biggest thing is probably travel. So I have not traveled a lot in a really long time and I haven't traveled abroad and I don't know how many years. The last time I traveled abroad, we brought my oldest Owen to Japan with us when he was eight months old. And he's, it's been eight years 'cause he's basically eight, eight and a half. It's like, it's been eight years since I've really traveled abroad. And coming up this fall, I have a trip to Syracuse, New York because I'm doing a partnership with Syracuse University. A professor there is a teacher in the business school. She's a professor in the business school and I'm helping her bring intuition to one of her classes for entrepreneurs. It's, I'm so excited. The class is on entrepreneurship. It is for students. I mean, these students are entrepreneurs but you know what I'm saying? It's for like juniors and seniors in college and I'm just so, so excited. I'm actually gonna get to go in person and meet with them. I've been working with her on the curriculum and adding bits and pieces to her class for the whole semester. And then in October, I'm gonna get to go and meet with the students in person and teach them some entrepreneurial vision boarding and I just cannot wait. So that's really exciting. I'm also going to London for an IVFT retreat with Bella Lively. So if any of you are going, please let me know but I'm so excited for that. And then my husband and I are planning. It's not booked yet but we're planning a trip to Paris for our anniversary. We'll be married 10 years in November and so this is just like coming back to a place that's meant so much to us in the early years of our marriage, late years of our dating. We just both love Paris so much. I mean, it's so romantic. It's just the perfect place to go for your 10 year anniversary. So we're really excited to be having extra support with grandparents in town so that we can do some of these bigger travel things. And then looking out into the even further future Austin folks, my local peeps, I am teaching two more vision board workshops in January at the paper and craft pantry. So the tickets for those will become available pretty soon. I think they'll sell them in the fall or I'm not sure when they're going to sell them but I'll let you know that that's something that's already on the calendar that I'm really excited about. So if you are somebody who has a group or an organization or you're a college professor who would like to work with me, I am more than happy to have a conversation to see if there's alignment because some of these extracurricular projects that I've been working on have just been so soul nourishing and exciting and getting the word out about accessing your intuition and bringing it to work, bringing it to motherhood, breathing it to play, bringing it to all of the areas of your life is just something I feel really passionate about. So that's my coffee chat. I hope that you have found a little bit of inspiration, a reminder to look back at the summer season and give yourself the time and space to look ahead for fall and even into winter. How are you feeling about the life that you have? What is something that you're ready to release? What is something that you want to celebrate? What's something you want to cultivate? Really tuning into all of that will help you receive more of what you want. And if you are looking for extra support on that journey, by all means, join the waitlist for a year of calm and stay tuned for all the autumn content that is coming your way over at calenealease.com. If this conversation has resonated, if you've enjoyed it, come over to Instagram and say, "Hi, I'm @calenealease." And I'll be back next week with a fresh episode. Bye. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]
