Speaker 1: Hello and good morning, Susano. Oh how are you today?
Speaker 2: I'm great, thank you, how are you?
Speaker 1: Absolutely fantastic and very excited to share a conversation with
you because I see this book Discovering Magic and Everyday
Life as being an open door I mean for believers,
for non believers, those in question, those seeking. It's such
an open door.
Speaker 2: Oh, I so appreciate that. That's what I was hoping
it would feel like to people when.
Speaker 1: You release words like this onto a page, because I
truly believe that a seed becomes the tree, the tree
becomes the paper we use, and then that becomes books.
The part of your journey on this was to reach people.
What did you experience on your side of the journey.
Speaker 2: Well, a lot of ups and downs, you know, because
we're living through a very chaotic and difficult time. But
what I experienced is that so many people from so
many different traditions have a whole lot in common, and
that if we can focus on what we have in
common and first, then we're better able to talk about
the differences with more understanding and more empathy. And I
don't mean this to sound woo wooh. Of course, we've
got a lot of differences, and of course there are
a lot of problems in the world, but there's also
an awful lot of good.
Speaker 1: One of the things that you cover is is the
children and they what they're going through, and we have
to have more empathy for them, because even with my
own grandchildren, I don't understand why they stress out so much.
But you're right, what is the common thing we all
stress out? Let's talk about it.
Speaker 2: That's right. Well, stress is contagious, right, So if the
parents are stressed out, if the people, if the teachers
are stressed out, if their caregivers are stressed, caregivers are
stressed out, they're stressed the adult stress is contagious, and
the kids just soak it up. So we have to
be aware of what the effect of our own actions
and relationships, which is why it's so important that adult
else really practice stabilizing themselves, regulating themselves and focusing not
just on the bad stuff but also on the good.
Speaker 1: And you give us fifty practical tools. I mean, this
is one of those things where I would like to
sit down with my family as well as my grandchildren,
and we each have our own interpretation of it, and
let's talk about it. But I love the fact that
you are so honest with us with these practical tools.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. You know, everybody resonates with something different.
Some people want something that moves. Some people are introverts,
some people are extroverts. So what I hope with this
book is people can page through it, see what lands
with them, and try that first, and then once they
have that experience, then they get a taste of the
benefits of this kind of inner work, and then they
can go further and more deep.
Speaker 1: Emotional balance is really on the hot stove right now
because people don't understand how to find a place of balance,
and you really up the door on that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just don't know, we don't. I wish as
a young mom I had known more about how the
nervous system works, and so just teaching people not to
beat up themselves because their nervous systems go on high alert.
And when our nervous systems are on high alert, our
perspectives narrow. Our energy is focused into our bodies so
that we can fight, or we can flee, or we freeze.
And when we ground ourselves with awareness based strategies, then
our perspectives can broaden and as our perspective broadens. We
get to see all the different sides of the story
and view what's happening with some kindness and compassion.
Speaker 1: Is it wrong of me to have conversations with people
when they sit there and they celebrate their victories in life?
And then I go up to them and I'll go,
so are you grateful? And then and what are you
grateful for? And then I'll come back with but are
you mindful of what you've just said celebrated in victory? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think that those are excellent questions, right, because appreciation
is a huge practice and its scientifically shown to have
a big difference in people's lives, and it's a great
grounding strategy, you know, as far as regulating. So appreciation
is key and also awareness is key, which is what
we're talking about with mindfulness. Awareness and appreciation. Those are
two things that are real game changers.
Speaker 1: The book we're talking about is discovering Magic in everyday life.
Something is happening when it comes to these VR goggles
that people even they get them for games and things.
I happen to pick up one that went to an
app that's called Float and they're using it for meditation.
But I do wonder, Susan, is that when we see
things visually like that in the digital devices, are we
not injuring our mind? Shouldn't it be a cleared mind
and a cleared heart.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's tough to clear thing because whatever
is in there, it's hard to get rid of things.
But we can have an open mind and an open
heart that allows for the full catastrophe and still and
still can take in the good. And I think that
that's the key. I think all of the electronic devices,
they might have a place as a tool that is useful,
but it doesn't replace learning how to just really take
a moment and take a look around you and really
focus on something that captures your attention and lets everything
seem a whole lot bigger and grander than our own problems.
Speaker 1: I would love to be a fly on the wall
when it comes to readers discovering something that you plant
inside these pages, and that is the natural movement of
your mind. So many people do not understand that your
mind is always in movement.
Speaker 2: It is always moving, and if we try to stop it,
it tends just to move more, you know, just like
a young child. But what we can do is we
can become aware of the movement and then move our
attention to something else, something like the feeling of our
feet on the ground, or a beautiful flower in the garden,
or you know, the laughter of the children around us,
and that helps us on our perspective.
Speaker 1: Again, that is so interesting you say that, because I'll
bring that up to many people. I'll go, so, when
you put your camera up in the air to take
a picture, do you get the entire environment? And they go, no,
so does your body. Your body doesn't get everything unless
you're willing to accept all living things and everything that's
in contact with your body.
Speaker 2: That's right. And to see how they're all connected right now,
we're all connected to one another. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Why is it people fear that word enlightenment right away?
They think, oh, that's a really ligious thing. I'm not
going there. But it's not. It is at the whole self.
Speaker 2: It is it's about the whole self, and it enlightenment
is available to everyone, real world enlightenment is available to
everyone all the time. I think it has developed a
certain connotation that makes people think that they have to
go off and meditate on a mountaintop for years at
a time. And I think that's great. I certainly spend
an awful lot of time meditating, But the point of
meditating like that is to take what you learn on
the cushion off and bring it into real life. And
how many people do know who have done a lot
of meditation who have been unable to make that transition.
So if we can take short moments of awareness drop
them in throughout our day, I think people will see
a big difference in how their life feels and the
ripple effect of that on the people around them.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you also say that we should learn to trust
our stream thinking, in other words, our moment of now
trust it, don't show lee.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen to it. You need to listen to
ourselves and be kind to ourselves. We're also hard on ourselves.
Speaker 1: Judgment where there's always got to be judgment somewhere coming
from this body.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right, and that's it, and that's just
We can accept that that's a natural part of the
way we're wired. But just because our inner critic is
saying something doesn't mean it's true.
Speaker 1: Does this book come with a website? Because you know
people are going to come through this book, And first
of all, I think I invite listeners to grab a
yellow highlighter and highlight the areas that really step inside
your heart, and then is there some place where they
can go to start activating it because this is a
book of activation.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. The website, my website, Susan Kisergreenland dot
com has lots and lots of videos and audios and downloads,
and there's a there's a newsletter that's practice based will
reinforce this type of work, and that's very, very helpful.
It's helpful to have a community of people.
Speaker 1: I also want listeners to know that when it comes
to meditating, yes, there's a big chance you're going to
fall asleep. How do you help someone embrace that? Is
there a question that you asked them?
Speaker 2: I bet you were tired and could use the sleep.
So no reason to beat yourself up when you fall asleep.
I mean, people have meditated for decades fall asleep, and
no reason to beat yourself up is just that day
you can't sit still because there's too much going on.
The point is just setting the intention and going back
and doing the best you can a little bit of
the time, over and over again, and you'll see the results.
Speaker 1: You got to come back to this show anytime in
the future. Susan. The door is always going to be
open for you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I so appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you you two, I thank you very much.