Are you wanting to live a radiant life where your radiant soul shines? I’ve worked on this exact lifestyle for a long time. Come join me in my first solo podcast episode as I share three things I do daily so that no matter what I’m doing, my radiant soul will shine!
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Three Things You Can Do to Make Your Radiant Soul Shine
I was raised by type-A, overachieving parents, so when I became an adult, I had a workaholic mentality. Through the study of human design, I have learned I am a projector. I am not created to work, work, work. I need rest, time alone, and time in nature.
After years of raising four children, running several businesses, and wearing many hats, I realized I was exhausted and tired all the time. I had to do something to change this, which started with telling others that I needed that help.
So how did I go about making these changes? I created the Energy Boosting Blueprint, which houses 7 secrets to bust your exhaustion cycle.
I had to start practicing gratitude. Here are three things that I do almost every day to help practice gratitude, while making my radiant soul shine.
My Morning Ritual
To start my day, I have a morning ritual that I do before I ever get out of bed. I wake up and repeat Psalm 18:24 one to three times: “This is the day the Lord hath made I will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 18:24
Then I take four fingers and tap my chest and say, “I am grateful for life.”
This morning ritual allows me to practice gratitude first thing in the morning without a major commitment of time.
My Commitment to Nature
The second thing I do to practice gratitude and allow my radiant soul to shine is I choose to get outside in nature everyday. With my German Shepard, Hazel, we walk around 3 miles every single day. Being in nature allows me to connect, relax, and rest. Getting outside is a blessing that awakens your body to what is around you.
If you’re wanting to get better about walking, start with walking for 15 minutes three times a day (morning, noon, and at sunset). If you can’t commit to that amount of time, start with 5 minute increments.
Loving Myself Well
I spent way too long not loving myself well. What does it mean to love yourself well? What it means is to love you for who you are—the beautiful, the tough, the flaws, everything.
Until I was in my forties, I didn’t love myself well. As I have learned to love myself, I’ve accepted my flaws, acknowledge them, and even share them with others. It’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned that helps me love myself well.
When I spend time outside, get a massage, or plan adventures, that’s how I love myself well as I am taking care of myself.
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Review the Transcript:
Welcome to the radiant soul sisters podcast. I am super excited because today I am going to share with you my first solo episode. That’s right. Your host Susan Crews is going to be with you all by herself. And today I am going to share with you three ways or things I do daily, well, almost daily, so that when I leave my home or an we’re at work working with the client, or out in nature by myself, my radiant soul will shine. Are you dreaming of having the time and energy to create a life you love? Is your calendar full of events? And you’re thinking there’s no time for me? Do you look like you have it all together on the outside, but on the inside, you’re a hot mess. You’re frustrated and tired all the time. Susan Crews shines the light on successful women and a few men who have busted the exhaustion cycle by prioritizing herself released any guilt and have found inner peace while creating a life they love filled with harmony. Join Susan’s candid conversations to learn how these successful women illuminated their inner light to create a radiant life. Welcome to the radiant soul sisters.
Welcome to the radiant soul sisters Podcast. I’m Susan Crews, your host and today is my very first solo episode. I am really honored to be here and excited to share with you a little more about me and what I have learned in my 61 years of life. Most of you know I strive to create a life that I love while living and having work life harmony, which hasn’t always been easy. I was raised by Type A parents who were entrepreneurs and my father was a workaholic I was taught the more you work, the harder you work, the more money you can make. As a matter of fact, I got engaged in July of 1983. The same year my father opened his company. And you know what, Saturday in June of 1984 was the first Saturday in over a year that he had taken time off of work. So you can imagine, as I grew up and became an adult, I had a work work work mentality. But you know what? Through the study of human design, I have learned I am a projector. And I am not created in His image to work, work work at a hard fast pace. I need a lot of rest. I need time alone. And I need time in nature. This is not how I was living my life. I was trying to live as a manifesting generator. You know, the kind that can go go go go go and not get tired. But that wasn’t me. You know, it’s kind of funny. As a matter of fact, my dad used to call me gogo because I was on the go all the time between raising four children running several businesses and wearing all the hats that women wear. But here’s the deal. I looked like I had it all together on the outside. But on the inside, I was a hot mess. I was exhausted, tired all the time. Here’s a funny story. One year it was Thanksgiving. And the only thing that I keep under our beds is the leaf to my dining room table. So I went to get that leaf out from under the table. And when I got horizontal on the floor, I fell sound asleep. I mean passed out. Sound asleep. That’s how tired I was. When I woke up. I knew something had I had to change, I had to do something different, to be able to create a life that I loved. And without being tired all the time, and I needed to Stop deceiving myself and others, I had to let others know, especially Jimmy, my husband, that I was tired. And there were times when I needed to rest. And there were times when I needed to help. So you know, you might wonder how in the world did I go about making these changes, while raising four children, having several businesses and doing all the things that you need to do day in and day out. It was at this point in time that I created the energy boosting blueprint. And in this blueprint, there are seven secrets that you can use to bust your exhaustion cycle. If you want to learn more about the secrets, head to my website, Susan Crews koat.com backslash secrets, and that is where you can pick up your copy. Some of them are very simple. And you’ve probably heard them all before. But they’re not always easy to put in practice, especially when you’re trying to put them into a daily practice. You know, I was following the blueprint and creating a life that I loved and being an empty nester, I thought life would slow down, and the doors would open for more rest and more me time. Funny thing that is very far from the truth, ladies, what happened was, there were some days, I didn’t even know where to begin, because my list was so long. Here I was being a wife, a business woman, a mom, a grandma, and taking care of aging parents. It was no wonder that once again, I was looking at overwhelm, being tired in a very full plate. Thank goodness, I knew how to be still get myself grounded, and get back to living by the energy booster blueprint.
By implementing the blueprint, I have learned how to take care of myself, how to put the things I love to do in my weekly schedule, and how to put times for rest. I call them whitespaces in my schedule as well. The first thing I did years ago was I started practicing gratitude. Now I know this sounds kind of silly, right? We hear it all the time, practice gratitude. We talk about it, it seems like we hear write down three things you’re thankful for every morning before you get out of bed. You know, all of that is well and good. But really learning how to implement gratitude into your life will make a huge difference in your energy levels, and how you go about your day. Here are some of the things I personally do every day. Or as I say, almost every day before I get out of the bed. I repeat Psalm 118 24 This is the day the Lord hath made I will rejoice and be glad in it. Sometimes I say it two or three times. Then I take my four fingers and I tap my chest and I say I am grateful for life. I am grateful for life. I am grateful for life. You know starting with gratitude just changes your entire mindset. It makes you feel completely different. When you practice gratitude and implement gratitude. The challenges that arise throughout the day seem to be easier to handle or easier to face. Let’s say that the challenges don’t disappear ladies. They just become easier to manage when you are in the right frame of mind. Mind, you know the other thing that I love about practicing gratitude, it really helps to steer away from comparison, in comparison is a thief, it is a thief of joy. So I’d love to hear how do you implement gratitude into your life. If you try something new, be sure and share it with us. We would love to hear from you. Another tip that I have been doing, I’ve already mentioned is I have been studying human design. And I have learned how I am created to work and to make decisions. As I mentioned, I’m a projector. Projectors need a lot of rest. One of the main reasons is a projector will pick up on other people’s energy. And we can if we’re not careful, absorb that energy. And that energy causes us to be tired. So can you imagine a mom of four a wife, a daughter, a business owner, being around lots of other people all the time around all the energy, it was no wonder that I was exhausted all the time. In learning how I’m created to function, I have also learned how to get grounded and stay connected to myself. And one of the ways that I do that is I choose to get outside in nature every day, as most of you know or some of you know, I have a German Shepherd Hazel, who was two years old. And when I brought Hazel home, I committed to her that when she got big enough, we would walk outside every single day, no matter what. And here’s the truth. Most days we walk three to four miles. The only times we have missed since she has been my beautiful dog is when I’ve been out of town. If we had an ice storm, we miss two days. And if it is lightning, we will not go for our walk. But what I have learned is that being out in nature is an incredible way for me to get connected. For me to relax. In some days. It’s even restful for me to be walking. It’s so wonderful. that I absolutely love it. I have a couple of clients though. They look at me like I’m crazy. When I say walk 45 minutes a day. I’ve had several say to me Susan, how can I walk 45 minutes a day. I am busy. I am overwhelmed and I do not have time for myself. You know, I get it. I have been there. Done that. Here’s my tip or suggestion for that. Especially if this is you think about this. Break your walking down into 315 minute walks each day. And if you don’t have 15 minutes, 315 minute periods of time, then break it down into three five minute times and just get started. But you walk first thing in the morning when the sun is coming up. And this is telling your body Hello good morning. It is time to rise and shine. It’s a great way to start your day. The second time you’re going to want to walk is that high noon or close to high noon. The reason that you do that is you get outside and you get the energy of the sun at the highest point during the day. You’re also going to absorb some vitamin D, which is great for your energy level. Then the third time you’re going to walk during the day is as the sun is setting. And guess what ladies? When you are walking after dinner as the sun is starting to set it tells your body Hello Tom to make some melatonin because we’re going to go to bed soon. And when your body starts naturally making that melatonin early enough you’re get in the bed and you should have a great night of sleep. And what happens when we get a great night’s sleep, we wake up the next day, feeling rested, and ready to go. It’s a beautiful way to get in at least 45 minutes a day. If you can’t get it in, in the beginning, start with five minutes, three times a day, and get your body in the natural circadian rhythm. Getting outside and experiencing nature is a blessing. It wakens your body to the beautiful creations all around you. I have a client in New York City. And she said to me, you know, I don’t mind getting outside and walking. But Susan, there’s not much nature around here. I’m surrounded by concrete and brick buildings. And I said really knowing full well what New York City looks like. So I challenged her. When you go outside on your walk, look around, look for green, look for bushes or plants in planters. Look for the sunshine, look for clouds. Look for any signs of nature, you can find. She was amazed at the number of plants she saw growing in the cracks of the sidewalk in New York City. So it really doesn’t matter whether you live in the country like me, or you live in a big city, you can find signs of nature to enjoy this beautiful earth we live on. The third thing that I did, it was a little bit later in life. I have learned how to love myself, well. I spent way too long, not really loving myself. You know, what does that even mean? Love yourself. Love yourself? Well.
What it means is it means to love you for who you are. The beautiful, the tough, the flaws, that everything. When I was in junior high school, that’s what it was called when I was in seventh, eighth and ninth grade, we went to junior high school, there was a guy that we my friends not all knew his name was James. James would go in the bathroom, he would come out of the bathroom and we’d be standing at our lockers. And he’d say, Woof, that mirror looks good today. Now, at that age, James might have been a little bit into himself, which is what we all thought, boy does he like himself. He really loves himself. And you know, we didn’t think too highly of that. Right? As I look back on that, I think, wow, James knew how to love himself at a tender age, at a transitional pivotal age. Whereas I would go in the bathroom, and all I would see were my flaws, my chubby cheeks, my thin eyebrows, and the list can go on and on. And unfortunately, for me, that carried over into high school, young adulthood, all the way up until I was into my 40s. And something tells me it might have carried over for some of you too. But learning to love yourself well is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and give others I can look in the mirror and look into my eyes and say, Hello, Susan. I love you. And I have learned how to accept my flaws, share them with others, acknowledge them and go on. And that is so freeing. It’s one of the biggest lessons that I have learned that I do for myself to create a beautiful, radiant life. Here are some of the things that I do when I to think about loving myself, well, you’ve heard me talk about it, I get outside in nature, I feel so connected to God and to myself, when I spend time outside in nature. Another thing that I do every month, I get a massage. Now, let me tell you something, I used to think that was a total luxury. And, you know, maybe it is an I don’t ever underestimate the power of that hour and a half of time when I am getting a massage. But it is really about taking care of myself, giving my body something that it needs. And then the third thing I do is I plan an adventure. I plant try to do one big venture a year. And if you follow me on socials, you saw my venture at ICE camp, where I went away to a frozen lake in Minnesota. I got into hot saunas. I got into the frozen lake. We did a moonlit yoga class on the frozen like we did monk meditations. Oh my goodness, it was amazing. And I met some of the most amazing people ever, here’s the deal. You don’t have to do something of that magnitude for it to be a great adventure. One of my ventures in the fourth quarter of 2022 was hiking in a park 30 minutes from my house, and then enjoying sitting by the stream there in journaling. And that was my adventure. So you can make your adventures big or small. You can make the things that you do for self care to love yourself well, big or small. It can be a bat a hot bath on Saturday night in your home. You know, add some lavender oil to it, maybe some baking soda and some Epsom salt and you have a luxury spa like bath that doesn’t cost much money. The beautiful thing is that when you love yourself, well, you can love others better. And that has been a beautiful benefit of learning to love myself. Well. In this episode, I hope that you’ve learned something about me. I hope that you’re thinking about how to love yourself well. And if I can learn to love yourself well, soak in you. It’s simple, but not always easy. I have enjoyed sharing several keys that have helped me in creating a life that I love so that I can have work life harmony. If something today has resonated with you. Hop over to facebook and join the radiant soul sisters Facebook group. We look forward to getting to know you and supporting you in having your radiant soul shine. That was a fun episode of the radiant soul sisters. Thank you for choosing to tune in. Be sure to join me next week when I shine the light on another beautiful woman. Till then I’m Susan cruise, your host and be sure to check out my website at Susan cruise co.com where you will find all the podcast episodes and resources for our community.