Being Happy Where You Are, Skincare Mishaps, and Self-Acceptance
Are you constantly striving to fix problems and improve your life? In this episode, I'm sharing a personal story that changed my perspective on finding happiness. From skincare mishaps to embracing self-acceptance, I'll show you how to cultivate joy where you are right now. Join me as we explore the art of being happy with what we have in this moment!
Before we dive in, let me update you on some exciting happenings in The Studio!
Set Your Intentions for Summer
Now is the perfect time to set your intentions for the season! Check out my Summer Solstice Ritual to receive a 77-minute mini class with guided meditation and journaling exercises. Plus, amazing bonuses to help you flow through summer with intention.
Find the Answers You're Craving
Feeling overwhelmed or in need of clarity? Give yourself The Gift of Intuition — a 60-minute private session to help you find answers and get much-needed time for yourself. Perfect for new and returning clients, bookings are open for August and September!
Visions of Summer Success
I had the opportunity to co-host an amazing event with Hosted Here last Wednesday. We had 10 incredible women gather to set their visions for the summer season. I led a guided meditation to kick off the vision boarding. There was plenty of conversation and connections shared, plus delicious snacks and wine provided by Locale Wines. It was an evening to remember!
If you missed out on this workshop, join the waitlist, so you'll be the first to know when I'm hosting another. I would absolutely love to see you in person!
Embracing Self-Acceptance
A few things have happened recently to help me see the value in appreciating where I am in life.
It all started when I tried a skincare sample from a supplement company I love. The morning after I tried the sample, my skin had a severe reaction that left my fave swollen, uncomfortable, and highly reactive for over a week.
In that moment, all I wanted was my old skin back — wrinkles, zits, and tired eyes included! Eventually, everything went back to normal, but the situation left a big impression and it inspired me to appreciate the skin I have.
Flowing with "Less-Than Wellness"
I have three kids from the ages of 1 to 7 years old and in the past six months, we've gone through one illness after another. I remember feeling so frustrated about everyone constantly being sick that I stopped saying the word “sick” and started saying “less-than wellness.” At that point, I was willing to try anything to make it all stop.
But the experience taught me the value in flowing with the present moment. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I started finding ways to comfort myself. Instead of desperately seeking a quick-fix, I started embracing the moment. As I did this, I realized that most of the time, the sickness was as bad as I thought.
Another Skincare Mishap and Realization
An influencer I follow start raving about a cream that got rid of her stretch marks and cellulite. As a 38-year-old mother of three, her review piqued my interest. Of course, I've noticed the changes in my skin's appearance and elasticity. And, most of the time, this isn't a problem that I'm actively trying to solve.
I tend to fall on the side of “aging is an opportunity,” but on this day, after scrolling endless before-and-after photos, I was intrigued. Before I knew it, I ordered not just one, but two products as part of a package deal! When the box arrived, I eagerly applied the cream and within 24 hours, my skin was covered in itchy and uncomfortable hives. In that moment, I yearned for the skin I had and laughed as I remembered the experience from before.
Do We Have to Lose Something to Appreciate It?
And, do we need things to go wrong to see the good in what we have? No, not necessarily. Although, these kind of experiences do serve as powerful reminders! Being happy with where you are is a practice and an ongoing journey. There's no destination and no such thing as perfection.
Simple Practices for Being Happy Where You Are
Remind yourself that the grass is greener where you water it. Instead of trying to fix and improve #allthethings, try these simple practices for being happy where you are:
With your children — get on their level and praise the good
With your body — smile in the mirror and feel gratitude for your wellness
In your work — appreciate others and invite in inspiration
On social media — follow people who bring you joy and when stress arises, take a walk
Above all else, remember that you are doing a fantastic job. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Being happy with where you are takes practice and it's okay if you need reminders along the way. I hope this has inspire you to be happy where you are, and to be compassionate and kind to yourself when you forget.
Listen to the Celebrate Cultivate Podcast
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Welcome to Celebrate Cultivate a podcast about celebrating the good in life and cultivating more of what you want. I'm your host, Kaileen Elise. My intention is to offer deep breaths and ideas for appreciating the magic in everyday life. I'm here to help you listen to your intuition, trust your inner wisdom, and act with inspiration.
Let's get. To it.
Hello, this is episode 153 of Celebrate Cultivate, and I'm your host, an intuition coach, Kaileen Elise Sues. Today I'm gonna share a story about something that happened to me recently and how that has given me a new perspective on being happy with where I am. In the moment and I'll share a few tips and tricks and ideas for you to cultivate this practice if it sounds like something you want to try.
But first, here's a few updates from the studio. If you haven't set your intentions for the summer season, now is a perfect time to do that, and you can purchase my summer solstice ritual for $22 to welcome the season and connect with yourself. This mini course includes prompts, a 77 minute class with guided meditation, journaling, and more, plus some really great summer bonuses to help you flow through the season with intention and intuition.
If that sounds like something that would be supportive for you, you can go ahead over to kaileenelise.com and sign up if you're facing a problem and want. Answers as many of us do when we are in the middle of a challenge. Or if you've been really stressed lately and need a little time for yourself, do yourself a favor and book the Gift of Intuition.
This is my. 60 minute one-on-one coaching call. That's a blend of guided meditation, emotional release, and intuitive inquiry. So in our time together, we really help you find that calm state where you can hear your inner voice, release any emotions that are in the way from you hearing and believing what your inner wisdom has to say, and then of course, helping you get the answers and the actions that are gonna help you feel better and move forward in your life.
From your intuition, this is a perfect experience for new and returning clients. It's $222 to sign up and I am now booking for August and September. So go over to kaileenelise.com if you wanna sign up and pick a time that works for you. And finally, my Visions of Summer live workshop in Austin, Texas was last Wednesday and it was amazing.
I co-hosted with Maddie Odom and her company, which is called Hosted Here. It's an online platform to host and discover curated experiences. They're not just based in Austin. So if you're listening to this anywhere and you're like, Ooh, that sounds cool, check them out at hostedhere.co. We had 10 incredible women gather together for a guided meditation, vision, boarding wine from local wines, and lots of inspiration and great conversation.
A lot of the women didn't know each other when they were coming into the evening, but by the end, everybody was giving each other hugs, and it just felt so good to spend time connecting to inspiration, connecting to each other, and. Sharing just the visions that we're setting for the summer season. I know that scheduling in the summer is really hard, so I talked to quite a few of you who wanted to attend but couldn't for one reason or another.
So if you missed out on this one and you want to join in the future, get on the wait list so that you can be the first to know when I am hosting another in-person event, we'll see how it unfolds, but I would love to connect with you and host an event maybe in the fall sometime. So check that out on the website or on my Instagram when you see the opportunity to sign up for a wait list, get on that.
But thanks also to all of you who didn't attend because you don't live in Austin, but watched on Instagram as I shared about it. All of your kind words really means a lot. And yeah, I just had the best time I've been. Building vision boards and mood boards for as long as I can remember. And my one note on that, if you're inspired and wanna give it a try, is to let your intuition and let inspiration guide the images that you're selecting.
So instead of thinking from the mind, I want to have a summer beach vacation, and I want to pick pictures that are of that. Try to just flip it over a little bit and instead, flip through magazines, go through images on your phone, and let yourself be inspired and follow the threads of inspiration without trying to overanalyze and explore, well, why am I picking this and what does that mean and what am I manifesting?
And really just let it. Be a inspirational practice on letting your visions kind of solidify and show you the direction that you're heading for the season. It's a little bit of a different approach, and if you've never tried it before, it feels really, really good, and I know everyone who was there really enjoyed the experience.
Okay. Now I wanna tell you a little story. Really, it's three stories put together with the one overarching lesson and a small trigger warning. For those of you it is, we're gonna talk about skin and health and bodies. So if those are topics that you choose to stay away from for whatever reason, then maybe this isn't the episode for you, but it's pretty mild overall. I just wanna kind of put that out there just in case.
So in November, I got a package from Moon Juice and I love their magnesium. It's a powder that you put into water. It's bright pink, it's got magnesium in it, and some other really great, uh, vitamins. I drink it every single night and I'm obsessed with it.
I love it and I have shared it with so many of my friends. It's so, so good. So if you're looking for a magnesium supplement, check out magnesium, um, from moon juice. Well, in November I got my moon juice and they included a sample of their acid potion. And I tried the sample really without even thinking about it if I'm a hundred percent truthful. What happened was I felt a pressure to use the sample because I wanted to get rid of it, which now looking back, I should have just listened to myself, and the main point of that feeling was to get rid of it. That was the main point, but instead I decided to use it and I slathered all over my face and went to bed, and I woke up in the morning and my skin had freaked out so, so bad.
My face was literally swollen and puffy and red and itchy, and it hurt and it was super reactive for over a week, and there really wasn't too much that I could do. To fix it. And the whole time, all I could think is that I wanted my old skin back. I didn't even really have a problem with my skin that I was trying to solve.
I was just trying to use the sample because that's what was there and I wanted to cross it off the list. I wanted to be done with it. Have you ever felt that way where you're like, okay, well I just gotta do this thing so that it's done? That's how I felt. And when I was in that, Week of miserable skin reaction.
All I wanted were my wrinkles and my creases, and my zits and my tired eyes. Like I wanted my face back. I wanted all of it. It's most raw and pure form. I just wanted to trade in the face that I was seeing in the mirror, the bad, bad reaction, and I just wanted what I had, and eventually my skin did go back to normal.
And when it did, I really made a promise. To myself to be happy with where I am and with the skin that I have. Because objectively I have lovely skin and there's nothing wrong with it. And even when I have zits and bumps and notice new wrinkles and have like moles and all those things, there's nothing wrong with it.
There's nothing right. Or wrong in any situation. It's really about our energy and the way that we approach it. So in the first half of this year, our family went through a lot of sickness. I know I've talked about it here. Do you remember when I said that we were in various stages of quote unquote wellness?
Because I was so sick of being sick? Well, We're still unfolding on the wellness train. I've had nasal congestion for literally two months straight now, and while this doesn't feel normal, it has helped me cultivate a practice of being in the moment and finding ways to be happy with where I am with the health that I do have.
I'm not. Really focused on feeling sorry for myself anymore. I have released a lot of that feeling when it comes up, and instead I've been looking for ways to find comfort, to take care of myself and not. Try to fix myself, not try to get through this sickness as fast as I can, but instead to be where I am and be okay with maybe not operating at a hundred percent right?
Like maybe my nasal passages aren't totally clear, but again, not making that like I'm doing something wrong or I'm doing something bad, or that my nose is bad or that my kids are bad. We're having so many germs, right? Like a lot of times we have a conversation about all this, like it's good or it's bad, and if you've gone through periods of sickness before, it's very rare to when you are healthy, be like, oh my gosh, I feel so amazing. I feel so well, I feel so healthy. My nose is so clear, my throat feels with so smooth without any itches, right? Oh, I'm not coughing anymore. Like we don't, we don't look at it that way, but then when it's not there, we're like, oh my gosh, I'm so miserable and I can't stop coughing.
Like, It's very interesting how that all unfolds. And so again, being happy with where you are, sometimes it takes the thing being taken away from you to realize like, oh, I really was fine and good and happy with with where I was. And another example of this, and this is the last. Story, I'm gonna share it, but this is the most recent one and really the inspiration for this episode today.
A few weeks ago, an influencer who I love to follow and she shares a lot about like beauty and clothes and makeup she shared about Melees B flat belly firming cream. And if you've been on Instagram, you've probably seen mails or something similar in their ads. And I'm 38. I've had three children. The elasticity of my skin is different than it used to be.
The composure of my belly is different than it once was. Our third baby, Neil, was 10 pounds, seven ounces at birth, three pounds more than his older brother was. And so my body is different and I've found a lot of peace within my body. I have. That has been a focus for me on letting it be what it is, appreciating it, all of these things.
And still this woman said how amazing this lotion was. And my mind was like, well, if all I have to do is slap on a lotion to have perfect skin again, wouldn't that be amazing? And I was, Scrolling through the, both before and after photos of this lotion on their website and reading the reviews and I was totally hooked.
And then I fell for the package deal and as I was going through the the purchasing process, I ended up ordering their be tight lift and firm booty mask. And I wasn't even searching for any of the, the problem, right? Or like to solve this problem, right? Like I wasn't worried about my belly before she made that recommendation.
And I definitely wasn't worried about the cellulite on my butt or my thighs. In fact, that's not really an area of of worry for me. At all, and yet I got suckered into it because those before and after photos are quite compelling. And as soon as the package arrived, I was like really excited to use it. I used it right away.
I did not follow the directions to do a 24 hour skin patch test. Had I done that, I would've saved myself a lot of. Discomfort because 24 hours later my skin was totally broken out in hives and it itched and burned so bad. And at that moment, all I wanted was to have the skin that I normally have. So the same thing, similar thing that happened in November, happened again and.
A lot. This happens a lot in so many areas of life, and I am now at a point where I can laugh at myself and just think, oh my gosh, Kaileen, like, you knew better. You didn't do better. It's okay. You're a human. These things happen. There were seasons of life, and maybe you have felt this way, where I would've really, really beat myself up about that and felt horrible about it.
But instead, I am laughing. I'm on the other side. My skin has returned to its original state. Now, when I look at myself in the mirror, my. Initial reaction is love and appreciation of, oh my gosh, thank you so much for a, not itching and for B being the lumpy, bumpy skin that you are in my abdomen. It's, it's fine.
There's nothing wrong with it. And it, and it holds so much beauty and so much experience and wisdom in that body. And it has grown three babies, you know, it has been through things and it is okay and it has allowed to have some bumps, you know, some lumps. And some imperfections. That is fine. So do we have to experience things going away for us to appreciate them?
No, I do not think so. But it is a useful reminder similarly to the way that the seasons shift and change, right? Like when you're in summer, there's pluses and minuses to being in the summer season, there's discomfort and there's also joys. And then we cycle out of summer, and we are in a new season with different challenges and different joys, and then when we come back to summer again, we can appreciate what we missed over the last year.
The same thing is true with our bodies, with our health, with our children, with our work, with everything. When you're able to cultivate an appreciation and be happy with where you are, then your focus is shifted away from the irritations and the challenges and the. Fixing and finding solutions and more on being in the present moment and being happy with what you have and with who you are and with where you are.
And that is a much more calm and fulfilling place to live from. But when you fall out of it, when you accidentally. Unintentionally put a face cream on yourself that rocks your skin and removes your skin barrier for two weeks time. You know, be kind, be gentle, be compassionate with yourself, or, you know, laugh at yourself in a very tender, gentle way like I'm doing now.
I'm not. Being self-deprecating and sarcastic. Like I, I really do think, like, oh my gosh, of course you would do that. Like, that's, it's totally fine. It's totally okay. And then continue to learn from that and apply what you learn in moving forward. Being happy with where you are is a practice. So instead of thinking the grass is always greener, remind yourself that the grass is greener where you water it.
So cultivate practices and thoughts that lift you up, that inspire you and that make you feel good with your children. Be in the present moment as much as you can and praise the. Good. Get on their level and let them know what they're doing is amazing and that you love and adore them. Are there times when you're gonna have to say other things and you're gonna feel other ways, of course.
But spending that moment in time to let them know to water that grass really, really can build on itself and make your experience with your children so much more fulfilling and loving and tender and calm. With your body and with your health, appreciate what is working and smile at yourself in the mirror.
Say thank you to your body when it is doing things that help you live and thrive. With your work, tell the people that you're working with that they're doing a good job. Tell yourself that you're doing a good job. Dwell in the tasks that you love and enjoy, and invite in inspiration throughout your working days.
Are you gonna have to do things that you don't like maybe, but flow through those with this much love and compassion, and then get to the stuff that really makes you feel good. When you pick up your phone, when you're on social media, follow people who make you laugh, who teach you things, who make you feel seen, and put your phone away.
When you are feeling stressed, go for a walk. Take a few slow calming breaths. Take a shower. Do something to kind of change your state and support yourself above all else. Know that you're doing a good job and there's nothing. Wrong with you. Even when you make a mistake, you're doing the best you can and there's nothing, nothing wrong with you.
Being happy with where you are is a journey. It's a practice. It's a process. There's no destination to get to, and there's no way to do it perfectly. It's totally fine if it takes a reminder of something being taken away from you. To remember that and to know that. If you're enjoying this concept and you haven't listened to last week's episode, check that out.
The blessing of the Forks ritual is a practice that takes putting the dishes away from an annoying chore to a loving act of service and care. It takes the same action in a totally different intention. It is a hundred percent a way to practice being where you are. All right, so that's it for today's episode.
I hope this inspires you to be happy with where you are and be super, super and compassionate and kind to yourself when you forget you're doing amazing. Just keep going, just keep breathing and find ways to be happy with where you are. Thank you so much for listening. Visit kaileenelise.com for links and notes from today's episode, connect with me on Instagram.
I'm at Kaileen Elise, please share this pod with anyone who could use a little extra magic in their everyday life. Stay tuned for the next episode. I'll talk to you then.
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About Kaileen Elise Sues
Hi, I'm Kaileen! Intuition coach, host of the Celebrate Cultivate podcast, and mom of three. Before learning to listen to my inner voice, I was a perfectionist always on the edge of overwhelm.
This practice has changed everything. It’s helped me heal old wounds, navigate daily dramas, manifest magic, and live with a deep sense of inner peace. That's why I became a coach — to help others access intuition, trust what they hear, and act from there.
