Hey, you guys, welcome back to the podcast. I have a story today. I'm calling it the parable of the pretzel because parenting has so many opportunities to have your own wisdom come out of your mouth without you realizing it. And I had one of those moments. So we're just going to jump right in. This will probably be a quick episode, but I was like, oh, this is going to make such a good podcast. So here we are. So I take my girls to the aquarium.
We have membership, so we go there a lot. And they have these like amazing soft pretzels that we often get because they're delicious. And so I got two for us to share. And my oldest daughter was eating her pretzel. My youngest daughter was eating her pretzel. And I noticed that my youngest, Lainey, was trying to take hold of my oldest daughter's pretzel. This happens. All right, like typical moment in family life. And so she's kept trying to grab it.
Tegan's yelling at her saying, stop touching my pretzel. And, you know, you can imagine me being like, hey, girls, let's be nice. You know, like, let's keep our hands to ourselves. Not wanting to, you know, escalate anything. And also just like normal sisters stuff. And it just kept going. My youngest daughter can be very feisty and really knows what she wants. And she really wanted my oldest daughter's pretzel, which is hilarious because this is what is so interesting.
I almost got, I didn't get angry, but I raised my voice that she would pay attention. And I was like, how can you want her pretzel when you have your own pretzel right in front of you? And that moment I was like being like, there's a lesson here. How can you want her pretzel when you have your own pretzel right in front of you? And I was like, oh, my gosh, how many times does that show up for us in business and in life? Right.
We're like looking at someone else's pretzel, forgetting we have our own pretzel. So it's like and the thing is, is like, you know, you can insert whatever result you want. Doesn't have to be pretzel. It could be business, clients, money, house, family, marriage, traveling, whatever. We observe other people experiencing their life with joy, with abundance, with freedom, with whatever possibility. I'm like, oh, I really want that pretzel.
And we forget to look at what we have. So to me, the parable of the pretzel is like, are you tuned into someone else's life more than your own? How much tending are you taking care of your own life with your own relationship with your kids, your marriage, your business? One of the phrases that I use is like, are you in the miracle or are you so absorbed with how other people are doing it? And like, let's be real. Like, I mean, it's easy for me to share this parable of the pretzel with my kids, but like we are inundated with social media about other people's lives, other people's ideas.
I look at my bookshelf and I'm like, these are all other people's ideas. And I love them and I love other people's ideas, but it can be so easy to say, therefore, other people have better books than me, right? Or other people have better pretzels than my pretzel. And that's not the case, right? Your life is as beautiful and magical and abundant as you are tuned into, as you care for it, as you do the work for it, both the inner work and the outer work, right? Both the time spent and the thought work, both the conversations, the calls to action for social media, all the things, all the stuff we do to make our life and business work.
Sometimes we are observing so much outside of us that we forget, right? Like I love, Jesus says like the kingdom of God is within us. And so it's our experience, right? Like heaven doesn't exist in someone else's Instagram feed, right? It's not their reality that we're actually after. It's our own feelings of peace and joy and abundance and limitlessness and connection and alignment that happen now.
It's not better. Another way that you've probably heard this said is like the grass isn't greener on the other side. The grass is greener where you water it, which means your own life will be what you want it to be when you tend to it, when you spend time making it better, when you spend time in your own reality, loving it, caring for it, making it vibrant, making it fun, making it work the way that you want it to work.
And so when I looked at Lainey, who was like reaching over her own pretzel to reach to the pretzel, it was just such a profound moment for me. I was like, oh, where am I doing this? Like, where am I looking at other people's lives, thinking that they have it better when they don't, right? They have it for them and I have it for me. Tending to my own vibration, tending to my own beliefs, tending to my own relationships, loving my life and not because I'm better.
It's not even an ego thing. It's just like be where your feet are.
Appreciate what you already have. Build that way. My whole book, Quiet Wealth, the tagline is creating what you want without sacrificing what you have. So like you can build whatever you want to build, but you don't have to do it because your life right now isn't good enough. Just because you see influencers and business gurus and coaches and social media famous people living a certain life doesn't mean that it's necessarily better. Now you might want aspects of their life. If you see someone who travels a lot, you're like, oh, I would love to travel.
But it's not because you want their life. You want to bring something in your own life and experience it your own way. And that desire is amazing. But you don't have to make your current life wrong in order to create what you really want. Don't neglect your own pretzel reaching for someone else's pretzel. That is my parable of the pretzel. How is this showing up for you? Where are you looking to insert other people's lives into your life while you miss what's already so great and so amazing about your current life?
And this is building from abundance, which is what I want. That's my biggest message is like, yeah, create what you want, but build from peace of mind, build from a happy place, build with an abundant heart, build with joy and possibilities and not being in a hurry and not making yourself wrong and not judging yourself against other people. Definitely not comparing yourself to strangers on the Internet. So that's what I have for you. Thank you for listening. I'll talk to you soon.
