Kirsten, I am delighted for you in your new sense of calling and freedom. You do have a lot to contribute and I look forward to benefitting from your thoughts and writing. But I hope you also can have some deep satisfaction in all that you contributed through CNN and USA Today. You may not have always enjoyed it but you were always thoughtful and honest about yourself and others. Pursuing and articulating truth is not easy and can be tiresome in a culture so eager to distort and avoid truth. But you so often followed the model of Jesus who was “full of grace and truth.” Thank you for working so hard at maintaining a public and personal integrity. May you truly flourish in this next stage of life in serving others!
thank you for your kind words--and i don't regret my time at CNN or USA Today ... but a lot has changed and it became not a great fit for me anymore. But it means a lot to me when I hear from people who appreciated my work.
Thank you for sharing your life’s journey with me and the other readers. I was a bit concerned when you wrote about attending Yale’s divinity school. From what you posted I could feel your desire to become a Deacon or Priest - at that time. Fortunately you took time to discern YOUR calling and what your describe sounds like a great fit for you and your clients. Thank you for your years on CNN, you made it worth watching. Best wishes and blessings Kirsten.
Thanks for being here and for your kind words about my time at CNN. I actually didn't (and don't) want to go into ministry. I am still considering YDS (I deferred for a year) but I would be going there because it would inform my journalism.
Looking forward to sharing your continued journey, Kirsten. I've switched "careers" so many times, I've lost count. I'm reminded that though I listened respectfully to what my dad was suggesting about my "then" career, I didn't follow his advice to accept the career path that was being offered to me. And that, in the mangled words of Robert Frost made all the difference in my life. Trust yourself is the most important thing you can do when making a decision. Looking forward to how channel changing will unfold for you, Kirsten.
Thanks for being here Anne! I couldn't agree more about listening to yourself! we have to be the authority of our own life. There are so many great things that wouldn't have happened in my life if I had listened to other people. (Sounds like a topic for a future post actually :-)
Thank you for posting this and sharing your story with us! I just left my job after many years to start my own business doing what is right for ME! So, I needed to hear this! We got this! Will be lifting you up from afar. Best to you, Kirsten.
Thank you. I look forward to these posts. In my diary at the start of this year I wrote I wanted to stop working from the 'push' inside me and live more like that lovely Denise Levertov poem 'The Avowal'. I felt really strongly to instigate a court case to stop a development ruining a lovely spot near me. But the whole process was so difficult, and we lost and it was so devestating that I'm rethinking whether I was following my intuition or false self when I got involved. Just so confusing so your post resonated so much for me.
I don't think getting in the flow will stop disappointment or heartbreak. It's a good question though to ask what was your motivation and who was driving the bus when you made your decision. But I wouldn't take the disappointment or devastation of losing to mean you followed the wrong path. Making change in the world is always going to be accompanied with these experiences and we just need to learn how to metabolize them and keep them in perspective.
Kirsten, I’m looking forward to following your journey and engaging with the ideas and themes you will write about. Thank you for a theme I took away from todays post (a lack mindset as self limiting). I share your Irish ancestry, I’m 2nd generation Irish, and the scarcity mindset is either in our DNA or generational for those of us whose family members lived through the Depression, maybe both. Your post prompted me to reframe a recent business development challenge and the reframing generated a unique and potentially life saving solution. If the idea works, I’ll come back to you w the details. Thank you for adding value to me so early in your new endeavor.
I’m so glad to hear you were able to reframe the situation. I do think part of it is that we hear the stories and part of it is what you said that it’s in the DNA. I plan to write a post about epigenetic trauma to get more into this.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I respect that you reached a point where there was no longer enough alignment between your values and the purpose of your employer, and instead of continuing to burnout and get sick you changed the channel. I look forward to reading more... Best of luck to you.
So blessed to get a front row seat watching Align and Be! Here for all the aligning and all the being! Leaving the chrysalis is hard but you, my dear butterfly are so so ready to launch!😘♥️
Dear Kirsten, thank you so much for this post. I signed up immediately which says something about the spirit of this piece.
The timing of this post is perfect for me. Just left a job as a Ministerial advisor as I realised my values were undermined by propping up a inept Government Department held together by spin.
Now I realise that so much of what I have done is about external validation and prestige so I feel doubly lost! Your post has helped me realise I need to sit with this discomfort. Yours in fear and hope.
How exciting, Kirsten. I’m sure you’ve made the right decision to follow your passions. As I know you’re well aware, sometimes life keeps us shackled to the jobs that pay the bills over that which nourishes the soul. So, I’m nothing but happy for you… although, FTR, you did bring a much needed perspective to political media that I will sorely miss. But that’s okay. I’m excited to read whatever it is that your passion has inspired. All the best, Kirsten.
I got fired from a job in 2017, and I had been teaching qigong on the side. Getting fired was the kick I got to “just” be a qigong teacher. Qigong is about flow, not force. And I love teaching it! So of course I LOVED reading your newsletter today.
There are many citizens of the USA of my generation who live alone. I always wondered why you didn't fit in when I saw you on a panel as a "commentator".
I hope you saw how Ann Coulter was treated when she said Trump would be the next President. They all laughed at her....
I considered dropping out of your Sub-stack due to the recent lack of quantity. But I came to realize that quality is much more important. Quality that leads to transformation. Specifically, your perspective on transformation by better understanding the narratives that drive us and the possibility of living a new story. Also, your perspectives on some of the oppressed groups among us has given me some important and helpful insights. . I’m currently leading a small group discussion on Ian Corn’s book: “The Story of You”, and I thought that your journey echoes many of its key themes.
glad you stayed but would have understood if you left or paused. I plan to be posting regularly now that I am clear on what i want to do here. Thank you for your patience. Also love Ian!
Kirsten, I am delighted for you in your new sense of calling and freedom. You do have a lot to contribute and I look forward to benefitting from your thoughts and writing. But I hope you also can have some deep satisfaction in all that you contributed through CNN and USA Today. You may not have always enjoyed it but you were always thoughtful and honest about yourself and others. Pursuing and articulating truth is not easy and can be tiresome in a culture so eager to distort and avoid truth. But you so often followed the model of Jesus who was “full of grace and truth.” Thank you for working so hard at maintaining a public and personal integrity. May you truly flourish in this next stage of life in serving others!
thank you for your kind words--and i don't regret my time at CNN or USA Today ... but a lot has changed and it became not a great fit for me anymore. But it means a lot to me when I hear from people who appreciated my work.
Thank you for sharing your life’s journey with me and the other readers. I was a bit concerned when you wrote about attending Yale’s divinity school. From what you posted I could feel your desire to become a Deacon or Priest - at that time. Fortunately you took time to discern YOUR calling and what your describe sounds like a great fit for you and your clients. Thank you for your years on CNN, you made it worth watching. Best wishes and blessings Kirsten.
Thanks for being here and for your kind words about my time at CNN. I actually didn't (and don't) want to go into ministry. I am still considering YDS (I deferred for a year) but I would be going there because it would inform my journalism.
Looking forward to sharing your continued journey, Kirsten. I've switched "careers" so many times, I've lost count. I'm reminded that though I listened respectfully to what my dad was suggesting about my "then" career, I didn't follow his advice to accept the career path that was being offered to me. And that, in the mangled words of Robert Frost made all the difference in my life. Trust yourself is the most important thing you can do when making a decision. Looking forward to how channel changing will unfold for you, Kirsten.
Thanks for being here Anne! I couldn't agree more about listening to yourself! we have to be the authority of our own life. There are so many great things that wouldn't have happened in my life if I had listened to other people. (Sounds like a topic for a future post actually :-)
It is a topic!
Thank you for posting this and sharing your story with us! I just left my job after many years to start my own business doing what is right for ME! So, I needed to hear this! We got this! Will be lifting you up from afar. Best to you, Kirsten.
Congrats!!! Thank you for being along for this ride!!!
Thank you. I look forward to these posts. In my diary at the start of this year I wrote I wanted to stop working from the 'push' inside me and live more like that lovely Denise Levertov poem 'The Avowal'. I felt really strongly to instigate a court case to stop a development ruining a lovely spot near me. But the whole process was so difficult, and we lost and it was so devestating that I'm rethinking whether I was following my intuition or false self when I got involved. Just so confusing so your post resonated so much for me.
I don't think getting in the flow will stop disappointment or heartbreak. It's a good question though to ask what was your motivation and who was driving the bus when you made your decision. But I wouldn't take the disappointment or devastation of losing to mean you followed the wrong path. Making change in the world is always going to be accompanied with these experiences and we just need to learn how to metabolize them and keep them in perspective.
Kirsten, I’m looking forward to following your journey and engaging with the ideas and themes you will write about. Thank you for a theme I took away from todays post (a lack mindset as self limiting). I share your Irish ancestry, I’m 2nd generation Irish, and the scarcity mindset is either in our DNA or generational for those of us whose family members lived through the Depression, maybe both. Your post prompted me to reframe a recent business development challenge and the reframing generated a unique and potentially life saving solution. If the idea works, I’ll come back to you w the details. Thank you for adding value to me so early in your new endeavor.
I’m so glad to hear you were able to reframe the situation. I do think part of it is that we hear the stories and part of it is what you said that it’s in the DNA. I plan to write a post about epigenetic trauma to get more into this.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I respect that you reached a point where there was no longer enough alignment between your values and the purpose of your employer, and instead of continuing to burnout and get sick you changed the channel. I look forward to reading more... Best of luck to you.
Thanks for being here!
So blessed to get a front row seat watching Align and Be! Here for all the aligning and all the being! Leaving the chrysalis is hard but you, my dear butterfly are so so ready to launch!😘♥️
I LOVE YOU
Thank you. Examination of the bus driver is currently in progress, as well as perspective on it all, and you have helped it along big time.
My heart is so happy for you! xo
Dear Kirsten, thank you so much for this post. I signed up immediately which says something about the spirit of this piece.
The timing of this post is perfect for me. Just left a job as a Ministerial advisor as I realised my values were undermined by propping up a inept Government Department held together by spin.
Now I realise that so much of what I have done is about external validation and prestige so I feel doubly lost! Your post has helped me realise I need to sit with this discomfort. Yours in fear and hope.
Congrats on the change and so glad to have you in this journey!
How exciting, Kirsten. I’m sure you’ve made the right decision to follow your passions. As I know you’re well aware, sometimes life keeps us shackled to the jobs that pay the bills over that which nourishes the soul. So, I’m nothing but happy for you… although, FTR, you did bring a much needed perspective to political media that I will sorely miss. But that’s okay. I’m excited to read whatever it is that your passion has inspired. All the best, Kirsten.
I got fired from a job in 2017, and I had been teaching qigong on the side. Getting fired was the kick I got to “just” be a qigong teacher. Qigong is about flow, not force. And I love teaching it! So of course I LOVED reading your newsletter today.
Amazing!! I love Qigong -- so great that you are teaching that. More people need to be exposed to it!
You’re so right! I teach on Zoom. Anyone can come. I guess that’s a shameless plug.
can you post a link here so people can check it out?
Well since you asked—OF COURSE I can!
Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 and Fridays 11:30.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7813027366
All welcome to try first class at no charge.
Thank you!
Pamela
time zone?
Eastern!
Kirsten, I can’t wait to to see this all unfold. Sending congrats and hugs. P.S. “Changing the Channel” is PERFECT.
thanks debbie!!
There are many citizens of the USA of my generation who live alone. I always wondered why you didn't fit in when I saw you on a panel as a "commentator".
I hope you saw how Ann Coulter was treated when she said Trump would be the next President. They all laughed at her....
Ann was right. He was the next President.
I considered dropping out of your Sub-stack due to the recent lack of quantity. But I came to realize that quality is much more important. Quality that leads to transformation. Specifically, your perspective on transformation by better understanding the narratives that drive us and the possibility of living a new story. Also, your perspectives on some of the oppressed groups among us has given me some important and helpful insights. . I’m currently leading a small group discussion on Ian Corn’s book: “The Story of You”, and I thought that your journey echoes many of its key themes.
glad you stayed but would have understood if you left or paused. I plan to be posting regularly now that I am clear on what i want to do here. Thank you for your patience. Also love Ian!