FREE2JustB

How Keeping An Open Mind Turned A Setback Into A Stepping Stone

• THeresa Marie

Share episode

Send us a text

What if the road back is actually the road forward? I share how a return to Amazon—after swearing I’d never go back—became the exact training ground I needed to rebuild credit, heal a stubborn knee, and reset my mindset from judgment to service. The story starts with a humbling wake-up call: unpaid tickets, a suspended license, and a courtroom line that revealed a town’s quiet despair. Standing there, I chose a different posture—observe without scorn, shine where I stand, and build a bridge from survival to stability one clear step at a time.

Inside the warehouse, everything looks different with an open mind. I swapped picking for stowing, trading steps for squats that doubled as physical therapy. The bigger surprise? My young supervisors, whose communication, care, and adaptability flipped my assumptions about age and authority. When you drop labels, learning arrives fast. Their support, plus timely encouragement—from a 72-year-old reinventing Tai Chi to my son holding steady for his new family—created a loop of courage that pushed me to close the dashing chapter, claim a steady paycheck, and free three full days each week to grow classes, write devotional work, and refine the long game.

This is a practical roadmap for anyone straddling purpose and paycheck: acknowledge the bills, make a plan, stay humble, and let curiosity lead. Openness isn’t passive; it’s an active choice to see meaning where others see monotony, to listen when spirit says “not yet,” and to build capacity before you leap. If this resonates, tap follow, share it with someone who needs a reframe, and leave a review with one place you’re choosing to stay open today. Your story might be the bridge someone else needs.

Support the show

SPEAKER_00:

Uh the only way new things get in is to keep an open mind. So that being said, I welcome you back to yet another Open Your Mind Monday on the podcast Free to Just Be, which is the podcast empowering humanity to courageously step out of old patterns, false beliefs, childhood traumas, and the ever-present matrix programming, and give a big old hug to brand new ways of being. And I hope this finds us all in the greatest health with vibrant energy today because we have all chosen to accept the full responsibility for our body, minds, and soul. Here I'm going to try to inspire us all to truly be who we came here to be, which of course starts with authenticity, and then we become free and eventually aligned with our highest potentials. So join me, Teresa Marie, the traveling ambassador of Qi on this transformative journey to rewrite our narratives and live lives of purpose and passion. And I do welcome you back to this magnificent Monday mid-morning and hope you had a fantastical, wonder-filled weekend. I finally, after 24 hours of rest, feel like my physical body is beginning to recoup from my first 40-hour, four-day shift back in an Amazon warehouse. And those of you that are following, I I do so apologize that it's been five days. Yes, five days since I've been behind the mic. But you know what? Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and the flow was very physical for me the last four days. But as we opened with, I I have kept a completely open mind this time around. Yes, this is my third time at an Amazon warehouse, the same Amazon warehouse, by the way. And it really took an open mind to bring myself to the place of going back there. And it's really interesting when you keep an open mind how everything can change. For example, um, if you would have told me a month ago that I would be behind the mic on a open your mind Monday talking about being grateful to be back at Amazon, I would have said, You are freaking crazy. There is no I'm not going back. I am not going back. That's what I said the first time. And the second time. And here I be again. But I have a whole brand new perspective. Why? Because I've kept my mind open. So I am gonna share today some different ways that I, on my evolutionary journey, have discovered sometimes in hindsight and sometimes in foresight, and sometimes not even knowing how keeping my mind open has helped me on this ascension journey. Well, you know, I really, really thought that I was digressing, that I was going backwards when I went back to Amazon. But being the observer for as many years as I have sat in that seat, um, it's been well over a decade, probably more like uh somewhere between 14 and 16 years now, that I have sat in the observer seat. And I really was adverse. I did not want to go back, but I also knew that something had to give. I couldn't continue to live my life in the car because my ego didn't want to admit that I had jumped off the matrix wheel in an attempt to become an entrepreneur too soon. I didn't have a plan in place. I wasn't working the plan. I had a dream, and a dream without a plan is a plan to fail. And that was the first hard thing that I had to open my mind to. And when it came right down to it, looking at the face of uh certain financial commitments that I had to a car payment, which I for the first time in my life had. Um, yes, believe it or not, there are people in the world that don't go and get a new car or a four-year-old car and then spend years um paying the price for that choice. No, um, the way I used to live my life was that I would save the money up and get a used vehicle and not have a car payment, and the car would be mine. But there came a day where I was tired. Oh, here comes the open your mind. I, you know, for years refused. I will never have a car payment and yet-day yada. And I went for many, many years with no um financial footprint, um, a good eight to ten years with no credit cards and no credit history. And so when I launched on my own, when I uh stepped away uh from my marriage and stepped out on my own, the full-on recognition of oh crap, with no financial history, I I wasn't even a blip in the matrix wheel. There was no um written documentation of me uh ever having any kind of credit. And so I had to change that. I had to step back into the matrix in order to eventually step out of it, and that required me to have an open mind. So this time around, um, as I looked in the face of a car payment looming, an insurance payment that about doubled because of my own um procrastinitis. Um, oh, let me just do a little side bend on that. So, yes, while I was in Florida, um, and I I believe I did podcasts on this, but um, there was a time where the universe, the divine mother, my creator God, my father God, was telling me you need to stop dashing. You are physically, emotionally, and spiritually wrecking your life by continuing to do this. You are not ready, uh, you cannot um sustain this um without it's an extra, it's a side gig, but I was so resistant, I was so damn stubborn, right? And um I I recognized that I needed to stop, but I was unwilling. So one night dashing, I kept hearing go home, go home, and I wasn't listening. It you know, clearly spirit was saying stop. And to get my attention, there came a stop sign at a very odd um five-way stop area in um Jack's Beach, Florida, and the car in front of me, you know, did a California stop, and there was nothing coming, and so I followed suit. Well, the police officer that pulled me over about 45 seconds later said, no, I just rolled through the stops on I didn't even do a California stop, and so I got a ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign. And now, you know, as I left the officer, um, I'm laughing because I'm like, okay, God, I get it. Uh, it's time for me to go home, and I went home. Similar thing happened several weeks later. Stop, Terry, stop dashing, go home. And yes, I was still Terry then. I was the hippie freak of the South then. I was not listening, I did not want to listen. I was on my own trajectory, right? And I was speeding to boot. So now, within a four-week period, I had a ticket for a stop sign and a speeding ticket. And then uh the decision came to leave, and all these things um happened in my life, and I didn't quite have the money to pay the tickets, and I just kept putting them aside, thus, my whole little sidebar of procrastinitis. And I got home, arrived home, and was out dashing. So you can see it was three strikes, three strikes before I got it through my thick skull that my dashing days were numbered, and that chapter of my life was getting ready to close. Thus again, keeping your mind open. And my mind really wasn't open yet. So I arrive home and I'm still, you know, I'm sure that I can make my way. And even though I do not have um a quote unquote just above broke J-O-B here back in Middle Tennessee, I'm continuing to dash and believing that somehow I'm going to keep my financial um responsibilities for the bills that I owe just by dashing. And I'm out dashing one morning, everything's going great, and a police officer's behind me, and I'm not worried about that at all because I'm doing everything right. And his flashing lights go on, I'm like, what the hell? And he pulls me over and so nicely describes that I have a tail light out, and everything will be great, and I'll be set on my way as soon as he runs my license. When suddenly Terry, the hippie freak of the South, remembers, oh crap, I have two tickets I didn't pay. Oh, I guess I'm going to jail. And he comes back and he says, Your license is suspended, ma'am. I'm like, what? And he said, Yeah, now I didn't realize that not paying your tickets would suspend your license. Live and learn. And there it was. A suspended license means I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're gonna have to get out of the car. Do you have somebody that can come pick you up? Because you can't drive this car away from the site. And all that to say that my mind was suddenly blown wide open. And as I'm sitting there waiting for my daughter to pick me up in rescue mode, as I had to leave my car there, I recognized that the spirit was guiding me all along. It was telling me close the chapter, close the chapter. It's time to jump back into the matrix for a time because you weren't ready to get out. So you can see that my mind was closed, I had my way of going, and the spirit had a different way for me to go. So not only was my license suspended, I had to go and have a mug shot done and have my fingerprints taken, because you literally go to jail on a suspended license. Now I didn't have to go to jail, they let me walk out right then because the very next day I paid those tickets. Thank you, Roger, my husband, and I was on my way again in 24 hours. But oh my goodness, the lessons learned, right? I was not listening to the way the spirit was guiding me, and boy, that caused some major transitions in my life that week. Now, of course, that's been over a month ago, and now I'm back in Amazon. And I went begrudgingly, I did not want to go back, but it was a day shift. I wasn't gonna kill myself on a night shift like I did when I first left my marriage and my temporary sojourn in Solobum, right? So now I'm back in Amazon, and let me, before I go into the Amazon open your mind scenario with this Teresa Marie Ambassador of Qi that I now be, let me share a couple of other things about life in Middle Tennessee. So last week, um, before I went back to my new position at Amazon, I had to show up in court and prove that I had gotten my license back and I paid those tickets. Well, again, if you have an open mind and your observer is active and you're observing everything around you and paying attention to details, unlike what I was doing in Jack's Beach, Florida at that time, I went into that courtroom and boy, my observer was looking around. And I saw everybody online to sign in to that courtroom was pretty much in what the world would suggest would be dire straits. There was not a person on that line that didn't look like they just rolled out of bed. Their clothing was either stained and or wrinkled or had tears in it. In other words, everybody on the line looked like they shopped at Goodwill. And I'm a proud goodwill shopper, by the way. And everybody looked flatlined. There was not a smile in the house, everybody was either frowning or had the straight line across their lips. Many people looked irritated, many people looked downtrodden, everybody looked discouraged, and as I'm standing there and beginning to send love and light around everybody in the room, it was the confirmation to me that I am right exactly where I'm supposed to be. And I'm thanking God for the opportunity to send love and light out and to remind my own self that I am here to shine, shine, baby. I am here to shine and illuminate everybody in Bedford County, Tennessee's way back home inside to begin their own evolutionary journey. I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I felt that way going into the local speedway that's only five years old. And that speedway is the filthiest speedway. As a dasher, I've dashed in many, many different cities now over the course of the last couple of years, and hands down, I I would not buy a cup of coffee in that speedway. That's how filthy dirty it is, even after five years. And every employee in that place had missing teeth, had uh the complete redneck look, and this is not judgment, this is an observation of where I am positioned in life. I am positioned in a town that predominantly is on welfare, is on some form of government assistance, um, and they are downtrodden. They feel like there's no hope. I live in a town where generationally, three and four generations are on government assistance. And when I left two years ago, I thought I was leaving for good. I never wanted to come back here because I'm better than that, and I don't need to be. And you know what? That was all judgment. And my mind is so open now to the fact that that is not the Christ-like life that I wanted to live, to be a judge and to point my finger because you know what? I have been called to be in this city of Shelbille, Tennessee, to help people. I am the bridge from welfare because I've been been there, done that a couple three times over the last 42 years. I know what it's like to be downtrodden like that. And inch by inch, everything being a cinch, I am forging a bridge to upper middle class financial freedom. To eventually cross that bridge into full-on entrepreneurship where I am passively receiving income so that I can full-on be in my mission. But I am a bridge builder, and the reason I have lived such a Jerry Springer ringing life is so that I can reach back into the welfare department and say, you know what, if I could do it, so can you. So my mind is completely open now to being back where I am. Enter the people in Amazon. There are people in my age group, um, the matrix would call us boomers. Um, I am uh gonna be 65 years old in February, and I was born in 1961, so I'm a full-on, quote unquote, labeled as a boomer. And as you go into Amazon, there are people in my age group that are of two different um mindsets. Some have such a closed mind that they cannot receive instruction from supervisors that are 26 and 27 years old. Been there, done that. Critical um uh condescension, all of it. Why? Because that's how I, you know, I was brought up. Um, I was brought up by um somebody in in my age group now that was saying, do what I say because I said so. And I had that mindset years ago. Now I recognize that my Bible tells me to not look down on anybody, especially the youth. The youth are our future folks, right? Now, the other side of the boomers in Amazon are there because they're choosing. They uh there are a lot of people in my age bracket that were already retired. And what does retire mean? Put away, put aside, that were not going to be put aside, that wanted to live. And one of the ways to continue to move is you have to move. And Amazon avails that. You can be a picker and walk way over 10,000 steps, or you can go back in and this time around, I'm being trained to stow. I'm inbound, I am putting the items back into the drawers that I used to pick from, and it's a different set of muscles. I don't have to walk as much, but now, oh, open your mind to this. This woman who had her knee replaced three and a half years ago lost about 60% of her range of motion in that knee. And I have been so frustrated about that. And what position did God, my father, and the divine mother put me in? A position where I have to squat, where I have to lunge, where I have to move my knees. I can walk just fine, but it's the bending of that replace knee that should actually work better than my other knee. And now I am open. Oh, wow, you brought me back here to help regenerate my knee. Thank you, thank you so much. But I had to have an open mind to that. I also am just blessed by my young whippersnapper supervisors. My trainer was 27, my supervisors only 26. And they have this rapport, this way to make you feel connected that is lacking in most of my peer group. My peer group, I don't even want to hang around with. They're negative, they're closed-minded, they certainly don't want to work with youth. There's a handful of those that are more open-minded like me, but I am so encouraged by the 20-somethings. I guess they would, they're millennials, I guess, but I I don't like the labels, okay? And I had an open mind, and I shared with my young whippersnapper co-workers and supervisors how impressed I am by their communication styles, how thankful I am that they have innovation, that they have a rapport with anybody of any age. So keeping your mind open allows us to explore, create, and grow. So we have to remember that progress would actually be virtually impossible if we always did things the way we always did, right? We have to allow different ideas into our way of thinking. We have to have an open mind which leaves a chance for others to drop worthwhile thoughts in it, like those young whippersnappers did. Thank you, Mark Twain, for reminding me that if my mind is open, I can learn from even children, right? The last thing I want to share is um what Einstein said. The mind that opens to new ideas never returns to its original sign, uh, original size, rather. Now, I don't know about you, but I know that I know that we use just a little iota of what our mind, our brain capacity really has. So I want to grow that mind. I don't know about you, but for me, I want to grow it. Do you know that the moment I accepted this position, two days later I got a call from a dear friend of mine, and a possible very um awesome opportunity may just open up in the near future. Imagine that. And now, today will be my last literal day of dashing, because I will have my first paycheck on Halloween this Friday, and I will be able to cover my bills, and the only reason I'm gonna dash today is for one, for posterity's sake, and to say goodbye and closure, and to have gas money and to pay one little piddly bill that I want to pay this week, and that chapter will close. And my sister Pat, she sent me a text over the weekend, and it was all about a gentleman 72 years old, who put a new spin on Tai Chi to make it more exciting and more fun for people to do. And he now has 12 classes, and people are loving his classes, and I needed that encouragement to keep my dreams alive. And it came at just the right time because after four days of my body doing things that it hasn't done in two years, my body was hurting my hands, my wrists, my knees. But I know that I know, having done this Amazon thing twofold now, that in a couple of weeks my body is gonna be grooving again and it's gonna be just fine. And as I transition into this position, I will now have three full days to devote to what I really want to do. And that is exactly what that gentleman did. Grow his classes. I'm gonna grow my classes, I'm going to develop my devotional material, I'm going to stand before thousands eventually. But in the meantime, I am open to this wonderful opportunity for a steady paycheck until I can say goodbye to Amazon for the last time as well. And today I had opportunity to turn around and encourage my son, who's been at Amazon for two years. And this is my son who has done many, many different jobs, who inspired me to not stay in positions that I hated. Because when he didn't like a position, he's like, I'm out of here, I'm not doing this. But then he had a little one, a little over a year ago, getting ready to be birthed. And he knew that his mindset of hopping from job to job as he developed his artistic, what he's going to end up doing as an entrepreneur, he wasn't quite ready. So he knew he had to stay in that Amazon position and provide stability for his now growing family. And some days he gets discouraged that he is still at Amazon. And I was able to encourage him: hey, Amazon is not permanency, you're not going to be there forever. Keep on keeping on. Keep your mind open and never let go of your dreams. So there was a twofold opening of the mind. I opened my mind to view Amazon differently. My sister encouraged me with that text and that article about that 72-year-old man to keep my dreams alive. And I, in turn, with an open mind, reached out to my son and encouraged him to keep his dreams alive. So if we keep an open mind, we can learn so much from the people around us. So on this magnificent open your mind Monday, go out and whatever it is you're doing, keep an open mind to those that want to drop nuggets of wisdom and knowledge into your mind and pull out a couple of golden nuggets that you can share with somebody. Because when we keep an open mind, it allows us to explore, create, and grow. And that is exactly what this evolutionary ascension journey is all about. I love you, humanity. Thank you for your patience as I transition again, as I have to keep my mind open and always remember that the last thing I always want to leave with everybody on free to just be is peace.