Mountain?, or a Series of Molehills?

In this episode, Sam and I are joined by Cara Price, a modeling and wellness coach from Kansas City, for a conversation exploring the maxim “Mountain?, or a Series of Molehills?”

Cara brings thoughtful, real-world perspectives on this idea—drawing from both her personal journey and her holistic work with clients. She shares how reframing challenges can make a huge difference in reaching goals, staying balanced, and easing the anxiety that often comes with overcoming big obstacles. 

We hope you take away a couple of ideas and tips that you can apply in your own life.

Thanks for listening,
Mike

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to Maxim eq, where we explore the common sensical through individual interpretation at a time when the profound is too often reduced to cheap memes and goofy bumper stickers, we head in the opposite direction, digging deeper to examine the commonalities and differences in our perceptions around a particular adage.

In each episode, we'll discuss our guest take on a thought-provoking maxim, designed to promote self-reflection and personal growth for us, but hopefully for you as well. In this episode, Mike and I are joined by Cara Price, a modeling and wellness coach based in Kansas City to discuss the Maxim Mountain question mark or series of molehill.

Cara has some relatable perspectives derived from this particular maxim and has put those to work in her less than conventional career serving clients in what turns out to be a surprisingly holistic manner. So sit tight and enjoy this fruitful conversation. Now Maxim, EQ [00:01:00] with Sam Wahl and me, Mike Baumer.

Mike: Yeah, so I am looking forward to introducing you to Cara. 

Sam: Yeah, I'm psyched, man. I feel like I II know her now after all that you've shared with me, but, uh, 

tell me a little bit about 

Cara.

Mike: Well, she's the kind of person that you, you hope that you get sat next to at a dinner party, um, especially if you value, uh, stimulating conversation and, and potentially learning new things.

um, but a little bit, uh, of more general background is that 

Cara has been a modeling coach for a long time, and she's also a certified integrative nutritional health coach.

But speaking more 

broadly, one of the things that I respect about Cara is the holistic [00:02:00] approach that she takes to both her modeling and her wellness coaching.

Hi, Cara.

Sam: 

right on. It looks like Cara joined us. How you doing today? 

Mike: Hi, Cara. 

Cara: Sam. Hi, Mike.

Mike: to see 

Sam: this is our first time meeting, other than I think we texted in a group text back and 

forth, but it is, it is, lovely to meet you in 

person. And, uh, I'll just thank you upfront for taking time to do this today. This is going to be 

so fun. 

Cara: I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for the opportunity to have this conversation. 

Mike: Yeah. sweet.

So, Cara, I filled Sam in a little bit and, and our listeners for that matter, uh, on a little intro. but why don't we start with What maxim did you choose for us to explore and get into a little bit today? 

Cara: The maxim I chose was mountain, question mark, or series of molehills. 

Mike: did something in particular resonate with you on 

that one [00:03:00] versus the couple other three that we shared with you to choose from?

took me a moment because there were a few that jumped out at me, especially the one regarding perfection, but this one, this one resonated, I would say, because it's, it is a thought, a mindset that has helped me so much in my personal life, as well as a lot of what I do with coaching. And a lot of what I do with, uh, with clients and just that type of mindset of taking something that is seemingly massive and being able to break it down into steps that are digestible so that we can actually move forward.

Cara: And, you know, I was thinking about, okay, if we have a mountain in front of us, it's like, Thousands of steps. And so we're looking at not just this moment. We're looking at the future, and that can be so overwhelming. Whereas We're looking at a molehill, [00:04:00] and it's, you know, one step and that seems so much more accessible because it's this moment right now, right here.

And we're looking at a mountain and we're looking at. The future and I, I believe that that is what struggle is, is looking at moments that are not meant for right now. We're looking at the future or we're looking at the past and then that's suffering and that struggle. And so if we can break it down and look at this one right here, uh, that is, that mindset has given me so much peace and also just helped me to be able to move forward and so many different things in life. 

Mike clone: Awesome. I love it. 

when you break it down into smaller pieces do you try to get clients to focus on just that piece? Or is it that you break it down into pieces and present them? With a sequence of smaller goals?

Cara: That's a great question. And yes, I would say my approach is very much [00:05:00] client led in that. I believe that we all individually know, and maybe not consciously, but subconsciously and eventually we can, you know, if somebody helps them to pull it out, or they do for themselves, know our truth and know the next step.

And so My approach would be asking the questions so that, person that I'm working with can find that one step for themselves. Typically, they just haven't asked themselves that question or haven't been asked that question. 

Mike: you literally let them even find the starting 

Cara: Right, because what the first step for me might be different than the next person, 

Mike: So when you do it for yourself, Do you try to only see one or two steps at a time? 

Cara: I think it really depends on the situation If someone is wanting to start working out more regularly, let's say, great. I'm going to start working out every day. Okay. What's the first step? And it seems like, oh, well, I go to the [00:06:00] gym. Well, but is it, is there a step that that comes before that? Is it the step where you have to put on your gym clothes? Is it where you are driving to the gym? Is it where you're determining when in your day you're going to do this? Is it determining what you're going to do with the gym? Is it, um, figuring out, you What your goals are.

Why are you even doing this? What is the why behind it? And so breaking it down to okay, well, if I'm going to leave for the gym at five o'clock, then what else needs to be taken care of before that so maybe it actually has to do with what time you leave work the day before so that you can have dinner at the right time so that you can go to sleep at the right times that you can wake up at the right time so that you can 

start the journey...........

if we think about like school projects, yes, we broke those down, right? 

Or let's start with a draft. Let's start with the notes. Let's start with a meeting. Yet. I [00:07:00] think projects at work, perhaps, and we've kind of been trained to do that. Okay, the more day to day. Lifestyle type of, of goals that we might have or tasks. I think the challenge is to remind ourselves to break those down

too, 

You both used the analogy of digestible small parts. Um, you know, and it's funny because I use the word metabolize a lot when I'm, when I'm describing something that maybe was challenging for me that was overwhelming. I say, you know, Hey, I'm having a tough time metabolizing all of that.

Sam: funny thing is about, metabolizing is that it even though there's kind of like a an inherent time consequence we all metabolize differentlyso personal dynamics has a lot to do with how you get to know your clients, I'm sure.

[00:08:00] And, and working with people, around tackling larger or more convoluted, tasks or issues or whatever.to me, that's the real labyrinth in helping people is first and foremost getting to know, who it is you're helping.

And sometimes that's yourself, but I liked that you said referring to the why and kind of having that be in the beginning of the process, because I feel like that's, that's it. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting to know. one's Comfortable space, you know, I mean getting to know one's abilities or establishing even a why and then moving forward from there I have a memory of the first time I saw an osteopath, as opposed to a conventional MD.

And the osteopath said to me, um, okay, so the first part of our visit, you may have noticed that this appointment's 45 minutes long, you know, and I said, yeah, I did. And he said, well, we're going to talk, we're going to talk for the first 15, 20 [00:09:00] minutes. And I just want to hear about your life.

I want to hear about your lifestyle. I want to hear about how you feel. in your life and how you feel about your lifestyle, you know, and I was like, wow, that's, it felt to me like a really, thorough 

examination, you know, uh, I just wanted to add that in there. That's all I wanted to

Cara: I love that you did, and you made a great point of yes, having an opportunity to just be heard, to be listened to. And most of us are going about our day and everything is just happening in our mind and it just becomes kind of circular. And then when we have an opportunity to sit down and somebody asks us a question and is going to sit there and listen, it becomes linear And we take sense out of it.

And the so much power, yes, and whatever the osteopath was is going to guide you and help you with. Just the benefit of you being able to have a moment in the space [00:10:00] to talk it out. There's so much power in that. And like you said, everybody digests things and metabolizes things in different ways. And I think of an analogy that somebody told me once about an apple.

Sam: we've got an apple here Everybody's going to eat it a little bit differently. Some people might just like snarf it, put it all up in their mouth.

Cara: Some people are going tocut it up and a little slices. Some people are going to just take little bites at a time, maybe big bites at a time. People like me are going to like make really random slices through the apple. we all can eat an apple, but the way we, do it, the style, we do it, how present we are with it. Our enjoyment of the experience, how quickly we do it is all going to be different.

Mike clone: do you pick up on patterns when you're working with your clients in terms of some of those obstacles to getting started have been? 

are there

common denominators that you're finding, when you engage with them in terms of what has kept them, [00:11:00] from 

doing it on their own and or the motivation for engaging 

with youfor 

assistance and support. 

Cara: they, that the clientscome to me for is different than what they think . So for instance, I do modeling, coaching and health coaching, nutrition coaching, and. There's different goals that people have Yet, what I typically find is that, we want to release weight. then through questioning and getting to the why, and getting to, okay, what's the first step, a lot of deeper things become revealed. * it generally has to do with something deeper than just willpower or information like, Oh, you know, do I just need to know how to eat healthy?*

*Or do I just need to figure out how to incorporate that into my life? *[00:12:00] Or is the reason why I'm eating this way. Maybe have to do with other areas of my life that are out of balance.

So this is just one example.perhaps it's because the person is feeling so overwhelmed and stressed and they get home and they don't have time or brainpower to be able to cook or, I mean, Go to the grocery store. I mean when you when you get home after a long day of work it's like you just need to eat and go to sleep and So the easiest option is the fast food.

So it's like well, I just I want to eat healthier I want to I want to release weight. so is it to just tell that person that they need to start cooking at home? And start eating vegetables, or is it figuring out why are you working so much? Why are you coming home late?

do you feel like you have boundaries right now around work? Uh, do you feel like you are giving to everyone else except for [00:13:00] yourself? let's say that that person decides, Oh, maybe I'll leave work one hour early. 

They get home earlier and they're like, you know what? I have an extra hour. I could, maybe I could cook. I've got some time. And they cook and they feel awesome afterward. God, I feel so much, like, energy. Maybe I'll go for a walk. And they go for a walk and they're like, man, that's great.

And I'm going to go, I'm going to sleep really well. I digested my food. I'm going to sleep well. And, Wow. I woke up a little earlier. Maybe now I can like meditate or now I can maybe do, you know, 15 minute workout class or something. And then you go to the, go to work. You're like, well, I'm, I'm feeling more alert and more energized and more efficient.

That is the real goal.

If it's self care, if it's boundaries, if it's home environment, you know, it usually is something deeper than the surface. 

Sam: amazing to me when you, 

Cara: regardless of what you're selling, what your product is, like, for example,a modeling coach or, health and wellness coach, either way. you seem to [00:14:00] have the ethos of a person who's, approaching service with benevolence, 

Sam: And you ultimately become a life coach because when you start helping people gain perspective on all of the little steps that one can take to, effectively make change, you end up proceeding well beyond the, the original perceived boundaries or parameters of what 

you were there 

Cara: Yes. Yes. And I see that. I see that in the modeling coaching sessions as well as in the health sessions. You know, it's interesting like, you know, for example, through the modeling realm of things. 

Very typical, you know, someone comes to me and says, okay, I want to get involved in modeling. I'd like to start modeling and I say, what is the reason why?

What excites you about this? And they say, oh, I want to experience new things. I love fashion I want to be on the runway. I love the world of fashion and it's inspiring and I want to inspire other people and, show other people they can do it. So it's like, okay, We start working together [00:15:00] and, confidence is huge with modeling, you know, in order to be able to do those things, the confidence comes first.

And so typically we end up working on self esteem and confidence and, public speaking and being able to talk about yourself and be able to be interested in other people and networking and responsibility and time management and professionalism and. all of these things.

And so that is why I'm so passionate about what I do in the modeling realm is because I see it as a vehicle and a gateway to, Your entire life, 

not just on the runway.

That's every room you walk

into. 

Mike: Yeah,

Core characteristics, right? So

Sam: Well, you and I, before we got on with, Cara today too, I think we talked briefly about personal dynamics and that whole scenario of teaching a man to fish as opposed to fishing for a man, know? [00:16:00] And I think that, getting into a workspace or a working relationship with people.

and helping them discover, the idea of taking some exclamation points off the end of all their sentences and deflating their stress level and, their sense of excitement about things and just kind of adding that calmness and extra perspective, can actually teach somebody that they personally, have the skills to improve and to become, Greater and possibly even what they see in other people that they fashion their ideals around or whateverI work in real estateand it's popular in our in our business to say that we're in the relationship business.

But I think that that's true. And I think that part of that is because buying a home can be a complex, thing, especially if you haven't done that before, but 

Mike: And overwhelming, right? Not just complex, but overwhelming to somebody who doesn't do it every day and 

Sam: sure. 

Mike: event. Yeah,

Sam: Yeah. And that, that particular event can also become a very emotional one too. that [00:17:00] triggers a lot of other, conversations about oneself and within families and, I find myself often reassuring people by saying like, look, I'm here.

I help people through this process all the time. So the first thing that I'm going to advise you to do is just hold space for each step. Be calm and be present and learn. and know and have faith in your heart that I'm your guardrails, I'm here to keep you from steering too far off task, but like enjoy the process, and, uh, and I have been, I mean, I'm not patting myself on the back, but I've, I've had people return, at the end of the process on more than one occasion and say, Hey, I really appreciate you helping us just kind of learn to be present and calm through that whole thing because now we feel like we've learned so much from that and made greater gains in the process. you know, 

what I mean? Which is, 

Cara: Yes. 

Sam: to help people in that way, 

Cara: I I'm so with you on that about enjoying the process. I believe that. The destination is the journey [00:18:00] and the destination only going to be as great as the journey. And so if we are kicking and screaming and thinking that that's going to get us to what we really want, it's just going to be more of that once we want to go get there.

And so being able to be present with, you know, going back to molehill, like one step at a time. My, I remember my mom taught me when I was younger. I was old enough to start, you know, running with her. And we'd be running and she'd say, okay, whenever we start to go up a hill, here's a tip. Look down, look at your feet. Don't look up and out. Just look at your feet. Look at the next step in front of you. It's like, oh, you know, it's 

actually helps. So, uh, I, I, 

I think that the most challenging part about working out for anyone is thinking about working out. It's not actually doing it right when we get to the gym. It's like, oh, you know, I'm kind of into it, it kind of feels good. You start going, or you start running, or you start whatever it is you're doing, you're like in it.

and then afterwards you [00:19:00] feel incredible.I remind myself that just in workday, when I, have a plan of what I wanted to do that day, and then I see tons of emails come in, tons of texts, and then I all of a sudden, like, have all these, like, new assignments added on, and used to just totally 

oh, my blood pressure, everything. I would just, I'd feel so, um, overwhelmed and it was not an enjoyable experience. You talk about enjoying the journey. I was not. And I realized it was because while I was doing one task, all I was doing is thinking about how I wasn't doing the other ones. And I lived, I wentthe entire day that way. I'm doing this, but I should be doing this. I'm doing this, but why am I not doing this? Should I do that instead? Oh, my gosh. And then I was so stressed and overwhelmed at the end of the day, even when I was done with all the things. And so now I really trained myself to, okay, 

I'm very particular about context, so, okay, I'm going to start my [00:20:00] day with texts. Actually, before even my texts, I'll do my suggestion list.

I don't call it a do list, but I call it a suggestion list. So I have a little list of things that like, okay, these are the things that I wanted to do. 

So I'll usually 

do those 

usually quick things.

And then I'll look at text and then I'll close my whole thing of text out and I'll go to emails. And that helps me personally to focus on one thing at a time.

And I also challenged myself. Not to just go through all my emails. I look at one email, deal with it, next one, deal with it, next one. So that personally helps me of staying in the moment. I do the same thing with washing the dishes. 

Mike: I have, someone who's really close to me in my life. a couple people actually that fit this profile. But, one person in particular who's a 27, 28 year veteran, executive officer at a big international corporation. and, his modality is such [00:21:00] that he, he manages like several hundred people, you know, in his capacity.

Sam: And after 28 years, he lives on task at all times. and when I see him, and actually this is kind of who you were a few years back too, Mike. now I'm projecting, uh, some observations on the other person I'm talking about. So it's a little unfair because this isn't self diagnosed by him.

But myself and our other family members feel like, one day. You're going to need to retire because your body is not going to stand up to this this modality this level of stress forever Now he's very graceful in it from the outside in at least, you know by appearance and he's he's definitely adapted to handling this rhythm, this vibration, this level of, responsibility and capacity, but it's, it's unsustainable.

And you can see it in him that like he neglects a lot of things about [00:22:00] himself the way that he spends his time when he's not working, which is very little, and I saw this in Mike and maybe Mike has shared some of this with you because I know you guys are friends or maybe he will in the future.

I don't know, but like, you know, Mike also used to basically be a VP at a very large, you know, or it's very small, but very. large volume, uh, company. And, but I remember when Mike stepped out of that role and I'm hoping one day to observe this other loved one that I'm talking about stepping away from that role.

I think that sometimes a mountain can be, you know, we're using the metaphor of a mountain, Deconstructing or unlearning a mode that you find yourself stuck on top of a mountain. 

You know what I mean? I mean, Mike, 

Mike: Just go in the other way. Throw it in 

Sam: Mike, yeah, exactly. Mike had a real, Is it fair to say that you had kind of a crisis in that, you know what I mean?

Like when you first stepped out of that role, my observation anyways, was that, and if it's not true with you, it's definitely true with this [00:23:00] other person I'm talking about, but like, you know, that there's going to be a lot of work there. To, to learn how to just, just slow down out of that, modality, you know what I 

mean?

And, uh, I, I, I think of it in my head, the image that comes into my head is thinking about, you know, um, Picasso being like a classically trained photorealistic drawer or painter or whatever. And then like, you know, it became really important to him in his latter years to, to unlearn all that technical knowledge, 

And to, and to, and to paint like a child, but that was an arduous process, I believe for him, and so I'm wondering if you can speak to us a little bit about that. Uh, Cara, about, 

about, uh, less about helping people build skills, but 

but how much do you see people needing to deconstruct

in order to 

Cara: Oh, absolutely. And what came to mind as you 

were sharing that, Sam, is rhythm. You know, we can get stuck in a certain pattern or [00:24:00] rhythm in life. And then it's, it's finding a new rhythm that might serve us And I personally, uh, had experience of that. I was working full time and didn't have awesome boundaries.

and for my own fault, it was all on myself. I believe that perhaps it was because work was my number one. Like that was my top priority? And then we can break that down. Why is that your top priority? What is, what are you trying to prove?

What are you trying to achieve? 

Now I work on my own for myself on my own business. So I have a lot more flexibility and it absolutely took time. Because I was still in that rhythm. I was still in that like, go, go, go, do, do, do, achieve, achieve, even though I had the space. And so, I found that a, having hobbies, having other things outside of [00:25:00] work that are a priority that even if they don't feel necessary at the time, I'll tell you meditation changed my entire life, the trajectory of my life.

And here's something interesting. I went through transcendental meditation, training and, this was when I was wired, like, so stressed. my cortisol was through the roof. I'd had it tested and naturopath was like, I don't think I've seen this before. It was like, hi, all day long, even when I woke up. And so I realized that a change needed to happen, and I talked with, the meditation coach, And I said, here's the thing, because with, with TM, you're supposed to do 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the evening. and I said, well,Like that's not, that's got an option for me. Um, and he said, Cara, if you create 20 minutes to meditate, It will add 20 minutes to your day. It has made such a difference in my life because I created new space.

I [00:26:00] created a different rhythm. I start my day now with that pace versus the pace of waking up and all of a sudden, like responding to things. You know, I'm setting the precedence for my day now that I'm setting the intention versus, you know, being reactive, being intentional. So that I believe is, is massive.

We talk about one step in a molehill. It's what are we doing the first moment we wake up? are we in reaction mode or are we intentional? setting the precedence for everything we do. Same thing with the first bite that we put in our mouth. If it is stimulating coffee, if it is a, um, processed food, if it's, if it's like high sugar, if it's processed, that is setting the precedence for the entire rest of our day.

this feels like a, uh, a decent segue 

Mike: 

because that was, a really good personal insight to go from, the occupational context into the personal. And I shared with Sam before [00:27:00] you joined us this morning, Cara, that. I think it was, it was almost exactly a year ago. We're at a dinner party and you revealed that you'd always wanted to learn how to play drums.

I've no idea, you know, how long you'd been considering this as a, you know, potential hobby or, a new challenge or whatever, but it became one.

And so,I just feel like there's something in this maximum that you can then kind of take more into how you go about a new challenge. 

how did you like what either mental physical or emotional or all of the above 

process? Did you 

go through to 

Cara: I love 

that you brought that up. So I, I have, when I was younger, uh, in elementary school, we, we had the option of playing the violin. And then after the violin for two years, then you had the option of another instrument. And so I was trying to figure out what instrument I wanted. And I just remember seeing the flutes and that always looks cool.

And then, um, I kind of thought about the drums. [00:28:00] Then I'm in, I'm with my dad at the, the, large arena where all the instruments are, and you go and you pick your instrument And the flute line was so long. All these girls. And I was like, no, hell no. And then I was like, I don't know if nobody's at the trombone line.

So I picked up the trombone. I always, I was also was like, how does that work? I'm just curious person in general. So I just wanted to know how, how does that work? So I'm so glad that I played the trombone yet. I remember whenever we would do like concerts or, uh, you know, performances, I, I'd always be looking at the drums.

I always was like, God, that'd be so awesome to play those. So this was since elementary, this was a time ago. And I have always had an interest in, I, I mostly just, well, not mostly, but a big part of it is understanding how does that work? How can you do one thing and then another thing that's totally separate with your [00:29:00] other hand and then something with your feet?

How does that work? How in the world? And, I just always assumed like there's no way I could figure out how to do that. Like that just seems impossible. And, then every once in a while thinking about, Oh, I'd like to play drums. And I started saying that I think I'm going to play drums. And then, um, realizing, well, what's holding me back here. And I think now looking at hindsight, it was because a, I was like, well, what am I going to do with this skill? Like, I'm going to go join a band. Like, I mean, maybe, but I, I don't really, I didn't really see that in my, in my future. and, you know, be. I do not have the time for this.

Like I, I have, you know, several different things. I mean, we don't go into that. Everybody has thousand things that they're doing in their life. Right. But I just was like, there's no, I don't have time for this. Like little fun, little extra hobby. And how do I even start then? You know, I take a dose of my own And it's just like, well, what's the easy entry here?

What's the smallest [00:30:00] step you could possibly take? And so Mike and I were having this conversation, and he's like, well, you know, I, I could, I could, help you I could, I could coach you. I could, you know, get you started here. And I'm like, okay, I feel like the universe is telling me this is the time. like, it's right in front of me.

And, you know, yeah, part of me was like, okay, what am I going to do? Go get drum set. You know, all the things that would have hauled me back from starting. And so I was like, you know what, I'll go to Mike's house. I'll do one time. Like, I don't have to sign up for the rest of my life, but I can at least learn a few things and, you know, pique my interest.

And then we go back to, Sam, what you had talked about is enjoying the journey. And I was like, what is my goal here? I just want to have fun. I want to like, I want to,

on things. And I just, I eventually would love to play a Led Zeppelin song yet, so I do have a goal, in mind yet, I just want to have fun.

And I think when I changed my mindset around what I should do with it or what I'm supposed to do with [00:31:00] it, or the reason why I, I, I thought I should do the drums too. I just want to have fun this moment. I, just want to bang right now. That, All of a sudden it was like, you know, easy entry. So Mike and I, um, he's helped me a few times in person.

Yet I also realized that I can't commit to going to lessons every, week. I just can't right now in my life. I just don't have that extra space yet. I thought, well, what could I do. And Mike introduced me to Drumeo app. And so I was like, you know what I could do.

Three minutes a day is the smallest amount.

And I think most people would be like, oh, well I don't, I don't have an hour to practice a day, or I don't have 15 minutes a day. And that's how I I would've, you know, thought about it. I was like, well, can I do three? It's like, I could do three minutes a day. And is that even worth it? Are you gonna even learn anything?

Absolutely. I mean, I've been doing that for about. I don't know, four or five months, Mike. Now, six months, [00:32:00] maybe. And I know music theory. I know how to hold the sticks. I can play grooves. I can play fills. I understand terminology. And the number one most important thing is that I love that three minutes.

is euphoric. It is so fun. I was just going to say, are you having fun? If you're It is like it's brain stimulating. I think that was the other reason that also helped me to like, allow myself to add this in, it was like, this is good for my brain health, 

Mike: 

Cara: And so that's, my, uh, my secret three minutes a day. 

Mike: Three

Sam: it.

Mike: of drumming. Okay. 

Sam: brain cleansing, it's brain cleansing because you are able to, uh, similar to your 20 minutes at the beginning and 20 minutes at the end of the day, you are able to let your ego go on vacation for three minutes while you, hyper focus your mind and rhythm and music or whatever it is that you're doing.

And I think as a TM practicer and an [00:33:00] operator in mindfulness practice, you're tapping into your, higher guidance, your spirit self, you know, your spirit self spin around a lot longer than your little pea brain in your body, and I think it's possible that, you were a drummer, a long time ago and, 

who knows, you did choose trombone, which is a rhythm section instrument with punctuation, you know what

I mean?

that is akin to drums, in my opinion. Uh, but, uh, no, I'll joke in the side. I'm really interested in you turning to meditation and talking a little bit about, how that kind of, bought you more time. I wouldn't mind going back to that a little bit and just kind of talking about that reclamation of headspace.

could describe it in as much of a literal way as 

possible how that actually did 

Cara: So 

Sam: buy 

you time like what did you mean by

that? 

Cara: I believe that. 

When I started [00:34:00] meditating, it slowed me down enough to be able to start making connect, I mean, there's so much science behind meditation, right? So we can talk about all the brain benefits and, you know, all the things that it's doing. Yet, if I kind of break this down in my mind, what I see happened is it slowed me down 

to A, give myself permission to be in a different pace because I had felt like my, one gear was up here.

And all of a sudden I started like understanding this one down here and that that's okay. And you know what? The sun still came up even though I was sitting there for 20 minutes and every, everything, everybody's still okay. Even though I wasn't checking my phone in that 20 minutes. And So it's just started to give me a different perspective of life and starting to [00:35:00] realize, okay, now if I can sit down for 20 minutes, then maybe this other thing that I was doing or the way that I was viewing that maybe I can do that differently too.

Maybe you know, it just started opening things up for me. And I think also, giving myself permission to. not be constantly going. I remember feeling at one point in my life where if I was not producing, then I would actually get anxiety. Like if I would be moving, moving, moving, and then I paused for a second and be like, wait, what am I supposed to do next?

I would like freak out about the fact that I just paused for two seconds. And then that would like set me off again because I felt like I wasn't producing during that time. And, my, roommate, buddy, boyfriend, whatever you want to call him. Uh, he is shared with [00:36:00] me that typically not doing anything is the most productive thing you can do.

And because it's reflection time. And instead of just being in it being in our day, we can look at our day and start to be more efficient with things. And I started to realize that. And again, with meditation, yes, there's like the act of meditating and coming out of it and like, you know, experiencing your day differently.

Yet. I also believe it's the cumulative effect. And starting to just look at things differently and realizing like, why am I doing that? I think we just get such in a habit and we kind of go mindless on these things that we're doing and realizing that is not necessary. That is inefficient. There's a more efficient way to do this and the slowing down gives us that different perspective.

I started thinking recently about, you know, what if once a day I looked at [00:37:00] me, looked at my life. I just had a visual of seeing myself from a bird's eye view once a day. And just like, what, what's going on down there? What are you doing? You know, and, and just see a different perspective. So that's what I believe Sam, meditation helped me to do is to slow down, look at things differently, have permission to be in a different pace and, Being more efficient, being more effective with what I was doing, because instead of just like the goal being to do and to go, the goal was, is.

To enjoy what we're doing and to be efficient with it. And so I started realizing that just the go, go, go, do, do, do, my goal was no longer productivity. Or, that it's not just to succeed and to achieve. That was what was driving me. And now I had. [00:38:00] A new goal and happiness and health.

Sam: would, you say that by efficiency, I just wanted to extrapolate right where you're at. So I apologize for jumping in, but I've heard you use the word efficiency a few times. And to me, what I think I hear you saying, and please correct me if I'm wrong, 

but I think by saying efficiency, what you're saying is 

that you're increasing your

experience.

You're increasing your level 

of 

presence. Uh, an experience during the 

same amount 

of 

time. Is that what you mean by efficiency? 

Cara: I 

would, I would 

say yes. That, and in that I am more present, like I was saying earlier in the chat, that moment where, that time in my life where I was thinking 

about something while I was doing something else, instead of being present with this thing right now. Yes. I mean that changes everything about our, our mood, our life experience, our day, our moment.

I mean, our whole day is just made up of. Tons of moments. And so if we can be present with this one, yes, we're going to be [00:39:00] more efficient with what we're doing because a, it's going to be more enjoyable. So we're going to bring better vibe and better positivity and energy to what we're doing. And we're going to be more efficient with it because I realized also that I was so distracted.

I was just going from this to this and this and spending a lot of time, but not. Really being as efficient as if I had been super focused and present with this moment right now. and then you know, you end up getting more 

Mike: Yeah. 

Cara: and then you do get productive.

Mike: Yeah, totally. I heard that as, taking that, investing that 20 minutes and being able to sit with things and then also get outside yourself and see things from, you know, you said from, if I could look down from a bird's eye view and see what I was actually doing from, outside of my own head.

That you were identifying the inefficiencies in your day or the way that you were spending 

time that 

wasn't desired or ideal or whatever. And that alone buys you 

back that 20 minutes, 

probably 

plus [00:40:00] some, right?

Cara: Absolutely. And you know, it's habits. 

We're all doing habits. And it's just a matter if they're habits that are serving us or not. And habits are simply 

for the most part, mindlessly doing something, making it effortless. So the, the key that, that I find for people that are wanting to make a change or an improvement in their life, including myself, is how do I make it effortless?

How do I make it mindless so that I'm doing that without thinking about it? Like the gym, you know, like for me. I've created a habit around my workouts. I don't, I don't think about it. Like I wake up, I do my, I go over here, I do my meditation. I go and then right after the meditation, the next thing, take my phone out.

I put my app on for my workout and boom. It's just like, I don't, I don't sit there and think like, okay, should I go to the gym? What should I wear? Am I going to do the yoga pants or am I going to do the bike shorts or the da, da, da, you know? So findinga [00:41:00] way to create, 

Mike: Mm hmm. 

Cara: in the habits that we do 

want for 

Mike: Yeah. So I have a question for you. Once you get in that groove, like you've accomplished, getting onto autopilot for the healthy things and getting out of autopilot for the unhealthy things. Do you ever challenge yourself to revisit some of those things to see if they're still serving you or if there's a new way to be serving you even better 

now that you've done it 

for a little while on 

reconsideration?

Is that part of the process too for you or no? 

Cara: Absolutely. generally on Sundays I don't schedule anything. And that's just like a meditation day in a sense because I, I don't, I still do my regular meditations every day, but on Sundays it's just like I do my best to not have anything scheduled. And I find that when I do that, and the, some of the things that I normally would. [00:42:00] I kind of use that as a way of what if I didn't do this today, what would happen and then if we want to know why we're doing something, just don't do it. And you'll know pretty quickly why you're doing it. And either you want to keep doing 

Mike: hmm. 

Cara: realize, Oh, that didn't work out so great. Or you realize, Oh, maybe I didn't need to be 

Mike: Yeah, like rip, yeah, rip the whole thing off. And then if you miss a few aspects of it, you can build them back in. 

Cara: Yes. I do actually challenge myself to do things in a different way, as much as I can. You know, if you're driving to work or driving somewhere, go a different way. If you're always brushing your teeth with your right hand, like every once in a while, like, you know what, I'm just going to try the left a little 

bit.

So I, I do, you know, on those things that we just are mindless with. I believe there's so much benefit because A, we become present with it again. I mean, I think about how many times I'm brushing my teeth or walking up and down stairs and I'm just like, my mind is everywhere but on the [00:43:00] stairs or where my toothbrush is. And so changing it up, you become more present again and studying new neural pathways. I mean, it's so healthy for our brain to do that. Back to your point is it helps us to see, well, is this, is this working? Like, is it necessary for me to do it this way or could I do it this way instead? 

Sam: I really resonate with and enjoy like how you keep returning to your higher self in this interrogatory mode. You're always asking yourself questions and I like that. I think that what I hear you saying, Cara, and this might mean that you're probably the world's best coach.

Uh, it's, it's possible. And I think that I might need to do business with you, but, sounds to me like what you're teaching people 

ultimately is to change their personal modalities to the extent 

that they may 

never encounter a 

mountain again.

Cara: Sam, deep. I [00:44:00] believe that. I believe everything is is working. this moment right now. that's all that we 

ever have is one moment and that's this 

Sam: I love that. And all of my bodhisattvas, all of my teachers suggest the same thing in that we are livingin a mode of choice in a mode of self prescribed experience. With every passing minute and the minutes don't pass because you're always in one.

It's always about right now. and the past is a mirage and the future is a mirage. the only thing that truly exists is right now. And I love where this conversation went. I love all that you shared generously. I love the promise and I feel like the residual message from this conversation and that we don't need, 

to face mountains.

They're not even real, I love that. And thank you so much for bringing that value to this conversation. I really 

Cara: enjoyed meeting you, and I really enjoyed this time. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Sam. this was really fun 

to just 

talk all this [00:45:00] out. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Mike: Cool. 

Wonderful. 

Sam: Wonderful. 

Hey, it's Sam and Mike, and we appreciate you coming on this journey with us today. We hope that if you enjoyed it, you'll tell a friend or better yet, share a link to this podcast and let your community know directly how it impacted you. That would really help us reach more listeners just like yourself.

Also, if you're interested in connecting with our guest today, Kara Price, she can be found at karaprice. com on the World Wide Web. That's C A R A price.com. Thanks again for listening today and we hope you'll return to Max EQ. For more exploring the common sensical through individual interpretation with us and with our future guests, feel free to email us at info@maximeqpodcast.com and share some favorite maxims, adages cliches that maybe we should consider for future [00:46:00] episodes or perhaps just leave a kind message, maybe some feedback till next time.

Make it a great day.