Clear Your Mind and Get Connected to Your Life!

Good morning, good morning, happy Monday. Um, I am obviously not in my yellow chair and I am obviously um, somewhere else. And rather than not have a Monday morning live, I thought I would record for you, um, a teaching, a lesson, and also record for you a little insider view into where I am and what I'm looking at. So let me real quick give you a tour of this very, very messy little house on a hill in Costa Rica. This is the bed. This is the couch, a chair, and that's basically the entirety of this little glass house. There's a little kitchen, a bathroom. The best part is right outside. I just stepped outside, so that's outside of the house, a little grill. But when I turn all the way around So y'all, it's just a little adventure that I am on with Michelle. It is her birthday, and a friend of hers that she works with, her father owns a place in Costa Rica, and this is one of his Airbnbs that was free for the weekend. And so Michelle tagged along with her coworker, and she asked me if I wanted to tag along with them. Well, sure, okay. I'm using miles to get on the plane, the Airbnb. We're here as their guests, and why not? Rather than just be here and not have a Monday Live, I figured I would use this as an opportunity to share something with you that, that I think will be helpful to you. And I'm also reminded of, because I'm in this little house, you know, talking with my little mic to make sure you can hear me above the sound of the water. Let me close the door 4. Let me cop a squat here. Hold on one second, let me— cuz I'm trying to make sure I have enough time to finish recording this for you and uploading it too. This is video production on the road. Yes, I did. I traveled with a tripod. Teaching 123. Okay, now I think I'm set up. Let me just jump into what I wanted to say today. Rest is not something that is my natural first forte. Some people are really good at it. I think there is a blurry line often. Between rest and overworking. And so because overworking is a thing, the pendulum swings back to another extreme, and that is, you know, buried underneath the rubble in the best way of self-care and, um, you know, not wanting to be burdened by work. I think work is God-given. I think God worked 6 days Did he rest? But he did, but 6 days he worked. But I do think that for me, a person who is wired as an Achiever, and it doesn't matter whether I take the StrengthsFinders, I'm an Achiever. If I take the Enneagram, I'm an Achiever. If I take DiSC or Myers-Briggs, I'm a high D, you know, I mean, all the things driver is my design. And so without apologizing for who I am or how I'm wired, I think that there is room for me to consider, um, or reconsider or relearn how rest enters the equation and how much we don't see in the equation of our life when we don't take time to rest. Now, I have said it before, if you've been around any length of time, that When I take a shower, my best ideas come in the shower. I have an Aqua Notes pad in my shower with a waterproof paper and waterproof pen so that if and when I do get great ideas, I can write them down so I don't forget. I have a notebook next to my bed because some of the, the best ideas that I have come to me in the middle of the night while I'm resting. I know that the best way for me to write a book is to make sure I have time planned in where there is stillness, um, nothing required of me, that I'm in an environment that I enjoy. So I do understand the power of rest. Uh, I understand the power of stillness and the power of allowing your mind to have room to create and how that's connected to achieving So I, in talking about rest, I am, I'm not learning, but I am reminding myself about how important creating space for that is. Even if the purpose of creating space for that is to make sure that you have the power that you need, the energy that you need, the fuel that you need to create, to achieve, to dream. We go by the filling station when we are driving our cars, or we stop at a charging station if you've got an electric car, because you understand that in order to drive, you have to refill, you have to refuel, you have to pause for a second. And pushing past the moment of pause can cause you to be stranded on the side of the road somewhere. When we don't plan time to pause, this is what happens. Things take longer that otherwise would not have. Now, I didn't plan this trip. This is something that again Michelle planned and she invited me to come with. I'm very, very grateful. It's a trip I might make again. The Airbnb is reasonably priced. It's an hour and a half from the airport. I'm not too far away from, you know, a small town or McDonald's if I need to get to a McDonald's, not too far. The, the, the hosts that are here are American, beautiful people, beautiful home, beautiful hospitality.. But you could just be out here. It's the size of a hotel room for days decompressing. It's a 3.5-hour plane ride. Not too bad. I might come back, but I'm here as a guest. But I am not— it's not lost on me what the opportunity is for. One of the biggest reasons I came and made this trip is because Michelle asked me to. She asked me to do a lot of stuff, but in this one, at some point I realized, oh, she really wants me to come. Like, she's not just asking me to join her casually. She's asking, it's her birthday. Yesterday when we traveled here, it was her birthday. And you know, her sister passed away last year. And I just think it meant something. Now I've got a lot going on at home. I've got a 16-year-old that still needs to be watched. We've had some things going on with our kids in college. You know, there's work, there's y'all, But, um, I was able to find a family that we love and we trust. And, um, my son goes to school with them, so he's spending the weekend with them. Uh, my, my husband actually went to go visit my sons in college. Um, I'm missing church today. Um, but you know, they got it. They're holding it down. I'm a first service, be there, die hard, pray for the pastor, sit on the front row, kind of big sister. Um, I don't, I don't play about going to church, but one Sunday probably won't hurt me. Apparently a visit to a coffee farm is in effect. Uh, apparently a zip line is planned, uh, a tour of something. I don't know. I'm just here along for the ride. Uh, but I plan to sit on the porch a little bit, do some writing, do some reading. I did come with like 3 books because I couldn't decide, but the reality is I came for her. I came because she asked me to. I came because this was an opportunity for us to have an experience together. Now I gotta tell you, I already told her, listen, if you're trying to do too much, at least one day I don't want to do nothing. I just want to sit here, listen to the sound of this river or this raging creek. I want to enjoy this perfect 70, 75-degree weather. I want to realize that I'm sleepy and get back in the bed. Um, I want to have a do-nothing kind of day. But I am clear that one of my major reasons for being here, the reason that I'm here is because she invited me and because I want to spend time with her. It required intentionality. It required me to figure out what to do with my son, to get a plan together that I felt comfortable with for my, my college-aged sons. It required me to travel with the tripod if I wanted to still deliver something to y'all. It required intentionality and planning. I bought my ticket 2 weeks ago, even though I wasn't sure I was coming. Um, I paid for one of them. I paid for the part of the flight that was cheapest, and then for the part of the flight that wasn't as cheap, I used miles. I did that 14 days in advance, knowing that I could cancel the flight and get trip credit if I didn't feel comfortable coming, but I, but I, you know, planned it out. I made arrangements for me to be here. I looked at what it would cost and I counted the cost. I looked at the time it would take and I alerted the team. I made sure that when my my husband and my son get back home Sunday evening, that there's food in the fridge. It requires intentionality and planning. That means you gotta, you gotta look out for those opportunities, pay attention when they arrive. And even if you're like, okay, it's going to require some, some, some moving around and some checking and driving on my part. Is this one of those memories? And the answer is yes. Michelle turned 55 yesterday. And this is a year when it meant something for her to come. So was this a time and an opportunity for me to build into my sister circle? Absolutely. Was this an opportunity for me to create a memory? Yes. Is she going to do a bunch of stuff that if I was out here by myself, I wouldn't do? 100%. Is this how we build life and how we stretch ourselves and do things that we wouldn't even choose? 100%. Sister Circle looks like going deep with the people who are deep. It looks like stretching yourself to extend your Sister Circle, to extend your life when given the opportunity. So my question for you is, what are you doing or what have you done recently to pour into, to invest in your Sister Circle, whether it's your one friend, friend, your 3 friends, or your 7 friends? How are you creating and developing and strengthening the bonds that you only get when you invest in the connections that you have or in the connections that you want to see grow further. Listen, there is one thing you can always do to help you with mental clutter. You ready to hear it? Here it go. Do nothing. Give your brain a break. Take a vacay. Now you can do this at home on a Saturday or a Sunday, but you can also do this getting away from home. And I would love to invite you to come away with me. In 2026, I am taking a cruise. This will be the first Sister Circle cruise, and I'd love for you to join. We're going to hit the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the PR, the DR, and a few Caribbean islands. And I'd love for you to come along. Why? Because a vacay ain't ever hurt nobody, okay? And I need us to not cook. I need us to not clean. I need us to have a good time and laughing amongst women who love God. The Sister Circle, y'all. This is a Sister Circle cruise. And knowing that there are some other women on the boat who think like you think, who understand life the way you want to understand it, but also want to have a good time. This is going to be amazing, and I'm inviting you to join me. So go to thesisterscircle.com/cruise for more information, and be sure and sign up so you can get the room that you want. You can come alone, come with your husband, bring your sister, your mama and them, your cousin and them, but sign up so that you can hold your space today. Y'all, mental clutter, let's deal with it at home, and we not apologizing for dealing with it by getting away. I like to laugh, but I'm not the person who— I mean, even though I hear over and over again, y'all are like, Chrystal, you're so funny. And you know, even my driver's license plate says Foolery. Okay, um, but I am not the fun one in my family. I'm not the one that brings levity and laughter. I'm very serious. I'm very constructive and critiquing in my feedback. So in order for me to kind of live and laugh and love, I've got a connect with people who like to have fun. Because unless I feel like I'm leading the fun, and that honestly stretches me beyond my nature, then I'm just gonna sit around and be boring and read a book and be still and be quiet. I'm really an introvert. Michelle is fun, y'all. Michelle is fun, and we laugh together. We laugh so hard, we laugh until either I pee on myself or she starts crying. Um, and because she likes to have fun, when I'm with her, I have experiences and create new relationships with other people who have fun. We watch movies that are fun. We try foods that I wouldn't try, and then when it's nasty, we laugh about it. There's fun. Sometimes being fun means you have to manufacture the fun. It means you watch the movie, you read the book, you watch the TV show, you hang out with friends, you meet new people, you go to a comedy show. Like, Laughter when you're a child, and there are statistics on this, how much you smile and laugh as a child and how that decreases as you become an adult because life is serious. Life can be hard. And so I want to just challenge you to intentionally look for laughter, intentionally look for places you can smile, intentionally look for fun because you were wired for it. Laughter, it, it, it is medicine to your bones. It literally is. Joy is medicine. Just like if you contract your muscles, it releases good endorphins into your system. It's medicine. Your body produces its own medicine. Just like exercise causes endorphins to rise in your system. Yes, it's medicine. God has given us so much of what we need for our own, for our own health, and laughter is one of those things.. And so when you're intentional about laughter, about joy, when you're intentional about looking for things that make you smile and being with people who make you laugh, this is how you stay awake to your life. You stay awake to your life by being with your people, and you stay awake, uh, to your life by laughing and looking for joy. I feel like I want to take just a moment real quick. This is how I look up scripture verses, y'all. Just bear with me. I think there's a verse in the Bible, um, that talks about this. Okay, let's see. Hey, Proverbs 17:22 says, laughter is like taking good medicine. Every day, find something that make you laugh— makes you laugh. Proverbs 31:25 says, she is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Ecclesiastes 3:4 says, there's a time to cry and a time to laugh. By the way, just cheat code. Whenever you're like, what does the Bible say about it, just type in the word and what does the Bible say verse, or laughter verse. Not that hard to learn what the Bible says about what you're thinking about. Okay, so last night we got here. Michelle is an early to bed person, uh, and, and I, I'm not early to bed. I'm an early riser. Like, I was up at 5 o'clock this morning. I decided to turn over and go back to sleep, but normally I'm in the bed about 10. You know, about 10 o'clock, um, and, you know, 10, 11. Um, but I— she went to bed last night like 8, and the, the family that we're with, they invited us to stay and talk a while. So I said, well, I'll go with her to put my stuff in the room and then I'll come back. Now, y'all, I really wanted to get into bed. I was tired too, and I really wanted to honestly get, get my little flashlight and read my book. Um, but I thought, these are people that moved their life from the US to Costa Rica that have built a farm and an Airbnb and, um, are inviting me to stay and talk a while. Stretch yourself, girl. Stretch yourself. At one point during the evening, I started closing my eyes because I was getting sleepy and I was like, okay, I gotta go. But to learn about people that I would never have met, to hear their stories, to hear why they moved here you know, how it works, um, how is this different from living in the state, what they've learned. I mean, they've moved their lives here to spend the rest of their lives here, to change the pattern of their lives. That says so much, and I can learn so much by exposing myself to people who are not like me. Every now and then, you just should talk to the person in the grocery store line, you know. Staying awake to your life means understanding what's happening in the life around you. It means knowing what's happening in the life of people around you. It is understanding the stories that are unfolding before you. It's understanding what got here before you got here. Some of the things, some of the times I feel like the best advice I can give somebody, you go to a new church, you start a new job, you find yourself in a new neighborhood, you're, you're in a new school, taking new classes, married and in a new family. Be quiet and listen. Like, ask questions. Sometimes people have such a bumpy ride because they make the new place all about, it just got started because I got here. No, people were living before you got here. People were going to church here before you got here. People were on this job before you got here. And the best way to earn goodwill and the best way to be successful is to shut up and listen. Ask questions. Learn about the people who who you are now sharing space with or sharing work with or sharing worship with or sharing a neighborhood with. Be inquisitive. And that means being a listener. It means showing up and not making it all about you. It means engaging with things that are uncomfortable in conversations that may not be about topics you know a lot about. It means getting with people who don't believe what you believe and who make completely different life decisions than the decisions you would make. It means I mean, how else y'all in this world are we supposed to share the gospel if we're not around people who need the gospel? But some of us have gotten so good at crafting our lives with people who look like us, who believe like us, and who run like we run. Jesus walked a lot and he walked a lot in places where people needed him. So I wanna challenge you to get outside of your comfort zone. This gives me an opportunity to practice my Spanish. I took 4 years in high school, 3 years in college. That's one of the reasons why, y'all, our cruise— I had to choose between one Hispanic stop, Latino stop, and 3 Caribbean spots, and 2 Latino spots and 2 Caribbean spots. And I chose the 2 Latino because I was like, I need to practice my Spanish. And every time I get to come to a place where Spanish is the main language spoken, I'm like, thank you, give me a chance. Necesito practicar mi español. Okay, see, somebody who speaks Spanish is gonna be like, Chrystal, you butchered that, but I'm practicing. Okay, all right. Like, literally, if you've never taken a missions trip, take a missions trip. If your church doesn't have a missions trip, find a church who does. You know how many organizations would love for people to volunteer their time? One of the best ways for you to see what God is doing in the world is for you to travel. And there are ways to travel and see the world without it being the vacation of a lifetime. Like go and volunteer, find a church that needs help or an organization. I just want you to think, am I stretching my horizons? Am I meeting and engaging with people in this world who are not like me, who don't have what I have, think the way that I think and do what I do? When you have those conversations with people, even if you have to stretch in a new language to do it, it's going to stretch your mind. It's going to stretch your soul. It's going to stretch you intellectually. So the conversation I had last night was stretching in a lot of ways. I'm glad I stayed. Watch the news. And just a tip, don't just watch your local news, uh, you know, whether you are a CNN connoisseur or a Fox News connoisseur or an MSNBC, like check out BBC, like check out, you know, international news. So you know what's happening in the world. Feast on enough of each so that you have a clear view of what's happening in your community, in your country, and in the world. When you look at the news, it's not far from you. The world is small, the earth is round, and we are a human race and we need to help each other. So this is me trying to live out staying awake in my life. This is me. Yes. Coming to a beautiful tropical place. This is me. Yes. Doing it in a way that's affordable. This is me. Yes. Coming on a dime with a friend who invited me, but it's still an opportunity. And I want you to look for the opportunities in your life to stay awake. I wanna— I want you to ask yourself, where am I wide awake and where am I actually— where should I work on being more wide awake in my life? Where am I asleep at the wheel and where am I bright and bushy-tailed paying attention? And then I want you to ask yourself what you can do about that, to live more widely awake. Or to wake up if you are about to crash. Life is short. Life can be beautiful, but in order for it to be beautiful, because it's short, you have to live intentionally. So stay awake. Okay. All right, y'all have a great Monday and I'm going to go and enjoy breakfast with my new friends and my lifelong friend. That's how I'm choosing to stay awake today. Oh, and ziplining. We're gonna get my fat tail in a harness. Hey, hey guys. Oh, that's great. One of the best ways to pause your life, catch your breath, and connect with your spirit, even when you can't take a vacay, it's to clear your mind of mental clutter. Do you want to know if you're dealing with mental clutter? Go to chrystalevanshurst.com/mentalclutter. Download my free PDF. There's a quiz, and it'll tell you if you're struggling with it, if you're dealing with it, and what you can do about it. Listen, I want you to have a clear mind, a calm spirit, and the confidence you need to live a life you love. I want you to live intentionally every day, doing things that truly matter. Now, if you need encouragement, why don't you go ahead and subscribe to my channel if you're watching on YouTube, or make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you're listening, and then go ahead and binge a bit. There's tons of content here with coaching from me to help you get your whole life together. See you next week.