WALK DOWN A DIFFERENT STREET
On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show, I talk about a little poem that packs a big spiritual punch, “Autobiography in FiveShort Chapters” by Portia Nelson.
We discuss how the poem uses a simple but powerful analogy of “a sidewalk with a hole” and how it’s a brilliant mirror for our own repetitive patterns, habits, and choices that often keep us stuck.
I connect this to how A Course in Miracles talks about choosing between love and fear and how we often take “detours into fear"...
And why real spiritual progress isn’t about never visiting fear again, but about how quickly we recognize when we’ve left Love and then make a conscious choice to return to it.
I also reflect on why change can be so hard - we’re talking those old family patterns, the subconscious payoffs and how we normalize our suffering. 🫣
This episode ultimately is an invitation to walk down a different street together in 2026 - one with more clarity, curiosity, compassion, and courage to create new ways of being! ❤️
SNEAK PEEKS INSIDE THIS EPISODE:
1) “Sometimes it takes us a while to recognize that there’s even a fucking hole.” - KK
2. “We’ve normalized feeling bad. We’ve normalized and familiarized our suffering, so we just kind of go like, ‘Oh, this is just how it is.’” - KK
3. “You might have to be the pattern breaker. You might have to be the spell breaker in your family.” - KK
4. “Some of us don’t know that there’s a different street. We only know that one street. We don’t even know that another street is available to us.” - KK
5. “If you can hear the sound of my voice, you now know about the hole. No more excuses.” - KK
6. “There’s power available to us in personal choice. There’s grace in this wisdom, and there is deep transformation in this self-development and spiritual work.” - KK
7. “Trials are but lessons we failed to learn, presented once again… and there’s a voice in you that says, ‘My brother, my sister, choose again.’” - KK
8. “You can choose to walk down a whole different street in 2026, and I would love to walk along beside you as you do it.” - KK
KAREN KENNEY BIO:
Spiritual mentor and writer Karen Kenney uses humor and dynamic storytelling to bring a down-to-earth, no-BS perspective to self-development.
Bringing together tools that coach the conscious and unconscious mind, Karen helps clients deepen their connections with Self, and discover their unique understandings of spirituality.
Her practice combines neuroscience, subconscious reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis, somatics, spiritual mentoring, and other holistic modalities to help regulate the nervous system, examine internal narratives, remove blocks, and reimagine what’s possible.
A passionate yoga teacher, long-time student of A Course in Miracles, and Gateless Writing instructor, Karen is a frequent speaker and retreat leader. Via her programs The Quest and The Nest, she coaches individuals and groups.
With The Karen Kenney Podcast, she encourages listeners to shift from a thought system of fear to one of love, compassion, and personal responsibility.
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