March 4th, 2026:
(I actually did this exact simulation yesterday and it REALLY worked!)

Karen pops in to SELF~LOVE~LAND for a chat with her Self Appreciation Mentor (SELF for short).
They meet in SELF’s Giggle Garden where flowers and shrubs, in every colour of the rainbow silently giggle, all day long, at the ever-blossoming beauty of life.

Karen: Thanks so much for seeing me. I’d love to get your advice on something.

SELF: Anytime, my dear. Literally. Remember: you’re always with me anyway!

Karen: Oh yeah, right!

More silent, flowery giggles.

Karen: Well, today, I did something. Not anything really bad. You know I’m generally pretty easy on myself, and today was no exception, but I still find myself ruminating a bit, so I know I could be doing better.

SELF: I assume you’re speaking about forgetting to BCC the students, this morning, after you worked so hard to get the Day 1 email out on time?

Given SELF’s all knowingness, her phrasing is purely conversational as she already knows the answer.

Karen: Oh, that’s right. I forgot – you already know.

SELF: Like I said: You’re always with me. A fact that, as you well know, tickles me pink ~~ and orange, and magenta, and puce, and~ well, you get my drift. Please continue

Karen: I know this little email blunder is not the end of the world. So they got it a half day late. No one’s gonna hate me for it. It’s just that, it’s really important to me to get the daily link out before they wake up so they have more flexibility on when to fit the Beauty time into their day. I’m frustrated that all the effort I put in to get it out on time was for nothing, and I’m trying to let it go, but every few minutes, it pops back into my head. Even though the upset is relatively minimal on a scale from “stubbed my toe” to “lost my toe in a bizzare folk dancing accident, I’m just having a bit of trouble moving on. Ever since my mom mentioned, at 5 pm, that she’d been waiting, excitedly for the link and I realized what had happened, I’ve been going back and forth between, “it’s no big deal’ and “how ridiculous that I took such measures to get it done and, through every fault of my own, it still didn’t get to their inboxes!” Of course, the first thing Mom said was, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Cut yourself some slack. It’s fine.” I truly believe she’s right, so why can’t I just drop it? I mean, it only happend a half-hour ago, but I figured the sooner I chat with you, the sooner I might nip it in the bud, so here I am.

SELF: It’s ok, my dear. You don’t need to explain. I’m always with you, so I already knew you are here because you’re upset with me.

Karen: No, no. You’ve misunderstood. I’m mad at myself, not at you.

Upon heaing this, the silence of the flowers’ giggles become almost deafening. SELF can’t help but giggle, too.

SELF: My darling, you know I’m not laughing at you, but you just said you were mad at your SELF, and, last time I checked, that would be yours truly! You’re upset with me, there’s no two ways around it, but I can take it. You know I still love you. How can I help?

Just then, Karen realizes she’s gotten what she came for.

Karen: When you put it like that, Suddenly, I feel able to let it go. I don’t feel upset towards YOU, and however upset I was for doing what I did, I now feel even more up set that I’m laying this misdirected, negative energy on you. It’s like, when it’s you, it feels so obviously wrong, so why don’t I get those feelings when I’m doing it to me? I guess you’re helping me understand that I can never do something just to me and not to you.

SELF: Bravo, my glorious ball of beauty full Karen~ness! Now you’re getting it! look how you just redirected your programming. You’re doing great things here!

Karen: Thank you so much!

SELF: You’re welcome so much! Since you’re on a roll, may I make a suggestion?

Karen: Please!

SELF: When you begin to make changes like this, that help you let go of things you don’t want in the first place, you free up your mind. When you do, you find that you get a lot more of your time back. The beauty is, you can use this time for another wonderful goal. You see, here in SELF~LOVE~LAND, we teach all of our mentees that there are only 2 possibilities in any given moment: 1) you are APPreciating (experiencing positive energy) or 2) you are DEpreciating (experiencing negative energy). 

Simply ask this question, “IN THIS MOMENT, AM I APP~ING, OR AM I DEP~ING?” and set the intention to become aware of whatever comes through: These answers hold an essential key to your journey:

Karen: Ok. I can give that a go. What should I do when I find the my answers?

SELF: For now, just focus on the first phase: awareness. Sensitive awareness to be precise.
When you figure out whether you’re app~ing or dep~ing, take note of what sensations you are feeling in your body at that moment. Start building sensory communication between your mind and body. It will change everything. The coolest part is that sensitive awareness is one of the definitions of appreciation, so even when you find that you’re dep~ing, the fact that you’ve become sensitively aware of it means that you’re actually appreciating your depreciation!

Karen: I love it! It’s a total win, win!

SELF: It’s BEAUTY FUEL!

Karen: It’s BEAUTY FUEL!!!