We recently had the distinct pleasure of interviewing rock star extraordinaire Terri Nunn, founder and lead singer of Berlin—and one of our staunchest supporters. In this interview, we chat about life lessons, the need for connection, and why it’s important to live a life that’s conscious and carefree. Terri will be sharing this interview with her fans next week, but you can find a sneak peek here:

Following our interview, Terri also dropped us a line about an “AHA moment” she had after reading one of our recent posts. We hope you enjoy!

So I really enjoyed the Conscious & Carefree blog post about our thoughts, I Think Therefore I Am. I want to share an AHA moment I had two nights ago at, like, 3 in the morning. Why do so many revelations come then? Is it because I don’t have the daily chatter to-do list running through my head?

Anyway, I woke up and saw it was still dark and thought, “God I love sleeping!” And I acknowledged myself for going to bed earlier the night before, because it’s a way to nurture myself. Then I thought, “Yeah! Because if I nurture myself more, then I can DO more! ACHIEVE more!”

As I started to close my eyes again, though, another thought popped in and I realized: Wait, nurturing myself solely as a way to achieve more isn’t really unconditional love. What if I nurtured myself more simply as a way to love myself, whether or not it allows me to achieve more? THAT’S unconditional love—the willingness to take care of myself regardless of the outcome. In fact, giving and receiving that kind of love IS the ultimate goal.

That realization shifted me. It rearranged my mental furniture. I’m going to try coming from that place for a while and see what happens. Because, here’s the thing about changing your thought processes: If you’re not willing to think in new ways, you’ll never have a chance to grow. True, changing the way you think can be scary. But whenever I’m afraid to try a new thought process , ‘cause it’s new, I tell myself: “Hey, I can always go back to the old thoughts; I know how to do THAT set. But maybe this is a better set!” I have a feeling that’s the case with being more loving. I look forward to finding out.

Onward & upward,

Terri Nunn

For more from the inimitable Terri Nunn, you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Google+, or visit her online at her website.