Eps 57: The Healing Process of Writing– Guest Rachel Toalson

Today my guest is a writer, a podcaster with her husband Ben, a very creative and productive woman, and also mother of 6 boys–including 3 year old twins:
Rachel Toalson.

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3 THINGS TO REMEMBER BEFORE YOU LISTEN:

When you listen to the show, creating it feels extra worthwhile.
Sharing the show with others, makes it grow.
But giving to show, keeps it alive.

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SHOWNOTES:

MIN 1:30

Rachel the writer and parent.

• In the boat with Ben – podcast
• WEBSITE for the podcast

Being creative and having a family.

Don’t give up your creative dream once you have kids.

Tools for pursuing dreams, intentional parenting and parenting with values.

MIN 3:30

Teaching our kids that parenting doesn’t mean we stop being who we really are but that we invite our children into a wonderful creative life.

MIN 5:30

What is Fairendale?
• Visit the Fairendale Page for a free Prequel

MIN 7:00

Our choices matter but they don’t define us.

9:00MIN

On storytelling

MIN 12:30

• Crash test parents

MIN 14

Exploring the difficult parts of life in memoir.

MIN 18

The healing process of writing.

MIN 19:30

Writer’s guilt

MIN 20:00

Resources and services for writers

MIN 22:00

Our lives are like stories

MIN 24:30

Documentation of your strength as a human.

MIN 25:30

Inoculating yourself against having your joy sucked away during good times.

MIN 26:00

Advice to parents from a mom of 6 boys

Parenting in an emotionally intelligent way and really knowing your child.

MIN 29

Brene Brown – whole hearted living (click to read the 10 guideposts)

Rachel’s twins that share their own language and partner in “crime”.

• Visit Rachel at racheltoalson.com


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Soul School – Lesson 25 – Why you are craving STABILITY

Welcome to Soul School!

Deconstruction and Reconstruction is a lifelong process.
After a season of growth and rebirth, things CHANGE and that means you will CRAVE stability and a return to “normal”. Today, is about that and what to do about it. I wish I had known this 20 years ago!!

After you listen to PART I (the audio button you can click below) be sure to Watch the video, PART II. It comes with a handout and is part of Varsity Club.  It goes into Lesson 25 in a deeper way and has action steps and a specific guide to enact rebirth in your relationships. Find that here.

The quick details about Varsity Club:
This is the way core listeners, like you, support Spark My Muse with a monthly $5–that’s a tiny $1.25 per week. This comes with the option of 15 minutes of exclusive time with me, each month, to ask any questions you’d like from any podcast or Soul School episode. If questions come up, or if you’d like to know more, you get me to yourself.

You can cancel anytime and weekly Video lessons and handouts go back all the way to Lesson 18!


Watch the Video – PART II of Soul School.

To watch the video lesson of Lesson 25 and get the companion worksheet (aka be in Varsity Club) just

CLICK HERE NOW to WATCH 

New video classes and resources come each week for Soul School lessons for monthly supporters who love Soul School, like you do.
You can cancel anytime.

EPS 51: The women of Sacred Ordinary Days

Thanks for listening to the Spark My Muse podcast today. Each Friday is a conversational guest episode. Today’s episode is a Spark My Muse first–not one, but two guests–the women from the podcast Sacred Ordinary Days. Jean and Lacy have quickly grown a strong tribe as they help listeners understand the seasons and rhythms of the liturgical year. They have both launched some fascinating resources too you will want to hear more about.

Jenn square
Click for Jenn’s site and resources
lacy
Click for Lacy’s site and resources.
SOD_S1_Logo
Click to hear the Sacred Ordinary Days podcast.

 

SHOW NOTES

MIN 1

Lacy (from Washington State) and Jenn  (from Texas) intro

and how did you find each other and start a podcast?

MIN 6 What is the liturgical calendar exactly why do you find it meaningful?

• Playfulness, curiosity, exploration, tools for meaningful living.

MIN

8:30

Ritual can bring play instead of rigidity which is not what we think of with religion.

MIN 9 crafting a Rule of Life

“A rule of life offers creative boundaries in which God’s loving presence can be recognized and celebrated…” -Henry Nouwen

MIN 10:30

Ritual during Lent – Suggestions

Major theme:

Ash Wednesday the first day of LENT- remember who you are. Returning to dust and remembering your own mortality and your interior journey.

Not just about fasting.

MIN 12:00

Lent means “Spring” or springtime. Awake the true self and cast off the false self.

Fasting, prayer, alms giving bring us towards life. Death of the false self.

Preparation for Easter and it starts in the dark like a seed starts underground.

MIN 14:30 Lent is 40 days. Sundays aren’t counted because they are feast days.

40 days is a time of testing that leads us towards life.

Holy Saturday – the tomb day a day of despair.

MIN 16:30 The seasons covered in the Sacred Ordinary Days podcast

The church year, the Christian year, the liturgical year and learning alongside others.

Facebook.com/groups/sacredordinarydaystribe

MIN 18:30

Journeying in real time with everyone from all walks of life and in all age groups.

MIN 20

Lori Neff – Midday Connection – Lacy’s perpetual Calendar

Jenn’s Day Planner and KickStarter project

MIN 22

Lectionary

Daily Office

Liturgy means “the work of the people”

Reordering the days, minutes, and hours, and something to make it simple.

MIN 26

Lacy’s perpetual calendar and thematic seasonal prompts.

MIN 29

How the dates shift each year based on the vernal equinox and full moons.

The book of common prayer

asacredjourney.net/calendar

LENT 2016 February 10 – March 26 (but not Sundays)

MIN 32

Season of disruption where you make space and grieving the sad things about life. It prepares you for other sorrowful times in life. And prepares us to truly celebrate the wonderful times as well. We can hold both together. There are paradoxes. Both/And

MIN 35 Being fully human.

MIN 36 “It’s all grace.”

MIN 37

The underlying season remains and we can return to it whenever we need it.

MIN 38

Where you can find them.

EPS 50: The Amazing Story of Bruce Van Horn

I’m excited to have Bruce Van Horn on the Spark My Muse podcast.

His story is inspiring and his coaching, his presence on the internet at his WEBSITE and social media where he is one of the most Retweet encouragers on Twitter, in books, and on his podcast heard in 194 countries (Life is a Marathon) he has been an encouragement to millions.

BruceVanHorn
His book “Worry No More: 4 Steps to Stop Worrying and Start Living” is an Amazing International Best Seller.



SHOW NOTES

MIN 5 Early in life Bruce got into Computers/IMB and tried to make his fortune and contentment externally.

Bruce losses it all at 27. At 42 loses it all again and feels like giving up.

MIN 10

How Bruce started to turn his life around and had his major epiphany.

How Bruce learned that the hardest part of running a marathon is the decision to run one (each day).

MIN 13

How Bruce applied his big success to all the aspects of his life.

MIN 15

How Bruce started to take responsibility for his whole life and take his thoughts captive and end negative self talk.

MIN 18

Peter Sage

“Complaints are the glue that keep you stuck to your problems.”

“Think and Grow Rich” Napoleon Hill

Express gratitude for what you have because it makes it easier to get what you want.

Making a list of things to be grateful for—which, at first, was insincere.

MIN 20 What would you miss if it was gone?

MIN 22

Making changes in life and relationships. Changing language like eliminating sarcasm.

MIN 24 Starting a life coaching relationship that led to jobs all over the world.

MIN 28

The stage four cancer that changed everything.

The surgery that went wrong and no pain medication to recover with.

MIN 34

“In this moment, if I can breathe, I have everything I need.”

Pain is not a curse. Somehow this experience is a gift. The story was a detour not an end.

MIN 36

“Worry No More” the book

Worry is like Mediation done wrong.

MIN 39

Experience is thought in this moment. We are telling ourselves a story. We can see another story. Worry is a story about what you don’t want to happen. and you can tell a different story.

MIN 40

Life is a Marathon podcast

Heard in 194 countries around the world.

EPS 49: The “Death Class” Trend – Guest Erika Hayasaski

Welcome to Spark My Muse!

Every Friday is a conversation with a guest. My guest today is Erika Hayasaki. She teaches workshops in nonfiction writing and classes in digital storytelling at the University of California, Irvine, where she is an associate professor in the Literary Journalism Program.

In her career as a journalist Erika’s seen many tragedies, but it was her involvement with Norma Bowe, the instructor of an unorthodox and very popular course at Kean University called “Death Class”, that showed her a completely different way to think about death and living and initiated her celebrated book project by that same name.

Erika’s website is here.

GENERIC CAPTION hayasaki_091123_sz.jpg date shot 102909 photo by Steve Zylius/University Communications Erika Hayasaki arrived at UCI in September. She joins the faculty as an assistant professor in the Literary Journalism Program after working for the L.A. Times in their New York bureau.

Her book based on the Death Class.

 

SHOW NOTES

MIN 1 [Feb gift giveaway Facebook.com/sparkmymuse]

MIN  3 Erika’s journalism career and background.

MIN 7 Her spiritual religious context and upbringing / objectivity

MIN 12 How she was introduced to “Death Class” at Kean University with Norma Bowe,

and how the book about “Death Class” came about.

MIN 16 Field trips, general interest, fear of death, loss of a loved one, coming close to death are reasons people take the class.

 MIN 19 Seeing an autopsy and death up close and how that changes you.

MIN 21 A renewed appreciation and outlook on life and the preciousness of living. Less anxiety around death and disaster after the class.

MIN 23 How we get exposed to death or stressful things in life and how we can process the scary things in life better.

MIN 25 Death anxiety is relieved more when people process through the ideas around death.

MIN 26 The afterlife and processing death in social contexts.

MIN 27 The “Death Salon” or “Death Cafe” or “Death Dinners”

exploring with art, socially, and with food the concepts and reality of mortality.

MIN 29 Alternative burial movement happening. We have become removed from the entire process like we used to be from the birth process.

MIN 30 How we grieve a loved one. How the Amish care from their dead.

MIN 32 Being with someone as they die.

MIN 34 CLICK for death salon reading list

MIN 35 Her uncle’s near death experiences.


Thank you for listening!
I hope you come back Wednesday for a new episode called Soul School.
If you enjoyed the show, please poke around and listen to other episodes and share the show with a 
friend!

xo
-Lisa