Aekta's Quirk-Cue-Reez

So...pretty long & unusual title. I open up about my recent self-discoveries & some groups, situations, & resources that have helped me accept where I'm at & feel more uplifted then the end of last year, which I will list here in case it's helpful to anyone else! -NAMI-https://nami.org/Home ❄️ -Personality Hacker https://www.personalityhacker.com/ ❄️ -Natasha from the Temple of Akasha- https://www.templeofakasha.com/ (I am not sure if she still offers the one-on-ones but she has an online meditation community space & offers retreats from time to time & is just a dope & amazing human being to connect with and get spiritual guidance from, if anyone listening leans spiritual or feels like they're having an awakening, processing an awakening, or have other related questions from a spiritual lens). I met with her summer of 2023 so it's been a while, but one of the exercises I shared in here as being super helpful came from a session with her that was very transformational & has just come full circle with its impact, so I wanted to give credit and recommend her as a guide. ❄️ Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power (A method for getting what you want by getting off on what you don't) https://bookshop.org/p/books/existential-kink-unmask-your-shadow-and-embrace-your-power-a-method-for-getting-what-you-want-by-getting-off-on-what-you-don-t-carolyn-elliott/13067847 Book's on my wishlist! I've listened to the author talk about the beauty of paradox, something I've always innately known!

NOT a Short Episode although when I 1st started recording, I thought it would be... Reflections on laughing at the Tao & the paradoxes it presents, alongside sharing personal anecdotes (both joyful & not so joyful) about how my "holidays" and this time of year has been so far... I go on relevant tangents but reign it in back in to the Tao at the end. Disclaimer: Passive SI mentioned. If you or anyone else is struggling with this, call 988. Also, for anyone that's worried about me because of the passive SI disclaimers on so many recent episodes, I am going to start going to free (essentially group therapy) NAMI Support groups in 2024 & also find an individual therapist again once my Medicaid gets approved, so hang in there with me! Everyone's support & listenership means a lot & my audience may be quite small on here but I do it for you all! For you reading this & for you listening to the end. I hope it brings some value & #realtalk in your life! ☯️ "Possessing The Tao" -- "There was once a diligent & serious student of the Way, who one day asked his master, "Can you possess the Tao?" "You can't possess even your own body" answered his master. "How could you possess the Tao?" "If I don't possess my own body," asked the student, "then who does?" "It has been lent to you by heaven & earth. Life itself is not your possession," said the master. "You don't possess your own nature or your own destiny. They have been lent to you by heaven & earth. Your children & their children are not your possession. They are as molted insect skins, lent to you by heaven & earth. So when you walk, you don't notice where you are going, when you stop you don't know where you are. When you eat you don't know what it is that you are eating. The Chi of heaven & earth is so much stronger than yours but even it can't possess the Tao." -Chuang Tzu. After reading this a 2nd time, I wonder if the Tao is basically the neutrino stream...which we can't possess or even make complete sense of! Anyway, the next part of this tale is a little poem by Lao Tzu, "When the superior person hears of the Tao He diligently studies it. When the inferior person hears of the Tao Sometimes she remembers it, sometimes not. When foolish students hear of the Tao They laugh at it. If they did not laugh at it, It would not be the Tao." & there you have it! Hope that you can still laugh in the face of absurdities in life, & the face of conflicts or confusion. Don't worry cuz the Mercury Retrograde is supposed to end on January 1st lol --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aektaqc/support

I hope everyone's making time for themselves AS WELL AS their loved ones this season (or whichever you need more right now

In this episode, I give my final review on the Ashwagandha pills I've been taking to help me with anxiety & sleep (overall- it helps! I am not stopping them!) I also share other insights about anxiety and stress relief that have been working for me & how that ties into our human (& really universal) condition of being animistic, suggesting 2 other podcasts that are so worth listening to regarding this, including Nordic Animism & The Emerald. Also at the end...a quick summary of walk at my local park today & how "getting lost in the woods," (or simply going on longer hikes in which discovery & new trails are involved) helps me reduce my anxiety, counter-intuitive as it may sound! Science has already shown that being outside is good for us, & connecting to our evolutionary roots and the mysticism that is prevalent in a walk in the woods helps me get present and shift my perspective from worry to confidence & increase self-trust! The 2 books mentioned in this episode- In An Unspoken Voice by Peter Levine & Dharma Punx by Noah Levine. Both address how trauma is released through the body in 2 very different ways (Noah's focuses more Buddhism & how he combined his love for punk rock & Buddhism together in his addiction recovery journey, while Peter's is a more scientific study lens & one that I haven't actually read yet so I can't say too much about...except that I look forward to reading it!) Excuse all my "uhm's" in this episode, & thanks for listening all the way through if you do.

I read the leading paragraph & graph from Chapter 8-Safety, of Judith Herman's book: Trauma & Recovery- The Aftermath of Violence-From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, & share parts of my own recovery journey to help give real life examples of how these stages show up in a person's life! If you want some more background & context on this book & the main themes (at least as I learned about them in my 2020 trauma class) please go back & listen to episode 5 of this podcast: Healing During Quarantine-Sarah Ahn on Judith Herman, when I 1st introduced the power of this book for ANYONE that's recovering from trauma OR...cares about someone who is OR...simply wants to understand it better. This episode is a revisting to the book & its wisdom & where I feel like I am in my journey today! ☺️

In this episode, I return to the book Awakening The Heroes Within, Twelve Archetypes To Help Us Find Ourselves & Transform Our World by Carol S. Pearson, & thoroughly reflect on themes of the Destroyer archetype in my life & introduce the archetype of the Creator, saving deeper reflections on the Creator for a future episode. DISCLAIMER: Suicidal Ideation is mentioned early on in this episode. It's hard to talk about the Destroyer archetype without talking about S.I. If you're particularly sensitive to this content at the moment, please listen to it another time. That being said, this episode may actually be hopeful for those struggling with rock-bottoms or any kind of existential search for meaning after a loss or big life change. The archetype of the Destroyer & learning to embody and practice its healthier aspects holds a lot of wisdom for transforming grief into posttraumatic growth! I hope you get something out of it! Please let me know what your thoughts are by sending me an email & if you enjoyed this episode, give it a good rating and a share! Stay resilient & self-reflective! (To help you gain awareness around these archetypes, there are some journal & Daydream/Art prompts at the end of each archetypal discussion

Updates on my recovery process, real life examples from my previous job (& current or future engagements) that essentially represent the gifts as well as the shadow & ego aspects of my gene keys, especially gene key 33, which is all about learning to strike the right balance between my inner and outer life. You can find your gene key profile for free here: https://genekeys.com/free-profile/ref/1423/ We're all going to have our own lessons to learn, & not everyone's lesson is going to be the same (which is why looking into your Gene Keys & Human Design can be especially insightful) but if you also share the Gene Key of 33 being major in your chart, &/or you're an MG in Human Design, especially with a 2/4 profile then I hope these personal journey reflections are re-assuring, especially if you're looking for other voices that understand the unique struggles or challenges these profiles can share. Each challenge is really here to teach us an important lesson about our energies. I'm learning how to use this harnessing power with better discernment! ✨️Learn about who you really are & who you want to be (not who you're expected to be) & listen to your heart & body's wisdom about your needs, limits, joys, & spaces of peace.

This episode is a discussion/personal reflections of a short quiz/cultural norms & values mini "assessment" I took recently. The assessment is the profile picture for this episode (the markings on it are not mine, they are my friend's, who gave me this picture from his class). I read you the quiz in the latter half of this episode! Get a piece of paper & pencil to write down your answers if you want to reflect on your own norms and values & find out what American Subculture your norms and values most align with! Your answer might surprise you! It certainly surprised me! (In a good way

A stream of consciousness episode about how I have been approaching the current events & the fears & questions it's brought up. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aektaqc/support

What are your ideas about Love? What does love mean to you? How do you create more unity to prevent more divisions? Send me a voice message by clicking on the link that says "support this podcast," to share your thoughts & ideas! If you'd like to share your journey with rebuilding love & trust in your life, recovering from burnout, or any other themes I discussed in this podcast, I would love to hear that story (whether you'd like to be a guest on the podcast or simply & share one-on-one).

Join me with a journal to reflect on your essential values & what they really mean. I learned these prompts from a course I am taking from My Vinyassa Practice (www.myvinyasapractice.com) & it's lighting up my life!

Just sharing my experience using Ashwagandha capsules for the last month & a half! My sleep & stress relief have improved significantly! I look forward to a couple more months with this to see if the benefits keep improving & if they sustain! Yay for herbal supplements that work! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aektaqc/support

There's wisdom in "being foolish!" Embracing the energy of "the fool" recently to balance out my tendency to always know the truth behind everything. + some tangents about my Enneagram journey & new art projects I am beginning. My website mentioned in this episode if you want to visit & support me in anyway possible! - aekbeing.crevado.com Creativity is what keeps me going. Thank you for your support. & thank you for listening. I hope you got some things to reflect on from this episode! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aektaqc/support

In this episode, I read brief parts from the book Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World by Carol S. Pearson, specifically to discuss how the Seeker & Lover Archetypes have shown up in my life this year, especially in the past couple of months, & the small but significant shifts that have occurred in the past week that have brought me into a state of balance and inner equilibrium between the 2 energies (how moving into my inner Lover energy has helped me get out of the shadow aspects of the Seeker energy). More to come on Archetypes moving forward! Enjoy! & Thank you for listening! What archetypal energy do YOU feel most connected to right now? If you resonated with this episode, feel free to engage in my poll & Q&A! I am curious about your experience! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aektaqc/support

In this mini series, I read to you stories from Solala Towler's book, called Tales From The Tao, The Wisdom of The Taoist Masters. To learn about how you can apply Taoism to every day life (SOOO useful) check out Dan Casas-Muray's podcast, The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living, where I learned most of my daily Tao wisdom from! I also created a playlist called The Intersection btw Spirituality & Science that you're welcome to check out for my favorite episodes that summarize what Taoism is about for me & why I have chosen to adopt it! There are other non-Tao related things in there that also go with my spiritual philosophies, but everything is Tao, so... take what you like & leave the rest! If you're a visual learner, the documentary I mentioned on YouTube is called The Art of Effortless Living (Taoist Documentary) by Jason Gregory

TRIGGER WARNING: I mention S.I in this episode. If you're sensitive to this or struggling with this right now, maybe it's not the best time to listen-please call 911 &/or seek professional help or call/tell a loved one. You matter. I am just sharing parts of my own trauma healing journey in this & the difficult & worthwhile choices I made to address my core wounds & start being honest with myself (& my family & friends). Thank you to everyone who's been through this with me, including my family & everyone who continues to stay with me as I grow! & thank you to a most special person that I would not be here without! If you see this or hear this, you know who you are and I'm glad we met last summer! I also wanna thank an old friend who always saw the authentic me even before I fully realized it for myself. He's been an anchor & a blessing (gift from the past!) If you see this, I hope you're well, wherever you are! Go be your best self! The picture on the cover is from a book that's been so useful in understanding myself & other people & our patterns, on a level beyond basic psychology. I plan talking more about it in future episodes but if you liked this episode & are curious about the book, it's called Awakening The Heroes Within (Twelve Archetypes To Help Us Find Ourselves And Transform Our World) by Carol S. Pearson. I am grateful to my college professor & faculty advisor, Mark Thurston, & his wife & co-founder of the Personal Transformation & Courage Institute, Mary Elizabeth Lynch, for sharing all of their healing wisdom with me, & being the ones that introduced me to archetypes & personal development on a deeper level than I found even in therapy, although therapy has been just as useful. This book & the concepts I learned in PTCI & Mark's classes carry me throughout the years! If you're interested in exploring more of what they might have to offer, their website is- https://www.transformationandcourage.org/ I mention the archetype of The Seeker several times in this episode. Its been a prominent archetype throughout my life. I've only begun to understand it & myself better through this book & the wisdom from being a part of the PTCI community. It seems I still have more exploring to do, though I feel closer towards inner balance with the events in the last year & what they've taught me, & am hoping that this next year of my life will help bring me some equanimity as I really tune in on the things I love (moving into The Lover archetype) to balance out my constant seeking for a deeper truth. We shall see! Eager to share about my journey on the next episode! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aektaQC/support

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aektaQC/support

A Whispered Episode to give you a preview of my other podcast, Aekta's Whisperings, in which I publish more regularly. Also, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert speaks truth about Living a Creative Life. Thanks for tuning in! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aektaQC/support

Just a brief update on life and my current thoughts. Also, why I might be taking a break from podcasting! Thanks for listening! I hope this year is better for us all! Take care and stay tuned! I will return! (When it feels right

In this episode, I share my experiences with JOMO, the antidote to FOMO, & how it has helped me put my life, my time, health, relationships, and most importantly peace of mind-into perspective. I share some JOMO resources to explore this concept more if you're new to it (about 30 minutes into the episode) and before & after that, I share my personal experiences & why I am even talking about JOMO-how its been beneficial in finding more peace, and true happiness in my life. I hope it helps or inspires you to give JOMO a shot in helping alleviate our shared FOMO anxieties of the day to day! You won't regret it once you try it! Thanks for listening!

Wear headphones for this one! My voice isn't as loud. I share what I learned (and am learning) from recovering from covid. Hope everyone is safe! And living intentionally!

Reflections on Joy- I share an inquiry exercise I learned from PTCI (Personal Transformation and Courage Institute- https://www.transformationandcourage.org/ ) and share what brings me joy and motivation to keep going in life! I encourage you to reflect on what joy and happiness mean to you by everything you've discovered about yourself this year, so you can begin the next with mindful intention on focusing on those things! Completely raw and authentic as always! (I apologize that my voice breaks and sounds a bit weird and crackle-y in some parts of this episode! I had a sore throat this morning and am currently dealing with mild covid symptoms!) THANK YOU FOR LISTENING as always

In this episode, I interview one of my friends, Michael Beck, and we talk about gratitude and finding silver linings in this crazy  year. He starts with telling his story, and how he found some silver linings or "good," (for the lack of a better word)  out of an experience he had at the end of 2019, and how the quarantine this year added to his personal growth, which began from a difficult incident he experienced in October of 2019. I ask him to name 3 things that were key in his healing, and we also talk about the role that creativity played in most of it. He also finds a fourth thing that he didn't initially think about naming, but finds integral in his healing as we discuss how it all ties together.   We hope that you find some encouragement, inspiration, and hope, & at the very least, some examples of ways to find gratitude, even if it's just for one thing (you're alive and breathing) this Thanksgiving. There's always an element of trust and grace in our healing, because we can't truly heal alone, but it does take personal responsibility and a choice to shift our perspective and look for what's working, so we can begin there and look for help. We hope that these stories of real healing help you make that decision to begin your own healing journey, or take the next step, no matter how "tiny," if you're already on it!   Thank you for listening and we wish you a peaceful, and safe Thanksgiving!   To see Michael Beck's creativity, and support him in his continued growth and awesome content (Cover Art by Michael Beck):   Visual Arts: @beckm.art on IG  Music: @lankasterband on IG  Podcast: anchor.fm/micthemike Personal/Main: @beckm.creative on IG  Creative Minds Community IG: @creativeminds.comm Finally, if you want to connect with me or have feedback, thoughts, questions, or more, you can find me on:   @aektasartstore on IG  email at aektaunity@yahoo.com  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aektaQC/support

In this episode, my friend Sarah Ahn and I discuss concepts from Judith Herman's book, Trauma And Recovery, and how it applies to different experiences we've had with healing recently. It's a thoughtful and wholesome discussion worth checking out if you are interested in healing and also feeling any pull towards learning about yourself in relationship to others, and feeling stuck in this quarantine, and want to explore some perspectives on perhaps moving towards feeling unstuck. Healing does not happen quickly and easily but it happens nevertheless and it gets easier with time, and practice. It takes initiative- it is a choice. If you're choosing to heal, you will like this episode. ❤️Thank you for listening, I hope you get something out of it! Email: aektaunity@yahoo.com Instagram: @surgingintoequilibrium or @radicalloveindie --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aektaQC/support

Join me as improvise on the spot about an analogy for healing. All jokes and skeletons aside though, how do YOU heal? Let me know by emailing me at aektaunity@yahoo.com or DMing me @surgingintoequilibrium on Instagram ! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aektaQC/support

Learn about how the four levels of competencies match the 4 most obvious Myers-Briggs functions in a personality type! (I use mine as an example). Find out how to contact me

Introducing the podcast and my motivation to try this!

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aektaQC/support