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Angel Reiki School is in person April 10-12, 2026: Are you ready to stop wondering "if" you're intuitive and start working for God? The Angel Reiki School isn't just a class—it's a 3-in-1 certification. I'm going to certify you as an Angel Messenger, Medium, and Energy Healer all in one weekend. I'm handing you the exact business roadmap I used to build my own practice from the ground up. No more guessing how to find clients or how to structure your sessions. You'll leave with the high-vibration tools to hear the Angels clearly and the professional blueprint to build a heart-centered career. IN-PERSON TRAINING: Join Julie in person on April 10, 11, and 12 in Oak Brook, Illinois. Experience the high-vibrational energy of our 3-in-1 certification program (Angel Messenger, Medium, and Energy Healer). ONLINE TRAINING: Prefer to learn from home? Our next online session begins April 1st. REGISTER: Secure your soul's seat at theangelmedium.com. QUESTIONS? Reach out directly to Julie at julie@theangelmedium.com. Episode Summary Hello Beautiful Souls! I love you so much! Welcome to the Angels and Awakening Podcast, Pray and Be Wealthy series. I'm your host and author, Julie Jancius, here to uplift, inspire, and help you give yourself permission to be blessed beyond your wildest imagination. In this episode, we are shifting our energetic frequency to recognize a profound truth: You are a magnet for miracles. Many of us have been conditioned to "hunt" for success, but a magnet doesn't shout—it is silent. By quieting the mental chatter and returning to the present moment, you activate your natural design to receive the bounty of Heaven. We're diving deep into the "What Ifs" that expand your capacity: What if every challenge is actually a "setup" for a miracle? What if you don't have to generate your own power, but simply plug into the Source of all light? Join me as we breathe in miracles and give ourselves the courageous "Yes" required to step into the abundance God has already created for us. Key Spiritual Takeaways & Divine Truths: The Magnetic Design: You don't have to "do" anything to be magnetic; you just have to "be." The bounty of the universe is already rushing toward you. The Power of Now: Magnetism only happens in the "now." You cannot be magnetic in the past or the future. Presence is your power. Shifting the Lens: Train your mind to stop looking for "what's wrong" and start looking for "what's possible." Intuition as a Compass: Miracles begin when you go inside. Your intuition is the direct map to the blessings intended for your life. Collective Blessing: Your magnetism doesn't just benefit you—it affects the field of everyone around you. When you are blessed, the world is blessed. Soul Affirmations for Receiving: My intuition is the compass that leads me to my miracles. I don't have to chase what was created for me; I simply have to stay open. I give myself permission to be blessed beyond my imagination. I am safe in my abundance; I am safe in my joy. I am a magnet for miracles, and today, I am ready to receive. Connect with Julie Book a Session: Ready to hear directly from your Angels and loved ones? Book a private reading at theangelmedium.com. Join the Community: Hang out with us twice weekly for new episodes! Win a Free Reading: Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Take a screenshot and email it to julie@theangelmedium.com. Your name stays in the drawing until you win! Remember: A magnet doesn't have to shout to be powerful. It just has to be.
What if the only thing standing between you and your next level… is waiting for permission? What if the confidence you're searching for isn't something you build—but something you remember? In this powerful episode of the Balanced, Beautiful & Abundant podcast, Rebecca Whitman sits down with mindset coach, bestselling author, and Lead Global Presenter at Positive Intelligence, Natalie Siston. Natalie is the voice behind Permission Granted—a movement that invites women to stop shrinking, stop second-guessing themselves, and reclaim who they've always been. Through her work and her bestselling book Let Her Out, she helps high-achieving women uncover what's truly driving their choices—and how to change it. If you've ever: • Overthought a decision • Doubted yourself after success • Dimmed your light to make others comfortable • Felt stuck between who you are and who you know you're meant to be This episode will feel like a wake-up call. In this conversation, you'll discover: ✨ Why high-achieving women still struggle with self-doubt ✨ Where the inner critic really comes from ✨ How to tell the difference between fear and intuition ✨ The first step to breaking self-sabotaging patterns ✨ What shifts when you stop seeking external validation Natalie brings clarity, humor, and deep insight to this empowering conversation—and shares practical tools you can apply immediately. It's time to stop waiting. Permission granted.
In this episode of The Feminine Frequency, we sit down with Jen Underwood, a somatic expert and "relationship business coach," to deconstruct the traditional hustle-culture definition of capacity. We're moving beyond the industrial-age idea of output and diving deep into the intersection of nervous system regulation, emotional bandwidth, and narrative power. Jen shares her powerful journey from being a solo mom on welfare to building a thriving coaching empire, and how she helps women stop the cycle of "push and collapse" to find a sustainable, soulful flow.Themes:Why capacity isn't just about how much you can do, but how much you can hold across three pillars: Change(productivity/risk), Emotional (presence/intimacy), and Narrative (resilience/reactivity).Viewing your business not as a machine, but as an interdependent relationship. How do we balance our needs, the business's needs, and our clients' needs without falling into codependency?The courage it takes to clear the table, let go of programs or habits that no longer serve you, and create a blank slate for your next level of expansion.Moving beyond "cute" mindset work to understand how the stories we believe (like being "shadow-banned") can either empower us or keep us in a victim cycle.Why a "boundary" isn't a rigid rule, but a self-honoring practice that should shift with your seasons, your cycle, and your life changes.A Permission slip to blend luxury with productivity. How to meet the needs of your business while honoring your body's need for rest (yes, you can record audios from the tub!).Finding the "Emotional Dominatrix" energy—the balance between a firm back (discipline) and a soft front (grace).SPECIAL OFFER:
Give yourself permission to rest when you are postpartum. This 11 minute guided meditation will help you unwind, and take those few minutes you desperate need to help refill your bucket as you care for your little one. Learn more about Sarah Jauer on her instagram Download the free labor + delivery prep guided meditation playlist HERE Order: You Are Not Your Thoughts: An 8-Week Anxiety Guided Meditation Journal order on Amazon order at other bookstores here Order Meditation For The Modern Family Meditation TT 40-Hour Meditation Teacher Training is now open for enrollment Learn more and enroll here Let's Connect Email Kelly your questions at info@yogaforyouonline.com Follow Kelly on instagram @yogaforyouonline Please rate, subscribe and review (it helps more than you know!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Behavior Gap Radio: Exploring human behavior...with a Sharpie
In this episode, Carl asks a deceptively simple question: Are you waiting for information, or are you waiting for permission? Reflecting on conversations he had after moving to New Zealand, Carl explores how often people say they can't make a big life decision because they lack money, timing, or certainty—when the real barrier may be a fear of acting in uncertainty. In complex systems like careers, markets, and family life, clarity rarely comes before the move. Carl invites us to examine whether we're truly missing information or quietly waiting for reassurance that everything will be okay—and reminds us that emotional data deserves a place in the decision-making process.Want more from Carl? Get the shortest, most impactful weekly email on the web! Sign up for the Weekly Letter from Certified Financial Planner™ and New York Times columnist Carl Richards here: https://behaviorgap.com/
Does it ever feel like "hoping" is a betrayal? Like if you start to look forward to tomorrow, or even just a simple vacation, you're somehow leaving your child behind in yesterday? Friend, that is the guilt of grief, and it is a lie that can keep you paralyzed in the dark. But today, we are breaking that chain and giving you permission to hope again—not because the pain is gone, but because your anchor is fixed in a place that cannot be shaken. In this final episode of our Permission and Practice series, we are moving from the whimsical "wishes" of the world to the certain, unbreakable Kingdom Hope found in Hebrews 6:19. We'll explore how to find your footing when you feel lost in the "messy middle" and how to train your soul to look for the tiny micro-evidences that God has not forgotten your story. Inside this conversation, you'll discover… Why "Kingdom Hope" is a certainty and a person, not a "maybe" or a change in your circumstances. The beautiful truth of the "Inner Sanctuary" and how your hope is tethered to the very place where your child is already waiting. How to shift your perspective on sunrises and sunsets so they become a countdown to reunion rather than a reminder of absence. A simple, three-step practice to identify "Glimmers" of God's goodness even when your heart is still breaking If you've been afraid to hope again because it feels like moving away from your child, this conversation will remind you that hope is not abandoning love—it is the anchor that allows you to carry that love forward. Press play and allow God's promises to steady your heart today.
Yale emotional intelligence expert on how to deal with other people's emotions (and your own). Marc Brackett, Ph.D. is the author of Dealing with Feeling: Use Your Emotions to Create the Life You Want and the bestselling Permission to Feel. He is the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. You can watch Marc's podcast interviews here. In this episode we talk about: How to deal with stress, anxiety and anger How to use gratitude in moments of compare and despair, like when you're on Instagram comparing yourself to other people's lives How to talk to yourself in moments of high stress How to talk to other people when they're experiencing powerful emotions themselves Get the 10% with Dan Harris app here Sign up for Dan's free newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Thanks to our sponsors: FitBod — Personalized workout plans that adapt as you improve. Get 25% off or try free for 7 days at fitbod.me/tenpercent ZipRecruiter — Find qualified candidates fast. Try free at ziprecruiter.com/tenpercent Gainbridge — Guaranteed-rate financial products with no hidden fees. Learn more at gainbridge.com Henson Shaving — Aerospace-precision razors with 100 free blades included. Visit hensonshaving.com/happier or use code HAPPIER at checkout. Wix — Build a pro-grade website with AI and drag-and-drop tools. Try Wix Harmony at wix.com/harmony To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris
A century ago, philosophy split its seams. Cambridge's revolt against British Hegelianism promised “clarity,” Vienna's scientific modernism tried to rebuild from scratch, and postwar America professionalized it all while quietly erasing the politics that once burned at the core. We invited Christoph Schuringa, editor of Hegel Bulletin and author of A Social History of Analytic Philosophy and Karl Marx and the Actualization of Philosophy, to map the break—and to argue why Marx didn't abandon philosophy so much as put it back to work.We start with Russell and Moore's rebellion and the Bloomsbury circle that treated linguistic precision as a moral breakthrough. Then we step into Red Vienna, where the Unity of Science lived alongside adult education, social housing, and austro‑Marxist reform. Wittgenstein links both worlds: sanctified by the Vienna Circle, wary of their empiricism, mystical yet method-obsessed, and ultimately a catalyst for the linguistic turn that reshaped Anglo‑American departments. The Cold War's shadow looms large here; McCarthyism and professional incentives sanded down the political edge of philosophy of science, leaving behind procedures without projects.From there, we pivot to Marx. Schuringa makes a provocative case: Capital is philosophical not because it states doctrines, but because it enacts dialectical thinking adequate to its object. Rather than a self‑contained logic applied to reality, Marx tracks how concrete oppositions ripen into contradictions—how specialization collides with labor mobility, how accumulation breeds crisis. Ethics reenters the frame too. Instead of rulebooks, we get the hard work of situated judgment and character, closer to Aristotle than to textbook deontology. Species‑being names our capacity for freedom and mutual recognition within social life; its glimpses are already here in imperfect forms, like care untethered from payment.If you've ever wondered why analytic philosophy persists, why Wittgenstein feels both central and strange, or how Marx can guide action without sanctifying dogma, this conversation connects the dots. Join us for a tour from Cambridge to Vienna to London and back to the workshop of history—and stay for a clear, practical case for philosophy that helps us think and act together. If this resonates, share it with a friend, leave a review, and tell us: what should philosophy dare to do next?Send a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian
From Sony's dynamic pricing drama to Xbox's Project Helix and a heated console‑war showdown, The Game Deflators tackle the week's biggest gaming battles. This week on The Game Deflators, John and Ryan bring a mix of pickups, industry news, rumors, and retro gaming heat. The episode kicks off with recent game pickups and collectible finds, including some unexpected retro scores and additions to the shelf. From there, the guys dive into their current gaming sessions, sharing progress updates and the titles that have been dominating their playtime. The conversation shifts into Lego and gaming crossovers, including the newly surfaced Mario miniature and the rumored Lego PlayStation 1 set that has collectors buzzing. Whether it's legit or just another internet fever dream, the guys break down why this rumor has so much traction. Next, the crew turns to Microsoft's next‑generation Xbox initiative, Project Helix. Rather than dissecting technical specs, John and Ryan focus on the broader implications — how Helix fits into Microsoft's evolving ecosystem strategy, what it signals for the future of Xbox hardware, and why the industry is paying close attention. That naturally leads into a spirited discussion on the Console Wars, comparing the shifting dynamics between Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. With each platform carving out a different identity, the guys explore where the competition is heating up and where the lines are starting to blur. The episode then pivots to Sony's newly uncovered dynamic pricing tests, where PlayStation Store users across multiple regions are seeing different prices for the same games. The hosts unpack what this A/B testing could mean for digital storefronts, consumer trust, and the future of game pricing. Finally, the Inflation Deflation Challenge returns with a look at Cool Spot, the 7UP mascot platformer that's equal parts nostalgia and oddity. John and Ryan revisit the game's charm, gameplay, and current market value to determine whether this retro collectible is inflating or deflating in today's market. 00:00 Intro 02:28 Recent Game Pickups and Collectibles 12:11 Current Gaming Sessions and Progress 17:52 Lego and Gaming Updates: Mario Miniature and LEgo PS1 27:15 Microsoft's Next Generation Xbox Insights 30:09 The Console Wars: Xbox vs. PlayStation vs. Steam 35:24 Sony Dynamic Pricing in Gaming: A New Approach 49:35 Inflation Deflation Challenge: Cool Spot Review Find us on TheGameDeflators.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/GameDeflators Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheGameDeflators Instagram - www.instagram.com/thegamedeflators The views and opinions expressed on this channel are solely those of the author. The content within these recordings are property of their respective Designers, Writers, Creators, Owners, Organizations, Companies and Producers. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted. Permission for intro and outro music provided by Matthew Huffaker http://www.youtube.com/user/teknoaxe 2_25_18
What happens when a police officer, author, and coach decides she no longer wants to "suffer in silence"? In this episode of Let's Talk Marketing with NDUB, Nathan Webster sits down with Rashida Saunders, author of Permission to Break: A Memoir of Strength, Silence, and Softness. They explore the heavy reality of living in the Pacific Northwest as people of color, the mask we wear in our professional lives, and why "breaking" is sometimes the only way to truly heal. Rashida shares her experience transitioning from a high-pressure career in law enforcement to finding her voice as a publisher and coach. If you've ever felt isolated, overwhelmed, or like you're living behind a label, this conversation is for you. Connect with Rashida Saunders: Website: https://www.rashidasaunders.com Buy the Book (signed copies): https://blackemberpress.com Connect with Nathan Webster: Website: https://ndubbrand.com/ YouTube Coaching: https://ndubbrand.com/our-services/youtube-coaching/ Fractional CMO: https://ndubbrand.com/fractional-cmo/ Schedule a Discovery Call: https://ndubbrand.com/free-discovery-call/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanwebster543/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanawebster/ Watch the full episode. Watch the LTM Podcast Shorts playlist. Watch the The Entrepreneur Grind playlist.
Why are so many of us hanging around waiting for a shoulder tap, an invite, or someone to say ‘go ahead'? Nat and Kristen get into where permission-seeking comes from, why it's a learned behaviour rather than a personal failing, and what you can do about it - starting with the low-stakes stuff like just picking the restaurant. Also featuring: Simone Biles, a deeply uncomfortable rewatch of Nashville, and why your professional development budget is probably sitting there untouched while someone else spends it.Loved it? Share it and leave us a 5-star review! Got a topic for us? Email hello@powrsuit.com. Follow Powrsuit on LinkedIn and Instagram, or join us at www.powrsuit.com for bite-sized professional development that actually fits into your week. 'Til next time, Powrsuiters!
Welcome to the First Presbyterian Church, New Bern Podcast! Join us weekly for our Sermon and Benediction. The full service can be found on our Youtube channel (link below). See more on our website!First Presbyterian Church, New Bern, North Carolina, established in 1817. A Congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Building community, transforming lives, engaging the world.See more at https://www.firstpresnb.orgFollow us on social media at https://www.facebook.com/firstpresnbWatch our streaming service each week at https://youtube.com/channel/UCKw0GnheJfOUlVv_g5bBrEwPermission to podcast/stream live music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License A-701790 and CCLI 3202763. All rights reserved. Permission to podcast/stream recorded music from artist.io.
TR is joined by Tony Napoletano to talk about implementing a modern classroom in a Montessori school and the significant overlap between the two approaches to teaching and learning Show Notes The Montessori Model Maria Montessori Eureka Math Contact us, follow us online, and learn more: Email us questions and feedback at: podcast@modernclassrooms.org Listen to this podcast on Youtube Modern Classrooms: @modernclassproj on Twitter and facebook.com/modernclassproj Kareem: @kareemfarah23 on Twitter Toni Rose: @classroomflex on Twitter and Instagram The Modern Classroom Project Modern Classrooms Online Course Take our free online course, or sign up for our mentorship program to receive personalized guidance from a Modern Classrooms mentor as you implement your own modern classroom! The Modern Classrooms Podcast is edited by Zach Diamond: @zpdiamond on Twitter and Learning to TeachSpecial Guest: Tony Napoletano.
Does it ever feel like there is a literal roar inside your head? The "should-haves," the "what-ifs," and that crushing mental anguish that fills the silence your child left behind—that is grief noise. It's loud, it's heavy, and it's exhausting to carry the weight of a mind trying to make sense of something that will never fully make sense this side of heaven. In this episode, we step into the next part of our Permission and Practice series by talking about something many grieving moms experience but rarely know how to quiet: the noise inside their minds. Through the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 and the promise found in Isaiah 26:3, you'll begin to see that God is not found in the loud storm of grief thoughts, but in the gentle whisper that invites your mind toward peace. Inside this conversation, you'll discover… Why the "grief noise" demands 100% of your bandwidth and how the enemy mimics your own voice to keep you in a loop of shame. The vital difference between having a perfect understanding of your circumstances and having a mind fixed on the Prince of Peace. How to identify the "wind, earthquake, and fire" in your own life so you can finally hear the gentle whisper of the Father. The two essential pillars you must seek to keep from burning out in the isolation that grief often creates. If your mind has felt like a battlefield and the noise of grief refuses to quiet, this conversation will remind you that you are not alone—and that God still meets weary hearts in the whisper. Press play and allow this moment to help you turn your thoughts toward the peace God promises.
Sermon by the Rev. Susan OakesGo to stthomasepiscopal.net to learn more about our church or make a financial gift.Permission to include music in the podcast is obtained from ONE LICENSE, license # 400737-M. All rights reserved.Support the show
Ever turned down a promotion and wondered if you made a mistake? Or watched a colleague "lean in" and felt guilty for not wanting the same thing? If yes, you've been carrying career guilt — and it's more common than you think. In this episode, we talk about what career guilt really is, why working moms feel it no matter what they choose, and how to finally let it go.What you'll learn:Why there's no one-size-fits-all answer to career ambition — and why that's actually good newsThe concept of career seasons, and how knowing which one you're in changes everythingWhy staying put, leaning out, or turning down the promotion can be the smartest move you makeIf you're second-guessing your career decisions, feeling judged for wanting more (or wanting less), or exhausted by the pressure to always be climbing, this episode will help you figure out what season you're actually in — and give you permission to own it.Ready to stop scrambling? Book your complimentary Chaos to Calm session.Free Resources:
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I was making $21K a month on paper. But my agency clients weren't paying. I had $6K in the bank. My mentor Nic told me to fire them. I was terrified. But I trusted him. Within two months, I went from $6K to almost $25K. Not by adding. By subtracting. Sometimes you need permission to quit. So here it is: It's okay. The weight lifts. The space fills with something better. The fear is smaller than the relief on the other side. Your homework: Write down the thing you've been scared to quit. Ask yourself: What would it feel like if this was gone? Need to talk it through? DM me @thelaurelshow on Instagram. Let's talk. Want that support every month? That's Momentum. $200/month. Link is here. Leave a 5-star review if this gave you permission.
For a long time I thought I was just being respectful by checking in with everyone about my decisions. But eventually I realized something… I wasn't asking for advice. I was asking for permission to live my life. In this episode of Renaissance Bodybuilder, I talk about how waiting for approval can quietly limit who we become. Hosted and Created by: Michael Otule
Brea and Mallory tick off another box on the 2026 Reading Glasses Challenge: participate in a readathon! Plus, they give tips on finding novellas and recommend romance with protagonists that use wheelchairs. Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com! Reading Glasses Merch Recommendations Store The Reading Glasses Book! Sponsors - IngramSpark Links - Reading Glasses Facebook Group Reading Glasses Goodreads Group Wish List Newsletter Libro.fm To join our Discord channel, email us proof of your Reading-Glasses-supporting Maximum Fun membership!www.maximumfun.org/joinTor dot com831 Stories Books Mentioned -Reinventing Love by Mona Chollet, translated by Susan EmanuelMetropolitan Life by Fran Lebowitz Knot My Type by Evie Mitchell The Year We Fell Down by Sabrina BowenUnbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp
In this episode of the Everyday VOpreneur Podcast, Marc Scott sits down with voice actor Samantha Damiano to talk about what it really looks like to build a voice over career from the ground up. Sam only started her voice over journey in 2023, but the way she has approached the industry, building relationships, investing in the right coaching, and learning from early mistakes, offers a valuable roadmap for anyone navigating the early stages of a voice acting career. From getting burned by a demo mill to building connections with some of the most respected coaches and mentors in the industry, Sam shares the lessons that helped her move from overwhelmed beginner to working talent. This conversation dives into the importance of giving yourself permission to fail, why relationships matter more than most new voice actors realize, and how to build a voice over career the right way. You'll also hear some incredible stories along the way, including how Sam went from racing camels in the Australian outback to pursuing voice over in Canada. If you're new to voice acting, feeling overwhelmed by the number of paths available, or wondering whether you're doing the right things to build your career, this episode is for you. In this episode we talk about: • How Samantha Damiano got started in voice over after a career working with animals • The early mistake that taught her to avoid demo mills • Why research and relationships matter when entering the industry • How to find the right coaches and mentors • The difference between training and actually launching your business • The moment when Sam realized she was ready to start marketing • Why direct marketing can be a turning point for voice actors • Building relationships with agents, coaches, and casting professionals • The importance of being prepared for your first directed session • Why giving yourself permission to fail is critical for growth • How to avoid becoming a “perpetual student” • The role of conferences, networking, and industry events • Why newer voice actors shouldn't feel pressured to rush their timeline Whether you're just starting your voice over journey or looking for encouragement as you build your business, this conversation is packed with insights and practical advice. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving a review. It helps more voice actors discover the show. CONNECT WITH SAMANTHA DAMIANO
You're listening to Burnt Toast. I'm Virginia Sole-Smith. Today my conversation is with none other than the beloved, the brilliant, Lindy West. Lindy is the author of four books, The New York Times bestselling memoir, Shrill, as well as the essay collections, The Witches Are Coming and Shit, Actually, and her brand new memoir Adult Braces, out now.Lindy is a former contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. Her work has appeared in This American Life, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vulture, Jezebel and many others. She is the co-host of the comedy podcast, Text Me Back!!! and the author of the newsletter Butt News. Lindy was a writer and executive producer on Shrill, the Hulu comedy adapted from her memoir, and she co-wrote and produced the independent feature film, Thin Skin. She lives on the Olympic Peninsula in rural Washington state. Lindy joined me to chat about her brand new memoir, Adult Braces. We get into her relationship to fatness, having people comment rather relentlessly on her marriage, why more best friends should start podcasts and so much more—including a quesadilla she invents in real time while we recorded. You are going to love this one. This conversation with Lindy is so juicy that we're breaking it up into two episodes! In Part 1 we're talking about her brand new memoir, Adult Braces, as well as her eating disorder therapy, being a public fat person and having people comment on her body and her marriage.In Part 2, we're getting into non-monogamy, the benefits of being in a throuple, podcasting and so much more! If you're already a paid subscriber, you've got both parts of the episode right here, right now in your inbox! Everyone else: Join Burnt Toast today to hear the whole thing! Membership starts at just $5 per month and also gets you commenting privileges.One last thing! You will want to read Adult Braces after hearing this conversation. If you order it from my local independent bookstore, Split Rock Books, you can take 10% off if you have also ordered a copy of my book Fat Talk from them. Go to Split Rock Books and use the code "fat talk" at checkout.Here's Lindy West.If you enjoy this conversation, a paid subscription is the best way to support our work!Join Burnt Toast
A lot of women hit their 40s and suddenly wonder: where did my drive go?In this episode, I'm joined by executive coach and leadership trainer Amina AlTai, author of The Ambition Trap, to talk about the powerful shift many women experience in perimenopause when their relationship with success, work, and purpose starts to change.We dive into why so many ambitious women suddenly feel a loss of “spark,” how nervous system capacity and life demands impact our drive, and why midlife often becomes the moment when women stop chasing expectations and start reconnecting with what truly matters. Amina also shares how core emotional patterns can influence our ambition and how women can begin to move from painful ambition to purposeful ambition.If you've been wondering why your energy, motivation, or career desires feel different lately, this episode will give you a whole new framework for understanding it.Episode Timeline: 00:29 – Episode Overview01:44 – Amina's Ambition Journey03:34 – Redefining Ambition04:22 – Ambition vs Motivation07:58 – The Five Core Wounds11:02 – Midlife Loss of Spark11:46 – Rethinking Success in Midlife13:57 – Painful vs Purposeful Ambition14:09 – Health Changes and Energy17:21 – Listening to Body Signals19:09 – Finding Joy Again20:53 – Resources vs Demands24:18 – Gender Bias in Ambition27:36 – Fixing Systems for Women29:38 – Permission to Want More31:01 – Embracing Ambition Cycles31:39 – Ambition Changes in Midlife33:02 – Letting Go of People Pleasing35:19 – The Underground Phase35:49 – Where to Connect with Amina AlTaiConnect with Amina AlTai:Website: aminaaltai.com Instagram (@aminaaltai): instagram.com/aminaaltai/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aminaaltai Check out Amina's bestselling book, The Ambition Trap: aminaaltai.com/book
If you've been broken down by sexual sin, we have good news for you: God has provided the means for transformation. It's in His word. But it's not simply a matter of knowledge. As a matter of fact, there's an increasing amount of church attendees who know the Bible really well, but also habitually indulge in sinful behavior. Transformation is a matter of submission—submission to a process which Residential Counseling Director Luke Imperato lays out clearly in today's message. Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible Copyright 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today's English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
This conversation I have with my friend Michael Neely goes somewhere I wasn't expecting. We start talking about hearing God's voice, and it turns into one of the most honest conversations I've had about what's actually in the way of receiving the Father's love... and why most of us don't even realize it's there.Michael Neely is an ordained Presbyterian pastor, spiritual director, and author of Hearing the Heartbeat of God and A Longing for More. He spent 13 years as a jail chaplain and now mentors young men in Bellingham, Washington through inner healing and freedom prayer.Expect to learn what "heart theology" is and why it shapes how you relate to God more than your actual beliefs do, what happened when Michael's dad disowned him at 25 and how it rewired his view of the Father, why forgiveness from your head and forgiveness from your heart are two very different things, what a 7-year-old boy and a gang taught Michael about community, how fear and unforgiveness quietly block us from hearing God, the four different ways we receive from God (and why most people only recognize one), and what it looks like to live from a place of being loved instead of performing for approval.Chapters:00:00 Intro04:10 The Simplicity of Hearing God and Why I Still Wrestle With It10:17 What's Actually Blocking Us From Receiving the Father's Love20:54 When Michael's Dad Disowned Him at 2527:46 Forgiveness From the Heart, Not Just the Head35:08 The Question That Changes How You See God and Yourself39:43 Permission to Fail and Why Jesus Wants You to Risk More47:52 The Four Ways We Receive From God53:55 What 13 Years in Prison Ministry Taught Michael About HealingIf something in this conversation stirred something in you, just sit with it for a moment. And if you want a place where you can practice listening with other people who are on this same journey, I'd love for you to join us.
Can someone sell your home without your permission?
Send us a Positive Review!One thing that Val is always juggling is how to do it all and maintain her sense of humor, high commitment to play, and overall sanity. She loves running the podcast, the groups, and squeezes work with amazing LDS faith-journeying individuals and couples between the cracks (which is a highlight of her week!) Fitting it all in can become tricky, which is why she has been looking for the 'just right' person to help with individuals & couples in Utah looking for a mental health worker with the stamp of approval from Val at Latter Day Struggles. In today's episode you will meet Heather Sundahl, the newest member of Valerie's Latter Day Struggles team. Heather is a licensed mental health worker, a resident of Utah and strongly endorsed by Valerie as someone you can trust on your faith expansion journey. If you loved their laughter, tears (mostly Val!) and banter, you'll love knowing that Heather plans to come on a few times a year to tackle tough topics with Val relevant to your healing and growth. Jump over to latterdaystruggles.com if you're from Utah and want to work with Heather. Timestamps:00:00 Welcome And Guest Intro01:01 Heather Background And Mentors04:07 Early LDS Gender Messages07:03 BYU Awakening Moment09:58 Storytelling And Exponent Two12:27 Becoming A Therapist14:23 Healing Through Narrative17:42 Owning Faith Narratives19:18 Eve And Going Off Script21:35 Life Beyond The Script25:47 Navigating Church Tensions26:57 Community Over Purity28:05 Permission to Be Honest29:05 Jesus as the Anchor29:23 Self Care for LDS Women31:24 Beyond Constant Sacrifice33:51 Therapy Approach and Boundaries35:33 Staying or Leaving the Church39:02 Trusting Your Inner Compass43:43 Faith Journeys and Belonging49:08 Honoring Mormon Identity51:14 Closing Vision and Next StepsSupport the showSupport the show Listen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Access $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Access $10 Valerie's Support & Processing Groups Gift a Scholarship Download Free Resources Visit our Website
Politics keeps offering us drama in place of design. We sat down with Nicholas D. Vairo to chart how the post-liberal moment slid from grand promises into a Bonapartist reality: a leader-first spectacle with no plan to build or maintain the institutions that make a society work. The core insight isn't just about ideology; it's about capacity. Professional elites still run what functions, for better and worse, because no competing class has figured out how to reproduce competence at scale.We unpack why Yarvin-style CEO fantasies and Deneen's mixed-constitution nostalgia mirror historical dead ends. The French parallels are illuminating: attempts to jury-rig monarchs and blended constitutions collapsed into Bonapartism, not renewal. That's where we are now—big talk, weak statecraft, and a movement that confuses obedience with order. Meanwhile, liberalism struggles with the deeper wound: a crisis of socialization. Without strong civil society—churches, associations, unions, schools that do more than sort—people can't generate shared meaning or stable norms. That vacuum breeds nihilism and brittle politics.We also go material. Neoliberal underinvestment hollowed America's productive base, leaving the U.S. with high labor productivity but low capital intensity and a long productivity slump ahead. Tariffs and culture war won't fix a capacity gap that took decades to create. China offers a counterexample—not as a model to copy, but as proof that disciplined investment and state competence matter more than performative revolt. On technology, we challenge fatalism: AI can de-skill or empower depending on the incentives and institutions wrapped around it. Design education for mastery and collaboration, and the tools raise the floor; design it for compliance and shortcuts, and skills atrophy.Where does that leave the left? With work to do. We argue for pro-factional, member-driven organizations that build beyond elections, tie back into unions and tenant power, and actually teach people to run things. Less content, more construction. If post-liberalism's disillusion teaches anything, it's that there's no substitute for institutions that build meaning and capacity together.If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who's wrestling with these questions, and leave a review telling us which institution you think we must rebuild first.Send a text Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian
John and Ryan open the episode with their latest game pickups. Ryan is currently playing Resident Evil Requiem and shares his initial thoughts on the atmosphere, pacing, and early gameplay feel. John, meanwhile, continues his play of Valkyrie Profile. Ryan also brings updates from his ongoing grind in Guilty Gear Strive, talking about fundamentals, improvement, and the competitive mindset. That leads into a look at the fighting game community as he prepares for an upcoming event in Seattle and reflects on the energy of in‑person tournaments. John shifts the discussion to Magic: The Gathering, breaking down the latest Universes Beyond release and why the TMNT crossover is struggling to gain traction. From there, the guys explore the downfall of High Guard, the launch of Marathon, and what these releases reveal about current industry trends. The future of Xbox takes the spotlight as they discuss Project Helix and how it could shape Microsoft's long‑term strategy. They also recap the biggest highlights from Pokémon Day, including new releases and updates worth watching. The episode continues with a look at Sony's evolving PC porting strategy before wrapping up with the Inflation Deflation Game of the Week. This week's pick is McDonald's Treasure Land Adventures, as the guys revisit the Sega Genesis platformer and debate its place in today's retro market. 00:00 Introduction to the Game Deflators Podcast 01:19 Recent Game Pickups and Current Playthroughs 08:47 Resident Evil Requiem: Gameplay Dynamics and Mechanics 14:50 Plucky Squire: Game Completion and Future Plans 19:51 Striving for Excellence in Guilty Gear Strive 26:46 Magic: The Gathering and Universes Beyond 31:40 High Guard's Demise and Industry Insights 36:27 Marathon's Launch and Player Reception 42:28 Project Helix and the Future of Xbox 44:22 Pokemon Day Highlights and New Releases 54:55 Sony's Shift in Game Porting Strategy 01:01:21 The Legacy of McDonald's Treasure Land Adventures Find us on TheGameDeflators.com Twitter - www.twitter.com/GameDeflators Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheGameDeflators Instagram - www.instagram.com/thegamedeflators The views and opinions expressed on this channel are solely those of the author. The content within these recordings are property of their respective Designers, Writers, Creators, Owners, Organizations, Companies and Producers. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted. Permission for intro and outro music provided by Matthew Huffaker http://www.youtube.com/user/teknoaxe 2_25_18
Our response to God's grace should not be to sin more freely, but to choose to be slaves to Christ, to commit to obedience in our daily living, and to get baptized. The post Rescued, Part 9: Grace Is Not Permission to Sin appeared first on Reston Bible Church.
In this episode of The Six Figure Author Experiment, Lee and Russell veer delightfully off-road into a “totally new format” conversation that blends tarot, business diagnostics, mindset, guided meditations, nervous system regulation, and delegation. Lee shares her two-year journey toward creating a tarot deck without spending $25K–$30K on art, and how AI helped her extract and match quotes from her own books into card concepts. That rabbit trail turns into a bigger theme: permission. Why creators freeze, hustle, or stall out when the real work is learning to believe you belong in the room. From “capitalist tarot” systems (major arcana as business phases) to talismans and rituals that anchor identity, the conversation lands on a practical delegation framework: start with the projects you will never do, hire for agency, and run 7-day experiments instead of building fragile job roles.Topics Covered:* Lee's new format experiment: building a tarot deck (and why it matters)* The real cost of a traditional tarot deck: 78 cards + art + printing* Pivoting from full art to text-based decks: oracle/stuck deck hybrids* Using AI to extract quotes from your own catalog and match them to cards* “I can't hit the trend unless I make the trend” and why creators rebuild systems to understand them* Building “business tarot”: diagnostics designed for business, not pasted onto it* Tarot as structured language: major arcana, phases, and shared symbolic meaning* Tarot as poetry: interpretation as self-revelation, not author intent* “Beyond the book” expansion: why rituals and repeat-touch objects matter* Anchors and talismans: poker chips, degrees on walls, and belief as the real ticket in* Permission economy vs. self-permission: how creators get trained to ask instead of act* Lisa's guided meditations for authors: relaxing into the solution-state and letting the brain map the path* Reticular activating system: priming your mind to notice solutions* Hustle vs. freeze: sympathetic overload, cortisol loops, and “gas + emergency brake” burnout* Walking as regulation: bilateral movement cues safety and de-escalation* Play as nervous system reset: “sketch with no outcome,” look up, take a photo, be present* Delegation as a common creator pain point: burnout + distrust + micromanaging* Delegation metaphor: if you order coffee without running into the kitchen, you've delegated* Hiring for agency: “extrapolating from known data” as Russell's key interview test* The recursive feedback loop: taste, questions, and improving output over time* The “F*** List”: projects you will never do (perfect first delegation targets)* Don't hire for high-context roles too early: community, ads, brand voice, etc.* Delegate low-hanging fruit first: personal life tasks and modular business tasks* Delegation stall-out: bicycle → Ferrari transition and tolerating the temporary slowdown* 7-day experiments over rigid goals: test, review, iterate, replace* Zone of genius homework: notice flow states, write them down, delegate the rest* Space creates growth: firing headaches, reclaiming runway, hiring better replacements* Closing recap: tarot, meditations, delegating, and embracing “good chaos” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sixfigureauthorexperiment.com
Lately I've been carrying a specific kind of dread. Watching the situation with Iran develop, and noticing how often God gets woven into the justification for violence — quietly, almost liturgically, until you can't tell where the political calculation ends and the sacred mission begins. That observation sent me back to Slavoj Žižek, and to an argument I find both uncomfortable and urgent: that it isn't the absence of God that makes everything permissible. It's the presence of God. Or more precisely, the certainty that you're acting in his name.In this episode I trace both sides of that paradox — including the challenge my stepson puts to me constantly, that without God there's no real ground for ethics at all. I spend time with Hegel, Paul Tillich, and Todd McGowan on the idea of a God who doesn't control history and therefore can't be invoked to sanction it. No clean resolution. Just a question I think we need to be asking right now.
In this episode of the Chasing Giants Podcast, Don Higgins and Terry Peer dive into several important topics for whitetail hunters and land managers. First, they explain the strategy behind permission properties and why now is the perfect time of year to start knocking on doors. Don shares how persistence and building relationships with landowners can unlock incredible hunting opportunities—even in states where you don't live. Next, Don and Terry explain the story behind Scrape Magnet, the new synthetic scent product developed under the Chasing Giants brand. They discuss the two-year process of testing the product across 9 states and 54 properties, how rope scrapes work, and why synthetic scents may become increasingly important as more states restrict gland-based scents due to CWD regulations. The episode also features a candid discussion about health and diet changes both hosts have made recently. Don shares how eliminating carbs dramatically improved his health after experiencing severe symptoms related to inflammation and blood pressure. Terry talks about his battle with rheumatoid arthritis and how a strict carnivore diet helped eliminate pain and inflammation. Finally, the Higgins Hot Seat returns with listener questions covering topics such as: - Managing mature bucks on small properties - Typical vs. non-typical racks - How much to practice shooting your bow - Girdling vs. cutting trees for bedding cover - Planting soybeans for deer food plots - Establishing Nutri-Crave corn plots If you're passionate about deer hunting, habitat improvement, and land management, this episode is packed with practical insight. Our Partners - Asio Gear – https://www.asiogear.com - Midwest Land Group – https://www.midwestlandgroup.com - Novix Outdoors – https://www.novixoutdoors.com - Hawke Optics USA – https://us.hawkeoptics.com - Mike's Mighty Micros – https://www.mikesmightymicros.com - Victory Auto Group – https://www.victorykc.com - 360 Hunting Blinds – https://www.360huntingblinds.com - Real World Wildlife Products – https://www.realworldwildlifeproducts.com - Mathews Archery – https://www.mathewsinc.com - Gingerich Tree Farm – https://www.gingerichtreefarm.com - Brenton USA – https://www.brentonusa.com - Vortex Optics – https://www.vortexoptics.com - Grubb Implement – https://www.grubbimplement.com - TagOut Technique – https://www.tagouttechnique.com The Chasing Giants Podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The opinions expressed by Don Higgins and Terry Peer are based on personal experience and are not a substitute for professional agricultural, wildlife management, financial, legal, or medical advice. Always consult appropriate professionals before making land management, planting, chemical, hunting, or financial decisions. All rights reserved. Any reproduction or rebroadcast of this content without the written consent of Chasing Giants LLC is strictly prohibited.
Welcome to the First Presbyterian Church, New Bern Podcast! Join us weekly for our Sermon and Benediction. The full service can be found on our Youtube channel (link below). See more on our website!First Presbyterian Church, New Bern, North Carolina, established in 1817. A Congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Building community, transforming lives, engaging the world.See more at https://www.firstpresnb.orgFollow us on social media at https://www.facebook.com/firstpresnbWatch our streaming service each week at https://youtube.com/channel/UCKw0GnheJfOUlVv_g5bBrEwPermission to podcast/stream live music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License A-701790 and CCLI 3202763. All rights reserved. Permission to podcast/stream recorded music from artist.io.
Sermon by the Rev. Louise ThibodauxGo to stthomasepiscopal.net to learn more about our church or make a financial gift.Permission to include music in the podcast is obtained from ONE LICENSE, license # 400737-M. All rights reserved.Support the show
In this episode of the Holistic Healers Community Podcast, Crystal sits down with human design guide Rae Minot for an expansive and practical conversation about understanding your energetic blueprint.Rae shares how she discovered human design during the pandemic and began using it as a powerful framework for exploring energy management, decision-making strategy, and permission to live more authentically. Together, Crystal and Rae discuss the five human design types, what profile numbers represent, and how this system can help us better understand not only ourselves, but our partners, children, and families.Crystal and Rae also open up about the ways they've adapted their own lives based on their individual types, and the profound shifts they've experienced as a result. This conversation frames human design as a tool for awareness and alignment, offering listeners practical insights for honoring their natural rhythms and building more harmonious relationships. Rae also shares about her current offerings and how to connect with her for personalized readings and guidance.Whether you're brand new to human design or looking to deepen your understanding, this episode invites you to explore what becomes possible when you give yourself full permission to be who you were designed to be.Have a listen & don't forget to follow the podcast to stay up to date on episodes! You can also leave feedback on the episode over at HHC's Instagram @holistichealerscommunity or find out more about Rae and how to work with her on her IG and website.IG: raeminotWebsite: www.iamraeminot.comMusic credit: Blind Love by TuneTrove
Apply for a Scholarship for Defense Foundations (starts April 1) First come, first served. Or, join here without a scholarship application. If you keep making plans you believe in, and then watching yourself not follow through, it's probably not the plan. It's the moment the plan leaks. Most people keep trying to fix the leak with a new plan, a new start date, or more motivation. But if you don't identify your core pattern, you'll drag it into every goal you ever set. In this episode, I break down what I call permission slips. These are the internal sentences that make it "reasonable" to abandon the standard. They're rarely dramatic. They're usually familiar. The five major permission slips we cover: Procrastination Compensation Justification Resignation Dismissal (often disguised as practicality) This isn't about shame. It's about accuracy. When you stop treating it like a personality flaw and start treating it like a predictable access point, everything changes.
Sermon by Guest Preacher: Dr. James Saxon on 03-08-2026 at New Covenant Church in Anderson, SC Scripture passage: John 20:19-21 & Various Related Texts Outline: https://1drv.ms/b/c/38981596fcff90c9/IQCUCyGLKs2pTZyrJOAl_MOWAUiwQG0S2bv_0jd4Q-LT3kc?e=3KTnnL Outline:
This first Fuck Yeah Friday episode of March centers on the idea that permission doesn't come from the outside—it comes from you. Lesley highlights the legacy of Alice Milliat, who created opportunities for women in sports by building an alternative system when institutions refused to change. She then shares community wins and her own personal health milestones, reinforcing that progress, self-care, and courage often show up in everyday actions. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How one woman organized women's games without waiting for Olympic inclusion.Reclaiming mental focus by taking a week-long break from Instagram.Celebrating listener wins: movement, better sleep, and mastering new skills.Conquering the challenges of medical appointments as radical self-care.Episode References/Links:Alice Milliat - https://beitpod.com/alicemilliatSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00 It's Fuck Yeah. Friday. Brad Crowell 0:03 Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:04 Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:44 Hi, Be It babe. Hello, happy FYF, our first one on March. Are you ready? Are you in it? This year is just it's going by. There's a lot going on, so much I could say, but we're gonna start with some something that was inspiring and cool, that that I found on the internet. So this is from herstory_feminism. Did you know women's athletics entered the Olympics because one woman forced the issue by building her own games. Meet Alice Milliat. In the earliest 20th century, women were largely banned from competitive athletics, yes, we know, but the Olympic Committee claimed running, jumping and throwing were dangerous for women's bodies, too strenuous, too unfeminine, too much. So women were excluded, officially and unapologetically. Alice Milliat was a French sports administrator who refused to accept that answer. She believed women were not fragile. They were restricted, and if institutions wouldn't change, she would go around them. In 1921 Alice Milliat founded the Federation Sportive Feminine Internationale. I didn't say that with a French accent, I am sorry. Then she did something radical. She organized the Women's World Games, international competitions where women ran, jumped through and competed at elite level in front of crowds of tens of thousands, no permission required. The games were a success. They drew athletes, spectators and press attention, and suddenly the Olympics had a problem. Women's Sports was thriving without them. Under pressure, the IOC agreed to include women's athletics in the 1928 Olympic games, but only a limited number of events, and only after years of resistance. Once women were absorbed into the Olympic system. Alice Milliat was quietly pushed out. The Women's World Games were discontinued. Her organization dissolved. Her name faded from official history. The institution kept the change. The woman who forced it disappeared. Of course. Alice Milliat didn't ask for inclusion. She built an alternative so strong it made exclusion impossible. Women didn't enter the Olympics because attitude softened. The injured because a woman proved the ban was unnecessary. History remembers the institution. It forgets a disruption that forced it to change. So I am just obsessed and with like, I just think that's so cool. What a badass. It's so hard to do something scary and new like that. But she didn't ask for permission. Just did it. And I think, like, isn't that being it till we see it? We don't actually need permission from anyone to do what it is that we want to do. Make sure you just get to do it. So I just want to say, if there's something that you're waiting for someone to deem you worthy of doing, I wouldn't. I would just go do it. And it's really scary. I get it. We're working on something right now that may or may not happen when it when I it's for sure happening, I will definitely shout it out and let you know. But part of me is like, oh, my god, is this the right time? Who are we to do this? We don't have, like, like, we could do it, but like, you know, so just know that, like, you need it all from you. The permission comes from you. Lesley Logan 3:29 All right, we're getting, this is my first FYF that I'm recording, I think, this year. And I'm, I'm just definitely, like, getting back into the swing of things. So if you are, you're like, wow, she sounds a little disorganized. I am just a little bit. Okay, so this is the fyfs where, this is where I actually share your wins. And you guys posted a ton of wins when I asked a few weeks back, so I'm going to read a few of them for you. So I do your wins. I do my wins. And really, we're just here to have a short time together where we go, whoa. Look at all the badasses that (inaudible) like women, you guys are so amazing. I know we have a few good men who listen. Thanks so much. But I'm really but I'm really so proud of how we can constantly find wins in all the muck, right? So this is from Yasmin. She said my biggest win is one week without Instagram to focus on other things. Yasmin, the time I'm recording this like I have to tell you right now, I actually haven't posted in days. I've just been kind of reposting from Profitable Pilates and Be It Till You See It, be it till I see it. And I'm like, why don't we call it Be It Till We See It. It's a group effort. And I am loving it because I have to have focus on other things, like it's being the beast is annoying, and so I'm so happy for you. What that is such a huge win, by the way, because it's kind of addictive. All right. Rachel from Seattle, rach.sos.vib, she wrote, I skied, taught fantastic classes and learned how to use earphones to record with Zoom for eLevate. You know what? Huge wins. You went out, took a break when skiing. You know, you had some fantastic classes that you you taught, like, way to pat yourself on the back. I love that. And then you learned how to use some earphones to record it. You know what? We all have to be beginners again. There's always something to be a beginner and like, it's so good for our brains to do that. So, way to go. All right, one more win from you guys. This is from anniecaminpilates. My wins, being present with my kiddos, getting decent sleep, getting outside for movement and fresh air despite crazy winter weather. You know what? Let me just say, huge win. If you can do all of that with kiddos and crazy winter weather, you're you're kicking ass. So you see how wins can be like something like so simple, I just didn't do Instagram for a week. Like, I am on a mission for more women to see that they are winning at things. They're winning at life because the world is trying to tell us that we're not, and they're doing that because if we banded together, we'd kick some ass, we'd run the world. We'd harness the sun's energy. That's what my yoga teacher said this morning, and I couldn't agree more. Lesley Logan 5:38 All right, so let me tell you my win. So here's where, while we're talking, I have actually had my annual visit with my lady doctor. I scheduled my MRI for my breast visits, and I met with a psychiatrist about my ADHD, and I met with a breast doctor about my high risk. So I am just saying, like, just saying, like, wow, it's March 6, and I've done all the important doctor's appointments I need to do this year, and I just, I'm so proud of myself. I call that a win, especially for someone who hates making phone calls, like I really do. And then the MRI was not easy. I actually had to drive there because, like, scheduling over the phone is just a disaster with doctor's offices these days. In the year of our Lord 2026 with all the AI in the world, you got to go in person if you want to get an appointment that actually can be kept, because, if you remember, last year, they rescheduled it multiple times because it kept getting scheduled during someone's lunch. How does that happen? How does it happen? Lunches should be blocked out. So anyways, my win is like we got them all done, and it's only March. I've got a plan for this year. I'm really excited. I'll share more about my ADHD journey as I have information for you, but just freaking stoked. Lesley Logan 6:42 So now let's give you a mantra and send you on your amazing way. Every act of self-care is a step toward my best self. What a fun mantra to draw on this day. Every act of self-care is a step toward my best self. Yes, every act of self-care is a step toward my best self. I mean, every act of self-care is a step toward being it till you see it, babe. All right, you know what to do. Send this to a friend who needs to hear it. Go, send your wins into the beitpod.com/questions you can send your questions there as well. And then, you know, share this episode with a friend. I already said that. So why don't you share this episode with a friend? Then, you know, go Be It Till You See It. Go, have a good day. Thanks so much. Bye. Lesley Logan 7:19 That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 8:03 It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 8:08 It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 8:12 Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 8:19 Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 8:23 Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Today sis, let's time travel! I want to take you into the grocery store with me during my recovery. On this particular trip (actually most every trip to the store), I would stand in the peanut butter aisle...yes, for 20 minutes—staring at jars, reading labels, comparing calories. And I was exhausted with my own mess. Peanut butter was a total fear food. I'd tell people "I didn't like it" when in fact, I grew up on PB&J sandwiches and adored the taste pre-ED. But during ED, I just didn't trust myself around it. This day however, I got so tired of my usual ED pattern that I assigned myself a task: walk in, choose a jar, take it home, and make something with it. That one decision changed everything. You are one decision away from a completely different life. And it starts with giving yourself permission. In today's podcast episode you'll discover: How one grocery store decision became my recovery breakthrough Why every decision is actually an act of permission The connection between indecision and staying stuck How to pre-decide your way to freedom What permissions you might be withholding from yourself Why peanut butter now reminds me of freedom The ripple effect one brave choice creates THE POWER OF ONE DECISION You are one decision away from a completely different life. Not ten decisions. Not a perfect plan. Not waiting until you feel ready. That day, I wasn't any less scared of peanut butter than before. But I decided I was the boss of me. I got to decide how I wanted to be defined. And I no longer wanted to be scared of peanut butter. Every decision is actually an act of permission. When I decided to buy that peanut butter, I gave myself permission to: Trust myself around a fear food Stop analyzing and start choosing Act differently than I had been acting Take up space in my own life WHY WE AVOID THE DECISION Standing in that aisle for 20 minutes wasn't really about comparing labels. It was about avoiding the decision entirely. As long as I was analyzing, I didn't have to choose. As long as I was researching, I didn't have to act. As long as I was stuck in indecision, I didn't have to face my fear. But indecision is actually a decision—it's the decision to stay exactly where you are. THE PRACTICE OF PRE-DECIDING What made that trip different: I pre-decided. Instead of hoping I'd feel brave, I decided ahead of time what I was going to do. Pre-deciding removes the option to get stuck in analysis paralysis. It removes the option to spend 20 minutes staring at labels. It removes the option to leave empty-handed. What could you pre-decide today? That you're going to eat lunch, no matter how anxious you feel That you're going to order what sounds good, not what has fewest calories That you're going to call a therapist or coach THE RIPPLE EFFECT That peanut butter decision was a turning point because it taught me: If I could decide and DO with peanut butter, I could do that with anything that scared me. One act of permission opened the door to others: Permission to eat other fear foods Permission to trust my body Permission to be imperfect in recovery Permission to choose freedom over control Permission creates momentum. One granted permission leads to another, and another. KEY QUOTES
Somewhere along the way, a lot of women start downplaying their running goals.“It's just a 50K.”“I mean… there are people running way farther than me.”In this episode, I'm stepping in as the
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For years, I believed rest was something you earned. I thought I had to work hard enough, prove I was disciplined enough, and hit the next goal before I was "allowed" to slow down. In this bonus episode, I'm sharing the permission I wish someone had given me sooner and the lesson I had to learn the hard way when my body finally forced me to stop. This conversation is personal and honest. I talk about how hustle culture shaped my relationship with rest, what happened when I kept pushing through exhaustion, and how everything shifted when I finally gave myself permission to slow down. If you have been waiting to feel ready before resting, eating more, saying no, or prioritizing yourself, this episode is your reminder that you do not need to wait. Here is what I share in this episode: • Why I believed rest had to be earned • How constantly pushing started impacting my energy, mood, and cycle • The mindset shift that changed how I see recovery • Why rest supports progress instead of slowing it down • The question you need to ask yourself about permission • Practical steps to start giving yourself permission today If this episode gave you something you needed to hear, make sure you are following the podcast so you do not miss future episodes. And if someone in your life needs this reminder, send it to her. If you are ready to build strength in a way that supports your body instead of breaking it down, you can learn more about Movement With Julie at movementwithjulie.com. If you want more from me, be sure to check out… Follow me on Instagram: @juliealedbetter | @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie Movement With Julie | App: https://sale.movementwithjulie.com/ Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/ Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't strategy… but permission? In this episode of the Uncaged Clinician Podcast, Kevin DeGroot shares a powerful message that has been coming up repeatedly in coaching conversations with clinicians and practice owners: the need to give yourself permission to do things differently. Too often, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and healthcare professionals feel stuck because of expectations placed on them by their profession, their employers, or even the broader business world. But building a business—and a life—that aligns with your values sometimes requires stepping outside those expectations. Kevin breaks down three important permissions that many clinicians need to hear: 1️⃣ Permission to stop trying to fix the entire profession You don't have to carry the weight of elevating an entire field. Sometimes the best thing you can do is build something better and let your results speak for themselves. 2️⃣ Permission to build the practice you actually want Not every clinic needs to be a seven-figure empire. It's okay to design your business around your priorities, your family, and the lifestyle you want. 3️⃣ Permission to leave someone else's business You are not responsible for keeping someone else's clinic alive. If it's time to move on and pursue something different, you're allowed to make that decision. Sometimes the biggest breakthrough isn't learning a new strategy—it's realizing that you're allowed to take a different path. If you've ever felt stuck between what you want and what you feel like you "should" do, this episode is for you. Learn more about Uncaged Clinician: https://www.uncagedclinician.com
#335: In this months solo episode I'm kicking off our series for the month of March, The Business of You, by having a very real conversation about what it actually means to be the CEO of your life.I'm getting candid on where I actually am in my business right now — the uncomfortable questions I'm sitting with, the pressure of building something meaningful in a world that only seems to reward numbers, and what it feels like when your vision refuses to fit into a neat little content box. This episode is about identifying your real assets, cutting your liabilities, reclaiming your agency, and making CEO-level decisions for your life. Even when you're still in the messy middle and don't have it all figured out.Let's build the business of you intentionally and strategically.This episode is for you if…You've been building something quietly and you're wondering if it's enough.You feel the tension between staying authentic and doing what “works.”You know you're capable of more, but you've been waiting to be chosen instead of deciding to choose yourself.You're tired of being valuable to everyone else but unclear on how to value yourself.You've been focused on what you don't have instead of learning how to leverage the cards you do have.You want to stop moving like an employee in your own life and start thinking strategically about your assets, your liabilities, and your equity.You're ready to make at least one CEO-level decision this month. One that protects your peace, raises your standards, and moves you closer to your long-term vision.Keep in Touch with Les:Use code LES50 for $50 off of Botox at PeachyReady to apply what you hear? Subscribe to the She's So Lucky Newsletter to get weekly episode guides and journal prompts: https://shessolucky.kit.com/newsletterFollow Les on IG @lesalfredFollow She's So Lucky on IG @shessoluckypodFollow Les on TikTokFollow She's So Lucky on TikTokVisit our website at shessoluckypodcast.comSponsors:Osea: Give your skin a rest with clean, clinically tested skincare from OSEA. Get 10% off your first order site wide with code BBG at OSEAMalibu.com.ButcherBox: As an exclusive offer, new listeners can get their choice between organic ground beef, chicken breast or ground turkey in every box for a year, PLUS $20 off when you go to butcherbox.com/lucky.Rula: This year, make one change you can actually stick with. Visit Rula.com/lucky to get started with mental health care that's actually built to last. #rulapodRW Knudsen: With R.W. Knudsen, krush 100% of your day. Morning, afternoon, evening and all the moments in between — with 100% juice and no added sugar. Pick up a bottle at your local grocery store today.Nuuly: Upgrade your wardrobe by subscribing to Nuuly. Nuuly is an incredible value at $98 for any 6 styles, and right now you can get $28 off your first month when you sign up at nuuly.com and enter code LUCKY at checkout.This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.Produced by Dear Media See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Today, I'm handing over the host chair and letting you in on a different conversation, where I'm the one answering the questions! In this episode, which I'm re-airing after we recorded it for her show, Molly Asplin interviews me about the story behind Brilliant Balance, my leap from corporate life to entrepreneurship, and why our personal definitions of success matter more than any universal standard. We talk about the seasons of our lives, the messy reality behind the highlight reels, and how giving ourselves permission to embrace the "now" can change everything. If you've ever wrestled with burnout, perfectionism, or the belief that you just can't press pause, I promise you'll feel seen here. Grab your coffee, settle in, and join us for a fresh perspective on designing a brilliant, balanced life, your way. Show Highlights: How I left P&G with financial runways to launch a business. [03:43] Align your pace with life's growth and recovery seasons. [10:56] Are you living by outdated standards of success? [18:16] How to name your season and reset your rhythm. [20:23] The power of intentional calendar curation. [24:12] Energy management essentials for health and resilience. [27:44] What's procrastination perfectionism? [32:05] Separating social narratives from yourself as a woman. [34:56] The pendulum shift to recovery from career overdrive. [41:08] Permission for tired women to sleep and get support. [42:41] Check out my Momentum Playbook and other helpful tools. [45:51] To find Molly Asplin's podcast The Modern High Performer, visit https://mollyasplin.com/modern-high-performer-podcast/. Subscribe to the Brilliant Balance Weekly: www.brilliant-balance.com/weekly Follow Cherylanne on Instagram: www.instagram.com/cskolnicki
Today, I'm handing over the host chair and letting you in on a different conversation, where I'm the one answering the questions! In this episode, which I'm re-airing after we recorded it for her show, Molly Asplin interviews me about the story behind Brilliant Balance, my leap from corporate life to entrepreneurship, and why our personal definitions of success matter more than any universal standard. We talk about the seasons of our lives, the messy reality behind the highlight reels, and how giving ourselves permission to embrace the "now" can change everything. If you've ever wrestled with burnout, perfectionism, or the belief that you just can't press pause, I promise you'll feel seen here. Grab your coffee, settle in, and join us for a fresh perspective on designing a brilliant, balanced life, your way. Show Highlights: How I left P&G with financial runways to launch a business. [03:43] Align your pace with life's growth and recovery seasons. [10:56] Are you living by outdated standards of success? [18:16] How to name your season and reset your rhythm. [20:23] The power of intentional calendar curation. [24:12] Energy management essentials for health and resilience. [27:44] What's procrastination perfectionism? [32:05] Separating social narratives from yourself as a woman. [34:56] The pendulum shift to recovery from career overdrive. [41:08] Permission for tired women to sleep and get support. [42:41] Check out my Momentum Playbook and other helpful tools. [45:51] To find Molly Asplin's podcast The Modern High Performer, visit https://mollyasplin.com/modern-high-performer-podcast/. Subscribe to the Brilliant Balance Weekly: www.brilliant-balance.com/weekly Follow Cherylanne on Instagram: www.instagram.com/cskolnicki
How do you build a creative life that spans music, writing, film, and spiritual practice? Alicia Jo Rabins talks about weaving multiple creative strands into a sustainable career and why the best advice for any creator might simply be: just make the thing. In the intro, backlist promotion strategy [Written Word Media]; Successful author business [Novel Marketing Podcast]; Alliance of Independent Authors Indie Author Bookstore; Bones of the Deep – J.F. Penn This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Alicia Jo Rabins is an award-winning writer, musician, performer, as well as a Torah teacher and ritualist. She's the creator of Girls In Trouble, a feminist indie-folk song cycle about biblical women, and the award-winning film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Her latest book is a memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights, and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Building a sustainable multi-disciplinary creative career through teaching, performance, grants, and donations Trusting instinct in the early generative stages of creativity and separating generation from editing Adapting and reimagining religious and cultural source material through music, writing, and performance The challenges of transitioning from poetry to long-form prose memoir, including choosing a lens for your story Making an independent film on a shoestring budget without waiting for Hollywood's permission Finding your creative voice and building confidence by leaning into vulnerability and returning to the practice of making You can find Alicia at AliciaJo.com. Transcript of the interview with Alicia Jo Rabins Joanna: Alicia Jo Rabins is an award-winning writer, musician, performer, as well as a Torah teacher and ritualist. She's the creator of Girls In Trouble, a feminist indie-folk song cycle about biblical women, and the award-winning film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Her latest book is a memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. So welcome to the show, Alicia. Alicia: Thank you so much. I'm delighted to be here. Joanna: There is so much we could talk about. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you've woven so many strands of creativity into your life and career. Alicia: Yes, well, I am a maximalist. What happened in terms of my early life is that I started writing on my own, just extremely young. I'm one of those people who always loved writing, always processed the world and managed my emotions and came to understand myself through writing. So from a very young age, I felt really committed to writing. Then I had the good fortune that my mother saw a talk show about the Suzuki method of learning violin—when you start really young and learn by ear, which is modelled after language learning. It's so much less intellectual and much more instinctual, learning by copying. She was like, that looks like a cool thing. I was three years old at the time and she found out that there was a little local branch of our music conservatory that had a Suzuki violin programme. So when I was three and a half, getting close to four, she took me down and I started playing an extremely tiny violin. Joanna: Oh, cute! Alicia: Yes, and because it was part of this conservatory that was downtown, and we were just starting at the suburban branch where we lived, there was this path that I was able to follow. As I got more and more interested in violin, I could continue basically up through the conservatory level during high school. So I had a really fantastic music education without any pressure, without any expectations or professional goals. I just kept taking these classes and one thing led to another. I grew up being very immersed in both creative writing and music, and I think just having the gift of those two parts of my brain trained and stimulated and delighted so young really changed my brain in some ways. I'll always see the world through this creative lens, which I think I'm also just set up to do personally. Then the last step of my multi-practice career is that in college I got very interested in Jewish spirituality. I'm Jewish, but I didn't grow up very religious. I didn't grow up in a Jewish community really. So I knew some basics, but not a ton. In college I started to study it and also informally learned from other people I met. I ended up going on a pretty intense spiritual quest, going to Jerusalem and immersing myself after college for two years in traditional Jewish study and practice. So that became the third strand of the braid that had already been started with music and writing. Torah study, spiritual study, and teaching became the third, and they all interweave. The last thing I'll say is that because I work in both words and music, and naturally performance because of music, it began to branch a little bit into plays, theatre, and film, just because that's where the intersection of words, performance, and music is. So that's really what brought me into that, as opposed to any specific desire to work in film. It all happened very organically. Joanna: I love this. This is so cool. We are going to circle back to a lot of this, but I have to ask you— What about work for money at any point? How did this turn into more than just hobbies and lifestyle? Alicia: Yes, absolutely. Well, I'm very fortunate that I did not graduate college with loans because my parents were able to pay for college. That was a big privilege that I just want to name, because in the States that's often not the case. So that allowed me to need to support myself, but not also pay loans, which was a real gift. What happened was I went straight from college to that school in Jerusalem, and there I was on loans and scholarship, so I didn't have to worry yet about supporting myself. Then when I came back to the States, I actually found on Craigslist a job teaching remedial Hebrew. It was essentially teaching kids at a Jewish elementary school who either had learning differences or had just entered the school late and needed to be in a different Hebrew class than the other kids in their grade. That was my first experience of really teaching, and I just absolutely fell in love with it. Although in the end, my passion is much more for teaching the text and rituals and the wrestling with the concepts, as opposed to teaching language. So all these years, while doing performance and writing and all these things, I have been teaching Jewish studies. That has essentially supported me, I would say, between 50 and 70 per cent. Then the rest has been paid gigs as a musician, whether as a front person leading a project or as what we call a sideman, playing in someone else's band. Sometimes doing theatre performances, sometimes teaching workshops. That's how I've cobbled it together. I have not had a full-time job all these years and I have supported myself through both earned income and also grants and donations. I've really tried to cultivate a little bit of a donor base, and I took some workshops early on about how to welcome donations. So I definitely try to always welcome that as well. Joanna: That is so interesting that you took a workshop on how to welcome donations. Way back in, I think 2013, I said on this show, I just don't know if I can accept people giving to support the show. Then someone on the podcast challenged me and said, but people want to support creatives. That's when I started Patreon in 2014. It was when The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer came out and— It was this realisation that people do want to support people. So I love that you said that. Alicia: It's not easy. It's still not easy for me, and I have to grit my teeth every time I even put in my end-of-year newsletter. I just say, just a reminder that part of what makes this possible is your generous donations, and I'm so grateful to you. It's not easy. I think some people enjoy fundraising. I certainly don't instinctively enjoy it, but I have learned to think of it exactly the way that you're saying. I mean, I love donating to support other people's projects. Sometimes it's the highlight of my day. If I'm having a bad day and someone asks for help, either to feed a family or to complete a creative project, I just feel like, okay, at least I can give $36 or $25 and feel like I did something positive in the last hour, even if my project is going terribly and I'm in a fight with my kid or something. So I have to keep in mind that it is actually a privilege to give as well as a privilege to receive. Joanna: Absolutely. So let's get back into your various creative projects. The first thing I wanted to ask you, because you do have so many different formats and forms of your creativity—how do you know when an idea that comes to you should be a song, or something you want to do as a performance, or written, or a film? Tell us a bit about your creative process. Because a lot of your projects are also longer-term. Alicia: Yes. It's funny, I love planning and in some ways I'm an extreme planner. I really drive people in my family bonkers with planning, like family vacations a year in advance. In terms of my creativity, I'm very planful towards goals, but in that early generative state, I am actually pure instinct. I don't think I ever sit down and say, “I have this idea, which genre would it match with?” It's more like I sit on my bed and pick up my guitar, which is where I love to do songwriting, just sitting on my bed cross-legged, and I pick up my guitar and something starts coming out. Then I just work with that kernel. So it's very nebulous at first, very innate, and I just follow that creative spirit. Often I don't even know what a project is, sometimes if it's a larger project, until a year or two in. Once things emerge and take shape, then my planning brain and my strategy brain can jump on it and say, “Okay, we need three more songs to fill out the album, and we need to plan the fundraising and the scheduling.” Then I might take more of an outside-in approach. At the beginning it's just all instinct. Joanna: So if you pick up your guitar, does that mean it always starts in music and then goes into writing? Or is that you only pick up a guitar if it's going to be musical? Alicia: I think I'm responding to what's inside me. It's almost like a need, as opposed to, “I'm going to sit down and work.” I mean, obviously I sit down and work a lot, but I think in that early stage of anything, it's more like my fingers are itching to play something, and so I sit down and pick up my guitar. Sometimes nothing comes out and sometimes the kernel of a song comes out. Or I'm at a café, and I often like to write when I'm feeling a little bit discombobulated, just to go into the complexity of things or use challenging emotions as fuel. I really do use it as a—I don't know if therapeutic is the word, but I think it maybe is. I write often, as I always have, as I said before, to understand what I'm thinking. Like Joan Didion said—to process difficult emotions, to let go of stuck places. So I think I create almost more out of a sense of just what I need in the moment. Sometimes it's just for fun. Sometimes picking up a guitar, I just have a moment so I sit down and mess around. Sometimes it's to help me struggle with something. It doesn't always start in music. That was a random example. I might sit down to write because I have an hour and I think, I haven't written in a while. Or I do have an informal daily writing thing where I'll try to generate one loose draft of something a day, even if it's only ten pages. I mean, sorry, ten words. Joanna: I was going to say! Alicia: No, no. Ten words. I'm sorry. It's often poetry, so it feels like a lot when it's ten words. I'll just sit down with no pressure, no goal, no intention to make anything specific. Just open the floodgates and see what comes out. That's where every single project of mine has started. Joanna: Yes, I do love that. Obviously, I'm a discovery writer and intuitive, same as you. I think very much this idea of, especially when you said you feel discombobulated, that's when you write. I almost feel like I need that. I'm not someone who writes every day. I don't do ten lines or whatever. It's that I'll feel that sense of pressure building up into “this is going to be something.” I will really only write or journal when that spills over into— “I now need to write and figure out what this is.” Alicia: Yes. It's almost a form of hunger. It feels to me similar to when you eat a great meal and then you're good for a while. You're not really thinking of it, and then it builds up, like you said, and then there's a need—at least the first half of creativity. I really separate my generation and my editing. So my generative practice is all openness, no critique, just this maybe therapeutic, maybe curious, wandering and seeing what happens. Then once I have a draft, my incisive editing mind is welcome back in, which has been shut out from that early process. So that's a really different experience. Those early stages of creativity are almost out of need more than obligation. Joanna: Well, just staying with that generative practice. Obviously you've mentioned your study of and practice of Jewish tradition and Jewish spirituality. Steven Pressfield in his books has talked about his prayer to the muse, and I've got on my wall here—I don't talk about this very often, actually — I have a muse picture, a painting of what I think of as a muse spirit in some form. So do you have any spiritual practices around your generative practice and that phase of coming up with ideas? Alicia: I love that question, and I wish I had a beautiful, intentional answer. My answer is no. I think I experience creativity as its own spiritual practice itself. I do love individual prayer and meditation and things like that, but for me those are more to address my specifically spiritual health and happiness and connectedness. I'm just a dive-in kind of person. As a musician, I have friends who have elaborate backstage rituals. I have to do certain things to take care of my voice, but even that, it's mostly vocal rest as opposed to actively doing things. There's a bit of an on/off switch for me. Joanna: That's interesting. Well, I do want to ask you about one of your projects, this collaboration with a high school on a musical performance, I Was a Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs, and also your Girls in Trouble songs about women in the Torah. On your website, I had a look at the school, the high school, and the musical performance. It was extraordinary. I was watching you in the school there and it's just such extraordinary work. It very much inspired me—not to do it myself, but it was just so wonderful. I do urge people to go to your website and just watch a few minutes of it. I'm inspired by elements of religion, Christian and Jewish, but I wondered if you've come up against any issues with adaptation—respecting your heritage but also reinventing it. How has this gone for you. Any advice for people who want to incorporate aspects of religion they love but are worried about responses? Alicia: Well, I have to say, coming from the Jewish tradition, that is a core practice of Judaism—reinterpreting our texts and traditions, wrestling with them, arguing with them, reimagining them. I don't know if you're familiar with Midrash, but just in case some of your listeners aren't sure I'll explain it. There's essentially an ancient form of fanfic called Midrash, which was the ancient rabbis, and we still do it today, taking a biblical story that seems to have some kind of gap or inconsistency or question in it and writing a story to fill that gap or recast the story in an interestingly different light. So we have this whole body of literature over thousands of years that are these alternate or added-on adventures, side quests of the biblical characters. What I'm doing from a Jewish perspective is very much in line with a traditional way of interacting with text. I've certainly never gotten any pushback, especially as I work in progressive Jewish communities. I think if I were in an extremely fundamentalist community, there would be a lot of different issues around gender and things like that. The interpretive process, even in those communities, is part of how we show respect for the text. When I was working with the high school—and I just want to call out the choir director, Ethan Chen, who has an incredible project where he brings in a different artist every two years to work with the choir, and they tend to have a different cultural focus each time. He invited me specifically to integrate my songwriting about biblical women with his amazing high school choir. I was really worried at first because most of them are not Jewish—very few of them, if any. I wanted to respect their spiritual paths and their religious heritages and not impose mine on them. So I spent a lot of time at the beginning saying, this project has religious source material, but essentially it is a creative reinterpretive project. I am not coming to you to bring the religious material to you. I'm coming to take the shared Hebrew Bible myths and then reinterpret those myths through a lens of how they might reflect our own personal struggles, because that's always my approach to these ancient stories. I wanted to really make that clear to the students. It was such a joy to work with them. Joanna: It's such an interesting project. Also, I find with musicians in general this idea of performance. You've written this thing—or this thing specifically with the school—and it doesn't exist again, right? You're not selling CDs of that, I presume. Whereas compared to a book, when we write a book, we can sell it forever. It doesn't exist as a performance generally for an author of a memoir or a novel. It carries on existing. So how does that feel, the performance idea versus the longer-lasting thing? I mean, I guess the video's there, but the performance itself happened. Alicia: I do know what you mean. Absolutely. We did, for that reason, record it professionally. We had the sound person record it and mix it, so it is available to stream. I'm not selling CDs, but it's out there on all the streaming services, if people want to listen. I do also have the scores, so if a choir wanted to sing it. The main point that you're making is so true. I think there's actually something very sacred about live performance—that we're all in the moment together and then the moment is over. I love the artefacts of the writing life. I love writing books. I love buying and reading books and having them around, and there's piles of them everywhere in this room I'm standing in. I feel like being on stage, or even teaching, is a very spiritual practice for me, because it's in some ways the most in-the-moment I ever am. The only thing that matters is what's happening right then in that room. It's fleeting as it goes. I'm working with the energy in the room while we're there. It's different every time because I'm different, the atmosphere is different, the people are different. There's no way to plan it. The kind of micro precision that we all try to bring to our editing—you can't do that. You can practice all you want and you should, but in the moment, who knows? A string breaks or there's loud sound coming from the other room. It is just one of those things. I love being reminded over and over again of the truth that we really don't control what happens. The best that we can do is ride it, surf it, be in it, appreciate it, and then let it go. Joanna: I think maybe I get a glimpse of that when I speak professionally, but I'm far more in control in that situation than I guess you were with—I don't know how many—was it a hundred kids in that choir? It looked pretty big. Alicia: It was amazing. It was 130 kids. Yes. Joanna: 130 kids! I mean, it was magic listening to it. And yes, of course, showing my age there with buying a CD, aren't I? Alicia: Well, I do still sell some CDs of Girls in Trouble on tour, because I have a bunch of them and people still buy them. I'm always so grateful because it was an easier life for touring musicians when we could just bring CDs. Now we have to be very creative about our merch. Joanna: Yes, that's a good point because people are like, “Oh yes, I'll scan your QR code and stream it,” but you might not get the money for that for ages, and it might just be five cents or whatever. Alicia: Streaming is terrible for live musicians. I mean, I don't know if you know the site Bandcamp, but it's essentially self-publishing for musicians. Bandcamp is a great way around that, and a lot of independent musicians use it because that's a place you can upload your music and people can pay $8 for an album. They can stream it on there if they want, or they can download it and have it. But, yes, it's hard out there for touring musicians. Joanna: Yes, for sure. Well, let's come to the book then. Your memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. Tell us about some of the challenges of a book as opposed to these other types of performances. Alicia: Well, I come out of poetry, so that was my first love. That's what I majored in in college. That's what my MFA is in. Poetry is famously short, and I'm not one of those long-form poets. I have been trained for many years to think in terms of a one-page arc, if at all. Arc isn't even really a word that we use in poetry. So to write a full-length prose book was really an incredible education. Writing it basically took ten years from writing to publication, so probably seven years of writing and editing. I felt like there was an MFA-equivalent process in the number of classes I took, books I read, and work that went into it. So that was one of my main joys and challenges, really learning on the job to write long-form prose coming out of poetry. How to keep the engine going, how to think about ending one chapter in a way that leaves you with some torque or momentum so that you want to go into the next chapter. How many characters is too many? Who gets names and who doesn't? Some of these things that are probably pretty basic for fiction writers were all very new to me. That was a big part of my process. Then, of course, poets don't usually have agents. So once it was done, I began to query agents. It was the normal sort of 39 rejections and then one agent who really understood what I was trying to do. She's incredible, and she was able to sell the book. The longevity of just working on something for that long—I have a lot of joy in that longevity—but it does sometimes feel like, is this ever going to happen, or am I on a fool's errand? Joanna: I guess, again, the difference with performance is you have a date for the performance and it's done then. I suppose once you get a contract, then for sure it has to be done. But memoir in particular, you do have to set boundaries, because of course your life continues, doesn't it? So what were the challenges in curating what went into the book? Because many people listening know memoir is very challenging in terms of how personal it can be. Alicia: Yes, and one thing I think is so fascinating about memoir is choosing which lens to put on your story, on your own story. I heard early on that the difference between autobiography and memoir is that autobiography tries to give a really comprehensive view of a life, and memoir is choosing one lens and telling the story of a life through that lens, which is such a beautiful creative concept. I knew early on that I wanted this to be primarily a spiritual memoir, and also somewhat of an artistic memoir, because my creativity and my spirituality are so intertwined. It started off being spiritual, and also about my musical life, and also about my writing life. In the end, I edited out the part about my writing life, because writing about writing was just too navel-gazing. So there's nothing in there about me coming of age as a writer, which used to be in there, but that whole thing got taken out. Now it's spiritual and musical. For me, it really helped to start with those focuses, because I knew there may be things that were hugely important in my life, absolutely foundational, that were not really going to be either mentioned or gone deeply into in the book. For example, my husband teases me a lot about how few pages and words he gets. He's very important in my life, but I actually met him when I was 29, and this book really mainly takes place in the years leading up to that. There's a little bit of winding down in the first few years of my thirties, but this is not a book about my life with him. He is mentioned in it. That story is in there. Having those kinds of limitations around the canvas—there's a quote, I forget if it was Miranda July, but somebody said something like, basically when you put a limitation on your project, that's when it starts to be a work of art. Whatever it is, if you say, “I'm taking this canvas and I'm using these colours,” that's when it really begins, that initial limitation. That was very helpful. Joanna: It's also the beauty of memoir, because of course you can write different memoirs at different times. You can write something about your writing life. You can write something else about your marriage and your family later on. That doesn't all have to be in one book. I think that's actually something I found interesting. And I would also say in my memoir, Pilgrimage, my husband is barely mentioned either. Alicia: Does he tease you too? Joanna: No, I think he's grateful. He is grateful for the privacy. Alicia: That's why I keep saying, you should be grateful! Joanna: Yes. You really should. Like, maybe stop talking now. Alicia: Yes, exactly. I know. Marriage, memoir—those words should strike fear into his heart. Joanna: They definitely should. But let's just come back. When I look at your career— You just seem such an independent creative, and so I wondered why you decided to work with a traditional publisher instead of being an independent. How are you finding it as someone who's not in charge of everything? Alicia: It's a great question. The origin story for this memoir is that I was actually reading poetry at a writing conference called Bread Loaf in the States. This was 16 years ago or something. I was giving a poetry reading and afterwards an agent, not my agent, came up to me and said, you know, you have a voice. You should try writing nonfiction because you could probably sell it. Back to your question about how I support myself, I am always really hustling to make a living. It's not like I have some separate well-paying job and the writing has no pressure on it. So my ears kind of perked up. I thought, wait, getting paid for writing? Because poetry is literally not in the world. It's just not a concept for poets. That's not why we write and it's not a possibility. So a little light turned on in my brain. I thought, wow, that could be a really interesting element to add to my income stream, and it would be flexible and it would be meaningful. For a few years I thought, what nonfiction could I write? And I came up with the idea of writing a book about biblical women from a more scholarly perspective, because I teach that material and I've studied it. I went to speak to another agent and she said, well, you could do that, but if you actually want to sell a book, it's going to have to be more of a trade book. So if you don't want an academic press, which wouldn't pay very much, you would have to have some kind of memoir-like stories in there to just sweeten it so it doesn't feel academic. So then I began writing a little bit of spiritual memoir. I thought, okay, well, I'll write about a few moments. Then once I started writing, I couldn't stop. The floodgates really opened. That's how it ended up being a spiritual memoir with interwoven stories of biblical women. It became a hybrid in that sense. I knew from the beginning that this project—for all my saying earlier that I never plan anything and only work on instinct, I was thinking as I said that, that cannot be true. This time, I actually thought, what if, instead of coming from this pure, heart-focused place of poetry, I began writing with the intention of potentially selling a book? The way my fiction writer friends talked about selling their books. So that was always in my mind. I knew I would continue writing poetry, continue publishing with small presses, continue putting my own music out there independently, but this was a bit of an experiment. What if I try to interface with the publishing world, in part for financial sustainability? And because I had a full draft before I queried, I never felt like anyone was telling me what to write. I can't imagine personally selling a book on proposal, because I do need that full capacity to just swerve, change directions, be responsive to what the project is teaching me. I can't imagine promising that I'll write something, because I never know what I'll write. But writing at least a very solid draft first, I'm always delighted to get notes and make polish and rewrite and make things better. I took care of that freedom in the first seven years of writing and then I interfaced with the agent and publisher. Joanna: I was going to say, given that it's taken you seven to ten years to do this and I can't imagine that you're suddenly a multimillionaire from this book. It probably hasn't fulfilled the hourly rate that perhaps you were thinking of in terms of being paid for your work. I think some people think that everyone's going to end up with the massive book deal that pays for the rest of their life. I guess this book does just fit into the rest of your portfolio career. Alicia: Yes. One of the benefits of these long arcs that I like to work on is, one of them—and probably the primary one—is that the project gets to unfold on its own time. I don't think I could have rushed it if I wanted. The other is that it never really stopped me from doing any of my other work. Joanna: Mm-hmm. Alicia: So it's not like, oh, I gave up months of my life and all I got was this advance or something. It's like, I was living my life and then when I had a little bit of writing time—and I will say, it impacted my poetry. I haven't written as much poetry because I was working on this. So it wasn't like I just added it on top of everything I was already doing, but it was a pleasure to just switch to prose for a while. It was just woven into my life. I appreciated having this side project where no one was waiting for it. There were no deadlines, there was no stress around it, because I always have performances to promote and due dates for all kinds of work. It was just this really lovely arena of slow growth and play. When I wanted a reader, I could do a swap with a writer friend, but no one was ever waiting for it on deadline. So there's actually a lot of pleasure in that. Then I will say, I think I've made more from selling this than my poetry. Probably close to ten times more than I've ever made from any of my poetry. So on a poetry scale, it's certainly not going to pay for my life, but it actually does make a true financial difference in a way that much of my other work is a little more bit by bit by bit. It's actually a different scale. Joanna: Well, that's really good. I'm glad to hear that. I also want to ask you, because you've done so many things, and— I'm fascinated by your independent film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. I have only watched the trailer. You are in it, you wrote it, directed it, and it's also obviously got other people in, and it's fascinating. It's about this particular point in history. I've written quite a lot of screenplay adaptations of my novels, and I've had some various amounts of interest, but the whole film industry to me is just a complete nightmare, far bigger nightmare than the book industry. So I wonder if you could maybe talk about this, because it just seems like you made a film, which is so cool. Alicia: Oh yes, thank you. Joanna: And it won awards, yes, we should say. Alicia: Did we win awards? Yes. It really, for an extremely low-budget indie film, went far further than my team and I could ever have imagined. I will say I never intended to make a film. Like most of the best things in my life, it really happened by accident. When I was living in New York— I lived there for many years—the 2008 financial collapse happened and I happened to have an arts grant that gave a bunch of artists workspace, studio space, in essentially an abandoned building in the financial district. It was an empty floor of a building. The floor had been left by the previous tenant, and there's a nonprofit that takes unused real estate in the financial district and lets artists work in it for a while. So I was on Wall Street, which was very rare for me, but for this year I was working on Wall Street. Even though I was working on poems, the financial collapse happened around me, and I did get inspired by that to create a one-woman show, which was more of a theatre show. That was already a huge leap for me because I had no real theatre experience, but it was experimental and growing out of my poetry practice and my music. It was a musical one-woman show about the financial collapse from a spiritual perspective, apparently. So I performed that. I documented it, and then a friend who lives in Portland, Oregon, where I now live, said, “I'm a theatre producer, I'd like to produce it here.” So then I rewrote it and did a run here in Portland of that show. Essentially, I started to tour it a little bit, but I got tired of it. It was too much work and it never really paid very much, and I thought, this is impacting my life negatively. I just want to do a really good documentation of the show. So I wanted to hire a theatre documentarian to just document the show so that it didn't disappear, like you were saying before about live performance. But one of the people I talked to actually ended up being an artistic filmmaker, as opposed to a documentarian. She watched the archival footage, just a single camera of the show, and said, “I don't think you should do this again and film it with three cameras. I think you should make it into a feature film. And in fact, I think maybe I should direct it, because there's all this music in it and I also direct music videos.” We had this kind of mind meld. Joanna: Mm. Alicia: I never intended to make a film, but she is a visionary director and I had this piece of IP essentially, and all the music and the writing. We adapted it together. We did it here in Portland. We did all the fundraising ourselves. We did not interface with Hollywood really. I think that would be, I just can't imagine. I love Hollywood, but I'm not really connected, and I can't imagine waiting for someone to give us permission or a green light to make this. It was experimental and indie, so we just really did it on the cheap. We had an amazing producer who helped us figure out how to do it with the budget that we had. We worked really hard fundraising, crowdfunding, asking for donations, having parties to raise money, and then we just did it and put it out there. I think my main advice—and I hear this a lot on screenwriting podcasts—is just make the thing. Make something, as opposed to trying to get permission to make something. Because unless you're already in that system, it's going to be really hard to get permission to make it. Once you make something, that leads to something else, which leads to something else. So even if it's a very short thing, or even if it's filmed on your phone, just actually make the thing. That turned out to be the right thing for us. Joanna: Yes, I mean, I feel like that is what underpins us as independent creatives in general. As an independent author, I feel the same way. I'm never asking permission to put a book in the world. No, thank you. Alicia: Exactly. We have a vision and we do it. It's harder in some ways, but that liberation of being able to really fully create our vision without having to compromise it or wait for permission, I think it's such a beautiful thing. Joanna: Well, we're almost out of time, but I do want to ask you about creative confidence. Alicia: Hmm. Joanna: I feel I'm getting a lot of sense about this at the moment, with all the AI stuff that's happening. When you've been creating a long time, like you and I have, we know our voice and we can lean into our voice. We are creatively confident. We'll fail a lot, but we'll just push on and try things and see what happens. Newer creators are struggling with this kind of confidence. How do I know what is my voice? How do I know what I like? How do I lean into this? So give us some thoughts about how to find your voice and how to find that creative confidence if you don't feel you have it. Alicia: I love that. One thing I will say is that I always think whatever is arising is powerful material to create from. So if a lack of confidence is arising, that's a really powerful feeling to directly explore and not just try to ignore. Although sometimes one has to just ignore those feelings. But to actually explore that feeling, because AI can't have that, right? AI can't really feel a crisis of confidence, and humans can. So that's a gift that we have, those kinds of sensitivities. I think to go really deep into whatever is arising, including the sense that we don't have the right to be creating, or we're not good enough, or whatever it is. Then I always do come back to a quote. I think it might have been John Berryman, but I'm forgetting which poet said it. A younger poet said, “How will I ever know if I'm any good?” And this famous poet said something like—I'm paraphrasing—”You'll never know if you're any good. If you have to know, don't write.” That has been really liberating to me, actually. It sounds a little harsh, but it's been really liberating to just let go of a sense of “good enough.” There is no good enough. The great writers never know if they're good enough. Coming back to this idea of just making without permission—the practice of doing the thing is being a writer. Caring and trying to improve our craft, that's the best that we can have. There's never going to be a moment where we're like, yes, I've nailed this. I am truly a hundred per cent a writer and I have found my voice. Everything's always changing anyway. I would say, either go into those feelings or let those feelings be there. Give them a little tea. Tell them, okay, you're welcome to be here, but you don't get to drive the boat. And then return to the practice of making. Joanna: Absolutely. Great. So where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Alicia: Everything is on my website, which is AliciaJo.com, and also on Instagram at @ohaliciajo. I'd love to say hello to anyone who's interested in similar topics. Joanna: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Alicia. That was great. Alicia: Thank you. I love your podcast. I'm so grateful for all that you've given the writing world, Jo.The post Creative Confidence, Portfolio Careers, And Making Without Permission with Alicia Jo Rabins first appeared on The Creative Penn.