Tag — podcasts
Ira, Stories, Sermons, and Me.
This week it’ my turn to step Behind the Mic in order to talk about Ira Glass. Ira is America’s premiere story teller, and spoke at the Seattle opera house this weekend to hear him speak about the power of telling stories in the dark. Ira explained the narrative style they use at This American Life, and illustrated why you should use this method when you have something to say “that could change someone’s’ life. That could save someone’s life.” Here is a little summary, and some thoughts on the evening.Listen to the podcast here: Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
Click here to read more Behind the Mic interviews, including our current on-going series Chronically Creative, featuring artists who manage to continue their work in spite of chronic pain or other physical and mental challenges.
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Want to train with Magpie Girl? Join me in my upcoming course: Power Stories: tips and tales for standing in your own power. Stories, lesson, and practical application from Magpie Girl and friends. Click here for more information. Course starts September 13th.
The Benefits of Wandering (and a blessing.)
When I started Magpie Girl back in 2006, I was quite lost. I had left the mainstay of my existence, the church. I was finally out of the haze that is baby/toddlerhood. And I was trying to figure out what to do next. So I spent a few years letting myself be “distracted by sparkly things.”
And you know what? That fallow time, where it looked like I was succumbing to adult ADHD? That turned out to be a really good plan.
I learned how to be a coach and how to be withmate.
I honed my community building skills.
My writing voice became my own.
I also discovered that Magpie Girl’s next incarnation needs to be even more about art. More specifically, it needs to be written to artists of all sorts. Those who are just starting out and those who are mid career. I’m going to be especially focused on those people for whom art makes them feel just a little bit crazy. Managing the creative crazy is going to be our mainstay, and 8 out of 10 posts here are going to be things that directly or indirectly address that. (Are you feeling so relieved? Me too.) The other 2 out of 10? Those posts will feature artists I love – singers, dancers, painters, writers, and maybe the occasional burlesque performer.
(Oh I am so excited!)
Here’s the thing, dear readers: I think you should see this as a testimony.
A testimony to the goodness that is wandering.
A testimony to the transformative power of being distracted by sparkly things.
A testimony to the truth that
if you wander on, writing about this and that,
if you wander on, producing along the way
if you wander on, refusing to give up –
something good will finally get itself born.
Wandering for awhile could be the very way you find your voice.
This then, is my blessing for you today:
Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
May you one day look at all you have gathered and see a vision emerge.
May your accumulated good works become both the journey and the destination.
May your generous gifts return to you in friendship, and fans, and followers…
in admirers and supporters of all variations
And above all, may you find the place “where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meets.”*
For that, my friends, is where you are meant most to dwell.
Amen. May it be so.
*Frederick Beuchner, The Alphabet of Grace
Jolie Guillebeau: A Guided Visualization for Your Ideal Day
Meet Jolie Guillebeau, artist, blogger, and soulsister. Jolie has built a life based on intentional living and non-conformity — and I got to tell you, it ROCKS. Jolie and I finally met face-to-face at the Soulsister’s Retreat this July. Whilst we were together she lead us through a guided visualization at one our teach-ins. In just 15 minutes she’d helped me access several important realizations that are guiding my life, right now as we speak. Ready for your ah-ha moment? I give you Jolie Guillebeau…
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What’s Your Ideal Day?*
*Undying gratitude to Pam Slim for reminding me how important this really is.
A few years ago, my husband and I were at a crossroads. We’d been working overseas for 4 years and knew it was time for a change. We felt like we could go anywhere and do anything. Really. It was exhilarating to think of the possibilities, but honestly, it was mostly overwhelming.
We thought about spinning the globe and putting our finger down somewhere, but we were afraid we’d just end up in the middle of the Pacific, thousands of miles from land. So we asked a few questions. What do we really want? What are we ready to try? Where do we see ourselves a year from now?
Then we found a variation of the Ideal Day exercise. There are many versions out there, but the basic premise is that you imagine your perfect day, in minute detail. Once you have that, you know where to begin. You have something to work towards. A North Star, if you will.
When we first did this exercise, I pictured myself living in a large city, walking or biking everywhere, including to my own painting studio. At the time, we were living in Africa, I was teaching high school English and riding around in Land Rovers. All of these things seems so far out there, that I thought of them as nearly impossible.
Last year, I realized as I was walking to my studio in Seattle, that I was living a version of my earlier ideal day. Of course, since then my ideas have expanded and grown a bit.
I’ve recorded a version of this exercise to help you visualize this. Take a few minutes some time over the next couple of days and listen. Be surprised by what you see.
Important: Be sure to write down the details from your visualization, so that when they’re realized you can go back and celebrate! I’d love to read about your ideal day in the comments, too.
Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
Find Jolie’s musings about life at her blog, or purchase her beadwork, paintings, and limited edition prints at her on-line shop. Thanks for being here!
Soaring Lessons
Did you know you could fly?
Yes you, with the middle-aged greys springing out of your ponytail…
You with the quarter-life crisis and the world as your oyster…
You with Junior High staring at you from the business end of a double barrel…
You can soar, if only you will bend your knees and leap into the great unknown.
True, the next day, you may fly in a metal tube for 9hours with your broken ankle in temporary cast, and ice from the airplane galley packed around your leg. But you will know in your core that for those clear sparkling moments you were Icarus triumphant. And, when you are old, you will remember those glorious seconds aloft with clarity; while the throb in your bones will be but a faint memory, calling to mind not a fall, but a flight.
“In life you will come to a great chasm. Jump.” -J.Conrad
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Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
bravery practice
Oh my, I am trying so hard to be brave. Here I am with my guitar at the Soulsister’s house on Hartsine Island. (I do so dislike having my picture taken — and now I have to take them of myself!) And here I am in the podcast, chatting and SINGING in front of you! (Be brave!)
Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
What makes you feel afraid? Where are you practicing bravery? Do tell!
In this post: Reflections of a vagabond in a borrowed guitar at a rented house. Would you like to Unravel? Sign up for Susannah Conway’s photography and journaling ecourse.
A Pura Vida Solstice
Just one of many Solstice celebrations, this one at the house on Rockaway Beach.
Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
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It is not quite 5am and the dark is slowly dimming to reveal pine trees like shadow puppets awaiting the stage. Beyond them the water is still as glass waiting or the faithful northwest kayakers who will slip out at the dawn, leaving a silent wake in their path.
We are finally at my parent’s coastal retreat, Pura Vida, a beautifully appointed home on a tiny island in the Puget Sound. Everyone is asleep, save me, the insomniac with jet lag. But in a place a still and beautiful as this, who can be worried about a few hours of lost slumber? (Beside, the hammock is waiting on the deck below, should sleep come calling in the afternoon.)
The house will not be quiet long as Pura Vida is full of happy grandparents and boisterous children – soon to be joined by more boisterous children and chatty mamas when the cousins arrive. My Irish roots will show big and bold and the gift of gab will be used in full force over the coming weeks as we greet each other in a rush of words and stories. In the happy, overwhelming rush of family reunion, these sleepless quite moments in the early morn will be my hermit-ish ying to the jolly yang of our happy clan. A time to reflect and write, and sooth the frayed edges of a soul worn down by the coldness of life abroad, now stretched to a joyful bursting point by the warmth of familiarity and common bonds.
Already we have be embraced by the loving arms of people we cherish: the Curran-Coolmans who took our battered jet-lagged selves into their home so full of art, and story, and affection; the sweet child-like family at BF Day Elementary who jumped up and down to see us all on the sugar-filled high of the last day of school; the colorful chaotic buzz of the artists prepping for Solstice celebrations, awash in paper mache; the affection of our son-adopted-by-affection who apparently “does not get enough love” (hard to believe given the lovely young woman who rarely leaves his side); and the teary embrace of our dear friends Lynette and Dwight who could not possibly have more generous hearts toward we the ornery wanders.
All of that goodness in the first 48 hours—a restorative tonic for the 18 months spent in a culture which barely says “hello.”
And now, seven glorious weeks on the shores of placid sea, listening to the giggles, finding crabs under rocks, plucking oysters off the rocks for our supper, and wondering again why it was that we ever went away.
Today Brother Sun will shine his goodness down on all of this wonder, creating from his rays the longest, most glorious day of the year. And I will see very dear moment of it, until his Sister the Moon arrives to tucks us in, just so we can rest and begin it all again.
Happy Solstice.
The DO LESS Revolution: Uncovering Your Guiding Values
Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
Hello Revolutionaries!
This week we are going to uncover our Guiding Values so next week we can apply them to choosing our Essential Tasks. This will free us to be concentrated powerhouses who DO LESS and LIVE MORE! But before we do, let’s do a brief check-in so you can feel great about how far you’ve already come.
Last week our theme was Setting Limits. We took our Monster To-Do list down a notch by eliminating things that were haunting us, but not serving us. Now pretty please answer some or all of these questions in the comments. Or, if you blog answer them in a post and add the unique URL to our Mr. Linky. (I know. “Mr. Linky.” That sounds naughty doesn’t it? Tee Hee.) Feeling shy? Like pen-and-paper? That’s fine. Just scribble it on the back of that receipt there on your desk. That would work too. (Remember, Fast and Dirty is the way to get it done.) Ready? Here we go!
- Name one thing you crossed off your Monster To-Do list because it wasn’t important to you any longer.
- How many things did you have on your Monster To-Do list that actually didn’t need to be done in the next 30-60 days?
- When your Gremlins started to nag you about “not getting anything done,” which of your one-hour-or-less tasks did you complete?
Which of your Most Important Task (M.I.Ts) got done last week? How’d that feel? - Which M.I.T.s are still hanging out? Do they still get the special M.I.T. rank, or can you demote them?
- Name any Ah-Ha Moments you’ve had so far in the process.
There. Don’t you feel better? I knew you would. Onward!
How Your Guiding Values Help You Choose the Essential
The next stage of the DO LESS Revolution is identifying your Guiding Values and using them to determine what’s essential. This sounds kind of onerous, and I can’t think of a way to make it sound cheeky, but really it isn’t bad at all. Maybe it will help to know that I turned mine into a multi-colored mobile. How tough can it be if it looks like something out of Dr. Seuss?
It’s relaxing to note that choosing the essential isn’t like trying to find a needle in a haystack. You don’t have to determine at random what is most important amongst all your tasks. Once you peek inside and see what values you already carry, you can use them to ferret out the imposter-tasks hiding out among the essentials. It’s like a decoder ring! Doesn’t that seem like fun? You get to be Dick Tracy! [Read more →]
Ask Magpie: Musical Influences
(The singing on this fast and dirty podcast is much louder than the speaking. Be prepared to turn down the volume! Consider your self warned.)
Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
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I am young. Young enough to hold my father’s hand. The church is a little dim, the wood of the pews being so dark, the carpet such a deep red. Our pastor—part-grandfather, part-judge— is on the dais, his robes resplendently white, the gold of his stole glinting. He moves like an alchemist at the altar using, words, and rites, and gestures to turn ordinary things into talismans.
There is an electric organ, badly played, and an upright piano. We sing choruses before the liturgy, simple songs newly written by hippies with guitars picks. My father loves these simple songs, just a few phrase on repeat until they sink into your soul. He raises his hands to the sky, a stand out amongst the stiffness.
“Jesus, I just want to Thank You.
Jesus, I just want to Thay-ank You.
Jesus, I just want to Thank You.
Thank you for being so good.”
We unhinge our jaws. We loose our tongues. We the ordinary people of the everyday – we take on the task of angels. We sing.
Now comes the hymns, both awkward and resplendent with age. An elderly woman with a thin, high voice warbles enthusiastically behind me. We are staid people, we Lutherans, and no inclined to showmanship. But some hymns are robust:
“Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.”
My mother’s hands rest on the hymnal. Her lacquered nails are bright against the brown nougahyde cover. They are long and cool and smooth. I love to stroke them when there is no singing and the service lingers on. I do not care for the spoken words: long scripture passage read aloud, the drone of the sermon. But the songs, the psalms, the hymnody-these charm me. I am utterly in their thrall. Spellbound. The Latin is like an incantation. We make our confession in a magic tongue:
”Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison, Eleison…”
Finally, it is time to chant my favorite part of the liturgy, and we turn to the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s Song.
“Lord lettest now Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word.
For mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation, which Thou hast prepared before
the face of all people.
A Light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.
We praise Thee. We bless Thee. We worship Thee.
We glorify Thee. We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory.
Amen.”
Years later, when decades of rock and roll have filled my ears and the chants of my childhood have long been set aside, a tragedy comes to our door. Our first child is still born, a little boy a not much longer than my husband’s hand, which holds him on my chest. The diagnosis came before the birth. No abdominal wall. No chest wall. A spine bent and misshapen. We have had time to prepare, and my heart rushes back to those long Sundays in the dim red womb of the chapel. My tongue finds the old songs. We baptize our son in the way of my childhood, the long-established liturgy our guide in this unknown and frightening terrain. Simeon, we name him. Once more we sing the song…
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My thanks to Jamie Ridler of Starshyne Productions for submitting “How has music influenced you?” as an Ask Magpie question.
Now it’s your turn! How has music influenced you over your lifetime? Tell us in the comments, or add the link to your post.
Ask Magpie is featured (some) Wednesdays and depends on your inquiring mind. “Ask me a question, I’ll tell you no lies!” Thanks for being here.
The Spiritual Benefits of Being Pissy
Listen to the podcast here:
Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
Right around Easter I wrote a post that was a little bit pissy. I did this intentionally because I was feeling pissy—and I was pretty sure other people were as well. (And indeed, they were.) But I got a little bit of push-back for being “too negative.” So let me say this about that, there are spiritual benefits to being pissy. [Read more →]
The DO LESS Revolution: Setting Limits
Listen to the podcast here: Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
Why Less is Powerful
Six years ago I was diagnosed with an untreatable condition, status migrainosus (chronic daily migraine). Suddenly, most of my time was spent either managing my health, or being in pain. This left little space for anything else. As I listened to the waiting room conversations at the pain clinic, I knew I was in danger of allowing this disease to take over my world. I became determined to not be defined by my pain. But as I watched my ability to write, volunteer, and counsel disappear, I began to despair. For months I struggled to come to terms with a life that felt increasingly limited.
The reality is we are all limited. There are a finite number of hours in the day, and while most of us can ignore that, eventually it catches up to us. We overbook, over commit, and try to ‘do it all.’ Then we crash with exhaustion, ulcers, and little ease or enjoyment in our life.
This limited time thing? It’s not going to change. So I started to ask myself, “What would it look like to turn this “limited time” thing into a Superpower?” [Read more →]
