Thanks for listening to the Creating Resilience podcast.

We have another brilliant guest to share with you. This week I’m joined by Liz Allan, a business improvement training consultant and mentor from Full Circle Continuous Improvement.

She works with organisations to move them to a place where they can create more sustainable working habits by learning how to remove  bottlenecks and blockers that have been getting in the way of achieving a better way of working, and how to treat everyone in the organisation well.

Liz shares how her love of music has helped her get through life challenges including recovering from a  serious accident, grief, loss, and has also brought her lots of joy including meeting her husband when they played in a band together.

As music is also a shared passion of mine, we could have talked for hours on this subject and I hope you enjoy listening to our chat and find inspiration to include more music in your life as a resilience tool.

Liz also gives us some inspiring tips on supporting employees in your business and on how to bring more music into your daily routine.

To learn more about Liz and her training and consultancy work, go to www.fullcircleci.co.uk , or join her facebook group- The Power of Improvement .

So until next time, keep creating stay safe stay well,

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you want to create resilience, here is how I can help you:

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

Thanks for listening to episode 11 of the Creating Resilience podcast.

For this episode we have a very special treat!  This week I am talking to Heather Jean from the amazing Confidence Through Cabaret.

Heather has worked in the global Corporate sphere and had a training and coaching business for over 25 years, but it was only when she found cabaret 6 years ago that she really started to understand what she only hardly knew before about herself, and it taught her many lessons for personal and business growth.

Heather shares how Cabaret is her foundation for raising confidence, and how she helps clients use cabaret and performance skills to apply to their business and personal life to increase confidence, self-esteem and boost their creativity.

The motto that she and co-pioneer Ryan created for Confidence Through Cabaret sums up what their work is about:

Your body, Your World, Your stage.

If you would like to know more about Heather’s work, check out her website here:

http://yourbodyyourworldyourstage.world/your-journey/ 

And her social media accounts and groups here:

So until next time, keep creating stay safe stay well,

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you want to create resilience, here is how I can help you:

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

Thanks for listening to episode 10 of the Creating Resilience podcast.

This episode is released in the middle of January, just before the day dubbed ‘Blue Monday’, when we are supposed to be feeling at our lowest after Christmas and in the middle of winter (in the Northern Hemisphere at least!).

I share different ways of dealing with the difficult days including exploring poetry, and pay tribute to the great Rabbie Burns who is also celebrated later this month.

Have you tried writing down your  own thoughts and feelings as a poem?

In the episode I discuss an easy way to get started, and would love to see what you create after listening.

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you want more support in creating your 2022 plans without getting overwhelmed, here is how I can help you:

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

Thanks for listening to episode 9 of the Creating Resilience podcast.

Happy New Year!

This week I’m talking about what to do when you don't know what to do.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in overwhelm, particularly as a new year begins and the pressure to make (and stick to) resolutions and healthier habits is everywhere.

But when you get overwhelmed, you go into the stress response, which causes you to lose your creativity and ability to see all the options open to you.

I share some tips on how to keep yourself out of the fight/flight/freeze/fawn response when you are looking back at the year just ended and are making plans for the year ahead, and introduce some more self-compassion and acceptance including:

If you want more support in creating your 2022 plans without getting overwhelmed, here is how I can help you:

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

Thanks for listening to episode 8 of the Creating Resilience podcast.

In each episode, I'll be sharing easy ways to sneak some creativity into your life, whatever it may throw at you.  I hope it will inspire you to make some positive changes in your life and work calmly through whatever challenges you might be dealing with right now.

So this is episode eight of the creating resilience podcast. And this week I talk about dance as a creative art form that helps us become more resilient, because anyone listening to this will have danced at some point in their life. 

How does it make you feel when you dance?

Different cultures have different dance forms that bring communities together to tell stories to share their  history and cultural values. Even though it is just movement to music, it can be so powerful, and I think we sometimes underestimate the simplicity and the impact it can have on us both physically and mentally.

I discuss the Strictly Come Dancing final and how they were breaking ground in being inclusive on all fronts this year. A lot of people were moved by the dances because they gave us a little bit of empathy and a insight into how other people’s worlds are and to share their experiences.

I also share some recently published collaborative research between a dance organisation Trinity Liban, the University of Exeter and Dance in Devon on the impact of dancing on wellbeing and health. So, next time you go to your doctor's, do you think he could prescribe you a dance class to support your well being?  You can read their report here.

So what are your experiences of dancing? How do you feel when you hear your favourite tune and have been dancing along?

So just leave you with this summary from this study from the University of Exeter.

‘As a physical activity and creative art form, dance can make a vital contribution to the Healthy Living agenda. It has the capacity to provide an active non competitive form of exercise that can positively affect physical health and psychological well being across different populations in the community’.

So until next week, keep creating stay safe stay well, If you are feeling anxious just do the best you can and don't get overwhelmed with it all OK? And, if it does feel a bit too much, put on your favourite bit of music and have a good boogie and see how you feel after that.

Music on the intro and outro is by John D Revelator from his song, ‘Hope’, the full track is here

Here is how I can help you create resilience:

Thanks for listening to episode 4 of the Creating Resilience podcast .

In each episode, I'll be sharing easy ways to sneak some creativity into your life, whatever it may throw at you,  from my own experiences, and talking to some inspiring guests who will share how they used creativity to overcome their challenges and build their own resilience toolkit.

Don't forget to subscribe and share with anyone you know who could benefit from listening.

I hope it will inspire all of you who are listening to this to make some positive changes in your life and work through whatever challenges you might be dealing with or facing right now.

This week I talk about preparing for the creating calm challenge which will be starting on Tuesday the 2nd November, and running for four days through to Friday 5th  November. If you want to join in , the group will stay open until the end of November- join here.

The challenge will show that you can create calm in just 10 minutes a day to make a difference in your daily life. And it got me thinking about how I started doing my creative journey. I reflect on one of the early books that I picked up that inspired me to start thinking about creativity - ‘The Artist's Way’ by Julia Cameron. This was first published in 1992 So it's almost 30 years old now, and if you aren't familiar with the book. Julia is comparing creativity to a spiritual experience. It's basically saying that we are the creators of our destiny, we are the creators of our lives.

So, it's our task to create the best life we can!  I talk about daily pages, artists' dates and a whole lot more around the impact that this book had on my own creative journey, and how we can apply these concepts to bring more creativity, ease and joy into our lives.

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you like what you heard and want to learn more about how I can help you create resilience, here is how you can work with me:

To read more about my own mental health journey- see this article in SHP magazine here.

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

Welcome to episode seven of the Creating Resilience podcast.

Last week we heard from Elyssa Smith about how she used painting and creativity to help her through a really traumatic part of her life and how she uses creativity to help manage her time more compassionately.

This week, it's back to me again and I wanted to share some experiences I've had that reminded me that creativity is something that makes me more resilient.

I share two things that lifted my spirits this week- the first was completing my ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) and mindful movement certification- that brought me from feeeling exhausted to energised after just an hour of mindful movement and teaching it to others.

The second was an Art and poertry class where i got to play with paint whilst listening to beautiful music- my two favourite things!

I share how taking part in creative activities with other people is such an effective and empowering resilience tool. If you don't already  do it just try it and see how it feels- you don’t have to be an artist, writer, musician or singer-  whatever form of creativity you choose to do just try sharing that creative experience with other people and notice how you feel during and after.

This is why I do the work I do everyday.  If everyone had the opportunity to do at least one creative practice every day to support their wellbeing and vconnect with others, maybe the world would be a lot nicer and less stressed place to live in.

Listen in for more insights, and a beautiful poem that will get you thinking about how you really think and feel.

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you want to learn how to  add more creativity to your life to become more resilience, here is how I can help you:

And finally- if you would like to be a guest on this podcast and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

This week I am so excited to welcome a very special guest, who runs the ‘Stress less Lounge’- a women-only group for busy ladies who are ready to take back their time and reclaim their lives.

Elyssa Smith is a time strategist, helping clients overcome overwhelm, by helping them to pare down their schedules, and manage time so they can do what they love and focus on what matters most. She was featured in a recent Forbes article about compassionate time management which led to a Fox news appearance.

In this episode, Elyssa shares her recovery journey from multiple traumas, and how she used creativity to begin her healing process and find better balance in her life. She also reveals some top tips for taking back control of your schedule so you can make more time for some creative play!

If you would like to learn more about Elyssa’s work, you can find her here  at https://www.yourbestmoment.com/  and in the ‘Stress less Lounge’ on Facebook

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you want to create more calm and be more resilient, here is how I can help you:

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

Thanks for listening to episode 5 of the Creating Resilience podcast .

In each episode, I'll be sharing easy ways to sneak some creativity into your life, whatever it may throw at you,  from my own experiences, and talking to some inspiring guests who will share how they used creativity to overcome their challenges and build their own resilience toolkit.

Don't forget to subscribe and share with anyone you know who could benefit from listening.

I hope it will inspire all of you who are listening to this to make some positive changes in your life and work through whatever challenges you might be dealing with or facing right now.

This week I talk about having a ‘significant birthday’ and how I felt around the last one. I explore acceptance, managing expectations, and how we always have the power to choose how we respond to our thoughts in any situation.

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you want to learn more about how I can help you create resilience, here is how you can work with me:

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)

Thanks for listening to episode 3 of the Creating Resilience podcast. 

Don't forget to subscribe and share with anyone you know who could benefit from listening.

In each episode, I'll be sharing easy ways to sneak some creativity into your life, whatever it may throw at you,  from my own experiences, and talking to some inspiring guests who will share how they used creativity to overcome their challenges and build their own resilience toolkit.

If you heard the show last week with my significant other- John D Revelator you will have some clues as to what I’ll be talking about today, and if you haven’t, please check it out as it is now available on Spotify, google podcasts, Radio Public, Breaker and Pocketcasts.

This week, I’m talking about how music is such a powerful tool for creating resilience. How do you use music to support your wellbeing?

I hope it will inspire all of you who are listening to this to make some positive changes in your life and work through whatever challenges you might be dealing with or facing right now.

Music on the intro and outro of this podcast is by John D Revelator extracted from his song, ‘Hope’, you can hear the full track here

If you like what you heard and want to learn more about how I can help you create resilience, here is how you can work with me:

Thank you so much for joining us, I hope you enjoyed the episode- don't forget to hit subscribe, and share with anyone who might enjoy or benefit from hearing it.

And finally- if you would like to be a guest and share your story of using creativity to become more resilient, please get in touch here and we'll get back to you.

Until next time, stay safe and well- and keep creating! :)