Let the Verse Flow: Personal Growth Thru a Creative Lens

Have you lost your fight, left your creative passions behind, and tried to journey forward without them? We can let the outside noise and the stress of our daily lives interfere with our creativity. This stress can push aside our creative impulses, reducing them to another item on our to-do list. But expressing our creative selves, through a multitude of pursuits, feeds our energy and gives us the fortitude to face life. 

In this reflective episode, we’ll awaken your creative self, breathe new life into your passions and interests, and use that energy to build more purpose and meaning. Along the way, I’ll call on the fighting spirit of Muhammad Ali to guide us. Let us not forget that we can sting like a bee too, and our art and creative voice need to be heard. Let’s not silence ourselves out of fear or exhaustion, for creative projects have the power to renew us.

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to my website: lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies.

Music: All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.

Poem: Forward Facing

Songs in this episode: Gold by Ghost Beatz; Slide by GEMM; Weary Traveler by Falls; Drop Of The Hammer by Tony Sopiano; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters

LTVF Season Two  Music Playlist: Check out the songs that inspire me, and connect with artists from many genres who add to our collective, human soundtrack.

Related Episodes:
 #29:  Keep Your Creative Spirit Alive: Focus on the Journey

#25: Creativity Connects Us to Hope

#21: Creative Flow: Self-Care That Matters

Journal Prompts:

1. What did I enjoy doing as a child or young adult, and can I bring one of those creative activities back into my life?
2. What’s the connection between my favorite creative activities and my “why”? How does this creativity add meaning and purpose to my life?
3. If I knew I could impact the world through my creativity, how would I go about making time and space for it?

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

This is my poetic ode to Utrecht and the Netherlands, a travelogue of sorts that offers musings, observations, and experiences from my two-week vacation. Yes, we saw the sights – the Kasteel de Haar in Utrecht, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Dom Tower, and the canals. But we also made connections with kind souls, curious passersby, and clergymen. We felt touched by this trip, and seen and heard. How many times can you say that?

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies.

Music: All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.

Poem: Precious

Songs in this episode: Solar Wav by GEMM; Slide by GEMM; Boardwalk Chill by Matt Wigton; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters

Resources:
Kasteel de Haar

The Dom Toren

The Oude Hortus

Meet Vincent: the Painter of Sunflowers

5 Things You Need to Know About Van Gogh’s Sunflowers 

Related Episodes:
 #19: Lessons from My Trip to Morocco: We Travel the World Through Our Eyes

Journal Prompts:
1) Write about a summer experience that made you rethink an old belief or thought. What made you think “I hadn’t thought about things that way before.”
2) Make a list of 10 of your favorite summer things, people, or places. As you make the list feel gratitude for each one.
3) Look at a photo taken over the summer and write about it. How did you feel? Who were you with, and what’s most memorable about that experience?

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

Start the day with this affirmation meditation and establish a positive morning routine. We start by honoring the body and feeling present with the breath. From there, we express gratitude for the people, experiences, and things in our lives. Then, we set an intention to move on with our day by affirming positive statements that help us carry this morning's stillness and balance into our day. 

We’ll end with a visualization connecting positive affirmations to the experiences and challenges we may face during the day. Affirm these thoughts:

• I will start the day with a positive outlook as I feel grateful for this new opportunity to move through the world with gratitude, presence, and acceptance.
• I will be mindful of how this day unfolds by being deeply present during these first morning minutes in my day.
• It is my intention to have a positive outlook about the potential of this day, knowing that this day has the possibility to bring me joy, insight, or pleasure.
• My morning practice grounds me in this intention to look for the positive signs of the day, and I know that they are there if I look for them. 
• I will be mindful and accepting of how the day unfolds, remembering that a positive spirit helps me meet each moment with more energy and agency.

Join the Let the Verse Flow community over at https://www.lettheverseflow.com/ to find a ton of resources (podcast episodes, blog articles, and creative self-care tips and tools). Subscribe to the free companion newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape, which offers 3 essential, hand-curated creative self-care resources designed to put you back on your to-do list.

Music:  Day Birds 01 by Soundstripe; Vision by DeHartmann; sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.

Related Episodes:
Affirmation Meditation: Keep Your Dreams Alive ( #20)

Note: Please listen to this affirmation meditation in a safe and comfortable environment, free from potential distractions. Find a quiet and secure space to fully engage with the meditation without interruption. This affirmation meditation strives to promote a positive mindset and encourage well-being. However, it is not a substitute for professional mental health advice and treatment. If you are facing mental health challenges, please seek the guidance of a qualified mental health professional for personalized support and care.

I’ve got a wonderful way to temp down overthinking, worry, and rumination. I use stream-of-consciousness journal writing to allow my mind to feel free to express itself; just 15 minutes of this writing, a type of creative flow, can unlock new insights and reduce anxious feelings. You leave the stress of planning and plotting and give your subconscious a chance to express itself. You find insights, open a path to new ways of seeing, and release anger, fear, or angst. 

In this episode, I guide you through a structured 15-minute journal session that you can use whenever life gets overwhelming and you want to turn off your worrisome thoughts. 

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies.

Music: All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.)

Songs in this episode: Weary Traveler by Falls; Slide by GEMM; Soft Images by Outside The Sky

Related Episodes: 

Overcoming Overthinking and Worry with Journal Writing & Meditation (episode 23)

Affirmation Meditation: Overcome Overthinking and Worry (episode 24) 

Resources: 

Guided Meditation: Journey of Three Breaths (Gil Fronsdal)

Journaling 101: An Inspirational Guide to Start (or Revive) a Practice

The Benefits of Journaling for Mental Health & Wellness

30-Day Journal Challenge (Writing Prompts to Get Started)

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

It’s taken me a while to find a path toward the Middle Way, that Buddhist principle that rests firmly on common sense and shows us how to find moderation instead of swinging between one extreme or another. The Middle Way can offer us some peace as we find a balance between the extremes of self-indulgence, busyness, and wanting, or on the other side, toward extreme self-denial or self-discipline.

The Middle Way offers a nuanced path that embraces the ease and equilibrium of living with moderation. In this episode, I’ll use some illustrative examples from my life to discuss how to find this moderate way, and what benefits it can hold for us. 

I’ll also touch on the concept of impermanence and its relationship to the Middle Way. How our cravings and clinging, perhaps in an attempt to control situations, ultimately backfire as we watch situations change in an instant. How can we find a reasoned approach to going after our wants and needs without doing so in a desperate, extreme way, and with the knowledge that change (in many directions) is inevitable? I’m reasoning this out too, with poetry, musings, and music. 

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies.

Music: All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.)

Poem:  The Middle Way

Songs in this episode: See You In Sao Paulo by Chelsea McGough; Slide by GEMM; Cool by EILOH; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters  

Journal Prompts:
1. What areas of my life might benefit from me taking a balanced, moderate approach?
2. Do I tend to lean toward self-indulgence or self-denial in my life? Why is this and what do I think about this tendency?
3. Are there any obstacles in my thinking to embracing a Middle Way in life? What are they and how does clinging to them help or hurt me?

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

What do you do when you’ve lost your fight and slip back into sloppy habits that make you miserable? You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game. In this episode, I’m exploring habits, the cues and triggers that govern them, the benefits they provide, and how to replace “bad” habits with better ones. I’m discussing my long, weight loss saga, and the way I’m moving forward, as a woman in my late 50s, to rebuild my healthy eating and exercise habits. It’s a rational approach, made tolerable by the soothing sounds of my spoken word poetry. In this episode, I explore:

• What habits are and how they work
• The hows and whys of replacing a “bad” habit with a better one
• How habit stacking can help
• How to problem solve when unhealthy habits persist 
• How to plan for failure so you don’t lose your mind when you slip up
• My weight-loss (and weight-gain) story and how I’m moving my habits back into a healthy direction with the help of my trusted friend, music

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies.

Listener Survey: As I head into year 2 of the podcast, I'd love to get your insight and ideas for the show. Please take this short survey. Note: The survey is anonymous, and I will NOT share your data. Listener Survey

Music: All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.)

Poem: Stop Lying

Songs in this episode: On Loop by Nu Alkemi$t; Slide by GEMM; I Don’t See You Fighting by Sam Barsh; Hey Marie by Tony Sopiano; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters

Resources:
James Clear: How to Break a Bad Habit and Replace It With a Good One;  How to Build New Habits by Taking Advantage of Old Ones (Habit Stacking); How To Start New Habits That Actually Stick (Four Stages of a Habit)

Related Episodes:
 #12: Compare Less/Grateful More

Journal Prompts:
1) What bad habit do I want to change?  Why is this the habit to change?
2) Write about the four stages of your habit – what are the cue, craving, response and reward of your habit? See the show notes for the article entitled How to Start New Habits That Actually Stick to read more on these four stages.
3) Write about a new habit you want to replace the old habit with, noting the benefits it will give you and how it will address the need that your old habit fulfilled.

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

This episode is about how deep self-listening helps us construct better personal growth goals and the power of connecting that listening to essential self-truths that form the basis for our choices and actions.

In this episode:

• I talk about how a recent Being Well podcast episode on manifesting sparked new thoughts on intention setting and dedicated action to achieve personal growth goals.
• I summarize the three elements the Hansons discussed – believing in yourself, clear goal setting, and taking consistent action.
• I discuss tools to help facilitate deep self-listening including mindful activities, meditation, restorative sleep and journaling.

It’s a heady episode, but that’s why we have poetry!!

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to my website: lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies.

Listener Survey: As I head into year 2 of the podcast, I'd love to get your insight and ideas for the show. Please take this short survey. Note: The survey is anonymous, and I will NOT share your data. Listener Survey

Music: All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.)

Poem: Dear One

Songs in this episode: Rabbit by Midnight Daydream; Slide by GEMM; Rain On The Leaves by In This World; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters

Resources:
Being Well Podcast (the Psychology of Manifesting)

Yoga Nidra 20-Minute Guided Meditation

How Journaling Can Help You Sleep

Related Episodes:
 #23: Overcoming Overthinking and Worry with Journal Writing & Meditation

#24: Affirmation Meditation to Overcome Overthinking and Worry

Journal Prompts:

1. What patterns of thoughts, feelings or ideas keep coming up to me as important? 
2. Take a nature walk or sit for a meditation for 15 minutes then write about whatever comes to mind. Don’t censor it, just write whatever thoughts you have.
3. Write about 1 or 2 problems that you have struggled with often during your life. Are you ready to tackle one of these problems with a well-intentioned goal?

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

It's summertime in NYC! I'm exploring the changing seasons in New York, as Central Park transitions from spring to summer. My cherished cherry blossom trees, vast array of birds, and wild mushrooms keep me company. From that beautiful spaciousness, I’ve dived into spring cleaning. In this episode, I explore:

• The beauty, wonder, and sensory pleasures of NYC’s Central Park in Spring (through a mindful eye)
• Practical minimalism and the positive effects of spring cleaning
• Handling grief while going through a loved one's things
• Paring things down and having gratitude for what’s left

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to my website: lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies.

Listener Survey: As I celebrate the podcast's first anniversary, I want to ensure I cover topics that most resonate with my listeners. Please take this short survey and tell me a little about yourself. Note: The survey is anonymous, and I will NOT share your data. Listener Survey

Poem: They Came to Me

Music: (My thanks to all the musicians who make incredible music and share it with the world. All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.)

Songs in this episode: Bird Songs (Robin) recorded by Jill Hodge; Early Bird by Brian Brown; Hidden Forest by Outside the Sky; Majestic Skies by Strength To Last; Slide by GEMM; Club Banga by Ghost Beatz; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters

Related Episodes: 

The Nature Connection: Finding Peace and Perspective (episode 28)

Mindful Living Through Meditation (episode 26)

Grief & Gratitude (It's Bittersweet) (episode 15) 

The Healing Power of Time (and Sense) (episode 8) 

LTVF Season 2 Music Playlist: Check out the songs that inspire me, and connect with artists from many genres who add to our collective, human soundtrack. 

Journal Prompts:

1. What areas of my home would benefit from a cleaning and a minimalistic refresh? Which corner will I start in and why?
2. How can I create a safe haven, a summertime sanctuary, in or around my home, for my summertime self-care?
3. What symbols, experiences, and things signal summer revival and rebirth to me, and how can I incorporate these things into my life?

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

Having grace and compassion for ourselves, especially as we make mistakes and take missteps along our life's journey, frees us to learn from those mistakes. It also helps us embrace one of the basic tenets of a growth mindset: recasting mistakes as opportunities for personal growth.

In this episode, I share how stress and my inability to cope with my caregiving duties can sometimes make me say regretful things, or feel uncomfortable emotions. When that happens, I'm often faced with guilt. I'll make a case for reframing caregiver guilt (and other types of guilt) as opportunities to reflect and learn and explain the value of a growth mindset for reducing shame. I explore:

• What grace is and why it’s so important for caregivers in particular to hold grace for themselves.
• How our lack of grace for ourselves usually stems from the shitty twin feelings of perfectionism and fear of failure. 
• How embracing a growth mindset can help reduce self-criticism and help empower us to learn from mistakes.
• How humor or developing more compassionate self-talk (through affirmations or mantras) can help us be kinder to ourselves. 

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to my website: lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies. 

Poem: Grace

Music: (My thanks to all the musicians who make incredible music and share it with the world. All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.)

Songs in this episode: Movement Like Water by Nu Alkemi$t; Slide by GEMM; Samson's Buzzcut by GRIDKIDS; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters

Related Episodes: 

Sitting with Shitty Feelings (episode 4)

Resources:
Being Kinder to Yourself (Greater Good Science Center animation)

LTVF Season 2 Music Playlist: Check out the songs that inspire me, and connect with artists from many genres who add to our collective, human soundtrack. 

Journal Prompts:

1. What does holding grace look like to you? How can you cultivate grace for yourself when you make mistakes?
2. Write about a mistake that made you feel guilt or shame, and then reflect on what you can learn from that experience.
3. Write about one area in your life where you want to develop forgiveness and self-compassion.

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com

When life feels out of control, and we are thrust into the world of adulting with a capital “A,” we can feel overwhelmed by our options, not see them clearly, or find them too chaotic to contemplate. That’s when we must simplify our world by leaning on some foundational pillars of self-care.  

I call on faith, spiritual practices, and small action steps to build agency. While we don’t control life, we can have agency and influence over our choices and their outcomes. In this episode, I talk about:

• secular faith and my belief in the power of community (especially those in my close circle) as a source of comfort
• spiritual practices like mindfulness meditation and the idea of non-attachment to feelings and thoughts
• taking small action steps to build a pathway forward with plenty of room to grow and pivot without judgment or self-doubt

Welcome to my reflections from the bright side of the beat.

Want to reengage with yourself and put creative self-care back on your to-do list? Head over to my website: lettheverseflow.com and sign up for my free newsletter, the Me-Time Mixtape. Three times per month, I’ll send you 3 essential, hand-curated links/resources on creative self-care tips, tools, and strategies. 

Poem: Life Asks for Faith

Music: (My thanks to all the musicians who make incredible music and share it with the world. All music for my podcast is sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.)

Songs in this episode: Mellow Bloom by Lunareh; Slide by GEMM; Palm Springs by Nu Alkemi$; Pyaar Kee Seemaen by Cast of Characters

Related Episodes: 

Creativity Connects Us to Hope (episode 25)

Mindful Living Through Meditation (episode 26) 

Sitting with Shitty Feelings (episode 4)

Positive Shift: Meditation for Your Glow Up (episode 3) 

LTVF Season 2 Music Playlist: Check out the songs that inspire me, and connect with artists from many genres who add to our collective, human soundtrack. 

Journal Prompts:

1. What does faith look like to you? When times are hard, how do you draw on that faith to comfort yourself?
2. What spiritual or mindfulness practices might you explore now to help you handle times of struggle that may lay ahead? Can you explore them now so you have a process in place when you need it?
3. Think about one problem and write 2 small actions that you could take as the next steps to work to untangle that problem. After you write, take one of these actions and reflect on how it went.

Prefer to read this episode? Read the complete episode in blog format here: https://www.lettheverseflow.com