Before I tell you anything, let me say this: today's conversation with Christa Couture will move you. Take time. Listen closely. Of the nearly 70 episodes in MamaFuel, all of which I've loved, THIS is the one. THIS is the conversation I'd urge you to listen to again and again.Not only because it's not every day you can listen to a cancer survivor cyborg amputee chanteuse mama of three (as she says "two have died and one is here") mixed indigenous Cree Scandinavian queer radio host non-fiction author and singer-songwriter.

Not only that.

But also because Christa is a sensitive, generous, warm, kind and thoughtful woman whose intelligence and talent seep through everything she creates, including this conversation. 

Given the name "Singing Woman" as a child, Christa weaves and shares stories about grief, loss and life as she processes how life is unfolding.

I loved hearing how, at time of recording, Christa was reworking her narrative around Christmas, making space for both grief for her absent sons and delight for her vivacious and very present daughter. 

I appreciated learning more about the importance of representation and how critical it is for us to share and talk about our differences. When Christa decided to showcase her "cyborg" limb in its full floral glory, she and the world started interacting differently. It's an important reminder that it's critical for us to share and celebrate difference.

There's so much more, but these are "show notes" and not "show encycopediae" so I'll leave you with this: listen and share this conversation far and wide, and support Christa and her work by pre-ordering her book AND ordering her record. You can find her on www.christacouture.com and you'll find links to everything we talk about in the episode when you read the full show notes here. 

If you loved this episode, remember to head to the MamaFuel Virtual Village to tell me what you'll keep in your heart from this conversation. Even better, leave us a review and a rating over on iTunes so as many people as possible can hear and share this conversation. Be well!

"We have this extra time as a family right now. How can we make it meaningful?" Samaria Williams, this week's guest, couldn't have been more timely with her question. The world is slowing down right now, providing us all with the opportunity to look at the families and relationships we've created. That might be uncomfortable, delightful or any combination of both. Samaria's wisdom is perfectly timed for us all as we enter this unchartered territory of COVID-19 closures. In this episode, we talk about how important it was for her and her partner to take a frank look at themselves and the stories they had around what was possible in life and in parenting. After separating early in their daughter's life, they decided to reconcile and consciously build their family around their values and their sweet daughter. They chose the road less travelled and faced resistance from the people who loved them the most. "You CAN'T get back together." "You SHOULDN'T give it another chance." "You SHOULD just do it on your own." It's EASIER to parent ALONE..." these were only a few of the stories they held individually and that were shared with them by others. But Samaria and her partner are rewriting their story with conscious decisions, and by allowing in Grace when they feel like they've given it their all, and trusting that all will be as it should be.I can't think of a better conversation to share with you right now. Samaria talks about how she consistently asks herself "what is the best thing I can do to set my daughter up to live a limitless life, and to avoid her having to spend the rest of her life recovering from her childhood?"

Head over here to read the full show notes and find the links to the book Samaria mentions, as well as other podcasts I refer to in this episode.Most of all, loves: stay safe. Huge love to you.

Ever felt conflicted about wanting recognition, fulfilment and challenge outside your family context? Get ready to feel a warm wash over your heart and a burst of inspiration as you get to know my guest this week on the MamaFuel podcast. 

Valerie Knopik has navigated the guilt-ridden conflictual waters of maternal love and personal aspiration and, with her husband and children, has forged a life she and her family love. I love hearing how her she and her post-doctorate thesis advisor got creative to cobble together a maternity leave for her. I love how she and her husband waded through all the ICK they faced individually and as a team to land here, twenty years into their marriage, in a solid, mutually-supportive place.

I love how Valerie, her dreams, her talent and her career get to fully breathe, expand and flourish in the container of her family. A container where everyone’s dreams have a place and enough space to grow.

If all of that wasn’t enough, those of you who are curious about how and why our brains work the way they do will LOVE hearing Valerie talk about epigenetics (her speciality), brain plasticity and how it’s hard but entirely possible to rewire your brain, and in doing so change your life.

If you’d like to connect with any of the resources we mention during our talk or quickly find any of the podcast episodes I mention, click here for all the goodies. And if you’d like to be part of the ongoing conversation about this podcast and so much more, join us in the MamaFuel Virtual Village here.

Trigger warning: domestic abuse and gaslighting

Sound quality: the sound on this episode cuts out often, but it’s such an important conversation that I’ve decided to air it anyway because done is better than perfect, and I know someone out there will need to hear this. Thanks for your patience with the sound.

When I met this week’s guest it was like meeting a human energy source. Katrina Young is a self-made woman whose background of domestic abuse has directed the course of her business and her life. 

Now a happy mama of two living safely and thriving in London, Katrina shares her experiences of abuse, how she came to realise that what she was living wasn’t healthy, and how she managed to fight back to regain her voice and her independence. I loved hearing how she’s recently been taking time to listen to herself, how that’s led her to be clearer about her boundaries and has helped her drop her people pleasing habits.

I’m inspired by Katrina’s positivity, energy and her willingness to bravely STOP and hear what her soul and her body are telling her.

If you’re in a situation of domestic abuse, please click this link to be connected to a number of organisations that exist to help. If your country isn’t listed please let us know and we’ll add a resource for your location. 

If you enjoyed this episode and would like to continue the conversation, please click here to join the MamaFuel Virtual Village. It’s a glorious place to connect to other like-minded mamas. 

Links:If you live in any of these countries and are facing domestic abuse of any kind, please reach out to your local support organisations, some of which are listed here by country. Click the following links to learn about where you can find support in Switzerland, in the UK, the National Domestic Violence Hotline in the US and a good resource for local support in Canada, by province.

If you’d like to connect with Katrina, you’ll find her here.

Lindsay Bong hurtled head-first into marriage, motherhood and all that comes with both of those big life changes. Now that the dust has settled, she reflects on her early years as a mama living in a new state with a new husband and a new life... while grappling with her identity, her role as a mama and the challenges of creating a vibrant community around her.

I loved our conversation about learning to ask for what you need, and how as you get more comfortable asking for help (and surviving if the answer is no) you get clearer on what you need and how to get those needs met. 

In addition to being a very funny human, a loving mama and an adventurous being, Lindsay is a therapist whose compassion for her patients took some finessing before she could offer it to herself. 

Lindsay now keeps a list of what makes her most herself, and consults it often when she's feeling funky. I'm going to do the same, and wonder if you might join us?

If you liked this conversation and would like to connect with Lindsay, click here to find the full show notes including links to her gorgeous art, her podcast and more. And, if you haven't already, click here to join the MamaFuel Virtual Village so we can keep this conversation going. Have a gorgeous week.

This week I’m celebrating a big milestone: 60 episodes of this podcast, celebrating mamas around the world doing big and small things! To mark the occasion, I want to talk about something that breaks my heart: women who are disappearing under their SuperMama capes. So many of us do our VERY BEST for our children. We want to give them what we didn’t have, prevent their suffering and plan for every eventuality. It’s not realistic, but we torture our schedules, our bodies and our minds to try and make it possible. We take up less and less space, in hopes of finally satisfying our little humans or giving them THE BEST of us and the world, all the time. The problem is, in addition to this not being fun, it's also entirely unsustainable. And it's hurting our mental health, our physical health, our careers and our relationships. It's an epidemic, especially amongst international mamas: we expect high levels of functioning from ourselves, with little or no support, and when something's got to give it usually ends up being us.

It's got to stop. In this episode I’m sharing three ways that you can start taking up more space in your life, and loosening the stranglehold of the SuperMama cape. It'll feel great, I promise. If this resonates with you, I’d LOVE to hear from you. You can email me here or join us over in the Virtual Village on Facebook so we can talk about it. It’s free and I’d love to meet you there. Happy 60th, beauty. I’m so grateful you’re listening.

Today’s guest is a talented artist, a deeply reflective woman and a conscious mama whose decision to mindfully shepherd her young son through the world has broken many moulds. Before I’d ever spoken a word to Shermain Philip, I was captivated by her art. Her bold strokes and the way she uses light infuse life into the people she’s painting. When I learned some of the stories behind her work, I was hooked.Shermain uses her paintings as doorways into conversation with her son; conversations about the American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panthers, the Windrush Generation in the UK and so much more. By sharing her art with her son, Shermain gently invites him to be curious. Their conversations have covered complex topics like racism, civil rights, naturalisation, inequality and so much more. 

Hearing Shermain talk about the different treatment her son receives in school relative to his white school mates was essential -- those of us who don't have to tell our children that people may assume they're naughty because of what they look like have a duty to listen to the mamas who DO have those conversations. Because we've got to do and be better for every child in the world today and tomorrow.  

As we spoke I was struck by Shermain’s focus on legacy, both as an artist and as a mother. She’s mindful of the impact she’s having on her son, and hopes to have a broader impact with her art long after she’s gone. I don’t doubt that will happen. To find out more about Shermain and to see her art, click here. That’s where you’ll also find information about the book we talk about and the other podcasts we mention in this week’s episode.

If you'd like to be part of a bigger conversation about the issues we discussed in this week's podcast, head over to the MamaFuel Virtual Village, a free community where we discuss the podcast and so much more. See you there!

What a pleasure it was to have and listen to this week’s conversation again. My guest Lizzy Russinko is a dear soul, a wildly talented artist, a loving and conscious mama of two, and a wise woman whose friendship I cherish in my heart. If you’ve been listening to the podcast in the past few months you’ll have heard me reference this conversation over and over – so I’m doubly thrilled to share it! Lizzy and I talk about the importance of community, especially when you’re in the thick of the newborn phase. I love her idea of treating everyone she meets as if they’re new… so she never feels isolated because she’s always welcoming everyone else, including in places she’s never been. It’s such an effective way of including yourself and others. I can’t wait to use it!

What most impacted me, though, was when Lizzy illuminated a simple but often-forgotten fact: any time we meet someone, we are only seeing and getting to know them as they are in THAT moment. We have no idea who or how they’ve been in the past, nor how or whom they’ll be in the future. If we approach each other (and ourselves) with curiosity, compassion and forgiveness our relationships will deepen and improve. 

Who were you before? Who are you becoming? How can you forgive yourself for what you may or may not have done to take loving care of yourself at different seasons in your life? There’s so much juice in this conversation that I just want you to get it into your ears NOW. In fact, this episode deserves to be listened to more than once so you can capture all the goodness within. If you’d like to check out Lizzy’s art or access the other resources we mentioned during our convo, click here. If you’d like to join the conversation we’re having over in the MamaFuel Virtual Village (our free FB community), click here and join us. I’d love to meet you there! ALSO: if you haven’t done it yet, I’d be mega grateful if you’d leave a review and rating over on Apple Podcasts. It makes the world of difference to know you’re listening, that you’re enjoying what I’m sharing here and that it’s helpful to you. Also, the more ratings the podcast gets, the more widely the funky little algorithm will share it with other mamas. And that would be great. Have a gorgeous week!

Get ready for a blast of delight in the form of this week’s guest, Emma Stroud. Em is serious about having fun. So much so that she’s made it (part of) her business to teach adults how to laugh and think in ways many of us have forgotten. She also occasionally gets told off by her son for being too silly. That’s a win in my book!

Emma never wanted to be a mum -- until she did. Her journey to holding baby William in her arms was as refreshingly creative as she is. I loved hearing how Emma and her friend and business partner Deon consciously created a family that worked for them. For a while it included two loving couples living in "one big gay house” and sharing coparenting equally.

I was fascinated and a little envious of the set-up Emma had then and still has now. It’s every parent’s dream: having someone else fully share the coparenting and having an entire tribe to raise her son. It's meant that when she's mum, she's mum. And the rest of the time, she's Em. Period. I’d definitely be up for that! I loved talking to Emma about the power of words, why it drives me bonkers to hear women say they’re “just mum” and what Emma thinks is behind that. I agree fiercely about the importance of bravery, and how it’s the precursor to curious and open connection. 

In fact it’s got me musing, for all of us: where are you curious? Where do you meet other people with preconceived judgements? Where could you be more open? Where could I? Where and how do you put yourself or other women into the "mum box?"

I hope this conversation leaves you wondering about the roles you play of have had foisted upon you. About how you meet yourself and other mothers. And about how you might make big, brave decisions to help bump your life out of conventionality so it starts to look and feel the way you want it to, so you can truly be yourself. 

I’d love to hear what comes up for you as you listen. The conversation will continue over in the MamaFuel Virtual Village, which is our free Facebook home, and I’d love to read your tuppence. Click here to join us. And if you haven’t yet, please leave a review of this podcast wherever you’re listening. It helps so much to know that these conversations are landing, and it makes the little internet robots share conversations like these with more mamas. If you’d like to learn where to find Emma and discover the resources, films and more that we talk about during this conversation, head over here to the MamaFuel web site for all the goodies.

Rebecca Ching didn’t think she wanted children, until she realised she could build a different kind of family than the one she’d known when she was little. But creating a family came at a cost: Rebecca’s body told her in no uncertain terms that her previously work-focused life had to change dramatically for her to be the business owner, partner and mother she wanted to be. 

A few years into parenting and after the birth of their son, Rebecca and her husband learned that their daughter was on the autism spectrum. In that moment, everything shifted again towards finding the best support for their sweet girl and for themselves. It was a bumpy road of shifting relationships, grieving lost friendships and reassessing of every aspect of their lives. But it was made smoother by their absolute conviction that they, and no one else, knew best what their daughter needed. 

They became super intentional about the way they were spending their time, with whom and how they were going to lead their family. There were years of intense loneliness as they felt around to find the people who supported them the way they needed to be helped (and not how other people told them they should want), and found ways of showing up fully in difficult moments with their daughter.

Working with Brené Brown’s research on shame and becoming trained in The Daring Way was key to Rebecca developing shame resilience and being able to navigate the excruciating situations she’d often find herself in.

In this conversation that could have gone on for days, Rebecca and I talk about the insidiousness of comparative suffering, the lies shame tells us to keep us safe, and how deepening isolation makes we mamas so vulnerable. We touch on the tendency so many of us have to numb the tough feelings through service, through being there all the time for others, until we can’t maintain it anymore.  

Rebecca explains how shame, trauma and grief are all intertwined, and how there’s no way to avoid the loneliness of our path as humans learning how to be on this planet. When she talked about the thousand little traumas we all live on a daily basis, I could feel it in my body. The tiny misunderstandings, the glancing blows, the disappointments. They combine to create wounds all over our hearts and souls, and eventually our bodies will scream for us to stop.

The invitation to rethink how we’re doing life, and to face into shame and the feelings associated with it, is a precious one. Rethink who and what is in your life. How you fill your days. Where you’re going and whom you’re going there with. Really. Because streamlining your life might prevent a bigger breakdown.  When you’ve listened to this episode, go to our Virtual Village to tell us what you thought. I’d love to talk to you about this episode, your experience as an (expat) mama and how shame and isolation have played a part in your life. 

If you’d like to learn more about Rebecca and her work or check out some of the books or podcast episodes we mention, click here for the full show notes.