Ordinary Talks with Extraordinary Women

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

In this episode, Olga Miller sat down with Nicole Runyon — a child psychotherapist, award-winning author, and speaker — for a conversation that has almost nothing to do with "work" and everything to do with the life underneath it. Nicole candidly traces her roots back to a Lebanese immigrant family built on sacrifice, tenacity, and quiet expectation, and reflects on how an angry, unheard young woman grew into someone who speaks her mind with honesty and grace. She opens up about her frustrations with a culture that has traded discipline and tenacity for comfort and "good enough," makes a passionate case for real-world connection over screen time, and shares how she has learned to meet negativity without losing herself. Most strikingly, Nicole walks through the years chronic stress spent quietly wrecking her body — until she met it with perseverance, radical self-honesty, and self-love, and came out the other side. Along the way: seasons, boredom as a gift, and what it really means to be free.

Prefer to see this one? The full video is up on YouTube.

This one is a slow exhale. Settle in.

Key Takeaways

• Outspoken isn't the same as heard. Nicole spent her 20s speaking her convictions from a place of anger — and it wasn't landing. Becoming a therapist and a mother forced her to learn to sit in silence, manage her own reactivity, and communicate in a way people could actually receive.
• Disagreement is welcome; disrespect is not. She distinguishes between honest pushback (which she values and engages with) and "buzzwording" or personal attacks (which she disengages from entirely, without apology).
• Choice is a responsibility, not a given. Growing up believing she had no path forward as a woman, Nicole later realized her parents had been quietly building her a choice the whole time. Her guiding line for clients and herself: "The wound isn't your fault, but it is your responsibility."
• Screens fill a void — they don't create one. Taking devices away fails when parents don't also teach kids how to sit in boredom and rebuild the internal tools that screens replaced. Boredom, done right, becomes fertile ground.
• Parents aren't cruise directors. Engagement doesn't mean constant entertainment — it means modeling discipline, tenacity, and the willingness to let your kids feel disappointed, bored, or challenged.
• The body keeps score. Nine years ago, chronic stress showed up in Nicole's body as pain, stiffness, and hormone disruption. Recovery came through eliminating inflammatory foods, non-negotiable exercise and sleep, and asking for help — not from willpower alone.
• Presence is a practice, not a personality trait. From leaving her phone in her bag to cooking dinner together instead of DoorDash, Nicole's philosophy on connection starts with noticing her own device use before addressing anyone else's.
• Let the season be the season. Whether it's a flexible summer or an introspective winter, Nicole closes with a reminder to stop fighting the natural rhythm of the year — and of life.

About Nicole Runyon

Nicole Runyon, LMSW, is a psychotherapist, parent coach, and keynote speaker with over two decades of experience in child and adolescent mental health. She is the author of the award-winning, bestselling book Free to Fly: The Secret to Fostering Independence in the Next Generation, which explores how technology is disrupting child development and offers parents a path back to connection, resilience, and real-world independence.

• Website: nicolerunyon.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicolerunyonlmsw
• Instagram: @igenerationmentalhealth
• Book: Free to Fly

Ordinary Talks with Extraordinary Women — conversations about the life underneath the résumé.

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

What if the wisdom to weather life's greatest storms has been embedded in language, land, and lineage all along? In this deeply moving conversation, Olga Miller sits down with Kanoelani Davis — cultural practitioner, kumu hula, founder of Ho'Akā Mana, and keeper of a generational healing lineage from the small island of Moloka'i, Hawai'i.

Trained for over 45 years in traditional Hawaiian martial and healing arts, Kanoelani opens with a chant connecting us to the easternmost point of her island — where light begins. From there, she takes us on a journey spanning stormy coastlines, the Rocky Mountains, and the darkest corners of personal trauma. Behind the "glitter and glam" the internet shows is a woman who has survived kidnapping, assault, and suicidal depression — and who now walks others back from the same edge.

She shares the Hawaiian concepts of ho'omana (self-mastery), kaona (hidden meaning), and makawalu (seeing with all senses simultaneously), and explains why true healing requires both the person in pain and the person who thinks they're fine. She closes with her grandfather's timeless gift: ho'omanawanui — patience, in its deepest sense.

This is a conversation about the "we" that holds us — and how you can find your way back to it, wherever in the world you are.

Sensitive Content: This episode contains candid discussion of sexual assault, childhood trauma, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. Please listen with care. US listeners: call or text 988 for crisis support.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Knowing the "name of the storm" transforms fear into preparation — indigenous naming of natural forces is a form of resilience technology.

Self-mastery (ho'omana) came before collective healing (ho'oponopono). When we tend our own inner life, we reduce the burden on the collective.

The person suffering and the person who feels "fine" need each other equally. Conscious awareness is the common medicine for both.

Pain is not disqualifying — it is preparatory. Kanoelani's greatest credential is having stood in the same darkness as the people she now helps.

HAWAIIAN CONCEPTS

Ho'omana

Self-mastery; inner authority cultivated through discipline and lineage.

Ho'oponopono

Collective reconciliation; communal forgiveness and problem-solving.

Kaona

Hidden, layered meaning embedded in language, chant, and story.

Makawalu

"Eight eyes"; perceiving through all senses and multiple perspectives at once.

Ho'omanawanui

Patience; an active trust that time itself is medicine.

Kumu Hula

Master hula teacher; custodian of oral history and cultural memory.

Music by Olga Miller @YelloBirdie and Marc Corominas from Pixabay

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

Welcome to Season 3 of Ordinary Talks with Extraordinary Women. In this opening episode, host Olga Miller, founder of YelloBirdie and Stories We Carry, reflects on the power of story, the importance of connection, and why our personal narratives shape who we are becoming. 

As we step into March, Women's History Month, and the season of spring, Olga invites you to explore how stories help us reconnect with ourselves and with one another in a world that often feels overwhelming, distracted and disconnected.  Through storytelling, reflection, and curiosity, we can rediscover our identity, reclaim our sense of self and create space for deeper community connection.

This season will feature extraordinary women sharing powerful, honest, and inspiring stories - many of which have already been recorded and are ready to be released into the world.

Follow the show, share it with someone who might need encouragement, and explore the growing community around YelloBirdie and Stories We Carry. 

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

In this conversation, Grace Boda, an executive and transformational coach who guides people to live from the power of Awakened Presence, shares her powerful practices for staying anchored and connected to what truly matters, even amidst the “frenetic energy” of a busy season.

Key Takeaways:

• Drop Below the Surface: Use the metaphor of the ocean—the surface is chaotic, but the depth is silent. You don't need to change the surface activities, but drop a portion of your attention down into the quieter, deeper parts of yourself.
• Anchor to What Matters: Maintain a background awareness of your life's meaning, purpose, or core values (like family, connection, or legacy). This foundation allows the "superficial froth" of busy tasks to happen in context.
• Use Your Body as a Doorway to Depth:Reclaim your attention by using your physical body. Practices include consciously noticing and regulating your breath, or dropping your attention directly into the center of your chest (your heart space) or a deeper center like the "womb space" for a quick grounding.
• Move Your Energy: Combat mental clutter and sluggishness by physically moving your body. Simple movements like walking (especially outdoors in nature, which acts as a powerful, organizing energy field), dancing (even a three-minute dance party), or hula-hooping help shift disorganized energy.
• Embrace Water for Clearing: Moving water, such as taking a shower or bath, can symbolically and energetically help you feel "washed clean" and shift energy blockages.
• The Quick Shift: When feeling frenetic, the easiest and fastest practice is to pull your attention back from the "10,000 different things" that are occupying your mind, drop it into the center of your chest or body, and take a deep breath or two to quiet down before re-engaging with the outside world.

The Reclaim Marathon is a special mini-series of short, meaningful conversations about what it really looks like to reclaim yourself in everyday life.

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

In this conversation, Reverend Jennifer Latham, or Rev. Jenn as so many affectionately call her, a priest at Holy Nativity Church of Honolulu, Hawaii, discusses her approach to living authentically and making intentional choices.

Key Takeaways:

• Authenticity as a Daily Practice:Reclaiming yourself means being true to your authentic self. Rev. Jenn practices a "daily check-in" to ensure her actions align with her core values, beliefs, and where her spirit finds energy.
• The Power of the Sacred Pause: To combat being a people-pleaser, adopt the "holy or sacred pause." Don't say yes immediately; take time to reflect, discern, and decide if a commitment is where your energy should go.
• Reframe "Saying No": Realize that saying no to one thing is saying yes to another—an opportunity for yourself, or a chance to allow someone else to step up, which is both humble and empowering.
• Prioritize Yourself: Understand that you are a priority. In order to function well for others, you must recognize when your "tank is running dry" and consciously take time to recharge.
• Find Joy: Actively seek out joy, even during hard seasons of life. Whether it’s sharing a silly dance or remembering funny family moments, joy is a necessary and powerful force for grounding yourself.

The Reclaim Marathon is a special mini-series of short, meaningful conversations about what it really looks like to reclaim yourself in everyday life.

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

In this episode of The Reclaim Marathon, we are joined by Kirsten Bombdiggity, a dynamic coach, educator, and a best-selling author, known for her unique ability to blend unfiltered humor with grace.

In this conversation, Kirsten Bombdiggity guides you toward finding your inner light and giving yourself grace for exactly who you are. We touch upon:

• The Power of Curiosity: Learn to look at setbacks and challenges not with judgment, but with curiosity, focusing on what you've learned that will set you up for future success.
• The Wisdom of Future You: Discover the most compassionate way to guide yourself back when feeling "lost in the fog"—by inviting the wise, unconditionally loving 80-year-old version of yourselfover for a conversation.
• Embracing Playfulness: Kirsten shares a powerful, simple light: you can't be anxious and playful at the same time. Find easy ways to embrace the innocence you still have left, whether it's rocking out to an old favorite song or engaging in activities like coloring or playing with a pet.
• A Fluid "Best": Her simple ritual for feeling anchored is accepting that you are a different person every single day and giving yourself permission for your "best" to be completely fluid and subjective—sometimes the best gift you can give yourself is rest.
• A Decision Tree for the Future: Use Consistency, Gratitude, and Joy as your decision-making compass for a more anchored and successful future.

To listen to a longer conversation with Kirsten Bombdiggity, check out the full list of our episodes or go to https://www.buzzsprout.com/2321354/episodes/17045343

The Reclaim Marathon, a special mini-series for Ordinary Talks with Extraordinary Women, is a collection of short, 10-minute conversations with women who offer honest reflections on what it means to reclaim yourself in everyday life.

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

In this short and unscripted, real-time conversation in RECLAIM Marathon, Amanda Nigg joins Olga Miller to discuss the season of "reclaiming." Amanda emphasizes how reclaiming your body, mind, and self requires a strategic game plan. 

Learn about the importance of treating workouts as scheduled tasks, maintaining morning routines even on rest days, and approaching nutrition with a compound effect—starting with a high-protein breakfast. Amanda also shares a powerful exercise she does with clients: defining your "why statement" by mind-dumping the deepest, darkest emotions and struggles to create a powerful action statement for your personal journey. Finally, she offers a no-BS take on self-discipline, suggesting that a lack of it means the goal is not important enough to you.

To listen to a longer episode with Amanda, please visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/2321354/episodes/14988460

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

The Reclaim Marathon is a special mini-series for Ordinary Talks with Extraordinary Women, featuring a collection of short, 10-minute conversations with women who offer honest reflections on what it means to reclaim yourself in everyday life.

Each episode explores reclamation in a different way—energy, presence, creativity, identity, boundaries, joy, or simply the space to breathe again. There’s no single definition here, because reclaiming is deeply personal and often shaped by the season you’re in.

These conversations are brief by design, yet rich in insight. Think of them as gentle pauses—small moments of clarity and connection you can return to whenever life feels full or noisy.

Whether you listen to one episode or move through the entire marathon, my hope is that you’ll hear something that reminds you:
this part of you still belongs to you.

Welcome to the Reclaim Marathon.

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

What if your dreams aren't just random nighttime wanderings, but a profound mirror reflecting your deepest consciousness back to you?

In this illuminating conversation, I sit down with Grace Boda - spiritual guide, practitioner, and dream work pioneer - to explore the transformative power of presence and the hidden wisdom within our dreams. Grace takes us on a journey that began with a life-altering experience at age six, one that opened a doorway to lifelong spiritual exploration and a radically different way of seeing reality.

At the heart of this episode is Grace's powerful distinction between two ways of being: the "mastery-seeking mind" that craves control and certainty, and the "mystery-seeking mind" that embraces the unknown and allows transformation. Rather than treating dreams as puzzles to be solved with generic interpretations, Grace invites us to engage with them as living symbols—dynamic, personal, and endlessly unfolding.

Beyond dreams, Grace offers practical wisdom for cultivating unshakable inner peace in our chaotic world. From simple meditation practices to the transformative power of awe, she illuminates the path to accessing the wellspring of wisdom that already exists within each of us.

Key Takeaways:

Dreams as a Mirror of Consciousness – Your dreams aren't random noise; they're consciousness reflecting itself back to you, unfiltered by the constraints of waking life.

Mastery vs. Mystery – Learn to recognize and balance the rational, control-seeking part of your mind with the part that's drawn to wonder, transformation, and the unknown.

Symbols Over Signs – Discover why dream dictionaries fall short and how to engage with dream images as living, evolving symbols through active imagination and dialogue.

Creating a Worthy Vessel – Why healing past wounds, integrating emotions, and reconciling relationships creates the inner capacity to hold expanded awareness without being pulled off-center.

Growth Through Challenge – Why life's most shaking experiences often become our greatest teachers, revealing who we truly are beneath the surface.

Resources:

• Grace Boda  https://graceboda.com/ 
• The Language of the Deep: Dreams as Maps of Becoming https://graceboda.com/event/language-of-the-deep-dreams-as-maps-of-becoming/
• YelloBirdie.com – Olga Miller's home for newsletters, programs, and community
• On and about Carl Jung – Dive deeper into active imagination and symbolic dream work

Ready to dive deeper? Subscribe

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!

Send us a text! Would love to hear directly from you!

In this relaxed, yet soul-stirring conversation, designer and artist Kelly Lynch opens a window into her world—a place where instinct, beauty, and connection weave together to create a life rich with meaning. Kelly shares how trusting her inner compass has carried her across continents, from Europe to New York, and into projects that marry curiosity with courage.

With two newly released non-fiction books, Kelly reveals her creative process as one rooted in play—not as a luxury, but as a way of life. She speaks of her love for handmade objects, the weight and texture of paper, and the timeless ritual of books, reminding us that beauty isn’t ornamental—it’s essential nourishment for the soul.

At the heart of our exchange is connection: to family, to friends, to community, and most importantly, to oneself. Kelly’s wisdom is simple yet luminous—play, connect, stay curious. These are not just creative tools, but life practices that reignite excitement and joy, even in challenging times.

🌿 Key Takeaways

• Trust Your Instinct + Embrace Play: Life doesn’t have to be scripted. Follow your intuition, experiment, and let playfulness guide you.
• Connection is Everything: Real relationships—with people, with beauty, with your own truth—are the heartbeat of a meaningful life.
• Find Beauty in the Handmade: Whether it’s a tactile book, an object crafted with care, or your own creative work, beauty grounds us and lifts us simultaneously.
• Stay Curious + Step Outside the Familiar: New perspectives and new experiences are where life begins again.
• Use Technology Mindfully: The more we untangle ourselves from screens, the more space we make for genuine connection.

📚 Resources Mentioned

• Kelly’s New Books: The Vintage Postcard Collage Kit & A History of Art Sticker Book (featuring works from renowned museums). 
• Tosha Silver’s Books – gentle guides for truth-telling and lightening the mental load.
• Rijksmuseum Digital Archive – a treasure trove of public domain art Kelly draws inspiration from
• This Is Happiness by Niall Williams ‘Life is a comedy, with sad bits’Call to Action:"Play!" As Kelly advises, embrace curiosity, try new things, and allow yourself the freedom to create and explore without overthinking the outcome. Find what excites you and lean into it.

🎧 Listen to the Full Conversation on Ordinary Talks with Extraordinary Women.
And remember Kelly’s most radiant piece of advice: “Play!” —an invitation to loosen the grip, step into curiosity, and rediscover the thrill of being alive.

Support the show

Thank You so much for listening! Please subscribe, leave us a rating & stay tuned!

FOLLOW
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/yellobirdie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/yellobirdie
YouTube: www.youtube.com/yellobirdie.hawaii
TikTok:  @yellobirdie

To learn more about YelloBirdie please visit us at
www.yellobirdie.com

YelloBirdie is your nest for exploration and growth, a vibrant community where women and little humans of all ages can spread their wings. We offer workshops, empowering guidance, and a curated selection of products, all designed to help you unlock your inner songbird, embrace creativity, and soar through life with confidence. Join us and experience the transformative power of self-discovery and connection in a supportive, judgment-free environment. Let's fly together!