Today I'm joined by author Melissa Camara Wilkins to talk about her book 'Permission Granted'. Melissa shares her story and talks about he she moved from trying to fit into everyone else's perceptions and ideas of who she should be, to connecting to her truest self. 

We discuss the challenges, benefits and costs of choosing to be your true self, including all your imperfections and messiness. Melissa explores the challenge of being your true self in front of friends who've only known you as your old self, and the grieving of leaving certain relationships behind - but explains how it's only when we embrace our true self we can find real connection.

Melissa then moves on to talk about how we can learn to listen to our intuition, and learn to trust ourselves, and grow in confidence in our true selves - and finally, to love ourselves as we are.  

You can find more of Melissa's work at https://melissacamarawilkins.com/ 

In this episode I welcome Wren Helmericks, a tarot reader and writer. In this episode we explore what exactly Tarot is, and what it isn't. Wren discusses the myths, fears and misconceptions about Tarot, and the genuine benefits it can bring to our lives and indeed to our spiritual journeys. 

Wren then does two readings live on the show - one for me, and one for all of you listeners. The one for me was hugely beneficial and demonstrates how useful and insightful Tarot can be. I'd love to hear your feedback on how the reading for listeners impacted you. 

There's so much we need to learn about tarot and Wren is a great teacher.

Find more of her work at untanglingtarot.com 

Today editor, fiction author and writing expert Jess Lawrence joins me on the podcast. We explore the challenges of discovering new creative ideas and different ways to release the creative muse. 

We also discuss the process and challenges of writing and editing, how writing even fiction can tap into our own stories and be healing and transforming, and using her own experiences, the challenge of finding courage to release your art into the world. And we touch on how so much of the creative process can both reflect and impact the stories of our own lives. 

Jess has great insight and understanding of the creative process and how it impacts & reflects our lives, this is well worth a listen. 

Find her online at @JessLaw247 and jesslawrence.co.uk  

Today I'm joined by the wonderful Maile Smucker, writer and author. Maile is also co-host of 'The Stories Between Us' podcast alongside her husband, multiple guest Shawn Smucker. 

Maile tells us her own writing journey, and the challenges of how she has continued to explore her own writing gift & calling as her husband's professional writing and publishing career has thrived. She also discusses writing's own power to heal and transform us, and how to find joy in the work, rather than the result - and in seeing other writer thrive. 

Finally we explore how in creativity and in particularly in writing, we're always trying to work out some fear, insecurity, issue, or question, and how doing this can bring healing and change. 

Today my good friend Jim Woods returns to the podcast to explore our lives as stories. We discuss being authentic in our lives and our art, how we can confront pain and explore it & how authentic creativity helps us lead healthier lives.

Jim talks about what genuine connection really is and how we find out, setting healthy boundaries to guard our emotional health, including how social media use has impacted his own mental health. 

He also talks about how we can grow and develop as artists, and gain confidence and trust in ourselves by showing up for ourselves and our art - and of course, we discuss the enneagram. 

Jim is a fountain of wisdom on creativity and our personal journeys, and it's always such fun to chat to him. 

I'm delighted to welcome author and qualified counsellor Meredith McDaniel to the show today. Meredith runs a private counselling practice called 'Milk & Honey' and has just released her first book, "In Want & Plenty".

In today's episode we explore the concept of abundance, of being in need, and divine provision. Meredith talks about how God can often give us what we need even when we don't know what we need - and the radical concept of being in both want and in plenty at the same time.

We also discuss moving into the pain rather than walking around it, how often the cost of growth is feeling pain, and how in growth, things often need to get worse, before they get better - and how God is part of this journey.

If after listening you want to explore this more I'd highly recommend Meredith's book 'In Want & Plenty' - and it's available now wherever books are sold.

Today I'm joined by musician, podcaster and activist Andre Henry. Andre and I explore the issue of systemic racism in western culture, and Andre unpacks for us the racism which many of us don't see, or don't know, which can come from ibuilt white privilege. 

Andre shares how his creative work and his faith has been impacted and challenged by the increasing racism in US culture, and shares some of his frustrations in his work and in those who don't see they are part of the problem. 

Andre discusses some initial practical steps all of us can do to combat racism, and how there is no middle ground in racism - either we're part of the problem, or we're actively anti-racist and doing the work of change. He also shares with us some great resources to help us do this, and his own biggest inspirations, and how he practices finding hope.  

This was a challenging, discomforting and inspiring conversation, with hard pills we all need to hear. 

A new season of Poema Podcast begins with a conversation with author and speaker Sarah Bessey. Sarah joins me for the third time, to talk about her latest book 'Miracles & Other Reasonable Things', which charts her spiritual and personal journey of the last few years. 

Sarah shares a bit of her own deconstruction journey, her experiences both in the church and in her own life which challenged her faith in unexpected ways, and how a post miracle experience wasn't the happy ever after the Christian church often paints to be. She explores deconstruction and non-dual thinking and how the challenges this brings with traditional / evangelical language of the church, and how she has attempted to reconcile the two. 

Sarah also goes into great depth about the experience of being in the wilderness, and how she discovered that far from being a lonely solitary place, it can be a place of great community, feasting, and joy, even in the midst of suffering. And of course, Doctor Who inevitably came up! 

Finally, Sarah shares briefly about the grief of losing her beloved friend Rachel Held Evans, and how this has impacted her relationship with God and her spiritual journey. 

This was such an inspiring and fun conversation, I hope it's encouraging for you too. 

In today's episode I welcome my friend and podcaster Andy Mort back to the show. We live in difficult, dark and dangerous times. The political climate in the West, in particular the US and the UK, is divided, heated and bleak, and we have a climate change emergency. Right now, it's difficult to find hope.

Today Andy and I explore the the real issues behind what's happening in our world, and how looking at history can help us understand the present - and discover that in fact, there might be many reasons to hope and discover some joy, even in the midst of how things are now. 

I finished this conversation feeling so much more hopeful, about our world and my own life, I hope you do too. 

My beloved friend Alexander J. Shaia returns to the podcast today. In this episode, we discuss the process of awakening, transformation and change in our personal and spiritual journeys. 

Alexander shares how we need to be awakened to our need for growth, go through a process of transformation, before we see genuine change - and how this is an ongoing process of growth for us, and we discuss what this looks like in practice. 

There's so much in this episode I can't explain it all in a short summary - but Alexander is one of the wisest, deepest thinkers I know, and he has a deep well of knowledge to share. This is such a great conversation, one of my favourites. 

You can find out more about Alexanders' work & get more resources of his at www.quadratos.com