Stories of Astonishing Light with KJ Nasrul

KJ returns from a brief hiatus with a Full Moon episode, featuring her friend, artist Dingding Hu. Dingding  is on a mission to spread joy and unite people through positivity. She is a Chinese illustrator based in New York City specializing in drawing bubbly characters and  serendipitous storytelling. Dingding’s  artwork is a combined reflection of self discovery, food cravings, people watching, and pop culture. You can find her at her studio Hu Is Hungry.  

Today KJ and Dingding jam as fellow Weirdo Kids harboring secret dreams to offset societal (and familial) expectations. The ladies dive into the rich layers of what it means to belong; the renaissance of the Asian Creative and the transcendently magical and connective properties of food…   

Takeaways:
1. Food is home. In stressful times, food represents family, comfort and tenderness.
2. Were you a Secret Dreamer? How have your childhood dreams emerged in what you do today?
3.  Who defines our Asian-ness and what it means to be an Asian Creative?
4. What is your narrative of belonging as an Asian? 
5. Hope is a choice. Hope is to be treated as a friend.

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if our stories have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories  

Episode Mentions: 

• Website: huishungry.com 
• Instagram: @HuIsHungry 
• Steve Aoki www.steveaoki.com
•  Background music: Original composition 'Butterfly' by  KJ Nasrul 
• Intro & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ and Bliss Begins Within 

• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Clubhouse: @kjnasrul  Follow KJ's Clubs >>> Magical Cartographers Club and Creativity & Compassion Club
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• KJ & Friends have a new Roundtable Podcast- CONNECTED! 
• FREE Guide  Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

When did you decide to become more than Just Friends? The second part of KJ's conversation with Our Friendly World's Fawn and Matt Anderson  is beguiling, flowing and whimsical.  It's infused with Aikido principles, possibly revealing the recipe for creating deep, congruent relationships. KJ is a softy for a good love story, which Fawn and Matt generously provide. A universal human theme that emerged is the desire to connect, be seen and belong with each other. 

Episode Themes:

+ Aikido principles can be applied to our relationships  in  search for harmony, and reducing conflict: 

1.  redirecting momentum
2.  releasing into 
3.  flowing around
4. not resisting
5. not attacking
6. softening, reflecting, melding

+ Perhaps the formula for meaningful relationships (friendship, marriage) is: 
      1.  Enter into another state;
      2.  Release into it 

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if our stories have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories  

Episode Mentions: 

• Website www.ourfriendlyworld.com
• Podcast: Our Friendly World with Fawn and Matt   
• KJ, Fawn, Matt & Friends started a new Roundtable Podcast- CONNECTED! 
• Instagram: @befriendlyworld
• LinkedIn - Fawn and Matt 
• Ad background music: Original Composition by  KJ Nasrul 
• Intro  & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ and Bliss Begins Within 

• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Clubhouse: @kjnasrul  Follow KJ's Clubs >>> Magical Cartographers Club and Creativity & Compassion Club
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

Question: When did we become friends? KJ spends an afternoon of laughter and connection with The Andersons. Fawn Anderson is a photographer and Matt Anderson  is a software developer and together they pursue social, racial, and economic justice through their thought provoking conversational podcast exploring the Art of Friendship.  The movement and the podcast is called Our Friendly World with Fawn and Matt

In the first of a two-part conversation, KJ and her friends muse aloud about the significant stories that arise out of otherwise commonplace items (fridge magnets, cooling racks); and they examine an essential Shifting Moment: When and how do we pursue friendship? 

Takeaways: 

1. Have curious, compassionate conversations, start now.  
2. Stories and connecting conversations exist everywhere. 
3. When or why did we stop using imagination? Can we adapt and approach problem solving with a fresh perspective?
4. Survival means the ability to  adapt and create currency. 
5. Currency is our fluency and relationship skills. 
6. How to build currency? One way: create a safe environment for authentic sharing. 
7. When do we make the shift from casual acquaintance to friendship? 
8. What is our style of initiation: Golden Retriever?  Gradual Gatekeeper?  
9. What structures, architecture inform our abilities to create and maintain meaningful relationships?

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if our stories have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories  

Episode Mentions: 

• Website www.ourfriendlyworld.com
• Podcast: Our Friendly World with Fawn and Matt   
• Instagram: @befriendlyworld
• Fawn's linkedin
  Matt's linkedin
• Ad background music: KJ Nasrul 
• Intro  & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Clubhouse: @kjnasrul 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

Can we have honest and crucial conversations -charged, heavy, electric, passionate, uncomfortable, provocative as they are-- today?  If yes, what do they look like? How do we start them? It is these questions, and more that KJ contemplates  in today's Solo SOAL episode. Stick around for a few minutes as she accompanies us through a Compassion Invocation and music mandala. 

Questions Worth Considering: 

1. Would you Come Sit With Me?  If you saw me hanging out on the couch or at a table with an open, available seat, would you take it? What stops you from sitting next to me? What compels you to sit next to me, engage with me? Come Sit With Me experiment, as envisioned by artist @jackieshermanart 

2. What happens when we let go of  attachment to the outcome, but instead focus in the moment, on the process?

3. Do you recognize the impact of nonverbal communication? What happens when there are no words? An experiential Expressive Arts Therapy seminar brought many nonverbal conversations that were just as profound and telling if not more than any verbal exchange. 

4. What would it be like to talk about the grief, fear, and passion and channel that momentum towards advocacy for issues that are important to us and our communities?

5.  The conversation is just beginning. This week, a Minneapolis jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder of George Floyd last year, on May 25, 2020. We have much work to do, Healers. It starts with talking about it. 

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if our stories have astonished you as well.
https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories  

Episode Mentions: 

• Artist and writer Jackie Sherman - Come Sit With Me 
• KJ's Interview on WTF Live With Melissa Morris- YouTube Video 
• Compassion Meditation Background Music: Seashell Sound Mandala, performed by KJ 
• Intro  & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Clubhouse: @kjnasrul 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

"𝗜𝗳 𝘄𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, i𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴."- Marisa Corcoran 

Ready to discover what to say and how to say it to magnetically attract your dream clients?  If so, then you'll want Marisa Corcoran in your corner! Our girl's words can 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 at 60% (or higher!) and her personality-filled emails compel thousands of fans to her copywriting summit and community  The Copy Chat.

In today's laughter-filled jam session, KJ and  her copywriting mentor Marisa explore current obsessions (it involves, books, y'all, of course!),  how to access a limitless supply of storytelling nuggets (tip: your favorite ice cream flavor is brimming with stories, am I right?), and how being a Harvard Grad with a MFA in Acting lends to a transformative framework for drawing in both a loyal clientele and a deeply connected, supportive community. 

Also, we may refer to human spines carried in a suitcase all over New York City. 

Takeaways:
1. Be Relatable, be human
-Listen and collaborate
-Be Clear with your messaging- ask:  how can I help? How can I be of service? 
-Be Consistent and receptive - value feedback, listen to whomever you’re with, Notice the nonverbal cues

2. Stories are Everywhere, bring it in from the world 

- Keep a running, fluid list nearby and available 
- Be present with your five senses, they're incredible sources of information! 
- Don't be afraid to repurpose - Be like Billy Joel

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if our stories have astonished you as well.
https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories  

Connect With Marisa: 

• Website
• Facebook Group, The Copy Chat
• Instagram
• Facebook Page

Connect With KJ and Bliss Begins Within 

• Instagram:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• On Clubhouse: @kjnasrul 
• Facebook & Twitter
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Ep 39 Ad Background Music: Original Composition-  Butterfly by KJ Nasrul 
• Ep 39 Takeaways Background Music: Original Composition - Seashell by  KJ Nasrul 
• Intro  & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

Today we’re doing something a little different, Healers. This episode is the recording of KJ as a guest on her friend Valerie Zaric's podcast, Future Proof Career. The ladies jam  for a little while on an apparently provocative topic... silence.

When KJ asked a question about silence to her Facebook and Instagram friends, she learned that silence can be polarizing, unsettling and also very wise, if  we allow it to be. This fun conversation was a gentle way to re-emerge after KJ's self-imposed cocooning over the past several weeks. Listen in to consider the complexities (or simplicities?) of quiet..

Takeaways:
Silence is:
Uncomfortable and soothing.
Contemplative and provocative.
Gentle and agitated.
Wise and torturous.
 
Questions:
What is your relationship with silence? 
What stories does silence hold for you? 

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if our stories have astonished you as well.
https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories  

Episode Mentions: 

• Valerie Zaric on IG:  @valeriezaric
• Future Proof Career Podcast
• Website http://valeriezaric.com/
• Ep 38 Ad Background Music: Original Composition-  Butterfly by KJ Nasrul 
• Ep 38 Takeaways Background Music: Original Composition - Seashell by  KJ Nasrul 
• Intro  & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• Register for the Creativity & Compassion Workshop this Saturday! 
• Instagram:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• Connect on Clubhouse: @kjnasrul 
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

Hi, friends, it's me, KJ.  While I haven't  spoken much these days, I am here, though my grief is vast.  I am grateful to these three exquisite poetesses (Rupi Kaur, Morgan Harper Nichols and Katie Herzig) who do have the perfect words to express what I cannot at this time. 
Stay but a few moments if you would;  there are poems to be read, and a song to sing. 
With Love, KJ

Episode Notes: 

• Poem   balance  by Rupi Kaur
• Poem   stillness by Rupi Kaur 
• Poem   inner critic  by Morgan Harper Nichols 
• Poem   connected by Rupi Kaur 
• Song lyrics &  melody   i hurt too by Katie Herzig, performed by KJ Hoard Nasrul
• intro  & outro music Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• Instagram:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Clubhouse: @kjnasrul 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

When you find your people, you find your way. Today's SOAL guest is Aaliyah Madadi,  a Dharma Life Coach, ganja yoga teacher, US Trademarks lawyer, and the host of the Soul Sesh Podcast.  She has a mission: empower women in fully embodying their purpose and living a life that truly feels good. 

Today, KJ and Aaliyah explore ways to grant more grace to acknowledge our strengths as medicine for ourselves and others.  The ladies create new definitions for concepts such as safety and self compassion. Also, Aaliyah shares the intricate and scary process of walking away from her big time career in corporate law to live a life of connectedness on her terms. Welcome to this delightful and soothing Soul Sesh. 

Takeaways

1. When did you know you have and are the medicine? 
2. How might you grant yourself the grace to accept your gifts? 
3. Find Your People. They will provide a safe environment for you as you take action. 
4. Slow down and cultivate an intentional, sacred life. 
5. Notice and acknowledge urgencies that are assigned to you, but not by you. 
6. Prioritizing where you’ll spend your energy is an empowering form of self care

Episode Mentions: 

• Aaliyah on Instagram:  @aaliyahmadadi @soulseshh
• Soul Sesh Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soul-sesh/id1554026584
• Website https://www.aaliyahmadadi.com
• Ep 36 Ad Background Music: Original Composition-  Butterfly by KJ Nasrul 
• Ep 36 Takeaways Background Music: Original Composition - Seashell by  KJ Nasrul 
• Intro  & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Clubhouse: @kjnasrul 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

This week, KJ welcomes Dr. Yvonne Castillo, a Pain-free Movement Specialist and Doctor of Physical Therapy.  Yvonne has cracked the code to getting and staying pain-free naturally, without endless painkillers, procedures or trips to the doc. As the founder of Perseverance Wellness Solutions, she’s helped over a thousand active adults stop chasing their symptoms with ineffective pills and procedures, and finally fix the true source of their pain with her proven 3S Mobility Method.

Today, KJ and Yvonne bring the attention back to the relationships we grow with our clients and the importance of modeling  healthy coping skills for our loved ones . Yvonne has over a decade of experience as a Pain-free Movement Specialist, holds a Doctorate and Masters in Physical Therapy and is a Certified Pilates instructor.  Her holistic philosophy of kindness and collaboration is inspired, and inspiring. 

Episode Takeaways: 

1. View healing holistically, not with a fragmented focus on pain and injury. Your health, your pain points influence and impact all facets of your life
2. Spend the time to be of service. Treat People as humans, not data. Value the relationships and  stories your patients bring. 
3. We are the models.  What mentality or coping mechanisms are you teaching your loved ones? What messages are your kids learning from you?
4. Think Long Term  and Big Picture.  Ask yourself: What can I do today that will improve my quality of life for the next 40 years?
5. Be kind, listen,  and start where you are.  Acknowledge others and yourself not with judgment but with compassion and curiosity. 

Episode Mentions: 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.yvonnecastillo
• Facebook Group:  www.thepainfreeandpowerfulproject.group
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dr.yvonnecastillo
• Ep 35 Ad Background Music: Original Composition- KJ Nasrul 
• Ep 35 Takeaways Background Music: Original Composition - KJ Nasrul 
• Intro  & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety 
• Clubhouse: @kjnasrul 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• FREE Guide- Connect To Calm  https://bit.ly/4StepsToCalm
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com  

Head up, hands up, be light-footed, be present:  a few life lessons from boxing.  KJ welcomes her friend Suzanne Dressler to the podcast to talk grieving a lost relationship, celebrating frontline essential workers and redefining self care. Suzanne Dressler is a professional singer/actress, runs her own tutoring business, Skyscraper Tutoring, LLC, and is a dedicated Podcaster and host of There's a Word for That!, a podcast that explores our relationships to words and expressions. She is very short and has very curly hair and she is pure delight. 

Takeaways:
1. Lessons from Grenada: Treat others with kindness; Take pride in your work; Be glad for your blessings.  Enjoy a healthy lifestyle of an exchange of nourishment with the land.

2. Lessons from Boxing: Be light on your feet, practice vigilance . Concentrate on maintaining your form, keep your hands up, practice presence, be light footed and hold your stance;  stay out of your head and trust in your form.  

3. Recognize the resilience models around you.  People move through difficult situations every day.  Look to and celebrate Front Line workers- Health Care and  Grocery Store and Food Vendors. They are putting their lives at risk to ensure we have  our basic needs. 

4. Humans are designed to survive. The pandemic revealed boundaries and edges.  Understand and utilize your inner resourcefulness. 

5. Re-evaluate and redefine. Know when it’s time  for a mental health break.  Re-evaluate your definition of Self Care.  Yoga and movement can equal catharsis and sanctuary. 

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if our stories have astonished you as well.
https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories  BONUS- Every review you leave enters you into a drawing to win a FREE 1:1 consultation with me!

Episode Mentions: 

• Podcast: theresawordforthat.buzzsprout.com
• Instagram: @suzannerachel13
• Twitter: @squeezanne13
• Ep 34  Ad background music: A KJ Original Composition - "Butterfly" 
• Ep 34  Outro background music: A KJ Original Composition - "Seashell" 
• Intro  & Outro background music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @BlissBeginsWithin @AdopteeSociety
• Receive KJ's Updates: Email List 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• 1:1 Time With KJ:  https://blissbeginswithin.as.me
• Facebook & Twitter
• Want to create and send beautiful emails? Try Flodesk for free your first 30 days! Use this link here to get started

Support the show

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications for when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit her website here: Bliss Begins Within.com