Stories with Dania

While on my walk to the park with Yusuf I realised how joyful connecting to nature brings me, and how it’s so needed for mental health, especially with consumerism screaming at every corner. Sometimes just being on a patch of grass looking up at the sky is the soul’s answer. Another mind clarifier for me has been talking to Allah, and I don’t mean duas, I mean literally talking to Allah about anything and everything like one would a friend, because honestly Allah is the ultimate friend so why not? It makes complete sense, but I guess growing up, most people are afraid or avoid this. I read about this in the book ‘Talking to Allah’ by Ayesha Syahira, and it’s really been life changing. Hope this helped you! ❤️

This is a very rambling episode about allowing myself to experiment, explore and be curious about my creative practice, and shed a rigid mindset. I hope this helps!

A short unscripted episode on letting go of obsessions, worries of the future and having faith it will work out! Whatever creative project you’re doing, keep doing it and change the worrying habit into faith that the future outcome is out of your hands. It frees up a lot of mental space. I also talk about pausing and meditating before creating anything, I’ve been trying it and it helps with the ‘flow’. The meditative exercise I’ve taken from the book ‘The Magic of Drawing’ by Cliff Wright, an amazing illustrator who illustrated the second and third Harry Potter book. Do check it out! Sending much love, remember to stay chill and talk to you in the next one. :)

Hi! This is the 8th episode! I am slowly getting back into this and in this episode I talk about my obsession with hands and a quote that I read from an anthropologist when I was doing my research into it. 😄 I’d rather be obsessing over things other than what’s going on in my brain on a daily basis! 😂 stay tuned for more episodes like this which hopefully will be longer. Talk to you all very soon ❤️

Hi! Welcome back to another episode. It’s been a loooong while as usual! This episode is an anxious rant 😶 which turns into how I faced my anxiety & fear and created something, and that has never been easy for me. As long as I’ve known I’ve experienced anxiety. Debilitating, freezing anxiety. As a creative, in those moments I freeze, I stop creating, I hyper fixate and obsess, and I can’t stop thinking. But I’m trying something new now. I’m learning how to create, write, draw and work on anything when I’m right in the middle of an anxiety tornado storm. I’m challenging myself to face the fear, to draw even if it’s tiny strokes, to use my shaky voice to speak, to write even if it’s painfully slow and almost unintelligible. At first every part of my mind & body is screaming NO, until it starts to fade a little bit, as I try to notice instead of beat myself up and continue soldiering on. Slowly, and miraculously and wonderfully the spark of creating comes back, and there’s a bit more ease and calm, and the storm has passed over, and it feels like a blue sky day with a gentle breeze. 🌤

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I challenge you to try this too, you might surprise yourself, & if it’s really not happening then allow that too. It’s good to know it all takes time, but you’re getting there. ❤️ If you’re looking for creativity hacks, and wanting to dive deep into how to harness it, how to think differently and build a practice, look up Eric Maisel. He is a psychotherapist, creativity coach and author of like a gazillion books! He’s really helped me in the creativity domain. I mention him in this podcast.

Excited beyond words for this episode in which my lovely guest was Chanah Wainer. This was such an empowering, uplifting and positive conversation, in which we explored education, self love, modes of thinking that SERVE you, and how planting a small seed can transform your entire life. :) Do not miss this one, by the end of the hour & 15 mins (I know it’s long but it’s soooo worth it) you will feel motivated and recharged in your mind, body and spirit! About Chanah Wainer: Chanah Wainer is an Education Consultant and the Founder & Host of Artists of Change, a podcast where inspiring conversations happen with dynamic, local and international based performing artists who create with the intention of their art itself being an instrument of social change. Her love for learning and education design stems from a passion for challenging and reframing the underlying assumptions we use to frame the problems in our world. Chanah is currently completing her PhD at UNSW, focusing on curriculum design within initial teacher education. You can find her incredible thoughts on Instagram @chanahwainer & on her Facebook group ‘The Enlivened Educator’. Until next time, hope you enjoy this one!

It’s been a looong time since the last episode and finally we’re here! I’ve been meaning to talk about this for quite a while. Letting go of what other people think can seem like an impossible task. More often than not we are deeply concerned and affected by the words of others and what they might be ‘thinking’ or ‘saying’ about us. Yes, I’ve been there. This can really get out of hand when we ‘pause’ our life because of it or we change who we are to please others. It’s a long journey of accepting ourselves and slowly shedding the weight of ‘what other people think’ from our shoulders. But it IS possible. A small practice of accepting and loving your authentic self every day in small ways can help. This was inspired by an episode on the podcast ‘Do You F****** Mind’ by Alexis Predez. She phrases it so well and creates a clear cut way of how to not care so deeply about what other people think of you. I’ve mentioned this in this episode. I hope this resonates with you, and mellows out the critic within and allows you to live the best life possible without the fear of others ‘thinking something’ over shadowing it. You are strong, and you are worthy. ❤️

A meditative reminder I wrote to myself in my diary many moons ago and I thank past Dania for this. ❤️

Hi! Ironically I thought this was a ‘fail’ episode and was not going to post it. Under the pursuit of perfection, the critic within me had really stopped me from posting this for a while, but I realised how hypocritical that was when I literally talk about making mistakes, and allowing imperfection. So here it is, my thoughts and experiences so far with ‘failing’ and how I’m slowly leaning into it more these days. Tune in, and let me know what you think of this episode on my Instagram @storieswithdania! I’ll be talking more about my personal stories in the coming episodes. Here’s to failing, picking ourselves up and learning. ❤️

Welcome to the second episode! One of the reasons why I started this podcast was because of listening to an inspiring honest story from Tasmiah Aziz during her Taz Talks on stage at Giant Dwarf Theatre on 22nd of May. Tasmiah connected with my own journey of mental health, the stigma in desi families and how to find the right therapist. I was in awe of how she could stand on stage vulnerably and connect with her story with each of us. It mentally clicked with me that day that owning my story is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, and it is scary to open up but we’re all basically in this together so if not now then when. The more you speak up, the more the stigma and ‘shame’ on mental health dies down. I hope you enjoy this very fluid, open and real conversation which has a few light hearted laughs here and there. You can check Taz Talks of Tasmiah Aziz on her Instagram @tasmiah_a. Without further ado, let’s begin.