Help Me Be Me

This is a special Halloween podcast episode - an interview with one of my heroes, special effects and creature effects artist/ innovator, Mark Shostrom. He’s influenced so much of what you see today in all kinds of make-up and special effects in TV and film, with an incredible legacy of work. His resume includes 30 years of scary movies, everything from “Nightmare on Elm Street 2” to “Videodrome.” We talk about inspiration, creativity, and going for your dreams and not your obligations— not to mention, the best way to make an open flesh-wound for your Halloween costume this year. There are also a few super creepy Hollywood ghost stories about the Hart Building at Paramount studios. This is for all creators, makers and passionate thinkers out there. It’s a challenge to commit to your own bar of excellence and go for it. Decide to do whatever you do awesomely, and foster your voice as a creative thinker, because life is too short to do something you hate, or can simply tolerate. Plus, when you decide to follow your passions, what you leave in your wake is a legacy: something you are proud of that others will learn from for generations to come. *Warning: Includes some explicit language, gore and scary stories! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you suffer from habitual thinking that you don’t like – and you have a hard time undoing it, it’s because you’re trapped in a physically engrained system of thinking. What happens overtime is your brain gets trained into feeling certain emotions and you grow used to it. It becomes unconscious, just like when you have peeled an apple so many times, you don’t even think about it anymore. Or when you drive to work – you do it without having to think. The same happens with feeling certain emotions, even if they are unpleasant – they become unconscious and that is where you feel the most inclined to be. It grows to be your “normal” and therefore, it’s where you are comfortable. Despite when it’s an emotion that doesn’t feel good. I often talk about mental muscle-memory: you have habits of feeling certain things when you are in the corresponding environments and they repeat. Eventually, it’s just reality and “the issues you face in life.” So when you’re working on creating positive change it will feel uncomfortable, tedious or even scary because of this muscle memory. It feels insurmountable but it's not, in reality - it's just because you’re used to feeling bad and it’s now associated with “comfort” and safety. I will give you tools to overcome this habit so that you can "wake up" and decide who you want to be and what you want to do with your life. It's a revolution against old habits you don't want in your life! Join the resistance!!!!! And if you likee, please review me on iTunes!! Would make me very happy! For the blog version of this, check out TeaspoonOfHappy.com - will be up in the next couple days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi friends, This is a quieter version of the "Emotional Soothing & Balancing Reflection Exercise" and it has no music beds, in case you get distracted by that kinda thing. It's for you to play while taking a walk around the block or sitting in a quiet place - to help you check-in with you and visualize just how awesome you are. For more on this topic, check out my blog and my book on TeaspoonOfHappy.com If you want to listen to the music tracks separately, here are two links to my recommended playlist. :) miss piaf: http://goo.gl/UyOdTW mr. orbison: http://goo.gl/bXYjGX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a little power-up episode for balancing and soothing your emotional self and visualizing the present and the future for what it is: awesome. Your work on yourself is not for nothing. This is a podcast to acknowledge that. A lot of change and even a lack of change can feel scary and unsettling, but in reality, it's all good. So today I would like to offer you a simple reflection exercise so that you might gaze around your life, see beauty, feel gratitude, and embrace the wonderful change you are making around you. Also, this episode is scored with a couple "empowering tracks" compliments of my faves list on Youtube - links to both tracks are listed below! For more of my writing check out the latest on TeaspoonOfHappy.com xox Smile lovely friends!! miss piaf: http://goo.gl/UyOdTW mr. orbison: http://goo.gl/bXYjGX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a pretty universal experience: you plan out your whole life, everything’s on track to be what you’d imagined it’d be, and then seemingly out of nowhere your whole life begins to unravel and your “perfect picture” falls apart. One moment you’re winning at the game of life: the career, the relationship, the paycheck, the “perfect future”… the next, you get fired, your partner dumps you, your bank account gets leveled – suddenly the path you saw before you evaporates and you feel like you have nothing at all. Losing your “staples” in life – those things that defined the way you spent your time – forces you to look at EVERYTHING differently. The people you hang out with, the restaurants you go to, your living situation as a whole down to the way you spend a Saturday night. Not to mention – the holidays are on their way and the thought of all of it, now solo, can make it feel overwhelming to say the least. If you’re suffering from shattered-future shellshock and are not sure what to do, and you’re in pain, this is for you. If you're in need of some weekly positivity, check out teaspoonofhappy.com and subscribe to the Sunday newsletter. I'll also post a blog version of this on Teaspoon and Hello Giggles so if you prefer to read, keep your eyes peeled. Sending you my love and vibes of positivity, xox Sarah May B. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a power up episode for if you are stuck in your head and can't seem to shake a state of self-nego-talk and worry. If you're stuck on what is "supposed to be" and can't seem to focus on the truth - that you are a rare and one-of-a-kind miracle. This is a message for you so that you can remember you are singular. Meaning, you are spectacular and wonderful - just as you are and there will never be anyone with gifts and a voice just like yours. You are innately beautiful and brilliant if you allow yourself to just - be. Not to hurt and not to suffer- but to thrive, in happiness. If you want to read more, I will post this as a blog on my website as well. (Teaspoonofhappy.com) Hope you like and I send you my love! xox Sarah May B. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you have been feeling anxious or depressed lately, unmotivated to do much, or maybe you’re just over-all bummed, there’s a good chance it’s not tied to anything negative about your life at all. What I mean is, often feeling bummed is simply a symptom of a blip in your happiness-chemicals. If you’ve been hunting through various factors in your life – searching for what could be a cause of your unhappiness, before you hunt any further, stop to give yourself an emotional tune-up. When the source of your problems is not apparent, it’s the first and most obvious place to look! Might be time to balance your chemical levels! I will help you take your emotions to the fastest, easiest mechanic – okay, enough of the puns… It’s important to medicate the physical body and not take every emotion at face value - so if you’ve been feeling a bit crummy lately and you’re not sure why, this is a podcast for you. Firstly – I’m gonna describe what you might be experiencing right now. Second – I’m gonna describe what might be hurting you: aka some typical causes. Third – I’m gonna give you some super simple tools to Turn That Ship Around. That’s my main mantra for getting myself out of a bad mood – I use it all the time and it works like a charm! I picture a little happy tugboat that sees a giant storm overhead and is like, “Whoo hoo! Let’s bust a U!” If you prefer to read, I will also post this in blog form on my site, TeaspoonOfHappy.com I’m also going add an emotional tune up in this Sunday’s Teaspoon Newsletter, so subscribe if you want to get that, too. Don’t forget to smile peeps! And if you likee, please review me on iTunes! xo p.s. This episode was written for Moon - I hope it helps and thanks for the suggestion girl! xo! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a power-up episode for anyone who’s suffering from the FOMO’s or what I like to call comparison self-hating. If you’re getting down on yourself about anything, take a listen for a quick jumpstart! Hope this helps! This is especially for you, Moon! Hope it helps xox Sarah-May B. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Often when you grow up with caregivers or relationships with people who are inconsistent, unstable, deceptive and unreliable, as a natural result you end up completing the other half of the Yin-Yang and it becomes inherent to your make-up as a person. You grow opposite and complimentary strengths – and those strengths actually reward you in lots of ways, not to mention, it feels good to be able to take care of others and make it happen. However – here’s the kicker – as a result, in the rest of your life, you unconsciously seek out others you can compliment in the exact same way, which means you often end up with partners and friends who are just as incapable or flawed. It’s not your fault, it’s just the dynamic you’re comfortable with. It’s also because that’s who is drawn to you: they crave what you can give and once they see you giving it, they cling to you. You also have a very specific form of trauma in that you expect and anticipate disappointing behavior from everyone in your life. Why wouldn't you? Based on your life experience, to trust is to place yourself in harm's way. Not to fear! This is not a damning situation in the least. You have the building blocks for something much greater than if you hadn’t had this upbringing at all. You can build the muscle to trust others and you can also build the muscle that will allow you to find trustworthy people. Your solution will take conscious and consistent work, but it’ll be simple and somewhat automatic, so don’t stress. It will unfold on its own, and it can start right now with 3 very conscious, deliberate steps. I’m going to introduce you to those steps right now. For more about me and to read more of my writing, check out TeaspoonOfHappy.com If you likee please review me on iTunes! 'Twould help me a lot. xo Sarah May B. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is for anyone who’s in a place in their life where you feel like your body is an unpredictable enemy, or maybe you're terrified of it or you're stuck in a vicious loop of dieting. Maybe your body is acting weird and you cannot tell what’s going on with it at all. My friend Leila is a guest host today because she and I both went to the same amazing MD/nutritionist and the basic education we got was so blow-my-mind amazing, we had to share it with you. It’s amazing how many misconceptions we had about food and the way your body relates to it. In short – this episode is about Nutrition and Metabolism 101 – cause of a lot of us don’t know about that stuff! I didn’t. The goal of the episode is to help you build holistic health. It’s about why it’s most important to come from health if you want to look great and you want your body to look great. If you want that – build it right. Otherwise you’re screwing the future-you out of a whole lot of happiness and also likely putting a whole lot of stress on your metabolism. Check out TeaspoonOfHappy.com for the show notes with added info links! Link to the blog post is now here: Diet Fear http://www.teaspoonofhappy.com/blog/2014/9/28/diet-fear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices