The Spark File with Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien

This week, Susan and Laura serve up a single spark -- a spark 30 years in the making! Learn about the little card game that could - Canasta - and how it rose to fame, despite the Bridge Club establishment trying to keep it down! Friends and Foes, Joy and Pain, Triumph and Defeat intermingle at the card table. Plus a bonus mini-spark - did you know the Olympics once contained a competition for the ARTS?!? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Susan shares a spark so vast, we give it all our attention - Performance Anxiety. If you've ever felt tormented by fear, panic or anxiety related to your chosen profession, please do not miss this episode! Susan and Laura go deep into the prevalance of performance anxiety, what it feels like, who experiences it, and potential solutions to keep it at bay so that you can go on shining your light with ease. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Susan and Laura dig into the realities of living as a Highly Sensitive Person and/or an Empath (and how to know for sure if you are one!), Plus, Priya Parker's life-changing approach to bringing people together in The Art of Gathering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Susan and Laura take a spin through some of the best advice they've ever received (including "don't pickle it!") plus, the very encouraging signs that people everywhere are entering the sixth stage of grief - finding meaning.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wanting to write about your lived experience, but worried about how the other key players in your life might react? This week, Susan and Laura offer up various ways you can approach it so that your creativity is free flowing and feelings don't get hurt. Plus, recent events stirred up some questions about the monarchy, so we unpack what it is and why it is. You can't tell the history of the world without the history of the various monarchies - warts and all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the documentary Made You Look sparks a conversation about the phenomenon of justification and how our brains work overtime when we've done something we shouldn't have, PLUS, the joy-filled approach to closet curation that promotes self-expression and creativity over consumption! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Susan and Laura are thrilled to talk all things Broadway with someone who has loved theatre since birth, and spent their lives amplifying the joy of it - Paul Wontorek, Editor-in-Chief of Broadway.com!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Susan and Laura delve into EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) with Jenny Clift, Coach for classical musicians and stage performers. Jenny paves the way to wealth, success, balance, and inner peace using the scientifically proven power of tapping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Susan and Laura dig into two worthy explorations -- Do you know your Why? Do you know why your Why matters? So many ways to consider how we can act intentionally, on and with purpose. Plus, they revisit Twyla Tharp's classic book: The Creative Habit. Do you have a habit of creativity? If not, you know The Spark File feelings on it - better get one quick! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Susan and Laura have the honor of spending time with artist extraordinaire Dax Valdes of Hollaback, discussing their free bystander intervention trainings aimed at making the world a better, and safer, place for us all.  Tune in to hear how you can make a difference in ending harassment in all its forms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices