Spiritual Grit

The other day, a woman in an FB group accused me of ant!-s3m!tism because I had used the word “g3n0cide”. She was clearly speaking from a deeply wounded place, from generational trauma as a Jewish woman. And while I have compassion for her woundedness, I was not going to stop speaking the truth of what is happening in P@l-es-t!ne. But this raises the question that a lot of folks are asking: what do we do when our truth hurts others? In this week’s episode, I talk about the need for discernment and a deep connection with your intuition. If our truths are rooted deep in our heart and soul, they will not exclude others. Our truths show us that there is room for everyone. Register for my 4-week somatic writing workshop series, Speak Your Truth, which kicks off tomorrow –the winter solstice, Dec 21st! https://suryagian.com/speak-your-truth or email for more info and to register: love@suryagian.com  =============== Today’s poems/ Books / Oracle / Tarot Cards mentioned: Tarot Card: Lifting the Veil Poem: “My Body a Tree” by Hafiz ===============  Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com

In this episode, I pull back the curtain on what it's like to speak your truth. It may look easy, like no big deal. But it's not. Especially when there is a lot on the line. On the outside, folks might look like they have it together. But on the inside, it might be a different story. Tune in to find out what it's like to speak your truth (while I also drop a few big truth b*mb$) and questions to consider when you want to step forward and speak out. To find the folks I mentioned, you can connect with them on Instagram here: @sarahofmagdalene @kimsaira  =============== Today’s poems/ Books / Oracle / Tarot Cards mentioned: Tarot Card: Seven of Wands Poem: “Trying To Wear Pants” by Hafiz ===============  Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com

In this week's episode, I'm talking about how important it is to have nervous system resilience when speaking your truth. It's okay if your voice shakes. What's key is being able to bounce back after feeling so vulnerable. Listen in to learn the four stages to help strengthen resilience so that you can speak your truth.  =============== Today’s poems/ Books / Oracle / Tarot Cards mentioned: Tarot Card: Justice Poem: “Cucumbers and Prayers” by Hafiz ===============  Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com

Why is it important to speak your truth? Does it really matter? The short answer: absolutely! What can you do to assure your body that it's safe to speak the truth? How can you support your nervous system? Listen in to find out! =============== Today’s poems/ Books / Oracle / Tarot Cards mentioned: Tarot Card: King of Swords Poem: “A Cushion For Your Head” by Hafiz ===============  Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com

Here's a "Best of" episode! A lot of people talk about boundaries and having the need to set them. But what does that actually mean? And what are boundaries anyway? What do they look like and why does it feel so hard to set them and hold them? In this episode, I get into the details of the different kinds of boundaries we can set in our lives,  the reasons why some boundaries are more porous than others, and why it is important for us to have clear and defined boundaries, particularly for us empaths and women of color. People-pleasing behavior is no accident. Listen in to learn how the mind, body, and spirit connection is essential to boundary setting and how a resilient nervous system is the bridge to it all.

This episode's oracle card is The Great Severing. Feels forboding. How do we stay open to love when we are wounded? In a time when things start to feel hopeless or pointless, it's even more important to keep going. But how? How do we stay the course? What does self-worth have to do with it? How can ritual help us? Tune in to find out!  =============== Today’s poems/ Books / Oracle / Tarot Cards mentioned: Tarot Card: The Great Severing  Poem: "What do White Birds Say?” By Hafiz ===============  Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com

In this episode, I'm in conversation with JS Park, a Korean American hospital chaplain based in Florida whose compassion has made an incredible impression on so many people, including myself.  J.S. Park is a hospital chaplain, former atheist/agnostic, sixth degree black belt, suicide survivor, Korean-American, and follows Christ. He. is author of The Voices We Carry: Finding Your One True Voice in a World of Clamor and Noise. Published by Northfield/Moody. He is currently serving at a 1000+ bed hospital, one of the top-ranked in the nation, and was also a chaplain for three years at one of the largest nonprofit charities for the homeless on the east coast. We talk about compassion and grief, which do not have clear definitions or prescriptions for embodying them. Both grief and compassion look  different for each individual person. It's not a one-size-fits-all. We also talk about how we might hold compassion for those whose beliefs are rooted in our oppression. And how we might identify this collective grief we are currently feeling but can't quite name. Listen in as we dive into how we can human better together. Today’s poems/ Books / Oracle / Tarot Cards mentioned: Oracle Card: Trust the Timing Poem: "Torso of Air" by Ocean Vuong   Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com JS Park Website: https://jsparkblog.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jspark3000/?hl=en

In this week's episode, I am speaking with poet, extraordinaire, Diamond Forde. Our conversation centers around how poetry saves us. And that is not hyperbole. How poetry brings us back to our humanness. We also talk about this now moment as we bear witness to the atrocities against P@lestin!ans. How we are being pulled to publicly grieve, something that is unfamiliar to us. How do we remember to be human to each other again? How can we provide care? Listen in as Diamond reminds us: You don't have to hold grief on your own. Listen to be in community with us. Let us steep ourselves in poetry and hold each other in grief. I'm inviting you to join me in Create Against Destruction, a 6-week container for women / femmes / nonbinary writers of color to come together in community and process and integrate and move through the complexities of our human experience.   In those 6 weeks we'll sit with fear, anxiety, grief, joy, hope, and empowerment. Sometimes separately, sometimes together, sometimes all at once. This is an invitation to gather together in support and in witness. This is a place for co-creating, co-writing, and care for each other. To build something in the face of destruction. To insist that we are here, that we exist, that we matter, and what we have to say matters. To witness and to be seen. To be held. We start next Thursday, Nov 9th because time is of the essence. It might not feel like we're doing anything to make change when we are writing or caring for ourselves, but I contest this belief. Our individual actions, our individual energy adds and influences the collective, even if we can't see it. HOW you are BE-ing matters. It always has. Link in bio. About Diamond Forde: Diamond Forde is a Black poet and the author of Mother Body (Saturnalia Books, 2021), winner of the 2019 Saturnalia Poetry Prize. The recipient of awards and fellowships from the Furious Flower Poetry Center, the College Language Association, Great River Review, Callaloo, and Tin House, she lives in Asheville, North Carolina. Diamond Forde Website: https://www.diamondforde.com/published-works Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PoemsAndCake/

To help celebrate Filipino American History month, I've got special guest, author, Tamiko Nimura on the show! Yay! It's easy to forget that we are spirit souls having a human experience. We get wrapped up in what our eyes see and the crazy scrawl our minds make in our heads. In this week's episode, I want to shine a light on things we don't often see or pay attention to. Today I sit down with author Tamiko Nimura to talk about the (invisible) writing process (often, readers think that we poop out perfect books! Haha), how yoga can be the bridge between the physical and emotional/spiritual experience of being a human, and what it means to be an activist (hint: it's not just marching in rallies). Listen in on this conversation that highlights how times of intense distress can foster the creation of new, surprising things (like a spontaneous course on civil rights!) and how we can reconnect with our inner selves (hint: it's yoga - haha!). About Tamiko Nimura: Tamiko Nimura is an Asian American creative nonfiction writer living in Tacoma, Washington. She has degrees in English from UC Berkeley (BA) and the University of Washington, Seattle (MA, PhD). Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Off Assignment, Narratively, The Rumpus, Full Grown People, Heron Tree, HYPHEN, Kartika Review, and Blue Cactus Press. She has essays in the anthologies Ghosts of Seattle Past (2018) and New California Writing (Heyday 2012). At UC Berkeley, she studied creative writing with Ishmael Reed and Gary Soto. She has read at the Looseleaf Reading series (Seattle), King’s Books and Blue Cactus Press (Tacoma), and the San Francisco Public Library. She is a 2016 Artists Up grant recipient and a 2019 GAP Award recipient. She has been awarded a Tacoma Arts Commission Tacoma Artists Initiative Project grant (2021-22) for her memoir-in-progress, A PLACE FOR WHAT WE LOSE. She was also awarded an AMOCAT Community Engagement Award for her artistic and community work in 2022.  *** Today’s poems/ Books / Oracle / Tarot Cards mentioned: Oracle Card: Earthed Poem: “A Litany First Revival” by Audrey Allard   Courses / Exclusive Content / Book Mentioned: Subscribe to “Adventures in Midlife” newsletter: leslieann.substack.com Tamiko Nimura Website: https://www.tamikonimura.net/

During these times of intense conflict and suffering, what are you doing to release the pressure that is building within you? Our bodies know what is happening before our minds can even register it. Add in all the external messaging that tells us what we should do instead of inviting us to explore options that feel good for us-- and you've got a formula for creating even more pain and conflict. What are some ways that we can release the pressure that is building within us? How can we understand that nourishing and caring for ourselves creates an energy for others to do the same? How can we express and release the anger, frustration, trauma, and grief that is living within all of us right now? How can we do it in ways that create rather than destroy? When we can express what is within us in ways that feel safe and allow for us to be seen and heard, we can transmute those heavier, lower frequencies into something that can uplift and carry a promise of life and possibility. Listen in on how you can do this and how you can open your heart even wider.