identity

Own Your Story and Tell it Like You Mean It

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In his book Think Again, Adam Grant talks about exploring concepts from a spherical perspective. That idea of looking at things from so many different angles as is possible in a spherical shape appeals to me.

In this second compilation episode on self-acceptance, I will be highlighting elements of interviews with seven different guests on the topic of self-acceptance. I’ll be weaving a thread between the episodes to help you understand different elements of self-acceptance and its relevance and application in your life. The featured guests are Rachel Tapscott, Daralyse Lyons, Michelle Kuei, Seanna Leath, Aruna Krishnan, Fatima Oliver and Sarah Eames.

Find the shownotes at https://changesbigandsmall.com

If you enjoy the episode, please share it with a friend. I would also appreciate it if you would leave a review in iTunes or Spotify.

You can reach me at contact@changesbigandsmall.com if you have any questions or feedback. If you’d like to appear on the podcast, reach out to me for more information. I’m currently interviewing for the next season, which is focused on relationships.

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

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Start Right Where You Are with Self Acceptance

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I conducted 19 interviews for season 3 of Changes Big and Small. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be reading Radical Self Acceptance by Tara Brach and discussing it on the podcast. Feel free to read along and join the conversation. Or if you’ve read the book, feel free to share your thoughts and questions with me at contact@changesbigandsmall.com or you can live a voice recording by clicking on the Start here link.

Self-acceptance means knowing your strengths, weaknesses, successes, failures, and seeing yourself as worthy of love, of dignity, despite your imperfections. It means accepting who you really are, not who you wish you should be or want to be. It has no judgement, only truth. This sets it apart from the related idea of self-esteem because self-esteem only focuses on the “esteemed” or the positive aspects of yourself. Self-acceptance looks at all of yourself and likes yourself regardless of the “flaws”, and it is essential before any transformation.

From the exploration this season, we know that there are many things that affect our self acceptance. These include our relationship with ourselves and with others, the stories we tell about the various facets of our lives and our self-image.

Find the shownotes at https://changesbigandsmall.com

If you enjoy the episode, please share it with a friend. I would also appreciate it if you would leave a review in iTunes or Spotify.

You can reach me at contact@changesbigandsmall.com if you have any questions or feedback. If you’d like to appear on the podcast, reach out to me for more information. I’m currently interviewing for the next season, which is focused on relationships.

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

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Healing Yourself Allows You to Build Strong Relationships

In this episode, Nisha Mody shares her own healing journey that she took be able to reconnect with who she is and with what’s important in her life. One of the interesting things that comes up is the relationship between being in community and being connected to people, but also having a strong identity and sense of self and being able to be grounded. We’ll learn what is the mother wound and how we might be able to heal it and address it in our own lives. We also discuss the concept of shame and how we might be able to overcome feelings of shame. We are inherently people of worth being humans, and that’s an important thing for us to remember.

Nisha Mody, MLIS, MA CCC-SLP (she/her) is a Librarian, Feminist Healing Coach, and Writer. She is passionate about trauma-informed care, justice, and creating nurturing relationships. She coaches people one-one, in groups, and provides workshops related to healing and trauma-informed care. Find her on Instagram and TikTok @healinghypegirl, Twitter @nishamody and on her website www.nishaland.com.

01:47 – The meaning of Healing Hype Girl
02:50 – The beginning and working on a healing journey
08:17 – Marriage and identity
16:55 – Examples of self-care to nourish your body
18:37 – Learning what it takes for healing and being part of a community
20;51 – Companions on the healing journey
23:29 – What we deserve and our worth
27:12.- Learning about and growing in self-acceptance
28:40 – The key to being in alignment with yourself
30:10 – What it means to be a human who makes mistakes
30:55 – Invitation/Challenge
33:14 – Finding Nisha on the Web
35:14 – Fast Five

You can find the shownotes at https://changesbigandsmall.com/

If you enjoy the episode, please share it with a friend. I would also appreciate it if you would leave a review in iTunes or Spotify.

You can reach me at contact@changesbigandsmall.com if you have any questions or feedback. If you’d like to appear on the podcast, reach out to me for more information!

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

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How to Create a Personalized Money Mindset

The guest this episode is Mark Butler. Mark is the founder of the accounting startup Let’s Do The Books as well as the bookkeeper, CFO and confidante to top online entrepreneurs like Brooke Castillo. Before working in finance, mark co-founded three online businesses that brought in close to 2 million in total revenue. Today, Mark combines his business savvy with his certification in life coaching to help business owners take control of their finances and work through the shame and anxiety that almost always comes up when dealing with money.

One of the reasons I wanted to speak with Mark is because he has an expansive mindset around money, philosophy about money. And so, I hope that you will consider some of the activities to build your own habits, to find out what you believe about money, what your values are, and the relationship between your consumption and your earnings. As Mark says, it all starts with self-awareness.

This podcast interview was recorded on April 12, 2021.

Timeline of the Chat

01:48 – Money School
02:39 – The cause of anxiety and fear around money
06:19 – Making financial decisions based on self-awareness 
09:24 – Challenges to building a money mindset
11:13 – Book recommendation on money
13:29 – Use priorities to make decisions
15:41 – Financial education
18:07 – Finding our money patterns
22:41 – Two key habit to change your money mindset 
25:37 – Mark’s Learning/Observation Journey
27:30 – The impact of feeling neutral about money
29:42 – Personalizing your money philosophy
32:35 – Choosing what we want
38:44 – Everyone is lucky
41:27 – Invitation/Challenge
43:18 – Fast Five

You can find the shownotes at https://changesbigandsmall.com/

If you enjoy the episode, please share it with a friend. I would also appreciate it if you would leave a review in iTunes or Spotify.

You can reach me at contact@changesbigandsmall.com if you have any questions or feedback. If you’d like to appear on the podcast, reach out to me for more information!

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

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Educate Yourself and Decide Who You Want to Be

Samira is a 26 year old mixed race girl born in Czechia. She now lives in London. She is in Prague right now, and she actually came over for us to have the chat. You can see more about her on Instagram at afrikakidsczsk and also at darealsamira.

For more information you can visit https://changesbigandsmall.com/38.

Please go to changesbigandsmall.com, to connect with me or to apply to be a guest on the podcast. You can find all the past episodes there as well and subscribe to automatically receive new episodes every week. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or family member.

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

I am sending you best wishes for good health and happiness. Have a great week.

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Listen to your Gut with Deirdre Nelson

Correction: Queen Sono is the first original African series. It is South African, not Nigerian as I mentioned in the podcast.

I interviewed Deirdre Nelson on March 13, 2020. When we spoke, Prague was in the first stages of lockdown, and restaurants were still open until 8pm. There were only a handful of cases of people with coronavirus in Winnipeg, where Deirdre lives. In Prague, there were 141 cases. Since that time, both Canada and Czech Republic have tightened lockdowns and most people in both Prague and Winnipeg are still working from home. Prague, however, has loosened the lockdown and is continuing to do so. In a follow-up episode, Deirdre will share how coronavirus has affected her life.

This episode is not about the coronavirus pandemic, but as I listened back to our banter, much of which didn’t make it into the final edit of the podcast, I was reminded of how much has changed in a relatively short time. If you or someone you love has been touched by the coronavirus pandemic, I hope that you are doing better. If you’re grieving about loss at this time, I’m sorry for your loss. I discuss grief and supporting yourself or others who are grieving in episode ? of the podcast.

For the past few weeks, I’ve interviewed various people about life in the time of coronavirus while also discussing other significant changes in their life. As countries and individuals look at how to transition out of lockdown, we’re beginning to look forward to change and improvement so that we are not confined to our home.

Listen to this wide ranging conversation between me and Deirdre about travel, teaching English in Korea, making friends, changing tastes. We even get into a discussion about The Cosby Show and other shows from the 80s. Through it all, Deirdre shares an important message, to follow your heart. Listen to this episode as inspiration to think through what is holding you back, and how you can find your way to living your life.

I hope that you enjoyed listening to this episode. Please go to changesbigandsmall.com to connect with me. You can find all the past episodes there as well and subscribe to automatically receive new episodes every week.

I’ve received quite a few submissions to be on the podcast and am working through them. If you’ve applied, I’ll be getting back to you soon.

Please share this episode with a friend or family member that you think might benefit. And for access to more resources and support from a community focused on change and progress, join the Changes Big and small Facebook community.

I am sending you best wishes for good health and happiness. Have a great week.

Find the full show notes at https://changesbigandsmall.com/31

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

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Challenging Prejudice and Building a Life of Purpose

In this episode of Changes Big and Small, I chat with Avril Matsui. Born in the UK, Avril has lived in Japan for the past 26 years. We speak about race and prejudice, and what it’s like living as a black woman in Japan. She also shares her purpose and how she discovered it.

Listen to this episode to learn some great strategies for finding your purpose and making positive changes in your life. Avril inspires us with questions that we can ask to help us make sure that we are living full lives, in our integrity.

Find the full show notes at https://changesbigandsmall.com/24

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You Can Start with One Thing

This week’s episode of Changes BIG and small is the second in a special 4-episode series. I discuss how you might find one thing to focus on to create joy in your life or someone else’s, and provide some self-care tips for the holidays. Start the new year on the right foot!

See the Shownotes at https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

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Find the Courage to Be Yourself

This week, Changes BIG and small welcomes Annie Koshy. Annie is an award-winning media professional, a multi-talented media and events personality, a trained elite speaker and emcee. As a model with one of the city’s premier modelling agencies, Annie has garnered mainstream attention through her commercial work. Most recently, she was featured in a lead role in a short film. A documentary on her life is currently being filmed and she is the proud author of the book, How to Be your Badass Self, A Guide to Using Your Inner Energy for Brand Success. Annie is also part of the mainstream radio station, Sauga 960am, as part of their weekend fixture, The Source, where she engages in lighthearted banter and conversation.

See the shownotes at https://changesbigandsmall.com/2019/11/05/4-annie-koshy-finding-the-courage-to-be-yourself/‎

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

* Correction: A Bloody Mess is a short film, not a documentary.

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How Community Can Support You with Change

On this episode of Changes BIG and small, I’m chatting with Rossana Menezes. Rossana is a Happiness Engineer at Automattic. Listen to hear about Rossana’s distributed family, her approach to travel, and how she systematically made two dramatic changes in her life. There is so much that we can learn from Rossana to make changes in our own lives. Whether you’re looking to travel, change jobs or something else, Rosanna has some invaluable tips that you can use, even if you’re not a fan of spreadsheets.

For the full show notes, go to https://changesbigandsmall.com/2019/10/30/rossana-menezes-community-can-support-you-with-change/

Join the Changes Big and Small Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/changesbigandsmall1/

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