My sincere regrets to my readers for being away from this blog for far too long. However, I have been working hard to get my new podcast ready for publishing! As you can imagine, there’s a lot that goes into both starting and maintaining a podcast. I have taken the time to be sure that the information I am offering people is impacting, inspiring and practical to help them get where they want to go! Regardless of any past experiences they have gone through or are going through now that are challenging them to believe there is so much more than just struggle in this game that we call life.
Along with offering stimulating content (like all good podcasters do), I’ll be bringing you great conversations with a variety of personal coaches, educators and healing practitioners, where every guest has their own great story to tell and is on their own journey to help others, too. I’ll also be offering solo shows that dig deep into specific issues, related to loss and grief, and sharing fabulous one on one conversations with special guests on metaphysical and spiritual subjects to inspire you to think and grow on a whole different level. And of course, I’ll be telling stories. Lots of stories. Because stories are how we learn about each other and heal.
Healing, from my experience, comes when we understand that we aren’t alone in what we are going through. While the exact nature of what has happened to us and our resulting situations may differ, you can always find someone who has gone or is going through something similar. Which is why storytelling is so important. It helps us connect to each other and feel less embarrassed or stigmatized about sharing our experiences.
I’m a pretty open book when it comes to disclosing many parts of my experiences after losing my daughter Janaya to suicide in 2005, when she was 22. But I have largely done this through the writing of my books and this blog. Now, as I’m ready to be more public, I’ve decided that hosting a podcast is the way to go.
This has not been a spur of the moment decision. I’ve been thinking about starting a podcast for over two years. Lots of planning has gone into what I can and want to offer others. And I now feel ready to have these conversations with people, or with you directly through my Coffee Chat episodes, where I can talk freely about the real pain and suffering of loss. The struggles. What we have to deal with as bereaved people or people living with limitations or disorders. How grief is not understood or even really respected culturally and socially in many ways. What loss does to the family and in the case of child loss, to surviving siblings. Some of the very real dangers facing our kids today and the challenges for parents raising them (these are just some of the episodes that have been recorded to date).
But mostly, every episode is intended to inspire and offer people the tools to change their life after hearing about what other people have gone through or are currently going through, and what they have done and are doing (myself included) to motivate themselves to heal and change. Step by step.
Personal growth is a huge business today. And there are many roads we can take to achieve it, which in reality, is a never-ending journey. There will always be something else to challenge us, sometimes in ways we never expected and certainly don’t want to experience. However, our most difficult experiences often have the most to teach us. And it’s what we do with the lessons that become the most personally powerful to help each of us evolve.
Community is another reason I’m starting this podcast. I have long felt that I wanted to have a community of like-minded people, whether they are bereaved, feel frustrated or lost and are searching for more, or are just having a rough time of being in this human body, on this planet, at this time – have a place to go where they feel accepted and inspired, both of which are integral to our healing. It’s not insignificant that much of what we go through as a collective on this planet is dark. And this is not, in my view, the way we came here to fully experience life.
A major part of my messaging is about embracing that which challenges us the most and learning how to incorporate the tools and mindset we need at different intervals in our life (keep on expanding that toolbox!) to not let the challenges overwhelm or define us. Bouncing back from adversity, loss, trauma, childhood pain, self-condemnation (to name a few of the negatives we all struggle with) takes skill, patience and commitment. But ultimately, our life is our story, and our journey that we can shape largely the way we want to. When we know how!
I’ll be sharing the link to my brand-new podcast as soon as it’s up and running (which means I have some behind-the-scenes tech work to complete over the next few days), and invite you to join me in these episodes that I hope you find inspiring, informative and practical. Episodes will be published bi-weekly (with bonus shows added in as often as possible) and available on all the regular podcast audio platforms and YouTube.
I can’t wait! See you there.
Vonne
Feature Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash