Self Care Spotlight

For the season finale, I brought Brad onto the show to give you a life update, chat our biggest life perspective shifts, and talk about our healing journey as individuals and as a couple since his brain injury cycling accident. We talk about moving forward WITH the experience versus moving on FROM the experience. I ask Brad how it feels to have a second chance at life and how his perspective changed from feeling punished to feeling blessed. It's about time + consciousness, not just sitting around idly waiting for "time to heal all wound." Brad talks about his patience level as one of his biggest changes, as he used to feel very restless, impatient and always feeling he has to be further ahead. He talks about his new appreciation of stillness and presence, whereas before, meditation was never interesting. I ask him if he feels content with life and I answer the same. We talk about how much we radically feel like ourselves now that we're on other side of so much pain and FINALLY in our own home again after 8 months of living in his parent's basement apartment to aid in his physical recovery. That brings up the different kinds of healing: physical, spiritual, emotional/mental and the power of our environment over our willpower and motivation. We discuss how/when we realized that the majority of his physical healing was done and  that our emotional/spiritual healing needed to take a front seat, which meant we needed to move out of his parents. We squeal about our new apartment and how much we radically feel like ourselves and a husband and wife again after losing that intimate connection. We of course talk about my 2022 book and how I feel more peace and acceptance around the fact that his voice has changed. We conclude with the difference between "why did this happen to ME?" versus "WHY did this happen to me?" Thank you for a beautiful season 6 - this episode feels full circle and I so look forward to the fall season! __________________ Your 100th Episode Gift! BODY ART "thorns and roses" 90 minute embodied dance writing workshop to somaticize the thorns and roses of life and life. alyssakuzins.com/roses [http://www.alyssakuzins.com/roses] To check out the BODY ART MEMBERSHIP + AMBASSADORSHIP head here. [https://alyssakuzinsllc.vipmembervault.com] Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating! Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out! Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends! Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins] (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins)

Ever thought about being a creative for a living or are in the midst of that path or are simply inspired by those whose presence oozes depth and art? Then you’re going to love this conversation! Marcus Amaker is the epitome of Artist as an award winning spoken word poet, graphic designer and musician and the Poet Laureate of Charleston. He addresses the stereotype of the “starving artist” narrative to overcome our fears around pursing our creativity for a living and gives 3 tips on imposter syndrome. He provides fascinating insight into the child versus adult mind based on his experience working in schools. We talk about how/when we lose our identification as “artist” and what that term even means. Marcus generously offers a “self portrait” writing prompt PDF that he uses in schools to get kids writing their feelings, which you’ll find in the show notes for free (yes, it's for adults too). We talk about what a Poet Laureate actually does, how he became one, and of course I ask him about his feelings on Amanda Gorman. We talk joy triggers, trauma porn, and I ask Marcus how he strikes a balance between pain and joy in this world, especially as a writer and black man. He tells me that balance doesn’t exist and asks us to look to how we respond to children’s joy versus our own. We also talk about a second artist stereotype, that you have to suffer for great Art, in which Marcus refutes such argument. We talk healthy, empathic ways of processing stress and pain through creativity, and all of this concludes with Marcus sharing his take on self care as a self emptying. He reads 3 poems aloud, and the one on self love gave me the biggest chills! ________________ Connect with Alyssa @alyssakuzins [http://www.instagram.com/the_poetrybandit] on Instagram. Your 100th Episode Gift! BODY ART "thorns and roses" 90 minute embodied dance writing workshop to somaticize the thorns and roses of life and life. alyssakuzins.com/roses [http://www.alyssakuzins.com/roses] For Marcus's books, albums, the "self portrait" writing prompt PDF: alyssakuzins.com/marcus-amaker [http://www.alyssakuzins.com/marcus-amaker] Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating! Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out! Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends! Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins] (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins)

Aija Mayrock was a young girl with a speech impediment who was bullied, even told to “kill herself,” but now she’s a 25 year old spoken word poet who has shared her words with over four million people. Aija is a humble soul who is sharing the experience of girlhood to womanhood and finding your voice with her latest book, Dear Girl. We talk about vulnerabilty breeding vulnerabilty, and about the power of not just having a voice, but using your voice. Writing became her outlet for safe expression when speaking up failed her, but as an adult, she’s taking her power back by speaking up and sharing the truth of her written word. We talk the power of embodied words, why she chose the term “girl” versus woman in her book title, and how you can be afraid and do it anyways. We also discuss how we tend to blame ourselves or avoid asking for help because we assume that we must be doing something wrong. She talks about how she broke that cycle, and we discuss healing the little girl in all of us. Finally, we talk beauty privilege and self care as allowing yourself to grow. And about halfway through the episode, Aija shares a piece called “Wounds Like Crowned Jewels” that had me smirking up a storm! ---------------------- Connect with Alyssa @alyssakuzins [http://www.instagram.com/the_poetrybandit] on Instagram. For Aija's book and show notes head to alyssakuzins.com/aija-mayrock [http://www.alyssakuzins.com/aija-mayrock] Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating! Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out! Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends! Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins] (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins)

Naked, powerful poetry and prose on heartbreak, love and sobriety - that’s what Jon Lupin, better known as @ThePoetryBandit to his almost 200k followers on Instagram, is all about. The sweetly humorous, Jon, rekindled his love of the creative arts after his ex wife bought a type writer and he began sharing writing in the early days of IG poets. He self published his first book, My Sober Little Moon, in 2014, and shared that he wrote much of it while still battling alcoholism. He said it reminds him and others why those chose sobriety. Jon is also staunchly honest about his particular kind of OCD that causes incessant overthinking, his divorce, his drunken stupors and even pokes fun of himself with how his IG handle used to be @thehopelessloser. In his opinion, poetry throughout the centuries will always have an air of suffering to it, as is the human condition. As such, we discuss how we become addicted to our suffering, how some only love us when we’re suffering, and we ruminate over the age old question, do you have to suffer to make great art? Jon even nerds out with me over the structural differences between prose and poetry that makes for a different psychological, emotional experience for the reader, which helps us answer the question, “Why do I love that poem?” Jon is also the author of You Only Love Me When I’m Suffering and Encyclopedia of a Broken Heart. This is an intelligent, honest, and surprisingly funny conversation that shouldn’t be missed! _______________________ Connect with Alyssa @alyssakuzins [http://www.instagram.com/the_poetrybandit] on Instagram. For Jon’s books and show notes head to alyssakuzins.com/the-poetry-bandit [http://alyssakuzins.com/the-poetry-bandit] Got a minute? Give SCS a 5 star rating! Got 5 minutes? Write SCS a stellar review to get the word out! Deepest gratitude for listening and sharing, friends! Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins] (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins)

“My mental health wouldn’t be where it is today without poetry.”At the age of 19, Cassie Wood aka cm.writer, is the youngest guest I’ve had on my show. A Canadian poetess who has already written 3 poetry compilations, Cassie is most definitely going places! In this episode, we strongly focus on the ability of poetry to aid in our mental health and navigate the inevitable changes of life. Cassie shares her struggles as a teen with an old soul these days and how we have to have patience in the blossoming. We also discuss the Gen Z approach to pronouns, why she advocates for this, and how she sees life through the perspective of Queer. We talk Purpose as happiness and on a structural level why she writes in short form prose on Instagram versus her books. And then of course, we get to her books! We talk about “inspiration hits,” how we “paint women red,” and she recites 3 pieces for us! A beautiful share for adults to teens! _____________________ Episode show notes + Cassie's books and Etsy shop: alyssakuzins.com/cassie-wood [http://alyssakuzins.com/cassie-wood] Got a sec? Give SCS a 5 star rating! Got 5 min? Give SCS a lovely review so other listeners know why it's so awesome here! Connect with Alyssa on Instagram @alyssakuzins [http://instagram.com/alyssakuzins] Much love and gratitude for being here! xx Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins] (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alyssakuzins)