Transcript
Speaker: On today's episode, we celebrate one ah hundred episodes. We recorded live with listeners like you to talk about... Gratitude and inspiration. Optimism.
Speaker: Yummy, juicy inspiration. Community and so much love. We got to celebrate the journey that we've been on. We shared the story of how a Stay Sparked started.
Speaker: We had an opportunity to hear some of the sparks that came from our listeners. And we, of course, shared tons of gratitude. Staying sparked. Enjoy the episode.
Speaker: Hello and welcome to the hundredth episode of Stay Sparked. Here we are. i'm Betsy Finkel, who the creator of the Power Affirmation Project and Somatic Body Worker.
Speaker: I'm John Halcyon Stinn, the co-founder of First Saturday's Houseless Outreach and the Hug Nation YouTube channel. And we are here aspiring to light you up in a new way.
Speaker: We decided to have a Zoom party. So what better way to celebrate this 100th episode that all started as an experiment than to have a party? And so for those of you that are here live with us, thank you so much for being here. We're so grateful to see your faces here on Zoom. And for those of you listening out there, thank you so much for listening and celebrating with us. We have a really fun show in mind for you guys today. um We always start with gratitude, but today we're actually going to shift our gratitude towards the end. um So that way we get a chance to hear everyone's voices if you feel so called to share your gratitudes. um
Speaker: It's hard not to share gratitude because it's just bubbling over right now. um But I just want to kind of give you a little overview of what we're going to do today in celebration.
Speaker: And one of the intentions of why we're here. um So we decided to start this podcast a long time ago. 2022 was when we first had the spark in October. you know, it started as an experiment and we're going to share a little bit behind the scenes around how it started and the story. But essentially,
Speaker: Halcyon and I have known each other for almost 20 years. And every time we were at a gathering, we found ourselves in these really inspiring conversations. And it was um the idea really came to just start recording them. And essentially, it's kind of like we just are taking our conversations from parties and just giving people an opportunity to peer into our conversations. And so that's basically what we're we've been doing. And now we get to have our friends at the party.
Speaker: This has always felt like a in a public conversation with our friends. Yeah. And I'm just going to slide in some extra gratitude here because of you. It's because all of you listeners out there and that are here with us that have been fanning the flames of Stay Spark to keep going.
Speaker: It's just really ah such a gift um to us that we are received by you guys. So thank you so much for your feedback and for your encouragement along the way and fanning our tiny little spark. And now it has turned into this really beautiful glowing ember.
Speaker: But first, I think we should actually give them a little shout out. Absolutely. We are so grateful to our sponsor, Lucid. We are such fans of these delicious beverages. They include functional mushrooms and nootropics. We reached out and said, hey, we love you guys. We are drinking you regularly. Would you sponsor the show? And it was just like, of course, that would be amazing. So we are super honored to have a sponsor that feels totally in integrity. So thank you, Lucid, for stepping up and being a part of our show.
Speaker: Becomelucid.com is where you can sign up and you can get a membership and get your regular shipments of the it's like coffee or chai or ah dream drink. It's so good. It's such a calming, delightful way to just get some medicine in a yummy way. so Big shout out to Tovin and Mark and the whole crew. And they couldn't be here today because they're so epic. They are sponsoring a house build in Mexico and they're actually on their way right now to go build a house in Mexico and sponsoring the whole thing. So i love what they're up to. It's amazing. So check them out.
Speaker: So good. So good. And we're also going to give another special shout out today, especially because we have one of two the of the producers and creators of Dub Sutra, who is responsible for our amazing theme song. So we are giving a shout out to Dub Sutra. Charlotte is here and we just wanted to to just fan your flames and say thank you so much for all that you have given to our community as well as the show.
Speaker: Thank you so much. It's been an honor to have you guys use our music in your podcast. Love it so much. And we love you guys. Oh, thank you so much, Charlotte. So glad you could be here.
Speaker: me too. Thanks for calling reminding me. Yay. Awesome. And if you guys want to find Dub Sutra Music, um they're all over. They've got thousands and thousands and thousands of streams. You probably already have them on your playlist. So make sure you go find Dub Sutra on all the streaming platforms.
Speaker: So good. So good. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. So would you like to start with our spark story? So Halloween night 2022, there was a gathering and everyone's dressed in their ghoulish outfits. And and even though i was loaded up with chemicals that you would think would make me super happy and optimistic, I found that after a night of conversations about current events,
Speaker: I was in a really bad headspace and just feeling really pessimistic about the future and technology and everything. and And then in the morning, as the sun was rising, ended up in conversation with Betsy and Janus and...
Speaker: was just so like struck by how lit up, how sparked I became in this conversation and how significant it can be to our our enjoyment, our experience of life to feed yourself with healthy conversations, with to curate the ideas and the ways that you speak. So after we were talking with with them, I was like, we should we should share these. We should do these publicly.
Speaker: And it was it was actually really cute because I wasn't at the party all night. I got there in the morning. And so I was all fresh and optimistic and light. And I saw your perspective shift in our conversation. You kind of, your whole face and demeanor and everything literally shifted before my eyes. And it was so beautiful to feel that lightness in your your eyes and in your spirit. And then it kind of came as one of those those crazy ideas, you know, when sometimes an idea comes and sometimes it manifests and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's just an idea like, oh, cool. Yeah, maybe. And then the next day I actually was the one that checked back in and was like, hey, were you serious about that?
Speaker: And and he said yes. And we checked in with Janus and he said yes. And we tried out six weeks. We're like, let's do six episodes and see how that goes. And so we just kind of came up with a formula.
Speaker: And thankfully, Halcyon has some amazing techie skills and got us all set up. And after six weeks, we started to get some good feedback and we decided to do six more weeks, six more episodes.
Speaker: And those were so smooth and um almost like effortless. Things were just really flowing through our conversations. In the very beginning, when we were talking about it, it was, you know, I had had a lot of experience with broadcasting and putting things online. And so quickly, Betsy became like incredible at it. You know, it was just so natural. And it was like such a cool example of just because you haven't done it before doesn't mean you're not going to be incredible at it.
Speaker: So bravo, Betsy. No, thank you so much. Yeah, and a little also peek behind the curtain in our dynamic, it really gave us an opportunity to explore what our co-creative dynamic looked like. Because we always loved each other. And we were like, so like enamored, like, oh, you're awesome. No, you're awesome. No, you're so awesome. You're awesome. like And so it really gave us this platform to get to explore our friendship, including Yannous. And one of the things that I really think is valuable to mention is that the core foundation of our recordings always starts with our friendship.
Speaker: So before every episode, we always check in. How's everyone doing? What's going on? are you doing? it Sometimes we talk for like 45 minutes to an hour before we even record just to check in, which is really nice because sometimes we might have something going on. And there was actually multiple times that we chose not to record because there was something going on. And we were like, you know what? Let's just actually let's reschedule. We're going to do this next week. Let's just stay on online and just talk this out. I think that's a significant thing about like why we made it to 100 episodes, because um our our intentions and our goals for the project was not to you know get X amount of listeners or this revenue stream. What brought it meaning was
Speaker: connecting with our friends and recording conversations that you know were meaningful. And so with that as our goal, it made it so easy to be successful and it made it so nourishing. Honestly, if you if you want to make, if you make a podcast right now with the intention of getting popular, that is a, that's a very tough undertaking. It's hard. Yeah, it's really hard. But if the goal is connection and friendship, it just makes it so useful.
Speaker: Connection, friendship, as well as like always leading with some kind of inspiration. Because we know that the airwaves are full and we know that your attention is very valuable.
Speaker: Thank you so much for listening and and putting your time and attention on the conversations that we have. And so knowing that... that really fuels our intention to always make sure to give some kind of inspiration. We always aim to light you up. um I know usually at the end of this episode, I'm feeling lit up. If I'm feeling lit up, I'm like, okay, that's a good thing. At least at least one of us is going to be sparked. Hopefully some other people will be sparked too. um So it's just a really great way to serve.
Speaker: And I'm so honored and grateful that we get to do it in this way. And kudos to you, Betsy. that There's been many a time when we were discussing topic ideas and things that were current events and things in our mind, and and you continually brought up the question like, well how is this going to help people stay sparked? How is this going to uplift? And it's like such a good reframe to get us back to our intention of like, right, there's it's so easy to unconsciously let your conversations and thoughts drag you down, but there's ways to reframe it and ah to the opposite.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely. And, you know, on that note, I wanted to kind of just name off a couple of the episodes just in celebration of what we've done. So we've talked about embracing change. We've talked about when we're not feeling sparked. We talked about radical self-expression. We've talked about identity evolution, which Jennifer Quest was our guest who just signed on. Welcome, Jennifer. We're glad to hear see you here for our Stay Sparked 100th episode party.
Speaker: We talked about conflict resolution with technology, mindfulness, paths of purpose, alcohol, authenticity, visions and intentions. One of my favorite episodes was with Janus was called Making Lemonade.
Speaker: ah We had some really, really great conversations with Janus, which um I'd love to actually take this as an opportunity to honor our dear brother who is no longer in form with us.
Speaker: celebrating the light that he brought on this show and into this world. And just a little um moment of silence for our dear brother, Janus, who has passed.
Speaker: And also celebrating his epicness and how cool it has been to get to have the recordings of his voice as a living legacy now for his son, who's now two. And how when he passed...
Speaker: So many people got to use his voice from the show and put it into music and put it into these really beautiful recordings that are just absolutely beautiful. And even Michael Ravenwood, who's here, did a fire performance to the song with Janusz's voice.
Speaker: We are humans becoming. That we are always in this state of, you know, evolution and growth and decline and decay. Like these things are always happening.
Speaker: Every morning is another opportunity. Every sunrise is another opportunity to begin again, to begin anew. How could we have ever known that as we were recording these conversations, we were recording this hours of his voice, of his wisdom, of his heart for his boy who will at some point get to know who his father was. What a priceless gift this has all been.
Speaker: Yeah. And the depth that we had an opportunity to get to go with him because we're recording weekly. Imagine if you were to meet with one of your friends online every week and talk.
Speaker: It's very, very intimate and very powerful when you have that kind of consistency and checking in. It really creates such a ah connection. And that was a real gift to us to get to be that close with him before he passed, to have that kind of connection so we could really support him on his very unfortunate um decline in his health.
Speaker: So shout out to you, brother. Janus, we love you. Yeah. Ah. And it's really beautiful that we can kind of continue. And I feel he is a part of this always. and This is this is continues to be an extended conversation that he is a part of.
Speaker: Absolutely. And, you know, just to give also a little more insight into the backstory, too, he actually transitioned off the show before he got sick. There was ah some really beautiful and loving heart conversations between the three of us around making that decision. There was some different things happening in life that were causing some challenges for him to get on. And so we came to a shared agreement that it was time for him to to shift. um And it was so beautiful and so conscious. And then that actually gave him some space, I think, to heal, which was really beautiful. um The timing of it, it was just divine.
Speaker: So yeah, if you guys want to go back and listen to some older episodes, I highly recommend it. For those of you who are just learning about our podcast, maybe you just saw our post about the 100th episode and you didn't even know we have a podcast. um We have a lot of really good old ones. And it's sometimes nice to just go back and and see what's there. There's an archive of gems in there.
Speaker: so Well, speaking of ah our archives and past episodes and gems, I wanted to open it up and see if anyone who is joining us has any experiences or memories or ah any times that they have been sparked that you wanted to share.
Speaker: Oh, Michael. Yeah, so I was sparked, of course, by actually being on this show. But the one that I want to share is actually about listening to the show with Jen Quest. I just found that her story was so inspiring and everything that she shared, um you know, was really amazing. And i love the way that the dynamic between the two of you um really like...
Speaker: offers um the guests an opportunity to to step in to like kind of your conversations like, you know, like you said, this is a um like ah a conversation, a party or whatever. And there's a dynamic going on between two people and like maybe a third person walks up like, hey, what's going on? You know? and And like the dynamic between the two of you is is really cool in the sense that you have, you know, these different perspectives. And it's like there's always the two sides of the story, you know. And it tends to be, and you know, that um that you know each of you has your own your own sort of angle on what's going on. And so the third person gets to step in and be that other dynamic to to create a polarity. that just creates really an interesting conversation and such rich discourse. So i don't know, I was very sparked by that conversation and I love i love all three of you very dearly.
Speaker: um And so I just wanted to share that i I watched that one or listened to that one rather um and was really inspired. and And I love all of you so much and and i' so grateful that the two of you invited us all into your conversation, you know, and into Something that I think all of us have experienced, what you wrote alluded to, Betsy, is about, like, sometimes you have these inspired ideas and and you don't take them anywhere. But sometimes you do.
Speaker: And really unexpected and beautiful things happen. And so you're you're both like a living, and this show is a living example of, like, if we step into that moment and really say yes to it, like, awesome things can happen. So that's that's my share. Thank you both so much.
Speaker: Woo! Awesome, Michael. Episode 66, if you want to hear Michael's philosophy deeper and even lots of inspiration. Morning routines, actually, is what we talked about on that show. Yeah, Michael, thank you so much for that. I just want to reach to the screen and grab you and squeeze you.
Speaker: ah ah Hi, Kyra. Hi, guys. So happy to be celebrating. um Amazing that, you know, 100 episodes. What I wanted to share is that you are my favorite sauna buddies. um I love listening to the podcast when I'm and um in the sauna. It's just ah makes it feel like such a community vibe. And I love both of you so much. And so there's so much familiarity and yet also inspiration and comfort. You know, when I first get in, I'm all like juiced up and inspired and excited. taking everything in. And then as I get like deeper into my session, I'm like, whoa, this is getting hard. Okay. I'm with them. I'm with the the information. I'm with the inspiration. And um yeah, I wanted to thank you guys for many juicy, sweaty sauna sessions.
Speaker: Wow. ah ahly That's amazing. Thank you so much. And to now to know that you are in the sauna listening, I think our episode recordings are going to be even a little juicier.
Speaker: Yeah, i think I think it's going to be towels only from now on and we record. Yep, exactly. ah Thank you so much for being here and celebrating with us.
Speaker: Laura, I see you have your hand raised. Do you have a spark to share? stay sparked just seems like it's it's a ah feeling of community that although I love my solitude here, i like i'm I'm just absolutely at I have...
Speaker: always wish for a home. ah but I've had several houses, but I've never had a home. Now I don't have a house yet, but I have a home. ah And I love it here, but it is kind of lonely and it's good to connect. So that's what, let's say Sparked is doing for me right now. And and also Hug Nation. Hug Nation big time. Thanks, Laura.
Speaker: Well, love hearing that so much. Congratulations. Talk about being sparked. felicia I just want to say how moved I am to have you as my friend Betsy in every form and fashion. This podcast for me was what, like in the beginning, you guys had a Burning Man episode.
Speaker: And I was fascinated with Burning Man and y'all's experience and your insight and your, just all of it was so exciting to me.
Speaker: And so that one stands out a lot. But what I really have loved is like y'all get on and you're just so positive and that positive, like, How can you, how can this hard conversation spark people? Like, I feel like, and I know, Betsy, I don't know you, Halcyon, but I imagine you're like this too, just by from your image and what I've explored around who you are, that positivity and gratitude are so important.
Speaker: And you keep that at the front and you button it up at the end. And it's always like leaves you excited to come in and feeling good leaving. And so I've just really appreciated all that energy you put into it to keep us sparked and Congratulations. I think it's a great idea.
Speaker: But I think that there are some just juicy moments that you have with your besties that should be captured and wait to capture them and share them. And can't wait till your 200th episode.
Speaker: Oh, I love you so much, Alicia. Thank you so much for that reflection and feedback. And just so grateful to have you as a sister. Yeah. Tanya Magdalena.
Speaker: Hello, beautiful. hello And y'all are both such legends, living legends in the San Diego community and now like holding the East West Coast. So the nationwide now I'm I just love you do conscious living, both of you, at such a high level. You're both so intentional. And so, so many of your episodes are steeped with so much wisdom, so many tips and hacks and ways to live in a mindful, conscious way, how to navigate so many aspects of life from burning man to conscious dying to how to have hard conversations. and everything in between. I'm so grateful to know you both and I'm so grateful for this podcast. And yeah, I haven't always been in the sauna, but I've definitely listened to you guys doing many things, even if I'm just like cleaning my room. But I'm i'm really just so grateful because um these conversations are so needed. And now we get to also integrate a lot of this wisdom that you guys hold. So thank you for these codes.
Speaker: but Thank you so much. I want to just give so much appreciation and gratitude to Betsy for a a human who walks the walk in in a way that is pretty rare. you know that that there's I know a lot of people who are seekers and learners and people who take workshops and people who give workshops and coach and teach, and they're all amazing people. But it's ah It's a rare few who I feel embody their wisdom as deeply as Betsy does. And it's something I really try to practice as well, too. So I think that as we form community and share the conversations, you know we're trying to ah not come from places of teaching, but coming from places of living and sharing.
Speaker: And that's how we help each other. Yeah. Thank you so much, Halcyon. I feel the same about you. And thank you, Tanya, for continuing to fan my flames and our flames. And our sparks have turned to this beautiful glowing light now because of this feedback and the reminders of how needed and you too, Alicia, you know, just remembering that positivity and gratitude are essential for us as humans to have healthy mental attitudes. it's It's very hard these days. It's this pretty crazy world that we live in. And I'm so honored to get to be ah in service in this way and to get to share the things that have been shared with me. And i love getting to share books and tips and bits bits of wisdom. through our journey. So thank you so much for that feedback.
Speaker: Jamie's my... I raised my real hand because can't find the virtual hand. You full credit for that. Yeah. So a lot of the stuff has been already stated. The two of you have such a a spark together and your experience in public speaking and just helping people. like It really shines. The conversations are always like so seamless, so engaging, and that's not easy to do. Not very many people can do that, especially like a hundred times. Yeah. Congratulations for that.
Speaker: um But I was going to mention one of my favorite episodes was ah like a Money Matters one that came on at a time when I was like going through some like a big purchase. And like I just I took so much away from that. um That was one of my favorites. And just getting a little peek into your lives is like really cool. I feel really grateful for that. And I love the gratitude. I think every podcast should start with gratitude.
Speaker: o I love that. Yes. Sea Love. Craig Saloner was our guest on those on those. There was actually three episodes of the money, ah money talks, or I can't even remember the exact title of it. But we had three that were all about money. And I'm so glad it helped you.
Speaker: Yeah. And I just love getting to share this with you. This is my my blood sister, who is 13 months older than me um and is a huge part of my life. And we actually Zoom every week, almost every week also.
Speaker: oh So thank you. They're back here on the podcast. I'm like, I did not know that. How did I know? Oh, cool. Yeah. That's great. Oh, good. Well, should we migrate into gratitude?
Speaker: Yeah, that feels like a perfect segue. Yeah. Love that. um Well, i'll I'll start off. I already shared some gratitude for Betsy, and i will say I'm also so grateful that I opportunity to share Yannis' last chapter with him and grateful for...
Speaker: the this technology that and this practice that has made this into into a practice. you know I consider this to be part of my spiritual practices that keep me um joyful.
Speaker: you know And that so having this as a ah a responsibility, i mean not a responsibility, but you know it's like a commitment. a commitment Yeah, it's it's um from that very first conversation when at that at the party, recognizing that having conscious conversations with people wise friends is nourishing and healthy. And I'm so grateful to have found community and friends like that. And so grateful for this practice.
Speaker: That's me. But just so we don't have to make it just about this, I'll also say that I'm also grateful for the cactus that's blooming in my canyon because it only blooms a couple of times a year for one night. It's incredible. So I'm also grateful for it.
Speaker: but the It will each bloom is one night. Wow. That's incredible.
Speaker: ah I'll start. My gratitude is I'll share for you John, Halsey and Stan, what an incredible human you are. I'm honored to have you as a friend and I'm so grateful for your support. spontaneous inspiration to do a podcast and for being a yes the whole way through these hundred episodes you have been a stand for us to keep going so also so flexible because there's been moments when we're like do you We want to keep going. We both have different things going on. And it was like, I'm i'm good to go or I'm going to cancel. and we can be goodde We could be done. You've always been so open and committed. and that has been so beautiful that we you know have been able to arrive here and we're still going strong. And so um another huge, huge gratitude for you in your tech savviness. John has also been the behind the scenes editing wizard who has been doing all of the, um yeah, the behind the scenes kind of like stuff that needs to happen to make a podcast happen. And so I'm so grateful that you have such a genius in that area that makes it so much lighter for my participation as well. So thank you so much for that. And then my last gratitude is for our people here that showed up live. Thank you so much for coming to the party. This feels really good. I'm like, well, maybe we should do this more often. I'm so grateful to see my friends and see you Michael putting fireworks behind him and just getting to see the faces of people that I love and also new faces. So I'm feeling particularly sparked by this 100th episode party that we're having.
Speaker: Woo! well And we will invite you all to share some gratitudes and um we'll try to keep it under a minute or so or less if you want. um And just a little reminder that this is um this is similar to the way that John's gratitude circles have been going on Zoom daily doing the gratitude Zooms. And so we'll just do a round of what you're grateful for today.
Speaker: Hey, so I just did something this last weekend that I have been planning for 10 years in my mind and heart. I just threw a a training where we taught people how to throw real lightning bolts after we train them in breath work and meditation and visualization and all the things that make you happy without having to throw a lightning bolts.
Speaker: It was just a truly amazing experience. I'm grateful for the team that came together to do it. I'm grateful for all the people who can, the participants, of course, that came together to have this amazing experience.
Speaker: um I'm also grateful for this opportunity to gather with all of you and share gratitude and just be present to You know, the culture of positivity and creativity and community and love and strength and beauty and truth. And, you know, like, I just really appreciate being here with all of you. And I'm grateful for this moment.
Speaker: Yay. Thank you, Michael. Yeah. I am grateful for our body's miraculous ways and for community. I think in this last week, I have had more of a taste of what it means for reciprocity and care.
Speaker: and so I just feel very grateful for our community here in Western North Carolina, over here in Asheville, that just... Shows up, whether it's a good time or a tender time with an open heart and so much wisdom and grace. So just grateful for my community. Thank you.
Speaker: I am so grateful for my friendship with Betsy. and we have started anchoring into a weekly call as well and helping and focused on our businesses. So my sustainable fashion, her power affirmations, and it's been such a beautiful time to anchor into our sisterhood because, you know, we're not near each other physically anymore. We're across the country, but um we stay tethered in this way. And I'm so grateful for you. i love you so much.
Speaker: I love you so much, too. Thank you. and' I'm so grateful to be on this planet with you people right now and for the exceptional privilege to get to walk alongside you and listen to you and connect with you and learn from you and share inspiration.
Speaker: um What a privilege. Thank you. We Any last gratitudes? I'm going to have gratitude. I'm going to share gratitude for my marriage. I had my husband's birthday was yesterday and it was our 20th time to celebrating his birthday together. And we had such a great day and just feeling all filled up and happy. And we also got like the best parking spot ever went out last night. So it was great. Woo. Yay. Oh, I love that. Happy birthday, Brian.
Speaker: Although I just do want to make applause and say, yes, that's doing gratitude right, is when you are celebrating the simple things, you know, or the things that happen every day when you can every day be like, hey, I'm again, I'm grateful for it again.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, your your practice really helps with that because it's just like the little like your cactus blooming, you know, anything can be going wrong. And then you like see something that you love and you're like, well, there's that.
Speaker: there's that author was So important. So true. Yeah. I see a hand up from I think that's Leo. Yeah. I'm so grateful to see all these people who love Betsy and Halcyon and hear about the inspiration of the show. it It warms my heart to hear the stories and see the faces.
Speaker: So i'm I'm grateful to see the community because I see Betsy do the podcast or I hear about it and it brings me joy to see how it reaches out and who it touches. Thank you.
Speaker: yay Thanks for sharing. e Yes, i just i'm i'm just I'm thankful for um being where I am today, making it to 69 years, number one, um and to have this beautiful place to call home.
Speaker: And um I'm also grateful that um Home Depot upped my ah credit limit to... uh 500 so that now i can get some uh i ordered some uh solar and wind power so yeah um you know i yeah hanging yay
Speaker: Thank you, Laura. Who's feeling sparked? I am. I I'm feeling sparked. I feel so much joy beaming. I'm so grateful. Wow. Gratitude will do that, won't won't it?
Speaker: And also community will do that. So thank you so much for coming and participating in our 100th episode. And for those of you who are listening, thank you for listening. And maybe even just maybe right now you can speak out loud. What are you grateful for?
Speaker: Since you haven't been able to, you're not here live, you can still take a pause and just be like, you know what i I'm grateful for.
Speaker: And you're welcome to share it with us. Feel free to pop on Instagram, Stay Sparked Podcast, and put a little note in there and let us know what you're grateful for. um Also on YouTube. And of course, we always love those five stars on Apple. Thank you.
Speaker: little plug to help spread the sparks because we know how the algorithms work. It it takes a village. So thank you for your support that way. Definitely. We got an online thank you from Jennifer Quest saying, I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful to be alive for my family and friends and connections. Thank you, Jennifer.
Speaker: Thank you, Jennifer. So glad you're here.
Speaker: All right. So closing sparks. I think we we just kind of had some closing sparks, but... I want to share a closing spark, which is that ah our first episode was but November 22.
Speaker: And that was at the very end of a decade of addiction for me. And so this podcast has been one of biggest ah
Speaker: handrails as I have learned how to walk again over the last three years. And so I'm so grateful for you, Betsy, and for ah this practice as being a real ah significant part of of keeping me on track. I'm three years off my problem chemicals. Along that path, I met the love of my life and ah the sparks just keep coming. And I'll be i'll say, you know, like like ah um ah during the broadcast, I am generally, generally, because there's some episodes when i've I've come on and I've not been in the best headspace, but I want to make it real clear that I'm not always in the headspace. and that that sparked conversations, sparked friends, and these practices that we talk about are the ways that i maximize the enjoyment of my life. But it is it is not effortless.
Speaker: And i i would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that ah life is hard for me sometimes. And it is through friends and fellow inspiration and the the conscious, you know,
Speaker: choosing of thoughts and people and conversations ah that has made me enjoy life so much. I'm so grateful.
Speaker: Congratulations. That's a long time to be committed and you're doing it. And I'm so glad that this could be an anchor point for you. So powerful, the timing of it. know. It didn't occur to me until I was looking today. was like, oh, wow. Yeah. yeah And ah um you inspired my closing spark.
Speaker: I feel like the consistency and commitment to showing up to record these has also been a driving force for me to stay personally inspired and because I also have had major life changes since I've been recording. i was in a major life transition when we first started. i moved across the country um during the process. I also entered into a new relationship. A lot of huge changes have happened for me and it hasn't all been easy. um I moved into a hurricane, for example, um you know, and through the recordings, there is always that invitation like, OK, how can we actually see the light in some of the challenges? And we even recorded the one episode that was like not sparked because neither of us were sparked.
Speaker: We both were feeling pretty down and we're like, oh. how do we record? um and we just came with our authenticity. And I think that is just been such a gift in my life and you as well to, um to be a part of that for me, to just keep coming back, to have that consistency, to have that commitment, to be in service from an authentic place of ah being committed so devoted to inspiration because it is fuel to keep going in this human form. Yeah. Because life is all the things. It's ups, it's downs, it's everywhere in between.
Speaker: So how do we continue to stay inspired in the modern world is by showing up. Just showing up. Just keep showing up. So there you go. I love you so much.
Speaker: I love you. Yeah. What a gift to to walk this path with people like you guys. Wow. I don't take it for granted. that it is the 1% of this planet is does not have relationship and access to people like this. so i'm I'm so grateful.
Speaker: Well, shall we close it out with an affirmation? Please, would you? Okay. This is just coming to me right now. it's It's actually an affirmation in the form of a question because when we ask powerful positive questions, it starts to direct our subconscious mind and we start to look for the answers to prove ourselves right.
Speaker: So how can I look through the lens of inspiration today? How can I look through the lens of inspiration today? How might I stay sparked today?
Speaker: How might I stay sparked today? How might I look through the lens of optimism today? How might I look through the lens of optimism today?
Speaker: May these questions and affirmations continue to support you, staying sparked throughout your days. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for joining us and helping us celebrate one hundred Woo!
Speaker: Has this conversation sparked you? Send us a note or leave a comment on the Stay Sparked Instagram page or YouTube channel. Reviewing us on Apple Podcasts really helps too. But most helpful of all is when you share us with a friend.
Speaker: We are so grateful to our sponsor, Lucid, makers of delicious functional mushroom and nootropic drinks. And special thanks to Dub Sutra, creators of our beautiful intro and ending music.
Speaker: Find links to me, Betsy, and all of this good stuff in the show notes.
Speaker: Stay Spark friends.
