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Little Tokens, Big Ripples: The Art of Gentle Change with Mansi Bhatia
216 Plays3 days ago
From the fast pace of Silicon Valley to the gentle rhythm of creative living, Mansi Bhatia’s journey is one of choosing presence over productivity. She calls herself The Ripple Maker—and for good reason.
A writer, artist, and teacher, Mansi spent two decades in journalism, nonprofits, and education before finding her way to a slower, more intentional life. What began as a creative outlet during the isolating days of motherhood—when she was caring for a child with life-threatening allergies—slowly grew into The RIPPLE Practice™, a six-step approach to creating authentic connection through small, imperfect acts of generosity.
Her upcoming book, Little Tokens, Big Ripples (Schiffer Craft, Fall 2026), is a reminder that creativity isn’t about talent—it’s about listening to the quiet whispers of the heart and having the courage to follow them.
Mansi now lives in California with her family, practicing what she teaches: presence first, everything else second. She’s building a global community around the simple but powerful idea that small acts of kindness can create ripples far beyond what we can see.
Learn more or connect with Mansi:
Website: http://littletokensbigripples.com/
Gatherings: littletokensbigripples.com/rsvp
Community: circle.littletokensbigripples.com
Download the Free Ripple Practice™ Workbook: https://littletokensbigripples.com/the-ripple-practice
Big thank you to our sponsor: Jet Creative: A women-owned marketing firm committed to community and empowerment. Whether you’re launching a podcast or building a website, Jet Creative can help you get started. Visit JetCreative.com/Podcast to kickstart your journey!
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey everyone, welcome to Rebloom, the podcast where we explore the power of change, rediscovery, and living with intention. That's right. We're your hosts, Lori and Jamie, two friends who really love a good story about transformation.
00:00:16
Speaker
In each podcast, we're going to chat with inspiring guests who've made bold pivots in their lives or careers. They've let go of what no longer serve them to embrace something more authentic, joyful, and true to who they really are.
00:00:31
Speaker
And the best part, many of them reconnect with passions or dreams they discovered as kids. It's about finding the seeds planted long ago and letting them bloom again.
00:00:43
Speaker
So if you're ready for real conversations about reinvention, purpose, and following your creative heart, you're in the right place.
Excitement for Monsi
00:00:52
Speaker
Let's dive in and see what it takes to re-bloom.
00:00:56
Speaker
Laurie, we have had the most beautiful conversations along the way. Some have just stopped me in my tracks. And this one has not only done that, i have goosebumps of just inspiration.
00:01:13
Speaker
Wait till our listeners hear this conversation. I agree, Jane, and I knew it was going to be a good one From the moment I learned about Monsi and learned about some of the amazing practices that she is has created and has put into her life, I knew I wanted to speak to her and learn more. But Her life story is so juicy, too.
00:01:41
Speaker
it's so good. and it needs to be a book. It does. Listeners, you're in for a treat. Not only is this a joyous, filled hour, but you will thoroughly be just mesmerized by the joy that she brings to others and the ripple effect that she has for so many.
00:02:01
Speaker
Hi, Lori.
Lori's Experience in France
00:02:02
Speaker
How are you today? um my gosh, Jamie. I'm a little bit tired and a little bit jet lagged, but I'm so excited. were you off to? I was teaching in France at Paragord Retreats. It's the second time I've taught there and I love it. And we had a wonderful group of women and they bonded and they will be lifelong friends. And it's pretty magical when women gather together in the name of creativity. But today we get to talk to a really amazing woman. I'm excited.
00:02:37
Speaker
i am so excited. Who is joining us today, Lori? So a little background story first. I met Monsi through a group of um Zoom calls created by our friend Dionne Woods.
00:02:52
Speaker
ah She was kind of gathering women together to chat and I met Monsi there and i love some of the things she's doing. I don't want to give too much of it away because I want to hear it from her.
Introducing Monsi
00:03:04
Speaker
But um she is an author, a creator. She works as a communication specialist. She's in the Silicon Valley and i just can't wait for her to share all the amazing things she's doing for the world that will make big roles.
00:03:21
Speaker
ripples.
Monsi's Joy and Challenges of 2025
00:03:22
Speaker
Oh, welcome. Hi, Monty. How are you? I am doing so well. And this has to be the highlight of this year for me to be in with both of you. 2025 has been a crappy year for me so far.
00:03:36
Speaker
So today is truly special because I love Lori so, so much. And Jamie, all your photos that I have seen on Instagram, I instantly when I was on Instagram, your photos would stop the scroll for me because they've always had that mood.
00:03:51
Speaker
They always had that glow. They always had that warmth. And it's very hard for people to feel something magical through a screen, but you are able to achieve that.
Monsi's Artistic Journey
00:04:02
Speaker
And Lori's colors, her vibrant colors.
00:04:05
Speaker
yeah i mean, I am just, this feels very, as I was saying earlier to you, feels very surreal to me. to be in conversation with both of you today. I've got chills now. Yeah. You just made my day. We are talking over each other, Jane. Yeah, I know, as always. As always.
00:04:24
Speaker
Well, thank you for joining us. Yeah, thank you for joining us. It is such a joy to have you. You're calling in from California. We have we' love having our guests from all over. And um so tell us a little bit, Monsi, about your journey and what Have you always been an artist or is this something new for you?
00:04:44
Speaker
I think all of us have always been artists. And I've always been confounded by that question because I think even engineers are artists and
Growing Up in India
00:04:53
Speaker
lawyers are artists. And, you know, yeah it's one of those things. So my journey, I feel, I was reflecting on this a bit yesterday with a parent at school where I was volunteering my daughters in sixth grade.
00:05:05
Speaker
And she asked me something. And i remember saying to her that I feel like my journey has always been about swimming upstream. And when I say that, I mean, I'm in Silicon Valley.
00:05:19
Speaker
The culture here is very hustly, for lack of a better word. Everybody's always on. Everybody always has their phone. It's like an extra appendage. Everybody's very much into AI. at The conversations right now abound.
00:05:33
Speaker
It's just all AI stuff. ah There's lots of innovation. There's just people steeped very deeply into a culture that always demands more and more and more.
00:05:44
Speaker
And I come in with my anti-cultural ah thesis of, hey, how about we slow down? How about we put our phones on silent, put them away, make eye contact, have conversations, get our fingers dirty with paint and not care about it.
00:06:00
Speaker
And yeah it's it's seen as, wait, what do you mean? And yeah the reason I said my entire life feels like it has been swimming upstream in this sense is that my parents, so I was born and raised in India.
00:06:16
Speaker
I'm an only child and a girl in the 1980s was something ah that was hard to come by. It wasn't the norm. So for my parents to say, hey, you know, we've had one child, she's a girl and we're good with it was a huge rebellion in a way.
00:06:32
Speaker
And for them to give me everything I wanted, I had absolutely no needs that went unmet before a want came out of my mouth. It was fulfilled. um But I see all of this in terms of tangibles.
00:06:45
Speaker
So this was all material products, no want for anything, whether it be dresses, books, supplies, whatever. What I didn't have enough of was my parents' time.
00:06:55
Speaker
So we were in a middle class family. They both had to work. Both of them had a nine to five job.
Pressure to Conform
00:07:02
Speaker
And so at six years of age, I had a little cord wrapped around my neck with our house key.
00:07:07
Speaker
And I would walk back home, unlock the door, and come in, warm up my lunch, do my homework, wash my clothes and read books till my parents came home at 5.30. So I had four hours every day to myself growing up. Wow.
00:07:21
Speaker
Wow. in elementary school. And a lot of times I would finish my homework first because I wanted to get it over with. And then I would read some books. But then I started somewhere around third or fourth grade, I had asked for watercolors and I started doing watercolor paintings. And watercolor is one of, I've heard from people, ah the hardest medium.
00:07:45
Speaker
yeah It can be. It can yeah I somehow, because I wasn't officially trained, I just kind of did my own thing. And I would just look at paintings. I i went by the illustrations in the books I read.
00:07:57
Speaker
And I would kind of illustrate or watercolor the stories that I was reading. So a lot of times I would copy the illustrations from the books. A lot of times it was just whatever I was imagining the scene would look like.
00:08:09
Speaker
And I would save my pocket money. i used to get some pocket money to save it. And other kids would buy toys or dolls or things like that. And I would go to the bookstore and get watercolor paper. So that's how I, I still actually have a set of watercolor paints, tubes, uh, camel camel was the brand, uh, from when I was in ninth grade that I showed my daughter and they still work.
00:08:31
Speaker
Oh, wow. wow That was from my pocket money. And, um, As I grew older, my parents have always had a very acrimonious relationship.
00:08:41
Speaker
A lot of it is personality issues. A lot of it is that my mom was the breadwinner for a lot of years. And so the whole
College and Parental Expectations
00:08:49
Speaker
um kind of patriarchal setup in limbo, you know, how a woman...
00:08:55
Speaker
in the 1980s navigated that was very different than how a woman would navigate that now. The level of acceptance was very different to the concept of stay-at-home dads was not prevalent or accepted.
00:09:08
Speaker
And um so there were a lot of issues with them. And I remember lots and lots of evenings just spending in my room. I didn't have headphones, so I would put a scarf around my head just to kind of muffle out their arguments and paint.
00:09:23
Speaker
And that was my escape. Wow. was just my way to escape reality. And I started doing a lot of like fairy tale kind of watercolors. Wow. and I bet that made you feel, you know, that's one of the things that we've talked about a lot is just the need for creativity.
00:09:39
Speaker
And especially when you're anxious or you're sad and how, it it could be anything. I mean, it could be cooking or gardening or taking a ah walk out in the fresh air. But I bet that that helped because...
00:09:53
Speaker
I mean, back then we didn't have escapes like a lot of television or or streaming or any, which is a good thing in a way, but it's good that you had that escape, that beautiful escape of your of your imagination.
00:10:05
Speaker
How wonderful that is. It did help quieten the mind quite a bit. And so did you carry that forward into what you did professionally or what you did in school? Yeah.
00:10:17
Speaker
No, because in high school, things changed. So I was 15 or 16. So I don't have any of my watercolors, um Jamie and Lori, because my mom threw them away.
00:10:29
Speaker
actually tore my watercolor books. She tore a lot of my journals because it was just not the way to be. And you're an only child, you're a girl, you have to fight for yourself. You cannot be in your dreamland at all times.
00:10:47
Speaker
And the only acceptable professions are you can be a doctor, you can be an engineer.
Secret Writing Success
00:10:52
Speaker
And since you have this very, my mom say have the gift of the gab, argue so much, so I could potentially be a lawyer.
00:11:04
Speaker
So they were very, very academic focused. And I fainted. I was the only kid in high school who fainted while dissecting a rat. So there was biology, you know. not ever I would ah i have been it for you.
00:11:17
Speaker
yeah I could not do that. And so my biology teacher was the one who then approached my parents because I used to journal quite a bit. I used to write poetry. And she asked to meet with my parents. They went over.
00:11:29
Speaker
And she said, you know, Monsi feels like a person who is very smart. She could put her brains to use in whichever profession, whichever field she might want. I don't think that she should be a doctor, but she's very empathetic. She's a good listener. Have you thought about pushing her down the stream of psychology?
00:11:48
Speaker
And my parents went, psychology? What? And like, no, that's like second or third tier doctor stuff. No, she's not going to be a psychologist. ah Well, she doesn't have aptitude for math. So maybe the next best thing she can do is business administration. So she should get an MBA.
00:12:04
Speaker
And that kind of became the focus for 11th and 12th, was sit for all the MBA exams. I must have sat for about 30 of them. I failed miserably at each one.
00:12:14
Speaker
And then I was shuttled off for a year to do computer coding because my dad had visited Silicon Valley for a conference and he saw Java and HTML posters everywhere along Golden Gate Bridge. So he comes back and he goes, Java is the future and you've got to do coding now. And so I was shuttled off to Delhi for a whole year to learn computer coding.
00:12:32
Speaker
And the whole time it felt like they were trying for me to make something of myself. And I kept hearing the words, you have the brains to do it. Why won't you apply yourself?
00:12:43
Speaker
And you know you internalize that stuff because yeah like i I am actually good at painting and I write pretty well too. So why don't you give me a shot? And I was 19 when my dad finally said, okay, we'll give you a shot.
00:12:57
Speaker
What is it that you want a shot at? And I said, well, there's this National Institute of Design, and it's the premier institute in India that produces very, very highly acclaimed design professionals.
00:13:09
Speaker
And I think I have a shot at it because I know I'm good at art. I know I'm good with words and I just want to apply. And he said, how much does it cost? So it was 500 rupees for the application. He said, okay, fine, I'll get 500 rupees.
00:13:24
Speaker
It was a two-day interview process where we had to go. It was a workshop style. So we
Defying Parental Wishes
00:13:28
Speaker
were given clay, we were given problem solving, things that we had to like do with our hands, ah jigsaw puzzles and things like that. They were observing us the whole time. And then we had an interview with a panel of six very acclaimed, nationally renowned artists.
00:13:42
Speaker
And so as a 19-year-old, you're sitting in a conference room, this big oak table, and there are all these people you recognize from TV and newspapers, film directors, in their 40s and 50s, staring at you when you have this very humble portfolio of your paintings and writings, and they ask to see it.
00:14:02
Speaker
And so they're doing this whole interview. And then one of them stopped me short. My interview only lasted 25 minutes instead of the regular hour. He cut me off at the 25 minute mark, 20 or 25 minute mark.
00:14:14
Speaker
And he said, I can see you're a very good copycat. ah And I didn't know what, I didn't understand that. And then they just laughed about it. And they said, yeah, you you copy the masters really well, but you have no originality in your art.
00:14:28
Speaker
And he was talking about my And it was a binder. So all my paintings were on the left side. All my poetry was on the right. And then another person who was a film director, ah he had won the National Film Award that year.
00:14:41
Speaker
He said, I think you might have a chance in a career in writing, but I don't see you becoming an artist ever. So I think. now Oh, my gosh. ah Wow. I came out knowing I was not getting admitted.
00:14:55
Speaker
And I told my parents, you know, they said maybe I should do some writing. And I had been writing. I had been earning my keep in a way in secret. My parents didn't know I'd been writing for three years for a national daily.
00:15:07
Speaker
I had my own column, but I didn't tell them because I was so worried. Oh gosh. So so let's let's let's kind of put a timeframe on this too. This is in the 80s, 90s? 90s. This is in the 1990s.
00:15:21
Speaker
And you're still in India. You're still living in India. and so And did you go to university or did you- I did. So after school ended, I did go for my bachelor's degree in psychology, like my bio and back On the condition that I also I double majored in psychology and economics because my mom was not having it with psychology. Yeah. It was psychology and economics with a minor in English.
00:15:49
Speaker
Wow. So I did get my bachelor's degree. And that's when I started writing for the Hindustan Times, which was a national daily. And I had
Long-distance Romance
00:15:56
Speaker
my own column. I was kind of like the agony aunt for teens. And I would also write reflective pieces on what was going on in terms of just current affairs in the country. What a teen, a teen's viewpoint to what it means to live in a country at that time.
00:16:11
Speaker
And my parents didn't know about it. wow i just had to hide it from them. i I had a daughter who did that. She wrote for the Huffington Post and I did not know.
00:16:22
Speaker
And until she got published and then said, Mom, I got published. And I went, okay. I got to love a little rebellion in you. That's really cool, Monsi, that you did that. But that's, so you're writing, you're you're at university.
00:16:38
Speaker
Are you still painting along the way, even though, no. 19, when I went for that interview, was the day I threw away all my supplies. I just kept my camel paints that I had bought for myself in school with my own pocket. That breaks my heart. it' not everything I had no paintbrushes. I had no paper. I just kept that one set of 12 watercolor tubes. And that's all I had.
00:17:01
Speaker
I can see why you, the term swimming upstream yeah really makes sense. Oh my gosh. Yes. You, you've been swimming against a pretty hefty current too.
00:17:12
Speaker
yeah whole life it It has been like that, but I wouldn't take, I wouldn't take most of it back. I think, you know, people say that you need to have, um it develops grit and resilience and all of that.
00:17:24
Speaker
Some of the hard things in life. I don't think that is entirely true because there's a lot in my life that I wish hadn't happened to me. um I don't care for the grit that it resulted in, but there is a lot that I think if I hadn't had that experience, A, I would parent very differently, B, I would move in this world very differently.
00:17:42
Speaker
Right, right. Yeah, I'm imagining that you're parenting your daughter at age 11 much differently. My guess is that you're not ripping up her watercolors. In fact, you're probably encouraging them.
00:17:55
Speaker
She has a gallery wall in just about every area of her house. i love that I love that. That's amazing. and That's beautiful. So where was the where were the pivots? did you end up in a Tell us about your career. that so you When did you end up in the States or how did you pivot?
00:18:14
Speaker
how did you pivot So the whole National Institute of Design thing happened. My parents were like, okay, we gave you a shot. Now, since you haven't applied yourself anywhere, you're not really doing anything that's meaningful, at least to us.
00:18:28
Speaker
The only best course now is for you to get married. And we are going to do an arranged marriage. We already have these suitors lined up for you. And that's when I told them that I had been writing and I showed them all the clippings from three years, all my news newspaper stuff.
00:18:43
Speaker
ah My dad was pretty speechless. And my mom then said, so what's your plan? And I said, I actually just interviewed for a job in Bombay. So I come from a city, Lucknow, very, very small town in the north.
00:18:56
Speaker
And Bombay is like the metro. So it's like going from, say, an unknown place in the Midwest, say Ames in Iowa, to New York. It was a lot. okay And so I said, I've applied in my mom's and what makes you think they'll hire you?
00:19:11
Speaker
And I said, well, I don't know, but I just interviewed this morning. So we'll see. And within 48 hours, I had an offer letter. and They were going to pay me 10,000 rupees a month, which was, and they would give me an apartment. I would be sharing it with a housemate and I would have to start in five days.
00:19:27
Speaker
Wow. And wow i said, this is what I want to do. And this is what I'm doing. And my mom said, I will give you six months. If you are able to keep this job. And if you're able to make something of yourself, we'll push the marriage out. But in six months, if nothing's changed, and we are going to determine if something's changed or not, you're getting married.
00:19:48
Speaker
Wow. Wow. so what happened? This is juicy. Wow. The thing is what also happened in the background. So this was in February of 2001.
00:20:00
Speaker
And I had graduated from college. I didn't have a job. I'd spent that one year learning how to code. I absolutely hated it. I was very good at it, but I absolutely hated coding. And so this whole writing thing um had become ah my escape basically from writing.
00:20:16
Speaker
my plan to escape from my parents' house. And so while this interview process, this application, sending an applications process was happening, another thing that had started happening was on the night of February 13th,
00:20:29
Speaker
I received an email. I was receiving a lot of emails because one of my poems had won an award from UNICEF and it was about ah young girls being sold to brothels by alcoholic dads.
00:20:43
Speaker
And this was a rampant problem at the time. So I had written a social commentary in poetic form won an award from UNICEF. They ended up posting that poem on this website called powertoyouth.com, which was akin to classmates or batchmates.com. And Power to Youth blasted it out to however many people they they could find email addresses for at the time because there were there there weren't any strong controls or opt-in at that time in 2001. Right.
00:21:08
Speaker
And so I was getting a ton of emails and they posted my email address, contact Monsi. And so I'm getting all these emails from random guys saying, want to be friends? And I'm going block, delete, block, delete. yeah This is a very serious poem. I do not want to be friends with you, weird stranger on the internet. But then I get this one email on the night of the 13th of February.
00:21:32
Speaker
ah A long paragraph email saying telling me that I am very young to be having such dark thoughts and I shouldn't be doing a social commentary of this nature. I should leave it to the adults and I should be more concerned about matching the color of my bangles to my sari outfit.
00:21:51
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Oh, it rubbed me so many, so many. now yeah I should have, could have ignored it, but something inside of me got riled up so bad that I had to respond.
00:22:05
Speaker
I had to put this person in their place. So I responded with a six paragraph email, ah letting them know that girls are educated. We have an opinion. we are free visit. We live in a democratic country, blah, blah, blah.
00:22:17
Speaker
Send that email off within two minutes. And we had a dial up modem. It was not super fast internet. It was a dial up modem. And so it took a while, but within, because it was all text-based, within two minutes, I receive a response.
00:22:29
Speaker
profuse apology, wants to know me more and says, ah he is in Silicon Valley and he has a friend who has a cousin who goes to my school, maybe.
00:22:40
Speaker
So you know when you leave breadcrumbs like that in an email, I'm like, okay, now you've kind of piked my curiosity. I have to respond to this. Within an hour, we had exchanged about 25 30 emails.
00:22:52
Speaker
And he then realized it was Valentine's Day in India because it had just struck midnight. And then I get a GIF, a rose blooming, and he says, happy Valentine's Day. And was like, oh, at the end of the day, he's just a boy.
00:23:05
Speaker
ah i shut my dad's computer and went to bed. Didn't think that I would wake up to 12 different emails from this person the next morning.
00:23:16
Speaker
He's the guy I'm married to, by the way. Wow. How about that? Wow. That's how it started. But within five days, it was ah President's Day weekend for him. So 17th of February, ah he had said that he loved me, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. We have not exchanged photos at this point. I hadn't really heard him.
00:23:36
Speaker
I didn't know what he sounded like. just Just texting each other, emailing each other, actually. And then we found, we guessed each other's IDs on
Cultural Challenges in Love
00:23:42
Speaker
Yahoo. Yahoo was the only messenger at the time. And he told me he writes poetry, but he's never had a girl with the brains to have a poetic conversation with back and forth.
00:23:52
Speaker
So he would write like a stanza and then I would reply in a stanza. And so we would do this verse slam kind of thing. Wow. Very interesting. And it was a meeting of the minds, essentially. And so presidents would do weekend. We finally talked on the phone.
00:24:06
Speaker
He used ah a pay card, a calling card that was like $100 for 30 minutes or something at the time. And we talked to each other. I fell in love with his voice. I thought he had the most beautiful baritone voice suitable for podcasts.
00:24:22
Speaker
But this was it. Like he was the guy. And that next day after President's Day weekend on the 19th, I got my job offer from Bombay. And then I told my parents I got the job offer. I got to go to Bombay. And my parents gave me the six month ultimatum.
00:24:36
Speaker
My dad flew with me to Bombay, settled me in, came back, and now I had high speed internet at the office. And so we were chatting constantly.
00:24:46
Speaker
i was building a portfolio and we had this amazing, like just night outs of conversations. And then he came to visit me on July 1st from here, from the Bay Area. He flew down to Bombay.
00:25:00
Speaker
I went to pick him up. I saw him at the airport. It was 3 a.m. And I saw him coming out. He had described what he would be wearing, so I knew what he would look like. I saw him coming out. I turned around and um I'm sorry, I'm just going to say it verbatim, but this is what I said.
00:25:14
Speaker
Shit, no shit, hell no shit. What did I do? Yeah.
00:25:20
Speaker
I couldn't bear the sight of him. He looked like this scraggly dude who was starving from Somalia. And he had these Elvis Presley sideburns. she Oh my gosh.
00:25:32
Speaker
Horrible. It was like cringe. No. Why? And then he came and he says, oh, there you are. And I was like, okay, there's his voice. This is, you know, it's going to be all right.
00:25:43
Speaker
oh We can maybe do a little haircut and figure
00:25:49
Speaker
it out. um But yeah, so we pretty much solidified when we met in person that this was something that was going happen. We were going to be together the rest of our lives. And now it was just up to us to figure out how to break the news to my parents.
New Life in the USA
00:26:03
Speaker
information from Is he from India as well?
00:26:06
Speaker
He is literally two hours away from my house by road. Oh, wow. We grew up in the vicinity, but our paths just never crossed. Wow. That probably helped, I would think, sell this to your parents a little bit. Because you seemed... Oh, it did not?
00:26:20
Speaker
my gosh. another another upstream adventure here's me thinking you're like the best little girl like i'm still back at you sitting home doing your homework and reading books and being this good little girl this little latchkey kid and i'm thinking you are the best kid and and you're doing all this lovely stuff so now you've met prince charming sort of little scraggly prince charming god love him
00:26:47
Speaker
and know So what happened? I don't know how much you know about the Indian hierarchical, the way society is divided. So there's the caste system.
00:26:59
Speaker
So there's four different castes. It's the priests, then it's the... I might get this wrong. So Indian people, please forgive me. um But I think it's the priests are the highest. And then it's the warriors, then the tradespeople, and then the shudra are the untouchables. So they're the ones who sweep the floors, the streets, do all the housework, stuff like that.
00:27:19
Speaker
So I didn't know this system existed until I met him. And this whole thing with the marriage happened because my parents never talked to me about it. So turns out that we, our family was the tradesmen. So just one rung above the bottom. And his family are the priests.
00:27:35
Speaker
So they're the Brahmins, the highest possible. Oh, can oh wow. So it shouldn't be a problem for my parents, right? Because I'll be marrying up. Yeah. The other classification in Indian society is the social classification based on wealth.
00:27:49
Speaker
And so there's the upper middle class, the lower middle class, and then people that are just impoverished. And then of course, you know there's the rich, the elite. We were the upper middle class. And according to my mom, the way she described his family when she met him eventually was my mom called me sobbing. I was in Iowa at the time. I'm fast forwarding a bit, but I was in Iowa at the time. This was a 2.30 a.m. call from me. She was in the hospital hyperventilating.
00:28:12
Speaker
saying crying his mom's saris are worse than what i hand out to my maids you cannot oh oh my gosh and his parents like we're the highest class and she's like literally one rung above from the bottom this is not happening and both of us are going well doesn't matter to us because we're not living with you guys. Yeah. We're living by ourselves. So good luck sorting this out because we're getting married regardless.
00:28:42
Speaker
So we actually eventually did. So what happened was I came, he flew in, he we met. Then he and I flew into my parents' house. And they met him. And there was this whole, you know very dramatic Indian film, like, oh, boo-hoo-hoo, life has come to an end.
00:28:55
Speaker
And my dad's all, but we already have these suitors lined up for you. And I said, okay, what box does he not check? He is an IIT Conqueror graduate. It's the premier institute for engineering in India. He's a Stanford graduate. he has a master's degree from there.
00:29:07
Speaker
He's in Silicon Valley doing all the Java stuff he wanted me to do. so he has a pretty solid income and he's on the cutting edge of technology. So what box is he not checking for you? And my dad looks at me and he says, isn't he really dark skinned? And I remember looking at my dad, looking at my mom. So my my dad's very fair, my mom's dark complexioned.
00:29:27
Speaker
And I looked at my mom and I said, have you met this woman?
00:29:33
Speaker
Oh, I'm so bad. I just hope this doesn't bite me in the ass with my daughter, but. Oh, my God. I just feel like my mom's always like, Karma's watching you. You know, you did all of this to us. But long story short, what ended up was he encouraged me to um pursue writing more seriously and get a graduate degree.
00:29:52
Speaker
And he said, you know, you're really good at it, but I think you just don't have any foundation. Nobody's actually taught you how to write. This is all very intuitive for you. And if you want to have a career in writing, because he didn't know about my art stuff. He just knew me him as a writer.
00:30:04
Speaker
Yeah. So he encouraged- Well, there was no art stuff because it got ripped up and you had 12 tubes of paint. So God bless. Yeah. So he only knew me as a poet and as a journalist ah writing for this magazine, a computer magazine in Bombay.
00:30:19
Speaker
And so he said, why don't you apply? So I spoke to my editor and she encouraged me to apply as well. And he paid for all of my application fees. So I applied five different universities here. I got into all five and then it was a difficult decision because I was like, do I go to Boston University? Do I go to American University? Do I go to Montana?
00:30:34
Speaker
And it was my husband's decision, um ultimately, that I choose Iowa.
Rediscovering Art as a Mother
00:30:41
Speaker
Okay. That's a great school. That's a great writing to school. I leaned in on him because he knew the lay of the land more than I did. I only knew about two of the names we hear mainstream.
00:30:51
Speaker
I was like, what is Iowa? I've never heard of Iowa. Is Iowa place? And it has one of the best, the strongest writing programs. Isn't that where Ann Patchett went? Like, I think a lot, I think that's an amazing, yes. I think they went to the Iowa Writers Workshop. What I got into was the master's professional program.
00:31:09
Speaker
Okay. And I was the first Indian female to get an internship there. Good for you. Wow. And were you married at, you were married at this time? No, we were still yeah you were still going through the angst of the parents. And it was very stressful at the time.
00:31:23
Speaker
And my parents did not know that I had applied because, you know, he paid for all the application stuff. but So I had decided I would tell them only if I got in and I got in all the universities and then I chose Iowa. And so my way of telling my parents was putting a screensaver on my dad's computer.
00:31:38
Speaker
think I got into Iowa. I need to fly out on this date. Oh my gosh. i I'm feeling a little angst for your parents occasionally. You know, it's like, Hey, now i'm I'm not going to do the arranged marriage, which is a big deal. I'm going to move to Bombay.
00:31:53
Speaker
Now I'm going to get married to this gentleman in America. And now I'm moving to Iowa because that's what every Indian parents thinks for their children is let's move to Iowa.
00:32:08
Speaker
um Jamie, when he read the screensaver, my dad's first reaction was there was no Google at the time. So he did a Yahoo search for how far Iowa City was from San Jose. ah Oh, my gosh.
00:32:20
Speaker
Oh my God. Why San Because my husband was living in San Jose. Oh, that's where he was. He's always been here. So my dad was, okay, so he cannot get there. He needs at least two flights. So he's not going to be there with you every weekend.
00:32:33
Speaker
Right. Yes. So there's still some space. So you do, you do, you do. And I'm going to kind of pivot for it could take us will not I'll i'll take ah kind of fast forward us a little bit. So you're in school. And obviously, I'm thinking, well, we not not thinking I know you get married.
00:32:50
Speaker
When does the art kind of start to filter back in to your life? And and how is the and and tell us about the writing, too, because the writing was a big chapter, I'm assuming, too.
00:33:01
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Writing, um it was all consuming and I loved it. I loved being in school. I loved being around people because it was a master's professional program. most The average age of the student body, we had 12 people in the program. The average age was 30.
00:33:16
Speaker
And so there were seasoned professionals. There were people who were in their 50s in broadcast journalism coming back to school. And so they brought this world experience with them that we benefited from. And it was a very different learning experience where our professors treated us more as peers than as students.
00:33:34
Speaker
which was very different experience for me coming from India, where, you know, you put your professors on a pedestal and there's this reverence and, you know, there's this hierarchy which dissolved in Iowa. And so just the American way of life kind of was very appealing, intriguing, fascinating.
00:33:49
Speaker
The freedom that I had just being here on my own. We got married in the court without telling my parents again. let's but But we did have the Indian traditional marriage six months later. we did the whole thing.
00:34:00
Speaker
I love this rebellion in you. You were so full. mean, you get just one life, right? You've got to live it on your own terms. And then finally, I i moved here in 2004 to Silicon Valley.
00:34:12
Speaker
um I graduated earlier, six months earlier than I was supposed to, because I fast-tracked and just wanted to be here, i just wanted to get out of Iowa. Because once I visited California, I was like, oh my gosh, the tallest building in Iowa City is eight stories high. I cannot live there for three years. Yeah.
00:34:30
Speaker
So I came here in 2004. I started my career working for a foster um care agency, a nonprofit, working with foster care youth and being their marketing and communications person. And then I moved on to various jobs in university settings at higher ed.
00:34:44
Speaker
And I was always in the communications and marketing office, writing alumni magazines, interviewing the presidents, writing the annual reports and things like that. And interacting with the philanthropy department at higher ed motivated me to make my work feel more meaningful to myself.
00:34:59
Speaker
So instead of just writing alumni stories, I wanted to write alumni stories that meant something that made people feel compelled to contribute. And so that was my pivot from higher ed to a nonprofit medical establishment, where I was now interviewing doctors and nurses and asking them and telling their stories, but telling them in a way that people felt compelled to either send in money for research or for equipment or whatever the needs were.
00:35:27
Speaker
So that kind of gave me a little bit more insight into what kind of writing moved me and what made me feel like I am contributing through my words. ah But then i I resigned when I got pregnant.
The Ripple Practice
00:35:42
Speaker
So take us forward to what you're doing now. You call yourself the ripple maker. maker That's right. so struggle it's So tell us about the the genesis of that and where that's taking you now.
00:35:58
Speaker
So the ripple maker happened because of my daughter. So when she was born, she had 32 different allergies. I didn't have a job. I lost my sense of identity. And just as I was telling you about how I derived meaning from my writing, I felt I had no more meaning. I had nothing left to contribute. My only contribution was her.
00:36:17
Speaker
and I had birthed a broken child ah because a lot of people told me that, that you know this is because of you. There's something that you did that made her be like that.
00:36:29
Speaker
And so I had um i was in ah very, very dark place when one morning I saw her playing with paints on our hardwood floor.
00:36:40
Speaker
And she was just belly laughing. She was just so happy. And instead of shouting at her, I started swirling the paint with her. And I said, you know what? Let's clean up and go to Michael's.
00:36:52
Speaker
And we went to Michael's and we bought actual good quality paint. And I said, we're just going to finger paint from now on. And that's how finger painting started. And because of her allergies, we never went out anywhere. She was always on top of me. So I nursed her for almost four years.
00:37:06
Speaker
I carried her everywhere. I had a toddler carrier made, custom made from Etsy because I couldn't put her down. Because every time I put her down, we were rushing to the Stanford ER department. Oh, my gosh. So it was just her and me the first five years. And we just painted. We have so many like finger painted canvases all over the house at the time.
00:37:25
Speaker
We didn't have any friends visiting us. We didn't visit anyone because I was just scared of people. And she was scared. Wow. Wow. So it wasn't just a food allergy. It was. No, she had environment. She had all kinds of random. and that We were discovering as she was growing older and touching, exposed to more things.
00:37:42
Speaker
But miraculously, they gave us a 7% chance of her outgrowing her allergies. at any point in her life, all of them. She turned five, we went in for our regular testing, which we did every six months for her allergies. And the doctor came back in disbelief and he said, I'm sorry, but I have to run the tests again. Can you come back tomorrow?
00:37:58
Speaker
And I said, what's going on? And he said, well, nothing's showing up on the panels. So I'm kind of like wondering what's going on. So we went back the next day, we went back the week after. They did three tests, three times the same tests and she had no allergies.
00:38:11
Speaker
Wow. All them just gone. And so then I was like, first thing, Mira, we're going to go eat Thai food. We're going to go eat pho. We're going to introduce you to Korean barbecue. We're going to go restaurants that mom loves going to, that you've never been to.
00:38:27
Speaker
And we started going to these restaurants. And that's where the token making started, because... I was just so grateful to have that experience with her. And I wanted to express my gratitude to all the people because I was still scared. I like the doctors had said she had outgrown all her allergies, but I was like, you know, I'm not so sure she has.
00:38:45
Speaker
so I would still wash their hands three times, make sure that nothing was touching, you know, the peanuts and the cashews, even though she had outgrown those allergies. And I just wanted a way to express my gratitude to them. And I didn't know how, except for tipping them graciously.
00:38:59
Speaker
Mira was the one who would, we would always do, I always had pen, paper, pencils with me and we would do the end one day she said, why don't we just give that to the server? And I said, you think? And she goes, yeah. And so I wrote, thank you very much. And a little note for him, gave it to him.
00:39:14
Speaker
That ended up being a 10 minute conversation with that guy about his nephew and the allergies and his own experience with allergies. And that started that tradition. And so now seven years and almost 3000 tokens later,
00:39:27
Speaker
I officially have a license plate that says Ripple Maker on my license plate. love that. I love that. I have station outside our house. So it is an interactive art display. It's like a birdhouse. It's like a
Impact of Ripple Practice
00:39:38
Speaker
little free library, but smaller.
00:39:40
Speaker
And Mira and I have been making, we were just actually talking about this yesterday. We've been making between 30 to 50 tokens every single week that we've been putting out there. And people just come and they pick up the tokens. They write something on the back. We put pens in the little house over there.
00:39:57
Speaker
They write, we put examples of what they can write on the back and just hand it out to baristas, to grocery clerk baggers and people that don't get appreciated very often. I love that. Well, you also shared when you when I found out about this, that some of the conversations in the way that this touches people in really deep ways and ah kind of unexpected It is, and I think what it has brought to me is the realization that we're all very deeply lonely, each one of us.
00:40:27
Speaker
And yeah unfortunately, for better or worse, the internet gives us the impression that we're not. o And I feel especially in Silicon Valley with everybody's, you know, you walk down the road here, everybody's head is down. They're either listening to something. you're They're not listening to the birds.
00:40:46
Speaker
They're not listening to the juncos. They're listening to the podcasts, which, you know, is good and bad, but they're not making eye contact. And I feel like our kids growing up in this, specifically in this culture, don't know how to converse. Yeah.
00:41:00
Speaker
thing They don't. They don't. And, you know, it's interesting. On the Today Show, they were talking about how landlines are coming back for young children now, because they're teaching young children. This is helping young children to know how to pick up the phone and say hello and have a conversation. and I think that this shift, I know, as you said, everybody's talking AI now and it's in every circle.
00:41:28
Speaker
However, I do think that there's going to be another conversation, which is for that analog and for that real and the conversations and the connection. i know that I felt it greatly ah during 2020, especially when we were all disconnected from one another. And while social media does help you to stay connected,
00:41:48
Speaker
it's the real It's the real conversations. and i And I do think you're right. Everybody feels lonely and they and they want to be seen, but they're afraid. and And just to know that you're appreciated or loved is so important. So, so important.
00:42:06
Speaker
And it has a huge ripple effect. And this practice has evolved into a book. You have a book coming out next year. you want talk about that? Yes. So the book, it's interesting how the book has evolved too in the last year since I came up with the Ripple Practice.
00:42:22
Speaker
I found a name for what I do. I didn't realize, it just came to me. So the Ripple Practice, which is going to be a big part of the book, is it's an acronym. Let's take a quick minute and thank our amazing sponsors.
00:42:36
Speaker
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00:42:49
Speaker
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00:43:03
Speaker
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00:43:18
Speaker
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00:43:31
Speaker
Thanks to our sponsors and thanks to you for joining us today.
00:43:37
Speaker
The acronym that I came up with for RIPPLE, the RIPPLE practice is when I come to my table, I always reflect on what I'm bringing, just the feeling. I'm not naming it yet. I'm just reflecting on how i'm feeling. How is my breathing? Is it shallow? it is and Is it anxious? Are my shoulders feeling heavy?
00:43:50
Speaker
Just reflecting on my physical being and my mental state. The next step is the I, which is identify. That's where I name what I'm feeling. And that name sometimes is a person's name because it's tied into why I'm feeling what I'm feeling.
00:44:07
Speaker
Sometimes I have ah Mrs. Kapoor's voice in my head from 10th grade saying that you have no originality. I have to tell Mrs. Kapoor to go sit in the corner. Thank you for visiting, but we're not talking right now.
00:44:20
Speaker
So identifying and then P is for playing. That's when I just, i I have no fear of the empty paper, the the this the blank slate staring at me. I know a lot of people talk about that.
00:44:31
Speaker
And my thing is I literally close my eyes. I reach my arm out. Whatever color comes in my hand, comes in my hand. If two of them come in my hand, two of them go together on the paper. I just squeeze my acrylic tubes and it's not blank anymore.
00:44:42
Speaker
And then I do whatever after that. So there's no process it. love that. The second P then is personalize. I make it my own. And how I make it my own varies from day to day. Sometimes it's gel plate printing. Sometimes it's doodles. Sometimes it's mixed media or just cutting paper. Sometimes I'm just tearing paper because that's what I feel like doing. um The L is the letting go which I find um has not been, a lot of people say it's very hard for them. That has been the easiest thing for me to do is let go of the outcome because I don't have a plan to begin with. So there's really not that much of letting go in that sense.
00:45:17
Speaker
That's how people understand let go. The way I understand let go is letting go of my attachment to what I have made, which which is what makes it easy for me to give it to others.
00:45:28
Speaker
And because I've been doing this for seven years with my tokens, The joy that that sparks in that person's, in the recipient's face, their life, their being, how it uplifts them.
00:45:40
Speaker
I see the change in the body language. I receive the hugs. So I know that letting go is easy because when I let go of this, the ripple effect is just so much more. It i bring brings so much back to me. Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:53
Speaker
And then E is the embrace and not in terms of just embracing what you've created, but embracing how you have become ah different version of yourself by immersing yourself in this practice, in this process from when you were
Social Media and Authenticity
00:46:10
Speaker
reflecting.
00:46:10
Speaker
Whether that ripple practice is five minutes long or two hours long, there's usually something to embrace at the end, which is different from the beginning. That is so beautiful. And i hope that all of our listeners will embrace the ripple effect, because I mean, it is it is just so lovely. and and But as you were telling as you were telling us this too, I had a question about, you know, those voices in your head when you were very young that said, you are not an artist.
00:46:41
Speaker
And then you sat on the floor with your daughter and you finger painted. When did you push those voices away and say, i am an artist.
00:46:52
Speaker
I can do this. i Because I think that's when we talk to a lot of our our folks that we speak with. They've had a lot of your parents are not unusual. I have to tell you growing up. as we did.
00:47:04
Speaker
Very normal for an 80s, 90s. You know, you have to get a job. You have to be a nurse or a teacher or an engineer in your culture, an engineer or a doctor. um But um it's interesting. We all seem to be seeking that joy, that beautiful joy within us. And when, do you know, do you remember when that started, you put those, shut down those voices and said, i i can do this. I am an artist and a writer and a creative. Yeah.
00:47:30
Speaker
I have an exact date for you. It was August 2nd last year. so great. I have been doing this for nine years now.
00:47:42
Speaker
And ah for seven years, I've been doing the token practice, but for nine years, I've been dabbling in art. And I never had the courage to call myself an artist because, you know, it's intimidating when you see someone like Laurie and Laurie, I don't, i mean this in the nicest way.
00:47:56
Speaker
You're very inspiring, but you're also very intimidating. and And why I say intimidating is because, you know, I think this is only true of people in the creative arts. We, for some reason, believe our impact is only meaningful when we have numbers to back it up.
00:48:13
Speaker
and So when I see people with 120,000 followers my measly 7,000 followers, and i look at my measly seven thousand followers I get trapped in that. I am not as valid as an artist as Lori is.
00:48:26
Speaker
Lori's been on all these retreats and she has people flying with her to all these different parts of the country. i do a backyard gathering with seven women because that's all I can do in my season of life right now.
00:48:38
Speaker
But is that not meaningful with those seven women once a year? is it or is it less meaningful than what Lori is doing with her daughter on her retreats? It's just as meaningful.
00:48:50
Speaker
and we just fall into this unfortunately fall into this and as much as we say you know we lift each other up we i think it has to start from within and this whole ripple effect that i keep talking about i feel we're very kind and very gracious to other people outwardly, but inwardly, we are so harsh to ourselves.
00:49:11
Speaker
And I think that realization came to me last year when I decided I was going to not be on social media anymore because it was affecting my mental health so much. Because i' was always hustling, always, and I got trapped into this, I'm already part of Silicon Valley where this culture is the way to live.
00:49:26
Speaker
And then for my art to fall into that was just kind of like, what am I doing with my life? What brings me meaning is giving away my, why am I producing all these bespoke kits? And why am I doing all these, you know, reels and trying to sell product when I don't want to make product?
00:49:45
Speaker
I just want to make heartfelt art and I want people to feel it means something to them. And I want them to hold on to it because they felt seen. I don't have to make money from it. And I'm not saying it's wrong for artists to want to make money because I do make money when I do my in-person gatherings.
00:50:01
Speaker
and All that money then goes to getting supplies so that I can have my ripple station stocked at all times. yeah ah So it's a very, I think it's a different, and I don't disregard that I come from a place of privilege.
00:50:15
Speaker
I do not have to provide for our family of three. My husband's doing that. I did have a corporate job. I did have you know a six-figure salary. I had the business suits and the high heels. Been there, done that.
00:50:26
Speaker
My daughter's not seen that part of me. She sees me as the school volunteer who goes and does the SEL lesson plan for sixth graders. She sees me as the mom who's doing the bulletin board, making it look pretty or making stuff for the silent auction and doing this art that I do.
00:50:41
Speaker
So there's many different ways of us filling our days with things. And one of those things does not have to be metrics. yeah I completely agree with you. And um you're you're causing a ripple effect.
00:50:58
Speaker
I think people go on social media maybe to cause a different kind of ripple effect, they to attract people to them. But you're doing it in maybe slightly more private way, but a more deeply meaningful way, which is really true and authentic.
Upcoming Book and Tokens
00:51:16
Speaker
It's quite beautiful. but i mean I want to live back in the 1990s, Laurie. I liked the 1990s for the analogous way we lived. there was just no there was no prep like We had walks.
00:51:28
Speaker
We enjoyed sunsets. but We didn't take a photo every time. We appreciated We actually stopped and looked and marveled. Right. did and you know i I've thought with, I have so many lovely college friends. I graduated in the late 80s.
00:51:43
Speaker
And I say, you know, I think the reason we're all such great friends is because we had no phones. All we could do is talk and laugh and giggle and do get into trouble and do the things that young 18 20 year do and And even in my 20s, you know, I'm so appreciative. I didn't get my first cell phone until I was 28. I tell that to my students all the time and they kind of look at me horrified and I go, no, I think that was the best thing to date my husband and not have a phone.
00:52:14
Speaker
And we still can go out and have dates and chat and... I think that social media has its benefits for sure, but I think having the ripple effect personally in in real face-to-face conversation is just as deep and just as meaningful.
00:52:35
Speaker
And i do agree with you. I think sometimes we look at others on online and it's funny, i I post flowers every day just because they bring me joy. And I went to a garden club and she's like, well, how do you make money? and I'm like, well, i I don't make money doing this. I just...
00:52:51
Speaker
I, you know, like you, I'm blessed, but I, I do it. I do that. I make money in other ways, but the flowers are just to bring people joy because we need a little more joy in the world. And it brings me joy and I love to put them out there. And for me, it's just, it's the way that I can be creative and, um, it's just, it's a special thing to do. And I think for our listeners, um,
00:53:16
Speaker
I love that you shut down those voices, though, that told you you weren't an artist. And I love when I asked you, the very first question I asked you is, have you always been an artist? And you said, we are all always always artists.
00:53:29
Speaker
And I love that you've gone back to that because we are all artists in some way. We're all creative and we have to let that creativity just shine.
00:53:40
Speaker
And I think that's what when we talk to all of our listeners, many of them have had it shut down. And it's when they stop listening to those voices and let their heart just soar that it just comes back in such a beautiful way.
00:53:53
Speaker
it was really beautiful, too. It was kind of a full circle moment because it took your daughter yeah watching her being creative like you were when you were a girl to bring you back to that, yeah which is quite beautiful.
00:54:10
Speaker
And I've had this conversation with people recently too. I mean, ai is great, but it only is going to recreate what has already been done. We still need our imaginations to create possibility. I mean, it's it's within our hearts and our souls that's going to be the new and be something different. And and that makes it unique.
00:54:31
Speaker
You can never create us. I mean, you can create what's been done. cannot. you know, the thing is that I think that's going to be the differentiation factor going forward. It's these in-person things. It's the tangibles, the tactile, because that, you know, for sure human-reduced.
00:54:50
Speaker
Yeah. Right. So you've written this book, let's we and we've had the most amazing conversation. you've got When is your book coming out, first of all? Hopefully fall of 2026. My manuscript right now is with the editors, and I'm waiting ahwait my final edits. I've taken all the photos.
00:55:07
Speaker
There's over, for ah I don't know, 150 photos of different kinds of tokens, levels of artists, different techniques, because I don't have
Advice and Gratitude
00:55:16
Speaker
a niche. My daughter actually asked me last year, Mama, what's your niche?
00:55:20
Speaker
And I said, how do you understand my niche? First, let's talk about that. She had picked up that word from a friend who was looking at some TikTok video about some guy who does a specific kind of dance and learned the word niche.
00:55:32
Speaker
And I said, what do you think my niche is? Because my response to her usually is a question. yeah So she says, well, I think your tokens are your niche. And I said, beautiful, because I have been struggling with answering this question. And yes, you are correct.
00:55:45
Speaker
My niche are my tokens because I don't have one particular style. I do everything. yeah It's because I get bored. just get bored of doing the same thing. So I don't have one particular flower that I will always make or one kind of leaf.
00:55:58
Speaker
I will try everything because I'm not afraid because I have nothing to lose. So it's really, nothing isn't that the best? And I love agree with that. Amen to that. You have nothing to lose. And so, and I love that you just grab paints and you just create, and I love, Oh, I just love everything about this conversation. This has just been so. You did inspire me. So at the Rebloom conference, I think I might've shared this with you. I had, el we, we use paper plates as our pallets and I,
00:56:25
Speaker
I love paint on the on these plates. And so I said, don't throw them away. So I have cut them up now into heart shapes. And I've made a bunch of cards that I have not yet handed them out. But there I have a stack of them all inspired by you.
00:56:40
Speaker
And part of the book, Laurie, is going to be encouragement to hand them out because I witnessed so many women over the years who make beautiful tokens and they just stay with them in their handbag. Because my ask is don't leave it to be found.
00:56:56
Speaker
My ask is that you make eye contact with a person, have a conversation, ask them their write a note on the back. And it's very difficult the way our societies are structured. For some reason, it's very adult, ah very awkward for adults to hand something that they have made to another adult because there's all this fear of judgment or just, you know, why am I giving it to them? I don't really know them. It's not their birthday.
00:57:20
Speaker
It's very transactional in that the way we are with each other as adults. And that is why it's a big part in the book. it's whole There's a whole chapter on how to go about handing these once you make them learn how to hand them out i love that all right challenge accepted challenge accepted well we ask our our guests to um give our listeners a little piece of advice do you have advice that you follow now or someone has given you or maybe you tell your daughter
00:57:51
Speaker
I think this whole conversation is amazing. I know we could just, just a little token of advice. Well, if I were to sum it all up, I think that the one question or the one resistance I get from people who stop themselves from starting is, I don't have your talent is what they say to me.
00:58:10
Speaker
And my response to them is, and these are people who know that I don't have formal training in art. And my response to them is, you don't need talent, you just need the courage to listen to the whispers of your heart.
00:58:22
Speaker
So if you let your heart do the talking, your hands will follow. that is That should be on a shirt in a journal. I hope that makes the book. Beautiful. That is gorgeous.
00:58:35
Speaker
Oh, Monsi, thank you so much for this conversation. You started giving me chills from the minute we started talking and you're so sweet and lovely and talented and amazing. in Your story should be a book.
00:58:50
Speaker
I hope you write your life story sometime. it's love the rebellion. i'm waiting I'm waiting for a couple of relatives to die before I do that. Yeah. but But you're having your ripple effect and what you're doing in your community. And and I do believe, and Lori and I have talked a lot too, that we all have these seasons. And so while your season may be close at heart and home right now, maybe it will grow in a different way down the road. You never know. You never know.
00:59:17
Speaker
you never know but you're building... youre those And your daughter's right. The tokens are your niche. I love that. Yeah. yeah It's a pretty wonderful niche because it's based on kindness and community and sharing and creativity and all of the heartfelt things. So what a beautiful niche to have. Amplifying joy because we all could do with more joy. Absolutely. sure could. Well, thank you so much.
00:59:44
Speaker
Thank you for joining us today, Lori. This was incredible. And to our listeners, peace, love, and re-bloom. Life is too short not to follow your passions. So go out there and let your heart plant you where you are meant to be and grow your joy.
00:59:59
Speaker
We will be right here sharing more incredible stories of reinvention with you. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode of Rebloom.
01:00:10
Speaker
Until next time, I'm Jamie Jameson. And I'm Lori Siebert. Peace, love, and Rebloom, dear friends.