Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
"Being Someone Else's Spark" #79 ✨SPARKLE SNACK SERIES
12 Plays6 months ago
Why is it so important to be an inspiration to others? How can we set our attitudes and actions towards: "Aspire to Inspire before you Expire!"
This is the first of our "SPARKLE SERIES" episodes which are short, quick sparks of inspiration to fine-tune your day!
HOSTS
BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer of massage therapy, CranioSacral and Dharma Coaching. She is an 8 year burner and has spent the last several years seeped in the personal development world, cultivating her passion for transformation and growth. Her recent project, The Power Affirmation Journal and virtual group empowers women to cultivate self awareness and healthy habits so they can live in greater freedom, mind body and spirit.
http://poweraffirmation.com/
Click here to get a FREE affirmation for Stay Sparked Listeners!
HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation YouTube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. His other podcast is "Hard on the 80's."
http://LifeStudent.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Projects
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:06
Speaker
We are here to share conversations to light you up.
00:00:10
Speaker
I am John Halcyon Stinn, the host of the Hug Nation YouTube channel and the Heart Centered Men's Gatherings.
00:00:16
Speaker
And I am Betsy Finkel, who is the founder of the Power Affirmation Project and Somatic Bodyworker.
00:00:22
Speaker
Today, I'm feeling grateful for June gloom and summertime that's not too hot.
00:00:31
Speaker
And I am grateful for the springtime rains here in Asheville, North Carolina.
Inspiration through Connection
00:00:36
Speaker
And this is one of our sparkle series of little shorter bite-sized conversations to keep us sparked as we go through the world.
00:00:45
Speaker
And today we wanted to talk about being someone else's spark and how important it is to be a igniter of someone else's light.
00:00:56
Speaker
Betsy, you are the most flammable person I know.
00:01:03
Speaker
How do you do that in the world?
00:01:05
Speaker
Betsy.
00:01:06
Speaker
Well, I'm reminded of a motto that my mom found somewhere and she shared it with me at a young age, which is, I aspire to inspire before I expire.
00:01:18
Speaker
And it's such a powerful motto to live by.
00:01:21
Speaker
One more time, one more time.
00:01:22
Speaker
I aspire to inspire before I expire.
00:01:26
Speaker
And so how to be a living, breathing, walking athlete.
00:01:33
Speaker
energy of inspiration.
00:01:35
Speaker
If that is my main mission here on this planet, then I will cast sparks of inspiration wherever I go.
The Power of Genuine Presence
00:01:42
Speaker
And one of the ways I find has the most impact is through presence with people.
00:01:49
Speaker
It is unfortunately sort of a rare thing these days.
00:01:54
Speaker
But I find that when someone is really present with me, I feel lit up.
00:01:59
Speaker
And it's like, I leave the conversation or I leave the gathering or I move on to the next part of my day.
00:02:04
Speaker
And I come back and think about how present that person was with me and how inspiring that was.
00:02:10
Speaker
And that is so simple, but so powerful to feel a spark of inspiration simply from presence.
00:02:18
Speaker
Eye contact, grounded connection, nothing fancy or like trying to teach you something or tell you how to be or whatever it might be.
00:02:28
Speaker
But just presence is such a spark.
00:02:31
Speaker
I love this.
00:02:32
Speaker
I mean, and being a spark, not in what you do or something, some sort of force that you're putting into the world or onto somebody, but merely being present and having a resonance of acceptance and listening.
00:02:48
Speaker
Wow, that is such a powerful way to have impact without the kind of
00:02:58
Speaker
obligation or curiosity or trying to figure out what do I do?
00:03:01
Speaker
What do I do?
00:03:03
Speaker
Be, just be.
00:03:04
Speaker
Just be and be aware of other people as well.
00:03:07
Speaker
Giving other people presence.
00:03:09
Speaker
When I first met you over 15 years ago, it was on the street in San Diego and you were all colorful and you had your pink bike and I was with a mutual friend and you came over to say hi to our mutual friend.
00:03:22
Speaker
But you also gave me presence.
00:03:24
Speaker
We've never met.
00:03:25
Speaker
And you just were so kind and
00:03:28
Speaker
there and said, hello, so nice to meet you.
00:03:30
Speaker
This is eye contact.
00:03:32
Speaker
This is a grounded presence of somebody who's very colorful.
00:03:35
Speaker
And I had never experienced anything quite like that before.
00:03:38
Speaker
In my previous experiences, I have, you know, met a lot of colorful people, but oftentimes a sense of distraction in the in the field that we're sharing or, you know, looking to the next thing or not quite fully connecting.
00:03:54
Speaker
And you were the first spark of that kind of powerful presence for me.
00:03:57
Speaker
And I'm so grateful for the way that you have done that for me.
00:04:01
Speaker
And you've done that for so many people.
00:04:03
Speaker
And I feel like that that ripples because once I experienced that, then it empowered me to keep giving that to other people as well.
Levels of Connection and Presence
00:04:13
Speaker
I've been working through a shift in awareness from about the levels of connection and communication that we have.
00:04:23
Speaker
And on one level of connecting, we talk about things outside ourselves like sports and movies.
00:04:30
Speaker
And then the next level, we share stories and entertain each other.
00:04:34
Speaker
But the really deep level is just presence and the content of the conversation that
00:04:38
Speaker
is far less relevant.
00:04:40
Speaker
And so I've really been trying to practice being aware of when I'm storytelling and when I am, you know, that's kind of creating a separation between audience and speaker versus presence.
00:04:56
Speaker
And I really love this idea that sparking other people is not about kind of like
00:05:03
Speaker
Ta-da!
00:05:04
Speaker
It's more making someone feel seen and actually being present enough that you are listening.
00:05:12
Speaker
Because when you feel seen, that is a jolt of energy that you get.
00:05:21
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:05:22
Speaker
It's one of the greatest gifts we can give each other is presence and true listening.
The Impact of a Smile
00:05:28
Speaker
I want to add one more little sparkle into this conversation around how to be someone's spark is a smile.
00:05:36
Speaker
I have been transformed by a smile before.
00:05:40
Speaker
I still have in my memory walking down the airport and
00:05:45
Speaker
many years ago and I was kind of grumpy and just kind of tired and there was so many people and there was this woman walking in the opposite direction and she smiled and she looked at me it just briefly passing and it was almost like she tossed me this ball and I picked it up and I held it and I was like well now I'm smiling and
00:06:07
Speaker
And I kept walking.
00:06:09
Speaker
And it was like this trail of light that she was carrying that I picked up.
00:06:14
Speaker
And that smile lasted with me.
00:06:16
Speaker
Obviously, here we are years and years later.
00:06:19
Speaker
And I can count so many other moments when other people have smiled that has instantly transformed my state.
00:06:26
Speaker
So a smile can be truly a spark.
00:06:30
Speaker
I love
Becoming a Love Ambassador
00:06:31
Speaker
that.
00:06:31
Speaker
I remember hearing Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk, speak about how at all times we have with us this inventory of gifts.
00:06:42
Speaker
And it's this flower that we can give to every single person with our smile and our eyes.
00:06:47
Speaker
And sometimes it feels like we are impoverished or we are lacking.
00:06:51
Speaker
But no, we are always in possession of this gift for the other, like the person gave you in the airport.
00:06:58
Speaker
It's powerful.
00:06:59
Speaker
It's so powerful.
00:07:02
Speaker
Well, in the spirit of our bite-sized sparkles, let's close it up with some closing sparkles.
00:07:08
Speaker
I will say my spark for you out there is ask yourself, how can I be someone's spark today?
00:07:13
Speaker
How can I just let my natural shine have a positive impact in the world today?
00:07:20
Speaker
Maybe think about what that might look like.
00:07:23
Speaker
Is that smiling?
00:07:24
Speaker
Is that asking somebody how their week was?
00:07:27
Speaker
Is that just maybe reaching out to someone and say, hey, I care about you?
00:07:32
Speaker
Is that maybe offering to watch a friend's kid?
00:07:36
Speaker
Maybe something else.
00:07:37
Speaker
How can you be a spark today in someone's world?
00:07:42
Speaker
I'm going to invite everyone to make an appointment with yourself every morning to remind yourself that you want to be a one who sparks.
00:07:51
Speaker
I use the term love ambassador.
00:07:53
Speaker
But if I tell myself in the morning today that you want to be a love ambassador, I find that when I'm out on my morning walks and I pass a neighbor, I sometimes have the instinct to keep my head down and not bother them.
00:08:04
Speaker
But if I already in my head have you're going to be a love ambassador today, then I will wave and say good morning to
00:08:10
Speaker
to everyone I pass.
00:08:11
Speaker
And I'm always grateful that I've done it.
00:08:14
Speaker
And over time, some of the people that didn't wave are now waving to me.
00:08:19
Speaker
So I invite you to join the smiling revolution.
00:08:23
Speaker
Woo!
00:08:24
Speaker
And this may sound cliche, but the world needs your light more than ever.
00:08:30
Speaker
Amen.
00:08:32
Speaker
And if you want to connect more with us online, feel free to find us on Stay Sparked Instagram or Apple Podcasts.
00:08:39
Speaker
We always love your reviews.
00:08:40
Speaker
Those are little sparkles in our inbox and help spread these conversations farther and wider.
00:08:45
Speaker
So thank you so much for that.
Connecting with Hosts and Their Projects
00:08:47
Speaker
And you can find me on PowerAffirmation.com where you can learn all about my products for transformation, my coaching work, and my one-on-one healing work.
00:08:56
Speaker
You can also see our gorgeous faces on our YouTube channel, as well as my YouTube channel, Hug Nation.
00:09:01
Speaker
And you can also find me in all my ways at lifestudent.com.
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah, and for those of you who are not visually watching us, I'm wearing pink sparkly ears right now.
00:09:11
Speaker
So you might as well just pop on over to the YouTube just to check out my little ears.
00:09:15
Speaker
It's a sight to see.
00:09:19
Speaker
Oh, and in the spirit of closing it out with an affirmation, we're going to use the question form of an affirmation today.
00:09:29
Speaker
How can I be a spark in the world today?
00:09:33
Speaker
How can I be a spark in the world today?
00:09:36
Speaker
How can I be a spark in the world today and every day?
00:09:41
Speaker
How might I sparkle even brighter today?
00:09:45
Speaker
Thank you.
00:09:45
Speaker
Thank you.
00:09:46
Speaker
Thank you for listening.
00:09:47
Speaker
Thank you for shining.
00:09:49
Speaker
Thank you for this beautiful opportunity to share with you, John Halcyon.
00:09:53
Speaker
So grateful for you.
00:09:55
Speaker
Thank you, Betsy.
00:09:55
Speaker
Stay sparked, people.
00:09:59
Speaker
Love you.
00:10:00
Speaker
Stay sparked, friends.
00:10:03
Speaker
Find us on Instagram at stay sparked and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.
00:10:08
Speaker
Thanks so much for helping us spread these sparks.