Tag Archives: love

Episode 31: Life Is All About Perspective

Soness StevensSoness Stevens is the Head Speaker Coach for multiple TEDx events and has coached over 109 TED & TEDx speakers. She represented Japan for TED Worldwide, spoke at TEDxFukuoka and TEDxWasedaU.

Soness has a weekly nationwide broadcast TV show on communications and is an Associate Professor of business presentation skills at YNU. You may have seen her on NHK TV and Fox TV Japan, or heard her as the official English voice of Hello Kitty. She lives near the beach and practices Zazen Meditation at her local temple in Japan.

I’m so grateful to have Soness Stevens on the show and I’m so thankful for her willingness to share with us her intimate and very personal life journey living with a mother who was suffering from mental illness.

For a good half of her young life she lived in a car with her mother and brother. They were constantly on the move, running from landlords because her mother didn’t have a job and could not afford to pay rent. Despite growing up in such a difficult circumstance, drifting from place to place, Soness went on and became a beautiful, positive and successful individual. Her ability to see life in colours as a child is truly inspiring!

Resources and Links:
Music Credits

Intro: Don’t Hold Back (Grow and Soar) by KOÄN
2010 – Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)

Episode 21: It’s Ok to Be an Artist

Brian Robinson
Photo by Michael Marzik

I’m borrowing today’s episode title from Gordon MacKenzie, an American artist.  He used to talk to school kids from kindergarten to year 6, asking the same question: “Anybody an artist?”. And while everyone in kindergarten was enthusiastically raising their hands, as he progressed from one year to the next, the number of hands raised dropped. By year 6 hardly any kids put their hand up.

So Gordon Mackenzie asked the sixth graders: “Hey! What happened to all the artists in this school? Did all the artists transfer out? Did all the artists go to art school? I don’t think so. I think something much worse. I think someone or something has told you it’s not OK to be an artist. If you don’t remember anything else I say today I want you to go home and remember it’s OK to be an artist.”

I am so glad that my guest today – Brian Robinson – was not afraid to remain an artist even though some of his loved ones advised against it. At times it was a lonely road, working long hours, not knowing what the future holds, but that was the sacrifice he was willing to make.

Brian is the 2013 Recipient of the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award, the nation’s richest Indigenous arts prize for exceptional achievements by an Australian Indigenous artist. His works are displayed across Australia, at the Monaco Palace and at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. He spent more than two decades perfecting his craft and never once wavered in his pursuit.

Brian constantly challenges himself to create unique and amazing masterpieces. He uses a variety of methods from printmaking, painting, sculpture, installation and design. His work embodies the customs and traditions of the Torres Strait Islander people whilst also referencing mythological narratives from global cultures.

In this interview Brian gives us a glimpse into his life as an artist, the work involved, the unusual materials and tools he uses for his art work. He also shares a bit about his life journey.

Before you listen to our conversation I highly recommend you follow this link to see his talent on display.

I’ll end with another quote from Gordon Mackenzie’s amazing book on creativity Orbiting the Giant Hairball: “If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted. No one else can paint it. Only you.”

Bring out your masterpiece, whatever that is!

Resources and Links:
Music Credits

Intro: Don’t Hold Back (Grow and Soar) by KOÄN
2010 – Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)

Episode 19: Understanding and Managing Relationship Problems

Dave ElliottAll couples have problems. No relationship is perfect. Some issues can be resolved while others are destructive, unhealthy, unacceptable and therefore you must learn to walk away.

Have you ever wondered why some people keep falling for the same type of person? Why do they subject themselves to the same pain and get burnt over and over again? Yet, they can’t seem to break away from these toxic characters. Cheaters, liars, narcissists…

Does this sound familiar?

In this episode relationship expert Dave Elliott explains why we do what we do and how we can change our destructive thoughts and behaviour patterns in order to attract the right people into our lives.

Resources and Links:
Music Credits

Intro: Don’t Hold Back (Grow and Soar) by KOÄN
2010 – Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)

Episode 5: How to Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin

Shanti ZimmermannHere’s one of the most genuine and authentic human beings I have ever known. She’s real, honest and not afraid to show her true colours. Because of this she has been a victim of cyber bullying but she does not let that bother her.

I have great admiration for Shanti. She is courageous and fierce and she has no problem showing others what she’s made of.

If you are feeling lost, suffer from lack of self esteem, or have a hard time dealing with haters either in real life or online then you must listen to this episode.

And check her out at beingshanti.com.

Music Credits
Intro: Don’t Hold Back (Grow and Soar) by KOÄN
2010 – Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)