Working On Me

A Journey to Self Awareness with Shauna Hoffman

43 Talking Creativity With Mary Robinette Kowal

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WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT…

Hello and Welcome, I’m Shauna Hoffman.

I hope you have been kind to yourself this past crazy week. Today I am so excited to welcome another conversation that will help us breathe a little easier and get in touch with one of the most joyous sides of ourselves, our creativity!

There is no one I am more excited to have as a guest than Mary Robinette Kowal. Let me share with you a little of the magic she brings to the world.

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Lady Astronaut duology and historical fantasy novels: The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers.

She’s a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Nebula, and Locus awards. Stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, several Year’s Best anthologies, and her collections Word Puppets and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.

Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards in a single year. As a professional puppeteer and voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), Mary Robinette has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She records fiction for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi.

Seriously! And there is so much more to this creative woman that is not in that bio! Welcome, Mary Robinette!

Mary Robinette, you are one of the most creative people I know. You exude creativity. Not just what’s on your bio, puppeteer, writer, but the clothes you create, every social media post that describes your feline family, your passion for creating or finding the most delicious libations, your pie making! All of that is born out of your beautiful creative mind. Have you always been in touch with that side of you?

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42 Calgon Take Me Away

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WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT…

Hello and Welcome, I’m Shauna Hoffman.

It’s the week of the election. You may be listening to this before the results are announced or after. Either way, I know that the world is so filled with anxiety and fear that all of us must be feeling it somehow. It’s like the whole country is holding its breath waiting to see what will happen. It’s a feeling of being out of control of the outcome even though we have donated, campaigned, and… or voted for who represents our values. So for this podcast, I decided to bring you back to the one thing you can control. YOU.

Calgon take me away! OK… I hope I am not showing my age with that one.

This podcast is going to be a total lovefest where we bring down your anxiety and give you an escape! For the length of this podcast, I want to take you away to a different kind of reality. Not one on the outside of you. Not one based on the election, follow up, news, chaos, craziness! The best way I can do that is to take you on a journey first into your best memories. Your favorite memories! The moments that brought you joy! A respite to the deepest parts of you. And then we will explore your most magical dreams. The dreams of where you want to go! Who you want to play with! The music you want to listen to! The food you want to eat! The space that no one can create or recreate except for you. This week we step away from fear. We step into beauty, joy, and peace.

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41 I Don’t Agree, But I’m Listening

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WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT…

Hello I’m Shauna Hoffman!

Well, we are just days away from this next election. And if you are listening to it after the election, listen even closer to see how you have navigated this time and if you could have done better.

The anxiety and fear that we are going through as a country has been so overwhelming for so many people. The saddest part is how it is affecting families and friends that have differing opinions, whether morally, ethically, religiously, or politically. The political drama is having a huge effect on families, on friends who would normally get along, with people in the workplace… with neighbors.

As a therapist, I am helping my clients navigate this difficult time. So I thought today I would try and bring some clarity to my podcast listeners. I felt that the best podcast I can do right now may be to help with some healing. A way for us to remember who we are personally, and yet find some level of compassion for those who do not see life as we do.

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40 I Learned a Damn Good Lesson. Moving On!

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WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT…

Hello and Welcome! I’m Shauna Hoffman.

I can’t tell you how excited I am that the new revamp to A Journey To Awareness has been so successful! We have had more downloads in the last week than ever. And needless to say, the last podcast on “the art of healthy fighting” is getting the most downloads! I am hearing from couples who are having their partner listen to it, friends who are having issues with each other hang out with a glass of wine and listen, and a bunch of moms and daughters listen to it! Nothing like bringing a little peace to this crazy world right now!

Now let me share what we are digging into today. Lessons learned! And for some people… Lessons you just don’t want to learn! See here is the thing. Self-Awareness’s best growth comes from getting through some lesson… learning from it and then moving on! We are going to dig into these pieces and see where you may get stuck. It was easy when we were in school. We learned a lesson and then moved onto the next.. then onto the next grade.. then onto the next school. Then we graduate!

There is a great saying… The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson. ~ Tom Bodett

But for some reason we humans have life lessons that we just don’t want to attack, or don’t want to learn from… or for some reason can’t let go of our emotions around in order to move on.

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39 The Art Of Healthy Fighting

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WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT…

Hello, I’m Shauna Hoffman.

So I asked a few listeners about what we should attack on the journey to awareness this week. And one listener said.. healthy communication. Ok, that wasn’t exactly what she said. She said, Can you do a whole podcast telling my partner what they are doing wrong when they fight with me? And then a few other expletives after that. HA! I said, sure. But you may not like what I say. Because fights take two people.

So whether you are listening to this podcast and wondering how to have a really good, healthy fight with a partner, parent, sibling, or friend I now welcome you to the Art of Fighting 101… otherwise known as, “You may have to get past your anger, check yourself, and just listen.”

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Privacy Policy/Disclosure

Shauna Hoffman is a Marriage Family Therapist and Speaker in private Practice in Santa Clarita, CA. She gives workshops and seminars in Newhall, Valencia and all of Southern CA.

FOR APPOINTMENTS

Appointments may be made by calling (661) 714-5137 or emailing Shauna@workingonme.com