whims + purpose with Andrea Menard

Andrea Menard is a firecracker of positivity and beautiful sounds. She is a singer, speaker, writer, and an actor. You might have heard her voice at a live event or recording, or know her from the APTN series Blackstone and Hard Rock Medical. She currentlly plays a transgender cop on The Switch, and has been in numerous other productions.

Andrea Menard inspires. She wins awards and she leads with her positive vision.  

Here, we talk about listening to what fires you up. Andrea riffs on how we must follow what delights us—our whims—in order to find our purpose. (Hint, from Andrea, on finding your purpose: "You're not going to get a manual!" Or. . . most of us won't.) Andrea refers to that "still, small voice" and "the answer that is invisible." These all could be a "call:" and they may come from higher wisdom.

To help celebrate Aboriginal Music Week in Winnipeg this week, Andrea featured on the APTN National News yesterday (August 18th, 2015: see, roughly, 15:20 to 21:00 minutes in). Here, she talks about positive music, healing, and voting in the upcoming federal election.  

Hear Andrea Menard's music on Bandcamp. Check out "Answer the Call," the song we talk about around 4:44 on our whim-talk. Or, listen to one of my favourites—the title song on Andrea's latest recording, Lift—"Lift (A Tribute to Gordon Tootoosis)." 

See all things Andrea Menard here:
https://www.facebook.com/andreamenardmusic/

whims + spinning with Gemma Stone

Gemma Stone is a psychologist, author, speaker, mentor, event designer, and all around delightful human being. We met in snowy Athabasca in 2013 over sketched-out ideas, scribbled notebooks, and deep play with our mutual friend Alexandra Franzen. And there, whims came and hatched into being. 

Gemma describes a whim as an unexpected turn: as a space where clarity can come; where freedom exists; and where surrender and trusting the moment of the whim, regardless of what logic might say, leads us out of suffering. Listen in to hear how the spinning that could quite possibly cause confusion can actually yield good guidance and strong moments of knowing. 

See all things that Gemma is up to at gemmastone.org. In the spirit of more happiness, more joy, and more play, Gemma and I will both be presenting at Melsha Shea's second SHIFT on October 23-25, 2015 in Edmonton. Tickets go on sale August 1!

whims + ice cream trucks with Erinne Sevigny Adachi

Officially, Erinne Sevigny Adachi is an editor and publishing consultant. But really, she is a magical handmaiden who coaxes stories from writers to help deliver them healthy and well onto the page. As she says in this video, Erinne helps writers to find their whims and to follow the right ones. 

Erinne compares whim-following to an ice cream truck. Further, she reveals a deep, dark secret about her marriage; encourages us to develop our skills around whims and intuition; and elaborates on how a part of her work works: as "a collaboration of intuitions" in finding a writerly direction that feels right. 

And I may have to repurpose Erinne's definition, that whims are "temporary bits of brilliance that transpire out of nowhere." I love it. 

See Erinne at Blue Pencil Consult, where you'll find information about her services for writers, publishers, and businesses. In 2013, she adventured through  The Great Canadian Publishing Tour, investigating the ins and outs of publishing in Canada.

whims + space with Pamella Heikel

Pamella and I talk about how to get quiet and really hear when "whims" come in. And how, maybe "whim" is a word that doesn't quite work for us. In the space between our thoughts, in "the gap," that's when we recognize that receiving is happening. This is where we clear the space to plug in.

For Pam, routine helps. "In routine, there is freedom." And then, angels sang.

Catch up with everything Pamella is up to on her Facebook page. She does face-to-face meditation, qigong, and other soul-centred energy work. Also, a little bird told me that there may be some workshop-length projects on the horizon!

Be sure to watch through and see my visual plug for the best chai in Edmonton—and perhaps, the entire world! 

intuition + action with Kimmy Beach

Kimmy Beach and I jam on where ideas come from, why we should go run with them, and hair in the early '90s (think high ponies and spiral waves).

Kim defines what whims are for her. They aren't something that comes from outside of her, but as something that is known, on the inside. We dig into what it's like to follow those moments of knowing—and what it's like when we don't. Kim refers to the book The Gift of Fear, and how we really do know that something's not quite right. And how we aren't taught how to do that.

Moments to watch for: my "Oprah moment," where I tell Kimmy what she's surely thinking, and then ask her (whoopsie!) (2:45); what Kim is up to next (a novella about a giant puppet—YES!) (3:53), and her best Tony Bennett impression (5:00). 

Kimmy Beach has five books of her own out in the world: Nice Day For Murder, poems involving James Cagney (2001); Alarum Within: Theatre Poems (2003); fake Paul, a sort-of love poem to Paul McCartney and his impersonator (2005); In Cars, where roller skating meets muscle cars, and so much more (2007); and The Last Temptation of Bond, an erotic, adventurous and [ir]/reverent exploration of 007 (2013). Go and check them out. If you don't think that you like poetry, think again.  

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**And, I've moved my office around. The painting behind me is by Ira Hoffecker, and cheers me to no end.