Reclaiming Our Potent Becoming Pt1: Fertility, Donor Conceived Awareness + Identity | Meg Thomas

"Look down at your body
whisper
there is no home like you"
 - thank you
 
Rupi Kaur
the sun and her flowers 
 
🌴What would it be like to remember and honor your freest, most uninhibited self? Could reconnection with your ancestral guidance (what I call The Ancient Calm) bring you to your most creative, expressive you?

Today's Tiny Astonishment finds KJ musing on two accessible practices that help her remember her creativity, just in time to honor May,  the month of Mental Health Awareness and AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Heritage. 

🌴Also: Join KJ in remembering, resetting, and recovering creativity in Bali! Grab your spot now, only two rooms remain for September's Session, and December already has a nearly full waitlist!
 
Episode Mentions:

-  The Sun,  Mary Oliver, from Devotions
 -  Evensong excerpt, Kathryn Le Grice from Song Of Ojai
 - Original Instructions,  Asha Frost from You Are The Medicine  

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia to nourish and recover your creative voice.  Next Retreats:  February 12 - 18, 2024  (3 spots left!) and  May 7 - 12 2024 (only ONE (1!!) spot left unclaimed and they are filling  up quickly)
• IG:  @_KJCreates_
• Web: Bliss Begins Within  
• Book a FREE Hello Call
• Ep 83 Background Music: Composed & Performed by KJ Nasrul 
• SOAL Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Please rate and review this podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well >>> https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

Welcome back to the second part of an extremely vulnerable conversation in which Meghan "Meg" Thomas - podcast hostess, and breathwork teacher - talks to KJ about the discovery that she is donor-conceived. She opens up about her journey of reclamation now that she has learned the truth. 

Meg shares what happened once she decided to "Click Connect" after submitting her DNA into 23 and Me, which includes meeting half-siblings. She began leaning into curiosities such as Genetic Mirroring and embracing the potency and impact of unearthing her astonishing story.

Compassionate Considerations

🍃  When in a discovery journey feelings of shame, unworthiness, and insecurity may rise. How do you issue tender care in these moments?

 🍃 Words have power. Their intentionality informs our ability to remain open, transparent, and present. 
 
🍃 To stay in a relationship with people who have hurt us means finding ways of shifting toward forgiveness.
 
🍃 Self Compassion is sitting IN the feelings, not avoiding them.

April 27th is International Donor Conception Awareness Day 

Connect With Meg

• Web: Meghan Thomas 
• Pod: Emotional Expedition 
• IG:   https://www.instagram.com/emotional_expedition/

Connect With KJ & #BlissBeginsRetreats

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and  Lombok, Indonesia to nourish and recover your creative voice.  Next Retreats:   February 12 -18, 2024 (3 spots remain!); May 5 - May 12 (1 room left!) & May 28 - June 3, 2024 (only 3 rooms left!) and  Sept 5 - 12,  2024 (Rooms are  filling  up quickly!)
• IG:  @_kjCreates_  + @blissbeginsretreats 
• Web: Bliss Begins Within  
• Book a FREE Hello Call
• Ep 82 Background Music: Composed & Performed by KJ Nasrul 
• SOAL Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Please rate and review this podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well >>> https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

In this extremely open conversation, Meghan "Meg" Thomas - coach, podcast hostess, and breathwork facilitator - joins KJ on SOAL to share her deeply personal story publicly for the first time. 

Meg and KJ touch on themes of identity, reclamation, and the power of storytelling. Their dialogue serves as a catalyst for further discussions about fertility, adoption, and donor-conceived children. Welcome to the transparent, heartbreaking work of unearthing for reclaiming. 
 
Compassionate Considerations: 

🌱 How do you check back and ensure your intuition is correct?

🌱 In order to feel emotions, you move through them.

🌱 The body always knows the truth; even if our minds are unwilling to see it yet.

🌱 Permission to feel all the emotions including shame, betrayal,  grief, and anger. 

🌱 Ingredients for shame: secrecy, silence & judgment. The antidote is transparency and the willingness to dialogue. 

🌱 Be brave enough at this moment, to take the next action. 

🌱 Self-compassion includes allowing you to uncover your medicine for yourself (which is medicine for The World).

April 27th is International Donor Conception Awareness Day 

Connect With Meg

• Web: https://www.meghanthomas.com
• Pod: https://www.meghanthomas.com/podcast
• IG:  https://www.instagram.com/emotional_expedition/

Connect With KJ & #BlissBeginsRetreats

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia to recover your creative design.  Next Retreats: May 30 - June 5, 2023 (only 1 room left!) and  Sept 23 - Sept 28, 2023 (Limited spots, filling  up quickly!)
• IG:  @_kjCreates_ + @blissbeginsretreats 
• Web: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• Book a free Hello Call:  https://blissbeginswithin.as.me/HelloCall
• Ep 81 Background Music: Composed & Performed by KJ Nasrul 
• Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

Today's new SOAL gallery features artist, writer, and best-selling author (and Dream Guest for KJ)  Elle Luna and luminous Sound Healer and Shamanic Ritual Guide Andrea Tomasi in conversation exploring the intersection of art, breathwork, and the creative spark.

Compassionate Considerations:

🌱 Conscious breath helps us to REMEMBER our Soul Self, our Quintessential Self, The BELOVED

🌱 Conscious Breath can help us create from a place that is not solely in pain and suffering.

🌱 Creativity is the process of building the reconnective bridge where there was suffering and separateness. 

🌱 Creating comes from a place of devotion and service; a desire to create more LOVE

🌱 Self Compassion is in stabilizing ourselves and returning to our innate wisdom.

Connect With Elle and Andrea

Elle Luna

• Web: https://elleluna.art 
• Breathwork Site: https://elleluna.art/the-awakening-breath
• IG: https://instagram.com/elleluna 
• Book: The Crossroads of Should And Must 

Andrea Tomasi

• Website: https://andreatomasimusic.com
• Breathwork Site: https://elleluna.art/the-awakening-breath 
• IG:  https://www.instagram.com/at.tunes/
• Sound Healing Album: Into The Mystery on Spotify 

Connect With KJ & #BlissBeginsRetreats

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia to recover your creative design.  Next Retreat: May 30 - June 5, 2023
• IG:  @MusingsOnOther 
• Web: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• Book a free Hello Call:  https://blissbeginswithin.as.me/HelloCall
• Ep 80 Background Music: Composed & Performed by KJ Nasrul 
• Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

Today's episode features a joy-infused, nervous system-soothing conversation between kindred spirits Brenda Winkle and KJ. The ladies contemplate ways to recover and enhance our intrinsic power: our intuition. 

As a trauma-informed Reiki Master, Brenda helps highly sensitive people, over-achievers, perfectionists, people pleasers, and empaths set boundaries, protect their energy, and heal their nervous systems. She holds a master's degree in Educational Leadership, and a BS in Music Education, and spent 26 years of her career in elementary and choral music classrooms.

She stepped away from full-time teaching and now runs her business full-time but still volunteers on a regional board as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chair. She has been trained as an Advanced ThetaHealing® Meditation Technique Practitioner, and a trauma-informed Breathwork Facilitator.

Compassionate Considerations:
 
🍃 Align your inner and physical selves and chase joy endlessly.

🍃 Uncover authentic purpose by observing unguarded, uninhibited moments.

🍃 Have physical reminders for self-care and self-protection out within your eye line for easy accessibility.

🍃 Preparation is a form of self-compassion and activism.

🍃The Heart Hug technique crosses brain meridians and moves us out of the brain stem, our reptilian [survival] response mode. 

🍃 When we model stepping into our aligned power, we grant permission for future generations to claim theirs.

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Connect With Brenda

•  A Gift: Meditation to Feel Better https://www.brendawinkle.com/feelbetter
• Waves of Joy Podcast 
• Linkedin: Brenda Winkle
• IG: @brendawinkle 
• Facebook: Brenda Winkle Empowerment, LLC
• Website: https://www.brendawinkle.com/ 

Connect With KJ & #BlissBeginsRetreats

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia to recover your creative design.  Next Retreat: May 30 - June 5, 2023
• IG:  @MusingsOnOther 
• Web: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• Book a free Hello Call with KJ:  https://blissbeginswithin.as.me/HelloCall
• Ep 79 Background Music: Composed & Performed by KJ Nasrul 
• Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

This week's episode is less of an interview and more of an intimate chat between KJ and her friend Lilian Wee. 

Moving away from home and relocating to a new place of residence thousands of miles away can be extremely challenging and lonely. Adjusting to a new culture, falling in love, and navigating relationships all in the middle of a world health crisis? This could be the breaking point for some folks, but not for Lilian. 

Leaving her home in Singapore to live and work in Houston, Texas (while in the offshore energy & shipping industry!) became the invitation for Lil (as her friends know her) to step into her resiliency and create a community for other immigrants, nomads, and transplants to connect on themes of finding roots and "home" from wherever they are in the world. 

Compassionate considerations:

⭐ Choose relationships that help you create a sanctuary or home. 

⭐ Asking for support via therapy is a form of self-compassion and advocacy and can be done without shame

⭐ COVID practically force-clarified how people defined home: connectivity, community, safety

⭐ Assess whether you’re embracing or isolating

⭐ Self-care & resiliency practices = committing to time with self in nature, with beloved animals, meditation, breathing and yoga, and a nap! 

⭐ Self-care is intentional and attainable 

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Connect With Lilian
Linktr.ee:  resilient_and_rooted
IG: @heartopenconvers_asians
Pod: Heart Open Convers_asians

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia to recover your creative design.  Next Retreat: May 30 - June 5, 2023
• IG:  @MusingsOnOther 
• Web: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• Book A Hello Call with KJ:  https://blissbeginswithin.as.me/HelloCall
• Receive alerts for upcoming Creativity & Healing Gatherings - Newsletter 
• Episode Background Music: Composed & Performed by KJ Nasrul 
• Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

In the official Season Four Kickoff, Jo Dodd and KJ share stories of their own experiences about how difficult and overwhelming it can be as a woman, let alone a mother, thriving in a working environment that’s rigid, fast-paced, and insensitive.

A mum of four, an author, speaker, and coach, Jo has published three children's books as well as a one-of-a-kind picture book for mums called 'Dear Mama Bear with the F*cked Up Hair.' This book, which tells an authentic, poignant, dark, sometimes humorous story of motherhood, is based on Jo's journey of silently battling depression for over a decade.

Within the past few months, Jo has pivoted her business to focus on perimenopause and menopause awareness.  Jo has launched her own podcast Dear Peri and Meno Pause and is building a community called MenoShine, where she encourages women to learn, laugh and lead their way through midlife while changing the stigma associated with mental health and menopause.

Compassionate Considerations: 

• Do you experience physical symptoms indicating emotional distress?
• Two things you can do to manage overwhelm immediately:
  • Physical space disruption
  • Releasing feelings through tears
• Speaking to ourselves in the present tense signifies embodiment (vs. future or past tense which implies detachment or denial from the current situation)
• People pleasing and martyrdom are actually the cause of physical and emotional sickness
• Are you able to communicate and ask for what you need from your support network?

Connect With Jo 

• Website: https://livinginjotopia.com/ 
• IG: @livinginjotopia 
• Book: Dear Mama Bear With The F*cked Up Hair
• Podcast: Dear Peri & Meno Pause

Please Rate and Review This Podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia to recover your creative blueprint.  Next Session: May 30 - June 5, 2023
• IG:  @MusingsOnOther 
• Web: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• Book A Hello Call with KJ:  https://blissbeginswithin.as.me/HelloCall
• Receive alerts for upcoming Creativity & Healing Gatherings - Newsletter 
• Intro & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

In the Season Four Premiere, KJ checks in with you all on the day she leaves to host her second Bali Creativity Recovery Retreat. After a varied, expansive 2022, this new season greets 2023 already brimming with rich conversations between artists, healers, and visionaries... Welcome back to the  Stories of Astonishing Light!

Compassionate Considerations:

- How long has it been since you've truly dropped in and listened?

- When have you last intentionally let things be? 

Episode Mentions:

Poem by Morgan Harper Nichols from All Along You Were Blooming

Fall in love with the art of living.
Fall in love with letting things be.
Fall in love with listening.
Be still in the sun, where the winds ever-gently blow,
knowing it is here,
in moments like this,
you are living,
and you will grow. 
 
Please Rate and Review This Podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well. https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• Join KJ & Norman in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia to recover your creativity. Next Session: May 30 - June 5, 2023
• Instagram:  @MusingsOnOther 
• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com  
• Book A Hello Call with KJ - https://blissbeginswithin.as.me/HelloCall
• Be notified about upcoming Creativity & Healing Gatherings - Newsletter 
• Intro & Outro music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

In the Season Three Finale,  Mai-kee Tsang and KJ contemplate their efforts in unsubscribing to the culture of urgency. Here is a compassionate conversation between friends who've experienced Othered pressures and seek trauma-informed care for themselves and fellow guides in the wellness space. 

Mai-Kee is a SUSTAINABLE VISIBILITY® Mentor, ICF Certified Trauma-Sensitive Leadership Coach & Podcast Guesting Strategy Trainer. She helps underestimated and underrepresented humans in business take an intersectional and trauma-sensitive approach to visibility, so they can feel safely seen while they grow their businesses.

Compassionate Considerations: 

• Do you exercise agency over who gets to witness your work?
• A Trauma-Sensitive Approach to conversations begins with curiosity and mindfulness
• How might we preserve capacity and integrity as space-holders (coaches, therapists, podcasters, healers, speakers)?

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave a review for this podcast if these stories have astonished you as well.  https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories

Episode Resources

Connect With Mai-Kee 

• Website: www.maikeetsang.com
• IG: www.Instagram.com/maikeetsang
• Converse with Consent Workshop Offer
• Free Gift: www.MaikeeTsang.com/25Experts

>> Ep 75 background music is "Seashell" Composed & performed by KJ Nasrul
>> Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ
 
Want to work with KJ? Only three (3!!!) spaces remain in all of 2022  to work with KJ in an intimate container of replenishment, rediscovery, and release of familial stories so that you can continue healing others.  Creativity VIP Day 

• Website: https://blissbeginswithin.com   
• Work With KJ - Psychology Today 
• IG:  @MusingsOnOther  @AdopteeSociety 
• Recover your creativity in an intimate 1:1 Intensive or Small Group CREATIVITY VIP DAY 
• Join KJ & Norman in lush Bali, Indonesia for a 5-Day Creativity Retreat!
•  Clubhouse @kjnasrul 
•  Facebook & Twitter

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com

After an unexpected and adventurous 6 month hiatus, KJ and her beloved listening gallery The Stories of Astonishing Light Podcast returns today!
 
We're in Ultra Celebration Mode because KJ brings her friend and colleague Lauren Bryson, Certified Nutritional Consultant, back to SOAL to chat about the premiere of Lauren's new podcast Go Play In The Dirt! Listen in as Lauren shares her wealth of knowledge and witness the way these friends jam about the impactful connection between nutrition and mental health. 

Considerations: 

• The impact of nutrition in healing from complex trauma is vast. 
• How might one prepare for a big transitional event (i.e. a move) through the lens of nutritional wealth? 
• What we ingest in our bodies informs how (if?) we healthily respond to stress. 

Want to work with KJ? Only three (3!!!) spaces remain in 2022  to work with KJ in an intimate container of replenishment, rediscovery, and retelling of familial stories. Find out more here >>> Creativity VIP Day Retreats

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave a review for the podcast if the stories shared here have astonished you as well. Let KJ know what you've missed and what you'd like to hear more about!  https://ratethispodcast.com/astonishingstories

Episode Resources  

• Go Play In The Dirt Podcast 
•  Lauren Emerson Wellness 
•  Lauren on Instagram 
•  EWG.org  Environmental Working Group
• Join KJ in an intimate Intensive CREATIVITY VIP DAY 
• Join KJ & Norman in Bali, Indonesia for a 5-Day Creativity Retreat! 
• Ep 74 background music: "Butterfly" Composed & performed by KJ Nasrul
• Intro & Outro Music: Canada Lo Res by Pictures Of The Floating World 

Connect With KJ & Bliss Begins Within 

• The Website Glow Up: https://blissbeginswithin.com   
• Work With KJ - Psychology Today 
• IG:  @MusingsOnOther @AdopteeSociety 
• KJ on Facebook & Twitter

Follow KJ in her worldly adventures, and receive notifications when her next events (Creative Recovery Workshops, Bali Wellness Retreats, and Storyteller Evenings) take place.
- Join The Story Squad and receive Love Notes Here
- Visit here: Bliss Begins Within.com