My Beautiful Stories

Today’s beautiful story comes from Raquel. It’s a beautiful ode to our mother, the Earth. It’s also a beautiful story to close series 4 of the podcast. We have seen in this series the most unusual objects. We have listened to stories of deep sorrow, of death but mostly of love along the way and this is what I would like us to take away from this series: the deep love that we inspire in other people. The potential that love has if shared with others. The colourful, warm and gentle trace we can...

SHOW NOTES: THE STORY – CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: Today’s story is the WINNER of our Christmas Ornament competition, which ran over on Instagram last week. We are excited to announce that after long debating, as we were overwhelmed by the quantity as well as quality of the stories we received, we have reached a decision. THE WINNER of the Christmas ornament competition is Caylee, who sent a story of a handmade cross-stitch ornament. The runner up is Nicole Coonradt. We will think of how we can shar...

'I can hold the brooch in my palms. I can carry on her legacy and lessons – the way she took care of the old garden; how to treat plants and people. I can remember her relentless resilience, and the way she took care of all of us.’ (Anett Teresia) SHOW NOTES:The STORY Anette sent, about her Grandma’s words, reads like a meditation, for an object, but also a person, that remained elusive to her for a long while and is still elusive, or rather mysterious in the story today. Written like a...

‘I really appreciate how my pen can make sense of my thoughts. Muddled midnight ramblings become coherent sentences with clearer direction once I touch my pen to paper. But it has to be this pen, the one that perfectly fits in the bump of my finger… the one that has my name, as it was when I was 10 years old, engraved on the end of it. The pen that holds a lifetime of dreams, and will play such an important role in manifesting those to come.’ (Tammy) SHOW NOTES: STORY: Today’s episode tells ...

'The train slowed down and the man told me this was his stop. I got up and we hugged goodbye. For the rest of the ride I held on to the roses as I let go of my numbness. ' Therese Bagshaw SHOW NOTES:Today's story is shared by Therese Bagshaw. You can visit her beautiful writing here. This is a unique tale of hope and surprise. Therese also shared a story for series 3 of the podcast (STORIES OF 2020). You can listen to that story here. In our discussion, we wonder at Therese's ability to...

'As a child, I heard about the tall rock my grandmother used to live on, at the edge of the sea. I heard of the waves, crashing onto the shore, of their unmistakable sound, of the salt in the nostrils and the grilled fish for supper. ' SHOW NOTES: EPISODE 2 of series 4 - The Series of Things. STORY: Today's story tells of the few scarcity of belongings kept by my migrant grandparents. DISCUSSION: We ask what else migrants leave behind, apart from country, culture and sometimes family. Ou...

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: The last episode of series 3, which told Stories of 2020, comes from Vicky, Caylee and Therese. DISCUSSION: The episode centres on the power of memories. We speak of the narrative communion we felt whilst narrating other people’s memories and being thus made part of someone else’s life and perspective, particularly in times when meeting people was so much less possible. This is the series we both most enjoyed producing and we leave it with a heavy heart. It is the s...

‘and while she bends down to sit at the corner of fall and winter her worries settle down with her as they shake and shake until the very last brown leaf drops.’ (@komorebi.koyama) Today’s story comes in the shape of a poem, shared by Jennifer Koyama. Jennifer is a writer and poet who captures the fragility of the human nature in her writing. DISCUSSION We discuss the relationships between feelings and nature, and question whether this has dramatically changed during the last year. Are we go...

Today's episode, and the last one of 2020, is a little different. It is the result of a month-long collaboration with writer and philosopher Nanhe. Throughout December, Nanhe and I run a Hope project on Instagram. It was extremely heartening to read everyone’s contributions throughout the month. In preparation for it, Nanhe and I wrote letters to each other, thus creating an exchange of feelings and intentions, focusing on hope. Fate had it that while we were writing the letters, I fell...

The podcast is back and this week we introduce a story from Ilze. She tells how her creativity flourished during the first lockdown, and, with lockdown number 2 coming to the UK and many European countries, we thought this would be a timely reminder. Amidst the confusion and uncertainty, Ilze also found joy in creating and expressing herself. The podcast has a different structure, as it incorporates an interview I held with Ilze on my Instagram account. We spoke about the...

'We may all be weathering the same storm, but we are not in the same boat...' 'The real tragedy would be if I allowed myself to become a disbeliever of what I know and hold to be the inherent beauty and greatness of all mankind.' The story we feature today talks about racial discrimination, racial injustice and the power of discriminatory discourses in the time of the pandemic. STORY Today we hear Maddy's own voice, from Abohemian, as she narrates her story. DISCUSSION This episode was not ...

'We could gently get familiar with our new roles as parents and act with intuition.' Our guest on today's episode of the podcast is Katharina Geissler-Evans. In a slightly different format, you will hear Kiki's own voice telling us her story of 2020. With thanks for sharing their beautiful vignettes of life in lockdown with us. DISCUSSION We loved the richness of this episode so much that we recorded close to an hour of discussion. Keeping to our brief format though, we are bringing you a suc...