021:Exposing the Cracks that the Light May Come In with Sarah Mastriani-Levi
Simple Change
"My deep emotional struggle has been a secret, hidden behind the façade of dependability. I’ve been busy making sadness wrong and I was not sure how to talk about it." Exposing the Cracks that the Light May Come In Hey guys this Sarah Mastriani-Levi and I wanted to take a few minutes to speak to you from my heart about what's been happening with me, about what's been going on with my podcast and what’s been occurring in my business over the past few months. I usually don't share a lot of personal stuff on this platform. Although, most of you know that I will share personal anecdotes...
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020:Hydration as a Spiritual Act
Simple Change
"Do you realize that by not giving your body enough water, you are telling it to hold onto old cells and that you don't want a new and fresh body." Hydration as a Spiritual Act Hydration seems to be all the talk these days. With apps, bottles and an entire culture around the subject of getting enough pure water. Perhaps you have even heard of the alkalizing benefits of adding lemon or apple cider vinegar to your water. There are some consistent issues that I run into with my clients on the subject, and I thought could help you to understand why using pure water and quality...
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019:Brittney Hiller:Giving Yoga a Laughing Twist
Simple Change
"Bliss lies in the feeling of gratitiude, for others, in giving without expecting anything in return." Brittney Hiller is a wife, massage therapist, yoga teacher, group facilitator, and spiritual creative; in addition to all of that she’s the author of a new children’s book, . She is also one of the most joyful people I know. It turns out that it wasn't always that way. She wasn't always able to celebrate the small victories. She wasn't always able to recognize the "small signs" that were put in front of her to see. Brittney takes us on her journey that has brought her to an...
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018:Martin Lesch:Creating a Legacy of Improvisation and Compassion
Simple Change
Martin Lesch is a husband, musician, songwriter, phenomenal pianist, and teacher, in addition to being fully committed to preserving the art and culture of jazz music. There are a lot of people who love jazz music and kind of idolize the life of the creative artist/ musician, so I feel that his willingness to be open and vulnerable about both the joys and struggles on his path will be extremely insightful. During this conversation we discuss creating, as a legacy of caring about community. We delve into tough subjects like the creative process, addiction, dealing with death...
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017:Natasha Wozniak: Rebuilding a Village-One Brick at a Time
Simple Change
Never miss an episode of weekly inspiration from Simple Change. , or , or listen to an episode . Today's guest, Natasha Wozniak is a an artist, jewelry maker, philanthropist and committed to bringing awareness to what is really going on today in Nepal. Natasha describes an interesting childhood in Wisconsin that was rich with curiosity and music. At a very young age Natasha lost her father and began her process of searching out those who were living lives "with meaning." While looking through a National Geographic magazine, she read a story of a man in Nepal who...
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016:Nick Snapp:Helping Others Get Their Time Back
Simple Change
Never miss an episode of weekly inspiration from Simple Change. , or , or listen to an episode . Today's guest, Nick Snapp is a family man, engineer, coach, speaker and host of the Make It Snappy Productivity Show Podcast in addition to being the productivity specialist and podcaster at Inspire Me Solutions. Nick, being trained as an engineer initially felt that he had to chase the corporate lifestyle. He enjoyed the people in the corporate world, but he always knew that there was something missing. As years progressed, he realized that environment wasn't for him. In...
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015:Deborah Williams:Helping Others Discover their Financial Karma
Simple Change
Deb Williams is an accountant, money coach and podcaster committed to helping others not only identify their money story, but to move through it to a place of prosperity and joy. Deb takes us on a little journey that led her to the move from happiness into joy. She describes growing up in a home with addiction and then marrying an addict/alcoholic. Only in her 30’s did she truly realizing how dysfunctional the situation was for she and her young children. Twelve step work (with Adult Children of Alcoholics) was instrumental in her understanding the madness that she had grown up...
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014:Emily Alexander:Using Art to Find Your Soul Purpose
Simple Change
Emily Alexander is an artist, film maker, mom, daughter and now more than every committed to helping others to do more of what they love. Emily starts her story describing her clear calling to be an artist from a very young age. Although she grew up in what she called "the Conservative South," she describes a huge amount of support from her family and great cultural appreciation. The Arts were nurtured from a young age and an integral part of her upbringing. She, not surprisingly, found herself in art school...followed by film school in New York. After film school she had a job offer...
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013:Marty Crocker: Creating Connection with Radical Generosity
Simple Change
Never miss an episode of weekly inspiration from Simple Change. , or , or listen to an episode . Marty Crocker is the wandering yogi, massage therapist, husband, golf pro, and leading the way with an idea he calls gifitivism.Marty describes how a yoga class in college showed up and derailed a previously presumed future in the corporate world. Yoga led him to develop a consistency in his life. He describes how yoga brought him joy and a desire to share with others, from a place of service. Yoga became his form of meditation and quieting his mind. His practice...
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012:Charles Gupton: Leading Others to Deeper Self-Discovery
Simple Change
Never miss an episode of weekly inspiration from Simple Change. , or , or listen to an episode . Charles Gupton is a photographer, videographer, documenter, producer, husband, partner, and seriously interesting individual to chat with. He will ask questions that will make you think, and challenge you to reconsider some of what you were certain of previously. In his work (at Charles Gupton Productions), he and his wife Linda, strive to create finished products that are in alignment with the deeper value system of each company. If the client has never defined its...
info_outlineEmily Alexander is an artist, film maker, mom, daughter and now more than every committed to helping others to do more of what they love.
Emily starts her story describing her clear calling to be an artist from a very young age. Although she grew up in what she called "the Conservative South," she describes a huge amount of support from her family and great cultural appreciation. The Arts were nurtured from a young age and an integral part of her upbringing. She, not surprisingly, found herself in art school...followed by film school in New York. After film school she had a job offer in Los Angeles that she felt was to great to refuse. Venice Beach, CA was a wonderfully supportive lifestyle. She led a juicy, and vibrant lifestyle as a film maker and she felt very at home. That was, until she encountered a difficult break-up...which led her back to North Carolina.
Upon her return to North Carolina, she found herself quickly falling back into familial roles and found it difficult to accomplish her initial plan of taking a break at home and then returning to California. She decided to study to be a Massage Therapist and stay close to the home front. Her practice as a massage therapist continued for several years...as she was not only married, but also had a daughter. She said that in spite of her decisions regarding how to make her massage practice resonate with her personal style, she still felt empty. She was making great money, but on some level she felt that she had "sold out on her dream" to be an artist for the security she wanted to provide for her husband and daughter.
Not long after coming to that realization tragedy struck from several angles. She surprisingly lost her mother from a brain aneurysm...followed by losing her daughter's best friend in a drowning incident. The grief caused Emily to spiral into a deep depression that she was unable to pull herself out of, even with medical intervention.
Emily shows great honesty and vulnerability as she describes the intensity of her personal struggle. She really opens up and allows us to comprehend the mental thought process that led her to checking herself into a mental institution. As a last resort, to help her, she and her doctors decided it would be best for her to go through electroshock therapy. She outlines her trepidation and her grand relief to see that this was in fact a very helpful method/treatment for her. Emily tells a story of finding a box of broken crayons in the ward that re-opened her eyes to exciting and healing art can be to everyone, but especially to those suffering with depression. From that moment she realized that she needed to do whatever was possible to bring art supplies to psychiatric wards everywhere. She used her personal struggle as a launch pad for helping others.
She’s doing a lot within her community with her own art work, and helping others to learn about how art can help them find their souls and purpose in life.
One simple change that Emily recommends is: Emily describes a priority/value shift wherein she stopped the process of coveting things...that were just objects...and rather using extra funds to towards meaningful experiences, whether they be solo or shared with others.
To learn more about Emily Alexander and how you can contribute to her vision of bringing art supplies to those suffering with mental illness, please contact her via email [email protected].
Sources Mentioned in the Podcast
Charles and Linda Gupton's "One of a Million Project" featuring Emily
David Foster Wallace- Burning Building Analogy
Connect and Follow Emily
*Disclaimer-Neither Sarah Mastriani-Levi, nor anyone associated with Mannafest Living either endorse/support or discredit any medical decisions regarding treatments or methods described here. This episode is shared solely to enable to Emily to share her experiences as a process to rediscovering her life calling/vision.
Simple Change Theme Music by Hani’el Mastriani-Levi
Simple Change Logo by Eden Mastriani-Levi
This episode was edited by Mannafest Living