132. Finding Inspiration

These are tryin’ times and we’ve gotta stay inspired! Join us for a short and sweet chat about what has been inspiring us lately and how we’re still finding the good in humanity <3 

A couple hot tips from Sue Ellen and Savanna were to read out Niall Williams book the Time of the Child for a feel good story or to go watch Project Hail Mary. 

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Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and leave us some stars over on Spotify. You can email us at littlegiftspodcast@gmail.com or find us on isntagram @littlegiftspodcast. 

Find Sue Ellens artwork at www.sueellenparkinson.com or connect with her on instagram @sue.ellen.parkinson. And the same goes for Savanna! Find more about her practice at www.savannawonderwheel.com or connect on instagram @savannabeing. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

And that's so fun to think about it from that perspective too, of being like, I'm I'm honoring, I'm giving thanks by experiencing joy. This isn't a selfish act, this isn't a nothing act, this isn't just like a fru-frou thing, this is actually an offering.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome to the Little Gifts Podcast. This is Sue Ellen Parkinson. And I'm her granddaughter, Savannah Wonderwheel. And we're on a journey together to find deeper meaning and magic in the day-to-day. We're so happy to have you join us. Hi, grandma.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

We did it.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Hi, Savannah.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Oh, we were just saying how tired we both are.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

You know, I feel like sometimes I'm like a broken record with that, but that's okay. I'm just gonna keep saying it.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

I am like, it's the story of my life. It's like I pack in so much stuff. I mean, I just got and I don't think everybody has that insanity. It seems like I'm just perpetually busy. And I know other people, I think it's I think there's something wrong with me, but I think your mom got it from me. And I think you got it from your mom. And it's like a family thing, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

It's so funny. I was just talking to a friend about this where she was asking about my mom, and I was telling her all the things she's doing. And and before that, we were talking about what I'd been up to and all the things I'm doing. And she said, Yeah, I just don't know how you have the energy for that. She said to me, and then I was talking about my mom, and she was like, Oh my god, I don't know how your mom has the energy for that. How does she do it? And I was just like, I hadn't really thought about that. You know, you have these aha's as you get a little older into your 30s of the ways where you're like, Oh my god, I'm turning into my mother. And it's one of those things that I hadn't really realized that was a trait of hers that I had been have been also replicating. And then so it's interesting to hear you say that too, and add that little extra puzzle piece into the mix.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, and I'm embarrassed to say I think it started with me. I don't think my mom had this insanity. But I might have I might have it from having my mother die so young. Just having that awareness, like, oh, I want to do all this stuff, and just knowing you never really know when you're gonna go. So, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Anyway, that's interesting. That's really, I feel like given me some something to chew on. Cause you know, there's all the different familial lineages, lineage things that we could pick apart and get into, and you know, all the stuff. But this is one that I have yet to really observe, really, from uh inherited trait kind of thing. So this will be good for me. You're giving me some more stuff to talk about in therapy.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Yeah, well, and uh yes, I just forgot what I was gonna say. Oh, I know what I was gonna say, but we get a lot done, we accomplish a lot. I mean, I know I accomplish a shitload of stuff. That is true, so there's that too.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

And it's a lot of stuff that is just for our own pleasure and joy. It's it's there's a lot of accomplishment that happens outside of the constant, like at least for me, it feels like, you know, I do work a lot and I know you work really hard, and I know my mom works really hard, but it feels like we're not just accomplishing things that are in the capitalistic structure of you have to accomplish these things for money or progressment or to get to the next level. It's just doing things out of the sake of feeling this call to do them because we feel like they're gonna inspire us or fulfill us or give us some kind of joy.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Joy. Yeah, joy, pleasure. Well, which leads us around to, you know, you we said this is like everything is last minute, folks. So sorry, this is not a planned thing, but you said, let's talk about what's inspiring us. We said, okay. And what I was thinking of was what I feel hopeful about and inspired about is when I when I think about myself and my focus these days. I know for years I had this focus on healing, not just myself, but healing, you know, woman womankind. What could I do to help facilitate that? And and this all also this idea of reclaiming who all the pieces of who we really are, right? So now I notice there's definitely been a transitional shift in the way my thinking is right now, what my focus is more on how can we practice joy and celebration as like a spirit spiritual, I recognize it as a spiritual practice. And I think that's the other piece too. I want to get in this joyful stuff too. I want to go to the river, jump in the river. I want to, you know, do all the things that those other things. And I feel like that is actually a deep spiritual calling, that stuff that has nothing on the surface to do with any kind of quote unquote spiritual practice or healing, but I think it's a result of having actually healed quite a bit. It just the recognition of then you realize, oh yeah, and I have this precious life. It's a form of gratitude, it's an expression of gratitude. I'm gonna celebrate, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like there can be this cycle of like when you start to do different forms of self-inquiry, when you start to do different forms of, you know, self-work and wanting to heal something and really find closure around something, that there can be this period of like really getting dragged into like the depths and getting into the muck, and it's can be easy to like get kind of stuck in that shadowy place. And then there, at least for me and what I've observed with other people too, and it sounds like what you're saying, also is like then there's this kind of flip that happens at a certain point where it's like for me to actually like feel heal healed, I need to go do the things that feel good. Like I can't be in the muck forever. Like it's good to go visit it and go into the depth sometimes, but like we gotta get out of that. And like, you know, some of the what I feel like or some of the most like spiritually tapped in people are so joyful and they have this like really lighthearted way about them, and they have this lightness to them that doesn't at all mean that they can't be serious and hold the heavy stuff, but they're able to like just as much hold the light stuff and the joyful stuff and tap into that side of things and how important that is really as a part of your self-work to be able to go and play and have fun.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

It's it's huge. I I think I had some quote in my so what is it? Something is the best revenge.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

You know what I'm talking about? I feel like I've seen so many memes about that. It's like anything could be the best revenge.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah, no, but it's something like maybe it's just happiness is the best revenge or something. Totally. Yeah, anyway. Okay, so that there's that, and that is inspiring to me because that shows me that well, that there's been an evolution in my that this work has taken me somewhere and literally taken me to this place of honoring joy, which is which is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

And that's so fun to think about it from that perspective too, of being like, I'm I'm honoring, I'm giving, I'm giving thanks by experiencing joy. This isn't a selfish act, this isn't a nothing act, this isn't just like a fru-fru thing, this is actually an offering.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Well, it's a sign of aliveness because you're actually feeling alive and not oppressed and suppressed and just makes makes a big difference. And then the other thing that was really inspiring to me recently is that I read this book that I just loved by Niall Williams called The Time of the Child. I was just talking about it with your mom because your mom read it too. And it's um it's just so heartwarming. It's about this little it starts off kind of slow, but it's about this little village in in Ireland and the people in it, and it just it shows you the kind of surface side and perception of people and then the deeper side of people, and it's very heartwarming. It's just a wonderful, wonderful book. And I'm so grateful for all the writers that have told a story that lift us up. Oh my god. I wish there were more of those writers out there.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah, I just watched this movie, Project Hail Mary, that was very popular and was getting all this acclaim and everything. It came out, I don't know, maybe six months ago or so. A Ryan Gosling blockbuster movie. But I was, for whatever reason, had gotten in my head that I wasn't gonna go watch it in the movie theater. And I was like, I don't know. I've seen there's so many space movies and so many Ryan, how many times do I need to see Ryan Gosling in space, you know? At least a couple already, but I ended up watching it. My boyfriend convinced me to watch it with him, and I loved it so much. It was just so fun and so sweet, and just the story of friendship and adventure and bravery, and it was just like really, really touching. And I was kind of similarly to you thinking, like, oh my god, this is exactly what we need right now. We just need more of these movies that are gonna make us laugh and cry and feel good and and love our species, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Uh-huh. Sometimes it's kind of you're you're scratching your head about your species, going, What are the human beings doing? you know. Yeah. But then if you can see this other sweet side, it's really wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

And it is there, so yeah, I got to see that a little bit this weekend. My boyfriend, his family has been doing, they call it the Ledou friends and family campout. But for the last, I think they were saying it's been going on for like 30 years now or so. His uncle, about 30 years ago, just started renting these giant group campsites. And he started them kind of as like he called a middle earth gatherings, or he would do like a summer solstice gathering, and it was a put out to the friends and family and stuff. But he would just put an ad out in the newspaper back then of come one, come all, everybody's welcome. Come to this campsite on this weekend, and you can just come and be with people and we'll, you know, tell stories and sit around the fire and do the thing. So there's people who now have been coming to this who are there this weekend that I've met a few times now after going to this for a few years, who became basically members of the family because they just saw an ad in a newspaper and showed up and now have been going every weekend for the last 25 years, kind of thing. And there's this one family in particular where the mom started going, and then through the course of it, she had two daughters that are now in their mid-20s and have been going their entire lives. They're, you know, not related to anybody technically, but it's, you know, they're absolutely part of the family. One of those girls found her dog who she's had for like seven years now. She found at one of the camp outs it was just this wild stray dog that wandered through. And it's just like so sweet to see all these little strays that have just wandered into this tradition. And now are the people who've been coming forever like, oh yeah, I would never miss this. This is always on my calendar. Nothing else ever gets in the way. Like, I'm there every year. And then different families will kind of cycle in and out. But one thing that was really sweet this year that I just haven't seen much. I'm not around kids very often. And there's one family there. They're like a family of seven, so tons of kids. And then there was a couple other little kids. There was just like a bunch of these little boys that were showing up. So at one point there was this pack, this roaming band of probably 10 boys from the age of, I'd say like maybe nine, eight or nine to like 13 or so. And it was just so cute seeing them out in the woods just playing. And there's no cell service, there's no Wi-Fi, there's no reception. It's totally just out in the middle of nowhere. And there's something about that, like watching kids like revert back to doing the stuff that you used to do in a way that you don't see as often now because of all the technology, or that I don't see as often just because I'm not around kids. I don't know either which one of those it is. But it was just so funny to watch this pack of kids just running around, playing in the creek, building the little dams, and then going and like finding the best stick they could find, and then watching. And we were talking about this at one point, how all these kids were just so entranced by the fire every night. And just that feeling like I remember being a kid being around the campfire and just being like, This is the only place I ever want to be, is watching this fire and putting stuff in the fire and poking the fire. And yeah, it was just really fun to see that, you know, childlike wonder out in the woods. And I feel like that was gave me a little spark of inspiration of like, okay, everybody likes to worry about the kids these days, and kids can still play, they're fine, they're all good, you know, like it was just really sweet. I know Dash likes to do all that stuff, so it was cool to see too, you know, often big groups of kids, it'll seem like one's maybe getting like a little picked on or one will be left out or something, but it really did seem like they were all just getting along super well and were all able to find their rhythm. And it wasn't there wasn't bickering or fighting happening. It just seemed like very useful in a way that also kind of like you were saying, sometimes it's good to be reminded that our the little animals that are humans actually can get along. And you're like, Oh, it's possible. A whole group of children can get along and just have fun and not fight, and there doesn't have to be a meltdown and a whole group of adults same. Yes, also that.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Well, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Yeah, they've been doing this for like 30. Yeah, they've been doing it for like 30 years.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

That's awesome. It's like our solstice bash.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

I know. So just these little things that like remind us. I guess that's the inspiration to me, is the things that remind us of our humanity right now. I think it's so easy when we're seeing all this stuff that's like feels like it goes so against our humanity to have things remind you that it's not everybody, and that there are still people that care about humanity.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

So I just looked over on my bed, and Sophie has uh she's figured out how to get back up here now. Your little dog, yes, and she had nuzzled and wormed herself under the covers. Uh-oh. Not only on my bed, but she's in the bed. Keith. She likes to be under something. She likes the the cave feeling. That's relatable. Yeah, she likes to be in a little cave. Anywho, I am so so sleepy.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah, we can keep it short and sweet this week. Just a little, just a little inspo.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah, just a little inspo. And we love you people. I I wish we had I wish we could have a call-in show, and so people could call and and talk with us about such things when we have a topic.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Maybe one day, maybe one day we'll hold that as the vision. Have a little call-in show one day. Would be fun. That would be awesome. Do you do you have a little gift? Yeah, I mean, I guess my little gift was gonna be the friend and family camp out that I was just talking about because it's just so sweet to see something like that happen. But I guess my gift within that will be one of the women who was there. Her name's Corey. And she and I, you know, have chat. She's been there the last two times that I've been there too. She's one of these people that saw it in the newspaper 20 years ago and has been going ever since. But she and I have chatted and kind of connected, and she sent me a message over Instagram a few days before the camp out and was like, Hey, I know, you know, I see you do somatic stuff and movement, and you seem like you're into all this stuff that I'm into. And she works at a nonprofit here in the city that helps connect people with human resources and services, and she holds meditation groups for them and does like group therapy work with them. And so she was like, she said that Saturday, this last Saturday, was International Compassion Day, World Compassion Day, which I thought was just a sweet thing to for that to exist. And she was like, I'd love to host just a small thing for Compassion Day. And so she had me lead some people in some gentle movement and a little stretching and somatic movement, and then she led us all in a little guided meditation, and it was just so sweet. She brought everybody, she made these little watercolors for everybody with just like a word on it, and then put a little stone in with them and wrote the things that the stone is supposed to help anchor you with, and let everybody pick a bag. And it was just such a cute thing to see somebody do, and like to put the time into making these kits for everybody, and just like just because she was moved by the idea that there's a world compassion day, and I was just like, Man, this is we need we need people to follow those impulses because they're really they're really special, and you know, it was clear she was like, Oh, I don't know, it's nothing. Like she wasn't wanting to like talk it up or anything, but I was like, it's really good. I love that you did that. It was really, really special. So that'll be my little gift within the other gift.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yeah, we need we need a a weekly compassion day, would probably be really helpful. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So my little gift, the only that it's not the only, like I've got so many little gifts, but the thing that's really on my mind right now is I we just went to see a play in town, you know, a little community play. And um, on the way out, I was just at a certain angle in the car to see the backside of my studio. And we had had a big earthquake here about a month ago, and it was interesting that the four by four, that this the corner of the four by four had like jumped four inches. Oh wow. It's still on a um, whatever you call it, those cement things. It's still on a cementness, but it's definitely off the place it's supposed to be. Oh, geez. So um that was, you know, the gift is is that it didn't go all the way and the whole side didn't come down or something. Yeah, seriously. Yeah, we had lots of little gifts in that earthquake. It didn't, you know, there were it definitely you could tell it was a big shake. I wasn't here, I was up in Oregon, but it but seemed like the angels were around protecting things.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

So yeah, it was really interesting hearing everybody's stories about the earthquake in town and what had moved and what hadn't and how it got their attention or what their experiences of it were.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

It was really interesting. Yeah, it was a shake up for sure. Anyway, next week we're gonna have more time.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Yes, next week we hope we'll have more time and we'll have more awakeners and we'll have more more to say.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

And more to say. And in the meantime, just know we love you little gifters.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

It's really true. We really do. We talk about you guys quite often, even though we don't know who all of you are. We talk about you a lot.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

You're you're our invisible friends.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

It's really true. I know it's always funny to me. Like I'll get these pairs, you the parasocial relationships we get, right? Where you listen to people talk all the time. So you start to feel like you have this relationship with them. And, you know, I love podcasts and audiobooks and all the things. So I'll I definitely have my parasocial relationships with the podcast friends that I listen to. And now that I'm on the other side of it, you know, I've had people tell me before where they're like, oh, I hope it's for it's not weird for me to say that like I listen and I like love you and I are like I love listening to you and that I like really feel like I know you and all this stuff. Like, is that weird? And honestly, it isn't because I'm like, I feel like we talk even if we don't if I don't know you exactly. I'm like, I feel like I love you too. And I we talk about you guys all the time. And so if you have your parasocial relationship with us, don't worry. We are also on in it with you too.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Oh, well, um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So we'll be back next week. We'll be back next week. All right, I love you, Grandma. Love you too, Savannah. And we love you, little gifters. If you're a lover of the Little Gifts podcast, please share that love with the world. Leave us a review or give us some stars wherever you listen to your podcasts, and while you're at it, you could send this episode to someone in your life that you know could use some TLC. Word of mouth recommendations are the best marketing a podcast could ask for, and every recommendation means the world to us. To keep in touch, you can find us on Substack or Instagram at LittleGifts Podcast, and we host a monthly community care circle on the last Sunday of every month that can be found through our Substack. You can also send us an email at littlegiftspodcast at gmail.com, and as always, all of this info and more can be found in the show notes. And we want to give a special thanks to Robin O'Brien for gifting us her music to use for this show. Thanks for being on this journey with us.