In a Spiritual Sense KIDS

E9: CONSCIOUS STORIES ft. Andrew Newman

• stacypiagno@gmail.com • Season 1 • Episode 9

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In today’s special episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andrew Newman — award-winning author, storyteller, and founder of Conscious Stories. Andrew brings a calm yet playful energy to his work, and his passion for nurturing meaningful parent-child connection truly shines through. Today we explored the importance of the last 20 minutes of the day and how this sacred time can deeply influence a child’s emotional regulation, sleep quality, and self-confidence. Andrew shared insights from his TEDx talk and his growing library of bedtime stories that are designed to support emotional wellness, attachment, and calm in both homes and classrooms. Whether you're a parent or a teacher, this episode offers powerful tools and fresh inspiration to help the children in your life thrive.


*For privacy and protection, all children mentioned in this episode are referred to using fictional names or general references. I deeply honor the confidentiality of every child and family I work with.

See all episodes LIVE on YouTube: In a Spiritual Sense KIDS!

link:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQBgQnDQn0nXEcmYZqx8VgA


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Meet our Special Guest:

Andrew Newman is the award-winning author and founder of www.ConsciousStories.com, a growing series of bedtime stories purpose-built to support parent-child connection in the last 20 minutes of the day.

Andrew’s TEDx Why the last 20 minutes of the day matter, weaves trauma-informed awareness and attachment bonding into the wonders of storytime, outlining the importance of quality connection before sleep for your child's ability to regulate, rest deeply, and wake up confident.

Andrew is a featured expert on Mindvalley’s Little Humans, and has been opening speaker for Deepak Chopra, keynote speaker at Dr. Becky Bailey’s Conscious Discipline Conference and author-in-residence at the Park Community Charter School in Wisconsin.

He brings a calm yet playful energy to speaking events and workshops, inviting and encouraging the creativity of his audiences, children, parents, and teachers alike.

Visit  www.consciousstories.com and choose an emotions bundle to help your kids with 

1) Fear and Anxiety, 

2) Love and relationships,

3) Self Worth, 

4) Anger and Rebellion


Use coupon: PODCAST to save at checkout 

Contact: Andrew@consciousstories.com

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*Check out our sister channel, In a Spiritual Sense, where we work to bridge the gap between science and spirit! Available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms! 


For those looking to connect further please see my accounts below:

email: info@inaspiritualsense.com
website: inaspiritualsense.com
instagram: @stacypiagno  https://www.instagram.com/stacypiagno/
TikTok: @in_a_spiritual_sense  https://www.tiktok.com/@in_a_spiritual_sense?_t=8nKbtkX8Fu2&_r=1 

SPEAKER_01

Hello and welcome to Init Spiritual Sends Kids, a podcast for parents, teachers, and caregivers seeking to support their children's emotional and energetic development. On the show, we'll blend insights from neuroscience, child psychology, and emotional awareness as we explore natural ways to help kids understand their own energy, stay grounded, and enhance creativity and imagination. Don't forget to check out our Twitter channel in the Spiritual Sense, where we dive a little deeper into the metaphysical, working to build your intuition, connect with spirit guides, the paranormal, energetic healing, and more. Join me at Stacy Piagno, where we work to bridge the gap between science and spirit. Hello, and welcome to End of Spiritual Sins Kids. I'm your host, Stacy Piagno. Today we have a treat for you all. We have our first interview of the season. Today we have with us Andrew Newman, who is the award-winning author and founder of Conscious Stories, which is a line of children's stories that build emotional intelligence. You talk a lot about the relationship between mind and heart. So many beautiful things. Andrew, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_04

Stacey, so good to be here with you.

SPEAKER_01

So, Andrew, I'm so excited to have you on today. First, I wanted to say your books are amazing. My listeners know I'm a first grade teacher, and I know we're going to get into the stories today, but your books are really unique because not only do they have wonderful stories, but they have breathing exercises. There are meditations that are kid friendly, mind you. There's stickers in the back. Correct me if I'm wrong. Do they have affirmations that match the story? Did I notice? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

It's like a little, it's like a little badge of uh I think that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01

And then there's quotes, there's facts, and the illustrations are absolutely beautiful. So I'm very excited to have you on today. We're actually going to start with one of your stories, Andrew. Um, I've got it here behind me. It is The Hug Who Stuck. Would you like to start by sharing this and then we can kind of get into all the details?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I'd love that. I mean, The Hug Who Got Stuck, it's out of 24 books, it's the ones that the kids ask me for the most. There it is, there. Um, I will I will set it up on a screen share so that we can see. Um, and I kind of my question uh to our listeners, if you haven't seen this story, is where are hugs made? And do you know? And the kids have all sorts of answers to this. Um uh let's jump in and see if we can find out uh what's happening there.

SPEAKER_01

That's and if you guys are watching on YouTube, Andrew is going to share our screen and he's actually going to read us the story so you guys can see the visuals there if you're interested in that.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, so you've got uh you've got the book up. There we go. So so story time always starts in in in my version of story time with a snuggle breathing meditation. Um I'd love to invite you to do that with uh with me now. So it's four simple breaths. And uh the first breath is I breathe for me. So breathing in, I breathe for me.

SPEAKER_03

I breathe for you. I breathe for all that surroundings.

SPEAKER_04

Once upon a time, on a very ordinary day, deep in the center of a very ordinary heart, an extraordinary thing happened. Deep in the center of this heart was a hug factory. The hug factory made the most warm, cozy, cuddly hugs. They are so full of love, the love glows brightly, it gets caught on the solar panels. Solar panels fill up the big green battery with love energy, and that love energy powers the light because deep in the center of your heart there are baby hugs growing in a forest of trees uh that is hydroponically drip fed by Stardust, uh Rainbow Light, and that is a basket of warm fuzzy feelings. Um and uh and then when the little hugs are ready, they get picked and they get taken through uh into the encoding room, and we'll see that in a second. They come zooming out over the barcode scanner, uh, past the big sign, and out into the world.

SPEAKER_02

Ta-da!

SPEAKER_04

It's like a lot of good things happening there. Each hug was freshly made and specially encoded with just the right amount of love and care to delight the heart it was made for. Being a hug wasn't always easy. Sometimes a lonely thought or bad feeling would trap a hug in a sticky web. Uh-oh. Nobody loves me, I'm not good enough, who cares? So to help hugs deliver their love and care, there was a big sign on the factory wall. Reminders to being a great hug. Number one, breathe in love to glow brightly. Number two, focus entirely on the heart the love is for. And three, don't pay too much attention to the web of sticky thoughts. On most days, you could see streams of hugs entering and leaving the door of the heart zooming away like bees from a hive. But not on this day. On this day, there was a problem. One special hug on its way out of the heart got stuck. Very, very stuck.

SPEAKER_02

This hug had forgotten the third rule. It fought against the werewolf sticky thoughts to get free, but every wriggle and squirm trapped the hug even more.

SPEAKER_04

Soon the hug ran out of breath and lost its glow. Inside the heart became horribly congested, with crowds of hugs waiting to get out. Unused hugs were put into boxes until every inch of space was filled up. Outside the heart, there was also a problem. A traffic jam of visiting hugs couldn't get in to deliver their special love and care. Uh-oh. Soon the factory stopped making new hugs. There was only one stuck hug in the center of one ordinary heart. But all around the world, hugs lost a little of their glow. It's kinda sad, isn't it? I have been known in the middle of the story to close the book at this point and say the end.

SPEAKER_00

Let everyone down, the world.

SPEAKER_04

And there's this little moment, yes, where we're like, wait, wait, what? No.

SPEAKER_00

Allow everyone to feel the wrath.

SPEAKER_04

Let's see what happens. The hug sighed helplessly. Let's all side together. Ah it stopped wriggling, stopped squirming, and stopped fighting. In that moment, something magical happened. As it stopped wriggling, it breathed in love and glowed brighter. As it stopped squirming, it remembered the heart it was made for. As it stopped fighting, it slipped right past the web of sticky thoughts.

SPEAKER_02

Free Yay!

SPEAKER_04

The hug glowed brighter and brighter, zooming away toward the one special heart it was made for. The hug factory clinked and whirled back to life. A flood of hugs passed in and out of the heart, each delivering their special love and care. It was just one hug who got unstuck in the center of one ordinary heart, and all around the world, an extraordinary softening happened. The end.

SPEAKER_01

Yay!

SPEAKER_04

And the crowd goes, Wow. We do have, of course, your little daily hug meter at the back, which is our activity page for this story, and you get to count. There's a uh family therapist called Virginia Satir who said we need four hugs a day to survive, eight to maintain, and twelve to thrive. Um, and it's it's quite a thing to actually walk around counting your hugs and seeing how you're doing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_04

And if you need more, then you can offer them, and then you get more, and it's like all happens at the same time. And um, there's a there's we did a lot of uh Zoom hugs during COVID when we're all rubbing our hearts, warming up the hug factory and sending our love around the world.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, thank you for sharing. I love this story. You know, it's so important, I think, to teach kids these concepts and and having them in books, I think is so, so special. Um, and these activity pages at the back, that's really something that I think is unique. I would love to hear are are they all meditations or are that you mentioned activities? Is every book a little bit different at the end? What is your your goal with that?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, so it's evolved a little bit over the time. So uh more recently we've had a lot of meters, like you saw with the daily hug meter. Uh it's such a uh a simple doorway for the adult child connection to go, hey, how many hugs have you had? So in the the hairdresser for unicorns, we have a sparkle meter at the back of the book. And um uh because the the the key character is sparkle, and so you can see, are you feeling dull and dreary, tired but twinkly, sort of sparkly, great and glittery, or super duper sparkly. Now we have colouring sheets, you put that on the fridge, and and you get an an instant checkpoint, not only for yourself when you walk past this thing on the fridge, but your kids are like there, and you can go, hey, how are you feeling? And they can just point to something on the wall, right? Um and obviously uh it's it's it's hard to see on the on the screen right now. But yeah, um we've we've had a gratitude spiral. Uh we've had um things on how to make choices. I'm just looking at my pile of books next to me. Yeah, um the little brain people, which is another favorite because it it exploring um these characters of serotonin and dopamine and how they cruise around in the brain. Um what what they're doing there is uh is learning about fight, flight, and freeze. And so, and so at the back of the back of the book, we have a brain balance barometer, right? Which is which has the three different brain states that that I'm interested in, you know, first grade is learning is am I feeling safe in love? Am I having a yucky brain moment? And then can I restore calm? And so there's this little like spiral that we go through. That's what the brain's doing all the time. It's either in one of those states, it's like this is great, or like this really isn't great.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I love that you're bringing attention to the meters. That's I mean, that's something that we use in the teaching world to get kids to help them gauge themselves. And, you know, sometimes we do it with learning, but doing it with our emotions and our feelings, I think is so special. And I think it's something that a lot of teachers and parents are really trying to start building and incorporating because I think it's something that unfortunately, you know, we haven't been as mindful of until more recently. And I so I love that you have these great visuals and gauges. I love that you can also print out the coloring sheets and put them on the fridge. I think that's something really special when you can continue passing by something. Um, and so I think that that's really great. I would love to know, real quick, you've got different, I noticed when you go on your website, you have so much wonderful information there. Your books seem to be broken into different categories. How do you attach, uh, attack that? You know, on the show we talk a lot about you've got your mental body, your emotional body, spiritual body, physical. How do you how are your books broken apart? And do you try to hit all of those different areas?

SPEAKER_04

You know, it's really interesting because the categorization has come after the writing. So I I, in many ways, my writing process is to write what I'm given to write. Uh, for example, the the boy who searched for silence, I'm um, I do a four-day silent meditation retreat. Uh, the story writes itself in five minutes afterwards. Uh and and that that's that's really how we have ended up with 24 books. Is there have been very few moments where I've thought intentionally um this is this is the subject I need to deliver on. Um it doesn't mean I'm not listening to the human situation, right? That's that's that's all all all of these books um touch on something that is that we're all gonna face, right? That boy is looking for silence because he struggles with the noises of everyday life. Every single one of us at some stage in our life is gonna have have that that uh uh dance to to work out, and when we learn that the our deep interior is the place where there is this state of being called silence rather than a um an outer world um experience, then we can return there time and time again. And so you know I'm trusting the the guidance and the unfolding of it, and then and then we've kind of had a look and we've said, well, how do how are these stories meeting uh families? And what are the family needs in different ways and spaces? Um, and at that stage, that's where we've come back and we've looked at the emotions. Um, there's a lot around fear and anxiety that um that we're just we're actually not very good at making friends with fear and anxiety. Yeah, the problem is if we if we make them enemies, then we're at we're at war with ourselves. So um we we want to be able to befriend them but not give them control. Um and uh then anger, anger's a a big subject um for for parents um working out how do we how do we support our kids with uh with that. Um and we're we're about building love and relationships. So that so when we when we look at the the collection through the lens of emotions, we can we can categorize it in a certain way. Uh and we do that in the website for people who like to shop that way. But but then again, when we look at it through um executive function and core skills and learning things like task initiation and I haven't got the list in front of me right now, but it's like there's a huge long list that we could grade our kids against.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_04

But we know the things that they're not so good at. Yeah. Um, those things, those are the ones that they're missing some skills, and they still need to learn those skills. And and that may be true for their entire life, because here I am in my uh as an adult still missing some skills.

SPEAKER_01

That's I was just gonna say, you know, listen, these are not just for kids, these are for us as well. Um, you know, these these concepts are so wonderful, and I think we can all learn from them, even just by reading. I've got three books here and I've I've you know read through them. And I was like, wow, these are great reminders for me. Uh, you know, we talk a lot, we had an episode early on where, you know, we can't help our children until we help ourselves as well. So I think as we're working with our children, as we're breathing and as we're becoming more mindful with how we're feeling and what we're thinking, I think those are great reminders for us to practice. And I love that we can practice them with our kids. You know, something I've noticed at the end of some of your books is they're activities that you do together. Right. And so I would love to kind of get into you talk a lot about creating mindful moments uh between parent and child or teacher and child. And uh I would love to hear a little bit about that. How can we create more mindful moments with our children? What's the impact of that?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, so I mean, here's I I've been learning um about this. I've known about it, but I haven't learned it. Dr. Becky Bailey's work of conscious discipline um really has distilled some of uh these things for me that that on a on a brain level, um for us, we we need eye contact, touch presence in a playful situation. If we want to activate the joy juice, right, which is the serotonin, dopamine imbalance, feeling good about ourselves space. Um and story time uh presents a moment for this. The other thing that story time does, which is which is unique, is often in the parenting or or teaching space, we as adults have rank over the kids, right? We're taller than them and we're in a in a front-to-front environment where we're giving instructions and we're kind of like saying what to do. Um in story, we come side by side, and it it shifts that for us. It's like the best conversations happen on a long car drive somehow, you know, because you're side by side and you're going in the same direction, and and you don't have the antagonism that can come with uh with uh uh front-to-front confrontation confrontational energy that can come into things. Um and so story has us enter in. We we go zooming in and we go on the same adventure together, um, and we have the same victory that the character has. Uh that that particularly when we're when we're when we're younger, we just run that right through our system, right? It's not like it's it's not like the character's over there and I'm over here. There's this like merging that kind of happens. It's like I am the character and I can't do this in the same way that he can't do it. Oh, I can now, and I got my victory. And so all of these moments are actually in the process of building confidence and self-worth for the child, right? Because we all want to be safe, seen, love, welcome, and wanted. And so many times in our life, then we feel unsafe, unseen, unwelcome, unwanted, you know, unloved. And it's like that, and there's there's actually a part of the brain that does that, that uh that that the emotional brain was just goes into when you when you've got a little one in front of you who's gone into that whiny state, because you said no, you can't have a chocolate right now. Um that the brain has essentially started to question whether or not it you're still loved. It's like and it's just going, am I loved, am I loved am I loved, am I loved, am I loved? And it comes out, ah and and so we can't reason with that uh the because the executive brains you know offline at that point. What we can do is we can affirm that you're loved.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Right? So we got to get skillful in our language and our relating and our using touch and using presence, using coming, like including not leaving them alone in that moment, you know, all of those sort of things. We can really we're speaking not to the behavior that's in front of us, but we're speaking to the brain. Because if we can get the brain to come back online into its executive state, and and you you've seen your kids pop out of it, they they pop out of it as fast as they pop into it, and the next thing they're drawing again and they're curious and they're off to do something else. And it's all over, right? It's like and you're sitting there going, Oh my god, what just happened? Um whirlwind. Yes, exactly. Uh yeah, and I I I mean, I know we spiraled around your question. Is there more there for you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's really important too. And when you mentioned, you know, sometimes our kids are acting out, but to to talk to the brain, not the behavior, I think that's really important. And I think that's something that stories allow us to do. Um, it's funny, we recently just had an episode where we talk about the impact of story and how that helps us learn because we're actually feeling and we're creating an experience to go through. And the brain doesn't always know a difference, right? When we're experiencing something uh, you know, in our mind, uh visualizing, or when we're experiencing it in real life, the body feels the same. So I love that we can use stories purposefully to help create these experiences for kids, as you're mentioning, to feel loved and um to be more self aware and to have that body regulation. So I think that's really beautiful. Um Um, now something that you're really big on, and this kind of goes hand in hand with mindfulness, is you talk about the last 20 minutes of the day and the importance of that and creating that relationship. Can you speak a little bit about this?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, this is becoming for me. I mean, I I'm still learning in the space. I have been learning in it for since I did before I did my TED talk on it uh years ago. But uh but coming back to confidence and self-worth, uh so that assuming we woke up in the day fully resourced with with all of ourselves, going through the day, we would take a couple of hits, right? It's it you know, you don't get the chocolate. The the teacher says no, the kid doesn't want to play with you. All of these little little little micro bruises that are happening during the day. Now you get to night and you're about to go to sleep. If you go to sleep carrying those bruising experiences, the brain has to metabolize them, has to work with them, and from a psychological perspective, we start to build our defenses that prepare us and create strategies for the next day. Right? Tomorrow I'm gonna come, I'm not going to show up the way that I showed up today because when I showed up and I was joyful and I was playful, I got told to sit in my seat and be quiet. Um, so uh particularly, these are young brains we're talking about, right? You know, three-year-old is is a is a thousand days old. And the opportunity in those last 20 minutes is to address those bruises before we're going to sleep, so that we're whilst sleeping, the brain doesn't have to do the strategizing work, it can do the resting work and it can do the the replenishing. Uh and and if you can imagine that that uh all of your tough moments from today got kind of parked and completed. Um then when you wake up tomorrow, you get to wake up with that hundred percent full tank again and be like, Oh, I'm still here, let's go. Yeah. Um and and and because you feel like you've navigated, you've actually been on a hero's journey yourself in the in a in that cycle of a day, and and you wake up going, I successfully completed that. So now we've learned those the sort of baseline lessons like I can do hard things. Um, you know, we've learned that the day can get hard and and uh uh repair can happen, um, and I'm going to be okay. Um, and if you think about those of those of us with um self-worth challenges, you know, the the key thing is is a voice that's telling us, I'm not I'm actually I'm not gonna be okay. I can't, I don't think I can do this. Um and it's you know it's too hard. And the those sort of even just saying them out loud, my whole energy has just gone, ooh, yeah. Like you feel the feel the slump of it. But that you know, it's important for us to just keep an eye on this because this is what's this is what the undercurrents are that that that so many of us are facing, and it starts young in our kids. Um, you know, in our adulthood, we we've got more capacity to recognize it. Um uh but even that needs to be sort of practiced and learned.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and you know, it's our job as parents to to guide our children, and and I think that's so special. And also, too, not just for the kids. I always say this, it's for us too. You know, as a teacher, my days are crazy. You know, I get home, there's been so much energy, and I have to make sure that I'm checking in with myself and I'm making sure that I'm clearing my energy and I'm refreshing myself and starting over. And I think being able to do that with our children, and as you said, find those bruises. I love that. You know, it's important for us to be able to teach them what they feel like. Can we find that ickiness inside of us, pull it up, address it, and then work with it and move on? I think that's really special. And your stories give such an opportunity to do that and to talk. Um, I've got one of your stories here. It's the the unicorn who found her magic. This is such a cute one. Um, something that I love at the end. So you've got uh a little meditation for children after the story to meet their unicorn. I think that is so cool. Um, guys, there's like a little visualization. You open your heart, invite in the unicorn, and you practice seeing and visualizing it. First, this reminds me of inviting in like our spirit guide, our higher self, whatever's gonna pop up for the children. I think that's beautiful. And one thing that I think is really important, as from a teacher perspective, is you have a little space here that says, share what you discovered. And it says, tell mom, dad, or a friend, you know, what you saw, what you experienced. And I think that's really important. You know, um, a lot of time on my other show in a spiritual sense, we talk a lot about bridging these sides of our brains. And sometimes when we have a spiritual experience or we have a dream, um, being able to write that down, what happens is we're bringing something of the energetic and we're bringing it into the physical. And it really creates a deep impact to our system and it really helps solidify that experience we went through. And so I think it's really important that in this specific activity, um, you know, we're having the kids connect with something really special to them and then they're able to share it with their parents or a friend or something. And on top of that, it also helps kids find their voice, it helps them explain their thoughts. And so I think that's really special.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, we that that exercise and and also in the um a book called How Diablo Became Spirit, which is a true animal whisperer story, uh, in in many ways what we're developing is intuition. Uh and and this this idea that I mean, I know that kids have uh in in in many cases phenomenal imagination. But I also see when I I travel through schools in the US that the elementary school environment is not a a place that fosters that. Um that it it's uh focused on thinking rather than imagining. Uh and so we the assignments are are quite literal in many ways. Now you can tell from my my collection of stories that was never me, right? Oh yeah. So um uh the the poetic nature of life is something that I think uh has a lot of uh a lot of the there's a lot of um health in it, actually. And and for us to uh uh nurture this connection to our our inner experience and then as you say uh try uh tell someone about it. Um it it it br it it brings it a little bit more into reality. I did want I wanted to catch one area which is this this subject of shared story language.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Because when you've read a story together like we just did with a hug who got stuck, now we can say uh hey, do you have a stuck hug? We can say uh uh what are your sticky thoughts? And um we've made it light. It's not it's not it, I mean, it's deep psychological work to do the doorway of a five-year-old. I mean, it's yeah, but it's exciting.

SPEAKER_01

It's exciting.

SPEAKER_04

It's funny exactly. So we've got the little brain people, oh, are you having a yucky brain moment? And then we do hear this from parents. It's like my daughter jumped in the car after school and she said, I'm having a yucky brain moment. It's like the power that that gives to that moment. Firstly, it it it it it gives the power to the kid to know what's happening for their own inner experience, but it also lets the parent choose um the response. You know, let's just let's get out into jumping jacks, or um uh, you know, can I just sit with you and um do you need a cuddle? Yeah, we can we can choose a response, but it it this is this is similar to those um, you know, having the meters on the fridge, and now you've got shared story language, you're just building these different bridges that we can we can come into their world and understand what their experience is. And that's what helps them uh feel seen and included um uh and and loved.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think that's really important, that shared story language, because also it it in the same breath, you know, it gives kids words to use. It allows them, like you were mentioning, to understand their system and to verbalize that to us. And because it was an experience we shared together, we're both on the same page. And of course, as we said, it's fun. You know, that's a big uh that's a big thing that I support is sometimes, you know, we want to teach kids, you know, XYZ, but we have to find ways to make it fun for them. We want them to use their imagination to be able to visualize these things. And your books are so bright and vibrant, and they really invite children to use their imagination. Um, I have a random question for you. What do you think is the importance of imagination? You can get as deep as you want with this. It's a big question, but I love talking about imagination.

SPEAKER_04

Well, well, you touched on it, you touched on it a little bit ago because um in in some of my adult work, which has become about creativity and self-expression, um the the creative impulse that I have around a book is this little nudge that happens inside me. It's this idea that kind of bubbles in my interior. And the things that are in the interior are in like a dream state, and you can you can redecorate the room with a click of the fingers, right? Everything is very, very fast and very immediate in that space. I want the elephant to be wearing pink shoes, done, right? No, give them a hat. Okay, put them in the jungle, no, put them in the desert. It's just done. And we do I actually, when I'm when I'm in a classroom and we're doing story creation, uh, I'll get the kids to close their eyes and to you know visualize a polar bear and then and then hey, tell me what your polar bear looked like, and then everybody's got a different answer. Uh so so there's a tie here with imagination to the uniqueness of each individual. Um, and there's also this it to me, it happens in a world that is uh visionary, it's developmental, uh as in I'm developing a story inside of myself. Um and uh for for some more than others, we will run scenarios. Sometimes that's our nature, sometimes that's um uh a result of safety and psychological injury. But we're like, let's just assume we're all well, we're still gonna run the scenario, like what's gonna happen to the elephant in the story as I make the story. Now I'm I'm I'm still exploring, still exploring, still exploring. And then there's this process uh creatively where we actually have to then pick up the pen. And it and we've had all of these wonderful swirlings in our imagination, and they get funneled through a very small point on a page, right? And and you can't squeeze the entire landscape of that imagination um uh into and through the pen. It it changes its nature, and then one has to learn that process, and um that's happening all the time. That's what creativity is doing. Um, for those of us who have language around manifesting, that's what manifesting has to do. We have to have a gateway that we can go from this big, expansive, immediate, fast, super speed uh playground um into a much slower, much denser world, which we call Earth, um where we where we endeavor to make what we imagined, what we saw, what we perceived, what we dreamed, uh uh come into the world. And that's an extraordinary thing we're doing.

SPEAKER_01

It so is. You know, I love talking about manifestation, and something that I've noticed is um it's very important in schools for us at a primary age to teach kids what visualizing is and how to do it. I mean, they do it naturally, but for them to understand that, because sometimes what I find is when children are not able to use that imagination, when they're not in spaces where, you know, they're able to think creatively, then when you when we grow up, there's such a connection there between us using our imagination to actually produce our reality, right? There's such a strong connection there. And I find that the children who grow up using their imagination and having time and space to explore that, you know, they it's so much easier as an adult to then understand that our imagination, our thoughts, we're creating a reality. And so the play there is very interesting. And I think it's so important for us to allow our children to be creative and to use that imagination and spend time doing that. You know, I think with technology these days, that's a big topic of discussion. Um, you know, I think kids aren't given the space and and maybe you can speak on this the silence, right? To be able to sit with themselves and develop their imagination. And when we're not allowing that in children, you know, there's such a range, we've talked about it on the show before the age of six when when children really need to be growing those neurons, those neurons, those wires in their brain. And it's such an age where their brain is growing so rapidly. And if they're not able to have space of silence or to have the boredom, we've talked about this recently, and use their imagination and develop that, it kind of is harder to do as an adult. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_04

Well, this well, the the first story that I do on a school visit is a book called The Boy Who Searched for Silence. And and the reason I'm I lead with that is uh coming back to a brain function thing, that if we we're typically all full all the time. It's kind of it's the nature of life that that we get full. Um, and then we have to carve space, and then we have a bit of space, and then we get full, and we carve space. So this is constantly happening. And the story, uh the boy who searched for silence has this, you know. Firstly, when I ask kids who likes silence and what they like about it, I mean, really, it's 99% of the kids in the room. They they they really do like silence. I just want to want to speak to any mythology that my kid doesn't like silence. Sure, the getting off a device that's had you your dopamine tied into a reward and transitioning into boredom and transitioning into doing nothing is hard, but it doesn't mean they don't like silence. It means that they don't know how to handle the transition, um and they need the support to um to do that um that transition, like like most of us, and particularly those of us who are a little bit neurospicy. Um and yeah, so so we have to cultivate that inner space.

SPEAKER_01

I'm curious, what's the activity and or meditation at the end of that book that you're talking about? The boy who the the what was it called?

SPEAKER_04

The boy who searched for silence.

SPEAKER_01

For search for silence. Does that have a good activity to help children with that?

SPEAKER_04

Well, actually, the story does it in this one.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

So so as you go through the story, the boy is he's struggling with the noises of everyday life, so he goes walking, he walks, he looks here, he looks there, but every people are in the noisy and goes to the top of the hill, and and and and then he thinks he's found it, then an airplane flies over, and he's like, ah, damn it, I can't find this thing. And in the story, he gets angry and he gets sad, and then he surrenders and he falls right into silence. And because it's a podcast, I'll keep talking. But yeah, if I was if I was in the room, um and uh uh you know, 250 elementary school kids sitting in silence together and teachers looking at each other going, how does this guy do it? Um but it's an it's an entrainment because I've got the relationship inside of me, and actually we've all got it. So the more you we've been talking a little bit about adult first, it's an important subject. You connect with your inner silence before reading this book, then when you get to these pages, you just sit in it. There are three pages in the with no words on them, and all you do is you just sit and they will come into that silence with you. Uh and and and and it's kind of contagious in a good way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think that's beautiful, and I think surrender is beautiful. Actually, in the story that you just read um about the hug, again, right? We get stuck in the entanglement of our mind, and then once we surrender, we realize hold on, I'm the one holding myself back. It's the web, right?

SPEAKER_04

It's it's me.

SPEAKER_01

So I love that. I think that's so important and very special.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it's always you just said that so well. And I'm like, I want to listen to your experience of my stories because as a first grade teacher, yeah, like what are the kids doing? We've got it's interesting. There's a the the newest book in the collection is a book called The Missing Angels. And again, as I said, I write what I write what what what I'm given to write, and it's part of my part of my imagination and my spiritual connection. And uh I've had I've had parents asking me for a long time, hey, have you got a story about death? Um because I it's a huge subject, obviously. And at different whether it's the goldfish or you've lost a parent, I mean that that the experience is um is hard. And I still thought I was going to at some stage. I thought I was going to. What I didn't realize is actually I'd already written it. And and this it was fascinating because the story, the the the the missing angels, this uh boy is who who hangs out with his friends in the angel club. They he's a little bit older, so he's turned seven, and he can't see the angels anymore. And his friends who are younger uh are able to help him um learn a new way to make the connection. And at the end of it, he says, it's gonna be okay. Um, I can't see them, but I can feel them. The angels are always here. And uh, I mean, even I just need a moment saying that out loud because it runs through my system so deeply that it's such a tender aspect of development when the imaginary worlds dissolve and the and and the spiritual connection piece that comes with that. The um and this is what happens developmentally six or seven years old, um uh that things change. And so this story is about loss and it's about continuity of spiritual connection, which is um important for the health of our kids. Um and we read the story for the first time. I develop it fully. I've I've I've done the art, I haven't proofread it with with a bunch of five-year-olds. Um, and we read it for the first time with a classroom of kids, and this kid puts his hand up and says, uh, this reminds me of my grandfather who died last year. I can't see him, but I can still feel him.

SPEAKER_01

Ugh, I love that.

SPEAKER_04

It's like, oh my God. I'm like, wow.

SPEAKER_01

The impact. I, you know, I love, well, I love talking about the spirit world and and the combination between that and the physical. And I think it's important that, you know, we can still feel our families and our and these these beautiful spirits around us. I think, I think death is so misunderstood for everyone, not just children. I know children are children are probably closer to it than us. Um, but you know, I don't think it's something negative. I think it's beautiful that you're creating this story. I'm so excited for it to come out because I I think that there's a misunderstanding and we need to know that we're always supported. Just because we can't see something doesn't mean that that love isn't still there. That's amazing that that you had um one of one of the children say that and really feel it. Because I feel like kids are so connected, you know. It's it's so we can learn a lot from them as well.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's why I like being in the class.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um, so Andrew, how did this all start with for you? What brought you into this world of creating these books?

SPEAKER_04

Look, the journey came out of the 30-second version of my life is I left the fourth generation family jewelry business in South Africa. Okay. Late 20s, and went, who the hell am I now? Um, right. And and uh uh tripped over Reiki that I'd never heard of. And next thing I was I was in the deep end of the swimming pool doing uh energy healing training and and learning about developmental traumas and and adult injuries and how to support adults uh find their way back to themselves. And in the process of the learning, I got reconnected to my creativity that actually I didn't know I had.

SPEAKER_03

Um

SPEAKER_04

And so stories, um uh the the very first story, which is called A Little Light, um uh and that's really me. Um, you know.

SPEAKER_01

I love this.

SPEAKER_04

It was just a poem, and I I was sitting, I was sitting on a hill and and I wrote a poem and I was like, oh, it needs some pictures. And um and by that stage I had healed my what what Brene Brown would call creativity scars. I I had healed my creativity scarring enough just to follow it and go, oh, I had the idea it needs some pictures, oh I've got a friend who can do some pictures, oh let's make a book. Um and I mean I really don't underestimate what that takes for the for the for the um the child who didn't get seen, loved, and welcomed, right? That that's really it's really extremely hard and extremely important that they that they do that. Um and yeah, the first the first four books kind of were experiences like that over about four years. That that took a long time. So I I still I still protected the first book. I didn't tell anyone I'd done it. Um and I I needed to do that. Sometimes that's what's needed. If again, if the world has not received you and your your ideas very well, then why on earth would you share them?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So I had to hold on to that a little bit, and uh and then at a point, uh really when that boy who searched for silence came through, because that was the fifth book, we had had the uh the bee who could not choose a flower, the fish who searched for water. Uh when I first wrote it, the fish who nearly drowned in his search for water. Very dramatic. Oh yeah, uh the tree of goodness, and um, and at that point, it was like I had a uh a passage of life where I was like, hey, what are these? What's my what's my healership in the world? I've I've I've I've finished my trainings, I've I'm years into working with adult clients. What it but really, what is my what am I here to do? What is my purpose? And and it it has always frustrated me. I feel a bit a bit maddened by the fact that the system seems to be uh we wake up full of innocence and essence, um, which then gets shaped in ways that are not to our highest good, that we then need to unlearn so that we can get shaped again in ways that are hopefully closer to our highest good. And I'm like, I'm sure, I'm sure there's a divine plan, but sometimes I'm like, I couldn't couldn't we just have had a straight run at this thing being easy for. That would be too easy.

SPEAKER_01

I know that's not what life's about.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, that's that's you know, a lot of times some our greatest pain turns into our greatest gift. I I know that's that is said a lot, but I really believe that. I think it's so true, and I think it's beautiful that you've been able to transmute all of your life into this this beautiful gift for children and for our future. Uh, you mentioned speaking at schools. Um how does that work? So you live in South Africa, is that correct?

SPEAKER_04

And No, I'm I'm actually in recently moved to Scotland.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

My my I'm in a spiritual eco-village called Findhorn up in the north of Scotland. Um, and it's just a place where I have good ground for my my work and my writing. Um but uh I try to set up tours, and and and what can happen is one school will become an anchor. Um my favorite is to be author in a residence at a school for for a full week rather than rather than just being the talent who comes in for a 30-minute assembly. Um now, obviously, I can't fly in for a 30-minute assembly, but once I've got an anchor school that says, hey, you come to our area and do this, um, then we can go looking um at schools around. And then there's also a way that uh quite often we find that the it's the the private schools that have the funding that can afford the experience, um, then opens the door that we can also go and do library readings and and and things in community at the same time. Uh and and one of the you were talking about this in this world of imagination. So we've got a a little write your own kids' book book, right? Which is really just the hero's journey. It's like page one, meet your hero, what are they doing? Page two, uh, you know, uh uh where are they going? Page three, get them into trouble, page four, get them out of trouble, page five, happily ever after. Now, and then and then you could, you know, you can fill in the bit of the about the author and about the back of the the the the story. And so it's really um i i you know I use this for adults who are learning to or want to write their own kids' book. I'm like, yeah, start with this little little booklet and write it out there. So that needs a little bit more classroom time. That's one of the things. And and then we can work also into the older age groups. Um uh third, fourth, fifths can can can have have great uh uh fun with that. So it's amazing getting to the end of a week and then doing a little a little uh parent gathering and putting all the books out and everybody seeing, wow, the whole and and kids, kids again we come to that identity piece. There's something that I didn't know I would be doing, but I am doing is is kids coming away inspired, going, I want to, I want to be an author.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_04

Um, which is you know, that's kind of sweet. It's like the same way. I want to have silence, Andrew showed me silence. I want to be an author, I want to like, and this is uh this is really what we're doing, you know. Uh we're actually passing to our kids inspiration um to shape how they show up. And you know, if you you could pass them the inspiration of anxiety, you're anxious. I inspire you to be anxious. Oh, yeah. You know, oh you're you're relaxed. Oh, you I inspire you to be relaxed just by being relaxed. And so we come back to this adult first space where it's like truly they're just watching and copying us. That's all they're really doing.

SPEAKER_00

Aren't they? Aren't they though?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and then um that's that book that you were holding up, the one where the kids get to make their own, is that something that you sell or do you use it when you visit schools? Because that's really cool.

SPEAKER_04

We we use it, we uh both. So I sell it and and and we've actually gone further and made uh an entire uh digital course that maps this. Oh, cool. So um it's about an hour of video time, but it could take you the whole summer to make your books. So it you know, it's a nice uh activity.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. Yeah, that's amazing. So, how can people find you, Andrew? I'm gonna put all of your links down below. What's the best way if somebody wants to get in touch with you, either to come to a school or to get your books or any of these types of things?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, consciousstories.com is the is where it all centers. Um there's a if you can't find the details, there's a contact form, just hit us up and ask. Um, for for me and uh parent coaching, uh for creativity stuff or uh uh books. Um absolutely all of it's all of it's there. Uh yeah, we I mean we'd love to get you you your family started with their first uh set of books and and and uh we have a coupon code called podcast, which will give you a discount straight away. So uh thanks for listening to us. You can jump right in and uh and and uh use the code podcast at checkout for your discount.

SPEAKER_01

Perfect. Is it case sensitive? Does it matter? Just type in podcast.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. All right, you guys gotta go buy his books. These are amazing. Um, Andrew, we're we're coming to our time here. Uh, I want to thank you so much for coming on. Is there anything else that you want to talk on real quick or share or services or things that we didn't get to touch on today?

SPEAKER_04

Um you know, Stacey, the one thing I would love parents to know about themselves is that particularly if you're sitting here at the end of this podcast and you've been listening for an hour, you're a great parent. Like truly you're a great parent. Are you in the business of getting better? Sure. And that's what makes you a great parent, is that you're in the business of getting better. That you're that says you're attuning to your family and the environment, and you're listening and you're willing to evolve and you're willing to grow. Um and and if you can take a breath and have that sigh that goes, Oh, this is actually going okay. You know, you know, you know, because because it because the relief of that is uh is is good medicine for you and the home.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. Yeah. We can be hard on ourselves. I I think you know that's such a beautiful reminder, Andrew. I know I am too.

SPEAKER_04

Both hands up, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

It's so tough. Um, but no, thank you. What a beautiful message. Well, Andrew, I want to thank you so much for coming on and sharing your time with us today.

SPEAKER_04

Stacy, thank you for for all you do just uh in the podcast space, but more so, I'm so excited knowing that you're gonna go back and this little this little uh pebble thrown in the pond here, it's just gonna ripple into your class, not only this year, but then next year. And it's like, wow, the the the lives that you touch as a as a dedicated teacher is really very special. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. All right, guys. Well, that's all we have for today. If you enjoyed this episode, I hope you use it to inspire those around you. And I will see you next week on In a Spiritual Sense Kids. For those looking to connect further, please feel free to send emails to info at InaspiritualSense.com or hit me up on Instagram where you can find weekly inspiration and updates. I look forward to connecting with you.

SPEAKER_04

This show is part of the Mindful Podcast Network.