Room to Breathe - Permission to be Human

Marianne Simon
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  • Spirituality
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Welcome to "Room to Breathe." These mini podcasts are a reflection of what I've discovered over the years, that we are perfectly imperfect beings. In a culture that wants to put us into tiny little boxes with narrow little lives, it's vital we give ourselves permission to feel all of what it is to be human. This means we need to allow ourselves to feel it all. At times, it seems contradictory: The pain, the joy, the confusion, the numbness, the grief, the love. And in accepting the range of our humanness, we find our freedom. (Thanks to Holizna for music CC0)

  1. 04/27/2025

    The Dragon Tattoo

    There's a Dragon tattooed across my chest. She is red and gold and stretches from navel to neck. She twines between my breasts, her head coming to rest at my throat. She is branded there. So I don’t forget.

  2. 02/19/2023

    He's Interested in Me. Wow. (Part 1)

    I started out the new year wondering what I wanted to call in. In the invocation, I wasn't sure if I wanted to experience a specific project - a new book or performance. Maybe travel or some other form of adventure.  But I also knew I didn't want to be limited by what I could only currently imagine. So instead I cast my net out wide - inviting in mystery, the unknown. I challenged myself to be surprised. As you'll hear in this story, the Universe answered. Enjoy.

  3. 10/03/2022

    East, Towards the Rising Sun

    It felt like I'd been in hibernation for over a year. Wasn't writing much, felt uninspired, unmotivated. I knew at some point it would shift, that something was happening beneath the surface, but it just wasn't time yet.  And then, at the beginning of the year, things started to shift. I could feel my energy changing, my sap was rising. Though I didn't know what was coming, I definitely felt an excitement, and anticipation that I hadn't felt in ages.  "East, Towards the Rising Sun" was the invitation to my future. Unknown, wild, wonderous. Enjoy.

  4. 09/20/2022

    The Yellow Umbrella

    All around, on this very gray day, other people rush by with their black umbrellas and blue umbrellas and brown umbrellas. Then she sees it, about halfway down the block, a flash of yellow, like a butterfly fluttering above the crowd. This episode is a short story. Though essentially fiction, it blends in seeds of my own emotions and experiences with longing, love and letting go. Enjoy.

  5. 09/04/2022

    Home is Simple

    TBD

  6. 08/31/2022

    This Too, Is True

    For the last months of my mother's life, my sister and I were her 24/7 caregivers.  For anyone who has gone through caregiving, you understand what a wild range of emotions it is. The heartache, the grief at where we are headed. The tenderness, the honor that is being of service in this way. But also, the part that is harder to confess, the anger, the frustration, the resentment. And for me, at times, the sense that life was passing me by. This week's episode is an exploration of that rollercoaster of emotions. Giving voice, permission to feel all of it. The light, the dark, the communion, the regret. It is only in this way that we can have compassion for ourselves, and navigate such hard times.

  7. 08/26/2022

    Wanted: Women Who Believe in Magic, Mystery and Miracles

    When I was a little girl, my sister and I would go down to the garden to play “witches.” We’d get dressed up, borrow one of my mother’s pots and head out to make our brew. We’d add leaves, berries, the occasional snail, and some water. Thankfully, we didn’t drink the brew, but we’d call out our spells, wave our wands, laughing and cackling for hours. As little ones, magic came easily, always at our fingertips. I want that back. I want that communion back. There are moments when I open myself to it; I can feel it rippling through me, the magic. Not the “transport me to another room,” but the profound realization that we are miracles. The earth, her inhabitants, that there is water to drink, oxygen to breathe, all miraculous. The spark that is the difference between life and death, beyond comprehension. This podcast, “Wanted: Women Who Believe in Magic,” is a calling, an invocation. For us to drop down below the seeming surface of the every day, open our eyes, and believe.

  8. 08/16/2022

    Let Me Feel This

    There have been periods in my life when I have felt less than inspired and motivated, questioning purpose and direction. I remember praying for that spark, that awakening of a project, something that would excite me and light me up.  But as month after month went by nary a flicker, I began to worry that I was doing 'nothing with my life.' Was I wasting this precious gift? And that sent me into the exploration that is this podcast. How can we find value and worthiness in the everyday. Not just when we're on fire with a new passion, but in the moment by moment, minute by minute that is us, living our lives.

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About

Welcome to "Room to Breathe." These mini podcasts are a reflection of what I've discovered over the years, that we are perfectly imperfect beings. In a culture that wants to put us into tiny little boxes with narrow little lives, it's vital we give ourselves permission to feel all of what it is to be human. This means we need to allow ourselves to feel it all. At times, it seems contradictory: The pain, the joy, the confusion, the numbness, the grief, the love. And in accepting the range of our humanness, we find our freedom. (Thanks to Holizna for music CC0)

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