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Being great full this winter solstice.

Reading comments on the internet can be very disturbing and sometimes, on rare occasions, it fills my heart. Like this time, when a person from India asked, what Hanukkah was and many helpful people explained and that person thanked for the insight and spoke about Diwali, the celebration of lights.

Makes me cherish this special moment, where strangers from very different cultures thousands of miles away from each other,  connect over what is similar and what we share. Instead of argueing about what makes us different. What a touching moment.

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And then another moment, some one corrects my spelling and I realize, I just relearned another word, after it got erased in 2016, when I had my big car accident and my brain was in such turmoil. Many times since then, it hurt, a lot, to not know things any more, that had been nothing I had to think about, before that day. First time I realized that was going on (me not knowing “stuff” any more), was when I wrote about a ‘curry’ I had made, in my foodie fb group and spelled it ‘Cörrie’. It had just been completely erased from my memory. It seems somehow weird, but since I knew no other way to spell that, I did, what came to mind. People laughed a lot. Back then, those laughs hurt. Today, a stranger corrected me, and I felt great full. Now I have another word back! What a lovely way of transforming hardship and pain, being able to feel like a child, that gets the present of learning something new!

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Or the time this year, I finally realized, that when some one told us in 2016, that the theater piece we were working on (Le Chante des Vulves) was “so divers”, reason being: me being a big girl, my collegue Rafi being trans and the other person in the play being cis and thin…It suddenly hit me, what was REALLY divers and special,  it was not ME being fat, it was me being chronically ill and overcoming a serious brain situation (for everyone who did not  know, I had a brain hemmorraghe that was not detected and that therefore went untreated and made my life hell (after I barely survived it).

I remember the director of the play asking me to play that main part and I was super candid about my situation. I told her, I was not able to memorize that much text. So we decided we will find a way. And we did -> I had this clip board as a prop! And all my lyrics where on there. It helped me so much. I had my crutch. No one noticed. Nobody did. It was so much part of my stage persona. THAT was the real thing that was special and divers. Cracking on a tabu. 

I am not saying that being trans on stage is not necessary or important any more. No, far from it! I just realized that, what was so divers and special about that production was, that it just went with the bodily condition of an actor, without compromising any in professionality or compromising the story. At all. It just blended in. It had to. Because able-ism in Theater is a thing, especially in singing. Even considering that people on stage might have the possibility of being sick, disabled or have a neurologist divergent brain, is plain a TABU.

Sometimes it takes time to see, where one is a trail blazer. Me and my director Angèla Kopf where the Trail Blazers in that production. Being brave enough to just work with that tabu. We did not advertise it. No. We just did it. That is how things get changed, this is how we change and do the unthinkable. And sometimes, we realize the great things years later. So I did, handicapped, chronically ill and with brain diversity of the special kind, I did that lead role and slammed it.

2022 was not what I would call a “candy year” for me. No. Never the less, I always try to see, what was good, what helped, how did I change, how could I be helpful to the world. Did I bring some light into the darkness? And after a year of  health struggles, work struggles, I must say, I loved my two premiers! I loved the audience that came and all the great feedback I got from them. I cherished the little things like my colleague bringing me a mango instead of flowers- loved that!

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What does all this have to do with you? Maybe your year was tough, maybe you had to struggle with health or finances, maybe you had those lights in the dark, that make you smile and touch your soul, that keep you alive. If you want to share with me, I would love to hear. Know, you are not alone.

Problems and tough times will come our way, that is a given. The question is, how do we work with those times. Are we able to cry when we need to? Able to be there for our friends, when they need us? What do we do with anger and even fear, when they creep up on us? Do we have tools that help us cope and even transform the ‘ugly’ into the beautiful?

Part of my business is helping people with their problems, vocal- and life crises being one of my “pet peeves”, the “thing” I am really good at.

So if you need help with getting out of these crises, if you feel like being accompanied by me, would help you, I am here for that! Just write to me, and I will create a program extra and individually for your needs!

I just had the fortune of working with a dream client of mine. And they had so much they wanted to change, major things that really gave me a good challenge. I like challenges. They make me soar.  So I set up a program for them and in just 3 sessions, they came back and said: “I don’t understand why, but I am noticing, that my voice and my mindset is changing greatly, can you please help me understand”. So I did.

In a nut shell:

I work with applied vocal physiology, which means, I let my clients sing sounds and while that, we do a lot of awareness work, somatic work and that in itself is able to change mindsets a lot, sort of, on the side. We learn to see ourselves with more neutrality, less judgy. That transports to everyday life. Because the nervous system learns new things and starts to organize itself and the tissue in a new way, plus letting go off holding patterns. Which in the end, lets the voice sound wonderful. Different and new.

So that change in nervous system helps the voice AND the mind & the soul.

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For every one who wants to go down that road, not knowing how their nervous system will rearrange “everything”, for those, who are brave enough, to face themselves, to discover what is hidden, my work is a way to achieve many longings.

“I will always be great full to you!”*

Close to the end, after 3 Months and not even 7 sessions, said client was ecstatic about the changes they witnessed during the time of the coaching. In voice-matters   -> more presence and being heard better, in general being -> more assertive and just feeling more secure being themselves, thus being able to pursue their dreams. I was so happy with them. Because that is the reason I do this. I LOVE seeing people, especially women and LGBT+ people shine their light. The world would be a much better place, if we could all just shine our light!

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Now, I have two little and simpel ways to help you shine your light with more ease, one is a book recommendation:

Julia Cameron, “Der Weg des Künstlers”/German   “The Artist’s way”/ English

-> it has so many wonderful exercises in it, that help with being creative and being creative is neurologically and mentally the place we make decisions and choices and do things, that are connected to OURSELVES. Being creative is a great way of finding ourselves. It is a cat, biting its own tail 😉

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And FOOD is another way, we can nourish our souls, our bodies, show respect and love to our selves and that is the thing, most people very little time. So my help is a little recipe, that lets you feed your body and your soul, even in tough times, where time is scarce and we still need yummy and healthy food:

Homemade millet fast food à la Julia:

Take 200g or 1 cup of millet (keep seperaet, e.g. in jar) and prepare a mixture of dried vegetables & spices (also keep in jar), both can be quickly grabbed and used.

Wash 1 cup millet as usual, drain and mix with 1/4 cup or about 40g of the dry vegetable mixture, simmer with 2 times the amount of water of the whole mixture for 10 minutes (e.g. with 1 1/4 cup mixture this is 2,5 cups of water, with 240g mixture this is 480ml of water (almost 0,5l). Possibly let it stand for a short time and serve. E.g. with vegetables.

Your choice of using Olive Oil or Coconut Oil to fry the herbs plus miles before adding water.

It can also serve as an emergency meal when there is nothing left in the house.

Bon appetit!

The basic mixture is 80% millet and 20% vegetables/spices
I took 1/4 cup of the dried vegetables and about 1 tsp of the spices
1/4 cup
tomatoes
zucchini
celery
tomato
leek
carrots

approx. 1 tsp
Green cabbage powder
Tomato powder
Celery powder
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Paprika powder
Coriander powder
Parsley
Cumin
Porcini mushroom flour

3 pinches of cayenne
pepper
half tsp sea salt (optional)
touch of cinnamon
half tsp coconut blossom sugar

more recipes like this in my fb group!

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I wish you the best for these solstice nights,

have a great transition to 2023 and please take care and remember, what to be great full about, when times get hard. And if loving or positivity seems too hard, being neutral is absolutely an option. A great one! Neutrality washes away judginess and gives room for gratitude. 

Live your extra life, like Brad Mondo likes to say (like his silly hair-style-vids by the way), I’d like to add, be yourself, authentic and true, with all the lows and highs there are. Trying my best to be real with you, again, as always.

Sending love and asking all the Angels for our protection, stay safe and in power,

Julia

#jahresrückblog22 #jahresrückblick22 #greatful #throwback

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PS: I’m a big Trevor Noah fan, obvs.

*quoting my client here, anonymously