Author: Sonia Iris Lozada

Happy New Year! It’s that time of the year where most of us reflect on what we did or didn’t do in 2022. Looking forward to an upward emotion in 2023. I’m hopeful. Even though, like many others, I’ve had a challenging year in various aspects of my life. I feel hopeful and excited about the new year. It might be a dream, but I’m okay with it. We need to flourish with possibilities.

As many know from my podcasts and blogs, I love comedies, enjoying a quiet evening with family and friends and quotes.

Salvador Dali “Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.”

Dr. Seuss “You’ll never get bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do.”

Pablo Picasso “Action is the foundational key to all success.”

Alan Cohen “Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.”

Antonio Banderas “Expectation is the mother of all frustration.”

C.S. Lewis “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

Melody Beattie “The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.”

Taken from the Loving Kindness Meditation

May you be happy, May you be healthy, May you be safe, May you live with ease

Que seas feliz, que estés sano, que estés a salvo, que vivas con tranquilidad

I wish you a safe and Happy New Year.

Listen to this episode

Our guest is Leon Conrad, an author, educator, and story structure consultant and author of the recently released book Story and Structure: A Complete Guide.

In this episode, we discuss harmony and how it relates to writing. We review different styles of writing with an emphasis on poetry. I was listening and learning at the same time. He’s entertaining and if you want to know about story structure, this episode is for you.

Story and Structure: A complete guide is about story—as a dynamic force of life. More importantly, it’s a book about how to find harmony—by following story back to its source, so we can find more flow in our lives.

What excites me most is that story has a purpose. Story generally appears when we face problems. Most story structures arise because we face different kinds of problems. There are problems we can easily solve ourselves, for instance, and others we can’t easily solve without a little help from our friends. It’s the differences in the kinds of problems that we face that give
rise to different story structures.

Website leonconrad.com—find the latest information, social media and contact.

Amazon: Story and Structure: A complete guide.

Episode available here and Apple/Itunes, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart and most podcast platforms.

As I start season five, I give much thought to what this season is and I’ll call it life, because that is what happens when we are making plans. Life sometimes defies us, challenges us, yet what I have learned is that it teaches us to move forward and when we refuse to move forward is when we see and feel the challenges. I’ve learned to stop and ask why. Why am I going through this? What am I to learn? What is my lesson? I find life can be challenging when I want it to go in one direction, but that isn’t what my heart and soul wants.

As Roy T Bennett states from his book The Light of the Heart “Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.”

In this season, the theme is life and what we can make of it. The dreams we have. The people we love. Caring for ourselves and others. This is life, and it is a gift to cherish. Let go of anger, hate, anxiety, fear, depression, jealousy and resentment, but don’t suppress them. Face them and let them go, so that you can be free. Your body will be grateful, those around you will see the lightness in your being. Be love and know that you have always been love.

Here are a few quotes on love:

Lao Tzu “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

Rumi “Love will find its way through all languages on its own.”

Jesus Christ “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Dalai Lama “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

Taylor Bennett of Thriveworks writes: Spiritual love can refer to love rooted in a spiritual connection that helps us find meaning and purpose in our lives. These spiritual loves can serves different purposes. Some are meant to walk with us through life, while others are meant to teach us lessons.

Learning from these lessons can be challenging and taking responsibility for our actions is the first step into finding love for ourselves and others.

I close this episode with another quote from Roy T Bennett “Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.”

Many blessings.

PR Podcast  available on all podcast platforms.

Music: Timebeing by Airtone

Thriveworks Spiritual Love

Sonia’s current book: Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2

Awakening Dreams has been my longest season and mainly to be honest I just didn’t know what theme I wanted for the next season. I feel it should be about life. It’s been challenging for many and myself so I figured let just discuss life’s journeys. I’ll be having more guest and as you probably have notice I’ve changed Poetic Resurrection Podcast to every two weeks with one guest per month and releases on either of these days: Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

We discussed the following topics in this season. I’ve added the links in the notes.

1. Ep16 We discussed the difference between Emotional and Mental exhaustion with a reading of the poem “Love and Blessings” from the Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2
2. Ep 15 Prioritizing and promises and why we break them.
3. Ep 14 Self-forgiveness – letting go of feelings and emotions and why we prolong self-forgiveness. A reading of the poem “Alliance” from the Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2
4. Ep 13 Doreen Calderon a fellow actor and transformational coach. We discuss acting, our experiences and how it led her to assist other actors in recognizing their talents.
5. EP 12 Thierry Kehou from Lampblack and Poets and Writers Magazine. We discuss publishing and his journey in translating to English literature from black Francophone.
6. Ep 11 Expectations – what are expectations and are they beneficial to our life now.
7. Ep 10 Evelyn Eccard from Bravo Leadership – we discuss the importance of employment, leadership and what makes us happy.
8. Ep 9 Paul Meixner a military veteran discussing what Memorial Day means to him.
9. Ep 8 Mark A Pearson, an entertainment attorney discusses copyright law. If you want to know about copyright law this is the episode to listen to. Great advise.
10. Ep 7 Memories – this is a heartfelt episode for me as I discuss my mom’s dementia during Mental Health Month and read the poem “Memories”.
11. Ep 6 Diana Rosen – poet. We discuss her journey and she reads her poems “Bus Stop Story” and “Nectarines: from her book High Stakes and Expectations.
12. Ep 5 Overwhelmed Yet Excited. When we acquire our desires only to be overwhelmed by them. A reading of the poem “Vulnerable” from the Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2
13. Ep 4 Martina Reisz Newberry poet reads Glyphs in the Canyon from her book Glyphs.
14. Ep 3 In observance of poetry month. A reading of the poems “Silhouette, Food and Tomorrow” from Inspire Me Perception Also, available on the Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2
15. Ep 2 Inspire Me Raw for poetry month. Reading of the poems “Citizen, Forget and Go-Go Boots”. These poems are also available on the Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2.

You can get your copy of the Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2 on Amazon.

Prioritizing and Promises. This past weekend, I had everything planned. I was going to organize my guest/craft room by taking everything out and only keep what I will actually use and need. I woke up early on Saturday and then realized that I had an audition self-tape. On Friday, I remember replying to my agent that I will look at the sides for this TV show. Something was nagging at me to look at the sides in the morning. I figured I would clean the room then spend the rest of the day reviewing them. Didn’t realize this was an important audition and merited much of my weekend.

I like to memorize my sides (script section) because it makes it easier to perform. As I read the breakdown and reviewed the sides, I realized I needed a coach and a reader to help me learn the lines. Saturday was gone and even though I spent most of the day learning lines, they wouldn’t stick. After making a list and prioritizing what I needed to do, I saw the problem with memorizing my lines.

I just couldn’t get away from breaking a promise to myself, YET AGAIN. The truth is housework will always be there. My sister pointed that out to me and she’s correct. I had a great opportunity to work on a funny script. I asked a friend if she knew anyone who’s a coach and can help me with the lines. She did. I set an appointment and headed to Ojai with my friend for the day. Well, at least I thought it would be for about three or four hours, but no, it was the day.

The coach was great. Why wouldn’t he be? He’s also a stage director and had brilliant advice on the character. We were able to record it there. I am grateful to him and my friend who, by the way, drove.

The fact that I actually hesitated to stop everything I was doing to delay this great opportunity surprised me. Why would I do that? I dream of opportunities like this. Was it fear? Was it not feeling that I’m good enough?

Louise Jackson states: “We often have opposing desires, feelings, beliefs, and ideas. These can create internal conflicts and struggles that mean clashing forces feel like they’re fighting each other inside your brain. And expecting dramatic change overnight is incredibly stressful. …Trying to do too much at once makes you way more likely to break your promises to yourself.”

Yes, this was me. I had opposing desires and ideas. I rather be working on my creative endeavors, acting, writing and my podcast, yet, I like calmness. For me, calmness comes from a clean and organized home. I’ve started so many projects around the house only to leave them partially finished. I’ve worked on all my creative projects, just not the chores.

“Think about this same scenario, but played out in your relationship with yourself. You break your promises so many times you can start to doubt yourself. Even if your intentions to change are good and pure, it can be difficult to change because you lost credibility with yourself.” Ayodeji Awosika

So, what to do? I left the housework behind and decided not to beat myself up. Maybe I set too large an expectation. I then learned the script lines, got coached and recorded my self-tape. I understand that the biggest hurdle I had was that I didn’t want to once again break a promise to myself. I learned to practice self-kindness and to acknowledge that I might have perceptions (ideas) for the day, but life happens and there are gifts in the unpredictability of it.

So, I’m taking my sister’s advice and I’m spending an hour or less on clearing the guest room every day until it’s done.

Be kind to yourself. Understand life happens and many blessings.

Get a copy of my latest book: Inspire Me Series: Book 1 & 2