Stories From Women Who Walk

Hello to you listening in Dublin, New Hampshire! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. Imagine this: It’s February 1998. You are 89 years old. You have arthritis and emphysema. You live in a small town in New Hampshire. You laid to rest your husband of 65 years after caring for him with Alzheimer’s the last 10 years of his life. Your best friend of 50 years has also died. Now what, asks your son? What will you do? I have an idea, you say. Money is the big divider between people and politics. The tycoons with the money are buying the politicians and making all the decisions. Someone has to tell the American people about the need for national campaign finance reform. I can do that. How, your son wants to know. I’ll go on a walk. And so she begins getting in shape walking 2 miles a day, 5 miles a day, 10 miles a day, and carrying a backpack. After 7 months she declares herself ready to go on a walk and tells her son she is starting in Los Angeles, California. After collecting petitions on a beach in Los Angeles Doris Haddock, a.k.a. Granny D begins 14-month walk across America through California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Arkansas and on up to Washington, DC. She has no GoFundMe account or any real plan except to get out and talk to as many people as she can about the need for campaign finance reform. My friend Granny D eats with the people she walks with along the way, sleeps in a spare bedroom, on a couch or in a church basement. She gives talks about national campaign finance reform at rodeos, county fairs, schools, and local gatherings. 10 miles a day, every day, walking across America in her 90th year. By the time Granny D arrives in Washington, DC a blizzard has blocked traffic so she cross-country skies to the Capital to meet then Senators McCain & Feingold who sponsored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act which will become law 2 years later in 2002. The primary purpose of the Act was to eliminate the increased use of so-called soft money to fund advertising by political parties on behalf of their candidates. Of her walk Granny D always had her doubts; but she persisted. Here we are 25 years later and deeper in soft-money shit than she could have imagined thanks to the bought and paid for SCOTUS decision in Citizens United that equated money with free speech, kicked open the floodgates to a tsunami of dark money, and tilted political influence toward wealthy donors tycoons, and corporations. I knew Granny D, we wrote letters back and forth. Sometimes I wonder: What was the point? What difference did 14 months of walking and talking do? I’ll tell you. It did this: I’m still talking about her and the wild possibility that she actually realized. She was one Ordinary Person who took up a cause she believed in, talked to thousands of people as she walked across America in her 90th year and kept on talking until she died at the age of 100. Like every good story Granny D lives on to inspire, motivate, and remind each of us - young and old - what we are capable of, what we can achieve before and even after our 90th year. Yes! we are Ordinary Persons standing shoulder to shoulder with other Ordinary Persons drawn together like filings to a magnet building an Army of Ordinary Persons to Free America, unbalance the status quo, and create a Citizen’s Future of hope, dignity, and inclusion. We are the stories of light we struggle to write in these dark times and will be proud to share with those we leave behind when we walk on. Story Prompt: Who are you? What is your declaration of wild possibility? How are you shaping the future for good? Write that story and share it out loud ! You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. AND! Stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, email me to arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and stay current with me as Quarter Moon Story Arts on Substack. Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music ALL content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please consider sharing and attributing it to Diane Wyzga of Stories From Women Who Walk podcast with a link back to the original source.

Hello to you listening in Bow-Edison, Skagit County, Washington! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. “Being underestimated because of gender (or any other reason) is an advantage when you’re a spy on the street trying to move around unobserved. Being underestimated is a problem for everybody when you are a woman in a national security community trying to make yourself heard about something important you have discovered.” [The Sisterhood - The Secret History of Women at the CIA by Liza Mundy] Reading those words from The Sisterhood - The Secret History of Women at the CIA reminded me of all the ways in which women feel underestimated, personally as well as professionally. How do we correct that? It starts with unlocking the power of clarity and intentionality that is Your Who. We each have a particular story at the core of our lives: our Origin Story. Our Origin Story reveals how we got from There to Here. When we own our Origin Story we stand in courage and confidence. How so? By trusting the hardships we’ve faced and achievements we’ve won we connect with our self-worth, what we stand for, what we won’t stand for, what we no longer fear. We have something to say because we discovered WHO we are. This gives us the power to be heard and listened to. CTA: If you’re curious about how to make yourself heard by creating Your Who, email me ([email protected]) OR tap the Link in the Episode Notes to schedule a no-obligation Discovery Chat. You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. AND! Stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, email me to arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and stay current with me as Quarter Moon Story Arts on Substack. Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music ALL content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please consider sharing and attributing it to Diane Wyzga of Stories From Women Who Walk podcast with a link back to the original source.

Hello to you listening in Helsinki, Finland! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. These days it takes more than the usual effort to stop trying to burst people into flames with my mind. What’s going on? What isn’t? The craziness is triggering our uncertainties, raising our blood pressure, interrupting our sleep, and worse. My dad used to say, Diane, Nie mój cyrk. Nie moje małpy. Not my circus - not my monkeys! Practical Tip: Do not sell your soul for peanuts to feed the monkeys at the circus. It’s not your circus. It’s not your monkeys. Instead, find a moment of beauty and shelter in that for now. You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. AND! Stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, email me to arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and stay current with me as Quarter Moon Story Arts on Substack. Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music ALL content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please consider sharing and attributing it to Diane Wyzga of Stories From Women Who Walk podcast with a link back to the original source.

Hello to you listening in San Jose, California! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga. If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know you’re on the right track, how close you are, not headed to somewhere else, or even, if you’ve arrived? Lazily drifting on a river of a summer afternoon is a worthy use of time. But if you want to move along with purpose, focus your energy, and track your progress, the smart and savvy traveler will define her destination, break the journey into manageable phases, and keep heading intentionally, consistently toward the place she wants to be. She also keeps track of where she’s been to know how far she’s come along the path. As the old ones say, When we understand where we’ve been and where we’re headed, we clarify the potential we have to make our ideas, visions and goals come true. Story Prompt: Think of a moment in time when you felt lost. Where have you come from? Where are you now? Where are you headed? How will you get there? Write that story and share it out loud! You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. AND! Stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, email me to arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and stay current with me as Quarter Moon Story Arts on Substack. Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music ALL content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please consider sharing and attributing it to Diane Wyzga of Stories From Women Who Walk podcast with a link back to the original source.

Hello to you listening wherever your feet touch the ground! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga. Today marks the 6th anniversary of Stories From Women Who Walk that launched (no fooling!) on April 1st 2020. As you may remember the first year I interviewed woman who were walking their lives when a conflict unexpectedly showed up causing them to make choices, accept consequences, change who they were into who they became. The conflict that caused me to pivot from my interviews to my singular 60 Seconds format was COVID; we were no longer commuting in cars listening to longer podcasts. Here we are 6 years, 1,300 episodes, and over 250,000 plays all over the world! Who made it possible? You did! Our global community. I’m still here because you’re still there. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Going forward we still have work to do as Ordinary Persons gathering into a growing Army of Ordinary Persons to demand a better way of life for all of us. You can count on me to provide ongoing 60 Seconds episodes to support, encourage, inspire, delight, illuminate, provoke, and energize! You can expect resilience and resistance balanced with hope and stories to help us live each day trusting that our collective decency, goodness, and strength will birth something so much better than what we have right now. I welcome you and each of you on the journey! Write your stories, share them out loud, be well, do good work, and stay in touch! You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. AND! Stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, email me to arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and stay current with me as Quarter Moon Story Arts on Substack. Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music ALL content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please consider sharing and attributing it to Diane Wyzga of Stories From Women Who Walk podcast with a link back to the original source.

Hello to you listening in Forres, Scotland! Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga. The Scots word “smooring” is an old practice of subduing a fire with ash or peat to keep the embers warm overnight until they’re rekindled in the morning. Maybe like me something or someone smoored your self-expression. Perhaps you were told that you were a handful, a free spirit, loudly curious, or just plain too much. After a time you conformed to what they wanted. You smoored your self-expression. You stopped freely sharing your feelings, ideas, curiosity, and thoughts. As your self-expression was subdued, you became less visible. And yet, like a smoored fire the embers of your self-expression are still there waiting to be rekindled into flame so that you regain your visibility. 4 Practical Tips: I have four tried and true tips for you: 1. Nurture self-awareness so that you become visible to yourself. 2. Awaken natural talents to reignite the fire of your self-expression. 3. Seek out the people and places where you belong, where you and your self-expression are welcome 4. Practice saying what you mean and meaning what you say as the courageous act of a warrior. The question is no longer: Who will let me?; the question is: “Who do they think they are to try and stop me? Thank you for listening! You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. AND! Stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, email me to arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and stay current with me as Quarter Moon Story Arts on Substack. Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music ALL content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved. If you found this podcast episode helpful, please consider sharing and attributing it to Diane Wyzga of Stories From Women Who Walk podcast with a link back to the original source.