Tapping Into & Tuning From Within

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Lessons in Disguise

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 14:31:02 GMT

Acknowledge & Give Yourself Credit for Your Growth

Often, when we feel broken to the core, it’s hard to realize that some of our most potential for growth is from the Lessons in Disguise. Finding growth through challenges is sometimes too much to ask for. But that is exactly what Life is demanding of you. Seeing and learning the lessons in our trials and tribulations is where real personal growth takes place.

Stop for a moment and think about your own Life–can you recall any time when you couldn't see a way out of a situation, but you got through it eventually? A serious challenge that was quite painful to endure. What lessons have you learned, or taken away from it? If you are still carrying anger around it, see if you can begin to release the anger to fully Heal.

I have found that when I truly stepped away from what happened and how pissed I was at the person or situation, I was able to look at things from a clearer vantage point. At one time there was a person who I carried a lot of rage at, (um, actually there were others lol, but this person in particular was a husband at the time). Now, don’t get me wrong, he did do some incredibly *ucked up sh*t. His actions ultimately jeopardized my safety, my finances and our property (which we lost in the long run).

I held onto that rage for a lonnnnnng time. Then one day, I got tired of being mad, it was exhausting. I was weary of carrying that luggage, finally realizing it did nothing for me but make me sick. When I came to that realization, a part of my Life transformed. I could take responsibilty for my actions. I could recall there were other choices I had during that time that I discarded due to various fears.

When I could admit all of this I was ultimately able to forgive him and myself.

That particular cloud that was always following me had truly lifted (Picture the Charlie Brown character PigPen's perpetual cloud of dirt dissapating).

When things are always somebody else’s fault, you can find yourself in a perpetual loop of the same situation coming back at you, faster and faster. You have choices–you can always be a victim, or recognize that Life is always showing you something and giving you ample opportunities for personal growth. You can break the perpetual loop, setting yourself free and hence leveling up your understanding and Spiritual Frequency. It’s called “Getting To Know You…” and I don’t mean the song from the musical The King & I, but getting to know yourself.

The more you get to know yourself, the more discerning you can be when it comes to decision making; in relationships, finances, career, etc. Now some of those situations may come up again, it’s almost like a test. If you can see it and say, “ahhh Life, I see what’s goin’ on here, not gonna fall for that one again! Learned my lesson, don’t want or need to repeat it.”

When you can say that and step off, you know you’ve up-leveled your Vibe!

Using those lessons in disguise and finding growth through your challenges can teach you to listen to and heed your Intuition a whole lot better.

When those red flags are thrown and they always are, learning from challenges can help you not fall into taking emotional, fearful or impulsive actions. It gives you an opportunity and some breathing room to make the best decisions going forward.

One of the earliest lessons I had to learn came at young age in elementary school…

Ahhhh, the 4th grade. First crush, nah maybe the third one. A boy named Melvin Wilds (good gawd, I still remember his name!) was an older boy who I was wildly in love with. He was in the 5th grade. I’m 10, he’s 11. One day, I had to go to the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library to do some research and he offered to walk me there!

I was on the moon--

and then I crash landed on it.

After school, we set off and I was floating–all of the trauma of the year before and current were miles away as I walked blissfully and joyfully next to my paramour. He was the perfect gentleman, and whatever doubts I had initially as to why in the heck would this 5th grader wanna walk me of all people anywhere was beyond me. I was farrrrrrr from being one of the popular girls. I was not the fashion horse with all the latest, nor was I popular but choose me he did.

P.S. 241 was in the prime Prospect Heights area–right near the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library. What a playground!

The Scene: the middle of winter with tons of snow and ice on the ground. The front of the museum was very very different in those days–there was a driveway going up a hill to the doorway of the museum and quite treacherous which we navigated like pros just about to hit the summit. And then…

BAMN! DOWN I WENT, SLIDING ALLLLLLL THE WAY BACK DOWWWWWWNNNNN THE HILL

Now, it was bad enough that I fell and slid down an entire hill HEAD FIRST in front of an 11 year old boy that I liked madly, but as I finally reached the bottom I was hit, first by my red and black plaid lunchbox, BONK! Then by the matching plaid glass thermos that was ejected upon impact and followed me in my descent for the final blow.

(OMGAWD I AM LAUGHING AS I WRITE THIS, IT HAD TO HAVE LOOKED SOOOOO COMICAL!)

And Melvin, my paramour stood at the very top of said hill SCREECHING in laughter, the screams that only an 11 year old boy can utter.

It was loud enough to be heard in The Bronx!

I had some choices. 1) To lie there and cry, 2) get up running away crying, or 3) doing just what I did. I got up. Gathered my things, put my thermos back into the lunchbox (after shaking it to see if the glass had broken). And then walked, Back. Up. That. Hill. Went past the screeching boy and on my way.

SIDEBAR: (Now honestly, I could’ve done it the easy way after gathering up my things by avoiding the hill altogether and walking on the sidewalk going past the museum and the adjoining park onto the library, but I always loved walking up that hill. That’s how you got to the park that used to be between the museum and the library. I always felt like I was in a lofty position looking down upon the world from my high perch--it was an escape from the horror that had become my life).

But being the determined girl I was, after getting back up the hill with no further incident to my surprise, he followed me

(knew a strong woman when he saw one!)

and continued to walk me to the library. My fortitude in that situation at such a young age and already carrying a huge burden was a testament to what I am made of and has served me in all the days since. Facing that challenge head on, not pausing for pity or embarrassment (who had time for that shit?) serves as a valuable lesson for me from something that could have been pretty mortifying.

(Actually it was, but I didn’t let that stop me).

That lesson in disguise taught me to keep it moving the hell with what anyone, including an 11 year old screeching boy, thinks.

Now, take a quick sweeping look at Your Life, what situations have you experienced that you haven’t given yourself credit for persevering through and for the lessons learned? Found one? You probably have a ton of them, but just start with one. What can you say to that version of You that made it through? What have you learned?

When you have fully acknowledged this, give yourself and that past version a hug and feel deep Love and Appreciation for the perseverance and the lessons learned…

Now, what situations are you still harboring anger, regret, guilt or shame about? Start with one of those. Ask yourself:

Why am I still upset over this?
Is my holding anything other than seeing the lesson(s) and growing from it doing anything for me? Changing anything? Or maybe hindering me?
When you get to a place where you can see that holding ill-will toward what happened only keeps you in that loop of replaying the experience constantly and feeling as if it is currently happening and it does you absolutely no good,
Begin to release your hold on it. Note how you feel in letting go.
Understand that beginning to let it go (it being your need to replay it and blame it) only sets YOU free, it doesn’t let anyone off the hook but you.
Bless it, release it and claim your POWER in seeing that perhaps there’s something you can learn from it…
The past only has as much Power as you assign to it.
When you can see that you’ve actually overcome the challenge(s) and recognized the lessons, you have stepped into your POWER. You have leveled UP.

Breathe and revel in that, You have set yourself FREE

Join Me for my upcoming End of the Month Guided Meditation & Sound Healing Via Zoom. More info at the link

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Eczema: A Postmenopausal SURPRISE

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 12:30:33 GMT

What the fletch? I didn't understand what was happening to me. My beautiful and perfect skin had become an unrecognizable organ of hot molten lava.

Oh dear, this is a tale of woe, pain, frustration, anxiety, loss of sleep, research, Intuition and triumph. The 50's were pretty good in terms of my postmenopausal journey but the 60's brought some rocky, unwelcome and scary surprises. I am soooo happy that more and more info is finally coming out about the myriad symptoms that can visit women in the perimenopausal and postmenopausal chapters of Life. So much more than the talked about hot flashes, mood swings, insomnia and night sweats but as of this writing, there are THIRTY-FOUR distinct symptoms attributed to this phase, what folks referred to back in the day as “The Change.”

I remember my stepmother telling me that when she was going through menopause/postmenopause that she had no idea of what was happening to her and like so many, she suffered in silence!

That is absolutely unacceptable, thank goodness that women are now on the leading edge of forcing the conversation. Shit, it's OUR bodies and we need to know the best possible ways to move through this phase with as much Peace, Solutions and Grace as possible.
Not pain, confusion, frustration and fear.

An excellent documentary came out on PBS in 2024 titled “The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause.” It was executive produced by the television journalist along with a collaborative team of health advocates and filmmakers. If you haven't seen it, give it a look, it's fabulous and oh so informative.

I haven't seen this one but the same core team created another doc on PBS titled “The M Factor 2: Before the Pause" which speaks to perimenopause. If you are a woman of any age, and particularly if you are nowhere near your perimenopause years, start researching NOW so you have a better understanding of how our bodies can flow through time and about some of the available options in self and health care.

Alright now, it was in 2017 or was it 2018? Anywho, I looked in the mirror as I was getting ready to go teach a swing dance workshop at Hofstra University as a guest teacher/lecturer. I saw something unfamiliar, so alien that it took a moment or two (or 5 or 6) to process what the hell is this shit on my face????? I was absolutely horrified, my skin was perfect, many questions and queries throughout my life on what did I put on my skin? As as teen I didn't go through the agony of acne—and on the rare occasion, I got one giant pimple, would put aloe vera or toothpaste on it, then gone!

As I stared at the red amoeba of bumpy splashed on my face, I had an inkling it could be rosacea. To confirm, I looked it up in the excellent book by titled The Wisdom of Menopause and saw that rosacea listed as a possible fallout of postmenopause.

Oh hey-ell naw, I ain't havin' it! So I did what I do, go the medicine cabinet and got my mixture of aloe vera and calendula gels and slathered that puppy on the offending area and headed out the door. I had to get over the fact that is was like a bullseye on my face—’oh grow up Miss Thang and get over it, so what if it's as obvious as the nose on your face, live with it like you mean it ‘cause it's temporary dammit!’

One of the early lessons in this postmenopausal stage of Accepting The Changes as I Become More of Myself—fixing what I can.

In a few days, the offender faded and I sighed a sigh of relief. But my insides were like, ‘oh you think that was bad sister? Wait to see what’s comin’ dowwwwwwnnn the pike!’

It didn't take long for the elation to go down the tubes because one day there was a volcano eruption on my lower right leg that itched like a bitch! And, like molten lava, it began to spread down the entire lower leg and had the NERVE to wrap around to the back of my leg like a friggin’ ankle bracelet!

Ohhhh but things were just gettin' started and not to be left out, the left leg wanted in and did just that! So I had identical volcanos erupting on both legs in a race to see who could spread faster, itch more and then burn, baby BURN!

I was miserable and in pain 24-7. When the upper part of a leg started to heal, the lower part would erupt. Then they'd trade. To get a modicum of sleep I made a mixture of oatmeal and honey, would slather it from just below the knee to above the ankle on both legs, then wrap scarves around them so my sheets didn't get stained when I went to bed. You see, I'm a holistic kinda girl, always looking to natural cures and I was determined to get to the bottom of this.

And yes, eczema can appear for the first time during postmenopause. But I be doggone if this was going to be the soundtrack Welcome to the Rest of Your Life!
Little did I know that things were just revving up.

Then the other parts of my body screamed ME TOO, I WANT IN! My chest began to explode, my neck, under my breasts (that probably was the worst, nah, my chest, no my neck) oh and how could I forget my arms?! Then my butt chimed in too. So all was in session simultaneously and in the midst of this, heart palpitations and fluttering started singing their tunes!

Eventually I had to make my finger gloves out of paper towels and tape so that I wouldn't continue to scratch the festering skin off of my chest in the middle of the night while sleeping.

I was frantically searching for answers. I kept mixing things up in a bowl, trying various renditions of formulas. There would be promise momentarilly as it seemed things were calming and healing, but no, there'd be another outbreak somewhere else. It was like a choir singing all the parts, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass with each section in subdivisions like soprano one’s and two’s, altos one two and three, etc.

And when it seemed it couldn't get any worse, I developed cellulitis, a skin condition I'd never heard of! My neck started blistering as well as my lower right leg, looking like those popcorn blouses we wore in the 70’s. I had even made my own blouse…

Oh yeah and this was all during the summer in New York City. Burning skin, burning weather, woo-hooo!

You never heard of cellulitis either? It's a potentially serious bacterial skin infection which hits the deeper layers of the skin.

Understand, that during all this time my dude kept saying, “babe, maybe you wanna go see someone for that?” And I'd say “no,” sometimes it was a whimpering “maybe.” All-n-all, I was determined to figure this out myself, I didn't want drugs, steroids or any of that ish. I COULD DO THIS was my mantra, as I rotated between itch and burn, skin splitting and turning very dark almost black in some areas.

The following photos aren't the greatest (probably couldn't do better ‘cause I was in so much pain) but they give you an idea on things:

(And also understand, I do not advocate this for anyone, this is just my tale based on the choices I made, including my discoveries).

I feel that whatever ails you, there are underlying causes. You ultimately have to do your own research, your own Inner Work and advocate for your own Wellness—looking at patterns, habits, beliefs and the long held baggage you carry in addition to whatever you're eating, how and if you're exercising, and definitely whatever your stress levels are in addition to whatever the diagnoses and prescribed treatments are.

And…Trust Your Intuition.

It took about 2-3 years before I began to see results as I kept reformulating my formulas along with following my Intuition. It took a conversation with a friend to add the missing ingredients. She was reading the label of a natural product that was supposed to help with eczema and I went, ‘AH HAHHHHH' as there were 3 essential oils missing from my mix. I had also been looking into the link between skin issues and leaky gut syndrome thus doing some dietary eliminations to see what could be triggering things. I also got deeper into breathing, meditation and sound healing for stress management.

Oh, almost forgot to mention that while my skin was cracking, burning and itching, I was working with 450 kids from the ages of 8-18. Ah yesssss, choreographing for the young singers who are not dancers (I just make them look like they are hah!) The Young People’s Chorus of NYC is the internationally known award-winning folk I am referring to.

So imagine being on fire and itching during a rehearsal with 80 boys ages 11-18 that never stop talking, are DUH-UH as heck and had little to no time to get them looking flawless for a big show…

Eventually, I was able to get things under control with periodic eruptions from time to time, but nowhere NEAR the cataclysmic proportions of the first year. In latter years, the last major lava slide was in 2024 when I was in New Zealand with the choir. They were participating in The World Choir Games, a bi-annual competition with choirs, judges and conductors from all over the world.

As you can imagine, it was as stressful as SHIT.

Here I am, on the other side of the world and well below the equator, without my eczema toolkit! And it's winter which sometimes made my skin worse. Luckily, there was a doctor traveling with us and when I couldn't take it any more, I showed her my leg (I was shocked that she didn't recoil in horror) and she gave me some antibiotics and hydrocortisone cream. I began to get some relief and the skin began to heal…

Until a couple days after I got home and the antibiotics I'd taken for 2 weeks were done and the lava show was back ON!

Though because of what I already knew, I got to work with my eczema toolkit and more exploration into my levels of stress and anxiety, triggers, diet and mental state. Of course the more I broke out, the more stressed I got. Once again, I was able to heal the outbreak which was confined to the lower right leg only.

Nowadays, I have had a rupture or two but I have a better handle on noticing the signs and breaking out the toolkit before things totally break out on me. A bump or two may show up and I'm quick to nip things in the bud. The burning and itching events have not returned. And I remain vigilant.

I am incredibly proud of the journey though agonizing, I am not beholden to a prescription, doctor's appointments and the such which was always the goal. It deepend my Faith in my own wits and wherewithal.

My skin on August 2, 2026 and since August 2024. I still have some faint scar lines but we've come a lonnnnng way, I'll take it!

And after writing this article, I realize I may need to write an book about my journey and remedies I came up with over the years. If you're suffering from eczema and wanna go the holistic route, I may offer a thing or two that can help. It would more than likely be issued it as an ebook, so stay tuned.

Let me know if you would be interested in my maybe book sharing my eczema toolkit…

In the meantime, you may wanna explore my wellness guidebook that came out of that time period titled, 28 Daily Thoughts & Mantras 4 WellBeing--Keys 4 Stress Relief & Personal Growth in physical and ebook form.

And also in the meantime please consider my guided meditation offering via Zoom…

Register Now for my upcoming End of the Month Guided Meditation & Sound Healing Via Zoom. More info at the link

The Angels We Meet Along The Way

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:11:00 GMT

I was sitting processing some sad feelings. I found out about the sudden passing of someone well liked, a Creative and part of a wife-husband team whose business I was a serious patron of. He recently had a birthday and looked in good health…then just like that, he's gone.

Jovial, he always met me with a huge smile and an even *huger hug (yes, I make up words!). He made me so happy when I saw him, he was a breeze of Kindness and Great Vibes.

And it was preceeded the night before with some other sad news.

So. I was sitting in the Funk of Sad.

In the processing of my feelings and thoughts, I wrote a Substack Note, then used the verse and created this video with my sound healing music:

Listening to the rain has a way,

of soothing for just a moment

the wave of reeling,

from some bad news.

“Breathe,” I say in reminder.

That breath is like a hug, from me

to Me, as I listen to the rain…

Then these additional thoughts came:

Sadness is not something to ignore, push down or deny…
Sadness is to be reckoned with, to be acknowledged, to be felt fully…
Listening to the sound of the rain with a Breath, soothes my Being, returning me to
feeling Whole…

Upcoming! End of The Month Guided Meditation with Sound Healing Aug 22nd & 29th 10:00am-10:30

My processing continued and as it did, my mind wandered back, way back, to thinking about a grade I got on a short story written in high school from my writing teacher Mr. Levy--it had a huge ‘A’ on it, was circled twice and he had put exclamation marks next to one of the lines in the story. He wrote: GREAT LINE!!!! And something else I don't recall at the moment. Then I started thinking about how I only have the photograph in my mind of that page because my father had kicked me out and never let me get my stuff and it ultimately was thrown away when they had to move…

(Yes, I will be writing about that chapter in full at a later time)

But all that ruminating brought me to the realization that I have met soooooo many Angels along the way. So many. My Gratitude and Appreciation is overflowing to each and every one of them.

In high school when my father was beating the shit out of my stepmother and terrorizing the house like Smaug in The Hobbit (yes, that's another story coming from a chapter in my Life) I was emotionally and spritually borne by Mr. Levy and my beloved dance teacher Mrs. Meizner. Absolute Angels in my Life. It has been 50+ years and I still hold them close to my heart. They had no idea of the hell I was living, matter of fact, no one did except my little brother because he was in that hell too.

Then there are the mentors--Thelma Hill, who met a tragic death in a fire--but she made such a mark in the modern dance world that the Thelma Hill perforiming Arts Center is named for her. Her mark was left on all of us who had the gift of her Being, her Attention and omg, her piercing teasing. ‘Jack-Jack' she used to call me, “Jack-Jack those bricks don't point yet? Get your dad to put some wood on top of them at night before you fall asleep” (my dad was a self-taught wood sculptor). She called my feet bricks because they were very inflexible and didn't point, thus nowhere near the aesthetic for a dancer.

She was my foundation in terms of technique and artistry, I am sooooo doggone lucky that our paths crossed my first year of college. And for my audition into the dance program, I probably wouldn’t have gotten in if she wasn't sitting at the table (I was Lucy at her finest, and yup, that's for another true tale)

FRANK HATCHETT. I will be sharing more about him soon, he was a MAJOR player and force in my young Life. He was like a father to me and so many, Thelma was the mother.

Ronnie Pratt, Delores Vanison Blakely--early supporters in my young dance evolution; Buzz Miller who danced on Broadway in the original cast of The Pajama Game by Bob Fosse, he took me under his wing in my junior year of college and reached out to Lee Theodore who was the original Anybodys in West Side Story. She offered me an apprenticeship to work with her company The American Dance Machine which was a pretty big deal at the time. Buzz definitely pushed me, challenged me to be better and was a serious advocate.

And then there was CLAUDIA ASBURY who got me 80% of my big professional work in the 80's mannnn, she got me out of some financial pickles ‘cause I was ALWAYS struggling (until I learned not to attach that word to me and Affirmed ABUNDANCE is my birthright and I Claim It! Then started to believe it, to Know it!)

There are so many more to name, and so many whose names I did not know--the customer service rep who steered me to some info I needed; the person at United Airlines who said, ‘no, I am going to make sure you get what you have been asking for’ and made it so, after countless emails that fell on deaf and unfeeling ears “I'm sorry, but I can' help you,” is what I kept getting, but cha girl don't take ‘no’ for an answer, and she will keep at it until she gets a ‘yes' if it is at all possible.

Shifting my focus and going down the route of Appreciation began to Brighten and Lighten my mood, remembering the multitude of things and people to be Grateful for, remembering some of the Angels that have crossed my path made it easier to say goodbye to the Angel that just passed so suddenly…

Thank you for your Kindness, your smiles, and your Joy, Julien🌹

But then, they are never really gone, just the physical form, but not the Life Force they were and Are. Things I have been told by some of the Energies that are no longer here in the physical…ah, that's also for another article…

But in the meantime, some of what has been shared with me is in this enlightening, inspiring and uplifting podcast episode.

In addition to some info I had shared about a loved one with my guest, we also talk about ‘aging,’ reinvention in mid-life and moving through grief.

If you like video:

Or prefer to listen to the audio:

Register Now for my upcoming End of the Month Guided Meditation & Sound Healing

Via Zoom. More info at the link

The Innocent Face of Rage

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 09:30:00 GMT

Lurking Underneath, Yet Boiling Upward in the Darkness

"Silence at first, then no, it’s NOT POSSIBLE! Now I understood why I hadn’t faced it in all these years. I was ashamed at the unearthing, how could I be mad at…"

Today's riff is The Innocent Face of Rage

Welcome to Episode 119 of the Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast!

Let me know if this resonates with you, comment, like, follow.

"Let It Be" from my SoundSoulVibin' Music.

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Click the link above or here

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Subscribe to my Substack

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Please tell your friends, family, colleagues and co-workers about this podcast, word of mouth is da the bomb-diggedy! Remember to Like, Comment, Follow, Share

Thank you for listening!

My 2004 Unforgetable Encounter with An An, the Giant Panda

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:01:19 GMT

An An in 2004. Ocean Park, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

In 2022 An An, the giant male panda died at age 35, (105 Human years) making him the world’s oldest known male giant panda in captivity. Now you may say, ‘Bird, why are you talking about a panda bear? What has that got to do with mindfulness, stress relief, mental health and all that other wellness stuff you talk about?’

To that I say, ‘ahhhhhhh but you seeeeeee, my bringing this up is about soooo many things wellness including self-care, stress relief, mindfulness and listening to your Intuition!’ It’s about JOY, LIVIN’ YOUR BEST LIFE, AND MEETING YOUR DREAMS IN PERSON.

I have had the opportunity to travel a great deal through my work as a performing artist, choreographer and master teacher. Actually experiencing many of those faraway places on the globe that I had only read about in books as a child, reached beyond my dreams, but not my Intentions. You see, I was a pretty willful child and expected to get my way. So I was GONNA see those places.

Hmm…not much has changed as an adult hah!

Meeting a panda bear was definitely high up in priortity on little Jackie's I Want I Want To list (that's how I spelled it, heck it was the only spelling back in the 60's that I knew). We did a lot of envisioning about what we wanted as children, it was so natural to see into the future and we didn't quesstion it then.

Manifestation is all about Patience, Faith and Intention which is a Conscious part of the Wellness Journey.

You’re Going To Do, What?

In July of 2004 I was teaching for the Jean M. Wong School of Dance on Hong Kong Island. I was in the prime area of Central at the Ritz-Carlton near trains, buses and most important to me, the ferries! Steps away in fact, from all modes of transportation and Victoria’s Peak, so needless to say, I was in HEAVEN! That first week, I debated on what to do with my first weekend off but when I found out about Ocean Park, AND that there were not one but TWO panda bears there, well, it was a no-brainer.

When I told some of the faculty of my plans I was met with, “why I mean WHY (on Earth) do you want to go all the way over there to see some—PANDA BEARS???”

They were incredulous. It was like, you’ve flown half-way around the world to Hong Kong and on your first day off you’re going to see WHAT? PANDA BEARS?! I mean, folks were downright kerfuffled. Now if I had said I wanted to go to Ocean Park, that would’ve been one thing, but to take the 60 minute trip to go all the way to the other end of the island alone on a bus just to see pandas, well no doubt in their minds, I was basically insane.

Crazy American, they must've been thinking.
But I ain't one to give a good crap what anyone thinks…

Getting There

Yeahhhh it was a long trip. But an EXCITING ONE. Up the mountain we went with me, sitting on the top deck of the double-decker, and I think I was the only one on the bus! I sat up front on the right side just as gleeful as my 7 year old self was in the mud, makin’ mud pies. That is, until the road narrowed on the steep cliff and I realized that on the curves I was basically sitting OVER the edge of said cliff and it was a LONNNNGGGG ass way down!

Also rattled at times from oncoming double decker buses as the space between was, (um what space, I couldn't see any space!) reeeeeeaaally tiny and all the buses were bookin’ man, we were movin' and so were they…tree branches be DAMNED!

But that temporary fear didn’t stop my JoyFlow as I took in every single sight I could on both sides of the bus. Though I had traveled extensively up to that point, Hong Kong was a whole ‘notha experience unlike even Japan. I was ooo-in’ and ahhh-in’ to no one but myself like kuh-razy! The pics below caused one such outburst—the building below was designed with Feng Shui so Dragons could go through from the mountains unimpeded to quench their thirst in Repulse Bay. That body of water flows out to the South China Sea.

No need to piss the Dragons off when thirsty right?

The hole also represents supreme good fortune, wealth, prosperity and unobstructive Energy Flow. I definitely felt that vibe!

The Repulse Bay residential comples

When I saw this I was truly like a kid with my mouth open, at that point I had never seen anything like it, nor had ever heard of some such thing!

A Date with Destiny?

I absolutely loved that long scenic trip and once I got to the park as impressive as it looked my mind was set on one thing, where are the panda bears where are the panda bears PANDA BEARS PANDA BEARS PANDA BEARRRRRRRRS? After bearing down upon an attendant, I was off to the race. Their enclosure was nowhere near the entrance and it took a long time to get there (so close but yet so far!)

It was early morning, not too long after the park opened and it was already hot as Hades and felt like I was in a pot of boiling water. When I got to the site of the pandas there were some tourists from the mainland already standing in front of the area but enough empty space right at the railing to see unimpeded.

AWESOMMMMMMME…

Staked out my spot and surveyed the area to find it was…EMPTY! Took me a minute to grasp the sit-chee-a-shun ‘cause I was NOT tryin' tah accept this--I traveled from across the world to see them…

Then I looked up to see a sign at the top of the hill where the doorway was saying “Jia Jia (the female panda) will not be coming out today” or something to that effect. There was also a sign at An An’s door. I stood there.

Dumbfounded.
Absolutely and
Totally.
Dumbfounded.

It seemed like I couldn’t wrap my mind around it—surely there must be some mistake. THE QUEEN IS HERE! There must be a grave error. I am here, so therefore the pandas must be here.

I stood numb. Then it hit me after all that mental posturing.

WHAT? No pandas?

I came all this way for NO PANDAS?

NO PANDAS?

THEY’RE NOT COMING OUT?

WHAT?

My heart was broken. I wasn’t gonna see a panda bear in person.

wah.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

Too stubborn to walk away, but my mind was saying, move girl! I was still standing dazed in my spot then began to ever sooooo slowly move when I heard a shout! The tourists were yelling and cheering. My gaze goes up to the doorway, lo and behold, AN AN WAS MAKING HIS DESCENT DOWN THE HILL!! I watched in stunnation as he made his way and plopped himself down RIGHT IN FRONT OF MEEEEEEE! He bypassed the group over to my right and sat in front of me to begin eating his bamboo.

IT WAS MAGICAL. I didn't know whether to cry in deep relief or start laughing! For me, the girl from Brooklyn with Dreams, saw one Manifest in a BIG way. I stood there taking pictures for what seemed a lifetime.

An An sat there blissfully eating his bamboo the entire time. (I got chills as I wrote that, in the recognition that that Being Blessed me).

What’s funny about that trip is when I went back to teach that Monday, everybody wanted to know what I thought. And it became a thing, every Friday I was asked what I planned to do for the weekend. Every Monday, I was asked what I did and where I went. They began to Appreciate their city and culture through my eyes and from my Appreciation and excitement.

After getting my fill of An An, I set out to explore the park. I was told about an attraction to see on the complete other side of the park and I had to take the cable car to get to it.

Oh man, was that a hair raising experience! But alas, that is a tale for another post...

And then we zip forward to the present time…

A Bit of Background

My dude, who is always in the know, told me on July 21, 2022 about a giant panda dying. I was like, “wait, what is his name???? If it’s An An I will scream.” And it was.

And I did.

An An and Jia Jia were gifts from the Chinese government to the people of Hong Kong in 1997, the year it returned to their jurisdiction from being a colony of Great Britain. Giant pandas live to about 20 years old in the wild, An An was the oldest living male in captivity, as I mentioned earlier. Jia Jia died in 2016 at age 38, the oldest female giant panda in captivity.

In 2024, Beijing gifted a new pair of giant pandas to Ocean Park. And the name of the male? Did you guess it? AN AN! the female's name is Ke Ke.

Spiritually, some of the Essences that pandas represent are Appreciation, Abundance, Playfulness, and Enjoying Life. For the Chinese, pandas represent good luck and happiness.

To me, they’re just, MAGIC.

Do more of the things that you Love regardless of what others think. And the more you do that, the more Love will Flow to and Through You

Addendum: I just ‘happened' to be wearing my tattered tee shirt from the Hong Kong dance school I taught at as I wrote this article! I only just realized it.

There are indeed no coincidences.

Another thought just occurred to me--I was not that kid who had stuffed animals, (we didn't have the money nor did I have the interest luckily). Having said that, I own two stuffed panda bears! One was a gift from a Chinese couple who's wedding dance I choreographed, the other, most recently from my cousin.

I had never discussed my love (obsession) with panda bears…so how did they know?

Allowing Your Divine Guidance to Be Heard

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 13:02:24 GMT

Nature has a magnificent way of helping us to quiet our minds. If you are in-tune and Present, her secrets become more visible. I’m not talking about the obvious in terms of terrain and what’s in it, but what you may find gazing at the ground, under the rocks (if you dare!) and on or into the trees.

In our need to defuse, we may flee to a place where there are more trees, or by a lake or the ocean and become one with the sounds, smells and the sigh of the air moving around us. A strong sense of Calm flows into us like a sweet embrace, soothing our being and encouraging us to let go, giving into the reality of Peace…

which we immediately forget when we return to the real world, whatever that may be. So absorbed by our day to day doings that the beautiful feeling of Calm becomes, ‘what Calm, I’m stressed I’m stressed I’M STRESSSSSSSSED!’

And there we are: stressed, pinched and exhausted, canNOT shut the ‘Monkey Mind’ up ‘cause it keeps onnnnn a-chitterin’ annnnnd a-chatterin’! PHEW!

We can forget hearing our Divine Guidance, especially if we think everything is about science and facts…

but the one thing I have been told repeatedly by people who work in hospice or as death doulas, is that as Beings are on the verge of leaving this plane, they often share regrets like they wished they had lived fully, worked less, and made Human Connection more of a thing of importance.

So why wait until you are on your way out of this Life to feel a list of regrets? Why not make the most of your Life while you still can, now?

No, you may not have the funds available to take a vacation or do some of the things you may want to do at the moment, but why not begin to deepen your Connection with the one person you are with from the cradle to the grave—and that’s YOU!

Why Now? For there is only NOW. The past and the future is only viewed from the vantage point of NOW. This is the time to deepen Your Connection with self.

And how do you begin to do that when you have no time?

By Listening to Your Divine Guidance, Your Intuition much more often.

Yes, I know the noise in your head seemingly prevents this, (is the noise in my head bothering you???? A quote from the comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy, which was one of the funniest movies I had even seen in my twenties…but not so funny when I saw it again in my thirties. Anywho, I’m off on a tangent…)

Ok Bird, How Do I Do This?

You start small—maybe you get an urge to do something that’s different to what you’re used to doing. Your mind may say, ‘oh that’s stupid, you’ll waste too much time doing that,’ or ‘nobody else is doing it that way, your aunt Ethel never did it that way and she’s was the best in your family at it,’ or so on and so forth. Our minds have been programmed for eons to give us back the answers it thinks we expect due to conditioning. If you never question it or challenge certain held beliefs, how can you begin to make the changes you seek?

Follow the urge regardless of what the mind is yelling. You may feel shaky and/or insecure but do it anyway. And yes, the mind wants to keep us safe, but following that Intuition will show it (and YOU) something else, something new and eventually, it will begin giving you suggestions based upon the new programming.

When you follow Divine Guidance, you are always shown something that’s soooo much better than what you planned. I know it can be scary trying something that’s only a whisper within your heart, but stop for a moment, think of something or a situation that came as a result of following an urge, an impulse, a quiet pull…

And what happened?

Think of more things, I know there are many instances of you following your gut if even by ‘accident’ and the results were on the positive side...

“Live Life as if it is rigged in your favor” —Rumi

I have found that when I Listen to and follow my Divine Guidance, groovy things happen, some small, some big. Some HUGE.

Ok Bird, Like What?

I Love when I Allow my Divine Wisdom out. I Love when I actually ‘hear' the Guidance that is always available. But when all the other voices in my head are sooooo loud, Divine Guidance gets drowned out.

While cooking she may whisper: “add this here, add that there" and it will be something I'd never done before, let alone ever considered. And the suggestion? BRILLIANT!

Recently I was in a bit of a pickle—it was a two event day, I was going to a show and afterwards gonna head to Brooklyn to see my dude play with a band he hadn’t played with before (and the stories, oh the stories he had to tell after rehearsals!)

So you know, I had to see that, plus I am always on duty as the videographer!

The first show I went to see was magnificent—it was a company called Step Afrika! and they did a piece based on the works of the painter Jacob Lawrence titled The Migration Series. Quite stimulating, moving and inspiring!

BUT. As fashion would have it, I had put on a cute pair of sandals I hadn’t worn in a year and hence had forgotten that they weren’t the best for lots of walking—when I put them on I was like, ‘ooooo these feel great!’ then when I got about 45 minutes out, the strap on my left foot was like, ‘lets see if I can make an improvement on her foot by taking some of the skin off!’

Mannnnn if you’ve ever had a floor burn, you would KNOW how much that crap hurt! And of course it was getting more and more raw with each step!

What a conundrum. By the end of the show, I was pressed for time and there wasn’t a drug store on the way to the train or once I got off heading to destination #2 which was a park. What to do? I knew I would be in even more pain as the day wore on and my skin wore off.

I forged on, trying not to focus on the searing pain and the knowledge I was involuntarily losing skin cells. Once I got situated after fussing about in the quest to find a comfortable place to settle in the park (it was woefully bench-less).

Once seated, there was a moment of silence in my head, enough of a space for me to hear Divine Guidance whisper, “place saliva there,” which I did and it neutralized the pain. Then I got, “tear that leaf off and place it.” I was sitting on a somewhat grassy area in the park and saw some weeds growing from the ground. Divine Guidance was referring to those, so I took a few and used them as emergency bandaids placing them between my poor burning foot and the offending strap of the sandal. It worked, FABULOUSLY!

Good thing too because I had many more hours before going home. But the hack was soooo fierce that I sustained no further damage. I mean I would’ve NEVER thought to do that in a million years, but my Divine Guidance knew exactly what to do.

Oh, and the fact that I even went to see Step Afrika! was a last minute impulse. I bought the ticket the night before the matinee. I had been hemmin’ and haughin’ it was down to the wire. I missed that show every year with the intentions of going.

And because I did that, I saw a friend who used to be a best friend at another point in time years ago. We never had a falling out, but among other things, we had drifted apart and though I saw her from time to time, it was like greeting a distant person I used to know extremely well.

As she was ushered to her seat only a few rows in front of me, I called out to her and she came up to my row. We hugged like old times, I was so glad to see her. My row was empty so she sat in the seat next to me and we talked non-stop like we used to, it was like no time had passed and our separation had never occured.

It was an answer to a silent request I had made a few weeks prior: I couldn’t remember if I had ever truly thanked her for the wedding shower she had given me and I wanted a chance to do so fully. Things were so incredibly hectic then and I was reeling from having been thrown out by my father months prior. Then he tried to sabotage my wedding but my Uncle Earl stepped in along with so many other people to help.

Oooo chle, that’s a story for another time but I still have the many things gifted from that 1982 event from friends and family members who are no longer on this Side of The Veil.

So I took this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you and my friend told me that I thanked her heartily at the time, that I was so very Grateful. I was glad to know that among the hurricane, I was Present enough to let her know how much I Appreciated her and her efforts.

If I hadn’t followed my Intuition, I wouldn’t have had that opportunity to see both the show and her! And even though she pretty much ghosted me afterwards, I had the opportunity for closure of a wound that was humming in the background like an app for decades, occasionally burning like my foot!

If you would like guidance in your Life Journey for stress and anxiety relief as well as Connecting to Inner Peace and more Clarity, consider working with me and/or visiting my site for WellBeing tips and tools including my Wellness Guide. Available in digital and physical form.

The Innocent Face of Rage

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 14:15:08 GMT

Looking for something the other day, I was going through some files and found a treasure trove of writings from 20-30 years ago when I was in my 30’s and 40’s. Most of it was written as a result of some kinda angst I was going through at the time--particularly when I was going through yet another transition from a performing artist to who am I now???

In those writings was the first time I began a dialogue with myself about myself. So interesting to read them now as I was in deep discovering of this woman who I thought I was well acquainted with. This is the first of those writings in the new section of the Tapping Into & Tuning Within publication titled The Many Archives of Me.

I was in my early forties at the time I wrote The Innocent Face of Rage...

(A 14 or 15 year old me, seething with rage but you wouldn't know by looking at her eh?)

Some years ago, a friend and I walked into a small coffee shop. In the back, a man was offering free palm readings, and being one always intrigued by things beyond the five senses, I sat down and presented my hand with high expectations. After a pause, the reader gently said, “you are very angry…”

Not exactly what I had in mind. Surely he had to see much success in my career as a performing artist therefore, he had to be confusing the lines in my hand with someone else’s. What could I, the Queen of Effervescence, possibly be angry about? But despite my weak protests, he insisted and my supposed anger was all he talked about for the allotted 5-10 minutes.

I felt like I wasted my money, then I remembered…I didn’t pay.

Fast-forward a few years; I’m artfully navigating the Seas of Life. Things were status quo-I was healthy, the bills were getting paid, I had wonderful friends and was in a fantastic relationship. Aside from the usual frustrations of the show biz life I had no major complaints though I couldn’t deny the quiet undertow of feeling off kilter, the sense of something being wrong without tangible evidence or incident. That being the case I did what a lot of us do, put it aside and focused on the day-to-day operations of my life. But one July 4^th weekend, I was forced to take a swim in the undertow, and come clean.

The city was in the throes of a heat wave, my honey had just left town so I had the place to myself. But he was barely gone a day before I had the absolute displeasure of a visitation from my ultimate phobia. A waterbug. Now, waterbugs are to me what mice, snakes, and spiders are to other people. The sight of them reduces me to an out of control wind up toy on speed. I just lose it. Since my protector was gone I had to slay the monster, I wound up screaming and crying like a toddler in the terrible two stage, just pitiful. As I was unraveling, I knew something was truly amiss, but at the moment hysteria had a serious foothold and I was swept away in the torrent.

Numb, the next day I faced myself. Why had I lost it like that? To get the answer, I knew I needed to dig deep and with care, like I was excavating in a sacred burial ground. Yes, I do abhor waterbugs but geez I had carried on!

Something was truly consuming my soul and needed tending to.

But what?

A quiet voice responded, ‘you are full of rage. I’ve tried to tell you in many ways, but you wouldn’t listen.’ And in that moment, I knew Truth. I was full of pure, unadulterated, unfiltered, uranium rage. And no, it wasn’t that time of the month, nor did I just have a bad day. I was more than frustrated, more than angry; I was a fire-breathing behemoth behind an innocent looking face.

Then Ms. Wise-in-Hymer speaks up, loudly. ‘Okay, we admit we’re enraged, but at what, pray tell?’ For a minute, I’m stumped. I’ve prided myself on staying connected; I have more self-help books than the library. I’m in touch with my inner children; we do lunch often. In the midst of my search, I came to this: you can recite affirmations to infinitum, but if you don’t clean house, and I mean truly clean house (like you do when important folks are coming over), you’re just putting perfume on over the funk. Every time I felt the bile rise, I’d shoot it down with a dose of Positive Thinking, never addressing the gnawing, just excusing it away. Anything to deny the underlying earthquake waiting to rock-n.-roll.

Now really, I was in no mood to go deep sea-soul searching. Having survived one of the most tumultuous times in my adult life, I thought the digging was over. My thirties began in the midst of an ugly, ugly long drawn out divorce featuring verbal and physical abuse. Add to that a no-win work situation where I battled with cast members constantly. And if that wasn’t enough drama, I was having an affair that was very destructive to my psyche and put me in harm’s way on more than one occasion. And, I lost my house. As a result, I had a constant, unrelenting pain that lived below my rib cage on the right side. Needless to say, breathing was not a cherished thing.

Now you know things are bad when you’re the smallest you’ve ever been since birth and you DON’T EVEN NOTICE!! So consumed by helplessness, I was in a period of acute depression and seriously contemplated suicide. One morning at 2am found me on the beach in Atlantic City, thinking if I just walked out into the ocean and kept going till I drowned, no one would miss me and the hurting would just, stop. To this day, I really don’t know what prevented me; the water beckoned so dark, peaceful and inviting, almost lulling me into a sense of peace. It looked like an answer. But not The Answer. I pried myself away, headed back to the place I was staying and saw two very anxious and worried friends. So much for not being missed.

A vast amount of inner work got me through that excruciatingly bleak and endless period. I regained my fun-lovingness and laughter, making a pact with self that no matter how dim the light, I would always find something to laugh at. I learned to accept responsibility for my life’s choices, and stopped blaming others for my lot. And now here I was, with the discovery of toxic rage, festering in my living room, my soul! In the past, I thought I had gone as deep as I could go, why wasn’t it good enough? But inherently, I knew I was up for the task and it was imperative to my sense of well-being and happiness to keep digging. Again I asked, what could I possibly be enraged about? I knew it was beyond the obvious, which was the lack of a relationship with my father. I had been dealing with that off and on for years, yet knew it was something even deeper, something I had never even considered.

Silence at first, then no, it’s NOT POSSIBLE! Now I understood why I hadn’t faced it in all these years. I was ashamed at the unearthing, how could I be mad at…my mother, a woman who had passed on when I was nine, over 30 years ago! We leave this earth when it’s our time and how could I have the right to be angry over something that is as inevitable as Death itself? How could I take my self seriously by admitting I harbored rage toward my mother? My beautiful mommy, the lady who used make my birthday cake with pink and blue icing. The lady who made all my clothes and let me play with her jewelry. The person who gave me my civics lessons like don’t stare at the nuns across from us on the bus because they look different. The one who could move her neck from side to side before Janet Jackson was a thought in her mom’s heart. Mommy, who explained death in a way I could understand at five years old. Death, when you go to sleep and don’t wake up.

My rational mind screamed, this finding was preposterous; of course you’re mad at your dad! Look at all the stuff he did to you, and then having the nerve, the gall to shun you! But I knew it was integral to the evolution of my being to deny it no longer. I was ticked off because mommy died on me.

The floodgates opened. The more I came to terms with my truth without judgment, the more I sobbed. I was finally ready to deal with the loss, pain, and rage. I gave myself permission to feel the emotion, as irrational as it seemed.

All that I endured in my childhood was a direct result of her passing. The step-mom from hell moving in 5 months after and declaring her turf, making no bones about her disdain for me; an alcoholic tyrannical dad who I think just snapped due to the guilt and sudden loss; loving relatives cast aside as a result of the fallout and rendered strangers. My entire world was turned upside down, and because things moved so fast and furiously, I didn’t have the time to mourn my loss. I followed the example of the adults in my life and moved on.

The last image I have of her was through the doorway as I lay in bed, seeing her as a white cocoon wrapped in a sheet as they carried her out on a stretcher in the middle of the night. If I were a film director, I know exactly how that scene would be litand shot. I must have awakened just at that moment, having no recollection of hearing anything or anyone prior. With a child’s knowing I knew things were wrong, unable to express it like adults, but fully cognizant of events. I had asked for another orange late that evening and she said yes. There’s no way she would’ve said yes if she were up to snuff as my aunt would say. When I went to bed, dad wasn’t home and there was something so sad about my mom. When I think about it, she had been that way for almost a year; there was such a heaviness in her energy when she thought I wasn’t looking.

I was in the stupor of sleepiness when she was taken from our home. I had no idea that would be the last time I would see her.

For two weeks I eagerly awaited her return, unaware she was laying in a coma. I stayed with my bible spouting grandma who railed on about the Last Days and Times, storming around the apartment yelling at the top of her lungs that we were all about to burn. One day, as I sat crouched behind the couch, I said a private prayer to God to ask him not to destroy the world before I turned eighteen. I also asked that mommy would be ok so my brother and I could go home. But that was not to be.

I did what we’re taught to do. Move on. But I had only postponed the inevitable, the How Do I Feel about this life-altering event?? When I finally came to grips with all of this I felt like I had shed a hundred pounds. Not to say I could flip cartwheels, but I gained peace with self. And it’s an ongoing process, because I will always miss her, but I no longer harbor rage toward her and I have released it with no harm to myself or others.

I know I am the person I am and live the life I lead because of the sum total of my experiences and choices and of that I’m proud. I love her and am thankful for the time we had. The things she taught me in her short time on earth stay in my heart and mind. Memories flood me that were once lost; remembering her drawing the snot out of my infant brother’s nose with her mouth because he couldn’t breathe has to go down as one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever witnessed. But what an extraordinary testament of love and though the eight-year-old me was totally grossed out at the time, her adult counterpart sees the lesson. Coming to terms with my anger created the freedom to rejoice in being a living product of her. And everyday I look in the mirror I see, her.

The more I talk to Nana and my great-aunt, the more I learn we have much in common. She wanted to be a dancer; I ended up dancing professionally.

That bit of recent information recalled the memory of sitting impatiently outside the door of a dance studio, I guess I was about seven and totally bored. She was taking a ballet class and thoroughly engrossed. Little did I know I would be doing the same moves years later.

Sometimes I serve as a judge at dance competitions. Two years ago, I was completing the score of a young contestant. I passed her sheet down, placed the next score sheet in front of me while I readied the tape recorder. I looked up in time for the start of the next contestant and the world ceased to exist. That smile, that face, that spirit, it was HER. I watched the two-minute routine in a haze of tears, the young artist was astounding and I was rocked to the core feeling an intense connection to my mom, as we co-existed in the same time. She was here, fulfilling her dream to dance.

Now, was that truly my mom reincarnated? It doesn’t even matter. I do believe our loved ones are with us always and one must be open to receive the communication.

Meeting and releasing my rage has shown me how easy it is to delude oneself about inner health. Many of us are very diligent about getting that yearly doctor’s checkup, that mammogram, that pap smear, the dental appointment; but when it comes to how one is really doing inside, halting to tune in and listen to our inner selves, we’d rather not. In this technological age with barely enough time to breathe, inner health falls dead last in priorities. Volcanoes are brewing within and we do just enough to keep them at bay. But, ultimately it manifests by taking it out on our children, our mates, co-workers, employees, friends, strangers and ourselves.

Checking in can seem self-indulgent, and it is a self-indulgent necessity. To realize one’s true self is to delve into Self. Ask questions, take inventory, take responsibility and make changes if you don’t like what you see. And while you cannot change the past, we have the power to change our attitude about it, hence how it ultimately affects us. Claiming, facing and letting go of anger releases its hold on us allowing the God-Self to shine. The self that attracts Kindness, Joy, and Peace. Though it doesn’t release us from our lessons, feeling better about the Journey of Life makes it worth living—and enjoying.

Our Personal Pathways: A Talk With Victoria Platt

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

"I don't say 'aging' I say 'staging'..." "'cause it's about the stage we're in...' --Victoria Platt

OKAY??? That's how we rollin' on this talk!

Today's riff is Our Personal Pathways: A Talk with Victoria Platt.

Welcome to Episode 118 of the Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast!

We chat about coming into your own, perimenopause symptoms and how she's flowing with them, mindset, being in your body, "aging" mindfully and all that good stuff!

Victoria Platt is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), an Innerlight Energy Balancing and Mindfulness Therapist, a Minister at Christ the Resurrected Church in Los Angeles and a certified Anusara Yoga Facilitator. Her wellness business, iElevate ME Inc., was created out of a Spirit driven urge to assist all bodies in re-membering their minds, bodies and spirits, to experience more wholeness, joy and liberation in their lives. Victoria's beginnings were as an actor, singer and dancer in New York City, performing on stage, film, tv, commercials, print, voiceovers, etc. from the age of 6. She still moves in the realm of entertainment as she is called to do so.

She found that the work she does as an artist and the work she does in wellness have strong and powerful common threads; self-awareness, transparency, courage and a willingness to play and be curious. Blending the tools of somatics and mindfulness with the creative exercises of performing was an easeful jump and her workshop UNCOVERY™ was created. In 2023, Victoria created ALL OF ME SEEN summer camp™, a 3 week arts and mindfulness summer camp that teaches 6-13 years old the toys (tools) of self-regulation and somatics through yoga, voice, dance, art and science. Along with holding sessions for individuals, couples and groups, Victoria also offers donation-only virtual yoga classes weekly. Victoria is a lead facilitator for the Mindful Leaders Project, teaching self-regulation and mindfulness through breathwork, movement, meditation and other tools. She has facilitated courses for the faculty and staff of Pasadena Unified School District in California, providing tools to help foster healthier relational dynamics between students and staff/faculty through addressing how unconscious bias begins, and ends, in the body, and also facilitated classes in somatics and mindfulness for the parents of Riverside County held by The University of LaVerne Center for Neurodiversity and Riverside County, CA.

Since 2020, Victoria has been a part of Communal Consult workshops and the Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism program, taught by the author of My Grandmother's Hands, Resmaa Menakem. Through the work she’s done with Resmaa Menakem, her study of Reich and Lowen Therapy and sitting at the feet of her Spiritual Counselor, Rev. Dr. Charles O. Brown (Doc), Victoria has begun the process of cultivating Spiritual Somatic Abolitionism - an ongoing unfolding process of aligning the mind, heart and body in order to transcend from the physiological and psychological state of existence into the Spiritual realm of experience.

Visit Victoria on Instagram and TikTok

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Website: www.iElevateME.com

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Original Music: "Sister Chat" by Sylvester "Sly" Scott

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On The Mindfulness Tip:

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 02:08:02 GMT

When we are little, there are endless lessons on The Consequences—’don’t touch that fire, it’s hot and you’ll get burned!’ But some of us did it anyway and what happened?

“OWWWW it’s HOT! OW, BURNS! WAHHHHHHHHH HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” SCREAMS. BELLOWS, SOBS etc.

‘Don’t climb up there, you’ll fall!’ But some of us did it anyway and BAMN! HOWLS, SCREAMS, BELLOWS, SOBS, etc.

‘Don’t put that in your mouth you’ll swallow it!’ Yeah, some of us did it anyway, perhaps swallowing it and having to go to the hospital. Childhood was ripe with lessons on The Consequences—when doing XYZ can give us ABC and beyond. Soooooo many of us learned the hard way, but we learned.

But did we? Are we learning? Are we considering The Consequences before doing, thinking or saying thing? Do we consider another’s feelings, our thoughts and actions, how what we do can cause harm to another? Do we consider how not taking care of self through being Mindful in all ways is destructive to our bodies and minds? Do we consider The Consequences in choices made that continue to harm the beautiful orb we are Graced to be on, this place called Earth???

From the looks of things, nahhhh, I don’t think so.

A Course in The Consequences

My folks were STRICT. I mean 17th century strict and if caught, my punishment was a 16th century sentence. Off with her head and all that jazz…well, I’ve still got my head but my upbringing was definitely on the abusive/eccentric side, especially as I hit double digits on, daddy was even deeper in the bottle and becoming more and more unhinged. His cruelty knew no bounds and when it came to ‘discipline’ he didn’t play so mannnnn the goal was NOT to get caught as I KNEW The Consequences would be swift and dire!

I was a good kid but a bit of a tomboy…um ok a full-fledged tomboy, and one day I went to school sporting a large wooden bracelet that my dad had made. He was teaching himself the art of woodcarving and had begun making bracelets. I was in the 7th grade at the time, traveling between classes in the stairwell heading down while this boy heading up the stairs decided to bother me (‘cause that’s what boys do), and he grabbed my arm. I don’t remember what he said but he yanked my left arm hard and I did what any spirited tomboy would do…I punched him. I punched him hard. UHH! And in doing so, my barely 24-hour old hand carved bracelet by my strict-ass daddy EXPLODED into pieces.

Immediately understanding the severity of my situation and of the impending punishment as a result of my action, I quickly scooped up the parts making that boy help, and he too recognized that was a baddddddd thing he did.

But I was the one that hit him, a different choice would’ve produced a different result and yes, I reacted in the moment—the key word here being reacted. What was I, about 12 maybe? A kid yes, but wayyyyy old enough to understand The Consequences.

I went to work mentally, creating a scenario of the why of what had happened. It was flawless and so brilliant—I fell!

I fell down the stairs. Yup, that’s it! I fell down the stairs! That was the answer, that’s what I’d tell him. But needless to say, I was sweatin’ the rest of the day ‘cause I KNEW The Consequences would be extreme when I got home if he didn’t believe me.

The Interrogation

I walk into the house. I show him the bracelet as I walk in, (‘show and tell immediately don’t wait until he finds out, offer up the evidence!’) “daddy look what happened!”

Dad silently takes the pieces, examining them. I tell my tale of woe.

“I fell down the steps and the bracelet broke!”

“You did? Are you hurt?”

“No…”

“Okay,” or something like that and I am dismissed. I walk away stunned and I think, ‘that was too easy.’ But off I go to settle uneasily into a night of homework.

Periodically I would be called into the room he used as his woodworking shop for questioning:

“Let me see your wrist, is it bruised?”

“No…”

“How did you fall?”

“I tripped,” which wasn’t out of the norm, I was really really clumsy, (um, still am Lucy!) always bumping into things or tripping and the tour de force of course, was falling.

“Did you fall forward or sideways?”

Think fast girl! “FORWARD.”

“Okay,” he said or something along those lines, all the while whittling away on what he was creating at the time, steadily working the file across the wood as I stood for my interrogation awaiting my execution, the sound of the file on wood very vivid in my mind (sheet, sheet, sheet, sheet).

But oh wow, once again I was dismissed with my head still attached!

And this drama played out repeatedly for the rest of the evening into the night, periods of wondering if I got over followed by moments of puzzlement. Why was he asking all these questions? I was definitely off balance because his behavior wasn’t what I was expecting AT ALL.

BEDTIME

I walk into the room to say my goodnights thinking: ‘IThinkI’mGonnaIThinkI’mGonnaIThink I’m GONNA MAKE ITTTTTTT…’

The silent ‘sound’ of brakes screeching…as he stands up with the broken pieces of bracelet in his hands looking at me pointedly…

(I was woefully well acquainted with that look as the reddened eyes and invisible steam emanated from his nostrils like a bull in the cartoons and I think, ‘time to die’)

From glowering eyes, he says, “you didn’t fall…”

Me: wide eyed innocence with a twinge of guilt.

“…no, you didn’t fall because if you did, you would’ve had bruises (and he points) here, here and here, and you would be hurting there, there and there. If you had fallen the way you say, that would’ve sent you downward at an nth degree angle causing you to hit the steps at a nth degree angle and the bracelet would’ve been broken here, here and here in x number of pieces...”

(good LAWD, daddy was analytical gangsta like that)

OMG the probing torture of that day was worse than him yelling, his quiet laser-like deduction was like the knife cut I would get 3 years later (Oh no, not by him, by another stupid boy. That’s another tale for another time).

I came clean. I told him what happened, the whole ridiculous thing. I was so ashamed. Soooo ashamed. That was worse than any punishment.

PHEW that was rough.

I was dismissed. But the torture continued for a few days afterwards ’cause I wasn’t sure if he was done. I could tell however, that he was very very disappointed.

Adulting & The Consequences

Yeahhhhh those coming of age lessons. OUCH! They come fast and hard as a child, some of us still have the scars to prove it. But what the heck happens in adulthood??? We become so self-absorbed by our racing random thoughts and all the never-ending stuff we gotta do that we tend to forget to Consciously weigh The Consequences of our thoughts, words and actions. Oh sure, we’re not totally unconscious to possible outcomes, but on a day to day what ‘I Am I Doing Thinking How Are My Actions Influencing The Whole’ tip—many times that gets glossed over, our Vision a bit nearsighted unless it’s something like relocating, buying a car or house and other big ticket items.

In those cases, (hopefully) we may do in depth research or hire an adviser. But starting in our tweens through adulthood as a whole, it seems like Actions and Consequences don’t reside in the same basket. There are so many things we tend to put in between those two, like profit, greed, fear and POWER— the hell with what may come afterwards or who or what may suffer, just let me get mine! I don’t care if people are dying, sick or destitute. I want as much power and glory as possible. I don’t care if I am burning down the entire Amazon, I want the profits from palm (or whatever the heck they’re planting). I don’t care if I’m wrecking the environment, that’s a hoax anyway. I don’t care I don’t care I don’t care, ME ME ME ME AND MY INTERESTS, THE REST OF THE WORLD BE DAMNED!

That viewpoint and desire is more important than The Whole so it doesn’t matter WHAT happens as long as you are doing what you want.

Not considering The Consequences is short-sighted, narrow minded, cruel and selfish.

Repeat After Me: Mindfulness Mindfulness Mindfulness

Mindfulness is considering how your actions could harm or positively benefit yourself and others.

What are the consequences of this action I take or decide not to take?
Will it benefit me and ultimately others? Or will it harm me? Harm others?

Awareness is seeing the possible consequences and acting accordingly. Now this doesn’t mean you’re gonna see everything, there are too many variables, but your Consciousness Intent, and Awareness, or lack thereof puts so much into motion.

Ever since I saw the film The Matrix I can’t think of The Consequences without hearing The Merovingian’s voice, “…causality, action, reaction. Cause and Effect…” thus reminding us for every action, there is a reaction or effect, in other words, The Consequences of said action or actions.

As we move into our teenage years and even more so as an adult, we tend to claim something is not our fault or blame others, not really cognizant that our every thought, our every action creates a ripple effect that we put into the LifeFlowStream— an Energy, A Vibration, A Frequency. A MOMENTUM.

Remember that EVERYTHING is Energy.

Becoming Mindful and AWARE of our thoughts and actions, to KNOW and to UNDERSTAND the WHY of why we do something, say something, and think a particular way is us claiming and Being Responsible for our actions and our feelings, as they are based on reactions to thoughts and/or stimuli.

Dang Bird, That’s A Lot of Work

Yeah I know…that can seem like an awwwwful lot of work and it is until it becomes part of your mental fabric. You don’t always have to understand The WHY of something in terms of being able to explain it to another—Intuition springs from our Inner Selves connected to a Higher Source and our Thinking Mind does not speak that language, so we cannot always begin to translate it.

But we have an Inner Knowing of TRUTH.

The Inner Knowing of The Why—YOU knowing you are being moved by Intuition is knowing The Why in a way, and if others don’t understand that, don’t make it your problem, they are the ones that don’t get it.

And that’s okay.

So in considering The Consequences in regard to a decision or action, first of all, you must be Aware of whatever you are deciding upon has consequences. Seeing possible consequences takes Being Present and Listening to your Divine Guidance/your gut/your Intuition.

Greater Awareness in Relationships

Being blind to The Consequences happens all the time in relationships—perhaps staying in one way too long or rushing into one. Ultimately it takes a toll on you physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually. I remember from my late twenties into my mid-thirties, I was involved in one disastrous relationship after the other because I did not look at the consequences of my choices, my decisions. My gut was telling me one thing but I allowed the excuses I would tell myself to gain sway.

On no less than 3 occasions I am lucky I escaped with my Life. In all three, different decisions would’ve reaped different reactions and consequences, not putting me in harm’s way.

Relationships are one of the hardest things to see that our choices are entwined with The Consequences, like being with folks that are not a good match or were once a good match but no longer. We enter into relationships with folks who may not show us who they truly are until after ‘The Honeymoon’ period is over, but we so often tell ourselves we are not seeing and feeling what we are once they start behaving badly. We make excuses for why we won’t let go like,

“they said they were sorry and we had the best make-up sex EVAH!”

“They cried and promised they’d never do it again.”

Or they flip the script on ya and make YOU feel like the villain by blaming you for whatever occurred (I was in a relationship like that–the one where I could’ve lost my life or gotten hurt very badly. If I caught him cheating, before I knew it, I was on the defensive).

TrustYourGut!

If You have the slightest inkling someone isn’t right for you, DITCH THEM because The Consequences will not be to your liking. Sometimes we CAN sidestep falling into The Vat of Suffering, but we gotta pay attention!

The consequences of your decision to choose Self-Love first will always reward you in Life Riches and Enrichment.

Are you gonna see every possibility in considering what consequences lie at the end of a decision and/or action?

NOPE.

If we could, there would be no lessons, no Life Surprises, no Growth. BUT a large amount of aggravation and suffering that we cause ourselves and others would be lessened exponentially if we took time In Presence to consider our actions prior to taking them.

What are the possible consequences?

Could they be beneficial or harmful?

Will they serve my Highest Good?

Will they advance my cause or hinder it?

Is it useful or not useful? What is my Intention here?

(A biggie here) What do I want? Will it cause me more unwanted problems or be a Solution? Will it bring me Joy? Or agony and headaches?

We’ve gotta take the time to consider.

Again, to quote The Merovingian of The Matrix (really fun if you hear it in the style the actor delivered the lines): “yes of course, who has time? Who has time? But then, if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?”

Taking moments In Presence to ask yourself these questions prior to decision making/action taking will save you a lot of trouble in the short or long run. Becoming Mindful is KEY…

For more stress and anxiety relief tips and tools to increase personal growth as well as increase mindfulness, visit my shop and I invite you to work with me, Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness

Practicing Mindfulness in a World of Fear

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 13:50:01 GMT

I was going through some of my old writings during Covid and chose to edit and share this as we are in yet another pandemic—one of cruelty, greed, callousness, absence of empathy and Awareness.

And the cauldron of fear is furiously being fanned.

As a great number of us watch in horror to what is happening, simultaneously, there is a HUGE AWAKENING going on. But many of us feel at a loss not knowing quite what to do…now more than ever is the time to Connect To Self…

And to each other.

“…as always, consider the uses of adversity…” –The Book of Runes

Yes. We are in a pickle. We are experiencing a whole new funk-thang.

The arrival of this form of illness has thrown us into unchartered territory and is changing Life as we know it quite rapidly. While no, this isn’t the first pandemic to sweep the globe, it is the largest in recent modern history to sweep across at will. The illness a name: hatred spiced with ignorance. Fascism, authoritarianism, greed and IMMENSE wealth for a few. Genocides. Detachment from each other as the dominance of technology rules and we stayed glued to our phones. Social media dictating how one should live, do business, be. Job losses up the ying-yang, more people scraping by just barely or not at all.

Oh and yes, AI. Information raked from our data, people, artists, creatives, et.al. No permission asked, no monetary compensation. Just power grabs. MINE MINE MINE!

And what’s being done to our Earth home. PHEW.

Yes, we can panic. We don’t know what’s coming, we just know it doesn’t look good—the uncertainty is more than some can bear.

But remember, the only thing that is ever really guaranteed in Life is Change. That makes uncertainty part of the lessons of the ‘Earth School’ (one of my Gary Zukav favorites).

Hopefully this is reassuring! If uncertainty is part and parcel of Life on Earth, then you know that everything changes and why let that throw you?

Yeah I know, it really ain’t that simple!

Sheesh.

But I want to remind you that Fear will take you out. It’ll take you down. It magnifies any situation, just piling fear on top of fear on top of fear. Now you’re paralyzed.

We. Must. Stop. Panicking. We must. It serves us no good. It fixes nothing, it stops nothing, what we are witnessing and being affected by is not a dress rehearsal. It is here. Life has changed. But Fear shows us no solutions.

I’m Tryin’ I’m’ Tryin’ I’m TRYIN’ NOT TO WORRY!

Sure, we try not to be fearful. But the word ‘trying’ is not the same as doing. Let me remind you of what you already know about fear. It elicits the fight or flight response and pumps the hormones adrenaline and cortisol into our blood streams. When fear is contemplated continuously and it isn’t to spur you to run from a tiger or to protect your person in physical defense, all those hormones are doing in your system is agitating you, elevating your heart rate and blood pressure, increasing your anxiety, (why you wanna do that?) upending your stomach and jacking with your sleep. It also weakens your immune system, making you susceptible to viruses, bacteria, and a whole host of ailments which is the LAST thing you wanna do at a time like this, weaken yourselves!

Our bodies do not question or deliberate the cause in which to pump those hormones, fear triggers them. Period. Your brain doesn’t say, “don’t pump the adrenaline, she’s just freakin’ out over the latest bad news she just ingested! Stop production, send it back!”

There is no such conversation. The equation is fear=adrenaline+cortisol production.

Sooooooooo these are a PLETHORA of reasons to get your Calm on NOW!

I know that may seem to be a pretty impossible thing to do in light of current events, but there is no better time THAN Now to Become more Calm, Centered and Grounded.

You cannot afford to fall apart, can you? Huh? Huh? You’ve got that luxury?

I didn’t think so. You’re gonna need your wits about you ‘cause we are ALL being called upon to use our Imagination, Creativity and Faith to build Community and to move forward in the best way we can as our Best Selves.

To realize a more Loving State of Being for all Beings is to begin with YOU.

There is no better time than NOW to build Awareness of the Thoughts racing through your mind. No better time than NOW to de-stress and not be in distress. Practicing Mindfulness in a world of Fear.

Ways to Get Your Calm On & To Practice Mindfulness

1. STEP AWAYYYYYYY FROM THE NEWS!

Being informed vs. gorging on bad news. Which do you do? One keeps you up to speed, the other keeps you feeling down. Sure, you’ve got to know what’s going on, but limit your intake. Sometimes just reading the headlines of stories is enough since this is an ongoing saga, but how much detail do you actually need in a day? Take it in small doses, just enough to be aware of things, but not so much that it affects your mood.

2. START A MEDITATION PRACTICE

I can hear you now, “START A WHAT? YOU EXPECT ME TO BE ABLE TO MEDITATE IN ALL OF THIS UNCERTAINTY and CHAOS??”

My answer? E-yup. You know, there is no better time than NOW, this is Exactly what meditation is for, to help you Connect to The Source Within. It’s like a Spiritual Umbilical Cord. And there are sooooo many tools to help you, guided meditation is a big help in kick-starting your practice. It’s like being in the passenger’s seat. And bring your children along for the ride, meditation is an invaluable tool for riding the storms and waves in Life, it is a great way to connect to Balance.

And you don’t need to spend hours sitting in a pretzel. Five minutes can be a huge boost. On my website, there are a plethora of tools like guided meditation tracks, sound healing meditation music; you can order custom guided meditation mp3s created just for you. And there is a helpful inspiring step by step eBook as a guide with meditation, affirmations and mantras titled 28 Daily Thoughts & Mantras—Keys 4 Stress Relief & Personal Growth.

I also offer online guided meditation sessions with sound healing to get cha goin’ and help you through. All to support a Stress Relief and Mindfulness Practice. Apps are great and convenient, but there’s nothing like working with a Human Being.

3. READ SOME GABS (GOOD ASS BOOKS)

Reading incredibly inspiring books takes your mind off of what’s eating you. It stimulates your mind creatively. One book I thoroughly recommend is an extraordinary memoir that reads like fiction! It is the life of the world-renowned Yoga Master Tao Porchon-Lynch titled Dancing Light, The Spiritual Side of Being Through The Eyes of a Modern Yoga Master.

You wanna talk about trials and tribulations???? She was a resistance fighter and hid Jewish refugees during World War ll in her early 20’s. She walked the streets of England during The Blitz. She fled France in order to save her Life. That’s just scratching the surface of the challenges Tao experienced within her 101 years. But what she teaches us is, not only do we have The Power Within us to persevere and to thrive, there is “nothing we cannot do!”

(or darn, after that endorsement my DG (Divine Guidance) told me to check to see if the book is available. Only used or new for $100! Amazon does have it on Kindle)

4. LEARN TO DO SOMETHING NEW

A must if you want to continue growing and stimulating those brain cells…

Learn a new language
(I am learning Spanish right now and ohman-ohman-ohman sometimes my head, it be a-spinnin’ with all those verb conjugations but I’m hangin’ in there, barely sometimes!)

Learn an instrument
Learn to paint or draw
Learn to sew
Try knitting, crocheting, embroidery or any handcraft
Mosaics (ooooo I used to love doing that as a child)
Photography (the craft)
Research and/or start a business
Learn to design
Learn Calligraphy
(which I used to do, loved it, once you get the hang, it can be quite meditative!)

There are an unlimited amount of things to choose from! Be patient, ‘cause learning new things can make you wish you didn’t start! But it’s sooooo good for you and the payoff can be priceless.

5. EDUCATE YOURSELF

Read about and explore new cultures, get your small children in on this too and learn about people and ways of life different from your own. Research subjects of interest to you, explore through the internet. My dude is a huge fan of dinosaurs, he is always looking at YouTube and reading research papers about them. Learn about geology, biology, anthropology—there are no limits! Sometimes we remain in the same circles that orbit around our careers or work and don’t expand our horizons. Become well-rounded. Part of the great divide we are seeing in our world reflects how woefully ignorant we are of the people, cultures and other sentient beings that share this Earth.

6. START SOMETHING NEW like an organization or a group or even a MOVEMENT! Invent something!

7. GET INTO BETTER PHYSICAL SHAPE

Do it now by any means necessary! Find something you will stick to, benefit from and enjoy. You can make this a meditation in and of itself. Nobody wants to continuously do a workout that’s a chore.

8. CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSETS, ATTICS, BASEMENTS

Spring cleaning anyone? I find that whenever I do that kinda deep cleaning it feels like I’ve cleansed my mind as well. Sometimes the things you find you long forgot about, and they can inspire an idea, lead to a new path…or it could have no more use and needs to go out.

De-clutter your home and your mind.

9. REACH OUT TO FOLKS & FAMILY

Actually return texts, emails and phone calls! Holla at someone you’ve been putting off calling, we all need to strengthen or re-ignite our ties and/or make new ones. Remember, we are ALL in this thing together!

10. MEDITATE

Oh yeah, I said that already. And I’m gonna say it again! Learn to MEDITATE. You’ll sleep better. Answers Flow to you more freely when you have a meditation practice because it’s only in The Quiet, that you can hear solutions, receive insight and ideas. Even if you only devote 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 minutes a day, it’s better than no minutes. Learn to Practice, don’t judge your ‘failures’ things get better with focus, repetition and the expectation to Improve. To reiterate the quote from Tao Porchon-Lynch: “there is nothing you cannot do!”

And understand that you may have to reassess what meditation actually means. Sometimes going into something with an expectation isn’t the reality of a thing.

11. KEEP THE FAITH

What’s the point of saying you have Faith if you don’t use it?

This is the EXACT time you need to use it. So use it for Strength, Calm and Comfort. AND it shows GRATITUDE.

12. SPEAKING OF GRATITUDE…

When you exercise Gratitude on the regular, it lifts your mood, shifts your focus from fear, stress, and anxiety. And it is one of the greatest lessons you can teach your kids. Gratitude and Appreciation are game changers. They are so important, and the more you practice them, the deeper they get. And the deeper they get, the Lighter you Become as you are actively raising your Frequency and Vibe. When that happens, you recognize that spending your time on this Earth in fear is time squandered.

13. TAKE DEEEEEEEEEP BREATHS

OFTEN. Learn to BE STILL. Hear your heartbeat, hear your breathing, learn to quiet your mind…oh yeah, that meditating thing again.

14. PRACTICE ENGAGING IN POSITIVE THOUGHTS & MOMENTS

Truly. This too shall pass. Make the best in this bad situation. Envision things getting better for all.

15. SING & DANCE

I don’t care if you sound like a warthog (though others may), sing baby sing! Using Your Voice, moving the sound through space is very Healing, Calming, Grounding and Centering. And dancing? OOOOOO DANCING. Boy you wanna talk about a pick-me-up? (Unless you decide to judge yourself. DANCE for the FUN of it!)

16. SELF CARE SELF CARE SELF CARE ALL DAY!

Become more Aware of how you treat yourself, what you say to yourself about yourself and whether you say ‘yes’ when you mean ‘no.’ Self care goes well beyond whether you take yourself to the spa or do yoga, it also means Becoming more Aware of your Internal Dialogue more often.

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

Fear only makes things worse. Be a part of The Solution. Lift Your Spirit and Your Vibe, though things look bleak right now, Practicing Mindfulness in a World of Fear sends your Positive Energy out into The Universe! And though you can’t see it, that Energy Flows outward and could be an unseen hug for someone suffering on the other side of the world, for we are that POWERFUL.

Loss, Grief & Gratitude

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 13:16:06 GMT

Today’s riff is: Loss, Grief & Gratitude – A Love Letter To My Friend

On April 6, 2022, one of my oldest longtime friends left this earth. The world knew her as Annette Stubbins, to many she was Nettie. But to me, she was and will always be Scooter, a name I gave her as two misfits bonded sitting at the end of the long cafeteria table of Jackie Robinson I.S. 320 in the 6th grade. She was 10, I was 11 years old. As I share this chapter, I am filled with Gratitude, not grief.

Two misfits sitting apart from everyone else at the long end of the lunchroom table. I, ashamed of my weird family, our food and our practices, her, bullied by three girls–two called Peanut. One, I could understand because she was small, the other, why she was called that, I never knew. They bullied my friend because of her dark chocolate skin, short hair and full features.

And the irony is that they were the same beautiful chocolate shade as she. But when you hate yourself, how can you begin to see the beauty in others?

When I asked her why she was sitting all the way at the end of the table, she quietly and calmly said she was hiding from those three who used to call her names, slap her and push her around. She never fought back that I can remember. But she never spoke ill of them either. She just didn’t understand why they were picking on her and wanted it to stop.

I didn’t get it either. Why would they wanna pick on her, she didn’t do anything to them. She didn’t talk bad about anybody, least of all, them. She was a kind, gentle soul. But she was also a fire-brand as she got older lol!

And mannnnnnn, could she put away some Scooter Pies! OMG! She ate them like they were goin’ outta style! I personally thought they were pretty nasty, but one day upon observing her wolf them down, I bequeathed her the name of Scooter. I was like, ‘girrrrrrrrl you sure do eat a lot of those things, from now on I’m calling you Scooter! And the name stuck as she adopted it as her slang name. For her glyph, she drew a face with large eyes and a huge grin just like her.

Ours was the time of the 70’s and the Jackson 5, waiting with anticipation for the newest Right On! magazine, sitting on Gwen’s stoop with Michelle and Nancy Brooks going through the magazines and albums, talking about who we liked. Scooter loved Marlon, I mean WHO loved Marlon??? It was either Michael or Jermaine (my personal favorite) and though Gwen’s favorite was Tito, I could kinda see that, but MARLON????! And it didn’t matter how much I may have teased her about liking Marlon, she was unwavering in her devotion.

That was the Scooter I knew and Loved, loyal, loyal, loyal. What a great friend to have. If she was in your corner, you had a rock at your back.

This is the very first issue of Right On! Magazine. October 1971 and I am sure we held it in our hot little hands! It is now selling on Ebay for a whopping $997.00

WOW! Who knew?

Those were our coming of age years, where we formed strong opinions about the world and our places in it. We used to have the greatest debates, that clique of me, Scooter, Gwen, Nancy, Michelle and Karen Caulk. That was also the age of being in classes with silly boys that used to make us laugh so hard, gum and thumbtacks in chairs, spit balls and terrorizing the poor substitute teachers. And while we didn’t participate in those shenanigans, we were often the recipients, (especially the tacks in our chairs!) and we laughed at it all.

We were both in IGC class which meant “Intellectually Gifted Children” and were fast-tracked to skip the 8th grade, which we did. You had to excel academically to even get into those classes, let alone skip an entire grade. I was bused to school as it was a mile away and out of my zone, there were times I would pick her up when I could use my pass (there were times of the year we could use the bus pass on the train if you had a certain type of bus pass) and while it wasn’t exactly on my way to school, I would walk many many blocks to pick her up so we could ride the Franklin Shuttle together.

There were also those days our clique would connect on a bus and get off a few stops early to buy all of the artificially flavored and colored candy we could gorge on. And of course, she bought her Scooter Pies. That was also when we experimented with “cigarette smoking” (still don’t understand how anyone could do that). Two of our clique became smokers, Scooter quickly dropped that habit, and I followed after inhaling by accident and feeling like somebody punched me in the chest. And then,

It Was Off To High School

I don’t exactly know how we ended up at the same high school. It wasn’t planned and was wayyyyyyyyyyy the way on the other side of Brooklyn from our homes! Nevertheless, we both found ourselves at John Dewey H.S. in Bensonhurst. John Dewey was an experimental school at the time where the periods were called ‘modules’ and the grades weren’t the typical A, B, C but M, MC and shoot, forgot what the other was but it was the equivalent of failing. Don’t know why I don’t remember because I was on the receiving end of that grade in my first year as I skipped most of my classes. Oh wait! I think it was an ‘I’ for Incomplete.

But not her. She went to her classes and excelled. That was also the year the Drama Bug hit her. And we both found ourselves in Mrs. Meizner’s dance classes, which changed both our worlds. One night, Mrs. Meizner took a small group of us to see Alvin Ailey and that’s when I decided I would have a career as a dancer.

John Dewey was a magical time in our lives and even though there was abuse in my home, going to that school was a respite, a relief where I could for 8 hours not be the child of abuse or a witness to it. Mrs. Meizner’s classes were gold, where we could fly through the air, do splits and move gracefully or percussively. We had free reign to express ourselves.

And Mrs. Meizner’s warmup music for class was Carole King’s Tapestry. We Loved that album.

And Then, College

As I reflect on my friend, I realized that we were ‘Connectors’ for each other. When I sat at home after graduation because my dad wouldn’t fill out financial aid papers so I could apply to colleges, my world was pretty bleak. What was I going to do? For almost six months, I played handball, or sat at home with the periodic baby-sitting job and in the summer of that year, I worked at the neighborhood day care center with three-year-olds. But I had NO direction. It was truly a crossroads for me.

Then one day Scooter called, ‘girl you need to come up here and get an application to audition for the dance department, school is almost free here!’ She was attending City College and was in the drama department. At that time, you could go to the CUNY schools for $78.00 FOR THE YEAR, you just paid the registration fee. Of course that changed after my first semester there lol.

And Scooter was not suggesting that I do it, she was telling me to do it. And when she told you to do something, well, you just did.

If it weren’t for her reaching out to tell me about the program and staying on me to make sure I followed through, who knows where I’d be right now. She helped put me on my path.

I am forever Grateful to you Scooter, for that.

And Then, We Were Adults

Both our careers flourished, we were both dancing and our paths crisscrossed moving in and out of each other’s lives. But we always had a pulse on what the other was doing. She danced and traveled including working with C & C Music Factory which was a BIG deal, that group was monster-huge at the time. I mentioned earlier that I realized we were Connectors for each other–I hired her for a Ready For The World video in which I served as choreographer and when I needed someone to take over teaching for me at the Leggz Dance School in Long Island, she was the first one I thought of.

I was delighted when she accepted the job, she taught there for decades and the owners and the students absolutely Loved her.

Over time, we saw each other less and less, she took a job as a Court Reporter while still keeping her job with Leggz and our paths went in different directions.

But The Love always remained. After I saw her in the hospital a few years ago, our interactions were very brief, but she would always write “I Love You” in her texts. And I Love her. And am so incredibly Grateful that she was a player in my Life.

The day she departed this Earth, two very interesting things occurred. Both I believe were signs from her. The first was receiving a link to the video I choreographed for a somewhat popular group at the time called Ready for The World. The song is “Can He Do It Like This?” The link came from our mutual friend Cornell Ivy who is also in the video. I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS ON YOUTUBE and hadn’t seen it in YEARS. The copy I have I can’t play and I would have to go to someone to transfer it into a video file as it is on a reel whose technology has gone the way of cassette tapes.

The second interesting thing that happened not quite one hour later is, I stopped into my neighborhood supermarket and as my items were rung up by the cashier, a very very special song came over the airways. It was “So Far Away” from the Tapestry album by Carole King that our beloved Mrs. Meizner played in dance class when we were in high school.

“So far…away, doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?” Wow. I was floored. What a beautiful message from my beautiful, beautiful Scooter.

I Love You Sis. Thank you for being an integral and important part of my Journey. I sing your praises in Gratitude.

Moving through grief and loss is a Journey, a process that takes time. My friend is free from suffering, and I rejoice in that, while at the same time, I miss her.

Finding outlets to express your feelings such as writing is so therapeutic and Healing.

Celebrate the Joy of your Loved One. That will lift you up.

This is the transcript of the podcast episode. If you would like to hear the narrative, click below

You can also see it on YouTube

The Past, Future and Present You

Jacquie Bird — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:31:15 GMT

The Past You bought something, did something and/or learned something for The Future You, which is now The Present You…crazy how that happens, especially if you are paying attention in The Present to the presents you’ve received…

In 2008, I was in New Delhi, India. Walking down the street one day I get a Download: “get a Tibetan Singing Bowl.” Now, I wasn’t thinking about ANYTHING like that in those days--I was in a deep transition from the performing artist I had been into seemingly limbo. At the time, I had no idea where I was headed.

‘Who am I now without auditioning, without being on stage, without complaining about not being seen for a show, without being in a voice lesson, acting lesson, dance class, WHO AM I NOW???’

Could being a performing artist be the only passion I came to this Earth with? Oh no, it can’t be!

That had become my anthem as I tried a multitude of things over that 10-year period. Knitting business, greeting card business, handmade jewelry business, all the while I was traveling the world as a master guest teacher and choreographer. I loved doing all of those things but they weren’t,

IT.

Much of the time during that time, even though I was “doing” I felt really lost.

Who was I really without those things?

Then one day, while walking down that particular street on that particular day, in that particular moment, I get a Download that was so definitive that I said “ok” without thinking or even pausing to question it.

Not like me. At least, not then.

The Past Me was about to buy a gift for The Future Me, which is now The Present Me.

With the help of my new friends, I was taken to a shop which had TONS of singing bowls and my future introduced itself to me without my even knowing.

Fast forward six years and much had happened. A new love, and while basking in that glow, the economic crisis punched a hole into my international traveling life, so that was the end ot that. Just seemed to be in the midst of so many endings. UGH.

But I had no idea that a New Beginning was already in full swing, and that it held my new direction along with the unveiling of my PASSION(S).

I also intersected with the answer to the question I had been asking—Who Was I NOW?

The answer was, “who You always were and are, but now, You are in a state of Conscious Becoming.”

You know how you scream at the Universe to “GIVE ME A SIGN!” and even though the signs are coming at you like hailstorms, you still don’t see them ‘cause you’re looking away from where they’re being hurtled from? I was so busy agonizing I remained stuck in the mud with yet more about to be piled on.

2014, the floor plummeted out from under me and I fell totally apart as I descended toward the bottomless bottom (again, no not AGAIN BIRD!)

Girl, you 56 years old and you’re at rock bottom yet again, DAMN DAMN DAMN.

I was in such a funk I couldn’t stand myself so I would tell myself, GO TO YOUR ROOM YOU’RE GETTIN’ ON MY NERVES.

But I was already in my room and could not run away from…me.

One particular day I was in Sniveling Crying Mode (SCM), you know, the state where you can’t believe the extraordinary amount of tears and snot the body can produce?

I knew I was in serious trouble. I was heading toward another nervous breakdown, and completely unaware that The Past Me, who looked out for The Future Me was about to unveil the gift purchased for The Present Me…

I was in such a state of despair and fear that I knew I had to pull myself out of the chasm and reached…

for my Tibetan Singing Bowl purchased in 2008.

I began to play it. I began to calm. I began to feel myself without the fear.

I began to touch what Wholeness felt like. Nothing was the same after that.

A new business was born.

A new direction was found…or was a new direction, really?

It was the direction I had been headed to all along, throughout my entire Life.

The direction and destination in this ongoing Journey…The Path of Becoming who I really AM.

And that, is a Path I will be on as long as I breathe, and Beyond.

P.S

I have an upcoming workshop in NYC as well as two guided meditations with sound healing online sessions that I hope you join.

Click the images for further information. Hope to see you at one of my events and please tell some of the stressed out folk you know.

Loss, Grief and Gratitude: Finding Joy in Remembrance

Jacquie Bird — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 08:00:00 GMT

"So far…away, doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?” Wow. I was floored. What a beautiful message from my beautiful, beautiful Scooter.."

Today's riff is Loss, Grief and Gratitude: Finding Joy in Remembrance

Welcome to Episode 117 of the Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast!

There are people who come into our lives for long stretches of time, flowing into and out of it as the years go by...but their impact is not only life-altering but long lasting well after they're gone...

This is a tribute to my dear friend, Annette Stubbins. Thank you Scooter, for everything.

As mentioned, here is the Ready For The World video I choreographed that she was in.

Let me know if this resonates with you, comment, like, follow.

"Being" from my SoundSoulVibin' Music.

*************

Visit Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness to book a coaching session and for my products and services

***

Please tell your friends, family, colleagues and co-workers about this podcast, word of mouth is da the bomb-diggedy! Remember to Like, Comment, Follow

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Your contribution would assist me in continuing to create this valuable free product of service that promotes empowerment, peace of mind, shares stress and anxiety relief tips, inspires mindfulness and positivity.

Join my mailing list to keep up with new events, announcements, products and workshops.

Thank you for listening!

Listen. In The Stillness

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 12:30:56 GMT

We pride ourselves on

our busy-ness

yet

we wear ourselves out.

Too thin, so thin, so worn we feel

disconnected at times.

Or, we

desperately wish,

we could

disconnect

from

the

busy-ness,

from the running

around…

But it takes

moments

Stillness

to make everything suspend

into mid-air.

It takes

Moments of Stillness

to let go

of being tethered to the noise.

But…

You must

Listen

to Hear,

and You must Be Still,

to Listen.

In that Stillness,

is Connected-ness.

There is Calm…

in The Stillness.

There is Peace,

in The Stillness.

There is Centered-ness,

in The Stillness

for it is a Journey of self, to Self.

In The Stillness

lies The Door

to Ideas,

to Creativity,

to Solutions.

But You must

Listen to Hear

and

You must Be Still

to Listen.

For in The Stillness…

is Wholeness,

Serenity,

Peace,

and

YOU.

Reducing Stress—Be An Advocate For Your Well Being

Jacquie Bird — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:15:55 GMT

Yes, stress is a part of Life. We can’t escape it. BUT. We can alter how we respond to it. Reducing stress is soooo important. And I do know that is easier said than done, however, Becoming an Advocate for your Well Being, learning to reduce stress and practicing Self Care is paramount to a healthy lifestyle. So to put it plainly: YOUR HEALTH, YOUR WELL BEING DEPENDS UPON GETTING YOUR STRESS LEVELS DOWN.

According to the APA (American Psychological Association) stress takes quite a toll on the body: “stress affects all systems of the body including the musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous, and reproductive systems.” That straight up says, ‘stress can ‘uck you up ALL OVER YOUR BODY! Every bit of you is affected by too much stress.

And not only does stress take a toll on the body, our response to it also affects how we treat people–when you’re stressed out that contributes to less patience, shorter attention spans, insomnia, bad moods, lack of Clarity, anxiety and panic attacks, depression and bad decisions. Paying attention to and doing something about reducing your stress is what Self-Care is all about ’cause when the well is dry, there is nothing of value to give to anyone.

Worried that if you start taking better care of yourself that you’d appear selfish to folks?

Self-Care Is NOT Selfishness

Self-Care is not, I repeat NOT selfishness! So if somebody’s feeding you that crap, stop eating! Push back from the table ’cause the food is toxic. They’re feeding you a guilt trip. When you are paying attention to your Self Care, to your WELL BEING in addition to all the other things going on in your Life, that’s making a major investment in YOU. It’s like investing in the stock market or in real estate except it’s you investing in The Wellness Life Market. When you make reducing your stress levels a priority, it’s a win-win for EVERYBODY.

You have got to take Conscious care of your MindBodySoul Connection. Be more of an Observer of Your Thoughts and Actions. Become more Aware and put into Action those things that take care of YOU. So much of the root of imbalance and dis-ease is in how our minds process things, how we think and how we approach things–do we move forward outta fear or from Trust, Love and Joy? Are we holding on to a job, a relationship, or situation out of fear and worry or because we want to be there?

Are there things that are contributing to your stress that you really would be better off letting go?

Are you Conscious, Aware and Present? Or are you operating by rote, on auto-pilot? That’s a question in and of itself to ask yourself as a check-in. Are you Conscious and Present or on auto-pilot? Are you neglecting your Well Being by doing or not doing the things you know will benefit you? Are you excusing the things that are in your best interest because of this, that or the other?

Even More Things To Consider To Reduce Stress…

Are you Aware of what happens to your body when you see something you disagree with or have a dissenting opinion from another on social media? Do you feel your body temperature rising, your heart rate and breath quickening? Though seemingly benign, our constant inner explosions to stimuli be it on a personal, business or social media front sends our emotions up and down constantly and continuously in a given day. One of many reasons sitting still and BREATHING DEEPLY is paramount to Success. It gathers you to yourself. It gives you time to gather your wits.

You can always tell what your predominant thoughts are in a given period by how you feel. Sad? Angry? Cranky? Invigorated? Enthusiastic? Uplifted? How do you generally feel about Life?

A 3-Step Plan of ACTION To Reduce Your Stress

GOALS: to reduce stress and knee-jerk reactions to stimuli. How do you do that? One plan of action is to OBSERVE, IMPLEMENT, DIFFUSE (OID).

This plan of action is not a sprint so try not to judge, just

1) OBSERVE your patterns. Just OBSERVE, don’t judge. Keep a log or summary—how you behave, what your mental workings are when you are stressed. What are your behaviors when stressed?

(and these are not things to ask your partner, children or friends about, this is about YOU recognizing your behavior of moving away from Well Being)

Do you start worrying and imagining the worst that can happen? (In other words, using Your Imagination to Create the things You DON’T want)

* Do you over or under eat? Why?

* Do you smoke cigarettes? Why?

* Do you bite your nails? Why? When?

* Do you bite your lip or clench your jaw? Why? When?

* Do you engage in ‘uncontrolled’ leg tapping or shaking? Why? When?

* ‘Do you have uncontrolled thoughts, a racing mind? Why? When?

* Do you get headaches? Constantly? Backaches? Stomach aches? When? Why?

* Do you snap at people/loved ones? Have bad moods? Get or stay depressed for long periods of time? Why? What triggers you?

* Do you spend a lot of your day holding your breath? Why?

Now What Do You See?

Truly OBSERVE your behavior when stressed. And remember, no judgment, this is the fact-finding part of Advocating for Your Well Being. Remember initially until you begin to recognize patterns without the need for reminders to keep a journal and document what you Discover/Uncover

Once you have Observed and pinpointed HOW you behave/react/are affected by unpleasant and stressful stimuli, the next phase is,

2) To IMPLEMENT measures to ultimately change the behaviors and reactive patterns you have to stressful stimuli. This entails

a) taking deep, long in-breaths followed by slower out-breaths (deep breathing is KEY in reducing stress levels and taking charge of Your Well Being)

b) inserting a mantra during the deep breathing that you either find or Create like, “I AM Calm” “I AM Guided and Protected” “I Acknowledge the fear and I release it because I will know what to do” “I GOT this” “I AM Capable” “I AM in Receivership of Answers” “I AM Centered” or whatever works for you. I tell myself “STOP.” Sometimes depending on my insistence of the replaying of the thought I say, “STOP. Just Stop.” You may have to play with a few mantras to find the right one or have a few to use in different situations

c) CHANGING YOUR MINDSET about the situation/person/place/thing or what you just read that gets you all worked up. If it is a situation you cannot leave or change at the moment, then changing Your Perspective about the situation will help to lower your stress and pushing back about whatever it is. At the same time, IMPLEMENT the changes you Intend (not wish, not hope but INTEND) to Create for Yourself in reducing stress and igniting Your Well Being. Again, keep a written or digital journal and Remember, our behaviors are habitual, practiced over time. It will take time to adjust them. Diligent Attention, Intention, Persistence and PATIENCE will reap results sooner.

As you move through action #2 To IMPLEMENT you will begin to

3) DIFFUSE the stress. Whenever you feel stress rising (that’s OBSERVING) because of your Practice, you can shift into IMPLEMENTING the breath, IMPLEMENTING to change the Mindset with your mantra if needed, thus lowering your blood pressure, slowing your heart rate, Calming the adrenal glands that fire adrenaline & arrive at a more Centered state. Creating an area in your home that represents calm so you can do these things is reeeeeally helpful!

Moving Forward…

In this plan to reduce stress and advocate for your Well Being, what other things can do for yourself that will raise a sense of Wellness? Limiting how much social media and news you inhale is one thing. Becoming much much MUCH more discerning in what you give your Attention to. Sometimes I am so worn out after scrolling down my newsfeed, my emotions thrown every which way. I find myself asking, why am I so irritable (OBSERVING) and many times can trace it directly back to what digital content I had consumed. Social media, while a part of how we roll can be lethal to our Well Being depending on what and how much you swallow.

Have YOU ever stopped to OBSERVE what happens to you when you’re on Facebook? For example, one day I noticed and realized that in response to a post I saw about something crappy happening to a friend’s child that my body had tensed–I was squeezing my muscles as I wrote a response. Before I pressed the send button, I stopped and asked myself if my comment would help or incite, would be a Solution or contribute to the chorus of outrage. In the time I was doing that I decided not to post my comment because ultimately it wasn’t going to serve any good and at the same time my muscles loosened and began to relax! I went WHOA! gotta watch that!! The ol’ Fight or Flight reactions our bodies do for our protection–heart rate, blood pressure go up, muscles tighten to spring into action and our breathing speeds up regardless of whether the stimuli is a threat or not–it’s our THOUGHTS about what we Perceive that makes the body go into overdrive. The more Aware we become of self, the better we will Be.

Earth Aids

And for those of you who have an interest in gemstones and crystals, there are many with cooling soothing properties, that you can use for your Well Being. Holding a stone and taking deep breaths is a wonderful way to Calm, Soothe, Ground, Center and Balance—they make exceptional meditation aides. One to check out is beautiful Aquamarine. A Stone of Courage, it has soothing and calming energies and could be wonderful for chillin’ out the nerves using Awareness and Presence, in other words, use it with Intention. Said to harmonize its surroundings, give support to the overwhelmed and encourage one to take responsibility for oneself (credit: The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall for that one).

And what Robert Simmons of The Book of Stones says about the gorgeous Aquamarine is so good I gotta quote him: “these luminous blue gemstones are one of the wonders of the Mineral Kingdom. They are good for all types of calming and cooling, from hot flashes…” (Rose Quartz is da bomb diggedy too) “…to anger, yet they also activate the throat chakra assisting one in the clear communication of one’s highest truth. They are stones of the Water Element, bringing one in touch with the subconscious, the domains of spirit and our deepest emotions.”

Now whether you can actually physically feel the cooling Energy is not the point so don’t get tripped on that if you don’t feel anything when holding it, the IMPORTANT thing is the Thought behind the reason to use it, because the Thought of it as being a Positive in its usage and the Intention behind it promotes the Healing. The Soothing, Cooling and Calming.

Take deep breaths when the stress starts to rise. Remember that stress depletes you of Your Well Being. Learn to Meditate and/or go deeper in Your Practice.

Introducing, Your Wellness Guide

Jacquie Bird — Sun, 31 May 2026 12:31:38 GMT

To learn more about me, visit Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness

Our Personal Pathways: A Talk with Natasha Rivers

Jacquie Bird — Fri, 29 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

"Vibration. In general, the Vibration of fear is being used to Create more fear because fear can only Create more fear...the best thing you can do for your own Internal Work is to say, what am I holding on to that I'm so afraid of?" --Natasha Rivers

Today's riff is Our Personal Pathways: A Talk with Natasha Rivers.

Welcome to Episode 116 of the Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast!

We cover a lot in this fast-paced convo and all of it boils down to taking back Your Power and Becoming a Conscious Co-Creator in Your Life.

Natasha Rivers is a spiritual thinker, quantum alchemist, intuitive guide, and truth-seeker devoted to conscious evolution. Through grounded conversations and unapologetic insight, she explores shadow work, sovereignty, energetic regulation, and the expansion of personal power. Her work invites listeners to stay awake, stay embodied, and lead with light in a rapidly unveiling world.

Visit Natasha on Facebook Instagram

Be sure to comment, like, follow, share.

Original Music: Ange Device by Sylvester "Sly" Scott

Check him out on Facebook

**************

Visit Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness to book a coaching session and for my products and services

***

Please tell your friends, family, colleagues and co-workers about this podcast, word of mouth is da the bomb-diggedy! Remember to Like, Comment, Follow, Share

**If you would like to show some love for my Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast drop it on my Venmo @JacquieBirdSpiritualWellness

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**And be sure join my FaceBook group to discuss the episode!

Thank you for listening!

How To Develop Self-Esteem

Jacquie Bird — Wed, 13 May 2026 08:00:00 GMT

"... it’s no wonder many of us are anxious, stressed and depressed! But it doesn’t have to be, when you recognize that you are struggling with self-esteem issues, you can change those thoughts..."

Today's riff is How To Develop Self-Esteem

Welcome to Episode 115 of the Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast!

I work with soooo many young people who lack self-esteem and it breaks my heart. They are absolutely beautiful souls that are clueless as to their self-worth. My hope is someday they will realize this sooner than later. I do what I can to show them their worth but it's challenging as there are hundreds of children that I work with and so little time.

Many of us struggled with self-esteem issues as children and continue to traveling the Adulting Journey. In this episode, I share some insight as well as tips to begin to flip that script...

Let me know if this resonates with you, comment, like, follow.

"A Walk With Self" from my SoundSoulVibin' Music.

*************

Visit Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness to book a coaching session and for my products and services

***

Please tell your friends, family, colleagues and co-workers about this podcast, word of mouth is da the bomb-diggedy! Remember to Like, Comment, Follow

**If you would like to show some love for my Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast drop it on my Venmo @JacquieBirdSpiritualWellness

Join my mailing list to keep up with new events, announcements, products and workshops.

Thank you for listening!

Our Personal Pathways: A Talk With Beth Bowles

Jacquie Bird — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:00:00 GMT

This conversation took off IMMEDIATELY and we covered so much! We talked about tragedy, grief, life transitions, career shifts, success after the old career and being mature women who defy the conventional view of "aging" as we keep on steppin' up to our best selves.

Join us for this exhilarating, emotional, energetic and insightful convo!

Today's riff is Our Personal Pathways: A Talk with Beth Bowles.

Welcome to Episode 114 of the Roll With Peace, In Mind podcast!

Beth Bowles is a multi-hyphenate performer who has graced the stages and screens of Los Angeles for over four decades. A seasoned dancer, singer, and actor, her extensive credits span from the classic Sophisticated Ladies and The Muppet Movie to modern hits like St. Denis Medical, B Positive, and Netflix’s The Perfect Couple.

In 2021, a single performance changed the trajectory of her career. Alongside her best friend Cheryl Baxter-Ratliff, Beth backed up rapper DaBaby at the Grammy Awards. Dubbed the "DaBabyboomers" by host Trevor Noah, the duo became an overnight sensation. Tik Tok Instagram YouTube

Be sure to comment, like, follow, share.

Original Music: Hip Hop by Sylvester "Sly" Scott

Check him out on Facebook