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Stories and Stanza: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Abhra Pal
Welcome to ”Stories and Stanza”, the podcast that delves into the past, explores the world of prose and poetry, and brings you real-life stories, creativity, motivation, and poetry. Join us as we take you on a journey through the human experience, sharing inspiring stories and conversations that will uplift your spirit and leave you feeling motivated and inspired. Whether you’re a lover of literature, a writer, or simply someone who enjoys a good story, ”Stories and Stanza” is the podcast for you. So, sit back, relax, and let us take you on a journey of discovery, reflection, and inspiration.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 2 days ago37 min
Embrace the Mud: A Veteran Poet on Discipline and Craft
Send us Fan Mail #StoriesAndStanza #BetweenTheLines #PeterGunn #EpicPoetry #CreativeDiscipline "Embrace the suck. Embrace the mud." Peter Gunn learned that lesson crawling under barbed wire in Air Force boot camp, and he's been living by it ever since. In this episode of Between the Lines, I sit down with Peter, a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran, bodybuilder, guitarist and poet, who is on a mission to bring epic poetry back from the dead. We talk about how he went from being a morbidly obese...
- 1 weeks ago1h 7m
Why "Use Your Words" Doesn't Work: How Children Learn Emotional Language | Dr David Marcus
Send us Fan Mail "Use your words," we tell our children. But what if they don't have the words yet? In this Fail With Me conversation, clinical psychologist Dr David S. Marcus explains why emotional language is a skill that has to be built, not something children simply pick up, and how parents can build it with them. Most of us parent the way we were parented, for better or worse. Dr Marcus has spent 40 years working with families under stress, and he unpacks what actually helps a child fee...
- 1 weeks ago1h 2m
Why We Repeat Patterns We Know Are Hurting Us: Shadow Journaling, Self-Acceptance and the Reveal, Reclaim, Rewrite Method with Oliver Mann
Send us Fan Mail Why doesn't self-awareness lead to change? Shadow journaling coach Oliver Mann, author of Shadow Journaling: A Field Guide to Personal Alchemy, explains why self-acceptance is the missing step between knowing your patterns and changing them. In his third conversation on Stories and Stanza, Oliver makes an uncomfortable point: awareness is only the first step, and on its own it can keep us more stuck than before. He and Abhra explore the hidden benefit in the patterns we say ...
- 3 weeks ago47 min
Navigating Redundancy: Grief, Identity and Finding Yourself Again
Send us Fan Mail What happens to your sense of self when the job you gave years to suddenly no longer needs you? In this Fail With Me episode, Abhra sits down with Claire, a fellow writer, for an honest conversation about redundancy, job loss and the quiet grief that comes with it. Recorded at Sam Merrifield Library in Moonee Ponds, this is Stories and Stanza's first one-on-one in-person interview. Abhra and Claire have both recently been through redundancy. Instead of a neat success story, ...
- 3 weeks ago1h 22m
Can You Predict How People Will Behave? Jim Marshall on Septemics
Send us Fan Mail #StoriesAndStanza #Septemics #HumanBehaviour #SelfImprovement #EmotionalIntelligence "95% of the problems in industrialised society are because people don't understand people, including themselves." That conviction sits at the heart of Septemics, a system Jim Marshall spent decades building. In this episode, Abhra sits down with Jim to explore his book Septemics: Hierarchies of Human Phenomena. Jim describes Septemics as a philosophical science grounded in direct observatio...
- Sep 6, 202647 min
Art Is an Act of Survival — Dancer Alexandra Beller on Aloneness, Healing & Finding Your Voice
Send us Fan Mail "This is what it feels like to be alive. Does anybody recognise it?" Dancer and choreographer Alexandra Beller believes that's the question at the heart of all art — and the answer is what makes us feel less alone. In this episode of Stories and Stanza, Alexandra shares 25 years of lived experience inside the creative process — from performing with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to teaching artists how to trust themselves while creating. We explore why authenticit...
- Aug 23, 202650 min
From Trauma to the Page | A Nurse's Journey Through Writing & Forgiveness — Nancy Jasin Ensley
Send us Fan Mail #WritingAsHealing #PTSD #MentalHealth #StoriesAndStanza #Resilience "I decided I didn't want to be afraid all the time." That one decision changed everything for Nancy Jasin Ensley — and it might change something for you too. In this episode of Stories and Stanza, host Abhra sits down with Nancy — a writer, registered nurse, teacher, and grandmother of fourteen from rural Michigan — for a conversation that moves between the craft of writing and the work of healing. Nancy shar...
- Aug 15, 202631 min
What If Your Happiness Isn't Yours? Redefining Happiness With Charu Moorjani
What does it mean when your life looks perfect on the outside but something feels deeply off inside?In this episode of Fail With Me, I sit down with Charu Moorjani — Australian author of The Happiness Pathway, mindset coach, and wellbeing storyteller — for a conversation about what happens when the version of happiness you've been chasing was never actually yours.Charu's turning point came during her honeymoon in Macau, when she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome and spent a month in ICU on a mechanical ventilator. For the first time, everything went quiet. No expectations, no performance, no pretending. That stillness forced her to confront how disconnected she had become from herself. Later, navigating an emotionally abusive marriage and divorce, journaling became her lifeline — a nightly practice of sitting with her feelings, asking honest questions, and slowly rebuilding who she really was.What I love about this conversation is how practical Charu makes it. This isn't abstract self-help. She walks us through gratitude exercises, mindfulness prompts, the difference between pleasure and fulfilment, and why happiness isn't a destination — it's something you cultivate through daily micro habits and alignment with who you actually are.In this episode, we explore:→ Why a life that looks good on paper can feel empty inside → How an ICU diagnosis became her turning point → Why journaling works — and what to do if you struggle with it → The one gratitude practice Charu swears by every night → Bringing awareness into mundane moments — the coffee exercise → Steps to heal after a difficult relationship: acknowledge, forgive yourself, forgive the other → The difference between pleasure and fulfilment → Why you're not broken if you feel disconnected"I want people to realize they're not broken if they feel disconnected. Maybe they've just been chasing the wrong version of happiness or someone else's version of happiness, and they really don't need permission to create their own." — Charu MoorjaniConnect with Charu Moorjani: Website → thehappinesspathway.com Instagram → @thehappinesspathway Book (Amazon) → https://amzn.asia/d/0ibK94gUWish to read about the episodes in advance or need a recap? Find us on 👉 SubStack.📌 Follow us: YouTube | Facebook | X | Instagram☕ Buy me a coffee🛠️ Tools we love: vidIQ · Descript Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
About Stories and Stanza
Welcome to ”Stories and Stanza”, the podcast that delves into the past, explores the world of prose and poetry, and brings you real-life stories, creativity, motivation, and poetry. Join us as we take you on a journey through the human experience, sharing inspiring stories and conversations that will uplift your spirit and leave you feeling motivated and inspired. Whether you’re a lover of literature, a writer, or simply someone who enjoys a good story, ”Stories and Stanza” is the podcast for you. So, sit back, relax, and let us take you on a journey of discovery, reflection, and inspiration.
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