Maxwell Ivey grew up in a family of carnival owners. He started losing his vision to retinitis pigmentosa at an early age becoming legally blind by junior high school and totally blind by the time he graduated from college. He did graduate from traditional schools, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and worked in the family business until his dad’s death forced the closure of their small show. Needing something new he started helping people sell surplus rides. He had to learn so much including how to hand code html, recruit clients, set fees, build an email list, manage social media, and more. People were inspired by his willingness to take on difficult challenges and encouraged him to share more about being a blind entrepreneur. That led to a second site as the blind blogger, with three books out so far and a fourth due any time. He’s promoted himself through podcast interviews appearing on over 200 shows as well as public speaking where he has shared his inspiring story with local organizations and national conferences. He helps other creative entrepreneurs grow their brands through online interviews. He loves to sing, travel, and find new adventures. If you have questions, just ask.
Max’s Website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, his podcast: What’s Your Excuse? See his website for information about his books and speaking engagements. (First book: Leading You Out of the Darkness Into the Light.)
Midwaymarketplace.com, the place to purchase carnival equipment.
Tom Sullivan, musician, actor, writer, music department
“Humans are not set up to understand logic; they are set up to understand stories.” ~ Roger C. Schank, Cognitive Scientist
PodMatch
This episode is brought to you by PodMatch, the dating service for podcasters. They introduced me to Max Ivey, and I’m so glad they did. I hope you’ve enjoyed our conversation and remember that if you have a podcast or something to share with the world, check out PodMatch at my affiliate link at PodMatch and tell them Lucinda sent you.
Patreon
I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.
Saving the World One Story at a Time, Course on Ûdemy
The world is in such chaos right now that sometimes we need to get a perspective on what’s happening. I designed this course on Ûdemy for people who are looking for a way to get a better understanding about what it means to be a human being. Stories are one great way to walk in the shoes of the characters, connect with them emotionally and learn from their mistakes. Then taking what you have learned and use it in the real world. It’s learning in a fun way! If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I hope to see you in class.
It’s my contention, after being a public school and college instructor, that the emphasis on education in the U.S. is all about expanding student’s minds and making sure their physical bodies are strong. However, there is very little education about how to manage emotions as evidenced by bullying and other public school drama that goes on.
I’d very much like to see a resurgence of support for the arts and humanities in all our educational institutions. The arts and even the study of history, cultures, and religions, are about the exploration and affects of human emotions on what was and is going on out in the wider world. I mean, on a macro level, if Adolph Hitler had had a different upbringing and could manage his paranoia, would he have tried to conquer the world? On the micro level, would we be able to understand that when our boss yells at us, it might be because of something going on at home? If we can figure that out, then we can go home we won’t yell at our family members in turn.
Emotions are like dominoes because we’re magnets, to one degree or another, for the emotions of others. Unfortunately our culture doesn’t make room for expressing big emotions in public. Even big displays of joy make people uncomfortable. So what we do is apologize for our individual laughter or tears. Those kinds of emotions are okay when it’s a communal experience like when watching a funny or sad movie with other people or when we’re in church, but it’s almost always taboo when something makes us happy or cry when no one else is feeling it.
So, how do we fix this situation? One answer is simple, consume as many stories as you can and try to understand all the emotional stuff that the characters are going through. That’s one great thing about novels. We get to hear the character’s inner dialogues. We get to see where their prejudices or conditioned responses from past experiences trip them up, which makes it so satisfying when they realize their mistakes. But you can’t stop there. You have to compare yourself to the characters to see if you can relate to anything they are going through.
Using stories as personal growth tools, is one of the reasons I created my podcast Story-Power and Ûdemy course, Saving the World One Story at a Time. I want to help people learn a measure of emotional intelligence, which is the ability to manage our emotions. I mean you could go for therapy to learn emotional intelligence, and sometimes that’s the best course of action when you’ve gone through something extreme. But identifying with characters with similar problems to yours is one way to take a step back to see how they handle their troubles. And then possibly emulate them.
I’m writing this post because of all the world wide turmoil going on right now, and because of some stressful things going on in my extended family. Emotions are running high in lots of different sectors of the world. If we can’t manage our fear, sorrow, cynicism, and even hatred, the human race could be in big trouble.
I have faith, though, that even though things look bad right now, I believe that there are lots of people who are taking a step back and examining how what’s going on in the world is affecting them. They’re taking time to examine their emotions. That’s a really good thing.
Welcome to my new followers. Thanks for joining us here. I hope all of you who follow are doing well.
Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.
Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.
The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.
Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me
Patreon
I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.
Saving the World One Story at a Time
The world is in such chaos right now that sometimes we need to get a perspective on what’s happening. I designed this course on Ûdemy for people who are looking for a way to get a better understanding about what we’re going through, and what it means to be a human being. Stories are one great way to walk in the shoes of the characters, connect with them emotionally for a short time but not have to live there. Not to mention it’s a pleasant way to learn. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I hope to see you in class.
PodMatch
If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.
“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.” ~ M. Scott Peck, M.D., The Road Less Traveled”
“Tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance”
You may not have heard of M. Scott Peck, or his phenomenal book, The Road Less Traveled, which was on the New York Times best seller list for over 10 years. It was first published in 1978, but I didn’t become aware of it until somewhere around my 30th birthday. I had been struggling with life, as many 20 somethings do. And a friend at church suggested this book to me. It changed my perspective completely. When I read the first line above, “Life is difficult,” I remember sighing deeply and saying to myself, “Life is difficult, and I thought something was wrong with me because mine isn’t easy.” To me everyone around me was living a stress free life while I was the exception.
I don’t remember the exact sequence of events, but around the time I found and read The Road Less Traveled, I quit my office job, which was killing my spirit. And I enrolled at Portland State University to get my Master of Arts in Theater Arts. This book was the beginning for me of intense reading and spiritual exploration, of which theatre was a huge part because studying plays helped me understand the human condition. I am forever grateful to the person who put the book in my hands because I began to see that every obstacle and seemingly problematic, or even tragic situation I experienced, was an opportunity to deal with old wounds and to grow.
I know that we humans don’t like to deal with our problems. We’d rather stuff them in a dark corner of our mind and try not to think about them. We hope they will go away. But honestly, do they go away? Not in my experience. Nope those pesky problems resurface in a bigger and messier way.
I get it. We think that if we actually allow ourselves to feel our dark emotions, they will overtake us and we’ll be stuck in the dark. But emotions are energy in motion. I wish I could remember who said that, but it’s true. Think about it. How many different emotions do you feel in one day? Yet, the fear remains. No one wants to be stuck in dark emotions for a long time. Yet, that’s what happens when we try to stuff them. Eventually we sink into depression, or some other terrible mental state, and we have a most difficult time climbing out.
The only solution I’ve found to avoid sinking into those really dark places is to face the emotions evoked when the incident first happens. When I do that, I’m on the road to healing. Don’t get me wrong, the emotions surface again, and again but each time they do, they are much less intense if I embrace and realize they are my friends. They are helping me face and heal aspects of myself that are obstacles to a happy life.
This week, Barry and I watched a show that perfectly illustrates what I’m trying to say here. The show is Shrinking, on Apple +, created by Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel. It’s about Jimmy, a therapist, played by Jason Segel, who is at first, not dealing with the death of his wife. Sitting and listening to the problems of his clients pushes him to begin telling them, and everyone else, exactly what he thinks. Up until that point, he’d been numbing with alcohol and other substances. He’d been ignoring his teenage daughter and his friends. He finally begins to realize his life is a mess, which is the beginning of his healing process.
Jimmy’s boss, played by Harrison Ford, and his co-worker, played by Jessica Williams, try to help, but their lives are not perfect either. In fact, almost all of the characters have problems they are dealing with. And as crazy as it sounds, that makes the show extremely funny. Jimmy’s brutal honesty wears off on those around him. His clients, colleagues, and friends are also finally facing their demons and putting their lives back in order. This makes the end of the first season hopeful. If these characters, as examples, are able to address and heal their wounds, maybe we can too.
One of the best things to remember is that there are people out there who care about you and will support you as you go through whatever dark things are happening to you. Sometimes I forget that and want to make my life look like everything is great. But during the above mentioned time, I discovered it is much better to share my feelings. Sometimes I was just sharing in my journal, but that often gave me the courage to talk with my friends who were more than happy to help.
I hope you enjoy the changing seasons wherever you are and remember that nothing stays the same forever.
The world is in such chaos right now that sometimes we need to get a perspective on what’s happening. I designed this course on Ûdemy for people who are looking for a way to get a better understanding about what we’re going through, and what it means to be a human being. Stories are one great way to walk in the shoes of the characters, connect with them emotionally for a short time but not have to live there. Not to mention it’s a pleasant way to learn. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I hope to see you in class.
Patreon
I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.
The Space Between Time
Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.
Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.
The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.
Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.
PodMatch
If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.
My name is Alanna, I’m from the UK, and have just released my first novel, Abolish the Rose, published with Atmosphere Press. As a lifelong reader, long-time writer, and first-time, indie-published author, it’s been a long journey and a rollercoaster of mistakes and lessons learnt!
I also love salsa dancing, learning new languages and living in Barcelona, Spain.
Abolish the Rose tells the story of Camille Addison, who is recently retired and struggling to come to terms with the idea that her life has been a waste, or that she should have “achieved” something more with her time, after an unexpected tragedy knocked her off course. The title comes from a quote (or indeed my interpretation thereof) from James Russell Lowell: “The question of common sense is always: ‘what is it good for?’ – a question which would abolish the rose and be answered triumphantly by the cabbage.”
Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.
Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.
The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.
Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.
Patreon
I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.
PodMatch
If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ~ Lao Tzu
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Dave Dahl, my teaching partner for acting class before I retired, used to say to the students, “Where’s the love?” when they were rehearsing a scene. I think they found that question really helpful especially since plays are centered around relationships. And sometimes the answer to the question was that the love was in a place that did not feed the relationship.
Since I wanted to base this post on that quote, I asked Dave where he got it. He told me it comes from Michael Shurtliff who wrote the book Audition. It’s one of his favorite quotes and now it’s one of mine too.
Ever since the first time I heard him say that to our students, I have been looking for the love in the stories I consume. After all, stories are about human emotions and the most important of those is love. Looking for the love applies to all the genres I watch and read. I’m sure it applies to all genres in one way or another, though the “love” might not be the love for a person, family, group, or any business or government entity. It could be fear masquerading as love, trying to maintain the status quo.
This morning as the ideas for this post were simmering on the back burner of my mind, the thought came to me that we can apply this idea to things that are happening in the outside world too. For example, when a new bill is being introduced into congress, or a state legislature, or even at the city level, we might want to decide whether it’s a good bill or not by asking ourselves where is the love in this proposed law? We can ask it about company policies, personal relationships, news programs, political figures, bosses; virtually any situation in which we find ourselves.
I plan to do that as a guide for every aspect of my life. I’ll keep asking myself, “Where is the love?” or even “How can I bring love?” to a situation.
Of course, the first thought I had about this post was to apply the “Where is the love?” idea to a story or two. So, here are a couple for you to think about.
My family, et al, book club group is reading The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It’s a book about Hiram, a slave in Virginia, who’s father just happens to be the Master of the plantation. Hiram has extra-ordinary talents, for example, he can remember anything and everyone he encounters, everything except his mother. He vaguely remembers her leaving him when he was very young, but the exact incidents around her leaving, and even who she was and what she looked like are lost in a fog. Hiram’s father recognizes his talents as far exceeding those of his legitimate son, Maynard. He can’t acknowledge, even in his own mind, that Maynard is a ner-do-well. So he has Hiram educated so he can look after his brother. And that’s just the first part of his father’s oppressions. But Hiram is blessed in a way “The Quality” in the book aren’t, and that places unimaginable opportunities in his path to do good.
The love in this book is among “The Tasked.” They, for the most part, are the ones who develop deep love with one another, even though they may suffer a great deal, and have their hearts wrenched when their families are ripped apart by their owners. It is their memories of love and connection that help them continue on.
By contrast, or maybe it just seems like a contrast, the other story I want to share about is, Red Sparrow, which is based on a book of the same name by Jason Matthews. This is a spy thriller which takes place in present time with a female protagonist.
Dominika is a prima ballerina with Bolshoi Ballet Company. At the beginning of the story she is injured during a performance, and is unable to dance ever again. Unfortunately for her, the ballet company was paying for not only her apartment but her mother’s desperately needed health care as well. Another unfortunate fact for Dominika is that her uncle is the head of the Russian Intelligence Agency. He presents her with the “choice” to work for him, or lose her mother’s high level health care. It’s a trap, of course. He sends her on a mission, in which the person she’s supposed to get information from is killed while raping her. And now she either goes to “Sparrow” school where she will learn how to be a seductress/spy for the State, or she dies because of what she saw. She realizes that she’s being herded into specific choices. As she heads off to sparrow school, her mother tells her to keep a part of herself separate no matter what they teach, or do to her. It’s the love for her mother along with her superior intellect, that help her as she finds a way out of the clutches of the powerful men who want to use her as a weapon.
I think asking ourselves where the love can be found, is another way to try to understand where people we don’t understand are coming from. What love motivates their choices? And maybe more importantly, what love motivates our choices? I know that some people don’t want to do self-examination. However, if we are going to heal the way we interact with each other, we need to at least try to heal our traumas.
I’ll just leave those questions and ideas for you to think about. I know I’m going to be looking for the love that motivates me more closely.
Welcome to my new followers. Have a wonderful week ahead.
Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.
Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.
The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.
Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.
Patreon
I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast and Patreon communities so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. If you’re passionate about stories too, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower.
PodMatch
If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.
Sage Woman Chronicles 