Stories From Women Who Walk

Hello to you listening in Brittany, France!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

As a storyteller for some 30 years now I can say this: when life is upside down and backward we call on the old stories. The old stories of who we are and where we came from ground us in the truth of the origins we might forget when distracted by shiny things, especially at this time of year.

Shopping [by Faith...

Hello to you listening in Sumner, Washington!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Over a three-day period, almost 200 volunteers lend their time to prepare upwards of 700 free Thanksgiving Turkey Dinners with all the trimmings. This will be my 8th year as a Mobile Turkey Unit volunteer. Together we slice and box pumpkin pies, peel mountains of potatoes, scoop buckets of cranberry relish, carve hundreds of pounds of  freshly roasted turkeys, stir vats of stuffing, and bag r...

Hello to you listening in Suffolk, Virginia!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more for an important story) for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Each one of us - if we’re determined - finds a way to compost the regrets, poor decisions, failures, shames and blames that are part and parcel of living life into something almost beyond description: personal transformation. My long time friend, podcasting colleague, disabled military vet, and avid hiker, Keith McNally, is a man fi...

Hello to you listening in Shallotte, North Carolina!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

The Witch of Whidbey has been walking in the autumn-drenched fields and forests, some leaves not yet ready to let go of their branches, scattered clouds, hints of rain on the horizon, wood fires holding at bay the Pacific Northwest chill, and, (as if we could ever forget) the fast-approaching Holidazed nipping at our heels.

Gazing at the landscape brought...

Hello to you listening all over Whidbey Island and wherever your feet touch the ground.

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

What’s better than Food & Music is the Whidbey Rising Benefit Concert! Join us as a brilliant array of musicians and performers from across Whidbey Island come together for a benefit concert to feed our island community.

Money raised will go to the Whidbey Food Resilience Fund, administered by the Whidbey Community Foundation. Fu...

Hello to you listening in Sayville, New York!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

The other day I was talking with my longtime friends, colleagues and brainstormers, Tania and Leanne, about times when we set out to achieve X but an unintended, better-than-expected Y happened. You know what I mean: the mystery of unintended consequences that turns out to be amazing!

Here’s one: The Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming  was working on a project on...

Hello to you listening in Victoria, Texas!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Maybe like me you’re familiar with the line, “Everything old is new again.” Some attribute the saying to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, to Jonathan Swift in the 1700s, or to Churchill, Mark Twain, or even a Chinese proverb.  

Genesis aside, what does the saying mean?  In brief, old patterns, music, items, ideas, and so on come around again to inspire...

Hello to you listening in Dong Nai, Vietnam!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Imagine this: parents taking matters into their own hands and dialing back on their children’s cell phone access by bringing landlines into their homes. In one dad’s words, “Landlines strip communication skills back to basics.”

What makes this move look like something out of The Wayback Machine? Because it confronts the digital mainstream with unsung values grounded in new idea...

Hello to you listening in Show Low, Arizona!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Maybe like me in times of difficulty you turn for comfort or encouragement to a favorite line from the past, that still makes you wonder: could this have been written with me in mind?

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe said, “Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Looking at its sad appearance who would think that those stiff branches, th...

Hello to you listening in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Maybe like me you find yourself having lost track of the pathway of purpose. What’s my work for? Who’s it for? Why does my work matter?

When I hit this place I ask 4 questions to re-orient my compass heading to True North:

Why?

Why Me?

Why Me Here?

Why Me Here...

Hello to you listening in Quezon City, the Philippines!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

In 2017 (years before the current madness) Pope Francis said, “Hitler didn’t steal the power, his people voted for him, then he destroyed his people.” That’s what con men do. Yes, there are days when We the People feel ashamed - even hopeless - for having been duped.

At the same time I’m reminded of a line in William...

Hello to you listening in Warsaw, Poland!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

I am deeply proud of my Polish heritage and being a lawyer. These times are unprecedented; but especially for judges, the last line of freedom’s defense. Attacks on the independence of the judiciary are sweeping our country taking various forms ranging from court capture to direct attacks on judges. The cowards behind the attacks know that the independence of...

Hello to you listening from wherever your feet touch the ground on this Halloween which has roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced SOW in) which marked the end of summer and the harvest and begins the darker half of the year.

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, the Witch of Whidbey.

Over these past 6 weeks (as I do every year) I’ve been retracing in my journal and my memories the pilgrimage I walked on th...

Hello to you listening in Toronto, Ontario, CanadaLand!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

My morning “rise & shine” routine is not complete without a page from the book, Pluto Living - Welcome to the Plutoverse by Pluto (& Mom a.k.a. NJ Wight, renowned wildlife photographer). 

You might remember the smart and sassy older lady Canadian Miniature Schnauzer who launched her very own Pluto Living YouTube channel on March 17, 2020 where she dispensed wisdom...

Hello to you listening in these still indivisible United States of America!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

I’ve been following Parker Palmer’s work since I bought a copy of his book, Let Your Life Speak - Listening For the Voice of Vocation, in 1999. You might be familiar with this quote which has become a guiding light for me: “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it int...

Hello to you listening in Roseau, Capital of Dominica, Lesser Antilles!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Many people are under the impression that the Hero’s Journey made famous by Joseph Campbell is about an external journey to vanquish foes and return with some Truth.

In truth, the real journey is an internal one. The Hero is called to a task that is not at the surface of her being; rather, the task re...

Hello to you listening in Salta, Argentina!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

I have decades of story prompt exercises to help my clients clarify their ideas, create their origin story, amplify their message, and connect with their audience in a way that authentically influences them to take desired action. In my experience practicing with fewer words focuses the core message. From there we can expand to a longer story.

Practical Tip: Recall something...

Hello to you listening in  Kokomo, Indiana!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Each year at this time my Camino de Santiago memories come back to life as I retrace my pilgrimage steps through the pages of my journal. Why this annual ritual? It’s a witness to my life: how I lived life before Camino and living it after Camino.

In truth I want to relive the memories like strolling down a cobblestone vil...

Hello to you listening in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malasia!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Retracing my Camino de Santiago pilgrimage footsteps in my journal and photos as I’ve been doing since 17th September reminds me how fully alive I felt then. 

5 weeks - 500 miles walking the Way - all across Spain.

Yes, there were aches and pains, cold and rain; there were crowded dorms that smelled like wet dogs; the...

Hello to you listening wherever your feet touch the ground!  

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Our rights were never given — they were earned, they were won. From the ballot box to the picket line, generations of Americans have fought to secure fundamental freedoms and dignity for all of us. President Trump thinks behaving like a king makes him one; but in America, we don’t put up with would-be kings, we don't...

Hello to you listening in Londrina, Brazil!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Recently I was honored to share the mic with my podcast friend and colleague Maritza Perez, the host of My Accent Is No Accident. Together we celebrated cultural diversity by sharing stories and valuable insights about overcoming barriers, and the importance of community. If you’re curious to discover how sharing your origin story can transform lives and promote understanding in the corporate wo...

Hello to you listening in Newport News, Virginia!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Maybe like me you feel on constant alert - trying to hold it together with compassion, hope and humor even while those who cause all this suffering want to rob us of that as well. No one and no place feels safe.

We humans were not designed nor created for being on nonstop vigilance; it raises our blood pressure, our...

Hello to you listening wherever your feet touch the ground!  

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Our rights were never given — they were earned, they were won. From the ballot box to the picket line, generations of Americans have fought to secure fundamental freedoms and dignity for all of us. President Trump thinks behaving like a king makes him one; but in America, we don’t put up with would-be kings, we don't...

Hello, to you listening in San Lorenzo, California!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Maybe like me you’ve gotten stuck. Maybe you’re stuck now; you don’t know what to do.

If you’re stuck, don’t watch what you think; watch what you do. You can walk your way clear. Walking activates a storehouse of strengths, experiences, helpful teachings, solutions gathered over your lifetime. Feeling connected with the earth liberates our imaginatio...

Hello to you listening in Fremont, California!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

In college I was taught by lay faculty and Benedictine monks.  

Today I follow Joan Chittister, an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author, and speaker who is known for being an outspoken advocate of justice, peace and equality focusing on the empowerment of women.

In her book, The Monastic Heart - 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life, Chittister w...

Hello, to you listening in Salford, England!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

I practice the Five Remembrances as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh: I am of a nature to get old, get sick, and die, be separated from those I love, and there is nothing I can do about it. Sounds grim, right? Now what?

Maybe the Five Remembrances serve as an invitation to ask ourselves:

✓ What does my Life want?

Hello to you listening in Cieszyn, Poland! 

Coming to you from Whidbey Island Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Women don’t often take the time to fully inquire into questions like:

✓ Who am I?

✓ What am I here for?

✓ Am I living my life in alignment with my true self and purpose?

✓ Am I willing to venture into an archeological dig on my story to leave behind my feelings of unfulfilment and get to the hear...

Hello to you listening in Newport News, Virginia!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Kindness. What is it good for? Absolutely everything!

✓ Reduces stress, anxiety, feelings of pain and depression, and lowers blood pressure

✓ Boosts self-esteem, feelings of well being, happiness, and optimism

✓ Fosters a sense of community helping people feel connected and supported

✓ Encourages compassion and understanding to break down barriers of prejudice

✓ Promotes a more carin...

Hello to you listening in Camano Island, Washington!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington, this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Let’s be perfectly clear. Fascism is here.

It feels like we are shoveling sand against an incoming tide. It feels like we have little plastic shovels while the other guys have earth movers.

I get it.

But this much I know about the tide: it does turn.

We the People have to do th...

Hello to you listening in Helsinki, Finland!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

These days it takes more than the usual effort to stop trying to burst people into flames with my mind.  

What’s going on? What isn’t? The craziness is triggering our uncertainties, raising our blood pressure, interrupting our sleep, and worse.

My dad used to say, Diane, Nie mój cyrk. Nie moje małpy. Not my circus - not m...

Hello to you Patrice (long-time follower and supporter)  listening in Big Bear, California!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

“Happiness is pretty simple: someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to.” [Rita Mae Brown, Hiss of Death]

Said another way, “The three grand essentials of happiness are: Something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for." [Alexander Chalmers, Scottish writer whose papers are held at the National Library of Scotlan...

Hello to you listening around the world!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey with your host Diane Wyzga.

About a block from my library or a block from the post office sits a house on a corner. Propped against this house I saw a very large sheet of plywood. Spray-painted in large black letters were these words: Kill Lawyers - Not Cops.    

Putting aside any 1st Amendment right of free speech arguments or the notion that many folks don’t like lawyers until they need one...

Hello to you listening in Hamburg, Germany!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.  

We are living in a time of historic upheaval. But what if this currently confusing, chaotic, confounding, cultural churn is stumbling toward change that reveals the hidden roots of social injustice for what they are so that we can reconfigure for good?

How easily the safeguards can be leaped. And they have been. We can clutch our pearls and bemoan the t...

 Hello to you listening in Ellsworth, Maine!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Long ago in China there were cities surrounded with towering walls and magnificent gates. The gates let people in and out of the city but more importantly the gate was the place where the soul of the city resided. How do you build such a gate?

People would collect the bleached bones of warriors from the old battlefields and carry them b...

Hello to you listening in Cartegena, Columbia, South America!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Perhaps like me you have walked a long road to find out how to use your voice to shine a light into the world that would be vastly incomplete without you. Perhaps you might still feel self-conscious about using the power of your voice.

Hear me when I say this: it’s your time! You did not come to Ea...

Hello to you listening in Adelaide, Australia!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Recently I was delighted to share the mic as guest with Christi Cassidy, the host of Moving Along podcast.  We giggled our way through stories about travel, relocation, and transition inspired by a sense of curiosity, adventure, and possibility.

There are tales of youthful independence and the courage to chart one's path. Childhood memories of collecting S&H Green Stamps for c...

Hello to you listening in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina! 

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Two lines from the novel Bel Canto by Ann Patchett gave me pause: 

“It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.” [~ p. 300]  

Maybe like me you’ve done many things and inhabited many roles over the course of your life. And yet and yet...

Hello to you listening in Puyallup, Washington!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Maybe like me you were raised in a culture, a generation, a home where your voice, the power of your one true authentic voice was not appreciated. Maybe it was  shuttered, shushed, shut down. Why? Who knows.

Sometimes our early fears and traumas hold us back from speaking in our authentic voice. But reclaiming our authentic voice is more than tips a...

Hello to you listening out on Nubanusit Lake, New Hampshire celebrating Michele’s Happy Birthday!

Nubanusit Lake, New Hampshire [drone footage] 

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Motivate Your Monday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Niccolò Machiavelli got it right with this quote on Change and Innovation in his 16th century political treatise, The Prince. “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a n...

Hello to you listening in Blue Hill, Maine!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Seth Godin, internationally known thinker, author and strategist posed a question: what’s the difference between a protest and a project? [Seth's Blog]

Protests let off steam. They organize people who might not show up by creating a moment in time where there’s enough opportunity and social pressure that they participate.

A protest sends a message.

Bu...