Making Change Pt. 3

As the New Year barrels on, bringing an abundance of uncertainty with it, we wanted to return to a topic that has sparked us many times before: Making change.

In this week’s episode of The Spark File podcast, we reflect on the work of scientists and experts who study the circuitry of the brain, and offer some tangible tips for how to make change in your life.

We’ll also discuss some creative changemakers we know—passionate folks who are using their creative superpowers for good. Like a particularly fashionable friend who helps curate professional outfits for job-seekers in need. Or an ASL interpreter whose precise translations amplify equal access in healthcare.

At the Spark File, we define creativity as applied imagination that fights for the powers of good. We also believe that if you want to make change, you have to do something! Together we can make 2025 the year that we use our creative gifts to make an impact, without getting bogged down by things we can’t control.

You can listen to the Spark File podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and directly on our website.

Doors are open for our transformational 6 month program, BLAZE. Our next cohort begins February 6. Get all the information you need HERE

Chapters

• 0:00 The Spark File Podcast
• 12:32 Whole Brain Living Brain Huddle Exercise
• 19:27 Unleashing Your Superpowers to Make Change
• 25:25 Creating Change Through Small Actions
• 35:57 Empowering Creative Spark File Journey

Transcript

The Spark File Podcast Transcript
Season 5, Episode 17: Making Change Pt. 3

Susan Blackwell:
Welcome to The Spark File, where we believe that everyone is creative, but smart creative people don't go it alone.

Laura Camien:
I'm Laura Camien.

Susan Blackwell:
And I'm Susan Blackwell, and we are creativity coaches who help people clarify and accomplish their creative goals.

Laura Camien:
Hey, you should know that just by listening to this podcast, you are joining a warm and wonderful clan of creatives.

Susan Blackwell:
But, you may be asking yourself what exactly is a spark file?

Laura Camien:
A spark file is a place where you consistently collect all your inspirations and fascinations. Every episode we're going to reach into our very own spark files and exchange some sparks, and from time to time we're going to talk to some folks who are sparkly and who spark us too.

Susan Blackwell:
And your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take some of those sparks of inspiration and make something of your own. So, without further ado, let's open up The Spark File! Laura Camien.

Laura Camien:
Suzy B.,  how are you doing?

Susan Blackwell:
I'm pretty good. I just burped into the mic, but that's not what I'm here to talk to you about.

Laura Camien: 
Hey, listen, it's welcome anytime. I'm going to tell you I have a, I have a bellyache, I got a bellyache and but you know it's going to make it better?

Susan Blackwell:
The Spark? Dr. Sparkgood.

Laura Camien:
Dr. Sparksgood in the house.

Susan Blackwell:
Oh, Laura, I'm sorry that you're not feeling well, it's okay, it's um…we've been working today. This is near the end of our day, and you have had a little bit of a rumbly tummy, and whenever I'm like, do you want to push pause on this, you're like, let's keep going, we can do this. Which is not what I'm advocating.

Laura Camien:
This is the opposite of what I would be advocating. We need to take care of ourselves, and I will. After I get sparked by you and you get my imagination flowing, then I'm going to curl up in a ball.

Susan Blackwell:
Maybe this will make you feel better.

Laura Camien:
That's what I'm saying. That's why I'm here.

Susan Blackwell:
Sometimes, when we record the podcast. It takes my mind off my troubles and it lifts me up.

Laura Camien:
That’s what I am counting on no pressure, but that's the bar for today, Susan.

Susan Blackwell:
You know all those studies that we have heard about and we've discussed even right here on this podcast about how engagement like this sort of engagement is one of the most important things that we need to continue to cultivate because it's one of those most important things that we need to continue to cultivate because it's one of those most important predictors of our health, et cetera. I think it really is on the day-to-day. It is the feeling that we get after we record the podcast, after we have a class in the Spark File–

Laura Camien:
And we think we're so tired and we go in to the class with our full community and we leave so pumped up like with like triple the energy we had when we woke up that morning.

Susan Blackwell:
It's that's why we're gonna have to, we're gonna have to podcast till the day we die.

Laura Camien:
Okay, I’m into it! That's why I'm here. I've shown up ready to be sparked.

Susan Blackwell:
Well, I got a spark for you and Laura. This spark today is a part three. What Maybe our first part three? I did parts one and parts two way back in I'm going to say…2020. Oh my gosh, but it feels like it's time and timely to revisit it.

Laura Camien: 
Oh, I like time and timely.

Susan Blackwell:
So if you've listened to this podcast for a long time, all of this may ring a little bell Ding-a-ling-a-ling. If you remember or if you don't, I told you all a story about a guy I met way back in 2016. Shortly after Donald Trump was elected president for the first time, I met a guy. I'm going to call the guy Dave. I remember this like it was yesterday. I remember this so clearly. I meet Dave, I say hi, I'm Susan. And then he said and I am quoting this to the best of my ability, I'm not sending this up he said “Hi, I'm Dave, it's nice to meet you. Oh boy, Can you believe this? Can you believe what's happening in the world? It's out of control. I mean, I can't believe this is real. I'm just freaking out. Can you believe that this is our world?” And I said “It's nice to meet you, Dave.” Looking back, I think Dave's nervous system was jacked up because of the election and Dave had some idea, but really no idea what was coming down the pike.

Laura Camien: 
Yeah, safe to say. No idea, I went on a little journey when you told that story, Susan, because I do not know the name of this comedian, but there's a comedian out there that does this whole bit about. Um. There are four words in the English language that can get you out of it…that can like engage you in any conversation that you like might get roped into when you don't know what the hell you're talking about, and he's like you know. Someone comes up to you. How about that game on Sunday? Your four words are “Can you believe it?? Can you believe it? And so anything can. How about that gossip about so-and-so and so-and-so? Can you believe it?

Susan Blackwell:
That's hilarious.

Laura Camien:
All you have to do say can you believe it? Amazing.

Susan Blackwell:
So I went on that little journey, but that's not what Dave was talking about. Dave started with that, which is a totally different conversation. And then, if Dave starts with “Can you believe it? Do we just keep saying “Can you believe it?” to each other?

Susan Blackwell:
Like two mirrors facing each other.

Laura Camien: 
Yes, I know, can you believe it?

Susan Blackwell:
So, even though I had just met Dave, I totally recognized that look in his eyes and I empathized. I've seen that look in a lot of people's eyes, the look when someone is overwhelmed by the injustice in the world and maybe they are again fearing for their personal freedoms–

Laura Camien:
The moral distress. The moral distress of it all.

Susan Blackwell:
And that fear and overwhelm had Dave turned inside out. And even though I just met Dave, this is a true story. It's a story about my lack of boundaries, Even though I had just met Dave. I reached over, I put my hand on his heart and I said “Dave, let me ask you a question. How many times have you initiated this conversation? I just met you. I don't know you, but if I may be so bold, I'd like to offer you something you can always tell me to go fuck myself, Dave.”

Laura Camien:
Always an option.

Susan Blackwell:
I think I know what's going on here. And then I said this was bold of me, but I was like…”I think you might be addicted to this conversation and this sort of swirl.”

Laura Camien: 
We're searching for answers. Yeah, we're searching for something that's going to make you feel better.

Susan Blackwell:
But what happens is you talk, talk, talk until you're blue in the face and you stew and you worry, but I swear there are other options. There is actually something that you can do, which is my spark today.

Laura Camien: 
Oh, I'm so happy for this.

Susan Blackwell:
Laura Camien. This spark is my Making Change, Pt. 3 spark.

Laura Camien:
Part three!

Susan Blackwell:
How did the French say it? I wanted to do this episode because we find ourselves yet again at the beginning of a Trump presidency, and the next several years may be a lot of things, and I believe that we each have some critical choices to make, and one of those choices is how we are going to respond not react, but respond to this.

Laura Camien: 
I'm really happy for this, Susan, because, as you know, I've been struggling with trying to find a balance between—how do I make sure that my nervous system is not just off the charts and out of control for the next four years, and also how do I not completely disengage, because that's one way yeah, one way to approach. It is like I just refuse to pay any attention to it and that, for responsible citizens who want to be part of the positive energy in the world, that can't be the option.

Susan Blackwell:
I—we've discussed this privately offline, and this is just a mini side spark. I think one of the critical pieces of this is taking in news when you choose, on a cadence that you are choosing, not just sort of like the mindless scroll, the constant drip, not just sort of like the mindless scroll, the constant drip, but and also what news sources you are taking in. And two things that I would offer people are Heather Cox-Richardson and her substack that arrives in your inbox daily, Tangle, which, uh, gives us a balanced view of the news from the right and the left.

Laura Camien:
Yeah, and that's not sensationalized.

Susan Blackwell:
Not sensationalized. Though Sometimes it will share. This is how the right and the left are sensationalizing this, so you do get a bit of that. And also PBS man, Though sometimes it will share. This is how the right and the left are sensationalizing this, so you do get a bit of that, and also PBS man you ever just dial into the. PBS News Hour because it is non-sensationalized. It is the facts. And sometimes the facts can be distressing, but it's not sensationalized.

Laura Camien:
It's how it used to be when news was a public service. And that you know changed in, I think, the eighties. And we started to see it as entertainment, and you know that driving our blood pressure up is part of the strategy that is intended to keep us addicted to—

Susan Blackwell:
Addicted to the conversation, to the shitty swirl, yeah. So that was a little bonus side spark. Now back to the main spark. Yeah, to kick it all off, I thought it might be helpful to take a moment and reflect on the great work of Dr Jill Bolte Taylor.

Laura Camien: 
Go with me on this, Laura Camien, and listeners.

Susan Blackwell:
For those of you who don't know, Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor is a neuroanatomist and an author who wrote the book Whole Brain Living, which we've covered on the podcast. Dr. Bolte Taylor taught us that there are essentially our four circuitries in the brain and she summarized them in an article on her website, drjilltaylor. com, and you can learn all about these in her book Whole Brain Living as well. So, in the most basic nutshell, “Character one this brain circuitry this is the rational character in your brain, amazingly gifted at creating order in the external world. This part of your brain defines what is right or wrong, what is good or bad, based on its moral compass. It is a perfectionist that cares that the stapler goes back where it belongs and insists that you color within the lines.” This is our Type A character one.

Susan Blackwell:
Character two circuitry “tends to fear the unknown and perceives life through a lens of lack rather than through a filter of abundance. So there's a lot of fear, sadness.” But character two really does protect us and keep us safe. So we want to treat our character two with the same respect that we would any of these. Character three is our “emotional, experiential self that seeks similarities rather than differences with other people, because it wants to connect, explore, go on adventures with others, sharing time, having fun or deeply connecting through empathy.” Those are all character three traits.

Susan Blackwell:
And character four is the part of the brain which exists as our most peaceful, open, and loving self. Character four is the part of the brain which exists as our most peaceful, open and loving self. Character four is attuned with the gift of life, immense gratitude, acceptance, openness and love. So when you meditate, pray or repeat a mantra, you are quieting your left brain characters one and two, so you can experience the deep inner peace of your character four. Character four is always there and always available for you to access. So that's just like a quick little rundown, but Whole Brain Living, well worth your time.

Laura Camien: 
So good.

Susan Blackwell:
Such a good book.

Susan Blackwell:
So, Jill Bolte Taylor also introduced us to the brain huddle exercise, which she encourages all of us to do several times a day. In essence, the brain huddle exercise asks us to slow down and assess which brain circuitry would be most useful in any given situation. To remind you all of the steps, it is lined up in the acronym BRAIN, b-r-a-i-n, and here's what it stands for. The B stands for breathe, focus on your breath. This enables you to hit the pause button, interrupt your emotional reactivity and bring your mind to the present moment with a focus on yourself. The R stands for recognize, as in recognize which of the four characters circuitry you are running in the present moment. The A stands for appreciate, appreciate whichever character you find yourself exhibiting and the fact that you have all four characters available to you at any moment. The I stands for inquire, inquire within and invite all four characters into the huddle so they can collectively and consciously strategize your next move. So that's also in I you're also maybe saying okay, character two has been really afraid, really anxious, really going up to people and saying can you believe this, can you believe the world we're living in? But inquiring which of those brain circuitries might best be used from moment to moment to moment and the N stands for navigate. Navigate your new reality, with all four characters bringing their best game and perhaps choosing a different brain circuitry to be dominant in any particular moment. So that is her brain huddle exercise.

Laura Camien:
So good.

Susan Blackwell:
I tell you all of this because, as we enter into this new chapter in our world, you may, if you're anything like me maybe I won't speak for Laura, but maybe, like Laura, maybe you may feel yourself pulled into your Character 2, your fear, your anger, your feeling of difference, separateness, us versus them, anxiety, and I want me and Laura and you and all of us, to have the tools to consciously choose what part of our brain circuitry we want to utilize and therefore strengthen, because I don't know about you, but I don't want the next four years to only strengthen my character too.

Laura Camien:
Oh gosh, no.

Susan Blackwell:
But if I'm not, conscious about it. I could see myself definitely. I see it in myself already. I see it in myself already, Laura.

Laura Camien:
Well, it's intentionally done, Susan, it's by design, it's not accidental. Both the news organizations that want to get our clicks and want to get us to tune in but also the politicians that are like I make myself relevant by threatening and being a blowhard, and people wondering will they do it, Will they not? What will happen? And it's, it is like taking the entertainment factor way too far.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're fighting against a current here, yeah, um, but we're going to do it. We're going to do it consciously. In addition to consciously choosing what part of my brain circuitry I want to utilize, I want I invite you all to consciously choose how you want to focus your creative energy in the coming seasons, because it really really can make a difference, huge, Huge. In this podcast, I have shared a formula for making change, aka creating a difference, and I would like to share it again.

Susan Blackwell:
Oh yes, For those of you who might have missed this story the last time I told it or the first time I told it, or if you just need a refresher. So good. So, let's check back in with our friend Dave. Remember him from two minutes ago–the one who was freaking out the one who I thought might be addicted to the conversation about how scary the world was, the same Dave, whose character two brain circuitry seemed to be running the show. Let’s pick up there.

Laura Camien: 
Okay.

Susan Blackwell:
So I said now I just met you, Dave, and I don't know you, but if I may be so bold, I'd like to offer you something. Can always tell me to go fuck myself, but I think I know what's going on here. But Dave didn't tell me to fuck off. In fact, his eyes lit up and he wanted to know what. I was proposing that might disrupt this swirl.

Laura Camien: 
What’s the secret? Yes! He's a man in need, he wants an answer, he needs some help.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah, so I shared with him a little formula that my meditation teacher, Emily Fletcher, take a shot. Hi Emily Fletcher. Emily Fletcher shared this with me on
November 9th, 2016.

Laura Camien:
Classic.

Susan Blackwell:
When I was freaking the fuck out like our good friend Dave, and it's a four-step formula and it goes like this. Step one pick a pressing issue, a need in the world. Pick something that really sparks you Clean drinking water, animal rescue, elementary education, trans rights.

Laura Camien:
Roe v Wade.

Susan Blackwell:
Roe v Wade! If you are in a safe place where you can do so right now, shut your eyes for a second, for real, right now. If you are not driving or walking, take a moment to identify one of the most pressing needs in the world for you, and it can be big or small, and it doesn't have to impress your neighbor. I know there's a lot. Just pick one. Got it At the count of three, open your eyes and say it out loud, even if you're listening to this walking down the street. Say it out loud. One, two, three go Beautiful. Did you say it? Did you fake me out?

Laura Camien:
Syke! 

Susan Blackwell:
That's okay. Now step two this is important, this is critical. You have to absolve yourself of the responsibility for the millions of other issues on the planet. Sure, like Laura Camien, be informed, but if you aren't going to do anything about a particular issue, don't get trapped thinking you have to have a solution or a reaction to every single crisis. It will only spin your wheels and drain your energy and wear you out.

Laura Camien: 
It will actually keep you from being able to make an impact in any other area.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah yeah, it just will drain your battery. That's right, Like freaked out Dave. Remember him from three minutes ago. Step three ask yourself what are my unique gifts and talents, what are my superpowers? And I bet you've got a lot of them. But consider are you a great woodworker? Are you a gifted speaker, an illustrator, an organizer, a healer, a musician? Are you stylish as fuck? Are you fantastic with kids or animals or the elderly? Can you speak French or sign ASL? Again, no wrong answers. I know you got a lot of gifts. Just pick one you're really feeling and, at the count of three, say it out loud, no matter where you are Ready One, two, three…Oh yeah, Did you say it? Did you just think it?

Laura Camien:
We know a lot of talented people.

Susan Blackwell:
Wow, we do we do? All right, let's review. Step one: pick a pressing issue. Step two: absolve yourself of saving the world. Step three define your gifts, your talents, your superpowers. Step four ask yourself which one of these gifts do I want to use right now? Now let's put it all together. So right now, are you a super stylish person who wants to use your superpowers to make the world a better place? And maybe you could do like my friend Nicole does.

Susan Blackwell:
She is the most stylish person I know. She has a great eye and she uses her superpowers to volunteer at a place called Clothes that Work their to clothe, educate and empower individuals to prepare them for employment success. I love that. Nicole. Did I mention great eye? Nicole's able to meet a person, understand where they're at style-wise and then provide them with a polished work and or interview wardrobe so they can go out and shine and succeed. She loves doing it and she loves going through racks and racks and racks of clothing and finding pieces that she's like this is quality, this has promise. She's doing it. She's using these superpowers that she has doing work. She loves making positive change right in her own hometown and she's just using her creativity to do it.

Laura Camien:
That's what it's all about. That is the way in which you can affect change.

Susan Blackwell:
That's right. That is right. Or Samantha Gibson, who wrote to me on Facebook and said though I don't really consider my work to be creative in a traditional sense, I do have to think creatively in how I interpret medical terms into visual ASL and also how to best communicate the needs of deaf patients, thereby providing equal access to communication, which is sadly often overlooked by medical professionals. I like to think by advocating for my patients and being sympathetic and empathetic to their situations. Their life in that moment is a bit easier. And I wrote to Sam and I said what I'm telling you all now at the Spark File—we define creativity as applied imagination that fights for the powers of good. So, Sam, you are nailing it, you are totally nailing it.

Susan Blackwell:
This is extraordinary, it's so creative and it it is making people's nailing it. This is extraordinary, it's so creative and it is making people's lives better it is changing their worlds.

Laura Camien: 
That is exactly right.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah. Or on Facebook, Kathy Boggs wrote “My passion is helping defenseless cats and kittens with medical help and spay neuter services. I seek out and assist owners who do not have the means for medical care for their animals.” This makes me want to cry and help those who find these helpless, sick animals that suffer through no fault of their own. I believe this makes the world a better place and helps those who love their animals and don't know where to go.” Kathy has got—I know Kathy—. Kathy has got superpowers when it comes to caring. And she's flowing that care towards these cats and towards their owners, or people who just find stray cats, and she's like let me help, let me jump in, let me make sure they have the medical service they need, that people are able to afford it, that all of this.

Laura Camien: 
Yes, this is how I think…This is how we make a difference, and it is sometimes by, you know, that spark we talked about a few weeks ago, Join the Joiners and that is like communities, those communities of people that come together locally and usually around a local, a local thing. You can affect change by simply deciding, I'm going to be on that team that gets rid of the potholes on this street. That's right, this four-block radius. That's what I can affect. Or I'm going to be on the team that makes sure, like, the lampposts are all working and our streets are not dark at night. That, like you can. That's where we can all make change. And how it all ladders up to big change over time.

Susan Blackwell:
I may have talked about this on the podcast, don't know, don't remember, but just here's a refresher. If I did, my friend Mike had a back injury and was completely down for the count bedridden for quite some time. And Mike is a doer, he's very active very vibrant, very alive, and he was flat laid.

Laura Camien:
Oh man yeah. Been there.

Susan Blackwell:
That is hard, but like for weeks, guess what he did with his time. He got on his little computer, which he could still do, and applied for a grant to have trees planted all throughout his neighborhood.

Laura Camien: 
Come on, come on.

Susan Blackwell:
So they planted hundreds of trees that are now, over the years, growing and growing.
Laura Camien:
That's God's work right there, literally planting trees.

Susan Blackwell:
I know you love a tree, Laura.

Laura Camien: 
I do love a tree and I love a person who plants a tree, because they are most often not the people who are going to get to enjoy the full beauty of that tree, so it is such a selfless act. It is an act of I care about the people in the future so much I don't even know them, but I care about them so much I'm going to plant this tree that's going to make a difference to them.

Susan Blackwell:
This reminds me of something that you told me, Laura Camien, which was something you heard at a talk that Suzan-Lori Parks gave about the impact or the correlation between trees planted in an area and young women in that area going to college. Did I make that up?

Laura Camien:
No, you didn't make it up at all. She was a fountain of knowledge in terms of community building and ways in which you support a community and how. Like resources, like places that have we talked about this, places that have a community center, less people die in natural disasters when they have a community center, and more young women go to college in places where they live in, like tree-lined streets. Trees, trees are present in the community.

Susan Blackwell:
So because my friend Mike was bedridden and was looking for something to do and he planted all those trees. It could potentially make a difference.

Laura Camien:
Absolutely, and I'm going to say without a fucking doubt, it's going to make a difference in the lives of people? Yes, and that's exactly it right there. What can I do? I'm bedridden. What can I do? I can apply for a grant and have some trees planted. That's incredible. I'm really inspired by that.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah, I'm like. You are unstoppable, Mike. Maggie Keenan-Bolger wrote, “These days, I have to remind myself that living my life each day as a disabled person is an act of revolution, and while I'm not able to do the same sort of concrete acts of change that I was able to do when my body was more able, being present, being vocal and trying to find ways to exist in a world that would rather disabled folks disappear into the background makes way not only for other disabled people to thrive, but offers alternatives for how we can all live our lives in a work-oriented capitalist society.”

Laura Camien:
Yes!

Susan Blackwell:
I loved that. Yes, I loved that is living, Maggie, but also Maggie has a real voice and that you could use a voice to share a cause that is important and personal.

Laura Camien: 
If you decided, like if you number one, picked that thing that was important to you and then decided one thing you would do is amplify the message and increase awareness around something that people need to be more aware of.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah.

Laura Camien:
That's doing something with intention and, again, biting off something that you can actually chew.

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah, yeah, this one. I love this one. Heidi Jones wrote, “I teach in a school where the kids may come from great poverty. One of the things in our school that we do is finding moments of joy. This month, being that it is Christmas,” –this was from December– “I head the hunt for presents for each of the 500 kids at the school. Some kids, it is their only gift for the season. Today was the day Santa came to every class. Every student got a present with their name on it from him. It is magical. The excitement is palpable. The joy is immense. Some kids didn't unwrap theirs because they want something to open on Christmas–

Laura Camien:
oh, bless them.

Susan Blackwell:
“And some kids cried from being overwhelmed, but every one of the kids felt love today.” Talk about making a change, and I feel like the superpowers that Heidi Jones is talking about is the ability to identify and seek and create moments of joy and taking action to let those kids know that they are loved. I think that's creative as hell, absolutely. And I'm sure there are times I mean let's be honest, like I'm sure there are times when Heidi Jones is like, oh God, like the night before, when Heidi's trying to work with a team of elves to get all those presents wrapped. I'm sure there are times when it is tiring or overwhelming, but I hope that the joy that those children experienced creates fuel for Heidi and her fellow teachers to keep going.

Susan Blackwell:
The thing that all of these folks have in common. All of these people have picked a thing that they're passionate about. They've used their superpowers to actually take action and make change. And here is one of the magical, tricky parts. Like I told Dave when we were talking, there is no one busier or lazier than me, but if you want to change the way you feel right now, if you want to make a change, you have to do something. You have to pick a thing and you actually have to do it.

Laura Camien: 
You have to do it and, Susan, that step I don't know if it was two or three, but you have to absolve yourself of all the other things that you are not doing, because we cannot do it all, and getting stuck in that trap of guilt actually makes you ineffective across the board.

Susan Blackwell:
Absolutely. Hey, if this is interesting to you, but you're like, ugh, I'm just listening to this podcast and I'll get back to it, I'll get back to it. If you would like to have some dedicated time to apply this process. We are hosting a workshop on Zoom on Thursday, January 16th, 2025 at 6:30 PM Eastern time. The workshop is free, but you must register. So go to the sparkfile. com, click on the link for the Making Change workshop. Go there now, do it. Don't wait, don't forget. Sign up, lickety, splickety. Join us.

Laura Camien:
Susan, I love how you work that in there. Here's the very first thing you can do: Join us at this workshop, yes, and consider how you are going to use your creativity this year to make change and make a difference.

Susan Blackwell:
Well, I think sometimes I don't know if you're anything like me podcast listener, when I love podcasts and when I'm listening to them and they're like. You can do that, like here's step one, two, three. I'm like that's awesome. And I save it for later. And I maybe don't find my way back to it, but we are providing you with an opportunity where we are going to take the time and guide you through a series of exercises so that you can identify your superpowers and what is important to you and then articulate how you want to focus your energies to make a change in your neighborhood, your community, your work or in the world. Again, go to thesparkfile. com and sign up. The next four years are going to be Mr Toad's Wild Ride, so let us get conscious about the change we want to see in the world and the change we want to be in the world, and that is my spark for you.

Laura Camien:
Oh, I love it.

Laura Camien:
I love it, Suze. I just also want to say one thing I love about it is this makes it all measurable too. Because you know when we're just living in this sort of swirl of there's so much, so many problems and so much to do. It's hard to know if we made any difference at all, but if I decided, this year my mission is going to be to fight against banning books, there are ways to measure the difference that I made you know from January 2025 to 2026. And that’s very satisfying!

Susan Blackwell:
Yeah, and if I decide that my mission is going to be to decide to fight for banning books, well, then we've got an interesting year ahead. We've got a real horse race going. Oh my gosh, oh wow, I didn't expect that twist, oh no.

Laura Camien: 
Can you believe it?

Susan Blackwell:
The Spark File got canceled that day and on that day, oh, Laura Camien.

Laura Camien:
Suze, I really love this Spark. It really helps me. I'm so glad that you for anyone who's heard it before, like me I'm so happy that you reminded me, because it's exactly what I need when I am swimming in that despair of what am I going to do and how am I going to make an impact. Now I know. Thank you.

Susan Blackwell:
I'll see you on January, 16th Word. All right, that's it. This episode of the spark file was made on the lands of the Lenape and the Mohican people and, as always, we hope this put another bunch of sparks in your file. Listen to me: If there's a spark you'd like us to explore or if you'd like to learn more about how to coach with us to accomplish your creative goals, you can email getcreative@thesparkfile. com or reach us through our website, thesparkfile. com.

Laura Camien:
We will even happily take your feedback, if you have any. But you know the price of admission. First you have to share a creative risk that you've taken recently.

Susan Blackwell:
You can follow us on social @theSparkFile and be sure to subscribe, rate and five-star review this podcast to talk about making a change. It really helps other listeners to find us. Also, if you like this podcast, we hope you'll share it with people that you love, and if you didn't like it, you can make a change to a different podcast.

Laura Camien:
Hey! And if something lights you up and gets your creative sparks flying, we're writing you a forever permission slip to make that thing, make that change that's been knocking at your door. It's your turn to take a spark and fan it into a flame.

Susan Blackwell:
You know you gotta take it—

Both:
And make it!

Exit Music