HeARTtalk with Tracey Michae’l
by HeARTtalk with Tracey Michae’l
HeARTtalk deep dives into the intersection of art and story with the purpose of helping us all start or continue our healing journeys. In the current third season, host Tracey Michae’l, author of Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration, explores the power and necessity of joy in our day to day lives, particularly those who are artists and storytellers.
Episodes
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S4E2 - Elections, Hope, and the Role of Stillness
In episode 2, TMLG dives into the nuanced role of hope in Black communities, especially during political turbulence. She reflects on how hope has been a tool for survival and resilience but challenges the notion that it owes us anything beyond sustaining our spirits. Perhaps, she suggests, we...
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S4E1 - What Does "Black Contemplative" Even Mean?
In the Season 4 opener of HeARTtalk with Tracey Michae’l, TMLG explores her journey into contemplative and mindfulness practices as a Black woman whose life and foundation has been informed by the necessity of movement and activism. She unpacks the tension between stillness and action, the…
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Black Joy When We Surrender Outcomes
In this season finale episode, TMLG shares how observing her favorite animal taught her the power of surrendering control and releasing the need to manufacture outcomes in her life. She also helps a caller think through how to release a friendship that’s no longer serving them well. Visit TMLG…
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Black Joy as Radical Sacrifice and Practice
TMLG unpacks the power of surrender as a way to shift and pivot in one’s life as well as the importance of viewing joy, freedom, and healing as a practice as opposed to a destination. She also answers a caller’s question about finding joy on the job. Visit TMLG and the show online at...
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Black Joy as the Freedom to Use Our Voices
TMLG shares how she released herself from a culture of silence and the need to be in control at all times—in order to experience the freedom that comes with telling her stories and giving her voice air. She also helps a caller deal with the complicated feelings that come up while co-parenting a...
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Black Joy as Aligning What We Believe with What We Do
TMLG challenges us to consider how what we believe about ourselves and our lives shows up in what we actually do; our practices. She also invites a caller to accept that grief and joy CAN coexist. Visit TMLG and the show online at www.hearttalkpodcast.com IG: www.instagram.com/hearttalkwithtracey...
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Black Joy as Letting the Old Stuff Go
TMLG discusses the process of letting go of people, places, and things as we grow and evolve on our healing journeys. Sometimes the old stories, thoughts, and beliefs will rear their head because we haven’t thanked them for their service and put them in their proper place. She also helps a caller...
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Black Joy as a Testimony of Healing
TMLG explores how living the life of a healing person is the best testimony and witness we can have to others. She also answers a caller’s question regarding protecting the joy of Black children when they are the “only one” in certain spaces. Visit TMLG and the show online at...
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Black Joy as Contentment and Gratitude
TMLG explores the power of contentment and acceptance as both a pathway to AND a manifestation of Black Joy. Visit TMLG and HeARTtalk online at: IG - @hearttalkwithtracey & @tmlgwriter FB- https://www.facebook.com/hearttalkwithtracey Get your copy of Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience,...
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Black Joy as Radical Amazement
Howard Thurman, citing Abraham Heschel, wrote about this concept of "radical amazement" in his book, The Inward Journey, and TMLG unpacks it in relationship to Black Joy. She also invites a caller who is concerned about not being able to express the fullness of his emotions as a Black man, to...
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Special Guest - Deesha Philyaw on Wielding Joy as Black women and writers
TMLG chats with prolific author, Deesha Philyaw, about the various ways we wield joy as Black women and writers. The two explore how Black joy shows up in the creation of characters as well as how creatives, in particular, live and work. Visit Deesha at: www.deeshaphilyaw.com Visit TMLG and...
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Black Joy when the Body is Speaking
TMLG talks more about the physical body being a portal to joy, especially for Black and Brown folks. Our caller fam also wants to know how we can sustain joy over time. Visit TMLG and HeARTtalk online at: IG - @hearttalkwithtracey & @tmlgwriter FB- https://www.facebook.com/hearttalkwithtracey Get...
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Black Joy when the World is on Fire
TMLG is back and Season 3 is all about BLACK JOY! In this episode... What does it look like to hold on to our joy, to be intentional about creating moments of joy, when fear and rage and grief is ever present and the world is a dumpster fire? With the new call-in format and special guest…
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Kanye, Covid, & Jesus: Loving and Creating as an Artist Living with Mental Illness
In the season finale episode, Tracey Michae’l talks with author, visual artist, and teacher, Claudia Love Mair, about the intersection of the arts with mental health and specifically about her own journey with Bipolar Disorder. This candid conversation covers the problematic view of racism as...
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The Ups and Downs of Being Married to an Artist/Creator
In S2E9 of HeARTtalk, TMLG talks with her partner/husband William Giggetts about the challenges and upsides of living with an artist/creative. The couple talks about the day-to-day frustrations, the ever-elusive notion of balance, and parenting pressures during the pandemic. HeARTtalk is: Healing...
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A WAY TO HEAR: Using the Gift of Theater to Heal
In S2E8 of HeARTtalk, TMLG talks with actor/playwright, Teresa Miller, about the power of the arts to help us "hear" ourselves so that, in turn, we can love well and heal. The response to grief, for some, is to run as far away from it as possible. And that’s understandable. It hurts. It…
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Pivoting on Purpose: Leaving Safe Behind
In S2E7, TMLG speaks with writer, cinematographer, and producer, Stephanie Malson, about her pivot from corporate security to full-time creative work. The conversation is an intimate and candid look at the ebbs and flows that come with making such a huge transition and the significance of knowing...
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"Moving" Toward Wholeness: How Dance Can Help Us Heal
So much of what we call illness and disease can be linked to how much personal and trans-generational trauma we hold in our bodies. That’s why it is critical in this movement for Black lives that we #fightANDheal. Learning how to return to our bodies can be transformative and one of the ways we…
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RAGE & GRIEF: Gardening as a tool for Healing
While we—Black people—are fighting, we must also try to heal. We must. In S2E5, Tracey Michae’l talks about choosing to embrace her rage as righteous and the importance of finding subversive ways to heal from the trauma of racism and racial micro-aggressions. One of those tools for healing is...
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The Power in Sharing Your Personal Story
In S2E4 of HeARTtalk, Tracey Michae'l speaks with author, journalist, and public intellectual, Lori Tharps, about the power of telling our personal stories for personal and collective healing. It’s inevitable that when sharing our personal stories--whether via memoir, essays, or oral...
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Processing Grief
The timeline for grief is not standardized. We all journey through it in our own ways. In this episode, TMLG talks with Neysa Taylor, an author and leader in the communications field who recently lost her husband of 17 years, Chris, after his long battle with cancer. The two talked about the ways...
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Participating in Your Own Healing: What does wellness really mean to the entrepreneur/creative?
In this episode of HeARTtalk, Tracey Michae’l talks with entrepreneur/influencer/speaker and all around dope woman, Dawn Fitch, Founder and President of Pooka Pure and Simple, a handmade bath and body products company based out of New Jersey. The conversation deep dives into the power of...
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LEAVING CORPORATE: Finding Peace in the Pivot
In our SEASON TWO opener, Tracey Michae’l talks with Michelle Richard about what it means to find peace after leaving her lucrative corporate career. As an attorney and former C-suite corporate executive for a billion dollar company, the list of Michelle’s accolades is long. But what happens when...
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BONUS - “Catching” Your Breath in the COVID Crisis: A Meditation
There’s so much going on right now. So much uncertainty. Sorrow and frustration is seeping into our souls. As we sit with these emotions, we must remember to breathe. Breathing is how we live through it. COVID-19 is trying to steal our breath…physically for some, emotionally and spiritually for...
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Black Women Professors Creating Space in Academia
The final episode of season 1 of HeARTtalk is a dynamic one! Tracey Michae’l facilitates a roundtable discussion with Black women professors who share their stories on what it means to create space and be authentic in Academia. The conversation covered a myriad of topics including how and why…
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Creating Creatively: When the Vision is Bigger Than Your Budget
In episode 9 of HeARTtalk, Tracey Michae’l chats with writer, director, and producer, Christina Faith. Christina is a dynamic filmmaker and educator who, along with her spouse, photographer Allen Johnson, owns Creative Thought Media, a Philadelphia-based independent production company and artist...
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Sex and the Church Girl: Has the Church Misinformed Women on Sex and Sexuality?
In this episode, TMLG speaks with four of the 11 contributors to the Sex and the Church Girl essay collection published in 2019. The conversation is a no holds barred, candid talk about the ways in which the Christian Church—particularly the Black Church—navigates the subject of sex and…
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Returning to the Body: Living Through Racial Trauma and Violence (with Meditation)
In her commentary, Tracey Michae’l discusses the impact of racial trauma and violence on the physical bodies of Black and Brown people. She candidly shares her own story of learning to return to her body through EMDR and bodywork. This episode closes with a meditation for Black people navigating…
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From Story to Story: Unraveling Truth from the Narrative (Pivot Series #1)
In this episode, Tracey Michae’l talks with writer, producer, and artistic theologian, Alexus Rhone, about the power of holding true to the enormity of our dreams and being willing to pivot in the name of writing a better story for our lives. Telling the stories of our heart—whether its a novel…
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The Creation of Better Humans (Parenting) and the Stories That Help Us Do It...or Not
In this episode, TMLG talks with Angela Johnson Ayers about how parenting, and motherhood specifically, can be an act of creation, and how too often our own narratives impact the effectiveness of that important work. ABOUT OUR GUEST Angela Johnson Ayers is a wife, mother, author and consultant....
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BONUS: A Meditation for All the New Thangs
BONUS CONTENT: Tracey Michae'l leads our HeARTtalk community through a New Year/New Decade Meditation Music: Lee Rosevere *** Through interviews and riveting commentary, Tracey Michae'l and HeARTtalk podcast explores the intersection of art and story. HeARTtalk is: Healing through Art and Story....
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Leaps of Faith: A Ghanadelphian Reflection
In this episode, Tracey Michae’l talks with scholar, professor, and writer, Dr. Marcella McCoy-Deh, who recently took a giant leap of faith by accepting a year-long Fulbright Teaching Fellowship at the University of Ghana. Dr. McCoy-Deh shares her observations on how African American culture and...
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What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You
In this episode, Tracey Michae’l talks with speaker and holistic health educator, Adrienne Carwheel, about what it means to be equipped with the knowledge (generational info or otherwise) necessary for living authentically and creating our best work. The conversation examines the pervasiveness of...
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Are You Finished or Are You Done? Finishing What You Start in 2020
In a timely New Year’s Day episode, Tracey Michae’l talks with author and speaker Candace Wilkins about her book “Letters to the Finishers (who struggle to finish).” They chat about some of the obstacles that can impede a person’s ability to finish what they start, including perfectionism and…
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Art and Storytelling as a Way to Heal Trauma
Through interviews and riveting commentary, Tracey Michae'l and HeARTtalk podcast explores the intersection of art and story. In this inaugural episode, TMLG talks with Annette Deigh, a licensed social worker, clinical supervisor and mental health therapist, about the power of art and…
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About this show
HeARTtalk deep dives into the intersection of art and story with the purpose of helping us all start or continue our healing journeys. In the current third season, host Tracey Michae’l, author of Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration, explores the power and necessity of joy in our day to day lives, particularly those who are artists and storytellers.
Hosted by
HeARTtalk with Tracey Michae’l