Our Awakin call guest speaker, Shirin Shubani, is editor of the Courageous Creativity – a monthly magazine from FLYING CHICKADEE.

While preparing for the call, I went to their website and their welcome message intrigued me…

“Through this magazine we present stories of courage, creativity and change sourced from people from all over the world and from all walks of life. Each issue tells a unified story on a particular theme, and includes narratives, dialog, poetry, art and photography. Our contributors come from diverse backgrounds - they are small business owners, state employees, corporate CEOs, non-profit founders and volunteers, professionals, scientists, sociologists, artists, activists, mothers and fathers, and friends. Sometimes they're a TED speaker and sometimes a homeless person. They are always living, working, dreaming and being - being courageously creative and transforming themselves and thereby others in our ONE global community.”

Telling stories, listening to them, and reading stories always have a pull on me. I always think stories entertain me, bring new ideas and ways of thinking, and make it fun for me. And so the message compelled me in to see what kind of themes are we talking about.




A few example themes and links to those monthly magazine issues... :)

Theme of Dec 2013 issue of Courageous Creativity - SURPRISE!

Theme for Feb 2014 magazine - STORYTELLING

April 2014 magazine has theme of - POSSIBILITY

May 2014 - CREATIVITY AS SERVICE

Theme of July 2014 issue of the magazine, Courageous Creativity - WALKING AS CREATIVITY

August 2014 - CREATIVE INQUIRY

Sept 2014 - HEALING AS CREATIVITY




What I saw for the themes and stories in each of them blew me off completely. I haven’t seen kaleidoscope of colors, personal stories, sharing of personal journeys all compiled in one section. I was so looking forward to talking to Shirin as our moderator for the call.





Here are a few excerpts and thoughts from conversation with Shirin that left lasting impact on me.


On how do you change your story, Shirin said, “A lot of people think stories are about adding, growing. For me, stories are about editing what we already know. It is also about shedding and reducing so that we can reach out to our inner core. Transforming your story for me is all about connecting to what is deep down inside. It already has all answers.”

“Creativity is within you. It is matter of awakening it.”


On their workshop that guide people in transforming/changing their stories… “All we do is holding the space. We witness with love. Slow it down for the participants. Insights and inner direction is always there. We help them get in touch with that.”


On their process and thinking while putting together the magazines so rich with touching, inspiring stories and themes so well developed… “We believe staying in the moment. We don’t plan our magazines ahead of time. We do it month-to-month. I love spontaneity. It can be scary at times – what do we have for the next issue? It is empowering – it makes us think and realize how many choices I have in life. It’s all a story – what you pick up today may not be there tomorrow. What I pick up today doesn’t have to define rest of my life. It brings that lightness with it to try and explore new things every month.”





Shirin brought in a new perspective for me about planning with people, when she explained how she thinks of working with eight different people every month for her magazine, Courageous Creativity…

“We don’t have deadlines for our contributors, we call it dream lines. We don’t keep asking on progress and update – let it follow its own course. And it works out so beautifully every month.”

“With every issue, it feels like I make eight new friends. My engagement with them is very personal and vulnerable. While coaching them on their story, editing it with them to get to the core essence of their message is so enlightening to me and to the contributor. I feel inspired from working closely on so many stories.”

“Writing is such a powerful way of giving away a story. It is such a healing experience. Every time you tell your story, you are giving away the attachment. That is so liberating, healing and growing.”

I asked Shirin, how editing stories over past six years has shifted her perspective… “I have so much confidence in editing now. My personal and professional lives are fully integrated and one now. That is so liberating. I truly believe in this now – that, do what you enjoy and other things will fall in place.”

On working with her son that is autistic and what we can do while coaching youth facing adversity… “My son actually teaches me a lot every day. He is my biggest teacher. He is also my number one fan. He loves every one of my magazines. He doesn’t read yet, but he is so keen on seeing every one of them. It is the most liberating thing for me. Since, the biggest thing about transforming a story to me is actually all about unlearning, I assume he knows it all. No need for me to teach him. I know he has power from inside. Universe is looking out for all of us. I keep that faith, hope and belief.”





Rahul asked Shirin, if any particular individuals and stories come to her. Shirin said, there are so many of them, and she loves them all. She brought up her experience with Mony Godeiji, while working on her story in the July 2014 issue of WALKING AS CREATIVITY

Here is part of Mony’s story – A Return to Home - COPIED from the magazine…



"I cannot say that I ever really walked in my younger years. Rather, I ran, racing through my many activities, be they personal or professional, in order to check them off my list. Reaching the goal was always more important to me than the journey, and so walking seemed like a terrible waste of valuable time that could be filled with more worthy ventures.

Pilgrimage, the act of walking outwardly towards an inner destination, was exceedingly difficult for me during the early stages. My first forays on the Spanish Camino (or Path of St. James) were an exercise in trying to dominate the path: walking quickly, preferably following the recommended miles in the guidebook, and rushing to be among the first to arrive at the day’s destination. This goal-oriented approach only served to break down my body, and with it, my spirit.

With time, patience and much self-love, I gave away the guidebook and began to rely on the gifts of the present moment to guide my steps. I began to pay attention to omens, synchronicities and, above all, my intuition. And I acted in consequence, even when the actions made no logical sense. My steps, and my body, became the vehicle through which I navigated the course towards myself, towards a heart that was just as eagerly awaiting my arrival.

And as I began the journey deeper inwards, those same steps revealed the fragments of a self that were crying out for reconciliation. Walking, once again, became the means of making whole those pieces that had been divided in my soul’s journey towards mastery.

I now see that the greatest teaching of pilgrimage has been to remind me that the journey we all share is the one towards ourselves. The outer walking towards a sacred site is the metaphor and manifestation of walking inwards towards what is to me the most sacred of sites, the inner self."




While I was talking to Shirin and browsing other articles in that magazine, Shirin mentioned her inspiration for the theme of Walking as Creativity came from one of the speeches of Nipun. And surprise, surprise… I found his words, message and interview in that magazine. I loved Nipun’s perspective on WALK that I copied from the magazine –

“The letter ‘W’ in WALK stands for witnessing, which starts with nature outside of us.
‘A’ stands for accepting things as they are, without trying to change them. That calms the mind and lends insights into nature inside of us.
‘L’ stands for loving, which starts to emerge naturally.
And finally, ‘K’ stands for knowing thyself – a blossoming of a dynamic relationship between nature within and without.”





What do I walk away with after such a touching conversation with Shirin?

It is no wonder, that I got that from editors’ message/quote from their February magazine on Storytelling…

“Conscious storytelling offers an incredible opportunity – we suddenly realize that we create our own stories, and our stories create us! So to change ourselves, we can simply change our stories!”

We have power of creating our own stories. How do I do that? From what I learned from Shirin, slow down and listen to message from inside.

A couple of quotes from their Sept 2014 Issue of Healing as Creativity summed it all up for me so beautifully…

“THE SOUL ALWAYS KNOWS WHAT TO DO TO HEAL ITSELF. THE CHALLENGE IS TO SILENCE THE MIND.” - Caroline Myss

“HEALING MAY NOT BE SO MUCH ABOUT GETTING BETTER, AS ABOUT LETTING GO OF EVERYTHING THAT ISN’T YOU – ALL OF THE EXPECTATIONS, ALL OF THE BELIEFS – AND BECOMING WHO YOU ARE.” - Rachel Naomi Remen

And that is my inspiration from conversation with Shirin - Learn to connect with my soul, listen to the message from inside and strive to live true to that voice.




See all magazine issues of Courageous Creativity here on the website of FLYING CHICKADEE