The Power of Writing With Megan Barnhard – Episode 58

What if writing could be a tool for profound personal growth and societal transformation? Join us on the Resonate podcast as we host Megan Barnhard, a writing coach for bold thinkers and intuitive channel. Megan recounts her journey from wrestling with the writing process to mastering it, and how she now empowers others to do the same.

We explore how writing helps us understand ourselves and the world around us, emphasizing that breaking the writing process into manageable steps can lead to deeper self-inquiry and meaningful change.

Our conversation touches on the balance between the analytical and creative minds, highlighting how creativity thrives when it’s allowed to be playful and unstructured. We also discuss techniques like the Alexander Method and the Pomodoro Technique to demonstrate how mindfulness can enhance productivity and creativity.

Megan shares insights on how listening to our bodies can enhance our emotional and physical awareness, transforming how we relate to ourselves and others. Tune in for a rich conversation filled with wisdom and practical tips to elevate your writing journey.

Connect with Megan:

Instagram: @writewithmegan

Facebook: @megan.barnhard.writer

LinkedIn Profile: @meganbarnhard

Website: www.meganbarnhard.com

Aideen Ni Riada: 0:03

Welcome. This is the Resonate podcast with Aideen. I’m Aideen Ni Riada, and my guest today is Megan Barnhard. Welcome, Megan. Thanks so much for having me. We’re going to have a really exciting conversation. We’ve already know what is. You know, it’s like wetting our appetite and I’m really excited to talk to you. But I want to introduce you a little to the audience before we start. Megan is a writing coach for bold thinkers who want to change the world with their words. As an intuitive channel, Megan connects soul-led business owners energetically to their audiences to elevate their sales copy and content. So, megan, I know that you’re a writer yourself as well, which is something you haven’t mentioned in that short bio. You’ll probably get to it later. But how did you come to this point of you know writing coaching?

Megan Barnhard: 1:01

By struggling with writing myself, which is perhaps how so many of us come to coaching I have. I’m somebody who just felt she’s had an identity as a writer my entire life and as a kid was told by adults you’re a good writer, you’re a strong writer, you could be a writer and I went to college and studied philosophy and had to write long form essays about big ideas and my whole writing process fell apart because I didn’t have a writing process. I’d always been somebody who sat down and just wrote. The words flowed out and you know, as this kind of identity crisis hit me, um of, if I’m not a writer, who am I? Right, I can’t write, and that means I’m not a writer. So then, who am I?

Megan Barnhard: 1:50

I discovered that this flow I’d always intuitively had could be broken down into the steps of a process, and I became a little bit obsessed with helping other people find their process, and by process I mean how do you go from an inspired idea or kind of an inkling to an actual finished piece of writing?

Megan Barnhard: 2:13

You know, going through some brainstorming and outlining and drafting and revising along the way. So my own breakdown in how do I do this led me to becoming consciously competent at something I had been unconsciously competent at, and then studying writing, studying how the brain works. I spent a lot of time working with students with severe learning disabilities and helping them find pathways into writing and into language and into expression, and that opened up my knowledge even more. So I had this intuitive sense of you know when I would work with somebody, finding what helped them. And then it was really helpful to have this knowledge of you know different possible inroads to the brain, in different ways our brains are wired. So that led me to coaching first students and then had a revelatory moment in a business coaching program. I was just trying to grow my business coaching students and suddenly realized I was in a room full of amazingly smart business owners who were all struggling with writing.

Aideen Ni Riada: 3:23

It’s everybody. You know we have so much input. This is what was going through my mind when you were talking there. It’s about you know. Why is writing important? You know, and why have we gotten out of the habit of writing things? You know, it’s almost like everything is a three line summary and there’s very little expansion within what the average everyday person would write down. Students and then within businesses, what do you think the benefits are of developing writing skills and what do people get when they start using some of the resources that you help them with?

Megan Barnhard: 4:16

I think writing is really how we’re understanding the world, right? We’re developing a topic, whether we’re doing that formally, through an expository essay, you know, and what are the causes, or what are the effects, or what are the reasons why something’s happening, or a persuasive piece of writing, whether we’re doing something that in depth, or we’re sketching an idea on a social media post or even in a piece of poetry. I think writing is a conversation we’re having with ourselves and with source, trying to understand what we’re experiencing. We have these moments of vast expansiveness, right, sometimes in meditation, or if you’re in nature and you’re watching the sunset, where there aren’t a lot of words happening, right, you’re just really present, you’re really in the experience, and that’s a way of being that’s lovely. And yet, how we grow, how we transform, how we shed old identities that don’t serve us and step into new ways of being, I think is through knowing ourselves and self-reflection, right. So that’s an internal conversation we’re having.

Megan Barnhard: 5:32

Why did I do that? Do I want to do that going forward? What could I do instead? Where did this habit come from? Right? All of these kinds of self-inquiry questions are, I think, writing first in the mind and then we expand it and put it on paper so that our ideas hold still. So, to my mind, when we’re talking about writing, we’re talking about the evolution of an individual and then also the evolution of our culture, of our society. If we don’t write down our ideas, we can’t hold them in common and look at them critically and say, no, this doesn’t make sense as a society or as a culture. You know, we need to rethink how we’re addressing this. We need to move forward from what has been and the way we know what has been and the way we talk through. What we want instead is, I think, through writing. So I think it’s a fundamental part of being, of living a self-examined life.

Aideen Ni Riada: 6:41

That’s a beautiful thing, you know, to live a self-examined life, and I love the phrase you used to let the I to make the ideas hold still, because it’s so much goes through the head. Right, our brains are like filtering so much, so many words, so much meaning, yeah, and it sounds to me like what you’re suggesting is a way of, uh, discerning and finding the wisdom, or finding the learning, or the gem, or whatever it is. There’s something there and our brain keeps, you know, churning everything until it starts to make sense.

Megan Barnhard: 7:21

Yes, sense, yes, and only once it’s holding still. You know, once the ideas are holding still can we look at them. I think with detachment. So as long as the thoughts are in our head, we really identify with them, right, and a lot of coaches, a lot of spiritual teachers have written about this. You know, identifying with the thoughts and over-identifying and that is kind of the path of suffering, right. And writing things down gives us detachment and then we can look at the ideas and say, huh, is that true? Do I want to believe it?

Megan Barnhard: 7:59

You know, anybody who’s ever done a journaling activity has felt the relief of moving the idea from, as you said, churning to the page. And then we have some distance from it and we say is that true? Do I know for sure that’s true? Is there something that could be more supportive? If this is true, do I want to change it? Do I want to take some action around it? So, absolutely, it’s creating the space to have new thoughts instead of the same thoughts circulating. When we write them down and look at them with some distance and detachment, we get to decide if those are the thoughts we want to keep or we want to upgrade them.

Aideen Ni Riada: 8:43

If those are the thoughts we want to keep or we want to upgrade them. What I’m really hearing from you is that it’s a catalyst for change, and so many of us want things to change, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in big ways, and it can feel so overwhelming when we have maybe a big change that’s needed or we have a big problem or challenge that we’re handling. So it sounds to me like I need to start journaling again.

Megan Barnhard: 9:12

I think it’s such a magical practice. And the other thing I’ll say about writing and I have a bias, because writing is what came to me somebody who dances may feel this way about dancing. Somebody who sculpts may feel this way about to me. Somebody who dances may feel this way about dancing. Somebody who sculpts may feel this way about sculpting. Somebody who sings may feel this way about singing. But I also feel that writing is a way of becoming a conduit for source. You know the collective unconscious of the world of humanity. It’s a way of tapping in. So there’s this aspect to writing where we’re clearing what’s in our own heads and we’re creating some peace there. But there also is this communion with the divine, I feel, where we become the channel and when we can clear the mind, chatter and step out with the divine, I feel where we become the channel and when we can clear the mind, chatter and step out of the way things come through. And sometimes you write and you almost want to look over your shoulder and ask who said that? Right, it’s like I didn’t know that thought was in me until I gave it the space to flow out.

Megan Barnhard: 10:24

So writing, whether it’s journaling or any kind of writing, is also, I think, an opportunity to become conscious of how much you know, that you may not know you know, and to allow the ideas that are circling in the ether to find a home in you and through you and enter the world, and that that truly is life-changing. I mean, I say your words will change the world. Um, and I I really think that when we open to ideas and we also have a practice of writing right We’ve done the, the research internally to find out what gives us writing flow, so that we have some facility with the practice when we do that, we’re allowing the new ideas to come through. That will change the world. And we’re in such a strange place in the story of humanity right now because, on the one hand, everybody can talk to everybody and there’s so much writing circulating. But the question is are we listening to one another? Because if that is another part of this puzzle or piece of this puzzle, we can’t change the world with our words if no one is listening.

Aideen Ni Riada: 11:51

And that brings us back to something we mentioned before we even started our recording today, which is are we listening to ourselves? I definitely feel there’s so much input. Everything is kind of coming at us. We, um, we are watching the TV for entertainment, we are, you know, getting other people’s opinions about things, and we can be frantically searching externally for answers to all of the questions in our minds and I know that this is something you’re interested in promoting. Is this idea of coming back to listening to ourselves?

Megan Barnhard: 12:35

Yeah, and creating some blank space Because, as you’re saying, it’s constant input and I think that becomes a self-perpetuating cycle Because most of the inputs are really activating, are really, you know, putting us into, you know, an aroused nervous system state, and it doesn’t even necessarily have to be something negative. You know, obviously there’s so much frightening news in the world, there’s so much bad news that we’re exposed to. But just even the pace, you know, when I walk through the supermarket and they’re playing pop music, I just I’m always struck by how nervous system arousal creating it is. You know, everything is this fast pace, so there are all of these inputs. So then we feel stressed, so we want to numb, so we look for more inputs.

Megan Barnhard: 13:36

Right, so it can be this, this cycle that goes around and around, um, where it feels uncomfortable often to pause and really feel, and I’m thinking about, you know, resonate the name of your show, and thinking about when you play a guitar and you strum the last chord and you don’t dampen the sound and you just let it resonate, and that stillness of absorbing and integrating is really important for being able to create.

Megan Barnhard: 14:16

So, if we want to write, if we want to be creating more, pausing and listening to ourselves is such a key part of that, and that might mean journaling, just for us. You know I’m listening to myself and my words are primarily for me or making, making sounds. Um, I think using your voice physically is a huge part of being able to write, and I teach a workshop called Activate your Voice, and part of what we do is speaking aloud and making sounds and getting comfortable with hearing the sound of your own voice, and it’s on, it’s online, so everybody’s only hearing their own sound. You know they’re just alone with it, and I think it’s profound when you hear the power of your own voice. Yeah, do you have?

Aideen Ni Riada: 15:17

that experienced. Yeah, I mean, there’s a couple of things coming. You know that there’s a certain even with writing something down, or even making a noise can be a form of release and that can alleviate the churning side of things. And then, beyond that, there’s the feeling of each voice has a place and that my voice is allowed to be audible. You know, we can be so careful I’m sure you get this with writing as well. We are so careful. We want the thing that we write down to be right, straight away. We want to say the perfect thing straight away. We want to write the hit song straight away. That’s what you want to do. We are all so tuned into what the end goal should be that sometimes we’re not taking the journey, and what you’re saying to me is about let’s enjoy the journey, let’s explore the different aspects of expression that we have, whether that be writing or the voice, or creating visually. There’s an opportunity there to discover something.

Megan Barnhard: 16:42

Yeah, I think that’s also what lets in creativity. I describe um, the part of my. I think we have different parts of the writing brain and they respond to different energies and and, uh, you know different approaches and I call my drafting part of my brain, my inner five-year-old um. She’s one of the cards in the in the wise writer within oracle deck. She brings her energy.

Aideen Ni Riada: 17:04

Well, we have to explain this now because, um, Megan has created a beautiful wise writer within oracle deck with 54 cards and a guidebook and with art by nixie foster, and you graciously sent me the um full deck and before our interviews, I have seen these cards and they are gorgeous. So, um, yeah, so this is a beautiful thing that you’ve created with this, with your higher self, I’m sure, guiding you.

Megan Barnhard: 17:40

Absolutely well, thank you. Yes, so I’m curious, when you get to the inner five-year-old, what your your take will be. But you know, I I think this is such a beautiful energy and the inner five-year-old is messy and likes to splash in mud puddles and finger paint and is iterative and goes what if we move this over here? And what if we move this over here? And just wants to get her hands dirty and get in and try things. And the analytical adult part of our brain very useful, very glad to have mine right. This is the part who will later help me with revising and editing. But think about what happens if that analytical adult stands over the five-year-old. Oh, you’re going to make a mess. Oh, that’s not how that’s used. Oh, you know, trees aren’t fluorescent pink. That’s the wrong color, right? Eventually the inner five-year-old gets fed up and stomps off, right? So if we treat our creativity in a constricted way, we say, all right, you know, please send me an amazing idea, but it has to have an incredible opening first line.

Megan Barnhard: 18:44

As soon as I start writing, you know, our creativity eventually is like I’m going to go play somewhere else. These are not the conditions that help me thrive. So, absolutely, when I’m working with clients and when I’m writing I want what goes out into the world to be the best it can be. But that’s not how it’s starting out, and it’s more than enjoying the journey, it’s more than being open to the wonderful experience. It’s really just about what’s efficient and what’s effective, and play and pleasure when you’re in that drafting space is going to get you so much further than being an inner critic or even being a rule follower. You know, when you’re writing that first draft it’s like forget about how that word is spelled, or is that a sophisticated way of phrasing things? All that’s going to slow down the creative flow. So if you’ve ever been in conversation with somebody and I do this all the time an interrupter and you interrupt to interject something, even something supportive, like oh yes, I understand, and they lose their train of thought.

Aideen Ni Riada: 20:28

You know, you just lost that creative flow. So the idea of getting into a space where you can be messy, to create, is vital to my mind to being able to allow those ideas. Her, my version of that a lot of space. Because what happens is we start to rely on that critical part and we, you know, we know that that’s the part that can earn us money and that can create something very logical. And it becomes a feeling of, you know, I can control things when I’m in my more adult mind, um, but when the invitation that you’re suggesting is to go into a feeling of freedom, which can be something we could be afraid of, and certainly deep down there is within me a little bit of a fear of letting go of the reins and letting the horses run wild I would.

Megan Barnhard: 21:32

I hear you 100%, and so here’s another vital piece to bring to the conversation that creativity truly feels free to flow when there is structure. So I see writing as this dance between structure and flow, and the structure is the container. It could be an outline or a template. I create a lot of what I call plug and play templates for writers that are like Mad Libs. If you ever played those I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Megan Barnhard: 22:03

Okay, it was a way of making silly stories, and so you would fill in the blanks, but one person wouldn’t see what the whole story would be. So you would say to your friend okay, give me a noun, give me an adjective, and you would end up with this goofy story about a turquoise elephant who rode on a roller coaster, or something like this.

Aideen Ni Riada: 22:23

Right, because you’re just filling in.

Megan Barnhard: 22:24

So the structure already exists and you’re simply filling in your piece of it, which sounds the opposite of creative, it sounds the opposite of letting that inner five-year-old play. But the magic in structure is that it says, hey, I’ve already figured out something that works, that takes you from beginning to end, for example, in how to tell a story. Right, I’ve given you this pathway and your job is to just show up and dance your way through it. So these are the banks of the river and the water gets to gush and flow and, you know, have this powerful force that, um, you know, can generate electricity by turning a turbine a turbine. That doesn’t happen if there are no banks to the river. Right, then you get a Delta and the water just kind of spills out. It doesn’t have any forward momentum or force that can create impact.

Megan Barnhard: 23:18

So the structure is an important piece and for anybody who’s feeling that fear of expression, I highly recommend some structure, and it could be as simple and straightforward as a writing prompt. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but if you just say, oh, I have this writing prompt and I’m just going to trust the prompt and allow whatever unfolds to unfold, all of a sudden there’s some more safety for creativity, because it’s only natural for creativity to say well, wait a minute, am I about to channel my energy and I don’t know where it’s going? And what if I don’t get something helpful? What if I just wasted all of my writing time and I didn’t end up with something that you know helps me achieve my goal? What a very natural fear to have.

Aideen Ni Riada: 24:08

Yeah, and the what was coming to mind there was also about like that nervous system response that we have when we feel things are a little out of control or when we are fearful and coming into a kind of a state of peace and there’s a lot of um with. I teach meditation and there’s a lot of benefit to to just being you know. Just being you know and deciding that right now for the next one hour or whatever in a group situation, or 10 minutes if you’re on your own, or even three minutes, just say for the next three minutes, I’m just going to sit here and breathe and allow for just peace to come in for a few minutes for a few minutes.

Megan Barnhard: 24:55

That sounds like a beautiful way of listening to yourself, because listening to yourself is also listening to your system, to your body, to your somatic voice.

Aideen Ni Riada: 25:03

Yes, and you know I very rarely hear the word somatic back in Ireland, but, um, this idea I’ve. I’ve been seeing an Alexander technique therapist and she gave me some exercises to do and they’re really hard, you know, because you sit there and you’re like, okay, I’m looking around the room, I’m just checking out the ceiling and you know the ceiling feels high or low or whatever it is you’re, you’re there’s this whole you know structure that she gives for doing this exercise, which is great. And then you turn inward and you think about how do my shoulders feel? And does one shoulder feel higher than the other? And how’s my belly? Am I tensing?

Aideen Ni Riada: 25:46

And a lot of us I would say most of us go through most of our lives with no respect whatsoever for that internal self, in tip-top condition all the time, and often I’m guilty myself. When things aren’t going well, we are frustrated and we’re like, hey, your body, arm, whatever what’s going on. You know there’s this disrespect, this idea of listening to ourselves. I think it comes down to also respecting your truth in whatever moment you are currently in.

Megan Barnhard: 26:31

Yes, and this practice is an amazing entry point into greater creativity, because listening to ourselves, we’re listening to our body, we’re listening to what do I need right now? I teach a lot about procrastination and perfectionism. I have perfected procrastination in my life. I call myself the mayor of procrastination town and there’s so much of that. That’s about listening to our body. So, oh, I start writing, but then I immediately get up to make another cup of tea. Well, there’s, you know, my body’s sending me an important message there, which is I’m kind of tired. What if I? Maybe I do make the cup of tea and then come back to writing, but maybe that also means I take some time and I breathe and I stretch and I get some more oxygen to my brain, or I go and I stand out in the sunshine. So, yeah, I resonate with what you’re saying about we blame the body, we shame the body. We say why are you not giving me what I need and I want? And we may do that with our creativity as well or with our focus when we’re writing and the shift there a lot of my work in writing, coaching is in the space of reframing.

Megan Barnhard: 27:47

There, you know, a lot of my work in writing. Coaching is in the space of reframing. You know what’s? What’s a more powerful story I could tell that makes me the hero and gives me agency and choice. So the reframe around oh, I don’t have any good ideas is ah, I may need to give myself some more time to gather my ideas. I may need to recoup some of my creative energy in some way by sitting down and doing some meditation or doing some somatic inquiry. So these practices you’re talking about, of listening to the body, respecting the body, can open up creativity as well. And then we come into relationship with our body where we’re partners and we’re co-creators, as opposed to master and machine. Let me squeeze some more productivity out of myself. Okay, that, that’s a possibility, that’s a paradigm, um, but you might find it’s way more productive and feels a lot better to partner with your body, to partner with your creativity, by listening without judgment and just asking what’s going on.

Aideen Ni Riada: 29:07

Yeah, so with our creativity. This might Sorry, and stay playful, like you’re saying, about the inner five-year-old.

Megan Barnhard: 29:15

Absolutely To gamify things. I will do this sometimes with writing and using something as simple as the Pomodoro technique, you know, which is just setting a timer for 25 minutes. It’s 25 minutes on and then five minutes off, so it becomes a game. How much of this can I get done in 25 minutes? I’m racing against the clock, which does bring this, this playful aspect, in, but there are so many ideas available and ready for us if we’re willing to slow down and listen to our own intuition. And I think these things are inextricably linked listening to the body and listening to the intuition. The intuition, because if we’re listening inward but the body is, if we’re not in the body and we’re kind of disembodied, when we’re listening inward, we’re probably listening to the inner thought loop, to the inner critic, to perfectionism, to futurizing, to the mind who’s desperately trying to keep us safe by predicting what will happen or by rehashing what has happened, as opposed to our deep knowing and our deep intuition. That is the place from which those big, bold, world-changing ideas come from.

Aideen Ni Riada: 30:43

And I know you work with business owners also who may have the big, bold world changing ideas. What you mentioned earlier in your bio is that you help those people to connect more deeply with those they want to reach. Let’s talk a little bit about that. We’re kind of getting towards the end of how much time we have, but I think this is an important aspect because most a lot of the listeners and you know may be working in some area where they they need to connect with others.

Megan Barnhard: 31:20

Yes. So everyone I encounter knows more than they know. They know, and I see my job as to help them bring that knowledge to the surface. And so I do energetic connections with one-on-one clients and, as I mentioned, in workshops, where we’re simply tapping into that place, where you’re energetically connected with your audience. And the business owners I work with tend to be incredibly empathic, intuitive and really lead their business from a sense of purpose and mission. Right, this is the work they were called to do, and so you know our, our goal together is just to open that connection, open that channel, drop them into their empathy and then, from that inspired state, they know.

Megan Barnhard: 32:14

So I’ll ask, I’ll prompt them with questions. You know what is your audience feeling. I’ll have them envision their audience and you know what are they saying and see the pain and where’s it coming from and what do they wish they could have. And these beautiful business owners are just speaking Is this? Oh, they need this, this, this, it’s all just flowing out of them. And then, of course, I’m helping them to shape it into content and providing the structure and providing the feedback. But that’s a form of listening to yourself as well, and I’m creating a space that we don’t necessarily create for ourselves, which is just to really drop in and ask these questions and allow whatever comes out to come out, without trying to shape it into something that sounds just right.

Aideen Ni Riada: 33:05

Do you find people that are surprised by what comes out of your sessions with them?

Megan Barnhard: 33:11

Oh, absolutely, and I, I love, I love the look on someone’s face when they go. You know that, that feeling I was describing of when you’re writing and you kind of look over your shoulder and go well, who said that? Cause, that’s brilliant. I mean, they’ll often come out of this visualization and open their eyes and go whoa, I didn’t know that was in me and in a sense it was in them and in another sense it wasn’t right. It was like they became the channel for what was in their audience to come through into the space. But they’re surprised and delighted and yet, at the same time, they feel it’s up to them.

Megan Barnhard: 33:55

You know, my Oracle deck is called Wise Writer Within, because I truly believe that everyone has within them a wise writer who knows, and so my job is never to tell somebody this is how you have to say it because they need to feel that intuitive. Yes, they need to go. That’s what I want to say, that’s what resonates with my audience. Um, that is my truth. But I get to, you know, open the doorway and let the flood of ideas come through for them to be able to recognize them. That’s beautiful.

Aideen Ni Riada: 34:33

So I would love to you know, connect some of our listeners to you a little bit more. So I want to let everyone know everyone who’s listening. Thank you so much for listening. By the way, that we will have in the show notes a link to Megan’s website and she does have her awesome Oracle deck available. And where can people get the Oracle deck, Megan? That’s on the website.

Aideen Ni Riada: 35:03

Yeah, perfect. And also that you do have a number of offerings through your website for business owners, for writers and what kinds of things can people you know how can people connect with you if they wanted to work with you in some way?

Megan Barnhard: 35:22

Absolutely. On my website there’s a link to message me and you can message me directly and just let me know where you are with writing and what your goals are. I work with folks individually and I also have a membership for soul-led business owners called Write your Light Collective, which is a place specifically geared toward consistently creating content that feels authentic and that feels inspiring, so that you can call in more of those clients whose lives you transform. But my work is really personalized to different folks. I create a lot of bespoke packages, so best thing is to get on that website and just hit that message me button.

Aideen Ni Riada: 36:10

Beautiful. Tell us about some of the things that you’ve written in the past that you’ve been proud of, because I’m sure you have stuff out there that you maybe you don’t promote as often as your current offerings, and I’m curious what kind of writing you’ve done in the past and where people can you know who would be interested in those?

Megan Barnhard: 36:30

Oh my goodness, yeah, it ranges from STEM curriculum.

Aideen Ni Riada: 36:36

What is STEM curriculum?

Megan Barnhard: 36:38

Oh, uh, uh. Science, technology, engineering and math. Um. So I’ve written curriculum. I’ve written books on how to write and the writing process. I’ve written for an anthology some of my more personal stories.

Megan Barnhard: 37:00

The bulk of my writing, interestingly, is in my content for my business, is in my content for my business and in some ways that seems so insignificant because it’s content, it goes on social media, it’s there and it disappears. But what I found over the years is that it is such a beautiful sandbox for developing our ideas At the top of our conversation. I was talking about our writing being this conversation with ourselves and how we are unpacking our ideas and developing them. And what I’ve found is that the space to write impermanently on social media channels or in my weekly emails that go out to my audience is such a beautiful invitation to play without the pressure, because I get to ask okay, what feels alive for me right now? What’s really on my mind? Oh, what was a client just struggling with? And you know I’ll often write emails where I’ve just given permission or acknowledgement to a client and then I, taking out the personalized details you know, share that with a larger audience. Like I’ve just said this to a client, you may need to hear it as well that kind of thing and you know that has created such a deepening in my writing.

Megan Barnhard: 38:25

It really helped lead to the Wise Writer Within Oracle deck, because so many of those powerful statements that are in the deck are pieces of wisdom that I have shared with clients over the years, things that came up intuitively in response to a challenge or an unhelpful belief that a client was having, and these are things that I spontaneously shared and then shared them so many times that they kind of just became part of my toolbox.

Megan Barnhard: 38:59

So, funny enough, although I’ve published three books, been part of another multi-author book published curriculum, have this Oracle deck. My most prolific writing is actually my content for my business and that’s why I really have an interest in helping people create business content. I mean, yes, I want you to bring in more clients, but ultimately I see it as this you know it’s unique to our time. It’s this platform, these platforms unique to our time that allow you to compile your heart message in pieces. You don’t need to dive in and do it all at once and wait until you have the idea for the book. You can build it daily as you learn more and as you gain more wisdom, you can build it daily.

Aideen Ni Riada: 39:48

As you learn more and as you gain more wisdom, you can be sharing that wisdom and sharing your evolution in real time, and I think that is a brilliant way to live an examined life it is exciting when you put out something and you get a response, and I definitely know from my own uh, my my first published book, which is an e-book at the moment, but it was based on a video that I did that I just got an amazing response to.

Aideen Ni Riada: 40:16

So, um, that’s just, I think, really good advice for anyone is to see everything that we do as a way of connecting with people. You know it’s it’s about, it’s about relating, it’s about receiving, but also giving, and what you’re talking about is is just a beautiful process like this. I’ve written down a couple of things like about this idea of gathering ideas and drafting things and staying playful and not being too critical and creating structure that allows that play, and I have, I bet, that your program is so interesting. It just even from the tidbits that you’ve mentioned today, there’s so much there that I can already feel like little simmering of ideas. So thank you so much for being here. It’s been amazing.

Megan Barnhard: 41:08

Thank you so much for having me.

Aideen Ni Riada: 41:10

Yeah, is there anything else you wanted to say to the listeners before we finish up. Is there anything that you want to reiterate? And you know anything quick?

Megan Barnhard: 41:22

Just that last thing you were saying about. It’s really about connecting and resonating, right? This is the work that you do where it’s I’m sending out this vibration and it hits you, and then you absorb it and you send back, and then when we get on that same frequency, magic happens. So when we first listen and find what’s resonating for us, and then we share it out, we can create those vibrations. That are the connections there are the ways we communicate in words and beyond words, and I mean that’s what it’s all about.

Aideen Ni Riada: 41:57

It’s beautiful and the wisdom can come through like that. The channel is open. Thank you so much, Megan, and thank you to anybody who’s listening. We really appreciate you and please share the podcast and share Megan with the world. Let’s get this beautiful program that you have out there to more people. I really appreciate you taking the time to come and talk to us today. Thank you.

Megan Barnhard: 42:21

Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a delight. Thank you.