The Power We Hold
Welcome to The Power We Hold podcast. My name is Vanessa Albury. I’m an eco-visual artist who grew up in Nashville, TN, went to college in Charleston, SC, and moved to NYC the day before my interview for graduate school at NYU in March of 2006. I left my apartment of 13 years in Brooklyn and I now live in the world making art and focusing on healing and love. This podcast follows my journey to becoming a better and better ally to people of all our beautiful difference ( BIPOC, LGBTQAI2S+ and fellow non-normative brained and bodied friends, neighbors and strangers) and a better steward of planet Earth, our shared home.
The lovely human and brilliant artist, Caleb Williams is my season 1 co-host on this journey because of her vast talents along with her willingness to have uncomfortable conversations with me and our shared belief in our intentions, integrity and love.
We are here to support you on your journey into better allyship and Earth stewardship with us.. I understand that people tend to listen to other people who look and sound like they do, so I’ve created this podcast to provide an example of how to navigate uncomfortable and even difficult conversations about race, gender, brains, bodies and the planet as a white person.
Also I'm in the non-normative brain category. I have narcolepsy with cataplexy from C-PTSD. I am by no means perfect. I will step in it, say the wrong thing, and I’m committed that being ok and to digging deeper and learning.
For those of you listening who are BIPOC, LGBTQAI2S+ and non-normative embodied, I thank you for listening and participating in the education process of informing the privileged classes of your experience of racism, sexism, ageism, body-ism and all the -isms in America and the world. I understand that is a generous action and I’m grateful to you.
My intention is for this podcast to give you, and us all really, hope for a future of equality and faith that many white, straight, generally normative people are on your side and truly want to create a better, equal and sustainable world together.
To get there, to understand each other, we must discuss uncomfortable topics and learn how to relate to each other through them.
With deeper understanding of each other, we can truly love each other. Thank you for joining me on this journey exploring The Power We Hold.
The Power We Hold
The Power We Hold - S2 Ep02: Updates and Intentions
Thank you for joining me, your host eco-visual artist and spiritual coach Vanessa Albury, on my journey to becoming a better ally to people of all diversities (bipoc, LGBTQAI2S+, non-normative brained and embodied +) and steward of the environment in podcast form as The Power We Hold! This is part of Coral Projects' work in eco-consciousness healing. In this space we have in-depth conversation together with people of all backgrounds and diverse perspectives about difficult topics full of love, healing and what it is to be a human loving on planet Earth, our only home for now.
In this Updates and Intentions episodes I review my last 6 months traveling the world and declare my intentions for this podcast in 2024... Preview, we are going weekly moving forward. So look for new episodes to drop on Fridays!
Show Notes:
The Power We Hold Podcast website
Vanessa Albury IG, website
Coral Projects IG, website + Make a tax-deductible donation
Get your Custom Sea Coin
Coral Projects in Italy + Hyperallergic
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
Trustedhousesitters 25% off referral
Music Clear Skys by Wael Elhalaby IG, Soundcloud
Audio Editing by Bryan Klausing Rain Junkies website, LinkedIn
Recorded January 2024 in Nashville
Hello, and welcome back to the Power We Hold podcast. I'm Vanessa Albury, your host, and it's 2024, y 'all. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.
It's full of delights and challenges. challenges and beautiful, beautiful experiences. It bodes to be a very, very great year.
It's also an eight year. If you guys are into numerology and Chinese astrology, you know that eight year is about abundance. You're for it.
Are you here for it? Say out loud wherever you are. I am here for abundance. That's not funny, like join me, declare it. Because you guys,
what you choose is powerful. What you declare is powerful. If you don't claim it, you can't have it. If you don't say this is for me and put your energy in that direction,
align your energy to that, you can't have it. That's just how it is. is. I didn't make the rules. I just observed them. So that's what this episode is actually about today.
I am making my intentions known and I'm giving you an update on what the last six months of my life has looked like. I've only posted one episode in that time because I've been busy.
and I want to fill you in on what I've been up to and also to let you know that I'm making the commitment now right now with you to post weekly one of the conversations.
I've got four in the can. I've got another three or four on the way and I'm really feeling like it's time to take this to the next level. Are you with me?
Say hello. Say out loud, I'm with you, Vanessa. I laugh because it's funny, because it's silly and it's important to be able to laugh at yourself,
right? It's important to be able to play with yourself. And not in that dirty way, but also in that dirty way. Yeah, so that's my intention.
Weekly broadcasts, conversation. that are all about my journey to really what it comes down to self -love and self -love through becoming a better ally to people of all our beautiful differences.
Our black and brown and indigenous people, our BIPOC, our LGBTQ2SAI + community,
all ages, and all socioeconomic backgrounds, people of all our diversity, because it takes all of us to grow together and to grow exponentially.
And also, it's about my commitment to becoming a better steward to the planet. We need it now more than ever, I was at COP 28 in Dubai in December and finally,
finally, the world leaders have gotten together and said, "Yes, we acknowledge that fossil fuels are contributing to climate change in a major way and we're committed to net zero by 2050." I'm not sure how many committed to that second part.
part, but that is the result, the outcome of COP28 in Dubai, which I think is very interesting for a couple of reasons.
But one, COP got a lot of flak for having the conference in an oil -producing country.
Most of the UAE is... is, yeah, their wealth is generated on oil, let's be clear. And there were definitely fossil fuel,
industry people networking and trying to get their way. And I'd get that, but what I think is more important about Dubai in particular,
and my yoga master, Shia Kharshana, Oh, no one who will be a master. master, if you're listening. Something that he always says is that,
because he lives in Dubai, that Dubai, no one's there to push anyone else down. Everyone is there to try to grow themselves there. After creating the next tallest building or,
you know, landing that next big deal or making the most mind blowing. -blowing experience. That's their game. That's what they're after. So there's no room for pushing other people down when you're trying to grow.
Because of that, because that's the energy that's aligned in Dubai, that city is booming and it was a very interesting place to foster communication across all the countries of the world and all the agendas.
and running towards climate, climate amelioration and climate change for the best, not for the worse that we're creating currently. So yeah,
so just to Dubai was really good at fostering new dialogue, new communication, new collaborations. I started a new collaboration there that I never would have anticipated,
which I'll have more news on later this year, if you're interested. And I'm not the only person that noted this. So yeah,
Dubai is really interesting. So what have I been up to? I've been, since July 3rd, traveling the world. I've been in Paris and Egypt and Cape Town,
Johannesburg, Kenya, Dubai, where else have I been? I've been back in Fort New York. I'm currently in Nashville. I'm here to visit my family.
There's been a big snowstorm and I haven't seen them yet, so I'm hoping over the next couple of days I'll get to see some of them. But yeah,
I've been traveling the world and learning what my life is. in the space of travel and I gotta tell you Loving it. I love it. Love it. Love it.
So good. And of course like leading up to that You know, I didn't know I was gonna be traveling the world even like two weeks before I Went to Paris flew to Paris because I kept thinking I was moving into another apartment in New York but But the universe had other plans for me and that's what,
that's something I really want to focus on right here right now with you is that the universe is always telling you what's next. Like, I started in Paris and for about,
I don't know, six weeks before I went to Paris, I kept seeing Paris everywhere, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris. Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris,
Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris, but I was clocking it like a lot to where my cousin who had never traveled
internationally went to Paris. My friend who lived in Paris 15 years before went to Paris. I would open Instagram and there'd be somebody in front of the Eiffel Tower. It just was like continuous.
So I was like, all right, I see you Paris, you know? it was so much that I went into a photo shop that I get my,
where I get some of my prints made and they have this huge lenticular when you walk in and it's alternating between the Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower. Okay, I'm going to Paris,
all right, you win. Twist my leg. So, you know... there's been so many triggers and they've been really immediate and I get to heal at a lightning speed now.
I'm accelerating so quickly. My life is unrecognizable to what it was six months ago, truly, in the best possible way. And,
you know, so what I want to highlight here with you is, can you hear the universe speaking to you through the world around you? through your intuition? First,
it's going to be a little whisper. I'm like, Hey, remember this thing you like? And then if you don't listen, it's like tap, tap, tap on your shoulder.
And it's like, Hey, remember this thing? It's like really cool. And you really like it and it's for you. But maybe you have fear, maybe you have doubt. Maybe you're like, I don't know how I'm going to pull that off. So then you get out of it.
slap. It's like, "Hey, yo, listen up. Here's how it is. If you don't listen to that one, you get a punch, right? If you don't listen to that one,
you get a broken leg. And if you don't listen to that one, maybe you die." But it's like, "Can you pay attention when it's a whisper?" whisper?
Can you get quiet with yourself and feel that oneness that you are with all things? It feels really nice. And just listen to what's next for you.
Not use your overactive mind because your mind is all about protecting you from things that are dangerous. It's a fear navigator.
Do you want to navigate your life from fear? I don't. I do not. I'm here to navigate my life towards what's the best possible scenario here.
That's what I'm going to aim for. And even if I don't hit the best possible scenario, I guarantee you it's going to be better than what I was afraid was going to happen because that's where I set my attention.
So, yeah, it's been incredible. If anyone has that slight little tickle of, oof, I would like to try that.
Oof, I want to do it. Listen, go for it. I don't take responsibility for your actions, but I would like to encourage you to go for what you know is for you. Rewarding,
and in ways that you can't even imagine right now. When I did Landmark Forum in 2013, I believe it was, I remember Larry, our moderator,
such a lovely Larry. He drew this circle on the board and then he drew a skinny, skinny little slice of pie.
And he was like, this circle is all of knowledge. And this skinny little piece is what you know that you know, right?
And then you drew a little sliver beside it, maybe three times bigger than that little skinny sliver. He said, this is what you know that you don't know. And then in the whole rest of it,
like the rest, the other 95 % of the circle. is full of what you don't know that you don't know. Maybe some of you have seen that drawn before.
It's really powerful. It's so vast. Like we live in our heads, so we think we only, you know, our world is what we have on the inside, but really there's so much more and even available to you right now.
Are you brave enough to, go for it? So this podcast is part of that for me. I was super scared. I think I've told you guys about this before, super scared to launch this.
When the idea came to me just after George Floyd was murdered, I was like, "Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah, another white person should definitely do that. I think another white person should definitely do that." know,
grow in this way and share in public their journey to becoming a better ally to people of all our differences and steward to the planet for sure. Someone should do that. I even tried to give the idea to a bunch of people that I thought I thought would be good at it.
And then a few months later I was like, no, stupid. It's for you. It's for you to do it. And I've just had some of the most beautiful conversations because I'm doing this.
You'll really bless. And I was scared, like, you know, people get canceled all the time. And I'm live learning, like,
I'm, you know, I'm going to step in it. As I've said all along, like, I will make mistakes, guaranteed. But I'm also going to grow through them. I'm also committed to love at like the next level and the next level and the next level,
because love is infinite. Just like who you really are is an infinite being. This, this idea that,
oh, I know, I know love, I love myself or I'm in a relationship. relationship, I know love, no. It's infinite. Do you get me? If it's infinite,
you're never going to know it, bully. There's always going to be more and more and more to know, more and more and more to learn, more and more and more to love.
That's what I'm here for. So, the last six months, I've been next level living that to where you know, I see immediately when my mindset is working against me,
because the reality around me starts to shift. You know, there've been days when I didn't know where I was going that same day, like I've been house sitting,
you guys might might have picked up on that I'm doing trusted house sitters most of the time, I'll drop a link and the show notes for a referral for a discount if you want to try it out.
It's for people with homes and pets that need someone there to take care of their home and their pet while they're away. And so then it's perfect for me because I'm traveling the world.
I just get to show up at a fully soft home and share some love with a beautiful animal which are these animals you guys. they bust me wide open.
I mean, I'm a dog person, I always happen. My first dog we got the month after I was born, Sunny, and was in love, I fell in love.
She was the best. But animals will really teach you the next level. So, yeah, trusted house sitters,
and... And I had a sit lined up in New York, and three hours before I was supposed to arrive, the lady had to cancel. She canceled,
she got asked to work instead of take her mom on a beautiful vacation. And she said yes. And so then I was like, oh, well,
where do I go now? Like, Oh, okay. I thought I had housing tonight. Um, I like to say I'm the poshest home homeless person that you know.
Uh, um, I was listening to I'm chair expert, which I've been listening to for years. I love, uh, Dak Shepherd and Monica,
uh, Padman. They do an amazing job. job and love what they do. And this style of this podcast is definitely influenced by them. But they had a conversation with Trevor Noah talking about homelessness and like the term homeless are unhoused.
And anyway, when they were talking, I was like, oh, like, I'm technically homeless. Like, I don't have a home. But man, my life is posh.
So well done. care of. I stay in the most beautiful well -kept amazing places. I have food abundance. I have transportation.
It's it's amazing so um yeah that kind of blew my mind a little bit like oh you can actually be like really well taken care of and homeless.
homeless. And the circumstances of me being homeless look a lot like the circumstances that a lot of other people end up on the streets from. Like I was evicted from my 13 year apartment in New York City because I couldn't pay my rent.
Well, that's not the only reason, but that's, my landlord then decided she didn't like me anymore and didn't want my rent. That's also the, she didn't want the money that was there. for her. So yeah,
it's been, you know, the nudge out of the nest I needed. Because when I was in Paris, my business next leveled, I stepped into something that I've known for her a while,
like at least a year this for me, which is being a spiritual coach. I'm a spiritual mentor and a spiritual coach. I do Akashic Records readings, which some of you have heard of. are aware of, and I'm actually taking this opportunity right now to fully out myself because I've been intimidated to admit what I do,
fully, publicly, to those who know me best. Yeah, it's all about wounds of being accepted and lovable and being worthy of support and love and the thing is is that I don't need anyone else's support to be supported.
I just need my own. It's just a deeper layer of love. I truly believe that we're all meant to be doing the work that lights us up.
We're all meant to be living authentically who we are and And an important part of that is understanding the subtle difference between this is who I really am,
this is what is aligned for me versus I want this because of my programming, because of my wounds, because of how I have been trained that the world is supposed to work.
A lot of us make our decisions from that place and not from alignment. So whenever you... turn something down because you're afraid of it or convince yourself that it's not for you,
because it's a little scary, especially around money, like it's like, oh, I can't afford that. You can. You felt like you actually probably can. Like, I would say 95 % of the time,
that's not true. It's just you're afraid to invest in yourself. We tend to look... at money as the thing that I have to hoard. I have to save it,
my precious. Scarcity, right? But that just breeds more scarcity. You're never going to get where you are driven to go,
where you're motivated to go, where your true calling is from that kind of mindset and that kind of actions that come from that kind of mindset. If it scares you,
that's your goal post of like this is the threshold to walk through. This is the threshold for you to pass through. It's a mirage.
Fear is just a mirage. And when you learn that what you're afraid of is actually not real, you become very powerful. You become very,
very powerful. And you start co -creating the life that you're really meant to live at the next level with the universe. So, and so since July,
I guess it was July, I've been teaching a program called the Dream Life Accelerator. And it's my four steps to living the life of my dreams.
Your dreams don't have to look like my dreams to put these steps into use and to practice. But I can tell you from experience, now having run it a few times and from my own life,
like these steps work. I see huge amazing results in my clients and in my own life on a daily basis. And I am running towards fear now. It's like, what am I afraid of?
Okay, let's take a break. this one. Thank you universe, I am grateful. I'm grateful for my triggers. I'm grateful for my fears 'cause they just show me the next place of growth and learning,
that's for me. And that is what I'm here for. I can only be as good of an ally to someone else as I can be a good ally to myself.
So if I'm not standing up for myself, if I'm not taking care of myself, I can't take care of somebody else. Maybe I can in an instant, but it's not sustainable, right? This is what,
you know, you hear this about love, like you can only love someone to the extent to which you know, love yourself, right? Don't pour from an empty cup.
cup is another one like what you can only give from a full cup This stuff lights me up. My spine is like all fireworks and light right now Just like this beautiful beam of light running through me and So my commitment to you weekly Updates weekly podcast launching and starting with this one.
So this one and then every week, check me wherever you podcast and help me stay accountable. Please share it with people that you think might enjoy it,
might benefit from it. And another thing that I've been working through is how long the episodes are. So they're long.
Right? They're the long form. And I keep thinking like, oh, I need to do like a 30 minute or like a half hour to an hour. I need to limit this. But you know what?
That's silly. The conversation is the conversation. So the episodes are as long as the conversation is. And I'm just embracing that fully now. So each episode is as long as the conversation is. is going to be a different duration like this one's a shorty because it's just me chatting with you,
updating you all my life and my goodness and down what my plans are, what my commitment is. So what else have I been up to?
Choral projects. Maybe we've been waiting for that update. It's so good. So I have a beautiful collaboration in progress. um, for small works that will actually nourish corals,
which I'm really excited about. And then, um, I'm making custom sea coins. So you've seen probably my sea coins either in exhibitions in New York or on my Instagram or in my newsletter.
And now I'm making custom ones. The way that this works is when you place your order, I connect to you. your energy and you share a little bit about yourself with me, and then I make one specifically with you in mind while I'm forming it.
So it's that next level of healing the human -ocean's relationship directly for you. I'm really excited about it. I'll drop the link also in the show notes so you can see what you're using.
funds that we generate from the Custom Sea Coins for our education outreach. And I have a beautiful program that is in the works in South Africa.
So we'll be first funding that program. What else can I share with you? Think the last thing that I have to say is Please please please just Follow your dreams.
Follow what lights you up because When you do You inspire other people to do the same thing because they see you doing it your life gets better their life gets better and and bonus,
you bring the collective consciousness up. You bring the collective consciousness into, it's okay for me to have the life that I think I want,
that I know I deserve, but that I've been scared to step into. So just go for it, please, go for it. Like, I like to tell my clients, run off the cliff with scissors.
Like, go running. with scissors off cliffs Like not physically don't please don't physically go and do that, but like as a metaphor. I carry the scissors properly Amy and I'm like Yeah,
just like take those leaks Do what scares you do something that scares you Every day I'm telling you there is value there Even if it's just talking to strangers on the street,
that slight energetic shift of I do things that scare me will make a huge impact in your physical life. Small shift in energy is a huge change in the physical.
So I'm going to leave you on that note. Please give us a five star rating. If you enjoyed this podcast, that would really help me out.
out and help me reach more people. Let me know your thoughts, writer of you, and please follow Coral Projects on Instagram and we're also on Facebook.
I'll have the links and show notes. Also, if you're interested in the Dream Life Accelerator and working with me as a spiritual coach or getting in a Akashic Records Reading,
you can follow me. @vanessaalburyofficial I'll put that link as well or reach out to me. I think I'm pretty used to find. Just DM me on Instagram. I'll hook you up Thank you so much for your energy for sharing this space with me and Let's go.
Let's run into 2024 for all our abundance Thank you so much! See you next week!
