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Grit & Wonder#3 EMBODIMENT: What it is, Why it Matters and How to Get StartedEMBODIMENT.
It’s one of those big, ominous terms that’s being thrown around a lot these days—creating just as much confusion about what the heck it actually is, and discomfort about what it might mean to practice it.
Good News: we all got a body - so getting started is as simple (and equally complex :)) as sitting, walking, talking, breathing. And I will walk, talk, breath you through it!
Here’s what we’ll cover in this episode:
Why embodiment actually matters. It’s not a trend—it’s about accessing the deep wisdom yo...
2025-05-1648 minGrit & Wonder#2 Im Gespräch mit Anna Riess: mit den Händen Geschichten formenIn dieser Folge bin ich On the Mics mit der fabelhaften Anna Riess: einer Wiener Künstlerin, die Kunst, Handwerk und Design auf einzigartige Weise verbindet. Ihre Arbeiten aus Keramik, Textil und Metall sind nicht nur Objekte – sie erzählen Geschichten.
Wir sprechen über:
Wie Architektur, Poesie und Mutterschaft Annas künstlerische Stimme prägen
Die Spannung zwischen Funktionalität und Kunst – kann ein Objekt beides erfüllen?
Wie schöpferische Tätigkeit eine Form des Sense-Making und sich Verortens in der Welt sein kann
Selbstständigkeit, kreative Routinen und das „Lustprinzip“ (aka: Schaffen, was dich wirklich begeistert)
...
2025-04-131h 19Grit & Wonder#1 A Fresh Beginning & Feeling SeenYou’re creating, you’re sharing, you’re putting yourself out there—so why does it sometimes feel like the attention you get just bounces off? Why do we crave being seen but struggle to feel it when it actually happens?
This episode is NOT about how to be seen (spoiler: you’re already doing that). It’s about the deeper, trickier part—letting it in.
🌀 Do you allow the love and recognition you receive to really sink in?
⚡ What happens when people react to your work? (For REAL, though.)
🪞 Are you too busy shaping your impa...
2025-03-2333 minGrit & WonderGrit & Wonder - TrailerWelcome to the Grit & Wonder Podcast, where we explore the alchemy of creation. Whether you’re an artist or working in the corporate world, we all share the same desire: to create something meaningful, impactful, touching. Something that reminds us of our humanity. Hosted by artist and business consultant Mirjam Sögner, this show delves into the magic that happens when spark and vision are paired with discipline and strucutre.
In each episode, we dive into ways of how to master the powerful balance between grit— the resilience to follow through —and wonder—the spark of creativity and intuition...
2025-03-1802 min
Grit & Wonder#33 Why your Least Favorite Emotion is Probably Ruling your LifeFor all of us it is a different one.
That most feared, unwanted, gut-wrenching emotion.
To be clear - there is a huge variety of feelings that no one would consider pleasurable. And most of us would rather not feel any of them.
I even like to think that its a 50/50 cake: and half of our human experience is constituted by countless shades of "uncomfortable".
But there is this ONE feeling that you try to avoid at ALL COST!
Most of the time we are not even aware of our utter disgust of that particular e...
2023-11-2925 min
Grit & Wonder#32 Uniqueness - Blessing or Curse?I am sure you have also already hit your head at one of the million metaphorical, flashing billboards that yell at you how important it is to carve out YOUR space, corner or niche as an entrepreneur or freelancer.
Endless claims are made about what is the best way to set yourself apart from the masses.
In this weeks episode I wanna real-talk to you though about how leaning into your uniqueness (which you already effortlessly possess) is the very thing your reptile brain is trying to avoid at all costs.
For the simple reason that sta...
2023-09-1529 min
Grit & Wonder#31 BEING VS DOINGWhenever you got a lot on your plate - a very normal reaction would be to increase SPEED when trying to shove the stuff off your table.
I mean - you are stressed because there are too many things, right?
So, it’s just basic math that DOING MORE will get you faster to the end of that seemingly unsurmountable list. Which would finally cause that much needed relief to kick in.
And - YES. If you were a machine without a nervous system, instincts and deeply wired survival mechanisms: basic math would totally do it...
2023-09-0729 min
Grit & Wonder#30 PSYCHOLOGICAL GAMES - and how you stop playing themYou know that you have entered the incredibly vast, intricate and devious realm of psychological games when PLAYING is anything else but FUN.
We all have been there.
That moment when you realize that you have been sucked into someone else’s malicious plot.
You feel tricked, betrayed… and stuck AF. Coz no matter in which direction you might move - someone will get hurt, something will break.
You have been set up to FAIL.
According to Eric Berne, founder of Transactional Analysis, we play games in order to get a core need of ours...
2023-08-3128 min
Grit & Wonder#29 Solving ProblemsEncountering a … PROBLEM - involuntarily sets off the urge to get rid of it. ASAP.
We want to have it solved - NOW.
Not actually because the problem is a problem - but because we usually feel a tremendous amount of tension when considering something an ISSUE.
Their existence inflicts pain - and our reptile brain wants to get out at any cost.
Thanks to this perceived threat our brain is lightning-fast in judging whether we have a square or round shaped problem and will try to find a fitting peg from our archive of p...
2023-06-2823 min
Grit & Wonder#28 Growing Muscles to Catch Bigger WavesWhenever we take on a bigger project, lead larger teams or move into more complex work-territories it very often puts us in a „everything-is-a-life-threatening-calamity! If I don´t act NOW we will all sink and die“-state.
Leading to exhaustion, self-doubt and a lot of bad decisions.
Let’s say you are a really good sailor in the Mediterranean Sea and have decide to now embark on a new journey out into the Atlantic Ocean. You will probably struggle at first!
Its not the nature of the beast though that is out of control here.
The...
2023-06-1527 min
Grit & Wonder#27 HOW TO LISTEN DEEPLYWe all know that there are galaxies between the involuntary perception of those hissing sounds bubbling out of someones mouth in the form of words and actually extracting MEANING from this noise.
MEANING that when woven in the service of wanting to understand someone or something deeply can lead you through the labyrinth of chatter to the core of a matter. The underlying cause, drive, motivation, need, desire…
And this is crucial if you are leading a team, if you want to connect to a partner or are creating a solution for a real human problem.
...
2023-06-0934 min
Grit & Wonder#26 TUNING - a guide into your Blind SpotsIn this episode I wondered - what if those GO-TO solutions that our brain comes up with when facing a difficult situation are the exact reason for our stuck-ness?
The source of what creates MORE OF THE SAME. And Probably more of the current problems as well?
The strategies that have served us well, the stories we tell about ourselves (like… I am not disciplined enough) - they totally work sometimes.
But they tend to take up lots of space until they seem to be the ONLY solution or way to see yourself.
Or l...
2023-05-3120 min
Grit & Wonder#25 Own Your WantsRemember as a kid when you really wanted some candy before dinner?
And your mom would not let you have some because… it does not make sense. And you don’t NEED it.
As grown ups - many of us still relate to our WANTS as if there was a mom telling us off for desiring what we don’t actually NEED.
How this is playin out then in our inner emotional landscape is us today looks like spending lots and lots of brain power guilt tripping about WANTING something in the first place and secondl...
2023-05-2025 min
Grit & Wonder#24 WISH DAY - re-boot your realtionship with your DESIRES
WISH DAY is a practice I developed for everybody who wants to re-calibrate their relationship with their own DESIRES, WISHES and WANTS by feeling safe around having them in the first place!
WHY? Coz the reality of how most of us think about our desires stems from a deep distrust in our ability to be with them and / or fulfill them in a way that does get us in trouble and sounds something like:
„Its a bottom less pit! I am greedy AF! I will never have enough! I am def. not to be trusted with...
2023-03-0232 minGrit & Wonder#23 To Do Lists are DEADWe keep To Do Lists in the hope that one day we will be DONE.
It’s a tool we often religiously use in the hope to finally be on TOP of things not noticing that our list have long taken the seat at the steering wheel ruling US.
In this weeks episode we will explore what your subconscious mind is convinced you will FEEL like once you have completed all your tasks (it is one of our favorite places for escape fantasies! Let me assure you!) instead of RUSHING to this imaginary finish line (which btw…...
2023-02-2541 minGrit & Wonder# 22 InsecurityNo - this is not a manual on how to be LESS insecure!
If this is what I were offering here - I would agree with your story, that insecurity is a problem.
And this is where we will begin in this weeks episode:
Wiggling a little at that deeply rooted believe that insecurity is UNPROFESSIONAL.
If this is you I would love to offer you following questions (for the sake of the wiggling):
What is YOUR definition of professionality? How would you love others to show up in the work context?
Wha...
2023-02-1626 minGrit & Wonder#21 Ode to Non-Linear Timelines and CreationThis is an invitation to meander with me and ponder about the non-linearity of timelines (or then… time waves, vortexes and spirals) that the magic act of CREATION holds for us.
And - yes I am also talking to YOU, with the so-called non-creative, practical business!
(If you need to continuously adapt and change to shifts in the market - you are also CREATING!)
What is mostly talked about is the CONTAINER aspect of projects.
How much money, time, how many people when and where…
So Important. So necessary.
Without cash, time and skill...
2023-02-0854 minGrit & Wonder#20 Not Knowing„I don´t know!“
Such a common place
And oh! how I love this phrase - for the mere fact that, depending on how you use it, it can mean a lifetime of agony or the doorway to the most unexpected findings emerging from the unknown.
What makes the difference is the story you tell yourself about YOU, when you don’t know.
Do you think you should?
It´s definitely not comfortable to lean into the space that we did not know we did not know.
But met with curiosity, delicious q...
2023-01-1930 minGrit & Wonder#19 Half-Ass Believing in Yourself is a Good ThingWe love to fantasize.
You have been imagining that moment a million times.
And its gonna be perfect.
That moment - when it will feel RIGHT to get started, or take that next big step.
And right meaning … you finally believe you can actually make it.
Ironically - that waiting… for the moment when you are fully sure of yourself and your future success
is a guarantee for NOT EVER moving an inch towards it in real life.
And even if your fantasized sureness would start to be very real for just a...
2023-01-1238 minGrit & Wonder#18 Why We Do What We Do - How to Coach Yourself PART 3For those of you who want to learn how to coach yourself - the Podcast Miniseries is hereby continued!
(Go to:
#8 Facts versus story - PART 1
#9 Feelings are Wealth - PART 2
If you want to start at the beginning - they are building up on each other!)
And also - HELLO New Years Resolution that you set eagerly hoping that the midnight bell will randomly give you that damn WILLPOWER to finally turn your whole life around… which you already broke a week into the new year….
Totally NOT shaming you here!
2023-01-0528 minGrit & Wonder#17 TRUSTBusiness relationships can feel like marriages oftentimes.
I mean - you would not be the first one if you spent MORE TIME with your founding partner than with your spouse….
And one thing I hear A LOT when people consider starting or struggle to continue such a partnership: „I need to be able to trust them.“
Such a lovely, innocent sentence.
YES - trust is crucial for any committed relationship. But it has way less to do with THE OTHER person than you think!
Here is another translation of this cute sentence:
Please...
2022-12-1529 minGrit & Wonder#16 Moving out of Success ParalysisI am convinced that the obsessive pursuit of success can cast a spell on you that causes you to loose the ability to move your geniousness-muscles and that prohibits access to those yummy parts of your brain where the creative juices are flowing.
This usually happens when success seems to be the only alternative to FAILING.
And when failing equals DEATH to our nervous system - we are in fact fighting and flighting our way up that steep, steep lather like we were running away from a lion.
And… how long can you run away from...
2022-12-0142 minGrit & Wonder#15 Networking EaseSo - if you are an artist, designer, entrepreneur in the creative sector… chances are REALLY hight, that you think you suck at networking.
Like with a capital S.
On top of that the mere thought of „SELLING, CONVINCING, ATTENTION-GRABBING“ gives you these gut-wrenching Uaghh-feels.
However you are convinced that on the other side of networking lies success, so you MUST be doing it too!
Leaving you with this fabulously draining guilt, self-loathing, tension, push-pull - cocktail resulting in > many many missed opportunities & award interactions at best.
Sounds familiar?
Now - I am prett...
2022-11-2432 minGrit & Wonder#14 How to Set a Boundary - Not a Barbed Wire FenceI will cut right to the chase.
There is a way to set boundaries that actually create a stage for MORE CONNECTION rather than a loss of love.
And the fear of loosing love is the number one reason why people are not setting them in the first place.
Why they say YES when they wanna say NO.
The believe that people will love you more when you let them have their way is what gets in the way for so many of us to actually communicate our needs, wishes and limits.
H...
2022-11-1744 minGrit & Wonder#13 What am I Doing and Why? A Roadmap through BIG QUESTIONS TerrainDid you already jump on the lets-set-goals and hopefully get-our-shit-together-finally bandwagon?
I love goals - I truly do!
They are such an amazing opportunity for growth.
However - if you set goals in the hope that purpose, meaning and that sense of fulfillment, which you so deeply crave will enter the scenery… I am afraid you started at the wrong end of planning your trip!
If you are anything like me, your head is pounding you with finding ANSWERS TO THE BIG WHATS AND WHYS AND HOWS of life.
And I really want...
2022-10-2923 minGrit & Wonder#12 Can I Actually Fake it Till I Make it?I mean - you can have a fake mustache
An actually nonexistent, hence fake boyfriend
A fake life on Social that is vastly different from your actual experience.
However - when it comes to you throwing yourself into something NEW, that you have not ever done before I would never call however you end up acting or performing FAKE but rather TAKING A BRAVE LEAP.
A brave leap of believing in your ability to learn and figure things out despite NOT having any evidence for your ability to DO THIS THING!
Now - t...
2022-10-2030 minGrit & Wonder#11 The FUCK-YESS ParadigmThis week on the podcast we divorce from NICE.
We ditch OK.
We are not going along with the WHY NOT option anymore.
Why?
If you say yes to NICE…
The kind of sweet boyfriend
The not-bad flat
The could-be-worse project
… the whole system will be clogged with no space left for squeaky-colorful, juicy-bubbly, chewy-yummy, I-could-die-now AMAZING.
Is AMAZING morally superiors or „better“ than NICE? NO.
But do I wish you being in awe of the magic of life and being ecstatic in the face of your own ex...
2022-10-1349 minGrit & Wonder#10 The Always-Happy-Myth DebunkedI mean there are legit reasons for being full on addicted to Happiness.
And to make its pursuit your all day purpose.
Who would not want MORE of those yummy hormones coursing through your veins!!
In fact we are evolutionary wired to SEEK pleasure as much as possible.
We just can't help it.
And in a world where a hit of serotonin is literally a finger-click away the idea that one could STAY in this state of bliss ALL THE TIME makes sense.
However - there is big big catch to it...
2022-10-0621 minGrit & Wonder#9 Feelings are Wealth - How to Coach Yourself PART 2Oh dear!
I am so fired up about this topic.
Coz let’s be honest - what have you learned about HOW TO FEEL? What has been modeled to you when you were little?
I assume something like - „we love you most when you are a little bit happy and friendly without the edges so you don’t confront us with our own emotional depths and wounds that we have absolutely no damn idea how to deal with.
If you DO however escape this narrow window of expression that we deem app...
2022-09-2933 minGrit & Wonder#8 Facts Versus Story - How to Coach Yourself PART 1How crazy ist ist that we all run around with a brain that is chirping and chatting and often unfortunately yelling at us all day long, determining the quality of our lives and NO ONE HAS ACTUALLY TAUGHT US HOW TO USE IT?
Most of us are on autopilot! Believing every damn thing that our brain burps into our ears.
It’s like driving without a license! It goes well if you are lucky… but mostly its very painful!
So lets get to work and learn how to freaking use our mind consciously!
It’s THE ONE...
2022-09-2130 minGrit & Wonder#7 Firing Freelance MasochismWhen I started out as a freelance artist I just wanted my living costs to be covered so I could make art full-time. That meant I needed to make money WITH my art, right? But - f**k, I never wanted to sell myself!
All things business and money felt a little yucky and meant for others - NOT for me.
Convinced that in the altruistic spheres of expanded horizons money was a problematic burden I also felt entitle do being paid WELL for what I do… just because.
I was basically resisting a system that...
2022-09-1237 minGrit & Wonder#6 What your Thoughts and Google Have in CommonOur brain loves clarity and straightforwardness.
Unfortunately this also means that sometimes it would rather tell you that „EVERYTHING sucks“ instead of allowing complexity, nuance or holding a variety of perspectives simultaneously. Literally for the sake of conserving energy.
The caveat to this is that what we believe to be true is what we will find evidence for in our surrounding.
So our thoughts act like very powerful, self-amplifying filters. This is how we can easily get caught up in a grimm loop of doom and gloom and think we are just making an observation!
Th...
2022-09-0118 minGrit & Wonder#5 Work-Life Balance Myth DebunkedDo you ever feel like everybody else but you got this work-life balance thing down?
While I see people running behind it like it was the holy grail for a non-burnt out life I am here to tell you that I think its not even a thing. How we have started to use this idea against ourselves and what I suggest to do instead to create a life that feels fulfilling and „in balance“ is what awaits you in this weeks episode.
In this episode you will learn:
- why I am not a fan o...
2022-08-2636 minGrit & Wonder#4 What Bums out your CreativityCreativity is this fabulous problem-solving superpower all humans possess. And yet many of us don’t dare to tap into this capacity. We’d rather self-censor or stay in the socially acceptable, meek realms with our ideas just to not risk being judged.
To the determent our your business and the rest of us!
In this episode we will go on a deep dive into the part of our brain that is evolutionary wired for survival and that cannot distinguish between physical and emotional pain - it just wants to protect us from ANY pain.
The key...
2022-08-1830 minGrit & Wonder#3 Daring to be PlayfulIn this episode we will debunk the myth of iron discipline, self-imposed pressure, overworking and constant worry being essential motivators for building a business.
Listen on to find out how daring to be playful and giving air time to positive emotions is not only benefiting your own well-being as a leader, but is a key quality that will allow you and your company to react to unexpected challenges creatively.
In this episode you will learn:
- why emotions such as worry, self-doubt, pressure etc. are not what actually propels you to move forward
...
2022-07-2132 minGrit & Wonder#2 Becoming the CEO you already areMany entrepreneurs are the CEOs of their own company on paper but don’t actually embody the role and lead.
In this episode we will use the metaphor of the chariot to shine light on what it means to become your own authority when making decisions and moving your projects forward and into the world.
In this episode you will learn:
- how looking for the „right“ answer is keeping you stuck
- Why leading is an act of service
- how to distinguish between pulling the chariot forward versus steering it
- Wha...
2022-07-1431 minGrit & Wonder#1 When Dreaming is PainfulWelcome to the very first episode of How to Playfully CEO.
Everything created by humans was once an idea, a dream, a vision and solely existed in the minds.
In this episode we will discuss why so many of us don’t allow ourselves to dream and explore what we truly desire and how this keeps us stuck in reproducing what we already know – aka in the past.
Listen on to find out how to open up to believing in new possibilities for yourself despite without having tangible evidence (yet).
For...
2022-07-0124 min
2018-04-2635 min