In the spirit of International Women’s Day (8 March 2024), we celebrate the indomitable strength and courage woven through your narratives. Immerse yourself in this, where my poetry—born from personal tribulations and shared experiences—resonates with the enduring power of resilience and healing. It’s a tribute to women worldwide, a testament to our collective journey towards empowerment and recovery. Join us in commemorating this day, a milestone marked by the voice and story behind ‘Say My Name,’ Mel Baker. Let your narrative be the beacon that guides others towards healing. Share your story, find solace, and foster connection at LivingExpressions.com.au.

To view the video of this episode with scenes from my award-winning short film, Say My Name, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRo-QmFFVKs

Music composed by Quinn from Say My Name.

Grieving, a natural part of life, a living expression of an incredibly heavy moment. The last few weeks I’ve been sitting in the most heaviest grief I’ve experienced as my adopted dad passed away. In sharing my life with him and he with me, I allowed myself to be vulnerable. I got an opportunity to be loved, to have shared positive family experiences that I would never have had. I’m so grateful for those 21 years.

In this monologue, I try to speak generically for any loss you may have experienced, whether your child, parent, sibling, grandparent, friend, or most loved animal. The price of love means grief then is so much more. Life has been heavy and empty, until you get to a place of transforming.

Life is most certainly a rollercoaster. One day everything is going fine, then we find ourselves hit with something that knocks us down. In my experience, I have found those little times in-between we can actually bring some life moments back into ourselves. Experiencing release in those times helps us to have the strength to keep going. This musical arrangement demonstrates all those moments in life. I certainly had some fun in creating it! 

A funny moment. How many times in life do we actually laugh at ourselves? Laughing is a great means of lifting our mood. In this episode, I tune into nature to discover some funny birds calls in my neighbourhood, including "get real" "darth vader" and "excuse me". When I shared the experience with my friends they wanted to know what I was taking! Life can get too serious at times, why not have a laugh with me.