In this Sparkle Snack episode of Stay Sparked, John Halcyon (Hug Nation) and Betsy Finkel (Power Affirmation Project) explore socializing, awkwardness, and simple tools for feeling more relaxed and confident in social situations.

If parties, networking events, or even casual gatherings tend to spark anxiety or self-doubt, this conversation offers gentle, practical strategies to help you break the ice and stay grounded—without pretending to be someone you’re not.

Together, they share:

• Easy “pocket stories” and specific questions to spark meaningful conversation
• How to steer conversations away from small talk and toward genuine connection
• Mindfulness tools for calming the nervous system in social environments
• Why curiosity and listening are more powerful than performing
• Letting go of self-judgment, social labels, and the fear of being “awkward”
• The surprising power of honesty and self-compassion in social moments

This episode is a reminder that social ease is a learnable skill, not a personality trait—and that connection gets easier when we stop auditioning and start being present.

✨☕ This episode is sponsored by www.BecomeLucid.com Lucid is a functional mushroom and nootropic brand designed to fuel mental clarity, focus, and long-term brain health. Their flagship product is a premium mushroom coffee blend infused with clinically studied nootropics—crafted to deliver clean energy without the crash.

✨🎶 MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online. https://dubsutra.com

This Sparkle Snack episode of Stay Sparked, is a warm, bite-sized conversation about seasonal rituals, reflection, and intentionally closing one chapter before opening the next.

As the year winds down and we move toward the winter solstice, Betsy and John explore simple, meaningful practices for honoring seasonal transitions—without getting swept up in the rush, obligation, or overwhelm that often comes with the holidays.

Together we share:

• End-of-year reflection rituals focused on wins and growth points
• Gratitude walks, journaling, and reviewing calendars and photos to integrate the year
• Nature-based solstice practices like walking a spiral
• A playful yet powerful “future gratitude” practice—writing from the perspective of the year ahead
• Why imagination, presence, and elevated emotion matter more than rigid goals or resolutions

This episode is an invitation to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and consciously spiral into the new year with intention, creativity, and compassion.

✨☕ This episode is sponsored by www.BecomeLucid.com Lucid is a functional mushroom and nootropic brand designed to fuel mental clarity, focus, and long-term brain health. Their flagship product is a premium mushroom coffee blend infused with clinically studied nootropics—crafted to deliver clean energy without the crash.

✨🎶MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online. https://dubsutra.com

✨ HOSTS

BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer, an author, and mindfulness guide who blends somatic healing, sound therapy, and mindset awareness to help people feel grounded, connected, and empowered. As a longtime practitioner and Insight Timer teacher, she weaves practical tools with intuitive presence, offering experiences that support personal transformation and intentional living. Betsy is the creator of The Power Affirmation Journal and Power Affirmation Cards, along with a growing library of products and audio practices that help people build healthy rituals, release old patterns, and cultivate a life of joy, clarity, and inner freedom.
http://poweraffirmation.com/

JOHN HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation youtube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches groups and individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. http://LifeStudent.com

In this episode we sit down with visionary painter Autumn Sky (@autumnskyeart, AutumnSkyArt.com) for a heartfelt conversation about creativity, courage, and trusting the process. 🎨

Autumn shares how art has been a guiding force since childhood, how she turned creativity into a livelihood without losing the magic, and why giving ourselves permission to create is some of the deepest healing work we can do.

We explore:

• Art as both spiritual practice and career
• Perfectionism, productivity, and staying playful
• The “crunchy” parts of the creative process and what they teach us
• How creativity helps us walk through mystery, change, and big life pivots

Autumn also talks about her retreats on the Sunshine Coast of BC and the next evolution of Heartwood Cove, an off-grid eco-retreat for art, healing, and deep reconnection.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “good enough” to make art, or how to protect the soul of your creativity while building a life around it, this episode will feel like a loving, wise mirror.

✨ If this conversation nourished you, please like, subscribe, and share it with a fellow creative.

✨☕This episode is sponsored by www.BecomeLucid.com Lucid is a functional mushroom and nootropic brand designed to fuel mental clarity, focus, and long-term brain health. Their flagship product is a premium mushroom coffee blend infused with clinically studied nootropics—crafted to deliver clean energy without the crash.

✨🎶MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online. https://dubsutra.com

✨HOSTS
BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer, an author, and mindfulness guide who blends somatic healing, sound therapy, and mindset awareness to help people feel grounded, connected, and empowered. As a longtime practitioner and Insight Timer teacher, she weaves practical tools with intuitive presence, offering experiences that support personal transformation and intentional living. Betsy is the creator of The Power Affirmation Journal and Power Affirmation Cards, along with a growing library of products and audio practices that help people build healthy rituals, release old patterns, and cultivate a life of joy, clarity, and inner freedom.
http://poweraffirmation.com/

JOHN HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation youtube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches groups and individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. http://LifeStudent.com

In this special in-person episode of Stay Sparked, Betsy and John Halcyon team up for a live Hug Nation broadcast all about gratitude as a daily practice – even in hard times.

Together we explore:

✨ Practical Woo & Sobriety
How opening to “practical woo” helped John in early sobriety, and why being willing to admit “I don’t know what’s best for me” can change everything.

💧 Water as Medicine
From water ceremonies to hurricanes and RV life, we talk about how easy access to running water is not a given—and how remembering that can radically deepen our gratitude.

💪 Gratitude as a Muscle
Why gratitude gets stronger with repetition, how to build “gratitude muscles,” and how practiced gratitude naturally shifts our self-talk and conversations.

🧠 Complaining vs. Reframing
What happens to our brains when we rant, and how regular gratitude practice helps us reframe challenges without bypassing our feelings.

🃏 Affirmations & Mind Vitamins
Betsy introduces her Power Affirmation deck and a quick practice to feed your mind short, powerful “mind vitamins” instead of endless social media scrolling.

🎵 Song, Mantra & Flow State
We talk about music, mantras, and the movie Soul—how singing and sound can bypass the thinking mind and drop us into a deeper spiritual awareness. (Yes, John sings a spontaneous gratitude song!)

✨ Stay Connected
📲 Instagram: @staysparked
🎧 Podcast: Stay Sparked – available wherever you listen
⭐ If this episode lit you up, please leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share it with a friend who could use a spark.

Thank you for being part of this wave of love, gratitude, and practical woo. 💖

This episode is sponsored by www.BecomeLucid.com Lucid is a functional mushroom and nootropic brand designed to fuel mental clarity, focus, and long-term brain health. Their flagship product is a premium mushroom coffee blend infused with clinically studied nootropics—crafted to deliver clean energy without the crash.

MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online. https://dubsutra.com

✨⭐ In this Sparkle Snacks episode, @Betsyhoo & @HalcyonPink explore the power of the pause — the simple yet profound act of slowing down. In a world that rewards constant motion, we rediscover the value of stillness, breath, and mindful awareness. From transforming moments of rushing into calm focus to reclaiming spontaneous “Shavasanas” in daily life, this conversation invites you to embrace quiet as a path to balance and presence. Learn how small pauses between tasks, conversations, and even breaths can deepen connection, extend your life force, and bring harmony to your day. Take a breath. Tune in. Feel the magic of pause.🔥

This episode is sponsored by www.BecomeLucid.com Lucid is a functional mushroom and nootropic brand designed to fuel mental clarity, focus, and long-term brain health. Their flagship product is a premium mushroom coffee blend infused with clinically studied nootropics—crafted to deliver clean energy without the crash.

Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online. https://dubsutra.com

@HalcyonPink shares his recent experiences joining the Wholehearted Chorus and the challenges of being a beginner. @Betsyhoo adds her inspiring flute-learning journey and the two discuss how important (and hard) it can be to learn new things.

In this bite-size conversation, Betsy and John dive into the power of a beginner’s mind—why leaning into discomfort is the doorway to growth. From wobbling through the first tries on a bike or musical instrument (Betsy’s journey with the Native flute) to stepping onstage to facilitate groups, they explore how being a beginner is humbling, empowering, and necessary.

The episode closes with a short song, ways to connect, and a sparkling affirmation:
“I stay humble as I live my life with a beginner’s mind.”

If this mini-episode lit you up, share it with a friend and leave a 5-star review. Stay humble. Stay curious. Stay Sparked. 🔥

This episode is sponsored by www.BecomeLucid.com Lucid is a functional mushroom and nootropic brand designed to fuel mental clarity, focus, and long-term brain health. Their flagship product is a premium mushroom coffee blend infused with clinically studied nootropics—crafted to deliver clean energy without the crash.

MASSIVE Thank you to for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online. https://dubsutra.com

Thank you, Jane Goodall.
In this shorter episode, we honor and give thanks to the inspiring life of Jane Goodall. (1934-2025)

Patron Saint of Love Ambassadors:
"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."
-Jane Goodall



This episode is sponsored by www.BecomeLucid.com Lucid is a functional mushroom and nootropic brand designed to fuel mental clarity, focus, and long-term brain health. Their flagship product is a premium mushroom coffee blend infused with clinically studied nootropics—crafted to deliver clean energy without the crash.

BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer of massage therapy, CranioSacral and Dharma Coaching. She is an 8 year burner and has spent the last several years seeped in the personal development world, cultivating her passion for transformation and growth. Her recent project, The Power Affirmation Journal and virtual group empowers women to cultivate self awareness and healthy habits so they can live in greater freedom, mind body and spirit. http://poweraffirmation.com/

HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation youtube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches groups and individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. http://links.hugnation.com

MASSIVE Thank you to for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online. https://dubsutra.com

In this episode, We sit down with our dear friend Justin Gary — game designer, author, speaker, world traveler, longtime Burner, and all-around inspiring human. Together, we dive into a playful and profound conversation about how the principles of game design can help us create more joyful, intentional lives.

We explore:

✨How healthy habits and powerful questions can guide us toward living our best lives

✨Using the metaphor of games to set goals and see challenges differently

✨Why “failure” can actually be one of our greatest teachers and growth opportunities

✨Laughter, friendship, and the playful spirit that makes life more meaningful

Justin also shares insights from his journey as a creator and traveler, weaving together wisdom from his adventures and projects.

Mentioned in this episode:

✨www.JustinGary.com

✨Level Up

✨www.lifestudent.com

✨poweraffirmation.com

Tune in for an inspiring and joy-filled conversation that will leave you thinking differently about your habits, your goals, and the “game” of life itself.

This episode is sponsored by Lucid — a delicious mushroom nootropic drink designed to boost focus, creativity, and calm energy without the crash. It’s our go-to for staying clear, inspired, and present.

Learn more: BecomeLucid.com