Write Your Story with Ally Fallon

Does your life ever feel like it moves at an absolutely break-neck pace? 

Maybe that pace works well for you or maybe, over time, you start to feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose. 

Like you’re overwhelmed with experiences and information, unable to integrate and disconnected from everything that is happening.

If that sounds true for you, today’s episode offers a meditation I’ve been using la...

Is inspiration a luxury? A privilege? Do we have to go without inspiration in times of war or chaos or change? Or, is inspiration an absolutely vital part of life? In this episode, I share why I think inspiration is essential to human existence and talk about the simple things we can do to stay inspired. 

How do you stay inspired? I’d love to hear from you. Write your list of 10 ways to stay inspired and tag me on...

Do you ever get the feeling like everybody else is thriving and you’re the only one struggling?

Maybe you’re scrolling social media and see a hundred smiling faces. Or maybe you bump into a friend at the grocery story who says they’re doing great! Everything is going great! All is well with their world!

You might start to wonder if maybe it’s just you that is struggling financially or stuck in a dead-end job...

This week, I want to offer some straightforward writing and publishing advice that might hurt your feelings; but I’m willing to hurt your feelings since it is in service of awakening your inner artist (see: last week’s episode). 

Even if you’re “not a writer” or don’t have any aspirations for publishing, this advice is for you. It’s for any creative person who questions the validity of...

Do you have an artist in you that you’ve tucked away because…

• Obligations and responsibilities took precedence over art? 
• You were shamed or ridiculed for being “unrealistic” or having your “head in the clouds”?
• You’ve forgotten what it felt like to be creative?
...

There's been a cultural obsession recently with optimizing your life, your health, your body and more. And while optimization can provide support and scaffolding, there’s a hidden danger of focusing too much on optimization. 

I’ll unpack that silent drawback in today’s episode. 

I’ll also share an update from my most recent trip to Montana and the status of my yoga teacher training program. 

Y...

In today’s episode, I share a metaphor I’ve been using in my yoga classes lately that has served me in the rest of my life, too.  

If you’re new here, or if you missed it, I’m teaching yoga! For now it’s one each week at Hot Yoga of East Nashville, a free / donation based 60 minute flow class on Fridays at 4:30. If you’re in Nashville or if you come to visit, come see me at the studio!

...

Human beings have a primal need that we don’t often talk about. 

It’s not food or water or love, although we need those things too. 

It’s the human need that drives you to watch Netflix, scroll Instagram, gasp at a text message that says, “you’ll never guess what happened!?” and even binge a great audiobook (the three I mention in the episode are in the notes below).  

And yet...

AI has been a constant topic of conversation lately, mainly because we’re watching the world change at a rapid pace in ways that are unprecedented and can be unnerving. 

We’re in uncharted territory.  

As nostalgic as I can sometimes feel about a time when iPhones didn’t rule our lives, I tend toward the belief that, in general, the best times are ahead of us — not behind. 

I even recorde...

If we’re all a sort of “hero” in our own personal narrative, it begs an obvious question: who is narrating the story? 

I watched Harold and the Purple Crayon on Netflix with my kids over the weekend, a children's book turned movie where the main character of a book goes searching for the narrator of his story so that he can better understand his purpose in life. 

My kids thought the movie was hilarious. ...

One of the most common questions I’ve been asked in the past ten years is if I would talk about my evolving process with the Christian faith of my childhood. 

I even recorded an episode called, “Are you still a Christian?” here: 

Finally, after years of avoiding and evading the question, after nearly a decade of processing and evolving privately, I’m ready to share parts of my experience. 

The...

One of the most common questions I am asked from anyone who is writing about their life goes like this: 

How do I write about the people who hurt me? 

Maybe you find yourself wanting to write about your parents, lovers, ex-lovers, siblings, neighbors, bosses, co-workers, etc but you aren’t sure how you would do that in a way that is true and also respectful. 

Maybe you aren’t worried about being respectfu...

Research shows that a daily practice of gratitude can make you happier but have you had a time in life when “gratitude” felt impossible? Have you ever felt like “staying positive” might be blocking you from feeling what was true for you that day? 

What is the line between “being grateful” and pretending things are different than they actually are?

Is it healthy to pretend you feel differentl...

Today’s episode is a love letter to anyone who feels like they are fumbling and stumbling their way through something right now. Whether it’s work or working out or parenting or creativity, if you feel like a beginner or like you don’t know exactly what to do next, you’re normal, you’re doing great, and this episode is for you. 

Host: Ally Fallon // @allyfallon // allisonfallon.com

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I heard recently about a publishing scam that would be hard to detect by an average consumer and that preys on the vulnerabilities of new, hopeful authors. And yet with just a little bit of publishing context you can arm yourself with enough information to sniff out the fakers and find a publishing path that works for you.

I hope this episode finds you before the scammers do!

Host: Ally Fallon // @allyfallon // allisonfallon.com

Fol...

I had a conversation with a friend recently about raising boys (of all things) that reminded me of something I already know: a story without conflict or tension is not a story. 

So why are so many of us trying to avoid conflict and tension in our lives? 

Sure, problems are unpleasant to deal with but tiptoeing around potential problems causes a story (read: a life) to fall flat. A story without tension or conflict is unin...

What will make me truly happy? 

Recently I watched an Instagram reel where a psychologist shared data that suggests parents with young children are not as happy as those couples who are child-free or who have grown kids. In the comments section, you could hear the defensiveness. The frustration. The incredulity from parents of young children who felt misrepresented.

As someone with young children myself, I could see that many ...

Are you up against a problem in your life that you don’t know how to solve? Have you tried everything you know to try in order to solve it? Maybe strategies that worked in the past are feeling insufficient this time around? 

Whether it’s a personal problem or a political, global or corporate one — in this episode i’ll offer a suggestion that may surprise you—and may trigger you (it triggered me).&...

Do you ever feel like you have to be the strong one? Like you have to get your ducks in a row, get your act together, pull it all off—or if you don’t do it, who will? 

In today's episode I unpack the idea that your greatest leverage to shift any situation—personal or corporate—is not in your strength or composure or ability or even intelligence but in your capacity to tell the truth.

We avoid telling th...