Ep #106: (Part 2) Finding Peace in Conflict with Zohar Tirosh-Polk

Zohar: That’s huge right there because the formula used to be, or the equation was, “Well, I did this, this, and this. I’m not getting exactly what I want the way I wanted it. Then, therefore, I’m going to avoid.” And it’s easy to avoid.

And then, if we’re thinking of what you say so beautifully, cultivating a life, an emotional, spiritual, physical life that will allow me to get the results that I want or allow my dreams to become inevitable – forgive me if I’m misquoting it – then there is so much to do.

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That was playwright, screenwriter, creativity coach, and peace activist Zohar Tirosh-Polk talking about how she fuels her creative drive and stays on track to creating her creative vision. Zohar – or Zoe as she’s known to us in the Art School Mastermind – and I recently sat down to talk all things creative process. She shares her mindset that keeps her on track and also what she shares with her own creativity clients.

This was such a fun conversation. And part of what makes it fun for Zoe and I is that we love talking about what works, what makes a creative life work, what makes a creative career work, both in our own lives and for our clients.

And it also pertains to how to make life work in the world at large, especially when you’re living in challenging times. I think you will especially enjoy the part where we talk about how making peace is not about making peace with defeat. Just that one small part of our entire conversation, I know, is absolutely game-changing, really life-changing even, if you take it and apply it to your own life. And the great news is that there’s so much more where that came from.

You are listening to The Art School Podcast; a show for artists and creatives who want to become the next greatest version of themselves. Learn how to cultivate an extraordinary way of being and take the mystery out of making money, and the struggle out of making art. Here is your host, master certified life coach, artist, and former lawyer, Leah Badertscher.

Welcome, everyone, to another episode of The Art School Podcast. I hope this finds you doing amazing. I’m sending some beautiful autumn, Michigan autumn sunshine your way. It really is a pure Michigan kind of day. I am an enthusiastic proponent of that ad campaign, Pure Michigan, because it’s so right on. So, sending some of those gorgeous vibes to all of you today, and really excited to share this second half of the conversation with Zoe.

Before I do that though, I want to let you know about some upcoming events in the Art School that I’m also so excited to share with all of you. So, I recently saw this hilarious meme on Instagram where someone had posted something to the effect of, “I am going to Christmas so hard this year.” And I was like, “Yes, me too. Me too. Me too.”

I’m going to holiday, I’m going to season so hard this year. And not that I am a raging partier, I have been known to dance on tables. I don’t need to party hard in order to be able to do that. I just need some good beats and I’m happy to get up there.

But what I mean by Christmas so hard or holiday so hard is really dialing up the intention this season and applying the creative process to really living the creative life, living a thriving life in this moment right now, in the midst of all world events here in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. Because I, like many of you likely, will not be able to spend these holidays with my extended family. And those are precious times for me.

And that is something that I do feel grief about and I so miss seeing my family. We’re very close, my siblings and parents and I, and I can’t go back to visit my children’s great grandparents. But my grandparents still live at home in Iowa and out in the country on the acreage, which is one of my favorite places in the world. And we won’t be able to travel to visit them. And they’re in their 90s.

So, that for sure is loss. And also then, I am going to be so intentional about the meaning and the magic that I do create and how I share that and how I spread that. And so, I wanted to, as part of that, that part of that, the meaning of the season, the spirit of the season, whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving, if you live in the US, or some sort of harvest ceremony in celebration, wherever you are, or whether it’s Hanukkah or whether it is the solstice or a celebration of light or Christmas or New Year’s Eve. And I’m sure I’m missing – I think there’s like 20 holidays, in the last article I saw, of many different religious and non-religious backgrounds that people will be celebrating.

So, this is an all-inclusive holiday and season that I am inviting you to. And in the spirit of that, I was going to share some Art School magic with all of you and invite you to a free upcoming workshop that I – what I’m going to be sharing is a three-part framework for making this the best season yet. Not to eclipse or outdo any other beautiful, meaningful, magical seasons in your life. But really just to help you be fully present and intentional and experience the magic of creating your own magic for yourself and others and how to spread that.

So, I’m excited to talk about this three-part framework with all of you because you can use it for this upcoming season. But really, you can apply it to creating an intentional, beautiful, rich, meaningful experience any season of your life, any day, any time. It’s just a beautiful way to think intentionally about living creatively and intentionally.

So, that will be November 20^th, Friday November 20^th at 12pm Eastern. It will be a 90-minute workshop, and again, free. All you need to do is be on my newsletter and we will send out all the information, everything you need to know.

So, to be on my newsletter, just go to www.leahcb.com and we’ll make sure that you receive the information with all of that. Also, I am micro-dosing on my own creative magic-making today because I was thinking recently, “Oh gosh, I really miss traveling. I really want to go somewhere and travel right now. I really want to get dressed up and go somewhere and travel right now.”

But we are not doing that. We are at home. So, this morning, I woke up and I’m like, “You know what? I’m going to make today, I’m going to imagine I’m waking up wherever I would be traveling and bring that kind of energy into today.”

So, I had an awesome workout, did the Peloton. Love the Peloton. We’ll talk about that another time. Great Peloton workout. I did my meditation, journaling, got my kids ready for school, had an awesome morning, then getting on the forum for the Art School. Seeing the amazing posts about celebrations and breakthroughs, I was like, “What the what? What were people doing when I was sleeping?”

There was this deluge of all of these breakthroughs and I know now, from having run this 12-week program a number of times, that so much can happen here at the end and when you stay with it. And it still does not make it any less amazing to witness is and to see the way that it manifests and expresses itself very uniquely and beautifully in people’s lives and how they take this work and run with it.

So, I would love to share all of that with you. And I realize it’s one thing for me to tell you about their breakthroughs, about their success, about their experience. It is entirely a different thing for you to experience it in their words. And I think too, for you to experience their energy and experience it in their voice.

So, the idea that has been actually gestating with me for a while, and this morning just made it clear I have to do this soon, is I want to feature so many more of my Art School students. Because really, it’s extraordinary, the people that are in this community and the way they take the work and then the brilliance and wisdom that they have to share with the group, how they are using this work to move the needle in their own lives, to shift careers, just shift ways of being to come into a more powerful and natural process for themselves, and a more peaceful and joyful experience of creating the results that they want. And then also knocking the results out of the park.

So, I’m excited about this project, to be able to share them with you coming up. And I also know that them sharing what have been their greatest breakthroughs and takeaways will land with you in a way that maybe there are things that you’ve heard me say before but I already know that you’re going to hear things from certain individuals here and it will move you and move the needle for you, help you move your life forward in really powerful ways.

Because the energy, the success in this community is so uplifting and it is so dang contagious. So, t’s the best kind of contagious and I want to spread more of that, especially now.

So, look forward to that because I know I am. And I am especially looking forward to it because events like these, like the free workshop, give me an opportunity to meet more and more of you. It’s really been fun to see, in these free events that I’ve done in the past, just new faces and new backgrounds and new stories and new energies. And that is a thrilling part of the process for me.

And thinking about you coming also helps my own creativity because I love thinking about, one, how can I make this fun for you and so worth the investment of your time? And two, how can I make this powerfully effective for you?

So, I have both of those things on tap. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be powerfully effective. And I think you, if you haven’t experienced this before, I know this is what I hear back from many of my Art Schoolers. One of their favorite parts of this program and this work that we do is when you do this intensely fun nurturing work, it creates massive results in all of your life.

When you reclaim this energy and reclaim trust in yourself and knowing how to care for yourself and your creative spirit and your mind, it pays off. Your mind and your creative spirit pay you back big time. Big time.

One of my masterminders who you will be able to meet on an upcoming podcast, she is a gifted young writer and you will be seeing her name, no doubt, for years to come. She was saying how she was really, it’s seeping in for her, sinking in how inter-related doing this work of healing and nurturing and caring for one’s self, how that has transformed her own creative process and really how it is one of the master keys to unlocking new levels of creativity and also abundance prosperity, cash, dollars in the bank and real results in your creative life.

So, excited to be able to share a slice of that work with you next Friday, November 20^th. I hope you will join us. And so, for now, without further ado, I will lead you back to the second part of my conversation with Zoe, Zohar Tirosh-Polk, who you met last week, in last week’s episode. So, be sure, if you haven’t listened to that yet, go back so you have the benefit of the full introduction to Zoe and her work and her just incredible brilliance and generous artist heart and spirit.

She is a much-beloved member of our community and has brought so much to the Art School, everyone in it and myself in these last several months that we have had the opportunity to work together. And so now, here is the second part of that conversation with Zohar Tirosh-Polk; screenwriter, playwright, creativity coach, peace activist, truly an artist in every sense of the word, an artist moving the world forward.

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Zohar: And it felt very clear that I had to reengage with this in some way. And so, it’s not quite when I wanted, how I wanted, and on my time. But there is a specific – I guess there is a real time for a piece of art. And you and I have also talked about this in relation to our favorite painter, one of our favorite painters Hilma af Klint, who created this whole body of work called Paintings for the Future.

And she was very clear that her paintings were not for the time when she was creating them, which was in the beginning of the 20^th century and that she was actually the one who started abstract work, not the men that came after her who were credited as the, I guess, the inventors of abstract. But she is the one who did that earlier on in the very beginning of the 19^th century.

And her paintings for the future ended up in the Guggenheim and she had envisioned a shrine that was circular and had four floors or five floors and she had envisioned the whole thing when I got to witness it at the Guggenheim.

Leah: And I know you and I were also talking about that we were both struck by her work and also the process and that in these times, you have places like the Guggenheim who are acknowledging the spiritual origins, and some might say woo-woo…

Zohar: Totally woo-woo…

Leah: And yet there it is in the Guggenheim.

Zohar: That she was meditating and séancing and getting commissioned by higher beings. And it’s like they’re on plaques at the Guggenheim saying, “She’s commissioned by higher beings,” and she’s created spiritual language and there it is, smack in the middle of mainstream New York City. I think that’s glorious. And it’s also an indication that, as backwards as things seem, at least to me, they seem absolutely crazy – sorry, I don’t want to cure but I do – bat shit crazy, there’s also an undercurrent of progress underneath it all which gives me hope today.

Leah: Yes, and you know, something else I just want to pull out and highlight this idea of – so, for you with Pieces, you put it away for eight years, and we were talking about Hilma af Klint, who didn’t even want her work to be shown until after her death. And then here it is 100 years later, not only – maybe even more relevant. And this idea of we’ve talked a lot about surrender in the Art School and how that is a very courageous, creative, and I want to say proactive approach. But that is – we just kind of have a poverty of language for what it means to surrender. And yet you’re also, like, very engaged.

And I think there’s, from these two examples – just these two examples but I see it – it seems like the art that wants to be made through you, through your life. Once it comes through and out, it does ripen on its own. It’s hard for us to think that we want to micromanage the process. But I feel like this is both where it can be very scary to be an artist, and then also where it’s very liberating. You’re serving what wants to come through you, but obviously Hilma’s not around anymore to be an advocate for her art. But something about it has been ripening all these years, or the times have been ripening. And you said you didn’t touch…

Zohar: Or maybe she is around. We don’t know.

Leah: True. If she is, I would like her to commission me for some works.

Zohar: Yes, your beautiful works, yeah.

Leah: So, with your eight years in a drawer, it’s interesting. Has something been just dating in you during that time or something, you know, the work developing on its own there, the world is developing?

Zohar: I feel like I have to be really honest and to say – because you know this part of me too, which is I am an impatient Israeli. Like, really impatient and, like, don’t talk to me about ripening. You know, is it on Broadway? Is it at the National? What’s going on? Let’s go, you know. And that has not been – that has been my experience, but it’s not been my experience that I was able to control the outcome of any particular play of mine or piece of writing in the way that I exactly wanted it.

And so, that can be a cause of endless frustration. But I think that I realized, largely also because of the Art School and our work together, that frustration is not the place I want to live in at all. And that there is no power in frustration and there is no joy in frustration more than anything.

Leah: Not a lot of cash there either.

Zohar: No. No cash. No joy. No magic. Nothing. And especially for me is not a behavior or a place I want to model for my kids at all. And so, starting to envision and making very, very different choices is something that we have done together. It’s the mastermind and our work together. And I think it’s been an ongoing journey in general as an artist. But I will say that surrender does not come easily to me and that my default is impatience. But this work of envisioning, of becoming, of committing even, like a deeper commitment.

It’s interesting, Leah, I was thinking about this this morning. I’m the one who served in the Israeli army but you’re the one who’s the real badass. You know what I mean? I’m like, just let me go to bed and not talk to anyone because it’s comfortable here. But this deeper, deeper fierce commitment to one’s self as an artist and to the work and to the community is what we’re learning and talking about and creating here in the Art School.

Leah: Yeah, and one of the things I love about working with artists and creatives, or people with – I mean, we all have imaginations. And so, I really think this creativity work, imaginative work is for everyone and that’s down the road. But you can be logically flexible. It’s embracing the paradox because you know, when I say surrender, I also mean you’re going to get the cash. And you’re going to be on Broadway again, Tonys and cash. It’s you having a process that is joyful, that is not in the lad of frustration.

Even just biologically we know frustration in your body, that means you’ve got high levels of cortisol. We know high levels of cortisol and accessing the creative centers of your brain, those two things just don’t go together. So, it’s embracing that it’s this paradox. I think it’s also the truth that surrendering to what wants to happen through you, and then also trusting that you were not given the gift that you’re given and the call and the passion you are to be frustrated. It’s not your destiny to be frustrated. Or as Hope said during one of our calls, Hope Dunbar, it’s not to make peace with defeat. Zohar did not come here to make peace with defeat.

Zohar: Make peace yes. Defeat, no.

Leah: Exactly. And the vision is peace. And I think too, you were saying, our external life, the external world often mirrors what’s going on with us. And I think it’s so beautiful that you have been diving in and exploring into what is a creative process for me that I don’t avoid things. Because we’ve talked about using resistance to enter flow. And using resistance to enter flow, another paradox but yet that seems true. And it also seems like that’s the path to peace. Like not being avoidant, but somehow expanding your capacity for all things…

Zohar: I think that’s huge right there because the formula used to be, or the equation was, “Well, I did this, this, and this. I’m not getting exactly what I want the way I wanted it. Then, therefore, I’m going to avoid.” And it’s easy to avoid.

And then, if we’re thinking of what you say so beautifully, cultivating a life, an emotional, spiritual, physical life that will allow me to get the results that I want or allow my dreams to become inevitable – forgive me if I’m misquoting it – then there is so much to do.

Two things that are essential for me, feel so – you had asked us what’s sacred and essential. I love that question so much. I ask my people too, what’s sacred and essential to you? And what is sacred and essential for me is, of course my family, but what’s sacred and essential is to be inspired and inspiring, and to help continue to inspire peace and coexistence in Israel and Palestine and all over the world. Those two things. And if those are the two things that are leading me, then there’s so much to do. Then it’s not about avoiding. It’s not about whether my spec script will be read by Amy Palladino. And I still hope they will read my Mrs. Maisel spec script, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino. And so, it’s not if they read it or not…

Leah: It’s when they read it. So, let’s set a clear intention because this has been powerful at other instances on this podcast. Everybody listening, Zoe has written – you tell them.

Zohar: Okay, I wrote a script for Mrs. Maisel called Milk and Honey. And it’s about Midge and Suzie and other characters traveling to Israel, of course. it’s super-fun and it’s supposed to be the fourth season. My beloved husband, Andy, is on the show and we were hoping to get it to them. It has not happened yet. And there’s all kinds of legal issues about whether they could read it or not. But we still wish that Amy and Dan would read my spec script and get to laugh and think deeply also about Israel, its beauty and its complexity. And I think the show will be a great vehicle for those questions and themes.

Leah: Yes, so collective intention here set, massive magic happening, and also because everybody that knows Zoe and her gifts and her heart in the Art School, we’re like, we want to watch that show. We selfishly want to watch that show. Please, make it. So, yeah…

Zohar: It is a lot of fun. There’s a lot of fun things going on in the spec.

Leah: Yes, well that makes sense because you are a lot of fun. So, I want to talk too about the work that you do with artists because I know you have another program coming up soon here.

Zohar: Yeah, very soon. I gave myself two things to do very soon. So, there’s no avoiding now. We’re doing the Pieces reading on November 16^th and actually on November 16^th, Breakthrough, my program is starting and it’s a program for artists who are really, really ready to break the mold, still in 2020 but also looking at 2021.

And we have amazing things coming and some beautiful Art School friends who are going to teach some guest workshops from Amanda Gibby Peters who taught the workshop at our Life School and it was, like, life-changing. And our own Erika – I don’t know if I know how to say Erika’s last name correctly. Do you?

Leah: Roesch.

Zohar: Yeah, Erika, we love you.

Leah: She’s on, I get to interview her coming up soon.

Zohar: Yes, so Erika is going to teach a workshop. And another dear friend of mine, Isabella, is going to teach. So, we have some great artists and great master teachers. And so, it’s starting November 16^th and you can go to Thrive Creative New York City on Facebook, or send me an email at ztp@me.com.

Leah: Yes, because this is the time, like, a transition period this year has been. There are definitely changes happening, no matter what. And as we say so much in the Art School, you’re going to create results. It’s just one way you can be intentional about it and step into your creative power, which is the non-avoidant route. That’s embracing your Creativity, with a capital C. Or if you don’t do that, you’re still going to create results. But I think, with a year like this, there’s so much potential for breakthrough. It’s not the time to put what is sacred and essential to you on hold. I think this is a time – I mean, this is the year of essentialism.

We really all were, most of us, mandated to look at what is essential. And I think too, that is the deeper, the higher invitation, what is sacred and essential. So, absolutely, I think it’s an opportunity to harness, to ride the energy of the time and step into your creative power. And if there was ever a year for breakthroughs, it’s this one. And you are such an amazing creative and artist and coach yourself, so I cannot wait for these women – is it women or is it open to?

Zohar: It’s an ongoing question. I think the easy answer is women and the other part of it is that it’s probably going to be a female or a feminine space. And we invite anyone who is wanting to be in that space with us. Because god knows we’ve been in male spaces for a long time. So, whoever wants to join us is really invited and will be welcomed with open arms.

I wanted to say, it’s also what I’ve learned from you and from the Art School is the boost. A friend of mine asked me this week, she said, “I read your breakthrough email and I asked myself, how does she have the good energy? How does she have the optimism? How does she have the joy to create an email like this?”

And I said – she’s a dear friend and she has children and she’s working for the DOE in New York. She’s working hard day and night. And I said, because I get to be in those spaces that nourish me. I get to be in community that is nourishing. I get to be guided, inspired, and sort of have my cup filled, so then I can give. And I think for so long I tried, and so many of us tried to give, especially us moms, tried to give from a place where we are not nourished, things don’t feel prosperous and we don’t feel met.

And so, to have that extreme opposite experience of being so nourished by you and by our gorgeous community and then to be able to take that work and offer it to others, I have no words.

Leah: It is like – a ripple is too smaller word, I think, for when you do care for yourself and meet yourself with the deepest dignity and decide to make a commitment, “I will care for this.” As Mary Oliver says, my one wild and precious life, that is a very generative and generous place to live. And you can feel the wellspring, once you tend to it and uncovering it and finding where you’re most able to access it.

Would you mind speaking about – because again, I feel like we’ve known each other for a lot longer than a year. But would you mind speaking about what your experience this last year in the Art School has been? Because I still clearly remember our first conversation at the beginning of the year, that vision you shared with me. And I can feel it and see it so strongly. And then it’s just been such a gift to have you in this community this year.

Zohar: I think I said all of that, which is I called you when we first spoke, I was in a very stuck place. Stuck because the things I thought should happen in the way I wanted them to happen weren’t happening in that way. And also, I’ve learned from you, I discounted. And I have come to understand that word is so powerful. But I’ve discounted all of the work, the success, the friendships, the relationships, the depths that I have garnered, that I have achieved and worked on for decades really before because things, at that moment, weren’t looking – and this is not just at the moment. It was a while – weren’t looking the way I wanted them to look at that moment.

And I remember, like, being – this is very honest and very vulnerable – being on my bathroom floor praying for movement and change. And we got to speak and that’s the first thing you said to me. We weren’t even working together. But you said, “We discount ourselves. We discount our achievements, the gold we have mined. We don’t actually experience the gold that we have mined and all of what we have done.”

From having children and raising beautiful children, from all the work I’ve done, from the joys. And I started a process of going back there and really finding those diamonds and that gold. That was the first thing that happened.

And then I got to do the immersion and I got to be in community. I got to be inspired by so many people I love now. I feel like they’re my family really. But on a daily basis and really, Leah, be met by you, who I do feel like we’re kindred spirits and we felt that early on.

I thought I had this crazy idea of wanting to have a creative community, that that was me isolated in my Brooklyn apartment, and that was me isolated writing my plays about peace in the world and opening up to community, to possibility, to dreaming, to asking – I think you have a podcast called Asking the Real Questions or something like that. But asking one’s self the important questions about our lives, about what’s sacred, about what’s essential has all been completely life-changing, completely transformational and transformative and a joy; a joy that from which I can give to my kids.

So, one of the things we’ve talked about routines, which as an artist, I hate, I want to throw out the window. And we’ve talked about routine and flow. But one of the things I’ve realized through talking, all of us, is that I wanted to dip my toe in a creative process every week. And so, my kids and I have studio every week and we draw and paint and make things together.

And it doesn’t matter if it’s good or not, but we get to dip our toes, we get to do that every week together and it’s been such a joy. And I get to not wait to be her now. Some days, it’s harder than others.

Leah: But she has hard days too, right?

Zohar: Right, she does have hard days too. And there’s more to do around being her now. But that, again, those powerful, powerful prompts and leads and questions get me away from frustration land, from my bathroom floor, which I never want to go back there.

And sometimes I do. I go back there a little bit and everyone is like, “No… You’re doing it…” And I’m like, “But, but…” and they’re like, “No but.” So, on the whole – of course, there are days, but on the whole – it has been so empowered and joyful. And I think joyful feels so important today and in general, like joyful journey, and one that has dividends on so many levels, including giving it to others, which feels so essential to me.

Leah: Yeah, essential, I think it’s just who you are, again, you’re such a generous artist and woman and coach. And you also crack me up because for someone who says she doesn’t like routines. And I think we had a conversation about being gun-shy about goals at one point. Because, “I don’t want to experience the frustration of not doing it or not following through.”

And yet, this is the woman then who, in the immersion in four weeks, was like, “I wrote more in four weeks than I have in…” And also, at the beginning of the summer, the summer workshop series, you made a list of what you were going to do that summer. Like, that’s awesome for someone who doesn’t like to do that. And then, at the end of the summer, you sent me said list completed with all these amazing things.

Zohar: Right, and a client of mine who’s had a list and completed her list, we did it all together, which was amazing. And to come up with a list that felt so out of reach, including having a good summer with my family, I never thought we could have a good summer this past summer. And to really, you know, know that that’s – learning together in the Art School that it was always about, I have to give my kids a good summer. The sort of victim part of, like, I have to do this for them. And can we all have a joyful, nourished, happy summer? And we did and it was glorious. It was so wonderful. And I got to write and I got to do a program which was so fun. And again, the support and being witnessed by all of you made it all possible.

Leah: Yes, because you had the amazing summer with your family during a pandemic. And you wrote, you were working like on point working on the Mrs. Maisel script. And you offered, delivered, ran a very successful, beautiful coaching program for 13 women…

Zohar: Yes, 13 incredible artists we had. It was a thrill of a lifetime.

Leah: During a pandemic.

Zohar: Yes, it was really fun.

Leah: Pretty awesome for a woman that was like, “I don’t want to…”

Zohar: I don’t want to do anything. I want to be in my bed.

Leah: Yeah, we’re going to call that party’s bluff, right?

Zohar: Sometimes it’s not easy being called your bluff. I’m going to say this right now. In the Art School, they call your bluff in the Art School Mastermind. We call each other’s bluffs.

Leah: Yeah, when you’re playing small, or, like, bluff called when you’re like, “I don’t know…” bluff called. Everybody can feel it in the moment, we’ve come to say, when you flee your luminosity, when you step out of your authentic self. Everybody can feel it in an instant and is on it and is not going to tolerate that, in a very adoringly aggressive way.

Zohar: Which I love to do the others as well.

Leah: You deliver it well too. Well, I could talk to you for hours so I know we’ll have to do this again. And fortunately I do get to talk to you again today soon. I’ll join everybody else in the Art School.

Zohar: Many times over, yes.

Leah: It will be good for today. But thank you so much for joining me today, Zoe. I know there will be many gems for listeners and I just look forward to watching you continue to change others’ lives within Art School and also beyond. And also, part of the reason everyone is so adoringly aggressive of Zoe is because we have selfish interests in watching her Mrs. Maisel script and then seeing her own premiers when the world opens back up again, you know, everyone’s already planning their travel plans too have front row seats as the curtain rises for you.

Zohar: Amen, and we’ll have a big party in New York City, all of us.

Leah: We will, and it will be magic because the process has been magic and the people are magic.

Zohar: Yes, because of magical you.

Leah: Thank you. Well, have a beautiful day and I’ll see you in 10 minutes.

Zohar: Okay, bye.

Leah: Bye, Zoe.

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So, this brings me to the part of the podcast where I want you to do more than just listen. I want you to lean in and really work with me, coach with me. Rather than sitting back and consuming the information and enjoying it, which I also hope you do, what I really want for you is that you move the needle in your life in meaningful significant even profound ways.

And the way to do that is to think deeply about what you have heard here and to think, “How does this apply to my life? How am I going to apply this to my life? What am I going to do with what I have learned today, with how I’ve been inspired and empowered, to shift and change so that today and for evermore I am aligned with the greatest vision for my life and my creative work?”

So, what I want to offer you today is this. You heard Zoe and I talk about making peace and not defeat, right? The difference between making peace with defeat versus making peace but also completely surrendering to that which wants to happen through you, which I say is also your greatest vision and your greatest dream for your life.

So, let me say that again; making peace with the greatest vision, the most expansive vision for your life and surrendering to that. Not fighting against it. So, what does that mean for you? What needs to happen in order for you to surrender completely to that great vision for your work and for your life?

You heard us talk to about the theme of avoidance. So, if you are not sure where to begin, think to what in your life you are currently avoiding. It could be just rearranging the furniture. There’s no wrong place to start. And I think often the psyche kind of works in this back door, non-linear way. Also, look at other places to rearrange your life so that your priorities, your values, what’s on your calendar and on your day to day, even though it might seem small, those small steps are building a vision that maybe is three or five or 10 years out.

But begin to associate who you are being now, the way of being that you are cultivating, not one that constantly fights with his or herself about whether or not this is going to happen or whether we’re good enough. Surrender to what wants to happen. Give up any of the allegiance to the fears, to the doubts. Go all in and commit to that vision and then begin to line up your day to day. What does it mean for you to not make peace with defeat, but to shift into a place where you are making peace, not accepting defeat, and surrendering to the greatest dream for your life?

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Art School Podcast. If you love this podcast – and I love you out there listening. I really do. And the more of you that I get to know, the more I fall in love with doing this podcast and this listening audience and this entire community and movement.

So, if you’re feeling that, feeling that love here, I have an ask for you this holiday season too. Would you please share this podcast, help me spread this message and spread this work? You can do that the old-fashioned way, telling friends and families, colleagues, and allies. You can share, you can subscribe. And as always, I am so grateful whenever you tale the time to write to us and leave a review on iTunes.

Also, when you’re ready to take this work more deeply, I would love to have you join us in the Art School community. We are, right now, enrolling for the winter-spring session 2021. And there are many benefits. Although that session, that 12-week session doesn’t kick off until March, there are so many amazing compelling reasons to join now.

Not only do I have early bird tier pricing. But even more than that is that the transformation begins from the moment you say yes. And I have heard this from client after client after client, that for them, making this decision to go all in for themselves and to surround themselves with this extraordinary kind of creative ecosystem, to surround themselves with community.

And also a support from a master coach who is dedicated to unleashing their creative genius and supporting them in the fulfilment of their greatest creative dreams, that just making that decision to join that kind of ecosystem and enlist that kind of support, that the world shifts in that moment, that that is a life-changing moment and once that bell has been rung, something in you settles and you know on a completely different level that you’re changed; on a cellular level, something in you knows, “Now he’s serious. Now she’s serious. Now she is really doing this.” And things start to shift in your outer world as well.

So, that’s only one reason to join now. Other reasons are I offer amazing support and opportunities for this community in that bridge space between the full Art Schools. And it’s been something that I’ve heard from many people, it’s invaluable. They love to continue to be in the energy, in the spirit, in the momentum of the community and in the work.
Also, I wanted to share with you a bit of my vision for three years out. It’s been my vision all along that the Art School, and now the Art School Mastermind is this incubator for creative genius, for unleashing creative genius.

It’s also absolutely part of my vision to build not just an idea, a concept of thriving artists and the thriving artist paradigm, but to actually build it by changing people’s lives so that they are an example that this is happening.

And so, a specific part of my own long-term vision is that there is a string of shining individual creative careers that issue in the wake of the Art School and the Art School Mastermind. So, I know we will have Emmy winners. I know that we will have Grammy, Oscar, Tony winners. I know already, books are being written, awards are being won, income ceilings are being broken through.

And a specific part of my vision going forward is that by the year 2024, I want there to be at least 100 Art School alum who have said, because of this work, we are now consistently in the six-figure or multiple-six-figure category.

I also want to have taken individuals into the seven-figure category, and again, have not only the career accolades to show for that. And respect all of that too and those achievements. But also to have done it in a way where people feel tis renewed sense of trust in themselves and a deeper sense of strength that they can in fact create whatever they want and they’re not going to have to sacrifice other values in their life, such as their health or their mental health or their financial health and wealth or relationships or spiritual wellbeing in the process.

But instead, this truly is about what is that extraordinary way of being in mind, body, and spirit that I need to cultivate and that if I practice being in that state while also keeping my eye on that prize, because that too is your psyche, your mind, your genius, your wisdom telling you how this process, how your journey will unfold and who to be in the becoming and the achieving of it, but the aspect of becoming; becoming the fullest expression of your creative self and enjoying who you are, liking who you are, liking what you do, loving who you are, loving what you do and loving the process.

That, for me, that’s the real prize. To create the result, yes, and to do so in such a way that is deeply life-affirming and it leaves people so incredibly astounded at what they have been able to do and create with their life and their time here on this planet.

So, if any of that is calling to you in this year, or the coming years, let us know. You can send an email to support@leahcb.com and let us know what questions you have. If you think you are interested in the Art School, the 12-week program, or taking it even deeper and into a more intensive coaching experience with the 6-month Art School Mastermind, we’ll have upcoming episodes where I share with you what some of the distinctions of that process are.

Also, I think you’ll enjoy hearing from other At Schoolers and better understand what both experiences are like and which might be the best fit or calling you. And in the meantime though, please feel free to email us, support@leahcb.com. Be sure to share, if you would, what your greatest creative goals and dreams are. And as always, ask any questions and we will take excellent care of you.

Okay, before I close today’s episode, I’m going to call for hands. We’re going to pretend I can see you. Who else other than everyone in the Art School community, because we’ve already raised our hands, would love, love, love to see Zoe’s script, Milk and Honey as a Mrs. Maisel episode? So, I see you all out there. Let’s join in our collective intention, and done and done and done. Celebrating it already.

And so, something else Zoe said, which I included as the intro to today’s podcast, that I love so much is that refrain of then there is so much to do. If we focus on what’s sacred and essential to us with our work and stop making peace with defeat, surrender to that dream of ours, then there is always so much for us to do. And to honor that it is a practice, whatever it is that we’re creating, whoever it is that we are becoming is a practice.

And as another creative genius Kurt Vonnegut said, “To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.” So, make your soul grow, everyone. Practice your art, practice who you are becoming and keep your heart fixed on that vision that you are creating. Have a beautiful week, everyone. Thank you for listening in and I will talk to you next time.