Ep #109: (Part 2) The Beauty of the Unexpected with Betsy Pearson

Betsy: But I also think that the nervous system needs to sometimes be invigorated when we feel sluggish. So, you know, in the old days, they sold things called tonics. And that’s what it was. It balances you out, allegedly. Like, if you need to be up. It ups you. If you need to be calmed down, it calms you down. And so, I’m always looking for things that are a tonic to the nervous system, so they do both depending on what you need.

And I think having a surprise practice is one of the easiest ways to do both because on one hand the world’s changing really quickly; more quickly every year as we get more people and more technology on the planet. And that, to our caveman brains, can be extremely unsettling. So, we need to calm down and have a good relationship with uncertainty and change.

So, if instead of being like, “Oh my god, what’s going to happen next?” You’re like, “Oh my god, what’s going to happen next?” Like, you wake up in the morning and you know, “I wonder what I’m going to write down in my surprise journal tonight that surprised me.” Then you’re inviting change. So, it just changes your relationship in many, many ways with change and with the unknown. So, it kind of calms you down.

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That was a clip from part two of my conversation with Betsy Pearson. If you haven’t listened to the first part of that conversation, you’ll want to head back to last week’s episode and catch up on the brilliance and the beauty and the central nervous system calming goodness that is Betsy Pearson. And then come back and listen to today’s episode because I do think you’ll find this conversation to be a delightful tonic for your heart and soul.

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.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Art School Podcast. I sincerely hope this finds you well. I’m recording this now the week after Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here. A non-traditional one. We weren’t gathering with people. Wonderful and then also, as this year has been, all the things.

And I say wonderful because, at the end of the day, I know we have, I have, so much to be grateful for. And I get to do this work. I get to spend this time with you here. We are in this beautiful home. my family is safe and well. And I choose to come back to gratitude.

And that being said, there are hard things too. There are hard things going on in the world and in individuals’ lives. And as I mentioned last week, that’s one of the reasons I am so grateful for this work. Because I have this sense, this deep felt – not sense, but just knowing of my own strength and resilience and a knowing of my ability to follow through on and create whatever I set my heart and mind upon.

And I did not always feel this way. I felt very far from this and very brittle and fragile, even with a lot of great things going on in my life and a lot of what looked like success on the outside. So, it’s just a good reminder for me when things get hard, that while I am definitely grateful for and proud of all of the things I’ve created and the progress I’ve made and what I have built and what I have achieved, I am most deeply grateful for that I feel it from deep in the inside out.

And that is something that I wanted to share again because it’s not something I always had and it’s not something that, at a certain time, I felt was available to me. So, I wanted to share because if you are not feeling that, know that you can get there.

I know certain words along the way were life-changers for me, just learning about the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset, learning about neuroplasticity, as well as leaning into the spiritual, the creative and intuitive aspects of this work and journey for me were very nourishing. I loved the science, and then also I found the work of – like Joseph Campbell’s in The Hero’s Journey, you know, poetry, mythology, the way that artists and visionaries and spiritual teachers think and communicate the work of a soul’s journey and creativity and evolution in the world were also life-changing for me.

I remember hearing a phrase Joseph Campbell say. I think I was like 13 when I heard this, that the point of the hero’s journey is a transformation of consciousness. And I don’t know why or how that stuck with me, though I do suspect it had something to do with the fact that a part of me knew how much strength I would gain from that single sentence various times in my life, much later in my life.

And so, it is this weaving together of science along with the wisdom of the spiritual, the creative, the mystical, the intuitive that I so love and that I find to be a tonic, which is one of the reasons I love conversations with Betsy. Because she is an embodiment of the intersection of those energies and everything she offers from her writings, her books, her coaching, she also taught the masterclass, the dream analysis masterclass for the Art School, which was a tremendous hit and people are still talking about how powerful and transformational that particular dose of Betsy brilliance was.

So, I’m excited to be able to share part two of this conversation with Betsy with you here today. And I also wanted to back up a little bit. I realized I didn’t share this on last week’s episode. But I realized this other level of synchronicity as I relistened to this episode, preparing it to be submitted today.

In part two of the conversation, you’ll hear Betsy talking about balancing this energy of taking things seriously, with also bringing a light touch, creating within yourself a capacity vast enough to hold space for that magical paradox, which is a tonic, and I think secret of alchemists in and of itself, combining taking it seriously with the ability to bring a light touch.

And I realized that when I met Betsy, I was really venturing into that land in a new way for myself. And that has been 10 years ago. I was saying yes to me, taking seriously my desire to create art. I was painting at the time, but I hadn’t really found my style yet. I was seeking. I was writing. I also hadn’t found my style.

I was tip-toeing into coaching and also really wrestling with leaving behind this traditional identity of achievement of being a lawyer, something people recognized. And then coming to terms with the truth of who I am and just beginning to let myself entertain, in a new serious level, the idea that I could be successful; as successful as a Creative, capital C, as an artist, as a coach as I could be as a lawyer. And successful in all ways, from the inside out, so financially and also having it be fulfilling, meaningful work that changed other people’s lives and is meaningful for other people.

And it was at that retreat that one of the exercises we did, the retreat where I met Betsy, which was called the Writer’s Dream Retreat, which was hosted by Martha Beck, we did a vision board. And I still have that vision board. And one of the things I cut out that weekend and I didn’t quite understand it the way I do now is I cut out these words, “The hottest MFA.”

Because I knew, part of what I was searching for was this program of essentially self-actualization, coming into the fullest potential, the fullest creative expression possible for me. And I also wanted to make money and be able to pay my bills and I also wanted to be a healthy, happy, highly functioning member of society in the process. And I wanted to make art that I loved and art that other people loved and was meaningful.

And I had looked around in traditional education environments for where that might be offered and didn’t find it. I also wanted to find – what I also didn’t find – was a place that would say, “Yes 100%, come here. We will show you not only how to make that which is within you, bring out that which is within you and into the world. But we are going to show you how to be successful at it, how to monetize it, how to create money, to create all aspects of the dream, the creative dream, the creative work that satisfies your artistic inclinations and then also the financial aspect of the dream.”

Nowhere – this probably doesn’t surprise you – would promise those 100% results. And I found that frustrating because I think, on a certain level, we demand that – we have that sort of expectation for ourselves in other areas. You demand that of your doctors, of your heart surgeons, of your neuroscientists. We demand it of school children. It’s just kind of baseline expectation now. It doesn’t happen all the time. That you graduate from eighth grade, you graduate from high school now. That’s more in recent generations.

My husband, for instance, has grandparents that were done with school in eighth grade. They weren’t required to go to high school. They didn’t finish high school and my husband has 13 years’ post-high school education. He has an undergraduate degree, a master’s degree, and a Ph.D. And the thing is, he’s kind of nonplussed by it. He’s also very grateful and grateful for his opportunities and grateful for that education and has a deep respect for it. And also, he doesn’t think that he has done anything impossible.

And so, that brings me back to this hottest MFA idea that I put on my vision board. Like, why don’t we have this expectation that if an adult human being has something within them that they want to bring out into the world, some form of creative expression, a dream, a vision, why can’t we find a way that we are both nonplussed by that and also very fortunate and grateful that we can walk the human being through that process of self-actualization, that we can combine the best of what we have available to us from science along with wisdom, traditions, in order to bring out the gifts that are within people so that they can achieve their greatest potential.

That’s what I see now, I meant when I plunked down that hottest MFA and come full circle. I’ve known Betsy since that time, and she has been very much an important part of my journey. There likely would not be an Art School if not for the way that Betsy saw me that weekend and held a space to recognize my dreams.

And so, this is a very profound full-circle moment for me to then have her be a beloved member, and as I’ve said, a pillar of our Art School community and this mastermind and to witness her creativity the beautiful way that she is flooding her banks and seeing the way that her work, the way it touches and changes the lives of anyone that it comes into contact with.

I just think, “What life am I getting to live? What life am I getting to live?” And it comes back to this decision that I made to take myself seriously, going to that retreat, a writer’s retreat when I didn’t think I could call myself a writer, but something within me really wanted that to be honored, that was me taking myself seriously and then also learning to bring a light touch.

The Art School, to me, is that now manifestation of that little bit of a vision I had way back then of the hottest MFA. It’s the hottest MFA, plus the hottest MBA, plus all the Olympic-caliber coaching all wrapped into one. It is my dream and not surprisingly, one of the most delightful nourishing tremendous gifts of this dream have been the people that I have met along the way.

And so, again, I wanted to share that bit of a backstory just in case you are standing on the brink of taking yourself seriously. I just want to be that breath of air that pushes you over so that you can find your wings and you can soar, and you can have this profound, amazing journey along the way and meet all of these dear best friends that you don’t even know are waiting for you out there. It is such a delicious and incredible, magnificent part of the journey.

Not to mention that I want you to take yourself seriously so that you open yourself up and you put yourself in the way of these breakthroughs in your life, breakthroughs in your work of art, in your income, putting yourself in the way where you come aligned with opportunities and teachers and experiences and lessons that help you unleash your inner genius and the beauty that flows from that for your own life, and then also for the lives of anyone that you touch.

So, before we had into the episode with Betsy here where she’s beginning to talk about all these creative works she had been working on and what helped her then complete them and move on, I also wanted to introduce you to another of Betsy’s creative works, which is Sunwarmed Sage Press. And that’s her publishing house. I’ll read to you what is written on their about page. It’s lovely and so inspiring.

“A Wyoming publishing house. You know that particular aroma a giant sage brush releases when the sun comes out after a sudden rain shower or a cool night? Somehow, it plunges you into mystery, deep belonging, safety, adventure, and affection for the world as well as your own solid self all at once. It balances your nervous system. Sunwarmed Sage Press aims to contribute a bit of that same thing to the world in each of our projects. Because the more we humans live in thrive mode, the better we are to ourselves, one another, and our wonderous planet.”

And now, here’s the second part of my conversation with author, coach, painter, scientist, mother, wife, all around renaissance woman Betsy Pearson.

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Betsy: So, all of that was in me. And it just was never being finished and reaching that point where I loved it. I was trying to be easy on myself and just think – that’s just not who I am. I like to tinker around with things. But I just didn’t know why. I felt bad about it, like, why don’t I actually finish these creative projects to the degree I’d like? And then honestly, your podcast really lit me up. And then I wanted to work with you because of the podcast. I really made so much progress just with the coach with me things. So, then I’m like, “I’m going to work with Leah.”

And then you’re like, “Actually the only way to work with me right now is this group. And I was not, as you know, excited because I’m a lone wolf out here in the west, on the prairie, in the mountains. But I really wanted whatever you were dishing out, right? I’ll have what she’s having. So, I did it. Well, all of that is that same thing we’re talking about. Your self just kind of guides you if you let it.

And sometimes, you just get too exhausted trying. I didn’t really have the strength to not do it at that point. But somehow, then I got guided into being part of this group, which was the last thing I thought would ever be helpful to me. And I still don’t completely understand why it is, but I can’t ignore, it is just literally when I’m in the Art School, I make work I love and finish it in a way that seems like I’m not even doing anything. And pop, there it is. Pop, there it is, over and over.

So, again, those tormented artist guys, they usually are trying to do the lone wolf thing. Occasionally not. Sometimes, they have a group of tormented ones that get together and be tormented together. But whatever, anyway, for me that’s how it is. Just like you said, you kind of find yourself steered into something.

Leah: Because the thing, you have been an incredibly prolific creative. And then also not forcing, which I think sometimes, when people first hear, “She’s letting things come together,” the proof is in the pudding because you’ve created process that works. And also, you came – you had put in your years too. You are a scientist, that methodology of push through and rigor and…

Betsy: That’s the thing, it’s very hard to describe. Actually, it’s not. It’s flow state. That’s what it is because – and it’s described in that book Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. But like, it’s not not doing anything. It’s doing a ton of stuff. Tons and tons of stuff. Like, the number of hours I have in this Dao book, I mean, it would be fearsome to add them up. I mean, 10-hour days for two years. I mean, not every day, but some days more than that and some days – I mean, many, many, many, many minutes of just doing what looks to some people to be tedious. But I don’t consider it tedious.

And part of that is my training. Like, when I used to do river restoration – I maybe do one every couple years now. But when you are going to restore a river to its natural state, the first thing you have to do is just measure the crap out of it to see what it is and what it wants to be. And new-fangled surveying with satellite imagery doesn’t actually work well because of the way the trees are. It just doesn’t work. So you pull out a relatively old-fashioned laser level and rod and you have to just walk up and down this river and across and back and forth and you put it – it’s very, very, very physical and very, very – just a lot of walk, take a step, take a shot.

And it’s cool because by the time you’ve done that and gone up and down the river and across, back and forth, you know that river in your body and in your mind unconsciously. And then also, you have the data. But I think it’s fun. I mean, you’re standing in a river.

And granted, it’s like living on a farm. Sometimes it’s a blizzard. I remember being in this one river, waist-deep. It had frozen and thawed so chunks of ice are floating past, it’s blizzarding. But we had to finish before it froze up. But still, it’s fun to be out in that. But still, you have to develop some perseverance.

And I remember one time, when I first started my own river work, my own company, I needed somebody to just write down numbers for me. I would call them up. I just needed somebody to just write them down for me. So, I took my mom out as my field assistant. And so, we had so much fun.

But we’re going along, she’s like, “How can you stand this work? It’s so tedious.” And I was like – and then one time I took my husband out because it was a little more rigorous that one. He had to walk next to me, and it was more rigorous. And he said the same thing. And I was literally flabbergasted. I would do that – I did do that – all day long, day in… and I still love it, right?

And it’s the same thing with writing, with translating, with painting. It is tedious. I’m not going to lie. But it does not feel tedious to me. And it’s because somehow, I know how to get into a flow state with it or it puts me into a flow state. I don’t know. So, yeah, they pop out magically and I haven’t been stressed. But it’s not like – somebody looking at me might think I was working really hard.

Leah: And something else that you said that I wanted to circle back to was about how exhausting it is to not follow through. We think, “Oh my gosh, this is tedious, exhausting to do.” But you know, after a while, you get sick of that because you know how much energy it takes to resist something…

Betsy: Yeah, and if it’s an idea that won’t go away or like a puppy or a baby, you’re going to have to do this anyway. But it’s sort of the same thing with these creative projects. You’re right. And that’s when you get tormented and just miserable and bitter and just all of it. And it’s much easier, just whatever.

And there was that saying for a while in the 80s, let your freak flag fly. And I think we talked about that once. I don’t want to say it’s freaky, but whatever it is that you feel like literally called to do, just do it because – one of my teachers says, “Cave early, cave often.” And that’s what she means. You want to do it, whatever, and people want the darndest things, right? I have a friend that wants to be a weaver. And she’s like, “Everybody wants to be a weaver.” And I’m like, “No. Just do what you want. And then it’s much easier than trying to not do it. That’s for sure.”

Leah: Yeah, it’s exhausting to try to outrun something that is just inside you. After a while, you’re like, “Wait, this actually doesn’t work.” And so, your cave early, cave often from your teacher, I mean, we could spend a whole entire other episode talking about surrender, but I feel that’s surrendering to what you’re built for and honoring that and allowing that.

Betsy: Which also means surrendering to what you are not. In other words, cave early cave often can also be like – or surrender – can also be like if you’re doing something and it’s not good for you to be doing it, whether it’s going to a party or staying home too much, whatever it is, just say no also can fit under that, but also just say yes to it. It goes both ways.

Leah: It reminds me of conversations we’ve had in the Art School about you start doing this work and your intolerance for untruths in your life goes down dramatically. Which might sound terrifying, but it actually works in your favor. Once you can be, “Actually, I’ve been tolerating this untruth, I’ve been saying yes when I mean no, I’ve been saying no when I’ve been longing to say yes,” it is very much about – and then knowing that it can be very fun and very enjoyable and life-affirming to set yourself up. You’re allowed to set yourself up in a way where life works for you and it’s okay to do that. You don’t have to – like Mary Oliver says in a poem, you don’t have to walk across the desert 100 miles on your knees.

Like, how can you set yourself up to succeed if we’re going to say, “Here’s this creative dream I have. Here’s this life I want to live. How can I make this inevitable?” and then cave in, give that to yourself?

Betsy: It’s so fun. But if our identity has been that we have to crawl on our knees across the desert, it is actually an existential crisis to not – and that could sound melodramatic or it could sound misleadingly cliché. But it’s extremely unnerving to have an actual existential crisis because it feels like the bottom has dropped out and you could fill in all the blanks for how it’s going to feel. Maybe it’s going to feel selfish. Maybe it’s going to feel, again, you might feel like an outlier or this or that.

But it’s like a quantum leap. And I mean that in the literal sense. There are levels of energy. And atoms have to have a certain amount of energy before they go up to the next orbit that’s not gradual, it’s not like – it’s very hard, I think, that existential shift. But then boom, it’s not. It’s just that one little extra energy you need to get to somehow do it, and then it’s so pleasant.

Leah: We talk a lot too about having a flexible agile mind and using your imagination and ability to embrace the paradox because I know you and I have talked about how sometimes a light touch is a lifesaver, even when you’re taking your work seriously and yet to also apply a light touch to yourself and others, and the work is so lifegiving to you and others in your work.

And then there are times then too when – I know quotes or teachings that are – I think it’s from the Book of Thomas, “If you bring out that which is within you, it will save you. If you do not, it will destroy you.” And teachers who have said a similar thing…

Betsy: Yes, and that’s the paradox, like that’s the other thing about taking yourself seriously. It involves that light touch. That’s the paradox, yeah. And absolutely, like you said, if you don’t let it out, it will destroy you. And gender-wise, I think that was something we saw happening – well, I’m starting to take that back even as I say it. I started to say gender-wise you see that. I’ve heard you talk on your podcast about your grandmother is artistic, dreams and talents and gifts. It was very difficult even just one to two generations ago for women to do that.

And I think it really harmed them. But at the same time, as soon as I said that I also see the same thing for men because they were expected to just succeed in this one way, very no-nonsense. And a lot of men also, everybody, when people don’t let their dreams come out, it harms them, then they become less pleasant and it’s just not good for the world. So, that’s what I tell myself and that’s what I tell my clients and my friends, and my family is, like, it is the most unselfish thing you can do, truly for the world.

Leah: And I think that’s something that you – you can feel it through your Stairway of Surprise Daybook because maybe in closing you can share – I mean, it’s a book I love for the beauty and I think it does encapsulate this, what we’re talking about, about bringing levity, but also a seriousness in terms of the sacred things in life; the delightful, the surprising. And I know that it’s very much a part of your work and just who you are, to nurture people via teaching them or communicating the message that coming into a space where your central nervous system is calm, and from that place you can create and heal. Maybe you can share a little bit about that philosophy.

Betsy: Yeah, I mean, I do think that’s what’s sort of amazing about this little book is that it is so light. It is just a light little nugget of delightfulness, right? And at the same time, you don’t get more cosmic than it is and more meaty in terms of its effect on people. And it does calm the nervous system, which like you said, is one of my goals in every work I do, is to calm my own self and calm anybody, have my work have that effect on people, because then I think our world is just a lot better.

But I also think that the nervous system needs to sometimes be invigorated when we feel sluggish. So, you know, in the old days, they sold things called tonics. And that’s what it was. It balances you out, allegedly. Like, if you need to be up. It ups you. If you need to be calmed down, it calms you down. And so, I’m always looking for things that are a tonic to the nervous system, so they do both depending on what you need.

And I think having a surprise practice is one of the easiest ways to do both because on one hand the world’s changing really quickly; more quickly every year as we get more people and more technology on the planet. And that, to our caveman brains, can be extremely unsettling. So, we need to calm down and have a good relationship with uncertainty and change.

So, if instead of being like, “Oh my god, what’s going to happen next?” You’re like, “Oh my god, what’s going to happen next?” Like, you wake up in the morning and you know, “I wonder what I’m going to write down in my surprise journal tonight that surprised me?” then you’re inviting change. So, it just changes your relationship in many, many ways with change and with the unknown. So, it kind of calms you down.

At the same time, the reason I first wrote this was because a friend of mine who was a therapist – she’s since passed on. She told me that her – and I’m not advocating this, this is just what she did. It feels dangerous. But with her extremely difficult to reach, depressed clients, she would say to them, “Let’s just pause and talk again,” and it would be in a day or a week or a month or a year or whatever, “And I want you to just tell me what’s different.”

And she said, because when somebody’s really depressed, the thing that is upsetting to them is that they think it will always be that way. There’s no hope because it’s just, like – maybe they think, I’m just this way or the world’s just this way or that person’s just this way or this job is just that way.

And if she’s like, what was different? Then they’re looking for what’s different because they have this assignment. And then you notice that nothing is rigid. Nothing is hopeless. It will – you don’t know what is possible. Infinite potential.

And so, she used that practice to pull people up. So, that’s what I also think, that if a person is feeling like that, kind of stuck, this practice is so exciting because you’re like – and then you’re on alert all day long for something cool that you’re going to write in your surprise journal.

And I especially like the idea of people – and people have been writing to me that they’re doing this – doing it as a couple or doing it as a family or doing it in a classroom like with kids. One of my quotes in here – I think it just said, “And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street.” Did you ever read that book? It’s an old Dr. Seuss book.

Leah: Yes.

Betsy: And so, this kid every day when he came home, his dad would be like, “What did you see today on the way home?” And he expected his kid to be noticing the environment. And so, of course, the kid starts to make things up and it gets really exciting. But that whole book is basically this idea, which is look for the miraculous and the beautiful and the unexpected and, you know, you’ll see it.

So, that’s where it actually started was from a very serious place, a discussion about depression. But it turns out to be literally like a little meringue, you know, those little floppy nougats. And meanwhile, it’s doing this very serious thing. To me, I just love that combination.

Leah: The idea of a tonic, something that calms you and grounds you and also invigorates you. And that is absolutely the energy and the essence of this book which makes a world of sense because that is so the energy of you and your presence. And it is like drinking a magical elixir any time I get to talk with you.

Betsy: That is extremely mutual. I will just say that’s a huge honor. Thank you.

Leah: Thank you. So, thank you so much, Betsy, for joining me today. And obviously, I need to have you back on because we barely scratched the surface on your other work, I mean, going in more depth on the Dao and then also Like a River. And I know there are other projects brewing that I’m very excited…

Betsy: Well, thank you for having me. And I just love talking to you because it is a truly collaborative, you know, in the true sense of the meaning of the word. Like, that just changed my perspective on this. I’ll say something to you I obviously have thought before and then you say something that completely opens it up and takes it in a different direction. So, super-fun. Thank you.

Leah: Thank you. I feel the same. We get to ideate together, it really is that two minds together, it’s more than one plus one. It’s such a gift. And thank you. And thank you for sharing your time today.

Betsy: And I’m sorry for any little puppy and family noises. We know how it is in COVID. Everybody’s worlds are happening together in the same room.

Leah: Yes, we all know that. I wish everyone could see the puppy. Well, Betsy, I will see you soon.

Betsy: I’ll see you soon. Thank you. Bye.

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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. Work and coach with both me and Betsy today. So, you heard Betsy talk about the teacher she had who advised cave early, cave often. And you also heard her talk about something I mentioned in the beginning of this episode about taking yourself seriously, but also applying a light touch.

I want you to combine those two pieces of wisdom and think about how would your life look differently if you lived from a place where you took your heart’s desires seriously and you also brought to them a light touch, and also how, when you take it seriously, how that does lead to caving early and caving often.

I wanted to hone in on this for today’s coach with me because it is a theme that has emerged from every single podcast interview I have done in the last several months. You have heard from Hope Dunbar. She talked about it. From Zohar Tirosh-Polk. I have also just interviewed one of my beloved brilliant private clients and mastermind clients Mei Ling Lu, and she talks about it as well in terms of completing her own novel and pursuing her creativity in her own way. So, you’ll hear that in an upcoming episode.

I also had a conversation along those lines that you heard, from Frances Cadora and one yet to be released with Susan Hyatt. So, this is something that wants to be pulled out and highlighted, put on a marquee, a neon billboard for this audience in particular. What do you need to take seriously and also bring a light touch to? And how can you then apply this wisdom of caving early and caving often?

And so, some of you might be thinking, what does that mean, cave early, cave often? Well, two answers. Answer number one, ask thyself, because I know you will receive a wisdom that is entirely your own. And that’s the best wisdom you could ask for. My second answer, I’ll offer you my interpretation. And that is that if you have a desire to create something and it’s been there for a while, you have a dream, and it doesn’t seem to let go of you.

I think there’s those dreams that we can’t seem to let go of. And then there’s those ones that can’t seem to let go of us. It chose us. And those are the things, those innate things that we just seem to be born with, a desire to do or to be or to create or to express that by caving early and caving often, to me, that means we honor them. We become stewards of them. We become guardians of our soul and spirit. We bring a warrior-like energy as well as a maternal-like energy. They can be both things, if you’ve known mothers like that or you are yourself. But being a guardian and a steward of the dream and of the desire, no longer resenting it, no longer resisting it, but instead caving early, cave often.

It’s similar to podcasts where I’ve talked about surrender, right? Surrendering to that which wants to happen through you, surrendering to the outcome that you know you are going to create, which is that vision. And for me, caving early and caving often started to happen a lot more when I said yes to those initial retreats, to the Marta Beck retreats 10 years ago.

It took me a while to cave in to doing that for myself, giving that to myself. And in the beginning, it was more of an expense. It definitely cost me money that I didn’t seem to have. But I also began to nurture and care for myself in a way that laid this deep inner strong foundation upon which I have built everything that I am creating right now.

So, I would love to hear from you. What do you need to take seriously and also bring a light touch to? And how can you cave early and cave often? What would that look like for you specifically, and then apply these two follow up questions; what would that look like specifically in your life? What would you be doing differently tomorrow for the next week, quarterly, and the next year?

And then the second part of the question, how will your life look differently a year from now, three years from now if you begin to implement this approach, take your heart’s desires, your dreams, your vision seriously and bring a light touch, and also caving early and caving often in terms of being a guardian of your soul, a guardian of your Creativity, capital C, a guardian of these dreams, a steward of your life?

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Art School Podcast. If you’ve loved this podcast, the best thing you can do to pay it forward is to share, is to subscribe, and is to go to iTunes and leave a review. If you have been hanging out, here could be your good deed to do before the end of 2020. I would love to hear from you and it definitely helps me move this work out into the world.

And when you’re ready to take this work deeper, you could join us in one of my most beloved favorite places on the planet, favorite spaces, experiences on the planet, the Art School.

So, it is, as Betsy and I were talking, a tonic. It both calms you, grounds you, and opens you up to the most beautiful, meaningful, profound kinds of expansion. It truly is, to me, this manifestation of the hottest MFA, that glimmer of a dream I had back then that is taking the potential that is within people and having them bring that out into the world.

I am committed to moving people across the finish line. And I am looking also not just within this next year to what finish lines can I help people move across, but I’m looking three years down the road, five years down the road. To me, the groundwork that we’re laying right now, like with clients that are beginning right now, I’m really thinking of how am I setting them up for that breakthrough imminently, but then also that really next level success that can happen in three and five years.

And I mentioned on earlier podcasts the numbers of people that I want to cross the six-figure mark and then have people preparing and crossing that seven-figure threshold, completely redefining what it is to thrive as an artist and together as a community, creating that as the new normal, normalizing the extraordinary.

So, if that is something that is calling to you, we have already begun filling seats for the winter-spring 2021 sessions of both the Art School and the Art School Mastermind. The Art School Mastermind this winter-spring is going to be a 14-week session as opposed to a six-month. And then the next six-month class will open up later in 2021.

I’m recording this in December of 2020 and we currently still have some seats available in the second-tier early bird pricing. So, if you are interested in reserving one of those, please email us at support@leahcb.com and we can answer any of your questions, set up an informational call, and just overall we will take very good care of you. And you are not committed or committing to anything when you email us. And I do not believe in pressure sales.

I know that the transformation happens when you feel like every cell of your body is like, “Yes, this is the place for me. It’s clicking into place,” and there isn’t hesitancy or urgency or scarcity on your part. Because maybe it’s a later for you.

I just talked to some people this week who would be – are beautiful – and would be amazing clients. And we just decided that, you know, maybe later in 2021. Because it’s very important to me that this community is filled with solid people who are ready to go all in and that they feel 100% stoked and excited about their decision.

Is there still fear sometimes? Yes. But it’s different than wondering if they’ve made the right decision. I want you to know, this is absolutely the right place for me, and this is what’s going to help me break through to that next level this next year and also what’s going to set me up for that cosmic stellar success three years and five years from now.

And if you are listening to this episode years down the road, just be sure to email us at support@leahcb.com and we’ll make sure that you are added to any waitlist, any newsletters so that you receive the most recent and upcoming information about our current and relevant offers.

Because not only do we have the Art School and the Mastermind. But I am also offering workshops and free group coaching calls every month that are open to the entire community, completely free. And there’s going to be an incredible one this month, if I do say so myself.

So, if you are not yet on my list, you’ll want to make sure to either subscribe at www.leahcb.com or, again email us at support@leahcb.com so that you have everything that you need in order to attend those free workshops and classes.

To close today, I wanted to return to those words that are on the Sunwarmed Sage Press’s about page. “You know that particular aroma a giant sage brush releases when the sun comes out after a sudden rain shower or a cool night? Somehow, it plunges you into mystery, deep belonging, safety, adventure, and affection for the world as well as your own solid self.

All at once, it balances your nervous system. Sunwarmed Sage Press aims to contribute a bit of that same thing to the world in each of our projects. Because the more we humans live in thrive mode, the better we are to ourselves, one another, and our wonderous planet.”

So, one thing I wanted to invite you all to consider, if you haven’t already, to take seriously is your own thrive mode. Because how wonderous would this life be, a life where you’re plunged into mystery, deep belonging, safety, adventure, and affection for the world as well as your own solid self all at once? Consider that that is the life that you can have, that that is a life that you can create, and that those are also aspects that you can embody in your own creativity and contribute and give back to the world, to one another, and as Betsy says, our wonderous planet.

So, thank you so much for being a part of my wonderous planet. I’m grateful for all of you. Also, any patience you have for – I don’t know if you can hear the giggling and the laughter going on. But I’m also now online homeschooling again with my two youngest children. And even our dog came down the stairs a little bit ago as I was recording. And I turned around and gave her the eye and she trotted herself back upstairs a lot more quickly than my children respond to the raised eyebrow.

But it’s just to say that work like this, like Betsy is doing and this work of living in thrive mode has helped me reconsider too my relationship to the unknown and my ability to thrive in uncertain times and in sometimes very chaotic times. And I wish the same for you as well. So, thank you for being here. Have a beautiful week, everyone, and I look forward to talking with you next time.