Ep #134: Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Off we go into the wild blue yonder, lyrics from the 1939 Army Air Corps song, often known to be sung by Donna Andreasen Campbell. Donna also happens to be my grandma Donna. And those were lyrics that inspired me in many ways as a child. And also eventually inspired me to write my first book of poetry and creative prompts, which is entitled Wild Blue Yonder.

In today’s episode I wanted to share with you a little from that book, the genesis of the book. And I think it is also a bit of an overview of all of my work. So for those of you that know me well, I think you’ll hear things that you’ve never heard before. And for those of you who are finding my work for the first time, I think this is a great place to be introduced.

And as always, not only do I want to share stories and inspiration with you, but I want to share useful, pragmatic, empowering tools and information for your own creative revolution, for your own transformation. So thank you for joining me for this very personal, very special episode. I hope you enjoy it.

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 another episode of The Art School podcast. Whoa, I have so much creative energy these last few weeks. I have to take some little regular breaks, work out a little bit more often just to burn the top off. It’s not a bad thing, it’s a very good thing. And I feel I’m moving through a place of really great personal expansion.

And also grateful to be aware that that’s what’s going on and grateful for the self-care practices that I have in place, and support. And also grateful that I get to coach others because there is nothing that helps me so much to stay on the top of my own game as staying on the top of my coaching game and getting better and better because I am so inspired to do so by my clients, by my students, by all of you.

And it stokes the fire of an innate desire I have towards mastery of coaching and anything that I do. And it’s really being in the presence of other people who are pushing the envelope in their own lives. Who are growing, and expanding, and creating, and changing. Who are innovative, and brilliant, and compassionate, and heart focused.

It’s running with the big dogs. It is like playing with the varsity team. And I love it. It keeps me in flow and it also, again, keeps me aware of the places where taking care of your energy is really important and having the awareness that part of that for a creative person is rest too. And then also having really constructive creative channels and the kind that, you know, satisfy your soul. And one of those for me this last year has been the creation of this book.

So I’ve mentioned before that my book was released in May 5, 2021, Wild Blue Yonder, it is a collection of poems and creative invitations. And, you know, speaking of staying on top of my coaching game, and getting better and better and more and more masterful, doing my own creative work also does that for me. Also asks that, also invites me to that,

And then I get to, in turn, share with my clients and my students what has actually worked for me. Not just theorizing about here’s what you should do to be creative, not just speaking and talking about being creative, but living the artist’s way of life. Living a creative way of life. Living a thriving artist’s way of life. And what I love about this is that the more I learn, the more I learn that there’s more to learn, and it just deepens my passion for it.

And so with this book, I had an eye towards all aspects of the work I do. My own creative work, in this particular case writing. Although the prompts that I share in the second half of the book I also use in my painting, in my art making practice.

There are also prompts, imagination meditations that I share with clients. And I shared one or two with all of you as well. So I wanted to create something, write a book that was from this holistic place from which I love to operate. Not thinking of myself of now I’m a poet. Now I’m a nonfiction writer. Now I’m a podcaster. Now I’m a coach. Now I’m a mother. Now I’m an artist.

I want to be me in the world and be a channel and flow what needs to flow. And so if that means that I mix genres, or publishing categories, so be it. I also have a confidence in doing that too, because I know that it resonates with many of you who also want to leave behind, shed any notions that you have to create artificial categories for yourself.

You can use categories when categories are useful in communicating. But that’s like, you know, putting the cart after the horse. Rather than trying to define yourself by the little boxes that are available, and then try to fit you and your work into those little boxes. That, I don’t advise, not so much. Allow yourself to be you and flow what’s yours into the world to flow.

And because you, out there listening, and you, my dear clients and students inspire me so much, you are one of the people to which I dedicated this book. So I want to read that to you. To all you out there who want to bring your dreams off the page, your imagination out of the capture of limitations, and into the wild blue yonder, off we go.

I also dedicated this to Deb and Boyd, who are my parents. Thank you with all my heart and being. Because of you all things are possible, I love you.

So, like I said, this is a personal, a special, they’re all special. Let me tell you that for sure. Each week it is so special to me that I get to talk with you. And I might get a little more emotional than usual this week because this is also very personal.

And it is my intention and hope too that in sharing something that is very personal for me that it finds a universal relevance. That it finds relevance with you, personally out there listening. That this does help you create your ideal life, your ideal, most fully creative life.

I wrote for the back text the following, “What if your dreams and creative desires are a map to liberation and adventure sent forth from the infinite expanse of your imagination, the wild blue yonder of your own soul?

Designed as a guide and friend for those seeking to unleash their creative genius and thrive. While Blue Yonder is a magical little book that combines poetry and simple but powerful prompts to help readers break free from a limited reality and live instead from the boundless world of the imagination.

This book is for artists who want to create their ideal creative life. It is for all creative people, that is to say then, all people who want to break through to their own wild blue yonder and experience a new, rich reality. One grounded in soul and the deepened sense of day-to-day wellbeing that creativity provides.”

So that isn’t the entire back text, but I wanted to read that little bit so that you know my intentions in writing this and what I think it can offer for you. I can also tell you, and this is a little backstory. This is not in the book, and I don’t think I’ve shared this anywhere else.

But part of my creative process with this book is sensing it first. Like sensing like the energy of what I wanted it to be. Not visualizing, not seeing, not knowing, not having the details, but feeling of it. And then once I felt that then more details came in.

And one thing that really just delighted me, like totally lit me up, was imagining someone going into a store, or even years from now, a used bookstore and pulling in this like interesting, different little volume that just caught their eye, seeing it on the shelf and then pulling it out and being like, “What’s this?”

And in my mind’s eye, then I saw this vintage looking cover, maybe Art Nouveau kind of illustration on the front, gold embossed with a solid fabric cover. And they’d be like, “Well, this seems like a magical little book, I’ve never heard of this before.”

And then they would open it. And it would seem like it was speaking directly to them and to where they were in their life and what they needed to know. And that they would take it with them and it would speak to them at various times in their life. And it would just be this gem of a discovery.

So that also informed the cover art. So while it is not a fabric bound book, it did inform my design choices. And I looked at, I mean, I have a collection on Pinterest, don’t follow me on Pinterest for elegantly organized and curated boards, I am all over the place. And I don’t remember if my graphic design for this book illustrations are secret or not. But they’re all basically these amazing, sort of Victorian-esque vintage looking covers. Because that’s the feel I was going for. That feeling of like discovery and that this is something off the beaten path. And magic. I wanted someone to feel like, “Oh, there is something magical about this slender blue volume.”

So with that, just a little introduction. There’s part one, which are poems of mine, a collection from the past several years. And they are related, but it might not be obvious at first like why they are related. But this is not all of the poems I’ve written it is a selection of ones that I felt have a common thread, a common energy, and belonged in this particular book.

And then the second half of the book, the part two, are creative prompts, which I also call imagination meditations. One of which I’ve shared I know before in a previous episode. So what I want to do today is read to you from the beginning of the book.

So it is a story time and an intentional story time. I’ve heard from many of you who have already purchased the book, thank you very much, and are reading it that even just this beginning part has inspired you and has reinvigorated creative dreams or reinvigorated the work that you are in the midst of doing along the way.

And I know I love to hear authors speak their work too. So I hope that this is not only enjoyable for you, but that new meanings and nuanced meanings come out through the reading that even if you’ve already read the book, maybe perhaps didn’t arise until now.

So here it is, the foreword for my book, Wild Blue Yonder.

When I was a little girl, I’d climb into the front seat of my grandma Donna’s old blue Buick and buckle up for an adventure. Plush blue seats, hot silver seat belt with a gem like button in the middle that I’d click in. She’d shift the car into gear, gravel crunched beneath the tires as we pulled out of the drive of our family farm and onto the country road.

Once we picked up some speed, she’d pound the dash with exuberance and launch into a song, “Off we go into the wild blue yonder, flying high into the sun.” And off we’d go, up and down dusty country roads looking for beauty. Beauty in the horizon, and the changing colors of the sky. Beauty in the ditch flowers and the birds that love them. No longer flat flyover territory, it was a runway for taking off into the wild blue yonder.

A ride in the car with my grandmother and I could see the world in a different way. I could see it as an artist. Seeing the world, experiencing the world as an artist is what I believed awakened the seed in me. I am an artist.

Those simple, humble adventures on back country roads and into the wild blue yonder helped me to see and experience something profound. The wild blue yonder was a version of reality, of life, that I touched with something. Or a truth of reality in me, an expansive wondrous one, touched and connected with the truth of the world out there. One full of endless possibility and exciting discoveries.

My journey to becoming an artist though did not mirror the arc of that old military tune, off we go into the wild blue yonder. My path was not linear, or one flying high and then just soaring off into the horizon as a fully hatched, fully realized artist. That girl that loved creativity, imagination, beauty, art was always there. But for years she took a backseat, while a different part of me took a different tour. One that included a finance degree and then becoming a lawyer.

It would be many years after those car rides with my grandma Donna before that seed, I am an artist, would start to crack through. One of those cracks for me occurred in law school when she passed away. I inherited boxes of her art supplies. When going through them, I found some of her journals. They would begin with her writing down some of her wonderful tales or jotting down descriptions of art she wanted to create.

But then the voice of the creative spirit, my grandmother’s feisty and exuberant voice that I knew so well would begin to trail off and be choked out by this other voice. A voice of self-doubt, fear, and self-judgment. They, the journals, were all half complete.

My heart was broken, but I knew this was a gift. I promised not to waste this heartbreak, knowing that this woman I loved so dearly, and who was a great champion to my creativity had left me a final lesson. And it would not be lost on me.

I vowed no more half-finished journals, no more creative dreams oppressed by the violence of self-doubt and self-criticism. That heartbreak helped crack open that artist seed in me, and I began to nurture it on purpose.

That was almost 20 years ago. In that time, over the course of several years, I’ve become a working artist who creates art that I love, and that I love for other people to love. I also have sold those paintings for thousands of dollars. I’ve also done a lot of writing over the past several years.

Something has been tugging on my soul though. While much of my work I do share with the world, my own poetry and stories still mostly live on the pages of my journals or on my hard drive. I’d like a little more time. I’d like to be better at this before I share it. Something in me tells me I’d be better off with a little more thought, a little more polish, a little more time.

But I think I can hear my grandma calling. If I listen and try just a little, I can even see her standing outside her car motioning me to come towards her saying, “Hey sweetheart, it’s time. Want to go for a ride?”

In addition to being an artist and writer, I have also built a very successful creativity coaching career as a master life coach. And I am passionate about building a paradigm of thriving artists. My clientele make up both working professional artists of all genres, and those with more traditional careers who desire to carve a more authentic path for themselves.

What all of my clients tend to share in common though, is a desire to unleash their creativity and to be a creative force of nature. Being the most powerful leaders of their lives and creating success on their own terms, aligned with their values from the inside out.

In 2018 I founded that which I found myself longing for on my own creative journey, The Art School. The Art School is a program that imparts my philosophy that by cultivating an extraordinary way of being in mind, body, and spirit, the extraordinary results we dream of creating flow inevitably from who we are.

Through teaching workshops, mentoring, and coaching individuals, and through my podcast, The Art School podcast, I am working to help build a paradigm of thriving artists and creatives. Because I know that fully empowered, expressed, thriving creatives not only can create better lives for themselves, but they are also essential for building a better world.

One of my core beliefs is that everybody has an in. One of the worst feelings I have experienced is to have a desire to create something and to feel like I was stuck. Like I was in my own way, and not capable of bringing this creative vision to life. Fortunately, it was an intense enough of an unpleasant experience that I was sure there must be a better way and a better experience of being creative. And I was resolved to find it.

It turns out there was a better way. It’s something I referred to as the third way with my students. And there is a better experience of being creative. And to me, I can often sum it up as that wild blue yonder feeling, or simply the feeling of being fully alive.

Through the process of healing my own creative spirit I sought out teachers, mentors, artists I looked up to and coached myself to unleash my creativity. I also at one point made a life changing decision that I have a wise inner guardian within me, that that is actually what creative genius means to me. And I could rely on this to guide me.

Leaning into this trust I was able to intuitively find ways to use my own imagination to guide me. This book includes several of my own poems, as well as prompts you can give to your own imagination to unleash your own creative genius and bring your art to life.

It occurred to me later in the process of editing this book that publishing the poetry is also a prompt in the way of an example. Therefore, this entire book is both a creative work, while also being an example and invitation to you of how you might discover your own path to liberated, thriving, creative expression in your chosen mediums. As well as your unique, creative, extraordinary way of living that helps you break through to your own wild blue yonder and fills your life with the energy of being fully alive.

In the spirit of that I want to share some of the fruits of that process, my poetry with you. I also wanted to share some of my process in the How To in case you find yourself in need of a breakthrough, whether specifically in your own art form, or in life.

I hope you enjoy this book, may help you in discovering your own third way and lead to many meaningful creative breakthroughs. Maybe I’ll even get to meet you and your creative work someday. Until then, off we go into the wild blue yonder, with love, Leah.

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. This podcast is not a podcast for passive consumers. While you are welcome to listen to this for as long as you like, as much as you like, and obviously not required to do a thing.

I also believe that if you’re here listening to this, you’re also meant to accept the invitation to create. To be a creator, with a capital C. To take everything that I’m sharing with you and say, “Hmm, why is this meant for me? What am I being invited to? How can I become a creative force of nature in my own life? What is here for me to use and apply to my own life to create a creative revolution? To create transformation?”

So, as you obviously know by now, Wild Blue Yonder is the title of the book. It is also the lines from that Army Air Corps song that my grandmother sang, so it is also memory for me an embedded in my psyche that way. It’s also a metaphor. It is also something so much more than that.

What I mentioned from the back text in my book, this boundless world of the imagination. And I think that’s not even stating it plainly enough. I believe there is so much more to this life than what we allow ourselves. And we’ve all caught glimpses of it. Felt the energy come in through some open portal, or window, or thought, or idea, or chance encounter with someone, some brush with destiny. You have all felt that, known that, and if you haven’t before, you’re getting it now.

And so for you, what is the creative dream? What is the next step in that creative dream that is inviting you to touch that wild blue yonder? To break free from a limited reality, from the limitations that you impose upon your own concept of who you are and what you’re capable of.

Because like for this slender blue volume, for me, it means so much more than I can impart to you in one episode. And then also there are things that I don’t know that I will ever impart to anybody what it means to me. Maybe later at some time, but there are also some things that I hold close to my heart within my sacred circle as well. And maybe when the time’s right I’ll share. And I’m sure for you that there are similar dreams that are calling you.

I shared the story of how I found my grandmother’s art materials and was heartbroken by the half-finished journals. And so I vowed, you know, no more half-finished journals. No more of this self-deprecating creative oppression. I am going to learn how to put that down, and that’s not a baton that I’m going to pass on.

And then I did that work. And then I arrived at this other stage where I realized, well, my journals are full, my hard drive is full. And so I realized that there was a new mantra, a new philosophy needed. And that is these can’t just live only on my journals, they want to live out in the world.

And also, as I mentioned, you know, there is a strong voice in me that says, “Oh, but you need more time. You need more polish. You need more this and that.” Even as I was reading that forward, I was like, “Oh, two typos that I missed in the dozens of times that I reread that and also had a copy editor and other eyes upon it.” So, so be it, right?

What is most important to me is to honor being the midwife and the steward of moving this work forward and out into the world. And again, I see it as also part of my greater arc of my creative life and work. And so for you, where are you telling yourself, you need more time you need more polish, you need more of this, and that? When instead, you could just answer the call. You know, off we go honey into the wild blue yonder. Get into the car and buckle up because we’re doing this. Your wild blue yonder is waiting.

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Art School podcast. If you have enjoyed this podcast, if it has helped you create your own transformation and embark on your own creative revolution, I am so grateful. And if you want to help me share this work and be a part of the movement, the best way to do that is to share, is to subscribe, and is to go to iTunes and leave a review.

I would love to hear from you. How is this work helping you? What would you like more of Is there anything you haven’t heard me talk about yet that you’d like to have addressed? Or anything I’ve talked about in the past and you want to hear more on that.

And when you’re ready to take this work deeper, The Art School is ready for you. We’ve already begun enrollment for the fall class 2021, which includes at no extra cost three months’ worth of the summer workshop series.

We have a roster that is stacking up already of amazing, brilliant clients. Some alum that are returning, and then also some fresh new faces as well. So I’m already excited about the energy that is brewing in this class for summer and for the fall.

And on that note, I think being an energetic match is really important. The chemistry and dynamic of the community is very important to me. I know it is to my clients as well. Which is why if you are interested in scheduling an exploratory call that we do have those available. You can schedule one by emailing support@leahcb.com.

This is not a sales call at all. There is zero expectation, zero pressure for you to buy on this call. This simply exists as a resource for those of you that are very interested and you just want to make sure that this is the right fit for you, for your goals, for your dreams, and that it is a good energetic match.

Because again, part of The Art School magic is the community. And it is the fact that we have people who are committed to being conscious creators. Who want to learn how to be masters of their own creativity and creating their own lives. Which means being willing to take full responsibility for their results.

Because here is sort of the paradox, I take full responsibility for showing up and providing an experience that blows your mind, that offers transformation every step of the way. I take full responsibility for outdoing myself each and every single time, for being committed to your expansion, for being committed to your goals, your biggest dreams and your transformation.

So the magic happens at that intersection where I am 100% committed and 100% showing up for the magic that my coaching, and my program, and content, and curriculum, and community dynamic offer And that also means then I attract people who are 100% committed to their goals, to their next levels, to their transformation. Toward being a member of a constructive, empowered, elevated, community, who are there to be expanded by those in the community and by the coaching and by the content, and who are also there to be expanders.

Because in that dynamic, in that kind of creativity, and in that kind of sacred container, that’s where the magic happens. That’s where the rising tide lifts all ships really becomes the norm and the extraordinary becomes normalized.

So if that is calling you, again, we would love to have you email us support@leachcb.com for more information. Or you can go directly to reserve your spot at www.leahcb.com and click on the link to The Art School, and we will always also have links in the show notes.

So to close, I want to end where I began. And that was with this dedication to all of you, because this is for all of you out there who want to bring your dreams off the page, your imagination out of the capture of limitations and into the wild blue yonder. Off we go. Have a beautiful week everyone. I will talk to you next time.