Ep #100: (Part 2) Bringing Light to Your Creativity

Episode 100, everyone. Welcome to episode 100. So, to launch this very special episode, I want you to play along and repeat after me, “My dreams will guide me all the way when I put my foot down, once and for all, and declare, I love my creative life more than I love cooperating with my own oppression.”

Now, that is an affirmation that I created, paraphrasing some work from Clarissa Pinkola Estés and her book Women Who Run with the Wolves. I think, in many ways, it beautifully sums up this work that I am so deeply passionate about. And that is creating a paradigm of thriving creatives.

Because a creative human deserves that, deserves a life that is full and flourishing on all levels, strong, robust, rich, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, relationally. And I also know creatives that are empowered this way, healthy and thriving this way, are powerful healers, visionaries, and change agents in their families, in their communities and in the world at large.

Today’s episode is going to continue the conversation we started vis-à-vis the story of the little match girl in episode 99. So, listen to episode 99, come back and join us for this episode, and we’re going to give you a micro but mighty masterclass on leading an extraordinary, immensely creative life and powerfully accomplishing all of your creative goals.

If I had to boil all of this work down into one core key master principle, I do believe there is one. And that one principle is the focus of today’s episode.

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. Another episode, but not just any episode. This is episode 100. Oh, and I also just got massive goosebumps, cascades of them saying that because how apropos for this episode too that this is episode 100. Because this is coming to you from a woman who, at one point in her life, as a girl, as a young woman, but also not as a young woman, really struggled with creativity and follow through and trust and belief and focus and creating her dreams on her terms.

And getting to 100 episodes of a podcast that is all about creativity and is all about thriving as a creative on your terms in a way that is authentic to you, doing your soul’s work in the world, this is profoundly meaningful to me. And I am so grateful for all of you who, without you, this would be just me talking into my laptop, into my microphone.

I am so grateful for you, listeners, for you my clients, for my friends, family, mentors, allies, teachers, anyone also who didn’t believe in me and didn’t see this and who are teachers and very important people, messengers, and actually guides along my way in that way as well.

I also wanted to give a special shoutout to Pavel and Angela at Digital Freedom Productions because they have been such an important part of this journey, doing the production aspect. I write the content. I record it. and then I send it over to them and they produce beauty and magic. And so, that is just another gift of this journey, are the collaborations like that and learning that I can invest in my dream and in myself in that way, so that I can do the aspect of the work that is my zone of genius and I’m so grateful for others who have zones of genius and expertise that help me flow my gift into the world. So, thank you Pavel and Angela.

Thank you to those who have encouraged me, who have listened, who have written reviews, who have written in and let me know what this podcast means to you, and those that I haven’t met yet. Maybe we will someday. But really, this reinforces, for me, that we are not meant to create as islands. And I think that is a particularly important message right now when there is so much going on in the world that is rife with conflict and division. And so, finding those places where we realize we are connected, where we can shine our lights from what seems like it can be our islands at times and know that we are actually not isolated, and to join together in creating this thriving creative paradigm, to create more possibility and to be that change that we wish to see in the world.

So, I’ve said before, this to me now feels like more than a community, but the community aspect is incredible. It also feels like a movement. And the more people I talk to, the more it seems like within people there is this groundswell of a desire for change, a desire to step more fully into their creative power and to be agents of their life and to have a greater impact on their world and flow their gifts.

So, I am grateful for the role I get to play in that much greater movement and grateful to be playing along with all of you extraordinary creative powerhouses and geniuses. So, I am always telling my clients to celebrate, to acknowledge and to celebrate that it is part of harvesting the fruits of what you created. It is the harvest, the celebration is an essential part of the creative process for our psyche and also in order to support our ability to create external support and vitality and wealth and health and material means to keep on keeping on and continue to rise and grow in our creative work and in our ability to be self-actualizing and achieve those powerful goals and dreams that we have set for ourselves.

So, I am for sure going to walk my talk here and I’m celebrating by sharing this with all of you now, and I’m thinking about other ways I’m going to celebrate this milestone. I am taking – I’m looking forward to this. I’m taking a special weekend trip with my son Sammy this weekend.

Something that I decided I wanted to do earlier this year was spend more one on one time with each child and just really do some of these peak experiences. Because I love our time together as a family and we’ve had a lot more of it, as many of you have as well during this year of COVID and quarantining. And I just notice though there is a different dynamic that happens when you have the ability to have that parent-child one on one time, or with anybody, having that special kind of one on one time that’s a little more extended.

So, he and I are going to do the, first of the three siblings, and we are going to mask up and go to Chicago and stay overnight and go to some museums where there are some things that I think he will find particularly delightful. And I have some other special surprises planned for him. But I’m so looking forward to just that time with him and the two of us and making memories. And hopefully the weather will be beautiful and we can walk along Lake Michigan and Navy Pier.

So, that to me too very much relates to this 100^th episode, this ability to create exactly what you want to create on your terms because me trusting that I could get to a place where I could do that, there was a time when it would have seemed so far off to me that I would have the means to take one child at a time for a very special overnight trip.

And now, I easily have that means and I’m so grateful for that because me following through, me bypassing the voices that told me it was selfish to work on my dreams, to nurture myself, I knew that couldn’t be true. And now, my family also receives the benefit of it. I thrive and they thrive.

So, me and Mr. Sam Man are going to be celebrating this weekend and I’m also noodling around, what are some other things I can do to really honor and celebrate this milestone? Because again, let me tell you, what you don’t celebrate, you don’t integrate.

So, before we move onto the main focus of today’s episode, I have one other announcement. So, because 2020 has had too many challenges for us to count, you might be feeling kind of friend and crispy. Your soul might be desperately seeking some rejuvenation, restoration. You might be feeling that you’ve gotten off track and you’re desiring to get back in touch with your creative work, with your creative side.

And with everything that’s going on, everything going on in the world, and I’m sure how that translates to your own personal life close in, it can be hard to access that deep, free-flowing creative side of you when you are really stressed out and your central nervous system is taxed and really wound up.

I think the increasingly fast rate of change in the world and the amount of uncertainty we’re experiencing combine in a way that results in what can feel like the ultimate stress cocktail for our relatively slow to develop human nervous system.

I know it can seem like there’s no way out of this. But it does not have to feel like this. This does not have to be your new normal. We humans also have everything we need to take those same raw ingredients from life and make things that are calming and stimulating in a healthy way, creative things.

And again, so much of what the Art School is and my work is about is creating that way of being, that extraordinary strong way of being in mind, body, and spirit that makes the extraordinary life you dream of inevitable. And one practice and tool that I have found within that to support all of that is dream analysis.

So, you’ve heard me talk about the dream analysis masterclass that is coming up. And that is the last podcast I’ll be able to share that information with you before it takes place.

So, I have partnered up with the amazingly talented Betsy Pearson, who is an expert dream analyzer and life coach, author, scientist, wife, mother, wise woman, to bring you a two-part dream analysis masterclass.

Your truest self, your highest self uses your dreams to send you messages. And it is very benevolent. It cares about helping you. Dream analysis lets you access that wise non-verbal part of yourself. It’s a powerful, powerful shortcut to wellness and success, not to mention it is so much fun.

So, some of the other amazing benefits of analyzing your dreams – aside from the fun factor, if I haven’t said that enough – are increased creativity, reducing the effects of burnout, and soothing stress, mitigating stress and soothing your central nervous system.

Dream analysis can be used as a practice to enrich and deepen and support your creative process. It can help generate the kind of original creative energy that fuels your own interest in and passion for the work. And it also can be a catalyst for creative insights and breakthroughs, not to mention generating the actual raw material and profound material for your work via symbols, motifs themes, narratives that come from that deep psyche aspect of yourself, particularly that nocturnal dream fantasy aspect of your unconscious.

So, if you’re feeling that it’s time to fuel up on creative energy and listen to what your dreams are trying to tell you, then I do hope you will join Betsy and I for this two-part masterclass taking place October 14^th and 21^st. Those are Wednesdays at 2Pm Eastern. They’re 90-minute classes. But everything will be recorded, so you will have access to the replay, not to mention the dream analysis worksheet that Betsy has prepared for everyone.

All of the information for signing up will be available on my website www.leahcb.com. You’ll receive information of you’ve signed up for my newsletter. I’ll also be sharing posts on Instagram @leahcb1. So, it is going to be so delightful and I would love to have you join us for that.

And one last note. I am providing this as a surprise bonus benefit for all my current Art School and mastermind clients and enrollees and also opening it to the public. So, it’s included for those that are currently in the Art School. But I’m also opening it up to you, my broader Art School Podcast-listening community.

And because it is subsidized through the Art School, it is at a very accessible rate. It is only $97 for this two-part masterclass. So, it is a highly accessible way to experience the Art School, and not only the Art School but Betsy Pearson’s brilliance and magic along with it. Again, did I say it’s going to be delightful? It is. I hope to see you there.

And now, on with the rest of the podcast. Now, we are going to focus on the main thing. And the most important thing about the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing. We’ve all heard this. So, all along the way, I’ve really been dropping a hint about this one principle is that, if I were forced to distill this work down into one word, one main idea, one powerful master key, what would that be? It’s focus, focus, focus. Your ability to focus.

And let me just say right away, the ability to focus is absolutely something that we can cultivate, refine, and strengthen. So, do not despair if you are taking stock of your own focus ability right now and finding it lacking. Don’t think about it being your destination point. It’s not a terminal diagnosis. It’s just where you’re starting.

And now, focus your eyes on where you want to go with that strengthening of your ability to focus and where that can take you. Because it will take you anywhere upon which you focus. The ability to focus your imagination, your intellect, your abilities, your money, your resources, your internal power, and your ability to leverage all those things to create exactly what you want, to lead the kind of extraordinarily immensely creative lives that I think everybody listening in here, I think it’s safe to say, wants to lead, and the ability to powerfully accomplish your goals as that creative powerhouse, as a force of nature. It requires the ability to focus.

You have to be able to focus in on the big vision and stop looking around at everything else, stop looking at your past, stop looking at what other people are doing or saying, stop paying attention, focusing on the thoughts that take you off track. Focus on that big vision, and then bring everything else into alignment with that; your thoughts, your feelings, your actions, your way of being, who you know yourself to be in the world, your self-concept and then how you walk that out in the world, your ability to follow through in a way that is aligned with that focus on your big vision. Focus on the big vision and do not get lost in the small things, the minutia.

If you’re focusing on this true self-concept, who you really are, even if you don’t have evidence for it yet, you’re going to realize how much time and attention and focus right now is really going to things that are minutia, the distracting malignant fantasies that may comfort you, but they actually anesthetize you. They keep you from engaging in right action. They don’t nurture you or your dream or anything that creates something in the world that would move your life forward, that would move the needle forward in your own life or in terms of the contribution you are able to make in the world.

So, I said that this podcast, this particular episode, number 100 is a continuation of the conversation we started last week, episode 99, with the story of the little match girl. And so, here is how I want to continue that conversation and how it is tied into focus, why the story of the little match girl, I believe, can be interpreted as either a cautionary tale, but I also think an advisory one; a wise guidance offered to us through that mythology about the importance of focus.

In that story, I see that there are three different elements that very much relate to focus. They are both elements that support the kind of focus a creative needs in order to thrive, in order to be healthy and successful. And they are also byproducts, manifestations of someone living a very robust, thriving, creative life.

And those elements, three elements are the sacred dream, right action, and others, belonging to a community of others, of kindreds. So, again, the three elements. The sacred dream – and by that, I mean the kind of dream where you use your imagination to focus all of the gifts you have in this world, to evolve your soul, to move your work forward but also to move your humanity forward and possibly even humanity at large.

It’s the kind of dream that visionaries have. It’s the kind of dream that does move our lives forward personally and also the kind of dream that advances the world, makes the world maybe not turn around, as Mary Oliver said, but move forward.

In that second element, action. And not only action, but right action. And in the Art School, we’ve been calling this, just so we get into the right vibe of it, massively magical inspired action. And I’ll talk a little bit more about that in a moment. And the third element is other. You could say, knowing that you belong, a sense of belonging, of being seen, truly seen, and deeply known and appreciated, and nurtured within that community.

Again, not just comforted, as we talked last week. But nurtured. And nurture is something that actually moves you from one place to another, moves you forward, moves your work forward, move sour life forward, moves your soul forward, helps you to evolve and grow and not stagnate and die before you die, die on the inside, die a psychic death or creative death, but to thrive in the world, living as who you were meant to be.

So, in last week’s episode, episode 99, I talked more about the different kinds of dreams and the kind of fantasy that leaves you in a fantasy mill, that is a malignant fantasy that doesn’t move your life forward, that just keeps you stuck. That was the malignant fantasy that the match girls keeps lighting the matches, and instead of going and finding warmth in real others, she was entertained by this momentary vision, comforted by this momentary vision, but not actually nurtured her health, not actually supported.

And so, the little girl in that myth dies, and that little girl being a symbol for our creative self, our inner genius, our dream, our artist, our psyche, our soul. Whereas the sacred dream, one that causes you to image from the imagination, the root word image in there to draw forth an image of what can be, and then to act on behalf of that image and yourself in a way that benefits Life, capital L, where you’re engaged in Creativity, capital C.

And creativity, acting on it, absolutely has a healing essence and will heal you. But you cannot do it without what I want to emphasize in today’s episode, that second element, action. Right action. You’ve heard me talk before about the importance of follow through and completion, to not stay in endless ideation or preparation or research.

Because while there is nothing wrong with going deep, I love depth as much as the next person, you also know that it can be a place where your dreams go to die, where your creative ideas go to die. And people tell me, “But how do I know the difference?” You know the difference.

You know the difference between the kind of depth that is moving you and the work forward and the kind that becomes a place of hiding, a place of stagnation, a place of comfort where you don’t have to move through whatever it is that you’re currently afraid of or that will stretch you, challenge you, grow you, or that requires that emotional risk, that vulnerability, and that courage. It’s that the opposite kind of depth is that rabbit hole research that leaves you buried, leaves you and your work buried.

Betsy Pearson, who is leading the masterclass on dream analysis has also written a book on rivers and how rivers are this powerful metaphor for the health of a human being and the health of holistically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, psychically in the world. And with rivers, the actual literal physical river out in nature, if rivers go too deep, what happens, Betsy says, is there’s something called entrenchment, where if a river doesn’t flood its banks and move its water and power out to touch the world, like a healthy artist creative, but instead just goes deeper and deeper, that’s called entrenchment.

And actually, what’s happening is the river is just digging itself deeper and deeper and, in scientific terms, it’s said that the river is just eating itself. Entrenchment is the word that they use to describe that.

So, you have to cut through your own BS and fog here if you find yourself saying, “I don’t know the difference between going deep. I just have big standards and I am a very old soul person.” I get that. And I also know old souls know the importance of not going too deep and not getting lost in those depths. And old souls too don’t reject the work of when it’s time to run shallow and flood the banks, right?

And I know this from my own experience and from working with countless others now, thousands of hours of coaching creatives; experiencing your own creativity yourself is absolutely healing and is one level of healing. Not that there is a hierarchy, but it is a dimension of healing. And then your creativity that flows through to others is also so healing, is also medicinal. Not only for the other. Also deeply for you.

And it’s also required this sense of being someone who is – not a sense of, but actually being someone who is self-actualized. And I talk a lot in my work, here on the podcast and in the Art School, about developing the ability to follow through, flexing that completion muscle and developing what seems like a supernatural ability to follow through, where you become someone about whom it’s said, “Wow, he or she, whatever they say they’re going to do, whatever they set their mind to, they absolutely follow through.” And that is an essential element to focusing and also focusing is an essential element to developing follow through.

So, maybe you can also start to sense another message, theme occurring here, that the focus cannot only be on the dream but focus also requires action. And in the Art School, we’ve been talking a lot about massively magical inspired action, which I won’t go too much into that there, but again, it’s my take on the concept known as massive action, which is defined as action you take to get the results that you want.
Another definition I love is that massive action, to me, massively magical inspired action are those actions that, if you take them, would make your result inevitable.

So, the point here is to focus on the result you desire to create and then act on your own behalf until you create it. Act relentlessly and with relentless focus on your vision while you act relentlessly until you have created it. and what action to take. That’s always the next question.

And to go into that, that would be going down too deep for this particular episode. But for now, let me say, it’s going to be a blend of things. And it must include though a certain measure or mix of this; consistent action.

So, whether that means for you every day you’re practicing your craft, you’re making offers, you’re out in the world, or whether that means you stake your claim one day a week, you find time and space every week to nurture your craft, work towards your dream, nurture this creative aspect of yourself.

That’s the point, with our virtual artist dates that we have in the Art School. Every week, there is at least 90 minutes that you can promise yourself, guarantee yourself that you will show up, mind, body, and spirit for that which you have declared as sacred and essential to you. Something that you’ve thought, “I don’t want to leave this world without experiencing what I can do here and what I’m made of, flowing my creativity through this medium, towards the end goal of creating this dream or this result.” So, consistency.

And another one that I would invite you to explore, I do think it’s like this element of spice that brings an invigorating wave of energy is, when you can – and this doesn’t have to be a consistent thing. This can be inspired and sometimes it requires more risk. Most people say, “It feels so indulgent, but so delicious,” is the grand gesture.

What grand gestures can you make that signal to yourself and to your world that yeah, you came to play, right? You are not backing down. You’re serious about this. So, what would that mean for you? What would be a grand gesture that you could make that would really get the attention of your psyche, of your whole self, and likely others in the world too? That will wake aspects of you up that have, to this point, been kind of lying dormant and yawning, like, “We can wait. They’re still doing that someday thing. They’re not really getting serious.”

Until you do something like – I know, when I laid down my first big chunk of change for a coach, that woke all aspects of me up and got more aspects of me in gear, really lit a fire beneath me. So, what is that grand gesture for you?

So, there can be that consistent daily action that is aligned with the vision. There can be that grand gesture. In general though, the unifying theme with action has to be this; stay the course. Again, that’s about focus, right?

If you are focused on the big vision, if you are focused on your highest purpose, on the highest possible contribution you can make, if you are focused on the commitment you have made to yourself, if you have said, “There is no way I am not doing this in this lifetime. I am going to try to do it in 12 months, three years. But if it takes me five, if it takes me 10, if it takes me my whole life, I am doing this. I am figuring this out for myself in this lifetime. This is one of the reasons I am here. I’m not leaving this life without giving this my all.”

And then say that and then figure out how you are going to tie yourself to the mast, pragmatically speaking. Because you do not want to use an energy like that, that energy of commitment I just used, of, “There is no way I am not doing this.” You don’t want to use an energy of commitment like that, sacred energy, and not then follow up and follow through with the pragmatic steps you’re going to take.

How are you going to tie yourself to the mast? How are you going to bring – and this is going to get us to our third point – bring others into the process who are going to encourage you to stay the course and who are going to lovingly tell you to sit down and listen up when they see that you’ve become unfocused, right?

So, stay with it, through the grand gestures, to the consistent action, through all of the ups and downs, keep your focus with the action, keep your focus on the vision, and stay the course.

So, this brings me to the third teaching element, the third instructive element in the story of the little match girl. Not only a sense of belonging, but actual true belonging, being with others, and others who will nurture your psyche, your dreams, and encourage you to nurture your own.

Clarissa Pinkola Estés writes, “To avoid being the little match girl, there is one major action you must take. Anyone who does not support your art, your life, is not worth your time. Harsh but true.”

So, I love how she just doles out that tough love right there and here too is what I have found about that. If we find ourselves surrounded by people who do not support our art, our life, our dream, it is absolutely because we are not supporting it ourselves. So, there can be a tough situation because is it chicken or the egg? And there are varying degrees with this, in abusive situations, absolutely, you have to get out right away.

And then there are also those times when once you venture into a land of learning what it actually means to believe in yourself, not only as a concept, as a possibility, but what that actually means, what it actually means to nurture yourself and follow through on that, then your psyche starts to warm and unthaw and grow and your life changes and shifts in ways and your mind changes and shifts in ways and it will look to you like others have changed and shifted too. But it really is a reflection of the work that you have done.

You didn’t need to change anything about them, about the situation, try to rearrange a relationship, or your life in relationship to that relationship. And so, the place that I advise people to begin, because many people will find that scary, like, “Oh, am I just supposed to cut out now my spouse, my friends, my family? Because they sure don’t seem to value my life, my dream, my time.”

I would say, if you’re not in a scenario where there is abuse, try this first. Find a community that is as close to what you’re dreaming of as possible and don’t stop looking for those people until you’re like, warmer, warmer, warmer. And in order to do that, you have to first believe it exists. Because if you don’t believe it exists, you will stay in helplessness and there will be a sort of self-pity to it that is like that entrenchment where you’re kind of just eating away at yourself on the inside and it renders your helpless and you don’t act like the little match girl, you don’t seek people out who do value the match that you have, who would say, “Oh, over here, here’s a warm place to stay.”

That’s another cautionary part of that tale. There are others. There are other people in that story of the little match girl. But what’s notable about them is that they walk by. She’s trying to sell her matches to them and they don’t’ see the value in it.

So, rather than do what she does, which is sit in the snow and just light one by one, what we have to do is overcome that urge to sit down in the snow and give up because it doesn’t seem like anybody sees the value in this light that we have to offer. We have to keep going and find somebody who does see the value in it. we have to knock on doors, break our way into doors.

I think we need to break all sorts of norms and rules about what it means to be like, “She was being a very good behaved little girl.” And I think there are a lot of times we leave ourselves out in the cold because we’re playing nice. We don’t want to break down any doors. We don’t want to break any rules. We don’t want to break any norms.

But insist that you do that and believe in the value of that own light that your own ability to draw light out from the abyss and you will, with that belief, that light, you will attract others who see the value in that as well. And do not stop until you find them.

Tell yourself they exist and do not stop until you find them. And so, on this front, I do love these words that Estés offers, “Friends that love you and have warmth for your creative life are the very best sons in the world. When a woman, I would say artist too, creative, like the little match girl has no friends, she also becomes frozen by anguish, and sometimes by anger as well.”

And elsewhere, Estés writes, “Being with real people who warm us, who endorse and exalt our creativity is essential to the flow of creative life. Otherwise, we freeze. Nurture is a chorus of voices, both from within and without, that notices the state of a woman’s being, takes care to encourage it, and if necessary, gives comfort as well. I’m not sure how many friends one needs, but definitely one or two who think your gift, whatever it may be, is pan de cielo, the bread of heaven. Every woman is entitled to a halleluiah chorus.”

I absolutely love those words and it is so profoundly affirming because it’s why I know communities of thriving creatives, of kindred creatives like the Art School and like the Art School Mastermind are so vital to creating this paradigm of thriving creatives. Because the Art School is full of the kind of people she describes as the very best sons in the world.

And for that, I am so grateful. And I also know that that required a belief that those kinds of people absolutely exist and would desire to be in community and uplift one another and their creativity and their work in the world.

Belonging to communities, groups like this absolutely will help bring your life into focus, your dream into focus, because everybody there is rallying around that common belief that if it is a sacred dream to you, and it is essential that you follow through on that, it is essential that you align, focus your thoughts, words, feelings, actions, way of being in the world with that dream, because that dream is telling us, this is the truth of you. This is who you really are. This is what is needed in the world. This is what we cannot wait to celebrate.

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. Take this information, apply it to your own life, and make it transformational. That is how together we will move the needle. That’s how together we are building a paradigm of thriving creatives.

So, where I want to begin with this is by again repeating what I shared with you at the beginning of this episode. Take these words. Integrate them. Own them. Get to know them by heart.

My dream will guide me in all ways when I put my foot down, once and for all, and declare, I love my creative life more than I love cooperating with my own oppression.

So, we are going to begin with that kind of sacred commitment and then we are going to follow it up with all kinds of massively magical inspired action, that sort of supernatural kind of follow through that leaves others wondering, what is she having, what is he having, and where can I get myself some of that?

So, you’re going to start first with an awareness building component. And again, as always, a very compassionate nonjudgmental clear-seen awareness component. Asking yourself, answering this, what are the ways I currently cooperate with my own oppression? Where are the ways I’m currently serving my own oppression? And again, just lay it all out there, honesty and without judgment because that is what is going to move us forward.

Next, say, well I have declared that I love my creative life more. And so, what are the ways I am currently showing up that are consistent and aligned with this? What are things that I think, feel, say? What are ways in which I act, don’t act, and behave and just be in the world that say and are consistent, aligned with, “I love this creative life and I love it more than my oppression?”

And next, you are going to create your plan for how you stop cooperating with oppression and instead build up the case, build up the momentum for loving, being somebody who loves their creative life and then creates even more to love. This is where we’re going to dive in a bit to you creating your own massively magical inspired action.

So, write this out. Journal, contemplate, take this for a walk to chew on and respond to this. What are the things that you can do that would make the results, the dream inevitable? How are you going to nurture yourself, nurture your gifts, nurture the dream? And remember this is more than speaking empty and comforting words.

This is the kind of nurture that moves you from one place to another. So, remember some themes we talked about with action, consistency, sometimes there’s the grand gesture. And there is also that action of putting yourself in proximity with others who are going to encourage you, who are going to see that spark you have, acknowledge it, honor it, and believe in it as much as you do.

But it has to start with your belief that that spark is a divine spark. And it has to start with your commitment that you are going to find the place to which you belong and which you can fan those flames and find warmth. Place yourself squarely in that creative ecosystem where that seed of divinity, that dream within you can grow, thrive, flourish, and give light and beauty.

So, again, this last piece, what can you do that would make your dream inevitable? Said another way, how can you live so that it does demonstrate that you love your creative life more than you love cooperating with your own oppression?

This is not only important for your life. We need more of this in the world, more people who insist on living in a way that is aligned with their values and with their vision, rather than cooperating with oppression.

Thank you for listening to another episode. And not just any other episode; the 100^th episode. Thank you for joining me for the celebration of 100 episodes of The Art School Podcast. If you haven’t shared, subscribed, or left a review yet, please join me in The Art School Podcast 100^th episode birthday, and now would be a great time to do that.

I so appreciate you being here as a listener and being a part of this journey with me, a part of this community, a part of this movement. And any inspired, massively magical inspired action that you want to take on behalf of elevating creativity and building this paradigm of thriving creatives, because it is part, an essential part of offering healing and beauty and light and wholeness to the world, I would love for you to do that.

And if you want to take this work deeper, I am so here for that as well. The best way to stay informed of upcoming classes, Art School programs, upcoming mastermind opportunities is to be on my mailing list. So, you can sign up at www.leahcb.com. I also would love to connect with you on social media. On Instagram, I am @leahcb1 and on Facebook as Leah Campbell Badertscher.

Although we also have a private, but open to anyone – you don’t have to be an Art School client or enrolled in any of those programs to take part. And that is the Art School 1 on Facebook. I would love to have you join us there as well.

To close today, I want to share something that seems perfect for this episode, perfect for the 100^th episode in this journey for me personally, for arriving here. And it also came up in the Art School this last week when we were talking about being her now; not waiting to embody the essence of your future self because that is the essence of who you’ve been all along.

And it goes right along with this affirmation of, “I love my creative life more than I love cooperating with my own oppression and completely stated in the affirmative.”

Because you know what is something that your future self, your true self is thinking all day long every day. It’s not self-reflective, self-obsessive thoughts. It’s thoughts that come that are generated by flow, when you are more at home in the universe, more yourself in the universe than any other time, and you also think less about yourself.

So, it is that consciousness that is free from that debilitating preface of self-consciousness. And that thought that he, she, they are thinking – and not even thinking, it just flows from them as they are in their element, is, “I love my life. I love that I have the opportunity to do this. I love that when adversity comes, I have built these skills. I love that I know I’m resilient. I love that I can trust myself and honor this process. I love that I am here for myself through all the ups and downs.

I love my creative life. I love my life. I love this life right here and now and I truly love that I get to create with you listeners in this way. I have loved this process and I love that you are out there listening. I love all of you and I really hope to connect with you personally someday. I look forward to that.

In the meantime, have a beautiful week, everyone. And I will see you next time.