draft — Rec Center

welcome to the play portal

Week 27
You Were Always The Offering

Dear one, we have made it to the last week of class. Can you believe it? I am so proud of you, for everything you have grown into and through. I am proud of everything you have made, and chose not to make. I am proud that I have gotten to know you, and most importantly, that you have gotten to know yourself.

In this final week of class, I invite you into a practice of re-minding. I invite you to become mindful of where you have been, and where you are going.

Let’s bring our minds to day one...what did you look like then? If we were to sit here on this precipice, gazing out, who can you see in the distance? If we were to turn around, facing a mirror, who do we see today? If we turn, once more, to the road ahead, where are we going?

I invite you to take a moment and write down one thing you admire about each participant in this series. Do you believe in your community? Do you see this within them? Can they see this within you? In your mind’s eye, I invite you to envision every participant. They have been, and will continue to be, your co-pilots on this journey. We are here together. We are in this journey together.

A Prayer for Myself

This is a moment to celebrate. I now invite you to, in your own time, repeat the below prayer for you and you alone.

My identity is beautiful. It is ever shifting, and I acknowledge and make space for my personal discovery, growth and evolution. I am always in process.

I commit to myself.

My voice is a gift. I am worthy of taking up space, of sharing, leading, and listening. My talents are a gift, and are unique to me and me alone.

I commit to myself.

My body is a beautiful body. My body is worthy of love and respect. I am grateful for this beautiful vessel that I inhabit, and the systems that support it.

I commit to myself.

My creativity is inherent and whole. I respect the natural cycles within me, and know that I can tend to my own growth in a way that respects my identity and soul.

I commit to myself.

My thoughts have power, and my mind is a temple. I see my thoughts take shape daily through my actions, words, and feelings. What I think and feel is real and worthy.

I commit to myself.

I choose what I hold on to. I do not have to carry the weight nor opinions of others. My soul is light and free.

I commit to myself.

My heart is a commanding force. My love radiates and shines brilliantly, illuminating the darkest space.

I commit to myself.

I hold the key to my own power. I tend to my own inner flame. I am my own north star.

I commit to myself.

I leave space for the unknown, and all of the wonder that it holds for me.

I commit to myself.

Now, repeat three times:

I commit to myself. I am my own offering.

Celebrating

As we have explored in the past several months, every day is worth celebrating. In that spirit, I invite you now into a practice of celebration.

Who were you when you entered Free/Play six months ago? How have you grown since?
What is one lesson you have learned about yourself in the past six months?
Browse through previous HW and readings- what is one lesson you can return to in the future? What is one new tool that truly worked for you?
What was your dream in September? How as your dream evolved since? Why are you proud of yourself?

You Were Always The Offering

Dear one, you were always the offering. It was always you. Not what you did or what you made, but who you are. The offering is tapping into the internal to bring it into the external. Just by being you, you are the offering. The world needs you. The world needs the greatest gift you could provide- your existence.

My greatest hope, is that through this class, you have learned it is not about what you do, but who you are. May our creations and actions merely be an external reflection of the true offering- our hears, our souls, our spirits.

And with that, I invite you back into play. This work, this whole class, is a cycle. Just as we reach the end, we realize it is only the beginning again. As we wrap up one cycle, let’s ease into play, and spark a new journey on this ever-growing spiral staircase.

I love you all.

xo
Alex

play practice

Create a play practice!
Do one thing, everyday. It should be easy. It should be fun. If it feels like work move onto something else. For me it’s dancing. I never, ever feel like dancing is work. Do it everyday. No time limit, but something that feels manageable. Document it. Try to post it somewhere, share it with a community. Example: Dance every morning for 30 seconds, record it, post it to instagram. OR, grab a sketchbook. Everyday play one song, and for the length of it draw freely with crayons or markers. Post it to Instagram. OR Take a photo of a different color every day. OR Lie on the ground and sing a silly song. OR write a short poem. OR Walk aimlessly. OR play fetch with your dog. OR try to catch cheerios in your mouth.

CREATING A PLAY PRACTICE

First of all, what is a play practice? A play practice is something you (try) to do everyday that is just for you. It cannot be towards any particular product or result (but, may accidentally create beautiful results anyway!) It should be something that brings you joy. It should be something that you would do regardless if you were getting paid.

A play practice…

SHOULD… • be joyful (but might not always feel good, that’s ok) • be unrestricted • remind us of freedom • (can) feel silly • be easy to execute • (can) remind us of our child self • be something you WANT to do • be something you would do everyday if you weren’t getting paid • be unique, or not! SHOULDN’T… • be product-focused • feel like work • create stress or pressure • be a burden • create hyper-focus • be stagnant • (have to be) the same thing everyday (although it can be) • (doesn’t have to) look like other people’s play practice

A Play Practice is something that is both a tool, and the end result in and of itself. It is both the final product, and the guiding light.

Some prompts to help you develop a play practice…

Write down 5 careers you wish you had. Now, for each activity, write down 1-3 activities for each career that you could implement today…can any of these be something you do every day? (for instance, if I wanted to be an astronaut, can I spend 5 minutes every night watching the stars? Can I create stories about the constellations? Can I draw the constellations everyday that I see? Or, if I wanted to be a film maker, can I take a 30 second video everyday on my iphone that captures me mood?)
Write down 5 activities you loved to do as a child…how can you do this today? Did you love playing in the park? Can you start a collection of leaves that you find 4/13 and pick up one leaf everyday? Can you add it to a scrap book and write about each leaf? Give it a name? Or, if you loved singing in choir can you find a quiet place outside to sing to yourself for 5 minutes everyday?
Look at your daily activities. Can you take any of those activities and reverse them or make them absurd? Can you eat a meal in a new place everyday and then journal about how it makes you feel? When you write emails can you dance while you type?
Write down 5 creators you admire (can be any medium, food, dance, acting, photo, writing, etc). What about their practices do you admire? Can you imitate those practices in some way? For instance, I love Marina Abramović, can I sit and be present with a different plant for 1 minute everyday then journal about it? Or, one of my favorite dancers is Pina Bausch. Can I turn one of my daily activities (like typing an email) into a 30 second improvised dance?
Can you create a prompt to do one thing everyday? For instance, can you free write about delight everyday (like Ross Gay)? Can you draw one thing that brought you joy everyday? Can you take a photo of one thing that surprised you everyday? Can you share a free dance on instagram everyday (like Marlee Grace)?

This list goes on and on! I hope this helps you cultivate a play practice, and if not, REACH OUT!!! We are all here to help you discover YOUR play practice!

A quick note on ATROPHY: When we were children play felt easy and natural. This is no accident, and there is nothing wrong with you if play feels unnatural now. This is simply because when we were children we played all day/everyday…and thus our “play muscles” were stronger. When you use the same muscle in the body often, it becomes stronger. Using that muscle feels easier. It feels natural. And thus, we must strengthen our play muscle by doing a little everyday!

There is a reason we call it a play PRACTICE. Practice means doing it often, and expanding as time goes on. We practice to get stronger.

Have you ever broken a bone? If so, do you remember getting the cast cut off? I do… my arm was small and weak, shriveled and pale. I hadn’t used my arm in 8 weeks, and the muscles had begun to atrophy. The body is smart…we only use the energy we need. If we sense that something has become vestigial we will allow it to weaken and send energy elsewhere. Likewise, as we have grown and given our attention to more “productive” activities, we have sent our energy to “the grind” (ie, our jobs, work, caring for others, etc) and allowed our creative muscles to atrophy.

But the beginning of atrophy doesn’t necessarily mean death. We can strengthen these muscles everyday. Like the first run after a long break, it may feel challenging, even painful at first. But with each day, it will become easier, more natural, second nature.

So give yourself the grace and patience today to exercise practice within your play. If it feels hard, that’s ok. If you are intimidated, that is also ok. Just try...a little everyday. You will get stronger. Play will become easier, until it is simply that- ease. Let’s find ease together!

Week 23
Sustaining

The Spiral Staircase

As I mentioned in the beginning of class, everything we do here is cyclical. Consider everything in life a spiral staircase. With every step, every moment of growth, we step up one stair. However, this staircase isn’t linear, we eventually return to the same views, only from a different perspective and higher distance.

Have you ever returned to a problem in life (a habit, a thought, a way of being) and thought '“I thought I had left this behind! I thought I outgrew this…why is this happening again?”- THIS is the spiral staircase.

It is not that you are a failure, or that you are incapable of change, you have actually leveled up, you are at a higher view, but all lessons in life must be revisited in order to highlight our growth.

This is what sustainable action is all about. It is all the spiral staircase.

It is the “leveling up” and the “revisiting” that we all experience. It is coming back to our dreams, revisiting our why’s. When we feel we have come to the end of our path, we realize that it is actually a moment to go back to the beginning.

So friends, as we near the end of our journey together, I want to invite you back into the beginning. In order to create sustainable growth, and continue the momentum we have created, let’s revisit our purpose. It is through this process of cyclical, spiralic growth that we create a life-long practice that aligns the internal with the external, and the self with the collective.

Pssst- how interesting is it that one of the representations of a double infinity symbol is the same as our Ikigai maps?
An ever-looping cycle of moving from self to others, and internal to external.

Revisiting The Dream

In the spirit of revising, I invite you to return to locating your dreams.

What captures your heart, brain, spirit and compels you towards action?
Sit quietly for 5-10 minutes and allow your brain to wander. What is the dreamiest version of your life that you can imagine? Has it changed since September?
What is the truest, most authentic version of your life that you can remember?
AND, most importantly, what EMOTIONS do these dreams inspire?

Let’s return to our lesson on dreams…

In order to move towards our dreams, the most important thing is to connect with them. We connect with our biggest, dreamiest dreams by connecting with the emotion they inspire.

Our Dreams exist within our THOUGHTS —> Which inspires EMOTION —> Which inspires ACTION to be taken —>
—> Which LEADS TO A RESULT.

If we are not connecting with emotion-fueled dreams, there is unlikely to be momentum.

What is YOUR dreamiest dream currently? When you let yourself dream, what do you see? What is the truest version of your life?

Re-visiting your WHY

Your why is your spiral staircase, it is the path you will always be one, the path that leads you in life. It is never about the what, the how, or even the who…but the WHY.

Why do what we do? Why create an offering? Why make art? Why create change?

I encourage you to participate in an exercise I call The Big Why.

Please answer the following questions….

Why does your dreamiest dream (or offering) matter?
- My dreamiest dream or offering matters because…
  - Why?
    - (Answer here to Why? If Why doesn’t make sense grammatically, consider replacing it with “Why does that matter?” or something similar. Example: My dreamiest dream matters because I think all people deserve to play. WHY? All people deserve to play because human beings deserve time to have fun and rest. WHY? Because humans were not mean to labor! Why?…so on and so forth)
      - Why?
        Your next answer here.
        Why?
        Your next answer here.
        Why?
        Your next answer here.
        Your next answer here.
        YOUR BIG WHY!!!!!

I would argue that your big why is your spiral staircase. It is the path you are on, at least currently, in life, and a guiding force in why you do what you do.

Write down your big why. Post it above your desk or in your studio. When you feel uncertain, lost, or confused, return to your why.

Long Term Dreams, Short Term Goals

As I mentioned above, everything we do in this class is about creating sustainability, not one-off action. It is important to distinguish the difference between dreams and goals.

Dreams are the big-picture, the ever-moving, intangible, heart-gripping motivation. Dreams are both an ever-moving target, always shifting as we aim for them, and something that we are constantly in co-creation with.

Goals are the day-to-day. Goals should include drinking water, sleeping, etc. Goals can include elements of the dream (email a client today), but are always a suggestion, not a requirement. Think of goals like target practice, we are always aiming, but it is called practice for a reason. If we miss, we have another arrow to shoot.

One Small Thing Everyday

This is a moment to commit to yourself. To one small thing every day. We are committing to our lily pad. We are committing to our inner child.

After our time together, all I ask is that you make your commitment to yourself everyday. Commit to where you are. Commit to who you are. Commit to one small act of kindness towards self everyday. Commit to one act of creativity.

What is one way you can commit to yourself today?

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week nine (the bolded text below).

Please note, if your offering is specifically and purposefully vague, please feel to take what you need from the below timeline and discard the rest! We can work together directly to ensure you have a timeline that works for you.

Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving (Focus on Sustainability!)
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating (Focus on Sustainability!) **Note, no class this week!
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.

Returning to Play Practice

As a reminder, play practice is your ticket to joy, ease, and understanding your offering. It may seem counter intuitive, but your play practice and your offering “work” should be inseparable. Your play practice should fuel and inspire the offering, and the offering should incorporate elements of your play practice.

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 23
Locating the Gaps, Navigating the Fear

Go into the gaps. If you can find them; they shift and vanish too.
Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the soil, turn and unlock—more
than a maple—a universe. This is how you spend the afternoon, and
tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the afternoon. You
can’t take it with you.

Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Gaps and Gaps

When I originally conceived Free/Play, wrote out the curriculum, I noted that at the end of our time together we would notice the gaps. Originally, this meant noticing what was missing in our offering, noticing what we needed to do still.

But the more I meditated on it, the more I realized we were locating a different type of gap, perhaps we were seeking it. Perhaps the gap was the thing.

Gaps and fear go hand in hand. They are the unknown, the space we didn’t know existed. The gaps were the space where no one has gone, and we are meant to seek. There is fear in uncertainty. There is fear in the unknown.

Let’s pull back- class is almost over. We have almost completed out 6-months together. What is the unknown on the other end of the threshold? After class is completed, what is the portal you are entering? What is the gap?

The gap is the true space we are moving towards. Not the offering, but where the offering takes us. The offering is a journey, one that inevitably brings us back home.

Your Offering and The Unknowns

We will now zoom in and look at the little gaps, the small unknowns. What is still unknown within your offering?

What questions do you still have in regards to your offering?
What still feels unclear about your offering?
What is the unknown territory your offering is moving into?
What is the fear the unknown is bringing up?

How can uncertainty benefit your offering?
What unknown territory would be exciting to explore within your offering?
What unknown road is your offering leading you towards?
What might be the next path your offering will take you down?
How can your offering continue to grow?

Welcoming the Surrender, Welcoming the Unknown

This class is not about making a one-off offering. It is about rewriting our relationship to cycles, to self & others. It is about welcoming the connection to the past, and seeing how it impacts the future. It is about healing the present, and thus healing your history.

We create offerings to remind ourselves that we can make our internal desires external, and become abundant in the process. Abundance, as we have discussed, is a wave, and one that we must ride.

The offering is an opening, an opening into another world, another space, another way of thinking and living. There is a reason I called it an offering, and not an offer. It is an offering to self, and offering to others.

What does surrender mean to me? How can I give myself to this new way of living?
What is the relationship between surrender and relax for you?
Revisit your inner child, are they grasping tightly or allowing in this new way of living?
What is the reminder or medicine your offering is bringing? Who is receiving the medicine? How can both community and self receive?
How can you develop a relationship of TRUST with your offering? What are you trusting within your offering currently?

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week eight (the bolded text below).

Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving (Focus on Sustainability!)
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating (Focus on Sustainability!)
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 22
Abundance

Abundance and Offerings

This week we will be diving into the concept of abundance! Why abundance, and why now? You are likely in a place with your offering where either a) it is beginning to generate something (money, support, resources, etc) OR b) you might be able to imagine how your offering could be generative. In order to bring ourselves into a place of receptivity, we must first examine our relationship to abundance, and what we are actively creating in the world.

Some Notes on Abundance

FYI, the below is taken nearly directly from Play/Ground, so if you participated in this workshop previously, it will be a brief reminder/refresher!

Wanting and Appreciation are not Oil and Water. You can be be appreciative and want at the same time. One does not negate the other. In fact, if you take anything from this class it is that we can always hold two ideas true at the same time.

You are not selfish for wanting. You are not a bad person for envisioning a life of pure abundance. Did I just feel your cringe? If you did, know that many do when I introduce this word. Abundance is such a buzz word. But that is precisely what we are here to cultivate in this class. Let’s first get clear on the word abundance.

Abundance comes from the latin root abundantia, meaning- ‘overflowing’, originally from the verb abundare, or abound: ‘overflow’, from ab- ‘from’ + undare ‘surge’ (from unda ‘a wave’).

HOW MAGICAL IS THAT?! ABUNDANCE IS THE OVERFLOW. THE SURGE OF A WAVE. THE RUSH OF FLOW. How do we find a flow in our lives that creates an overflow of emotions, support, creativity and absolutely radical joy???

Ok, maybe a few more related words in case abundance doesn’t work for you! Replace as necessary! -bounty-myriad-plenty-plethora-prosperity-ampleness-copiousness-plenitude-prosperousness-thriving-flourish-flow-overflow-swell-hum…(I could keep going but I won’t)

As we continue to create our garden of unabashed ABUNDANCE and JOY (or, your offering!!), let’s think about the “structure” we might need to support our growth. Like all classes that I teach, we begin not with the structure, but allowing our creativity and ideas to flow freely. We allow our garden to begin its growth before we build the walls that contain it. This may seem counter-intuitive, but this is in my opinion the #1 way to ensure pure abundance.

When we hyper focus on the goal or outcome of a product, we are creating a container. We are, in essence, building walls that need not exist. These are limitations. That is not to say that we shouldn’t be goal-oriented, but instead I am suggesting that we build our containers in a different way. As you continue to define, build, and develop your offering, I encourage you to let go of any outcomes. I encourage you to hold these values close to your heart:

Build your structure/goals around creative growth instead of the other way around
Give yourself ROOM...you may surprise yourself in your expansiveness
When walls are removed, we allow ourselves to flow (ie, abundance!)
When we hyper-focus, the only outcome we can see is that narrative. The world is so expansive! Why limit yourself to that which the brain knows? Our brains are so limited and human! Ah, what limited and beautiful humans we are! How lucky! How frustrating!
Walls are often created due to fear. Think of all of the ways in which walls reflect fear- cages, fear of the elements, fear of spilling over, etc. Obviously these walls we create, both physically and metaphorically, are also forms of protection. Can you recognize the difference between a real and perceived fear? Where can you break down your own walls?

Why “Manifesting Abundance” isn’t enough

Unfortunately, abundance isn’t tackled in a very accessible, or often safe, way for most humans. This is not your fault. The majority of the messaging we receive is that “if you do not have a lot of money, it is your fault. You just aren’t “manifesting” hard enough,” (yuck).

I would argue that a) the systems we are born into are not conducive to our growth, especially if we are in anyway marginalized b) the idea of manifesting abundance lacks the structures and security needed to support what you do generate or attract.

Your Garden of Abundance

Let’s think of your life’s “abundance” as a garden. There will naturally be plants that are growing, even thriving, plentifully. There will be seeds you may want to plant in order to see new growth. There may be invasive weeds that are taking up space.

You cannot hope to plant something new in a garden unless you clear out old growth or dead growth and make room.

You cannot plant something new unless you have space to plant it.

You cannot continue growth unless there is nourishment for it to thrive.

THE VERY SAME IS TRUE OF YOUR ABUNDANCE. MANIFESTING ABUNDANCE IS NOT ENOUGH. YOU NEED TO CREATE THE SPACE, CLEAR THE OLD HABITS, AND INVITE IN NEW WAYS OF MOVING WITH ABUNDANCE. MANIFESTING ALONE WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH.

So, what does this actually look like?

Get clear on what is already present in your garden (ie, your life). Notice it. Take stock.
Introduce a sense of gratitude for what you already have, what is already thriving in your life.
Get clear on what you envision or wish to plant in your life. What do you want to see more of? What do you want to see thriving in your garden?
Notice and get clear with the weeds or compostable items in your garden. These may be old structures, habits, thoughts, or systems that no longer serve you, or may be leaching nutrients from your “soil”. What would it look like to weed and compost these weeds?
Given the weeding and composting, what kind of room is now created in your garden? What might you want to plant now that you have the space?
Noticing what kids of nutrients or fertilizer might help further the growth. This might be new systems, new thought patterns, habits, etc.
Now, notice what is growing.
Repeat as necessary!

Your Offering and Abundance

Your offering will generate abundance if you allow it, but as we always do in this class series, we must also notice how it is creating abundance for self and others. How does your offering invite in abundance for you? How does it invite in abundance for others? What is the nature of your abundance, can you name it?

CHALLENGE: Answer the following questions about your personal garden of abundance!

What is already growing in great abundance in your life? This can be financial, emotional, physical, etc etc
What are the “seeds” you want to plant in your life? What do you WANT to see growing abundantly?
What weeds need to be cleared in order to make room for new growth?
What old habits or ways of thinking can be composted in order to make room for new growth?
How might our “weeds” (our old thought patterns and habits) have benefited us in the past? Why do we no longer need them to thrive?
What kind of nourishment or fertilizer can we bring in to foster healthy growth? This might be new patterns, habits, thoughts, systems of support, etc.
What is the abundance your offering is inviting in?
What is the abundance your offering is creating for others?

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week seven (the bolded text below).

Week 7: Abundance & Mindset
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I want my offering to create/generate an abundance of ____________
- I can ask my community to support my abundance by ____________
- I can create abundance for others by ____________
- I am already growing ____________ in abundance.
- I want to grow ____________ in abundance.
- I can weed and compost ____________ in order to make space for abundance.
Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving (Focus on Sustainability!)
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating (Focus on Sustainability!)
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
Week 11: RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
Week 12: Final day of class
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- My biggest takeaway from my offering is ____________ .

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 22
The Big Ask

Call To Action

As we approach the final month (!!) of our workshop together, we will be shifting from the internal to the external. We have put in the work to seek community and support, and now we engage in the art of asking.

In the world of business, we would call this a “call to action”- but in our world, perhaps we can rename it. A call to play? A call to hold hands? A call to be seen?

what is YOUR call to action?

Regardless of your offering’s nature, whether it is personal or community-focused, it will always impact your outside world. What is essential is knowing how you are asking the world to engage with your work.

CHALLENGE: Consider making a list of all of the ways you want others to engage with you. This could be buying your products, taking your classes, hiring you, commenting on instagram, or event just supporting you through kind, personal affirmations.

Using the above list, what is the #1 way you want others to engage with you? Pick one and circle it!

What is the gift?

An offering is a gift towards self and others. An offering is a gift. It is a gift for you and your community. Before we can feel confident in asking our audience to engage with us, we must be clear on what is the gift we are both receiving?

How do you benefit from asking others to join you?
How does your community benefit from joining you?
How is asking your community to engage a symbiotic relationship?

Asking can feel shameful. Asking can feel like taking. Asking can feel selfish. I am here to remind you that if you are engaging from a place of cyclical healing and symbiosis this is never a true concern. This is why we do the work of recognizing how our internal desires mimic those of our community, and how our external actions heal both self and others.

What’s your sign at the market?

Full disclosure, this idea is borrowed from Lexi Merritt of Pretty Decent Internet Cafe. I love her and her value-centered business!

Let’s imagine you are at a Farmer’s Market, Craft Show, or Creative Flea Market. You have a table to showcase your offering. What is on the table? What are you sharing with others? Most importantly- what does the sign say in front of your booth?

Example: Lexi mentioned that her booth would have a big sign that says “What do you secretly want to do all day?”

This “sign” is the first step of the ask- it is a gentle way to invite engagement. What does YOUR sign say?

CHALLENGE: Come up with a list of 10 “signs” (ie, invitations to engage) that might entice your community to engage with you.

examples I might use for Rec Center:

You were not meant to do this darn thing alone!
Go back to pre-school!
You were meant to THRIVE, not SURVIVE.
Where Pre-School meets Art-School!
Who do you want to be when you grow up?

Make it more FUN.

Let’s return to the idea of FUN. Engagement should be fun. Asking should be fun. Connecting should be fun.

This process will be unique to you. Everyone has a different level of comfort or discomfort around the idea of asking other’s to engage. What feels good for you? What are ways you can ask others to engage with your work that feels nourishing and exciting? What are some of the ways you have been asked to participate in the past that feel exciting?

Some examples of ways to ask: direct email communication, host a party, share a funny video, open q&a, fireside chat, tea time, creative writing newsletter, send a love letter, write a poem, etc etc etc

CHALLENGE: List your favorite ways of asking, being asked, and engaging. Can you pick ONE method of asking and invite someone to play with you this week? That might mean sharing your art on IG and asking for comments, that might mean writing a love letter to your email list and asking them to engage in a new class, that might mean sharing a song over text to a friend and asking for their opinion. THE POINT IS TO PRACTICE ASKING. TO PRACTICE INVITING. TO LEAN INTO THE DISCOMFORT, AND EMBRACE A FUN MESS!

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week six (the bolded text below).

Week 6: The big ASK, how to resource and ask others to join you
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider how you can invite others to your offering (whether that is to participate, engage, witness, view, or support)
  - I can invite my community to participate in my offering by ____________
  - I can demonstrate what my work for my community by ____________
  - ____________ would be a fun way to ask others to join me!
- Consider how uncertainty can play a role in the “ask”
  - I am afraid if ____________ happens, my offering will not succeed.
  - The uncertain variable in my offering is ____________
  - If the “worst case scenario” happened, I have a plan and could ____________ instead.
Week 7: Abundance & Mindset
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I want my offering to create/generate an abundance of ____________
- I can ask my community to support my abundance by ____________
- I can create abundance for others by ____________
Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving (Focus on Sustainability!)
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating (Focus on Sustainability!)
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
Week 11: RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
Week 12: Final day of class
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- My biggest takeaway from my offering is ____________ .

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 21
Community, Communication, Connection, Oh My!

Hi Dear One! Wow, how far we have come! Let’s take a moment to check in with our bodies and see how we are feeling.

Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves that….
a) You do not need to “finish” your offering before the end of class. This work is ongoing.
b) YOU ARE YOUR OWN OFFERING. If you walk away from this class with exclusively a greater sense of self, then you have “done your work.”

Ultimately, this class is about recognizing that what we give ourselves trickles out to our community, and that the greatest gift we can give ourselves is aligning our internal values with our external actions.

So, let’s take a moment dear one: are you aligning your internal values with your external actions? IF this means creating something that external (ie, a class, a piece of art, etc) to represent your values….AMAZING. If not, do not worry about it. This class is not meant to create shame, pressure, or stress.

YOU ARE YOUR OWN OFFERING. YOUR OFFERING IS A COMMITMENT TO SELF. YOUR OFFERING IS ALIGNING THE INTERNAL WITH THE EXTERNAL. YOUR OFFERING IS SUPPORTING YOUR PAST THROUGH PRESENT ACTION. YOUR OFFERING IS BEING ACCOUNTABLE WITH YOURSELF AND FOR YOURSELF.

you are your own offering.

….and with that, we will move into a new week where we will explore community, and how external community can be invited into the support of our internal and external alignment.

Two Types of Support: The Team & The Community

Last week week we explored how we could lean into the support of a team. This week, we will look beyond how we can receive direct support (ie, tech support, experiential support, etc), and into a space where indirect support plays a role. This indirect support comes in the form of community- when we have a community that mirrors our internal self, our internal desires, our internal values, it creates a space where we can grow and expedite our alignment. We also create an environment where, should we choose, we have a group of individuals ready to offer financial support. This may come in the form of clients, students, participants, shoppers, etc.

This week we will focus on the community.

Finding Your People

Let’s return to the work we did in week 16, and in turn, the week we did early on in the course. Return to your WHO…. who is in your community? How do they mimic your inner child? How do they mirror your internal values?

WHO are you inviting into your community?

Now, let’s figure out how to reach them…

Where does your community hang out in the physical world?
Where does your community hang out in the digital world?
What might your community value?
What might your community want to achieve or receive?
What other communities (digital or physical) might “your people” belong to?

CHALLENGE: Connect with 3 new people that are in your community. This might mean joining another community, following a new account, going to a new restaurant…etc. Connect with at least 3 people directly (message, phone call, in person convo, etc) and tell them about yourself, your values, and your offering.

Your Content is an Invitation

Ok, let’s just name the elephant in the room- social media sucks. But it can also be wonderful, nourishing, and act as connective tissue between you and your community! Your “content’ (or, in other words, what you put out into the world in the form of media) is an invitation for your community to engage with you.

Whatever you put out into the world is an opportunity to connect. Whatever you put out into the world is an opportunity to align with your values. Whatever you put out into the world is an opportunity to share your magic with others.

CHALLENGE: Finish the following sentences…

I just want my community to know that…
I believe in a world where….
If I could offer my community one piece of advice it would be…
I want to show my community that…
More than anything, I believe….

^^ The above prompts are wonderful ways to lead with an invitation, and to lead with values in your content. Stuck on how to share your inner world with the outer community? START WITH YOUR VALUES.

You are NOT your content

A quick note: YOU ARE NOT YOUR CONTENT. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to be the central figure in our content, invitations, or media. This popular though is what causes us to commodify bodies, especially female, trans, and BIPOC, and bodies of color.

Want to connect with your community? Lead with your work and values. Does this mean you have to completely get rid of selfies or personal shares? Absolutely not! Rather, it is a reminder that you do not need to sell yourself in order to communicate your work, your values, and your dreams.

PS- Want to learn more about why we avoid this? Check out Kelly Diels’s writing on FLEB (Feminist Lifestyle Empowerment Brand) here.

MCFA- Make Content Fun Again!

(yes, that was a MAGA reference. I am triggered already, lol)

Of course, content creation (ie, the invitation!) is not just about advertising- content creation can also be an art form in and of itself!

What types of “quick shares” feel good for me? Posting pictures? Making videos? Sharing poems?
What feels more nourishing? Long form or short form shares?
What is one playful approach I could take towards community engagement and content creation?
What something I love to do everyday? How can I use this as a vehicle to share my values with others? (Example: I eat a bowl of cereal everyday. What would it look like to have a Cereal-Share Monday? What would it look like to watch cartoons, eat cereal, and podcast?)
How can you share from a value-centered place? What kinds of content would be nourishing to share? What would be fun and exciting to share?

Work LESS: Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle!

Creating content should be LESS work, not more! If our ultimate aim is to share and connect, we shouldn’t be so burnt out simply by the invitation itself! When creating value-centered content, consider…

How can the work I am doing in class (home wonderings, journaling, etc) become content? How can I reuse it?
How can my daily practice become content (morning pages, emails, texts, etc)?
Can one piece of content be used over several channels (a newsletter that is broken into multiple instagram posts? An email that becomes inspiration for a podcast?)
How can one media-moment (ie, instagram post) be broken up over multiple moments? Can a podcast have two parts? Can a newsletter be serialized?
Can my offering development also become content (descriptions, values, etc)?

The aim here is to connect from a value-centric space, and to work as little as possible. Your content, media, and “marketing” is just another way to align the internal with the external.

CHALLENGE: Pick one media channel (podcasts, newsletters, IG, TikTok, Webinars, etc etc etc) and share at least one value-centered piece of content over the next week. This content should be an invitation for your audience to engage and share in your internal values.

Example:

Share photos on instagram of your personal art practice. Give us a snippet about why this practice is important to you, and what you have discovered about yourself.
Create a 1 minute youtube video sharing your personal world view, and then connect it back to the retreat you will be offering your community.
Record a 5 minute podcast and tell a story about your childhood- invite others to engage in your journey as you write your book!
Create a newsletter with a snippet from your new Zine collection, share why it matters to you!

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week one (the bolded text below).

Week 5: Community & Communication- social media, content, and creation
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider brainstorming where your “community” hangs out, especially in regards to communication, media, and social media.
  - The following social media channels reflect my vision and values already ____________
  - The following social media channels reflect my aesthetic or vision ____________
  - I would imagine that my community and peers might hang out in ____________ and follow ____________
  - I would imagine that my community would seek advice or inspiration from ____________
  - I would imagine that my community likes to engage or receive information by ____________
Week 6: The big ASK, how to resource and ask others to join you
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider how you can invite others to your offering (whether that is to participate, engage, witness, view, or support)
  - I can invite my community to participate in my offering by ____________
  - I can demonstrate what my work for my community by ____________
  - ____________ would be a fun way to ask others to join me!
- Consider how uncertainty can play a role in the “ask”
  - I am afraid if ____________ happens, my offering will not succeed.
  - The uncertain variable in my offering is ____________
  - If the “worst case scenario” happened, I have a plan and could ____________ instead.
Week 7: Abundance & Mindset
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I want my offering to create/generate an abundance of ____________
- I can ask my community to support my abundance by ____________
- I can create abundance for others by ____________
Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
Week 11: RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
Week 12: Final day of class
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- My biggest takeaway from my offering is ____________ .

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 20
You Do Not Need To Do This Alone!

Hi there! How are you feeling today friend? Let’s take a moment to let it all in- and let it all out. Shall we breathe together?

Breathe in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. Repeat 3 times!

How are you feeling now?

Sometimes, in the midst of developing a project, it is important to take a step back and BREATHE. When you are feeling dis-regulated, do not forget to breathe!

Identifying the “Gaps”

Using last week’s asset survey, let’s begin to assess some of the “gaps” in knowledge, skills, or resources you might have. Let’s take a step back to see the absolute essential resources needed to ensure we are aligning our internal desires to our external actions (note: return to Unit 1’s Heart Pleasure vs Body Pleasure to check in regarding internal thoughts and external actions!). Accountability is not about being accountable to anyone but yourself- your desires, your values, your goals.

Have you found the “required” items or skills that you need to “acquire”? Great! Let’s move on.

Let’s check in with our inner child. It is common at this point to feel a big wave of fear and anxiety- how can you possible gain these skills? These resources? The inner child needs safety, and feeling a sense of “lack” can throw you into a tornado of self doubt when faced with under-resourcing, or perceived under-resourcing. (Challenge: Can you remember back to a time when you felt under-supported or under-resourced as a child? What emotions did you feel? What did you need to feel successful or resourced? How is that feeling connected to today’s emotions? How can you give your inner child a sense of safety right now?)

Here’s the thing, dear one! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE. In my opinion, everything worth doing is also a collaboration. You offering is still true to you even if you ask for help.

So, this week, we are going to practice first recognizing who can help, and then asking for help.

Creating the Dream Team

Let’s start by recognizing who is on our dream team! For each of the below “archetypes” please write down 1-3 individuals that you know (acquaintances totally count! as do “friends of friends” or business connections). Please also note how these individuals might be able to help support you with your offering.

The Teacher
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Healer
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Coach
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Organizer
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Leader
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Helper
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Tech Guru
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Creative
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Designer
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Knowledge Holder
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Cheerleader
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Guardian
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Community Partner
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Business Partner
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Business Guru
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Public Servant
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Collaborator
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Financial Advisor
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Gadget Guru
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Advocate
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________
The Writer
- Who are they? ____________
- How can they help? ____________

Wonderfully done! Now…it’s time to ASK for help.

UH OH, SOMEBODY CALL THE FRAUD POLICE!

“The Fraud Police are the imaginary, terrifying force of 'real' grown-ups who you believe - at some subconscious level - are going to come knocking on your door in the middle of the night, saying:
We've been watching you, and we have evidence that you have NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DOING. You stand accused of the crime of completely winging it, you are guilty of making shit up as you go along, you do not actually deserve your job, we are taking everything away and we are TELLING EVERYBODY.”
― Amanda Palmer, The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

What is the narrative you have in your head about asking for help? We have all absorbed narratives over the years about asking for help, and we often carry it with us to this day.

Let’s think back- what is one time in your childhood that asking for help was punished or resulted in a negative consequence? What narrative was formed as a result? Perhaps this meant having a guardian tell us “not to ask stupid questions”, or being shamed for not knowing the answer. Take a moment to journal about this.

Now, using the following journal prompts, let’s explore your relationship to asking for help. In your journal, complete the following sentences…

The number one thing I am afraid to ask for help with is…
If I ask for help I might…
If I ask for help someone might…
If I ask for help someone might realize…
I am afraid to ask for help because…
If I ask for help I might find out….

Let’s go back to these questions. For each one, ask yourself a) Is it true? b) Is it helpful? If either of those answers are NO, let’s rebuttal! In you journal, consider having a back and forth discussion until you can end the conversation with a helpful affirmation.

Example:
”If I as for help someone might realize that I am not as accomplished as I want others to think I am!”
”Sure, that is true, but isn’t everyone on their own journey? Don’t you deeply care about being in process/progress? Isn’t that what you teach?”
”True, but that’s just for me to tell my clients. As a coach I should be perfect!”
”Hmm…isn’t the best way to help your clients to demonstrate it yourself first?”
”I suppose that is true…and I do tell my clients the same thing!”
”You demonstrate that we are ALL in progress/process by asking for help. That way your clients can do the same.”
”That’s true, and that is what I want for all of us. The brave and vulnerable thing here is asking for help I guess!”
”It is safe to do the brave and vulnerable thing- to ask for help.”
”Yes, when I ask for help I demonstrate vulnerability, because every human deserves to enjoy the process.”

See how that worked? Give it a try!

“From what I've seen, it isn't so much the act of asking that paralyzes us--it's what lies beneath: the fear of being vulnerable, the fear of rejection, the fear of looking needy or weak. The fear of being seen as a burdensome member of the community instead of a productive one. It points, fundamentally, to our separation from one another.” ― Amanda Palmer, The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

Connecting With Others Through Gratitude

“Asking for help with shame says:
You have the power over me.
Asking with condescension says:
I have the power over you.
But asking for help with gratitude says:
We have the power to help each other.”
― Amanda Palmer, The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

This all brings me to my final thoughts for the day- how do we ask for help? How do we find the courage to be vulnerable?

We embrace gratitude.

When we approach with gratitude, we approach relationships from a cyclical lens. We see that every ask is also a give.

Challenge: return to the above list. Why are you grateful for them? Why might they be grateful for you? Imagine an exchange with each individual in which asking for help can be a compassionate act towards self and others.

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week one (the bolded text below).

Week 4: Cultivating Community- Where are we gaining support?
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Write all of the skills needed to complete your offering as desired. Write all of the skills you currently feel confident offering.
  - Where are there gaps? Complete the following sentence…. In order to complete my offering, I may need to seek support from someone who can ____________
  - I can find support for ____________ by reaching out to ____________ or researching ____________ .
  - If you do not need direct support, consider who you can lean on for advice or mentorship.
    - I am can ask ____________ for emotional suppor.
    - I can ask ____________ for technical support.
  - You may also consider who and where you are seeking inspiration.
    - I am inspired by the following people or organizations ____________ because ____________ .
Week 5: Community & Communication- social media, content, and creation
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider brainstorming where your “community” hangs out, especially in regards to communication, media, and social media.
  - The following social media channels reflect my vision and values already ____________
  - The following social media channels reflect my aesthetic or vision ____________
  - I would imagine that my community and peers might hang out in ____________ and follow ____________
  - I would imagine that my community would seek advice or inspiration from ____________
  - I would imagine that my community likes to engage or receive information by ____________
Week 6: The big ASK, how to resource and ask others to join you
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider how you can invite others to your offering (whether that is to participate, engage, witness, view, or support)
  - I can invite my community to participate in my offering by ____________
  - I can demonstrate what my work for my community by ____________
  - ____________ would be a fun way to ask others to join me!
- Consider how uncertainty can play a role in the “ask”
  - I am afraid if ____________ happens, my offering will not succeed.
  - The uncertain variable in my offering is ____________
  - If the “worst case scenario” happened, I have a plan and could ____________ instead.
Week 7: Abundance & Mindset
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I want my offering to create/generate an abundance of ____________
- I can ask my community to support my abundance by ____________
- I can create abundance for others by ____________
Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
Week 11: RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
Week 12: Final day of class
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- My biggest takeaway from my offering is ____________ .

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 19
Tending Our Gardens- Resources

For those who participated in “Play/Ground”, some items this week will be a little bit of a repeat for you! You may notice some exercises are similar to week 1 of Play/Ground, but now we are utilizing our “gardening” resources to tend to our offering :)

As we develop our offerings, it is important to evaluate our resources. What do we have? What do we need?

Our Creative Garden

I consider this part of our 6-month workshop the “gardening” portion- it is when we plant the seeds, tend to the land, and watch our offerings grow.

Let’s envision we are just beginning to create our very first garden! How do we start? Well, we need to know what we’re even dealing with here! We need to understand what our natural nutrients are. What I mean by this, is that we need to understand what is already a resource in our life, even if we do not see it as such. We need to see how our life, our stories, and our experiences, color and impact how we move through life.

Grab your journal and write down the following…

Your name & pronouns
Where do you live?
Where did you grow up?
Who surrounds you currently? Who surrounded you in the past?
What and where did you study? Keep it broad and define “study” vaguely- this could be emotional learning, academic, or spiritual! What does “learning” mean to you?
What is the land that surrounds you?
Who came before you? Who paved the path for you?
Who do you love? Who loves you?
What makes you happy? What are you good at?
What is your story?
Who is the hero of your story? Who are the antagonists?
What is the central plot point in your story? What are the obstacles?

Now let’s go back and take a look at this list. With each item, see if you can think of 1 or 2 “nutrients” that may have come from this experience. For instance, I live in Los Angeles. One of my “nutrients” is living in a city with such close proximity to nature & culture. My family is nomadic from the Middle East and Sicily. My nutrient is a deeply rooted sense of travel and exploration. I am surrounded by my friend Kristi. She reminds me daily to love the earth. As we can see, a pattern is already beginning to form! I hold deep, deep ties to the earth. This now gives me a greater sense of the inherent nutrients in my “soil, without the need to add anything.

This list can begin to help you understand how your history and story impacts your internal/external resources. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but is the beginning of the gardening process.

Creating A Creative Asset Map

We now have an idea of how our history has impacted who we are, and how we resource. We now move into the “nitty gritty” act of “asset mapping”. In the next exercise, move through each category and name what you currently have acquired/possess/have access to/demonstrate. Then, repeat the same exercise with what is “required” in order to move through/execute your offering.

Support
- Friends
- Family
- Work colleagues
- Partner
- Online communities and forums
- Clubs
- Associations
- Organizations
Internal
- Personal Characteristics
- Skills
- Drive
- Beliefs
- Knowledge
- Wisdom
- Education
- Techniques
- Approaches
- Personal Strengths
- What I enjoy
External
- Access
  - Public Spaces
  - Nature
  - Public Services
  - Private Spaces
  - Private Services
- Time
  - Time available
  - Time I can create
- Possessions/Belongings
  - Technology
  - Money
  - Supplies
  - Physical Space
- Physiology
  - How I use my body
  - How I express emotions
Behavior
- Habits I have formed
- Skills
  - Time management skills
  - Negotiation skills
  - Networking skills
  - Persuasion skills
  - Writing skills
  - Programming skills
  - Marketing skills
  - Communication skills
  - Public speaking skills
  - Creative Skills
  - …and more skills here!
- Motivational Techniques

Comparison of Assets

You should now have two “lists”, one with your “acquired” assets, and another with your “required” assets.

Where is the overlap? This is where you have already acquired your required resources.
Looking at the “required” list, where is there a gap/what have you not already acquired?
Looking at the “non-acquired” required items, which can be replaced with items you have already acquired? (For instance, if it is required that your offering takes place at a beach, but you only have access to a pond, can the offering take place at a pond instead?)
For items that cannot be replaced, can they be removed entirely?
Finally, if they cannot be removed, and cannot be replaced, where will you acquire them?

You should now have a clear idea of…

What skills and resources you already have, and what will be used in your offering
What skills and resources you need to acquire

If any resources are needed, spend this week acquiring or making a plan to acquire these items.

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week one (the bolded text below).

Week 3: Resources- what do we have and what do we need?
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Take stock of everything that you already have as a resource in your life. What supplies, support, technology, skills, energy, finances, etc do you have in abundance? How can this support your offering?
- Make a list of any and all resources you might need to support your offering. What supplies, technology, support, skills, energy, or finances do you need? Do you need a different space? Do you need more time? Get specific.
  - In order to execute my offering I will need to acquire____________
  - For each item needed, complete the following sentence… I can find ____________ by researching ____________ , asking ____________ , or purchasing ____________ .
Week 4: Cultivating Community- Where are we gaining support?
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Write all of the skills needed to complete your offering as desired. Write all of the skills you currently feel confident offering.
  - Where are there gaps? Complete the following sentence…. In order to complete my offering, I may need to seek support from someone who can ____________
  - I can find support for ____________ by reaching out to ____________ or researching ____________ .
  - If you do not need direct support, consider who you can lean on for advice or mentorship.
    - I am can ask ____________ for emotional suppor.
    - I can ask ____________ for technical support.
  - You may also consider who and where you are seeking inspiration.
    - I am inspired by the following people or organizations ____________ because ____________ .
Week 5: Community & Communication- social media, content, and creation
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider brainstorming where your “community” hangs out, especially in regards to communication, media, and social media.
  - The following social media channels reflect my vision and values already ____________
  - The following social media channels reflect my aesthetic or vision ____________
  - I would imagine that my community and peers might hang out in ____________ and follow ____________
  - I would imagine that my community would seek advice or inspiration from ____________
  - I would imagine that my community likes to engage or receive information by ____________
Week 6: The big ASK, how to resource and ask others to join you
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider how you can invite others to your offering (whether that is to participate, engage, witness, view, or support)
  - I can invite my community to participate in my offering by ____________
  - I can demonstrate what my work for my community by ____________
  - ____________ would be a fun way to ask others to join me!
- Consider how uncertainty can play a role in the “ask”
  - I am afraid if ____________ happens, my offering will not succeed.
  - The uncertain variable in my offering is ____________
  - If the “worst case scenario” happened, I have a plan and could ____________ instead.
Week 7: Abundance & Mindset
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I want my offering to create/generate an abundance of ____________
- I can ask my community to support my abundance by ____________
- I can create abundance for others by ____________
Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
Week 11: RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
Week 12: Final day of class
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- My biggest takeaway from my offering is ____________ .

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 18
Commitments & Timelines

This week we will be shifting our perspective to our own personal commitment to our timeline. It is one thing to create tasks, timelines, and to do’s, and quite another to create consistency and follow through.

Starting a “Mini Practice”

Start with a comically small goal. THIS is your mini practice. This is one thing you will do everyday that aligns with your values, what you want to feel, and what you are dreaming of accomplishing.

Oh, is your protective. angsty teenager coming out to play suddenly? Perhaps they want to do things “their way”, hate sticking to a routine, or want to jump ahead to the end and skip the “small stuff?”

If you are feeling the angsty ground of your teenager, step back and take a moment to consider how they are protecting your inner child. Your angsty inner teenager is the hard shell to your soft inside, they are the protector and will shield their little sibling at all costs. What is the fear that is coming up around small, consistent action? Perhaps your inner child learned early on to not trust themselves, and thus, won’t start a practice in favor of safety. Perhaps they saw their parents working consistently, only to burnout and struggle, and thus you learned to distrust consistency or commitment.

What narratives did you learn from your history, your caregivers, or society about commitment?

What narratives did you learn from your history, your caregivers, or society about consistency?

What narratives did you learn from your history, your caregivers, or society about routine or rhythm?

I encourage you to take the narrative about and spend some time with it, and perhaps soothe your inner child through some of the practices we learned in the first half of our time together. How can you help to show your inner child that by committing to a rhythm you are committing to yourself? How can you help your inner child to see that it is safe to find a rhythm, and that it is safe to commit?

Ok, back to the mini practice! Take a look at your list created from last week, and see if there is one item that could be repeated or built daily. This could be daily writing to build a curriculum. This could be knitting. This could be a daily doodle to build up your tattoo portfolio.

Now, let’s simplify it. As small and simple as possible. What is one thing you can do, everyday (hopefully around the same time!) that will help to build towards a consistent practice? How can you commit to this practice? I would encourage you to make it as small (think comically small!) as possible?

Some examples…

Writing one sentence of copy or content every morning
Spending 30 seconds drawing whatever comes to mind
Text one friend and ask them a very simple research question (ie, “Wha do you love about podcasts?”)
Drink a full glass of water first thing in the day to remind yourself that care is important
Turn your phone on and hum for 30 seconds, record what you hum

See what I mean? SMALL. SIMPLE. Make your mini-practice so easy that you are more than confident that you can accomplish it! Every time you do it, celebrate! Say out loud “great job! I am so proud of you! Look at how committed I am to myself!” If you accidentally miss a day, do not despair! Simply say out loud “That’s ok, we will begin again tomorrow! These things happen!”

IF and only IF it feels good to you, you are welcome to continue working, creating, playing, etc more than the time you set out/task you create. If you write one sentence and are excited, write one more. If you draw for 30 seconds and feel inspired, draw for 30 seconds more. BUT I also want to give you the permission to only do as much as feels good and easy in that moment.

THIS is the mini-practice. The mini practice is what will help you build towards your offering.

Creating a hybrid “Play-Work Practice”

Let’s return to our play practice! The only way for timelines, commitments, and adult-y stuff to work for us is if we make them work FOR us, not against us.

Time travel back to the first few weeks of class, what processes worked for your body? How did you schedule yourself weekly, and what felt good to you? How can you use these practices to inform your current practice around your offering?

Using play practice as a model, how can you incorporate a playful mindset into your “work”? How can work become play?

List what currently feels like “work”. How can you hack each item and turn it into play? For instance, if I hate making weekly outlines, can I turn it into a collage where I literally get to play and create a new piece of art weekly that represents my schedule? Can I simply create the outline while outdoors to brighten my mood?
Can your mini-practice also be a play practice? How can you incorporate elements of presence and pleasure?

Creating Trust

When I was a little kid, my parents had a calendar for me where they placed stars. These stars represented a night in which I slept in my own bed all by myself. As a child, the visual representation of consistency created a sense of trust- when I saw these little green, gold, red, and blue stars, I started to trust that I could sleep in my own bed, I began to trust myself.

How do we create trust internally as we embark on this leg of the journey?

What is one way that you can visually demonstrate trust? A reminder? A calendar with stars? Affirmations on sticky notes? How can you show your body that it is safe to trust?

Creating Accountability

Now, more than ever, we need accountability! When I did a “deep dive” into the meaning of the word accountable, I kept coming back to the same thing: when we are accountable, we are able to answer.

When I mean by that, is that accountability is not action based. Instead, what in suggests is that we bring a sense of intentionality to our actions and thoughts. When we are held accountable, it is not that we must act, but rather, we feel confident in ourselves, our actions, and sense of self trust to answer for what we did or didn’t do. When we are accountable we commit not to the action, but to our own sense of intentionality around the action (or lack thereof).

YOU are the only one who will truly know when you feel committed to yourself. Only you can truly hold yourself accountable. BUT we can build systems that help to remind us of our own self-commitment.

What do you want to commit to doing this week?
What do you want to commit to not doing this week?
What is one way you can create intentionality this week? How is this a commitment to yourself?
What is one way that you can stay committed and feel aligned with your actions this week?
How will you know if you are no longer committing to yourself?
What is one simple way you can stay “accountable” this week (checking in with a friend, attending a co-working meeting, going to therapy, etc)

Accountability is simply committing to yourself and feeling a sense of integrity internally and externally. Commitment means knowing yourself, and promising to stay true to your values, dreams, and self trust.

Timeline

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week one (the bolded text below).

Week 2: Committing to a practice & timeline
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Return to your feeling and play practice. How can you INTEGRATE play practice into your offering creation? What would it mean to bring a more playful mindset into this deep work?
- Revisit your list from week 1 (last week). What has already been accomplished? What might need to shift?
- Find a way to hold yourself accountable to working on your offering at least once every week. Can you connect with your accountability buddy? Connect with the co-creative group? Use a pomodoro timer?
  - I will commit to my offering and play practice every week by ____________
Week 3: Resources- what do we have and what do we need?
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Take stock of everything that you already have as a resource in your life. What supplies, support, technology, skills, energy, finances, etc do you have in abundance? How can this support your offering?
- Make a list of any and all resources you might need to support your offering. What supplies, technology, support, skills, energy, or finances do you need? Do you need a different space? Do you need more time? Get specific.
  - In order to execute my offering I will need to acquire____________
  - For each item needed, complete the following sentence… I can find ____________ by researching ____________ , asking ____________ , or purchasing ____________ .
Week 4: Cultivating Community- Where are we gaining support?
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Write all of the skills needed to complete your offering as desired. Write all of the skills you currently feel confident offering.
  - Where are there gaps? Complete the following sentence…. In order to complete my offering, I may need to seek support from someone who can ____________
  - I can find support for ____________ by reaching out to ____________ or researching ____________ .
  - If you do not need direct support, consider who you can lean on for advice or mentorship.
    - I am can ask ____________ for emotional suppor.
    - I can ask ____________ for technical support.
  - You may also consider who and where you are seeking inspiration.
    - I am inspired by the following people or organizations ____________ because ____________ .
Week 5: Community & Communication- social media, content, and creation
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider brainstorming where your “community” hangs out, especially in regards to communication, media, and social media.
  - The following social media channels reflect my vision and values already ____________
  - The following social media channels reflect my aesthetic or vision ____________
  - I would imagine that my community and peers might hang out in ____________ and follow ____________
  - I would imagine that my community would seek advice or inspiration from ____________
  - I would imagine that my community likes to engage or receive information by ____________
Week 6: The big ASK, how to resource and ask others to join you
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider how you can invite others to your offering (whether that is to participate, engage, witness, view, or support)
  - I can invite my community to participate in my offering by ____________
  - I can demonstrate what my work for my community by ____________
  - ____________ would be a fun way to ask others to join me!
- Consider how uncertainty can play a role in the “ask”
  - I am afraid if ____________ happens, my offering will not succeed.
  - The uncertain variable in my offering is ____________
  - If the “worst case scenario” happened, I have a plan and could ____________ instead.
Week 7: Abundance & Mindset
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I want my offering to create/generate an abundance of ____________
- I can ask my community to support my abundance by ____________
- I can create abundance for others by ____________
Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
Week 11: RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
Week 12: Final day of class
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- My biggest takeaway from my offering is ____________ .

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 17
Systems and Consistency

It is intriguing to me that that root words of both system and consistent hold similar meanings. System comes from the greek histanai, or to set up. Consistent comes from sistere, the latin for to stand up.

As we move into a season of exploration and action, we begin with setting up the foundation of our offering so we can stand on our own. We already have the ideas and concept (consider these your blueprints!), and now we begin to take this idea and construct the base & pillars from which this creation will be built.

A quick note: as we move forward into the next 3 months, our focus will shift to exercises, journal prompts, and activities. If you are craving additional reading material please let Alex know! They will ensure you have the proper support.

Additionally, this process will become more and more personalized. While group calls/classes will focus on overarching ideas, and HW will focus on general “next steps”, it is essential that you reach out to Alex for direct support. Each and every one of you has your own personal path, vision, and dream, and this is certainly not a “one size fits all” approach. It is recommended that you complete the weekly HW and contact Alex weekly to gain personal prompts and suggestions for your offering.

Before we begin, let’s come back to….

What is a manageable, scaleable version of your dreamy dream, and what might it look like? Who is your offering for?
What is your offering and how does it support your community (and most importantly, yourself)?
How does your offering work? What is the structure, what does it do?
Why is your offering important?

Make sure the above questions are answered fully. As a reminder, you are your own offering. If you choose to simply focus on a personal practice or project, that is 100% okay. By showing up fully for yourself, you inevitably have a ripple effect towards other humans. When you commit to yourself, you are inevitably supporting yourself and others.

Feeling stuck on the above? Consider the following prompts to finalize your offering.

WHAT: Describe yourself as a child. If you could gift yourself something (a service, an item, a gesture, etc), what would you give yourself? How can that be a guiding force in what you create?
WHAT: Similar to the above question. Go back to your inner child journal entries. What did your inner child want more than anything? How can your offering provide that for them?
WHAT: What do you secretly want to do all day? (from Julia Cameron)
SCALE: Imagine you had to execute your offering with $0, using only the resources you currently have (your home, objects, tech, and access to public space). What would a $0 version of your offering look like?
SCALE: How much are you willing to invest in your offering (time, money, energy, etc). Fill in the blank… A {insert $ amount, time, and energy quantity here} offering would look like…….
SCALE: If you had to complete your offering before March (psst….you don’t have to), how would your offering change?
WHO: Imagine I gave you the keys to a blank storefront….you can put anything you want in there. Who would you want to walk through the doors to engage in your space?
WHO: Describe your inner child. Now, as if that inner child was an avatar for a community, what would the needs of that community be? Who are they? Where are they now? Where can you meet these people?
HOW: Imagine you have to execute your offering before the end of March (again, you don’t have to). What is a feasible structure it could take on? How big would it be? How many people would be involved? How would people interact with it?
HOW: Imagine you are writing a letter to invite people to your offering. How would you describe it to them?
WHY: How do you want people (yourself included) to feel after they interact with your offering? How does it impact them?
WHY: How do you benefit from your offering?
WHY: How do others benefit from YOUR benefit?

Creating a Timeline

For the next 3 months, we will be utilizing a timeline in order to stay consistent to our own personal goals. I want to reiterate that you are creating the goals and dreams. Your timeline will be unique to you. The below timeline has been specifically created for you to change, morph, develop, evolve, or trash. This will be the foundation and system you return to.

Each week return to the weekly feelings, questions, and prompts. I will repost this timeline weekly, and I encourage you to edit it as you go.

For today, I would encourage you to complete only the tasks listed in week one (the bolded text below).

Also, if you are feeling jazzed and excited, feel free to fill out more! Fore now though, I encourage a “slow and steady” approach!

Week 1: Creating a Timeline (oh wait, aren’t you doing that right now?)
- What systems need to be in place in order for me to succeed? What do I need to tackle now in order to move forward?
  - In order to move forward, I will need to take care of ____________
  - In order to work on my offering, I will need to ensure I have ____________
  - In order to have space for my offering, I will need to clear ____________
- Pick one day a week that you will commit to at least 30 minutes of work on your offering. Put it in your calendar, set an alarm.
  - The day of the week I will work on my offering is ____________
  - I will work on my offering for 30 minutes at ____________ o’clock.
- Return the the feelings you want your offering to evoke. Return to the feelings that you want to feel while working on your offering.
  - Write that feeling on a sticky note. Put it where you wake up in the morning.
- Without overthinking it, write down every single thing that would need to happen in order for your offering to exist. If you become overwhelmed, step away. Try to get as specific as possible.
  - Consider doing the above in intervals…perhaps create a list on your phone and as you think of something, add it in!
  - Using this list, put each item into an order. Using the below timeline, place each item into a week.
Week 2: Committing to a practice & timeline
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Return to your feeling and play practice. How can you INTEGRATE play practice into your offering creation? What would it mean to bring a more playful mindset into this deep work?
- Revisit your list from week 1 (last week). What has already been accomplished? What might need to shift?
- Find a way to hold yourself accountable to working on your offering at least once every week. Can you connect with your accountability buddy? Connect with the co-creative group? Use a pomodoro timer?
  - I will commit to my offering and play practice every week by ____________
Week 3: Resources- what do we have and what do we need?
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Take stock of everything that you already have as a resource in your life. What supplies, support, technology, skills, energy, finances, etc do you have in abundance? How can this support your offering?
- Make a list of any and all resources you might need to support your offering. What supplies, technology, support, skills, energy, or finances do you need? Do you need a different space? Do you need more time? Get specific.
  - In order to execute my offering I will need to acquire____________
  - For each item needed, complete the following sentence… I can find ____________ by researching ____________ , asking ____________ , or purchasing ____________ .
Week 4: Cultivating Community- Where are we gaining support?
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Write all of the skills needed to complete your offering as desired. Write all of the skills you currently feel confident offering.
  - Where are there gaps? Complete the following sentence…. In order to complete my offering, I may need to seek support from someone who can ____________
  - I can find support for ____________ by reaching out to ____________ or researching ____________ .
  - If you do not need direct support, consider who you can lean on for advice or mentorship.
    - I am can ask ____________ for emotional suppor.
    - I can ask ____________ for technical support.
  - You may also consider who and where you are seeking inspiration.
    - I am inspired by the following people or organizations ____________ because ____________ .
Week 5: Community & Communication- social media, content, and creation
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider brainstorming where your “community” hangs out, especially in regards to communication, media, and social media.
  - The following social media channels reflect my vision and values already ____________
  - The following social media channels reflect my aesthetic or vision ____________
  - I would imagine that my community and peers might hang out in ____________ and follow ____________
  - I would imagine that my community would seek advice or inspiration from ____________
  - I would imagine that my community likes to engage or receive information by ____________
Week 6: The big ASK, how to resource and ask others to join you
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- Consider how you can invite others to your offering (whether that is to participate, engage, witness, view, or support)
  - I can invite my community to participate in my offering by ____________
  - I can demonstrate what my work for my community by ____________
  - ____________ would be a fun way to ask others to join me!
- Consider how uncertainty can play a role in the “ask”
  - I am afraid if ____________ happens, my offering will not succeed.
  - The uncertain variable in my offering is ____________
  - If the “worst case scenario” happened, I have a plan and could ____________ instead.
Week 7: Abundance & Mindset
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I want my offering to create/generate an abundance of ____________
- I can ask my community to support my abundance by ____________
- I can create abundance for others by ____________
Week 8: Locating the Gaps, navigating the fear
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- When I contemplate my offering, I am afraid that ____________
- I realized that I need to consider ____________ in order to pursue my offering
- Something that surprised me about developing this offering is ____________
- I never could have anticipated ____________
Week 9: Finalizing & Problem Solving
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- A loose end I could care for today is ____________
- I am excited to finish ____________
Week 10: Finalizing & Celebrating
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- I am celebrating ____________ within my offering.
Week 11: RETREAT
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
Week 12: Final day of class
- Using the list created in week 1 (above), I will work on ____________ this week.
- This week I want to feel ____________ about/in regards to my offering.
- This week I will explore ____________ within my offering.
- My biggest takeaway from my offering is ____________ .

Returning to Play Practice

When you feel stuck, return to your play practice.

Consider the following….

How can I use my play practice to ensure that my offering stays FUN?
What is the most joyful and present version of my offering? How can I gift that to myself daily?
How can I integrate a more playful mindset into my offering development?
How can I ensure my offering IS play?

Week 16
Your WHO Determines Your WHAT

What do we have so far?

It is important to each week “take inventory”, so to speak. Where have we been? What have we gathered?

At this point, you should likely have…

You big vision
The Feeling the Big Vision creates
How this Big Vision might inspire small action
Why you are creating something
Who you are creating for (this includes yourself!)

If you have gathered other pieces, great! If not, you are not behind! Since today’s readings and HW fall right before the break, we will be focusing on activities, journaling, research, and questions for your exploration in lieu of readings! Over the next 2 weeks I encourage you to complete at least 3 of the below- more of course is helpful as well!

Understanding Your Community
- Journal Prompts:
  - Based on your explorations last week, what is it that your community needs most?
  - How can your offering provide a service to both your community and yourself?
  - WHAT can provide this service or solve this problem for yourself/your community? How can your service embody or incorporate that “what”?
  - How did your conversation/interviews inform your offering?
  - What insights did you gain from your interviews?
  - Given this new information about your community, how might your offering change or differ from the original plan?
- Activities
  - Write a letter to a community member explaining your big why (what your big dream is, and how it will impact others), who it is for, how your offering provides healing/a solution/etc, and why we should care. You do not need to send this letter :)
  - Research 3 organizations or individuals who are offering something similar to what you would like to do. What are they offering and how does it work? What do you like or not like about their offering? What resonates with you? What does not resonate with you?
  - Research one individual or organization that you admire- they do not have to provide anything similar to your offering! What do you admire about them? Why do you admire them?
  - Research one individual or organization embodies something that you do not admire. What about their offering feels unaligned? What doesn’t resonate with you? Why?
Scaling Your Offering
- The Baby Version: Let’s take a look at the “big vision” for your offering. Imagine it is the largest, most resourced version possible. What does that look like? Now, let’s imagine you were forced to create this offering in your living room or public space, given only the resources you have. Does it change? What would that version look like? **Please note, you do not have to yet know what you need for your offering! This is purely a way to scale and decide on the structure.
  - What would your offering look like if you have $0 to spend? What would your offering look like if you had $1,000 to spend? What would your offering look like if you had $1,000,000 to spend?
  - How can you create or birth your offering given only the resources you currently have (no need to buy extra technology, equipment, or supplies)? If you only had $100 to spend on resources, which/what would make the biggest difference/impact?
  - If you are honest with yourself, how much are you willing to dedicate financially to your offering? **$0 is completely fine and encourage-able! You do not need to spend big money to have a big offering.
- Resources
  - What resources would be needed for the biggest, most dreamy version of your offering? Consider spatial needs, technology, equipment, etc
  - What resources do you currently have? What resources could you borrow? What resources can you easily access? Where can you find free resources? *Potentially research where you can find free or inexpensive resources to support your project!
  - What would your offering look like if you only used free or borrowed resources?
- Support
  - What kind of human support would you need to complete the dreamiest version of your offering? Consider employees, publishers, marketing, etc.
  - What kind of support can you provide yourself? What skills, even seemingly unrelated, can you bring to this offering? What do you already have knowledge in?
  - Who is already in your community? Make a community resource list that includes…
    - Skills each member of your community has
    - Resources each member of your community has
    - Support each member of your community can provide
- **GIVEN THIS INFORMATION: What would a scaleable, manageable, DIY version look like of your offering?
What Happens First?
- Some times our offering actually needs to begin in a different form in order to support the birth of our offering down the line. For instance, if you are looking to create an event or course, perhaps you first need to gather an audience or following.
  - In order for your offering to occur, what needs to be built to support it?
  - If additional steps need to be taken prior, is it possible that your focus in this course is building the support?
  - What would a creative and nourishing version of this support look like?
NOW LET’S GATHER IT ALL UP!!!
- What is a manageable, scaleable version of your dreamy dream, and what might it look like?
- Who is your offering for?
- What is your offering and how does it support your community (and most importantly, yourself)?
- How does your offering work? What is the structure, what does it do?
- Why is your offering important?

Week 15
WHO not WHAT

Welcome back, friend! Last week we focused on the feeling of your offering. I would argue that this feeling is your personal why in regards to your offering.
Example: Why do you want to create a community space? To generate intimacy and connection for myself and others.
Why do you want to write a book? To inspire others to share their voice and feel seen/heard.

We will get more into the nitty gritty of the why after the new year, but for now, keep that feeling in your back pocket, and use it as your guiding light as we move forward!

What do we have so far?

It is important to each week “take inventory”, so to speak. Where have we been? What have we gathered?

At this point, you should likely have…

You big vision (this might be vague still- that is ok)
The Feeling the Big Vision creates
How this Big Vision might inspire small action

If you have gathered other pieces, great! If not, you are not behind! In order to create an offer or offering, we must first understand who we are creating for (which will inevitably dictate what and how we create).

We are always fulfilling a wish, desire, or healing a wound

When creating an offering, it is important to remember that what we create has an impact. Everything we put out into the world impacts ourself and others, no matter what. What matters is that we become aware of our impact, so we can choose (if we like!) to steer it in a desired direction.

An offering is a gift or a balm. An offering is fulfillment. An offering heals and stitches together. How can we shift our perspective from “What am I making?” to “Who/how am I healing?”. It is easy to get caught up in our own wish fulfillment (just as important of course!) when creating something, especially if it is an activity or action that happens independently (for instance, writing a book). Just as we become aware of our own interconnectivity when we meditate, creating an offering is an act of recognizing your interconnectivity to others.

Question: But I’m creating something exclusively for myself! No one will ever see it. How is that interconnected? How is that healing for others?
Answer: Is it truly JUST for you? What happens when you heal yourself? Do you show up differently in the world? How does that impact others? Creating an offering is ALWAYS connected to self and others!

Question: My offering is just for others and I am having trouble connecting it back to myself!
Answer: Your offering is a vehicle through which you heal yourself FIRST. When creating an offering it is important to consider how it heals you in your current state, and how it heals (or brings joy!) to your past self as well. We often BURN OUT when we are not connecting what we offer to others with our own needs first!

We are creating for out past self

There is no one we know better than ourselves! As we research our offering, and begin to delve into the specifics of what we are creating, it is essential to understand who we are making it for. Statistically speaking, your project is more likely to connect with others if you are creating for a past version of yourself. Why? We can remember the specifics of the needs, wants, and desires of our past self, and create services/products/gifts/etc for that meet those specific wants.

The community you are creating for in essence mimics this past self. They share similar dreams and desires, and since you know yourself, you know them. THIS is why we spend three months deep diving into our own history, our own desires, our own structures, because it helps us get to know our self, and in turn, the community we serve.

Our Inner Child Mimics our Community

I would dare to take the above a step further. Not only are we creating for a past version of ourself, but deep down, we long to give our inner child what they have always wanted. Your offering is a gift to your inner child, and in turn, your community.

When we get to know our inner child, we understand out community. When we understand out community, we understand what our offering needs to be.

Big feelings that may be coming up…

The inner child craves immediacy
- Your little one probably needs to SEE SOME RESULTS soon! This is totally normal…so let’s give them something to bite into! If you are craving some immediacy, return to the prescribed play practice from last week. How can you begin to base your play practice on the feeling of your offering? If your offering is based on vulnerability, what would a vulnerable play practice look like?
- Document your journey! If your inner child craves immediacy, write down every small thing that you do towards your offering! That way, when you are feeling the inevitable “What am I doing? I haven’t made ANY progress” ick, you can return to this list. (Note: Hmmm…is this similar to the trust bank from Month 1? I think so!)
- Make the worlds smallest commitment, and do it everyday. It can be as simple as “When I get up in the morning, I will drink a glass of water”. And stick to it. Notice if keeping to one consistent action gives your inner child a greater sense of peace and fulfillment as you navigate towards greater change and evolution.
The inner teenager throws a tantrum
- Ok, let’s be honest…we all have a teenage rebel inside of us. Some of us (many in this group!) have a stronger inner rebel because they are wildly creative. So, what do you do when your inner teenage rebel wants to tear it all down?
- Your rebel/teenager is actually the protector. Imagine they are the older sibling of your inner child. What feelings are they protecting? What softness exists within that they are “too cool” to show?
- What is the deeper need being felt here? Are they scared of failure? Afraid they won’t finish? Nervous they won’t be loved? How can you give your inner little ones this now? Consider returning to PERMA- what letter stood out to you (Positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement)? How can this help navigate these big feelings? (For instance, if relationships mean a lot to me, and I am scared of failure, perhaps I connect with my accountability buddy this week and ask for affirmation! Or, if I am anxious that I won’t finish my project and I connect with meaning, how can I deepen the meaning of my project so it doesn’t matter if I finish or not)

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

**RETURN TO YOUR BACKWARDS TIMELINE, DO ONE SMALL THING. JUST ONE. IT COULD BE AS SMALL AS CREATING A GOOGLE DOC. IT COULD BE AS SMALL AS TELLING A FRIEND YOUR IDEA. IT COULD BE AS SMALL AS BUYING A DOMAIN. JUST DO ONE SMALL THING.*

Practice One: Getting to Know Yourself

In this practice, we will return to our inner child work. Return to Week 5-7 in your writings (perhaps in your journal or collection of documents). We will explore who your inner child is…

How would you describe your inner child? What adjectives would you use?
What were the big hopes and dreams of your inner child?
What did your inner child want more than anything?
What was your inner child afraid of?
What was painful for your inner child?
What beliefs or systems did your inner child inherit that you no longer want to hold?
What brought your inner child joy?

Using the above and previous information, consider your inner child an avatar for your dream community, the community that is the most receptive to your offering, and the most in need of it. What does your inner child communicate about your community? What do they reveal about them?

Write out a description of your dream community and what you might imagine their needs, desires, goals, dreams, and wounds might be.

Return to your offering/dreamy dream. What would a version of that dreamy dream offering look like if it fulfilled the desires, goals, and healed the wounds of your dream community?

If you had $0 and no resources, what is one way you could help provide healing or joy for that community today?

Practice Two: Getting to Know Your Community

You should now have a fairly clear idea of who these people are that you will be connecting with (either directly or indirectly). We will now be getting to know them on a deeper level!

Find three individuals in real life that mimic the above community. They should be individuals that you can reach out to. If you do not currently have any connections to the above community, consider researching one or two people (using instagram, community forums, or even this group here!) in which you would like to connect with.

Set up a casual interview! Consider explaining what you are currently researching, and requesting a very casual meeting to ask a few questions (you may want to offer to buy them a cup of coffee). Get to know these people, just as you got to know yourself.

What are they most excited about right now?
What are their big dreams? What are they working towards?
What questions are they currently trying to answer?
What are they in need of?
What feels challenging to them?
What brings them joy?
THIS IS YOUR CONVERSATION, SO FEEL FREE TO GET AS SPECIFIC AS YOU WOULD LIKE!
Given the conversation, how might this impact or direct how you could provide for this community (and yourself!)? What are the needs that desire to be met? What challenges could you solve?

Practice Three: Understanding the Desire

Take some time to free write on all of the above desires. How can you, given your very specific dreams, talents, and vision, help to heal and provide for this community (and for yourself)? What are specific actions that you could take to use your offering to solve these problems? How might this shape your offering?

Week 14
Your Offering Starts With a Feeling

Hello friend!! Congratulations- you made it through week 13- you are halfway there!!! Let us take a moment to reflect where you have been, and where you are going.
You have gotten to know your body, what works for it, and how you can support it in your day to day.
You have created structures, schedules, and rituals that work for you, not against you.
You have crafted play practices and listening exercises to get to know yourself from the inside out.
You have befriended your inner child, and helped them to come out and play.
You have expanded your dreamiest dream, and allowed your inner child to want big things.
Now, as we move forward with our dreamy dream, we will utilize all of the tools you have created and discovered to create an offering that works for your body & heart, supports your inner child, and continues to create wonder.
Shall we jump in?

Getting Clear on the Big Dream

You are now in a place where you have at least a vague idea of what the dreamy dream is. Everyone is different, and I want to emphasize that you do not have to be in the same place as your peers. Where ever you are at is where you are supposed to be. This is your lily pad- you do not need to be elsewhere. We will take this one day at a time.

In psychology and coaching, we often refer to the TEA model. The TEA model represents THOUGHTS-EMOTIONS-ACTIONS (we discussed this a few weeks back!). One of the reasons we start with the dreamiest dream is to begin to cultivate a feeling or emotion. Our dreamiest dream should be one that inspires positive emotion, excitement, and yes…perhaps a little stress. It is important though to remind yourself that stress might exist because you care. Stress can be a motivator, just as excitement and joy are motivators. If we see healthy stress as a form of care, that you are care-full (full of care for self and others!) then this stress holds a very different weight.

In order to begin to cultivate that emotion though, we have to get clear on the dream. If you haven’t already done so, now is your permission to dream as big as possible. Create the vision, write it down. What is the most magnificent version of this dream? If given all the money, what would it look like? Heck, maybe it doesn’t even exist in this reality…that is ok. The important thing is to hone in on some specifics.

This is your permission slip to dream big.

Hone in on the Feeling

Once you have your biggest dreamy dream, spend some time with it. When you wake up in the morning, allow yourself to live inside that dream. What does the space feel like? What do you see? What do you hear or feel? Before you go to bed, or during your lunch break, return to your dream. Who do you discover? What do you find? As you dream, I encourage you to jot down anything in particular that comes to mind.

Personal anecdote: When I first started Rec Center, I had a very clear vision in my mind. I imagined a physical space, and I saw myself at the counter, arranging flowers in a vase. As I turned around, I realized that class had just finished, and folx were leaving the space. As each one left, I thanked them, my gratitude palpable. I knew each of them, they were regulars who visited us often. I knew their stories, and I knew I would see them again tomorrow. We were community, and I felt embraced and held, and I held them in return.

Clearly, Rec Center never became a physical space…and now, I don’t even hold to that original vision of it! BUT, the feeling is what has captured my heart, and has been my motivating factor throughout the creation process.

If actions are the vehicle through which ideas are carried out, emotions are the driver. Vehicles do not move without a driver. Who is driving your vehicle?

Sit with the emotions of the offering. What do you want to feel? How will you feel?

WRITING EXERCISE:

Write down your dreamiest dream as fully as you can…get detailed! Write the story of your dreamy dream in present tense. What does it look like, feel like, sound like, etc. Who is there? Who supports you? What does this dream mean to you? Where are you? Why does it exist? How are you feeling? How do others feel?

Now, go back into your writing and circle any key words that jump out at you. These should be words that describe the meaning and why behind the dream, the feelings, and perhaps some small details that feel relevant (such as, group meetings or intentional space).

Your list might look like the following (but does not have to):

playful
learning
heart centered
home space
creative
play based
femme
snacks
loving
supported
held
small groups
intimacy

Creating the Practice from the Feeling

Once you have gotten quite clear on your dreamy dream and found some driving emotions…LET THE BIG IDEA GO.

I know. It sounds counter intuitive. I get it.

You do not have to kill the dream, bury it, or forget it…we are simply letting it go for now. Let it rest. Pickle it so it becomes richer and tastier! Write it in a notebook and let it take a little nap. We will be gently referencing this dream from time to time, but it will not be our guiding force.

If we hold too tightly to the dreamy dream it leaves no room for change, evolution, discovery or natural obstacles. If we hold too tightly to a goal we are stopping ourselves before we even get started.

Instead, we will begin to focus on some of they key points (the list you created), and allow a personal practice to birth from the feeling that the dreamy dream created.

Practice and Process

Before we begin to create a practice that supports others, we must first create a practice that supports ourselves. This may already be intrinsically tied to the growth of your offering, or it may feel like an offshoot. Either way, it is always connected to the bigger work. We must create the feeling for ourselves first.

A personal practice leads to a community offering. Let’s return to the feelings and values from your dreamy dream, the list you created. Can you pick one that can become integrated into your daily practices? Can it simply be a word that you sit with? What are ways that you can explore that feeling or value?

We cannot offer others what we do not have ourselves, we then pour from an empty cup. Let’s say your value is liberation- what does liberation mean for you? How can you cultivate it in small ways day to day? When we get to know our values fully, we can embody them and offer them to others.

Taking Turns with Your Inner Child

At this point, I imagine your inner child is feeling some hesitance… there might be a feeling of insecurity in letting go, perhaps some fear in beginning small. Our inner child craves immediacy, they crave answers. As we begin the process of creating this offering from scratch, we have to learn how to take turns with the inner child.

The mature and integrated adult can cultivate the inner work, while the inner child asks the big questions.

The mature and integrated adult can think conceptually about values, while the inner child continues to dream big.

You can always hold more than one thing. As we move forward, we will be working both backwards and forwards, holding the big dreams and doing the inner work. These are not separate from each other.

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Practice One: Creating The Long Timeline

Let’s return briefly to your dreamy dream, not as a goal marker, but as a guide. We will be working backwards to create the world’s longest timeline! Sound daunting? That’s ok, this activity may take a while…but it can be fun, even silly! Have you ever played the game where you describe to someone how to make a PBJ and they have to do exactly what you say? The point of the game is that in order to give directions, we have to get specific and break things down into the easiest steps possible. Instead of saying “spread peanut butter on bread”, which may result in you mashing peanut butter all over the outside of a wrapped loaf, you might consider saying “untwist tie from bag, open bag, remove 2 single slices and place on the table flat on the widest side, etc etc”. This is the process from which we will explore your offering.

Begin with the dreamy dreamy, what needs to happen to get there? Who needed to get there? How did they get there? What is there? How did it get there? Break it down into the smallest steps.

Move backward from there. What came before the dreamy dream? What can you imagine might have lead to it? Get specific!

Remember, this is a process of imagination…this is play too! You can make up the answers if you do not know. The point is to break this down to the easiest, smallest imaginable first step. If the dreamy dream is to write a book, perhaps the very first step is to have the idea for the book (oh hey, isn’t that where you are at now?). The second step is to stand up from where you are, then sit down in front of an open computer. The third step is to place hands on computer and type one letter, then one word. What happens in between the first and last step? How is this a portal? How can this be a portal for transformation?

PS- If this exercise gets too intimidating, put it down and come back to it! OR, break it into larger chunks! Perhaps first you figure out the “seasons”- the season of imagining, the season of planning, the season of community, the season of finding, etc etc etc. THEN you break it down into smaller moments within each season.

There is no right answer…only your own personal portal that you create. You do not have to stick to this. This is merely a way to discover and explore.

**USING THIS TIMELINE, DO ONE SMALL THING. JUST ONE. IT COULD BE AS SMALL AS CREATING A GOOGLE DOC. IT COULD BE AS SMALL AS TELLING A FRIEND YOUR IDEA. IT COULD BE AS SMALL AS BUYING A DOMAIN. JUST DO ONE SMALL THING.*

Practice Two: Asking the Big Questions

Now is the time to let your inner child run free…they get to ask ALL of the big questions on their mind!

Set aside a slice of time- 20 or 30 minutes ideally. Write down every question you have about your offering. Ever thing that feels uncertain, from the tangible to the conceptual.

How do you find a publicist?
What if I don’t actually have anything good to say?
How do you structure a book?
Do I need an editor? How do you find an editor?

These questions are good and healthy- they show your commitment and care. Your inner child needs immediacy to feel safe, so let’s give it to them! Once you have a list of questions, focus in on 3 a week. This is your time to become an investigator, an explorer! Can you research someone to contact? Can you pick a friend’s brain over coffee? Can you wikipedia deep dive? How can you answer 3 questions a week?

Consider creating a playful discover binder with all of your findings!

Practice Three: Feelings, Play Practice and Integration

Let’s return to your play practice. As we also begin to build this offering, we must build the feeling for ourselves. Using your key values and words from your writing exercise earlier, what would a personal play practice look like to begin to integrate these words, values, feelings and thoughts? Allow just 5 minutes of play this week. If you have more time, wonderful. If not, just 5 minutes of play in the spirit of your dreamy dream.

How can your personal play practice influence or become your offering?

Week 13
Your Offering- Creating the Big Vision

Never Scale Back Your Dreams

Ok, I know that sounds corny… but it is so true. We so often scale back our dreams to fit into external ideas of feasibility, acceptability, etc.

In this space we will start FIRST with the dreamiest version. We start with the biggest version. We will start with the largest version. Then, once we create the most magical iteration, we will scale to a bite sized “step” towards that version. THIS will be what we focus on in our coming months together. As we near February, we will learn how we can continue to sustainably build towards our “big vision” after we finish class in March. This class may end in March, but the “work/play” continues for your entire life (or, as long as you feel like tending to it!)

When we come back after the November holiday break we will each share our offerings with each other. I would encourage you to consider both the dreamiest version and the scaleable version.

The Big Vision

Consider the following questions in order to determine your “big vision”…

If you had the necessary financial support and resources, what would your offering look like?
If you didn’t have to work another job, what would your offering look like?
What have you always wanted to do that others have said is “unreasonable”?
What feels like taking up space….a lot of space?
What would your dream life look like if you only had to do one thing, and your offering was that one thing?
Even if you have already determined a “scaleable” version of your offering, I would encourage you to also create a “big vision”, this may even help you have further direction to grown your offering post class.

The Bite-Sized Version

This is going to be the version of your offering that we will work on together in class. Consider the following questions to create the “first step” towards your big vision.

What is one element of your big offering that you could tackle? For instance, if you wanted to eventually create a school, what is one class you could offer?
If you were to create a timeline in creating your big vision, what would steps 1-5 look like? How can that be a sharable project?
What is one small way you can engage a community with the development of your big vision?
What would a trial version look like of your big vision?
What would it look like to offer your vision out of your home? Digitally? With your friends and family? What would the offering look like if you only used the resources you have right now?

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Your Offering

When we return from the holiday, we will each be sharing our offerings. You will have the following options…

Share your big vision- give us the scope of your dreamiest dream!
Share your bite-sized version- how will you begin the process of working towards your big vision?
Share both! You are welcome to share both the big vision and what you want to work on in class.

We will be taking plenty of time in class for each of us to share, and receive feedback if needed/desired!

I want to reiterate, this process is for you. You are your own offering. You are enough. You are magical and expansive. Whatever you decide to work on will be supported and celebrated. The opportunity to share with your peers is an opportunity to be celebrated.

If you need further support I will have “office hours” on Tuesday of next week (I will be out for the holiday from 11/24- 11/30) Please feel free to to drop into the discord, text me, or set up a call! Please also use the questions from the previous weeks to synthesize your offering.

Synthesis

Before you jump into the below questions, take a moment to consider…

Based my journal answers from last week, what would bring me the most joy to work on or explore for the next 4 months?
Based on my journal answers from last week, what would feel the most fulfilling to explore for the next 4 months?
What exploration or “work” would support my dreamiest dream currently?
What work/exploration/play would help to support your well-being “gauge” (remember PERMA!)?
Based on my above answers, how can my offering (work/exploration/play) support myself and others

My Offering is ________.

My Offering supports my dreamiest dream by ________.

My Offering is designed to transform________.

My Offering looks like________.

My Offering matters because ________.

I engage in my Offering by ________.

Others can participate in my offering by ________.

Week 10
Your Offering- One Small Step Towards Your Dreamiest Dreams

Listen to the Dreams Podcast Episode

Hello dear ones! As we dive into this unit of class more deeply, weekly HW will be less about READING and more about DREAMING and DOING. As a primer for this week’s content, I would encourage you to listen to the most recent episode of Plays Well With Others (also available on Apple Podcasts). It is less than 30 minutes long, so it’s perfect for walking to dog or doing the dishes!

Locating Your Dreams…

Based on the podcast material, what is YOUR relationship like with dreaming? Are you connected and aware of the other side of the mountain, or are you stuck surveying what might exist there?

In order to move towards our dreams, the most important thing is to connect with them. We connect with our biggest, dreamiest dreams by connecting with the emotion they inspire.

Our Dreams exist within our THOUGHTS —> Which inspires EMOTION —> Which inspires ACTION to be taken —>
—> Which LEADS TO A RESULT.

If we are not connecting with emotion-fueled dreams, there is unlikely to be momentum.

What is YOUR dreamiest dream currently? When you let yourself dream, what do you see? What is the truest version of your life?

Cyclical Healing/Cyclical Dreaming

Everything we do in this class is in service of self + others. This is the guiding force in everything that we do. We are here to recognize the interconnectivity of our interactions, our universe, our community. When we are fully aligned with our own authentic dreams and recognize their importance in the outside world, we are in service of others. We are in service of community (and it is aligned with our heart!) and are aware of how these outer actions bring inner transformation, we are in service of self. It is only when we begin to disconnect the concept of self/other that we feel BURNT THE FUCK OUT.

Consider our past weekly readings where we discussed body/heart pleasure. When we are only in service of our heart pleasure, but ignore our bodies, we often feel burn out. This is often when we forget to be aware of self when in service of others (IE, service work!). When we purely focus on body pleasure but forget to activate the heart we feel disconnected and lonely because our work doesn’t move beyond our own self. This is often when we forget how our personal work impacts the lives of others.

Everything you do matters- seeing the connection to the outside world is key. If you are a solo freelance artist, remember that your art brings joy to others and helps provide new perspective! They key here is finding how to create the connections between self and others, and noticing that everything is cyclical.

When you heal, I heal. The “medicine” you need in your life is also most likely the medicine that others need as well. The more you hone in on your own magic, your own gift, and begin to see how it has a massive impact on others, the more you heal the world. The more you can give yourself the medicine you need, the more you can share it with community.

YOU ARE YOUR OWN OFFERING.

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

PRACTICE ONE: An Offering of the Self for the Self

Answer the following in your journal…

What do I need to give MYSELF in order to heal?
What is the story I am telling in my life?
What am I most passionate about?
What am I an expert in?
How does my creativity help me feel my feelings?
What am I excited to learn?
What is the gift I want to give myself?

PRACTICE TWO: An Offering of the Self for Community

Answer the following in your journal…

How does my healing intrinsically benefit and heal others?
How does my story help transform the lives of others?
How do my passions inspire and transform the lives of others?
How does my expertise benefit others?
How does my creativity help others feel their feelings?
How can my own education benefit others?
What is the gift I want to give others?

PRACTICE THREE: An Offering of Community for the Self

Answer the following in your journal…

How does the healing of others benefit me?
How does the story of my community heal me?
How does the expertise of others benefit me?
How do the feelings of others benefit my creative process?
How does the education of others inspire or benefit me?
What is the gift I want to receive from others?

PRACTICE FOUR: Synthesis

Reflect back on your responses from both last week and this week. Where is the overlap? Where is the intersection?

Before you jump into the below questions, take a moment to consider…

Based my journal answers from last week, what would bring me the most joy to work on or explore for the next 4 months?
Based on my journal answers from last week, what would feel the most fulfilling to explore for the next 4 months?
What exploration or “work” would support my dreamiest dream currently?
What work/exploration/play would help to support your well-being “gauge” (remember PERMA!)?
Based on my above answers, how can my offering (work/exploration/play) support myself and others

Based on the above, please finish the following sentences.
Bring these sentences to class on Thursday!

My Offering is ________.

My Offering supports my dreamiest dream by ________.

My Offering is designed to transform________.

My Offering looks like________.

My Offering matters because ________.

I engage in my Offering by ________.

Others can participate in my offering by ________.

Week 9
Finding Your “Thing”

A Soft Space to Land

Our journey so far has been one of movement- we are shaking off the dirt, tending to our heart and our inner child, and practicing listening, perhaps for the first time. Imagine you are a vessel, full of liquid, sediment, but perhaps there are some gems hidden in there as well. If that vessel has been sitting stagnant for days, months, or years, we likely won’t be able to see what is actually hidden amongst the muck…until we shake it. Dear one, we have been shaking the hell out of you!

If you are currently feeling dysregulated, confused, and frustrated, these are very normal emotions! The process of uncovering the gems and shaking off the much can feel like A LOT. In fact, if your nervous system is not used to this kind of work it can feel pretty rough. I want to let you know that, whatever you are feeling, is worthy and valid.

As we move into our third unit of Free/Play, we will be discovering a soft place to land. We will be taking what we have received in the last 8 weeks, and deciding what DOES and DOES NOT work for our bodies. As we move into unit 3, we will be building the foundation of your offering.

The Secret of “Finding Your Thing”

I have a secret for you….
No one has “a thing”.

The concept of the straight trajectory, the one purpose, is a dated, and frankly, harmful idea. You are multitudinous. You are more than one thing. You are always evolving.

However, AT THE SAME TIME, there is something special about you…a spark, a gem, a bit of magic, that no one else has. This is irrefutable. YOU are the only human who exists on earth who has your exact combination of DNA code and life experience. THAT is really special and cannot be denied.

So where does that leave us if we hold two things true simultaneously?
You are the only human with your exact combination of gifts, and yet, you are ever evolving.

One of the most common questions I receive as a coach is “How do I find ‘my thing’? (substitute passion/purpose/career/life meaning/etc as needed). As you may have noticed above, I take a fluid and non-binary approach to this idea.

Dear one, you do not have to settle. You do not have to have one thing. You do not have to be one thing. You only need to know where you are at right now, and decide what the next movement will be.

Some may find this idea frustrating, but I find it deeply liberating. We only need to know the next easiest step at any give moment. When we commit to the present moment, we commit to our fullest, most evolved self- just as we are right now.

You are Always Evolving

We are wild, natural creatures. Natural Cycles govern our lives, and unless we recognize the inherent evolution in our journey we will forever be disappointed in our own “personal development”.

Let’s throw the “Mark Zuckerbergs” out the window. Let’s forget the idea of the overnight success, or the influencer sensation. When we look at these flawed models for personal growth and success we operate under the assumption that there was no journey. We assume that we must show up in life in a finished state.

The idea that we must present as complete and fully realized is both harmful and against our very nature as natural beings.

Every single being on this earth grows in its own time. We don’t begrudge trees for their slow growth, nor mushrooms for their speedy overnight appearance! Moreover, we don’t compare trees to mushrooms, because doing so would be against how we understand the reality of nature.

In much the same way, we must recognize that WE as human beings each have our own rhythm, our own pace of evolution. We also operate in the reality of nature.

Toni Morrison worked as an editor before she published her first book…at age 39.
Vera Wang was first a figure skater. Then a journalist. She didn’t begin designing until age 40.
Christopher Walken was a Lion Tamer.
Fred Armisen was a drummer.
Bob Ross was in the AIR FORCE and didn’t begin teaching painting until age 41.
Margot Robbie worked at Subway Sandwiches.
Hugh Jackman was a physical education teacher.
Julia Child worked for National Security…and didn’t publish her first book until age 51!
Ken Jeong was a physician… that’s why he played a doctor in Knocked Up!
Martha Stewart worked on Wall Street and then ran a catering business. She published her first book at age 41.
Laura Ingalls Wilder didn’t publish her first book until age 65.

All of the above individuals operated at their own pace, and honored their own evolution. We tend to view our creative counterparts as having popped into the world complete and fully formed. Yet, we forget to see the larger evolution and cycle that preceded it.

You Are Here Now

In much the same way, it is easy to forget that every state of being in your journey is inherent and whole, just as it is right now. When we see a tree in the forest, we see it is a fully grown tree. We often don’t think about the fact that once, this tree was a tiny seed. Nor do we think about the fact that in years, this tree may continue to grown larger still. Yet, each time we view this tree we see it as complete, fully formed, and perfect just as it is.

THIS is the crux of “finding your thing”. We are always changing, always evolving, but we need to have the awareness to see ourselves like that tree- simultaneously fully formed and continuously growing.

So, where does this awareness come from? And how does seeing ourself as whole relate to “finding your thing”?

What I am suggesting is that in order to feel fulfilled (because, in essence, isn’t that the purpose of “finding your thing”?), we need to commit to our fullest, most creative selves as we are now, and accept that this state may change.

Which brings me to play. In my definition, PLAY is the intersection of awareness and pleasure. We have spent the past two units figuring out where you are now, and where you have been. We have shaken up our vessels to see what lies underneath, and what is being called into our attention. We have learned how to pay attention, and what brings pleasure. This is an ongoing journey, and will continue to shift.

Let’s reframe the myth of “finding your thing”. In this space, you are not finding your thing. You are committing to yourself everyday.

You are committing to being aware of your needs, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and creatively.
You are committing to your passions and interests.
You are committing to facing your fears.
You are committing to finding what feels good.
You are committing to what you are good at.
You are committing to what you want to learn.

AND, you are recommitting every day. You are asking if this still feels good…or if a shift needs to occur. You are asking what new things do I want to learn today.
THIS is why “your thing” is a myth- it is ever shifting.

Committing to Exploration

When we commit to ourselves fully everyday, we commit to what others will perceive as “your thing”. You may even choose to call it a career, a path, a purpose, a passion…but still keeping in mind that this is an ever-shifting identity.

In the HW exercises below, we will begin to "Locate” where you are TODAY [see HW practice one]. What I encourage you to do is RE-LOCATE yourself each and everyday and COMMIT TO WHERE YOU ARE. GIVE IT A NAME. CALL IT A THING. THIS THING MAY CHANGE TOMORROW. BUT FOR TODAY, NAME IT.
“Today I am a photographer that is interested in big cats and psychology.”
”Today I am a writer, podcaster, and lover of backyard gardens.”
”Today I am a ceramicist and movie lover".

Repeat who you are the next day. This may change. BUT sometimes you may notice a pattern… this is the first step in COMMITTING TO YOURSELF and LOCATING WHO AND WHERE YOU ARE TODAY.

THIS is the first step in finding your path or what you may perceive as a “purpose”. THIS is the first step in your Ikigai. It is not about what you will do for your whole life, but rather, what lily pad are you on today. Perhaps tomorrow you will jump to another, but no need to stress about that today!

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

PRACTICE ONE: Locating yourself

As mentioned above, this week is a practice in locating yourself today. I highly recommend doing this AT LEAST 3 times before our next class. This is an exercise that is going to be really important in your journey together, so please try to challenge yourself to repeating this exercise!

PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS FREE FORM, IN YOUR OWN WAY. Answer as many or as few as feel appropriate. Some questions may feel more important to you than others…note that and consider why that may be.

What helps me cultivate a sense of well-being, joy, ease, or calm?
When do I feel “in flow”?
When do I feel connected to community?
What feels meaningful to me?
What does achievement mean to me? What would accomplishment look like for me?
What makes me feel hopeful?
What am I grateful for that I already have?
What action today would feel meaningful for myself?
What action today would feel meaningful for humanity?
What is important to me today?
What did/does my inner child/past self love to do?
What was I obsessed with as a child?
What am I obsessed with today?
What makes me feel “zesty” (full of life and energy)?
What kind of problems do I like to solve?
What am I curious about exploring?
What new skill would I love to explore or master?
When do I feel compassionate?
What helps me to feel compassionate towards myself?
When do I feel loyal?
When do I feel connected to a larger whole?
What do I like to do so much and get so wrapped up in that I might forget to eat, use the bathroom, etc?
- BONUS: What is the cognitive action taken in the above activity? (for instance, if you would play a video game for so long that you forget to eat, perhaps the cognitive action is ACHIEVEMENT and reaching new goals! Or if you could watch movies all day, perhaps the cognitive action is being involved in storytelling or creative narrative)
What do you love so much that you are willing to embarrass yourself in the process?
What would make your inner child/past self proud?

Based on the above questions, let’s locate who/where you are! Imagine we are in a HUGE pond filled with hundreds of lily pads and frogs! You are a frog and you are sitting on just one lily pad. Each lily pad represents who you are and what you are doing. You can move to another tomorrow. NAME THIS LILY PAD. Name and locate where you are.
In one sentence, give this lily pad a name. Example: Today I am a brave and vulnerable spirit who loves painting! Today I am an interdisciplinary creative who podcasts and is obsessed with her dog! Today I am a creative human who usually writes, but today is a sculptor and lover of cake.

REPEAT AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. KEEP ASKING THESE QUESTIONS. SEE IF ONE THING STICKS. NOTICE IF YOU ACT DIFFERENTLY OR TAKE DIFFERENT ACTIONS DURING THE DAY AS A RESULT. NOTE THIS IN YOUR JOURNAL.

PRACTICE ONE: Committing to Exploration

We have explored several different practices in the past 2 units. What I would like to challenge each of you to do is to commit to one of the following practices. It can change, but I would encourage you to attempt to stick to one with intention.

Creative Listening
Making Bad Art
Play Practice

They are all inherently one and the same, but we each navigate our creativity differently. Pick one. Try doing it with consistency. Carve out 5 minutes everyday (or maybe 4/7 days a week?) and practice it. No need to carve out an hour. Just 5 minutes. If it extends longer, great! If not, 5 minutes is perfect! The important thing is that we will now be working with commitment to self. This practice will help inform your journey, as well as assisting in “locating yourself” daily.

PRACTICE THREE: Choosing Your Gauge

In positive psychology we often refer to the idea of “happiness” as too vague, and can be an inaccurate indicator if something is working for you. Instead, what we tend to lean into is the idea of “well being”. Each and every human being is different, and we all value different things in our lives. What creates a sense of well being for each person is a different, and what is important is to find your own personal gauge for satisfaction.

In Positive Psychology, we refer to well being as the following…
Positive Emotions (joy, ease, calm, etc)
Engagement and Flow
Relationships/Community
Meaning/Purpose
Achievement/Accomplishment

Scientifically, we have proven that these are the only 5 things humans seek simply for their own sake (and we often seek other factors in service of the above 5. There is some debate as to whether freedom should be included in the above. Psychologists are still debating!) Take 5 minutes to journal about the above ideas. Which of the five factors feels the most potent and relevant to you?

Consider picking ONE of the above items as you “gauge for well being”. As we move forward into creating your offering, this will be how we indicate and measure if this activity/pursuit is truly aligned!

PS- the cool thing? By focusing on the one idea that resonates with you, you automatically buoy the other factors as well! Individuals who felt a deep sense of satisfaction in the meaning of their life/work, also felt a sense of connection to community, and often were in flow! Those who’s pursuits brought ease or joy, often also felt a sense of accomplishment! They key is to find YOU gauge and focus!

Week 7
Your Inner Child is Your Muse

“The most potent muse of all is our own inner child. If we are transparent, with nothing to hide, the gap between language and being disappears. Then the Muse can speak. Improvisation is intuition in action, a way to discover the muse and learn to respond to her call.”
-Stephen Nachmanovitch

T/W: In the below reading we will be discussing “gods” and the divine. This discussion is completely secular, and is related to the inner divine. That being said, traditional Greek and Hindu Gods/Deities will be discussed.

As we have witnessed over the past few weeks, your inner child can be a guiding force in your life. They are, quite literally, bursting with ideas, spontaneity, pain, and needs. Our inner child can be the light in our lighthouse, if given the space and safety to shine.

The Muse

Historically and globally, “The Muse” shows up across generations and cultures. From Saraswati to Calliope, we have come to view the creative spirit as something external, a divine force, that is both the embodiment and the sponsor of creative action. ”Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story…” begins Homer’s Odyssey, a prayer for download, so to speak. We invoke the muse as an invitation and offering.

The very word enthusiasm comes from our relationship to the Muse. En meaning in, Thus coming from the Greek Theos or Gods, and Iasm from the Greek Ousia, meaning essence. Creative enthusiasm is thus being in pure essence of the creative spirit. When we are enthused we are in the divine.

The Inner Child as the Muse

As we hold the term enthusiasm close to our hearts, I ask you to think of one who is more enthusiastic than a child. Picture how a child moves through the world- each moment is new, each a source of inspiration and delight. Children marvel at bubbles and wonder at the magic of the stars. Nothing is taken for granted. Children are intrinsically in the divine.

We are inherently creative beings, and children are also closer to creation, quite literally. They are closer to the portal of birth, and inherently know how to birth ideas into the world. As children learn, they inherently create- they mash spaghetti into mountains, they wear a bowl as a hat, they try out new words and create their own amalgamations. They have yet to integrate outside meaning, judgments, ideas, and perspectives onto their own actions, and thus, are in a constant state of imagination. They are learning form the heart, instead of from the head (aka, logic brain!)

Your Inner Child is the wellspring from which your adult creativity pours. When we heal and care for the inner child, we inherently heal and care for our adult artist. The Inner Child loves BIG feelings and right-brain thinking. Your integrated adult is the one who puts the creativity into action. You need both the creative inner child, AND the integrated adult!

Listening to the Muse IS Creative Listening

Let’s return to the example of Homer’s Odyssey. ”Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story…”

Let’s rephrase this for our modern day imagination. Creative Source, I am a vessel and open. I am void of thought and ready for inspiration. Once I receive, I will create.
What does this sound like?

CREATIVE LISTENING. Awareness-Action-Reflection. Empty self of ideas (aka, meditation and listening). Act on what you receive (make art!). Stand back and reflect.

AND if Creative Listening IS Inner Child Healing…then by the transitive property (Math!!)
INNER CHILD HEALING IS LISTENING TO YOUR OWN CREATIVE MUSE.

When we engage in healing and listening to our inner child, we tap into our own, personal source of divine creativity. Each and every one of us has our own personal muse, our own source of boundless creative energy. We need only to look within.

Why do I need a muse?

Our muse is the embodiment of our creative energy, our desires, our big feelings, and our big pain. Artists often claim to be “blocked” when they are out of communication with this part of themselves.

By having a muse that we can clearly envision, we can call upon them when we feel blocked, empty, or unenthusiastic. We call upon our muse to awaken our inner divine. We call upon our inner divine so we can follow our most aligned, creative path in life.

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

PRACTICE ONE: Creating Your Muse

The creation of your muse is a collaborative process. This is an identity you co-create with your inner child. Use the following journal prompts to begin creating your muse. When a question asks you to reflect back, look at what you noted about your inner child.

Based on your week 5 journal prompts, what might your muse envision for the world?
Based on week 5, what does your muse sound like? Consider using your playlist!
What does your muse look like? Consider using old photographs as a source of inspiration! What do they wear? What do they look like? This can be a combination of what you discovered in week 5 and your own adult imagination. Are they even human?
Based on your week 6 journal entries, what does your muse value deeply?
Based on your week 6 journal entries, what wounds might your muse help to heal in the world? How do they help heal your wounds?
What is your muse the muse OF? Consider looking back to your Ikigai and values! Are they they muse of community collaboration and podcasts? Are they the muse of symbols and tattoos?
How can you embody your muse when you need to? How do you call on them when you need creative inspiration?
How can it be helpful to have a muse or creative identity to call on?

PRACTICE TWO: Daily Imaginings

We often talk about morning pages, or daily affirmations, but we often prevent our inner child and artist from doing what they do best…IMAGINING. I encourage you to practice daily imaginings for the next week! When you wake up, spend 5 minutes just IMAGINING. IMAGINE the future. Imagine your life! Imagine what you could or will make next. Consider using the following journal prompts if needed…

Write the truest story of your life. What does it look like? Give us one scene from your abundant and true life.
My most creative self is excited to make….
My most creative self envisions _____ for their life.
Tell the story of your creative success. What does it look like? How does it feel?
The person I am becoming will experience more….
I will have the opportunity to….
I get to tackle….
I am excited to create…..
Tell us the story of your life as if it were a fairy tale

Once you have IMAGINED let’s sit back and reflect. What is one sentence we can take away from this? What is one idea that can actually be embodied today. For instance, let’s say I write a story about how I am sitting on the porch painting in my beautiful riverside victorian home. That isn’t my reality today…but how can I call this feeling into action? Perhaps my take away is that I am outside. Outside is important. Today I will go outside. Consider using the following prompts to help you create a daily action from your imaginings…

What is the smallest, most tangible version of this story?
What is the smallest step I could take towards making this a reality?
How will I know when I am embodying the person I am becoming?
What is one way you have the opportunity to show up as your future self today?

NOTHING THAT HAS EVER BEEN CREATED HAS EXISTED OUTSIDE OF THE IMAGINATION FIRST. EVERYTHING MUST BE DREAMT OF IN ORDER TO BE CREATED. IF THERE IS SOMETHING YOU WANT TO CREATE WE MUST FIRST START WITH DREAMING. THIS IS WHAT YOUR INNER CHILD AND YOUR MUSE ARE BEST AT!!

PRACTICE THREE: Make Bad Art

Why do we start our creative exploration with so much ICK? We dive into pain, discomfort, and trauma BEFORE we look at creating our most joyful creative path.

We do this because creative problems are just life problems in disguise.

We often think that our creative struggles are external and that there is something we need to figure out. There is nothing you need to figure out. We are becoming comfortable with being with ourselves, with our bodies, and with our minds.

As a practice in discomfort (and how it can be joyful!), this week we will be making BAD ART. I’m serious. Make one piece of bad art. This can be bad writing, bad music, bad painting. Make something that you would define as “bad”. Make a shitty craft. Bake an wonky cake!

The best way to allow in the weird? CREATE AN EXPERIMENT.

Ask yourself “What would happen if I…..”
What would happen if I baked a cake with nutella instead of eggs?
What would happen if I blindfolded myself and drew a portrait?
What would happen if I made a comic based on my texts?
What would happen if I wrote a story backwards?

Allow in the discomfort. Know there is nothing to figure out. Be in the moment.
MAKE BAD ART.

please bring your bad art to our live call next week! Or at least documentation of your bad art ;)

Week 6
The Message of the Tantrum

T/W: TRAUMA
Welcome back, friend! How was your week playing with your little? Nourishing? Fun? Frustrating? All feelings are welcome here. The growth and understanding you develop with your inner child is an ongoing process, one that has no beginning and no end. As you heal your inner child, your adult self matures. As your adult self matures, your inner child grows and changes, thus continuing the cycle as you meet this transformed little-you.

This week, we will begin to explore the wants, needs, and hurts of your little, and how we can turn the reparenting process into one of radical joy and acceptance. The healing process can be a “YES/AND” scenario- pain and joy can live simultaneously alongside one and other.

Before we begin, I want to make an important distinction. In the below lesson we will be discussing trauma. There is a big difference between big T TRAUMA and little t trauma. TRAUMA, as we see it in psychology, are the disturbing events in life that have lasting impact and may include (but are not limited to) acute Trauma such witnessing a crime, chronic Trauma such as abuse and neglect, and complex Trauma which may include both prior categories.

With that said, little t trauma is different. Little t trauma are the events in life that, while perhaps not life-threatening, still have a lasting impact and may color how one interacts with the world. This type of trauma is more insidious; we may not even know it was trauma for decades. One example of this type of trauma is growing up in a household that valued “children are seen, not heard”. Perhaps you grew up in a loving home, but silence was an expected norm for all social functions. As you grew, this silence buried itself deep in your heart, resulting in a lack of belief in your own voice.

Reparenting

The good and bad news, is that we all carry some form of trauma from life. The very nature of growing up in a capitalist society asks us to conform to trauma, as the system itself benefits off of our pain (hello beauty industry!). This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the experience of T/trauma experienced by BIPOC in this country- the very nature of existing in a black or brown body is in itself, a source of trauma as it is constantly being threatened.

Many of our core beliefs about self, others, and the world are formed in childhood. As children, we are like little sponges, we absorb everything we see, even if we do not yet understand it. For instance, perhaps we witness our mothers who, well intentioned, bend over backwards for their family. Putting their needs aside in favor supporting their partner’s career, we may learn from an early age that as a human in a female body our needs are negligible. Or, perhaps you grew up in a household where big displays of emotion were considered inappropriate, and you were expected to “take a time out” when feeling something big. This common parenting technique may result in you believing that your feelings are not welcomed by others. See how sneaky this trauma thing can be?

Reparenting is the act of listening to our little, and providing what was lacking in childhood. A quick note on reparenting: If you are like me when this concept was first introduced, you may be bristling already! “But I LOVE my parents! They LOVED me!” This may absolutely be true. Reparenting in no way refutes or negates what your parents may have done right. Every single human needs reparenting in life because no one is a mind-reader, and our own parents were tending to their OWN inner child! Humans can anticipate some needs of others, but certainly not all. The “work” of maturing is learning how to GIVE YOURSELF WHAT YOU NEED. And THIS is why we reparent.

The work of reparenting is becoming an interdependent and sovereign adult. By reparenting we actually get to thank our original caregivers for everything they taught us, and then take this work deeper.

The Process

Reparenting may sound like a whole caregiving course, complete with Lamaze breathing, but in reality, it is the “work” you have already been doing. Remember “Creative Listening”? This was actually your first introduction into the reparenting process (I know, sneaky me). In Creative Listening, we begin to engage the three steps of the process: awareness, action, reflection.

Awareness of Needs
In order to know how to hold and help our inner child, we first must know how to listen to them. THIS is the work you began last week! We engage in listening through activity, meditation, journaling, creativity, and “sitting with” our little. We listen for little cues, we learn what they want, what they missed in childhood. We become attuned to how they communicate, and how their needs may poke their heads above the surface at the strangest of times.

Action: Filling in the Gaps
Once we learn what our little may need, we act by filling in the gaps. Perhaps your little felt unheard and invalidated in childhood. How can we give your child the space to raise her voice? Therapy, singing, slam poetry, and deep conversation with safe companions may provide healing. The important thing to note, is that we approach this stage without judgement or “past facing” perspective. We do not try to change the past, and we do not blame. Feelings of shame, sadness, or guilt may arise. When they do, we simply acknowledge them and ask “How can I give you what you need now, little one?”. When we heal the now we also heal the past.

Reflection: Unconditional Love
We always return to love. As mentioned, the above process can bring up deep and painful feelings. It can also bring up joy and freedom. Regardless of where we are at, we meet ourselves with love. When we act from a place of love, it allows us to objectively stand back and reflect without the clouding of shame or guilt. We can properly see from a distance the growth and healing experienced by our littles, and in conjunction with our adult self.

The Adult Tantrum (aka, your little is SCREAMING)

A friend and colleague once said to me “insecurity stems from a lack of a secure environment.” What I mean, is that we are all constantly reacting to our surroundings and those around us. While we may not see it initially, the way we treat ourselves is in fact also part of our environment. When our inner child feels threatened, they will let you know. When our inner child feels its needs are not being met, they will let you know. We cannot always control what or who surrounds us, but we can control how we act towards ourselves.

Tantrums are a message from our inner child. Tantrums may show up in adulthood as big gestures such as crying, screaming, slamming doors, cursing, whining, and even the silent treatment. Tantrums can also show up as more subtle gestures such as freezing, brain fog, creative blocks, confusion, and anxiety.

Tantrums are a message from our inner child that our needs are not being met. What is it that your little is needing right now? Typically, these needs come down to the most basic concepts.

When you notice a tantrum, move down the following list (in order!)…

Is my physical safety in danger?
Have I rested enough? Do I need a nap?
Am I thirsty? Have I had a glass of water?
Am I hungry? When was the last time I had a nourishing snack?
Is my body temperature regulated?
Do I feel like I have enough AIR (breathing room, space, etc)?
Do I have at least one person that I feel connected to or supported by (can I ask for their support)?
Have I moved my body recently?

If you feel that all of the above are being met, move on to the following list (again, in order)…

Do I have enough financially to cover the above basic needs?
Do I have enough resources to ensure the above basic needs are met?
Am I being threatened emotionally by an outside source?
Do I feel respected by others?
Do I respect myself?
Are my talents being recognized?
Do I feel free?
Do I feel like I am reaching my full potential?

How to Move Through a Tantrum

First, recognize that there is no need to bring in shame or judgement. Our needs shift daily, and knowing what we need at any given moment is always a learning process. You are not bad or wrong for not knowing what you or your inner child needs.
Acknowledge your inner child. Say out loud how they/you are feeling and let them know it is ok to feel these big feelings. “It is safe to feel sad here, I am here for you.” “It is ok to be scared.” “It is ok to be overwhelmed, this is a lot!”
Note the trigger or situation that proceeded this need. Were you overworking and forgot to drink water all morning? Have you been so hyper-focused on your painting that you forgot to call your mom? Did you make a self-deprecating joke that has been sitting poorly with you all day? Just notice what the trigger was, and make a note of it.
If possible, fulfill this need. It can be helpful to move through the first “basic” list even if you feel your need is more complex. Often we mistake thirst or exhaustion for anxiety and isolation. Often we confuse lack of social contact with lack of accomplishment. When in doubt, take a nap+drink some water+have a nourishing snack+go outside. Then see if the world feels a little brighter after!
If you are still in tantrum, self-soothe and do not try to “problem solve”. Dance it out, journal, hug yourself, take a warm bath, wrap yourself in blankets. Allow yourself to feel the feelings.
Notice the feelings that the tantrum has brought up. Try to be specific. (Is it anger or is it hostility? Is it fear or is it feelings of inadequacy? Is it sadness or is it isolation?)
Notice any thoughts that may have been related to the feelings, “I am worthless”, “I hate my partner”, “I never know how to react socially”.
Notice what actions you took as a result (this would likely be the tantrum). How else do these thoughts and feelings manifest in life?
Return to the thought and ask is it a) true OR b) helpful. If either are a no see if you can rephrase the thought as a question… “Am I willing to consider that I am worth it?”, “Am I willing to consider that partnership is complex?”, “Am I willing to consider that there are many ways to exist as a social creature?”.
Once you sit with this question, try once more to rephrase it, this time as a statement. “I am learning to see my worth.”, “My partnership is complex, and I am learning more everyday.”, “I can show up socially in a way that works for me.”

What does this have to do with creativity?

Our inner child is essentially our muse (more on that next week!). They are responsible for our BIG creative energy, and our integrated adult is responsible for putting that energy into action. When we can learn to feed the basic needs of our inner child, they will begin to trust us. When they can trust that they are safe to exist, they will begin to feel safe in sharing their wild, unbound creativity. Before we learn to listen to the big ideas existing within, we must create a “safe space” for our inner child to come out to play. We must meet them where they are at, so they can meet us with the beautiful gifts they possess.

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

PRACTICE ONE: Time Traveling- PART 1

As I mentioned earlier, most of our core beliefs about life, self, and the world are developed in childhood. By understanding where we absorbed certain ideas, we can begin to understand why we act the way we do today! This healing is, again, cyclical! By knowing what our inner child is lacking, we can give it to our present day self, allowing our inner child, past and present, to feel safe now.

Use the following questions to begin to navigate where our beliefs grew from, and how we can nourish ourselves now.

As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about taking up space? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about taking up space? What assumptions did you make about or from society about taking up space?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about others caring for you? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about others caring for you? What assumptions did you make about or from society about others caring for you?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about navigating big feelings?What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about navigating big feelings? What assumptions did you make about or from society about navigating big feelings?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about chaos? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about chaos? What assumptions did you make about or from society about chaos?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about consistency? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about consistency? What assumptions did you make about or from society about consistency?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about affection? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about affection? What assumptions did you make about or from society about affection?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about helping or pleasing? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about helping or pleasing? What assumptions did you make about or from society about helping or pleasing?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about sensitivity? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about sensitivity? What assumptions did you make about or from society about sensitivity?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about anger? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about anger? What assumptions did you make about or from society about anger?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about fear and safety? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about fear and safety? What assumptions did you make about or from society about fear and safety?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about productivity? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about productivity? What assumptions did you make about or from society about productivity?
As a child, what did your caregivers demonstrate or not demonstrate about creativity? What was a core belief you absorbed in childhood about creativity? What assumptions did you make about or from society about creativity?

PRACTICE ONE: Time Traveling- PART 2

As you move through the above journal responses, begin to get curious and playful with these ideas! Ok, so your caregivers maybe “planted” the idea that chaos is a way to get attention, or that anger is unacceptable.

WHAT IS ONE WAY YOU CAN PLAYFULLY EXPLORE PLANTING A NEW IDEA? PERHAPS THIS MAY LOOK LIKE HAVING AN EXTRA-EXTRA CALM DAY COMPLETE WITH BLANKET FORT TO PLANT THE IDEA THAT “YOU CAN BE LOVED AND CALM.” PERHAPS YOU HAVE A RIOT GRRRL DANCE PARTY AND CELEBRATE HOW HEALTHY ANGER CAN BE! GET CREATIVE!!!

PRACTICE ONE: Time Traveling- PART 3

Pick one idea from the above list that feels particularly important or sticky to you. Without necessarily knowing anything yet about your creative offering, I encourage you to answer the following question…

HOW CAN YOUR CREATIVE OFFERING BE A WAY TO HEAL THIS IDEA FOR YOURSELF AND OTHERS?

Get creative here! I encourage you to jot down notes, explore, be messy!

Week 5
Holding Your Own Little Hand

Welcome to the second “unit” in our Free/Play series… Reclaiming Your Inner Child!

Perhaps it sounds counterintuitive, but the very best way to become the happiest, most self-sufficient adult, is to in essence, become a child again. Growth is not linear, and it is when we are able to recognize the child within that we can care for the adult exterior. Inner Child healing is not rosy retrospection, and it is not past-facing. Inner Child healing focuses on the here and the now. We cannot change the past, but we can invite our inner child to play, to inform our current needs, and to help us rediscover the joy that is our birthright.

So, what IS this “inner child”?

Author Susan Anderson describes the four layers of the inner child to adult self as follows…

Inner-Child

The “little you” – tender, emotional. Your inner-child is the innocent part of you – all about feelings and your primal needs.

Vulnerable and innocent
Deep feeling and sensitivity
Curious, creative and playful
Craves love, recognition, and validation
Desires connection and safety
Open-minded
Total in expression – be it anger, sadness, joy

Outer-Child

Responsible for self-defeating behaviors, self-sabotage. The outer child responds to the inner-child and can over-protect by acting out.

Self-defeating behaviors
Loss of control over behavior and reactions
Uncalibrated in the expression of anger
Impatient and impulsive
Self-centered and focused on having needs met
Sabotages your inner-growth and fights change
Over-protects inner-child by pushing love away

Wounded Inner-Child

Response to emotional or psychological neglect.

A deep-seated belief that you are broken.
Fear of abandonment and loss of love.
Insecure and low-self esteem.
Loss of self in an attempt to gain approval from others.
Fearful of setting boundaries or saying “no”.
Seeking instant-gratification through substances, shopping, distraction, and procrastination.

Integrated Adult

When a healthy dialogue has formed between inner-child and adult self.

Connected to body sensations and emotions.
Can identify and clearly communicate emotions.
Able to identify needs and make requests without anger or over-reaction.
Remains true to self even in conflict.
Self-honoring and able to set boundaries.
Gives space to inner-child to have big feelings without shutting them down.
Practices self-love and self-care.

Why does it matter?

We need ALL parts of our self, from inner child to adult, and everything in-between. In order to show up as our authentic, integrated self, we must begin to recognize how these various parts of self interact. The inner child asks us to recognize our BIG feelings, our deep creativity, and our joy. The outer child is here to protect, and they are fierce in their dedication. Your wounded child may play a big or small part in your life, but they ask you to recognize where you still may need care, and how to show up for yourself. The integrated adult is here to hold it all in the now and show up in the adult world. I like to think of the integrated adult as the “alchemist”, they merge together the unbridled creativity and feelings with purpose and vision.

Getting to know “your little”

This week, instead of a lengthy reading, I have various prompts for you to engage with your sweet, tender little self. Everything stated above is simply theory until applied, and there is no “one size fits all” model. Over the next week, your main objective is to get to know your little self. Befriend them, have conversations, buy them gifts, hold their hand, and let them cry in your arms.
*There is no specific “HW” this week, but I challenge you to try out one of the below prompts each day. At minimum, I challenge you to try one from each category!

Inviting your “little” to play…

Create a playlist of music from a specific period of time in your life that is relevant to your little. Add music that was important, relevant, or often played during this time. Play said playlist around the house, in the car, in bed. Perhaps throw yourself a dance party! Notice if your little wants to come out to play…if any memories arise, longings, thoughts, or feelings. When they do, note them in your journal!
Write your little a letter. Consider introducing yourself, who you are now, who they will become. Shower them with love, forgive them for their tantrums. Do they respond? Do they want to write a letter back?
Look through old photos. As you look through, simply notice what you see. Is this a child full of happiness? Play? Mischief? Who were you at once point in time? Can you invite that little to play today?

A playdate with your “little”…

Create a physical safe space for your child to play. Is it a room? A corner of your desk? Where does your inner child live in your physical space? How can you create a space where you can “come home” to them when needed?
Take your little to the toy store! What jumps out at you? What do you WANT? What does your heart gravitate towards? Texture? Color? Movement? Allow your little to pick something out- what does their heart desire? Gift them something special! What might this tell you about your integrated adult self?
Take your little to the craft store! Let’s make a mess! Let your little gravitate towards media/mediums, regardless of skill or craft. What calls to them? The ease of paint? The structure of paper? Bright pens for love notes? Gift your little some supplies- what do they want to create? What might this tell you about your integrated adult?
Throw your little a party. What would you eat? Wear? Will there be balloons? What does it feel like to CELEBRATE your little? How does your integrated adult feel in celebration of self?

Deepening your connection to your “little”…

What values are important to your little? These don’t have to be adult values, in fact, I encourage you to listen with a child’s ear. A child may value “Pretty Breakfast with the flower plate”, or “I don’t kiss people with lipstick”. What was important to your little? What does that tell you about your integrated adult?
- For example, “Pretty Breakfast with the flower plate” might mean that you still hold aesthetics close to your heart, and celebrating simple moments is cherished. “I don’t kiss people with lipstick” could be interpreted as having clear boundaries and sticking to them, no matter how silly they seem to others.
Invite your little to an imagination brainstorm. What are their big dreams? What are yours? Where do they intersect? How can you dream together?
Invite your little to a creative listening session. How can they step in? How can you listen to them? What do you create when they are leading your creative listening?

Week 4
Integration

This week is about finding integration, and ways in which you can incorporate Weeks 1-3 into your daily life through practice, ritual, and play. You may use this week to simply catch up on missed HW, or use the following prompts to further or deepen the “work” you have already done. This is your week to use intuitively, listen to your body and see what feels right to you.

~*~ optional ~*~
Deepening Your Practice

If you choose to deepen your practice, consider utilizing the following prompts. They have been divided by category, so simply scroll for the support you need.

FOR PLAY PRACTICE

What is your relationship to play currently? How has it changed over the past 3 weeks? Check in with yourself to see how you can continue to build a play practice. If this has fallen to the side, consider how you can return to it with intention, care, and softness.
Consider the difference between “leisure” and “play”- what is the difference? Where is there overlap? In your journal, write you own definition of PLAY. What does it mean to you? Why is important? How does it support your life?
Play does not have to be a separate practice! Consider making a list of all of your daily activities. How can you incorporate play into these? What is a playful mindset vs a playful action? How can you incorporate joy or softness into your daily activities?
Does your current creative practice feel like a drudgery? Consider how you can instead shift, even for one day, into a space of PLAY when creating. What would it be like to simply react to your stimuli? What would it feel like to let go of outcomes, and enjoy the process?
- A great prompt to “let go” and be “in process” is to redo or work on the same piece everyday. If it is a drawing/painting/etc, consider how you can make it into something new everyday. Perhaps you draw on a paper one day, and the next return and cut it into shapes. The next day perhaps you collage those pieces. Perhaps the following you draw on the collage! By taking away a final “product” you can allow yourself to be more in the process. The same goes fro all other mediums- if you are a writer, perhaps you write a short essay or poem. The next day pick one random sentence, and begin a new piece from that line. Perhaps the next day you cut up the lines and create a poem. So on and so forth, rinse and repeat. It is about process.
Play, in my personal definition, is the intersection of presence and pleasure. How can you use play as practice for self awareness? How can play, in its own way, be a meditative process?

FOR STRUCTURE AND SUPPORT

Developing a FULL schedule can be overwhelming. Instead, consider how you can make one SMALL (almost too small!) promise to yourself daily. Keep that promise. Do it. Celebrate it. Document it. This can be as small as drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning, or making your bed. Every time you complete this small task, affirm it out loud! “Hell yeah! I am amazing! I made the bed!”. Then, write it down somewhere you can see. Perhaps keep a chart where you can put stars down, or sticky notes! This will be a reminder to self that YOU CAN DO IT. YOU CAN STAY COMMITTED TO YOURSELF.
- Consider this also for your creative practice. Make yourself a TINY creative goal. “I will write 50 words today.” “I will doodle in my sketchbook for 5 minutes.” Make it SMALL. Repeat the above process. DOCUMENT IT. Then at the end of the day, write how you feel. Start to notice any correlations! (More on this in coming weeks!)
We often try to pile TOO MUCH in one day. What does ENOUGH look like for you? What does enough feel like? How can you reflect that in your creative structure and schedule?
When in doubt, just show up. Instead of figuring out WHAT you’ll do once you get to the canvas/notebook/computer/etc, figure out HOW you will get yourself there. What steps do you need to take in order to ARRIVE?
See your ritual and routine as your SAFETY net. How can you provide yourself safety in body and mind? What would safety look like for you?

FEELING GOOD

Keep a running “feel good” list- keep adding to it. When something feels good to your body, mind, heart, or soul, write it down!
Consider creating an authenticity diary. Write down anytime you feel you have been true to yourself, and how sticking to your own truth made you feel. How does this help you recognize future actions and choices?
Consider creating a “care” list- items to return to when you need care. What do different situations call for? For instance, how does care differ in the regular day to day, as opposed to during a crisis? When in doubt, go back to your wheels and your feel good list!
Consider taking one small step towards filling your creative cup daily. This can be as small as stepping outside for a breath of fresh air, or as structured as a trip to a museum. What activities keep you inspired?

RETURN TO YOUR SETUP

Return to the vow you wrote before week 1. How are you staying true to yourself? How can you recommit right now? What is one action you can take to recommit?
How can you continue to cultivate a physical space of comfort and support?
Consider engaging the 5 senses when you feel dis-regulated. How can you provide comfort through touch? How can you provide structure through sound?
As you move through your day, consider how you can bring begin to embed your daily activities with intention. Ritual is routine with purpose and connection. Who are what are you connecting to through your actions?

Week 2
What the Body Already Knows

Hello Friend, and welcome to Week 2! Last week, we looked at listening to the body, and recognizing all of the voices that are NOT our own- the way SHOULDS, pressure, stress, and isms may have crept into our psyche, whether to keep us safe or sometimes even to promote harm. You have a wise, beautiful body. Your Body knows more than we can even imagine. If we are no longer listening to those intrusive voices (ie, your shoulds), what other voice is there to focus on?

In this week’s readings, we will look at the unconscious mind, or what I like to think of as the “body-mind”. Did you know the human body sends 11 million bits per second to the brain for processing, yet the conscious mind seems to be able to process only 50 bits per second? That means we are losing the gross majority of the “knowing” that the body holds. In Western culture, our end-all-be-all is the rational, conscious mind. However, given the data, is the mind truly the most trust worthy guide? I suggest instead, that we lean into trusting our body and how it can inform not only our creative practice, but our day to day life as well.

Why Does the Body Matter?

I get it- your brain is already 10 steps ahead, waiting for your next big success, and wondering why we are spending a whole three weeks talking about the body. You are HUNGRY to get started, and so you let your brain run the show. We already know the process we’ll use to succeed, the timeline, the actions. Yet, here you are…in course to rediscover, recreate, and renew yourself. BUSINESS AS USUAL HASN’T WORKED PREVIOUSLY, AND GUESS WHAT? THE BRAIN HAS BEEN IN CHARGE UP UNTIL NOW.

A note on the brain before we move forward: she is wise, she is a total boss. The brain keeps us safe, she creates boundaries, predicts patterns. We rely on her to ensure we don’t repeat past mistakes, and avoid utter disaster. In the “stew” of our lives, the brain is essential. Yet, is the brain the only “smart” one?

“In…"Blink," Malcolm Gladwell describes an experiment, a simple gambling game. There are four decks of cards in front of you: two red, two blue. You have to turn over one card at a time and, each time, either you win some money or you lose some. What you don't know is that the decks are stacked. The red decks have some big-time winners but more big-time losers. You can't win with red. The blue decks give you a nice steady series of modest payoffs and only a few losers. Stick with blue, you'll go home a winner. So, Malcolm Gladwell, how long does it take players to figure this out?

…Well, consciously, if you ask them after about 50 cards, they'll say, 'You know, there's something wrong with red.' And after about 70 cards, they'll say, 'I get it. You know, the payoffs are big but the losses are greater with red,' right? So they figure it out logically after 70 cards. But at the same time, if you measure their skin conductance on their palms….when we're under stress, our palms start to sweat, so you measuring that sweat. What you find is that after about 10 cards, their palms are sweating whenever they take cards from the red deck. And if you look at their behavior, you'll see that long before they're consciously aware that they're supposed to stay away from red, they've started to shift from red towards blue. And what that says to me is that there's another--we have a second kind of brain operating below the surface that's capable of making very sophisticated judgments very quickly…”

Clearly, there is much we can learn from our bodies. Body knowledge exceeds that of the conscious mind. I strongly believe that when we learn to listen to and care for our bodies, we fill our emotional/physical/spiritual cups. Essentially, we learn how to fill our cups through deep body listening, Then, when we come to our creativity with a full cup we are no longer functioning on empty- we are functioning from a place of abundance. We are able to make work that serves self, and thus, allows you to show up more fully for others. When we are creating work of inner value, it attracts outer value- abundance begets abundance! Finally, when we are functioning from a place of abundance we can care for the body. Rinse, repeat.

We start with the body because the body knows.

Tapping into the Power of Body Knowledge

Last week I introduced the practice of Creative Listening. This practice may be new to many, and for some, is already a part of your creative practice. Why do we engage in this activity?

Creative Listening is a way to be in dialogue with your body.

I believe in the power of dialogue, of give and take. In order to be our most creative selves, we must learn how to ask our bodies for advice, and act in alignment with this body-advice. In return, we must give back and treat our bodies with kindness and care. How do we ask for advice? We engage in dialogue.

Close your eyes.
Drop in- allow your environment to fall away. Simply focus on your breath.
Count your breath back from 60.
As you reach a place of ease, drop a single question in, perhaps as simple as “what advice do you have for me today?”
Do not try to answer, simply see what bubbles up.
Sit with this for a few minutes. Perhaps you may need to ask a follow up question.
As you leave the meditative state, begin to engage in creation (I encourage you to set your materials up in advance). This can be writing, drawing, dancing, singing, oral storytelling- you name it!
Stop & notice the creation once complete. What do you now notice? How does this inform your body advice?

This is always a back and forth. Ask a question, receive. Give through creation. Listen. Etc. You can get specific with your questions (“How do I care for myself after Aunt Mary’s visit tomorrow?”) or keep it broad. Overall, KEEP IT SOFT. Refrain from judgement. See what comes up. Some call this intuition, others call it God. I see it all as one and the same. Whatever it is to you, lean into the mystery, embrace the unknown, and allow your body to speak its truth.

Finding the Motivation = Finding the “Feel Goods” & the Values (ie, creating a FEEL-GOOD-LIST!)

Once we have greater access to this body insight, we will be able to treat our bodies with kindness in return. We must find the processes, words, acts, etc that feel good to us.

I am venturing to guess that you rarely ask your body if something feels good. Perhaps we ask it from time to time, but what if we lived our lives from a place of radical joy, pleasure, and play? How often to do you act in ways that bring displeasure, even pain? Furthermore, how do we know if something is truly worth the effort, when perhaps it is bringing immediate displeasure, but may yield future joy? In each moment, especially when in displeasure, ask yourself “Does this feel good? What does feel good? Is this body pleasure or heart pleasure?”

Body Pleasure
Body pleasure is joy, sensation, play, or ease brought about through physicality. This may include taste, touch, energy, rest, sound, smell…etc etc etc. Body pleasure is essential in caring for, you guessed it, this meat suit we live in! Body pleasure typically is brought up through immediacy, and brings about short-lived pleasure. While heart pleasure may bring longer-lasting joy and ease, body pleasure acts like deposits in a bank- even though the pleasure may come in small doses, it builds up over time and can create a “storehold of joy”.

Heart Pleasure (ie, Values)
Some activities may not feel quite as pleasurable in the moment, yet bring a sense of long-lasting fulfillment. These activities are ones that align with our personal values, the ideas we cherish most in life. Perhaps you decide to march in a Black Lives Matter rally. Day of, it’s hot and you have period pain. Yet, you decide to go anyway. Why override this clear sign from the body that this activity doesn’t feel good? You do it because it aligns with your deep value of justice. It is important to note that, just as body pleasure builds up over time, consistently overriding body pleasure for heart pleasure ALSO builds up over time, yet, in this instance it depletes your joy storage.

In an ideal world, we are functioning from a place of both body and heart pleasure. When I teach dance, it feels good in my body AND heart. Are you functioning from a place of body & heart pleasure? Does your creative practice feel good? If so, why? Is it body or heart pleasure? If it doesn’t feel good, is there a way to align your creative practice with either body or heart?

Example 1: Jordan is a painter. She has always been creative, but lately, just feels stuck in her practice. She loves painting, but cannot figure out why she has lost touch with this part of herself that once felt so life-giving! Upon reflection, Jordan realizes that as her career has grown, so has her client list. She has started to take on commissions that no longer feel good to her- she paints family portraits that take hours upon hours, and admittedly, the subject matter doesn’t excite her at all. Jordan is out of alignment with BOTH her heart and body. She used to paint abstracted landscapes that spoke to land memory- concept is important to her! Plus, she remembers that painting “marathons” creates major burnout for her- she prefers painting in longer stretches of time for shorter periods. She decides that she will cut down her client list to only 1 client per month, and supplement her income with teaching and selling her fine art on her website. THIS feels better for her, more manageable, and more aligned.

Example 2: Leigh is an activist and works in a non-profit. This deeply value-centered work has always appealed to them, but lately, they have been feeling like the work has been piling up. Their organization recently lost some funding, and as a result, Leigh has had to cover the work of another employee that was let go. They consistently feel exhausted, and never feel like their work is valued. Despite their working aligning with heart pleasure, it is not sustainable for the body. Leigh decides to speak with their boss about fundraising so their work load is lessened, and plainly states that they need their hours reduced for their own well-being.

Example 3: CJ loves photography, but has never really pursued a creative career. Instead, he prefers to work a day job in a retail store that has amazing benefits, a great boss, and easy hours. He feels supported, and knows that every day will be one full of ease. That being said, something is missing. While his job is stable, and there is nothing too challenging, he doesn’t feel like it is really aligned with his larger values. At his core, he knows he values exploration and creativity. He wants to live a life that excites him- to be surrounded by other creatives that spark passion. He decides to stay at his job, but, use his free time to become a member at a local feminist art studio. He makes an effort to show up at least once a week, and engage in monthly critiques. In this community, he feels creatively challenged, and hopes to one day quit his job in pursuit of a more sustainable creative career.

START WITH YOUR OWN FEELS. Can you list what feels good to your body? Can you notice it throughout the day? Do you know your values, and can you ensure your decisions are aligned with them?
Create a FEEL GOOD LIST as you move through your day, noting what does and doesn’t feel good. How does this knowledge impact the decisions you make?

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

PRACTICE ONE: Filling Your Creative Cup

Our personal cups are not only filled by the acts of care given to self, but also through the stimuli you surround yourself with. Are you feeding your inner creative daily? Do you find your environment inspiring? How often do you nourish yourself with inspiration? Inspiration is BOTH body & heart pleasure- it feeds out immediate sense of excitement, and is fuel in the tank for long-lasting joy!

(Possible) Play Prompts!

Take yourself to the craft store- give yourself a budget! Allow yourself to buy a few new supplies that are exciting, inspiring, or otherwise fun!
Go on a creative scavenger hunt. What can you discover in your city? Is there public artwork? Murals? Street Art? Take it all in.
Go to a museum (if comfortable and safe!) and discover one new piece you have never seen before!
Watch an art documentary, creative film, concert series, or cartoon. Maybe eat some Sunday morning cereal while you’re at it!
Get off the screen and into the world. Go for a walk, discover new nooks and crannies. Make friends with the neighbors dog. Write a love note to a caterpillar.
Have a conversation with someone you find inspiring. Chat about your creative goals. Perhaps connect with your accountability buddy!
And the list goes on! Make up your own- how do you create space for inspiration? How do you fill your creative cup?

PRACTICE TWO: Play Practice, What Feels Good

Let’s return to Play Practice! What does it mean to practice play? In essence, we want to infuse our day to day with a sense of joy, pleasure, and ease! As you move throughout your day, see if there is a way to execute an activity in a playful way that feels good. What does playful grocery shopping look like? What does it mean to play when writing? Instead of making PLAY a separate activity, consider it a way of making everyday activities FEEL GOOD, FUN, OR SILLY. Practice one simple act this week of play. Make it easy. Make it fun. Make it joyful. Make it feel good.

BONUS STARS: How can feeling good also help others to feel good in turn? How can showing up for yourself assist in the liberation of others? Practice one simple act

PRACTICE THREE: Return to Creative Listening

This is simply a reminder to return to your creative listening practice. Creative Listening is just one more toy for your toy box. Consider this as an exercise to return to weekly, and to use as needed. This practice is one I encourage you to become “in ritual” with- how does this join the framework of your creative structure?

Week 1
Listening to the Body

Happy Friday, dear one! Shall we take a collective breath before we jump into this work? Let’s!
Imagine your peers are alongside you, breathing in tandem, as you ground and drop into your body. Feel their support, and know they want the very best for you. They want you to succeed. I want you to succeed. I want you to feel nourished, supported, cared for, and loved.

Let me tell you a story. Before Rec Center, before I started my own business, I used to work for a Floral Shop. Sounds cute, right? In theory, yes. I worked adjacent to beauty all day. I got to wear a cute apron. I played with petals on the daily. But this job was 100% in opposition to my body.

I often woke at 4:00 am to arrive at a venue, install before 6:00 am, and then sit around waiting in a service hallway until I could deinstall at 4:00 pm. I would carry buckets of water over 50 lbs, often throwing out my back. I withstood the abuse of narcissist boss, who would blame her life problems on me. I learned how to “up-charge” and turn the most magical day of someone’s life, ie a wedding, into the most expensive and debt-racking choice they would make. I would drag myself home at night, close my eyes, and feel the pain radiating in my body. “This must be what a creative’s life is like.” I thought this was my only choice.

As creatives, we are often told to “take what you can get”. We operate under scarcity, and are abused/used by businesses who still operate under the “myth of the starving artist”. They know what they are doing- and we willingly eat their spoon-fed rhetoric.

Here’s the catch though- creatives run the economy. Everything you see around you, from the device you are reading this on, to your car, your pens, websites, buildings, clothing, etc etc etc, had a creative’s hand involved somewhere in the process. Without creatives, literally nothing would get done. We are at the crux of economy.

Yet, we take scraps! We think we are lucky to get what we can get, and resign to lives that are unaligned and painful. Why is this?!

The reason is twofold…

We live in a society that chronically and systemically undervalues the work of creatives. Throw in some good ol’ racism+sexism+ableism+transphobia+homophobia and you’ve got a recipe for disaster!
Creatives have been conditioned to ignore their bodies.

As creatives we are often told to “take what you can get”, we inevitably are conditioned to tune out what we need, what works for us, what we deserve, and what feels good. How many times have you taken on a project or job out of fear, knowing that you would pay for it in one way or another? How many times have you agreed to a job that you knew in your heart-of-hearts wasn’t aligned with your dreams?

The job at the floral shop was working in direct opposition to my body. Yet, I believed the lie of scarcity. I believed I was at the bottom rung, not the top of the ladder. Yet, if I didn’t show up to work nothing would happen. I made the shop run, I brought in the six figures (the likes of which I rarely saw hit my personal paycheck). My creative work was the crux of the shop. Without me they would be nothing.

When COVID19 hit, I was forced into a life of solitude, as we all were. I had been “go go going” for years, and for the very first time I was forced to slow down and listen. Suddenly, without an insane commute, my migraines were disappearing. Without someone micromanaging, my anxiety was waning. Why was it, during one of the most intense global crises of our lifetime, that I was feeling my very best? (A note on panic: this in no way undermines the trauma experienced and the horror the actual pandemic).

I was forced into a space where I had to listen to my body. I was forced to be get quiet with myself. I was forced to learn what I really, truly needed to feel safe, creative, supported, and healthy.

As creatives we have become servant to SHOULD. I SHOULD be grateful for the work I have. I SHOULD be working harder. I SHOULD be advertising on instagram. I SHOULD be tired at the end of the day.

“Stop shoulding on yourself.” ~Albert Ellis

You are not required to do anything. You are the owner and creator of your life. You SHOULDN’T be required to do/be/act. You get to BE the way you CHOOSE to BE.

As creatives, the first step we must take towards creative freedom is recognizing all of the “should” in our life. Once we can take inventory, we can begin to move forward with choice.

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

PRACTICE ONE: Stop Shoulding on Yourself.

“I get it. We’ve been programmed by our culture and our family traditions to follow the path, stay on course, climb the ladder to success! It’s the only way to be happy, they say. It’s the only way we’ll be proud of you, they insinuate. We’ve been indoctrinated with this thought pattern and belief system, and it seems impossible that we have the power to choose otherwise. We have the opportunity, the autonomy, the choice to rewire our iOS and make it what is ideal for ourselves.” Jill Anderson

This is a process of listening. We are going to start by recognizing all of the SHOULDS in our life.
Take a day, maybe 2, perhaps 3, and keep a notebook with you at all times (or a notepad in your phone) and SIMPLY NOTE every time you notice SHOULD pop up. I SHOULD get out of bed. I SHOULD say yes to that photoshoot. I SHOULD be grateful. There is no need to judge. We are simply noticing and noting.
Let’s get curious! Make a list of your “shoulds”. Now, let’s activate our inner toddler! With each should, I challenge you to ask WHY. Then ask WHY again. Then ask WHY again.
1. EXAMPLE: I should get up now, I have been in bed too long. I should get my day started.
2. Why? Because I don’t want to be lazy.
3. Why does that make you lazy? Because early risers are celebrated. Because I have a lot to do today.
4. Why would sleeping later make you incapable of getting things done? Why are early risers celebrated? I guess I could still get things done if I just shifted my schedule a little later…I do work better in the evening anyway. And I guess early risers are just wired that way- and I’m not (for reference, please enjoy these articles my night-owl friends! Article 1, Article 2, Article 3) Not to mention, with research, we see that early rising comes from religious prayer and agriculture- neither of which are significant in my life!
5. Why should I care then? I suppose I can alter my schedule! I still want to ensure I get done what is on my plate for the day, without sacrificing my health.
Let’s replace some of those SHOULDS. With this new knowledge, can you replace any of these should statements with “I choose” or “I might consider”? For example, “I choose to sleep until 8 am” or “Hey Alex, have you considered sleeping until 8 am?”
EXTRA CREDIT: What systems benefit from your SHOULDS? Does misogyny and sexism benefit from your “should be more quiet”? Does Capitalism benefit from your “should be more productive”?

PRACTICE TWO: The Creative Listening Practice

Does listening always happen with the ears? How do we listen to the body? How do we discover our needs, wants, desires, and pleasures?

You will be cultivating a Creative Listening Practice. This practice will be used alongside your Play Practice, and will work in tandem. A Creative Listening Practice allows us to tune into both our bodies, and our creative spirits, simultaneously. When we “drop in” creatively we allow thoughts and feelings to “bubble up”. Consider this practice the child of meditation + creation.

What does a Creative Listening Practice look like? Well, it is different for everyone! A Creative Listening Practice asks you to drop into the body, feel into what you notice, and then bring these observations up and out! For me personally, morning pages are a fantastic Creative Listening Practice. Yoga is another beautiful Creative Listening Practice. Free dancing is a Creative Listening Practice. Improvisational music is a Creative Listening Practice. Intuitive painting is a Creative Listening Practice.

The process is the same regardless…

DROP IN. Allow your surroundings to fall away. Notice your breath. Notice your body. Without judgment, simply notice.
NOTICE. What is coming up? What do you notice? What do you feel? Did a thought pop up? Did a knowing emerge? What is feeling good or bad in your body?
EXPRESS. Bring it up and out! Get it out of the body in movement, visuals, words, or music. Try to keep momentum during this- free write, continuous movement, etc
NOTICE. Step back and observe- how does the expression impact your understanding of the thought/feeling/knowing/pattern?
1. You can chose to move through the Express/Notice process as many times as you would like. Paint. Notice. Write about what you noticed. Notice the writing. Paint about the writing. Notice the painting- into infinity. This is a great hack to generate creative work by the way!

Some common questions…

Does my listening practice need to be the same every time?
- Nope, but it helps! Creating a consistent listening practice can help create ease in the body, and assists in the “dropping in” process. Sometimes it can take several days/weeks/months to get into the flow of the drop in/notice/express/notice process. Repeating the same actions can create a muscle memory, so to speak.
Do I have to do it every day?
- You don’t HAVE to DO anything, really, and you do not have to do this every day. As was mentioned with consistency, repetition can help create ease in the process! Do it as often as feels right for you.
Can my play practice and listening practice be one and the same?
- Consider Play Practice and Creative Listening Practice as squares and rectangles. Play Practice is a rectangle, and Creative Listening Practice is a square. Play Practice CAN be Creative Listening, but it isn’t always. Creative Listening Practice is ALWAYS Play Practice. We don’t always “drop in” during play practice, but we CAN. But, we are ALWAYS in play when we are creative listening!
Can my listening practice simply be meditation?
- Meditation would check off the “drop in” and “notice” components of Creative Listening Practice. While I adore meditation, this does not always facilitate in the “up and out” that is necessary for this process. Something happens when we are able to get our thoughts/feelings/knowings out of out body- we can observe them from the outside. We can become witness to ourselves.
Do I need to “make something” through this process?
- Absolutely not! You can do your exercise on a white board daily, erase it, and come back to it tomorrow! The important thing is that you move through all of the steps!

For our Thursday call/class, please bring the following…

1-3 “shoulds” you noticed over the week. What came up for you? Please be ready to share your should with the group. If you find one that is particularly “sticky” (you wrestle with how to explore or negate it), this is definitely one to bring in!
Please also be ready to share an example of your creative listening practice. Ideally, we would love to see an example (for instance, a painting or a recorded dance) and the observations, but if your process is too challenging to show, please just bring your observations.

Introduction

HEY FRIEND!! I am absolutely delighted to welcome you to this 6-month mastermind! You have now entered the (cue music) PLAY PORTAL. Free/Play begins…NOW.

this is going to be hard work
this will also be soft work

6 months will feel long
6 months will feel short

at times you will want to quit
other times you will feel like a changed human

this is the work. it is the both. it is the YES/AND.
In this space, we recognize the spectrum, not the binary.

THIS IS WHY WE PLAY, DEAR ONE. TO MOVE AWAY FROM PERFECTION, AWAY FROM PRODUCTIVITY.
IN THE PLAY PORTAL WE MOVE INTO PROCESS. WE MOVE INTO PLEASURE. WE MOVE INTO PEACE.

Before we dive too deep into the portal, let’s gather some basic info, shall we?

All calls will be on Thursdays at 2:00 pm PST/5:00 pm EST. If you cannot make a call please let me know as soon as possible so I can ensure you stay up to date on all material and assignments.
The Password to access free classes within Rec Center is FreePlay21- just enter this at check out.
Weekly readings, and HW (aka, home/wonder) will be sent before 12:00 pm PST on Friday. All HW will be updated on this site.
Your participation in weekly calls is important! The biggest difference between a “class” and a “mastermind” is that masterminds rely on the power and knowledge of the group. If you miss class, it is essentially like missing a teacher! We need you, friend!
While nothing is mandatory, and of course we embrace softness overall, completing your HW is highly encouraged! You will get out of this experience what you put in.
When in doubt, ask the group. The group is the best resource you can ask for. They are brilliant, creative, powerful humans- and they are here to support YOU.

THE OVERALL STRUCTURE WILL BE AS FOLLOWS…

Weeks 1-3 Learning to Listen- The Body Knows

We are often moving so quickly, cramming in so much, quieting that voice inside, that we forget to listen. We know something is off, but what? We know we want more, that we were meant for more. How do we begin to get quiet and really feel into the feelings?
Intro to Play Practice
How can what our body already knows inform our creative practice? How can it inform what we offer others?

Weeks 4-6 Reclaiming the Child- What feels good?
- In order to begin a journey into offering our gifts with the world, we have to first be in alignment with self. We must learn what feels good, otherwise we will repeat systems of harm, and contribute to an unjust world. We must create structures that work for us, not against us.
- By learning what systems work for us, how can we utilize these new systems to support our creative practice? How does it shift how we relate to how we are currently structuring our creative practice and business?
Weeks 7- 9 The Multi-Faceted You- Ikigai, Purpose, and Offerings
- We are not one thing. It is so easy to feel that each of our endeavors must be separate. But what this does is silo us, cut off our true talents, and take away from our ability to integrate. What would life look like if we allowed ourselves to integrate instead of spread thin?
- When we integrate, we add MORE meaning and work LESS.
Weeks 10- 11 OFFERING DEVELOPMENT
- These 2 weeks will be workshop-based, focused on developing our individual offerings. Each student will also sign up for one individual 20/30 min call during this time to dive deep.
Weeks 12- 14 Small doesn’t mean less- how to create manageable value in offerings
- Why do we stop when we have momentum? Usually, it is because our very first goal is actually our vision…these are not the same thing! It is easy to get overwhelmed, bogged down, and frustrated when our BIG vision is the “next step”, when rather, what we are trying to do is make sure each *attainable goal* is in alignment with our vision. We will start first with one attainable goal.
Weeks 15-16 Cyclical Time- How our inner child can teach us about working backwards!
- Our inner child craves immediacy. It needs to see results, and we need to feed that, while still holding softer time. We will work backwards from our goal to see who we need to be and what we need to do to cultivate our ultimate creative goal.
WEEKS 18- 22 Cultivating a Creative Ecosystem & Community
- As we begin to expand our offering, we must look at where we have been, and where we are going. We must survey what our resources are, what our journey has been. We then will begin to look at cultivating the community you need. Who do you need support from? What resources do you still need? We will also look at how to cultivate community, not audience.
Weeks 23-25 Harvesting Abundance
- Abundance is our natural state! Sadly, we have grown as a society to see abundance as unnecessary, and at times, even selfish. How can we rewrite our definitions of abundance? What does it mean to have abundant community? Abundant feelings? Abundant creativity? Abundance is more than the dollars in your account, it is the feeling you have when you give and receive.
OFFERINGS ARE FINALIZED BY MARCH 16TH
JOSHUA TREE March 18th-20th
- Arrive in the evening/late afternoon of March 18th, leave in the afternoon March 20th.
- More details to come!
Week 26- Jump Off Call

*It is worth noting that everything is flexible. I have been known to suddenly change a class on the spot in response to student need. This class, like you, is soft and flexible. If you need something different than is being offered, simply ask!

OK Y’ALL, I think that’s enough business, don’t you? Let’s get started!

I want you to close your eyes (well, maybe when you’re done reading this). Take a deep breath. Let’s think back to childhood, to that “back to school” feeling. Imagine walking into class on the first day. How do you feel? Excited? Scared? Nervous? Over it? Feel that momentarily.

Consider entering this portal like “going back to school.” However, this time, everything is on your terms. What excited you most? Let’s bring in more of that! What made you nervous? Let’s create a squishy landing pad to ease the fear!

As we prepare for our first call, I encourage you (challenge you!) to create a space of safety, comfort, excitement, and ritual. As we enter the play-portal each week, we want to ensure you have everything you need to support your most creative self in this new journey.

Ideas for creating your portal…

Create an opening and closing ritual. Is there something you do before our Thursday calls? Do you light a candle? Do you dance for 5 minutes? What does it look like to open and close class on your terms? You get to decide what this looks like.
Get a journal/sketchbook/binder- whatever works for you! I find it such a blessing and treat to rediscover journals, sketchbooks, etc and receive message and reminders from previous moments in my life. How will this book act as a reminder to your future self?
Go “back to school shopping”. Take yourself (and your inner child!) on a shopping trip! Buy that festive notebook you always wanted, purchase the gel pens your mom said no to. What objects will help set the stage for your creative self?
Really focus on self care! What does self care look like for you? Most psychologists argue that caring for ourselves means being attuned to our physical, social, spiritual, and mental needs. Is the food you are eating nourishing and delightful? Are you getting enough sleep (what works for your body)? Do you have a supportive social network? Are you in therapy, or have access to mental health resources? This course can bring up the darkest and brightest parts of self, so it is essential to support yourself with care!
Pre-prepare your “documentation! Write yourself permission slips when things feel like “too much”, use them as needed! Are there moments that you know you’ll need to step away? Create a “hall pass”. Do you need permission to seek inspiration? Write a field trip waiver!

play practice

CREATING A PLAY PRACTICE

A play practice…

A Play Practice is something that is both a tool, and the end result in and of itself. It is both the final product, and the guiding light.

Some prompts to help you develop a play practice…

Write down 5 careers you wish you had. Now, for each activity, write down 1-3 activities for each career that you could implement today…can any of these be something you do every day? (for instance, if I wanted to be an astronaut, can I spend 5 minutes every night watching the stars? Can I create stories about the constellations? Can I draw the constellations everyday that I see? Or, if I wanted to be a film maker, can I take a 30 second video everyday on my iphone that captures me mood?)
Write down 5 activities you loved to do as a child…how can you do this today? Did you love playing in the park? Can you start a collection of leaves that you find 4/13 and pick up one leaf everyday? Can you add it to a scrap book and write about each leaf? Give it a name? Or, if you loved singing in choir can you find a quiet place outside to sing to yourself for 5 minutes everyday?
Look at your daily activities. Can you take any of those activities and reverse them or make them absurd? Can you eat a meal in a new place everyday and then journal about how it makes you feel? When you write emails can you dance while you type?
Write down 5 creators you admire (can be any medium, food, dance, acting, photo, writing, etc). What about their practices do you admire? Can you imitate those practices in some way? For instance, I love Marina Abramović, can I sit and be present with a different plant for 1 minute everyday then journal about it? Or, one of my favorite dancers is Pina Bausch. Can I turn one of my daily activities (like typing an email) into a 30 second improvised dance?
Can you create a prompt to do one thing everyday? For instance, can you free write about delight everyday (like Ross Gay)? Can you draw one thing that brought you joy everyday? Can you take a photo of one thing that surprised you everyday? Can you share a free dance on instagram everyday (like Marlee Grace)?

This list goes on and on! I hope this helps you cultivate a play practice, and if not, REACH OUT!!! We are all here to help you discover YOUR play practice!

There is a reason we call it a play PRACTICE. Practice means doing it often, and expanding as time goes on. We practice to get stronger.

HELP!

Feeling stuck? No worries! Here are some common questions and potential solutions!

1) This is just another THING I have to do everyday, I don't have the time!
I totally hear that! We live in a toxic capitalist society that asks us to grind MORE, do MORE, work HARDER. How can we make this softer? INTEGRATION. Play practice does not have to be separate from your daily life! How can you grocery shop in a playful way (can you whisper sweet nothings to the cantaloupe?)? Can exercise be a way to greet the day joyfully (when I run in the morning I try to say hello and boop all of the flowers as I run past!). Consider integrating play into what you are already doing.

2) Isn't this just distracting me from the real work?

Sure is! And also, it's not! Here's the thing- we are all creatures of habit. We have our way of doing things, of moving through life, and sometimes, we need to shift. What play assists with is creating new neural pathways so we can expand our perspectives and move differently. Yes, play is fun, and teaches us how to lean into pleasure, but it also helps us consider new and different ways that might support us more thoroughly!

3) I am so overwhelmed by this- it feels like WORK to me!
I get that! We have been wired to feel like anything that takes energy must be work (no wonder! all systems around us suggest that our energy must be used towards productivity, and our supposed worth is based on productivity... at least according to capitalism!), thus, we feel that energy=work=productivity=worth. It is so draining to feel that every time you use a single ounce of energy, it must be productive or you are not worthy! Oof! What we are doing here is re-writing our definition of energy use, and learning that we can engage in activities that are nourishing and pleasureful! If you are struggling to get started, just begin by NOTICING. Notice what feels good during the day... in what ways do you already play? In what ways do you already engage in pleasure?

*welcome to the play portal*

Week 27You Were Always The Offering

*play practice*

Week 23Sustaining

Week 23Locating the Gaps, Navigating the Fear

Week 22Abundance

Week 22The Big Ask

Week 21Community, Communication, Connection, Oh My!

Week 20You Do Not Need To Do This Alone!

Week 19Tending Our Gardens- Resources

Week 18Commitments & Timelines

Week 17Systems and Consistency

Week 16Your WHO Determines Your WHAT

Week 15WHO not WHAT

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 14Your Offering Starts With a Feeling

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 13Your Offering- Creating the Big Vision

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 10Your Offering- One Small Step Towards Your Dreamiest Dreams

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 9Finding Your “Thing”

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 7Your Inner Child is Your Muse

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 6The Message of the Tantrum

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 5Holding Your Own Little Hand

Inner-Child

Outer-Child

Wounded Inner-Child

Integrated Adult

Why does it matter?

Getting to know “your little”

Week 4Integration

Week 2What the Body Already Knows

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

Week 1Listening to the Body

HW, aka, *~*hOME wONDERINGS*~*.

For our Thursday call/class, please bring the following…

Introduction

*play practice*

HELP!

Questions?Email Alex at WEPLAY@RECCENTER.SPACE OR CALL/TEXT AT 6672288180

weplay@reccenter.space

welcome to the play portal

Week 27
You Were Always The Offering

play practice

Week 23
Sustaining

Week 23
Locating the Gaps, Navigating the Fear

Week 22
Abundance

Week 22
The Big Ask

Week 21
Community, Communication, Connection, Oh My!

Week 20
You Do Not Need To Do This Alone!

Week 19
Tending Our Gardens- Resources

Week 18
Commitments & Timelines

Week 17
Systems and Consistency

Week 16
Your WHO Determines Your WHAT

Week 15
WHO not WHAT

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 14
Your Offering Starts With a Feeling

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 13
Your Offering- Creating the Big Vision

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 10
Your Offering- One Small Step Towards Your Dreamiest Dreams

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 9
Finding Your “Thing”

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 7
Your Inner Child is Your Muse

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 6
The Message of the Tantrum

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 5
Holding Your Own Little Hand

Week 4
Integration

Week 2
What the Body Already Knows

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

Week 1
Listening to the Body

HW, aka, ***~*hOME wONDERINGS***~*.

play practice

Questions?
Email Alex at WEPLAY@RECCENTER.SPACE
OR
CALL/TEXT AT 6672288180