Coming up on the Podcast. March Break Thoughts & how what you came here to do can never leave you

It's March break here in Vancouver, and I took my daughter to a swimming pool that had a big waterslide in it. It was one of the first times that we've gone to a swimming pool since pre COVID. It felt so normal!

Things here in BC seem to be going pretty well right now we've got a very highly vaccinated population. And they removed our mask mandates, though, I'm actually still wearing a mask everywhere because I'm not totally feeling ready to remove that layer of protection. I don't know about you, but I felt a little bit kind of like the mask a little bit. I kind of like being at the grocery store and being able to sort of mumble and mutter to myself about what some shopping list. And people not necessarily seeing that I'm talking to myself because I can hide in my mask! 

In episode 11, I had a woman named Beth Suter come on the podcast, she's a moon cycle coach, and I talk about her a lot because the things that she's taught me have really affected the way that I do things, even with my creativity, the way that I hook myself up.

I am somebody who, for my whole entire life, is almost always making, doing, creating, thinking about doing things, wanting to do more things, planning out the next thing, getting supplies for the next thing.

I mean, at any given time, I have 5,6,7,8 whole different projects, I've got Ukrainian pysanky easter egg supplies on my dining room table, then there's the gratitude birds than there's Ukrainian Freedom birds for the Fundraiser. I've got weaving downstairs, a huge canvas calling me....  baking (Easter's coming)

And that's wonderful. That, for me, is the rhythm of my creativity. My creativity is like a big firehose, and it's almost always on, and I love it. And it's just how it moves through me. But I tend to start a lot of things. And then it can be possible for me to sort of feel like well, sometimes I start so many things that I feel like I have to do them all, and they kind of start to haunt me a little bit.

And so what I love about what Beth gave me was a sort of system, and and the system is the Moon Cycle. What she taught me is, lining up my creative output with the moon cycle. So as we're approaching a full moon, to be thinking about collaboration and working with other people and being you know, because we're gaining light, at the symbology of that as it we're gaining light and energetically we're gaining energy and, and that as you're approaching a full moon, that's a really good time to start a new project and, you know, tick off all the things from your to do list and collaborate with other people. And it's a really busy, full rich time.

And then and then you hit the full moon and there's a whole bunch of beautiful things you can do around gratitude and releasing -  you can listen to that episode, if you haven't already. It's episode 11. And I am going to have her back on the show. Because she has so much to teach all of us and it's it really has changed my the cadence of creativity. I mean, it's been really wonderful. And then you know, on the other side of the moon, the waning moon -  moving away from the full moon that's a time for sort of more introspection and quiet time and tying up loose ends and, you know, maybe doing like decluttering projects. 

I've started to structure my interviews with the podcast around the moon cycle, and so during the week leading up to the full moon (not including the full moon) That's when I'll do my interviews. And then in the in the other times, I'm doing editing. And I'm doing all the admin and all the other behind the scenes stuff that goes into the podcast.

And so here we are in March, in the in the week of the waning moon. And so I've been doing all my editing. This week, I edited an episode that's coming up in a week from now, which will be Lynn Whipple, I'm so excited! 

I got to I got to talk to Lynn. before the holidays, (that was just how our recording schedule worked out) And, and then, you know, set the recording aside and did a whole bunch of other episodes and then got to pick it up again, to edit it. And I love doing that because I record these episodes and these amazing conversations with these people who are so generous with their time and themselves. And I'm kind of on this high afterwards. Because we just there's this meeting and there's a shared intention to help everybody remember this thing about creativity, and there's just so much juicy, wonderful stuff.

And then I put the episodes down, and I go away, and I do all the other things in the waning moon and another you know, in the time in between. And then I get to come back and listen to those conversations all over again, to pull out the quotes for the little graphics that you see that I put out on Instagram, and on social media with you know, the the sort of like the highlight reel of the episode and the videos and and I get to assemble the whole episode.

And so it was like getting to spend time with Lynn all over again this week, which is a really nice thing to do during that sort of quiet time.

And another episode that I've been editing the one coming two weeks after Lynn,  I got to talk to Larry Hankin who is somewhat of a Hollywood legend. He has been in over 200 films. He has won an Oscar for a short film that he created In the 70s. He starred beside Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz.  You would definitely know his face. He's even written a book called That Guy because soon as you see him, you Oh, that guy. Yeah, that guy know that guy.

And Larry's amazing. He's 81. And still working, you probably would have seen him in Breaking Bad most recently, but he was also going Home Alone and he was in Friends. He was the grumpy guy downstairs. Mr. Heckles, who were always complained about the noise. And oh, and he was in Seinfeld - he played the guy who came in to audition for the role of Kramer, when they were doing the show. The alternate reality, the bizarro kind of world of like that when they were going to have when Jerry got a show, and they were going to do a show about the show.

Anyway, he's brilliant, Larry Hankin is absolutely brilliant. And when I first got the opportunity to chat with him, I was a little bit nervous, because he is a little bit of a Hollywood legend. And, and, you know, he's an Oscar winning director of a film and he's been in all these movies, and he's a Hollywood guy!  And I had never  I interviewed a Hollywood guy.... I felt a little nervous about about that. And, but I sat down to talk to him. And man, he blew my mind, because he shared so honestly about what it was like to be raised, you know, back in the day, 60 years ago, you know, 65-70 years ago, by parents who were really invested in him being a certain way, and a certain thing. I mean, we still live with that now. I try not to do that to my kids. But, you know, that's all around us. But I think from hearing him explain it, he used the word inculcated, he felt that he was like being set up to take care of his family. And he really didn't feel a lot of possibility for him to explore the artist that he really wanted to be. It's an amazing episode. I can barely wait to share that with you.

That's coming up in a couple weeks. What it brought up for me that I wanted to share with you today, is just that the thing that you are here to do, the thing that you came here to do, the thing that I came here to do, that Larry came here to do, the thing that we all came here to do, obviously, it's all different for each of us. 

And Larry, says, that's why the cosmos let you in - because you agreed to do that, that thing - YOUR THING. It's the thing that you want to do, even if no one pays you, it's the thing that you always go back to, the thing you are always thinking about and, and wanting to do. And nothing can stop you from doing.

That thing doesn't go away. I shared with Lynn Whipple (in this coming week's episode) about how for 20 years, I didn't paint because I was scared. I was scared that I'd be no good. I was scared that people would judge me, I don't even really know what I was scared of. But I didn't do it. And it didn't go away. And it's actually not even tragic that I didn't paint for all that time - I see now how it was all part of my own journey. That was what I needed to do to walk my path. And it never left me it! It's not even like I had to re-find it -  It never left me! 

No matter how far away you get from the thing that you're here to do, it can never leave you. Because it's it is you it is who you are. And I think that's so amazing, and inspiring. And I want to share that with you today.

I also do want to say a few things about Ukraine, and the war and what's going on in the world right now. Because I sort of oscillate between really feeling quite worried and anxious. Sometimes I wake up in the morning, and I'm like, "oh, we're still here. We didn't get bombed to smithereens" And then there are other days when I lose myself on the water slide with my beautiful seven year old, eating strawberries in the in the parking lot because we can't wait to get home because they're so delicious.

And and I think we're not meant to hold the pain and the stress and the anxiety and the worry for the whole universe. We are meant to hold hold some of it. And we are meant to, you know, hold it with each other. But we are also supposed to (and allowed to) look for the beautiful things. And I just want to say that if you're feeling torn between those two things, I think that's really normal. And I think that's really okay.

And I think it's really important that you give yourself permission to look for the beautiful things.

Because in fact, if you were to look at it like a math equation, the more people we have tracking, for good and for love and for beauty, the more momentum those things are going to have in the world that we create together. So thank you again for being here, I hope you're enjoying the podcast. 

I love you, 

 


1 comment


  • Susan Smith

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts and creativity. As a student of Jane Dunnewold’s CST class I thoroughly enjoyed your chat with Jane. Your art is wonderful.


Leave a comment


Please note, comments must be approved before they are published