Your Creative Permission Slip

Why is it that we don’t always make time for doing the things we love? And then when we finally do them (and feel great) we wonder why in the world we waited so long?

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In this podcast, I muse about why that might be the case, and argue for why we should all be prioritizing those “love-to-do” things in our lives.  I also touch on:

• Why “I Am” are some of the most powerful words in our language and why they should be used with care.
• Why so many of us are multi-talented or multi-passionate, and yet we struggle to own our full awesomeness
• Why being a “Jack-of-All-Trades” is actually a great thing
• Why using tools like affirmations, journaling, and visual aids can be helpful in reprogramming our subconscious minds to help us live our best lives. 

And I’ve also created a free resource for you, a Permission Certificate that you can fill out and display somewhere prominent, so that you have permission to do more of what you love the most.

And in case you didn’t get it yet, be sure to sign up for the FREE e-book How to Live Your Most Creative Life.

Books for Creative Inspiration
(I am not an affiliate for any of these. I just dig them!)
You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Anything by SARK
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

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Transcript

Welcome to the what dreamers do podcast. I’m your host Carla Govan and Appalachian musician flatfoot dancer, Mama creative and dreamer from Kentucky. I’m on a mission to inspire others to realize their dreams and live their most creative lives. Grab your mason jar full of sweet tea or something a little stronger, and pull up a chair, because it’s time to get your dream off. That’s what dreamers do. Hadrian, dreamers, welcome to this week’s episode of The what dreamers do podcast, I’m so happy to spend this time with you. And this week, it’s just me, I don’t have a guest. And we’re going to be talking about the idea of giving yourself permission to live your creative dreams. And also just permission to do the things that really light you up, make you feel alive, bring you joy, and just make you feel good. So I got the idea to do this episode, because I sent an email to my list recently, and I mentioned that I had been in the studio. And I talked about how long it had been, since we were in the studio and I sort of mused in this email about why is it that sometimes we take so long to get around to doing the thing that we love to do that makes us feel good? And then once we’re doing it, we’re like, Why did I wait so long? And this is something you might have heard me talk about before. But I think it it bears investigation and mindfulness. Because why wouldn’t we want to do the things that make us feel good, the things that we love and are passionate about. And sometimes it’s the thing that is the most dear to us, I got a reply from one reader who was talking about how much she loved playing music, and yet how sometimes playing the banjo was the thing that she failed to prioritize. And I can totally relate. I’ve done this so many different times in so many different ways in different parts of my life. So I’m going to start with this idea of giving ourselves permission to do the things that we love most. And this can be something super basic, like, let’s just put a time on the calendar and stick to it and commit to it so that we can make sure that we’re actually scheduling in the things that we love. But there are deeper levels of it. There are psychological levels of it. There are ways in which perhaps our caregivers did not give us the permission or the validation, we needed to pursue the thing that brought us joy. And so as adults, we’re still having a hard time finding that permission. And I’ve had an interesting look into the hearts and minds of a small group of women that I’m working with right now. Who that I’m coaching on how to present themselves in their creative businesses to the world more effectively. And so what we’ve been working on lately is the what I do statements, where you think about how you can really succinctly but elegantly, eloquently, explain what you do, I am a chef and educator who helps families live their best nut free lives, or whatever it is that you do you. And it’s really challenging. It’s really challenging, not only to distill down the essence of what you do, but I think in some instances, it’s challenging to really claim it to really claim your awesomeness, claim your magic and actually proclaim it to the world. But I think that’s what we have to learn how to do within ourselves in order to live our most actualized lives. So being able to, even if only to ourselves, declare, I am a writer, I am a runner, I am a cook, I am a lover, I am a dancer, I’m a musician, I am a poet. I’ve heard it said that I am is the most powerful two words in any language. So be very careful what you placed after those two words. Because, you know our brains hear us say things our hearts and our minds believe the things that we say. And let’s face it, a lot of times we’re more likely to go through the day and say, I’m a dumbass I left my wallet at home or whatever. Then we are to say things that are uplifting and affirming of our greatest gifts. So that’s my first little tidbit for all you dreamers and creatives out there is think about those words. I am claim those words and claim most importantly, what you want to come after those words. While we’re on the subject of defining ourselves, this is another thing that’s not only come up for me, and dozens of creative people that I know. But I’m also seeing it now, in this group of women that I’m coaching. Because as we try to distill down the things that we do and describe what we do, as it turns out, many creative people, many artists, surprise, surprise, are not just creative in their main realm. So if they’re musicians, oh, it turns out, they’re a dancer, too. They’re a writer, oops, it turns out, they also are really skilled at fiber arts or sewing or quilting. And I don’t know if there’s something at work in our culture in our society, I’d love to hear if anybody has any thoughts about this that causes us to think that we have to pigeonhole ourselves or just do one thing. But this causes people a lot of grief. I see entrepreneurial creatives trying to set up a website and then like, gosh, and I have three different websites, or can I put everything on the same website? It’s like a dilemma. How do we present what we do? How do we present our work. But I guess my thesis today, my proposition to you is that you, if you are one of those people, who has many things that you love, enjoy and are possibly quite good at, claim it. Be a multi passionate creator, you don’t have to pigeonhole yourself. I think of that phrase so often that my dad would say, jack of all trades and master of none, because he could see already when I was young, but I like to do so many things. And I didn’t learn the whole phrase, until recently, which is a jack of all trades, and Master of None, is oftentimes better than master of one. So clearly, I’m actually a huge believer in being passionate and getting good at a variety of things. It enhances your life. And it can even be survival skills, depending on what you’re getting good at. Also, getting good at one skill can sometimes enhance another, I know that becoming a better percussive dancer has helped me as a musician, and vice versa, the musical skills that I have, as a musician helped me to be a better dancer, and to dance in a more musical way. So I’m all about being a jack of all trades, hashtag jack of all trades, contact me on Instagram and, and use that hashtag, I’d love to see all the different things that you do. I was also having a talk with one of my friends last week, who is a coach, a life coach, and she was talking about how she felt like part of her job was to help people feel like they have permission to do whatever it is they actually want to do, until they can give that same permission to themselves. And I have often felt this way, as a teacher of adults and children in creative realms. It’s like we’re so paranoid about, you know, not being Fred Astaire. The first time we tried to dance or not being Picasso the first time we try to draw a picture that we don’t even let ourselves try sometimes. So part of my job, I feel has been to be a cheerleader and a coach and to help people feel that permission. So what I have done for this episode, just for fun, and because I really believe in using visual tools, like affirmations that we speak or stick on post it notes around our house or vision lists, and journaling, I believe in using all of those tools to reprogram our subconscious mind and help us clear out the beliefs that don’t serve us in all areas of our lives. I’ve created a resource for you. It’s very simple. It’s kind of dorky, but if you’re a dork like me, I encourage you to go to the shownotes and download it. It is a permission slip for whatever you want. And you can fill it out yourself. And it will be official permission to give yourself that thing to do that thing that you want to do to be that person that you want to be. So that is my little gift of love to you. This week from the wet dreamers do podcast, I’m all about all of us being as creative as we can be. Because I believe the world needs that more than ever for us to really lean into who we are to be our truest selves and to connect with our deepest desires and our sources of joy, so that we can feel that we can give it to the people we love. We can increase the vibration of creativity and love and connection, and brotherhood and sisterhood here on the earth. So if you want that permission slip Just go to the shownotes. And I’m going to leave you with a quotation from a book that I love that I’ve read several times. I really love Jen Sincero. She is an author, she, her first big book was, you are a badass. So lately I’ve been reading, you’re a badass at making money. And it’s more than just a book about making money. It’s really a book about fully being yourself and giving yourself permission to do what you love. Because that’s part of living a wealthy lifestyle is wealth is more than just finances, its wealth, enjoy wealth in time, doing what we love wealth in time with our family. So I’m going to leave you with a quotation from her book from the chapter called your inner wealth, and just encourage you to go grab your permission slip when you’re ready. Self love means doing things that make you feel good. I know that sounds like a no brainer. But think about how often we do things that make us feel incredibly not good. We do it all the damn time. We tell ourselves, we can’t have what we want. Because it’s too risky. We’re too inexperienced. That person is out of our league, we drink too much, Mary morons stay in jobs we hate, I can fill up the next 45 pages. But my point is, become more aware of what makes you feel good. And go do that. Always check in with your feelings before doing or saying anything. Practice responding to situations according to how they make you feel instead of reacting based on old beliefs and fears. Pay attention to yourself your awesome, adorable, imperfect self, and make the conscious effort to give yourself what you need, including all the riches you desire, you will love yourself for it. So again, that’s from you’re a badass at making money by Jin Santero. I’ll put a link to her book. And I will also link to a few other books that I find to be creatively inspiring in terms of giving ourselves permission to tap into that creativity. And I’m also going to link again, in case you didn’t get it to the ebook that was created by me and my podcast guests called how to live your most creative life. And that is also a free resource for you. I hope you have a wonderful week. I hope you’ll give yourself permission to do lots of joyful and juicy things. And I’d love to hear all about it. Send me a message send me an email. I really enjoy hearing from you and I will answer you back I promise. So give yourself permission to be your awesome self because that’s what dreamers do. Thank you so much for joining me this week. If you want to make sure you never miss an episode. Please hit subscribe wherever you’re listening now. Or Visit my website to get on my email list at WWW dot Karla dover.com When you sign up, you’ll instantly receive my Milton mama digital care package, a bundle of music and videos to help you wring every drop of the heart of life. You’ll even find a dance lesson as well as my granny’s cornbread recipe with new goodies being added all the time. I’ll see you next Thursday on the wet dreamers do podcast