Come & Grow Podcast

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

(listen on apple podcasts, spotify, youtube, pocketcasts)

In this episode:

* Joy’s donation page is almost done, and she’s noticing why it’s been so hard to hit publish after growing up as a missionary kid living on other people’s donations. Her journaling workshop has a name now, too: The Cartography of Calling, Tuesday, October 27 at noon, virtual

* Lauren’s Seeking Space at Free the Gifts happened on a rainy mountain in a small room with five or six women. Alone time, together. Then a few days of recovering from all that peopling

* This week’s value: presence. Being here, with other people and with yourself

* Why Lauren can be fully present with someone else but struggles alone, and how an expected package can hijack a whole afternoon

* Quick ways back: tapping, a cup of Tension Tamer instead of a Diet Coke, thumb-to-finger breathing, and the five senses

* Joy’s four Ns from her therapist: notice, name, normalize, nurture. Plus the frozen mandarin trick

* Choosing your life instead of running on default, thrift blindness, and the window of tolerance

* Co-regulation, and why we sometimes try to fix other people so we can feel okay

* What they’re learning: Lauren trades overwhelm for overload and names digital intrusion. Joy speaks up kindly in class about faith, psychology, and a book called Glittering Vices

* What’s coming up: Ben turns 50, the Ohio buddies come to town, and there’s a Brunswick stew party with a bluegrass band. Plus a marigold front door. Joy heads to Myrtle Beach to see her chosen brother Tyson in Halloween City

✍️ Prompts for this week:

Practice the four Ns once this week. Notice what's happening in your body, name it, normalize it with kind words, and ask what you actually need. Then sit with this: Am I present right now? What's pulling me away? And if you've been living on autopilot, ask yourself whether you want to keep living this way, and whether there's anything you're avoiding that's keeping you there.

LET US KNOW

We'd love to hear from you. DM us, drop a comment, or send a voice note on Instagram (Joy or Lauren or both!) and tell us which of the four Ns you tried, or what pulls you out of the present (or leave a comment on YouTube or here on Substack). We would love to hear from you.

Resources and Links Mentioned:

* The Cartography of Calling, Joy’s virtual journaling workshop (Tuesday, October 27 at noon): https://tally.so/r/gbj7M4

* Lauren’s The Seeking Space: https://smartercreative.myflodesk.com/seeking-space

* Renovaré Institute (Joy’s certification program): https://renovare.org/institute

* The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: https://juliacameronlive.com/book/the-artists-way-a-spiritual-path-to-higher-creativity/

* Slow Productivity by Cal Newport: https://calnewport.com/slow-productivity/

* Glittering Vices by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung: https://renovare.org/books/glittering-vices

Connect with us:

🐚 Joy Star Bright / Meridian Soul Care

* Website: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/

🪄 Lauren Barr / The Smarter Creative

* Website: https://thesmartercreative.com

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/

* YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode:

* Joy made it up the mountain. Her solo weekend at a friend’s house in Asheville came with a loaner car, a five-minute driveway, and a mini panic attack. She came home with six or seven pages of journaling and a new practice of taking mental pictures so the rest could come home with her

* Lauren hosted the first Seeking Space, the Free the Gifts retreat starts today.

* This week’s value: learning and growing, the one so built into the show that it never made the original list

* Joy says learning calms her nervous system. Lauren says that is not her experience, and names the shame of not already knowing

* Learning as a heart posture, plus Lauren’s two-hour Mahjong class as proof you can learn just for fun

* Why knowing the answers can feel like safety, and what Joy heard about it being okay not to know

* Over-learning: when staying in research mode feels like progress but nothing actually moves

* What they’re learning: Lauren on resistance that turned out to have a reason, and Joy on hearing “not right now” and staying the course with Renovaré, with a stop at Julian of Norwich and the hazelnut

* What’s coming up: Lauren is getting back to her morning writing, and Joy is bringing back journaling workshops and finishing a donation page so soul care is available to people who need it

✍️ Prompts for this week:

What are you learning right now? How are you growing? Then the harder one: what's getting in the way? What is keeping you from learning, and from becoming the person you want to be? Take both to your journal and just sit with the questions.

LET US KNOW

We’d love to hear what you're learning right now, or how you're growing! Drop us a DM on Instagram (Joy or Lauren or both!) or leave a comment on YouTube or here on Substack.

Resources and Links Mentioned:

* The Seeking Space: https://smartercreative.myflodesk.com/seeking-space

* I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet by Shauna Niequist:

* Renovaré (Joy’s certification program): https://renovare.org/institute

* Renovaré Podcast, Episode 95: Mimi Dixon on Julian of Norwich: https://renovare.org/podcast/episode-95-mimi-dixon-julian-of-norwich

* Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

* The free woman and the slave woman, Galatians 4:21-31

Connect with us:

🐚 Joy Star Bright / Meridian Soul Care

* Website: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/

🪄 Lauren Barr / The Smarter Creative

* Website: https://thesmartercreative.com

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/

* YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode:

- Joy recaps the whirlwind weekend of moving her daughter into her dorm in Philly (a midnight IKEA run, a mysteriously perfect dresser found curbside) followed by a restful visit from her friend Beth

- Lauren shares she's launching The Seeking Space, a new virtual quiet time gathering, ahead of her upcoming Free the Gifts retreat

- This week's value: living into our creative calling, and what changes when you pair "creative" with "calling"

- Joy shares the three part framework she felt the Lord give her: called to the Creator, recreated by Him, then creating alongside Him

- Lauren opens up about leaving her ministry job to start The Smarter Creative, and how her sense of calling has kept shifting since

- They talk about identity, status, and what it looks like to hold your calling with an open hand

- What they're learning: Lauren is building a simple system to capture marketing ideas, and Joy is shifting some clients toward imaginative prayer, calling herself a student in "the school of confrontation"

Prompts for this week:

Take real, unhurried time this week to sit with your calling. Come with one specific question, even a vague one like "what should I focus on for the next five years?" No advice, no AI, just you and the question. Journal, stare at a wall, whatever gets you there.

If you want company while you do it, Lauren's hosting the first Seeking Space, a free virtual quiet time gathering, this Wednesday at 10am.

Resources and Links Mentioned:- The Seeking Space: https://smartercreative.myflodesk.com/seeking-space- Free the Gifts Retreat: https://www.rhinocollective.org/freethegifts- Renovaré (Joy's certification program): https://renovare.org/institute- Dr. Keri Schafer, Joy's soul care mentor: https://breathesoulcare.org/

Connect with us:

Lauren Barr, The Smarter Creative: Website, Instagram, YouTube

Joy Star Bright, Meridian Soul Care: Website, Instagram

We'd love to hear from you. DM us, drop a comment, or send a voice note on Instagram and tell us what living into your creative calling looks like for you.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode:

> The solitude day verdict is in, plus an unplanned empty-house weekend that turned out even better.

> Lauren’s building a scaled-down version of her Jesus CEO practice, to test with friends before her Free the Gifts retreat in October.

> Lauren’s halfway through Big Magic and can’t put it down, plus what her current fiction pick taught her about how books affect your sleep.

> This week’s value is self-compassion, and Joy walks through Kristin Neff’s three components: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness.

> Joy’s go-to practical tool for overwhelm: tapping, paired with words of self-compassion spoken out loud.

> What self-compassion looks like for Lauren day to day, from pleasure reading to working from bed during her luteal phase.

> Neither host relates to “common humanity” the way Kristin Neff describes it, and they dig into why.

> What Joy’s learning: setting up Stripe for a client scholarship fund, and a new habit borrowed from Lauren, tracking her own weekly wins.

> What Lauren’s learning: a return to writing, her LiveJournal roots, and where she’s drawn a hard line with AI.

> What’s coming up: Lauren’s rebuilding her content system from scratch, and Joy’s gearing up for a Philadelphia move, a girls’ weekend, and the next Selah Sisterhood.

✍️ Prompts for this week:

Take Kristin Neff's three components of self-compassion, self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness, and ask yourself:

> which one do I need to grow in?

> which one do I already feel confident in?

> write down two or three things you learned about yourself along the way.

LET US KNOW

What does self-compassion look like for you, or where is it hardest to practice? Drop us a DM on Instagram (Joy or Lauren or both!) or leave a comment on YouTube or here on Substack. We would love to hear from you.

Resources and Links Mentioned:

Kristin Neff’s self-compassion research

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Christ Centered Tribe, Christian EFT tapping and meditation

Free the Gifts retreat, Central Virginia, first weekend of October

Connect with us:

🐚 Joy Star Bright / Meridian Soul Care

Website: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/

🪄 Lauren Barr / The Smarter Creative

Website: https://thesmartercreative.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode

The hair steamer verdict is in, plus Ben's reaction to Lauren finally buying something for herself.

Joy turns in her Renovaré papers and gets hit with the adrenaline crash that follows.

Lauren finally sits down with the client project she'd been avoiding, with an assist from eight hours of brown noise.

A new duo journal, and the daily promise Lauren's been keeping: be gentle with yourself.

This week's value is remembrance, and its shadow side, forgetfulness.

Joy traces remembrance back to the Eucharist, and to the idea that to remember is to re-member, to put separated things back together.

Lauren admits she bristled at the word remembrance at first, mistaking it for nostalgia.

Honoring a lived life, from a friend they've lost to a historically Black neighborhood restoration project in town.

What Lauren's learning: fountain pens, restful podcast rabbit holes, and letting an AI track her days for her.

What Joy's learning: a new Renovaré book on the Desert Fathers, and finally listening to her body before it forces the issue.

Joy's actual plan for solitude this fall, including a borrowed Airbnb for a full day.

What's coming up: Lauren's Free the Gifts retreat and a project she isn't ready to talk about yet, plus Joy's new couples' soul care program and Lucy's move to Philadelphia.

Prompts for this week

Take some quiet time this week and start a gratitude list. Let it lead you somewhere.

Ask directly: Lord, what do you want to remind me of? What have you done in my life that I've forgotten?

If you look back at your own history and it stings a little, sit with that too. Remembrance is not just the good parts. It's honoring the whole of a lived life.

Resources and Links Mentioned

Wilde House Paper Routine Journals, the morning and evening duo

The Five Minute Journal by Intelligent Change

Pilot Kakuno fountain pen

99% Invisible

To Love as God Loves by Roberta C. Bondi, this course's Renovaré book on the Desert Fathers

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

[Free the Gifts retreat](ADD LINK), Central Virginia, first weekend of October

The Gottman Method

Emotionally Focused Therapy, Sue Johnson's approach to couples work

Connect with us

Lauren Barr, The Smarter Creative

Website | Instagram | YouTube

Joy Star Bright, Meridian Soul Care

Website | Instagram

What are you remembering this week, and what have you let yourself forget? Tell us. DM us, drop a comment, or send a voice note on Instagram. We read every one.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Lauren drove over to Joy's studio for this one. It's the first time the two of them had sat down together in about a month, and the first new conversation since the archival values workshop that ran last week. The value this week is community, and Joy came with research she could not wait to read out loud.

In this episode:

* The verdict on the 40-day YAP challenge. Lauren made it to about day 35 and then could not bring herself to yap one more time. What she learned about daily posting, and why it is so embarrassing to be seen trying something new.

* Joy’s update on working with a creative coach, and what changes when someone matches your energy instead of pushing you.

* The value this week is community, and Joy brings receipts. The 2023 Surgeon General advisory found that lacking social connection carries a mortality risk comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

* Why the most digitally connected generation is also reporting loneliness at or above the rates of older adults.

* Hurt that happens in community needs to heal in community. Relational wounds require shared safety, accountability, and connection to truly repair.

* How long do you keep repairing a relationship before you accept that it is not repairable? Nobody teaches us this.

* Rupture, repair, and the stability in between. Plus what Survival of the Thickest gets right about the awkwardness of going first.

* Third places, and where they went. Gyms, art studios, D&D groups, golf clubs, the writers group that meets in town.

* Inconvenience is the price of community. And the harder half of that deal, which is letting other people be inconvenienced for you.

* Forgiveness is not the same thing as repair. You can forgive someone completely without inviting them back into your life.

* What Joy is learning about managing her 12 week year goals, and the four things she now attaches to every single one.

* What Lauren is learning about avoiding the project that needs her whole brain, and how to be gentle with herself in it.

* What’s coming up. Lauren has a retreat in October and knows exactly what she wants to lead. Joy is holding a lot of summer, and her youngest turns 13.

✍️ Prompts for this week:

Where do you feel the ache? We can be surrounded by people and notifications and still feel alone. Get specific about what kind of lonely it is. Lonely for a parent. Lonely for a partner. Lonely for a friend, or for a community. If you could have exactly what your heart is longing for right now, what would that be?

Name one real, in person, repeated point of contact in your life. Not just someone who exists in your life, but a connection that actually feeds you. Why does that one work?

If you want to go a step deeper: look at where you are holding resentment and where you could forgive. Take it to prayer, or to a therapist, or to whoever you process with.

LET US KNOW

We’d love to hear what community means to you or what you’re learning! Drop us a DM on Instagram (Joy or Lauren or both!) or leave a comment on YouTube or on Substack. We would love to hear from you.

Resources and Links Mentioned:

* The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris, the book behind the values workshop in Episode 5

* Christina Hubbard, creative coach

* The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

* Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, the 2023 US Surgeon General advisory

* WHO Commission on Social Connection

* The Restless Heart by Ronald Rolheiser

* Find Your People by Jennie Allen

* Renovaré

Connect with us:

🐚 Joy Star Bright / Meridian Soul Care

* Website: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/

🪄 Lauren Barr / The Smarter Creative

* Website: https://thesmartercreative.com

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/

* YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode:

* Lauren and Joy took a real break from recording this week, so instead of skipping it, they’re sharing something from the archive: a values workshop Lauren taught a couple of years ago inside a community Joy was hosting at the time

* A breakdown of Russ Harris’s The Happiness Trap and why values, rules, virtues, and goals are not the same thing

* Five research-backed reasons values matter, including how the World Health Organization uses this same framework in refugee camps

* The four areas of life this workshop is built around: work, love, play, health, and why “family” or “faith” are categories, not values themselves

* A live workbook conversation with Joy and a friend, working through their own values in real time

* What surprised them, including the idea that a value can be seasonal and doesn’t have to last forever

Prompts for this week:

Is there a value you hold that you’re not currently living out? Are you still allowed to claim it as yours?

Looking at your four areas, work, love, play, health, pick just one value to focus on this week instead of five.

What’s a personal “rule” you’ve been mistaking for a value?

Resources and Links Mentioned:

* The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris — https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-happiness-trap-second-edition-how-to-stop-struggling-and-start-living-russ-harris/ce72845c925af76b

* Values workbook mentioned in the episode — https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-IUy1rucYHRYyq2RarGwO6k2kqXPV-hu/view?usp=drive_link

* Meridian Soul Care: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

Connect with us:

🐚 Joy Star Bright / Meridian Soul Care

* Website: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/

🪄 Lauren Barr / The Smarter Creative

* Website: https://thesmartercreative.com

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/

* YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative

Loved this one? Share it with a friend, or send us a DM, comment, or voice note on Instagram telling us your own values.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode:

- Lauren gives a verdict on her 40-day video challenge: she's posted almost every day

- Joy just got back from a Renovare retreat in Colorado Springs and a trip to San Antonio, and is still getting her days back

- The value for the episode: Pilgrimage, the practice of journeying toward a holy place — and what that looks like in ordinary life

- Joy shares a framework she calls "Becoming the Dream of God," built around four concentric circles (intimacy, identity, inheritance, influence) and four cornerstone beliefs from Bill Johnson

- Lauren's favorite book on pilgrimage: The Way of the Pilgrim, a 19th-century Russian text about what it means to pray without ceasing

- Joy's: Hinds' Feet on High Places — specifically the illustrated version — and the road treasures the character finds along the way

- Lauren shares something she heard from Becoming Your Future Self Now about a study where teachers were told three random students had the highest IQ scores — and at year's end, those kids actually outperformed their peers

- Joy reflects on what she learned working alongside her daughter Lucy to pack up her apartment in San Antonio, and how they actively chose not to let the pressure wreck their relationship

- Joy is starting a 100-painting project inspired by Flora Bowley's Fresh Paint, and beginning work with a creative coach to develop a Meridian Soul Care certification curriculumPrompts for this week:

Where am I headed, and what am I longing for? What is my true north actually pointing toward — and do I believe it's available to me? What do I believe about God? What do I believe about myself on the journey?

Resources and Links Mentioned:

Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

The Way of the Pilgrim (19th-century Russian mystic text)

Renovare Institute

St. Francis Retreat Center, Colorado Springs

Becoming Your Future Self Now by Benjamin Hardy

Caleb Ralston (personal brand/content creation podcast)

Fresh Paint by Flora Bowley

The Scrappy Elephant (local shop where Joy found the book)

Psalm 84:5-7 (The Passion Translation): "How enriched are they who find their strength in the Lord. Within their hearts are the highways of holiness. Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears, they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain. He gives to them a brook of blessing filled from the rain of an outpouring. They grow stronger and stronger with every step forward, and the God of all gods will appear before them in Zion." — Read on Bible.com

Bill Johnson's books

Connect with us:

🐚 Joy Star Bright / Meridian Soul Care

Website: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/

🪄 Lauren Barr / The Smarter Creative

Website: https://thesmartercreative.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative

Want to continue the conversation? Drop a comment on Substack or YouTube, or find us in our DMs on Instagram. We'd love to hear what pilgrimage means to you.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode:

→ Lauren made it happen: she figured out the logistics and is heading to the beach in South Carolina for a solo trip. Seven hours in the car alone, and she's very happy about it.

→ Joy dropped her son off at Camp Deerfoot in North Carolina for two weeks with no phones. Her mama heart is adjusting.

→ Joy is still working on her Instagram content pillars and is leaving Saturday for a 10-day trip that includes helping pack up Lucy's place.

→ The value this week is simplicity. Lauren and Joy unpack what it means, how it shows up differently for each of them, and why the opposite of simplicity isn't minimalism. It's chaos.

→ Joy shares something personal: years of overcomplicating her life were tied to self-sabotage and a deep belief that she didn't deserve to succeed. Simplicity changed when her identity changed.

→ Lauren notices AI-generated client emails that are needlessly elaborate and how complexity without self-expression is just cumbersome.

→ Lauren is doing a 40-day YAP challenge with a TikTok creator she followed. She's posting every day and gaining followers. The big lesson: soul over strategy.

→ Joy is in the Renovare Institute, writing papers, and noodling on the question of what it actually means to become like Jesus, especially as a woman.

→ Lauren is sitting with a belief she's still carrying: that making money has to require a lot of effort. She's not sure that's true.

→ Coming up: Joy is hiring a writing coach (Christina Hubbard) to help develop a certification for Meridian Soul Care, and possibly combine it with her Renovare final project.

Prompts for this week:

Where in your life are you overcomplicating something that could be simple? Is that connected to what you believe you deserve?

What are you learning right now? (Lauren and Joy want to know. Hit their DMs.)

Resources and Links Mentioned:

Camp Deerfoot: https://blueridge.deerfoot.org/

Renovare Institute: https://renovare.org/institute

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: https://dwillard.org/resources/books/renovation-of-the-heart

Dallas Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines: https://dwillard.org/resources/books/spirit-of-the-disciplines

A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly: https://quakerbooks.org/products/a-testament-of-devotion-2793

The YAP Challenge (Jessi Jean): https://www.instagram.com/jessijeanhome/

Lauren’s Personal Brand where the YAP Challenge is happening: @laurenbarr.co

Christina Hubbard (writing coach and poet): https://www.christinahubbard.com/

Meridian Soul Care: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

The Smarter Creative: https://thesmartercreative.com

Connect with us:

Lauren Barr: Website | Instagram | YouTube

Joy Star Bright: Website | Instagram

We'd love to hear from you. What does simplicity mean to you? What are you learning right now? Drop a comment, leave a review, or send us a DM on Instagram.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit comeandgrow.substack.com

Come and Grow is a podcast hosted by two dear friends, Joy Star Bright and Lauren Barr. Lauren runs The Smarter Creative, a business operations studio for creative entrepreneurs. Joy is a soul care coach at Meridian Soul Care. They're different in how they work and see the world, but deeply aligned in what they value. Each episode anchors in a value discussion and what each host is learning right now.

In this episode:

→ Recap: Lauren's reformer Pilates verdict (four out of five, not sweaty, very bougie)

→ Joy met a woman at the Y who is turning 90 in November, runs 10Ks, and weighs what she weighed in high school. Joy recorded the conversation. You'll want to hear it.

→ This week's value: Authenticity. Lauren went to Merriam-Webster. Joy went to the Greek. Both landed in the same place: acting from self, not performing for others.

IFS, parts work, and what "self" we're actually being authentic to

→ Lauren's one-journal-entry story that changed her life in her 20s

→ Joy's Substack essay on embodiment and what it took to start listening to her body

→ Lauren learned to make a paper zine. She brought one. Joy lost it.

→ What's coming up: Joy has a Renovare retreat in Colorado and a birthday trip to Texas. Lauren is deciding whether to make it to a family beach trip on Edisto Island, laptop question pending.

✍️ Prompts for this week:

When are you not living your authentic self? When do you feel disconnected from who you want to be in this world?

Sit with that. Take it to your journal. And if something surprises you, you don't have to share it with anyone. Full permission to keep that one for yourself.

📖 Resources and Links Mentioned:

Raye, "Joy" from This Music May Contain Hope (2026): https://music.apple.com/us/album/joy/1871085677?i=1871086036

IFS (Internal Family Systems) — Richard Schwartz: https://ifs-institute.com

No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz: https://www.amazon.com/No-Bad-Parts-Restoring-Wholeness/dp/1683646681

The 8 Cs and 5 Ps of Self in IFS — 8 Cs: Curiosity, Compassion, Calm, Clarity, Courage, Confidence, Creativity, Connectedness. 5 Ps: Presence, Perspective, Patience, Persistence, Playfulness: https://ifs-institute.com

The Renovare Institute: https://renovare.org/institute

Cultivate by The Cageless Birds (Melissa Helser essay): https://shop.cagelessbirds.com/products/cultivate-the-head-to-the-heart-volume-1

The Creative Bodega with Em Connors (Canva content creator): https://www.thecreativebodega.com/

Canva: https://www.canva.com

Lauren's zine Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZCv86ZkWOH/?img_index=1

Free zine PDF formatter (Zine Arranger): https://nashhigh.itch.io/zinearranger

🌸 Connect with us:

Lauren Barr

The Smarter Creative: https://thesmartercreative.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmartercreative/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesmartercreative

Joy Star Bright

Meridian Soul Care: https://www.meridiansoulcare.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meridian.soul/

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